Day 1

Today was the first day of triathlon training!  Hooray!  It feels really good to be back on a training plan.  I followed a training plan diligently for my first triathlon and it went really well.  For my second one, I was not prepared and for my third, a month later, I was doing better, but I wasn't where I wanted to be.  So this season I'm back to a training plan. 

I'm following THIS plan from TriNewbies.com (where I found my first training plan).  My new plan is for intermediate triathletes.  The mileages are higher than the beginner plan and it requires more time.  The biggest challenge is that many of the workouts involve and AM workout and a PM workout.  Take today, for example.  I was supposed to get 1000 yards in a the pool in the morning and then 30 minutes on the bike in the evening.  I needed to be in at school by 9 AM so the morning workout wasn't going to happen.  So I got my booty over to the gym when I got at of class, hit the bike, and then hit the pool.

Now I must confess.  I haven't swum laps since my last triathlon back in June.  Wow.  That's embarrassing.  It went better than I thought, but it was tough.  But it felt great to be back to something familiar.  And a women complemented my on how pretty I swim when I got out.  I was flattered because she's a swimmer too.    So, Day 1 down.  Only 12 more weeks until the first race.  :-)

Your Questions Answered!

Brittany asked: I'm inspired by your triathlons! I'm a big runner, but haven't done any tri's. I mainly worry about the swim portion because I have never swum competitively and have no idea how I'd be at it (I can swim though). Maybe you could give some competitive swimming tips for newbies?
I feel like most runners are afraid of the swim.  I was a swimmer in high school, so I'm more afraid of the run!  The swim is the shortest part of a triathlon, so I don't try to view it competitively.  Even if I can get ahead in the swim, I'm usually quickly passed in the bike or the run.  For someone who knows how to swim and is thinking about doing a triathlon, I think the most important thing to do is to build up endurance versus speed.  I say this because there are so many people swimming at the same time in a triathlon that it becomes difficult to go fast.
I actually recommend getting good at the breaststroke.  I've found that if you do freestyle, it's hard to see and you need to keep your eye on the buoys so you stay on course.  Breaststroke is easier and your head come out of the water after each stroke so you can adjust your course if you need it.  No matter what stroke you use, you need to get comfortable with putting your head in the water.  If you constantly try to hold your head up, you'll get tired fast.
If you have a friend who had good form, it wouldn't hurt to have them come to the pool and watch you swim and give you some pointers on your form.  I'm sure there are some great videos on the web too, but I'm not familiar with any.

Theresa @ Active Eggplant asked: When training for triathlons, do you normally swim in a pool? Or are you able to get in open water swims?
I normally train in a pool, either at the Rec Center here in Maine or at the local YMCA when I'm in New Hampshire.  I don't usually get in any open water swims.  I think the bigger challenge with the swim in a triathlon has more to do with the number of people around you versus the fact that you're in open water.  And unfortunately, there is no way to prepare yourself for swimming with that many people at once.
I should also say that the triathlons I've done have only been in rivers and lakes.  If I were to do one with an ocean swim, I would definitely try to get an open water swim in.  In the ocean you are battling the current and needing to get adjusted to wearing a wetsuit, so I would make that effort.

JenniferLeah asked: What do you like best about living in Maine?
Well, I guess I need to confess that I don't really care for living in Maine.  I came here for school because I was impressed at how nice everyone was when I came to visit.  But honestly, there isn't much here for my husband and I.  The job market isn't great and I miss being close to my family.  It's also hard become there are very few things to do up here and our restaurant choices are limited to chain restaurants.  We are hoping to move back to New Hampshire after I graduate in May.  I will say that Maine is really nice in the summer, but we're not usually in the state to enjoy that.

Julie @ Hotlegs Runner: What kind of bike do you use for your triathlons? 
My trusty stead is my mom's Bridgestone road bike circa 1986 (or something like that!).  Anyway, it's old, but it works.  It's a road bike and it gets me from point A to point B.  Would I like to upgrade?  Heck yes!  But when I started doing triathlons, I decided that I would do my first one with whatever equipment I had and if I loved doing triathlons, then I would consider upgrading my gear.  Unfortunately upgrading my bike isn't in the card right now.  If I'm going to upgrade, I want to do it right and get exactly what I want (i.e. paddle shifters, clip in pedals, and something that's going to last).  However, this can get pricey.  So in the meantime, I'll keep logging miles on my mom's bike because it really isn't so bad.

For more triathlon tips, see my post HERE or check out the links on my sidebar. 

TGIF!

Don't forget my CSN stores $50 gift certificate giveaway!  It ends tomorrow.

All I can say right now is "Thank goodness it's Friday!"  I haven't been this glad to see the end of a week for quite some time.  I don't know what it was, but something about this week was exhausting.  Two of the mornings I literally had to drag myself out of bed.  I felt like I could have stayed in bed all day long.  It must have been the heat and the humidity.  That has a tendency to zap all my energy and motivation to do anything productive.

I did, however, convince myself to go for a walk with my mom last night.  I hadn't done anything exercise related since Monday and I was justifying it by telling myself that is was a "recovery" from my triathlon.  Except that my legs felt fine and I was really just being lazy.  Whatever, it is what it is.  We got out last night around 7:30 and it was refreshing.  The sun had started to go down and it was much more bearable out then when I got home from work at 3:00.

The race photos from the triathlon I did last weekend are up.  For the first time, I actually like some of them  Too bad they're $6 a piece.  Is that not ridiculous?  And I can't even steal borrow them from the website and post them here.  Total bummer.

The other thing we did this week was meet with our DJ for the wedding.  Oh yeah, my wedding is like 3 weeks away.  Crazy!  Back to the DJ.  Do you ever have expectations about someone you've never met because you've heard so much about them?  Well, Patrick had told me all about this guy.  Really, the music is probably the one thing that Patrick is actually excited about for this wedding.  So I had a certain idea about what the DJ was going to be like.  Well, he was nothing like I imagined and I was totally thrown off.  I felt bad because after the meeting I was a little flustered about the whole thing and I was just trying to process.  Patrick was practically beside himself because I wasn't as excited as he was about our DJ.  I know he's going to be awesome and everything is going to work out, but sometimes you feel a little let down when things don't meet your expectations.  Would you agree?

Sorry for all the randomness.  Hope everyone has a great Firday.  Anyone have any cool weekend plans?

Nashua Y Sprint Triathlon Race Recap

On Sunday, I competed in the first ever Nashua Y Sprint Triathlon.  This race was great because it was close to home (yay for not having to get up early), the course was supposedly relatively flat, and it was a lake swim.  I was looking forward to getting out there.

Since it was their first year, it was to be expected that there would be some bumps in the road.  My biggest gripe was that the line to check-in was really long.  I made Patrick stand in line for me so I could set up and not feel rushed.  Well, by the time I got to check-in, they were out of goody bags.  Total bummer.  I will say that they had tons of volunteers and really made an effort to keep things running smoothly.

The Swim:
The swim was  a 1/3 of a mile and in a lake.  I think I really like the lake setting, because there is no current and it's warmer than the ocean, but is still refreshing.  The waves were 3 minutes apart and I was in the second wave.  It worked out because each wave had about 25 people, but we were given enough time that it didn't end up with all the swimmers on top of each other.

Usually I try to use the swim as a chance to get ahead because at heart, I am a swimmer.  But in my last tri, I did that and my heart rate was so high after the swim that I struggled to get it back down for the rest of the race.  This time I chose a comfortable pace and just went with it.  I actually ended up breaststroking most of the time so I could see where I was going.  That may have slowed my down a bit, but I think it was worth it to stay on course.

Swim Time:  13:08 min.  (This includes a run up the beach, which was a little longer than expected.)

T1:  1:54 minutes
The transition area was a little more crowded than I'm used to.  I just tried to get my things together and get out of there, but I kept dropping things and having to rearrange.  Yikes!

The Bike:
The bike was a 16 mile course.  This time, when they said it was relatively flat, they meant it.  I thought it was a great course and it was mostly shady.  There were tons of volunteers and tons of signs letting you know where to go, which I was super-impressed by.  I thought they did a very thorough job of marking the course.

During the ride I chomped on a pack of Luna Moons and sipped Gatorade.  Both things were new to me during the races.  I really liked the Luna Moons, especially because I could easily eat them while biking.  Although, next time, I will open the pack before the start of the race so I don't have to open it while riding.  I wasn't crazy about my choice to put Gatorade in my bike bottle.  It tasted really good, but I was really craving water.  Next time I'll either stick to water of bring both.  That and the Gatorade was making my lips sticky and about 3/4 of the way through the ride I was feeling a little nauseous from drinking too much.  Whoops! 

I really enjoyed this ride and finished faster than I thought.  I forgot to put my bike computer on before the race, so I was riding blind.  In a way it was nice to just ride.  I was able to pass a handful of people and some of the more elite athletes passed me, but it was all good.
Bike Time:  57:19 minutes

T2:  0:33 minutes
Sometimes it pays to not have to change shoes.  :-)

The Run:
The run was just a hot and miserable 5K.  My legs actually felt really good coming off the bike.  I think fueling on the bike really helped.  However, the run course was in the dead sun and it was easily near 90 degrees at this point in the race.  As much as I wanted to run, I figured it wasn't worth it to push it and end up passed out on the side of the road.  I alternated between walking and running based on how I was feeling.  I had my handheld water bottle, which was gone by the time I got to the water stop at the halfway point.  I filled up (no, it wasn't cold) and kept going.  I felt a little better when I saw lots of others walking too. 

I did push it near the end and felt that I finished strong.  The announcer called out my name (although he said Carlene instead of Carly) and I grabbed a nice cold bottle of water.  I was never so happy to see water.  I got this cute finisher's medal (although I prefer ones I have to win):

Again, my run time was faster than I thought.  Considering the amount of walking I did, I was quite pleased.

Run Time:  41:07 minutes

Final Time:  1:53.58
Place: 175/250   Age Group:  9/18

This was by far the longest triathlon I've done.  I felt really accomplished at the end of it.  And I definitely had way more fun than my last tri.  That might have had something to do with the fact that I did a lot more training.  I really hope they put this race on again next year and that they work out the kinks.

Pre-Race Thoughts

I haven't really been talking about it on here (mostly because I've been too busy racing and giving away free stuff), but I have another triathlon on Sunday.  And yes, I know Sunday is Father's Day, but my dad plays golf on Sundays so I'm in the clear until at least noon.  This triathlon is being put on by the local YMCA and it's the first year they are doing it. 

Things I'm looking forward to:
1.  This race is probably going to be a bit smaller because it's the first year they're doing it.
2.  Patrick and my mom are coming to cheer me on.  Yay!
3.  It starts at 8am, which is nice because I don't have to get up super early.
4.  It's local and that's great for the same reason as #3; I get to sleep more.
5.  Testing out my new tri outfit.
6.  Being able to fuel during the race.  This is a new element for me and I'm really hoping it works out for me and keeps me strong through the run.

Things I'm nervous about:
1.  The organization of the race.  Since it is the first year they're running this race, it's to be expected that the whole day isn't going to run smoothly.
2.  I really have been in the water at all since my last tri.  I know, really bad.  But I just got my gym membership reinstated last week.  I plan on hitting the pool for an easy swim after work today.
3.  It's supposed to be really hot and humid.  That doesn't exactly make for the best racing conditions.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed it doesn't heat up until a little later in the day.
4.  Using my new tri outfit.
5.  The course is a little longer than most of the races I've done previously.  It's a 1/3 mile swim, a 16 mile bike, and a 3.1 mile run.  I'm just want to make it through!
6.  I'm a little disappointed that they're not doing an Athena division (for women over 150 lbs.).  For me, that's really the only way I can stay competitive.  I usually don't have a chance in my age group, so it's nice to be able to compete by weight.  We'll see how that pans out!

Wish me luck and I hope everyone has an awesome Friday!  I'm hoping to hit the beach tomorrow and I'll be back with a race recap on Sunday!

Fueling a Brick

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty rainy day, but I managed to squeeze in my workout without getting wet.  I decided that since I didn't get my ride in on Saturday I would get my ride in.  Then, my mom asked if I would want to walk or run ro my grandparents house.  This turned into the perfect opportunity for a brick workout.  For those of you not familiar with triathlon training, a brick workout is a bike ride followed by a run.  It's meant to get your legs used to transitioning from biking to running in a race.  And trust me, you need the practice!  Anyway, this worked out perfect because my mom is a slower runner, but with my legs being tired, I figured we'd be right around the same pace.

So I headed off on my bike to get a 15 mile ride in.  I was also testing out the new triathlon shorts I picked up the other day (I'll review those after my next triathlon).  These shorts do have nice pockets for gels and gu.  I had a couple of Hammer Gels that I had gotten in a swag bag and I thought maybe I should give it a try.  After all, you're supposed to consume some sort of nutrition if you plan on exercising longer than an hour.  So I stopped at the 40 minute mark on the bike and took the gel.  Since this was my first encounter wit a gel, I was a bit surprised by the texture.  By the end of the packet, I had gotten the hang of just kicking it back.  I don't know how you runners out there eat all this stuff because honestly, is was kind of gross.  But I think it's something that I could at least get used to.  The flavor, however, was pretty good.

When I got back to the house, I grabbed my new handheld water bottle and my mom and we set off.  I was surprised by how good my legs felt.  Maybe it was all in my head or maybe taking the fuel during the ride really worked.  But I felt great through the whole run.  I also felt like I could have run faster, but I didn't want to leave my mom behind.  I'm thinking that I'm going to need to work some fuel into my next race and see if it improves how I feel during the race.  I always thought that because I wasn't as fast as the elites that I didn't need to consume anything other than water, and in most road races I don't even do that.  Now I'm reconsidering and thinking that maybe it's something my body needs.

What do you use to fuel your long runs and workouts?  I'd love some recommendations.  (I also don't mind free samples!)
And don't forget my giveaway!

Triathlon Tips

Well, it's the start of triathlon season and I've been reading about a about a lot of bloggers wanting to try one or are getting back into it.  So I thought I'd do a post on some of my tips for doing a triathlon.  Mind you, I'm no expert, but I have learned all these things from experience.  I'm really just an armature and my advice is really for people who are looking to get into the sport, not for people who are trying to go fast.

1.  You actually need to train for it.  For my first triathlon last summer, I followed a training plan and I followed it religiously.  And I had an absolute blast at the tri.  This last triathlon, not so much.  I knew going into it that I wasn't as prepared as I wanted to be and let me tell you, this tri was so much more grueling and miserable.  Trust me, I won't do that again.  I recommend checking out Tri Newbies if this is your first tri.

2.  For the swim I just wear a black sports bra and my spandex shorts.  I highly recommend wearing the tightest shorts you own, assuming you don't have a tri suit or tri shorts (I think I might finally invest in some).  I say this because I thought I was going to lose my pants during the swim.  You could also wear a bathing suit, but I can't stand to run in one.

3.  I pin my number to my shirt so when I get to the first transition I just slip my shirt on and I'm ready to go.

4.  At the first transition, I have a whole little setup.  I wish I had a picture, but I don't, so bear with me on the description.  Next to my bike, I lay down a towel.  At the start of the towel there's a bucket with a little bit of water in it.  When I come to the transition, I step into the bucket while I put my shirt on to rinse off my feet (especially helpful if you have to run up a beach).  Then I step onto a small hand towel while I put my helmet on so I can dry my feet off a bit.  Then I put on my socks and shoes.  Maybe some people don't mind sand in their socks, but I can't stand it and this system has worked out great for me.  Also, if you can invest in some of those shoelaces that you pull to tighten, instead of tie, that can save you time.

5.  Near the end of the bike, try to bike standing up as much as you can.  This gets your legs ready for the run.  Trust me, it helps.

6.  Everything I read prior to my first tri told me to hydrate a lot on the bike.  In my first tri I drank almost my entire water bottle.  Bad idea.  I had to pee so bad during the run it hurt.  This time I only drank a little during the ride and it was so much better.  I do think that I need to do some fueling during the race with gu's or something, but I need to figure that out.

7.  This one might sound silly, but I make sure to braid my hair on race day.  This is because I can easily get the swim cap off, my bike helmet fits well over it and so does my running hat.  It just works because I don't have to worry about any hair getting in my face during the race.

8.  Try to have fun.  In my first tri all the pictures of me are so serious.  I tried to smile for the camera this time around.

9.  If this is your first tri, don't get fancy.  Work with what you've got.  I don't have a fancy bike or pedals that require the special shoes.  And I do just fine.  I figure you should find out if you like it before investing a lot of money into it.  Now that I've done two of them I'm starting to consider upgrading some of my gear.

I hope this is helpful to some of you.  Please feel free to share with anyone you know who is thinking about doing a triathlon.  It really is a great sport and I really like doing it.  And please let me know if you have any questions about anything I didn't mention (or did, for that matter).  Obviously there's a lot that goes into it so I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff!  Hope everyone's having a good end of the week! 

Lions Spring Sprint Triathon Race Recap

I know you're all just dying to know how I did, so I won't keep you in suspense any longer.  For those of you who missed it, on Sunday I competed in the Lions Spring Sprint Triathlon down in Marlborough, MA.  This meant we had to get up at 5:30 to be there in time.  My #1 Fan was not so thrilled.  But he brought a chair and a book and waited it out.

The Swim:  250 yards - 4.28 min
The swim was a pool swim.  I thought this would be completely to my advantage because I'm a swimmer and I can do flip turns.  However, the way the swim worked was that you were seeded by your swim time (so my bib was 24, oh yay!) and you swam up in down in each of the 5 lanes and had to go under the lane lines at the end of each 50.  Except that we were swimming on the opposite side of the lane than you normally would if you were at a pool lap swimming.  This totally messed with my head.  Never mind that I was only the third female in the pool and I was surround by big, buff men.  I was just thankful I wasn't going to get caught up in the pack.  My only other complaint is that the swim ended in the deep end of the pool and I could hardly get out.  I'm thinking that scene was not so pretty.

The Bike:  9.3 miles - 39.24 min
When I read the race info it told me that the bike course was relatively flat.  Yeah, well, it wasn't.  Not in my humble opinion anyway.  I turned the first corner only to have to start climbing.  I was really struggling at this point because I couldn't get my heart rate down and I could feel my heart beating so fast.  Of course I'm trying to get up a big hill too.  The ride itself was very pretty.  There were lots of horses and pastures to look at.  And by the time I got turned around on the loop, I hadn't even realized that I was almost done.  And once you hit the down hills, that was great too.

The Run:  3.2 miles - 39.42 min
Again, this was supposedly a flat course with one hill.  You guessed it, there were multiple hills.  Honestly, at this point I was just thinking of finishing.  I walked a couple of times on the hills, again trying to get my heart rate down.  My legs finally loosened up for the last mile and I felt like I was able to finish strong.  Here I am about to cross the finish line:

The final time: 1:23.34.
And after all that, I won my weight class.  That means I got a medal and a prize.  Woot!  Here I am post-race enjoying my medal and my new running sunglasses:

I'm really looking forward to being able to train harder now that I'm home and doing a few more triathlons this summer.  In the meantime, I'm focusing on  recovering this week.  Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

Three Things Thursday - Triathlon Style

In honor of my triathlon this coming Sunday, I'm going to post an update on each of the three components.

1.  Swimming
So I came home to find out that my parents canceled the family gym membership at the local Y.  That would be where I swim.  So that's kind of a problem.  Fortunately, I was a swimmer in high school and the swim is my strong suit in the race.  Therefore, I'm not too worried about it for right now.  I think I'm going to look into a summer membership because I can't go the whole summer without swimming.

2.  Biking
I'm feeling pretty good about the bike.  I think I am in better shape than I thought I was.  Considering I'm only going to have two or three rides under my belt before Sunday, I'm not terribly worried about it.  I'm more worried about getting my water bottle in and out of my holder.  Although, at my last triathlon I drank a lot of water on the ride because that's what I read everywhere.  But once I got to the run I had to pee the whole time and it was kind of painful.  I think I'm going to take it a little easier on the water this time.

3.  Run
Yesterday my dad and I went for a run.  Mind you, I haven't really run in about a week.  Well, my dad really likes to try and "push" me to go faster.  It's like he's trying to train me.  It's actually kind of comical.  He stays just enough ahead of me so I have to chase after him.  Sometimes he slows down so I can catch up, but then as soon as I get there, he speeds up again.  We did a little over 3.5 miles at about a 10:30 pace.  I was pretty happy with that.  My goal is to keep my legs loose for Sunday.

Oh, Just a Few Things

It has been an absolute whirlwind since Thursday of last week.  Hence why I have not been blogging.  I'll try to give you the shortest version possible of what I've been up to.

Thursday:
I handed in my last assignment for the year.  Surprisingly, I didn't feel as relieved or excited as I think I should have.  Oh well.  We also tried to get some packing done.  Let me rephrase that.  I tried to get some packing done.  I was mostly successful and got a lot done.  Stupidly, I packed up all my workout gear and was unable to exercise until Sunday.

Friday:
This is where the madness really began.  I spent the morning packing the rest of my stuff.  When Patrick came home we loaded up his car and waited for out parents to get into town.  Once they showed up, we kept loading up, racing the clock to be done by 5pm.  We made it and we said good-bye to our first apartment.  For dinner we hit up Margarita's.  After a long day of packing, a margarita was definitely in order.  We spent Friday night in a hotel with my parents.  The beds sucked and I got a crappy nights sleep.

Saturday:
We got up bright and early and headed over to the college for Patrick's graduation.  We beat all the traffic, but had to sit in the arena for 2 hours waiting.  The ceremony was pretty typical for a graduation ceremony.  Patrick graduated cum laude. Yay!  Then we had a 4 hour ride home.  Followed by a cookout in Patrick's honor.  That made for a late evening.

Sunday:
I spent Mother's day unloading my stuff and with my mom, of course!  We went on a 16 mile bike ride from place to place visiting all our family.  I love that we can celebrate with exercise instead of just eating!  It was a little chilly out, but I was so happy to be on my bike.  I really missed it and I was nervous that I would be super out of shape.  Luckily, that was not the case.

Monday:
I started back at work.  I am so very grateful to have a job and a paycheck.  I've been feeling very poor lately and it's nice to have money flowing in the other direction for a change.  I also had my first dress fitting.  Let's just say that it did not go as hope.  Thank goodness seamstresses can work magic.

Tuesday:
I did a 15 mile ride and really tried to pick up the pace from Sunday's ride.  My first triathlon of the season is this Sunday and I'm scrambling to make sure I'm prepared.  After my ride, I hopped off and ran over to the baseball field to volunteer with the special needs baseball team.  I love those kids and I love helping out with them.  They're just so dang cute!  The transition from the bike to the run was a little rough, but after about a half mile of running everything loosened up and I felt much better.

So that's it, I guess.  I'm just happy to be home and with my family.  And I'm looking forward to all the fun things to come this summer!

Reassessing and Reevaluating

As many of you know, I have been training for a half marathon at the end of March.  I haven't been talking about it much on the blog for awhile because I've been doing a lot of thinking about this race lately.  The first problem that I have run into is that I think this training is putting far more strain on my body than I would like.  I understand that training for an even like this requires sacrifice, but I want to have usable knees when this is all over! 

The other challenge I'm facing is that I have started to absolutely loathe running.  It went from being something I enjoyed to something I couldn't wait to be over.  At first I thought it was just one of those runs that was going to be not so great.  Then it turned into a whole week of running that I despised.  So I took a couple days off around my birthday to give my body some rest time.  When I went for my next run, I was still cursing about it.  I want to get back to a place where I actually enjoy running again.

So with those things in mind, it doesn't make sense for me to keep training for a half marathon.  I don't want to injure myself where I might do some serious damage and I also don't want to hate running when it's all over.  I've decided to move ahead to the next big race that's on my calendar and work on that.  It happens to be a triathlon in May.  When I trained for my first triathlon last summer I loved it because of all the variety you get in the workouts.  I did my first day yesterday and I already feel better about my decision.

I think sometimes you need to reevaluate your goals and see if what you are trying to achieve is really realistic.  I've only really been running consistently for about a year now.  Maybe my body is just trying to tell me that it's not ready.  Either way, I don't feel like I'm quitting.  I feel like I'm moving on.  It's about being realistic.  That's not to say there won't be a half marathon in my future.  I'm hoping that I do complete one someday.  This one just wasn't the one.  However, I'm looking forward to focusing on triathlon training and the triathlon season to come!

Getting Nervous

School really has a nasty habit of getting in the way of my good intentions of exercise. On Friday I went to the pool and swam some laps to clear my head a bit. And then I didn't do anything over the weekend. The weather was crappy and I had homework, which are really lame excuses, I know. I did get this week off to a good start, though. I did a 3.1 mile jog this morning and and I did it in my fastest time ever. It was only 8 seconds faster than my previous time, but I'll take what I can get!

However, I'm a little nervous for my first 10K race that is 1 week from today! My plan of attack is to run at least twice more this week as well as getting some yoga in so that I'm nice and stretched out. I'll probably bike once over the weekend and then rest on Sunday so I have fresh legs for Monday. I should admit that I'm also excited for this race because I can't wait to tell people that I've finished a 10K. I'm such a brat, I know.

On another note, I found a 5K and a triathlon that UMaine hosts at the end of October that I'm looking into signing up for. I've been off the triathlon training plan for awhile, but I'm pretty confident I can get things together enough to do the race. Besides, I think triathlons are more fun then just running.

As Promised: Pictures!

I know I've been a major slacker about this, but here are more triathlon pictures! The first is of me stretching, exciting, I know. But we must be properly stretched and warmed-up to compete!
This was me coming out of the water and heading for my bike. Notice my super-serious game face. I should've lightened up a bit, but I was too nervous.

This here is coming off the bike and heading in to get ready for the run. That lady on the right totally got in my way and I had to stop to let her go. Grrr!

This is me and Patrick after the race. See how happy I am to be done? Patrick was glad that I was done too because he wanted to go home, but I made him stay for the awards because I was getting a medal.

This here is the fancy awards ceremony. I made the mistake of picking some fancy socks that cut my circulation off as my prize. I should have taken that dang Fuel Belt water bottle I was eyeing. Oh, well. There's always next time!

A Failure to Blog

Now I'm starting to feel bad. I promised pictures from the triathlon and I have yet to produce. I tried to put the pictures on my jump drive yesterday, but that didn't work because it said I didn't have enough room even though it was empty. I don't know what the problem with that is. I also tried to steal the pictures from the photographer's website who was taking pictures during the race, but that didn't work either. That probably has something to do with the fact that it's illegal. But I did manage to steal these two from the email they sent me:

Don't I just look like I'm having a blast? Actually, I really was, but I think I was a little too serious during the race. I might need to lighten up a bit next time. I should probably give credit to Sportography for the above pictures.

The other reason I've been so lax is because of the wedding planning. We now have a date (7/17/10) and we have a ceremony and reception venue. Those were two of the big things that I wanted to get done before we left for school, so I feel so much better now. This weekend we have 2 cake testings and our friend is going to take some engagement pictures for us. I will try my best to get some of those pictures up as well. Until then, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Wildcat Triathlon Recap

I just want to say that I had an absolute blast competing in this triathlon. It was hard and I was pretty tired by the end, but I really enjoyed it. I promise pictures at a later date, but my camera is currently stuck at the beach with my family. In the meantime, I can share my stats with you.
I finished the event in an overall time of 1:17.52. I wanted to finish under 1 1/2 hours, so I was pleased. As for the break-down of events:

Swim: 1/4 mile 5:57 min
Bike: 11 miles 40:02 min
Run: 2.5 miles 31:51 min

I am proud to report that I was the fastest swimmer in my division and I passed people from all the heats on front of me. And I should add that the first heat started 6 minutes before me and I was passing some of those guys! And I placed 2nd in the Athena division. I got a medal and a prize! I was really excited about that one! The weather was perfect for the event as well. When I get my camera back, I super promise to post pictures!

New Routes = Happy Trails

So I have less than 3 weeks to go until my triathlon. I'm starting to get really excited about it. This also means that I'm getting up to the higher distances in my training plan.

On Sunday I did a 5 mile run! I use an exclamation point because I'm impressed with myself. The week before I thought I did 5 miles, but I didn't. I only did 4.75. So this week I made sure that I did 5. I've never, ever run that far at one time in my entire life. I don't think I ever even thought that I could do that. It is a bit reassuring though because I have the Tufts Health Plan 10K for Women in October, which is 6.2 miles. I have another 5 mile run and one 6 mile run left on my training plan and these runs are giving me the chance to get a taste of what my 10K training plan will be like.

My bike rides have gone up to 20 miles. I tried out a new route yesterday that I was very satisfied with. My family and I have another 20 mile route that we do on occasion, but I've used that route as the basis for almost all of my rides so far this summer. Needles to say, I was getting a bit sick of the scenery and wanted some new stuff to look at. Not only did I find new things to watch whizz by, but the routs was also pleasantly flat (the other route is notoriously hilly.) The trade-off was that there was a lot more traffic. That was ok though because there was a nice, wide breakdown lane. It was like having my own personal bike lane on the highway.

I was worried about all these longer distances, but in the end I think that it has all worked out for the best. While tried and true trails can be nice, a little adventure never hurt either.

Bricks

Part of triathlon training is doing workouts called Bricks. I wondered a lot about the name of these workouts. At first, I thought it was some combination of the words biking and running because Brick workouts focus on the transition from biking to running. However, these workouts are called Bricks because when you get off your bike and start running your legs feel like bricks. I have now done 3 of these kind of workouts and I know how true that statement it. Your legs are so used to moving in the motion of biking, that when you get off and try to run your legs feel tight. I've noticed that the more I do these, the sooner my legs start to stretch out. Amazingly, my running times don't seem to suffer as much as I thought they would when I started doing these. I did get a handy piece of advice from a fellow triathlete about these workouts. She recommended that I stand on my bike for the last minute or two of the ride to get your legs used to being in a running position. I've tried it and I find that it helps. I definitely feel much more confident about this transition. Now I need to work on the transition from swimming to biking!

Triathalon

I've been saying that I want to train for a triathalon for awhile now. I finally found the one that I'm going to train for. It's the Wildcat Triathalon in Lowell, MA on August 9th. I wanted to do one in NH, but they are all up north and I would really prefer not to do my first triathalon biking and running up giant hills. The Wildcat Triathalon looks much more reasonable. It's a 1/4 mile swim, a 10 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. I'm actually pretty excited about this. I found a great 10 week training program on a website called TriNewbies.com. This websited is a great resource for anyone who thinks they might like to start training for a triathalon. I start my training next Tuesday and I can't wait to get into it!