Midweek Update

This week is quite stellar so far. For the first time in training, I'm feeling consistently strong each day. This just propels more motivation and confidence, which helps me get through the next workout. Yeah, I'm fucking tired. But I'm getting through each session without crashing. Now if only I could do something about this appetite. Seriously. I've been going back for thirds at dinner...and then eating Ken's left overs. He has started making me a pre-dinner. Tonight before the time trial, I ate half a loaf of uncooked garlic bread. I was like a starving child from a third-world country who hasn't eaten in 3 days. Except for I'm not starving and it had only been 3 hours since my last meal. I need to lose about 10 more pounds to be comfortable for Ironman, so this is not a good thing.

My week so far:

Monday--
Swim: 5:45am, 00:59:40, 2600 meters
I finally got to workout with Jon. It's been awhile. I felt strong and efficient in the pool, and was able to hold a 1:55 pace without effort. I know there is more efficiency that I can gain with some additional corrections to my form, so I'm really excited.

Run: 6:10pm, 00:38:57, 3.31 miles
This was a slog. It was hot and I was tired from not taking a rest day. But with Hood-to-Coast around the corner, I knew that I needed to get this in. Still, a 11:46/mile is better than the 12:30/mile about a month ago. I'll take it.

Tuesday--
Run: 6:00am, 00:46:48, 4 miles
Track workout:
Warmup - 1 mile
3x - 0.5 mile fast, 0.25 mile recovery
Cooldown - 1mile

Wednesday--

Swim: 5:50am, 00:56:37, 2600 meters
Again, this was effortless.
Warmup - 250m swim, 250m kick
Drill - 8 x 50m, 15sec rest
Main set - 8 x 50m (1:50 pace), 15sec rest, 600m (1:55 pace), 8 x 50m (1:50 pace), 15 sec rest
Drill - 4 x 50m, 15sec rest
Cool down - 100m

Bike: 6:00pm, 00:45:00, 10.20 miles
On the trainer. With oodles of wedding stuff in the background. Maybe by IM I'll have less around the middle!

Transition: 5 minutes

Run: 6:50pm, 00:28:22, 2.24 miles
HOT brick run. I saw some lively encouraging people though, so that was nice.

Thursday--
Bike 1: to and from the time trial, 00:49:30, 11.86 miles

Bike 2: Vancouver Bike Club Time Trial, 00:27:58, 10 miles = 21.5 mph!!!
I've been trying to hit a 21 mph average all dang summer long. Two weeks ago I missed it by 7 stupid seconds. Today, despite a wicked headwind and some yucky crosswinds, I was determined. I repeated to myself over and over again, "pedal harder bitch." This was in between garlic bread burps, which I don't recommend. Why is it that now that I look at my time, I can't help but think "well, only 42 seconds away from 22 mph..." The bummer about meeting a goal is that now you have to meet a harder goal. :-)

Total time for the week so far = 5.96 hours. Week 17 is going to be a good one!

17

At the end of week 16 I felt pretty good. Tired, but good. Despite a couple of missed workouts due to life, I managed almost 10.5 hours of training. I was shooting for 13, but 10.5 is okay with me. Speaking of tired, I have been falling asleep in some pretty inappropriate places. At my desk, in meetings, on the toilet, on the phone, eating dinner. Is everyone else this tired? I suspect it's time to hit the iron supplements again.

Some highlights from last week:
-- I ran a 5.25 mile loop by my house over 5 minutes faster than before, for a pace of 10:50...and I felt great doing it.
-- I can swim again! I've been seeing a new masters coach 1x/week to get me back to where I should be. I call him my "rocket propulsion specialist" because it now feels like I have a jet pack strapped to my back. I keep checking my watch against the pool clock just to make sure. It's awesome. I lose my groove every once in awhile, but I'm hopeful that I'll be able to finish the IM swim in a respectable time.
-- My Saturday ride with Julie Unruly (Ken's nickname for her). We did the 65 mile RACC route in Clark County. It's the one route that I'm not sick of right now. Some good hills, not much traffic, and relaxing scenery. Here's me at a quick break, courtesy of Unruly.

Week 17 Plan:
Mon - rest (swam and ran)
Tue - swim 60min (did it Mon), run 60min (done)
Wed - swim 60min, bike 45min, brick run 30min
Thu - bike 75min (will do the VBC time trial, plus ride there and back)
Fri - swim 60min (optional), run 75min
Sat - bike 3.5hr, brick run 30min
Sun - bike 1hr, run 75min, swim lesson 60min
TOTAL = 14:00

I'm starting out the week at 167.5 lb. Although, I have a hunch that the recent mass consumption of zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, and chocolate zucchini cake are going to catch up to me before next week. No measurements again this week. Here's the photo:

One Reason I Love IM Training

This is my lunch for tomorrow, which is not including the cottage cheese and yogurt that is already at work. Although, this is really my 1st breakfast, 2nd breakfast, snack, 1st lunch, and 2nd lunch.

And this is Ken's lunch. But to be fair, it is will probably be beefed up by 40oz of coffee, followed by a whopper, cheeseburger, and coke later on.

Week 16

I'm heading into the last 2 days of week 16, so I'll spare you the details of what the plan was supposed to be. I'm mostly on track this week. Feeling a little refreshed after a bit of recovery last week. And my body is almost back to normal from the 3-day hangover following the celebration of my final days as a single lady. I don't drink. Well, I did that night. But not normally. It makes for a really ugly morning after.

Here's the weekly photo. I didn't take measurements this week, but I'm down another pound to 168.5. And that's after eating lunch. (And yes, that is boob sweat in the photo. I just finished 5.25 miles at a 10:50 pace, which is fast for me.)

And a nice side-view comparison of this week compared to one of the earlier weeks.

And my new shoes! I remember when I would have a pair of running shoes for about 3 years. This is like my 10th pair in 3 years. I *heart* my Mizunos!

Buried

I'm very much behind on my bloggercizing (what Ken calls it). I've been buried...in work, training, wedding planning...zucchini. So, where were we? Ah yes, finishing up week 15. On the verge of my head exploding from the gazillion things to do and having to dig deeper than China to find motivation, I opted to take a little breather before heading into the final 15 week build/peak for the big race. I pretty much cut my training week in half and recharged a bit. I ended up with 7 hours of training. A couple of highlights:

--I had a PR at the weekly Vancouver Bike Club time trial. 20.92 mph average! My goal was 21 mph and I missed that by about 7 seconds. Next time I'll go at least 8 seconds faster!

--I realized that if I'm on the trainer and scoot the table over just a bit, I can have a plethora of coffee, beer, and gatorade sitting right next to me. Awesome.

--I took swimming lessons from a new masters coach. He has given lessons to a couple of people I know and had raving reviews. One hour of instruction and I knocked over 10 seconds off my 100m pace. Suuuuweeeeet!!!!

--And most importantly, I survived my bachelorette party. Kristin did the most fabulous job of putting the whole thing together. I didn't puke. I didn't take any clothes off. And I made it home before 3am. Success! I'll have to elaborate in a dedicated post to the entire evening. It was so much fun.

Vegemite Sandwich

I had an awesome run tonight. It wasn't particularly long or fast (4.5 miles, 11:40 pace), but I had a blast. Some of the highlights:

• Two catcalls from passing vehicles before I was even a block into my run. I'm not so crazy feminist that I can't appreciate a well intentioned "wooohoooo" once in awhile. Yes, more please.
• At a stoplight I caught myself seriously rocking out. I mean, arms up in the air, hips shaking, dancing. I had put "Land Down Under" by Men At Work onto my MP3 while I was training for the Blue Lake race against Dingo Dave. And I bust-a-move every time it shows up on my playlist. "...I said do you speaka my language, he just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich..."
• I saw a dude in full team kit on a very spendy roadie roll by...with his helmet on backwards. Thankfully I wasn't taking a sip of water at the time or I would have choked. I was laughing so hard.
• The first of my 4 intervals was on a slight decline. Yeah! This also meant that the last one was on a slight uphill, but...
• ...I was able to power up every hill with no problem today. Love that.
• And finally, I didn't puke after my intervals! Almost, but I didn't!

And, better late then never (again), here are the weekly update photo and measurements.

Weight = 169.5, down a pound from last week. After the recent upward trend, I'll take it.
Stomach = -0.5" / -3.5" overall (I had to retake this several times b/c I didn't believe it.)
Hips = +0.5" / -1.5" overall (I also had to retake this one several times. My hips got bigger this week??)
Thigh = -0.25" / -0.5" overall
Bicep = no change / -0.5" overall

Holy Mother of God

After a horribly painful massage on Sunday, I realized that my muscles are all bunched up into tight little wads of cramping twitching swolleness. While picking up another pair of running shoes this afternoon, I finally purchased one of these:My very own foam roller! I've used one off and on at the gym over the past few years, but they are hard to find there, and it has always hurt so much that I don't do it again for months and months. With one sitting right next to the couch, maybe I'll be inclined to use it more often. So after my workouts and bath this evening I gave it a whirl. HOLY SHITEBALLS! I was crying and bitching so loudly that we were wondering if the neighbors would come knocking at the door. I made it about 10 minutes. Hopefully this will get easier over time.

Other than the self-torture, the week is off to an interesting start. I rested yesterday as planned (with the exception of 2 hours of weeding). Today I swam at lunch. And after work, well, let's just say that 2 cups of black beans for lunch is not at all conducive to an evening run. I opted to ride the trainer for 40 minutes where I was safely near all the comforts that home offers.

Wo, We're Half Way There..

...Wo, Livin' on a Prayer. Wow, half way. It's going to take a couple hundred more hours of dedicated training, and more than a few prayers, to get me ready to toe the line on November 22. Each week brings its share of trials and tribulations, but also each week the feelings of readiness start to overshadow the feelings of self-doubt.

Week 14 Milestones:
--At the first sign of getting sick I, for once, listened to my body and took a brief break. This led to finishing the week strong...instead of sick in bed.
--I had a PR at the VBC time trial on Thursday night. Not quite 21mph, but I'll get there soon. I also puked all of my pre-ride fuel all over the street on the ride back home. It was very impressive.
--I finally finished the entire brick run after my long Saturday ride. And felt awesome the whole time!
--And then did it again on Sunday.
--Got wedding invites out. Okay, this isn't tri related, but those things have been haunting me for weeks!

Week 14 Totals:
Swim = 3650 meters (horrible, but I'm disgruntled with my masters class and am having to rework my schedule to get the swims in)
Bike = 69.38 miles (okay)
Run = 14.92 miles (mostly on track...want another 5-6/wk at this point)
Plus some transitions and such.
TOTAL = 9.29 hours

Week 15 Goals:
--No missed workouts. Except for Sunday b/c my bachelorette party is Saturday night. Considering I got drunk off 2 beers yesterday (yeah, TWO beers), I will surely feel like dog ass on Sunday.
--Break 21 mph at the TT on Thursday. I'm going to do it! Well, unless I don't. But I'm not giving myself that option.
--Go to bed on time. I think this key to meeting the previously stated goals for the week.

Week 15 Plan:
Mon - rest day
Tue - swim 60min; run 1hr w/ intervals
Wed - bike 45min; run 30min (do as brick)
Thu - swim 60min; bike 1hr (TT)
Fri - swim 60min; run 1hr
Sat - bike 4hr; run 30min (do as brick)
Sat night - God help me
Sun - sleep in...and if I can manage it, bike 45min; run 1.5hr
TOTAL = 14hr (11.75hr if you subtract Sun)

Almost Half Way

One more day until the half way point! It's been an interesting week. I don't know if it's the IM training or something else that has turned me into thisand. I took an unplanned rest day and cut a few workouts short to fend off an impending throat infection. I am very convinced that I turned my recovery time into 1-2 days instead of the usual 1-2 weeks. So while the overall volume isn't super fabulous this week, I did get in some quality workouts and managed most of my interval workouts.

It turns out all I really needed to turn my attitude around was another awesome Saturday morning ride with Jenn. Here is me after my 3hr bike/30min run brick this morning.

I'm at 7.54 hours for the week with 1 short bike and 1 long run left to go. And then I get a massage! Yes!

I've Posted 14 of These?

This week you get the update photo with me in a swimsuit. It was too dang hot to change into a sports bra and trishorts, and I was on my way to Masters swimming anyway. Which sucked. I'm looking for a new Masters group, but that's not really relevant to this post. I lost inches in some places and gained in others. I also gained 0.5 lb. I would like to blame it on the heat, but I'm not convinced.

Weight: 170.5 lb
Stomach: -0.25" / -3" total
Hips: +0.25" / -2" total
Thigh: no change / -0.75" total
Bicep: no change / -0.5" total

Front and Side (if you look closely, you can see the lovely thigh bruise from side-flopping off the bridge in Whtie Salmon):

Week 14 Plan

Wow, we're 1 week away from the half-way point. Does anyone ever feel ready for their first Ironman? When is that supposed to happen?

My plan for the week:

Monday -- rest day

Tuesday --
Run: 5:45am, track, 1:00 Z2 (at 10min, insert 2 x 4min Z4 @ 1.5min jog)
Swim: 7pm, pool, Masters

Wednesday --
Bike: 5:30am, around the lake, 0:45 Z2
Run (brick): right after the bike, 0:30 Z2

Thursday --
Bike: 5:20am, either on the trainer or ???, 1:00 Z2 (at 15min, insert 3 x 5min Z4 @ 3min spin)
Swim: 7pm, pool, Masters

Friday --
Run: 5:30am, from the gym, 1:00 Z2 (at 0:45, insert 7.5min Z4)
Swim: lunch???, pool, 3000m or whatever the heck I can fit in

Saturday --
Bike: 6am, Crown Point, 3:30 Z2 (at 3:20, insert 5min Z4)
Run (brick): right after the bike, 0:30 Z2

Sunday --
Bike: 7am, trainer or from the house, 0:30 Z1 (100+ rpm)
Run: 8am, wherever, 1:15 Z1-Z2

TOTAL = 13:00

Week 13 Wrap-Up

It's my rest day and I refuse to get up off the couch to take an update photo or measurements, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. I had a great training week and pretty much nailed everything that I set out to do, even if it meant sprint intervals in mid-90° afternoon temps, pushing through near-bonk on another hilly ride, and swimming until I couldn't pull myself out of the pool anymore. All of this Z4 work is kicking my butt. In a good way I hope.

Swim = 8000 meters
Bike = 91.48 miles
Run = 14.91 miles
Plus some other crap like transitions.
TOTAL = 12.25 hours

One More Day

...until a rest day. It can't come soon enough. I am tired. A few weeks ago I thought I was tired, but that doesn't even compare. I imagine that in a few weeks I'll be saying the same thing about how I feel right now. Fatigue is just a component of IM training, but I know that I have made some mistakes this week and can manage a few things better.

1) Nutrition. This is huge and I have no idea what I'm doing wrong. Too many carbs or not enough? Not enough protein or just taking it at the wrong time? How many calories? And for which days? How is my electrolyte balance? Am I taking in the proper recovery food? I plan on taking some time in the next week to do more research and maybe bounce some ideas off my more nutritionally-intelligent friends. I don't have much time left to get it right.

2) Hydration. Clearly I did not drink enough fluids this week.

3) Sleep. With long work hours, long training hours, and a busy social schedule, there just isn't enough time in the day to do it all. Those of you with families...bravo. I'm amazed. For me, more prioritizing and better scheduling is in order. I'm also thinking about working with the next level down for my training plan. I would gain back about 2hr/week. I'll try other things first though. Like maybe less Facebooking. :-)

Anyway, one more day of training left in this week. I'm at almost 11.5 hours of training so far, including 8000m of swimming and 90+ miles of riding. Here's me after my 60+ miler with Bill this morning, drinking a hard-earned iced nonfat latte (after frantically downing a choc milk as my sugar levels were plummeting...more on that in another post).

Week 13 Plan

Three weeks into the build phase. This week I'M GOING TO NAIL MY WORKOUTS. End of story.

Mon: Rest Day

Tues:
Run, 5:45am @ track - 0:45 Z2 (at 0:10, insert 3 x 3min Z4 @ 1min jog)
Swim, 7pm - Masters (60min)

Wed:
Bike, early morning near the gym - 0:45 Z2
Run, brick after the bike - 0:15 Z2

Thu:
Bike, early morning on the trainer - 1:00 Z2 (at 0:15, insert 2 x 5min Z4 @ 3min spin)
Swim, 7pm - Masters (60min)

Fri:
Run, 5:30am near the gym - 1:00 Z2 (at 0:45, insert 5min Z4)
Swim1, 6:45am - 0:30
Swim2, lunchtime - 0:30

Sat:
Bike, early morning @ Crown Point or west side w/ Bill - 3:00 Z2 (at 2:50, insert 5min Z4)
Run, brick after the bike - 0:30 Z2

Sun:
Bike, early morning to Van Lake and back - 0:30 Z1 (100+ rpm)
Run, midday @ Trout Lake - 1:15 Z1-Z2

TOTAL = 12:00

What has happened so far...
Monday - I swam 1400m in the morning instead of resting. Active recovery day.

Tuesday -
Run: I slept in and had to do the run right after work. I called Ken hoping that he would say something like "it's okay honey, why don't we sit in front of the A/C and order Chinese", but instead I got "HTFU and go get your ass out running"...I think he's been listening to me ramble about Beginner Triathlete postings too much. Zone 4 intervals combined with 93° made for a really difficult afternoon. I got the buzzy head, about-to-pass-out feeling, but I was able to walk for a bit and get through it. Slow 12 min/mile pace, but I got it done.
Swim: After the run we hopped in the car and drove to the gym for a refreshing dip with the masters group. Refreshing is of course relative. It was a hard workout, but I would have done it 4 more times to avoid intervals in the heat again.
WU - 200m swim, 50m kick, 200m pull
Main set x3 - 50m DR/50m swim/50m kick/50m swim, 30 sec rest; 50m easy/100m hard/50 m easy, 30sec rest; 200m build, 30sec rest
CD - 150m
TOTAL - 2400 meters

Week 12 Wrap-Up

I finished up the week with my Sunday workouts -- 6.3 mile run with Jenn (awesome, and even an 11:40 pace with plenty of walking so that I could gab) and a 30min Z2 trainer ride. Even with 3 rest days in a row, I logged almost 9 hours of training.

The workouts:
Swim = 1400 meters (super weak sauce)
Bike = 83.89 miles (not bad, but most of that was one ride)
Run = 11.51 miles (okay since I missed some workouts)
Strenth = big fat zero...again
Transitions = 5min
TOTAL = 8.45 hours

The stats:
Weight = 170 lb
Stomach: -0.25" / -2.75" total
Hips: -0.25" / -2.25" total
Thigh: no change / -0.75" total
Bicep: no change / -0.5" total

I do not understand why the scale isn't changing. I'm losing inches. And I do not belive that it's possible for a person to gain that much muscle mass in this short period of time. I'm measuring accurately, people are telling me how different I look, but the damn scale won't budge. I'm thinking of not weighing myself for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Here's the photo:

Here are the sideview shots comparing Week1 to today. At least I'm more tan?

Week 12 Update

I've had some highs and lows this week. The highlight is in purple. :-)

Thursday--
Bike: 01:10:00, 17.36 miles
Trainer ride in front of a spinning video. The hot room combined with the Tuscson scenery, I really felt like I was in Arizona. Okay, maybe not, but it was better than riding in the upper 90 degree sun and rush hour traffic. Yeah, I'm a wimp.

Swim: skipped it. The bike felt really good...and then I was toasted.

Friday--
Swim: 00:31:11, 1400 meters
I felt like I was drowning. And the water walkers and pre-teens were putting me in a bad mood. I had to change lanes twice because, despite the open lanes, people insisted on getting into mine. WTF? I was getting ready to flip turn off a 12 year old's abdomen and instead decided to go for my run.

Run: 01:01:09, 4.79 miles
I both felt and looked like I was drowning. Yes, while running. On dry land. It was that bad.

Saturday--
Bike: 03:53:00, 59.41 miles
My friend Bill took me out on a ride in his neck of the woods on the west side. We started in Beaverton at the Scholls Ferry/Murray intersection, rode out to Hagg Lake, went around the lake, and then back to Beaverton. Lots of hills. Bill likes hills. I do not. Bill is good at hills. I am not. BUT...this was a really fun ride. He actually rode with me, instead of saying he'll ride with me yet riding ahead the whole time. I have like only 3 friends that I can count on for that. I don't think anyone pushes the pace intentionally, but it's nice when someone makes a conscious effort to keep things mellow. Hills + my pace = enjoyable time. That doesn't happen very often. We ended up with 4500+ feet of climbing and a successful tackle of my steepest hill ever (18+% grade). Yeah! My only regret is not bringing a camera.

Run: 00:05:31, 0.46 miles
I did a "quick" transition of 3 minutes, which consisted of throwing the bike in the car, throwing on running shoes, running into the Starbucks bathroom, and ignoring funny looks from people in the parking lot. I only had 15 minutes of running on the schedule, but with the dead quads and the sun coming out in full force, I couldn't do it. In hindsight I know that I quit too easily. Ironman training is SUPPOSED to be hard. Time to get it together.

Week 12 Stats

UPDATE: I stepped on the scale this afternoon...still at 170. I think I had some expectation that as soon as I started Ironman training that I would magically become a thin, fast athlete. Reality check time.

Okay, so I have a little edge this week due to the intestinal purge fest. But you don't lose inches off your thighs from that, so I'm still claiming victory over the tape measure. I have no idea what I weigh b/c I haven't been to the gym since Friday. I'll update that later. The measurements are compared to 2 weeks ago since I didn't measure last week.

Stomach: -0.5" / -2.5" total
Hips: -0.5" / -2" total
Thigh: -0.25" / -0.75" total
Bicep: no change / -0.5" total

Week 12 Plan

This week is just going to be sucky for volume. Monday was a scheduled rest day. I really needed it (more mentally than physically), so I took it. Tuesday and Wednesday were a no-go due to the following.

Shortly after graduating college, my Grandmother was diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer. She was in her early 70s, so it wasn't crazily unusual. She had a surgical resection, underwent chemo, and made a full recovery. Shortly after that, my Mother was also diagnosed with colo-rectal cancer. She was only in her early 40s. She received chemo treatment, underwent radiation, and then a surgical resection. She also had to have a temporary iliostomy bag and then surgery to have that reversed. Colo-rectal cancer can be hereditary and more prevalent in women. Was I scared? Um, yeah. On the advice of her doctors and my OBGYN, I am beginning screening at the young age of 30 years old. They screen you by performing a colonoscopy. Basically, sticking a long probe with a camera on the end up your heiny. While you're knocked out, thankfully. The sucky part is the prep -- 2 days of not eating combined with a 3-laxative cocktail. As I'm finding out, the day after the procedure is no fun either, as my stomach and innards are decidedly not happy with me or what I've put them through. This is a long story to get to the point -- Tue and Wed were shot as far as training goes. Today is going to be wimpy too.

The good news is that I'm clear and don't have to go through that suckage for another 5 years. Here's my little plug for cancer screening though... If you have a history of colon cancer, go get tested. Go to your dermatologist for regular skin cancer screening. If you're a woman, make sure you get your regular paps. If you're over the recommended age or have a family history, make sure you are getting your mammograms. If you're a dude, make sure you're getting your prostate checked when you should. Everyone, do your self-exams. Seriously. Some (okay, most) of these tests are uncomfortable, embarassing, and sometimes demoralizing. So what. Get it done.

Oh right, this post was supposed to be about my Week 12 Plan. Okay, here it is:
Mon - rest
Tue - sit on toilet
Wed - tube up heiny
Thu - ride 1:00, swim 1:00
Fri - swim 1:00, run 1:00
Sat - ride 2:30, quick transition, run 0:15
Sun - ride 0:20, run 1:00
TOTAL - whatever I can get in...

Week 11 Totals

I'm late on the updates again. Week 11 was a so-so week. I did pretty good considering I had my Mom in town, my wedding shower, and then more family in town. Here are the totals:

Swim = 5650 meters
Bike = 74.94 miles
Run = 9.01 miles
Strength = 0 (bad, bad Sarah)
Transitions = 0.13 hours
Walking = 1.08 hours
TOTAL = 9.96 hours

Week 11 Photo

Better late than never. No measurements this week though...I've been too busy training. And eating cookies. I'm back up to 170 pounds. Sigh...