Max Performance Mass State Olympic Triathlon - Race Report

Yet again, I find myself struggling to write my race report. So once again it will be a report in pictures. James and I arrived around 6am and set up transition. I got in manic mode and we took some pics.

 

My parents arrived some time closer to 7:30am. By that point James and I were on the beach checking out the swim course. Or from the looks of it, we were both randomly squinting in the bright sunlight.

Here I am with my dad as I'm waiting with my newbie wave to get started.

I'm somewhere in this pack of swimmers. I lined up to the far right in the second row of swimmers. I took it out very easy and just settled into an easy pace. No kicks to the face, no getting pushed under. Even when I started passing some of the men in the wave ahead of me they didn't fight back.

Into transition in just around 30 minutes. A lot of people started popping up to run up the beach and I followed suit. I probably should have kept swimming a bit more, running in the thigh deep water was not easy and the beach floor was a little rocky. Took my time in transition, checked my list twice...Was out in about 2 1/2 minutes. 

Here I am about to mount my bike. Mouth agape. Don't know whats up with that. I swear, I was doing well at this point ;-)

I dropped my chain for the first time ever at mile 1.5 on the bike course. Took me under a minute to get it back on and get going. I spent much of the first lap getting passed by people on tri bikes who looked very serious. There was one big hill and a few smaller ones. I dropped into my small chain ring for the whole large climb and saved my legs for later (or I tried to). Finished the first lap in 45 minutes and intended to do the second lap in under 48. I ended with a 1:31 split for the bike leg.

Was feeling pretty good in T2. Again checked my list twice made sure I did everything correctly, got my garmin switched over to run mode. When I looked down the first time about .25mi in it was reading 7:30min/mi. Thats the last I would see any remotely respectable time on my garmin. 

The first 2 miles were uphill (just slightly) and I think I ran in the 8:30-8:45 range.

Then I hit the hills. I hate hills. My splits fell below 9min/mile. It was hot as hell. I just kept plugging. I started bargaining with myself. I refused to walk. I did not walk. But it was not pretty. Mile 5 was a 9:30. Very frustrating. A girl I had passed on the bike and was passing back and forth with on the run passed me, again. I asked, newbie or age group? Newbie. No!!! She had gas left in the tank. I did not. I shuffled in to the 6 mile mark, saw the chute and pushed it in. 57 minutes for a long 10k (6.35mi according to my watch and I did run the tangents.) It was very painful. It was awesome.  Total time: 3:03:09...

Obligatory sucking wind post-race shot

Went to the tent, drank water, choked down a banana, and watched the awards. 

I even got a free massage.

In the evening I went with James and my parents to the Publick House, my favorite pub. 

2 beers and I was wasted.

It was an awesome day. I can't wait to do it again.


(sidenote: had I known how close I'd be to going sub 3 I wonder if I could have found the energy/effort/reserve/resolve to go 3 minutes faster...)

Max Performance Mass State Olympic Triathlon - FINISHER!

I'm officially a triathlete. The race was awesome.

Official time: 3:03:09
Rank: 5/?? (Newbie division)

Unofficial times:
.9mile swim: 29:XX (per James' yelling as I came up the beach)
T1 3ish
Bike 1:30:35 (16mph)
T2 3ish
Run: 57:12 (6.35miles total, 9:00min/mi average)

Swim was easy and so nice. Didn't get kicked once!
Took it relatively easy on the bike, a few hard hills but took advantage of the downhills and made some time back.
Run basically sucked. I don't think I had gone too hard on the first two legs but it was hot as hell, hillier than advertised (with virtually no flat sections), and the roads were a mess with potholes and weirdly sloping cement, gravel, etc. I however did not walk once.

Pictures and Race Report to follow...

Max Performance Mass State Olympic Triathlon - Tomorrow is Race Day!

I can hardly believe that I started training at the end of January with a vague idea for a tri in the summer and now its here! Since then I've written my dissertation, presented it at a conference, moved from PA to MA, started my new job...tomorrow I become a triathlete!

I've been so busy of late that blog posting has basically gone out the window. I've had some great workouts in the last month. I've found bike routes that make me happy when I cross by in my car. I lost and then found my swim groove. I've started to conquer my unexpected fear of the sea monster on open water swims. My running has been ehh, but I did a solid 3k on Thursday which was a confidence boost and a reminder that there is pain and there is pain and not all pain is bad. I hope to remember this in miles 4-6.2 tomorrow. I also took my first fall last Thursday. Early morning run and my reflexes were not what they normally are; I tripped and couldn't catch myself. Tore up my knees, hands, an ankle, etc. I'm mostly mended, just a few scabs. It may have been a blessing in disguise b/c it forced me to actually do my taper. I'll post pictures of the cuts (is that morbid?) when I download everything from my camera after the race.

James and I will be heading out to the race site in Winchendon MA and our hotel in a few hours. My parents are coming to cheer me on tomorrow as well. I have time goals but am not sure what is reasonable given how few complete SBR's I have under my belt at this point. Also the forecast is calling for nearly 90F by noon (when I'll be out on the run - a late 8am race start and I'm in the last wave) so the race director told everyone to adjust their expectations for time up 10-15%. Regardless, I have some general goals:

1. Finish
2. Don't race people on the swim - take it easy.
3. Hold back on the bike. I have a tendency to want to hammer but with my heavy ass hybrid and my tendency to massively bonk on runs off a fast bike I need to be conservative. I've been saying 15-15.5mph on average. Its a two loop course with one big hill on each loop. I suck on the hills. I need to drop into my small chainring and not try to muscle up the hill. I have to let people pass. I will work on my hill skills this fall. I've told James and my mom to tell me to slow down if my first loop is fast than 16mph. I may or may not listen. I'm gonna drive the course this afternoon so I should have a better idea at that point how bad this hill really is.
4. Start easy on the run. Its gonna be hot as hell by the time I get to the run. I'm shooting for a 9:00min/mi even though that is a hard (too slow) pace for me to run most of the time. After 2 miles I will assess how I'm doing and speed it up if I can.
5. Finish strong, if I can. The last 2 miles of the course are a slight decline. If I have anything left in the tank this is the only time I want to hammer. If I explode out there, so be it.
6. Nutrition and Hydration: I will have 2 bottles on the bike (one with carbo pro in it). Gonna drink in T1 and maybe T2. Am bringing my 22oz handheld in case I am feeling at all dehydrated at the start of the run. Would rather not race with the bottle but will if I have concerns about delirium in the heat. Am using carbo pro on the bike and gu on both the bike and run. The RD just sent an email telling us that there are increasing the number of water stops on the run because of the heat so I'll drink from the stations whenever possible. I also plan to drench myself in water whenever possible. Haven't run with sloshy shoes in months but hopefully that will be ok. I'll lube my feet and hope to ward off blisters.
7. Have an awesome time. Finish smiling. Okay maybe not finish smiling. Likely I'll finish on the verge of puking. But I hope to be smiling with an hour of finishing :-)

Admittedly I have time goals. I worry about admitting them. But I like accountability.

Worst case scenario: If I flat. If I explode on the run. If I have GI problems and multiple pit stops. Regardless of the IF I want to finish under 4 hours.
B goal: 3:30
A goal:  <3:20
Super A+++ goal: <3:10

Gonna go jump on my bike to make sure everything is in order then start packing up the car. Wish me luck!!!I hope to post something very very brief tomorrow afternoon/evening but then I'm off to PA to defend my dissertation on Monday morning so I might not get to a race report until Wednesday...

June - Month in Review

This was a whirlwind month. Started with moving from State College PA to West Roxbury MA on my birthday. Finishing my dissertation and getting a final draft off to my mentor for a final look. Settling into the new house. Prepping for my big yearly research conference. Finally getting my dissertation committee to agree to a defense date (July 20). With defense date confirmed I was finally finally able to register for my long anticipated first triathlon -  Mass State Triathlon Olympic Distance in Winchendon MA July 18 (2 days before the defense!)... Flying out to Monterey CA for said conference. Very successful presentation at the conference and good dry run for my dissertation defense. Last days of freedom before starting my new job on July 1.

Throughout this I also worked on the transition from riding exclusively indoors on the spinner to all outdoors on my dad's old hybrid. A few tweeks of the handle bars, brakes, and seat and its pretty solidly rideable. Slow but rideable. I'm enjoying the riding way more than I expected. I even went for a 50 mile ride which turned into 60 miles when I forgot my house key and had to get to an appointment 10 miles away right as my ride was supposed to end.

My swimming has been so-so. Yardage wasn't terrible, a little less than May but with 5 days of travel thats not surprising. My swimming has definitely been slower than in past months. I've been having some shoulder pain and obsessing a bit about the bike and run legs so have just been doing easy yardage I guess. I start playing mind games with myself though when I only swim slow and start to think that its not that I"m swimming easy but that I couldn't swim faster if I wanted to. My first open water swim (at Walden Pond) allayed any concerns about speed that I had. I flew through that water. I was scared sh*tless. Sea monsters and whatnot. My second swim there, with a new coworker on June 30 was much less scary and was also at a much more reasonable/easy pace (30min mile).

My running has felt pretty crappy this month. All of my brick workouts sucked. I kept crashing and burning on the run after an awesome and hard bike. Hard for me to reign it in on the bike to have stuff left for the run (this wasn't a problem on the spinner). Something to work on. I was able to run all of the days I was in CA which was a great lesson because I had firmly believed up til that point that I could not run on consecutive days without posterior tibialis issues immediately popping up. These runs were all slow (like 8:50-9:30 paces) and I have been feeling slow, which is frustrating. What happened to the days when I ran all my 8 or less mile runs at an 8min pace? Ah well.

So that's my June. 15 days til my first Tri!!!

Swim 27,400 yards
Bike 384 miles
Run 93miles
Total time: 52hours 45minutes.

A post in tweets

gmap-pedometer is down...had to use mapmyrun to plan my biking and running routes for tomorrow's long brick...not too bad. 2:46 PM Jun 18th 
 

hopefully unnecessarily nervous for my long brick this morning. breakfast and caffeine on board. few small checks on my bike then go time. about 24 hours ago
 
an education in triathlon this morning: planned 30mi ride to be followed by 60min run. about 19 hours ago via web 

rocked the 30mi ride. felt awesome. kept effort as easy as i could. loved the route. but couldn't get a cage on my bike so no water on ride


took heed with me on run. got lost at mile 3. blew up at mile 4. got more lost at mile 4.5 resorted to walk/shuffling

found a kind runner in roslindale to point me back in the right direction. more death march/shuffle/walking. total distance 8.25mi

good things: middle gears. high cadence. chomps. heed. kindness of strangers. about 19 hours ago
bad things: dehydration, delirium, repeatedly getting lost, not enough fuel.


overall: AWESOME! can't wait to try again!!!

officially signed up for my first triathlon. Mass State Triathlon - Olympic distance, July 18, 2010 8am!!! about 17 hours ago

Wish I had a camera for this one. It was a gorgeous day in the greater Boston area. Ate like a champ for the rest of the day and am headed to Walden Pond for my first OWS!

May - By the Numbers

I think I'm officially a multi-sport athlete after this month. I also think that my mileage may be unnecessary for an Oly distance tri in July. Would it be terrible if I confessed to fantasizing about a HIM in September???


Swim 32,200 yards, 10 hours
Bike 29 hours 8 minutes - all indoors
Run  93.5 miles, 13 hours 45 minutes
Other - 4 hours, miscellaneous elliptical, weights, core, walking

I'm quite pleased with both my swimming and cycling totals for this month. If I am able to continue with this amount of both, I'd be thrilled. In the coming month, after moving to Boston at the end of the week, I hope to take my cycling "to the streets" and start logging a lot of those hours outdoors. Then I'll have distances not just durations for my rides. I'm eager to see where I'm at in terms of speed given that I had done so much indoor riding over the past few months but have only been out on a real bike one time. I'm also pleased with my swimming. I think after the last few swims I have finally come around to wanting to get some pointers from a swim coach. I had been telling myself that I'm a natural swimmer; it comes easily to me; I can go for a long time without fatigue; I'm confident that my form is actually good; and my pace seems on par with the beginner triathletes' blogs I read...but after a few swims when I've watched "real" swimmers swim, its clear to me that there is a whole other speed at which swimming can happen and I'm not there. I'd like to see what I can do. I'm not a huge fan (or a fan at all) of drills (or strokes other than freestyle) but think I'd be willing to give it a few months to see if I have any untapped potential in the water. What do you think -- should I do this now or wait until the "off-season" to try to work on my speed/power.

My running has actually been relatively good this month. Was hoping to cross that 100 mile mark for the first time but I missed 2 runs which made it impossible. 93 miles is a new high for me anyway, so I'll take it. My posterior tibialis has been grumpy but no big problems (knock on wood). I had a distance PR this month of 14 miles and another solid 10.5 mile run this past weekend (both faster than my HM PR pace). I've had three days of swim-bike-run (one was swim-bike-hike, but I think that counts) and each one was more awesome than the last.

Overall, I'm really digging this HARDCORE. Cannot wait to race this July and make an honest triathlete out of myself.

3 weeks in review

As some of you may know, I'm more of a "glass half empty" kind of person. I get easily mired in negativity, self doubt, and the like. When 3 weeks ago I came down with some sort of weird but very painful throat condition, the glass and my training were more like 1/4 full, at best. I took off 3 days that week. Didn't swim or run at all for a whole week. Just barely made it to the gym to get on the elliptical or bike to do something with my body. I haven't slept so few hours in a long long time. It was demoralizing. It seemed go on forever, but really I think it was the sleep and workout deprivation that just made me lose track of my usual sense of time and order in things. I am also trying to finish up my dissertation in the last then 6 (now 3) weeks before I move and start my new job. Writing for me is a painful (and generally not so rewarding) activity. Writing without a way of blowing off steam...really quite difficult. On the 9th day of sickness I was feeling well enough to try out a run. James and I planned an easy 6 miles. It was not meant to be. It was hot, humid, sticky, and horrible outside. Not a great return to running - my lungs were burning, eventhough we were crawling along at a 9 minute pace. We even cut the run short and walked the last 2 miles home.  I decided it was better to take it easy than my system any more than it was already. Monday morning I woke up to an email from one of my dissertation committee members saying that he was no longer available on the day we had all agreed would be my Defense date (August 20). As I scrambled to get in touch with my mentor and start working on a plan (its surprisingly difficult to get 4 faculty members into a room for 2 hours during summer) a fantasy came to mind: If I finished writing this week and could only convince my mentor to read a draft in the following week, we could push the date up to June (before I start my new job). Although a stressful idea, there was a part of me that wished this would be the outcome. It was not. Mentor couldn't commit to reading that soon. Another member didn't want to meet in June before our big annual conference. Blah blah blah. But it pointed out to me that this dissertation is close to being finished. There is no reason to wait. I need to JUST DO IT. And this changed things. I wrote 3 times that week. I didn't back off when it got painful, when I got negative, when I wanted to scrap the whole thing. I finished a draft. And somehow, in the midst of that I started an awesome stretch of training. Workout after workout, better and better. My lungs returned. My energy returned. I started to have that "I could be a triathlete" feeling. Notes on workouts M-F below: 5/3 60minute spin - solo Whole hour in the saddle at 90+ rpm, riding moderate to moderately heavy gears. legs felt better at the end of the ride than when i started. love that. 2500m swim first mile in 26:42 whole swim felt great. glad to be back in the water and having my lungs cooperate 5/4 65minute spin, 3.7mile run (BRICK) Nothing special but glad to have my running legs back. 5/5 60minute spin (solo), 3200m swim 5/6 60minute spin, 7.2mile run (BRICK) 9:20, 8:18, 7:27, 8:41, 7:42, 8:22, 8:30 first 10k in 51:20 w/last mile in 8:40 7.2 mi in exactly 60:00 5/7 2400m swim James left town for 9 days. Up early to see him off Energy really low going in. plan at least 1600m easy pace first 1600m in 29:00 then another 800 easy with bilateral breathing last 400m Then came the weekend. By this point my draft was complete and I was feeling pretty good. I was playing with various ideas about long training days this weekend and next. With James out of town I figured there would be more time in the day and less structure. What better way to fill in than with long workouts. Saturday I did my regular 2+ hour ride. It was solid and I felt very good afterward. Spent the afternoon and evening at a wedding where I consumed more alcohol (I'm not usually much of a drinker) and sweets than necessary. Sunday I woke up and couldn't quite get going.  Thought about running with a friend but couldn't quite decide. Finally after much procrastination headed to the gym. It was 40, raining, with 25mph winds. In the winter running in that kind of weather might make me feel hardcore but I just wasn't into it. I ended up having my longest run ever. On the treadmill!?! 14 miles in 2 hours. I even ran the first 13.1 in 7 seconds faster than my half marathon finish time (is it a PR if I've only run one HM?). Is it a PR if it comes on a training run? Is it a PR if I was on the treadmill. Regardless of what it was. It felt awesome. Started having fantasies of Half Ironmans in my future. In an effort not to get too caught up in that fantasy (one that I am not, SHOULD not consider until 2011) I started planning for next weekend's workouts. 2hr bike/1hr run on Saturday, 1hr swim/1hr bike on Sunday is where I landed. Funny how this is so much less that I see all the hardcore triathletes doing on a regular midweek training day, yet in the endorphin rush of a good run it left me feeling pretty good about myself that I can plan something like this. Did some excellent recovery eating Sunday afternoon and evening. Wore my old man diabetic recovery socks all afternoon and generally enjoyed my "single" self. Monday I woke up feeling pretty damn good. I was totally incapacitated after my half marathon in December. Stiff, sore, tired, hobbling. This was quite a difference. Admittedly, this run was not in 30 degree weather, or run on miles of slippery snow/ice. But I gave it to myself - my training is coming together. I can do a training run at faster than my previous race pace. This is a good thing. I can workout the next day without undue stress. This too is a good thing. I will be ready for the Oly come July. My Monday workout was good. Quite good. I was amazed at the freshness of my legs.  Tuesday and Wednesday things started catching up with me. See notes below. The fervor I mustered on my dissertation also had a little back slide. Thankfully James cheerleaded me through the darkest patch. 5/10 60minute spin (solo), 2500m swim very nice solo spin in the morning (8:20am) 10min warmup (easy gears), 15min moderate gear 6 x [2min standing hill climb, 3min mod gear]  - with hills 2,4,6,8,10,12 gears of moderate 5min in "aero" dropping gears and increasing speed 5/11 60minute spin, 4mile run (BRICK) Think the big week of workouts started to catch up with me. Regular gears felt very heavy during spin class. Posterior tibialis/achilles slightly grumpy during my run and pace was slower than past BRICKS - 8:50 pace instead of 8:30-8:35. Decided not to push it given my long run on Sunday. 5/12 2400m swim This workout was kind of crappy. I had wanted to do 4000m but totally psyched myself out. By the time I got to the pool I just wanted to make sure I did something. First mile in 29:40, not so good. Last half mile, slower than I would like to admit. This was also my first time wearing a swim cap. It made my head hurt. Yesterday I wanted to get in a quick short BRICK. I had a dissertation hangover in the morning but took myself to the gym. My ride, 40 minutes was okay. My legs were feeling better after the swim only Wednesday but when I started my run I could feel that my posterior tibialis was cranky. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday (Saturday)...is every other day. Post tib does not like every other day running. Post tib wants me to run every third day. This may have been pushing it. So I just did 3 miles. But felt grumpy afterward. Made a deal with myself that I'd come back later and ride some more. That was a good idea. Felt great on the second ride, 60 minutes.  Today I am resting. Off days stress me out. But its a necessary evil. Or so they say. Big plans for the weekend: Over distance BRICK workout on Saturday - 2 hours ride followed by 1 hour run. Sunday - Swim/bike brick. First of the season, have been riding before swimming up til this point. Legs tend to feel heavy after I swim want to start working on getting them moving in spite of that.

Wish me luck!

update

Once again its been weeks (a month?!?) since I've blogged. I've been keeping up with others' blogs but just don't seem to have the motivation to write. Triathlon training has been going to pretty well. I am trying to be good about putting my workouts into google calendar at the bottom of my blog if you want to see the skeleton version of my workouts. It has taken a while for me to actually get up to 3 runs, 3 rides, and 2 swims per week. The biking has been great and easy. I even invested in cycling shoes which make such a huge difference. My posterior tibialis has been finicky so many weeks have ended with only 2 legit runs (and maybe a third of under 3 miles - or a few walks). In addition, about a week ago, I had a crash bang boom with the pool wall which left me afraid I had broken a bone in my foot. I didn't run for about 5 days and didn't do much of anything for the first 48 hours. Thankfully, besides dislocating two of my toes, it was just a deep bruise and some angry soft tissue throughout my foot. I'm feeling 90% back to normal now.

I have noticed that overall the cycling (spinning, for now) has been way better than I expected. I am starting to feel this sense of my legs like pistons; I like that a lot. My swims go well as long as I don't play mind games before. Although I'm not clear whether I am getting faster on swims, I've had a number of good mile long swims/legs of swims in under 29 minutes. I am still not having great runs. I feel tentative and fearful a lot of the time. Strangely, the BRICK workouts I've done in which I spin then run have been awesome. Every one of these workouts has given me a lot of hope about the actual triathlon. This past Tuesday I even extended my run portion beyond the 2-3.5 miles I had been doing and ran 5 miles with negative splits. I also did my first swim-bike BRICK this Monday. I must be kicking much more than I can feel because my legs are always fried after swims. Will need to work on this before July.

This was the first week that I didn't totally bonk in terms of energy on Thursday and Friday. Either I'm adapting or the singles on Th and F were just what I needed. My 2 hour spin this morning didn't feel great but that could have been due to the bad food/drink I consumed yesterday with a friend/colleague visiting. Outside of training things have been pretty stressful. I am full on in dissertation writing mode. 11 weeks until I hope to have it off to my advisor. This week I hated every word written and was very busy doubting myself and feeling frustrated that I don't know more. *sigh* oh well. A little time and distance and things tend to come back into focus. Also, there is a potential house in West Roxbury that we were hoping (but doubtful we'd be able) to move into in June and more and more it looks like it could happen. My mother visited yesterday and the pics she took show the place to be gorgeous! All the things we could want. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer and dryer, dishwasher, garage, backyard, hardwood floors, crown molding, etc etc etc. Even if its out of our price range, I think we may have to do it. We are going to Boston in 2 weeks to see it in person. Also, its Patriot's Day weekend so I am hoping to convince James to stay through Monday so we can watch the marathon!!!

That's all for my all to brief catchup post. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wed Mar 10			1600m swim
Thu Mar 11			5mi run
Fri Mar 12			30min arc, 30min total body circuit
Sat Mar 13			20min ellip, 2:05spin
Sun Mar 14			7.5mi run
Mon Mar 15			spin (double)
			50min circuit w/cardio
Tue Mar 16			3-4mi run
			2mi walk (recovery)
Wed Mar 17			3mi walk
			weights (am)
Thu Mar 18			2.5mi walk (pm)
			BRICK
Fri Mar 19			40min ellip
			2mi walk
Sat Mar 20			2:05 spin
			1.5mi walk
Sun Mar 21			6.5mi run
Mon Mar 22			2mi walk
			1mi wu/cd jog
			2700m swim
Tue Mar 23			(pm) 1mi walk
			3.5mi run
			55min spin
Wed Mar 24			2000m swim
			1mi wu/cd walk
			55min spin (easy)
Thu Mar 25			35min total body weights
Fri Mar 26			35min ellip
			2mi walk
Sat Mar 27			2:25 swpin
Sun Mar 28			50min ellip (EN2)
Mon Mar 29			1600m swim
			55 min spin
Tue Mar 30			5mile run
			60min spin
			1mi walk
Wed Mar 31			1:18 spin (pm)
Thu Apr 1			3.1m walk
			3.1m run
Fri Apr 2			2600m swim
			1.5mi walk

Dilemma

When I eat carbs (fruit, whole grain bread, cereal, etc) I have awesome energy and awesome workouts. I can definitely go longer, farther, and harder. However, when I eat carbs, no matter how much I workout I cannot seem to drop weight. To perform at a higher level I truly believe I need to be lighter. Cut carbs and I am able to drop some weight. But my energy lags too. Whats a girl/triathlete/endurance junkie to do?

long overdue

Wow, its been a really long time since I posted. Again. Things have been hectic to say the least. On February 22 we found out that we (James and I) both got jobs in the Boston area. James will be a fellow at Brown Medical School and I'll be at Cambridge Hospital (of Harvard Medical School). Both are very exciting positions that we were psyched about when we interviewed and have outstanding post-doc opportunities. The only downside is that we will both have long commutes - likely an hour each way for both of us. James is going to have a long drive on the highway and I am going to have to skirt across the suburbs of Boston to get to Cambridge and then either walk or take a bus from the commuter parking lot to the hospital. These sorts of things are stressful to me. I'm not very good with change. I like routine. And flexibility. Its going to be a super busy year and the next few months leading up to the move are looking packed as well. The first week following getting this news ended up being kind of a mess. I got off my training plan. Still hit the gym and pool every day but gave up on my planned doubles and didn't lift or run diligently. I did save the week with an awesome double spin class (for a total of 1 hour 50 minutes) on Saturday morning and my first painfree 10k run on Sunday morning. My eating however, was a mess through the whole week. I told myself I would get back on track on March 1 (last Monday) but it didn't quite happen. After a bad swim the previous Thursday (before a stressful dissertation meeting) I basically avoided the pool all of this past week. No swims at all. Something about it now being a requirement or feeling some pressure about good swims, splits and all that got the better of me. I did get in a few more short (5 miles or fewer) runs without pain and a whole mess of spinning. I never thought I would get the spinning/cycling bug but I think it has begun to creep up on me (more about that later). I also got to play personal training to a labmate of mine who is trying to get back in shape and wanted some tips on cardio (intervals) and weights (supersets). On Saturday I again hit up the double spin class. Somewhere around minute 75 I started feeling really good. Like, I never want this workout to stop good. Like, maybe my life isn't so bad good. Like, maybe things will all be fine good. Then I started fantasizing about turning my long spin into a brick workout. Oh, what a glorious fantasy! At the end of the class I was miraculously still feeling awesome and I ran upstairs and jumped on a free treadmill. The treadmill and I don't tend to get along very well. It tells me I'm slow. I tell myself I'm out of shape. I tend to average nearly 1:30 slower per mile on the treadmill than outside. This was different. All I wanted was that brick experience. So I didn't care about pace. I started at a nice turtle's shuffle (6mph) and increased by .1mph every .1miles. At the start of my second mile I got my rhythm going and again had that feeling that I could continue for ever. I listened to reason and ended at 2 miles. Awesome BRICK.  Felt like a rockstar. Scratch that, felt like a TRIATHLETE. Sunday morning I was kicking myself a little for the treadmill chaser, as it was a run day and one thing I'm pretty clear on from my half-marathon training this past fall is that running on consecutive days is not so good for my feet/posterior tibialis. James and I decided to go for a recovery paced 5 miler. Hit up the spinner for 25 minutes while doing laundry later in the day too. Yesterday I did some arc trainer intervals and chest,back and core weights in the morning and had another solid hill ride in the mid afternoon. This morning I was supposed to skype with a colleague who is traveling in China right now but things got messed up with schedules and I found myself able to hit up Tom's 8:30 spin. I got there a little early and did 15 minutes on the elliptical, then his class + 25 minutes extra steady state riding, followed by some shoulders and arms. I love spring break. Tons of work to be done, but hardly any time/scheduling restrictions. Came home, did some work, ate some lunch and couldn't resist going outside. We have had crap rain and snow for so long, now the Sun gods are blessing us. Its 55 and sunny right now. Ran a slow little 5k then lay out basking in the sun for a few minutes.

Enough with the stream of conscious rambling. The things that are actually on my mind mostly revolve around my dissertation analyses and our upcoming move. I had been hoping to commit to and register for a triathlon once I knew where we'd be moving...but now that the finances of the move and the cost of living of our new city are in my full awareness I am struggling to decided on a race. I had been thinking that I would do a sprint distance to start. Thats the logical thing to do. However, I don't think I can justify the expense of 2 triathlons this summer and a part of me feels like if I can only do one, shouldn't it be the Oly distance that I'm shooting for and training for? [[This is a moment when I wish that more than halfdozen people read my blog, so I could get some feedback...]]  Another nagging thing is that I don't have a road bike. I've been sort of going on the assumption that I would co-opt my father's hybrid when I get to Boston (my parents live there)...but that seemed more reasonable for 13 miles than it is for 26... And where am I going to get the money for a bike? And cycling shoes? And all the other gadgets...  and so the downward spiral begins and I lose my mojo to sign up for a race.

boston

we are officially moving to boston. oh boy.

wish i could see the light at the end of the tunnel, there must be a bend in the track...

A little belated but, we matched. We will both have jobs next year. We'll find out where on Monday.

Lot of stress this week and only the first half of the week had any really good workouts.

Monday - morning spin followed by a nice short run
Tuesday - awesome 3000m swim. really feeling it. love my new suit.
Wednesday - shoulders, arms and abs in the morning, spin in the evening
Thursday - tried out a road bike for the first time (was pretty freaked out by the kind woman who let me try her bike. made me worried about the whole triathlon thing. remembering my brothers' multiple falls back when he was a serious cyclist didn't help any. nor did frayed laces' recent accident) and then went for a crappy swim before a stressful meeting (dissertation related) which put a damper on the rest of my day.
Friday - was up all night waiting for the news of whether james and i were matched to job sites. was so tired during the day and went home on the 3 hour break i had midday and instead of working out i slept. made it for a 2 mile walk and a 30 minute elliptical later in the day. but it sucked. and my eating sucked. hoping to right myself on monday when my future feels more certain.
Saturday - didn't sleep last night either. dragged myself to spin this morning before a saturday at work. spinning was actually pretty good. we did an olympics themed ride. it was fun. not hard, but fun.

Hope to be back on the horse on Tuesday.

a solid week in purgatory

Monday 2/8  Chest and Back, Ab X in the a.m.
                     30min spin in the early afternoon

Tuesday 2/9 4 mile run in the a.m.
                    1200m swim at lunch - trapped in a lane with a splasher/flailer = not fun = short swim

Wednesday 2/10 Shoulders and Arms, Ab X in the early a.m.
                           Cardio (arc trainer) 30 minutes in the evening

Thursday 2/11 60min spin - group class - lots of hills in the saddle, not my favorite thing. good news, my lady parts seem to be getting used to the saddle.

Friday 2/12 Legs and Back, Ab X in the a.m.  (only body weight exercises)
                   Couples Valentine's weekend Power Yoga in the evening with James

Saturday 2/13  weather holding up so James and I went for a 5mile snow/trail run. Had that uncanny experience of being unable to believe that only 2 months ago I ran a half marathon and now feel like a blog of painful un-fitness.

Sunday 2/14  couldn't wait for the pool to open at 2pm for scheduled 2400m swim so pushed up tomorrow workout         Chest and Back, Abs.  first day without cardio all week.

I need to think about the current plan I'm working. For the past 2 weeks, by the time the weekend rolls around I feel tired and unmotivated. These are the days when I have the time to really go for it... Not sure what to cut from my week. 3 lifting days, 3 run, 2 spin, and 2 swimming is feeling like a lot. Hmmm... maybe it will feel better when all of these activities don't have to take place indoors. These blizzards have been really making the outdoor workouts hard to pull off.

5 days til our fate is sealed. 8 days until we find out where we will be moving!

rockin' the triathlon training

I've gotta say...I'm loving triathlon (-style) training. This week had rocked so far. On Monday I started the day with P90X Chest and Back lifting workout in the morning, followed by Ab Ripper X (and it does truly rip up your abs - often even causing strange digestive phenomena). I then went about my normal day. I cut out of work at 4 and went to a spinning class for an hour before returning refreshed to work for another few hours in the evening. On Tuesday I had my first run without significant pain since the half marathon in the beginning of december. I kept my pace pretty slow and switched over to run/walk combo after mile 3 when my post.tib. started barking a little. I had only planned to do 2 miles so I nixed my tentatively planned Plyo workout and just enjoyed my nice day at work. I almost went to the pool when I finished up with my last patient at 6pm but got sidetracked and didn't leave the department until after 7 and then it was a little late for me. In addition, my upper back, shoulders, and chest were pretty rocked from the combo of heavy lifting and spinning the day before. Yesterday I woke up still significantly sore through the shoulders but diligently dragged myself to the gym at 6am to do P90X Shoulders and Arms workout. I only made it through half of Ab Ripper before calling it quits, vowing to do more core later. Made it back to the gym to spin (solo) around 5pm. Kept the cadence high and resistance low. It was just what my legs needed after that first run back. Today I knew what I had to do. I had to put Dissertation before Training. I have a tendency to do whatever I do between 7am and 12pm really well. And take great pleasure in it. But then the pleasant sense of accomplishment tends to facilitate this weird and frustrating stagnation in the afternoon. Today it was more important that I actually make some headway with my dissertation analyses than getting in a double workout (despite have a run and a swim on the calendar). Miraculously and finally (and I do mean finally - like 6 months finally) I got down to business. After 3 hours of up and downs, fits and starts, frustration and elation I actually got through the step of my data analysis that I have been stuck on (read: avoiding and paralyzed by) since August. And it was only noon. You know what that means? I drove to the commuter lot, parked, and ran over to the Natatorium pool just in time for lap swim. Every lane had someone in it, most were already doubled up. A young man (cute, with a slightly stocky swimmers build) offered to share his lane. As I did my first few hundred meters of warm up, he repeated flew by me. So much for a pleasant and non-competitive swim :-)  I told myself that dealing with his wake would be good practice for open water swim (not the same, i know). Then I realized what was going on. He was doing very short drills. 50m, rest, repeat. Also, he was doing flip-turns. I was not. So I let it go. After about ten minutes we fell into a pattern. I was swimming continuously and he was doing 50m's on the :00's. It actually ended up being great for the next 20 minutes and I swam :57 50's through 1600m. He left the pool around my 1500 mark. Too bad though, as the pool emptied out and after I took a 1 minute breather after 1600m my pace fell markedly. I mean seriously, I don't know what happened. how does :57 turn into 1:03-1:05. I decided not to worry and just plugged along until 2400m. By this point the pool was empty and I was able to even practice my flipturns a bit before toweling off and running back to my car. I probably only ran 1.5miles. Can't decided whether I should make it a true double and get back out there after my afternoon meetings. I guess I'll decided after some lunch. I need some serious fuel right now.

4 miles in the time it normally takes me to run 5. i'll take it.

more on triathlon/p90x madness after some stretching and breakfast.


4.1miles 38:11min

past, present, and future

in the past 8 weeks:

• 10 cities
• 27 interviews
• 182 rank ordered pairs of job sites (for the crazy matching process that is about to take place)
• 10 lbs of pure fat, frustration, and impotent rage
• 1 nagging foot injury

in the coming 12 weeks:

• February 3 - Rank order list due to National Matching Service
• February 19 - James and I find out if we matched
• February 22 - James and I find out where we matched (and hence where we will be moving and when)
• Dissertation analyses must get done. Thursdays are about to become protected stats time. Must make this happen.
• P90X (round 2) begins today Febuary 1
• Triathlon training begins today February 1
• After the match I will find and register for a sprint and/or olympic distance triathlon in the vicinity of my new job!!!

In the meantime, I'll be working on not having a nervous breakdown. Wish me luck...

in the midst of hell its nice to remember when things were better

This arrived in the mail today. Team Manic Defense!!! Good times. Good times.

Now if only I could get my life back in order.