So...I did my long bike ride on Friday with Darwin, Kathy, Fran, and Meera. The wind was blowing ridiculous. We only got in 42 miles but that is alright...I am already ahead of where I need to be.
Saturday Lurlean and I got a 11 mile run in. We started at 4:30 am trying to beat the heat but that didn't work. The humidity was terrible. Saturday was Josiah's 5th birthday party at the batting cages. It was awesome....no more house parties for us. It is so worth the money to have someone else set up and clean up!
Sunday I woke Josiah up early and we went to volunteer at the Tejas Triathlon here in Sugar Land. We worked the bike exit and saw a lot of chains come off on the hill at the beginning. A lot of people were in the wrong gear...note to self...CHECK THE BIKE EXITS AT ALL RACES AND MAKE SURE I AM IN THE CORRECT GEAR!!! I didn't do any training Sunday...I needed a day of rest. We got home from the tri and I took a nap with Josiah from 12 - 5 pm. We then went to a friends pool and swam until 9 pm.
Monday...another day of rest. Josiah's "real" birthday as he calls it. 5 YEARS OLD!!! We saw Kung Fu Panda and had cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes at Johnny Rockets. Then we ate more birthday cake at home. I ate almost a whole birthday cake in 2 days...UGH
Tuesday...1000 meter swim in the morning...and 4 loops of hills in the parking garages in the evening.
Today (Wednesday)...I met Jan, Patty, and Fran for a 20 mile bike ride around First Colony at 6:30. Patty and I then did a brick run after. When we were finished I picked up Josiah and we went to the bucket pool in Sienna with Sandy for the afternoon. I am trying to fill in my white triathlon short tan lines with tan....now instead of chocolate and vanilla legs....I have chocolate and strawberry legs. BURNED!!! Tonight I swam 2 loops at Twin Lakes. I am taking it easy this week with the swim because my shoulders have been sore and I have a 1.24 mile swim at the TriAmerica Tri in Clear Lake this weekend.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Twin Lakes Swimming
We had a larger than usual crew for the swim last night at Twin Lakes. Swimming were Fast Shannon, Ironwomen Tessy and Deb, Ironman Darwin, Sam, Mandy, Sean, Michelle, and myself. Shannon and I started earlier than the group becasue we arrived earlier and I need a little head start so we can all finish about the same time. I had a great 3 loop swim (2400 Meters or 1.49 Miles). That is TWICE this week!!!! WOOHOO!! I am getting more excited every day becasue I know I can do this!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Hotter Please???
OMG...could it get any hotter hear in Houston???? And it is only the beginning of June. We still have 5 months of this madness to go! I played hooky on Friday and went on a nice 25 mile bike ride by myself. Sometimes we need exercise alone time...no matter how much we love our training partners! Friday night I went out to Sex and the City with Sandy, Ann, and Ann's friend...who isn't ever invited back! Anyways, we dressed up, and drank some delicious Blueberry Lemondrop Martini's before departing for the theatre. But then we did the ultimate Carry Bradshaw manuever...we mixed up Cosmos and took them with us in my purse...while Sandy had the pink Martini glasses in her purse! Once inside the theatre, we pulled it all out and drank cosmos during the movie! WE ROCK!!! Anyways, after getting home at 12:45 am, I met Lurlean for a 10 mile run at 5:30 am from Velocity. BIG MISTAKE!!! OMG!!!! Was I dehydrated, and was it hot! I actually ran out of fluids, something I have never done in 2 years of training! Well, we got the run done and then it was off to Josiah's last soccer game and team party. When it finally was over, we jumped in the pool. How refreshing. Sunday I met Meera for a long bike ride. She rode the first 25 miles with me and then I rode another 27 on my own for 52 miles in all. Sunday afternoon it was off to Twin Lakes for a long swim. I swam 1600 meters (2 loops) with Sean and then another 800 meters (1 loop) with his wife Michelle. My longest swim yet! WATCH OUT VINEMAN 70.3...HERE I COME!
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
CapTex Olympic Race Report
Josiah and I went to Austin for the Memorial weekend so I could do the CapTex Olympic Triathlon. We stayed with my aunt & uncle who are actually my age and had a blast. We drove in to Austin on Saturday at 1:00 pm when the expo was opening. We picked up my packet and then when down to the bike check as we had to check in our bikes the day before the race. I got my bike racked where I wanted it and we were off. Byt his time Josiah was tired, nap time, and very hot. The heat index was 102 degrees at this point. Right outside of transition they had a sno cone shack set up. Talk about perfect product placement! So I was sucked into getting one for Josiah...and told him he had to share. And then we were off. We arrived at my aunt & uncles and got the car unloaded. We talked them into joining the TriPsy's for a pre-race dinner at Macaroni Grill. I had the best pre-race meal...penne pasta with chicken, chopped up asparagus, sun dried tomatoes with a garlic olive oil marinade. It was awesome!!! We were joined by Ironman Chad, IronWoman Michelle, Ironman PapaBob, IronWoman Tessy, Jen, Joe, Adrian, Chris, Shannon, Pam, Sean, Michelle, and their relatives.
I woke up early at 4:10 becasue I had a 25 minute drive through Austin to the race site. I took a hot shower, body glided, dressed, ate a yogurt and was on my way. I arrived at the race site at 5:10 and there was no traffic. I found an up close parking spoty. I went into the race hotel and used the restroom and bought a banana at the coffee shop. I didn't get coffee for the first time ever before a race. I didn't notice much difference at all with no caffeine. I went to body marking, got marked, and headed into transition. Since I was early I was able to take my time a set up like I wanted. This is something I really need to work on because I think I have too much stuff! Anyways, I was looking for my fellow TriPsy's but could not find them. I finally saw them with 10 minutes until transition closed. it seems tessy was sick all night and they were all late getting down there. When they were ready we headed to the water. Jen and I jumped in for a little warm up. She actually swam a warm up...I just doggy paddled around to get a feel for the water temp. When we got out, I found Pam, Shannon, Chad, and Michelle. As different waves were going we saw a familiar face. Jean Stewart came running up to us...her and Andy forgot about CapTex and had come up the night before because she hadn't run around Lady Bird Lake before! I said hi to her and my wave was called.
Although I have been swimming forever, the swim is my weakest part of my race. This swim was in Lady Bird Lake, formally known as Town lake, which is kind of dirty. I was scooping leaves and limbs the whole swim. I swam better than Lonestar but not much better.
1500 M Swim Time: 47:29
1500 M Swim Pace: 3:10 M
Lone Star 965 M Swim Time: 31:43
Lone Star 965 M Swim Pace: 3:17 M
The bike is now my favorite part. We trained in Chappell Hill last weekend so I really wasn't that worried about hte hills. I was more concerned about 2400 people riding the same 6.5 mile loop and getting run over. The ride was awesome! I love this loop and can't wait to do it again. I felt strong on the hills and had a smile on my face the whole time. I picked it up good this time!
40K Bike Time: 1:36:27
40K Bike Pace: 15.4 MPH
Lone Star 28 Mile Time: 1:54:58
Lone Star 28 Mile Bike Pace: 14.6 MPH
The first 2 parts of the race were under clowdy skies. The sun decided to come out right when I was hitting the run...and it got HOT! This killed my run time. It was a long 10K. The double loop was nice as there were a lot of people out on the course you could see and hear multiple times.
10K Run Time: 1:38:51
10K Run Pace: 15:55 Mile
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Time: 1:41:11
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Pace: 15:34 Mile
Although I am not overjoyed with my times...I did finish 8th in the Athena category which is great for me. It is higher than I have ever finished. And this is just a stepping stone to my ultimate goal...VINEMAN!
I woke up early at 4:10 becasue I had a 25 minute drive through Austin to the race site. I took a hot shower, body glided, dressed, ate a yogurt and was on my way. I arrived at the race site at 5:10 and there was no traffic. I found an up close parking spoty. I went into the race hotel and used the restroom and bought a banana at the coffee shop. I didn't get coffee for the first time ever before a race. I didn't notice much difference at all with no caffeine. I went to body marking, got marked, and headed into transition. Since I was early I was able to take my time a set up like I wanted. This is something I really need to work on because I think I have too much stuff! Anyways, I was looking for my fellow TriPsy's but could not find them. I finally saw them with 10 minutes until transition closed. it seems tessy was sick all night and they were all late getting down there. When they were ready we headed to the water. Jen and I jumped in for a little warm up. She actually swam a warm up...I just doggy paddled around to get a feel for the water temp. When we got out, I found Pam, Shannon, Chad, and Michelle. As different waves were going we saw a familiar face. Jean Stewart came running up to us...her and Andy forgot about CapTex and had come up the night before because she hadn't run around Lady Bird Lake before! I said hi to her and my wave was called.
Although I have been swimming forever, the swim is my weakest part of my race. This swim was in Lady Bird Lake, formally known as Town lake, which is kind of dirty. I was scooping leaves and limbs the whole swim. I swam better than Lonestar but not much better.
1500 M Swim Time: 47:29
1500 M Swim Pace: 3:10 M
Lone Star 965 M Swim Time: 31:43
Lone Star 965 M Swim Pace: 3:17 M
The bike is now my favorite part. We trained in Chappell Hill last weekend so I really wasn't that worried about hte hills. I was more concerned about 2400 people riding the same 6.5 mile loop and getting run over. The ride was awesome! I love this loop and can't wait to do it again. I felt strong on the hills and had a smile on my face the whole time. I picked it up good this time!
40K Bike Time: 1:36:27
40K Bike Pace: 15.4 MPH
Lone Star 28 Mile Time: 1:54:58
Lone Star 28 Mile Bike Pace: 14.6 MPH
The first 2 parts of the race were under clowdy skies. The sun decided to come out right when I was hitting the run...and it got HOT! This killed my run time. It was a long 10K. The double loop was nice as there were a lot of people out on the course you could see and hear multiple times.
10K Run Time: 1:38:51
10K Run Pace: 15:55 Mile
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Time: 1:41:11
Lone Star 6.5 Mile Run Pace: 15:34 Mile
Although I am not overjoyed with my times...I did finish 8th in the Athena category which is great for me. It is higher than I have ever finished. And this is just a stepping stone to my ultimate goal...VINEMAN!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Back on Track
What a great training weekend! It started at 5:30 with a 9 mile run with my running partner Lurlean. We averaged 13:45 min miles. My goal for Vineman is 14 minute miles. When we finished with our run, I went over to the Y and swam 2000 yds. Sunday I woke up bright and early to carpool with Patty, Tessy, and Pam from Finish Line Sports for a great bike ride in Chappell Hill. Also joining us were Jen, Canadian Deb and Joe, Cory, and Chris. Vineman is a hilly course and heaven knows that aren't any hills in Houston. I rode a 41 mile loop in about 3 hours. The weather was beautiful and the wild flowers were in full bloom. Later in the afternoon, I met the others for a swim in Twin Lakes. Tessy and I got in 2 1/2 loops with others doing assorted distances. Thanks to Coach Jen and Kayaker Melissa for keeping us all safe. It was a full weekend of training and I now feel more confident working up to Vineman. This weekend coming up is the CapTex Olympic Triathlon in Austin. I am feeling very confident going into this race of a strong showing. It can only get better after Lonestar!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Dragging Too Much Weight
Ok...so last night I was swimming with Fast Shannon at Twin Lakes. I don't usually kick while I swim because for some reason I can't figure out how I use to do that when I was younger. Anyways, Fast Shannon decided she was going to try to swim like me...only using her upper body and no kicking. So after she does it for a while, she says "That is to hard, I'm dragging to much weight in the water." HAHAHAHAHA First of all, there is a reason I call her Fast Shannon, she probably weighs about 95-100 pounds when she has a lot of clothes on...and she is really fast at everything she does. I on the other hand.... Well, you know what I mean. So I laughed and said, "You think you are dragging a lot of weight, give me a break!!!" That is why I love Shannon!!!!!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Sick Kids
There is nothing like a sick kid to derail your training plans. It started Sunday morning at 3:00 am. Josiah's asthma kicked in from the changing weather and went straight to his lungs. When he came in my room my first thought was, there goes my 40 mile training ride in 3 1/2 hours. Now I know that my first thought should have been all about him, but I was so looking forward to riding my longest ride without a break. So we slept in until 9:00 am and then got dressed and went to the Sugar Cycles Criterium. That was way cool watching the pros average over 31 mph. WOW!!! And not crash!!! Then it was off to see Iron Man (the movie, not the race!). What a great movie...can't wait for Iron Man 2 in Summer 2010. So I have been stuck home until today with not much training getting done. I did get some trainer rides in but it just isn't the same. I also ran 4 miles of hills in the parking garage last night so that was something at least. If the weather cooperates I will get a Twin Lakes swim in tonight which always makes me feel better.
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