May stats and others

RUN: 154 miles
BIKE: 400 miles - low, but a record for me
SWIM: 14.25 miles - low for triathlon, but I am so slow that swimming is time consuming for me:)

Managed to do coreX2/week and arms/planks 2X/week.

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I am still having fun with triathlon training, but "he" gets on my nerves sometimes.

Like today, when for no apparent reason, I could barely swim 50 yards, and my easy 5 mile run was sooo unpleasant. Grr. I am getting used to having tough workouts. I've been putting in a lot of miles of swim/bike/run, and my body is still getting used to it all.

No 5K for me this Sunday. I feel like my coccyx is going to separate in 2 when I pick up the pace. Not a pleasant feeling, so no 5K. It is getting better, though:)

I decided to use one of Hudson's marathon plans for my fall marathons. I am tired of the FIRST plan, and I want to do more mileage after my half iron. It will be an experiment and I am excited.

This months I will be starting to do some open water swimming at Walden. Chris and Petru will be in the kayak ready to save me if I start panicking. I need to practice getting on my back if I get tired, as I know the first 400m or so are going to be tough.

I am learning more and more about how important warming up is. I need about 5 miles or running, 10 of biking and .5 of swimming before I am ready to pick up the pace/get on pace.

I have been reading a ton on triathlon training. It seems that there is some consensus about biking and running, but not about swimming (focusing on form and drills vs putting in the miles and form will improve vs doing intervals to get faster vs doing long swims at race pace and increasing the distance up to the race event distance or even longer).

Probably the best advice on racing your first half ironman came from Gordo and you can read it here: http://www.coachgordo.com/gtips/race_strategy/pacing_your_first_half_ironman.html

Injured -Rajon Rondo and me!

Yes, I have been watching too much basketball.

I don't normally watch but it is a ton of fun to watch with Chris; basketball is for him what running is for me:)

Anyhow, in my search to fit an 8 mile run, a 90 min bike ride, an icebath and a shower before getting Petru from school at 6pm on Wednesday last week, I managed to slip in the bathroom and land on my tailbone. OMG! Hurt, Hurt, Hurt! First thing that came to my mind as I sat on the ground was "s$#$#, training, training, training?". After a minute or so I moved my legs slowly, and figured I was OK. I had some pain walking, but got myself dressed, put an icepack on, and drove to get Petru from school. I have been icing since, but I still have pain when sitting. I can swim and bike pain free, but running is painful for the first 5 miles or so, or if I try to go fast. I talked to a few ortho fellows at work and they said running is OK, as the pain does not mean "damage", and will likely stick around for a month or so.

How ironic! I managed to stay injury free while swim/bike/running more than ever, but I did not manage to keep my balance on the bathroom floor....

Tagged

Aron tagged me for the versatile blogger award. I feel, well, honored and , of course, versatile! Thanks Aron. This means I need to write 7 random things about myself.

Here we go:
1. I was an avid hiker before becoming a runner. I took my first real hike with my dad and my brother at age 6. We hiked in the Carpathians in Romania. We left from the closest rural community, and walked to the bottom of the mountain. We hiked all day until we got to a cabin, where we spent the night. We made a fire and ate fatty ham that was dripping on the bread. We hiked for 3 days before coming back home. When I was a teenager I would hike with a group of friends (10-15), and we would sleep outside by the fire, taking turns staying up to watch for animals. Those are some of my best memories. These type of trips were typical in Romania. Certainly a different lifestyle!

2. I first come to US on a 3 months summer internship to study genetics. When I got back home, I knew I wanted to live in the US.

3. In highschool I was seriously in love with a 40 year older than me actor. I would go see his play every.single. evening. It was one that he created/directed, based on Walt Whitman's "Song of myself", with music by The Who, Led Zepellin, and Beatles. Oh my!

4. I am absolutely in love with my husband. Seriously. I think he gets better and better looking as he ages. I even like the things that annoy me about him.

5. I'd take an icecream any day over alcohol.

6. I would love to go on "Survivor".

7. I hate shopping, unless it is for running/tri clothes. I do 90% of my shopping on line.

OK, now I need to tag 15 people. How about the first 15 people who comment?

Time to train - how do you find it?

Lindsay asked me how I find the time to swim/bike/run so much. The "so much" is relative, as I am doing little compared to others.

In 2009 when I started training for my first marathon, I panicked when I saw a 13 mile run in the middle of the workweek. How would I fit it in? Now I can manage to run 10 miles and bike 90 min during the same day. I confess that it is not only time management, though that has a huge component, along with the mind set that I can fit everything I want to (reasonable want here) into my day. But what really helps me make it all happen is my husband. I have a great one! I am going to put it out there. All I do is work, train, and spend time with Petru. I don't cook. I don't do dishes. I don't clean. I don't grocery shop. I don't pay bills. OK, I do these things once in a while, but not regularly. My husband works part time and also has a large part of the summer off, so he is the one who does all these things on a regular bases. It is an arrangement that works for us. Before you hate me, let me just say that I sometimes wish I could be the one working part-time, and that grocery shopping and cooking seem kind of nice to do when you don't get to do them. So all is relative here. But I wanted to let you all know that I am in no way super woman, and that I could not do all that I am doing if both my husband and I had to work full time, or if my husband was not so amazingly good about the household responsibilities, and overall supportive.

How do you fit training into your schedule?

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: