Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Archives for November 2011

Things I am Thankful For Right Now

This is a list of big and little things that I am thankful for right now. Be prepared for crappy pictures.

I am thankful for Bailey being well after a scare earlier this week.


For holiday flavored nutrition


For Coke’s campaign to raise money and awareness for Polar Bears


For produce packed trips to Costco


For having my heart rate monitor watch fixed for only 8 dollars instead of having to buy a new one.


For Zoo Lights to be on when I leave work, this is the only thing that makes leaving work in the dark ok.


Yesterdays trainer ride a weights went well, today I have 8 miles and a swim on the schedule so I am Thankful that my body has allowed me to follow my first week of ironman training.

What are you thankful for?


Recovery for Endurance Athletes

My first week of IM training is going well so far but I am sore going into a long weekend of training. I don’t think my normal training has increased that much (although I am much more dedicated to my schedule now) but the 4 additional strength workouts are kickin my butt! I was told to hold off of strength exercises for my lower body other than my prescribed PT exercises until last week so of course I did no strength training at all, wining!

The increase in use of my muscles means a need to increase focus on recovery so I can show up to my next workout ready to go. Here are a few of the ways that I think help me recover:

Rolling:


I use a trigger point roller with a PVC core, we originally had a foam roller but it broke down quickly and it seemed so wasteful. The trigger points are more expensive but it has held up for a long time so I think it’s worth it. No Meat Athlete has a great post about how to roll if you aren’t sure what to do. I think rolling is one of the most important tools to recovery.

I also use “The Stick” this is great for traveling and for getting smaller muscles that are hard to pinpoint with the roller.

Ice Baths:

These f-ers HURT but are well worth it. I find them much easier in the summer when I am hot and cooling off sounds good. In the winter when I am already cold this is an struggle to make myself do.


Some tips to make it more bearable is to fill the tub with cool water and acclimate to that before putting the ice in. I wear two sweatshirts and booty shorts to keep my parts warm. Lastly I drink tea (see next point) or hot chocolate to help keep more core warm. All of this helps but honestly this still sucks. If possible you can use a stream to cool off your legs after a trail run.


This is much preferred even if there is toxic sludge in the creek.

Antioxidants:
This can help free your muscles of free radicals and speed the healing process.


I prefer to get mine from emergen-c and tea (I actually prefer green tea). Another supplement that I think helps is Fish Oil for its omega-3

Protein and Vegetables:


In the mornings a green monster is a great option.


Or Salmon Cakes

Compression:
My last method is to wear compression garments. I own two pairs of compression socks and capris made for running. I would love to own a set of tights dedicated for recovery as well.

What are you favorite ways to recover?


Healthy Butternut Squash Soup

Since it is officially soup season I thought I would share one of my favorites. My mom made this for me and I really like it so I have adopted it as one of my own.


(source)

Ingredients:
4 cups (1-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/2 pounds)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large shallots, peeled and halved
1 (1/2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, thinly sliced
2 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons (1-inch) slices fresh chives Cracked black pepper

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a roasting pan Bake at 375° for 50 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Cool 10 minutes.
3. Place half of squash mixture and half of broth in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. (I prefer to use an immersion blender directly in the pot). Pour into a large saucepan. Repeat procedure with remaining squash mixture and broth. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Top with chives and pepper, if desired.


Nutrition Information: (serving size is 2/3 cup)
Calories: 112
Fat: 2.5 g

This meal is best enjoyed with a Golden doodle in your face or lap.

This is Zoey, one of my parents dog

Do you have any soup recipes you love and want to share??


Ironman Wish List – Part 1

It’s the start of holiday shopping and obviously Ironman gear is at the top of my list. I decided that I would start a Ironman wish list series. While I don’t expect to get everything on my wish list it’s fun to dream. If you have a Ironlady (or any triathlete/runner) in your life this may be helpful.

2XU Recovery compression tights


Product description: With Graduated Compression engineering to promote maximum blood flow, the 2XU Recovery Compression Tights utilize next generation PWX POWER fabric for greater pressure and recovery benefits by improving blood circulation and removal of blood lactates for faster muscle repair. Graduated compression, with higher levels in the lower leg, encourages maximum blood flow return toward the heart and “flushing” of the muscles. The Recovery tight can easily be worn discretely under clothes to recover while at work, home, or school. In addition to daily post activity wear, the Recovery tight is comfortable enough to sleep in for maximum recovery aid. Our exclusive Antibacterial treatment minimizes odor and will not wash out of the garment. (source)

Recovery is so important for endurance athletes and these tights get great reviews!

Rev 3 Bikini


This will help me stay motivated to eat right and work on my 6 pack 2 pack

Garmin Forerunner 405 Water Resistant Running GPS


This is a fantastic training tool and is water resistant so you could wear it during a triathlon. I don’t currently have a GPS and think I may need to upgrade soon.

Momentum II Softshell Jacket from Salomon


Light weight warm-up SOFTSHELL jacket combining wind-resistance and breathability. Ideal for active nordic skiing or winter training. (source)

This jacket is nice and bright and would be great to get me through those long winter bike rides…please Santa!!!
nuun Strawberry Lemonade


This would make a great stocking stuffer, I love nuun and go through it very fast.

What is on your wish list?

**


A New Chapter and a New Name

Today marks the first day of ironman training. It is starting out kind of anticlimactically by being a rest day with just some light yoga this evening. It was a good this it did since I slept a total of 8 hours for both Friday and Saturday night, so I have some sleep catch up to do. We saw the sun go down in Oregon and the sun come up in Wyoming.

I started off well by banking 11 hours of sleep last night but still feel a bit tired today.

While driving from Oregon to Colorado this weekend I was thinking about the name of this blog. I chose this name way back when I started this blog and didn’t really like it but it was the best I could come up with at the time. Also this blog has changed over time, at first it was mostly about me making my training plans for triathlons but now I talk about all things in my life. Like how I am passionate about conservation and the work I do:

I talk about my family (including my dogs): I like to talk about eating healthy and having a balanced healthy life, or at least I would like to talk about that stuff more often.

So I decided to change up the name of this blog to one that I like better and I think will better reflect what I talk about here. Don’t worry if you are here just here to read about triathlon, I will still be talking about all things triathlon and specifically ironman nonstop. So Tri-Girl Training Plan will be retired and replaced with Chasing My Joy. I will eventually change my URL to reflect the new name when I have time to figure out how to move all my content etc. Maybe over the holidays when I have some time off work.
So there it is, a new chapter of my life starts and the blog gets an new name, it’s a good day.

Why and how did you choose your blogs name?

P.S.- thanks to all who commented about the start of ironman training, I love and appreciate all the support, you guys are the best!

First official week of Ironman Training

Yesterday felt like Christmas morning when I found a shiny new gift sitting in my inbox waiting to be opened. Coach Charley sent me my first two weeks of training for Ironman Coeur d’Alene (CDA)


The next 8 months of my life will be dedicated to getting my body and mind ready to travel 140.6 miles all under my own power. I am excited and nervous and ready to get started.

My training will be broken into five phases to help me show up on race in top form. We are starting in the preparation phase, the preparation phase according to Charley is the first phase of training. This is a period of time from three to six weeks. It involves performing your aerobic activities at a low heart rate and it helps your body adjust to the rigors of training again. This is also the time to work on your drills for each sport. This would include many of the drills in swimming, isolated leg pedaling in cycling and/or strides in running. The workouts in the Prep Phase are usually short in duration, low in intensity, and may be frequent. The volume for this cycle is low. This period prepares you for the Base Phase.

I am guessing that our prep phase will be closer to six weeks since we wanted to start earlier than we “needed” to. Many athletes we know are starting their training for CDA in January. I wanted to start a bit earlier because I am so new to triathlon I wanted more time to work on skills before diving into high volume training.

Our training volume starts fairly low with a total of 16 hours for the fist week, and will ramp up to more than 20 hours a week. What gets me is that is only counting time moving. That does not include all the other time spent prepping, driving, packing bags, stretching or anything else that needs to happen for each of these workouts. So my goal for the first week is to nail every workout to get a feel for what 16 hours feels like and get accustomed to my new schedule.

Here is what my first week looks like:
Monday: 45 min yoga
Tuesday: am- 60 min full body strength training pm- 60 min progression run
Wednesday: am- spin class pm- pilates
Thursday: 90 min masters swim
Friday: am- 60 min fartlek run pm- full body strength training
Saturday: 3 hour bike ride
Sunday: 8 mile run, 2400 yd swim and full body strength

Totals:
Swim: 5000 yards, 3 hours
Bike: 60 miles, 4 hours
Run: 20 miles, 3.5 hours
Strength: 5.5 hours
Overall: 16 hours

As I transition into the build phase I am sure the strength hours will go down and the swim bike run will go up. My other goals for the week are to get take vitamins, get 8 hours of sleep and eat well.

what does your week look like, are you still enjoying off season?

Congrats to all who ran the NYC marathon, ironman Florida or any other race!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How to Pack for 28 hours of Traveling

More and more of my family are moving from Oregon to Colorado and I can’t be more excited about it. I love having my parents live so close, Colorado feels so much more like home with them here. The next convert is my grandma. I haven’t been able to spend much time with her in the last 10 years since I was in college a few hours away and then moved out of Oregon over 5 years ago. To help grandma move we are flying out and driving grandmas car back to Colorado.

Cory and I will literally be traveling for the next 28 hours and get nowhere. Here is how this crazy adventure breaks down:

6:45 am leave our house to catch or flight to Portland
11:00am arrive in Portland and catch a ride to my grandmas house
2:00pm leave grandma’s house pick of a few things for the road (like tire chains). Then drive for 22 hours straight. Our travels will take us across Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Wyoming before getting back into Colorado.
1:00pm Sunday if all goes well arrive back in Colorado

It will be a whirlwind weekend and I think Monday will be brutal. Here are the things I am bringing with me to survive the weekend.


We were told ahead of time to pack light because grandma is stuffing her car full of fragile things that she doesn’t want to movers to lay their hands on. As a notorious over packer I knew this would be a challenge for me. Good thing I like a challenge so I allowed myself just a backpack to pack into. A few of the necessities are cold weather clothing in case we need to put chains on the car and it’s twenty below in Wyoming. Note the hat, gloves and down jacket (not pictured but will make a great pillow in the car).


Other items include toiletries, vitamins, tylenol and allergy meds. I made sure to bring toothpaste and a toothbrush. Nothing like brushing your teeth at a rest stop at 2am!

I also make sure. To bring a water bottle (empty to get through security), a coffee mug, and a cloth napkin along. I always to reduce as much waste as possible even when traveling. I also brought emergen-c and pure via sweetner.


I also packed my trusty phone, ipad, all of their cords and I converter so I can charge my electronics on the road. Not pictured is my ipod because we were busy filling it full of audio books for the ride. It’s seriously sad that I need three kinds of entertainment at all times, I should really see someone about that.


Please forgive my blue fleeced wrist, I know it’s hideous and from 2001 but it’s laundry day.

What is a must have for you when traveling?

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

TWEET!

I finally jumped on the twitter bandwagon.

I have resisted it for a while now but the turning point came while following all the Kona action. I can follow Chrissie and Miranda on a day basis? Score! Plus many of my favorite bloggers have twitter accounts. I have a lot to learn about how to use twitter and what it’s all about. Any tips? What’s your favorite thing about twitter?

In other news I was given the green light by my physical therapist to run longer and do speed work as long as I don’t have stabbing pain. I am elated and can’t wait to get back to hours spent on the trails.

Unfortunately the trails will have to wait until next weekend since I will be traveling all weekend. It’s going to be a long weekend and nothing is going to get done other than driving my grandma’s car out to Colorado. Cory and I fly out of Denver to Portland tomorrow morning. We arrive in Portland at 11am and will head directly to my grandma’s house where we will help her with a few projects and try to get on the road by 2 or 3 pm. We will drive straight through about 20 hours and be back in Colorado by mid day on Sunday. So no big trail run or bike ride this weekend (or laundry or grocery shopping, etc) Next week will be a long week. Hoping for good weather!

What are you up to this weekend?


October Recap and November Goals

Quick Bailey Update: Bailey is doing well today, she loves her canned food, and has not had diarrhea or blood in her stool today. I am a very happy dog mommy so far.

October Recap:

October was a very busy month, and I have to admit that I LIED back on the first of October! I said I wasn’t going to race at all in October and ended up doing two. Both were just for fun and very memorable. I took first in my age group Running with the Buffalos 5k and lost ten pounds of sweat running the Denver Gorilla Run

There was a lot of seasonal fun had as well with a Oktoberfest train ride

Pumpkin patchin’

and lots of swim, bike, run and eating!

I wish that I had kept track of my workouts better, I have no totals to share so that leads me to my Goals for November:

  1. Keep track of workouts better. I am participating in the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge and the Pile on the Miles so I need to keep track!
  2. Run at least 70 miles
  3. Swim for at least 12 hours
  4. Bike for at least 20 hours
  5. Do my PT exercises every night
  6. Do abs and arms exercises three times a week
  7. Eat healthy (except on Thanksgiving, on that day anything goes!)

These are as always ambitious goals for me, we’ll see how it goes!

Workout today was spin this morning and hopefully a snowy 6 mile run later.

What are your goals for November?


Two trips to the Hospital

Our poor baby boxer Bailey was very sick today


By the time I got home from work today she had bloody diarrhea (sorry if that’s TMI). She was acting perky but I have never seen her do that before so I packed her into the car and rushed her to the vet. They think that she has an infection and will be fine as long as she takes her antibiotics and eats bland foods. They also gave me probiotics to help her tummy. We left with our meds and instructions to keep an eye on her, looks like either Cory or I will be working from home tomorrow.


Please send healthy happy thoughts to Bailey, she really is the sweetest most sensitive boxer you will ever meet.

The other trip to the hospital was much less dramatic and for a scheduled appointment to see a respiratory specialist. I was “diagnosed” with sports induced asthma about 15 years ago. I use quotes because I told my doctor at the time that I was having trouble breathing while running, he listened to my lungs, said they sounded fine and sent me home with an inhaler. Over the years complained that the inhalers didn’t help I was given different medications, told I was doing it wrong and was sent off. After enduring this again with my current doctor I took it upon myself to seek out a specialist. National Jewish is the best respiratory hospital in the nation and is just down the street from me. I had my first appointment yesterday and they tested my lung function (not under stress) and listened to me about my symptoms and struggles over the years. The lung capacity test showed that I have great lung function, better than most people my age, height etc. and this did not support a asthma diagnosis. The doctor thinks I actually have Vocal Cord Dysfunction. The site says:

The vocal cords are located at the top of the windpipe (trachea) and vibrate from exhaled air to produce noise and voice. Breathing causes the vocal cords to open, allowing air to flow through the windpipe (trachea) and into the lungs. With VCD, the vocal cords close together, or constrict, during inhalation or exhalation. This leaves only a small opening for air to flow through the windpipe and causes asthma-like symptoms .

I won’t know for sure until I go back at the end of the month for a laryngoscopy and a lung function test while under stress (i.e. while running on a treadmill). They also want to test me for allergies and told me that my nose was partially blocked and wasn’t taking in enough air. To help my nose I was given a sinus rinse.

I am NOT a fan of this thing. I will spare you pictures of me using it, but it gives me a headache. I was also given a steroid nasal spray that should help me breath through my nose.


I am happy to finally feel like there may be some progress on my breathing difficulties but man I better be really fast when all is said and done. This is a lot of time, money and effort for this little hobby of mine!

What do you put up with to keep on running?


→