This weekend marked a big change in my triathlon training. I am now being coached! Here's the background on how I made this decision...
Now that I am a member of the Golden Gate Tri Club I decided to take advantage of an awesome program they offer to prepare for Wildflower. Every year they offer their Tri and Give (TAG) program to prepare for the Oly distance and Half Ironman Training (HIT) to prep for the long course. They also have HIT later in the season to prep for Vineman. Both programs are coached by the awesome coaches at Tri More Fitness.
I signed up for TAG to prepare for the Wildflower Oly, with the plan to then transition to the HIT program to prep for the Vineman half. The TAG program is marketed towards people who are new to triathlon, but there are several of us who have already done tri's and there are lots of people who were already runners, cyclists and swimmers before they joined TAG. This weekend was our first set of workouts, a short ride and run on Saturday and a longer run today. There are 40 people in the program, and I think ~25 showed up at each workout. Every week the coaches load our training into Training Peaks on Sunday nights, and we have group workouts on Wednesdays (track night), Saturdays and Sundays. The other training we do on our own.
I joined this program for lots of reasons. The big one is that I thought it would be great to meet people and make new friends, since that is one of the main reasons I joined GGTC. Also, they really start at the ground up with skills training, so I know I'm going to be getting some good swimming and running instruction, and I'll also have ample opportunity to work on my bike handling skills (which need some serious improvement). While I'm confident that I can push myself on my own, and don't really need a group to keep me accountable I think that the social aspects of this group will keep training fun for me.
Aside from our upcoming vacation, I have tons of training stretching out before me from now until July 18th so having some company will be nice. I think it's already working, I ran 5 miles with a friend in the group this morning and the run flew by as we chatted. We'll see as the next few weeks unfold how I adapt to no longer being my own boss when it comes to my training.
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label triathlon. Show all posts
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Back in the Swing of Things
It's been a really solid week of training and I'm feeling good! Last Saturday S and I headed to Marin for a nice fall bike ride "date." We ended up doing a little less than 25 miles with a stop off for lunch at our favorite sandwich place in Tiburon. It was a gorgeous, crisp fall day and it was just a treat to be outside on our bikes enjoying the day.
Sunday I had a really nice "long" (4 mile) trail run in the morning. Monday was back to my usual spinning class that I've been absent from for 6 weeks (yikes), Tuesday was another run and I got in a solid swim yesterday during my day off for Veterans Day.
And yes, you read that correctly I've ran twice since last week! Without hip pain! I've almost finished reading "Chi Running" at the instruction of my PT and I've been incorporating the techniques into my runs. It's a huge adjustment and it makes me realized just how messed up my running technique was before. It's no wonder I always hurt myself when I tried to run more.
I'm working on learning the technique slowly, not running more than 4 miles at a time, and taking note of anything that doesn't feel right. The biggest change is that I'm no longer over-striding or heel striking. Which makes my hips feel great, but makes my calves really sore as they adapt to being used more during the midfoot strike. It's going to take some time to get used to this technique but I feel so much better running this way I'm sure it was the right decision to go this route.
I've got another run on tap tonight and a rest day tomorrow. The weekend is upon us!
Sunday I had a really nice "long" (4 mile) trail run in the morning. Monday was back to my usual spinning class that I've been absent from for 6 weeks (yikes), Tuesday was another run and I got in a solid swim yesterday during my day off for Veterans Day.
And yes, you read that correctly I've ran twice since last week! Without hip pain! I've almost finished reading "Chi Running" at the instruction of my PT and I've been incorporating the techniques into my runs. It's a huge adjustment and it makes me realized just how messed up my running technique was before. It's no wonder I always hurt myself when I tried to run more.
I'm working on learning the technique slowly, not running more than 4 miles at a time, and taking note of anything that doesn't feel right. The biggest change is that I'm no longer over-striding or heel striking. Which makes my hips feel great, but makes my calves really sore as they adapt to being used more during the midfoot strike. It's going to take some time to get used to this technique but I feel so much better running this way I'm sure it was the right decision to go this route.
I've got another run on tap tonight and a rest day tomorrow. The weekend is upon us!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Taking the Next Step
Things have been sort of in limbo in terms of training since I finished the See Jane Tri race. I took a few weeks off to rest and relax, an "off season" of sorts. After that I started to ramp up for the half marathon I'm planning on running in early February, and swiftly my hip injury reared its ugly head.
A few weeks ago I went back to the doctor again. Saw my primary care doc and she sent me to PT. My PT said that I have severely limited range of motion in my right hip and ordered an x-ray to figure out what's going on. After an anxious week of waiting I got the diagnosis - I have some calcified cartilage in between the joint in my hip which is limiting my range of motion and causing me pain.
Saw my PT again today and he thinks that with some intensive ongoing stretching and a bit of modification to my running gait (using some of the tenets of Chi Running) I can be pain free soon. Yay!
Which brings me to the real purpose of this post. With this season being over and a good prognosis with regards to my hip I'm thinking about next year and how I can up the ante and continue to push myself into greater levels of fitness.
And I have my answer. July 18, 2010. I will be competing in the Vineman Ironman 70.3, my first Half Ironman. I registered today and plan to blog here more frequently about the ins and outs of my training leading up to the big day. Bring it on!
A few weeks ago I went back to the doctor again. Saw my primary care doc and she sent me to PT. My PT said that I have severely limited range of motion in my right hip and ordered an x-ray to figure out what's going on. After an anxious week of waiting I got the diagnosis - I have some calcified cartilage in between the joint in my hip which is limiting my range of motion and causing me pain.
Saw my PT again today and he thinks that with some intensive ongoing stretching and a bit of modification to my running gait (using some of the tenets of Chi Running) I can be pain free soon. Yay!
Which brings me to the real purpose of this post. With this season being over and a good prognosis with regards to my hip I'm thinking about next year and how I can up the ante and continue to push myself into greater levels of fitness.
And I have my answer. July 18, 2010. I will be competing in the Vineman Ironman 70.3, my first Half Ironman. I registered today and plan to blog here more frequently about the ins and outs of my training leading up to the big day. Bring it on!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
See Jane Tri Race Recap!
Total Time = 1h 23m 59s
Overall Rank = 229/765
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 54/136
Pre-race routine:
Got up at 5am, had a PB&J, packed up the car and headed with the husband out to Pleasanton. Arrived later than I wanted to (at almost 7am) but ended up being able to squeeze my bike onto a rack in a good location near the bike out/run out in transition. Got body marked, hit the bathroom and checked out the swim course. Then the waiting began.
Event warmup:
I was in the second to last wave so I had planned to have a good warm up while I was waiting around. About 30 minutes before my wave was supposed to go off I hit the bathroom again, put on my wetsuit and had a Cliff bar, thinking that I would warm up a bit before the first wave went off. I got in the water and paddled around a bit. It was really warm and I was one of the few people racing with a wetsuit. I probably could have left it at home.
The first wave (age 50+, relays and special needs) started at 7:50 and I was supposed to start at 8:25. Someone in the first swim wave ended up having trouble (not sure if it was a heart attack or a panic attack or what) and had to be brought to shore by the lifeguards and taken away in an ambulance. I do know that the person was breathing on their own when they were taken so I really hope they ended up being ok. Because of this the race was delayed by an hour. I ended up getting back in the water once when we were waiting for the race to re-start so I could stay warmed up. I didn't plan for the delay from a nutrition standpoint which would come back to bite me later in the race.
Seeded myself in the front row on the right side. It was a running start which was fun. Very strong swim for me, felt really really short since I've been doing races with 800m swims this season. Found some feet to draft off of for awhile during the middle part of the race, but a lot of the women in front of me were zig zagging which was really annoying.
T1 (2:03)
I was fast compared to the rest of my AG on this transition, my spot near the bike out ended up working great. I think I finally have my transition set up down to a science.
Bike (35:48)
I absolutely killed this bike ride. I was hoping to average 16-17 mph and to average 18+ exceeded all of my expectations. I passed tons of people from my AG and 3 of the AG's in front of me. I was only passed by 3-4 people the entire ride. I can't wait to see what I can do next year with some aero bars and some dedicated bike training.
T2 (1:20)
A lot of fast transitions for T2 in this race since most people weren't racing with bike shoes. Considering that I did the shoe switch I'm very pleased with my time. I think my practicing transitions and my proximity to the bike in/run out was very helpful.
Run (36:03)
My race sort of fell apart on the run. Because of the race delay I was starving when I got off the bike and in a huge need of water. Also, since it was an hour later it was a lot hotter than I had expected (almost 90 degrees). The first (and only) aide station wasn't until mile 2 and the course was a lot hillier than I had expected since there were no elevation charts for the courses for us to check out ahead of time. I walked some of the steep hills and the aid station and just sort of shuffled the rest of the way. I wasn't the only one hurting but it wasn't fun. Six minutes slower than Chicago is not acceptable in my book.
Post race
Got some water, 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a bagel with PB. Walked around a bit stretched out the legs, then jumped in the car since we had to go directly to my aunt's mom's 90th birthday party.
Overall Rank = 229/765
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 54/136
Pre-race routine:
Got up at 5am, had a PB&J, packed up the car and headed with the husband out to Pleasanton. Arrived later than I wanted to (at almost 7am) but ended up being able to squeeze my bike onto a rack in a good location near the bike out/run out in transition. Got body marked, hit the bathroom and checked out the swim course. Then the waiting began.
Event warmup:
I was in the second to last wave so I had planned to have a good warm up while I was waiting around. About 30 minutes before my wave was supposed to go off I hit the bathroom again, put on my wetsuit and had a Cliff bar, thinking that I would warm up a bit before the first wave went off. I got in the water and paddled around a bit. It was really warm and I was one of the few people racing with a wetsuit. I probably could have left it at home.
The first wave (age 50+, relays and special needs) started at 7:50 and I was supposed to start at 8:25. Someone in the first swim wave ended up having trouble (not sure if it was a heart attack or a panic attack or what) and had to be brought to shore by the lifeguards and taken away in an ambulance. I do know that the person was breathing on their own when they were taken so I really hope they ended up being ok. Because of this the race was delayed by an hour. I ended up getting back in the water once when we were waiting for the race to re-start so I could stay warmed up. I didn't plan for the delay from a nutrition standpoint which would come back to bite me later in the race.
Swim (8:45)
Seeded myself in the front row on the right side. It was a running start which was fun. Very strong swim for me, felt really really short since I've been doing races with 800m swims this season. Found some feet to draft off of for awhile during the middle part of the race, but a lot of the women in front of me were zig zagging which was really annoying.
T1 (2:03)I was fast compared to the rest of my AG on this transition, my spot near the bike out ended up working great. I think I finally have my transition set up down to a science.
Bike (35:48)
I absolutely killed this bike ride. I was hoping to average 16-17 mph and to average 18+ exceeded all of my expectations. I passed tons of people from my AG and 3 of the AG's in front of me. I was only passed by 3-4 people the entire ride. I can't wait to see what I can do next year with some aero bars and some dedicated bike training.
T2 (1:20)
A lot of fast transitions for T2 in this race since most people weren't racing with bike shoes. Considering that I did the shoe switch I'm very pleased with my time. I think my practicing transitions and my proximity to the bike in/run out was very helpful.
My race sort of fell apart on the run. Because of the race delay I was starving when I got off the bike and in a huge need of water. Also, since it was an hour later it was a lot hotter than I had expected (almost 90 degrees). The first (and only) aide station wasn't until mile 2 and the course was a lot hillier than I had expected since there were no elevation charts for the courses for us to check out ahead of time. I walked some of the steep hills and the aid station and just sort of shuffled the rest of the way. I wasn't the only one hurting but it wasn't fun. Six minutes slower than Chicago is not acceptable in my book.
Post race
Got some water, 1/2 a banana and 1/2 a bagel with PB. Walked around a bit stretched out the legs, then jumped in the car since we had to go directly to my aunt's mom's 90th birthday party.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Chicago Triathlon Race Recap!
Total Time = 1h 46m 30s
Overall Rank = 1052/2304
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 84/267
Pre-race routine:
Got up at 3:30. Ate a PB&J, put air in my tires got all my stuff together and got ready to go. I was staying with one of my best friends from college. We had planned to race together but she got bronchitis a week ago and her doctor told her that if she competed she might do bad damage to her lungs. It was so sad to not be able to race with her but she was a huge support the day of and got up with me to be at transition at 4:15 when it opened.
We walked from her condo about 15 minutes down to transition. They had our bikes racked by wave and I ended up getting a sweet spot right at the base of a huge streetlight which made it really easy to find my spot among the 9,000 bikes. I got set up and then we walked to the swim start. I had 1/2 a mojo bar while waiting for my wave which went off at 6:38 (wave 9, my lucky number!).
Event warmup:
None really aside from putting the wetsuit on and standing around with 500 of my closest friends in the waves around me in the corrals waiting for the swim to start.
Swim time includes the looong run to transition. I don't understand why they don't have the T1 mats by the swim exit. I'd much rather have a longer T1 than an inaccurate swim time.
The swim itself was great. Warm water (compared to SF Bay) and no salt which was a nice treat. Sighting off the wall was sooo easy and I actually saw my friends on the shore about halfway through which was awesome.
It blew my mind how many people at this tri had problems with the swim. I know I'm lucky to have a pretty strong swimming background even though I am slow but I just couldn't believe how many people I saw in earlier in and later waves hanging on to the lifeguard boats or the wall. I felt strong, was able to draft a bit and overall had a really nice swim.
T1 (3:10)
This was long I think just because of the size of transition. I ended up having my goggles, cap and wetsuit totally off before I actually crossed the timing mat but I had to run up a hill to my wave's area, switch my stuff then dodge trees and other people to get to the bike out.
Bike (49:36)
I pushed it hard on the bike. There were tons of people on hybrids and mountain bikes so I just kept passing and passing people. I was in the big chainring almost the entire ride aside from on the few inclines (I won't call them hills). It was different to ride on a course that was basically flat, the strategy for how to ride is a lot different than what I am used to with hills. The road surface was pretty bad, especially on the way back but they did a good job of warning us at the course talk so I was prepared. I took the two tight turns veeery slowly but so did everyone else so that was good.
T2 (2:50)
Had trouble getting my bike back on the rack. I need to practice this.
Run (30:04)
I was soooo close to a sub 30-minute 5k but alas it was not meant to be. It was a really good run other than that. My legs felt like frozen jello coming off the bike, when I saw my friends I actually waved at them and said "I can't feel my legs." It took the first mile to get them back and then I started to push it. Took in 1/2 a tri berry Gu (yum!) at the 1 mile aid station because I was starting to get really hungry and that helped a lot. Then I went hunting. I started trying to run down every woman I saw with an 8 or a 9 on their legs because that meant they were in my AG. I passed quite a few people who were walking or running slowly, and got past my some fast people from waves 11 and 14. A volunteer told us we had 100 yards left and I put in my final kick and sprinted to the finish.
Post race
Grabbed a bagel and a banana, found my friends, did some light stretching and went for breakfast. Did some more walking a bit later to get my bike from transition and tried to stay loose.
I'm really, extremely pleased with how this race went. I was 318th out of 1056 women which means I was FOP. I NEVER thought that would happen to me since I've always been pretty mediocre at sports my whole life. I'm excited to see how my next race goes at the end of September.
I've heard people complain about the size of this race and the logistical nightmares but I had a fantastic time. I was in a very early wave, so that probably made a difference but I found that the swim and bike courses were not at all crowded and that all of the logistics went off without a hitch. Now I would not have wanted to be in the F 25-29 Oly wave, I think they had to wait until like almost 10am to start. If I do this race again it will be the sprint and not the Oly, as I like the early start time.
Overall Rank = 1052/2304
Age Group = F 25-29
Age Group Rank = 84/267
Pre-race routine:
Got up at 3:30. Ate a PB&J, put air in my tires got all my stuff together and got ready to go. I was staying with one of my best friends from college. We had planned to race together but she got bronchitis a week ago and her doctor told her that if she competed she might do bad damage to her lungs. It was so sad to not be able to race with her but she was a huge support the day of and got up with me to be at transition at 4:15 when it opened.
We walked from her condo about 15 minutes down to transition. They had our bikes racked by wave and I ended up getting a sweet spot right at the base of a huge streetlight which made it really easy to find my spot among the 9,000 bikes. I got set up and then we walked to the swim start. I had 1/2 a mojo bar while waiting for my wave which went off at 6:38 (wave 9, my lucky number!).
Event warmup:
None really aside from putting the wetsuit on and standing around with 500 of my closest friends in the waves around me in the corrals waiting for the swim to start.
Swim (20:47)
Swim time includes the looong run to transition. I don't understand why they don't have the T1 mats by the swim exit. I'd much rather have a longer T1 than an inaccurate swim time.
The swim itself was great. Warm water (compared to SF Bay) and no salt which was a nice treat. Sighting off the wall was sooo easy and I actually saw my friends on the shore about halfway through which was awesome.
It blew my mind how many people at this tri had problems with the swim. I know I'm lucky to have a pretty strong swimming background even though I am slow but I just couldn't believe how many people I saw in earlier in and later waves hanging on to the lifeguard boats or the wall. I felt strong, was able to draft a bit and overall had a really nice swim.
T1 (3:10)
This was long I think just because of the size of transition. I ended up having my goggles, cap and wetsuit totally off before I actually crossed the timing mat but I had to run up a hill to my wave's area, switch my stuff then dodge trees and other people to get to the bike out.
I pushed it hard on the bike. There were tons of people on hybrids and mountain bikes so I just kept passing and passing people. I was in the big chainring almost the entire ride aside from on the few inclines (I won't call them hills). It was different to ride on a course that was basically flat, the strategy for how to ride is a lot different than what I am used to with hills. The road surface was pretty bad, especially on the way back but they did a good job of warning us at the course talk so I was prepared. I took the two tight turns veeery slowly but so did everyone else so that was good.
Had trouble getting my bike back on the rack. I need to practice this.
Run (30:04)
I was soooo close to a sub 30-minute 5k but alas it was not meant to be. It was a really good run other than that. My legs felt like frozen jello coming off the bike, when I saw my friends I actually waved at them and said "I can't feel my legs." It took the first mile to get them back and then I started to push it. Took in 1/2 a tri berry Gu (yum!) at the 1 mile aid station because I was starting to get really hungry and that helped a lot. Then I went hunting. I started trying to run down every woman I saw with an 8 or a 9 on their legs because that meant they were in my AG. I passed quite a few people who were walking or running slowly, and got past my some fast people from waves 11 and 14. A volunteer told us we had 100 yards left and I put in my final kick and sprinted to the finish.
Post race
Grabbed a bagel and a banana, found my friends, did some light stretching and went for breakfast. Did some more walking a bit later to get my bike from transition and tried to stay loose.
I'm really, extremely pleased with how this race went. I was 318th out of 1056 women which means I was FOP. I NEVER thought that would happen to me since I've always been pretty mediocre at sports my whole life. I'm excited to see how my next race goes at the end of September.
I've heard people complain about the size of this race and the logistical nightmares but I had a fantastic time. I was in a very early wave, so that probably made a difference but I found that the swim and bike courses were not at all crowded and that all of the logistics went off without a hitch. Now I would not have wanted to be in the F 25-29 Oly wave, I think they had to wait until like almost 10am to start. If I do this race again it will be the sprint and not the Oly, as I like the early start time.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Meet Roxanne!
Today was quite an adventure, the great debut of my bike Roxanne.
Ain't she purdy? S and I decided loooong ago that after we got married we would buy a road bike for me so that we can bike together, since it is one of his favorite hobbies. Pair that plan with my impending triathlon in August and we decided to put some of our tax return towards "stimulating the economy" and bought Roxanne at REI during their anniversary sale. No pretty blue and silver women's bikes for me, I'm too tall so Roxanne is actually a men's bike with a women's saddle. The red color is starting to grow on me. She sure is fancy.
Biking is new to me. I've done a lot of spinning the last few years so I have a really good base and have the fitness for biking. It's not my lung capacity or strength I have to worry about when going on a ride. But my technical bike riding skills are in their infancy since I can count the number of times I've ridden a road bike in my life on my fingers. Steering, balancing, avoiding obstacles, those are the things that freak me out.
I was hoping to throw our bikes in the car and ride up north to a bike path in Marin county today for my "long" ride but my S suggested (more demanded)
that we ride there instead. This involves going from our house in San Francisco up a windy (hilly!) two lane coastal road to the Golden Gate Bridge, across the bridge, on another steep scary road into Sausalito before you even come near the bike path.
And we did it, we rode all the way to Tiburon! It was the most terrifying yet fun day I've had in a long time. It really was a "crash"course in riding a road bike, and by the end of the day I was totally comfortable clipping in and out of my pedals, dodging cars, other bikers and pedestrians (including hundreds of Girl Scouts who were at some event at the Golden Gate Bridge).
As everyone said I would, I did fall once. We were on a small bike path to get up to the bridge and I underestimated the pitch and wasn't in the right gear. I realized what was going to happen when I started losing steam and said "oh shit, oh shit, nooooo" and in slow motion tipped over backwards. I landed on my butt, then my back and finally the helmet but I jumped up right away and was fine. I'm going to have a bruise on my backside and I got some road rash on my shoulder blades (I'm sparing you a picture of that) but I was SO much calmer after the fall. I'm glad I have it out of the way, it wasn't nearly as bad as I envisioned.
It took us 5 hours (2:40 actual in the saddle time) to do 22 miles but we stopped for lunch and to take breaks. Poor S was a trooper since I'm still scared to go more than ~18 mph at any given time and he can go quite a bit faster. He's a saint for coming along with me. It was such fun!
What have you done recently that terrified yet exhilarated you?
Ain't she purdy? S and I decided loooong ago that after we got married we would buy a road bike for me so that we can bike together, since it is one of his favorite hobbies. Pair that plan with my impending triathlon in August and we decided to put some of our tax return towards "stimulating the economy" and bought Roxanne at REI during their anniversary sale. No pretty blue and silver women's bikes for me, I'm too tall so Roxanne is actually a men's bike with a women's saddle. The red color is starting to grow on me. She sure is fancy.Biking is new to me. I've done a lot of spinning the last few years so I have a really good base and have the fitness for biking. It's not my lung capacity or strength I have to worry about when going on a ride. But my technical bike riding skills are in their infancy since I can count the number of times I've ridden a road bike in my life on my fingers. Steering, balancing, avoiding obstacles, those are the things that freak me out.
I was hoping to throw our bikes in the car and ride up north to a bike path in Marin county today for my "long" ride but my S suggested (more demanded)
that we ride there instead. This involves going from our house in San Francisco up a windy (hilly!) two lane coastal road to the Golden Gate Bridge, across the bridge, on another steep scary road into Sausalito before you even come near the bike path.And we did it, we rode all the way to Tiburon! It was the most terrifying yet fun day I've had in a long time. It really was a "crash"course in riding a road bike, and by the end of the day I was totally comfortable clipping in and out of my pedals, dodging cars, other bikers and pedestrians (including hundreds of Girl Scouts who were at some event at the Golden Gate Bridge).
As everyone said I would, I did fall once. We were on a small bike path to get up to the bridge and I underestimated the pitch and wasn't in the right gear. I realized what was going to happen when I started losing steam and said "oh shit, oh shit, nooooo" and in slow motion tipped over backwards. I landed on my butt, then my back and finally the helmet but I jumped up right away and was fine. I'm going to have a bruise on my backside and I got some road rash on my shoulder blades (I'm sparing you a picture of that) but I was SO much calmer after the fall. I'm glad I have it out of the way, it wasn't nearly as bad as I envisioned.
It took us 5 hours (2:40 actual in the saddle time) to do 22 miles but we stopped for lunch and to take breaks. Poor S was a trooper since I'm still scared to go more than ~18 mph at any given time and he can go quite a bit faster. He's a saint for coming along with me. It was such fun!
What have you done recently that terrified yet exhilarated you?
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
This sucks...
My triathlon training has been waylaid! I am out of commission for the next 2-3 weeks with several pulled muscles in my right leg (calf, side of knee and lower ab/hip). I was a bit sore after working out last week and probably should have iced my knees, but I didn't. I had a particularly brutal spin class on Monday night with lots of hills and leg work and I awoke on Tuesday to shooting pains going from my hip down my leg. OW!
I limped around work in the morning and the pain was so bad that I decided to go to the doctor in the afternoon. The doctor confirmed that I pulled a few muscles, put me on crutches for the next week or so, gave me prescription strength Motrin and told me no working out for two weeks at the least.
I am SO bummed. S will have to drive me to and from work this week and I'm really upset that I'm going from running and biking and swimming and lifting to being barely mobile.
I'd like to continue lifting with my arms but I think I have to be careful since my lower abs are hurting. I think I'll lay low this week and next week see if I can do some biceps and triceps exercises with small weights. Here's hoping I heal quickly!
I limped around work in the morning and the pain was so bad that I decided to go to the doctor in the afternoon. The doctor confirmed that I pulled a few muscles, put me on crutches for the next week or so, gave me prescription strength Motrin and told me no working out for two weeks at the least.
I am SO bummed. S will have to drive me to and from work this week and I'm really upset that I'm going from running and biking and swimming and lifting to being barely mobile.
I'd like to continue lifting with my arms but I think I have to be careful since my lower abs are hurting. I think I'll lay low this week and next week see if I can do some biceps and triceps exercises with small weights. Here's hoping I heal quickly!
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
New Kicks! (and a story about running)
Today was an exciting day! My new running shoes finally came in the mail. I usually buy my running shoes at On The Run (an amazing local shoe store where all the sales people are foot experts) but because of the realities of our financial situation I ended up buying them on Zappos and was able to save $15. A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.
I came straight home from work and decided to take these puppies for a 4 mile spin in the sunshine (yay Daylight Savings Time). They are great!
And this brings me to some of the thoughts I had during my run regarding my long and tumultuous relationship with running.
For most of my childhood and teenage years I hated running. With a passion. I still remember in 7th grade when I had just switched schools and was required for the first time to run a timed mile during fitness testing. Most of the girls ran the mile in 7 or 8 minutes. I finished in about 12 minutes, walking, clutching my side with tears streaming down my face. That one experience influenced my attitude towards running for a long time.
I began playing volleyball, basketball and softball in middle school and I came to tolerate running. I didn't run because I liked it, but because it was a means to an end to be successful in these sports. When I began rowing in high school (and continued in college) the emphasis wasn't on running to build endurance, but rather the erg machine (a particularly brutal form of torture that deserves a separate post).
I've finally come to enjoy running during these past few years while losing weight and getting my fitness back.
I'm not a good runner. I'm painfully slow and can't sprint to save my life. Some days I'll go out and slog through a run cursing myself the whole time. But other days make all the bad days totally worth it. When you have sunshine, Fall Out Boy on the iPod and a nice stretch of road to explore there is nothing like a good run.
I came straight home from work and decided to take these puppies for a 4 mile spin in the sunshine (yay Daylight Savings Time). They are great!
And this brings me to some of the thoughts I had during my run regarding my long and tumultuous relationship with running.
For most of my childhood and teenage years I hated running. With a passion. I still remember in 7th grade when I had just switched schools and was required for the first time to run a timed mile during fitness testing. Most of the girls ran the mile in 7 or 8 minutes. I finished in about 12 minutes, walking, clutching my side with tears streaming down my face. That one experience influenced my attitude towards running for a long time.
I began playing volleyball, basketball and softball in middle school and I came to tolerate running. I didn't run because I liked it, but because it was a means to an end to be successful in these sports. When I began rowing in high school (and continued in college) the emphasis wasn't on running to build endurance, but rather the erg machine (a particularly brutal form of torture that deserves a separate post).
I've finally come to enjoy running during these past few years while losing weight and getting my fitness back.
I'm not a good runner. I'm painfully slow and can't sprint to save my life. Some days I'll go out and slog through a run cursing myself the whole time. But other days make all the bad days totally worth it. When you have sunshine, Fall Out Boy on the iPod and a nice stretch of road to explore there is nothing like a good run.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Triathlon Gear: The Bike
For the Chicago triathlon I'll be using S's road bike. Our thinking is that it doesn't make much sense to purchase a new bike for me when we have limited resources and S has a very nice road bike ready to be used. The bike has been sitting in our office in its box since September, so we decided to finally put it together last night. S gave me a lesson on all the parts of the bike so that I'll know how to assemble and dis-assemble it when the time comes to travel to Chicago.
Here's the bike straight out of the box. It's in pieces!
The first step was to put the handlebars on:
S attaching the brakes to the front wheel:
And the bike, all assembled!
You'll notice that the seat is set a lot higher than the handlebars. After we put the bike together we discovered that the frame is a bit too small for me. When I finally get my own bike I'll probably need a frame one or two sizes bigger than S's, since my legs are a lot longer than his. In order to bring the handlebars up to the right height for the race in August we'll probably try to buy an angled stem that would bring them up a few inches. Here's hoping it works!
Now we're just waiting for the rain and wind to die down so we can take the bike to Golden Gate Park where I can practice riding and start getting used to clipping in and out of the pedals with cycling shoes. I'm so excited!
Here's the bike straight out of the box. It's in pieces!
The first step was to put the handlebars on:
S attaching the brakes to the front wheel:
And the bike, all assembled!
You'll notice that the seat is set a lot higher than the handlebars. After we put the bike together we discovered that the frame is a bit too small for me. When I finally get my own bike I'll probably need a frame one or two sizes bigger than S's, since my legs are a lot longer than his. In order to bring the handlebars up to the right height for the race in August we'll probably try to buy an angled stem that would bring them up a few inches. Here's hoping it works!
Now we're just waiting for the rain and wind to die down so we can take the bike to Golden Gate Park where I can practice riding and start getting used to clipping in and out of the pedals with cycling shoes. I'm so excited!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
The Challenge
Those of you who know me know that I need something to keep me going with my workouts. As a lifelong team sport athlete (first in swimming, then volleyball, basketball and softball, and finally my years of rowing) I was always externally motivated to perform well athletically. I had to excel at whatever sport I was doing because the team was depending on me to be as good as I could be.
After quitting competitive sports 8 years ago and gaining lots of weight between 2002 and 2006 I finally came to the realization that I need some sort of goal to keep me on track with my eating and workouts.
In 2007 that goal was to climb Mt. Shasta while raising money for Bay Area Wilderness Training. Not only was that trip an experience of a lifetime, but it also got be back into the best shape I had been in since my Cornell rowing days.
This year I decided to up the ante.
Along with my close friend Kate, I'll be running the Chicago Triathlon this August. I think I'm the most nervous about the swim, just because it is the sport with which I have the least experience. I've done some running races in the past few years (5ks and a 12k) and spinning is part of my weekly workout routine, but swimming is an unknown.
You can check in here to follow me throughout the training process. It's going to be an adventure. How do you keep yourself motivated to stay fit?
After quitting competitive sports 8 years ago and gaining lots of weight between 2002 and 2006 I finally came to the realization that I need some sort of goal to keep me on track with my eating and workouts.
In 2007 that goal was to climb Mt. Shasta while raising money for Bay Area Wilderness Training. Not only was that trip an experience of a lifetime, but it also got be back into the best shape I had been in since my Cornell rowing days.
This year I decided to up the ante.
Along with my close friend Kate, I'll be running the Chicago Triathlon this August. I think I'm the most nervous about the swim, just because it is the sport with which I have the least experience. I've done some running races in the past few years (5ks and a 12k) and spinning is part of my weekly workout routine, but swimming is an unknown.
You can check in here to follow me throughout the training process. It's going to be an adventure. How do you keep yourself motivated to stay fit?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)