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!

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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?

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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?

Tomorrow Cory and I will be participating in the Denver Gorilla Run. This is a super fun event where your registration gets you a full gorilla suit!

Check out the bananas on bicycles, too funny!

I am not sure about running in a gorilla mask but I am sure that the cause it great and it will be a good time!
The Denver Gorilla Run is a charity fun run with a difference. Everyone who takes part wears a full gorilla costume – from fluffy head to furry toe – and helps raise funds for the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, the international charity working to save the world’s last remaining mountain gorillas and keeping Dian Fossey’s dream alive for the past 26 years.

This cause is near and dear to my heart, Mountain gorillas are critically endangered and in need of help! From the race website you can read more about Mountain Gorillas and what the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund is doing to help:

In 1987, only 248 Mountain Gorillas lived in the wild. Because of projects coordinated by the Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund, there are now about 790 living in the wild. The Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund is dedicated to ensuring the future of the Mountain Gorillas of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By providing a partnership of business, wildlife conservation, and community development, MGCF addresses the single biggest challenge facing preservation of these animals today; how do we help communities in developing areas grow and prosper without destroying precious habitat or the Mountain Gorillas, who call it home.

Source

If you live in the Denver area you can still sign up! It’s going to be so much fun, but if you don’t feel like running in a gorilla suit you can watch all the gorillas run and join the silverback after party between 17th and 18th at Wynkoop.

What’s not to love here? This event combines my favorite things, running, conservation and beer….it’s going to be a good day.

A storm is rolling into denver that promises to dump 3 to 10 inches of snow before tomorrow night. Weird given that this was my view down my street this morning:

At about 4:30 it started to rain and has been raining lightly all night. Cory got home fairly early tonight so we grabbed our headlamps and rain jackets before heading out the door. I am SO excited that we got in six miles and I had NO knee pain, I felt strong (not to be confused with fast) and happy to be running in the rain, it felt just like home.

For dinner tonight Cory cooked up some pulled pork in the slow cooker for the first time. I decided I would do my part by trying out a new recipe for Butternut Squash Cheesy bake. Sounds good and supposed to be good for you. Here are the stats:

PER SERVING (1/4th of casserole): 101 calories, 1g fat, 457mg sodium, 20g carbs, 3g fiber, 5g sugars, 4g protein

The original recipe can be found here from Hungry Girl. I used it as a base and put my own spin on it.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
2 wedges The Laughing Cow cheese, Light Original Swiss
2 wedges The Laughing Cow cheese, Garlic and Herb
1 diced onions
1/4 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic Salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cut squash in half, remove seeds and rub with a little bit of oil. Place in shallow baking pan and bake at 350 degrees until soft (usually about 30-45 minutes). Remove from oven and allow squash to cool. Use a spoon to peel skin away and place in a bowl. Set aside. Place onion (and next time I would add garlic too) in a pan with a little oil and cook until lightly caramelized. Set aside. Place all other ingredients except for the onions in the bowl with the squash.

Use an immersion mixer to blend until thoroughly mixed (but not liquefied) you can also use a blender but be very carful as it will be hot. Stir in the onions. Transfer squash mixture to a small casserole dish sprayed with nonstick spray.

Place in the oven, and bake for 35 – 40 minutes (until edges begin to brown).

We think both are winners, the squash is a nice change from our normal baked sweet potato. But that plate needs some greens stat!

Have you tried a great recipe lately? Care to share, I love trying new foods!

If you write a blog do you ever step back and think about why you write it? I do sometimes and it seems over time that the reasons are evolving. I was inspired to start a blog because I was stalking reading other peoples blogs and I needed a profile to be able to comment. When I first started this blog it was as a journal for myself, I wanted to capture all of the big a little moments while training for my first triathlon.

Now I could have done this and kept it private but I put it out there in the world anyway, no one was reading it and I didn’t post very often but I still enjoyed it. As my training progressed I started reading some blogs more regularly and posting more often. I still love that I can look back at what was thinking, doing and feeling last year but the blog has taken on more for me now. There are a few bloggers I have connected with and it has become a place of support where people “get” me. There are a few goals I have for my blog going forward, I would really like to deliberately meet some of the bloggers I love in this upcoming year.

I may never be the athlete that wins the race or contemplates going pro, but I could be the one to make people think hey “if she can do it, then I can too”. I hope to take on ironman with a twisted femur, asthma and a demanding career, I dare to dream that I can run an ultra-marathon in the mountains of Colorado.

(Running up the flatirons in Boulder)

I believe that I can do these things if I work hard enough and keep a smile on my face.

So the questions of the day are:
Why do you blog?
What do you dare to dream that you can do?

Beth over at Shut Up and Run tagged everyone to do a “day in the life post”. I love these posts because it gives a peak into what my favorite bloggers normal life is like. It’s interesting hearing about how they fit in everything else that they do other than training and racing. So I am going to play along and post a fairly normal day for me, try not to fall asleep.

4:30 am – Alarm goes off, Cory and I roll out of bed, feed the dogs, brew some coffee get dressed and head to the gym for spin class

5:00 am – arrive at gym and take an awesome 90 min spin class (30min on our own, 60min with instructor)

6:30 am- Head home, eat breakfast and try to get cleaned up for work

7:30 am – Pack up lunch and head to work for the day, I am very lucky in that I work less than two miles from my house. My day is rarely the same at work, I sit in a lot of meetings, read curriculum, teach, etc. Every day is different.

5:00 pm- Leave work and head to massage appointment. This is not a “typical” day. I wish I could get a massage everyday but we do go once a month to help keep our muscles healthy

6:30 pm- head home and fold a bunch of clean laundry that I didn’t get to over the weekend. Laundry is a never ending chore here and we don’t even have kids!

7:30 pm- sit down to dinner with Cory, we had salmon cakes with salad and champagne. It wasn’t for a special occasion, it just looked really good. Do you ever drink champagne just because? The salmon cakes are really good and good for you, recipe can be found here

8:00 pm-do PT exercises, and get ready for bed and read a few blogs (best part of the day)

9:00 pm- head to bed to cuddle with this guy.

That is a pretty normal day for me now during the off season, it will be fun to do this again in May when I am in peak IM training to see the difference.

Anyone else super excited about the Ironman Word Championship in Kona? I am having such a good time reading about all the shenanigans that some of my favorite super athlete bloggers are having. Even if you aren’t a tri-tard I suggest checking some of them out since yesterday was the traditional underwear run, their bodies are SICK! If you want to follow along check out Sonja, Michelle, James, Beth, and many others. I am excited to stalk them online tomorrow.

In other news I have to admit that I lied. I said I wasn’t going to race in October but Coach Charley is putting on a local 5k called Running with the Buffalos. The race promotes health and wellness in Commerce City and there is great support from the local schools and community. Last year the prizes included shoes and (anatomically correct) buffalo trophies. So if you are in the Denver area with nothing to do come on out, I would love to meet you!

Tomorrow it should be about 40 degrees and raining for the race and I am having a hard time figuring out what to wear. It’s been warm for so long that I have forgotten how to run in the cold (I will need to figure that out quick for all the long winter runs I will be doing).

I don’t think I will need to dress in snow gear, although I will be tempted since I am not used to the cold. We had a very mild winter last year. This was taken in January.

I don’t know if we will be so lucky this year.

A friend sent me this photo this morning….talk about sharing the road!

This morning was back at normal training. I don’t start getting workout plans from Charley until November so I am still making it up as I go. In general here is the plan for October:

Mondays: Rest
Tuesday: am Interval swim between 2200 meters and 3000 meters, pm easy 2-3 mile run
Wednesday: am spin class
Thursday: am Interval swim between 2200 meters and 3000 meters
Friday: Interval Run (no more than 20-30 min) then 30-40 min elliptical trainer
Saturday: Long Ride (30-50 miles)
Sunday: Easy Run

This plan looks too easy when I write it out but I am not supposed to run for more than 20-30 min at a time or do any lower body strength training until Djimmer (my PT) gives me the green light. I will also be doing my PT exercises every night as well as plank and push-up. I can’t wait until my knee is better and I can start doing speed work and long runs again!

Don’t miss SUAR give away of marathon bars!

Isn’t it time to start planning for 2012 races! I know that it may seem crazy but it’s weird to me to not have a race lined up. The only thing I am signed up for is Coeur d’Alene and that almost 9 months away. I will probably take October completely off of racing since it is already so busy. Here are the things I am interested in doing:

1. A turkey trot fun run (a must!) we will probably run the Anthem 10k since that is where my parents just bought their new house. I ran it last year, the course is beautiful and challenging.

2. A winter series, the last two years I have ran the winter distance series. This is a well run series and I enjoyed running the progressive series (5k, 5m, 10m) but I am getting a little bored with it too. I am considering the Chilly Cheeks duathlon series. It seems fun but riding my bike in the snow is intimidating and I would have to ride my mountain bike, bleh. Both series have races in December, January and February.

3. I would like a winter half marathon, I am thinking February or March, I am willing to travel but hopefully not too far from home. Any Suggestions?

4. We need a spring tune up half ironman, I am considering the RAGE 70.3 in vegas some time mid April, anyone raced this?

5. A late spring marathon. Last year Cory and I ran the Colorado Marathon and had a great time but I would like to run a different race.

6. CDA Ironman, already signed up….this is going to happen!

7. A summer or early fall ultra marathon, I am not sure yet I will want to talk to coach Charley about timing and ironman recovery.

I am already so excited about next year, I really hope that between having a coach and physical therapy I will be able to reach all my goals with no injuries.

I am off to help my parents move into their house, glad we aren’t in heavy training now!

How far in advance do you plan your races?