Beautiful Day!

Today was amazing out! Such a beautiful day! Sunny and warm - I can definitely get used to this for the rest of the summer. Got to have lunch on a patio this afternoon, which was what I've been looking forward to all spring. Just waiting for the perfect day for it. Too bad that I had to go back to work after that. Not a great day for wanting to stay at work. After work I got a nice 2 hr bike ride in on Pink Lightning. Again, couldn't have asked for a nicer evening. There was a nice little wind that made me work a bit harder than I would have liked, but that's good training. Right Jim? Ha Ha!

Nice & Windy...

What a great weekend for getting in some longer workouts! Yesterday I worked a bit in the morning and then went out to the dam to do a nice little 10 mile run in the afternoon. Since my legs are still feeling a little bit 'angry' with me, I decided to galloway the run. Interestingly enough, I still pulled down a 9:10 average pace - even with the walks. I'll take that!

 

Today is officially my "off" day, but since I'm not at work I thought I better get some training in (and I could make up for the mechanical issues I had on Saturday). So, I got up early to get a few hours on Pink Lightning and see if my 'angry' legs wouldn't loosen up a bit. Went out to Elm Creek to do the ride. Man! It was windy out! I had my Zipps on, so got a few little 'tugs' at my front wheel during some cross-wind action and I definitely know now what that feels like. Need to get used to handling those suckers in these kinds of conditions, I guess. Needless to say, I didn't spend too much time in the areo position today and my wrists are a bit sore. Oh well...

All-in-all - got in about a 2:30 ride which is what I should have additionally put in on Saturday. Now it's off to a few Memorial Day BBQs and then probably logging back in to do some work tonight.

Busy Week...Recap

Well, been neglectful in blogging this week - so sorry. Been super busy with work with an upcoming deadline + training. Everyone will be happy to know that Heidi is doing good and is itching to get back into the swing of things for upcoming races this summer. We need her on our rides, so she better get a healing! :)

Training has been going well this week. Tuesday I got back to spin class, since I've missed for the past couple weeks due to the marathon and switching nights to the night that I had class. Wednesday I had a great swim - did a mile straight and according to my watch, I was around 4 minutes faster than I was last year at this time. (Granted, I believe I counted all the laps correctly...)

Friday I decided to do a little run down by the Normandale lake near my client site over lunch for giggles. Ran two laps of the lake (roughly 4 miles) and had a fun surprise to see my average pace for that run was 7:53! Crazy - guess I'm into the 7 minute club now! I think I may do this little workout more often over the lunch hour - is a good way to sneak in some mileage. My hip and calf are still giving me some persistent whining since the marathon...but hopefully will be settling down soon.

Today, I ran up to the Apple Duathlon in Sartell to cheer on my TCMC peeps that were racing! Ironman Jim & his wife Heidi did AWESOME - and Heidi qualified for the World Championships. Yeah!!! A few others that I spin with also qualified and so it was a great day of spectating! After the race, I ran home and headed down to the Liberty Half IM course to meet Noelle & Cindy for a ride. We biked one of the loops and during the last 5-10 miles my gears were not shifting well and I was not happy. (Of course it was the gears I like to be in when riding rolling hills, which are prevalent in this route!) Cindy and Noelle were kicking my butt and I was just helpless, grinding in the wrong gears! Grrr..... We stopped at the car after loop one, I tried to adjust the derailer and get things smooth again.

Loop #2, a few miles in - gears were back at their old shinanigans. So... I threw up my hands and decided to go back. I was not going to go blow up my legs (even more than they were) for another 20-some miles riding in the wrong gears - keeping up with speedy 1 and speedy 2. So, in lieu I went back to the car, threw on my shoes and hit the pavement for a bit to at least get a bit of a brick in. I think I'll probably try to get out Sunday and Monday to make up some of the miles I missed - after I get my derailer all fixed up. Oh well! Nobody said I was mechanically inclined!

And "Crash" Was Born...

Yeah, today... a bit of excitement ensued (and not in a good way). I got up this morning and did a few hours of work before meeting up with the girls for our ride out in Buffalo. We were planning to do the Buffalo Olympic route 2X to get in ~50 miles or so. So Cindy, Noelle, Heidi, and a friend of Noelle's met and were off for the trek.

 

I had my Zipps out today, wanted to see how they felt and handled. With a little wind, I'm told they can be a bit 'catchy' and you have to know how to handle them so you don't tumble. On a few of the downhills with cross wind, I was one arm aero, one arm on handle bar/break to steady myself, which was OK... just wanted to make sure I had control. Unfortunately, it was not me that required the control today.

Just about 9-10 miles into the route we were tooling along on a flat patch. Cindy and Heidi were up front, trying to push their mph up higher in the 20's and Noelle and I were a tad further back - she was commenting on how my water bottle holder was about to fall off. Great! So, I was gonna stop and check on that...breaking and slowing down. Not a few second later, I look up and Heidi is FLYING across the road!!! Literally!

She ended up on the shoulder of the opposite side of the road along with her brand new bike. Complete and udder accident!

We hurried over to her side and she was doing OK. Huge road rash and her shoulder was very sore and she was clutching it tightly. I dialed up 911. Few minutes later we had a trooper, firefighter in his truck and the ambulance on the scene. Oh! Before they all came....another biker road right by us all and didn't even stop to see if we needed any help! 5 people with bikes all in the ditch - one girl laying in the middle of the road!?!? And not even an offer of assistance? Wtf? Some people's children!

Anyways... Heidi was loaded up by some cute parametics and taken to the ER. We all turned around and headed back to the park where our cars were parked, met up with the fireman that was wonderful enough to haul Heidi's bike back to us, and headed to meet our friend at the hospital.

In the ER, Heidi was in good spirits. We sat with her while she waited for her x-rays to come back. They came back as nothing broken...which was good. While we were waiting we named Heidi's bike for her.... "Crash"! As the thing had not officially been baptized into the triathlon world yet with a wonderful name (e.g. "Pink Lightning" (mine), "Speed Racer" (Cindy's), or "Moon Goddess" (Noelle)). So, at least we have that from today's escapades!

Cindy and Noelle drove our looped up Morphine-head friend home and did some car magic to get everyone situated with rides (thanks girls!). I had to run home fast, as Suzie was coming for my massage (much needed since the marathon) and then it was back to work for the evening. Oh what a crazy day!?!?! Hides, feel better soon! Love you!

Back Into Running

Thursday was a lovely evening and so I was either going to go for a nice bike ride or go running after work. I opted for running, since my agenda looked like I would be booked up with riding this weekend. I went out to the dam to throw down a few miles and see how I felt post-marathon. I had only done a few short stints of running since the race, so wanted to see how actually doing an hour+ run would feel. The first 3 miles or so felt alright, was a bit stiff and tender - but not terribly bad. Was surprised to see that my pace was still pretty good. After mile 3, I started to get hit with all my idiosyncrasies from the race, however: 

• My blistered TOE - hurt rubbing against my shoe. 
• My CALF - seizing up a tad, this is the one that wanted to go into a charlie horse just after I crossed the finish line and was giving Cindy a hug. 
• My HAMSTRING - little tender to go along with my calf. Don't know where that came from?!

So...I officially have some of that to work on, I guess. Am trying to get a massage in this weekend to get back on track here. All-in-all, ran 8 miles - which was good.

Today we were supposed to go ride the Liberty route (Half IM) with a group. I opted out due to crappy weather. Start time of the ride had the forecast at < 40 degrees (30 degree windchill) and 20+ mph winds. (I require 50 degree weather to ride - am a bit of a cold-baby). Tomorrow, the girls and I plan to go out and ride the Buffalo route a time or two and see if we can't get our mileage in there. Weather seems to be a bit more comfortable, per the current forecast.

Crazy Route & LOST

On Monday, Pink Lightning and my lovely Zipp wheels got out for a nice ride. Wind wasn't too bad and was actually warm out. (Sunday, a tad chilly on the bike - mind you!) So I was going to try for a 20-25 mile route by my house that I typically did last summer. However, as I neared my crossing on Hwy 65 to my route path, the view across the way stopped me - cones and construction all along the shoulder. Grrr.... Well, that put a damper on that lovely route! So, I had to make up a new one. And a new one at that it was. Attempted to snake my way back around to my neck of the woods and zig-zag around to get the mileage in. Not a very good route. Shoulders sucked and pavement at times was patchy. Need to find some better options here. At least my mph was good and my legs felt decent. 

Yesterday was my last day of class for spring semester - yeah! So finished that off and had a little day 'o rest. Had to work into the evening after that (late), so was a tad sleepy and crabby today at work. Oh well...tonight's planned run and swim turned into just a run. Remembered that it is 'water aerobics' night and can't deal with that tonight in my disposition of crabbiness. Which is fine - will make it up in the morning (or at least try to). ha ha. We shall see... As for the rest of the evening...dinner with the hubby and watching the season finale of LOST. Can't wait to see what is in store!

Forgot The Pain...Already

The morning of the Flying Pig marathon a week ago, Cindy and Noelle were mentioning that they already signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon in October - roughly a month after our Ironman. I myself had not and pretty much thought I had missed the boat, as I figured it was filled up already. Noelle said that it probably wasn't full just yet, so I said I'd think about signing up when we got back home (Note: this was about 5:30 AM...prior to the race start).

 

At about mile 20 of the race - this thought was running through my head. "No way in HELL I'm signing myself back up for one of these....voluntarily!" TC Marathon - off the plate. Several days of waddling around with sore legs earlier this week - same answer.

Today, Cindy and I went out to the Oakdale Duathlon to cheer on Heidi, Jim & Heidi, and others that we knew racing. Was a great race and everyone did so well. Was kind of nice to spectate at one of these things...don't usually get to do that. In addition, a bunch of friends are up in Fargo today running the marathon up there...

So, something obviously sparked in me today and I must have forgotten the pain of the race last week (already) - as I just signed up for the TC Marathon. What am I thinking!?!?! That will make 4 marathons this year (including IM) - officially psycho.

I think I want to see what I can do on a 'flatter' course in my home state - see if I can't PR again. I can always back out, pending I'm fried from the IM...but that is a looonnnggg ways out (OK, I'm telling myself it is a long ways out, but that counter up on this blog just keeps ticking faster and faster!).

Soreness Subsiding

So, 3 days post-race, the legs are starting to get back to normal. The boys at work gave me some crap, since I was walking like a 100 year old for about 2 days. Now, I can actually walk down stairs without bracing myself substantially by railings or walls. That is key!

 

On Monday, I went to the pool and 'ran' and stretched in the water to loosen up my legs a bit after getting home from work. That helped quite a bit. Tuesday, I had the 'day off' due to class. Then last night, I got a quick ride outside on Pink Lightning prior to the skies opening up. Was nice to loosen up the legs a bit and to try out the new helmet and sunglasses.

Survey says: Helmet - comfy and love it. Sunglasses - great! Love the fit and requires no 'squinting' when in the aero position. I'm slightly concerned about the lens size, however. These are 'mens' sunglasses and work just fine with the bike helmet, however, might be a little large when paired with a visor on the 'run'. You know my motto....look good, race good. So I might have to try to order up the 'fem' version of these and see if they fit better - but I want the lens color that is in the mens version. Oh, what problems!

Flying Pig Results

Here are my 'official' results from yesterday's race: 

• Time:  4:18:25
• Pace:  9:52
• Overall Place:  1836 out of 4014
• Division Place:  95 out of 254
• Gender Place:  527 out of 1633

PR at Cincinnati

Aughhhhh..... Let's just start with that. We got up this morning at 3:30 to get over to the race 'bright and early'. Rain was starting on the drive over. We got there and Steph let us hang in her car for a bit until the parking attendant got all crabby with us, then we went into the stadium/center that the race was starting from.

 

By race start, the rain had subsided with only a few drips....temps were perfect. Then we were off. Cindy, Noelle and I ran together for a bit (remember, Cindy was only doing the half marathon!). Then Noelle and I peeled off and kept a going. We were holding a pretty decent clip (mostly in the mid-8 minute miles). Miles 5-9, as predicted held for us some really good hills. I made Noelle walk 2-3 of these with me, as my back/broken @ss could not handle these inclines - as I had predicted.

Miles 15-20 really sucked for me (oh! did I mention that Noelle and I decided to run the whole thing....non-Galloway?). Noelle was keeping great pace (in the 8's still) and I fell behind her a good 15-20 paces. But, she kept me motivated and I wasn't going to lose her from my sights. So, we kept on. By mile 20, we were getting a bit tired, and had to throw in some walks for the last 6 miles. Which was fine by me. We were still on par for a great time (in my book).

Noelle had some achilles issues with the hills we had encountered too, so we were both faltering just a tad for the last 10K. By the last mile, Noelle was kicking it pretty hard and trying to keep me motivated. One last hill towards the end - I had to do a stint walking up it for 30-45 seconds...as my back was screaming. Then off to the finish line. I was just bitter to get this done with and Noelle was trying to light a fire under me. I was having nothing of it for the last 3/4 miles. 

Just.Wanted.This.God.Damn.Race.Done! (pardon my french). But 'thanks' Noelle, you are an angel!

We finished 'er up to the cheering from Cindy at the finish line. Didn't see her, but heard her. She did awesome on her half too! Final time for Noelle & I was 4:18 (under a 10 minute mile). PR for me by quite a bit (last marathon was 4:53). The impressive thing was that this course was much, much hillier than San Antonio. Much more challenging!

Post race - legs very sore. Few nice blisters on the toes and I'm sure a few black toes to boot. (We'll see when I take my nail polish off when I get home) Now, it's time to wash up some clothes here before we pack up our stuff for our flight home tomorrow morning. Might need a little nap too. Umm....nap.sounds.nice!

Our feet, post race. Nice blisters on Cindy and my feet. Oh what fun!

All Done!!! (Great medals too! Best medal that I have to date - and it's PINK!!!)

Ready To Run

Today we got up and went over to the Expo. It's a good thing that I really like pink...as you all can tell. As the entire expo clothing line looked like a bit pepto-bismol fest! I got a great jacket (pink), long sleeved tech shirt (pink) and black t-shirt (with pink on it!) plus some other misc. "Flying Pig" stuff.

We also got a tech shirt for the race, a poster, and a bag that was pretty cool. Not too bad for the day, in terms of garb. I may have an issue packing up this stuff and getting it all home in my roller bag. Hmmm.... creative packing may have to ensue.

After the expo, we grabbed lunch and then just bummed around. We found a pottery fair and looked around for a bit and also rode part of the route to see what we were up against. There is one section that may proove to be a tad of a challenge around miles 5-9. I just hope that my back/broken @ss doesn't start to act up with the inclines. Regardless, I'm going to take those easy - as this is a "C" race and not as important as making it to September in one piece.

Tonight is a pasta dinner at Joe's house (Steph's adorable boyfriend) and then early to bed for us girls that need to get up at the crack of dawn for this sucker. Weather report says 50-60 degrees out with 50-60% chance of showers in the AM. I'm guessing we may get wet. Here's hoping not. Race report to follow tomorrow - hopefully in good spirits.

We Made It!

Made to to Cincinnati today....Noelle and I flew in and Cindy and Steph picked us up at the airport. We went out to grab a bite to eat....Mexican, and a few beverages. Yum! Now the bunch of nerds that we are....are all sitting in Steph's living room either blogging or facebooking. Yeah, crazy girls!

Quote of the Day [Thanks to Cindy!] - "I'm just doing the half marathon....REMEMBER?!?!"

(in reference to nutritional information administered to her regarding sodium intake in Ohio)

I guess half marathoners don't require sodium in Ohio... Note to self. Guess that is just for us FULL marathoners, Cindy! Ha ha!

OK, we are ready to hit the town soon...check out a few night spots and chill out for a bit. Expo tomorrow and then getting ready for race day Sunday. Noelle and I are debating plans of action for the race now. To Galloway, or to not Galloway....that is the question (Thanks Jim and Shawn for planting that seed! %$&@! Grrrrr). I guess the world will know when they see our splits on the marathon tracker.