understanding the tri-chick

I have decided to compile a list of tips so that men can better understand the inner-workings of tri-chicks.

DISCLAIMER: I really have no idea what I'm talking about. Clearly this is just based on my own personal experience. Also, this is aimed at no one in particular. This tri-chick is single. :)

I'm going to define tri-chicks as women who are obsessed with triathlon. Most of these women: hate missing workouts, still want to be thought of as pretty even when they have just finished 6 hours of riding/blowing snot rockets, enjoy when they can outride men but they want their boyfriend/husband to be faster so they can brag to other tri-chicks, want to know more about fixing their bicycles, cry at some point over a failed training ride or race, get intimidated when faster looking, fitter tri-chicks show up at races.

Tip #1: Don't complain when your tri-chick goes out on a training ride. Use this time to get your own training in or go with her!! (Because really, should a tri-chick date anyone other than a tri-dude?)

Tip #2: Tell your tri-chick that she is pretty, or hot, or is smokin' fast. Or SOMETHING. Sometimes, girls need validation. This is true for all girls. I don't care how self confident a girl is, compliments are necessary.

Tip #3: Do something with your tri-chick that doesn't involve triathlon. As much as we love triathlon and could talk about it 24/7, it's nice to get a break. It's nice to put clothes on that don't include shoes with cleats or a sports bra. Here is a perfect opportunity to tell your tri-chick that she cleans up nice!

Tip #4: When a tri-chick is going on and on and on about some other tri-chick's race splits, and she is trying to figure out who is faster, just agree with her. I know it's boring, but sometimes we get obsessed with our competition. Unless you have something constructive to add, or new data that you discovered via race result stalking - then by all means, pipe up!

Tip #5: Sometimes, after a long ride, a tri-chick's crotch hurts. Do I have to explain further?



In all seriousness, I think most ladies just want to be appreciated. I know that I have dated a whole bunch of jerk-ish guys that did not care whether or not they were dating me. I would happy if a guy was just nice to me for a change!

new week, new leaf

All of last week I was just wishing for the week to be over, and now it is Monday and my wish has come true! New week, new leaf, new attitude for this girl. Time to get my MOJO back (according to MARY!)!!!

I had a decent training weekend. Mary cut my workouts down due to my incessant whining last week. It was Mary's version of the hug I was so desperately seeking! I rode 2:30 instead of 3 on Saturday and ran 1:20 on Sunday instead of 1:30. (I was supposed to cut them down to ride 2 hrs/run 1 hr - I went a little over on both days). The ride went ok, albeit slowly, and I did stop halfway up a big hill (Miller Hill for you locals) because my heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I know I can (I have) ride up this hill.. when I have other people watching me. When I am alone, I stop. Pussy. My run Sunday was ok. It was trail-ish running so that was different but it was pretty hot out. I do have new sneakers though so I'm hoping those will help my legs feel better.

IM Louisville was on Sunday so I tried to track my friends at various points throughout the day - they had a SCORCHER of a day for their race (it was 96 degrees out) and apparently the aid stations ran out of water for a portion of the bike course. I'm not exactly sure how that happened. My creepy blog friend Jon just informed me that over 800 people DNFed.. YIKES!

Sunday I also went to the New York State Fair which is in Syracuse. I have been an official resident of NY since 2007 however I have NEVER been to the state fair. I ate a lot of good food, drank several wine slushies, saw some animals, played with a llama (probably the highlight of my day - I wanted to steal it!). I learned that there are several things that 2 straight men should never do together (per Ultra Adam). These things include: riding down one of those double tubes at a water park, riding on a tandem bicycle, going to a horse show together, and diving simultaneously into a pool of water (shirtless, of course).

Now I am back in Rochester and back to work on my 2nd week of evenings in a row. I shouldn't complain because I willingly switched with other people and that is what landed me with these weeks of B-shift. I don't mind switching. ESPECIALLY this week because it got me off of overnights. However, I am starting to feel a little deprived of human contact. When I am on evenings I don't talk to anyone! I haven't seen my friend Ari since the week I came back from Placid, and I haven't seen Kim since the Ironman picnic.

I would definitely not consider myself to be overly-social but I miss my friends!

I will live. And I have a 3 day weekend coming up!

off-season planning!

I have been racking my brain to come up with activities to do during my off-season, which starts Sept. 20th and ends Oct. 31st. I know that everyone thinks that I am a freak because I plan this far in advance.. I cannot WAIT until off-season where nothing is structured, however, I need some sort of daily physical activity. If you don't know me well, there are several ways that I can accurately describe myself: anxious, impatient, high strung, etc. These are just a few adjectives (hopefully there are some better ones also). If you DO know me well, then you know Alexa needs to avoid getting on the bus to crazy-town. I need to exercise to maintain a grip on my sanity. I am actually ALREADY worried about what I am going to do during my off-season and it's a freaking month away and I have a freaking race to do first! But, if I can't occupy myself with some daily cardio I am going to gain 30 lbs and end up watching 6 hours of LOST on my couch every night while popping Valium and Oreos. Maybe that is an exaggeration, maybe not. Either way, that needs to be avoided. I know that losing fitness is inevitable and I am trying to come to terms with that, however I cannot lose my mind also!

BUTTTTT.. I do NOT want to train anymore. I AM DONE.

So I am working on coming up with alternatives to the daily grind of swim, bike, run, then swim some more, bike some more, run some more.

Some ideas I have come up with are lots and lots of trail running. This is way different than regular road running, which right now is just running for the sake of getting the miles in because I have a race in 3 weeks. I can trail run during the week (around my work scedule), there are trails close by, I don't have to wearing my f-ing HR monitor. I can get muddy! I can look around at the trees and the deer! No worrying about Zone 2, no Garmin, NO TEMPO!!! Real running! I might even trip over something and fall down! Maybe I can run with other human beings!

I would add mountain biking to this list but since some douchebag stole my mountain bike, I cannot.

On the weekends I can make day trips to places such as Ithaca, Watkins Glen, and Letchworth Park where I can do some hiking/gorge playing/photo taking.

One thing I have been wanting to do for a while is do an overnight trip to Niagara Falls on my bike. It would be a fun ride and then I could do sweet Canada touristy stuff like go to the falls, check out some strip clubs (haha) and more! I'm not sure how far it is but I don't think it's too bad. I mean, come on, I am Ironman fit people! I would love to do a border crossing with my passport on my bicycle! However, I do not really have a suitable bike for this. The plan was to buy a road bike - either a Trek Madone or a Specialized Ruby - this fall so I could do some light touring but it turns out that Ironman is wicked expensive and I just don't have the money. I suppose I COULD make the trip on my Cervelo but I would have no way to bring things with me. Not that I would need much, a change of clothes, shoes that don't have cleats on the bottom, my wallet, camera, etc. but it's still enough that I don't know where I'd put it. Also, I don't really want to do this shit by myself because that would be LAME.

Adventures aren't nearly as fun when you are going solo.

Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about what to do during my off-season, but rather trying to find someone who wants to participate in off-season shenanigans with me!

things to think about..

So I realize that I have been ultra-depressing lately and although I am still feeling gloomy and burnt out, I am not going to talk about it anymore! (After this paragraph). I cannot believe that I am the only Lake Placid participant that feels this way (I am sure that I am not) however I do believe that I am THE MOST vocal person on Train-This and that is why my situation is being used as an example by Mary (which is totally fine, btw). I bitch and moan about how I feel like crap all over my blog and facebook and of course, everyone reads it. So yes, I am a whiny little baby but I am going to shut up now.

I am attempting to think of more positive things. Such as next year. One of my main goals for next year is to volunteer at more races. So far I have volunteered at about 1 race per year. That's better than nothing but it's pretty lame. Although volunteering at Musselman may have been the longest day of my life.. I will probably not do that again!

There are several reasons that I want to help out more at local races.

The main reason is that triathlon makes me incredibly happy and I want to give back to something that has had such a positive impact on my life.

Also, I have gotten some feedback recently from volunteers about how I come across as an athlete. I had no idea that me being grateful towards the volunteers had so much impact on them. I cannot imagine being anything OTHER than nice towards a volunteer who is out there busting their ass to make my race better for me, without getting ANYTHING in return other than free coffee and a t-shirt. So when I say "thank you" to someone handing me a cup of Gatorade or someone stopping traffic, I mean it! My coach actually got an email from a volunteer (which she forwarded to me) who was at the Cazenovia Triathlon that said that I was the most gracious athlete at the race. Both that email and Mary's added words of kindness impacted me to such a degree that I printed the email out and hung it on my refrigerator.

I was prouder of that feedback than I was of how I placed at the race. You don't earn respect just by being the fastest athlete out there (which I obviously am NOT). Chrissie Wellington wouldn't be so universally loved if she didn't stand at the finish line of every race that she does and hand out medals to the finishers.

In the end, you are remembered by how you treat others and not just by your accomplishments. This is what is important and what I need to keep in mind. Yeah I may be having a crappy week, but I can still contribute to the triathlon community by doing something other than whining about my failing recovery.

hello burnout, my name is Alexa

I hate to say this. I really really hate it. But I am burnt the f- out.

Admitting burnout is like admitting defeat.

I have never felt like this. I have never skipped workouts before. I have never not wanted to do my workouts! I rode the Syracuse course hoping it would motivate me and instead it just left me feeling like I am going to suck on race day. Not a good attitude to have!

Today I had a 1 hour OWS on my schedule. I drove down to the lake - probably a 45 min drive. It was freaking COLD and rainy out. I swam one loop of the buoys doing intervals - hard to a buoy, easy to the next buoy, repeat, repeat, repeat. I got back to the buoy closest to the shore, stopped, and had a 5 min. debate with myself whether to just get out of the water and call it a day, or to head back out and do another loop. I managed to convince myself to do that 2nd loop. Mainly because I didn't want to see that 30 min. deficit on my weekly training schedule. I forgot my watch so I don't even know how long I swam for. 2 loops probably is less than 1 hour but f- that.

This sucks. I am so disappointed in myself for feeling like this! I am the last person to have a bad attitude towards training. I am ALWAYS ready to train and race! What is wrong with me??!

I will power through until Syracuse. I have to because I already registered and I will not waste $250. I still WANT to do Syracuse. I just can't get my body to cooperate.

Maybe the fall weather will motivate me when it gets here. I do love fall! :)

Also big congrats to Jon for a smokin' fast time of 5:08 at Timberman, Mandy with a time of 6:50 at Timberman, my friend Brett for PRing an unknown half-IM in a time of 4:55, and Coach Mary for winning the Delta Lake Triathlon (also all of the people that I know raced but it would take FOREVER to list you all)! Look at all of you speedy mcspeedsters out there!

Syracuse 70.3 preview

Yesterday morning I headed over to Syracuse (about an hour and fifteen minutes away) to ride the Syracuse 70.3 bike course, since I will be racing there in a mere 4 weeks.

I have heard many things about this course from teammates, etc. who have ridden it. It also has changed several times over the past few months. Regardless, I wanted to see it for myself.

Anyways, I met up with Ultra Adam at his house (Ultra Adam lives in Syracuse) in the morning because he was going to ride it with me. We threw our bikes in his car and drove over to Jamesville Beach Park. It was overcast, in the mid 70s, and felt stormy out. We headed out on our ride. I would say that within the first mile or 2, there is a fairly steep hill that I did not like. Then the course levels out until about mile 4, where you take a right hand turn onto "Sweet Road" which is not very accurately named. Once on Sweet Rd., you climb until mile 10. It's a small ring climb but I was able to spin up the entire hill without much of a problem, it's just long. And it was windy as shit out - the wind was way more annoying than the hill.

Then I would say that mile 10 to about mile 35 are rolling hills, not much fun, with 2 relatively steep climbs thrown in there. Somewhere in here is where you ride past the giant elephant statue which I did take a photo of but cannot currently get it to upload! Still random though.. seeing an elephant statue in the middle of a field.

It's not until after mile 35-ish that I felt like I could really move on the course. There were a couple back roads that were downhill and twisty that were pretty fun to ride!

Anyways, the Garmin doesn't lie. It took us about 3 hrs 18 mins to ride the course and my average was 16.8 mph. YUCK.

So I was not riding very fast. It took me an hour to ride the first 15 miles. And it turns out that I cannot keep up with Adam AT ALL. This doesn't really bother me (ok it might bother me a little) but since he was leading the way, as long as I could see him a red speck in the distance in front of me, I was ok. But I would try to catch up and just fail miserably. Granted, I do not ride with a TON of different people, but I have never seen anyone climb hills like Adam does.. like I have never seen anyone freaking accelerate up a hill before!

One observation of the course - instead of having a balloon as the logo (apparently there is a big hot air balloon festival there) it should be a cow. Or a giant pile of cow shit. Or maybe a large genetically modified ear of corn. There are all things that were plentiful along the course, however I did not see a SINGLE hot air balloon!

I tried to run off the bike after we got back to Adam's. Try being the operative word. We rode right through lunch and I felt like crap so I walked a bunch during my run. Not cool. Then I laid down in the grass in Adam's front yard for 5-10 minutes until I realized there were probably bugs crawling ALL OVER ME. He did make me a smoothie in his Magic Bullet (the blender, not the vibrator) which was super nice of him, and it made me feel less like death.

So my summary of this course is that it does NOT ride fast, however it is pretty. It's not the hardest thing I've ever ridden, but I don't think that Syracuse 70.3 will be a PR day for me. I hate to go in with a negative mindset but I really don't think it's that likely. I am not running well and the bike course just starts out so slowly, and there really isn't a big downhill to negate the 6 miles of uphill in the beginning. However, this is just my personal P.O.V.

daydreamers anonymous

I think you can break endurance athletes into 2 groups: those who focus inward when they train, and those who focus outward (or "zone out" as I like to say).

I am definitely, DEFINITELY #2.

Sometimes when I am running long, I will look down at my garmin and realize that I am 5 more miles into my run and it felt like only 10 minutes passed.

I am going to give my opinion here, and note that this is based on absolutely zero research. I think probably most pros and elite level triathletes (and other endurance athletes) utilize method one during training (and racing). They WANT to think about their pace, and their form, and their heart rate, and concentrating on how badly they feel over a period of time helps them train better AND more intelligently.

I want to think about all that stuff too, but it's easier and more fun to just ignore it and daydream. Workouts go by more quickly, albeit they are probably more shittily executed (sometimes I cannot always hit my tempo sections in long rides and I wonder if this is part of the reason).

Honestly I think that's what it comes down to. I am a MAJOR daydreamer. Not just in training.. all the freaking time! When I was in college and I would go to the library to study for exams, my ratio of study time : daydream time was probably 70:30. That is a LOT of wasted time! However I think it also saved my sanity at the time.

So if you see me on a training ride and I don't acknowledge you, I am probably daydreaming about Kona, competing in the Olympics, climbing Mt. Everest, marrying George Clooney anyone rich and/or famous, or something that is not rated PG-13. :)

Someday I will have to make the switch. I think it will help me improve. However, I think that switch will happen about when I give up eating chocolate every freaking day, which is going to be never.