Week 1

Week one of Weight Watchers is done.  OK, so it was only 5 days but since I chose Saturday as my weigh in day, I'm counting it as a week.  In five days, I stuck to my points allotment and made it to the gym Tuesday and Thursday.  It was not very easy because I work with people that like to party.  I ended my week with a holiday party on both Thursday and Friday.  Thursday night was a great time and somehow I managed to avoid eating all of the delicious little hors d'ouvres that were floating around on trays all night.  Friday was my firm's holiday party and I'm pretty sure I used all of my weekly points plus on dinner there.  It was a pasta bar dinner so way more carbs than I needed.  But...despite that, I still managed to lose 2 pounds!!!!  Week one down and on to week two now!

What's up next?

I haven't posted since right after Ironman and I never added any photos. So I will do that first. Here are a few from the race as well as my favorite...the giant leap across the finish line at approximately 11:45pm.

Now that those are out there, I can get on with the new excitement.

I am resurrecting this blog site so that you all (my faithful readers) can help keep me accountable. I have set two new goals for 2012. I will track my progress here (and of course on Facebook) so you all can give me shit if/when I lose motivation. So here we go...

My first goal is 12 in 12. I am going to run twelve half marathons in 2012. I have not quite determined which races I am going to do each month but I have decided on January and February. I will begin this quest with the F^ing Freezing Lake Half Marathon here in Chicago on January 28. February I will be walking the Disney Princess Half Marathon with my mom on February 26. My thoughts are that the first few (January - March-ish) will be easier runs just building up my endurance. April-June are going to be a little more intense trying to increase my speed and decrease my time. July and August will probably be easier due to the heat factor. September and October I am going to go for a personal record then November and December will be a nice easy end to my year. The idea is to keep almost all of these races in the Chicagoland or Indianapolis area so that I don't have to travel far or pay for accommodations. I am really looking forward to this as a chance to improve my running and keep myself in shape year round.

My second goal for 2012 is to lose the excess weight I've been carrying around for a while. I've always yo-yo'd with my weight. Even in high school, I have always had some extra padding that wasn't quite necessary. About two years ago, I found myself at my ideal weight. Unfortunately, I didn't get there in the healthiest manner so I knew it would only be short lived. Then I found myself graduating from law school and studying for the bar exam. I, like many people, am a stress eater. So the stress of studying for the most important exam of my life coupled with my insane sweet tooth led me right back where I started. What really did me in and made me decide to make 2012 my year was this past weekend. I went to buy a new pair of jeans and for the first time in two years, I had to buy a size 10 in Express jeans. The 8's that always fit so nicely and comfortably were too tight. That was the final kick in the ass I needed.

This morning, I hopped on the scale and made a vow that this is the last time I will see 164 pop up on the digital screen. {side note...kind of hating that I put that number out there for all the world to see, but hopefully having to post that number will keep me motivated} I signed up for three months of Weight Watchers online this morning and began tracking. My ultimate goal is to be able to report back around this time next year that I have lost twenty pounds. But that is a big goal for me and I'm not focusing on that just yet. I'm starting out small to keep myself motivated and to keep the goal realistic. So I'm starting out with a goal of losing 5% of my current weight before I go on vacation to Cancun in four weeks.

So 2012 is going to be MY YEAR!!!!!!!!!

Cari Kauffman, you ARE an IRONMAN!

Well, it's all said and done now. Louisville was this past Sunday and I'm back in Chicago preparing to go back to work tomorrow. What an exciting weekend it was though! Since I'm writing this post, you all should know that I did indeed survive :-) And I did finish! Bear with me as this will probably be a huge post...I have lots to share.

I headed down to Louisville Friday afternoon to check in, pick up my packet and all my information, and attend the welcome banquet and age group athlete meeting. I got down there a little early and had lunch with a few sorority sisters that I haven't seen in a really long time too. Then I headed over to the Galt House to check in. Check in procedures were pretty standard and I got all my stuff and checked out the Ironman store. I spent a pretty penny on Friday but made sure I didn't purchase ANYTHING that said "finisher" on it so as not to jinx myself! Then I headed back to Mom's for the night.

Saturday morning, my roommate Staci, Mom and I packed up the car and headed to Louisville. We checked into the Marriott and I put all of my gear in the appropriate bags to take to transition. This was a completely new concept for me. Normally I pack my backpack with all of my gear and set it up next to my bike. Here we were given 5 different bags to use for all of our gear. We had a morning clothes bag that we dropped off at the swim start to put our clothes and anything we had on us at the start of the race in. That bag was then transported to the finish so we could get our things back at the end. Then we had a bag specifically for the swim to bike transition and another for the bike to run transition. Finally, we had two special needs bags (one for the bike and one for the run) that we could retrieve at about halfway during the bike and the run. So I separated all my stuff into their respective bags and Staci and I took my bike and bags to the transition area. Once that was all set up, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed an early dinner so I could get to bed and rest up.

Sunday started super early. My alarm went off at 4:30 and we were out the door around 5. We made a stop at transition to drop off my special needs bags, fill up my water bottles, and pump up my bike tires. Then we walked about a mile or so down the road to the swim start. Louisville does an interesting start...instead of a mass start on a beach or in the water, it was a time trial start where they sent off athletes one after the other off of two boat docks. It was also a first come first serve on starting position. We got down there around 5:30-5:45 so I was pretty far back in line. I didn't get started until about 7:37. For those of you wondering...yes, we did swim in the Ohio River. It was a little on the murky side but as far as I know, I didn't catch anything! The water temperature was about 85 degrees so wetsuits were not allowed. Once I got started, we swam upstream and around a little island before heading south to the swim end. I pretty much ROCKED the swim! I finished the 2.4 miles in 1:06.32. That was fast enough to place me 20th in my division and 437 overall in the swim.

After coming out of the water, I ran into transition and someone was waiting there with my bike bag. I headed into the changing tent and there was someone there waiting to help me with whatever I needed. Because we had a men's and women's changing tent, I was able to completely change. I took off the wet swim suit and put on fresh dry cycling shorts and my tri top. The lady assisting me helped me change, dried my feet, put my socks on, then took my bag and sent me on my way. I grabbed my bike and hit the course. I felt pretty good when I got started on the bike but it didn't take long before I hit the hills. There were some pretty big ones! And just in case you weren't aware, there aren't many hills to train on in Chicago! So I was definitely not prepared for that (which pretty much explains my 8:09.16 bike time and average speed of only 13.73 MPH). I did really well with nutrition along the bike course though. I found these little pouches of applesauce that were fantastic. They were a nice change from the usual Gu and Gu Chomps and since I don't eat fruits, it gave me the nutrients I was missing out on. One of the cool things about the bike was that around mile 30-something and 60-something, we went through a little town called LaGrange. They set up a little festival in that area so people could go out and watch. The first time through, I heard my mom cheering but didn't see her. One the second lap, I got out of my aero bars and looked around. I was able to see everyone that came to watch :-) Erin, Staci, Courtney, Ashley and Mom were all there cheering as I went by. I gave a little wave and continued on. The upside to all of the hills on the ride was the downhills! At one point I looked down and saw I was going 43 mph down a hill. That was pretty exhilarating. And I really only had one problem with people on the bike. One man started to pass me (going downhill mind you) and practically ran me off the road. So I of course threw some obscenities his way and he yelled at me for not backing off while being overtaken. I politely told him to F--- off and apologized because I didn't realize he was going to pussy break on the downhill. I wasn't even pedaling so it was not my fault that gravity was pulling me to the bottom of the hill. And you know what...I'm a little topheavy so I go down hills fast! I never encountered him again so I rode on in peace. Somewhere between halfway and the end of the bike, my feet really began to hurt and cramp up in my shoes, my butt went numb and I started doubting myself. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish the bike, let alone the run that followed. I kept trying to shut the voices in my head up and eventually, I made it to the bike finish. After 112 miles of pedaling, it was rather difficult to get back up and walking. I hopped off the bike, handed it off to one of the volunteers, and headed back to the changing tent.

This time around, I suited up for the run, grabbed some more applesauce and hit the road running. As I came out of transition and turned a corner, I miraculously ran into Erin, Ashley, Staci and Courtney! They jumped on the sidewalk beside me and stayed alongside me for about the first mile or two. Luckily, Staci had some sunscreen because I forgot to put it on my scalp and I didn't want a sunburn there! Then Courtney helped get the tag out of my running shorts so it wouldn't keep rubbing against my skin and she had some chap stick to relieve my lips! After about two miles, I took off on my own. The first couple miles were tough getting into the running. I walked the entire fifth mile. Then I started running for ten minutes and walking for 15. Then I realized that 15 minutes was not really necessary so I switched it to ten and ten. I continued on that way for the remainder of the marathon...walk ten minutes, run ten minutes, repeat. At the 13.1 mark, I got my special needs bag and popped some ibuprofen. Then it was time for the turnaround. This was the BIGGEST FREAKING TEASE!!!!!! As it turns out, the turnaround near mile 14 is right NEXT TO the finish line. So as you are running up Fourth Street, you see the bright lights and hear the announcer at the finish line and see people running towards it. There is a sign that says, "Finishers left; 2nd Loop right." So I had to make the turn knowing I still had 12 miles left to run. About that time, it also started getting dark and Staci hopped in with me for another mile or two. I was so thankful to have her with me because at that point, my stomach had started bothering me and I wasn't sure how much I was going to be able to run. She kept me going then left me on my own to get to the final turnaround. About mile 15-ish, I started drinking Coke in addition to the Perform and water. They had some good food along the course too :-) I had some chocolate chip cookies and pretzels and when it got dark, they had chicken broth. I hit my second wind around mile 20 and picked up the pace a little. I also started cheering on everyone I ran by. This put me in a much better mood and then I made the final turn just before mile 21. Then I knew it was the home stretch. I was very cautious on time too because I knew I had to finish before midnight. I knew at the turn around that I was going to make it. All I had to do was keep up the pace I was going and I would finish well before midnight and if I didn't slow down, I could finish in under 16 hours. Staci found me somewhere around mile 25 and ran me in. She dropped off right before the final chute and I headed home. I saved up a little bit of energy so I could cross the finish line in style (think flying leap with arms thrown up in the air)! I wanted to have a good finisher photo :-) As it turns out, I did the run in 6:27.20 and negative split it by about two minutes. Seriously, who negative splits a marathon at the end of an Ironman?! Well, apparently this girl does!

My official finish time was 15:58.52 and I finished 2119 out of 2276 finishers. 2439 people started the race. After I finished, I got my medal, my t-shirt and my hat and met up with Mom and the girls. I picked up my morning clothes bag and headed straight for the bar at our hotel. The bartender told me they had already done last call but the look on my face (and the fact I looked disgusting) made her feel sorry for me so I got my post-race celebratory beer! Then we ordered a pizza to the room and I washed up. I ate my pizza then proceeded to pass out.

Monday morning I woke up around 8 and got up and moving. I walked over to the Ironman store and stocked up on all my finisher apparel. After spending a small fortune, I went back to the hotel and we packed up and headed home. I am still surprised at how good I felt yesterday morning and even today. I have the expected soreness in my legs and back but I am walking (almost normally) and am getting around quite well. I am still pretty tired and slept 9 hours last night and took about a two hour nap this afternoon but I think that is to be expected too. The worst thing of all is that my big toes are really really sore and might be infected. If you are wondering how bad one's toenails can hurt, I'll tell you that I almost passed out last night just getting a pedicure. I was looking at my toes, my nail was black underneath and she pushed down on it. My vision slowly faded to black, I got all hot and sweaty, started to feel nauseous and knew I was going to pass out if something wasn't done. So Mom got them to give me some water and a cold wash rag and I came back before actually passing out. I've been loading up on ibuprofen and have had my feet up most of the evening in hopes that the swelling goes down a little bit. But overall, I'm feeling pretty good!

I've had a lot of people ask me if I will do another Ironman. Honestly, I have no idea. Ask me again in a couple weeks when my feet are back to normal and I have forgotten how painful it all was. Then I might consider doing another in a couple years. I know for sure though that I cannot take the time to train for a full again next year. Maybe I'll convince my brother or some friends to do one with me in a few years. Until then, I will stick with the shorter distances.

I know this post is dragging on but a few final thoughts. THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of you that have continued to read this blog and follow my journey. All of your good luck wishes and congratulatory posts, phone calls, texts, etc. were greatly appreciated. I could not have accomplished this without such an amazing support system that had my back throughout the past 30 weeks. One particular member of my support team deserves a little shout out here: my boyfriend Casey. He was bummed out that he missed my race because he was on vacation with his dad and family/friends in Canada. He was way outside of civilization and has not had cell phone reception since Saturday. He won't get it back for another few days either so he has no idea how I did. But he gets a shout out because he was sneaky and had been talking to my mom for a few days. When I returned to her house Monday afternoon, he had sent a very thoughtful card to her house and inside was a gift certificate for me to go get a massage to aid in my recovery :-)

And finally, a very special thanks to the amazing women that made the trip to Louisville to watch me accomplish my dream! My mom has always been the foundation of my support team and she showed that this weekend. I know it wasn't easy for her but she saw me on every leg of the race and had just as long of a day as I did. My roommate Staci drove from Chicago down to watch me and even sacrificed a vacation day so she could be there with me. Ashley stayed up way past her bedtime to watch me cross the finish line even though she had to be up super early Monday morning to teach. Erin was quite possibly more excited than anyone during the race and made her presence known by yelling her heart out and ringing that darned cow bell! She also has been a huge support through this entire process as she is my go-to person to call on my way home from work. She listened and helped me out the whole way so it was extra special to have her there at the end seeing me cross the finish. Courtney is quite possibly one of my busiest friends but she still found the time to get down to Louisville and watch. She also removed the tag of my shorts with her teeth when I am pretty sure I was smelling pretty ripe. If that isn't friendship, I don't know what is! These women are the very definition of a best friend and I could not have made it through without them being there along the sidelines. I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!

SO CLOSE!

Well, my bags are packed and the car is loaded up...I'm heading out tomorrow after work! I can't believe that Ironman is THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! It seems like just a few weeks since I signed up and started training when in actuality, I've been training for 30 weeks. In terms of gear, I think I have everything that I need. The only purchases I still need to make are some more nutrition (Gu, Chomps, Luna Bars, etc) and the new spray on sunscreen you can use when you're wet. In terms of training, I'm as prepared as I can be. Yes, I should have put in more miles running. But I'm feeling pretty confident about the swim and the bike. Let's just hope adrenaline will get me through that marathon :-)

For those of you that have followed me on this journey, you can follow me on Sunday too! If you go to www.ironman.com you should be able to track my race. I'm bib #104. Race start is 7:00am EST. In order to be an official finisher, I have to cross the finish line by midnight. However, my goal is to finish in 15 hours so by 10:00pm EST. You can always check back to Ironman later to verify that I did indeed finish and didn't die out on the course.

Tune in Monday or Tuesday for an update on the blog. Thanks for all your support thus far and send good vibes my way this weekend!!!!!!

**Anything*is*Possible**

2 WEEKS AWAY!

Well kids, we are less than two weeks away now! Ironman Louisville is quickly approaching. And now that we are at the two week mark, it’s time to start my taper. This is my favorite time of the year. I’m pretty sure my swim coaches hated me and my teammates during taper time. I have tons more energy during this time and do my best to be obnoxious :-)

I ended my training on a pretty good note before heading into my taper this week. On Saturday morning, my roommate Staci drove me and my friend Andy (hereinafter “A Ho”) up to Milwaukee, WI. It was an early morning getting up at the asscrack of dawn. And poor Staci didn’t get any coffee before we got on the road. We got up to Milwaukee around 7:30 in the morning and Staci drove right back to Chicago. A Ho and I started our 98.95 mile adventure at Veterans Park along the lakeshore. We headed south along the lake to the Oakleaf Trail running through Milwaukee County. This trail was beautiful. We got some great views of the beach and the lake then went through the woods/forest in the shade for a while too. We saw this pretty big dog walking down the beach too with a big fish in its mouth J It as happy as could be and incredibly proud of his catch.

When we came off the Oakleaf Trail, I pretty much lost track of trail names and where we went. I had directions that should have gotten us most of the way on bike trails but it got to be a little tedious so we just kind of went in the general direction of Chicago and hoped for the best. We tried to stop about every 20 miles and shortly after our second stop around Racine, WI, A Ho had a little mishap. I stopped abruptly as my CatEye cyclometer went flying off my handlebars and he wasn’t quite ready for that and took a tumble. He got a little scraped up and had to continue the rest of the ride without front breaks. We also ran into some unpaved trails around Racine which weren’t very much fun on a road bike! My tires weren’t made for that.

So we pressed on towards Kenosha. But at mile 43.5 just north of Kenosha, we found ourselves in a storm. The wind started to pick up and it began to sprinkle. We stopped at this abandoned building so I could take a look at the map and directions to figure out where to go when it started to hail. We hung out there for a little bit and let the storm pass before venturing out in the rain. After we left Kenosha, I pretty much lost track of where we were until we hit Waukegan, IL. The rain subsided about 10 miles out of Kenosha though so we started to dry off. We made a couple of stops at some gas stations to refuel with Gatorade.

We had a nice little scenic tour while getting in our ride. Once in Illinois and past Waukegan, we entered some really nice areas. When I lost the trail we were supposed to be riding on, we just rode down Sheridan Road. We found ourselves riding by HUGE houses in Glencoe and Winnetka. We rode right by Ravinia too. Steely Dan was playing Saturday night so we saw everyone walking over to the show. The last probably 30 miles of the trip seemed to drag on forever but once we got to Northwestern University, I had a renewed energy and excitement that we were going to make it. About that same time, A Ho was ready to kill himself (or me for making him do this!) As we got closer to home (somewhere around Loyola University) it started to rain again. By the time we made it onto the Lakefront Path, it was a pretty steady stream of rain.

We finally made it home nearly 8 hours after we started in Milwaukee. I originally thought it would take us about 6 hours but we had a few unplanned stops and the fact that I really didn’t know where we were going didn’t help. But luckily I have a good sense of direction and we both were determined to get back!

I felt pretty good when we finished and still had a good amount of energy. That made me feel pretty good knowing that in two weeks, I will bike 112 miles and go straight into a 26.2 mile run. While I don’t think I could have run that far after our ride, I know that I could have immediately started running. So I’m just banking on adrenaline to get me through.

I’m freaking out a little bit now that we are so close but I’m also getting excited. I’m really doing this!

Dress Rehearsal

So, I had my dress rehearsal for Louisville this weekend. I did the Ironman Muncie 70.3. So it was really a dress rehearsal at half the length. There were a lot of positives and negatives to this race so we'll start with the results then get into particulars of what I learned. First of all, I finished in 7:05:21. I did the swim in 35:49, the bike in 3:14.22 with a 17.3 MPH average, and the run in 3:06:28 at a 14:14 pace. Out of 1530 finishers, I was 1369. I was 202nd in the swim overall though so that is good. So to get into the good, the bad, and the just plain ugly.

The Good:
1) I felt great in the water and had a good rhythm.

2) Despite some intense headwinds, I had a strong bike leg. There were times when it was a struggle but overall, I am happy with the ride.

3) My nutrition/hydration plan seemed to work pretty well (with the exception of the last part of the run but more on that later). I have a standard race day breakfast of a bagel with Canadian bacon and cheese with a small glass of chocolate milk when I wake up. Then I have a Clif Bar when I get to the race followed by a decent amount of water. When I get on the bike, I have a good combination of Gatorade and water and I snack on some Gu Chomps. On the run, I switch over to mainly water and I do just the straight Gu. I tried out the Coke thing too. At about mile 8 on the run, I had some Coke. Pretty good pick me up when you need it.

4) I felt pretty good coming off the bike and starting the run.

5) I made a friend on the run that kept me sane from about mile 3 or 4 until the finish.

6) I avoided all stinging insects this time around :-)

The Bad:

1) It was f-ing HOT!!!!!

2) There were HILLS. I'm not a very strong runner to begin with but throw in hills and I'm toast. That was not fun.

3) The headwinds on the bike were pretty horrific and lasted for more than half of the ride.

4) There was not a cloud in the sky so the sun just beat down on us and baked me to a crisp.

The Ugly:

1) I got sun poisoning on my legs during the bike. They hurt. A lot.

2) About mile 8 on the run, I started to feel like I was going to vomit. Perhaps I drank too much water.

3) I have some sweet ass tan (read: BURN) lines on my back.

4) I have some seriously sub-par snot rockets.

5) I have horrible ass chafing.

But one excellent thing was that I made a friend on the run. About mile 3 or 4 I met Symantha. We ended up running the entire thing together and it made it so much more bearable. We were able to talk and not think about the fact that it was so hot and there were no clouds and your feet hurt like hell and you wanted to puke. So a big shout out to her for getting me through the run!!!! She's doing the Steelhead 70.3 in a few weeks so I'm wishing her the best of luck.

After yesterday's race, I am now back in Chicago curled up in my bed relaxing. I think I will stay here for a while :-)

My Inspiration Lately

I've been getting in some really good training sessions lately. And my attitude has been pretty fantastic. I've been reading the book "I'm Here to Win" by Chris McCormack.

Macca is a Kona Ironman champion and the book is just inspirational. He tells about his entry into the sport and the fights he has put up to get where he is. While I am not (nor will ever be) a professional triathlete, there is a lot that I can learn from this guy. In the past week, I've found two passages that really speak to me:

"Embrace the suck. Because no matter how much you love being a triathlete, at some point a race is going to really, really suck."

"You become a better person when you manage to do something as insane as swimming, biking, and running 140.6 miles in the same day."

I get more and more excited the more I think about it. True, I also am getting more and more nervous but it's a good nervous. If I weren't nervous about 140.6 miles of hell, something would be seriously wrong with me. But I'm looking forward to the challenge. I am looking forward to crossing that finish line and finally becoming an IronWOman!

After the Naperville sprint tri a couple weeks ago, I have tried to focus some more on the bike knowing that it is my weakest link. I rode with a group out of Urban Tri Gear in Burr Ridge last week for some extra training. They ride every Wednesday night and they have a couple different pace groups. There are some really strong cyclists that push me to train harder. I went out with the fastest group. We were told that we would be averaging about 19.5 mph for a 25 mile ride. Well, apparently my 19.5 and their 19.5 is completely different. When we reached the 6 mile mark, I checked out my CatEye and it said our average was 24 mph. RIDICULOUS! I couldn't maintain that pace so I slowed down and another man and I stayed at 19 for the remainder of the ride. There were some decent hills on the route and I felt really good about the ride when we finished. I'm also hoping to get in about a 70 mile ride on Monday morning since we're off work for the holiday. A woman I swim with is also training for Louisville and she suggested we go ride. He daughter is my age and the three of us are going to hear out to Nowheresville, IL to get in a long ride.

I have an opportunity next weekend to see how I perform in a longer event. I am signed up for the Muncie 70.3 Half-Ironman race in Muncie, IN on July 9. My goal is to drop about 15 minutes from last year's half time. So I would like to finish in 6 hours and 15 minutes. It's going to be a hot one but so will Louisville so it's good practice.

I'm about 8 weeks out now so it's time to really focus. After the 4th, I'm going sober till September. OK, not really till September...just until I cross that finish line at approximately 10 pm on August 28. And by sober, I mean that I'm just not drinking in excess. I will still have a glass of wine every once in a while with dinner or I may get one beer on Thursdays at BW's. But I am seriously cutting back. I'm also changing up the diet and making sure I get GOOD food into my system instead of eating the shit I have been eating lately. We're down to two months and things are getting real now. This is going to ROCK!

The Weakest Link

It's been a while since I last updated. I moved and unfortunately, the internet in my new building isn't quite working right. So, any tech savvy friends that want to come help are welcome :-)

Training took a back seat to moving during the first week of June. Although, I am pretty sure that the whole moving process counted as quality workouts because I'm STILL sore from it! I got into my new place and have it all set up now though so I'm back in the swing of things.

I used this weekend as a chance to see exactly where I am at. I did two races. On Saturday, I did the Burr Ridge 5K. Every year, my firm will pay the registration for any employee that wishes to participate. I took advantage of the free entry and signed up. I even placed a friendly bet with a friend. I'm not gonna lie...he's kind of a badass runner so I knew it was going to be hard. There was absolutely no way that I could beat him flat out so we had to do a minutes spread. After much Googling, I found his ridiculously fast times and after much thought and calculation, I came up with 9 minutes. If he beat me by more than 9 minutes, he won and I owed him dinner. If he beat me by less than 9 minutes, I won and he buys dinner. I don't think it could have come any closer. He beat me by 8 minutes and 45 seconds. So I WON! But let's not forget the fact he ran a 19:24 which equals 6:15 per mile!!!! That's freakishly fast. So hats off to him for a good race! My time was 28:09. This is my fastest 5K time EVER. So I was really happy with that too.

Then today I got out and did my first tri of the season. I did the Naperville SheROX Sprint Triathlon. I had never done a sprint distance and I think it went pretty well. My goal was to finish in 1:30. My official finish was 1:33:09. I can't complain about that. My swim time was 11:11, 1st transition was 3:36, bike was 45:28, 2nd transition 2:51, and the run was 30:09. So I finished off the tri with a 5K only 2 minutes slower than Saturday's straight 5K. I am EXTREMELY HAPPY with that!

I learned today, however, that the bike is where I need to focus my improvement. My swim is always going to be one of the top times. That's to be expected when you spend 17 years as a competitive swimmer. My run is always just going to be mediocre. When just running, I can hold 9 minute miles. I'm just not built to run (and hold) sub-9's. When you put the run after a swim and a bike, I am lucky to hold 10 minute miles. And regardless of how crappy I feel, I don't really every go slower than 13 minute miles (however that may be my average when we get to Ironman!) So all that is left to improve upon is my bike. I averaged about 17.5 MPH today. If I could bump up my average to even say just 20 MPH, that would shave off a significant amount of time over the course of a 112 mile ride in the Ironman. So that is where I am now placing my focus. I will keep up the swimming as usual and just maintain my level there. I will get in the running but I'm not going to kill myself with any speed work or trying to improve. My main goal now is to increase my speed while decreasing the effort on the bike. If I can cut time on the bike, it will allow me some extra time in the run when I know I am going to be hating life.

This weekend of racing was exactly what I needed to renew my motivation, though. I am a competitor at heart. I like to race. The daily grind of training isn't what excites me. It's the thrill of getting out there, racing against my competitors, fighting against my mind, and seeing what kind of time I can put in. After two successful races this weekend, my inner competitor is coming out and I'm excited again!

What a freaking roller coaster

Oh. My. Goodness. What a freaking mess I am. I don't even know where to begin. I'm still struggling to get in all of my workouts because there just aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything I need to. Throw in the stress of moving next week and I'm all sorts of screwed.

I'm also INCREDIBLY frustrated by the weight roller coaster I have been on. You would think that someone who exercises as often as I do wouldn't have any problem dropping those last couple pounds. But nooooooooo...I may be the only person training for an Ironman that GAINS almost ten pounds in a matter of months. WTF?! I try to be conscious of what I am putting in my body but obviously I'm not doing a good job of that. So starting this morning I'm really putting a lot of effort into it. One problem I see is that I don't eat fruit. But I'm trying.

I was also pretty upset with my run attempt this morning. The goal was to get in 8 miles before court this morning. I started running and felt like I was going to puke. I got in about 3 miles of running and a mile and a half of walking before I had to quit. So we will try again this evening and see if I can get it in.

I did, however, have a decent bike ride on Saturday. Put in 25 miles and encountered a ton of obtacles (skater punks in the path, the Autism Speaks walk, some rain and some downpour).

So, send some love my way and keep me motivated!!!!!! I NEED HELP!!!!!!

HALF WAY THERE!!!!!

Well, Ironman Louisville is 15 weeks from today! I started this journey 15 weeks ago. I can't believe I am halfway there. I'm not really sure where the past 15 weeks have gone. I did a really good job at the beginning of training...and of blogging about it. And recently I have slacked off on both. So let's see where I am:

Swimming - this is the one leg I KNOW I am rocking! I haven't upped it to three swimming days per week yet (even though my schedule says I should have started that a few weeks ago). But, I am feeling pretty good in the water. From February until last week, we were swimming short course yards. For the whole month of April, we were relegated to the small pool at UIC and had to share the pool with the triathlon club. That was a little frustrating with so many people in the pool but we made it through :-) Then last week we went back to the big pool and jumped right into long course meters. My first day back in long course, Andy kicked my ass. We started off with a twenty minute warm up. Then went right into a mile for time. The last time we did that for time was back in August. I don't remember my time then but this week, I did it in 22:51. Then we did a 300 kick and 3 x 100 descend. Next up: 500 for time. Did that one in 7:31. Throw in an easy 100 then it was a 100 all out sprint, that I did in 1:19.8. Not too shabby if you ask me. Thursday was another pretty good day and I'm getting stronger every day in the water.

Biking - this one is a struggle. The weather has not been too cooperative with me lately. I'm supposed to be doing 3 hour rides on Saturdays but it has been cold. I'm not going to lie...I'm a wuss in cold weather and I will NOT bike when it is cold outside. Running I can handle but I cannot do the cold wind in my face. I also an waaaaay too ADD to sit on a stationary bike for 3 hours. So the longest ride I have gotten in has been only about an hour. Wednesdays are pretty good for me though and I bike for 45 minutes and go straight into a 15 minute run. Other than that though, I am lacking (and slacking) on the bike. I need to get back in gear there. The weather today was gorgeous though so hopefully I'll be able to get in some good rides soon.

Running - I'm doing alright here. I've let my Saturday nights get in the way of my Sunday morning runs. So I haven't gotten in as much distance as I would like. I did, however, get out today and put in 8 miles. My feet and knees are a little sore afterwards but I feel good. I've not been able to get in my two a days in my schedule because I don't have the time. We switched up the court schedule again too so I'm not quite sure how that is going to affect things. I guess we are just going to have to wait and see. But for now, I'm getting in what I can.

I have 15 weeks to go and a LOT of goals to reach before that day. I'm re-centering myself and focusing on my training again. Let's see where it gets me!

Back on Track

I've really struggled to get in my workouts lately. It seems like life just gets in the way. My mom was here last Thursday-Sunday too so of course, I would rather hang out with her than swim, bike, and run. So after a rocky couple of weeks, I gave myself a pep talk and got back to work.

Unfortunately, the big pool at UIC is being drained, cleaned, and upgraded so we have been relegated to the small pool. So we go from an 8 lane 50 meter pool so a 6 lane 25 yard pool. And we triple the number of swimmers. See, there's this triathlon club that swims at UIC in the mornings too. They are the usual inhabitants of the small pool. But now we have overtaken it and they swim with us. It was a little tough to get used to having so many people in a lane (kind of like high school swimming all over again) but it ended up being rather entertaining. If you know anything about triathletes, you know that the vast majority of them are not swimmers. They can swim well enough to do a tri but most were not competitive swimmers. So having the

m join in our practice and try to hang was pretty fun. They were all really nice though and we adapted practice and did some fun sets that lend themselves to crowded lanes.

This morning I had probably the best workout I have had since I started training. I missed yesterday's hour long run because I had to do some errands on my lunch break. So I extended my run today. On the schedule for today was a 45 min bike and a 30 min run. Riding a stationary bike can get a little boring so I tried to mix it up today. I broke it down by songs. I did an easy spin for one song, upped the resistance for the next song, then upped it even more and stood up on the bike for the next song. Then I kept repeating that for the full 45 minutes. Kept it interesting and didn't seem that long because you just had to get through the current song. So then I moved to the treadmill and decided to do the same thing there. I would run at 5 mph for a song, 5.5 mph for the next song, then 6 mph for the third. Then repeat. When I got to the end, I sprinted for two minutes then cooled down. I felt AWESOME. I really didn't want to get off the treadmill but sadly, I had to go to work.

After sitting at my desk all day long, however, my hips are a little on the sore side. Hopefully after a good night's sleep, I'll feel better in the morning :-)

On a side note, check out the cover of USA Triathlon Magazine. The woman on

the cover is Melissa Stockwell...also known as one of the most amazing women I have ever m

et. You may also have seen her on TV during March Madness as she has a new commercial that

aired. I first met Melissa last year at one of my swim practices. She also swims with the Chicago Masters. At practice one day, she introduced herself and we started talking. I told her that day that I was training for the half and every time I saw here thereafter, she would ask how my training was going and she was the first to ask how the race went when I came back to practice after Steelhead. I'll admit, after talking with her at practice, I did some Google-stalking and came across her website (www.melissastockwell.com). And shortly after that, I started seeing her name pop up everywhere. She is making a name for herself in the triathlon world and following her triathlon career helps keep me motivated. And she's just a nice person! Not everyone can be friendly and cheerful at 6am :-) I'll also point out that I am in love with her dog. He accompanies her to swim practice and is always happy to see you.

I'm glad to get back on track and feel good about my training...Louisville is less than 5 months away!!!!!!!!!

I hate stupid people

Generally, I like to have patience with people.

OK, who am I kidding, I have no such thing. And my patience for stupid people is even less. And that is why swim practice today was brutal. It started out like any normal swim practice. We had a short warm up of 6 x 75 (25 kick, 25 drill, 25 swim), 3 x 100 kick descend, 8 x 25 underwater, and 3 x 100 swim descend.

Then we got right into our main set. We did 20 x 100. There were a couple different interval choices but the point of the set was to hold your best possible average while getting 10-20 seconds rest. There were three of us in our lane and two of us were sure that we could not make interval #1 so we opted to do #2: holding 1:15's but leaving on the 1:40. The third person in our lane (whom I will just call D for "dummy") said, "oh c'mon, we can make 1:20." Coach Andy hears him say this and says, "the point isn't to make the interval, it is to hold your best possible average while getting 10-20 seconds rest." So D just says, "whatever", and we start the set. He decides to go second in our lane. After only 2 or 3 100's, D is already frustrated and says to Andy, "How am I supposed to get faster with all of this rest?" Andy of course responds that we are not supposed to be getting faster but D is just so worried about improving his speed. Andy explains that this is an endurance set and if you do it correctly, it will get harder and harder as you try to maintain that best possible average as your body starts to get tired. D doesn't believe him, takes over our lane, and continues to bitch after EVERY SINGLE 100!!!!!!!!

Finally, we hit #8 or 9 and he starts to feel the burn. So now instead of questioning the coach's workout, he complains after every one that he is dying, that he is not going to make it, and that this is so hard. Mind you, while D is complaining, Patrick and I are rocking the set, maintaining our average, and feeling great. We finally finished our 20 x 100 and D had nothing positive to say. I loved today's practice and felt great afterwards. Had I been able to drown D in the middle of the set, it would have been even better!

So, stupid people aside, today was a great day. And for those of you that are like my good friend D, listen to your coach, suck it up, and quit your bitching!

Where did my ass go?

So, I've lost my ass. I don't know where it went. I realize I am trying to lose some weight and get down to my ideal race weight, but having a little extra cushion in my rear-end is NEVER a bad thing! My butt hurts from biking yesterday :-(

I got up super early (for a Saturday) and headed into the office Saturday morning. My plan was to come home and take a nap afterwards but the sunshine was just too tempting. It looked gorgeous outside and there was more sunshine than Chicago has seen in the last six months combined. So I took the Canondale off the trainer and headed out for my first OUTDOOR bike ride of this training season. I went about 18 miles: started at my house and headed to the Lake Front Trail. I rode south to McCormick Place then turned around and came back. There was a nice tail wind going down so I was holding a steady and comfortable 18 mph. The ride home was a little tougher with the wind in my face so I dropped down.

It was SO NICE to get outside again and ride! It definitely put me in good spirits after the funk I've been the past week. That was the start to an excellent weekend...it was followed by a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo and an afternoon at Stanley's that turned into a night at Stanley's. Now I am heading out to go to the Purdue game! Here's to a great weekend and hopefully a good week to come!

I'm in a Funk

So, the past week and a half has really been a struggle for me training-wise. It all started about last Thursday. I made every workout for the week until my bike ride Thrusday night. And the excuse is the same almost every Thursday...I go to Buffalo Wild Wings with people from work, have a few beers, and get home too late to do anything. Last Thursday was no exception. I went to BW's, had more than a few beers, and stayed out later than I usually do. So biking was out of the question...as much as I love the midnight rides with the Marauders, it's not really a Thursday night activity. Then Friday morning I was supposed to run an hour before I headed to court then to Indianapolis. Because of the activities from the night before, I couldn't get out of bed in time to run. I woke up, showered, and went straight to court. Saturday was supposed to be a bike ride but I didn't want to fuss with taking my bike to Waukegan and then on to Indy so I didn't bike. And by the time Sunday rolled around, I was just too tired from a whirlwind weekend (plus losing an hour in the time change) to get off the couch and run.

Then a new week started and I tried to have a fresh attitude. I got up Tuesday after an excellent sleep and made my way to the pool. Nothing but frustration. I couldn't hang with my normal lane-mates and went over to LANE 5!!!! For those of you that don't know the set up for my team, that's borderline snail pace. I tend to stay in lane 2 or 3. So to go to 5 was a huge step down. I had planned on running an hour after court but then realized I had absolutely no food at home for dinners or in the office for lunch. So I spent my lunch break grocery shopping. Wednesdays are usually clutch for me and I have no problems. Well, this Wednesday, I just couldn't get out of bed (despite the fact that I got decent sleep). So I skipped the am gym session and went on my lunch. Because of that, I had to cut it down from a 45 min bike and 15 min run to a 20 min bike and 10 min run. There was a get together downtown Wednesday night with people from court so I of course made an appearance, had a few beers, and got home too late. So Thursday was a complete bust this week. I was too tired to get up for swim practice, didn't have time to make the gym on lunch, and went out to celebrate St. Patty's Day with green beer after work. Training FAIL.

I was partially responsible last night though and limited myself to one beer then went home knowing I had to get up and run for 75 minutes this morning. I woke up right on time feeling refreshed, changed my clothes, and headed to the gym. I'm not sure if it is the changing weather or what but it was freaking HOT in the gym. I just couldn't do the full run. I ended up running for 45 minutes and walked for 15 then called it quits. By the time I finished, I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower because I was so drenched with sweat. I also got pretty jittery about halfway through the run. That usually only happens when I don't eat but I had a small breakfast before hitting the gym and went through one and a half water bottles while running. So, not sure where that is coming from.

HOPEFULLY, this weekend will prove to be successful. I would like to get outside to bike a little bit but we will see how the weather is. I'm just hoping I can get out of this funk soon because I don't like the way I feel and I don't like when I skip out on so many training sessions. So keep your fingers crossed that I will have a much more positive update next week!

Some Lunch-time Blogging :-)

I'm enjoying the remainder of my lunch break and realized that I haven't done much updating in the past couple days. Then when I really think about it, I had kind of a slacker week last week. It started off strong coming back to Chicago from Indy. I jumped right into a new week and was feeling pretty good. I seem to be struggling with getting in my Thursday evening bikes. This is mainly because I like to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with my coworkers after work and biking after wings and beer just doesn't sound fun. This past week, however, I had a much better excuse not to ride:

Reason 1: Kelsey

Reason 2: Ben

Unfortunately, my sister-in-law's sister was in the hospital so Kate packed up the kids and came to Chicago. My brother was in LA for business and couldn't get here till Thursday night. So Aunt Cari had to come to the rescue and take some time off work to babysit and play with the kids. It was definitely more fun than biking! I was glad that I got to spend some time with my favorite little kiddos and I'm fairly certain that chasing around a 3 year old and a one and a half year old constitutes working out! And to all my followers: keep sending up some prayers for Kate's sister Erin, her husband Michael, and new baby Jacob!

Then we got to the weekend and I was just too busy Saturday to get in my long bike ride. And by busy, I mean, I had interviews all morning until 2. Then I took a nap. When I woke up, I immediately met my friends at the bar at 5:30 Saturday evening. And the last portion of that explains why I didn't get in my long run on Sunday...or anything else I was supposed to accomplish on Sunday besides laying on the couch and catching up on TV.

So Monday rolls around and I switched my "rest" day and made up for Sunday on Monday. Got in a decent 60 min run at the gym before heading to the office. I've decided that Tuesdays are my favorite training day. I really like swimming and the afternoon/evening run I do is usually pretty good. Swim practice was more of a distance set (which is not my favorite). BUT, I finished it and felt accomplished! The main set was a ladder up then down. Going up, we held pace with a 1:20 base. Coming down, everything was sprint with a 1:45 base. So we did pace 100 on 1:20, 200 on 2:40, 400 on 5:20, and 800 on 10:40. Then we did sprint 800 on 14:00, 400 on 7:00, 200 on 3:30, and 100 all out. I did the 100 in 1:11...not too shabby for it being the last thing we did in practice.

My Tuesday afternoon got a little jumbled because my normal routine is to hit the gym right after court. But, I had an eye doctor appointment and was forced to go to the gym after the office. Note to self: GYM IS PACKED IN THE EVENING!!!!! I drove around for like 10 minutes before finding a parking spot then had to search for a treadmill. I finally found one facing the back of the gym instead of the TV's. :-( I made it through though and put in a solid performance for another 60 min run.

This morning was a 45 min spin on the bike then a 15 minute run. I felt pretty good during it but now both of my calves are incredibly tight. I'm not real sure how to loosen them up but it's not exactly a pleasant feeling. I am ok when I am just sitting at my desk but when I have to get up and walk somewhere, I kind of hate my life. So I'm looking into some options on how to battle this tightness. Suggestions are welcome! (Free massages are also encouraged).

The Little Things in Life

My mom's birthday was this past Sunday so I spent the weekend in Indianapolis. And I'm proud to say I only missed one training session while celebrating with her! I hit up the gym Friday morning before work and managed to get in my 45 minute run. I got to Indy around 8:00 Friday night and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal...haven't had one of those in a while :-)

I missed my hour and a half bike ride on Saturday but it was totally worth it to skip. I had a very relaxing day that was MUCH NEEDED. I got my hair cut that morning, enjoyed lunch with Mom, my hairdresser, and the coolest nephew in the world, Ben. Mom and I babysat Ben for the afternoon. He is such a fun age right now! Then Mom and I got pedicures before having another home cooked meal. I ended my day of relaxation catching up with my girls.

I got back into things on Sunday. After a birthday breakfast, Mom and I headed out shopping. I bought a new pair of running shoes and shorts and got an excellent deal. I am quite the coupon shopper nowadays :-) And, because I truly am my grandma's granddaughter, I CANNOT wait to wear something new. So I laced up the new shoes, put on my new shorts, and headed out for an AWESOME 6 mile run. Four out of the six miles were under 9:45 pace. Miles 3 and 4 were just over 10 minutes but I figured out why they were so much slower...I was running into the wind and I was also running in the grass (which was squishy and muddy). It was not my plan to run in the mud but it really isn't safe to run down Meridian St. I was incredibly pleased with this run and afterwards felt no guilt devouring the awesome chocolate cake that my sister-in-law made!

On the menu for today was swimming and a 45 minute run. Swim practice was pretty good this morning. Just in case you haven't picked up on it thus far from my posts...I loathe long distance swimming. The majority of my angry posts are me bitching about Andy's long distance workouts. Today was a long distance practice that I actually DIDN'T hate! It was a pretty standard warmup consisting of 4 x 75 (50 drill, 25 swim), 4 x 100 IM order (25 kick, 50 drill, 25 swim), 3 x 100 kick descend, and 4 x 100 free descend. Then we hit the main set: 5 x 500 free. #1-3 were on 7:00 and #4-5 were on 6:40. I moved to a lane where I didn't have to worry about anyone riding my ass or getting passed and I ROCKED the 500's. The two on 6:40 were pretty tough but I made them. After the 500's, we did some sprints from the block. I did a 50 fly in :32.6, a 50 breast in :37.1, and a 50 free in :31.5-ish. Not bad considering it was at the end of practice. I felt AWESOME afterwards...until I had to go shower and the hot water in UIC was not working. Do you know how painful it is to wash your hair in freezing water? On a side note, apparently the mayor elect of Chicago occasionally swims with the Chicago Masters. I was told today that he was at practice yesterday. I'll keep my eyes peeled and maybe he'll grace us with his presence again.

I did the 45 minute run on my lunch break. I've upgraded to a four mile lunch. And next week my Tuesday runs increase to an hour. So I'll be moving to a 6 mile lunch. The time is really starting to increase on the bike and run. Luckily, I am feeling pretty great while running. I'm feeling strong and averaging 10 minute miles. My goal for Ironman is to complete the marathon in 6 hours of under. That breaks down into just over 13:30/mile. If I can maintain the 10 minute mile in training, I'd like to think I can maintain 13 minute miles in the race. I understand that I will be quite tired by the time I get off the bike to start running but I'm just going to have to push through that. If I want to make my goal time of under 15 hours total, I'm going to have to kick it up a notch on my run.

I'm excited for the upcoming month of training. The past weekend was a great way to reinvigorate myself and get excited. It's the little things in life like spending three days hanging out with my mom, playing with my niece and nephew, and catching up with old friends that really picks me up. 4 weeks down, 26 to go! I can't believe it is March already! Before we know it, August will be here and I will be a complete basketcase.

There's No Crying in Swimming

Wow...today was frustrating. That is the only word I can use to describe it. I literally was about two seconds away from crying in the pool. It's hard to pinpoint exactly where it all went wrong this morning but it was definitely during the warm up set. My mind has been in so many different places lately, that I couldn't focus on what I was doing. I screwed up the easiest part of warm up! We were supposed to do 8 x 50 (25K/25S) IM order on the :50. I did 4 then moved right along to the next thing. Oops...I screwed up everyone in my lane. I recovered from that though and got ready for our main set.

And this is where I broke down. We were supposed to do 3 x 750 double descend. Intervals were 11:30, 10:30, 9:30. I should point out that distance swimming is not my friend. Especially when I have lots on my mind. I get started swimming then I start thinking about everything else going on in my life and pretty soon, I am completely lost and have no idea how far along I am. Sure enough, this happened today and before the first 250 was done, I had already lost count. So I was already off on trying to build the 750. Then somewhere around 600 yards, I got passed...by both of the guys in my lane. (In my defense, Niles was wearing both fins and paddles so he was swimming fast) That first one just completely defeated me. So I got out of my lane, moved over a couple, and made my own practice. I still did the same distance (1500 yards) but I did it on my own terms. I did 5 x 100 on 1:30, 5 x 100 on 1:25, and 5 x 100 on 1:15. By the time I finished that, it was 7:00 and I decided to call it quits for the day. I headed for the shower and made my way into the office.

After this shitshow of a morning session, the last thing I wanted to do was work out again. But I dragged my [not so] happy ass to the gym and reinstated the three mile lunch. I did 30 minutes on the treadmill at 6 mph. So I ran exactly three miles, cooled down, grabbed a quick shower, and headed back to the office. I felt really good while running so that was the highlight of my day.

And now I am struggling with my internet. For some reason, my network went out and will not reboot. So I'm stealing internet access from one of my neighbors to finish this post. Then I think it is just time to call it a day and go to bed!!!! Let's hope the rest of this week goes smoothly because I can't take another morning like today!

My Butt Hurts

So, my butt can tell that it hasn't ridden a bike in a while. Today was the longest ride I've had thus far in my training program and my rear-end is feeling it. And sadly, I had to cut my ride 15 minutes short because I just couldn't sit there any longer. After an hour and a half of sitting on a not-so-comfortable bike seat not moving anywhere but watching a Law and Order SVU marathon, I called it quits. I've got the padded shorts on and everything but couldn't do it anymore. Nevertheless, it was a good spin session. I can already tell that my legs are getting stronger and the time passed a lot more quickly than I expected it would.

This week was pretty tough in the training world. And I made all but one workout. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get myself off the couch Friday to go for a run. I got home from court around 3:30, got sucked into Jeopardy, and stayed there until it was dark out. So I missed an hour run. Other than that though, I completed every scheduled workout.

Tuesday morning's swim was excellent. The main set was 2 x 200 free, 2 x 500 free, 4 x 200 free, then 1 x 500 free. The times were 2:45 on the 200's and 6:00 on the 500's. It kicked my ass but I felt GREAT afterwards. Niles (one of the guys I regularly swim with) kept me motivated and he and I finished the set together. Tuesday's run on the other hand, was brutal. I need to tweak the Tuesday schedule a little bit. Typically, I get up, swim, eat breakfast, go to court, run, then eat lunch. However, by the time I get to the gym for that run, my breakfast has long burned off. I barely finished my 45 minutes and felt like I was going to pass out. So we're going to have to work on that.

Thursday was a struggle too just because by the time I got home from work, I just did NOT want to get on the bike. But, after a small fight with myself, I did it. I just need to keep up the motivation and I'll be ok.

On the schedule for tomorrow is another hour run. That shouldn't be a problem for me. I was supposed to go out tonight but I think those plans are falling through so I have no excuse not to get up and run before church. 27 weeks left! Let's get it!

Negative Splits

The weather has FINALLY cooperated with me and allowed me to run outside again! It got into the 40's today and I headed out this morning for an hour run. This was the first outdoor run I have done based solely on time instead of mileage.

I got in 6 miles in my one hour which is a great pace for me. I know that I am not going to hold 10 minute miles for a full marathon after swimming and biking. But, I think that i can potentially hole 13 minute miles. If I can keep up a faster pace for my shorter runs, I think I can hold a slower pace for the longer ones.

The exciting thing about this morning's run was that I negative split the six miles. It wasn't a significant negative split but there was a 15 second difference between the first three miles and the second three miles. And my last mile was the fastest of all coming in at exactly 10:00. I felt great and probably could have kept going but I had to get back, shower, and head downtown to church.

I'm feeling good and have enjoyed the rest of my Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow starts Week 3! Let's keep it up :-)

Breaking the Monotony

As I'm sure many of you know...doing the same thing over and over again gets pretty boring. Unfortunately, it is imperative to swim, bike, and run while training for any distance triathlon. And some days are looooong. So I like to find different ways to make it more exciting and make the time pass.

This past weekend was my first weekend of training. Saturdays are long bike days and Sundays are long runs. Because of the weather, I had to stay indoors. So how do you make a 60 minute bike ride on a stationary bike more exciting? You watch the NCIS marathon on USA :-) It's a lot easier to keep going when you are watching something interesting. If you want to mix it up even more, spin harder during the show and take it easy on the commercials. Then it gives you a bit of interval training which can be more beneficial than just straight spinning for an hour. It's best if you haven't seen the particular episode of that show so you don't know what is coming but it had been a while since I saw it so I didn't remember everything.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 7 all prepared to brave the elements and run for 45 minutes outside. Well, Mother Nature had different plans for me and it was snowing with a fresh inch or so on the ground. I'm not gonna lie, I am a wuss when it comes to running outside in the cold, especially when it's slick as shit. I'm not going to bust my ass. So I swapped out my Monday rest day with my 45 minute run on Sunday. I headed into the gym at 6am Monday and hopped on the treadmill. Because this was a long run, it wasn't supposed to be too high of intensity. Making this treadmill run more exciting was pretty much impossible. But thanks to Eminem's Recovery, I had some good tunes to get me through. I'm also pretty sure I look ridiculous when I'm singing to myself and almost dancing while running.

And now my favorite workout I've had in the past week. Today is Tuesday so it is a swim and run day. I headed to the pool this morning. Anyone who has put in the yardage in the pool knows that sometimes it's just flat boring. Especially when you're trying to get in a lot. I, personally, spend way too much time in my head if I'm just mindlessly swimming laps and over-analyze EVERY little detail of my life. So thanks to Andy, I had other things to think about today. We did a pretty standard warm up consisting of 200 kick, 200 free, 200 IM, 200 free. Then we did a vertical kicking set 2 x [5x :40 on, :20 rest, then two 50's free on 1:00 with a max of 3 breaths per 50]. Then it was time for the main set: the 1:01 Challenge. Here's how it works: it's 50's on the 1:01. BUT, you always have to make it back by the top. So you leave on the top, swim a 50, make it back by the top, then leave on the :01. And you keep doing them on the 1:01 but making it back before the top. You keep going until you no longer make it back by the top. I ended up doing about 30 50's. The last one I made was on :30. I'm not sure if I could have made more, but I had to get out and get ready for work. I'll be honest, I wasn't a big fan of this new coach but he's coming up with neat ways of making practice interesting. After about 8-10 months, I kind of like him now :-)

And now it's off to be an adult and go to work. I'll get my 30 min run in at lunch today on the treadmill and will hopefully be celebrating a successful day with dinner with my brother tonight.

Blizzard Blues

So, the infamous Blizzard of 2011 has put a damper on the training. Tuesday was day 2 of training and I needed to swim and run. I got the swim in but didn't make it to the gym to do my running. I thought about getting outside before the snow started to run quickly but I had to sign in to work from home and finish out the work day. By the time I signed out, the snow had started and showed no signs of stopping.

Wednesday was supposed to be a bike transitioning into run day. In all honesty, I could have gotten the bike in but once again, I was working from home and really didn't want to get out of my pajamas. I finally got out of my pj's and trekked over to Target for some sustenance. I took a few pictures and just so you know I wasn't being lazy, here is the proof that I couldn't run outside:

So there went Wednesday's training. Today was supposed to be a swim and bike day. Because my car was covered in snow (see above), I couldn't get to the pool this morning and struggled to make it to court on time so the biking didn't happen either. The CTA was PACKED and it was rather slow this morning.

So my alternate form of exercise for today was shoveling. I'm pretty sure my office wasn't going to let me stay home forever so I needed to make sure I could get there tomorrow. It took me an hour but I am happy to report that I can now get my car out of it's parking spot and can make the commute out to Burr Ridge tomorrow. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor but I'm fairly confident it got up there while shoveling. And I'm also pretty sure I'm going to be incredibly sore tomorrow.

The blizzard may have ruined my training for a couple days, but I'll be back in the gym tomorrow morning bright and early. Treadmill run with Staci then we're trying out the yoga-pilates fusion class. Thankfully, this is just the first week of training so I have plenty of time to make it up...29 weeks to be exact. No problem! I'll get back on the wagon tomorrow and all will be good.

Emotions Run Wild

First of all, few things in this world have the ability to make my eyes tear up instantaneously. One of them just so happens to be this magazine. I started receiving it shortly after completing the Steelhead 70.3 last year. Apparently, they thought I deserved a free subscription after paying the exorbitant entry fee. (Little did I know that the entry for a full Ironman would be even more ridiculous!) The magazine is called Lava and is billed as a magazine for "serious triathletes". I'm not sure if I qualify as "serious" but I'm trying! My first opinion was that there were waaaay too many advertisements in its pages. But they are effective! Each time I open one up, I find new gadgets to buy for my current bike and I am constantly drooling over my dream bike (which cost about as much as the car I'm driving!) Each issue gets even better and sends me on an emotional rollercoaster. One page tells the incredibly inspiring stories of Kona champions and shows me what hard work and dedication can do. I get so inspired by reading their stories and feel like I can conquer the world. Then I turn the page and read a story about how grueling the last ten miles of the bike is and the thoughts running through your mind as you head into T2 anticipating a full marathon run. These stories are the ones that fill my head with doubt, make me question my sanity, and I wonder what I have gotten myself into. But when all is said and done, I put down each issue a little bit more excited.

Now we move on to today's training. Today was the first actual day of workouts in my training program. One the menu was swimming and a 30 minute run. After a short battle with myself to get out of bed, I managed to get my ass out of bed and head to the pool. Thankfully, the snow hadn't really begun yet so I didn't have too much to brush off of my car. The workout was a little brutal. I totaled 3950 yards this morning. Warm up: 200 kick on the 4:15, 4 x 50 drill on the 1:15, and 3 x 200 (25 kick, 25 swim) on the 3:15. First set: 40 x 25 kick on :30 [(ez, fast, underwater, fast, ez, fast, fast, underwater) x 5]. The main set was the same for everyone but our intervals were different. The base time was your fastest 100 free time rounded to the nearest 5 seconds (this was a recent fastest 100 time...not a lifetime best). So my base time was 1:00. The intervals then were your base + 5 seconds for the first 12, your base time for the next 8, and your base time - 5 seconds for the last 4. The main set for Niles and me in lane for therefore was: 12 x 75 on the 1:05 then 1:00 rest, 8 x 75 on 1:00 and 1:00 rest, then 4 x 75 on the :55. It was TOUGH! I made the first 12 easily. Then I made the next 5 comfortably and was touch and go for the next three. Finally, the last 4 were too fast and it was just touch and go. But I finished. And I felt GREAT afterwards! Niles and I were quite impressed with ourselves, not only because we made the times, but because we stayed in throughout the whole practice :-)

I was also supposed to get in a 30 minute run today. There wasn't time to run after swimming and before court. So I originally was going to head into the gym to run on the treadmill. Apparently, the impending Chicago blizzard had other plans for me. The weather was ok after court and I could have made it to the office. But, the snow was supposed to start early afternoon. I did NOT want to chance it and get stuck out in the burbs at the office all night with the storm. So I called it a day and went back to work from home. Running didn't happen today but at least I had an excellent swim practice.

Let's see what tomorrow has in store for my training!

On your mark, get set, GO!

Things are about to get real...30 weeks of training begins tomorrow. Well, kind of. My training program starts tomorrow but conveniently, the first day is a rest day. I think I'm going to like Mondays! I've mentioned before but I am following the "intermediate" training program from the book Be Iron Fit.

For those of you who are wondering, here is the breakdown of my workouts:
Monday - rest day (and since I'm not good at resting, it will most likely involve a brisk walk and some yoga to stretch out)

Tuesday - swim and a medium length run Zone 2-3 run

Wednesday - short Zone 2 bike transitioning into a short Zone 2 run (focus is on the transition from biking to running)

Thursday - swim and medium length Zone 1 bike

Friday - medium length Zone 2 run (and beginning in April, I will add swimming on Fridays too)

Saturday - long bike

Sunday - long run

Since it is still rather cold outside, I'll be doing a lot of my training indoors. During the week, I'll be at the gym. I am going to try and do my long bikes and long runs outdoors though. Hitting the gym during the week also works better with my schedule so even when the weather improves, I'll still frequent the Lifetime.

One of the things I really liked about the above book was all of the references it gives. It tackles everything from effective time management to technique to mental training to proper nutrition during training and during races. It is going to be my go to resource. Hopefully with constant reference, I'll make it to my end goal. And obviously, the main goal here is to finish Ironman Louisville well within the 17 hour time limit so that I can officially be an Ironwoman. But I have a smaller list of goals that I hope to accomplish on my way there. So I'm going to post them here and hopefully I will be able to update each time I accomplish one of them.

Here they are:
1) Beat my friend Matt in the Lifetime Fitness indoor triathlon! (We still need to sign up for this so if you're reading this, let's get on it!)

2) Complete an Olympic distance triathlon in less than 3 hours. My personal best is 3:11.04. So taking roughly 12 minutes off is a reasonable goal I think.

3) Finish the Muncie Ironman 70.3 in less than 6 hours and 15 minutes. Surely I can shave off 21 minutes over 70.3 miles.

4) Reach my ideal racing weight by August (roughly 15 pounds less than what I weigh today)

5) Finish Ironman Louisville in less than 15 hours and run the marathon portion in less than 6 hours.

6) Get my m-dot tattoo without passing out!

Oh, hello flip turns!

After taking last week off from swimming due to an eye infection, I went back this morning and got a wonderful surprise...IT'S TIME FOR SHORT COURSE SEASON! I really like short course season, even though it only lasts from January 24 - mid April. I like walls. And flipturns. But I must admit, doing flipturns and pushing off the walls more frequently really has no benefits for a 2.4 mile open-water swim. Oh well, doesn't mean I can't enjoy these next couple months anyway!

In addition to discovering the short course set up, I also found out today that I am no longer the youngest masters swimmer! Two new girls started swimming this week that are my age. So now there are more women and more people my age. This is good news! Although I will admit that I love the guys I swim with and I think the respect me for hanging with them. I hope that doesn't go away. Because these new girls are FAST! I am no longer the fastest woman there anymore. That's a little tougher for me to swallow. I liked being the only girl to hang with them. But these girls seem really nice and if they stick around, I think they can push me harder and further in my training and I can really benefit from it.

So you all can get an idea of where I'm doing the bulk of my training, here are a few pics:

The UIC pool where I swim with the Chicago Masters.

The new Cannondale Six Carbon 6 on the Magneto trainer in my living room.

So those are two places I will be doing the majority of my cold weather trainer. Add into the mix the Lifetime Fitness treadmill and that's where you'll find me until about March. After last week, I am beginning to find my motivation again. I'm also slightly OCD and keep meticulous notes on each day's workouts. Want to know how many times I've been to the gym each month since August? I can tell you. Want to know what exercise I did 6 Wednesdays ago? I have that too. Want to know what I will be doing 6 months from today? That's planned out too. So I have a concrete way of tracking my goals and my progress. That's just how I am...and let's be honest, you love me for it!

GET EXCITED: We are 214 days away!!!!!! For those of you that want to come join in the festivities, I have made my hotel reservations. Let me know if you are coming and need to find a place to stay. There are some Ironman rates at Louisville hotels. Mom and I have our room booked at a reasonable rate. I hope you'll come and play!