Like Old Times

Nothing like a little winter weather to make training more interesting. While the news wass busy with its weather-related doom and gloom, I figured I'd head out for 30+ min run and then head to the Y for a swim...luckily, ours was the only Y that didn't close early for snow.

As discussed in earlier posts, this year was really strange for me in terms of training. I never found a good rhythm and then basically shut down everything but running after August. As a result, heavy training has been a nice slap in the face...I've spent the past few weeks (and will continue for another 1.5 months) of nothing but base building. Plus I've added in consistent weight training for the first time which may or may not last b/c my muscles are completely spent by the time I get to swim/bike/run.

The biggest hurdle so far has been swimming. Always my weakness, coupled with hiding from the pool for months, I was a little nervous to do my T-test. This is used as a base 100m time for training: to determine we swim 3x300m w/ 30 sec rests and then average the times. While training for IMLP in 2008, my t-time was 1:53. This time around I'm untrained, sore from lifting, and swam the 1st 300m too hard and posted a t-time of 2:07...not good.

The good news is its early. But I have a long ways to go and think a private swim lesson may be needed to help me improve since this is the only leg of triathlete that I haven't significantly improved in since 2008. I guess its good that my swim focus started this week!

Welcome to my weekends

Working retail is tricky when it comes to planning out my workouts for the week. Take this week for example. I had put together my training plan with the habit of doing big workouts on the weekends - two days off to do lots and wear myself out tired. However, my weekend this week was yesterday and today - two straight days off. This meant I had to rearrange the schedule and motivate myself to get the big workouts in early in the week versus later in the week which can be hard to do! Fortunately, I got a good day in yesterday of biking and running and I plan to do a 13 mile run today, whenever the weather decides to let up before the snow, followed by a 30 minute swim (which I didn't get to fit into yesterday). It's been tricky but hopefully I will start to get use to the change up and the lack of consistency in my weekly schedule.

This week was the official start to my Boston Marathon training! WooHoo! There are twelve weeks until the race and I am already super excited. I've decided to add something new into my marathon training this time around - tempo runs and strides. I figured this would be a good idea since I PR'd at my last marathon and I would like to see if I am capable of anything more. Adding these into my training will build the speed I need, hopefully. I'll keep you posted on how it's going since this kind of training is new to me.

                       

Yesterday it was 45 degrees out and I could not pass up the opportunity to enjoy a run in the warmer weather while it was around. Note to self: Craft baselayer and Mizuno thermal tights are not good running gear for 45 degrees.... I was sweating! (but not complaining). I got to watch the sun set during the run along with lots of other runners. Picture was from yesterday: sunset behind the Lincoln Memorial - pretty, even though you can't really tell in the picture.

Exciting Friday night at the Y

2 week prep training is officially done. After a recovery week, the serious training begins.

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Hi again!

It's been awhile! Sorry!

To start things off, here's an update on the IM Canada debacle. They ended up sending an email out taking responsibility for their administrative error. Apparently $69 was the correct amount (which I still don't understand the calculations fully) but they gave athletes the option to reject the fee while honoring the original registration, which was the option I chose. I did not choose this because I am trying to be cheap, I chose it for a couple reasons: 1) the way they handled this whole thing was disrespectful, 2) I 100% would not have signed up for the race had the total cost come to nearly $700 at the point of registration (instead I would have closed the page and looked into doing another race somewhere else), 3) they never clarified the issue of EAS having access to our credit card information, which still concerns me, 4) they did not give us the option for a full refund, which I strongly believe, to practice excellent customer service, they should have offered. Anyways, it's over and done with and (somewhat) forgotten. I'll still be at the starting line on August 28 with intentions to race my heart out and have a great time.

Moving on, I started the new year off by signing up for my third race for the season, which will be TriRidgefield! I love this race and am looking forward to competing in it once again. Now it's time to decide on the remainder of my races so that I can sign up and have my race schedule set.

On another note, I took a position at City Sports in Georgetown. City Sports was my go-to store when we were living up in Boston (where it was established) and when I found out they were opening a new store in the area, I applied immediatley. Now I get to spend my days in a store I love, with awesome people, all while getting to talk to customers about things I love most. I'm excited about the job and actually look forward to going to work :) The store is awesome and unlike any other City Sports out there. Here are some pics:

Annnnd, now back to training. Justin and I have officially switched back to our (QT2) training diet. BOO! Now it's back to protein smoothies for breakfast, veggies for lunch and non-carb meals for dinner. It's always difficult getting back on this diet and you get some serious hunger pains during the transition but we both know that we feel 100x better and more energized while on it so we are pulling through and making that change. Now I just need to find some new, healthy recipes for meals so that we don't default to our regular stuff and get sick of it too quickly.

That's all for now! More updates to come soon...

Jus and I were out in California (Palm Desert) for Christmas vacation. We got to do some fun runs up steep mountains, here are some pics:

Back At It

Exactly 30 days since the NYC Marathon and 104 days since the Timberman 70.3 (my last triathlon), I hopped on the bike trainer to start my training for IM Canada 2011. It's 30 degrees and windy so I was more than happy about an indoor ride.

After a year away from Ironman, I'm looking forward to the serious training. For the 1st time in 3 years, I'm going the self-coaching route. I'm a bit anxious about whether I can create a strong enough plan and stay dedicated enought to PR at both the 70.3 and 140.6 distances. I'm hoping the blog will keep me honest...

*Can anyone guess the background show?

News from Ironman Canada?

I received this email from NA Sports (owner of Ironman Canada) on Friday evening, sent to my inbox with the subject line reading: "News from Ironman Canada"

Dear Subaru Ironman Canada Entrant,

As many of you may be aware, effective July 1, 2010 British Columbia moved to a harmonized provincial and federal sales tax at a combined rate of 12%.  This has been a controversial and confusing tax change but it is the law and therefore must be collected on all sale of goods and services.  Unfortunately when your entry to the 2011 Subaru Ironman Canada was processed through Active, HST was not collected on the entry fee.  This has recently been brought to our attention and we are obligated to collect that tax.

To that end, the credit card that you used to enter the race will be charged $69, the amount of the HST on the entry fee. We will begin processing the charges on Monday, November 29th and these will be complete by December 10th.   Should you wish to have this charge applied to a different credit card or if the one you used to enter has expired, please contact our athlete services center at admin@nasports.com or 877-377-2373.  We apologize for this error and any inconvenience it may cause.

Ironman Canada Triathlon

First off, seriously? Screw that. This error was made on their behalf, not mine, therefore, is it not my responsibility to now pay that tax. If I bought a TV several months back and the store forgot to charge the HST, they would most certainly not come hunting me down today looking for that money. NA Sports and Ironman are not "obligated" to collect that tax, they are choosing to place that cost on their athletes. Excellent customer service would be for them to man up to their mistake and pay the lost money out of their own money-filled pockets. But I guess it's no surprise that they suck at customer service.

Second, from reading forums about this issue, I learned that they are in fact charging too much since part of the 12% was already collected at registration for GST. At most the HST should be ~$40. In fact, Active now shows that it is charging $644 for this race (I paid $603.75) which you assume is now factoring in the HST... through math, they should only be charging $40.25 to athletes who have already signed up.

Third, this is not about the money (though nearly $700 for one race is absurd), it's about how they are handling it and principle. This was a planned tactic, and one that screws the athletes the most. They send the email the day after Thanksgiving - a holiday weekend when most people are traveling and away from their email. They say they are going to start charging this fee on Monday which means we had ZERO business days to return to our computers, our email and become aware of the situation. They do it at a time when most people are buying the bulk of their holiday gifts (Black Friday & Cyber Monday) in hopes that people will just overlook the charge on their credit card statement. They have the subject line read: "News from Ironman Canada" as if it's no big deal. How about adding in there somewhere about how you are going to be charging my card?! Last, they do not offer any sort of alternative options if we do not want to pay this additional fee. It's their way or what? I have a say in this too, thanks.

Fourth, um - I am pretty sure it is unlawful to retroactively charge a credit card without authorization. Do not TELL ME you will begin the charges on Monday, you ASK ME if you are allowed to charge my card.

With that said, I've written an email telling them they are not authorized to charge my credit card until a full explanation on their calculations and a refund option is provided. I've also asked them to explain to me why they thought it would be a good idea to come back to the customer for this money. Not my error, not my problem. I know it will be a lot of money for them to pay out of pocket but I guess that's the price you pay for your mistakes AND for great customer service.

I am SO over Ironman.

Now I wait on a response (as do so many other athletes) and hopefully before they take the action of charging my card because I will dispute it. I'm so fed up with them and they have no right to treat loyal athletes like they are idiots.

BAM! ...and YAY!