Born Again Athlete:

Yay - I'm average!

In track practice yesterday, I ran a mile in 8:56! While this is sort of average pace for most triathletes and runners, it is super duper fast for me.

 Coach Pain has a well deserved name. Today after yesterday morn's core workout, my butt and back are really sore. I guess 3 billion crunches, squats, medicine ball, mountain climbers, skiers, pushups, plank, more squats and situps will do that to you.

I prefer oatmeal raisin cookies to chocolate chip.

The Tour de France cyclists look hot when they have their jerseys zipped. When unzipped, you can see their ribs.    click on photo for full effect

Gross. I know you have to weight 120 lbs to get your ass up those mountains, but still...

I am becoming a dumb jock. I am not reading. However, I am trying to use the word sartorial every chance I get. It's not easy.

I took this from Dan M. facebook page, a fellow T3er, from the ride this weekend.

 

     I can never understand these elevation charts. But I think it was hillier than the CdA course.
This ride killed me a year ago; yesterday, it was pretty easy and fun. Still not very fast, but doable.

Found this RC Triathlon's blog; it ranks the bike elevation courses of all IM races.
Woo-hoo, Florida is freakin' flat!

1. France 11193
2. Lanzarote 10282
3. Lake Placid 7911
4. Austria 7829
5. Australia 7659
6. Louisville 7578
7. Switzerland 7505
8. Wisconsin 7353
9. Canada 6719
10. Coeur D’Alene 5851
11. Brazil 5419
12. Germany 5281
13. S. Africa 5182
14. Hawaii 4554
15. Arizona 3824
16. W. Australia 2538
17. Florida 2007

Did some fun non-tri stuff this weekend...wow, I have a life?

1. Spin class was amazing this evening. I have no idea why it was fun to push ourselves until we felt like we were dying and the lactic acid built up in the legs, but it was. I'm sure the word threshold was used tonight, but still don't know what that really means.

2. I swam 100's in 2:10!! 

3. I ate 4 sno-cones this week. Crap, I am obsessed.

4. I love Toby more and more. This morning at 5:00, before I went to swim, she came up to cuddle by me in bed.

5. Dating is a weird phenomenon.

6. Triathlon training is very much like music training. I am very familiar with this (for those of you who knew me way back when.) This is also probably why Greyhound also plugs away consistently at this tri-thing. Day to day practice; drills that seem pointless at first, but have very specific purposes (in music their called scales, etudes, Hanon, Czerny, I don't know what etudes french horn players have, but I'm sure there's a specific one.); several things to work on at once (Because you're never just learning one piece); preparation leading to a performance. Probably why I don't get nervous for races; it's much easier than performing on stage. Greyhound, chime in with any other thoughts.

7. I'm doing the Las Vegas marathon.

Recovery week

Please tell my idiotic self that I NEED recovery week. Last fall, I had inadvertant rest weeks where I was delayed at work, or just felt lazy or poopy-faced. This is a scheduled low volume week, but I want to do more. Gasp - only 1 spin, 1 track and 2 swims this week! And only 10 miles on Sunday - what am I going to do the rest of the morning?? I am feeling fat and lazy. I'm feeling antsy and can't wait to ride this weekend.

I want an Orbea. 

Even though I'm a billion times faster swimming than I was last year, I am still a slow swimmer! I am still in the first lane and still not the fastest one in there!

Oh yeah, I had forgetten about this rollar-coaster of emotions while IM training.

A perfect weekend.

I went to Houston this weekend. Did a 15 mile run on Saturday, then met up with Kathleen for lunch.

Then did the Katy Flatlands ride with Dave. We did 100 miles in about 6 hours riding time. I have to say that after 1 year in Austin, Houston is very flat and quite easy!  Oh yeah, I did this ride 3 years ago when I first started cycling, and it took me 8 hours!

I saw so many people that I know - my cycling instigator Marcia - okay, didn't see her, but saw her husband and daughter. Wade, who is doing IMAZ this fall and has lost 130 lbs!! And some dude who came up to me and said "did you do Buffalo Springs?" He remembers me and my boa. We ran in together.

Cool compliments of the day:

Dave: "You have no draft" - yay! this means I'm smaller, less wide and must be very aero.

Dave: "You're riding stronger now than at the beginning of the day" at mile 80. Yes, I'm built for endurance rather than speed. I did feel very strong even at the end of the ride. My pulse rate actually dropped. I could have run afterwards.

Fit-looking-bike-dude whom I didn't know: "You pulled us" - huh, you talkin' to me? This guy said that I passed him, and he was feeling tired out, but paced/pulled in my me. er, what?? Unbeknowdst to me, I was leading some sort of pace line. haha, funny really. In Austin I'm slow, and in Houston, I'm pretty good.

Afterwards, pancakes and the elusive search for sno-cones in Houston. Not too many places. Surprising, consider that Houston is as hot as hell. Dave knew of a place. Yay! Sno-cones!

nice day, very fun, good company, good ride (counted as my training long ride) and good sno-cone.

But I got a wicked sunburn.

I realized yesterday that I do a form of self-hypnosis during the race, especially during the run. I picked the number 49, then counted backwards from it. If I hit a number ending in "9" (39, 29) then I visualized it. When I got down to zero, I started over at 49. Weird, huh? It has nothing to do with running, but I had one of best runs ever. I think it keeps me from focusing on hot it is, or climbing a hill and keeps me running and not stopping to walk. whatever works.

Couples Tri

I had another great race!
This is a race where you are paired with a friend, family member or spouse, your times are added together and ranked according to that time.

So this year:
Swim   20:58 (2.37/100)
Bike     38.17 (17.6 mph)
Run      33.24 (10:46 min miles)
Total   1:36:25

Last year:
Swim   25:50  (3:14/100)
Bike     44:32 (15.1 mph)
Run      39:27 (12:44 min miles)
Total   1:53:42

That's 17 minutes knocked off in one year! in a sprint!

Dare I say it? Dare I dream about running sub-10 minute miles???

Thanks to Jim for being a good sport about dressing up.
Yes, I wore the sunglasses on the bike, then the boa and sequined hat on the run. Yes, it was hot, but I looked GOOD:

Today's post brought to you by K.T.F.A.R.

   Keep Triathlons Fun And Ridiculous

1. I was covered with salt crystals after spin class. This has never happened to me before. This means that the class was particularly hard; or my body chemistry is changing; or someone mistook me for a margarita.

2. All yous Ironman peepulz are cuh-razy. Shuuz, runnin' in 108 degree heat....

3. I am swimming faster, running faster, but still slow, especially in the T3 group. Sigh....

4. I used to think I was a good cook, but I don't think I am anymore. Actually, I can cook well for an elaborate dinner party, but for day to day stuff, I suck.

5. I have been eating plain white rice (short grain, sushi rice, the stuff I grew up on) before races. Seems to work very well for me.

6. Couples tri this weekend. I am paired with Jim O. We are gonna be the coolest couple out there! (just wait for the pics)

7. Mike from T3 has a pug named Rolo. I have a pug named Toby. They are going to be the official Ironman Florida Mascots. Their training plan: walk a few feet, sleep and eat something, look cute.

8. I think I will do full Vineman in 2010.

9. Some of you (you know who you are) need to update your blogs more frequently!!

 

Uhm, yeah...I guess I should mention this:

I'm doing:

    

As long as I see no sharks during the ocean swim, I'm golden.

I may be delusional, but this race didn't seem that hard??

I did Buffalo Springs Lake Half-Iron Triathlon last weekend. I wanted to do a longer race, but didn't want to fly anywhere. I signed up for this before realizing that it is one of the hardest 70.3 races, with lots of hills on the bike AND run.

Er...I didn't tell anyone. Up until that week, I wasn't sure if I was going to do it, so kept mum. But then thought, what the hell - let me give it a try.

I met up with Misty, Brian, Liz and John. I knew John from Houston and Liz is also from Houston and I met her through Greyhound. Misty and Brian are tri-bloggers. It's funny that even though I never "met" Misty before, I felt very comfortable with her, as if I've known her for ages!

I thought the weather was pretty nice. Lubbock is notorious for being very hot and humid. However, compared to how hot it's been in Austin, 91 degrees ain't so bad! And come on folks, it really was not that humid! Windy yes, but we got tailwind as well has headwind, so figure it evens out. I don't mind the wind. I just scrunch down really small.

So, my attitude for this race was very relaxed - probably the most helpful thing for me.

My swim was slow - 54:55. I was having "wardrobe malfunction" in that my swim cap kept slipping off. I stopped about 8 times adjusting it. I also realized that I don't kick in my wetsuit! I bet I'd go a little bit faster if I actually kicked. I had a very lackadaisical attitude about the swim. I didn't feel tired at all. I guess I coulda pushed myself more...nah, cuz I had a good time swimming.

T1: 2:09 - I don't do well with wetsuit strippers. The whole process makes me giggle.

Bike: 3:37  There are 8 big hills on this ride. I didn't think it was too bad. The Couples course (Decker lake) seems harder. The hills are longer, but not as steep, and I guess I like that. Saw Greyhound a few times on the bike course. Between the hills are miles of flats, which are pretty easy. I realized I HATE going downhill! Too scary - I was sitting up to get more resistance and riding my brakes. Okay - they threw in a steep hill in the last mile of the bike - I did say motherfucker out loud as I spun up it on my burnt legs.

T2: 4:21 - took my time, used the bathroom, put on my feather boa.

Run: 2:49 - WOW! I had a GREAT run! This run has 3 humongous hills, of which I walked up, but pretty much I ran the whole thing. I felt really good running and there was plenty of ice at each aid station, which I put in my top. I admit, the last 2 miles felt pretty bad and that last mile was the longest of my life. But I finished really well, see:

 

I'm getting better! In comparison, I did Lonestar (Galveston) last year with a 3:08 bike on a very flat course and 3 hour run on a very flat course.

Learning points to this race:

1. Have a backup nutrition plan. The roads were so bumpy that I lost my nutrition bottle. Luckily I had extra gels on my top bar.

2. Use duct tape and not masking tape to tape gels to the top bar! I almost lost my backup nutrition!

3. Attitude probably dictates everything. This really was probably the most fun race I've had because I was relaxed and didn't really give a shit how I did. I wish there were more T3ers out there though.

Ate ice cream and a corndog after the race! Yeah, junk food!!

the end.

p.s. there is some bad grammar in this post. Please forgive!