Biggest Month Ever!

I used to keep track of my monthly numbers but I haven’t been doing that much any more. I am usually more focused on weekly totals. I have been playing with the Analysis features in SportTracks recently and I was happy to see that October 2016 has been my biggest month of training ever! Biggest in time and distance. It wasn’t that surprising because this is the most aggressive training I have ever done for a race. What I was surprised by was the fact I ran over 140 miles this month and all at essentially goal marathon pace for my upcoming Ironman.

Sometimes you need to take a step back to see just how you are performing overall. You need to see the forest through the trees!

I have been using SportTracks for a couple of years now. It is really worth the cost because of all the easy to run reports that you don’t get elsewhere. You should check it out!

Week 13 of 16 Ironman Arizona Training -I am ready!

That is it! I have done the hard work and now just to let it all soak in and steep so that on race day I can let it all out!

Um, I ran 36 miles this week, and at an average pace that is my goal marathon pace! O. M. G!!!

And here is how  the month measured up as well!

I am so proud of how I have trained for this race. I can honestly say I did my best to do every workout Coach Jen gave me. There were days and workouts I may have tried to make excuses for but I never got far with that; there just weren’t any excuses that were valid! I have found that I just love the challenge that Ironman training brings and I love meeting that challenge every single week! You don’t here this often from Triathletes, but I am ready!

Highlight of the week was doing the Death Valley Century. I had never been to Death Valley and I was totally blown away with it. The ride was a bit more challenging that I was expecting mostly because the first 25 miles was essentially into a headwind. But after that it got a bit easier and we were rewarded with some amazing views for our hard work. Pictures don’t do it justice but here are a few from the trip. Click here for the Garmin data.

Mile 28. Notice the sideways braids.

Of course I had to run off the bike, thanks Coach!

Back out to Badwater for a pic before we drive home

My best friend and partner in everything!

This little lady was holding up traffic!

Sunset on the drive home

I ended the week with a 3 hour, 20 mile run on Sunday. For once, we had rain. It was a fabulous!

Soaked to the skin but happy to be done!

Must braid hair next time

I have a the Santa Clarita Half Marathon next weekend. I will be shooting for sub 1:50 (I really want 1:45). But other than that I will just be letting the work soak in so I can have the Ironman race I know  I am capable of!

 

Week 12 of 16 Ironman Arizona Training – Inspired

Wow! That may have not been my biggest week in miles but it quite possibly was in time! I am in the final push for Arizona and loving (almost) every minute of it!

I am still dialing everything in and figuring out race day plans. This week I found my racing kit!!! Coeur Sports released their one-piece speed suit! It is amazing!!! It has the same seam-free chamois that the tri shorts do so it is super comfy. I have really fallen in love with the sleeved tops as well. It keep the sun off your shoulder which I honestly thinks makes a huge difference. I know you might be thinking that how could you race in a suit for such a long race? What about bathroom breaks? The last two Ironman I have done I have only needed one potty break and that is in T2. This kit zips down far enough that getting it off and back on is not a problem. Even when it is sweaty! For me, the added comfort the kit gives me over traditional two piece triathlon kit is totally worth it! It is completely dreamy! I did a 5 hour ride in it this weekend followed up with a 1 hour run. No issues! None! There is one small thing to note about the kit. In order for it to be so aero the pocket are a little tight on the back. They might be a little tough to access on the bike. Not an issue for me because I can carry all my bike nutrition in my bento box.

After my 6 hour brick on Saturday I had a 2.5 hour run on my schedule. Happy to report that I had no trouble doing the run in essentially my goal race pace! I know what I can do and I just need to do it on race day!

Lastly, I have been finding a lot of things to help keep me inspired to work towards this crazy dream of one day qualifying for Kona. The picture below is a huge inspiration to me. Those ladies work their butts off and are gracious and beautiful inside and out! The Coeur team has inspired me beyond words. This picture is a huge inspiration to me. One day I will be in this picture! One day I will be racing with these ladies on that island! This picture helps light my fire!

The 2016 Ironman World Championship Couer team, photo by Jay Prasuhn

Surfacing by Siri Lindley – Book Review

My Husband Stuart has a relationship with VeloPress so when he saw that Siri Lindley had a book out with them he made a call and got me a copy!

Last summer I met Sir Lindley at Ironman Boulder when she spoke at the welcome party. The most I knew about Siri before I met her was she is an amazing couch to some pretty incredible triathletes! I had been following her on social media and was impressed by her voice and outlook on triathlon training. I was a total fan girl after she spoke and waited to say hello and thank you and all the things you say to someone who is a positive presence in your world.

Siri Lindley is amazing!!!

Surfacing, her book is a biography of how she got to where she is today. I love reading and learning about people’s journeys and pasts. This book was an excellent look into the things in Siri’s life that shaped her to be the person she is today. She did not hold back anything! I did not know any of the back story into her life before I read this and there were a lot of things that surprised me!

What touched me most about the book was it was totally written in Siri’s voice. I know she wrote it so of course it should sound like her. But that doesn’t always happen when people write their autobiographies. I found her book to be genuine and honest and inspiring! It is not a long book and it moves at such a good pace that you will have trouble putting it down! I never read books anymore and I read this one in a week (that is pretty quick for me since I am usually asleep by 9:00 PM). The book is well written, interesting, and inspiring! Absolutely worth the read!

No if only I could find away to move to Boulder and train with her!

Eleven

Eleven. That is my goal for Ironman Arizona. It is an aggressive goal and I need a lot of things to go right to achieve it. I am encouraged by recent training efforts and I am VERY motivated. I am in the home stretch and I am counting off the days.

The break down is:

• Swim: 1:05
• Bike: 5:50
• Run:3:55
• Transitions: 10 minutes

There is not much room for error.

Week 11 of 16 Ironman Arizona Training – Testing Race Pace

It was a bit of a step-back week to get some recovery after a couple of big/intense weeks of training.

Most notable thing for the week was my Saturday brick. I did 2:30 (almost 3 hours) on the bike with some sizable efforts followed by a 30 min run at race pace. This felt really good to me and actually felt very much like what my race effort will be. Well, the run was a bit faster than it should have been but it felt good and I wanted to push myself. After this workout I felt really excited that I may have an 11 hour Ironman in my body! I am all for getting hard goals and stating them out loud!

I am super excited to be in the home stretch for training. I feel like I have almost all the aspects dialed in. I am most excited that I really have my nutrition figured out. For the bike I will eat Salty Balls and drink CarboRocket, 333 – Half Evil All-in-One drink is working excellent for me! It has a bunch of calories and aminos. I am digging the black cherry and orange flavors. For people that have trouble eating solid food on the bike, but still need calories, check this product out. I figure this, plus a banana or two, will get me through the bike quite nicely!

My coach was nice enough to sketch out the last 5 weekends of training for me so I can plan our weekends. The end is in sight!!

Ironman Arizona 2016 Race Day Plans

I keep having all these thoughts about what I need to remember to do and pack for race day so I am going to start a list here and just keep updating in. Maybe it will be helpful to someone!

Morning of Race

• Eat breakfast
• Fill bike bottle with CarboRocket

T1 Bag

• Bike shoes
• SPI Belt loaded with nutrition (Mocha and Chocolate Cliff Shots)
• Salty Balls in snack size ziplock bags (at least 8 balls)
• Chapstick
• Towel
• Helmet

Bike Special Needs

I typically don’t stop but just in case…

• Spare tube and CO2
• Socks
• Extra Salty Balls
• Extra CarboRocket
• Red Bull
• Chapstick

T2 Bag

• SPI with run nutrition options, tube of Rolaids, Base Salts
• Chapstick
• Sock
• Sunglasses
• Hat and visor

Run Special Needs

• Warm running kit
• Chapstick (do you see a theme here, I love chapstick!)

Race Time Goals

I am getting to the point where I can’t stop thinking about race day and especially my time goals. I am not out there just to finish this one. I am also not out there to Kona Qualify (but if it happened I wouldn’t say no). I am going to be out there trying to take a reasonable chunk of time off my 2014 finish. I set myself a goal of qualifying for Kona by the time I and 45 (it was a 5 year goal at the time). I felt if I could chip away at my bike split by 15 minutes a year and trim a bit off the swim and run, I would have a really good chance of doing it someday. So here are my goals (A goal/B goal/C goal) for the race this year:

• Swim: 1:05/1:08/1:10 I think the rolling start will work well for me so I can improve on my 1:08 from 2014.
• Bike: 5:45/6:00/6:15 I need to not hold back as much as I usually do on the bike. I need to NOT sit behind people waiting to pass. I need to get a little uncomfortable.
• Run: 3:45/3:55/4:00 I know I can run well off the bike and I am loving running right now. I was once told that when you hit the run in and Ironman you are so relived that you only have 26 miles left! It is so true. The run feels like a victory lap for me!

That gives me just under 11 hours for my A goal, and under 11:30 for my C goal.

 

 

Week 10 of 16 Ironman Arizona Training – Aquathalon National Championship

After the rough week before this week we backed off the volume just a little; but mostly so I could do small trip to visit Jen, and a little race on Saturday. But even with that I still manage over 13 hours!

Highlight if the week was the race for sure! The held the Aquathalon National Championships up in Santa Cruz. I grabbed a flight to Sacramento to meet up with Jen, my coach, and we drove out to Santa Cruz. After a very wild night in our hotel thanks to Megan, some poor girl celebrating her birthday and apparently ending up in jail, we were up nice and early to get to the race. The cool thing about the race was if you placed in the top 18 in your age group you earn a spot to go to Penticton Canada next year for the world championships! Swim-Run is perfect for me!

The swim was super cold and by the time I got out my hand were pretty much useless. I managed to stub my toe pretty bad running in the sand but luckily my feet were numb too! I swam a very good line and ended up with a great swim for me.

My T1 was a good minute longer than everybody else in my AG because I couldn’t tie my shoes or get my wetsuit off! The run was awesome. We ran along the cliff and had an amazing view the whole time. I was clicking off sub 8 minute miles and felt excellent. Very good group of ladies out there! I don’t get passed on the run that often but a few ladies passed me like I was standing still. Even though we all knew we would get our slots to worlds everyone was giving it their all. What a great way to race! The Garmin data can be found here.

I placed 4th in my AG and 25th overall female. I did everything I could and I was really happy with my race. Luckily my slow T2 didn’t keep me from the podium but for shorter races like this I need to get faster. Here are some pictures from the race!

Dip & Dash #3

Dip & Dash #3

Dip & Dash #3

After the race I flew back the next day and did a 4 hour ride followed by a 1 hour run. I have been having a bit of self doubt lately so I was so pleased to bust out at hour run at goal marathon pace and all in zone 1/2 heart rate! It is runs like that that keep me coming back for more. My personal goal for Arizona just keeps getting faster and faster. Final 6 weeks until Arizona. The end is in sight!

Week 9 of 16 Ironman Arizona Training – Fatigued but Determined

Wow. That was a week of training! It started out a bit rough and we think I was carrying more fatigue from the Olympic Tri we had expected. I had to dial back one ride, I barely made it thought my 90 min progressive tempo run, and I had to cut one swim very very short. But with all of that fatigue, I still managed to pull of a very solid week of training! I was determined to try and get it all in and I almost did!

Biggest change of the week was I (finally) got fitted on Arlene the Argon. It has been really hard finding the time to get it done but this week I finally made it a priority. Lots of changes to my position that are really working for me. I did a workout the day after the fit and I could see a difference in my numbers. Same ride on TrainerRoad but this time I held an average of 8 more watts and I rode 1 mile an hour faster. That may not sound like a big deal but I could tell I was able to push a harder gear with the same watts as before. The fitter said more power would go to my wheel and it sure did!

I am most happy with a solid 5+ hour ride on Saturday followed up by a 30 minutes run off the bike. No drama for either activity although I ran out of water on the bike and Stuart came out and saved the day! Then the fact that I followed up Saturday’s training with a 2.5 hour run where I spent all my time in Zone 1-2 for my HR and was running just over Ironman marathon pace!

But the absolute highlight of the week was going with Stuart to watch him try his first Cyclocross race! Here are a few pictures from the fun we had!