best laid plans..

OK first of all I want to say:

CONGRATS TO ALL YOU IRONMAN LAKE PLACID-ERS!! Special congratulations to Jennie Hansen on her 2nd OA pro finish in her debut Ironman, her husband Dave getting 4th in the M25-29 age group (also his debut Ironman), my Bradford County, PA friends Rachel and Mike Murphy (they crossed the line together!), Rochester QT2 athlete Tim Karch, and famous Rochester neurosurgeon K-Dub! Also many more that I am forgetting I'm sure. I wish I could have been there cheering like last year, but with our short-handed staff at work and me taking last Sunday night off, I just didn't want to do it. Plus, that's a really long drive to be making alone. But I was thinking about you all (and stalking tracking you too) all day!

Anyways.

I had a really strange week(end) of training.

I had a hard time bouncing back from Musselman last week. I think mostly it was due to being unable to sleep for a few days after the race (and working nights) and also, just running that far on very minimal run training. My legs were killing me through Thursday and mentally I just couldn't get going. I skipped workouts Monday and Tuesday in favor of dying on my couch and/or in my bed, and finally dragged myself out the door on Wednesday to swim (which felt awesome, btw). After that, things went as per usual. Note to self: active recovery is a very real, beneficial thing! All those people that told me to get my ass moving - you were all right! And next time I'll even listen! (Maybe.. I am nothing if not stubborn as hell).

Saturday I was scheduled for a 3 hour ride (no rest for the weary) so I mapped out a loop and rode from Mendon Ponds Park. I didn't get started until 11 am or so because I didn't sleep well that night either (probably because I spent Friday night with my friend Sam having a few drinks and then watching JAWS). I may never get into open water again. My ride really went well, especially since I was expecting it to be horrible. It was beautiful out, it was a new loop, and even when I ran into major construction on the road I was supposed to be riding on (giant rocks on the road instead of pavement for miles), I just looked at google maps on my trusty iPhone and found a way around. My 30 minute transition run did NOT go well. I ran ok for 10 minutes, then just kept getting hot, dizzy, and eventually walked the last 10 minutes in.. couldn't figure out why this happened (nutrition on the bike was good) but as I was reflecting on the day before (Friday), I had worked until 5 am, then went home and slept til 11:30 am, then I had to get up and go to a retirement party for a newly retired coworker. That is where I ate my ONLY meal of the day and it was not-good eggplant parm so I ate like 1/10 of what I actually got. Oh, and then I went to the pool and swam, showered again, and went back out where I had 2 drinks and stayed up until midnight-ish.

Really.. not the best planning in the world. It was a stupid thing to do but I honestly didn't even realize that I had barely eaten all day until I really was troubleshooting the problem as I walked back to my car after the failed T-run. My appetite and eating schedule are so f-ed up when I work nights.. I know I don't eat enough because I am never hungry (or I am hungry at really weird times, such as right before I go to sleep at 8 am) or I am nauseous from not sleeping.. it's definitely not good for me. I KNOW that affects my workout motivation on those weeks of nights! Something to work on for sure. I am still having difficulty balancing my training with my social life but I refuse to go back to hermit-land where I lived for the past 2 years!

Sunday I ran 1:13 at 7:30 am (which is definitely early for me). It was in the upper 60s so I started out actually wearing a shirt - SHOCKING, I know - but that stayed on for 4 minutes before I was too hot, and I left it sitting on top of one of those power box things at a red light - picked it up on my way back. The run went well for about 45 minutes and then my pace kept getting slower and slower. My running is so frustrating this year and I don't know what else to do about it.. Happily, getting up at 7 caused me to be done with my workouts by 10:30!

Later I went to see "The Dark Knight Rises" since I had some time to kill Sunday afternoon and I didn't really know anyone else that wanted to go see it. I haven't decided how I feel about it (and I don't want to spoil anything) other than a) it was really long and b) I froze my ass off for 2 hours and 45 minutes in the theater. I've had this weird things with motorcycles lately and if I could ride the crazy Bat-cycle thing (without accidentally killing myself) I might die happy. Oh, and Joseph Gordon Levitt is H-O-T with a capital H. I just want to hug him! (Naked hugging....?). I do love hugs.............. and I'm rambling.

And because everyone loves a post with photos.. here are some from Musselman!

typical mid-race "Alexa refuses to smile at photographer" aero photo

VERY typical "Alexa stares at Garmin with confused look on face" photo!

I actually left out the typical "Alexa's ass looks gigantic" photo that Brightroom got of me running from the swim exit to transition.. a sopping wet race kit hanging off of me = not flattering. And I thought my wetsuit made me look big. I'm sorry to whoever had to follow me and look at that! The tri kit in general is just not a flattering outfit on me! Haha.

nutrition and nuptials

I had an amazing weekend (actually, just an amazing Saturday, but who's keeping track?).

I had a 5 hour ride/30 min brick workout to do on Saturday. Because of plans later in the day, I was up at 7 and on the bike by 8:15. This was my first long ride since Ironman Coeur D'Alene which was.. 5 weeks ago? Something like that. I was eager to get back out there and build back some of the fitness that I've lost over these past few weeks.

I was determined to overcome my limiting factor on long rides which is nutrition issues. I consistently under-fuel on long rides (and apparently, in long races as well) due to sheer laziness/dislike of PBE after drinking 23987238 bottles of it in the past 18 months/the inability to acknowledge that I am, in fact, not a robot and actually need sustenance to survive.

All of these things are just excuses, and after a major fail at IMCDA and then being publicly shamed, scorned, and humiliated by Mary (ok, not really) on the Train-This google group and her blog, I made nailing my nutrition my #1 priority on this ride.

What am I *supposed* to do on long rides? Drink 1 bottle (24 oz) of PBE per hour.
What do I *actually* do on long rides? Drink maybe 1 bottle of PBE every 2 hours.
So that is half of the calories and half of the fluids that I need on these rides!

I set out from Mendon Ponds Park and rode a really fun loop that Mary had mapped out for me last summer. For you local people, I rode from MPP to 251 W, then went south on 15A, which eventually turns into 15. When I got to Wayland, I took a left and rode N on 21. I followed 21 into Naples (there are 2 left hand turns before you get there), rode up the big hill, and then veered left on 64 heading north. 64 brought me all the way back to 251 in the village of Mendon, and from there it was a short ride back to the park! I highly recommend this loop - it is 88 miles, lots of climbing (ESPECIALLY on 15A), and it's very pretty! (In reality, it took me almost 5.5 hours to do this loop so I was out there a little longer than I was supposed to be, but that's ok!).

The last time I did this loop (also a solo ride) I didn't have a great ride. When I made it to Wayland I remember texting Kim that I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish. I did, but it wasn't the best ride of my life. This ride - total opposite. I was smiling the entire time. It was beautiful out, my fitness was still there, and I was totally staying on top of my nutrition.

 I was slamming PowerBar Endurance like I was a frat boy pounding cans of Keystone Light. (They are probably both equally as disgusting, as well). I found that I can, in fact, drink 1 bottle of PBE per hour like Mary recommends, but to do it I have to drink very aggressively (i.e. more than every 15 minutes). I spent the entire ride force feeding myself but I did it, and I felt amazing! No mid-ride dizziness, no feeling like my legs couldn't pedal up any more hills, no headaches, no stopping for Coke or eating mini Snickers bars to bail me out of a nutrition deficit!

Literally, the BEST long ride in the history of me doing long rides!

And then the icing on the cake was seeing Mary on the tail-end of my ride! She knew approximately where I was and she rode out to find me to see how I was doing. I told her that I was nailing my nutrition and that I felt awesome. I made her proud and I definitely made myself proud as well!

I know, it seems ridiculous that a triathlete who has been racing since 2007, has 2 Ironman finishes and who has been coached for over a year and a half could be neglecting the most important part of long course triathlon. I just couldn't accept that the fix could be that easy. But.. it is.

Then I did a 30 min T-run off the bike and that went super well also! So.. I am sold on this nutrition thing!

After my ride I had to rush home, shower, and get ready to go to my teammate and good friend Greg's wedding to his fiance Amanda! (Note to self: do not wear a strapless dress when you are a perpetually sunburned and/or tan lined triathlete). Matthias drove to my apartment and we carpooled to the wedding in Victor, which was held at an adorable bed and breakfast. (I feel like I need to stop and make a comment here. Matthias was not my date, he is my friend and he is Greg's friend as well, and I didn't bring a date. Alexa = not dating Matthias!!!). Ken also came so there were 3 Train-This-ers (plus Greg of course) to "represent".

first dance!

This was a total Alexa-style wedding. There was a horse-drawn carriage, we sat on hay bales during the ceremony (which was performed by Greg's dad and was done outside). Greg and Amanda were giggling to each other throughout the ceremony - it was adorable. Also, I may have teared up. (Thank god for wearing sunglasses). I AM a girl after all!!!!! The reception was in a barn at the B&B and it was decorated with icicle lights and some Japanese lanterns. Din-O-Saur BBQ catered the reception, but since Matthias, me, and 2 other guests were vegetarians, the 4 of us got special food from Aladdin's! Kudos to Greg and his family for making that happen!

"well, that's awkward" -Matthias' comment!

The whole thing was very casual and I just loved it! I HATE the wedding industry. I hate that people spend $20,000+ on things like designer wedding cakes, invitations, DJs, crazy table decorations, and hideous matching bridesmaids dresses. I hate hearing the stupid chicken dance or being shoved out on the dance floor to catch the bouquet. (Please note, I do not hate weddings in general and I am thrilled when I am invited to them - I just hate all of the crap that's expensive and the stuff that is embarrassing, i.e. the whole putting the garter on the leg of the poor woman that catches the bouquet). This wedding was perfect for Greg and Amanda, and I think I get along with them so well because I love stuff like that too!

Matthias, Ken, Greg, Amanda, me

The reception lasted til 9:30 or so, and at that point we left, drove back to my apartment, and Matthias went home. I went inside, took the dress off and was relaxing sans pants (as usual) when Greg sent me a text asking me if I was going to go bowling with them. After some internal debate (well I already have my pants off vs. I need to go out and be social) I actually got dressed and went! It was fun! I was out super late which destroyed my ability to do anything on Sunday. I did run.. barely.

I probably should have broken this into 2 posts but both of these things just made for the best day ever on Saturday so I decided to keep that theme going!

CONGRATULATIONS GREG AND AMANDA!!!!!!!

pics or it didn't happen!

I have been so busy between work and training that I have barely had time to post. I know I say this every time. However, I believe that I have now *crested* over the peak volume of Ironman 2011 training Round 1 with the weekend that I just completed. Hopefully I will have a little more free time as Ironman Coeur D'Alene is a mere 5 weeks away!

Even while going full throttle at max volume, I was able to get Hedwig into the bike shop for a tune up and some new pink-ification: new hot pink bar tape and new cables/pink housing (the latter courtesy of my brother!). Instructions to the mechanic when I dropped it off: I don't care what you have to do to it to make it work better, but DO NOT take that Ironman sticker off! :)

Next weekend I have a big training weekend up in Lake Placid with Kim and a few other people, but I am on a rest week Mon-Fri.. with some big miles on Saturday and Sunday. That's atypical but I just finished week 4 of my 4 week build so a rest week was needed! And let me tell you.. I AM F-ING TIRED!

The short-ish version of this weekend:



scenic overlook of Canandaigua Lake
(one of the NY Finger Lakes)

 Saturday I did a 5:45 ride with Kim. We rode around the lake (typical) but we detoured from our usual route and rode her boyfriend's route (the big boy route) instead. Now I'm not big on "hey everybody look at my Garmin files" but this file is definitely share-able. Not because I did awesome on the ride (hello slowness) but because of the climbing that we had to do! According to Mary, I didn't do too badly with the HR for this ride. There was a lot of up, down, up, down, up, up, up! At least it was a gorgeous day for riding - FINALLY! Kim and I both got COMPLETELY sunburned on Saturday, but it was almost worth it because it was so beautiful out!



The more times that I do these long rides (5+ hours) the easier they seem to get - mentally, not necessarily physically. I am not intimidated by a 5 hour ride anymore. I don't go through super low points like I have in the past. I feel like I am riding better as I progress this season (thank god) but it's just so early still! It's freakin' MAY! I HAVE AN IRONMAN IN 5 WEEKS!!!!!!

Anyways.



I'm not sure what the point of this tree was..

Saturday night I actually had fun. (Wait.. weekends are supposed to be fun? I thought they were for getting up at the crack of dawn and cramming in as many hours of training as humanly possible before collapsing into bed at 9 pm?) I showered (for the first time that day). I put on real clothes that didn't include yoga pants (underwear? what's this??). I left my apartment (not headed for the gym. or work. or anywhere with my bike.). I drank a beer (apparently beverages other than Powerbar Endurance, and Coca-Cola are in existence).

What was all of this for?!? I went to the Lilac Festival with my British-accented, German friend/teammate, Matthias (British accents are so fun!). It's pretty self-explanatory. There are lots of lilacs, carnival foods, bands, kids, dogs, white trash, etc. The park that this festival takes place in is pretty nice (I had never really been there. I have run past it before). So we wandered around. We may have stood in line for an hour to get funnel cake. (I know - this is absolutely ridiculous. But I was half-starved after over 6 hours of workouts, Matthias raced that morning, AND he had never had one).



..but I fit inside it much better than he did!



Sunday I may have regretted that funnel cake-eating decision as my GI tract turned against me 2 hours into my 2.5 hour run. Being 30 minutes away from the closest bathroom, I did what any truly dedicated runner would do.. I went into the swampy wildlife area that I happened to be running alongside of and.. is more explanation really necessary? I don't think so.

Damn you greasy food.

Despite the "issues" I had in the tail-end of my run, I had a little self-confidence boost earlier in the run. You see, I am tired. My legs are tired, I am tired of waking up early to go to work or to train. Just in general I am very fatigued and running for 2.5 hours was the LAST thing I wanted to do on Sunday morning (especially having to go into work later that night). So the first hour of my run, which was with other people, was hard, but when Kim left me (she had a shorter run than me), it got infinitely harder. I wanted to turn around and say f- this and go home. Put my legs up. Eat lunch. Instead I walked for a minute, collected myself, ate my emergency mini Snickers bar, turned on my ipod, and started running again. It wasn't instantaneous, but 2 or 3 miles later I felt ok. Maybe not great. But ok enough to keep going. And maybe even smile a little. :)

So all is good. My weekend training is complete, and today is workout free!! Tues-Fri are recovery days, and then I head up to LAKE PLACID for a long holiday weekend full of friends, big hills, lots of miles, other crazy triathletes, comfy clothes, and the amazing Adirondack scenery!!

the cookie conundrum

F-ing blogger lost this post so I am RE-POSTING it!

Wow, I have not posted a blog in almost a week because I have been working and training like a maniac!

18 hours and change last week, 5.5 hours (89 miles on the bike) on Saturday, a little over 2 hours of running on Sunday, plus the usual extras. My quads are still not recovered from the half marathon I did a week ago - which was proven to me about 9 miles into my long run yesterday. My long run did not go well and I was disappointed with it, but.. it happens. I also forgot to wear sunscreen because it was only 55 degrees out when I started, but I got FRIED.

The ride on Saturday actually went pretty well. Ken, Kim and I rode 'round the lake (as per usual) and we got rained on pretty heavily about halfway through and subsequently froze until we got to Canandaigua. I am so freakin' SICK of this rain and we were ALL frustrated with the stupid weather! After "warming up" in the Hess Station we headed back out - luckily the sun had come out. For once, I felt halfway decent on the last half of the ride. I did fine on 5/20 and was even able to get some quality tempo work in for about an hour (I was supposed to do 90 mins). Then.. I died. It happens. Overall, I'm pretty happy with 89 miles in 5.5 hours.

Other than the normal things in my life: being busy at work, not sleeping, and training lots.. I only have one thing to write about.

Last week was not a good week. Partly due to working evenings and therefore being unable to see or really talk to any of my friends, partly due to not sleeping well all week, and then just some other stuff. Wasn't really the best week ever. On Thursday, I went to Wegmans to buy lunch after doing my workouts and also bought an iced sugar cookie from the bakery.

how could this not be delicious?

Wegmans makes the best iced sugar cookies EVER. So I was SUPER excited to eat this cookie.. it was basically the highlight of my day - perhaps even my week (is this pathetic?).

I got home from Wegmans (which, btw, is about 100 yds away from where I live) and ate my lunch. And then I went to eat my cookie, and I couldn't find it! I looked in all of the shopping bags, all over my apartment, in my car, in my purse, in the trash can (yuck), on the ground outside the apartment, EVERYWHERE. It was gone. And I was REALLY upset. Bad mood all week was made worse because of the lost cookie. I posted on facebook and got mocking answers such as "did you check your stomach?"

Yes, this is a bit sad, but you know what.. sometimes, the small things in life are what count!

I resigned the cookie as being lost forever, got ready for work, and then realized that I was running a little early. So I went BACK to Wegmans to buy a replacement cookie, and when I reached the register, my original cookie was there! I guess it had never gotten placed in my bag. So I left Wegmans happy and with TWO fish sugar cookies! (Which I then ate at work).

no one likes a bad attitude

If I were to write this post about how I am currently feeling, it would be plagued with negative thoughts, whining, and a bad attitude. Instead I am going to try to focus on the positive aspects of today's workout because Ironman is so much a mental sport. If you have a bad attitude, you aren't going to succeed. I tend to get a very, very bad attitude when it comes to riding long because I let things affect me that shouldn't. And then, since I tend to be an emotional person and ride, race, and live my life with my heart on my sleeve, my ride is directly affected by my bad attitude.

With that said..

I had a 4 hour ride and a 30 minute run on the schedule for today. Since it is now April and the forecast was in the 40s, Kim and I decided to ride outside. I showed up at her house at 10:30 (we wanted to give it time to warm up) and a 3rd girl, Caillie (who is doing Ironman Lake Placid this year and whose boyfriend I met yesterday at the bike shop and he sent her to us) met us there to tagalong on part of our ride. We left at 11 am sharp dressed in tights, wool socks, toe covers, gloves, hats, and several layers on top. We planned to ride from Kim's house, around Canandaigua Lake, back to Kim's - about a 4:30 ride (a little longer than what was on tap). I was excited to finally be off the trainer!

It became quickly apparent that my bike fitness has a LOOOOOOOONG way to go before my Ironman which is 12 weeks away (if you missed that somehow). Climbing hills was.. interesting. Kim was destroying me. We made all of our regular stops at our regular gas stations to refuel, recaffeinate, and rest. I was doing ok for the first 3 hrs and 30 minutes of the ride. After that, my attitude went downhill. Instead of bitching, I am going to list my issues and how I am going to try to resolve them by positive thinking.

1) 3:30 into this particular route (that I ride ALL the time) is my least favorite part - riding west on routes 5&20 which is a road that goes from west of Rochester, through all the Finger Lake villages, out to who knows where it ends. At around Canandaigua, it goes up and down these really big rollers that I just HATE. I know that this part is coming and I dread it. What I need to do to get past this mental block is drive out to 5&20, leave my car, and ride up and down this road for several hours just tackling these stupid hills. If I could get past the mental block of this section of the ride I think I would be happier and mentally in a better place.

2) Kim destroyed me on this ride. Kim has always been faster than me on the bike which is fine. Everyone has good and bad days and we are usually not too far away from each other. But today, it took her all of 5 minutes to leave me in the dust, over and over and over again. This is a huge issue for me because it makes me feel like I am slow, that I suck, that I am going to get passed by 1000 people at Ironman, and that I am out of shape and won't be ready. What I fail to get through my brain is that Kim has a year more long course experience than I do, she currently is not running due to a sprained ankle so is doing WAY more volume on the bike than I am (which makes her way fitter on the bike than me), and that everybody is different. I cannot let the green-eyed monster destroy my confidence. Plus, Kim has her own issues to deal with concerning her ankle and shouldn't have to deal with giving me 50 pep talks during a ride.

3) It was windy as shit. There is nothing I can do about this. I can't control the weather. What if it's windy in Coeur D'Alene? I should use training rides like this to my advantage. It's not always 65 and sunny at Ironman!

4) I'm slow as shit. It's April 2nd. It's been a long winter on the trainer. We rode for over an hour longer than we were supposed to due to the loop we did (5:10 instead of 4:00). My fitness will return. I need to get OVER it and just focus on what I need to do in order to get in shape. I'm slow now? I have 12 weeks. Suck it up Alexa!

Race tomorrow, stay tuned!

solo rides are the weird rides

Today's 6 hour ride was not one of my better ones. Neither of the 2 people I ride with were riding long. Ken is in Maryland (I think) for some crazy long swim and Kim is on a rest week. I got some offers to ride with people tomorrow, but I like to get my long ride done on Saturday, and I thought it would be good for me (mentally) to do at least one 6 hour ride solo.

I got started kind of late but.. I work rotating shifts and sometimes I just want to freakin sleep!!! Unfortunately I did not get home til 7 pm because of my late start!

Coach Mary mapped out a route for me on this cool website: www.bikeroutetoaster.com. It shows elevation, has cue sheets, and other neat things. It also lets you export the map to a Garmin. I own a Garmin eTrex Vista which is a small hiking Garmin, so I sent the file to the device so that I could bring it along (I am notorious for getting lost when out by myself on a new bike route). For some reason, the file kept truncating so I only had about half of the route on the Garmin. I figured "no problem" because the part that it was missing was easy to remember. Well I got to Mendon which is where I typically start my long rides and I could not figure out the stupid cue sheet. It was a simple enough loop (like 4 major roads) but the cue sheet had 2 pages worth of directions (seriously there were like 5 turns in this entire ride) so I just ditched the cue sheet and decided to wing it. Because of this, I don't even know if I did it the right way or backwards (I don't know which way Mary mapped it out for me) because I just wound up following the half-map on my Garmin.

It was like 65 degrees when I started out, and overcast. I had armwarmers on and a short sleeved jersey. Within 20 minutes I swear to god the sun came out and it was 80 degrees. I ditched the armwarmers and proceeded with 6 hours of sweating like a fat man. I headed down 15A going south. 15A sucked. It was just a huge gradual climb with one big downhill in the middle. I thought I was never going to reach flat roads. I was dying from the heat, bees were swarming me, and I was going like 13 mph. I finally made it into the town of Wayland in a little under 3 hrs. Basically small hicktown USA. I stopped at a gas station. I went inside to pee and noticed that my legs were shaking. Yikes. I bought water, gatorade, and a Coke. I texted Kim that I was not feeling so good. She gave me some words of motivation, told me to slow down my pace (if I were to slow down anymore I'd be going backwards!) and concentrate on nutrition. Thank god for Kim. She also taught me the "drink Coke on a crappy ride" trick. I drank half the bottle of Coke. I don't know what it is about soda. I have a serious addiction. The delightful combination of fizz, caffeine, and HFCS make me so happy!!! The Coke totally lifted my dejected spirits. I decided not to make the gas station my temporary home and instead headed back out. Kim had suggested I take the easier route back (I.e. back the way I came) but I could just not stomach going back up 15A. So horrible and boring! So I continued on to Naples.

Can I just say that I did not have good luck with my nutrition today. I had some Clif Shot Blocks and they are now so disgusting to me that I could barely force myself to eat them. So now I will be bringing a box of those to training camp to give away as well. Also, I brought the new Powerbar PERFORM drink with me and it BLOWS! I don't know what they did to the original Powerbar Endurance (which I LOVE) but this new stuff sucks. It tastes like someone pissed in a perfectly good bottle of PBE and then packaged it up. Yummm.. or not.

Anyways, the Coke revived me and settled my stomach a little. I got chased by a tiny dog in Naples and then I saw a personalized license plate that even a certified science nerd (=me) thought was dorky. It said: meniscus. Yup. I SERIOUSLY considered jumping in Canandaigua Lake as I rode by.. fully clothed (or naked)!!!

I climbed the giant KIMWORD hill out Naples. (Kim is a Train-This athlete with a filthy mouth who also sends the most hilarious emails I have ever read - I can't wait to meet her!). I almost got hit by a guy in a truck pulling a trailer. I stopped at the gas station with the Adirondack chairs (to get more Coke - it is an evil cycle once you start drinking it) and some guy started talking to me about Ironman. He told me that he was the "Ironman of smoking cigarettes" ..... not sure I'd be bragging about that.

I finally made it back to my car.. to have to run 30 minutes at 8:30 pace, but no faster. HAH. I couldn't run 8:30 pace after a 6 hour ride if Bin Laden HIMSELF was chasing me with a suicide vest strapped to his chest. Honestly though, the run went pretty well.

I am kind of pissed about having a bad nutrition day. I was nauseous for almost the entire ride (headache and queasy stomach). I still ate everything but my stomach was not happy and I'm suprised that I didn't have to stop and barf along the way.

Kudos to Mendon Ponds Park for having freezing cold water spickets. I almost sat underneath the thing because the water felt so good on my legs.

And now I am home and ready to pass out.

I am sunburnt AGAIN and the left side of my body got the worst of it.. AGAIN! I look like a freak.

big weekend! (big ride/race report)

I haven't blogged at all this weekend because I wanted to wait and do a recap once this weekend was over. This was probably my biggest training weekend so far this year. On Saturday I had a 4 hour ride with the last 90 minutes at tempo pace, with a 30 min T-run at 7:45 pace afterwards. Sunday I had the Flower City Challenge Inaugural 1/2 Marathon. I was to run this as a training run to practice pacing and nutrition. More on this later.

Friday evening I did a breakfast-for-dinner carbo load at Jines. I ate 2 chocolate chip pancakes (I can only eat pancakes if they have choc. chips in them!), 1 egg, hash browns, and 2 slices of toast. Yummmm.

Saturday morning I had a protein shake 2 hours before my ride and some shot blocks 1 hour before. I met Ken and Kim in Victor at 11. We rode through Bristol, around Canandaigua Lake and then back to Victor. It was the perfect weather - 70 degrees. I wore shorts, a jersey and armwarmers. Pulled the armwarmers off maybe halfway through. I ate shot blocks every 45 mins and drank Powerbar Endurance throughout my ride. Kim gave me some salt tabs to try and a mini Snickers bar. I'm going to start riding with both of these things. I also am going to experiment with what I'm drinking as I still think I'm not taking in enough calories. Let me tell you, I think I need to pick it up on my training rides. Kim toasted me and I usually feel pretty confident on the bike. I think I'm doing my E-rides too slowly. This is the great thing about group rides- they motivate you to HTFU! I also hit my tempo pace for the first time ever (on the bike) and got in a good hour at tempo effort. Then we hit Victor (arriving 30 mins ahead of schedule) and that's when I started to unravel. I think it was a combo of losing "the zone" on the bike, and having to go past my car which is where I thought I'd be stopping, and probably not having enough calories. I need to figure out how to tough it through this because I need to be able to ride strongly past the 3.5 hour mark! Lake Placid is only 3 months away so that's like 10 or so long rides left for me to figure this out on!!!!! Did about 70 miles at 17.2 average mph or so. Then I was a mess on the run. My legs were dead and I only pulled an 8:15 pace. Left me feeling discouraged after what had started out as such a good ride. It was sooo good to ride with people.. even if we were spread out at times due to Ken's and my tempo and our slightly differing paces. I'm hoping to make riding with teammates a regular thing on Sundays! So things I learned: need to put in a little more effort on Zone 2 rides, need to eat more on the bike, need to be more confident towards the end of the ride so I can finish strongly.

I ate pasta for dinner and relaxed on the couch (with the cat of course) with my legs up!

I got up at 5:15 this morning, ate a protein shake and some toast for breakfast. Had some shot blocks at 6:30. I picked up Andy and we drove over to the War Memorial. Race started at 7:30. I wore shorts, short sleeved shirt, armwarmers, and a visor. I was feeling pretty sluggish so I did absolutely no warmup. I had a gel at the start. I was instructed to go out at 8:20 pace and then maintain an average pace of 8:05 - 8:35 throughout the race. I went out in about 8:00 (opps). I was feeling pretty crappy for the first 5 or so miles - my legs were super tired. Good thing I had gotten the idea of a PR out of my mind when I saw my race plan because even if I was told to go race my ass off, it wouldn't have happened today. I saw Mary M. on the course a few times and she is an awesome cheerer! I drank a few sips of Gatorade at every aid station. Jason W. caught me on Park Ave. and we ran together til the cemetary. I took some of a gel here but then at that point I had to go to the bathroom (of course) so I picked it up to try to get to a porta-potty. Had to run through the entire cemetary before finding one at like mile 9. In and out in a minute or so. Then I tried to make up some time. Caught back up with Jason and finished feeling pretty good. I dropped my 2nd gel after only having a little bit of it. I really need to switch to shot blocks on the run - it might make me do better at eating. This was my main goal for the race and I did not execute that very well. My chip time was 1:50 but my Garmin says 1:48:something. I think overall pace was 8:14. Other than the first mile I think my pace was pretty good. I started a little too fast which is easy to do. The race was well organized and I loved running through the cemetary! I wish I could have enjoyed it more instead of worrying about a porta-potty! Running with Jason was nice but I think we both slowed down a little, but there were hills when I was running with him so it could have been that (up Goodman and then in the cemetary). It was a nice distraction from my achy legs! I got a nice finisher's medal and a plastic beer cup thing. I am all for supporting the city of Rochester!

So all in all..

Nutrition: I sucked. I HATE gels. I need to stop trying to force myself to eat them and switch to something that I know I will eat. I did that on the bike and maybe I will have to do it on the run as well. Gels are convenient but they are horrible.

GI Issues: This also wasn't good. I couldn't go before the race and that was my problem. If I could have gone I would have been fine for the race. I was out of applesauce which is totally my fault. I will try the applesauce thing next time.

Pacing: OK, but could have been better if I had gone out more slowly.