Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Old Training Logs...


Every once in a while I wonder why I spend time logging in my workouts on various sites. Sometime ago, I had used one site exclusively and when that site crashed, well, everything was gone with it. I have since been logging my workouts online to a few different sites - Daily Mile, Beginner Triathlete and then a google calendar (because KC likes to keep up and harass me...). I was using Training Peaks as well but decided it was excessive to log into that many places. I know, four sites, really? I think that was carryover fear from the great Buckeye Outdoors crash last year.



Anyhow, I rarely go more than a month or so back to see what I have done so why bother? Last night, I had kind of a blah run. The kind that makes you question your preparedness and whether if your tree fell in the IM forest and you dropped out would anyone even notice. Not that I would drop out but it was one of those kind of runs where you question everything and I had been feeling like I wasn't on target with training in general. Today it dawned on me that I could look and see what my workouts looked like this time last year. I was, after all, preparing for the exact same race. So clickety click, I look online and it turns out that I am ahead of where I was this time last year! Go figure...




Funny how your attitude can change based on the tiniest thing. This year, I am thinking I am not doing enough. Last year, I remember being on cloud 9 because every workout was a new distance record for me and never even questioned that I was on track.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Weekend Training


Just finished up a long weekend of training. I think I have hit that part of the schedule where you feel like you are doing nothing but Swim/Bike/Run all weekend. You get home in time to shower and re-pack it all for the next day. I am inching ever closer to the big races - Augusta 70.3 is about a month away and then the B2B full iron is 3 weeks after that one. Yikes! I still feel like I need to get it together...

Yesterday was a bike sandwich of a 15 mile run / 20 mile bike / 5 mile run those last few miles of running, all I could see in my mind were the slurpee machines at QT whirling around in my head. I could not get packed up and to QT fast enough! Of course I drank it so fast I gave myself a brain freeze. LOL.

Today I packed it all up bright and early and met a group at 5:30 this morning to make the two hour drive to Augusta to ride the bike course. We had a ton of laughs there and back and a good bike ride in between. Post-ride we devoured some Five Guys Burgers and then made our way back home to ATL. Big ups to Meredith for driving!

I recently added an aero bottle to my bike and it made a HUGE difference in the amount of water I consumed on course. It is so much easier to just drink from the straw rather than try to get the bottle from the cage. I am a little worried about the bottle handoff though, my bike frame is small so it won't fit the larger bottles they typically hand out. Am thinking I might have to actually stop and fill up the bottle. Not sure I am talented enough to fill that on the fly. Guess we'll have to play that one by ear.

Tomorrow is CR's birthday! We have Mondays off which always makes for a good birthday. I see a Bruster's ice cream cake in our future The girl at the store was quite proud of herself as this was the first time they let her write on the cakes. Nice job Bruster's girl!



Later this week, Colleen and I are headed to Panama City Beach for a training weekend. We have been watching Isaac and hoping for the best. We have been stockpiling our best magazines to read on the beach (after training of course) and we don't want any of that to go to waste!

...and pics from the ride last weekend because I would have no pics if it weren't for Mere.





Hope you all had a great weekend!

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Checking in...

As you might have guessed, I have been riding, running and swimming all month. My training for B2B has had ups and downs. All in all I think I am on track, just had been doing a lot of my own thing "off the plan" so it made me question my preparation. This past week, two months out from B2B, I pulled the training plan out and decided to actually follow it. Better late than never, right? ha ha. Turns out I am not too far off and am feeling good about the races in the next two months. Can't wait!

A few weeks back, I rode along with my friend Summer as she did her first century. Props to Summer as it rained buckets on us for at least 30 miles and was quite a bit hillier than advertised. We had a great time and even saw Iron Diva Colleen and husband along the way. :)


Stopping about 70 miles in...









Summer pre-ride...





Last week, I was fortunate enough to spend a training weekend at the beach with KC, Summer and Beth. To be honest, I think we were all terrified that KC would run us into the ground but I think she assessed the situation and decided to take it easy on us. We did have a shark sighting that was a little too close for comfort. Basically we were all standing in a circle after our swim and heard a big splash about 10 feet out. There was a moment of "hmmm what was that big splash behind us" followed by sounds of the lifeguards getting everyone out of the water. I saw the splash and realized it was made by something other than a person and decided I was suddenly thirsty and that it might be a good time to head back to the beach for some water :) Good timing. I narrowly missed stepping on a stingray on my way in for water. Luckily I was doing the stingray shuffle... Word on the lifeguard circuit was that the splash was a shark eating a tarpon. Lovely.


Safe from sharks on the beach...




Such a fun weekend, lots of laughs and some good swimming/biking/running!





This past weekend I pulled out the training plan and got down to business. Had an awesome ride with Colleen and Swim Bike Mom (Meredith). The miles flew by which is pretty awesome when you are talking about a 70 mile ride. Can't wait to ride with these ladies again!

Lots more training in store for the next couple of months, I am pre-riding the Augusta 70.3 course this weekend with SBM and my friends from Decatur Bikes and then am going to Roast at the Coast with Colleen and Blue Iron Coaching over Labor Day. As someone who normally trains on her own, I am so excited for some fun group training!

Have a good week, y'all!