Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Marathon Week

I hope that talking a lot about my upcoming marathon will make it more real. I keep forgetting that we are running a marathon and then it comes up and I freak out a little. I need to let it sink in that it is here and that I AM ready for it!
I am not hoping for a PR with no real taper or focused training, I am just hoping for a good long training day. Luckily this week is a recovery week so things will be a little lighter and hopefully my legs will show up on Sunday ready to go the distance. This week looks like:


Monday: 6 mile run and 45 min yoga
Tuesday: 9.5 mile interval run
Wednesday: 30 mile bike ride with pick-ups along the way
Thursday: 2800 m sprint focused swim
Friday: 45 min yoga
Saturday: 2 mile open water swim to an hour transition bike ride
Sunday: Colfax Marathon with 1 mile warm up and cool down

Totals for the week:
Swim: 3.75 miles
Bike: 60 miles
Run: 43.7 miles
Strength: 1.5 hrs
Totals: 17ish hours and 107.5 miles

This feels like a BIG drop but hopefully that will make it all that much easier to hit it hard for the last three week push.

On a separate note I could use your advice. I just bought new shoes over the weekend and I am not sure which pair to wear for the marathon.

I know I am pushing the “nothing new on race day” rule BUT my feet have been hurting lately and I think it might be due to running in my old shoes.

Third times the charm!

So what would you do? Try to break in new shoes this week and run the marathon in them or stick to the old ones?

Week 19 Ironman Coeur d’Alene Training

Only 104 days until IMCDA! we are getting close to double digit count down, GULP! I am still waiting for my training volume to ramp up, it seems like we have been in a holding pattern for a while now. We are now in the last week of a big block before a recovery week. We then start a new phase of training, Capacity Building Phase. My dogs think we need less training and more couch time!


The plan for this week is:

Monday Hip and core exercises
Tuesday am: 2900 yd swim
pm: track practice: 7-8 miles plus Hip and core exercises
Wednesday am: 75 min spin class
pm: Vinyasa Yoga plus hip and core exercises
Thursday am: 75 min fartlek ladder run
pm: 2850 yd swim plus hip and core exercises
Friday am: 90 min spin class
pm: strength training hip and core exercises
Saturday Triple brick, bike 20 miles quick transition to 3 mile run, repeat 3 times.
Sunday Run 12-16 miles, not sure yet…..
pm: Vinyasa yoga

looks like it should be a good week but I am ready for some longer bike rides!

What does your week look like?


Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

It’s been a while since I have updated, whoops, many things are to blame. Work, family and sickness got in the way but I am ready to get back to regularly scheduled programing.

I would love to say that while my blog has been quite that I have been hitting all of my workouts. Sadly that is not the case, I caught a terrible head cold that without rest turned into an even worse chest cold. I pushed through with training while most of my symptoms were in my head but when it moved to my lungs I couldn’t do anything without horrible coughing fits. I ended up having to take a full four days off training. While I know that it’s not the end of the world, I don’t feel great about it and those four days were torture. I have been back at training since last Wednesday, with lots of biking, some running and a little swimming. I am still a little under the weather but am back at it full steam. My hope is to get all my workouts in as planned this week and race well on Saturday at my 10 miler.

My general plan to get over colds is always the same and includes:

  • Get at least 8 hours of sleep
  • Drink 96+ oz of water a day
  • Take vitamins and drink Emergen-C
  • Drink green tea
  • Eat whole healthy foods

What are you go to strategies to get over colds? I would love to hear your list!

Week 15 of IM CDA looks like this:

Monday Rest day
Tuesday am: 8 mile Interval Run
pm: 3050 yd swim (how romantic….)
Wednesday am: 75 min spin class
pm: 60 min pilates
Thursday am: 7 mile steady state run
pm: 2900 yd swim
Friday am: 90 min spin
pm: strength training or yoga
Saturday 10 mile race with 2 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down
pm: 2.4 mile swim
Sunday double brick: Bike 25 miles with a short transition to running 2 miles. Repeat twice, maintaining high level of effort.
pm: strength training

Weekly Totals:

Swim: 6.2 miles 3.5 hours
Bike: 100 miles 6 hours
Run: 31 miles 5 hours
Strength or yoga 3 hours

137.2 miles and 17.5 hours

Did you notice the romantic valentines day spent on the treadmill and in the pool? What are your plans?

Week 12 Ironman Coeur d’Alene Training

Yesterday I woke to howling winds, mid thirty degree weather and a three hour ride on my training schedule. Normally this would have been an obvious choice to jump on my trainer and enjoy a few movies while pedaling away. The problem was that I am (already) sick of working out inside and knew I wouldn’t be able to really push myself and get a good workout in. I talked my husband into heading to REI to buy toe covers
These things really did help keep my feet fairly warm. We left for our ride from REI and rode down to Chatfield Reservoir.
The first half of the ride was really fun and it was only breezy.
The second half was honestly miserable, it was very gusty. It was difficult to keep my bike up right, I was scared about being pushed off the path a couple times. But I was happy to get it done!
This weeks focus is recovery so workouts are much fewer than normal and this week, I’ll take it!
Monday Rest day
Tuesday am: 60 min Interval Run pm: 60 min strength training
Wednesday am: 120 min spin class and 60 min pilates
Thursday 2700m swim
Friday 60 min easy yoga or pilates
Saturday 35-45 mile hill bike workout, I really hope the weather holds so we can be outside and 30 min transition run
Sunday 10 mile trail run, hopefully on a trail
Do you take easy or recovery weeks while training?
I never have in the past but now I am trying to incorporate them into my training. It’s very important to me to avoid injuries if at all possible in 2012!


Epic Weekend and Ironman Week 6 Training Plan

It was an EPIC training weekend, and will be leading into a pretty heavy week so I am enjoying a little of this and some Christmas music on my rest day and enjoying every minute of it.

This weekend started out with a three hour trainer ride. It’s so much harder to do long rides inside compared to outside but I try to think of it at mental toughness training and move on. We had an evening strength session after watching the Kona coverage twice (serious awesomeness). Then on Sunday we had an easy morning before dropping the kids dogs at my parents house and head to Teller Farms in Boulder for a trail run. We did a 11 mile out and back, it was a little snowy on the flat parts and really snowy and muddy on the hills. My calves are seriously sore today. But it was beautiful out and I really enjoyed getting off the treadmill and back on the trail.

Taking it very seriously as usual

The trail runs through open grazing land so we got to run by cows so close I could have touched them. I was seriously tempted to try to pet one but I resisted.

I took a video during the run I sound like darth vader, and please don’t watch if you get sea sick! I really need to work on my skills and probably get a cool flip camera!

Please forgive me for the video of you watched it, I’m special.

Moving on to this week…..Charley surprised us with a pick up in intensity in the next couple weeks, I say bring it, let’s see if I can keep up.

Monday: Rest day, and I need it!
Tuesday: am: 80 min Interval Run pm: 60 min strength training
Wednesday: 90 min spin class and 60 min pilates
Thursday: Swim workout (2800 m) pm: Hill training run (80 min)
Friday: 2.5 hour trainer ride (how is that going to happen before work?1?)
Saturday: 5k race and swim workout
Sunday: Hill training (80 min) and 60 min strength

That’s it for this week, lot’s of running, I am already feeling stronger and still loving it!

What is your plan for the week?

Ironman Coeur D’Alene Week 5 Workouts

I promised myself that I would keep up my training and nutrition during December and I knew it would be a challenge. I didn’t think the challenge would start SO early. Last week I had 5 holiday parties, 4 of which happened over the weekend. I was able to all of my workouts last week but that is mostly because it was a recovery week so there wasn’t as much to do. But now is when things get more interesting. This is the first week of “Base Building Phase” so we are adding time and miles (fun but time consuming) Please wish me luck between happy hours, parties and shopping. Hoping to fit it all in, but most will have to be indoors because Denver looks like this:

Here is the week:
Monday: 90 min yoga and hip strengthening exercises
Tuesday: am: 60 min strength pm: 90 min Interval Run

Wednesday: 90 min spin class and 60 min pilates
Thursday: Distance swim workout (3100 m)
Friday: 60 min progression run and 60 min strength training
Saturday: Swim (60 min)/bike (120 min)brick
Sunday: 11 mile endurance run and strength training (60 min)

Thoughts on strength training: I love it, and I love that my plan incorporates time to work on building strength. After training for my first full marathon and half ironman last year I felt week and wobbly since I spent no time focusing on strength.

Now I have a routine that I kinda like but don’t LOVE. Anyone have a plan they would suggest? I have heard good things about TYR, suggestions?

Ironman Coeur D’Alene Week 4 Workouts

Made it to week four of Ironman CDA training WHOO-HOOO! I have to say I am loving it so far. I am sure I will feel differently in May.

The focus for week 4 is recovery, I personally think it’s a bit too much recovery so I am going to give myself a couple extra workouts just for my own pleasure. Sorry coach I am not good at following the rules.

Monday: 90 min yoga and hip strengthening exercises

Tuesday: am: 60 min strength pm: Interval Run
Wednesday: 90 min spin class and 60 min pilates

Thursday: Distance swim workout (3100 m)

Friday: 60 min tempo run and 60 min strength training

Saturday: Bike ride, 3 hours (hopefully outside)

Sunday: 10 mile endurance run and easy recovery swim.

I am excited for week 5 since we start our “Base Building” phase. The BASE BUILDING PHASE is used to build the aerobic capacity. Although longer duration workouts at slower pace and intensity are predominant, there will be some training that will test your anaerobic base. Specific emphasis will be placed upon each discipline (swim, bike, or run). Depending upon when you begin your training schedule and your level of fitness, the Base Building Phase generally makes up the bulk of your training schedule.

I was also excited to get this note in my I was also excited to get this note with my training schedule this week along with my heart rate zones from coach:

Your HR zones as of 11/25/11 – This was figured as follows: Looking at your heart rate after the first minute of the two tests, your average HR was 173 beats per minute. 1-5 beats are added or subtracted from 173 based upon perceived effort during the test, time spent at the highest heart rate, and your recovery heart rate in the first minute following the two tests. On the first test you appeared to move into an anaerobic state after 5 minutes at a HR of 175. On the second test you appeared to move into an anaerobic state after 2 minutes at a HR of 176. Once you became anaerobic you stayed consistently at 175-180 and your perceived effort was consistently 8; 9 or above. Your recovery heart rate recovery on the two tests averaged 55.5 beats per minute (bpm), which indicates an excellent cardio fitness level and again supports a max effort on the test.

My goals for this week are to hit every workout, give it my all and get more points for hbbc than I did last week (59).

Denver Gorilla Run Race Report

The Denver Gorilla Run was so much fun! Over a thousand people showed up in costume to support Mountain Gorilla Conservation. As Cory and I got ready our dogs didn’t know what to do about the giant apes in their house.

It’s almost a requirement to dress up your gorilla and people were very creative. There was the full cast of the Wizard of Oz

And some very hairy beer wenches.

Although not caught on camera there were MANY people in tighty whities.

I have to admit that running in a gorilla suit was pretty miserable, next year I will either walk or seriously modify the gorilla suit.

On Sunday Cory and I road 50 miles from my parents house out to Boulder and back, it was nice and not too windy. We finished off the day with a swim at my parents club. The pool is SO nice and makes me dread having to go to 24 hour fitness.

This week will be a little off because we are flying out to Portland and driving my grandmas car to Colorado for her. That means no time for big workouts this weekend, Boo!

Monday: 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Tuesday: am 60 min swim workout (2700 meters) pm 6 mile run and PT exercises

Wednesday: 90 min spin and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Thursday: 60 min swim workout, 2 mile recovery run with Pug and PT

Friday: 5 mile tempo run and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Saturday: nothing =(
Sunday: Hopefully a two mile walk when we get home to stretch our legs.

Total: approximately 9 hours

What are your plans for the week?

Happy Halloween!

15 hour training week – here goes!

I realized I haven’t been good about posting my plan for the week or reporting back about what actually got done. Last spring/summer I always missed one or two scheduled workouts. This fall I am determined not to let that happen as often. The mantra is “just get it done”.

So this week’s schedule looks like:

Monday: 45 min of PT exercises and abs
Tuesday: 6 mile run and 60 min of PT exercises
Wednesday: 90 min spin and 45 min of PT exercises and abs
Thursday: 60 min pool workout, 2 mile recovery run with Pug (don’t want him getting too rolly polly) and PT!
Friday: 5 mile tempo run and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Saturday: 40-50 mile bike ride and 45 min of PT exercises and abs

Sunday: 7 mile trail run and a recovery swim and PT

Total hours planned: approx. 15 hours (and this feel like a lot, how will I survive ironman training?)

Here is how last week went:
Monday: Rest Done!

Tuesday: 60 min. strength Done
Wednesday: 90 min spin Done

Thursday: 5 mile run finish with plyos run done, no ploys but I did do my PT

Friday: 60 min pool workout Done – so nice the pook was empty

Saturday: 6 mile trail run (this will be so nice, it’s been a long time since I have been out on the trails) Turned into a 4 mile run, I wasn’t feeling well =(

Sunday: 40-50 mile bike ride 40 miles done, felt great and added a bonus swim!


Overall hours: 12.5 hours – this is including 30-45 min of PT exercises everyday

Overall I am pleased about how things are progressing but can’t wait until I can start working on speed!!

At work today we had a health fair, I love this kind of stuff and wasted over an hour talking to different booths. I tried a foot bath thing that is supposed to pull out your toxins, the lady said I had a lot of inflammation and way too much caffeine. Now I am the biggest skeptic of this kind of stuff but I do have a bit of a coffee addiction: Also I have read about giving up caffeine while training for big events but nothing conclusive. I found this on the RICE website, full article can be found here.

Despite considerable research in this area, the role of caffeine as a performance enhancing drug is still controversial. Some of the data are conflicting, which is in part due to how the experimental studies were designed and what methods were used. However, there is general agreement in a few areas: Caffeine does not appear to benefit short term, high intensity exercise (eg. sprinting)Caffeine can enhance performance in endurance sports. Glycogen is the principal fuel for muscles and exhaustion occurs when it is depleted. A secondary fuel, which is much more abundant, is fat. As long as there is still glycogen available, working muscles can utilize fat. Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel. This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for a prolongation of exercise. The critical time period in glycogen sparing appears to occur during the first 15 minutes of exercise, where caffeine has been shown to decrease glycogen utilization by as much as 50%.

So what’s your take? Do/would you give up caffeine?

Weekly training plans and food

I realized I haven’t posted my weekly training plan in a while so here is my week:

Monday: 35 mile ride
Tuesday: am interval swim 2500 meters, pm interval run approx. 5 miles
Wednesday: am 36 mile ride, pm yoga
Thursday: am: 6 mile run, pm masters swim
Friday: strength training
Saturday: 18 mile trail run ( must find easier trail so it won’t take me 8 hours)
Sunday: open water swim 1.5 miles and Ride 55 miles

I will take everyone’s advice and just try to suck it up buttercup on the heat, I grew up in Portland so this Colorado heat gets to me sometimes and I become a giant whiney baby about it.

Ironman update: Ironman Mont Tremblant is now full so it won’t be an option for me in 2012, so I think I will try for IM Canada if I can’t get into that then I will just have to decide between Vineman and Ironman CDA, I can’t wait to sign up!

Last I want to talk about FOOD! I love to eat and TRY to eat healthy foods. I pack my lunch and take it to work everyday. I tend to eat the same things with little variation, here is my lunch for today:

Salad with strawberries, blue cheese and walnuts
Some kind of fruit today includes watermelon and an apple
Greek yogurt with fruit today I cut up a white peach
And some type of vegetable today is a red pepper

Anyone have any suggestion for variety? Keep in mind I am cheap, lazy and a vegetarian…..you can see why this is difficult 🙂

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