Whew! These last three days tired me out. The weekend + totals were 8 miles running, 108 miles biking (two days) and 2,700 yards in the pool. It was a fun last weekend before classes. In between workouts, I was able to spend time hanging out with friends. Saturday night, we went to the race track to watch some ostrich, camel, and quarter horse races.

I have finally fallen into a good schedule that involves a lot of group work which will make it easier to stick to. In addition to easy 30 minute runs weekday mornings I will hopefully do the following.

Monday: Pool Workout
Tuesday: Speed Work at the Track
Wednesday: Open Water Swim-Bike
Thursday: Pool Workout
Friday: Off
Saturday: Long Run-Group Bike Ride
Sunday: MS 150: Training Ride

If I stick to that as much as possible I will be ready to rock my October races!

Public Service Announcement

Always do a cool down after a long workout!! 

Today's workout started bright and early and ended with me sitting on the ground in a parking lot taking advantage of what little shade existed near my car at 11:30.

Ok, I lied when I said bright and early. It was too early to be bright. After an easy 8 mile run around the neighborhood, I hopped in the car to meet the group for a 45 mile bike ride. The last time I rode with this group there were 20 people. This week there were 6 of us and one turned back after 10 miles. We were all feeling ambitious at the turn around point so 45 miles became 62 miles.

Back to the Public Service Announcement. The last few miles of the bike ride included a few hills which I climbed as fast as possible in order to be done with the ride sooner. I finished the ride hard, and as I was packing my bike up for the drive home I almost passed out. I ended up sitting by my car, head in my hands waiting for the faint feeling to pass. It was an unpleasant end to an otherwise confidence boosting workout. I hope that does not become a regular thing.

Swim, Bike, BBQ?

The plan for this evening's workout was a 1 mile open water swim and a 20 mile bike ride, followed by the bi-weekly tailgating barbecue. The weather chose not to cooperate. I ended up swimming one 1/2 mile loop then holding off on the rest of the workout because of lightning. I was expecting this to be a nice easy swim. I had been swimming much further in the pool recently. One mile should be a piece of cake. Not the case. Don't let the picture below fool you, the water was choppier than it looked. I was surprised at how awkward I felt when swimming in slightly choppy water. I think it is easier when the water looks bad to begin with. At least then I know what to expect.

The weather than cancelled my bike ride did provide some beautiful photo opportunities. There was a clear rainbow over the swim hole which didn't come out in the pictures, and the clouds were amazing.

Tuesday Track Work

11 x 200 with a 200 bounce.

According to the schedule today was supposed to be 10 x 200. It was a short workout because most of the group will be doing the Sandestin Triathlon Saturday or the 2-mile Elvis Lives Run Thursday.

Now you are wondering whether I have trouble counting to 10. If this were a swim workout the answer would be YES. I can't keep track of laps to save my life. However, during speed work, I know exactly how many reps I have done.

So the plan at the beginning of the workout was 2 sets of 5 with a 3 minute rest in between sets. There was some mumbling about one guy doing 20 instead of 10, but I ignored that.

The first set of five went as planned. I was not quite fast enough to start each rep with the fast crowd but less than 25 meters behind at the end of 5 laps. During the second set, I was able to stay a little bit closer and catch up during the recovery. It was during this set that the brain washing happened.

After the third 200,

Leader: "Only two more in this set". 

Me: "Only two more then beer"

After the fourth 

One more then a break

One more then I die

During the final recovery and rest period

Even if you can't do another set you should do at 
least 1 more. It will make you feel better.

I knew this was lie but I just couldn't say no. After a four minute rest I lined up with the rest of the crazies ready to give this final 200 everything I had left. 

3, 2, 1, go

And we were off...well, they were off. I was left in the dust. It turns out my limit is ten.

The silver lining in all of this was the "new" and improving Guido Sportif triathlon support van waiting in the parking lot with a 1/6 keg of strawberry ale. More pictures to come as the planned upgrades are completed.

Swimming Take Two

Wow, my arms are about to fall off!! I just finished my second swim practice of this training season. I don’t know about everyone else by I have a love hate relationship with swim coaches. I love how I feel after a hard swim practice, and I know that I will improve so much faster when I train with other people, but I absolutely want to die during practice and dread going every week.

Today was no exception. The office I was working at today is about 50 minutes from the pool on a good day which meant I needed to rush straight from work, to the pool and hope the rush hour traffic held off. I barely made it and hopped into the pool only 100 meters behind the other three people practice today.

I cheated and only did an 800 meter warm up so I could start the workout with the group. The main workout involved 1400 meters, three different strokes, and muscle-ups on the side of the pool. By the final 200 meter “sprint” I was struggling just to make my arms move in the proper directions. I hope that two and a half months of this will help me meet my swim goals at Ironman Austin in October.

Highpoint: learning my swimming ineptitude does not extend to breast stroke.

Lowpoint: realizing that breast stroke mandatory triathlons don’t exist. 

Red Dress Run

Saturday was the New Orleans Hash House Harriers' Annual Red Dress Run. It is a 2-mile run and an all day party and everyone is required to wear red dresses. Every August all the consignment shops in the greater New Orleans area sell out of red dress and skirts. I made a last minute decision to participate this year and the only dress I was able to get was from the children’s section at Walmart.

The run leaves at 11 but the park, bar, beer truck and margarita/daiquiri tent all open at 9:30. I made it downtown around 10am after running 6 miles and trying to wait out the thunderstorms in the hope of getting a 40 mile bike ride in before the festivities. I skipped the 2 mile run because my friends were still waiting in line for their packets when the gun went off. 

The after party involved live music, BBQ, as well as more beer and liquor. We spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth between Louis Armstrong Park and Bourbon Street. By early evening the fact that I woke up at 4am to run finally caught up with me. I have no idea when the party in the Quarter finally came to a close because I was home and in bed by 8pm.

Back in the Pool

I will be happy to see the end of the Olympics this year because it means I will get more sleep. I keep telling myself it will be an early night but end up watching all of the Olympic coverage before going to bed. The only day I didn’t see all of the coverage was when I passed out on a little love seat around 9:30 and woke up almost 3 hours later with a horrible crick in my neck.

It is Friday morning and most people would be able to look forward to sleeping in for the next couple days. That is not the case for endurance athletes in Louisiana (except for all the badass athletes that are not affected by heat). For me this coming weekend means two days of waking up 1-2 hours earlier than I do for work in order to run and bike. At least on weekends I have time to take a nap midday if necessary.

Yesterday evening was the first time I went swimming with swim group and coach since my race in the beginning of May. Starting June 1st I was no longer allowed to swim at my normal college pool because I am not taking any summer course. So I only have been swimming once every 1 or 2 weeks in the lake. My longest swim was 1 mile and the rest were half a mile or less. Swimming in the lake has helped my spotting but I am back to bouncing off the lane line when splitting lanes in the pool. Luckily this weeks altercation witht he lane lines didn't draw blood.  Horray improvement!!

Next post will involve a recap of this weekend's Red Dress Run!

Run, Drink, and Be Happy!!

Yesterday was the Inaugural Run of the New Orleans Happy’s Running Club.  There will be a 5k fun run every Wednesday evening starting and ending at Happy’s Irish Pub. There was a pretty decent turnout for the inaugural run. The Baton Rouge Happy’s Running Club came down en masse to support the opening of a new chapter.

This week’s course ran through the French Quarter. It took us down Bourbon Street where we were amused by the very original heckling of drunk people stumbling between bars. J I heard all the typical comments of “run, forest, run” and “what are you running from?”.

The run ended at Happy’s Irish Pub where all members of the running club received 2-for-1 drafts. The running group took over a second floor party room but I spent most of my time enjoying the unseasonably cool weather on the outdoor balcony. With Happy’s being less than 4 blocks from my office, this will be a very convenient evening run for me once school starts up again! 

Hello Camera!

This blog will hopefully be getting a bit more colorful! When I got home yesterday my new camera battery and charger was waiting for me in my mailbox. This was two days too late to bring it with me for the weekend but it brightened up my Monday.

River Cities Weekend

I am finally recovering from a busy weekend with friends. The weekend started with me waking up at 4am for what was supposed to be an 8 mile run.  It was cut a little short due to a lightning but I was happy that the first 6 miles were done at low 10 minute pace.  That is a lot slower than what I am used to but better than my heart rate runs have been so far.

The rest of the weekend was devoted to supporting friends in the River Cities Triathlon in Bossier City, Louisiana. The race is known for the amazing swag bag and hotter than hell temperatures.  It lived up to its reputation in both categories. The race bag included a nice looking duffel bag, technical T-shirt, cotton T-shirt, sports socks, flip-flops, sunglass and all the usual Gu and recovery drink samples.

It was a typical race weekend for us. After driving 4+ hours to get to Shreveport we decided we were too close to Texas not to drive over and pick up some New Belgium Brewery beer. Saturday night we piled five people, three bicycles and a dog into one hotel room.

Race morning started hot despite the overcast skies. That race really needs to start at 7 instead of 8. One unique aspect of this race is that each swim wave is started with the firing of a cannon. The swim was a ½ mile rectangle in a hot tub temperature lake.

The biggest complaint I heard from race participants involved the distance participants had to run out of transition with their bikes before getting to the mount line. The bike course was a hilly 18 mile loop, 90% of it on smoothly paved roads. I spent a lot of time spectating at the mount/dismount line. I have never seen a running bike collision but there were some very close calls when faster athletes were trying to run passed walkers during the long transition zone mentioned earlier.

Once the athletes made it thru transition off they went on the run course which was mostly difficult due to heat. The run course was a shady loop thru the park but the complete lack of air movement was brutal. Many people commented that they had never seen that many people walking during a 5k triathlon run.

Overall it was a really enjoyable weekend and completely worth my slow start Monday morning. Next year I hope to be participating, because spectating is way too stressful. I have marked my calendar and will be ready to sign up the minute registration opens.

Free Summer Races

Last night was the last Summer Series Race of 2012. Every summer the New Orleans Track Club puts on a series of 2-mile races Wednesday nights. These races are free for NOTC members and $5 for everyone else. The race isn’t chip timed or recorded but there is an official clock at the start/finish line and it is a good place to first experience the race atmosphere. 

These cheap/free races are perfect for showing new runners that races are fun for all skill levels.  They help eliminate one of the typical excuses I hear from people about not racing. “I don't want to pay for a race to race when I might not like it.” 

I had a pretty slow run due to the track workout Tuesday night and biking less than a hour before the race. Even so, I still had lots of fun at the after party. Only in New Orleans can you get hamburgers, chips, salsa, beer and margaritas after a free 2-mile race.