It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Well, it's only just rounding October, but I just got incredibly excited.

Clif Bar is bringing SPICED PUMPKIN PIE and ICED GINGERBREAD.

Also peppermint stick, but I swear I've seen that before.

yummy in my tummy

I am going to do long workouts year-round just so I have a real excuse to eat these guys. MMmmmmm

They also recently introduced Gary's Panforte?
Idk sounds good.

Insomnia or obsession?

Sometimes... usually... when I can't sleep I look at bikes and drool a little.

Michellie Jones and I share a very special love for pink. Especially black and pink. What impeccable taste.
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/Michellie_Jones_2013_Felt_DA_3087.html
Plus, I've ridden that bike for about 5 miles. The Felt DA rides like honey butter. If honey butter was a bike.

Also, can we please look at the Cannondale women's CAAD10 3?

shiny and sleek. beauty.

I'm also beginning to be really fascinated by Look bikes. They are doing some cool stuff with this integrated stem and seat stay plus the whole custom cut seat post. Just so much. Read more here.

a whole new beast in town

In other news I am getting a very used but FREE fizik arione saddle from someone on the Rocky Mountain Triathlon Club. Hopefully tomorrow. PSYCHED.

What Be Deese Picky Bars?

Just yesterday I was in the car with my friend Kyle, who recently just completed his first marathon, and his girlfriend, Nikkita, being my uber-nerd self, barking about how important race nutrition is.

Personally, I've experienced some of the worst problems due to lapses in nutrition and hydration during races... or even too much nutrition before a workout! I've had stomach cramps during racing like you wouldn't believe and I've felt re-energized in the middle of a ride just from eating a pack of sports beans. I've run around praying for a bathroom or an inconspicuous spot in the trees... and haven't we all?

The other day, I was looking at the labels on Marathon Bars and couldn't believe the amount of fiber in them!! Who wants a ton of fiber? Who wants to feel energized... and full of poop? That's the worst combination unless you've got a bathroom every two miles. I frequently go with Clif Bars as they were a sponsor for my college team. A bit less fiber than the marathon bars and they pack a bit more calories if you're looking to sustain yourself. That being said, they are pretty grainy. Then you've got Luna protein and Builder bars (also by Clif) which melt on the outside and are really more ideal for recovery - definitely don't take them in the heat unless you want a sticky mess. Larabars are delicious but almost impossible to take with you - they mash and squish and break in your back pocket until you unwrap them and find.. mushy mess. Powerbars have a similar problem and man do they taste weird and grainy sometimes.

For during the race, I definitely think simplicity is key, though after a year of strawberry Shot Bloks, it is truly a challenge to chew and swallow them. This year I've been racing a lot with Sports Beans - both caffeinated Cherry and uncaffeinated Berry and I finally got over my fear of gels, and started on peanut butter and chocolate flavored Gu. Personally, I find the peanut butter to taste a tad like sesame seeds, but the chocolate outrage is where it's at! I find Clif Shot gels to be a little grainy tasting and though I'll eat them on rides, I'm definitely a bigger fan of Gu's product. I'm definitely pro-Gatorade, but sometimes I get so much liquid in me that I need something solid not sloshing in my stomach.

This, however, does not make me any guru on sports nutrition options. In fact, compared to the vast field of options, I have made but a small dent in my sampling.

I was reading a fascinating article on Slowtwitch about Skratch Labs and Allen Lim's whole philosophy on the types of nutrition he gives endurance athletes, but just before my half ironman, I wasn't about to go experimenting with new nutrition. Still, I like the idea of eating real, natural food.

That's the other huge thing I've found a lot of new athletes never realize: the benefit of having a solid, repeated nutrition plan that you KNOW will not make you sick. One of my friends once said it best - have something on the bike with you that you look forward to eating! During the half ironman, for me that was chocolate gu. I just watched my friends complete a marathon just eating whatever was offered to them. One tried downing some Honey Stinger waffles and it just wasn't working for him. I'm not saying I empirically know, but I think his inability to have nutrition he liked was a huge factor in making those last 6 or 7 miles pretty treacherous.

Back to Kyle - I was trying to stress how important it is to have a tried and true nutrition plan. He complained about all the options and I told him about my wearing experiences with strawberry shot bloks. Though delicious, I cannot eat another one without feeling a little nauseated. Then I mentioned my teammate Rich, who used to get awful stomach issues after races from his nutrition plans - some people suggest these things come from intolerances to certain kinds of sugar that are in one product but not another. Then there is my friend Zoe, who is allergic to so many things her options are severely limited and she has to get a little creative in her nutrition. Man, are options important.

On that note, I didn't just start this entry to rant on about nutrition, though apparently I had a lot to say as someone who has suffered through some bad times with bad race nutrition. I started out of total excitement for these guys:
http://www.pickybars.com/

Picky Bars has created yet another option... that I'm pretty darn excited about. It looks like it has a little bit of Larabar mixed with the philosophy of Skratch Labs and a whole lot of love for pro-triathlete Jesse Thomas, his dietary restrictions, and sports nutrition in general! Right now, I'm bummed that I'd have to drive all the way to Boulder or ship a bunch to get my hands on these guys, but I'm excited to have a natural, pre-packaged alternative to the daily grind started by some seriously elite athletes.

Recovery and baby steps

This is a quick update.

It's been two difficult easy weeks. Contradiction? Maybe.

One week after the half ironman, I attempted to spend a morning doing a 50-mile ride to Lookout mountain. Yes well, about .7 miles from the top I truly felt what seemed like altitude sickness for the first time out here. At a mere 7k ft I felt dizzy, short of breath and like I might pass out. I was disappointed to have to turn around, but you do what you can.

I opted to take this week easier but started with a beautiful 5.7 mile run finally back at my 9:05 pace. It was so good and rewarding to finally be back. I eased off most of the rest of the week to cap with an 8 miler in the 9:30s with some baby hills that tuckered me out.

Just watched a group of friends do a marathon this weekend and it was truly grueling. Still have no desire to do a marathon. Definitely think I would get to mile 16 and hate that I had 10 to go. So proud of them.

That time I did a Half Ironman

Yesterday was... quite an experience.
I was nervous beyond belief starting the Harvest Moon Long Course triathlon. I don't think I've ever had SUCH a good warm-up beforehand.

I did all my drills, strides and easy jogging, set up a beautiful transition area, got in a short 3 mile bike warm up, then wriggled into my wetsuit JUST in time to get out to the first 150m buoy and back. The water was cold - definitely a wetsuit race, but probably thankfully so. If only the air temp wasn't 60 degrees. During the pre-race "meeting," I chugged my gatorade in preparation.

Somewhere, I am out there.

The first half of the swim felt FAST. I was the first wave to go out, and I hung out with lots of people in my wave. For the first time ever I was actually near feet for the whole swim! Once we turned around there were more people in the water and because it was an out-and-back you could feel the choppiness from the people going in the other direction and the people around you. The nice thing was, on the way out, the sun was in your eyes, so sighting the buoys was sometimes difficult. On the way back, from the second buoy after the turn around, you could sight the finish line. I was feeling pretty great, so I hauled it in, all the while sighting the big red finish arch.

My swim went great. My goal was 45 minutes, and I came through off the transition run at 45:28! That means I kept something like a 2:03-05/100y which I'm really happy with since that is what I have been keeping for olympics. I felt really relaxed and thoroughly enjoyed the swim, wetsuit and all.

Killing it out of the water.

On to the bike I felt good. Despite some nasty hills on the first part of the course, I completed 19 miles in the first hour. When I hit 24.8 (the olympic distance) I was at 77 minutes which would be about 4-7 minutes longer than I'd like during an olympic, but in the middle of the half ironman distance... I was pretty happy with that. At 28 miles, the half way point, I had been biking for 1:27 and felt pretty great. Pretty soon thereafter I was slightly distracted by the small tornado in the middle of someone's farm at mile 29.. about a good quarter mile away from me. Maybe I'm just a naïve girl from Jersey, but I swear... tornado. Then I came around a corner and WHAM headwind into climbs. I hate headwind. Someone once asked me why I hate headwind so much more than hills and the answer is simple: you know when the hill ends. You can see the top of a climb and think "I just have to get to there, and then... what goes up, must come down!" I used every trick in my book - coming up to a wheel and sitting on it for a few seconds before passing within the 15 second allowance, tucking in to be small and aero. I got through it, and still managed a cool 17.2 miles during my second hour, rounding out an 18.1 mph average. Though it wasn't as good as my half-way average, it still wasn't bad.

I made the final turn and things got rough. The last 15 or so miles are pretty much entirely low grade climbs, except for 3 small descents. Around mile 45 I felt my abs starting to cramp like they did the first time I did collegiate nationals. "Oh no.. no, no, no. It's gonna be ok," I thought and started chugging water and gatorade. The cramps got bad. It hurt to pedal and yes, my legs hurt, but mostly the pedaling made my abs cramp more. I had to employ "pedal, pedal, coast" uphill for about 11 miles.

look at all the bikes! 

Into T2 things were bad. I was so happy to get off the bike AND that I had stocked emergency water and gatorade at the back of my transition towel. I chugged some water and, much like nationals 2011, walked out of transition holding my sides. I spent the first 20 minutes of the run traveling .6 miles. 2-3 times I stopped, doubled over, because it was the only thing that made the cramps go away. I knew mile 2 was an aid stop, and if I made it there and simply couldn't go any further, I could get someone to carry me in and DNF. I really REALLY didn't want to DNF. I worked so hard for this to be my season ender. So many weeks of 11-13 hrs of training, just to be carted off because I made some stupid hydration mistake.

But then, I think the extra water I had been working so hard to get in finally hit and the cramps were gone. I started walking at a quick pace and felt ok. I made it to the mile 1 water stop where I met Jen. She was just a touch faster than I am and had the plan to "run 10 min, walk 1 min." I concluded it was destiny. For the first 5 miles, Jen and I ran and walked together. She'd always get a bit ahead and I'd hold on to her in my sight. Every time we ran I was keeping 9:45 pace which is great for me out here because I've been thoroughly struggling with the altitude and hills. After the mile 5 water stop (which was more like 5.3 miles), I lost her because I kept going. We had had a few conversations about racing your own race and both agreed to it.

Hitting the turn around my watch read 6.83 miles and I thought "Oh god, please don't let the run course be long. Please."

Soon enough Jen and I found each other. She was red in the face and looked tired. We took ice at every water stop and stuffed it down our shirts. For the second half I became the motivator saying "let's run to this mileage, tree/sign, water stop, just the down hill." I lost her again around mile 10 when she held up at a water stop and a 60-something year-old man pleaded I "jog him in." I jogged with him for a while but his 12 min/mile pace was more difficult than walking or running - it was more... bouncing. I started walking and wished him luck. Jen found me again just after 11.5 miles. She wasn't too far behind. We continued our walking/talking/running routine and hit 13.1 miles a long way away from the finish line - that was frustrating. As we came to about .2 away from the finish line we agreed to run it in, but her foot cramped and she yelled to me to keep going. I felt pretty good so I did leave her behind to race her own race. The run course ended up being 13.53 miles, which is .43 longer than I've ever run in my life.  Grrr.

In the end, it took entirely too long. Playing with some triathlon calculators, I think I can take an entire hour off my finish time - even a good 40 minutes off that course if you asked me to do it next month. Hydration really killed me and then fear of the cramps returning in the run. I still ended up finishing 3rd in my age group, with the 3rd fastest swim, 2nd fastest bike and 5th fastest run (yeah.. it was a bad run). I got a neat plaque to add to my plaque collection :) The girl who finished 4th just a minute or so behind me was an NU 2010 alumna, which is pretty cool. She ran cross country at NU and now I want to train with her! I also found Jen at the end and we hugged and I was glad to see she was feeling better.

Go 'Cats!

"Um, excuse me, I placed third."

See. Told ya.

Yay! Done! Poppop!