week 4 training

10 weeks to go

totals: swim 400 yds, bike: 25 miles, run: 34.3 miles
mon	run	6.1 mile run with marcie.  Still super humid out.  (55:12/9:05 pace)
tues	run	6 mile run (53:44/8:53 pace).  Still hot, but I'm getting better at handling it.
wed	swim/bike/run	try the tri.  400 meter swim (13:50), 9 mile bike (33:06), 2 mile run (17:02)
thurs	rest
fri	run	12 mile run with jess.  Failed 14  mile run and hottest day of the year. (2:04:00/10:24 pace)
sat	run	8.2 mile run.  Hosted run with MVS and totally redeemed myself.  2nd to last mile was 7:55!  (1:10:40/8:34 pace)
sun	bike	16 mile bike on Josh's loop.  Avg pace was 13.6 mph I think.

this past week was soooo hot that i actually thought, is winter almost here?  then i had to slap myself for having such vile thoughts.  i AM trying to embrace the heat and acclimate, but friday was 80 degrees with 80% humidity by 6 am when i left for my long run and there was just no coping.  i think that i will attempt the same exact route next week and pretend like this week didn't even happen.  no walking!!

not much going on otherwise.  marathon training is in full swing and my mileage is increasing each week.  this time around i've been feeling really strong and have avoided the shin splints and heel pain that messed with me during seattle training.

try the tri week 2: karen joins

another great week at try the tri!  since this was karen's first outing, we decided to swim together, so my swim time was a little slower.  (ignore the peeper in the yellow cap.  he was totally drafting off us.  :))
swim time: 13:50  (+6 min from last week)(swam with karen)
t1 time: 2:19 (+31 secs from last week)(fiddled with my garmin)

but i totally killed it on the bike (shout out to the speedy "silver bullet").
bike time: 33:06 (-4: 26 mins from last week)
t2 time: 1:22 (+7 secs from last week

the run remained about the same, but i felt much better.
run time:17:02 (-36 secs from last week)

overall: 1:07:39 (+1:36 from last week)(yay!  really good considering the swim!)

it was super hot (hellllo heat wave) so i didn't put on my new wetsuit even tho i should be practicing with it.  here, we can pretend.

wetsuits are soooo flattering.  :)

only 3 more weeks of try the tri.  i am going to make it to at least one more, if not two.  and then its only a matter of weeks until the real deal.  SheRox on Sept 25.  get excited people!

week 3 training

i wish i could just find a format for this blog and stick with it.  you know, consistency and all that.  but for now, you will all just have to deal with my blogger ADD as i attempt to figure out what works best.

so for right now, i am going to try and start posting my weekly workout notes on mondays for the remainder of the weeks leading up to the smuttynose hampton marathon (yes, i officially signed up.  it is on oct 2 and there are precisely 11 weeks of training remaining.  eeek!)

this week was jam packed even tho i didn't plan it that way.  josh and i picked up our new bikes on wednesday, and proceeded to ride them 3 out of the next 4 days.  i guess we like them or something.  :)  my long run this week didn't go quite as i had planned due to the really-starting-to-get-on-my-nerves-excessive-heat.  plus i'm doing most of my runs with my smuttynose partner in crime, and running while talking is new to me, so i'm still finding my zone with that.

11 weeks to go:
totals: swim: 2000 yds, bike: 33 miles, run: 29.3 miles

mon	5.5 mile run.  HOT so not what I had planned (49:20/8:58 pace)
tues	5 mile run.  Track workout (800 WU, 5x400 in relay).  Treadmill 3.25 miles @ 9 min/mile.
wed	rest
thurs	6 mile run (51:37/8:36 pace) (1.5 WU, 3@5k pace, 1.5 CD) (8:04, 7:45, 7:34) PLUS 6.5 mile bike (to Haverhill freeway)
fri	6.5 mile bike (to Haverhill freeway) PLUS 1.6 mile run slow (10ish pace)
sat	2000 yd pool swim, 45 mins (100 WU, 3X500 free with 100 kicks, 100 CD)
sun	11.2 mile run.  HOT.  (1:45:19/9:22 pace) PLUS 20 mile bike on bike path

and since no good blog is complete without a pic, here ya go (borrowed from sis)

a non running post! non runners rejoice!

some of you may remember the bunny incident from last month.  in case you don't, a quick recap....

we discovered a bunny hole in the corner of our backyard when josh accidentally ran it over with the lawn mower.  (not to fret (at least at this point) they were not killed (at least not at this point)).  at first i was very anti-bunny and wanted to exterminate them using various cruel methods, but over the course of the next few days, i found myself checking on them frequently and trying to keep the dogs away.  i say trying, because on about day 3, i failed, and nala, the big bad bunny killer that she is, decided to chomp on one.  welllll, the thinking is that the smell of bunny blood scared the mother away, because she never returned, and even tho the bunnies were progressing quite nicely and were up and about around the hole, they eventually died a dehydrated death on about day 5 of bunny watch '11.  sad, i know.

anyhow, that brings us to our more happy story of the day.  my redemption song, if you will.

there has been a very persistent bird, who despite my knocking down of her first nest attempt (pre-bunny) has rebuilt and hatched herself some cute little baby birds.  because i am a newly reformed animal liker (not yet lover), i told mama bird that i would leave her nest intact until her babes were grown enough to leave the nest, but after that, all bets were off.  i've been keeping progress on the little things, and yesterday i was able to snatch a cute pic while mom was away getting food stuffs (at least i presume... she could have been off partying and getting a "bella vita" tattoo, but i'll have faith)

 

just wanted to share!  hope you are having a less hot and humid week than moi!

try the tri - week 1

i'm back with my long awaited first triathlon race report.  yay! 

"try the tri" is a weekly event put on by my local tri club (trifury) that goes for 10 weeks throughout the summer.  its a very low key "race" if you would even call it that, but it is super well organized and i was really, really impressed with it, and the members of trifury (who i'm slowly meeting more of).  the race consists of a 400 meter swim, 10 mile bike and 2 mile run. 

here i am at the start with josh and also an uber flattering pic of me with my mentor, robin, and my fellow mentee, judy.

 

the swim course was pretty easy for me...must be my few good years of high school swimming have managed to carry over.  i was 2nd out of the water which was cool!  i could get used to total swim domination!

swim time:7:50

t1 time: 1:48

not having any idea of what to expect in the transitions, i think my time was ok.  i didn't try to put my shirt on over my helmet or anything too crazy, but i also didn't have a wetsuit to take off, so time will tell on the transitions. 

bike time: 37:32

and then the bike happened, and i proceeded to get past by everyone and their mother.  definitely my weakest sport but maybe the new road bike (woohoo) i bought over the weekend will inspire more riding!

t2 time: 1:15

run time: 17:38

the running was actually the hardest part for me, since it took a good mile of the two total for my legs to start feeling like legs again.  brick workouts here i come!!

total time: 1:06:03

i am definitely doing this again!  i think there are at least 5 more weeks left, so 5 more weeks to get my time under 1 hour.  i'm secretly (or not so secretly) trying to recruit peeps to do this series with me, so if you are even remotely interested, let me know so i can railroad you into it.  :)

oh, and i forgot to mention....

i'm racing (if you'd call it that) my first ever tri today!  josh is coming with, so i'll make him man the camera.  stay tuned....

pics are up!! aka the post in which gwen posts non-hid pics of herself

so karen, dave and i ran the harvard pilgrim 10k on the 4th of July.  mostly (ok, it was pretty much only) because you got to run thru the helmet and onto the field at gillette stadium, finishing on the 50 yd line.  since patriots tickets are soooo expensive, this was my first, and probably last time to gillette stadium, and definitely as close as i'm ever going to come to the field ever again.

the race itself was not fun.  it was like 80 degrees with 80% humidity when we started and i sounded like a wheezing vacuum by the 1 mile mark.  my splits were as non-progressive as can be (8:15, 8:30, 8:45, 9:00, 9:15, 8:45)  (hey, at least i picked it up at the end!) (total time: 55:48)  but the pics...oh the pics!!  i'm contributing it all to the compression sleeves, but i am preeeettty pleased with these pics, i must say.  

also!  make sure to check out karen's blog. she is less conceited than i, but will post a pic or two nonetheless, i'm sure.