Long off-season

Wow, it has been a LLOOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG Off-season.

I have fought my way through a sinus infection since February. 4 rounds of antibiotics, one round of steroids and if that hadn't worked, it may have meant sinus surgery again. Fortunately, no surgery after the 4th antibiotic and steroids, it resolved. My training has been limited to essentially the month of May.

By the end of the week, I will cross the 100 mile mark for this cycling season. I got 16 miles in tonight. It was a hellishly hilly ride. OMG, I still averaged 12.8 mph. I am looking forward to a hell of a triathlon this weekend and I know it will be a day to HTFU and keep moving.

Goals are a max 5 min swim, 40 minute bike and 50 minute 5k. I have not done much in the way of running or swimming so I have to do what I can and live with what I get.

Streak over

I made it to 10 days on the streak, but following the weekend in Savannah, I really had a hard timr recovering. I had to take a couple of days off to get the mind and body right. Today was a 10 mile bike ride, against the wind. Winds are 16-21 mph with gusts even harder.

We had a great ride, despite the wind and I was even growling at the wind. The last time I faced headwinds that were similar were during my first MS150. Hurricane Ophelia was inbound at New Bern and we had 18-25 mph winds with gusts up to 40mph. Yikes. I went 45 miles that dad and had to quit due to cramps in my legs. I felt horrible that I quit when so many others couldn't even ride or walk due to their MS.

This year I am doing two MS events. Walk MS and MS Bike in September. I ride and walk for my mom and have ridden for her since 2005. This year she is walking in the MS walk with my friends team. Team Endure. My friend Jen started the team 5 yrs ago and this is my first year and mom's first year walking with Endure.

If you would like to be my valentine and support me for the walk, please do. Visit my walk page and donate. Even if it is only a couple of dollars, every little bit helps.

http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/KPrater

Movin' right along

I figured my favorite muppet song as a kid was appropriate for today's title.

I am now 4/4 on my streak and 2/2 for february.

Today, I just didn't have it for a bike ride. So, rather than push my legs harder and burn myself out early, I decided to go for a little yoga. My legs now feel like a limp noodle or stringy stretched out rubber bands. I am now remembering the feeling I had early in my training last season... after a two hour training session, I saw the yoga class forming and decided to give it a go. Normally after that long and hard of a workout, I would have been sore for days. I got up the next morning and moved along just fine. No soreness or stiffness. I enjoyed that feeling and the exhilaration of the post-yoga workout.. stretch. I am not one to stretch, but I like this. The other thing I noticed tonight was the burn in between my shoulder blades. That is where my pt was getting me to work to help with my neck. Maybe I should do the yoga more often. What do you think??

Let me know.

Here we go again

It is amazing how short your off-season is, when you decide to do an Olympic distance triathlon. I have decided to step it up this year and do One Olympic distance and two sprints. All of them benefit a charity of some sort...but the only one I know for sure is the smile train. A friend of mine runs the one here and I wanted to do it this year...but the neck and time precluded me from doing it. I am also doing the Ramblin' Rose again...Which benefits Girls On The Run. Neat charity...google it and check them out.

So....any suggestions in the southeast for a decent, but not killer Oly. I am considering the Nautica in Miami as I have a friend who lives down there and I could combine the trip.

Kara

Ramblin' Rose Chapel Hill Race Report

So, my morning started this morning at 5:45am when the alarm went off. I have a penchant for hitting it and rolling over. Not this morning. I had a triathlon to race. My last of the season, unless I do an indoor one at the gym or something. I'll be keeping my eye out.

I arrived at the race site at around 6:45 this morning ate my breakfast of oatmeal and coke in the van. I don't do coffee for the fact that it sets my intestines in high gear and that is the last thing I need during a race. I got my transition area set around 7:40 and then roamed around until my start time. I had about an hour to kill from the start, my start time was 9:09:10 and I was amazingly relaxed this time. My first tri I was so nervous I was watching everything, taking it all in and getting so overloaded that I had an asthma attack in the pool. It didn't help that the water temp was like 64 degrees. (Freakin' cold as hell.)

Anyway, so I started out at 9:09:10 and without gassing myself, I actually passed someone in the pool. WOOHOO!! I was loving the all women's environment. No men running me over in the pool, grabbing my ankles because they seeded themselves to slowly, or myself too fast. I was actually seeded perfectly. I will have to remember that. The woman in front of me was breaststroking the pool and I caught her on the second 25 and she looked at me and kept going, so on the third 25, I started tapping her foot for the pass and she let me pass at the end of the lane. From that point on, I was good until the end and then passed another woman in transition.

So, heading out on the road, I always have to remember to keep my breathing under control. Chapel Hill is called Chapel HILL for a reason. It is very hilly, mostly rolling, but some long slow hills also. In the first 1/4 mile, is the first hill, that sucked, but you have to go somewhere. As many of my cycling friends know, I am great on downhills, I hit my big gears and just rock. It can be a very slight downhill, but I know how to make time on them and make up for my uphill times. I HATE HILLS, I am getting better at climbing, but had I been training for more than 3 weeks, I would have been in better position. If I can do that with little to no training and just maintaining my base fitness, holy crap, look out for me with a full off-season of training. I will be faster next year. So I made it to dismount and almost fell over because I hammered the bike. I was actually cramping up my calves on the bike...not good. As I am headed into transition I hear "Go Oddball!!!" Some friends I know from when I volunteered for a pro soccer team in the area. That was my mascot assistant nickname. Then I hear Bryan, my sister's brother-in-law, yelling at me to go and way to go. My bike split was AWESOME!!!! 9 miles in 44:11...YEAH!!! Into transition and then off on the run. I had to put my socks on because I had cycled without them.

Jacket off, socks and running shoes on and race number on, (I almost forgot my race number and had to turn around and get it.) I headed out on the run/walk and had to start slowly because of my legs. I was jogging when I could and walking when I had to. On my way back from the turnaround to the finish there was a crosswalk that was on a speedtable (speedhump) and as I crossed it, I tripped, fell flat on my face rolled over, got up and kept right on going. I was not stopping at that point. I get up just across from the finish line and one of the people I talked into racing with me, jumped out on the path with me and started jogging, so of course I had to jog too. Thanks LP. I ended up beating her time by 25 seconds. Had she let me walk, she would have placed ahead of me. Total time for my tri was 1:27:06

With everything I have been through this summer with my neck and 3 months of no training, I am quite happy with how I finished. 11/17 in the Athena class.

I will post pictures once I receive them from Uncle B. Enjoy the post. I enjoyed reliving it again.

Back from Vacation

Okay, sorry for the long layoff, if I actually have any readers. Hubby and I headed to Ohio with ML for a week long vacation. We hadn't spent a week with his parents in Ohio since 2002. We make frequent trips up and back, but, we haven't spent a week in 6 years. I was able to get in a couple of training sessions on the bike on the trainer while we were there.

I got in a total of 55 minutes on the trainer in two sessions. Considering we had plans on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday I was still able to get some seat time in. I actually got some interval training in. Friday night was 25 minutes of interval training on the trainer, then tuesday was 30 minutes on the trainer for more intervals. I think I scared the MIL when I came back in on tuesday. I did the training mid-day in Ohio with some serious humidity and NO FAN!! I was dripping wet and had left a puddle in the garage. My FIL just got the hose out and hosed the sweat off the garage floor.

BTW, We also played 3 games over 4.5 hours for a bit of cross-training. I remembered on Sunday why I liked playing softball. It was a lot of fun and playing with our friends that we miss and don't get to see all that often.

K~

Training and Tour de France

two days worth of training. I wish I could get better about posting and keeping track for you all, but I do the best I can.

Yesterday I did 25 minutes on the bicycle on the trainer. Had to stop sooner due to chain issues. I have been having issues with my chain since I got a tuneup in April before my triathlon. I had to get cables replaced, I guess it has to do with the wear of the new cables and the fact that they stretch. It's still frustrating when you are cruising along and having a great ride and all of a sudden you are dropping gears and not able continue your pace and normal shifts.

Today was pickup soccer for 1:15 hrs. I was worn out and exhausted and then had an eye migraine on top of it, by the time I made it the 3 miles to my parent's house, I had lost probably 1/3 of the vision in my right eye. I hate it when i get them, but I was able to get some excedrin in my system and sleep for an hour to try to knock it out. I woke up and for some reason, still had the aura, I thought I was going to vomit, but fortunately, I did not.

Two training days post

Wednesday was not an official training day, but what I did was to do some bareback horseback riding. It was a smaller horse, but a type of pack horse. So, even though it was a short his, it was a strong horse. Thankfully. Bareback is a wonderful exercise for your inner thighs...LADIES!!! I would love to do it more.

Today (Thursday) was pool day. I got in 700 yards in the pool, mostly freestyle, but I also spent a 100 working on my backstroke and my breaststroke. I probably need to spend more time on my breast stroke seeing as I with my last triathlon I had an asthma attack in the pool. I ended up slowly breast stroking the whole pool. THAT SUCKED!!! Tomorrow I plan to do at least 14 miles on the bike if not more.

K~

Back to Training

Okay, so I have been incredibly lazy.

I have also been sick. So starting tomorrow, I am back on track. The MS150 is coming up in September, my next Tri is in October. I have done some cycling and some jogging, but no swimming in quite a while. I am working my training plan from my favorite site, http://www.beginnertriathlete.com They are amazing. You can build your plan and tweak it from one of their basic plans. I used a basic plan to start for my first tri and now I will build from that to go on for my October Tri with a heavy bike load. I need a heavier bike load with the MS150 a month before. I may be doing a tri the week before as part of a relay. It is a club(gym) challenge. We'll see if I get a team. I want to do the bike, but if I can't get a team, I won't do it. I won't do a full tri, sprint or not, the week before the MS150.

In previous summers I have devoted the whole summer to training for the MS150 and nothing else. This year has been different, I have already done several rides, hosted a ride, done a triathlon, lots of training and lost 26 lbs. I have already had quite a year. I will take a week off to go to Ohio for vacation in July. I won't even take the bicycle as I have in years past, but I will probably jog. Taking 3 pairs of tennis shoes. My running shoes and two pairs to kick around in.

Finish Line...Oh the Humanity

Oh the humanity, I didn't even see the photographer. YUCK!!! At least it's a finish line photo and not a dnf photo, but still. The only one that is worse is my pool exit. I won't be sharing that one. It's already on the triathlon site, but they finally got the pictures up a little more than a month after the Tri. Remind me to find the photog next time I run one.

Todays training

So today was a relatively easy training day. This week was my first week back to training after the triathlon. Earlier this week I hit the pool and had a good pool workout, I rode for 10 miles last night and today was the jog. I am NOT a runner, haven't been since my freshman year in high school. My first knee injury at an indoor track meet. I went one way, my knee went another. I gave up track at that point. I was never going to be a track star. My max distance was 800 meters. Last I heard, I was still 2nd on the record board at my middle school 2 min, 53 sec. 25 hundredths.

Now, I jogged 3/4 mile today and it took me 15 minutes, but I had the dog with me and he pooped and I dropped my iPod twice and had to drop the dog off because he was killing me. He kept wanting to stop and smell the roses, which would jerk me backwards. So, included in that 15 minute time is probably 2-3 minutes of dead time scooping poop and picking up my iPod, putting the dog in the backyard and letting him in the back door.

Now here is the interesting thing. 6 yrs ago, when I thought I was in decent shape, I had a friend in town who stayed here and she wanted to go jog, (pre-kiddo time for me.) I couldn't even do a full lap at a jog. I quit. I watched her and my hubby run it and make several laps, feeling like an abject failure and knowing that I would likely never be able to run again. Today, for me to do 3/4 mile and do if fairly consistently, if not slowly, gave me a sense of accomplishment. I couldn't do that last year, I couldn't do that 6 yrs ago. Now, 5 months into training for sprint triathlons, I CAN!!!!

I am considering doing a triathlon in Wake Forest June 29. I hope to improve on my 2hrs 7 minutes, which shouldn't be hard considering it's shorter in the pool and I know more what to expect. I am doing a 5k on June 7 which I was given a slot through my gym's triathlon club. Not bad. I am becoming quite the multi-sporter.

Here it is.

I had some complaints about me posting about my triathlon training and the actual race on my other blog, so I have created my new blog. I hope to inspire others to get off the couch or transition as I have from a single sport to a multi-sport athlete. I haven't used the term athlete in terms of me in such a long time. I was an athlete in high school and college, even after college, I could still say I was an athlete, I played softball 3-4 days a week, I could run and fitness was not an issue. I was an anaerobic athlete. I was a fast-twitch athlete, every sport I ever played was a fast-twitch sport. Even my swimming was fast-twitch, I was a sprinter.

So, my first triathlon was on May 10. It was a horrible disaster. I had trained the swim for 5 months, hit the water and had an asthma attack. I spent the swim breaststroking, getting passed, but I hung in there...then there is the bike. I went out of my comfort zone and went to the western portion of the state where there are more hills and more severe hills. I tried not to burn myself on the bike, but every time I thought about the time lost in the pool (more than 3 minutes) I caught myself ramping up my cadence. By the time I got off the bike, my hamstrings were screaming. I couldn't have run if I tried. So, I walked a majority of run, I was finally able to jog the final quarter mile. I finished in a jog. I don't think I could have done anymore than that.

When bringing all things into consideration, I really did a great job for my first triathlon. I plan to purchase a wetsuit for the swims, depending on the water temp. I have started jogging more around the neighborhood to try to get better at my jog/run. I think this is something I can do. I used to run, but after 3 knee surgeries, can I still do it. We shall see.