Triathlon Training

Pink Power Race Report: Better Late Than Never

09/07/2011

On August 21, I competed in the Pink Power triathlon in Richmond, VA. After listening to me talk on and on and on and on about triathlons and triathlon training, good and bad, my sister decided she wanted to do this too. I’m not sure how I convince other people to join me in this crazy endeavor. It’s not really that much fun. Crossing the finish line though is fun, and I must have talked to my sister enough to make her think this was a good idea. Liz trained hard and she had an awesome race. Me? Could have been better but I crossed the finish line. I didn’t train enough and I wasn’t ready for the hills in Virginia, even though Liz warned me over and over and over again that this was a hilly race. I signed up thinking this would be an easy race. All...

Smith’s Point Triathlon Race Report: Wet and Windy

08/08/2011

Yesterday was Smith’s Point Tri. I never mentioned that I was doing this one because even though I’d signed up for it, I wasn’t sure I was going. The weather was tentative all week and while I’ve been working out, I don’t know if I could say I’ve been training the way I should have been before a race. We’re talking one brick workout in a couple of months. And I’d never done a race in the rain. The bike makes me nervous enough. The thought of biking on slick roads in the rain? That’s even scarier. We picked up our race packets on Saturday afternoon, still hedging whether or not we were doing this thing. We’d decide at 4:00 am, depending on the weather. Thinking I might not be going helped me sleep a little better on Saturday night, always a good thing. And when I woke up?...

Road Rules: Cars v. Bicycles

08/02/2011

I am not a fan of bike training. It’s not that I don’t like being out on my bike. In this heat, the breeze that comes from moving at a decent pace makes the exercise tolerable. When I can get a good momentum going, I feel powerful. I can log a lot more miles in a lot less time than swimming or running. For some reason though, on the bike, I feel invisible to the cars that I’m sharing the road with. And trust me, I’m not small enough to be invisible to anyone. Here’s the thing. When I’m out on my bike on the road, I follow the rules. I wear my helmet. I stay on the right side of the road. I obey traffic lights and stop signs. I stay off the main roads as much as possible because cars going really fast scare me. Even so,...

A New Routine

05/09/2011

I feel like I had been living, breathing and sleeping St. Anthony’s Tri training for the past six months. I didn’t realize how much until I didn’t have to do it anymore. I rarely slept past 6:00 am on a Saturday or Sunday, because training needed to get done. My days revolved around work and working out. In the last couple of months before the race, I was too afraid not to get to the gym or out on the road, for fear I wouldn’t be ready. Don’t get me wrong. I had my off days, but even when I was “off,” I was worrying that I wasn’t training enough for this race. There was so much to do to prepare for it, from fundraising to getting comfortable running without my iPod. In the end, it was awesome, but I am happy it’s behind me. Last week, I did...

St. Anthony’s Race Report… The Race

05/06/2011

So, after a good non-existent night’s sleep, it was time to wake up at the unGodly hour of 3:45. We had to be in the lobby of the hotel before 5:00 am to make the three-quarter of a mile walk down to the race area. And we had to double check our bags and eat something. The first thing I did when I got up was check the weather. 10-12 mile an hour winds. 72 degrees. There was hope. Then I looked out the window. I don’t know who gave the weathermen their information, but 10 to 12 mph winds? Hah! The trees were whipping. They at least got the winds blowing from the east part right. As we passed Tampa Bay by the pier where we would be swimming in a couple of hours, pure dread crept in. Not only were we looking at the lovely 3-, 4-foot...

St. Anthony’s Race Weekend Report – Part 1

05/06/2011

I did it! We’re back from St. Petersburg and my first Olympic distance triathlon. It was hard, it was a little scary, it was hot and windy, but ultimately it was fun! Warning: Long post…. Which will be followed by another long post…. Because this race was a weekend event, I figured it would be best to break it into two parts. We had gotten into St. Pete on Friday around 10:30 on Friday, went over to get our bikes, pick up our packets and visit the expo. Our hotel was about 3/4 of a mile from the race site and we did an awful lot of walking back and forth from point A to point B. The weather was a balmy 85 degrees, no wind, water like glass. Checking out the swim area, we were psyched. It was going to be tough to transition from training all winter...

And the Tire Saga Continues…

04/19/2011

I got home from work last night around 5:30 and got dressed and right out on my bike to see if this time, the tire would hold up. It did better, but not good enough. Last night, I made it about 13 miles before I heard and felt the ominous thump…. thump…. thump…..Race distance is 24 miles. This simply won’t do. Needless to say, my bike is now in the hands of someone with infinitely more experience than I have at fixing tires. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. Rain will probably prevent me from riding tonight, so I hope to get a ride in tomorrow at some point to make sure my bike will be able to go the distance. This is not stress I need this close to race day! Race day is May 1, by the way. This week in St. Petersburg, temperatures are climbing...

Mercury Retrograde, Flat Tires and Wind

04/18/2011

On what was pretty much my last long brick chance this weekend with the bike I will be riding at St. Anthony’s, the weather gods were just not cooperating. Nothing was. I blame Mercury retrograde. When it goes backwards, Mercury can muck up pretty much anything. On Saturday, our training day, wind and rain was predicted for Long Island. So we went to train bright and early, 7:00 am, before the weather got ugly. When we left, it was breezy. By the time we got to Hecksher State Park, where we ride and run, gale force winds had set in. 30, 40 mph sustained easy. We started out anyway, rode a couple of miles (could have walked faster), turned around and racked the bikes back on the car. The wind was so strong, it was knocking us off of our bikes. And it was cold. The heat in Florida...

Into the Home Stretch

04/11/2011

This weekend included a BIG brick training, a 24-mile bike ride and 4-mile run at the notoriously windy Hecksher State Park. I’ve been working up to this with shorter bricks for the last month. Early Saturday morning, when we ventured out for training, the wind was tolerable, a first since we started training there. Cold, but not as windy. There was fog still in the park at 6:45, the first time I think I’ve ever been happy to see fog because it meant the winds weren’t whipping the way they usually are on this bike course. Recent advice from my triathlete cousin included not starting out too fast on the run coming off the bike. He need not worry there. Getting off the bike after 24 miles (my longest ride to date) on Saturday, I could barely lift my leg over the seat, much less run or even walk....

‘It’s ok to show up and suck until you can show up and shine’

04/04/2011

The other day, my daughter sent me a link to this article: How Yoga Changed My Competitive Life Forever. In short, Deborah Dunham (the author), a highly competitive, perfectionist triathlete decided to give yoga a go, only to realize it’s not as easy as it looks. Does it look easy? I didn’t think so. For any one of us attempting something we haven’t done before or don’t do as well as we’d like, it’s a must-read. The take-away for me is that it’s ok to keep trying, even if we don’t do it so perfectly the first time or the 10th time or the 100th time. Being a perfectionist myself, this is a tough lesson to grasp. I started doing Pilates with the daughter a couple of months ago, in addition to my triathlon training. I knew I needed to strengthen my core, and Pilates is all about strengthening...

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