Training and Bestie Festie Recap and (lots of) Photos

I'm going to keep the text of this post short and let the awesomness of the photos speak for themselves. First, here is a brief recap of the training. I switched up my usual schedule so that I didn't have to go swimming at all while Maritza was here and so that we could run together almost every day of her visit:

Monday: swim
1200 yards/30:00
Went to masters but the coach didn't show up. We waited until regular lap swim started and did a long straight set. I did 1000 in 19:30 without any breaks. That's very good for me! Then we did some intervals and cooled down.

Tuesday: bike
17.9 miles/1:05:24/16.4 MPH
Out and back on the Springwater with Zach.

Tuesday: swim
2200 yards/1:00
How nice of the coach to show up this time!

Wednesday: bike
spin class/1:10
I got there 10 minutes early and started spinning since usually she cuts the workout short and does some stretching at the end. This time we rode hard for the whole hour so I ended up with extra time in the saddle.

Wednesday: run
2.0 miles/14:37/7:19 average pace
Brick run outside after spin class. Fueled in large part by Maritza's impending arrival!!

Wednesday: swim
1200 yards/28:30
OWS at Klineline Pond. We were going to swim longer but had to get to the airport to pick up Maritza!

Thursday: run
8.0 miles/1:15:34/9:27 average pace
WATERFRONT RUN WITH MARITZA!!! YAY!!!!

Friday: run
7.0 miles/1:07:50/9:41 average pace
Showed Maritza more sights on foot! Shortened Waterfront loop, then up through Northwest and into the West Hills. Quick 2-hour stop at the Laurelwood pub and then jogged home.

Saturday: bike
43.5 miles/2:49:22/15.4 MPH
Springwater trail. Like, literally, the whole thing. Out and back. Felt great!

Sunday: run
6.0 miles/55:38/9:16 average pace
Forest Park with Maritza (and Zach, but he ran on his own and did 8 miles in that same amount of time- wowza!)

totals for the week:
swim: 2:00 (4600 yards)
bike: 5:05 (61.4 miles + spin class)
run: 3:30 (23 miles)
total: 10:35
(zero strength training besides pushups)


Allright, now on to the good stuff!

I had such a wonderful time with Maritza. It was great to spend time talking and laughing and eating and drinking and running. Zach was on a golf trip with his buddies from Thursday to Saturday so we had the house to ourselves for the most part which was good so we could be as silly and loud as we wanted.

The pictures below are such a small sample of what took place but they are pretty great. Most of the pictures are from two of the runs (Friday and Sunday) but there's some other shots too. She took a lot of good ones that really show Portland at its finest so I'm stealing some from when I wasn't even actually there. I love the ones from our runs because I never think to bring a camera when I run and this is a good representation of what it's like!

I'm not going to caption them but here are some key words that you can apply where you feel they might fit: Pearl, downtown, farmer's market, Park Blocks, Powells, Waterfront, Maritza bitches but secretly loves hills, sampler mix, Bo Knows Jen is Drunk, more beer, ice cream, senior photos, Forest Park, best friends forever.

Enjoy:

Summer

Happy first (second, whatever) day of Summer! We went to a fun Summer Solstice party at Amy's last night and it was great to see all the girls and meet some new people. Wine, food, friends, pushups (Amy and I went head-to-head prison yard style on her front sidewalk before I left), what more can you ask for?

And Happy Father's day too! I love you Dad!

This picture cracks me up- it's Zach and my dad being goofy at a restaurant in Boston. My folks came out to watch me run the marathon that year and we all had a blast:

My favorite guys!

Ok, I guess I'll talk about training. It was a great week overall and I'm feeling good.

I feel like my body is getting stronger and I am having a lot of fun. I think being leaner is a big benefit. I'm actually eating way more than I was the last few weeks - especially on the long weekend rides, and I can tell my body works better with a full tank. I've actually lost another pound or two so I'm going to increase my food even more. I'm going to add healthy snacks instead of going back to eating junk. Garbage in, garbage out, right?

The weather was pretty blah this week. It started off ok but this weekend was a soaker and our ride was affected to say the least. We got it all done though!

Anyway, I have a whole lotta training to report so let me get to it.

Monday: ST
weights with Zach at the gym

Tuesday: Run
5.5 miles/52:16/9:30 average pace
I ran the first 3.3 with Deana at just over a 10:00 pace then got in a couple of more miles on my own.

Tuesday: Swim
1500 yards/1:00Masters.

It was ALL DRILLS. Not only kicking drills, but one-legged kicking drills. At one point he was having me only focus on one direction of the kick. So that's a one-direction, one-legged kicking drill. Needless to say, my laps were taking about 6 minutes each. Ha! He had good advice for me though so I didn't mind.

Wednesday: Bike
Spin class 1:00

With Alisa. The teacher was awful and her choice of music was atrocious. A good workout though.

Wednesday: Run
2.0 miles/15:13/7:37 average pace
I ran my brick run outside after spin class and I really enjoyed it. I hate the treadmill and felt much faster outside.

Wednesday: Swim
1200 yards approx/24:34
Open Water Swim with the Gecko Tri Club at Klineline Pond in Vancouver. Two laps around the pond. Fun!

Thursday: Bike
29.0 miles/1:54:35/15.1 MPH
River Road loop with Zach after work.

Friday: Run
7.0 miles/55:53/7:59 average pace
RAINY RAINY solo waterfront run. Squishy feet and all that. Kind of fun.

Friday: ST
Weights with Zach at the gym again.

Saturday: Bike
42.0 miles/3:07:18/13.3 MPH

4 laps around Hagg Lake, which is the site of our Oly tri in 3 weeks. Includes a few pretty serious hills, one of which I dubbed the "Mother Shitter." Zach knew exactly which one I meant and appreciated this immensely. I was slow but steady on the climbs and bombed down the downhills. There was hardly any traffic since the weather was crap. I rode the last lap several minutes faster than the first 3 which was awesome. Zach and I rode separately so he did more like 50 miles in the same exact time as me (3:07:xx). We got absolutely soaked once again. The conditions varied between drizzle and downpour. And it was cold too, only 59 degrees when we finished. Pretty crazy and sickly fun.

Sunday: Run
11.0 miles/1:17:35/8:52 average pace

Zach once again ran seperately at his own pace and he covered 12 miles in the EXACT same time as me- to the second! What?!?! Check it out:

We thought that was pretty cool, especially after yesterday's similar times. I zoned out to some podcasts and ran an easy pace until the last mile. My legs were a little tired but nothing serious.

So, in summary, a soggy and fun week of training. Here are the totals:

Swim: 1:30 (2700 yards)

Bike: 6:00 (71 miles road and 1 spin class)

Run: 3:30 (25.5 miles)

total: 11:00

(plus 2 strength training sessions of about 45 minutes each)

A little ahead of what the schedule called for but I feel good.

This coming week will be a little different... I'm switching a few things around because MARITZA IS COMING TO VISIT!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty excited, as you can tell. I'm going to get most of my swimming and biking out of the way before she arrives Wednesday night, and then she and I will run run run together which is my favorite thing in the world!! :) Zach is going out of town for a weekend of golf with his buddies from MT so she and I are on our own. Watch out! It's gonna be Chick-a-Palooza. Or Drunken Sap Fest 2009. Or The Bestie Festie. Take your pick. I can't freaking wait. :)

Race Pics

A few photos taken by my parents and by Emily's fiance:

Race site early in the morning:


Setting up in transition (we're in there somewhere):

The swim exit before all the athletes even started:

Heading down to the water:

Zach's wave getting into the water, Emily's wave lining up behind:

Me coming in on the bike:

Me heading out on the run:

As I began picking off runners

Hi Dad! on the way to the finish:

After the race:

Anne, Emily, me and Zach:

Done and done!

Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon Race Report

It was a success!! In fact, it was amazing. I felt great through all three legs of the race and am really happy with my results. The weather was perfect and the course was flat just as predicted. It was cool to see Zach, Emily, and Anne on the course and to see and hear my parents and Emily's fiance cheering for us from the sidelines. All in all, a great first tri of the season! Here is the recap:

Pre-race: My parents met us at our apartment about 6:00 and we made it to the race site by 6:45 or so. We got our transition areas set up and then found Emily who had brought balloons to mark our spots with. It was hilarious- mine said "Class of '09" and hers said "I love you." We got all suited up and made our way down to the beach. Zach's wave was first, then Emily was 5 minutes later, then my wave was 10 minutes after that.

Swim (800 yards): It was seriously the best swim I've ever had in a triathlon. The funny thing is that the night before the race I had a mini breakdown about the swim, basically freaking out about drowning. Totally irrational, I know. And I was pretty nervous the morning of the race too. My stomach was all knotted up. I mean, I get a little nervous before every race including running events, but not nervous like what-if-I-don't-survive nervous. It's a special kind of nervous. But after a little warm up swim I knew it was going to be fine. The water was comfortable and I was relaxed. The best thing was that I didn't have any problems with my nose clip or goggles or anything! That has been a problem in almost every single swim I've done and it totally disrupts my rhythm. This time my gear was good and I was so grateful. I got into a good rhythm and was swimming in a straight line. I never had any contact with other swimmers even though I was right in the mix. Before I knew it, I rounded the last buoy and was sighting on the beach. I pushed really hard for the last couple hundred yards. At the very end there was some seaweed that I got kind of tangled up in but right after that I could see the bottom and I stood up and ran out of the water.

Swim time: 17:30

T1: The run up from the water was really long. I usually like to take my wetsuit off immediately after exiting the water but they really funneled you through all the way to transition. Luckily the wetsuit came off just fine when I finally got up there. I threw on my shoes and helmet and all that as fast as I could. I wore my bike gloves but I know now that was a bad idea. It only took a few seconds but it was annoying and I probably didn't need them. I finally grabbed my bike and ran out of transition, lapping my watch right as I mounted my bike.
T1 time: 2:53

Bike (12 miles): Again with the awesome! It was definitely the hardest part of the race but good. I passed a lot of people and got passed by several fast 40+ guys and a couple 40+ women which were the waves after me. There were a few people that I leap-frogged with but I was very careful not to do any illegal drafting or blocking. I saw several course officials on their motorcycles and even witnessed some girls getting penalties for riding side by side. I also saw a few people with flats. I was doing great though- I was going 18-20+ MPH the whole time. It was perfectly flat so there were no hills to alter my pace. My legs and butt were on fire! I was having a blast though and knew the ride was short so I could afford to push hard. I saw both Zach and Emily on the bike course.
Bike time: 38:57 (18.5 MPH)

T2: The distance from the dismount line back to transition was again very long. Maybe they are always this long and I just never noticed? I felt like I was running through the grass with my bike forever. Finally I got to transition and I couldn't find my spot. I was totally confused. Shit! I totally should have walked it through before the start but I guess I forgot. Finally I spotted my balloon! I ran over and threw my bike over the rack and changed into my run gear. I grabbed a cup of yucky electrolyte juice on the way out onto the run course.
T2 time: 1:49

Run: I hate to be redundant, but... awesome. The run was FUN. I felt ok, a little tight but I ran at an easy-ish pace to start. I picked off a few people as we ran out of the park and then onto the bike path along Marine Drive. I felt like I was running too easy even though I was passing lots of people. I picked up the pace a little and hit the turnaround. Only after I was heading back into the park did I really start running hard, knowing there was about a half mile left. I had passed tons of people and only got passed by two guys the whole run. I saw Zach, Emily, Josh, and my parents as I came to the finish line and I crossed with a huge smile on my face!
Run time: 24:18 (7:49 average pace)

Official finish time: 1:25:27

I hadn't seen very many girls in my age group the whole time, I passed maybe 2-3 on the bike (didn't get passed by any on the bike) and I passed maybe 4-5 girls on the run (obviously none passed me) so I figured they were ahead of me out of the swim and stayed ahead of me. Or I was going to win? No such luck. ;) I finished 9/47 Females 25-29 Not bad!! I was 180/608 Overall.

Here are some more stats, because numbers are fun:

Out of 600+ finishers, here is how I did in each leg
Swim Split: 301th (about as Mid-Pack as you can get)
Bike Split: 299th (I'm clearly about equal on my swim and bike)
Run Split: 118th (Yay!)

I wish they had more of a breakdown for how I did among the women, but they don't. Those numbers would be more impressive obviously!

I have several pictures but I don't have them downloaded yet. I'll post them soon. I only saw one official race photographer but it was right when I was taking a drink of water on the bike. D'oh!

In summary, yay. I'm really happy with the race. I felt great the whole time and when it was over I wanted to do it all over again. I not only had a blast but I felt strong and confident in all parts of the race. I loved it. I am definitely in the right sport.

Thanks for reading!!

Tri Tomorrow!

The week just flew by and now here I am, only hours away from my first triathlon of the season!

It is a sprint distance race up at Blue Lake near the Columbia River in eastern Portland. I’m definitely prepared for it but still have no idea what to expect. The race is a half-mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 5k run. I should be able to complete all three legs of the race strong and I know for a fact that I am going to have a blast. Zach, Emily, and Anne are all racing too so I will have lots of friends out on the course. Also, my parents are coming into town from Montana to watch the race! My mom has seen us do a Tri but it’s the first time for my dad. I think they’ll really enjoy it- triathlons (especially short ones) are great to spectate because you get to see your athlete several times and always doing something different.

The conditions should be good: the weather is still pretty cool and cloudy here but no rain really so hopefully it will be great racing weather. I think the water will be almost 70 degrees and I’ll be wearing my wetsuit. The bike and run courses are flat along the south bank of the Columbia River with the only variable being a chance of wind, but I’m not too worried about it. My main goal is to do my best and have fun. I have a long season ahead of me so I’m not placing any pressure or importance on this event.

Speaking of the long season ahead, I spent a lot of time this week finalizing my IM training schedule. With about 24 weeks to go, I want to have it locked in place. I am using the plan from Don Fink’s book IronFit, but I wanted to make a spreadsheet with all the workouts in place along with every race, trip, and other event I have going on this summer accounted for. I was able to work around all that stuff and still keep very close to his program. I ended up basically using the Competitive program rather than Intermediate because the Intermediate program seemed awfully light. I did adjust down the peak weeks - the plan as written peaks with several weeks at or near 20 hours, with long brick workouts both Saturday AND Sunday of every weekend… so I cut some of that back. I’ll be updating the list on my side bar to reflect all the other races I have penciled in, no new triathlons but a new open water swim event and a couple half marathons.

Well, this week went OK I suppose, nothing revolutionary. My quads were pretty sore and I really don’t know why. I would suspect it was just lingering soreness/tiredness from the hard weekend ride/run/swim but I only started really feeling it on Wednesday. Then it got kind of worse after spinning and running but has since subsided. Weird. Anyway, it was a pretty good week and I only missed one workout. I skipped Masters Wednesday night because that was the only time I could put together the schedule like I talked about before. I decided it was important enough that I could skip one swim. It’s going to end up being a little week anyway since I’m only doing a short race instead of several hours of training.

Here’s the wrap up:

Monday: rest
I went home after work and took a nap. No weights or anything

Tuesday: run
6.0 miles/51:30/8:33 average pace
I met Emily at the track downtown but we didn’t do any actual fast running, just ran ‘round and ‘round and talked about the upcoming tri. I did sprint down and back on the football field at the end of the workout… maybe that’s why my legs were sore? If so, sad!!!

Tuesday: swim
2100 yards/1:00
Masters
I got stupid foot cramps again, annoying. I need to drink more water I guess.

Wednesday: bike
Spin class/1:00
Alisa was there too, it’s so nice to have some company! We did long intervals and I just zoned out. I alternated visualizing the Ironman and contemplating the amount of sweat that was dripping off my body (lots).

Wednesday: run
1.8 miles/15:00/8:20 average pace?
Brick run on the treadmill after spin class. Alisa did the same – again it is so nice to have a training partner!

Wednesday: ST
Wrapped up the day at the gym with some a weight circuit with Alisa. She’s pretty hardcore.. made me feel like a weakling! I like lifting with other people though, I feel so aimless when I’m alone in the weight room.

Thursday: bike
19.2 miles/1:22:10/14.0 MPH
Easy ride after work with Zach on the Springwater. I made a point to keep it easy since my quads were hurting and would object if I pushed at all. So we just stuck to the trail and talked the whole time. It was fun. We spent the rest of the evening at Emily and Josh’s house eating pasta and drinking wine and talking weddings, triathlons, etc.

Friday: rest
I was going to do a short run but instead I went and got a pedicure with Emily and am going to kick back for the rest of the night. My parents will be rolling into town soon and I have to get all my race stuff ready and get to bed early. I'm so excited for the race! I'll post a report this weekend as soon as possible. Have a great weekend! :)

bike run swim

The weekend stayed cool and drizzly but pretty comfortable. We got a little wet on our long bike ride but Sunday was just cloudy. The training wasn't anything more than the past few weekends but for some reason totally wiped me out! I was really sore after the ride and felt sluggish on the run. I didn't have any energy to do anything social and got about 10 hours of sleep each night, plus a couple naps. I was definitely eating enough and didn't drink anything until Sunday evening so I don't know what it was. Anyway, enough complaining! I had a lot of fun doing everything and feel strong and confident overall. Here are the details on Saturday's 3 hr ride, Sunday's 8 mile run and short OWS:

Saturday: bike

47.9 miles/3:08:08/15.2 MPH

Washington County countryside/foothills loop

Awesome! There's a few little climbs but mostly flat and fast. It's a mix of farmland and forested foothills. We had some light rain for about half the ride but the roads weren't slick or anything. I had fun on the easy/fast parts and stayed pretty level-headed during the headwinds/hills/hard parts. I had a strong surge at the end that took Zach by surprise! We definitely had a negative split pace.


Sunday: run

8.0 miles/1:09:17/8:40 average pace

We drove out to Blue Lake Park where our tri is next weekend and got our run in out there. I was dragging ass but got the miles in. Zach stuck with me the whole time which was really nice of him. :)

Sunday: swim

600 yards/12:30

Zach wore my Garmin in his swim cap (in a ziploc bag) so we knew the approximate distance we swam. The Garmin wasn't damaged at all which I was a little disappointed about, I really want a new one. Haha. :P

I was super tired all day Sunday again and super starving. Deana and Dana came over later and we spent the rest of the day enjoying chips and salsa, fresh cherries, Bridgeport brews, and strawberry daiquiris. It was so fun but left me extra tired this Monday morning... not so fun. I'm still working on finding that healthy balance between being eating too little and too much... I didn't know it would be this hard! This week I'm going to eat really good and get lots of sleep so I am ready to race on Sunday! :)

Here are the totals from a pretty exhausting week:

swim: 2:15 (5000 y)

bike: 5:00 (70 miles road)

run: 2:45 (18.25 miles)

total: 10:00

(plus one gym weights session)

Here are a few pictures from last week.

Navy ships docked along the waterfront downtown for Fleet Week:

Saturday's bike ride. Um, it was cold.

A couple of floats from the Rose Parade and some close-ups of the flowers:

Have a great week everyone!

Cool

The weather has made a major turn here in Portland. The week started off mild and partly cloudy but has become pretty stormy the last couple days. I'm not complaining though! It is supposed to be cool and dry this weekend which is wonderful for training. Here is a summary of the workouts that took place in this crazy June weather.

Monday: rest day
Not even a visit to the gym! It was lovely.

Tuesday: run
3.25 miles/33:30/10:18 average pace
Easy run with Deana on the waterfront

Tuesday: swim
2200 yards/1:00
Masters

Wednesday: bike
18.0 miles/1:36:22/11.1 MPH
I went on a ride with Anne, a good friend of Emily's and a great cyclist. She took me on a wicked climb up to Skyline and we spent the flat sections talking and enjoying the scenery. I descended the hill like an animal and probably went 30+ for nearly a mile straight. It was such a fun ride!

Wednesday: swim
2200 yards/1:00
Masters. I did my first ever butterfly! I tried it at the very end during the cool down and it felt surprisingly natural! I wore my fins to get better propulsion and managed to make it 25 yards without drowning. I took a long break then did another 25 yards. I don't know if I'll really be doing any IM sets soon but maybe with a little more practice I'll feel ready. I am starting to feel like a real swimmer! :)

Thursday: bike... sort of
4 miles?/20 minutes
More like another rest day really! Starting off, the weather looked a little ominous but I figured it would just rain a little. We decided to ride our mountain bikes up to Forest Park instead of hitting the roads, but even that was cut short almost immediately. It was dumping rain, which is fine, but then it started lightning and thundering. Yikes! We decided to play it safe and turned around. We headed right back home to watch the storm out our big window with a glass of wine. I haven't seen a real thunderstorm in years (they are not really a thing in the Bay Area, and I don't think they are too common here either) so it was kind of cool to see/hear again. Growing up in MT we had nasty storms all the time, but we were taught to head indoors when there is lightning. It's just not worth the risk.

Friday: run
7.0 miles/1:01:05/8:44 average pace
Rainy, cool run along the waterfront after a good day at work. I ran a big negative split (9:10 ish on the first bit, 8:00-8:20 on the last three miles) and had fun. I haven't actually ran along the waterfront for a few weeks which is weird since I live right there! I've been running with Deana on Marine Drive, in Forest Park with Zach, and all over the area with Zach on the weekends. It was fun to see all the runners out. There's still a lot of stuff going on for the Rose Festival down there too- the carnival village and navy ships docked along the waterfront for fleet week.

Friday: ST
After the run, Zach and I went to the gym to lift weights. I did a few sets of pushups before we left the house and then we spent about 45 minutes doing weights. We went up to the hot tub when we got home and then had a delicious spicy veggie pasta for dinner.

I've got a big ride tomorrow morning so I better turn in. We're doing 50 ish miles on the bike tomorrow, then Sunday we're going to do an OWS and then long run. Then we'll be checking out the Rose Festival stuff and whatever else comes up! Yay weekend. I'll have a weekend report and some pictures up on Sunday. Thanks for reading!!