Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Makin’ it work – Week 24 training

Sometimes that is what life training is all about…makin’ it work. Last week was a recovery week and while I prefer to stare down a big volume week, I knew I had a ton of school work to do so it worked out well for me. Here’s how week 24 went down:
Monday: Rest day – done!
Tuesday: Running Speed work in below freezing temps – makes it really hard to breathe but I am happy to be working on speed more than I did last year
Wednesday: 75 minute spin class – some great hill and sprint work
Thursday: Took my rest day a day early so I could finish my biochem assignment. I prefer going to masters on Thursday evening but due dates didn’t permit.
Friday: Thursdays swim at my gym, the pool situation seems to be getting worse and worse. It’s too hot, murky and the bottom is slick with something I don’t even want to think about. Can someone please open up a cheap heated outdoor pool near my house??? Thanks!
Saturday: Added a swim to Saturdays long ride for a swim-bike brick. 3.5 hour trainer ride was derailed by equipment failure
Sunday: 11 mile run turned into a two hour trainer ride plus some strength work because of a snow storm
We had this plus 10 more inches by the time we woke up this morning
Totals came to:
8 hours and 40 minutes
3,000 meters swimming
87 miles biking
5.91 miles running – fail
So the week didn’t go as planned but it could have been worse, at least it was just a recovery week. I am determined to fit in all workouts this week, it’s my biggest set so far. There is more snow in the forecast so hopefully I can at least get the work done inside. This week has about 18 hrs on the schedule if everything goes as planned. Finger crossed for 55 degrees on Saturday!
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How is your week? Is winter making your life interesting?

How is your week? Is winter making your life interesting?

Cabin Fever

On the plan for today was an 11 mile run, nothing too out of the ordinary and one of my favorite workouts of the week. I always look forward to weekend workouts because they usually have long endurance workouts planned and those are my favorite. This weekend called for a 3.5 hour ride on Saturday and an 11 mile run on Sunday with 8 miles specifically at marathon (not IM marathon) pace. But with temps not rising above 45 degrees lots of wind and a snow storm blowing in I accepted that I probably wouldn’t be riding outside, I assumed that I would be running outside since I do love running in the snow. But things didn’t play out as I thought they might. Here is how things have gone down so far:

Saturday: knowing that I would be riding indoors (harrumph) I thought I would take this opportunity to add a swim in to make it a swim bike brick. I can’t do this well in the winter unless I am rinding inside because it takes an hour to dry my 5 lbs of hair and I refuse to ride outside in the winter with wet hair so that kind of defeats the purpose of the brick. Anyway the 2200 meters of swimming went well even though my gyms pool was way too hot and murky (YUCK) then it was a quick change and into the spin room for 90 minutes. After sweating my way through class I hurried home to finish up with two hours on the trainer. I hopped on my bike clipped in and got ready to watch a movie while spinning away all of a sudden I felt my bike lurch to the left. Next thing I knew I was on the ground still clipped into my bike. My first thought was thank god I didn’t land on any of our dogs, the second was oh-god, my bike! I live in fear of cracking my carbon frame. After Cory’s slight freak out that I might be injured we checked out my bike and things looked fine, not a scratch. Looks like I dodged a bullet and was left with just a scuffed knee. But my $15 garage sale trainer was not going to be so lucky, I was not going to be getting back on that thing if it was going to buck me off like that. It was most likely that I didn’t have the correct skewer in it but I was done with big red, RIP. I called my ride done for the day, I wanted to baby my knee that has been giving me some trouble and I had just landed on it. So the 3.5 hr ride was shortened to an hour swim and a 1.5 hour ride….hmmmm….shrug, it’s still early season right?!!?  The silver lining to this story is that while out running errands we dropped by our favorite bike shop, Tri Bella, and picked up a Kinetic Road Machine Trainer for a great deal.

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Sunday: woke up to just a couple of inches of snow, this would normally this wouldn’t be a problem but with the snow coming down quickly and the wind was blowing making for very poor visibility. So poor in fact that it would be miserable to run outside and dangerous to drive to the gym. Guess today’s 11 miler isn’t in the cards. So what can I do at home? Try out the new trainer! So I will get that two hours I missed yesterday and hope to get my long run in tomorrow. Hopefully we will be able to get out tomorrow it’s still snowing!

Mom, it’s COLD!!!

Anyone else dealing with changing plans this weekend?

Temperature Debate

The temperature is forecasted to be in the high 40s in the Denver/Boulder Area tomorrow. I am not completely sure as to what to do about my 3.5 hour ride that is on the schedule for tomorrow. Last time I road outside my hands and feet went numb and I was miserable. I do think with better toe covers and the fact that it is supposed to be sunny (and that helps a lot in Colorado) I could ride without too much suffering . 
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So here’s the question would you choose to risk being cold/slipping on the ice to get in 60 miles outside (oh and spend $$$ so the hubs an I have better cold weather gear) tomorrow or play it safe and (suffer mentally) ride inside on the trainer?

Training update- Things are going pretty well, normal Ironman training aches and pains. This week has been a recovery week, normally I don’t like recovery weeks and want to push higher volume still but I needed the extra time to study and get assignments done, so no complaining from me! Next week bumps up to 18 hrs+ training, let’s see if I can make that work with grad school!?!?

Happy Accident

While at a going away party for a friend that I did Ironman CDA with (moving to TX, boo!!!!) I got to talking to Katy who is doing Ironman Los Cabos.

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 I mentioned that Cory and I were planning a trip to Mexico for our tenth anniversary of being together. We booked our trip without realizing it was the same weekend as Ironman Los Cabos. I can’t believe I didn’t realize it since I knew it was happening in March, I just didn’t put the pieces together until talking to Katy about it. I am so stinkin excited that we will get to cheer on a friend and spectate an Ironman while we are there. I may even try to stay for the midnight finish since I didn’t make it for CDAs finish (I am determined to make it to Lake Tahoe’s midnight finish this year). Some might not love the idea of an ironman taking place during their romantic getaway, but Cory and I love it. 

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We have never gotten to watch an ironman in person before and it’s something that we love and love to do together. So let me know if you are racing IM Los Cabos, I will be out there cheering for you!

Hello February

Hello February, where have you come from and where has over a third have you gone??? Time is flying and I feel like my easy cocoon of early season training will be ending soon and I will have to face the fact that I will need to start putting up some results. I owe you guys a recap from my time in Miami, I didn’t have the best racebut I did have a great time. When I got back from Miami I had to rush to catch back up with school and work and I just now feel like life is back on track. Training has been going pretty well. Endurance comes easy (give me long slow workouts any day) but speed is difficult so that is the focus for now. Last week was 14 hrs of training, which doesn’t seem like a lot compared to the 20+ hour weeks leading up to ironman, but felt really hard when a lot of those hours were high intensity training. My body felt shredded but after a 90 minute massage and a rest day today I am feeling much better. Good thing too since next week is MORE of the same, plus 4 hrs for an 18 hour week, we’ll see if I can make that happen. I don’t mind winter training when I get to go run on trails.
 but three hours on the trainer in my basement is not my favorite. Fingers crossed that I get 60 miles in on the roads this weekend! 
What does your week look like? Mine will include a romantic run and masters swim with the hubs on Valentines day (sexy….no?)

Packing for Miami!!!

I am so excited to be heading to Miami tomorrow. I really hope I haven’t forgotten anything, after a hectic day at work I laid everything out in the spare room of our house hoping that I would be able to make it all fit into my carry-on, I’m too cheep to pay the extra but I don’t like to pack light. I love to have options so packing isn’t my favorite task. I couldn’t decide what to wear for the race so I packed two options

My forst choice is tank top and capris, my second choice is shorts and a t-shirt. It’s like I have completely forgotten how to run in anything above 50 degrees. Race start is at 6 am (ugh, that’s 4 am mountain time)

The race temps look pretty great, but the humidity is a little intimidating, I think the highest we have gotten lately in Colorado is less than 40%. No matter what I am so looking forward to this trip, hangin with Amanda from Run to the Finish and wearing my summer clothes that I had to pull out of storage. 
Anyone else racing this weekend? My mom and hubby are racing the Yeti Chase in Colorado. 

Ironman Lake Tahoe Picture Recon

While I was “studying” last night I started googling information about IMLT, I had been getting very nervous about the amount of climbing there would be on the bike. After scoping out the elevation profile carefully I compared it to the IMCDA profile since that is my best frame of reference . It looks like Tahoe has less than 1000 feet more than CdA. Tahoe will definitely be difficult but I had it in my head that it was going to be twice as hard.

As I was trolling around the internet I found a blog called IM Tahoe Live written by a triathlete who lives in Tahoe. This site has amazing information about the race! He has loaded videos of the swim area, and the bike and run course. Plus tons of photos and information about the race.

Photo pf the bike path that the run will be on [Source]
I had fun checking out all the information I could find, the one downside was that I was getting so excited about the trip and race that once it was time to go to bed I felt too ramped up to sleep. Thankfully it didn’t take to long to wind down and fall asleep. 
Anyone else so looking forward to races that aren’t until this summer, or in my case fall?!?

Ironman Lake Tahoe Training Week 4

Training update is a couple days late but I had the day off yesterday and fully enjoyed a full day of recovery with the hubby. This week is a recovery week after three build weeks. The formula for during the work week usually looks about the same but the weekends are getting bigger and I have to say I love it. We got out on a 50 mile ride and 13 mile run this weekend and it was great to be out in the sun (too bad I don’t have a heated outdoor pool to swim in) Guess I should move to San Diego!

Monday: Complete Rest =)
Tuesday: 90 minute interval run
Wednesday: 75 minute spin
60 minute strength 
Thursday: masters swim 
Friday: easy yoga  
Saturday: easy shake out run if time
Sunday: ING Miami Half Marathon ( thanks to Amanda)
I am happy for a recovery week, normally I am not that excited about them but it lines up perfectly for a mini taper for ING. But more importantly my legs are trashed after last weekend and I need to let the my muscles rest, recover and come back stronger. I didn’t think that last weekend was that big of a weekend but I haven’t been on my bike in a long time (mostly been on a spin bike) so the 50 miles left me tired and sore. Then on Sunday it was so nice to be out in 40 degree weather running that I pushed the pace on the 13 miles more than I have the past few weeks. Biggest lesson I learned was that spin class is great fun but I need more time on my bike, outside whenever I can or on the trainer.

Gettin Out of the Box

No I don’t mean the CrossFit Box, but Someday I would love to try it out. I mean out of my gym, it had been crazy cold in Colorado lately but when Saturdays high was forecasted to be 57 degrees I was stoked to get out on my bike. I even got to try out my new Zoot Knickers that Cory got my for Christmas, I loved them, they kept me nice and warm and I fel lie less of a goob then when I used to put running tights over bike shorts.

Cory and I did an easy 50 mile out and back to from Broomfield to Boulder. It was awesome to see SO many other cyclists out on the road.

Today we set out for a 13 mile easy run, it was awesome to breathe easy and not have to bundle up for once. 
The Nuun giveaway goes to Live4endurance (I used random.org) if you haven’t checked out this blog you should, I haven’t read a lot yet but he has some pretty great posts and is only 16!!! Live4endurance (I couldn’t find your name) please email me your adress  at bethcn at gmail dot com and I will send your nuun to you.
Happy weekend everyone, I will be enjoying one more day of a long weekend happily.

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