Bouncing Back After Injury, Tracking Your Pace When Racing, Where Is Spring?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqrTK0PEzOc

We knew some bad weather was headed our way this weekend so luckily I got my brick (bike-run) in on Saturday. I was beginning to wonder if it would ever happen because Saturday got so busy! I looked outside and noticed the ponies were running circles NOT in the fenced in area so we had to spend some time getting the ponies back in and fixing the fence. Our goats are pretty hard on fences and can put a hole in most anything! Then on Friday night I actually shut the car door on my hand which made biking a bit difficult at first but then I figured I could hold my handle differently for the duration of my ride and it would be ok! My hand is feeling MUCH better now luckily but boy did it look BAD! Only me, right?

Garmin Forerunner 10  - I got pink OFCOURSE :)

Returning to running after having had an injury has NOT been pretty. I used to be able to determine my pace just by the feel but lately I'll go out and run and think I'm smoking the run and come to find out I was running quite slow for me! I feel like returning to my comfortable and faster pace is going to take some time with more run mileage back on my feet. I finally broke down and purchased one of the simplest Garmins, a Garmin Forerunner 10, so I can track my pace when I am running during races. Last year I used a simple watch with a stopwatch and I could track my pace at each mile. However, I feel like my running has suffered so much that I really need to know what my pace is when I start running before I get to that first mile. I have to admit that the Garmin Forerunner 10 is pretty COOL! I love that I can see my pace while I am running and then upload my data to view lots of specific data, and I can upload my running into Training Peaks now! The price is pretty decent coming in at $129.

My first triathlon for the season is coming up on April 6th. By this time last year the weather was great and I had been outside a ton riding, running, and working on my transitions. I have still been outside but it has been very cold and very windy! Riding and running in headwinds is tough and I can't wait for some sunnier weather that STAYS! I do need to work on my transitions in the next couple of weeks but it has been TOO cold to be outside without socks on! I don't wear socks when racing! If it doesn't warm up I'll be out there practicing with some very cold toes! By the look of the roads I'm afraid I might see a treadmill in my future today. The roads around me are not clear! Enjoy the winter scenery! While it is pretty, let's hope it doesn't return until NEXT WINTER!

You can't believe the number of Cardinals and other birds at our house!
They were SO beautiful and loving the cat food! Luckily the cat was too scared to grab one!

Swimming, Dealing With Soreness As Training Intensity Increases, What Is A Good Tri Investment, And Tri Bike Fitting

The time has come to get more race specific training and leave the winter base building phase. The week before last I hit a 100 yard swim PR of 1:38. Last week I beat that at 1:35! I feel like I am finally moving through the water some! Having some faster swim sets has really helped improve my swim time after having worked on technique with TONS of drills for the past six months. I am working on reaching out with LONG arms and pulling back with a high elbow catch. Here is some advice on the high elbow catch that I found to be useful from Brenton Ford:

http://effortlessswimming.com/freestyle/the-locked-elbow-pull/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=locked%2Belbow

Somehow I have lost 10 seconds on my 100 yard time in a two week period just by transitioning to faster swim sets. I'm pretty excited about the progress and like how I am actually starting to "feel" the water.

Rumble Roller

With the increased intensity in my workouts, I have been REALLY sore! I am so thankful I finally broke down and bought the rumble roller! Yes, I thought it might be a bit of hype and it's a bit pricey but rolling this over my sore muscles has helped immensely!! I LOVE it! 

With all of the aches and pains I've had this past week, one of them was knee pain for the first time ever. It led me to read an interesting article on cycling and knee pain in which they discuss plausible explanations for knee pain associated with cycling: http://www.fix-knee-pain.com/cycling-knee-pain/. Here they also discuss how you can use the rumble roller to alleviate some of your aches and pains. 

Taking the plunge to finally buy a roller leads me to this next subject of interest: What makes a good tri investment? What are you willing to pay to be faster? What products will help you get there and what is worth the money? I just read a great article on Training Peaks called "Get the Most Bang for Your Buck". It discusses whether it is worth it to get those uber cool carbon wheels or whether it is worth it to invest in a coach.  It breaks it down into the following:

1. Bike fit or Aero Helmet?

2. Power Meter or Carbon Wheels? P.S. I would LOVE To have a power meter on my bike! That would be C-O-O-L!

3. Training Plans or Hiring a Coach?

4. Losing Weight? 

The answers were easy for me. I LOVE my Zipp 808 Carbon Clinchers! They are just super fun to ride on! It was also worth it to get properly fitted on my tri bike. Last year I hired a coach to specifically fit me for my tri bike because I found I could never really get down in an aero position after paying for an expensive fitting at a local bike shop. Although I have had my tri bike since 2010, last spring was my first time really down on my aerobars because for the first time I was properly fitted. I hired TriAdventure Multisport Training in order to help me get down on my aerobars and make the proper fit for my bike. The local bike store was WAY off and it was well worth it to hire TriAdventure for one month to work with me to transition me onto my aerobars. However, what tops it all for me has been having an amazing coach like Jim McGehee with One-On-One Endurance! I wouldn't trade his coaching services for anything in the world! It has been such a great experience and he has really made me love triathlon even more (was this possible??) and love training as well! 

I hope everybody is having a great time training! Let's hope this crazy weather warms up and stays warm! Doesn't the weather know spring is just right around the corner?!?!

Why The Chicken Crossed The Road And Other Bits Of Triathlon Randomness

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Well, to catch the triathlete ofcourse! It usually takes me several minutes to "shoo" away chickens when I try to start running from the house. Well, recently I really confused the chickens by running in circles in the driveway. At every turn they would chase until they figured out I wasn't really going anywhere except back to the house! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBlJQkMNOXA

I don't know about you but I am SUPER STOKED about the time change. This means daylight in the evenings which means somebody (like my mother or husband) gets to watch the kids while I can get on my REAL bike and off that trainer!! It's also getting VERY close to race season: THANK GOODNESS!! My first race is in April so it is time to start training more race specific. This means bricks, faster running, and a different type of training for the pool.

With the time change and since it is nearing "in-season" time I changed my schedule so I will no longer be getting up at 5AM to get in my work out! Let me tell you, I enjoyed not getting up so early all week! This means I stopped using my amazing swim coach Eva Steib and am swimming on my own and get training plans from my crazy awesome triathlon coach Jim McGehee with One-on-One Endurance. Let me tell you, after just one of Jim's swim workouts I'm not so sure I can use my arms this week! 

I also swam my fastest 100 EVER last week! When I started with Eva Steib in September my fastest clocked 100 for 25 yards was 1:54 although my average race swim time was more around 2:10 last year for 25 yards. Last week I clocked a 100 in 1:38 in a 25 yard pool! Now that is COOL! I was beginning to wonder if all of that time in the pool was worth it to loose a couple of seconds! Now, for many of you this is not an uber fast swim time but having just made it across the pool in May of 2010, this is finally a bit of progress!

On the run side of things I am back to running but not running for several months is NOT a quick bouncing back process! My feet are doing pretty good after a several month bout with plantar fasciitis. They aren't perfect but I can walk and I am not dying! I also have some new uber cool and ofcourse pink running shoes! I haven't had too problems with my feet since I changed my shoes! So far I really love these!

Nike Free +3

Running during the week is not always in the funnest of places such as running circles in the driveway while I take care of three children who are busy playing in rounds bales of hay or running in the WAY TOO HILLY and somewhat dreary cemetery while the Y watches my kids.

What my winter weekday cemetery running has looked like: http://adventuresin-tri-mom-athlon.blogspot.com/2013/01/week-day-running.html

The weather has also been pretty tough up until this week! Quite cold and very windy and add some snow into that mix as well! It was so windy biking the other weekend that I almost thought I would have to walk my bike up a hill because the wind was pushing me back so hard! The weather was also bad enough that I actually got on the treadmill that I use to hang clothes and toys on in my bedroom. I had enough of that after 17 minutes! Just doesn't feel "real" to me! 

Did someone leave a note on my car? No! A shingle landed on the car due to the high winds!

The true purpose for my treadmill

The entire diet thing I threw out the window after I didn't loose any weight. I decided I love lattes, cheese, sour cream, and beer way to much but I am watching how much I eat and what I eat. The next experiment might be a gluten free one but that would remove beer from my diet so I don't think I can go THAT far! 

On an end note I have been heading back to our local Y to swim in the afternoons. That place is loaded down with triathletes! Since I started going back last week the pool is full of folks in their VTS (Virginia Triathlon Series) swim caps, chiseled triathlon bodies (you can pick the triathletes out of a crowd!), and even cooler I saw one lady with a swim, bike, run tattoo on her leg! This reminds me why I became friends with a girl in South Carolina who I met at a race there. She had a beautiful swim, bike, run tattoo across her arm and I thought "now that is a girl I need to know!". Anybody who can plaster a swim, bike, run scene on their body has to be seriously cool and has to really love triathlon! 

Angie's tattoo

Angie is one cool gal! Love that tattoo!

Here is to more light in the evenings and somersaults to a quickly approaching race season! Happy Training Peeps!

Triathlon Bling: The Drool List

As the season quickly approaches I find myself daydreaming about really cool gear. Will really cool overly priced stuff make you faster? No, probably not, but it sure does look COOL! Last March I purchased my dream wheels: ZIPP 808 Carbon Clinchers. I also updated my crank and cassette to Shimano Ultegra with a Dura Ace chain. 

Zipp 808 Carbon Clinchers

When I got into triathlon I really leaped in. I had a comfort bike I had never ridden and another local gal talked me into riding with her but I couldn't keep up on the comfort bike. So my husband let me borrow his bike and I ended up riding his bike which was WAY too big for me in my first triathlon. 

Husband Rob's bike I used in my first tri gone duathlon due to severe weather
P.S. That is my old car. I miss it. Never trade in your 4WD with heated leather seats for a minivan.
Keep it in the yard to use when it snows!!!!!!

I knew I needed to buy a road bike but I couldn't find a new or used one in my size. I had also thought about a tri bike but hadn't made that leap either. I had been thinking about a little pink tri bike I had seen in the Giant catalog. There had only been 2 in the entire US left. So I called the local bike store to see if there were any still for sale and come to find out somebody in town had ordered that cute little pink bike and returned it and there it was sitting on their sales floor! Hey, you, in town, thanks so much for ordering and returning her! I love her! Out of all the towns for her to walk into, she walked into mine! It was meant to be. I bought her without even riding her. It was a great choice!

My cute pink tri bike with her extremely awesome Zipps!

Well, I had her but I really couldn't ride her. I had no idea how to shift those gears on the aero bars. I figured it out on the race site the day before I raced on her. And while I bought her in 2010 I didn't really get down into an aero position until last year in 2012 and I'm short enough I had to make alot of modifications in order to be able to get down on my aerobars.

So last year my little pink aluminum tri bike got fancied up with her new crank, new cassette, new chain, and my beautiful dream wheels - the Zipp 808 Carbon Clinchers! When I first rode on them I was wondering if I had made a mistake! They felt so scary and I felt like I couldn't control my bike. Now I've gotten used to them but keep them on year round to bike in so I can stay accustomed to the "feel" of the wheels. They glide like magic but I get thrown around in the wind ALOT! 

Drool, drool, drool: Zipp Vuka Stealth Aerobars

This year I've been daydreaming about a new handlebar and aerobar set. My aerobars are flat instead of sloped up so they hurt my wrist and arms and back. Well, I know what I would love to have but I can definitely ONLY dream about these, ha ha! Lately I've been drooling over the Zipp Vuka Stealth Aerobars. They are an integrated stem and basebar with 1,920 fit options. However, it sells for $1070 and doesn't even include the shifters or the extensions. Add an additional $130 for for the Zipp Vuka Carbon extensions and $391 for the Zipp Vuka R2C Aero Shifters. Now that is alot of money for the front end of your bike! But boy would it look cool, ha ha! 

Zipp Carbon Extensions

Zipp Vuka Aeroshifters

My second item on my drool list is the Gyro Air Attack Helmet. It isn't yet available but should be available this spring and sells for $200. 

Drool Number 2: Air Attack Helmet

You can also purchase this helmet with a shield for $40 more. I am one gal that did not buy into the aerotail helmet fad. 

In my opinion and based on other research I read, I just don't think they are safe. I would be one of the dufus heads to fall on my bike and break some part on my body because of one of those helmets. Yes, evidence supports helmets with the aerotail will make you faster but is it worth the risk in injury? No. I think first and foremost the helmet is there to serve as SAFETY. So I have been using a pretty inexpensive helmet that only serves to protect my head and I find it to be comfortable. So, not only is the Air Attack a safer option with it's rounded helmet shape but it is also very aerodynamic. This baby I am getting when it comes available!

Also on my drool list is various uber cute outfits which if you purchase more than one it would add up to being a ridiculous amount of money. I've been drooling over the idea of purchasing a lululemon running skirt although I don't like the color selections so much this spring. This runs for $58.00:

I've also been wiping the slober from my face on the thought of the cute hotpink Athleta skort. This comes in at $49.00:

While daydreaming about athletic gear I also came across a site that has some pretty cute skorts as well! Check out this one! It comes form ink-n-burn and they have a pretty cool selection of skorts! This runs for about $75.00: 

Women's Pink Ink Skirt

So my 2013 Triathlon Bling Drool List is as follows:

1. The Zipp Vuka Stealth stem and base with extensions and aeroshifters  - $1591 without tax;

2. The Gyro Aero Attack Helmet - $200;

3. Some uber cute running skirts from lululemon, Athleta, or Ink-n-Burn;

and

4. A New TriSuit! This one can be wiped off the list!

Well, admittedly I had a new trisuit on my wish list and this year I had one made by Abpro Sports! It's great because you can make a custom suit and only have to order one! It will be made and shipped to me in April, hopefully before my first race! And let's hope it fits, otherwise it will be looking really chic hanging from my wall! Check it out!

Check out the Tri-Clips and One-on-One Endurance logos! Cool!

Will my dream list come true this year? Probably not! Particularly not the extremely awesome Zipp front end stem and bar for my bike! This year I have to figure out how to get to London for the Age Group Sprint World Championship. We can probably cover expenses for me but I really wanted to bring my family with me! I keep playing Publishers Clearing House but daggon if I haven't won yet and I keep saying I want to win the lottery but I fail to ever buy a lottery ticket. Well, at least we are rich in our hearts or so that is how the saying goes, ha ha. Happy drooling over some of your favorite bling! What triathlon bling are you daydreaming about for this season?

Nutrition Tracking

Well my experimental diet has not been particularly effective. Right before Valentine's Day I removed processed sugar and dairy from my diet and have been extremely calorie restricted eating all whole foods and supplementing with vitamins. I really don't even know why I removed dairy except to reduce the amount of fat in my diet because I sure do love me some whole milk lattes, whole milk in my cereal, sour cream, and cheese!! So just by staying away from it I won't get carried away! I have been tracking what I eat with the app "MyFitnessPal". It has tons of foods and brands listed so it is easy to track your eating. You can enter everything online as well at http://www.myfitnesspal.com/.

It has been very motivational and at the end of the day when I record what I have eaten it tells me how skinny I will be in five weeks. My first race is in six weeks so this sounds great! Well that is all peachy but it is telling me I will weigh the same I did when I was 16 before my body even finished growing. I was just hoping to weigh the same as I did in my 20's which is 10 pounds lighter. So I was stoked after dieting for a week and a half thinking I had lost weight. Well, this morning I went in to the gym and weighed myself on the same scale and same time of the morning as I did a week ago and I am .1 pounds heavier. Nice. Now THAT is motivating. 

The day after I started this diet thing I got immediately sick with a virus and have had NO energy. It was quite difficult to function during the week although I did manage to swim once, do weights twice, run three times, and go on a long bike ride yesterday. I'm still not totally better. I really should have rested more but since last week was my first real week back at running I wasn't willing to give in. Here is an article I happened to read about training when you are sick: http://www.active.com/fitness/Articles/Is-It-OK-to-Exercise-When-Sick.htm?cmp=306&memberid=108015174&lyrisid=38341505. Maybe if I had chilled out on the training I would be in better shape today!

I don't usually eat much meat. I just prefer vegetables and don't really like the taste of meat and I find it kind of gross to cook. Ofcourse most cooking turns me off but somebody has to feed me and the kids! Alot of information on nutrition doesn't focus in on vegetarian athletes but one of my friend's sent me a great blog that has tons of information on being a vegetarian athlete. I am always worried I'm not getting enough protein so I really enjoyed reading the information I found here on the "No Meat Athlete: Run on Plants" site: http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-diet/. 

I also decided I would be a "weekday" dieter and be a bit more open on the weekends so I can drink an occasional Friday night beer or post bike ride beer. Notice when I cut sugar out of my diet I never mentioned removing beer! 

Post Bike Ride Fun after this Sunday's ride

We are actually members of the Star City Brewers Guild. It is the BEST club EVER! Everyone makes their own amazing craft beer and we have monthly meetings trying everyone's beer and usually learning something technical or about a different beer style. There are also four competitions throughout the year and I have really enjoyed judging! It is a very close knit and active group and everybody seems to do lots of things together during the week outside of club meetings. We've made tons of great friends there!

This months Brewers Guild Meeting,
photo courtesy of Carrie Cox, Star City Brewers Guild VP

We made the paper! Courtesy of Carrie Cox! That is me with some of our club peeps!
http://ourvalley.org/salem-catches-craft-beer-fever/ by Carrie Cox

Lately some interesting beers have been tapped on Fridays at a local restaurant that has 46 beers on tap. How could I ever miss a rare beer being tapped? The Friday before last Foothill's Sexual Chocolate was tapped and this weekend we had a rare Bell's Hopslam Firkin, and believe it or not "MyFitnessPal" even had those beers in the database! I am ALL about hoppy beers, in moderation that is. 

Friday night fun with friends

Foothills Sexual Chocolate

Bell's Hopslam Firkin

Contrary to the photos I don't drink THAT much but an occasional beer on the weekend is great fun and I really appreciate craft beers!  So this week I will continue this experimental diet. I hear removing sugar is supposed to make you feel good and not like the living dead which is how I have felt. Now I know it was the sugar and milk keeping me alive, ha ha. Wish me luck! I'm leaving you on a funny note with my three year old who has gotten into yodeling. He did NOT acquire this skill from me!

https://plus.google.com/stream/circles/p6437a8bc8edcfae7

Sugar Free Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day! Yesterday I decided to start a diet because race season is not many weeks away! Clearly I should have started this after today. BAD planning. I've never actually dieted except for once in my life when I was a teenager and decided to eat salads because it was the cool thing to do at the time. I've changed my diet to be sports specific or changed my diet to whole foods, but I haven't actually gone ON a diet. But yesterday was the day. I thought I would give it a tri (overused pun totally intended). 

I am reading about nutrition ALL the time. There is one article after another coming in my e-mail box from this and that but it is all a blur to me. No carbs, add carbs, more protein, less protein, high and low glycemic index, paleo diet, diet for runners, Rachel Ray diet, and so on and so forth. It really makes NO sense to me. But I admit since my feet have been hurting me I haven't been spending long hours in the kitchen cutting up fresh food and my diet has gone into a slump and add not running into that and I have probably gained a few pounds. Honestly I never weigh myself. I would love to but the scale at the gym doesn't seem to work and I have one here but I can't find it! I've never had to diet but my body has NEVER been the same after three kids. I've always been 10 pounds heavier after having kids but at the same time I started doing sports and lifting weights so how much might be muscle weight? I'm not really sure but I thought, hey, let's try to loose some because the amount of weight you carry could affect your speed. 

So yesterday I cut dairy and processed sugar out of my diet. I admit it, I like chocolate, sweets, and lattes. I don't particularly like fruit. I've never really eaten much of it. It doesn't sit well with me and I don't like the taste. But ok, I'll try eating some as a substitute. So yesterday I said goodbye to lattes and cereal and cheese added to anything. Honestly I didn't plan this thing out well at all because I'm not so sure what I had around here to eat. It was particularly poorly planned because I got up at 5, got to the gym before 6 (it's half an hour drive just to the gym), and didn't leave the gym until 9 after doing weights, swimming, and running. I didn't get home until 9:30 and still hadn't figured out what to eat for breakfast because lately I've been in a cereal slump. After getting the kids settled I cooked some eggs on toast but that was 5 1/2 hours after being awake and having not eaten and doing three workouts. Then for lunch I made a vegetable stir fry with cinnamon, garlic, and olive oil, and angel hair pasta, and had some nuts and fruit as a snack throughout the day. Clearly I am not good at meal planning or diet planning so I think today I need to get to the store and figure out what healthy snacks I can eat during the day. I worry about getting enough protein because I don't eat meat that often so I guess I will hope to get enough protein from beans and eggs. 

So, that is my haphazard diet. I cut back on the amount of food, removed the processed sugar, and cut out the dairy. I'm curious to see how the week goes because yesterday for the first time in YEARS I actually took a nap. Wow, no processed sugar = a sleepy me trying to get through a long day! Amazingly my seven year old and three year old also took a nap (this NEVER happens) while my five year old stayed quietly but awake next to us! I have no idea how long I can keep this up. Let's hope I make it through day 2 on Valentine's Day! Goodbye lattes, goodbye chocolate, goodbye cereal. I'll see you again maybe one day soon! By the way I ran for 35 minutes yesterday! This is extremely exciting after being down for the count since the beginning of the year! YAY!! Enjoy your Valentine's Day with the ones you love! Eat a cookie for me :). 

Looney Bin for Triathletes Gone Duathlete

The police officer here was pretty adorable

Since I have had a run injury from the beginning of the year (plantar fasciitis) and haven't been able to run I have been loosing my mind a bit. I told my coach I needed to start running or I would need to be put in a special home for triathletes gone duathlete! 

Luckily the cell mates were pretty cute and entertaining.

Happily I started running some over the last two weeks but more of a walking warm up followed by a 3 or 4 minute run and a 1 minute walk (x 4). It was SO great to be running again even if it was only for a couple of minutes! I can't say my feet are totally perfect yet but this is a GREAT start just to be able to run some!! Not being able to run was a REAL reality check. I have an all new appreciation of just being able to do it and I'm pretty sure I will never say again that I "hate" running. It's amazing what just a couple of minutes of running can do for your body and your mind! I guess I never realized the benefits until now. 

I'm excited for my seven year old daughter Eva who will get to start the first Girls on the Run program in our area on Monday. We had a  really fun time yesterday shopping for running shoes and clothes for her! She will take the twice weekly class with her little friend Lucy and I'm sure they will have a blast! The class will prepare them for a local upcoming spring 5K! 

Eva (right) with her friend (left) and their American Girl Dolls

A couple of years ago we signed Eva up for a 5K because she wanted to do one but I made the mistake of running the race and not running with her. She lost me at the first corner and went running back to my mom and husband after only a couple hundred feet. 

Now Eva is older and will be in a group of girls her own age so hopefully this time she will finish the race and have a great time preparing for and doing the race! She is looking forward to Monday and I'm excited that I get to try to run for 20 minutes straight on Monday! Headed out for a fun group bike ride today! Can't wait!