Take Flight Triathlon

Oct. 4th at 7:30am - NOMAD Aquatic Center in Charlotte, NC - BE THERE!

TAKE FLIGHT TRIATHLON

250 yard swim

10 mile bike (be ready for those hills!!!)

5k run . . . . .

TONS OF FUN

MONEY RAISED BENEFITS Garrett's Wings

COOL LONG SLEEVE TECH T

GREAT VOLUNTEERS

YUMMY POST RACE FOOD

Register before August 10th to save a few $$$$!!

Got training questions? Email me!

Workout Week

What in the world does one do when training for an Ironman? This week my schedule (which is worked around kids and camps and birthdays)
Monday: 2 hour trainer ride - base miles
Tuesday: 1 hour strength / flexibility + 3600 yards swim (2 miles)
Wednesday: 1 hour run - speedwork
Thursday: 1:15 run - base miles + 3600 yards swim
Friday: 1 hour yoga / strength
Saturday: 3.5 hour bike
Sunday: 1:45 long run + 1 hour swim
Should be around 13 hours
I have a swim partner (Vicky) for my Tues. & Thurs. swims & a biking partner if I can find a sitter for Sat. so it should be a fun week!!

Giving Light

I was driving to a race site Sunday morning early. It was dark and overcaast outside. (it was 5 am afterall!!) The sections of 81/64 that I was driving had no street lights so the only light I had was my car headlights. I don't know if it was the hour or the stress of driving to time the race or the exhaustion of driving at 5am but that scene made me very introspective.
I think a lot of people live in darkness like that. I would imagine loosing one of my children would make a darkness fall over me like none I have ever known. How do you find the light to keep going? I think sometimes you have to rely on others to give you enough light to keep going until you can find your own. I hope that my training / racing and fundraising is givng that light to others. I want our picture project to give light to parents that have darkness closing in around them.
I get asked a lot why I do Ironman, how in the world I enjoy the training, how I find the time to train. Lots and lots of reasons but two very important reasons are that I have been given the gift of the ability to do this, I need to use that gift to inspire other to do something too. I also want to take this gift and use it for something bigger / greater than me. For me, Ironman is my way to honor Garrett and maybe give Renee and Scott a little light in a dark time.
Indoor trainer ride today & maybe a little swim!

Riding in the rain

One of the things I love about IM training is facing and overcoming fears. I have always been leary of riding in the rain. Rainy days I would just hop on the trainer and stay dry. Today Paul and I had a free morning w/ kids at Grandma & Grandpa's overnight. We woke up to cloudy skies but decided to risk it. Around mile 4 the drizzle started. By mile 8 or so it was all out rain. It rained pretty hard for a good 10 - 15 miles. We were wet and cold but sucked it up and got most of the ride done. We cut it about an hour short so I had to finish up a little bit on the trainer, but for the most part I sucked it up and got through and outside rainy ride with no problem. Now that's a little HTFU! 42 miles today, only another 70 miles to build : )

Our Motivation

This year we will be raising money for a specific project that Garrett's Wings is working on. Renee and I are working on a photography project for both Kids' Path and the local hospice in Harrisonburg. Right after Renee and Scott came home with Garrett a local photographer contacted them and offered to come and take pictures in their home of the family. These are some of the most beautiful photos I have ever seeen. My favorite:

I know these pictures are very important and precious to Renee and Scott. We wanted to use this gift that was given to Renee and Scott and share that with other families that are experiencing the loss of a child.

We will need to raise the money for camera equiptment, supplies, printing and maybe even some albums to give out. We are still working out whether we will ask professionals to volunteer their time or recruit other voulunteers that just are great at taking photos. We also still have to get the o-k from the hospices - that is a biggie!! Lots of great things to work on!

Today's workout: 1.5 hour bike w/ 3 min. threshold intervals, 3 min. recovery + 1 hour easy run

A new Race . . .

After a long move, lots of work and adjusting we are pretty settled in Harrisonburg. After getting settled I started to get a little itchy for a race. O-k, a LOT itchy for a race. My summer has been pretty consumed with house and kid stuff with not much time for training. SO, I decided a Nov. 7th irondistance race (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) is just what I need! Next order was to drag others into my sick training web. I recruited Renee to do the run portion and my husband Paul and Renee's husband Scott will do the swim and bike (still don't know which one will do which). So began 4 for Garrett.
Renee and I began our training on July 19th, Garrett's 4th birthday with a 7.5 mile run. We have a lot of mile to go!! Next blog . . . the photo project.

Not meant to be . . .

I can tell you with all certainty that I am never meant to be a single parent & if by some horrible accident I become one I will be overweight and slow! Paul was gone for 5 days and I got next to no exercise done - planning GOTR, keeping up with household, swim meets, Christmas programs - the list goes on. I also did a fine job of both feeding my children & myself lots of fast and less than healthy food (although I did make myself a nice pot of soup filled with yummy vegetables and ate it all weekend).
Paul has returned and all is right with the world again - now to work the candy off my hips!!

Push ups

In an effort to get not only buff but also stronger & faster & fitter I am working on my strength. Monday begins a "Push up Challenge" that Paul and I are doing. We did our initial testing yesterday & I eeked out 17 (on my toes, not bad huh!) and he did an impressive 23 (or 25, I can't remember, I was too impressed and awe struck by his strength!) That puts both of us in group three, which means a WHOLE lot of push ups to do on Monday. I think I'll be feeling those for a while!

Winter blahs

Well it's not even winter yet and already I have the winter blahs! I think mostly it is the flu bug that has been circulating around the house that is getting me down. Next week begins my 7 week pre-season program, then the first of the year will begin a 20 week build to FLA 70.3 which is my first A race of the year. I have been doing strength work which I am surprisingly enjoying and starting to see the benefits of.
Our tri club is participating in the USAT winter club challenge through the months of Dec., Jan. & Feb. The month of Dec. is swim focused, the first club to swim 750 miles (total) wins. We don't have that much chance of winning based on numbers, but it's a fun motivation to get folks in the water during the dark & chilly Dec. mornings. I am going to try to get in 6 miles a week, which is a lot of swimming!

Jockstrapper's Race Report: Beach2Battleship

I am going to assume that a racer's support crew is called 'jockstrappers' because, well we are providing the essential support. At any rate, last weekend was my turn to be the cheerleader for Paul's Irondistance race, Beach2Battleship in one of my favorite all time cities - Wilmington, NC. For those of you not familiar this was an Irondistance (2.4 m. swim, 112 m. bike, 26.2 m. run) race, but not an IRONMAN which is an actual company with trademark for the cute little red M with the dot over it. There wasn't quite the same amount of hoopla and it was 1/4 the size of an m-dot race but it was done first class and SetUp Events did a great job.
We traveled to Wilmington on Thurs. & picked up Paul's packet, shopped the expo and got checked in at our Wrightsville Beach condo.
After a quick dinner at a pizza place close by we were ready to crash. Ruthie & Bobby (my sister & b.i.law) arrived later that evening & we all crashed together in the condo. I can't say enough about how much help it was to have them staying there & helping out with the kids!!!!!! Friday was a relaxing morning, we went out and got some cool orange poster board & had some yummy Firehouse Subs for lunch, then the kids and I got ready to go to the YMCA Halloween party. We left Paul at the condo to lay around. After the YMCA shindig we met up with Renee, Scott & Hailee and had dinner all together at O.T.B.
We drove around a bit looking for neighborhoods to trick or treat, and finally found a very nice near the beach. I was once again reminded that I would love to live at the beach. Sat. morning at 4:45 Paul got up & got ready, I drove him the half mile to T1 (it was a point to point swim so I drove him there, but then he had to take a bus to the swim start) and dropped him off. I drove back to the hotel, met up with Scott and we ran the mile and a half or so to the swim start (no cars were supposed to be allowed). We found Paul eventually and waited in the chilly morning air to cheer him off. There was a nice current running so I figured I'd better get running back & get Ru, Bobby & the kids right away. When I got back they had already left so I ran over to T1 and met up with them.
Paul had a smoking 1:05 swim (ok, some of this was the current : ) and after bundeling up he was off on the bike. We went back to the hotel for some down time and I was surprisingly relaxed for a little while. t2 was at the USS North Carolina in downtown Wilmington. Around 11 am we parked downtown and took the water taxi provided by the race folks across the river to the battleship area. Our plan was to hang out, see Paul come in off the bike then head back over on the water taxi to the downtown area to see Paul run the loops over there, have a nice dinner, etc. That was before we saw the 2 hour line to get the water taxi back over - uh oh.
So we spent a lovely afternoon w/ Renee, Scott, Haliee, Ruthie & Bobby touring the battleship, playing outside and cheering on Paul (that only lasted a few minuites) All in all the kids were great.
Around the time that Paul was starting out on the run I was lucky enough to get a parking pass to bring my car to the small parking lot right at T2 that they had said was not for race participants. The thought of Paul having to wait in line for 2 hours after completing and Ironman was more than I could take. So, after a lot of stressing I watched Paul start on his second loop of the run after a blazing 2:12 first half marathon (and he looked great!) I ran the first 3.5 or so miles of the run course to get back to the car (folks were cheering for me, aid stations offering me drinks - I kept having so say, no, I'm not racing, just trying to get my car!) I thought I might catch Paul but no luck, he was just running too darn fast!!
Got the car and some subs and got back in plenty of time to wait for him to come down the finish line. I was waiting about 300 y. from the finish line, and was going to call Ruthie & the group at the finish line when he was coming. He blew by me running so fast I never caught back up to him & he made it thru the finsh line in an awesome 12:51. He looked great (ok, a little tired) and had a fantastic race.
It was really different to be there as the jockstrapper. I dont' know that I do as well since I tend to be a *wee bit crazy and over the top about the races. I think Paul is better suited to stay calm and relaxed about what's going on when I am racing. I am VERY, VERY proud of how wonderful he did & was glad to have the whole family (and great friends too!!) there to share the experience with!!

Hurray for . . .

Hurray for -
Anne who is swimming again & did a 500!
Terry who swam across the pool today w/o stopping for the first time!
Carolyn who did 5 BIG BOY push ups today (oh yeah and 25!!! girly ones after that!!!)

You guys rock!!

22 girls!

I must admit I had a massive amount of fear and anxiety as the Girls on the Run registrations came rolling in one after another. Our nice manageable group of 9 last year was looking a lot bigger this year. I set the cap at 16, then another came in, then another and another. I just have a hard time telling the girls no, especially when I know how much they will get out of the program & experience. So, here we are with 22 girls - and it was a blast! I am a little horse & it will be very different than last year but hey, who's to say that different is bad?

OUCH

I guess karma bit me in the butt for enjoying my neighbor's frustration - I seem to have tweaked a spot in my back. I then ignored the tweaked spot and went for a harder run. I am now facing an all out back issue. I can't seem to turn my head or raise my arms. I would love this to be a good excuse to lay in bed all day but alas, laying down is the MOST uncomfortable position to be in! GRRR!

Yardsign Wars

I don't usually post about politics or other non-workout topics but this has me giggling lately so I thought I would share. It began with our neighbors 2 & 3 houses up putting up yard signs for their party (hint, it rhymes with complain & Van Halen), so my next door neighbor put up her sign for the other party. She also got a sign for us for the other party. The up the street neighbor's signs started to multiply. They now each have 4 or 5 signs.
When one of the neighbors with the 4 or 5 signs was out walking the other day while Paul was out front he made a snide comment about our signs & how 'you teachers are all alike!' Funny that they can put up all the signs they want but we put up one yard sign and he got genuinely mad. Not to mention the fact that neither Paul nor I are teachers . . .

Beaming with Pride

I was pretty nervous about allowing my 9 year old daugher to do the Rambl'n Rose triathlon. She didn't really enjoy the training that much and found every excuse not to, the bike course was on some major roads that were open to traffic and she is still very tenative on her bike and she has the tendancy in races to bring on the tears - all of which I had to weigh pretty heavily with her pleas to do the race. I gave in and thought she would, in the least, learn a lesson about the need to properly train to prepare for a race.

It was cold outside and very, very early when we arrived at the Huntersville Aquatic Center in Charlotte on Sat. A. was half asleep and very cold. We got our transitions set up and went looking for the other women that I had trained for the race in our Mother Daughter Training Group. (a 12 week program I led at the Kirk Y). Everyone was very excited and a little nervous.

The 250 yard swim was a pool swim so we were seeded based on our times. I decided to swim at my own time, then just wait for Anna to bike together. I was the 31st woman to start and probably should have put in a bit faster time as I quickly ran into the 4 women ahead of me and lost about 30 - 40 seconds waiting and trying to pass. I ran out to transition and dried off, threw on my Garrett's Wings jersey, left my chip on my towel and ran back into the pool area. I got to see Nicole and Natalie (2 of our training group girls) rock the swim, then headed over to watch A. swim. I think all the race excitement might have made her go out a little too hard on the first 250 so she did breaststroke fo rthe majority of the swim but hey, she is a great breaststroker and she smiled for the whole swim!!

We ran into transition together and I threw on her shirt and helped to get her shoes on as she stood in a daze. Off on the bike we went!! On first try she fell when mounting her bike and got a little teary and flustered but a wonderful vounteer ran over and helped her mount and she was all better! There was a lot more traffic than I expected on the 9 mile ride and since this was A's first ride on the road with cars I was a wreck! I rode just behind her and out a little so that cars had to go around me. I was fully prepared to throw myself and the new bike infront of a car to protect her!!! She rode much faster than she had in our few training rides that we did and she did FANTASTIC on all the hills, even crushing the last hill and passing a few women on the way up!!

She didn't cry, complain or fuss for the whole bike ride so I thought I would up the ante a little. I told her that I would take her straight to the bookstore after the race to let her use her yardsale money to buy the 5th Harry Potter book if she made the full run with a positive attitude and no tears for the entire run. (yes, bribery and questionable parenting, I know) She was looking so good coming out of transition I upped the ante and told her that if she could run the full 2 miles without walking I would pay for the book for her. Those that know A. know that she LOVES to read, especially Harry Potter. She has been waiting and begging to read the next book so for me to buy it for her, quite a big deal. We ran and talked and ran and ran. She was fantastic and I don't even think she broke a sweat! We ended up running the 2 miles in 21 min. which is a 10-ish minuite mile!!
I cried when we crossed the finish line, no big surprise. It was a fantastic day and such a great experience to share with A.! When asked if she would do it again she said YES! and she thought she would probably stick to 9 miles on the bike! Swim and run could be longer she thought, but 9 miles on the bike is long enough! I am THRILLED that she enjoyed the expeince so much and can't wait for next season to race along with her!!!

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!!