Oilman Texas 70.3 Race Report

I can now say I have completed a Half Ironman race!  And it wasn't easy.  Although that really doesn't matter. It was worth it.

About 15 min after I posted on Saturday morning, I was getting ready to put my bike and gear in the back of my car when I noticed my front tire was flat.  Turns out the valve stem was bad on the tube and therefore the tube couldn't hold air.  Thank goodness it decided to fail now and not during the race.  Once the tire was changed, Melissa and I loaded up my car, and we were off to Pink Berry for some frozen yumminess...

...then we were off to Conroe!  The rest of the day and evening was spent picking up my packet, checking out the swim course and transition area, eating a pre-race Mexican dinner, and then some relaxing.  This just happened to be the evening of Daylight Savings, so I fortunately got an extra hour of sleep, which I actually took advantage of.  The alarm went off at 4:45 am.  I got my gear together and we made our way to La Torretta Del Lago Resort, the site of the 2011 Oilman Texas Triathlon.  I set up my transition spot, and then Melissa and I made our way to the swim start.

1.2 Mile Swim:  44: 50

My age group was the first wave to go.  I typically like to make it a goal to catch someone in the wave ahead of me.  Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to do that in this race.  Although, the official race clock would show my actual race time as I crossed the finish line, which is a cool thing (good for photo ops!).  As the race began, I had a temporary moment of panic.  The water was pretty cold and I felt my wetsuit was choking me.  After about a minute, the panic subsided, and I just got my swim on.  Then there was some confusion in the water as to where we had to go.  The race folks on land told us something different than the race folks on canoes in the water.  So all of us girls swam one way when we needed to swim another.  We weren't happy about that at all.  But oh well.  Then when I made my way to the home stretch, I actually got up out of the water and started walking since the water level was so low.  I had been swimming for 41 minutes, so I was fine with walking the final 50 or so yards to the swim exit.

T1: 5:35

The way back to transition seemed like forever.  But once there, I got everything ready to go on my lovely 56 mile bike ride through the hills of Texas.  Those damn hills...

56 Mile Bike: 3:44:18

There was nothing pleasant about this ride.  I was happy to see that the city actually paved some of that rough road (apparently called chip seal), but turns out it was only for about 3 miles.  The rest of that 7 miles of chip seal felt like eternity to get through.  Then came the wind.  It wasn't horrible, but combine a ~10 mph head/side wind WHILE going through hills, just didn't come easy to me.  My legs felt like jello at the end of 56 miles.

T2: 2:54

T2 seemed to last forever.  For the run, put on my calf compression sleeves (which worked great!) and grabbed some Gu and a Nutri-Grain bar.  As I was leaving transition, I realized I forgot to take off my cycling gloves!  Oops!  Thats the second time this year I've done that!

13.1 Mile Run: 2:59:27

As I began the run, I knew the bike ride took alot out of me, so I devised a plan that I would run until I hit the half mile marker, and I would walk for a minute, then run to the mile marker/water station.  That lasted for a few miles, but then I ended up walking more than I expected.  The run course was a 3 loop course through the resort and surrounding neighborhood.  This was an advantage since I was able to see my great cheering squad!  Not only was Melissa there to support me, but my two other friends, Erin and Beth came up that day as well to cheer me on!  It was such a rewarding feeling to see them each time.  On the 2nd loop, I started having doubts that since I had been taking longer on the run that I expected, that I just may not make the 8 hour cut off.  This brought me to a really bad place.  The 2nd loop was by far the hardest mentally.  Then once I started the 3rd loop, I looked at my total time on my watch and saw that I could make the cutoff with only 4.2 miles left to go.  My mood picked up, but then with about 3 miles left, I felt some weird shooting pain in my left ankle.  The pain was enough to make me stop and walk.  Once it was gone I began running again.  This continued to the point where I began feeling it in my right ankle.  So I walked a majority of those last 3 miles.  As I came up to my awesome entourage and the finish line, I actually picked it up and fought through the pain to end my first half ironman experience with a smile on my face.

Total time: 7:37:05

Once I crossed the finish line, my friends were immediately by my side.  And let me tell you, I was pretty emotional, just taking in the whole experience and knowing I was done. I had finished the race.  My friends surrounded me in a huge group hug and we were all in tears.  It was the greatest feeling I had all day.  A moment I will never forget.

So you may be thinking, will she do it again?  The answer: Yes.  Will I do the Oilman Texas race again?  Probably not.  Ironman Lonestar is on April 1, 2012, a race I'm considering.  This race is in Galveston.  One word comes to mind that I'm in love with:  FLAT.

  

Tomorrow is the big day!

The day is just about here! In about a half hour, my friend Melissa is going to be here and we're gonna start our way up to Conroe. Its only an hour and 15 min drive, but doing that drive tomorrow morning when transition opens at 5:30, means I'd have to get up around 3:30 am.  No thanks.  So Melissa and I are staying the night near the race venue.  Melissa, my tri training buddy from the very beginning, is awesome enough to stay with me the night before and she'll be driving me home tomorrow after the race.

I've been thinking alot about how I feel...and I feel good.  Getting a little nervous, but it really hasn't sunk in yet. Maybe it will when I pick up my packet today and see all the other triathletes. My transition bag is filled to the brim, with everything I'll need and more.  Of course, I'll take everything out at the hotel and repack it with the stuff I'll actually use for the race, but the planner in me is being overly conservative.

This morning I did my final swim, bike and run.  It was a short workout, enough to get my muscles loose and relaxed.  I had a massage yesterday, although it was about 80% stretching and 20% massage.  Which was fine by me!  Hamstring feels great.  I think I'm ready. 

One last piece of motivation:

One. Week. To. Go.

I can't believe it.  One week from right now, I'll be on the bike course, and on my way to finishing my 1st Half Ironman race!  This past week was a my first of two taper weeks.  I feel good.  I feel ready.  Did my last 'long' run yesterday, and it went well. Today, I'm going out to do an open water swim in my wetsuit to get reacclimated with it, so I don't have a "freak out" episode like I did during the swim in the Kemah triathlon in April.  And then next week, every workout consists of a swim, bike and run.  Nothing more like getting me in the mood, than to do little mini triathlons the week of my big race!
Today's motivation:

Trial Bike Ride

This weekend I did a trial bike ride on the Oilman Texas race route up in Conroe.  I was a bit nervous about this ride since it is quite a bit more hilly than anything I've rode on before.  Yes, those spin classes I take help somewhat, but nothing compares to the real thing.  Thankfully, three guys from work offered to do the ride with me, so if I couldn't make it up one of the hills, at least I'd have someone able to go get the car for me.  :) 

Actually, the ride turned out pretty good.  It indeed was very hilly, and the most difficult bike ride I've ever done, but I made it.  And the good news, I still had some fuel in the tank when I was done, so running 13.1 miles afterwards could very well be doable, although it may involve some walking.  Although, by the end of the ride, my quads were on fire.  Those hills just did them in.  We did stop along the way and rested and had our nutrition, which I'm thinking I just may do in the race as well.  The route was actually pretty beautiful, and at one point, it didn't even feel as though I was in Texas.  Six miles into the route, we encountered the roughest road I've ever rode on.  I literally thought my bike, and myself for that matter, may not make it if the whole 56 miles were like this.  Thankfully at mile 17, it was done.  Turns out after to talking a girl after we were done who also just rode, said that pavement was not there 2 weeks ago.  I wonder if the race folks knew that was happening.  I guarantee there will be ALOT of complaints about it. 

All in all, I am very happy I decided to do the trial ride.  Now I know what to expect on raceday.  Only two weeks to go...I can't believe its almost here...

Last big training week...then let the taper begin...

To start off my last big training week, what did I get to do?  Nothing.  Off day.  Yippee!  Just because its a nice rest from my 50 mile training ride I did yesterday morning.  My longest ride to date.  I felt pretty good, a bit windy at times, but nothing like my 40miler I had a few weeks ago.  I did stop 3 times to give my legs a few minutes rest, which really helped.  I'm debating whether I should do this in the race or not.  Since my goal is to basically finish the race, I'm not to concerned with my bike time, and I want to make sure my legs are up for a 13.1 mile run afterwards.  This time last week, my right hamstring was bothering me, which began hurting after my USA 10 Miler race.  My workouts last week were impaired from my hurting hamstring, enough I decided to go see my awesome sports chiropractor.  Since then, its feeling much better, and I barely felt it on my ride. 

As for the USA 10 Miler race last Sunday, it went well.  My total time was 1:47.  For the first 5 miles, I paced myself with a girl running just ahead of me (seen in a pic below), then a friend of mine who is training for the NYC Marathon caught up with me and we ran the rest of the race together.  It was pretty humid, and actually started sprinkling on us for the last 4 miles.  Then, literally ~30 seconds after I crossed the finish line, it began to pour.  Thank goodness I was done! 



So I'm already looking ahead to this weekend.  I'll be heading up to Conroe with a few friends to ride the race route so I can get familiar with it.  Its supposed to be hilly, so we'll see how it goes. Below is the elevation chart for the route.  I'm used to riding on pretty much a straight line graph.

    

28 Days.

I'm less than one month away.  I can't believe race day is almost here.  Now the mental part begins...I can do this.  I will do this.

Alittle motivatin always helps...  

The Non-Injury Injury & Exploring New Territory

The last two weeks have been somewhat eventful.  The weekend before last, I was on a normal bike ride with my friend Melissa, when while riding (and clipped in my pedals) I slightly torqued my ankle and suddenly felt a shooting pain within.  I was only able to complete 13 miles (thank goodness I got a run in beforehand) due to the pain.  Afterwards I iced it, but there really wasn't any swelling or pain to the touch.  I would just get shots of serious pain when I extended my foot from the neutral position.  I was perplexed at what it could be.  So, the next Monday I was able to go see my chiropractor (best chiropractor ever!) and she informed me I had a nerve issue inside my ankle that just got irritated due to the motion I do when clipping in and out of my pedals. Basically, I was not injured, even though I had been in great pain.  Nerve issues will do that to you I guess.  She did some work, actually twice that week, and then after a short swim and 3 mile run with very little pain, I knew I was going to be ok.  Bad part of it all, all this was happening during a very hard training week.  After looking over my training plan, I decided to swap my Recovery Week (which originally was this week) with last weeks hard week with a little tweaking.  So, as of yesterday, I'm back on track.

After basically a week off from training, I was a little worried about my long ride yesterday.  I was supposed to do a 2.5 hour bike ride and 20 min run.  This would be the longest and farthest I've ever been on my bike.  So I decided to make the best of it and do a new route and go exploring in new territory.  It turned out to be a great, but windy 40 mile bike ride.  At one point, I felt the wind actually try to pick up my front tire, so I had to stay in aero position just to keep my bike on the ground.  A little scary, but since I was crawling along at 13 mph, if I fell, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have hurt that bad!  I finished strong, with no ankle pain. I then grabbed Lola and we headed out for a 30 minute walk/run.

Today's new territory was in the pool.  This long swim workout was 6 x 500 yards.  Total of 3000 yards or 1.7 miles. That is certainly the longest swim workout I've done ever.  And it felt great.  No ankle pain. 

In other news, I've signed up for the USA 10 Miler, this upcoming Sunday.  I've done this race before, during my marathon training in 2009.  Its a fun race, which gives THE best tech race shirt ever!  The longest I've done so far in my training has been about 8 miles, and that was a few weeks ago, so this race should be interesting.  I'm not really thinking of it as a race, but just as my long run workout.  I'm sure when I wake up this Sunday on raceday I'll be thinking this:

Its Official

I'm a Half Ironman-in-waiting.  I have officially signed up for the Oilman Texas Half Ironman race.  I wanted to make sure I was comfortable with my training before actually signing up for the race.  And now that I'm a little more than half way into the training, I know this race is possible.  Its obvious I haven't been able to keep up with my blogging posts as much as I wanted to, and I apologize for that.  My schedule has been crazy and I have had little time at home.  The past few weeks I've had some ups and downs, bad runs and skipped swims, but I've got a new fire lit.  Yesterday, I did a training triathlon - 30 min swim (1500 yards), 2 hour bike ride (32 miles) and 30 min run (3.2 miles), and even though I was super tired afterward, it felt great!  I'm currently in the 2nd week of Base 3 of my training.  After this week, I have only 6 weeks left. 6 weeks. Yikes!  I'm actually starting to get a little excited!

Monday 9/19

Long swim 

wu:  200swim, 200kick, 200pull, 200swim

main: 1900 ladder. Do a set of 300, then 275, 250, etc…until 25

cd: 4 x 50, each slower than last

Total: 2900 yards

So...new motto for the next 45 days:  No excuses.

Playing catch up

The week after the TriGirl Duathlon was not a good week. Base 2 week 1 was supposed to start off with a swim, but when I went to 24Hr, the pool was closed!  Boo!  Then the next two days as work were insane.  I ended up working about 29 hours in those two days alone.  So needless to say, no workouts on those two days.

Thursday 8/18

Swim -
wu: 200 free 200 kick
main: 1 x 1750 - medium effort
cd: 4 x 50

Total: 2350 yards

Run -  30 minutes on treadmill

Saturday 8/20 - reverse tri workout

Run - 30 min easy
Bike - 60 min spin class
Swim - 30 min

This week was focused on swimming, which lately has been going very well for me, so missing a few of those swim workouts I don't think was too detrimental.

Base 2 Week 2

This week is focused on running, which we all know is my weakest sport right now.  So this week is more important than ever to get in all my workouts.  And for that reason, I decided not to do the Clear Lake International Triathlon this upcoming weekend.  That was a sad decision, since I love doing that race, but I think getting in my run workouts this week is more important.  My next race will be the Houston Olympic Triathlon in September.

Monday 8/22

Bike - 75 min on trainer

Tuesday 8/23

Run - 60 min solid endurance

For this run, I decided to start wearing my heart rate monitor again.  I used my HR monitor during my marathon training in 2009.  Using it was a great way to judge how my much my body is exerting itself based on how fast my heart rate is.  During my marathon training, my average HR was in the mid 160s.  When I started this run yesterday at my normal slow pace, my HR was in mid 140s.  Being cautious for the hour that layed ahead, I thought I'd try to get my HR back in the zone I had for my previous training.  So, I increased my speed slightly and got my HR in the 150s.  Towards the end of the hour run, my HR was in the 160s.  This was a great motivator for me, since my average HR for the run was 158, and my pace was 10:33!  This is definitely an improvement! 

Wednesday 8/24

Swim - 2 x 1200 medium effort

Run - 30 min treadmill run 

TriGirl Sprint Duathlon Race Pics

TriGirl Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Umm...I mean TriGirl Duathlon Race Report.  Unfortunately, due to Lake Houston's water level being 7 feet below "normal", the swim leg of the race was cancelled, and replaced with a 1 mile run.  A bit disappointed about that since my swimming lately has been going very well.  More on that in a bit. 

My previous post talked about this week being a Recovery Week.  Well, thankfully it was just that.  Wednesday I woke up not feeling well at all.  My glands felt swollen, my body ached, just felt like I was in the first stages of getting sick.  So I spent the rest of the week getting some good nights rest and no workouts.  Luckily this helped, and I did not get sick.  So Saturday, I did a 45 min ride on my trainer, just to get my legs conditioned for the race.

Last night, as I was getting my transition bag ready with all my race gear, I kept getting frazzled about not doing the swim.  It was just throwing me off mentally when I was trying to get all my stuff together.  You are probably thinking: Really, Lisa, the fact that you didn't have to pack a swim cap and goggles makes you frazzled?  My response - Hell yes.  I can't explain it, but when I am in the zone of getting prepared for each leg of the race, not doing one of those legs just threw me off.  Once I finally got my gear all ready, I set my alarm for 4 am, and finally got to bed around 10:30.  Feeling a little antsy, I woke up twice in the middle of the night, looked at the clock and was relieved to be able to go back to sleep.  Then, I turned over once again, and saw my clock said 4:30.  4:30?  Hu?  Then it hit me, I forgot to turn the alarm ON!  F! I jumped out of bed, practically knocking my lamp over turning it on, and started getting dressed.  And oh by the way, my friend Erin was picking me up at 4:30!  Thankfully, she was a few minutes late.  When she did get there, she helped get my water boiling for my oatmeal, as I was getting my stuff together to leave.  I thought I was frazzled the night before?! This was 100 times worse.  Thankfully I had my bag all packed up, and didn't forget anything.  We were on the road by 4:50.   Once we got there, we got body marked and set up in transition.  I then started doing my pre-race mental routine -- making sure I knew which row my bike was racked on, and where I had to enter and exit transition during the bike and runs.

Erin and I pre-race.

Once Erin and I got set up, we walked down to the water, and noticed just how low the lake really was.  Definitely not swimmable.  As you can see from the pictures, the water is about 30 feet away from the bottom of the boat dock - where we normal run in for the swim start.  Not this year!

1 Mile Run - 08:40

I think for the first time ever, I was in the first wave start.  Meaning, my age group, women 30-34 was the first group to start the race.  This was a pretty cool feeling, not sure I can explain why, it just was.   Luckily, I started with my friend Erin, who is a great runner, so my goal was to try to keep up with her for this 1 mile shootout.  When the gun went off, I started out at a pretty fast pace, and after a few minutes as expected, Erin made her way in front of me, so I did my best to keep up.  This run ended up being one of the fastest miles I've ever ran.  Nice.  

T1 -  01:07

The first transition was much easier this time then after a normal swim race.  I pulled off my visor and put on my bike shoes and helmet and was off.  Probably my quickest T1 ever.

My transition spot.

11 Mile Bike - 36:15

I was pumped for this bike ride.  I've been training hard, and getting alot of good rides in for my Half Ironman training.  So after the first mile, and getting in my groove, mile 2 averaged 19.5 mph!  Mile 3 was even better - 20.6 mph! Mile 4 - 20.1 mph!  I was stoked and feeling great.  Unlike previous races on this route, instead of coasting down the hills, I pedalled through getting up to 25 mph a few times!  Towards the end of the 11 miles, I made sure to gear up and keep my cadence high to give my legs a little bit of rest before the run.  I was very happy with this bike ride.

T2 - 00:43

Once I got into transition, I racked my bike and got my running shoes and visor back on and headed out for the 3 mile run.  Still being excited about my bike, I felt my heartrate skyrocket as I was running out of transition.  Not a good sign.

3 Mile Run - 33:30

I started out this run too fast with too high of a heart rate.  I had to slow up and make sure I didn't over do it. By the time I got to the water station at mile 1, I needed to walk.  And from then on I knew I was in bad shape.  By this time of the morning, the heat was brutal, and I ended up walking several times.  Very reminiscent of my previous brick (bike then run) workouts.  This is something I will definitely need to work on.   Although, as I was running to the finish, I was able to sprint it out, making me feel slightly better.

Total Time - 1 hr 20 min.

Overall, I was pretty satisfied with my performance.  I wish the 3 mile run went better, but I can't complain since I ran at 8 min 40 sec mile at the beginning, and averaged 18.3 mph on my bike ride.  That is the quickest bike race I've ever done.  Next week starts Base 2 of my 70.3 training.  I'm ready to get back in training after my Recovery week, and I am more focused on what I need to work on.  82 days to go until the big day.  Today was a good milestone.



Goal to beat

I just signed up for the TriGirl Sprint Triathlon for this upcoming Sunday.  I've done this race two other times, in 2008 (2nd ever triathlon) and last summer.  So for me, I have something to prove...my goal is to, obviously, beat my times from last year.  Here are my stats from last year:

300 yard Swim - 7:23

  T1 - 2:36

11 mile Bike - 39:26

  T2 - 1:02

3 mile Run - 31:14 

Total Time: 1:21:43

Overall Place: 146 (out of 354)

Age Group Place: 28 (out of 58)

End to a long week.

89 days to go.  This week was brutal.  Not only did I have to work in Mission Control all week (7am-4pm), this week was week 3 in Base 1 of training.  The first 3 months of my training program has 3 Bases of training, each equally 4 weeks. Each week builds up, with the forth week ending in a Recovery week.  Since I had to be at work at 7am each day, all my workouts were after work.  Blah.  Not my usual plan.  Here was the rest of my week:

Thursday 8/4:

Swim - Speed day

• wu: 400 continuous.  Last 50 in each 100 is kick.
• main: 10 x 100 EBEH (25 Easy, 25 Build, 25 Easy, 25 Hard)
• cd: 6 x 25, each slower than last

  Total: 1550 yards

Run - 90 minute long run.  Easy/Medium effort.  Since my workout was in the evening, I opted to run on the treadmill after my swim.  I picked a treadmill in front of a TV, and watched an hour of Wipeout and half of Expedition Impossible, all while sweating away on the treadmill.  That made it somewhat bearable.  Although afterwards, my calves were killing me.  I may need to pull out my compression calf sleeves for my next long run.  Oh...memories of my marathon training are all coming back to me.  I came home, showered, and pretty much passed out on my bed. 

Friday 8/5:

Swim

• wu: 2 x 150
• main: 3 x 500, 1 is easy effort, 2 is medium effort, 3 is medium/hard effort
• cd: 150 easy

  Total: 1950 yards  -- This swim was great.  After the previous day's workout, again, my body surprised me by giving me my fastest 500 yards I've ever swam.  My 1st 500 was 10:00, my 2nd was 9:33, and my 3rd was 9:27!!! Very happy!

Saturday 8/6:

Bike -  2 hour long ride.  Today's workout was supposed to be easy effort, and also include a 30 minute run afterwards.  Although, my friend Scott picked a route that took us up and over Kemah bridge twice, some speed work, and over another smaller bridge.  So needless to say, my legs were shot after that ride.  So no running for me.  I wasn't too upset, since I finally got my Kemah bridge workout in.

Sunday 8/7:

Bike -  52 min ride.  Nice ride this morning with friends Erin and Melissa.  We actually felt somewhat of a cool breeze, which complete disappeared during my run afterwards. 

Run - 30 min easy effort.  I was pleasantly surprised with my run, still slow, but was able to keep the running up, and walked much less than previous transition runs. 


So ends a tough week of training.  Looking forward to a nice recovery week, starting off with me getting to sleep in past 5:30 am! In other news, I've decided to sign up for the TriGirl Sprint Triathlon next weekend.  A lot of my friends are doing it and it fit in nicely with my recovery week.  I'm excited to compare this year's times with last year's.  More on that this week.

Hard work really does pay off!

I know that is such a cliché, but I honestly believe it now!  After last Thursday's difficult speed swim session, I have seen a definite improvement in my swim.  Last Friday's swim was a long swim session, the main set was 1500 yards.  That is 30 laps in the pool.  The last few months, my lap times have been averaging just over a minute a lap.  I was a little apprehensive for my long swim, thinking my arms would be tired from the difficult swim the day before.  Although, after I started my long swim, I noticed my lap times were below a minute, lap after lap after lap!  So about a quarter of the way into my swim, I made a goal for myself to finish under 30 minutes.  And how did I do?  Total time: 29 min 45 sec!  Yay!

Friday 7/29 workout;

Swim - Long swim

• wu: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull, 200 swim
• main: 1 x 1500 (medium effort)
• cd: 4 x 50

 Total: 2500 yards

Saturday 7/30 workout:

Bike ride rained out...got to sleep in!

Sunday 7/31 workout:

Bike - 2 hour long ride

Run - 30 min  -- this run was extremely difficult, by the time I ran, it was 9:30 am and 100 degrees.  I had to walk quite a bit. Hopefully as I do more of these transition runs after my bike rides, they will get better. 

Monday 8/1 workout:

Swim -  Long swim

• wu: 4 x 75
• main: 500 swim, 500 kick, 500 pull, 500 swim
• cd: 100 swim, 100 back

 Total: 2500 yards

This swim was an amazing workout.  My first 500 swim (10 laps) was 9:33!  I think this is the quickest 500 I've ever done!  And even my last 500 swim, after the kick and pull session, I finished in 9:45!

Tuesday 8/2 workout:

Bike -  1 hour ride (small chain ring) -- Used my new trainer for this ride!  I got a great set up in front of my TV, just put on the Bachelorette Finale from last night and I was on may way!  Great way to get a ride in! 

Run - 30 min -- The run was a bit better than my Sunday run.  I felt very hydrated after my bike ride and even though it was around 7 pm, it was still super humid, but I didn't have to walk as much.  More proof of the hard work paying off...I sure hope it continues!    

T minus 100 days and counting...

That's right, its 100 days until the big day!  I'm feeling pretty good, although this is only my 2nd week of training.  Even though the weeks will get harder and the training hours will increase, I believe the first few weeks are the hardest.  Its the time your body is getting used to longer workouts, sometimes double workouts, on top of your daily life of work and friends.

I, obviously, have been slacking in the blog department this last week, but with working some crazy hours at work, I just decided to hold off.  But I promise to try to be better.  I started this blog, after all, to not only track my training, but keep y'all informed.  Don't want to let you down!    Here's a summary of my workouts since the last post:

Thursday 7/21 workout:

Run - 60 min w/strides every 10 minutes (strides are done by increasing my pace for 20 seconds, then back to my normal pace).  This workout was done on a treadmill.

Bike -  Recovery spin at easy effort.  This workout was done on a spin bike, immediately following my run.

Friday 7/22 workout:

Run -  30 minute recovery easy pace

Saturday 7/23 workout:

Off day! Yippee!

Sunday 7/24 workout:

Bike -  1.5 hour group ride

Monday 7/25 workout:

Swim -

• wu: 5 x 50
• main: 2 x 1000 (medium effort)
• cd: 250 easy

  Total: 2500 yards

Bike -  30 min on spin bike following swim

Tuesday 7/26 workout:

Run -  30 minute easy with strides every 5 minutes

Bike -  1 hour spin class

Wednesday 7/27 workout:

Off day!

Thursday 7/28 workout:

Run -  75 minute long run

• wu: 20 minutes easy
• main: 7 x (3t, 2r) 
• 3t and 2r means that there's 3 minutes at tempo or increased pace, followed by 2 minutes recovery running. So in total time for main set = 35 minutes.
• cd: 20 minutes easy

 Swim -  Speed Day!

• wu: 300 continuous (alternating 50 swim, 50 kick)
• main: 20 x 75, hold constant pace for each (medium effort)
• cd: 200 easy

  Total: 2000 yards

So let me tell you about tonight's swim.  It was probably the hardest swim workout I've ever done.  I looked at the plan, and when it said I needed to hold a constant pace for all 20 sets at a medium pace, I was a bit intimidated.  My last few swims have been anything but consistent pace.  As it turned out, I surprised myself, and all but the last 5 sets, I held my pace!  And those last 5 sets, I only slowed by 2 seconds.  This swim workout just kicked my butt!  I was so tired, but damn, it was a great workout.  So much, by the 17th set, I got a cramp in my right foot, that caused me to basically stop kicking.  Then during the last set, my left calf cramped to the point where I felt like it was going to explode out of my leg.  I massaged it for a few minutes, and sat in the hot tub, and was like new in no time.  Hopefully that never happens in a race!

My mom would be proud...

...since yesterday I decided to play it safe and not bike in the rain.  Now when you are a triathlete training for a big race, you need to ride your bike rain or shine, or ride on a trainer.  I don't have a trainer (yet), so yesterday when my training plan had a hill workout for me to do, I contemplated riding in the rain.  Going down a big bridge at 25-30 mph on a slippery road is definitely not the smartest thing to do.  So, it really wasn't a hard decision.  Instead, I decided to go to a spin class at the gym after work.  Turns out, my afternoon meeting went long, and by the time I got to the class (5 minutes before it started), it was already full.  Drats.  After an already long and tiring day, I was thinking about ditching the days workout.  When I got home, I decided to stick with the plan and I went to a spin class at 24 Hour at 6:45 pm.  So I'm pretty proud of myself for sticking with it.  Days like yesterday will make it easier for me to deal with other bad days, knowing that I can get through them if I just put in the effort, rain or shine.

Tuesdays's workout:

Bike - 1 hour Spin Class (in place of hill workout)

Wednesdays's workout:

Swim -
  wu: 200 continuous
  main: 1 x 2000
  cd: n/a (had to leave early for work)

  Total:  2200 yards

Run - 30 min easy run

Hello pool, oh how I've missed you

In the last few weeks, I have been to the pool zero times.  Zero.  It has been since sometime in June since I've swam a lap.  I went to visit my family in PA in the beginning of July, then flew to FL to watch the shuttle launch, and both places I wasn't able to find a good pool to swim in.  And last week, I just wasn't able to get in a swim workout.  So today, I was a bit nervous for my first pool workout.  I actually thought I would have to modify the workout to compensate, but I'm happy to say I didn't need to!  And my lap times were impressive for not swimming in weeks.  So, first workout was a success! 

Today's workout: Swim speed day

wu: 250 alternating each 50 swim and kick
main: 400 (medium effort), 4 x 100 (hard effort), 300 (medium effort), 3 x 100 (hard effort), 200 (medium effort), 2 x 100 (hard effort)
cd: 75 (very easy effort)

Total: 2125 yards

And so it begins...

Welcome. 

That was more for me, welcoming myself to the world of blogging.  I decided to start a blog to have a way to document my 70.3 Half Ironman training, among other reasons:  1)  Document training (as previously stated).  2)  Rant when I need/want to about training and/or life.  3)  Hold myself accountable for getting in a tough workout when all I want to do is sleep in past 5 am.  All good reasons to blog.  Right?

So, here I am, on the eve of beginning my official 70.3 training for the Oil Man Texas Triathlon. Race day is November 6 in Conroe, Texas.  111 days from now.  This will be my first half Ironman race.  I actually started my training plan four weeks ago, but those four weeks were prep weeks to get me ready for my Base Training.  I've already done three sprint tris this year, so I have been keeping up my fitness level.  Although tomorrow begins week 1 of my 16 week training plan.  And I hope to track my progress along the way as best as I can to keep my friends and family informed.  And 112 days from now, hopefully you'll be reading about one happy triathlete who will be one step closer to her ultimate goal.

So now I welcome you, my friends, family, or someone just passing through the blog world.  This is gonna be a fun ride.  Enjoy.