I don't know how he does it.
Dean Karnazes is waking up every morning, running a marathon in about four hours, then doing it all over again - each day in a different state, hitting all 50, with no rest days between.
I slept fitfully last night, dreaming that I'd lost my carefully-laid out clothing, that I was late, that I was left behind - but got up and ran one marathon this morning with Dean, and can barely walk this evening.
When I first heard of this stunt, of course I wanted to participate - and after all, I had a 22-mile run scheduled for Sept. 30 anyway, and Dean was supposed to run these marathons between 4:30 and 5 hours each. So I figured, sure, it's 4.2 miles longer, but it's slower than I planned to run a full marathon, so of course I could do it.
Well, Dean has been running around 4 hours, 4:15 or so, and since in my one marathon that I trained 16 weeks for I did 4:17, I knew today would be a stretch. The primary mitigating factor I tried to keep in my head was how much more fit I am now, how much more endurance I have, and how many events I've done this year that were much longer (in elapsed time) than a marathon, but still - with the half-Ironman last weekend, I am definitely not recovered and well-rested, and a marathon today, for me, wasn't probably advisable.
However, it was inspirational. A full group of 44 people showed up to run with Dean, who was so kind and interested in everyone. I'm fairly certain at some point in the marathon he ran next to every single person, heard their stories and discussed his running career - and then after the marathon, he continued to be incredibly generous with his time (taking quite a while to sign each participant's copy of his book, Ultra Marathon Man, but no one was complaining).
The race itself was not actually the Seafair Marathon course, as advertised - it was two loops of the Seafair Half Marathon, which is one of the few races I've done twice (now four times!). It was kind of hard to hear that two miles in - I knew coming to the finish line the first time would be demoralizing.
For the first loop, Danielle and I were usually in the front of the crowd. We were running between a 9:15 and 10 minute mile - perfect and comfortable. A bunch of the guys were really fast runners, so we kept speeding up a little then having to pull it back so we continued to have our police escort (the rule was, stay with Dean or you're on your own). When we got back to Bellevue's Downtown Park to begin the second loop, though, about half the group dropped off - the back half. That left the faster folks to run with Dean.
We had done the first 13.1 in 2:08, but by about mile 15 or so I was seeing my position drop from the front of the pack to the middle to the back...and by mile 17 or so, I could no longer keep up. I told Danielle I wasn't going to be able to stay with the group, and I don't even need to say what she did - of course she stayed with me.
Unfortunately, this meant that we lost the police escort stopping traffic and had to use sidewalks and crosswalks in order to follow the course - so we fell behind not only because I was slower, but also because had to stop and wait for the lights.
At one point, we almost caught back up to Dean - he had pulled off the course to use a Porta-Potty - but he was far enough ahead and must have sprinted to re-catch the group, because we couldn't make it. So we navigated the course ourselves - thank goodness for my great memory of these things, including where the mile markers were on the Seafair course (of course there were no mile markers out for us, but I knew where the 20 and 23 mile markers should have been, so that kept me motivated).
My calves had cramped at mile 14, and stayed that way the rest of the run. Other pains came and went in my legs and feet, and at some point, I felt weird cramping in my belly (which I later realized was likely the exact moment I got my period, sorry for the TMI, guys. Menstruation happens).
I had close to enough water and NUUN, though, and plenty of Jelly Belly Sport Beans and GU so I just kept on a decent eating schedule (every 50 minutes or so). At a couple of points, stuff hurt really bad. Danielle and I debated what we would tell someone else who was in pain - would we tell someone to walk? To stop? To keep going and push through? I knew from the street crossings that stopping sucked, but I wasn't sure about walking. Somewhere before mile 23, we decided to try it.
We stopped running and started walking, and all of a sudden it felt to me like I was trying to go through a brick wall. The air felt heavy and thick and my arms wanted to cut through it as if it were water and I was swimming. My head spun and suddenly it was actually harder to breathe. I believe Danielle felt something similar, because we looked at each other, said, "Uh-uh!" and started running again.
At mile 25 I stumbled over a bump in the sidewalk (Danielle had stumbled there on the previous loop, too). My left foot went all the way forward in my shoe, slamming my toes against the top, and I think I screamed. It hurt like hell, and I couldn't run normally anymore. I was running on the side of my left foot and almost regular on my right foot - a very bizarre feeling - but we were so close and I was going to finish running.
We had to cross another street, and after we did, I got a burst of energy that helped push me up the final hill to the finish line. My toes didn't hurt quite so badly then (although they sure do now!) and we picked up the pace considerably. Nothing hurt for a moment - and we saw the finish line, started our sprint, and stayed together.
The rest of the group had finished already, but they all looked when we arrived and started clapping and shouting for us. Even Dean, already signing autographs, came out from behind his table to greet us and give us both kisses on the cheek for finishing.
The run wasn't officially timed for anyone but Dean, but our heart rate monitors said we'd been going for 4:28. Take off 5-7 minutes for street crossings, and that's not a bad marathon!
So now, I'm incredibly sore. It's hard to walk. My knees and feet hurt. My hip flexors hurt and I'm walking as if I just got off a horse (I imagine...I've never actually been on a horse). My back and neck are a little sore, and I'm exhausted. Tomorrow I want to do nothing but sleep, and tomorrow Dean is going to wake up and do the Portland, OR Marathon. I'm impressed!
Dean has updated his blog with his report about the marathon today - if he did it in 4:07, as the site reports, no wonder I couldn't keep up - that means he did a 1:59 for the second 13.1, negative splitting the thing by quite a bit. And there's a picture here - Danielle and I are in pink, in the back, one person separating us from Dean. :-)
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Friday, September 29, 2006
All the triathletes are right here
So there's this article on xTri.com about where did all the triathletes go? Here's my answer.
There are very few sports where the professional and the recreational mix. Running and triathlon are two of them, and I think for good reason.
Who follows professional running and triathlon? Recreational runners and triathletes, that's who. Who helps provide the money for sponsorships of the pros? We do.
Maybe if road races or triathlons were only for the pros, people would pay for tickets to be able to watch. But...I don't think it's likely. Endurance sports are sometimes interesting to watch, but frankly, not usually. The distances covered (even in a sprint) are just too vast; cool breakaways happen over distance and the individual, sitting still in some grandstand, doesn't actually get to see most of it. So the pros need us, the recreational athletes: their sponsorships and ability to race depend on our wallets.
Road races and triathlons also require a lot from the communities that host them. The general public - people who don't care at all about triathlon or running - have to put up with road closures and limitations and inaccessible public parks. And then, every race requires a ton of volunteers! Imagine the cost of paying all the folks who hand out water on a race course. How many volunteers would come out just for the pros? And where would the money come from to support pros alone?
The article talks about how DNFs are on the rise. I certainly wouldn't advocate going out and signing up for Ironman without proper training - whatever proper training means for the individual in relation to his goals - but I don't think it's that big of a deal. There will always be people with too much money and too little sense who will attempt feats they shouldn't - climbing Mt. Everest, taking a space shuttle to the moon, whatever. But I have to believe that most people who want to complete the Ironman know that it's not just about the single day - it's about six months or a year of hard work to get you ready for the day. And we also know that no matter how ready we think we are or aren't, there's no promise we're going to finish.
Oh, and of course DNFs are on the rise - participation in running and triathlon is on the rise. Did DNF not exist when the Boston marathon was only open to men? Isn't it great for both sports that more and more people are participating - and CARE about professional athletes in these sports?
I'm a recreational triathlete and runner and proud of it. I'm honored to be able to participate in the same races as the pros, and I'm happy for them that they (usually) get their own categories and start times and the like. But I don't think the sports would exist on the scale that they do if the recreational folks weren't included in the races, big and small. I'm always in awe of the 8 or 9 or even 10 hour Ironman finishers, and the 2 or 3 hour marathon finishers - and I'm equally as excited to see the weight-loser or fund-raiser or happy jogger finish just under the cutoff. They're athletes too, and they have the right to be there, whether Martin Spierings likes it or not.
There are very few sports where the professional and the recreational mix. Running and triathlon are two of them, and I think for good reason.
Who follows professional running and triathlon? Recreational runners and triathletes, that's who. Who helps provide the money for sponsorships of the pros? We do.
Maybe if road races or triathlons were only for the pros, people would pay for tickets to be able to watch. But...I don't think it's likely. Endurance sports are sometimes interesting to watch, but frankly, not usually. The distances covered (even in a sprint) are just too vast; cool breakaways happen over distance and the individual, sitting still in some grandstand, doesn't actually get to see most of it. So the pros need us, the recreational athletes: their sponsorships and ability to race depend on our wallets.
Road races and triathlons also require a lot from the communities that host them. The general public - people who don't care at all about triathlon or running - have to put up with road closures and limitations and inaccessible public parks. And then, every race requires a ton of volunteers! Imagine the cost of paying all the folks who hand out water on a race course. How many volunteers would come out just for the pros? And where would the money come from to support pros alone?
The article talks about how DNFs are on the rise. I certainly wouldn't advocate going out and signing up for Ironman without proper training - whatever proper training means for the individual in relation to his goals - but I don't think it's that big of a deal. There will always be people with too much money and too little sense who will attempt feats they shouldn't - climbing Mt. Everest, taking a space shuttle to the moon, whatever. But I have to believe that most people who want to complete the Ironman know that it's not just about the single day - it's about six months or a year of hard work to get you ready for the day. And we also know that no matter how ready we think we are or aren't, there's no promise we're going to finish.
Oh, and of course DNFs are on the rise - participation in running and triathlon is on the rise. Did DNF not exist when the Boston marathon was only open to men? Isn't it great for both sports that more and more people are participating - and CARE about professional athletes in these sports?
I'm a recreational triathlete and runner and proud of it. I'm honored to be able to participate in the same races as the pros, and I'm happy for them that they (usually) get their own categories and start times and the like. But I don't think the sports would exist on the scale that they do if the recreational folks weren't included in the races, big and small. I'm always in awe of the 8 or 9 or even 10 hour Ironman finishers, and the 2 or 3 hour marathon finishers - and I'm equally as excited to see the weight-loser or fund-raiser or happy jogger finish just under the cutoff. They're athletes too, and they have the right to be there, whether Martin Spierings likes it or not.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
The Funnest 5K!
Check this out!
From the site:
--
Aloha! Do you have a great attitude, sense of adventure, and a willingness to play rain or shine? Can you have fun with the unexpected? Then join us for the Winter Pineapple Classic - a 5K run with three large obstacles along the course and smaller obstacles at the end - on Nov. 11, 2006 at Warren G. Magnuson Park in Seattle. Obstacles are unknown until race day.
--
You have to do this as a team, either two or four people. So...duh! Of course Danielle, Aleks, Regan and I are forming a team!
Okay folks. I know there are a bunch of you out there who know me and read this blog and NEVER comment...and that's totally cool, but this message is for you: if you're local (or want to come visit!) and want to do this race, email me and I will see if I can put my friends in touch with other friends to form teams.
How much fun does this sound like? TOO MUCH!!!
Email me now! Yes, you! :-)
From the site:
--
Aloha! Do you have a great attitude, sense of adventure, and a willingness to play rain or shine? Can you have fun with the unexpected? Then join us for the Winter Pineapple Classic - a 5K run with three large obstacles along the course and smaller obstacles at the end - on Nov. 11, 2006 at Warren G. Magnuson Park in Seattle. Obstacles are unknown until race day.
--
You have to do this as a team, either two or four people. So...duh! Of course Danielle, Aleks, Regan and I are forming a team!
Okay folks. I know there are a bunch of you out there who know me and read this blog and NEVER comment...and that's totally cool, but this message is for you: if you're local (or want to come visit!) and want to do this race, email me and I will see if I can put my friends in touch with other friends to form teams.
How much fun does this sound like? TOO MUCH!!!
Email me now! Yes, you! :-)
I ate a brownie
And I'm not too sorry. Slightly so, because now I feel really full.
Food:
Pre-workout: Mini Clif bar, milk in coffee: 130 cals
Breakfast: Pear, cheddar cheese, two hard-boiled eggs: 310 cals
Lunch: Chicken and mozzarella sandwich, 700 cals
Brownie: 400 calories (est)
total so far: 1540 calories
Exercise:
Run 70 minutes, 500 calories burned
Food:
Pre-workout: Mini Clif bar, milk in coffee: 130 cals
Breakfast: Pear, cheddar cheese, two hard-boiled eggs: 310 cals
Lunch: Chicken and mozzarella sandwich, 700 cals
Brownie: 400 calories (est)
total so far: 1540 calories
Exercise:
Run 70 minutes, 500 calories burned
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I got a flat tire! And I changed it myself, no problem!
Picture this: I've been lagging behind on a hilly ride - five guys, all hard-core serious riders, plus me. I can hang on the flats, but on the hills, my body is tired and it shows. Plus, I'm in a skirt, of course - everyone is quite aware that I'm a girl.
We're 1.5 miles from the end of our ride, at a stoplight. All of a sudden, hisssssssss! We all look at the source, and it's my front tire, visibly deflating.
Laugh or cry? Well, of course it's laugh - my nerves got the best of me. We cross the intersection - I carry my bike, thank goodness it's light - and I stop in some shade. Since we're close to the end of the ride and it is workday, the group splits up - three guys head back, two stay with me.
They offer to help me, but I say, "You know, I appreciate that, but I think I ought to do it myself. I'll let you know if I need some help." They look like they approve.
I get out my tools. I take the front tire off. They're totally watching my every move. I get the tire off the rim easily and pull out the tube. I hand the tube to one of the guys, saying, "Can you check this out and see if you can see the leak?"
Then I say something about how I'm not wearing gloves today, but I need to check the inside of my tire. Immediately the guy checking my tube shows me the hole - right next to the valve - and we can see there's nothing inside my tire that caused it. Looks like a pinch flat that blew.
I get out the new tube, insert it all around, and tuck the tire back into the rim. I have to use my tire lever to finish tucking the tire in, but it goes pretty easily. One of the guys looks at me and says, "Nice job! That was fast!" The other guy nods.
I am so excited, but now comes the hard part. Fortunately, I have a great pump - it's this one - and I'm able to pretty quickly get the PSI up to 90. One of the guys had offered to take over for a spell if I wanted; once I got to 90, I figured he could finish it off (it's so hard to pump beyond that). He gets it to 110 for me and we're off!
Suddenly, I'm not sore and tired anymore. I'm elated. I took care of my own flat tire when it counted!
So here are today's data:
Food:
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, cottage cheese, nectarine, milk in coffee: 445 cals
Snack: String cheese and cherry tomatoes, 105 cals
Lunch: Turkey sandwich on ciabbatta, 600 calories
Chocolate: 1 small piece, 55 cals
Total so far: 1205 calories
Dinner: Chicken breast, peas, sweet potato with a little fake butter: 600 cals
Dessert: Someone brought over chocolate pudding pie, yum: 300 cals
Total for the day: 2105 cals
Exercise:
1.5 hours riding my bike, 800 calories burned
We're 1.5 miles from the end of our ride, at a stoplight. All of a sudden, hisssssssss! We all look at the source, and it's my front tire, visibly deflating.
Laugh or cry? Well, of course it's laugh - my nerves got the best of me. We cross the intersection - I carry my bike, thank goodness it's light - and I stop in some shade. Since we're close to the end of the ride and it is workday, the group splits up - three guys head back, two stay with me.
They offer to help me, but I say, "You know, I appreciate that, but I think I ought to do it myself. I'll let you know if I need some help." They look like they approve.
I get out my tools. I take the front tire off. They're totally watching my every move. I get the tire off the rim easily and pull out the tube. I hand the tube to one of the guys, saying, "Can you check this out and see if you can see the leak?"
Then I say something about how I'm not wearing gloves today, but I need to check the inside of my tire. Immediately the guy checking my tube shows me the hole - right next to the valve - and we can see there's nothing inside my tire that caused it. Looks like a pinch flat that blew.
I get out the new tube, insert it all around, and tuck the tire back into the rim. I have to use my tire lever to finish tucking the tire in, but it goes pretty easily. One of the guys looks at me and says, "Nice job! That was fast!" The other guy nods.
I am so excited, but now comes the hard part. Fortunately, I have a great pump - it's this one - and I'm able to pretty quickly get the PSI up to 90. One of the guys had offered to take over for a spell if I wanted; once I got to 90, I figured he could finish it off (it's so hard to pump beyond that). He gets it to 110 for me and we're off!
Suddenly, I'm not sore and tired anymore. I'm elated. I took care of my own flat tire when it counted!
So here are today's data:
Food:
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, cottage cheese, nectarine, milk in coffee: 445 cals
Snack: String cheese and cherry tomatoes, 105 cals
Lunch: Turkey sandwich on ciabbatta, 600 calories
Chocolate: 1 small piece, 55 cals
Total so far: 1205 calories
Dinner: Chicken breast, peas, sweet potato with a little fake butter: 600 cals
Dessert: Someone brought over chocolate pudding pie, yum: 300 cals
Total for the day: 2105 cals
Exercise:
1.5 hours riding my bike, 800 calories burned
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Just a run
Hey! Check it out! I only exercised for 84 minutes today! I ran outside, then stretched, then went to work!
And I feel okay with it! Mostly because if I'm going to run a marathon on Saturday, I better rest some this week!
So, today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop, tiny bit of milk (because my coffee was too hot so I didn't drink much): 110 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, banana, peanut butter: 385 cals
Lunch: 1/2 roast beef sandwich (300 cals), lentil soup, 180 cals: total 480 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola: 200 cals
Dinner: Salad with LF dressing and 3 oz salmon: 300 cals
Dessert: Pear and cheddar cheese, 250 cals
Total for the day: 1725 cals
Exercise:
Run 84 minutes, 600 cals burned
And I feel okay with it! Mostly because if I'm going to run a marathon on Saturday, I better rest some this week!
So, today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop, tiny bit of milk (because my coffee was too hot so I didn't drink much): 110 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, banana, peanut butter: 385 cals
Lunch: 1/2 roast beef sandwich (300 cals), lentil soup, 180 cals: total 480 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola: 200 cals
Dinner: Salad with LF dressing and 3 oz salmon: 300 cals
Dessert: Pear and cheddar cheese, 250 cals
Total for the day: 1725 cals
Exercise:
Run 84 minutes, 600 cals burned
Monday, September 25, 2006
Back to the diet
Well, that little break from meal-tracking was all kinds of exciting, but I tried on two pairs of my jeans last night (yeah, fresh from the dryer, but still) and they felt tight. So it's time to really fix it. (You can tell it's Monday by my excellent resolve. Ha.)
Today Nancy asked if we could move our regular Tuesday run to Monday so she could come; she's out of town for the next couple of weeks. However, her hip was bothering her, so we opted to walk 4.4 miles instead. It was fine with me; I should be in recovery mode anyway, not full-on exercise anyway.
So we walked for about 68 minutes, then I hopped on the Stairmaster for a boring 30 minutes of more cardio...then did some strength training for another 30 minutes. It was a little weird - I couldn't get my heart rate up. It was as if my body was saying, "Hey! I may not hurt anymore from the weekend, but I'm not ready for anthing intense! No!"
That's pretty much it. The plan for this week is to be low-key going into Saturday's marathon.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Pria bar and milk in coffee, 140 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, fruit, cottage cheese, 445 cals
Lunch: Cafeteria Indian food, 600 cals
Chocolate: 1 piece, 55 cals
total so far: 1240 cals
Dinner: Salad from Baja Fresh, 700 cals
Ugh: trail mix! John SHOULD NOT buy this stuff, because I can't keep myself away from it!
Total: 1940 of reasonable food....don't want to admit how many hundreds of calories I surely consumed in trail mix.
Exercise:
Walk 68 minutes
Stairmaster 30 minutes
Strength train 30 minutes
600 calories burned
Today Nancy asked if we could move our regular Tuesday run to Monday so she could come; she's out of town for the next couple of weeks. However, her hip was bothering her, so we opted to walk 4.4 miles instead. It was fine with me; I should be in recovery mode anyway, not full-on exercise anyway.
So we walked for about 68 minutes, then I hopped on the Stairmaster for a boring 30 minutes of more cardio...then did some strength training for another 30 minutes. It was a little weird - I couldn't get my heart rate up. It was as if my body was saying, "Hey! I may not hurt anymore from the weekend, but I'm not ready for anthing intense! No!"
That's pretty much it. The plan for this week is to be low-key going into Saturday's marathon.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Pria bar and milk in coffee, 140 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, fruit, cottage cheese, 445 cals
Lunch: Cafeteria Indian food, 600 cals
Chocolate: 1 piece, 55 cals
total so far: 1240 cals
Dinner: Salad from Baja Fresh, 700 cals
Ugh: trail mix! John SHOULD NOT buy this stuff, because I can't keep myself away from it!
Total: 1940 of reasonable food....don't want to admit how many hundreds of calories I surely consumed in trail mix.
Exercise:
Walk 68 minutes
Stairmaster 30 minutes
Strength train 30 minutes
600 calories burned
Sunday, September 24, 2006
No such thing as coincidence?
The numbers are in, and guess where I placed in my age group?
Yeah, that's right. 13.
This is the fifth time I have ranked 13 in a race. (The other times were Cascade's Edge age group, Lake Stevens age group, Danskin age group, Lake Sammamish overall women.)
It really really is my number. And I'm happy with it, given the field - I had told people I'd be the top of the bottom third, and I was (13/19). (Overall, I was 125/187. That includes men.)
Here are the rest of my times:
OVERALL: 6:37:27
Swim: 43:02
T1: 3:45 (don't know how this is, thought I was much slower)
Bike: 3:34:46
T2: 2:08
Run: 2:13:45 (includes my potty stop!)
The only thing I have to say about these numbers is that I wish the potty was in the transition area, not outside it, so my potty time would be included in my T2 time. I want to know for sure that I ran a 10-minute mile after the bike. But realistically, I have to say that the potty took at least three minutes, so I should just get over it.
And my exercise twin, Danielle? Her bike was 3:31 and her run 2:10 - so as always, we're there together! (At this point, her swim is a lot slower, so her overall time was 6:44.)
Yeah, that's right. 13.
This is the fifth time I have ranked 13 in a race. (The other times were Cascade's Edge age group, Lake Stevens age group, Danskin age group, Lake Sammamish overall women.)
It really really is my number. And I'm happy with it, given the field - I had told people I'd be the top of the bottom third, and I was (13/19). (Overall, I was 125/187. That includes men.)
Here are the rest of my times:
OVERALL: 6:37:27
Swim: 43:02
T1: 3:45 (don't know how this is, thought I was much slower)
Bike: 3:34:46
T2: 2:08
Run: 2:13:45 (includes my potty stop!)
The only thing I have to say about these numbers is that I wish the potty was in the transition area, not outside it, so my potty time would be included in my T2 time. I want to know for sure that I ran a 10-minute mile after the bike. But realistically, I have to say that the potty took at least three minutes, so I should just get over it.
And my exercise twin, Danielle? Her bike was 3:31 and her run 2:10 - so as always, we're there together! (At this point, her swim is a lot slower, so her overall time was 6:44.)
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Black Diamond Half-Iron Race Report
Yay! What a great way to finish my triathlon season!
No, I didn't win - they finished the awards ceremony before I even finished my run. :-) But that wasn't the point of participating in today's race - instead it was about solid execution, start to finish, and I can say for sure that except for a couple little glitches, I met the goal.
Danielle picked me up at 6 a.m. for the 9 a.m. start. The race is about 40 minutes away from home - so obviously we got there with a ton of time to spare. But it was good - our bikes were already there from last night's drop-off, and we set up our transition areas while we debated what we were going to wear on the bike. I'm not sure how cold out it was, but we could see our breath - and my toes were numb inside warm socks and my running shoes. We walked the 1.4 mile trail that the run finishes on (though we walked it finish to start so we could figure out exactly where to get our sprints on).
The sun came out and was shining on the water by the time we started. The event was pretty small - maybe 200 triathletes, and another 100 duathletes who had a time-trial start after the first triathletes came out of the water. So we started in two waves: men and women. I was really nervous because it's a double-loop swim that I'd get caught up in a mess of fast male swimmers doing their second loop while I was still on my first.
Well, had I actually done any math, I would have seen that was pretty much impossible. They only started five minutes before the women; I barely caught the slow male swimmers. And strangely enough (but this turned out to be a theme for the day), I was alone most of the time after the first turn. It felt just like swimming at Idylwood - slightly colder, but tolerable.
Oh, I have to put a shout-out about Sammamish Valley Cycle and Cindy who works there. They were a sponsor of the event today, and I was debating buying a pair of neoprene swim socks because my feet were so cold. Cindy takes a pair off the rack (they had a booth and were selling stuff), hands them to me, and says, "After you warm up, if you don't want them, just throw them to me on shore. And if you do, you can pay for them later."
Wow! What trust! Of course I am going to go pay for them, and they totally worked. My toes were warm, and the socks were actually quite comfortable to swim in.
I exited the water in 43 minutes - exactly what I expected. Since I had no draft for the majority of the swim, I'm thinking I probably swam just like I did at Lake Stevens (40.5 minutes), but I had a draft then. Either way, I was happy. (Update: exact time, 43:02)
T1 was not perfect. I didn't drop anything, but getting the wetsuit and socks off was more of a challenge than I anticipated. I ended up dropping to the ground and pulling them off while sitting. It worked, but it was slow. I also decided not to wear my bike jersey - as soon as I got the wetsuit off, I could just tell it had warmed up enough that I wasn't going to need anything more than my tri suit. I did pull on my lightest full-finger gloves, though - an interesting thing to do with wet hands! (Update: exact time, 3:45)
So then I'm out on the bike course. My heart rate was really high and I was breathing heavily - annoying! So I dialed it back, spun in an easy gear, and waited until I calmed down. In the meantime, I passed a whole bunch of girls and a few guys. I had no idea how fast I was going, but I was very aware of the drafting rule and knew I couldn't stay behind.
I ended up passing a former co-worker, Matt, and then he passed me back. For the first 30 miles, we pretty much leap-frogged each other every 4-5 miles or so. That definitely made things more fun for me. There were a couple other women who leap-frogged with me, too.
I started eating 15 minutes into the ride, and the idea was every half hour, eat half a PowerBar. It mostly worked - sometimes if the half-hour came on a descent, I waited until I was going uphill or flat - but I ended up eating three whole PowerBars. I tried something new: I cut them all in half with scissors, then opened each half-package, then stuck the wrapper back onto the PowerBar, and dumped all six pieces into my Bento Box. It was a perfect strategy. All the wrappers went in my tri suit pocket and I actually ate what I planned to eat. However, I have to say this: I HATE POWERBARS. I get the right fuel from them, my stomach tolerates them, and they're not so awful that I refuse to eat. But yuck. Yuck yuck yuck.
So at mile 28 comes THE HILL - and it's a big one. I let everyone pass me who wanted to and I did not chase them down. In retrospect, maybe I should have - I didn't catch them on the huge downhill, and I ended up alone for way too much of the race - but my goal was to keep things comfortable, and I definitely did that. And in doing so, the hill (all 2.1 miles of it) actually seemed smaller than it did when Danielle and I rode the course a week ago. It was over before I got sick of climbing!
The descent rocked - it's so fast and mostly smooth - except for these two women who caught me at the top of the hill and were totally drafting off each other were riding too close to my pace - so they passed me, I passed them, and it was not good because it's such a steep downhill on a busy highway. Eventually on a flat, while I was eating, they passed me and I never saw them again.
So began my 20 or so miles of solitude, during which I slowed down dramatically (I think - I felt slow) and got really, really bored. And I started having pain in my neck and lower back. I'm sure if there were others around me I wouldn't have gotten so unhappy about being on the bike. I started to fantasize about how great the run would be!
I did see some riders - but they were finishing the third loop and on the other side of the street. I felt like they were looking at me with pity. They probably were. I also felt like I was the last cyclist, but I absolutely knew I wasn't...it's just the games your head plays when you're alone for too long.
I did see some cyclists the last 5 miles or so. None of them looked really happy. But as I approached the park, my speed and mood picked up. I really was looking forward to the run!
Just as I came into T2, John, Gabriel and Camille were right there to yell to me and take pictures. It was awesome to see them, although I immediately felt bad that best-case scenario, they had just over 2 hours to wait for me to finish.
One last thing about the bike: kudos to the race organizer and volunteers on the bike course. They knew how to do a water bottle handoff and gave us the right kind of bottles, with the plastic top already taken off (so it just has the valve top). One of my friends had advised me to only do official Ironman 70.3 races; however, in my opinion, this race was better organized than Lake Stevens was!
Wait, one other bike thing: this course was 62 miles (my odometer said 61.75 when I pulled into T2). So a normal half-iron is 56 miles. I checked my computer at 56 miles and I had been going for 3:16. Yay!
My bike computer says 3:36 total riding time. I didn't get off my bike once - no chain dropping, no flat tires, no potty stops. I'm sure that was the longest time ever in the saddle for me. And no, my tri suit padding isn't good enough for that length of time. :-) (Update: mybike computer doesn't match what the race organizers say. They say 3:34:46, which I think is an average of 17.3 mph. Yay.)
So, T2. On with the running shoes, fuel belt, race belt, and hat. Off with the helmet and bike shoes. I planned to go to the Porta-Potty on my way out, and I did. I didn't have an urgent need to go, but I thought it would be better if I could. Plus, I got to see the kids and John as I left T2 and as I came out of the potty. (T2 time: 2:08; potty time included in the run: approx 3 minutes)
When I started running, I felt GREAT. Seriously. I felt fresh and happy and just perfect. Fairly quickly I noticed my feet felt a little weird - kind of sleepy, I guess - but that went away after about two miles or so. I didn't time my miles until about mile 2 - I was doing a 9:45. I ended up slowing towards the end and doing I think more like a 10:30 - some of those miles included some significant hill, and after the biggest hill I just slowed down. I'm not sure why - I actually felt like I was running fast most of the time - but when I checked my time from mile post to mile post, it was not quite 10 minutes for the miles from 8 to the end.
But I was happy - the goal was to run the whole thing, and I did. There were only a few people walking, unlike at Lake Stevens. The weather was great. I'm sure it was 70 degrees or so, so I was warm, but I wasn't hot and didn't need to pour water over my head or anything. I ate a packet of Jelly Bellys at miles 2, 8, and half a packet at 11, and a GU at mile 5. Anything but PowerBars, seriously. I felt strong. I never felt like I needed to eat, which I think is good - and towards the end, I felt a tiny bit of sloshing in my tummy, which I also think is good. Gordo said we need to learn to run with a full tummy, so I practiced today.
I got a cramp between miles 7 and 8, but I took deep belly breaths and blew it away. I could literally feel it disappear - just as a wind caught me and cooled me off some. Perfect.
I saw Danielle a few times - the course has three out-and-back sections, and she was about a mile behind me or so. As always, she looked happy and beautiful. She ran in a pink skirt, so I was a little jealous. :-)
I was so excited to hit the last turnaround (close to mile 10) then to re-enter the park (mile 11.5 or so), and to hit the trail (mile 11.7). At each of these points, I'm sure I sped up, though I stopped tracking my splits by then. I definitely ran the trail hard, passing one women but getting passed by another, who was just slightly too fast for me that even when I started my sprint at the end, before she started hers, I couldn't quite catch up. (Run time: 2:13:45)
I finished in 6:37:27. I had hoped that my way-better-than-Lake-Stevens run would let me finish in under 6:30 despite the extra six miles of bike, but not quite. However, I finished strong and felt good - definitely not quite as shell-shocked as I was when I finished Lake Stevens and they handed me Gatorade and water in two bottles and I couldn't figure out what to do with the choice. John and the kids were right there with hugs and kisses, and less than 10 minutes later, Danielle arrived!
Now I'm tired and sore, but happy. It was a solid race for me and the right end for this season. Just two marathons this Fall until I hibernate for the winter! (As if!)
No, I didn't win - they finished the awards ceremony before I even finished my run. :-) But that wasn't the point of participating in today's race - instead it was about solid execution, start to finish, and I can say for sure that except for a couple little glitches, I met the goal.
Danielle picked me up at 6 a.m. for the 9 a.m. start. The race is about 40 minutes away from home - so obviously we got there with a ton of time to spare. But it was good - our bikes were already there from last night's drop-off, and we set up our transition areas while we debated what we were going to wear on the bike. I'm not sure how cold out it was, but we could see our breath - and my toes were numb inside warm socks and my running shoes. We walked the 1.4 mile trail that the run finishes on (though we walked it finish to start so we could figure out exactly where to get our sprints on).
The sun came out and was shining on the water by the time we started. The event was pretty small - maybe 200 triathletes, and another 100 duathletes who had a time-trial start after the first triathletes came out of the water. So we started in two waves: men and women. I was really nervous because it's a double-loop swim that I'd get caught up in a mess of fast male swimmers doing their second loop while I was still on my first.
Well, had I actually done any math, I would have seen that was pretty much impossible. They only started five minutes before the women; I barely caught the slow male swimmers. And strangely enough (but this turned out to be a theme for the day), I was alone most of the time after the first turn. It felt just like swimming at Idylwood - slightly colder, but tolerable.
Oh, I have to put a shout-out about Sammamish Valley Cycle and Cindy who works there. They were a sponsor of the event today, and I was debating buying a pair of neoprene swim socks because my feet were so cold. Cindy takes a pair off the rack (they had a booth and were selling stuff), hands them to me, and says, "After you warm up, if you don't want them, just throw them to me on shore. And if you do, you can pay for them later."
Wow! What trust! Of course I am going to go pay for them, and they totally worked. My toes were warm, and the socks were actually quite comfortable to swim in.
I exited the water in 43 minutes - exactly what I expected. Since I had no draft for the majority of the swim, I'm thinking I probably swam just like I did at Lake Stevens (40.5 minutes), but I had a draft then. Either way, I was happy. (Update: exact time, 43:02)
T1 was not perfect. I didn't drop anything, but getting the wetsuit and socks off was more of a challenge than I anticipated. I ended up dropping to the ground and pulling them off while sitting. It worked, but it was slow. I also decided not to wear my bike jersey - as soon as I got the wetsuit off, I could just tell it had warmed up enough that I wasn't going to need anything more than my tri suit. I did pull on my lightest full-finger gloves, though - an interesting thing to do with wet hands! (Update: exact time, 3:45)
So then I'm out on the bike course. My heart rate was really high and I was breathing heavily - annoying! So I dialed it back, spun in an easy gear, and waited until I calmed down. In the meantime, I passed a whole bunch of girls and a few guys. I had no idea how fast I was going, but I was very aware of the drafting rule and knew I couldn't stay behind.
I ended up passing a former co-worker, Matt, and then he passed me back. For the first 30 miles, we pretty much leap-frogged each other every 4-5 miles or so. That definitely made things more fun for me. There were a couple other women who leap-frogged with me, too.
I started eating 15 minutes into the ride, and the idea was every half hour, eat half a PowerBar. It mostly worked - sometimes if the half-hour came on a descent, I waited until I was going uphill or flat - but I ended up eating three whole PowerBars. I tried something new: I cut them all in half with scissors, then opened each half-package, then stuck the wrapper back onto the PowerBar, and dumped all six pieces into my Bento Box. It was a perfect strategy. All the wrappers went in my tri suit pocket and I actually ate what I planned to eat. However, I have to say this: I HATE POWERBARS. I get the right fuel from them, my stomach tolerates them, and they're not so awful that I refuse to eat. But yuck. Yuck yuck yuck.
So at mile 28 comes THE HILL - and it's a big one. I let everyone pass me who wanted to and I did not chase them down. In retrospect, maybe I should have - I didn't catch them on the huge downhill, and I ended up alone for way too much of the race - but my goal was to keep things comfortable, and I definitely did that. And in doing so, the hill (all 2.1 miles of it) actually seemed smaller than it did when Danielle and I rode the course a week ago. It was over before I got sick of climbing!
The descent rocked - it's so fast and mostly smooth - except for these two women who caught me at the top of the hill and were totally drafting off each other were riding too close to my pace - so they passed me, I passed them, and it was not good because it's such a steep downhill on a busy highway. Eventually on a flat, while I was eating, they passed me and I never saw them again.
So began my 20 or so miles of solitude, during which I slowed down dramatically (I think - I felt slow) and got really, really bored. And I started having pain in my neck and lower back. I'm sure if there were others around me I wouldn't have gotten so unhappy about being on the bike. I started to fantasize about how great the run would be!
I did see some riders - but they were finishing the third loop and on the other side of the street. I felt like they were looking at me with pity. They probably were. I also felt like I was the last cyclist, but I absolutely knew I wasn't...it's just the games your head plays when you're alone for too long.
I did see some cyclists the last 5 miles or so. None of them looked really happy. But as I approached the park, my speed and mood picked up. I really was looking forward to the run!
Just as I came into T2, John, Gabriel and Camille were right there to yell to me and take pictures. It was awesome to see them, although I immediately felt bad that best-case scenario, they had just over 2 hours to wait for me to finish.
One last thing about the bike: kudos to the race organizer and volunteers on the bike course. They knew how to do a water bottle handoff and gave us the right kind of bottles, with the plastic top already taken off (so it just has the valve top). One of my friends had advised me to only do official Ironman 70.3 races; however, in my opinion, this race was better organized than Lake Stevens was!
Wait, one other bike thing: this course was 62 miles (my odometer said 61.75 when I pulled into T2). So a normal half-iron is 56 miles. I checked my computer at 56 miles and I had been going for 3:16. Yay!
My bike computer says 3:36 total riding time. I didn't get off my bike once - no chain dropping, no flat tires, no potty stops. I'm sure that was the longest time ever in the saddle for me. And no, my tri suit padding isn't good enough for that length of time. :-) (Update: mybike computer doesn't match what the race organizers say. They say 3:34:46, which I think is an average of 17.3 mph. Yay.)
So, T2. On with the running shoes, fuel belt, race belt, and hat. Off with the helmet and bike shoes. I planned to go to the Porta-Potty on my way out, and I did. I didn't have an urgent need to go, but I thought it would be better if I could. Plus, I got to see the kids and John as I left T2 and as I came out of the potty. (T2 time: 2:08; potty time included in the run: approx 3 minutes)
When I started running, I felt GREAT. Seriously. I felt fresh and happy and just perfect. Fairly quickly I noticed my feet felt a little weird - kind of sleepy, I guess - but that went away after about two miles or so. I didn't time my miles until about mile 2 - I was doing a 9:45. I ended up slowing towards the end and doing I think more like a 10:30 - some of those miles included some significant hill, and after the biggest hill I just slowed down. I'm not sure why - I actually felt like I was running fast most of the time - but when I checked my time from mile post to mile post, it was not quite 10 minutes for the miles from 8 to the end.
But I was happy - the goal was to run the whole thing, and I did. There were only a few people walking, unlike at Lake Stevens. The weather was great. I'm sure it was 70 degrees or so, so I was warm, but I wasn't hot and didn't need to pour water over my head or anything. I ate a packet of Jelly Bellys at miles 2, 8, and half a packet at 11, and a GU at mile 5. Anything but PowerBars, seriously. I felt strong. I never felt like I needed to eat, which I think is good - and towards the end, I felt a tiny bit of sloshing in my tummy, which I also think is good. Gordo said we need to learn to run with a full tummy, so I practiced today.
I got a cramp between miles 7 and 8, but I took deep belly breaths and blew it away. I could literally feel it disappear - just as a wind caught me and cooled me off some. Perfect.
I saw Danielle a few times - the course has three out-and-back sections, and she was about a mile behind me or so. As always, she looked happy and beautiful. She ran in a pink skirt, so I was a little jealous. :-)
I was so excited to hit the last turnaround (close to mile 10) then to re-enter the park (mile 11.5 or so), and to hit the trail (mile 11.7). At each of these points, I'm sure I sped up, though I stopped tracking my splits by then. I definitely ran the trail hard, passing one women but getting passed by another, who was just slightly too fast for me that even when I started my sprint at the end, before she started hers, I couldn't quite catch up. (Run time: 2:13:45)
I finished in 6:37:27. I had hoped that my way-better-than-Lake-Stevens run would let me finish in under 6:30 despite the extra six miles of bike, but not quite. However, I finished strong and felt good - definitely not quite as shell-shocked as I was when I finished Lake Stevens and they handed me Gatorade and water in two bottles and I couldn't figure out what to do with the choice. John and the kids were right there with hugs and kisses, and less than 10 minutes later, Danielle arrived!
Now I'm tired and sore, but happy. It was a solid race for me and the right end for this season. Just two marathons this Fall until I hibernate for the winter! (As if!)
Friday, September 22, 2006
Black Diamond Pre-Race Report
Yeah, there will be a post-race report, but I thought it would be good to write down my goals for tomorrow's race. It's so weird - I feel so calm about it, unlike how I felt about Lake Stevens!
My co-worker Bryan asked me whether this was an A, B, or C race. I hesitated, so he said, "It's a C." But upon reflection, I disagree - this race can't be rated that way.
This race is about SOLID EXECUTION. It's about taking everything I learned this season - and there was a lot! - and putting it all to work for me. Specifically, that means:
Swim: Swim comfortably. No panic. 40-45 minutes (I'm giving myself a break on the time because I've heard the course can be measured long and it's REALLY cold in that water, so I want to be able to have a buffer to keep myself calm).
T1: No dropping things. No forgetting things. Make the right clothing choices for the bike. (I think it's going to be arm warmers and gloves, but I will bring other choices and decide when I'm setting up in the morning.) Under 3 minutes.
Bike: 17-18 mph average; comfortable ride; high cadence (above 90 all the time, and really watch cadence on the big hill.) 3.5 hours would rock.
T2: My T2s have been fine. This one might be longer because I will allow myself to go to the Porta-Potty if I need to. 2 minutes or so.
Run: Run, no walking. Maintain a 10-minute mile pace. Finish the run in under 2:10.
Overall time goal: Around 6:30 - but solid execution is more important than time, which means I'm more concerned with working at the right capacity for the distance and how I feel than the actual time - and yes this means if I do an eight-hour half, but feel like I worked as hard as I could given the distance and the day, I will be okay with that.
I'm excited to go rack my bike! I'm leaving work in 45 minutes. Yay! I'll post tomorrow evening and describe how it was, maybe with pictures - though you probably won't see the blonde hair under my helmet or hat. :-)
My co-worker Bryan asked me whether this was an A, B, or C race. I hesitated, so he said, "It's a C." But upon reflection, I disagree - this race can't be rated that way.
This race is about SOLID EXECUTION. It's about taking everything I learned this season - and there was a lot! - and putting it all to work for me. Specifically, that means:
Swim: Swim comfortably. No panic. 40-45 minutes (I'm giving myself a break on the time because I've heard the course can be measured long and it's REALLY cold in that water, so I want to be able to have a buffer to keep myself calm).
T1: No dropping things. No forgetting things. Make the right clothing choices for the bike. (I think it's going to be arm warmers and gloves, but I will bring other choices and decide when I'm setting up in the morning.) Under 3 minutes.
Bike: 17-18 mph average; comfortable ride; high cadence (above 90 all the time, and really watch cadence on the big hill.) 3.5 hours would rock.
T2: My T2s have been fine. This one might be longer because I will allow myself to go to the Porta-Potty if I need to. 2 minutes or so.
Run: Run, no walking. Maintain a 10-minute mile pace. Finish the run in under 2:10.
Overall time goal: Around 6:30 - but solid execution is more important than time, which means I'm more concerned with working at the right capacity for the distance and how I feel than the actual time - and yes this means if I do an eight-hour half, but feel like I worked as hard as I could given the distance and the day, I will be okay with that.
I'm excited to go rack my bike! I'm leaving work in 45 minutes. Yay! I'll post tomorrow evening and describe how it was, maybe with pictures - though you probably won't see the blonde hair under my helmet or hat. :-)
Quick update
Yesterday the girls and I ran 90 minutes in pouring rain. Nancy pointed out that we'd run in more rain in the last month than all winter. That doesn't bode well! But we were all in good spirits, thinking up as many songs that have "rain" in the title or lyrics as we could.
Today I haven't worked out yet; I'm meeting Danielle at noon to swim.
Yesterday wasn't a great eating day, and today I'm trying to stay within a reasonable calorie goal, but with more simple carbs than usual (bagel and yogurt for breakfast).
My race is tomorrow! I'm feeling good about it. I got my bike back from Sammamish Valley Cycle after a tune-up and it looks great (especially the bright pink bar tape on the aeros and regular handlebars)!
Oh, and an update on the gorgeous Scott tri bike: It's on their web site now, but it says it's not available until Dec. 1. Sammamish Valley Cycle says they won't have them until January 1. So...I have to be patient. UGH.
Today I haven't worked out yet; I'm meeting Danielle at noon to swim.
Yesterday wasn't a great eating day, and today I'm trying to stay within a reasonable calorie goal, but with more simple carbs than usual (bagel and yogurt for breakfast).
My race is tomorrow! I'm feeling good about it. I got my bike back from Sammamish Valley Cycle after a tune-up and it looks great (especially the bright pink bar tape on the aeros and regular handlebars)!
Oh, and an update on the gorgeous Scott tri bike: It's on their web site now, but it says it's not available until Dec. 1. Sammamish Valley Cycle says they won't have them until January 1. So...I have to be patient. UGH.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Shiatsu magic
I had an awesome workout planned for this morning.
Two mile tempo run (as fast as I can sustain for two miles, without dropping the speed), then indoor cycling, then repeat the two mile run but FASTER!
Unfortunately, towards the end of my run I started feeling some weirdness in my right hamstring. I felt it yesterday on my run, and it actually caused me to walk the last few minutes yesterday. When I stopped and got off the treadmill, I was limping.
It hurt through indoor cycling, so I decided to skip the second run and see if I could get a shiatsu appointment. I was lucky - one was available!
So I went at 1:30 p.m. and now I feel a lot better. Looser, warmer, stronger. I still feel slight pain in the hamstring, and I think she bruised my calf because I have a new pain there, but overall I feel good - and I made a follow-up appointment for Friday morning so I can do it all again and make sure I'm really ready to race this weekend.
Oh, and the tempo run - 2 miles in 15:30 - 7:45/m pace. That's pretty good for me!
One of the things I want to do after the triathlon is start charting my best times for the following distances:
1 mile (unknown)
2 miles (15:30 - 7:45/m)
5K (24:40 - 7:56/m)
10K (unknown)
1/2 marathon (1:57:30 - 8:58/m)
full marathon (4:17 - 9:48/m)
Okay, so I just tried this calculator, and my times really do fall in line with their predictions! So: it says I can do a 7:20 mile, and a 51:43 10K. So I'll have to shoot for those. I feel like I could run a sub-7 minute mile. We'll see.
Okay, so that's a lot of numbers. Here are some more:
Food:
Pre-workout: 110 cal Pria bar, milk in coffee: 140 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, ham, cheese, milk in coffee: 445 cals
Lunch: 20/20 Chicken sausage pizza, 530 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola, 200 cals
total so far: 1325 (and I'm still hungry!)
Exercise:
Run 30 minutes (tempo + warmup and cooldown)
Indoor cycling 1 hour
750 calories burned
Two mile tempo run (as fast as I can sustain for two miles, without dropping the speed), then indoor cycling, then repeat the two mile run but FASTER!
Unfortunately, towards the end of my run I started feeling some weirdness in my right hamstring. I felt it yesterday on my run, and it actually caused me to walk the last few minutes yesterday. When I stopped and got off the treadmill, I was limping.
It hurt through indoor cycling, so I decided to skip the second run and see if I could get a shiatsu appointment. I was lucky - one was available!
So I went at 1:30 p.m. and now I feel a lot better. Looser, warmer, stronger. I still feel slight pain in the hamstring, and I think she bruised my calf because I have a new pain there, but overall I feel good - and I made a follow-up appointment for Friday morning so I can do it all again and make sure I'm really ready to race this weekend.
Oh, and the tempo run - 2 miles in 15:30 - 7:45/m pace. That's pretty good for me!
One of the things I want to do after the triathlon is start charting my best times for the following distances:
1 mile (unknown)
2 miles (15:30 - 7:45/m)
5K (24:40 - 7:56/m)
10K (unknown)
1/2 marathon (1:57:30 - 8:58/m)
full marathon (4:17 - 9:48/m)
Okay, so I just tried this calculator, and my times really do fall in line with their predictions! So: it says I can do a 7:20 mile, and a 51:43 10K. So I'll have to shoot for those. I feel like I could run a sub-7 minute mile. We'll see.
Okay, so that's a lot of numbers. Here are some more:
Food:
Pre-workout: 110 cal Pria bar, milk in coffee: 140 cals
Breakfast: Banana bread, ham, cheese, milk in coffee: 445 cals
Lunch: 20/20 Chicken sausage pizza, 530 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola, 200 cals
total so far: 1325 (and I'm still hungry!)
Exercise:
Run 30 minutes (tempo + warmup and cooldown)
Indoor cycling 1 hour
750 calories burned
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Numbers suck
I know everyone tells me not to weigh myself every day, and especially not to weigh myself morning and night.
But I'm obsessive! So I do anyway.
And I can't believe what I saw two days in a row: 145.
How can that possibly be? I ran 20 miles plus did indoor cycling for an hour on Saturday! I didn't eat more calories than I burned!
Sunday I probably did eat more than I burned, but I didn't yesterday, and I didn't Friday...and last week I was pretty good!
So what is happening? I don't feel bloated - and when I look in the mirror, I look normal. So how could my weight jump four pounds between Friday and now?
(14,000 extra calories consumed...but I didn't. Really. I'm sure I could, but it didn't happen.)
Okay, time to stop obsessing. But it's so hard!
I think what I'm going to do is to say I can't have my new tri bike until I weigh 135 lbs. Every day.
So here are today's data. I resisted the banana bread at the cafe today.
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, cottage cheese and blueberries, milk in coffee, 415 cals
Lunch: 4 pc california roll; 4 pc nigiri sushi; miso soup; sumonomo: 450 cals
total so far: 995 calories
Snack: 1/2 Pria bar, 85 cals
Dinner: Chicken salad (chicken, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, green peppers, low-fat cheese, avocado), 445 cals
TOTAL: 1525 calories
Exercise:
Run 80 minutes
Strength training 30 minutes
Calories burned: 750
But I'm obsessive! So I do anyway.
And I can't believe what I saw two days in a row: 145.
How can that possibly be? I ran 20 miles plus did indoor cycling for an hour on Saturday! I didn't eat more calories than I burned!
Sunday I probably did eat more than I burned, but I didn't yesterday, and I didn't Friday...and last week I was pretty good!
So what is happening? I don't feel bloated - and when I look in the mirror, I look normal. So how could my weight jump four pounds between Friday and now?
(14,000 extra calories consumed...but I didn't. Really. I'm sure I could, but it didn't happen.)
Okay, time to stop obsessing. But it's so hard!
I think what I'm going to do is to say I can't have my new tri bike until I weigh 135 lbs. Every day.
So here are today's data. I resisted the banana bread at the cafe today.
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, cottage cheese and blueberries, milk in coffee, 415 cals
Lunch: 4 pc california roll; 4 pc nigiri sushi; miso soup; sumonomo: 450 cals
total so far: 995 calories
Snack: 1/2 Pria bar, 85 cals
Dinner: Chicken salad (chicken, salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, green peppers, low-fat cheese, avocado), 445 cals
TOTAL: 1525 calories
Exercise:
Run 80 minutes
Strength training 30 minutes
Calories burned: 750
Monday, September 18, 2006
Wake me up when September ends
I forgot how much it rains, and how demotivating it is to get out of bed when it's raining.
But I learned something new today about Matthew: If he says he's going to ride, it doesn't matter what the weather does - he's going to ride. He actually seemed disappointed that I wanted to change the planned route to avoid slick, busy roads.
We met at 6:30; it was still dark. Today was the last day I will attempt to start a ride before 7 a.m., at least without some serious lights. We just decided to ride about 9 miles out on the trail, then turn around and come back.
The first half hour the rain stopped, but the second made up for it by a lot. It POURED. And it was so slippery I couldn't ride in my aerobars on the flat ground; I just felt so unstable.
Anyway, not much to say other than it's time to break out the serious winter riding gear. My gloves were okay, but my booties are completely ripped up, and I need to remember my fenders next ride.
Oh, and I can't meal-track for yesterday; too random, too off-plan. Today, as I say every Monday, will be better. Plus, my weight was over-the-top impossibly high. I think that speaks to water retention in a BIG way - there's no way in the world I weigh what the scale reported this morning.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, two hard-boiled eggs, milk in coffee: 415 cals
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, 500 cals
Snack: String cheese, 80 cals
Dinner: Chipotle chicken salad from Baja Fresh, 1/2 dressing, 650 cals
TOTAL: 1775 calories
Exercise:
Ride 1 hour, 450 cals burned
But I learned something new today about Matthew: If he says he's going to ride, it doesn't matter what the weather does - he's going to ride. He actually seemed disappointed that I wanted to change the planned route to avoid slick, busy roads.
We met at 6:30; it was still dark. Today was the last day I will attempt to start a ride before 7 a.m., at least without some serious lights. We just decided to ride about 9 miles out on the trail, then turn around and come back.
The first half hour the rain stopped, but the second made up for it by a lot. It POURED. And it was so slippery I couldn't ride in my aerobars on the flat ground; I just felt so unstable.
Anyway, not much to say other than it's time to break out the serious winter riding gear. My gloves were okay, but my booties are completely ripped up, and I need to remember my fenders next ride.
Oh, and I can't meal-track for yesterday; too random, too off-plan. Today, as I say every Monday, will be better. Plus, my weight was over-the-top impossibly high. I think that speaks to water retention in a BIG way - there's no way in the world I weigh what the scale reported this morning.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: 1 Vitatop and milk in coffee, 130 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, ham, cheese, two hard-boiled eggs, milk in coffee: 415 cals
Lunch: Turkey sandwich, 500 cals
Snack: String cheese, 80 cals
Dinner: Chipotle chicken salad from Baja Fresh, 1/2 dressing, 650 cals
TOTAL: 1775 calories
Exercise:
Ride 1 hour, 450 cals burned
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Run to Work Day!
For nearly a year - ever since I realized I really could run 15 miles or so - I've wanted to run to work.
But schedule-wise, it's not really practical.
Today, though, we changed that. Yeah, it's Saturday and I didn't have to work, but Danielle had to teach indoor cycling at 9:15 a.m. And we had a 20-miler scheduled...so: Run to Work Day!
And the craziest part was that Wendy, who lives in Seattle, decided to join us. (Look on a map if you're not local: Wendy lives in Seattle. Danielle and I live in Renton. The Pro Sports Club is in Bellevue, but really far north - on the border of Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland.)
So at 4:50 a.m., Wendy shows up at my house and we head to Danielle's, 1.4 miles down the road. Danielle had left her car at the Pro Club so this would be a one-way run.
Oh, I forgot to mention: the pouring rain on the skylight in my bathroom woke me at 4:10 a.m. (10 minutes before I wanted to wake up). But that was a good thing, because there was never a question about "Do we do it?" because of the rain - of course we do - I just needed to re-think my clothing strategy. Long pants instead of capris, waterproof jacket instead of semi-waterproof.
At 5:05 a.m., we were off...into the dark, rainy night. It's wrong to call 5:05 a.m. morning when dawn doesn't come until 6:40 a.m. or so.
I had mapped a route that was direct until we were about halfway there, then diverged a few times from the easiest way so we could get the mileage we needed. But unfortunately, the first part of the route included roads with no sidewalk and some with few lights. It was the safest route overall, but frankly, there's no good way to run in the dark from Danielle's house (or mine) to Bellevue.
The good thing was the dark parts were over very quickly, and the one part with no sidewalk and no shoulder afforded us the opportunity to do a quick pick-up and speed over this dark little bridge in a valley - no cars came until we were past it, back on the shoulder. And we didn't see a single soul (except for in cars) for the first hour or so.
During the first hour, I got some weird feeling in my right foot, just where it connects to my leg, but in the front. And another weird feeling in the left shin. They were fairly ignorable, but annoying. Running on my toes helped but felt hard otherwise. So...I didn't say anything and just kept running. The rain stopped after about an hour. Once we got to Factoria, about 8 or 9 miles in, I felt a massive sense of relief. It was getting light out and I knew we'd make it now.
It was a gorgeous morning once the rain stopped and the sun came out - and it did so right as we were climbing a long, long hill - not sure of the mileage, but definitely over a mile long, and steady. Then we had up and down all through Bellevue - it's a fairly hilly city, and the route I'd mapped included roads I'd never even driven, so I was surprised to find more climbing than I expected (or had advertised to the gals). However, New York is not a hilly marathon - the bridges include ascents and descents, but otherwise it's fairly flat, so training on hills will make it seem so easy. Or so I tell myself.
My pains subsided and returned over the course of the 3 hours and 48 minutes that we were out there - this time included potty stops and a stop at a convenience store to buy water when we learned there was a water leak at one of our planned water stops (a park) and the water was all turned off. I ate one GU and two packs of Jelly Bellys on the way and never really felt like I was fading; my heart rate stayed low and I felt happy the entire time (though kind of clammy, which I don't really like).
Arriving at the club - oh, we passed my office building, so I definitely did run to work - was awesome. We could not believe what we did. It's one thing to say, "I ran a marathon" or "I ran x miles" - but to say, "I ran from my house in Renton (and I did - Danielle's house is further, and we passed mine on the way) to work in Redmond" is really, really cool.
We think the route was 20 miles; the car odometer read 19, but we think because of crossing streets and just the way the roads go, we got the 20. I'm definitely counting it as a 20, anyway.
Then Danielle taught indoor cycling; Wendy and I took the class, but didn't do 100% of it. I did most, but at a lower intensity. My legs weren't all that interested in working hard anymore, even though Danielle definitely was and her work, as it always does, inspires me to work.
So now I enter a taper week in preparation for the Black Diamond Half Ironman next weekend - my last tri of the season. Yay! I need the rest!
I do know what I ate today...here goes:
Breakfast: 1 Vitatop and small banana, 160 cals
Fuel: 1 Gu, 2 Jelly Belly packets, 300 cals
Snack: Smoothie, 250 cals
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sandwich, 500 cals
Snack: Carrot cake (yeah, birthday party), 300 cals
total so far: 1510 calories
Exercise:
Run 20 miles
Indoor cycling
2400 calories burned
But schedule-wise, it's not really practical.
Today, though, we changed that. Yeah, it's Saturday and I didn't have to work, but Danielle had to teach indoor cycling at 9:15 a.m. And we had a 20-miler scheduled...so: Run to Work Day!
And the craziest part was that Wendy, who lives in Seattle, decided to join us. (Look on a map if you're not local: Wendy lives in Seattle. Danielle and I live in Renton. The Pro Sports Club is in Bellevue, but really far north - on the border of Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland.)
So at 4:50 a.m., Wendy shows up at my house and we head to Danielle's, 1.4 miles down the road. Danielle had left her car at the Pro Club so this would be a one-way run.
Oh, I forgot to mention: the pouring rain on the skylight in my bathroom woke me at 4:10 a.m. (10 minutes before I wanted to wake up). But that was a good thing, because there was never a question about "Do we do it?" because of the rain - of course we do - I just needed to re-think my clothing strategy. Long pants instead of capris, waterproof jacket instead of semi-waterproof.
At 5:05 a.m., we were off...into the dark, rainy night. It's wrong to call 5:05 a.m. morning when dawn doesn't come until 6:40 a.m. or so.
I had mapped a route that was direct until we were about halfway there, then diverged a few times from the easiest way so we could get the mileage we needed. But unfortunately, the first part of the route included roads with no sidewalk and some with few lights. It was the safest route overall, but frankly, there's no good way to run in the dark from Danielle's house (or mine) to Bellevue.
The good thing was the dark parts were over very quickly, and the one part with no sidewalk and no shoulder afforded us the opportunity to do a quick pick-up and speed over this dark little bridge in a valley - no cars came until we were past it, back on the shoulder. And we didn't see a single soul (except for in cars) for the first hour or so.
During the first hour, I got some weird feeling in my right foot, just where it connects to my leg, but in the front. And another weird feeling in the left shin. They were fairly ignorable, but annoying. Running on my toes helped but felt hard otherwise. So...I didn't say anything and just kept running. The rain stopped after about an hour. Once we got to Factoria, about 8 or 9 miles in, I felt a massive sense of relief. It was getting light out and I knew we'd make it now.
It was a gorgeous morning once the rain stopped and the sun came out - and it did so right as we were climbing a long, long hill - not sure of the mileage, but definitely over a mile long, and steady. Then we had up and down all through Bellevue - it's a fairly hilly city, and the route I'd mapped included roads I'd never even driven, so I was surprised to find more climbing than I expected (or had advertised to the gals). However, New York is not a hilly marathon - the bridges include ascents and descents, but otherwise it's fairly flat, so training on hills will make it seem so easy. Or so I tell myself.
My pains subsided and returned over the course of the 3 hours and 48 minutes that we were out there - this time included potty stops and a stop at a convenience store to buy water when we learned there was a water leak at one of our planned water stops (a park) and the water was all turned off. I ate one GU and two packs of Jelly Bellys on the way and never really felt like I was fading; my heart rate stayed low and I felt happy the entire time (though kind of clammy, which I don't really like).
Arriving at the club - oh, we passed my office building, so I definitely did run to work - was awesome. We could not believe what we did. It's one thing to say, "I ran a marathon" or "I ran x miles" - but to say, "I ran from my house in Renton (and I did - Danielle's house is further, and we passed mine on the way) to work in Redmond" is really, really cool.
We think the route was 20 miles; the car odometer read 19, but we think because of crossing streets and just the way the roads go, we got the 20. I'm definitely counting it as a 20, anyway.
Then Danielle taught indoor cycling; Wendy and I took the class, but didn't do 100% of it. I did most, but at a lower intensity. My legs weren't all that interested in working hard anymore, even though Danielle definitely was and her work, as it always does, inspires me to work.
So now I enter a taper week in preparation for the Black Diamond Half Ironman next weekend - my last tri of the season. Yay! I need the rest!
I do know what I ate today...here goes:
Breakfast: 1 Vitatop and small banana, 160 cals
Fuel: 1 Gu, 2 Jelly Belly packets, 300 cals
Snack: Smoothie, 250 cals
Lunch: Turkey and cheese sandwich, 500 cals
Snack: Carrot cake (yeah, birthday party), 300 cals
total so far: 1510 calories
Exercise:
Run 20 miles
Indoor cycling
2400 calories burned
Friday, September 15, 2006
I am in love
It was love at first sight - and it was fate.
After all, I was a bit tired from my run with Aleks this morning. I could have just taken a shower and gone to work early.
So why did I wander into the gym with an empty water bottle? Why did I stop to fill my water bottle at the water fountain under the magazine rack, despite someone using the water fountain ahead of me, and there were other water fountains around that were available?
Why, during the morning rush when there usually aren't any good magazines left, was there the October issue of Triathlete right there to catch my eye?
And why did I decide to hit the Stairmaster that day, with that copy of Triathlete in my hands, and why did I decide not to read the table of contents and instead just flip pages?
This is why:
This is my bicycle. It was meant for me.
Yes, it's pink and black - but that's not the only reason!
It's a tri bike - and not just any tri bike, but a women-specific design tri bike.
It's full carbon.
It's full Ultegra with Dura-Ace bar-end shifters.
And its cost - for the full bike - is under $4,000.
Did I mention today is Christmas at Microsoft? It's the day we get our bonuses. I've known what mine would be for a week now, but today is the day money shows up in my checking account.
This is fate.
There's just one catch - there always is, isn't there?
The bike isn't yet available in the U.S.
But my favorite bike shop - Sammamish Valley Cycle - is a Scott dealer. I called Cindy, who works there - she's been helping me find a tri bike - but she doesn't work until Sunday. So I'll have to wait to talk to her to find out when they can order one in my size.
If it is as good a ride as I expect to be, I'll be riding Canada in gorgeous pink and black style next year.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 90 cals
Breakfast: Bagel with egg, cheese, and ham: 475 cals
Confession: Part of a blueberry muffin: 150 cals (it wasn't a lot...but it was yummy)
Lunch: Cafeteria Indian food (chicken), no rice, naan, samosa: 600 cals
total so far: 1315, better slow down!
Exercise:
Run 1 hour
Stairmaster 30 minutes
Calories burned: 800
Weight this morning: 141.8 (down .6 lb from yesterday and the day before)
Pounds from goal weight: 6.8 (goal: 135)
After all, I was a bit tired from my run with Aleks this morning. I could have just taken a shower and gone to work early.
So why did I wander into the gym with an empty water bottle? Why did I stop to fill my water bottle at the water fountain under the magazine rack, despite someone using the water fountain ahead of me, and there were other water fountains around that were available?
Why, during the morning rush when there usually aren't any good magazines left, was there the October issue of Triathlete right there to catch my eye?
And why did I decide to hit the Stairmaster that day, with that copy of Triathlete in my hands, and why did I decide not to read the table of contents and instead just flip pages?
This is why:
This is my bicycle. It was meant for me.
Yes, it's pink and black - but that's not the only reason!
It's a tri bike - and not just any tri bike, but a women-specific design tri bike.
It's full carbon.
It's full Ultegra with Dura-Ace bar-end shifters.
And its cost - for the full bike - is under $4,000.
Did I mention today is Christmas at Microsoft? It's the day we get our bonuses. I've known what mine would be for a week now, but today is the day money shows up in my checking account.
This is fate.
There's just one catch - there always is, isn't there?
The bike isn't yet available in the U.S.
But my favorite bike shop - Sammamish Valley Cycle - is a Scott dealer. I called Cindy, who works there - she's been helping me find a tri bike - but she doesn't work until Sunday. So I'll have to wait to talk to her to find out when they can order one in my size.
If it is as good a ride as I expect to be, I'll be riding Canada in gorgeous pink and black style next year.
Here are today's data:
Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 90 cals
Breakfast: Bagel with egg, cheese, and ham: 475 cals
Confession: Part of a blueberry muffin: 150 cals (it wasn't a lot...but it was yummy)
Lunch: Cafeteria Indian food (chicken), no rice, naan, samosa: 600 cals
total so far: 1315, better slow down!
Exercise:
Run 1 hour
Stairmaster 30 minutes
Calories burned: 800
Weight this morning: 141.8 (down .6 lb from yesterday and the day before)
Pounds from goal weight: 6.8 (goal: 135)
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Gordo Byrn talked to me
Today Gordo Byrn came to speak to a small group of triathletes at Microsoft. It was a great talk! Here's what I took away:
- The best athletes are consistent, passionate, and persistent - not necessarily the most talented
- Be humble
- Practice running with a full tummy
- Eat real food
- Train with extra clothing on to sweat more if you're going to race in a hot climate
- Run a lot. Not necessarily long distance or fast, but frequently
- Don't go out too hard! Learn how to control your heart rate at the beginning of a race (while you're on the beach)
- Do the swim and the bike so that you can run your marathon, not walk - the race begins there
- He wears socks on the run, not the bike - but says you should wear them on the bike if you think you might get blisters
- He doesn't carbo-load and gets most carbs from fruit and vegetables and in training, carbo training foods. His "indulgence" in the off-season now was garlic cheese bread.
- Running in heat is mental! Train your brain to do it (wow do I know this one!)
- Training on a plan you can live with is better than burning out and getting sick and not executing on your bigger plan. If you can't execute the plan, it's not the plan for you
- In a given year, you should have 40 solid weeks of training (not in a row) - the other weeks are for illness, injury, rest, vacation, life, etc
- Know what your life goals are and where triathlon fits into them
- If you execute on your plan over time, you will improve. Period.
- If it's not fun, don't do it. JFT (Just ... Train)
- What is is. Don't focus on what happened before, in the last race, in the swim, in the bike, the last mile. Focus on what's in front of you and get it done
He was totally cool and inspirational. I am excited now to create my season plan for next year! There were so many times where he said something and Danielle and I just looked at each other and either knew exactly what he was talking about or completely agreed with.
Next year is going to be great!!!
- The best athletes are consistent, passionate, and persistent - not necessarily the most talented
- Be humble
- Practice running with a full tummy
- Eat real food
- Train with extra clothing on to sweat more if you're going to race in a hot climate
- Run a lot. Not necessarily long distance or fast, but frequently
- Don't go out too hard! Learn how to control your heart rate at the beginning of a race (while you're on the beach)
- Do the swim and the bike so that you can run your marathon, not walk - the race begins there
- He wears socks on the run, not the bike - but says you should wear them on the bike if you think you might get blisters
- He doesn't carbo-load and gets most carbs from fruit and vegetables and in training, carbo training foods. His "indulgence" in the off-season now was garlic cheese bread.
- Running in heat is mental! Train your brain to do it (wow do I know this one!)
- Training on a plan you can live with is better than burning out and getting sick and not executing on your bigger plan. If you can't execute the plan, it's not the plan for you
- In a given year, you should have 40 solid weeks of training (not in a row) - the other weeks are for illness, injury, rest, vacation, life, etc
- Know what your life goals are and where triathlon fits into them
- If you execute on your plan over time, you will improve. Period.
- If it's not fun, don't do it. JFT (Just ... Train)
- What is is. Don't focus on what happened before, in the last race, in the swim, in the bike, the last mile. Focus on what's in front of you and get it done
He was totally cool and inspirational. I am excited now to create my season plan for next year! There were so many times where he said something and Danielle and I just looked at each other and either knew exactly what he was talking about or completely agreed with.
Next year is going to be great!!!
Summer is over
I know summer is over because we've had rain two days in a row, and it's gray and cold.
I was not psyched about running this morning when the rain on my skylight woke me at 3:30 a.m. But I was able to get out of bed on time (4:25!) and get moving anyway. Nancy and Latosha were already in the locker room when I got there, and after a quick debate on whether it was raining hard enough to stay indoors, we decided to head out. It was only misting/drizzling, but it was the first day in a while where I needed my jacket (in addition to a long-sleeve shirt and capri-length pants).
We didn't plan a route, figuring we'd see how we felt and what the rain did. It stopped about 10 minutes into our run, so we meandered along the bike trail and then linked up with a regular route that we like to run. At about 50 minutes in, headed back towards the club, we decided to go the longer way around the block. Of course the rain started hard just then, so we pretty much got poured on for 10 minutes at the end. Surprisingly, I felt kind of whiny about it! Nancy and Latosha were perfectly fine.
Then I lifted weights and was happy with what I saw in the mirror - nice definition in my arms and legs. I need to do more pushups to tone my upper arms more, but I was able to do 15 real ones! I did them sort of fast, though, so I'm going to work on getting them done slow, like Danielle does in yoga.
My weight this morning was exactly the same as yesterday: 142.4. Here are the rest of my numbers:
Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 90 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, cheese, ham, two hard-boiled eggs, 385 cals
Lunch: Turkey breast, broccoli, baked potato (no butter, sour cream, etc): 340 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola (1/2 packet - threw away second half so I wouldn't be tempted): 250 cals
Dinner: McDonalds Asian Chicken Salad, 1/2 dressing packet: 335 cals
Dessert: A cookie my kids baked, 200 cals (seems high, but that's what the package said), and a mini-brownie, 100 cals
Total for the day: 1700
Exercise:
Run 1 hour 10 min
Strength training 45 minutes
750 calories burned
Calorie deficit: 650!
Weight beginning of day: 142.4, same as yesterday
I was not psyched about running this morning when the rain on my skylight woke me at 3:30 a.m. But I was able to get out of bed on time (4:25!) and get moving anyway. Nancy and Latosha were already in the locker room when I got there, and after a quick debate on whether it was raining hard enough to stay indoors, we decided to head out. It was only misting/drizzling, but it was the first day in a while where I needed my jacket (in addition to a long-sleeve shirt and capri-length pants).
We didn't plan a route, figuring we'd see how we felt and what the rain did. It stopped about 10 minutes into our run, so we meandered along the bike trail and then linked up with a regular route that we like to run. At about 50 minutes in, headed back towards the club, we decided to go the longer way around the block. Of course the rain started hard just then, so we pretty much got poured on for 10 minutes at the end. Surprisingly, I felt kind of whiny about it! Nancy and Latosha were perfectly fine.
Then I lifted weights and was happy with what I saw in the mirror - nice definition in my arms and legs. I need to do more pushups to tone my upper arms more, but I was able to do 15 real ones! I did them sort of fast, though, so I'm going to work on getting them done slow, like Danielle does in yoga.
My weight this morning was exactly the same as yesterday: 142.4. Here are the rest of my numbers:
Food:
Pre-workout: Banana and milk in coffee, 90 cals
Breakfast: English muffin, cheese, ham, two hard-boiled eggs, 385 cals
Lunch: Turkey breast, broccoli, baked potato (no butter, sour cream, etc): 340 cals
Snack: Yogurt and granola (1/2 packet - threw away second half so I wouldn't be tempted): 250 cals
Dinner: McDonalds Asian Chicken Salad, 1/2 dressing packet: 335 cals
Dessert: A cookie my kids baked, 200 cals (seems high, but that's what the package said), and a mini-brownie, 100 cals
Total for the day: 1700
Exercise:
Run 1 hour 10 min
Strength training 45 minutes
750 calories burned
Calorie deficit: 650!
Weight beginning of day: 142.4, same as yesterday
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The 5K "Fun Run"
Today I had to push myself beyond what I wanted to do.
I believe this: I race faster than I train. There's something about the adrenaline, excitement, endorphins, or whatever that gives me an extra boost.
But that doesn't excuse me from training hard - in fact, it tells me I have to train even harder so that I can race faster!
Since I rode my bike Monday and Tuesday, today I really needed to run. And I decided since I didn't have any running partners (I tried to convince a couple of the girls to come with me, but it didn't work out), I should do a tempo run.
The dreaded tempo run: the 5K "Fun Run" on the treadmill. The profile breaks down like this:
1K: Flat
.67K: 1% grade
.33K: 2% grade
.67K: Flat
.67K: 2% grade
.67K: 1%grade
.33K: Flat
.33.K: 4% grade
.33K: Flat
I ran a mile at 6.0 to warm up, then set the speed at 7.5 for the 5K.
I held the pace easily for the first 1K. My heart rate hung out in the high 160s, low 170s.
My heart rate started to climb as soon as I hit the first hill. I steadied myself with the treadmill handles and kept going.
I started counting intervals. .33K to go until the next grade change - that's 1 minute, 20 seconds. Go, Jessica. You can do anything for one minute and 20 seconds - and it's only one minute now. My mp3 player battery was dead, so I had nothing but self-talk to keep me going. Okay, .10K until the next change... .9, .8, .7, .6...
The second kilometer is always the hardest. I always want to quit then - I'm not halfway yet, so it just feels so hard and like I have so much left to go. My heart rate was about 178 or so, flirting with the 180s. But then I hit the middle part, and it flattens out, and I catch my breath.
Then it goes back up...for 1.33K. I break it into tiny pieces, just a tenth of a kilometer, and count down - then do it again. I remind myself that I'm a runner.
I hit the last little flat bit before the big hill - the 4.0% grade - and I tell myself I don't have to sprint at the end. It will be okay for me just to push through like this. Obviously I can make it now.
On the big hill, I let myself grab onto the treadmill handles, I put my head down, and push. I lengthen my stride - it seems to help, even though when I'm running flat shortening my stride seems to - and it's over before I even realize it, and the last little .33K feels so easy now, completely flat and right at the end. I know before the treadmill is all the way back down that I will push the speed. I go to 8.0, stay there for a few seconds, then 8.5 when I hit .25K left. At .20K left, my right hand is out of my control. It pushes the speed up to 9.0. And there I stay - until a second later, the treadmill is slowing and my legs are out of control and my head is completely empty.
The normal headrush that I get after running a 5K actually hurt this time - it didn't feel good. Like a bad drug? Not my good runners' high.
The two-minute cooldown ended so abruptly. I needed to restart the treadmill and continue walking - my HR was down in the 130s, but everything felt sort of wobbly and bad. After three more minutes of walking, I was okay again.
So there you have it. 24:40 was the final time; this is a tie for my best 5K time ever. Next week or the week after, I'm going to have to start the treadmill at 7.6. And I'm very afraid of that.
I've got some numbers for today:
Food:
Breakfast: Pumpkin muffin and milk in coffee, 480 cals
Pre-workout: 1/2 Power bar, 110 cals
Post-workout: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 cals
Lunch: 20/20 chicken salad, 320 cals
Snack: String cheese, 80 cals
Dinner: Shrimp stir-fry and jasmine rice, 350 cals
Dessert: 2 ginger cookies (40 cals), 1/2 c fruit (60 cals) and the last mini-Dove bar to get it out of my house (60 more cals): 160 calories
TOTAL for the day: 1590 calories YAY!
Exercise:
5K fun run + 1 mile + walking
400 calories burned
Today = calorie deficit (1600 metabolic rate + 400 burned = 2000 - 1590 eaten = 410 calories under)
Morning weight: 142.4. I'm now emailing Aleks and a couple other gals my weight and weight goals...so I'm going back to recording them here. Blah. Today, 142. Goal: 135. Maybe 130, but I doubt it. I don't want to drop a clothing size, just the little extra that I don't need to carry around.
I believe this: I race faster than I train. There's something about the adrenaline, excitement, endorphins, or whatever that gives me an extra boost.
But that doesn't excuse me from training hard - in fact, it tells me I have to train even harder so that I can race faster!
Since I rode my bike Monday and Tuesday, today I really needed to run. And I decided since I didn't have any running partners (I tried to convince a couple of the girls to come with me, but it didn't work out), I should do a tempo run.
The dreaded tempo run: the 5K "Fun Run" on the treadmill. The profile breaks down like this:
1K: Flat
.67K: 1% grade
.33K: 2% grade
.67K: Flat
.67K: 2% grade
.67K: 1%grade
.33K: Flat
.33.K: 4% grade
.33K: Flat
I ran a mile at 6.0 to warm up, then set the speed at 7.5 for the 5K.
I held the pace easily for the first 1K. My heart rate hung out in the high 160s, low 170s.
My heart rate started to climb as soon as I hit the first hill. I steadied myself with the treadmill handles and kept going.
I started counting intervals. .33K to go until the next grade change - that's 1 minute, 20 seconds. Go, Jessica. You can do anything for one minute and 20 seconds - and it's only one minute now. My mp3 player battery was dead, so I had nothing but self-talk to keep me going. Okay, .10K until the next change... .9, .8, .7, .6...
The second kilometer is always the hardest. I always want to quit then - I'm not halfway yet, so it just feels so hard and like I have so much left to go. My heart rate was about 178 or so, flirting with the 180s. But then I hit the middle part, and it flattens out, and I catch my breath.
Then it goes back up...for 1.33K. I break it into tiny pieces, just a tenth of a kilometer, and count down - then do it again. I remind myself that I'm a runner.
I hit the last little flat bit before the big hill - the 4.0% grade - and I tell myself I don't have to sprint at the end. It will be okay for me just to push through like this. Obviously I can make it now.
On the big hill, I let myself grab onto the treadmill handles, I put my head down, and push. I lengthen my stride - it seems to help, even though when I'm running flat shortening my stride seems to - and it's over before I even realize it, and the last little .33K feels so easy now, completely flat and right at the end. I know before the treadmill is all the way back down that I will push the speed. I go to 8.0, stay there for a few seconds, then 8.5 when I hit .25K left. At .20K left, my right hand is out of my control. It pushes the speed up to 9.0. And there I stay - until a second later, the treadmill is slowing and my legs are out of control and my head is completely empty.
The normal headrush that I get after running a 5K actually hurt this time - it didn't feel good. Like a bad drug? Not my good runners' high.
The two-minute cooldown ended so abruptly. I needed to restart the treadmill and continue walking - my HR was down in the 130s, but everything felt sort of wobbly and bad. After three more minutes of walking, I was okay again.
So there you have it. 24:40 was the final time; this is a tie for my best 5K time ever. Next week or the week after, I'm going to have to start the treadmill at 7.6. And I'm very afraid of that.
I've got some numbers for today:
Food:
Breakfast: Pumpkin muffin and milk in coffee, 480 cals
Pre-workout: 1/2 Power bar, 110 cals
Post-workout: 1/2 Luna bar, 90 cals
Lunch: 20/20 chicken salad, 320 cals
Snack: String cheese, 80 cals
Dinner: Shrimp stir-fry and jasmine rice, 350 cals
Dessert: 2 ginger cookies (40 cals), 1/2 c fruit (60 cals) and the last mini-Dove bar to get it out of my house (60 more cals): 160 calories
TOTAL for the day: 1590 calories YAY!
Exercise:
5K fun run + 1 mile + walking
400 calories burned
Today = calorie deficit (1600 metabolic rate + 400 burned = 2000 - 1590 eaten = 410 calories under)
Morning weight: 142.4. I'm now emailing Aleks and a couple other gals my weight and weight goals...so I'm going back to recording them here. Blah. Today, 142. Goal: 135. Maybe 130, but I doubt it. I don't want to drop a clothing size, just the little extra that I don't need to carry around.
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