Today's scheduled open water swim:
Canceled. By me. Waves over my head on the sand bar. The beach is littered with kite surfers racing along the swim course. At least 15 knots sustained onshore winds. On a better day I would have tried a 1/2 mile (in a very bright swim cap) just for the rough water experience but not today. This morning's speed workout wore me out and our little bird Kayko gave us quite a scare (we think it was a seizure).
I'm done for today. At least I went out to the beach before making the call.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
So far, so good.
Since drawing a mental line in the sand, workouts have been going much better. Don't get me wrong, I'm tired. I haven't trained more than 5 hours in a week since February. There are already 8 hours are on the books this week. Three more are on the schedule. But it's working.
In addition to checking out the local running clubs, I swam at the official Mad Beach Wednesday night swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Zoot was there offering free wetsuit demos. I tried the long sleeved suit. Very interesting. Shawn tried one as well. It was her first wetsuit swim and her first swim since last October. We both survived and enjoyed the mini cookout offered by the club after the swim.
Spencer Smith spoke at the Mad Dog tri club meeting last night. Most of his talk consisted on Q&A so I jumped right in. I asked if he had any tips or tricks for someone training for their second ironman who was having a hard time waking up for those workouts.
His answer was simple:
1) There are no tricks. If you're truly not motivated, no charity challenge, entry fee, or trash talk will get you out the door. Damn! OK, that was a little tough love but it's all good.
2) If you're just out of the habit and need to get the ball rolling again, find training partners, preferably people who are faster. Which is what my coach has been telling me since 2007.
Fortunately, I feel #2 applies in my case. And I was already dedicated to finding training partners. Outing myself at the tri club meeting definitely accelerated that process.
This morning I swam with a smaller group of Mad Dogs, once again in the Gulf. They introduced themselves to me after the meeting last night. It's definitely more fun that doing endless laps at the pool. As long as I get in one long day at the pool, my coach has approved 2 open water swims a week. The open water swims are only 1 mile but, man oh man, are they challenging. There is no easy warm up or kick sets or drills. Just straight swimming for a mile with no wall to hang onto. Add in some waves and a current and you have a party! You can take a quick break on the sand bar but unless you want to swim back to the beach, there are no long rest intervals. :)
Onward!
In addition to checking out the local running clubs, I swam at the official Mad Beach Wednesday night swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Zoot was there offering free wetsuit demos. I tried the long sleeved suit. Very interesting. Shawn tried one as well. It was her first wetsuit swim and her first swim since last October. We both survived and enjoyed the mini cookout offered by the club after the swim.
Spencer Smith spoke at the Mad Dog tri club meeting last night. Most of his talk consisted on Q&A so I jumped right in. I asked if he had any tips or tricks for someone training for their second ironman who was having a hard time waking up for those workouts.
His answer was simple:
1) There are no tricks. If you're truly not motivated, no charity challenge, entry fee, or trash talk will get you out the door. Damn! OK, that was a little tough love but it's all good.
2) If you're just out of the habit and need to get the ball rolling again, find training partners, preferably people who are faster. Which is what my coach has been telling me since 2007.
Fortunately, I feel #2 applies in my case. And I was already dedicated to finding training partners. Outing myself at the tri club meeting definitely accelerated that process.
This morning I swam with a smaller group of Mad Dogs, once again in the Gulf. They introduced themselves to me after the meeting last night. It's definitely more fun that doing endless laps at the pool. As long as I get in one long day at the pool, my coach has approved 2 open water swims a week. The open water swims are only 1 mile but, man oh man, are they challenging. There is no easy warm up or kick sets or drills. Just straight swimming for a mile with no wall to hang onto. Add in some waves and a current and you have a party! You can take a quick break on the sand bar but unless you want to swim back to the beach, there are no long rest intervals. :)
Onward!
6 Weeks
My training for Beach to Battleship is not going as planned. Training is not even the right term. You don't train for an ironman by swimming 2 times a month and training about 5 hours a week. Yesterday I told my coach that if I can't get back on track, I'm switching to the half at Beach to Battleship. I am an ironman, already. If I go down that road again, the goal is to excel, not slog through to barely finish. That means a solid 6 months of work, 10+ hours a week, not half assed effort.
So, I have given myself 6 weeks which happens to coincide with the Madeira Beach Triathlon.
"Back on track" means
- working out every day that is on the schedule, completing 85% of workouts, especially those darned swims.
- keeping my calorie balance in the negative zone, 5 days a week, preferably 6.
- limiting alcohol (helps me wake up earlier) and starches (seems to prevent my GI distress).
- preferably getting my weight down to the low 150s by May with more to follow.
I also want to find training groups to make this more fun, people who will challenge and motivate me. Swimming is fairly easy. The Mad Dogs hold Wednesday night open water swims. For riding, I'm going to incorporate Saturday morning group rides into my long rides, at least until the mileage gets over 60-80 miles. This will force me to push the pace. Running will be tough but there are a few running clubs around town so I'm checking them out.
So, I have given myself 6 weeks which happens to coincide with the Madeira Beach Triathlon.
"Back on track" means
- working out every day that is on the schedule, completing 85% of workouts, especially those darned swims.
- keeping my calorie balance in the negative zone, 5 days a week, preferably 6.
- limiting alcohol (helps me wake up earlier) and starches (seems to prevent my GI distress).
- preferably getting my weight down to the low 150s by May with more to follow.
I also want to find training groups to make this more fun, people who will challenge and motivate me. Swimming is fairly easy. The Mad Dogs hold Wednesday night open water swims. For riding, I'm going to incorporate Saturday morning group rides into my long rides, at least until the mileage gets over 60-80 miles. This will force me to push the pace. Running will be tough but there are a few running clubs around town so I'm checking them out.
Monday, April 13, 2009
St. Anthony's Triathlon?
Anyone coming down to St. Pete for the St. Anthony's tri? Wanna meet at the Moon Underwater for a frosty beverage?
RR: Escape from Ft. De Soto
Short version:
Not a great day. I could jump on the excuse train but in the end, I just wasn't well trained for this race. Trained to finish? Yes. Trained to excel? No. And I have no one to blame but myself for missing workouts.
The good news: there were no major hip problems.
A few more details:
This course is not well measured. You could forgive the 700yd swim because of the fog but rest of it is just laziness. This was a watch-only race. No bike computer because I normally use my Garmin and no Garmin because it's a huge pain in the ass for tris. After a 30 minute fog delay, I got to wait another 30 minutes for the privilege of starting in the last wave. The water was 71F but I swam without a wetsuit. The swim felt strong. I actually found a groove where I could feel the power of my stroke. Very cool. We swam into a current so I'm happy with 2:00/100yds. Then we have a long run to transition. The bike was relatively calm, only one annoying guy who wouldn't drop back when you passed him. As soon as your wheel crossed his, he would speed up, saying it was "inspiring him to ride faster". Glad your inspired Blocker Boy. But it's also illegal. Despite my lazy bike training, I dropped Blocker Boy and l pulled off a 19-20 mph average for the bike. Not too shabby.
Wait a second, good swim, decent bike, why am I disappointed in my race? Oh, right...
I didn't drink anything on the bike because I didn't want to mess with a bottle on a crowded course. Florida's humidity is not forgiving to people who race like a dipshit. Note to self: buy an aerobottle so you don't have to mess with it, idiot girl.
Back to the run...it was slow and thirsty. Only one water stop at the turn around. The first half was fine. It was hard to judge pace because the course was so wacky. The second half of the run climbs the fort and heads into soft sand. My hip flexors staged a protest so I backed off the pace and finished without injury. Not my most inspiring race but I'll take it! My husbadn Joe and Jarrod brought champagne for Sherri and I so that was a little bright spot.
Right now I'm battling a serious resurgence of last Monday's cold. A congested cough has joined the game. My voice is gone. It's all bad.
But I'm already planning the next race at the end of May. :)
Not a great day. I could jump on the excuse train but in the end, I just wasn't well trained for this race. Trained to finish? Yes. Trained to excel? No. And I have no one to blame but myself for missing workouts.
The good news: there were no major hip problems.
A few more details:
This course is not well measured. You could forgive the 700yd swim because of the fog but rest of it is just laziness. This was a watch-only race. No bike computer because I normally use my Garmin and no Garmin because it's a huge pain in the ass for tris. After a 30 minute fog delay, I got to wait another 30 minutes for the privilege of starting in the last wave. The water was 71F but I swam without a wetsuit. The swim felt strong. I actually found a groove where I could feel the power of my stroke. Very cool. We swam into a current so I'm happy with 2:00/100yds. Then we have a long run to transition. The bike was relatively calm, only one annoying guy who wouldn't drop back when you passed him. As soon as your wheel crossed his, he would speed up, saying it was "inspiring him to ride faster". Glad your inspired Blocker Boy. But it's also illegal. Despite my lazy bike training, I dropped Blocker Boy and l pulled off a 19-20 mph average for the bike. Not too shabby.
Wait a second, good swim, decent bike, why am I disappointed in my race? Oh, right...
I didn't drink anything on the bike because I didn't want to mess with a bottle on a crowded course. Florida's humidity is not forgiving to people who race like a dipshit. Note to self: buy an aerobottle so you don't have to mess with it, idiot girl.
Back to the run...it was slow and thirsty. Only one water stop at the turn around. The first half was fine. It was hard to judge pace because the course was so wacky. The second half of the run climbs the fort and heads into soft sand. My hip flexors staged a protest so I backed off the pace and finished without injury. Not my most inspiring race but I'll take it! My husbadn Joe and Jarrod brought champagne for Sherri and I so that was a little bright spot.
Right now I'm battling a serious resurgence of last Monday's cold. A congested cough has joined the game. My voice is gone. It's all bad.
But I'm already planning the next race at the end of May. :)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Hell Yeah!
Thank you to Capt. Richard Phillips for risking your life for to save your crew and THANK YOU to the US Navy SEALS who saved him. Oh yeah, and to Prez Obama for authorizing military force.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/04/12/somalia.pirates/index.html
Friday, April 10, 2009
CrossFit?
My coach has recommended that I join the local CrossFit gym. As fate would have it, it's located less than a mile from my house.
Could you, my fellow bloggers, give me some feedback on CrossFit? The instructors at this gym retired or active military guys which gives me pause. I remember guys like that from my martial arts days.
Feedback? Comments? Suggestions?
Could you, my fellow bloggers, give me some feedback on CrossFit? The instructors at this gym retired or active military guys which gives me pause. I remember guys like that from my martial arts days.
Feedback? Comments? Suggestions?
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
The journey of 1000 miles
Training for my second ironman reminds me of training for my second marathon season. The thrill of the unknown is gone but the dread of the distance is still there. It makes getting out the door harder. A lot harder.
Add in all the changes and downturns of the past few months and I feel lost. Time to get back to my true inner self. Back to my core values and the simple things that make me happy. I am a simple person at heart. So, when I visualize my true inner self, what would a day in her life look like?
She sure as heck wouldn't let some wind stand between her and a workout. My inner self kicked some serious mental butt today by riding despite the 30mph gusts. I bring my weather with me.
But I watch for cars. A few cross gusts pushed me into the middle of the lane without warning. Even though I was trying to steer towards the edge. A little scary. I'm glad I waited until the road wasn't busy.
On windy days I like to visualize Madame Pele laughing at me, training me for my future time riding the Queen K highway at Kona. Deposits in the Bank of Ironman.
Add in all the changes and downturns of the past few months and I feel lost. Time to get back to my true inner self. Back to my core values and the simple things that make me happy. I am a simple person at heart. So, when I visualize my true inner self, what would a day in her life look like?
She sure as heck wouldn't let some wind stand between her and a workout. My inner self kicked some serious mental butt today by riding despite the 30mph gusts. I bring my weather with me.
But I watch for cars. A few cross gusts pushed me into the middle of the lane without warning. Even though I was trying to steer towards the edge. A little scary. I'm glad I waited until the road wasn't busy.
On windy days I like to visualize Madame Pele laughing at me, training me for my future time riding the Queen K highway at Kona. Deposits in the Bank of Ironman.
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