An Odd Week, and the Mercer Island 10K

Ok, I hate 5Ks, but I really hate 10Ks, too!

But, coach tells me to race 10Ks as training, so racing 10Ks for training is what I do.

Last week was weird.  I was sick, then I got mostly better and had customer reviews/meetings for a  few days.  That meant sitting in a conference room all day (and limited workouts), along with lots of catered food.  DELICIOUS catered food!  And more eating out.

By the time Thursday rolled around and I had a “normal” day again, I was SOOOOOO READY to get back to my routine!  It was a magically sunny day, but I had a specific treadmill workout and I honestly wasn’t even sad about missing out on the sun.  I didn’t want to just run and play in the sun, I wanted to WORK, and I knew the treadmill was going to be awesome for it.  It was a variety of intervals (different paces, different lengths, all kinds of stuff) and while none of it was crazy tough, it still felt amazing.

Friday was a tempo run then a long bike ride.  Tempo is fine, but once it was done, I was a bit tired.  Oh well, just a nice 2:30 time-in-the-saddle loop to do on the bike, with no expectations.  All was fine for about 3 miles, until I got a flat.  I changed it, and in record time!  ;)  But when I went to fill my tube, I realized the CO2 cartridge I had with me was non-threaded….which didn’t work with the threaded little inflator thing.  After fruitlessly trying to somehow force it to work, I gave up and texted a friend who lived close by.  Please note this was all done on the corner a VERY busy intersection, and so everyone in the world saw the sad little cyclist who couldn’t change her tube :(

Josh arrived, we pumped up my tire, and PFFFFFTTTTTTTT it went flat as well!  Well with no more spare tubes, he offered to give me a ride to a local shop.  Long story short, the sidewall was blown out and I ended up with a new tire.  Other long story short, I didn't really start my ride until about 2 hours later, as in..almost the time I thought I would be done.  Which also means I was getting hungry (and ate my snacks I had for the road) right at the beginning.

Then there was a nasty headwind.

And my legs were tired from the running.

And did I mention I was severely under-fueled at that point?

Yeah, soooooo it was an awful ride.  But I got it done.

With a 10K on Sunday, all I had was an easy swim on Saturday, but my legs were so sore!  I thought they would be ok, lots of foam rolling and compression socks, but Sunday morning I woke up feeling achy and tired and my legs just felt heavy.  The course is also conveniently very hilly.  Like, big long steep hills, not just little rolling hills.  Soooo it was with great trepidation I lined up at the start line.  7:15/mi was the goal (my previous standard for a flatter course)…although I knew with the hills it would be tough, not to mention my legs….

GO!  Luckily it started off downhill.  My first mile was the fastest, in the 6:50’s.  I knew it would be the fastest, and knew I would need that cushion later.  It was fine but—I was already feeling it.  My legs were just so, so TIRED!  The course turned a corner and started some smaller hills and I started struggling.  People were passing me, flying past me.  I was settling into the 7:15ish, but it just felt so, so hard.  We got to a sharp U-turn, and tilted back up a longggggg hill.  I saw the leaders, a guy absolutely flying off the lead, with another couple behind him a while back.  I finally saw the first girl, and started counting….5 ahead of me.  I was 6^th.  The girl ahead of me was running with her dad, it looked like.  She looked so young!  (At the time I thought she was young; looking at results, I realized she was 13 years old…13!! INSANE!  She was running phenomenally).

Anyway, back to my own sad struggle, I made the turn, saw another girl was behind me and close but not quite on my tail yet, and started slogging uphill.  Longest hill ever.  I ran the uphills alright; I was slow, but I reeled some people in.  Couldn’t even get close to the girl in front of me, but was ok.. until a couple guys passed me. GRR.  Tired, tired, tired.

I just wanted to stop.  I literally wanted to just stop running, walk along the side of the course and…be done.  This was very strange for me, and a little bit shocking—usually the start line gets me engaged, and I will snap out of any doubts and RACE.  I have never wanted to stop in a race before (well maybe long-course triathlon, but that’s a different kind of thing ;) ) and yet here I was, not even halfway through a 10k, and I really just wanted to quit.  My heart rate was fine—high, but not that high.  I train with it much higher during hard intervals…I just couldn’t get my legs to work any harder!

Made it to the top and had the longest “flat”-ish portion..and the girl behind me finally caught up and made the pass.  I stayed on her tail for like, 3 seconds, before she pulled away.   Came up to the next hill, and this was the REAL hill!  During Seafair, when the Blue Angels come to do an airshow over Lake Washington, we often come to Mercer Island to watch.  As such, I have walked up this hill many times.   WALKED up it.  And it’s tiring just to WALK up it!  And here I was trying to run it.  I lied about the last hill—THIS was the longest hill ever!  I made up a liiiiiiittle time on the girl in front of me, but nothing that challenged her at all.

Luckily, this also meant a really long downhill.  I did try to work the downhills, during this race.  I’m awful at running downhill, but Shawn had texted me in the morning telling me to “work ‘um!” (in response to me “UGHHHH HILLLLS” text) so I kept repeating that to myself and tried to win some time back.  It worked, some.  I definitely am not great at running down hills, but I do think I ran them well—for me! 

At the bottom of that hill…wait, we keep going down?  Don’t we turn and head back now?  No?  But if we keep going down, we’re gonna have to run back up on the way back! …..dangit…..

So, an unexpected out-and-back plus an unexpected extra climb back up, and I was SUFFERING.  I was suffering too much to even think about wanting to quit.  I knew there was less than 2 miles to go but that just seemed so impossible!  I kind of started blocking things out, FINALLY, which meant I finally started to feel like myself in normal race mode (although I wasn’t exactly running fast anymore).  I tried to speed up when I could, and by the time I got to mile 5, I started trying to do some math.  I wanted to break 45 minutes but wasn’t very optimistic…but, maybe it was possible?

Please note, at this point, I forgot how long a 10k was and was doing the math for 6.1 miles.  UGH!  It does, however, explain why I was so confused about how it seemed like I would be able to break 45 minutes relatively easily (as long as I kept it steady).

Up, down, up, around, some guy yelled at me about my outfit (color coordination on point!!), more up and then the flat.  We were CLOSE now, because we were running by the park-and-ride where we had parked, and it had been a short walk to the start line!

But, it was also a STEEP UPHILL to get there.  I looked at my watch.  43:52.  I still need to get up that hill.  It’s too far.  44:22.  Why am I not at the top of this hill yet.  44:48.  Yeah no, I’m still not at the top of this hill?!?!?  I NEED THE FINISH LINE NOW.  I think I backed off a bit around then because I was clearly not going to make it under 45, and the extra few seconds really didn’t matter to me at that point.  I finally crested the hill and coasted down to the finish line.

45:50, for a 7:22/mi average.

And you know what, I’m happy with that.  I mean I’m not HAPPY about it, I always think I should do better, and honestly it was a bit of a failed race execution-wise (plus I just never felt really good or into it)…but it’s what I deserve.  I’ll take it.  7:22 on some INTENSE hills, on already-tired and sore legs, and after a week of being sick and busy…  Honestly, I can’t complain about that!

Still managed a 7^th place female and 3^rd AG, too, and maybe it’s good for me to be humbled sometimes.

Anyway, this week is a bit of unloading…  Which STILL seems weird to me, like what, no, but I’m not even doing lots of work!!!!...but I trust my coach.  This weekend will be chill, then another 10k the following week.  Which I’m now a little more excited about, because I feel like I need to tackle it again.  :)

Where did the time go?! And an absurdly long account of a 5k...

As long as December and January felt, February (and now March?!) has flown by!   I even wrote a something a few weeks ago but never got around to posting it, and it already feels so out of date.

So, what’s been up?

Honestly, not a lot.  I mean, just swim-bike-run and work but nothing incredibly noteworthy.  Just back to the grind and time is starting to move so fast!

Raced the Kirkland Shamrock 5k last weekend.. I woke up Friday with a sore throat, took it easy, then Saturday morning woke up very much sick.  But I needed to race!  So, I slept in as long as possible (thank goodness it was close, and started at 9am!), took some DayQuil, and dragged myself to the start line.

I had been nervous for this race.  Which was funny, considering it’s just a 5k… but I have only done a couple 5ks, and I had done this one last year so I knew what to expect (ALL UPHILL) and also felt the pressure to compare it to last year!  In my mind, I should be faster!  But of course, feeling so sick I started letting go of that idea.  Hey, at least I had an excuse?

Lined up near the front.  Started…and, wouldn’t you know it, started running hard.  Funny how slapping a timing chip on me and throwing me over the line magically makes me forget everything else.

IT WAS HARD.  The first half mile was probably the hardest—a very gradual uphill, running hard, trying to find a rhythm and I could NOT for the life of me figure out how to breathe and run at the same time!  I was acutely aware of how stuffy I was, and my patterns were all off.  I was moving, but I just didn’t feel good!  I finally did settle into it more, but I definitely felt “off” the whole time—my dad took a video at the finish which kinda confirmed how I felt.  My feet and timing are just..off.  Clunky.  OH well.

Anyway, back to the beginning as I was dying and seriously trying to figure out how to run like this.  Of course, THIS is where allllll the photographers were stationed!  I vaguely noticed one and hoped I looked ok, but as I saw more and the road kept with its slight incline and I really just wanted to blow my nose.. I stopped caring.  I ran on the outside edge hoping they just wouldn’t see me, haha!

Up the rest of the first hill, and a sharp down.  Pitching back to a sharp up.  Around the corner, and the long slog up various degrees of hilliness, through the neighborhoods of Kirkland.  A few people passed me, I let it happen.  I was running as hard as I could, trying desperately to elongate my stride, knowing I was not running very efficiently but just could not do it!  I kept expecting Kyle to pass me, but held him off up those hills.

Finally, down the neighborhood hills (how was the downhill only one block, when we had been running uphill for the last 0.8 mile?!), up a bit, then turned off into some other neighborhoods… but at least we were getting closer.  Things were spread out; after the first main hill, the lead pack pulled just ahead of me, and I pulled away from the following pack behind me… so I was running in relative solitude most of the way.  But, with flatter terrain now, I could hear feet approaching.  I knew that this would be where Kyle could run fast, faster than me.  I tried to kick it up, and give up as little time as possible ;)

Some turns.  A VERY STEEP downhill (again, what’s with the long slow uphill slog, followed by one block of super steep downhill??), with a very off-camber corner?!  Coupled with the rain, it had the potential to be very bad news, but I was pleasantly surprised at the traction on the race flats I was wearing—I think they were grippier than the hokas I wore last year, surprisingly!!

Another long stretch before hitting the main road, which would take us to the finish.  Counting down the seconds, because now breathing was seriously hard, I was slowing down, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could take this!  Heard feet, and someone pass me.  Whew, not Kyle.  Heard feet again, and breathing, and—yes, no question about it, that was Kyle and he was RIGHT on top of me.  I’ve run with him enough to recognize his footsteps and breathing pattern.  But I didn’t want to turn, and kept trying to keep my pace up.  The wind picked up along this stretch by the water, OF COURSE it was a headwind, and the road tipped very, very slightly up again.  I ran hard, and heard Kyle’s footsteps grow quieter.

Rounded the last corner, and it was a downhill sweeping arch to the finish!

OPEN YOUR STRIDE, KELLEY!  I tried so hard to run as FAST as I could.  Quick feet, open hips…yeah, later video proved I failed miserably at that but so what, I MADE IT to the finish!!

I forgot to stop my garmin right away, so wasn’t really sure of my time.  Finished 7 seconds ahead of Kyle, and turns out I finished a whole 8 seconds faster than last year!  Hah!  But considering how awful I felt, it’s still a win.  I need to run a flatter 5k, preferably while healthy, to really know where I stand.

21:21 and I was 2^nd female overall!  Super happy, and goes to show just how hilly and tough that course is, haha!

Anyway, wow, only I could write so much about a 5k.  As expected, I was pretty wiped afterwards.  Coupled with a fun visit to the zoo and a super fun birthday dinner, I was sick as a dog the next day and basically dead to the world!  Cut all my workouts, took a couple days off.. Started feeling better but had customer meetings etc all week so workouts have been light.  And food has been mostly of the “fancy catered food and eating out” variety.

Thankfully, I finally had a solid day yesterday (65 minutes of varying intervals on the treadmill..finished the last 3x0:30 at 5:27, 5:24 and 5:18…should have done them all faster!  Then an easy 90 minute spin on the bike) felt AMAZING!!!  Was feeling so BLEH that was seriously sooo good to hit the workout and feel good throughout!

Today is a tempo run and long bike; tomorrow is just a quick swim; and Sunday is another 10k race!!  EEK!  I thought it was flatter but just looked at the profile and, nope, some big hills.  This is gonna hurt, too.  But hey, as long as I’m not sick! ;)

Getting into the Swing of Things: 2016

It has been SO GOOD to get back to “normal!”  The first week or two I actually felt pretty beat.  10 hours of training had me TIRED!  Now I’m feeling normal, and actually want to do a bit more ;)

 

I could talk about what I’ve been doing, but it’s nothing earth-shattering: bike block is currently in the works, and while I don’t feel like I’m pushing any massively impressive watts, I know I’m definitely ramping up the miles and my coach is spot-on with giving me enough intervals—quality over quantity (in this case, quantitiy of watts!).  I’ve realized that just because I CAN do more doesn’t mean I should.  And as long as I can hold it, who cares if I can hit a big number—sustained power is what I’m after.

 

Most importantly, I’m currently focusing on not comparing.  To anything.  Comparing to myself, and what I think I should be doing or what I was doing last year, and also comparing myself to others.

 

I’ve getting a few outdoor rides in now, which is SO nice…the trainer is great and all, but riding a bike outside is just plain FUN!  I mean, that’s why I do this after all, right?!  But at the same time, I keep wanting to compare to how I usually ride these roads.  I know it’s the beginning of February and that I really shouldn’t be as fast or in shape as I was in September of last year, when I had ironman base training, racing, and then a 70.3 build-up under my belt.  But of course that’s not what I think of, all I think is “this shouldn’t be so hard, why am I not going faster, blah blah blah blah blah.”  I go up a baby hill and feel myself get winded, and immediately am disappointed knowing I “used” to be a lot faster and stronger.  But I’ll get there.  I’m just impatient, and don’t like the reminder!

 

So there’s that.

 

It’s also nothing new that it’s super easy to compare with others!  I see everyone on social media, I see my friends...but the fact of the matter is that they have their own schedules, and I have mine.  In all honesty, my big race is still not for another 7 months!  I have 28 more weeks until I should be at my peak.  I BETTER not be doing anything crazy now!  Yes I have races before then, but the first isn’t until the end of May, and all of that is nothing else but tune-ups and tests.  I want September 4^th to be my BEST race of the year…not the others.  As a result, I’ve really been learning how to just focus on my own schedule.  Do my workouts, put in the solid work, not stress about who else is doing what, or the fact that I think my hours need to be up.  Long-range planning like this is not my forte ;) but that’s why I have a coach!  And luckily, I AM very good at just doing what I’m told to do.

 

All that aside, I do have to say: the best thing about 70.3 training is that I still think/expect my swims to be the same as 140.6 training…which is great, because every single day in the pool I think “oh, just a short swim today!”  Even my “long” swims now are just “normal” (and my “short” recovery swims seem just plain comical).  ;)  Bright side to everything, right!?

1 Week In + Rest Week

It sure feels good to be really “training” again, although to be fair, it’s not a whole lot different yet.


Last week was great—nothing much different than offseason, except a whole lot more swimming, and a brick! I was so excited to do a real brick again. ;) 2:30 on the bike, straight to a 0:30 run.


And man, it was humbling.


The trainer is great. It has numbers. It allows me to do a lot on my own. BUT it’s really not the same as riding outside, and it’s hard to always know how the two compare. So, I was out riding one of my very standard loops that I rode about a thousand times over the summer, and it was a lot easier to really compare and see how I’m really doing after a very good “offseason” of a couple months doing purely maintenance.


First of all, I realized about halfway through that this was more like my 3 hour loop, not 2.5 hour loop. Oops. Oh well. Secondly, it was ICY in a few spots! The sun was out and it was above freezing, but a few places down some shadowy hills and on the other side of the valley have clearly been in the shade for weeks. There is one very long descent that I’m always scared of (my least favorite hill that I ride), and since I was alone and my tires had already slipped on a few slightly damp areas (what?! That’s never happened before, but happened twice in the first 15 minutes) I was incredibly cautions. Like, stupid-cautious. Like here’s this enormous hill I should be going down at 30mph, and I was going maybe 15mph. A few turns were extra frosty. Etc etc. So I know that added a bunch of time (and really dragged down my overall speed.) Then there was another little hill which was an actual sheet of ice. Suddenly, my rear wheel was spinning but I wasn’t moving! Zero traction. I gave up, and (very carefully) walked up the icy hill. Tried carefully coasting down but—nope, fishtailing and sliding and I have no idea how I didn’t completely wipe out :) Got off the bike, and verrrry carefully walked it down. SO, I blame those things for making my 3 hours ride appear to be a 15mph average :-\ (garmin didn’t stop and I spent a good chunk of time walking haha).


Excuses.


There was a strong headwind, was “good” to suck it up and push through that for a while.


But aside from all that, there a few sections which are my standard, go-to baseline spots. I compare them just about every time I ride them (they are also both up hills, go figure. I think I just feel they are a good measure of how I’m doing, and not typically impacted by things like wind).


I felt good on them. I went hard-ish on the first, since it’s near the beginning and I typically ride it “strong” but not really all-out. The second, which is near the end, I absolutely turned myself inside out trying to push it.


Both of them ended up being pretty “slow.”


Not really, but a good 30 seconds slower than when I was at my peak over the summer. I know it’s January and I shouldn’t be my best now, but that was a little bit..sad? I got over it, but was just interesting to see. You can never be the best, all the time ;)


The run off the bike—that was “fun” too. Instead of just “run off the bike,” it was “run as fast as you can for 10 minutes, then easy for 20, and tell me your numbers for the first 10 minutes.”


I got off the bike, quickly changed into run shorts in the car (the sun was out and it wasn’t so cold, and I didn’t want to run in the giant chamois of my insulated bike tights) but was running within minutes. I didn’t really want to (I feel like usually I’m not quite so sad about having to start a run), but I WENT.


Depending on the data I look at (strava vs garmin vs training peaks), they all show slightly different splits, but I think my actually average for the first 10 minutes was around 6:43/mi and I was relatively (surprisingly) consistent. But man, I was working HARD. The downside to the sun coming out was that everyone and their dog (literally) was out on the trail, and so I was running HARD in pretty heavy traffic. I’m sure everyone was wondering why I was being crazy and running so hard when it was very obvious I was hurting (you know, the big ugly gasping when you’re running all-out and trying to sustain it…).


Cruised back in. I was trying to run easy, but only ever got it to around 8:10..that’s just what felt easy at that point (that and I just wanted to be done).


Overall though, a good workout. Made me feel like I’m back. Back to being a triathlete, back to focused training. Not that I wasn’t before, but the focus had been on recovery and getting ready to go. And now it’s time to go. :)


This week is a rest week. Yes, already ;) But starting next week, I have been promised a “big bike block” and I am excited to see what is coming!

And suddenly, it's 2016...

Yes, I have fallen off the face of the earth.  But it’s been good.  :)

2 weeks off of work were fantastic!  We did so much, had so much fun, and basically it’s tough coming back to the reality of work!

There was a race (12k), there was the Nutcracker and dinner and fanciness and sequin dresses, there was Star Wars at 7am in comfy clothes and chairs, there was Christmas prepping and Christmas-ing and lots of eating, and mountain biking and road biking and running and swimming and SNOWBOARDING and skiing and movies and family get-togethers and girls night and lots of coloring by the fireplace and feeding penguins at the zoo and and and and…!!!!

And now I’m at work.  Zzzzzz.

Quick notes on the 12k:

Coach actually did a little kinda baby-taper (more like, no hard leg workouts for a few days before), and after a rough 10k test the week before, I had a general goal.  I did the 10k at a 7:14 pace on the flat trail, so I was hoping I could maybe hit 7:15 for the 12k (2k further, plus it had a few monster hills and packed-gravel trail).

I started the race with Mic, who kept pulling me along the first 3ish miles until he got tired of me being slow and he took off (I’m surprised he stayed slow enough for me to chase him the first few miles lol), and then it was alllllll about keeping moving.

Another girl stuck behind me and was clearly pacing off of me for a few miles in the middle, which was kind of annoying but in a good way, because it made me feel more accountable, like, “don’t stop now Rosanne, otherwise this chick is gonna pass you and know you’re slow!”

Pete from Woodinville Bicycle was taking pictures halfway through, and when he saw me, he yelled “COME ON, GET UP THERE AND CATCH HIM ROSANNE” (referring to Mic) which was funny because I hadn’t even seen him yet (so he got a pretty epic photo of me first, total pain face)…so I tried to sprint to at least look fast but then I got tired (probably wasted a lot yelling back and whining about being tired…toughen up, Rosanne!).

By the last couple miles, I was ready to be done!  I was staying relatively consistent though, so that was good.  Naturally, mile 7 took us off the trail and up another couple ENORMOUS hills.  Like, massive hills.  Oh my gosh.  That was brutal, and definitely the slowest mile at 7:39 and I was suffering!

The last 0.4 was all downhill, and I tried SOOOO hard to push it and speed up and use that speed, but honestly I’m awful at running downhills.  Down to 6:32 but that, plus just being pretty much beat by then, and I had like 5 people pass me in the last half mile!  UGH!

Oh well, still came in in 53:50, which put me at a 7:13/mi average and I was pretty darn thrilled!  3^rd AG and 14^th female—there were some incredibly fast girls out there!!  Oh my gosh.  Overall, I was pretty pleased with my efforts; I know I WANT to be faster, but it seemed like a pretty good representation of where I am these days, and I haven’t done much speed-wise (just starting to) so really I can’t ask for any better!

Finally getting back into things.  Mostly I’m excited to eat better and not feel so bleh!  Only up a couple pounds, honestly, and I know it’s totally fine and was what I needed, but ready to get rid of it.

Fitness-wise, Shawn did an awesome job over the last couple months.  I feel pretty good: stronger, and probably better than last January.  I’m sure I lost a little, but I think it’s minimal, maybe some endurance, but nothing I can’t get back easily.  Relatively easy week, plus a day of snowboarding, but then I have a brick on Sunday!!  True, I’ll likely be inside on the trainer for 2:30 while it rains, then freeze for the 0:30 run, but I am SO STOKED!  Plus, the instructions this time are to run HARD for the first 10 minutes and then report back the numbers.  This is in stark contrast to the bricks I did leading up to CDA, when it was all about “run easy off the bike just to get a feel for it.”

I’ve been getting very specific intervals and speed workouts about once a week, too, and I am LOVING it!  Half the time, I didn’t even know I could hit the numbers, so not only does it feel really good, but it’s fun to surprise myself and realize I actually CAN run 20 x 0:50 at 6:30 and really not feel like I had to work very hard!  ;)  I am so excited to be working on building all these things and focusing on speed; I feel so ready to really train hard and see improvements, and hoping it all comes together for Australia!!

Cookies and offseason :)

It’s December, which  means the last month of real “offseason” and slacking… ;) Ok, not slacking, but having such focused recovery time.

 

Shawn keeps emphasizing I am just supposed to stay fit.  It’s about recovery.  He has also reiterated on multiple occasions that, come January, it’s time to WORK.  Aweosme ;)  I am both ecstatic, but sad, because I am totally getting lazy and this whole 7-hours-a-week thing is feeling pretty nice….

 

Just kidding.  It’s not.  I mean it is, but it only feels good because I know it’s temporary and I get to start the hard stuff again soon!

 

It’s been interesting.  I have definitely gained weight.  Only a few pounds, really, but I just FEEL like it.  I also read a really interesting article which essentially said “athletes can gain u to 8% of their race weight during the off-season, and it actually provides benefits once the real training starts again”…I’m well below that 8% weight gain soooo I guess it makes me feel better knowing, for real, it’s ok :)

 

I have also proven to myself that I’m not actually just getting fat and lazy.  Well, I AM getting lazy, but I am fully capable of still pushing it hard!  We have kept 1 or 2 intense workouts per week, focusing on running right now, and I am THRILLED that my run speed is coming back!  6 months post-ironman and I am FINALLY seeing some paces that tell me maybe I’m not super slow, after all!  It’s also a great feeling to be feeling fat and off-season-y, but still able to hit those hard workouts.  So, I know it’s all ok afterall.  Last week, Shawn put this (what I thought was) crazy treadmill workout on my schedule.  I HATE treadmills, but…FINE.  It was an hour run, with 3x11:00 intervals…to be done at 6:55, 6:45, 6:35.  Let’s back up a second: by 5k PR is at a 6:54/mi average (granted that was somehow eked out 2 weeks after IMCDA, and I’ve only done a couple 5ks so not much to base that off of, but STILL).  I figured I could do the 6:55.  I figured the 6:45 would be tough, but ok.  I was NOT sure about that 6:35…especially AFTER the previous two intervals.  But I did it and…it was…ok???!!  I mean it wasn’t awesome, not exactly looking forward to it again ;) but I did it, I didn’t have to bail (I was seriously concerned, and I do NOT often get worried that I may not physically be able to complete a workout..I’m kind of full of myself).  It was hard, but it was hard in a “man I need to get used to pushing my body this hard” kind of a way, not in a “my legs can’t do this!” kind of way.  So, a good kind of hard. I was pleased!

Then yesterday I had the worst run ever, slower intervals but I just COULD NOT do them and...gave up.  Trying to move past that and not dwell.  :(

 

Speaking of running, we are focusing it now because I’m running a 12k on the 20^th.  It’s a fun Christmas run, so obviously I’ll be dressed up and wearing a tutu…but I have been instructed to race it so I guess I’m racing in a tutu (not like that’s the first time).  I have also been instructed to “win it” but uhhh yeah that’s not happening.  But, I will race it as hard as I can J  So that’s exciting, but kind of scary.  This weekend I’m supposed to run a 10k (on my own) essentially as if I were racing, to kind of get a baseline I guess.  We’ll see how that goes.  It’s always hard to push yourself when you’re just running alone as a training run..but we will see. 

 

Other than that, swim is slowly coming back (although “coming back” really just means coming back from being SUPER awful to being regular Rosanne-level awful, so that’s kind of sad), and biking is…fine.  It’s so hard to tell on the trainer, I mean I’m following my workouts and having some fun mountain biking, but it’s never the same as going for a ride outside and really knowing how you’re doing.  But, it’s been good.  Especially after feeling like I was able to bring my biking back up in the fall, I’m confident that my bike is fine, and will just continue to improve in the upcoming months.

Team Wattie Ink. and 2016 Planning

Can I just say that I am SO EXCITED for 2016?!?!

 

First off, some hugely exciting news—I’ll be racing with Team Wattie Ink. in 2016!  There are 100 athletes nationwide who make up the team.  This year, there were 800+ applicants, and only 36 new members who were not part of the team previous years.  I don’t say that to brag, but mostly to express my excitement and star-struck-ness about it all!

 

I wavered a lot about even applying.  Am I good enough?  Do they if I’m “good” enough?  What about social media?  Do I want to be “stuck” with one brand?  What if I don’t like the color of the kit (I have to admit that was a legit concern of mine)?  What about the people?  I like doing my own thing, staying off the radar, and not feel any obligation—doing it all for myself and no one else.  But if there was any team I wanted to join—it was Wattie.

 

I knew about the brand, but wasn’t until the IM CDA expo that I really saw any of their stuff in person.  It seemed good quality, but mostly, it was the people that stood out.  We started chatting with the girls working the tent, and eventually met Wattie… I don’t think I even realized it was him until later, because everyone was so unpretentious.  I was totally shocked at how many times everyone wished me good luck, when I said I was racing!  I mean, it’s an ironman expo, of course half the people there are racing—and yet it never seemed tired, and it was all a very genuine “that’s so awesome, and it’s your first Ironman?!  Have a great race!!”

 

Needless to say, when Heather Jackson won the next day, I was even more impressed—these guys had their own pro to follow and care about (and a super legit pro at that), and yet they still were just as enthusiastic about wishing me a good race, and about being so friendly and caring!

 

That stuck with me.  I started following more of the Wattie folks on social media.  I got a sense of their camaraderie, their loyalty and their passion for the sport.  They give off a certain personality and vibe, and I think a lot of people identify with it.  Work hard, race hard, do work, have fun.

 

And then Mac and Kyle worked with Wattie to get the Ironheart kits, and I was even more blown away—we got a custom kit designed, then manufactured and shipped out in under two weeks.  That is absolutely unheard of!  Not that that’s always going to happen, but to see a company put in the extra effort to make that come together definitely stood out.

 

But of course, the real test was the product itself.  I kept eyeing various kits, but never really pulled the trigger. No reason not to, I just didn’t really “need” anything new either, so just kept putting it off.  But receiving the Ironheart kit and doing a quick test brick in it, I knew I would be racing with it in the Los Cabos 70.3!

 

Race day came and went, which you can read all about (and then some) in the previous post.  Verdict: Wattie puts out a quality product.  Yes, I did have a couple minor comments about my kit on race-day (minor as in, “the collar flapped when I unzipped it and annoyed me momentarily”), but overall I was the most comfortable and happiest than in any other race…nothing serious, and definitely no huge cuts on my legs, like a certain other pair of shorts did in CDA…!  I absolutely love the feel of the fabric, and best of all, the top didn’t ride up when running!  Totally a win in my book.

 

So with all that, I pulled the trigger and applied—and I am so glad I did!  Cannot WAIT to see what this amazing group of people will do next year!

 

Aside from that...what is 2016 looking like?  Well, it’s shaping up to be an amazing year.

 

Coach has instructed me to race 10Ks this winter.  Basically he told me to quit being so slow (not his words; my own interpretation) but 5Ks are too short so now it's time to bring on the pain in the 10Ks.  So I’ll spend the winter/spring looking for local things to race just for training purposes.  He also mentioned some TTs, and there are a couple in the area in February (??) so I’ll probably go freeze myself while the local guys make me look like a fool out there and halve my time.

 

There’s a Wattie contingent going to Wildflower, so I am crossing my fingers and seeing if I can work that into the schedule.  Timing-wise, it’s perfect.  It’s the logistics and yet another travelling thing that need some planning.  But, we will see.

 

There’s also Troika, which I may do (end of May).

 

Ironman 70.3 Coeur d’Alene is basically a sure thing—Allen is racing it (his first 70.3!) and I need to race soooo, I mean, it only makes sense for me to do it.  :)  It seems incredibly odd to go race a 70.3 there after a slow, methodical 140.6 there just one year before… I associate that course with the ironman mentality, and I’m a little worried about trying to race a half on the same course, but..we’ll see.  Should be fine.  I love Coeur d’Alene, and that also means probably a training weekend (or two) there so…I’ll do it.

 

After that, I’m not entirely sure.  There’s Seafair, so I might do that, but the longest course they have is an Olympic.  And it might only be 2 weeks after CDA, again, which is fine but not as ideal.  I need to find a late July/early August race.  This is still a bit open…

 

…because after that, it is AUSTRALIA!  70.3 world championships is September 4^th, and will probably travel a week before (and after..or more).  The entire year will of course focus on getting to Mooloolaba beach as strong, fast and healthy as I can!!  I’m still totally in shock about this.  I don’t totally feel like I deserve it.  Yes, I won my age group..but I just feel there are so many other faster people, that it was a fluke!  Oh well.  Just means I get to take the next 9 months proving I belong there!

 

Spectating-wise (which is JUST as important), I’ll be at IM Canada to Sherpa for Mac.  She’s also doing Victoria, so may try to get to that one as well.  The only probably with this big Australia trip is I’m using up sooo much PTO, I have to really plan things ahead and be a bit stingy on taking extra days off work!  But, that would be nice.  Mac is also doing Monterrey, and Galveston (AND CDA!) but I think it’ll be less likely I can make those.  Too much travelling, not enough time!  Fingers crossed she can punch that WC ticket in Monterrey, and we can go rock Australia together :)

 

All that said, I’m greatful for this off-season.  I feel fat and lazy but I know it’ll all come back, and I know I’m not really loosing much.  Shawn keeps reminding me it’s ok to not go as hard as I can and kill myself in workouts, and the goal is to just stay fit this winter.  It’s been good, and I am really learning to embrace it.  The off-season has its own purpose and goals, and in order to work on this massive, exciting goals or 2016, I need to make sure my mind and body are ready to go.  Patience, Rosanne!