Madamn Mudders

I really thought that I would add one of these to my race calender this year, but putting together a team, and organizing it seemed like alot, so I didn't make it one of my "official" 2012 goals.  But, I have a friend that has taken it on her to organize it, and invited me to join, and it looks like so much fun!  I love that this race will be purely for fun, and with a bunch of fun friends as well.  It will be a blast!  Our official team name is Madamn Mudders.  There are going to be 10 people on the team.  I can hardly wait!  So yes, another race on the calender, but it will be an awesome one!  I am going to have Ken on hand as the official team photographer, and hopefully he stays plenty busy.  WOOHOOO!

I mean, who doesn't want to dress up, and then go run through a 5K course filled with 28 muddy obstacles that include muddy slip and slides, tire bridges, hay bales, and army crawls through knee deep mud?  I am ALL OVER IT.  Totally non competitive, no PR's to worry about, the only goal being to have fun with friends and get the dirtiest you can.  Count me in!

My First Brick!

Since I bought my bike a few weeks ago, I feel like I am "really" training for a triathlon now.  I have been reading tons of tri blogs and some books, and everything I hear says to incorporate brick work outs as much as possible. For those of you that don't know what this is, brick work outs are when you do two of the sports back to back, usually swim/bike, or bike/run.  The idea is to get your body used to the transitioning between the sports, which is what tri is all about, right?  (Hey, I didn't know what a brick work out was 6 monthes ago either)

So, I was supposed to do my usual long run yesterday morning.  But, with the extended weekend the weekend before, I had done my 10 mile run on Monday, so I figured what a great opportunity to try a brick!  I laid out all of my clothes the night before, and set up my own little transition area in my front room.  I got up early, dressed in my bike gear and headed out the door.  I could tell the minute I clipped my helmet on, that it may be a bad idea.  The wind was terrible!  I had done a 20 mile ride on Wednesday that had a fierce wind and I wasn't exactly looking to repeat the experience.  I figured it was just 12 miles, so I could handle it.  Well, the first 6 miles sucked, quite frankly.  The wind was awful, and I almost cut the ride short a couple of times.  But, on heading back the second half was fun with that wind working as a tail wind!  I got the bike up to 25 mph, which for me, is the fastest yet!  I did little fartlek speed work on some empty roads and it was so fun!  I loved it!   By then I was back in my neighborhood, and slowed down, took some time to shift gears and just spin loosely to loosen my legs and recover from the speed work and get ready for the run!

I fully intended to do 3.1 miles, which would mirror the length of run I have in my first sprint tri.  But, by the time I got home from the bike, the wind was only getting worse.  I headed in, quickly put the bike up, changed shoes, put on my beanie hat and other running gear and headed out. Well, I immediately knew several things in that first mile of the run:

1) These bricks are recommended for a reason.  It is way harder than you think to get off your bike and go right into a run!  I swear it felt so awkward to run, I felt like a newborn giraffe trying to figure out what the heck to do with my legs!  It took a good mile to get over that feeling

2)  This was not going to be a 3 mile run.  The wind was literally blowing me around and it took my beanie hat off my head and I had to chase it to get it back.  That was when I cut back into my nieghborhood to cut this run short and go home.

3) Water would have been a GREAT part of my transition.  Maybe it was the wind, but I felt parched and would have killed for some water!

Well, I came home completely humbled, but feeling accomplished at the same time.  I ended up just .6 of a mile short of the 3.1 I intended to do.  But, it was way harder than I thought, and I am so glad that I found this out now, instead of just a few weeks from the tri.  I have plenty of time to get used to it!  And it makes me really glad that I have a few sprint races and then a good 8 week break before my Olympic distance one.  I will have more time to prep for the longer distance, because I think the sprint will be plenty to start with!  But, I am excited for the challenge!

And you know the wierd thing about that run?  As laborious as it seemed, it was a fast one!  I had one of my best paces in a long time!  A sub 10 minute mile the whole run!  WTG!

This week's work outs will be pretty minimal.  I have a crazy week till I leave for Denver on Thursday to spend the weekend with my childhood friend from Texas.  It will probably just be my Jillian videos in the mornings, Masters Swim on Tuesday, and maybe a quick run on Wednesday night.  But, I am also going to get some good reading in this weekend of my tri books to make what training I do more effective.  Win/win!

Happy training!

Yes, yet another registration

I am all signed up for the above race.  I registered for it after watching a bunch of Youtube videos on it, and it looks like a blast.  I am excited to return to Bear Lake, as that is where my racing career started almost 2 years ago with the Bear Lake Half Marathon.  It holds a special place in my heart and always will because of that.  And, the fun thing about this is that I signed up for the Olympic distance!  For those of you that don't know, that means it is a 1500 meter swim, a 25 mile bike, and a 10k (or 6.2 mile) run.  It is double the sprint distance, and is perfectly timed in that it will give me a chance to work up to it with awesome training all summer, and then be right before school will start back up again.  I am so looking forward to this race!

That will be if for me and tri's for 2012.  I will still probably try to find some half marathons to enter, but I am not sure which ones, and how many I want to do. I am totally open for suggestions though! 

Happy Training!

Miracle worker

KT Tape is the bomb.  As I have been back full swing into training, and hitting the pavement for runs over the last week with good strong ones, my nemesis, plantar fascitis is back.  So, I busted out the KT tape.  I got turned on to this miracle stuff about this time last year while having major shin splint issues while training for the Ogden Marathon.  I am not sure how this stuff works, but it does.  You can run through just about any pain with it.  I am positive they tell you not to, but I do anyhow, and I love it.  It doesn't just take the pain away, it helps heal the injury, so I am all over it.  I did a strong solid 10 miler this morning, and immediately felt the pain while running.  It eased up as the run went on, but I knew as soon as I got home that I would need to tape it.  I had it taped the rest of the day and it is awesome!  I love this stuff!  So if you have any sports related pain, check it out!  It comes with a booklet that you pick the injury, and it shows you how to put it on.  I have now used it for IT band issues, shin splints, a sore ankle, and plantar fascitis and it worked on all of them.  An athlete's best friend!

I'm in Love!

I went on my first bike ride today.  It was so much fun!  I thought that the ride wouldn't extend beyond the local church parking lot practicing clipping in and out, but I did that for about 15 minutes and it was a piece of cake!  I tried stopping, unclipping, then pushing off and getting going again, so I figure I needed to do a real  ride.  I headed out of my nieghborhood and took off to the trails that I normally hit for my runs.  I  had a few stop signs to do some more clipping and unclipping at, all without incident.  I must say, I am so glad that there weren't any face plants involved!

I then ended the trail portion and then headed down some paved but very deserted streets just south of where I live and played around the with breaks, and saw how fast I could get it.  At the fastest, I hit 22 miles an hour.  That was so fun!  I can't believe how easy it is to get the bike that fast!  It is such an easy and responsive bike!  I loved it!  I averaged 17-18 mph for the whole ride, and ended up doing 12 miles in just 42 minutes.  I couldn't get over how effortless it felt, and neat to cover that much area in so little time!  I am so going to love this thing!  I am hoping that the weather cooperates next week for a few more rides as I don't have class next week.  My dad, who is an avid cyclist is coming out in May and wants to tackle Antelope Island on the bikes.  I have to work up to it and can't wait!

I think what I have loved about this whole tri training thing is the variety in the work outs!  It isn't just me hitting the pavement to pound out the miles as I have done with the marathon training in the past.  Every day it is something different and it is so much easier to stay motivated with the variety.  I start every day with some kind of Jillian video, then the evening is either bike, swim or run.  I love the variety in the work outs, and can't say that I have a favorite.  I have also loved how my fitness base from running has crossed over into the bike and swim.  Cross training has HUGE benefits I never imagined!

Happy training!

The hunt has ended!

Yes, the hunt for a bike has ended with the beauty pictured above.  For Valentine's this year,I got a bike.  It will probably end up being my birthday and Mother's Day present too.  Maybe Christmas.  But I don't care...I am so excited to finally have one!  It is going to be so much fun!  I have already bought plenty to go with it...from the helmet (very girly), some padded shorts and full tights, the shoes, a drink cage, a girly water bottle, and  gloves.  I am going to get out on Saturday and try a real ride on it.  I got it fitted to me, and I brought it home, and the funny thing is I can't bring myself to leave it in the garage!  There have been so many bike thefts in our neighborhood in the past year, I have it in the storage room in the basement.  Not taking any chances here!  It is way nicer than I thought I would be able to get, and I am just so excited I can't stand it!  I will keep you all posted on my entering the cycling part of my tri training!

Registered for another race!

I got a link on Facebook last week for an all women's bike event in late August.  It is for all levels of cyclists with distances ranging from 18-75 miles.  I chose the 50 mile one.  I signed up this week and I am doing it with a friend!  Can't wait! 

It leaves from Mountain Green and then goes south towards East Canyon, depending on what distance you choose.  There are several hill climbs and it is a fun supportive thing, not competitive.  It looks like a ton of fun and I am loving the idea of doing all of these different events!  Running has and always will be my first love, but the variety in my work outs, training, and events has been more fun than I could have imagined.

So, that makes my list of officially registered for races as follows for 2012:

4/21 Salt Lake City Half Marathon

5/19 Women of Steel Sprint Triathlon

6/9 Daybreak Sprint Triathlon

8/18 Wildflower Pedalfest

I have a  list of others on my wish list, but I have to be careful which ones I choose with family vacations, school conferences, and everything else going on in my crazy life!