Beach to Battleship Part 3

I love the weather around here lately, a lovely 64 degrees for my 8 mile run. The clicking started just a little towards the end.  I think I was getting tired and wasn't focusing on my form.  The strap is definitely helping with the tracking.  I iced it when I got home, and then stretched at the gym.  I'm ready for the 9 and I'm 5 weeks away from 13. 

 

Maybe one day I'll be smoking Hot and have a pace like this.. Sunday, 20 miles, 7:51 pace, 2:37 elapsed time!!!!

A girl can dream, can't she?

I can't get this song out of my head!~Zero 7 Destiny~

Do you Digg?

Simply Delicious

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, & Banana Smoothie

~2 Scoops Chocolate Muscle Milk Light

~1 Cup 1 % Organic Milk

~1 Tablespoon Organic Peanut Butter

~1/2 Banana

~Handful of ice

~Sometimes I throw a B-12 & some Vit. C 

Blend & Enjoy

Total Calories (approximately)-475

Walk the Plank baby!

Now that I have your attention!  Lately, planks have been my favorite abdominal exercises.  The key to planks, is a neutral spine.  This is a great exercise to incorporate into your training.  

• Start with resting on the forearms and up on your toes.
• Keep your back neutral (straight), not letting it sag down.  Try this next to a mirror, so you can see your form.
• Your head is in a neutral position and you should be looking at the floor.
• Hold in your abdominal muscles but, DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH! Breathing and holding your abs at the same time.
• Hold this position for 30 seconds and over time working your way up to :45, 1:00, & 2:00.
• Do about 2-3 sets of these
  

For an advanced move, try the leg-lift plank.

• Start in the forearm/toes position.
• Slowly raise one leg 5 inches off the floor.
• Be sure not to leg your back fall out of neutral position.
• You could switch legs halfway through the set.

Beach 2 Battleship Part 2

Last Wednesday was my first training run.  It was a nice 73 degree day and I was supposed to run a "comfortable" 7.  Well I ran 7 and walked an additional mile.  The time I was running I noticed the "clicking" in my left knee but no soreness.  When I walked the final 8th mile I noticed more clicking and soreness behind the kneecap.  It wasn't so bad that I had to stop, but noticed I was nursing the left leg and my gait was changing at bit.  My running aficionado BP said this,  "I'd suggest getting the knee band ASAP.  Why wait?  In a past season, when I
felt pain on the outside of my knee cap, I purchased a knee band and it
worked magically.  I was amazed.  Also, I'm sure that you know Runner's Knee
is a symptom of tight IT bands.  Find a foam roller near your stability ball
in the gym and roll that tight ITB over it.  Also, make sure that you're
icing the outside of the knee after every run.  Freeze a Dixie cup filled
with water, tear off the paper on top and then rub it on the knee.
I'd suggest that you do tempo runs versus intervals.  Your goal is to run
13.1 miles relatively fast.  Intervals will help you build speed but tempo
runs will help you run fairly fast for a long time, which is what the race
is about."

Went out yesterday and bought the "TruFit" knee strap.  I'll run a comfortable 8 on Wednesday and I'm stretching a lot after I run and teach spin.  I can tell the stretching is helping and I hope this knee strap helps with the tracking.  I'll need to make sure I coordinate my running outfit with this black strap, but then again everything goes with black. :)

Beck- Girl

Beck- Girl
Video sent by shades2006

I love this song! When I'm having a hard time on a run, I hit the repeat on this track and this keeps me on pace!

Add it to your I-Pod....

Try this!

I love this smoothie lately, give it a try!

~1 cup 1% organic milk

~2 scoops Muscle Milk light (vanilla)

~1/2 cup crushed pineapple

~1/2 cup pineapple juice

~1/2 cup plain organic yogurt

~hand full of crushed ice

Calories-523 (approximately)

This would be a nice combination of protein and carbs to get you through to lunch or a light mid-morning snack.  If you wanted to drop some of the calories omit the pineapple juice and only use 1/2 cup milk.  Delicious!

Beach 2 Battleship Part 1

Now that Patriots is done, I'm on to the next race.  A triathlete buddy at the Y approached me and asked me to participate in a 1/2 Iron relay.  What do you think the first thing out of my mouth was? "Well if I do it, I'm not doing the swim leg!"  I told her I would do the bike leg but she had told someone else they could do that,  so I'm doing the 13.1 run.  (smiles)

Towards the end of my triathlete training I started experiencing some soreness around the back and front of my left knee cap.  Long story short, I had runner's knee and just stayed off of it until Patriots.  It acted up a little on the course but nothing that halted me, that was the heat! I knew that after this week I needed to start kicking the running up to be ready for 11/1/08.  I'm a little concerned about the knee, but I'm just going to stretch and pray the knee doesn't make this training miserable.  I have 7 weeks to be ready for the 1/2 Iron.  My plan is to do the long runs on Wednesdays and train the smart way, by adding a mile or two each week (periodization).  I might consult with my friend BP to help me train smarter.

1/2 Iron Distance

Swim-1.2 mile 

Bike-56 mile

Run-13.1

Fatherhood Involvement- Cheerleader

Fatherhood Involvement- Cheerleader
Video sent by AdCouncil

I absolutely love this!

Do you digg it?

~Out & Back Ride~

Hey Peeps...this was a HUGE hit on Monday night.  I have been on a kick with theme ride music lately.  I did 70's, 80's, and now Movie and TV music.  I had a full class and tons of people were having fun guessing where the tracks came from.  Enjoy...

Out & Back Ride                                    45 min. Movie & TV

~IEZ-65%-92%

~Out~

WU-“Hawaii 5-0” {5:20}

 Flat Road -to the 1^st Hill “Absurd” Tomb Raider {3:35}

         -moderate gear

         -a couple of pickups

 Seated/Standing Climb “Pirates” {8:45}

         -SC-add every minute

         -@4:00 check cadence

         -STC-until end of song-add pickups throughout 

Jumps on a hill-“The Unit theme song” {3:00}

         -Hold Gear

         -Cue Form 

Rolling Hills-“Dragula” Matrix {4:30}

         -:30 unload to valley-moderate gear

         -:30 Load heavy resistance STC

         -:30 unload

         -1:00 load heavy SC

         -:30 unload

         -1:00 STC-Run to top……:30…

~Back~

Rolling Hills-“Waterloo” The Bourne Ultimatum {10:00}

-Downhill-1:30-moderate gear-working recovery

         -1:00 load to heavy resistance SC

         -:30 unload to valley-moderate

         -:30 load to heavy-STC

         -:30 unload…… 

Seated Climb

         -load resistance every :30 {2:00}

         -cadence check 

Jumps on a Hill{3:30}

-Hold Gear

         -Cue Form 

Seated/Standing Climb “James Bond” {5:00}

         -add resistance –challenging-STC 2:00

-SC for the remander-add some pickups throughout the last part of the climb 

Flat Road-“Wonder Woman”

Cool Down-“How Deep Is Your Love”

Total-45:45

Playlist:

~Hawaii 5-0 Remix

~Absurd-Fluke

~Pirates of the Caribbean (8min. version)

~"The Unit" Theme Song- About Face vs DJ Z-Trip - Walking Dead (ft. Chester Bennington) 

~Dragula Remix-Rob Zombie

~Waterloo-John Powell the Bourne Ultimatum

~James Bond Theme (Voight Kampff) Remix

~Wonder Woman remix-TV Theme Songs

~How Deep Is Your Love-The Bird and the Bee (I love their sound!)

Now for the next theme ride.....maybe I'll do farm animals, lipstick, or STP oil. 

 What do you think?

Patriots International...uh...er Triathlon?

Hurricane Hanna prevented us that had trained for a Triathlon to experience our first Duathlon. We decided we didn't want to lose a limb in the James River so instead of 1.8 mile swim, we ran 1.8 miles. 

9am-1.8 mile Run

This was the 1st of three loops, doesn't it look like I want John to pick me up and hurl me in the back of the Honda? I feel really fresh here, I didn't want to push it here, so my pace was slow and comfortable.

The 1.8 miles was completed in a comfortable 20 min.  I was feeling great, I was a little hot but felt good going into the bike leg of the race.  This was the transition area.

Bike-24 miles

This was me leaving the transition area.....Helmet strapped (check), Shoes (check), Tissues shoved down back of shorts (check).  I was ready for the 24 mile out and back.  Thank God for chamois. :)

Coming in from the ride, my nose was running, I couldn't breath and my hamstrings felt tight.  I also dismounted too early here, but I was so worried I was going to crash and eat gravel in front of hundreds of people.

When I jumped off and started in the transition I was feeling that the 6 mile run would be a slow go.  But, I still have a smile on my face.

Run-6 miles

Heading out to the 6 mile run, my legs were feeling slow and I was beginning to feel overheated.  My heart rate was way to high in the start but I struggled to find my legs.  When I got to the 1st water stop (mile one) I was getting goosebumps (dehydration for sure) and I could not get my HR to come down.  It felt like the temp was in the 90's, it looked like everyone was suffering from the heat and humidity.  I ended up walking about 3/4 of the way, dragging my body to the finish.  The conditions were BRUTAL in my opinion and in the ideal situation I probably would of been finished when I had started the 10K.  

I always learn something when I compete in a race.  This is what I learned:

A. Never take a decongestion on race day, just blow the snot out in your shirt or wherever.  The medicine completely dehydrates you.

B. Train smarter! Always go extra miles past the miles you would compete in the race.

C. Have fun and don't take it so seriously.

The cheerleaders! Thanks to my family, Emily, Jay, & John for their steadfast love and support.  I couldn't do this without you!

Oh yeah, one more thing.  If you're saying to yourself (my lady friends), "I could never do that?" This woman is 85 years old and competing! Now how's that for inspiration?

Beach2Battleship & Eagleman .....Here I come!

Hanna, that female dog?!?

Should I be calling Hanna a female dog? No, I won't walk in the flesh.  Anyway, I'm racing on Sunday but only doing the bike and run portions of the race.  This is the latest....

Dear Shannon, 

 

Good afternoon and welcome to the 2008 Patriots Sprint and International distance triathlons.  This email is to highlight a few important tid bits of information regarding the event as well as give you an update on the Hurricane Hanna situation. 

 

Hurricane Hanna:  We are looking good for Sunday.  It's the folks in the Half that are biting their fingernails.  Should anything change for Sunday, we'll post it online on the VTS homepage as soon as we know.  Right now, we are good to go for Sunday.

The Sprint will start at 8AM, the International will start at 9AM.

There will be no swim due to poor water quality (debris, runoff, etc)
There will be no packet pick up on Saturday, there will be packet pick up from 6AM to 8AM on race morning.
There will be no refunds or credits given for Sundays event.

Now I shouldn't be complaining, my 1/2 Iron comrades had their race cancelled.  I would be so bummed if I had just spent 4 months of my life training and dreaming of race day for it only to be cancelled.  I think I would find a race really fast and sign up.  I'm just excited that I'll get to race on Sunday even if it means that I only do the two portions, swimming wasn't my favorite anyway.  I'll catch you on the other side......

Beatbox Fame Game

Beatbox Fame Game
Video sent by loranger

A successful beatbox how-to by Maïté ;)

From http://www.thefamegame.com/viral/kitchen_diaries/

Hold off Hanna.....

also, this just in.......

Dear Shannon 

 

This is just an update to let you know that we are aware that Tropical Storm Hannah is approaching the Southeaster United States.  We have contingency plans in place and will know more in the next 2 days as the path of the storm becomes clear.  We currently are not planning on cancelling the event due to the current 60% chance of rain on Saturday.  Should a modification of the swim become necessary, we will let you know.  We will make use of email and the VTS homepage to keep you informed. 

 

We will be sending out the event details and standard pre-event email tomorrow.  

We will be updating the water temperature on Thursday afternoon.

 

Again, once we get a clearer picture of what is happening with the weather, we will make changes and adapt as necessary.  Your safety is our utmost concern and we want everyone who starts the event to finish it and to have a heck of a great time doing it! 

Can you say a little prayer for Hanna to get lost this week?

I'll be back......