teamsleepy52 - Tumblr blog

[teamsleepy52]

A lot has been going on during the past few weeks. I finished my first Century ride of the season! I was pretty pleased with my time too, I think I averaged around 17 mph which is where I feel like I need to be at this point if I want to have any chance of finishing. I felt good. The run the next day was pretty bad. It was hot and humid and I could not get a good pace going. Oh well, one week is not a big deal right. Well it turns out that this continued. The following week I had a pretty rough long ride on Friday. I was supposed to go on a float trip but that got flooded out so what do triathletes do with a day off, we train of course. My coach seemed a little to excited for me to have an extra day and he sure took advantage of it. 75 miles on Friday, 11.5 miles on Saturday (run), 50ish miles on Sunday. Needless to say its been a long few weeks. The run again was rough, I could not keep a good pace and feel like I am actually going slower lately. This week was a little more restful, if you can call it that, with a 50mile ride on Saturday, 3 miles brick run then rest. Yesterday was 6 miles, but they were much harder than I anticipated. I am feeling pretty frustrated today and lately with my progress. I sure hope it gets better, only 9 weeks to go.

[teamsleepy52]

I can only assume that the glazed look on people's faces when they ask me about my training is similar to the look i have when people try to talk to me about cars. As a public service announcement if you ask me how my training is going and expect a monosyllabic answer, we both might be disappointed. However, if you expect me to discuss every tiny detail and go on and on about riding, running, swimming, technique, hydration, fuel, my bike, the wind, the sun, the rain, the heat, the cold, wetsuits, no wetsuits, or countless other things that are of zero relevance to your life I will be ever so happy to indulge you. 

[teamsleepy52]

I train so I can eat this.

[teamsleepy52]

My food for the next few hours. Apparently tri training makes me want to eat a little healthier.

[teamsleepy52]

Back from a break

I took a little time away from writing but I am back and feeling good. The last 2 weeks have been stressful and hectic with work, life, and training all coming together. My coach called Memorial Day weekend and endurance push and was it. Unfortunately, the past few weeks have been like that and I have been feeling it. But.... I am back and feeling better. Some much needed rest and some much needed quality time with my partner really helped plus BBQ and Fried Chicken (that counts as fuel right?).

Anyway this weekend I ran another half marathon, I didn’t really feel like running, but I sucked it up and did it. I didn’t feel like running because I have been so tired. I decided to gut it out and am so glad I did. I ended up with a PR, now it wasn’t a super great PR but I was able to take some time off my last 1/2 PR even though I felt like crap at the beginning, had some GI issues, and spent part of the run doing a bit of trail work. Yesterday I had a really nice but hilly ride for about 30 miles at 16 mph pace. Improvements are happening and I am feeling really good

[teamsleepy52]

First off this weekend was discouraging. I missed my Friday workout (I needed some time with friends, I was starting to feel too isolated), so I decided to double my work out on Saturday. That was both a good idea and a horrible idea. First the good, it actually built a little confidence in that I can push myself even when I feel like hell. The bad news was that I felt like hell. I swam around 1.3 miles then ran 12 miles. The swim was great I felt really strong. The pool was set up for meters instead of yards which threw me at first, but once in the water I felt great and strong. I got done the swim and realized I may have left a little too much in the pool energy wise, but had set my mind to run so after a short break and a snack, I was off. I was scheduled to run 12 in 2:20:00 but lets just say it took a little longer. I felt good going out but it was hotter than I had thought and more humid, I could feel it by mile 4 and then really struggled after mile 9. I limped in feeling discouraged but not broken. The ride on Sunday was only slightly better. My knee was sore last week, actually it really hurt, so I took some time off and rested it. This was my first long ride since I took a few days off. I got 50 miles in! felt strong at the start although I was pushing into a headwind for the first 25 miles at least. I thought I would have enough mileage when I got back to my car but still needed 15 more to reach 50, so back into the headwinds I went for another 7.5. I will just say that riding 33 miles into headwinds sucks! Again, though I feel good about my ability to push, now I just need to get my pace up and I think I will feel better. Its a long race.

[teamsleepy52]

Ah Grumble Grumble Tweaked knee, no Hairy Hundred Chatty is the goal

[teamsleepy52]

A bump in the road this weekend. First it was overall a good training weekend. I ran a 10k and kept a decent pace, through a downpour. I have to say, I love running in the rain (provided its warm out). I only wish I could get my glasses to not fog up. Rainex needs to make something for this, stat. Unfortunately things took a bit a of a turn following the run. I took some down time, enjoyed some replenishing sushi and then went out for a bike ride. The first 20 miles were good, and I really enjoyed being out. Sadly around mile 20 my knee started hurting and felt pretty sore. I thought I had been doing ok with rest and limply rode back and had to get a ride. The goal is Chatty and I don’t want to risk the goal right now. Its a shame i didnt think about that earlier when I ran while my foot hurt.

[teamsleepy52]

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.

Friedrich Nietzsche

[teamsleepy52]

This weekend I competed in my first tri of the season. I was pretty pleased with my times (i took a few seconds of my time from last year) and my new bike road beautifully. I am in awe of how well it climbs versus my older heavier cross bike (which I still love). It makes me excited for the weeks of riding to come. Speaking of my cross bike, I got 35 miles on that this weekend on Saturday, which made me feel even better about triathlon on Sunday. I took the evening off to see some friends, then Monday my first Open Water Swim of the season. Its such a different beast, i love OWS now i just need some new goggles.

[teamsleepy52]

First ride!

So yesterday was my first ride on the new Emonda! Holy shnikies what a great ride. The bike is probably 6 pounds lighter than my cyclecross bike, which I did not expect to matter but boy did it! that plus the responsiveness when pedaling and its ability to eat up hills really made me happy with the purchase. I meant to ride with the group but had forgotten my bike shorts (dummy) but my wonderful partner was on her way home and she picked them up and brought them to me. I rode the route by myself, which I don’t necessarily like doing but this time it was actually a lot of fun because it was just me and the bike. I went 20+miles in a round an hour and 20 minutes with lots of hills to try out the new whip. This was followed by a 1.5 mile run. It was a great day and one of those rides that make you thankful to be alive.

[teamsleepy52]

Glorious Weekend

For the past few weeks I have been aching and sore, so I was a little worried about how this weekend would go. I was scheduled to run 12 miles on Saturday and bike 30 on gravel on Sunday. Saturday was a good run, but the weather was crappy. We were scheduled to get thunderstorms with some being severe. After watching the weather and getting conflicting reports from Weather.com (you would think at least the same website would be consistent) I decided to brave it. I decided on an out and back route since I am working on nutrition and there are a few rest areas along the way should they be needed. After my first mile we had a sudden downpour and I got soaked thoroughly. The rain let up and it was pretty humid, then around mile 5 it started again, let up after a good soaking and I was on my home stretch. About 2 miles from the end, another downpour. I was starting to think the universe was messing with me. :)  I finished strong and felt pretty good. Turns out wet shirts cause chafing and I ended up with some nasty areas on my arm ( perhaps I should just bathe in Glide before I run). After a night of rest, breakfast with family, and a little more rest, I changed my tires on my cross bike {(one benefit of buying a second bike is you have define which one you are using :) } and went to a local fondo to raise money for spinal cord injuries. I hadn’t ridden that hard in quite some time and it was tough keeping up with my friends, but what a beautiful day to be out riding and to be alive! We finished around 30 miles and I had a few N.A. bevvies (I cut back on booze for training) and enjoyed good company, sun, and a great atmosphere. I love days like this and really hope I get some more.

[teamsleepy52]

My new ride!

[teamsleepy52]

Erysichthon

I finished my 3rd week of Ironman prep training. I am working with my coach on building endurance and a base for when my training really picks up. Two things have come up, one I am tired. All the time I am tired. Even extra sleep I could still go to bed for a few hours. The second thing, I am hungry. Like King Erysichthon when I eat i am hungrier and hungrier still. It is rare that I feel full. I am a little worried about what will happen once I hit the bulk of my training. On the positive note, I get to eat all the time. :)

[teamsleepy52]

training so far

2 weeks of training down. I haven’t been posting much as I would have liked. I will say that I can tell that my approach is helping at least on some levels. I feel strong on my runs although my pace is slower, I feel like I could run all day. My swimming is improving and I expect my cycling will get up to speed soon. I think it was a good choice hiring a coach, I feel better prepared and having to report to someone else is keeping me honest. I also really appreciate that someone can look at how I am doing and assess my strengths and areas for growth.

[teamsleepy52]

The Coach

So, I decided if I was going to do this whole Ironman thing, I would probably need a)support and b) accountability. After a few weeks of agonizing about whether or not to get a coach I decided to sign up with someone. Why was I agonizing? I had signed up for this race with friends and did not want to lose the connection I had with them or the ability to train with them. I told my coach that if I were going to work with him I needed to be able to also include my workouts with friends.  This felt like a good compromise. We will see how it goes though.