March 2, 2012

I can't believe that we are rapidly approaching spring. Where did winter go? This winter has been a total bummer. We have not been able to go skiing at all which really stinks.

So far this summer, I am only registered for Iron Girl and Skinny Man. I would like to sign up for at least one more race but have not decided on one yet. I tried to register for Green Lakes but was shut out. Kevin registered for Delta Lake, so I want to sit that one out and cheer him on. Delta Lake would have been the perfect race to go for an Olympic distance but it is also a very newbie friendly sprint race. Kevin will do awesome; I am very excited for him.

I finally broke down and made a few more tri purchases; a new bike seat and a wetsuit. The swim at Skinny Man is very cold and choppy so the wetsuit will come in handy. I have only tried it on once and it took FOREVER (at least it seemed to) to put on and take off. Another reason I bought one was so that I could participate in open water swimming earlier in the season.

My training is going well. I started an intense body sculpting class. Think Biggest Loser's "last chance workout" combined with Reebok's Crossfit and that is my class. I am so sore. Sore to the point that it even hurts to switch sides while trying to sleep at night. Walking down the stairs and just sitting myself down in a chair is painful. This class is no joke. It is exactly what I needed to switch up my workouts.

I hate thinking about it, but I am going to turn 40 in three weeks. I am kind of going through a mid-life crises. I am not going to get into a pity party here on my blog but let's just say that I was hoping to have accomplished a bit more in my life by now. I think 90% of it centers around my non-existent career. I still feel like we made the right decision for our family for me to stay at home with the kids. It is a lonely tough job though. Now that my kids are getting older, I have people asking me when I am going back to work. I think I am going to wait until Alex hits middle school and even then I will try to only work part-time. When I was growing up, I was a latch-key kid. I hated it. It is important for me to be here when the kids get home from school. I just need to keep telling myself that I am grateful I do not have to work. I do enjoy my time volunteering for Make A Wish and at the kid's schools. I am fortunate to have these opportunities to help my community.

To leave on a positive note, for turning 40 I am in the best shape of my life. I may grumble before I get on the bike or pack up for the pool, but once I get into a workout I am very happy. I am grateful that I am healthy and that I can push my body to do things I never would have thought of 5 years ago. Age is just a number, right?

January 13, 2012

Something is wrong with this blog site. I have been trying to post for a few weeks now but I keep getting locked out. Hopefully this works.

After slacking off a little around the holidays, I'm back!! It feels so good to be back on track. My swimming has suffered a bit, but not enough to frustrate me.

I do have to say that I love my trainer. I can't get over how much of a workout it is. I have to wipe my bike down after each use because of all the dripping sweat. I have my trainer right next to my treadmill; I just hop right on after riding and get in a nice brick workout. So far I am doing okay with the seat. I am going to give myself until March. It it is still bugging me, I will check out new seats. I was tempted to put my mountain bike seat on my road bike, but just could not bring myself to do it. Not sure why, but it would feel like I was cheating.

Three things I am afraid to get but need is:

clipless pedals
areo bars
wetsuit

Okay, maybe I do not "need" these things but these would really help in pushing myself to the next level. Sometimes I ask myself whether I do want to take things up a notch. I am working on gettting that confidence level up.

I have only officially signed up for Iron Girl. Now that 70.3 is in June, I am not sure I would be ready. I think I am pushing that back to 2013. I still need to build up a strong base. I know I can do it, but it would be nice to have that extra 3 months of open water swim under my belt.

I will be updating my blog with a training plan shortly.

December 3, 2011

Time to start thinking of race season 2012!

As of now, I am doing 2 sprints and one olympic distance. I am doing Delta Lake, Iron Girl and Cooperstown. Cooperstown is the Olympic distance. It is a new race to the area so it will be interesting to see how it goes. I was going for the 70.3 but realistically will not be ready until 2013.

The three races I am on the fence with is Musselman, Old Forge and Cazanovia Tri. If races were free, I would do them all. IG was $125, DL is $85 and Cooperstown is $150. Maybe someday I will be good enough for a sponser.....LOL.

My big Christmas gift this year will be a snazzy new bike trainer. I did a lot of research and went with the Kurt by Kinetic. It is supposed to be a really good one. Now if I can just get hubby to spring for a new bike seat and wetsuit!

Skinny Man 2011

I made myself get out of bed at 6 a.m. this past Saturday to check out the Skinny Man triathlon in Skaneatles. This is a race I plan on doing next summer so I wanted to see what the course looked like and to cheer on the racers.

Skinny Man is a 800 meter swim, 12 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. Piece or cake, right?

The swim looked a bit scary. I only had to swim 600 meters for Iron Girl; going from 600 to 800 meters is a big jump. However I have to remember that the bike is 6 miles less. Go figure; I am much stronger on the bike than I am on the swim.

After watching the swim waves go off, I ran to transition to watch people whip off their wetsuits and ride off. Right where I was standing, there was a girl who looked extremely organized and calm despite the chaos around her. I caught a "4" on her body marking so I thought she was 24. No, the girl was 14!! Talk about impressed.

Abbie is 10 now and I am strongly encouraging her to start out with the kids triathlon that CNY tri club offers during the summer. She has zero desire to now, but I am hoping that eventually my love of the sport will rub off on her. It would be a great daughter/mother bonding experience.

I already have my race schedule for 2012. Will post it soon.

August 30, 2011

I totally admit it. I fell off the wagon and I hit HARD. The party is over. If I am serious about doing a 70.3 in 2012 than I need to get back on track NOW.

Okay, I am not going to beat myself over it. Why look back when you can look forward?

So I had my first bike ride in 2 weeks last night. It was the first bike ride since July that I tackled the hills. Oh, I was hurting today.

Despite the sore lower thighs, I got on the treadmill this morning. It was not pretty. I was able to hang in until about mile 4. Then I just stopped and asked myself WHY am I doing this to myself. 70.3 involves a 13 mile run. The most I have run is 6 miles. I have a long way to go.

This all is supposed to be fun, right? I'll let you know when it becomes "fun" because it sure is not right now.

Iron Girl Race Report

Okay, I have had over two weeks to think about and process my race. I needed this time to become objective about my performance.

I was so filled of self doubt that last week before the race. Any confidence I gained from my Cato tri was long gone. Luckily I had a big family reunion the day before the race to stress over. The only training I did that week was a few bike rides and my tri-swim clinic. I did not even bother with a last minute run.

I had to rack my bike and pick up my timing chip/bib number the day before. It was a long 45 minute wait. I tried to be strategic about where I racked my bike. I wrapped up my seat and bike computer in plastic in case it rained (which it did). The expo was fun, but we could not stay long. The kids were cranky about the wait and it was just so humid out. We were late for the family reunion; it was in Sackets Harbor. Despite having to dash quickly, I was able to make it to the the merchandise tent to buy a cool shirt.

Race day; 4:20 a.m. I woke up nervous but excited. I ate a piece of peanut butter toast and had some coffee. The kids were spending the night with my parents so it was just Kevin and me. We left the house at 4:45 for the 20 minute drive to Oneieda Shores. Surprisingly, it was not busy. It was still dark out when we got there. I made my way over to the transition to set up my gear. I was a little bummed to see my bike was in a huge puddle. There was nothing I could do about it, so I just set out my gear and a towel and hoped for the best.

The race was to start out in waves. They broke it down by age group, starting with the older athletes going first. The race started at 7 a.m. but my wave (35-39, a-k) did not start until 7:25. Officials took a water temp to determine if the race would be wet-suit legal. The temp reading came in at 77 degrees to the relief of many racers. I had zero intention of wearing a wet-suit regardless of the temp, so it did not effect me.

My wave entered the water at 7:16. I was calm and ready to go. The beach was full of spectators and the music was rocking which made it a lot of fun.

The gun went off at 7:25. My swim strategy was to stay to the far left of the markers so that I did not get crushed by the other swimmers. That seemed to be the strategy of everyone else so I quickly abandoned that plan and stuck to the fastest path. The swim felt like it took longer than it did. I passed a lot of swimmers who were in full panic mode, holding on to the markers. I would not be surprised if these women even attempted to swim in open water before. They looked like how I felt at my first open water swim.

Oneida Shores is a very shallow lake. I was able to touch bottom about 50 meters from shore. It was tempting to just stand up and run through the water to get out, but I swam until my fingers grazed the bottom. I felt strong enough to get out of the water and run to transition 1 (many women were just shuffling along like zombies). Kevin was waiting for me at the top of the small hill; it was so nice to be able to see him. The crowds were so large I did not think I would be able to find him.

Swim time: 21:51 600 meters (it was actually measured at 656 meters)

Transition was fast and easy. 3:25

The bike portion was my best leg, therefore making it the most fun. I easily passed 40 or so bikers. About 8 miles in, it started to rain but I did not let that slow me down. As I was passing an intersection, I heard a very distinctive cheer. I looked back over my shoulder to see my mother-in-law going crazy. I did not know that she was going to be there so I was surprised. She did not recognize me, so I yelled out to her as I passed. Since it was a rural road, many people came out to their driveways to watch us race. Some people were offering water bottles to the bikers; many had signs. It was really cool.

Bike time: 1:03:09 18.63 miles; 17.1 miles per hour pace

I came in fast to the transition area. Since I do not wear bike shoes, it did not take long. I did have to ask someone which way we ran out; I was a little disorientated.

Transition 2: 1:18

My legs felt like rubber coming off the bike. The first few steps out of transition were challenging. I just wanted to walk a bit to stretch my legs, but I forged ahead. As I was making my way to the path, I saw my parents with the kids and Kevin. The kids were going crazy; jumping up and down with their signs. I gave them a quick high five and kept going.

I alternated between running and speed walking. I am just NOT a runner. At all. But I tried as best I could considering I just biked over 18 miles. The run was a flat out and back 3.1 miles. As I was running I just kept reminding myself to smile and take in the moment. After I passed the 2 mile mark I was just so excited to be almost finished. The final stretch was about 300 yards. I finished strong, passing my family and a few friends that had stopped by. I actually turned around and jogged backwards for a bit trying to speak with them. Silly me, that probably took 10 seconds off my time!

Run: 37:43 12.10 mile pace

Finish time: 2:07:26 640/1053 overall and 124/187 for age group

When the announcer yelled, "Rebecca Alder, YOU are an Iron Girl", I pretty much lost it. I crossed the finish line, took my meddle and a bottle of water and went to find my family.

I can honestly say that I gave the race 110%. I have not looked back and thought I could have pushed harder on the bike or go faster on the run. I gave it my all and it showed. I have zero regrets.

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to do it again next year.

August 17, 2011

Yea I am back on track! Was able to get in a long run and it felt good. I think I am over the post race blues.

I am taking a two month break from my tri-swimming clinic. The instructor told me that he was going to kick my ass with super challenging drills when I get back. Scott is convinced that he can turn me into a very competitive swimmer. We will see!

Off to vacation; plan is to run Friday and Sunday. Right now I am at the 18-20 mile point for biking. When the kids are back in school, I will work on adding 5 miles weekly, with the goal of being "comfortable" (as if that is ever going to happen on my torture seat) with a 60 mile ride.