Hood to coast one day away!

Now that I have completed my lat triathlon of the season, the Portland Triathlon less than a week ago its time to focus only on running. Tomorrow I will be participating in Hood to Coast, "The Mother of all Relays" I had not been planing on doing this event but two weeks ago one of the teams needed an extra runner so I was in! I have not really "trained" for this event but I should be ok, I think I am in descent shape.

This is a race but my team will not be treating it as a race, most people treat it as an event we are estimating it will take us 30 hours to cover 197 miles so there will be some running in the middle of the night and sleeping in fields.

I will be making a video of this and taking lots of of pictures because who knows when I will do this again. Time to get get ready get all my food in order. Talk to you after I'm done with Hood to Coast!

Portland Triathlon Olympic Distance 2010 DONE!

Yesterday was the City of Portland Triathlon. They have two distances, the Sprint distance and the Olympic distance every year I choose to push myself a little harder as this is the last triathlon of the season for me and do the Olympic distance. My expectations of finishing in the top are never that high, I am not being negative I am just being realistic. On top of everything else I have had a bad cold with lots of coughing and phlegm for the last week which as you can imagine I was not happy about dealing with while doing an Olympic distance triathlon in a rather hilly bike course.

The temperature was perfect and there was not much wind until towards the end of the bike course. The swim although I have not been able to practice for it went really well I was 8th out of the water out of 90 women and 4th out of the water in my age group out of 35 women.

The bike ride was not so great my average speed was 16mph nothing to be ashamed of but not what I was going for. On the bike ride my breathing became more labored due to my cold and I knew I was going to be in trouble.

The run was not so great either. My first 5k (there are two loops) was hard and slow for my speed. The second loop involved a little walking for me so it brought down my average pace to 9:40 minute miles. Again nothing to be ashamed of but not what I was looking for.

All in all I placed right in the middle 15th/35 in age group and 41st/90 women. I am glad I did it and glad I finished it. Finishing any of these events is a big accomplishment and something to be proud of.

I have five days left to get rid of this cold/congestion before Hood to Coast come on!

Endorphin Warrior Bracelets Promo Code!

I don't know how many of you are familiar with Endorphin Warrior products. They sell great items with great inspirational items such as bracelets and pendants that say Preserve, Fearless, Tranced, 13.1, 26.2 anyway you guys get the point. Get something from them for yourself or give it as a present to someone who is training or has just achieved a major acomplishment!

The promo code or coupon code is get 50% off when you buy two warrior in training bracelets, great deal! Just enter 2WTB when you check out for your discount. This coupon expires 8-31-2010. You can link to their page by clicking below.

Click here to visit Endorphin Warrior

Can I run 19 miles?

Sorry it has been a while since I last posted, a lot has been going on. It is my last few days of preparation for the City of Portland Olympic distance triathlon (race is on Sunday!) There has also been a really crazy heat wave here, I know everyone has a heat wave but when it usually doesn't get over 85 and the houses and city can't handle the heat neither can the body.

Anyway on Saturday my Portland Marathon training said I should run 19 miles I woke up really early to try and get the run in before the heat wave got me. I started at 6am I guessed it would take just over 3 hours. I ran far, really far, at the halfway point the sun was already fully out blaring on me. I kept going as I was about 7 miles from my house and it just kept getting warmer and warmer and harder to continue. At mile 15 I started feeling like I was not going to make it. I said to myself its all in your head keep going. I stopped at a park to wet my head and try to cool off. I kept going had to start walk/running. From mile 17 to mile 17.5 I was not able to run or walk in a really straight line so I decided it was probably time to stop. I was really disappointed but thought it was the best thing to do. So that was that......

Then the heat wave got warmer and warmer, today is the first day it has let up but I hot a nasty cough on Friday (yes the day before my 19 mile run) and it is not letting up! I want to get my final triathlon training in but I have this respiratory problem now. I don't know what to do! I hope t clears up by Sunday though!

Hood to Coast 2010

Two days ago I was just sitting around thinking about random things when the idea came into my head, I wonder if I should try and do Hood to Coast. I know its only about 3 weeks away but I know that someone I know has a team that has an injured teammate and maybe I can get on. A few emails were sent and about 2 hours later I was on a team.

For those of you who are not familiar with Hood to Coast it is a very large relay race, in fact it is called the mother of all relays. It starts at Mt. Hood elevation 6,000 feet in Oregon and ends at sea level in Seaside, Oregon. It covers 197 miles and teams are usually made up of 12 people sharing 36 legs of the relay. Its a fun event which I have never done, people dress up and your support vans have crazy designs on them.

I have not really been training specifically for this but I have been doing a lot of running so I hope I am prepared and don't make a fool out of myself. My team is expecting to finish in about 30 hours!

Can I run 17 miles

I was hoping the answer to the question can I run 17 miles was going to be yes! It was hard but it was not a huge problem, unfortunately that is not the answer I have today. Todays workout was focusing on the upcoming Portland Marathon so I had to go for a 17 mile run. I woke up ate and was thinking positive as I set out on my run. Immediately I was not really feeling it the air felt heavy and I was having a hard time breathing.

I carried on though thinking that I would be able to get into some sort of rhythm 4, miles, 7 miles, 9 miles, no rhythm no rhythm at all just more and more pain. I can believe this I thought to myself I still have 8 miles to go I am never going to make it I was starting to cramp up. I kept on going and my pace slowed down by about 20 seconds a mile and my knees became more and more inflamed.

At 13 miles I thought ok "only" another 4 miles I can do it. I powered through it and completed the distance but in A LOT of pain! I got home drank chocolate milk ate and went to take a nap. Now I am still sore and icing my knees but I feel a little better. Tomorrow Providence Bridge Pedal!

Last triathlon of 2010

Now that we are officially in August it is time to start preparing both mentally and physically for the last triathlon of the year for me the City of Portland Triathlon. I have been doing sprint distance races all year and this one will be an Olympic distance race. I know I have been having good swim times but my left arm is still really weak after my shoulder injury so I am not feeling very confident about the Olympic distance swim. Also as many of you know running 10k after swimming and biking is hard, very hard to try and maintain my 5k pace for 10k.

Anyway I guess I am just not really feeling 100% confident I am not sure why as I have had a pretty good racing year but I guess that is just what I am like. I think there are about 3 Thursday Willamette swims left before the Portland Triathlon so I will probably go to all of those to try and get my swimming distance in. Ok time to go do some track work.......

Amica Blue Lake Triathlon 2010 Done!

Today was the Amica 2010 Blue Lake triathlon it is part if this new series of triathlons called the 19.7 series I did not find this out until 3 days ago. What the 19.7 series basically means is that the bike ride is 16.1 miles instead of 12 miles. I was a little worried about this and I was also a little worried that yesterday I did the Tour de Cure Ride for diabetes and rode 27 miles. I was hoping my legs were not too tired.

I got to Blue Lake early, and the mosquitoes were out of control. They were so bad I had to put my wet suit on right away after I got my body markings. Another strange thing about this race is that my wave consisted on men 20-30, women 20-30, athenas, clydsdales, and relays. Very strange.

Anyway we got started and I had a great swim 13 minutes 23 seconds. My average bike was 18.1 miles per hour and my average pace for the run was 7:50. When I was done with the race I was feeling good so I waited around for results. I placed first in my age group and 10th overall! Great race. I still have to work on the bike though!

Chrissie Wellington, Lance Armstron, Batman, and Chuck Norris

The results are in in the pole who would win the Ironman championships in Kona between Krissie Wellington, Lance Armstrong, Batman and Chuck Norris and the results were interesting.

Chrissie, Chuck, and Lance tied. Batman did not even get one vote! I wish this pole would allow for people would give their reason as to why they are voting on someone just to make it more interesting. I will be the tie breaker, my vote goes for Chrissie. She just seems to be getting faster and faster. I know it might be hard to beat Chuck Norris but he may get distracted doling out roundhouse kicks. After Lances bad luck and performance in the Tour de France I don't believe he would win and as for Batman we his suit is just too heavy and he would sink to the bottom during the swim!

Thanks to all who participated in this fun pole!

Tour de Cure and Amica Triathlon

This is a busy weekend coming up for me. The Tour de Cure ride for diabetes is only a few days away and the day after on August 1st I have the Amica Blue Lake sprint triathlon. I will be riding 27 miles in the Tour de Cure hoping to be able to save my legs for the sprint race. The good news is that it will be warm but not HOT this coming weekend.

I am hoping to place in the top 5 of my age group in the Amica Blue Lake triathlon so fingers crossed that all goes well. I never feel "prepared" for these races. I am also a little worried that I might be a little tired as I ran 15 miles yesterday. Anyway busy next few days, I have not reached my fundraising goal for the tour de cure yet so if you are interested in helping me out click HERE no donation is too small.

I will post race results on Sunday.

For the Love of Oregon Raffle!

Four days left to enter the free raffle to win "For the Love of Oregon" gear. Up for grabs are 1 men's Runner in Oregon dri-fit shirt, 1 Tree in Oregon singlet, 1 Triathlon in Oregon sticker. Sign up by emailing pucha11@gmail.com and specify which item you are interested in. To look at the logos or for more information visit http://fortheloveoforegon.blogspot.com!

When Should One Stop Training

Many times as someone who spends time trying to become good and fast at three sports I feel sore. Sometimes, I feel tired, sometimes my muscles are sore, sometimes I just don't feel like doing a workout but I do it anyway. If I skip a workout I feel guilty and this is not the way it should be. I mostly enjoy my workouts they are hard work and they help me achieve my goals but sometimes my legs feel heavy or recently my shoulder hurts and the question is when should I just deal with the pain and when should I not do a workout?

To me there is a fine line. Triathlons are hard. Pretty much every muscle in your body gets used therefore most or your muscles are sore when you train. Usually once you get going its fine but other times one "limps" through the workout. Today I did interval work. Tomorrow I will only be able to run because of equipment issues so I am going to do a 30 minute jog. Then on Friday I was thinking of taking a rest day because I have to run 15 miles on Saturday. But I know I will feel guilty on Friday even though I really know I should not. I guess I just have to try to not feel so guilty all the time and just enjoy my triathlon training to its fullest!

13 mile run done!

I just got back from my 13 mile training run for the Portland Marathon and I am very satisfied with my level of fitness. I am not going to say that running 13 miles was easy but I sure was able to do it. After about 4 miles my knees started to bother me a little I just ran through it and then the discomfort subsided. Towards the end of the run I cramped up a little but I was able to finish the run at a good pace.

As I was running today I saw two huge raccoons just crossing the city street, it was very strange and they were walking towards me which freaked me out a little but they just jumped in to a hollowed out tree!

Anyway good run today, Eugene half I am definitely ready for you.

Busy Triathlon Summer

It seems like every time summer comes along I get really really busy between training for triathlon races, running races, participating in the races and just doing summer like things. Last week seemed like a very hectic week. There was a heat wave in Portland so the temperature was in the high 90s, I know not that high compared to other places but for us, really high. Then on Saturday I raced the Hagg Lake sprint triathlon (results in a previous post).

The days are finally cooler so I can go back to my normal training. It just all seems so hectic though the Tour de Cure is 2 weeks away and the day after the Tour de Cure I am doing the Amica Sprint Triathlon at Blue Lake! Meanwhile I am training for the Eugene women's half marathon and the Portland Marathon! I am exhausted just writing about this!

I love summer and I love staying active it just seems like there is always so much going on it makes summer go by really fast. On the triathlon training menu for today, ride to the pool and get some laps in, I hope its not too crowded. Tomorrow 13 mile run!

Enter to Win!

July "For the Love of Oregon" raffle!

Do you want to win some really cool "For the Love of Oregon" gear! Its simple and its free! No strings attached, I promise! The cool items in this raffle are:

One men's size large "Runner in Oregon" Performance Layer 8 black tech shirt (dri fit)
(singlet pictured)

One women's size medium women's "Tree in Oregon" Asics navy blue singlet

One "Triathlon in Oregon" bumper sticker

To enter the contest just send an email with your name and email address to pucha11@gmail.com specify which of these items you are interested in. On July 30 we will have a drawing and contact the winner. At which point the item you have won will be sent to you! To check out more "For the Love of Oregon" products and logos go to http://fortheloveoforegon.blogspot.com