Tempted

Last week I posted this on my Facebook page:

"The more I hear about my friends signing up for next year's triathlons, the more I realize my multi-sport days are over. It's kind of a relief, in a way, to finally accept that I'm just not into it. However, I will be the best spectathlete out there, cheering for my pals from the sidelines. :)"

I meant it at the time, and I think I still do now.

My main problem is that I want to WANT to do tri. It's not so much the act of triathlon that I crave, it's the sense of accomplishment, the challenge, and yes, to be honest, the kudos that make me want to "tri" again. And triathlon, more than anything else, seems to deliver the sense of pride, and yes, the kudos, that I crave.

I was (am?) seriously tempted to register for the Kansas City Triathlon 5150 distance while it's only $50--a downright STEAL for a tri of any distance. Unfortunately, my bike situation sucks, and I know that riding the required 40k on my current hybrid would be hell, and since don't really have the financial means to invest in a different bike there's Strike 1. The race is May 20, which means odds are good that the lake will still be freezing cold and I don't own a wetsuit. (Again, lack of financial means=no wetsuit for me.) That's Strike 2, if you're counting. Strike 3? I absolutely, 100% plan to participate in the Heartland 39.3 half-marathon series this spring which means halfs April 14, April 22 and May 12. I imagine I'll be happy if I can simply walk after finishing that many races in 4 weeks, let alone completing a tri at the end of it all. (And let's not even get started on how I'd manage to fit tri training in with half-marathon training...)

3 strikes, I'm afraid. Definitely out.

But I am still sad--again not so much because I can't tri but because I have to say "no." I have to draw the line financially and physically and from a time standpoint. And I do admit to being jealous that K will be able to do all of it. It always sucks to feel left behind and left out, but I guess that's life. Right?

However, I did promise K some kick-ass spectathleting, so I'd better warm up my cowbell now!

And speaking of temptation... I managed to survive Thanksgiving relatively unscathed. Yes, I ate and ate and ate, but I didn't feel guilty. I kept up with my workouts as best I could and didn't sweat it when I couldn't. I even earned my turkey with a T-Day 5k. The weather was awesome and the crowd was amazing. I didn't PR and I missed another sub-30 by 5 seconds, but I can live with it. I had fun anyway! And my sweet kiddo ran her first 1k. It wasn't without tears and she definitely wanted to give up more than once, but she FINISHED and we all know that's the important thing.

Here we are, finishing strong!

And now, to check in on my goals from nearly two weeks ago:

1. Run 10 miles--Missed it again. I haven't managed to hit 10 yet!
2. Try a new piece of gym equipment--Yes! Thanks to small-group training, I was able to try out the Bosu and the Paramount cable cross thingymabobby. 
3. Compile Thanksgiving shopping list and finish all shopping-- Duh. Easy-peasy. ;)

New goals!

1. Run 8 miles--10/week isn't working for me, so I thought I'd try a smaller number. 
2. Attend Sunday yoga--I haven't been to yoga in a long time and I miss it! 
3. Plan meals from our freezer stockpile--We have a small chest freezer FULL of food and it needs to get eaten!

Do you have goals this week?

Goals and stats

It's a new week and that brings a new set of goals! But first, let's check in on last week, shall we?

1. Run 10 miles total: I ran 8. Not quite the amount I wanted, but better than in previous weeks
2. Read three chapters of Jillian Michaels' "Unlimited": I did NOT do this. I read the intro and the first chapter and decided it wasn't the book for me. Took it back to the library. I don't feel too bad about missing this goal. Meh.
3. Plan Thanksgiving menu: DONE! (At least I got one thing done, too bad it's the least fitness-y of the bunch!)

My goals for this week, Nov 13-19 (and I'm adjusting my "week" so that it runs Sun-Sat to match my 500 in 2011 challenge week):

1. Run 10 miles
2. Try a new piece of gym equipment (pull-up machine? Bosu ball?)
3. Compile Thanksgiving shopping list and finish all shopping

What's on your list this week?

To switch subjects....

If you're interested in other people's body stats, the next bit should interest you. Kristina hooked me up with the body composition machine thing at the gym since I never got my post-bootcamp comp profile. (Which is just as well since I missed more bootcamps than I attended.) Here are my numbers:

Weight: 172.2 (clothed, no shoes)
BMI: 24
BMR: 1558kcal
Fat %: 34%
Fat Mass: 58.6lb

Desirable range:
Fat %: 21-33%
Fat mass: 30.2-56.1lb

Target body fat (my goal, which was just randomly selected): 28%
Predicted weight: 157.8lb (hahahahahaha, in my dreams)
Predicted fat mass: 44.2lb
Fat to lose: 14.4lb :P

And it also gives the fat % for each limb

Right leg: 36.9%
Left leg: 36.7%
Right arm: 28.5%
Left arm: 30.4%
Trunk: 33.1%

I don't know that any of this is useful beyond general curiosity, but there it is anyway. I hope I can get another assessment someday so I can see if anything changes/improves! If I do, I'll be sure to post the stats here.

Weekly Goals: Nov. 7-13

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, I'm a ship without a rudder if I don't have a goal or event to work towards. I tend to float aimlessly, skipping workouts, finding excuses, generally undoing all the hard work I've put in the months prior. And with the winter race doldrums nearly upon us, there are fewer and fewer events to set my sights on. I do have several big events in the early spring, but they're still too far out to keep my focus intense. Add in some holiday time-off and all that general wackiness looming ever closer, and I'm setting myself up for a couple of tough months if I don't stay busy.

Therefore, I've opted to focus on the short-term and set my sights on some smaller, weekly goals. I hope that having fewer items to accomplish in a shorter time-frame will keep me focused and entertained in the short-term, and that will make the transition to the BIG goals a bit easier, when the time comes.

And with that, my goals for this week are:

1. Run 10 miles total
2. Read three chapters of Jillian Michaels' "Unlimited"
3. Plan Thanksgiving menu

If you're interested in the "Why" behind the "What," keep reading. If not, well then, stop here and have a great day! ;)

1. Why 10 miles? At the beginning of the year, I committed myself to a "500 miles in 2011" challenge. As of this week, I'm sitting on 433 miles, which means I need to get around 67 more before the end of the year in order to complete the challenge. At one point in the year, I'd have thought I'd be done with the mileage well before now, but since I've finished training for the half-marathon, my running miles have dropped off to where I'm averaging about 3-5 a week. Yikes. Time to kick it in gear before I run out of year! (Ha! I rhyme!)

2. I'm a JM fan (or at least a fan of her workout DVDs), but I'm not a big fan of self-help books. Okay, okay, I've never read any self-help books because I always think of them as mostly cheesy and filled with Stuart Smalley-esque platitudes about how, gosh darnit, you should just like yourself! But I do know I could use a little help breaking out of my rut in areas of my life beyond fitness/health, so I thought what the heck. My hope is that JM is a little less "woo woo" cheeseball and more practical information We'll see if it's worth the time.

3. For the first time in at least 10 years, we don't have to travel for Thanksgiving! Hip, hip, hooray!! However, staying home means I'm now I'm responsible for cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the hubster and the kiddo, my parents and possibly the in-laws. It won't be a large gathering, but it'll still require all the traditional fixins, which in turn require a fair amount of planning. And because we're staying put this year, I'm finally able to do something I've wanted to do for a couple of years now: run a Thanksgiving Day 5k! I'm excited, but that does mean a bit more strategy on my part so that dinner is ready at a reasonable hour later that day. It'll all work out, but I'd rather plan now so I can play later.

So that's what's on tap for this week. Wish me luck!

I didn't see that one coming

I had a race Saturday morning. Just a small, local 5k put on by my gym to benefit Habitat for Humanity. Since the course goes through my neighborhood, and I ran the same race last year, I was definitely familiar with the route. The course features rolling hills throughout with one big hill thrown in just for fun.

My hope was a PR, so I knew I'd have to finish under 31:14. It was doable, but my time to beat was set on a super flat course and I wasn't sure how much Saturday's hilly course would affect my time. Granted, on my practice run earlier in the week I ran the 5K course in about the same time as my "time to beat," but still...I never count my chickens.

Saturday morning was brisk but sunny--perfect running weather. I found K and we settled in with the crowd. We both decided to use our iPods that day, and I really relied on mine to keep me in the zone and on pace. (Thank you Soundgarden and The Naked and Famous!) After a few short announcements, we were off!

The run itself was pretty much what I expected. I kept myself at somewhere between uncomfortable and "you're asking for trouble, young lady!" whenever I could, opened it up on the downhills, paced myself on the uphills and mostly tried to remind myself that no matter how uncomfortable it was, I only had to go a half-hour, max. Soon enough, I was hitting the halfway point, which meant just a few shorter hills left. I kept one guy in my sights during the second half of the race, trying my best to not let him get too far ahead, and we even leapfrogged a bit on some of the hills earlier on. But I was finally able to pass him for good on one of the last downhills, and I tried to put the hammer down since I knew the end was near. Unfortunately the race ends on a slight uphill, so I saved just enough gas to get me where the final 100yd flat stretch begins. As I rounded the corner onto the final stretch, I saw the official time clock: 29:20!

I was still under 30 minutes with less than 100yds to go! What the hell?? A sub-30? Oh, crap--DON'T BLOW IT. I didn't think I could waste :40 seconds in the short distance I had left to cover, but I didn't want to take any chances so I sprinted with everything my legs could give and finished.

29:36!
29:36!
29:36!

My very first sub-30 5k, and on a super hilly course! I was--and still am--THRILLED. It also came as a total surprise since I haven't been working on short distances and haven't been doing any speedwork at all. But perhaps all the long-distance/half-marathon training I did this fall is paying off here as well? It stands to reason that if you can sustain an 11 min/mile pace for 2.5 hours, you should be able to sustain a 10 min/mile pace for 30 minutes. I don't know. Makes sense to me, I guess. Or rather, it's as good an explanation as any at this point.

Whatever the cause, it seems like the perfect way to end what has been an amazing racing year for me. Thank you for being so epic, 2011 Racing Season!

Race Report: Kansas City Half Marathon

I went into this race with two main goals:

1. Finish blister-free (If you read my first half-marathon race report, this will make more sense.)
2. Finish under 2:30

But like most racers, I also went in with a "dare to dream" goal. I wanted to finish at or under 2:25. Based on training runs, I knew a 2:25 wasn't out of the realm of possibility, but at the same time, I didn't want to hang my hopes on it since I wasn't sure how I'd react to the hilly course.

The day started as most race days do, in the wee hours of the morning. I volunteered to drive three other ladies the hour to the race site, and Rider 1 was at my house at 4:45. We picked up the last two racers, including my training buddy, K, and hit the road to KC. The drive was uneventful and we, thankfully, found parking quickly and easily (mere steps from the start/finish lines, to boot).

It was a chilly October morning, in the 40s, but we were able to stay inside the shopping area and stay warm until the race started. Our plan was to stay with the 2:25 pace group with the option to go our own way if we felt the urge. However, we stayed inside the warm building far too long because when we finally decided to go out and get settled at the start line, we couldn't even SEE the 2:25 pace group. We managed to get up as close as the 2:40 group, but that was it. Luckily, I'd grabbed a couple of 2:25 pace bracelets at the expo, so we decided we'd go on our own and follow the chrono times posted on the bracelet. (By the way, those bracelets are the BEST. I wish I had those for every run, race or not!)

Before we knew it, we were off! The course was fantastic--it wound through some of the most scenic neighborhoods in the city. Yes, there were hills, and some mighty big ones, but luckily they were all in the first half of the race, and none too different from what I find in my town. I like to think that the last training run K and I did--one that was full of hills and wind--helped prepare us for what we saw on Saturday.

K and I were pretty amazed to find that for the first 6 miles or so, we were perfectly matched with the chrono time on the pace bracelets--like, to-the-second on pace. We stuck to our aid station plan--Shotblok, water, walk--and sipped Nuun on the course as needed. Around mile 6 or 7, we took an extended aid station break to hit the potty, and around mile 9 or so we broke again so I could grab some Vaseline for a chafed spot under my arm. Between the two stops (and perhaps general fatigue), we'd slipped off pace by about 2-3 minutes. Luckily we were both focused on staying on goal so we stepped up the pace at every downhill and flat and made up as much time as we could.

Around mile 11, I started feeling the wear and tear on my legs and attitude. We were still a good 1-2 minutes off pace and were quickly running out of distance to make it up. Thankfully, we had the benefit of a major downhill, so I just tried to let loose as much as I could and make up as much time as I could and relax as much as I could. We hit the last aid station and decided to blow through it instead of stop--I was out of Shotbloks and I didn't want to "waste" the time when I was so close to the end and so close to my goal.

I'm not gonna like--mile 12 was a bitch. We were busting it as fast as we could maintain and I know MY lungs and legs were feeling it. At one point I realized I was out of breath more than usual, but I chalked it up to general fatigue. I didn't really think I was working that much harder than the previous 11 miles. With two turns left in the race, and still slightly behind our pace goal, I told K not to wait for me and to fly if she felt the urge. Bless her heart, she stayed near me til the end. Not sure if she did it out of loyalty or because she was also dog-tired. Whatever the reason, I am immensely grateful. It was near mile 12.5 that we were passed by the Marathon finisher--if that's not motivation to finish strong, I don't know what is.

We rounded the last bend and could see the finish line. At that point, it took every last bit of energy I had to keep moving. Every fiber in my legs hurt, my lungs were screaming and I was DONE. I knew we were close to our goal, but I didn't dare look at my watch and break my rhythm. I knew if I stopped or slowed, I'd never get going again. Finally, I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch:

2:25:15! Missed it by THATMUCH. SO CLOSE. But you know, I don't care. I left EVERYTHING on that road. I had a blast. I felt good most of the time, and when I didn't, it was because I was busy busting my ass. We made up nearly 3 minutes of "lost" time on our own, just by pushing ourselves a bit harder. Could we have gone a bit faster here or there? Walked a step or two less at an aid station? Taken one less break? Yeah, I suppose. But is it worth crying about? HELL NO. In 6 months I managed to shave nearly 7 minutes off my previous time and set a new PR. I went from an average half-marathon pace of 11:37 to 11:06.

And remember that miserable mile 12? The one where I thought my legs would fall off? Yeah--there's a reason for that. When K looked at our splits after the race, she realized we'd clocked a 10:10 that mile. A 10:10. In the last mile of a half marathon. I don't even run a 10:10 during short runs around the 'hood. I am amazed that we were able to pull that off at any point in the race, let alone in the final mile!

After the race, we took part in the usual post-race festivities. Got our official results, drank our free beer, scored our medal, took some photos. We headed back home sore but happy, two of us with PRs and one of us a freshly-minted half-marathoner!

I'd call that a successful day. Wouldn't you?

On to the next one

I am excited to have a few new fitness endeavors on the horizon.

For the past month and a half, K and I have been training for a half marathon! It will be my second 13.1 and her first. Training has been going very well (knock wood), and we've been fortunate to have some absolutely GORGEOUS fall weather. K found Fuel Belts on super sale at TJMaxx, so those have been extra helpful, especially when my bottles are filled with my new BFF, Nuun. Yum. I think the drink has helped make the difference in mediocre "just get it over with" runs and highly enjoyable "I could do this forever" runs. We have two more long runs before the race, and without getting TOO cocky, I have high hopes for an enjoyable race. And yes, I will be bringing my own Nuun.

Today I begin a 6-week Boot Camp, uh, experience. I've been needing to mix up my fitness routine for a while now, and this was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. While my running is going gang-busters, I haven't been seeing the changes in my body that I want to see. I tried a few things at home (my usual DVD routines, counting calories) and still haven't seen any progress. While I'm not expecting miracles from camp, I do hope it provides enough of a change to shake my body up a bit and get things moving again. At the very least, it'll be a nice change of pace mentally! 

Part of boot camp was a weigh-in/body composition/measurement session. It wasn't as dreadful as I thought it would be and I appreciated seeing the hard numbers. I hope to see some change in those when we reassess in a few weeks. I'm not really focusing on weight, however, as I know that's not a true indication of fitness, hard work or health. We've been asked to set three goals for this camp cycle, and mine are thus:

1. Complete 10 full, non-modified push-ups
2. Eat 2 servings of fruits and 4 servings of vegetables daily
3. Decrease body fat by 3%. (I have no idea if this is a reasonable goal, so I'll ask the trainer tonight. No use setting a goal that's impossible to attain.)

I think all three are doable and yet challenging. However, I know that if I want to reach my goals, I need to put in more work than just attending an hour boot camp once a week. I'm trying to be more mindful about my workouts and put some actual thought into my goals and the steps I need to take to reach them. It's also been brought to my attention that I might be working too hard and I'm not staying in the fat-burning heart-rate zone. That is a puzzle for another day, however, since that would require having some sort of gadget to actually track my HR. But it is something to consider as I move forward towards a fitter me.

Now wish me luck--boot camp hell awaits!

Race Recap: YMCA Inside/Out Triathlon

This past Sunday, Kristina and I participated in the Wichita YMCA's Inside/Out Tri. It was a VERY small race--I think 66 finishers total and most of those folks looked like they were serious athletes. Yes, there were first-timers, but their first-timers were people who obviously knew what they were doing. (Example: The first-timer who won first-place in her AG.) It was hard not to feel a little intimidated. My only goal was to not be DFL--and yes, yes, I know DFL is always better than DNS, but still, it's not where I wanted to finish.

We got there about 5:40am and as soon as we pulled into the parking lot it started POURING rain. Like "build an ark" sort of rain. We decided to wait it out a bit, but we also had to rack our bikes, check in and hit the mandatory meeting that was at 6:15. Finally about 5:50 it started letting up a tiny bit so we braved the rain and found our spots (assigned) and got our bikes up. Checked in--which was super fast since there were so few of us AND we only had a chip, no numbers at all (a first for me)--got marked up and hung out inside to warm up and dry off a bit. It finally turned to a light drizzle so we took the rest of our stuff out to set up. Thank goodness I'd brought big plastic bags to store our stuff in, so we just set up our T areas IN the bags. That system made it a little harder to fish things out during the race, but at least everything stayed dry (because the parking lot was one giant puddle). We headed back into the building and noticed it was starting to clear up and the first light of dawn was breaking. Luckily, the rain moved out of the area and stayed away the rest of the race.

The Swim: Around 7:15 we began lining up by projected finish time for our 400 (indoor swim) and waited to go. I was somewhere in the first half of the pack, which was a little unnerving at first. I thought for certain the director had made a mistake and placed me too far up front! But then I reminded myself that I AM a strong swimmer and I'd provided an accurate 400 finish estimate (8:45), so I told myself to go out there and prove I was in the right group. Soon enough I was at the edge of the pool, waiting for my turn to go! It was a serpentine swim, up one side of the lane, down the other side of the same lane, under the rope, repeat for 400m (short course). Overall, the swim went great, even though I never did get a good groove when it came to going under the rope. I suppose if I was a flip turner it would've been easier, but alas... I did pass one lady and probably could've passed another dude if I'd pushed myself, but we were all bunched up and it was crazy. Because of the clustering those of us in the middle were experiencing, there was a bit of confusion at some of the walls. I couldn't tell if the lady I passed was trying to pass me again (you could only pass at the wall), so we had a nice "you go!" "no, you go!" conversation for a few seconds. After that, I just swam as fast I could and kicked as hard as I could to put distance between me and her through the finish.

Swim (400y, indoor): 8:17, my best yet and :15 faster than my previous fastest time trial. Super happy with that time.

T1: 3:58: Still too long, but about 2 minutes faster than my last tri. As I mentioned earlier, getting my stuff out of the dry bag was a challenge, but I was grateful to not have to struggle with soggy socks and shoes AND to have a dry towel for my drippy face. I did invest in $2 toggles for my shoe laces, which saved me a bunch of time and hassle.

The Bike: Meh. Still my weakest link. It had stopped raining, so that was a nice. Got passed by a lot of folks, which isn't surprising. There ended up being quite a few hills, despite the location of the race being in a traditionally flat part of the state--nothing CRAZY, but hills nonetheless. I pushed myself hard on the first half thinking I could relax a bit on the second half (since that half was more of a decline) until I got there and realized there was a headwind. AWESOME. :/ I pushed as hard as I could and tried to keep it in my higher gears and as fast a turnover as I could to keep my pace up as best as I could. It goes without saying that I was very happy when the bike was over. And I really think that if there's ANY chance I may do any more tris next year and beyond, I have to get a different bike. I know it would make a huge difference in my overall time, not to mention my overall enjoyment of the bike portion itself. And it could probably have an effect on my run, since I wouldn't kill my legs as much on the bike. But that's a conversation for another day--at this time I'm not sure I want to invest any money there. I'll need to ponder that over the winter and see how I feel later.

Bike (11.5mi): 50:08. I was aiming for an hour or less, so no complaints other than general discomfort.

T2: 1:20: Not much to do other than drop off my bike, switch hats and grab my Nuun.

The Run: As I was running out, K was biking in so I gave my leggies a break and slowed to a jog so we could run together. The first half of the run was tough--I was out of gas and my legs were dead. Thank goodness K was there to keep me distracted! We ran most of the run portion together, until the end when we sprinted and she beat me. :P I'm totally blaming my "loss" the fact that the parking lot was wet and I couldn't get any traction. Yeah, that's totally it. Because, you know, otherwise, I would've beat her. Yeah. Totally. ;) Truthfully, she was faster on the bike and on her Ts (I only beat her on the swim portion), so she would've placed higher than me regardless of her last-minute sprint power. And also, I don't feel particularly competitive towards her, so it's all good anyway. We both finished all out, which is the most important thing.

Run (2.8 mi): 29:34, Pace: 10:34, about avg for me

Overall Time: 1:33:17
Place 57 of 66, NOT DFL. ;)

All things considered, I'm pleased with my performance. Yes, there's plenty of room for improvement (namely the bike portion and my Ts) and I still have a lot to learn about the sport. But I'm still proud of myself for doing this race at all. It helped me get over my fear of smaller races (and the dreaded DFL) and it was kind of interesting to compete w/ SERIOUS athletes. I think it was probably good for me to throw myself to the wolves, so to speak. I competed against good triathletes without the benefit of being able to hide among a huge group of participants and I lived to tell the tale. That counts for something.

Now I'm back to wondering what's next, both short-term and long-term goals. Do I want to keep participating in triathlons? Am I willing to make the financial and time commitments it takes to compete at my best? Is this really the sport for me?

I guess I have a lot to think about this winter!