Lance Armstrong, Kona?

For the past couple of months I have been hearing rumors about how Lance Armstrong will be participating in the Hawaii Ironman. At first I thought people were just trying to speculate but it seems to be true. The first rumors I heard said that Lance Armstrong thought that he would finish in the first ten of the pros, now I hear he thinks he will finish in the top five.

Now don't get me wrong, I know that Lance was once a triathlete, that he placed 3rd in the 2009 Tour de France, and that in general he is a great athlete but him thinking he is going to place that well?!?!? I have almost never heard a well seasoned pro talk about finishing that well in Kona the way Lance is. He is really starting to get on my nerves. I am going to do more research on this and see how much of it is rumor or true but if most of the things I have heard/read are true then I have a bad taste in my mouth.

My rib is ok!

On Saturday when I woke up my rib hurt so I was not sure if I should do my triathlon workout or not so I emailed my coach Larissa and she responded right away. No workout today! She that I should never try and workout through that pain. So I took the day off and did some stretching and Christmas shopping instead.

My workout for today was a 35 minute run if my rib felt better which it did. So I woke up and went for my run and the conditions were great and my rib felt great. It definitely helped that it is about 15 degrees warmer than it was last week. So far my rib is still fine. I hope it stays this way!

My rib hurts!

This week has been a hard week for my triathlon training. I feel really busy because we are close to the holidays. It is also freezing cold 12 degrees its the coldest it has ever been! Anyway I powered through did all my workouts and have been really proud of myself for not even missing one but today I woke up and my rib hurts. In fact it hurt last night and it did not let me sleep.

So today I have to go for a run and do a strenght workout but I am in pain. I have to do some Christmas shopping and then I am hoping that the rib is going to get better. I do not like to miss a workout! It gives me anxiety!

I'm back home!

After a great time visiting my family in Illinois I am back in Oregon and back on my bike. While I was in the Midwest I was only able to run and do core and strength exercises so now I am able to get back in the pool and back on the bike for nice well rounded triathlon training.

On the triathlon training menu for today was a 35 minute run and a 45 minute ride. I went on my run at about 6am and it was 14 degrees!!! Very cold colder than in Illinois. Five minutes into the run the cold had penetrated my tights and my skin was in pain but I powered through it. When I got back home there were little bits of ice on my hat!

It is not usually this cold where I live so I don't have the right bike gear for this temperature so I did my ride on the rollers. Workout went well now I am really hungry and have to go to work after a long weekend of family fun.

The weather channel says it will be really cold in Oregon for the next few days I hope I can cope!

Vacation in the Midwest!

I am on vacation in the midwest and it is cold, but triathlon training must go on. I woke up this morning and there was a little bit of snow on the ground and a very cold strong wind. I ran for 35 minutes with a few intervals not knowing what direction I was going in because I was in a strange city.

Once I got going to cold was not that bad although when I got back my hands were frozen and so were my legs. Tomorrow the forecast is 16 degrees, its going to be a cold one, but I have to do it for the love of triathlon!

Swimming with a wetsuit PART 2

So I was one of the only people at a triathlon without a wetsuit and it was cold! Time to buy a wetsuit!

I did some research I wanted to buy a good triathlon wetsuit but at a good price. I was talking to a friend at work who is an Ironman and he told me about a local company out of Hood River, Oregon called ProMotion and recommended them to me. As look had it a was headed to Hood River in a few weeks so I decided to go check them out.

It was a very hot day in Hood River 100 plus degrees and the last thing I wanted to do was try on a wetsuit but I did. Of course it was hard to get it on since it was so hot but once it was on it felt good. They were also offering one that had been used a couple times for a great price so I bought it!

2 months later I wore the triathlon wetsuit for the first time at a race. It was true! It makes you float! Since then I have worn ProMotion wetsuits a few times during races and have had great times on my swims. I still prefer to feel free and not wear a wetsuit but it does help you float and maybe be a little faster. The things one learns in life.

Swimming with a wetsuit?

Before I became a triathlete I was a surfer. Once I moved to Oregon I gave up surfing but whenever I am close to the beach I still like to catch a few waves. One of the things that I have never liked about surfing is that when the ocean gets cold you must wear a wetsuit. I really don't like wetsuits at all I feel like they make me heavy and make me tired so the best thing for me was to never wear a wetsuit.

When I became I triathlete a started hearing chatter about wetsuit legal races, how people could not swim without the wetsuit, how swimming with a wetsuit was easier and I was really confused. Since I had always hated wetsuits and was a pretty strong swimmer I could just not understand why anyone would want to wear a wetsuit because it helps you swim faster?! That had never been the case in surfing.

My first few races I did not wear a wetsuit, but I noticed that even though the water was warm people had their wetsuits on. I then had a race in mid June where I was 4 people out of 400 with out a wetsuit. The water was cold and I decided to buy one out of need to fight the cold.

More on buying my wetsuit and how I like it in the next post........

Going for a run on Black Friday

Like many people I woke up in the wee hours of the morning to go do some shopping. I don't really go crazy and hit people in order to get the flat screen tv, I just think it a fun thing to do so every year I do it and end up buying presents for the family and a couple of workout items for myself.

Today's workout as stated by my coach Larissa was to run for 45 minutes, no big deal unless one woke up early for Black Friday and is still in a food coma from eating lots and lots of turkey. Top top it off it is really really windy, at least 16mph winds.

After I got home from shopping I told myself that I don't deserve the exercise gear if I don't do my triathlon workout. So I geared up and went, once I was running it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Glad I'm done now, time to rest.

Triathlon and Thanksgiving

I work in the food industry so when Thanksgiving rolls around I get to work a crazy hectic schedule. Today I had not slept for 24 hours but I still wanted to do my triathlon workout. It was a cycling workout so that is not that bad. I put my gear on, got on my bike and was blessed with a sunny day. I went for my ride, I felt good afterwards and I am glad I did it, what a great day to ride!

I'm too tired now to keep writing though, time to get some sleep.

I almost got hit by a bus!

I participate as a comity member for an annual Diabetes ride in the Portland area called the Tour de Cure. As a committee member I attend meetings once a year to plan the ride and it is about a 1 hour bike ride each way, I incorporate it into my workout. Last night while I was on my way to the meeting I had a very scary experience with a TriMet bus.

I was riding at 5pm during dark rush hour in Portland which is definitely not my favorite thing to do and I was approaching a busy intersection. I know this is a scary intersection so I started to slow down but I was in the bike lane so I felt relatively safe but I was still being attentive. I noticed traffic had stopped and there was a bus in the lane next to the bike lane that would eventually merge into the bike lane about 1 and a half blocks away. In the past I have seen TriMet buses try to merge early so I was being very cautious. The bus was not moving and was staying in his lane so I decided it was safe to continue to ride. When I was at about the back door of the bus all of the sudden the bus started pulling forward and into the bus lane. I was stuck in between a TriMet bus and the curb with nowhere to go! The bus kept closing in. I uncliped my pedals and was skidding on the curb trying to stop.

Oh no! I thought to myself this is not going to end well. I was finally able to stop and at that point he saw me and slammed on his breaks. He was waiting for me to go but at that point there was no way I was going so we just sat there for a little bit and then he went and I followed.

My heart was beating fast but I still rode the remaining 5 miles to the Tour de Cure meeting. And then rode the 10 miles back home. I hope this never happens again!

Diet for Thanksgiving?

A couple of weeks ago my triathlon coach at Personal Best: Multisport Coaching told me I as going to have to change my diet or else. I agreed and that same day I changed my diet and applied everything I new to having a well balanced nutritious diet.

So far I have done a good job I eat lots more lean protein and eat healthy snacks but Thanksgiving is quickly approaching what to do? I was discussing with my family what everyone is going to bring or cook and prepare and it is going to be a lot of food. I don't usually tend to over eat so I am not really worried about that it is more that I am worried about eating things that I am not "allowed" to eat.

I think what I will probably end up doing is eating things that are not on my diet but being sensible. Yes that is what I will do.

Great running!

Today I went for a 35 minute jog and also did 30 minutes of core and strenght exercises as prescribed by my coach Larissa Herold. It all went very well I was able to maintain the right heart rates and paces that she had set for me so I am very pleased with that.

The core and strength exercises went well also, the planks she has me doing are probably the hardest part of my workout. I am not sure why they are so hard for me to do and I really don't seem to be getting better at them but I am still working hard at getting better at them.

I can't wait until my first triathlon, April is a long time away. I want to see if my new diet and workout routine are working.

Morning Ride on Marine Drive

Today's workout was a 1 hour 10 minute ride so I decided to go over to Marine Drive since it was still kind of dark and I wanted to be on a bike only path. The ground was wet but it was not raining. I geared up and headed out, 1 minute into the ride my back was covered in mud, it was pretty funny. I don't have a fender on my road bike so whenever the ground is wet I always get covered in mud!

Once I got to Marine Drive which is behind the Portland Airport a huge gust of wind hit me! It was actually pushing me over to the side when I was ridding it was crazy! Just to give you an idea of the headwind in one direction I was going about 10mph and in the other direction I was going about 20mph.

Overall a good day for triathlon workout. I was glad when I got home and was able to get out of my mud covered wet cycling clothes!

40 minute jog with 20 minute core

Today's triathlon workout called for a 40 minute jog with a few strides and different paces followed by 20 minutes of core exercises. Easy enough right? I woke up it was dry! Yes dry! It has not been dry the whole week so things were looking up.

I got dressed went outside and for some reason my Garmin GPS unit was not able to get signal. This is very frustrating for me when I can't get signal and I really don't have the patience to wait so I just started running anyway. The only problem with this is that then my distance and pace are off so I am never quite sure how much I am doing but it gives me an idea. Then about a mile into it my congested chest started acting up which made it hard to breath. Then my knee was bothering me a little. I carried on anyway and completed the workout but its like I can't catch a break lately. I just want to feel 100% and be able to train for triathlons without problems. I wonder when that will happen?

I am almost 100% healthy!

I am almost 100% healthy! I can't believe it! Yesterday I went swimming for 40 minutes and it went grate and today I rode for 1 hour and I felt great! Tomorrow I am going to go running and it is going to be the last test but I think it is all going to go well.

My coach Larissa has been really understanding about everything and made some workouts for me based on the way I felt which was really nice of her and helped me recover. I think that tomorrow is going to be a rain free day so its all going to be even better!

Yes I am very excited that I feel well again.