Athlete Tracker

is the best! I have been watching CurlySu's progress most of the day...she is at about 14 hours, and has a little more the 6 miles to go, I think...the IM France tracker seems a bit off and everything is in kilometers. But it looks like she is doing fabulous. I can see that I will be doing a lot of athlete tracking on all you IMers out there - it's so fun! I just can't imagine the hell you all go through. I mean I have been watching Su most of the day, and I am floored when I think that she and others have been going for like 15, 16, 17 hours!! Unbelieveable. I think I'll stick to sprints and olympics.

The half was this morning. Don't worry, my speed workouts have done nothing for my endurance, apparently. The results aren't up yet, but my watch says 2:18. I felt tired, and my legs were hurting, especially my left hamstring. Then, this afternoon, I walked another 5 miles with a good friend of mine who is trying to lose some weight after just having a baby. She is doing so great at losing the weight, and is so excited to be walking, so I didn't complain that I was hurting, even though the last thing I wanted to do was go walking. But I can complain to you guys! ;)

Anyway, if you haven't already, check out Su's progress here, and if that site is slow, Liz has her own athlete tracking going on.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, folks, and have a great week!

_________

P.S. It is 4:35 EST, and I just checked the IM France site again - looks like Su is done - 5:18 marathon! Woot Woot! Congrats, Su a.k.a. IRONWOMAN!

Addicted to Speed

While I definitely wouldn't call myself speedy, and I really don't enjoy track workouts, I did another one this evening after my swim. After about a week, I got back in the pool this evening for 2000 yards done in 32 minutes. This is good, as I am shooting for less than 30 minutes in the 1.5 K in my first olympic tri this July. I know 1.5 K will be totally different out in the lake than in the pool -- what will I do without my trusty black line?? -- but hopefully I can keep it under 30 minutes. I will need to make up time, because I know my bike will be sinfully slow.

Anyway, back to the track workout. Still not doing much speed mileage, but to me, getting my heart rate racing and blood pounding in my head has to be good for me. I did a mile warm-up and then was schedule to do 4 x 800. What I actually did was 2 x 800 and 1 x 400.
800: 3:26
800: 3:39
400: 1:50
Not so fast compared to a lot of you speed demons, but I am hoping to make this a regular part of my workouts. Tomorrow is an easy swim, and then Sunday the half. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Oh, and while I am on the subject of my olympic tri coming up in a few weeks, I have a question for you more experienced tri-ers out there. I don't have a wet suit, and never used one in the sprints I have done. I wasn't planning on using one for the olympic tri, but is that a mistake? Do you all think I should, or will the difference be negligible? Any thoughts would be appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Speed Kills

I haven't forgotten my pledge about improving my fitness this year. It seems strange to say it this way, but now that the marathon is over, I feel like I can concentrate more on getting into better shape! To that end, I have started working on incorporating speed work into my regular running routine. Since the beginning of the month, I have done three speed workouts, focusing mostly on 300 meter sprints and mile and a half sprints. I am also working on my strength routines, doing push-ups and sit-ups. The speed work is really killer, and I haven't really noticed a difference yet, but everyone says it will work wonders. Here are my speed workouts for the month, so far. And remember, I am incorporating it slowly into my routine, so it may not seem like much, but I can sure feel it.
June 11:
300 m - 63 seconds
1.5 mile - 12:33 (1:52, 2:02, 2:10, 2:17, 2:11, 1:59)

June 14:
1 mile - 9:08
300 m - 65 seconds
300 m - 67 seconds
1.5 mile - 12:34 (1:53, 2:00, 2:11, 2:11, 2:13, 2:02)

June 20:
300 m - 65 seconds
300 m - 68 seconds
1.5 mile - 11:55 (1:47, 1:54, 2:00, 3:59 (for 2 laps), 2:15)
800 m - 3:47

The 300 meter sprints are really killing me. I pretty much just slog through them, and want to die at the end. I don't know why they hurt so much! The 1.5 mile isn't much better, but at least I feel like I can better spread my pain out over the splits. I want to start working more 800s and 100s into my workouts, too, but I think I am off to a good start. I have a half marathon this weekend, and that will help boost my monthly mileage, which has been low overall this month.

My swimming has been suffering this month. I haven't really been in the pool much, and that needs to get better, as does my biking. My first tri is fast approaching! Yikes!

Anyway, I hope that everyone's week is progressing smoothly. Have a great rest of the week!

Picture Time

Deer eating dinner in Cleveland Metroparks.


Sophie loves to run.


Sophie losing her winter coat. Yes, there are hairballs the size of tumbleweeds under my bed. I should invest in the Swiffer company.

Sophie and her boyfriend, Kip. Aren't they a cute couple?

The Week In Review

Where is the time flying to? I find that now that the weather is so nice, it is harder to stay inside and keep up with my blogging. Instead of posting this week, I have been catching up on my reading and commenting. Congrats to all the racers from last weekend - great job!!

6/5: 2000 yard recovery swim
6/6: 5 mile run
6/7: 3 mile run in the park. I got some great pics of some deer eating dinner right off the running path. I'll post them as soon as I load them into the computer.
6/8: Unintentional day off. I just felt so tired after work, I had to crash.
6/9: 5 mile run
6/10: 1 hour yoga class (namaste), 3000 yard swim. here's how the swim looked:
5 x 300: 4:21, 4:36, 4:35, 4:35, 4:39
3 x 500 (SKIPS): 30:38.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Rocky River 5 Miler

I got up early this morning to run the Rocky River 5 Miler. It's a small local race I do every year. My goal every year is to come in under 40 minutes. It hasn't happened yet. Although I did get second in my age group this year. Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 7:44
Mile 2: 8:24
Mile 3: 9:12
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 8:40
Finish Time: 42:58, 8:36 min/mile pace

A Shout Out To All San Diego Runners

Jeanne over at Not Born To Run has a list of RBF peeps running the San Diego Marathon, so check it out, and wish our wonderful bloggers good luck.


This is an Australian Nike ad from last year:


"Running isn’t about fashion or appearances. You don’t give a toss how you look when you run. You just want to push your body to the limits, to hear your heart pounding and lungs heaving out of your chest. You want to be at your leg-pumping, sweat-pouring, mouth-gaping, tongue-lolling, vein-popping best. Always. And if that makes you look ugly to some people, then so be it.
Running isn’t pretty.

RUN YOURSELF UGLY."

Best of luck to all racers this weekend, and remember, "pain is weakness leaving the body."