Monday, June 30, 2008

Beating the Heat and Another Lesson in Trust

6 mile run, 25 mile bike
The past few weeks have not been normal training weeks. For one thing, I've had a race every other weekend over the course of six weeks. This means that I'm doing some sort of tapering every other week. The second thing is that I was trying to take it easy in an attempt to heal my hamstring. What this has boiled down to is not a lot of intense training. And not a lot of training at lunch time in the heat. It's only just recently started getting really hot, so my last noontime workouts were in much cooler temperatures. In fact, the last run I did from work, it was pouring rain and cold. I actually wore tights! So I wasn't quite sure what to expect heading out for a run today at lunch when the temperatures were maybe around 80.

I had a 6 mile run, with 2 x 1 miles followed by 1 x .5 miles in Z4 with several minutes of walking in between. My Z4 intervals never start off well. I take off way to hard and am ready to die about halfway through. The ones following always go so much better. I've been trying to pay more attention to this and start off slower and gradually move up through the zones. This worked really well during that last run in the rain. It didn't work so well today. Because of the heat, my HR was higher in general and jumped upwards at a much faster rate. I did not factor this into my equation of starting off slow.

The first quarter mile was on the road and the heat from the asphalt was just destroying me. I felt dead before I had hardly gotten started. I then was able to get on the trail, where there is some shade and it's a bit cooler. Not much, but a bit. If you're lucky, you can run by a dog that's just coming out of the creek and hope they shake water all over you. I'm serious. Anyhow, my HR was moving up pretty quickly and I tried to slow myself down a little, but it was useless. The heat was in control. The last .15 miles seemed to take forever and oh how I couldn't wait for that 3 minute walk break. Lap time: 7:29

During the walk, I tried to calm myself back down into Z2. I tried not to think about the fact that I still had 1.5 miles left of this. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to do the whole set. But then I reminded myself that the first one is always the hardest and usually the worst timewise. I also told myself that it's slightly downhill on the way back. I swear the 3 minutes went by faster than the last .15 miles and it was time for me to take off again. This time I knew I had to start slower. And in fact, it seemed like my body wouldn't really let me go much faster. I was in Z4 and I just told myself that it is what it is and I'll just have to accept the fact that I'm going slower. I'm supposed to be doing a particular interval, which is to run a mile in Z4. The workout is not to go as hard as I can in the hopes of getting the best ever split time. I find that I often have this particular thought during the second interval. Why it can't come to be during the first interval when I need it most is beyond me. This second mile, though feeling slower, also felt a lot more consistent. I didn't feel like I was going to die every few feet. I was breathing pretty hard and the last .15 miles were still a little bit of a struggle, overall it was so much better than the first. Another 3 minute walk break. Whew. Lap time: 7:10 (!)

During this second break, I was really starting to feel the effects of the heat. I felt like heat was just radiating off of me. I had water with me and dumped some over my head for immediate, though short lived, relief. Only half mile to go. But this one was all on asphalt. Yuck. Time was up and it was time to run again. I'm not sure if it's because at one point I had put the thought into my head that I probably wasn't going to make it through the entire set, but this last half mile, I really didn't feel like I was giving it my full effort. It felt kind of half-assed, even though I was in Z4. As a result, it felt slightly easier than the last one since I had pretty much convinced myself that I was really in Z3. And then it was over. Lap time: 3:29 (that's a 6:59 pace!)

I had to slow down to a near walk in order to get back down to Z2 and then Z1 for my cool-down. But I had made it through the complete set and had survived the heat without much ill effect.

I am so amazed with the split times. It just goes to show you how mental this stuff can be. I have proven to myself time and time again that sometimes I need to focus less on things. When I relax and forget about time goals, I do so much better. Yet I still can't seem apply this lesson easily. I still go out too hard. I still convince myself that I'm not going the pace that I think I should be going. I need to let go of my expectations and just trust myself. If only it was that easy...

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Lake to Lake Race Report, Loveland CO

1.5K swim, 30 mile bike, 10K run
This was my first year at Lake to Lake. Overall it was a great race and definitely one I would do again. It went much better than expected. I've been dealing with a nagging hamstring for the past few weeks, ever since Deuces Wild. I was a little worried going into it since I haven't been doing much. I've had a race every other weekend for the past 6 weeks, so every second week is a bit of a taper. I also took 4 days off (4 very long days!) of no running or riding last week in an attempt to heal the hamstring. But I found that it really didn't make a difference - it still hurt when I finally went back out again last weekend, so instead I probably just gave up some good training time. But this is not the point...

The day started out very early. Matt and I woke up at 3:30 and struggled out of bed. He somehow had a bit more energy than one would expect of anyone at that hour, but kept saying that he really didn't want to do this and I have to admit it was tempting. Especially snce I was not nearly as awake as he was. Even the dogs had no idea what was going on. They were like "Why are we going out so early? It's still very dark outside and we should all still be sleeping". Naturally, as soon as I pulled out the food they were immediately awake and ready to go. At They went back to bed immediately. Lucky them.

We got the car loaded and were on the road a little after 4. I still had to get gas and didn't realize that there are not so many options at 4AM. I always thought that pay at the pump stations would be available 24 hours. But as I learned very early this morning, this is not the case. Of course, instead of telling you this outright, it lets you go through all the steps of swiping your card and entering your zip and actually authorizing your card, making it seem like you're ready to go. Only you're not, because when you try and start pumping gas, nothing actually happens. Good to know for next time.

The drive was uneventful, but I was oh so tired. We arrived in Loveland a little before 5. Packet pickup was supposed to open at 5. The road to the high school was blocked off and there were no signs saying that athletes could still go through. I started to drive through the intersection where we were supposed to turn and then ended up doing some crazy veering through cones in order to get through. We were one of the first ones in the gym to get our numbers. However, when Matt got up to the table, he apparently had some big orange sticker on his packet. The volunteer said that he would have to wait for "this guy" to show up with the computer and verify his USAT status (he had the one day membership, for which he had already paid during the initial registration but for whatever reason, didn't seem to be valid). So we began the wait for "this guy". We were not the only ones waiting for "this guy". There was another woman sitting with us whose registration never seemed to have been recorded in the first place. I thought Matt had a lot of energy in the morning, but this woman made Matt look like he was still sleeping. "This guy" never seemed to show up, but a woman with an air of authority did show up. She also had with her what looked to be waivers. I told Matt to go talk to her. He got a waiver and came back to the table. Apparently there was only one pen in the cafeteria, and Matt was not the lucky recipient. But I had one for him to use. He filled out the form and then had to go back and stand in line. After all of this, which took at least 30 minutes from our initial arrival, he ended up getting up to the desk and they gave him his number, but never took his waiver! So what exactly was the point of all of this? A lesson in patience?

At this point, we didn't have a lot of time to get everything set up. The transition area was a cluster. There were supposed to be 10 bikes per rack and most of them looked full. We were able to squeeze ourselves in without much of an issue, but according to Amanda and Amy, there were many crabby people there that just didn't want to make room for people. It was a little bit of a tight fit and I ended up having to stack things on top of each other. It just seems like things would be so much easier if the racks were numbered. There wasn't too much time to worry about this - we still had to get marked and make our way down to the start.

Matt started in the first wave and I was 4 minutes behind him. My instructions from Craig were to start at the front and cut left to the first buoy. I was pretty close to the front, but I think I was too far over to the right. There wasn't exactly a designated start line and since everyone was entering the water to my left, I didn't really have a good chance of getting farther over without being in the middle of everything. I decided to stay where I was. The swim was pretty rough up to the first buoy. I couldn't find a clear path. The woman to the right of me kept swimming to the left and the woman to the left of me kept swimming to the right and I kept getting trapped in between. After rounding the first buoy, I was finally able to get through them and had an open path. Aside from some floaties, most of which hit me full in the face, the rest of the swim went well. The water was warm, calm, and relatively clear. It seemed to go by pretty fast and I have to think that it was a slightly shorter course. But perhaps they made up for it with the really long run from the beach back to the transition area. We're guessing it was about a 90 second run...it was quite a hike.

T1 went a lot faster than my past two races, though I'm not sure I did anything different. I actually sat down to dry off my feet and try and get most of the grass off of them before putting on my socks. Yes, I'm a sock wearer. I can give up a few seconds for a little more comfort. And I do have to say that I like the grassy transitions - it makes for a nicer run with the bike without fear of wiping out before even getting out of the transition area.

Commence the bike. The bike didn't start off that well. I just couldn't seem to get my legs moving. I was trying to get myself motivated when a guy in front of me crashed. He wasn't wearing a shirt and was pretty scratched up. Fortunately, he was able to get up and get back on the bike and was able to pass me shortly after that. But it wasn't a pretty sight and we did a bit of leapfrogging for the next 5 miles or so. Each time he passed, I got a little more queasy with the dripping blood and all. Finally he left me once and for all so I tried to reflect on nicer things. Once we got off the main roads, the ride was actually really nice and scenic. I felt really slow but tried not to focus on it and just told myself to keep the cadence up. My hamstring was bothering me on and off for that first third, which also didn't help since I just kept worrying about it. I finally got to a point somewhere during the long climb towards the midpoint of the ride where everything seemed to kick in and I finally felt like I was riding. I was actually able to start passing a few people on the climb. I kept thinking back to what Craig said with attacking on the hills and just went for it. Most of them caught me again on the downhill before the really steep climb - they had a bit more weight on me. But I really pushed it on the steep hill and flew right past them again. And most of them didn't catch up again. There was one woman who was annoying me for a while. She clearly couldn't climb or was just too tired at the point to do so. I kept passing her on the climbs and she'd come flying past on the downhill as I was recovering, but then immediately stall again once the hill ended. We finally got to a section of rollers and I decided I was going to pass once and for all. I didn't see her again after that. The rest of the ride went pretty well, though there was one section towards the end where we were riding on the other side of the road. It was a little weird. No one was completely sure where to ride and which side to pass on. Finally we pulled back into the parking lot and back to the transition area.

T2 was a little more of an effort than I had expected. I got back to my spot and someone else's bike was already there. I really couldn't put my bike elsewhere because then I'd be taking someone else's spot. So I made the assumption that this person was really next to me and somehow managed to move their bike over and get mine squeezed in. Also, because of the whole stacking of my stuff, I had to do a little digging to find everything for the run.

The run for all three races I've done this year have all started the same way. I've felt like I had way too much to drink and that there's liquid just sloshing around. I purposely stopped drinking when I through we were about 5 miles out, but it didn't seem to make much a difference. And it's kind of a hard feeling to shake. But I pushed forward. I really didn't like the run. There was a little too much on the main road and the side roads were pretty sloped. It was an out and back run and there was also a section where someone decided that people heading out should run on the sidewalk so that people heading back in could have the road. And of course, once one person did it, everyone followed. This would have been fine, but it was a sidewalk (as opposed to a bike path or something), so every few feet their were driveways, which meant that it dipped down and then back up. This does not make for a smooth run. I saw Amy somewhere between miles 2 and 3, and then Matt shortly after. Both looked like they were running strong. Heading back, I saw Amanda. I must say, the new HEP shirts are so bright that you really can't miss people. The rest of the run I just focused on one step at a time, telling myself that it was almost over. We finally got back to the park and the volunteers said there was only half a mile left. I didn't believe them. It didn't seem like it could be that far and they didn't look like the types of people that actually knew how far half a mile was. So, shortly after passing them, I started picking up the pace. Big mistake. I thought the finish to the Marine Corps marathon was bad being uphill and around a big circle (you can't see the finish until you're right there). This was so much worse. Having no idea how the run course actually went, I assume that the finish was always just ahead of me. Only I couldn't hear the crowd that one normally hears approaching the finish line. Every time we rounded a corner, there was always another runner way up ahead of me. Where the hell was the finish? And it didn't help that everyone lined on this section of the coarse kept cheering "you're almost there". There should be lessons in cheering - you should never say that someone is almost there until they really are almost there. I rounded another corner and saw people on the other side of the water still running. So I still had to go forwards, cross over the water somewhere, and then started heading back. I was really dying at this point. I was passed by a 66 year old man. I think that must have been what got me moving again. Finally I was on the other side of the water and could finally hear people cheering. There was a timing pad many feet in front of the finish (I still couldn't see the finish). I was thinking "wow, this is kind of a lame finish" and was all ready to stop after this pad, but fortunately there was a volunteer telling me not to stop. At this point, I could finally see the finish and saw that the clock said 2:58. My goal was sub-3 so I charged across the line as though the clock were about to jump ahead a minute. And then I was done. And I had completely forgotten that I had started in the second wave, 4 minutes after the clock started, so I easily met my goal, with several extra minutes to spare. Final time, 2:54. A great race indeed.

Swim: 26:42
Bike: 1:34:29 (19mph, which is pretty much a PR for me at this distance)
Run: 5.:19
Total: 2:54:19

17/58 in age group
226/596 overall

Monday, June 23, 2008

Ironman Part 2 (and a little sibling rivalry)



So, I'm doing it again. I signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2009. I knew it was coming. I said just days after the first one that I could see myself doing another one. And so here we are.

My brother, Adam, signed up as well. Actually, I signed him up because he was having validation issues. What a crazy sign-up process. We spent about 30 minutes before registration opened refreshing browsers and getting "too busy" pages. Finally we got in and I got through registration pretty easily. He however couldn't get passed the credit card page. So I called him and did the registration for him over the phone. Since nothing was defaulted (I was still logged in as me), I had to enter everything. My hands were shaking and I was starting to panic that I wouldn't be able to get it all in. In the end it was fine and he's now registered. On a whim, I told him that he should double check his registration and make sure I didn't screw anything up. Apparently I did - I misspelled his last name, the same last name that I share. Nice, huh? Fortunately he was able to call and have them fix it. Anyhow, after all of that, several hours later, there were still spots available.


But now we're in and it's kind of anti-climactic since it's a year away and I still have to get through this season.

And now a little bit about the competition. Adam is a year younger than me and I try to always be one step ahead of him. He came to my first triathlon as a spectator and loved it. The very next year, he was out there participating. Unlike me, he is a great cyclist. With running and swimming, it's a very close tie with me being just a few seconds behind him. I think our biggest challenge was during the 5430 Sprint last year. He started 10 minutes behind me and was determined to catch me. I was determined to not let that happen. It's a short enough race that 10 minutes is a lot to make up. I knew we were pretty evenly matched in the run and swim, so I just had to make sure he didn't make it all up on the bike. I was heading back towards the finish line during the run and probably had a little over a mile to go. Since it's an out and back course, I could easily see how I was doing. All of a sudden, he's running on the other side of the path and says "Hi Jess" and I was floored. He was SO much closer than I had anticipated. I then dug deep and took off running and didn't stop until I crossed the line. He crossed about 30 seconds later. It was a close one (and yes, he made it all up on the bike).

You could say we're a little competitive with each other, but in a good way. We're also very supportive of each other. This will be his first Ironman and I'm excited that I'll there doing it along side of him (or a few minutes back).

Saturday, June 21, 2008

5430 Sprint Race Report, Boulder CO

75om swim, 40K bike, 10K run
Now that it's a few days past, I guess I can say that overall it went well. About 2 minutes faster than last year. Initially I was disappointed with my time because it felt like I was going much harder, especially on the bike. Despite the wind, I actually felt like I was going strong and hard and I actually passed people. So I was a little disappointed that my time was just slightly above last year's time (52:36 versus 53:52). It is still unclear to me how I was able to be about 1.5 minutes faster 3 years ago. I think the other reason I was initially disappointed was that I was the first women's wave to go off, so there weren't a ton of women in front of me - the people that were faster than me in my age group and some really fast women in the later waves that passed me on the bike. When I got to the run, since it's out and back, you can see everyone. As I left the transition for the run, I heard them announce that a woman still had not crossed the finish line. So, during the run, I was able to see how many women were in front of me, and there weren't that many. I had completely forgotten about that fact that someone behind me could still finish faster than me. In the end, I finished 69th out of the women and made it into the Daily Camera (top 100 men and women finishers), so I can't complain too much.

Anyhow, the swim start was a little shaky. I don't like going in a clockwise direction since I breathe to my left. I started on the far left, but up front. When we started, for whatever reason, I wasn't quite going in the right direction. I couldn't see any of the buoys and then realized that I couldn't really see other swimmers in front of me. I finally looked right and saw everyone. So for that first leg, I was drifting a bit. Once I turned at the buoy things were fine and I stayed on course just fine. The swim itself was otherwise fine - I felt pretty good.

For once, I felt strong on the bike. I was able to stay in my big ring the entire race, even on the hills, so I was really happy about that. I was also passing people. I felt like I was able to keep my cadence up and was pretty happy with how things were going. The bad thing was that I did feel my hamstring a bit during the ride. It wasn't constant, but it did pop up occasionally.

My transitions were much smoother this year and I was off on the run pretty quickly. Immediately I felt kind of queasy. I hadn't eaten anything on the bike and only had water to drink and I wouldn't say that I drank a ton. I tried to stick to the every 15 minutes, but not having a watch, I did have to guess a little. The feeling eventually subsided maybe half a mile in, but it never completely went away. So much like the Bolder Boulder, I didn't feel like I could push much harder even though physically I knew I was capable. I still felt like I was moving at a decent clip since I was passing a lot of people. I was actually really surprised with my run time and it being as fast as it was. It definitely seemed slower at the time. Everyone said I looked really strong heading out on the run, so I must have faked it well.

Results:
Swim: 13:54
Bike: 52:36 (19.6 mph)
Run: 23:39 (7:38 min/mi)
Total: 1:33:06

division: 15/92
female: 69/~550
overall: 303/~1100

Friday, June 20, 2008

Why I'm starting now


I guess I don't really have a good answer for this. I'm doing it because some of my teammates are doing it (I train with a great coach, Craig Howie). I'm doing it because I'm constantly sending him training updates and how is this much different. I'm doing it because it's a much easier format for me to see my ups and downs as well as my progress.

A little bit about me...
I've been doing triathlons for about 6 years now. Last November, I became an Ironman. It was an incredible experience and accomplishment. While my goals for this year are not quite as grandiose, they are still tough goals and will be a challenge to achieve. My biggest goal this year is to get faster on the bike. The bike and I do not get along very well. Maybe it stems from my first learning to ride a bike.

When I was little, let's just say I was accident-prone. We spent a lot of time at Children's Hospital dealing with broken bones and sprains and such. Nothing serious, but enough to make my mother not want me to learn how to ride a bike. I was visiting my dad one summer, I believe when I was about 8. We lived across the street from an elementary school. One weekend, they had a "learn to ride a bike" class for kids where you would learn to ride and walk away with a certificate. My dad asked if I wanted to go. I told him that I wasn't allowed to ride bikes yet. He said "That's not what I asked you." And so I went against my mom's wishes, and apparently some higher power, and learned how to ride a bike. It has been an uphill battle ever since. I am not confident on the bike. I am not comfortable on the bike. I don't like the fact that a machine, albeit a very nice and expensive one, seems to be more in control. I don't like the fact that I have to rely on said machine to get me through a race or workout. And let's not mention the fact that drivers are crazy, so you're really putting your life on the line over and over again. Here in Boulder, there was yet another tragic death of a cyclist over the weekend. At times, I can be terrified of the bike.

So, that being said, overcoming some of this and getting faster is my big goal for the year. I'm a tiny person and I have a tiny bike, and I don't seem to generate a lot of power, so speed is definitely not my forte. In the lab, my results seem great - I have a decent power to weight ratio. But this never seems to apply on the open road. I got a new tri-bike last year and still have yet to beat my fastest bike time (3 years ago during the 5430 Sprint), which was on a bike that I had been told repeatedly was not efficient. In fact, the reason I got a new bike was because enough people agreed that my biggest problem was the bike. My form looked great, I seemed to be doing everything right, so it must be the bike. I insisted that it had to be me and that I just wasn't efficient. But I finally broke down and got a new bike - a custom Elite Razor that I really do love (I was forced to ride my old bike for about a week and a half before Ironman Florida since I shipped my bike. I don't know how I ever was able to ride that thing. It was so uncomfortable). But it turns out that it's not just the bike. I still am pretty slow, so I'm going back to the efficiency theory. I also don't think I push myself hard enough. But now I know what I need to work on. I took a power max class for several months at the beginning of the year and I think it really made a difference. My speed is ever so slowly increasing. So I'm heading in the right direction.

In addition to getting faster and more comfortable, I want to bring my half-Ironman time down by 30 minutes. Right now, I'm hovering just above the 6 hour mark and 5:30 is my goal. I do think this is a realistic goal - about a third of this can come from the run and the rest from the bike. It is a lot to work towards, but I think I'm heading in the right direction.

My final goal, and certainly not least important, is to have fun. I am very competitive with myself and I have to remind myself that in the end I'm doing this because I like it and I enjoy it and because I'm lucky enough to be able to.

And before I sign out for the night, I just wanted to wish a great race to all my fellow HEPsters and swim buddies at Coeur d'Alene this weekend. I know you will all do great!