How Hard Can It Be? Year 3

[Veronica]

This year super hard! My first race is May 23, billed as the World's Hardest Half. Here's how my first four weeks of training have gone.

I HATE January. We have had exactly one sunny day the entire month that has coincided with a day off. There have been other sunny days, maybe three or four, but they have been work days. Some days it's actually been raining, which does help with the drought. But a lot of days, too many of them, have been foggy, drizmal, yucky days. I loathe being cold. Pretty much all I want to do on days like that is curl up with a good book, some hot chocolate and a bunch of cookies, but that doesn't really fit in my training plan.

The one sunny day was yesterday and we took advantage of it and rode up Mt Diablo to the Junction. It was a great ride. My average speed was three tenths of a mile faster than last time I rode it, back in December. Thom wanted to see how my power has increased since I've been doing so much work with my trainer. I went a few gears higher than I normally ride and really cranked it for about two tenths of a mile on a section with a six percent grade. It was pretty cool to see how I could just accelerate on something that steep. I went from 4.9 mph (soft pedaling before the hard effort) to 10.1 mph in a blink! I do seem to have lost some of my aerobic fitness and I'm going to be focusing on that more this month. The riding I have been doing in the bicycle trainer for this prep phase has been pretty low key. It's time to take it up a notch. An interesting thing I discovered from riding in the trainer is that I had been riding bowlegged, with my knees canted out an inch or two from my ankles, instead of right over them. We suspect I started riding like that because my calves brush against my water bottle cage and it became habit. Thus, I'll also be thinking about keeping my knees parallel to the top tube as I ride. It feels very different to use more of my quadriceps.

I haven't done as much running as I wanted to this month. But I am pretty happy with what I've done. My runs have all been between three and five and a half miles long and I have not had any knee issues. I'm a little slower than I was back in October, but I'm seeing improvement each time I go out and run. I'm actually starting to think more about technique as I run and I'm better able to recover after a hard hill or a sprint section.

I did swim once this month. I had been thinking I would swim at the local city pool beginning in February, but their open lap time hours just did not fit with my schedule - 5:30 AM or 6:30 PM. I want to swim at 3:30 in the afternoon, so I did a week long trial membership at a new gym. I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to have the sinusitis issues that I was getting at my old gym. The old place had the indoor lap pool connected to the indoor play pool. I think because of all the kids in the play pool, they had to use a ton of chlorine. Plus it was always too hot. They didn't heat the outdoor pool. The new place has two outdoor lap pools, one covered and one not, both are heated. The play pool is a totally separate pool. In addition, if you are not swimming laps, you are not allowed in the lap pools. The trainer plan I'm following calls for three swims a week. I'm cutting that down to one. Without working very hard I'm swimming an average pace of 1:45 per hundred. Ideally I'd like to get that down to less than 1:30. But that's only a five minute difference in my swim time for a 1.2 mile swim. Not a huge deal overall.

I've done a lot of yoga this month, always after every run and occasionally after a trainer session. I use to feel a bit guilty about how much of my training time is devoted to yoga, but the last two triathlon magazines I've read have had articles about how good yoga is for you - not just the stretching but also the mental focus. I'll work on feeling less guilty because it's not a "hard" workout.

I have been pretty focused on my diet this month, cutting out some of the fat and sugar and I've lost two pounds. When Shawna measured my body fat at the start of the month, I was at 20%. I'd like to get that down to 18% before my race in May. The leaner I am, the easier that wicked hard climb on the bike will be. It is just a number though.

Veronica

[tprevost]

Wow, you are gonna rock that tri! We should all go up and cheer you on Can't wait to read more training reports, they make me want to do more myself!

[colby]

Awesome! Year 3 already

[Veronica]

February was another month with iffy weather. But I still managed to get in some good runs and a few good rides. I did need to back off a bit on the running early in the month as the Tarantula Run injury resurfaced on my very first run in February. I am learning how to manage it. The trick is to run with good form, keeping my ankles and hips in alignment, give myself some time to warm up and to ice after EVERY run or ride. I've also done a lot of yoga this month as the stretching really seems to help. Only one swim, not the four I had planned. Oh well.

My training with Shawna continues to be a lot of fun. She measured me again at the beginning of the month. I had only lost two pounds, but my clothes were starting to hang off me again. Turns out I had lost nearly 2% body fat and I'm down to 18.9%. Woohoo! I also did my first totally unassisted pull up. Very cool. During the last week of February I started going to my training sessions at 5:15 AM instead of at 5 PM. I really like the switch since even if I need to stay at work later then I like, I can still get in a ride or a run before Thom gets home. Plus the time change is coming. I'm really looking forward to the longer daylight hours.

I've got Parent/Teacher conferences next week and those are always a bit draining. I need to remember my mantra - Discipline is remembering what you want.

Veronica

[Jones]

I may have to borrow your mantra, it's perfect.

[tribogota]

515am!!! good grief! and at 2pm, after lunch, how can you keep teaching?
great training! and love the unassisted pull, everyday I see the boys at the pool doing them using the ledge on the door and I tell myself Veronica can do that, can I?

[roadie gal]

You go, V! That tri looks SO hard. Good luck.

[Veronica]

Stupid quotation. It’s on the front of my training log, along with this picture.






It’s suppose to inspire me.

I have been reluctant to run since February first. January’s training went really well, but my very first run of February lasted two tenths of a mile and ended in a whimper – and a yoga session. I spent the rest of February and March figuring out how to run without causing all the muscles around my right knee to scream at me. This means really paying attention to my form. I have to keep my knee in line with my hips. I must ice after every ride and run and do my stretching video at least three times a week. Add to that some illness, and a bunch of work meetings and wow my running miles are paltry! My last three runs have been good though, which right now means, nothing hurts.

Spring Break started on Friday and I’ve been enjoying the lounge time. I read the third book in the Tunnels series – a kid book, but 599 pages long. I had my hair done and I’ve nearly finished my current cross stitch project. The weather has been iffy, blustery, some sun, but cold. I want temperatures in the seventies. I HATE being cold. The little voice in my head, the crazy one, started nagging at me on Saturday that I really needed to make this week count and get in some serious workouts. Work has a tendency to get in the way of my workouts. It is a little stressful now with budget cuts and state testing looming around the corner.

That crazy little voice reminded me this morning that the longest run I have done in the last two months was only four miles. That’s less than 1/3 of the amount I need to do May 23, which is only seven weeks away now. Arghh… it was only 50 degrees out, overcast and windy. I really did not want to go for a run. The voices in my head started debating various workout options. Bike video – warm and easy, but not really what I need to do. Treadmill run – warm, but boring and I can never seem to last more than 35 minutes on it. I have mastered the 35 minute run. At this point I picked up my training log to flip to next week to see what I have planned. As I put it down, I see the aforementioned stupid quotation. Fine, I’ll freeze my butt off and go for a long run.

I got in 6.8 knee pain free miles. I was warm in about two minutes. Fifty degrees really isn’t that cold, especially when you put out the heat I do when exercising. A wool jersey and headband really help too. I had planned on doing 7.3 miles, but I was getting a blister and walked the last half mile in my socks. The quotation did exactly what I hoped it would when I put it on my log – inspire me to do what I need to do, when I’m lacking motivation.

[jobob]

Well done, V!

[GLC1968]

Good job!

[Susan Otcenas]

V - That quote, plus your sig line, are two that always make me move when I'm wavering. I have you to thank for that!

Susan

[Blueberry]

Great job, Veronica! Your quotes inspire me too! I just bought a bathing suit and am headed to the pool for the first time in many years tomorrow.

[tribogota]

ok, now you gotta race for the both of us! which means putting in some serious pool time

[kacie tri-ing]

Rock on girl! You are doing GREAT!

[Veronica]

This year I thought I would follow a training plan for preparing for a Half Ironman Triathlon. I downloaded the weekly workouts, put them all into a nice pretty notebook...

I am five weeks out from my first race this year and the plan is calling for some seriously long runs mid week. TWO HOUR mid week runs... c'mon how can I possibly do that? It's not going to happen before work. I know myself well enough to know that the most time I can put in pre-work is 90 minutes. That means a two hour run has to happen after work. Teaching is a draining job and your hours are not flexible. Anyone who thinks it's easy and you only work 8:00 - 2:45... stick a cork in it! You never know when a parent is going to show up after school to talk about why Little Edgar isn't doing his homework. You never know what kind of day it's going to be. I deal with 31 direct reports (my students) and they are not stable, mature adults. If any of them wake up on the wrong side of the bed... I'm in for a tough day. There are days when I come home and I take a nap until Thom gets home because I so mentally drained and exhausted.

This week the plan called for a 45 minute run on Wednesday and a two hour run on Thursday. I do a lot of thinking while I'm running and on my Wednesday run I had this epiphany. I had it in my head that I couldn't do a two hour run after work. That it really was just a mental thing. I had decided I couldn't do it... therefore I couldn't! I had failed because I hadn't tried. Well, that just wasn't going to happen. I was going to do that two hour run... it would hurt. I would probably end up walking some... but it was going to happen.

Thursday run- 1 hour 55 minutes, 9.26 miles. Not a blistering pace, I walked 1.5 miles of it. But I conquered the mental demon. I CAN do that!

Veronica