This is what really counts

Every weekend I am reminded about how truly lucky I am to be surrounded by some of the nicest, kindest, most generous, most FUN, and extremely talented girls that I call my friends. This goes for both triathlete friends and non-triathlete friends; friends I've known since kindergarten and friends that I've become close to over just the last year; friends that I see on a weekly basis here in DC and friends that live far away but who I still manage to stay close with, despite the distance. 

I'm not the most outgoing person and I was terribly shy growing up in elementary and middle school. Somewhere along the way in high school, I got really lucky and fell in with some really wonderful girlfriends who are still some of the best people I know. In college, my roommates and closest friends were one in the same and I miss having them right down the hall from me. Here in DC, I've met so many great people through the sport of triathlon, both through the teams I have been on and into the wider triathlon community. And through the triathlon camp down in Tucson, it is impressive how one long weekend spent on your bike climbing Lemmon and Madera Canyon and running in Sabino Canyon can forge some long-lasting and, most importantly, meaningful friendships. 

My life is too rich to adequately put into words. How did I win the jackpot in the friendship lottery? The banter over Facebook and daily emails about bike rides, monster swims, food cravings. The thoughtful letters and cards and emails when I have a big race coming up or I finally captured an elusive goal. The chatty bike rides that fly by because you're catching up with some of your favorite people about what has been happening in each other's lives. The pizza and wine nights where four of us work magic and make at least 3 pizzas disappear and good luck to any of our significant others in snagging a slice. The casual parties and get togethers, the early morning swim workouts, the bike rides in all kinds of weather, and the long run followed by brunch on the weekend. I can't imagine a better life than the way mine has turned out. I can't imagine better people to fill my time with. This is what life is really about, this is what makes it worth living - it is the people you surround yourself with. So to every single one of my girlfriends - thank you for making my life rich where it really counts. You are all irreplaceable and incredible and not a day goes by that I don't realize how lucky I am to have people like you filling up my life. 

Long Ride... OUTSIDE!

It's the beginning of March, which marks the beginning of meteorological spring, which should also mean the start of me consistently riding my bike outside. I saw a quote somewhere that was along the lines of while you were riding on the trainer, your competition was out in the cold, wind, and rain logging miles on the bike. I also just realized I will be riding up Mt Lemmon in a month at tri camp, so it would be in my best interest to get my wimpy rear end outside.

I walked out of my house this morning, bike in hand, and it was crisp, no wind, sun was shining and I found myself thinking wow, what a beautiful day. I'm so happy that I'm ditching the trainer and riding outside. Now let's fast forward to about Mile 10 of today's 40 miler. Brutal headwind, on a busy road, SNOW (ok, not much, but still - SNOW blowing around) and temps definitely in the 30s. Oh, and no sun, no birds singing, no flowers blooming. Just dark clouds, trucks zooming by, and WIND. It's safe to say that Sarah and I yelled a few choice words before trying to reduce our surface area as much as possible so we could slice through the wind (that did not happen).

Fortunately, this dark part of the ride didn't last too long. The busy road gradually gave way to a beautiful country road that wound through fields and farms. Sarah and I had an opportunity to catch up and chat, making the ride go by so much faster. With the exception of my left foot, I was pretty warm and I was happy to finally be riding outside. I feel like I get so much more out of riding outdoors than on the trainer. So much more variation in the terrain and I could feel myself using muscles I forgot I had in my back and arms and legs. One of the things I was most looking forward to was that really tired and satisfied feeling you get after a good ride (and today did not disappoint). About 30 miles into the ride, we hit a section of the Poolesville ride that I have done over and over each summer when I get ready for IMLP. It was nice to know where I was and it seemed like my bike was pretty happy too, as my speed was picking up and I was feeling strong (a tailwind will do that to you). This feeling lasted about 5 miles until we made our final turn... right into another ridiculous headwind. Never has my car been such a welcome sight as it was at the end of today's ride - warm, dry clothes, the heater blasting and Dawn was great company for the ride home. The only thing that was missing was a post-ride burrito. I made up for it by cooking up a grilled cheese sent straight from heaven and ate it in about 2 minutes.

I think I'm ready to put the trainer away for the remainder of chilly weather riding. Things will hopefully only be getting warmer and if I could make it through today's windy and flurries unscathed, then there are no excuses. I need to be able to make it to the top of Mt Lemmon next month for my giant cookie!

Let's Talk Fuel

Before I hopped on the trainer this AM, I searched our cabinets in vain for something quick for breakfast, forgetting that we'd finished off the loaf of bread the night before and I had no bagels left from the Great Bagel Heist of The Previous Friday (loot=9 bagels, a new record). We don't buy cereal because it doesn't last more than 5 minutes in this house anyway and I didn't want to take any time to fry up some veggies and eggs.

So I had SportBeans and a lemon flavored HoneyStinger waffle instead.

There is something inherently wrong with eating those things for breakfast and consuming something so sweet as SportBeans before 7am (and I like sweet things, so this is saying something). I gave up chocolate for Lent this year, and I'm also making an effort to stay away from sweets in general - chocolate or not - and practice the whole mindful eating thing (in terms of what I'm eating - no crap - and how much I'm eating - I do not need a billion snacks). I'll still indulge in my favorite snack - apples with sugar and cinnamon - but that's about it in terms of crap. Long story short - it has been a few weeks since I've been on a sugar high and this morning I did not feel great after eating the sport beans. Bleck.

This morning made me think about what I'd like to do about my fueling for training, racing (and specifically Ironman) this year. Not to beat a dead horse, but almost every time I do Ironman, I have some type of nutrition fail that usually manifests itself on the run. I eat mainly gels (18 gels on 112 mile bike ride, anyone?) and that's alot of sweet stuff - no wonder I don't feel awesome. I've tried the liquid calorie thing (complete disaster) and I've also done the sandwiches, cookies, crackers, and chips on the bike thing (not a complete meltdown, but that is alot of food). I received the Feed Zone cookbook for Christmas from Mr. Sweetie and it has a whole section on making your own portable nutrition for the bike. I've already made their banana rice muffins and they were yummy and filling. I think this weekend I may try to make another recipe. In short, I'd like to incorporate more real foods into my training and racing. I think on the run I will still need to stick with gels and whatever else I can shove down from the aid stations (mmmmm chicken broth) because eating alot of solid food during the run is just gross. But for the bike, I'd like to gravitate towards something that isn't a gel, sport bean, or chewy blok for the majority of my nutrition. I'm glad I'm starting to think about this early, before the season really gets going, so I can experiment with stuff this spring during training. I'm also open to hearing what other people have used/done/found what has worked for them. I really thought in 2011 I had it all figured out with gels, but 2012 proved me wrong. Back to the drawing board.

Spring is in the Air

Growing up in New England, summer was - hands down - my favorite season. There were only a handful of days each summer that were unbearably hot, school was out, there were always multiple trips to the beach, swimming in friends' pools, etc etc etc. I couldn't understand how anyone could have a favorite season that wasn't summer.

And then I moved to DC. I still love summer - who couldn't love the season that lets you swim outdoors in a 50m pool while the sun rises and then bike to work still soaked from swim practice. But spring has become my new favorite season down here. In New England, spring is marked by a couple warm days interrupted by snow, MUD SEASON, and consistent warm weather doesn't settle in until sometime in mid-to-late May and by then it is practically time for summer to roll in. But here in DC, spring arrives early in comparison - like March. There isn't such a thing as mud season, and once the warm weather starts to move in, it is usually here to stay.

And then there are the Cherry Blossoms:

While the cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet for the year, there are some other signs that spring is coming. On the metro today, I saw an ad for the Crystal City Friday Night 5k series that begins in April. The Rock and Roll DC marathon/half marathon is in just a few short weeks (last year it was close to 80 degrees during the race). The weather was on the warmer side today and I didn't have a jacket for my commute home, nor did I miss it. The sun is setting closer to 6pm than 5pm, stores are stocked with Easter candy, and I'm starting to think about bike commuting in to work in the near future. I'm also super antsy for race season to start up. All good things.

Dahlgren Trail Half Marathon - Race Report

Staying warm by the bonfire after the race 

Let's just get one thing straight right away - today I was a sandbagger and I am not proud of it. I did not intend to be one, I've never run a trail half marathon so I wasn't sure how to compare those times to road half marathon times. In looking at the finish times last year, I thought the times from the elite wave looked relatively speedy for a trail race. I wasn't sure how technical the course was going to be; once I found out it was on an old railroad bed I figured it probably couldn't be too technical, but you never know - there are always exceptions (I would say that the Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney is on the technical side). I had decided about a week ago to run this race - it would be perfect as I had a 90 minute trail run workout on my schedule anyway. Jen instructed me not to kill myself out there and simply have fun and run smart - next week is not a recovery week and Monday is not a rest day. So I decided it would be smart to just run in the AG wave rather than the elite wave. I didn't want to be *that girl* who tries to run with the fast people and can't keep up and then runs her legs into the ground in vain. So AG race it was! Though within about 5 minutes of starting, and nobody running with me, I realized I would instead be *that girl* who was a total sandbagger. Sigh.

Kendra was super sweet and offered to drive. I showed up at her house ON TIME (go me!) at 5:30am. Her friend Adam joined us for the car ride down and the race (how I didn't know Adam before today, I do not know - according to Facebook we have close to 30 mutual friends). As we all expected with a small race (about 200 participants), everything was very low-key and everyone was super friendly. The bonfire near the start line was a bonus - great way to keep warm after shedding your layers as you wait for the start. Because the trail was relatively narrow, they started us off in waves - elites would go first, and then they sent off another group every two minutes. I went 10 minutes after the first wave. I made the dumb mistake of deciding to switch out my laces on my shoes (was wearing my old Kinvaras because I didn't want to get my new pink shoes dirty. Vanity) just a few minutes before the start. Disaster. Couldn't get the lock laces out, ended up trying to put my shoes back together with the original lock laces (now half undone, all tangled, and definitely not in any position to be relaced up. Sigh). I made it to the start with about two minutes to spare.

The race start was uneventful. I ended up at the front of the 30-39 AG wave within the first two minutes and I was hoping someone would creep up and keep me company, but no dice. The race was a simple out-and-back on the trail from the 0.0 mile marker to the turnaround point at the 6.5 mile marker.  The trail wasn't very technical, just some gravelly sections which had loose footing. It wasn't very muddy and there were sections both going out and coming back that were false flats. After about 10 minutes, I caught up to the girls in the wave ahead of me, and then caught up to some more people that were in earlier waves. I felt like I was running a comfortable pace (wasn't wearing a HR monitor because I just didn't want to). My first mile was the slowest and then I picked up the pace and kept things relatively consistent for the rest of the miles. I saw Kendra and Adam as they were looping back and I still had about a mile to go to the turnaround point, they both looked strong. I felt super happy to be out running, my legs felt good and my mind was in a positive place. I wasn't out there trying to set any records, I just wanted to run a smart race and I'd be very pleased if my last few miles were my fastest ones (this ended up happening). Before I knew it, I reached the turnaround point and headed back. Everyone was so friendly out on the course and it was so nice to exchange hellos and waves with the other competitors. I didn't hit a low point until about miles 8-10 in the race. At that point, I was mostly alone and I couldn't really see anyone ahead of me to try to catch. My legs were starting to feel fatigued and I was breathing a bit heavier. I definitely didn't go to any dark places during this race - things were mainly rainbows and unicorns, but during miles 8-10 the unicorns looked a little more like regular horses and there was no pot of lucky charms at the end of the rainbow. I snapped out of it by mile 10, started to see some other runners come into view ahead of me, hit a long section with a slight downhill (the false flat on the way out was good for something!) and my pace fell accordingly, letting my last 3 miles be my fastest ones. I will say that the last mile seemed to go on FOREVER and it felt really good to stop running once I hit the finish line.

Post-race with Leslie and Kendra

Post-race I caught up with Kendra and Adam and Leslie while we stood in front of the bonfire and had soup and crackers and oranges. The event coordinator got right down to the awards nice and quick so there wasn't too much standing around. Kendra and Leslie went 1-2 in the elite wave! I ended up first in the 30-39 AG by 15 minutes. See, sandbagger. My time of 1:36:54 was good enough for 4th fastest time for women. My legs actually feel quite good, no worse for the wear than my usual weekend long run and I did some quality foam rolling when I got home from the race, so hopefully I will survive my long swim tomorrow morning!

A Thank You to My Coach

I've been working with my coach, Jen Harrison, since January 1, 2010. I had been doing triathlons for a few years at that point, I'd done two 140.6 races as well as a number of half Iron and sprint and olympic distance triathlons. I was part of a big triathlon team here in DC and had plenty of awesome training partners. I was investing a fair amount of time and energy in my training and decided I wanted to work one-on-one with a coach to see if it was possible to get faster and find a little more success in my races. I was usually middle of the pack, nothing fantastic, and my race goals were often finish without feeling like I was dying and enjoy the race experience enough that I want to do it again. I podium'd once in a blue moon, always at very small races, and I was terribly weak in my swim and my bike. Sidestroke, anyone? I used a training plan but was constantly altering it and changing it around and I probably didn't take recovery days seriously and I probably didn't work hard enough on hard days, I let everything migrate towards the middle of medium effort.

In order to find a coach, I turned to blogs. Yes, blogs. I had been reading a number of blogs and Jen's name kept popping up on many of them. And they were good athletes too. Fast. Maybe this Jen Harrison could figure out a way to make me fast. I also liked how in every single one of the blogposts I read, her athletes really liked her as a person and it seemed like she was a friend in addition to being a coach. I knew that I would likely mesh well with someone who I could feel comfortable sending an email or text to with a dumb question and know that she wouldn't make me feel dumb for asking it. So that's basically all the research I did (granted, I had been reading the blogs for awhile, at least a couple of years, so before I had even contacted Jen, I felt a bit like I already knew her).

Old habits were hard to break and Jen, bless her, put up with a fair amount of my crap for that first year. 2010 was not my best year, I was a hot mess. I was still moving workout around to suit what I wanted to do (oh, I do not feel like biking today, I will run instead or I don't think I have enough run volume, let me tack on some extra miles to my long run or - and this is the best one - recovery day is a perfect day to make up all those workouts I skipped earlier this week when I kept oversleeping). I was going out alot on weekends with friends and I did a few too many trainer rides in January and February 2010 feeling socially hungover. I ate the double-wide dinner (mac and cheese and hot dogs) at least 2-3 times/week My mindset was this: even though I've committed to a coach, even though I'm investing alot of resources into this sport, I'm never going to be super, super great so why bother giving up my social life and double-wide dinner for the sport? Why make huge lifestyle changes if I don't have confidence in myself and my abilities? I simply wasn't invested mentally in myself as an athlete and I had zero confidence.

Fast-forward three years and I feel like I am a different athlete and a different person. I won't get into the nitty gritty details because I've hammered most of them to death through various blogposts over the years. The short and sweet:
- I eat much healthier
- I understand the importance of recovery days and I leave them alone
- I don't screw around with my schedule - if it is in Training Peaks on an assigned day, I do the workout on that day
- Speaking of Training Peaks, I actually update it after workouts
 - Positive self talk and confidence: they don't make you an arrogant jerk, they make you a better athlete (when done in moderation, obviously)
- You are supposed to feel like a suffering pig on a spit when you are out there, going fast is not supposed to feel good
- Nutrition is the 4th discipline. Conquer it
- Don't half-ass your workouts. Do hard days hard, easy days easy
- Do all strokes at the pool, not just free. And flipturn. And swim more.

So I wanted to say Thank You to my coach. Not just for helping me become a faster and more confident athlete. More valuable to me is the friendship/mentorship that has developed over the years - I value that more than any PR. I appreciate the small things - you always respond to texts/emails and always with thoughtful, positive answers (and you've also not let me wimp out on workouts when I've texted trying to weasel out of them). You always give good feedback in Training Peaks and always seem to know when I needed that peppy response or advice on a workout. I realize you coach ALOT of athletes, but you never make it seem like you are too busy for me or my questions. I feel like I'm your only athlete and that's pretty neat (and probably takes an impressive amount of juggling and time management on your part). Your swim workouts are the new definition of awesome. The annual Tucson Tri Camp is one of the things I look forward to most every year because of the camaraderie created by your athletes and the challenging workouts. You expect alot from me as an athlete and you've taught me to raise my expectations about myself too. Just from an athlete's perspective - coaching someone well seems impossibly complicated - there's the physical workouts and the mental fitness and how they come together and you have to figure out what makes an athlete tick in order to tease out the best mental and physical performance simultaneously. I know that I am still learning how to put those things together to create a little race-day magic, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your patience and guidance and advice as I figure things out with every race.

Soon I'm going to have to walk through doorways sideways

Today was a first - a double swim day! I've had double run days before but never a double swim. While neither swim session was ridiculously long by itself, put together they were more than enough to leave me STARVING for dinner by the end of the day and tired (in a fulfilled way). I don't think I timed my afternoon nutrition of a banana and peanut butter quite correctly, as I was hungry and bonking halfway through my second swim. I'd love to see another double swim day show up in Training Peaks (hint, hint, Jen!). I feel like I'm going to sleep really well tonight.

So about a year ago I wrote a post on body image. The whole idea of a triathlete's body being different than a runner's body came to mind again yesterday. I (unsuccessfully) tried on one of my button-down short sleeve work shirts purchased back when I was just a runner. My arms looked like sausages in the shirt and I was pretty sure I was going to pop the buttons off the sleeves. This is the first time I really and truly could not fit into a shirt. I think this is probably due to the fact that I'm swimming more now than I was a year ago and I'm not skipping TRX workouts. All good things, but darn I really liked that pink shirt. I'm also surprised at how my body shape continues to change, even though I've been doing triathlons since 2007. Oh, and Monday the lining to another work skirt bit the dust. Blame it on the TRX lunges and time spent on the trainer? It can't be the chocolate since that's a nonexistent part of my life right now (thank you Lent).

I signed up for the Rev3 Quassy half ironman this week - it was on pace to sell out and I didn't want my procrastination to wreak havoc on my race schedule. Now I need to sign up for the Monticelloman Oly and the Kinetic half ironman. I'm so excited for race season. Training has been going more smoothly this year than it has in previous years, it's as though a switch has flipped in my head and I don't find myself waking up in the morning trying to make excuses on why I should push my workout off until the evening. This has resulted in much more productive mornings, evenings that are less busy, and I'm generally in a better mood. I always am when I do at least one of my workouts in the morning before work.