Holy Busy Tri Season!!!

Superbowl 10K run Feb 7
Shamrockn' Half Marathon March 14
TBF XTERRA March 28 (possibly--perfect fit into training plan)
Party Pardee Metric Century (Waitlisted) April 3
Wildflower Century April 25
The Parkway Half Marathon May 1
Auburn Half Ironman May 23
Sierra Century June 5
Xterra Tahoe City June 26 (I have to do this one--in memory of my pops!)
Vineman 70.3 (Waitlisted) July 11
Marin Century Aug 7
Napa Century Aug 16
TBF Half Ironman(HIT)III Sept 11

Landis wins Bahamas time trial--But Rock Racing future unclear

By: Cycling NewsPublished: January 26, 10:29, Updated: January 26, 15:43
Floyd Landis tries to break away in the final kilometres




Floyd Landis won the time trial in the three-stage Tour of Bahamas this week-end. The former OUCH-Maxxis rider reportedly beat the course record set by David Zabriskie in 2008. Landis rode the race wearing Rock Racing kit, even though it is not known whether the American team will actually continue to exist this season.

"All that drinking is starting to pay off," Landis wrote in an e-mail, according to NeilBrowne.com. "I beat the course record set by Zman [David Zabriskie] two years ago and I was on somebody else's road bike with clinchers and no aero clothes. Take that f@*#ers."



Several videos of Landis at the Tour of the Bahamas show the 34-year-old wearing a Rock Racing outfit. "I told them (Rock Racing) that I wanted to do that race so they sent me a kit," Landis said.

But even Landis himself wasn't sure whether or not Rock Racing would continue to be part of the American racing scene this season after being denied a Professional Continental license by the UCI.

"I honestly don't know," continued Landis. "I don't know even if [team owner] Ball has thought about the team these last two weeks. I have no clue what's going on. After the Tour of the Bahamas I'm going back to my shack behind the car wash. Maybe I'll write a book."

The Tour of Bahamas was won by Garmin-Transitions' Caleb Fairly, with his team-mateTaylor Sheldon placing second.

Burn OUT

Sometimes I wonder WHY I'm doing all this training?

Is it for a sense of accomplishment?
To fight boredom?
Run away from problems?

Not really sure--I mean, why do anything but sit on my butt and eat fatty food and watch "Big Love" on HBO?

(Can you tell I'm cranky)?

Workout pics and Other Nonsense

It's always cool when you can run to another town.




This is a better shot of the sign. When I took this picture i was trying NOT to look like I was taking a picture. I didn't want all the cars whizzing by to see me standing in front of a sign taking a picture of myself.


On the trainer.


My Sidi TRI Shoes. These things cost so much money and I never ever wear them. Yes they are WHITE. In biking circles, apparently, that is some sort of signal that you are super super fast. I wish I had known that before I bought them cause now I'm scared to ride outside with them.




My trainer set up. Bike, Fan, Laptop loaded with Spinervals DVD.


This week is a recovery week in my training. I am quite happy about that. I was beat after the 45 mile bike on saturday and the 8 mile run / 2100 yard swim on sunday.
I need to pull my mountain bike out and hit some trails but just don't have (a) TIME or (b) ENERGY just yet. My workouts are so far are:

Monday ---Rest
Tuesday ---Bike (power intervals)
Wednesday -- Swim (a.m.)/ Run (intervals--p.m.)
Thursday-- Bike (foundation)
Friday -- Swim (a.m.)/Run (foundation--p.m.)
Saturday -- Bike long
Sunday --Run (a.m. LONG)/ Swim (p.m. LONG)

Not really sure where I could fit in a mtn bike ride a couple times a week. I suppose I could ride my road bike on Tues/Thurs mornings and then do the mtn. bike on Tues/Thurs after work but that seems like a bit much to me. I have two xterra races this year--this one and this one--so I gotta get on the MTN. BIKE.

Speaking of which, hubby who has been waiting (NOT VERY PATIENTLY) for his new mtn. bike got it last week.


Apparently, I've been replaced.

Happy week everyone!

Thursday's Three Things

Had an interesting week. Got up at 4:25 a.m. and hit the pool for laps 3X this week. Three funny things happened:

1. A guy asked me how I got to be such a good swimmer and asked ME for swimming advice.

2. Another guy asked me if I had seen him on the internet. When I cautiously answered, "Nnnooooo", he replied, "Ok Bud" and turned around and left.

3. A third guy walked around and around and around the pool careful to only step on the white drainboard while humming the theme for "Mission Impossible"

Below is an interesting graph of my workouts since May 2009. I definately need to increase my swim and bike and probably decrease my run a little. What do you think?

Three Things Thursday

1. Running Group was AWESOME!! I hate speed/track work, but with a group it was really fun and easier. We warmed up with a 2 mile run; did some drills (i.e. butt kicks, high knees, etc); did 1 mile of strides; then 2 mile run cool down. Someone told me that with this group, they improved their marathon time from 4:50 to 4:20. Holy SH!T!

2.I have been looking into the P90X system, but there have been so many bad reviews on Amazon.com that i'm a little scared to plunk down $100+ if the darn things don't work. Anyone have good experiences purchasing from Beachbody or Amazon?

3.Running Group schedule is a lot more intense than my Matt Fitzgerald schedule. Not sure if I should bring pick a different Tri Schedule with more running or if I should only do the run workouts that correspond to my tri schedule. Hmmm... decisions decisions.

Suffer Well with Suffer-o-Rama

After work last night I rushed to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. I ran smack dab into RR#2 who had cut track practice in order to hang out with her ugly BF. How happy was I?

After disconnecting her cell phone and lecturing her(unsuccessfully)on the evils of teenage boys, I made dinner, quickly ate, and then jumped on the bike trainer to do my 1 hour 5 min of intervals. I was slated to do 7X20 second spinups with 2 min rest between with a warm up and cool down but I decided to warm up on my own for 10 min then pop in the Suffer-O-Rama Spinervals DVD.

Oh
MY
GOD

First off, it was a great DVD—I enjoyed it much more than “No Slackers Allowed.” There was a pool of sweat and water on the floor under my bike. The intervals are definitely hard—but the rest periods are great. I kept thinking halfway through a rest period, “there is no way I can keep going.” But by the end of the rest period, I was able to do the next interval. Coach Troy really kept me motivated and the music is much better than some other DVDs.

I finished my workout and then showered, watched the Biggest Loser and went to sleep. I was awakened by RR#2 and dad doing dishes at 10:30 pm. Really?

Then a big winter storm of rain & wind moved into the area at midnight. The rain pelting the bedroom windows, the wind slamming against the house woke me again and again. When my alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. for my swim, I wasn’t having any of it. I hit my alarm clock to shut it off and rolled over. I woke up at 6, late for work and sad that I didn’t make it to the pool. Hphrumph!Perhaps I’ll make up the swim tomorrow morning.

On the brighter side, tonight is my first group run with FleetFeet FIT program and I am really looking forward to improving my run times and staying injury free. In terms of running, I have a new favorite Power Song--Suffer Well, by Depeche Mode is out. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga is in. Yes I know you are all interested.

In any case, RR#2's ass is grass and she knows it. She tried give me the poopy face last night and was being super nice to me by offering to help with dinner and mop the kitchen floor. Ahhh, living with a teenage girl. The next 4 years are going to be fun.

Twenty Ten kick-off with a Bang!

2010 started off with a BANG--migraine. I stayed up late new years' eve ( I barely made it to midnight) and then hit the sack. At 3 a.m. migraine hit and I got up and took my scrip and hobbled back to bed. Woke up at 10 a.m. I never sleep in that late. I had the RESOLUTION Run at 1pm in Auburn so I got up and got moving.

Resolution run 5k was awesome.. 1.2 miles straight down hill. Then last 2 miles up muddy trails. I managed the downhill well. On my way uphill, I tripped on a granite rock and BAM! hit the ground hard. My left leg, left shoulder were scraped and my right hand (which I put out to brace myself) landed on a granite boulder so was sore. But most importantly, my garmin was scatched! Embarrased by the chorus of, "Oh my god are you ok??" by everyone around me, I got up and finished the run. The last 2 miles was completely up hill. Overall my resolution run time was 40 minutes for a 5k but I managed to get 6th place (out of 20) in my age group!

When I got home I took some pics of my injuries. It turned out my right hand had a big hole with pieces of missing skin. Awesome!









January 2 I rested but on Jan 3 I rode 44 miles on my bike in the freezing rain/ fog. Even with the crap weather I really enjoyed the ride. I bonked at about the 35 mile mark and had to stop and eat a Gu, but finished the ride in 166 min.

My half ironman training started on January 5. I am following Half Ironman training plan #4 in Matt Fitzgerald's book, . It has me biking, swimming, and running 3X/week. I've noticed several interesting things with this training program.

1.I find that I am a LOT hungrier now, even after one week of training.
2. I did most of my weekly biking on the trainer since it is dark when I get home from work, but the 5 a.m. swim workouts are not too bad.
3.The running is just ok. I am trying to go slow when I run, so I don't irritate my IT Band, but I haven't been doing my PT strengthening lately, so the IT is IRRITATED right now. Blah.
4. I do not have any time to watch TV any more. The working out takes time, but so does all the planning/clean up etc. Washing water bottles, washing workout clothes, hanging up workout clothes, set stuff out for the next day is a lot of time. I barely got to watch OZ last night.



Today is a rest day and I am very happy for that. I do enjoy doing my YOGA DVD so I'll pop that in tonight and do a few minutes. Unless, of course, the Season #4 BIG LOVE DVD arrives from Netflix today. Then I'll indulge in that guilty pleasure. :)

I'm onto week #2 of training plan. Only 19 more weeks until Auburn Half Ironman!