Name her . . ..

So while the rest of the country is in financial turmoil and ruin I felt it my duty to continue spending and help the enconomy grow. (or I just really, really wanted it) Here is my new pride and joy which is currently being built by Just the Right Gear - the greatest bike shop! Problem is I need a name for her. Abby suggested Bella, which I like but I am still shopping names, so give me some good ideas!!

The need for speed

Some that know me might call me a 'competitive' person. I like to think of myself as nice and relaxed and above the pettiness of cut-throat competition, but I know better. I, like most of us, like to win. Thus, I do triathlons to channel my inner competitive beast. I try to tell myself that I really compete with myself to better my own times but most of you know that's a crock - I want to win. Period.
Enter my frustration at not being faster. I am constantly complaining to my dear husband about not being faster at swimming, biking and running. My recent workouts have given me an insight into the WHY of me not being faster. I was biking w/ my dear beloved on Sunday & I clearly announced I would be taking it easy after a hard run that afternoon. As we started up Mill Mountain he started to get further and further ahead. I was cussing him in my head for dropping me. I was sure he was doing it on purpose. But in the end I rode faster and harder to try to keep up. So, I will attribute my lack of speed on the bike to my riding alone and at my own comfy pace too much.
The same day I went for a tempo run. After a 5 min. warm up I was to do a 5k at race pace. Ha! What I discovered was that I don't like it when it hurts that bad and tend to slow down when the hurt begins. Hmmm, maybe that's why my run sits in the same rut it has been in for the last year?!
As for the swim, I can't complain. I had a great swim last night & have my 3 x 300's down to 4:30 with :30 rest between. (Actually I got 5 done which is even better) But alas, being faster in the water without speed on the bike and run only means that you get passed on the bike and or run - which SUCKS.

The YOGA Cure

I am trying to kick my coffee habit. I have been drinking more and more and finding myself more and more tired in the afernoon, so I decided it's time to kick the habit. Going to work this morning at 5:45 with no coffee - ouch! Hopefully I made sense to my ever so patient client who is working very hard to learn to swim after 60 years of aquatic fear.

In another effort to become healthier I decided to give up my pre-breakfast breakfast that I usually have before I go to work. A gluten free waffle or two before work is just not needed for short mornings now that my exercise load has been cut in thirds! I was hungry and quite grouchy by the time I got home and my poor children suffered the brunt of it while we were in the mad dash out the door.

After returning home I decided to do a few of my new YOGA positions that I discovered in my new YOGA magazine that I picked up yesterday. Low and behold, twenty minuites and five YOGA poses later I wasn't so hungry and grouchy any more! Hmm, maybe I should be doing this in the wee morning hours instead of brewing coffee!

Goals

My wonderful client Anne reminded me today that it's time to set some goals. With the season almost over it's the perfect time to re-evaluate things for next year. I am big on internal goals and external goals. Internal goals are those that you can control - how you train, what you do, things that you are 100 (at least 99)% responsible for. External goals are great too, but you can not control them. You can't control how other's have trained, where you will place and if you will qualify. So, I always encourage folks to have both.
Here goes:
For the rest of the year and the 2009 season: (knowing this will be revised 10 times as the year progresses!)
Internal Goals:
1. Integrate YOGA as an equal part of my training to swimming, biking and running & build strength.
2. Knock significant time off my half iron distance - train to RACE a half ironman, rather than to SURVIVE a half ironman.
3. Lower my body fat and maybe drop a few pounds - but only for the sake of being faster and stronger.
4. Find the positive and the joy in all the races I do, even when they don't turn out the way I planned.
5. I wanna go fast, I wanna go fast.

External Goals:
1. Get fast enough to race in the open division without embarrassing myself. (both and internal & external goals.
2. Focus on the half iron distance enough that a Clearwater qualifying slot isn't a ridiculous thought.
3. Bring home more hardware.

SheRox Tri

I've returned home after a fabulous trip to Charlotte to do the SheRox sprint tri with Renee. This was my first women's only triathlon so I wasn't really sure what to expect. It was great! I had such a wonderful time with Renee, it was great going to the race with her. No offense to my sweet husband and brother in law, but since I'm not part of the 'shake & bake' team, I end up doing the race on my own while they are together.
I had a good race, not a great race but a good race. Out of 383 women I came in 17th. That was the great part. I really loved being at the front of the pack and plan on continuing to race there! My times were a bit slower than my best, but being 2 weeks post IM I guess an average performance is still o-k!!
The best part of the race was the finisher's bling! Every racer got a pretty silver set of bracelets! I'll be back next year and hopefully by then I'll be fast enough to race in the open category!!

Got Gluten?

So without Ironman training to blog I had to find other interesting (questionable!) things to write about. I was grocery shopping yesterday when I came across a sign in the gluten free freezer section about new wheat free items Ukrops is carrying. Cupcakes - in the bakery section - not frozen - yummy! I almost ran over to the bakery section! I took plenty of time to pined over the decision - white cupcakes with white frosting, chocolate with white frosting or chocolate with chocolate frosting! I think I picked up and put down the packages 10 times. I settled on chocolate cupcakes with fluffy beautiful white icing.
I did restrain myself from eating in the car and waited until half the bags were inside before devouring my cupcake. Yummy goodness!!!!! About 2 hours later I started cleaning out the pantry. I am embarrassed to admit that I had 3 trashbags full of expired/stale inedible items to throw out. I also had lots of spilled flour, sugar and who knows what else. That's when the tummy ache started. After about 10 min. I put the kids in front of the TV (a big no, no in my rule book - no tv on school days!) and went to bed miserable.
I assumed the flour in the cabinet got into me and made me sick. It wasn't until I was 3 bites into the second cupcake later that evening when I noticed it only said WHEAT FREE. I checked the ingredients and sure enough, Oat Flour. Number 1 ingredient. After almost 3 years at this you would think I would know by now to actually check. I know wheat free & gluten free are two different things.
I have to admit, knowing that I was already in for a rough night of stomach problems I went ahead and finished the cupcake. No more yummy fluffy white icing for me : ( At least the honey crisp apples turned out to be heavenly!!!

What's next?

When you finish any big project you usually left with that WHAT'S NEXT? feeling. I am definitely having that after finishing the IM, especially because the race did not go as well as I had planned. I am guessing if that was my first IM I would have been THRILLED with my time and ability to push through, but it was not my first and alas, I am not thrilled. I hate to admit that because I did accomplish so much and this time the race was about things much more important than TIME. So, I have the mixed emotion of thrilled with all that I accomplished and less than happy with my performance.
So, what's next . . . I am heading to Charlotte (on a whim) to do the SHE ROX tri with Renee. I am really excited about the trip & looking forward to doing a race where I don't have any expectations for myself. If I do well that is great, if I don't - at least I'll be doing the race with a wonderful friend!! Beyond that I will focus on the Take Flight Tri in Oct. (and training for the Rambl'n Rose w/ Anna), then the Star City Half Marathon in Nov.
I submitted my application to Hammer Nutrition for sponsorship for next year. I would be SO excited to get chosen, although they stress again and again on their web site that most folks are not chosen b/c they get so many requests. I am hoping I am a good candidate b/c of my celiac and my 100% reliance on Hammer yummies in my training & racing. The race suits are pink (yay) and maybe it will help offset the costs of my Hammer habit! There are many addictions that are worse . . .

MY IM RACE REPORT

RACE REPORT: 14:04:04 35/80 A.G. 1039 / 1975 Overall
Pre-race routine:
Arrived on Thurs. after driving 7 hours. Checked in at expo then walked around and oogled all the cool gear. Checked into the Townplace Suites (we got a 2 br. room - it was GREAT w/ the kids there) Chilled out on Thurs. night at the hotel, let the kids swim in the pool and fixed a pizza (gluten free) while Paul and the kids ordered a pizza. Friday am I got a great surprise - my sister & her husband flew in & suprised me! so exciting to have them there to cheer me on! WEnt to the practice swim, took the kids to the park for a bit (really my sister did!) & went back to the hotel to chill out. I had to run back over to the expo, then did a quick (15 min.) bike & run and started to pack my bags. Mostly tried to hang outside & acclimate to the heat! Sat. I went to the expo (again!) and napped a lot, Paul, Ru & Bobby & kids went to 6Flags for the day. I turned in my bags & met up w/ Aaron (jeepfleeb) for a quick interview and went to bed around 7. Fell asleep around 9:30 and slept most of the night. Bottle of perp. at 2 am & a bagel & some grits when I got up at 4:15.
Event warmup:
Drove over to the start and pumped my tires, put bottles on the bike and sprinted to the start. Got there about 2 - 250 people back.
Swim: 1:13:13 9 / 80 A.G.
Comments:Last year I didn't enjoy the swim at all. I got a little neg. seeing people pass me. This year the swim was the best part of the day. My stroke felt so strong and I really just enjoyed all of it. The only down side was having a much more crowded swim from starting further back than last year. I had to swim around / over quite a few folks &
What would you do differently?:
Get there earlier to have less crowds.
T1:4:12
Comments:
Pretty smooth T1, I had my own volunteer who was very organzied and kept things straight for me! Thank you voulnteers!!!
What would you do differently?:Nothing
Bike: 6:59:57 31 / 80 A.G.
Comments:
Well, it all started to go horribly wrong. Last year I didn't feel the heat on the bike. This year I was melting out there. Being a faster swimmer sucks when you are not a faster biker. I got passed non-stop. I think my grandfather might have ridden by. I started to feel rough after LaGrange. I was right on track for nutrition then I started to feel the bloat. Unforutnatly I don't have much of a back up plan w/ the celiac disease I have limited options. So I slowed down (then my 4 year old nephew passed me on the bike) and sipped water. I managed to get down another bottle and a half of nutrition and just kept the pace very easy. I was feeling rought but managing until I hit mile 80. That's when the stomach was done. I knew one more sip of HEEd or perp. & I would start throwing up so I sipped water the last 32 miles. I even picked up a Gatoroade thinking I might even try that. (G.E. is really rough on my tummy but at that point I was desperate) - I couldn't bring myself to choke it down and stuck w/ water.
What would you do differently?:
I'm still working on this one. I'm not sure yet (aside from being more ready for heat - but I can't really control the weather!!)
T2: 8:15
Comments:Knocked 2 min. off my T2 time & was feeling rough. Luckily I had a great volunteer who kept things going smooth. I did forget my E-caps which sucked.
What would you do differently?:
Remember by E-caps!!
Run: 5:38:07 (EEK!) 35 / 80 A.G.
Comments:
When you don't eat on the bike you are screwed on the run. I tried the run / walk through aid stations at first. Then the nausea and dizziness started so I had to walk more. I was hot. I was tired. I was weak - but I kept going. I kept telling myself that if I was just doing the race for myself I would have quit, but I was doing the race for Renee & Garrettt and I was running / walking for all the times that he would never be able to. So I ran when I was able, I chewed ice at the aid stations & dumped ice down the front of my top and on I went. Last year I was able to atleast trot betwen every aid station. I tried to sip gatorade & tried some coke here and there but mostly just ice and a little water. I had 4 shot blocks, 4 peppermints and 2 rolaids. This year I walked atleast 2 - 3 solid miles of the 26.
What would you do differently?:
Again, this is still a work in progress. Overall I was able to run faster on my run parts than last year - I was only like 12 min. slower overall for the run than last year's run & I walked A LOT more than last year.
Post race
Warm down:
Stagger back to the corner where Paul picked me up, he had already picked up my bike & bags (what a wonderful thing!!) Got in the hotel pool then a cool bath.
What limited your ability to perform faster:
Lack of heat in the month and a half before - I simply wasn't acclimated to performing in the hot conditions.
Event comments:
My time was :30 sec. faster this year. Not much for this distance, but with everything that went south & last year everything going EXACTLY according to plan I take it as a sign that I am in better shape and my training paid off. I'll be back in a year or two to get that 12 hour finish.