Another fun group run...

My good friend, Julie Hansen (far left), was in town so she brought her two friends, Sheila and Tiffany from Ft. Collins, on our weekly group run today. Jenny and Marshal, my Greeley friends, who I run with most of the time, also came along. Paul, Jenny's neighbor, took the picture. Thanks, Paul!

It was cold but we had a great run - about 9 miles. We all run about the same pace so it worked out well. These group runs are something I look forward to each week as it's often the only time I see my friends! We run slow enough to talk and this helps to make the time go by fast.

I debated whether to keep a blog or not but I'm finding that it's keeping me accountable to my training. I don't think anyone reads it but that's ok! It's more or less a journal and someday I'll probably want to read it....hopefully with fond memories of the outcome (Ironman Florida!).

My friend Lynne, who did the Florida Ironman this year, who inspired me to sign up, is out from running due to knee surgery. We miss you, Lynne!

Turkey Trot

Another Turkey Trot has came and went....and we had a great time. I ran 23:07, which is a lot slower than I used to run but I felt really good. The first 1.5 miles is uphill and I took it easy. Would really like to get my time down below 23 minutes and feel that I can. I've done zero speedwork so hopefully this winter I can do some and get a little faster. But I still got 2nd in my age group and won a pie!

We had so much fun. I love this race because it's a true community event and because Greeley is relatively small, I see so many people that I know and it's fun catching up. It's a part of our Thanksgiving tradition and I'm glad my kids will grow up with this kind of event being a part of their experience.

Speaking of kids, Katerina and Evan ran/walked the 5k by themselves (first time by themselves) and did great! Sasha, our exchange student from Ukraine, also walked it but being a typical teenager (who stayed up until 4:00 AM we found out later), she wasn't exactly a happy camper. But she did it!

Every year my friends, Jenny, Lynne, and Marshall, and their kids, do the Turkey Trot and because we're all decent runners, we almost always win a pie or a turkey. We then get together for Thanksgiving dinner at my house. This year we're having it at Lynne and Marshall's house, which will be fun. Kurt is working but he's still roasting the turkey. I'm bringing mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. We invited another family to join us so their should around 17 people there.

Should be lots of fun!

Turkey Relays

Today at swim practice we had the "Turkey Relays". This is a beloved tradition of the master's swim group (from what I learned) and although Kurt tried to assure me that "it was for fun", my arms hurt so much right now that I can hardly type.

They started with a typical warm-up (which, for me, is a workout by itself): 250 yd swim, 250 yd pull-bouy (or whatever those things are called), and 250 kick (the easiest part for me). I could've easily gone home after that but nooooo, we had to do THE Turkey Relays.

It started with SIXTEEN fast 50's. SIXTEEN! Did you hear me??? I said SIXTEEN! I just about died. They were all very fast, very anaerobic. I wore my fins and thank God I did, there is NO way I could've kept up without them. My arms were killing me now!

Then we did a kick-set relay with 3 people on a team. That was easy. Being a veteran runner and cyclist, anything involving the legs is relatively easy for me. It's just swimming that is so hard on my wimpy little arms.

I realized this AM that this blog is more about me learning to swim than anything else. At least for now it is. I can run in my sleep - it's part of my existence that I don't even think about anymore. I just do it and I really enjoy it. I'm not particularly fast....at least not anymore but I can run forever and I can run up mountains. But put me in a pool and well, it aint pretty.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we're all doing the Turkey Trot. I hope I can get myself out of bed!

Doggie run

Meet Daisy (at left), the cutest puppy in the world. I may be a bit biased, however. But who wouldn't fall in love with a golden retriever puppy??? She's now a full 8 months old and full of energy. My friends, Jenny and Lynne, run with their dogs (yellow lab and GR), so I finally had to get one too. Daisy can run 2-3 miles now but can't seem to stop grabbing the leash and running with it in her mouth. She also chews on socks, underwear, pencils, and glasses (she devoured my daughter's glasses once already). But with a face like that, she can get away with anything.

Today I did a quickie 4 mile run (out to my mom's house to help her do some things), then ran Daisy around the block and will lift later today. Feeling good today!

Humbling experience

I made it down to the pool again today (at 6:00 AM, mind you). This has been such an unusual experience for me that I feel the need to write about it! I've been running for 20-some years and it doesn't even enter my mind to mention that I ran today, yet I want to shout to the entire world that I actually swam AGAIN today. Must be love? No, it must be paranoia about swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean come November.

Anyway, I had a decent swim and the water wasn't cold like it was a few years ago. They say it's 84 degrees but whatever it is, I like it. But it was one of the most humbling experiences I've ever had.

There are 8-10 regular swimmers there, about half of which are triathletes who have done an Ironman (guys I know very well). My husband, Kurt, and a few women I haven't met are also there. Richard Hess is the coach and he has a workout for the group when we get there. I usually do my own thing because I could never keep up with everyone else.

Well, today I thought I might be able to keep up. I wore my fins which I thought would even things out. Wrong! I was still way behind everyone else. Plus, I couldn't seem to get my left arm to do what I wanted it to do. I ended up leaving on a sour note, feeling very frustrated and wondering if I'll ever be able to swim a mile.

I feel like I don't belong there. But I'm determined to keep trying. Kurt keeps telling me "it's only a matter of time before you will swim well". Everyone tells me I'm "doing fine", yet why I am so incredibly slow??? It's because I'm incredibly inefficient!

I'm going to keep trying.

I rode my bike trainer for 50 mins at noon. My house stays so cool that I didn't even consider riding outside because I was so cold in the house. Later, when I picked up my kids and we played outside for awhile, I saw how warm it was and kicked myself for not getting out for a ride. But at least I got a ride in.

For my ride, instead of using my Spinervals tape, I turned the channel to HGTV (which I love but never have time to watch) and decided to ride for the length of the show, increasing the pace during the commercials. It worked like a charm. I kept up a good pace during the show but then hit it hard during the commercials. Had a great workout that way!

Group Run

Today there were 6 of us on our weekly group run (from l to r): Brenda, me, Marshall, Jenny, Kevin, and Kurt (who took the picture). We started from WOW and ran 8 miles (but it seemed longer than that!). I did some hill work two days ago so I was a little sore but made it ok. We talked and laughed the whole way.

I've been running for 20-some years now and most of my friends are runners. These are the people I usually run with and I treasure my friendship with each of them. We rarely see each otehr during the week since we all have jobs and families (with the exception of Weds nights from April to October when we run track together) but then usually hook up for a long, slow run on Sat or Sun morning. It's a great way to see your friends and get caught up on their lives.

We only ran 8 miles but I'm pretty tired now. I had my iron levels checked a few months ago and they were very low (serum ferritin: 15) so I wonder if I'm a bit anemic. But we had such a good time that it was well worth it. I do find myself wondering......how in the heck I'm going to run 26.2 miles after biking 112 miles next November when I have trouble running 8 miles after a good night's sleep!

We'll see....

Thanks, Tom!

Getting up at 5:00 AM to drive across town to a cold swimming pool is not fun. In fact, it's downright painful. But I've done it twice a week for three whole weeks now and I'm mighty proud of myself.

My plan is to continue to swim on Monday and Friday mornings throughout the winter but I gotta get myself there by 6:15 AM so that I can be home to get kids ready for school. Once I get there, I'm fine but getting out the door is tough.

Yesterday I got some great advice from Tom M, one of our local Greeley Guppies (nickname for Greeley Masters Swim Club). My husband, Kurt, has been a Guppy for years. Tom was swimming two lanes over from me and he overheard me talking to Todd, another Guppy, about how bad I swim and he commenced to give me advice on what my hands should do once they enter the water. He showed me how to use paddles and showed me how to "push" and not pull the water, to propel me forward faster.

I tried what he suggested and wow, what a difference it made. The hardest thing for me with swimming is what my hands and arms should do under the water. I got the "upper" part of the stroke down but not the underwater part of the stroke. Everyone talks about an upside down "S" but I could never figure that out. This felt easier and it gave me some things to work on.

So, even though it's been hard to get my butt down to the pool, I'm starting to feel like I'm really learning how to swim. Next summer, it will be so nice to enter triathlons feeling confident about the swim part, unlike last year when I panicked every time I put on my wetsuit. I'm hoping to improve in the run and bike as well but not as much as I will in the swim.

Squeezing in the run

Had very little time today but told myself that I was going to run or ride come hell or high water (as my mother would say). Sleet was coming down when I finally got the kids off to school and normally I would just ride my trainer but I my energy level was low. I knew that if I tried to exercise inside that I'd end up quitting (I HATE to exercise inside) but that if I ran outside, I'd do fine. So I put on my tights and winter running jacket and pushed myself out the door. Had a great run: 50 mins of just-under-tempo pace. Despite the wintery weather, I love running outside.

Tomorrow, it's back to the pool at 6:00 AM. My kids have to be at school early for student council meeting so I'll have to finish swimming by 7:00 and hurry home. Ahhh, the life of a triathlete (or triathlete wanna-be!).

Priorities

No run, no bike, no swim today and it was 75 degrees outside. That's enough to make anyone cry in their beer. Just too much to do....class to teach, housework to get done, kids to pick up, vans that need oil changing, and church to attend. My kids have choir practice every Weds and we stay for family night which includes dinner and I am one of the cleaner-uppers.

Well, I did ride my bike to class and took the dog for a walk so it wasn't a total loss...

Tempo Run

Ran 50 min tempo run (10 min warm-up/cool-down, 30 mins at high intensity with one big hill). Felt good but could tell that I haven't done any speed in a very, very long time! Worked on form. Recalled my high school track coach telling me to pull in my elbows. It's depressing how quickly we lose our speed as we get older. I felt like I was running in slow motion, yet my body hurt like it does when I push the pace so I know I wasn't lollygaggin'.

Decided to keep running 3 days a week throughout the winter but push the pace and do some hills. The plan: one tempo run, one speed workout, and one long run. That way, I can hopefully prevent an overuse injury. Bike two days/week and swim 2 days/week.

Too Tired to Think

It's only 9:00 AM and I'm already too tired to think. Why? Because I got my lazy butt down to the pool this morning at 6:00 AM, that's why. If I'm going to do this IM, I'm gonna have to start the training now, at least for the swim part of the race.

I just learned how to swim a few years ago. Growing up on a farm in Kansas meant I had chores to do every morning and my parents never signed up me up for swim lessons. I never thought it was a big deal until I got into triathlons (duh!). In fact, I avoided triathlons for many years because of the swim. I can bike and run fairly well but just can't swim.

So, I signed up for Master's swim a few years ago. My husband has been swimming with this group for almost 10 years now. They swim every Mon and Weds morning at 6:15 AM (which means I have to get up at 5:00 to drink enough coffee to be able to find my swimming suit). But I quit after a few sessions because I was so bad AND because I got sooooo cold in the water. I hated it. No, I despised it.

But over the years I was slowly lulled into thinking that I might actually like swimming if I gave it another go. I found that I did like it in the summer time. I would swim at noon at our local 50-meter pool. I liked it only because I was the only one there and I could flail around in the water as much as I wanted and no one was there to laugh!

So I naively signed up for the Greeley Triathlon. I picked this one because the swim was in a pool, not a lake. At the time I had not done any lake swims yet. Jumping into a lake was just way too scary. And the swim was only 500 yards or something like that so I thought "piece of cake". HA! I thought I was going to die when I did it.

Long story short, I did my first lake swim with several Greeley tri folks (see earlier post) in Windsor. It was scary, there's no doubt about it. But I wanted to do triathlons bad enough that I just did it. The water was soooo cold and not being able to see the bottom freaked me out but I just put my face in the water and started swimming. Fast forward a few years and I now have 4-5 triathlons under my belt, including my first half-ironman distance last August in Boulder. I'm not a good swimmer but I can do it and I actually enjoy swimming in a lake (never thought I'd say that!).

Today I swam only 1000 yards. We got there a little too late to get the whole workout in. Kurt follows the workout that Richard Hess, our coach, has for the group and I just do my own thing. I actually tried to keep up with them today but I'm just too slow. But at least I got myself down there! My plan is to swim 2 days/week throughout the winter to build up my arm/shoulder strength and then swim 3 days/week next summer, with at least one of those days as a lake swim. Our Greeley Tri club has several members that swim in the Windsor lake 1-3x/week so that makes it easy when there's a group of us out there.

I'll try to get a run in today as well. Need to work off the lovely French dessert a friend of mine made for us last night (chocolate pear tart)....thanks, Rhonda! It was fabulous.

Did the Half and I'm Goin' For the Full!

My last post was just a few days before my first half-ironman triathlon, 5430 in Boulder on August 10th. It came and went much better than I expected. However, it was the exact opposite of what I thought: the swim and run were much easier than I expected and the bike was harder than I expected it to be.

Not being a very good swimmer and the fact that I had a major panic attack at Boulder Peak in the middle of Boulder Reservoir, I thought the 1.2 mile swim would be awful. I thought I'd be thrashing around, gasping for air, or just dog-paddling the whole way. But it was great...the water felt good, my arms weren't tired, and I had no trouble making the distance.

I started the bike thinking this would be easy since I've always been a fairly strong cyclist. In fact, I think if I trained well, I'd be a better cyclist than runner. But that was the problem: I didn't train well on the bike this summer. I only got in THREE long rides and I paid for it big time. By the time I finished the bike portion, my legs were dead. As I rode into the transition area, I thought "there's no way I can run 13.1 miles now". I thought I was done.

Lo and behold, I felt great on the run. In fact, I was passing people right and left. Not that I am fast, it's just that most people were tired from the bike. I got a second wind and felt really good. I also think my nutrition plan really helped me a lot. Whatever it was, it was one of my best races ever.

After 5430, I took a break from triathlons and even considered totally switching over to trail running, something I've always loved doing. I was burnt out of tri's and had no interest in planning for next year (which I usually do in the fall). But a good friend of mine, Lynne Parks, was training for her first Ironman (Florida, 11/08) and since I usually do a long run every weekend of 10 - 12 miles, I thought I'd join her for part of her long runs and if it worked out, a few long rides as well. But I had no interest in getting caught up in the Ironman craze.

So, I did some long runs with her and ran two half-marathons as well (Blue Sky and Denver Half). Blue Sky was fantastic and I ran harder at that race than I've run in years. Denver was very slow but I had a good time....stayed the night at a fancy hotel in Denver the night before the race with two of my running buddies and we had a blast. But still, hadn't even thought about an Ironman.....

Then the day came for Lynne's Ironman debut. She and her husband, Marshall, both very close friends of ours, went to Florida for the race along with 5 other friends of our (all Greeley Tri Club members). I was so excited for Lynne and the other guys and followed them online (via Ironman.com). The other guys had all done an IM before but this was Lynne's first time so I was VERY excited for her. Although I was busy that day with the kids, I couldn't stop checking the IM site to see how she was doing.

Then, watching her cross the finish line and hearing "Lynne Parks, YOU are an Ironman" just hit me....I knew I had to do this. I called Marshall and asked him if he was going to sign up (he had told he might since you get first dibs if you sign up on site) and yes, he said that he had signed up for next year's race. I really, really, really wanted to sign up too but I needed to talk to Kurt first. There was no way I'd commit to something this big without his support. We had talked many times in the past about doing something like this but both of us had said that it was too much, that we didn't want to commit that much time or energy to one race, that the kids' activities kept busy enough, that we wanted to simplify our lives (training for 3 sports in addition to going to your kids' sports makes for a very crazy lifestyle!). In fact, Kurt was pretty adamant about scaling back, staying home more, yadda, yadda, yadda....

So there I was, asking him if he'd support me if I took a year to train for the biggest race of my life. And guess what he said??? If you want to do it, go for it. You could've knocked me over with a feather. I was shocked. But we had a big problem: Florida 09 was already closed. DARN!!! Arizona was open but I just couldn't get excited about going to Tempeh, Arizona. After seeing the beautiful beaches in Panama City (and they really are pretty), I couldn't get excited about AZ.

So, the only way to get into Florida was to buy a community slot. That means you have to pay an EXTRA $775.00 (for charity), on top of the $525 application fee. There was no way that my frugal husband was going to fork over $1300 for a race that was going to take a lot of time for me to train for....but guess what??? He said OK! I'm still in shock, to be quite honest. So I sent off the two checks, one for 525 and the other for 775 and I got in.

So, I'm committed. And so is Marshall. We've already mapped out our training schedule. We'll gradually build over the winter and start Gale Bernhardt's 13 week IM training plan next July or August. Kurt, me, Marshall, and Lynne will all go to Florida together and knowing us, we'll have a blast. We've known them for 15 years so this will really be a fun trip together. Lynne and Kurt can have fun at the beach and buy us hamburgers after the race (God willing that I finish!).

To get ready, we're both planning on doing the Windsor Tri (sprint, May), the Greeley tri (sprint, June), Lake to Lake (Olympic, June), Triple Bypass (120 mile bike event, July), and then go with our tri club to OK city in September to compete in the national club championships by doing a Half-Ironman on Sept. 19th. Those are perfect dates - they are spread out enough to get give us time to train for each one and of course, they will all serve as training for the IM.

I feel strangely calm about all of this. Two years ago I would've been in major panic mode. But I feel confident in my ability to train for this grueling event. I won't be fast but I think that if my body holds up, I can do it. And for me, that's an accomplishment.