After last weeks flats I brought my bike down to Gear West to have it checked out. They had pointed out that there is a strip inside the wheels and the back one had slipped which was causing my tubes to pop-they fixed my wheels and told me I shouldn't have anymore issues with it. I also purchased my wheel bag for the trip.

On Monday, I took my bike out for a 20 mile ride and guess what NO ISSUES!!!! My legs were a little sore and stiff from racing on Sunday. I then did a short run with run club-3.71 miles. Man it was hot!

Tuesday, I did a 2800 yard swim. The swim went well and it gave my legs a break.
I was tired after the lack the of sleep due to being mandated at work again.

Wednesday,
Today, I started my workouts with a 21.12 mile ride to Elm Creek Park Reserve. Since my training has been started I have developed a liking for being out on the bike-even more surprising, I have really began to enjoy biking hilly routes. Later I will be meeting with run club to do a run.

A 3 tube day and a week full of goodies or baddies

This week was a whirlwind of ups and downs!

Wednesday, was a much welcome day of rest! Although I don't know how much I got driving (riding) to and back from Mankato. Of course nothing can be easy right! Wednesday morning I had a staff meeting that I needed to attended prior going to Mankato. After getting into my car and start to back out I noticed my tire light on-yep a flat tire! I headed over to Holiday filled up the tire and made my way to my parents house so my mom (who just stepped out of the shower) could drive me into my staff meeting-she was heading to Gillette anyway to volunteer. Arriving to my staff meeting about 30 minutes late my manager gave a nasty look-I though your lucky I made it here lady! My mom then dropped me off at classmates house and she ended up driving to Mankato. I ended up having to replace all four wheels on my car, because they were in such bad shape-great to know since I just paid for a tire rotation a couple days prior!

Anyway back to tri stuff...

Thursday, I had a fabulous swim! I did a total of 3700 exceeding my goal for the day by 1500 yards. I felt great in the water! This was a nice confidence booster as I was starting to feel anxious about the swim portion.

That same day I received my Louisville Ironman Athlete Guide by email. I downloaded it and printed it ASAP! As I was reading through the guide-I had a panic attack! I was like am I ready? Wonder if I'm not doing something right. AAAAGGGGHHHHH! I quickly called Gear West and questions were pouring out of my mouth and I think Hannah thought I was crazy. She calmly answered all my questions and told me to call back if I thought of anymore-they are so nice!

Friday:
After a long night at work just what I got mandated to stay for the second time! I was not very happy, especially knowing that I was to 6:30 hours of training that day. By the time I got out of work it was too late! I couldn't do my century and storms started to pop up leaving me only a couple of hours of good sunlight. I ended up doing my scheduled Saturday workout which was a bike-I did 24 miles. I rode to the Coon Rapids Dam and through the regional trail. I did practice some bike handling skills on the twists and turns of the trail.

Saturday:
I got up early to lead run club. I did only 3 miles at an easy pace as I knew that I had to get my century ride in that I missed the day before. After getting home from run club, I went out to get on my bike-my goal was to be out on the bike by 8:00-but guess what my bike had a flat tire! I changed the tubed got it all aired up and headed out. I was on my bike by 8:23-I'm getting pretty good at changing bike tubes! I get about 50 miles out and realize guess what I have another flat tire! I changed the tire and the tire again flatted immediately! So I took the tube out and felt around inside the wheel-I didn't feel anything sharp, so I changed the tube again and made a phone call to Liz to come pick me up as the air was being lost in the third tube as well-that ended my day of training and century ride-again sending me into a panic because the race is only 4 weeks away!

Today:

A race report.....
Today I race Chisago Lakes 1/2 Ironman Relay-I did the run portion.
What a great day! Early prior to the start of the race I got in and swam the swim course. I ended up doing about 1350 or .8 of a mile in the water. I felt great in the water! The race started and Jen did fabulous on the swim portion (34:34)! Then Cindy was a fast cat on the bike portion (2:41) and I did the run portion (1:49.55) just barely over my PR! The run was a little hard after waiting for almost 4 hours. My legs were tight and feeling like tree trunks, but I would look down at my Garmin and see that I was doing a respectable pace. My legs loosened up about 3.5 miles into the run, but it was really starting to heat up. The route had very little shade and was a rolling course. I started on my way back after the turn around and I came upon the guy who did my bike fit at Gear West-I think that I annoyed him! We were running the same pace and the course was really narrow not allowing for passing and I didn't have the extra mojo pass anyway! I ended up passing him with about four miles left. I talked to him afterwards-he was really nice about it-I apologized for being a annoying runner!

Overall the race went really well! The field was really competitive! We placed 4th in the 1/2 ironman relay-missing a trophy by one spot! Our overall time was a 5:07.

Sunday, I got back on the bike to do a 17.2 mile ride through Sunday. I was really tired after the century ride and then a busy weekend at work. I was mandated to work overtime-I did a 15 hour shift. The workout was done on very little sleep.

Monday, I was to do a 3600 yard swim-I ended up only doing 1900 yards. The workout was really hard after the many hours of work and lack of sleep.

Tuesday, was a welcomed day break from work! I only wish that it was longer than one day. Tuesday, I did a 24 mile bike ride and then a 4 mile run with Shadow. It was a great day, but a little warm.

Today, I headed to Mankato for my last class period of my summer class-I only need to start and turn in my final paper for the class. Today was a rest day-normally I don't take a day of rest, however with the travelling and the busy work week a rest day was really nice.

I did it!

I conquered my first century ride! Friday, I started my adventure in Roseville from the Community Center. I got on my bike after filling my multiple water bottles and stocking my bento box. I got on my bike and headed down the road-getting about 1.5 miles down the road to realize that I wasn't wearing my bike helmet (I think that I was still asleep-it was early). I turned around got my helmet and started on my journey again. As I made my way through Roseville and then into the Como area before entering the Gateway trail, I experienced yet another small bike mishap. I was at an intersection waiting for a van filled with people to pass through when I lost my balance and tipped over-I skinned my left knee and elbow. I got up inspected my bike to make sure I didn't scratch it I got back on my bike and headed on my way.

I got on the Gateway trail and headed into Stillwater when the hill workout began! The middle part of the ride was really hilly. I rode North fighting against a head wind as I passed through Marine on St. Croix and then Scandia before turning South for a period of time. I then headed west to Forest Lake and then to Columbus. The route had flattened out after hitting Forest Lake but the wind had picked up a bit.

Finally after passing through Columbus, I was heading back to Roseville. On the way back to Roseville I passed through Lino Lake, Circle Pines, Shoreview, and Arden Hills.

Overall the ride went pretty well for being my first full century ride-I ended up doing 101 miles. Weather was HUMID and hot (probably pretty comparable to Kentucky).

Following the century ride, I head out for a three mile run. The run wasn't too bad-A nice surprise! Shadow had joined me on the run and kept pace at about 8:30 per mile.


Today, I got my car all geared up for the trip with a oil change, tire rotation, and new filters. I headed out for a 5.2 mile run after the storms that passed through. The temperature was about 70 degrees but really humid.

Full speed ahead

The race is getting closer and I continue to build on my training hours per week. This week I have the goal of 14:30 hours of training. Monday following my swim workout of 3250 yards, I got a 1.5 hour massage. This wasn't a relaxing massage as Tracy got a workout breaking up all my knots and loosing up my tight muscles. Back to my workout on Monday, my swim was hard! My body was tired and sore from my busy weekend.

Tuesday, I got back out on my bike and did a 20 mile ride. My muscles were tight and sore still-maybe from the intense massage or the lack of sleep. The weather was hot-driving home from my bike ride the DJ on the radio stated the temp was 95 degrees! I just hope that this training on the lack of sleep due to my work schedule and hot afternoon workouts gives me the extra edge in Kentucky on race day.

I had to adjust my workouts for the week due to the possibly of being mandated for overtime over the upcoming weekend-I hate mandated overtime!

I ended up doing my long run yesterday along with the scheduled swim workout. My swim workout consisted of 2350 yards that went pretty well. The workout consisted of some speed work-not my fortae. I then went out for a long run. I had the goal of 14 miles, but the heat was unbearable! I ended up only getting in 10.25 miles.

I swear the weather never works out the way you want it to!
I was going to do my second century ride today, but currently I'm sitting on my couch watching it pour outside. The ride isn't going to happen today. Again, there will be an adjustment to this weeks schedule, leading me back to the Lifetime Fitness pool to do Friday's swim and hopefully my century ride/brick workout will be done tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Lately, I have been in contact with couple other people that will be doing Ironman Louisville for the first time as well. We have been discussing the feelings of being unprepared-Questioning am I doing enough or should I be doing something different. I'm glad that I'm not the only person with these concerns! I met with my parents last night to work out the details of the trip-confirming hotel reservations, mapping the route, packing for the trip, the dogs, schedule of events, etc. I just booked a massage for Sept. 1st through my hotel-which will hopefully loosen up my body enough so that I can move.

My feelings of nervousness have definitely increased as race day is approaching (constant butterflies whenever I think about the day)-my coach has assured me that I will be fine and that I will finish.

First Century Ride

Today, I was going to do my first century ride. I met up with a small group-one gal that is doing Louisville for the first time as well. The ride was really hard with the gusts of wind I'm guessing somewhere around 40 mph. We rode to Cannon Falls to ride the Cannon Valley Trail, which was closed when we got down there. We went around the closed sign and rode the trail-dodging down trees and a lot of debris from the tornado touchdown the other day; we made it seven miles down the trail before we could go any further. I think it was a blessing in disguise as the ride back was horrendous! We ended up getting in a about 77 miles which felt like a 125 miles! I'm glad to have done the ride as it was a good confidence booster.

Race Report-Lifetime Fitness Triathlon

Wednesday, I have finished up my workouts for the day with a 4.31 mile run at the Coon Rapids Dam. The run went well and the weather was gorgeous!

I missed my workouts on Thursday and Friday-Not enough time in the day.

Now for the race report...
My day started out early with a 3:00 am wake up. I quickly got ready before Jen met me at my house at 3:45 am. We headed down to Lake Nokomis, which was an experience in its self with all the road construction going on right now. After getting checked and body marked, I headed to the transition area where I got my bike racked and my supplies arranged in a strategic way. Then came the waiting....the transition area closed at 6:25 am and I wasn't to start until 9:20-the last wave, #49. I watched Jen race the swim portion of her relay teams triathlon.

As I waited for my start to take which was delayed by 20 minutes, I ran into my mom as she searched for me through the crowd of people. The start was a time trial start, I was the second person in my group to start. For the swim portion, I tried out my new speedsuit (a suit made out of compressed neoprene made for non-wetsuit legal races). The suit was great-it offer a small amount of buoyancy, much less restrictive than my wetsuit, and I didn't overheat in the murky bathwater of Lake Nokomis. It was difficult to site the swim as the water was extremely choppy and the group prior mine was wearing orange caps which matched the buoys. Being the last group of athletes to go out was another challenge as I had to battle the people that were struggling through the swim by doing elementary backstroke or breastroke-I ended up swimming over the top of two swimmers. I finished 8th in the swim portion-I was kind of disappointed in my swim. Swim time: 12.18-1:54/100 m

The next portion of the triathlon was the bike. The bike portion was mostly flat but had a lot of turns. I need to work on my bike handling skills as the turns were tough and I couldn't keep a consistent speed. I ended up finishing 3rd in my age group-quite surprising for not being a cyclist. Bike time: 46:23.3-average pace 19.4 mph.

Last was the run portion. I started feeling pretty strong. My legs started to cramp a bit about a mile into the run but loosened up as the run continued. I finished the run portion 10th in my age group. Run time: 24.53.3-8:18 pace.

My overall time was 1:28.45 finishing 6th in my age group and being the 23rd women; dropping almost 20 minutes from the last time I did Lifetime triathlon.

Another mishap.....
Tuesdays workout was to bike 1:15 minutes and then do a 3000 yard swim. I rode at the Coon Rapids Dam and Elm Creek Park Reserve getting in a total of 19 miles-I thought that was pretty good with the extreme wind conditions again! During my ride I did have a small mishap again! I swear biking is not my thing. While at Elm Creek I stopped to check the map to see where I was at and where I needed to go-my right cleat slipped and there was no stopping with my left foot still clipped into the pedal down I went. I got up and checked my bike to make sure I didn't scatch it and then check out the road rash down my left leg and my instintly bruised hand/wrist. I brushed myself off and then rode back to the Dam. I didn't get my swim workout in that night.

Today, I did my swim workout and felt great! Total was 3000 yards. My hand/wrist is still bruised and a little puffy and my leg is scraped up-but I look athletic! I will be running tonight with run club.

I had been watching the olympic swimming trials over the last couple of days, which brought back the memories of when I competed in swimming. During my swimming workout on Sunday, I kept thinking about the effiecency and smoothness of the strokes by the swimmers competing in the trials. My workout consisted of a total of 2000 yards.

Monday, I did a 6.4 mile run with run club-Man it was sticky! This a good training weather it will probably be hot and humid in Kentucky for the Ironman.

Getting back on the horse....

....or the bike. I got back on my bike today for 15 mile ride following the Lifetime Fitness Tri route. The ride went pretty well with little mishaps (the only one being my spare tube and tools flew off my bike -nothing too big). The way out was nice as I had the strong wind with me-meaning that the way back there was a strong head wind. I finish my workout with a run around lake Nokomis totalling 2.7 miles.

Safe in the water

After yesterday's disaster, I went and bought six new spare tubes and CO2 cartriges.

Today's workout consisted of a 3000 yard swim. The swim went well even though it was like swimming in bath water. It was great to know that I didn't have to worry about equipment malfunctions!

Always an Adventure

I"ll start my blog today with yesterday's workout. I met with run club and had a great run totalling 3.78 miles.

Now to the real story.....
Today's workout was to bike 3 hours and then do a quick 30 minute run-A brick. I had the goal of 60 miles and then follow up with a run with Shadow.

I started my ride from my house and got north of 109th on Radisson Road when I got a flat tire-not a slow leak! I had ran over a nail and it tore multiple holes in my tire-AAHHHH! I got my flat chanaged and then lost the spring that sits on the side of the hub of the back wheel. I put the wheel back on without the spring and headed home.

I went to County cycle to buy a new tire, tube, CO2 cartridge, and spring ($82 including the 15% discount).

At about 4:30 pm, after I put on the new tire, tube, and spring, I headed out on my adventure again. As I past through my first intersection (HWY 65) my GPS popped off my bike and almost got ran over by a car-not a good second start! I ran back got my GPS, put it back on and then I was on my way. I watched the road extremely close as I didn't want to get another flat. I was enjoying my ride making my way through Blaine, then Ham Lake, then another small town, East Bethel, then ventured into Wyoming........starting to make my way back, I got another flat!!!!!! 37 miles away from home in the middle of nowhere!!!! I get my back wheel off my bike and the tube changed for the second time today. A biker came by to stop and help-A nice guy that worked at the U, who did research on soybeans and wheat and other edible plants-we had long time to talk as the second tube blew up as it was filled-AAAAGGGGHHHH!!!!! I no longer have anymore CO2 cartriges, so the man gave me one to use with my extra extra spare. I get the tube in place and go to fill the tube and it doesn't fill-there was a hole in my extra spare and it used the whole cartitrige of CO2. The guy gave me his spare tube and then to realize that we don't have any CO2 left-AAAGGGHHHH! So, I call Corrine-thinking that maybe she would be around to pick me up-she was at the Taste of MN attending a concert. I called Maureen and she was out on a run but said she would be on her way. Now that I had a ride coming the guy that was helping me told me he had to go but to call him if my ride didn't come and off he went. Shortly after the man left a guy in a red sportscar (a little sketchy looking) pulled up, but before he could say anything the Anoka County Sheriff showed up-Thank GOD!!!!! The cops put my bike in the back of their truck and drove me to the nearest gas station (2 miles away). The cops were wondering why I was out in the middle nowhere bike-they couldn't gauge the fact that I biked from my home in Blaine.

I waited at the Shell station in Wyoming until Maureen and Kevin showed up to bring me home-my heroes, lifesavers, guardian angels!!!!!

Maureen took a great picture at the gas station for me to post, but it didn't save-I guess it just goes along with everything else today!

I ended up getting in a total of 37 miles on the bike and zero minutes running.

After recovering from laughing at myself about my TT experience, I finally made it in the pool for a Friday swim workout. I did a short 2000 yard swim with a mixture of strokes (I don't think that I have done a set of IM's since high school, but it was a nice change).

Saturday, I met up with a couple of my run club friends for a 5.6 mile run and then came home got Shadow to finish my long run for the day. I ended up doing a total of 9 miles. Shadow was naughty during the run-I'm lucky that I don't have skinned knees or a broken neck!

Sunday- OMG-it was windy!!!! I met Jen to do a couple of laps of the Minneman bike course. The first loop was against the wind for the majority of the ride-I then told Jen that we should ride loop backwards the second time which was much better. I then headed home for a short break and rode the LIfetime fitness route to make a grand total of 39 miles ridden for the day. I skipped my swim and went up North to the cabin for the night.

Monday, after a competitive game of ring toss with dad, I headed home to do my swim workout that I missed on Sunday. I only got in a total of 1500 yards-I felt really heavy in the water. I followed up my workouts for the day with a 5.2 mile run with run club.

Today, I did a 2250 yard swim with a speed focus (not really sure that I was speedy but more like a snowplow). I will finish my workouts today with a 45 minute hard bike.

Off to go riding!