Monday, June 27, 2011

Cycling... New Equipment... Great Training Day

For those of you that have known me for a while you know that I did my first tri in 09- it was off road so I used my old mountain bike to train and borrowed D's to race. In April of last year I had my hip surgery so that made bike riding a big part of my recovery and potential come back to triathlon. I bought a bike (trek 2.1) soon after my surgery and tried my first ride when I was allowed bout 4 weeks post surgery. On my very first attempt to clip in I fell over onto my NEWLY repaired hip. I rode with flat pedals for the rest of the 2010 season.

With the new endeavors I was taking on this season in triathlon I had to give the clips another shot. My friend Julia bought some speed play pedals and when I saw how easy they were to use I had to get some. I swapped to the speed play light action . Love em and get in and out of em easily!


So my newest edition to making my training and racing better I added aero bars to my road bike! Last Thursday I had aero bars put on my bike. In order to do this I had a fitting, I just needed to be sure that the add of the aero bars wasn't going to totally screw me up. Glad I went. Ended up adding Profile Jammer bars to my current road bike. I just can't afford the purchase of a tri bike right now so I am making it work. At the fit we ended up leaving most of my geometry the same but taking out a spacer in the handlebars.

I took the bike out for the first spin on Sunday- 2hrs on the road. It felt so good. I had a great training ride. I rode almost 31 miles in the 2 hours. Which is about 2mph faster than I usually ride my training rides. Then hopped off the bike and ran 2 miles. It was one of those great training days that boosts you mentally. I needed one. I was starting to get to the point where I thought I wasn't going to make the time cut offs for Timberman. This ride and run made me realize I have come a long way and my training is paying off. It was really just a great training day! :)

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Training and Race Nutrition

A big part of training for my 70.3 has been spent trying to figure out how to fuel pre race, while running/riding and after the swim. I have had a couple mishaps this season with racing fueling- season opener tri and rtb relay. I am trying to use those events and learn from them.

So I think I have my during ride fueling down- gu chomps and cliff blocks are my fuel of choice. I also throw in Odwalla bars cut in half. So 30 min in eat half a pouch/sleeve of chomps or blocks. At the 1 hr mark half an Odwalla bar. And repeat. Hydration on the bike is key so I have stuck to drinking a LG water bottle every hour. Usually one is Hammer Heed and the other being water. I still need to work out getting more water on my bike... Need more places to put it!

Running- I try to stick to a similar fueling schedule. Every 30 min half a pouch/sleeve of chomps or blocks. So far it seems to be working. I may have to up the intake though. I recently read some articles about how many carbs you need per hour of exercise- needless to say I need a little more. There's still time to play with it a bit more. But I think I have found the products I like to use and I will play with the timing a bit more.

I am really trying to work my pre-race nutrition. I always have been a big eater pre-race. Give me steak and eggs for breakfast and I'm good to go. Seems a couple eggs, sausage, some toast seem to really work. I also go with a gel- Hammer or Honey Stinger- and a banana right before start. All this seems to give me enough fuel to get through.

Being that I am not an average sized athlete I need to eat more and to be honest my stomach and body begs for it. I am just really trying to keep myself from getting hungry while I'm out there - because then its too late! Like I said I need to work timing to be sure I get enough!

My product choices are: Gu chomps (watermelon), Cliff Blocks (margarita- love the salt), Odwalla Bars, Hammer Heed (melon), Hammer Gel, Honey Stinger Gel

Friday, June 17, 2011

Happily Training- Endurance Athlete?

I just wanted to let you know lately I have had a few revelations related to my training. The biggest one was last weekend- after slugging through 2 hours and 10 min on the bike on Saturday and a 2 hour run on Sunday. On Sunday after my 2 hours out on the road I walked up the stairs to my condo and I realized I was unphased by the 2 workouts. I mean don't get me wrong I was tired but I wasn't beaten and feeling like a wet noodle. Made me realize I've come a long way... The fact that these kind of miles and hours of training don't kick my @$$ really makes me realize I have taken huge strides at becoming a ENDURANCE ATHLETE!

After running a half marathon on 5 June and setting a PR by about 10 Min. (more to come on this in another post) I had a hard training week. I logged 87miles! I was on the road all week for work and somehow pulled off the most miles I have done yet!

This week started a new week of training- with a new coach. I did a running speed workout on Tuesday. Wednesday had a nice long swim and a speed bike workout. And yesterday was a long run- mid week! The fact that a 45 min speed workout on the bike wasn't a big deal and the run on Thursday night tho HOT and HUMID was 7 mi. really solidified my thoughts from last weekend... I am becoming an ENDURANCE ATHLETE!

**All of you out there: please remind me of this when I am hating my training and I am FREAKING out pre 70.3- btw- 65 days but who's counting!**