Mary Meyer Brick Workout

Went with D to the MM Swim/Bike Brick. Freaking Seattle summer...it poured the whole day. It's hours until August; why is the ground all wet and slippery when there's bike riding to do? Don't those rain clouds understand I have training to get to?

Anyway, all ranting aside, this was a great workout. We did an out-and-back swim that totaled at 1 mile. We paused (but not for too long) at the 1/4 mile out-bound buoy to let the group collect, at which point Rocky (fearless, fat-free, very tan Ironman triathlete) pointed at me and said "You'll lead the group to the 1/2 mile buoy and I'll bring up the rear." D and I arrived first to the 1/4 mile buoy and I'm sure of the two of us I was picked because I was wearing a wetsuit and my super cool pink pirate swim cap while D was wearing her sad ol' swim suit. (D is of course a stronger swimmer than I, so I consider this further proof that if you are willing to spend the money in tri, you can buy a look of proficiency beyond your actual skill set.)

I am, no joke, a piss poor sighter. I'm really working on it, but I'm not there yet, and Danielle knows this. Bobbing around, 1/4 mile from land, D and I both started laughing at the prospect of my zig-zag approach to open water swimming leading a group anywhere. Mercifully, D did not blurt out my failings, but tidily took the lead a few yards into the second leg. So I got to work on my sighting, but without the pressure of being the lead dog.

As it turns out, a lot of people had trouble sighting on the second buoy. I was getting very discouraged. It felt like that damn little white think off in the distance wasn't getting any bigger. Seriously, no exaggeration, I felt like maybe by the time we reached the buoy we might be in Kenmore. After my concerns started nagging me I started sighting more frequently, and at one pint Rocky (fearless leader) pulled up alongside and said: "Where is that buoy?" I pointed it out and said, "It's there, straight ahead, but I swear it's not getting any bigger." "Just keep focusing on your form," he said, " and it will be here before you know it."

We swam a bit more and then D stopped and turned back at me: "I can't find the buoy." It's right there, I said, pointing at the distant white thing that still seemed interminably far away. "I still don't see it," said D. At this point Rocky came swimming up. "There it is!" he said, "You made it!" pointing at the buoy. The buoy he was pointing at was probably 5 yards away. It was a buoy I hadn't seen the entire swim. As it turns out, I had been sighting on a very large white building located on the opposite shore several miles away. No wonder it never seemed to be getting any closer!

I just had to laugh. It's really a miracle I didn't swim in a circle. Nonetheless, I do believe I was heading relatively straight towards that building the entire time. After regrouping at the 1/2 mile mark, we headed off back to shore, and I got so distracted working on stroke mechanics "catch-up; high-elbow/catch-up; high-elbow" that I sighted to the far side of the swimming area, not the little cove around the corner where we were actually exiting. So I lost a bit of time on the exit, but was more or less on pace with D. She had the good sense to wear a watch, so I know we were at about 16:30 for each 1/2 mile split. 33 minute mile in open water - not too bad.

We only had about 15 minutes once we got out of the water and onto our bikes, so we did hill repeats. My bike was soaking wet, but luckily the rain had stopped for a while. We did three moderate hill climbs, staying in the saddle the whole ride but gearing down (or is it up? whichever way makes it harder to push the peddles) on each repeat and attempting to maintain our original cadence. Something clicked on this and I felt good. I started off towards the back, but by the end of the third repeat I had lapped several people. Must have been that work with Ian - hill shock therapy!

All in all, a great workout!

Tri Card From Bella

I didn't get a picture quickly enough to get this up last weekend, but this is the card Bella made me after last Saturday's triathlon.  She made this entirely on her own, without help or prompting, then gave it to me.  I almost cried.  Okay, maybe I did cry a little.  I have one amazing kid.

My Shoulders Are Killing Me!

Curses, Crossfit Push-Jerks! Curses! My shoulders are up into my ears they are so sore. Now I might have to do yoga or that damn foam roller thing to get everything back in alignment. Or maybe swimming...I like swimming (did I just say that!?).

Speaking of swimming, not a lot of it has been happening (okay, none) since the tri. But, I'm signed up for the Mary Meyer Swim Clinic so that should change soon. All fellow tri-virgins in the Seattle Area (or near virgins--ahem) I strongly recommend the Mary Meyer Free Tri Clinics held around town at the various REIs.

And just in case you're feeling too confident about your swimming and want to learn a new stroke....say sthe the racing frog-kick side stroke (can you make that up?), here's how the Navy-freaking-SEALS do it...and it's kinda strange.

First Tri Ever! Five Mile Lake Woman's Tri.

My first triathlon! Impressions: this all-woman tri was very friendly and welcoming. I got tons of support from the experienced athletes around me, and had a great event. This was a sprint, the "easiest" of the triathlons: 400 meter swim, 14 mile bike, 5 km run. My goal was to finish sub 2 hours. I surprised myself, rounding the final leg of the run and seeing 1:29 on the clock. I sprinted to the end, determined to make a sub 1:30, and came in at 1:29:29, placing 12th in the 25-29 age group.

Here's pix of the whole shebang:

We arrived at around 6:30 to a nearly empty field: fast registration lines and a very open racking/transition area were a nice way to ease into things. I snagged the end of the bike rack (premium space, I figured, since everyone who arrived before me was set up on an end) and copied the transition set up of the people around me, adding what I remembered from the very helpful Mary Meyer Tri Info Session.

Then, Nick, Bella and I checked out the swim course, hung around the park area, drank water, ate a power bar and just chilled for awhile, until I decided it was high time to get wetsuited-up. I smeared my ankles and wrists with bodyglide, wriggled into my wetsuit, spent 10 minutes pinching and pulling everything into place, and jumped in the water for a test swim. I swam an out-and-back of the final portion of the U-Shaped swim leg, getting a feel for what it would look like at the swim exit.

The swim was tougher than I thought in terms of catching my breath and getting into a good smooth groove. Frankly, groove just didn't happen, especially since my novice sighting skills had me checking around every four or five strokes for the buoys. But apparently that didn't slow me down too much, since my swim split was faster than the 400 meter practice I did in the pool. And, my totally dorky and never before worn seal goggles proved awesome, giving me leak proof comfort and high visibility for sighting.

My wave was the first to go. Uh, no pressure. They sounded the foghorn, and away we went. The first part was nuts: lots of kicking, grabbing, thrashing and other unladylike behavior as the athletes jockeyed for position and clear water en route for the first buoy. As we rounded the first buoy, the field spread out. I made it to the second buoy, breathing every second stroke for some time to try and calm my adrenaline-pumped breathing (didn't really work but it was a super short swim, so I guess I could muscle through it). I turned towards the exit, but as it turned out, my sighting got wonky at the end, and I stood up about 20 meters right of the exit area and had to do the high-knee run to the actual exit. Running through water is pretty slow. Still, when I crossed the mat and ran for the bike, there were a lot of pink swim caps still out in the water, and most of the bikes were still racked up.

T1 (the first transition) felt pretty smooth. I got my wetsuit off and my feet clean and into socks without too much trouble, snapped on my helmet and glasses, grabbed my bike and headed out. Nick said my mount-up n the bike was really clean. Apparently I passed several people who took a bit longer to get in the saddle and go.

I loved, loved, loved how quick I felt on the bike. Since all my training rides have been with the trailer and Bella, I really didn't know how fast I would be solo. Without the extra 70+ pounds of towage, I averaged 17.5mph, and felt great. Sure, some hills sucked, but in general I felt really on it. I definitely passed more people than passed me, and most of the people who did pass me were on badass tricked out Bianchi's and Cervelo's (bikes that cost--ahem--alot), so I didn't feel too bad.

Another highlight of the bike portion: I rode with a great athlete who acted as my rabbit for much of the ride. We had quite a bit of banter going, and passed each other --back-and-forth-- several times. Having that camaraderie was awesome! One big thing to work on for the bike leg next time: hydration! I had maybe three sips of water, but should definitely have had more.

T2, where I switched out of bike shoes and into running kicks was a bit less smooth. My race belt came unclipped and I had to fiddle with it; my lace locks and trembling fingers combined to tie the worlds stupidest knot, so I had to loop my laces around themselves in this gregorian kluge. It was okay, just not as clean.

I felt painfully slow on the run. Not a shocker, as I'm not naturally quick as a runner, and the first 1/2 mile I could feel the imprint of my bike cleats in the soles of my feet even though I had switched out to running shoes. They (those who have done this before) always say your legs feel like jell-o for the first mile or so. True! I had jell-o legs and despite my best efforts to keep up a quick fore-front cadence, I reverted to a shuffley jog on several occasions. The run was fairly neglected in my training, and it hurt me. I passed...um...no one, I think. But I was passed by quite a few people, even from different, later starting waves. A strong run really can make or break the previous effort on the bike, and my weak leg was pretty apparent.

My goal was to finish sub-2 hours, and for my first tri I thought that was ambitious but doable. Here's how I did, in cold hard numbers:
Rank (Age Group): 12
Rank (Overall): 79
Swim Rank (AG): 8 | Swim Time: 7:25.2 | Swim Pace: 2.02 mph
T1: 2:13.8
Bike Rank (AG): 10 | Bike Time: 47:59.9 | Bike Pace: 17.5 mph
T2: 1:19.7
Run Rank (AG): 15 | Run Time: 30:31.0 | Run Pace: 9:51 mph
Total Time: 1:29:29.6

All in all, an awesome first tri. I loved it, had a great time and can't wait to get out there and do it again!

To Run Faster, Stop Crosstraining?

New York Times article sent to me by training buddy D:

For Peak Performance, 3 Is Not Better Than 1

The article basically suggests that it is not possible to peak in three separate sports at the same time because human physiology won't allow you to optimize performance in biking at the same time as running. Opposing muscle groups and all that, plus basic time management...even a top level triathlete is unlikely to put in more than 10 hours a week into running because they need to have at least that into the bike, and a few swims too. Compare that to a pro-level marathoner-who's going to have more time to run?

Triathlon is about training to create a balance in your endurance capacity across disciplines. Here's my thought: is it really appropriate to think of tri as THREE sports anyway? Sure, the components look like open water swimming, road racing and running, but isn't tri really more (or at least different) than the sum of it's parts? Countless pro-level training strategems for tri will tell you that it's not how fast you run, it's how fast you run off the bike.

Tearing up the bike and taking top honors in that leg only to hobble through the run and get passed by 100 people doesn't get you anywhere. It's the race as a whole that matters. Everyone would love to shave 3 minutes off their bike time, but not at the cost of adding 5 minutes to the run.

Triathlon is about training to create a balance in your endurance capacity across disciplines. And that's why tri training is different, and why a tri should be viewed as a single sport, not three distinct sports done in quick succession.

I'm Registered for the Danskin!

I was one of the lucky ones: happened to be up at midnight and was able to register. Something like four hours later, the race was closed. Weird how fast it happened. 4000 women REALLY want to do this race. Called D, so she got in, and Hesper's more Easterly time zone gave her a leg up for registering, so she got in.

My sister was not so lucky. She wasn't watching the clock quite as closely and the race was long closed by the time she got online. She and I are thinking of doing the Luna Portland Race, or possibly another race in Seattle thats geared to newbies.

But for now, it's on! We are go for Danskin.

Tri Training: I think I'm Really Doing This....

I spent the better part of this evening getting a training plan together for the next 33 weeks (countdown to Danskin). I’m going to be in the pool three days a week, and am going to build up my endurance in four week intervals, following a base, +10%, +10%, -25% plan to increase my minutes while allowing rest intervals. This plan is based off the 20 week Swim Training Schedule available free at Beginner Triathlete.

In other Tri News, I am super excited that D and I will be joined by my most fabulous sister in our journey to badass-ed-ness. It turns out sis has always had a secret dream to do a triathlon. Who knew? It’s already so much fun talking about all this with her; I can’t wait until we start training together too! Her awesome hubby is already designing t-shirts for the support crew to wear as we cross the finish line...something rather catchy (um, raunchy?) like “My wife does it three ways.”

I can’t believe how excited I am to start training for this. I think it’s because it feels like a real concrete goal. It’s always nice to get stronger or fitter, or get a bit more definition in the triceps, but this is a real leap into the unknown for me and my fitness. I’m going to learn two sports to do this, and there’s something just exciting as hell about the challenge.