I went to Performance Wellness for my monthly tuneup and was talking about how excited I was to start official Longhorn Training this coming Monday, July 5. My massage therapist, who is also doing Longhorn, said "didn't it start yesterday?" Well, sure enough, it did! I think I concentrated on July 5, but that is the end of the first week, not the start of it. So it is only Day 2, and I'm already behind. I slept in today's AM spin because I knew it was the last time I could! Crap! And with the Fourth of July holiday, I'll be in Dallas celebrating my mom's Citizen of the Year award. I will have to find a way to get the training hours in, though luckily it's still pretty light, and not much different from what I've been doing for base training. Though I hate that "late" feeling. Argh!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
San Antonio ride
I met up with C and the cycling group from her church at 7:15 this morning in San Antonio. We started at the Lifetime Fitness at the Rim, on the northwest side, and rode a 25 mile loop. It was great- good shoulders or quiet country roads, exploring new places (who's ever heard of the city of Grey Forest, TX?), and some nicely challenging hills. Okay there was one hill that was more than challenging, nearly impossible- a step stair type of hill that just kept on going, and because it just kept going up, there was no momentum. Ugh.
But my legs felt good, and C was having fun on her new road bike, and it was great! The only downside was that there was a group of about 15 cyclists, and C and I were dropped within about 5 miles. And they didn't wait for us and C didn't know the route all that well. So it could have been really bad, though luckily we found our way okay. We were done before it got too hot, and back to C's house for a shower and out to Sea Island Shrimp House, which I love! And then back to play some Guitar Hero- fun, but I pretty much suck at it.
A good day!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Another T3 group ride
This morning was another T3 group ride, though this was a little less organized because there were a lot of variations. I decided to leave from my house and ride to Akins to leave for the 20-25 mile ride to Buda/Kyle. There were a couple of others doing that option, mainly to avoid riding on Slaughter Lane which even with a bike lane is usually iffy due to multiple lane changes, inconsiderate drivers and lots of debris. We also left 30 minutes earlier than the rest of the crew. And this is an old standby route of mine, so I knew it well.
So off I went, dropped by the others quickly, and settled in to a nice rhythm. In Buda, tooled around a little to add a little extra mileage but avoiding going out past the stone factory with all that road debris. Stopped at a Sonic to go to the bathroom- always a nice option because the bathrooms are outside. And then heading back in, which is mostly downhill and super fast compared to the southbound route. Passed a bunch of T3ers on their way out, which was nice, and then finished by 8:15. A good day already, and still early!
And glad to have a pretty easy ride done, as I'm planning on riding with C's church group in San Antonio for another 25 miler. Lots of cycling this week, but it's all good.
So off I went, dropped by the others quickly, and settled in to a nice rhythm. In Buda, tooled around a little to add a little extra mileage but avoiding going out past the stone factory with all that road debris. Stopped at a Sonic to go to the bathroom- always a nice option because the bathrooms are outside. And then heading back in, which is mostly downhill and super fast compared to the southbound route. Passed a bunch of T3ers on their way out, which was nice, and then finished by 8:15. A good day already, and still early!
And glad to have a pretty easy ride done, as I'm planning on riding with C's church group in San Antonio for another 25 miler. Lots of cycling this week, but it's all good.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Eat like an Ironman
I have been listening to a new podcast Fat2Fit Radio and have been enjoying it. There are two guys, one a Canadian, so you get to enjoy the "aboot" and "agaynst" and all the other lovely Canadianisms. The other is a Californian, and they discuss the Californian's weight loss journey, practical weight loss tips, and other motivational and informational topics. Their basic premise is to eat like the person you want to become. So you figure out what your goal weight is, and what is the BMR or basal metabolic rate at that weight, and eat that amount of calories. So it is a long term, lifestyle changing plan, not a quick weight loss and then go back to eating like a fat person. It makes sense.
It also got me to thinking- if my goal is to be an Ironman- to complete a long course triathlon of 2.6 m swim, 112 m bike, and 26.2 m run- I should act like an Ironman. And seeing a bunch of T3ers finish IM Coeur d'Alene, I have a number of people I can learn from and emulate. And it's really helpful that so many of them have blogs and tell me what they're doing! It seems like Ironmen eat lots of food, but it is primarily complex carbs, lean protein, fruits, and vegetables. They eat to fuel their workouts. They eat things that allow them to train hard and succeed. Sure, they have heavy restaurant meals, beer, or pizza, but that is the exception. They are not scarfing McDonald's before a run because they know they will hurl.
So instead of having that as my goal, and saying I will just magically be like that some day off in the future, what if I pretended I was an Ironman already? What would I eat if I was an Ironman? What would I be doing? Would an Ironman eat that? And while I've only had this epiphany for a couple of days, it is resonating for me. I was driving home from work, and that is usually a dangerous time- I'm hungry and tired, and pulling through a drive through would be so much easier. But I thought about it, and figured an Ironman would go home and eat the healthy hummus with pita and a cucumber in my fridge. So I did. Huh.
And yes, it is a little sexist and weird to say that I want to be an Ironman, since I am indeed a woman, and not interested in a sex change at all, but that's the lingo, and I'm sticking with it!
It also got me to thinking- if my goal is to be an Ironman- to complete a long course triathlon of 2.6 m swim, 112 m bike, and 26.2 m run- I should act like an Ironman. And seeing a bunch of T3ers finish IM Coeur d'Alene, I have a number of people I can learn from and emulate. And it's really helpful that so many of them have blogs and tell me what they're doing! It seems like Ironmen eat lots of food, but it is primarily complex carbs, lean protein, fruits, and vegetables. They eat to fuel their workouts. They eat things that allow them to train hard and succeed. Sure, they have heavy restaurant meals, beer, or pizza, but that is the exception. They are not scarfing McDonald's before a run because they know they will hurl.
So instead of having that as my goal, and saying I will just magically be like that some day off in the future, what if I pretended I was an Ironman already? What would I eat if I was an Ironman? What would I be doing? Would an Ironman eat that? And while I've only had this epiphany for a couple of days, it is resonating for me. I was driving home from work, and that is usually a dangerous time- I'm hungry and tired, and pulling through a drive through would be so much easier. But I thought about it, and figured an Ironman would go home and eat the healthy hummus with pita and a cucumber in my fridge. So I did. Huh.
And yes, it is a little sexist and weird to say that I want to be an Ironman, since I am indeed a woman, and not interested in a sex change at all, but that's the lingo, and I'm sticking with it!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Better Run
Last Monday, the specialty workout was at Barton Springs and consisted of 15 minutes of core, a one mile warmup, leg exercises, and then three miles of fartlek intervals on the Town Lake trail. It was 99 degrees, and I was toast about two miles into it. About two hours altogether. It was fucking miserable.
So this Monday, the specialty workout was again at Barton Springs, and since all the coaches are in Coeur d'Alene, the newest coach was supposed to be there. He never showed, or may have gone to the wrong meeting spot. So we just repeated the workout from last week, though, because we waited on the missing coach, we skipped the core and warmup. It was 104, according to the church thermometer on the way home. But this week was much, much better. I still worked pretty hard on the intervals, and it was still pretty miserable, but not nearly as bad. Some reasons- I knew the plan and the route better. I didn't have the coach waiting for me at the end. And I cut off the last chunk on the trail, and went through the park back to the cars, though I think the mileage overall was very similar. I also hydrated much better before the run. And finally- maybe I'm actually improving. Progress!
So this Monday, the specialty workout was again at Barton Springs, and since all the coaches are in Coeur d'Alene, the newest coach was supposed to be there. He never showed, or may have gone to the wrong meeting spot. So we just repeated the workout from last week, though, because we waited on the missing coach, we skipped the core and warmup. It was 104, according to the church thermometer on the way home. But this week was much, much better. I still worked pretty hard on the intervals, and it was still pretty miserable, but not nearly as bad. Some reasons- I knew the plan and the route better. I didn't have the coach waiting for me at the end. And I cut off the last chunk on the trail, and went through the park back to the cars, though I think the mileage overall was very similar. I also hydrated much better before the run. And finally- maybe I'm actually improving. Progress!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
60+ T3ers In Coeur d'Alene Ironman
60+ T3ers in Coeur d'Alene Ironman, and I'm tracking them on www.ironmanlive.com and www.ironplan.net which are great. The problem is not having the background. I get the times, and can tell that people are staying steady, or went out too fast on the bike and now are slowing, but I can't tell what happened to the two women who started the swim and now don't have any bike splits. Did they quit? Did they lose the chips? Bike wreck? I want to know what's going on! It almost makes me want to go sign up for twitter because a number of them have friends and family posting twitter updates. Almost.
It is exciting to see these teammates take the race on. This is the first group I've followed through training from the beginning- all the daily struggles and successes. And now seeing them compete is fantastic and it gets me all excited about my future races. If I hadn't already biked twice this weekend, I would go get on my bike right now!
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