Loving training and summer plans!

I am loving half ironman training. I think it was exactly what I needed after the strict marathon training. I am so much more relaxed. I don't skip workouts, but there is no pace to hit on the bike, and although I am pushing myself during the swim, I am not strict about my times. This will be my first HI, and this is an experiment to see whether I want to become serious about triathlon.

I put in lots of miles during the past week: 42 running (including a 2 hour run by feel, to keep my endurance up = ended up being faster than I expected and I loved not to be Garmin obsessed), 101 mile biking (51 outdoors, on a new route, a bit too fast which meant difficult last 15 miles), 4 miles swimming (including 1.5 miles when I shared the lane with 3 faster swimmers and swam in fear that I am going to get in their way; nothing like a little extra motivation to move outside my comfort zone; and wow, how fun! I have to find a way to do masters next year!).

I am feeling great! I am not too tired, and I am not super hungry (I keep hearing about hunger pangs with increased training, but not me). My legs feel great, too, and strong!

Summer is here, and there is lots going on. I'll probably run a free fun 2.5 mile race in Fresh Pond next weekend, then my last attempt to the sub 20 at Lowell on June 6th. I'll get to swim, ride and run on the course of the Vermont Journey Half Ironman in 3 weeks, as Chris and I will take a little getaway to Vermont (so it happens:) for our 10th year anniversary. Can you say awesome husband? He actually proposed that we go there! He'll do the swim and bike course with me, which is great because:1) I'll feel safe in the water and 2) I won't get lost on the bike! I heard the course is hilly, which concerns me a bit because I am only now learning to shift gears for uphills and downhills. But, I have plenty of time!

The day after the actual race we will all fly to Romania where I have a conference and then Chris and I will explore the Carpathians while my mom and Petru get to hang out! Can't wait!!! There will also be lots of weekends in New Castle at the beach with Chris's mom, and swims at Waldon Pond and Arlington reservoir. I have no major work deadline except the usual, so I'll get to enjoy my summer of training and my family!

On racing weight

The concept of race weight is a puzzle to me. Everyone seems to be talking about "it", getting to "it", maintaining "it". There is even a book on the subject. Still, I don't get "it". I do have a tendency to miss the trees for the forest, so maybe this is my problem.... In any case, since Boston I have been recording my weight and body fat almost daily (some days I forgot), first thing in the morning. My goal was to try to see whether there is a relationship between weight/BF and my race performance. I ran 2 races since I started this experiment, one week apart. I was .2 lbs heavier on the second race, but ran it 3 seconds per mile faster. Of course, the second course was faster, and I had the training experience of the first race. So a wash off, I think. I'll keep up my little experiment, and see what I find out.

Here are my questions for those of you with "a racing weight":
1. How do you know what your racing weight is?
2. How can you separate racing weight from training? For me, it seems I am getting faster because my body can handle more quantity and quality training. How can you separate the training effect from from weight effect? I am not about to train hard and make myself gain 5lbs, then keep training constant, lose the 5lbs and run races at both weights to see what happened. Even with this little experiment, there would still be confounds.

What do you think?

Thinking, thinking...

I've been thinking a lot about why I picked a battle with the 5K this summer. I've never used to run 5ks, I've always thought that they are not worth the effort, only 3 little painful miles. But after the marathon I got bored with not training. I also had a bad taste in my mouth from the Boston marathon. I spent a lot of time looking over my training, and figuring out how to train for my fall marathon, and how to train for my half iron in August. And then I realized that I ran a lot of track during the marathon training cycle, and I ran it very fast (for me). And then the 5K idea! Based on my stats, it looked like I could easily break 20. My mile repeats during marathon training were between 6:05 and 6:22, which would certainly be enough for a sub 20. Hence, the first 5K. Then the second. It became a bit addictive and after the second one I kept looking for my next one immediately. I was mad, because had the course been right, I would have gotten my sub 20. I was mad, particularly after the second one, because my vomiting urges during the last mile made me slow down when otherwise I felt great. I was mad because I always/almost always get what I want. But making decisions when I am mad is something I learned not to do. So I took time away, and looked at the big picture of my training. I realized that I have to think long term vs short term. The marathon is my long term goal. And while a sub 20 5K would make me feel all special and good for a few minutes, it's not worth spending all my weekends running 5Ks until I get my sub 20. The marathon is my "A" goal and I am going to need to get my long runs in. So I signed up for one more 5K, June 6th (thanks Katie), flat and fast, hopefully accurate. I will probably go to the track once or twice for mile repeats before it. If I don't get my goal, I'll try again sometime in the future. Just not this summer.

I've been reading lots of 5K reports as of late. I realized that I don't care about being third, or second, or even first (I was first only once, in an 8 mile small trail race). I don't even care about the prizes (though $150 worth of massages is not nothing). What I really care about is PRing and getting that silly sub 20. Because whether you are first or second or last is relative to how small or big the race is, who shows up, how accurate the course is (had to throw that in). But a PR is a PR, and it stands on its own. It becomes my history.

So, one more shot at the 5K, lots of swim and bike, with an extra dose of running during late summer. And, of course, lots and lots and lots of this:

Mystic 5K AKA the 3.2 race!

Time: 20:12
Place: 3 overall women;
1st AG.
Pace: 6:20

This race was advertised as a 5k, but then at the race people started talking about it being a 3.2 race rather than a 5k. Big difference, people, for someone who is trying to break 20 min.

Anyhow, this will be a short race report.

Mile 1: 6:20 - managed to keep pace down, 2 women in front of me, could have passed them, but I held my pace down and kept my eye on the prize (sub 20). Felt great!

Mile 2: 6:14 - feeling great, great, great! Passing people left and right, 2 women still in front of me but I was on their heels.

Mile 3: 6: 32 - feeling great, and then all of a sudden I had vomit in my mouth (yes, I know!). I kept gagging. I felt great otherwise, breathing was fine, legs were happy. Darn! I slowed down, tried to vomit, couldn't do it, so started running again, swallowing in hopes of stopping the gagging.

.21: 5:51 pace - focused on not puking, but feeling great.
+++++

So, same result as last week, but, because of the longer course, the pace this week was 3 secs/mile faster than last week. My goal was to run a 6:20 pace, which would have been enough for a sub 20 assuming an extra .05, so I was where I wanted to be.

I talked a bit to the winners and some of the runners after the race and everyone concurred that the course was long. I was super careful to run tangents but that did not help. And it is not my Garmin, other people ran 3.25! In any case, I am happy about this race. Time for a 5K would have been 19:38, by the way! I'll make that official one of these races! I just need to find a time chipped, accurate race. For now, I have to figure out the vomiting issues! One runner told me that I need to run my first mile slower, so maybe I should try that. The thing is, I always have vomiting issues at the track, but never in tempos or races longer than 10 miles. It is so frustrating to feel great, I mean really great, comfortable breathing, no lactic acid accumulation (no post run soreness this week or last!), just the gagging and vomiting! GI system, just get the memo, will ya?

I won an hour sports massage, by the way! Very exciting. But more exciting was this little prize I got at the end of the race! Yes, no glamor shot here, this is how I look after working HARD, bulging veins on my forehead, sweat and salt on my face, love it, love it, love it!















And this is how I look when I lose my patience with Chris tryyyyyyyyyyyying to take a picture!Both Petru and I have the same expression: "Let's go, dad!" Funny!

Enjoying it!

Now that I am devoting training time to swimming, biking, and running, I find myself looking forward to most if not all of my workouts. The variety is amazing!

Swimming: I can't believe how much I improved in less than one year. October 2009 was the first time I decided to learn to swim free style. After watching a few videos on line, I went to the pull, put a belt on, and started "swimming". That was the first time ever I put my head in the water. It was a long process until I graduated to swimming one lap, than 8 laps, and so on. I am still a slow swimmer, but I am much more comfortable in the water. I have learned to go against my instincts in the water - slow down when I feel out of breath, push my head into the water when I feel I am sinking, and so on. I have been reading "Total Immersion" during this past month, and have been watching instruction videos on line. That program is amazing, and I have learned a ton from it. I am now swimming 3 times/week, 3-5 miles total, but I feel I need to swim about 5 days a week to get my times down to where I think I can (for this year). I think I'll be able to make that happen come June. Will see! My challenge in swimming is still fear, fear that if I go too fast, I may get into oxygen debt and I can't just stop like I could in running and biking! I think I need to work on alternative fast and slow swimming within one interval, to get over that fear.

Biking: I love biking. My longest distance so far is 50 miles. I go pretty slow and don't really push myself, but will try to add some speed in June. During May my goal was to get my muscles used to biking, and my body used to increased training volume. I think that I have a good built for biking and I actually could get really strong on the bike. Next week I will join a group ride and am pretty excited (and nervous) about that. I also love my trainer rides. They are only 90 minutes so far, but a great excuse to watch reruns of Survivor and This Amazing Race!

Running: I started to do my 2 easy runs without my Garmin. It's actually fun, and I can't believe it. I still have to keep an eye on my pace and keep it slow, but not having the watch with me definitely helps. Since Boston I have not done any speedwork, with the exception of my 5K last week. I have been averaging 30-35 miles/week, with 75% on trails. I will probably do a few intervals before my sprint tri end of June, and than marathon training starts! Hurray!

Core work: I can now do 50 push-ups in one session, no problem. I can only do 2 chin ups (we got a pull up bar) and one pull up, which is funny because I developed a strong upper body due to swimming. Guess different muscles.. I have also been doing lots of jumps, leg work, etc, about 10-20 minutes every weeknight!

So questions for you!

1. Any books on triathlon, biking or swimming that you recommend? I love love love reading anything sports related but at the same time, I don't have a ton of time for fun reading and would love to be efficient and choosy about it!

2. Any info you wish you had when you first got started with all or one of the sports (run, bike, swim).

Thanks!

On running form

When I don't train for a marathon, I focus on improving my form. I had horrible form when I first started racing, and I believe my myriad of running injuries were if not the cause, at least related to my poor running form. Focusing on form during off marathon season has given me a goal aside from speed (which is good, because I believe in taking short breaks from "getting faster").

Now that I am getting into 3-somes (not those kind, silly), I am even more aware of how important form is. For swimming, it makes a huge difference, even for a slow swimmer like myself (or maybe more?). Although I don't own a tri bike, I still can feel a difference when I bike up right vs in more of an aero position. I don't get the physics of it all (particularly on the bike) but I can really feel the difference it makes! And that is motivating.

So back to running form.... I am skimming Chi Running (skimming, because the book is boring, yes, I said it!). The claim of the book is that by using chi running principles one can run effortless (can you tell I don't really buy that, I mean , I can run effortless with poor form, just very slow...lets be serious, if you are going to run fast, it is not going to be effortless). Aside from that claim, the form advice the writer gives works. When you lean forward but not from the waist, like I do when I get tired), you fall into your strike, onto your big toe. That part does feel effortless. Now the part I don't get. The author talks about not pushing from your big toe, and just letting the force from the fall of the foot onto the ground propel you up. This goes a bit against what I have heard before, about pushing with your big toe. So now I am confused. Hrr. Chi running also talks about not lifting your knees (extra, unnecessary effort), which again, goes against what I've heard. I've tried both ways, and I have to say the chi running way does seem easier. But is it faster, I don't know. So what do you think? What's a good running form?

And now I leave you with these....

Meb, finishing Boston. I love Meb, but look at his form...not good!














And the winner (yellow shirt)...can you say perfection?













And a video I got from Angela's blog, and have been watching over and over and over...Ryan Hall in slow motion, 4:50 pace at mile 17. I can't even wrap my head around how fast this is!!!

Product review -orthaheel sandals

A few weeks ago the nice folks at Orthaheelusa contacted me with information about their footwear, asking whether I was interested in a product review. They claimed that the sandals are very comfortable and help with foot pain and pronation issues. This was about the time of the Boston Marathon, and in anticipation of post marathon lost toenails, foot pain and such I immediately agreed. Unfortunately, it took a while for the sandals to come in, so I was not able to test them immediately post marathon. They did arrive about a week ago, so I had a bit of time to try them out.

I was sent the kinetic Sandals, aka their sports sandals. Pretty, no? The Kinetic flip flop features a soft fabric toe post and quick-dry sports nylex mesh lining for added comfort for after sport therapy or outdoor activities. The unique Orthaheel® motion-controlling footbed features a contoured arch support and deep heel cup that realigns your stride and helps reduce foot fatigue. Durable TPR outsole with wave-patterned tread that helps improve traction (from the website)


When I first put them on, they seemed a bit awkward. They have a lot of arch support, and I am not used to that. I have high arches that collapsed a bit post pregnancy, but they are still pretty high, so I thought the arch support is going to be annoying. I was surprised, though, that after wearing these for 30 min or so, they molded to my feet and I did not even notice them. I am a barefoot when possible type person, and usually have shoes all around the house because I start with shoes on, then take them off, get another pair, etc. But I did not do this with these sandals. They are light and comfortable.

I am not sure about the accuracy of the claim that the manufacturer makes. They say that the shoes are designed to correct bio mechanical imbalances in the foot, thus helping relieve foot pain. They even have a questionnaire to help you chose the type of sandal that would work best for you, based on type of foot and pain issues (hammertoes, collapsed arches, back pain, heel pain, etc).

The sandals are a bit pricey - the kinetics retail for $59 - but they have a few cute sandals for about $30 or so. Check them out, particularly if you have foot or back problems. I am thoroughly enjoying mine!