Just an Average SKIRT

Tuesday was a 7 mile run with about half on the track. I knew something was up when I went out for my Z1 warm-up and that mile was about a Z2 time…hmmm, that was faster than normal. Ran up to the track in Z2 quicker than normal as well. Started my set with 100 meter strides then into 3x 1mile in mid-Z4. Since my zones changed in March I haven’t been able to get close to Z4 on the run. Today I did and ended up with the fastest times I’ve ever seen for me - 7:41, 7:44 and 7:48.  Huh, I guess that’s peak for ya.

Wednesday brought me a 5400 yard swim, again felt like I only had one speed and it wasn’t fast.  But I got it all done, never a struggle, just a relaxing long swim.  Should have been a little more effort but man I just feel slow in the pool over the last week or so.  My body is exhausted, that I know for sure.

Today hit the res for the BAM open water swim - excellent decision, felt so good and a little weird to be out of the pool.  Definitely need more time in the wet suit before CDA.  Never fear, stroke n’ strides are here…time to get beat up and survive.  These are key for open water competition - they are brutal, your swimming with everyone from first timers to pros.  I love them!

Tomorrow is rest, massage and haircut.   Saturday = monster brick.  Cool.

This is my 4th season training with Craig - I followed the natural progression of distances starting with a sprint in September 2005 shortly after professing to the world that I would ‘never, ever, ever do a triathlon…ever’. Followed this with my 2006 season of Olympics and my first half marathon. 2007 took me to Half Ironman and full marathon distance. 2008 - well we all know by now I’m training for the motha’ load. With two weeks of training left I’m feeling stronger than I’ve ever been but also more exhausted that I’ve ever felt. Trusting the plans that Craig gives me has never been a problem, I do exactly what he tells me and always perform better then expected (sans my first half ironman when I wore shoes that were too small - ouch!). In talking with his Ironman athletes, especially those who have recently completed their first I repetitively hear the same comment. ‘It was like he knew exactly when to pull me back, I was on the brink and then I tapered’. This is what I’m trusting will happen shortly as I see the brink, I feel the brink, I’m on the brink baby!

Rode 90 miles yesterday, 50 minutes of climbing up the canyon - no music, no friends, no heartrate monitor (crapped out). I remember my route but not anything about my thoughts….a good thing, I just shut it off and forged ahead. There was nothing dramatic about yesterday, no excitement, no negative emotions just pedal stroke after pedal stroke. Just another training day….I do remember one thought I had, ‘4 Sundays from today I’ll be finishing my first ironman’. That was a cool thought.

I’m finding that recovery is paramount at this stage in the game. Today I”m resting up for I have my big swim this week 5400 yds on Wednesday and my monster brick 75 to 17 on Saturday. I’ll have two more mental breakthrough workouts done and one to go 125 mile ride on the following Saturday. That will definitely break me….in a good way of course.

Psyched about my swim Wednesday my main set is 3,000 yds Z3 straight, my favorite kind of workout. The biggest challenge - not losing count.

So today I will come back from the brink only to face it a few more times this week but I’ll come back from it again and finish what needs to be done. Trusting the plan is key!

I came off Sunday like a freakin’ olympic ski jumper; huge and smooth. There was no stopping me, my mind was firing off thoughts like ‘yeah IM bring it on, I’m gonna PR in the marathon’ and ’short and stout - yes, powerful and unstoppable - no doubt’. My mind was racing like Andretti. My body was feeling big strides in recovery everyday.

Monday - got my butt kicked by Kelli, a therapist in the BCMT professional clinic. Yeah, this girl rocks but she will beat you. Olympic pole vaulter, i.e. powerful. Excellent session!

Tuesday - 62 mile ride? Mind wanted to go for it, body did not. Opted for yoga instead

Wednesday - body feeling 98% recovered, mind still ‘on fire’, needed to get back into it; 3,000 yd swim - body only had one speed

Thursday - 41 bike/9 mile run, the brick. Yes - looking forward to the brick, planning on nailing it. Alarm went off at 4am, couldn’t move. 5:30 on the bike - legs: not so eager, heartrate: beating but not fast, shoulders/neck: yucka. Mentally I was still, ‘YEAH, YEAH, YEAH sista’.

Between 4 episodes of the OC I took many breaks. Laid on the bed with Lhasa, drank my water real fast so I could take time and refill…..I didn’t get off the bike until 9am. Had a client so I jumped over to my office for a session then off on the run. 9 miles - my mind was psyched. Very slow start, my body felt half ceramic and half cement. My mind was like ‘woooo, what’s up with this - you better kick it in because we ain’t cuttin’ this short’.

Got down to the trailhead, still feeling like I was glad noone was watching. Hit the trail for 3 miles Z3 - kicked it in and felt absolutely exhausted but strong. Finished it up and started to head home for the final miles. Returning on the South Boulder trail is at a slight incline and usually directly into the wind. Yesterday was no exception, I had to work pretty hard at this point but my mind was still in the game. Without about a mile to go my mind finally came down from the clouds and was like ‘wow, that marathon is still very much with me’.

After my workout I went back to my office and saw 2 more clients which I was totally fired up to do but could feel I was physically fading. Finished those strong, walked in the door and completed my fade.

Yesterday, I feel my mind completely ruled the day in a very good way. It was totally disconnected from what was going on in my body but kept me going without notice. I think that workout was absolutely to my benefit and not to my detriment. I’m stronger for it.

With that said, I have also decided to go out of this stabilizer on top. Opting for core power yoga today and tomorrow will either be a bike/swim, swim or bike. We’ll see, I’m going to be flexible do what is best for me.

I have 2 weeks of training starting Sunday - I’m going to attack those weeks like nothing before. I’m going to eat them alive like I am a huge wicked monster of strength and my workouts are puny little tasks that are easily accomplished.

Now that my long run is done I have 3 mental breakthrough workouts to go before I enter the ever so titillating taper phase.

Attitude is everything at every point in the game.

Finished the Colfax marathon on Sunday - ‘just a training run’ was the theme of the day. Which by the way, made this the most no pressure, whatever, got time to kill long distance race I’ve ever done. Coach Howie gave me specifics on exactly what needed to be done per 10K and exact pace per mile that needed to be held to negative split the marathon. Of course, about 5 miles in I found myself in the dark world of math realizing and K’s are not the same as M’s. A calculating cluster f#!k in my my brain to say the least. So after sprinting a half mile around mile 12 to make up time I thought I had lost but really didn’t….I decided to forgo the conversion confusion and try to negative split the race.

For CDA - we’re setting me up to do a 5.5 hr marathon so that is what coach wanted me to do at Colfax. In fact he was so adamant about making this time and not pushing it that he said in his email to me and I quote, ‘Here’s the catch though……It’s super important that you don’t cross the line and see something like 5:15. Hold back!’. So I held back, the entire time. I kept thinking I could definitely go faster right now but continued to do as I was told. Mentally, to feel this way was key. I’ll hang onto this memory for ironman.

Holding back was tough but I decided to do as I was told and take this as an opportunity to reverse my scared turtle form and to help support others that were struggling on the course. I had a great time, I looked adorable, felt incredible - to sum it up there was no point in the 26.2 miles that was a struggle. Not mentally or physically. I felt strong, determined and confident. I was doing as I was told, I wasn’t going to stress my coach out from pushing it too hard and disobeying his expert advice. Finished with a 5:18 (negative split by 2 minutes).

I’m glad that I followed the plan because in hindsight, I don’t think it was the day to push it. This experience was positive 100% of the time, a confidence builder and a damn good workout. I was exhausted going into it, riding a century 4 days prior, running 23.5 miles the Sunday before plus a 5000 yd swim Friday. These are just a few of the workouts completed the week of Colfax. Sunday was a day to go out there and show myself how strong I’ve become. That’s exactly what I did.

Thanks to the Tiara Ditcher and the Pizza Luva - who came down to the race on their day off to cheer me on, take my photos and chauffeur me around afterwards. It made my day to see familiar faces out there, thanks guys!

Thanks to my sis who let me stay over the night before and bussed my butt to the starting line.

Thanks to SkirtSports for producing the best women’s clothing ever and to Carla at GasCap for the most comfortable, practical racing hat in the universe.

And a huge shout out to my love BJ who took his first win at the Ft. Collins tri on Sunday. His first but definitely not his last.

Thanks coach for setting me up for a great day, I can’t believe how strong you have made me.

Today definitely felt like Ironman preparation…103 miles (9 miles more than I’ve ever gone), 3 Old Stage repeats, 50 mins of Z4 (not climbing just ass burning straight aways) and a whole lotta time. Good stuff, weather was great, heart rate cooperated and I felt strong.  Despite at mile 80, I wanted to get off the bike, lay down on the side of 36 next to a dead rattlesnake and cuddle, even just for a few minutes. But no, I said to myself…’suck it up sister, Ironman is going to be an entire day of wanting to sleep on the side of the road…push through it, it’s all mental’. That moment passed and I finished strong again.

Definitely a bit more fatigued that I was on last week’s ride but I got it all in and the best part was my legs felt incredible for my 2 mile jaunt at the end. I can only hope I feel this way (even better) on J22.  Looking forward to being rested, I’m not quite sure I can recall how that feels.

Recovery tomorrow, getting ready for 5,000 yd swim Friday and Colfax Marathon on Saturday.  I think I’m going to hit the pool tomorrow for my 5 mile run…pool running sucka!

I’m starting to feel pretty dang strong. My volume is so big right now and I’m handling everything that is getting dished out quite well I have to say.

Raced the Barking Dog Du yesterday and had a solid race (remember, it’s all relative). I negative split my 5k’s and averaged over 18 miles an hour….18.1 and I’m taking the .1 people. I felt smooth on the bike, I was checking out my shadow and it was looking hot to trot. I passed the most people I’ve ever passed in my life…always a good feeling. 2 years ago, I was not doing the passing…I was the passee.

Finished the race in 1:56:03. 1st 5K: 27.45 - 30k bike: 59:36 - 2nd 5K: 25:51

Today I had a 23.5 mile run, I just knew it was going to be another great workout. I felt so strong, my heart rate was cooperating and so was the weather. BJ rode next to me the entire time and I can’t tell him enough how grateful I am for his support. He’s just such a good guy, anyone who knows him, knows this. He would do anything for me without hesitation. Love him! Love you babe! Thanks again for being such a freaking cool husband.

Rocked out the 2007 marathon dress - feels like you’re running in nothing. Again, always a good thing.

Ran into the Howie’s and St. George’s at the Title9k - huge uplift and motivator to kick my run’s butt! Thanks guys.

Another huge week ahead, biggest bike volume to date and my ‘key’ run - 11,000 yds swimming, 171 miles cycling and 33 miles running - yeah boy!

On Wednesday I had my long ride, it was the longest I’ve ever done but it certainly didn’t feel that way. I felt excellent the entire time…we’ll keep this post on the positive so I won’t say how long this took me or my average speed. Let’s just say I won’t be surprised if Ironman is more like a 15 hr day than the pie in the sky 13 hr I’ve set my sights on.

Woke up to downpours, thunder and lightening at 4:30 - not to worry, I knew it would be a great day. Hopped on the trainer at 6am and rode for 2 hours then headed out towards the canyon for some climbing. I was dressed perfectly but had a ton of shit with me - hat, gloves, balaclava, heavy gloves, nutrition, bag o’money and incidentals….etc. etc. Tons of shit.

It was fine until the sun came out and I needed to ditch my legs and jacket. Finished strong and hit the pavement for 2 miles. Pleasantly surprised, my legs felt light, no pain, no aches, no problem. I thought ‘I could run 5 miles, naaaa, 10 miles….naaa, 15, naaaa I could run a freakin’ marathon right now’. That was a good feeling. It wouldn’t have been pretty (by the way, neither will ironman) but I would have gotten the job done.

I was quite impressed with the comfort of my vogue shorts during the ride and how I felt afterwards. Also went complete vintage Skirt for my run, felt good to get back to the basics.

Thursday I hit masters - here’s how it went down:

Jessica: ‘hi, I’m Jessica, I’m here for masters’

Masters Class: ‘great, here’s your ass’

Jessica: ‘great, thanks for handing that to me, let’s swim bitches’.

Let’s get right to the facts - don’t, and I mean DO NOT, get a $17 dollar Whole Foods salad 45 minutes before your run no matter the distance. And definitely DO NOT circle around the bar a second time to further fill your salad with yummy goodness. So let’s say you don’t heed my warning and you do this anyway…then please, absolutely do not go for a run right after you eat this $17 dollar, 2lb salad.

Ok, ok, let’s say you just don’t listen to any of this advice and you do get a $17 salad from Whole Foods (overflowing so that the lid doesn’t really fit and requires not one but two elastics to hold it together) and then you do go for a run, even short one….you may as well just practice cramping because I can pretty much guarantee that will happen within the first 15 seconds of the workout. If you haven’t guessed this is what I did but to make things even better at the time I realized that I was starving I also realized that I had only consumed one glass of water all day. It was after 4pm, we had no food in the house and I was dehydrated. Anyway you know what happened from here and those 3.5 miles were some of the most educating I’ve ever run.

After the run, BJ and I hit the pool for a drill swim with the synchronized swimming team. It was so cool, there was an underwater speaker with music and a ton of girls in bright colored suits and huge lungs. I felt like I was in Mer-land, it was really fun to watch. These girls hold their breath forever I couldn’t help but think they should all become triathletes because fear of water would be obsolete.

Today I’m focusing on work and using this as my day off since I moved my long run to Sunday and I’ll be out all day on my long ride tomorrow. 94 miles…the most I’ve ever done. Can’t wait, I’m looking forward to it!

At least 300 times this week I’ve thought, ‘oh yeah’ I’ll blog tonight and I’ll blog about that…nothing. Like the weeds in our front lawn, right now I just can’t seem to get to it. Stabilizer was a busy week filled with some bitching, whining and working complimented by alot of sleep. Feeling recharged I’m ready to attack the week. Have to do some shifting around with work schedules and such but I’m going after it. My last week of build….moving into Peak. Feeling the emotion of almost ‘being there’.

Spent the last 3 days in class at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy  the class was Sports Injuries and Dysfunction of the Lower Extremities and Lumbar Spine.  Extremely applicable to what I do in my practice - very cool stuff.  It was so nice to be consumed by something other than Ironman - just a nice change that’s all.  I’m loving the IM journey it just felt good to welcome a stimulating change for a few days.

Got some hangout time today with my girl the Tiara Ditcher, that was fabulous.  I can’t remember the last time I sat in my living room with a girlfriend and had a glass of wine.  It was a nice break.

Off to bed…early morning….need to attack…