Recovery

This week is our last recovery week. Our training builds up one more time for the next couple weeks and then we taper and race. Our training seems to be going as planned. We were both ready for a recovery week. Recovery week doesn't mean no exercise, it just means you give your body a break and cut your volume back but still keep the intensity high. We also are taking two complete rest days this week. Treating ourselves to massages and making sure we get plenty of sleep and good food.

We need to go into our last few weeks feeling fresh and ready to go. Our volume will build up to a peak in a couple of weeks and then the 2 weeks before the race we will taper our volume and get ready to race reaching our ultimate peak on race day.

Pretty exciting! It has been great for me to have this race to focus on because then I will have 16 weeks until my Ironman and I will just keep building my volume from here. My Ironman was too far away to really focus on so this race has been very motivating for me. It is always good to break a big goal down and focus on a more short term goal. Training for this race has really stepped up my training and I have improved a lot. I am anxious to see how I do. One month after this race I have Wildflower as another in between goal and I'll probably do 1 or 2 Olympic distance races before my ironman too. I would like to race a lot this year.

Happy recovery to me!

Transitioning...

Transitions are an easy way to take a couple of seconds off without having to do any extra work in the gym or on the track or in the pool if you know what I mean. I can recall a few races where a friend of mine had come out of the water first and I ran into transition behind her and then ran out of transition before her. I took my transitions seriously though, I practice them and I think through what I am going to do.

It is part of the race- why would you train so hard to improve your run, your bike and your swim and not practice your transitions, they count!

My T1- As I am running out of the water I take off my swim cap and goggles and I am unzipping and pulling my wetsuit down to my waist. So I get to my transition area and do one big pull on my wet suit to get it down to my ankles where I can start the "Step and Pull", a little dance step. As I am stepping on one side of the wetsuit and pulling the other back and forth hopefully only once or twice I have my hands free to put my helmet on and my jacket on which I have placed both up high on the handle bars of my bike so I don't have to bend down(It is hard and not recommended to step and pull and bend down at the same time). By the way Clip your helmet immediatley when you put it on, don't leave clipping it until the end, you may forget and that is a DQ in most races. Now my feet are out of my wetsuit, I usually have a small towel and a squirt bottle of water to squirt on my feet and dry them before I put my cycling shoes on. I have done socks and I have done no socks at this point(undecided on that one). I now have my helmet on and clipped, my jacket on(if it is a race I will need a jacket) and my shoes on and I am ready to go. My sunglasses are clipped on my bike and all of my nutrition is on my bike. I am off to start my favorite part of the race!

T2- This one is easier. As I am coming into the transition area on my bike I unvelcro my shoes. I dismount and run to my transition area and kick each shoe off then slide them into my running shoes where I have yankz so I don't have to tie them. I grab my hat, and my race belt and take off running. I put my hat and race belt on as I am running out. If you don't have Yankz you should get some and try them out before race day-


A few tips to remember when planning your transitions....
1. Simplify. The less you have to do the better. Your less likely to forget something and it will take less time. Things like putting your sunglasses on your bike somewhere to put on down the road help to simplify. Some triathletes already have their shoes on their bike and they rubberband the heel loop to the bike to put the shoe in an upright position. They ride out with their feet on top of the shoe until they get coasting then they slide their foot into the shoe. This takes a lot of practice so don't try it in a race unless you have practiced it over and over again. Just remember to Keep it Simple!
2. Multi Task. You should be good at doing two things at once. As you are running in taking off your goggles and cap and wetsuit and then putting on your helmet as you are taking off your wetsuit. Running out while putting your race belt on and hat on. These are all good examples of how you can save time by doing more than one thing at a time.
3. Practice!!! You have to train your transitions, this is part of triathlon training. The only way to get faster at them is to train your self at doing them. Some triathletes come up with little songs that help them to remember everything- "Helmet, Glasses, Shoes, I'm Off!" Just don't neglect to not practice your transition.

Happy Transitioning!

Wetsuits and funny looks.

There is nothing funnier looking than someone dressed in a wetsuit with their cap and goggles on. Especially when they are walking around their front yard(which does not have a beach). Yesterday we practiced our transitions and taking our wetsuits on and off. So both of us were dressed in our wetsuits, caps and goggles standing on my street as my neighbours drove by giving us funny looks. My neighbours must think we're nuts!

We set up our transition stations in my garage and started on the street and said "Go!" and ran up the drive way to our transition area. I have always used the step and pull method which has always worked well for me. After pulling it all the way down to my ankles I step on one side with my other foot and pull that ankle out and then switch, usually back and forth two or three times. This frees up my hands to start putting my helmet on or jacket if I am going to need one. I'll have to blog about transitions sometime because this is a very easy way to take a lot of time off of your race. You should all be practicing your transitions...

Back to wetsuits- I have been lucky to accummulate three wetsuits. My very first wetsuit I got with Team in Training when I did my first season with them as a participant and raised money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. They set you up with an Orca wetsuit in your size to keep. On my second or third triathlon I tore it while putting it on the night before the race(Note: Acrylic Nails and wetsuits don't mix). I had to run down to Sport Chalet and get wetsuit glue but the tear was all the way across my crotch. I laid it on my table and glued it and hoped in the morning when I woke up it would look Ok or atleast be functional for my race. It was glued together and functional but looked awful. I wore it with a giant smiley face of dribbling glue across my crotch and got all kinds of looks. I wore it for the rest of that year doing my first Olympic distance in it. It didn't really show up in pictures so that was Ok.

Before the next season I treated myself to a new wetsuit. I stuck with Orca since I liked the first one and I got one of those with red shoulders cause I thought it looked cool, I love red by the way and I am all about looking good at these races- there are lots of pictures taken:) So, I sported my new Orca suit for the first time at the Ironman California 70.3 last year and it worked well because my husband could spot me in the water with the red shoulders. It felt very similar to my first wetsuit.

I recently was lucky enough to get a T1 two piece suit for $50.00. At that price I took it even though I have a fairly new wetsuit just to try out a different kind of suit since all I had worn was Orca. It is Farmer Johns on the bottom and then a long sleeve shirt pulled over them. I think I like it better than the one piece Orca. I have a very long torso and having the top seperate feels much better when I am swimming. I wore it in La Jolla for the first time and felt like my arms could move a lot better. I am going to try it out at the California Half this year and I'll let you know how it goes. The only thing I have to get down is pulling that top over my head in transition.

The nice thing is with all of these extra suits I have started wearing my first Team in Training Wetsuit(the one with the tear and glue) as my pool wetsuit to get some practice swimming in a wetsuit once a week. I started this last night. Talk about funny looks...when you start putting your wetsuit on at the edge of a heated pool and waddle over to jump in wearing a wetsuit...now people definitley think I'm nuts! What a difference wearing a wetsuit is though... I was doing 800m and I took 2 minutes off of my normal time on each one. My arms were getting much more tired though wearing a suit so it will be good to practice in one once a week. It feels harder to swim in a wetsuit because your arms feel like they have to work harder but it must be easier because you are faster. Your feet floating is a definite advantage. You definitley get pretty toasty though!

If you have an old suit pull it out and do a few laps at the pool next time your there- you'll get some funny looks but who cares? It's good practice!

Week at a glance...

This past week was a peak week in our training. We are periodizing our training by building our volume for 3 weeks at a time and then recovering for one week. I have also been alternating between building volume and increasing speed every 4 weeks.

Monday- New strength training program which we will perform twice a week right up until the race and a very hard track workout. We did mile repeats as many as you could without a significant drop off. My first one was 8:37, so I was not going to go above 9 min. I ended up getting 8 of them! This was very tough! 8- 1 mile repeats. I used my heart rate monitor as the gauge of when to go again. When I got into the 120s it was time to go again, usually about 1-1:30 minute rests. And I just kept going until my final 8th mile I felt my legs get pretty tired and I hit 9:03. So I was done at that point.

Tuesday- Brick with 30 miles on the bike and a 30 minute run. I felt wiped out. I didn't have a very good workout. I chaulked it up to needing my day off tomorrow but maybe I was getting sick. I cut the run short and only did 25 minutes because I could not keep a good pace, I was averaging like a 10 minute mile. I felt wiped out when we were done. I still had a swim on the schedule which I would do a few hours later. I actually felt good in the pool, my swim went pretty good. I did 5 x 500m each in under 10 minutes.

Wednesday- Day Off, I did take some time to stretch and foam roll. My body has been feeling pretty tight from all of the training.

Thursday and Friday- Sick!!!!

Saturday- I did a 4-5 mile run. I was down in Palos Verdes and couldn't resist running along the trails along the cliffs of the ocean. The run took me 39 minutes so I figure it was anywhere from 4-5 miles. This was my first workout back after being sick and I felt pretty good. I went to the gym and did one round of my strength training routine and then we rode our bikes about 10 miles total to watch the Tour of California bike race finish right here in Santa Clarita. That was very cool to see!

Sunday- On the plan for today is a bike/run x 3. We will bike 5 miles, run 2 miles and repeat 3 times. This is great for practicing transitions which we will set up at my house. I'll let you know how it goes...

For ideas on training plans some of the books I have read and recommend are...



Have an inspired week of training!

Bad timing to be sick!

When is good timing to be sick? Never. I hate being sick and I don't get sick very often, maybe once a year. Usually a cold. This time I got hit with a bad flu. It hit me two nights ago, my stomach was doing kartwheels and I was miserable all night. I spent yesterday sleeping and in the bathroom(I'll spare you the details). I knew I had to get some fluid in with all of the fluid I was losing so I had two gatorades throughout the day. I also had half a banana. That was my total nutrition for the day- about 450 calories. I literally slept all day long right through the night. I don't think I even knew a day had passed. I woke up this morning feeling better. I just had some solid food- Oatmeal, and so far so good! I am hoping to have a normal day of eating today and feel good by tomorrow to get back to my training. That is the most frustrating part, when your training is going so well and your right on track and then BAM! You get hit with the flu and miss 2-3 training days. This is the end of a big week too! I'll be well just in time for our recovery week...but we still have 6 weeks until the half ironman. I have plenty of time after getting knocked off my feet like this for a few days- no biggie! I am feeling better already! But it is bad timing to be sick!

Visualization...Training weekend Part Three

Sunday we both woke up feeling a little sore but ready to attack our run which would take place on the course of our race. I did this race last year so I already know the course but my training partner has never seen Oceanside or the course. I think it is a huge advantage to know the course ahead of time. Once you know what the course looks like you can picture yourself there during your training sessions. Using visualization is very powerful when it comes to success in you performance. "If your mind can conceive and believe, you can achieve."

I pointed out the entrance for the run and we both took off running one loop of the course(6.5 miles about) The course starts by putting you on the beach running on the sand so that's where we headed not realizing it was high tide. As we turned the corner we realized the waves were hitting the rocks we were supposed to run around. So, the first part of the run became a climb. We both ran as the waves went down and then jumped on the rocks when the waves came crashing up. We both ended up with soaking wet shoes and I got wet up to my waist when one big wave crashed right up the rock I was standing on. Oh, well- keep running, we'll dry off... After getting around the rocks and off the beach we were on the boardwalk along the beach which is a really flat wide open run. The sun was beating down on us really hot. I had a Gu to give me a boost and ran as fast as I could. I remembered the course from last year and remembered the little hills that you felt especially the second loop around. For the most part it is a really flat course but there are a few inclines and a few declines(not really hills.) My training partner did awesome, she ran really fast and ended up doing a sub 7 min mile, I hit my 9 min mile pace. We were both burning up, really sweaty and feeling wiped when we finished. I told her she needed to picture herself running across the finish line when she wins!

We went straight to the car to down our Surge Post Workout drinks we had premade and then went to go and see the rest of the course. I showed her where the transition area would be and where the swim takes place. She didn't realize we were swimming in a harbor where there are no waves at all. She realized that she was going to have a very fast swim. The swim is a deep water start, you walk down a boat ramp and swim out to a buoy where you start the race.
You swim toward the opening of the harbor and then back to the boat ramp. She realized that without waves this was going to be an easy swim for her and she would have no problem. She'll come out of the water first, have a strong bike to hold her position in first and then a fast run to win the race! I guess I have visualized her race for her...as for me, I am hoping for a swim in about 38 minutes(43:37 last year), a bike in under 3 hours(3:06:25 last year), and a run in about 2 hours(2:13 last year). This would be a huge improvement for me. My transitions were pretty fast last year so if I kept my transitions the same this would give me a time of under 5:45(last year my time was 6:10). I would be extremely happy with this time. So I have visualized myself crossing the finish line in 5:45 from when I start!

I won't have the advantage of seeing the course at my Ironman until I get up there a few days before but you can bet I will do some visualization once I am there.

Training Weekend Part 2

Saturday we decided to go for a swim first thing in the morning. So, we woke up had a shake and some coffee, grabbed our wetsuits and headed to the beach. It was another beautiful day in La Jolla! Sunny and warm! The cove was busy with scuba divers, swimmers and tourists walking around. We suited up and as we were standing there we noticed there was a lot of commotion- helicopters, lifeguards, etc. and they appeared to be looking for someone or something. Nobody was telling us not to go in so it must be Ok. We walked down to the water which felt colder than yesterday but was super clear. You could see fish swimming around your ankles as you walked in. We headed for the buoy, sighting off of a red roofed building straight ahead. Today there was no sign of sea lions at the buoy so we swam right to it and kept on going past it toward the opposite shore. We ended up swimming for about 40 minutes total, so atleast a mile. I felt good but I was noticing that I have a hard time leaving my face in the cold blue water and was taking breathes more often than when I am in the pool. I tried to relax and leave my head in the water for 3 breathes but it was hard for me to do. The surroundings were just amazing, what a beautiful place to swim! The helicopters were still circling overhead which was a little disconcerting but I figured if anything happened to us, they would be there instantly. After heading into shore we asked the lifeguard what was going on and I guess it ended up being a false alarm of a skin diver missing. It was a fantastic swim! Time to grab some food and then head out on our bikes!

The bike ride we did was the route from the CAF Half Ironman which takes place right there in La Jolla. The route headed north and inland along some beautiful huge houses and horse ranches with a few hard climbs and then on the way back we were on the PCH right along the beaches. We had a great ride, kept a really good pace and got a couple of good climbs in. We did the 56 miles in 3:20 which isn't bad at all considering we stopped at stop lights and even made a pit stop at Vons for more fluid. It was very hot so we were careful to make sure we were drinking enough.

We got back and were both wiped out from our hard days training. We showered and had Sushi at an excellent sushi restaurant for dinner and then went back home early and to bed by 10:30. Another fantastic day of training in the beautiful surroundings and gorgeous weather! Tune in again tomorrow to hear about our final day where we scouted out the site of the race on our way home...