Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Archives for January 2014

Ironman Los Cabos Training – 10 weeks to go…

Whew, I am late getting last weeks recap up here, but better late than never! Las week had an unplanned rest day for me with a snow storm causing a two hour commute (missed my swim) then an offer on our house that same night so I spent the evening signing contracts (yay). I hate missing workouts but coach said no big deal so I guess I will move on. In the big picture selling my house trumps one day of workouts. The week started out easy to recover from the half marathon then ramped up.

Here is what my week looked like:
Monday:
2600 yd easy swim

Tuesday:
Hour  trainer ride in the morning  
30 min MAF run

Wednesday:
Bike strength and Power on the trainer
Easy shake out run

Thursday:
Snow storm and contract signing
Friday:
Strength training
Bike hill repeats on the trainer

Saturday:
16 mile run
2200 yd swim

Sunday:
75 mile bike with 40 minute t-run
Totals:
Swim: 4800 yds // 2hrs
Bike: 116 miles // 10hrs
Run: 22.3 miles // 4hrs 45min
Strength: 45 min

Total: 17hrs 22min

Overall this week felt ok, next week is a rest week so I am looking forward to a little step back before my biggest set before Cabo. Bring on peak training!!

2014 SOAS Racing Team

I was pretty stocked when I opened my email earlier this month to read that I had been selected to be part of the SOAS racing team.

I first noticed SOAS kits on some of my favorite bloggers and was impressed by how cute they were. I looked into the company and really loved how they were women specific
And were made in the U.S

I bought my first kit and wore it all summer training for Ironman Lake Tahoe. It was my go to kit anytime I had a long ride on the schedule, nothing was more comfortable. I wore it for a half ironman and was supper comfortable everything stayed in place. It was my plan to wear my SOAS kit was for Ironman Lake Tahoe but when the snow came the day before and the temps dipped below freezing warmer plans had to be made, just arm warmers weren’t going to cut it.

This year with two Ironman races on my schedule I will be proudly rocking the SOAS team uniform.

Do you have a favorite brand? I think getting something women’s specific is key!

Ironman Los Cabos Training – 11 weeks to go…

In my last post I talked about my new coach Beth (can get very confusing since my name is Beth too but it’s fun that our last names rhyme) . Since I don’t want to give her services away for free and everyone’s training should look different I won’t go into too much detail here about my workouts. Here is what my week looked like:

Monday:
Easy spin (that I moved over from Sunday)
2,000 yd swim

Tuesday:
Hour tempo trainer ride in the morning  
Interval run (in the dark)

Wednesday:
Pyramid trainer ride
 3100 masters swim
Thursday:
hour easy(ish) trainer ride
60 minute tempo run
Friday:
Strength workout
3000 yd swim
Saturday:
4 hour endurance bike ride with a 30 minute transition run
Sunday:
Half Marathon race (recap soon) quick strength session

90 minute easy spin to get the junk out of the legs
Totals:
Swim: 8250 yds // 2hrs 45min
Bike: 124 miles // 10hrs 27min
Run: 27 miles // 5hrs 5min
Strength: 1hr 10 min
Total: 18hrs 45min
Overall this week felt really good, I am happy to be back into a routine and really enjoying my workouts. My race on Sunday was definitely was not set up to be a PR but it felt good and was fun to race and see friends.

It’s a new year have you started your training cycle or still in off season?

New Coach

I can’t believe January is already more than half over, time is flying. I feel like I am constantly running to catch up but I know things will improve. As mentioned in past posts there was a lot of change in my life come end of December/beginning of January. Life is a little hectic now but I am loving training and where things are headed.

One of the new exciting changes is a new coach for 2014. I signed on with Beth Gerdes from Reve Endurance to help me get through Ironman Los Cabos and Ironman Canada this year.

I started working with Beth at the beginning of the month and I am loving the program and her coaching. I think it’s really a great fit and am excited to see how races go this year under her guidance. So thanks Beth for taking me under your wing, I am excited to get to work with you!
At the end of the week I will start documenting how training is going, this time it will be a shorter training log since Cabo is just a short 10 weeks away. Lots of cold rides, dark runs and hours in the pool. Nose to the tape…

2014 Intentions

In past years I have set very specific goals (will recap 2013 soon) but this year I just don’t have it in my heart to set out too many specific (SMART) goals for the year but want to start the year with more intentions.

This year I want to focus on being true to myself, finding peace and sharing Joy. I have found that I don’t always do what’s best for me or keep promises that I make to myself. That will change this year, I want to keep the promises I make to myself (eat better, follow training plan, stop stressing, etc)
Finding Peace is about relaxing more, I spent a lot of 2013 stressing about one thing or another, and everything still turned out fine. 2014 is starting out with an exciting but stressful event of selling one house and then hopefully buying a new one. Moving is stressful but I have to believe that it will all end up ok and I will end up in a home that I love. Time to find some zen.
Sharing Joy is to help focus on having more fun and sharing it with people around me. I can be a fairly ambitious, focused person so I can forget to stop and smell the roses. I want to slow down enough to share some fun with my family, friends and co-workers.
Being a goal oriented person I still will set some specific goals maybe monthly, but if at the end of 2014 I have focused on those three intentions more than I know it will have been a good year.

Are you setting intentions/resolutions for this year?