LAST WEEKS GOALS....
1) GET ON THE BIKE.
DONE. Did a great 102K ride saturday and ended up at 270k of riding for the week :) For sat's ride...38C and muggy.
Grade: A+

2) SWIM
3 Swims and did 4X500's yesterday and they went well
Grade: B - was hoping for 4 swims.

3) DIET
Done 1.5 pounsd for the week :) Ate fairly well, as usual it could have been better but I *love* food.
Grade: A+

4) Do something fun. for me.
Took Friday off from training, got caught up on house stuff - I love to putter so I counted that as my fun. Sick eh?
Grade: A

5) Volunteer at local race on weekend.
Did and had fun. Fundraiser 5K - OMG, it was HOTHOTHOT so I was quite happy being a course marshall/cheerleader.
Grade: A

THIS WEEK....
1) Brick workouts - do more runs off bike, even if only 15 mins worth.

2) Ride in the Gats

3) Continue to watch diet and lose 1 lb. So far, I have lost 23 pounds since January :) Suckily, still 15 to go!

4) OW Swim - the river is only 56. Brrr. Suck it up and swim at the Pit (icky icky things live in the pit)

Thanks to Dawn for starting this, it's nice to have a place where one can actually state they are pround of what the accomplished in a week!

Keep up the great work everyone!!

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Proud member of the Guru Cartel, EH!

My goals for last week were to get through my weekday workouts and not have a mental breakdown at TOMRV over the weekend. So in terms of the my weekday workouts, I give myself a B-. I had a terrible bike workout on Tuesday which involved me getting of the bike at the 50 minute mark and lying on the floor in despair. I talked myself into getting back on the bike and finishing the 1:30 ride. Wed I had a huge PR in my 1000 yd time trial in the pool. At the recommendation of my coach based on Tuesday's ride and my weekend plans and the fact that my left hip flexor really hurt (more later) , I took the day off. I should have had a tempo run. Friday was an easy swim before leaving for Iowa and the Tour of the Mississippi River Valley which bring me to goal #2.

I give myself an A for goal number 2.On Sat, I completed my first century ride, well in fact it was 108 miles. It started in the Quad Cities area and we road through a bunch of little town, up to a ski lodge, Galena, and ended in Dubuque. I believe there is about 4500 feet of climbing in Day 1. It was hot over 90 degrees so I road smary and took some time at the amazing aid stations. I may have found my special needs food-kiwi. We stayed the night at Clark College and awoke to a miserable weather forecast of rain and 25 mph headwinds the whole way back to the starting point. The first 30 miles of Day 2 involve several long sustained climbs which were into the lovely wind. I made it to the 30 mile mark and then the rain started. For the next 20 miles, I had thunder, lightening, hail, heavy rain, and the headwind. It took forever to get to the town of Preston where the next aid station was. During the 20 miles, I almost cried and I yelled bad words but I kept riding. Got to Preston and sat down and had a sandwich and some chips. Not the best fuel but I needed to refocus especially watching all of the folks who road the short route load the bikes into their cars while I contemplated another 45 miles or so into the wind and rain. I finally got on the bike and headed to the next aid station. There were 2 before the finish so I convinced myself aid station to aid station was the only way I could handle getting back on the bike. About 5 miles from Preston, the terrible rains started again but this storm brought a huge wind shift. We now had a 40mph tailwind. I put my head down and hammered. I just needed to be careful cause every once in a while a wicked crosswind would blow. I saw it take down a couple of riders. I decided I had to take advantage of the tailwind cause when the rain stopped the headwinds could return. I covered the next 25-30 miles in less than an hour. Yeah me!! But then the storms stopped and the headwind was back. But it wasn't as strong and I was only 10-15 miles from the finish so it was manageable. So not only did I ride my first century on Sat but then did 92 on Sunday.

I also saw an ART therapist for my hip flexor pain. Seems the muscle is just tight. He worked some magic and the pain is gone. I do have a session scheduled for this week so hopefully this will be all behind me soon.

This week's goals are to refocus on nutrition, survive the HHH, and have a strong run on Sun following the HHH.

Sorry this was so long but I am stoked about finishing this weekend.

WAY TO GO!!!!!!!

That was some rough weather to be doing a Century Ride + in! Hope you are feeling proud of yourself today!

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Proud member of the Guru Cartel, EH!

way to go everybody! awesome results coming out of this.

for me...
-tracked all my food, whoo hoo, that's a miracle! i'm burning more than eating, have alot more awareness, which is the goal!
-worked out 3 times
-drank more water and less coffee. another miracle!

Good week. Did all workouts. Swimming is going really well still.
However, the best part is that I got in my long bike ride on Saturday feeling super, and feeling super after it was all over!!! I still felt GREAT for the rest of the day! yay!
Then I got through my challenging long run on Sunday afternoon.
The plan: run 5.5 miles, then when my friend comes over, run a bit more.
Reality: Ran 5.5 miles and felt like I was going to expire (OK, that might be exaggerating a bit) in the heat and humidity. Friend came over, we ran for a good while in our "Kona conditions" which seemed to be improving but got caught in a thunderstorm. TV said storm wasn't going to arrive for 2.5-3 hours, it arrived in 1.5 hours or less. Took shelter because of the lightning, husband came to the rescue in the car. Waited until storm had passed, finished the long run.

Have sunburn where husband missed getting sunscreen on me for the bike ride on Saturday.
Hopefully, more bad weather won't interfere with my swim tonight (outdoor pool - lightning=no swim).
Planning to fire up the crock pot for a good portion of this week's meals.

Down one pound. And happy!
Goals for this week: get outside one morning before work on bike to give me 3 rides this week.
Get back to my 2-3x week abs/core. I was good about it and it has been happening in a couple of weeks and I am afraid how much it wil hurt to get back.

Great job everyone so far! 23 lbs since January that is awesome!

Big fat F for the week.

Put on weight, ate too much junk, skipped a 10k because it was raining too hard, cut multiple workouts short and took an extra day off.

Blech, don't want to talk about it.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

Running (12 miles) and biking (0 miles!) sucked. Swimming was good. (20,000 yards including the Bay Swim!).

Sadly, the Bay swim sucked!!! I had a terrible race. Did not make my goal. In fact, I was 2 min slower than last year! I am still bummed.

squesen - you would have been faster if there were water snakes swimming with you!! :)

For anyone who had a bad week, shake it off and get ready for a good one this week. We'll be waiting to hear how you did next Monday!!

Goals for last week:
-work out on at least 5 days: M-Thurs went great. Once in FL, though, I decided spending time with the family took priority ...oh well ...4/5 = 80% = B :-)

-keep the diet clean: Again, M-Thurs morning went great. At the parents' I had to enjoy my mom's cooking and the local restaurants. There was also cake after the graduation. Overall, though, there was much more moderation of the yummy stuff than in the past ...I give myself a B- for the week.

I'm in the trying-to-drop-the-weight group. As of now, I'm down 16 lbs since last year, one of those lost last week. 9 more to go, and now that I'm making a solid effort to work out and eat right, the weight should drop much faster.

Raced on Tuesday and Wednesday nights and had a big break through. Very happy with that!
Running: Ha. No. Didn't run once.

For this week?

Race Tue/Wed on the track.
Finish 1/2 IM on Sunday. No time expectations since I've not done the run training and haven't swam much either.

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Actually did well last week!!!! Enjoyed every run I did:)))))

Did not start this week of very well though. Had to switch my long brick from Sat to today because of my son's baseball tournament(I HATE to miss my children's games). Get my long run in yesterday but start feeling like crap in the afternoon. Went to the Dr this morning......strep throat!!!!!! Me being me, I go ride anyway(2.5 hrs, sustained winds 21 w gusts of 40) and come back and can't get off the floor. Didn't get the run in. I'd kick myself if I could for 1. getting sick 2. doing the stupid ride. I'm starting to stress b/c BSLT is in 3 weeks!!!!!

Since it was a post race recovery week, I let myself get out of control with eating and drinking...this wasn't good because I'm injured (minor calf muscle tear and a pretty badly sprained ankle) so I couldn't run or bike and could barely swim (kicking hurt the ankle...but my friends drug me on an ocean swim anyway and mentally I felt sooo much better). And Yoga was out since standing at all hurt my ankle. I was really grumpy and anti-social this weekend!

This is a new week...I weighed myself this AM and have 4 weeks until my next race, so hopefully I can get back on track. I'm back to eating right and very limitted alcohol (which is hard because I've met a great guy and we share a love of wine!!!!) The doctor said I could ride easy today if it doesn't hurt my ankle (which I can walk on relatively pain free) and then as soon as my ankle is healed I can consider my calf healed too. Hopefully Wednesday I can get at least 3-5 miles in. But I'll be on the bike and in the pool a lot this week.

Now I'm off to buy some Zicam since I woke up with a tickle/scratch in the back of my throat and then I have to plan my return to Yoga this week too.

well, last week went pretty well. didn't miss a single workout and even though i felt like a pile of poo on my long ride Sunday, I kept a fairly good attitude. the rough bits of road did make me a bit grumpy and my sidewall blowout (x2 as the boot slipped once) then another flat on that wheel (which i rode on to the nearest store as I'd run out of fixing stuff and waited for my hubby to come save me) kinda cheesed me off, but i came out with a not bad attitude. mostly as i was only 4k off of the scheduled ride and about 20k from home so most of the ride was done.

i didn't do well with my diet though, so this weeks goals will be:

a) clean up my diet
b) have a good attitude when i head out for my 140k ride on my own, on duct taped tires (no idea if the new ones on order will get here on time)
c) not miss any workouts (this is a given until after Sept. 7)

Is there a lower grade than an F?

I've had a cold and been feeling up and down all week. Spent the weekend cheering for friends at Worlds on Saturday and the Canadian elites on Sunday.

I've kind of lost all motivation, I had a lump show up on a mamogram (my Mum had breast cancer in her thirties so I'm high risk) and I have to go for an ultrasound this week to check it out. As I'm sick and low energy I'm finding it hard to be positive.

I went through the same scare when I found a lump last year. I got an ultrasound but insisted on an MRI because the lump was really painful. It came through all clear and just part of my breast changes due to getting older (ugh). Lumps are rarely cancer. I know that doesn't really help, I lost a lot of sleep over it and had several talks with my husband about life insurance and what we would do if I needed help such as a home visit nurse. All of this turned out to be unnecessary but my imagination got the best of me. I'd like to give you some great advice that would make you feel 100% better but that probably isn't possible. One thing that did help me was distraction, such as going for a swim, reading a trashy magazine, painting my toenails, something to treat myself well and care for myself. Get out of the house too. Sitting on the couch is terrible for an overactive imagination.

I hope everything goes well. You don't get an F, you get an Incomplete because you didn't fail, you just decided to do something else this week.

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Jen

"In order to keep a true perspective on one's importance, everyone should have a dog that worships him and a cat that will ignore him." - Dereke Bruce

I think get a C for the week. I got in a lot of my workouts - had a great run Wednesday night. I skipped all my swims. I have to get in the pool.

I did TOMRV also, but did the short route. Still, I was happy that I covered 70 very hilly miles in under 5 hours on Saturday (that only counts ride time, not the time I spent sitting in an air conditioned bar drinking a beer - only one). I'm lucky because my parents live in Dubuque so I got to shower and sleep there instead of in a dorm.

I left early Sunday morning (rolled out of town before 6 a.m.) to try to beat the oncoming thunderstorms. I skipped the first aid station, but only had one bottle of Infinit with me (2 hours) and I misjudged the distance until the next one. I ended up getting way too low on calories and energy. By the time the rain and headwind really kicked in around mile 30, I was just starting to bonk. After about 7 long, slow, hilly miles in the hard painful rain, I found a park with a water fountain and was able to fill my bottle with water. I had an emergency pack of Sport Beans with me and those got me through the last miles into Preston. I was going so slow but I just kept thinking "I did an Ironman in this weather two years ago, and it was 20 degrees colder that day! I can finish this."
I made it to Preston literally 3 minutes before the second big storm rolled in and I was so glad I got to get in my car and drive back to my parents' house for a shower, lunch and a nap! 120 miles in 2 days is definitely the most time I've spent on my bike this year and I have the chafing to prove it!

As for diet, my actual meals were ok, but I think I ate half an angelfood cake, three cookies, a brownie and a bunch of other really bad snacks at my mom's house.

This week is a recovery week, which is good. I've scheduled myself some pretty agressive weeks in May and then felt guilty about not getting all the workouts finished. I think this is a more realistic week for me and I don't think I have to travel to help my mom (I've been driving 6 hours round trip at least once a week since the first weekend in May - she's got breast cancer and has had a lot of surgeries). I think this will be a pretty good week - I just need to remember that I'm working out less so I should be eating less.
I'm nowhere near where I would like to be on the scale, but hopefully a recovery week will help set me up for my next big training phase and I can burn off some of the pounds.

Congrats on your first century! I did TOMRV also but learned my lesson a few years ago - the short route is much more fun:)
Although it felt pretty good to be leaving Preston in my car by 10 am on Sunday, I do envy your sense of accomplishment - enjoy that - you deserve it.

Good luck this weekend at HHH! My father-in-law, with whom I do most of my rides, is doing it for the first time but he couldn't convince me to join him!

Incomplete - I like that!

I know it's likely nothing, I'm in low spirits because I'm sick and have a very active imagination which makes it harder to be upbeat. I should know in a couple of days hopefully.

Thanks.

Alibabwa - don't know your name - but I'm sending you good thoughts...

It's great reading all of these, whatever the outcome ... we all go through the same ups and downs and it's really helpful to be reminded of that!

My goals were to do all my workouts, maybe one or two above my team's training plan, eat "healthy" and do core/stretch/ice/foam roll.

I did all the swim & run workouts, and had a nice swim lesson as well. Nothing exceptionally positive or negative, just did the distance. So, really,that's positive!

Bikerides had adjustments due to the HORRIBLE HEAT over the weekend here in the northeast.

One ride was done early in the week, very nice! At first I was depressed, slower than a lot of team-mates but then I realized, I was FASTER than I was last year for the same ride at the End of the Season. Woohoo! Change of perspective.

One outdoor ride got changed to a shorter indoor ride, that was fine.

What I am not so sure about was my long brick. Was away with team, in New Paltz NY (for those of you familiar w/it). We had a long hilly bike ride planned and a flat out & back trail run after. Very hilly ride (the Mohonk hill for anyone who knows, again). We left late morning. HOT. I only made it about 1/4 at most up the hill and had to stop and go back down and do a different ride. Most other people made it up the hill. I know I shouldn't worry so much about other people but... it's hard. I do exceptionally badly in heat & I'm trying to work on that. It just is a little demoralizing to not make it. On the other hand -- !! -- a lot of the people were walking on the run. I managed to run the whole thing in the blistering heat b/c I wasn't worn out from the bike. Still I wonder if I could have made it up the hill w/a little more resting?

Oh and lastly core, etc. and diet. No foam rolling/ice, not good. Two stretching, three core, good. And I did the core b/c I knew I'd have to post about it! Diet, okay, needs improvement but better than last week. Want to lose 8-10 lbs. Weight is same as last week.

Okay this got looooong. This week, do all workouts, core, stretch, etc., doing a sprint Sunday, make a plan and execute it.

Thanks again for this!
Mindy

Thanks! And Congrats to you for getting to Preston in those storms. There were times I didn't think I would make it. I wish I would have know that another ST was there cause it would have been fun to meet up. And I could have maybe convinced you to drive me from Preston to Scott :)

I wish there were arrangements so one could ride from Scott on Saturday and then back to Preston on Sunday. That would be just about perfect.

Please keep us posted on this. I know we all wish you the best.

As for my week I did Eagleman on Sunday. Hot doesn't even come close to describing the conditions. I am really happy that I PRd the bike in 2:47:40. I am not so happy with my run with an all time slow PR in 2:18:11 (I did 1:56:15 last year), but that was not suprising with the conditions as they were. The run was absolutely the hardest thing I ever did. It was brutal out there. There was a 10% DNF rate and almost 600 people didn't even start.

We're all thinking of you Alibabwa! Pamper yourself this week, so you can get the rest you need to get better. Don't worry about workouts, making dinner, making the bed, etc. Just focus on rest, fluids and eating well so you can get better.

I did ok, I guess, but I think I need to add a new goal which is to focus on my runs. I didn't run all week except in my race on Sunday, another sprint. And the run sucked so badly I can't even begin to explain.

Anyway, I swam three times, rode twice, and ran once (all including the race). Probably not a great balance since I'm a swimmer, if I'm going to miss workouts I should probably forego the swims and run more. I will focus on that this week.

The race was good, though, even with the bad run. I had a good swim and really kicked butt (for me) on the bike, my average speed was up 2mph over what I usually do. I actually raced it! I realize now that I have never really done that, if someone passed me I'd do more of a, "Oh, well, she's faster, that's why she passed me..." But I'm not doing that anymore. In this race the first girl that passed me I started to do that, then said, what the heck am I thinking? Pass her back! So I did, and then we played that game for a few miles till she finally got the best of me and rode off into the sunset. Or sunrise, as the case may be. I have learned that I can go pretty fast in short bursts, but I have no endurance left so I need to work on that. After working my butt off on the bike I had nothing left for the run, hence the really crappy run. But it's ok, I'm working on it, and I'm really proud of my bike and my new mindset - it's a start! Have to remain positive and all, you know...

I ate much better and was even down a couple of pounds last week, so that's good. My focus for this week will be to run more. Oh, and I had a goal of a racing a sprint every month till September, but I've decided to skip the July race and focus on running and getting in better shape before the next one in August. So that's my goal for the next two months, now, till the race in August.