Well, they've announced the 2008 Tri for the Cure and it looks like TAG is signing up for it again. I know Amber already has signed up, Gen's planning on it and I will as soon as I get some money (so hopefully by the end of this month).
I've been off the horse lately from working out, but as the February training schedule is up on the official site, I may just start doing that instead of the random "I'll do whatever I want" thing when I'm at the gym. I'll probably do different weights than what their schedule says because I've got my own, different regimen (that i like better), but y'know.
Goals for this year:
- Chop 17:22 off my time to finish in 1:30:00. This is the ideal; if I get anywhere close to this I'll be happy.
- Get a new bike. I <3 my bike, but really, I'd like a better tri bike.
- Get my swimming OODLES better. That was my weak point last year.
- Build up endurance.
- Figure out a way to have faster transitions without buying a tri suit.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Sunday, August 5, 2007
The Breakdown
Okay, now that the race results are officially in, I can share my breakdown (and, i'll also share amber's and gen's since they SUCK and never update this).
So, me:
1430th overall
95th in my age group (20-24)
21:06 swim (1781st overall)
7:07 first transition
43:19 bike (1357th overall; 15.7 mph)
3:41 second transition
32:07 run (1069th overall; 10:21 splits)
1:47:22 overall.
Amber:
2178th overall
127th in the age group (same)
17:34 swim (876th overall ... i hate her ... just kidding!)
8:16 first transition
54:22 bike (2391st overall; 12.5 mph)
5:46 second transition
39:14 run (1968th overall; 12:39 splits)
2:05:15 overall
Gen:
2398th overall
137th in the age group (same)
33:23 swim (2586th overall)
8:33 first transition
48:13 bike (2017th overall; 14.1 mph)
4:35 second transition
42:11 run (2207th overall; 13:36 splits)
2:16:56 overall
We. Are. Awesome! :)
So, me:
1430th overall
95th in my age group (20-24)
21:06 swim (1781st overall)
7:07 first transition
43:19 bike (1357th overall; 15.7 mph)
3:41 second transition
32:07 run (1069th overall; 10:21 splits)
1:47:22 overall.
Amber:
2178th overall
127th in the age group (same)
17:34 swim (876th overall ... i hate her ... just kidding!)
8:16 first transition
54:22 bike (2391st overall; 12.5 mph)
5:46 second transition
39:14 run (1968th overall; 12:39 splits)
2:05:15 overall
Gen:
2398th overall
137th in the age group (same)
33:23 swim (2586th overall)
8:33 first transition
48:13 bike (2017th overall; 14.1 mph)
4:35 second transition
42:11 run (2207th overall; 13:36 splits)
2:16:56 overall
We. Are. Awesome! :)
WOOOOOO!!!!!
Oh. My. God. That was totally freaking awesome! Finishing that race was the biggest endorphin rush EVER.
*takes a deep breath*
Okay. So we'll start out from last night. My brother just moved into a new house so he had a little party (obviously the night before i have a race. figures ...). I went, being the good sister that I am, though I avoided the beer that was calling out to me. My original intention was to only stay about a half-hour.
Riiiight. Three hours later, I'm heading home. I figure that going to bed by 11:30 wasn't all that bad because that's what I usually do. Therefore, keeping with routine, right? That's what I thought.
Anyway, finally rolled out of bed this morning at 4:30ish, ate breakfast, got my stuff all together ... and learned that Gen and I were not carpooling together. This was an issue because my bike really doesn't fit in my car. I somehow got the wheels off and the bike jammed in my car, but when I got to the parking lot, I couldn't get my back wheel back on or my brakes to go back together (both small little issues). Some kind souls in the car next to me got my back wheel back on (getting hands full of chain grease for their trouble; i felt bad), I somehow got my back brake connected again ... but my stupid front brake wasn't going back together. By this point, I'd been at the parking lot for about 45 minutes and really should have been setting up my spot in the transition zone.
When Gen and her boyfriend John finally arrived, I met up with them and John thankfully was able to put my front brake back together. I quickly hopped on the bike, it seemed to work - good enough for me. Met up with Amber in the transition zone, squashed my stuff next to hers, warmed up ... I felt ready to go after that stupid bike fiasco.
At 8:20am, Amber and I went in our heat (gen was 4 minutes earlier). First up: swimming. For next time, I know that THIS is something I need to work on. It's fun being kicked every now and then, but you can't really get away from the person kicking you without getting too far off course or stopping yourself. I also ended up doing the breaststroke pretty much the entire way, keeping my head above water (so totally not how i had practiced). Had to stop and use the swim angels once to clear out my goggles (seeing is good), though I almost stopped one other time because I was having a mini asthma/anxiety attack. Still, survived the swim (in supposedly, i found out later, 21 minutes ... though i kinda don't believe it (championchip be damned)).
After a long (7 minute!) transition, I hopped on the bike for the shortened (stupid construction - cut the bike course by a mile) bike course. I ended up making up a lot of ground on the bike course, feeling good enough to scream and yell support at pretty much everyone I passed (yeah, i'm that crazy kid). I was a little concerned 'cuz my bike was squeaking something fierce, but I got through it totally fine. My legs burned at a few points, but overall, it was an easier 11.4 miles than I had been doing on the C/E-470 trail. Still, my poor bike gets a tune-up this week just to be safe.
Next up: 3.1 mile run ... which by itself wouldn't be so bad for me right now, but after all that other crap? Yeeeah, I ended up walking probably half of it. I did have an advantage by not having bike shoes though - much quicker transition. Though I put my watch on after the swim, I never really looked at it until I was on the running course. At that point, I realized that I was still on pace for my goal of finishing under two hours. As I just mentioned like two sentences ago, I ended up walking probably about half (made sure i alternated), although it probably would have been less had it not been for my feet (stupid blisters). Still, I had enough in the tank for a nice sprint finish and apparently a time of 1:47:22! WOOOO!
My entire body was covered in sweat and I was totally nasty and disgusting, but damn that was awesome.
I don't know if I'm now hooked on triathlons, but doing this race (or a similar one) is definitely something I'll consider again.
*takes a deep breath*
Okay. So we'll start out from last night. My brother just moved into a new house so he had a little party (obviously the night before i have a race. figures ...). I went, being the good sister that I am, though I avoided the beer that was calling out to me. My original intention was to only stay about a half-hour.
Riiiight. Three hours later, I'm heading home. I figure that going to bed by 11:30 wasn't all that bad because that's what I usually do. Therefore, keeping with routine, right? That's what I thought.
Anyway, finally rolled out of bed this morning at 4:30ish, ate breakfast, got my stuff all together ... and learned that Gen and I were not carpooling together. This was an issue because my bike really doesn't fit in my car. I somehow got the wheels off and the bike jammed in my car, but when I got to the parking lot, I couldn't get my back wheel back on or my brakes to go back together (both small little issues). Some kind souls in the car next to me got my back wheel back on (getting hands full of chain grease for their trouble; i felt bad), I somehow got my back brake connected again ... but my stupid front brake wasn't going back together. By this point, I'd been at the parking lot for about 45 minutes and really should have been setting up my spot in the transition zone.
When Gen and her boyfriend John finally arrived, I met up with them and John thankfully was able to put my front brake back together. I quickly hopped on the bike, it seemed to work - good enough for me. Met up with Amber in the transition zone, squashed my stuff next to hers, warmed up ... I felt ready to go after that stupid bike fiasco.
At 8:20am, Amber and I went in our heat (gen was 4 minutes earlier). First up: swimming. For next time, I know that THIS is something I need to work on. It's fun being kicked every now and then, but you can't really get away from the person kicking you without getting too far off course or stopping yourself. I also ended up doing the breaststroke pretty much the entire way, keeping my head above water (so totally not how i had practiced). Had to stop and use the swim angels once to clear out my goggles (seeing is good), though I almost stopped one other time because I was having a mini asthma/anxiety attack. Still, survived the swim (in supposedly, i found out later, 21 minutes ... though i kinda don't believe it (championchip be damned)).
After a long (7 minute!) transition, I hopped on the bike for the shortened (stupid construction - cut the bike course by a mile) bike course. I ended up making up a lot of ground on the bike course, feeling good enough to scream and yell support at pretty much everyone I passed (yeah, i'm that crazy kid). I was a little concerned 'cuz my bike was squeaking something fierce, but I got through it totally fine. My legs burned at a few points, but overall, it was an easier 11.4 miles than I had been doing on the C/E-470 trail. Still, my poor bike gets a tune-up this week just to be safe.
Next up: 3.1 mile run ... which by itself wouldn't be so bad for me right now, but after all that other crap? Yeeeah, I ended up walking probably half of it. I did have an advantage by not having bike shoes though - much quicker transition. Though I put my watch on after the swim, I never really looked at it until I was on the running course. At that point, I realized that I was still on pace for my goal of finishing under two hours. As I just mentioned like two sentences ago, I ended up walking probably about half (made sure i alternated), although it probably would have been less had it not been for my feet (stupid blisters). Still, I had enough in the tank for a nice sprint finish and apparently a time of 1:47:22! WOOOO!
My entire body was covered in sweat and I was totally nasty and disgusting, but damn that was awesome.
I don't know if I'm now hooked on triathlons, but doing this race (or a similar one) is definitely something I'll consider again.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
FIVE, Four, Three, Two ...
Only five days left; can you believe it?
... I can't believe I'm the only one posting in this thing, that's what I can't believe. :-p
Anyway, I'm very unsure as to how I feel about this. Gen and I did an open water swim on Sunday at the Cherry Creek swim beach. While getting the open water experience was good, there were some downsides. Basic things learned:
- Swimming in really shallow water sucks, especially when you're kinda tall.
- I. Hate. Seaweed. I know I'm going to swim into some and have to stop and rip it all away from my head/face before I continue on Sunday ...
- Murky water is really a little scary at first, but not so bad after a while.
- Swimming through boat wakes sucks also since for a few seconds, it feels like you're not moving anywhere.
The tri will be in a different part of the park, but I'm thinking that the water will probably be much of the same, just deeper.
We missed Amber that day, but she did a bit of the same swimming, plus the bike course. Apparently it's a little hilly, but doable. A trainer at work who is also doing the tri has done the bike and running course and said the same thing. Luckily all I do is bike and run hills since that's all there is around here.
I heard from Gen yesterday she did a mock-tri at (i'm guessing) the hospital gym, just to know she could finish. I had been thinking of doing something similar, but a.) I'd want to do it outside, since biking and running inside is SO much different than outside for me and b.) I'd heard that doing a full mock wasn't a good idea. However, at this point, I kinda figure, "whatever works," so yeah.
Today I did my first mini brick workout (a little late in the game, i know). Biked for 11.5 mi and then did a quick jog around the block (.4 mi). The jog was a lot shorter than I'd have liked it to have been, but all I really wanted to do was get a feel for it ... because it's really actually kinda weird.
The schedule for the rest of the week is tentatively looking like so: swim tomorrow morning, run tomorrow night, small bike and probably yoga on Thursday, hockey Friday night and only a nice walk on Saturday. I figure that should be good enough. My original thought was to take Friday completely off, but really, I like my hockey and have been trying to get back into that as well.
Still, I'm a little apprehensive since my body isn't particularly built (well, muscles still aren't trained) for endurance and a triathlon is all about endurance. My legs really wanted to crap out on me at several points on the bike today and that was all by itself - no swim beforehand and only a miniscule run after. I'm also hoping the sports asthma won't be a problem since I had some slight issues with that on the bike as well. I guess we'll see, but I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to definitively say for sure how I'm going to do until I wake up Sunday morning and see how I feel. If I feel good, I know I'll be fine (see: race around the rez). If I don't feel good, or wake up late and get a bad start (not-blogged about race on the fourth because it was CRAP), I may be in for a long day.
... I can't believe I'm the only one posting in this thing, that's what I can't believe. :-p
Anyway, I'm very unsure as to how I feel about this. Gen and I did an open water swim on Sunday at the Cherry Creek swim beach. While getting the open water experience was good, there were some downsides. Basic things learned:
- Swimming in really shallow water sucks, especially when you're kinda tall.
- I. Hate. Seaweed. I know I'm going to swim into some and have to stop and rip it all away from my head/face before I continue on Sunday ...
- Murky water is really a little scary at first, but not so bad after a while.
- Swimming through boat wakes sucks also since for a few seconds, it feels like you're not moving anywhere.
The tri will be in a different part of the park, but I'm thinking that the water will probably be much of the same, just deeper.
We missed Amber that day, but she did a bit of the same swimming, plus the bike course. Apparently it's a little hilly, but doable. A trainer at work who is also doing the tri has done the bike and running course and said the same thing. Luckily all I do is bike and run hills since that's all there is around here.
I heard from Gen yesterday she did a mock-tri at (i'm guessing) the hospital gym, just to know she could finish. I had been thinking of doing something similar, but a.) I'd want to do it outside, since biking and running inside is SO much different than outside for me and b.) I'd heard that doing a full mock wasn't a good idea. However, at this point, I kinda figure, "whatever works," so yeah.
Today I did my first mini brick workout (a little late in the game, i know). Biked for 11.5 mi and then did a quick jog around the block (.4 mi). The jog was a lot shorter than I'd have liked it to have been, but all I really wanted to do was get a feel for it ... because it's really actually kinda weird.
The schedule for the rest of the week is tentatively looking like so: swim tomorrow morning, run tomorrow night, small bike and probably yoga on Thursday, hockey Friday night and only a nice walk on Saturday. I figure that should be good enough. My original thought was to take Friday completely off, but really, I like my hockey and have been trying to get back into that as well.
Still, I'm a little apprehensive since my body isn't particularly built (well, muscles still aren't trained) for endurance and a triathlon is all about endurance. My legs really wanted to crap out on me at several points on the bike today and that was all by itself - no swim beforehand and only a miniscule run after. I'm also hoping the sports asthma won't be a problem since I had some slight issues with that on the bike as well. I guess we'll see, but I know myself well enough to know that I won't be able to definitively say for sure how I'm going to do until I wake up Sunday morning and see how I feel. If I feel good, I know I'll be fine (see: race around the rez). If I don't feel good, or wake up late and get a bad start (not-blogged about race on the fourth because it was CRAP), I may be in for a long day.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
The Countdown Continues ...
Only 12 days left until the Tri for the Cure and I'm feeling okay about it. I don't think I'm going to end up being as competitive as I'd like to be or as one of the trainers at work (also doing the tri) thinks I'm going to be (she thinks i'm going to finish in 1:45 ... yeah whatever), but I think I'm okay with it. Sure, my competitive nature is struggling with this somewhat-acceptance, but I've made enough strides along the way to say, "Quiet, you!"
My swimming, which was total crap four months ago, has picked up fairly well. Each time I'm in the pool I can do my laps quicker. Granted, I still can't do many consecutively (or really, any), but I've always had issues with endurance. I haven't yet done an open water swim (this weekend! a little late, but one is better than none, right?), but I've been logging pool time when I can manage ... which means waking up over an hour earlier than normal to swim before work.
While I've never considered myself much of a runner and have claimed to hate the mere activity for years, the more I run, the more I'm okay with it. Though it's not much, I've been logging around 6-8 miles a week for the past month. True, that's about one-fourth of what I should be logging, but for someone who can't stand to run and whose lungs feel like exploding half the time when she does run? That's not bad .... especially considering that I've done the Glendale Farm loop twice in just about 30 minutes (so doing just a tad longer than a 5k faster than i've ever officially raced a 5k) WITH a small stretch break in the middle. How I'll do after swimming and biking is another story, but in general, I'm starting to actually enjoy running, if only a little.
My one main issue now is the cycling part. While I never focused on it much, thinking it would be my strong point, I'm now thinking I may have screwed myself over (go figure; this is a typical t trait). When I did my somewhat-crazy long bike ride a week and a half ago (so the last time i posted), I did have quite a bit of leg burn that wasn't happy at all. I do just fine on a stationary, but put me outside and really, what I'm doing isn't quite as nice as I'd like it to be. I'm sure actual hills and wind and other such factors help with the added pain, but y'know. Still, I think I need to somehow try to squish in a few long rides this week.
So, for the most part, everything seems to be coming together. There's a few key things I haven't quite gotten to yet (open water swim, brick workouts, scout the course, learning general bike maintenance (next monday)), but compared to where I was a few months ago? Light years away.
Of course, that tells me that if I was doing what I'm doing now back four months ago, I'd be totally awesome right now, but I think I'd also be more bored with doing the same three things than I am now. As much as I was apathetic about the elliptical before this training, I'm really looking forward to hopping on one again because it will be something DIFFERENT. This boredom is also another reason why I'm playing hockey again, even though it's probably not typical triathlon cross-training.
My swimming, which was total crap four months ago, has picked up fairly well. Each time I'm in the pool I can do my laps quicker. Granted, I still can't do many consecutively (or really, any), but I've always had issues with endurance. I haven't yet done an open water swim (this weekend! a little late, but one is better than none, right?), but I've been logging pool time when I can manage ... which means waking up over an hour earlier than normal to swim before work.
While I've never considered myself much of a runner and have claimed to hate the mere activity for years, the more I run, the more I'm okay with it. Though it's not much, I've been logging around 6-8 miles a week for the past month. True, that's about one-fourth of what I should be logging, but for someone who can't stand to run and whose lungs feel like exploding half the time when she does run? That's not bad .... especially considering that I've done the Glendale Farm loop twice in just about 30 minutes (so doing just a tad longer than a 5k faster than i've ever officially raced a 5k) WITH a small stretch break in the middle. How I'll do after swimming and biking is another story, but in general, I'm starting to actually enjoy running, if only a little.
My one main issue now is the cycling part. While I never focused on it much, thinking it would be my strong point, I'm now thinking I may have screwed myself over (go figure; this is a typical t trait). When I did my somewhat-crazy long bike ride a week and a half ago (so the last time i posted), I did have quite a bit of leg burn that wasn't happy at all. I do just fine on a stationary, but put me outside and really, what I'm doing isn't quite as nice as I'd like it to be. I'm sure actual hills and wind and other such factors help with the added pain, but y'know. Still, I think I need to somehow try to squish in a few long rides this week.
So, for the most part, everything seems to be coming together. There's a few key things I haven't quite gotten to yet (open water swim, brick workouts, scout the course, learning general bike maintenance (next monday)), but compared to where I was a few months ago? Light years away.
Of course, that tells me that if I was doing what I'm doing now back four months ago, I'd be totally awesome right now, but I think I'd also be more bored with doing the same three things than I am now. As much as I was apathetic about the elliptical before this training, I'm really looking forward to hopping on one again because it will be something DIFFERENT. This boredom is also another reason why I'm playing hockey again, even though it's probably not typical triathlon cross-training.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Amping It Up
So with the looming Tri "deadline" in front of me, I decided it's time to get super serious with training (yeah, a little late, I know, but better late than never, right?). As a result, I woke up at 4:30 this morning so I could swim before my shift. The original plan was to wake up at 4 so I could bike to work, swim and then take a detour to another club to drop something off before going home. However, bed was a bit too nice and Mom didn't want me riding in the dark.
Anyway. I got into the pool and really didn't feel like swimming. I did one fairly strong lap and was like, "I'm done now." However, my brain wasn't having any of that and I ended up staying in the pool for 20 minutes and 600 meters.
After work, I got home, unwound for a bit, then hopped on the bike and headed over to the Highlands Ranch 24 Hour to drop off this stupid member's Kid's Club card (I walked in with my bike and the guy at the desk just stared: "you biked all this way to drop off one card?" "... yes."). My legs still suck (boo!) and the stupid C-470 trail has an assload of hills, so the (around) 15.6 mile trip took me 90 minutes. My legs were about ready to give out on the last long trail climb back up toward Yosemite so I had to drop to a gear lower than I usually do for that hill and for the last stupid hill in my neighborhood (drawbacks to where I live: 99% of ride routes end with some sort of miserable hill).
Since I'm crazy (or determined, take your pick), I think I may go do the Glendale Farm loop as well today (so run 1.6 miles).
Of course, I also fully admit that one reason I want to do a lot today is I plan on drinking tonight and therefore want to burn a crapload of calories so I can drink some and still have a deficit. I do realize this is somewhat counterproductive, but hey. I'm finally starting to get some weekends free from work so I gotta take what I can get.
Anyway. I got into the pool and really didn't feel like swimming. I did one fairly strong lap and was like, "I'm done now." However, my brain wasn't having any of that and I ended up staying in the pool for 20 minutes and 600 meters.
After work, I got home, unwound for a bit, then hopped on the bike and headed over to the Highlands Ranch 24 Hour to drop off this stupid member's Kid's Club card (I walked in with my bike and the guy at the desk just stared: "you biked all this way to drop off one card?" "... yes."). My legs still suck (boo!) and the stupid C-470 trail has an assload of hills, so the (around) 15.6 mile trip took me 90 minutes. My legs were about ready to give out on the last long trail climb back up toward Yosemite so I had to drop to a gear lower than I usually do for that hill and for the last stupid hill in my neighborhood (drawbacks to where I live: 99% of ride routes end with some sort of miserable hill).
Since I'm crazy (or determined, take your pick), I think I may go do the Glendale Farm loop as well today (so run 1.6 miles).
Of course, I also fully admit that one reason I want to do a lot today is I plan on drinking tonight and therefore want to burn a crapload of calories so I can drink some and still have a deficit. I do realize this is somewhat counterproductive, but hey. I'm finally starting to get some weekends free from work so I gotta take what I can get.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
!
Including today, we have 24 days before the Tri. Under a month and just over two weeks.
You scared?
You scared?
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