Wednesday, September 29, 2010

End Of The Season

The last race of the season turned out to be the hardest. I should have known. I'll just write a quick report..

The swim was, in one word, cold. I jumped in before the race, jumped right back out, and spent the 5 minutes before my wave start panicking. I did not want to get in that water. It was a three-bouy course, and it took until the first bouy for my face to stop hurting from the cold, and for my arms to work. By the second bouy I could feel the water, and pull. In the final stretch I was cruising, but it was too little too late. I still swam a 15:26, my best OW swim of the season.

The bike was awful. I had one of those "hey, legs, where'd you go?" rides all the way out. After the turn-around I was able to put in some effort, but again, too little too late. Awful bike time of 37:-something...it should have been in the 33s.

The run went great, other than excruciating achilles blisters from my new runners! The first half mile were awful--I was limping, swearing out loud, etc. Then I accepted the fact that my heels were going to hurt, and I was able to run a decent 20:50 run (7:30 pace).

Overall, I'm thrilled with what I accomplished this season. In only five months I learned how to ride a bike, learned how to swim for real, learned how to train (though I'm definitely not DONE learning how to train!), competed in three triathlons, qualified for nationals, and learned so much more, I wouldn't know where to start. To name a few important lessons: Integrity, consistency, mental toughness, believing in myself.

I can't wait until next season!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Longer and longer..

Today I ran for 50 minutes. Slowly.

I'm slightly tempted to map out my run and figure my pace. But I won't. It's minutes not miles that matter now!

My knees weren't too happy the last ten minutes. And my left knee threw a little fit at about 15 minutes.

Next long run: 2 laps around Greenlake in one week! That's been a goal of mine for so long!

Monday, September 13, 2010

Distance Running

I'm not a distance runner. I think since starting this blog I have only run 5 miles once. 4 miles is a 'good' run, usually.

Therefore, obviously, I'm training for a 9-mile race in November.

Today was Long Run #1. I spent all morning researching trails, picked the trail, and ran. 41 minutes. That's nearly five miles. And, there were hills. I'm calling it a success.

I could get used to this long, slow running stuff.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Improvement

Well, I'm no longer stagnant. I can work out now. I can also sleep, eat, and talk.

Workouts started with a few hour-long spins around Talent. No speed, effort or climbing. They went well enough, though I could definitely feel the lack of riding in my legs! Last Friday I rode an hour and a half--my longest ride since the race. Baby steps. Yesterday I climbed up Dead Indian as far as the cattle guard..it went better than I expected--physically, not mentally--and this morning my legs are a little sore! I've really missed that feeling!

Swimming started off slow. Literally. I swam 1k, mostly pull. The next day, I swam 1.2k. Yesterday I swam a whole mile! I made the mistake of timing a few 200s..Yeah, not gonna do that again for awhile. All I can say is, I hope I gain back swim fitness as fast as I lost it.

Running is going well. I started off with a 20 minute jaunt in the park, then a few 25 minute runs, then a hilly half hour run the other day that miiiight not have been the best idea. After a few days of mild knee pain I'm feeling ready to run again. Not that the pain was terrible--it's just the sort of pain I would have run through in the past, only to lay myself up for the next two months. I've gotten so good at this consistency thing! Haha. I ordered new runners and treated myself to some new run wardrobe items (40% off sales...eek!) so I'm feeling ready to train for the 9 miler in mid-November.

Which I guess leads me to my Fall Goals. I know this is the time most triathletes take time off, relax, do the fun things they don't get to do while training and racing. However since I've only been training since, uh, March, I've decided to keep at it through the fall (my FAVORITE time to train, anyways!), take the better part of December off, and start building again in January. Basically my goals are about endurance right now, not necessarily speed. I'm working on adding time to every sport. By December I'm hoping to be at 3k swims, 3 hour rides and 60 minute runs, all comfortably and consistently. It'll be nice to take a step back from 'crash training' and spend more time focusing on what I skipped over this season: technique, climbing, patience, long runs etc. I'm really excited for this new chapter in training!

I was going to post about a bad day, a bad workout and the word of the day: Integrity...But this is turning into a novel so maybe I'll save that story for another day. Suffice to say, I've added 'integrity' to my list of fall training goals. :)