This whole past week was a wash.  I was sick for several days and it was just about all I could do to drag myself to work and then home again.  I even ended up going home sick on Thursday because I could barely stand upright without getting dizzy.  It was bizarre.

But I’m feeling much better today!

Tonight I figured since I could breathe again and the room was no longer spinning, I would head down to the treadmill and just run whatever felt alright.  I ended up doing a nice 8 mile run.  I could easily have gone longer except that my hip was getting tight, so I foam rolled instead while the dogs tried to climb all over me and lick me.

So now that I’m all recovered, the plan for this week is:

• Monday – Swim 2000 yards, bike 30 miles
• Tuesday – Swim 2000 yards, run 6 miles
• Wednesday – Bike 30 miles, run 6 miles (possibly a brick workout)
• Thursday – Swim 2000 yards, run 6 miles
• Friday – REST DAY
• Saturday – Swim 2500 yards, run 16 miles
• Sunday – Bike 40 miles (heart rate zone 1 – active recovery ride)

I may decrease the distances for the bike – I’ll have to see how long they’re taking.  I don’t mind being on the trainer for a while, but for a zone 2 ride, I usually end up doing just over 15 mph.  So it might be a bit much to have a two hour trainer ride after work during the week.

Looking forward to a healthy week of training!  I’m feeling good about the upcoming marathon.  I’ve been doing well with my training, so hopefully race day will go well too.  You really never know.

And now for some ramblings…

Marathon training

With only 8 weeks to the DC marathon, training is going well.  This past week was my 14 miler, which actually felt good!  I finally got my hands on the new GU Peanut Butter gels to try them out (and one of their old classics – chocolate).  I’ve never been a fan of gels because the texture always creeped me out, but I’m a huge peanut butter addict (well, former, since I discovered this homemade almond butter from OSG – holy crap, I have to make a double batch every week, it’s better than peanut butter!), so I figured I’d give these a shot.  Plus, the texture of a gel isn’t too far off from regular peanut butter anyway – I think the thing that bothered me had something to do with fruity flavors in a gel.  It just didn’t seem right to me.

The verdict:

The chocolate is amazing – just like chocolate frosting!  Definitely a winner.  I had heard this from Chelsea, but hadn’t yet tried it myself.

The peanut butter is quite good!  It’s not exactly like peanut butter – more like honey and peanut butter mixed together (the exact description both my husband and I came to separately), but it’s yummy.  I could see using that and the chocolate in the future.

As for the No Meat Athlete training group – I haven’t been taking advantage of the group discussions too much yet, but I intend to do so more in the next few weeks.  Matt’s emails have been a nice reminder of what I should be focusing on and roughly where I should be in my training.  I like to make my own training plans (excel geek here) but it’s good to see that I’m running similar distances as others in the group for my long runs.  Coming up is our live chat which should be entertaining and informative.  But what I’m most looking forward to is just having a group on race day.  Even though we won’t all be running together, it will be great to have dinner together the night before, and gather the morning of, etc.  I’ve never run with a group (aside from the workforce challenge, which doesn’t count) at an event before, so this should be a lot of fun.

On the ironman side of things…

I’ve been continuing to include biking and swimming every week to build up my endurance in those events, practice my form, and use it as crosstraining for the marathon.

Things are going well.  I’m loving being in the pool, even though it’s frustrating when the lanes are crowded (the other day was a nightmare).  My form is improving, and I feel like I’m making progress, so we’ll see.

The bike still continues to kick my butt.  But it’s nice to get on the trainer (I ended up with a CycleOps Mag+), pop in a Friends DVD and just get my legs moving for an hour or two.

After much thought and research (which, admittedly, I could have done a better job of beforehand, but live and learn…) I decided to defer my HITS entry to the 2013 race season

But wait for it…

Not because I don’t want to do the iron distance this year.

I just want to do a different (more established) one.

Like many others, I think the HITS races have a ton of potential, but this is their first year, and the field for the long course races (half iron and full iron distance) is extremely small – the Naples full iron distance race only had 20 people a few weeks ago.  Since this is going to be my first iron distance race, I really want it to be a great experience.  And while I don’t mind being pretty much by myself out on the course, I want to come in to a great finish line – not just a couple people standing there.

So I signed up for the Beach2Battleship race in Wilmington, NC on October 20th.  It’s a great, well-established race, and I’ve heard nothing but wonderful things about it.

As for HITS, I’ll do either the Naples or Cooperstown race in 2013 – probably Naples since it’s in January and I want to do the Lake Placid Ironman in July (the day before my 30th birthday!).  Cooperstown is in September, which will be too soon after Lake Placid to really be recovered.  But we’ll see.  I definitely want to support HITS because I think it would be great to get another organization out there putting on the long course events.  And they have the potential to put on a good one.  It’s just going to take some time to get their momentum going.

So it looks like the plan for the next year(ish) is:

March 17th – DC Rock n Roll Marathon

June – September – some local tris (2 olympics and a half iron), training with my local tri club, and volunteering as a bike course marshal at Ironman Lake Placid

October 20th – Beach2Battleship full iron

January 2013 – HITS Naples full iron (my parents live not far from there and we were planning on being in the area anyway for the holidays)

July 21, 2013 – Ironman Lake Placid

After that, sleep.

Speaking of which, I need to get to sleep so I can get to the pool in the morning!  After witnessing a head-on collision in my lane the other day (after work, very crowded, people not paying attention and/or following standard pool etiquette), I don’t want to swim in the afternoon again.  Yikes.

The book appeared the other day and I read it cover to cover and loved it.  The focus of the book is on eating whole foods that aren’t processed – really nothing we didn’t already know was good for us.  But it’s laid out in a way that makes it an easy and enjoyable read, and includes a meal plan and a bunch of recipes (even more in Thrive Foods).

I already eat vegan, so this really wasn’t a huge leap for me to try.  However, most of the foods are raw or nearly raw (lots of fruits, veggies, and nuts), which is a bit different from how I was eating (lots of cooking at high temperatures, breads, etc.).

So today I started to adjust my food intake.  For most of the day I ate lots of fruits and veggies, and felt fantastic.  For dinner, I departed from that a bit since I had some things I wanted to use up in the fridge, so I made our favorite vegan crab cakes.

After dinner it was time for my 12 miler, and I felt excellent!  This was a big deal – I haven’t had a good run in weeks.  Especially the last few days.  I have felt so sluggish and terrible.  So it was very exciting to have a run where my legs felt good.

After my run I popped back some delicious blueberries (how did I not like those when I was a kid??).

It’s a bit strange to not track my food – something I usually do when training since my caloric need is all over the place during that time.  But one of the points of Brendan’s book is when you’re eating these high net gain foods (foods that give you the most bang for your buck, so to speak), you don’t need to eat as much of them to feel full or get the nutrients you need.  So there is no calorie tracking – you eat what you feel you need to eat.

I was skeptical of this at first, but so far, I would agree.  I ate when I felt hungry, and chose whole foods, and never felt deprived.  I didn’t end up with any big lulls in energy throughout the day, and I felt great during my run.

I intend to continue experimenting with a raw vegan diet, and we’ll see how it goes!

I found an even BETTER way to make this DIY workout headband!

Step 1: Measure your head to determine the length of your headband.

Step 2: Cut a 3″ piece of elastic.

Step 3: Cut your ribbon to 3″ LESS than what you measured for your total headband length.

Step 4: Cut your velvet into a strip that is 1″ wider and 1″ longer than your ribbon

Step 5: Fold the velvet in half lengthwise (RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER) and sew the long edge closed.

Step 6: Turn the velvet right side out.  Fold the raw ends in.  By now, the velvet tube should be just slightly shorter than the ribbon.

Step 7: Pin the velvet to the back of the ribbon with one end of the elastic in between the ribbon and the velvet.  The other end of the elastic should be free.  Make sure the elastic and velvet are centered on the ribbon.  When you pin the velvet to the ribbon, center the long seam along the side of the velvet that won’t be showing.  Fold the raw edges of the ribbon under when you pin.

Step 8: When you get to the end, insert the free end of the elastic between the ribbon and velvet and pin in place.

Step 9: Starting at one end, sew the velvet to the ribbon.  Make sure you sew as straight as possible and a consistent distance away from the edge of the ribbon (the stitches will show on the right side of the ribbon).  Sew all the way around the velvet (make a rectangle).

Step 10: Trim the threads and enjoy!

For example:

CycleOps PowerTap wheel with computer – These typically run for $1500 at the lowest.  They’re not necessary for tris, but they make your training much more effective and are a fantastic resource if you can afford one.  I managed to find a used one online for $375.  Woot!  It still works great, but the guy who was using it got a bike that takes smaller wheels and can’t use it anymore.  So thanks to him, I can get into power training!  Eventually I’d love to get a really nice system, but since I’m just starting out, this will work great for now.

Aerobars – Aerobars are pretty standard for longer tris.  They make you more aerodynamic, plus it’s just more comfortable.  These typically cost $75+ for a really basic set.  I have a coworker friend and her husband who had a pair laying around and “donated” them to the cause.  Thanks!!!

I popped the aerobars onto my bike today and tried them out for a few minutes after my run tonight.  It feels so weird!  I just need to get used to it, but it will take time.  It will also be a LOT better once I get my professional bike fitting done at my local bike shop – an absolute MUST.

I feel like I’ve learned so much in just a few weeks.  I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time on triathlon websites and forums (a great one to check out is Beginner Triathlete), asking questions and doing lots of reading.  I’ve found a couple great books too:

The Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joe Friel (If you’re looking for only ONE book to get, this is the one.  Holy information overload, Batman!)

Strength Training for Triathletes by Patrick Hagerman

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance by Lennard Zinn

So the last two weeks of training have been good.  Things have been shifted around just a bit because of the holidays, but I’ve gotten all my runs in, plus some time on the bike and in the pool.

Week of 12/19:

• 3 short runs of 5 miles each
• Long run of 8 miles, trying out heart rate training in zone 2 – it was crazy slow.
• No biking or swimming since we were out of town for Christmas

Week of 12/26:

• 3 short runs of 5 miles each, plus one 2.8 mile bonk that was supposed to be a 10 miler
• Long run of 10 miles on the treadmill – didn’t worry about heart rate, just went slow so I was very comfortable.
• 41 miles on the bike trainer, usually paired with a run of some sort to get my legs used to transitioning.
• 1750 yards in the pool, working on my form.

The plan for this week:

• 3 short runs of 5 miles each, long run of 12 miles
• 70 miles on the trainer
• 2500 yards in the pool, and I’m starting my tri-focused masters class!  It’s going to be awesome!

I’m so glad I signed up for something big and scary again.  I needed some kind of fire to keep myself going, and that has definitely done the trick.

Trying to figure out how to get things going in your life?  Read this great post by Susan from No Meat Athlete.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?

• Went to New Zealand
• Bought a house – and all the things/projects that go along with it
• Hosted a party for 35-40 people

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t do new year’s resolutions, but I did set some goals.  Let’s see how I did…

• Buy a house! – Check!
• Work on building our savings back up after buying said house. – Check!
• Get working on my Ph.D. – Yes and no.  I started it, went to New Zealand, checked out my field sites, got all registered and set up as an official student, and then promptly found out I had no funding – while I was standing there, on the other side of the planet.  Awesome.  Long story short, I had to withdraw because there was no funding to pay for my tuition.  But that’s okay.  Perhaps down the road things will work out better.
• Continue cooking and experimenting in the kitchen.  Get better at creating recipes myself. – Not so much.  I’ve been cooking, but not attempting my own recipes.  Perhaps in 2012?
• Run more marathons! – Check!  I ran marathon #2 with Chelsea in May (read here).  There was also a failed attempt at marathon #3 due to illness (read here).
• Run injury-free – I’m going to put this down as a success.  I didn’t have any injuries that prevented me from racing.  There were little things here and there, but nothing debilitating.  So all in all, a success!

Overall, not bad!

3. What places did you visit?

• Schroon Lake – I loved it in 2010, so I attempted to run the marathon there again.  Too bad I got sick the week before.
• New Zealand – Woooooohoooooo!  There are no words that can describe how totally awesome this was.  If my husband and dogs hadn’t been here, I never would have come back.

4. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

I’m going to stick with a better marathon time!

5. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

April 4th – the day we closed on our first house

6. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Buying our first house (I’m sensing a theme here…)

7. What was your biggest failure?

I really wouldn’t say there were any this year.  There were little things here and there (illness before/on race day, random little injuries, etc.), but nothing really terrible.  Some might say the Ph.D. thing was a failure, but I don’t really consider it to be one.  That was just a weird combination of circumstances that all added up to things not working.  But I wouldn’t call it a failure on my part.

Also, like last year, I didn’t run much after the ADK marathon this year, and I’d love to be better at not falling into ruts.  There’s something to work on, I guess.

8. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Injury – Not really.  Random annoying aches and pains, but nothing major

Illness – Unfortunately.  I ended up not being able to shake a cold for one of this year’s marathons, which ended up with a big old DNF.  Bummer.

9. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Just like last year, my family and friends – for supporting and encouraging me through all my training.  And for coming to the race and cheering me on!

10. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Buying our first house.  It was a HUGE deal!

11. What song will always remind you of 2011?

I’m not proud, but anything by Ke$ha.

:: Hangs head in shame ::

12. Compared to this time last year, are you:

a) happier or sadder?

My answer from 2010 stays: Overall, I’m pretty darn happy with life.

b) thinner or fatter?

Probably about the same.  I think 2012 will be good for this…  Ironman training, anyone?

c) richer or poorer?

At this exact point in time?  Poorer, but that’s not by much and is due to the fact that we bought a house this year.  But things are just fine and right on track.

13. What do you wish you’d done more of?

I’m keeping my answer from last year.  Running, lifting, swimming, cooking, spending quality time with my family, husband, and dogs.

14. What do you wish you’d done less of?

I’m also keeping my answer from last year here.  It applies to many areas of my life.

Stressing – about anything.  Particularly beating myself up on days when I didn’t run, or ate junk.

Making excuses

15. Did you fall in love in 2011?

Not particularly.  However, I am even more appreciative of my great husband who is exceptionally handy around the house with projects.

16. What was your favorite TV program?

• How I Met Your Mother
• The Big Bang Theory (Why did I resist this show at first???)
• Glee
• Amazing Race (I really need to be on this show.)

17. What did you do for your birthday in 2011?

My husband took me to a local vegetarian/vegan restaurant that he found.  It was very sweet.

18. What was the best book you read?

Hmm… I know it’s totally weird and out there, but one of my coworkers is a big gardener, and I’ve gotten into it now that we have a house.  He found an old book and gave it to me and I read it cover to cover:  Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew.  I was already basing my garden on this method anyway, and there was a ton of useful ideas in there.  I’d definitely recommend it.  And hey, we’ll see how the garden does in 2012!

19. What was your favorite movie of the year?

No contest.  HARRY POTTER 7 (part 2).  DUH.

20. Did you make some new friends this year?

Not particularly.

21. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A better marathon time.  Come on DC RnR marathon!!

22. What kept you sane?

Working out and cuddling with my dogs.  One look at their adorable little faces always cheers me up or calms me down.

23. What is a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011?

DON’T STRESS SO MUCH

24. THE BEST OF 2011:

a) Recipes (the yummiest cooking from the past year):

Without a doubt, this vegan ice cream.

b) Project (something you started this past year that you’re proud of or really enjoyed):

All of our house projects!

c) Best Trip:

New Zealand, no contest.

d) Night Out:

I’m not a “night out” kind of person.  I’d prefer a night in with my husband, friends, and/or dogs.

e) Moment of Peace:

I still love relaxing on the couch with my dogs passed out and sprawled across my lap – like right now. 

f) The Best Place:

Anywhere with my friends or family.

g) New Food:

Discovering how to make amazing vegan Duff’s “chicken” wings and blue cheese dipping sauce.

h) Best Accomplishment:

Buying our first house and getting started on house projects.

i) New person/people:

None in particular, but I’m sure I’ll meet plenty of awesome new people in 2012.  I’m looking forward to working with my DC RnR training group through No Meat Athlete, and I’ll be joining my local triathlon club.

25. My goals for 2012:

• A better marathon time!
• Complete my first Ironman triathlon!
• Train and race injury-free.
• Cook more actual meals – there are too many “fend for yourself” nights in our house.

Want to log your runs for 2012?  Get the Google Doc here!  (The link will also be permanently available at the top of my blog.)

Before you input your runs, make sure you save the file to your own computer so you can modify it (File -> Download as).

Let me know what you think!

I normally run at a 9:30/mile average pace.  It’s comfortable, but fast enough that I feel like I’m pushing myself a little.  If I really want to push, I can go sub-9, but that’s reserved for speed workouts and races.

With heart rate training, the idea is to find your lactate threshold heart rate – the point at which you switch from exercising aerobically to anaerobically.  You then determine your heart rate zones (recovery, aerobic endurance, and anaerobic/power, etc.)  The point of heart rate training is to spend most of your time in zone 2, which is just beneath your lactate threshold, and is the aerobic endurance zone.  When you train in this zone, you are conditioning your body to become more efficient and to burn fat for fuel instead of carbs.  So you can go longer without fatiguing.  Over time, you are able to run/bike/whatever at faster paces while still staying in this aerobic endurance zone.

Well, today I did my first HR-guided run and it was good, but SO SLOW.  Like, PAINFULLY SLOW.  I had a hard time settling into a good pace at first – I kept wanting to go faster and my garmin heart rate alarms (which I set before I started running) kept beeping angrily at me.  But after a few minutes I found my pace and just shuffled (or so it felt) along for my 8 miler.

Overall, my pace for this run… 13:16/mile.

Ouch.

I know that’s normal, and totally okay.  But it’s very discouraging to go from consistent 9:30s or so to a 13:16/mile.  I need to keep reminding myself that this will be really good in the long run, and that I will speed up over the course of the next several weeks/months.

Now I’m very curious to see how quickly that happens.

Since I’ve been here I’ve gotten in two nice slow 5 milers, and tomorrow I’ll do an 8 sometime in the afternoon.  I’ve met some of their (very nice) neighbors while out running and apparently there’s a group meeting on Monday for a morning run, which I’d like to tag along with as well.  So even though we’re on vacation, I’m staying plenty active.

The other challenge has been managing my sweet tooth, especially during the holiday season.  Now that I’m delving into the world of Ironman, I really don’t want to have to carry any extra weight for that 140.6 miles.  So I’m trying to pay more attention to what I’m eating.  I’m a big bored/mindless/habitual/emotional eater, so I’m trying to be very purposeful.  It’s been a couple days and I think I’m over the hump.  In the beginning I have a hard time breaking those sugar cravings (SO REAL), but once I get past it, things are much easier.  It also helps that I’m the only vegan in the house here and there’s absolutely nothing vegan to eat.  So even though the cookies look great, and there’s lots of them, I have an easy time passing them up.

Although, what’s the holiday season without a little baked deliciousness?  I’m going to make a batch of Peanut Butter Pillows (best cookies EVER) for everyone to enjoy tonight, and also a batch of Angela’s Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast tomorrow.  I made these for Christmas last year and it was absolutely incredible.  There are no words to describe it.  You just have to make them yourself.  I highly recommend it.

Anyway, I’m off to start baking.  Have a happy holiday!

It was a simple little 4 miler on the treadmill, but I decided to slow it down just a little bit (by 30 seconds per mile) and that made all the difference.  My legs didn’t feel heavy anymore, and I didn’t feel like crap.  Hooray!

I definitely tend to push my speed when I’m doing shorter runs, especially on the treadmill.  But not every run can be for speedwork.  For me, constantly doing speedwork = burn out.  I need to remember that.

So for these next few weeks of training it’ll be nice and slow(ish) and just getting the miles in.  Unfortunately, I can’t get into the pool until the end of January unless I get a gym membership or am constantly getting day passes to the Y, which adds up.  I’m fortunate that I get free gym and pool access at work, but since the semester is over, the pool is closed until classes start back up again at the end of January.  Bummer.  However, when it’s open, I have a whole pool almost completely to myself, which is awesome.

On the biking side of things, I spent some time today checking out trainers at all my local bike shops.  I’m trying to decide between the CycleOps Mag+, CycleOps Magneto, CycleOps Fluid 2, or the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.  I’m leaning toward the Kurt because I’ve heard nothing but great things about it.  Any suggestions?