Training in Lake Placid

This past weekend Justin and I drove up to Lake Placid to train on the course with Joey & crew – 1 MONTH AWAY, BABY!!!!!

In my opinion, this weekend was key for a successful race day. The intimidation of not knowing the course is now non-existent. I no longer have the doubt of whether I can do it or not. Now, it’s just a matter of in what time (which I’m just looking to finish, not win)! Lake Placid was filled with athletes training for the Ironman – it was kind of cool to be surrounded by it all already, I feel like half the people doing the race were there this weekend.

Saturday started with some coffee and breakfast and then it was out the door for a 112 mile bike ride. The weather was not cooperating as it was on and off showers all day with a few glimpses of sun. Jus and I were not looking forward to rainy weather on a hard training weekend but we looked at the positive – we now know how to take on the course if this year’s race weather repeats last years (but I really, really hope it doesn’t!). I felt strong on the bike and was feeling good about it after the first lap – ah… just have to do that all over again! Second lap was just as good and I left the bike with confidence.

After the bike, Jus and I changed into some dry running clothes and headed out the door for an 8 mile run. The sun was shining when we left and it was nice to feel the warmth, finally. We headed 4 miles from the start of the run and back which included the killer hill that we had not known about. This was an extra bonus to help add pain to our legs! On our way back into town, more clouds came rolling in and the last 2 miles were in downpours. A warm shower and well deserved dinner finished the day.

Sunday morning the sun was out and I was looking forward to a day outside. The group headed into town for some breakfast and then split for training. Joey, Jus and I trekked down to Mirror Lake for a 2.4 mile swim. Ugh. We floated out to the pier to where the official start of the swim is… started the watch and off we went. Joey pulled away early as Justin and I stuck together for the majority of the way… headed to the beach at the end of the first lap, ran the beach and back in the water we went. I did the second loop 2 minutes slower than the first, Justin did it faster. The swim didn’t leave me feeling too great – but in general I have been bummed about it. I just can’t seem to get into it.

Back to the house to change and all three of us were out for a long run. I mentally prepared myself for the entire loop of the run, apparently somewhere in conversation Joey and Jus agreed on skipping the out and back. The run course is “easy” enough, but I can see the long stretch out of town and back being long, tough and lonely. We all held up well and with 2 miles left back into town, two ladies rescued us by letting us fill up on water at their athlete water stop. After I split from Joey and Jus, I hoped in Mirror Lake at the end of the run to cool down. I stumbled back to the house, showered and packed up. We grabbed a quick lunch and some FroYo in a waffle cone at Ben & Jerry's (YUM!) and headed back to Boston.

The race is coming up way too quick!!!!!

View of Lake Placid:

Again, sacrificing good tan lines for tri:

A sign on the run course that made me laugh:

Packed up and ready to go:

116.82 miles...

Justin and I were pleasantly surprised when we woke up yesterday to just an overcast day - this could actually turn out to be a good riding day. We turned on the weather to find out the rain will start day in the day - around 7pm. With the news, we packed up our stuff and mapped out a 105 mile bike ride from Walden pond to and up Wachussett Mountain and back.

We love these rides cause the suburbs are beautiful and roads are mostly quiet. This route had some good slow climbing hills but nothing too too challenging - that's where Wachussett Mtn. comes in. On the way out we got lost, which added 10 miles onto our ride. By the time we hit W. Mtn. we looked over how far back it was to the car and having already added 10 miles onto the ride, should we go up the entire mtn? We decided to go up and over side of the mountain but not to the top - we were already 57 miles in with another +50 to go and rain was due to start at our expected finish time and the DARK rain clouds were in view already. Next time that mtn is ours!!

To sum a long ride up into a short blog post - it went great. We were stupid and never stopped for food but that was not entirely our fault as there was no real places to grab something on the route... NOTHING. B/c of this I started bonking a bit halfway through but I ate a powerbar and a gatorade and actually came back feeling alright. Justin felt really confident - feelin good the whole time. The last 5 miles we were riding under some dark clouds as the wind picked up... you could feel a storm coming and we loved it as beat it out. In the end the ride came out to just under 117 miles... sweet. Looking forward to more long riding in LP!!!!

Out on the route

on the route...

laying in the grass at the end of the ride watching the rain clouds come in.


AH.. to be done... now let's go eat some pizza ; ) haha.

I love the fall. Wait, it's not fall?!

The rain has been a real downer and on top of that, it’s been freakin cold outside. I thought we were nearing the end of June but maybe I have my months mixed up. What pumps me up more for some long bike rides this weekend is, you got it, some more rain…SO EXCITED!

This past week, Justin and I decided to opt-out of the long run and do a track workout. We finally got to calibrate our foot pods, too! We’ve been training this entire winter and spring as well as raced our first two races of the season without the foot pod and I have to say, it was really nice not knowing my pace. It takes the stress of “how fast am I going?” and the distraction of checking your watch every few minutes out of the picture. I’ve run some great paces without even knowing it at the time.

We did separate workouts. I did 6 X 800 meters at 5K pace with a 400 meter float at marathon pace. Justin did a more “advanced” workout of 800/1600/3200/1600/800 as 800 at 5K pace, 1600 at 10K pace and 3200 at marathon pace. Justin got some nasty blisters that aren’t going away from the race last weekend so he was only able to make it to his 3200 mark before he had to stop. I had to take short breathers and gulp down water between each of my sets, too! In the end, we were really surprised by our times – I paced about a 6:20 5K and 7:20 marathon and was able to hold them throughout all the sets. Justin held an even faster pace (but I’m not sure exactly what his numbers were). We’re hoping that throwing in a couple of these every now and then for the rest of training will help us prepare for our run at LP and beyond.

Next weekend we’re heading out to LP with Joey & group to do some serious training on the course! I’m nervous to see how I hold up – will it give me confidence or leave me shaking with fear? This should be a true test to whether we’ll be ready come July 26^th. Should be fun.

Health Net Tri Race Report - June 13, 2009 (Liz)

As Justin said in his race report, we were both returning to the Health Net Tri this year to end it on a high note. My “course issue” last year was that I missed the 2^nd loop turnaround on the run. Why? Cause little kids were standing in front of the tiny sign on the ground and no one was telling the athletes to turn for the 2^nd loop (I guess this is why you need to know the course before doing it). I had a DQ. I wrote a (nice) note to the race director explaining the DQ in hopes of a fix for this year. Fixed it they did! Only adults worked that water station at the turnaround and the sign (still too small, in my opinion and it was upside down) was eye level with a volunteer directing athletes.

Swim:
39:30 [2:43/100yds]

I don’t know what has happened to me this year but I need to get my butt in the pool. I did the swim 4 minutes slower this year from last year and even at that, I should be hitting better times. I got the guts to start at the front of the swim wave which turned out (obviously with my swim time) to be a bad idea. It took more effort out of me than I think helped. The water wasn’t clear at all, tough to spot other swimmers around you (oh how I miss Hawaii water!). I swam alone the entire way – sometimes feeling like I was off course because no one was around me…luckily I was not (or maybe if I was that would explain my time, ha).

T1:
1:41

I was happy to be out of the water but disappointed with my swim time – I got over it and soon enough was out on the bike.

Bike:
1:11:46 [19.2 mph]

The first 3 miles of the bike is a gradual uphill – I was on the small gear and didn’t push myself hard so that I’d have energy later. I knew after getting past this initial hill, that it would be down and rolling hills afterward so it was something to look forward to. The roads on the course are in alright condition. There were a good number of times when I said “this is where I’m getting my flat!!!” and tense up as if that will help avoid any dangers in the road that could pop my tire. Amazingly, I didn’t get a flat but that was luck, for sure. I rode the course with a group of about 5 other athletes where we just kept passing each other, dropping and repassing. It was a little annoying but what can you do.

T2:
1:09

Socks, shoes, water bottle… I was out running.

Run:
50:35:30 [8:09 min/mile]

It’s always nice to get to the running portion. You’re almost done and no real issues could go wrong that will stop you from finishing. The run course was rolling hills, the nice part was that to every uphill there was a sweet downhill. The run out was far worse than the run in. I stuck it out with no issues but tiredness. Good run.

Total time: 2:44:43

Had I gone 1:48 faster I would have placed 3^rd in my age group – boo to me.

Congrats to Justin and Courtney on a great race. It’s always more fun racing with others you know : ) And a huge thanks to the cheer squad (Les, Kyle, Jen and the girls) for coming out to support us – like we always say, it takes far more effort to cheer than to actually race ; )

Health Net Oly Race Report (justin)

Big thanks to Jen, Kyle, Leslie, Haley and Jillian for providing a cheering crew. You were easily the loudest and most motivating fans on the course.

Liz and I completed this race last year and both were left with a bad taste in our mouths- I got 4 flats on the bike and was one more issue away from being a DNF and Liz had some course issues. But the race is well put together and beautiful so we figured we'd come back to finish the race on a high note. So on to the race...

Swim: 41:35

Absolutely horrendous swim...embarrassing. It will serve as a nice slap in the face to get to the pool for every workout until Lake Placid. I won't even bother with more detail.

T1: 1:48

First wetsuit race of the year so it took a little longer to strip off the wetsuit.

Bike 1:10:33 (19.6 mph)

The bike course is really hilly, so the variation in speed is huge. I think I was going 7mph on one of the uphills and hit 38mph on the down. I would have loved to have averaged 20mph for the first time in a race but was still pretty pleased with my finishing time. Since we didn't taper, my legs weren't as fresh on the hills but I still felt like I had enough for a strong run.

T2: 1:06

I forgot socks which was not a good thing.

Run: 47:54 (7:43 min/mile)

I hit the run with a purpose. Liz and Courtney's wave started 10 minutes ahead of me so I used being behind as motivation. While its inevitable that Liz will beat me in a race soon (she's getting too fast not to), I'm not going to give in without a fight. Once again the course is really hilly so the run wrecked my quads. It also meant my feet slid around in my shoes (remember no socks) to the point that I lost a lot of skin- 3 days later I still can't walk without some pain. But fear of losing forced me to keep my pace and it turned out to be a new PR for an Oly-distanced run.

Final Time: 2:42:58

From here until Lake Placid, its straight training. I need to learn to love the pool for the next month. My current swim efforts won't get me through the ironman...

Honu 70.3 (Justin's Race Report)

Hey All-

Liz provided great insight (and pictures in her post below) into our training mindframes (nonexistent?) the two weeks prior to Honu so I won't go into too much detail. Even with the lack of race week training, we ate pretty well and stayed active (and more importantly, not sunburnt). So skipping ahead, here's how the race went...

Swim:
45:54 [2:18/100 yds]
Definitely not pretty from a time standpoint and only a mildly better time than last year's St Croix (I guess I'm not suited for the no-wetsuit, ocean swims). I spent a lot of the swim fighting off 2 whales of men- sadly we were going about the swim speed- and am pretty sure I was bear hugged at least twice mid-swim. Once I was able to get a little breathing room I realized the person passing me on my right was swimming the breast stroke. For personal pride I sped up but it still wasn't pretty. The biggest difference in my swim this year is that I actually felt good when I left the water. There was no gasping for air, sea legs, or blurred vision which was great!

T1:
3:40
Liz had me beat out of T1 and my only thought was to get my butt moving and hope not to blow up on the bike...

Bike:
2:57:33 [18.9 mph]
Having heard horror stories about the winds and heat on the bike I definitely gave the course a little too much respect. I drank constantly (went through about 6 bottles of Gu2 and Gatorade Endurance on the bike alone plus my normal gels/food) to prevent dehydration. For whatever reason, I enjoy going uphill and this is where I get to pass most people. With only a short section of heavy winds and the heat not getting to me yet, I decided to push the pace a bit on the turn around. My hard work paid off as I passed Liz with about 10 miles to go on the bike. At this point the heat was finally starting to hurt and the nutrition wasn't going down quite so smoothly.

T2:
3:18
I devoured a PowerBar and decided to carry a water bottle for the first time (which I clutched like a priceless treasure until crossing the line)

Run:
2:00:17 [9:11 min/mile]
I had 2 goals heading out on to the run course: 1) Don't blow up 2) Break 2 hours
Immediately leaving the transition, I found two running keeping about a 10:30 pace and decided to tag along. I knew that if I could stay hydrated and feel good through 7 miles, I could care less what I did to my body for the last 6. For a while, I kept looking over my shoulder waiting for Liz to pass me since I kept seeing her right behind me on short turnarounds. Miles 8-11 followed an endless rode out-and-back where it seemed like an athlete graveyard. Runners had devolved into zombies, completely spent and praying for the race to end. Something about this made me happy...I felt strong knowing I had better race prep to pass all this people on the run. At mile 10 I tore past our local Hawaiian buddy Michael and had to talk a little smack on the pass.

I am very happy with my total time of 5:50:40 and have a lot of work to do before Lake Placid. Up next, Liz, Courtney, and I will be racing the Health Net Oly Triathlon in CT this weekend.

Hawaii 70.3 (Honu) - May 30, 2009 (Liz)

Sorry for the delay on the race report – coming back to reality, I wasn’t much in the mood to be productive…

Pre-race:
Given that I was on my honeymoon, I wanted much of relaxation and little of hard work. Be it stupid, the only pre-race work out I did was 2 days prior to race day which consisted of an hour bike and half hour run. I struggled on the bike as it was really hot and I was winded. This didn’t help build confidence for the race but I tried not to think about it – everything was going to be great. I was fine on the run and a mid-way ocean swim to cool down with was great! Race morning, we woke up at 4:00am, had a bagel w/ peanut butter, a banana and sports drink each and then headed out the door for our short drive to The Fairmont Orchid – the host of the Hawaii 70.3. Hopped on a shuttle and went just a few miles down the road to the start.

Swim:
44:49 [2:15 / 100 yds]

The swim was a mass start with the option to start deep in the water, at waist length or completely out of the water on the beach. Given that this was my first mass start ever and first tri of the season; I felt comfortable starting waist deep, middle of the pact. I didn’t really feel like getting beat up and toppled over. The cannon went off and it was a mad dash out into the water for 1100 racers. The swim was a counter-clockwise, 1-loop in the crystal clear waters of Hapuna Beach (rated one of the top beaches in all of US!). Water was warm, no wetsuits allowed. Opposite of what others say, I didn’t see many fish. I caught some feet to draft for some of the way and depended on others for direction – I only looked up out of the water twice to spot the buoys which was nice. As far as time, I didn’t do so great – about 4 minutes slower than my one and only ½ IM last season. I came out of the water at 44:49. I guess I need to get back in the pool and do some serious training.

T1:
Nothing could be left on the ground, everything needed to be in a bag hanging on our bikes. Rinsed the salt water off on the run up to T1 with a hose, threw the helmet, glasses, race belt and shoes on and was off. Total time in T1 was 3:36. Yea, room to improve. Ha!

Bike: 3:01:10 [18.5 mph]
I was most nervous for the bike cause I’m not a strong biker. Within the first 5 minutes, I spotted two people fixing flats. Eek – not a good sign. We started with an out and back on Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway totaling close to 8 miles. We continued toward Hawi where we turned around to head right back to where we came from. There was a slight headwind about 7 miles out of the Hawi turnaround which slowed everyone down, but I’m not complaining because it was nothing compared to what they could have been! The road shoulders were huge and clean – drivers were amazingly polite. Justin passed me somewhere between mile 42-47 on an uphill. He is a maniac on hills and are definitely his time to shine! Overall the course was reasonable – some good drawn out hills, absolutely no short and steep ones. The sun was hot and I scored myself some awesome tan lines, including race number tattoos (see pic). I drank two bottles of Gu2O during the ride and felt pretty good. My only issue was at mile 46… my left foot went dead. My fit has my left foot turned inward a little and before the race I had issues with this but never bothered to fix it. I blame this for a dead foot. I’ll fix the alignment for my next ride and hopefully things will turn out better! Mauna Lani Drive was the end of bike – I finished successfully without any issues with a total bike time of 3:01:10 which I am happy with.

T2:
Not much to say – put the sneaks on and headed out for a 13.1 mile run. Total T2 time was 3:13 (my number bib ripped so I had to safety pin it on – took some extra time!!)

Run: 2:04:21 [9:30 min/mile]
I felt really good heading out for the run. I had forgotten to grab my water bottle to run with in T2 so I was a little panicked at first. I knew this would be a hot run and I wanted to be assured that I would have water when I needed. To make up for it, I made a point to drink up at every single water station on the course – routine at each station: gulp of water, gulp of Gatorade, finish water, dump ice down the sports bra and ice water on my hat, seemed to hold me over between each station just fine. The run wasn’t pretty, not even enjoyable for the most part but definitely new scenery than what I am used to and different at that. The run took you through lava fields and parts were on the grass of a golf course, which I swear was hotter than the lava fields. There was not one spec of shade the entire run, just you and the sun. The course was rolling hills with 4 out and backs. I spotted Justin at the first turnaround and gave him a wave. He was looking strong and as much as I wanted to catch him, it would have taken a lot out of me… next time ;) I really had no issues on the run. In fact, I probably could have gone faster but I kept telling myself not to kill it. I walked each water station to assure I was getting enough liquids. I have so much more training to do for LP, it wasn’t worth making a mistake. I took a GU every 45 minutes in the race and this seemed to work out well for me. The last mile of the run was the hardest part for me, it always seems to be. The stretch was entirely across the golf course and you could hear the cheering at the finish line which for some reason makes it feel longer to get there. I made it though, with a total run time of 2:04:21. I crossed the line with a smile on my face, happy to be done and to go sub 6. Such an improvement from RI last year. I snagged myself a Gatorade and took a seat in the shade to stretch before grabbing some food.

My final time was 5:57:08 which is 40 minutes faster from RI! A little (actually, a lot) of training goes a long ways! : )

Not sure if Justin will be posting his own race report… if not, below are his times – congrats to Jus for setting a new personal PR and for ALMOST breaking 2 hrs on his run!

Swim: 45:54 [2:18]
T1: 3:40
Bike: 2:57:33 [18.9 mph]
T2: 3:18
Run: 2:00:17 [9:11 min/mile]
Total: 5:50:40

On a side note, on the flight out of Boston to Hawaii, we met a guy named Michael who lived in Hawaii and was doing the race – super nice, friendly guy. He told us he was going for the Kona spot for his age group. We were happy to catch up with him at the awards ceremony and congratulate him on accomplishing his goal - he’s doing Kona : )

A successful race in the books…