Weeks 25 and 26: I'm over this

Here's a truly brief run down of my workouts last week and so far this week.  It's followed by some more details on how my first century ride went and some musings on how training for an Ironman f's with your head.

Week 25 (16:45 total)
Monday: Rest, yay!
Tuesday: 1:00 run, 1:15 swim, weights and core
Wednesday: 45 minute ride with transition to 15 minute run
Thursday: 1:30 swim (2.3 miles!), 1:00 trainer ride
Friday: 1:05 swim, 0:30 run in morning, another 0:30 in the evening. 
Saturday: 6:45 ride (first century ride! ended up doing 110 miles...) followed by a 0:35 run (all I could handle, more on all this later)
Sunday: 1:35 run

Week 26 (projected 14:30 total)
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 1:15 swim, 1:05 run
Wednesday: 1:00 bike
Thursday: 13 hour sleep
Friday: 0:50 swim, 0:30? bike ride (I didn't wear a watch, which felt weird)
Saturday: 2:30 run
Sunday: 1:30 bike (got caught in a rainstorm and then was too cold and chafed to continue.  Should probably invest in a jacket...)
Monday: 5:15 bike followed by 1:00 run (4000 ft of climbing over 72.5 miles, and running afterwards was easier than Week 24's 5 hr bike/1hr run brick. Victory!!!)

So, first century ride: before that day my longest ride had been 77 miles, but I felt okay tackling 100 because the ride was fully supported and the course was really flat.  It was pretty easy to miss the course markings, so I took a lot of wrong turns and ended up riding 110 miles total, I considered doing an extra 2 but by the end I didn't want to spend another second on my bike.  There were aid stations with water, Gatorade and a good selection of food about every 20 miles. I tried to spend as little time stopped as possible to mimic the race, but around 67 miles I was really hungry for something other than gels (and for some reason I only brought one Bonk Breaker bar with me) so I hung out on the grass for a while and had a huge PB&J.  About 1:30 into the ride my right shoulder started to really hurt, like someone was stabbing my shoulder blade, and it was even worse when I was on my aero bars.  When I got home I saw an irritated bump and figured I'd been stung by a wasp.  Since I didn't know this during the ride, I thought there was something wrong with my bike fit or that I'd swam too much or something. By the end of the ride I was really mad at my body for hurting so much when I didn't think it deserved to.  Well, by the end of the ride I was just mad in general.  Mad at my body for being sore, at other riders that I'd decided were annoying, at the course for so many wrong turns, at the course for not being over yet and at myself for taking longer than I'd wanted to.  I hadn't brought enough chamois cream with me either, which certainly didn't help my mood.  When I finally got done riding I had a one hour run scheduled; I had to call Sarah and ask her to tell me to go for a run (I could muster the motivation to call her and have her tell me, but I didn't have the motivation to tell myself, not sure why the two were any different).  I got myself out for 35 minutes, but my shoulder was still hurting and I was feeling pretty dehydrated, so I stopped when I got back to my car.  I was also only supposed to ride for 5:30 that day, so I think the extra hour of riding partially makes up for 25 minutes less of running.

Alright, now for the fun stuff: how training for an Ironman f's with your head and makes you constantly feel inadequate.  Now, I could be the only person that feels this way, but I doubt it.  From reading other people's blogs and stories, I'm guessing that most people who are attracted to Ironmen are exactly the kind of people who are prone to self-imposed pressure and guilt over minor transgressions in their diet or training plans.  As I mentioned above, I was pretty mad at myself at the end of that long ride for my perceived "weaknesses" (right, cause everyone should be happy and comfortable at the end of 110 miles...).  I had been enjoying the idea of burning 4000 calories that day, but since the course was so flat, I only burned 2400 on the ride, and since I cut my run short I only burned another 300.  And yes, I mean only for all those numbers; I've been burning around 3000 calories in one workout for long enough that it no longer seems special.  4000 would have been worth some sort of "reward" to me, and since that was the expectation I had going into it, I was disappointed in myself for not actually doing it (even though I couldn't have realistically raised my heart rate enough during that ride to make it happen).  Whenever I have a plan for a workout that doesn't end up happening (i.e. doing an hour on my trainer rather than riding up Emigration Canyon) I feel lazy and inadequate.  If I sleep in much past 4:30, I feel like there's no point in going to the gym, because I won't have time for the full swim workout AND lifting weights.  Even if I make the workout up later in the day, in my head I'm a failure for not sticking to the original plan. 

The above paragraph was mostly written last Friday, when I had been feeling like a failure of a triathlete for a couple weeks.  Today, after enjoying the long workouts this weekend, I'm feeling a lot more positive.  I'm trying to avoid thinking about the evening's workouts during the day, this way I can evaluate how I feel when I get home and not stress about doing my ride on the trainer because I don't want to deal with traffic or route planning.  I've also stopped keeping track of my calorie intake/output; I started doing this a couple weeks ago to make sure I was getting enough to eat, but I became a little obsessed with staying on the negative side of the equation.  Peak weeks are exhausting enough without restricting how much I eat (especially because when I indulge these days, its on something like unsweetened applesauce with homemade, no-oil-added granola).  So yeah, that's my plan to avoid burnout over the next few weeks.  Only one week of long workouts left (century ride+1 hr run on Saturday and then just a 3 hour run on Sunday, no big deal...) and then tapering for race day!

Volunteering at Ironman St. George

Overall, this was an awesome day and I’m really glad I did it.  That being said, it was one of the most emotionally exhausting things I’ve done in a really long time.  I get choked up sometimes just watching Ironman videos on Youtube; being there for the whole day, and especially a race day as challenging as this one, was incredibly intense.  

So calm and peaceful...

I had driven down the night before and arrived at the state park where the swim start was at 10 PM.  I had a volunteer parking pass so they let me in for free and I slept in the back of my car (yay Subarus!). I woke up at 4 AM, walked 20 yards to T1 and waited for the bus loads of athletes to arrive so I could start body marking.  This was a great volunteer position, you not only get to talk to the athletes, you also get to ask them how old they are, and then have them show you their calves and biceps.  Not a bad way to start the day.  The water was perfectly calm for the first 5 or 10 minutes of the age group swim (the pros had started 15 minutes earlier so they had more calm water).  However, the sunrise brought strong winds with it and soon the athletes were battling white-capped waves for the longest side of the swim course.   

The splashes in the middle are people, hard to tell though.

Longest part = Against the Wind (cue Bob Seger)

Soon they started bringing athletes in by the boatload.  I’m not sure how many of them asked to come in and how many were forced to stop because they weren’t going to make the 2:20 time cutoff; I heard stories of both talking to athletes later.  Since so many people didn’t finish the swim, the race organizers made an exception and allowed them to continue as unofficial finishers.  Even though those athletes didn’t experience the entire hell that was the swim, I still have a huge amount of  admiration for them.  They willingly put themselves through 138.2 more ridiculously challenging miles, knowing that there was already a DNF next to their name, and they would be forced to explain “well yes I finished an Ironman, but not really” every time someone asked them about it.  They put in the months of training and the most of the hours out on that course, but they won’t be able to wear a finisher’s t-shirt or proudly display a medal from what many called the hardest Ironman ever.

At least I was just watching the swim from a distance; I wasn’t as emotionally involved in the stories of the athletes getting pulled from the water.  It was hard watching the spectators around me who were clearly worried about their friends and family members still in the water, but I was still removed from it.  My next volunteer position was the women’s T2 change tent.  We helped the women with whatever they needed as they got off their bikes, grabbed their gear bags and headed out to run a marathon.  I hadn’t volunteered in this spot before, but listening to the volunteers around me it was clear that there were far fewer women coming through than normal.  Suddenly a lot of athletes started coming through, but they were all walking through the transition area and looking dejected.  After such an exhausting swim, a lot of them weren’t making the time cutoff on the bike course, and were being sent back by the bus load.  The first few athletes were still allowed to run as unofficial finishers, although the race organizers soon stopped saying this.  Most of the athletes that had been disqualified didn’t want our help, or didn’t think they deserved it since they were done.  But we helped them anyway. 

A few of the girls really stuck with me.  One of the women (that I had actually body marked in the morning) did make the bike cutoff but still burst into tears in the change tent.  She hadn’t made the cutoff the year before and was overcome by what she had accomplished so far.  I saw her at the finish line later, crossing hand in hand with her husband – one of several “Ironman couples” finishing the race together that day.  Another woman barely made the 5:30 cutoff to finish the entire bike course.  She was racing as part Team Autism and carried a picture of her autistic son with her the entire race.  She had been pulled out of the swim; she hadn’t wanted to stop but the man in the boat insisted that it was getting dangerous.  She was also overcome by the prospect of finishing her first Ironman and doing so for her son.  She was one of the last few people to cross the finish line, holding the laminated picture high.   
The hardest part of my day was helping a girl that reminded me a lot of myself; her name was also Elizabeth, it was her first Ironman, she was right around my age and had the same bike helmet as me.  She had finished the swim but had missed the 66-mile bike cut off by minutes.  She was from New York state and starting her medical residency in the fall, so this was her last chance to do an Ironman for a while.  It was heartbreaking seeing how disappointed she was in herself.  I didn’t really know what to say; that could happen to me in CdA and there won’t be anything that anyone could say to make me feel like I wasn’t a failure.  We talked about training for a while though and how Ironman makes you feel special in general; she was one of the few allowed to continue running and by the time she headed out she seemed to be feeling better.  Elizabeth, if you happen to stumble across this blog looking for St. George race reports, know that I admire you and think you’re a total badass, hopefully I’ll see you at the finish line of another Ironman someday.     

After a two hour break I headed to the finish line to catch people until midnight.  This was probably the best part of the day.  I got to see the successes of the day, including people I’d body marked or helped in T2.  Most of the athletes seemed pretty dazed as they crossed the finish line.  A couple of the men had to lean on me as I walked them to the food or medical tents.  A lot of the first-time finishers said that it was their last Ironman, but I’d be interested to see what they’re saying now.  There were a lot of little cool moments at the finish line.  Ben Hoffman and Meredith Kessler (the men’s and women’s winners) came down and handed out finishers medals for the last couple of hours.  One of the finishers changed into a tux for the final 100 yards and proposed to his girlfriend right before the finish line (she said yes).  For the last hour Mike Reilly (the announcer for all Ironmen races) was down in the finisher’s chute getting everyone pumped up.  It was a pretty great atmosphere, one I’m excited to be a part of (hopefully!) in 5 weeks. 

Fireman Rob from Madison, WI. He's doing Ironmen across the country this year for the Code 3 for a Cure Foundation.  He did the entire marathon in full fire fighting gear.

Women's winner Meredith Kessler handing out medals at the finish line.

Training update! Weeks 22-24

Alright, I am finally sitting down and forcing myself to write a training update so I can continue with all crazy peak week training that will be coming up.  So, as briefly as possible, here’s what I’ve been doing the last few weeks. 

Week 22: 4/23-4/29 (the week right after RAGE):

 I really didn’t do any training this week, I fit in a 20 minute swim Wednesday morning, but I was so stressed about school that I wasn’t getting anything out of the workout and headed home.  There, I proceeded to have a mini-breakdown before finally asking for help with my grant proposal (I have a hard time asking for help with pretty much anything…).  I was up all Friday night finishing the proposal, so I only ran 3 miles on Saturday (on my way to a BBQ), biked for 1.5 hours on Sunday (I intended to do more but my tire ripped as I was getting back to my car at the end of my first loop) and ran for 45 minutes. 

After eating way too many cookies and gummy bears this week I decided to really focus on a healthy diet until Ironman; without the stress of school this should be a lot easier.  Quick note for those of you not in Salt Lake and therefore aren't all too familiar with my dietary changes: I essentially became vegan January first. I prefer to say “whole-foods, plant based” diet, because “vegan” makes me sound like an animal activist (I’m not – I work in a mouse lab).  There’s a good article on what that entails here.  Even though I cut out meat, dairy and eggs, I’d been allowing myself non-vegan cookies and cakes to make the transition easier (no cheesecake or ice cream though, my rule was: if I can't see it, it doesn’t count). However, now, no more cookie exception!  I’m going to make healthy bars and cookies at home and bring them to lab meetings or other times when I know there will be tempting, non-vegan, not-healthy desserts.

Week 23: 4/30-5/6 (slowly reintroducing myself – 9 hours total)

- Monday: normally a rest day, but since I got plenty of that last week I did a ten mile trail run (1.5 hrs). I also got an iPhone over the weekend, so now I can take sweet pictures during my workouts to post on my blog!

Pipeline Trail in Millcreek Canyon

At the end of the trail, the other direction overlooks the city, but this was way prettier.

- Tuesday: Swam for just over an hour, no weight lifting this week.

- Wednesday: Met Holly in Draper for a 6 mile run (50 minutes), which was a lot of fun.  I’d been in a bad mood all day and probably wouldn’t have had the motivation to get out for a run on my own, so I’m really glad we had planned that.  As usual, I felt much better at the end.

- Thursday: 1 hr bike on trainer

- Friday: 1:20 run in morning

- Saturday: Volunteering for IM St George! (more on that later) I went for a 2 hour run around Sand Hollow Reservoir in between shifts.  It was so windy; my legs were getting sandblasted and there were drifts of red sand up to a foot deep on the road in some places.

- Sunday: I was too emotionally and physically exhausted to do much (also more on that later); I managed a 1.5 hr bike ride before I got too cold and sad.  I went home and watched The Help with Sarah (great movie, I highly recommend it) and worked on post-Ironman tattoo ideas.    

Week 24: 5/7-5/13 (only 7 weeks til the race! 17 hours total)

- Monday: rest (didn’t feel like I deserved it, but figured I’d need it for the week ahead)

- Tuesday:1:15 swim and weight lifting/core in morning and 1 hour run in evening, I did some intervals in a cemetery, which was kind of fun and made me appreciate the burning in my legs and lungs. 

- Wednesday: 45 bike on trainer to 30 run

- Thursday: 1:05 swim and weight lifting/core in morning and 1:30 bike up Emigration Canyon in evening (10 miles/1 hour up then 30 minutes descending)

- Friday: 40 min swim (cut short because of Saturday) in morning and 1 hr run in afternoon with Chase (made me run fast!).

- Saturday:

I got up at 5:30 to start my long run and met up with the lab at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure after 1:30, did another 22 minutes of running during the race, ran home (10 minutes), took off my shirt (yay!) and did another 17 minutes (yes, those 17 minutes were important).  I met up with lab for breakfast, bought new bike tire finally (it had been patched, but not very well for the previous outdoor rides) and headed to do an open water swim with some women from work. We did a few laps across a nice calm bay (probably around 1.5 miles).  One of the women had done St. George the week before, and even though she finished the swim and has completed lots of Ironmen, she had a hard time getting back in the water.  By the end she was fine but seeing this  made me a little apprehensive; CdA could be as windy as St. George was, I need to swim in something a little rougher than a pool before then.

- Sunday:

I drove over Big Mountain to East Canyon reservoir, rode to Henefer and back, put on sunscreen, then to Morgan and back for 5 hours total. I sunscreened up and ran for an hour, which was really challenging; my legs didn’t have much left by then.  It was the hardest and longest workout I’ve done so far; there was lots of chafing, more hills than I really expected, and despite all the sunscreen my back still got burnt.  My shoulders and neck were really tight by the end; I could barely shoulder-check getting on the freeway to come home.  I had been planning on including Big Mountain in the ride but talked myself out of it after driving up it.  I’m sure it’s doable, but I might wait until after the race when my legs aren’t perpetually sore. 

Not a bad way to spend the afternoon...

Catch up Part 1: RAGE race report and am I still a grad student...

Well, the last month or so has been rough, but I'm finally feeling back on track and ready to post some updates.  I'll try to keep it brief since there's a lot of ground to cover...

First, RAGE race report:  This race was a surprising amount of fun; I think I was happy/smiling for about 95% of it.  My goal was 6:30 (:45 swim, 3:30 bike and 2:00 run) and I finished in 6:43 (:43 swim, 3:43 bike and 2:07 run), which I'm pretty happy with, considering that it was my first one and I didn't really know what to expect. 

Swim:
This went fairly well, I did panic about 5 minutes in (too many people grabbing my legs) but after treading water for a few seconds my heart rate dropped and I was able to continue doing freestyle without any more problems.  When I panicked during my Olympic race last fall I ended up doggy paddling/backstroking the rest of the swim, which really tired my legs out for the bike ride, so I was really motivated not to do that this time.  The water was pretty clear and I saw a few fish, I was imagining a sort of Finding Nemo scene down there with Dori singing "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."  My neck got pretty chafed from my wetsuit (I'll Body Glide it next time) and my calves cramped up as soon as I hit shore, but otherwise the swim was great!  I am a little worried about the cramping, in CdA you exit the water in between the two swim laps and cramping throughout the second lap would not be fun.

Bike:
The bike wasn't as bad as I was expecting, yes it was hilly and yes it was hot, but not as bad as some past race reports made it out to be.  The course had fairly rolling hills with a net gain on the way out; at the end I certainly didn't want to be sitting on my bike anymore, but my legs weren't really tired.  So I either should have gone faster or I just paced myself really well.   After about mile 20 I started passing people and didn't get passed by anyone for the rest of the race.  This was partially because most of the people around me were on road bikes, so I had a huge advantage in any headwind and on the descents.  Its fun passing people :-) The only negative moment on the bike course came around the halfway point; there had been a miscommunication at the 18 mile aid station, so I hadn't picked up any water or Gatorade.  I started drinking less and hoped there would be some at the turn around (even though it wasn't mentioned in any of the race information); I might have burst into tears when the volunteer there told me there wasn't any water (I'm not sure if there wasn't any or if she just wasn't allowed to give it to me).  I completely ran out soon after and stayed out for about 20 minutes; since it was in the high 80's (at 9 AM) and I hadn't seen any shade since the sun had risen, this worried me somewhat.  My nutrition plan went out the window but I made it back to the 38 mile aid station without any more tears and finished the bike leg just fine.

Bike Elevation: up on the way out

 Run:
The first few miles of the run were pretty rough, so I ended up walking a little, which I had hoped wouldn't happen.  I usually feel pretty strong running off the bike so I think running out of water was effecting me during this part.  The first two miles were pretty flat, but they were on a dirt trail with fairly large rocks and then extra hot black asphalt.  I was chugging Gatorade (which I never drink when I run because it usually hurts my stomach) and pouring ice cold water over my head at every aid station to cool down.  By mile 4 I started feeling pretty good and was able to run consistently; I think the hill got less steep.  The run course was really cool, it started off on a bike path along Lake Mead, then headed up a gravel trail that used to be a railroad bed.  It was all up hill on the way out, which made for a really nice run back.  There were 5 tunnels towards the top that were a welcome relief from the sun; I think that was the only shade I saw all day.  Towards the top I started feeling cold even though I was in the sun and my vision went a little fuzzy in my right eye for awhile, but I didn't pass out or feel weird after the race, so I guess I was fine.  The rock and asphalt portion was just as hard on the way down, but I finished feeling strong and still happy. 

Run Elevation: also up on the way out

Post race:
After all the half marathons I've done my stomach has hurt so badly that I've barely been able to eat or even move for the rest of the day, but after the race I headed straight for the food, so I guess I did something right.  I had several platefuls of food at the buffet at Harrah's that evening (thanks Annie and Rene!) and several helpings of dessert.  It was great, I don't think I've eaten that much since I was 12 (I challenged a 15 year old boy to a taco eating contest then - I won).  That night and the next day my calves were really knotted up, but the rest of my body felt like it had been a normal weekend workout.  There's a lot of work left before Coeur d'Alene but overall I think I'm on the right track.

Lake Mead at sunrise, not a bad way to start your first half ironman

Being in Vegas for a triathlon and wheeling your bike through the casino is weird.

I had to focus on school for the next week and couldn't get any training in.  Even without training I was up until 5:30 AM on Friday (well, Saturday morning) writing a grant proposal that had probably been due at midnight.  If you consider that the entire thing was written in 72 hours and powered by cookies and caffeine, I did a fairly good job.  If you consider that I'd known about the assignment for 6 weeks and had been confused and lost about how to start it, but hadn't asked for help until 3 days before it was due, I did a terrible job.  I don't think it was training that played the biggest role in this; I had been spending about 40 hours per week in my lab rotation (~20 is expected, since "classes come first"...), and when you get home at 9 PM after working on failed experiments all day (and training), the last thing you want to do is think about something due in 6 weeks.  In the end I think it was worth it; I got in to my favorite lab, which saved me the stress of finding a 5th rotation and the possibility of getting kicked out at the end of the month if I couldn't find one.  However, lesson learned.  Next spring, when I have to do essentially the same assignment for my prelims, I'll start earlier and ask for lots of help.  By the way, I joined Alana Welm's lab in the Oncological Sciences department and I'll be studying the mechanisms behind breast cancer metastasis (specifically the epigenetic changes that contribute to metastasis, I'll be learning to do computer programming and looking at lots of spreadsheets, how exciting!).

Next up: my full day of volunteering at the last Ironman St George and a catch up on training (only 6 weeks left to CdA!!!)

Week 20: 2/3 of the way there!!!

4/9/2012

Well I'm pretty sore and sun burned from my long bike and run yesterday.  From now on I'll reapply sunscreen if I'm going to be out for more than an hour and I'll buy/pick up more Gatorade and water.  One bottle of each was not enough for 4 hours on the bike.  I only ended up taking in 177 calories/hour on the bike, everything I've read says to take in at least 250/hour, and I definitely felt the deficit on my run and during the rest of the day.  I did my long run (1:30) today on the way home from work.  It was the first time I've run in 75 degree weather since last summer, and between that and yesterday's workout I struggled the whole way. 

4/10/2012

I swam 2 miles this morning! It was in an 85 degree pool without a wetsuit or anyone hitting me, but I'd never done that before, so its nice to know I can.  My wrists and ankles started getting sore towards the end but otherwise I felt fine and like I could have kept going.  I ran 20 minutes afterward and felt much better than yesterday, so it seems that I've recovered.
I was planning on running another 40 minutes later in the day, but I ended up in lab until 9 PM and was too tired and hungry when I got home to do anything useful.  Training is going to have to take even more of a backseat for the next couple of weeks.  I'll find out if I get in to the lab I want to join on the 27th, and until then classes and lab need to be my top priority.  I'll do enough to be well prepared for the half Ironman in 11 days (!) but I've done all those distances before so I'm not too worried about it.  I should probably stop swimming in the warm pool and just start taking ice baths to really prepare myself.

4/11/2012

Didn't do any training today and that was okay with me.  It appears that the experiment that kept me in lab late last night didn't work (again) so the day became really stressful as I forsaw myself spending all my time in lab at the expense of classwork and training, only to not accomplish anything.  Maybe working out would have helped me de-stress, or at least been a better way to de-stress than eating a bunch of mini Reese's cups...

4/12/12

I slept through my alarm and didn't get any training in before class.  I managed to leave lab by 4 though and headed straight to the gym when I got home.  The pool was really full, so I did weights and core for an hour and then swam.  I nearly talked myself out of getting in the pool but I finally stopped thinking about it and just did it.  I only swam for half an hour, but I did 50 and 100 yd sprints and really pushed myself.  I figure I'm 3-5 times more likely to make it out of bed and swim tomorrow morning because I made myself do it tonight.  After a quick haircut I went home rode the trainer for an hour, a decision I also think was helped by my brief swim.  I also put the rest of the Reese's cups in a Ziplock bag, in a container full of water, in the freezer.  So at least now I'll get a workout chiseling them out if I want to stress eat again.  Funny how good (or bad) decisions snowball.

4/13/12

Well my prediction was wrong, I did not make it to the pool this morning; I don't even remember my alarm going off.  I went for a run in the afternoon with one of the guys who works on the same floor as me.  It was nice to have someone to talk to and I pushed myself pretty hard; he's doing a half marathon next weekend and I didn't want to slow down his training.  At the end he said I'd kicked his ass though, and since I'd kicked my own ass as well, I guess that worked out pretty well.

4/14/12

Once again I meant to get up early to swim and once again I slept through my alarm.  Maybe my body's trying to tell me something?  It was threatening to rain, so I went to lab for a couple of hours and when it still hadn't cleared up I decided to switch my long bike and long run days.  It felt good to run on relatively fresh legs, I put in 13.75 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes, much of it fairly hilly.  I weighed myself before and after the run to see how much I need to be hydrating.  I lost 4 pounds over the run, 5 once you account for the 16 oz I drank during it.  That seems like a lot to me, given that it was cool (42-51 degrees) and cloudy (with 70% humidity).  I don't think it was too detrimental though, I had some oatmeal when I got home, waited 45 minutes and then went and swam for an hour.  I did a 200-300-400-500 ladder for my main set and aimed to average 2 minutes/100 yards through each distance.  I was at 6 and 8 minutes even for the 300 and 400, so I was a little worried about the 500 (especially since I was getting a little tired by that point) but I did it in 9:56!  4 seconds isn't that big of a deal, but I was excited not to be 4 or even 40 seconds slower.  Then I lifted weights, but by this point even really light ones were a struggle, so I headed home to eat more.

4/15/12

I did my long bike ride (4 hours) on the trainer today, mostly to save time and avoid getting sunburned or dehydrated.  I wore my minimally padded tri shorts to make sure I could handle them for that long, I'll be wearing them for the half Ironman and the longest I'd ridden in them before was 1.5 hours.  They were...manageable.  They should be better when I'm biking outside and standing up to climb some of the hills.  I felt really good on my 45 minute run right after the bike ride, drinking enough Gatorade really made a difference. I'm feeling ready to taper and get to the race!

4/16/12-4/19/12

Its been a really stressful week (as usual), I've been constantly on the verge of tears and had no energy to do much besides lab work and the homework that immediately needed to get done.  I'm feeling better today, I got a presentation out of the way and finally put some words on paper for my grant proposal (due next Friday).  I'm all packed for Vegas; this will be the first time I'm heading there without any high heels in my bag.  I'm not feeling too nervous yet, but I'm sure I will be tomorrow, especially after seeing how hilly the bike and run courses are and doing a test swim in the reservoir.  My goal for the race is 6:30 (0:45 swim, 3:30 bike and 2:00 run with 0:15 for transitions and a bathroom break or two), but the high that day is in the 90's, so that could substantially effect my time.  I'll post an update on Saturday or Sunday!

Weeks 17-19

Sorry for the absence of posts, I've been really busy with school and once I get out of the habit of writing things daily, it's hard to start up again.  Anyway, here's a brief recap of the last few weeks.

Week 17

Things really seemed to come together this week.  I met someone who works in a lab on the floor as me who offered me the use of his kayak to practice open water swimming, someone else who's done several Ironmen (including CdA) offered to actually do some open water swimming with me, and on Friday I met a group of people at the pool all training for Ironman CdA.  I was with them for part of my workout and was pretty shocked at how different it was to swim right behind somebody.  I swam harder than I normally do by myself and while I still had a hard time keeping up, I didn't get lapped and I didn't feel like I was in anyone's way.  I'll probably try to swim with them a couple more times if it works in my schedule.

Week 18

I felt a little down this week.  I was technically tapering for a mock Olympic length race (that I did by myself on a course I made up) but I was lacking in motivation and didn't swim all week.  I had a hard time pushing myself to finish my rides and runs, and for the first time I started to worry that I wouldn't have the mental strength to finish an Ironman.  In spite of those things my "race" went pretty well.  I got up at 4 to have a bowl of oatmeal, went back to bed for an hour and got back up and started swimming at 6:15.  I showered quickly before getting on my bike so I wouldn't be all itchy and smelling like chlorine, and I had to take my bike off my roof rack, so my transitions were very different than they'd be in an actual race.  There was a fierce headwind on the way out on the bike, so it took me more than an hour to get to my turn-around point (12 miles) when I had hoped it would take me more like 45 minutes.  There was also more climbing on the ride out; that, coupled with the wind was pretty disheartening and made me wonder how I'd be able to finish 112 miles in a couple of months.  The way back felt much better though, and I started to feel pretty optimistic, until I got a flat tire with 5 miles left.    I hadn't practiced changing one since October, so it took me 20 minutes, but I did it all by myself despite numerous offers of help from people running or riding past.  The run part of the "race" felt alright, my legs were definitely tired and it didn't help that the entire route was either uphill or downhill but fighting the wind.  I still averaged an 8:13 pace over the 6.2 miles and felt pretty good about that.  I don't think I could have finished the whole thing much faster, but my energy levels were fine the rest of the day, so I probably could have held that effort longer.  Since that's the eventual goal, I'm happy with it.

Week 19
Grant writing class and the approach of lab-joining decision day made this week really stressful; I think I averaged 5.5 hours of sleep a night. I only made it to the pool once, but I got my weekday bikes and runs in just fine.  On Saturday Sarah and I headed down to Utah Lake so I could practice swimming in my wetsuit.  I borrowed that kayak mentioned in week 17 and she paddled around next to me so I could hang out, calm down, and warm my hands and feet up a little.  The water had been 52 degrees the week before I got in, but it snowed on Friday, so it might have been a little colder my then.  At least I'm hoping it was colder, because I could only stand it for about 20 minutes before I was too cold and had to get out.  After initially getting in the water and hyperventilating because of the temperature and feeling somewhat constricted in my wetsuit, I did okay.  I could pick a dock or other destination about 20 yards away and swim to it without feeling panicked.  It wasn't much of a workout, but I think it boosted my confidence for at least the swim portion of my half Ironman in Vegas in 2 weeks.  I ended up taking the rest of Saturday as my rest day; I was cold and stressed out about getting things done.  Today (Sunday) I'll go for a 4 hour bike ride (about 60 miles) towards the Great Salt Lake Marina and follow it up with a 45 minute run (about 6 miles).

Stella - looking like a badass. 

Week 16: Spring Break in Moab!

Tuesday 3/13/2012

Some days you sleep through your alarm and barely have time to eat breakfast, much less swim.  Some days you’re in lab for 12 hours doing experiments.  Some days, those are the same day, and on those days, training just doesn’t happen.  

Wednesday 3/14/2012

Thanks to all of yesterday’s hard work in lab I was able to sleep in and still swim and do part of a run in before heading to class (which for some reason we still had even though it’s technically Spring Break).  I was planning on doing weights and finishing my run at the gym in the evening, but by the time I got out of lab it was closed (due to it being Spring Break).  I guess unplanned disruptions like this are why morning workouts are emphasized so much in my training book.  I’m okay with it though, I feel like my body wants a Spring Break as much as my mind does.

Thursday 3/15/2012

Well, I made it through another Ides of March without breaking my nose; I broke it on this date in the second grade and I swear it has psychically warned me of impending injuries ever since.  I’ve never been hurt on March 15^th since 1997, but I still take extra caution on that day.  So, no injuries, but I did feel really weak and undernourished in the pool this morning.  I could only complete 1200 yards of straight swimming, and even then I could barely pull myself out of the pool.  I’m not sure what happened, I had my usual gel before starting and had eaten plenty the night before.  I started swimming at 8:30 instead of 5:30, so maybe my body didn’t have enough energy reserves left by that point?  Who knows, whatever it was, it wasn’t fun.  In the afternoon I headed to Moab, UT and Arches National Park with some friends with school.  We went on a pretty easy hike when we got there and then watched Gonzaga kick some West Virginia ass while having dinner at the Moab Brewery.

Friday 3/16/2012

An awesome day in and around Arches!  I rode for 2.5 hours on a flat road along the Colorado River.  It was beautiful but I had a hard time enjoying the view since I was aero 95% of the time and focusing on the road in front of me.  After that I rode towards Arches National Park to meet up with my friends.  The entrance to the park is a pretty long hill; I’m sure it would be nothing to anyone who routinely rides the canyons around Salt Lake, but it looked really intimidating to me from the bottom.  Regardless of how it looked, I did it! No problem!  It was kind of fun actually, especially when cars with bikes on the roof would drive by me.  I felt pretty bad ass to be doing it under my own power.  So a nice little ego boost to end the ride.  

My friends picked me a couple miles later (by that point I felt okay being someone riding in a car with a bike on the roof) and we headed off on a 7 mile hike (don’t worry, I had a couple Clif bars and a giant bottle of Gatorade first).  It was really beautiful (see the selection of pictures below) and a lot of fun hanging out with some great girlfriends that I don’t get to spend a ton of time with.     

  

I realized that a big part of training is convincing yourself that you’re capable of doing various things.  For example, during this ride I proved that I could do the following: remove my water bottle from its holder, drink and put it back (while aero), remove Clif ShotBloks from the back of my jersey, eat a couple, and put them back (while aero), snot rocket (while aero and without getting any on myself!  Sorry if that was TMI…) and ride up a long hill, all without tipping over or otherwise crashing.  A pretty successful day if you ask me.

Saturday 3/17/2012

We headed back to Salt Lake right after breakfast and I was able to ride my trainer while watching Gonzaga play an awesome game against the 2-seeded Ohio State.  We lost by 6 points, but watching them put so much effort in to the game helped me put in a good, hard 2 hour ride even though I was pretty tired.  I did a transition to a 30 minute run and once again felt really weak and like I was going to pass out.  I only had a small Gatorade (110 calories-worth) and a few Honey Stinger chews while biking but it seemed like enough since I’d had a big breakfast and had been snacking on pretzels in the car the whole ride home.  Maybe I was just still depleted from the 6+ hours of activity yesterday.  Maybe beer doesn’t replenish your glycogen stores as well as I thought…

Sunday 3/18/2012

I forced myself to slog through a 1.5 hour run.  I was really tired (gee, why?) so went pretty slowly but I ran the whole thing and didn’t give up and today, that was enough for me.  Now, getting a head start on homework!

Hiking in Devil's Garden

After I got picked up in the park

Partition Arch

Some pretty rocks!