Lake Delta Olympic

I have been neglecting my posting as I have been focused on Triathlon, work , kids, life....

BUT....I shaved 8 MIN off last years time!! More people means not placing this year but I still improved.

I also Tripped and fell on a tree root and still  maintained my composure to finish...

More when results are in!

Thanks for everyone who wished me luck and all those out there supporting me today! I felt like I had a fan base!!! You guys ROCK!

Mental Game

I have been absent from blogging I know. But, I have been working on some mental training. After my thoughts about my poor running at Musselman I am determined to break this downward spiral I have had with my running. I always start the run with a poor attitude and end up almost crying by the end. This has happened in my last 2 races.

I decided I needed something to aide in developing my mental health in the races to come. I got on Amazon and finally ordered a Book I have had in my Wish list for a few months now....

I have read the first few chapters and am so interested in this book. I have completed my Prime Triathlon Profile which is comprised of twelve mental, emotional and competative fators that influence my performance. I have rated myself on a 1-10 scale in all these areas and know what I need to work on. 3 being PAIN, Adversity, and EMOTIONS. These are the 3 right now in need of the most improvement.

I have read about Motivation which is the foundation on which everything I do in triathlon is built. I think I have this one down pat! I am now onto Confidence where I am reading about a viscious cycle or upward spiral and Why triathletes lose confidence. I will keep you updated on this book as I read more!! it is so good and I recommend it to all that are competing whether it is just for fun or competatively!!

On another side note, I joined the Fleet Feet Hot Feet Runs at Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville, NY today. What awesome inspiring runners! I met a guy who has ran quite a few marathons and is going to tackle the Syracuse Marathon in October as well as a Lady out to run her first 1/2. I was only going to do 45 min of running but it felt so effortless today that I did 7.75 miles in 1:12 min! I should also tell you that My big toe was chaffing on the inside of my sneaker and I was bleeding in my shoe, I started to feel a blister in my arch as well but kept saying I am a runner and will not stop...and I FREAKING DID IT Today!! I felt a little more confidence in my ability to run well after a long bike.                                                                          

I do have a Olympic Distance race this upcoming Sunday where I will be racing with my coach!! I am hoping I can beat last years time!!

Happy training!

Musselman 70.3 Recap

Last weekend I did my second ever 70.3. In the most humid, hot conditions that I have ever faced on race day. Lets start by talking about Saturday....

Saturday morning we gathered our things and headed to our favorite local diner for a hearty breakfast filled with pancakes, eggs, and sausage. Yes, I splurged because thats what you do the day before a race!

10am we were on the hour drive to Geneva, NY where we would spend the day at Mussel Kids as well as packet pickup, race meetings and pasta dinners.

We got to Seneca Lake around 11:30 and we immediately went down to sign my daughter up for the Kids Triathlon. It took us at least 30 min to get registered!! We then body marked her ourselves, ran to get her gear and helped her set up her transition. This was the most chaotic transition I have ever seen. I dont think they were expecting such a turn out with the kids race! They also started the race twice and had 15min time wait in between the big and little kids going out! also I noticed a few kids that werent the proper age being able to do the race which I was very upset about. You never know what can happen to your kid out in the water and you put them in there with kids way bigger than them. Smart parents! Ok, done ranting.

Anyways, my daughter had a great time. She told everyone she did it from that point on and even told them she got first! Ha ha!

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I was completely miserable after being struck by a bike going into transition as I was leaving it after helping my daughter with getting to her run. I had some swelling going on to my right thigh and I thought..great just in time for my race tomorrow, how lovely. It was hot 95 degrees hot, I tried to keep water with me at all times as well as stay in the shade, but there was hardly any shade to stay under where the kids were.

We went to the Musselman mural and marked it up with our names, headed to the pre race meeting and then to the pasta dinner where we hooked up with many local athletes and talked about the day to come.

SUNDAY- The alarm woke me up at 4:30am. Was out of bed and ready to take on the challenge I was going to face today. I knew that the weather forecast was calling for 96 degrees and humid. I know I dont do well in heat. I had my regular pre race breakfast and we were out of the hotel and to Seneca lake by 6am. We had about a 15min wait at the entrance and then another 10min walk to transition which gave me just enough time to get body marked and set up my transition area. I was freaking out as they were calling the transition to close in 5 min. I tried to hurry along and got a little panicky thinking I was forgetting things when I exited transition that I ran back and checked 1 more time!! 

Swim : The race started promptly at 7am and my wave went off at 7:25am. I am the one kind of in the middle in the pick towards the front. The gun went off and people were walking to the first buoy faster than I was swimming. But, I thought to myself, I am not wasting as much energy so I am swimming! The water was extremely choppy I felt like I was surfing! It was a mess with people fighting to get to that first buoy. After we turned keeping all the buoys on our left (counter clockwise swim) the swim was a little better but I was weaving in and out of people big time. I was so disappointed with having to do this but I can tell alot of people panicked in that water. I passed about 3 other colored caps and got passed by some faster swimmers in the last wave as well. We ended up in a canal at the end and I couldnt see crap as the sun was shining in my eyes. I also started to get a cramp in my right calf!! I shook it out as best I could and was upset this was happening!! I finally got out of the water and was relieved to be done!

Swim time 40:12 (1:54/m)

T1: Was a long one as it is a big rectangle and I was in the back. My wetsuit got stuck on my garmin but I got it off pretty quickly. I got my shoes on, helmet and glasses and started to go. I got stuck on the pole as my water bottles got caught! Oh boy!! Next time I will rack with water bottle cage on top of the pole!!

T1- 2:06

Bike: I wanted to play conservative on the bike so that it could set me up for a good run. I think I could've pushed it a little more but I was playing with my heart rate as well as the weather was heating up quickly. I kept my HR right around 148-150. I felt good here and road with it. I had about 3 1/2 24oz bottles of perpetuem, 3 salt tabs, 6 gels, half a clif bar. I did very well with this! The course was rolling hills with one steeper hill around mile 30 that I had to spin up. But other that that this course was great. There was a head wind for most of the ride. (or at least I thought thats why my speed wasn't up there!!)

Bike Time: 3:05:53/ 18.2mph ave

T2: I got my feet out of the bike shoes on the bike as I am a master at getting them out now. Now I need to work on getting them in more!!! I got to my area. Racked my bike, put my socks and shoes on, grabbed my hat and race belt and was off. I tucked a gel and my salt tabs in my back pocket as well as having Clif blocks in my hand. The good thing was they had my nutrition I use on the course, so no belt!! I ran across the mat and lost my salt tabs. A guy was nice enough to pick them up and hand them to me as we were running!!

T2: 2:20

Run: I was happy to be running and felt really good the first few miles!! I was thinking I could really do well here if I keep focused. I walked up these steps as my coach instructed me to do at mile 4 and after this I felt really sluggish and couldn't keep my pace up. I started to think about aid station to aid station as I was hot and needed the nutrition every station. By mile 8, I lost it. I couldn't keep myself going and at this point I was walking alot. I didn't hurt, I wasn't cramping. I just felt too hot and couldn't get my breathing under control. I started counting, singing to myself, but it seemed like my mental strategies werent working at this point in time. Every aid station was ice in shirt or under cap, sponges under sports bra, water, Heed, Salt tab GO!! In between I would take a shot block. I was not happy with my running at all and I was at mile 10 almost crying as I was so frustrated with my poor display of running. I know what I am capable of and I need to tap into that despite the conditions. I saw my daughter and honey at mile 13 and I could see the finish line up ahead. I was so relieved to be done at this point. I saw 2 ambulances while I was on the run. Not pretty.

If you look at the pic above this was the ending. Totally different look on the face! Also note all the salt on my Calf sleeves!!! Oh MY!!

RUN time: 2:34:21/ 11:36min/mile

TOTAL TIME: 6:24:52

31/60 AG 30-34

440/808 total participants

136/404 females

Of note 80 people DNF'd this race! I've never seen that big of a number at this race! Not to mention about a few dozen people in the med tent at the end as well! Im glad I survived this race!!

Enjoying the ice bath with fellow triathlete, Rae! We did it!

The Hottest 70.3 ever done!!

Yesterday was brutal! I really got delirious around mile 10 on the run. I almost lost it. But, I finished!! Not my best performance and certainly not what I am capable of! But, I finished the race standing up!!

Thank you for all who support me in my triathlon journeys!

More to come when pics are loaded and final race results are up!

How its going

This week has been going great so far. I am in Taper mode for MusselMan 70.3 this Sunday and I am eating well, hydrating like a fish and sticking to the plan.

I just reviewed my racing plan for this weekend and I think it is very doable if I keep my mental game sharp!!

My daughter is going to be doing the Mussel Kids on Saturday so we will be driving up, cheering her on, eating a big pasta dinner and then getting my race on the next morning.

I just got my bike tuned up, new seat placed! I road a friends seat over the past few rides and I loved it so I bought my own in white of course!! I will be getting on it a few times this week for little rides, checking the fit. I might even get a fit by my honey on Thursday if he is not too busy!!

I started work this week as well and am so glad that I accepted this job offer. I am one happy camper so far! There is just so much warmth in this place and I am ready to build my practice there!!

More to come on race planning.....

Week in Review 7/4/11-7/10/11

Nothing too exciting this week happened. Although it was my last full week of training before Musselman 70.3!! And of course my last week of full time training as I am headed back to work today. The last 3 months have been great! Train, eat, sleep, play with the little one. It was the best 3 months of my life and I will cherish the time well spent!

I knew this week was my last big week before Musselman so I wanted to make it count. Everything had a purpose. I wold stick to my zones, eat nutritiously and recover properly. I did just that!!

On the nutrition side of it, I have been basically doing the core diet with one cheat day a week. That means I can have a meal outside my window if I chose to do so!! My treat to myself! I have been logging my weight since the beginning of May. Since today was weigh day I thought I would let you guys know how I've done in the last 2 months. I've lost 15 pounds!!

Yes the core diet works! Im proof! I have about 5 left to go to be at my ideal racing weight but I've come along way! Now its keeping track of the calories and nutritious eating while Im at work! I can do this!

Well, this week is Taper week and I am enjoying my day off, of course until I have to work!

Here are the numbers:

Swim -4752 yds; 1.67 hours
Bike- 189.41 miles; 10.49 hours
Run- 25.75 miles; 4.35 hours

TOTAL time: 16: 30:14

Im totally ready for Musselman!! BRING IT ON!!! :)

Happy Training!

Fatigue- How to Overcome it and keep focused

Everyone has been here. I have been to the point of no return fatigue a few times this season already. But, when it kicks in I try to manage it the best way I know how.

Motivation becomes a struggle as the Distances of triathlon get longer for me. The 1-1.5 hour swims, the 100 mile bike rides, the 2-3 hour runs. What keeps me going when I am using up all my energy?? What drives me to continue to push through when my body is saying the heck you are?! There is a secret to keeping my enthusiasm for the sport alive all during my journey to take on 140.6 miles!! Im going to let you in on my little secret.

"Fatigue is all in your head" Well at least according to Samantha McClone it is.

Sure she can say this a she is one of the greatest triathletes in the World. Its easy to say but harder to convince yourself of this when your legs are cramping up, you have slowed to the Ironman Shuffle, your breathing becomes out of synch. But really there is a theory out there that fatigue is not a product of bodily shutdown but of the brain.

When the brain senses that reserves are getting low, it begins to shut down muscle fiber recruitment in order to protect the heart from damage done by lack of oxygen. So it is not your quads giving out underneath you, but it is actually your brain telling your muscles to take it easy to avoid a physical catastrophe. You’ll experience this reduction in neural recruitment as fatigue, but there is actually always an “emergency reserve” maintained in the muscles. When you see people collapsing at 400 meters from the end of a Ironman that is the incredible mind overriding the bodies own signal to slow down. They collapse because the brain registers the finish line and that it doesn't have to push so hard anymore.

If you stop considering that pain/fatigue is a bad thing, if you can remove yourself from the immediacy of the sensations and look at pain as an objective signal, like a gas indicator light, it becomes much easier to just grit your teeth and get to the finish line as fast as possible (or get through your workout/training session), which is really the best motivation of all.


Instead of my fatigue, I focus on a few things:

Form- how do I look to a person who is standing by watching?? Is my cadence between 90-92? Are my shoulders tense on my bike? Am I correctly distributing my weight on the bike?/ Hows my form when Im running?/ Hows my cadence?? Am I landing and popping quickly?

Fuel and fluid- when I get a little cranky, I know Im down on my carbs or electrolytes. The brain runs on glycogen, and requires a steady stream of quick sugar. Am I hydrated enough? Am I following my hydration plan correctly??

Count steps/strokes/ pedal turns- Sometimes its all you can do to get through. Especially on the run. Count to a 100, I do it all the time. Then on the bike up a hill I count to 8. Again and again. It takes me out of my negative thoughts and into focusing on the here and now.

Think about why you are racing- Personal acheivement, family, charity, a bet. Whatever it may be. It is powerful knowing that someone is out there or is counting on you to finish that race.

PAIN IS TEMPORARY, PRIDE IS FOREVER!!