Mish-Mosh

Still battling....

The URI (upper respiratory infection).

MAD FACE!

Last week, I started the week feeling SIGNIFICANTLY better!

So, I hit my workouts hard, since I slacked  "rested" over the weekend.

Endurance hill ride


Then straight to the gym for interval swim:

400easy warm up
10x50 level 4 15s rest in between
4x75 level 4 20s rest
4x100 level 4 25s rest
100 easy cool down

Wednesday,  I felt like I had razor blades in my throat!!! Additionally, my right ear felt "full" and my cough got worse. So, I went to Physical Therapy but did NOT go to the gym after to run.

Thursday was a loooooong day in clinic. My throat was still killing me so again and I had one of the docs look into my ear. There wasn't a lump of ear wax or a bug in there... but there was a bunch of fluid behind the TM (tympanic membrane). He said it didn't look infected, but could easily get there.

I went home instead of the gym after clinic. Was thinking it would not be very nice to get into the pool and get all my germs in there.

Friday, not a whole lot better.  I planned to head to the gym to at least get on the elliptical and maybe even swim. Didn't happen. Went to bed early.

Saturday morning; one hour 30min run.....

Since the duathalon, I've been doing my "run" workouts on the elliptical/aqua jogging.

To put it plainly, I FELT HORRIBLE running. I couldn't keep my heart rate where I needed to and my body hurt all over.

Not going to get into Saturday day.....

I will say, I had a fantastic time at the Giants-Reds Spring Training game and went to bed before 8pm.

Sunday, rested most of the morning (watched basketball, VCU!!!!!! Then Big 10 Championship).

Around 3pm, we headed out for a 3 hour bike ride. Felt Ok. Coughed a lot near the end and was exhausted after.

This week is a "rest" week before the Havasu Olympic Tri so workouts are reduced.

Still have a cough and can't hear out of my right ear. But my throat is definitely better!!

Additionally, we are supposed to do some time trials. They help when planning future workouts with regards to pace and HR.

Today, I did a bike TT.

15min warm up; 30min as hard and fast as possible; 10-15 cool down. Supposed to report distance and avg HR for the 30min. Below are my splits for the entire workout. I went about 9.6 miles and average HR of 159 in the 30min (16.75miles total in 1hr 3min).

 I don't think the TT outcome was GREAT, but considering how sick I've been, I just wanted to do it and see how it went.....we'll see what my coach says.

I'm going to do my swim TT tomorrow and will likely not do a run TT given the HORRIBLE condition of my current running state.

 Now for REALLY FUN stuff. Simon and I started a little project a couple months ago.

A POTTED GARDEN!!!

 We finally have things growing well enough to show :-)

Kale, cilantro is next to it

these poor guys got a little frost a few weeks ago.....

There is cilantro in the pot with the parsley, kale and spinach,  as well as two kinds of thyme......but for some reason the pictures is not showing up to allow me to post here....

Simon at the first strawberry yesterday and we used some cilantro for breakfast today.

I'm going to make one of Simon's favorites for supper and use some parsley and thyme.

I will probably wait to post again until after the Havasu Tri.

HOORAY FOR MARCH MADNESS!!!!! Love this time of year!

Hope everyone is having a fabulous week!

Desert Classic Duathalon 3/3/13

WINNING.

It was a TOUGH race!!

Race details:

Run 3.5 mi (trail run)
Bike 24 mi (road)
Run 3.6 mi (same trail run course)

The run map doesn't do it justice, but here's the bike map..........yes, the red bumpy line is showing HILLS...........

Needless to say, my second run was A LOT slower than my first, my legs were TIIIIIIIRED :-(

I felt good on the bike. Running continues to be my nemesis.

This race brought out some hard core racers.... so it was great competition.

And, there were NOT only 3 women in my age group, so placing was pretty great!

I got hit by some sort of illness Wednesday afternoon/evening that hit me the hardest yesterday and today, so this week's workouts have been tough.

Monday: 1500m swim (400 easy, 4x50 drills 15s rest in between, 3x400m level 3 then 100 cool down)

Tuesday: 1hr tempo ride (15m level 1-2, 35m level 3, 10m level 1-2)

Wednesday: I was not feeling so great during the night so I didn't get up before clinic to run...which always turns out to be a bad choice.... I had PT after clinic at 5 then went to the gym 7-8 and did 1hr tempo run (on the elliptical) (15m level 1, 35m level 3 and 10m level 1).

Thursday: NO WORKOUT DONE..... had a meeting at 6:30am downtown (left the house at 5:45 since we are house/dog sitting for my parents), clinic from 9-5 and I was COMPLETELY exhausted (chills, sweats, headache, chest ache, cough, runny nose....) I was supposed to do a swim, but decided it would be best to keep the gallons of snot from my head out of the community pool......

Friday: still resting. Had work meetings all morning.

 Was planning on swimming and running (swim: 400m easy, 10x50 level 4, 4x75 level 4, 4x100 level 4, 100 easy. Run: 1hr tempo). Might still make it, but have pretty much lost my voice and cough anytime I breath too deeply so, it's probably better to rest.

Saturday: 3hr bike
Sunday: 1h30m run

It's supposed to get sunny tomorrow so planning on the bike and run.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!

 P.S. Simon placed 1st in his age group....he did the off road race: 3.5m run (same route as us) 15m off road bike and 3.6m run. GREAT JOB SIMON!!! 

Next race on the schedule: March 23:

Havasu Triathalon (Olympic Distance)

Monday's Swim and Tuesday's Bike

Monday, my work schedule accommodated a mid-day (extended lunch, 11:30-1) gym visit for my swim!

2500m total
-600m easy warm up
-4x50m closed fist swimming 15s rest
-4x400m lvl 3 with 30s rest
-100m easy cool down

Tuesday is for biking! Strength Endurance Climbs 1hr 24min. What a beautiful day!

-20m warm up lvl 1
-6x5minute climbs at lvl 4 on 4-6% grade
-10m cool down lvl 1

Going to do my run workout tomorrow on the elliptical I think.... may make a game time decision and "aqua jog"!!

I also have a PT session tomorrow after clinic at 5, I'll report on that later in the week, unless something amazing happens ;)

Took a panoramic pic at the top of one of the climbs. I go over to "Mummy Mountain", good hills.... it's hard to see any of the city in the background, I was trying to get Four Peaks in there. The other two pics are workout summary screen shots!

Rest week/PT; RAGNAR 2013: GANGNAM STYLE!!

Rest week/PT:

I've had an "evolving" "niggle" (a term for a pain/irritation not keeping you from completing a workout/race) with my right foot since June....

In changing my running stride (from extreme heel strike to midfoot) I started having some posterior tibialis tendonitis/blisters. I tried using my custom orthotic again, bought new shoes, KT taping, stopped using my orthotic, had an insole made by RoadRunner....then gave up and just kept running....

fast forward 6 months to PF Chang's. The blisters and pain had pretty much subsided. Next was numbness; of my ENTIRE foot....so I finally went to a physical therapist. He told me to stop running for a month.....

Two days later I was planning to run 18 miles over 24hours..... so the "no running for a month" thing went right out the window!! More on how PT ends up later. I did do my 30 min aerobic run workout Wed in the pool , trying to be obedient and practice what I preach!

Overall, pretty mild workouts for rest week:
Mon: 1000m swim easy
Tues: 1hr aerobic bike level 1
Wed: 30min aerobic run (bought an aqua jogger to use in the pool....but forgot it in the car :( Oops!)
Thurs: 1000m swim easy

The fun part: RAGNAR RELAY 2013- GANGNAM STYLE (our team name)

Well, that was a CRAZY 32 hours!!!

202 miles split up between 12 people in two vans.

Casey arrived from the ATL Thursday morning and we had a delish pre-race meal from Oregano's around 7pm then EARLY TO BED!.

Our start time was 7am Friday.......in WICKENBURG, AZ (approx 1hr 15min from Phoenix). Which means alarms went off at 3:45 so we could meet up with our van members and get to the start by 6am.

Casey was our amazing photographer for the race. I surprisingly did not take very many pics with my phone so there are very few for this blog. Once Casey sends out the nice ones, I may do another blog dedicated to those.

I was runner #1 in Van #1. The leg was 8.78 miles....3/4+ UPHILL.....and it was approximately 32 degrees, in the sun!

I felt pretty dang good! I put some KT tape on my foot (which helped, a little). My foot did go numb, I only ALMOST fell twice (once uphill and once on the downhill within a quarter mile of the exchange) but, I finished in approx 1hr 20min ish (forgot to stop my watch right away). Not super fast but not super slow.

Casey was runner #2; Simon #3; Mike #4; Whitney #5 and Misty #6.

Weather was gorgeous!!

Here's Casey applying sunscreen during leg 4 or 5..... LOOKING EXCITED!!!

Once our van finished the first 6 legs (totaling 40ish miles) we met up with Van#2 around 1pm then had a nice 7 hour break. Chile's for lunch; Michael's for van decorating; Target for chapstick, iceyhot patches and other misc items; resting at the exchange area-which consisted of trying to sleep (Simon and Mike), lots of foam rolling action and an impromptu to yoga session taught by Misty!

Next up....NIGHT RUNS!!
Mine was a little over 6miles and started at 7:45. Was in the zone, felt great, did well.
We saw Whit (runner #5) off around midnight and we just HAPPENED to be heading right by In N' Out on Carefree Hwy and the I17 to meet her and get Misty started. So, we had a delicious meal at In N' Out right before they closed.

That's Misty in her NEON gear for the second leg. It was 1am......

We only had about 2.5hrs in between our second and third legs.....

We were EXHAUSTED!

Thanks to the most AMAZING mom in the world (mine, Barb Campbell), we got to take showers and lay down on beds/couches for a little while.

Another alarm at 4am!!! Time to head out to Cave Creek Rd north of Carefree Hwy!

I started my last leg (3.4mi) at approx 5:30. Thankfully Casey met runner #12 to get the slap bracelet while I had an EMERGENCY port-a-potty session.......

Off and Running for my last leg!!!!!!

IT WAS FREEZING, PITCH BLACK AND UPHILL.

I ran up Cave Creek Rd to where Scottsdale Rd dead ends into it...No wonder they make us wear headlamps....I did not see a runner between 1/2mi in until the "One Mile Left" sign....I totally thought I got lost.

When I got to the exchange area, I yelled out my number "83"!!!!! and Casey just happened to have walked RIGHT INTO ME! Apparently I was a little quicker than they planned ;) I felt great!

No one else was there so I wandered around looking for the van...

That's when a "jumping Cholla cactus" found me. Yup! Right into my BUM! After extracting the barbs from that, THANKS WHIT!, the rest of Van #1 ran their final legs, bringing us to Fountain Hills.

We again met up with Van#2 to hand off the "slap bracelet" and off we went for showers and some rest at Whitney's parent's house in Mesa.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, it was so nice to stretch out on the couch.

Around 2pm we packed up the van and met Van #2 at Tempe Center for the Arts to bring home runner #12!

It was super amazing.

I had no idea what to expect and it was SUCH AN AWESOME thing.

Next up, "Du in the Desert". Duathalon in the McDowell's.... this coming weekend....need some rested legs!!

So, this is what our day consisted of today (after our goodbyes to Casey):

 A lot of laying around......

Sickness, Putt-Putt, Babies....oh, and TRAINING!!

#2 cause of inability to train as scheduled= SICKNESS

😩

In the last couple weeks I've managed a few runs, a swim, and my hill interval bike ride (and currently a 3 hour bike ride indoors on the trainer....BORING!!!)

Early morning Tues 1/29, I woke up with a horrendous stomach ache. I will spare you the details if what followed the rest of the day and into the next night. Basically, I stayed in bed sleeping; not able to be less than a few feet from the bathroom.....

On to more fun stuff...the working out!!!

We went to see our good friends inSan Diego the weekend of the Superbowl. I did a couple 1hr runs around their house (1 included LOTS if hills). We didn't bring our bikes though 😢 should have brought them and the trainers!

We did play putt-putt. Not too strenuous.

We stayed in SD to watch the Superbowl and thanks to the blackout (or using it as an excuse), we stayed until Monday morning; 4:45 drove the 6h back to Phoenix; straight to work; straight to meetings until 10:30pm.

That led to Tuesday last week me punishing myself for the time off by doing my 1hr 24min hill interval workout then heading straight to the pool for a 2100m swim:
600 warm up; 4x50 drills; 3x400 level 3 with 15s rest then a 100m cool down.

Wednesday was a 1hr tempo run.

Thursday I had to be at work at 6:30, so I did my Friday 1hr tempo run after work.

Friday baby Elise Merrill was born!!!!!! Healthy and so sweet. Can't wait to meet her. I let it (her birth, chatting with friends from 6-7:30) foil my plan for my swim.....

😴 That brings us to Saturday! 3hr long bike.

I hope by admitting/reporting my struggles and "failures" (missing workouts), I will be more accountable and/or motivated to get to the Swim/Bike/Run as planned for the day/week.

Hope everyone/anyone who reads this is having a GREAT weekend.

Countdown to Ragnar: 13 days!!!!

Pre/Post PF Chang's 1/2 marathon AND a run test!

I apparently need to get better at posting if I'm going to document this process......

The week leading up the the half, I ran and biked my workouts as scheduled. I was feeling OK about my running. I've been working hard on my cadence and technique because I'm a PRANCER!!!!!! (Meaning I throw my foot out in front of me and land on my heel.....VERY INEFFICIENT).

Therefore, I have been attempting to completely change my run form for 6 months, it's been pretty tough.

Anyway, Simon's dad has come to run since 2005 which makes the race even more fun. (He beats us every year). He arrived Friday night and of course we had In 'N Out 😁

Saturday we did packet pick up at the convention center downtown but then headed to Tempe to meet my mom and stepdad for the ASU-U of A basketball game, instead of our usual lunch at Majerle's.

Following the disappointing ASU loss, we rested a bit then met at Oregano's for our traditional pre-race meal.

Bed EARLY (7:45!!)

Out of bed bright and early Sunday morning!

I forgot my watch AND my iPod shuffle.........

To say the least, I performed the EXACT OPPOSITE of my race plan. (Start slow and finish at 5k race pace....... i started out 9:15/mile and ended 12:42/mile avg uhhhhhhhh). I finished better than last year by only a few minutes, pretty disappointing since last year I had only run about 5 miles at the longest and 10miles total leading up to the race...).

The Willman Champion: Simon!!!! Simon beat Dave!!! And I had some good mental victories. (STAYING POSITIVE!!) my journey this year is all about "process" and developing MENTAL TOUGHNESS!

This past week following the race has been a rest week. 1000m swim straight (Mon/Thurs) easy; 1hr level 1 aerobic bike (Tues); 30 min level 1 aerobic run (Wed/Friday). However, I was supposed to do a "run test" over the rest week at Christmas and I did not. So, Friday, following the protocol (15m warm up then run 20 min ramping up to as hard as you can; record avg HR and total distance travelled).

I did pretty well!!

My pace/mile in the same HR zones is now 29sec better. Another win!

Today we have an hour and a half bike ride. It's POURING rain so thank goodness we have two bike trainers to use inside (Thanks Mom and Momma Jill)!!

Blog Renewal = Amazing Challange in 2013

It's been over a year since I've blogged?!?!?!?

Well to make it short and sweet (at least at this point).

Some already know because we saw you after Thanksgiving but, Simon (my hubby) and I registered for Ironman Arizona 2013 to be held on November 17th.

I felt obligated to create a blog to document (my struggles) and achievements in training and racing over the next 10 month (almost EXACTLY TO THE DAY) since I do not have kids (or any "on the way") to blog about.

Training has begun already (Base 1 building) however, we are participating in two running events prior ( PF Chang's Rock 'N Roll half marathon and Ragnar del Sol).

I am going to put some pics here from Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii where we volunteered in October 2012, for motivation???

LET'S DO THIS!!!!!! 

Distant view of the swim course from the run course along the seawall

Started the day at 4am for body marking

Had access to the pier for the start...soooo many bikes!

Lead male Pros coming in

Swim start from the pier....Amazing moment to see

My volunteer scrub top for the medical tent

Finish line, right before Pete Jacobs (the winner) arrived

After my 5 hour shift in the medical tent, most fun time to be at the finish line

"Hot Corner" on the bike route