Churning Stomach...must be close to race day

First race of the season tomorrow. It is just a sprint distance and not on my calendar as an "A" race but it is the first race and I want the experience to be positive. I am trying to just chill and use it as a way to iron out the kinks in my race plan for the Olympic "A" race June 22. I will go this afternoon to the race site to get body marked and swim the full course one more time. This will be my first race with a wetsuit so I am praying that I will be able to get the damn thing off of me in T1 before the race has ended and the race officials pack up and go home.

If you don't hear from me in a few days someone please come help me out of the damn wetsuit.

I am covering my arms and legs with PAM (the oil spray) Yuck! I hear it is helpful for yanking off the suit.

10 teammates are racing which is cool. We will all go get breakfast afterwards. I am honored to be a part of this team but these girls and boys are FAST and last year 5 of the girls placed in the top 10.

Off to review my lists and start packing up...

Will update after the race

Ironman Canada and this morning's swim

Got up freakin' early for a 22 mile bike around Lake Sammamish and then a 30 min swim in the Lake with several team mates. The water feels a bit warmer and we ended up swimming the better part of a mile. It felt really nice.

I am going to a clinic tonight on the Issaquah race course to go over transitions between the swim and bike/bike and run. It is hard to believe that my first race of the season is on Saturday!

I am excited and a bit nervous but mostly excited. It is just a sprint distance which is a 1/4 mile swim/15 mile bike and 3.1 mile run but you need to do it balls out so it is intense. In the 1/2 ironmans you have time to settle in a recognize that it will be a long day. Sprints are just adrenaline filled chaotic races.

As we are nearing June I am getting a bit nervous about the 1/2 Ironman. What was 8 weeks away is now 5 and I am having a bit of anxiety. My coach has be basically busting ass between now and then so hopefully I will feel a bit more secure in a few weeks.

I have started planning out the Summer and staring at me in August is my trip up to Ironman Canada in Penticton. I need to be on site in order to sign up for 2009. I feel sweaty just thinking about signing up and committing to it but I know myself well enough to know that if I sign up I will find a way to put in the training and do it.

A nice long swim tomorrow and some rest on Friday and I should be ready for Saturday morning.

The 7 Hills of Kirkland

Have not updated in awhile. I have been really out of the loop. Husband has been in Australia on a business trip (poor baby) for the past 2 weeks. I had the parents come in for most of the 2 weeks he was gone so I could continue to train. I got some really good rides in and surprised myself by not dying in the two open water swims I attempted. Because of the mountain snow pack melting and pouring into our lakes the temp in Lake Sammamish is averaging a balmy 58 degrees. The wetsuit makes thing bearable.

This morning I got up at 5:30 and met some of my team for the 7 hills of Kirkland ride. It is not a race, just a supported ride. I benefit for a domestic violence shelter in our area. They have 3 options. The traditional 7 hills which is a 40 mile course with 7 hills and 3000 feet of elevation gain, the metric century which is 58 miles, 11 hills with 4500 feet of elevation gain and the full century which is 100 miles, 13 hills and 5500 feet of elevation gain. I chose the metric while most of the rest of the team did the full century. Most of the rest of the team is ramping up for Ironman Canada and since that will not be in my race season until 2009 the 100 miles would not be a great idea for me. I got to ride with the team for about 30 miles and then split off with them and continued on my own. I was able to hook up with another team and run a pace line with them so we all got to take turns pushing the wind out of the way.

I finished feeling pretty strong but I did need to come home and take a nap. I am trying to figure out how the hell I am going to run a 1/2 marathon after a ride of that length.

Slow and steady right?

Anyway....here we are at the start before we got all sweaty and grimy

Drugs are good!!

Monday was my day off so no training to report. My cough seemed to get progressively worse on Monday and last night I had trouble lying down in bed. I was wheezing a lot and feeling a bit panicked. This morning I woke up feeling even cruddier with a dull ache in my chest. I got to the pool at 6 and got in my usual lane for my triathlon speed class. I was not speedy. I usually lead this lane as I am the fastest among the 3 other women but today I was last. I could not catch my breath. About 45 min. into the class my swim teacher told me I was done....I knew I was going to the doctor so of course I chose to then run 8 miles first in case the doctor told me I had to stop exercising :)

Went to immediate care to find out I have a case of crazy bad ass bronchitis. So now in addition to my vitamins I get to take antibiotics for 5 days as well as use an inhaler.

At least I should be over it soon.

Tomorrow morning I have a 2 hour hill ride scheduled. I will lower the intensity a bit so my lungs don't kill me but it should be a nice ride.

Parents are here to save my training as husband left today for 2 weeks in Australia. Poor baby

Happy Mother's Day

Headed up to Lake Stevens for my 4 hour ride and was hit with a deluge of rain as soon as I got out of the van. Melissa and Julie and I headed south to Redmond and ended up doing only a 3 hour ride. 46 miles in all with rolling terrain. It was a good ride but I wish I had gotten that extra hour. I spent the rest of the day (after a shower and hot tub) shopping and chilling with my new Ironman book at a local coffee shop.

Came home to smiling kids and a clean house!

I done been healed, y'all!

Went out for a SLOW 2 hour run today. I covered maybe 12 miles but I kept my heart rate way down to 10 below AET and kept it totally at a conversational level. I followed Runner's World suggestion and used a hot wet towel on my calf this morning to wake it up. I then wrapped it and just went slow on the pancake flat run.

After I warmed up about 10-15 min into the run I removed the wrap since it bothered me and felt no pain for the duration of the run. Unfortunately I tried Cliff Shot Electrolyte today in Cran-razz flavor which basically tasted like berry-licious seawater so at about mile 6 I threw up.

But...I have no calf pain and that rocks. Got home and iced it just to be cautious.

Tomorrow we start at 6 a.m. in Lake Stevens to do the full 2 loop course again. 58 miles followed by a 6 mile run. I will hobble to the car and drive right to the pro club for a nice Mother's Day hot tub and sauna.

When I come home the kids should have the house cleaned!! Bliss.

It is going to be a good weekend

Better!

I iced the calf all day yesterday and wrapped it with a tight bandage. This morning I met Wendi for a 2 hour bike ride and all went well. I spun at a pretty high cadence on the flats so as not to stress the leg and did all the hill climbs seated. I will continue to be conservative with it until I am back 100%. I have a 2 hour run scheduled tomorrow but I think I will do a run on my own as the team run involves 5 separate hills. We have a nice flat trail near the house and until I improve that will have to do.

Crap!

Started the day feeling pretty good. I went to the pro club and did a 1 hour endurance swim class. I am still trying to get the whole bilateral breathing down and so I am still swimming like a spaz but we covered about 2500 yards and I didn't die.

Went into the locker room after the swim and suited up for my favorite run of the week. Hill repeats,yay!!! I ran about 15 min to my special hill and made my way slowly to the top. Coach has me doing 6 repeats and then running back. At the top of the first repeat I slowed to a walk as I normally do to bring my heart rate back down into the realm of normal. At that time I felt a painful pull on my left calf. I stopped right away and stretched and ended up walking back to the club to ice it.

Now I am home icing my sore calf and wondering what the hell went wrong :(

Had to skip my bike ride this morning as I needed to take my 8 year old into the hospital for sinus surgery. I feel pretty run down with a cold today as well so the rest was probably a good idea.

Off to bed. Endurance swim and hill repeats on the agenda tomorrow

First Post!!

I have moved over from Livejournal where I was posting entirely too much to all of my friends about my triathlon addiction. I wanted a space dedicated to my triathlon journey and quest for Ironman in 2009 so here it is.

I entered the world of triathlon last year after losing 90 pounds and looking for a goal to keep me motivated athletically. I signed up for the Danskin on a whim and fell in love from the moment the goggles were first kicked off my face in the open water swim. I have only completed TWO sprint triathlons but I have been training hard with my team and I am set to conquer 2 sprint tris, one Olympic distance and 2 half ironmans this year.

I will travel to Penticton in August to watch Ironman Canada and sign up for the race next year.

Whatever keeps me off the couch.


I will detail my weekly training and racing here so I have something to look back at to see how far I've come.


Today's workout:

1 hour strength swim w/2000 yards total
36 min tempo run
30 min strength training and core workout