The Heat is On and Training Recap

Wow, we complained all winter about the miserable cold and snow....but no more.  The HEAT is on in Kansas City.  It seems like over night we went from a "too cold" Spring to the heat of Summer.  It went from 40 degree mornings to mid 70s with 85% humidity and temps during the day in the upper 90s!  I'm trying not to complain too much though, because I was so ready for the heat.  It's just hard to adjust that fast.  It's 4:30 am as I'm writing this and it's already 78 degrees with almost 80% humidity for my morning run!

I took a Triathlon 101 Class last year to help me get ready for my first Triathlon.  It's an all women's class and it really is awesome.  I enjoyed it so much I signed up for Tri 102 this year.  Sunday was our "meet and greet" group bike ride.  It started at 11 am.  I did one 12 mile loop then stopped and registered for the class.  Then we decided to do another 12 mile loop.  By the time I was finished with the second loop it was about 1:30pm and about 96 degrees.  It was just plain HOT.  There was no relief from the water bottle because my water was literally about 90+ degrees too.  The last mile or so I could really feel the heat coming off the pavement, and I couldn't seem to cool myself down.  I got a little overheated and once off the bike had to sit in the shade and pour some cold water over me and drink some cold fluid (a soda - I needed the sugar).  After a few minutes I felt fine and was ready to head home.  I had a nice heat rash on the top of my quads though - it looked like I had been burned.

Not only is the HEAT on, but in the Kansas City area it is also hard to get away from hills.  No matter where I run or bike it's always pretty hilly.  The 24 mile route on Sunday was no exception with about 1100 feet of elevation over 24 miles and a couple of pretty killer hills.  I am really, really, really, bad at hills.  There is one hill that is just over a 1 mile climb and about a 200 ft ascent.  I am lucky to stay above 5 mph on this hill, and I have been as low as about 4.4 when the wind is really strong.  Everyone told me when I got clipless pedals the hills would be so much easier, but I honestly haven't seen or felt the improvement.

So, all you cyclists out there - what is the secret to hills?  Is it leg strength, or hill repeats, is it about the gears?  


My friend Michelle mentioned to me today that it looks like my cadence is just too fast.  She said you literally look like you are just spinning going up the hill, which is exactly what I feel like.  When I go up the hills I have it in the easiest gear on my bike, and I think it's just too easy, but if I change it by just one gear I feel like I literally can't turn the pedals.  I think that is just leg strength, but I'd be interested in thoughts you guys might have.  I do think it might also have a little to do with my bike, it's a low end road bike, and maybe just doesn't have enough "in between" gears.  OK, I'm not a cyclist and I know I have no idea what I'm talking about, but it just seems like I have easy or hard gears....nothing really in between.  But I can't change my bike for now at least, so I need to work with what I have.  The good news was, I did 24 miles in my clipless pedals and didn't fall this time!!!

Speaking of clipless pedals...I had a request to share exactly what I was talking about for those of you who don't cycle.  There are actually a variety of clipless pedals out there, but basically you have a special shoe that has a cleat at the bottom.  This clips in to a special pedal on your bike and attaches you to the bike.  It's supposed to help with biking because you can use your leg muscles to both push down and pull up on the bike pedals vs. just being able to push down.

Bike shoe with cleat

Pedal the shoe fits into

Shoes attached to bike

I had another great week of training/racing!!

Monday: 5 mile easy run

Tuesday:  Master Swim (1600 Meters) 

Wednesday: 4 mile Track (Speed workout) - 1/4 mile sprints around the 9:30s....fast for me..with 1/4 mile recovery jogs

Thursday: BRICK  Workout - 12 Mile Bike & 2 Mile Run in am; Master Swim in pm - 2100 Meters

Friday: Swim - OFF

Saturday: 10K Race

Sunday: 24 Mile Group Bike Ride

Totals

Swim: 3700 Meters

Bike:  36 Miles

Run:  17.2 miles

Total Training Time:  9 hours and 3 minutes

Hope everyone has a WONDERFUL Training and Racing Week!  

Hospital Hill 10K Recap

Jim and I got up bright and early yesterday morning (4 am) to get ready for the Hospital Hill 10K.  The race started at 7 am, but we were leaving the house promptly at 5:15 am.  It's about a 45 minute drive to downtown Kansas City.  We swung by my friend Michelle's house so she could follow us downtown. Michelle was running the Half Marathon (and rocked it even after being at a concert until 1 am the night before).  Jim and I were both doing the 10K.

As anticipated the Three H's were in full effect:  HEAT, HUMIDITY, and HILLS!!!!  All were relentless. When we first got out of the car I thought, it's actually kind of nice, of course that was still at 6 am.  By the time the race started the sun was out and the humidity was going up.  I have been doing long runs around 7 miles with an average number of hills and I told myself to just kind of make this a training run.  It was going to be hot, just take my time, but I wanted to run all 6.2.  That was all out the window after the first hill.  As you know I'm a pretty slow runner and after trying to slow down and just take the first hill....I (as in the past) saw people walking faster than me up the hill.  I just decided not to fight it.  I would power walk up the hills and save time and energy.  I went out a bit too fast and ran my fastest mile first, but I seem to do that in every race.  Not sure when I will learn, but the first mile was probably the easiest from an elevation standpoint.  I was happy to say however, that my last three miles got progressively faster with my last mile being my second fastest, so I did save a little something for the end.

My splits:
Mile 1 - 11:41
Mile 2 - 12:57
Mile 3 - 11:59
Mile 4 - 12:42
Mile 5 - 12:33
Mile 6 - 11:58
Mile .31 - 12:08 (I also logged a "fastest pace" at 6:28....what the heck?  Is that even possible - I was sprinting at the end for sure)

My garmin showed 6.31 miles when I was done, with an average pace of 12:18.  My chip time of course was based on 6.2 so my overall time of  1:17:36 only had an official pace of 12:30.  But with the heat and humidity, and the 422 feet of elevation (according to Garmin), I was content with my results.  It's certainly not a great time, but technically it's my 10K PR since this was my first 10K race.

My husband Jim did an AMAZING job taking 1st place in his Age Group and 26th place overall out of 1410 runners (did I mention I was 1138 - quite a difference there).  He is such an awesome runner and I am so proud of his running accomplishments.  You can read his blog post here.  He has a few race photos, etc.  But I just finished a 24 mile bike ride in 95 degree heat and just writing this post is all the energy I have........so sorry no race pics except this pre-race gem! 

Random Thoughts is all I got

I have been a bad blogger.  I have had no time to blog or read blogs.  It’s truly a bummer. I hope to catch up on your blogs this weekend.  I’m throwing out a quick one with some random stuff that I have thought about writing blogs about.  Instead you get bullets!

·   I have my first “real” (non-virtual) 10K tomorrow.  It will be HOT, HUMID, and HILLY, not exactly the best combination.  But it will be fun. 

·   I swam 2100 Meters last night!!  My longest swim EVER!!

·   If you read Jim’s blog yesterday you learned that I apparently love Country music….hmmmm…..well this is simply not true, sorry if I offend any of you Country music fans out there, but I seriously can’t stand it (well I do love the Dixie Chicks, but they don’t count).  Most of the time it literally makes me angry if it’s on. 

·   But something that is very true about Jim is that he is a HUGE Boy Band Fan.  He seriously just can’t get enough of Back Street Boys, N Sync, etc.  As a matter of fact, for a very short period of time he was actually a member of the Back Street Boys.

So Jim's photo shopping skills are clearly better than mine.

·   I saw a coyote on my run last Saturday.  That got my heart rate going.  He was probably less than 50 feet from me.

He looked just like this

Somehow I think if he had decided to chase me it wouldn't have ended up like this.....

·   I seriously, seriously, want to run the Divas Half Marathon in Vail, CO in August.  But I have no friends who are into this kind of thing and can go.  I love women’s races and would love to take a racecation.  They have a tiara and feather boa station on the race course, champagne, and a great medal and t-shirt.  Hmmmm……anyone out there doing this race?

Hope everyone has a fabulous WEEKEND!!

Clipless Pedals Are NOT My Friend & Weekly Training

I had a wonderful 5 day weekend!!  I wanted to get a little more accomplished, but I did get started on my closet clean out, got the rest of my house cleaned, got my flowers planted, got a pedicure, got in some relaxation and quality time with family and friends, and got some serious training time in.  So all in all it was a busy and productive weekend, with a little bit of relaxation thrown in.

I went for another ride with my clipless pedals.....this was ride #3.  On the agenda was about 24 miles - my longest ride ever (at least since I was a kid).  I know that's not really that long, but it was alot for me.  Before we even left the parking lot, I promptly fell over and skinned up my left ankle, right knee and front of my right calf, and right elbow.   I still can't believe I fell.  I had one foot clipped in and was leaning on the other, talking to my friend Michelle, and just waiting to get started.  All of a sudden I lost my balance and started falling.  I knew I was going to fall, and even said "Oh Crap, I'm Falling", but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.  It literally all happened in slow motion.   I was bleeding and shaken from the fall, but I picked myself up and went on the ride anyway. I of course had Jim snap a few pics of me when I got home to document my glorious fall.

My elbow

My Knee

My ankle.  It's hard to tell, but this is actually the worst "injury".  I took out about 4 separate chunks from my ankle.

A little road rash on my calf.

It was a beautiful day, although it was a little hot.  It was sunny and upper 80s with about 95% humidity.  There were also about 20 mph winds, which make the road bike a little scary.  We completed two 12 mile loops, but somehow only logged 23 miles.  But I was so happy to say that I had ridden 23 miles!!  

This Saturday Jim and I will run the Hospital Hill 10K.  It is a very, very hilly race....notice the word "Hill" in the race title.  I have been trying to run a few more hills, but man they really wipe me out.  I am guessing my time will be something awesome like 1:20.  Jim will be done with the race, and just be chilling out waiting for me by the time I get done.  He will probably seriously run it in half of my time.  Why am I so stinking slow!!!

I had another solid week of training and I couldn't be happier with my training this month.  It has been great.  I have felt good and have actually been looking forward to my swim training, so that's a huge step for me.  Below is my training recap for the week.

Monday: 4 mile easy run

Tuesday: 14 Miles on Bike in am; Master Swim (1600 Meters) in pm

Wednesday: 4 mile Tempo run

Thursday: BRICK Group Workout - 12 Mile Bike & 2 Mile Run

Friday: Swim - 1500 Meters

Saturday: 7 mile long run

Sunday: 23 Miles on Bike

Totals

Swim: 3100 Meters

Bike:  49 Miles

Run:  17 miles

Total Training Time:  9 hours and 35 minutes

I hope everyone had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!!!  

Happy Memorial Day & AWESOME Giveaway Winner!!!

Happy Memorial Day!  I hope everyone has a wonderful day, but I also hope everyone takes time to remember all of those who have lost their lives fighting for our Country.

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Congratulations to Rachelle at Running for Trevor she was the winner of my AWESOME Giveaway!!  I hope you enjoy your prize pack!  E-mail  me your contact information at  weatherlymh01@yahoo.com
In order to capture everyone's correct number of entries, I dumped everyone's comments into Excel, then added any entries as necessary, and then used Random.org. 

Rachelle was lucky # 87!  Thanks to everyone for entering.  I had so much fun reading all of your AWESOME comments! 



Giveaway - Last Chance!! & Other thoughts

Don't forget my AWESOME Giveaway ends tomorrow!  You don't want to miss out on this one.

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Getting ready to enjoy a nice 5 day weekend!!  I can't wait.  I am just hoping for some nice weather.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

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Still having issues with my ability to comment on your blogs, but I think I at least have a workaround.  I have been pretty busy this week but hope to get caught up on my reading this weekend.

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Perfect weather last night - sunny and mid 70s - got to enjoy a great group Brick workout with a 12 mile bike and 2 mile run.

Annoyed

Well a few weeks ago we had the issue where Blogger was down for an entire day.  It ate our posts and our comments and left us all a little annoyed and lonely without being able to socially connect.

Now today I can't comment on anyone's blog.  I can read your blog, but I can't comment.  Apparently this is only happening to "select" users.  Well, lucky me...I'm one of those special users.  Do I win a prize?

Seriously, I have never had issues with Blogger until the last few weeks.  It's bringing me down!!

That's all - just wanted to share my frustration.  If you are sharing my same frustration leave me a comment....oh wait, you can't!!

UPDATE:  Well, as some of you have already figured out.  You can leave an Anonymous comment by selecting anonymous vs. google under the comment profile.  But my normal ability to comment is still not working!