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7/29/11
7/27/11
My new mantra
I've decided I need a mantra. I always read in running magazines and books that you sometimes it helps to have something to repeat in your head to keep you going. Things like "run fast, run strong" "mind over matter" "faster, better, stronger" etc. Today while out riding my bike (yay, a temporary summer in Seattle!!) I stopped at a stop sign only to see a ridiculous hill in front of me. The kind that makes you want to turn around and take up chess. Instead, I decided to tackle it.
Fortunately, it started with a short steep downhill before turning back up. I pushed to my hardest gear and took off. My mistake was shifting down into my small chainring (I only have two on my tri bike) just a second too late. Yup, it stuck on the big ring. And wouldn't budge. At all. So, there I am taking on one of the biggest hills I've seen lately (and never ridden so I'm not totally sure what I'm in for!) and I'm pedaling so slowly and my quads are on fire. I'm at the point where I'm having trouble getting out of the saddle because I'm so shaky I might just tip right over. I'd probably be walkign up faster. Finally, it downshifts and eases the strain.
That's when I realized something. I've always been so paranoid about my quads/thighs. I mean, they're pretty massive. I've had two random strangers this year call them "power quads" and you can forget about buying super cute girlie jeans or pants- not fitting over these tree trunks. However, tonight I realized that without my massive quads I don't think I would have been able to make it up that hill. My theory is that while I'm not really that strong-just started lifting weights again a few weeks ago- I have a lot of muscle in my quads in general. A little bit of strength to be recruited from every fiber. It's like making a rope, each fiber isn't necessarily that strong, but put them together and voila! Anyway, at this point I learned to love my quads. I was so happy and proud of myself that when I turned around a short time later I didn't hesitate to fly all out down that hill (usually I ride at hill at least once to check for safety). The downhill rush was short lived due to a darn stop sign. The one I almost turned around at! Still got over 35mph. But the rest of my ride I kept thinking "Learn to love it" The things we sometimes don't like make us the strongest, help us endure. So, my new motto is:
L2<3I = Learn To Love It.
Whenever I'm tackling a big hill, a technical descent, or rough waters- I just have to learn to love it. It's part of what makes this sport so great. It's about showing myself I can do anything.
I might just get a shirt made.
Fortunately, it started with a short steep downhill before turning back up. I pushed to my hardest gear and took off. My mistake was shifting down into my small chainring (I only have two on my tri bike) just a second too late. Yup, it stuck on the big ring. And wouldn't budge. At all. So, there I am taking on one of the biggest hills I've seen lately (and never ridden so I'm not totally sure what I'm in for!) and I'm pedaling so slowly and my quads are on fire. I'm at the point where I'm having trouble getting out of the saddle because I'm so shaky I might just tip right over. I'd probably be walkign up faster. Finally, it downshifts and eases the strain.
That's when I realized something. I've always been so paranoid about my quads/thighs. I mean, they're pretty massive. I've had two random strangers this year call them "power quads" and you can forget about buying super cute girlie jeans or pants- not fitting over these tree trunks. However, tonight I realized that without my massive quads I don't think I would have been able to make it up that hill. My theory is that while I'm not really that strong-just started lifting weights again a few weeks ago- I have a lot of muscle in my quads in general. A little bit of strength to be recruited from every fiber. It's like making a rope, each fiber isn't necessarily that strong, but put them together and voila! Anyway, at this point I learned to love my quads. I was so happy and proud of myself that when I turned around a short time later I didn't hesitate to fly all out down that hill (usually I ride at hill at least once to check for safety). The downhill rush was short lived due to a darn stop sign. The one I almost turned around at! Still got over 35mph. But the rest of my ride I kept thinking "Learn to love it" The things we sometimes don't like make us the strongest, help us endure. So, my new motto is:
L2<3I = Learn To Love It.
Whenever I'm tackling a big hill, a technical descent, or rough waters- I just have to learn to love it. It's part of what makes this sport so great. It's about showing myself I can do anything.
I might just get a shirt made.
7/13/11
I headed out for an hour long easy run tonight. Distracted by work stuff I realized about half a mile in that I had been going at a 6:45 pace. Yikes!!! I finished my first mile at 7:50 and was done with two miles in 17 minutes. Yikes! I know I wanted to step up my training and work harder, but that was definitely too fast. I slowed it down but by 40 minutes I was kneeling on the sidewalk trying not to throw up. Okay, that was gross. Sorry. Overall a bad idea since I was trying to leave work early all day because my stomach was hurting so bad... didnt' happen... and in early again tomorrow. ugh.
7/10/11
Two in 8 days!!
Okay, here I was a few weeks ago complaining that I hadn't done a tri yet this season and now I've done two in 8 days!
July 2nd I did the sprint tri at Five Mile Lake put on on by Budu Racing. They always have a fun and well run event. It's a party the entire time. I did alright. Honestly, I haven't really been training. I've been going to the gym, but most of my workouts have been indoor. At that point, I'd only done one lake swim and my rides had been longer rather than shorter, hard and technical. And don't get me started on running- I never push myself. Well, I came out of the water about where I expected, rode a little slower than I hoped but actually put out a good run time averaging 7:52 per mile. Not too shabby since at the treadmill I warm up at a 10min mile pace and will usually only drop it down to 8:45 or so. Needless to say, I'm being pretty hard on myself for that.
However, that didn't motivate me enough this week before my second race. I didn't swim even once, ran twice (only once outside) and only rode once. Man! I'm lazy. I went 16 minutes and change on the half mile swim, 39 and change on the 12 mile, hilly and actually pretty technical ride and then over the 4.2 miles (probably 15 hills) and average an 8:03pace. Woohoo! And crazily- I was in third place headed on the run!! BRUTAL run. BRU-TAL. Passed by two girls and they were amazing! I wound up 2nd in my age group and 5th overall. And I will say, the girls that beat me.. Holy crap. They were some fit looking chicks. I should not have been up there with their lean muscles selves.
So, the race was a SheRox triathlon, all women. Similar to the Danskin which is for breast cancer research, this one is for ovarian cancer research. My Mom's oldest sister died of this about eight years ago so I everytime I've done this race I've found myself tearing up. However, I was surprised to see how small the race was this year. Only 109 individual finishers. A couple years ago when Subaru was the title sponsor there were two distances (I REALLY wanted to do the super-sprint today if they had it!) and each distance had near 300 women. It's heartbreaking, this is one of the only events I know that support OCRF and no one knows about it. The money that is raised is just a drop in the bucket compared to breast cancer- and today I learned something. This is an undetectable disease. Mammograms for breast cancer, paps for cervical. There is no real way to check for this. Many of the symptoms mimic a gastro-intestinal issue so women wind up at the wrong doctor and are told they're imagining it and they're fine. That is crazy to me!
The event is phenomenal and I really hope that it grows. I would recommend it to anyone I know who does tri's or wants to try one. Although, this is probably the toughest sprint course I've ever done, it's well worth it. The half mile swim is in a flat and relatively clean lake. The run-to-transition is insanely long and kills your feet. The bike has some rollers and fabulous sweeping turns along with beautiful scenery. Also, some quite technical turns. The run. Oh, the run. It has so many hills. You leave transition only to climb a crazy unpaved trail out of the park, and then a slow gradual climb to drop down a good sized hill, turn the corner and there's another four hills or so (the last a steep uphill), turn another corner and a very short distance of flat- probably not a quarter mile, turn the final corner and a couple more rollers which drops you back into the park. Which you run through and do it all again. Ouch. But seriously. It's a doable course that really challenges what your made of. I have no idea where I pulled 8 minute miles from.
She swims. She bikes. She runs. She ROX. And I definitely recommend it!
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July 2nd I did the sprint tri at Five Mile Lake put on on by Budu Racing. They always have a fun and well run event. It's a party the entire time. I did alright. Honestly, I haven't really been training. I've been going to the gym, but most of my workouts have been indoor. At that point, I'd only done one lake swim and my rides had been longer rather than shorter, hard and technical. And don't get me started on running- I never push myself. Well, I came out of the water about where I expected, rode a little slower than I hoped but actually put out a good run time averaging 7:52 per mile. Not too shabby since at the treadmill I warm up at a 10min mile pace and will usually only drop it down to 8:45 or so. Needless to say, I'm being pretty hard on myself for that.
However, that didn't motivate me enough this week before my second race. I didn't swim even once, ran twice (only once outside) and only rode once. Man! I'm lazy. I went 16 minutes and change on the half mile swim, 39 and change on the 12 mile, hilly and actually pretty technical ride and then over the 4.2 miles (probably 15 hills) and average an 8:03pace. Woohoo! And crazily- I was in third place headed on the run!! BRUTAL run. BRU-TAL. Passed by two girls and they were amazing! I wound up 2nd in my age group and 5th overall. And I will say, the girls that beat me.. Holy crap. They were some fit looking chicks. I should not have been up there with their lean muscles selves.
So, the race was a SheRox triathlon, all women. Similar to the Danskin which is for breast cancer research, this one is for ovarian cancer research. My Mom's oldest sister died of this about eight years ago so I everytime I've done this race I've found myself tearing up. However, I was surprised to see how small the race was this year. Only 109 individual finishers. A couple years ago when Subaru was the title sponsor there were two distances (I REALLY wanted to do the super-sprint today if they had it!) and each distance had near 300 women. It's heartbreaking, this is one of the only events I know that support OCRF and no one knows about it. The money that is raised is just a drop in the bucket compared to breast cancer- and today I learned something. This is an undetectable disease. Mammograms for breast cancer, paps for cervical. There is no real way to check for this. Many of the symptoms mimic a gastro-intestinal issue so women wind up at the wrong doctor and are told they're imagining it and they're fine. That is crazy to me!
The event is phenomenal and I really hope that it grows. I would recommend it to anyone I know who does tri's or wants to try one. Although, this is probably the toughest sprint course I've ever done, it's well worth it. The half mile swim is in a flat and relatively clean lake. The run-to-transition is insanely long and kills your feet. The bike has some rollers and fabulous sweeping turns along with beautiful scenery. Also, some quite technical turns. The run. Oh, the run. It has so many hills. You leave transition only to climb a crazy unpaved trail out of the park, and then a slow gradual climb to drop down a good sized hill, turn the corner and there's another four hills or so (the last a steep uphill), turn another corner and a very short distance of flat- probably not a quarter mile, turn the final corner and a couple more rollers which drops you back into the park. Which you run through and do it all again. Ouch. But seriously. It's a doable course that really challenges what your made of. I have no idea where I pulled 8 minute miles from.
She swims. She bikes. She runs. She ROX. And I definitely recommend it!
That's me on the far right. My butt actually looks good today!
Ewww...pretty.....
Yeah, almost to the finish! Gritting my teeth and trying not to trip!
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