July Mileage Update

ImageParty / Pixabay

Well, July was certainly a month of highs and lows.  Highs include an amazing race at Rev3 Williamsburg.  Huge PR, even with the ridiculous water and the foot injury.  Lows include slicing open my foot and screwing up my training for the month, then struggling to get back on track.  I’m fighting with some tightness in my right hip and quad, likely from walking stupid thanks to cutting open my left foot, so that’s meant a lot of time with the foam roller and the massage ball this month.

I wouldn’t have been surprised if July was my lowest training month of the year.  It’s not – that was February.  But I didn’t beat it by much.  Also February has 3 fewer days.  It should theoretically be my lowest training month.

So you know, having a low training month mid-season probably isn’t the best idea.  I am racing next week and it’s a challenging course, so I don’t have any real goals other than to just race strong.  It’s going to be a comparatively slow race, and the low training isn’t going to be a huge help.

July Totals
Swim: 4.3 miles
Bike: 204 miles
Run: 35 miles

So yeah, it’s not terrible, but that run number is way lower than it should be.  Thank goodness I’m only racing olympics this year, because I think even the 10k is going to be a push.  Now that my foot has healed, I really don’t have any excuse to not get myself back on track.

2017 Totals
Swim: 33 miles
Bike: 1339 miles
Run: 316 miles

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Full Body HIIT Workout: BeFiT- Tiffany Angulo

Things I Love: My Instant Pot

Kitchen gadgets seem to be a dime a dozen.  The next latest and greatest thing is always coming out and everyone jumps to buy it.  Within a few months, that gadget is relegated to the back of the cabinet in favor of something else.

This could not be further from the truth with my Instant Pot.  I got my Instant Pot for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad!) and I have used it multiple times a week ever since.

The Instant Pot is basically an electric pressure cooker, but it’s got some additional settings as well that let you use it as a slow cooker, a rice cooker, and as a few other gadgets I never owned in the first place.  I had never owned a pressure cooker before, but I had heard good things.  I had a roommate who regularly used a pressure cooker to cook beans, and I knew it worked fast, but it was never something I thought I needed.

Then I started hearing people rave about the Instant Pot.  How fast and easy it was to use, how people were making delicious meals quickly.  How super easy cleanup was.  This all sounded awesome to me, so I started researching and decided that I needed one.

I was not wrong.

Now I’ll be honest – I’m not a fancy chef.  I don’t make anything super extreme in my Instant Pot, but it has made cooking a lot easier.

On a weekly basis, I use my instant pot to make:

Hard Boiled Eggs – Put the eggs on the rack, add two cups of water, cook on high for 2 minutes, let sit/depressurize for 15 minutes, then turn off and put the eggs into an ice bath

Sweet Potatoes – Potatoes on rack, 1 cup of water, cook on high for 10-12 minutes (depending on size)

Steel Cut Oatmeal – 1 1/4 cups oatmeal, 3 3/4 cups water, cook for 10 minutes

Some of my other favorite things to do with the Instant Pot are shredded chicken (including really easy BBQ chicken – anytime I can cook from frozen, I’m in) and I’ve even used it to make homemade chicken stock (using bones from rotisserie chickens).  I know plenty of people who have cooked whole chickens in their IP.  I haven’t gotten that far, but maybe over the winter.  I also really want to try making yogurt.

There are a ton of recipes out there using the Instant Pot, and I’m super glad I have one.  This isn’t any sort of a sponsored post, just me raving about something I use regularly.  When I’m in heavy training mode, finding time to put together healthy meals is tough.  It’s so nice to be able to just throw things into the IP and press a button.

And the best part?  The inner pot is dishwasher safe!  So easy!

Do any of you Instant Pot users have favorite recipes I need to try?

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Yoga Poses for a Strong and Flexible Back: Wai Lana Yoga

Catching Up

Visited the Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center. So very impressive!

It has been a busy few weeks, and my lack of time is showing in my blog.  I usually get these posts written in the evenings or over the weekends, but with putting in extra hours at the office, the last thing I want to do when I get home is get on my computer.  (Plus once I get in a workout and eat dinner, I’m pretty much just ready for bed.)

So let’s see, what’s been going on?

My workouts were pretty much a mess over the past few weeks thanks to the cut on my foot from Williamsburg (which is now mostly healed).  Because the ball of my foot was injured and thus sore, I was walking weird, and while I did skip running workouts (pounding on a fresh injury seemed like a bad plan), the little walking I did meant that I ended up with strained muscles in my hips from the weird gait.  So that threw off the workouts even more.   Things seem to be mostly in working order save for a slight twinge in one hip, but I think some stretching should help that.  Who knew that one little cut could cause so many problems!

I was also avoiding the pool until my foot healed, so basically it’s been all biking, all the time.

This past weekend, my brother, sister-in-law, and niece were all in town for a few days and it was so awesome to get to spend time with them.  I will never regret moving to the DC area because I love it here, but it would be nice to get to spend more time with my family.  They clearly need to come visit more often.  There’s plenty of stuff to do here after all.  (Though maybe I would recommend not coming on the hottest weekend of the year.)

I haven’t been paying attention to the fact that I have another race in 2 weeks and it’s going to be a tough one.  I’m going from a very flat course to a very hilly course.  Should be quite interesting.  Let’s hope the heat has broken by then.

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Total Body Barre-Lates Workout: BeFiT GO- 10 Mins

How to Fix a Flat Tire

Look, I look like I know what I’m doing.

This weekend, I did a small clinic at Princeton Sports on what to do when you are out riding and you get a flat tire.  Given the number of people who showed up at the ride who admitted to not being able to fix a flat, I had hoped more would stay for the clinic, but I think that those who did learned a lot and hopefully feel more comfortable about dealing with a flat tire.

First off, flat tires aren’t terribly common.  I’ve gotten exactly one flat tire since I started riding.  Of course, that one flat tire was during my first olympic distance triathlon.  Thankfully, I knew what to do.  I wasn’t particularly skilled at handling a flat tire, but I had practiced at home.  I wasn’t going to let one pesky issue destroy my entire race.

I have heard a number of cyclists say that if they get a flat tire, their race is over.  And if you’re racing to land on the podium, maybe that’s true.  But for the vast majority of us, there’s no need to stop if our tire goes flat.  And besides, what are you going to do if you get a flat during a training ride?

And what’s the best way to learn?  Practice.  Lots and lots of practice.  If you have a clinic or a class available to you, go.  If there is a hands-on option, participate.  Learn to take your wheel off, get the tire off and change the tube.

If you don’t have a class available, you can learn thanks to the internet.  The internet is an amazing place.  I actually learned to change a tire by watching a video on YouTube.  I no longer remember which video I used, but I’ve included a good one at the bottom of this post.

Don’t just practice once.  Repeat the process over and over again.  Remove the tire, pull out the tube, replace the tube, replace the tire, inflate your tire.  You don’t have to use a CO2 inflator every time, use your regular bike pump.  Sit in front of the tv and have something entertaining playing in the background as you repeat the process over and over.  It will get easier.  And if you’re struggling, walk away for a few minutes, calm yourself, and come back.  You can do this, and then if you do get a flat on a training ride or during a race, you’ll know what to do.

 

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Swimsuit Abs Workout: Surfer Girl- Amber Gregory

Does Cheating Expose a Deeper Problem?

tswedensky / Pixabay

I’m not going to lie – I love Marathon Investigation.  This started as a way to track down people who cheated to get into Boston.  And it was amazing to see just how many people cheated, and the incredibly inventive way that they cheated.  The site then began to profile other cheaters, mostly people who cheated to get on the podium, but they also occasionally point out people who simply cheat so they can claim they finished.  They also pointed out people who bandited races, either by copying someone else’s bib or running with an old bib (or without a bib at all).

Don’t get me wrong – cheating is always wrong.  I have seen course cutting so many times at Disney races and it makes me mad every time, even though those cheaters would argue that by cutting the course, they didn’t hurt anyone.  I can understand this argument.  They didn’t push someone else off the podium or take a Boston spot or take aid on the course that they didn’t pay for.

But by cutting the course, by lying about their finish, they are harming the sport.  They are saying that it is okay to lie so that you can get a finisher’s medal and proudly proclaim that you finished the race.  I don’t understand this at all.  Why would you want to lie about your accomplishments?  What do you really gain?  And the fact that this doesn’t make sense to me says that there is probably something wrong in how we look at racing.

This week, a teammate of mine got called out by Marathon Investigation for cutting a race course.  She had previously been disqualified by that race.  I admit that I didn’t know her well, and I haven’t talked to her since the piece was published.  I don’t know what happened, but the evidence does not look good for her.  She is no longer on our team, but that doesn’t mean that she is being shunned by the group.  Instead, the leadership has opted to reach out to her and offer assistance.

[W]e have reached out to the athlete and offered to find any resources that will be helpful to her in dealing with this. While it is right and mandatory to speak out against cheating and doping ALWAYS, we also recognize this is a human with feelings. We can all shame her mercilessly on social media and drive her deeper into a hole, or we can try to help her resolve any issues so they no longer hurt her or anyone else around her in the future.

I can understand being in the middle of a race and wanting to quit.  (And sometimes, quitting is the smart thing if you’re sick or injured.)  I have definitely been in races where I’ve thought “Hey, I could just cut the course there and be done!”  Of course, it wasn’t a serious thought.  I It was about as serious as thinking “I could just grow wings and fly through the rest of the race.”

I also know that there have been races that I have been determined to finish because I didn’t want to tell people that I didn’t.  The fear of failure is honestly often my training motivation when I’m just not feeling it.  I don’t want to not finish a race and have to share that.  Not with my friends and family – they don’t care.  But since I do put all of my training out on the internet, it is scary to think that I might have to also share that I failed.

But you know what?  A DNF isn’t failure.  Things happen.  Injuries, illnesses, weather, heck some days you’re just not feeling great for whatever reason.  A DNF says “I tried, and it wasn’t my day.”

We need to remember to be supportive of people no matter what happens at their races.  We need to remember that we are all in this for fun (with the exception of the pros, who I hope are partly in it for fun), and that it will be more fun if we support each other.  Who knows what drives people to cheat.  But rather than point and laugh, we should offer help and be ready to listen when they want to talk.  Sure, some people may not want help. But simply by supporting others when they are successful and when they may be less successful, maybe we can reduce the number of people who think that they have to cut a course or lie about their finish times.

In sum, be nice to people.  It’s a simple rule.

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Belly Dance Cardio Workout for Weight Loss: Leilah Isaac

Race Report – 2017 Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic

Rev3 Williamsburg was incredible.  Absolutely incredible.  Rev3 puts on wonderful races, and I cannot think of a single thing I would change about this day.

This was my second year for this Rev3 Williamsburg Olympic course.  (I did the race in 2015 as well, when it was taken over by Challenge, but the course was very different and really can’t be compared.)  So of course, I had goals.  Well, one goal.  Do better than last year.

I knew this was going to be a challenge though.  Last year’s race was incredibly fast partly due to some extreme currents in the water, so I figured this year’s swim would be slower.  Also, just in general, it’s July.  If the day ended up being extremely hot, all bets were off.  But I still had goals.  Last year, I raced an amazing 3:33:33 (best race time ever), so my goal was something around or under 3:30.

The great thing about this race is that it’s a big race with that big race feel, but because it’s only about 2.5 hours away, it also feels very local.  I knew so many people racing this weekend, people both from Mid-Maryland Tri Club and the Coeur team.  It’s always fun to see friendly faces on the course.  This year, they also added a sprint on Saturday (as well as a kids race) which made for extra cheering fun.

Saturday morning, I got up bright and early (well, it wasn’t bright yet) and headed out to cheer on the sprint race.  We got there in time for the swim start, and watched the swimmers enter and then finish.  I’m definitely glad I got to watch.  Not only was it awesome to cheer on friends and strangers, but it also gave me a look into what I was facing the next day.  The water was clearly incredibly shallow, as people were able to stand fairly far out (of course, that’s not the best race plan, as you expend way too much energy walking through water).  Once the swimmers were close to the shore and stood up, it was clear the mud was ridiculous.  The water was also incredibly dirty, and by the time the last swimmers got out, it looked like they were swimming in chocolate milk.  Yum.  So we stayed and cheered and celebrated with our friends as they finished, and it was awesome.

Race morning, I followed my normal plan of getting to the race site stupid early.  I like to get there as transition opens.  Do I need to be there that early?  Nope.  Setting up transition takes maybe 10 minutes if I’m not moving particularly fast.  But I like to be there and get mentally ready and also hang out with people.  When people register for this race and list their tri club affiliation, if enough people from the club register, they rack you together, so you are near people you know.  This is also nice because you can assume your teammates are friendly and won’t just throw their stuff down on your transition spot.

Finally, it was time for race start.  We watched the 70.3 racers start, then it was our turn.  There were two men’s waves and two women’s waves.  I was in the first wave of women.  I walked into the water with a friend and sort of slipped as the concrete dropped off.  But since I was in the water, it wasn’t a big deal.  Also, the water was warm. Disgustingly warm.  The official temperature was over 85 degrees.  So gross.  It definitely felt like bath water.  And unfortunately, while there was a current, it was nothing like the previous year.

The horn blew and I was off.  I was generally pleased with how this swim went.  Occasionally, I found myself in packs, but didn’t struggle too much to get around them.  I also did a really good job sighting and felt like I swam a pretty straight path.  The water was super warm though, and I definitely felt myself getting hot.  And though I did my best to try to not get the water in my mouth, I definitely could feel the grit between my teeth.  Disgusting.  Also, my foot was starting to sting.  That wasn’t a good sign.

The water was so shallow that I understood why people were walking.  I wasn’t to the final turn and my hands were hitting the ground – and I don’t have long arms!  So I did my best to keep moving forward without walking and risking sinking in the mud, and finally, I was out.  And I was dirty.  My poor beautiful Coeur kit.  I hope it recovers.

Swim: 29:41 (2016: 25:47)

I glanced at my watch on the run in and knew that I was slower than last year, but thought I could pick up time on the bike.  Of course, now my foot hurt.  When I got to my bike, I paused and took a look at my foot. There was a chunk missing from the ball of my foot about a centimeter long.  That’s good.  But it wasn’t bleeding profus

ely, and since I knew it couldn’t be stitched, I just rinsed it out with water from the bottle I always bring to transition for rinsing my feet, and put my socks on and hoped for the best.

T1: 3:04 (2016: 3:03 – clearly I’m getting better, since this year I stopped to check my foot and wasn’t really slower.)

On to the bike.  This is a fast and flat course.  I was trying to do race math and figure out just how fast I could get off the bike and how much time I could leave myself for the run.  I’m not great at math on a good day, so trying to do race math while biking… well, it keeps me occupied.  This course is a bit long – 27.2 miles on the bike.  I hadn’t actually looked at my splits from last year, since I knew the swim wouldn’t be comparable, so I didn’t have a set goal, but figured something under 1:40 would be good.  My foot definitely hurt when I first started pedaling, but it sort of settled into a low ache, and I could mostly ignore it.

I do most of my training on hills, so I’m not really sure what a good flat course pace would be for me, so I just pushed.  I was aiming for around 17mph or more.  My plan was really to kill myself on the bike because I’m not a great runner, so this is where I can find the most improvement.

The course itself was awesome.  Some of the roads were smoother than others, which makes for an interesting ride.  For the most part, the other racers were friendly – most people calling out as they passed and encouraging each other, calling out friendly words, etc.  This wasn’t a closed course (bike courses rarely are), and for the most part, cars were friendly, though there were definitely a few buzzing racers.  I found out later that one cyclist even got hit, though I heard he or she was going to be okay.

I have my watch set to alert me at 5 mile intervals, and I kept ticking off the miles ahead of my goal pace, so I started to really think a PR was possible.  I wanted to leave myself at least 1:20 on the run if not 1:30.

One thing I noticed on the bike was that my heart rate was pretty steady and I wasn’t pushing into too high of a zone.  This tells me that I have room for improvement in my legs – and this is an awesome thing to discover.  I know that when it comes to running, I might have a little bit of improvement left, but I’m near that sweet spot where my HR and my pace are pretty maxed, considering my HR issues.  But on the bike, there’s room for so much more.

Bike: 1:34:16, 17.31mph (2016: 1:37:59, so I didn’t pick up as much time as I wanted, but still pretty darn good.)

In to T2 to check out my foot.  It wasn’t too painful, and I hoped my sock wasn’t just completely bloody.  Shoes off and my sock just had a little bit of blood showing.  Of course, it’s important to note that I was wearing hot pink socks, so as I realized later, it might not show much at all.  I didn’t take off my sock to check out my awesome wound though and just kept going.

T2: 1:52 (2016: 3:41.  Clearly I got lost or something)

Time to run!  My first steps while running were not awesome.  The wound on my foot had been in my nice flat bike shoes and not forced to bend at all.  Now, it hand to bend with every step.  It didn’t feel great, but I hoped it would fade.

My goal was just to hold a sub-13 pace and try to move as fast as I could while the day was still cool.  My first mile was comfortably 12:43, so I hoped things would hold.  This course is an out and back on a paved trail, and I love that sort of course when I know people racing because it’s awesome to get to see my friends and also to cheer for strangers.  I started leapfrogging with a couple of people and it was fun to chat with people.

I managed to keep my heart rate down while still managing to really power walk the walk intervals.  I think that’s one huge reason my pace has improved so much – I’m really pushing my walk intervals.  I also kept dumping water on me and packing my top with ice.  It wasn’t terribly hot, but that sun does beat down on you.

I hit the halfway point and knew that things were looking great for a PR.  As I ticked off the miles, I mentally calculated how much time I had left, and at one point, I had around a mile left and 20 minutes to do it in, and that was a great feeling.

Run: 1:17:38, 12:32 pace (2016: 1:23:02)

BOOM!

Total time: 3:26:32, a PR of 7:01

I was SO so so pleased with my finish.  I felt awesome and even with the slower swim, I still nailed it.

After the race, I walked over to medical to have them take a look at my foot, just to see.  My foot didn’t hurt, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t going to fall off or anything.  I took off my sock and they irrigated the wound, poked at it a bit, and put some ointment and a bandage on it and told me I would probably live.  Thankfully, my tetanus shot is up to date.  While I was sitting there with my sock in my hand, I mindlessly squeezed the water out of it (from all the water I poured on myself) and well.. it wasn’t just water.  So apparently that pink sock doesn’t show blood.  Good to know.  So gross.  Stacey was lovely and waited for me at the finish and got to witness this all first hand.  I have such great teammates!

Foot inspected, we headed to watch other racers and eat some delicious BBQ.  I also met Mariah from InsideTracker who is as lovely as she seems online.  It’s always awesome to put a face to a name.

This race remains one of my favorites.  I had the best time and I really can’t think of a single thing that I would recommend the race change.  (Except maybe clean up the water somehow.)  I’m not sure what races I’m doing next year, but this one will absolutely be on the list.  I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for a great July race.  And there’s all sorts of touristy things for your family to do as well.

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Ultimate Cardio Fat Burn Workout: Steve Jordan

Strength & Spin Weight Training Workout: BeFiT GO- 20 Min

Is Fatlogic Holding You Back?

A couple of years ago, I learned about “fatlogic,” and I fell in love with the idea.  Fatlogic has a lot of different definitions (it’s a fake word made up by the internet, what do you expect?), but the one that really resonates with me is that fatlogic is when you use weight or size to justify something.

“I’m fat, so it doesn’t matter how I dress, I’ll never look good.”

“I can’t run because I’m fat.”

“I’m too fat to ever fit in with that group.”

I feel like I’ve been seeing it more and more, and idiots on the internet definitely don’t help.  And yes, there are times when your size can be a reason you can’t do something (theme park rides with small seats, some sort of activity with a weight limit, etc), you can’t let your weight or size become an excuse.

I have seen time and time again where people (men and women alike) say that they can’t ride a bike because they’re too fat.  While I suppose there is a size where you can’t ride a bike, I think most of these people are using it as an excuse.  Maybe they are too scared to ride.  Maybe they don’t want to be seen in public riding. Maybe they think they’re going to fall.  Maybe they just don’t want to be the fat person on the bike.  But that doesn’t mean they can’t do it.

Go to a bike shop.  Find a bike that fits you and your body.  Go ride.  There are plenty of friendly people out there of all sizes who are out riding.  (And besides, the heavier you are, the faster you go downhill, which is super fun.  Thank you, gravity.)

I know that I have definitely felt like I’m too big to be riding my tri bike.  I refused to get aero bars for my road bike because I thought I would look like an idiot with my belly all in the way.  And no, I’m certainly not the most aero rider, but that has to do both with my size and my general lack of flexibility.  And yet there I am, riding a tri bike.  And I’m getting faster on it too.

Maybe you just want to go to the pool, but are afraid to be the fat person at the pool.  Go to the pool.  Just show up.  If you go during lap swim hours, you will see your super fit swimmers there, but you will also see people of all shapes and sizes.  (If you go to my pool, I believe the average age of the swimmers is approximately 68, and that’s including when the high school swim team is there.)  No one actually cares what you look like because they’re not looking at you.  I’m not going to avoid sharing a lap lane with someone because of their size (unless it’s super tall butterfly guy, and that’s just because he doesn’t understand that he can’t swim butterfly while splitting a lane without hitting me EVERY SINGLE LENGTH.  Ahem.).

You weight isn’t a reason to not do something.  And if you’re not happy with your weight, do something to change it.  But don’t let your weight hold you back, and certainly don’t say “Oh, I won’t do that until I’ve lost a bit more weight.”  You don’t know what you’re missing out on.

 

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Happy Independence Day!

The post Happy Independence Day! appeared first on Elbowglitter.

Dancer's Legs & Glutes Workout: Paso Doble | The BOD -Dancing with the Stars’ Kym Herjavec

June Mileage Update

ImageParty / Pixabay

Halfway through the year.  Yikes!  I can’t believe we’ve already hit the longest day of the year.  I’m still struggling to remember to write 2017 on things!

June wasn’t the best month for me, workout wise.  I had more missed workouts than I would have liked, and not for reasons that I think are truly justified.

Still, June had some highlights.  Super amazing race at Escape the Cape.  Increased by FTP by 11 watts.  And some big stuff at work that isn’t all that exciting, but hey, some deadlines were met and good things happened.

June Mileage
Swim – 6.8 miles
Bike – 214 miles
Run – 57 miles

Well, you can see that I was pretty bike focused in June.  Which is a good thing.  It’s where I have the most room for improvement, and it turns out to be the training I love the most.  (Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fast runner or swimmer either, but in terms of where I am and where I can be, the bike is where I need to focus.)

In July, I need to make a point to get in all my swimming.  If all goes as planned, next month’s stats should be higher, but anything can happen!

Year To Date
Swim – 28.7 miles
Bike – 1135 miles
Run – 281 miles

 

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Firm Butt & Thighs Circuit Workout: Tiffany Angulo