Brain Freeze

 

I usually update this blog a little better than I have lately, but I’ve had a case of brain freeze. By now I usually have taken at least 1 trip to escape winter and get some training in and avoid brain freeze, but my first trip out is still a few weeks away so I believe I am suffering from a frozen brain caused from:

making snow angles after shoveling, and the kids weren't home

~ true winter deciding to make an ugly appearance in February; running into that cold wind, standing on the pool deck in a frozen suit can be mind numbing

~work being so busy its hard to think about anything else, I walk out of there after such a crazy day and my brain is frozen

~ the Midwest mid winter routine of mega indoor training or layering it all up to go out and still be cold is enough to cause ice to form in my head

~wondering if all the getting up early to fit in training before work, and you train and you train but a race still seems so far away, and you wonder if you are making any progress

~fatigue from getting up at the at the crack of early then working all day

I’ve tried to overcome winter a few times with some fun. We took the kids skiing in the middle of a wickedly busy weekend of training, Jack’s basketball and throwing a big super bowl party. Even though it was cold it was a blast and made me want to go home to ski the big hills again.

staying warm

keeping the drinks chilled at Super Bowl

 I started goal mile track workouts again at the Vaughn Center and realized…..with a few layers off and the absence of the bitter wind I am running better than I realized. Its just sometimes hard to tell when you are getting blown backwards or sideways and can barely move thanks to all the layers. 

 WattieInk race kits, KSWISS shoes, BlueSeventy wetsuit will soon be arriving so thats motivation to keep the dark cold training going. 

There is light and warmth at the end of the dark cold tunnel though. Its already light 3 days a week when I leave work now!  March will definitely thaw my head beginning with a Tuscon training trip put on by TBC coach Ryan Bolton and......gulp...... a lot of very fast athletes! That will heat things up.  Several very cool projects are coming together in March which are very exciting, along with another trip to California at the end of the month to train, have a little fun and  cheer on AZ and a bunch of WattieInk Elite Team at Oceanside.

Extremes

Sometimes I like a little extremeness to make life exciting, and I’ve noticed things have been a bit extreme lately. If you were to draw a graph of the extremeness I’ve been observing going on around me it would look like a jagged edge sword.

Lets start with the weather (always good for conversation with my patients who inform me of the weather prediction daily) One day I bundle up and head to the somewhat sheltered trails layered and smeared with Aquaphor to be protected from biting freezing wind, to a few days later riding outside in 60 degrees and swearing because I overdressed!

60 degree ride in Jan

layered up

winter trails

Extreme is: going from multilayered running in cold wind feeling slow to doing a timed mile on the indoor track and seeing a fast split not seen for a really long time and realizing the hard work is paying off

Extreme is: going from smashing myself on the trainer with  snot, sweat pouring out of me while listening to loud inappropriate music, to carpooling four  9 yr olds to basketball practice, driving quietly and laughing inside to what is extreme to them

Extreme is: getting excited to run a 5k in February, just because you haven’t toed the line with anything involving running for a long time

Extremes make life more exciting, less boring. But huge extremes in training aren’t ideal and will only take you so far. Consistency is key.

 If you train so much over the weekend that you can’t get up to fit the training in for the next 4 days of the work week, that extreme weekend effort will only give you so much race day.

If your trying to get power on the bike by pushing so hard or fast but can’t hold it and let up, then realize you are slacking and pedal so hard to get the watts up again, is taxing and burning up your legs (cyclocross style, which is extreme!), but for time trialing you might have fried your legs. Smooth steady pedaling with little extremes and a smooth graph is going to lead you to a better, run  vs. an extreme blow up.

yellow line is steady power

Extremeness adds variety to life and keeps things interesting for sure, but consistency in training will give you and extreme performance!  

What Weekend?...

Every year TBC has an annual coaches meeting. We get together with the other TBC coaches from across the country to share ideas, learn the latest and greatest, do some updating, planning and brainstorm with some of the best coaches around including the founder of Trainingbible, Joe Friel!  Last year we were lucky enough to have the meeting in sunny warm San Diego, this year, not so lucky. …..a cold January Chicago weekend. Travel was minimal, but I could have really used the warm sun to help speed my recovery from the nasty flu. Fitting in workouts and the kid’s activities around a weekends worth of meetings is always challenging and stressful, but somehow we managed to keep it together, the house is still standing in 1 piece.

These 2 managed to fit in their long brick, and watch NFL and heat up the basement

There is always so much great information from the meetings, and walk away with some really great stuff to work with into the coming year.  TBC has some exciting new things in the works that I can’t wait to see get released. There were great talks from Joe and Dr. Post as usual, but this year we learned about bike racing strategies from Rob Kelley, coaching juniors from Chris Palmquist and a very fun talk by Joe Lotus on the athlete’s perspective. …..the brutal truth on what the athletes think of their coaches! 

Joe likes to talk

 And, I never get tired of hearing Ryan Bolton talk about coaching his Kenyan runners. Did you know his athlete Caroline Rotich was 4^th at the 2011 Boston Marathon, and 5^th at 2012 Chicago Marathon? 

stealing some run speed

  And as always Jim Vance shared the latest on social media tips, ideas  to save time or help with coaching. I am time crunched, and not the best with technology and Jim always has a new idea app or device I've never heard of to help make life easier.

The best part of the whole weekend  though is hanging out with a great group of friends/coaches who are all crazy smart and have so much to offer to Trainingbible.  Each coach has a unique specialty and background that adds  to making TBC so fabulous.

The Grind

There isn’t anything too sexy about this time of year.

Holidays are over. The New Year has been rung in and it’s all about getting back to business. The regular routine, the business of getting it done. First races of 2103 seem so far away, daylight at 5:30 am seems non existent, training outside without multiple layers is impossible

january training

(barely….I did run in shorts on a strangely warm January day but still whined because I was cold).

There isn’t anything to fancy about plain old hard work and laying the foundation for the season. Fitness, and results don’t magically appear with THE  winning workout, winning diet, newest piece of gadgetry; it comes with consistent work. Some workouts can be a painful but get the job done, some are in the toilet and feel like you’ve never exercised before, some are boring and you feel like you could fall back to sleep if it weren’t for the coffee in your cup holder , and some…are a knock out, a perfect 10, a gold medal. Those are the ones that give you a glimpse of what’s coming and what you are capable of if you just keep the work up, and stick to the grind of doing the work. But all of them rolled in together are what make you stronger, faster and more fit.

my view at 5:30 in the mornings

To help get through the grind it helps to have a few things to spice it up (btw the grind happens to be from Jan 2 until about first week of March which happens to be my birthday week and usually involves a training trip to Tuscon, more daylight, warmer temps and this year a race!)

I try to spice it up with:

Killer playlists (btw I never watch TV, on the trainer or TM, never listen to books, its 90% loud music and an occasional TBC podcast, its not for everyone but its what works for me)

At 5:15 am delicious coffee is a must; most days I get it ready the night before if I’m lucky; if not I is standing drooling at the machine taking its sweet time brewing

A goal to shoot for; one that is a little bit of a stretch, but within reach; one that with some hard work, consistency and being smart you can reach; yep I have a couple goals this year

Variety: I tend to train solo most of the time out of convenience, but I do like to jump into rides with the guys, or swim with anyone I can (including the 10 U Bullets swimmers on M W nights); or on the very rare chance AZ and I actually get to run together, having him chase you on your intervals through the woods can spice up your run!

Mix it up: I add a bit more cross training with strength and sometimes some yoga. Moving around in motions other than forward is good. My trainer makes me move side to side, backward and up and down…its scarey and feels funny but is a nice challenging change

get strong

But absolutely a must are cute workout clothes!

when all else fails, go shopping! It’s a weakness of mine, I confess. Those companies know how to sell to me. When it gets a little boring; I like to spice it up with a new swimsuit, run clothes or even sweet socks. I just ordered my new WATTIE GEAR for 2013 and it’s not a bit boring! Betty is always a good fix and new run shoes always bring life back into the run. My latest favs are KSWISS Kwicky Blade   Neutrals. They are um,  very pink  which can  surely spice up a dark run .

Ring in the New...Hello 2013!

Good bye 2012, you were good to me with a new job, great trips to St Croix, Vegas, Tuscon, Kona, Cozumel, some great race results, and many new friends and teammates. I really have no complaints with you other than the nasty hip injury that kept me on the sidelines more than I like. I’m going to make sure 2013 doesn’t do that to me, because I like to race. But I’m done with you 2012, its time to break up. No hard feelings though, I am just ready for a new start. I am hooking up with 2013 now.

2013 can give me what you can’t. I get bored often and like to change it up so I’m ready to start over with some new goals and adventurers.


welccome 2013!


With 2013 I have:

* a new race schedule , new races I’ve never done, some new goals and a new age group to go with that ( not saying which one because I don’t feel that old)

*More new friends and teammates as I get to race for WattieInk for a second year, and with that comes great sponsors like Kswiss, Blue seventy, Power Bar, Fuelbelt,  Kask,  ISM, plus a fancy new race kit:

*New challenges like balancing training with working more hours.  I’ve had to become a regular at working out at the crack of early to fit it all in. Once you get used to it, it’s not that bad but there are times I walk around like the zombies in walking dead, which Adam and I have gotten hooked on.

So professional...

*More fun travel with new adventures in familiar spots like Tuscon, Vegas, Georgia hopefully Kona again (no pressure…A. Z.!), and new places still to be determined

*Some very exciting and fun new clients I am coaching; can’t wait to see what 2013 brings them

*Because I get bored, I always like to give my blog a wardrobe change at the start of a new year, still working on  udating this one

With the end of 2012, I have been working a lot. I didn’t take any days off and have been doing the holidays while working a ton. I can’t say that is the most enjoyable way to experience Christmas but I have still managed to have a lot of fun. I have been training, mostly running a lot. We discovered some new trails not too far from our house (crazy we’ve lived in our house almost 8 years and never new these trails were there) and running with some new scenery makes the cold a little more fun. Now its time to gut the house of all the sugar, garbage food, and Christmas decorations and welcome in 2013.

snowy trail runs!
fun Nike's tying me over until more KSwiss arrives!

Happy New year to all my amazing family, friends and teammates!

Christmans-Man

2012 is coming to an end, but new thing are already starting for 2013! I am super excited to have been selected to be on the Wattie Ink Elite team again for next year, and have already been signing up and planning which races to rock the W. I’ll be kicking off the season with a ½ marathon in Georgia in March, and then doing New Orleans 70.3 in April!

But to finish out 2012 we spent the weekend in the city which turned out to be a little like doing an Ironman. It’s been awhile, but I’ve done 4 Ironman. I’ve spectated many Ironman events and have coached athletes to cross their first Ironman finish or qualify for Kona, so I am quite familiar with the qualities that go into finishing an ironman. Some of these include but are not limited to are: patience, determination, proper nutrition plan, and focus all of which were required as we set out to experience all that downtown Chicago has to offer at Christmastime.

When starting an Ironman event you need a large amount of patience and that was no different as we set out Saturday morning trying to coordinate getting 12 people together into the city at the same time and meeting point. 1 car ride, 1 train ride, and 1 cab ride we finally made it to our hotel just in time for lunch and to re fuel for the rest of the day. Any Ironman knows having a nutrition plan can make or break your race again that was no exception for us this weekend. We transitioned from lunch into window spectating at Macy’s and viewing the amazing tree in the Walnut room. From there we made our way to the Kriskringle market. Of course by this time of day on a decently warm Saturday afternoon 2 weeks before Christmas it was packed. I felt like I was in a mass start of an Ironman waddling our way through a mob. I noticed it became congested near the food booths, kind of like an aid station becomes clogged up with people. Also rounding the outer corners of the market, also became congested like rounding the buoy’s at the swim turns. Of course by this time we needed to hit the aid station as well and had to sample soft pretzels, and chocolate covered marshmallows.


they actually got close enough to see at this window



We completed that event and moved on to Millennium Park to attempt ice skating, but of course another pit stop was required/ refueling was required at the fancy cupcake shop in order to continue. Pushing yourself too far or overextending yourself in an Ironman will lead to disaster and possibly the end of your race. It requires focus to stay on target on make right choices throughout the day. This was the case with ice skating. The line was horrifically long, and waiting that long for our turn on the ice might have put us over the edge and ended our night early, so we checked out the Bean, which at night with the Christmas nights looked amazing.

The next transition included dinner back at the hotel while re-evaluating the race strategy for the rest of the evening to ensure everyone made it through the event having a good time. We decided to dig deep, and go for it heading up to Lincoln Park to see the zoo lights, and it was well worth the extra effort.The cab line was long, and Adam doesn't like waiting in line so we found ourselves heading to the zoo in this which of course was the kid's favorite part of the day.




nothing like going to the zoo in style!



 The zoo lights was my  favorite part and worth the extra push to the end. The final limo ride back to the hotel was the final push and required some zoo popcorn, but we made it collapsing into bed back at the hotel. We completed our event with success. No bonks...how could we. Every event change we were eating, no melt downs...we stayed focused and were determined and stuck to the plan, yet adapted when we needed to.  So far I haven't seen any post event depression as Christmas celebrating is continuing. Luckily my training is picking up again because I felt like this cow which hangs from the ceiling in Ed Debevik's, which was our aid station on Sunday following shopping on Michigan Ave.

Good Luck to any of you who have a Christmas, Ironman like event coming up!

Bienvenidas Mexico!

I have been to New Zealand, Switzerland, Canada, and all around the US, but never to Mexico. So a late fall trip to Mexico to spectate and support another Ironman, didn’t seem like such a bad idea. Call it intuition, but I before even leaving the country I wasn’t having good feelings about the the trip at all for quite a number of reasons….. but how could I complain…it’s a trip to Mexico in November! So I focusing on the sun, beaches, Mexican food and 3 days post race with a husband finally not training for the next thing which would be waiting for me.

Thanksgiving day we flew to Cancun and took a choppy ferry ride over to Cozumel and while it was essentially a 3.5 hr flight….it felt as long as flying to Kona by the time we got to the resort and sat down to eat real food. There were a number of challenging portions to our trip, including sickness and race dynamics to name a few..... I’ll just share the fun positives of spending a week in Mexico! and leave the negatives back in the jungles of Isa de Cozumel.


I got to swim in warm Caribbean water, then chill beachside!

Beautiful Sunsets

Warm sunny tropical runs; I got in a number of good run miles on the island and it feels good to see those run times coming down again!!! I have signed up for 1 race so for and that is Georgia 1/2 marathon March 17. I am so excited to race again, I have spent the last part of this season cheering everyone else on, I'm looking forward to making it to the start line again!

Catching up with friends I haven’t seen for a while…..it was so fun to catch up with our friend Cesar Valera from Venezuala, who was a home stay with us last summer; plus he helped us out in the stores and restaraunts  with the locals

Killer margaritas while spectating with girlfriends made the 6 mile walk to the finish way more tolerable… yes we had  a bit of a spectator epic fail, or bad race organization but fter sitting 30 min in a taxi going nowhere because of traffic back up we opted to walk the 6 miles to the finish. It was  our mission  to make it to the run course by the time Adam started the run! We made it with about 20 minutes to spare!



best seat in the house


My fav for the trip though was...
Hanging out on a remote beach the day after the race with friends; we were serenaded by the mariachi guy, ordered the freshest guacamole, salsa and chips along with cerveza and margaritas pretty much made the trip!



beach side entertainment



best way to recover, beachtime


I got sick the night before leaving to come home and felt like the walking dead for the next 2 days at work, walking around in a stupor with no voice and trying to catch up and get in the Christmas groove all at the same time



me Thursday at work



 I rallied in to time to put a stamp on the 2012 race season at the Multisportmadness Year end party with an 80s theme!  Fun night with friends, great 80 s costumes and dancing! We celebrated like we train and race! My legs were sore the next day from dancing!



Sue's Flashdance pose