Chasing My Joy

My journey to becoming an Ultra Runner and Ironman

A New Chapter and a New Name

Today marks the first day of ironman training. It is starting out kind of anticlimactically by being a rest day with just some light yoga this evening. It was a good this it did since I slept a total of 8 hours for both Friday and Saturday night, so I have some sleep catch up to do. We saw the sun go down in Oregon and the sun come up in Wyoming.

I started off well by banking 11 hours of sleep last night but still feel a bit tired today.

While driving from Oregon to Colorado this weekend I was thinking about the name of this blog. I chose this name way back when I started this blog and didn’t really like it but it was the best I could come up with at the time. Also this blog has changed over time, at first it was mostly about me making my training plans for triathlons but now I talk about all things in my life. Like how I am passionate about conservation and the work I do:

I talk about my family (including my dogs): I like to talk about eating healthy and having a balanced healthy life, or at least I would like to talk about that stuff more often.

So I decided to change up the name of this blog to one that I like better and I think will better reflect what I talk about here. Don’t worry if you are here just here to read about triathlon, I will still be talking about all things triathlon and specifically ironman nonstop. So Tri-Girl Training Plan will be retired and replaced with Chasing My Joy. I will eventually change my URL to reflect the new name when I have time to figure out how to move all my content etc. Maybe over the holidays when I have some time off work.
So there it is, a new chapter of my life starts and the blog gets an new name, it’s a good day.

Why and how did you choose your blogs name?

P.S.- thanks to all who commented about the start of ironman training, I love and appreciate all the support, you guys are the best!

First official week of Ironman Training

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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How to Pack for 28 hours of Traveling

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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TWEET!

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?


October Recap and November Goals

Quick Bailey Update: Bailey is doing well today, she loves her canned food, and has not had diarrhea or blood in her stool today. I am a very happy dog mommy so far.

October Recap:

October was a very busy month, and I have to admit that I LIED back on the first of October! I said I wasn’t going to race at all in October and ended up doing two. Both were just for fun and very memorable. I took first in my age group Running with the Buffalos 5k and lost ten pounds of sweat running the Denver Gorilla Run

There was a lot of seasonal fun had as well with a Oktoberfest train ride

Pumpkin patchin’

and lots of swim, bike, run and eating!

I wish that I had kept track of my workouts better, I have no totals to share so that leads me to my Goals for November:

  1. Keep track of workouts better. I am participating in the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge and the Pile on the Miles so I need to keep track!
  2. Run at least 70 miles
  3. Swim for at least 12 hours
  4. Bike for at least 20 hours
  5. Do my PT exercises every night
  6. Do abs and arms exercises three times a week
  7. Eat healthy (except on Thanksgiving, on that day anything goes!)

These are as always ambitious goals for me, we’ll see how it goes!

Workout today was spin this morning and hopefully a snowy 6 mile run later.

What are your goals for November?


Two trips to the Hospital

Our poor baby boxer Bailey was very sick today


By the time I got home from work today she had bloody diarrhea (sorry if that’s TMI). She was acting perky but I have never seen her do that before so I packed her into the car and rushed her to the vet. They think that she has an infection and will be fine as long as she takes her antibiotics and eats bland foods. They also gave me probiotics to help her tummy. We left with our meds and instructions to keep an eye on her, looks like either Cory or I will be working from home tomorrow.


Please send healthy happy thoughts to Bailey, she really is the sweetest most sensitive boxer you will ever meet.

The other trip to the hospital was much less dramatic and for a scheduled appointment to see a respiratory specialist. I was “diagnosed” with sports induced asthma about 15 years ago. I use quotes because I told my doctor at the time that I was having trouble breathing while running, he listened to my lungs, said they sounded fine and sent me home with an inhaler. Over the years complained that the inhalers didn’t help I was given different medications, told I was doing it wrong and was sent off. After enduring this again with my current doctor I took it upon myself to seek out a specialist. National Jewish is the best respiratory hospital in the nation and is just down the street from me. I had my first appointment yesterday and they tested my lung function (not under stress) and listened to me about my symptoms and struggles over the years. The lung capacity test showed that I have great lung function, better than most people my age, height etc. and this did not support a asthma diagnosis. The doctor thinks I actually have Vocal Cord Dysfunction. The site says:

The vocal cords are located at the top of the windpipe (trachea) and vibrate from exhaled air to produce noise and voice. Breathing causes the vocal cords to open, allowing air to flow through the windpipe (trachea) and into the lungs. With VCD, the vocal cords close together, or constrict, during inhalation or exhalation. This leaves only a small opening for air to flow through the windpipe and causes asthma-like symptoms .

I won’t know for sure until I go back at the end of the month for a laryngoscopy and a lung function test while under stress (i.e. while running on a treadmill). They also want to test me for allergies and told me that my nose was partially blocked and wasn’t taking in enough air. To help my nose I was given a sinus rinse.

I am NOT a fan of this thing. I will spare you pictures of me using it, but it gives me a headache. I was also given a steroid nasal spray that should help me breath through my nose.


I am happy to finally feel like there may be some progress on my breathing difficulties but man I better be really fast when all is said and done. This is a lot of time, money and effort for this little hobby of mine!

What do you put up with to keep on running?


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!

Gorilla Run

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.

Getting it done – in the pool

We ended up losing power at our house last night after Denver’s first snow storm of the year took out many of the trees in our neighborhood. We live in a historic part of Denver so many of the trees are 100+ years old and tend to lose branches under heavy snow. We had a few come down around our house but luckily nothing major. We were lucky but we ended up going out to dinner instead of trying to cook on the grill and eat in the dark. By the time we got home the power was back on but it was late. Normally I would let this throw off my plan but I got up and headed to the pool as planned this morning. It wasn’t a great swim but we got it done with my poor husband listening to me whine. Our workout looked like this:

Warm up:
500 free
200 kick
100 free

Drills:
5×100 drills (all front quadrant)

Main set:
10×100

Cool down:
100 whatever style you like

Total: 2400

This was a bit of a change from what we normally do so that was nice. What wasn’t nice is that I got a flu shot yesterday and my arm hurt the entire time.

On another note I am disappointed that I can’t find a half marathon in Colorado in December or January. Last year Cory and I ran the Huge Ass Half in Oregon and had a great time.

I am toying with the idea of just running my own self supported trail half marathon near new years (love to make that a tradition). The HAH was self supported it was just a group of Central Oregon ultra runners who like to get together and run, they marked the course told people when to show up and that was about it.

So I am thinking about doing it this year for just Cory and I on New Year’s day, that is unless anyone wants to join us =)
Now jump over to Blond Ponytail to enter her giveaway for compression shorts, and Tall Mom on the Run for a gear.com give away!

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?

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