Time To Recommit

It's been a long time....A very long time since I last blogged. I was at the end of a medical leave from work which lead to diagnosing my autoimmune disease, Palindromic Rheumatism, and it's taken a lot of time getting used to the changes I've had to make. I've had to come to terms with knowing my limits. Sometimes the limits weren't obvious to my until I would awaken at 3am on a race morning in searing pain knowing that I would only hurt myself if I actually raced. So many days of just being too exhausted to be able to finish a 2-3 hour workout, but still trying to get part of it in. 6 month later, I still hurt and I am still tired, but I know how to manage it. I've run marathons and half marathons and completed them. I've done triathlons and completed them. The key is knowing ahead of time what my limits are before I get in the car and drive to a race, and knowing how to avoid the pitfalls.

Along with the physical pain comes the mental strain as well. Feeling that I'm not good enough, wondering why the 4 cups of coffee aren't enough to wake me up some days, some days of mindless eating (which I never did before), and just feeling let down. Disappointing myself is so much worse for me than disappointing other people. When I have to cancel on someone else in all honestly there is no guilt about it. I am always honest and upfront why I canceled. I have a family, work, and sometimes the outcome of those things cannot be controlled. When I cancel on me, which lately has been more often than not, there's a lot of anger and resentment towards myself, and no one else. This is generally when I need to stop, reassess my goals and recommit to achieving them. I rarely go on the journey of a race alone, it's the journey of training to get to that race I do alone. I realize that I'm not very big on the group workouts for most of my training. I find it sometimes distracting and not really following the complicated schedule I now have to be able to finish an ultramarathon, back-to-back half Ironmans, and a full Ironman. I rather like the solo training. Let's face it when you race the only time you aren't truly alone is at the starting line and the finish line. In a marathon you do get word of encouragement, meet wonderful people along the way, but the goal is still to get to the finish as fast as possible and uninjured. In a triathlon, every second counts, and being comfortable being alone for 30-90 minutes during the swim, 2-7 hours on the bike and digging deep in the run carry an athlete so much further than one might think.

I am the world's laziest endurance athlete. I don't show up expecting to win my age group, but I also don't show up expecting to be in last place. I race for me, and nobody else. Wait, that's not entirely true. I race for me, and hope that I'm a great role model for my daughter. That one days she will say "my mommy races" and beam with pride. She doesn't care about the numbers. She doesn't care what amount of wattage I'm producing during a bike training session. She doesn't care about splits, elevation changes, or water conditions. What she cares about is that when mommy returns home she gets to add another medal to the growing collection on the doorknob to the coat closet in the foyer. I'm fortunate enough to have a partner in my life that also sacrifices so that I can train. He stays home with our daughter while I go out for a run, a swim, a training and nutrition session, when I leave at 3am for a race and don't return home until 3pm, to agree to travel to San Francisco twice in a 5 month span, go to Puerto Rico the first weekend of March Madness, to agree to not just spending 6 days in Canada's wine country for my Ironman race, but to do so with my parents and his parents and want to drop me at the race at 5am and potentially pick my up post race at midnight. It takes a village to be any type of athlete, and this is my village.

Tomorrow I'm going to wake up at 5am and drive to Bonelli Park in San Dimas for the Turkey Tri. 1/2 mile swim, 14 mile bike (that's really more like 16 miles) and a 4.5 mile run. When I leave my house it's probably going to be closer to 38 degrees. The water at the swim is bound to be below 60 degrees. It's hilly and will be bone chilling, but it's going to be a good time spent with friends from the Pasadena Tri Club. The rest of my week will then be focused on the upcoming North Face Endurance Challenge 50k on Dec. 4th. A 31 mile ultra marathon in the Golden Gate Recreational park just north of San Francisco. It's probably going to rain the entire time, it's going to be even colder, and it's going to be the biggest challenge I've faced racing. I'm going to go into the woods a runner, and I will emerge an ultramarathon runner. It's the beginning of what is going to be an epic year for me mentally, physically and emotionally and I'm happy to train for the ride solo, but finish surrounded by friends and family.

P90X....Week 1 do-over

I started P90X last week, and my body is screaming. I have decided I need a week 1 do-over and will blog about fitting P90X into my regular training. I have also apparently lost my marbles because I signed up for the advance3d swim class at the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center and realized I have 90 minutes to kill before class.....so I signed up for boot camp as well. Therefore, I have a whole new training schedule and here it is!

Monday:
AM: P90X Legs & Upper Back, Ab Ripper X
LUNCH: Swim
PM: rest

Tuesday:
AM: P90X Kenpo
LUNCH: Swim
PM: Boot Camp

Wednesday:
AM: rest
LUNCH: rest
PM: Brick ride & run with Pasadena Tri Club

Thurs:
AM: P90X Chest & Back, Ab Ripper X
LUNCH: Run
PM: Boot Camp, 1 hours swim class

Friday:
AM: P90X Plyometrics
LUNCH: Swim
PM: rest

Saturday:
AM: Run or Ride
PM: P90X Shoulders & Arms, Ab Ripper X

Sunday:
AM: Open Water Swim
PM: P90X Yoga X


I'm still debating before & after photos. While I'm 100% sure seeing myself in a photo now will be enough motivation to stick with it, I don't know if I want photographic evidence of what I look like now. I'll decide by Monday!

A Milestone…Finally!

I completed my first triathlon in April 2003 at Bonelli Park. I came in 4^th in my age group with a time of 1:20 and some change. Yesterday, and 7 years later, I finished with 1:35:07 and I’m okay with that. I came into this race off 3 months of a medical leave, and during those three months I swore I would swim as much as I could. Yeah, that just never happened. Nonetheless, at the end of the race it was a great day.

I arrived at about 6:35am. I needed coffee in the worst way, thus my tardiness in arrival. I got in line and found Valerie. I had decided to move down to the Express sprint from the Championship course. Just from the lack of training I know my body wouldn’t have been able to handle it despite my brain telling me “it doesn’t seem that far”. Overriding my brain was the best decision I made all day. Lisa, Valerie, Gail, Neil, Amy, Nancy, Ben, and Michel were all there to proudly represent the club.

From the get go I knew I was going to have to take it incredibly easy, but I wanted to go out hard on the swim. Alas, that was never going to happen. Valerie and I walk down to the swim start and get a little warm up in. I felt like a kid splashing around and having a good time. For the first time in a very, very, very long time I had absolutely no anxiety at all. As Ben was in the first wave, Nancy, Val and myself were in the absolute last wave. Since this was my first race in awhile I positioned myself in the back of the pack on the inside. HUGE MISTAKE! The start was easy with just a touch of effort. It was after the turn off the first buoy when it became a challenge. I was literally sandwiched in with two women in front of me (one doing the side stroke, and the other was just a slower swimmer), one on my right side (she was doing the breast stroke) and then two behind me I think they were trying to draft. Everytime I tried to swim through the two women in front of me I would get blocked. At one point I actually pleaded with them to move over because I was putting too much effort into a swim I should have been done with already. They politely moved over and I thanked them. Next time I start at the front on the inside!

Swim Time: 7:58

Goal swim for June: 6:15

On to transition! All I can say is that I used to have an amazingly fast transition. I would actually practice my transitions, wetsuit and all, and time myself. However, that was PE (pre-Emily, my precocious 3 ½ year old). I haven’t done a transition since I actually completed my last triathlon in 2008. With this T1 time, I know it’s time to get back to basics and get to practicing.

T1 Time: 4:56

Goal T1 for June: 2:45

As I was exiting T1 and hopped on my bike I felt amazing…..until you have to turn right at the end of the driveway and climb that hill! Okay, it’s maybe a ¼ mile climb at best, but I really, really need to work on my climbing. You have a false flat? I’m your girl! I get to the top and go into a long decent. After all, what goes up, must come down. I was counting on getting my legs back during the first decent but that didn’t happen. Actually, it never happened. I think all the additional effort I put into trying to get out of the group in the swim was what did me in. Nonetheless, I climb every hill before me, with one exception. That last incline before you get back into Bonelli Park, yeah, I walked that. Next month, not only with I ride it, but I will attack it and get my rear out of the saddle!

Bike Time: 42:46

Goal Bike for June: 36:15

T2 was SO MUCH BETTER than T1. I got in, racked my bike, took the helmet off, took a sip of water, and quickly switched shoes. However, there is always room for improvement.

T2 Time: 2:00

Goal T2 Time for June: 1:30

Lastly was the run. Since being released from my medical leave, well, the running is what has suffered in my training. I went in knowing if I needed to walk all of the 5k I would walk, but I would give it my best shot. Val went out about 15-20 seconds before me, but stayed in eyeshot the whole run. I went out and tried to employ a run for 5 min and walk for 1 min, but that dramatically changed into a walk uphill and run downhill method. The run went by much faster than I thought, so that made it all that much easier mentally to take.

Run Time: 37:27

Goal Run for June: 31:45

Alas, in all, it was a great race day. What more could you ask for from a race: great weather, great volunteers, great friends, and an all around perfect race day! Now I know that with my training this week to hit the hills for my run AND the bike and just keep up my swim, but position myself in a better spot for the race in June!

Total Race Time: 1:35:07

Goal Race Time for June: 1:18 to 1:22

Starting Again

After a horrible winter training (or lack there of) and then being off the past 4 weeks from almost any training due to my recent diagnosis of a rare anti-inflamitory disease...I'M BACK! I have new goal races, a new schedule, and just a whole new outlook. I rarely get upset if I have to drop out of a race because of illness or injury, and for the past year all 4 races I missed or dropped from out of 16 in the 2009/early 2010 season were due to injury, and one from plastic surgery recovery, but that was a one time thing.

Here I now sit writing this after a 45 minute jog on the treadmill, followed by sit-ups and a fast 15 minute strength circuit. I am recommitting to posting a weekly recap and my workouts for that upcoming week on Mondays. Here is what I have for the rest of this week:

Thursday: 45 minutes run (got that out of the way!)
Friday: 60 minute cycling
Saturday: Santa Anita Derby Day 5k (and possibly an additional 6 miles home for a total of 9.1)
Sunday: Open water swim with Valerie and other PTC memebers (I'm trying to be more active in the club)

The upcoming races I have are as follows:

April 18th: LA Tri Championship #1
May 2nd: OC Half Marathon
May 16th: LA Tri Championship #2
June 13th: LA Tri Championship #3
July 25th: SF Half Marathon (this will complete my California Dreamin' Series)
Sept 5th: Disneyland Half Marathon
Sept 19th: Long Beach Tri
October 10th: Magic Mountain Man Half Tri
October 17th: LB Half Marathon
October 24th: Inagural LA Rock n Roll Half Marathon
Nov 13th: San Gabriel Valley Turkey Trot 5k (Defending my age group 1st place title)
Nov 14th: Malibu Half Marthon
Dec 12th: LA County Half Marathon

My new goal race is in March 2010, the newly announced San Juan 70.3 Half Ironman in Puerto Rico!

Train Hard! Train Smart!

The Road To Vineman

Week 1, Day 1: The Beginning

Allow me to begin my stating that I am fully aware that my inner crazy knows no limits. I get that, I really do. As anyone who has known me in most any phase of my life I will do things half assed, but I sure as hell hate to be wrong or last. EVER! This is why I have dubbed myself "The World's Laziest Endurance Athlete". While I may not show up to my Saturday morning coached runs, the runs still are completed. While I may say "Hey, I'll be there at 5am" and manage to not get up until 5am due to a nasty cough that's been lingering for 2 weeks and set out on my own on the same route, the run still gets done. While I intend to actually take my bike out and ride all hills, I was still at Incycle buying a second stacking riser for the trainer so that the bike positioning would simulate hills and the tension on the trainer would put me at an 8-10% incline. I get it done. Between October 11, 2009 and the end of the year I had signed up for 7 races and still got out there and completed 5. In 2010 I am signed up for 10 races already, including the CA 70.3 and Vineman, and I WILL finish all of them.

I have a very, very long road ahead of me. I woke up yesterday ready to begin my 30 week program and what was on the schedule for the first workout? REST! C'MON! I finally am getting my ass in gear and it tells me to REST?!?!?!?! Well, I did manage to make it to the Lyons Center on campus and renew my spring membership for the pool, but this semester I'm going all out. I rented a locker as well. Carrying around my TYR tri backpack (it's HUGE) as well as my other backpack with my running clothes, and storing all of my swim gear in my office has gotten a bit old. I decided "GO BIG OR GO HOME" is my new motto, along with the old adage "TRAIN SMART, RACE SMART" (thanks to Coach Steve for that one). Anyway, I still managed to make it to the gym to lift weights with my trainer for an hour, then I went home and to bed. I still haven't been able to get out of bed at 4am to jump on the bike in the living room, but I have a feeling tomorrow might be that day.

Alas, I will post my workouts for the week (I need to be held accountable folks) and the actual totals of the week prior. So, here we go:

Week One:
Monday: 1 hour Strength
Tuesday: Swim 2500 m, Run 30 minutes
Wednesday: Bike (spin class) 45 min, then transition to 15-20 min Run
Thursday: Swim 2500 m, Run 30 minutes
Friday: 1 hour Strength
Saturday: Bike 60 min
Sunday: LA 13.1 Half Marathon