Questions

For the past couple of days, I've been thinking alot about my 1/2 Ironman. It is 34 days away and I'm really starting to wonder about my preparation. The past four weeks have not been good training weeks. On Tuesday, I'll be doing my June wrap up and I'm actually embarassed to check back to see how many workouts I've missed.

Why have I missed these workouts? It boils down to a variety of reasons. I have been lazy. I have been tired. I have been traveling. I have been busy with other things, etc. etc. etc. I haven't been dedicated to my training and I'm really worried that my lack of training is going to show up on race day and that I'm not going to be able to finish the race or that I'm going to have a really non stellar sort of day. These missed workouts are weighing on me and are causing alot of doubt regarding my decisions, goals and dreams.

When I was doing the BAM tri and I crashed and burned on the run, I started to question my ability to do any long course triathlons. I'm not really sure what happened on that race. I don't know if it was nutrition or lack of training or lack of ability or what. In last weekend's race, I saw a man die during the swim and he was probably a better swimmer than me.

So, yeah, I've been worrying about this race quite a bit. I'm not sure how it's going to go and I'm very disappointed in myself for not being diligent with my training. I feel like it I had been more consistent with my training during the build phase, I might feel more confident going into the peak phase. My family is going to Hawaii for 10 days and I know that I'll struggle to get my training in that week. That's adding to my worry, as well as the fact that I only have 34 days until I step up to that starting line, knowing that I'm going to have go 70.3 miles.

While I've been thinking about this, I've also been thinking about my own race day plan and what I need to do to be a little less anxious for race day. Over the next few weeks, I need to get my nutrition in place. I've never been very good at nutrition in my marathon training, so I need to get some sort of handle on that. I need to start pulling together a race day plan and some race day goals. I've got some ideas floating around in my head, but I haven't been able to really put them together into any sort of coherence.

The main thoughts going in my head concern my ability to actually do this and my decision making ability. I wonder what I was thinking in January when I signed up for this 1/2 IM. I wonder what I'm doing thinking that I can be ready for IM Wisconsin next year. I wonder if I'm totally nuts thinking that I can race at Kona someday. I struggled with a distance shorter than an Olympic race and I only have one more race (and it's in a pool) before this 1/2 IM. What in the world was I thinking?!?

Week 15 Utah 1/2 IM Training

I've reached the peak phase, although I'm not certain that I'm ready for it. I'll be writing more about that later. The peak phase consists of long endurance workouts to make sure that I'm ready for race day. The second training priority is to complete the threshold intensity workouts. The goal for this week is to complete Friday's threshold swim intervals at the same pace as I did last week...except that I didn't do that swim workout. So, we'll see how it goes.

June 30, 2008

SWIM - I made it to the pool this morning so I'm 1/1 on workouts this week. I had to skip my kick set because I ran out of time, but I did get 2300 yds done in 56:42. I did complete all of my lactate intervals, even though I wanted to quit after 2. I really don't like lactate intervals, but after the fifth one (I had decided to stop after 5) I realized that only had 2 left, so I went ahead and finished them. I did my lactate intervals in 1:44, which is somewhat disappointing since I usually do 100 yd. in 2 min.

Warmup (300), Drill set (8x25), Base intervals (8x100), Lactate intervals (7x100), Kick set (8x25), Cooldown (300) - Total 2500 yds.

July 1, 2008

BIKE - I did this workout tonight in spite of the 90+ degree temps and I actually had a pretty good ride. My average HR was 145 and I burned 1754 calories. After I finished the ride, I changed shoes and headed up to the treadmill.

Foundation Ride (2 h.) - steady ride at moderate aerobic intensity

RUN - I got this workout done right after my bike and while it was tough (kinda like a brick), I did my tempo run at 6.6 miles per hour. My average HR was 166 and I burned 776 calories. I finished 4.5 miles, so I'm pleased with that. I've had my recovery drink, so now I'm off to bed. One more thing...I'm feeling pretty good about being 3/3 on my workouts this week.

Tempo run 22 min. (42 min) - Steady run at threshold intensity; warmup and cooldown long enough to reach total time

July 2, 2008

SWIM - I woke up to do this workout this morning, but when I got up to use the bathroom, my body wasn't happy at all. My legs are sore and tired and my shoulder was achy. So, I decided that I needed to just skip the swim. I wish that there was a pool that had open lap swim at a different time than 5am.

Warmup (300), Drill set (8x25), Threshold intervals (4x300, 30 s. rest), Sprint intervals (6x50, 20 s. rest), Kick set (8x25), Cooldown (300) - Total 2500

RUN - I started this run, but my legs were toast from last night's workout, so this was a no-go.

Long run (1 h. 5 m.) + Strides (6x20 s.)

July 3, 2008

SWIM - I had to make a choice this morning on what workout I was going to miss because of a work scheduling issue. So, I decided to skip the swim because I really felt like I needed to spend some long hours on the bike.

Warmup (250), Base intervals (2400), Cooldown (250) - Total 2900

BIKE - My dad and I headed out for a gorgeous bike ride this morning. We left at 6:15am and rode until 9am. We rode from Logan to Benson to Amalga headed towards Clarkston, skipped the big long killer hill, turned towards Cornish and then headed to Lewiston (which is like 1 mile from the border of Idaho). We were headed back home and stopped at a gas station in Richmond and my dad told me his lower back was hurting. He asked me what I wanted to do and I said it was up to him, so he called my mom to come and pick us up. We headed towards Logan, and my mom met us somewhere north of Smithfield. I tipped over because my left cleat is being backwards again. I tried clifblocks and had some really great results. I drank 2 bottles of water, 1 bottle of heed, and took a clifblock every 15 minutes. This actually worked really well, so I think I'm on my way to getting my nutrition plan straight.

Long ride (3 h. 30 m.) - long steady ride at moderate aerobic intensity

July 4, 2008

RUN - Well, I had great intentions of doing this race, but I woke up this morning with some serious nausea, so I talked to my mom and we decided to stay home. I'm feeling better now and probably should have just run, but I sure wasn't feeling it this morning.

Lewiston 10K

July 5, 2008

BIKE - I didn't get this workout done yesterday. I may try to fit it in today, but we'll see.

Tempo ride 2x14 min. (1 h. 15 m.) - 2 blocks of riding at threshold intensity with 10 min. active recovery; warmup and cooldown long enough to reach total time.

July 6, 2008

REST, STRETCH, CORE

How to Have a Fantastic Day

Today I had a fantastic day. It started off with a trip to the gardener's market where I was able to buy some fresh lettuce that looked yummy, as well as some new potatoes and some delicious cheese from a local dairy. Then, I headed to my brother's to pick up my nephew John. Yesterday, I talked to John, I told him that we could do whatever he wanted today and when I talked to him this morning, he told me that he wanted to hike the wind cave trail. I called Karen, my sister in law, and she wanted to join us as well. So, after I picked up John, we drove over to Karen's to pick her up and then headed up Logan Canyon.

Before I start talking about our hike, I should talk about the trail we decided to hike. The Wind Cave Trail is about 3.2 miles roundtrip and rises about 1000 feet in 1.6 miles, so it's a pretty steep trail. The trail is actually fairly tough and is classified as moderate difficulty.

When we arrived at the parking lot, John was super excited, so we headed to the trailhead with John carrying his backpack full of snacks. He led the way. As we headed up the trail, he started paying attention to his surroundings and was on the lookout for any wildlife. He has quite the imagination and at one point, we came upon a dead tree and John asked if it was a really big insect. Anyways, after a couple of very short piggyback rides, and the question, "Auntie...Why are you all wet?" we arrived at the wind cave.

The cave is quite large and we walked around on top and then headed down into the cave. John was slipping and sliding, which made me a little nervous since the cave is on the edge of a cliff, but we managed to grab a seat and start eating our snacks (thank you Brooke!). We ate some chocolate chip cookies, grapes, and string cheese and washed it down with Gatorade. We also took some pictures of us in the cave and on top of the cave. My brother is learry of having his kids' pics on the internet, so I'm not posting any of the pics, but they did turn out very quick. John, whose a pretty nervous little kid, was very brave and wanted to see the edge, so we carefully walked over and he looked around. You can see the road where we parked and he was so surprised that we had climbed so high. He also peed out of the wind cave which he's quite proud of.

On our way down, John said that his legs were tired, which we were expecting, but at some point the snacks kicked in and he practically ran down the mountain. We stopped a little spring and splashed around. John even took his shoes and socks off and walked around. We made it back to the car and then it was time for lunch.

Karen picked our lunch spot, so we headed to the Center Street Grill. John had his standard "ketchup, chicken strips, fries" and was really excited to see the donut that came with his kids meal. He kept asking to eat the donut, but we did manage to eat most of the chicken before it was time for our next adventure. My food was awesome and tasted great after the hike.

After lunch, we headed off to do some shoe shopping. My family is going to Hawaii in three weeks and John told me that he needed some new flipflops for the trip. We found some really cute Keens, but he wanted red and the store was out of red, so we headed to Payless, which is next to the Charlies, the ice cream place, which was next on the list. I let John have free reign on the shoe picking and after much decision and a close call with some knock off camo crocs, we left the store with some camo flip flops and some really cool water shoes. I couldn't believe he picked out the water socks, but he liked them, so oh well. We grabbed some ice cream at Charlies and then headed back to Grandmas.

John wanted to run through the sprinklers, so Karen and I changed clothes, John put on his new water socks, and we were off. John discovered that when his shoes get wet, sting rays appear, which made them even cooler (in his eyes). We ran through the sprinklers and watched an airplane do tricks, watered Grandma's flower pots and tomatoes and then John's family showed up. John helped his dad cut the grass and John's little sister Kate and I shared my raspberry shake and played with her new jewelry. Kate is 1 and is very into jewelry and shiny things (like Reese's PB cups).

After John left, Karen and I watered the garden, which takes 2 hours and caught up on all of the drama that goes on in our family. We worked on our tans in preparation for Hawaii. We talked about where personalities come from and I guess talked about the whole nature vs. nurture idea. We grabbed some sandwiches from Subway, watched a movie, and ended up at the grocerey store getting stuff for dinner tomorrow.

Now it's time for bed and I'm thinking that today was awesome. I think John said it all when we were sitting in the car. He said, "Audrey, that was SO fun!" I'm pretty sure that life really doesn't get much better than this!

Perspective

If you've followed my blog, you know that I raced in the Cache Valley Classic triathlon last weekend. During that race, as I was exiting the swim, I came across a group of EMTs performing CPR on one of the racers. There are more details regarding the incident in my race report below. In the paper, it stated that the paramedics were able to get the man breathing in the ambulance, which made me feel a bit better. However, this morning I found out that the man died. I'm still processing this, but since I've had almost a week to think about this incident, I have a few thoughts that I would like to share.

I have my reasons for racing, one of which is because I can. I can think of no better way to start off my day then to be standing at some sort of start line. Those of you who know me know that I truly love to race. It's one of my most favorite things in the world. As I stood in the water at the start of the race, I worked very hard to remain calm and focused, in an effort to swim in the open water like I know how to. I remember thinking about how nice the water felt and I remember smiling, thinking about the fact that it was a race day! The thought never crossed my mind that someone might die during the race.

For me, the race turned out to be a pretty okay day. I was able to finally have a good swim in the open water. My run was one of my best runs of the season. My bike was slower than it should have been. I can attribute some of that to being distracted because during the bike, my thoughts kept returning to the man and his family. I kept thinking, "Please let him be okay." At the end of the race, I spoke with the race director who didn't know any details regarding the man.

I'm quite certain that this man wasn't thinking about dying when he entered the water last Saturday morning. I wonder if he was thinking about how great it is to start off the day with a race. I wonder if it was his first triathlon and if he was feeling all of the emotions and feelings that come with standing at the start. Another thought that kept crossing my mind was that maybe dying in a race wouldn't be such a bad way to go. Perhaps triathlon was one of this man's passions and he was able to enjoy it one last time.

For me, that day was really just another race. For him and his family, it was a day that will change their lives forever. I want to remember this experience because it really reminds me to take advantage of the opportunities that life offers up. We never truly know when our time to live is up and I believe that if we want to live life to the fullest, we do have to discover our dreams and then live them.

I know that the next time I step up to a starting line, I will think of this man and will say a quick prayer for his family. I will remind myself to race like this is my last race and to remember the love and passion that I have for racing. One of the reasons that I race is for all of the others who want to but can't. This man can't race anymore, but I'm certain that he will be racing with me for a long time. My perspective on racing has shifted a bit, and I think that this experience will make me a better racer.

Week 14 Utah 1/2 IM Training

The goals this week are to dig deep in the tough lactate interval session on the bike, swim, and run. This might be an interesting week with training since I've been out of my groove with the training the past 3 weeks. The good news is that I'm feeling ready to go, so hopefully it will be a good week trainingwise.

June 23, 2008

BIKE - I just finished this workout and it's 10:30pm. We got home from Lagoon (an amusement park) at 8:30pm and by the time I got the bike set up on the trainer on the deck outside, it was 9pm. This was a tough workout for me, but I got through it. Have I mentioned how much I like my new saddle? I burned 1348 calories and my average HR was 148.

Lactate intervals 7x3 min. (1 h. 30 m.) - 3 min. intervals at VO2 max intensity with 3 min. active recoveries; warm up and cooldown long enough to reach total time.

June 24, 2008

RUN - I did not get this workout done last night, but I'm hoping to fit it in either today (Wed) or later in the week.

Lactate intervals 4x3 min. (44 min.) - 3 min. intervals run at VO2 max intensity with active recoveries with 3 min. active recoveries; warmup and cooldown long enough to reach total time.

June 25, 2008

SWIM - I made it to the pool this morning for the first time in a couple of weeks. It was definitely hard to wake up this morning, but I did it and made it to the pool. I ended up cutting the workout short (100 yds cooldown and 50 yds kicking) because it was time for water aerobics to start. I finished 2250 yds in 55:58 and I did all 6 lactate intervals. I hate lactate intervals, but I'm thinking they may pay off.

Warmup (300), Drill set (8x25), Base intervals (8x100), lactate intervals (6x100, 1 min. rest), Kick set (8x25), Cooldown (300) - Total 2400 yds.

BIKE - I got this workout done today after work. I thought about taking my bike out, but it was over 90 degrees and it was high traffic time, so I decided to stick with the trainer, which was probably a bad idea. The first 30 minutes flew by, but the next hour was torture. I actually had to talk myself into staying on the bike and the only thing that was working was reminding myself that I have a 1/2 IM in 6 weeks and that I need to be able to stay on the bike for 3+ (hopefully just 3) hours. My average HR was 136 (yes, I wasn't motivated) and I burned 1558 calories. This was definitely a small victory for me, both mentally and physically.

Foundation ride (2 h.) - Steady ride at moderate aerobic intensity

June 26, 2008

SWIM - I missed this workout. I wish that the pool was open later than 6:30am.

Warmup (300), Drill set (8x25), Threshold intervals (4x300, 45 sec. rest), Sprint intervals (6x50, 20 sec. rest), Kick set (8x25), Cooldown (300) - Total 2500 yds.

RUN - I was talking myself into going for this run and when I ran upstairs to check on something, I realized that my legs were completely done because I couldn't even get up to the top.

Foundation run (1 h.) + Strides (6x20 sec.)

June 27, 2008

SWIM - I slept through my alarm this morning and missed my swim. Apparently I'm still tired from my week of traveling. I hope that I can get over this tiredness.

Warmup (200), Base intervals (2400), Cooldown (200) - Total 2800 yds.

BIKE - I ended up skipping this workout because by the time I got time to do it, it was evening and I was planning on the brick early in the morning.

Long ride (2 h. 30 min.) - Long steady ride at moderate aerobic intensity

June 28, 2008

BRICK - Well, after about 3 hours of sleep, I was definitely in no shape to do this workout. I thought I might try in the evening, but after a 3 mile steep hike and running through the sprinklers with John, I still wasn't feeling it.

Bike (1 h. 45 m.)/Run (45 m.)

June 29, 2008

REST, STRETCH, CORE - I thought about trying the brick workout this morning and actually got everything ready to go, but after 30 minutes of spinning on the bike, I was struggling. The good news is that my legs feel much much better after spinning them out. The bad news is that I missed alot of workouts this week.

Cache Valley Classic Sprint Triathlon Race Report

Well, I did this race this morning and figured I would start writing my race report, but I will probably have to edit and add as I remember things. Like I mentioned yesterday, I was pretty tired and didn't really have many expectations for this race, mostly because I haven't been training and I was traveling last week and I did the BAM triathlon last weekend. However, apparently going to a race with few expectations works for me. Oh, once again, this will probably be a long post, so be warned.

This morning I woke up at 5:45am, got up, got dressed, brushed my teeth, braided my hair, and loaded up the car. I did remember to grab my PopTarts as I was going out the door. I had to stop and put gas in the car and then I drove the 15-20 minutes to Hyrum Lake State Park http://stateparks.utah.gov/parks/hyrum/. I parked my car, unloaded my bike, checked the tire pressure, and headed down to pick up my race packet. I grabbed my packet and timing chip and then headed over to the transition area.

Once I got there, I racked my bike and started setting up my transition area. I must have looked like I knew what I was doing, because I had several ladies on my row ask me questions about setting up their transition areas. I put baby powder in my cycling and running shoes, put my clips on my bib number, checked out my bike and made sure it was in an easy gear, and made sure that my water bottles were open. Then, I walked down to the lake.

I should mention that last year, when I did this race, there was about 50 feet of beach. This year, there was no beach. In fact, the stairs that we ran up to the transition area on were about 5 steps underwater, so I was a little confused about the swim route. So, I decided to walk over to the docks and check it out. While I was standing there, I ended up chatting with a guy who was doing the Olympic distance. We chatted about the race course and then started talking about injuries and IT band stuff and I recommended my massage therapist to him. We walked back over to the transition area and I put on my wetsuit, found my mom, Simon the dog, and my sister-in-law Karen. I talked to them for a couple of minutes and then it was time to get into the water.

So, this was a "deep water" start, which was a new and different thing for me. However, the water only came up to my chin, so I didn't have to tread water. The water was cool, but I felt pretty comfortable. I swam maybe 20 feet and was feeling good. I got back behind the starting buoys, got ready to start my watch and was ready to go. The horn blew and we were off. I started swimming and was cruising along for about 2 minutes or so and I started to feel myself freaking out. so, I started breast stroking for a minute or so, calmed myself down and started swimming. I made it to the first buoy with no problems. I turned and then got kicked in the stomach pretty hard a couple of times. This man was struggling a little and wasn't swimming straight, so every time I tried to swim around him, I got kicked, which wasn't cool. However, I did not lose my cool and I kept swimming along. Did I mention that I was totally smiling under water? I was actually having fun swimming in open water, which was a huge accomplishment for me. I made the second turn and started heading for the finish. I was actually kinda wide, so I had to make a couple of turns, but the good news was that I was able to sight really well and get to the finish. I got a little high centered on the steps, since I somehow managed to get my legs under me and headed up the stairs into the transition area.

Quick side note...As I was swimming into the finish, I saw a kayak go flying by me yelling "MEDIC". I thought that maybe someone behind me needed some help. I kept going and made it to the finish and as I was running up the steps, I saw the EMTs doing CPR on a man in a wetsuit. They were at the top of the stairs and had kind of blocked the path to tranisition, which was completely and totally fine with me. I was completely shocked and actually had tears in my eyes. All I could think was "Please let this man be okay. Please let this man be okay." Since he was surrounded by EMTs, I made my way to my transition spot, still worrying about this poor man. He was actually on my mind for the entire race and really all I could think was "Please let him be okay." Apparently, he made it to about 10 feet from the swim finish and couldn't breathe, so he waved his hands and then went under. He popped back up (thank goodness he was wearing a wetsuit) and they were able to get him to the stairs and then up the stairs. Like I said, they were working hard doing CPR (I've never actually seen it done on a real person) and it was pretty scary. When I finished, I asked the race director if there was any word on his condition and the guy said no, so I'm definitely keeping he and his family in my thoughts and prayers. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to buy a newspaper to see if there is any word on how he's doing or if he made it or not. There were several people saying that he had a heart attack, but I don't think that anyone really knew what happened. (P.S. - According to the newspaper, the man died in the water, but the paramedics were able to get him breathing on the way to the hospital, but that was all of the details the race officials knew at the time the story was printed.) So, back to my race...

Anyways, T1 went fairly smoothly. My cycling shoes went on easy, thanks to the baby powder. I grabbed my bike headed for the bike exit, which was really close and then headed out for my bike. I started off very strong and was actually going 24 mph out of the race area, but then came the hills. I was trying to keep my speed above 18 mph, but that wasn't happening. I passed several people on the uphill and then turned south to head for Paradise, Utah (yes, it's actually called that). That was when I finally got in my groove. I should mention that for about 8 miles, the race is a good gradual uphill. I was riding in my aerobars and drinking my Mild Melon Heed and was feeling good and comfortable. I probably should have pushed myself a little harder on the bike, but no worries. When I made the turn, the downhills started, so I was cruising. At one point, I was going 33 mph, which was fun. I picked off a couple of people and since I did this race last year, I was familiar with the course, so I was feeling good. I made my way into transition, clipped out (seamlessly...I'm loving the big girl pedals), hopped off and ran my bike down to my spot. I knew that my bike time wasn't as fast as I wanted, but I figured that I did okay for not riding much lately.

T2 went great, I think. I racked my bike, slipped off my cycling shoes and slipped on my running shoes. I remembered to take off my helmet, grabbed my visor and bib, and headed off to the run. My legs were feeling surprisingly good; however, I was feeling thirsty, which is weird because I know I drank some lake water and I drank my entire bottle of Heed.

I grabbed some water at the first water stop, walked while I gulped it down and then headed off. I felt like I was getting in my groove, but then the killer hill came. My left hamstring started cramping up, which was uncomfortable, so I ran and walked up the hill and finally got going. I grabbed some gatorade at mile 1 and then headed out to the turn around. I made it to the turn around and then knew that it was mostly downhill and I was home free. So, I started pushing it. My watch stopped at some point, so I really didn't know how long I'd been going or my pace or anything, but I was watching my HR monitor and my HR was 173, so I kept rolling. I passed a few people (5 I think) and made it across the dam and up the short hill and then started opening it up. I crossed the finish line with a huge smile on my face (I think...it may have been in my head).

My times were okay and I did beat my time from last year by 9 minutes which was cool. My swim was awesome, and I'm looking forward to doing more open water swims to get more and more confident and comfortable in the water. My bike was not as good as I hoped, but it's all good. My run was exactly the same time as last year, which cracks me up. However, it is also a good sign, because my runs this year have all been slow so far, and it looks like I may be making some sort of progress in the speed area. My transitions went well. I used the Tri-Slide with the wetsuit and it definitely aided in getting the suit on and probably off as well. The baby powder worked and will be used again. I should mention that I was fairly distracted during the bike, because I kept thinking about that man and hoping that he was okay. My swim was awesome and I wish that I had a picture of me smiling in the water. I'll have to remember that image and use it in my next race. My run went well and I felt good while I was out on the course.

So, yeah, this race is done and in the books. I'm happy with it and feel like it went pretty well, especially considering all of the factors. I'm actually a little sad because I don't have another open water race until the 1/2 IM in August, but I may be able to come up with a solution for that. I was able to beat my time from last year in all of the areas, especially my swim by 5 minutes.

Results

Swim - 16:57 (12/18)
T1 - 2:05 (4/18)
Bike - 45:16 (14/18) (16.4 mph)
T2 - 1:03 (3/18)
Run - 28:31 (14/18)
Total Time - 1:33:54 (11/18)

Gender Place - 31/82
Overall Place - 105/218

2007 Results

Swim - 21:57
T1 - 2:08
Bike - 49:21 (15.1 mph)
T2 - 51:04
Run - 28:31
Total Time - 1:42:50

What's My Theme Song?

I found this little quiz and just thought I would try it out to see what happened. I couldn't believe it when I saw that my theme song just happens to be my power song. I was totally surprised!?!

Your Theme Song is Beautiful Day by U2

"Sky falls, you feel like It's a beautiful day Don't let it get away" You see the beauty in life, especially in ordinary everyday moments. And if you're feeling down, even that seems a little beautiful too.

What's Your Theme Song?