Week Twenty Triathlon Training

I feel like I've been really dragging this week. School is coming to a close, but it's been really busy and I've had some really long work days, nevermind getting training in as well. I think I'm just spent--mentally and physically. Here's to hoping the next three weeks are much better!

Swimming: 6000 yds (3.4 miles)
Cycling: 91 miles
Running/Walking/Hiking: 22.5 miles
Other: Yayog week 8

Week Nineteen Triathlon Training

I did my first sprint triathlon this weekend. One word--COLD. I worried all week about the cold water, and it was about what I imagined. The wet suit kept my core warm. The three swim caps I wore kept my head warm. My feet, hands and face were numb and/or painful. I couldn't really feel my feet and my hands just hurt they were so cold. The water temp was 57 degrees when we started swimming. My breathing was accelerated--I wasn't hyperventilating or anything--I was just breathing much harder than normal. I couldn't get more than 2 or 3 strokes in at a time, so I spent most of the swim doing backstroke. It seemed to to work because I was passing girls by just kicking. The bike ride was good--I had a headwind and it was mostly uphill, but I kept my cadence at 90 rpm. The way back was awesome--tail wind and mostly downhill. I flew! My overall average was 17.8 mph. However, the fast downhill made my feet even colder. I couldn't feel them until 2 miles into the run. That was pretty bad. However, sensation did eventually come back and I finished the race pretty strong. 1:26:14 for the day--6th in my age group!

Swimming: 6720 yds (3.8 miles)
Cycling: 144 miles
Running: 8 miles
Yayog week 7

I rode the 70.3 course this morning. It was fabulous! My goal race pace is 18 mph and I average 18.5 today. Woo hoo!

Week Eighteen Triathlon Training

This week was not a great week. I had a tough time recovering from the half marathon and I caught a cold/stomach yucky thingy. Honestly, I think the last few weeks just caught up with me. It wasn't until I has on the couch sleeping at 4:00 on a week day afternoon that I realized how much stress I've been under lately. I've had a ton of stuff going on at school, plus my LAST class has been wrapping up and I had a 30-page paper due this weekend in addition to training and life in general. I feel very lucky that I was healthy last Sunday and could give the race my best effort. However, this was a week of crashing and babying tight calves. I managed to do all my workouts this week but a long run of 6-8 miles today.

Swimming: 6200 yards (3.5 miles)
Cycling: 90 miles
Running: 5 miles

Week Seventeen Triathlon Training

Swimming: 8000 yds (4.54 miles)
Cycling: 93 miles
Running: 18 miles
Other: YAYOG week 10, little hiking

A fabulous week! I did my longest swim EVER on Tuesday--5000 yards in 1:43. With another 3000 yards on Friday, I think this was my biggest swim week ever.

Second highlight was a HUGE PR on a half marathon today. I ran 1:59:40 a 13-minute record. Woo hoo! It was really hot today, too. When I got home from the race it was 85 degrees. The first half of the race was cloudy but then the clouds lifted and it was warm. I did the run-walk-run strategy today. I ran 10-minutes and then walked for one the whole race. It worked really well.

Splits: 8:29, 8:38, 9:01, 9:16, 9:17, 9:08, 9:40, 8:56, 9:17, 9:08, 9:47, 9:24, 9:34 (+.1 miles)

Week Sixteen Triathlon Traning

Swimming: 5700 yards (3.2 miles)
Cycling: 160 miles
Running: 18.2 miles
Other: YAYOG week 8

Week Fifteen Triathlon Training

Swimming: 6850 yards (3.89 miles)
Cycling: 125 miles (4500 ft of climbing)
Running: 26 miles
Other: Climbing (1:00), YAYOG week 8

A great week! My race is two months out and I'm feeling strong and excited! A lot of successes this week--Russ had me time a 1650 yd swim (after swimming 1500 yards earlier in the workout and 3600 earlier in the week) and I did it 2 minutes faster than last year. Woo hoo! I did my first 50 mile ride of the year and it was good--it wasn't supposed to be fast, just base miles, and it was very manageable. The next day I climbed Flagstaff with Dan (on the bike). The five mile race pace run I did off the bike was 15 seconds faster than last week. Today I ran up the Canyon MUCH faster than a month ago. 1:15/mile faster, to be exact. Yay!

Week Fourteen Triathlon Training

Swimming: 6000 yards (3.4 miles)
Cycling: 100 miles
Running: 24.2 miles
Other: Climbing (1.5 hours), YAYOG (week 7)

This was a week of ups and downs. I had so great workouts and even a PR this week (10 miles on the bike in 29 minutes!), but I also had a lot of long, grueling workouts that were difficult to finish mentally.

Week Thirteen Triathlon Training

Swimming: 5400 yards (3.07 miles)
Cycling: 95 miles
Running: 26.5 miles

A good week! I think the break did me good. I was excited to get back in the swing of things...especially a LONG run on the half marathon course. It's also nice that the weather is warming up so I can ride outside a lot. Only one ride on the trainer this week!

Week Twelve Triathlon Training

Cabo! We had a great week hanging out with Adam and Ashlee in Cabo this week. I did manage some runs on the beach, some mountain bike rides and swimming in the ocean. I didn't keep track of mileages or speeds, though. It was really nice to take a week off from official training.

Week Eleven Triathlon Training

Another solid week of training. I am tired, though. Very tired. I'm glad it's spring break week because work, training, and homework for my class have been taking its toll. I'm looking forward to playing in the sun and exploring Cabo. Highlights this week include a swimming PR--1:27 for 100 yards-- and my longest run in a LONG time--12.5 miles. I ran from the house up Boulder Canyon to Fourmile and back in 30 degree weather with light snow. Dan rode 27 miles with me today (and totally kicked my butt!) and I rode with Rhae on Friday. It was super fun to hear about all her racing and adventures in El Salvador.

Swimming: 4900 yards (2.78 miles)
Cycling: 102 miles (67 outside)
Running: 22.5 miles
Other: YAYOG week 10

Triathlon Training Week 10

A good week, despite a cold. Dan and I even got away to ski for a day. It was nice to get a lot of bike miles done outside. I was also happy to see some faster miles during my track workout even though I've been sick.

Swimming: 5600 yards (3.18 miles)
Cycling: 105 miles (80 miles outside)
Running: 17.5 miles
Other: 1 1/2 hours climbing, YAYOG week 9, skiing (6 hours)

Triathlon Training Week 9

A couple of warmer days this week made for some great cycling! Today it was 69 and Dan, Rose and I went up to Hygiene. Dan and I did two runs together this week. On Wednesday morning we ran 7 miles up by the Rez on Eagle/Sage/Lefthand and yesterday we ran in the snow and mud at Betasso. Super fun! I forgot to mention last week that I started doing one minute of plank every morning. I'm on a roll--two weeks straight now.

Swimming: 5600 yards (3.18 miles)
Cycling: 90 miles (all outside!!!)
Running: 18 miles
Other: YAYOG week 8, climbing 1.5 hours

Triathlon Training Week 8

My celebration this week is simply that I got all my workouts in despite many, many hours of work. Not only did I have meetings after school every day this week, I also had parent-teacher conferences on Tuesday and Thursday until 7:15. This makes for long days and not a lot of time for training. Another celebration was that I got Dan to run intervals with me. We had our work cut out for us with 15 400s. To make matters worse it was snowing, windy and 20 degrees. It's finally supposed to warm up this coming week. Fingers crossed!

Swimming: 4300 yards (2.4 miles)
Cycling: 3.5 hours on trainer
Running: 16 miles
Other: YAYOG week 7, climbing 1:30

Week Seven Triathlon Training

This week was a big week. Lots of good training, especially in swimming and cycling. I swam 10x100 all 1:29-1:32. I'm super psyched about this because my 100 yd PR is 1:28. To sustain a speed close to my PR for 10 intervals is sweet! Dan got a bike this weekend, so we had a lot of fun riding outside together. It was chilly, but not too windy and dry on the roads. I'm very excited that our ride up to Hygiene (27.5 miles) averaged 17 mph after a ride and run brick I did earlier in the day. The sessions on the trainer are paying off!

Swimming: 6800 yds (3.86 miles)
Cycling: 2:00 hrs in trainer, 73 miles outside
Running: 19.5 miles
Other: YAYOG Week 6, 2:00 hrs climbing

Week 6 Triathlon Training

Highlights from this week include two days of skiing (woo hoo!) and two bricks with super fresh legs. Yay!

Swimming: 4500 yards (2.5 miles)
Cycling: 2:25 hours on the trainer
Running: 18 miles
Other: YAYOG week 5

Week Five Triathlon Training

Swimming: 4000 yds (2.2 miles)
Cycling: 2:15 hrs on trainer
Running: 22.3 miles
Climbing/Other: YAYOG week 4, climbing 2:30 hours

Week Four Triathlon Training

Swimming: 6900 yards (3.9 miles)
Cycling: 3:00 hrs on trainer
Running: 19.3 miles
Climbing/Other: 1:00 Climbing, YAYOG Week 3

Week Three Traithlon Training

Swimming: 7900 yds (4.5 miles)
Cycling: 61.5 miles, 2:10 hrs on the trainer
Running: 14.5 miles
Climbing/Other: YAYOG week 2, 2:45 hrs sport climbing

PR on the Incline in CO Springs! Woo hoo! 34:20 2000' vertical in less than a mile

Week Two Triathlon Training

Swimming: 5500 yds (3.12 miles)
Cycling: 2:40 on the trainer
Running: 15.3 miles
Climbing/Other: YAYOG week 1, climbing 1:00 hr, snowshoeing 3:00 hrs

Triathlon Training is Back!

I had so much fun last July, that I've decided to do another Half Ironman. Yay! This one is in Boulder and in June, so I officially started my training this past week. I hired Coach Russ again because he does such a good job making my workouts interesting and keeping track of all the miles I need to do in each discipline. This week felt pretty good, and I managed to squeeze everything in with school so I'm quite pleased :-) I also think that it helps that I really started pre-training in December. Getting in two swim workouts a week is huge. Also, despite it being winter I've tried to keep riding a couple of times a week. Running is actually the easiest thing to do when it's cold and dark out! I think it's fun to keep track of my weekly totals, so here goes:

Swim: 6100 yards (3.5 miles)
Bike: 4 hours 20 minutes on the trainer, 10 miles outside (plus 3rd place on the Independence segments!)
Run: 12 miles (one 5K race @ 24:52--I placed 10th in my age group!)
Climbing: only once at the gym, but I've done my YAYGOG