My energy levels have been quite good over the last six weeks, corresponding to the timing of my return to running. The reason this is surprising and notable is that I’ve been sleeping horribly and I’m starting to wonder if this is related to lower body fat, age/gender, or just a phase…a long phase.

Sleep

This sleep issue has been going on for the past two months. I’m asleep by 10:30 (sometimes as early as 9:30), but then every night I wake up 2-3 times, and always around 3:15 am. After that, I drift in and out until 4:30 or 5 when I finally get up.

The dog sleeps just fine…This means I’m getting around 5 hours of decent sleep, which just doesn’t seem like enough….or is it? I feel pretty good during the day and my workouts have been strong. I’ve had a few days where I hit a wall (i.e. kids, feed yourselves..I’m fried!), but otherwise, no complaints.

I’ve tried melatonin, GABA, and arnica, but I wake up at least twice during the night regardless. It doesn’t seem to be stress or busy-brain…neither is it the need to pee! I have NO problem falling asleep, just staying asleep. Maybe this is just the way it is going to be now, and since I feel OK I guess I just won’t worry about it.

Nutrition

I am about at my leanest right now and I am wondering if that is playing a role in my sleep issues. I mentioned in… Read the rest

Coach Jim’s clients span the world but I am fortunate to be among the contingent of local athletes.  A few of us swim together pretty regularly but getting together to bike and run is considerably more difficult with all of our different schedules and demands. One exception is the “annual” May One-on-One Endurance day, complete with the portable transition area!

We were fortunate to have Justin back in town from his second year at George Washington and Jim from Richmond, Virginia who was able to adjust his work travel schedule to be with us! So we had a nice little group from college kids to us master’s folks — but all fairly well-matched on the bike. (Of course, I’ve been logging the miles, while Justin can just pick up a bike after his school year and hang just fine!!)

We started with a group ride and transition to a brick run, then followed that up with the 6 mile, 2400′ climb up to the top of Mountain Lake — 10 MPH up, 30 MPH down!  I had done this ride for the first time in December and made considerable gains, cutting about 8 minutes off the ascent and 1:30 off the descent (about 10k). Edie and I were the first ones down, motivated by our grumbling stomachs and need for food!

It was a great day of catching up and reconnecting!!

Top of Mountain Lake

I’m very excited to finally have picked my racing shoes for 2012: Saucony Kinvara 2s in Citron and Green! The neon green Xtenex laces are on their way, then they will be perfect!

Mom, if you are reading this, yes, you DID raise me to know better. I know, I know, athletic shoes are supposed to be white. One must always be prepared for a spontaneous game of tennis and I love that you still enjoy the game! And that your shoes will match anything you wear!

But you had to know I had that rebel streak in me and better it should come out in running shoes….than say…body piercings, right?

The other shoes in my rotation are the Brooks PureFlow. In Black!!! Mom? Are you still reading?

I run exclusively in lightweight shoes with a minimal heel drop (these are 4mm). Then the color combo has to be just obnoxious enough to make me feel WILD and HAPPY.

Even though the new Kinvara 3 is out, the available color combos just didn’t give me that “thing” I needed. Plus I raced in the Kinvara 2′s last year (pink and black) and they worked great.

Is anybody else this weird about shoes??

Swimming is incredibly maddening sometimes. Arghhhh!  I enjoy it, I really do, but at the same time I can’t believe the mental energy and time that goes into analyzing it, thinking about it, and working on the minutiae. Hand entry, catch, pull, push, recover, roll, breathe, body position, kick…repeat!

It seems just as I chase one bad habit off, two more pop up in its place. It’s a bit like a twisted game of Whack-a-Mole.

If you are like me and you didn’t swim in high school or college (or really ever before triathlon-ing), it seems the best we can hope for is to swim well enough to be able to draft off of those who swam in high school (forget the college ones – they are off on their bikes before we get to the final turn buoy).

We are fortunate to get regular swim video and consultation/analysis with Coach Jim. This latest video showed that I am doing a better job of leaving a goggle in the water when I breathe. However, I’ve developed a lateral “wiggle” as seen from above, my legs could come up, and my elbows have dropped. That means my arms are too straight in the catch and pull and I’m sacrificing the mechanical advantage. The classic analogy is that when you push yourself out of the pool up on to the wall, you do so with bent arms. Straight arms are far weaker.

I’m officially launching “Operation High Elbows” to rid myself of this… Read the rest

I will sometimes get comments about being “an inspiration”  and while I know it’s a compliment, to be honest I have never been comfortable with that. It feels funny given I am just doing what I have been lucky enough to discover and I don’t feel deserving of such credit. It’s not as if I’m doing something heroic or overcoming some great odds.

I didn’t know exactly why I felt so funny about it, since I do hope that the fun and energy that I have discovered through sport and fitness will influence others to seek the same. In that sense I really do want folks to be inspired — in the adjective sense of themselves, not in the noun sense of me!

A recent situation helped me finally get to the root of the issue.

I was waiting on my youngest to finish up at a birthday party and I was chatting with the other moms (and one dad). I had just finished a morning brick workout that included a rough 35 mile bike ride in an unexpected cold heavy rain. I had been under-dressed and miserable. I toughed out the ride and finished up with a great run that all-in-all left me pretty pumped.

Somehow my brick workout just “came up” in the party-waiting conversation. (LOL!) Honestly, it does come up!! Most people who know me go with the “how is training” greeting rather than the standard “how is life/family/weather/etc.”

Anyway, about a week and

… Read the rest

Monday I settled back into training, hitting the gym in the morning and planning for an easy recovery-type ride in the afternoon. Since my next race is not for a month, I thought it would make sense to switch back to my normal wheels on the bike. I’ve watched the bike gurus do it effortlessly, many times. Can’t be too hard right?

Apparently for me, yes….very hard.

With only two arms, no bike stand, no knowledge of the “tricks” like moving the derailleur out, I struggled. My confidence waned and my frustration grew. I was afraid of breaking something.

I searched Youtube, carefully typing out “install rear bike wheel” with my greasy hands and my rising blood pressure. I watched all kinds of people do it fast because they had a bike stand….oh and a CLUE.

I finally conceded, putting the whole mess in my car and hauling it off to East Coasters where Anne and I wrangled it back together. It took a bit of time (likely because I was “helping” haha) and definitely some effort. We had to tweak brakes, the cadence sensor….  Then I took the bike out to discover a clicking sound – the spoke magnet was hitting the frame. Some set screws were fiddled with and all was well. By that time about 90 minutes had elapsed so my hopes for a ride were dashed. I returned home to feed the troops and then finally resorted to the bike trainer… Read the rest

This was a breakthrough race for me, a home run. I hit significant PRs on the bike and run resulting in 1:13:03 race — a 5:33 improvement over last year’s time (2:21 off last year’s run and 4:18 off the bike). That was more than enough for the overall female WIN! My first ever!

Simply said, things came together in a way that exceeded my expectations. I am still shocked by how this race unfolded.

I had the fastest bike split, fastest T1, and second fastest run among the women. Here are my times and rankings compared to the women and the men in the race (Full results here):

• Swim (750m) – 00:15:16 (20/120 among women; 80/215 among men)
• T1 – 00:01:23 (1/120)
• Bike (20k) – 00:34:36 (1/120; 16/215)
• T2 – 00:00:56 (6/120)
• Run (5k)– 00:20:53 (2/120; 19/215)
• Total – 01:13:03 (1/120; 20/215)

Now for the back story, for those who care to continue!

Pre-race

This is essentially our “home town” open water swim triathlon so it’s a really welcoming and supportive atmosphere where I get to catch up with all the local characters. This would include race organizer Mike Morris, who I met at this venue a year ago and who was the guy who talked me into Nationals! I’ll always be grateful to him and for that bit of serendipity.

I also caught up with Betsy Henderson who was the Grand Master champion at Sprint Nationals last year. I first met… Read the rest

I’m about to kick off my third (THIRD!) full season of triathlon in two days when I race at the Appalachian Power Smith Mountain Lake sprint triathlon. It’s been 6-1/2 months since my last triathlon and I feel a bit like the crazed race horse, ready to get into the starting gate and just GO already!!

After almost three years in the sport, my excitement and gratitude for it continues to grow. Part of that has to do with fighting through another pre-season injury and just being glad to be able to enjoy all three sports again. I’ve been running for a month, and this week I noted that my hip and glute were really off my radar, a sure sign that things are normalizing. The picture to the left was after today’s short and quick brick. I was SO happy to be feeling good and strong and ready! I’d found the tri-top stashed in my closet this morning, and put it on for the first time in ages, remembering that I wore it at my first ever race. That got me thinking back, as well as forward, as I head into season three!

This triathlon “thing” started for me in 2009 when I did one “just” to try it out and see if I liked it. I started working with Coach Jim nine weeks before the novice-only race at Lake Norman in North Carolina. I was coming off of an injury (yes, even then) and… Read the rest

Back in January I reviewed the DVD, Mastering the 4th Discipline, Triathlon Transitions. I had it in mind to try to learn the “Running Mount” that is taught in the video in a stepwise fashion. I probably put it off a little long, my first race is next weekend. (Ooops!)

I rewatched the DVD and headed out to give it a whirl, with my son Spencer on hand to capture the process and whatever was in store for me.

This was the first outing for the Endurance Films Racing Team ITU suit from Champion System (see EF apparel store here). It is super comfortable, form fitting/aero, but stretchy and non-constricting. I absolutely love it!

Here’s the video. I start with my normal “step over” mount which is extra rusty and slow since I hadn’t done it since last year and seemed to have no recollection of how to put my foot on the already clipped-in shoe. My dismount is pretty solid and will stay the same. But no one was more surprised than me that I made good progress on the new technique. I confess I skipped the part about doing it with running shoes first.

Things I need to remember: get enough speed, take a deep breath, COMMIT, and GO! Focus on forward momentum first and pedals/shoes only when stable. Seems so simple in theory!

I’m going to continue practicing every day and hope it’s on autopilot by race day.

This is a great DVD and I continue to recommend it highly!!

I’m still riding in the original Bell helmet I bought at Dick’s Sporting Goods about three years ago — just before I got my road bike from Craigslist. The helmet fits great, is very comfy and well vented. With the switch to the Q Roo tri bike last year, I’m clinging to this final artifact that says “recreational rider” and “I’m here to have fun.”  Looks like the going price is about $40.

Ever since Nationals last year, I’ve been intrigued by the supposed benefits of aero helmets. I walked past the old Virginia Tech wind tunnel a thousand times (that sucker was LOUD when it was on) and I can appreciate what the teardrop shape could do. The engineer in me is like heck YEAH aero helmet!

So began the debate – go aero or not?

Don an aero helmet and you might as well put a giant sign on your head that says “I am serious about racing” and paint a target on your back. I am serious, in that I want to do my best, but I have no delusions of racing grandeur either.

A few days ago I was in the local bike shop (the one most aligned with competitive cycling). I stopped in solely to get new tubes with long valve stems (DISlike valve extenders…no way to get an accurate pressure reading) and next thing I know, we are talking aero helmets. The two shop folks are saying of course you are… Read the rest