Iron Girl 2012

 I did it again! I wasn't as fast as I was last year.  Can I blame it on the cold or do I have to blame it on the lack of training?  I trained.  I just didn't train as much as I did last year.  My time this year was 4 minutes slower than last year.  I'll blame that on the cramp that stopped my running on the second 2 mile loop.  I had to stretch, and then walk some.  Ofcourse I ran through the finish line.

 

The fog on the lake was gorgeous

Hanging out with Mom before the race

So, a little race recap.  It was really cold on Sunday morning! The meteorologists were predicting a freeze that night.  Goody!  That meant a trip to the local running store on Saturday to find an appropriate jacket.  I am so glad I purchased a pair of Under Armor running tights the previous day.  They were super cozy.  Anyway, we arrived at Normandale Lake Park in Bloomington, MN at 5:45.  It was just my mom and me this year.  Hubby arrived later to see me take off from the starting line.
 
After I racked my bike, I met up with Kelly who I had met online just a year ago.  I really wish we would have gotten a picture together.  Oops!  Next year Kelly? 

Race Start

 I graduated into another wave this year since I turned 30.  It was nice knowing I wasn't at the very end again this year.  I ran the first run loop alone.  I tried pushing myself but my legs were just cold.  I walked a little but made sure to put on a good show for my mom and husband when I came around towards transition. I ran all the way through transition. My transitions this year were about a minute faster than last year and I didn't even feel like I was pushing myself.

Coming out of the first run

The bike course was the same as last year, an 11 mile loop completed twice.  It was chilly. I was really glad to have the jacket this year. I knew I'd be a little warm on the run but needed it for the ride.  The kind people over at Start Line Running Store in Minnetonka were nice enough to give me a free pair of Smart Wool gloves to get me through the morning.  I was sure glad I had those too under my bike gloves.

Out of transition on the bike

About half way into the first loop of the ride, a girl passed me at a good clip.  I decided she was keeping a great pace and that I would keep up with her. We are not allowed to draft so I made sure I was the required bike lengths behind her.  But I think she thought I was stalking her.  As she would call out a pass, I would call out right behind her. I did ride next to her for a moment, just to tell her I was stalking her and that she was setting a great pace for me.  She said she was OK with that so we just kept going like that, me behind her.  I did get ahead of her right after the second loop started but she blew past me on the final downhill into transition. 

Gu in hand, out of trans into the second run.

Coming into the finish chute

 Right after this picture was taken, I caught up to Emily from Bloomington.  The same girl I was pacing on the bike.  She was walking out of transition and I knew I could run for a little bit. I asked her if she could run and would like to run with me. She nodded and picked up the pace. Last year, I had my sister to push me on my run.  This year I didn't have that until I introduced myself to Emily.  We talked a bit about the race and why we were doing the race.  We were both second year veterans and her mom was doing the same race.  We talked about where we were from.  We pushed each other.  She took off when I had to stop to stretch a cramping muscle in my right leg.  I didn't see her at the finish line.  She put up a great time though. 

I also had two high school classmates that did this race this year.  Sarah kicked some major ass and finished in the top 300! Laura put up some good times too.

I hope to get more women to do this event next year. I am glad I signed up last minute.  It is very well organized and run.  The only suggestion is moving it closer to the beginning of September. I'm sick of this cold weather already.  Thanks goes out to my Mom for getting up super early to drive there with me and to my hubby for being there to cheer me forward. Will you join me next year?

(Here are my times for this year's race if you are interested)

For Love of Biking

I realize I spend a lot of my writing in this blog on the subjects of running and food.  I almost never talk about my biking unless it is connected to a race or brick workouts.  I usually come up with my blogging ideas while I'm biking.  Its something I really enjoy and it is a relaxing sport for me (unless it's a hilly ride...then I kinda hate it).

IronGirl 2011

During my first (and only) multi-sport event last fall, I kicked butt on the bike.  On my first run, I placed 1049 out of 1105.  Pretty much on the slow side.  On the other hand, I finished the bike portion at 582 out of 1105.  I really made up a good difference in that hour and a half on the 22 mile bike course. I was really happy with the bike and I'm hopeful I will have that much success on my second try of the IronGirl Duathlon next Sunday.

My sister riding IronMan 2011

I started biking when I was pretty young.  Once my parent's moved to the Twin Cities, they really got us actively riding out bikes.  We often took advantage of the Luce Line.  I remember getting up early on many Sunday mornings to ride to Panakuken in Long Lake for breakfast.  I regret the mornings during my teenage years where I was just too lazy to join them.

My bike

Eight or so years ago, I signed up for my first long distance bike ride with the MS 150.  I did this ride with my dad.  We camped out in Duluth in early June, rode 70 miles on day one and 80 miles on day two.  The ride went well.  We did it again a couple of years later.  I remember waking up on the second year with frost on our tent it was so chilly in Duluth.  That second year, my parents were nice to upgrade my road bike to a Trek.

Early morning ride into Madison.

I would recommend biking to anyone. It is really a great sport for the daily rider and the professional racers.  I am definitely not a racer, nor am I a daily rider.   You'll often find me on a local bike trail, no headphones, listening to the wind in my ears and enjoying the speed of the bike moving across the pavement. Biking gives me some quiet time to think about things, like writing here.  I'm also one of those bikers that greets everyone I pass.  I often times don't get a response back from the people I pass, but that's OK. I even love to bike enough to buy a trainer so that I can ride in the winter in my basement. I will admit, riding on the trainer is pretty damn boring and I miss out on those things above that I love about biking. But atleast I am getting the exercise. 

Actually, I'm about to get off my butt and actually get a ride in myself for this afternoon.  It's hard to ignore the really gorgeous Fall weekend weather!

Happy riding!

Just A Little Update

I don't really have anything specific to write about tonight. So I'll just touch base on some things.

The Iron Girl duathlon is in less than 10 days in Bloomington, MN.  Since my training was shortened due to my injury, I am really worried about whether or not I'm prepared, atleast as much as I was last year.  Last year, I had done quite a bit more training for this event.  I didn't really start training this year until a month ago.  I've done a couple of brick workouts over the past two weeks, my most recent one being yesterday. (Here is a great resource on brick workouts).  I plan on getting another run in tomorrow and another brick work out some time this weekend.  I will say, I only did one brick workout before my race last year.  I am also trying to get my fueling cleared up before the race so that I don't run into leg cramping like I did last year or an upset stomach.  If you want to come out to cheer, check out their website for more information.

My eating has been off again. I think it started since we haven't been going to the grocery store and haven't been staying up with the clean eating plans I actually pay for each month.  Today I was reading Ann's blog over at Twelve-in-Twelve.  Everyone knows I am an avid reader of Ann's blog.  Today she wrote about this October Unprocessed challenge. I'm seriously thinking about joining the challenge, along with Pat, to see if we can do it for 31 days, ending in a Halloween candy binge (just kidding).  I know this would be really good for us. Does anyone want to join us in the challenge?

Ann also had an interesting article on her Facebook page today.  The question was "What food should you eliminate forever?" The answer was "The one you are most terrified to give up."  I had to think about this for a moment, really being unable to decide between which two things would scare me the most to give up.  I know I can give up soda, I don't really have an obsession with coffee and I'm not a huge desert person (I've learned that if it's not in my house, I wont eat it.) So what would I give up forever? Processed sugar product would be one of them. This includes candy which is a horrible weakness for me.  The other one would be bread.  I like bread.  Who doesn't like bread?

Which food would you be most terrified to give up?

I Hope to be Back

I'm plunking out a really quick post this morning so I dont cause myself to be late for work. 

I don't feel good. I've let myself go.  I've lost focus.  My jeans are getting tighter again....I've gained five pounds in a month and I sure can feel it! I'm not stupid.  I know I've been eating more than I've been working out. 

As I find that the hot summer months are coming to an end (not that this is really true as I look at the weather forecast for the next couple of days including a heat advisory for our area), I look forward to the cool crisp days of autumn that feel good on my skin and start out a little bit chilly.  I look forward to the leaves changing and beautifying my yard.  I look forward to freshness that spring often brings for most people.  But really, the weather is not an excuse. 

My real excuse, which isnt really an excuse but more just a reason, is that I've become lazy!  Lazy in everything.  Lazy in grocery shopping, lazy in preparing food for lunches and opting for going out for lunch instead, lazy in preparing for my upcoming IronGirl Du in less than four weeks, lazy in getting yard work done, lazy in keeping my house clean.  Lazy, lazy, lazy and some more lazy. 

As others in my blogging community are renewing their commitments to a healthy lifestyle, I've decided to do the same.  I will be laying out a plan over the next day or so and be setting some goals and what steps i need to do to get to those goals. 

Thanks

2012 Events...So Far

So 2012 is going to full of some new events to participate in as well as some new goals. When I ran my first 5k on Thanksgiving without stopping to walk, I knew it was about time to look into some new distances, specifically a 10k race.

Shamrock Shuffle 2011

So the 10k race that I signed up for is the Shamrock Shuffle 10k in downtown Madison. I have a great friend that is urging me to do this with her. She urged me last year but I knew I wasn't going to be ready for 10k. It was just too far for me, in my head. Hubby is doing this race with me but he is doing the 5k distance instead.

Crazylegs Classic

The second race I am hoping to do is the Crazylegs Classic. This is an 8k race on April 28th and is yet again in downtown Madison. This is one huge race and it will be my first year doing it.

Minneapolis Duathlon Medal 2011

The third event I have planned is the Minneapolis Duathlon. After doing the Iron Girl Duathlon with my super cool sister last year, I decided to give this race a chance because a couple of other people I know are doing it. Actually, a lot of people I know are doing it. It's run/bike/run just like the Iron Girl but this one has a longer run course (@5k each leg) and a shorter biking leg. I'm looking forward to it.

I would like to get in a half marathon distance sometime over this upcoming running season. I am aiming for late June or later so I am thinking about doing the Red, White & Boom Twin Cities Half Marathon on July 4th. Problem is, my boss usually takes this Holiday off for his once yearly vacation. Hm. We will see and I will keep you updated.

After typing this post, I think I've come to realize that I would like to complete a Marathon distance sometime in 2013! Eeek! Did I just say that? 

A Look Back

A Look Back

As I continue to look forward to my race on Sunday, I have also taken some time to look back on the
last year since committing to this event. In some ways, I never thought I would be where I am but in
other ways, I thought I would have been further in my journey.

A year ago, the thought of running made me sick. I knew I had never been a strong runner and was not looking forward to recommitting to shin splints, side aches, and numb feet. I remember when I had to run the mile in Jr. High in under 11minutes, I walked about half of that mile. I probably could run the mile when I was in high school, right at the end of ski season when I was taking my gym course in the spring. I was passing people and it felt great! I wanted to embrace that feeling again. It was one of those nonessential high school moments that I will never forget. I started out slow. My goal was to run a mile without having to stop to walk.

So I just started running. I was walking mostly and running a little bit here and there. I had no set
schedule and no watch. I would just run as long as I could without stopping to walk or rest. I would
watch the time on my iPod. I wouldn’t go all that long, maybe 20 seconds and then I would walk until I felt like I had my breath back, then I would jog again for a few seconds. I thought I was going to be able to run a 5k by Thanksgiving. I didn’t quite make it.

I started keeping track of my progress on Dailymile. It was great to have a place to see how much I was improving. It also helped with my motivation. I was working out after work, before I had the chance to go home and sit down on the couch. I did this in the late afternoon light and in the dark after daylight savings time. I did it until it got really cold, when I stopped for 2 months.

I wish I could say that it was the cold air that made me stop working towards running. In reality, it
was actually a compliment about how much more toned I was looking since I had started working out. Instead of keeping the hard work up, I just stopped. I wish I could explain what was going through my mind when I decided to just stop working out because I had one compliment. I would think it would work in reverse and actually push me to go harder to get even better results. But it didn’t. I thought that because I was looking thinner, I could just take a break from exercising so I did.

Into March, I decided enough was enough and I needed to get my butt out the door. I didn’t belong to
a gym so I made sure I bundled up before I headed out into the cold. I wasn’t exercising many times
a week but I was still doing it right after work before I went home for the day. I started out again not
doing any running plan. I was jogging a block or so and stopping to walk and then jogging another
block.

In early April, I joined a group of bloggers online. We committed to doing a 5k on Memorial Day in the Twin Cities. I was nervous and excited at the same time. I was never one to put myself into a situation where I didn’t know anyone. I’ve written about that before. When I started really getting a goal in front of me is when I started training using Couch to 5k. It is an excellent program and I would recommend it to anyone. I ran that 5k in 40 minutes. I was so happy! I had ran 7 minutes without stopping. That was the longest I had gone without walking and I was so happy! 

I had my second 5k race two weeks later. I ran that one a full minute faster at 39 minutes. I was happy about that one too. I still hadn't been able to run more than five minutes at a time. I knew I had a lot of training ahead of me for the rest of the summer. I was hopeful that it wouldn't get too hot. I didn't have another opportunity to run a 5k until Labor Day. I ran that one in 38 minutes. I'm getting faster but I feel like I should be progressing faster than what I am. But overall, i'm pretty happy about my progress.

I just read the athlete guide for my race. I was aware of a time limit on the bike portion of the race (2.5 hours) but I was not aware of a time limit on the run (26 mins for 2 miles). I guess I'm not really worried about the first 2 miles but I am really worried about the second set of 2 miles after I finish my ride. The last time I did a brick workout, my shins tightened up and I could barely walk. So, now im worried because I typically run just under a 13 minute mile when my legs are feeling good. I hope hope hope I dont get pushed off the race!

Tomorrow I will talk about the goals I thought I would have achieved by now.

The Final Countdown...

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That's six days right? OH MY GOD! SIX DAYS!!!!!

Ok, now that I have gotten my freak out moment over, just about a year ago I made the decision to compete in my first ever duathlon. Specifically the Iron Girl Duathlon in Bloomington, MN. You can read about it in this entry.  I have found in the past that if I commit to something, such as an event, I tend to be more successful in my goals. So in January, I committed. You can check out my entry about that here.

It's been an interesting journey. I've been challenged. I've had great moments :-) and not so great moments :-(. I've been successful. I can run a mile!  I can run 2.75 miles (accomplished on Saturday woohoo)! I've made so many new friends and I've challenged my existing friends. I've had support from everywhere. Thanks to my hubby, my mom and dad, my sister, Christina, Becky, and Kinsey, among others.

There's been pain, shin splints, numb feet, side aches, sore knees...chafing. Ugh! But it has been so worth it. I wanted to go for one last bike ride after work today. I forgot that I had to work until 6pm. I didn't get on the road until around 6:45...it was cold...and getting dark. So instead of the planned 12 miles, I only did 3.5 miles, but it was hilly. I felt pretty good on the hills, ofcourse my legs were fresh.

I hear the course is hilly. My sister says its hilly, but not Wisconsin hilly. Which is good...I think.

I'm going to relax this week. I will probably get another run in tomorrow night after work. I have to get my bike in tomorrow to get fixed. My chain keeps skipping on certain gears.

I dont have a specific goal time for finishing on Sunday. I want to just have some fun and finish. My sister is going to do it with me even though she just finished the Iron Man a week ago.

Now that it has taken me over two hours to type this little entry, I'm signing off. I should be doing another update before Sunday. Yay!

Only 80 Days!

Happy July 4th!

Rhythm & Booms 2011 from Memorial Union

There are only 80 days left before my first duathon! It really hit me when my sister and mom came down to visit last weekend. My sister was down here to do a training run of the Iron Man route. She had made a comment about a few of the people doing the bike loops. Some of the people were only able to do the 40 mile loop. If they were unable to atleast do the 80 mile loop by now, they were going to be hurting by the time the race came around at the beginning of September. This got me thinking, am I really ready for my race? I hadn't gotten any road miles in that were more than 17. My ride in September is 22 miles! I know it's not terribly far but I should know that I can do that in under the time limit of 2.5 hours, right? Oh and I can't forget that I have to do that after running two miles, which I still can't do ( I am frustrated about that ). I did get in a 18 mile ride on Saturday, on mostly flat trail. I then did 20.75 miles today on roads. Boy, that was a hard one with some of the hills I came up to. I did walk my bike on one hill but stayed on for the rest of the hills.

I have to start working in some of those brick workouts. I know I can't run the required two miles but who really cares at this point? I know I can finish. I just have to get off the bike in 2.5 hours, which I'm pretty sure I can do.

I stopped by a sports store today to see if they had any tri-shorts. They did...they had one pair, size small...yea right! I will just have to start looking online to order them. I also need to buy another water bottle. I ran out of water about three miles from home today. I also need to start looking at some fuel for my rides. Any suggestions?

I've been so inspired this week by some of my friends that have completed some goals in the past few weeks. Trinona and a half marathon! You guys keep pushing me to train.

Oh and yay for long weekends followed  by a four day work week!

Motivation

As I get on my bike that is set up in my basement, I leave you with my motivation for the day.

I'm Committed Now...Oh Boy!

Here we are, sitting at Epic once again. I’m really hoping that we will have the internet fixed by this time tomorrow. I somehow got to take the day off so that I can sit around the house and wait for the guy from the phone company to show up. He said he would be there sometimes between 8am and 8pm. I think that is worse then what Charter tells you. Charter at least gives you a morning or an afternoon time so you don’t have to take the whole day off from work. The only way I was able to pull off taking the whole day tomorrow is because of my coworker’s uncle passed away and she’s expecting to be off some other day this week so she’s working tomorrow and I’ll be working her day off and Saturday.

Pat and I are planning on going to the Home Show this weekend at the Monona Terrace. I’m not really sure what that entitles but I am hoping to talk to someone about the hole (planter) in our entryway. I suppose I could take some pictures with me so they know what I am talking about when I say “hole in the floor”. Oh what a joy it would be to have that hole filled in and tiled over.

The whole focus of tonight’s post is a little daunting. I actually registered and committed to the Iron Girl Duathlon on September 25^th. I am $95 more poor than I was before but $95 well worth it…I think. I knew this was something I was committing myself to doing back in September. I went to watch  my sister compete in the first ever Maple Grove Triathlon. There were two lengths, Sprint and Olympic. I noticed the more experienced athletes competed in the Olympic distance. There were all types of people competing in the Sprint distance, big ones, tall ones and skinny ones too. There was one woman competing in the shorter distance that was quite inspiring to me. She was probably in her early twenties and had a huge cheering section. They were cheering her in, even though she seemed to be the last one through the finish line. What was inspiring to me? She probably was the heaviest lady in the whole competition. She was maybe 5’5’’ and looked like she was over 250lbs. But she finished it in the time allotted. THAT was inspiring to me. If she can do it, anyone can right? That was the moment I decided I needed to do something.

I knew I wasn’t a strong swimmer and didn’t want to take the time or money to join a gym so that I could relearn how to swim correctly and efficiently. I decided I would take on the Iron Girl Duathlon. This is an annual event, in it’s seventh year in Minnesota, which benefits women. Only women are allowed to register for this event of a 2 mile run, 22 mile bike ride, followed by another 2 mile run. I’ve always been strong on the bike so I’m not worried about that. I am worried about completing those four miles of running. I was hoping that my exercising would be better by now but I have yet to complete a 5k running the whole way. I guess I will have to be able to do it by September.

I actually have multiple people that are planning on running the event with me. My dear sister told me she was going to register. This race should be a nice cool down two weeks after she completes her second Iron Man Wisconsin. My cousin Lynn is going to do it with me; this will be her second Iron Girl race. I know my other cousin Meg is contemplating it and so is my friend Kinsey, although she’s not a fan of biking. I may need to drag her out for some long rides this summer. I tried to talk my mom into doing it but she responded with a “no”. I appreciate all the support but it’s really up to me to get my butt in gear and get in good enough shape to complete it. I don’t really have a goal to place high. Just a goal to finish and maybe not come in last.

Days ‘till race day: 265