Team KiterChick - CLOSED (Page 14)

Race report is up! Sorry it took so long, my kid seemed to need extra attention and care tonight.

Sarah-When I'm more awake I'll read your report. Hang in there though, I've had tough races too (remember Bluff Creek Tri?)

Beth

Hi everyone! After a couple of days off, I'm back on the wagon for another challenging week. I headed out for my long run of the week this morning, a bit over 12M. It was early enough that the heat hadn't kicked in too badly, although it was still pretty warm and very humid. As a result, I kept my pace slow and steady. I would have loved to do this later in the week when the humidity is supposed to break, but I'm heading to Acadia National Park this weekend, and also need to get my long ride done before heading up there, so there just wasn't time.

Will - Sounds like we both had rough runs, but glad to hear you had fun. Do you have another race planned at this point? I know you're pretty busy with personal things lately...

Beth - Congratulations on completing your first HIM!!! Your race report was very detailed and entertaining, as usual. That was really cute about your son getting so excited about you winning. You're right too, if you can bounce back from your previous rough race, I can certainly brush off mine as well.

Ken - Sounds like you had a great time in VT. I'm eying the Harpoon Brewery Point to Point ride next month up there. Just waiting on getting the okay from my coach. He didn't seem thrilled when I first mentioned it, since it's a week before my HIM, but I'm more concerned with the IM bike going well than the HIM.

Hi everyone! So I'm not having luck with the pool this week, although it's partly my fault for putting off my workouts in the first place. First, I put off one until last night, only to get stuck at work too late. I probably wouldn't have been able to do that one regardless though since we got some nasty thunderstorms after work, and they close the pool when there's lightening. Had another one to do today and I got too busy doing other things and now it's being used by a swim team. If I have time, I'm hoping to hop over to Walden to put in some of the distance, although it was supposed to be 3000 yards, and I doubt I'll go that far.

In other news, I'm leaving to go to Acadia National Park for a few days starting tomorrow. Going to get my long ride in tomorrow before we leave, then there will be some biking and hiking while I'm there. I can't wait! Internet will probably be spotty though, so I likely won't be able to check in again until I'm back in the middle of next week.

Beth - Recovery time from a HIM is really going to be different for each person. It not only depends on your recovery rate in general, but also on what kind of effort you exerted during the race. For example, I can run 13.1M for training and feel fine the next day, but if I really push myself during a half marathon, I'll be practically limping for two days. If you're feeling good, you could try some really light workouts to see how you feel, then ramp up from there. Take it easy though if you're not feeling well on top of things. Hope that clears up soon!

Sarah- Yeah, the run was miserable.  In retrospect, i probably didn't drink enough on the bike and by the time I got to the run, I think I must have been pretty dehydrated.  By the time I finished, i was a mess- cramping, lightheaded, etc.  Not the best feeling.

I have a fun little metric century this weekend for charity, followed by an Xterra tri in August.  So for now the tri bike is being temporarily retired for my road bike this weekend, then for three weeks of dusting off my mountain bike skills. 

Have fun at Acadia.

Will

Had a great ride last night.  It was all good until the rain.  But still a good ride.  Had a quick turnaround to 10 mile run this morning.  I guess my legs are not fully recovered from this week.  The run was a little slow.  Felt really sluggish to start and didn't really get loose/warmed up until about the 4 mile mark.  

Another 50 mile ride in the morning and OWS on Sunday.  I hope I survive. 

Had my kids birthday party today! I can't believe that he's already five years old. I will be hitting the training hard starting tomorrow for the Hy-Vee Tri. This is my A race and its also my last tri of the season. A marathon in October and then I'll be done for the season.

Beth

Hi everyone, I'm back. Maine was awesome! I got in my long ride of the week on Friday before we drove up there. It was once again disappointingly slow, but I think at this point, I've decided to accept that I'm just not going to be as fast as last year. Realistically, I was putting in more mileage then, so it really shouldn't come as a surprise. Back to Maine, we took things easy on Saturday, but did a few hours of hiking on Sunday and put in some decent cycling mileage on Monday. There were some rough hills, but they made the descents a lot of fun!

Got back to structured workouts with hill repeats yesterday morning. That was good, but I once again decided to put off going to the pool. I haven't been in the water since the MA State race on the 14th! I have three swims planned for the remainder of this week, so if I can get those in, I should be back on track, but I really need to break out of this rut...

Will - As you can tell from above, I've been dealing with post MA State motivation issues too. I'm sure we'll both break out soon. Congratulations on setting a new PR for your metric ride! If I'd known earlier that you were doing a charity ride, I would have contributed. Is it too late now?

Ken - Did you end up not being able to get in your OWS this past Sunday? I didn't see it in your logs. Not that I'm giving you grief for skipping a swim, given my current position that would be horrible hypocritical, I just knew that you've been eager to work on getting more comfortable with it, and wanted to see how it went.

Beth - Happy belated birthday to your son! I only have two more major races left this season too. It goes by fast, doesn't it?

Had a wake up call while running yeserday. With my A race just five weeks away I'm really ramping it up. On Tues I did a four mile run and did ok, a little slower then normal but considering that it was over 100 with the heat index I was happy. Then on Wed I attempted a 7 mile run.  Notice how I said "attempted" At mile 4 my hip started to act up, I thought "Oh no, not again" but I decided to push it a little, after all after 6 weeks of physical therapy things should be better. Got half a mile more in before the numbness and tingeling started and shot down to my knee. Slowed down to a cross between a jog and hobble for a few more minutes before my body simply shut me down. I was able to get to a bench where I could rest for a bit but it was a real eye opener.

Its just frustrating! (Start vent/rant).

I do six weeks of physical therapy, do an Ironman, loose close to 20 pounds since the start of the year. I'm doing everything my doctor and physical therapist tell me to do and I'm still having problems! When I go to see my therpist I go after not exercising for at least a few hours (so I can stretch, cool down, shower, and get there) and I feel fine when I'm there.

I try to explain how I feel when I'm running but its hard to convince myself much less him about my problems when I go to him loose and in no pain. Part of me wants to run to my next appt so I'm stiff and in pain. But on the other hand I have a real personal problem showing up sweeting and gross and then expect my poor therapist to put his bare hands on me!

But I don't know how else to expain how I feel. On my last session I tried to explain this but he just says its the muscles that continue to tighten up and cause the problems. I do all the stretches that I'm told to do and feel great up until I hit the four mile mark while running.

Okay, my rant is over, for now. Sorry, just had to vent a little. On the plus side I lifted in the male dominated free weight room yeserday still in my tight running gear. Caught almost all the guys looking at my body as I moved around and lifting. One guy actually had the guts to talk to me and compliment me several times on how I look. Even though I come across as a rough cut type of person the female in me still likes the looks and compliments.

Beth

Hi everyone, its been a busy few weeks for me here.  My wife and I sold our house last week (the first day that we took offers), which is great news.  But now, we have to either find a place to rent/buy before our closing date of August 31.  Add to that the craziness of the Boston housing crunch (no recession in home sales here, the places fly off the market in days of listing), and the new baby due in mid-October, and it leads to a lot of sleepless nights.

To that end, I think I am going to scrap my plans for August (an Xterra and an Oly), and focus on getting through the next month, training when I can.  I will still try to do the Xterra race for fun if I can get to NH that weekend, but not put any pressure on myself either.  The Oly will not be possible as I will be packing that weekend.

Sarah- It is still early to make a decision, but I am thinking Mooseman Oly and Timberman Half for 2013, plus maybe a sprint or two thrown in for fun.  I need to find a schedule challenging enough to keep me motivated, but diverse enough not to burn out.

Hi everyone! Rough weekend for training here. Ended up doing both my long run (14M) on Saturday and an hour OWS followed by a 74M ride yesterday. I'm still concerned about how much of a struggle the IM is going to be, since my paces during training seem very slow, but I should hopefully be in decent shape for my HIM in three weeks!

Beth - You're right, you have done an HIM and lost 20 pounds this year, and that is awesome!!! That's not to downplay the frustrations you're dealing with regarding your injury though. If running before your next PT appointment will help you better highlight your issues, then I say go for it. I'm sure they deal with a lot worse than the occasional sweaty person. Also, nice you got the looks and compliments in the gym, your hard work is clearly paying off!

Will - Congratulations on selling your place! I know a couple of people who have sold their places recently, and you're not kidding about the market here. Things go fast! Sorry it's all putting a bit of a damper on this year (not to imply that a new place and child are "dampers"...you know what I mean! ), but it's definitely not too early to start thinking about next year. Sounds like you have a good mix planned. Timberman is fun!

Good morning everyone,

Sarah, unfortunately I did have to skip the OWS the past 2 weeks.  Family demands.  I am going to try to get in the lake on Wednesday this week.  

My runs the past week have been slower than my normal.  I think I have tired legs.  I took the weekend off so I will see how my run goes today.  

Ken

Hi everyone! Well, this week has certainly been chugging along, and I'm doing my best to keep up with it. I got in a sizable run yesterday morning then met up with some friends for trivia night later that evening. I should have known that I should hold off on the late night engagements until after the IM. I was so tired by the end that I was barely participating. I felt bad, but hopefully my friends understand. Didn't sleep well last night, and my five hill repeats turned into only three this morning, since I couldn't muster up enough energy to do them all. I did ride long enough to hit my time goal at least. I'll be headed to the pool this afternoon, then doing my long run tomorrow morning. Whew!

Ken - I hope your runs are feeling better after a little time off this weekend!

Amanda - Nice to hear that your knee issue seems to be on the mend. Keep us updated on it, especially with your next race coming up later this month.

Beth - Are you feeling any better today? Sounds like yesterday was rough...

Feeling much better today. Went out for a six mile run this morning. I took it easy my hip didn't act up till the end of mile five. Ran on a part of the trail that is new to me and am looking forward to running it again. Have a 40 mile bike ride planned tomorrow before my birthday party. Thinking that if I can burn off enough calories I can justify a slice of cake! Hope training is going well for everyone.

Beth

Hi everyone! I'm thrilled it's a new week, because last week was rough! It started on Friday morning, when my long run was not only hot and humid, which always slows me down, but I had really bad GI issues as well. Still, I tried to stay somewhat positive, reminding myself that I still completed it, and that I have a couple more long runs before the IM to redeem myself.

Woke up on Saturday and headed over to Walden for an OWS, followed by a two hour ride and a short run, only to find the parking lot already closed at 9:40 and it wasn't going to reopen again until 2:00. Ended up not being able to swim, although I did get the ride in on the trainer that night, as well as doing the run too.

Yesterday, I drove the half hour to Wakefield to do a century loop I've done once before, only to find that I'd left my 910xt on all night. It wasn't 100% dead, but I knew it would never last the ride, so I didn't bother with it. Figured it would be fine, since I knew I was doing 100M. Got to a closed bridge at one point that I knew from the previous time I'd done this that I was supposed to cross. At the same time, I noticed markings for the ride taking me along a road that ran parallel to the river, so I figured it must be a detour. Unfortunately, it soon led to me meeting up with one of the associated shorter loops for this ride, so I knew, even without my GPS, that this wasn't going to be 100M. Ended up being just over 75M, which isn't bad, but I really need longer rides before the IM.

I was looking forward to this week hopefully being my biggest, and ideally most redeeming one before the IM, but looking at my schedule, I don't have a long run or a particularly long ride listed. I'm guessing my coach is trying to taper me before Timberman, but I'm much more worried about being prepped for the IM at this point, so I'm going to have to email him about adding the distance back in. I hope it works out. I'm pretty nervous I'm just not ready at this point. Sorry this was so long, just a lot to get off my chest!

Beth - Happy belated birthday, and glad to hear you're feeling better!

Sarah- ouch, sounds like a rough weekend.

I finally got back on the trainer last night for a brutal, but short ride.  Now if I can only find that stupid ANT+ stick to upload my workout...

On a personal note, last week was a busy one- found a place to rent in Arlington (so close to the Minuteman Bike Path that I have no excuse not to ride lots), signed the P/S on my house, and booked some movers.  All that is left is to find an electrician to do some rewiring and pack-up the house for a 8/29 move.

Will

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's Thursday already, this week has been flying by. Meanwhile, I've been methodically chipping away at my workout schedule. Monday, I did a pool workout to somewhat make up for the missed OWS this past weekend. Tuesday was my long run and, while I was definitely still tired by the end, it still went much better than the one from last week. Yesterday night I was on the trainer and then out for a short run.

Today, I'm hoping to get out for a short run in a couple of hours. It's supposed to be at a slightly faster pace, but it's pretty hot out there, so I'm likely going to have to settle for a slower pace. After work, it's off to the pool, then, if I have the energy, I need to hop on the trainer to get in a modified hill workout. I was supposed to do hill repeats, but am not sure when I can fit them in at this point, so I'll just get my HR up doing intervals instead.

Will, sounds like you're coming along on preparations for your move. It's nice that you're going to be so close to the Minuteman. I do most of my runs and some of my riding there when I stay at Mike's since he lives close to it too.

Sarah- sounds like a good week for you. 

I am slowly starting to get back into the swing of things, with a short bike and a short run so far this week, and hopefully ramping back up over the weekend.  My August is shaping up to be a pretty light month, which is a nice change.  Still I have to find my next race, because it is a little hard to stay motivated when there is nothing on the calendar.

For the past three weeks, I've been dealing with tightness in my chest and I've had some trouble breathing, so I finally broke down and went to the doctor.  the doctor asked a bunch of questions, did some tests and has come to a diagnosis of asthma.  Not a complete surprise, I have a family history and the symptoms have been there off and on for a long time.  I'm on Day 2 of the medication, and my breathing is starting to clear up a little bit. 

Hope everyone is having a good week.

Hi everyone! So, I had a pretty eventful weekend. Saturday, I headed out on my 80M ride, during which Mike was going to ride the first half with me. Started noticing my rear shifting seemed a bit off, and soon enough, it became completely unresponsive a bit over 20M into the ride. I think the cable snapped. I was stuck in the small ring in the back, which is of course the highest gear, so essentially, I only had two gears total switching between the large and small ring in the front. Decided to cut the ride short and head home with Mike. I still had to cover another 15M and I'm sure I looked comical powering up the hills we hit. The good news was that I had to get home to pick up my other bike, so I used the opportunity to get in a run and ran the 7M from Arlington to my place.

Sunday it was off with my tri bike to reattempt the 80M ride. First, my speed/cadence monitor started getting glitchy about 20M in. Not a huge deal, but it kept sending signals that I was stopped to my Garmin, so it was constantly auto pausing when I was still moving. I'll have to see if it can be fixed or replace it soon. Next, a bit over halfway, I had my first crash of the year. Basically, I was coming down a small hill and the car in front of me was about to turn left. Generally not a problem, but he came to a complete stop far onto the right hand side of the road for some reason and I realized there wasn't enough room to pass. Had to hit the brakes hard. I tried to unclip, but my rear tire had come up in the air, so I basically tipped over the handlebars and fell into the weeds at the side of the road. The guy was actually really nice, and when he saw that I'd fallen, stopped to come and check on me and was really apologetic when I explained what happened. I initially thought I came away completely unscathed, but realized I had a bunch of bruises on my upper thighs when I got home. Still, not bad considering crashes can be a lot worse. Finally, I got completely dumped on by a passing storm for 5-10M sometime around 60-70M. There were huge rivers and puddles in the road. At the same time, it wasn't horrible, since it cooled me down and was a distraction at least.

Hopefully today will be a lot less eventful, with just a pool workout planned. Ideally, I'm getting all of the bad things out of the way, and my remaining two races will go smoothly!

Will - Wow, that sucks you have asthma, but it's good you got a diagnosis and hopefully the medication will help.

Beth - Bike fit is definitely very important. That's a good birthday present to get!