Last Friday night (4/24) I met the Team (Z) at George Mason University for the Colonies Zone Short Course Yards swim meet. A bunch of my teammates and I were entered in either the 1000 yard or 1650 yard events, which were run simultaneously in side by side-ish pools. The results are here. Our team is affiliated with CUBU Masters and we ROCKED the large team category with a total of 2338 total points. The next largest team had 1429 points. This could be due to the large number of swimmers we had entered! (see previous post). Anyway, I had put my seed time as 16:00 based on where I had been last year at that point when I swam the 1650. I did a pretty good job estimating my time; I ended up with a 15:49.48!
Then…Saturday (4/25) was my *new* epic bike ride. I say epic because now, each time I ride, the distance is longer than any distance I’ve ridden before. This week 80 miles were on the schedule…we went 84. I rode with a group of ladies that I’ve started riding with on a regular basis. Then we picked up a few other riders. Our main group had 8 riders at one point. The first 25 miles were great. We made our scheduled stop then continued on…we came to one crazy hill that was listed as STEEP on our cue sheet. That was a first for me. It must have been steep because the road itself had switch-backs on it. It was nice though – there were just enough flat spots on the road to let me recover and make it to the top without having to get off and walk my bike. We hit the next scheduled stop and I still felt relatively good. I got more water and Gatorade, thinking ‘only 20 miles left, two bottles of fluids should do me’. Little did I know…I was wrong. Very wrong. I made an unscheduled stop with about 10 miles left to go. One of our SAG-ers had stopped and was offering water and ice. I put ice in my Gatorade bottle and filled upon water. Then…the next 10 miles were definitely the hardest of the day. I continued on with one of the other rides while two waited behind. Four others had already gone ahead. The heat was getting to all of us. We caught up with two of the four riders who were having stomach issues. It was such slow going! Finally we made the turn to the last street where we were parked. I then *missed* the turn into the park and went to the other entrance…which meant I had to bike up one. more. hill. LOL
On to Sunday (4/26)…I had a 16 mile run scheduled on what was to be a brutally hot day. I did not get out quite as early as I wanted…I sort of slept in. So I finally go out around 8AM…I was maybe 4 miles into my run on the hot streets and thought there was no way I could last out there. I looked off to my right at one of the entrances to the park and decided, though right now I don’t like running on the trails, that the park trails would have to be cooler than the blacktop streets. So I turned right and headed into the park. And the trails were a tad cooler. Whew! Shortly after this I ran into a Z-mate going the other direction. We both had delayed recognition at the same time. We chatted for a bit (and the rest was of course nice) and off we went. I basically did an out and back which took me back onto some streets from about mile 6 to 7.3 but I thought I would give my ankles a break. This course was not too bad because it put me by bathrooms / water fountains 4 times total. On the way back I filled up my camel back thinking it would be enough to get me back home. I was again wrong and ran out of water with 1 mile left, which happened to be at the high school. I had planned to do a few laps around the track (as much as I could stand) but with no more fluid bagged that idea immediately. It turns out I ran about 14.85 miles, so I was happy with that considering the dreadful heat!
Monday was a travel day for me. I went to visit my mom (who has been ill) for a few days. I sat with her most of the day on Monday and only got out to eat. Tuesday morning I did manage to get a short run in – in the heat wave that hit New England as well. Whew! Wednesday morning I did the same short run and was thankful for the cooler temperatures. Wednesday afternoon I came back home, well it was evening by the time my plane landed in Baltimore. I had a fairly good visit with my mom, but was so completely exhausted I slept in this morning and blew off swim practice. I do plan to swim for an hour tomorrow afternoon from 3-4PM.
This weekend it is a 5K race on Saturday – our speed work for the week. I’m not sure if we have additional mileage for Saturday or not, after the 5K. Then on Sunday it is a 90 mile ride! I can’t wait! I do hope to get a swim in on Sunday night, too….
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Just keep swimming...
Tonight is the Patriot Masters Colonies Zone (Short Course Yards) Swim Meet where I will be swimming the 1000 yard event. This is 40 lengths of the pool. So, even though I will have a lap counter, I will probably count the laps to myself as a way to focus. If I decide NOT to count myself I will probably be repeating to myself over and over "Just keep swimming..." Like the Dory the blue tang fish did in "Finding Nemo."
So...they have published a meet roster of everyone swimming in the meet this weekend. My tri team is associated with a Masters team, Curl-Burke (CUBU-Masters), and we make up many of the 111 swimmers on the roster for the weekend. The next closest team has (only) 47 swimmers on their roster. That is just CRAZY.
Many of the tri team people are swimming the distance events tonight, either the 1650 or the 1000. Last year I did the 1650, so the 1000 should be a piece of cake. Right. I'm still nervous! I swim way more than 1000 each practice. I'm just suffering from pre-race jitters (which are a habit of mine). I won't be starting off the blocks tonight either...after my test starts yesterday at practice (I did two starts off the blocks) my goggles filled with water. Both times. Plus, I'm not out to win, so what is the advantage? :) A nice, easy in-pool start. One less thing to stress about!
So...they have published a meet roster of everyone swimming in the meet this weekend. My tri team is associated with a Masters team, Curl-Burke (CUBU-Masters), and we make up many of the 111 swimmers on the roster for the weekend. The next closest team has (only) 47 swimmers on their roster. That is just CRAZY.
Many of the tri team people are swimming the distance events tonight, either the 1650 or the 1000. Last year I did the 1650, so the 1000 should be a piece of cake. Right. I'm still nervous! I swim way more than 1000 each practice. I'm just suffering from pre-race jitters (which are a habit of mine). I won't be starting off the blocks tonight either...after my test starts yesterday at practice (I did two starts off the blocks) my goggles filled with water. Both times. Plus, I'm not out to win, so what is the advantage? :) A nice, easy in-pool start. One less thing to stress about!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Track workouts are fun...
Track workouts ARE fun...especially when half the people there are wearing the same shirt. Yup, this morning I wore my brand new Rumpass in Bumpass long sleeve orange shirt with the beavers on it to track practice...and a bunch of other people who showed up did the same thing. We looked like we were part of a group. Yes, I know, we actually are! But instead of Z gear it was Rumpass gear. It was great! As I was doing my laps on the track there were people in the orange shirts all around the track - it was funny!
Anyway, I had a good track workout this morning! I am loving the early option.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Rumpass in Bumpass - Race Report!
Rumpass in Bumpass – the name is great, the shirt is hilarious, the race was a lot of fun. And orange must be the new color for shirts (Kelly talked about her orange shirt, too). I think my son is going to snag it to wear for track practice though – at least once to get comments out of it. He did get comments from the Scope it Out “Catch the Polyp” shirt. :)
Yesterday was the Rumpass in Bumpass. The race had kind of a late start – 10AM! I left home around 6:20 and was pulling into the race site by 8:00. This included a rest stop along the way.
It was weird – never have I had so much time before a race started! I was pretty relaxed for a bit – then the pre-race nerves started. Finally it was time to get into the wetsuit. The new full suit goes on with almost no effort as compared to my sleeveless. I took a dip in the lake to check it out with a few others from Team Z – that helped get my mind off of things. The water felt great except for on my face – it was freezing there and in my ears. I had tested the water with two caps but opted for just the issued cap for the race.
The horn sounded and we were off! The swim felt great. The water felt fine on my fact, too, and did not bother my ears at all. I think I did a pretty good job of sighting, too. It was funny – there was one spot in the first section where the lake was really low. Really low. There were some swimmers standing and walking. Very weird. I was able to swim the whole thing. The only difficultly I had at all was on the last leg of the swim – I was sighting towards the wrong place and needed to make an adjustment near the finish. But all was good. I was quite happy with my swim and felt great coming out of the water. Time: 28:59
Transition – well, I always need to work on the swim to bike transition; throwing a wetsuit into the mix does not help, either. Time: 3:25
The bike was pretty good. I got annoyed at the wind and felt like some places were hard for me. My heart rate was up for a bit, during the first loop, so maybe that did not help. There were a few places on the course though where the road was super smooth and I felt like I was flying – that was great! I think I drank enough on the bike but who knows. I drank one bottle for almost an hour and a half – maybe I should have had more? I have no idea what my splits were on the bike course, which was two loops. Maybe I’ll remember that next time. Anyway, I wanted to push the bike but tried to not get to out of hand because of the upcoming run and the heat that I know was waiting. And it was. Time: 1:24:01
Transition from bike to run was a bit better but I was completely clueless – I ran out of transition the wrong way and they had to point me back in the other direction. Oh well, the announcer made a funny comment – I cannot remember what it was though. Time: 2:18
The really great thing about the run was that my legs actually felt pretty good getting started. That is usually not the case, so I was pretty happy about that. When the run first started there was this one stretch that was through a path in the woods that had roots and uneven ground all over. That kind of threw me for a loop – I am not too good on uneven ground these days. I was not looking forward to that part coming back in that way, either. Anyway, I pretty much ran the whole course, which was a two loop out and back, except for the water stops and the last little incline that was a bit before the last water stop. I felt like my pace was kind of even the whole time but I feel like I slowed a bit towards the end. Darned beautiful hot day! The best thing about the run was ALL of the Team Z green out on the course!! It was fantastic to see people coming and going and cheer each other on. The high 5’s were great, too. The Team Z support at the finish was great, also – and there was also Team Z support at the end of the bike loop, too. Time: 1:06:57
Finishing I felt great. I did not feel sore or sick so that is a plus. :) I was starving so thankfully the Team Z grill was already hard at work and I got my hot dog and a Diet Coke. The orange slices tasted delicious also. I had wanted to get back in the lake, but decided not to – I did not feel like getting wet again after all. I did stick my legs in after a while though. Unfortunately, I did not put any sun block on anywhere besides my face, so now I have a lovely triathlete’s tan. LOL It could be worse. All in all, it was a great day at the Rumpass in Bumpass. I would definitely do this race again! Total time: 3:05:38 and I was 6 out of 15 in my age group - that was kind of a surprise!
Yesterday was the Rumpass in Bumpass. The race had kind of a late start – 10AM! I left home around 6:20 and was pulling into the race site by 8:00. This included a rest stop along the way.
It was weird – never have I had so much time before a race started! I was pretty relaxed for a bit – then the pre-race nerves started. Finally it was time to get into the wetsuit. The new full suit goes on with almost no effort as compared to my sleeveless. I took a dip in the lake to check it out with a few others from Team Z – that helped get my mind off of things. The water felt great except for on my face – it was freezing there and in my ears. I had tested the water with two caps but opted for just the issued cap for the race.
The horn sounded and we were off! The swim felt great. The water felt fine on my fact, too, and did not bother my ears at all. I think I did a pretty good job of sighting, too. It was funny – there was one spot in the first section where the lake was really low. Really low. There were some swimmers standing and walking. Very weird. I was able to swim the whole thing. The only difficultly I had at all was on the last leg of the swim – I was sighting towards the wrong place and needed to make an adjustment near the finish. But all was good. I was quite happy with my swim and felt great coming out of the water. Time: 28:59
Transition – well, I always need to work on the swim to bike transition; throwing a wetsuit into the mix does not help, either. Time: 3:25
The bike was pretty good. I got annoyed at the wind and felt like some places were hard for me. My heart rate was up for a bit, during the first loop, so maybe that did not help. There were a few places on the course though where the road was super smooth and I felt like I was flying – that was great! I think I drank enough on the bike but who knows. I drank one bottle for almost an hour and a half – maybe I should have had more? I have no idea what my splits were on the bike course, which was two loops. Maybe I’ll remember that next time. Anyway, I wanted to push the bike but tried to not get to out of hand because of the upcoming run and the heat that I know was waiting. And it was. Time: 1:24:01
Transition from bike to run was a bit better but I was completely clueless – I ran out of transition the wrong way and they had to point me back in the other direction. Oh well, the announcer made a funny comment – I cannot remember what it was though. Time: 2:18
The really great thing about the run was that my legs actually felt pretty good getting started. That is usually not the case, so I was pretty happy about that. When the run first started there was this one stretch that was through a path in the woods that had roots and uneven ground all over. That kind of threw me for a loop – I am not too good on uneven ground these days. I was not looking forward to that part coming back in that way, either. Anyway, I pretty much ran the whole course, which was a two loop out and back, except for the water stops and the last little incline that was a bit before the last water stop. I felt like my pace was kind of even the whole time but I feel like I slowed a bit towards the end. Darned beautiful hot day! The best thing about the run was ALL of the Team Z green out on the course!! It was fantastic to see people coming and going and cheer each other on. The high 5’s were great, too. The Team Z support at the finish was great, also – and there was also Team Z support at the end of the bike loop, too. Time: 1:06:57
Finishing I felt great. I did not feel sore or sick so that is a plus. :) I was starving so thankfully the Team Z grill was already hard at work and I got my hot dog and a Diet Coke. The orange slices tasted delicious also. I had wanted to get back in the lake, but decided not to – I did not feel like getting wet again after all. I did stick my legs in after a while though. Unfortunately, I did not put any sun block on anywhere besides my face, so now I have a lovely triathlete’s tan. LOL It could be worse. All in all, it was a great day at the Rumpass in Bumpass. I would definitely do this race again! Total time: 3:05:38 and I was 6 out of 15 in my age group - that was kind of a surprise!
Friday, April 17, 2009
Yikes!...
Yikes!...because now *I* am down to double digits. That is, 99 days till IM USA.
I'm very excited about the *nice* weather we are supposed to have both Saturday and Sunday. I think we are overdue. Hmm...I hope I did not just jinx us!
No worries, though. IM Switzerland will always be 14 days ahead, right Es? :)
This weekend, tomorrow for me, is the first team triathlon weekend of the season - the Rumpass in Bumpass. I will be racing Saturday in the International event: 1.5K swim; 24 mile bike; 10K run. I was feeling a bit nervous, but then remembered last weekend I covered 12 miles on foot (in the rain) and 73 miles on the bike. I think I can handle this. I think it is first-race-of-the-season jitters. Now all I have to worry about is how cold the water temperature in the lake will *really* be (yesterday at 4PM it was 62 degrees) and swimming in my new full sleeved wetsuit. But I did try the wetsuit in the pool yesterday morning - I swam a 500 warmup in it and it seemed ok.
This weekend, tomorrow for me, is the first team triathlon weekend of the season - the Rumpass in Bumpass. I will be racing Saturday in the International event: 1.5K swim; 24 mile bike; 10K run. I was feeling a bit nervous, but then remembered last weekend I covered 12 miles on foot (in the rain) and 73 miles on the bike. I think I can handle this. I think it is first-race-of-the-season jitters. Now all I have to worry about is how cold the water temperature in the lake will *really* be (yesterday at 4PM it was 62 degrees) and swimming in my new full sleeved wetsuit. But I did try the wetsuit in the pool yesterday morning - I swam a 500 warmup in it and it seemed ok.
I'm very excited about the *nice* weather we are supposed to have both Saturday and Sunday. I think we are overdue. Hmm...I hope I did not just jinx us!
First things first though. Tonight is a 'happy hour' at a multi-class reunion for my high school. They have these get togethers a couple/few times a year but I have not been to one in ages. Like 8 or 9 years. However I did go to my 20 year reunion about 6 or 7 years ago. Anyway, I plan to stop by for a couple hours. Can't stay out too late now - I have to go to the Rumpass in the morning!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Monday, Monday...
It is Monday and recovery week - after a three week build. Whew! I'm ready for it. Surprisingly my legs feel great after the running and biking of the weekend, but I am a bit tired this morning. And Sunday night I did not go to the pool...but I did soak in a hot tub for a bit instead. :)
Saturday morning I woke up and it was of course raining. I had already decided the night before that I would go meet the team so I would not have to run alone. After making a couple adjustments to the posted directions (argh!) I got there with a few minutes to spare for the 8AM start. Thanks for the company on the run, Es! It was nice to not run alone...although we felt like we were the only ones out there at the end. Anyway, according to my Garmin we ran a bit more than 12 miles, about 12.25. Not quite the required 13, but oh well. I was completely soaked and managed to get out of most of the west stuff for the ride home - thank goodness for big towels. I felt like I'd never warm up.
After I got home and cleaned up (and finally had my *daily* latte) I took my kids to the mall. We did a little Easter shopping for new spring clothes. I also picked up a new pair running shoes from the New Balance store. They are nice - same shoe I've been wearing but the newer model - and I will *test drive* them tonight. I also treated myself to a second latte at the mall (good thing, too). After the mall we went to the running store for shoe inserts and mid-distance spikes for my younger son. All in all a productive afternoon.
Actually, when we got home I tried to install my new bike computer, which is the same as my OLD one but who knows what I did wrong; it is not registering anything, besides the time of day. I finished up hoping my Garmin would cooperate on Sunday - otherwise I'd never know how far I was which can make reading the cue sheets difficult.
Sunday morning I got up nice and early to head out for the bike ride at the earlier 8AM start. I brought my Garmin and my regular heart rate monitor as back-up for my HRM in case the Garmin did not work. I made great time to the start and had plenty of time to make the last pit stop before I got there. I arrived and started getting ready. Lo and behold - my Garmin booted up! I began my ride and eventually got into a groove with some other riders. I think my new wheels/cassette make a difference - I did keep my heart rate in a better place, especially on the hills. I was a couple of beats out of my zone on average, but I definitely did better than my last ride. Anyway, surprisingly there was more wind than I expected, but it was a beautifil day. At our first stop, around 31 miles, our sagger, Marlene, was waiting with a basket of Easter candy and marshmello Peeps and Bunnies. That was so nice! Above and beyond in sagging, I think! This next part of the ride was my favorite - I'm sure because we had more downhill time. That and some smoother roads in places. Whatever, I felt great here. We got back to the start point after a total of about 55 miles to refuel - I picked up an extra bottle of Heed as I was almost out - and it was hard to get going. But I could not have made the next 18 with out the stop. This leg, an out and back, was probably the hardest thing all day. The wind, a headwind, seemed to follow us everywhere we went! I followed Carol and was thankful to be behind her. Oh well, we got to the turn around and I went in front. I'm so used to riding behind people - it was weird. I kept going. On this last 9 miles I was really feeling warm and overheated and wished I'd taken both my leggings and my top shirt off at the stop. Oh well, I certainly wasn't stopping now! Something to remember next time. The ride ended - I successfully completed my longest ride to date - 73 miles! The team had a full barbeque in process. I changed into something more comfortable and waited for my hot dog - hot off the grill. After inhaling that I sat and enjoyed the company of some of my fellow riders for the day before I dragged myself up to head home.
We were going to grill out burgers for dinner. However, I had a call while I was riding from our good friends who invited us to their place for a cookout. We had not seen them in a while, so we accepted...they grilled out chicken and had other yummy things. And more Easter candy. After dinner this was where I got to sit in the hot tub!
The reason I mentioned it was a good thing I had a second latte on Saturday was because I never had time to make one on Sunday. I did manage to do the laundry though... :)
Saturday morning I woke up and it was of course raining. I had already decided the night before that I would go meet the team so I would not have to run alone. After making a couple adjustments to the posted directions (argh!) I got there with a few minutes to spare for the 8AM start. Thanks for the company on the run, Es! It was nice to not run alone...although we felt like we were the only ones out there at the end. Anyway, according to my Garmin we ran a bit more than 12 miles, about 12.25. Not quite the required 13, but oh well. I was completely soaked and managed to get out of most of the west stuff for the ride home - thank goodness for big towels. I felt like I'd never warm up.
After I got home and cleaned up (and finally had my *daily* latte) I took my kids to the mall. We did a little Easter shopping for new spring clothes. I also picked up a new pair running shoes from the New Balance store. They are nice - same shoe I've been wearing but the newer model - and I will *test drive* them tonight. I also treated myself to a second latte at the mall (good thing, too). After the mall we went to the running store for shoe inserts and mid-distance spikes for my younger son. All in all a productive afternoon.
Actually, when we got home I tried to install my new bike computer, which is the same as my OLD one but who knows what I did wrong; it is not registering anything, besides the time of day. I finished up hoping my Garmin would cooperate on Sunday - otherwise I'd never know how far I was which can make reading the cue sheets difficult.
Sunday morning I got up nice and early to head out for the bike ride at the earlier 8AM start. I brought my Garmin and my regular heart rate monitor as back-up for my HRM in case the Garmin did not work. I made great time to the start and had plenty of time to make the last pit stop before I got there. I arrived and started getting ready. Lo and behold - my Garmin booted up! I began my ride and eventually got into a groove with some other riders. I think my new wheels/cassette make a difference - I did keep my heart rate in a better place, especially on the hills. I was a couple of beats out of my zone on average, but I definitely did better than my last ride. Anyway, surprisingly there was more wind than I expected, but it was a beautifil day. At our first stop, around 31 miles, our sagger, Marlene, was waiting with a basket of Easter candy and marshmello Peeps and Bunnies. That was so nice! Above and beyond in sagging, I think! This next part of the ride was my favorite - I'm sure because we had more downhill time. That and some smoother roads in places. Whatever, I felt great here. We got back to the start point after a total of about 55 miles to refuel - I picked up an extra bottle of Heed as I was almost out - and it was hard to get going. But I could not have made the next 18 with out the stop. This leg, an out and back, was probably the hardest thing all day. The wind, a headwind, seemed to follow us everywhere we went! I followed Carol and was thankful to be behind her. Oh well, we got to the turn around and I went in front. I'm so used to riding behind people - it was weird. I kept going. On this last 9 miles I was really feeling warm and overheated and wished I'd taken both my leggings and my top shirt off at the stop. Oh well, I certainly wasn't stopping now! Something to remember next time. The ride ended - I successfully completed my longest ride to date - 73 miles! The team had a full barbeque in process. I changed into something more comfortable and waited for my hot dog - hot off the grill. After inhaling that I sat and enjoyed the company of some of my fellow riders for the day before I dragged myself up to head home.
We were going to grill out burgers for dinner. However, I had a call while I was riding from our good friends who invited us to their place for a cookout. We had not seen them in a while, so we accepted...they grilled out chicken and had other yummy things. And more Easter candy. After dinner this was where I got to sit in the hot tub!
The reason I mentioned it was a good thing I had a second latte on Saturday was because I never had time to make one on Sunday. I did manage to do the laundry though... :)
Friday, April 10, 2009
NSTR...
That is, I have nothing significant to report...other than my new cassette! And I am very excited about trying it out on the hills this weekend. The team is going on a 70 mile ride in Boyce, Virginia - it is called the apple blossom ride. Guess that means we will see apple blossoms? Anyway, last night I went for a mini ride in my parking lot at home and it certainly FELT different. Wow, 70 miles will be my longest ride. Ever. And only 42 more miles equals the distance of an IM ride. When you look at it that way 112 miles does not seem *quite* so bad!
Before the Sunday ride there is a 13 mile run scheduled for Saturday. The team is running out of Pierce Mill, Washington, DC. The location sheet says this is usually a ride location but it would be something different for me, so maybe I'll go there. Here is what the sheets says: "This ride is in Rock Creek Park. Mostly flat, winding trail/light traffic roads through nice park land. Many of the roads are closed to traffic on the weekends." That could be nice and I would not have to run 13 miles alone. :)
Other than that, all I have to say is TGIF! Of course, I might not say that next week - as in 8 days I will be heading to Bumpass, Virginia for my first triathlon on the season - the "Rumpass in Bumpass"! We will be swimming on the *warm* side of Lake Anna. I will be trying out my *new* full wetsuit. I forgot - that also arrived! I do plan to try it in the pool next week, but it felt pretty good on last night. It certainly went on easier than my sleeveless wetsuit does. Of course, losing 5-10 would help that problem, I'm sure.
Before the Sunday ride there is a 13 mile run scheduled for Saturday. The team is running out of Pierce Mill, Washington, DC. The location sheet says this is usually a ride location but it would be something different for me, so maybe I'll go there. Here is what the sheets says: "This ride is in Rock Creek Park. Mostly flat, winding trail/light traffic roads through nice park land. Many of the roads are closed to traffic on the weekends." That could be nice and I would not have to run 13 miles alone. :)
Other than that, all I have to say is TGIF! Of course, I might not say that next week - as in 8 days I will be heading to Bumpass, Virginia for my first triathlon on the season - the "Rumpass in Bumpass"! We will be swimming on the *warm* side of Lake Anna. I will be trying out my *new* full wetsuit. I forgot - that also arrived! I do plan to try it in the pool next week, but it felt pretty good on last night. It certainly went on easier than my sleeveless wetsuit does. Of course, losing 5-10 would help that problem, I'm sure.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Weekend? Success!
Well, the weekend training schedule called for a 60 mile bike ride on Saturday and the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile +2 (in my case) on Sunday. However swimming (technically) was/is not on the schedule... So both workouts have been completed! And since swimming was not on the schedule I decided to take tonight off from the pool.
The ride on Saturday was ridiculously windy! OMG... At one point I think I was going 5 miles an hour into the wind on flat ground. I could have been going slower though since my Garmin did not work and my bike computer has not worked in a while. Maybe that was a good thing! So in addition to one of the longest rides I've ever been on it was probably the hardest. The ride also had lots of nice hills - especially the Snickersville Turnpike (love that name). Not the worst in the world but gosh, I sure felt them. It was also nice to get the downhills after...I need to work on my comfort level on descents anyway. I was able to ride a lot of the ride with a new guy on the team - he was nice and held back so I didn't have to ride alone. At one point we caught up to a few others and we had a nice group going. All in all it was a nice ride though. The scenery was very pretty. I am really looking forward to the 70 miler next weekend! The schedule calls for the Lake Anna Preview or the Apple BLossom Ride. Not sure which place I am supposed to go to...yet!
Sunday (today) was the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run with the team, followed and/or preceded by the extra miles. It was a gorgeous day for a run! Let me back track by mentioning that I went to packet pick up on Saturday afternoon, very late, where I picked up my race number and the numbers for two other teammates. This morning I got to Metro and took the train in to the Smithsonian stop and walked over to the race site. On the way I stopped at bag check to leave a few items I wouldn't need. Somehow I totally did not realize I used the bag check tag of one of the OTHER race bibs. I realized this when I started to put the number on - and I had already put the d-chip thing on my shoe. Nice... what a goober. Anyway, I ended up running the race with Es - whose bib I tried to use. When we finally started (it took a while to get to/through the start line - about 15 minutes) we did a lot of dodging. Actually for much of the race way we did a lot of dodging. Along the way we saw other Zers as well as Zers cheering from the sidelines. We are easy to spot in our green colors! So, our goal as IMers in training was to race in our Zone 2. I pretty much stayed in zone, until the last two miles. We tried hard to come in by 1:40...we were a couple of minutes off. Anyway, the scenery was beautiful, especially since it was as sunny day. The cherry blossoms looked so pretty and of course we ran by lots of the monuments. It was a tad warm for me, but it was a really nice morning for a run. It really was crowded though! After I got back home I relaxed for a bit then did my additional two miles, and did them on the treadmill. Next weekend calls for 13 miles. I guess I'll be ready for them.
And since tonight there is no swimming on the schedule I decided to take the night off...and tomorrow is a day off, too.
The ride on Saturday was ridiculously windy! OMG... At one point I think I was going 5 miles an hour into the wind on flat ground. I could have been going slower though since my Garmin did not work and my bike computer has not worked in a while. Maybe that was a good thing! So in addition to one of the longest rides I've ever been on it was probably the hardest. The ride also had lots of nice hills - especially the Snickersville Turnpike (love that name). Not the worst in the world but gosh, I sure felt them. It was also nice to get the downhills after...I need to work on my comfort level on descents anyway. I was able to ride a lot of the ride with a new guy on the team - he was nice and held back so I didn't have to ride alone. At one point we caught up to a few others and we had a nice group going. All in all it was a nice ride though. The scenery was very pretty. I am really looking forward to the 70 miler next weekend! The schedule calls for the Lake Anna Preview or the Apple BLossom Ride. Not sure which place I am supposed to go to...yet!
Sunday (today) was the Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run with the team, followed and/or preceded by the extra miles. It was a gorgeous day for a run! Let me back track by mentioning that I went to packet pick up on Saturday afternoon, very late, where I picked up my race number and the numbers for two other teammates. This morning I got to Metro and took the train in to the Smithsonian stop and walked over to the race site. On the way I stopped at bag check to leave a few items I wouldn't need. Somehow I totally did not realize I used the bag check tag of one of the OTHER race bibs. I realized this when I started to put the number on - and I had already put the d-chip thing on my shoe. Nice... what a goober. Anyway, I ended up running the race with Es - whose bib I tried to use. When we finally started (it took a while to get to/through the start line - about 15 minutes) we did a lot of dodging. Actually for much of the race way we did a lot of dodging. Along the way we saw other Zers as well as Zers cheering from the sidelines. We are easy to spot in our green colors! So, our goal as IMers in training was to race in our Zone 2. I pretty much stayed in zone, until the last two miles. We tried hard to come in by 1:40...we were a couple of minutes off. Anyway, the scenery was beautiful, especially since it was as sunny day. The cherry blossoms looked so pretty and of course we ran by lots of the monuments. It was a tad warm for me, but it was a really nice morning for a run. It really was crowded though! After I got back home I relaxed for a bit then did my additional two miles, and did them on the treadmill. Next weekend calls for 13 miles. I guess I'll be ready for them.
And since tonight there is no swimming on the schedule I decided to take the night off...and tomorrow is a day off, too.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
If this works...
...it is a link to the MOTR NYC or BUST trip slideshow:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36400606@N02/sets/72157616102655143/show/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36400606@N02/sets/72157616102655143/show/
I hope I don't JINX myself...
I've had good workouts so far this week. I ran Monday night and did some strength training, swam Tuesday morning and did a spin workout that night, even went to a track workout Wednesday morning with a little bit of strength training at night. Then today I had my morning swim. But there are 4 more workouts left in the week. I need to spin tonight, ride long on Saturday, then do a 10-mile race (in zone 2) on Sunday with a couple of extra miles (not the 5 required per PT) tacked on. Then I need to swim on Sunday night. I hope I haven't jinxed myself by writing about it!
On a positive note - the cassette for my bike is NOT on back order and has in fact shipped! I just misunderstood the message when I ordered it. The chain is also on the way as are the new wheels/tires I'm buying from a teammate. I'm so excited for my bike upgrades!
So Happy It's Thursday!
On a positive note - the cassette for my bike is NOT on back order and has in fact shipped! I just misunderstood the message when I ordered it. The chain is also on the way as are the new wheels/tires I'm buying from a teammate. I'm so excited for my bike upgrades!
So Happy It's Thursday!
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