Taking that risk

One of my biggest issues is that I don't open up to people that I don't know very well. I'm uninhibited. Nothing embarrasses me. I'll talk about anything....except the things closest to my heart.

That's why I've never put my goals out here on the blog.
 I decided that my goals were just that...MY GOALS. It didn't matter if anyone else thought that I could attain them.

It only matters that I BELIEVE I CAN ATTAIN THEM.

Over the weekend, I decided to tell Coach Liz what I was thinking about for the next year or two. I did it because I feel like I'm on track to actually hit those goals. I was going to wait until the end of the year to see if I felt the same way. Instead, the desire to reach those goals is just becoming stronger.

I've never done that before. I've never shared my own thoughts and dreams about what I can accomplish with anyone. 

Would you? HAVE you?

If you run a 36:00 5k, would you tell people that your goal is to run a 21:00 5k?

I don't think I'm alone. I think most people keep those goals to themselves.

This time, I reached out to my Coach, and I spelled out part of my goals/dreams. (The second part, I'm still working on).

I expected her to say, "Ok. You can do it. We have a lot of work to do."

Which is like saying, "Girl you ain't even close!"

But that's not what she said.  Instead she said, "I think those are GREAT goals for you."

That made all the difference.

Now that I've put it out there for her, I'll share it all with you at the end of the season. Sneak Peak: It's BIG people. Real BIG.

If I think I can do it, and my Coach thinks I can do it.....there's nothing really stopping me.

Adventures of Mr. Tea #2

Mr. Tea has now been working with Coach Liz for a month. I'm so happy for him. This is the longest he has stuck with an exercise regime in a long time.

Let me tell you how he ended up working with her.

He has a lot of weight to lose. I'm not really sure if he wants me to talk about how much he wants to lose, so I won't.

He's done everything and tried everything. Last year, he looked into working with a personal trainer. He became very discouraged when it seemed like the gym was trying to sell him on a bunch of stuff, including a liquid detox programs.

When I started working with Liz, I was so impressed with her on so many levels, I thought it would be a good fit for Mr. Tea.

Liz is a Level 3 USMS Coach, Level 2 (unless this has changed) USAT Coach and Certified Functional Strength Specialist. (She might even have more certifications, but these were the most important to ME when I signed up).

Mr. Tea had a lot of pain issues. He had back pain, headaches, feet pain, etc. When he talked to Liz, he told her everything.

She said, "I can help with all that."

So, he started.

The first week, he did 3 hours of training. Since then, he has increased each week with yesterday being a 50 minute walk: the longest he's done so far.

And his pain is gone. The strength training routines managed with walking and running routines has resolved his pain issues.

In addition to this, she has him making dietary changes. Every week or two, he needs to make a change to the way or what he is eating.

To help with this, the day Justin moved out....we got rid of all the "snacks" in the house. You won't believe what a difference this made.

Now, it has it's challenges. You have ME...who can't get enough food and Mr. Tea who needs to watch what he's eating. It has it's challenges. There are days where I want to eat an entire plate of some various form of pasta, and he's best to avoid that type of eating. He can have it and does, but we need to manage the quantity of food.

All that aside, I am enjoying my NEW ROLE as Sherpa. When he has a long workout, I meet him to bring him water. I'm always available to pick him up at the end of his workout.

I want to be as supportive as possible because it doesn't matter how fast or slow you feel, we all feel the same pain when we are pushing our boundaries.

He's out there every day and hasn't missed a day. He's walked/run in pouring rain. He's walked/run late at night. He's walked/run through really bad back pain.

He keeps going on.

Yesterday, he didn't want to go. We've had a stressful August. We both knew that we just had to get to Labor Day weekend.

Well, yesterday was it. He didn't want to go. It was getting late in the evening. I know how that is. I know what it's like being tired and mentally drained and not wanting to go. I knew what it was like. So, I told him that I was going to go with him. There have been many days where I just wished I had someone anyone to go with me to keep me company during those less than exciting runs or those really long rides.

Originally, he was going to skip his walk. Then, he said, "Ok I'll do it." We head out for our walk. Of course, once again, we got caught in the rain.

And it was awesome.

It's hard for me to be "proud" of grown ass adults.

But I was never more proud of him for going last night.

The best part of all of this is that he's now talking about getting a bike soon. He's (I think) starting to enjoy life without pain and starting to appreciate his new found fitness level.

Coach Liz really summed it up perfectly when she said, "The pain you are experiencing is the pain of growing into your new body."

There are days that it is really hard for him, but he keeps going.

Relationship rules, no guidelines....oh f*ck it.

A few months ago, Coach Mike contacted me. Since then, we talk maybe a once a month, maybe less.

Then there was a race, I knew he was going to be there. I saw him. I purposely avoided him. Maybe he saw me and knew I was uncomfortable and did the gentlemanly thing. Maybe he never saw me. At that time, I wasn't really ready to talk to him in person. What would I say?

Then there was another race. Mr. Tea told me that he saw Coach Mike calling me, but I never heard him. I saw him earlier in the morning when I was doing my swim warm up. He was talking to a bunch of people. I didn't feel right interrupting, so I went on my way. I never saw him again later in the morning.

Then there was yesterday. I told him that I was going to make sure that I didn't miss him this time.

This probably sounds weird because we've talked over email, but email is safe. I hadn't seen him since the Christmas Party....and even then it was only for a minute or so.

I saw him enter transition. But I lost him. (There were almost 1000 people there).

He found me a little while later. I was really uncomfortable. What do I say? What do I do? Do I reach out for a hug? Do I say, "Yo bro. Fistbump".

I'm standing in the middle of hundreds of people, looking at someone I know extremely well and someone who knows me extremely well, and the wall felt huge. We're in the middle of strangers. The small talk felt so...small and pointless.

Maybe I should have asked if we could have a few minutes away from everyone, but I was scared and didn't.

I signed up for SOMA because of Coach Mike. Then I found out he wasn't doing it. About a week ago, he told me he's going to be there.

I'm looking forward to Soma for some closure. The year has had more than it's share of emotional ups and downs. I still have some hurt on my side. I think Soma will help me with that because it was the last thing we had planned together under our old "relationship".

If we plan anything after Soma, it will fall under the "new relationship" WHATEVER that is or is not. For me, it will feel more like a clean slate.

The quickie: Race Report

The quickie referring to the fact that this was a sprint. My race reports are NEVER quick.

Official results are not up, so here's the info from my trainingpeaks log:

Swim: 1:23 pace
Bike: 21.1 mph
Run: 9:18

Finish time: 1:38:03
Last year: 1:46:50

###############################################
Update: I ended up coming in 3rd place with a time of 1:36:01.
###############################################

Before the race even began, I knew it was going to be a great day. The women in the 45-49 AG are so incredible. We had so much fun. They are all incredible athletes and great people. Every time I go, I ended up meeting another woman who ends up being a great training partner for me.

I don't even know where to start.


RACE REPORT

It was an incredible morning. I ran into a few women from other races and from a couple of open water swims. I've made the rounds this year, splitting my time between BAM swims (in Boulder), Grant Ranch & Chatfield. I've had the incredible opportunity to swim with some awesome people.

The Swim

I didn't hit my 1:10 pace, but I had a great swim. It wasn't my fastest, but it was BY FAR my best pacing yet.

We start. Remember my focus SWIM STRONG, PULL HARD. When we took off, I saw the frantic swimmers. They bolted out of the gate. I held my ground. I let them criss cross and swim all crazy like. I just swam, strong. I wanted to pick up the pace before halfway and not make the mistake I did at Rocky. This needed to be really uncomfortable.

Before we got to the first buoy (the first turn), I saw the crowd dropping off. I didn't care where they were, but I suspected they went too hard and were behind me. I passed the women in the previous wave. When I hit the first buoy, I started to turn on more speed....I mean....more POWER, kick kick kick.....not my legs, that's my mantra to remind myself to really PUSH the water at the end of my stroke, really kick it. BOOM KICK BOOM KICK. POWERFUL. All my little swim mantras.

Then, I caught the over 40 men (the slowest swimmers). i glanced to my right....no more yellow swim caps. Then, I saw one ahead of me. I was going to catch her. I don't care how old she is; I will pass her.

And I did. I got out of the water, ripped off my wetsuit and RAN up that damn hill in the sand. I didn't see another yellow swim cap. I kept saying, "They are RIGHT BEHIND YOU, RUN!"

It gave me1st AG on the swim. I know this because I got to transition, and no one was there. 15 seconds later....the woman next to me was there.

She says, "Well, that was an interesting swim with the choppy water." (Personally, I didn't notice any choppy water, but I'm thinking, "HOLY CRAP WHO ARE YOU? THE BIONIC WOMAN? HOW'D YOU KEEP UP WITH ME?")

"I'd love to chat, but I gots to go if I want to stay ahead of you."--I thought to myself.

I grabbed my bike, and I was out of there like someone lit me on fire.


THE BIKE

Still a learning process. I actually thought I did a great job until I got home and looked at the numbers. Then, Coach emailed me and said, "Not a bad day at all. SOLID EFFORT. Work in progress"....which is almost exactly what I said to her.

Did I hit threshold? UGH. NO. Well, I did and even went over, but I wasn't consistent. I'm getting better. Each time, I figure out something new.

The BIG thing I learned today was that the drink I brough (new flavor) WAS NASTY ON THE BIKE. Too sweet. But I drank the whole thing down.

The thing that I really good at on the bike is saying "I'm going to catch THAT person", and I always do. I want to get there on the run. I want to be able to say, "I'm going to catch that person" and then actually catch them.

But I have other work to do on my run before I get there.

I got to transition, and there's no one there.

THE RUN

I PR'd the run, and I'm really happy about it. It's my fastest run off the bike. The only real disappointing thing was that I forgot my heart rate monitor. I've been using it as a reminder that I can run harder when my body is saying, "MEH, I'm feeling a little tired."  I didn't have that. Still, I PR'd the run, but I definitely didn't do the best that I could have done.

The good news is that I really don't mind the discomfort now that I know how I'm supposed to feel when I'm running off the bike.

It's win in my book.

I WILL SUM UP

I've accomplished some really great things in a short period of time. In fact, I'm shocked at some of the differences. Those are the things that don't show up in finish times. I can't thank Coach Liz enough for everything she has taught me this year. Most importantly, she understands how much I want to learn and has been so patient in answering my questions...even those times when I'm not really sure WHAT I'm trying to ask.

I don't know what next year will hold for me, but I'm so excited to work with her next year and see all the pieces really start to fit together.




P.S.--I owe you all an update on Mr. Tea's training. Suffice to say, Liz is kicking his ass too. :)

It's time for Game Face

Coach asks that we all send her our race plans the week of our race. This isn't just some little ole race plan that says, "Yeah, I'm going to negative split".

She wants details. She wants to know what we're eating the night before, what we're having for breakfast: warm up/cooldown, what's happening from miles 1-3 and 5-6, when are we fueling, how much, what are the temps going to be like, what is the course like, how will you adjust the plan....EXACTLY how we are going to hit our goals.

The race plans are pretty in depth. At first, I didn't really enjoy doing this, and I really didn't completely understand why she wanted it, but I did it anyway.

Then, this week....most of you know Coach went into labor and had her baby on Wed. YAY! (I am now anxiously awaiting the first non-pregnant post. I've only known her pregnant. I guess that means now only one of us will be having hormonal outbursts on a regular basis).

ANYWAY, I never sent her my plan for this week's race. Work was very crazy. My training volume over the weekend was very heavy. I kept putting it off.

Isn't that what we all do?

I want to do well at this race. It's another one of those training races where I get to figure things out.

Of course, being COACH, she said to keep emailing her and or calling or texting.

But y'know what? I'm not like that. She's in the hospital....and yes....she responded to my smart ass message only a few hours after giving birth. (WTF?)

I say...enjoy your first 48 hours with the family. I told her, "I Got this. I wrote a Liz pregnancy plan, which is just like a race plan with less GU." I could manage without her for a few days.

SO.

Here I am. On my blog. Writing my race plan because it's become a habit now....with one exception....I'm not putting down what I'm eating. I know. I know. You just can't get enough details of my life.

Warm Up: 15-20min swim.

Swim:
Pre swim: 1 gel, pre race tabs + salt tabs
I've been working on this, figuring out how to pace the swim. At Rocky Mtn, I did a great job, but I didn't pick up the pace soon enough because of my own miscalculation.

The swim needs to feel like the end of the swim felt at Rocky. I knew I was pushing the pace. My avg pace for that swim was 1:20, and that was after a much slower first half of the swim. I know I have a 1:10-1:15 pace in me (I've done 1:07 in training for 400m).

The big issue for me is hold my form. If I pull strong and hold my form, I can push my own limits. The hard part about the sprint is that it's short and painful. I have to remember to not try to swim FAST but instead PULL STRONG.

The bike
On the bike, 380 calories of sport drink + 24 oz of water.
I haven't hit threshold in a sprint bike yet. Each race, I've gotten a little closer. Because this bike is ~17 miles, I can afford to take a few extra minutes to get my bearings before I start going hard.

My goal for the bike: threshold and higher.

The run
On the run, shouldn't need anything. 5k
THE RUN is what I am most excited about. If you got caught up on the posts that I wrote when my blog was private, you know that since I started training for the 70.3, I've learned a lot about what it means to race shorter distances.

And of course, there are Coach's words of wisdom: SPRINT, redline, hurt, go after it, turn brain off & GO!

Sprints aren't EAT PAIN races. Hurting and eating pain are different. VERY different. EAT PAIN...that's reserved for the Oly.

I'm SUPERPSYCHED for the run. This week, I had a brick. I nailed the pacing. THAT's what I want to do at the sprint.

In the past, I:
1.) Slow down
2.) Pace too slow

slow-slow-slow

I recently ran a 5k on an extremely tired body. I PR'd the 5k. I know how it's supposed to feel now. Granted, my goal isn't to PR this 5k, but it IS to feel like I did the day I PR'd (a few weeks back). If I do that, it's another homerun.

The plan:
Increase pace :03-:05 per mile each mile. Starting about 10 seconds off of my pace for my PR 5k.



That's it. The goals always seem easy in writing but making myself do them is a different animal. However, I'm a lot stronger than I used to be. All the advice that Coach has been giving me....and the way she explains things to me....I'm learning how to race now.


As Clubber Lang says, "I got a lot mo'. A lot mo'."

The day that FEELS LIKE ASS

WELCOME TO TUESDAY

The day that Coach says will FEEL LIKE ASS.

78 miles on the bike and 13 miles of running this past weekend will do that.

Doing the workouts, I felt like Wonder Woman. Then, recovery day hits, and I get lapped by the 85 year old guy in the pool....who was walking....with weights on his feet.

I'm sure someone will call 9-1-1 when they see me running later today.

I'm on a recovery week....all week...I just have to get through today feeling like ass, right?


RIGHT????

Starting to understand

For months, I was concerned about doing the 70.3. I hadn't hit any goals that I wanted to hit for the oly (yet). I didn't understand the oly, and I thought it was a mistake to do a 70.3 until I started understanding the oly. 

Then I started hitting the 70.3 specific training.

Now, I'm so so excited to do this distance because doing the 70.3 training is the best thing I could have done to better understand the shorter distances.

I thought it was premature of me to do it. Now, I know that the timing was probably perfect for me (personally). I'd spent the last few years doing sprints and olys afraid of moving to the 70.3 because I had yet to get the oly distance. It didn't occur to me that I had to go long to understand the short.

Things are starting to make sense and fall into place. I mean the things outside of power zones and other numbers. I was judging the 70.3 based on the oly. I can't do that. They are completely different races and require very different training. To me, in the past, the 70.3 was just a longer version of the oly. That's because everything I did was wrong. It really was wrong, but that tends to happen when you self-coach your way through a HIM.

I understand why, now, Coach says the Oly distance is the hardest distance. It really is. I understand what I need to do at the Oly distance....next year. 

Every time I race or I train, I learn something different. I'm not one of those people who think every race needs to be a pr or a podium. Every race or training has value beyond the finish time.