The past 2 weeks has been really difficult for me. Lots of changes going on in my life.
After having an anxiety attack or two and inability to concentrate at work I decided I needed to take some time off.
Today I rode for a couple hours with E'llee in the buggy. I figured out that this week has been about getting rid of some hats and redefining my priorities.
First and foremost, my number one priority has been taking care of and loving E'llee. With Steph leaving and Cate on a business trip I decided that my number one priority for these weeks is for E'llee to feel safe and secure. It has been great for me. I feel like I am finally able to let go of all those other things that have pulled me in other directions.
Last year my life was very different. Everything was focused around my goal of doing IM Canada and making a certain time. This year unexpectedly my life is very different.
Now I work out to stay in shape and be healthy. Today I was able to let go of the pressure to lose weight and reach my optimum weight. Not that I won't be happy at a lower weight I need to find another motivation. Last year it was about getting more fit and faster for IMC this year I don't know what my motivation is yet. So now my goal is just to maintain and stay in shape, not Ironman shape, just fit.
Also the past few months has been about being the end all be all at work and that has taken it's toll as well. It's not my sole responsibility to make sure things get implemented. I need/want to set realisitic expectations about what I can and can't do. That means that i may need to push back at times at work. My time is valuable and I want to spend as much time as possible being mom to E'llee and not being the MVP at Tonkon Torp.
So maybe for the first time in my life I will find/seek balance instead of intensity and passion. Actually I think that is probably not true. My passion now is E'llee and helping her grow and prosper. I can't think of anything more important than that.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Update
It's been quite awhile since I've updated this blog. I am in limbo right now. i haven't decided whether I am going to back out of doing IM Canada 2008 or not. I don't have to make a decision I suppose right up until the race but I need to figure out what I want to do and how much time I want to give training right now.
I just want to spend my time with E'llee right now. I want to be able to spend as much time as possible with her and devoting huge amounts of time and energy into training right now doesn't seem like it's really how I want to spend my time right now.
I know that in just a couple months I'll be much more able to take her with me on bike rides because she will be more able to feed herself if i put her in the trailer and we go out for rides. Right now I think I can get away with 90 minutes but that is probably about it.
We'll see. I'm setting much shorter term goals right now like losing a few pounds and getting back into my exercise regimen and logging regimen. Since my shoulder it has just been more difficult than usual getting myself into a routine. Also now that I work from home it makes it difficult there too in that I have done a superb job of integrating exercise and commuting but now it's like I have to start figuring it out again.
Tuesday I am going to go swim in the morning. And, I think I may try to run afterwards too and then work. Steph will be home with E'llee so I have no reason to get back immediately. So that might work out really well for me for awhile. Ihope that works because that will make a big difference.
I just want to spend my time with E'llee right now. I want to be able to spend as much time as possible with her and devoting huge amounts of time and energy into training right now doesn't seem like it's really how I want to spend my time right now.
I know that in just a couple months I'll be much more able to take her with me on bike rides because she will be more able to feed herself if i put her in the trailer and we go out for rides. Right now I think I can get away with 90 minutes but that is probably about it.
We'll see. I'm setting much shorter term goals right now like losing a few pounds and getting back into my exercise regimen and logging regimen. Since my shoulder it has just been more difficult than usual getting myself into a routine. Also now that I work from home it makes it difficult there too in that I have done a superb job of integrating exercise and commuting but now it's like I have to start figuring it out again.
Tuesday I am going to go swim in the morning. And, I think I may try to run afterwards too and then work. Steph will be home with E'llee so I have no reason to get back immediately. So that might work out really well for me for awhile. Ihope that works because that will make a big difference.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Back on the wagon
I'm trying to get back on the wagon nutritionally again. I have gained back almost all the weight I have lost to date. I'm not really surprised because I haven't kept up my good habits. At thins point in time with the remodel in progress I figure if I can hold steady things will be good. If I lose that is great but don't know if that is really possible.
I'm trying to find some alternatives that are quick and easy to purchase and make like back to my smoothies and cans of soup. It just means changing habits temporarily as I prefer freshly made food.
I'm trying to find some alternatives that are quick and easy to purchase and make like back to my smoothies and cans of soup. It just means changing habits temporarily as I prefer freshly made food.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Knowledge, Skill & Desire
The tri of triathlon, don't you think.
Also Limitless Potential. Don't we all have limitless potential. We may not always get faster but we can always improve and grow in some way in these three areas of triathlon.
I am relistening to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people and listening toward teh end of applying these principles to my triathlon training. Ironically the Triathlete Magazine had a similar article in their last issue but they focused differently than what I have focused.
More on this later....
Also Limitless Potential. Don't we all have limitless potential. We may not always get faster but we can always improve and grow in some way in these three areas of triathlon.
I am relistening to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective people and listening toward teh end of applying these principles to my triathlon training. Ironically the Triathlete Magazine had a similar article in their last issue but they focused differently than what I have focused.
More on this later....
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Getting back on the wagon
Tomorrow I'm going to try to run into work. We'll see how that goes. Today I ran for 45 minutes and it didn't feel too bad it's just that with the big bruise on my leg the pounding kind of hurts and the pounding also hurts my ribs eventually too. I'll try taking some ibuprofen before I go and see how that goes. I want to do those things I can while I am recovering from my accident. Running and biking are really the only things i can do>
I am doing very poorly on nutrition right now I completely overate tonight. i don't know why either. The ffod was there and no one else was which is a bad combination for me. I want to be good again but my motivation is so low right now. I have regained everything I lost which really sucks but i have no one to blame but me.
I am doing very poorly on nutrition right now I completely overate tonight. i don't know why either. The ffod was there and no one else was which is a bad combination for me. I want to be good again but my motivation is so low right now. I have regained everything I lost which really sucks but i have no one to blame but me.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Hit by a car
Yesterday I was hit by a car on my way to work. It was on Ainsworth and Interstate. Interstate has a bad streak of luck for cyclists lately.
A driver turned right in front of me and hit my front wheel. My bike is totalled and unridable.
I am really trying to be patient and understanding of this process. I had felt like I got back on the horse last weekend with my 2 hour run and now I'm sidelined again. I have stitches in my elbow that are preventing me from swimming for about 2 weeks and the pain in my ribs makes it difficult to breathe very deeply without pain.
I had been hoping to start my strength training again this week but alas it will wait for a week.
A driver turned right in front of me and hit my front wheel. My bike is totalled and unridable.
I am really trying to be patient and understanding of this process. I had felt like I got back on the horse last weekend with my 2 hour run and now I'm sidelined again. I have stitches in my elbow that are preventing me from swimming for about 2 weeks and the pain in my ribs makes it difficult to breathe very deeply without pain.
I had been hoping to start my strength training again this week but alas it will wait for a week.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
2 Hour Run
I don't think I could have asked for a more beautiful fall day. It was clear and cold and the trail was dry and you had to shuffle through all the fallen leaves. It was perfect!
I was afraid I'd be a bit cold because it was 40 degrees and I wore a thin base layer and a slightly thicker outer layer. Then I had tights on and gloves. It was also perfect once I got moving. I don't think I would have wanted anything heavier, or lighter for that matter.
I started out and maintained a steady even pace. I don't trail run much, hardly at all so it makes me a little nervous in that I am afraid that I will trip over a root or rock and end up injured. Also, I get a bit more nervous running by myself. But I have to say that after today I think I'll keep seeking out trail running. My knees never hurt and the time seemed to fly by. My pace was slower but i think that is normal when you are trail running.
Once I got past the 25 minute mark things just settled into a pace and everything felt good. I never felt like I was pushing or tired or anything. I was more careful at the end of the run about footing because it always scares me a bit when things are getting tired about twisting my ankle or something.
I wish I had taken a picture because I would love to share the experience and the beauty. I hope we get some more days like this.
Anyway.... that was my start of my off season training goal of improving my run. I think I'm off to a good start. Next week I will do 1 longer run (90 minutes) and then on Saturday post swimming I will do a track workout. The following week my plan is again 1 longer run and then a long run of 2:10.
I was afraid I'd be a bit cold because it was 40 degrees and I wore a thin base layer and a slightly thicker outer layer. Then I had tights on and gloves. It was also perfect once I got moving. I don't think I would have wanted anything heavier, or lighter for that matter.
I started out and maintained a steady even pace. I don't trail run much, hardly at all so it makes me a little nervous in that I am afraid that I will trip over a root or rock and end up injured. Also, I get a bit more nervous running by myself. But I have to say that after today I think I'll keep seeking out trail running. My knees never hurt and the time seemed to fly by. My pace was slower but i think that is normal when you are trail running.
Once I got past the 25 minute mark things just settled into a pace and everything felt good. I never felt like I was pushing or tired or anything. I was more careful at the end of the run about footing because it always scares me a bit when things are getting tired about twisting my ankle or something.
I wish I had taken a picture because I would love to share the experience and the beauty. I hope we get some more days like this.
Anyway.... that was my start of my off season training goal of improving my run. I think I'm off to a good start. Next week I will do 1 longer run (90 minutes) and then on Saturday post swimming I will do a track workout. The following week my plan is again 1 longer run and then a long run of 2:10.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Marathon Recovery
I just remembered this morning that it's been awhile since the marathon and I wanted to get an idea as to how long it took me to recover from the marathon so that i can make plans and predict my recovery for the Avenue of Giants.
So let's see here October 7 was the marathon and this past weekend I would say I felt completely recovered. No more soreness of fatigue feeling in my legs. I did a longer run at Mom's on the hills there and it was just fine. So it was 2 weeks out from the marathon that I felt like I could "train" again.
I think I would wait through this week for strength training for legs just to be sure and I would probably want to take my long rides back a bit too so that my legs could fully recover without getting fatigued again. I would also make sure that my rides were flat just base endurance Zone 2 rides.
So I'll get it mapped out on my training plan with my hours and see how it fits putting a marathon in my plan in early spring.
So let's see here October 7 was the marathon and this past weekend I would say I felt completely recovered. No more soreness of fatigue feeling in my legs. I did a longer run at Mom's on the hills there and it was just fine. So it was 2 weeks out from the marathon that I felt like I could "train" again.
I think I would wait through this week for strength training for legs just to be sure and I would probably want to take my long rides back a bit too so that my legs could fully recover without getting fatigued again. I would also make sure that my rides were flat just base endurance Zone 2 rides.
So I'll get it mapped out on my training plan with my hours and see how it fits putting a marathon in my plan in early spring.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Planning and nutrition
This past week I have been in Seattle for training for work. I have been taking a SharePoint training which I really enjoy I just feel like I'm still putting together the pieces. I still ahven't wrapped my head around this yet. There are so many pieces to be put together.
Anyway, other than that, being out of town creates a difficult situation for me. I have a hard time eating well when I'm eating out. It is all psychological because obviously it isn't a physical problem. It is the enjoyment of eating out and eating good tasting food, the other is that the portions are so big and I guess I don't want to it to go to waste. It's hard for me. And I have to admit my motivation is low right now. I am rather kind of burnt out on watching things so closely but I'm noticing my habits are going back to my prior habits. I guess I don't need to watch it so close and could ease off on that and just work on good habits. That might be the best strategy at this point.
I have been listening to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and have been trying to apply the principles there to my life because I feel like I'm trying to balance so many things and I feel like my stress level goes over the top sometimes because I have a hard time prioritizing things.
Habit 1 is Be Proactive
Habit 2 is Begin with the End in Mind
...I want to find the book. I know I have it because I think I can use these principles to help me focus on my goals.
Anyway, other than that, being out of town creates a difficult situation for me. I have a hard time eating well when I'm eating out. It is all psychological because obviously it isn't a physical problem. It is the enjoyment of eating out and eating good tasting food, the other is that the portions are so big and I guess I don't want to it to go to waste. It's hard for me. And I have to admit my motivation is low right now. I am rather kind of burnt out on watching things so closely but I'm noticing my habits are going back to my prior habits. I guess I don't need to watch it so close and could ease off on that and just work on good habits. That might be the best strategy at this point.
I have been listening to The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and have been trying to apply the principles there to my life because I feel like I'm trying to balance so many things and I feel like my stress level goes over the top sometimes because I have a hard time prioritizing things.
Habit 1 is Be Proactive
Habit 2 is Begin with the End in Mind
...I want to find the book. I know I have it because I think I can use these principles to help me focus on my goals.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Portland Marathon
OK.... I feel like I can come up with 26.2 reasons not to do a marathon! I don't think I would have ever done an Ironman if I had done a marathon first.
So one thing you have to realize is that I am designed for this stuff and not only that I am trained for this stuff. I do long slow distance better than anything else in my life probably. So a marathon should have been a cake walk right? Well.... no..... a marathon is nothing like an Ironman, at least not an Ironman I have ever done. I can get off the bike after riding 112 miles and swimming 2.4 and run 26.2 miles but not a marathon, at least not like I ran this marathon. I guess if I could come off my bike and swim and truly run a marathon race I'd be doing great!!!! maybe that's the different between me and those whose strength is the run. Is I go into it knowing I can put together a MOP swim and MOP bike and that my run is a BOP run.
I wonder what the difference should be between a stand-alone marathon and an Ironman marathon. Although like I'm trying to get the point across above these are not in any way the same race. I suppose in an IM you could go out too hard at the beginning of the run but since you've already ridden 112 miles you aren't like to do that because you're just trying to figure out how to move your legs in a fashion that resembles running.
So here's my splits on my marathon according to Portland Marathon:
Place Overall: 4058 out of 7724
Women: 1631 out of 4194
F 35-39: 314 out of 683
AgeGrade: 49.98% Place: 3745
FINISH: 4:46:24 pace: 10:56
10k: 1:02:53 pace: 10:08
Turn-9.1Mi: 1:31:37 pace: 10:05
Half: 2:14:23 pace: 10:16
17.2 M: 3:10:11 pace: 11:04
20 Mile: 3:35:36 pace: 10:47
35K: 3:56:34 pace: 10:55
Chip Time: 4:46:24
Gun Time: 4:54:10
Needless to say I went out at a really good pace. And it's funny because my watch was pretty accurate with the mileage until about mile 14 which als happens to be about the same time that my legs started feeling really heavy. I think that my stride must change at that point in the race and that my foot pod no longer really works the same because it is calibrated for normal running not a run/plod calibration.
So the watch recorded 27.8 miles and here is what it reports:
Overall Avg HR 156, Max 188
Pace Avg: 10:06
Spd. Acg: 5.9 mph
Run Time: 4:43 (1 bathroom stop at mile 17)
1: 9:58, A 142, M 157
2:10:04 A 150, M 159
3: 10:48 A158, M 165
4: 10:00 A 155, M176
5: 9:48 A 131, M 163
6: 9:38 A 157, M 161
7: 9:32 A 155, M 161
8: 9:38 A 156, M162
9: 9:34 A 158, M 162
10: 9:36 A 158, M 161
11: 9:26 A 159, M 162
12: 9:34 A 158, M 162
13: (2:07:48) 10:16 A 158, M 163
14: 9:58 A 158, M 166
15: 9:44 A 158, M 160
16: 9:34 160, M 162
17: 9:48 A 160, M 162
18: 12:36 A 152, M 163
19: 10:58 A 159, M 164
20: 10:52 A 155, M 161
21: 10:42 A 153, M 158
22: 10:38 A 154, M 160
23: 11:00 A 155, M 169
24: 10:18 A 157, M 182
25: 10:30 A 158, M 172
26: 10:34 A 159, M 188
27:10:30 A 163, M 176
28: 10:18 A 164, M 174
here's what I learned:
So one thing you have to realize is that I am designed for this stuff and not only that I am trained for this stuff. I do long slow distance better than anything else in my life probably. So a marathon should have been a cake walk right? Well.... no..... a marathon is nothing like an Ironman, at least not an Ironman I have ever done. I can get off the bike after riding 112 miles and swimming 2.4 and run 26.2 miles but not a marathon, at least not like I ran this marathon. I guess if I could come off my bike and swim and truly run a marathon race I'd be doing great!!!! maybe that's the different between me and those whose strength is the run. Is I go into it knowing I can put together a MOP swim and MOP bike and that my run is a BOP run.
I wonder what the difference should be between a stand-alone marathon and an Ironman marathon. Although like I'm trying to get the point across above these are not in any way the same race. I suppose in an IM you could go out too hard at the beginning of the run but since you've already ridden 112 miles you aren't like to do that because you're just trying to figure out how to move your legs in a fashion that resembles running.
So here's my splits on my marathon according to Portland Marathon:
Place Overall: 4058 out of 7724
Women: 1631 out of 4194
F 35-39: 314 out of 683
AgeGrade: 49.98% Place: 3745
FINISH: 4:46:24 pace: 10:56
10k: 1:02:53 pace: 10:08
Turn-9.1Mi: 1:31:37 pace: 10:05
Half: 2:14:23 pace: 10:16
17.2 M: 3:10:11 pace: 11:04
20 Mile: 3:35:36 pace: 10:47
35K: 3:56:34 pace: 10:55
Chip Time: 4:46:24
Gun Time: 4:54:10
Needless to say I went out at a really good pace. And it's funny because my watch was pretty accurate with the mileage until about mile 14 which als happens to be about the same time that my legs started feeling really heavy. I think that my stride must change at that point in the race and that my foot pod no longer really works the same because it is calibrated for normal running not a run/plod calibration.
So the watch recorded 27.8 miles and here is what it reports:
Overall Avg HR 156, Max 188
Pace Avg: 10:06
Spd. Acg: 5.9 mph
Run Time: 4:43 (1 bathroom stop at mile 17)
1: 9:58, A 142, M 157
2:10:04 A 150, M 159
3: 10:48 A158, M 165
4: 10:00 A 155, M176
5: 9:48 A 131, M 163
6: 9:38 A 157, M 161
7: 9:32 A 155, M 161
8: 9:38 A 156, M162
9: 9:34 A 158, M 162
10: 9:36 A 158, M 161
11: 9:26 A 159, M 162
12: 9:34 A 158, M 162
13: (2:07:48) 10:16 A 158, M 163
14: 9:58 A 158, M 166
15: 9:44 A 158, M 160
16: 9:34 160, M 162
17: 9:48 A 160, M 162
18: 12:36 A 152, M 163
19: 10:58 A 159, M 164
20: 10:52 A 155, M 161
21: 10:42 A 153, M 158
22: 10:38 A 154, M 160
23: 11:00 A 155, M 169
24: 10:18 A 157, M 182
25: 10:30 A 158, M 172
26: 10:34 A 159, M 188
27:10:30 A 163, M 176
28: 10:18 A 164, M 174
here's what I learned:
- I need to do more mileage in running
- running downhill hurts if not at the time it will later (I couldn't really even walk for 2 days following the race)
- How do they do a race that is almost all downhill?
- I have alot of mental focus/willpower. My legs were done at 14 but I really did a pretty good job sucking it up and keeping up my pace. yes I slowed but really was able to just keep pushing through.
- Running down hill is an art and you better have really strong quads to compensate
- Running the same pace throughout a marathon is probably one of the hardest things to do. That is skill!
- I'm going to look for more opportunities to run
Aftermath:
So I was REALLY SORE for 2 days after the race. like I could barely walk. And going up and down stairs HURT!!! I had to have both hands supporting my weight on the handrails. Today, Wednesday I can finally walk up and down without support.
Also interestingly enough I gained weight following the marathon! I weighed in 3 lbs heavier monday than i did Sunday and trust me it was not because of any overeating. I could barely eat after the race because my stomach was upset.
The other thing of note is that I did not use the race day boost like I have been using. I don't know if that made a difference in my race at all. but if you notice the HR my HR was high. i would never do an Im at that HR. I'm sure I was running at close to lactice threshold as I could. the good thing to note is that I think my LT is alot higher than i first thought.
What ideas this gives me for training for IMC 2008
- More running
- Long runs will be 2+ hours every other week
- Mid distance runs will be 90 - 120 every week
- 1 tempo and 1 technique run
More racing during off season. Looking for halfs and want to do the Avenue of the Giants marathon in the spring. (Although I want to talk to someone about this) I want to really see how long it takes me to recover from this marathon before I plan that because I don't want to end up with an injury.
Anyway.... it was a good experience even though there is not a part of me that really enjoyed the race. Doing marathons does not have the same emotional passionate place for me that Ironmans do. But doing marathons will make me a better IM triathlete so they have their purpose.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Three Swimming Sets for a Faster 1,500-meters
By Matt Fitzgerald Triathlete magazine
The 1,500-meter swim that constitutes the first leg of an Olympic-distance triathlon is a unique test somewhat different from the challenges presented by both shorter and longer triathlon swims. It's short enough so the well-trained athlete can sustain a very high intensity from start to finish, but it's also long enough so even the well-trained athlete must hold something back and pace evenly.
The main cause of fatigue during a 1.5km swim is muscular acidosis, or loss of pH balance in the working muscles, which inhibits further muscle contractions. Thus, you can improve your performance by decreasing your susceptibility to muscular acidosis through appropriate training.
There are two physiologically distinct ways to achieve this effect. The first is to increase your swimming-specific aerobic capacity--that is, to increase the rate at which your muscles are able to use oxygen to release energy during swimming--because aerobic metabolism does not produce the chemical byproducts that cause muscular acidosis. You can also enhance your body's ability to neutralize, or buffer, the metabolic byproducts that cause your muscles to lose their pH balance.
I asked three top triathlon coaches--LifeSport head coach Lance Watson, 2004 U.S. Olympic triathlon team coach Gale Bernhardt and former ITU triathlon world champion Siri Lindley--to share some of their favorite Olympic-distance swim sets, and they generously obliged. Be sure to warm up thoroughly before and cool down after each of these main sets.
Lance Watson's Lactate-threshold Test Set
Benefit: This main set divides the 1,500-meter race distance into three work intervals of decreasing length. By swimming each at maximum intensity and then recovering, you train your body to sustain a faster speed over the total distance.
Format:
800 TT (i.e. time trial, or 100-percent effort)
200 easy/recovery
200 TT
200 easy/recovery
100 TT
If possible, get splits at each 100 (and at each 50 for the 100) to monitor your pace. Also note your finishing heart rate after each time-trial swim.
Alternative main set if you want to trim some yardage: 200-400 TT, 200 easy/recovery, 100-200 TT, 200 easy/recovery, 50-100 TT.
Coach's comments: "This is a set I regularly use with my athletes to mark progress," says Watson. "It is usually on a Tuesday morning after a very easy recovery day on Monday that may or may not include a light swim to tune up. This set helps me determine my athletes' fitness at threshold and race start speed, which is crucial for getting out fast and getting a good draft."
Siri Lindley's 300s
Benefit: This main set enhances your ability to get a fast start and then ease into a sustainable race pace.
Format:
8 x 300Line up side-by-side with a partner of similar ability. The first 100 is done as fast as you can go, as in the start of a race. On the second 100 you hang on for dear life. If one athlete is slower than the other he can pop in behind the quicker swimmer and do whatever he can to hang on the other's feet for the second 100. The third 100 is an easy recovery swim. Rest for 45 seconds after the easy 100.
Alternative set: 3-4 x 300
Coach's comments: "This set is very race-specific. Get out fast and you can get away from the chaos and have a much quicker swim. If you go out too slow, you may get stuck behind swimmers that are slower than you."
Gale Bernhardt's Aerobic Set
Benefit: The first requirement for success in an Olympic-distance triathlon swim is a solid foundation of swim-specific aerobic fitness, and this main set provides it with a few little twists, such as lead changes and fist swimming.
Format:
900 steady swim. Change who leads the lane each 75
1- to 2-minute rest interval (RI)
3 x 600 steady swim, alternating 100 fist drill/100 swim
1- to 2-minute RI
400 pull (paddles and buoy)
1- to 2-minute RI
200 pull (buoy, no paddles)
1- to 2-minute RI
6 x 50 backstroke on 1:10
Alternative set: Cut everything in half
Coach's comments: "This workout is most fun if you swim the 900 with three to six other people that swim roughly the same speed," says Bernhardt. "Rotating the lead position makes the time go fast and help you practice drafting."The broken 600, alternating fist swimming and regular swimming, forces you to use your entire arm to catch water and can help increase cadence. Don't cheat on the fist portions. When you open your hands it feels like you're wearing paddles." Finally, says Bernhardt, "I like to add backstroke at the end to work a few different muscles."
By Matt Fitzgerald Triathlete magazine
The 1,500-meter swim that constitutes the first leg of an Olympic-distance triathlon is a unique test somewhat different from the challenges presented by both shorter and longer triathlon swims. It's short enough so the well-trained athlete can sustain a very high intensity from start to finish, but it's also long enough so even the well-trained athlete must hold something back and pace evenly.
The main cause of fatigue during a 1.5km swim is muscular acidosis, or loss of pH balance in the working muscles, which inhibits further muscle contractions. Thus, you can improve your performance by decreasing your susceptibility to muscular acidosis through appropriate training.
There are two physiologically distinct ways to achieve this effect. The first is to increase your swimming-specific aerobic capacity--that is, to increase the rate at which your muscles are able to use oxygen to release energy during swimming--because aerobic metabolism does not produce the chemical byproducts that cause muscular acidosis. You can also enhance your body's ability to neutralize, or buffer, the metabolic byproducts that cause your muscles to lose their pH balance.
I asked three top triathlon coaches--LifeSport head coach Lance Watson, 2004 U.S. Olympic triathlon team coach Gale Bernhardt and former ITU triathlon world champion Siri Lindley--to share some of their favorite Olympic-distance swim sets, and they generously obliged. Be sure to warm up thoroughly before and cool down after each of these main sets.
Lance Watson's Lactate-threshold Test Set
Benefit: This main set divides the 1,500-meter race distance into three work intervals of decreasing length. By swimming each at maximum intensity and then recovering, you train your body to sustain a faster speed over the total distance.
Format:
800 TT (i.e. time trial, or 100-percent effort)
200 easy/recovery
200 TT
200 easy/recovery
100 TT
If possible, get splits at each 100 (and at each 50 for the 100) to monitor your pace. Also note your finishing heart rate after each time-trial swim.
Alternative main set if you want to trim some yardage: 200-400 TT, 200 easy/recovery, 100-200 TT, 200 easy/recovery, 50-100 TT.
Coach's comments: "This is a set I regularly use with my athletes to mark progress," says Watson. "It is usually on a Tuesday morning after a very easy recovery day on Monday that may or may not include a light swim to tune up. This set helps me determine my athletes' fitness at threshold and race start speed, which is crucial for getting out fast and getting a good draft."
Siri Lindley's 300s
Benefit: This main set enhances your ability to get a fast start and then ease into a sustainable race pace.
Format:
8 x 300Line up side-by-side with a partner of similar ability. The first 100 is done as fast as you can go, as in the start of a race. On the second 100 you hang on for dear life. If one athlete is slower than the other he can pop in behind the quicker swimmer and do whatever he can to hang on the other's feet for the second 100. The third 100 is an easy recovery swim. Rest for 45 seconds after the easy 100.
Alternative set: 3-4 x 300
Coach's comments: "This set is very race-specific. Get out fast and you can get away from the chaos and have a much quicker swim. If you go out too slow, you may get stuck behind swimmers that are slower than you."
Gale Bernhardt's Aerobic Set
Benefit: The first requirement for success in an Olympic-distance triathlon swim is a solid foundation of swim-specific aerobic fitness, and this main set provides it with a few little twists, such as lead changes and fist swimming.
Format:
900 steady swim. Change who leads the lane each 75
1- to 2-minute rest interval (RI)
3 x 600 steady swim, alternating 100 fist drill/100 swim
1- to 2-minute RI
400 pull (paddles and buoy)
1- to 2-minute RI
200 pull (buoy, no paddles)
1- to 2-minute RI
6 x 50 backstroke on 1:10
Alternative set: Cut everything in half
Coach's comments: "This workout is most fun if you swim the 900 with three to six other people that swim roughly the same speed," says Bernhardt. "Rotating the lead position makes the time go fast and help you practice drafting."The broken 600, alternating fist swimming and regular swimming, forces you to use your entire arm to catch water and can help increase cadence. Don't cheat on the fist portions. When you open your hands it feels like you're wearing paddles." Finally, says Bernhardt, "I like to add backstroke at the end to work a few different muscles."
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Your thoughts
Hey laurie
Believe it or not I am already focusing on my next season. Yes I'm a bit compulsive ;)
So as I look back at my improvements this season I see a huge improvement in my body position, head position, and stroke length. The next piece I think is putting these things together at a faster pace. Mastering that perfect combination of stroke length and stroke rate.
I'm trying to envision this process in a progression of workouts.
Would you be willing to offer some suggestions about how you would go about this?
Maybe even help me set some milestones to measure my progress in this area.
Also cate and I talked about swim lessons again but want to take a bit of a break so probably january is when well be ready again.
Thanks
Deb
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Race Report: Throw your heart over the mountain and your body will follow
“Throw your heart over the mountain and your body will follow”—Lisa Bentley, IM Canada Champion
Love this quote. That is how I felt this year. I felt like I threw my heart over the mountain and my body followed.
Doing an Ironman is more than a race it is a journey. It’s all the hours you spend swimming, biking, running, and strength training. It’s all the time you spend planning your workouts. It’s all the time you spend figuring out how you’re going to possibly fit everything in. It’s all the time you spend making sure your gear is clean and ready, that you have enough nutrition with you for any particular workout. IT’s a wonder anyone makes it to the start line. Just navigating the training program for an Ironman is a commitment.
The other thing I am reminded of is that an Ironman is not a solo journey. When training and racing an Ironman you need support on so many different levels. Family’s support, of course, is the most important and I am wonderfully blessed to have a partner who continues to support me in doing these races. Support from your co-workers who tolerate the spring fever I get when the weather starts turning nice and the unusual and sometimes spontaneous time off requests to get another workout in. And then there’s the training partners who see everything. They see your highs and your lows. The times when you’re flying high after a great workout and the times when you are just downright grumpy and they still pick your butt up for an early morning swim and then bike and somehow get you to laugh at yourself.
The Goal
This being my third IM I felt like I knew enough about myself and the race that I could set a goal time. I had 3 goals for this season:
· Go under 13:30 (Previous IM was 14:59)
· Race ~ 20 lb lighter than prior IM
· Improve all three legs of race
I set these high expectations in November of 2006 and planned my training around them. To achieve these goals I invested a good deal of time and energy into preparing for this race.
· Logged over 600 hours of training in 26 weeks
· Took private swim lessons to work on my swim technique
· Increased my running volume
· Worked with a nutritionist on my daily nutrition
· Changed my race nutrition to liquid only
· Invested in bike fitting, power output meter and new cranks on bike
· Did 2 weeks of “Epic Training” where I logged over 28 hours each week.
The Secret Goal
My published goal was 13:45 but in my heart I really wanted to do a 13:20. I had set a goal time in each leg and if I made each of those times I with two 5 minute transitions I would meet that goal. However I also knew that my last IM race had gone so well that I was a bit nervous that this might be a big challenge because it is a long day and anything can happen so you’ve really got to be careful because you can blow your whole day with one dropped water bottle or pushing too hard at the beginning.
My goals were:
· 1:15 Swim,
· 6:30 bike,
· 5:30 Run (with 15 minutes of bathroom breaks calculated into the run
I had trained this pace. I knew this pace well. My body could hold this pace for a long time. But would I be able to do that the day of the race one right after the other was the question.
I had lunch with a friend prior to leaving for the race and I held onto her words. “Stay Curious”.
Letting go of expectations
With that in mind the two days before the race I really worked on letting go of my expectations. I knew the pace I had to keep to make my times and that became my focus instead of the actual seconds ticking off the clock. That helped a lot. Knowing that I had a pace to keep versus a time to beat. I know it’s all mental but those small things make a difference. Now I could do something about it during the race, not just be disappointed at the end of each leg.
Support Crew
I have to say I have THE BEST SUPPORT CREW EVER!!!! They ran all over the course and cheered me on. They also created great signs and even produced some interesting body art that they displayed proudly. My entire family was there. Rocky, my godson in Colorado was watching online and called the second I crossed the finish line. My IM mentor and good friend Jen was visiting from New Zealand and she, her husband and daughter were all there cheering me on. It was great to have so much support out there.
The Race
I had changed my nutritional habits a great deal over the past couple months so my night before and morning of meals had changed. I was quite frankly experimenting (knowledgeable experimenting) with a new plan and it made me nervous. But I reminded myself to trust the process that I had been using for the past few months and reminded myself how good I had been feeling since changing my habits that it was the right thing to do.
I decided to have a smorgasbord of options for breakfast and only eat what and how much I wanted. I ended up having ½ a bagel w/ PB, a little quinoa, and cornbread with honey. I have typically eaten almost 800 calories IM race morning to “stock up”. That always left me very full on the swim so this year I was going to do less calories and make sure I got a little more calories throughout the race instead.
I left the room with the quiet confidence that I was ready for the day. I knew what I had to do and just made my way through the whole process of body marking, pumping up tires, dropping off last minute water bottles. Then I found a quiet spot.
I collected myself and went through a few yoga poses while I relaxed and let all the energy and noise around me just pass over me. I got into my wet suit and listened to my theme song for the day… Pink’s “Cuz I can”. It was going to be song that I used throughout the swim to keep my tempo up and it also pumped me up for the race. I started to let the excitement come in and let the energy around me energize me.
I dropped off my dry clothes bag and headed to the swim start.
The Swim
I have a theory about IM swims. If you are comfortable in the water and can stand the washing machine effect start in the front DO IT, regardless of your speed. I would rather be swum over than kicked in the face. So I started 2nd row back behind 3 women who looked to be strong swimmers. My goal was to follow them out into the frenzy and then settle down.
I was surprised at the swim. I had clear water to swim in almost the entire time. It was the easiest IM swim I have had to date. I thought I was swimming really wide to have that much room but I wasn’t more than 10 – 15 yards out from the buoys and I was heading straight for the mountain I had spotted on in my previous swims leading up to the race.
The swim was easy! I felt relaxed, in control, comfortable. I felt like I was keeping my pace up and not relaxing into my stroke too much. My legs did start to cramp up a couple times but I just stopped kicking and just pulled and let my feet relax behind me.
Approaching the swim exit my legs started cramping again. So again I stopped kicking and relaxed my legs and feet. I swam into the finish. Many people started standing at waist deep water on the rocky are no less. I had come in further to the left than I had intended which is the rocky area of the beach. With my tender feet there was no way I was standing until I saw sandy beach. So I kept my head down and kept swimming. Even when I could touch the bottom I kept swimming. I grabbed the rocky bottom and used that to pull against. I was passing people who were trying to wade out right and left. Finally at just below knee depth I hit sandy bottom. I hopped to my feet and ran the rest of the 10 feet out of the water.
I ran out of the water and pointed to my wetsuit strippers and encouraged them to “PULL, PULL” I felt great and was ready to get out on the bike.
I literally found myself right behind Zan getting her Swim to Bike bag. I tapped her and wished her well. She told me I had made my goal time on the swim!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was ecstatic. I hadn’t planned on looking at my watch until I was well onto Main Street so that I wouldn’t know what my swim time had been.
I ran to the changing tents, dumped all my stuff out and let the volunteer help dress me. I grabbed my bike shoes and ran to my bike. At my bike I put on my shoes before unracking my bike. I was on the bike course in just over 3 minutes. A wicked fast transition in my book.
The Bike
I ran into Allison, another Sorella Forte team member, on the way out onto the bike course. I wished her good luck and raced out right behind her. Although I passed her on the way out on Skaha Lake I knew it would just be a short time before she would catch me on the first climb of the day…. And she did. And that was the last I saw her all day.
It felt like I was flying all the way to Osoyoos. I continued to remind myself to be patient and take it easy but the other part of me knew that if I was fast here then I wouldn’t have to worry so much about keeping pace in the last half. So I rode that fine balance between not pushing too hard, yet pushing enough. My avg speed to Osoyoos was 22.5.
When I made the turn for Richter pass that’s when I figured out why it was so fast. A tailwind that was now a headwind. I reminded myself that being a strong rider I had an advantage in a headwind. I may be slow climbing but I have the strength to push into a headwind.
I watched my average speed throughout the bike. I knew to make my goal time I had to average 17.1 mph and I knew with the strong headwind that things were going to be kind of tight. I started getting worried on the rollers on the backside of Richter. I was getting tired and started getting low on nutrition. I had somehow forgotten how far special needs is in Canada…. Mile 85 or so. I hadn’t planned well enough for that. So I went through what I had on the bike and started in on my hammer gel but I’m not a fan of gels. So I ended up grabbing some Gatorade at the aid stations and prayed that it wouldn’t upset my stomach.
Fortuantely I ended up getting a second wind on the out and back section before special needs. I was so happy. I felt good again. I had nutrition on board that I had trained with and was ready to get this race underway since I don’t feel like an IM really starts until about 2/3 of the way into the bike. Everyone feels good up to that point. From there that is where you know how you’re going to do.
I was happy to see the climb to Yellow Lake approaching as the wind just kept getting stronger. It is a bit disconcerting when you are in a low gear concentrating on spinning on a slight downhill. I knew that once I started climbing that I would be shielded from the wind and then it was all downhill from there. Time to use those descending skills!
I was so happy to see that at the top of Yellow lake that I was still averaging 16.7 mph. I knew that the downhill to Penticton would bring that back up. So I flew into town. I speeded past every rider ahead of me barely touching the brakes. Top speed of the day was 49.9 mph!!! It was great. I was relaxed and comfortable and still full of energy. I took in as many calories as I felt comfortable doing on that downhill into town to stock up for the run.
I came off my bike in 6:27. I was ecstatic! I practically danced through transition.
I hadn’t gotten off the bike the entire time so was ready for a bathroom break. I quickly changed and psyched myself up for the run.
The Run
Heading out I realized I hadn’t taken off my gloves and I didn’t want to lose them. I scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face to hand them off to. Fortunately I was Malcolm, Karen’s husband, who took them for me. That was perfect.
I felt great! I saw Jen and Vaughan at the turnaround on lakeshore and gave her a huge High 5 telling her I had rocked the bike course and was feeling great!
My goal was to run for the first 6 miles without walking at all, including aid stations. I had a water bottle pack on me and was carrying a disposable Gluekos container. That worked great. I’ll definitely do that again. It worked really well for me to set short term goals like I want to make it to Mile X by X time. Also carrying my nutrition on me in a form that I could run and drink at the same time worked well too. Carrying my nutrition on me instead of relying upon the aid stations meant that I could take it in whenever I wanted instead of at their intervals. It was perfect. I would highly recommend that strategy to anyone.
I saw my family out on the run twice on the way out to Skaha. They were yelling and screaming their heads off. I was so happy to see them it gave me a good boost.
After mile 7 I started having some stomach issues and needed to use the bathroom. The day before Allison and I had spoken on the phone and she offered me advice from her race last year. She said if you start having stomach issues take care of it right then. Do not wait. So I slowed down my pace a bit and walked a little. I had to do this every time I took in any nutrition. So I developed the strategy of walking up the hills to take in nutrition and letting my stomach settle down and then running the down hills and flats. Fortunately there aren’t many hills in IMC or I may have walked a lot more. I reminded myself to be patient and that this would pass. I set a goal of trying to hit the turn around by 2:30. I didn’t quite make it as I had to stop and use the bathroom again.
I was pretty tired heading back up the hill from the turn around. I wasn’t cramping up and my stomach seemed to be settling down I was just tired. SO I took in more Gluekos and had a talk with myself. If there was no other reason than that I was simply tired that I needed to run. So I did. That seemed to do the trick. I got a third wind and made it through the next few miles using the same strategy of walking uphill to take in nutrition and letting the stomach settle. Soon I found that it hurt more to walk than to run so that helped keep me running. I no longer had any reason to walk. So get a move on I told myself. I gave myself another pep talk about 2 miles before 10K left, I also took an ibuprofen because my hips were getting really sore at this point. SO I decided to take my mind off it by setting a 10 K goal time. At mile 20 I had my goal in mind if I was going to make it if at all possible. I think my goal was a 1:10 for the last 10K which I calculated would put me at 5:30 for the marathon. Although adding 1 + 1 at this point in the day can be a bit challenging. I think my math may have been a little off but having that goal gave me something to focus on.
In the last 10K, I started taking in Pepsi and that was the magic ingredient. My energy came back. My pain went away. My stomach settled down. My negative thoughts dissipated. Who would have known that after all the nutritional focus I have had this year that Pepsi would be the magic ingredient for me.
The last 3 – 4 miles I flew… OK I never fly on the run but for me I felt like I was flying. I felt as good as I did at the beginning of the run so I pushed up the pace. I was surprised to see that I could still control my heart rate. At this point in the run my heart rate has always started to flat line. But not this time. That told me I was in good shape and had absolutely no excuses.
I raced into town. I even hate to admit that enjoyed passing a bunch of people on the way into town ( but it is a race after all right?). It was great. Nothing was going to slow me down.
Cate met me on Main Street and I handed everything extra off to her so I could have the “perfect” finishers photo! (It is all about the finisher photo!) I even tucked away a sponge in my tri tank strap to clean my face off with since other aid stations had run out of sponges. It felt great to see her and know that she would be there at the finish line and that there was no reason I wouldn’t make my goal.
As I ran I called out to the crowd several times… “If we are still running at mile 24 then you need to still be cheering…. It’s an Ironman rule!” That helped. People would then cheer and it gave me that much more energy to keep trying to push it.
I hit Lake Shore Drive and saw my family all cheering me on and Steph, E’llee and Jameson right at the finish line waiting for me. I just had a little left. I gave it a little hop and picked up my pace even more. I saw Jen about half way down Lakeshore and she was screaming. “You’re doing so great! I can’t believe it. You’ll make a 13:15! Go GO GO! With that I ran to the turn around looking for Vaughan and Lucy she said were down there but missed them. On the way back Jen was on the other side still screaming that I could make it. So I kept up my pace but I was getting tired now. This pace was getting hard now but I had less than half a mile left.
I got to the beginning of the finish line and all year I had wanted my mom to cross the finish line with me and I didn’t see her. I started to panic. Where’s Mom I yelled to Steph. “Just keep going, she’s right up there.” My mom had been having lots of heart problems since my last Ironman and I so wanted to cross the finish line with her especially since I was doing this race as a fundraiser in memory of my dad. I found her and my mom ran about 50 yards with me to the finish line screaming and yelling the whole way.
When I crossed I gave her a huge hug and thanked her. It had been a BRILLIANT day! I felt great! It was so great to exceed my own expectations. I was ecstatic.
Run Time 5:20 Total time 13:13:48, 7 minutes faster than my best case scenario.
Then I went to get some food and for the first time following and Ironman I could eat! I wolfed down a turkey sandwich and several cups of fruit. I wanted to get all my stuff and get a shower and get back to the finish line because I didn’t want to miss Zan and Karen’s finish. That was almost as important to me as my own finish. Zan and I had been training together all year and in the past couple months I had gotten to know Karen so seeing them finish and accomplish their goals as well was really important.
So back out I went after a quick shower and a little bit more food. When I saw Karen go by and I yelled and cheered her on. Just a couple minutes back was Zan with a huge smile on her face. I ran with her for a little while down LakeShore and then got my spot behind the finish line so that I could give her a hug when she finished.
I saw both Karen and Zan finish which was so cool! What more can you ask for than to be a witness and some small part of helping another person accomplish their dream. That just made the day so much sweeter.
In conclusion
Now it’s back to reality but I have reserved my spot to sign up for next year, IMC 2008. I’m currently contemplating goals and training plans and what I will do differently and what I will do the same. Most of all I am remembering how lucky I am to be able to do this event at all. And how lucky I am that I have so much support. That makes all the difference in the world.
So next year’s training will be different to be sure but I hope to enjoy it as much as I have this year and be reminded of what is important in life.
I can’t wait to throw my heart over the mountain again and let my body follow!
Love this quote. That is how I felt this year. I felt like I threw my heart over the mountain and my body followed.
Doing an Ironman is more than a race it is a journey. It’s all the hours you spend swimming, biking, running, and strength training. It’s all the time you spend planning your workouts. It’s all the time you spend figuring out how you’re going to possibly fit everything in. It’s all the time you spend making sure your gear is clean and ready, that you have enough nutrition with you for any particular workout. IT’s a wonder anyone makes it to the start line. Just navigating the training program for an Ironman is a commitment.
The other thing I am reminded of is that an Ironman is not a solo journey. When training and racing an Ironman you need support on so many different levels. Family’s support, of course, is the most important and I am wonderfully blessed to have a partner who continues to support me in doing these races. Support from your co-workers who tolerate the spring fever I get when the weather starts turning nice and the unusual and sometimes spontaneous time off requests to get another workout in. And then there’s the training partners who see everything. They see your highs and your lows. The times when you’re flying high after a great workout and the times when you are just downright grumpy and they still pick your butt up for an early morning swim and then bike and somehow get you to laugh at yourself.
The Goal
This being my third IM I felt like I knew enough about myself and the race that I could set a goal time. I had 3 goals for this season:
· Go under 13:30 (Previous IM was 14:59)
· Race ~ 20 lb lighter than prior IM
· Improve all three legs of race
I set these high expectations in November of 2006 and planned my training around them. To achieve these goals I invested a good deal of time and energy into preparing for this race.
· Logged over 600 hours of training in 26 weeks
· Took private swim lessons to work on my swim technique
· Increased my running volume
· Worked with a nutritionist on my daily nutrition
· Changed my race nutrition to liquid only
· Invested in bike fitting, power output meter and new cranks on bike
· Did 2 weeks of “Epic Training” where I logged over 28 hours each week.
The Secret Goal
My published goal was 13:45 but in my heart I really wanted to do a 13:20. I had set a goal time in each leg and if I made each of those times I with two 5 minute transitions I would meet that goal. However I also knew that my last IM race had gone so well that I was a bit nervous that this might be a big challenge because it is a long day and anything can happen so you’ve really got to be careful because you can blow your whole day with one dropped water bottle or pushing too hard at the beginning.
My goals were:
· 1:15 Swim,
· 6:30 bike,
· 5:30 Run (with 15 minutes of bathroom breaks calculated into the run
I had trained this pace. I knew this pace well. My body could hold this pace for a long time. But would I be able to do that the day of the race one right after the other was the question.
I had lunch with a friend prior to leaving for the race and I held onto her words. “Stay Curious”.
Letting go of expectations
With that in mind the two days before the race I really worked on letting go of my expectations. I knew the pace I had to keep to make my times and that became my focus instead of the actual seconds ticking off the clock. That helped a lot. Knowing that I had a pace to keep versus a time to beat. I know it’s all mental but those small things make a difference. Now I could do something about it during the race, not just be disappointed at the end of each leg.
Support Crew
I have to say I have THE BEST SUPPORT CREW EVER!!!! They ran all over the course and cheered me on. They also created great signs and even produced some interesting body art that they displayed proudly. My entire family was there. Rocky, my godson in Colorado was watching online and called the second I crossed the finish line. My IM mentor and good friend Jen was visiting from New Zealand and she, her husband and daughter were all there cheering me on. It was great to have so much support out there.
The Race
I had changed my nutritional habits a great deal over the past couple months so my night before and morning of meals had changed. I was quite frankly experimenting (knowledgeable experimenting) with a new plan and it made me nervous. But I reminded myself to trust the process that I had been using for the past few months and reminded myself how good I had been feeling since changing my habits that it was the right thing to do.
I decided to have a smorgasbord of options for breakfast and only eat what and how much I wanted. I ended up having ½ a bagel w/ PB, a little quinoa, and cornbread with honey. I have typically eaten almost 800 calories IM race morning to “stock up”. That always left me very full on the swim so this year I was going to do less calories and make sure I got a little more calories throughout the race instead.
I left the room with the quiet confidence that I was ready for the day. I knew what I had to do and just made my way through the whole process of body marking, pumping up tires, dropping off last minute water bottles. Then I found a quiet spot.
I collected myself and went through a few yoga poses while I relaxed and let all the energy and noise around me just pass over me. I got into my wet suit and listened to my theme song for the day… Pink’s “Cuz I can”. It was going to be song that I used throughout the swim to keep my tempo up and it also pumped me up for the race. I started to let the excitement come in and let the energy around me energize me.
I dropped off my dry clothes bag and headed to the swim start.
The Swim
I have a theory about IM swims. If you are comfortable in the water and can stand the washing machine effect start in the front DO IT, regardless of your speed. I would rather be swum over than kicked in the face. So I started 2nd row back behind 3 women who looked to be strong swimmers. My goal was to follow them out into the frenzy and then settle down.
I was surprised at the swim. I had clear water to swim in almost the entire time. It was the easiest IM swim I have had to date. I thought I was swimming really wide to have that much room but I wasn’t more than 10 – 15 yards out from the buoys and I was heading straight for the mountain I had spotted on in my previous swims leading up to the race.
The swim was easy! I felt relaxed, in control, comfortable. I felt like I was keeping my pace up and not relaxing into my stroke too much. My legs did start to cramp up a couple times but I just stopped kicking and just pulled and let my feet relax behind me.
Approaching the swim exit my legs started cramping again. So again I stopped kicking and relaxed my legs and feet. I swam into the finish. Many people started standing at waist deep water on the rocky are no less. I had come in further to the left than I had intended which is the rocky area of the beach. With my tender feet there was no way I was standing until I saw sandy beach. So I kept my head down and kept swimming. Even when I could touch the bottom I kept swimming. I grabbed the rocky bottom and used that to pull against. I was passing people who were trying to wade out right and left. Finally at just below knee depth I hit sandy bottom. I hopped to my feet and ran the rest of the 10 feet out of the water.
I ran out of the water and pointed to my wetsuit strippers and encouraged them to “PULL, PULL” I felt great and was ready to get out on the bike.
I literally found myself right behind Zan getting her Swim to Bike bag. I tapped her and wished her well. She told me I had made my goal time on the swim!!! I couldn’t believe it. I was ecstatic. I hadn’t planned on looking at my watch until I was well onto Main Street so that I wouldn’t know what my swim time had been.
I ran to the changing tents, dumped all my stuff out and let the volunteer help dress me. I grabbed my bike shoes and ran to my bike. At my bike I put on my shoes before unracking my bike. I was on the bike course in just over 3 minutes. A wicked fast transition in my book.
The Bike
I ran into Allison, another Sorella Forte team member, on the way out onto the bike course. I wished her good luck and raced out right behind her. Although I passed her on the way out on Skaha Lake I knew it would just be a short time before she would catch me on the first climb of the day…. And she did. And that was the last I saw her all day.
It felt like I was flying all the way to Osoyoos. I continued to remind myself to be patient and take it easy but the other part of me knew that if I was fast here then I wouldn’t have to worry so much about keeping pace in the last half. So I rode that fine balance between not pushing too hard, yet pushing enough. My avg speed to Osoyoos was 22.5.
When I made the turn for Richter pass that’s when I figured out why it was so fast. A tailwind that was now a headwind. I reminded myself that being a strong rider I had an advantage in a headwind. I may be slow climbing but I have the strength to push into a headwind.
I watched my average speed throughout the bike. I knew to make my goal time I had to average 17.1 mph and I knew with the strong headwind that things were going to be kind of tight. I started getting worried on the rollers on the backside of Richter. I was getting tired and started getting low on nutrition. I had somehow forgotten how far special needs is in Canada…. Mile 85 or so. I hadn’t planned well enough for that. So I went through what I had on the bike and started in on my hammer gel but I’m not a fan of gels. So I ended up grabbing some Gatorade at the aid stations and prayed that it wouldn’t upset my stomach.
Fortuantely I ended up getting a second wind on the out and back section before special needs. I was so happy. I felt good again. I had nutrition on board that I had trained with and was ready to get this race underway since I don’t feel like an IM really starts until about 2/3 of the way into the bike. Everyone feels good up to that point. From there that is where you know how you’re going to do.
I was happy to see the climb to Yellow Lake approaching as the wind just kept getting stronger. It is a bit disconcerting when you are in a low gear concentrating on spinning on a slight downhill. I knew that once I started climbing that I would be shielded from the wind and then it was all downhill from there. Time to use those descending skills!
I was so happy to see that at the top of Yellow lake that I was still averaging 16.7 mph. I knew that the downhill to Penticton would bring that back up. So I flew into town. I speeded past every rider ahead of me barely touching the brakes. Top speed of the day was 49.9 mph!!! It was great. I was relaxed and comfortable and still full of energy. I took in as many calories as I felt comfortable doing on that downhill into town to stock up for the run.
I came off my bike in 6:27. I was ecstatic! I practically danced through transition.
I hadn’t gotten off the bike the entire time so was ready for a bathroom break. I quickly changed and psyched myself up for the run.
The Run
Heading out I realized I hadn’t taken off my gloves and I didn’t want to lose them. I scanned the crowd looking for a familiar face to hand them off to. Fortunately I was Malcolm, Karen’s husband, who took them for me. That was perfect.
I felt great! I saw Jen and Vaughan at the turnaround on lakeshore and gave her a huge High 5 telling her I had rocked the bike course and was feeling great!
My goal was to run for the first 6 miles without walking at all, including aid stations. I had a water bottle pack on me and was carrying a disposable Gluekos container. That worked great. I’ll definitely do that again. It worked really well for me to set short term goals like I want to make it to Mile X by X time. Also carrying my nutrition on me in a form that I could run and drink at the same time worked well too. Carrying my nutrition on me instead of relying upon the aid stations meant that I could take it in whenever I wanted instead of at their intervals. It was perfect. I would highly recommend that strategy to anyone.
I saw my family out on the run twice on the way out to Skaha. They were yelling and screaming their heads off. I was so happy to see them it gave me a good boost.
After mile 7 I started having some stomach issues and needed to use the bathroom. The day before Allison and I had spoken on the phone and she offered me advice from her race last year. She said if you start having stomach issues take care of it right then. Do not wait. So I slowed down my pace a bit and walked a little. I had to do this every time I took in any nutrition. So I developed the strategy of walking up the hills to take in nutrition and letting my stomach settle down and then running the down hills and flats. Fortunately there aren’t many hills in IMC or I may have walked a lot more. I reminded myself to be patient and that this would pass. I set a goal of trying to hit the turn around by 2:30. I didn’t quite make it as I had to stop and use the bathroom again.
I was pretty tired heading back up the hill from the turn around. I wasn’t cramping up and my stomach seemed to be settling down I was just tired. SO I took in more Gluekos and had a talk with myself. If there was no other reason than that I was simply tired that I needed to run. So I did. That seemed to do the trick. I got a third wind and made it through the next few miles using the same strategy of walking uphill to take in nutrition and letting the stomach settle. Soon I found that it hurt more to walk than to run so that helped keep me running. I no longer had any reason to walk. So get a move on I told myself. I gave myself another pep talk about 2 miles before 10K left, I also took an ibuprofen because my hips were getting really sore at this point. SO I decided to take my mind off it by setting a 10 K goal time. At mile 20 I had my goal in mind if I was going to make it if at all possible. I think my goal was a 1:10 for the last 10K which I calculated would put me at 5:30 for the marathon. Although adding 1 + 1 at this point in the day can be a bit challenging. I think my math may have been a little off but having that goal gave me something to focus on.
In the last 10K, I started taking in Pepsi and that was the magic ingredient. My energy came back. My pain went away. My stomach settled down. My negative thoughts dissipated. Who would have known that after all the nutritional focus I have had this year that Pepsi would be the magic ingredient for me.
The last 3 – 4 miles I flew… OK I never fly on the run but for me I felt like I was flying. I felt as good as I did at the beginning of the run so I pushed up the pace. I was surprised to see that I could still control my heart rate. At this point in the run my heart rate has always started to flat line. But not this time. That told me I was in good shape and had absolutely no excuses.
I raced into town. I even hate to admit that enjoyed passing a bunch of people on the way into town ( but it is a race after all right?). It was great. Nothing was going to slow me down.
Cate met me on Main Street and I handed everything extra off to her so I could have the “perfect” finishers photo! (It is all about the finisher photo!) I even tucked away a sponge in my tri tank strap to clean my face off with since other aid stations had run out of sponges. It felt great to see her and know that she would be there at the finish line and that there was no reason I wouldn’t make my goal.
As I ran I called out to the crowd several times… “If we are still running at mile 24 then you need to still be cheering…. It’s an Ironman rule!” That helped. People would then cheer and it gave me that much more energy to keep trying to push it.
I hit Lake Shore Drive and saw my family all cheering me on and Steph, E’llee and Jameson right at the finish line waiting for me. I just had a little left. I gave it a little hop and picked up my pace even more. I saw Jen about half way down Lakeshore and she was screaming. “You’re doing so great! I can’t believe it. You’ll make a 13:15! Go GO GO! With that I ran to the turn around looking for Vaughan and Lucy she said were down there but missed them. On the way back Jen was on the other side still screaming that I could make it. So I kept up my pace but I was getting tired now. This pace was getting hard now but I had less than half a mile left.
I got to the beginning of the finish line and all year I had wanted my mom to cross the finish line with me and I didn’t see her. I started to panic. Where’s Mom I yelled to Steph. “Just keep going, she’s right up there.” My mom had been having lots of heart problems since my last Ironman and I so wanted to cross the finish line with her especially since I was doing this race as a fundraiser in memory of my dad. I found her and my mom ran about 50 yards with me to the finish line screaming and yelling the whole way.
When I crossed I gave her a huge hug and thanked her. It had been a BRILLIANT day! I felt great! It was so great to exceed my own expectations. I was ecstatic.
Run Time 5:20 Total time 13:13:48, 7 minutes faster than my best case scenario.
Then I went to get some food and for the first time following and Ironman I could eat! I wolfed down a turkey sandwich and several cups of fruit. I wanted to get all my stuff and get a shower and get back to the finish line because I didn’t want to miss Zan and Karen’s finish. That was almost as important to me as my own finish. Zan and I had been training together all year and in the past couple months I had gotten to know Karen so seeing them finish and accomplish their goals as well was really important.
So back out I went after a quick shower and a little bit more food. When I saw Karen go by and I yelled and cheered her on. Just a couple minutes back was Zan with a huge smile on her face. I ran with her for a little while down LakeShore and then got my spot behind the finish line so that I could give her a hug when she finished.
I saw both Karen and Zan finish which was so cool! What more can you ask for than to be a witness and some small part of helping another person accomplish their dream. That just made the day so much sweeter.
In conclusion
Now it’s back to reality but I have reserved my spot to sign up for next year, IMC 2008. I’m currently contemplating goals and training plans and what I will do differently and what I will do the same. Most of all I am remembering how lucky I am to be able to do this event at all. And how lucky I am that I have so much support. That makes all the difference in the world.
So next year’s training will be different to be sure but I hope to enjoy it as much as I have this year and be reminded of what is important in life.
I can’t wait to throw my heart over the mountain again and let my body follow!
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Run Averages
This is based on what my watch recorded but since it tracked 27.5 miles it obviously was off but it does give some good information.
Mile 1: 10:33 Avg 143
Mile 2: 10:32 Avg 148
Mile 3: 10:44 Avg 148
Mile 4: 10:32 Avg 146
Mile 5: 10:10 Avg 142
Mile 6: 10:54 Avg 143
Mile 7: 10:36 Avg 141
Mile 8: 15:18 Avg 132
Mile 9: 10:52 Avg 142
Mile 10: 12:08 Avg 142
Mile 11: 11:58 Avg 139
Mile 12: 12:22 Avg 139
Mile 13: 10:50 Avg 140
Mile 14: 15:10 Avg 130
Mile 15: 12:22 Avg 135
Mile 16: 13:34 Avg 137
Mile 17: 11:12 Avg 137
Mile 18: 11:32 Avg 137
Mile 19: 11:56 Avg 138
Mile 20: 13:50 Avg 131
Mile 21: 12:30 Avg 136
Mile 22: 13:10 Avg 134
Mile 23: 11:34 Avg 137
Mile 24: 11:40 Avg 141
Mile 25: 11:20 Avg 138
Mile 26: 9:46 Avg 144
Mile 27: 9:44 Avg 155
Mile 1: 10:33 Avg 143
Mile 2: 10:32 Avg 148
Mile 3: 10:44 Avg 148
Mile 4: 10:32 Avg 146
Mile 5: 10:10 Avg 142
Mile 6: 10:54 Avg 143
Mile 7: 10:36 Avg 141
Mile 8: 15:18 Avg 132
Mile 9: 10:52 Avg 142
Mile 10: 12:08 Avg 142
Mile 11: 11:58 Avg 139
Mile 12: 12:22 Avg 139
Mile 13: 10:50 Avg 140
Mile 14: 15:10 Avg 130
Mile 15: 12:22 Avg 135
Mile 16: 13:34 Avg 137
Mile 17: 11:12 Avg 137
Mile 18: 11:32 Avg 137
Mile 19: 11:56 Avg 138
Mile 20: 13:50 Avg 131
Mile 21: 12:30 Avg 136
Mile 22: 13:10 Avg 134
Mile 23: 11:34 Avg 137
Mile 24: 11:40 Avg 141
Mile 25: 11:20 Avg 138
Mile 26: 9:46 Avg 144
Mile 27: 9:44 Avg 155
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Nutrition
I think that one of the most important factors of having a successful race is nutrition. It is a multi-faceted thing from eating to recover from workouts to executing great nutrition during the race.
So here's what I have done in regards to my day to day nutrition. i worked/am working with a nutritionist to help me to improve my body composition and to also recover better from my workouts. I changed my eating habits alot in the last few months. I have probably doubled my veggie and fruit consumption and reduced my protien consumption of animal protein.
The day before the race I had oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was a turkey sandwich. Dinner quinoa w/ mushrooms, roasted potatos, and some chicken.
Breakfast was cornbread, quinoa, bagel & peanut butter. I'm guessing about 600 calories or so. And don't forget the diet coke, I had stayed off caffeine for 2 weeks prior to the race.
After the swim I got on the bike and I had 3 bottles of perpetuem, 1 bottle of gluekos and 1 bottle of water. I sipped my water for the first 20 minutes or so. I ended up spitting out about a quarter of my water because I didn't need that much water and needed to start my perpetuem and needed to put it in my aero bottle.
I drank about 1 bottle of perpetuem an hour on the bike. I had a little bit of gas during the first part of the bike but it eventually stopped. Going up richeter I started drinking the gluekos. Over the rolling hills I drank my last bottle of perpetuem. unfortunately I was out of my own nutrition and needed some more nutrition so grabbed water and used some of the hammer gel I had on my bike but that wasn't working so well for me. So at the next stop I took gatorade and that helped.
I was taking about 1 additional salt tab per hour. I had already put 1 tablet in each bottle to begin with.
Special needs was further out than I had anticipated. I was happy to get my special needs and get my bottles. I had put 3 bottles of perpetuem on the bike. I drank about 2.5 of them from special needs on through to T2. My stomach felt a bit bloated on the bike. I hadn't stopped and peed the entire time I was on teh bike which was concerning me.
In T2 I finally peed. I didn't want to take the time but it made sense to do it then since I didn't know if the blue rooms would be open or if I'd have to wait.
I had a bottle of Gluekos and I also had a flast of gluekos as well. I ran the first 6 miles without stopping. I never walked until I got to the bathroom at mile 7. I had finished my flask by mile 4. By mile 8 I needed to refill my bottle. I had most of that gone by the time I was at the turn around. I grabbed my other bottle at special needs. I drank most of that on the way out by mile 18. Filled my bottle again and drank about half of it. In the last 10 K I switched to pepsi on the course. And that was the magical formula. It was perfect. My stomach settled down and I got a 4th wind.
So here's what I have done in regards to my day to day nutrition. i worked/am working with a nutritionist to help me to improve my body composition and to also recover better from my workouts. I changed my eating habits alot in the last few months. I have probably doubled my veggie and fruit consumption and reduced my protien consumption of animal protein.
The day before the race I had oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch was a turkey sandwich. Dinner quinoa w/ mushrooms, roasted potatos, and some chicken.
Breakfast was cornbread, quinoa, bagel & peanut butter. I'm guessing about 600 calories or so. And don't forget the diet coke, I had stayed off caffeine for 2 weeks prior to the race.
After the swim I got on the bike and I had 3 bottles of perpetuem, 1 bottle of gluekos and 1 bottle of water. I sipped my water for the first 20 minutes or so. I ended up spitting out about a quarter of my water because I didn't need that much water and needed to start my perpetuem and needed to put it in my aero bottle.
I drank about 1 bottle of perpetuem an hour on the bike. I had a little bit of gas during the first part of the bike but it eventually stopped. Going up richeter I started drinking the gluekos. Over the rolling hills I drank my last bottle of perpetuem. unfortunately I was out of my own nutrition and needed some more nutrition so grabbed water and used some of the hammer gel I had on my bike but that wasn't working so well for me. So at the next stop I took gatorade and that helped.
I was taking about 1 additional salt tab per hour. I had already put 1 tablet in each bottle to begin with.
Special needs was further out than I had anticipated. I was happy to get my special needs and get my bottles. I had put 3 bottles of perpetuem on the bike. I drank about 2.5 of them from special needs on through to T2. My stomach felt a bit bloated on the bike. I hadn't stopped and peed the entire time I was on teh bike which was concerning me.
In T2 I finally peed. I didn't want to take the time but it made sense to do it then since I didn't know if the blue rooms would be open or if I'd have to wait.
I had a bottle of Gluekos and I also had a flast of gluekos as well. I ran the first 6 miles without stopping. I never walked until I got to the bathroom at mile 7. I had finished my flask by mile 4. By mile 8 I needed to refill my bottle. I had most of that gone by the time I was at the turn around. I grabbed my other bottle at special needs. I drank most of that on the way out by mile 18. Filled my bottle again and drank about half of it. In the last 10 K I switched to pepsi on the course. And that was the magical formula. It was perfect. My stomach settled down and I got a 4th wind.
A Brilliant Day
Here I am with E'llee getting my post race snuggle!
It was a Brilliant day. I couldn't have executed my race any better than I did.
Here I am on the run. I felt good throughout for the most part. There was very little reason for me to stop and walk. For the most part I felt great.
Monday, August 27, 2007
IRONMAN CANADA!!!!!
Yesterday was a BRILLIANT Day! I was so excited to see my race unfold for me. I went into this race confident but also cautious that I may feel too confident and end up blowing up and learning a different lesson for the day.
I had a secret, unpublished goal for this race:
I had a secret, unpublished goal for this race:
- Swim 1:15
- Bike 6:30
- Run 5:30
- Transitions 10 minutes between the two
I figured if I made all these I would be done in 13:20.
So how did I do?
- Swim: 1:15:29
- T1: 3:26
- Bike:6.27
- T2: 6:26
- Run: 5:20:56
- Total: 13:13:48
YEAH ME!
RACE MORNING BREAKFAST
I woke at 4 am.... OK not exactly. I woke at 2 am or so and tried to at least relax and rest since I couldn't sleep. So I started my day prior to 4 am by eating what sounded good for breakfast. I started with a little quinoa that I had left over from the night before for my protein and then had 1/2 a bagel with peanut butter and then some cornbread with honey. I just ate what sounded good at the moment. I tried to eat enough but not too much. It seemed to work well for me.
THE SWIM
I had decided not to look at my watch coming out of the swim because I was nervous that if I didn't make my goal time or at least do what I have in the past that I would be discouraged and it might affect my attitude. When I came out I saw Zan right ahead of me. I tapped her on the back and said howdy and she told me I made my time! I was thrilled. My legs had started to cramp up on the swim. I don't know why I repeatedly have this issue during an IM swim. I swim this distance all the time and I don't have the issue except when I am in an Ironman even though I have taken electrolytes prior to the swim. I usually take 2 tablets prior to the swim so its not an electrolyte issue. I kind of wonder if its because the wetsuit restricts my muscles of the blood flow that I get cramps.
My mantra for the day was to stay in the moment and stay curious. So I just let the cramps relax and tried to deal with what was happening in that moment instead of worrying about the rest of the day.
The Bike
I flew out to Osoyoos. I think my avg speed was about 22 mph. It didn't feel like we had a tailwind until we turned up richter then I knew that the rest of the bike was going to get tough. I chose to shift to my easiest gear and do my best to save my legs for the run. I spun up richter and then flew down the other side passing cars that were slowing for other cyclists.
When I hit the rollers i just tried to relax and again tell myself that I needed to save my legs. So I took full advantage of the down hills and then spun up the other side. i was glad to tick off 7 in my head and just be faced with wind.
Being such a big race it was hard not to draft. I am strong on the flats so I tend to fall behind on the climbs and then catch back up on the flats. It was really windy but I tried to stay back 3 bike lengths from everyone but is hard to do that when it is just a steady stream of cyclists.
We got to the out and back and I was getting worried. I was completely out of nutrition on my bike. I had taken water at the last aide station to wash down the hammer gel but my stomach wasn't dealing with the hammer gel very well. So I ended up grabbing gatorade at the next aid station. I was afraid of what would happen because hammer tells you not to mix corn syrup with their products but I was getting desperate.
Next year I need to remember that special needs is about mile 85 so I need to carry concentrated versions of things on my bike and then dilute them with water because I was out. Once I had a tailwind I got my second wind. I had gotten retty tired pushing into the wind even thought I had tried to tell myself to take it easy. Fortunately the out and back gave me an opportunity to ease up and finally get some more nutrition on board.
At the turnaround we were back into the head wind but it didn't feel so bad for some reason. I was hoping to see Zan after the turn around and wish her luck but I didn't. Once we got onto 97 the wind was blowing right into our face. It is a little bit of a down hill but I was just trying to spin it out in a small gear. There were lots of people trying to push a big gear but with that headwind it didn't make any sense. It also started to sprinkle just a little.
Quite frankly I was happy to see the start of the climb to yellow lake because I knew finally we would be out fo the wind and soon I could rock and roll the descent.
As usual I fell behind on the climb but not too bad. Many had faded much more than I had. I was keeping up with most of the women climbing at this point. The men still passed, no surprise there.
When we finally got to the top I just let it go. I relaxed and enjoyed the drop into Penticton and saw my avg speed bump up from below 17 to by the time I reached T2 17.4. I was stoked.
I hadn't had to stop which concerned me a bit. I had to pee a little but not too bad. I hoped I wasn't underhydrated.
T2
In T2 I quickly made the decisions aobut what I would and wouldn't need. I prayed it wouldn't be too cool for a tank on the run but on the way in on teh bike i noticed lots of people wearing taknks so I figured I would be OK.
To be finished later
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Looking good
We just saw Deb just below Yellow Lake and she had a big smile on her face. We actually saw her at 1:36
The weather is still great - about 75.Way to go Deb
Deb is out of the water
Deb got out at aroung 1:12. I think I missed her bike exit
The day is perfect for the race. The clouds are clearing and it is only supposed to get to about 75
We are headed to Richter Pass to see her on the bike. Keep 5eb in your thoughts today. And Zan too!
My roles
I didn't sleep much last night. Surprise. I never sleep well the night prior to an ironman and while I couldn't sleep I thought about all my different roles. Partner. Mom. Grandma. Sister daughter friend. Mentor. Student. Training partner. Coworker. That's a lot of roles. But today I get to draw upon all those who call me by all those names and just focus on being an ironman.
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