Ironman #4: Gimme more Cowbell! Road to IMOO

Tentative Racing Schedule

2012-01-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

So now that things are starting to ramp up, I guess its time for me to decide on a final racing schedule. Obviously, the A race this year is IM Wisconsin and things need to revolve around that. Another race that has been set in stone is the Lavaman Olympic triathlon in Kona Hawaii. I am racing this on behalf the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society which I am really excited about. I just need to get on top of my fundraising!

I am thinking my racing schedule will look something like this
Lavaman Olympic (Kona) April 1st
Leons Fastest Triathlon (Indiana) : June 3rd
High Cliff Half Ironman (Wisconsin) June 16th
Racine 70.3 (Wisconsin) July 15th
Ironman Wisconsin Sept 9th

And as if this isn't enough Ill be participating in the Wisconsin Triple crown, which is a series of three bike races ( I'll be treating these like training days) through the crazy intense hills of Wisconsin. I think each one will end up being about 120 miles, with one in May, One in June and one in August. Going to be a fun, and SUPER busy summer.

Taking the night off from working out after a tough morning workout. Back on the bike in the morning!!! but right now, this is how i feel

Hurt so good

2012-01-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

So I've been waiting for something interest to come along so I can update, and I would say my experience today would be interesting to all endurance athletes out there. Before I get into that though, a little recap on my weekend, and how training week 1 went. Overall, I am feeling good. My legs are definitely feeling the bump in volume and intensity- but it feels good.

Oh and yay! I made the Well-Fit Elite team for 2012. I am very excited to start training with the team, and get to know some crazy fast people.

A couple recommendations to fellow triathletes
1) the "sufferfest" videos. these are exactly what they sound like. concentrated pain- with less emphasis on the "fest" portion. These are great cycling training videos that use real footage to guide you through a structured workout. This past Saturday I used the "downward spiral" video as the start to a 2 hour ride. it was a descending interval workout 2 X (2min all out, 2 min easy, 1:45 all out, 1:45 easy etc etc until 15 seconds) anyway, i love these videos and I highly recommend them
2) crock pots- amazing. that is all. i have steel cut oats cooking right now for tomorrow morning. this is a life saver.

Ok, so here is what ireally wanted to write about- today's 1 hour rolfing "massage" . Its not really a massage at all, it is "structural integration". I am not sure how best to describe it so I will copy and paste from onlin

"Rolfing Structural Integration is a form of bodywork that reorganizes the connective tissues, called fascia, that permeate the entire body...These connective tissues surround, support and penetrate all of the muscles, bones, nerves and organs. Rolfing Structural Integration works on this web-like complex of connective tissues to release, realign and balance the whole body.Essentially, the Rolfing process enables the body to regain the natural integrity of its form, thus enhancing postural efficiency and your freedom of movement."

Not clear? you are right, the descriptions of it are vague, but for people who have under gone any ART treatments ( active release techniques), its similar, except MUCH MUCH more intense. By the time i was done, i was sweating from just trying to breathe through the pain. Essentially, the rolfer applies really pinpointed pressure to certain areas and asks you to move simultaneously to try and release tension in the muscles. Unlike a massage though, this is NOT a relaxing experience. The only thing that stopped me from crying during this appointment was pride. THAT SAID, i feel AMAZING right now, and hopefully, after a day of hydrating, i will feel even better tomorrow. I have been battling some tightness from an injury, and regular massage and stretching just wasn't cutting it.

I think this is something for people to consider. Think of it like a foam roller on steroids. It's not going to be for everyone, and you have to go into it knowing that it will be intense, but that the benefit may be great. I will keep you posted on how its feeling over the next few days, but I have a good feeling about the experience, and thought I would share!

Training Season Day 1

2012-01-03T20:36:00.000-08:00

And here it is, training day 1 of the 2012 season! I am pretty excited to really get started again. I was able to spend time on my rollers today with minimal tightness in my back, which means I am on the road to recovery ( hopefully). January always seems painfully early to start training, but i started planning out my racing season recently and I realized how quickly the time will go by.

I also spent a while in the pool today which always feels great and I really think Master's swimming is helping me improve.

As the days go on and training gets tougher, more and more of my time will be spent thinking about ways to refuel, so hopefully I will be able to post some fun recipes here too. I have a new crock pot that is just waiting to be used...

On the Agenda tomorrow? A run + a swim with the Team in Training folks. Can't wait for Lavaman in April! Don't forget to donate!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/il/lavatri12/smelkonian#My-Fundraising-Page

Ironman #4: Gimme more Cowbell! Road to IMOO

2011-11-22T19:01:00.000-08:00

After taking a year off the Ironman "circuit" and focusing on shorter course racing, ( highlight was qualifying for the 70.3 World Championships and the Escape from Alcatraz Triatlon) I am back to thinking about Ironman racing.

I spent a lot of time of the Ironman Wisconsin course last summer training with my boyfriend Jeff, who race this past summer ( '11). The course is tough and relentless but there is something about Madison, the people there, and riding through the Wisconsin countryside that got me pumped up for making that my race for 2012. So the day after this years race, I volunteered at registration as was one of the first people to register for IM Wisconsin ( IMOO, from here on out) 2012.

I am pretty excited to get started with the training. I have taken a couple months off a strict training schedule, just maintaining fitness in swimming biking and running, and working alot of core strengthening and cross training. I am focusing alot on my swim right now because I am dealing with a back issue, but that seems to be on its way out, and i cannot wait to get back on the bike. Anyway, not much going on now, but come the beginning of December or January ( Havn't quite decided yet) I'll be starting some serious out season training . Stay tuned for fun stories involved alot of lycra and neoprene.

Ironman Louisville-race recap!

2010-09-01T20:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so obviously, I have been horrible about the blog this season, since I havn't updated it since like my first race or something. But, Ironman Louisville is worth the post.

So I arrived in Louisville the Thursday before the race, and decided to register and check in early, to beat the crowds. with the administrative stuff out of the way, I spent a couple days trolling the expo for fun new triathlon gadgets that I really don't need. Another fun activity was eaves-dropping on all the conversations around me and trying to piece together exactly how painful the bike course was going to be. I had heard everything from "constant rollers" to "brutal hills" but either way it sounded bad.

I went for a run on thursday and friday to check out the transition area and the swim start area, which was about a mile away from swim finish. After walking the distance, I had the usual panic attack where I thought " there is NO WAY i can swim all this. this is just impossible. this is wrong, what am i DOING?".

After calming myself down on Saturday, I took my bike and gear to the gear drop off in transition. A nice volunteer walked me around and talked me through how things would go on race day. Now, this wasn't my first rodeo, but the chat was helpful, since all ironmans seem to be set up a little differently. My race number was 160, so I was a low number, right next to the professionals. Easy to find my bike in transition. solid.

So Saturday night involved some whole wheat pasta, and a House marathon with Morgan in the hotel, and falling asleep as early as possible. Obviously, nerves got a hold of me and I kept waking up and remembering things I hadn't done, or checking for equipment that I may have forgotten to include in the gear bags, or really, just tossing and turning and waiting for my first wake up time.

Yes, my first wake up time. I set my first alarm for 3 am so I could get in a few hundred calories in and let them settle in before it was time to wake up and do it again. I woke up at 3, and had one of my Erin Bakers all natural breakfast cookies. This packs in just under 300 calories, no butter or eggs and has the equivalent protein of a bowl of oatmeal. Its a delicious way to get in the much needed calories for the day. I think I had my double chocolate one at 3 am. now, back to bed for an hour or so.

Ok so I only slept like 45 minutes, then woke up, started making coffee ( which i managed to mess up in my early morning haze) and had another breakfast cookie. I started to get dressed for the race and was ready to head to transition by a little before 5.

Morgan and I walked over in what seemed to be a mass exodus from the Galt house hotel. I get into transition, get some air into my tires ( which I hope will hold out with no flats for the whole ride) and go get some nutrition out of my gear bags and put it into my bike bento box. Coach reccomended getting in about 250 calories per hour on the bike, so I had about 100 calories of gu and gummies per hour in my bento box, and relied on a super concentrated bottle of Cran Razz Cliff electrolyte drink for the rest.

After you check you transition gear and get everything into place, you have to walk about a mile over to swim start. unlike other ironmans I have done, this isnt a loop swim. Its somewhat of a modified point to point. You start from a pier, swim right, go around this little island and then swim in a straight line, with the current, to swim finish. Another difference between this race and other Ironmans is that it is a time trial start instead of a mass start. This means we jump in a couple people at a time until everyone is in the water.

the downside to this method is that your position in the start line is first come firs serve. I had sent Morgan ahead of me to get me a spot in line ( she is an awesome ironman helper). So I make the 1 mile walk over to the swim start and try to find morgan in line. As I round a corner, I see the start of the swim line and realize that the line has already gotten really long, full of racers and trusty family members holding spots. the people at the beggining of the line had gotten there at 1 am ( insane) and had been sleeping on an air matress *(also stupid) .

I ended up getting a spot about 15 minutes into the start line. Totally perfect. So now, we sit and wait until the line starts to move. This was a bizarre experience. Unlike most race starts, I couldnt see the start, couldnt hear the announcer, and really had no idea what was going on until the volunteers started screaming down the line that the professions were going of at the first cannon - at 6:50. That was only 15 minutes away. The jitters started but I was ready to go. The first cannon goes off, and you hear the screams of the crowd and its almost time.

7 am. the line starts moving fast. As people get in the water, the line moves faster, and all of a sudden you are running into the pier and down into the shoot taking you to the water and SPLASH, you jump in the water off the pier line a penguin jumping off a floatin iceberg. The first half of the swim was against the current though I didn't feel much of anything. I felt really good- unlike other times, the swim start didnt involve people thrashing around and hitting each other, so it was much easier to breathe and get into a rhythm.

The swim up to the turnaround seemed like it took forever, but finally, I had turned the buoy and was heading around to the other side of Towhead Island. I was still feeling good, and working on my breathing and taking long strokes. But all of a sudden, I realized that I wasnt taking the straightest line to the next bouy. I had gotten distracted by spotting off the person in front of me, who was not swimming straight, and this led me to add some distance to the swim. Great, just what I needed. A longer swim

But there it was, in front of me, the ladder and hundred of volunteers ready to help us out of the water. One of my favorite parts of a triathlon has always been the moment you get out of the water, rip your goggles and swim cap off and run to transition. The energy was amazing. Tons of spectators and volunteers there to encourage you.

I get into transition, grab my gear bag, run to the womens change tent and get ready to head to the bike course, that I have been dreading since I registered for this race. I had heard that the first 20 miles or so were pretty easy, and then it just became a battle from there. Sure enough, around mile 25 not only was the heat starting to get oppressive, but I came to a HUGE down hill. Not only was this a little intense, but I knew what it meant. On the other end of every down hill is an uphill. I battle my way on this long steep climb, only to find that we had to turn around, and do it again. Bitches. this was only the beggining of the day.

At that point I made the decision to take my pace down a little. I would rather finish strong on my run, then totally bonk during the bike and resort to walking. i hate walking during a race. Its a triathlon. Its not a swim, bike and walkathon. That said obviously, walking is common, and sometimes necessary.

so I kept plugging along. I had some chain issues- it kepy dropping when I had to switchto my lowest gear for the steepest inclines. But I hopped off, fixed it, and with the crowds shouting "Its OK 160 GET BACK ON IT" I would hop back on the bike and continue on my way.

Every 10 miles we had an aid station, and I made sure to refil my top bottle with water. I kept good calories coming in and while the ride was just brutal, I knew that unlike some of the other people I saw on the course, I was NOT going to fall victim to dehydration or hyponatremia. I have never seen so many ambulances on a bike course in my life. It was disheartening to see so many strong looking athletes on the side of the road with their head in their hands.

I was coming up to the end of the bike and i was SO EXCITED to get running. 112 miles on the bike is a long time and the run is like one big party. its the best part of the day. I dropped off ym bike, ran back into transition and got ready for the run. I took a minute to sit and soak in what was going on around me. I had gotten to the last part of the day. Again, on my third ironman. I think sometimes I take for granted the entire thing, but its a big deal, and I am so excited to have been a part of it. So off I go.

My legs are tired, but they are moving. My tactic for this leg of the race is this: run from aid station to aid station, stopping for nutrition, ice sponges, and then running again. NO WALKING> I was committing to this plan and hoping that old IT band issues wouldnt rear their ugly head. The run was 2 loops, and this was one of the best spectator courses that I have seen. People were everywhere and it was SO encouraging. The first 13 miles FLEW by. Mile 14 brought me back to the beggining turnaround, where some people, mainly the grossly fast people were already finishing. But I had to bypass the finish shoot, and head for my secon loop. I could already tell that my second loop was going to be tougher, but I was still committed to the run.

Every tie i stopped at an aid station, I could feel my lungs getting heavy, like there was an anvil on my chest. I was tired. But, my legs felt pretty good... not my feet though. they were swollen and soar. Its only I kept going. Ice, Ice sponges, orange slices and coke got me through the run. Locals spraying runners with their hoses was just what I needed to cool down. the day had been HOT and it was not letting up. Keeping the core body temp down was my number one priority.

I decided to break the run down into sections. The first section was miles 1-10. I run 10 miles all the time, so no problem right? Then I broke it down to miles 10-15. that got me a little over half way there- which is another important mental hurdle. Then we had miles 15-20. Getting to mile 20 gets you to the notorious "wall" where your mental and physical energy seems likes it totally drained and all you want to do is stop.... then, I hit mile 20. those last 6 miles are brutal. I broke those down too.I said ok, just get to mile 22, because at mile 22 you are only 4 miles away. Then I got to mile 22 and said ok, just get to mile 24, because at mile 24, the Ford Team was there playing music, dancing, being loud and as you ran over a timing strip, your name popped up on a large screen telling you the end was near. Then i said "ok stephanie 2 more miles" and I was off. The crowds started getting heavier, and the cheering was really what kept me going. I heard random strangers cheering for number 160 ( which was me) and I could see the finish line in sight!!!

I always have to finish strong so I mustered up the last bit of strength i had to "sprint" into the finish. And thats in quotes because by no means was I actually sprinting - I was just going as fast as my little, swollen, blistered and tired feet could carry me.

Stephanie Melkonian from Chicago IL You are now an Ironman!! Third time Ive heard that, and its still just as awesome. I was clearly delerious after the race, and apparently I was babbling and looked completely confused for the 10 minutes after I finished. But I recovered in time to get a cookie and revel in the finish. I finished in about 12 hours 50 minutes which is definately a respectable time for this course. I honestly was expecting something much slower because of how tough the day was, So I am pleased, but I can definitely work on my biking in the hills.

Now I am soaking up the joy of another ironman and another triathlon season done. Next year, Ill focus on half ironmans mostly, and getting my short course alot faster. I need a year off ironman to give myself a mental break and hopefully to avoid injury. Ill keep everyone posted on my triathlon season schedule for next year, but Ill be back to ironman in 2012. Cozumel Anyone????

"keen-waaah"

2010-04-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

Talking about food today.

So I have recently been experiencing a health food renaissance and trying out bunch of new recipes and foods that are new to me. My search turned up Quinoa ... my new favorite grain. Is it a grain? I do not know it may actually be a seed... but whatever it is it satisfies my need for a carbohydrates with my meal without feeling like im eating empty carbs. Sure, its not necessarily low in calories (but not ridiculously high either- if you eat a normal serving size) Quinoa (pronouncd keenwah) is chock full of protein, fiber and tons of vitamins. As someone that doesn't eat a ton of meat, having this source of protein is amazing, and quinoa turns out to be pretty comparable to rice in its uses in recipes- so subbing out turns out to be pretty easy.

I love mexican inspired food so the other day, I made baked chicken and rice with black beans ( see link below for recipe) but instead of yellow rice, I subbed in quinoa, and since I cant eat dairy, I subbed in soy cheese. The recipe turned out surprisingly delicious and I felt good about eating it.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1873369&adsqs=raid:1920117

I also made my own granola the other day because I am sick and tired of looking at granola nutrition information and seeing 20+ grams of fat per serving. I'm pretty sure those tree huggers we refer to as being "granola" would be pretty pissed off it they realized how much butter or oil goes into regular granola recipes. So, i found a low fat granola recipe ( see below) and modified it a little. Instead of honey, i used agave nectar, and I added coconut and dried cranberries. Another protein and carb packed snack that also makes a great cereal.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/LOW-FAT-GRANOLA-1277620

As for training... things are going pretty well. I just gave Sly, my tri-bike, a pretty substantial makeover by changing up the handle bars and areo bars and stem. At the recommendation of the trusty local bike shop guy specializing in bike fittings, I shrunk town the "cockpit" of my bike to better fit my frame. I noticed a difference in my first ride, and I only hope it gets better from here. We have experienced some warmer than usual weather here in chicago the past couple days, so i have been taking advantage by going out for nice long rides. running at this point is going well, except when my IT band(s) start acting up. but I am working really hard to remedy that, as you all know.

Ok- the next post will be more racin and training oriented, ill even get a pic of the changes on my bike up. but for now, im sleepy, and a little hungry from all this food talk.

Things your grandmother and I have in common....

2010-03-21T18:41:00.000-07:00

1) We wake up at 5 oclock in the morning
2) 4:30 seems like a totally reasonable time to eat dinner
3) we see movies before 11 o'clock in the morning because its cheaper, and it allows us to avoid crowds... and teenagers.
4) We have hip problems.

As some of you may know by now, I have been having IT band issues, which according to my doctor and physical therapist is due to weakness and some rotation in my hips. IT band issues are pretty common in triathletes because we spend all of our time moving ourselves forward...not sideways. With no real reason to focus on lateral movements, our hip muscles get weak, throw things out of whack and lead to issues with the IT band. I have really been tryin to commit myself to a variety of solutions. which include stretching and using my roller, lateral band work, leg lifts and at the suggestion of my coach, i am even planning on taking up skating ( roller blading) to stregnthen my hips.

Im going to try and find pictures of these exercises to pass onto people if they want to try them out. my guess is, if you just do these before you have problems you may just avoid the issue all together.

I have had no such luck... in fact I am going to go work on this right now.

Its that time of year again....

2010-03-16T19:56:00.000-07:00

racing season is right around the corner! despite the fact that the weekend forcast includes snow, in a few short months, Ill be back on course with a hectic racing schedule, culminating in Louisville Kentucky, for Ironman #3. Its been an interesting off season since my last IM. I started ( and now am almost done with) the second year of my PhD which has been surprisingly difficult. the extra exhaustion caused by worrying about whether or not I will really ever understand statistical genetics made getting up at 5:30 in the morning for whatever exercise in self loathing ive come up with extra difficult.

That aside, I also have been battleing with my IT band "syndrome" , which really makes it sounds like some sort of mental disorder... its been touch and go, but I think I am on the right track. Lots of lateral motion excercises to get my hips stronger.

And i guess the other two things to note. 1) I ran my first stand alone marathon ( no swimming or biking involved) and I had mixed feelings. And 2) I hired a coach.

As far as the marathon goes... i felt it was alot less stressful than triathlon. No worrying about flat tires, forgetting goggles or some freak bike accident that could send you flying over your handlebars and into a ditch. Running only allows your to enjoy the simplicity of the whole thing. All you need is a pair of shoes. But on the other hand, i was bored out of my frickin mind. How do people race like this? I feel like one of the things i enjoy the most about triathlon is that feeling you get when you run (or fall) out of the water, rip your goggles off and hear the crowd on either side as you run into transition. You run a triathlon for those moments... and to push yourself through that feeling when you think you legs are going to fall off when you get off the bike and realize you still have to run. Unfortunatly, during a marathon, i didnt have those moments so mentally the time just dragged on.

And heres the shout out to Coach Steve!! wooot woot . I found him on tri-ecoach.com and have been working with him since December. I needed help getting through my off season in an effecient way and to really focus back on the basics. My issue has never been endurance. I could run for days. Myreal reason is using my 4'11 frame to its best advantae, and, in the quickest way possible.. the latter being the hard part. When your turn over has to be twice as fast as as almost everyone else on the course you also wear yourself out twice as fast, and therefore, slow down.

So I needed help refocusing. I needed to really take a hard look at my workouts and see if I were really using my time to its best advantage, and its turns out, according to coach, i wasnt. We have taken the duration of some of my workouts down a notch ( for now) and added some serious intensity in its place. All in all its been great. I am really starting to notice a difference and I have high hopes for the season. now, if i can only get my IT band to cooperate.

Ok- so the plan for the blog this year is to keep people updated, but also to provide links to articles or anything I may find interesting ...hope you all enjoy!!

Ironman V 2.0

2009-09-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ok. so i know that I totally dropped the ball on keeping up to date with the blog. but as you can imagine, being a PhD student, plus summer researcher, plus ironman training, plus visiting a certain someone in LA (ehem.. NAZO), leaves me with very little time to bother other people with the inane workings of my life, particularly ironman training.

However, that being said, a few people have asked me for a race report, similar to last year's, and obviously i am going to oblige.

I went into this years ironman with a sense of confidence- not one that led me to believe it would be a painless experience, but just one that i used to remind myself that, if i could do it once, i could very well do it another time. That said, this race, despite sounding very similar to ironman florida on paper ( flat course etc), turned out to be very different.

Wednesday and Thursday Before the race ( Sept 23d and 24th). These two days were consumed with flying to virginia, assembling my bike and spending alot of time on the couch relaxing/freaking out about the weekend. I did a couple short workouts to keep the legs loose and took my bike for a spin aruond the block a few times to make sure my bike mechanic skills were sufficient. the bike seemed ok at the time- though my seat position would prove to be less than ideal. more about that later.

Friday morning my mom and i embared on the 2 hour drive to Cambridge Maryland where I had gotten a room at the America's Best Value Inn, not the Hyatt resort that was the host hotel. Ok, so we stayed in a shack on the side of the highway, but atleast i got 2 nights for the same price as 1 at the host hotel. So whatever. we arrive at the hyatt, i checked into the race, got 2 awesome tshirts, a pair of socks, my race packet and a bunch of other goodies before i headed of to the first of TWO transition areas for the race. thats right, TWO.

for those of you that know anything about triathlon know that it is customary to only have one trasition area. you run out of the water post swim, into transition, grab cycling stuff, and head for the ride. similarly, after you ride your bike you usually run into the SAME transition area and head out for the run.

Unfortunatly, this was a logisitic impossibility at this race, so the swim to bike transition was in the Bay area where swim start was, but then another bike to run transition was set up at the local highschool, the same place the marathon portion of the day would start and finish. I had printed out every possible combination of directions my mother and i would need "hotel to hotel", "hotel to park" "park to high school" etc (Thank you GoogleMaps). We decided that 430 morning of the race was NOT the time to be figuring out where everything was, plus, i had to check in my bike- so off we went.

this was a small race, with a total of almost 400 participants between the Iron distance, the Aqua velo, and the 2.4 mile swim. transitions were small, cozy and very well organized, with everyone having their own hook for their gear bag. Last year at IM Florida gear bags were lined up "according to race number" and as your entered transition you screamed out your number in hopes that one of the wonderful, but overwhelmed volunteers would hear you and run and grab your bag. This was much less chaotic, and i felt at ease knowing my gear bag had its own little spot.

We drove to the highschool next for transition number two. this was where i would drop off my bike and start the three loop marathon and eventually finish on the track. it all looked pretty standard, so i decided to head back to the hotel to make my Peanutbutter and Nuttella Sandwiches (my favorite ironman food) for my special needs bags and take a little nap before the mandatory race meeting.

Fastforward to saturday morning: I wake up to gusts of wind swooshing by the windows of the hotel. at 345 in the morning, this doesnt bode well for the rest of the race day. I pack up all my stuff, and start to head to the highschool to drop up my special needs bags and my run gear. Now, we are in the middle of farmland, at 4 oclock in the morning. it is cold, pitch black and i can barely see a foot infront of me. Somewhere around 415 am, they turn the stadium lights on at the high school. As usual i am one of the first to drop off my gear bags. just the way i like it.

I head to the park where the start of the race and transition #1 is. i pump up my tires, get my gear and water bottles in place, all by 530 in the morning. race doesnt start until 7, i need 20 minutes to put on my wetsuit and calm myself down, so basically i had an hour to kill. My mom and i went to Mcdonalds so she coudl get coffee and i could use a real bathroom since nothin is scarier than a porto-jon in dead of night...morning.. whatever.

Ok, approaching race time!! wetsuit is on. i look at the triangular 2 loop course. it seems easy enough. but the strong winds are makeing the some pretty impressive ways. still at this point, i was feeling pretty positive. We make ourway into the water for the mass start- and the gun goes off! The first leg of the triangle was eaasy peezy. i thought " piece of cake"... until, i turned the first orange bouy. With the sun now in my face, we were going against the wave pattern and being told who is boss by some pretty huge waves. every stroke i took forward, i was pushed back 2. i strayed from the course more than once ( accidentily- and of no fault of my own. we were all basically rag dolls being tossed around out there) and most likely added half a mile to my overall swim. as i came in for the second loop i knew this wasnt going to be a good swim.

My arms have never hurt that much during a race before and at that point the self destructive thoughts of " i have to make this time up on the bike" started getting to me. this is never a good sign since it seems to be the case that the MINUTE you say that to yourself, not only will you NOT make up the time,but you will probably feel like ass trying to.

so i finally finish the swim and run up the boat dock into transition. my time was a good ten minutes slower than last years swim. not tragic, but also not a good way to start out the race, seeing as i pushed myself twice as hard to make it through this swim course. Already more tired than i shoudl be, i got on my bike and headed out for a 112 mile ride.

The course consisted of two loops. One 68 miles, the other 44. The skies started to get darker at this point, and with this race having a history of getting wet ( and by wet, i mean crazy rain storms lasting the entire day) i was worried about the impending weather conditions. The first loop went relatively well. with an equal mix of going with and against the wind, i thought i managed to keep a good steady pace, eat enough calories, and recver from the swim. but then- the wind started to pick up and we were hit with 30 mile an hour gusts right as i started loop number two. This is what really did some damage. I got into the best tuck position I could on my aero bars and hoped for the best. it was a rough ride for me, though beautiful. it took us through the Blackwater wild life refuge where i spotted a bald eagle. I also spotted a large turtle, to whom i shouted "HELLOOOO Mr. Turtle" in a moment of sheer delerium around mile 80 of the ride. Luckily, no one was around to witness it. the last 20 miles were brutal and lets face it i was BORED as hell. I love cycling, but there is only so much i can take with an impending marathon looming over my head.

Phew, finally, i am off the bike and onto the marathon. Its three loops which means i can see the cheering crowd three times to lift my spirits. I set off- and the first approx 9 mile loop flies by. i feel GREAT. The knees wernt hurting, and I was keeping a great steady pace...as i pulled into the highschool for the first turn around, i spotted my mom and a neighbor who had come to watch. I waved smiles and headed out for loop two. Somewhere around mile 11 all hell broke loose. I thought my IT band was going to act up, both feet hurt and myteriously, i had developed a random, and very painful bruise on my right knee. It was clearly not muscular, and didnt feel like a bone issue. it was definatly a bruise. I just did a google search and apparently, extreme exertion can cause the capillaries under your skin to burst causing bruising during a run. I guess this makes ssense, though me not eating a lot of meat, this could mean i need to up the iron intake. oh well. the point is, the second loop was brutal. As i pulled into the highschool i felt( and apprently looked) completely spent. but this was not going to stop me.

I pulled into my special needs area, yelled for my bag. I bypassed the sandwich and my gels and went straight for the 2 extra strength tylonol. I was hungry. i had been doing great with my calorie intake through the day which is the only reason, i think, that i coudl even keep going. I popped the two pills, and set off for the final lap of the marathon.

I am a firm believe that no matter how the rest of the race goes, you have to finish strong. And in the grand scheme of the ironman day, the last 9 or so miles of the run is basically the start of the finish line. I decided that I was going to run strong. I settle for a point to point run to the aid stations followed by a little bit of walking. With the aid stations a mile a part, i could run- stop- eat something like a hand ful of gummy bears, a cookie, or a shot of diet pepsi, walk a little, then run on to the next aid station. The volunteers were amazing, and kept my spirits up even when night rolled around.

running in the backwoods, in the dead of night is not easy. by 7 pm it was pitch black, and the country roads had no lighting. the race director had brought in large generators, but they were placed approx a mile apart meaning the only thing i had to guide me in between was the glow stick necklace the wonderful ladies at aid station 4 handed me. luckily, at this poin i had about 4.5 miles left to go.

No doubt i was in pain. I was also moving slower than that turtle i talked to somewhere on the bike course. but, i was running. i was determined to cross that finish line like the race had been the easier thing in the world. the idea of me being done make me pick up my feet and head straight toward the finish- rather quickly i might add. I passed a few people who still had a whole loop to do. I offered encourage words, but only stuck around long enough to here them say congratulations back. I needed to be finished. As i ran toward the high school and saw the finish line i also saw my mom standing there, clearly worried that i had passed out somewhere in a ditched. but i didnt. i crossed the finish line under 13 hours (not great, but good enough for this go round). While i was much faster last year at florida, i didnt have ANY elements to deal with- so this was a completely new experience. the only thing that wasnt different?? How awesome it felt to have crossed that finish line. I dont care who you are, or how many times youve done an ironman, there is nothing quite like crossed the finish line and throwing your hands up in the air after 140.6 miles of blood, sweat, and maybe even a few tears :)

Ironman Lousiville 2010. here. I. come.

third place overall!

2009-07-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was my last triathlon before this years Ironman. The race took place in this fine state's capital of Springfield, which though a lovely town, was pretty dead when my mom and I attemped to explore the day before the race.

That aside. I had a really wonderful race this weekend. I managed to capture my first overall womans placement! I placed 3rd woman overall- and technically first in my age group, though i am not allowed to be greedy, so they had to default that to someone else since i already got a trophy. But, Im getting ahead of myself... time for a little race recap.

The setting was perfect. weather was great, the lake was warm and calm. it was just barely wetsuit legal, and in my early triathlon days, this would have meant that i would have jumped at the excuse to not wear my wetsuit, but lately, i have come to really appreciate its advantages - so it is well worth the 20 minutes it takesn for me to stuff myself into it.

race day consisted of both a spring and olympic distance race. Since i was racing olympic, we got to go first. with the smaller size of the race, all woman were grouped in one wave. I somehow managed to snag bib #3 ( I am pretty sure i was the third person to sign up for the race) so my transition spot wwas pretty sweet, and very easy to remember. as i laid out my stuff for the day thouggh i came to a startling and somewhat terrfying realization. I forgot my goggles. I made a LIST of everything to pack, like i always do and somehow managed to leave goggles off the list. what an idiot. Luckily, i utilized a conversation about my aero helmet with racer #2 to, in a moment of panic and verbal diarrea, asked him if he had another pair of goggles. He did, in his truck, which he so graciously obliged me by getting. So thank you, racer #2

at 7:33 a.m the womans wave set off. i appropriaely set myself in the second row of athletes, by no means the fastest of the swimmers, but strong enogh where i would feel stifled at the back of the pack. We start swimming and the water is warm, calm and forgiving. it was a counterclockwise swim, keeping bouyes ( i dont even know how to spell that sadly) to your left. this became an issue when we made the first turn about the large orange spectacle bobbin in the middle of lake springfield. We turned right into the sun.... I couldnt see the next bouy, any of the other swimmers. The onyl think i could see what the lifegaurd in the paddle boat. I reminded myself that they usually keep themselves to the far outer perimeter of the swim course. Using this as my guide, i swam, in a somewhat confused manner, in what turned out to be the right direction. that coudl have been really embarassing though.

transition was quick as usual. i made my way onto the bike course committing myself to a committment to my aero bars. Confusing, i know. But despite them being on my bike, i dont use them so much during racing, which loically, i know slows me down, but i find myself less in control while using them, so i generally stay away. But this time, i wanted to stay 90 percent of he ride in my tucked position.

This paid off. I averaged over 20 miles an hour for the entire bike course. I started to notice that there may not be that many women ahead of me as the course doubled back and i sawmostly men on the other side, but i didnt want to get my hopes up.. I utilized the gell packs more than usual which proved to give me a boost of energy, despite wreaking havoc on my stomach later on that day. but thats not the point.

I haad a super strong run, for me atleast. I ran as fast as my little legs could posssibly carry me at the moment. This result in a side stitch half a mile from the finish line, but i could NOT let he two women that i knew were tailing behind me by a few mintues catch up. I was feelin super competative that day.

After the race i was hanging around and people kept comin up to me and saying how funny it was that I was #3 and that i came in third place over all and i could not bring myself to believe them. But they were right! it was such a great feelin to place in the "open overall" category for the first time!

There are alot of smaller details im leaving out but the post is already too lon and i am tired. But, now, i have a century on August 16th, and then my last even is ironman on sept 26th! I am so excited. in retrospect, i wish i had left my half ironman for later in my season rather than doin it first thing, but otherwise, i feel like this season has gone great!!

now, for some serious training.

Phew!!

2009-07-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was big!!! On friday, I ran approx 17 miles. the plan was 15 but i felt pretty good so i did an extra loop. i came home, did some jump rope cross training, and then got on my trainer for a super quick spin to make sure my bike fit was right for the next day, my unsupported century ride (100 miles)from South side chicago to Chesterton Indiana.

the ride was great. I had never seen the trails out there before and they were really beautiful. it was a quick ride (for a century) and at the half way point we stopped a aa fabulous, and unexpected, cafe in the middle of chesterton. after a bowl of oatmeal we were back on our way to chicago.

Last year i did the ironman with a maximum training ride of 90 miles. I had been worried about that, but ironman last year went as well as could be expected for my first and my training was pretty solid. But, this year, i wanted to go in with a little more confidence. I plan on riding the Naperville century in August, but when the local cycling club sent out the email about a weekend 100 milers i took it as a sign that this is something i needed to do. With a race this coming weekend, I had to get some high volume workouts in, and thats what i did.

Now, i have 1 olympic distance and 1 century before Ironman on Sept 26th. As i have been tracking my progress over the years of racing, I have seen the minutes come off my times. This season, while i feel a bit faster, and definatly stronger, I am startin to feel like i want to see more minutes come off my time but this process itself will probably be slow. Im hoping to see this most in my ironman time, since lets be honest, at 4 foot 11 inches, im not exactly build for speed. While my size isnt keepin me from anythin, it is sometimes hard to realize that Im just not going to be as fast as someone whos legs come up to my shoulder.

but thats ok! hopefully ill keep up with the good age group finishes and maybe shave a couple minutes of my olympic time this coming sunday. otherwise, i am going to work towards a strong and hopefully IT band pain free ironman finish. That really slowed up the marathon portion of lasts years race, specifically miles 17-26 and I just hope it doesnt pop up again.

ok thats it for now. im excited to hit springfield IL this sunday!

high volume weekend

2009-07-16T20:32:00.001-07:00

Oooh boy this weekend is going to be interesting. tomorrow, i am gonna run 15 miles or so followed by a quick round on the bike. Saturday I will be goin on a bike ride to the indiana dunes, a 100 mile round trip bike ride. this is an impromptu century but I think a good experience alla round. I just need to make sure I have enough food and water on me.

Ill keep everyone posted on how this trainign weekend goes. I am anticipating a fun, but exhausting weekend, and really looking forward to my day off on sunday!

Lifetime Fitness Minneapolis!

2009-07-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I am fresh of the heels of the lifetime fitness triathlon earlier today so i am going to use my time vegetating on my couch to do a little post race recap.

It was a great weekend! First time in Minneapolis and i got to see an friend and race, all in one weekend! pretty awesome. Minneapolis is a great city and the race was well organized, staffed and super convenient. A little more hectic than the more local races i have been doing, but surely far from the monstrosity that is the Chicago Triathlon ( which i am taking an indefinate heitus from participating in. i think 2 times acing with 10 thousand participants is quite enough). 3 thousand racers is far more manageable.

I got to the race around 530 this morning, about par for the course. I set myself up in transition and check out the competition. My friend justin and I were discussing that it was actually pretty easy to spot the strong athletes from the weaker athletes despite the fact that everyone now a days seems to be decked out in fancy tri gear. I definatly spotted a few people in my age group that were going to smoke me- and i saw the potential podium finish slip through my fingers.

got in the water about an hour and 20 minutes afte rthe fifrst wave ( i was in wave 27- sweet jesus). And luckily the warm waters ( though still wet suit legal) were calm. the swim was a fast one for me, and i was the 5th girl out of the water in my age group. I started on the ride and started out really strong, but my apprehension with fast turns and rough road made me loose a little momentum. That said, I paced at about 20 miles an hour.

the run was strong this tmie around. i felt like i was really moving and kept up a decent pace a 7:58. this was a pretty good race for me (not my best olympic, but definatly up there as far as my split times go) but given the really strong pool of racers, which i had predicted that morning - i came in 7th from about 30 girls in my age group. All in all a pretty good race! the most important thing is i felt the race went well, and racing again really strong racers is always humbling, eevn if its annoying too.

so here we are 2 down, 2 to go ( includin ironman) and one century ride in august. Its been a great season so far- i feel good, and despite the fact that my times havnt changed THAT much since last year- i feel ALOT stronger. i have to come to terms with the fact that at 4 foot 11 inches and not a naturally born triathlon prodegy, there is going to be a limit to how fast i can go- but i can always make the racin experience a better one. so im gonna keep plugging along with the same intensity and hope i keep seeing positive changes :)

Im taking my normal sunday off tomorrow then back to a week of training on monday. we will see what this week brings....

Here we go again.

2009-07-08T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have decided to ressurect the blog. Not for fundraising purposes this time- but more for the sake of keeping interested parties up to date ( the few of them that do exist) and i realized recently that beingg able to go back and read about my own perspectives on my experiences last time was actually really great.

So. Here we are again. I have another ironman ahead of me on September 26th, plus 1 half ironman ( which i have already completed) 2 Olympics races and one century ride. Ill track my progress on here along with any particularly poignant insights i may have. but really, dont hold your breath.

So far training is going pretty well. My volume is way up, especially now that its summer time but i definatly am feeling the pressure since the ironman is a good month and a half earlier than it was last year, meaning i have less time to get ready for it. Ive been trying to get in some pretty substantial weekend rides in - including an 86 mile ride completed in southern indiana last weekend. the hills were a challenge but boosted my confidence.

the season started out well with my age group win in the Half Ironman i did last month. From now on i will give detailed race reports but the long and short of the High Cliff triathlon were the following
1) it was hot as balls.
2) high cliff is actually a high cliff
3) I should really review course maps as i did NOT Know you had to cycle AND run up high cliff
4) my run was a little lame as the heat and difficulty of the bike course cought up with me. Im pretty sure i was more dehydrated after this race than after Ironman #1.

but it was a good first race of the season- and i collected another win so fine by me. From here on out, i promise posts will be a little more focused and interesting.... I am racing the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon out in Minneapolis this weekend which i am very excited about. So ill keep y'all posted.

"Stephanie Melkonian from Chicago, IL you are now an Ironman!!!"

2008-11-03T18:53:00.000-08:00

NOte: I started this WEEEEKS ago- which is why i am referencing"this past week" but i got soo side tracked with school that i am just now getting around to finishing it... enjoy

That is what i heard from the race director as i cross the finish line this past saturday. What an incredible feeling!! What i am going to do here is give you guys a play by play of race weekend/race day, and bear with me.. its gonna be long. but, so was the race so deal with it.

Thursday Nov 30th: I fly into Panama city and am immediatly hit by the waves of people with triathlon gear in the panama city airport. lets face it, no one flys there on a random weekend in November untless something is doing on. i start to get the rush everytime i fly in somewhere for a race. its the "omg can we jsut get the race over with becuase i cant stand looking at all these people and trying to decide which of them is going to kick my ass on rce day" feeling.

i get to the hotel, check into my room and preparations are on their way. I missed "last call" check in for the race, which was ridiculously set at 4 pm so i would have to check in the next morning with the rest of the slackers. I did however make it in time to get my bicycle from tri bike transport.... which i will say right now is the most amazgin service EVER. "Hassle free" is the understatment of the century. it was like a miricle.

Friday Nov 31st: Wake up, got weighed and check in- missed registration for next years race, but thats ok, ill find another to do. i checked my bike into transition, packed my gear backs ( 1 for swim to bike, 1 for bike to run and 2 special needs bags) i made my peanut butter and nutella sandiches for my special needs bad, and packed a baggie of saltines and advil for good measure. I am ready to go for the next day! Go to bed at 7:30 p.m... like a champ.

SATURDAY NOV 1st!! RACE DAY!!

Wake up at 4:15: had some instant coffee, a PB and nutella sanwich for breakfast and downed some water. the nerves were starting to hit already and as usual wreaked havoc on my digestive system ( TMI i know, but any endurance athlete knows this happens, and it SUCKS). I start making my way over to transition and body marking. I fill my bike water bottles with some water, pumped up my tiresand checked to make sure i had all the equipment necessary to change a flat just in case ( i was praying to God i wouldnt get a flat- is there ia patron saint of cycling?? if so he may have been watching over me - it being all saints day and all).

around 530 I head over to body marking. Go 2006!!! i got a few "what the hell is she thinking" stares when the body marker asked my age and i said 23. For those of you unfamiliar with tri's it is in general a sport for those in their 30s and 40s (believe it or not your edurance peaks, esp for women, durng these years- plus these people tend to have the money to support their habit)
after i was all marked up and ready to go i put my sweats back on (it was rather chilly that early in the morning) and walked my special needs bag over to the drop off tent.

i put my wetsuit around 6:20 in the morning. this is a long process and generally takes atleast 10 minutes to get on straight. the gun was going off at 7 and the nerves were building up like crazy. I was nauseus, cold, nervous and totally blocking out everyone around me. a started to make my way to swim start....

7 am- the gun goes off! Oh my god, a mass sim start will 2200 people?!?! men and women, elites and newbies all thrashing around. we are packed so tightly because no one wants to deviate from the course too far at risk of adding distanec to the swim, but what this does is create some severe traffic. the first mile was like driving in bumper to bumpter traffic, but imagine that in traffic, everyone has their window open and one hangout the window holding a baseball bat and thrashing the people in the next car with it. thats what swimming the open water ironman course is like. I wwas getting pulled, kicked and pushed out of the way... it was AWESOMEEEEE.... and horrible all at the same time.

I finished the first 1.2 mile loop of the swim, ran out of the water to the aid station, drank a sip of water and ran back into the gulf for the second loop of the swim. it was only at this point where people started to spread out and i could breath. I had already swallowed about a gallon of salt water at this point.. what i wasnt feeling it yet, so so far, so good. Unfortunatly, around mile 1.8 of the swim something horrible happened.... i was stung by a jelly fish!!!1
WHAT THE HELL!! my right arm went numb and i had to stop and just scream OW OW OW OW for about 2 minutes. i took a look at my arm, didnt see anything swelling up and decided i would be fine. I dragged my right arm for about 15 minutes until the pain started to wear off, thank god.

I was out of the water in about an hour and 12 minutes. not bad at all given my brush with dangerous aquatic life.i ran out onto the side to the thousands of screaming spectators who were still enthusiastic about the days events. i started to unzip the top of my wetsuit to get prepared to move into transition and change into my cycling gear. I reached a sandy area where a group of volunteers endearingly named "wetsuit strippers" were waiting for out arrival.

i wasnt really sure what their job was until, well i got there. I was shoved to the ground upon which two volunteers pulled at the legs of my wetsuit and yanked it off. MUCH faster than doing it myself though much more disconcerting.

now onto the 112 mile bike ride. this was, by far, the most daunting part of the day. 112 miles is ALOT. what am i supposed to do the whole time.... i usually sing to myself during rce because, well you arnt allowed to use an ipod, but i dont think i even know that many songs. anyway i hop on my bike and get on my way. MAN is it windy.. you would thinking training in chicago i woudl be used to this, but it turns out, on race day thats not the case. i started trudging along against the wind.

now the caliber of athlete an an ironman is MUCH higher than your run of the mill triathlon, even the big ones. Also the male to female ration is pretty disparate. i had beaten quite a few people out of the water, so all the big male cyclists started to rush past me. I didnt really care about that since they are men and even though i kick alot of male ass while racing, the ironman is a totally different game... and well these people are fast. anyway i tried to mae sure not TOO many women past me. worked out ok.

i hit mile 53 and got special needs bag #1. i had a horrible side stitch from the salt water intake, so i shoved my sandwich into my mouth, used a porta potty ( MAN i had to pee) and took an advil....the aid stations every mile were definatly a godsend. i fueled up on gatorade and bananas ad prepped myself for the second half of the ride.

around mile 60 we turned a corner and went with the wind!! every one was giddy at this developement. unfortunatly, it was shortlived. around mile 80, we turned another corner, and through some mystery of physics we were against the wind again. ugh. Now this is where the riding got almos tun bearable. cycling for anything over 80 miles is seriously tedious especially if you have no one to chit chat with. i was going out of my mind. mile 90 i started to hallucinate.... the mile marker looked like a 900 which i obviously interpreted to me a 100 until i was about 2 feet away and realized i still had 22 miles to ride. damnit.

mile 112... FINALLY back to transition. the bike ride was brutal, and unfortuantly, a little slower than i would have hoped but between bathroom breaks, the wind and my general discomfort near the end of the ride, it wasnt half bad.

the volunteers handed me my run gear bag as i ran into transition ... i hear everyone jokingly say "Whooooos ready for a maarattthoon?" as if we wernt tired enough. truth me told, i had been looking forward to the run since about mile 40 of the ride. i put on my shoes, and my brand ne ironman cap and went on my way.

26.2 miles. wow. miles 1-16 were almost perfect. steady pace not to fast, but definatly moving. i took advnagtage of the aids stations at everymile. I snuck snacks here and there and treally tried to stay away from gel packs as fuel. they make me neasues, are disgusting, and really at this point all i needed was simple carbs and the aid station good ( pretzels, cookies fruit) was just what i needed.

after mile 16 of the run though my legs were like columns of concrete. every muscle was strained particularly around my knee causing my knee to take a beating. this meant some excrutiating knee pain. At this point i decided i wanted to finish happy and if this meant sacrificing some time, that was ok. I ran a mile, walked a minute from mile sixteen to the end. the knee injury i think was originially sustained during a bike accident months ago and unfortunatly came back to haunt me. Near the end of the run the aids stations busted out cookies, coke and chicken broth. the broth was no appealing as the whole run all i had been really wanting was some sort of pastry. So i went for the cookies- and i must say, those drug store generic brand cookies have never tasted so good.

it got dark on my second loop and i ran blind from one light generator to the next. the sense on anonimity was actually a relief as not only could other people not see me, but i had no idea of the progress of the people around me. Also, the finish line glistened like a light house in the distance. i could see the finish line with the food tent, the race director on the pedestal and the constant flash of the camera as people crossed the finish line. I was almost there!!!

the last 6 miles of the run were brutal. but as i got closer to the finish line, ,the now sparse population of spectators became more substantial and the crowds toward the finish line ere just what i needed for that final kick. I started to sprint- no matter how much pain i was in i had to finish with some pride... you know how it goes.

cross the finish line and i was SOOO happy. hearing the race director say that i was no an "ironman" was the best moment of the day! i am definatly doing this again- despite the tough moments of the day.... somone told me at the beggining of the day that doing an ironman was like childbirth- if you remembered how bad it hurt, you would never do it again. but once its over- obviously the benefits overshadow all that. im gonna have to say i agree.

Last Blog....

2008-10-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

Alright all, this is my last blog before the big day. I am heading off to Panama City tomorrow morning fopr what will most likely be a defining moment in my "triathlon career" lets hope all goes well.

This isnt going to be much of a post, - everything is almost ready to go. I have my food packed, i know whats coming with me, and my bike is on its way down to Panama City thanks to Tri Bike Transport. mentally, i havnt really prepared as I have also been in the throws of midterms this week- so all my mental energy has been channeled torward regression analysis and epidemiology. but now that i have those out of the way i have adequate time to freak out.

I need to remember that my real goal shoudl be finishing, and not let my competatieve nature get the better of me. I just wanted to thank everyone who has been SO ssupportive over the past year since i registered for this race, and an extra thank you for all of those who donated to my American Heart Association Fundraiser. I have surprised my initial goal by close to 700 dollars. so thanks!

When i com eback I will make 1 final post to this blog which will include a VERY detailed play by play of my day. itll be an interesting recounting (hopefully) of the days events and how i felt at each stage of the game. hopefully my mom will serve as an adept photog and take good pictures :) Anyway.. off i go Wish me Luck!!

3 weeks to go OMG

2008-10-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

OMG OMG thats all i can say. less than 3 weeks to go and I am freeeaking out. How did i get myself into this!?!? oooh man. I am hoping that this is just an artifact of me being so close to race day.

All in all i am feeling good. I have been having solid training sessions and i am even starting to taper now that i am three weeks away. And by taper i mean todays bike ride was only 4 hours and 30 minutes. followed by a half hour run. trust me, thats not so bad..

but really, starting this week things shold start to tone themselves down. my main concerns at this point are logisitic. Wha should i WEAR?!?! i mean, i usually race in a tri suit, but that really doesnt seem like it going to be comfortable on 112 miles of biking.. i am thinking i will throw a pair of cycling shorts on over the tri suit.

I do think however that i will run in my tri suit only. This is what i have done up until now, and it seems to be working pretty well. i just need to make sure that I manage to put enough food on my person to last me the whole time.

Basically, i am excited and nervous and am starting to have those flash forward day dreaks where i cross the finish line and throw my hands up in the air in victory. in realty, i am never quite w"with it" enough to do anything particularly photogenic, or even celebratory, and i get the feeling the the Ironman wont be an exception. At the very least, i wil try to smile for the camera.

Fundraising Page open!!

2008-10-05T19:05:00.001-07:00

Click the link below to donate to my American Heart Association Fundraiser!! I will blog later...

https://www.fundable.com/groupactions/groupaction.2008-10-05.3526635146/view?searchterm=ironman

hang in there chicago... just a few weeks to go

2008-10-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

Then, you can be as cold as you like. ok, not as cold, but you know colder than it is now. So tagging on to the end of last post, this one is about adapting to changing temps. With only about 4 weeks left to go to the big day, I find myself in the rapidly dropping temperatures of Chicago. You know the ones,.... where it fails to stop in "fall" and instead we have the begginings of winter, only, with pretty leaves.

every morning i am tempted to stay curled up in my bed and avoid the pitch black and 45 degree temperatures. riding my bike, on the lake front, in the wind, is also becoming problematic. I am tempted to bust out my trainer and ride indoors, but i feel as long as i can fight back, i should because once the freezing temps roll in, Im going to want to be able to get on that trainer without already being sick of it.

Im starting to get nervous, but also VERY excited. i would say at this point, 95 percent of the excited is the excitement about the aftermath. the glory...sure, but mostly, being abe to take a little time off (before the cycle of training begins again), being able to sleep in, and of course being able to throw having done an ironman in everyones face.

i would say the 5 percent that is actually excited about the race itself, is still just nervous, and will develop as the day gets closer. but right now, fatigue has set in, and all i want to do is eat my weight in bagels and fall asleep like a bear in hibernation.

Tapering starts soon . the taper will hit the weekdays before it hits the weekends. my weekdays are starting to come down (by 5 - 10 mintues ) and this weeks sunday ride stands at a "measly" 3-3.5 hours of riding following by some sort of run . the hours will pick up again on the ride for a couple weeks, but i will hold this much less set in stone.

I am comfortable with my runs, though i will kepe them in the 1.5.2 hour range for my friday (long run) and like i said, will be focusing on getting most of my swims to be about an hour (for most of my triathlon carreer my swims hover in the 40-50 minute range perswim)

All in all, at this point, i feel i have done all within my means, i just have to keep it up a little bit longer!!!

Not enough hours in the day...

2008-09-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

With the sun rising later and later, and since we are still weeks away from daylight savings time, i have faced with a problem that comes around with every fall....the sun isnt up the same time i am. I wake up at 530 and realize its really too dark to do anything safely. part of this is rationlizing my hatred of stepping outdoors in the dark, the other part is actually, about safety.

I dont care how many little lights you have on your bike its not really safe to ride when its pitch black... and my mom has told me enough horror stories (read: stories she has made up combined with some true life events) about girls who are running along and are attaced by strangers hiding in the shadows, to keep me from running in the dead of morning.

this poses an interesting problem so close to ironman time. With weekend workouts stretching into the 4-5 hour range, sometimes 6, i counted on those twighlight hours to make up for part of my day.

now that i am getting ready to head back into school, my schedule is much for flexible. i have taken to doing my long runs (about 17 miles) in the late morning on fridays after a cup of coffee, breakfast and potentially an episode of law and order. I decided i liked using saturday (instead of friday) as a recovery/preparation day, and then doing my ridiculous bike ride -followed by a swim, on sunday. basically, my weekends involve working out and eating, and very little else.

despite this i am enjoying this time. Taper will slowly stat in october, where hopefully i will no longer feel the need to run 17 miles consecutive weeks, though i hope to keep the mileage relatively high. I also plan on focusing a little more heavily on the swimming in the upcoming weeks because the strain of open water swim, especially a 2.4 mile open water swim, is potentially going to be the most draining part of the experience, because in october, i will have a hard time simulating the conditions ( no im not going to swim in lake michigan. its cold)

ok so to sum up. training going well. a little tired but excited. more late.

4 down, 1 big one to go.

2008-09-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Today was the nations triathlon and, my last "regular season" race before... wait for it... IRONMAN. ohhhh man.

this was a really great race! very very well organized, beautiful scenery and a great crowd. I have realized that these largers races tend to stress me out only because there are SO many people around a thte checking in process is rather painful. there are mandatory meetings, packet pickups and huge expos going on in a very large hotel with tons of triathletes running around like chickens with their heads cut off.

despite my hatred of crowds however, this was a really great event. my wave started at 8:12, one of the last waves to go out and i felt really really great! the swim was a bit of a challenge not only because it was the Potomac, and the potomac is... well.. disgusting, but also this was the first race in 3 months that had NOT cancelled the swim. so despite my extensive in pool ( and some Lake michigan training) i was a little rusty on my race swim. depsite this howveer, i came in 3rd for my age group in the swim, and started a really bike ride. the run was average, but fast enouggh to get my 2nd place in my age group (out of 77) and 34th out of all the women over all (951 women).

anyway. now i have a month and a half until ironman day... i am going to set up an email to all my potential fundraising contributers explaining how everything is going to work. the tentative Start date for fundraising is Octover 6th. this way, by Halloween, it will be the full 26 days that Fundable.com allows me to collect money. ....more to come later.

its almost like being at the top of mount everest...

2008-09-08T18:30:00.000-07:00

except with less frostbite and cerebral oedema (a quick shout out to my past obsession with people who climb everest despite its more than obvious risks). The reason i draw the similarity is because i am finally reaching the summit of my trainig.,.. my "peak" if you will. from here, i have one final push upwards and then the slow descent, which as those who read "into thin air" can tell you, is potentially the most treacherous part.

This past weekend confirmed the fact that i have lost my mind. when you wake up one morning and say " i think ill run from lincoln square to hyde park today" (for those of you who are not familiar with chicago, the total distance on the lake front bike path from the steps of my apartment to the stoop of the istria coffee shop, my destination ,is a solid 16 miles) you are officially off your rocker. when 5 mile seems like a lame workout, you know you body is only going hold out for so much longer.

the 16 miles went well despite not feeling well at the onset. but i had a gel pack on me, drank plenty of water and honestly had enough nutrients from the day before to keep me going.

my 70+ mile bike ride on sunday is BIT of a different story. Still understandably drained from the day before, i slept through my alarm and embarked on my 4-5 hour bike ride around 7 a.m. The first 50 miles were solid. i stopped to drink water, had a special K bar at the half way point and went on my way. the last 20, however, were an awful awful feeling. I could feel it coming.... the always dreaded "BONK"

its a hard feeling to describe really, unless you have experienced it. I mentioned bonking in a previous post at a race, mainly becuase i had sprinted too soon and too fast at the beggining of a triathlon -turned-duathlon. This however was a feeling of complete and utter depletion. not caused by the distance or my exertion at all. the primary cause was of course my poor nutrient intake after my run, and of course during my bike.

water wasnt cutting it any more and then, thank god, i remembered the clif gel blocks (basically electrolyte packed gummy squares) that i had in my bento box attached to my bike. normally, i enjoy the idea of the blocks, being a gummy bear efficienado myself, but in practice i am always more than dissapointed. sunday however, i downed the maximum reccomended blocks at one time, 6, with more joy than i can ever remember downing hostess zebra cakes in elemetary school (yeah i was chubby, and my parents bought my love with food. ive gotten over it since). i IMMEDIATLY began to feel better. I needed the electrolytes and obviously my blood sugar was down since i honestly had only had a 90 calorie special K bar all day. oh, and coffee... mistake #1.

at this point i was about 10 miles from home. my legs became less wobbly, i felt less light headed and i picked up my pace considerably. then i remembered a little hut on the belmont exit of the bike path that sold drinks and snacks and such. again, luckily i had enough cash to buy a 3 dollare gatorade from the family who owned this fine business, that are smart enough to capitilize on people like me, who are often inadequatly prepared for their "weekend warrior-ing".

anyway, i made it home in one peice. had more coffee some toast with peanut butter and jelly and took a nap all before i had to hit the pool. phew. what a weekend!!!

ok this weekend is my last race weekend before the ironman!!! back to my hometown of virginia for the Nations triathlon in washington DC. The race is perfect timing for my moms citizenship ceremony! Go mom! she will be there with bells, whistles and her american flag.

more to come next time....

Thanks to the AHA!!

2008-08-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the thank you reception for volunteers for the American Heart Association, and they were gracious enough to invite me! it was great to see all of these people putting in their time and effort for a good cause. it was a great time! thanksssss

this post isnt so much about training. yeah, thats going well. I think I will update more on that after this weekend... but lets just say my once large stack of index cards, each documenting one week worth of training has dwindled down so a sad little pile, telling me we are dangerously close to dday.

So i have given more thought to my fundraising. yes 26 days before ironman collection will start. I am asking for a minimum donation of 10 cents per mile of the ironman, totalling out at $14 dollars. Fundable.com will take pledges and wont actually take any money from anyone unless i reach my goal of 1500 dollars. My parents are on board and are going to try to get everyone in my neighborhood back in Virginia to contribute as well. I think this should be a great effort all around.

Ok, now that i have a more clear idea of how fundraising is going to happen, im going to go to sleep. waking up at 530 in the morning as become part habit, part insufferable, depending on the day you ask me. Luckily, tomorrow is thursday, which means happy hour. Oh you better believe Margaritas are a part of a balanced diet--. Drink of champions, my friends. im kidding. kind of.

Cleveland is apparently not my town= "Win" #2

2008-08-18T11:48:00.000-07:00

So this race update is late becuase i was off having an amazing time in costa rica right after the half iron man in "cleveland" (read: mentor, ohio). but here is a synopsis

I get to mentor ohio two days before the race. its a small town area, but i managed to head out to cleveland to visit the rock and roll hall of fame, which was pretty awesome. I hitup the race expo the day before and checked out the course. Nothing too crazy from what i could tell, and that day Lake Eerie seemed to be cooperated.

Fast forward to 545 am race morning. I wake up to HOWLING winds outside my comfort inn window. Crap, i think to myself... i bet the swim is cancelled. Taht would be the second time this summer where a key race was transformed into a run, bike, run.

I was right. I pull into the race site to hear the news. Due to windy conditions and turbulent waters, the swim portion of the race was cancelled. BUMMMER> especially becuase this was a half ironman, and really my checkup point for the ironman. Oh well.

the race became a 1.2 mile run (yeah. lame), a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. as the race started i looked around a noticed very few women, and even fewer women my age competing in the half ironman. always a good sign.

I felt AWESOME on the bike, expect for one spot in the 2-loop course. there was a ridiculous incline that came out of nowhere that made me tip off my bike, both times i went over it. Chicago clearly doesnt train you for hill work, and the incline was so steep and so sudden that i didnt stand a chance. despite this though, i had a really great ride.

\

Onto the run. I start out with an incredible pace and i feel GREAT. this was gearing up to me one of my best races yet, but somewhere along mile 6 i had a real "UH OH" moment. the knee i managed to badly bruise 3 weeks ago in a cycling accident ( i blame the poor pavement near museum campus downtown) was really starting to act up. I have had xrays on the knee and structurally it is fine, but the bone bruise is pretty serious. It hadnt been hurting during most of my training runs but i think the 56 mile ride wore me out just enough to fatigue my knee and exacerbate the pain. damnit .

ok well, i managed to hobble across the finish line only to have to sit down immediatly and request a bad of ice. who knew a bone bruise could be that distructive? I think it will be fine by ironman time, just frusterating for now.

now, i came in first in my age group, but really not a noteworthy accomplishment becuase not only wre there only about 30 woman total doing the half ironman distance, but onle 2 of us were in the 20-24 age group.

all in all things are goingg great. its been a great season so far and i am really getting pumped up for the ironman. its taking a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things after vacation ( my body really liked being sedentary/poolside) for long periods of time, but those days are over i am afraid. fortunatly, it hasnt really been that bad getting back into training, and surprisingly my vacation didnt really effect me that much. i did my bes tto mix in workouts while i was away ....

anyway thats it for now. just one race left before ironman. Ill be in DC sept 14th

how do you stay "ironman" during vacation?

2008-07-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Who knows. seriously I will be going on my first vacation in forever, and I have been struggling trying to figure out how the hell im supposed to train over vacation. but heres what i came up with.

I loaded the past couple of weeks with some more intense workout. If a morning ride was supposed to be an hour and a half, i bumped it up to 2. I stopped taking mondays off the past couple of weeks, and did an extra swim(kept the recovery aspect of the day in tact, but still got a good workout it) and i really ended up pushing myself over the weekendss. 2.5 hour runs, only rides over 50 miles, and alot of open water lake swimming.

i think the kicker here though is that i manaed to plan my vacation in a way that the first week of it involves a taper. I have a half ironman in Ohio on Aug 10th and the week leading up to the race, friday-thursday, I will be on vacation. this is the perfect oppurtunity to go light, take it easy and REALLY taper. Ill come back to chicago, do a nice solid pre race workout, then bust out a half ironman on that sunday, and fly out to leg 2 of my vacation the next day.

to most people this sounds insane. WHO PLANS VACATIONS AROUND A WORKOUT SCHEDULE. triathletes do. talk to any serious racer and i bet you they take no vacation during the months of May through Sept. Dont judge too quickly, because this means we are traveling in off peak travel times to most locations (except the bahamas) and we can pretty much wrangle a good deal and beat the crowds to boot. So all in all, i think we are on to something here.

im not really that worried about the vacation aspect, but i am a little worried aobut the bike crash i had a week ago. I ruined a front wheel, which i soon after reaplced with a Bontrager Race lite wheel ( a vaste improvment to the not-so-hot wheel that comes stock on my quintana roo kilo) but i also banged up my knee pretty bad. while it didnt really hurt all this past week, the 15 mile run killed it. Around mile 10 i got a shooting pain in my knee that pretty ,uch made mr run/walk/hobble the rest of the way back home.

i called about 6 orthopaedic offices this morning begging for an appointment and finally, one physician, showed mercy on me. I have an appointment tomorrow morning, that I hope will result in a "its fine just take it easy" which would be convenient since really, thats what i am already doing for the next two weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Race Recap #2: my first first place!!

2008-07-15T16:19:00.000-07:00

and as always, i am late in writing a post, mainly because i am too busy to have any real thoughts about anything. that said, i had my olympic distance race in Grand Haven MIchigan this past weekend so its time for a little recap.

I reccomend the race highly. grand haven is a beautiful beach town with restaurants and clean beaches and a quaint small town feel. We stayed at the kardomah lounge, which was beyond comfortable and put me in a great location for the race. my one caution about this particular race though is that the weather seems to be unpredictable.

my olympic distance tri was converted into a duathlon when the morning of the race yielded 35 mile per hour winds with 5 foot breakers in lake michigan. so, the race became a 5K run, 40 K bike and 10 K run. not happy news to anyone... except of course, the duathletes in the group who all of a sudden had a much larger, but much less experienced pool of competators.

upon talking to some other athletes from the area, this change in the course was not a surprise. the year before, the swim had been converted to a 300 meter out and back that almost consumed every single swimmer in the water.

i didnt really have a great feeling going into the race. it was very very windy, and i was not mentally prepared for a duathlon(despite the distances not being much of a challenge, the run bike run format is something my body is not used to)

i decided to call this race a throw away and just see what happens, so i hit the ground running, literally. I kept a 7 minute mile pace for the first 5 k, which to be honest, i have NO idea where it came from. i knew this put the rest of my race in jeopardy, but it was a risk i was willing to take.

i got on the bike and started to feel better immediatly. my pace was good, but my body was definatly recovering. I had finished the run strong, and only spotted a handful of women (none in my age division) in front of me, and no one passed me on the bike. so my position going into the last run was really great. i kept a great pace the first 4 miles, and I thought I was getting adequate nutrition through my gel packs. However, i guess i needed a little bit more because i had my first "bonking" experience 2 miles from the finish line

my legs felt heavy, and i have never actually felt that tired, during a workout, or during a race. i dont feel like it effeced my pace THAT much because no one passed me during that point but i really felt awful. it was definatly not the distance that was the issue, since i run 10 Ks in my sleep. I think it was my major push on the first 5 k, and the fact that my body expected one thing, and got another.

all this said though, i managed to finish FIRST in my age group, AND 9th in women over all. it was a great race and it was wonderful to break my 4th place curse. now, onto this years half ironman....

mountains and molehills...

2008-06-28T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hm so its been a little while since i have written anything on this training blog and its probably becuase i spend most of my free time.. well ... training.

So i went to the sports medicine guy yesterday to take a look at my shoulder in hopes that we could fix that dragging tightness i have been feelingg the past coupple of weeks while i have been swimming before it turned into a huge disaster (hence the title of this post)

turns out, i have an imbalance in my shoulder muscles ( something i actually experienced in my hip muscles las year) that is causing the tightness. I am going in for some massage therapy and regular visits with the doc to get everything in line...

As far as training goes, i actually thinks things are on track. my midweek workouts havnt changed too drastically as far as distances go, but i am definatly more consitant with not only the lengths, but also the progressive adjustment of times ( i each week ill take up workouts by 5 or 10 minutes, or a proportionate amount of miles for 3 weeks, then on the 4th week ill generally bring it down for a recovery). the weekends have been getting really long and tiring but i am actually adjusting really well.

my saturday rides have been alternatiing between 50+ to 70 + miles for now, Ill probablby bumped that up a bit in the next couple weeks . Ive been treating these as bricks, generall followed by a quick run just to let my legs get a feel for the transition. My sunday workouts are general 1:45 minutes to 2 hour runs (again itll be bumped up soon, though my runs are going reall well) and i generally follow that (not a brick, usually a couple hours later) with a swim or bike.

all in al going well. i am a little worried about how i am going to fit upcoming friend visits and vacations with my training schedule, but i definatly think its somehing that can be worked out with a little creativity.

I have gone through some pre ironman jitters (even though there is still some time) but i am seeing the time pass by so quickly!!! i will get over it since i really am running out of hours during the day to worry,... or sleep.

post ride regret...

2008-06-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

This saturday i did one of my longest training rides ever. I maxed out at a little over 70 miles, taking me from chicago out to Dyer indiana. I did the ride with the university of chicago cycling club, and I have decided that there is no way i can do 50+ miles without a bit of support. not only would i get hopelessly lost on my own (which i would... you would find me on the side of the road near a corn field trying to figure out if i can drive a tractor on the highway back to chicago), but i would be so unbelievably bored, i probably wouldnt care if i ever made it back home anyway.

now, the ride was great. i felt really strong for about 3/4 of the ride, lost a little bit of my leg power near the end, but definatly not enough to feel bad about the ride itself. the moral of the story here though is i definatly need to work on ultra-distance hyrdation/nutrition. now, i had a power bar and gel pack on me. i nibbled on the powerbar heere and there, but didnt feel really hungry or weak so i didnt feel the need to finish. I had water on me but just one bottle and i finished it a little ove rhalf way through. i stayed away from the gel pack only becuase i usually like to drink alot of water with it or it does a number on my stomach... this probably wasnt a great idea.

Recovery was really rough. i was super dehydrated, came home really hungry and my run the next morning was brutal. i need to not just assume im not hungry or thirsty and hydrate and eat regularly. Ill keep working on it for sure.... thats it for now, its getting late so i need to sleep. .more later.

Race #1 recap & a triathletes worst nightmare

2008-06-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, race #1 of the season done! It went pretty well. I placed 4th in my age group of women 20-24 ( i want to say a pool of about 30 girls) and 24th in overall women finishers (about 200). this includes elite/pro athletes. So all in all it was a pretty good race considering sprints are not my strength. I am however, determined to break my 4th place curse (it seems to be where i keep placing) and end up with atleast a third by the end of the season.

The course was beautiful. the beach along the york river where the swim start and transition area was on a quaint little mainstreet in historical yorktown and the bike course took us along the battle fields where "america's independence was won" (a catchphrase they enjoy using to sell the race).

My one dissapointment with the course however was the run. It was a rather boring out and back on a brick sidewalk along the beach. while it made it easy for spectators to watch it did not help with keeping me guessing as to how much longer i had to run. I knew exactly how far away i was from the start, which is always a bit of a mental downer.

The half way point of the run was a ridiculous hill that everyone seemed a little surprised by. i managed not to let my legs feeling like bricks on this hill get the better of me and i pushed up past over the top and well back down, only to realize the way up, though less steep, was a much longer climb.

anyway the race went great, and as usual the feeling of crossing the finish line, no matter what distance race, always gives me a high. It will never get old. But, coming back to chicago from virginia i had a horrible experience.

Everytime i travel with my bike, there is a moment of panic right before my bike plops down in front of me at the "Oversized luggage" baggage claim. What if its not there!?!? Always though, my bike appears right before this fear sends me into a conniption. This time however... my freakout wasnt so short lived. I am standing, waiting in front of the baggage claim like i always do, and reazlie that its taking longer than usual. I chalk this up to delays at the airport and the intesnse overcrowding caused by flight cancellations. But slowly, i realize all my fellow travelers from flight 2127 are gone. OH NO. THEY LOST MY "COST ME (MY PARENTS) AN ARM AND A LEG" TRIATHLON BIKE.

After freaking out, and being so over dramatic that i saw my ironman dreams crash and burn in front of my eyes, i filed a report with the airport and went home feeling like my family dog had run away. I think my bike is insured at this point but turns out , my parents have no idea...

Long story... not so short,... I get a call from southwest the next morning telling me they found my bike. It arrived at my apartment looking like someone went toboganing with it down the colorado slopes, so I am afraid to open it and put the bike back together, but atleast its back where it belongs.

Moral of the story: 1) triathletes: ALWAYS INSURE YOUR BIKE 2) if you must travel with your bike in an airport make sure that your name is on in (in more than one location) and that it is secured tightly. Luckily i had enforced one of the straps on the case, but seeing as the 50 "fragile" stickers i had placed on my bike case didnt deter anyone from thrashing it around... you can never be too safe.

Season in T-5 days

2008-06-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

First race in 5 days and I am super pumped! i still need to get a few things before i go. I managed to lose my stupid pedal wrench in the process of my move so i should purchase a new one. also, i have never ever been able to put my pedals back on without any help so that may be tonights project... trying to teach myself. or I will forever remain in debt to race site maintanence for putting the finishing touches on my bike when i travel with it.

As a whole, im not too concerned about the weekend. distance-wise iw ould say my training swims/runs/bikes range from being twice to about 4 times a long as this race so thats not an issue. what the element of sprint racing does give me... is well the sprint itself. i dont spend too much of my time training my speed, and shorter races really test that and push my limit. I am, and pforever will be, a distance athlete despite my "compact" (read: short) frame.

Either way i think this is a great race to kick off my season. I need to start really thinking about what i need to accomplish before my distance races ( a good nutrition plan etc, buying a wetsuit... practiciing in a wetsuit etc) and i just need to continue writing my schedules ahead of time.

I think that next week will be the first week i switch up my schedule a bit. up until now i have been taking fridays off, which means the day before my two long weekend workouts off. The idea behind this is to recover before you really kill the muscles. However, my weekend workouts are starting to get super long, with the onset of actual ironman training, and i think it would be advatageous to have the day AFTER the long weekend workouts off... so Monday. i think I will start this next week, ie, the day after i get back from Race #1. I am also starting to revamp my work schedule for the summer (taking some time off before going back to school) so i may rework it so that i do long workouts of fridays and saturday and take sundays, a day with no work, off. We will see how this pans out.

Ok i have to get back to making a list of everything to take to this race, because inevirtably i will forget something. Lets hope its not my sunglasses, like that one time in new york; a mistake that led to me losing a contact lens during my run becuase my eyes were so dried out from biking without my glasses on....

Gearing up

2008-05-22T18:10:00.001-07:00

im in the time of the pre-season that i like to call "inventory". WIth my first race about 2 weeks away, i am just starting to sit down, and look at what i need as far as equipment goes. The bike went into the shop for a tune up, or really a little pre-racing season TLC. So, since i havnt been riding for the past few days, with my baby boy (Sly as i like to call him...) in the shop, ive been focusing on my running and swimming.

Other than that i am starting to take a really long hard look at my ironman training schedule. My first week of ironman training will begin the week AFTER my first race ( on June 8th) and the week after that, i will begin my completely revamped training regimine. it will include "saturday triples" (just like what it sounds... all three disciplines 1 day .my own little triathlon though often, not so little) and monday rest days to recovery from the brutal saturday and sunday sessions.

The one thing i am still not comfortable with, and probably because i havnt been looking into it as much as i should, is nutrition. Maybe ill stop by the store this weekend and look into what they have. other then that though, im just getting really excited for the racing to start! its going to be a great season. Ill have more later.

Story of my life.

2008-05-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Oh man, the other day a friend of mine sent me an article that "reminded her of me" and boy, it remind me of me as well. I have linked the New York times article below

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/08/health/nutrition/08BEST.html?_r=2&ref=fashion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

But for those of you too lazy to read the article (or if for some reason thelink stops working eventually) the point of the article is this. In order to master running (but you could substitute swimming and biking in the analogy i am sure) you have to stop doing the other 2 disciplines. Now, really, this SEEMS like common sense. We have all heard the old adage " Jack of all trades, master of none" and it seems to me that this article is basically insinuating that this is a perfect descriptiion of triathletes.

Now, i refuse to believe that is all a triathlete is someone who is just mediocre at 3 things instead of just awesome at one. I prefer to think of the sport as people are are awesome at 1 thing, that one thing being triathlong which just HAPPENS to be consistant of 3 things. We are one big group of multi-taskers.

The article however does shed light on some interesting training problems i have been having and makes me feel much better that i am not the only one that feels the same way. It mentions that often triathletes will get in the pool one day and sink like a rock becuase their legs are shot, and then the next day slide effortless through the pool, but get passed on the bike path by a 6 year old child on a pink tricycle with handle-bar tassels. Why, you may ask?

Well,it seems to be that while triathlon virtually works every major muscle group inyour body, building up competeing muscles groups with almost equal intensity doesnt allow for what one would call a "peak" in any one activity. I have definatly noticed this. One day i will have an amazing run, and another day, specifically days following a long ride, i may as well have shackled 20 pound weights to each leg and tried to run that way.

I wont say it is not discouraging. HOWEVER, i do not believe the answer for triathletes is to give up on it a focus on one discipline. there is after all, a reason you started triathlon in the first place.(its probably the variety that is lacking in more one dimensional training, coupled with how much a rockstar you feel like when you come powering out of the open water swim to hundreds/thousands cheering onlookers... but you know, maybe thats just me) now, for the people mentioed in the article, perhaps focusing their attention on running was a good idea, seeing as she ran the boston marathon at a ridiculous pace and came in second. but for those of us who probably wouldnt even come in second in a marathon with only 3 racers in it, we have to just find ways around the daily struggles of training.

i think the bottom line for me is, its ok to have a bad run on a day when you have a good ride and its ok to have a sluggish swim on a day with a long and effortless run. as a triathlete you train your body to keep going no matter what the conditions, and on race day, the adrenaline will probably carry you through whatever sluggishness you may encounter. that said, i will sound like a broken record but you cannot successfully train without 1) propoer nutrition and 2) proper recovery. so if your body is telling you to stop for a day you better do it.

that is all for now.

the warm weather advantage

2008-05-03T17:05:00.001-07:00

3 hour rides are unbearable inside. almost impossible. thats why i was so happy when i woke up this morning at 6 am (yes on a saturday), and realized that the weather, despite the forecast calling for rain, was sunny and beautiful. I went out for a 3 hour ride followed by a 25 minute run, right after which the skies got dark and it rained on and off all day.

now this workout flew by outside, which gives me hope that i can actually make it through the 5 or 6 hour rides that i will ecounter as i roll into ironman training time ( starting in june... AHH) and get closer to the day of the race.

i carried some nutrition with me this time which helped as i passed the 2 hour mark, but i find myself pretty tired the rest of the day. hopefully, my body will start getting more and more used to workouts closer to 4 hours and it will eventually have less of an effect on me.

This is all for now, more of an unpdate really. maybe my next post will be a little more informative. I am trying to slowly get the word out about my efforts to raise money but i think ill treally get that ball rolling at the same time as the start of ironman training. give people a few more weeks before they are bombarded with emails/facebook messages.

Alrigh. more later.

into the wind...

2008-04-25T22:34:00.000-07:00

So today is friday, which during a normal week would mean i was reveling in my day off, but today, i took one for the team ( and by team, i mean me) and I trudged through my saturday monster workout today, so i could make a necessary trip to ikea/the mall in leiu of working out. ( i have priorities)

I woke up today though and realized the weather was playing a game with me. i spent most of the day tryng to figure out what weather.com meant by 'afternoon' when they said that the severe thunderstorms would hit around then. Maybe if i left work ontime i can do my ride out side?

now that the weather is warm i am very resistant to a trainer ride, but i didnt want to get stuck out 20 miles from my house in a thunderstorm so i decided to play it safe. I figured, if i could kill atleast 1 hour on the path, i coudl do another 1.5 on the trainer and then do a short run.

As usual, the way up north, riding with today's gusty prestorm winds was a piece of cake ...getting back though was a different story.

the winds were blowing alot harder than normal because of the storm, and more than once i found myself almost launched sideways into parked cars. As i hunkered down and used my most areodynamic position i tried to think of other ways to increase efficiency and i realized i frequently forget the most obvious one; pulling up while i pedal. The reason cyclists wear clips is so we can efficiently pedal both down and up, but usually, i am pretty lax about this, and therefore, not the most efficient cyclist ever.

The moral of the story is that difficult climate/terrain /weather present diffrent problems, but in the end trying to figure out a way to combat them, can potentially help us focus on our problem areas and get back to the basics..... unfortunatly for me, after my slight victory over the wind, i came home in anticipation of storms in the afternoon... which didnt arrive will aboubt 7. oh well. cant win em all.

Time flys...

2008-04-14T20:25:00.000-07:00

when you are tired. I find myself about a month and a half away from my very first race and while i feel prepared, i definatly feel like i need to pay a little more attention to how much rest I get. I am at the beggining of a recovery week right now, which should definatly help.

Now, i am starting to really look into what I am going to go do to get the most out of my training, and I feel like one place i am still lacking a little is nutrition. Sure, I eat right, but as my workouts get longer, and i approach racing time, i realize that my tried and true tactics may not be useful on a 6 hour ride, for examples.

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/race-day-prep/race-day-nutrition-000682.php

below is the link to an article that i found very interesting. People always mock me because i make myself coffee before my 5:30 am walk to the pool, but look there

"3. Caffeine has been shown to help your body burn fat and conserve glycogen. I have a cup of coffee before every morning workout and used Vivarin on race day."

i like the way that sounds. Anyway, i think the next few months are going to be full of me reading articles like this and trying to get a good plan together for maximized racing. I feel like i can finish just a little bit stronger if my body doesnt run on empty at any point.

all in all i am pretty pumped about racing season, and i dont really have much to say right now.... so there will be more later. There are alot of preparations

Thank you, Biggest Loser

2008-04-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

Just a feel good post for the new month. Today as i was doing the second half of my brick workout on my trainer (the wind/cold/rain in chicago still hasnt let up and i reguse to get pneumonia just so i can ride outside) i was keeping myself entertained by watching the reality show, the Biggest loser.

Actually, I watch it every week. Why? everyone needs motivation, and believe it or not, this show does it for me. You see people overcome whatever has inhibited their lives and you are reminded that you dont need a magic pill, you dont need surgery and that food can be your friends- all you do need to do is practice a little will power and learn to enjoy some physical activity.

Now todays espisode stood out for me because the tag line for the show was something like "See, as the contestants in their hardest challenge...EVER" The suspense almost KILLED me until i found out they had set up a mini triathlon for the contestants in Australia. This brought a smile to my face. As each contestant crossed the finish line they gushed about how they never in a million years thought they would be able to complete a triathlon, and how crossing the finish line reminds them of how far they have come.

The funny thing is... I feel like that every time i cross the finish line. It was good to see five more people get why I wake up at 5:15.

Re-focusing

2008-03-29T15:12:00.000-07:00

Since my last post i realized the importance of changing things up. Today before I embarked on my saturday 12-13 mile run, i realized I was getting a little tired of all of the music on my trusty ipod. All i had to do was add 5 new songs into the mix, and I had the best run I had in a very long time.

Moral of the story? just because you have a good routine, doesn't mean itll be good for long. A week ago i decided to sit down and actually put into an excel spread sheet a training sequence of my own. Despite the fact that I have one in my head that I have been following for a while, I decided to put it onto paper. the fact that i have someone "telling me" what i shoudl be doing ( ie.. myself, on a piece of paper) gives me a little more direction.

All in all I am feeling pretty good, and I think my regular season races should go pretty well, as long as i dont run into any major clitches ( ie injury) my runs and swims are pretty consistent. my cycling game is a little harder to get a read on since Chicago's weather is being recalcitrant and dumping snow on us every other day leaving me inside with my trainer. Though it warmed up the other day (like 45) so i went out for a ride and I felt really good. So i think I am on track.. or something.

Anyway. Ill have a facebook group soon to start getting the word out aboutfundraising, so, until then!

The Daily Grind

2008-03-20T20:28:00.000-07:00

For the first three or four years of my triathlon "career" i followed a training schedule that I found in a book, or online, to the very last detail. After I had competed in a couple of half-ironmans though, i fell into a pattern of both on and off season training that was pretty rhythmic. the training pattern i fell into for the off season was really not much of a "downgrade" from my half ironman training. sure the intensity was toned down a bit and I was less concerned about a missed day or two of training, but I would say the number of hours i put in were not that different, even considering that i was technicalyl "off season"

now that I am getting geared up for the June-Sept season/ironman training period i have found mysel thinking back to my prior training practices and reassessing how i shoudl incorporate them into my current routine. the one thing i want to hold on to for my current training pattern is the number of hours. right now i would say my base hours are at half ironman level and by june i shoudl be geared up for comfortable long course racing even though my first two races are a sprint and an olympic.

the thing i need to change though, is incremental increases in my instensity/hours and recovery weeks. I forget sometimes that the one day off a week is not enough, and that back in the day when i followed a really set schedule, i woudl take one week for a recovery every 4 weeks. this means less hours, less intensity but same format.

this recovery week is crucial and something that I should really consider as i do feel the effect of my workouts by the end of the week, and taking time off always makes my "comeback" better. So from now on ill probably hve a format where weekdays stay the same but may vary in instensity, and then sat and sun will have incremental increases in lenght for 2-3 weeks before hitting a recovery week. this way no only do i build and increase endurance, but i give my muscles adequate time to recover and respond to the extra training.

Ill probably come up with a clerler example of this in the next couple days and post it.

Triathlon is basically just alot of stuff...

2008-03-10T17:44:00.000-07:00

So in the last post i said that i would talk about the massive amount of equipment needed for triathlon, and more specifically the equipment/preparations needed before i started my season. But first off I wanted to paste the American Heart Association's mission statement

"Building healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke"

Just a reminder of whats pushing my training for the Ironman. its a really great cause like i have been saying... and I am going to start getting the word out. 26 days before the ironman I will start taking pledges and donations on the fundable.com webpage. But now onto todays post...

So the very basic triathlon equipment includes bike, running shoes, sunglasses, tri suit, goggles, water bottles, helmet, riding cleats

After that, most people opt for wetsuit, and then there are the random incidental purchases are the ones that really add up. you need during race fuel like power gels and some sort of energy drink,bike tools (co2 cartridges, extra tubes, portable bike pump, pedal wrench and an actual tool kit), racing belt (you pin your racing number onto it) aerobars (if your bike doesnt already have them) saddle cover... and the list goes on .

I have never been a wetsuit user, except for the Gulf Coast Half Ironman since it was my first ocean swim. but the wetsuit has definatly made it on my list of things to purchase for the ironman. 2.2 miles in the gulf of mexico is sure to challenge. I need new bike equip and perhaps a new saddle cover. My bike saddle is super thin, and makes for an uncomfortable mid length ride ( the 56 miles for the half ironmans was kind of pushing it)... so im thinking 112 miles would suck even more.

I am also looking for a goodtri suit. they are always either too big or too skimpy in the wrong places. Any suggestions? Im going tot have to do some serious online shopping.

like i mentioed before, im also going to have to look into appropriate racing nutrition... I have alot of equipment to buy, but the way tht the chicago winter is going, i still have a little while before i would have to take my bike into the local shop for a tune up.

Pre-season Ends

2008-03-03T11:43:00.000-08:00

Now, obviously, im not "in season" right now as it is the beggining of march... in fact i dont have a race scheduled for another 3 months, but the end of february ended my format of training that i had dubbed as "maintanence". Now I am really going to start to gear up for my regular season races that stretch from June to September.

In all honsty, the next three months will NOT be that different as far as distance and time of training go. My weekdays will most likely still consist of tw0- a-day workouts with longer single block (or endurance bricks) on the weekends. What will change is my attention to detail. when i woudl normally wind down at the end of a long run, ill now push up a hill, or add a sprint before the end. Interval training will make its way into my riding workouts as well. Instead of a steady pace for 2-3 hours, ill make sure to alternate between aerobic and aneorobic phases.

The beggining of my training season coincided perfectly with my vacation to Boston to visit my best friend from highschool. I took 4 days off to enjoy sleeping in, eating and good company so I could hopefully come back refreshed. Theres not much more to say right now, other than i better start looking at what i need to accomplish/aquire over the next three months.

Next entry will most likely be an inventory of equipment. theres alot i have but ALOT i need to replace after last season when faulty pedals and water bottles made me abandon equiptment on the side of the rode during the actual event. Such is life.

Carbo Loading and Race day Nutrition

2008-02-17T19:02:00.000-08:00

So what I am realized as I write these articles is that until about june, when i hit real ironman training, these articles will be more "reflections" on things ive had experience with, but i will probably revisit all these topics, particularly race day nutrition, as i have experience with them in relation to ironman training.

the concept of carbo loading is one that appeals to me mainly because my normal habit of cramming my face with complex carbohydrates becomes somewhat justifiable. up until now ive has a prerace/race day nurition routine that has worked fairly well. i generally cut out caffeine from my diet about 2 weeks before a big race to optimize the usefullness of gelpacks that actually have caffeine in them. I also make sure i have plenty of good carbs from power bars and granola, but i dont really sit there and make bowls and bowls of pasta a week before the race. on race day, i generally wake up , drink water and have a power bar and make sure i keep 2 gel packs in transition area 1 right before the bike, one during the bike (after half way) and one half way through the run (hopefully to help me push past the wall.... all of this in addition to - of course-plenty of water, gatorade and sometimes even some electrolyte suppliments.

this system hasnt really failed me - except for once, when i didnt drink enough water with my gel pack, and very soon after, this decision was reeking havoc on my GI system- and as a result slowing me down (but making me wish i could teleport to the nearest bathroom)

but as i gear up for a big racing season that ends with an ironman, i really have to not only make sure i understand what race day nutrition SHOULD be , but also i need to make sure i practice it during my training sessions, which i have been really bad about. The article below was really useful in thinking about this. its easy to think that constant calorie intake is necessary during a half ironman- much less an ironman, but according to the article, a little goes a long way.

it makes sense though- what is being depleted from our bodies most rapidly during ultra distance racing are electrolytes. Up until now, i have been lucky that i havnt "bonked out" (yes thats the scientific term for "no i cant go on") but i know that during my training sessions, i am pushing my limit. the next few months will be dedicated to figuring all this out.

http://www.tri-ecoach.com/art36.htm

rest days

2008-02-10T19:24:00.000-08:00

Before i get to tonights post, i just want to say that I have definately decided to use fundable.com to collect my donations for the American Heart Association. Since the collection time on this website is a maximum of 26 days i am going to try to get the word out as much as possible and have people "pledge" ahead of time ( the website actually only takes pledges and wil lnot collect money until the goal i set is met). I am going oto try to get the word out as best i can, but i can use all the help i can get!

So tonight i was just thinking bout my training schedule because february will be over before i know it and march marks that beggining of my "actual training". March, April and May will be prepping for regular season, and to be honest, will not be much different than what I am doing now... maybe the workouts will be a little longer, with more little pockets of intensity, but nothing completely out of the orginary.

Once June hits though, not only will i be in full racing mode ,but i will also start the 20 week schedule that will take me to the ironman, and the question i had today was about my rest days. Currently, my rest day is friday, more out of convenience than anything else. I am exhausted by the end of my work week and feel like its the perfect day for a day off. However, the two different ironman training schedules i am working off of reccomend 2 different things. one reccomends a monday day off following the logic that saturday and sunday workouts tend to be the most brutal and a follow-up recovery day would be useful. However, the other schedule reccomends a friday day off, presumably to recover a little from the week becasue the Sat/Sun brtuality hits so you can make the most out of your big weekend workouts.

Personally, I have used both and I dont see much of a difference between the two other than convenience. Mondays off were the best when i was in school, because i tended to have no class on fridays anyway, but now that I am working, fridays off are best.> Ill probably tailor my days off according to what else is happening in my life. But its possible that once i hit 6 hour training blocks on saturdays, the monday rest day will definatly seem better. Either way its up in the air as of now, but im getting excited about training! My focus over the next couple months or so will be working on training nutrition....more to come

My favorite things

2008-01-31T09:01:00.001-08:00

So, pre season training is going well I think. I added brick elements to my saturday and sunday long block workouts, and even added a track session to my normally 1 workout thursday. Ill probably jump up the volume soon, but i am pretty much ahead of schedule. June is 4 months away, with the beggining of my regular season, and Nov 1st is a scary 8 months away. I know that seems like forever now, but but once i start competing, those racing weeks are going to start flying by. And for those of you who are also pumping of for regular season, these are my favorite things... and hopefully soon yours too. they make training alot easier

Favorite (training) foods: training nutrition is super important and has to be a balance of protein fiber and carbs:A few of my favorites

Yoplait Thick and Creamy light: 100 calories , 5 grams of protein each and delicious flavors, these are a staple in my life
Boca/Morningstart veggie burgers: I dont eat alot of meat, and these make a great substitute.
Chex puppy chow: See the back of the box for a recipe. take out the butter, its totally useless in the recipe. I wouldnt eat an insane amount of this at one time, as its not necessarily healthy, but in the lines of a good trail mix, a handful of the chocolate and peanut butter combo is a great pick me up before a loooooong workout
Idaho potatoes: Im not sure what i would do without baked potatoes. My cooking skills are severely lacking adding to my mothers belief that I will never convince a man to be with me.. that said, A little salsa brocolli and cheese and you have a delicious dinner... or breakfast if you are me and havnt gone grocery shopping in a while.

Favorite race foods:
Power Gel Chocolate: One of the only bearable racing gel packs. the chocolate flavor is particularly good as you can pretend you are downing some very dense chocolate syrup from the bottle... watch out though its sticky and gets allll over your face.

Cliff Bar Power Shocks: those little gummy cubes are AMAZING during a race. they pack alot of punch and electrolytes and keep you hydrated well. but remember, they are not a sub for actual liquid, taken alone they could do a number on your digestive system.

Favorite training companion: My Ipod shuffle. hands down. that is all.

On my shuffle: Only country. Brooks and Dunn, Big and Rich, Kenny Chesney, Sugarland, Brad Paisley, .. the list goes on. Those of you who think you cant workout to anything other than rap/hip hop and obnoxious techno are wrong. you can workout to anything as long as YOU like it. it doesnt matter how "pumped" up that beefy guy at the gym thinks he is getting by listening to DJ Tiesto.

Favorite beverage when im not drinking water, coffee or gatorade: Diet Coke. All you people who are like WHAT you are an athlete and drink soda? Save the lecture. If you drink alcohol, eat fried food etc dont have habits any better. plus, i am allowed one vice.

Ok I am still decided between PayPal and Fundable.com for my donation collection methods, but there will be more info on that soon.

The next post will undoubtedly be about the American Gladiator Audition I am attending this saturday....

Bricks

2008-01-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

As promised (not that you care) here is the post on bricks. Bricks tend to be my least favorite part of triathlon training, though admittedly, i think the most important. Backtrack a little... a brick is a workout that involves 2 of the 3 "disciplines" but with no break inbetween and simulating race type transitions. Why is it called a brick? well because thats what your legs will feel like during that second workout.... and probably later that night. I would say a "classic" brick would be a bike-into-run because its would be the same order, and theoretically same intensity that you would feel during a race. but between having to be at work in the mornings, the variable pool hours, the fact that it gets dark at 3 in the afternoon in the winter in chicago and just random shifts in my schedule, I cant always do a looong bike and follow it up with a run. So i would really consider any two workouts, backto back with a short transition time a brick. In the end, the most important facet of the brick is that your body has little if any recovery time, and you are blasting 2 sets of muscle groups.

As of yet, I have not incorporated any real bricks into my maintainence period, but thatis going to change this week since march will be the beggining of my pre-season training (see starting week 3 of that schedule i posted... i would say i am already around week 15-16 so i will alter/lengthen their intensity a bit). One of my weekday workouts (like the one i will do today) will be tranformed into a back to back workout - which will not only let me get a little more sleep in the morning, but will rev up the intensity of my midweek. Also , my weekend 10-13 mile run will have some biking tacked on to the end, and similarly, my sunday long ride will have either a swimming or running compoenent as well. These will probably start out with just 15-20 minute additions, but believe you me, that is enough to let your body know your not kidding around.

I have decided that I will start my fundraising efforts (hopefully) in March with the beggining of my real training. however, depending on my method of collection which is still up in the air, its possible that I will not be able to collect donations until a couple months prior to the big day.

Overtraining

2008-01-15T18:46:00.000-08:00

I thought talking about overtraining would be an appropriate discussion today since i woke up this morning feeling like all sorts of crap. It was just a cold, but that lingering guilt about skipping my weekdaily duo of swimming and something else was killing me. so i took a couple minutes today to try to get myself back in line.

Over the past 4 years i have used one book as my "bible" for triathlon training. Its called "The Woman Triathlete" and while normally, i dont fall for for anything that tries to capitalize on the fact that i have breasts (though really, not so much since i started triathlon...but thats for a different day) this book is really the most comprehensive training guide that I have come across because its not a book thats only useful for someone that has never run before. It deals with issues that any athlete is going to run into in a variety of different capacities, and though I compile my own training schedules now that I am more experienced, I often still turn to it on days like today.

Todays sickness i dont think is a result of overtraining, but it is a cold that my body may be been a little less prepared for becuase it spends so much time recovering from working out. But the book points to "overtraining syndrome" as a problem that alot of triathletes encounter that results in a lack of motivation, decreased workout outputs and a generall fall back in workouts. to me this is a great reminder of why sometimes you need to just sit on your ass.

A half assed training session is just that, half assed. it goes from being "training" to just a workout, which is fine, but in the end, if you are trying to work on your cardiovascular endurance, and your speed, just burning calories isnt really helpful (though i appreciate it either way since i have a penchant for chipotle.. thats right chipotle. give me a break its delicious)
in the end though im not trying to lose weight. Im trying to maintain my weight, my lean muscle mass, and improve my endurance and speed, though i really want to try working on the latter.

Anyway the reason for all this is morea reminder for me that sometimes its better for me to take abreak then to try to work through illness or fatigue. while you dont want to shy away from the challenge of pushing through sore muscles or that hard brick workout you did last night ( which reminds me, maybe the next post will be about "brick workouts") you also need to be careful if you want to have a successful season.

on that note i think its time for me to start some more focused interval sessions in my biking and swimming, so i think my AM swim will not be my normal 15 minute straight free warmup, 10 min kick 10 min paddles 5 min pull buoy and 5 min cool down.. instead i think ill try the following (from "The Woman Triathlete")
400 free warmup
4 X 100: kick 25, 75 swim
8X 50 easy effort working up to fast
3 X 500 free (1 with paddle 1 with buoey)
cooldown

stay tuned for info on fundraising...

adding on to today..

2008-01-12T19:16:00.000-08:00

Here is the basic training schedule I will follow, its about an 8 month schedule, but really only 20 weeks of it will be real ironman training. the rest is a schedule that i woudl more or less follow during any training/maintenance period. i think this workout is really well composed with a great balance. more later!

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/

...and we have a schedule

2008-01-12T06:35:00.000-08:00

Ok so finally after a few weeks of trying to figure out what my racing schedule for 2008 will, it looks like it will be the following

June 10th - Yorktown Virginia (Sprint Distance)
July 13th - Grand Haven, MI (International Distance ) *tentative...the registration sight isnt up yet

August 10th- Greater Cleveland Triathlon (Half Iron Distance)- What a great way to celebrate the two days before my birthday

Sept 14th - Nations Triathlon Washington D.C

NOV 1st - IRONMAN FLORIDA- Panama City FL

This seems like a pretty balanced schedule to me... peak out in August should give me a good "fitness check" and test out my training progress.

getting together my racing schedule means i also have to try to figure out my training schedule, which unfortuantly is a daunting task in and of itself. Im pretty sure i am going to be kicking myself a few months from now when i realize what i have gotten myself into. Right now, I am rockin out a "maintenance" plan which involves a six day a week training schedule-
monday -wednesday: Swim +run, Swim + bike, Bike and Run.
Thursday: Long swim
Friday: OFF! (thank god)
Saturday: long run, atlest 10 miles. sometimes a swim or bike tacked on
Sunday: long bike

these week day workouts are usually 1hour 45 minuts to about 2.5 hours total while weekend usually adds up to about 2-3. Once real training starts though, the weekday workouts will be a little longer than this (though not by that much) but the weekends will start to take on a whole new form.

I found a plan that has a 20 week Ironman schedule that i think is appropriate, so 5 months. If ironman is in November then I guess June is when the "hard core" training starts, which works out well because the weather will be nice and i dont have to spend hours ony stupid trainer like i do now. this post hass been long but soon i will put up links to my favorite workout plans and one that i make for myself.

racing in 2008

2008-01-07T18:51:00.000-08:00

So i have already hit my first hurdle in the road to Ironman 2008. With the big day so far away you would think i would make it through atleast a couple months without any problems. but not, thats clearly not how i operate... When i registered for Nov 1st i didnt really think about the rest of my season.

On any other year i simply would have opened up the USAT event calender and picked races, one month or so apartment between may and august or sept. but how many races do you have to do before an ironman? how much down time do i need? am i supposed to run a marathon or half ironman during the same season.

I effectively decided against running a marathon prior to the ironman for a couple of reasons. I dont want to distract myself from any one part of my training and since i am a pretty strong runner i should really focus on my cycling. But the bottom line is that the ironman isnt a marathon. i dont really need to know how quickly i could run a marathon alone. I need to be able to condition my body to run that marathon after its already been active for hours- and hopefully, run it efficiently. Effeciently doesnt necessarily mean the fastest i could possible run it. Lets me honest, a good 20 mile run will probably makes it way into a weekend workout tacked onto a ridiculous bike ride anyway, i dont need other people around to witness the pain.

as for the rest of my schedule....i am pretty set on a 4 race (not including IM) schedule, with a peak at a 1/2 in August. Ill post the actual races when my registration is complete. but before i can do that i have to figure out where I am going to be this season. With PhD admissions decisions still out, i have no idea if I will be in the midwest, east coast or south. If i manage to stay in Chicago (which would be ideal) you will find me racing up a storm in IN, OH, and IL and maybe back home ( my real home) in DC before i head to Florida. I need to keep traveling costs down since the Ironman is costing an arm and a leg.

Alright, till next time....

New Year, New Blog

2008-01-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Its officially 2008, and in the spirit of the new year, I will write my first post for this Ironman blog. From here on out, this will just a place for my family and friends to keep up with my training and fundraising, and hopefully a way for me to get good training tips from other triathletes and pass helpful hints on to others. But before any real posting can happen lets break it down....

What? Ironman Florida 2008- After 4 years of training for and competing in triathlon, ive decided to officially accept the fact that I am a glutton for punishment and, like any addict, acceptance is the first step to recovery. I have no plans on quitting the habit, so to speak, but i feel like if i manage to complete the Ironman i will be able to accept a slightly later wake up time and ride the "Oh yeah? well i did the ironman" bandwagon for atleast a season.

Why? Anyone who has crossed the finish line of even one triathlon has elaborate fantasties of finishing an Ironman...yeah i got bit by that bug hard. Mustering up the courage to register was half the battle- but I knew that I was going to need extra motivation to take me through the 6 hour weekend workouts. I have decided to run Ironman Florida as a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. With a father who had quadruple bypass surgery ( and recovered beautifully thank goodness) and a grandfather who passed away from heart failure before I even met him, I think the work the the AHA does is critical.

The AHA's mission is to raise awareness about heart disease and stroke and to aid in promoting prevention by promoting healthy lifestyles. Have any questions abou the AHA and what they do?Check out http://www.americanheart.org for more info

How: This is where i take your money. Well not me really. you give your own money to the AHA. We know that heart disease doesn't discriminate; men- women- children- and even athletes, so your money is going to a really worthy cause. Soon I will be setting up an account with Fundable.com (http://fundable.com/) to collect donations during the 10 months I am training and keeping this blog. Since the ironman is a delightful 140 miles of fun, I am asking for donations of $1.40, $14.00 and for those of you with day jobs $140.00. My goal is to raise atleast $3,000. Fundable.com will not take any money from you if the goal i set forth is not met.

As this blog developes there will be more information on the AHA, helpful links and updates on the fundraising. Thanks for reading this first, boring, but hopefully informative post. The rest will be better. i swear. Happy New Year!

My one piece of advice to new years resolvers? It'll be alot easier if you stop calling it a resolution. Workouts dont have to be in the gym. Get exercise doing something you like to do.