What's New

Posted June 11, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Nutrition. 10 comments

The hottest trend right now in running and triathlon isn’t some piece of sexy new gear, an innovative electronics gadget, or an unconventional training paradigm. It’s been in use since 2000 B.C.¹, is typically covered in dirt, and has been spurned by many a 5 year old. Yes folks, we’re talking about the common beet. But despite its humble origins, this ruby root is really shaking things up in the endurance world and has incredible abilities to increase your athletic performance.

One of the biggest limitations to us as athletes is our bodies’ ability to utilize oxygen during exercise. This is typically measured in VO2 max, which is a measure of the maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can harness during exercise². Generally, the better your oxygen uptake, the better you will be at endurance exercise. Conversely, if you can reduce the oxygen cost of exercise, or lower the rate at which your body uses oxygen during exercise, you can perform better.

Recent studies have indicated that beets may have the ability to reduce the cost of oxygen during exercise. Beets are loaded with nitrates, which have been shown to be associated with increases in endurance activity performance^3-5. Although the exact mechanism behind this increase is unknown, it is thought nitrates might work in two ways to help during exercise. First, your body takes in nitrate in the form of NO₃⁻from the beets and quickly converts it to nitrite (NO₂⁻)due to bacteria on your tongue⁶. From there it travels to your stomach where it is converted again to nitric oxide (NO)⁷. NO is a vasodilator, and it is thought that it might help evenly distribute oxygen to muscles during exercise³. The second way that nitrates (technically nitrite and nitric oxide) might help is within metabolic pathways in the mitochondria, specifically in increasing the efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation, which would help replace the role of oxygen in this process, thereby requiring less oxygen^8,9.

So, how does this translate to an increase in performance? Let’s look to three example studies. The first study⁴ investigated the impact of whole beetroot consumption on running performance. Five men and six women between the ages of 18 and 55 at moderate activity level (5 days of an hour of vigorous exercise) consumed either a beetroot relish or a placebo (cranberry relish) an hour before a 5k treadmill test. After a one week “washout” period, they returned to repeat the test taking the alternative to what they ingested in the previous trial. Average 5k times ranged from 19 to 35 minutes among group members for the placebo, but running speeds increased 3% after ingesting beetroot (this translates to roughly 41s improvement in speed). More importantly, the perceived exertion level was lower for the beetroot trial.

The second study³ investigated the impact of beetroot juice on cycling performance. Eight men who were “recreationally active” performed a cycling test, then consumed 500 ml/day of either beetroot juice or placebo for six days, then returned for another cycling test. The beetroot juice group had a significantly slower oxygen uptake rate than the placebo group and a significantly longer time to exhaustion than the placebo group (16% longer for beet root group than placebo group).

The third study¹⁰ was another cycling study, but unlike the previous study investigated the effects of drinking beet root juice one time only a few hours before a time trial. These participants were 9 competitive male cyclists who consumed either 500ml of beetroot juice or 500 ml placebo 2 ½ hours before performing a 4 and 16k time trial (all participants performed time trials of both the beet and placebo treatment). The beet time trials had significantly higher power output levels for the same VO2 levels (5% higher power output for the 4km TT, 6% higher output for 16km TT), which resulted in faster finish times and increased performance.

So the general consensus is that beetroot juice supplementation is good. Taking one dose 1-3 hours before an event will give you a 3-6% improvement in performance, but “loading” a week before your event will give you even greater performance benefits.

Since Biotta Naturals, a beetroot juice company, teamed up with the Rev3 Age Group team this year, I have been experimenting with beet juice before races. Before both Rev3 Knoxville and Rev3 Quassy I “loaded” by consuming 500 ml/day starting one week out from the race. The results? Running this season has felt effortless. Yes, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into my run training, but I keep commenting how it feels easier and easier to run at higher heart rates. The run portion is the leg I have always struggled with in triathlon, but this season it’s been feeling easier than ever. I’ve talked to several other athletes who have experimented with beet juice, and they all echo my same words: running just feels easier.

Yes, beetroot juice can be a bit pricey (around $6-8 a bottle) but if you’re drinking one bottle a day a week out from your race that only totals $50– a small price to pay for a potential big payoff on race day. Besides, the joy you get from a fuchsia experience in the bathroom is well worth it! So what are you waiting for? It’s time for you to jump on the beetwagon! (You can get Biotta online here or search for stores in your area)

References

Texas A&M Agrilife Extension (n.d.) First Beets Yielded Only Greens. Retrieved June 10, 2013, from http://aggiehorticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/ publications/ vegetabletravelers/beets.html.
McArdle W.D., Katch F.I. and Katch V.L. (2000). Essentials of Exercise Physiology: 2^nd Edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Bailey S.J., Winyard P., Vanhatalo A., Blackwell J.R., DiMenna F.J., Wilkerson D.P., Tarr J., Benjamin N., and Jones A.M. (2009). Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. Journal of Applied Physiology, 107: 1144-1155.
Murphy M., Eliot K., Heuertz R.M., and Weiss, E. (2012). Whole beetroot consumption acutely improves running performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112: 548-552.
Lomangino K. (2012). Moving with the beet: can it enhance athletic performance? Clinical Nutrition Insight, 38: 6-7.
Duncan C., Dougall H., Johnston P., Green S., Brogan R., Leifert C., Smith L., Golden M., and Benajmin N. (1995). Chemical generation of nitric oxide in the mouth from the enterosalivary circulation of dietary nitrate. National Medicine, 1: 546-551.
Benjamin N., O’Driscoll F., Dougall H., Duncan C., Smith L., Golden M., and McKenzie H. (1994). Stomach NO synthesis. Nature, 368: 502-503.
Clerc P., Rigoulet M., Leverve X., Fontaine E. (2007). Nitric oxide increases oxidative phosphorylation efficiency. Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, 39: 158-166.
Basu S., Azarova N.A., Font M.D., King S.B., Hogg N., Gladwin M.T., Shiva S., and Kim-Shapiro D.B. (2008). Nitrite reductase activity of cytochrome c. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 283: 32590-32597.
Lansley K.E., Winyard P.G., Bailey S.J., Vanhatalo A., Wilkerson D.P., Blackwell J.R., Gilchrist M., Benjamin N., and Jones, A.M. (2011). Acute dietary nitrate supplementation improves cycling time trial performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 43: 1125-1131.

Posted June 9, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Race Reports. 8 comments

Are you ready? Are you ready for this? Are you hanging on the edge of your seat? Out of transition, the tri bikes zip, to climb on in the heat! Dun, dun, dun…another race in the books! Dun, dun, dun…another race in the books! And another one gone, and another one gone…another race in the books!

Ah, Quassy. My what a hot, hilly, fantastic party you were. From the moment I arrived to the moment I left it was a whirlwind of less than ideal racing conditions but prime conditions for me to fall even deeper in love with triathlon. For me this was a C- race so my plan was to go uber conservatively, experiment with some new racing strategies, and finishing feeling that I had plenty left in the tank. I am so happy to say that I met my goal and had perfect race execution. But before we get to raceday we need to back it up a bit.

Helping at the bike mount line

I arrived on Friday and immediately jumped into helping out around the expo. I helped set up some of the finish area, the med tent, then jumped into helping with the craziness of preparing race packets and helping the Olympic racers get registered (fun fact: during the swim some racer’s tire popped in transition and the Rev3 crew scrambled to find the bike and fix the tire before the athlete got to her bike. She never even knew what happened!). Friday was go-go-go from 9am (when I arrived) to 11pm. Less than an hour after a dinner of a salad topped with 6 meatballs, Christine informed me we were running the Rev3 Glow Run 5k. We both promised we would go easy and have girltalk, but about halfway through we started picking it up and ended up running all out at the finish (oops. I kinda forgot I was racing on Sunday). We’re calling that one a meatball PR. Saturday we were up at 4 (I was staying in the RV at the finish) for the Olympic race. I started my day by helping with some last minute buoy alignment, then I watched the swim start and helped at the bike mount line. As soon as the last cyclist left I headed out for bike sweep duty. I escorted the last biker while picking up trash along the way. Later in the day I ran into @obie_one, @Ben_M_Berry, @DoubleDAthlete @RangerDutch @dwarfparatri and tons of other friends out and about at Quassy.

Relaxing at the NormaTec Booth

Before I knew it it was 4pm and I had absolutely nothing ready for my race and realized I had eaten nothing but trail mix all day. I switched into athlete mode and disappeared for an hour while I got everything ready for race day, found some time to compress at the NormaTec booth and dropped off my bike. Since I was staying at the park I had little control over my food, so my pre-race dinner (lasagna) consisted of things I stay away from during training: cheese, gluten, and fatty red meat. Usually this would stress me out, but since this race was just a C- race for me I didn’t get stressed whatsoever. I have to admit, it was quite freeing to not stress about a race! Saturday night I went to sleep around 11 again, and was up at 4 the next morning–this time not to work, but to race!

Race morning I went into autopilot. I had packed 800 calories for breakfast consisting of oatmeal, banana and peanut butter but could only get 500 cals in me before the body screamed “stop”. I washed that down with 4 cups of coffee and did my “business” 3 times (thanks, in part, to the crappy food I ate the night before that my body wanted to get rid of). I meandered up to transition around 6 to deposit my fluids, pump my tires, and get my bike all ready to rock. I had plenty of time to schmooze with all my friends and give hugs and kisses to everyone. I was happy, relaxed, and totally in my element. It was such an awesome feeling.

The pros went off at 7 but my wave didn’t go off until 7:30, so I had more time to kill. I took a pre-race pee in the lake with @billrisch (since we started the tradition at Timberman back in 2011) and then had an awesome conversation with a new friend who was nervous about the race (more on her later). At 7:25 I grouped up with the rest of the women under 35 plus the Aquabike participants and waited on the beach until we were called down to the water. Unlike most races, I was remarkably calm. Sean counted down and then we were off!

The Swim (31:03): At the start I unfortunately got stuck behind a pack of some slow women and watched as the lead pack took off in the distance. I managed to maneuver my way around and sprint to find the fast feet. Throughout my entire swim I kept everything comfortable yet pushed the pace and focused on staying on feet. During the swim I took some time to reflect on how far I’ve come with my swimming skills. Due mainly to experience and also to some creative training, I am very comfortable racing strategically in the water. I now have the confidence to drop slow feet to go sprint for fast feet. Before I would fear surges and would stick at the same pace throughout the swim. Now I know that I can surge when needed to stay on the feet of faster women. The swim was fairly relaxing: only some minor jostling of women for rights to feet, and for a good stretch of the swim I was behind someone who produced a gorgeous stream of bubbles that shimmered in the early morning light. I felt like a fish in an aquarium and enjoyed how it felt like I was effortlessly gliding through the water. Before I knew it my playtime was over and I hit the beach ready to run up to transition

T1 (1:55): I ran up into transition feeling super strong and passing a lot of people along the way. I certainly felt better after this swim than I did at Knox a few weeks back. I made the cardinal sin of not checking where my bike was, so I lost a few seconds running past my bike, then looking like a fool trying to find my bike. I finally found my bike, threw on my shoes, sunglasses and helmet, and ran out and quickly as I could.

The Bike (2:59:38): First off, this bike is KILLER. It has close to 4k of climbing, which I knew would be a challenge for me. For my height and fitness, I’m built a lot heavier than other girls. This heft makes me wicked fast on flat courses and downhills, but makes me suck big time on the hills. In fact on each hill as I trudged up in my watt zone I saw toothpick athletes blazing past me. This course certainly favors the skinnier athletes. But I accepted the challenge and had fun with the course. Since I knew the course was killer I went out a lot more conservatively than I’ve done in past races, and it paid off. Also, since I wasn’t concerned about my finishing time I decided to be the bike fairy and help people who had mechanicals along the way. Most people didn’t need my help, but I helped a few people with flats and helped get notice radioed in for a rider who needed the assistance van. I figured what’s a few minutes off my bike time if I can help save someone else’s race, especially since I wasn’t vying for an AG spot.

The last 10 miles of the bike everything felt crazy good, so I picked up the watts a bit and picked up some more time along the way. It was so awesome to come back into transition feeling strong and ready to run! As far as nutrition/hydration goes I took a gel every 25 minutes or so on the bike, 4 salt tabs, 2 electrolyte tabs, plus 4+ bottles of water. To avoid any sloshing on the run I stopped all fluid intake at mile 40 of the bike. Total nutritional stats for the bike: 800 calories, 2704 mg sodium, 76 oz water (for those wondering I peed 2 1/2 times on the bike, so I was well hydrated).

T2 (1:12): I came into T2 feeling crazy good, and settled right down to business. I saw so many familiar faces in and around T2, and was just beaming ear to ear and I heard my name from all my friends. I racked my bike, threw on my shoes, grabbed my race belt and visor, and was out like a lightning bolt!

Helping Kaipo replenish after the race

The Run (1:49:28): My main goal for this run was to not walk. Not walk any of the crazy hills that give you 1300 ft of elevation gain. Not walk the crazy hill that lasts almost a mile. Not walk the crazy steep uphill from mile 12.5 to 12.9. I am SO FRIGGIN PROUD to say that I did not walk one foot of that run. For the first time I felt like everything clicked. My nutrition was spot on, I felt super super strong, and felt like a real triathlete.

The first 2 miles of the run are downhill, so I let my legs fly as I picked up the free speed. From there you run about a half mile or so of a gradual uphill, followed by a steep downhill. Shortly after mile 3, you begin the long, long uphill climb on a dirt road. The other racers hated that climb and everyone was walking. I tried to encourage people, but most people were grumpy so I left them alone. I focused on keeping my heart rate below 160 and slowly picked my way up the hills. I focused on dumping ice down my bra and in my shorts at each aid station and splashed water on my head every other aid station. (Sidebar: the people working the aid stations and residents in the neighborhood totally ROCKED! It was so amazing to see the whole community out supporting us and everyone was ridiculously enthusiastic. Thanks so much to everyone who was there volunteering and supporting!) It was a super hot day and a lot of the course was exposed so my goal was to keep my body temp down so I could keep my heart rate low.

At mile 6 I met Adam, a friend of one of my teammates (Ryan) who had passed out a few miles into the run. Adam told me what happened to Ryan, and we ended up running together and chatting for the remainder of the course. My goal throughout the run was to keep my heart rate near 160 (if you recall at Knox it was to keep it 150-155) to see how I felt running at a higher heart rate. The verdict? I felt good. Really, really good. I tried some gatorade at mile 3 and mile 8, both of which did NOT sit well (immediately cramping and bloating followed shortly by some fantastic farts). I took a Powergel at mile 5 1/2 and mile 10 (felt awesome) plus 4-5 cups of coke and a few glasses of water. I’ve learned that my body really can’t handle a lot of calories and fluids on the run so I need to keep it light. Instead I load up on the fluids and calories on the bike to get me through the run. At mile 9.5 we looped back by the finish, and the crowds were SO LOUD and SO ENTHUSIASTIC! I had a fantastic half mile surge before I disappeared back into the neighborhood.

The rest of the race felt really great. Again my heart rate was up around 160 and everything felt crazy good. At the final turn around section (mile 11) I thought about picking it up and giving it my all to the finish, but I decided to hold back a bit and stay in my heart rate zone. Again, Quassy was not an “A” race for me and since my focus is on trying to really kill it at the Williamsburg 70.3 (3 weeks from Quassy) I figured I had a lot more to lose by going all out the last three miles than I had to gain. So I stayed in my heart rate range and enjoyed the fact that I was ENJOYING the RUN of a triathlon! Who is this new Frayed Laces?

The last half mile of the run is this brutal uphill, but I powered up it with pride and then entered the final stretch before the chute. The spectators were just awesome and I turned the corner to the chute with a huge smile on my face. The best part? Christine had Kaipo waiting for me at the chute and I got to run across the finish with him (yep, Rev3 lets you run across the finish with dogs and family members). I crossed the finish line beaming and was greeted with puppy kisses and hugs from Christine and John. Total estimated calories on run: 400 plus 24 oz (at most) of fluids.

Teasing out the knots

After the race I chatted with as many people as I could find, compressed at the NormaTec Boots, and then went to take a shower in the RV. Unfortunately, I realized I had a bit of a problem. Somehow the hair at the back of my neck had matted into one giant dreadlock (I think it was from rubbing against the velcro of my wetsuit during the swim). It took Christine, Jill, and Debbie (all members of the Rev3 Ohana) over an hour to gently tease out the knots. Needless to say, I am NOT going through that again. This girl is getting her hair chopped off before Williamsburg!

After I finally got cleaned up I headed down to the finish to cheer on other athletes as they came in. It was so awesome to see the emotion as people crossed the finish. What an amazing atmosphere! I have two athlete stories I’d like to share with you. The first is the story of Ted and Kathy. Ted is a dear old friend of mine, and was an active blogger a few years ago. He is hearing impaired (has a cochlear implant) and is married to Kathy, who is both hearing and sight impaired. After many years of talking with Ted but never meeting, we were finally able to connect at Quassy! He was there cheering on Kathy as she raced (with her guide) and navigated the hilly course. She had an awesome day! Here’s pictures Ted sent me:

Ted giving Kathy a kiss at the finish

Kathy and her guide at the finish. What an awesome team!

The next story is of my new friend Jessica. I met her at the swim start as she overhead me talking to some friends and expressed her concern over her nerves in the race. She’s had some unfortunate weather-related incidents in her past races and she was so nervous about Quassy. We spent awhile talking before the race and I tried to give her every pep talk I could muster. She told me that she was actually at the race alone, since her husband and kids had to stay at home for a school event. I promised her that not only would she finish the race, but that I would be there as she crossed to give her a hug and be her post-race support. I was SO HAPPY to see her cross that finish and she finally had a great 70.3 experience! Way to go Jessica!

The rest of the day was spent helping the Rev3 crew pack up the finish line and shoving food into my pie hole. The next morning I was up at 5 to drive 6 hours up to Montreal for a work conference where I gave a talk about my research. I always chuckle when I go straight from compression gear to high heels. Thankfully no one noticed the “30″ suntanned into my calf, and my jacket hid the tan lines from my race numbers!

But back to the race…my what vastly different races I’ve had this season! From the frigid and rainy Knoxville to the hot and sunny Quassy—mother nature is having fun with me! I’m really pleased by how both races have gone, and I feel like I’m getting smarter about racing and am totally ready to try to give it my all in two weeks at Rev3 Williamsburg. Thank you so so so much to all the Rev3 folks for such an awesome race, and to all our team sponsors (Quintana Roo, Pearl Izumi, NormaTec, Compex, Powerbar, SBR sports, Blue Seventy, Reynolds, and Biotta) for keeping us geared up, lubed up, and fueled up. But the BIGGEST thanks should go to the amazing volunteers who worked tirelessly to keep us cranky athletes safe and relatively happy in the heat. You guys are amazing!

Posted May 28, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Uncategorized. 1 comment.

With Natasha and (not pictured) Mystery Man after our long run

Hello fabulous people! I hope you all had a wonderful, wonderful holiday weekend. Last Friday I was asked by an undergrad in our lab what the schedule was for Monday. I told her Monday was a holiday. She replied “but, I thought the lab doesn’t take holidays”. I smiled and said “for 5 years while I was a graduate student I had no idea what the word ‘holiday’ meant. Now that I have my PhD and am technically self employed with my fellowship, I savor every holiday. See ya on Tuesday”. And savor my weekend I did.

Saturday was cold and rainy but that didn’t stop us from our 14 mile run that was on the schedule! With as much smiling as we could muster we bundled up and met up with our local run club for a tour around Providence. I won’t lie; it certainly wasn’t one of my better runs, but with some determination (and daydreaming about the coffee and muffin I would have at the end) I made it through. Needless to say, I was beyond happy to finish.

Rewarding myself with some marinated skirt steak and chilaquiles later on in the evening was an added bonus. Lately my kitchen skills have gotten some exercise!

Sunday I hit the hills of Rhode Island with the Mystery Man to try to get my little legs ready for the hilly course at Quassy this coming weekend. Shockingly we managed to squeeze in 2500 feet of climbing in the not-so-hilly state of Rhode Island. We even climbed the peak of the state!

Since Monday was the start of my Quassy taper, it was a day for fun! After a quick lake swim in the morning we headed out to a local park for a picnic and sunshine. We made sure we started with our veggies

Then moved on to a real summertime treat!

It was such an awesome day to be outside and I was so happy to finally soak up the sunshine after 6 weeks of cold, rainy training. Today was a day it actually started to feel like summer! You gotta love New England, though, because according to the predictions it will be 85 degrees on race day at Quassy! Something tells me I am going to crash and burn in that heat!

But enough about me…what you’ve all been waiting for…the winner of the TRISLIDE, TRISWIM and FOGGIE giveaway! I listed all your entries in order, assigned each one a number, and used the trusty random number generator to choose a winner (I promise it’s a coincidence that he mentioned Rev3. I swear!). A HUGE congrats to Eric who entered with:

“Would love something that might be able to help me with my swim! Oh, and to be able to see the beautiful Rev3 OOB course would be nice too. I always have foggy goggles (maybe that’s my problem).”

Well Eric, today is your lucky day! Congrats! And to those of you who didn’t win; don’t despair! Click here to buy your own TRISWIM, TRISLIDE and FOGGIE! Trust me, you’ll be glad you did!

Posted May 24, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Uncategorized. Be the first to comment!

Hi folks, remember me? I’m that girl who used to blog frequently. I feel like recently every post has started with me apologizing for slacking as a blogger. I’ve said before that you can always tell how my life is going based on the frequency of my posts—when things are great and happy and wonderfully I tend to slack off at blogging. Well, lately life has been just that–deliciously marvelous. Training has been going well and I’m still maintaining such a positive and healthy attitude towards triathlon this season. I think the main reason it’s going so well is that my life outside of triathlon is going so well. Between work and my personal life I’m riding this high that I never want to end. And I’m savoring every moment of it.

But…onto training! (That’s what you’re here for, right?) We last left off the week before Rev3 Knoxville. Here’s how my training has gone down over the past few weeks

Week of 4/29: Taper for Knoxville

Monday: 2k swim with some fast sets

Tuesday: 30 min run with some race pickups

Wednesday: 45 min ride with some race pickups

Thursday: 2k swim with some fast sets

Friday: Off

Saturday: Pre-race shakeout: 10 min swim, 15 min bike, 5 min run all with race pickups

Sunday: Knoxville Rev3!

Week of 5/6

Monday: Off

Tuesday: Off (45 min walk)

Wednesday: Easy puppy run 20 min

Thursday: Easy puppy run 20 min

Friday: Swim 30 min

Saturday: Ride 3 hours with tons of hills (supposed to ride easy 1 hour but a group training opportunity came up I wanted to take advantage of)

Sunday: Easy 45 min run

Check out Kaipo’s new hydration vest: now he can join me on long runs!

Week of 5/13

Monday: am: 3k pool with tons of strength intervals, strength workout. Tempo run in pm

Tuesday: (had to cancel time trial) 60 min trainer workout, focusing on hills. 45 min easy run

Wednesday: 45 min easy run

Thursday: Track

Friday: 3k swim with tons of speed intervals, strength workout

Saturday: 12 mile trail run

Sunday: 3.5 hour bike with several long race pace intervals (in pouring rain…grr)

Week of 5/20

Monday: Monday: am: 3k pool with tons of strength intervals, strength workout. Tempo run in pm

Tuesday: (had to cancel time trial) 60 min trainer workout, focusing on hills. 45 min easy run

Wednesday: off

Thursday: Track

Friday: easy 45 min run, strength. pm: 2k swim time trial

Saturday: (planned) run 14 miles

Sunday: (planned) 3 hour ride with several long race pace intervals

Phew! That was exhausting just typing it. After this week I start tapering yet again because race #2 of the season is next weekend! I’ll be heading over to hilly Middlebury, CT for a very exciting race!

I’m so excited to be participating in another Rev3 race. This race is definitely a beast–tons of hills including one 7 mile long climb! Yikes! Definitely not a PR course by any means. The secret to doing well at this race is to go uber conservative on the bike, so I’m expecting to go over 3 hours on the bike (for comparison, my PR bike at this distance is 2:32, which I did back at Timberman in 2011). I added some extra bar tape to my bike to make climbing a little more comfortable, since I’m pretty sure I’ll be out of aero almost the entire time. I’ll be hanging/ helping out at the race site all weekend with Kaipo, so make sure you come and say hi if you’re coming to the race!

I hope you all have a fantastic week of training. Keep on rocking out with your bad selves!

Posted May 18, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Uncategorized. 37 comments

Some days I just wish I could TRISLIDE and TRISWIM my life. With one press of the TRISLIDE spray–pfft–suddenly everything would be easier. And at the end of the day, when I got home, I could just jump in the shower and wash away the worries of the day with TRISWIM. Although not applicable to everyday experiences (no, you can’t use TRISLIDE to keep annoying coworkers away), I have to say that TRISLIDE and TRISWIM have become, hands-down, my FAVORITE products this season. And good news for you–here’s your chance to win your own goodie bag of TRISLIDE, TRISWIM, and FOGGIES!

I was first introduced to these products this season since they teamed up with the Rev3 Age Group Team. I was so excited to receive my own after hearing other athletes sing their praises for years. I have to admit, I was a Body Glide user for years, mainly because it was the easiest product to find. But I was always disappointed with it. It just seemed too thick and, although it kept most of the chafe at bay, it made my skin sort of stick together instead of glide and I find myself needing to reapply often. Not to mention the time it took to reapply in transition or the horror of sharing. Enter TRISLIDE. This product is a silicone aerosol, which means no sticks, no rollers. One quick spray and you’re evenly covered with silicone. The silicone is waterproof, sweatproof, stainproof, and stays until you wash it out with soap and water. But perhaps the greatest bonus? Not having to worry about finding stray body hairs stuck to it when you share it with teammates. I’m telling you now: drop the stick and go buy this stuff!

Although TRISLIDE is hands-down my favorite product, I am also totally in love with the TRISWIM line of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. These products neutralize chlorine, bromine, salt and chemicals, smell amazing, and are safe for color-treated hair. I’m also a sucker for the pretty packaging. And I must admit, after destroying myself in the pool it’s nice to treat myself in the shower.

The final product SBR sports offers is FOGGIES (some of you know these as their former name, foggle). FOGGIES are anti-fog for swim goggles that come in the handy form of a disposable wipe. I have such an annoying time with goggles fogging during swims (especially cold swims) and so I tested out FOGGIES during my cold swim at Rev3 Knox this year. Zero fogging! The best part about the wipe is that it’s gentle and won’t scratch your goggles and you can get multiple uses out of one wipe (I just stick the wipe back in the package and seal it up in a baggie).

Want to get your hands on your own TRISLIDE, TRISWIM, or FOGGIES? Well, today is (potentially) your lucky day! The great folks at SBR Sports have offered to give a goodie bag of products to one lucky reader! And you have THREE, count ‘em THREE ways to enter!

1) Leave a comment below explaining why you need to win these products!

2) Tweet “I’ve just entered the TRISLIDE, TRISWIM and FOGGIE giveaway at frayedlacesracing.com @frayed_laces @sbrsports”

3) “Like” SBR Sports and Frayed Laces on Facebook

You get one entry for each method you choose (let me know in the comments if you tweeted and/or liked. I’ll be checking so no cheating! Contest ends Monday, May 27 at 10pm Eastern Time. Winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Tuesday, May 28. Good luck!

Can’t wait? Want to get your hands on your own TRISLIDE, TWISWIM, or FOGGIES? Click here to find a store near you or shop online here.

Posted May 6, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Race Reports. 10 comments

Well folks, my first race of the 2013 season is under my belt and despite going into it significantly undertrained, volunteering my butt off leading up to the race, and racing in less than ideal conditions, I still had a blast and managed to finish 4th female overall and 1st in my age group. This weekend was chock full of laughter, hugs, and the celebration of what triathlon should be. I am even more in love with my new Rev3 family and so unbelievably proud to be a part of such an amazing team. How can I summarize in words what I experienced this weekend? It was just one of those perfect weekends. Well, except for raceday. Race day can be summarized by two words: ERMAGERD! RAIN!

Pre-Race:

Thursday and Friday: Immediately after some work meetings I left Providence and drove down to visit Kate. I spent the night with her and we got everything ready for the race, including actually reading the athlete guide and giving ourselves my typical hot pink glitter pre-race manicure. The next morning we loaded up the bikes and hit the open road!

The tie-down that came with the rack didn’t fit my bike, so we improvised with a flat tube that was in my trunk:

Partway down I needed to drink my Beet Juice since I was still in the loading phase for my race (you can learn more about that here) but I was wearing a white sweater and knew the laws of wearing white while consuming something with high staining potential. I improvised with a Starbucks cup in a 7-Eleven parking lot somewhere in Virginia. It was 7am and it looked like wine. Needless to say, I raised a few eyebrows:

The rest of the ride down was 8 hours of ridiculous karaoke nonsense and talking about life, love and the pursuit of triathlon prs. We arrived to Knoxville mid afternoon, got all checked in, and headed down to the expo to meet everyone. MamaFL rolled into town shortly thereafter and the rest of the afternoon was a series of girly screams of “oooohhhhh my gosh!! Hey!! I’ve missed you!!!” followed by profuse hugging. After a team dinner it was time for the Glow Run! Friday night Rev3 put on a 1 mile and 5k glow run for all the athletes, families, and people of Knoxville. Rev3 decided to give ALL the proceeds from the run to a former UT swimmer Nicole Gross who was injured in the Boston bombings (press release here) so it was a cause everyone could get behind.

I was also excited for the Glow run because it was MamaFL’s first race EVER! I got the honor of helping her pin on her race bib:

And then we got all glow-sticked out and were ready for our race!

At the start we ran into a huge slew of Rev3 teammates:

Kristin, Brittany, Josh, Kate, Tracy, Me, and Tracy’s daughter

MamaFL, me and Christine

I signed us up for the one mile walk and seconds before the start joked with MamaFL “so, we’re gonna run this whole thing, right?”. To my surprise, she said yes! As soon as they said “GO” we took off with huge smiles on our faces. Go MamaFL, Go!

The finish was the best part. There was a smoke machine, lasers, lights, and about a thousand people just celebrating the joy of being active. Rev3 played Wreck It Ralph on the jumbo-tron and families sprawled out on blankets to watch and eat the free popcorn. It was such an awesome event to be a part of. Since the night was still young I grabbed Mama and we headed out for a few drinks with some more Rev3 family. As we drifted off to sleep close to 1am she muttered “this is so different from your other races.” Boy is she right: usually I’m a pre-race Godzilla of “must do this, must do that…must be on this precise schedule…no alcohol…tofu and veggies….” but this weekend? All about FUN!

Saturday: MamaFL and I woke early and I got my typical day-before-the-race bike and run in. After my shakeout brick I scarfed down some breakfast and headed back to the expo: we had some volunteering to do! From 9am to 2pm we passed out race swag bags. It was Mama’s first time volunteering at any race and she had a blast meeting all the athletes. I ducked away at lunch for a pre-race swim (EHRMAGERD! 58 degree water!) and generally spent most of the morning running around like a chicken with my head cut off. The whole time I was beaming from ear to ear. I kept reminding myself how awesome this sport is and how fortunate I am to be a part of such an amazing event.

After our shift was over it was time to transition to athlete mode. I went back to the hotel to put my stickers on my bike and realized that the sidewall of my race tire was worn all the way through to the threaded lining. Without skipping a beat I said “I’m going to go see Tres!”, grabbed my cycling shoes, and headed down to the QR booth at the expo. Turns out at my last race (Ironman Florida) my wheel was rubbing on my bike the entire race. Tres helped me get a new tire on my bike, re-true my wheels, and calm me down. A HUGE thanks to him for solving an athlete crisis.

After the bike was fixed I headed down to transition to drop everything off. By the time I got back to the hotel at 4pm I was exhausted. I realized I’d been running around since 7am, hadn’t had any food since breakfast, and only consumed coffee. Uh oh…probably not the best behavior the day before a race? I decided to cancel dinner plans and order in room service with MamaFL. I ordered a big honkin filet with steamed veggies and ate it with a baked sweet potato Mama brought from home. A perfect pre-race meal. Since we were exhausted we had no issues with lights out at 9. I slept like a rock.

Sunday morning (Race Day!): I woke up to the alarm at 4:30 and immediately went into race mode. While the coffee was brewing I put on my race kit and made my race-day braids. Since we didn’t have a fridge or microwave at the Hilton I couldn’t have my usual pre-race oatmeal with peanut butter and banana. Instead breakfast was gluten free bread (I’m not 100% gluten free this season but still stick to gluten free on race day) with peanut butter and banana and 4 cups of coffee. After screwing around in the hotel room I left around 5:30 to head to transition.

In case you don’t know, Rev3 has an awesome transition setup. You get a slot to stick the wheel of your bike in and plenty of room between bikes. So much room, in fact, that you can put all your gear on the ground! What a luxury! I got everything all set up and ready to roll:

Then I helped Brittany get into her wetsuit:

And before we knew it it was time to head down to the swim start! We all made our way down to the docks for the first wave (young strapping menfolk) and waited as the next wave (young at heart strapping menfolk) got in. Once it was our turn, we had 5 minutes to do any sort of a swim warmup. I jumped in the 60 degree water and immediately started sprinting towards the start to get my heart rate up to stay warm. All the ladies wished each other well and before we knew it we heard 3…2…1….GO!

The Swim (31:43, 2nd in division, 5th overall: As soon as they said go I sprinted as hard as I could. For me I know the secret to a good swim is to sprint at the beginning and hold onto feet for dear life. Two girls took off—BOOOM–right away and were out of my sight. No feet were directly ahead of me for the first hundred meters or so. I kept fighting hard and knew we would bottleneck, and once I did I found strong feet and stuck to her like glue. About 5 minutes into the swim I went through my typical mental (She’s too fast, you can’t hold on. Shut up, yes you can. No I can’t. Keep on pushing. She’ll slow down). I just kept trying to stay in her bubbles and keep her close. For me the process of “chasing” someone in the swim really helps me stay focused and ignore other things, like the water temp. It was the coldest water I’ve ever swam in at 60 degrees. I didn’t have a thermal cap or booties, but I did wear two swim caps, which I think helped. Also my heart rate was ridiculously high trying to stay on the girl’s feet, so that helped keep me warm. At the turnaround buoy I almost lost my feet. Well, I actually did. Right as she squeezed around the buoy a group of a dozen men from the previous wave stopped swimming and held onto the buoy. I was so frustrated since I couldn’t get by and my ticket to a fast swim was quickly getting away from me, but I also knew those men were probably tired and scared. I went wide to swim away from them and when I looked up my feet were about 100 meters ahead. I decided to take a risk and sprint as hard as I could to catch her. It paid off. By the time I caught her I was redlining and she had slowed down. I was able to get my heart rate back down and relax for the second half of the swim. I wish we were going faster, but I knew I wouldn’t be faster if I split off and swam solo, so I enjoyed the “free speed” and cruised back into the swim finish. We hoisted ourselves out of the water and then ran up the ramp to finish the swim.

T1 (5:03): Unfortunately, there was a bit of a run between the swim and transition. It felt like it took forever. My heart rate was redlining so I jogged in easy to try to get it down a bit. I was surprised that when I left the water I was super dizzy and disoriented (perhaps from the cold water?) so I took things even slower to give myself the opportunity to “check in” on my body and make sure everything was okay. I got to my bike and struggled and struggled to put on my arm warmers. Once I got them on I threw on my shoes, sunglasses and helmet and ran out. Time to get my bike on!

The bikeless transition

The Bike (2:55:04, 1st in division, 3rd overall) Oh the bike…. Well, the good news is I didn’t crash! It was cold. So cold. It was rainy. So rainy. The last cold and rainy ride I did involved me on the side of the road in tears and calling for an emergency pickup. So all things considered? I’m happy I finished. About 10 miles in I knew it was going to be a rough bike for me. My legs were so cold I couldn’t get them to warm up and push any significant wattage (I ended up averaging 15 watts less than my goal for the race). I would start to get warm on the climbs, but then get chilled to the bone on the descents. Combine dead legs with crazy slick conditions and brakes that were not working whatsoever in the rain and I decided to be safe and just finish the bike without any superhero moves. The good news is I maintained a positive attitude the whole bike. I chatted with fellow racers and joked about the “free acupuncture” from the rain. The course was absolutely GORGEOUS. I don’t think I’ve done a more picturesque bike. And the hills were SO. MUCH. FUN. I was definitely squealing on the downhills. Due to the cold I had a hard time getting my hands to handle gel packs, so I took in less calories than normal. I took in one gel every 30 minutes or so. I also only had one bottle of fluids for the whole bike (but peed three times) so dehydration wasn’t an issue with this race! Even though the course was beautiful and I had fun chatting with other racers, I have never been more happy to get OFF the bike and get ON with running. Time to get warm!

T2: 1:55. Hahahaha. I was a mess in T2. I came in shivering so badly and I couldn’t get my brain to work. I literally got in and stared at my feet and said “okay Laura, what do we do now?” I took off my helmet and sunglasses and got my cycling shoes off. I then put on socks (to avoid blisters from running in the rain) and put on my right running shoe. I then put on my left shoe and started to take off, only to realize I had put my left cycling shoe back on. Doh. Once the shoe situation was fixed I grabbed my visor and race belt and took off…time to get some running in!

The Run (1:48:49, 1st in division, 4th overall). To sum up the run from the words of a man in the hotel elevator, “that run was a ballbuster”. It was definitely a super challenging course. Lots of rollers, including several STEEEEEEEEP hills that really challenge your “do not walk do not walk” mantra. The first few miles were relatively flat so I used that opportunity to shake out the legs and warm up. Until the 10 mile mark I stayed in my HHRR (Happy heart rate range) around 155 bpm. I was happy and feeling great and smiling as we passed all the Olympic distance racers who were returning to the finish. It was pouring and there were really deep puddles. I just soaked it all in and twisted my arms windmill style as I ran through squealing “yay puddles!”. I figured I might as well make the most out of less than ideal conditions, and my behavior elicited a few smiles from other racers. We were running through the greenway so we were on a paved path by the river than meandered through the woods. Again, gorgeous scenery. Around mile 3 the half course split from the Olympic course. Then it got lonely. Very very lonely. At mile 3.5 I took in a gel and then then ran up the hill through a Church parking lot and across the road into a neighborhood. I remember being amused that the lane markings in the neighborhood were pink. I definitely smiled at that. The neighborhood was a series of long rollers. It gave me the opportunity to see the other racers and cheer them on. I was feeling great and strong and my heart rate was exactly where I wanted it to be. Around mile 8 I caught up to a man I’d seen walking some uphills. I jokingly chastised him for walking and he said he wanted to run with me for a bit. He told me I was 3rd female and I told him that was great but that I typically get run down by the girls and expect to drop a few places. He started slipping a few steps behind and at mile 10 he yelled out “pick it up frayed laces!” I turn around and see girl #4 hot on my heels. Shit. Instinct was to stay in my zone and let her pass, but then a bizarre side which hasn’t appeared in years surfaced and said “Fight.” So fight I did. My heart rate jumped up and I tried to pick up the pace to my speedwork zone. Mile 11, she’s still behind. Mile 11.5, she’s still behind. Mile 12…she’s paces behind, but all of a sudden my legs are going dead. And then it hit me: I forgot to eat. No calories since mile 3.5 of the run. I was bonking and I was bonking bigtime. I tried so hard to keep fighting but around mile 12.5 she finally passed me. As I got closer to the finish spectators were cheering for me. I asked them “do you see any girls behind me?” I knew I was on the verge of a major breakdown. The last half mile was a slogfest. And it was a slight uphill, which made it that much harder! I was so happy to see that finishers chute! I gave it one last kick to showoff at the finish and crossed the line with a smile.

Total: 5:22:35. 1st in division, 4th overall. Certainly one of the slowest 70.3s I’ve ever done, but that course was most challenging course I’ve ever raced. It certainly kicked my butt! Although my bike was not as good as I wanted it to be, I will chalk that one up to the weather. All in all, I am so happy with how things went and am excited to start my season off with an age group win! Most importantly, however, is that I had FUN! Thank you thank you thank you to the amazingly wonderful Rev3 group for such an awesome race and helping me find the joy in this sport again. I keep sounding like a broken record, but I am so lucky that I’m a part of such a great group and am so proud to be a member of the Rev3 Age Group racing team. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the season has in store!

And a HUGE thanks to all of you for all your words of laughter, support, and general triathlon awesomeness. You guys totally rock.

Posted April 29, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under General Training. 3 comments

Rocking the Rev3 kit at the time trial!

Go ahead. Add me to the “bad blogger” list. I knew it had been awhile since my last post, but didn’t know it had been almost two weeks! Sheesh! It’s amazing how time can get away from you if you let it. Mix in craziness at work plus travel and you get a girl who lets two weeks slide without a single blog post. No bueno.

Here’s how my training went down the past two weeks:

Week of 4/15

Monday: 3k swim plus strength in am, 9 mi run in pm

Tuesday: 5 mile run in am, 15 mile time trial in pm (took 1st overall!)

Wednesday: 3k swim in am, 5 mile run in pm

Thursday: Track (11 miles total running, 5 miles of speedwork)

Friday: 2k swim in am

Saturday: 13 mile run

Sunday: 3 hour bike

Week of 4/22

Monday: Off (at conference)

Tuesday: 5 mile run plus strength in am

Wednesday: 7 mile run with 3 miles speedwork

Thursday: off (travel home from conference)

Friday: 2k swim with 10x100s, strength work

Saturday: 15 mile run

Sunday: 60 mile ride at 70.3 watts, 4 mile run at goal 70.3 heart rate

Good things about these two weeks: Again, my running is getting stronger. I’m able to sustain the same pace at a much lower heart rate despite increased temps, so it’s nice to see a quantitative measure of running improvement. I’ve also learned to run without music. When I run with my friend (we do track, long runs, and some mid-week runs together) I cherish our girltalk, but when I run alone I like to zone in on the sound of my feet crunching away on the pavement. I used to be addicted to my ipod, but am appreciating the sounds of running more and more. I think this is going to be beneficial for me in races.

Bad things about these two weeks: My shoulder has been acting up yet again. I’m doing my best to try to see my sports therapist before I leave for my race since I feel like it’s barely hanging on by a thread. I hate that feeling of when you know something is acting up and it’s one workout away from completely giving out on you. I’m doing everything I can–I’m stretching, I’m rolling, I’m Compexing, I’ve stopped shoulder weights….but the improvement is minimal.

Totally in love with my new Compex

Also, this past Sunday’s workout nearly killed me. It has been a long time (actually since Vegas last fall) since I’ve held those high watts for such a long duration, and by mile 40 on the bike I wanted to quit. I pushed through with every ounce of my being and it hurt like hell and my body started to give up. I went through the whole gamut of bonking symptoms–nausea, huge drop in power, and near-verge of tears emotion. I finished the bike and told myself “just go out and do the transition run. You’ll feel better. You always feel better after a run.” Well—NOPE. As the run progressed I felt worse and worse. My throat started to close up, I kept wanting to cough, and a side stitch was starting. By the time I got back to my car I was doubled over in agony from the side stitch (what’s THAT about?) and couldn’t stop coughing. I *might* have called John and left him a half crying/half yelling voicemail, and shakily drove myself home. I spent the next few hours in a shaky, headachy, feverish stage and tried to push fluids (I think that my symptoms were related to dehydration since it was a hot day and I don’t think I had enough fluids on the bike). The rest of last night was an awful mix of sleeplessness and headaches. Lesson learned: hydrate.

(Two) Weekly analysis: Is it taper time yet? Actually, I don’t get the benefit of a true taper since the race this weekend is not an A-race for me. Sure, I get few days this week of some easy workouts, but no break from the killer weekend workouts! Although my body is pretty wracked this morning, I tend to recover pretty rapidly and expect a fairly solid performance this weekend. I’m definitely going into this race with a lot less training than usual, so I’m certainly not expecting a PR by any means, but I’ll be giving it my best effort and we’ll see what happens!

And now….your weekly puppy pics!

He was oddly quiet while I was working at home: turns out he was hoarding all his toys!

Snuggle time the day I returned from my trip

Posted April 16, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under General Training. Be the first to comment!

Sitting here in front of my keyboard trying to put into words how I feel about yesterday is hard. Like most of you, I went through a range of emotions yesterday. First, I was shocked. Shocked that someone would so something so senseless in a city near and dear to many of our hearts. Shocked that something like this would happen at a marathon. Then, as the news reports poured in, a deep sorrow enveloped me. I had to just turn everything off and go home. As I was walking home, I suddenly became pissed off. How dare someone do something like this? How dare someone come and interfere with OUR sport. A sport so full of purity and love and selflessness. Of course I thought of those killed and wounded, but I thought a lot about everyone who ran that race. Boston is so much more than simply a marathon—for many, it’s the culmination of decades of hard work and training. When I ran Boston back in ’09, I was injured going into it and knew it would be difficult. It was my second slowest marathon time (second only to the broken pelvis one) and I peed blood for hours after due to my injury, but none of that took away from the Boston experience when I crossed the finish line. To think that so many people missed out on that due to what happened yesterday just makes my blood boil. So I did the only thing I could do. I ran. I abandoned my speed work and hit the streets with my friend and Kaipo to simply celebrate what this sport is about—pure, unadulterated freedom. Freedom that NO ONE can ever take away from us.

Here’s how my training went down this week:

Monday: 3k swim, functional strength in AM, tempo run in PM

Tuesday: Easy 5 mi run in AM, 15 mile time trial in PM

Wednesday: 3k swim, functional strength in AM, easy 5 mi run in PM

Thursday: Brutal track session in am

Friday: 1500m swim in am (cut my scheduled speedwork short due to shoulder pain)

Saturday: 11 mile run

Sunday: AM: Death Brick: 4 hours at 10 watts less than goal 140.6 power, 4 mile tempo run at 70.3 pace, PM: Pastrami sandwich the size of my face

Good things about this week: I felt crazy strong, fast, and totally in the zone. This week since I was *ahem* out late a lot (totally my fault) I was averaging less than 6 hours of sleep a night and worried I was headed for a meltdown. I severed all social ties on Friday, went to sleep at 8pm, and woke Saturday a new woman. Despite having really tired legs, I still nailed my track workout and crazy nailed Sunday’s death brick. Saturday was Kaipo’s birthday, and multiple red velvet/cream cheese icing cupcakes were consumed, so I’m giving all the credit to the sugary goodness.

Bad things about this week: My shoulder is really not happy with all my swimming. It’s my right shoulder, the same one I injured a few months ago when I fell down a flight of stairs. I’m sort of used to this, however, because for some reason my shoulders simply give up once my swim volume goes above 8k per week.

Weekly analysis: I am really happy with where I am in this point of the season. My cycling still has some work, but my cycling muscles are coming back and I’m watching my power numbers increase. I’ve been doing a lot of running (almost 45 miles this week) and am pleased with how my body’s holding up. As far as my shoulder goes, I’m not worried at all. I’m taking a few days off from swimming and then we’ll re-evaluate. I tend to do really well in the swim portion with low swim training volume, so we might have to knock the yards back a bit, which I’ll be fine with. As long as I can keep pushing a higher run volume without injury I’m one happy triathlete. And as long as Kaipo keeps helping me foam roll, I’m one happy mommy.

Posted April 13, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under Kaipo. Be the first to comment!

Today marked Kaipo’s first birthday (well, at least what the shelter estimated to be his birthday) so I decided to be *that person* and throw a dog birthday party. I made doggy cupcakes (this recipe) and human cupcakes (this recipe) and invited people down to the neighborhood dog park. Unfortunately it was a bit of a chilly day, and the majority of the invitees couldn’t make it, but Kaipo still had an amazing time surrounded by some of his favorite people.

This sequence of photos just makes my heart melt (click to see the larger version; his expressions are priceless):

Happy birthday Kaipo! Here’s to many more birthdays in the future!

Posted April 11, 2013 by frayedlaces & filed under General Training. Be the first to comment!

After the craziness of last week and being sick, it’s nice to finally feel rested and strong. Since I started off this season’s training with two fairly intense weeks, this week was a recovery week to dial things back a notch. I think it was especially helpful in shaking off my illness. This past week I focused on tons of rest, healthy eating, catching up on work, and quality puppy time.

Here’s how my training went down this week:

Monday: 2k swim (heavy on drills) and functional strength

Tuesday: Trainer Tuesdays, but took it easy and kept my heart rate low

Wednesday: Rest day! Glorious, glorious rest day!

Thursday: Track workout with Natasha and crew: Warmup 2 miles, then run drills and striders. Main set: 400m fast, 100m jog/300 m fast, 200 m jog/200 m fast, 300 m jog/100 m fast, 400 jog. Repeat 3 times with no added rest, so it’s essentially one long run broken up into fast runs/jogs. 2 mile cooldown.

Friday: 2k swim (heavy on drills) and functional strength

Saturday: 10 mile trail run with Kaipo and Natasha (my friend who is the same pace as me)

Sunday: Ride 1.5 hours with heart rate in low 130′s.

Good things about this week: I got a ton of rest, shook the cold for good, and am feeling strong. After two solid weeks of training I’m definitely feeling like I’m back in the saddle. My legs and core feel strong and I can feel the speed and power coming back into my body. I’m constantly amazed at what the human body can do.

Bad things about this week: Not much, actually. I rarely complain about rest weeks

Weekly analysis: I’m still nervous about my lack of bike volume with my new training plan, but have to be confident in John’s decision (well, it was also my decision too). Since my bike fitness last season was obviously my strength, we want to spend as much time as possible working on my run, which is undoubtedly my weakness. So for now I have to trust in the plan and just accept that, for the time being, two days of biking is all I’m doing.

I’m now in the middle of a very tough block of training, so we’ll see how my body holds together! Stay tuned to see how week 4 goes!

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