I have been meaning to mention this for awhile now. Cranks!
I got a new set of 165 mm Ultegra Cranks. They replaced my perfectly good carbon fiber cranks. I know why would I replace perfectly good carbon fiber cranks?
I'll tell you! Because I'm short. These cranks are sooooo much better. My cadence is faster. My pedal stroke is smoother and more even. It feels great.
I never feel like I'm rocking anymore either. It's great. I love them. They were definitely worth the $300 investment.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Epic Day
I had carefully prepared for this day all week. Wanting to be a little rested but not too much while also leading "normal" life.
Well the week was far from normal. Steph gave birth this week and Cate and I now have a little baby in our lives and that was the adventure for the week. So this week was anything but calm and relaxing. Because I am who I am I still got most of my workouts in this week. I also took Friday off to just hang with Cate and get a massage and my swim lesson. She leaves soon for Europe and I just wanted to spend time together today.
I had everything ready. (Those old IM packing lists that I saved come in really helpful!) All my bags for the day were packed. All my nutrition mixed up and in the cooler. All I had to do in the morning was eat and get dressed and drive to the start.
For Breakfast I had 3 pieces of cornbread and a blueberry, banana, Perpetuem, and Yogurt smoothie. I'm not sure how many calories that was but I'm guessing about 700 - 800. (Can I tell you I LOVE my magic bullet!) That will be a necessity for IMC.
So I headed to the river with plenty of time. Just like I want to do for the race. Enough time that I don't have to stress about getting everything done. A song by Pink and an older song Beautiful Oblivion played on the radio and also in my head for the rest of the day! Taught me to be careful about what I listen to race morning because it will likely echo in my head for the rest of the day!
I was ready to swim before Zan and Chris showed up so I got in and started swimming. The water was much colder than the lakes. It took a little while to get used to it but eventually it felt better. The temp was 63 degrees.
I was trying to work on some of the things Laurie had me doing during my swim lesson on Friday to speed up my stroke rate a little. I tried to slip my elbow up earlier and swing my hand through a little faster but it just didn't feel good. swimming against the current made it feel even worse so I eventually decided just to go back to the "good feeling" swimming and work on it in the pool first.
Unfortunately my neck got burned again by my wetsuit which made it uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
Got out and headed to the car to move things to our transition area for the rest of the day by the 205 bridge. Quickly checked in with Zan re: the plan for the day and giving her the instructions and reminder to myself. 1st loop easy, 2nd loop steady, 3rd loop should start feeling a bit harder but will probably be the same pace as the 1st if you pace correctly.
I headed out for my first loop and kept reminding myself to be patient. I swear the first 80 miles are all patience. Then the real work starts. I headed up to Crown Point. I worked on drinking every 10 minutes and consume just over a bottle an hour. I tried to hold my power on the flats to around 140 and climbing to 170.
Got to 205 in 2:25 for 40 miles (this includes a rest stop) so total ride time 2:21. Grabbed my nutrition for the next loop from the cooler and headed out passing Zan as she was heading in.
Again I reminded myself, patience. I had plans of skipping stopping after the second loop by trying to pack everything with me. But decided against this so that I would have cold drinks.
The second loop was 30 miles. Which is when I realized that today was going to be 110 miles, not 100. Good! A good test. I really needed to put more chamois butter on as I could feel some heat rash developing on my rear. But I didn't want to take the time. I figured I could do it when I stopped at the van.
The third loop I was still feeling really strong and good. I pushed up the pace a little pushing my watts to maintaining 150 while not letting my HR go above 134. I was actually able to push around 165 watts at this HR.
Heading up the hill I noticed I didn't have the same power in my legs as I did the first loop. I was struggling to push 170 up the hills without my HR going too high. So I decided to just spin and not try to push it too hard.
I thought I would run into Zan on my way down the hill from Corbett but I never did. I was concerned that she had decided to just do 2 loops and then the run and would be discouraged. When I got back to 205 I found that she had just shortened her last loop so that we could do the last section together.
I changed and got ready to run. I carried a water bottle and a thing of concentrated perpetuem. We ran for 45 minutes which quite honestly felt quite easy. Our average pace was 5.6 mph which is faster than i will run the IM because that is higher than what I want my HR at that point. I also was able (after the first initial shock) to stomach the concentrated perpetuem with water. I didn't like my carrying method so that will need to change. I think what I might do is carry a water bottle in my hand with Perpetuem and then had the concentrated stuff in a flask and then every... 5 miles refill the water bottle with the stuff in the flask. 1 flask of perpeuem, a flask of gu and a water bottle and salt tabs should be all I need for the run... oh and pepto bismal, can't forget that!
Overall a great day. I didn't feel real tired afterwards. I know I could have kept going. I think the 1/2 IM in a couple weeks will feel almost short if I pace it correctly. It will be a good rehearsal for the IM. I'm looking forward to it. It will be fun.
Well the week was far from normal. Steph gave birth this week and Cate and I now have a little baby in our lives and that was the adventure for the week. So this week was anything but calm and relaxing. Because I am who I am I still got most of my workouts in this week. I also took Friday off to just hang with Cate and get a massage and my swim lesson. She leaves soon for Europe and I just wanted to spend time together today.
I had everything ready. (Those old IM packing lists that I saved come in really helpful!) All my bags for the day were packed. All my nutrition mixed up and in the cooler. All I had to do in the morning was eat and get dressed and drive to the start.
For Breakfast I had 3 pieces of cornbread and a blueberry, banana, Perpetuem, and Yogurt smoothie. I'm not sure how many calories that was but I'm guessing about 700 - 800. (Can I tell you I LOVE my magic bullet!) That will be a necessity for IMC.
So I headed to the river with plenty of time. Just like I want to do for the race. Enough time that I don't have to stress about getting everything done. A song by Pink and an older song Beautiful Oblivion played on the radio and also in my head for the rest of the day! Taught me to be careful about what I listen to race morning because it will likely echo in my head for the rest of the day!
I was ready to swim before Zan and Chris showed up so I got in and started swimming. The water was much colder than the lakes. It took a little while to get used to it but eventually it felt better. The temp was 63 degrees.
I was trying to work on some of the things Laurie had me doing during my swim lesson on Friday to speed up my stroke rate a little. I tried to slip my elbow up earlier and swing my hand through a little faster but it just didn't feel good. swimming against the current made it feel even worse so I eventually decided just to go back to the "good feeling" swimming and work on it in the pool first.
Unfortunately my neck got burned again by my wetsuit which made it uncomfortable for the rest of the day.
Got out and headed to the car to move things to our transition area for the rest of the day by the 205 bridge. Quickly checked in with Zan re: the plan for the day and giving her the instructions and reminder to myself. 1st loop easy, 2nd loop steady, 3rd loop should start feeling a bit harder but will probably be the same pace as the 1st if you pace correctly.
I headed out for my first loop and kept reminding myself to be patient. I swear the first 80 miles are all patience. Then the real work starts. I headed up to Crown Point. I worked on drinking every 10 minutes and consume just over a bottle an hour. I tried to hold my power on the flats to around 140 and climbing to 170.
Got to 205 in 2:25 for 40 miles (this includes a rest stop) so total ride time 2:21. Grabbed my nutrition for the next loop from the cooler and headed out passing Zan as she was heading in.
Again I reminded myself, patience. I had plans of skipping stopping after the second loop by trying to pack everything with me. But decided against this so that I would have cold drinks.
The second loop was 30 miles. Which is when I realized that today was going to be 110 miles, not 100. Good! A good test. I really needed to put more chamois butter on as I could feel some heat rash developing on my rear. But I didn't want to take the time. I figured I could do it when I stopped at the van.
The third loop I was still feeling really strong and good. I pushed up the pace a little pushing my watts to maintaining 150 while not letting my HR go above 134. I was actually able to push around 165 watts at this HR.
Heading up the hill I noticed I didn't have the same power in my legs as I did the first loop. I was struggling to push 170 up the hills without my HR going too high. So I decided to just spin and not try to push it too hard.
I thought I would run into Zan on my way down the hill from Corbett but I never did. I was concerned that she had decided to just do 2 loops and then the run and would be discouraged. When I got back to 205 I found that she had just shortened her last loop so that we could do the last section together.
I changed and got ready to run. I carried a water bottle and a thing of concentrated perpetuem. We ran for 45 minutes which quite honestly felt quite easy. Our average pace was 5.6 mph which is faster than i will run the IM because that is higher than what I want my HR at that point. I also was able (after the first initial shock) to stomach the concentrated perpetuem with water. I didn't like my carrying method so that will need to change. I think what I might do is carry a water bottle in my hand with Perpetuem and then had the concentrated stuff in a flask and then every... 5 miles refill the water bottle with the stuff in the flask. 1 flask of perpeuem, a flask of gu and a water bottle and salt tabs should be all I need for the run... oh and pepto bismal, can't forget that!
Overall a great day. I didn't feel real tired afterwards. I know I could have kept going. I think the 1/2 IM in a couple weeks will feel almost short if I pace it correctly. It will be a good rehearsal for the IM. I'm looking forward to it. It will be fun.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Day before Epic Day
I have been preparing this week for a race rehearsal day.
I took the day off of work to spend it with Cate and since Steph had jus had her baby we didn't spend it as I had planned. It was not quite the pre-race day I would have imagined.
Food:
Chicken Flautas
Beans
Rice
Dinner
Chicken Sandwich
Fries
Energy bar
I have been trying some of the race Day Boost stuff but found that it seemed to upset my stomach so I'm not sure it's such a good idea for me. I'll try it again the week of Lk Stevens and if it's an issue I will stop using it early in the week.
I took the day off of work to spend it with Cate and since Steph had jus had her baby we didn't spend it as I had planned. It was not quite the pre-race day I would have imagined.
Food:
Chicken Flautas
Beans
Rice
Dinner
Chicken Sandwich
Fries
Energy bar
I have been trying some of the race Day Boost stuff but found that it seemed to upset my stomach so I'm not sure it's such a good idea for me. I'll try it again the week of Lk Stevens and if it's an issue I will stop using it early in the week.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Hagg Lake Swim
Hagg Lake swim.
I'm pretty sure the course was long so I'm not so worried about the time. Even sub 1hr swimmers thought they were about 7 minutes slower.
Other than that I learned a couple things:I can free up the restriction on my shoulders by making sure my wetsuit is pulled all the way up. Make sure I free up my arms by pulling the arms up a bit more too.Do not velcro the neck at all.
I can swim with a kick and it still feels very easy. And I can site with barely lifting my head between strokes. I just peak.
I felt very comfortable breathing every 3 strokes but then I also had lots of open water around me.
My HR was avg of 133 for first loop and 135 (when I turned on kicking) for the second loop.
I think to go faster I need to figure out how to pick up the rhythm in my hips and catch the water better.
I'm pretty sure the course was long so I'm not so worried about the time. Even sub 1hr swimmers thought they were about 7 minutes slower.
Other than that I learned a couple things:I can free up the restriction on my shoulders by making sure my wetsuit is pulled all the way up. Make sure I free up my arms by pulling the arms up a bit more too.Do not velcro the neck at all.
I can swim with a kick and it still feels very easy. And I can site with barely lifting my head between strokes. I just peak.
I felt very comfortable breathing every 3 strokes but then I also had lots of open water around me.
My HR was avg of 133 for first loop and 135 (when I turned on kicking) for the second loop.
I think to go faster I need to figure out how to pick up the rhythm in my hips and catch the water better.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Speedy me
I seem to be getting faster in running. I "easily" get up to 6 mph now. I don't think I ever saw 6 mph on a regular basis in teh past few years.
YEAH!!!!
YEAH!!!!
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Epic Week Summary
Training Gone Wild
Epic Week Training
My Brief Foray into feeling like a real Athlete (with a Capitol A)
Over the course of 13 days (almost 2 weeks) I embarked on my fantasy of living the life of a true triathlete. One that doesn’t have to “work” for a living. Well I didn’t quite get my fantasy because over the course of this time I worked 5 days. However thanks to one heck of a boss who lets me get away with my crazy… it’s sunny outside PLEASE may I leave early! Pleas and a partner who supports me in just about any endeavor I decide to undertake I was able to do it.
Statistics
Swim
I can’t even begin to thank Cate for letting me train for an ironman for the 3rd time! It is huge. It is a huge time investment, financial investment, and emotional investment. Did I say that it is huge. I have been planning these two weeks for months. I can’t tell you how many times she had to hear me say “I’m training that week… I can’t……”. It’s hard enough to hear that I am training for the day but for me to say I am taking 2 weeks to devote to training everything else must wait…. Well you try it with your partner and tell me how it goes.
So huge thank you to Cate. Who supports me, rescues me on hot days when I have a bad tire in the middle of “God’s Country” as she puts it, and had a stash of cold Diet Coke (in the bottle I might add) ready for me after each ride. And organized and prepped for two parties we were hosting that weekend with little assistance from me. Not to mention putting up with my “life in constant transition”, stinky workout clothes, fatigued and weary attitude. She is absolutely the best.
Also thank you to my boss who tolerates my crazy IM training schedule. Who seems to “get” that this is just as important to me as others who take time off for maternity/paternity leave.
Thank you to my chiropractor and massage therapist who put me back together and get me back out there to train even more. Especially since just 2 days prior to my embarking on this “training gone wild” I was literally unable to walk 50 feet without tears in my eyes from the pain I was having in my foot. Seriously 2 days prior to my Epic training I was walking with a cane because I could not bear weight on my foot. So thank you Dr. J and Miriam for putting me back together again.
And, I can’t forget my compadre, Zan. Who had planned these past two weeks to join me almost every day in this adventure but came down sick and watched from the sidelines as I stacked on the miles. I’m sure that between her frustration at her illness and asthma and my just downright fatigue and sheer lack of sugar in my blood stream we made quite the pair. Zan was there everyday checking in and encouraging me to enjoy myself when she was green with envy and down in the dumps trying to seek some inner peace over her situation.
Thanks for the memories
Life in general felt like one big transition area. i was always onto my next 'leg'. Either another workout or training related task (like bike fittings), washing clothes so I'd have something to wear or stuffing calories down my throat so I could get my sorry ass up the the stairs and into bed.
I don't know that I have ever felt so consistently tired. And I'm still feeling it almost 4 days post Epic week. (I did run 3 hours yesterday which was probably not the smartest thing to do.) I was grumpy and crabby and just fatigued. Sleep wasn't enough. food wasn't enough. It does make you realize how much your mind/will plays into an Ironman. My body was done but I had more workouts to do and no matter how hot or tired I was I was going to try to finish them. it's not all that dissimilar to the race. Your mind keeps you going when your body otherwise would have stopped.
There were some classic moments i won't forget:
Epic Week Training
My Brief Foray into feeling like a real Athlete (with a Capitol A)
Over the course of 13 days (almost 2 weeks) I embarked on my fantasy of living the life of a true triathlete. One that doesn’t have to “work” for a living. Well I didn’t quite get my fantasy because over the course of this time I worked 5 days. However thanks to one heck of a boss who lets me get away with my crazy… it’s sunny outside PLEASE may I leave early! Pleas and a partner who supports me in just about any endeavor I decide to undertake I was able to do it.
Statistics
Swim
- Time: 9.5 hr
- Distance: 15 mi
Bike
- Time: 40.25
- Distance: 585 mi
Run
- Time: 2.75 hr
- Distance: 15.25
Other
- Time: 7 hr
59.50
615.25
Other Statistics
Approximate Calories Burned: ~42,000
Bottle of Perpetuem Drank: 32 (I would guess half of my caloric intake during this time period was Perpetuem)
Number of Flats: 2 (both in 1 day within 5 miles of one another, I bailed on the ride)
Most feet climbed in a day: 7000
Steepest grade climbed 16% (at least that is what the sign said… read on)
Feet of elevation climbed: ~20,000
Level of Fatigue Felt: Mind numbing
I can’t even begin to thank Cate for letting me train for an ironman for the 3rd time! It is huge. It is a huge time investment, financial investment, and emotional investment. Did I say that it is huge. I have been planning these two weeks for months. I can’t tell you how many times she had to hear me say “I’m training that week… I can’t……”. It’s hard enough to hear that I am training for the day but for me to say I am taking 2 weeks to devote to training everything else must wait…. Well you try it with your partner and tell me how it goes.
So huge thank you to Cate. Who supports me, rescues me on hot days when I have a bad tire in the middle of “God’s Country” as she puts it, and had a stash of cold Diet Coke (in the bottle I might add) ready for me after each ride. And organized and prepped for two parties we were hosting that weekend with little assistance from me. Not to mention putting up with my “life in constant transition”, stinky workout clothes, fatigued and weary attitude. She is absolutely the best.
Also thank you to my boss who tolerates my crazy IM training schedule. Who seems to “get” that this is just as important to me as others who take time off for maternity/paternity leave.
Thank you to my chiropractor and massage therapist who put me back together and get me back out there to train even more. Especially since just 2 days prior to my embarking on this “training gone wild” I was literally unable to walk 50 feet without tears in my eyes from the pain I was having in my foot. Seriously 2 days prior to my Epic training I was walking with a cane because I could not bear weight on my foot. So thank you Dr. J and Miriam for putting me back together again.
And, I can’t forget my compadre, Zan. Who had planned these past two weeks to join me almost every day in this adventure but came down sick and watched from the sidelines as I stacked on the miles. I’m sure that between her frustration at her illness and asthma and my just downright fatigue and sheer lack of sugar in my blood stream we made quite the pair. Zan was there everyday checking in and encouraging me to enjoy myself when she was green with envy and down in the dumps trying to seek some inner peace over her situation.
Thanks for the memories
Life in general felt like one big transition area. i was always onto my next 'leg'. Either another workout or training related task (like bike fittings), washing clothes so I'd have something to wear or stuffing calories down my throat so I could get my sorry ass up the the stairs and into bed.
I don't know that I have ever felt so consistently tired. And I'm still feeling it almost 4 days post Epic week. (I did run 3 hours yesterday which was probably not the smartest thing to do.) I was grumpy and crabby and just fatigued. Sleep wasn't enough. food wasn't enough. It does make you realize how much your mind/will plays into an Ironman. My body was done but I had more workouts to do and no matter how hot or tired I was I was going to try to finish them. it's not all that dissimilar to the race. Your mind keeps you going when your body otherwise would have stopped.
There were some classic moments i won't forget:
- Riding in Vancouver and having a motorcycle cop pull next to me and "remind" me that the stop signs are for me too. (I was on my second loop of my 2 X 50 mile loops. I wasn't going to stop for any stop signs! I had a time to beat.)
- Riding in Forest Grove after swimming in hagg Lake thinking "I want a nice easy flat ride" I had it all mapped out. Then I turned up Blooming Farm road and encouter a big hill. About 1/4 way up theres a sign that reads Alpe de blooming Farm Road. 16% grade next 4 miles. Can i tell you how I just about fell off my bike when my jaw hit the ground. (I made it up and it wasn't 16%.... only a very small section was that steep but it was a lot longer than it appeared from the bottom.
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