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How are you? June 9 Edition
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Hope everyone is well. How was your week?

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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I amazed myself that while pulling 17-hour days last week and missing work-out after work-out, my weight did not balloon up. My sole exercise was a 1/2 hour swim yesterday. The irony is that I am employed to make other people do their exercise ;-)

DFL > DNF > DNS
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [SallyShortyPnts] [ In reply to ]
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That is a lot of work :P

I am kind of just hanging in there. We have some family stuff going on - my little brother is very ill - and I don't have a lot of psychic energy. The past two days I haven't even really wanted to go to the gym, but did because I thought it would be good to stay in a normal routine. Usually exercise is my go-to stress relief, but this I guess isn't really stress. It's a feeling I don't have a name for.

So I am currently on the Do What Feels Good plan, which is more do what I "think" will feel good, because I am not sure it made me feel any better.

I hope to return to normal posting next week.

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Hang in there TC. Sometimes there just isn't a good answer. (((hugs))))
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Last week for me was taper and a work conference.
So for two days I was sitting on my butt and listening to speakers and flooded with large amounts of amazing food. Seriously, the food was fantastic - and you could make fairly healthy choices which I tried my best to do. They had fantastic fresh fruit at every meal. I stayed away from the sodas and drank a lot of tea, which was also because the conference rooms were FREEZING. At the end of day 1 I realized I had a blanket in my trunk. I used it on day 2 on my legs. Made a big difference.

Sunday was my race - 1/2 iron. I haven't done a 1/2 in 5 years, basically since the summer before I started grad school. It was my first tri of the year and first time swimming in open water. I had tried to fit in a lake swim prior to the race but life kept getting in the way. Oh well. I've done this tri stuff for so many years I should be fine, right?

Hotel sucked - room was fine, hotel was nice, but young boys travel either soccer or baseball or both was there. So noisy. Ugh. Slept like crap.

Woke up to a steady rain. Radar showed it didn't seem like it was going to end soon.

Swim - since I hadn't practiced in my wetsuit yet, I chose sleeveless. I did remember to soak it ahead of time though. Water temp was reported as 76F. Another reason for sleeveless. I really only felt confident about the swim. I hoped to do 35 minutes. We took off, I swam hard but comfortably hard, and didn't have any issues. I did get a small kick to the chin from a guy.
Hit the beach to see the clock - and I did it! 35 minutes. I was happy. Official time reads longer but that's due to the timing mat located at transition. It was a little ways to T1.

Got the bike. Still a bit of rain, so no sunglasses. Rode well within myself, the course wasn't too challenging. A few rollers to keep you from wanting to gouge out your eyes. It was a long out and back. I counted the miles to the turn around and then was counting them all the way back. I was really bored. Near the end I was frustrated. There was a pack of 5 or so that was clearly working together and I had trouble at times staying out of their hot mess. Speed of this group was horribly inconsistent. I tried a few times to ride a bit harder and get past them. I'd look back and they were a ways back. Then they'd all come around me. So then I tried to stay back a legal distance. But they varied - going 21-22mph for a bit and then slowing to 17! FINALLY about 5mi from the end I was able to get out front and stay away. I had been hoping to average 20mph for the bike. I wasn't sure if this was even reasonable - but it turns out I did it. So I was happy on that one. It got sunny and dried out during the bike.

Run - my plan was to just run as hard as I could until I finished or blew up. The first mile felt icky, and my breathing was fairly hard. Then I got in the groove and I was running hard but a pace that I could maintain. Run course was a two loop affair and I've decided I like that. My only complaint was that either they didn't have mile markers for 10 and 11 or I missed them, because I wanted to start to pick it up if I felt I could at mile 10. The run was hot and steamy, not too much shade but it didn't seem too hot. Plenty of ice. I put it in my top and shorts, kind of more as a precaution than anything else. The run was much more enjoyable than the bike. I think I just don't LIKE solo bike rides.
I finished and was quite happy. My run pace was around 8:30.

I PR'd by 29 minutes. I feel really good about my time, especially with a less than optimal lead in that was 6 weeks post marathon. I think I might be able to go even faster, but maybe not by much.

Oh man am I sore. So sore.
This week - recover. Do what I FEEL like doing, which means a couple days off and swim on Wed.
So a big PR and 4th in AG, 33rd woman overall. Great way to kick off the season!
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [determination] [ In reply to ]
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Determination - HUGE grats on the PR! Do you not use a bike computer or GPS watch? I'd go Nucking Futz without data!

TC - Maybe take advantage of a counselor through your school? I know that helped me a lot when life heaped on the steamy.

--



Last week was my taper week before the race. I did a little more than I planned, but felt rested for the race. The only problem was that, in my infinite clutziness, I slipped when getting out of the pool and cut my knee open on the concrete. Thankfully, it didn't start bleeding until I was in the shower, so I could clean it up without making a big deal. Half a week later and I still have 3 big scabs that hurt when I bend my knee - I don't think my increased time in the pool/post-workout showers is helping it heal :(

I'm super inspired to improve, I just need to flesh out a proper plan to increase load and distance, and that's a daunting prospect.

No matter how much I tell myself that it was a hard course and a small field of competitors, being last in my AG by less than a minute lights a fire under my ass. I'm not looking to be pro, just to suck a lot less.

*sigh* I've also felt super guilty because my client keeps delaying work. I'm still paid and chargeable, so my boss is happy, but I have zero work to do, and he just said "another 2-4 weeks". I love my work and like to keep busy, so it's super annoying to be committed to something with nothing to do!


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You. You make me stronger.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Sorry to hear about your brother, tigerchik. I hope he gets well again quickly!

Way to kick ass, determination!

Agilecipher, from looking at your past weeks it looks like the place you have the most room for improvement is your cycling. Get on that thing and own it - do your errands, ride up as many hills as you can possibly find, and just plain live on your bike for a few weeks. Longer rides will help you build endurance, but every bit helps. I never worry about a "proper plan" - just go out and DO THE THINGS, as often as you can manage, and you'll build fitness.

Last week's goals:
Run x 6: WIN, including my first runs without knee pain since my boardwalk crash on May 3rd!
Bike x 4: WIN
Swim x 4: FAIL. Missed Sunday because the pool I planned to go to changed schedule & is now closed Sun.
Core/strength x 4: WIN


Rode with my sweetheart in our local all-levels, family-friendly cycle touring event on Sunday - we kept it shorter with the 72k route, and that was plenty, especially with the last hour being a soaker of a rainstorm. He hasn't done much riding this year (maybe 4 rides of <15k) so I had to do a lot of soft pedaling to let him catch back up when I'd accidentally drop him, but it was a fun day.


This week's goals:
Run x 6
Bike x 3
Swim x 4
Core/strength x 4


Doing a sprint tri as a relay with my honey on Saturday morning - I swim and run, he'll ride. Hoping to go for a nice, relaxing pedal along the Niagara Parkway afterward as well since we'll be in the area.


Cheers!


-mistress k

__________________________________________________________
ill advised racing inc.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [Agilecipher] [ In reply to ]
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A - I currently don't have a computer on any of my bikes. This is a result of only doing short races - because if you're not going as hard as you can, you're not doing it right... at least that's my attitude. For this 1/2, I attached my Garmin watch to the bike - this tri bike has never had a computer on it - I'm not even sure where I'd put one because of my particular setup. I was wearing a regular watch and used that for the run, leaving said Garmin on my bike. The Garmin was how I knew about the group's speed fluctuations.
The Garmin on my wrist doesn't work well for me for riding or swimming - when I do ride with the Garmin I end up with it in a jersey pocket. I have the 310XT and it's HUGE. It's bigger than my wrist. In fact, it looks quite silly on me. So I've never used it in a tri before yesterday.

I often ride with the husband who uses Strava - I just get our training ride data from him.
I found with the shorter races, the bike computer usually just made me feel bad - I'd look down and see how fast I WASN'T going instead of just going as hard as I could at the time.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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tc hang in there and get some help - someone to talk to, or some way to find some space for yourself.

Last week was solid, heaps of riding (6 days worth), 4 runs, lots of walks and yoga. All felt good, very good actually.

This week is short work week as I fly to Europe on Friday - so excited! Three runs at home, then a run in Stuttgart to end the week :-). Might be able to get in 1 ride, but that's OK.

AP

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"How bad could it be?" - SimpleS
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [mistressk] [ In reply to ]
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Sage (and much appreciated) advice. Unfortunately, it's 90 degrees outside and we live on an 8% grade hill... I'm simply not ready for that challenge yet, but I did go crank out 40 min on my trainer and worked to challenge myself for 1-3 minute bursts of high gear.

Hills will come with time. I do have a goal of one day being able to tackle the hill we live on - I see hard core riders on it every day - but right now I'd end up in the same position as during the race, sadly pushing my bike up the hill >.<;


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You. You make me stronger.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [Agilecipher] [ In reply to ]
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I totally feel your pain - I live on a 9% hill that goes to 15% for a few metres near the top. Riding and running up that thing are the bane of my existence (especially at the end of a ride/run, or with 20lbs of farmers' market veggies on my back), but it makes you STRONG.

My challenge to you is to try it sometime soon, or pick a smaller hill that you can get to fairly easily/regularly to test yourself. Warm up with 10-15mins of easy riding, do a couple of bursts to open up your legs, take another few minutes of easy riding to recover, then go attack that climb! Don't beat yourself up if you don't make it the first time - just note where you had to stop. I bet you'd make it further the second time, then even further the third, and so on, until one day you roll right over the top. Your heart may be ready to explode out of your chest and your legs ready to fall off but that hill will be yours forever!

Awesomesauce trainer workout! Another good one is pushing a little more moderate gear (but still feel like you're working) for 10-20mins at a time after a warmup, with 3-5mins of easy spinning in between intervals; that helps develop your ability to hold a good, steady effort level through the bike leg of a tri.

Cheers!

-mistress k

__________________________________________________________
ill advised racing inc.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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I just got back from the surgeon's and am waiting, due to lack of traffic on the SF peninsula (WTF?) for my PT appt in like, an hour. Ironically, I said no to an appt that would've been in 15 min because of traffic. I thought I'd never make it.

My ankle is TOO stiff and I don't have the range of motion he would like. The repair is sound, but we need to get cracking on ROM. He gave the ok for ankle inversion 4 weeks early to help reduce the stiffness. Now, my other ankle is a ballet dancer ankle, very strong and supple, so my hard won 60 degrees ROM looks like crap compared to the other side.

Still, I see his point and it will be interesting to hand my PT my surgery report and the new PT order. On top of other things, I had destroyed my ATFL. It was interesting to read the report to hear what they had done.

I'm actually supposed to spend LESS time in my brace, have the okay for intervals on the trainer, and...I can swim! So while I am working my way through this fatigue hump (so tired,) I plan on getting in this pool for the first time in too long this weekend for a wee swim. I'm also going to slowly ramp up trainer time. Again, fatigue. So tired. But at least I CAN.
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Re: How are you? June 9 Edition [Agilecipher] [ In reply to ]
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Agilecipher wrote:
Sage (and much appreciated) advice. Unfortunately, it's 90 degrees outside and we live on an 8% grade hill... I'm simply not ready for that challenge yet, but I did go crank out 40 min on my trainer and worked to challenge myself for 1-3 minute bursts of high gear.

Hills will come with time. I do have a goal of one day being able to tackle the hill we live on - I see hard core riders on it every day - but right now I'd end up in the same position as during the race, sadly pushing my bike up the hill >.<;

You will be soon. It will all come with time. The first time I rode this crazy hilly route in the east bay I thought I was going to die. The high was 100 degrees and I'd NO clue what the route had called for when I showed up that day. It just kept going up and up and up and...up. And up. Every time I wanted to stop someone would tell me we were almost done climbing (we weren't) or that the next section was flat (it wasn't.)

But I was a lot stronger than I thought I was, and you are too. It's in there. Keep at it!
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