Team KiterChick - CLOSED (Page 13)

Had a good weekend.  Had a PR for a 5k.  19:42.  It was an awesome race.  Even with that, I was 5th in my AG.  Bummed.  

Also went for my first OWS.  After the panic went away the swim was ok.  Definitely will be doing more OWS.  

Hi everyone! Busy weekend as usual. Went swimming with Mike at Walden Saturday morning. There were the cutest baby ducks swimming around us before we started off. Headed out later that afternoon for a long ride. Still not feeling as strong as last year at the longer distances. Didn't help that I had a pressure point on the ball of my left foot that was really painful for the entire second half. Still plenty of time to improve before the big races at least. Yesterday was making up a pool workout I hadn't had a chance to get to during the week and a short run. Back on the bike again this morning, and back to the pool after work. Whew!

Beth - I hope the gummy bears work out for you. There's definitely no need to stick to sport based nutrition, they're perfectly acceptable, so if that's what works for you, then you should definitely switch up to that. IT band issues can be really painful (I had one years ago), so I'm glad you were able to catch that early. Hopefully all of this PT will help your upcoming race. Also, don't think about your last one, those were some incredibly rough conditions! Hopefully this one will at least provide you with better weather.

Ken - Congratulations on the new 5K PR. Under 20 minutes is awesome! Also glad to hear the inaugural OWS went well. You should definitely become more comfortable with practice.

I've not been training like I need too latley...lots of seizures AND SMOKE!!! The Pine Ridge fire is pretty close but not dangerously close. I really like running outside but the air quality is awful. Just the 1 mile hike to the gym is too smokey. (I don't drive) Having just gotten over fluid in my lungs i'm not going out more than i have to. I am working out as much as I can inside.

Please pray for Colorados' First Responders and the families affected by the fires!

Hello everyone, second day of PT and its going better, not so painful and my hip and knee seem to be functioning better than ever. I still have a long way to go and this is assuming I don't hurt myself again.

My therapist and I were talking and come to find out he's an ex triathlete and semi pro bike racer! And apparently there's a sort of underground tri/bike race group in my area. I've seen some stickers on cars around but no information. Therapist said that they are hush hush about it because they really only want people who are serious about training. Its not that they have anything agaist the week end cyclist but when they plan on doing 50+ mile rides they want to train and not just ride. Long story short I've been invited into their group!

Once my HIM is over I'll join them on their rides and runs. With my HIM so close I don't want to mess with any of my current training. Other than that training is tough with the heat. Made it all of 2.5 miles on the run before I got to hot and had to fight not to puke. With the heat index into the triple digets getting a decent run in is hard.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

Beth

So I've decided to do another 5K on 7/14 and then on to 10K in Sept and then 13.1 in Oct. I honestly didn't know what to expect with the 5K and I finished it. (Not that I think the others are easy, just attainable)

A friend hooked me up with the Half-Marathon - Finish It Plan. (Of course I'll be adding Zumba) I don't know where it came from (maybe here). Has anyone done this? Heard anything about it? Supposed to be a couch to half type program. I did pretty well with the couch to 5K program from this site.

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice 4th of July holiday. Since I last posted, I ended up not only having to skip my pool workout on Monday due to working late, but wasn't able to make it to the pool at all until this morning. Had a long, and unfortunately slow, even by my standards, workout, but happy I finally fit in a swim at least. Otherwise, it's been biking and running as usual, with a 20-25M bike planned for after work, and a short transition run afterward if I have time for it.

Heather - Stay safe out there with the fires! As for half marathon training, I've used Hal Higdon training programs in the past (http://www.halhigdon.com/training/51130/Half-Marathon-Training-Guide). Really though, virtually any program you choose should get you through the race if you follow it, so the key is to find one that works for you. The important thing is that you get in the mileage.

Beth - You're joining a super secret bike club? Cool! I agree it's probably best to wait until after your HIM to change things up at this point though. You must be in, or very close to your taper at this point. Sounds like things are going well, so hopefully you'll be good to go come race day!

I hope everyone had a great 4th.  I did a Metric with a group.  It was great.  The group wasn't concerned about speed so it was a casual ride.  

Finished up with a 4 mile run.  That part of my day was great.  

Later in the day I received a call that another friend who didn't make the ride but was riding alone was hit and killed on his bike.  It is just a reminder that we all really need to be safe and extremely careful when riding.  He was an experienced rider and was riding on a major road.  We do not know the complete story but regardless it's very sad.  

Ken-

I'm so sorry about your friend! Things like this are always hard to hear and deal with, espically as we apporach the height of our training and racing season.

Beth

Good evening everyone! With my HIM a week away I'm in full taper mode, which I really don't mind with the temps in triple digits its nice to take it easy. Physical therapy continues to go great, its started to hurt a little less. I have one more sesson before my race and hope to do some last minute adjustments.

Hope training is going well and everyone is surviving the heat wave.

Beth

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend! Last week was my busiest training week of the season, logging over 13 hours. The weekend included a 62M ride starting from Walden Pond and a very hilly half marathon in VT. My legs are pretty shot from the race today. I was supposed to be taking it easy, but couldn't resist bumping things up for the last 5K. I was going to swim today, but I haven't had a day off in a while, and it's gorgeous out, so I think I'm going to rest my legs and get back into things tomorrow.

Beth - That's exciting your HIM is so close now. Be sure to let us all know if you come up with anymore last minute questions beforehand. If not, just enjoy the taper!

Hi everyone! It's looking like another day off for me, since my quads are still killing me from my half marathon on Sunday. Perhaps that wasn't the best idea to throw that into the training mix at this point. At least I've done enough of these in the past to know that I'll definitely be able to jump back into training tomorrow, since it's generally two days of pain, then I feel better.

Ken - I grew up in VT and went to HS in South Burlington. I don't know if you've been before, but Burlington is a great little town. I'm sure you'll have a great time up there!

Sarah, 

This will be my first visit there.  Should be a fun time.  I will have 3 rides while there, ending with the century on Saturday.  I am looking forward to it.  

I will have to try and recruit you to ride next year. 

Hi everyone, sorry its been a while, but life has been crazy of late.  Sarah- two more days to MA State.  I think I am in the first wave of the day, so make sure you give a shout as you blow by me on the course

Seriously though, I have had a ton of outside commitments crop up between quarter-end at work and trying to get our house fixed-up and on the market (a few more days away), so my training has slacked off a bunch these past few weeks.  I am motivated to get out there, but unfortunately there have not been enough hours in the day.  For the Oly this weekend, I am going to give it my all, but most importantly try to enjoy myself as much as possible too.  This is only my second Oly after doing NYC last year, which gave me a beat-down.  So the goal is simply to have a better race than that.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Will

Hi everyone! After two days off at the beginning of the week, I've finally started to get back into things with a bike hill repeat session and pool workout yesterday and an OWS at Walden this morning. I think my coach forgot to fill in some of my week, since nothing is listed for tomorrow, so I'll probably wing it and do an easy 30 minutes on the trainer and a 4M run just to shake the legs out the day before my Oly on Saturday.

Ken - I'm actually planning on laying off the long distance tris and making next year a more cycling heavy year, so I likely wouldn't need much arm twisting to get talked into your ride if you do it again. Once again, have a great time up there this weekend!

Will - I'm excited for MA State! I wish it was going to be a bit cooler, but it will only really bother me on the run. I don't know about passing you, you get a 4 minute head start and you've been doing great on the bike this year. Maybe I'll catch you on the run, but we'll see! I'll likely be racked near the front of transition with a low number (bonus for having done three races with them last year!) so if you see me around, definitely come over and say hi. Sorry you haven't had the time to do as much training as you may have liked lately, life certainly can get in the way, but hopefully the taper will have rested you up and you'll rock this one!

Hi,

To all of you who raced on the weekend, I hope it was fun, and you all did well. Rest and recover well kiddies.

Ok can I ask a dumb noob question? Well I am doing one of the beginner sprint programs from here. Yesterday, I was supposed to do my "long" run for the week (not really long, but is for me at this time). Now for no other reason but lazyness, I did not do it. So today, I am supposed to ride and swim, but I did my long run and swam instead, thinking that tomorrow is a "rest" day and I will do my ride then.

But......

I have been thinking, is the ride more valuable, or the rest. At this stage I am thinking the ride, as it is only week three, the volume is low. But, as a general rule, should the rest days always be rest, or is it ok to do some "make up" workouts?

Thanks

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend! I raced in the MA State Oly on Saturday. I've posted a race report, but be forewarned, it's pretty depressing. Long story short, I had a terrible run and am discovering that, despite the added effort I've been putting in this year, that I'm not getting any better at the swim. The bike went fairly well at least. I ended up bailing on both my bike and swim I had planned for yesterday since I was so down about things, and just couldn't motivate for them. It was a nice day at least, relaxing with Mike in the morning, then we went to a beautiful wedding on the Cape that evening. I plan to get back on the wagon this week, so I really just had the one mental health day, but I just hope I can find the drive to get through the remainder of my training building up to the IM...

Will - Good seeing you at the race! I'm not sure when we crossed paths again on the run after I saw you earlier on. Things got pretty miserable once I started walking, so, while I tried to keep an eye out for you, I guess I missed you. Hope you had fun!

Scott - It okay to bump workouts to rest days occasionally. It sounds as though you had an unplanned rest day prior to that too, so it's not as though you're adding extra workouts on your rest day. Don't feel you need to follow the layout of your workouts strictly. I constantly move workouts around depending on my plans for any given week. Just try to not schedule two rough workouts back to back. At the same time, if you feel you would benefit from the rest, skipping the occasional workout isn't going to ruin everything for you either. Just don't let it turn into an entire week off...

Hi Sarah- Great to see you as well!  I will have to admit that Mass State kicked my tail. Despite some really good sprint races this year, I am having trouble getting up to the Oly distance.  But it'll come. 

My swim was slow, but I was thrilled to get through it.  The bike was fantastic- mostly big chain spinning with a couple of hills thrown in, I loved it- especially that curvy downhill into the town (Gardner maybe).   The run/walk was horrible- I alternated between not being able to breathe and wanting to stop on the side of the road and lose my breakfast.  It probably took me a good two hours after the race finished to get back to where I felt normal.  Still, I had fun, so that is what counts.

Now its time to get ready for a hilly, but fun Metric on Sunday, then some mountain biking to get ready for Xterra in about a month.  Cannot wait.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Nice- Congratulations Beth!  Great job.

Will

Made it back from a great weekend in Burlington, VT.  We have an awesome ride from South Burlington to Middlebury and back.  The scenery was outstanding and the downtown Burlington was very nice.  

The ride itself wasn't extremely tough but it had its moments.  I was leading a group so we kept the pace really slow.  I didn't realize how hot it would be but we worked through it.  It's not supposed to be 90+ in Vermont.    

Next year my chapter will be going to Nashville.  I can't wait.  It was almost a much fun as a tri, but not quite.