Archive for the ‘Run’ Category
This is was the first time in my life I was actually able to finish a run on the treadmill. Usually I make it about 5 minutes, get bored, then do something else.
It helps that I have a plan I am now following. Todays workout was pretty straightforward and challenging. Actually, I found that doing it on the treadmill was a bit easier to maintain pace than it is outside. Maybe this season I will be able to get more treadmill time in and improve my overall running. Only time will tell.
The workout was a 15 minute warm-up with a couple pickups.
Main set: .5 mile x 1 HR Z4, 3minute recovery. Then 1 mile x 2 (3′) HR Z4.
Cool down.
Total time on the treadmill was 45 minutes and my heart rate was higher than my last outside run of a similar zone 4 workout.
My official start date to outseason training was this monday. And just in time too, I am starting to feel really out of shape.
For the run test, it was a essentially a 5k time trial.
- Distance: 3.03 miles
- Time: 00:25:02
- Pace: 8:16
- LTHR: 175 (my heart felt like it was going to explode for the final mile)
- Vdot: 37
The bike was a 40 minute time trial. I did it last week outdoors and redid the same test on the indoor trainer. I like the outdoor test better because I need to work on my mental focus while on the indoor trainer. That will come in time. My outdoor test results for the bike:
- Distance: 13.3 miles
- Time: 00:41:24
- Speed: 19.3 mph
- LTHR: 160
The silver lining is that I have A LOT of room for improvement.
Here I write on Halloween morning, October 31. Surrounded by snow I can hardly believe winter is upon us, several times this week I have had to literally stop and think and wonder what month we were in.
I have been running intermittently after my stress fracture flared back up stopping me from runningbthe Denver half. I have Goofy’s challenege coming up in January and I found it more important to heal for a few weeks in order to properly train for that. As it is I will finish the races that weekend but will do so at a leisurely pace.
Last night I started spin teacher training and loved it. 3 more weeks of this training. I have also been biking to work each day possible.
Swim, hmmmm, need to get back to the pool…
September 14…. I’m sitting outside in what must be close to 85 degree weather a day after running 8 miles in three top layers still shivering as I went. This is why I love fall and Colorado, you just never know what you will get.
Change, summer to fall. Focus on triathalon to focus on marathon. Heck, I even interviewed for a “real job” last week. Our daughter must have grown a full size over the course of the last month. So many changes come this time of year.
So what’s the point if this post? Transition and change can be looked at one of two ways. As a necessary evil to get from one point to the next, from summer to fall, from tri sport to focus on running or from pants thy are too short for your tot to pants that fit just right. However if you do this you miss a lot of the in between, the transitory periods that allow you time to reflect on what just happened and what might lay( grammar?)ahead. Change and transition can be wonderful moments in and of themselves allowing you to evaluate And catch your breath before marching on. This might not lead to faster times in your tri races but it will lead to a greater experience and that is how I prefer to approach things.
Alas, I am an official triathlete. After training on and off for the sport for three years and staging and participating in numerous variations of the sport for Steve’s training I have officially completed an organized triathlon race. I LOVED IT!
After having run too many running races to count, the idea of getting up to go and run in a pack for various distances is still attractive at times but not as attractive as the lure of a long run in a gorgeous location outdoors with just my husband or a good friend. That being said, the lure to participate in another organized triathlon is HUGE!
Yes, the prep is cumbersome. Hauling all of your gear, tugging on the wetsuit, ripping off the wetsuit post swim(they do this for you at Rattlesnake), setting up all the transition stuff, etc. It makes one question why do it all, until you’re lined up on the beach surrounded by hundreds of other folks all wearing matching swim caps wondering what the rest of the morning has in store for them. The energy is pretty much unmatched.
It is also great to see the number of well rounded (as far as athleticism or endurance sports go) individuals surrounding you. You can’t really participate at a reasonable level unless you have done some cross training. Swimming, biking and running. That being said YOGA and weight training also help.
The other thing I realized while racing yesterday is the little competitive part of me that seems to appear when running in a race presented itself on the bike as well. I do like to pass people! I’m no speedster by any means but with the various divisions and age groups participating it’s always possible to find someone to pass. Shame on me:)
Total time was 1:30:58. I was properly classified as a newbie on the site but somehow they also have me classified as an Athena athlete- this is not correct.
OK, more specifics on the different legs to come.
I just finished a 600m open water practice swim at the Aurora Res. Aurora is great because they actually keep open water swim buoys set up just outside the swim area for racers to come train all summer.
This morning my friend Ali and I headed for the water only to be joined by close to 8 other women. We asked what they were training for and the answer was their own private tri.
I had total appreciation for this for a number of reasons. Often times the entry fee to races precludes people from participating. Often times their schedules or other committments (I.e. Raising children or cleaning houses) might. This group of women said screw all that. They have weekly group trainings with one another at times that work for them. And then a few times a year they stage their races.
It isn’t for sponsorship, or times, or goodie bags. It isn’t even necessarily for the sake of competition. To me it seems it is more for the building of community through common experience. And in this case, it is for the love of the sport, triathlon.
Go Girls!!!!!
This morning’s workout was bright and early at Qi on Walnut. It’s always amazing to head over to the gym at an early hour and see it busy.
Anyway, one of our dogs was up every hour last night with stomach issues but despite my strong desire to turn off my alarm at 5:50 this morning and skip the training session I didn’t. I got up and made it to the gym. Once I was there I was happy to have made the decision.
We ran one mile around the club, came back and did a hard spin session for about 30 minutes then ran another mile. Good exercise to prep for transitions if you don’t have time to get out on your real bike.
The best part of the morning was the curried turkey burger patty I smothered in cranbery mango salsa upon my return home. It was before Steve and our daughter woke up, well kind of. I guess I actually ate the second half in one huge bite that I chewed as I ran upstairs to M who was hollering to get out of her crib, but at least I got to eat without somebody sitting on my lap:)
This is my taper week before doing a sprint triathlon(my first) on Sunday. I will be doing the Rattlesnake tri in Aurora with a group that I’ve been triathlon training with from Qi fitness in downtown Denver. So after my swim this morning Steve and I headed out for a short run.
Given the lack of trees in our neighborhood and the August sun we decided to drive to Bluff Lake Nature Center nearby and run mile loops around the lake. Our thought was it would be cooler and provide a fair amount of cloud cover.
The heat really got to me today as well as my attempts to keep in step with my speedster husband. Two miles in, I announced I would have to slow down and he could run at his own pace. He gleefully sped along.
The little hill climb on one side of the lake seemed steeper as I called out my go to running mantra to power me through it. Inhale strength. Exhale doubt. I made it up the hill but not without a large degree of urpiness and a promise to myself, “I’ll curb the midday runs in our area until the fall.”
Full disclosure, my first tri has yet to officially occur. We have staged a number on our own in training, I have completed years of runs, rides and indoor swims. I recently did my first organized open water swim race/run and am registered to complete my first Sprint this August, The Rattlesnake Triathlon at Aurora Reservoir in Colorado. Yet as of today, I have not crossed the finish line of an organized official triathlon. So how did I get to this point?
After my husband got in to the NYC marathon he started a consistent running regimen. I started to see him change, get to know Central Park(we lived in NYC at the time) and consume any and every food he desired. His health was better and he seemed happier. This all made me want to run too. I would drag myself to the park to run and I say things like, “Ok, I’ll run, but never a marathon”. Time passed quickly, I would crave my runs while at the office during the day. I ultimately trained for and completed the Disney Marathon in January 2006 with my husband and other family members. All the while listening as my husband’s interest in triathlon began to brew.
So then as we would happily run, I would say things like, “Ok, I’ll run a marathon but I will never do a triathlon.” Yet somehow in the late Spring of 2006 my husband and I signed up for Team in Training and began to train for our first Olympic Distance Triathlon. Hmmmmmm, a pattern seemed to be developing.
Bike rides on the loops of Central Park dodging strollers and tourists, carriages and oad apples and loving it most of the time. We purchased our first training swim wear (I love Splish) and swim caps and would take the subway North to the far reaches of Manhattan to swim with TNT once a week. All the while running along our trusted routes in Central Park as well as sometimes up North in Westchester county of New York.
A couple of months in to this process after getting seriously lapped on a training ride then nearly passing out in the pool we found out we were expecting and I was benched. The race we were going to complete together was now a one man show for my husband, and I have to admit, I wasn’t terribly disappointed:)
All this being said I am doing my first official race in August, The rattlesnake Triathlon in Aurora, CO. and….. I am looking forward to it.
Todays training run started at 6:00 am. Although it was Buffalo Bill Day in Golden Colorado, where the run started, so we ended up starting a little late to allow everyone to find parking and arrive. Read the rest of this entry »