Last Long Ride 'Til Race Day!

Lovely tan lines...outside ones are from my tri shirt (ride) and inside ones (perpetual racer-back tan lines) are from my sports bra (run)

More perpetual tan lines, these from the bike shorts and spandex

Sunrise on the way to Louisville!

The first milestone I've captured on my PT Cruiser's odometer

Today was a very long day. In fact, I'm not sure why I'm still awake, but I'm headed to bed soon! I woke up super early today to head to L'ville to ride and run part of the race course. It's the last long weekend of training, and I had to take advantage of it. I didn't get the full 6-hour ride in, but 80 miles solo was hard enough!

• Multisport Totals: 5:43:33; 84.51 miles; 139 HR; 5,028 cal
  
• Ride: 5:01:00; 81.08 miles; 16.1 average; 140 HR (168 max)
  
• Run: 42 min; 3.43 miles; 12:17 pace; 155 HR. I ran a bit but forgot my hammer gel. I had some water, but that wasn't enough after my ride and it was getting hot. After the first lap (12:22; 1.48 mi; 8:23 pace), I ran a block, walked a block, repeated for a while, and then walked around the great lawn/park area.
  
• Nutrition:
• Liquid:
• Four 24-oz and five 16-oz bottles of water (2 16-oz bottles were on the run) = 166 oz
• 12 of those were G2 Gatorade mixed in the second water bottle)
• I drank something every 15 minutes until 3:45 when I ran out of water.
• I stopped at 4:15 to fill up my water bottles and then continued drinking as I had been during the last 45 minutes.
• When I stopped for water, I used the bathroom but didn't really need to.
• Substance:
• 1 serving apricots/almonds/raisins (~400 cal) split between 30 minutes and 60 minutes in.
• 2 oats and honey Nutrigrain bars (180 cal) 2 hours in.
• 1 peanut butter PowerBar 3:45 in (~180 cal)
• 4 electrolyte tabs; 2 at 1:30 and 2 at 4:15.
• Post Workout:
• 10–12 oz banana/protein smoothie, 32 oz water, 12 oz Diet Coke, carrots, celery, chicken, and a peach.
• Then I ate some cheese, drank more water, and had a couple cookies before church.

My HR was in my aerobic zone nearly all of my ride (that's good!) but I felt super slow and very inefficient. In fact, I tired much sooner (like 20 miles in) and really had to mentally work to complete the entire thing.

I was hoping to walk around the downtown area but decided to shower at the downtown Y and then head back so that I could get to church. But I got a good talk in with Lana on the drive back, so the timing was great.

I'm glad I went to church tonight; it's a much smaller crowd, and Dr. Easley's teaching on Psalm 38 was excellent. Gigi wrote a beautiful paraphrase of the psalm, from her perspective as a mother, and read that for us all. I felt like I was at home at church. Then I met Joe (who's wife is Dawn, but she wasn't there tonight). Came home, had some supper, got my mail (boring!), watched some Monk and baked some cookies, and now am heading to bed!

M-dot pepperoni pizza

I didn't feel like making supper, so I stopped at Publix on my way home from church. I had pepperoni at home, so I got the cheese pizza and had fun with the fixings.

The Good and Bad of Working Out Alone

Today's workout was this:

• 5 barbell squats (65 lb) with 50 glute shudders; repeat 5 times
  
• 3 bench press (75 lb) with 3 bent over row (65 lb) with scap pull up (1 min) with preacher curl (20-lb bar); repeat 5 times.

I did the following:

• 5 barbell squats (45 lb) with 50 glute shudders; repeat 5 times
  
• 3 bench press (55 lb) with 3 bent over row (45 lb) with scap pull up (1 min) with preacher curl (light bar; I used 20 lb); repeat 5 times.

I found out afterward that what I thought was a 65-lb bar was really only 45 lb, so I was 20 lb short. Should I do it all again? I asked Will; I'd debated asking and letting him know that I really don't know what I'm doing or making sure I do it right. He laughed for a minute, but then said that as long as I moved the weight as fast as possible, just do it right next time.

But to make that better, some guy (I didn't get his name; maybe I'll chat with him again) came up to me and said something to the effect of, "You must have been a great track star." I said I do triathlons, and he replied with something like, "You look like you belong in the gym. Yeah, you look like you own the gym." That make me feel good!

I rode my bike after work, 1:30, with at 50 minutes, 30 minutes Z4. Here's what it looked like:

• Totals: 1:30:22; 25.51 miles; 16.9 mph; 1,484 cal; 147 HR
• Lap 1: 50 minutes; 14.05 miles; 16.9 mph; 138 HR
• Lap 2: 30 minutes; 8.76 miles; 17.5 mph (35.9 max); 164 HR (180 max)
• Lap 3: 10:22; 2.69 miles; 15.6 mph; 148 HR

I really felt like I was moving slowly the entire time. I did the 50 minutes in HR Z2 (hooray!) but then I had trouble getting my HR up to where I thought it should have been to ride fast in Z4. It felt like a good ride, though.

Then I came home for some supper (talked to M and Will and that was great; I don't think I've talked to my sister in about a month!) and headed to Inversion, where I gave Jesi a little information on IMLoo (she said she's going to come down to support me!), talked to Joshua (who said we'd met before but I didn't remember), and then met Susanna, who's a runner, too. Nice.

Crit Race #6--Finally a Win! Brick

Finally, finally, finally I won a race! There were 12 of us again, and we were mostly all together. I don't like that! I wanted to make something happen, so a few minutes in, I attacked. Alli came with me, but she's the littlest one there and couldn't help much (there was a nasty headwind on the back stretch) so we got caught after 1.5 laps. Lisa took off once, but she wasn't staying away either. Then I took off again and couldn't stay away. Then Laura (my teammate) took off. She stayed away for about a lap. There were a few other attacks, but we really didn't spread out the field at all. During the last lap, I was determined to win.

Lisa led the entire last 3 laps, and I used her to lead me out. With about half a lap to go, I took off and expected her to follow me. She ended up in 4th because she was trying to help her teammate (Marsha, who got second) win. Beth was third.

I now think I have a chance of winning the series; I didn't at the beginning because I wasn't winning and Lisa was, and if she wants to win she will. Now she will be trying to help Marsha, who I am behind by 4 or 6 points. In two weeks, if I win and she gets second, I'll be ahead. It should be a good series, especially since Laura is definitely willing to work with/for me, and we've picked up Roxanne on our team, who should also be willing to help!

From Race #1: Race + cool down: 21:57; 7.77 miles; 21.5 mph; 169 HR (197 max!); 2nd place.

From Race #2: Race + cool down: 21:29, 7.89 mi, 22.3 mph; 176 HR; 4th place in a field sprint.

From Race #3: 20:40; 7.50 mi; 21.8 mph; 165 HR (196 max); 3rd by a hair.

From Race #4: 20:14; 7.34 mi; 21.8 mph; 175 HR (196 max); 6th place behind a group of 5.

From Race #5: 33:43; 12.46 mi; 22.2 mph; 168 HR (196 max); 4th place behind a group of 3.

Today's Race #6:

• Multisport totals (I was supposed to ride 1 h and run 30 min: 1:38:23; 23.72 miles; 1,576 calories; 159 HR; 16.7 + average
  
• Warm up: 43:24; 12.08 miles; 16.7 mph; 140 HR
• Race: 19:38; 7.27 miles; 22.2 average; 164 HR (200 max!!!!)
• Cool down lap + Transition: 2:21; 0.58 miles; 178 HR
• Run: 30:00; 3.63 miles; 8:16 average; 6:23 best pace; 183 HR
  
• First place! I finally felt good during the bike, and the run after was fairly decent.
  
• Cool down lap: 2:50; 0.53 mi; 11.3 mph; 142 HR

Run Stats:

Today: 30:00; 3.63 miles; 8:16 pace; 6:23 best pace; 183 HR

7-8-09: 22:38, 2.27 mi, 9:57 pace, 168 HR

7-1-09: 29:52; 3.51 miles; 8:30 pace; 416 cal; 177 HR

I did way better with posture because I'd thought about it during my cool down bike lap. Plus I wanted to make it farther this time than last time, and I succeeded; I ran into the park across the little bridge. I turned around at exactly 15 minutes and 1.8 miles and had to run slightly past where I'd started from, which means I ran faster AND farther on the way in. Hooray for negative splits!

Again, my HR was way too high (so far out of my aerobic zone it's not even funny; and I even checked it a few times with my fingers on my neck just to make sure the HRM was reliable), but I just kept telling myself that Will has said it will eventually even out and a normal rate so I just kept going. I was trying to focus on running correctly (more front-foot striking than flat-foot striking or heel striking and keeping good posture and think I succeeded.

Shudders; Run Intervals

Mmmmm...baked cookies!

I decided that, rather than trying to get up and out of the house so that I could be at the Y ready to swim by 4:30 am and still not get my entire swim in before I had to go to work, I'd do my ISO exercises in the morning and then swim later. So that started today, and today's workout was a good one.

• 3-min ISO extreme lunge
• 100 glute shudders, seated on bench
• I did the first lunge, doing the entire thing and even when my knee left was touching the ground I was continually trying to lift up (that was only about the last 25 seconds). I had known this was coming, so I just started telling myself yesterday that I could do it, but it would be hard.
• Unfortunately, after I finished the first leg, I desperately had to go to the bathroom. This was supposed to have been a visualization day, and I was thinking about running fast, and when I run fast I have to go! So I paused my lunge/shudders.
• I picked back up on the left leg, and this was significantly harder than the right leg. Still, I had told myself that I could do it, so I did. I was thinking about running fast and was trying to keep my back knee off the ground. I didn't succeed, but I sure tried!
• Then I did the shudders. Some lady looked at my funny, but I didn't care.
  
• 3-min glute ham (lying on the ground)
• 100 glute shudders, seated on bench
• I really struggled on the glute ham. Will has said to not pace yourself; don't do just what you think you can do for 3 minutes. Rather, you should be working as hard as you can the entire time. This time, I was doing only what I thought I could for 3 minutes, and that definitely wasn't as hard as I could work.
• Will's note for the last thing today said PRO PACE. Since it was visualization, that's what he wanted me to think about. I must have remembered that while I was doing this one, because I was thinking about pacing. But not pacing as in running a certain pace; instead, it was pacing as in do what you think you can sustain for the entire time. These ISOs aren't supposed to be paced; they're supposed to be as hard as you can go for the entire time. I knew that, and I was thinking that at the same time I was thinking about pacing.
  
  I know part of it was the pace thing, and part of it was that I was using a different bar that I think is going to cut into my legs (even though I know it's not and it never has and I use towels between my legs and the bar). I was at the Brentwood Y instead of the MFY, and the resources at MFY are way better.
  
  The entire 3 minutes, tho, I was telling myself that I should be working as hard as I could be and yet wasn't.
  
  I wanted to try again but didn't want to fail again, so I did 3 minutes of standing extreme ham followed by 100 glute shudders.
  
• 3-min ISO extreme preacher curl
• 100 quick towel curls
• I used a light bar; I'm not sure what the weight was because it didn't have a mark on it.
  
• 3-min scapular pull up
• 100 quick towel curls
• I hate how Will always says I can put my foot on a crate if I need it.
• Lunge position visualization: 5×10 seconds, then switch sides
• Pull down as hard as possible
• Think about PRO PACE
• After having done the 3 minutes earlier, this seemed so easy, so I was really trying to make it hard.
  

I didn't want to do the scapular pull up, but I really want to be faster swimming, so I decided to do it and think about working as hard as I could to draft off Bree and Heather. The thing is that when I get to visualizing, I don't think I work as hard. I really wish Will were here to push me!

Today was a rough day for bathroom breaks. I had a false start on my run; I went about 1 minute and had to turn around to use the facilities in the Y. Then I ran my warm up and half of my first interval when I had to go again. I knew there was a port-a-potty that would be after the end of the first one, so I went all out to get there. That was about all I had.

The last 3 weeks' run intervals:

7-14-09:

• Totals: 43:03, 593 cals, 5.00 miles, 8:37 pace, 165 HR
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.10 mi, 9:06 pace, 145 HR
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.82 mi, 7:20 pace, 172 HR, 6:06 best pace; Rest 0.18 mi, 160 HR
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:28 pace, 176 HR, 6:18 best pace; Rest 0.16 mi, 160 HR
  
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:30 pace, 179 HR, 5:57 best pace; Rest 0.17 mi, 163 HR
  
• Cool down: 9:03, 0.97 mi, 9:21 pace, 173 HR

7-21-09:

• Totals: 1:00:00, 887 cals, 7.44 miles, 8:04 pace, 178 HR
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.18 mi, 8:31 pace, 156 HR
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.90 mi, 6:42 pace, 183 HR, 6:00 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 180 HR
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:28 pace, 183 HR, 6:19 best pace; Rest 0.22 mi, 180 HR
  
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.83 mi, 7:12 pace, 186 HR, 6:21 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 180 HR
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.83 mi, 7:15 pace, 187 HR, 6:22 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 184 HR
  
• Cool down: 18 min, 2.06 mi, 8:45 pace, 180 HR

7-28-09:

• Totals: 1:00:00, 867 cals, 7.40 miles, 8:20 pace, 168 HR. Nope, didn't succeed. But it was close!
  
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:25 pace, 138 HR.
  
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.84 miles, 7:08 pace, 174 HR, 5:26 best pace; Rest 0.22 mi, 157 HR
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.81 miles, 7:23 pace, 177 HR, 6:20 best pace; Rest 0.20 mi, 166 HR
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.80 miles, 7:32 pace, 177 HR, 6:31 best pace; Rest 0.17 mi, 165 HR
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.81 miles, 7:23 pace, 181 HR, 5:42 best pace; Rest 0.14 mi, 165 HR
• Lap 5: 6 min, 0.80 miles, 7:28 pace, 179 HR, 6:31 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 160 HR
• Cool down: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:21 pace, 175 HR

Today I desperately wanted to get closer to 1 mile in the 6 minutes. So I was going to do all of them all out, like each one was the only one. It's a good thing I went all out on the first, because I had nothing left after that one. My HR was too high; I'm sure that played into it, because I couldn't get it down for anything!

• Totals: 58:16, 634 cals, 5.69 miles, 10:14 pace, 164 HR.
  
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:26 pace, 166 HR (over 20 bpm higher than last week but the same time, distance, and pace)
  
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.88 miles, 6:50 pace, 185 HR (11 bpm higher), 6:13 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 168 HR (11 bpm higher)
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.42 miles, 14:26 pace (hello, bathroom break), 145 HR, 7:26 best pace; Rest 0.24 mi, 177 HR (11 bpm higher)
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.59 miles, 10:14 pace, 169 HR (8 bpm lower), 7:36 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 160 HR (5 bpm lower)
  
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.66 miles, 9:07 pace, 169 HR (13 bpm slower), 7:39 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 157 HR (8 bpm higher)
• Lap 5: 6 min, 0.70 miles, 8:38 pace, 176 HR (3 bpm lower), 5:53 best pace (hello, downhill toward the Y); Rest 0.23 mi, 176 HR (16 bpm higher)
  
• Cool down: 8:15, 0.44 mi, 18:42 pace (hello, walking through the parking lot), 140 HR (35 bpm lower)
  

After this rough run, I did a little stretching and then headed home to bake cookies for Lauren and me to eat this weekend and to take to work and to send to Will and anyone else I can think of. This batch made at least a dozen more than previous ones and I even made almost 3 dozen larger than normal!

Cookie dough and cookie dough balls...chocolate chip and peanut butter M&M

All 10 dozen—from one batch!

Currently all but 1 dozen (the ones I baked for La and me) are sitting in my freezer waiting to be baked and consumed.

Monday Off!

Today I took completely off. It was fabulous. I worked in the morning, went grocery shopping, and then did a little baking. I wanted pizza so I made some. Unfortunately I forgot a critical ingredient.

Who forgets cheese on pizza?

I watched a little Monk and made some banana bread (Bree's recipe). I must have done something differently for this batch because it tasted and baked way better than the last one. I made sure that the coconut oil was melted/not chunky, and I covered the bread for the first 45 minutes before I uncovered it for 5 and then recovered it for the last 10 (60 minutes at 350*). I also put the flexible pan into the glass pan, and that helped the loaf keep its shape. It's super heavy, though!

Bree's Banana Bread

5 soft mashed bananas
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
1–2 pinches sea salt
5–6 good shakes of cinnamon (I didn't put enough in; I can't taste it in the bread at all)
2 cups flour (I used wheat, but any is fine; Bree uses spelt)

Mix bananas and oil. Add in vanilla, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir. Mix in flour. Bake at 350* for 45–60 minutes.

Crit Race #5

Today's race was slightly longer than the previous races: 35 minutes compared to 20 minutes and ~12.5 miles compared to ~7.5 miles. I wasn't expecting much at the start; I told my teammate Jay that my goal was to hang on and not lead at all. After all, I put in at least 74 miles yesterday and it was the second crit in 4 days (and will be part of 3 in 8 days come Wednesday). But I think I'm getting my crit legs, and I hope this helps my IM competition in a few weeks!

From Race #1: Race + cool down: 21:57; 7.77 miles; 21.5 mph; 169 HR (197 max!); 2nd place.

From Race #2: Race + cool down: 21:29, 7.89 mi, 22.3 mph; 176 HR; 4th place in a field sprint.

From Race #3: 20:40; 7.50 mi; 21.8 mph; 165 HR (196 max); 3rd by a hair.

From Race #4: 20:14; 7.34 mi; 21.8 mph; 175 HR (196 max); 6th place behind a group of 5.

Today's Race #5:

• Multisport totals: 57:33; 18.19 miles; 1,023 calories; 151 HR; 19.0 average
  
• Warm up: 20:58; 5.19 miles; 14.9 mph; 118 HR
• Race: 16:31 + 17:12 = 33:43; 6.08 + 6.38 = 12.46 mi; 22.1 + 22.3 = 22.2 mph (31.7 max); 161 HR and 184 HR (196 max)
• The first is the start of the race until I took off and was on my own for about 2 laps. I split when the group caught up to me.
• 4th place behind Lisa, Beth, and Olga. I wasn't sure that it was the last lap, so I didn't try to catch up to them. Even if I had, I knew everyone else would have been on my wheel and it would have been a group sprint. I felt really good and think I could have won today. I totally outsprinted Marsh for the finish.
  
• Cool down lap: 2:50; 0.53 mi; 11.3 mph; 142 HR

For some reason, I did much better with HR today. It was a lot of slow and go, and maybe that helped. I did much better about keeping close to my aerobic HR yesterday, and maybe that helped today? I was awake at 8am, had eggs, toast, and pancakes for breakfast, walked to Walgreens (~1 mile), read the paper and listened to teaching on controlling your thinking and imagination, went to the race, took off my TT bars, and then got ready to race.

Then I went to the Y, sat at the pool for a couple hours (talked to Robin and read a book), and then went to do day 3. I was supposed to have done it Friday. Or even Saturday. But I did it today.

• Glute ham: 5 on, 5 off thru 40
• Squat with 55-lb bar: 3×10. Truth be told, I didn't think I'd be able to do this, but I told myself that I would because Will said to do it. I did it. And I focused on pulling down fast with my glutes and standing up fast.
• 1-leg squat: 5 on, 5 off thru 40. I did not feel like I was doing this correctly. It did not feel anything like the lunge with the back part cut off. I need a work-out-with-Will day soon!
• Altitude drop wall squat: 6×6.
• Front-foot elevated (on crate) lunge: 5 on, 5 off thru 40. I did not feel like I was doing this correctly. It did not feel anything like the lunge with the back part cut off. I need a work-out-with-Will day soon!

Then I did a little grocery shopping, had some supper, talked to my parents (I'm expecting a new visor from my favorite pro, Bree, soon!), and then read the Word and a novel by my favorite spot on the grounds here. Time for bed!

Long Ride + Run

My nutrition

• Multisport totals: 5:00:00; 74.26 miles; 137+ HR; 4,824
• Bike totals: 4:07:00; 69.58 miles; 16.9 average; 4,264 calories
• Run totals: 00:53:00; 1.68 + 3 on the elliptical; 205 + 355 calories

I started out on my own for 00:30:00 to the corner of Carothers and Liberty Pike (riding to Healthways), 01:30:00 on the 22-mile Cool Springs loop, which I had planned to do twice. Just after I crossed Arno Road on Trinity, I saw a bunch of cyclists at Trinity/Fly Park. I knew that there was an 8am club ride, and I figured that was it, so I rode until I saw Lisa and then turned around and joined her, Valerie, Les, Kenneth, Larry, Dawn, and 60+ others for the 32-mile route. Then I rode home. The laps represent those rides.

• Lap 1: 00:31:38; 8.71 miles; 16.5 mph; 149 HR
• Lap 2: 00:56:00; 16.09 miles; 17.1 mph; 149 HR
• Lap 3: 01:47:10; 32.51 miles; 18.2 mph; 148 HR (I don't think that's really accurate, because Valerie and I waited for Lisa once and this includes a very slow cool down; I knew as soon as I started that I wouldn't be doing 05:30:00 in HR Z2!)
• Lap 4: 00:51:34; 12.27 miles; 14.3 mph; 142 HR

I drank a lot while riding. The mixing bowl in the picture above is full of the same amount of liquid (all but 18 ounces was water; those 18 were Powerade) I drank, and I included the fuel I consumed while out. Three 24-oz bottles, two and a half 16-oz bottles, three 6-oz Fuel belt flasks, one 12-oz bottle of Powerade (75 + 37, because one flask was filled with Powerade), 1 Nutri Grain bar (130 calories), 1 Luna bar (180 calories), and half my dried fruit mixture (400 complete, so 200 calories). Totals:

• Water: (3 × 24) + (2.5 × 16) + (2 × 6) = 72 + 32 + 12 = 116 oz
  
• Powerade: 18 oz
• Liquid: 116 + 18 = 134 oz
  
• Calories: ~620

I then drank at least another 16-oz water bottle and had a 12-oz smoothie (bananas, protein powder, flax seeds, almonds, chocolate Kid Essentials, and ice). Then I ate 2 hamburgers, veggies, and tortilla chips. Then I ate a salad and some toast. Then I had some ice cream—the best part!

I had every intention of completing day 3 after church, but alas. In fact, I didn't even stay for all of church and left in tears. God was so showing me His love that I couldn't contain my emotions. Thoughts to come. But know this: God is love, and He demonstrates is love for us in this: While we were still sinners (and I am one of the chief sinners), Christ dies for us. God has a perfect plan for us and will not withhold anything good from those He loves. So no matter what, He deserves our trust, and He is the only one who deserves our praise and affection and adoration and love. I love Him because He hears me. Wow.