Monthly Archives: April 2012

Ironman Training Week 21 – Breakthrough Week

5 Replies

Monday - As usual, we started the week with Masters Swim. The Monday/Friday coach usually incorporates shorter intervals with more speed work and he lived up to this assumption. After the warm-up and a kick drill we went into a set of 6 x 50 on base followed by 3 x 100 that built from easy to medium to hard. We repeated that set and added on a hard 200 at the end, with rest. Then we repeated again but this time with two hard 200s at the end. Nearly the entire lane got out at 7 a.m. so I was left to lead the last hard 200s. I had two people behind me and they couldn’t keep up on the 200s! I was doing them at about 1:35/100 and feeling good. We ended the workout with a total of 3,300 yards of swimming. 

That evening I opted out of my scheduled yoga session and instead went to the bike store to buy a new cassette for my bike so that I can actually spin up hills. Mike and I had a nice evening together and relaxed and spent some quality time that finally didn’t involve swim/bike/run.

Tuesday- As soon as we woke up Mike announced he wasn’t going to do the beach intervals and I have to admit I was relieved! Instead we ran down the coast and I decided to make it a tempo run. I ran the first mile super slow (uh 9:45 – I was dragging) but then picked it up and did 4 miles at tempo which was about 8:15-8:30, and did 1 mile cool down at around 9:10 min. I felt really strong which was a relief since last Tuesday I totally bonked and had a mini mental breakdown. After 6 miles of tempo running, I came home and did 10 minutes of core/upper body. 

That evening we had scheduled a 2 hour spin, joking that we were going to celebrate the fact that it was exactly 2 months until the Ironman. However, it took longer to get on the bikes than we had planned and our lasagna was ready to be taken out of the oven (amazing Ironman training fuel – $12 for a huge frozen lasagna at Costco that provides at least 2 meals EACH) when we hit 1:45 so we decided to call it a night. Both of our legs were lagging and it was hard for us to get our heart rates into zone 2 without feeling some major burn on the legs. In the end, we completed 1 hour 45 minutes of spinning. 

Wednesday - Back to Masters Swim. The Wednesday coach is definitely more focused on endurance and he didn’t let us down. After a 400 warm-up and a kick set, we went into  3 x 500 at Base +5, then 3 x 300 at base and 3 x 100 at Base -5. Again, Base + 5 felt dreadfully slow to me. I keep wondering if I should move up a lane on Wednesdays but I’m not sure if the next lane would be too fast. I focused a lot of form during this workout. In the end, we swam 3,700 yards. 

That evening we got back on the trainer. We had scheduled an interval workout a la The Sufferfest, but when Mike came home and I was lying on the couch he suggested that we switch it to a medium effort spin while we watched TV instead. I agreed since I was feeling tired. However, once on the bike I actually felt really good. I have given myself permission to make it a 60 minute spin, but ended up completing  90 minutes of spinning. 

Thursday - Asia and I nearly skipped this workout due to rain the night before, but luckily (or unluckily depending on how your look at it), the rain was gone when we woke up at 5 a.m. for our 90 minute run . We got just about 10 miles in during that time and as usual, once we started running it wasn’t so bad. The mornings have gotten warmed and the sun comes up earlier which makes it more manageable than the mid-week long runs we were doing back in December and January and in preparation for the Surf City Marathon.

Ready to Roll at 5:15 AM

After work I did 65 minutes of P90X2 Yoga. I had planned to do an open water swim that evening but it was canceled due to rain. I had an appointment near my house after work and didn’t feel like driving all the way back to the gym that has a pool which is near work, so I did yoga instead. I rationalized the skipped swim with the fact that Masters Swim is an hour and fifteen minutes each time which could be the equivalent of three separate swims. Not sure if that really counts when you are training for a 2.4 mile swim, but oh well.

Getting my yoga on!

Friday - Wonderful rest day. I love rest day!

Saturday - We had wheels rolling at just after 7 a.m. for our BIG ride – 91 miles of riding including 4,000 feet of climbing! Once again, we pretty much looped through Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Bernardo and San Marcos, making one large loop and one small loop before heading home. I felt really good on this ride and was feeling strong even til the end. I took in slightly fewer calories this time than last week’s 83 mile ride and I think that was better for my stomach. In total I had about 1,400 calories over just over 6 hours of riding and about 7 hours 15 minutes out on the road (due to stopping at lights, waiting at the meeting points for the others and water/bathroom breaks). Per hour of ride time, that’s 233 calories/hour but over the entire ride it’s just under 200. My favorite part of the ride was getting to eat my new favorite mid-ride snack – the peanut butter, banana, NUTELLA, sandwich. It is simply glorious. After we made it home, we went out for a 2.5 mile run. During this ride I kept making reference to the first time we did the Pizza Port brick (40 miles with 1,500 feet of climbing and 3 mile run) – it was literally exhausting. It is quite incredible how far we’ve come and how riding 44 miles and running 3 miles back then was just as exhausting as riding 91 and running 2.5 now. It was really a great to reflect on how far I’ve come in such a short period of time.

Sunday - It was also strange to think that last year when we were training for our first marathon that we were quite nervous in anticipation of our 16 mile run, which would be the only workout for the entire weekend. Sunday morning Asia and I got in a 16.3 mile run and 1 hour spin brick workout, the day after a 91 mile ride and 2.5 mile run brick. And the craziest part is that the 16 mile run wasn’t even that hard! It is truly incredible what the human body can adapt to hard training. The highlight of the run was when we stopped on the coast in Carlsbad to watch 2 large whales that were close to shore! There were also several dolphins swimming along the coast. I love San Diego!

Here’s a video I took during our run of the whales! You can really see them in the beginning – they look small but they aren’t!

Weekly Totals:

  • Yards Swam: 7,000
  • Hours Biked (Door to Door): 11.5
  • Miles Run: 34.8
  • Core/Strength: 1 hr 15 min
  • Total Time: 20.75 hours

Thoughts

This week was kind of a breakthrough week for me. After having some struggles mentally last week with balancing life with Ironman training and also a particularly bad run, I cut out one workout this week and tried to listen to my  body a bit more (i.e. turning Tuesday’s run intervals into a tempo run and Wednesdays bike intervals into a moderate spin). I think this method paid off because I felt good throughout the week and my long ride went really well. I really feel like we’re in the home stretch now. We have recovery week next (woohoo!) then three more BIG weeks which will be pretty  much the same as the last three but with longer bikes and runs on the weekends, and then a recovery week and a three week taper. Mike and I keep joking that we’re going to be bored and not know what to do with ourselves after the Ironman because we’ve become so used to  working out 2-3 hours on a weekday and 7-8 on Saturdays, 3-4 on Sundays. I’m pretty sure we’ll figure out ways to fill our time – i.e. more sleep and social activities.

Going into Ironman training, I thought I”d be more exhausted from Ironman training peak weeks such as these, and surprisingly, I haven’t been as dead to the world as I thought. One girl who did CdA last year told us that we’d “fall asleep in our spaghetti” at night from exhaustion, but so far I think my method of managing my time and workouts has been working. Don’t get me wrong, my legs feel heavy and sore today and I didn’t jump out of bed with excitement to get in the pool this morning, but overall, I feel good. I attribute a lot of it do sleep – I make it a priority.

How was your week? When was a time that you were amazed at what your body could handle?

I Want to Live Until I’m 96

3 Replies

For Christmas, Mike asked for and received the Jack LaLanne juicer. Jack LaLanne, aka the “Godfather of Fitness,” is often regarded as one of the most fit and healthy men that ever lived and one of the reasons he claimed that led him to live for so long was his regular juicing of fresh fruits and vegetables. His famous line, “That’s the  power of the juice!” was also a personal motto of his.

Jack LaLanne lived on a very strict diet and blamed the worlds health problems on processed food. Two other mottos of Jack’s were, ”if man made it, don’t eat it”, and “if it tastes good, spit it out.” Personally, I don’t believe that all delicious food should always be avoided (Jack’s thought was that if it was delicious, it was full of fat and was unhealthy), but I do believe in the power of the juice.

On a day to day  basis, I try to get in a good portion of fruits and vegetables. On any given weekday I eat 2-3 pieces of fruit and have 3-5 servings of vegetables. As an endurance athlete, it is especially important to fuel up on fruits and vegetables that contain powerful antioxidants that will help repair and recover your body after difficult workouts. However, weekends throw my schedule off a bit and I tend to consume less fruits and veggies on Saturday and Sunday. This is where the juicing is essential! Although we often will have juice on a weeknight, we really try to get in at least one large glass per day on the weekends.

First Step - Wash & Cut Up Your Raw Materials!

Here are our two favorite drinks and the benefits of the vegetables and fruits we put in them (benefits of most commonly juiced fruits and veggies can be found here):

Nicole’s Juice: 

  • 1/2 Large Cucumber
    • alkalinizing & a cooling diuretic
    • great for skin problems- acne, psoriases and eczema
    • regulates blood pressure
    • fights arthritis, promotes weight loss and healthy kidney function
    • counters inflammation by removing uric acid crystallization
    • 96% water with high content of vitamins A, C, B complex & folate
  • 1 Cup Spinach
    • excellent source of chlorophyll
    • superb source of vitamins A, B complex, C, E, K, carotenes, folate, manganese, calcium, iron, iodine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, some trace elements and many valuable amino acids.
    • The minerals in spinach is highly alkaline, making it helpful in regulating the body pH.
    • It supplies the same amount of protein as you would get from the same quantity of meat¾a cheaper and healthier alternative to getting protein.
  • 1 Green Apple
    • promotes digestion & weight loss
    • cleans intestines from toxins
    • healthy skin & hair
    • cleans liver
    • fights arthritis, gout, rheumatism
    • vitamins A, B1, 2, 6 & folic acid
    • promotes healthy heart function
  • 2-4 Stalks of Celery
    • natural diuretic that strongly helps in weight loss
    • treats asthma, constipation, gout, insomnia, lung & kidney problems
    • high in vitamins A, B1, B2, B6 & C
    • rich in potassium, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, iron and essential amino acids
    • 8 families of anti-cancer compounds

Mike’s Juice: 

  • 4-6 Carrots
    • great source of anti-oxidants
    • fights asthma, arthritis, eye problems, liver & bladder issues
    • soothes ulcers & acne
    • high in calcium, vitamin A, B1, B6, C
    • high in alpha, beta and gamma carotenes
    • phytonutrients such as lutein, lycopene, zeaxanthin
    • strong healing properties
  • 1 Orange
    • combats anemia & constipation
    • aids in digestion
    • over 170 phytonutrients
    • strengthens blood vessels
    • high in vitamins A, B1, 2, 6, K, E & C
    • Vitamin C protects from genetic damage &  birth defects
    • over 60 flavanoids with anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and blood clot inhibiting properties
  • 1 Green Apple
    • Same as above

The Finished Product

Each recipe makes a large serving of juice. It is surprising how much juice comes out of spinach! Spinach to me is the ultimate super food. We now only buy spinach for our salads since it is so rich in so many things – protein, fiber, iron and all the rest of things listed above.

Does it taste good? Surprisingly, yes! If you add fruit, it pretty much takes over the taste of the entire juice. I’m not a huge fan of the carrot juice, but Mike likes it.

Do you juice? What is your favorite juice recipe?

Dave Martin Memorial Swim

2 Replies

source

Having grown up playing in the ocean, I’m pretty comfortable in the open water. I know for many the open water swim portion of a triathlon is terrifying for many reasons – the strength of the ocean, the unpredictability of the tides and currents, and the unknown that lies beneath. As a child, I wasn’t afraid of much in the ocean other than the fleeting thought that I might get pulled into a rip current and have to be saved by a lifeguard. However, as I’ve gotten older and learned more about the dangers of the ocean (or maybe just finally listened), my feelings on the ocean have grown from apathy to respect . Although I am still not afraid of the ocean, I am a bit more cautious about how I approach it, especially after being stung by a sting ray in Costa Rica a couple years ago!

Another reason I’m more cautious about the ocean is because a few years ago I heard about a man who was swimming in North County San Diego and was fatally wounded by a shark. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the sport of triathlon and had never heard of the  Triathlon Club of San Diego. I actually had never even been to Solana Beach or Fletcher Cove, where the incident took place. After moving to North County in January of 2011 and spending quite a  bit of time in Solana Beach and specifically Fletcher Cove, which the restroom and water station for many of my long runs as well as the site of my first sprint triathlon, Fletcher Cove is no longer the place that “some guy” was bit by a shark.

This past Sunday I participated in a memorial swim for the man who was bit and killed that day. His name was David Martin, a 66 year old retired veterinarian who was swimming with 8 fellow SD Tri Club members in preparation for an  upcoming triathlon and ended up swimming right into the path of a shark. A few of the members of the triathlon club were just ahead of him when he was attacked and one woman was swimming very close to him. They could hear him scream and yell “shark” during the attack. Unfortunately, the shark took three bites before he decided Dr. Martin wasn’t the meal he was looking for and these bites were enough to end his life.

This past Sunday, about 50 triathletes and members of the community joined together to honor Dave’s life with a 1 mile memorial swim. We met at Fletcher Cove and suited up. Soon after we were ready to swim, the woman who had been swimming close-by during the attack stood up and said some words about Dave and explained that once we swam past the waves, we’d stop for a moment of silence. There would also be lifeguard support on a paddle board for us while we were swimming.

Ready to Swim!

The Woman That Was Swimming With Dave That Day Announcing The Course

The water was cold, as usual, but once we got in it felt just fine. Once we got past the waves, we took a group picture and as promised, took a moment of silence to remember Dave. Then we swam the 1/2 mile south, stopped and waited for the others to reach us, and then turned around and headed back in. Once we arrived back at shore and cleaned up, we enjoyed a meal together.

Asia and I are in the light blue and pink swim caps on the right side

Although I didn’t know Dave and I am a new member of the triathlete community, I was greatly touched by this memorial swim and I was very happy to be included in it. I’m sure there won’t be many open water swims that I don’t think about Dave and what happened to him. I would be lying if I said that the thought of  shark approaching me doesn’t cross my mind during every open water swim, even before this memorial brought the memory back. However, I try to give myself reassurance that shark attacks are rare and what happened to Dave was certainly not a reason to give up the sport that I love.

If you’d like to watch the Fox newscast about this event, you can watch it here:

http://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/kswb-doctor-remembered-4-years-after-fatal-shark-attack-20120422,0,1901447.story

Ironman Training Week 20 – A Running Bonk, a Swim Milestone and a Memorial Swim

9 Replies

This week was jam-packed. With only 9 weeks to go until CdA, things are really heating up and I’m starting to understand why they said you give your life up outside of triathlon for the last two months of IM training. Here’s how the week went!

Week of April 16-22

Monday - After a very long day on Sunday, I wasn’t thrilled about waking up at 5:30 a.m. to go to swim. However, once I was in the pool, I found that it wasn’t too bad. I was surprised that Sunday’s ride wasn’t taking a toll on my endurance or speed in the pool. In the end, I completed 3,500  yards of swimming.

That evening I came home and did 1 hour 20 minutes of P90X Yoga. The workout is actually 1 hour 35 minutes but I skipped the Warrior 3 sequence (a killer on the legs) and the balance postures. My legs were definitely feeling the ride from Sunday, especially during any Warrior poses (i.e. lunges) but in the end I felt great for having had a good stretch and core/upper body workout (lots of push-ups and plank!).

Tuesday - The morning that everything went wrong! I woke up feeling like my body weighed a million pounds. I did NOT want to get up. Mike and I planned to do 8 x 3 minute run intervals on the beach. We walked to the lookout and checked out the conditions – the tide was pretty high so the sand was soft but Mike said we should still go down there. As soon as I started running I knew it would be a bad workout but I was hoping that my led-filled legs would suddenly lighten up. They didn’t. After 4 super half-assed 3 minute intervals (at around a 8:15 pace and the last one at nearly 9 min/mile pace), I gave up (which I never do) and went up to the street where I could run without slipping and sinking in the sand. The remaining miles weren’t much better and I came back to the house after 5 miles of running feeling defeated. I ended up going back to bed for 2 hours and then coming into work late. Worst workout ever.

At least the beach was beautiful!

The extra rest worked miracles because that evening after work I was ready to go on the trainer again. We had scheduled 1 hour 50 minutes of spinning  on the bike, and I told myself I’d see how it went and then cut it short if I needed to and skip swim the next morning if necessary. I really didn’t want to get into some over training slump! However, I surprisingly felt pretty fresh on the bike. Mike recently got a heart rate monitor and he has found that his heart rate is really low while he spins and I started realizing that I have also been letting my HR stay in zone 1 during my spins. After the warm-up, I focused on keeping my heart rate in low Zone 2. I was surprised at the wattage I had to maintain to keep my heart rate this high (it was 10-20 higher than I usually do these spins at). However, I was able to maintain this power for the entire ride. With warm-up and cool-down it definitely wasn’t my highest average watts, but it wasn’t even close to my lowest either. I was happy with it.

Wednesday - I woke up feeling better this morning. We got to masters swim just a few minutes early so I was able to get in a full 500 yard warm-up. After the main set of 6 x 50 base + 5, 300 base, 6 x 50 base, 300 base, 6 x 50 base -5, 300 base and the second main set of 2 x 50, 2 x 100, 2 x 150, 2 x 200, 2 x 150, 2 x100 and 2 x 50, I realized I was already at 3,900 yards. So I went for one more 100 adding up to 4,000 yards swam in total! I was thrilled to achieve this milestone. It took me just over 1 hour 15 minutes to complete. This gives me some hope that I can complete the 3,862 meter (4,224yards) in under 1 hour 20 minutes at the Ironman.

After work Mike and I did an easy 60 minute spin. I really took this one easy and I think it was a good “recovery spin.”

Thursday - At 5:30 AM Asia and I started our run. We ran 8.3 miles and when I got home I did 20 minutes of ab/core and upper body strength and stretching. Although I did not feel like getting out of bed when my alarm clock went off at 5:10 AM, the run itself wasn’t too bad.

Thursday evening I did 1 hour 25 minutes of biking intervals with the help of The Sufferfest cycling workouts. I felt really strong on this ride and my overall watts were the highest ever.

Friday - Complete day of rest including 9.5 glorious hours of sleep.

Saturday - We set out early (7 a.m.) to get in our 83 mile ride. Although this course would be hilly, it was the same climb/mile as CdA and not nearly as hilly as last weekend’s Beast ride. Also, we decided to just do loops that we were familar with which made it a lot more comfortable. We did a variation of two loops of our “Pizza Port” route and then added on through Del Dios (which we call the Big Pizza Port loop). According to MapMyRide this was supposed to be 85 miles but it turned out to be just shy of that. The four of us met up 4 times throughout the route – Mike added on 11 miles and Jeremy added on 6 so they wouldn’t have to wait so long for us.

I felt pretty good on this ride. Although my Garmin died around mile 78 or so, my average pace including all the slowing for stop signs and traffic, etc was over 15 mph. I am hoping that I can maintain this pace for the rest of the long rides, even as we get to 100 miles. That will give me a good feeling that I can complete the bike course at the Ironman in under 7 hours 30 minutes.

I ate my peanut butter banana sandwich a little late in the ride (half at mile 45ish and the rest at mile 65 ish) and I think going forward I need to eat it earlier because after the second half, my stomach was feeling full. I laid off the nutrition after that and it ended up feeling just fine after a while.

After the ride, we did a 3.6 mile brick run . My legs felt really heavy, as expected. The heaviness went away after a couple miles and since my Garmin was dead I couldn’t tell our pace. Asia said it was around 8:45 when I asked her – as usual, we run faster than we think off of the bike!

Sunday - We like to “sleep in” on Sundays so we didn’t start our run til 8:30. I was glad because I was able to get in over 9 hours of much needed sleep on Saturday night. I woke up with tired legs and during our warm-up, I could tell it was going to be a rough run! For about the first five miles of our 14 mile run my legs were heavy and my energy was fairly low. Around mile 5 I said to Asia, “I feel pretty good now – only took 5 miles to warm up!” I always feel a bit out of it for the first mile or so of a run, but this was definitely longer! Surprisingly, the run went pretty fast and overall wasn’t a killer.

Asia and Me Pre-Sunday Long Run

After a very light breakfast, I got suited up and headed over to Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach to join the Tri Club in a 1 mile swim (1,760 yards) in memory of a Tri Club member named Dave Martin who was attacked and fatally wounded by a shark while swimming in Fletcher Cove in 2008. I’m going to write a blog post about this event. In addition to the swim, there was a hosted lunch afterward where we actually had the chance to be social!

Ready for a Chilly Ocean Swim!

Weekly Totals: 

  • Yards Swam: 9,260
  • Hours Biked (door to door): 11.25
  • Miles Run: 30.9
  • Minutes of Core/Strength: 100
  • Total Time: 21 hours
Weekly Reflection
This was a BIG week. And it was probably a big bigger than it should have been at this point in training. I still have one more build week in this training block and then one more really big training block, where I’ll be increasing my run and bike mileage even more. There were points this week where I felt a bit burnt out and lacked some enthusiasm about training in general (I wasn’t happy about spending Friday night running an errand and doing laundry since I didn’t have time during the week). Although I “only” have 9 weeks left til the race, I need to make sure that each workout counts, which means that if it’s not going to count, I should skip it. I am going to listen to my body a little better – I”m learning to tell the difference between waking up feeling tired but able to still get in a good workout versus the exhaustion I felt on Tuesday morning where I would have been better off just skipping the workout and sleeping in. I know I have a good base level of fitness and at this point I don’t think I’m going to get all that much faster at any of the three sports – I just need to build endurance to complete the distance. Therefore, if I’m not feeling energetic for an interval workout or for a workout at all, I won’t hesitate to skip it or change it (within reason of course).
There were definitely highs and lows this week and although the lows are never fun, I’m overall feeling positive about Ironman still and I am happy that I am doing it. I knew training wouldn’t be easy and as long as overall I am having fun, then that’s all that matters. I am so thankful to have Mike, Asia and Jeremy training with me – it makes this process so much easier and more enjoyable. Doing laundry on Friday night isn’t ideal but it is also so much better having Mike there with me.

Team WODs Warming Up for Our Run

How was your week? What gets you through long, tough training weeks? 

Random Facts Friday

9 Replies

Happy Friday!!! A shout out to Katie, one of my fav bloggers and also future CdA Ironman 2012 participant, for inventing this fun little Friday tradition. Although this is my first time partaking, I enjoy reading people’s facts.

With triathlon consuming my life (every hour – including sleep and those precious moments before your fall asleep), I thought it’d be nice to change it up and talk about something else – my life outside triathlon!

1. Every morning I listen to the radio from my beat up boom box that I’ve had since I was 16 years old. It only picks up 2 stations in my house and it looks like a complete disaster but I still use it. I tried to replace it this year but discovered that boom boxes no longer exist, or at least aren’t sold at Target.

2. I have recently become much more cautious about attempting dangerous acts. I went through a phase post-college where I quit my job, broke up with my boyfriend, partied my face off, then quit my new job, and backpacked through Southeast Asia for over four months. I traveled alone for about 1.5 months of this trip and did crazy things like accept an offer to drive my own motorbike through the busy streets and mountains of Vietnam for 8 hours without ever having driven one before (and with a faulty helmet). I came very close to crashing twice during said adventure and I did it all  because I met a British boy that I thought was cute who invited me to join him. Stupid. A month or so later I got in a motorbike accident while in Thailand while riding on the back of a friends bike but obviously survived. Later that year, the same friend I was riding with died in SE Asia in a motorbike accident. I will never let alone I love or even know ride a motorbike again.

Motorbiking through Vietnam

3. I am a numbers person. I am obsessed with numbers and I make detailed spreadsheets for everything I do – Ironman training, bachelorette planning, my personal budget (which I don’t follow), you name it.

4. For me, it’s all or nothing. I’m not good at “cutting back” on anything – hence the fact that despite last week’s post on dessert, I have not cut back at all on my sugar intake.  However, when I did P90X I gave up several of my vices successfully for 90 days.

5. I snooze once every day. I used to snooze 2-3 times every morning, so I’ve made an improvement. I think this is the thing about me that annoys Mike the most.

6. I have a list of things I want to do before I have babies. I will be really disappointed if I don’t do them all.

7.  The only time I’ve ever lived more than 10 minutes away from the ocean was when I studied abroad in Madrid in college. I hope this never changes (unless I get to live in Madrid again!).

Spain!

8. I recently learned more about how to invest my money in stocks and it makes me much more excited about saving money every month.

9. We don’t have a dishwasher.

10. I still compare every physical task that I complete to when I climbed Mt. Rinjani in Indonesia because it was by far the most difficult physical venture of my life. Now that I am in much better shape than I was when I climbed it (it was 1.5 months into my backpacking trip where I lived off of pad thai, fried spring rolls and curry and exercise was rare), I wonder if it would be so epic if I did it again.

11. I have always been boy crazy. Now there is just one boy and I’ve never been happier.

12. I didn’t know what an Ironman was until I dated a guy who said he had done one. He told me he worked out before AND after work and I thought he was crazy.

13. I buy 3-5 avocados a week, no matter how much they cost. I’ve paid up to $2.50 per avocado but fully believe it’s worth the money (this weekend I found them for 33 cents each! Score!).

14. My biggest TV weakness is the show Big Brother. I look forward to every summer so that I can watch it 3 days a week (it airs 3 episodes per week!). Mike and I even bought the live feed so we can watch the house guests 24/7.

15. Last night I had a dream that I found out that my cousins’s real dad is Joey Fatone.

Are you addicted to Big Brother, snoozing or avocados? If so, let’s be friends! :)

Compression Socks – A Recovery Koozie For Your Legs

5 Replies

Confession: I have worn the same pair of socks several times without washing them. Why would I commit this laundry sin? For the sake of the Ironman, of course – the motive of 99.9% of all my actions in life right now.

When I was first introduced to my snug socks after I purchased them at the Surf City Marathon expo, it was love at first sight. Although the price tag of $50 made me grimace (do triathlon related expenses EVER end?), my 2XU recovery compression socks enveloped my tired legs in some sort of amazing compression hug. I had heard a lot of positive things about compression socks and their ability to reduce recovery time and produce refreshed, invigorated legs ready to take on the next training session, and once the salesperson talked to me (ok maybe just looked at me), I was sold.

Lately I’ve been wearing my compression socks after every long weekend workout and oftentimes I wear them to work. In general,I’m an easy sell on most things – despite my ability to research race reports and triathlon blogs for hours on end, I generally don’t spend a lot of time researching products before I buy them. I purchase a lot of things based on word of mouth or personal recommendations. It might not be the best way, but it works for me. Basically I purchased my socks knowing little about how they worked, but knowing that some people swear  by them and if there was a triathlon Twitter world of its own, compression socks would probably be trending on a daily basis.

As I was wearing my socks for a full work day recently, I had a thought – how long should you be wearing compression socks? So, to the Internet I went and although I found no conclusive answer to this question (someone said 1 hour post workout and someone said they wore them for a 16 hour flight!) , I did find some other interesting facts about compression socks and I thought I’d share them with you!

Compression Sock Fun Facts

  • Compression socks were created to help diabetics improve their circulation, and now they’ve become popular with runners and triathletes looking to boost blood flow and run faster.
  • Some famous athletes that helped bring compression socks into the mainstream for runners/triathletes are Paula Radcliffe and Kara Goucher.
  • Compression wear comes in many types: recovery vs. race or socks vs. leggings vs. leg sleeves. There are even compression tops!
  • Claimed benefits of compression socks by manufacturers include: increases oxygen delivery to muscles, enhances circulation increasing venous return, improves endurance, reduces post exercise soreness, assists in reducing lactic acid build up, reduces muscle vibration and assists in muscle stability, reduces muscle cramps, can reduce muscle strain and ligament damage, optimizes your body temperature in warm or cool conditions, and more.
  • 2XU claims that its products work by enhancing circulation through increased venous function, more oxygenated blood is delivered to the muscles that need it most. At the same time, by-products created by exercise, such as lactic acid, are flushed from the muscles to reduce fatigue and decrease recovery time.
  • Compression socks are tightest at the ankles, gradually becoming less constrictive towards the knees.
  • However, there’s no conclusive evidence that wearing compression socks during exercise does anything. A study done by the American College of Sports Medicine suggests there is no statistically significant differences in maximal oxygen consumption, heart rate or minute ventilation between treadmill runners who wore compression socks and those who did not. The study DID find that wearing compression socks after a workout speeds recovery (via evidence of a faster lactate recovery rate)
  • 2XU Compression Socks have a 1 year warranty; however they may wear faster if you do not use them properly. There is a whole section of their website dedicated on how to put them on (roll them up like stockings) and how to wash them.
  • Compression socks should be purchased in the correct size. The guy at the Expo measured my calf in order to get the most accurate size and explained that if they are too big they won’t work properly.
  • You can wear compression gear while swimming

source 1  source 2 source 3 source 4

Since I don’t wear compression gear while I work out, I was happy to at least see that there has been some proof that compression socks make a difference in recovery. It’s hard to say if any recovery method really works since you have no idea how you would have recovered otherwise (I wonder this with my BCAAs and Glutamine as well), but I do think that the socks help speed up my recovery! At least, my Twitter friends say they do.

What are your thoughts on compression gear? What kind and/or brand do you wear? Do you wear yours to work too?

Ironman Training Week 19 – Let’s Get This Party Started

6 Replies

Taming the Beast

This week was my highest volume week to date for Ironman training (and also in my life because I don’t see why you would work out for 19 hours a week otherwise). This week also started my new weekly routine, which changed slightly from my Half Ironman weekly routine. I prefer to keep my weekly workouts on the same days each week so that it’s easier for me to manage. Overall the week went really well and I was surprised that I was still really energized for my workouts each day. Mike and I made sure to be in bed early each night so that when the alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. we weren’t exhausted.

Ironman Coeur D’Alene Training – Week of April 9-15 

Monday – I began the week with 3,300 yards of swimming at my Masters Swim class. I definitely did not want to get out of be and workout this morning since I’d enjoyed a nice week of rest the previous week but once I was swimming I felt good. After the workout I felt even better. The Monday Masters Swim coach is a bit tougher than the Wednesday coach and we tend to do more speed work compared to Wednesday which are typically endurance focused. The main set of this workout was 400 at base, 100 hard (with rest), 300 base, 200 hard and then 200 base, 300 hard, 100 base, 400 hard. The last 400 hard was tough!

That evening I came home and did 65 Minutes of P90X2 Yoga. Both P90X2 and P90X Yoga both have a lot of push-ups in the flows and by the end of this workout my upper body was toast! I used to coast through P90X Yoga since I was used to doing hundreds of push-ups a week, but now that I’m not, I’ve lost a lot of my upper body strength.

Tuesday - I woke up very sore from yoga, especially in my shoulders, arms, quadriceps and glutes. Mike and I went down to the beach (we are fortunate to live on a street that parallels the beach and literally a 2 minute walk to the main beach in our town) and ran for about 6 minutes before beginning our main set of 8 x 3 minute intervals. Mike usually does his Yasso 800s in this time (where you run an 800 in the time you want to run your full marathon – i.e. he wants to run a 3 hour marathon so he does 3 minute intervals) , but since I’m a bit slower, I probably only did about 600-700 in the 3 minutes. I set my watch for 3 minute intervals with 3 minutes of rest and ran hard for the 3 minutes on and jogged on the 3 minutes off. In total, I ended up running 6.3 miles, with the majority of my 3 minute intervals in the 7:30-40 range. My legs definitely didn’t feel light, most likely due to our weekend workouts and the yoga,  but overall I felt really good. It was pretty amazing to run down the empty beach – I feel very fortunate to have such an amazing place to train at!

After work Mike and I got on the trainers for 1 hour 40 minutes of spinning. I kept my effort level at about medium and was happy that my watts were back up to their normal “easy” range, unlike the weeks prior to the Ironman where I was seeing some lower numbers. It was a little mentally difficult to spin this long but we had The Amazing Race and then The Voice to entertain us.

Wednesday - Back to Masters Swim! The new routine has us going twice a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. I completed 3,450 yards of swimming. This time we did more endurance work, with the main set being 1 x 300 at base + 5, 3 x 100 at base, 1 x 300 at base, and then repeat with 500s and 5 x 100s. We finished off the workout with some underwater kick sets. I have to say, base + 5 in my 145/100 yard base lane is awkwardly slow for me. I think my true base is 1:40/100 yards so it is hard for me to go 1:50/100 yards. I’m constantly holding back and I think it affects my form! However, the next lane up is 1:35 base and I know that is too fast. On Mondays I don’t seem to have a problem in this lane since the other coach rarely has us swim base + 5,  but on Wednesdays I find I’m a bit frustrated. This week I tried to work on my bilateral breathing during the long base + 5 sets.

After work I did 1 hour 25 minutes of intervals on the trainer with the help of The Sufferfest’s “Local Hero.” This workout has three parts: 1 – 3 x 6 minute pyramid intervals (70%, 75% 80%, 75%, 70%), followed by 5 x 3  minute intervals, each with it’s own personality (hills, flat and fast, etc), and finishes with 4 x 2 minute sprints (70% for 1st minute, 80% for 45 seconds and full out sprint for 15 seconds). I am literally drenched with sweat after this workout. The best part was that my average watts were the highest ever on any cycling workout. I was very pleased to see improvement.

Thursday - Luckily my training buddy Asia lives right down the street! We met at 5:30 a.m. to knock out a 7 mile run. We were both tired from our previous workouts so we took it easy. After I got back from the run I did 15 minutes of ab/core work with Ab Ripper X.  

After work I had planned to go to an open water swim hosted by the same coach that did my swim analysis, but due to the fact that it rained on Wednesday, the swim was canceled. I was disappointed but slightly relieved because it would have required me to drive practically an hour and a half round trip to attend. I decided that I would swim on my own at the pool. I set up a workout for myself based on a workout I did at Masters Swim a few weeks prior. It would be 3,000 yards in total. I started the workout feeling ok. Then I timed myself doing some 100s and was very disappointed that they were VERY slow! I continued with the workout, which was 300 base + 5, 3 x 100 base, 200 base + 5, 2 x100 base, 100 base + 5, 100 base. I had planned to do the base + 5s at 1:45 and the base at 1:40 but I found I was struggling to do 1:45 on the base sets. I just wasn’t feeling strong in any sense. Probably had to do with all the hard workouts I had done all week! So instead of doing my next set, which was a set of descending 75s, from moderate effort to all out effort, I did 3 x 400, not paying attention to the clock at all. I was having negative thoughts about my swim stroke and convincing myself that I hadn’t made any progress at all since my swim stroke analysis. I practically got out after the first 400 but then I told myself that I was here to get in 3,000 yards and I was going to do it. No excuses. I’m all about listening to my body and knowing when to quit or rest, but in this case I think it was just my mind getting to me. I decided it would be a good test of mental toughness to finish the workout. After I finally finished my 3,000 yard swim I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I knew I was close to 10,000 yards for the week which a personal record. It felt good!

Friday -Complete day of rest. At this point I had already gotten in 10 hours of workouts and I was very relieved to sleep in and get over 9 hours of sleep. My legs still felt heavy when I woke up so I knew that this was much needed!

Saturday  - Due to high winds and light showers, we moved our big ride to Sunday and did our long run/short ride brick on Saturday. Asia and I ran 12 miles down the coast. I felt really good on this run, although we didn’t push the pace much. The wind was pretty intense at times but overall it was manageable. After the run, I went back to the house and got on the trainer with mike for a 45 minute spin. My legs felt really fantastic on this ride and I was pushing watts that I usually use for the 75% effort intervals on Sufferfest for the entire 45 minutes! I ended up with the highest average watts of any ride to date, 2 watts higher than my previous highest which was this Wednesday’s Sufferfest workout! After the spin, I did 15 minutes of core work and stretching. It was bizarre to be finished with our workout before noon!

Sunday - This is the day we conquered The Beast. We rode 75 miles with nearly 3,700 feet of climbing.  I nicknamed this ride The Beast for various reasons, including the amount of climbing but also the treacherous roads and some insanely steep climbs. Due to this and the fact that it was a completely new ride, we were on the road for 6 hours and 45 minutes in total! We skipped the planned short run afterward, figuring it wouldn’t be adding to our fitness and probably just delaying recovery. My quads and glutes were exhausted after this ride! I think I took in enough nutrition though – nearly 1,300 calories.

Weekly Totals: 

  • Yards Swam: 9,750
  • Hours Biked (door to door): ~10.6
  • Miles Run: 25.3
  • Minutes of Core/Strength: 95
  • Total Time: 19.5 hours (yowza!)


Overall I would say this was a pretty successful week. I definitely would prefer to have my longest workout on Saturday so that I have more time to recover before the following week starts, but sometimes you have to roll with the punches. As for nutrition, my nutrition during my workouts was right on key. Overall it wasn’t too bad either, although I did mention in my blog post about dessert that I am trying to cut back on sugar and I’m not sure I was very successful at that. I’m actually pretty excited to try out 85 miles next weekend – this time on a more familiar course – and see what I’m made of!

How was your week? 

The Beast – A Wake Up Call

4 Replies

I nicknamed the ride we did today “The Beast.” Not only was it the longest ride of my life (75 miles) and the most climbing I’ve ever done (3,668 feet), it had the most terrifying roads and alarming street signs of all time. As I mentioned a million times, Ironman CdA has a very hilly bike route with 2,306 feet of climbing per 56 mile loop for a total of 4,612 feet of climbing over 112 miles which equals 41 feet per mile). This fun route that we found on MapMyRide.com (which happened to be mapped by the triathlon/running coach who runs the track workouts I sometimes go to), is 49 feet per mile. When I originally wrote this post I had accidentally calculated total climbing based on max elevation, not gain and thought that this route we did was the same feet/mile as CdA  but actually it was 20% harder! I”ll leave the blog past as it was…I’m still scared,  but a little less!

Here’s the CdA course profile (1 loop):

Here’s the Beast:

Riding the Beast

While I can’t say that I tamed the beast today, I definitely gave it a try. We had planned to ride on Saturday, however due to high winds and a morning showers, we decided to switch our workouts. Saturday we ran 12 miles and did a quick 45 minute spin on the trainer. I finished that workout feeling great despite it being my biggest volume week to date. By that evening, though, my legs were feeling it!

Starting the Ride During Sunrise!

We set out at 7 a.m. this morning to get an early start, knowing this route would take us a long time. The route was completely foreign to us – it took us from coastal Encinitas all the way through San Marcos and up a long country road all the way into Valley Center, a town near the Pala Casino. The first 20 miles are pretty much straight up hill and it took us seemingly forever to get through them. These miles were mostly through commercial and residential streets that we were fairly familiar with. Once we left San Marcos we turned up a road scattered with horse stables, churches, the occasional large house, and greenhouses. It was pretty scenic and fairly quiet but we were still riding uphill. By the time we got to our first bathroom and water refill break we had only ridden around 22 miles and it took Asia and I about an hour and 45 minutes!

After a very long break due to a line at the bathrooms, we continued on until we eventually met up with Mike again who had started riding back on the country road because of an intimidating “No Trespassing’ sign. We decided that the triathlon coach wouldn’t have made this route if it went through private property, so we just continued on. We made our way down some very steep, windy roads, which we held on the brakes for until we found the sign. After that sign there was a gate with more forbidden signage, but luckily it was open so we kept going. This is where the road got a little sketchy. There was quite a bit of gravel and a lot of pot holes and dirt patches. The going was definitely not smooth on this section. After we made our way through it we reached some super steep declines before making our way to a very, very busy highway that we drove on for a few miles before crossing over the 15 freeway. By the time we finished riding on the sketchy highway, the dirt road, the steep declines and passing the no trespassing sign, we all agreed that we wouldn’t be riding this route again! We were all scared of being hit by one of the crazy cars on the highway and not looking forward to the trek back through the windy, steep country road.

However, we kept going, knowing we’d have to add on nearly 15 miles on the coast if we gave up now. We had one big loop to do and we were glad that we decided to do it once we started. Although we passed a sign that said “Extreme Danger of Wild Fire” and then another that said “Caution: Falling Boulders,” the scenery was nice and there were also signs that cautioned drivers to slow down. There was also a nice paved shoulder. Not bad in comparison to what we’d been riding before.  The fun was over pretty soon though when the coup de grâce came.

On the Road! (From Mike's New GoPro Camera)

Just ahead was a windy hill that looked like it belonged on the road to a mountain ski resort. It certainly didn’t belong only 35 miles away from our beach side home. We huffed and puffed up the hill, which lasted about 2.5 miles. It wasn’t any steeper than some of the hills we ride on our familiar Pizza Port Course but after 30 miles of uphill riding it was daunting. After gathering ourselves at the top of the hill, we continued on the loop and headed home, enjoying some nice downhills, which of course, never seem as long as the uphills.

After braving the scary traffic road, we got back into the No Trespassing zone of the country road and encountered two incredibly steep short hills. We were all riding out of the saddle, huffing and puffing, barely moving. My speedometer showed 4 mph, 2 mph slower than the crazy steep hill that people were walking their bike up during the Oceanside Half Ironman. By the time I got to the top, my heart rate was way into Zone 4- 180! Oops. I probably should have walked my bike. After these short hills we descended very slowly through gravel and dirt on a bumpy road, sadly not able to take advantage of the downhill’s free speed and pressing our brakes the whole way. Next we came to the last really long climb which was the windy downhill road we had braked down on the way out. When we reached the top, the view was gorgeous and I started singing, “The hills are alive with the Sound of Music” from my favorite childhood musical.

Asia and Me At The Top of One of Many Hills

Toward the end of the windy road we finally found water (no water or bathrooms between miles 21 and 50) and a bathroom and felt rejuvenated to finish the ride. Although the last 20 miles were mostly downhill, there was a strong headwind that we had to battle the entire way. When we reached the house after nearly 76 miles of riding and over six and a half hours on the road, we were hungry and tired but feeling accomplished.

Longest Ride Ever (and slowest!)

The fact that this ride and CdA have practically the same feet of climbing per mile scares me, especially since my average speed on this ride was only 14 mph! That puts me at a nice 8 hour bike time at CdA. Obviously this ride was coming off a very long week – my highest volume to date in fact – and my ride time includes braking for lights and windy downhills,  slowing for stop signs, etc, so I expect to ride CdA faster,  but it definitely put the course into perspective. CdA bike course is very challenging and it won’t be anything but difficult for such a new rider.With only 10 weeks left until the race, there is little time to get much faster – I just need to work at my endurance so that I can add 37 miles and 1,830 feet of climbing to this route and get through it with enough energy to run a freaking marathon!!!

Ok I’ve officially scared myself. Time for sleep undoubtably filled with dreams of gigantic hills at CdA.

Hi. My Name is Nicole and I’m Addicted to Dessert.

3 Replies

My Favorite - Mud Pie!

If you were to ask me what my “weakness” is or perhaps even what my “addiction” is when it comes to food, I’d probably have to say sweets. Sugar is like crack to me. I love it. I grew up eating sugary cereals or  bread for breakfast, a jello pudding with my lunch and usually icecream or chocolate for dessert. My brain is pretty much hardwired to crave sweets as soon as I finish a meal. It’s a habit that I’ve tried to kick quite a few times in my life to no avail. I consider myself someone with pretty good willpower in general – when I set my mind to things (ie the P90X nutrition plan), it takes a lot for me to give up.

Ironman training has allowed me to justify taking my sugar consumption to a new level with not regret. Well, maybe a little bit. Let’s be honest, most women eat healthy food to look good. Although we love to talk about how spinach is full of Iron and carrots make your eyes stronger, the main reason most women eat these things is because they have few calories. I love knowing that my generally healthy diet is promoting healthy cell growth and recovery, but I also like to know that it will keep me slim. So, now that I’m busting my butt for 12-19 hours a week with relentless cardio while training for Ironman, I can pretty much eat whatever I want without gaining any weight. I even lost some weight with this lack of concern for calories.

It’s not really my meals that are the  problem. I take my lunch to work most days and I eat either a salad with fruit or a turkey avocado sandwich on whole wheat. For breakfast we usually have oatmeal or eggs and cottage cheese. For dinner, it’s a rotation of whole wheat pasta and low fat chicken sausage, turkey tacos, yam and black bean chili, or grilled chicken with rice and veggies. After long workouts on the weekend I usually have something like pizza, a burrito, a big breakfast or sandwich, but I’m not too concerned with those indulgences.

I’m always one to say “everything in moderation” but moderation and dessert have not been found in the same sentence recently. Did I tell you that Mike and I ate 11 boxes of Girl Scout cookies? It was probably over a period of 4 weeks and there are like 12 cookies per box but still – no bueno. I used to the be the girl in the office that politely declined the monthly birthday cake and now I find myself eating any sweet contribution in the office snack room even if it’s not good. Instead of frozen yogurt, I’m eating ice cream and gelato. My boss has taken it upon her self to bring me baked goods on more than one occasion. Mike and I have discovered that a restaurant down the street serves amazing bread pudding and have gone out of our way to eat it three times. And last  but not least, Pinterest has turned me into quite the baker! Although I haven’t made anything in the last couple of weeks, I’ve baked up quite a few delicious treats for dinner parties and work potlucks/birthdays, saving a few at home for later of course!

Sugar’s Effect on Your Body

Well, although sugar isn’t making me fat, it certainly isn’t helping me. I read an article today about how sugar can age your skin, making you appear older. Although aging isn’t my primary concern, it reminded me that although it doesn’t make me fat, sugar really isn’t doing me any favors. Not to mention, once I stop training so much, it will be hard to kick my addiction. I did some more research and here are other reasons NOT to eat so much sugar:

  1. Sugar suppresses your immune system.
  2. Sugar promotes inflammation which promotes aging and disease.
  3. Sugar suppresses the  release of human growth hormone, making you appear older.
  4. Sugar raises insulin levels, which can eventually cause you to be diabetic.
  5. Eating sugar or other foods with a high glycemic index  will cause your blood sugar to drop more quickly than low glycemic foods, making you hungry sooner  and more likely to overeat. This leads to weight gain (duh) and cravings for more sugar and sweets.
According to the World Health Organization, you don’t have to give up all sugar. Just limit it to 10% of your daily calories. Unfortunately that doesn’t mean you can eat dessert for 10% of your calories - that 10% includes sugar in processed foods like ketchup, dressings, bbq sauce, tomato pasta sauce, cereal and white bread. In general, I try to eat  carbohydrates that have less sugar, like whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, brown rice, sweet potatoes, and black beans.
The One Time It’s Ok To Inhale Sugar
Right after or during a vigorous workout, it actually ok to eat sugar. It’s actually good for you to eat sugar, hence the fact that Gu, Gatorade and recovery drinks all are packed with sugar which is a carbohydrate. During exercise the body can metabolize sugar very efficiently and it prefers this source of energy. Sports drink got a bad reputation for being unhealthy because people started drinking them outside of workouts. These drinks were made to be consumed by a soccer player on the field or a swimmer during a meet, not on your couch while you watch TV. When I first looked at the ingredients in the P90X recovery drink, for example, I immediately noticed how much sugar was in it. Well, there’s a good reason for that sugar – it helps your body recover!
Action Plan

Am I going to give up dessert? Heck no! But I am going to start choosing my desserts a little more wisely. Instead of just mindlessly consuming any free dessert or snack (I used to avoid the granola bars and pretzels in the break room too since they are processed and full or sugar but now I’ve resorted to those as well!), I will only eat it when I really want it. I also am going to try to avoid the candy jar at work! I’m also going to try to be more conscious about eating whole grains, as I have slipped in that sense a  bit as well (although we always buy whole wheat bread, pasta and brown rice at home). I’ll be packing extra veggies and fruits to bring to work so that I always have a back up after my stash is gone.
What is your food “crack?” Do you think you could give it up if you had to? 

Lessons Learned at Oceanside 70.3

6 Replies
Now that I’ve had some time to reflect on my first Half Ironman, I have answered some of my questions about long course racing as well as learned some lessons about what I need to work on going forward. The race was everything I could have hoped for and I achieved my main two goals which were to 1) have fun and 2) learn something about long course racing that I can use in my full Ironman.
In my pre-race strategy post, I gave myself some more specific goals for Oceanside. Let’s see how my race stacked up!
1. Confirmation that my self-created training plan is working – or confirmation that it needs to be tweaked.
I really think that my self coaching is working! Although I don’t have anything to compare it to, I had a great first race and I think that I was very well prepared and also well rested for this race.
2.  An idea as to whether or not my current race nutrition plan will work for the full Ironman
Nutrition went well on this race. I actually consumed MORE calories than I planned yet it all went down just fine and I had absolutely no stomach issues. I did, however, really not feel like taking my 4th Gu on the run course, so I’m not sure  how I will feel about taking more fuel on the run at the full Ironman. However, my fueling strategy on the bike will be slightly different at the full IM and my race intensity will be less so hopefully I can handle it.
I had a full peanut butter banana sandwich for breakfast about 1 1/2 hours before my wave start and then a Gu about 20 minutes before the race. I had planned to take in 250 calories/hour on the bike (I think I accidentally wrote 200/hour on my pre-race strategy post) and I ended up taking in about 300/hour. I had my concentrated bottle of 600 calories of Carbopro (and 1 1/2 Nuun tablets) and I ate 320 calories worth of Stinger Waffles. As soon as I started the run I had 1 Gu and ended up having a total of 4 Gus, for 200 calories/hour on the run. Including the pre-race Gu, I had 1,420 calories during the race over the course of roughly 6 hours, which is 236 calories/hour
3. An assessment of how my open water swimming is and how I deal with swimming in very cold water
Well the cold water part went ok except for the fact that my calves cramped toward the end of the race. As for the open water swimming part, I learned I’m not very good at it! Prior to this race, I did some open water swims in the ocean with no buoys. I felt like I was veering back and forth while I swam but since there were no buoys there was no way to really tell or practice. I need to get to some open water swim practices that have buoys ASAP! My sighting was absolutely miserable and I kept veering off track. Unfortunately at Oceanside the buoys are to the left and I breath to my right and also the race course is not straight, so it’s even more difficult. In my previous two races as well as various practice races and aquathons I’ve done, I didn’t have much problem with swimming too far off course because the course was straight. Luckily at CdA the course will be straight so that will definitely help!
It was recommended to me to get in a few 2.4 mile open water swims before the race.  I think this will help a lot. I’m also going to try to attend a few of the Thursday night open water interval workouts in Mission Bay put on by the same coach who did my swim stroke analysis. Not only do I hope to practice open water swimming, I’m hoping Jim will give me some feedback on whether or not my stroke has improved since our original meeting.
4. Knowledge of any areas of weakness that need to be improved upon

Happy Despite a Hand Warmer Stuffed In My Shoe

Well my primary weaknesses at the race were definitely my open water swimming, my transitions, and my in ability to fix things on my bike. I already covered open water swimming above, so I won’t go into that anymore. My transitions were both on the slow side (although everyone has a long T1 at this race due to a pretty long run from the swim to T1) mostly because I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. I think I’m ok with my slow transition time if it means that i will have a more comfortable experience during the race (ie putting on clean, dry pants for the run, spraying sunscreen, putting on my top in T1 so that I’m not riding in a wet tri top). However, during T1 I was a bit frazzled and did things in a funny order (i.e. one arm warmer than put on my helmet, then top, etc) AND I made the mistake of trying something new on race day – I put hand warmers (the ones that get warm when you take them out of the package and you use when  you go skiing or camping) in my cycling shoes to keep them warm and then apparently didn’t take one of them out in T1. I rode the ENTIRE 56 miles with a hand warmer in my shoe without knowing it due to the fact that my feet and toes were frozen from the cold water!!! I didn’t even figure it out until I got my cycling shoes on the following week for an easy spin and found it in there! No wonder I had a blister the size of Atlantis on my foot!
As for the bike, I rode the whole bike course with my brake rubbing against my wheel, slowing me down. I know how to fix a tire, but I don’t know how to fix anything else on my bike! Little did I know that I could have just gotten off my  bike and moved the brake a bit to fix the problem. I also learned the valuable lesson that it’s crucial to have someone else look at your bike prior to an event. If you can’t afford a tune up, at least check it out yourself!
Besides that, my bike time overall and within my age group was my weakest of the three sports. This was expected since it is the newest sport to me and it just reconfirmed my need to prioritize time on the bike. I know this is my largest area of weakness but I like to think of it as the area I can most improve in.
5. A better idea of how well I run long distances off the bike
I felt REALLY good coming off the bike. My legs didn’t feel heavy at all. After all my weekend rides I run a short brick, usually 3-5 miles. My legs always start off heavy but I always finish the run with a lower than usual average pace. I was very pleased with my half marathon time coming off the bike – it was actually my 2nd fastest half marathon time ever! I haven’t run an open half marathon since last August so I’m not sure how my Half Ironman half would compare to my current open half marathon however. I read before the race that if you pace and fuel yourself correctly on the bike, you should be able to maintain your marathon pace on the run for a half Ironman. I ran a full marathon in February at a 8:46 min/mile pace and I ran this race at a 8:44 min/mile.
Part of me wonders if I paced myself a little too well on the bike and I held back a little too much. As I mentioned in my race report, I was holding back in anticipation of the hills and the headwind in the last 10 miles. The hills were easier than I thought and the headwind was present but very manageable. I picked up the effort for the last 10 miles but I think I definitely had a lot left in the tank. Since my  next race is a full Ironman, I don’t think I should increase the intensity at all for that race, but I don’t think I should decrease it much.
Last Thoughts
A couple more lessons learned during this race:
1) Don’t let your ego take over and race people who are faster to you to the finish so  you get a crappy finish photo like this one:
2) Tell your friends and family what you will be wearing and try to wear something bright or distinct. My Dad repeatedly told me this (although they did see me several times) and my cousin drove an hour to get there, looked for parking for an hour, waited around for over two hours and then didn’t see me at all until I was coming down the finish chute!
3) Do the expo early. Don’t wait until 4 p.m. the afternoon before the race.
4) Don’t put hand warmers in your cycling shoes to warm them up. Not only do they not warm your shoes up, you could ride 56 miles with one in your shoe.
5) SMILE for the camera! I was glad I did.

Overall this was a great race! I exceeded my expectations in many ways, mostly on the bike and on the run. I was disappointed with my swim time, but I learned a valuable lesson in the process (and if there is any leg to be disappointed in, it might as well be the shortest one). I had so much fun racing and I definitely can’t wait to see how I improve at this distance the next time I race it. But that’s for a different year – for now, it’s time to focus on covering 140.6 miles on June 24 at Coeur D’Alene (did you know it’s only 74 days away!?).
Have you ever learned a lesson at a race the hard way? What did you learn? If you could give someone 1 piece of advice for racing an Ironman what would you tell them?