You DO have time

I am constantly asked at work how do I have the time and energy to train as much as I do. Now granted I am only training 6-9 hours a week right now (nowhere near the most I have done, 12-18 hours/week for Ironman St. George) but it is still more than most of the people I work with do.  They also are amazed at how much energy I have even though I may have gotten up early to work out or was on my trainer until 9:30 at night.  I keep trying to explain that you will get back 150% of what you put into it.  I truly believe that.  And for those that say they don’t have the time, I say BS.  I do not have any extra hours in my day.  I think what makes me different is I make it a priority.  I have a full time job.  I have two kids of my own plus two kids from my marriage (not all four all the time).  All the kids are in school (which is so much harder than I ever could have imagined).  But because I have decided that training for races is important to me I make time for working out.  I bring my stuff with me to work so I can run/swim on my lunch break.  I get up early (not as early as I should) to get in training before work.  I get workout after the kids are in bed if I have to.  because this is more important to me than a lot of other things.  If you want to do this YOU can.  And I promise you it is worth it.

*picture stolen from Solorunner

I am a Trainer Road Ambassador!

You may have seen some extra chatter from me lately about Trainer Road, a great product you can use with your existing trainer set up to get more focused training out of your time.  Well all my enthusiasm has landed me an Ambassador spot!  (more to follow on that)  I was a late adopter of this software and have really thrown myself into it over the last 7 days because of the Tour of Sufferlandria.  Now I can see the error of my ways!  Just look at the picture below.  That is the same ride on the same trainer done 9 days apart.  I put a line on both graphs at 16 mph to show you the difference in intensity.  If you want success on your trainer, you really need to use Trainer Road.

Trainer Road Will Make You Stronger

Well at least in my humble opinion it will.  If you don’t know what Trainer Road is it is an application that works with your Garmin sensors to give you virtual power while you are riding your turbo trainer.  Obviously if you have a power meter it will work with that but I don’t have one  of those…yet.  I have dragged my feat about using this because there was a little extra set involved when you need to ride your trainer.  I am a fan of just getting it done with as little hassle as possible.  But once you get it set up properly there is very little you need to do at each ride.

Very recently I did the same Sufferfest Video, The Wretched; first without Trainer Road, and then with Trainer Road.  See the graphs below…

I can see an increase in intensity as well as focused riding by using Trainer Road versus not using it.  I feel like I am getting WAY more out of my time when I used this focused approach to my trainer riding.  Why even get on the trainer if you don’t want to get something out of it!?

And, as you can see below, the data you get after doing a ride in Trainer Road is pretty awesome.

Well worth the $10/ month…in my opinion.

A Cycling Must Have (well actually 2)

How can that not inspire you to kick your own a$$?!

I have had to use a bike trainer to get my cycling training in for a few years.  I was turned on to a set of training videos a couple of years ago and they have been an absolute blessing (and a curse).  The Sufferfest videos are an amazing set of training videos that use real cycling footage, expertly developed workouts, and amazingly entertaining stories to get you through some pretty gnarly trainer time.  They are pure genius!  Some I love (Hell Hath No Fury, A Very Dark Place, #ISLAGIATT, and There Is No Try) and some I am not a fan of (they are so damn hard!).  If you have to use a bike trainer you must check out these videos.

My amazing Husband getting it done in our pain cave.

My turn to work!

This weekend I finally completed the last piece of perfecting my home pain cave for bike training.  I re-enrolled in Trainer Road.  I had used it briefly about 2 years ago but just found all the set up a bit cumbersome. I was space and equipment challenged at that time but now I have a better bike training set up.  The awesome thing about Trainer Road is they translate your speed/cadence/HR data into power in real time.  You can use the software to find your FTP and then all your workouts are based off of that!  There are tons of good workouts to choose from in their library BUT they also integrate with the Sufferfest videos. PERFECTION!

The Trainer Road profile from The Sufferfest’s Revolver

Sufferfest and Trainer Road have paired up and this weekend we started the Tour of Sufferlandria.  Along with 2200 other riders we are using the Sufferfest videos and Trainer Road to complete 9 days of suffering  riding together across the world!  It has been epic to say the least.

If you use a bike training to do any in home training I HIGHLY suggest you look at these two products.  Both are very affordable and well worth your time.

That just happened….

So last week I went and did something without much notice… I got married! The wedding was going to be in April but due to administrative needs (no, I am not pregnant) we decided to do it early and do it at the local court house.  We will still be having a ceremony for family and a party for friends in April but as of now we are married!

I got a coach!

I wrestled with this long and hard. I had many people in my circles offer up themselves as a coach or some they knew of.  Ultimately I came to the decision to work with an amazing lady, Jen, that I have been in contact with for almost 3 years thru the interwebs.

I really want to have a good race in Arizona and at all the races I have lined up along the way.  The moment I decided to use Jen I felt and amazing amount of weight lift off my shoulders.  I don’t have to figure out how to train for the next 11 months…I just have to do the training!  No more second guessing my plan or worry that I have over/under trained.

One of the deciding factors for me was the fact that Jen has raced both of my A races, Vineman 70.3 and Ironman Arizona.  Not to mention she is a bad ass and one of my fellow Vanderkitten VIPs! I have made some changes to my commitments so I can afford a coach (guess who gets to start cleaning her own pool) but I am sure it is worth it!

I am super excited to turn myslef over to someone and see just what I am capable of.

911 on your cell phone works

My worst nightmare happened on Sunday.  I watched my fiance crash his bike right in front of me.  It was the last mile of a very hilly 45 miles.  We just got back into town when he hit a pothole while doing 25 MPH in the aero position. He couldn’t control the bike and essentially went over his handle bars and slid nose first on the pavement. Scary is an understatement.  Luckily I was a few bike lengths behind him and to the right so I missed hitting him as well.  I jumped off my bike and ran to him.  Once it was clear he was conscious and knew what was going on I decided to call 911.  I have NEVER called 911 before.  I pulled out my cell phone and called.  Told them what had happened and we had a fire truck on the scene in less than 10 minutes. You can read about his account here and see more graphic pictures if you are interested (don’t worry, you have to click thru to see them).