Week 4 is Toast

We're now halfway through the base building phase of training, also  known as 1/4 of the way there!

Total = 5:53 min cardio, 30.65 miles, 3, 969 Calories

Not too shabby. I need to up my swim and run time a little bit. Finding the time for those workouts is a little difficult. Hopefully I can start sneaking a swim in on Tuesdays. 

Best Workout of the Week

Hands down this was my Saturday ride. The rest of the week was pretty rainy and kept me inside and off the bike. Saturday I packed Ghost up and headed to the Parklands at Floyd's Fork. It's a beautiful park "system" on the east side of the county. It's still in progress and a lot of it isn't open yet. I fell in love with it at the Great Pumpkin 10K last year and thought it would be a great place to bike. Lots of straightaways, not much traffic. It didn't disappoint! The park was fairly busy so i stayed off of the path in some sections but the roads were pretty much empty.

Now if you're asking yourself, "Gee whiz Jenn, you've really mastered this whole biking thing haven't you?" Lest you think I'm some sort of bike expert, I definitely proved my newbieness on Saturday. About 15 minutes in I hit a HUGE hill. It was an overpass that was essentially at an 80 degree incline. I didn't downshift enough before getting on it and the bike just stopped. I tried to stand up but I knew my balance wouldn't hold. I braced myself and just held on to the bike as I leaned left. Crash, boom, ouch. Pavement. Luckily not too many people saw (and I wasn't hurt too badly...). Definitely my worst crash to date. My elbow got progressively sorer and it's nicely bruised. Same with my hip. Today's run also told me that my shoulder took a hit as well. Oh well. I got up and kept biking until my workout was done. I think I just have to get up and recover from those falls to get better. Lucky for me none of them have been that bad and, on the bright side, I fell on the left side of the bike this time!

Horse Park near English Station 

Taking a Break to get my bearings

Rail overpass near Taylorsville rd. 

I think my swim workout from this week also gets an honorable mention. It started with me absolutely positively GTFO not wanting to swim. I dilly dallied, I stalled, I did everything but say "fuck it i'm getting back in bed." Moral victory, right? I get to the pool and had to wait 10 minutes for a lane. WTF. Conviction definitely wavered as I sat there next to a weird old guy who wanted to chit chat about this and that. At least I didn't have to feel weird about forgetting to shave my legs because, yeah, he shouldn't have been looking anyway. 

The main set consisted of 3 times through 150 @ 20 seconds rest, 200 @ 30 seconds rest. It was tough, but felt great! Really proud of myself for sticking it out and getting in a great workout in record time. 

Tuesday Afternoon Run Across the River

Sunset over the Falls of the Ohio 

After my Sunday Treadmill run

Best Meal of the Week

Lots of good stuff on the menu this week but I probably have to go with what we just ate that I was too busy to take a picture of. Trader Joe's flounder stuffed with crab meat, roasted potatoes and kroger salad bar salad. Yumm. This week I bought some turkey burgers to eat with my sweet potatoes. I'll keep you posted, it could go either way. 

Aside from the workouts we had a nice visit from the water fairy who brought use a deluge of rain in the office on Wednesday. 

Thanks, jerk. Plumber came out Friday and could not find the leak. He was here for over 2 hours and still couldn't find it. I followed him around so I know he looked. It's puzzling. I'm posting this here mostly so I have documentation that I am not, in fact, crazy. At least not on this point. 

The biggest benefit of training? Sleeping like a damn baby. 

Ellie knows what i'm talking about. 

Another gradual increase in training this week all culminating in the Derby Festival Mini Marathon. 

82 Days till Muncie!

Happy Running!

Have you ever had a water leak? Did the plumber find it? Tell me more!

Do you shop at Trader Joe's? What's your favorite Tj's treat. 

Week 3 Recap

Week three ended on a high note with the Shelbyville Sprint Triathlon. More on that later.

Best Week Yet!

The time totals don't include the hour of body pump and 45 minutes of volleyball, which would bring my weekly total up to 6:27 for activity. Boo-Yah.

Best Workout of the Week

This one is easily the Shelbyville Sprint Tri. Duh. But in terms of actual workout the best workout I think I had was either my (abbreviated) swim on Tuesday or my Thursday swim. This week was rainy rainy rainy so I couldn't get outside on the bike at all. It was also super light at work so I skipped out early to get to the Y on Tuesday. To my boss (who reads the blog, I'm told) - don't rat me out :) . I did 10 minutes on a spinner bike and hopped in the pool. The workout was the most difficult I've had yet and the main set consisted of 3 rounds of 100 @ 10 seconds rest followed by 250 @ 20 seconds rest. I got through the warm up and into the first set. The 250 felt GREAT. Then the lifeguard got me out because of lightning. Ugh. The storm was getting pretty bad so I called it a day. My swim Thursday was more speed focused and had a pyramid of 25s, 50s, 100s and 200s. It felt good too but not as good.

Best Meal of the Week
This one, again is probably my random Wednesday night pot luck. Here's what was on deck for last week.

Wednesday's quesadillas were made with Tuesday night's fajita leftovers. I opted to have half a quesadilla and add a sweet potato. Super yum. Sweet potatoes are definitely being worked into my diet more!

Random? Sure. Delicious? Absolutely.

Friday night we went over to our buddy's house for dinner. It was a blast. He made pork chops and our dear friends Lindsey & John (who also may peek in on the blog....yeah, that's right John) brought fried pickles. Needless to say Saturday morning was a rude awakening. We took Ellie for a long walk at the park to celebrate the return of the Sun.

Next week is the halfway point in the Base Building phase. 90 days to Muncie!

Happy Running!

Did you race this weekend?
Is it rainy where you are?

Race Recap - Papa John's 10 Miler

The Papa John's 10 miler is the 3rd leg of the Louisville Triple Crown of Running and one of my favorite races. It's all a lead up to the Derby Festival Mini & Marathon which are part of the Kentucky Derby Festival. If you haven't figured it out yet, Derby is kind of a big deal around here.

Anyway, normally my training for the triple crown starts in January and is building up to the end of April. This year, my training started in March and is building up to a much different race in the middle of July. So lets just say I was drastically under-trained. I hadn't run 10 miles since the Sports Commission Half in October and hadn't even run 5 miles consistently since January. Thus, my goals going in were:

1. Finish the race
2. Don't get injured
3. If not getting injured means not finishing, that's ok

I woke up at about 5:45 a.m. for the 8 am start. Drank a good amount of water and had some hot tea. For fuel I had some Belvita Breakfast biscuits with a little peantbutter on them. I tried to cut off the fluids and foods by about 6:45. We were in the car by 7:10 and headed to the stadium. We parked a good distance away from the start, but closer to the finish (which is how we both like it). It was a cool 39 degrees at the start with a little wind. I was super cold before the start but in the end I think I was dressed perfectly for a long run in these temps.

Landsharks short sleeve with Target Long sleeve 3/4 Zip on top. Moving Comfort Endurance Capris, Asics Visor, Balega Socks and my previous Brooks Adrenalines. Game on.


The race breaks down nicely into thirds. The first third is the relatively flat 3 mile route out to Iroquois Park, then three miles through a very hilly park, three miles back to the start, and a mile up an overpass and into Papa John's Stadium for the finish.

Based on goals 1-3 above, I decided to run  based on HR rather than time. I set my Garmin 310 to show me HR only.

1st Segment - Focused on keeping it slow and steady with a HR <145. Music choices really helped me here and I picked stuff that was more relaxed and fun than the typical high bpm, bass pounding jams that usually get me amped up (more on that in another post). Managed to nail this part despite the gradual uphill.

2nd Segment - The dreaded park. The coolest part about this is that while you're going down 3rd street you can see the leaders coming out of the park. Everyone cheers and claps when they come by and it's super inspiring. Particularly the wheelchair athletes. it's incredible to think about them going up the hills through the park. The park is tough. There are several big hills followed by equally steep downhills and it just rolls like that for three miles. I feel like I really did well in the park. I managed to recover on the downhills and not push too hard on the uphills. I love the feeling of making it up the final hill and feeling like "yes, it's over!".

3rd Segment - This is always the hardest part for me and I think it's mostly mental. The road feels flat and endless. My HR monitor crapped out just before mile 8 but I was running a little high before that. At that point all I could think was, "stay steady and slow until 8." Dear hubz gets Barn Fever pretty bad: when he sees the end he sprints. In a race where the finish line is  HUGE stadium you can see it well before it's advisable to take off. After the 8 mile marker we got faster and faster and felt pretty strong.

Last Mile - the last mile starts with a HUGE uphill on an overpass. It sucks. I hate it every year. We nailed the last mile though and ran it in 10:56, our fastest mile.

Elevation, Pace & HR Comparisons

Garmin Time: 10.19 miles in 1:59:54 for 11:46 min/miles

Am I impressed with our finish? No, it was by far the slowest 10 miler I've ever run. But it was also the gutsiest. And I was far more nervous and anxious leading up to this race than any recent race I can remember. So I'm thrilled with our finish and the run that got us there.

In the end, the 10 miler was a stepping stone this year and not an end goal. So on to the next one!

Week 2 is Through

What a week! It started with a vacation day and ended with a lazy Easter Sunday and a beautiful ride.

Day	Planned	Actual
Mon	Off/Rest/Slide	36 min Bike
Tue	Swim#3, 30 min Ride	30 min Run
Wed	30 min ride, 15 min run	30 min ride, 15 min run
Thur	Swim #4, 30 min ride	Swim #4
Fri	Off/Rest/Slide	Off/Rest/Slide
Sat	30 min Ride	10 Mile run
Sun	45 Min Run	34 min ride
Totals	1:30 Swim 1:30 Bike 1:30 Run 4:30 Total	0:45 Swim 1:48 Bike 2:44 Run 5:18:39 Total

Best Workout of the Week

This is a hard one this week! I love love LOVED my Brick on Wednesday. The Weather was perfect and I finished feeling great. Each ride I get more and more comfortable on the bike. Though my shoulders/neck/traps were pretty sore after this particular ride. I flew off the bike again this week. I tried to keep it pretty slow and took some walk breaks. 

So it's a tie between my brick and the Papa John's 10 Miler. I'll report at length on the awesome tale of perseverance that was the 10 Miler. Suffice it to say we finished and I didn't get injured. Since those were my two goals, I'm pretty hyped!

Finishers!

Best Meal of the Week

So we had some pretty good eats this week. Thursday night I made Boboli Pizza with turkey pepperoni and it was dyn-o-mite. Friday we engaged in our pre-race ritual and had sushi from the place up the street. This house could've been a one bedroom no plumbing hovel but it's location and proximity to awesome sushi makes it 100% desirable in my book. 

Those meals aside, it think my favorite meal was Wednesday night's "Whatever you want" fare. I nuked a sweet potato and topped it with some light butter. I had pre-cooked chicken in the fridge so I piled that on some tortilla chips with some Mexican cheese and had some badass nachos. Random, I know, but it was what sounded good!

I've got two posts in the works so look for a three post week from me this week (eek!). There's rain in the forecast, which is the usual around here this time of the year. Though it could snow at any moment or be 90, so who's to say what's 'usual' around here?

I'm off to soak in a hot epsom salt bath and foam roll until I pass out. Then I will wake up and eat cake. Happy Easter!

Your weekly Ellie

Happy Running!

Did you race this weekend? Tell me about it!

What was the best thing you ate last week? Do you ever eat hodgepodge meals? 

Checking In

Last night was the worst night of sleep I can remember.

We got something like 6 inches of rain in 12 hours, complete with thunder and lightening. Seriously, Thunder and Lightening consistently from about 2:00 a.m. until....well, 20 minutes ago.

Ellie deserved some bed-snuggles after a long night

Today is a rest day and boy do I need it. Missed a run last night - due to rain and the President messing up our traffic patterns here - but I think the rest was necessary. I paid money to run 10 miles tomorrow so I guess I should focus on that.

I'm usually all kinds of excited for the 10 miler but this year I'm not feeling it. Maybe it's the complete lack of training and distance. That could be it. I'm going into it with zero expectations other than to keep my heart rate as low as I can and have some fun. It's all just training for Muncie right?

Iced coffee is a key component of rest day. So was the Lemon Poppy scone I had but I ate that way too fast to snap a pic of it. Priorities.

Aside from resting as much as possible (which is laughable considering I have court in 5 different places between 9 and noon), operation hydration has also begun.

Ellie knows how to rest before a race. Or anytime, really.

Lets do this!



Happy Running!

Week 1 and Done

Week one is officially in the books. It didn't go exactly as planned, but I'm not totally unhappy with it.

Day	Planned	Actual
Mon	Rest/Slide	Rest
Tues	Swim #1, 30 min Run	25 min/2.69 mi run
Weds	15 min bike, 15 min run	20 min bike, 15 min run
Thurs	Swim #2, 30 min bike	Swim #2, Volleyball
Fri	Rest	Rest
Sat	30 Min Bike	Rest – Sick
Sun	30 Min Run	30 min Walk
Totals	4:00 hrs	2:55 hrs, 11.15

Best Workout of the Week

Wednesdays Brick Workout was by far the best of the week. It was 75 degrees and sunny. For starters, my awesome new Triathlon Club gear came in! It's so pretty, i'm so excited. Also, everything fits pretty well. 

My First real jersey!

Getting back on the bike was a little difficult but It wasn't too bad. It was still making that horrible noise and traffic was terrible so I just puttered around the neighborhood. It felt good to get relaxed on the bike again. Then I hopped off and ran for 15 minutes. I felt like I was going so slow but actually i was doing 10ish min/miles - so fast for me! All in all it was the perfect start to training. 

My Thursday morning swim was pretty good, too. Well, except for the waking up part. 

Best Meal of the Week

My goal for the week was to have a fruit or vegetable with every meal. Nailed it! Whether it was a cutie at lunch or applesauce with dinner I got in an extra helping of fruits or vegetables with every meal. It took some conscious effort, but I'm hopeful I can keep it up. 

Cheddar Veggie Omelettes on toast with Applesauce - yum!

What I didn't account for this week was the allergies. So tree pollen hit "high" on Tuesday and never looked back. Almost instantaneously my allergies went into full crazy mode. Stuffed sinuses, Itchy throat, the works. It only got worse through the weekend and I scrapped my run and bike. I hated to do it - particularly with the 10 miler coming up next week - but it seemed only right. I couldn't breathe through my nose and my chest started getting super wheezy! I'm going to try to stay on track this week. It's weird that the Triple Crown isn't my "A" race this week so it's hard gearing up for the bigger picture. 

#FuckTrees

I'm off work today - random vacation day I took just 'cus. It's about 65 degrees so I'm gonna take Ghost out for a spin. Wish me luck!

Happy Running!

Do you get allergies? How do you combat them?

What was your best workout of the week?

A Better Start

First brick workout of the cycle tonight!! 

But first, a recap of the first 1/2 of the week. Monday I missed body pump due to some work obligations. The work/home balance is constantly a struggle and it's never perfect. Hasn't been the last 2 years and it won't be for the next however many I'm there. If I'm at work too much I regret it, if I'm not at work enough I regret it. C'est la vie. So Monday was a real rest day. 

Tuesday I ran with some girls from work. I love running with them, even if they kick my butt. I love my co-workers and there's a special bond that comes from doing what we do. It's so nice to get out and do something that's not office related. They kicked my ass though. 

 Ellie definitely likes it when I'm home on time. 

Today was BEAUTIFUL! 75 and sunny and dry. Also, my triathlon club gear came in!!

I love it! I got a jersey and a tri kit. Wore the jersey & tri shorts for my ride tonight and changed into a regular shirt for the run. I did a 20 minute easy ride, mostly getting used to being on the bike. I definitely picked up some bad habits on the trainer! I did a quick "transition" and headed out for my short run. I felt really slow, like I was running in mud. My watch said I was pushing 10s though. Whaaaa? I'll take it!!

So the beautiful weather was short lived for now. The cold comes back this weekend. Looks like I might not be done with the trainer and the treadmill. 

This is gonna be hard

Tomorrow I officially start training for Muncie 70.3. 

Yesterday I ran a 10k and felt pretty good. 

Today I figured I'd take the bike out. It's beautiful out and the roads were pretty quiet considering it's Sunday. I managed to switch out my trainer tire for my real tire without any major issues. I was so proud of myself! I got all dressed up and headed out. Not without the dog making some epic drama out of it, of course. Oh well, to the road!

I got outside and I was nervous. The bike wasn't sounding right and I didn't think the chain was catching. I pulled the dérailleur and checked the cogs. Looked file. Still, the wheel didn't move freely. The pin was a little tight so I loosened it. That seemed to help. Ok, might as well go now. I clipped my right foot in and pushed off. The bike felt like it was bolted to the road. I tried to put my left foot down but I knew it was hopeless; I slowly tipped to the right until I hit the ground with the loud sound of metal and ass on concrete. Ow. 

The chain had in fact slipped off. I fixed it, further covering myself in grease, and clipped back in. I knew I had to get on the bike and go, lest the fear cement itself. I clipped in and got it to a more comfortable grad. Ok, this isn't bad. 

As I rounded a curve the front tire sounded soft. I did a loop and pulled back in front of the driveway. I tried to pump up he tire. Still soft. Tried again. Still soft. Assuming I had a flat, I set myself to checking the tube. I'd just done it with the back one, How hard could it be? Fought to get the tire off the rim, then checked the tube. No holes, nothing. Now to get the tire back on. I worked it back on until I had a good 4 inches left. I took the tire lever to it. No luck. I tried again and the tool slipped off and I actually punched myself in the face. I tried for 10 minutes without any luck before I gave up. 

That's when it hit me: this is going to be really hard. 

Running is hard, but it doesn't require any specialized knowledge. The only real 'fear' is of not knowing if you can make a certain distance. Triathlon genuinely scares me. Open water with so many people. Going too slow on the run & being denied a finish. And the bike. Oh god, the bike. I don't know how to fix it or take care of it. It hurts when you fall of of it. Ugh. 

So that's where I am. I feel defeated and frustrated. I feel scared and overwhelmed. This is going to be really hard. 

But I guess that's why I signed up in the first place, right?