How OLD are THEY?!?

So, it's been 18 days since my last Triathlon and I have started my "off season" plan after a 10 day exercise hiatus. My first day out, last Wednesday, I planned on going out for a 5 mile run. MAN! My shins hurt like heck (I wasn't wearing my compression socks), my hip started hurting, my right achilles felt tight and I felt a blister forming. The blister was so bad, that I stopped to take out my orthotic insert. I managed to run the 5 miles, with a few stretch breaks and walked about 3 blocks, but I did it. I went on to take a kickboxing class the next day, rested the next two days and then it was time to knock out the Navy 5 miler last Sunday. On race morning, I realized that the orthotic that I had taken out of my left shoe was actually for my RIGHT shoe, hence the blister and hip pain. Duh! You would think that at my age, I would know my left from right, huh?

The Navy 5 Miler: I ran the entire distance with no breaks, except for water at mile 3! I am so dang proud of myself! My legs did hurt in the beginning, but I kept pushing, There was a steep hill, but I powered up it. They ran out of water at mile 4, but I was almost done. My legs got tired in mile 4, but I stayed positive and talked to Risa to take my mind off of it. And the BEST part? I think that I did it in about 1 hour! Man, that is a huge accomplishment for me! :)

I took a weight lifting class on Monday, but wore some cutsie sneakers without my orthotics or ankle brace and apparently the squats, dead lifts and lunges were too much for my ankle, because I had some serious ankle pain while walking on Tuesday. I rested on Tuesday, took plenty of Advil and iced it up. It's a good thing, because I needed the energy for Wednesday! I took a weight lighting class (with proper shoes, orthotics and brace) at lunchtime and then went on for a 20 mile bike ride that evening. The guy that I rode with, Tedd, wanted to check out the Curtis Trail and boy, oh BOY! I was not ready for the rolling hills on this trail. I thought I was doing something by going 18mph, but Tedd apparently thought that was slow, because he passed me up going 21 mph. Humph! It was just what I needed, if I want to get faster and stronger on the bike.

Today, I went out again to attempt a 5 mile run, but my shins had another plan! I had to walk by the 1/2 mile mark, but I was determined to cover the distance! My goal at this point was to try to maintain a 15mph pace while walking, just in case I have to walk during the Army 10 miler in 10 days. I managed to do so and it hurt, but I completed 5.5 miles today. The only issue was that my left foot hurt! It was hurting in a weird place like my orthotic was rubbing or my shoes were worn in that spot. Once I was done, I came home, changed out of my wet clothes and headed straight to the shoe store. When the lady saw my shoes she asked, " How OLD are THEY?". I felt a little embarrassed that they are almost a year old, but I think they looked so bad, because the mud didn't come all the way out when washing them after The Nations Triathlon. So, I got myself a spanking brand new pair of shoes, a new sports bra and a foam roller and I was on my way. I can't believe that I have a TEN MILE RACE in only 10 days. YIKES!!!

After the Army 10 miler on 10/9, I have the Seagull Century (100 mile bike ride) on 10/15, a half marathon on 10/29 (which I am thinking about skipping for various reasons). After all of that, for the next 3 months it will be all about weight lighting (the goal is 3 times a week), running, cycling (weather permitting), swimming, kickboxing, boot camp and whatever the heck I feel like or maybe just resting. I am looking forward to not having a structured training schedule, but want to focus on weights, cardio and my diet in hopes to shed some pounds. Training for my Ironman 70.3 will officially start on February 1st.

Superhero

So, I believe that since I can actually complete a Triathlon that I am a Superhero! Well, apparently I am only a legend in my own mind, because I have been reminded that, it is NOT reality. I took a 10 day hiatus from all things Triathlons... and to be honest, from all things exercise related until today. I have the Navy 5 miler  race in less than a week and needed/wanted to get out for a run. I decided to run to the National Mall and back and very slllooowwwlllly banged out a little more than 5 miles today. Man, my hip started to hurt, I felt a blister forming, my shins hurt in the first mile or 2 and my right Achilles even started to tighten up. What the heck?

So, I decided to go to a Power Yoga class (I should have been warned by the name). Man, this class kicked  my BUTT! I can't for the life of me figure out how I can complete 5 Triathlons in a season and wind up sitting on the floor looking at all of the Yogi's and wondering why I can't do that!

What challenges me only makes me want to get stronger, so I will be a yoga/pilates/kickboxing/etc. fool during this offseason! I want to exercise and not train for a while. There is a distinct difference. I don't want to lose my Triathlon base of fitness, so I will continue to run/bike/swim too. But, Diet/Cardio/weights are going to be my main focus, because I want to actually LOOK like I am doing all of this stuff.

Next up: Ironman 70.3 on June 10, 2012

I will continue the journey and blog my way to my Half Ironman race. Please stand by... off to do the Down Dog!

Tri Becca

The Nations Triathlon

I completed my  eighth Triathlon on September 11th. Ever since then, I haven't even wanted to WRITE the word "Triathlon". Last year, I completed 2 sprint (shorter distances) Triathlons and an Olympic distance (nearly twice as long). This year, I think I got a little excited  too darn excited and filled up my calendar with races. I have completed 2 Sprints and 3 Olympics and I am doggety doggon TIRED! Now, I have the Navy 5 miler, the Army 10 miler and a Century (100 mile bike ride) and a Half Marathon. Just who in the HELL came and took over the rational side of my freaking BRAIN? I tell you what, I am now focused on my diet, running and weight lifting, because I'll be damn if I keep doing all this stuff and not LOOK like I do all of this stuff. Humph.

Pre Race:

I am so burned out with racing that I didn't even prepare. I trained a little bit, but I had no idea of anything race related until the day before. I usually don't drink too close to race day... well, not drink that MUCH too close to race day, but not this time. I awakened on Saturday morning and had to deal with being a little hung over from drinking too much and Karaoke with friends on Friday night. I pulled it together, rode my bike to the host hotel, racked bike, etc., and was ready for whatever race day would bring.


The Swim: Canceled

The swim was cancelled due to a week of heavy rains that brought a lot of debris and other nastiness to the Potomac River. There were actually logs floating in the water along with a camel back and heaven knows what else. I hear that there was a sewage leak into the river too. Yuck!

The pre race music was GREAT! Looks like I was the only one not taking the race seriously, huh?

T1: My fastest YET! I didn't have to deal with being wet and weary from the swim, so I was quite the speedy one! Time: 3:13

Bike: 25 miles

I thought that I was going to NAIL the bike. Well, I had to make sure that my bike was working properly, because even though I thought I was going super fast at times, these folks were BLOWING past me. In my defense, it was very crowded on the course, so at times, I could not be as speedy as I wanted to be and be safe at the same time. My time for a 25 mile bike ride is very consistent. I always finish a little slower than I want to. From here on out, I want to ride with folks that kick my butt on the bike and make me feel like I am chasing them the entire time. I also plan to strengthen my legs  during this off season too. I think going on speed rides, weight lifting and losing some weight will all help me to be faster next year. Time: 1:26 ( I wanted to finish in 1:15. Maybe I will do even better than that next year?)

T2: I actually did better than ever on my T2! Go me! Time: 4:20

Run: 6.2 miles


I can honestly say that I did run to prepare for this race. I did not run enough and definitely didn't ever run fast, but I can say that I did more than I usually do before a race. But, I didn't do many brick (cycle then run) workouts at all. WHY don't I run more? WHY don't I do more brick workouts?? Yeah, that is what I am always asking myself on race day. I had the usual plan to walk/shuffle/skip/run and I actually ran a little more than I did the other stuff, but I was consistently slow as usual. I was very happy to see the large crowd of Tri Unify folks at Mile 1 and then I had a NICE surprise cheerleader between Mile 1 and Mile 2, which made me have an extra pep in my step/run. I sang more than ever on this run. I am sure that I came across as a little obnoxious with all of my songs that I made up and sang out loud, but it helped me. It was very nice to see Lisa's husband about 500 meters before the finish line. I ran across that finish line like I was going to take my place on the podium to receive a trophy. Time: 1:23 (I want to finish in 1 hour or less next year)

I always like to take the time to pose for the supporters!

I was happy to be done with a very long Triathlon season. Like Lisa's daughter says: "You got a medal, so you WON!". In my mind, I win every time I cross a finish line.

Total time: 2:57 (I want to finish an entire Olympic race in 3 hours or less next year)

My smiles are always the biggest after a race!

I am an Iron Girl!

The Iron Girl Columbia race is one that usually fills up within 24 hours (this year it filled up in FIVE hours), so on November 1, 2010, I signed up for the race, which was on Sunday. The plan to race was temporarily cancelled when a friend planned her 40th birthday shindig in London this weekend. Well, after Delta Airlines and Mother Nature thwarted my travel plans (and some hemming and hawing about whether or not I wanted to race after the disappointment behind the trip) I completed the Columbia Iron Girl Triathlon today!

There were 3 other ladies of Tri Unify that met up before the race and we tried to stay positive throughout the torrential downpour before we got started. We looked fab and were all smiles despite the rain. Ken showed up to offer his support, as usual.

Lisa, Terri, Me and Cassandra

The 1100 meter swim (which is long for a Sprint Triathlon) went well. The water was calm with no crazy current and choppiness to make me loose my lunch like in the NYC Triathlon. The only thing was, I kept feeling like my Tri shorts were sliding down and I had to stop stroking twice and do a little wiggle like movement to pull them up before sinking into the murky lake. I went my usual slow and easy pace and started to think about how I was going to get my swimming speed up, once I saw women with other colored caps passing me that started after me. I ran out of positive stuff to think about and was more than ready when I saw the swim exit buoys. Time: 32:42

Getting mentally prepared!

Me and Cassandra

Done with the swim!

T1: Maybe I will get a change of heart/mind next year about transitions times. I never really like to rush, as is evident by my time. I've been told that they should be less than 5 minutes. Time: 7:43


I had mentally prepared for the 17.5 mile bike course and had been out there on the crazy hills of Columbia in the past. However, I was concerned about this "Mount Albert" that everyone was talking about. I didn't go too hard on the bike, as I had been fairly warned of the crazy hills on the run. I think I paced myself nicely and even provided some free therapy to a lady along the way. I came up with this "WE GOT... THIS!" song that I sang out loud on the hills of Mount Albert and Homewood. This one lady caught up to me on the down hill and told me that she was looking for me to sing on the last hill because "she needed me". I told her that, "She didn't need me, because she made it up the hill without me and that sometimes we look for things that we already have inside ourselves". She asked if I was a life coach. Time: 1:17

T2: There was nothing impressive here. This should be my fastest transition time, but it's NOT!
Time: 8:12


The 3.3 mile run was just WRONG. I don't know who in the hell planned that course, but it sucked elephant nuts. The hills man, THE HILLS! I found myself skipping, shuffling, making a stop in a boathouse bathroom, walking and a little bit of running. I finally made it through. Time: 49:56

It was a nice event, but I doubt that I will be sitting at my computer on November 1st signing up again.

Total time: 2:55

New York City Triathlon

Although I had a fall down a flight of wet slippery stairs on my way to the race, vomited before the 250 meter mark of the swim, risked getting DQ'd after cursing a race official on the bike and taking a pill from a fellow runner in hopes that it was really a salt tab during the run, I can report that I am FINISHER of the 2011 New York Triathlon!

I was so proud to earn this medal that I wore it for HOURS after the race

Pre Race:

   Three of my friends decided to take the road trip with me to New York City from Washington, DC on the morning before the race. Shelita and Adrienne stayed over at my place on Friday night and Pier was ready to roll when we pulled up at 6am on Saturday morning. I laughed more in less than 48 hours with these ladies than I have laughed all year! We had a blast at the Expo making signs for race day. I made dinner reservations for the evening before the race at Bocca de Bacco which turned out to be a fabulous dining experience, to include great food, the waiter dancing for us and even giving one of my friends a sweet kiss before leaving.

Hanging with Shelita, Pier and Adrienne at the race expo

Shelita and Maximillion from Italy

Race day:

   The alarm went off at 3:15am and I felt ready! I got it together and trekked down to the geographically challenged race. The shuttle bus took us to transition, but dropped us off about a mile away from it. It was rainy and I slipped down a flight of slick stairs in route. I wasn't injured, but it is just not the way you want to start your race day. I realized just how much the DC Triathlon has me spoiled with their well laid out transition area. It didn't take me long to set up my transition and off I was for the 1 mile trek to the swim start in the rain. Every other race that I have completed to date was with my buddy Dawn, and this is when I really started to miss her, as we always walk out of transition together. I was glad that it was raining so my tears of loneliness would be washed away by the rain. I found the corral for my swim wave and I must have looked like a sad and lost puppy when my friends found me. I quickly cheered up, the sun finally came up, the rain started to subside and off I went to embark upon another Triathlon journey. 

My personal cheering squad: Pier, Shelita and Adrienne

My cheering crew cheered me up and turned my frown into a smile

All set and ready to rumble!

The swim: 1500 meters

   The swim start was changed to a time trial start. They walked us out onto a barge, lined us up 3 deep and 20 across, had us sit down on the edge of the barge and blew a whistle for us to jump in. We were notified that the Hudson River was salt water and that the current is very fast, but boy was I in for a SHOCK. I had not been paying attention to the water before jumping in and apparently there were rescue boats out there swaying back and forth pretty fast. I was expecting salt and a current and have competed in a race in the ocean before, but this was very different. I just could not get a breath in       without being slapped in the face with a swell of water. I tried to change up my stroke and managed to breast stroke a bit, but trying to time the waves became almost impossible. I even tried to side stroke, but I didn't know what the heck I was doing. I thought about back stroking, but noticed that the water was going over people's head while they were back stroking. I started to wonder how "lucky" I was for actually getting selected in the lottery for this race and about how my friends would be if I couldn't finish the race. I was starting to feel sick, and realized I never felt this way besides the first time that I was on a boat. After battling negative thoughts, trying to avoid panic, feeling the worse case of motion sickness and ingesting way... too much salt water, I vomited. ALOT!!! I started to tell myself that  I could and would get through this and that I had to do something different as I passed the 250 meter mark.  I thought about swimming at Sandy Point one day last year in choppy water and was instructed to just ride the waves and try to time the waves. So, I came up with a plan to stroke, ride two waves, breathe and then stroke on the other side and do the same. There was a lot of ruckus in the water and I could tell that others were in trouble by the amount of screams, whistles and relief boats that were dashing around, but I stayed in my "zone". Before long, I passed the 500m mark, the 750m mark and when I saw the 1000m mark and didn't feel sick anymore, I knew that I would make it out of that water. My thought as exiting: "I will never do this race again!". Time: 29:20 

After the swim

T1:

   My friends were right there as I exited the water and I did my usual smiling and waving when I have spectators watching me, but I was not looking forward to the half mile run back to transition. Getting to transition was so long that I knew that I had to be quick. The T1 time is long, but I will chalk it up to the time it took me to get there. Time:13:31

The bike: 25 miles

   We were informed that there would be a steep climb to get out of transition and then a quick sharp left turn and I was ready for it. Well, that was until I got behind a girl who was weaving back and forth up the rain slicked, steep hill and it was hard to judge her next move and I almost crashed into her  near the top of the steep climb. I thought to unclip quickly to avoid crashing into her and of course she kept going and I was stuck trying to get started again near the top of a hill. There was a race official there SCREAMING at me to DO NOT STOP! KEEP GOING!!! I told him that I couldn't and he kept screaming and then I screamed back at him to SHUT THE F@&K UP and then he said calmly, "well, just walk the bike up then!".  I was lucky enough to get to the side of the street, pushed off the curb, got going, made the sharp left and off I was. I immediately thought about whether or not my un-sportsmanlike conduct would get me DQ'd, but I kept it moving. I was very happy to see my friends close to the start of the course cheering and taking photos. I have trained hard on the bike since my last race and I felt prepared. I said ON YOUR LEFT so may times, that I grew tired of saying it. Although, I have to admit that I was passed by two different guys with a prosthetic leg, one guy with two prosthetic legs and a chick with no legs and in one of those bikes where you just use your arms. I was informed of the steep climb in mile 7, but it was longer than expected. Actually, the whole course was tough and it took me longer than ususal. I thought that I handled it well and maybe I went a little too hard, considering I had a 6 mile hilly run to do next. Time: 1:45:32

Finishing up the bike ride

T2:
   Once again, it took a while to get to the transition area and you had to slow down about a mile before getting there. I probably took a couple of minutes longer than I wanted to in transition, as my legs were tired! Time: 6:51

The Run: 6.2 miles
   I had heard that the first mile of the run was down 72nd street and there were a lot of spectators and great energy until getting to Central Park, where it falls silent. My plan was to walk up the hill out of transition and even if I had to do the "slow as molasses shuffle" to the park, I was determined to run the mile to the park. My legs were HURTING. I saw a lady struggling with the run and I kept trying to motivate her to just run to the park with me. I saw my friends again and Shelita even ran with me a little. I shuffled and smiled and gave thumbs up to all of of the spectators and tried motivating this lady although I was hurting. Man, I couldn't get to that damn park quick enough! Once I entered the park, I noticed that the lady who I was trying to encourage had New Orleans written on the back of her leg and we became fast friends. Her name was Maria and she kept thanking me for helping her get through the first mile and when I told her that I was hurting, she gave me a salt tablet. I had taken one of these before, but this one looked different. She told me that it would help my legs and that maybe I was dehydrated. I was so desperate at the time and after seeing her pop one, I said, "I'm trusting you" and popped the pill. It immediately made the back of my mouth tingle and I got a little scared, but low and behold, about 20 minutes later, my legs stopped hurting. I was sad to see so many of the people that I sped past on the bike, blow by me on the run. I promised myself that I would work on running more, so this doesn't continually happen to me. Maria and I committed to getting through this race together. She doesn't do well on hills and running downhill makes my shins hurt, so we mixed it up and suffered through it but ended up walking a lot. We stopped at every hydration station and probably walked the entire 4th mile. At the beginning of Mile 5, Maria asked me what got me into Triathlons. This is right when I started to hyperventilate a little and start to question my sanity. Maria had me taking some deep breaths and worked with me through it. It was so hot and I was so, so very tired, but we picked it up in the second half of mile 5. We saw the finish line, picked up our speed, I saw my friends there cheering, waving signs  and taking photos and I crossed the finish line! My thought: that was my hardest race to date. My legs hurt with every step that I took! I got my medal, finishers towel, some hydration, looked for my friends and off I was on the mile walk back to transition. Time: 1:27:48

Running down 72nd Street doing the "slow as molasses  shuffle". My legs were KILLING me

Maria and I bringing it to the finish line

These guys were trying to gain on us and beat us to the finish line!

The New York City Triathlon was my hardest race to date. But I finished it, and I guess that is all that matters. Some people were not so fortunate. A 64 year old man and a 40 year old woman died after suffering a cardiac arrest in the swim and 26 other people had to be rescued from the water.

Total time: 4:03:01. One day I would like to complete an Olympic Triathlon in 3 hours: 30 minute swim, 1:15 on the bike and 1 hour run with much shorter transition times. One day....

This has GOT to be the happiest finishing photo ever!

Tri Becca

Who's the boss?

My body has proven to me again that it is the boss of me. Yeah, forget what my mind wants to do, my body is BOSS. I did a hellish hill workout on yesterday with the PG Running Club and 3 of my fellow Tri Unify training buddies. The run up hill to begin the hill workout was a beast. I am slow as frozen molasses and always manage to end up dead last, but I did not quit. I am convinced that if I keep showing up, I will get better/faster. Ken was awesome with passing along tips, Quintin was a great motivator and always managed to tell me that I looked good or something positive right when I needed to hear it, and Lisa was cutting and cussing me with her side eye look for getting her out for a tough workout.

I had a master plan to go riding with the BWMCC cycling crew today but my body had other plans. As the day progressed, I felt soreness setting into my legs from the hill workout  and the multiple Tequila shots that I had last night was starting to catch up to me. I planned to come home, pop some Advil and then take a 1 hour nap. I set my alarm, but when it rang, I turned it off and fell back to sleep while mentally preparing for my ride. I was so upset when I awakened, as I was so looking forward to riding with this group again. When I started to walk around, I noticed that my legs were no longer sore, the Tequila was out of my system and I was ready to ride. I sent a text to a few folks, but  no one was available to ride at Hains Point with me, so I rolled out alone. My plan was to ride 5 of the 6 mile loops and try to keep a cadence of 85. I had to do some positive self talk while out there and reminded myself that I was not out there to leisure ride and that I would be racing alone in the NYC Triathlon, so this was good for me. I ended up riding 28 miles and felt great about it.

So, the master plan did not work out, but going with what my body needed ended up being the best plan of all. It's so funny how your body will tell you that it needs to rest when we don't have the sense enough to do it on our own.

10 day count down until the NYC Triathlon....

Listening to the weird feeling

It's really weird, but I do not feel like getting on my bike. I sure hope that I am not getting burned out! After all, I do have the NYC Triathlon in 2 weeks and the Nations Triathlon in 7 weeks. I had to scrap the plans for the Irongirl Triathlon this year due to a trip to London. This is weird for me, because I love riding my bike and I am not tired or anything, but I just don't feel like doing it. Perhaps, it's because I got all mentally prepared to ride on yesterday and drove almost an hour away to start the ride and it stormed on us! I was a good sport about it, kept smiling and made plans to ride again today. But here it is, 6:45am and I am canceling. I never cancel on a bike ride. I feel bad, because I gave my word to Diane, but I also feel like I just need to listen to my body on this one. Plus, I get weird feelings about things and usually when I listen, I avoid an accident or some kind of foolishness. So, off for a run. Maybe. I know that I should do something, but maybe I won't. Maybe I will just pick the whole Triathlon thing up again tomorrow? I have been going hard with training for a while now. Laundry all of a sudden sounds like a much more appealing thing to do today and maybe church and grocery shop and this Day party. Yeah, I think I will have a normal persons Sunday. I am sure that after taking Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, I will feel like a bum and want to get back to it. Let's hope that is the case and this is not burnout in the making.