open water.

May 19, 2012 – 6:41 pm

Last night I did my first open water swim this season. I have been dreading it. I knew that one of these Friday’s coming up I would need to get out to the lake.

Luckily I don’t have to do it by myself. I can run, bike, and swim in the pool by myself with no problems. I actually enjoy working out by myself. But open water swimming alone? No thanks. And it’s not safe. So last night I joined about 10 other people for a swim at Fern Ridge Reservoir.

The last time I swam in this lake was for the Eugene Triathlon last summer. The swim didn’t go very well.

I bought a wetsuit. It’s the same type I rented last summer. Renting a wetsuit can get pretty expensive, so I decided it would be easier to just buy one. Between open water swims every Friday night and races, I would probably have spent enough money this summer renting one to make the purchase worth it.

I was supposed to swim for 30 minutes. For the record, I don’t cut workouts short, unless I think I’m going to end up injured or something. But open water swimming is really mentally challenging for me and I wasn’t ready for a 30 minute swim, so I decided I would swim out to the buoy everyone else was swimming to, and back, and stop no matter how long it ended up taking (I knew it wouldn’t take 30 minutes).

I think I was the last person to start swimming (did I mention I hate water?). The water was kind of cold, but with the wetsuit it really wasn’t bad. So I don’t think it’s cold water than bothers me.

For the first couple of minutes, I would breathe a couple times (I breathe every third stoke), and then stop and take about a 15 second break to calm myself down. After a few minutes, I made myself breathe 10 times, and then I would take a break. This is what I did for the entire swim.

I think I swam around 0.6 miles which would probably take me 16-18 minutes in the pool. It took me 22 minutes last night. And it’s not because I was swimming slowly, but because I stop so many times.

I don’t panic in the water. And I don’t feel scared, just uncomfortable. It doesn’t help that the water at Fern Ridge is really cloudy so you can’t even see your own hand in the water.

I’m not scared of something in the water hurting me. Although I do have this weird fear of running into a dead body (irrational?). I know this is not what is causing my issues, but it is something I was thinking about yesterday. Most likely because when Sonny was on the fire department, he went to a call at Fern Ridge and watched a dead body surface in the lake. Scary. I kind of wish he wouldn’t have told me this story.

Anyway, that was a lot of rambling to just say that I’m not comfortable with open water swimming and I need to somehow get comfortable with it before July 15th.

I’m hoping that one day, something will click and I will wonder why it was ever so hard for me. But I have a feeling I need to identify what exactly my issue is, and learn to fix it.

Someone else got to go swimming yesterday too. Lucky dog! I wish I could love the water like Max does.

What’s the trick to open water swimming? I would appreciate any tips that you might have!

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TrackTown

May 17, 2012 – 8:24 pm

Living in TrackTown USA definitely has its benefits. For example, the track & field Olympic trials are a few miles from where I live.

I got my tickets today. I’m so freaking excited!

Another benefit of living in TrackTown? Great running. Today I ran 9 miles. I ran from work and (unintentionally) ran to all of these different spots:

- the edge of Pre’s trails

- on one of the footbridges over the Willamette River

- past Pre’s rock

- through the rhododendron garden

- to Hendricks Park

- past Hayward field and through campus

- over a different footbridge

- past Autzen Stadium

My run felt great. I ran by some awesome Eugene landmarks. The weather was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better run.

To end my day, I went to yoga. It was such a good class. And now Sonny is making me dinner. Great day.

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Pedal with the People – Metric Century

May 13, 2012 – 9:05 pm

Yesterday I rode my second metric century. The first one was last summer.

Before I get into yesterday’s ride, I’ll recap my week of workouts.

Sunday
I rode 56 miles. My legs were definitely tired after this ride.

Monday
2800 yard swim and a 24 mile easy/moderate ride.

Tuesday
Interval bike workout. 21 miles including 5×5 min hard intervals. By the time I was done with this ride, my legs were toast. Not sore, just really tired.

Wednesday
Rest day!  I love rest days because I can usually sleep in a little bit, get some things done around the house, and go for a long walk with Max and Sonny.

Thursday
6 mile run and a 28 mile ride. I could have gone to yoga on Thursday instead of riding since I was planning to do the metric century Saturday, but there was a women’s ride I wanted to participate in. Luckily it was a mostly easy ride, but it was still 28 miles.

Friday
2800 yard swim and a 3 mile easy run. A late evening bike ride and then an early morning swim is not a good combination for me. I only got about 6 hours of sleep and I was really tired after my swim. I don’t know if the workout was more difficult than usual or if I was just tired. During my run all I could think about was the fact that my legs were tired, I was really hungry, and I wanted to take a nap.

Between lots of miles on the bike during the week and not enough sleep, I was exhausted Friday night. At one point on Friday, I thought about emailing my coach to see what she thought about a 50 mile ride by myself rather than doing the metric century. I just wasn’t feeling it. And I was questioning whether I would have the energy or leg strength to actually finish the ride.

I decided I needed to suck it up and try. I could always call Sonny to pick me up, although that would have been a long drive for him.

Saturday
I made sure to get 8 hours of sleep Friday night because of how tired I was, so that meant I was asleep by 9pm because I had to get up at 5am.

I had a smoothie and some tea, did some reading, and got all my stuff ready. I made a pb & j sandwich to eat half before the ride and half during the ride.

I got to the start around 7am, registered, and was on the road by 7:30.

Once I started riding I finally felt okay about the ride. Although I still didn’t know if I would be able to finish it. Actually I probably knew the entire time that I would finish it, I was just hoping I wouldn’t be suffering most of the way.

4 miles into my ride one of my water bottle cages broke off my bike. Not awesome. I debated what to do for a few minutes, and then decided to carry the bottle with me until I could find a garbage can. I didn’t want to leave the bottle and cage on the road.

I rode holding my bottle for 6-8 miles. It was really annoying. When I finally got to a store, I finished what was left in the bottle and then threw it away. As long as I stopped at each aid station, I would have enough water with one bottle.

I think this ride was more mentally challenging than physically challenging. During the early miles I kept thinking about the amount of miles I had left (or hours).

Once I got to the half way point and I was still feeling good, I knew I would be able to finish it.

I think I did pretty well with my nutrition while I was riding. I had nuun + water. I ate two gels in the first two hours. I had 1/4 of my pb & j at around 2:45, and then the other half around 3:15. Then I ate one more gel around 3:45.

Bringing the pb & j was such a good idea. It gave me lots of energy. At mile 40 after eating the first 1/4, I was feeling great. Then around mile 44 I hit a few hills and started feeling tired. Luckily, the ride was pretty flat from mile 50 to the finish.

Feeling good! The last 20 miles were mentally challenging. I was getting kind of tired and ready to be done.

I was happy to see 56 miles (half iron bike distance) on my Garmin.

I had heard from multiple people that the ride back from Brownsville (the town I rode to) is usually really windy. I was prepared to ride slowly because of the wind, but I totally lucked out! It wasn’t windy at all. My average speed for the last 10 miles was probably around 18 mph which is good for me. Especially at the end of a metric century ride.

Done!

After I got done, I put my bike in the car and headed out for a short run. I had to run for 20 minutes which ended up being around 2.5 miles. I was surprised how good my legs were feeling after such a long ride. I think my first mile was just over an 8 minute pace. Even though my legs were feeling good, all I wanted to do was be done working out.

Once I was done running, I headed home and ate a bunch of food.

Today
Today I had 8 miles on my schedule with 25 minutes of tempo pace. I was supposed to start the tempo part of my run at 7:45 min pace and end at 7:00 min pace (5K race pace). I knew I would be able to run 8 miles, but I wasn’t sure about the tempo pace. It turns out that 7:00 min mile pace was too much for me. I was doing okay (struggling but surviving) at 7:45 and down to 7:15 pace for about 23 minutes. I tried to go a little faster for a couple minutes at the end, and just couldn’t do it. I freaked out that I couldn’t hold the pace, started hyperventilating and had to walk to catch my breath. I tried to run fast again, and started hyperventilating so I stopped and walked. Once I caught my breath I started running at an easy pace. I finished the rest of my run at an easy pace with no problems.

My quads are sore now for the first time since I started training for Vineman. I think it’s crazy that I haven’t been sore until now.

This week I trained for exactly 14 hours. A new record.

 

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on the road flat.

May 8, 2012 – 9:12 pm

Check it out… 73 degrees! It has been so nice here for the past few days, and we are going to continue to have good weather through the weekend. Love it.

I had an interval workout on my schedule for tonight. I know my coach would rather I do these types of workouts on a Computrainer, but I just can’t ride inside when the weather is nice. So I headed out on the road.

Workout: 5 x 5min hard. Total workout time of 1:15. All the time other than the 25 min hard was supposed to be moderate/easy.

I made it maybe another half mile after I took the above photo before I noticed my front tire was rapidly becoming flat. So about 3.5 miles into my ride.

I have changed my tires a few times, but never on the road. I thought I would be really nervous in this situation, but I wasn’t at all. I just sat on the ground and got to work.

Taking photos while on the side of the road changing a flat is totally normal, right?

10-15 minutes later I was done (I was calm about it, but definitely not fast). Every cyclist that went by me, except for one, stopped to make sure I was alright. It was really cool even though I was fine and didn’t need any help.

The most difficult part of the situation was pumping up the tire with my tiny pump. I think my arms might be sore tomorrow.

When I was on my second interval, I didn’t think I would be able to finish all five. My legs were feeling tired from my long ride on Sunday and a moderate 24 mile ride last night. I actually contemplated skipping the intervals and just riding. But I sucked it up and finished the workout.

I love this house and property. It’s a really old house that has been restored and the property is gorgeous.

Tomorrow is my rest day. I know my legs need a break, but overall my energy level is pretty high right now. It’s good that I have set rest days or else it would be really hard to take an entire day off.

I’m actually glad I got a flat today. Now I know I can change a tire on the side of the road! That’s definitely one thing I don’t want to be nervous about in a race.

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13.5 Hours.

May 6, 2012 – 5:37 pm

I trained this week for 13.5 hours. That seems like a lot to me. And I think it’s the  most I have trained so far. I have no idea how people train for full Ironman races and also work a full time job. I definitely couldn’t do it.

Today I had a 3 hour ride on my schedule. I was kind of nervous about it since it would be my longest ride outside so far.

Pre-ride smoothie.

My parents got me this blender thing for Christmas. It’s awesome. I make lots of smoothies, so it’s nice to have this. It’s pain to wash out an entire blender for one smoothie, so with this you just have to wash the blade.

Smoothie + green tea.

This is my life right now. Garmin + accessories, fuel, hydration.

I was sporting another fashionable outfit today. It was in the 40′s when I left, but I figured it would be around 60 degrees towards the end of my ride. So I didn’t wear my booties over my shoes, compression socks instead of wool socks, and one less layer than usual on top. All good choices with the exception of the booties. I should have worn them. My feet were so cold my entire ride.

I left my house at 8:30am.

I rode 22 miles, and then met up with Lauren.

We rode around 23 miles together before parting ways, so at that point I was up to 45 or so.

I had to take a few photos on this road. It was small, most of the houses had really neat property, and it was so GREEN! Beautiful.

I have decided I really need to start experimenting with nutrition during rides so I’m prepared for my race. And as my rides get longer, it will be very important. Today I had 3 gels and almost two bottles of nuun + water. I probably could have eaten another gel and definitely should have had more water. I might experiment with eating a picky bar as well as gels, or maybe even a pb & j sandwich.

Even though I didn’t drink enough, I felt like my body held up well and I made it 56 miles! I didn’t plan to ride this far, or to ride exactly 56 miles. But it’s good for me to know I can ride as far as I will be riding at Vineman.

When I got home, all I wanted was FOOD! And a shower. This might look gross, but I promise it was delicious. Leftovers from last night including: brown rice, salsa, Mmmm Sauce, broccoli, chard, brussels sprouts, carrots, and chickpeas.

After eating, I tried to get some things done in the garden. I picked lots of weeds with my helper Max. And planted kale.

It feels good to finish up a solid week of training. Tomorrow is going to come too quickly. Work + 3 workouts. What a Monday!

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