Wednesday, September 29, 2010

blog award(s)

awhile back Meredith gave me a blog award for being a versatile blogger and I unfortunately didn't pass it along (sorry Mer). my mom always says "better late than never" so here it is.... my award goes to Twila at 2010 miles in 2010. Twila actually has 2 blogs, one about her exercising and one about her 2 year old son. Now that's versatile!


also, Mindy from Mindy's Marathon gave me a blog award yesterday for "substance"! i would like to pass this award to Sarah at The Progress Post. Sarah always has posts that either are running or weight loss related. She is very supportive to others and as an added bonus she has the same birthday as me AND is running the same half marathon! :)

Great job girls!!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

GoLite water bottle review

Scott from Outside PR sent me a GoLite water bottle to try out and review.



I was in need of something that I could carry with me on my long runs so i could have my GU's and water with me and not have to worry about backtracking to where ever my vehicle was parked. (someone didnt buy shorts with pockets in them.... silly me!!!!)

When i received the water bottle in the mail, i was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a zipper pocket on the container and i was able to fit in 2 GU's in the pocket. So water and food during my long run were taken care of! yay!!

however, i was hesitant to try it out. how would it feel running with that big of a water bottle for 12 miles?! would it weigh me down, would my hand cramp? all these were questions going through my mind when i headed out on my run a couple weeks ago. but i filled it up with some GU brew and headed out anyway.

it was great! i never once thought about how heavy the bottle was nor did i feel it sloshing around in the bottle. my hand got a little hot when carrying it, thus some sweat ran down my fingers, but not once did my hand or fingers cramp up. i was able to GU and drink water when i needed it and because of that had a very successful run. in case you were wondering i determine success by the fact that i was able to function after it! :-)

i used the bottle again this past saturday during the running portion of the triathlon. once again it worked like a charm. i was able to refuel after the bike during my run by eating the GU's in the pocket and drinking my GU brew in the bottle. check out the picture of me running with my awesome GoLite bottle.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I "TRI"ed



let me start off with saying that "I DID IT!" it wasn't looking so good the day after my bike wreck. I had a bruise on my ankle and my left hamstring hurt when i moved. i was afraid jeremy was going to have do the run for me. but by friday night it was feeling better, so i decided to go for it!

got to the race early to set up the bike at the bike station and register. at registration they gave us a goody bag which included a tech shirt (best shirt ever bc its in my favorite color.)



we also had to get our numbers written on us, like what you see in ironmans and stuff. pretty cool i thought! found out our numbers were how we would enter the pool to swim. i was the 7th person to get in the pool!




there was a 20 second stagger start between each swimmer. we did a 50 in each lane, all the way across the pool to equal a 300. my swim was ok, one of the faster times, but about 20 seconds slower than my 2 earlier swims that week.



after the swim, i ran out and went to the bike transition area. threw on my running clothes, helmet, ate some strawberry banana GU (another great flavor) and was off. the bike was pretty hilly. Twila and i have biked the course a couple times this summer so I knew to expect that going out was easier (more downhills) than coming back (more uphills). several bikers passed me on the bike. but that was ok, i still was able to maintain and go faster than my usual speed on the bike.


The bike transition area was full. Jeremy took this during the race.



i also knew that once we started running, everyone else would pass me. and of course that is exactly what happened. my fastest run on a good day, not having biked 15 miles beforehand is 10-15 minutes slower than the other triathletes running times, so i knew going in that 1) i would not be able to go a "fast" 5k time after biking and 2) i was going to finish last. but i was ok with that. i had been worrying about it all week, but finally came to the realization that "hey i'm doing this and that's the only thing that matters" not that i come in last or first, but that i did it! the 3.1 mile run was more of a walk/run. i ate another GU. this time TRI berry was the flavor - which i thought was very fitting and once again very good. used my GoLite water bottle during the run which contained.... you guessed it GU brew -Raspberry flavor. jeremy being the awesome husband that he is, ran the 5k with me. he was due for a long run today but because of a back issue wasn't able to, so he ran with me to keep my company. my run(walk) was 10 min. slower than my best time. and i came in dead last. :(





however, i did WIN my age group! ha! the other girl in my age group was the first woman overall, so she didnt count in the age group awards! go me!! i got a bag and a pair of running socks as my prize.

twila did great also! she got third in her age group and had a great tri as well. check out her blog. it's located on the right sidebar 2010 miles in 2010.

i am happy i did it, disappointed in coming in last, undecided on if and when i'll do another one. if i do, i definitely want to get my running time down before i "tri" another one!

now on to finish preparing for the half! it's only 3 weeks away!!

Friday, September 24, 2010

GU Giveaway!

I love GU, you should too!!!

Ok, here is another giveaway! The winner will receive what is pictured below. 6 GU gels, 1 GU chomps, 1 GU brew, and 1 GU recovery brew.



Deadline to enter will be 11pm, Thursday Sept. 30th. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

Leave a separate comment for each way to enter:

1) Become a follower of my blog or let me know if you are already!

2) Like GU on FB

3) Go to guenergy.com and tell me what flavor you like best or would like to try!

4)post it on your blog

5)post it on your fb page

6)tweet about the giveaway

Ryders Winner

True Random Number Generator

Min:
Max:
Result:
3

congrats Sarah! i'll be in touch to get you your glasses!

thanks to everyone who entered. check back tomorrow to enter my GU giveaway!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

a bad day for biking - my first wreck

so you know how some people have a tough time getting out the door to go exercise? well i literally couldnt get out the door today!

let me start by saying i went to the pool to do one more swim/bike transition. swim went well. i was about 4 sec. slower than monday. my stopwatch had floated down to the drain, so by the time i found it and hit the button, i think that should account for those extra 4 seconds!

i quickly transitioned to my biking attire. i was faster and dryer than monday which was good!! i had brought my bike into the pool area. i was just going to leave my swim stuff at the pool and grab it when i got back from biking rather than take it out to the truck then.

bike incident #1: so i hopped on my bike in the building and was going to bike around town. remember how i said i couldn't get out the door? well, the double doors to the pool were open, but there was a pesky bar in the middle where they latch. i thought i would make it, but my handle got caught and down i went. nothing too dramatic, i wasn't on the road or anything like that, but i did fall down and scrape my elbow. the lifeguard was apparently oblivious to the noise and didn't even look up to make sure i was ok.


bike incident #2: i got back up, laughed at myself, and decided i would ride though town and do a different path than i took on monday. the city recently painted bike lanes down some of the streets so i thought i would check them out. i went a couple miles away from the pool and started to head back. all of the sudden i hear a crack behind me, like something had just fallen off my bike!! i looked back and saw something laying in the middle of the road. i pulled over and looked at my pack. sure enough it was open and my iphone was laying in the middle of lexington avenue. (a heavily traveled road in my town) eeek!!! at least one car passed me after i pulled over so i was just sure my phone was demolished. i rode back to it and picked it up. God was looking out for me bc there wasn't a scratch on it!! the screen was fine! part of the case had come apart, but i picked it up and put it back together! good as new!!

i decided that i needed to get back to the pool and off my bike as soon as possible. today was NOT a day for biking! i am glad though that my first wreck happened today and not on saturday at the tri where somebody surely would have seen me!!

Monday, September 20, 2010

the tri is coming! the tri is coming!

t minus 5 days away from my first triathlon. i have been freaking out over what I am going to wear during it. i bought a pair of tri shorts, but need something to wear on top. i had thought a sports bra, but that doesnt work so well to swim in. plus there is the issue of the tri shorts come down to my knees and are tight. i have never worn anything tight on my legs while running, no compressions shorts, nothing. so that was making me nervous as well.

i went to the local swim store where i had bought my tri shorts and looked at their tri tops. but couldnt find any that i liked, that fit, and that i wanted to pay $50+ for. so i came home empty handed and was still freaking out bc i didnt know what to wear!!!

then it hit me, why not wear my swim suit, put my running clothes on over top and use a whole lot of body glide? i am a swimmer more than a biker or runner, so being in a swim suit for long periods of time doesnt bother me like it does others.

today i decided i needed to do a run through of what i would wear and how it would go with transitions. jeremy came with me, watched me swim, then rode and ran with me.

i swam in my suit, got out of the pool, threw everything on and then hopped on the bike. took about 2 minutes to transition between the two. we rode 5 miles, then got on a track and ran one mile. my shirt was still pretty wet, but my shorts were only damp. they actually dried really quickly after i started running. my legs were hurting from the 12 miler on saturday and my running time was horrible, but i know that is to be expected. not doing this for speed - just for the tri sticker! :) i had no chaffing or rubbing from the swim suit while running which is a major PLUS!!!! my shorts did ride up some but i think that was bc they were still a little damp and the earlier body glide had been washed away.

now with that taken care of i can rest easier!! i think i might do another short change after i bike between that and my run, just bc my suit was almost dry and i think by changing into a dry pair of shorts after the bike will help them from riding up my leg. i also need to re body glide. i hope to do one more bike to run, and swim to bike before saturday. not sure i'll be able to get in another swim, bike, AND run in beforehand.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

12 miles of teamwork and a GU review

I have been looking forward to and dreading today's run all week. Just a mix of emotions since the past month really has not been the best for me training wise.

Thursday night twila and i were talking about our upcoming longs runs. We decided that we would run part of our runs together - her last 6 and my first 6. Then i talked Jeremy into meeting me and running the last 6 with me since he wasn't doing a long run today bc of a race tomorrow.

My run was ok. definitely could have been better/faster but I have said all along I just want to finish the half. There for a brief time I had a time goal but I have since realized that I don't want to put that pressure on myself and just want to enjoy the experience. So no more time goals - only goal is to finish!

I decided after my last long run that I needed to drink and eat more when I run. I was lucky enough that Scott from outside pr had sent me a variety of GUs to use and review. I had never used GU before so I was interested in trying it.

I ate a GU every three miles, so at mile 3, 6, and 9, and then also went I got home after. Plus I used one of the lemonlime brews in my water bottle. I was definitely all GUed up during my run!!

And Boy it made a difference!! After my last long run I was done for the rest of the day, couldn't move, just wanted to rest and lay around. Today I feel none of that. Now I am not saying I didn't take a nap after, but I can function right now and am actually on my way to a UK game. I don't think that would be possibly without the GUs!

I tried the mint chocolate and chocolate outrage gel this morning and the strawberry gummies as well as the lemonlime brew. I loved all the flavors that I ate today. The chocolate outrage and mint chocolate were awesome. I have a sweet tooth like no other and this satisfies that while giving me energy. If you like eating brownie batter you need to try these two flavors!! Yum! Yum! The lemonlime brew was also good. Not too overpowering which I had been worried about. I used a GoLite water bottle while running and will have a review of it soon!

I couldn't have done today without Twila and Jeremy running with me and all the GU! Thanks guys!!

Check back for a GU giveaway! Also sign up for my current ryders giveaway.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ryders Giveaway

Ok folks, here it is - the Ryders giveaway you have all been waiting for! Check out these awesome Eyebolt glasses that could be yours! Someone has to win, might as well be YOU!



There are several different ways to enter. Please leave a separate comment for each way you enter.

Deadline to enter will be 11pm, Thursday Sept. 23rd. The winner will be announced shortly thereafter.

Ways to enter:

1) Become a follower of my blog or let me know if you are already!

2) Like Ryders on FB

3) Go to Ryderseyewear.com and tell me which pair of Ryders you like best!

4) Leave a separate comment for each time you:
post it on your blog
post it on your fb page
tweet about the giveaway

Monday, September 13, 2010

Ryders review and a successful brick

Scott from Outside PR was nice enough to send me some Ryders sunglasses. They are fantastic! I wore the Cirrus style today while I did my brick and really liked them. (see my pic below) They are very comfortable and lightweight! They are also very stylish which is what matters most, right? I will have a giveaway in the next day or two so check back soon!




Last week I did a brick unsuccessfully, my legs felt like jello after biking when trying to run. I realized that I definitely need to practice that before the tri. So I decided that I would start small and build up.

Today I biked 5 miles then ran 1.
It was so much better than last time! I was able to run the whole mile without stopping and didn't have the jello leg feeling at all. My mile time was about 25 seconds slower than my fastest ever mile, which I thought was pretty good considering I biked 5 miles before today's run and when I did my fastest mile before I had run fresh.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, September 12, 2010

rain, rain go away!

thursday i went for a run.... right below my knees ached on both legs. not sure what that is about. i have never had that pain before but it really bothered me. i hope it goes away and isn't there next time I run. anyone know what that is? or what is causing it?

yesterday morning was supposed to be "the" 5k where I needed to go a certain time in order to determine if I was on goal pace for my half training. i woke up yesterday morning to rain. i DON'T run in the rain! i know i need to get over that bc who knows what the weather will be for the half, but i just can not get up and go run knowing it's already raining. plus with my run from thursday i just wasn't feeling it! and to add to my dismay even more i looked at the results from the 5k in the paper today and realized i could have actually placed in my age group in the 5k bc the runners that are usually in my age group all did the 15K!!! grrr. that's what i get i guess for not running!

Jeremy, however, went on without me, while i stayed in bed and listened to it rain. the race was either a 5 or 15k, jeremy did the 15k. he did awesome! he was feeling good so he decided not to do his run/walk interval until he got tired. turns out he didn't get tired!! he only stopped once and that was for water. his avg pace per mile was over 1 minute faster than all his previous long runs before! he was super excited about this, even if he didn't place yesterday.

so here's some questions for you other bloggers:

anyone know what my lower knee pain is?
how do i keep from getting the knee pain?
how do you get over the "i dont run in the rain" mentality?

Monday, September 6, 2010

a "brick" house? i think not...

I had the bright idea today of doing a mini version of the sprint tri that is coming up. Even though i have to work today, twila was off so we were able to train together again! and jeremy too!

the sprint tri at the end of the month entails a 300 swim, 15 mile bike, and 3.1 miles run. so i figured for today we could do a 300 swim, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run. do to poor planning on my part, we couldn't use the pool first bc of a water aerobics class. so we decided to bike, run, swim. we definitely wanted to make sure we biked then ran bc after the last time the three of us biked, twila and jeremy had just jogged back to the vehicles to get the swim stuff and realized their legs felt like jello! so we knew that it was something we were going to have to practice and work on.

twila decided she was going to do 15 mile bike, 2 mile run, and 150 swim. even though we had a head start after the bike, she caught up to us towards the end of our 2 mile run/walk. My legs were on FIRE when i tryed to run after biking! at first they felt like they wouldnt hold me up, then my shins started burning like they did the day after my last 5k when i tried to run. my 2 mile run was more of a 2 mile walk with random short spurts of jogging.

i told jeremy that i needed to rethink doing the tri. i could do the swim and bike and he could do the run. he encouraged me to practice more "bricks" (biking then running right after) before the tri and if i still didn't think i could do it, then we would just do it as a team. he knows i really want the "tri" sticker for my car and i have been really excited about doing it. the tri is in three weeks, so i'm going to do a couple mroe bricks this week and next and then decide whether i'll go it alone or we'll do it as a team.

anyone out there have suggestions for getting over the jello-leg feeling?

Saturday, September 4, 2010

10 miles with yurbuds

Today was my first ten miler! The weather is perfect today. Mid 70's for the high with NO humidity! I have been looking forward to this run all week mainly bc the weather and I am glad to finally start training again!

Now I have only ran once in the past two weeks, so I really didn't have a lot of expectations for today. I wasn't concerned with my speed, I just wanted to get in 10 no matter how fast or slow it was.

Since run 2, walk 1 worked last time, I decided I was going to do that ratio again. First 5 miles I was about 2 minutes off my best 5. I wasn't upset though, I was actually happy that it was that close! I thought it would be worse!! The next 5 were a different story. I was away from the car where I had left my midrun beans and water and didn't get back there til mile 7. By the time I ate them I was really starting to fade fast.

The last 3 miles were bad, especially the last one. My body started aching and i was famished!! well, famished may not be the right word. my sugar was low and i seriously needed food, calories, something! I was able to keep my run/walk ration the whole time, with the exception of that pesky last mile and once during mile 7 (big hill) and 9 where i just walked the whole 3 minutes. During the last mile I had to walk about half of it. However slow it was, I finished it! I ran 10 miles! Not a lot of people can say that.

One thing I did differently today that I have not done in a couple months was run with music. I had ordered some "yurbuds" a few weeks back but they had come the day after my last long run. Let me just say - these things are awesome!!! I have very small earholes and have tried every type of headphones or buds. Either they have not stayed in my ears or have hurt me! I am not talking a little hurt I am talking causing major pain and even an ear infection from having the pressure in my ears during my run.

During my over 2 hour run the yurbuds only came out of my ears once and that was MY fault bc i accidently pulled the wire with my hand while i was running. I put it back in and like magic they never came out again! I had no pain during or after the run! They are great. When you order them, you send them a picture of your ears with either a quarter next to it or a pair of earbuds in. They use the picture and send you the size that will correctly fit your ears!! Finally I have a great pair of earphones that I can use. Thanks yurbuds!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

back in the saddle

this past saturday jeremy's boss talked him into doing a duathlon with him. which involved running a 5k, then hoppiing on his hybrid bike to ride 16.5 miles. i told him to take my road bike, but he said it was a girls bike and wouldnt use it. haha, i think he learned his lesson! while i was waiting on him to finish i overheard some of the athletes talking about one really big hill that had the words "look up" painted on the road. you look up to see that the hill just keeps going and going and going! after the race was over jeremy drove me to the hill so i could get the full effect of just how big it was! i told him to use my bike, maybe next time he'll listen! ;)

today was the first day in over a week i have been able to run, or exercise at all for that matter. i missed exercising but know that i needed to take a break to recover from my surgery. just a litle outpatient surgery, nothing big, but the doc did say no exercise for 7 days. jeremy and i had said we would either sleep in and run thursday or get up and run today. well, i got up early but jeremy wanted to sleep, so i decided to run on the treadmill.

i used to be one of the those people that thought running on the treadmill was SO much easier than outside and thought my hubby was crazy when he didnt' think so. well, i have had a change of heart here the last month or so since i have primarily been running outside. this morning i quickly got hot, sweaty, out of breathe. i'm sure part of it was due to the fact i hadn't exercised in over a week, but i think just being on the treadmill made it more difficult as well. i had to take walk breaks, which im' not opposed to since that is the whole point of my half training program, but i really try not to on the 30 minute runs. it felt good though to get back at it again.

tomorrow jeremy is going to do his run since he skipped out this morning. this upcoming saturday i'm due for a 10 mile run!