Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

Ironman Lake Tahoe Count Down

Yesterday marked exactly six months until Ironman Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe#.jpeg

Last year I felt relief at having more time not less to prepare for Ironman but this year I am green with envy to anyone who is racing an early season ironman. I blame Los Cabos as well as my high training load. I am itching to do an ironman sooner than later. I am wishing I had a June or May race instead of September. It’s making me have an itchy trigger finger to sign up for more races. I have been seriously thinking about my 2014 calendar and what I would like to race. The only thing keeping me from signing up for Ironman Los Cabos 2014 is the reports of heat, I don’t do well in heat and Denver doesn’t offer great heat training between October and March. Is it crazy to be thinking about 2014 when 2013 is less than a quarter over? Probably but for many IMs you have to sign up a year in advance. So Cory and I have started tentatively planning out what our 2014 race schedule would look like. I am drawn towards Ironman Wales

IM wales.jpeg

Source

But that isn’t until September and I would love to do two Ironmans in 2014. Any suggestions? Anyone have an Ironman race they think is amazing?

Cabo San Lucas 2013

Ouch, I have been under a rock for almost a month, not hiding more like buried, and I don’t see that changing any time before August. But I shouldn’t complain I make my own schedule and I just got home from a sunny Mexican vacation =)
DSCN7797.JPG 
Cory and I planned a quick five day get away to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate being together for ten years as well as a fun break from Colorado’s winter. It was in the low 80s and low humidity so very comfortable. It was actually a little chilly in the morning and evening so if I were to go back next year I would bring more sweaters. We stayed at one of the local resorts, it was nice but kind of cookie cutter.
  DSCN7764.JPGDSCN7794.JPG
There were a lot of “spring breakers” staying at the hotel, luckily it was quiet by our room but I am not sure everyone was so lucky. We had a great time and tried to enjoy the sun and the ocean as much as possible. We borrowed a sea kayak from the hotel and paddled our way over the famous Cabo arch and Lovers beach. When I first looked how far it was away I was skeptical that we could paddle the entire way over and back but little did I know how easy it is to paddle a kayak, getting up on the beach is another story, we completely rolled over on the way in.  20130322-103002.jpgDSCN7799.JPG
We ate (and drank) a lot of great Mexican food20130322-103403.jpg
We went whale watching and checked out the town but our favorite part of the trip was spectating Ironman Los Cabos
IMG_1004.JPG
We had the best time chasing athletes all over and cheering until our throats hurt. Ironman Los Cabos from the spectator point of view deserves it’s own post so look for that in the near future.

Now it’s back to reality and trying to dig out from under the rock!

Oh Shooooot….I forgot I should be Training for a Marathon

So, I knew that I had signed up for the Colorado Marathon but somehow I didn’t have it in my head that I am TRAINING for a marathon. I was blissfully following along with my training plan, hitting *most* of my workouts when the nice people who run the Colorado Marathon send me this email:
10 weeks until the marathon?!? Wow that makes it more real. I was in my own little safety zone thinking about ironman almost seven months away. But the good news is I LOVE running long. So bring on the long weekend runs, I am ready =)

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!
[Source]
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.

[Source]


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 . 
[Source]
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.

[Source]

 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. 

[Source]

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. 

→←