Triathlon Training Blog

I rode my bike today, 51 miles altogether.  It was hard, windy, hilly and cold.   I wanted to be done after about an hour or so.       I pressed on, determined to ride three hours in preparation for the Cary Duathlon.   I felt out of shape and kept wondering how on earth did I ever do an Ironman!  That seems like a lifetime ago.

At the bottom of Borland hill, I saw some chickens cross the road.  A rooster had crossed with the hens and was trying to herd them back to their yard on the other side.  It was an amusing scene, so  I turned around and went back to snap a picture of them.

The hens were busily eating something underneath a mailbox.  I stood there, camera in hand, for three minutes while they took their good old time grazing.   Finally, they went back across the road.   So the answer to the age old question: “Why does the chicken cross the road” is “to find food”!

I tweeted “Why” with this picture.  Definitely worth the 3 minute wait to snap that picture!    A nice memory of my ride today.

It’s the little things that make squeezing in workouts a little bit easier.

I’ve been meaning to do this for weeks, and finally went to Walgreen’s at lunch yesterday.   I bought an extra set of makeup to keep in my gear bag.  That is just one less thing to think about when I pack up for my early morning swims or my lunchtime runs.  (Do you like my Beach2Battleship Gear bag?)

Another thing I was thinking of is to pack a separate gear bag for running and swimming, because  I need different things for those days.   Then I guess I would leave my extra make-up kit at work.   Hmmm, yeah, I like that.

I also have been leaving my bike shoes, riser block and trainer in my car for the Tuesday evening spin classes at Inside Out Sports in Cary.  That way I only need to pack my bike and clothing on those days.  But my husband keeps taking my trainer and riser block to use them.   Grrrr.  I just need  tell him he has to put them back in my car because they are mine and that’s where I keep them!

The good folks at Outside PR offered to send me the newest model of the Sugoi Velocity Tri suit to highlight on my blog.    I said “Sure, I love Sugoi stuff” and asked them if they had a red suit to match my tri bike!

They sent me a Women’s size medium Velocity tri suit top and tank.   It has all the same great features as the original Velocity tri suit:

• water repellent lightweight quick dry fabric
• soft seams around the arm openings equals no chaffing
• two perfect pockets in the back to hold  gels, etc.
• reflective logos for safety
• soft quick dry pad in the shorts for bike comfort.   Of all the tri suit brands I have used, Sugoi’s padding is the absolute best.    That pad got me through two half iron races last season with no pain issues.
• built in sports bra in the two-piece version of the Velocity suit.
• true to size
• As compared to last year’s model, I think the fabric is a little bit stretchier feeling.   It still has that light weight shell feel about it, but with a little stretch.  I like that alot.

I asked my teenage daughter to do a photo shoot in the suit, well,  because she’s much prettier than me.  I love how the bright red color coordinates just perfectly with my bike. And red is the color of SPEED, right?    I plan to wear this suit in the Cary duathlon next month.  I will tell you more about it at that time, so stay tuned!    I wore the Sugoi one-piece Velocity tri suit at Triangle Tri last year, and it was super!   My Team Trakker suit is also Sugoi brand – I love that godzilla green color!

I asked my daughter how the built-in bra felt.  She said it was very comfortable.  She does jazz dancing and jogs, so she knows about sports bras.  Comfort is key during a race, so that you can focus on racing!!!   I asked her how the shorts felt.  She said good and asked why there was a pad in the butt.   Lol,  she is not a biker or a triathlete, so she didn’t get it.

BTW, my daughter chose to scrunch the waistline down a bit to show some midriff.  I would never do that because I don’t have a nice one to show off!  I tried it on also, and it does cover the midriff just fine.   I am wearing it right now as I type.  Now I am excited about racing again.

FTC GUIDES NOTICE: THIS PRODUCT WAS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE BY OUTSIDEPR.  THE PRODUCT IS MADE BY http://www.sugoi.com

I am feeling great again today.   I think my slump was caused by a combination of things.  Here they are, in bullet points…

• I had a mild cold, which made me feel run down
• I overdid it on the P90X stuff, as a reader named Katie suggested.  I approached that with an “I am an Ironman” attitude, and just overtrained.   I’m still very excited about that, and I will do it,  I just need to figure out how to do so without toasting myself.
• cold, crappy weather – as Kevin said, maybe it’s a bit of Seasonal Affective Depression Disorder.
• still having trouble balancing working full time with life and training.
• stressful stuff going on at home.  teenagers tend to have that affect on life.

I was seriously considering just going back to being a couch potato.  But, yesterday two things happened.

1. I was wearing a sleeveless sweater and looked in the mirror.  I saw my shoulders and arms.     I can’t do a frickin chin up, but my tri lifestyle has given my pretty buff arms.  And biking gives me awesome quads.     I don’t want to lose that.    Gosh, that sounds so narcissistic.
2. I went grocery shopping last night.  It was freezing cold outside and I had a ton of bags to carry in from the car.  I was so cold, that I ran in and out of the house a bunch of times as fast as I could, to get it over with.   I enjoyed those little sprints very much, and it reminded me that I like to run.

Last night at bedtime, I was still feeling crappy and went to bed with no plan in mind for a workout.

I woke up late this morning, scrambled to get ready for work, got a crockpot meal going.  At that point, it was 7:30am.  I really should head out the door by then.   I thought, hell, I’m just going pack some running gear just in case I feel like running at lunch.  I really need to get some endorphins and burn some calories!

I started packing things up in my gear bag.   The weather forecast was 45 with a wind chill of 35, and my best cold weather running gear was in the dirty laundry pile.   There’s just so much to remember  to bring along, and I couldn’t find this or that, and started making excuses why I should just bag the idea of a lunchtime run.  Then I decided to “man up” and just pack what I could and hope for the best.

At 1pm, I walked outside to test the air.  It was sunny and not too cold and I was stoked for a good run.  And a very good run I had.  This is what I wrote in my BT log…

Had a great run to lake crabtree from work. Finally a nice sunny day. Wiped out at the very beginning while trying to get the Pose leaning gravity thing working. Haha, got some gravity anyway.

And of course, I twitpic’d it. You know, I read once that people who tweet tend to be narcissistic. oops. Should I seek therapy?

A blog reader named Jason commented on my Motivation Issues post that I must be human after all.   hahaha, that made me smile.  yes, I am human, and I am totally struggling lately.

I ran my normal 9 mile long run today.   The snow that fell in Chapel Hill overnight rapidly melted, so it was not a fun snowy day run.    It was hard.   I got tired.  My legs ached.  I wanted to stop. I actually did stop and walk up some hills.     It was not a good run.  But I finished it.

I did not wear my watch because I did not want to know my pace or time.    Glad for that, because it would probably really bother me.  I’m sure it was a PR in slowness.    I’m sure I’ll get out of this slump.    Right?