Home Stretch

It's coooooold!!!! I'm so glad someone invented trainers otherwise my cycling in the winter would be non existent.

Now that i've actually felt the 40's and 50s again and it's not just some number, my plan for AZ is pretty much set: swim with a bathing suit only, under the wetsuit of course ha, and pack my clothes (sports bra, tri top, tri shorts, socks, arm warmers) into the T1 bag and change into dry clothes in the tent. so i loose 2-3mins tops but I gain basically the whole race because otherwise if my chest get's cold with dry air my asthma will make the race dreadful. Also, i plan on wearing thin socks but definitely toe warmers. If my feet freeze pedaling becomes nearly impossible.

By the marathon, temps should be high 60s-low70s and if there's a God it will turn unusually hot so I can put the hurt on some snow birds that will have smushed me on the swim/bike :) hehe.

So it's back at it today after an awesome rest day yesterday. Sleeping 11 hours will get you recovered from anything! Again i went to bed before 8pm so it's 5am, already breakfast #1 has been eaten, and am waiting for 30 more mins or so to hop on the trainer for a 2hr wall staring steady pace effort followed by a run in Antarctica (aka outside). I really should have bought a treadmill instead of a couch for my living room...hmmm next time.

This week consists of the biggest volume I've ever done so that's an exciting little challenge. There's not too much intensity as I've done quite a bit of that in the last couple of weeks so last weekend and this one are about becoming familiar with IM length and pacing again- lest I leave T1 at Oly pace and die at mile 30 hehe. I'll be back in San Antonio and that will probably be the last time I drive down and back Thurs-Sun, the drive actually takes more out of me than the training so three weeks out from race day is just right.

After ride/run this morning I'm off to the ice bath at SMU with my friend Sierra (track/xc runner for school) and then breakfast #2. Morning class got canceled-yay!

I just discovered YouTube playlist so ever since I'm sans Ipod (Dec or Jan I can't recall exactly) I've been musicless on trainer sessions. Now I can actually make it a little more entertaining to be pedaling indoors :D

Winter is here

How do I know this? Today I have to pull out a jacket, leg warmers, and socks to ride- it's 42F! I'm back in San Antonio...got in late (9ish) last night and went straight to bed. The good thing is I slept amazing all 8 hours worth :D
Today's a big training day and I'm ready to go except when I remind myself of how frozen I'll be haha. It seems like in just 1-2 days the weather does a 180 and we land back in dreaded winter time. My motto: suck it up for a month and enjoy the winter; hopefully with the peace of mind of having already secured my Kona slot so early!! That's actually one of the things that motivates me about IM AZ- it will be a true test of my mental and physical weaknesses. I probably will be an icicle until about 2hrs into the bike and my asthma will not be aided by the dry cold air. But getting through a not so ideal IM environment is awesome as it will only make me stronger. And, hey, if a record high pops up race day, I won't be complaining! ;)
So on the agenda, a 75min swim, 5:30 bike and 45min t-run, sweeet! Time to jump in the pool...

You can find me in Tempe...

(say that with Nelly's "Country Grammar" tune hehe) on Nov 23 racing the IM. No: after advice from numerous sane and trustworthy sources, I will not do it after Clearwater. 70.3 World Champs is off my calendar. The cool thing is this doesn't break my promise to myself of not doing an IM for at least a yr after Kona, since it's gonna be a month over by race day ;)
Time to ramp me up some last minute Key IM training.
Rock on :D

What would I do without caffeine?!

In 5 days (Fri-today) I will have put in 22 hours of solid training for Clearwater. I love being able to come home to San Antonio, be with my family and have full support of my eat, sleep, train pattern :)
I've been able to build up the volume well and throw in a couple of key intensity sessions. Yesterday's interval run was one of them. Unfortunately it rained hard so I landed on the treadmill- not the funnest of places. But I got that done first thing to hopefully allow my legs to feel somewhat alive today haha.
As soon as the sun comes up I'll be heading for a 4hr ride followed a by short run off the bike. Then I'll do weights late afternoon as I decided to drive back tomorrow morning. I have class at 9:30 and since I get up around 4am anyway, it's better to drive after a full night's sleep than tonight exhausted from training. Let's just hope I don't get pulled over- cops tend to be quite rude at that early hour.
I'll definitely stay in Dallas this weekend. I got Todd Terry to join me for my longish ride Saturday so we'll probably do the South Loop twice to stay the hell away from White Rock in the morning! haha.
But the following weekend, before I start to taper, I'll most likely be back here or going to Austin to train with George Fri-Sun. It's so nice that it's mid October and I'm still able to get awesome hot weather training. I heard Clearwater was unusually chilly last yr and am hoping it's the complete opposite this year. I'd give anything to hear the weatherman race morning "...and today expect a record high into the nineties"!!
Alright I'm out- cheers.

KONA 2009

I will be there.
...At least I will fight to the very last drop of sweat to get back to that Island and race the event that got me into the sport in the first place. Recently I've been glued to the internet looking at all of the pictures, seeing video, reading articles etc all about race week and I'm just crawling out of myself to be there!!
In about 1 month's time I will have my first shot at qualifying for Kona again in Clearwater. In any case, ff it doesn't pan out in November then I'll be picking my qualifier for mid 09 season (Oceanside sold out) ;)
It's on my calendar and on my mind 365 24/7. I've had an empty feeling all of this season with goals that didn't truly correlate with me, but now I have that same feeling I did in 2007- the burning desire and vivid dream that turns into reality.
Best of luck to everyone racing this year!

Early on a Saturday

As soon as I woke up- 4:30...I laced up my shoes and hit the road...I couldn't wait to get running! Ahh that felt awesome, over 48hrs of rest sure did my body well. The legs are still not 100% fresh/loose but by my massage tue or wed all the remaining kinks from the HIM should be out.
I'm taking my bike into the shop today before i ride to get my cassette (currently on my 404 rear that's got powertap on it) back on my training wheels. I really don't know how to use power/analyze it, and really there's not much that will change in my output in 4wks leading up to clearwater. So it's best to ride on my training wheels using HR as a guide (which I am very good at hehe) and save the money of tubulars if I flat.

Power training will come back in handy gearing up for the 09 season following a good 1wk break post Clearwater (yes that's all the break I'll take until mid-09, the collarbone set back was enough rest!). I'll be in the hands of my new coach in San Diego who can actually make use of the power data haha. Also, i think by the time my b-day rolls around which is near x-mas and coupled with my graduation ceremony, I think I can convince my mom to buy me a new powertap hub so i don't keep training on race wheels!

Not much excitement the rest of the day...I'll be swimming masters at SMU at 11 and then doing my 2hr ride at WR. I feel kind of left out with Longhorn 70.3 going on in Austin this weekend as well as the Toyota Open here in Dallas :( hehe but my race day will be here before I know it! Good luck to everyone doing the events tomorrow!!!

Rest & gear up

After roughly a week of little to moderate workouts and a good amount of stretching in the gym (more than my usual)...it's time for two days off before the real dense work begins for clearwater. My legs are definitely going to appreciate today and tomorrow as the extra stretching coupled with the deep massage got them pretty sore.
By Saturday I should be rested physically and mentally- which is good because I have 3 exams next week (AHHH!!). Then Thursday I'll leave for San Antonio since we have Fall Break (no school the following Mon/Tue) and that will allow for a great block of training.
Alright, back to being more useful with my time- homework!

My favorite new breakfast

Actually I can eat this at any hour of the day, it rocks!

1.5 cups Living Harvest hemp milk vanilla flavor
cup of Nature's Path spelt flakes
cup of Enjoy Life gluten and nut free granola
1/2 scoop whey protein
2tbs flaxseeds