Ahhh Vacation

Hi!

It was a great week mixed with snowboarding, time with the family and training.  Unfortunately though my little vacation caused me to have to work until 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and all day Saturday- well, between my long run and swim. It was worth it though.

My life is so organized, every minute has a purpose and oddly enough, I feel comfortable in that world.  However, vacations allow you to take a step back and actually think.  It was nice to have a few minutes where I wasn’t needed in a meeting, working at my computer with someone standing behind me, swimming,biking, running or in the gym, scooping dog poop, etc...

I often think back to this moment from my vacation where my nephew and I, kind of by accident hopped on an, “experts only” double black diamond chair lift.  Where we got off the chair at the top of the mountain was so incredibly steep and there were trees and cliffs all around us.  We  had to hike for 30 minutes across the peak, where we could drop into a slightly, and I do mean slightly less steep bowl.  As we were about to descend, my nephew asked, “ should we hike back and take the chair down?”.  This was my moment, this is why its important to stop the hurricane that we call life and take a break.  I knew at that moment, I had the opportunity to tell him that he could do it, he was strong enough to cut the turns on the steep angle, smart enough to know when and brave enough to make the drop.  There are no other moments in life that will be as important as using your own courage to empower a kid.  

I wonder, if I didn’t embark on challenges like Ultraman, would we have made another choice?   Would I have had that, “we can do anything” attitude?

 

I have found that completing challenges, that at times seem beyond your reach, gives you the power to know that you can do anything.  I remember the feeling I had after I crossed the line of my first Ironman, after that, I was unstoppable.  About a year later I registered for one of California’s toughest fire academy's, the one that women couldn’t seem to graduate from.  You might call me a, “challenge junkie”, it’s OK though, it’s kind of what fuels me. 

I ask you my friends, what’s your challenge?  What’s the thing you are going to do that seem beyond your reach?  Or, have you done it already?  I would love to hear your stories.

Now, as for my training this week:

Leg Squats:  20 hours, several 15 minute intervals, flying down a hill.

Swimming: 2 swims.  Really recovery swims, not too high in yardage, just enough to keep my form.

Biking: 2 rides.  The first ride was a blast, I rode with 4 guys and it was a race.  I think my most favorite part of riding with guys is all the smack talk, I make sure I get mine in early because its better to talk smack face to face rather than when you’re trying to catch up, kind of looses its punch then.  The second bike was a 3 hour mountain bike ride in the rain.  These are the rides that set you apart from the rest of the world...there is no, “it’s raining, lets do a movie instead”.  My husband is truly a gift though as he could say that but didn’t.

Run:  I ran 2 times.  The first one was the day after 3 days of snowboarding, it felt similar to beginning the run in an Ironman after 112 miles of biking.  The second was a nice 90 minute recovery run and that actually felt good.

Well, tomorrow its back to full Ultraman training, I feel fresh from my vacation, both physically and mentally.  Thanks for taking this ride with me, see you in a week.

Beth

Balance

This week was all about balance. I had one of those crunch weeks at work, which consisted of longer days, and a higher than usual level of stress. Plan B kicked in where I had to cut down a bit more on sugar, go to bed rather than watch my favorite shows that came on at 9:00 and I even cut down on the tea. Now, on Sunday night I can say that I got through it , which will make my 3 day snow vacation this week seem like even more of a treat.

Rob and I are heading to the mountains for 3 days with our niece, nephew and my sister. Yes, a part of me is freaking out thinking, “3 days of no training!!!” However, I can justify it in my mind because snowboarding is like doing squats, so I’m really about to partake in 3 days of squats. Also, someday our niece and nephew may not find it, “cool” to spend a 3 day vacation with Aunt and Uncle so we have to take advantage of these special times.

So, this next week will also be about balance, proving to myself that I, in the midst of Ultraman training, the corporate world and family, can find balance.

My workouts this past week went well. Although due to the challenging work week, I had to make some adjustments. A few workouts were earlier than usual, ever run your guts out at 6:30am? Now I can say that I have. And, I found that if you get to the pool early enough you can have it to yourself and then swim imaging that you are swimming in your own private pool and that the lifeguard is really your butler waiting to bring you more fluid, a hammer gel, or whatever you want.

I had 2 days of strength training, my ST workouts are now almost 90 minutes. 3 sets of 14 reps….I really do enjoy this part of my training.

I swam 3 times this week totaling around 9,000 yards. All of the swims went well and I feel stronger with each workout.

I biked 3 times this week and even got to do my long ride (4:30) on the road. Our 2 friends Steve and Michelle joined us for the ride which made it even more fun. We rode Bainbridge Island which is by far the most scenic ride in the Seattle area, also one of the hilliest, one loop of 35 miles is over 3,000 ft of climbing. Of course there was some to add on to make it a 4:30 ride so we rode back to Kingston over Agate passage. In the very beginning and at the end of the ride my legs really felt the culmination of the week and I was happy to roll into the driveway and park my little speed machine at the end of the day.

I ran 3 times this week and had my toughest run so far. Surprisingly, it was not the 2 hour trail run, it was the 1 hour tempo run on Thursday. 10 minute warm up, 15 minutes building to aerobic, and 30 minutes at higher aerobic. Those 30 minutes were hard core! Believe me, I am glad I learned my lesson last week about eating food before the fast runs! The cool thing about this tempo run is that I actually found my rhythm (eventually). This brings me to my gear pick of the week. My new Timex Race Trainer heart rate monitor http://www.timex.com/gp/product/B001RQCWW0/sr=1-1/qid=1234754137/ref=sr_1_1/176-0250203-3434264?ie=UTF8&m=A1S5XB33AHYRMX&n=APS&timexBrand=core
This thing is awesome! Its women’s specific fit actually makes it lighter and the chest strap is so minimal that I really don’t mind wearing it. Another plus- I didn’t feel like I needed an Electronics degree to figure it out. Coach D is coaching me through a program called Training Peaks, my HR monitor wirelessly downloads my info into the TP program. Of course there are pros and cons with this, I can’t really fib about my workouts anymore, but now, with more information about how my body is reacting to the workouts, Coach D can plan accordingly, which in the end will only make me stronger.

Logged over 18 hours this week, this gradual increase of hours is perfect.

Before I sign off, I had a serious moment of validation on my trail run. Our friend Chase joined us and while making a turn in this single track I heard a big branch break. This was no work of a squirrel, bird or any other small animal. Chase agreed that it could have been a bear, and, I noticed that he picked up the pace a bit after the noise.

Off to vacation, have a great week, hopefully you too have a short work week!

See you soon,

Beth

A Few Words of Advice

Don’t eat a couple handfuls of triscuits, 3 cheese stuffed pasta shells, 2 Luna bars and some toast before a tempo/aerobic run workout. However, this little experience made me think about my race day (s) nutrition plan. Your nutrition leading up to an endurance event as well as during is just as important as your training. I have had more than a few friends train so diligently for Ironmans and then at the last minute, usually due to nerves and all the hype, change everything, each of them had bad races. I know that by the time I get to the run, I will still be burning calories from the bike and swim and due to the distance and heat, my stomach will not be all that welcoming of food. So my plan over the next 5 1/2 months (yikes where did the last month and a half go??) is to figure out/test different foods under different training situations.

My swim on race day will be around 3 hours short (think positive!); I will need to eat 2 x’s which is something I have never done before. I have a couple challenges here, most pools don’t allow you to eat at the pool and my swim workouts right now are right around an hour. For the next couple of months I will sneak a Hammer Gel (http://www.hammernutrition.com/) in the middle of my swim workouts and right after a hard set. This should get me used to digesting food in the water as well as help me figure out which foods work best.

Eating on the bike has never been an issue for me, hamburger, peanut butter-honey and banana sandwich, bring it on!

My hard runs are on Thursdays around 4:00pm. So on Thursdays, I will eat a normal breakfast, some toast and fruit, and then a good lunch no later than 11:30. After that, I will experiment with foods that I could eat on race day. Those foods are likely to be cold and salted roasted red potatoes, red grapefruit cups, bars, cookies (the healthy kind of course!) and bread. Then after my workout I will balance out with a high protein meal.

This routine for the next 5 ½ months should result in a well thought out race day (s) nutrition plan. During the race, one of my support crew gurus will be in charge of my nutrition, possibly the toughest job of all. This person (probably Coach D) will be making sure I get in enough calories, salt and fluid for the 30+ hours of the race.

I have had a few people ask me what a typical day looks like so I thought I would share that:

Friday 2/06/09
05:15: Rise and shine! Get the swimsuit on, eat some toast, drink a cup of tea, love on the dogs and board the 05:45 ferry
6:35: in the water, swim 2900yds, with the main/tempo set consisting of 3 pyramids equaling 1400 yds.
8:00: on my way to work, drinking Recoverite – another Hammer product
8:30: arrive at the office where I had meetings from 09:00-10:00 and from 1:00-4:30.
5:15pm- 6:15pm: on the rollers in our office gym (this means on my bike that spins on a set of rollers)
6:30pm: head to the ferry
7:20pm: on the ferry
7:25 pm: napping on the ferry
7:45 pm: home and eating a delicious spaghetti and sausage meal that my greatest husband in the world had waiting for me.
8:15 pm: loving on our 3 dogs while they tell me about their day and all the treats they got from dad and Cadie loves to give me the “that’s right, we went for a run WITHOUT YOU, ” look.

My days vary with my workouts but the duration is pretty much the same, with the exception of the weekends, long workouts but NO meetings J

My overall training time this week equaled about 17hours and consisted of:
3 swims: some nice pyramids including speed and pulling drills.

3 bikes: although I was able to get one road ride in, by the time Sunday rolled around it was cold and wet again, which resulted in a 4:15 mountain bike ride, very fun but by far the toughest workout of all.

3 runs: my long run felt great, I only heard bears 2x’s, the ground was soft and there was lots of bright colored green moss, fern and grass. I went through all of my fluid towards the end so I will need to come up with a plan for additional hydration as these runs get longer.

2 strength training sessions: I’m really feeling the benefits of the strength training. I can feel the strength in my legs as my feet hit the ground, the snappiness of my core as I flip turn in the pool and the smooth and high cadence while on my bike.

One of the highlights of my week was seeing my friend Frank who is battling cancer. He was wearing a hat and has lost some weight but his smile is the same. Its people like him, that show such strength that give others the power to search for our own.

If you pray, please add Frank into your prayers, he has had a tough 7 months but we expect him to be back in action this September.

That’s all for now, have a great week and thank you so much for reading.

See you next week,

Beth

Lions and Tigers and Bears

Have you ever fell asleep in the dentist chair? I have, on Friday and it was the best 2 minutes I have ever had between the hours of 8:00am-5:00pm on a Friday (besides the Fridays Ive had off from work). Ironically, my dentist office visits have been anything but relaxing up to now. I usually get anxious the day leading up to the appt, try to think of good reasons to cancel, then when I finally get there I have to remind myself to breathe and not hold onto the chair like I’m on some crazy rollercoaster ride. Friday morning I swam pretty hard, which was after a fast run and an hour weight training session on Thursday. I then had a fun filled day at work, meetings, meetings and more meetings, the kind of day where you strategize how to squeeze in 3 minutes to use the bathroom.
I had my usual pre dentist jitters all day but then when I sat in that dentist chair, felt the warm light on my face and reclined back, it was all over. My Dentist commented that she has never had to wake anyone up before; she must not have very many Ultraman Athlete patients.

Swim: I swam 3 times this week with Saturday’s workout the toughest and most fun. After a 2 hour trail run we headed to the pool and I swam a 500 warm up, then 40X 50 on the :50. Basically that means 2000 at tempo pace. I then had a nice cool down headed to the showers and found myself to be the only person eating in the locker room. I got some funny looks and some not so funny. Oh well, I was starving and I needed the fuel to get dressed.

Bike: I rode 3 times this week, twice on the rollers and once on the trails. I actually came close to riding on the road this week but it’s still just a little too cold. I’m ansy to get onto the road for the sake of my training but I will always love the woods more, so one more week of mountain biking was ok. When I shift my long rides to the road, one of my shorter (1- 1 ½ hour) weekday rides will become an after work- headlamp mountain bike ride. My long ride was 3:45, the woods were as beautiful as ever, but my legs were a bit tired towards the end. There is a lot of mud where we ride so it takes some extra effort to push those big mountain bike tires, lucky for me I packed extra snacks, and ate every last crumb.


Run: I ran 3 times. This was my best running week so far. I’m beginning to feel the affects of working my core, it’s amazing, when your core is strong, everything is just a bit easier. I had my first real tempo run this week, did I mention earlier that my weekday running bud Michelle is a super star runner? Yeah, she’s that person who runs on the balls of their feet, it’s like a car when it’s revving up, I know at any time she could take off, and leave me in the dust before I took 3 steps. I got through the run, and was thankful I didn’t opt for a bowl of cereal that morning.
My long trail run was a blast, Rob and Cadie led the way and I followed along thinking I was hearing bears and seeing weird tracks. When the sounds were loud enough I let out a scream (this happens more than Id like to admit). Rob would then circle back to listen to what I was hearing, tell me it sounds like a bird or squirrel and then run off mumbling, “Beth’s world”. We have established that since my world has bears, mountain lions and sharks and his only has birds, squirrels and salmon that my world is way more exciting.

I thought it would be cool to share some of the cool stuff I'm using and relying on! I will have a new thing to talk about each week, for this week its my new hydration gadget.

Gear Pick of the Week:
Amphipod Hydraform Handheld (http://www.amphipod.com/)
This thing was great. I have used many varieties of hydration systems in the past but I found this one to be the most user friendly on a long run. The bottle is this weird shape that fits right into the palm of your hand. Because of the fit, you don’t have to cinch the strap down tight to hold it in. Another cool thing is that I only needed to bend my top fingers to get the liquid out, because of the way the bottle lays in your hand, your fingers work with your palm so you don’t need to squeeze, the energy I saved there, went straight to my legs.

Next week should be another increase in miles and I'm looking forward to it. Have a great week, thanks for reading and if you have any good chicken recipes, please send them my way, I'm eating a ton these days :)!

Beth

Training and Traveling

The traveling corporate life and ultraman training showed its true colors this past week.  I spent Weds-Sat in Salt Lake City, not the most runner friendly place.  The city itself offers nice running routes but the air, not so nice.  One person said that an hour of outside exertion was equivalent to smoking a 1/2 pack of cigarettes.  I developed a stuffed up head, cough and running nose  my first day there.  When I woke up on Thursday I still felt pretty bad but I figured things probably couldn’t get much worse so I met my traveling running bud at our usual SLC meeting spot at our usual time, 7:00 am.  We ran for just over an hour and then I headed to the Outdoor Retailer show and proceeded to attend meetings, chat with friends and walk the floor, for 8 hours.  Crazy thing, after 2 more days of pretty much the same routine, I actually began to feel better.  I kept telling myself, “Ultraman doesn’t care if you have a cold, there will still be big hills, a long swim and very long days”.

One of the biggest challenges of traveling is  the food choices.  While my friends and coworkers were enjoying  meals at some of the nicer restaurants, I took a cab to the the nearest Whole Foods where I treated myself to some great fruit, soup, and an egg salad sandwich. It saved me the embarrassment of asking to ,”hold the creamy sauce”, “sub the fries for a salad” and say “no, just water for me”.   Don’t get me wrong, I love a treat every now and then but being on the road and training always works better when you eat better.  I got back to my room early, woke up the next morning after 8 hours of sleep and had no traces of a  hangover- 3 anomalies of trade-showing.  

From Monday through Sunday I was able to get in the following:

Swim: Once 

Bike: 3 Times

Run: 3 Times

Strength Training: Once

My most favorite workout of the week was today, I woke up in my own bed, then headed out for a 2:45 mountain bike ride in the snow with Rob and Cadie.  I looked up at one point to see him flying through the woods, her right beside him , all 4 paws off the ground, it was like I never left.

Looking forward to being back on my normal routine this week.  Coach D has added some time to my overall training hours this week, he has lengthened my runs and swims and even gave me an extra day of strength training!  

If any of you who are reading this are training for an event, I would love to hear about your training as well!

Have a great week, see you next Sunday, and as always, thanks so much for your support.

Beth

Powered By A Dream

Hi Everyone!

It’s been an awesome week of training. I had a few challenges here and there but was able to motor through. We have an old blind Rottweiler who can’t tell the difference between day and night. Occasionally she will bark and bark in the middle of the night, thinking its morning and wondering why she hasn’t been fed. I think this is where I begin to understand a little bit about what training moms and dads go through (I did say, “a little bit”). While I want to say, “Flex, shush!” I have to walk downstairs (usually around 3:00am), snuggle her and convince her that its still bed time. Then it’s up at 5:00, onto the pool, to work by 8:45, and running by 5:00 pm, all on about 5 ½ hours of sleep.

I remember thinking in the middle of the day after one of my, “barking dog” nights, “I am so tired right now”. I was in one of those meetings at work where 3 people kept saying the same thing, it’s kind of like watching someone go back and forth in a pool. It’s actually almost rhythmic and under the right circumstances, can put you to sleep. I excused myself from the meeting, went to my PC, pulled up the Ultraman Canada (www.ultramancanada.com) website, did a quick scan and went back to my meeting. It’s like downing a cup of coffee; I got a “CHARGE” and was ready to go, it’s the power of a dream. People have often asked me, in reference to Ironman, “How do you do it?” If you want it bad enough, you can do anything. Your dreams can power you through anything from sleepless nights to the toughest times in your life. What’s your dream?

Now for this weeks recap:
A great coach has you completing each workout thinking you could go longer and/or faster. That’s how this past week has been for me. It’s hard though, when you have this big goal, you finish with energy, and think, “I could swim another 500” or, “I could run another 20 minutes and round off to 2 hours”. For those of us who come from the “no pain = no gain” days of training, it takes some serious control to end a workout feeling good but if you can do it, the rewards in the end are tell all.

Swim: I swam 4 times this week. My yardage per workout is still less than 3,000 yards but I gained an extra day of swimming. I used pull buoys, paddles and a kickboard this week. It helps to mix it up, keeps me focused and also keeps the soreness away.

Bike: I had 4 great rides this week and I was even able to incorporate a mountain bike event into my training. In the course of 16 miles, there were 5 stops at which you got a poker card, the person with the best hand at the end won a prize. A pair of 4’s didn’t get me very far but it was fun all the same. I added another hour and ½ onto the ride and then went straight to a Burger joint and inhaled a huge cheese burger. My other rides were on the rollers where I pretend I was Lance in the Tour.

Run: Ran 3 times. The beautiful, sunny, crispy clear weather we have had this week has made for some beautiful trail running. Sun rays peeking through the huge trees, a light fog, it makes you actually forget that you’re running. Remember last week when I said that your training blends into the rest of your life? Well, we misjudged the trail loop of our long run and I ended up having to rush to a hair appointment. I made it on time though, with my jeans on over very muddy legs. My very sweet hair stylist opened the door ½ way through the cut, I believe to get some air.

Yoga: 1 session

Strength Training: 1 session

Next week will be a challenge as I balance my traveling corporate life with Ultraman training. At least there is a lap pool at the hotel and I already have a run scheduled with my running bud Sarah. I sure will miss the bike though.

Have an awesome week!

Beth

Here we go my friends, I’m in, we’re in!!

This past week has been a blast. It was 2-a days- each day, in the water at 6:27 am and running or cycling later on in the day, or riding early and strength training later. It’s all about the rhythm right now, for example, I know if I get out of the pool at 8:00 and on the road by 8:15, I will have time to make something to eat when I get to the office. This means I will be awake and fueled for any 9:00 meeting that comes my way. However, out of the water at 8:05 could mean a quick bar instead and then everyone in the meeting looks like a different food group.

For those who emailed to tell me that you are training for your first big event, don’t worry, the rhythm WILL happen for you too. The first week (s) can seem so hard, you wonder, “I can’t live the next 8 months this tired and scattered”. The truth is that you won’t. Now is the time to figure out how you will eat within 30 minutes of your workouts and before kids and/or work. Whether it is a bar or a peanut butter-Nutella and banana sandwich, (ugh! I meant to say, almond butter and banana sandwich) or a recovery shake, this part of training is so important, it really sets your energy level up for the rest of the day. I suggest always having healthy bars and recovery shake powder on hand because you will forget sometimes and it’s nice to have something to hold you over until you can eat something more substantial. I like the products from Hammer Nutrition but there are many more on the market. (www.hammernutrition.com).

When you spend so much time in the pool, running and riding, you begin to make subtle connections between your training and the world around you. For example, I noticed that the lines in the pool were the same colors as my blog page (notice I changed the colors), I was in a meeting on Friday, I looked at a sketch of a top and while pointing at the pocket, I made a comment about the, “pillow” (where I wanted my head to be). Another good one, after my friend Ralph rode me into the ground during a rollers workout, I was so hungry at a meeting that I said, “Yam” instead of “Ram”. I also noticed on the way to work that not all red lights are timed the same and the one just before the I-5 onramp is about the same amount of time as my 50 free repeats (2 lengths freestyle in the pool).

Now for the recap:
My workouts this past week:
3 swims
3 bikes
3 runs
1 strength training

Swim: Coach D has reined me back a bit in yardage which is great because I actually had the energy to do everything else. Clever guy. My workouts were all under 3,000 yards, and a combination of drills, shorter repeats and a timed 1000.

Bike: One of the great things about living in the NW is outdoor winter riding means mountain biking. Mountain biking is great because it really fine tunes your bike handling skills and makes you a stronger hill climber. Also, we can’t forget about the mental benefits of getting off the road, away from the hustle and bustle and into the woods. The fresh air, animals, soft ground, beautiful trees, its all so great and I look forward to it each week. I did one 3:30 mountain bike ride and 2 rides on the rollers. I’m a big fan of the rollers and pick them over a trainer any day. I have found that riding the rollers forces you to develop a faster cadence, it’s either that or, “hello entertainment center, floor, wall or whatever else is around you”. Some people like trainers better because they feel that they offer better resistance, I say, “that’s what mountain biking is for”.

Run: I ran 3 times this week which was a challenge due to the snow and ice. I love running in those conditions on the trails but along the sidewalks near work is another story. My runs were around an hour each with the exception of the weekend where I was scheduled for 90 minutes on the tails. I ran the trails with Rob and Cadie, our usual weekend group. Cadie (our Border Collie) is a constant reminder to always have fun, no matter what. All along the runs and rides, she is hopping up on stumps, jumping over branches, sniffing stuff and of course rolling in horse poo. Just when I want to get serious about a hill, she’ll make me laugh, “Keep it light she say’s, and you will fly like me”.

I’m feeling great and I’m pumped about the next 8 months! For now though, I will focus on next week. Thanks for reading :) See you next Sunday.