"How hard can it be?" Training Update

[Veronica]

This has been a pretty light week. I ran 9.3 miles on Monday. I did a two hour recovery bike ride on Tuesday - 27 miles, 14.5 mph, AHR 144. Wednesday we started working on replacing 40 feet of fencing. That was demolition day and dig up the old concrete footings. Thursday we put in four new posts. Friday we put up the stringers and put the caps back on. Today we are hanging the slats. I did get in a session with the trainer on Thursday and I went for a VERY short run on Fri.

9.3 miles was hard. Actually the first mile was hard and the last two miles were tough. The ones in the middle were fine. I wonder how on earth I will be able to do 13.1 miles in 4 weeks. At the pace I'm going, that will be like another 50 minutes of running. Scary! It's funny, I don't even worry about doing the swim and then the bike ride.

I wonder when running will become something I enjoy. Right now it's something I do because I have to. It's a chore. I want it to become like my ride on Tuesday. I just go out and do it because I like it.

Tomorrow my plan is to do my July 200 K. I want to get in another long run early in the week. Next Sunday - July 13 I have an Olympic distance race. I'll be taking off at least Friday and Saturday.

V.

[Wahine]

V - you'll be able to do the run because you will be buoyed by the fabulousness of the day. Good luck on the 200 tomorrow!!

[Veronica]

I've scratched my plans to do my 200 K tomorrow. My wonderful husband has correctly read my anxiety about next weekend's race and has suggested that we go look at the course tomorrow instead. I feel a bit guilty because Jo has to keep sending me cards to do her permanent. I owe her lots of cookies. It's a wonderful course, if anyone ever gets it into their head that they need to do a 200 K a month. It's a really nice mixture of quiet little roads with not much traffic, but enough places spread out through the ride to refuel.

V.

[jobob]

I owe her lots of cookies.

Chocolate chip pleeze

[Veronica]

Chocolate chip pleeze

You betcha! Have you had the ones with the mini peanut cups in them? They are my favorites. Velobambina came up with that alteration to the recipe. Very, very good if you like peanut butter. Hey, I'd even make some of each for you.

V.

[Wahine]

You betcha! Have you had the ones with the mini peanut cups in them? They are my favorites. Velobambina came up with that alteration to the recipe. Very, very good if you like peanut butter. Hey, I'd even make some of each for you.

V.

What do I have to do to get a hold of those mini-peanut butter cup cookies?

[Veronica]

What do I have to do to get a hold of those mini-peanut butter cup cookies?

Well, you can make them, just use Trader Joes mini peanut butter cups instead of the chips.

Or if we ever actually end up in the same place, I'll bring some.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cuisine Magazine – Issue #22

Makes 3 dozen cookies
Bake Time: 12 - 14 minutes

Whisk together; set aside

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. kosher salt

Cream “Wet” Ingredients with an electric mixer

1 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla

Stir Flour Mixture into the creamed mixture with a spoon. Then stir in:

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup milk chocolate chips

Form cookies and bake.


I use Guittard chips only, no Nestle.


V.

[jobob]

oooh mini peanut cups, you betcha.

[Veronica]

Today I actually felt like a runner! I wasn't fast, an average pace of 5.8 mph over 4.2 miles. But I felt good the whole time. Going up the hill on Golden Bear didn't totally wear me down, 4 times up that sucker!

Maybe it's my new Title 9 shorts. They are pretty comfy. Maybe it's that I noticed when I started to shuffle and stopped it. I didn't get tense in my shoulders. I didn't let my HR get too high on the hill. Maybe it's all the work I've been doing with the trainer...Who knows, but I like it.

Now, if only I can hold onto that feeling for three times as many miles...

V.

[Veronica]

An easy week this week since I had a race today. I ran two days, attempted a brick workout one day, but had some issues, and met with the trainer once. I had a couple of yoga sessions in there as well.

I have big plans for the next two weeks. I want to get in two 12 mile runs, one each week. I'm doing a 200 K next Sat., for sure this time, since I'm running out of time for this month. I'll be doing some shorter 4 mile runs with an interval focus and some bricks. Did ya notice no mention of swimming yet? Maybe I'll do some, maybe I won't. It's the "easy" leg.

I'll be meeting with the trainer a couple of times each week too. She has me doing a lot of core work and some leg stuff. I think both are paying off with the running as I feel better when I run. Maybe it's all in my head, but that's okay.

V.

[Veronica]

I only did one outside run last week to give my toes some time to recover. I swam once, met with the trainer once and did a few yoga sessions. I rode a couple of good outside rides, including my July 200K. That is number 5 in the books. Although the last thirty miles of that pretty much sucked - headwind, red lights, clueless people. I wanted to throw my bike aside like David Millar did at the Giro and have a total emotional breakdown. I was just so frustrated and angry.

This morning I did one of the run routes that I had done early on in this saga. I was 1:45 faster over 3.1 miles than I was in the beginning. I guess that's good, but I'm still woefully slow.

My left calf is constantly tight. It's particularly bad when I wake up in the morning and gets better the more I move.

I've finally lost a little weight too, two whole pounds.

Thom and I drove the course again yesterday. They had the Vineman 70.3 on Sunday and you could see how the course was marked. I hope it as well marked for my race. Chalk Hill is short, but steep, probably 7 - 8%. Of course I'm only thinking about the end of Chalk Hill, not all the rollers going into it.

There are a lot of little hills on the run and one big one just before the turnaround. But it is asphalt and that will be better. It was chilly up there, only about 60 degrees; the sun didn't come out until nearly 1 PM. I'm wondering if I will want arm warmers and a vest to throw on after the swim,

V.

[colby]

T minus 12 days already, time flies!

It was chilly up there, only about 60 degrees; the sun didn't come out until nearly 1 PM. I'm wondering if I will want arm warmers and a vest to throw on after the swim,

You'll know when you get within a couple of days if you need contingent items, but I would include them if you're even debating... the good news is that you have so much riding experience to know when you'll feel cold and what to wear to be comfortable. You'll have to factor in being a little wet, too, but that will wear off as you heat up...

1:45 over 5k is nothing to sneeze at, even if you are still "slow"... I suffer from the same disease, but every minute is one step closer to "average" or "above average" Congrats on the July 200k, too, sounds like you earned that one the hard way.

[Wahine]

Hey V!! I'm so excited for you.

You'll do great. Have you got a race plan? By that I mean strategies to deal with things as they come up. It's a good thing to think about. Like what will you do if the run is really painful and just sucks, how are you going to motivate yourself to keep going. Or what will you do if your stomach goes south. Having pre-planned ways to deal with these things is helpful. I'm sure you have lots of experience with this with cycling.

BTW - I just finished crewing for Race Across Oregon. It was an amazing experience. You might seriously want to think about it. Maybe not as a solo but as a two person team or something. It was very cool.

[maillotpois]

Any idea what time you might be done? I have a friend doing his first IM that day (the other arm of the "extreme" TNT group we have does IM, and this guy's one of our honorees) and I might head up there after the Marin century to cheer him. It's a long drive, though, so if I had a chance of catching you as well, there'd be even more reason.

[Veronica]

Have you got a race plan? By that I mean strategies to deal with things as they come up. It's a good thing to think about. Like what will you do if the run is really painful and just sucks, how are you going to motivate yourself to keep going. Or what will you do if your stomach goes south. Having pre-planned ways to deal with these things is helpful. I'm sure you have lots of experience with this with cycling.

My standard plan of HTFU and finish. Even if it means walking a whole bunch. We've been over the run course twice now and there is a good chunk of up and down. I can see me walking up and running down and going as far as I can... then walking up... etc.

Finishing time: My swim wave is at 8:20. I expect the swim to take 40 minutes or less. I did the guided swim in 43 min. at a very leisurely pace and lots of zigzagging.

I anticipate being able to average 15 - 16 miles an hour on the bike. I hope to be a little faster... but who knows. 3:30 - 3:45 for the bike.

I'd like to do 12 minute miles for the run, but could be as slow as 15, so 2:37 - 3:17.

Adding it up 7 - 7:45 - so I should finish sometime between 3 and 4 PM. Yowza!!!! But Central Coast Double took me 18 hours... so I can do this. I don't see a podium finish in my future.



V.