Iron Betsy

Ironman Lake Placid

2006-08-23T10:45:00.000-04:00

The title of this post should really be "Stuck in T1", because that's as much progress as I've made in my race report...

***

Pre-Race

My extreme lower back had been bothering me on the bike for a few months, but I had learned to deal with it. A few weeks before IMLP it started bothering me when I ran, too. Not sure if it was just my hypersensitivity or if the injury had in fact worsened, but either way it was unacceptable. Went in for a cortisone shot on Tuesday. My doctor pulled out my MRI and confirmed that not only did I have a protrusion in the disc between L5 & S1 (as he had originally diagnosed), but I also had a tear in the disc between L4 & L5. Fabulous! Just what I wanted to hear 5 days before race day. Give me the juice! The shot wasn’t so much in my back as it was deep in my crack. The whole prepping-of-the-area was an experience I won’t soon forget. The pain relief was instantaneous, but replaced with soreness and stiffness. I’ll take it.
Got up to LP on Wednesday, went for a quick dip in the lake to test the water. It was warm. Definitely made me glad to have switched to a sleeveless wetsuit. Spent the rest of the week doing minimal activity, icing my back, avoiding the nervous energy that had taken over my condo. Skipped the group run on Thursday, biked the run course and finished up over the bears back into town on Friday. I had never felt so sparkly spinning up those hills on fresh legs. Splashed around in the water some more on Saturday. Overall, it was an extremely low-key few days, and I was cool as a cucumber. Spent a lot of money at the expo. Suddenly everything seemed to be a necessity, especially the $25 bike tent to keep my bike dry on Saturday night (nevermind that I will be wet myself when I get on it).

***

Race Day

Woke up at 4:00am, started loading up with calories – pb&j, pb & banana, gatorade, coffee. Got my stuff together and got out of the condo ASAP. Someone suggested we have a little prayer circle of sorts before we left, I opted out claiming it was not quite up my spiritual alley. Walked to transition by myself, jamming to the iPod. I still wasn’t nervous, until I encountered a large puddle of vomit on Main Street. Yep, that’s about how I felt. I started shaking. Got body-marked, unwrapped my bike, checked out my transition bags, all the while avoiding teammates. I was finally nervous and didn’t want to put myself over the edge. Found my parents at the Mobile station. I wish I had a camera. They looked like the accidental tourists, and had fashioned rain gear out of garbage bags to wear under their clothes. I loved it! It meant so much to me that they were there. Ross tried to get me to hug them, but we opted for a firm Conlan handshake instead. He also commented on my mom’s great legs. Dropped the bags at special needs and hooked up with Felicia, et al. The nerves were gone as quickly as they’d appeared.
Head over to the lake and it finally dawns on my how huge this thing really is. Somewhere along in my training I lost sight of the fact that finishing an IM is a big deal. I think it was about the time when I stopped worrying about completing and started thinking about competing. I knew that I was going to be an Ironman by the end of the day, and that was very cool! Hung out in the water with Felicia, Larry and Wade, found our fans on shore and posed for pictures. So happy to be with friends.

Swim
Goal: 1:20:00
Actual: 1:23:26

I started about halfway off the dock, a third of the way back. They weren’t kidding about that draft – as soon as people started moving, I was sucked right along. There were a lot of feet and elbows all over the place, but no as bad as I’d expected. The first loop was uneventful, though I never saw the line. I was back on the beach before I knew it, in just over 38:00. That’s my fastest 1.2 time. The crowd had definitely thinned on loop two, but it was still too crowded to find the line. I stayed wide right, which was a bad idea. I should have just fought a better position. This is supposed to be one of the easiest open water swim courses, yet somehow I managed to get lost. I was all over the place. After the turn I forced my way onto the line and sat there for the rest of the way. Minimal contact, no sighting, I should have done this from the start.

T1
Goal: 0:10:00
Actual: 0:06:29

Found myself a stripper and ran through the crowd. I was focused. Didn’t see anyone I knew until I was entering transition, when I tripped and nearly fell flat on my face right in front of my parents. Grabbed my bag and headed to the tent. Saw Felicia changing outside – such an exhibitionist. I went in and realized why she was outside. It was dark and humid. I found a volunteer at the exit and she became my personal assistant (helped me with my arm warmers, lubed my feet – you know, the usual). Grabbed my bike and I was on my way.

Two Months Later

2006-07-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

Clearly there are some gaps to fill in this training blog of mine. With time, my friends.

Anyway, IM is in 11 short days. Strangely enough I'm not nervous. At all. I'm more excited that anything. Oh wait, I am nervous. I'm getting a cortisone injection in my back on Tuesday morning. Yikes!

My training is pretty much in the bank. We ran 5 miles last night with 2 x 800m pick-ups. This morning I swam a mile. I'm supposed to bike tomorrow morning but may be playing it safe in bed instead. With my luck I'll take a bird to the helmet. Oh no! I didn't even blog about my run-in with the renegade pigeon.

In other news, I registered for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2007. Yes, that's right, I now have two Ironmans (Ironmen?) on the schedule having never completed one.

Still Running

2006-05-16T12:12:00.000-04:00

I ran for 2 hours on Sunday. I was only supposed to run for 1:30, but I ran into some of my teammates after an hour and got caught up with them. We ran a 5k somewhere in the middle which was kind of funny. It's weird to cross the finish line and keep right on going. I felt fine for the entire run, but definitely a little sore at the finish. I'm going to Denver this weekend and need to get in 2:00 - 2:30 on Friday. I'm hoping the altitude is nice to me.

80 Miles & Beav On The Loose!

2006-05-13T19:41:00.000-04:00

I think my training is finally catching up with me, in a good way. I biked 80 miles today and it took nothing out of me. Literally. Nothing. What a great ride! Everything was just in synch -- my nutrition was right on, my head was in the game, and I pushed it at all the right times. My coaches are always telling us to spin up the hills and attack the downhills, and it totally worked for me today. And to top it all off, I saw a beaver! Just waddling along on the sidewalk, not a care in the world. (Obviously this was not in Manhattan -- I rode across the GWB and up to Bear Mountain.) And no, I was not hallucinating.

For (my own) future reference, the rolling buffet consisted of:
4 bottles gatorade endurance + carbopro (1150)
2 bottles water
12 clif blocks w/ caffeine (400)
27 combos (390)

Total: 1940 calories

Devilman 1/2 Ironman

2006-05-11T10:42:00.000-04:00

Swim
Goal: 0:40:00
Actual: 0:41:11
I psyched myself out of the swim. Saturday night I dreamed that I got out of the water and transition was empty. Sunday morning I spent too much time looking behind me to make sure there were still other pink caps in the water. The first loop was somewhat of a disaster, but I finally settled in sometime during the second loop. I was pleasantly surprised by my time, but dissatisfied with the effort. Also, I think I need more open water swimming experience. I'm too comfortable in the pool. I may take my training to the Hudson.

T1: 2:24
I was pretty efficient here, but there was a bit of a bottleneck getting out of transition.

Bike
Goal: 3:00:00
Actual: 2:59:04
My plan was to bike as hard as I could and hope for the best on the run. I worked hard on the first loop, mostly in the aero bars, spinning into the wind. I concentrated on picking people ahead of me and slowly sucking them in. After about 15 miles my lower back was bothering me so I started alternating between aero bars and drops, occasionally sitting up to stretch. First loop was 1:25:xx. Shortly into the second loop, my back hurt so much I couldn't spend more than 5 minutes aero. I fought through it for awhile, then decided it was probably smarter to just sit up. I continued working hard until about mile 45, then the self-pity set in. Felicia passed me with a few miles to go and kindly asked why I was going so slowly (in so many words). I whined and watched her go. Then I decided I was not going to let her pass me on a bike nicknamed "Pokey", so I took off and finished strong.

Nutrition -- the plan was to work through 1 bottle of water and 2 bottles of cytomax + carbopro, eat something (clif blocks / gel / clif bar) every 30 minutes and take a salt pill every 30 minutes. I lost focus after my back started hurting and definitely did not eat enough in the end. I think I put down 500 calories when I should have had around 900. Also, I got my tongue stuck in the nozzle of my gel flask. That hurt.

T2: 2:06
With my limited race experience I try to avoid doing anything stupid. Next time I'll be sure to check out where the exit is so I don't start out running the wrong way.

Run
Goal: 2:00:00
Actual: 2:01:22
I felt great when I got off the bike -- legs were loose, feet had feeling, no pain in back. I trotted along for the first 6 or 7 miles, not paying much attention to splits, feeling good. I tried to pick it up shortly after I started the second out-and-back, and my body was so offended by the suggestion that it actually slowed down. The nerve! I concentrated on my form, staying out of the gutter, and moving my feet quickly. I appreciated seeing teammates if for no other reason than it kept me honest. I picked it up with just over 2 miles to go and clocked my last mile in 7:49. Clearly I had a little too much left.

Nutrition -- I alternated between water and gatorade at every station and had gels at (what I assumed were) miles 3, 6, and 9.

Overall
Goal: 5:45:00
Actual: 5:46:05
I have mixed feelings. I came close to my goal times but, considering the race I had, they were soft. I was a total head case for most of the race. I lost focus too easily on all three legs. In retrospect, I suspect my back didn't hurt as much as I thought it did on the bike. I think I was looking for excuses to let up. My transitions were respectable, so I've got that going for me.

Tornados and Hair Loss

2006-04-20T14:29:00.000-04:00

A lot has happened in the past week.

I went home to Iowa City for Easter and there was a tornado on Thursday night! Seriously. Look:

That's frighteningly close to my parents' house. Not close like down the street, but close like we walked there the next day. We rode it out in the wine cellar. The good news is that the pool was open on Friday so I was able to get my 1.5-mile time trial in (47:19). I'm not sure how I feel about the time. I'd like it to be faster, but that pace will get me in well before the cut-off at Lake Placid. We have a 1.5-mile open water simulation swim (they pack 40 people into 2 lanes) on Saturday so we'll see how that time stacks up.

On Saturday I rode 70 miles on a borrowed bike. It was heavy! I'm not sure how I ever rode 56 miles on my old mountain bike. Actually, I rode across the state of Iowa on that beast! It was a nice ride, through the rolling hills of the Iowa countryside. It made me think seriously about doing RAGBRAI next year. Now I just need to convince my city slicker friends that it's worth their vacation time.

I did an 8-mile recovery run around the reservoir on Tuesday. It was awful. I seriously considered hiding in a bush for one loop. I even had the blessing of my training partner, C. Oddly, I felt a lot better when we picked up the pace.

I was going to swim last night but I had a seriously disturbing experience on my way home from work. I saw old man Jim on the subway. And talked to him. I'm not sure why I was so surprised to run into him. I figured it would happen sooner or later. Ahhhh....I was literally shaking afterwards and opted to drink instead of swim. For those of you who don't know of old man Jim, the take-home message is: old bald men are soooooo 2005. I need to get out of this town.

I biked this morning. First, I fell down the stairs leaving my apartment, slid down 6 stairs on my back with my head and elbow banging each one (good thing I was wearing a helmet!) and my bike on top of me. I was so shaken when I got to the bottom that my only thought was to get on my bike and ride. And I did. 24 miles. I had limited feeling in my right hand/arm for most of the ride, pretty mush unable to grip the handlebars. I kept thinking I should just tell my coach but I knew he would have me out of training for weeks, and we certainly don't want that! I'm pretty sure I just bruised it. It's still very sore, but I can feel my hand again. My back isn't very happy either, but that's nothing a few (or 5) aleves can't solve.

I'm off to buy a new wetsuit after work. I'm not sure what one wears when trying on wetsuits. I'm also not sure if it's appropriate to ask for help getting the thing off.

15 Weeks To Go

2006-04-13T14:54:00.000-04:00

I’m going to start biking three mornings a week, just to get more time in the saddle. That means I need to go to bed earlier so I don’t go back to sleep after my ride and end up late for work. Also, I’d like to do one of those rides on my own, but I have a lot of co-dependent teammates who want to ride with me. Such a burden. Tuesday morning I biked 12 miles – just 2 easy loops of the park. Wednesday morning I biked 18 miles, and our group ride this morning was cancelled because of rain.

I went to our group run on Tuesday night but wasn’t allowed to do the workout because I’m still recovering. Really I’m fine, but my coaches are very cautious. Their conservatism is very nice in some cases, but right now I just really want to train. And this super secret training regimen is getting a little old. In the future, I think I’ll keep minor injuries and illnesses to myself. I know when I need to take it easy.

Some people have asked how I’m holding up with this high level of training (clearly they don’t read my blog, or they’d know what a slacker I am). My training plan is pretty intimidating, but I could handle it if I did 100% and at some point I intend to. I’m a lot younger than most of my teammates, and most Ironman triathletes actually, and I think my body is a lot more resilient. I’m not the fastest person in the workouts, but I win at recovery. Also, I’m smart. I know that missing a workout here and there is not going to ruin my race. And as my coach has complained, I like myself too much. I feel no need to make myself miserable to please my coaches (I pay THEM) so if I don’t want to push myself, I don’t. And since I’m so incredibly smart, I see right through their attempts at manipulation. On a personal level, my coach says this is all very nice to see. But apparently I’m a pain in the ass to coach. Ha.

Still Plugging Away

2006-04-10T15:52:00.000-04:00

Some people feel the need to bring their readers up to date after not blogging for awhile. I do not.

Okay fine, but I’m only going back to Friday.

Friday – At this point I had done zero training since Sunday in NP. I had been sick. And lazy. I mean I really was sick, but I didn’t feel so bad that I couldn’t have trained. I just wanted a break. So after work on Friday I headed to the gym with the intention of cranking out a quick 8 miles on the treadmill. After 3 miles I was soaked in sweat, bright red, exhausted and slightly disoriented. Hmmm…maybe I really am sick. Then I went shopping and felt very fat. I decided I probably won’t finish IMLP because I am lazy and out of shape, and the race is only 16 weeks away! I am so rational when sick.

Saturday – I skipped the team swim, as instructed by my coaches. It rained all day, so I slept all day.

Sunday – I ran an easy 49:21 10k in scenic Newark, NJ with my friend F. I didn’t need to run hard but I did need to get my confidence back, and I think that did the trick. Then we moved on to do our time trials on the bike (3 x 12-mile TT with 5-minute recoveries). It was super windy, so the “out” portions of our out-and-backs were awful. I pretty consistently hit 21:00 for the “out” 6-mile and 19:30 – 20:00 for the “back”. On the last TT effort I had a revelation: I know IMLP won’t be fun and it certainly won’t feel good, so I shouldn’t expect training to be fun and feel good.

Slow Blogging

2006-03-31T16:52:00.000-05:00

I don't know why I haven't felt like blogging much lately. Okay, at all. I think it's because this blog is supposed to be about my training and I haven't been doing a whole lot of it. I was in DC all last week for work, and then I came back to a lot of work, and now it's almost April. And I have this thing where I like to taper everything at the end of the month (work, training, cleanliness, etc.) and then start the new month with a BANG! Yeah, so April's going to be big.

I've done a little training since my breakout performance in the Bklyn 1/2. I ran 5 miles on a treadmill in DC. Then I ran a 2:17 1/2 last weekend. Ha! It was actually hard to run that slow (I know, I am such a snob). I swam a little this week. And I biked yesterday morning. That is all.

I'm off to New Paltz this weekend for a fun-filled weekend of training. And when I return? I'm working on my resume. This job is getting in the way of my training, and something has to go.

Brooklyn 1/2 Marathon

2006-03-19T10:46:00.000-05:00

I'm still training, and work is settling down so I should be back blogging soon. I ran the Brooklyn 1/2 marathon yesterday. Here is the race report I sent to my coaches.

***

Friday -- did not train, sushi for dinner, slept okay (6 hours).

Saturday -- banana and 1/2 pb&j for breakfast, sipped accelerade on ride to race start.

My PR was 1:59 so my conservative goal was to break that, but Charlee and I had been preparing to run under 1:50. At the start she told me I'd be on my own. I took a gel and swallowed the news. We ran the first mile together and then I went ahead. I quickly fell into a nice rhythm.

Mile 1 - 8:10/154
Mile 2 - 8:05/168
Mile 3 - 8:07/174
Mile 4 - 8:11/176 (gel)

At this point I was feeling great but started worrying that I would pay later, so I slowed down.

Mile 5 - 8:18/177
Mile 6 - 8:23/177

That just made me feel lazy. I wasn't hurting at all, so I picked it back up.

Mile 7 - 7:53/174
Mile 8 - 7:55/172 (gel)
Mile 9 - 8:09/177

I slowed way down when I got into the park. I was feeling tired, but I was also just really worried that I was going to blow up at the end. Wade went by me and I gave him a way-too-perky "good job" -- should have been my sign to pick it up. I don't remember where the big hill was, but I hope it was 10/11 or else I kind of fell asleep out there. I saw Ross and he asked me to please pass the "funny looking bald man" ahead of me, so I did. I was surprised by how easy it was to pick up the pace, but I still feared I was going to pay for my early fast pace. Ross handed me off to Earl, who told me to start reeling people in. I worked hard until I was pretty sure I was out of Earl's sight. Then I slowed down again.

Mile 10 - 8:35/174
Mile 11 - 8:30/177 (gel)

At some point Iwan went by me like I was standing still. He told me to get moving; I gave him a dirty look. I'm guessing it was around the 11-mile mark that I realized death was not waiting around the corner for me and I was, in fact, going to finish the race. So I picked it up. I had a lot left at the finish and kicked it in from about 400m out.

Mile 12 - 8:11/173
Mile 13 - 8:13/178

Overall - 1:47:20

That's a 12-minute PR, so I was pleased with the result. I worked hard for most of the race, which is huge for me. I'd rather run negative splits but this pace was kind of an experiment so I just wanted to see how long I could hold it for. I spent much of the race predicting my demise, which was stupid, but I was able to talk myself back into the race after I'd given in to the temptation to slow down. It's good to know I can run my own race.

Nutrition -- At the Manhattan 1/2, I didn't eat before or during the race. Surprisingly, that didn't work very well. This time around I ate breakfast, had a gel at the start and then every 1/2 hour, and took a sip of something at every stop. In retrospect, it might have been a bit much for the weather (I don't think I could take in much more), but I felt fine.

***

1:47:20! How cool is that?! I totally could have gone sub-1:47, and sub-1:45 is so in reach. That would get me into the competitive start at Chicago.

I'm off to DC for the week. Not sure how much training I'll get in, but I'm taking my shoes and goggles just in case.

I HATE When That Happens

2006-02-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

Little Red Riding Hood is skipping down the road when she sees a big bad wolf crouched down behind a log.

"My, what big eyes you have, Mr.Wolf." The wolf jumps up and runs away.

Further down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again and this time he is crouched behind a bush. "My, what big ears you have, Mr. Wolf." Again, the wolf jumps up and runs away.

About two miles down the road Little Red Riding Hood sees the wolf again and this time he is crouched down behind a rock. "My, what big teeth you have, Mr. Wolf."

With that the wolf jumps up and screams, "Will you knock it off, I'm trying to poop!"

Moving On

2006-02-22T10:04:00.000-05:00

I'm not even going to try to attempt to catch up on what I've done for the past almost two weeks. There hasn't been much training going on, mainly due to some seriously crappy weather (26 inches?!), a sudden onslaught in work (60-hour work weeks?!), and a wild birthday celebration that may or may not have ended with the birthday girl giving her underwear away. Ahem. Right.

Last night our workout was 3 timed miles around the reservoir at 1/2 marathon pace. I ran 8:25, 7:49, 7:52, which is most definitely not my 1/2 marathon pace. But wouldn't that be nice? With the warm-up, recovery, etc., it was about 8 miles. After the workout we did some form drills and I started feeling a weird pain in the top of my calf / back of my knee / bottom of my hamstring area. It was on both sides, which makes me think I am just tight. Anyway, I need to be nice to my legs because we have a big weekend of training coming up. I'm going to elliptical and swim after work today, and I'm supposed to bike tomorrow but I think I might swim instead.

Just for the record, not because I've done anything even remotely interesting in the past few days

2006-02-09T12:11:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night's workout kind of threw me off. I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be easy or if I'm just kicking butt, but it took nothing out of me. I felt like I was on the leisurely jog I've been longing for lately. We did 3 reservoir loops with pick-ups on #1 and #3, and steady state on #2.

Yesterday I swam 2200m in the morning. The main set was 400 free / 100 breast, both with a buoy, for 1400m. The breaststroke was supposed to simulate the upper body fatigue we'll feel in the big swim. It's really hard to breaststroke without the kick! You should try it sometime. After work I went to the gym and ellipticalled for 30 minutes. That's all I was going to do, but after watching all the girls in their yoga pants trotting along at 5mph, I just had to show them how it's done. So I ran a quick 3 miles in 24 minutes. This little workout was most definitely not on my training plan, so when I get injured down the road we can all look back on the day I started doing more than was prescribed and have a good cringe about it.

I overslept this morning and missed the team ride, but it was only 20 degrees so I'm glad I stayed in my toasty bed. I'll do the indoor trainer workout tonight.

Squatter's Rights

2006-02-07T11:30:00.000-05:00

This does not have to do with the phantom post about pooping in a bush. As far as I know only one person read it, and if she knows what's good for her she'll keep her mouth shut! Rather, I'm thinking of claiming squatter's rights in my cubicle.

I actually left work for a few hours this weekend, and got some decent training in. Saturday morning I biked for 3 hours in CP. That was exceptionally boring. We were supposed to do 3 x 3 lower loop time trials with a full loop recovery, but the lower loop was crowded with TNTers and tourists (one of whom I played chicken with as he stood in the middle of the road trying to take my picture), so we did our time trials on the upper loop instead. I'm sick of Harlem Hill. And I don't know what the total mileage was.

Sunday I was supposed to run for 1:30:00 so I "warmed up" for 1:00:00 and then ran the NYRR 4-miler. I was plenty warm by the start, but my legs were feeling a little heavy from Saturday's bike. I decided to try to run 8:15 pace on negative splits. My first mile was 8:10. Ooops. I continued with 7:33, 7:52 (up Cat Hill), and 7:09 for a finish time of 30:44. I'm pretty sure that's a 4-mile PR for me, which is exciting. I didn't cool down because standing around at the finish line made me cold enough.

Swim + Spectate

2006-02-03T17:22:00.000-05:00

This morning I swam 2200m. That seems to be the standard length of our workouts lately. It's nice because I can easily get in and out in under an hour. I really like swimming in the morning, but I don't like the faint scent of chlorine that follows me around for the rest of the day. Maybe I should shower after I swim. I'm kidding. I do shower, but I still smell. Story of my life.

The pool was long course (50m) this morning which was nice because I didn't feel like I was constantly turning around, but my workout called for rest after 75m and that was hard to do. I wanted to stop in the middle of the pool and tread water, but instead we combined sets. Sometimes my teammates are no fun. So yeah, we swam. Nothing too exciting. The main set was 3 x 400 pulling. I finally feel like I can swim efficiently with a buoy which says good things about my upper body movement. Now if I could only perfect the two-beat kick I'd be all set!

Tonight I'm going to the Millrose Games at MSG. I've lived here for 4 years and have never gone, so I figure I should. There should be some good races (Bekele vs. Lagat in the mile), and I hear the men's shot is stacked but I'm not is interested in that (though you'd think I would be, given my inexplicable attraction to fat bald men).

Hills, Hills, and more Hills

2006-02-02T11:01:00.000-05:00

I biked 27 miles in CP this morning. We split into two groups and I opted to go with the slower group which might not be where I belong, but I'm slightly intimidated by the coach who rides with the faster group so I like to keep my distance. I think I learn a lot more when I'm not riding in fear of being yelled at. Or told I look like an elephant on a tricycle. Anyway, the workout: we did a 6-mile warm-up loop working on paceline drills, 3 x hard up Harlem Hill (seated, seated/standing, standing), another 6-mile recovery loop, 3 x hard up Harlem Hill, then a short recovery spin home. The first 4 months of our cycling training were exclusively in the small chain ring and now we're moving into the big chain ring, so those hills really get the quads talking. Maybe that's why we're supposed to be doing squats and leg press on our own. I should really think about that. Also, it must be said that I FLY up hills when seated. Standing? Not so much. At least I know what I need to work on.

Why Candy Rocks

2006-02-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

My mom is the greatest. Seriously. I meet other moms and I think "you suck." But mine? She rocks. In July 2004, we went shopping and she bought a shirt that I wanted. I was debating between two, picked one, and she got the other. Then I changed my mind. But she refused to trade, and she was actually kind of nasty about it. Yesterday, the shirt arrived in the mail with the tags still on. It seems she bought it with the intent of giving it to me as a congratulatory gift when I passed my next exam. Unfortunately, it took me a year and a half.

Enough of that. Last night we had a nice hill workout of about 8 miles. We warmed up on the bridle path in CP to the west side underpass and ran 6 x hard uphill to the SW corner of the reservoir, recovery down. Then we moved over to strawberry fields hill and did another 3 x hard uphill, with a nice little recovery around the lower loop. I really like running on the bridle path. If I ever get back into leisurely training (as opposed to strictly regimented workouts), I'd like to explore the trails in CP more since I usually stick to the roads.

This morning I swam 2200m: 400 warm-up with drills, 4 x 400 with 10 push-ups on deck before each 400, 200 cool-down.

In response to my abysmal performance on Saturday, I'm making a concerted effort to be nicer to my body. I like to think that I'm young and resilient and can pretty much get away with anything. I still think that's true for the most part, but I'm starting to realize that this level of training takes a greater toll on my body that I initially suspected. I'm mostly concentrating on my eating (foods with more nutritional substance/benefit), but I also need to pay more attention to the little things like drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. Hmmm....these sound like resolutions. I think I set them about a month ago. We'll try again.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

2006-01-31T17:21:00.000-05:00

In the past few weeks I've discovered a lot more people read this than I thought, so I guess I ought to make an effort to update more regularly. Fortunately, I have another log that I keep pretty current, so I can accurately fill you in on my training. And lack thereof.

Tuesday, 1/17 -- We ran 3 loops of the CP reservoir with a timed mile on each loop. There were lots of squats and lunges before each mile. My splits were 8:27, 8:12, and 7:36. I felt very strong. I ran with my teammate D on the first two and tried out some racing tactics, which wasn't very nice since I know I'm faster than her and, well, we weren't racing. I'd run her pace, surge a little (nothing that I knew she couldn't cover) and settle in again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then with 400 or so to go I steadily pulled away. On the last mile, one of my coaches ran with me and kept pushing me to go faster. I was dying up on the home stretch but made the conscious decision to suck it up and get moving. She yelled "yeah Betsy, I knew you were a fighter!" to which I responded with another gear. Oh, you have no idea. About 8 miles for the day.

Wednesday 1/18 -- 2200m swim. Nothing terribly exciting. I was exceptionally sore from Tuesday's squatfest.

Thursday 1/19 -- 5:30am group bike. Fun stuff. We did repeats up Harlem Hill at the north end of CP as follows: sitting in easy gear, sitting in hard gear, standing in easy gear ("running" on the pedals), standing in hard gear, sitting/standing in gear o' choice. Riding in a standing position is not fun with sore quads. I slacked on the first 4 and then took off on the last one to minimize the time in pain. I'm talking bat-out-of-hell style. Total miles = 28.

Friday 1/20 -- 2200m swim

Saturday 1/21 -- Training camp in New Paltz. We did a 1:30:00 indoor trainer workout followed by a 0:30:00 run. Contrary to popular belief, if you put thirty highly efficient (read: sweaty) athletes on trainers in a small room with the heat stuck on, it does not smell like roses. Who knew?! The bike was fine. Maybe I wasn't working hard enough because I really didn't find it all that challenging. And the transition run afterwards? Piece of cake.

Sunday 1/22 -- 2:00:00 run towing tires. Yes, that's right, I ran for two hours dragging a tire behind me. It was no radio flyer tire, either. This bad boy fell straight off a semi. Oh, and most of the run was uphill. Then we swam for 2:00:00. Did you know you're supposed to move your hips when you swim? I didn't. It makes sense, though. If I'm stroking with my right arm and I point my right hip to the bottom of the pool, I can maximize my reach. And you can, too! And yes, that was the first appearance of the word "stroking" in this blog. Don't worry, there will be more.

Monday 1/23 -- nothing

Tuesday 1/24 -- nothing

Wednesday 1/25 -- 2000m swim

Thursday 1/26 -- nothing

Friday 1/27 -- 0:30:00 swim

I take my recovery weeks seriously.

Saturday 1/28 -- Manhattan 1/2 Marathon. My race was pretty awful. I just felt tired. Nothing hurt, but whenever I asked my body to go faster it didn't respond. In retrospect, I went out way too fast (8:30s for the first 5 miles). I felt okay at that point, but definitely not spunky enough to be going out that fast. I kept thinking I would get into a groove and suddenly feel better, but it never happened. When I finally decided to back off the pace, I think the damage was already done. Once I was physically out of it (miles 7-8 were 10:00+), it was a constant mental battle to keep myself from walking. I changed my plan to just finish without hurting myself and get the miles in. I finished in 2:01:40. After the race, I had a banana and gatorade, came home and laid on my couch. I woke up 4 (!!!!) hours later, throwing up. I think I pushed myself too hard last week. I didn't train much (clearly), but I worked over 60 hours (not by choice, obviously). I didn't get enough sleep, my eating was all off, and I drank maybe one glass of water all week. Also, I overslept Saturday morning and didn't eat breakfast (what?!). And I dropped my gel somewhere along the way. The verdict: I was seriously dehydrated and underfueled. I guess it's nice to know I can still run 13.1 miles in that condition, but I'd rather not try it again.

Sunday 1/29 -- easy 2:00:00 spin in CP

Monday 1/30 -- pilates

You are officially UP TO DATE.

No More Beeeeer

2006-01-15T18:15:00.000-05:00

So yeah, I passed my exam. I got my results late Friday afternoon, and I've been drinking ever since. Thankfully the weather was crap all weekend so our group training was cancelled, and I opted out of the indoor workouts.

I hope to have something more interesting to post about tomorrow. For now, I'm just here to accept congratulations. Go ahead.

Nervous Energy

2006-01-09T22:18:00.000-05:00

My training has been going really well for the past week or so, fueled entirely by my anxiety over my exam results (which come out on Friday). I've convinced myself that I failed, and I'm okay with that. But I've decided I'll need to find something else to be good at, so I've started training like a maniac.

Last Tuesday I did an hour tempo run at 8:30 pace. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I swam, cross-trained, and biked on my trainer. Saturday I had a really good bike ride. Yesterday I ran 10 miles, 1-5 at 9:00 pace, 6-9 at 8:30 pace, and 10 in 7:45. Tonight I went to pilates.

Okay, more later.

Ooops

2006-01-03T13:45:00.000-05:00

Sunday I biked to Piermont (~30 miles RT) with a few of my teammates. It was a nice ride -- easy pace, etc. -- but the roads were pretty crappy and I got my first flat of the year. I also had my first crash of the year, but it was at about 6mph going uphill so it was more comical than anything. We were all in a line and the guy in front of me suddenly slowed waaaay down. I couldn't unclip my shoe in time so I tipped over, as did the 2 people behind me.

Yesterday I watched football. And ate french fries (violating #5).

My exam results come out next Friday (the 13th!) and I'm slightly anxious (violating #7). Okay, so I can't sleep (violating #2) or eat. I was so tired this morning that I didn't do my 45 minutes on the trainer (violating #1) or take my vitamins (violating #8).

It's a good thing I made so many resolutions! If you're counting, I am now at 50%.

I think I will just try to make it through the next two weeks with my sanity intact and then I will re-evaluate.

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T21:48:00.000-05:00

2006 has been a fabulous! I haven't done anything I regret all year. I've made an obscene number of resolutions (hoping that a few will actually stick), but I'll only share the top 10 here:

1. Train more (100% compliance w/ the program)
2. Sleep more
3. Drink more (water)
4. Cook more (once a week)
5. Eat less (no fried food, sugar cereal, tubs of frosting)
6. Spend less (no credit cards)
7. Think less (no obsessing about things I can't control)
8. Take drugs (multivitamin, omega-3, B-complex)
9. Be nice (to people I don't like)
10. Floss daily

I also have a lot of things I want to accomplish this year, but they will have to wait for another post as I need to work on resolution #2.

Compliance

2005-12-30T13:24:00.000-05:00

I was warned awhile back that I was not in sufficient compliance with my training program. I laugh because I’m paying for this so I should be able to do whatever I want (or want not) to, but apparently it’s not acceptable to take off days at a time when one is training for an IM. Noted.

I have been in absolute compliance this week. After gorging myself with food over the weekend (and literally gaining 4 pounds), I decided to enact a Christmas resolution of getting serious about my training. Look at me go…

Tuesday – biked on trainer for an hour in the morning, ran 6+ miles with the team at night

Wednesday – swam for an hour before work

Thursday – easy spin in CP before work, ran 4 miles on the treadmill in the afternoon

Friday – swam before work, (planned) easy run in CP in the afternoon

I’m doing the midnight run in CP tomorrow night, which should be fun. It’s sad to admit that this training has taken over my life but, well, it has, so I figure I might as well embrace it. I hope to not spend my next New Year’s Eve trotting around a park with a bunch of other sober people.

More Recovery

2005-12-16T13:49:00.000-05:00

Once I start training again I will start blogging again. I was in CT all week for some exciting software training. I had big plans to work out at the hotel gym, but that never happened. I have a tough 15k run tomorrow, so maybe we can just call it tapering?

Weak Update

2005-12-07T23:10:00.000-05:00

The more I put off updating, the more daunting the task becomes. Isn't that how it always works? I'm going to cheat and just give the highlights of what's flying around in my noggin:

1. I need to push myself. I often make the conscious decision to hold back. It's not that I'm afraid to push my limits, but rather I know exactly where they are and I choose to stay far away.

2. My spine is slightly twisted, causing my hips to be out of alignment. I saw a chiropractor today. I think we will become great friends. Also, he's balding.

3. I'm moving to Denver, hopefully sometime within the next year (but after IMLP).

I think that's all you need to know for now.

600s

2005-11-30T23:29:00.000-05:00

I can't remember the last time I did 600m repeats. Actually, I can -- it was yesterday. And it went a little something like this:

1.2 mile warm-up
3 x 1.6 mile reservoir loop (7 lamposts recovery, 600m hard, three times each loop, for a grand total of nine 600s)
1 mile cooldown

It was painful. After the first 600 I told my coach my left hamstring was sore, which was true, and which I also intended to use as my excuse to loaf through the rest of the workout. After the first interval! I got back on my game after the third 600 and actually cranked out some fast ones. I heard a lot of grumbling about how strange it felt to run so fast, and then I realized I'm the only one on my team who ran track. Funny. Oh, and I actually ended up doing 10 of them because I doubled back after I finished and ran in with the stragglers.

So yeah, it was a good workout. I just have some mental issues to work out, which should come as no surprise to most of you.

Today I sat on my couch and ate Krispy Kremes.

Cross Country

2005-11-28T13:10:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I ran a 15k cross country race at Van Cortland Park, and it was truly an awful experience. Not only was the race poorly run (started an hour late, mean volunteers, etc.), but the course was hard! I spent much of the race whining to myself. In retrospect it wasn't that bad, and I was kind of a baby about it, but I had no idea what I was in for so the roller coaster hills kind of caught me off guard. I need to prepare myself for these things. Also, my legs were very fatigued from the ride on Saturday which I'm sure contributed to my pain. Anyway, I finished in just under 1:31, which is about 9:45 pace. Not great, but it could have been so much worse. Clearly I am not the cross country superstar I once was.

After the race I went out to eat with two of my teammates. We ate, and ate, and ate. I had told myself I need to start watching what I eat, not to cut back or anything but more to make sure I'm eating well. My nutritional philosophy seems to be eat whatever I want and train to make up for it. Yeah, I guess I'll start working on that....tomorrow. Oh, so after our feast we went to B&N and I bought myself a cookbook of Rachel Ray's 30-minute meals. I'm going to force myself to cook something once a week....starting next week, of course.

Home Sweet Home (Part 2)

2005-11-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

I'm back in NYC, and very happy to be here. I had a great trip to see my parents, but I think I left at the right time. I have no details to share, except for my father repeatedly calling me a "porker" for how much I ate. It seems the man does not understand/accept the increased appetite that comes with a high volume of training.

I biked 40 miles this morning. It was COLD, and hilly, but I did it. I spent the rest of the day lounging on my couch. I'm moving toward accepting the fact that I will soon have no life. As it is, the majority of my free time I spend recovering from workouts. Workouts are only going to get harder, recovery will take longer, I will develop an unhealthily intimate relationship with my couch.

Home Sweet Home

2005-11-23T22:54:00.000-05:00

I'm in Iowa City for the week, and it has been ridiculously relaxing. A brief recap:

Sunday -- I slept my entire flight, still exhausted from Saturday. I slept for most of the day once I arrived. My mom and I did a yoga DVD Sunday night, which was very entertaining. She's not very flexible. And she has gas.

Monday -- I swam for an hour in the morning, got a facial in the afternoon.

Tuesday -- I swam for an hour in the morning, got a massage in the afternoon (there is a pattern here).

Wednesday -- I swam for an hour in the morning, ran for an hour in the afternoon. My left knee was sore after the ride on Saturday. I can't explain how it felt, but there was something funky going on in the back. The woman who did my massage said my hamstrings were really tight, so I thought that might have something to do with it. Anyway, I ran today and was 90% pain-free.

Tomorrow I have to get up early to bake pies. I'm hoping to sneak in a run before Thanksgiving dinner so I can indulge to my little belly's content.

Total Exhaustion

2005-11-19T23:29:00.000-05:00

Today was a long day.

First I swam, from 6-7am with my team. We did a lot of drills. One big thing we're working on is learning to breathe on the alternate side. I breathe to the right but in Lake Placid the buoys will be on the left, so if I want to see any of them I need to breathe to the other side. That's a lot harder than it sounds. I swallowed a lot of pool water this morning. We also spent a good portion of the hour treading water, but with a flutter kick (as opposed to egg beater style) and with our arms over our heads. Again, not easy.

After the swim we had a fitting for our team apparel, which was uneventful. We actually have sponsors, so we're expected to wear team clothing whenever we're training as a group.

Then we had a strength training clinic from 8-9:30. For the next six weeks we're focusing on body weight exercises (squats, lunges, etc.). Right, so by 9:30 this morning my hip flexers and quads were shot.

Unfortunately, I still had to bike. I met up with some teammates at 12:30 and biked over the George Washington Bridge to NJ where we met the rest of our team. We did four hours of solid hills. Some hills we road down just so we could turn around and ride back up. Then we'd repeat the same hill until some coach got tired of it and picked a new hill. This lasted for 40 miles. I was a mess. Not only were my legs on fire to begin with, but my rear derailleur had a mind of it's own and kept switching gears on me at the most inopportune moments -- like I'm struggling up this hill, so let's switch her into a higher gear. Great, thanks. I was also a little low on fuel. I had had 1/2 a peanut butter & honey sandwich before the swim and the other 1/2 after but that's it, so by the middle of the ride I was in bad shape. I had a gu a little late, but it helped.

I had a very bad attitude about the ride when I got home. Most of it was due to exhaustion, but I was also a little annoyed with myself for falling apart. I think I'll be fine. I know what I need to working on (sticking to the workout plan, nutrition) and I think if I make some little changes to get those things in line it will make a huge difference in my training. Oh, I forgot to mention that I ran 5 miles on the treadmill yesterday. It was supposed to be my day off. So I would have had fresh(er) legs coming into the ride if I actually followed directions. Live and learn.

I'm going "home" tomorrow. It will be nice to have a change of scenery to train in, and I've actually been told to take it easy all week so it should be very relaxing. My mom and I have big plans to swim every morning, and I already have a massage lined up for Tuesday. It should be a great week!

So Relieved

2005-11-17T19:29:00.000-05:00

Tonight I took a quick spin around the park to test out my rear tire and am relieved to report that it was fine. I was having such anxiety after my two flats last week. I overslept and missed the group ride this morning, which (besides the guilt) I was okay with because I was worried about having yet another mishap. Now I feel like I have my confidence back and I'll be ready to go for the group ride on Saturday.

I need to invest in some more winter riding clothes. I got new gloves and booties, which I tried out tonight. The booties are great (though a little funny looking), but I'm afraid the gloves were a rip-off. My fingers are numb and it's only going to get colder. I should also get a blacalava, probably before Saturday.

Head Case

2005-11-15T23:34:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, I am a mental weakling. I totally talked myself out of the workout tonight, which sucks because I know I could have done really well. But I didn't.

We warmed up for a mile and then ran 4 x 1 mile hard with .5 mile recovery. The hard effort started on the path parallel to West Drive, under the overpass. Right, so we ran hard past the SW corner of the resevoir, continued through the bowl to the NW corner, and then back to the SW corner (all hard), recovering back to the overpass. This "hard" effort was supposed to be 10k pace. I don't know what my 10k pace is, so I started with the group that was feeling "sparkly, but not quite glowing" tonight. I stayed with them for the 1st repeat and most of the 2nd, and then I fell apart. It was such a conscious decision, like "I'm tired, so I think I'll stop pushing." Why? Why?? I finished the workout, but I know I sold myself short.

Mark My Words

2005-11-15T00:13:00.000-05:00

I just spend TWO HOURS changing a flat tire. And I have no confidence that it won't blow again when I get on my bike on Thursday. I will not finish the IM if I get a flat. You heard it here first.

No Yo Ga

2005-11-14T22:50:00.000-05:00

I didn't do the yoga DVD last night. Monday is my day of active rest, so I was actually supposed to do yoga tonday, but I didn't. So that's two straight days of inactive rest. At least I didn't go to the gym and run! I'm going to take a pilates class on Monday nights starting in January, so then my active rest will be much more structured.

My shins are starting to worry me. They've been bothering me since my long run last Saturday. I don't run every day, so they get to recover a little, but then whenever I do run it's on a hard surface so they flare up again. A trainer at the gym suggested I look into getting orthotics, but I'm not so sure.

On the Wagon

2005-11-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

Thursday -- 3 miles on treadmill, lifted

Friday -- 2 miles on treadmill (supposed to take the day off from running but as I said, I have a PROBLEM)

I had practice Saturday afternoon which was great because I got some much needed sleep. We did 1.5 hours of running form drills which somehow really tired me out, and then ran 6 miles. I was going to bail after about 3 since we were on our own and very close to my apartment, but somehow I got guilted into doing the whole run. One of my teammates claimed to have something very important to talk to me about, something about the meaning of life, but he never came through so I'm guessing it was just a ploy to keep me running. It worked, and I'm glad I did the whole thing.

Today I am very sore, and not entirely sure why. I was supposed to bike this morning but I haven't fixed my tire yet and I think I could use the rest, so I'm going to do my yoga DVD tonight instead.

I'm thinking at some point in my training I will give up the bottle. I've learned my lesson about showing up for practice drunk, but I had a lot of wine on Friday night and it made me sluggish yesterday afternoon. It will be much easier if drinking just isn't an option.

Today = Not My Day

2005-11-10T10:04:00.000-05:00

After my disaster on the bike, I came into work and got breakfast in the cafeteria. Somehow I managed to trip over myself, nearly sending my bagel and bacon flying, only to look up and see my old friend from the gym standing right there. Right on.

2 Flats Before 6

2005-11-10T06:14:00.000-05:00

Every Thursday I (try to) get up at 5 to bike with my team. This morning I found a nail in my back tire about ten minutes into the ride. Fine, I can change a flat. There must have been something else in there because I got another flat not five minutes later. So sorry, but I try to limit myself to one flat before the sun comes up. Fortunately we were on the east side of the park so I had a short walk home. I'll try to get to the gym later so today isn't a total wash. And I guess I should take my bike in to have someone look at it since I, apparently, do not know what I'm doing.

The Christmas tree has arrived at Rockefeller Center. What happened to Thanksgiving?

Monday & Tuesday

2005-11-08T21:16:00.000-05:00

My effort to follow my workout plan this week hasn't exactly gone according to, well, plan.

I have a serious problem. It seems I am incapable of going to the gym and not getting on the treadmill. I went yesterday with every intention of just stretching and lifting, but then I got there and I couldn't help myself! I only ran a mile before I forced myself off, but still. This is ridiculous. So I think from now on I just can't go to the gym on Mondays. Anyway, I lifted a bit with my arms (bench, triceps, biceps) and then tried to lift with my legs, but I couldn't figure out how to work the machine and I felt like a spectacle, so I left.

Today there was a great workout on the resevoir, but I was at work. I'll try to replicate it on the treadmill tomorrow.

Catching Up

2005-11-07T16:08:00.000-05:00

I took my exam last Wednesday. Then I reclaimed my life.

Thursday I biked in the morning with my team. I don't remember what exactly we did, but it was 20-25 miles and it was so great to be back!

Friday I met my friend K. and her boyfriend (who were visiting for the weekend) out for a few drinks. Eight hours and more than a few drinks later, we went home. That probably wasn't the most advisable way to spend the night, as I had to get up very early on Saturday for my team's Tip 2 Tip run (northern to southern tip of Manhattan ~14 miles).

Fortunately, I didn't wake up hungover! But I did wake up drunk. On the subway up to Harlem I started chatting with a nice man who suggested that I not talk to or look at any of my teammates if I wanted to keep my blood alcohol level a secret. My friend E. said I looked "fragile" as soon as I saw him, and at about mile 6 someone else commented that I smelled like alcohol, but other than that I think I managed to avoid detection. Anyway, I've learned my lesson. I have never felt so completely awful on a run. I ran with the lead group the entire way so I assume some of the pain was due to the unreasonable pace, but at the time I figured the pace was probably comfortable and I was just a dehydrated mess (which I clearly was).

Yesterday morning I biked 30 miles in NJ. Then I went to watch the NYC marathon at mile 20 in the Bronx with two of my teammates. We waited for our friend M. and then ran the last 6.2 with her. It was so great and I totally want to run NYC! We escaped the bandit catchers at the entrance to the park and actually made it to within about 100m of the finish line before we were pulled out. M. ran an awesome race, which was really inspiring.

This week I'm going to try to follow my workout plan. I know I've said that before, but I really feel it's important for me to buy into the program at this point in my training. So today I'm going to the gym and I am not going to run. This will be interesting.

She's a maniac, maniac on the floor

2005-10-25T09:45:00.000-04:00

Also in the study room. Oh yeah. I haven't been training much, mostly because my exam is in 8 short days.

I know I went to the gym last Wednesday, but I don't remember exactly what I did. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I ran on the treadmill, probably about 3 miles. And I lifted.

I took Thursday and Friday off, like OFF off, which was great. Actually, I did some cross-training on Friday (at the bowling alley and driving range). My forearms were very sore for awhile.

Saturday we had a bike session at 7am. It was dark, cold, and raining. We rode for a little over an hour, don't know how far, and much of it was white-knuckle action because the rain was so bad. I kind of enjoy riding in those conditions.

Sunday I ran 10 miles in just under 90 minutes with some teammates. I was super pleased with the time because we ran the first 6 pretty slowly and then hammered the last 4. Then we went out for breakfast and I ate the biggest stack of pancakes I have ever seen.

Yesterday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and lifted. I am so jacked, it's ridiculous.

My new laptop is in the mail, so soon I will be able to post all sorts of inappropriateness from the comfort of my own coach. Hooray!

This Is Total Socks

2005-10-19T13:25:00.000-04:00

I lost my monthly MetroCard AGAIN!

That's it. I'm walking to work.

Same Old Story

2005-10-19T09:54:00.000-04:00

I feel like I could start every post with "I was supposed to [insert planned workout], but instead I went to the gym and ran [insert mileage] on the treadmill."

Monday was 30 minutes of active rest, but I was pretty sore from my long run on Sunday and I find that the easiest way for me to loosen up is to run through it. So I ran 3 miles at the gym, but at a pretty leisurely pace. I also lifted a bit.

Yesterday I had every intention of going to practice and was actually excited about the workout, but I've started to panic about my exam and decided it would be more time-efficient to stay at work and go to the gym. I tried to simulate the workout on the treadmill, so I don't feel like I missed anything. Here we go:

1 mile warm-up (6.5)
1 mile fast (7.5)
.5 mile recovery (6.5)
1 mile faster (8.0)
.5 mile recovery (6.5)
1 mile fastest (8.5)
1 mile cool-down (6.0)

I don't know what my splits were for the timed miles. I'm not good with numbers, but you can do the math. My last mile was just over 7:00, which on a treadmill is flying for me. I was pleased with the effort. Of course I still run at 0% incline so it's not that impressive.

I lifted again yesterday (same limbs, different muscles). I can now bench 10 x 65 lbs. without a spot which is as high as I want to go. It's also unfortunate because I've lost my line. Oh well.

I think I want to run a fall marathon next year. I'll be taking an exam at the end of October, so Chicago and New York are probably out. I'm considering the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee. It's the first weekend of October, which is nice timing, and it might be fun to return to my old stomping ground. Or it might be incredibly traumatic. Who knows. Maybe I am crazy to run a marathon 2 months after an Ironman. Maybe I should finish the tri first. Maybe I should stop skipping practice. I think I have better things to worry about at this point.

And yes, I am screening my phone calls.

Run - Swim - Run (no Bike)

2005-10-16T14:10:00.000-04:00

Friday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I think I was supposed to do the elliptical or stairmaster, or some equally unsatisfying machine, but I didn't. Because I am addicted to the treadmill.

Yesterday morning we swam a mile. First we warmed up for 600m or so, which seemed to be more to fatigue our legs than to warm anything up (lots of kicking). Of course my legs were already fatigued from my run on Friday. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to follow the workout plan. I'll have to try that one of these days. So the swim went well. I came through in 34:31, off very positive splits. I was definitely working hard, but I wasn't going all out. I can see some room for improvement, which is good. I need to work on getting more extension in my stroke. I have pretty long limbs, but my stroke is really choppy and I'm definitely not taking full advantage of my length. I need to gliiiiide.

This morning I ran 11 miles with my friend F. I wasn't planning to run at all, so I'm glad she was so motivated. I ran a mile or so to meet her, we ran 9 in the park, and I ran home. It was all about the distance today, so I didn't even bother putting a watch on it. I think it was around 9:30 pace. F. is a little slower than me but, as I told her, I couldn't crank out 9 (or 11) miles on my own. I seem to have gotten it in my head that I can train at 8:30 pace, but I really don't think I could hold that for a long run. So yeah, I'd die. We ran the 4-mile loop and then the 5-mile loop. On our second pass we encountered the breast cancer walk, which was unfortunate. I'm all for saving boobs, but not when it interferes with my running.

I have to say I'm really excited about my training at this point. I'm sure part of it is that right now I just train and study. I'm so tired of studying, so all I can think about is how great it will be after my exam when I can train all the time. I should also consider getting a life, but I'll wait until after my exam to debate the merits of that. The other thing is that I really like running again. I was somewhat obsessive about it in high school (did secret morning runs because practice just wasn't enough, etc.), but I loved it. Not so much in college. I think I joined the team because I thought everyone expected me to (parents, friends, roommates) and I kind of defined myself as being a runner. So I ran for 4 years and hated a lot of it, which is too bad considering some of the prettiest places I've run are in Maine. After college I sat on my couch and ate, so then I hated running because there was jiggling and that hurt. Now I'm very happy with my running, which is why I'm not fighting the addiction. I just don't think it's such a bad place to be. How's that for self-reflection?

I'm Back

2005-10-14T11:40:00.000-04:00

I haven't followed my workout plan at all this week, and I've had other stuff going on that has made me question this whole blogging from work thing, but I'm back. I figure as long as I keep the chatter about balding/married men to a minimum, I should be fine. This blog is about my training anyway. Focus Betsy, focus!

Monday I rested. Inactively.

Tuesday I ran with the team. We warmed up for about a mile, did 20 minutes of running form drills, and then 2 loops of the resevoir. The first loop was .5 mile of lamppost pickups and then a mile at 1/2 marathon pace. I ran that one in 8:05, but I don't think I could run a 1/2 in 1:45 or whatever that would be. Actually, maybe I could. Anyway, the second loop was a .5 mile recovery and then a mile at 10k pace. I have no idea what my pace is, so I just made sure to hit it faster than the first one and I came through in 7:22. Yes, that's faster, but it's not my 10k pace. We cooled down for a mile and then did almost an hour of core. I'm actually getting stronger, so that's nice.

Wednesday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill.

Thursday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and did 8 minutes of core. Then I ate 2 too many cheeseburgers for dinner.

I must say that I love monsoon season. It's been raining all week and I couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow I have a timed mile swim at 5:45am, so I think I'll take it easy tonight.

41 Weeks To Go

2005-10-10T07:58:00.000-04:00

This week I'm going to follow my workout plan to the letter, just to see what exactly I'm paying for. Aside from the long bike on Saturday, it will actually be less than I've been doing on my own. So it's not about the volume as much as it is surrendering myself to the program. Betsy likes to be in control, and she doesn't like to rest. But today is 30 minutes of active rest, so actively rest I will. I'm thinking I'll try out my new yoga DVD when I get home.

3-Day Recap

2005-10-08T12:04:00.000-04:00

I failed to mention that I ellipticalled for 30 minutes on Wednesday. That sucked. Seriously, I don't know how people do it. I feel like I could park myself on there for an hour and get nothing out of it. How do you turn that into a workout? Please enlighten me.

Thursday afternoon I wasn't supposed to do anything since I biked in the morning, but I ran a whopping 2 miles just because. I also worked on my plank poses. At practice on Tuesday I was openly mocked for not being able to do push-ups. I've never been able to do them, and I think park of the reason I kept such a low profile on my team in college was that our coach doled out push-ups as punishment. None for me, thanks. One of my current coaches finally gave me an excuse -- I can't do them because of my lusciously long legs. He actually said it's my height, but I got the message. Since I'm so tall, there's a lot more in the middle that I need to keep from sagging (no, I am not talking about my bodacious ta tas). So I've been going about it all wrong. I thought I needed to build up my upper body, but really it's my core that is the problem. He told me to work on my planks every other day. And I will.

Last night I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, stretched and lifted a bit. We were supposed to have a long (30-40 mile) group ride today, but it was cancelled due to the rain. I had actually decided to skip it and study instead, so I'm psyched because now I'm not missing anything. It's monsoon season in New York -- the 10-day forecast is for RAIN -- which could do wonders for my exam preparation.

That is all.

Domestic Diva

2005-10-07T11:56:00.000-04:00

Tonight I'm cleaning my apartment and doing laundry. Then I'll iron all my work shirts. I'm very excited about this.

I really want to bake cookies. Too bad I don't have a cookie sheet.

In other news, Jessica Biel was named Esquire's sexiest woman alive. This is good news for me, as I used to get free burritos at Qdoba because the manager thought I was Mary Camden's twin.

Dusting Off the Bike

2005-10-06T08:13:00.000-04:00

I love it that I can make such outrageous statements in my blog and noboday bats an eyelash. Or maybe it should concern me. Hmmm.

I biked 20 miles at 5:30 this morning. Tushy still sore. Need sleepy. That's the short story.

We met at Taven on the Green, only 15-20 of us showed up (I think there are 35 on the team). We biked 2 lower loops in single file and then stopped for drills -- biking obscenely slowly while not losing control, figure 8s, clipping in and out. I'm told I have excellent form on the bike. I bend my arms in all the right places and have such smooth legs (by sight, not touch). We finished with two big loops in a pack. I used to see this team cycling in the park and I thought they were so annoying. Usually I was running and they came whizzing by, nearly knocking me off my feet. Now that I'm in that pack I think we're cool. And tough. And certainly intimidating.

Oh, the David Gray concert was excellent. He is such a hot little man, but he kind of has a bobble head.

Single And Looking

2005-10-05T14:18:00.000-04:00

My tri team has a Yahoo! group. In my profile, that's my marital status. Another option was Married But Looking. Oh, I hope someone picks that one! I love married men.

Oh My Aching Tushy

2005-10-05T08:18:00.000-04:00

Last night was our first official practice. It kind of hurt. We ran 4 x 5-minute OAB with a minute of controlled push-ups and a minute of some sort of leg exercise (squats, lunges, one-legged squats, squats) before each OAB. #1 was a warm-up, #2 was a little faster, #3 was all-out, and #4 was an attempt to replicate #3. My first OAB was essentially a 10-minute form critique by one of my coaches, which is good. I like to think I have good running form; I spend enough time watching my reflection in tv screens, mirrors, windows, etc. when I run to know what I look like. Well apparently I need to bring my hips forward, carry my arms higher, and increase my cadence. Things to work on. I really pushed it on #3 and found myself up with the big dogs, ahead of all the women, so I can only assume I missed the memo that "all-out" isn't really all-out. But it felt good. #4 was kind of a disaster.

I ran to the park, plus the 40 minutes, plus a cooldown, plus I ran home. I'm calling it 6 miles. I got home just as the delivery man was arriving with my groceries -- $100 worth of Lean Cuisines, Diet Coke, and yogurt. Mmmm....

Today my butt is very sore. So if you see it, don't touch it.

My eyes are also a freaky shade of blue today. I never believed it when people said their eyes changed color ("they're green when I'm happy"). Now I know it can happen. So this must be my "my butt hurts" color.

I was supposed to swim this morning but I didn't. Ooops. I think I'll go to the gym this afternoon even though I said I wouldn't. But I'm NOT going to run -- just stretching and the elliptical. Tonight I'm going to see David Gray. I imagine I'll be dragging by that point, so I'm glad it's a sit-down concert. We have tickets in the first row of the mezz so we'll never have to stand to see. I am an old lady.

Peeve #2

2005-10-04T09:53:00.000-04:00

Worse than listening to someone eat an apple is listening to someone cough up a hairball. For 20 minutes. For the love of God, get yourself some water!

* * *

We suspect it is actually a whole cat stuck in her throat, as this has now been going on for a solid 2 hours. Yikes!

Doesn't Follow Directions

2005-10-03T20:09:00.000-04:00

My training plan for today called for an hour of active rest and specifically said no running. I went to the gym with the intention of only lifting, but ended up running 3 miles first. I just feel so lazy not running, and it's hard to start a 10-month training plan with a rest day. I'm sure after a few weeks of tough workouts I'll be kicking back on Mondays, but not yet.

I think I'm ready to make the big decision to give up my mild (yes, mild) obsession with the man in the gym to focus on other things -- my exam, work, training. He doesn't go regularly anymore, and I don't have the nerve to talk to him anyway. So I will only go to the gym on Mondays and Fridays, as is called for in my training plan. Mondays I will lift, and Fridays I will lift and do an hour of non-running cardio. If you read about anything else happening on these days, you have permission to hunt me down and punish.

Race Report

2005-10-03T09:30:00.000-04:00

Friday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I kind of forgot I was running a race Saturday morning, but I felt really good so I went with it.

Saturday morning I met up with my teammates before the start of the race. The girl I wanted to beat is so nice! I feel like a fool for harboring such anamosity towards her when I didn't even know her, but she just gave me a bad vibe. At least I know she's nice, so now I can be nice back. Or maybe she was just trying to disarm me before the race, because it definitely seemed less important to beat her once I realized she wasn't the rotten person I thought she was.

I don't write good race reports. All you need to know is that I ran 26:42 (on my watch) for 3.5 miles. We'll pretend we don't know the course was a little short. My splits were 8:08, 7:13, 7:34, and 3:45 for the last 0.5. I was the first finisher on my team and finished a solid minute ahead of my former nemesis. Another guy on the team finished a second behind me, but he clearly let me win (I've since been told this constitutes flirting -- who knew?!). We finished 49th out of 50 teams. Uh huh, right.

So I think I'm getting in better shape. I ran 28:44 at this race in June (different course, probably accurately measured). Also, I was really sore before the race from my run on Friday, so I think if I had been smarter about things I could have run a little faster.

I'm not going to run today because we have a tough workout tomorrow. I think I'll go to the gym and lift since I didn't do that all last week.

Doing It

2005-09-30T11:25:00.000-04:00

I ran 2 miles yesterday. It was just one of those days. I feel like that's not even worth counting, but whatever. I went home early and got 10 hours of sleep. I feel fabulous! And ready to take on the world.

I have this exam to study for and have been struggling to find the motivation to put the time in. Apparently the obscene raise I will get if I pass just isn't cutting it. So I made a bet with a friend, and now I have to "do it" if I fail. I cannot reveal what (or who) "it" is, but I can say I will be spending a lot more time studying to make sure "it" doesn't happen.

My October training schedule has arrived. Yikes! Next week we start 5:30am bike rides on Thursday mornings. And I'm supposed to swim on my own on Wednesdays, so I'll probably try to get that in before work as well. It all looks a little overwhelming, but it will be a welcome change from the monotony of the treadmill.

That is all. I wish a good weekend to all my loyal readers.

I Want Chicken Pie!

2005-09-29T08:48:00.000-04:00

Ugh, I am getting so tired of the treadmill. Luckily regular training with my team starts on Tuesday so I will be forced outside. The weather has been perfect here -- high 60s and low 70s -- and we are nearing my favorite time of year, but I also have an exam in 5 weeks so I try not to stray to far from the dreaded study room. Hence, the treadmill. I ran 4 miles last night. Blah blah blah. The gym has actually become quite boring, due primarily to the fact that the man doesn't realize we have a standing date there at 6. Where has he been?

I Can't Walk

2005-09-28T10:08:00.000-04:00

I can't remember ever having such nasty, nasty blisters. Both of my heels are pretty raw. I'm still wearing the shoes though and damn, they look good! Though some of the effect is lost when the wearer of the pointy-toed stiletto is reduced to a slow hobble. The good thing is that my feet feel absolutely fine in my running shoes. I ran 5 miles yesterday.

When I was walking home late last night I had to take off my shoes. So yeah, I walked down the streets of Manhattan barefoot. And I didn't shower this morning. That's kind of gross.

Peeve #1

2005-09-27T13:15:00.000-04:00

I don't like listening to people eat apples.

I'm Lovin' It!

2005-09-27T09:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I didn't get to the gym until 30 minutes before closing so I ran a very fast 4 miles. Then I went to McDonald's for dinner. That was my 6th meal there in 4 days. What? What???? I just can't get enough of those cheeseburgers.

I bought some very fashionable shoes yesterday and they totally tore up my heel on the way to work this morning. Like I took off my shoe and the whole back of my foot was covered in blood. That's hard core when running, but kind of a questionable sacrifice to complete the outfit.

It's Always a Race

2005-09-26T13:42:00.000-04:00

I'm running in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship (http://www.jpmorganchasecc.com/events.php?city_id=18) on Saturday. My company ran in the race in June and somehow qualified to send a team to the championship (the standard must be loooooow for local companies). Even more surprising was the fact that yours truly landed on the team as the #2 woman. Right, so the obvious goal for Saturday is to beat the #1 woman. I don't know this woman, and I don't like her. She may be very nice, but I want to beat her. I just got an e-mail from her:

I presume we all feel we are doing this for fun and to get a 3.5 mile run 1st thing Saturday morning, so I was wondering if you all wanted to meet up prior to the race so we can at least all start together. We can also decide if we want to run together throughout the race. I spoke to J. and we are both fine with taking a nice jog around the city. Also, I think this might be even more crowded than the regular corporate challenge since it will be on the streets of Manhattan! So actually going for a good time could be disappointing.

Foiled! My victory will mean nothing if she's out for a nice jog around the city.

For the Record

2005-09-26T10:25:00.000-04:00

I tried to donate blood this morning but my iron was too low. It needs to be at least 12.5 and mine was 11.8 (no idea what the units are). The woman who tested it was somewhat incompetent, but it's been low before so I'm trusting it wasn't just her error. She gave me a flier on hemoglobin and blood donation and sent me on my way. So yeah, I need to work on that. I think I'll have to start eating less cereal and more eggs and bacon. Darn.

While I'm at it, I might as well document that I'm starting this whole "thing" at 145 pounds and 21.1% body fat. Don't think I'm crazy -- I had to report my body fat as part of the ridiculously extensive application process for this team I joined. As far as I know they just wanted a starting point for future reference (as opposed to using it as a method to weed out the fatties). I guess we'll be monitoring this as we train, which with my mildly obsessive personality spells F-U-N!

Like a Caged Hamster

2005-09-25T14:01:00.000-04:00

Thursday I ran 8 miles at the gym, mainly because the alternative was studying and, well, I'd rather not. I don't exactly like running on the treadmill. I got into the habit of it this summer when it was hot as balls in NYC and I was too much of a wimp to deal with it. My gym is at work, so that's super convenient, and they even do my laundry. But I spend far too much time there, most of it just loitering. I went again on Friday, ran 4 miles, and lifted. Also, I stopped watching the man and actually talked to him. What a concept.

Saturday I was supposed to run in the Fifth Avenue Mile with my buddy Alan Webb, but I decided a better use of my time would be to get up early and study. This was a huge sacrifice for two reasons. First, I'm trying to run 9 NYRR races this year to qualify for next year's NYC Marathon, and sitting out Saturday's race effectively ended my chances of getting in the 9 races. Oh well. I was probably going to defer to 2007 anyway. The more obvious sacrifice was the chance to see Alan Webb, in all his slightly balding glory. Anyway, I am so pissed at myself because I ended up sleeping until noon (noon!), so I totally could have made it to the race and then studied. Grrrr....

I bailed on another race this morning. I was going to do the Westchester Triathlon, but it would have involved spending last night and most of today up there, and I decided I needed to study. So what have I done today, you ask? I rolled out of bed at 11, made it to McDonald's in time for breakfast, and am now studying. Obviously. I don't know when I became so unmotivated.

The Road to Ironman

2005-09-22T11:28:00.000-04:00

So yeah. I'm going to keep a blog to detail my training for Ironman Lake Placid 2006. That sounds weird. I'm going to do an Ironman. Uh huh, right.

I have some goals. I want to break 14 hours. I don't know how reasonable this is, and I fully expect it to change. I finished the Florida 1/2 Ironman in under 7 hours and felt like I could do another right there (I actually said this to one of my teammates, and she was not amused). So I think I should be able to fo a full Ironman at the same pace or faster, especially now that I've traded in my beast of a mountain bike for a slick new road bike.

I also want to become more of a competitor. I think I have a lot of natural talent, but I like to run in the back of the pack and take it easy during races. Basically, I'm lazy. I want to be comfortable pushing myself and leave a little more out there.

And I want to do 10 push-ups (and just increase my core strength in general). I guess push-ups don't technically use "core" strength, but whatever. I should be able to do push-ups now, seeing as I can bench 65 pounds (yes, I am buff). But I can't. And it's embarrassing to get down on my knees and do the girl ones.

Okay, on to the traning.

We had our first practice on Tuesday. It was supposed to be a "social" run, but since we're all so intense we hammered the pace and there was nothing social about it. We warmed up for a mile to the SW corner of the resevoir and then ran 3 x 4-minute OAB (out-and-back, 4 minutes each way) with squats and lunges in between. With the mile cool-down, I'm calling it 5 (which is probably conservative since the OABs were definitely sub-8:00 pace). The core session afterwards was not fun. At all. I don't understand how my abs can be so weak when I don't really have much visible flab. It was pathetic. I was solidly in the middle of the pack on the run, but I think I'm the only one on the team who can't hold a plank.

Yesterday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 32:00. I'm still really sore from Tuesday (I think it was the squats). We don't practice again until October 4 and I don't really know what I'm supposed to be doing between now and then. I think nothing, but I'm going to try to get in a few miles each day just to stay loose.

Also, there's a hot guy in the gym who I like to watch from the treadmill, so I have that going for me. He's slightly balding, but we think not 38.