Adjusted Reality

I KNOW, 2 posts in 2 days.  You might think I was a real blogger or something instead of treating this site like LiveJournal.  Enjoy it while you can…

Read the pre-race details here, if you like that sort of thing.

Where we last left this tale of tri… I was feeling very calm and zen (which is unique for me before races, I get lots of nervous and excited energy going, this time it was just… absent…) and the swim had just started…

Swim:
I should have probably mention that this is the smallest tri I’ve done – only about 250 people signed up and only 208 showed.  However… there were only FOUR swim wave starts.  39 and under had a TON of people and there was a lot of fighting for space.  Oddly enough, while there was a lot of jostling, I found that for the first time in a lake swim, I was getting that “water in my ears” feeling.  Which meant I had settled into a comfortable stroke like in the pool.  Cool.  I took care not to get caught up in the excitement and go too fast, just settle into a steady and relaxed pace even with people swimming over me.

I never really found a pocket, but I made do with what I had – I’ve learned to not expect that in the 500m swims we’ve been doing for these races.  I kind of can’t wait to do another Olympic simply because I loved the long swim section.   However, instead of feeling frustrated this time, I felt… zen.  Peaceful.  I almost didn’t want the swim section to end.  Mostly because I was enjoying it, but also because it was frakking cold and I had a huge hill to run up.  Some people raced past me at the end but I just kept pace.

Swim time: 13:37 for 500m.  While I do want to whittle this down a little bit, I’m pretty happy I had a l33t swim (it’s a dork thing, don’t ask).

T1:

The nice volunteers helped me out of the water on the steep ass ramp, I got my flippie floppies on and took it slow up the hill.  No need to get breathless before the bike, energy conservation, yadda yadda.  The few people that passed me on the way up the ramp I beat out of transition.

It went like clockwork.  I struggled with one sock but everything else went on quickly as planned.  I ran the bike out and did a running mount once I cleared the traffic (why oh why people, why do you stop RIGHT at the line, and get on your bike sloooooowly?).

T1 time: 3:12.  Pretty excited – I’m getting the transitions down.  Yeah, thumbs up indeed.

Bike:

The first mile of the bike was a bit hectic.  I didn’t start the garmin right away.  My glasses were foggy.  It was in the 60s and I was wearing a soaking wet tri suit.  Getting on the bike gloves took a little more time than I thought.  Did I mention it was cold?  I cursed the weather a bit, and was insanely jealous of the girl who I saw throw on a jacket at transition, but in retrospect, I’m not sure that would have been a good idea.

What may have been a good idea is the duct-tape-over-the-top of my shoes trick, with wet socks and a chilly breeze, my feet were VERY cold.  Considering I expect to have clip-in pedals and bike shoes next year it’s probably not a consideration, but even by the end I had frozen feet and was hoping it wouldn’t affect me in the run too badly.

Getting back to the bike, it was a 2-loop course, and we didn’t drive it ahead of time like we did the run course.  While there were some rolling hills, it was generally a slight downhill one way, slight uphill the other way.  I was pleased as hell with this.  When I told people I was tri-ing in Kerrville they’re like “oh… watch out for the hills”.  Luckily, the sprint distance was all in town which either wasn’t so bad or I just rock hills so hard it felt flat.  Probably the former, but I can dream.

I just kept getting happier and happier as the miles went on.  My pace was often above 20-22 mph and rarely noticed anything below 16 mph even on the hills.  I took the first lap MUCH faster than the second, and slowed down not because I was tired, but because I wanted to save something for the run and wanted to make sure my back wouldn’t flip out.

I started picking people off left and right at the start.  There was so much “on your left” (what’s said to warn someone you’re coming up to pass them) I started having to change it up and say “good  morning” and “awesome job”.  No one from my age group passed me the whole course, it was only masters folks on really really fancy bikes.  It was also a product of the fact that I took the swim really mellow, but my swim was middle of the pack, and I was fast out of transition.  There were plenty of people that could have passed me.

I had the bike of my life and I was freaking pumped as I finished.  I was also super excited that I didn’t pass Zliten – which meant he was having a great race too.  Most bike tri segments I’m REALLY ready to be done.  It used to be my worst worst worst of the three.  It’s now my best.

Bike time: 49:01 for 15 miles.  That’s freaking 18.4 MPH average.  This makes me happy in the tri shorts.  Speaking of tri apparel, look who FINALLY got himself a real tri shirt?

T2:

I was so jazzed about the bike I sort of lost my head here.  My time was great, but it could have been better – I fumbled things a few times grabbing them out of my bag.  I dropped my wristband multiple times.  I halfway considered leaving the bike gloves on for extra warmth, but I knew I was warm up way quick on the run so I ditched them.

I practiced this transition a lot less both mentally and physically (read: besides packing the bag, not at all).  How it went: ditch bike gloves, grab race belt, grab head and wrist band, drop head band, pick it up, drop race belt, pick it up, run for the exit, cross line, realize I dropped wristband again, consider leaving it, realize it could be a penalty, run back and grab it, and then finally get out on the road.

T2 time: 1:46.  Not too shabby but could have been better.  I may go for a race hat next time, it would be easier to grab, especially if it comes out of a bag and isn’t laid out.

Run:

I got a few blocks away from transition and realized I should check my pace.  I looked down at my wrist and holy crap, it was NEKKID.  Making the last minute decision to mount the garmin on the bike was AWESOME… except I forgot to grab it since I’ve never had to deal with it at transition and I didn’t practice.  FAIL.  I was running naked.

Past the initial freakout, I convinced myself it was a good thing.  I had to rely on perceived effort which meant I’d be really in tune with my body and how it was feeling.  Since I couldn’t dig into my music and rely on that for pace either, I turned my running more external.

While I’m a big fan of running my own race, I had to do something to stay motivated.  I started playing the age group game.  If someone passed me who was under 30 or over 34, I let it go.  If someone with a 30, 31, 32, 33, or 34 on their calf passed me, I kicked it up a notch.  I ran with a really super peppy girl named Whitney for about a half mile, but she got ahead of me on a hilly bit I just wasn’t ready for (she was only 21 so it was ok).  During this time I passed Zliten at about mile 1.3, he was having a great race and keeping around 12-13 min miles and feeling great and looking strong.  We gave each other some encouragement and I took off (it was very tempting to run with him for a bit, but I just had to keep pushing).

A 30 passed me and I tried, but couldn’t catch her.  Now that I’m looking at the results, she was definitely the one who finished right above me in the AG rankings and ran a very fast 5k (pretty close to my non-tri PR).  However, the next one was a 34.  She was booking it too.  I got a little sad until she started walking, and I caught her and passed her.  Then she passed me.  Then I passed her.  Finally she started running with me and was asking me about my camelback and oddly enough I was able to make fairly coherent conversation.  She passed me, and then started walking again, so I decided when I passed her, it would be the last time.

I turned on the heat.  I was feeling good, I knew the finish was pretty close people were cheering us on, my legs responded well to the request to kick, so I went with it.  Best spectator ever: instead of “almost there”, he said “you have about 500m to go”.  That was perfect.  Just about a 400m sprint.  I can do that.  I turned it on more.  Other best spectator ever told me I had 200m left and the finish was around the corner.  I kicked as hard as I could and booked it through the twisty turny corral and hear them call my name and I saw the clock: my time was in the 1:39s.  I finished feeling AWESOME!

I beat lady 34 by 1 second.  She was 8th.  I had no idea until I saw the results.

Run time: 32:07 for 5k – 10:18 pace

Would I have run a better race with a garmin?  Maybe.  Maybe I would have gone out too fast and crashed.  Maybe I would have gone out fast and made it work.  I suspect I might have been able to hit my goal of under 10 minute miles if I knew how close I was (considering how well I kicked at the end, I had a decent amount left in me).  Apparently, this race I was meant to run without my garmin and while I probably wouldn’t do it again, I can’t say I’m really disappointed with how the run went.

Results:

1:39:44 total
7th Age Group/21 total AG
42 gender/120 total chicky-poos
96 total/208 total tri people

Top 1/3 of age group (and almost gender), over top half overall.  I am pleased as punch.  I hit both my A goal and my placement goal.  This was a great way to end the tri season – PR, a beautiful course, and an amazing day.  While I wasn’t sure anything could top my mood after the Pflugerville tri, it did.  Favorite tri so far EVAR.  We will SO be back next year, whether we decide to do the sprint, olympic, or half distance (we’ll see where I’m at in a year, there’s plenty of time to decide).

Overall, I have such a good feeling about the Kerrville.  Just the pure JOY I felt before, during, and after.  At no time (beyond maybe on a few of those run hills) did I curse out the course or feel frustrated or angry or taking revenge on the course or honestly be anything but fueled by rainbows and sunshine and puffy clouds and unicorns and sparkles.  I spent most of the race just grinning ear to ear, thankful that I was out racing on such an amazing day.  Even thinking about it is giving me chills.  They can’t all be like that, but I’ll take as many of those as I can!  Love, love, loved this day.

We’ll leave the goals for next year to a future post.  Please enjoy drooling over what I celebrated with once I got home, and now I’m resting and in taper week 2 – See Jane Run Half Marathon in less than a week!

Races come in all different flavors.  Some, like Warrior Dash, Hell Run, Urban Dare, Keep Austin Weird, are more about the beer and the experience and the fun, and they just happen to have a finish line.  Some are for the shirt (See Jane) or it’s sponsored by work (Casa) or a race someone else picked out and you agreed to (Rookie).  It usually doesn’t take much arm twisting, I’m happy to race distances I’m comfortable with at any time (sprint tri, 5k, 10k, etc), but it doesn’t mean I’ve put in the training to really kick it’s ass.

Some races, though, are the ones you designate an “A” race.  Some races you spend 3.5 months training for without the distraction of other races, simply zooming in on the goal of absolutely CRUSHING your PR and dominating the course.  Not just rolling the dice to seeing if your number comes up, but attempting to stack the deck with so many aces by training your heart out, there’s no possible way your athletic gains can’t be recognized with a shiny new PR.  Sometimes it works out (Rock and Roll San Antonio 2010), sometimes it doesn’t (Gladiator Games 2011, Austin Half Marathon 2009).

That was this race for me this year.

Please indulge me a race report probably longer than the race itself.  I went back and forth trying to edit it down, but to be honest, I love reading long, detailed race reports.  Getting into people’s heads, histories, tips, techniques, and living vicariously through their experiences… I love it, so you might love it too.  If not,  and you just want to hear about the race itself, it will be up soon.

I put in 3 months of solid training for this sprint tri, just working on getting faster, especially at the bike, by punishing myself with hill work at least once a week in the gym, and doing a speed/hill workout once a week on the run.  I didn’t do as many bricks (I was averaging 1-2 per week last year and even earlier in the season, later I dropped to one every 2-3 weeks and not all outside), but let me tell you – a 10 miler w/a fast 5k at the end simulates tired legs well, to the point where bricks felt EASY.  Double duty workout = rawk.

I also did lots of volume – we did lots of 20-35 mile bike rides, and I did 6 double digit runs in the last 2 months, and put in the same amount of work I did to get to the Olympic last year, even though on race day, I would be swimming only a third of the distance, biking 11 less miles, and running only half as much.

I stacked the deck, for sure.  But I still took a gamble training up for a half marathon at the same time and working on those long bike rides.  I’ve never thrown this many miles at a short race before.

If your eyes glazed over from all that, please be assured my point is this.  I trained really fucking hard for this one, and put my eggs in one basket.  By signing up for the last sprint tri in the area of the season.  No chance for redemption.

No need though.  I absolutely obliterated that course.  Dominated.  Conquered. (We both did, actually)

I’ll save you a long diatribe about the journey there and the expo and the night before except to mention a few things:
-Staying at the offical race hotel if the start line is a block or two away is so awesome.  The expo, our hotel room, and T1 was within a block of each other.
-We checked out the run course and noted that of course, the tricky part was in mile 2, where I have the most trouble.  Lovely.
-Pre race dinner at the hotel was just about the worst filet mignon I’ve ever had in my life, and my cut was at least 2000% better than the one Zliten got.  Still, chewy steak is steak and it’s much better race fuel than pasta or anything else I’ve tried.
-If you ever have sleepy troubles before a race – half a can of Drank put us both out like a light and I woke up 7 hours later rarin’ to go.
-I must be spoiled.  It was the nicest hotel in town and all I could think of was hmmm, it’s been a long time since I slept on anything that wasn’t a pillowtop mattress (but it was fine, see above).

The morning of, I woke up with the alarm at 5:30, and found that my back was markedly better (I’d been dealing with stiffness and some pain this week), so that made me happy.  I was still full from the night before, so I decided to go without a breakfast bar, but I swigged a coffee honeymilk (I took half right when I got up, and half about 30 mins before the race).  Good thing I had checked the forecast, because I saw a low of 57.  Considering we’ve been lucky to be below 80 before that, those numbers seemed pretty much like nonsense to me, but packed for it.  When I poked my head outside it was super chilly and felt exactly like it did the morning of the tri the same weekend last year which I was unprepared for..

I was very very glad I brought a long sleeve shirt and pants and extra shoes and socks (and told Zliten to do the same – he actually had purchased that ensemble as a joke for a halloween costume last year, so it may have not been pretty, but it worked).  We did our warmup run with them on and, in fact, I didn’t want to take them off.  At all.  Luckily we were able to rack our bikes the day before and as I mentioned, we were staying at pimp accommodations, so we were able to get a warmup run around the hotel grounds, grab the rest of our stuff to set up, and walk the block over hitting transition about 30 mins before it closed.

Normally this is a no no, and we try to get there pretty close to when it opens, but to be honest, once you’ve secured a spot, that’s half the battle, and we were able to rack bikes in T1 and drop our bike to run bag off at T2 (which was 2 miles away) the day before.  The only thing we had to do the morning of was set up the rest of T1, which took almost no time.

I made a few different decisions about gear/stuff this time.  While I thought I was going to go sans bike gloves, my last 6.5 mile ride told me I’d much rather have them.  Since I didn’t want to add to my transition time, I velcroed them to my bike and planned to put them on while I was peddling.  Also, last minute, Zliten’s new ironman watch came with a bike mount which he didn’t want to use, so I snagged it.  The plan was to leave it there on the bike and, obviously, put it on my wrist for the run.  Also, since I had such a great run while fueling in between, I brought sports beans to throw in my sportsbra just in case I wanted nutrition.

The rest of my gear was the norm.  I didn’t do a lot of actual transition practice this time but went over it a billion times in my head.  Shammy for feet if needed, sock, shoe, sock, shoe, helmet, sunglasses, camelback, unrack bike and go.  After getting briefed on how things would go down, I had to add “put all wet swim stuff and towel in swim bag”.  Because if anything was outside your swim bag, it got donated to goodwill or thrown away.

This took all of… 5 minutes.  And my goal was to turn on the garmin as close to transition closing as possible because I didn’t trust it finding satellites (since we were not at home, it took a WHILE the night before), so I had time to kill.  I walked down to the water and took a look – the lake was GORGEOUS.  It looked super clear, which made me happy.  I was lamenting earlier that I just wished it was in Lake PF because it’s my favorite lake and I’m comfortable there and I was a little nervous about swimming somewhere completely new I’d not seen until the day of, but my freakouts were unwarranted.  Although, the ramps they had to make to get us in the lake due to very low water levels were a little steep and scary.  Thank goodness the start was actually IN the water.

I hit the porta potty one more time and went back to transition one last time.  When they said 5 minutes to go, I shed my long sleeves and pants and shoes and reluctantly handed off my dry goods bag and turned on my garmin.  It was not any warmer so Zliten and I huddled together and went back down to the water to have the pre-race meeting and I dropped off my flippie floppies near the lake exit.  We went to go put our feet in the water and out swims a water moccasin.  Awesome.  Well, I’m pretty sure it was going to be more scared of me than I was of it, and I needed a warmup, so in I went.  The water was soooo nice and warm.  I swam out to the first buoy and on the way back, the national anthem started playing.  I’m not sure what proper procedure is to not be rude while swimming, so I treaded water with my hand over my heart until it was over.  I hope America understands. 🙂

I got out, and it was just about time to wave 1 to start (which was Zliten’s) so I gave him a nice big wet hug, secured a spot by the start, and screamed and yelled for him as the horn blew.  I made friends with a few women who were shivering and assured them the water was warm.  One lady I talked to kept questioning me about the distances in the race… uh… maybe people aren’t obnoxious as I am about knowing and training for every little thing but… really?  There is a big difference between sprint swim distances (I’ve seen everything from 300m to 800m) and being prepared for one is not necessarily being prepared for the other.  Other than that oddity, it was nice making convo.

The funny thing I realized at this point was… no pre-race nerves.  Not just less, but none.  I hadn’t really fretted about anything this morning, I had planned and trained for so long, and gone over it so many times in my head, I was just executing.  I wasn’t jumping around with nervous energy.  I felt very calm and zen the whole morning.  I went over my transition plan a few more times in my head, got into the water, and then all of a sudden – the horn blew and everyone started swimming.  If there was a countdown, I totally missed it.  Treading water fluidly became freestyle and off we went!

Stay tuned for Part 2 later this week… just in case you were interested in the race itself…

It’s that time I’ve been looking forward to/dreading/anticipating since June – it’s just about go time.  The last key workout is behind me with a race pace brick this morning, and a few really short workouts to keep the legs loose, a wee road trip, packet pickup, and then… time to see what this ol’ bod has in it.

Training for a back to back sprint tri and half marathon has been a challenge, but a fun one.  I can even say it’s been pretty much super!

First of all, I’ve trained up for this half running about twice a week.  Who trains twice a week?  Someone who also is doing a bunch of biking and swimming, that’s who.  Either this will be awesome, or a horrible mistake.  I know I’ll get through it – I did just about 13 miles two weeks ago, but I certainly want to do it faster than 2.5 hours. Now I know I *have* to eat something on a double digit run, and it will certainly be cooler running then, but it will be interesting to see HOW much faster…

Also, who does double digit runs training for a sprint tri?  Actually… that was pretty smart.  I made sure that each long run had a “5k kick” at the end.  Whether or not it was actually fast timewise, I made sure it was at hard effort (some days when it was pushing 90 degrees by then, it was a hard effort to just maintain pace).  I was worried about doing more of these type of workouts and less outdoor bricks, but my faith was restored with last Monday’s race pace brick where a 9:20 pace 5k run right off the bike felt good.  I ran a 9:31 pace 2 miler today (without music even) and it was hoooooooooot.  I could potentially KILL this tri’s run portion if my head is in the game and I leave myself just a little bit in reserve off the bike.  I just need one of these on my head to control my thoughts…

But now, it’s time to taper.  It’s coincided well, I usually taper 2 weeks for a half and 1 for a sprint (insert sprint tri in place of 8 mile long run over the last weekend before, but it works).  I peaked the run mileage 3 weeks before instead of 2 but I had a much better run last week even if it was 3 miles shorter, so I’m good with that.  Time to do really short speedy workouts the next two weeks, stay hydrated, stay loose and make sure to stretch, ice the back if it even hurts just a weeee bit, practice transitions, check over every inch of my bike, pack up stuff for race day like 3 times and make insane checklists of what to bring… ya know, the usual.

It’s go time.  I haven’t raced in months.  IT. IS. SO. ON.

Other things…

-We went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas on Sunday.  We had a good friend who’s company rented out the park, and she was able to get us tickets.  I am not a big fan of lines, so I don’t generally frequent theme parks, but I AM a HUGE fan of roller coasters, so it was just about the best day ever.  The park was so empty, we got to ride everything we wanted to and our favorite coaster twice!!!  We passed a gift shop hawking cheap capes, and three of us emerged as Wonder Woman, Bat-fabulous (gold lame batman cape), and Bizarro Superman.  We flew around the park all day being awesome!  My friend D and I agreed that the more responsibility we have to take on in our jobs, the more juvenile we had to act in our personal lives.  Hi, my name is Quix, I’m 3 years old today.  Zoooooom, zoom!

-The day before, we did a out of order almost tri – rode 10 miles at a easy but decent pace, swam 500m open water at Lake Pf, and then a nice and easy 5k around the lake.  No land speed records, but a nice way to spend the morning.  Then, we hit up our second REI in 2 days to do some garage sale action (we had spent time looking through the tri and biking clearance stuff the day before).  I really should just have them auto deduct about 10% of my paycheck, it would just be easier.  Along with the juvenile-ness I talked about earlier, I had to bring home a jacket because “it was so fluffy, I was going to die!!!”.  At least I’m ready for winter!

-I kinda ate like crap this weekend.  Too much out food, and my energy levels and digestive system is definitely letting me know.  Things are settling back to normal, but its amazing how a little bit of bloat visually erased all the work I’ve done and I feel just as rotund as I did when I begun this process.  At least I know a few more days of good food and I’ll be back to normal. And honestly, bad for me is a bunch of meals out, but they were not all horrid.  Chicken pho, Panera, Whole Foods bar, homemade chili, Six Flags park food, and then taco salad/chips/queso (Sunday was the killer – there may have been a few bites of a funnel cake sundae in there…).  Not reprehensible but it definitely has made a difference in how I feel.  We’ve been eating in all week and it’s been nice.

-Weight is not pretty due to the bloat.  Hopefully it will calm itself in the next day or 2.

-Our anniversary is next Tuesday (2 years, how crazy is that?) and we have balcony seats to see Mc Chris screen Starship Troopers at the Alamo Drafthouse!  Sure, you could do fancy dinners and candy and flowers and crap, but why when you can nerd out together! 🙂

-Last week, Zliten brought me flowers just because.  I think I need to paint a sunflower picture for that part of the bedroom.  With all my free time and all…

-And, note to self – habanero spicy fish w/a big plate of spicy beans w/chili lime and garlic hot sauces 9 hours before alarm time before a 10 mile run in the morning?  NOT SMART.  I got it done, but there may have been a few pit stops and…err.. I may have been rocket propelled part of the 4 loops I did.  And I may have been cursing the culinary gods the entire run.  LESSON LEARNED.

Speaking of workouts, here was last week…

Monday: 15 mile bike in 57 mins (15.9), 5k run in 29 (9:27) (outside)
Tuesday: 1600 yd swim in 25 mins (27:30 pace)
Wednesday: 9.36 mile bike in 30 mins (18.7 mph)
Thursday: 10 mile run in 1:46 (10:35)
Friday: off
Saturday: 10 mile ride in 43 (14.3 mph), 500m swim in 18 (guess? seems way slow to me), 5k run pacing Zliten in 38:25 (12:23 pace)
Sunday: 5 miles walking around 6 flags

And here is this week.  Note a lot of rest here like a good tapering triathlete should!

Monday: 900 yd swim sprints – 15 mins (29:19 pace), crunchtime
Tuesday: 6.33 mile ride in 23 mins (16.5 mph), 1.68 mile run in 16 mins flat (9:31 pace)
Wednesday: off, practice transitions, maybe hot tub
Thursday: 2 mile race pace run (9:30)
Friday: off (driving)
Saturday: RACE!!!
Sunday: off, recovering from CHAMPAGNE and pizza feast (nutritionist be damned, race day = splurge)!

Tri goals:
Easy swim, come out feeling warmed up
Fast transitions
Bike at about 85-90%, try to keep an even pace up and down hills unless they’re super steep
Kill it on the run and leave it on the course, run the 5k I know I can run if my head lets me

A goal: 1:40.  That would be adding 2 miles on the bike and beating my time from Pf.

B goal: Beat all my paces from Rookie. 38 min mile swimming (about 11.5 mins for the 500m), 15.8 mph bike (57 mins for the 15 miles), 9:40 min/mile run (30 mins for the 5k).

C goal: Finish a hard race and have fun with my last tri of the year.  I’ve never even been to Kerrville let alone cased the course, so I have no idea what to expect.  If it’s hilly as crap, I’ll adjust my expectations.

Placement: I’d like to be in the top half of my age group, top third would be uber cool!

I think that’s about it.  Resting, relaxing, hydrating, and getting psyched for the next two weekends!  What are you looking forward to?  Like my theory on “age balancing”? 🙂  Have a great week, and next time I check in, I’ll have one race down and one to go!  Think speedy thoughts for me!

So busy, even with extra days off.  These are things I have done lately:

-Long run Saturday morning – I totally BONKED.  At mile 12, my body just shut the hell down and I had to walk home.  I tried to restart running 3 times and my body just said, loud and clear, NO.  So I’ll take my 2:29 for 13 miles and hope that my crappy training run = more good juju for the race. What did we learn from this run?  12 miles is my wall.  I cannot get past it without more fuel than just a coconut water diluted in my camelback.  It was literally after my garmin ticked over 12 that it happened, and I was perfectly fine last week.  So that HAS to be it.

-Race pace brick on Monday – totally redeemed myself.  Just a smidge under 16 mph for a 15 mile street ride with stops, and a 29 min 5k right off the bike in the heat  – both feeling about 80% of capacity?  Totally stoked.  I have to remind myself as much as I can HOPE to PR at the half marathon by a stroke of luck, the TRI was always my A race and I am damn well trained up for it.

-My lower back is a little angry this week, but manageable.  I have a long run planned tomorrow (10 miles), but ready to pull the cord if I start having issues.  To be safe, I’m laying off strength training and may hold out until after the half in 2.5 weeks just to be safe (but I’m not sure I can stay away from crunchtime that long!).

-It’s like, 15 months from now, but everyone in Austin must do this race with me.  MUST. I can pretend that 2 years ago me is chasing me.  In the future.  Woah… that zombie has a nice high kick.  After 2 more years of running under my belt, that would probably snap my hammies.  Ah well.

-I had some days I needed to take off before the end of the year, and Oct/Nov are super busy work months, so I just took Monday and Tuesday off.  My goal besides an awesome race pace brick? A Game of Thrones, the 1000+ page book which the series was made from?  Devoured.  If spending 2 days off laying in bed consuming a huge book is wrong, I don’t want to be right.  My head does feel a little squishy after shoving that much story in it, so I’m taking a little break before I start the next one.  That is SO the best way to read a book, I can’t stand doing it in tiny little segments…

-We had a company fun day last week.  We got to go bowling and sing karaoke and drink wine and eat fajitas during office hours.  Sharing the mic belting out “I like big butts and I cannot lie” and other work-inappropriate ditties?  Way fun.

-I found out that if I am a reasonable human being and lay off the cigarettes while drinking, and drink early enough in the day, I can bust out a pretty decent 5 mile run in the morning even after a bottle and a half of wine to myself!

-I am still trying to find a marathon goal race and nothing fits just right.  My options are to do the BARE MINIMUM training (I would start the training program right in the middle and do about 8 weeks to take my long run from 13 to 20) and run either Decker or White Rock in December (with the goal of just to finish), or I could extend the time and do Rock N Roll AZ in Jan, but that would still mean training immediately from my half which I hadn’t planned.

Or, I can continue to search for a race in March/Apr and accept that I may a) need to spend my birthday NOT partying (WAH) because I’ll race the next day (Rock N Roll NOLA) b) run a fairly boring course here in TX (Woodlands, Big D) or c) take a plane flight somewhere (Catalina? LA?).  None are optimal.  I’m ruling out anything in mid-Feb because a) I get sick and b) I’m likely going to run Austin Half as moral support. I WOULD LOVE MARATHON SUGGESTIONS!!! I want it to be the bestest time ever and I’m being prissy about which one will pop my marathon cherry… sue me!  Your first time is supposed to be special, right? 🙂

-I got dorky and played DnD again on Thursday.  We almost took down this but it ran away.  Booo! (Yes, I am fortunate to play with an artist that makes us super cool doodles of our characters!)

-Progress with weight and such… I weigh tomorrow, so I can’t say anything right now.  But the pants I wore today, the last time I put them on, they were so tight they were uncomfortable.  Today, they were fine.  As I gained weight, I said my shirts felt shorter.  They’re starting to feel longer.  It’s not as if things are really getting that much looser (at least quickly), but tighter clothes are looking better, there are less bits and bobbles sticking out.  It is S-l-ooooooooow as molasses, but things are starting to turn around.

-Future plans on tap: one more long run (tomorrow), one more open water swim (Saturday morning), a fun day at Six Flags w/some friends and Zliten – we have a friend who invited us along as her company is renting out the park.  No lines, free drink refills (soda/water), and food included!  So excited!  Then, next week, starts the two week taper.  Next week, lots of short runs/bikes outside and short speedy swims.  I’m ready for this tri.  Bring it!

Workout trackings…
Last Week…
Monday: 30 min bike, 9.45 miles, 2 mile run, 19 mins
Tuesday: 20 mins swim 1200 yd, 9.07 mile bike in 30 mins (higher cadence, less resistance)
Wednesday: 30 mins weights
Thursday: 5 mile run, 51 mins
Friday: bike 9.05 mile in 30 mins
Saturday: 13 mile run (2:29)
Sunday: off

This Week…
Monday: 15.1 mile bike, 57 mins, 5k run, 29 mins
Tuesday: 25 min swim, 1600 yd
Wednesday: 30 mins bike, 9.36 miles
Thursday: 10 mile run, 5k kick at end
Friday: off
Saturday: 10-15 mile bike, swim at Lake Pf, maaaaaybe a recovery 5k run around the lake
Sunday: Six Flags (off)

All this plus probably some extra hours at work over the next few days to take carra buidness?  Busy bee I will be.  What’s buzzing in your neck of the work?  For the love of all that’s dear and fluffy, find this girl a marathon!!!  HEPL!!!

…Fun!

We had an extended weekend at the beach, and to be honest, I simply can’t express how soul soothing it was to spend a lot of time having this view from our balcony… and playing in it as much as possible…

Spending an evening watch these…

…(yes those are belt sanders) Race down this…

…while we drank adult beverages until this came up…

I may be a little worse for wear this week because I got less sleep all weekend than I did on Sunday night.  However, I’d been a little down for a while because we haven’t had any weekend trips or vacations at all for that matter in almost 6 months.  I get the ITCH if we don’t get to go anywhere.

I didn’t have high hopes for the weekend because I was told the beaches weren’t that nice (not true at all).  We decided ahead of time to cook our own food and one of my favorite parts of vacation is new and cool food and restaurants (but it was actually nice because I stayed about 80% on my plan).  It seemed like it was going to be a normal weekend, simply with a view.

It was way better than that.  Just getting away from the norm is great.  There was no “oh, I should clean this” or “hey, I should spend the afternoon researching this”.  I ate, slept, played in the ocean, read, and drank.  It was lovely, and my brain feels happy this week even if I’ve been slacking on the morning workouts and shifting my day a *little* later.  If I knew how great of a beach vacation we had 4 hours away, I can guarantee we’d have been here already.  And that we will also be back soon.

…Stuff to Do

It’s overload time here at the Quix household.  September is notoriously busy and this week is the peak of it (I hope).  Here is what’s in the hopper for the week… I’m going to totally have to channel Thor-merica like I do here to conquer it.

Being out of town this weekend, I have no groceries, not done laundry, and the house is a flippin’ disaster.

Monday, I slept in to make up for the severe lack of sleep this weekend, worked, and then hit up the gym after work (30 min bike, 20 min run, 30 mins crunchtime), we had dinner out, then got groceries, then came home and made lunch, and then around 11pm fell face first into bed.  Believe it or not, I ate Panda Express and Buffalo Wild Wings and stuck to my food plan the entire time.  I even realized I hadn’t had grains all day and had a piece of bran/flax bread.

Today I slept in again to keep with the recuperation from crazy weekend (also didn’t get to bed until late), work is 80% meetings (luckily, fun engaging ones), another bike and a swim after work, make a quick dinner, and then cleaning up.  Not much fun time tonight either.

Wednesday I have a weights sesh planned, then to be into work early, then after lunch it’s a fun day w/bowling and karaoke and drinks and food (so I imagine that motivation will not be at an all time high after getting home after being up at the crack of dawn and doing all that).  Then, probably more cleaning time.

Thursday is biking in the morning, another meeting heavy day, and then game night at a friend’s house.

Friday I had a 13 miler scheduled.  So, that would mean in bed at midnight or later, and up at 6, to work at 10, leave again in less than an hour, sign mortgage refi papers, work the rest of the day, come home.  I’m just not down with that, especially after the week of crazy.  So long run, consider yourself rescheduled.  I’ll fit in some sort of *something* eaither super early or after work (depending on what we decide to do Saturday), probably speedwork or a swim.

Saturday morning we’re going to hit up Lake Pflugerville again and do one more open water swim, and potentially bike and/or run.  Then, up to the ‘rents house to celebrate Mom’s birthday, and then finally we can… ahhh… relax.

I think by that time, I will collapse into a puddle, yo.  The saving grace is I took off Monday and Tuesday as mental health days with no specific reason, so my big plans are – Monday, 13 miles rescheduled.  Tuesday, morning outdoor fast bike ride.  The rest of both days will be dedicated to sitting on my couch and trying to plow through A Game of Thrones from start to finish.  My house will be clean, I don’t have anything on the to do list, just 3 R’s – reading, riding, and running.  Sounds like bliss to me.  I just have to get there without a breakdown first.

Gotta relax though – for right now Wed/Thurs/Fri seems to be mellow (but it’s over a week away so SOMETHING will come up…) but that means resting up for another long run Saturday, and Six Flags on Sunday… oy.

Stats for the week:

Workouts Last Week…
Monday: off
Tuesday: 1600 yd swim, weights
Wednesday: 4.25 mile outside run, 41 mins (9:25 pace)
Thursday: 30 mins biking hills, 9.30 miles (18.6 mph)
Friday: 12 miles in 2:10 (10:50 pace)
Saturday: 2 1/2 hours of playing chase the fishies in the ocean… if only all open water swims could be this awesome…
Sunday: off

Workouts This Week…
Monday: 30 min bike/20 min run brick, crunchtime
Tuesday: high cadence bike workout (opposite of hills, basically training the fast flats), swim
Wednesday: weights before work (home)
Thursday: 10-15 mile fast ride outside (check out straight path by train tracks)
Friday: something… (TBD)
Saturday: Lake Pf – open water swim, and bike and run (or both)

So lots of TBD.  I’m ok with that.  Next week will be a little brutal with a long run on Monday and on Fri or Sat, but I just think it’s better juju to get through this week and work on speed rather than distance.

Weight was back to 178 last week, but it’s about that TOM so it wasn’t a huge surprise.  I’ll give it another week or 2 before I’m worried.

Vacation eating wasn’t too bad.  I stayed on my plan minus: 3 donut holes, 1 small carrot cake cupcake, some chips, and a little extra rice (coupled with also a tortilla so it took me over my 1 grain per day).  Good thing my plan included lots of alcohol. 🙂

How busy is your week?  Wanna trade? 🙂