B(ike)R(un)ICK

I don't remember too much about the last week of workouts. After the foot trouble from the run last weekend, I took a week off from running which really helped resolve the problem for the most part. I believe I did swim twice, lifted twice, and did a 25 mile ride. Saturday was our first group brick workout (ride then run) and I was SO SO SO looking forward to it. I was stuck with the car since Steve needed the truck to pull his dirtbike and when I went to get the bike in the car Saturday morning I couldn't get the front brakes off in order to remove the tire. After a frustrating 20 or so minutes, I gave up and hopped on and went on my own ride of 25 miles (about two hours) and then moved on to my 5 mile run with a 4 minute transition time. The day was beautiful and I actually ran faster than usual pace of late, which surprised me. Dad and Steve fixed my bike last night so I can actually get the tire off now in case of a flat.

Sunday was a rest day (except for a 50 minute swim) so that I would be well rested for my 55 miler with Dad out at Hagg Lake today. Forecast was for rain (after such a great weekend: pooh!) and we headed out to the lake in a good bit of rain but once we arrived, not a raindrop fell. We had a great time. Each loop of the lake is 11 miles, so we did 55 hilly miles in sunny and warm weather. BEAUTIFUL!!

The first loop was terrific. We got up to 32 mph on the last hill which was a HOOT! Then we went around for a second loop and my head was KILLING me - so bad I thought I might puke. We made it to the final hill again and got up over 33 mph this time.

I grabbed some ibuprofen and by the time we finished the third loop my headache was long gone and we did another fun descent with a bit of a scare for me when I thought a big log truck wasn't going to do a full stop at the stop sign.

Loop 4 was the hardest for me mentally. I knew we still had so far to go and my butt was aching, as well as my neck and right elbow. Right before we started the fun descent, a school bus tried to take me out and shook me up a bit so I rode my breaks the whole way down.

FINALLY>>>>we got to the final loop. Dad was doing so well! He said this was going to be a cool down loop, but we stayed good and strong all they way through. I did that last descent and cried at the bottom of the hill before making my way back up to the truck.

It was a special ride with my awesome dad and I'm SO VERY GLAD TO HAVE SPENT THE DAY WITH HIM JUST RIDING AND RIDING AND CLIMBING AND DESCENDING and I feel awesome to finally have a long ride under my belt.

Hagg Lake Longish Ride

About 10 of us TNTers got together at the McMenamin's about 8 miles out from the lake around 12:30 on Sunday. The sun was shining and about 47 degrees when we took off. People
were putting on sunscreen and leaving warmer things behind. I ALMOST didn't
take my beloved ear warmers or gloves and boy would I have regretted that
decision. As it was, I felt plenty warm getting out to the lake and the
first loop around was wonderful. I felt great, legs felt strong, my bike is
working fantastically thanks to GI Joes (no thanks to the specialty bike shop who did not resolve the problem at all!). We lost one girl after the first
loop - she said she was cold and she could see the rain heading our way. The
guys had already lost us so we were down to 6 girls.

The guys were going around the lake in the opposite direction so we could
all wave and yell hellos as we met somewhere in the middle. The second loop
I felt just as strong and was now quite pleased with myself for having my
gloves and earwarmers. The rain hit first, then hail - regular hail, sharp
as tacks hail, sideways hail, slippery hail. I can't even explain how
painful it was on my face. Then it snowed and then back to the hail.
Everyone else was underdressed and wanted to head back. I was still
contemplating what to do - I felt so strong and really wanted to do a full
ride this weekend, but then Abby got a flat tire and we stopped with her and
I got so incredibly horribly cold after that that I just wanted to go home
with everyone else rather than risk being out there on my own in the
hail/snow and end up with a flat or something. While we were getting her
tire fixed, a car pulled up with another TNTr who had shown up late and missed
us - so she just set out on her own. Her pedal fell off - well not really
off - it was still stuck to her shoe, but not to the bike. She didn't have
cell service so she couldn't reach anyone and ended up riding 2 miles
with one leg before a nice lady in a car pulled up. She had just picked up a
stray dog and then a stray TNTer and then she stopped for us too. WHAT A
NICE PERSON!!

We did about 39 miles and it felt great. Incredibly, my foot did not bother me one little bit as long as I was on the bike. I still can't stand on it. I did upper body at the gym today and threw in some seated leg curls and extensions since I figured I wouldn't be running this week and could trash my legs a bit. Ran into Melanie (from the oly team) and we hopped in the pool for more talking than swimming so I'll probably hit the pool again early tomorrow.

Living Lahaina

		School is in session. Surf school, that is! We're your instructors. Click our pix for videos, and check us out on MTV's "Living Lahaina"!

http://www.royalhawaiiansurfacademy.com/MeetTheGuys.html

Back from paradise. We arrived on Maui on Wednesday to some VERY rainy and dark weather and although it was warm, we never made it to the beach that first day. I had a surf lesson the next morning and we lazed around until about 9:15 (we had to be in Lahaina at 9:30) when Steve's phone rang. Some angry dude wondering where the H#ll I was. Apparently I had my times wrong. I thought it odd that we got such an angry call but once we got to the "Royal Hawaiian Surf Academy" I realized what was going on. Angry Kimo. If you guys haven't ever had a chance to catch "Living Lahaina" on MTV - you are missing out on following the lives of a bunch of surfer dudes and all their booze slamming, oversleeping, surfing hungover and all that goes along with life as a surf instructor in Hawaii. I happened to catch the show last year and was instantly addicted. So I walk in for my lesson and shake hands with angry Kimo and then Dan takes over and we're off with my new friends Josh(son) and Jeff(dad) for some fun. I had a blast! It was so surreal to walk into that beach hut and realize I was on the set of an MTV reality show.

The rest of the vacation was pretty much laying in the sun, snorkeling, catching waves at Napili and reading. I read FOUR books (and one of them was a 1000 pages long!) on this trip! I was in heaven!

I missed the kids horribly and on Monday we got a call that Ki was hurt at the kennel...torn skin and possible broken foot (she's on antibiotics and pain pills but it's not broken and she'll be fine) but other than that, I felt pretty relaxed the whole time. Back to training...paradise has got be found at home for now ~
Friday I did a 25 mile ride. Yesterday was supposed to be a 13 mile run. The first 5 miles my legs felt like lead. I had finished a loop and needed a restroom so I stopped by home and re lubed my legs, slammed a gel, grabbed my iPod and headed back out IN THE SNOW that started to come down (it's almost MAY!). The second 5 miles went great - legs were warmed up and the music helped. I was almost at about 9.5 miles and feeling like I could go all day when I felt a sharp twinge in my right heel. It went away but at about 10 miles my right knee felt stressed and about 5 steps later I got a horrible pain in my right outer foot and I had to immediately stop running. I hobbled home and haven't been able to walk right on it since then. I've been icing it in the hopes that I'm still going to be able to do my 55 mile rebel ride out at Hagg Lake today. I ABSOLUTLEY NEED to get this ride in this weekend. I think the pressure might be different on the bike, so I'm praying for success.

Aloha

With an upper body workout, 20 minute ride and 7 mile run yesterday, I moved into today with a 30 mile bike ride and now I'll say Aloha - see you on the relaxed side...

Saturday Ride

Wow! What a week. When I first started thinking about what to share about the weekend workout I thought it would be pretty humorous but from the time I got my bike on the rack and headed home from our ride today I've been pretty emotional. As you know, riding hills is not my strong suit and has been causing me a bit (a LOT) of anxiety. I sent off an e-mail to Couloir the other day asking her to give me a face in the crowd to look for today that would be slow but knew what they were doing so I would have someone to follow and not end up lost and by myself somewhere with a flat and tears of frustration welling up and over. She e-mailed me back that I'm not the only one feeling this way and I would be fine. Hmph. So this morning bright and early as I was getting ready to head out I said a prayer just asking for someone to stand out to me this morning that would be my shining light. I pulled up to the Fred Meyer meeting place and got everything in order and headed over to the group and as I pull up there is a group of 4 girls smiling and inviting - I know them all just a little bit - I've run with Michelle once, swim with Abby on the rare Wednesday mornings I make it to group, Sheryl was at our first dessert get to know each other and I had the great honor of being the first person to knock over Amy's brand spankin' new bike at our first bike clinic (a whole other story about feeling like an inept oaf at triathlons). So I knew them, but not really. Yet there they were - like God had an arrow pointing from the heavens down to them: Here, Julie - here is what you asked for. WOW!

Seriously.

So we talked about our fears and anxieties and realized we were all in the same place and made a pact to stay together today. We had a very emotional talk from a current teammate/past participant who told her story about her loss in 2006 of a loved one that started us out with high emotions and also a lymphoma survivor friend of Coach Seth who was going to ride with us today. Nothing like starting your ride with your eyes all red from crying.

Now this is where it starts to get funny. Abby was riding on new clipless pedals for the first time. About a block out of the gate, we are in the turn lane with cars around us waiting at a red light. Abby goes over - I see her coming but there is nothing I can do as I am also clipped in. Down we went. Up we came! FAST! You've never seen two people get up from a fall faster than when they are in the middle of moving traffic. Off we go...

We're moving along good, feels good, slow and steady ~ talking, laughing at how good it's going, things are good, pftttt...Sheryl's front tire blew. Um, anyone changed a flat before? Nope. That's ok, Sheryl and Amy have seen plenty of tires changed...Michelle has been to Seth's tire changing clinic - they got it fixed...eventually...with NO help from me :-( I'm so proud of them (note to self: start practicing hands on flat tire changing at home so I'm ready when it happens to me)and then we were on our way again.

The hills are ok - I have to get off and walk twice - hey - I'm not the only one! Hooray! We can do this! Then Sheryl's chain starts slipping and to the rescue are Scott and Tim. STUDS! They are good at what they do yet they make us feel like we are too! Every look, every bit of easy conversation, all their help and uplifting talk make us feel ok about being at the back of the pack. Makes us forget we are at the back. Kelly has been following along keeping us company. She's sweeping to make sure no one gets left behind. She's moving along beside us talking and pedaling like it's a skip in the park as we (some of us a bit more than others...sheesh, I'm loud!) huff and puff beside her. She's our angel in the back for a good bit.

Tim decides to take a picture of us all, I see Abby out of the corner of my eye - she's going down again in her clipless - she's ...wait a minute...is she trying to grab at my coat sleeve?...The good part of me is thinking how can I keep her from falling...the bad part of me is saying - GIRL...Get your hands off of me - I AM NOT GOING DOWN AGAIN! She steadies herself - it's ok. Lots of hooting and hollering :o)

We finally get to the downhills and it's a blast - and it's fast - and it's scary. We make it to the bottom and we are ready to head back. We won't get in our 44 miles today but we've come so far. We head back and I realize that when you think that you're the only one struggling and you feel like crying, you are not alone. There might be someone struggling even more than you, but more important, there are lots of people who care and if you let them, they will get you through this - a huge lesson for this girl to learn today.

It's all good.

pooped...and this week isn't over yet

Today was supposed to be an "easy" 45 minute run so I decided to take advantage of it and use it as a steep incline treadmill walk in preparation for our climb of St. Helens. I was trudging away when a trainer came up to me and asked what the heck I've been doing at the gym so much lately, so I explained the triathlon and also St. Helens and asked if he would suggest the treadmill walking or the stepmill (please say treadmill walking, please) and he said BOTH. Plus he said, add in some really tough setting elliptical so I can work my upper body in preparation of carrying a pack. So off he sent me on my mission: 15 minutes treadmill walking on 15incline, 10 minutes tough elliptical using my arms, 10 more on the treadmill while waiting for a stepmill to open up and then 10 minutes on the stepmill. I was TOAST!
Then off to the pool which would have been better done first, but oh well...

Warm-up, 5 minutes

100 Fartlech drill― go easy until you feel like going fast! Then go fast until you feel like going easy again. In short, bursts of speed to get the blood pumping.

~Drills~

*fist freestyle, karate, a-ok, relaxed hands

For fist freestyle you make a fist and swim that way. Karate you fold your fingers and thumb to your palm and a ok is when you make an okay sign with your hands and swim that way.

*catch up freestyle, half catch up

Catch up freestyle is when you keep one arm straight out in front of the other one until the arm you are stroking with is in front of you. To make this movement, slap one hand with the other.

Newer to swimming:

12 x 25s, 1 fist, 1 karate, 1 ok, 1 regular. :15 rest

Regroup…

1 x 50 catch up up half catch up freestyle.

1 x 75 swim with buoy: tuck your rear and roll, moving hips out of the way for your hands. Feel your pull grabbing the water throughout.

1 x 100 swim: light, quick arms. For this one you just let your arms go as fast as they can.

*Swim entire set 3 times. Be sure to REST :20 between each distance.

8 x 25s long glide free, :10 rest between. Long glide freestyle is when you take some extra kicks before taking the next stroke. Kind like a pause.

Warm-down with bobs. Bobs are when you go under the water and release all the air in your lungs and come back up.

Total mtrs:

1275+

Red Monkey Butts

Simply put, my a$$ hurts. That was the loooooooongest 25 mile bike ride ever. My legs were pretty tired from running last night and then again this morning, but my butt - oh my...

This morning was a track workout ~

5 minute warm up

3 x 1mile (4 laps) 10 seconds per mile slower than my 20 minute test pace (hard)

90 second jog in between

5 minute cool down

Total: approx 4 miles

Tomorrow is yet another run and then I'm going to swim for an hour. Hope to get it done early so I can have as much rest as possible before our long ride Saturday - followed by an 11 mile run on Sunday. This is really starting to get serious.

Now That Wasn't So Bad...

I wonder what I look like when I breath. At least I'm breathing...

So today started at 5:45am with group swim and it went pretty good. We did the following workout ~

Group Swim #9

Warm up 5 minutes

9 x 50s with fins, 2 kick, 1 half catch-up free. Rest 15 sec in between each.

Newer to swimming: rest 20 seconds after each distance.

1 x 100 with buoy

1 x 150 25 half catch-up/25 regular free

1 x 200 with buoy

1 x 350 hold a steady pace, 60% effort

1 x 100 with fins, fast

6 x 50s with breathing pattern, per 50: every 3 strokes, 4, & your choice. Rest 20 sec between each.

TOTAL METERS: 1650+

So the good news is that including warm up laps we probably swam our race distance of 1.2 miles today. That feels GREAT!

I left group swim and headed home to wake up the kids and slam a green tea/spinach/berry protein smoothie and then we were on our way to WORKOUT #2 with Tracy at the gym. We did upper body ~
Barbell BP 12x3
HS Pulldowns 12x3
DB Side Raises 12x3
Overhead Pully Rope Kickouts 12x3
Incline DB Curls 12x3 (here we got sidetracked by an obvious figure competitor: ripped to shreds and orange colored- and we spent a good bit of time talking to her. She just won her show last weekend and is doing the Emerald Cup in a couple weeks. She's currently at 6% BF and on her way to 4%. Very nice girl.)
30 minutes on the elliptical.

Did the normal everyday stuff of shuttling to school, dog park, laundry, laundry, laundry, dishes, dishes, dishes - oh and back to the laundry pile on the bed where I layed my weary head and fell asleep - so, one 20 minute nap.

On to workout #3 which was a 6 mile run with tempo at 6:30pm. About a third of the way through I had to kick it up a good notch for 10 minutes, recover for 5 minutes, kick it up again for 10 minutes and then finish the last bit at a moderate pace. I really just wanted the run to be over and counted down the minutes until I could stop and then of course when I started to cool down, my first thought was "Now, that wasn't so bad". Funny how it works like that.

So for being in a Jimmy Buffet kind of mood, I thought today went pretty well. I just have to make it until next week to lay back under a straw hat with a pretty drink in my paw.