Banana Split!

It's been a while since my last banana recipe and as it is mid-summer, I got to thinking of the....

BANANA SPLIT! What a delicious work of art! So here's a link to the wikipedia entry on banana splits for more that you could ever want to know about this classic american dessert!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_split

ohhhh- I am hungry! Especially after tonight's track workout!
Here's what we did:
800m easy warm-up
800m T pace
400m easy
800m T pace
400m easy
800m I pace
400m easy
800m R pace
400m easy
plyometrics and core work
800m easy cool down

It was a great night for track - a storm had blown through about 30 minutes prior to the workout cooling things down perfectly!

Paint Pics!

TA-DA!! The walls are 'almond paste' with a 'smoke screen' and 'timeless taupe' stripe. the bathroom is smoke screen. I didn't get to the shower/toilet room, but will make those taupe. It was a lot of work, but I think it turned out very nice.

The walls are pretty high, so I spent quite a bit of time on the top of a ladder. I'm surprised I'm not more sore. Maybe the triathlon training is good for something else as well! Anyway, feel free to let me know what you think!

Project Paint - update!

Slowly but surely I am making progress on the bedroom. Yesterday I managed to get all the wallpaper borter off. The first couple feet were surely on the learning curve, but after that, I pretty much nailed the technique. I was using a diluted fabric softner solution - the trick was to first pull the pattern part off leaving the adhesive so that the solution could wet the adhesive, but to not use too much solution. A little spray follwed by a wipe down was all it needed to come off pretty cleanly with a 3" putty knife. The bits of paper did make quite the mess.

Now Happy 4th or July! To kick off the celebration this morning I went for a 34 mile bike ride in the black forest. Just gorgeous. The views of the front range were amazing. I'm so glad I am able to enjoy such sights. One of these time's I'm going to use a helmet cam on a ride to try to share some of the local landscapes!

Back to the project - my brother stopped by to help move the furniture to the middle of the room so I could get to all the walls. Lots of vacuuming up the paper bits from yesterday and all the dog hair that finds its way behind the furniture. A surprisingly quick trip to Lowe's on this project-packed weekend for many and I had my paint supplies. But no painting yet! I taped up all the trim in the room. By this time it was 3:30 so I needed to get ready for a 4th of July BBQ a coworker was having. The highlight of the BBQ - smoked pork shoulder - delicious! Hung out there for a while enjoying the evening then headed over to my brother's to hang out with him and his family for a little bit.

Tomorrow will be another busy day and I will finally get to paint! The morning will be filled with a TNT workout, a little yard work, and as much painting as possible. Hope to have some time in the afternoon to go to the pool with Elissa and little Joey. Time to wrap things up for the night. The dogs aren't happy with all the fireworks, but I think I've finally got them settled down.

Holiday Weekend Project

What do I do with my time now that I have four days off from work? I've decided to repaint our bedroom/master bath - which will be no small task. Let me just say that the room looks just like it did when we moved in almost 5(!) years ago. Yikes! So I will have the tasks of stripping the wallpaper borders, cleaning up the walls, and painting. If getting the wallpaper border off isn't hard enough. I went to Lowe's this evening and picked up way too many paint chips. Let's hope I picked "the right one's." I know it will suck up a lot of my weekend, but I'm really looking forward to finally having a cozy bedroom without pink flowers around the ceiling.

Track Practice

Phew! My IT band issues didn't bother me today at track! Here's the workout:

1600m walk warm up
800m easy
2000m T pace (~2:03/400m)
400m walk
2000m T pace
400m walk
plyometrics and core work
800m easy

I'm thinking I must have pushed it too hard on the first part of the bike on Saturday, causing some tightness in my muscles around the IT band. They were pretty sore for a couple days, but I've worked on loosening them up. I have a massage scheduled tomorrow which should work out any residual kinks!

Race Report - Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic Tri

First a shout-out to all the COS TNT folks Shannon, Stacey, Sarah and Ben for great races yesterday! Some extra kudos for Ben for hanging in and finishing the race after his "day-before-the-race return from an Alaska trip and half-marathon the week before" fatigued body said "what are you doing to me?" about 10 miles into the 30 mile bike course (read: upset stomach).

Cheers to all the other TNTers who finished the race, and a big thanks to the race organizers for holding such a great race and supporting Team in Training.

And a HUGE thanks to everyone who donated to my Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraising campaign. Because I was not obligated to fundraise as a coach, your money is above and beyond what the LLS was hoping for. THANK YOU!

Now for the race report:

http://www.lovelandlaketolake.com/
Saturday, June 28th, Lake Loveland, Loveland, Colorado. Weather was cool and breezy before race start, overcast during the race with temps probably in the upper 60s during the run (high was supposed to be 81).

Woke up at 4:15am, took a quick shower to get blood flowing in the muscles, ate a peanut butter sandwich and a banana and then headed to the race site with Sarah. Set up my transition area, found the TNT tent to check in, took a warm up jog and found a bathroom. You really can't go to the bathroom too often before a race, if you know what I mean. Got my wetsuit on and headed to the lake for a short swim warm-up.

Race start 6:30am. My wave - 6:34am.

1.5km swim: 38:05. Despite the fact that is a really slow swim time for this distance, it was probably the best feeling open water swim I've had. Water temp was around 70, which is pretty comfortable for a wetsuit swim. My shoulders didn't fatigue and I felt comfortable breathing. Bumped into a few people here and there, but otherwise could swim in my own space. I was able to keep to the buoy line pretty well, except after the last turn heading back to the beach where it took a few tries to confirm that I was really headed in the right direction. The overcast skies were a blessing during the swim as the sun didn't get in your eyes trying to sight those buoys. After I finally made it to the beach, I trotted the 1/4 mile to the transition area feeling pretty good and ready to tackle the bike course.

T1: 01:39. Found my bike without issue, almost fell trying to get the wetsuit off (wet grass), and my wetsuit got caught on the timing chip so it took a few extra seconds to get it off my leg. Could have been a big 'o crap' moment! On with the sunglasses, helmet, bike shoes and off I went.

30 mile bike: 1:33:28 (19.2mph). This is a great ride. The starting elevation is about 5000 feet, with only about 100 feet of gain during the first six miles. Then you start to pick up more elevation and by mile ten you are at 5500feet. Then a little after mile 12 you hit a nice stretch where you gain about 300 feet in a bit under two miles. Within a mile after that peak you lose that 300feet that was just gained. Fun for those who like to descend. A few winding roads on the descent, but really not too bad. If you know the area, these roads go around Horsetooth Reservoir. Then the fun begins, which I like to call "the wall." You need to get as much speed as possible coming down the last hill and unfortunately there is a 'U' curve right before "the wall." Here you gain 200 feet in about half a mile. That's pretty steep - I was going about 6-7mph at the top of this hill! But from here, it's almost all downhill, except for a few rolling hills on the way back into Loveland.

I was hoping that I'd be able to ride this course a in a few minutes less time this year over last, but ended up only about 35s faster. I got a little frustrated in the beginning, as in the cluster of bikes making there way along the course, there was one woman who liked to ride just to the right of the yellow line. One rule of triathlon is to stay right unless you are passing. You are supposed to stay 3 bike lengths behind a bike in front of you and if you decide to pass, you have 15 seconds to overtake their front wheel. After that it is the passed person's responsibility to get out of your draft zone. This lady would pass someone and then stay on the left side of the lane (technically called blocking). If someone needed to pass her, and there were plenty of speedy TT bikes with disc wheels zooming past everyone, they would have to hit or even cross the yellow line, which is obviously not safe. I passed her a couple times (you leap frog a bit on the beginning of the course while people settle into a pace and have different hill climbing abilities). Finally about the third time I passed her, I yelled that she needed to stay right as she's getting in the way. I guess I pissed her off enough that she passed me with a pack and stayed ahead. She's one I hope the motorcycle referee's saw and gave a penalty. OK - enough of my rant.

Fueling and nutrition on the bike...drank water and some of my HEED (like gatorade but with maltodextrin and natural sweeteners instead of the high fructose corn syrup) as soon as I was in a comfortable pace. About 35 minutes into the ride had 1/4 of a clif bar washed down with water. Intermittent drinking of HEED throughout the bike course, and at about 1:10, I did a Hammer gel, washed down with water. Went through about 2/3-3/4 of each bottle of HEED and water, probably 32-40oz of fluid.

Overall feel for the bike course - Pretty solid ride, though my knees did feel some discomfort. On the second half of the ride it did feel like my right knee was being affected by IT band tightness. I could only hope this wouldn't bother me on the run.

The end of the bike course passes through a neighborhood sculpture garden (gorgeous!) and then back into the high school parking lot.

T2: 01:07. Trotted with my bike to find the rack and Stacey yells "you caught me!" She's a faster swimmer, but not as fast on the bike so we hit T2 at the same time. Now if I could only catch Shannon... Thank goodness for the lady who put the pink towel on the bike rack near mine. Found my stuff, threw my bike on the rack, sat down, off with the bike shoes, on with the socks and running shoes, grabbed my race belt with number and my hat and off I went once again.

10k run: 55:09 (9:02min/mile). The run is usually my best split in triathlon. Not this time. For some reason I just couldn't get my legs going under me. The first mile or two are always hard coming off a bike, especially one like this course with hills, so I was expecting at any minute for my body to acclimate to the run and I could settle in a pace. It just wasn't to be. Each aid station I walked through and grabbed some water to make sure I was hydrated. At the turn around, which about 0.25 mile before I saw Shannon heading in the other direction so I knew catching her wouldn't be easy, I took another Hammer Gel and, as always, washed it down with water. I didn't really feel thirsty, I didn't feel hungry, my legs just felt heavy with some aches and pains. My right knee was aching (I curse my IT band!), my adductor/hip flexor area was tight (felt fine on my last run Tuesday night), and a muscle in my glut area was tight. It probably didn't help that some of the run is on canted streets, though I tried to stay on the flattest part possible. I took a few sips of gatorade at the last aid station and just did what I could to keep my legs moving.
The last mile of the run goes back into the park at the lake and then around a pond back to the finish line. This feels like the longest end of a race, since you can see the finish line about 1/2 mile out but basically have to run around it. I went for a final push to open up my stride as much as it I could (by golly you better leave it all on the course!). The TNT folks were right there cheering everyone on the 50ish yards, and Phew! I was done.

Total Time: 3:09:30. 29/58 in the F30-34 age group. Shannon and Ben were right there at the finish to congratulate me. I gave them a smile, grabbed a cup of gatorade and walked to mentally and physically regroup. I was actually disappointed with this time, as it is no faster (well, 7 seconds faster) than my time in last year's race. I figured surely with all the training I had done - sticking as best I could to my training schedule, that I would be at least a few minutes faster. My real goal was to try to hit 3:00:00. I am not sure what went wrong. On the positive side, I did gain a tiny bit of time in every event except the run. 22 seconds in the swim, 13 seconds in T1, 35 seconds on the bike, 27s in T2, for a total of 97 seconds. But I lost almost all of that in the run, and I know I am a faster runner this year.

So what went wrong? Maybe I shouldn't have run so hard in the Sailin' Shoes last weekend. I got plenty of sleep throughout the week and felt well rested. I got a massage on Tuesday to loosen up any tight spots. I was hydrated the days before the race. I did a few workouts the week of the race, but nothing long or strenuous compared to what I had been doing. Did I eat/drink enough on the bike? I took in on the order of 250-300 calories on the bike and another 100 on the run. I felt like that was the right amount. Did I push too hard on the bike? Don't know, as I rode pretty much the same I did last year and I had a great run (53:40) last year.

I may have to bite the bullet and hire a coach, especially if I want my swim time to improve. That is where I have the most room for improvement, and although I've been really focusing on the swim, I just don't go any faster.

But all-in-all, I'm really glad I am able to finish an event like this. Triathlon is a fantastic sport and I am thankful to be healthy enough to just be out there. So I've got a week of recovery ahead of me, then the Cabbage Head duathlon on July 12th!

Race Report - Sailin' Shoes 10k and the Starlight Spectacular!

One week out from the Loveland Lake to Lake! I decided to run a local 10k race, (Sailin' Shoes) as my company was fielding a team. We had a good shot at winning the team competiton, as they take the top 5 finishers on the team, divide the total time of those 5 by the total age. I was by over a decade the youngest on the team and everyone can run a very respectable 10k. To have fun with the race as well, since we didn't have matching t-shirts, we all put blue gel in our hair. The guys got blue spikes and the ladies got blue streaks in the ponytails.

Race start: 7:00am with good temps, probably near 60 and clear.

My plan was to run a fairly easy race - maybe start around my 'M' pace (8:53/mile) for the first half and see how I felt to pick it up a little at the end. As is common for quite a few athletes, it is very difficult to "take it easy' in a race environment. I ended up running the thing in 51:30 - my 10k PR so far (previous time was 52:32). Woohoo! I ended up 5th in my age group and only 4 seconds out of 3rd place.
Team results: We did win 1st in the team competition. Not sure what we won, as I couldn't stay for the awards ceremony (had to get to the TNT group workout).

Spun my legs out a little around downtown on my bike while I waited for the group to get back from their 60 minute ride (I had them start without me on a ride to the Garden of the Gods). Then I did a 2 mile, very easy run on the trail while they were out on their 30minute run after the ride.

Afternoon plans - nap and sit with feet elevated as much as possible, as the Starlight Spectacular was at midnight. This is a fundraiser for the local trails and open spaces. it's a fun, low-key midnight ride through town starting at the Garden of the Gods visitor center. A group of Tim's friends usually do the ride so we joined their team "Brawndo," which did have matching shirts for everyone! This is a reference to the water supply in a move called Idiocracy. I haven't seen it, but the shirts were fun - 'Brawndo - the Thirst Mutilator - it's got electrolytes!'
We opted for the short ride (13ish miles) that didn't ride through the hills of the park. Tim hasn't been on a bike in 2 years, so an easy ride, especially at midnight, was the way to go. Some TNT folks were there as well with their glow sticks and costumes. Some of the costumes and light systems on the bikes were elaborate. After the ride there was a pancake breakfast for all! The last time I had pancakes at 2am was a long, long time ago! We made it home and to bed around 3am.

Now for a relaxing Sunday - the start of Taper Week!

Circus Trains, Bikes, and Banana Muffins

The circus is in town! The world famous Ringling Bros. Circus train parked on the tracks near the Colorado College track (running track that is!). I saw them a few times when I was younger, but I bet it would be fun to see it again. Probably won't happen this year. It's got to be tough to to travel like that and perform on a regular basis. I suppose it takes a certain type to handle it for any signigicant amount of time. I wonder if any on the train were circus majors at Florida State!

Bikes!
Yesterday was Colorado Springs Bike to Work day, and since I own a bike I participated in the event. To celebrate and encourage cycling, the city holds a free breakfast downtown. So I hopped on my bike and headed the 12ish miles to work. Well, first I dropped my car off to get new brakes and then hopped on my bike and headed downtown. 30 minutes later I was at the breakfast. Not bad - bagels from Panera, fruit and eggs. It was a bit chilly so I opted for the coffee instead of the juice. After filling up my tank, I rode the rest of the way to work (another 15 minutes). Getting to work is pretty easy, as it is mostly downhill. It's the ride back that is more of a challenge. Not only are their more cars on the road, but it is an uphill ride. It took me 52 minutes to get back to the car place to pick up my car. I should ride in more often - with gas prices at about $4/gal, I'd save around $8 on gas each day I rode my bike to work!

Oh and FAI (Female Athletes International) camp (taekwondo sparring camp for females) was wrapping up so I need to swing by and see all the campers I knew from previous years. They are having a great time as always!

BANANAS
I've been a bit remiss in posting banana recipes - so here's one that looks awesome!
Banana Muffins with Marscarpone Cream Frosting

I've got a busy weekend coming up with swim practice tomorrow night, a bike ride in Monument on Saturday morning, the Team in Training pasta dinner that night and the 5430 Sprint race on Sunday. It's my first race as a coach! GO TEAM!

Race Report - 5430 Sprint "Rehearsal"

I'm 3 weeks out from my 'A' olympic distance race, which is a pretty good time to do a sprint race. In looking for one that fit my schedule, I found an untimed, rehearsal race for the 5430 Sprint. The group that put it on, CWW triathlon, is a non-profit group that helps women of all abilities train in the sport of triathlon. Being untimed it was about half the cost of an official race, but the course was the same. A great way to work out the kinks before my 'A' race. So here's the report:

Got up at 4:30am to leave at 5am so I could make it to Boulder before 7:00. It was a cool and overcast morning (mid-40s) and there was a little rain on the roads in Denver. Boulder was just overcast, but the sun was just starting to peek out of the clouds at the 8am start.

Swim: 750m. Water was about 65 degrees. Not too cold, but still pretty chilly. The wetsuit certainly helps in water like that! Didn't really get much of a warm-up in (don't think anyone did, as the less time spent in the water the better.) The lake also had been closed a couple days earlier for high bacteria counts, so even more reason to spend less time in the shallow end. But with no warm up and only the second time in open water this year, it took my a while to get comfortable in my stroke. I was also getting water in my ears during so adjusted my swim cap accordingly. When I got out of the water and was mostly up the beach I looked at my watch and it had 20 minutes. Sigh. I didn't exactly swim the shortest distance, but it's still pretty darn slow. sigh. I suppose for this season, even after all the work I put into swimming, I will accept that I will not likely be much faster that I've been.

T1: Didn't time this. I took off the wetsuit, put on a dry jersey, sunglasses, my helmet and bike shoes, and off I went. Probably not my fastest, but it was relatively efficient.

Bike: 17.2ish miles, just under 57 minutes (so somewhere around 18mph). This is the same bike course as the duathlon I did a month ago. I think I took about 30 seconds off my time, but it's hard to say, since I forgot to stop the GPS until after my bike was racked and I was changing into my running gear.

The sun came out for the ride and it was another beautiful Boulder morning. Here I needed to make up some time I lost on the swim. I passed a few folks on the road heading out of the reservoir and then a couple more on Jay Road. The beautiful morning was interrupted with the sight of a homeless dude puking on the other side of HWY 36 (not too far from a homeless shelter). NOT what I wanted to see while trying to get my heart rate/breathing under control so I could start drinking. I charged up the road, passed a couple more bikers and then turned on to Neva Rd. A couple rollers and then a gradual descent to pick up the speed. Passed a couple more here and then got passed by one - the only one to pass me. On the highyway back to the reservoir I used my gel bot and got a few more calories in me before the run. My legs certainly felt a lot better this time than after run1 of the duathlon!

T2: Racked the bike, off with the helmet and bike shoes, then on with the socks and shoes. I didn't have my little cooler to sit on so this was a little more challenging than usual. It was here I realized that my feet were pretty numb still from the cold water. Put on my hat and grabbed my race belt and off again.

Run: GPS distance, 3.15 miles in 25:56 (8:13min/mile pace). Not bad for numb feet! Did they feel weird! Passed a few more ladies here. My legs felt good, no real aches or pains and my hip flexor did well today. As we headed back to the finish line, there was a pink tape everyone got to run through as they finished, and we even got medals!

Post race: Free massage! Finally got all feeling back in my feet. Refueled a bit with water and a PB&J bagel. Yum! A pretty small race with maybe 100? ladies. I was not at all disappointed and it was worth getting up at the crack of dawn and driving almost 2 hours for it.

Drove home, did a little yard work with Tim (not much) took a nap, got groceries, ironed some clothes, had dinner (hooray for frozen pizza and pre-bagged salad!), took Juno for a walk, made tomorrow's lunches, did some more ironing, and wrote this. It is definitely time for bed!

The Trouble with Swimming

I had Shannon film me again today to see my progress (or lack thereof!). Ok, I shouldn't be so negative, but it certainly can get frustrating when you swim and swim and don't seem to get any faster. But video certainly reveals the truth.

• Body position: not bad - I might lift my head up slightly to breathe, but not too much.
• Kick: could be tighter, but I think it is improved.
• Hand entry: Awful. My right hand does OK, but my left crosses over all the time (it is why I was always pulling right in the open water!)
• Catch: Probably wait just a tad too long to start the catch, but better than I had been.
• Pull: According to Shannon, looks good. I think my elbows are high, though I may cut the stroke a little short?
• Recovery - shoulder problem here. Don't get that high rotation so I tend to swing my arm wide. Trying to get a long reach may be causing the crossing over.

So I'm probably swimming a few extra yards down the pool trying to stay straight (that line on the bottom keeps you on track). I think the biggest thing for me to work on is my hand entry. If I can get it in front of my shoulder and not in front of my face, I'll save myself a lot of energy and some time. It won't be easy since I thought I already fixed this once...

Today's workout:

Swim:
300yd w.u.
8x25 drills
4x300 with 1min rest
100yd easy
8x25 sprint
200yd cool down
Total yards: 2200

Bike
(Cold and rainy today so I did it on the trainer in the evening)
24min w.u.
2x14min @ threshold (hr ~172) with 10min active recovery
13min c.d.
Total time: 1:15:00

Time for bed and some positive visualisation of hand entry in front of the shoulder, not the head!

Yet Another Mars Report

I took Mars to see the orthopedic specialist today. While he does think Mars probably has an ACL tear in his right knee and agrees with the x-rays showing hip displaysia, he feels the mobility issues Mars is having is neurologic. So that means a trip to see the neurologist at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. That's probably close to a 2-hour drive from here, so it will mean a full day off of work. I'm going to have Tim take care of this one since I don't have any vacation to burn and he's got plenty!

And now for a training update:
Swam this workout today:
300yds warmup
8x25 drills (single arm and fist swimming)
6x100 with 5s rest moderate
7x100 @ threshold with 45s rest. Well, I didn't do all at threshold - got tired!
300yd cool down
Total yards: 2100
I was pretty slow today - could be that I did my first open water swim last night, and even though it was short, probably 1000yds, the wetsuit constrains my shoulders some. I really need to work on getting it higher in the crotch and shoulders to not be as constricted.

Tonight's track workout:
1mile walk
800m E pace
1600m best effort (7:11 for me - again!)
400m walk recovery
800m T pace
400m walk recovery
400m R pace
400m walk recovery
Plyometric drills and core strength drills (planks!)
800m E cool down.

I am tired - I haven't gotten enough sleep these last few nights, even though I've been getting close to 8 hours. So I think I will talk tomorrow as a recovery day and I better get to bed soon to get as much sleep as possible!

Today's bike ride

Hit the east side of town with the fall TNTers today. Started at my house and then headed out on a 23 mile loop. For Colorado Springs, it was actually a fairly flat ride with less than 1000ft of total elevation gain/loss. High point to low point was only about 550ft, but the few rollers out there make the total numbers larger. Pretty fast route as well, but being one of the first weekend training rides for some team members, we took it easy. Don't want to scare anyone off the bike! Probably was a little long for a first ride, but I hope they all enjoyed it. The weather is finally decent enough in the morning to ride around 8am. One person did get a flat - seemed to be due to old tires since I couldn't find anything wrong with the tire/tube and the road was pretty clear, just a little gravel. She said she has often gotten flats when riding, so I think new tires are in order for her! She did get a quick lesson in changing a tube. I prefer the first lessons to be in a controlled environment rather than on the side of a highway, but we got the job done and everyone made it back safely!

When we came back we had some snacks - veggies, hummus, bananas, juice and I made some pancakes for the team. Regular, chocolate chip and cinnamon chip! Delicious!

Well, it's time for bed as I have a 1:20 endurance run to do in the morning...

Banana Scallops

So I am getting sucked into Top Chef season 4 on Bravo. Here's a recipe since I haven't posted one in a while. Haven't tried it, but it looks pretty darn good!
Banana "Scallops"

Other news:
TNT Fall Season has begun - we've got a great team here in the Springs with some members training for the Steamboat Springs Tri in August and others the Nations Tri in September. The Summer Short Course Team races are coming up on June 15th and June 28th! Exciting!

I visited my grandmother a couple weeks ago in upstate New York. The whole family made it up, as she had just turned 90. She was in the hospital with back issues, so it was a bit of a bummer, but her wit is still there! And it was great to see my dad's side of the family.

I haven't posted about my training recently but it is going well. Got some new shoes so my shins don't hurt anymore (waited way too long for that new pair!). I'm still swimming, biking and running about 3x a week in each sport.

Last weekend my grandparents visited town (to meet their first Great Grandchild). My sister-in-law and niece also visited us that weekend so it was a big family weekend for the "long" Memorial Day weekend (which is always way too short!)

Working on some swim footage for the TNTers...time to get back to it!

Race Report - Better Late Than Never!

I meant to write this earlier in the week, but life, work and workouts seemed to have gotten in the way! Last Sunday (5/4) I participated in the 'tri for your cause' at the Boulder Res. But with the water being about 55 degrees, the race director gave participants the option of doing a duathlon instead. I opted for the du, as getting on a bike after being frozen was not my idea of a good time, especially since it was just a training race. If you're not familiar with a duathlon, it's a run-bike-run event. This one being a 5k run, 17 mile bike and another 5k run.

The weekend began getting up early to be in Denver for a group brick with the TNT folks, followed by the 'Tri 101' clinic. Being a coach this time, I got to stand up in front of the group and share my two-cents worth of knowledge and suggestions on the details of racing a tri, all the way from eating days before the race to after the race. After sharing as much as we could without completely overwhelming the TNT triathletes, Shannon and I headed up to Boulder. She was doing the race as well, and we were going to stay with her boyfriend up in the mountains outside of Boulder.

The first stop in Boulder was Bicycle Village as I forgot my energy gels in the fridge. I had so diligently prepared the flask I was going to use and put it in the fridge. Out of sight, out of mind. At least that was the only thing I forgot. Also picked up some chain lube since I had run out.

Next stop...the Boulder Res for packet pick-up. Gave the water a quick toe test (brrr!) and then let the registration people know we were switching to the duathlon. Hung around for a few minutes to be at the mandatory(?) pre-race meeting. The USAT officials usually go over the rules (no drafting, helmets must be worn, etc). but they weren't able to make it. Instead the race director gave a very abbreviated version and we were on our way up into the mountains.

Let me just say, the drive to Chris' place was fantastic! Up old stage road and left hand canyon was just fantastic. I bet we passed about 30 cyclists on the roads up there. 40 minutes later we were at his house on what I believe is 1200 acres. He doesn't own this land, just works there - it's an educational retreat for kids called Cal-Wood. But my goodness is it gorgeous! We had a well-deserved relaxing afternoon and evening. Early to bed to rest up for the next day's race!

Sunday:
I slept pretty well considering it was the night before a race and sleeping on a couch. But I think not having to swim took a layer of stress/complexity off of the pre-race mental prep! At 6:45am we headed out down the mountain to get to the Res. It was a small race, probably less than 300 competitors, so finding a convenient transition rack wasn't too hard. I was surprised at all the wetsuits I saw. Not surprised that people would swim with a wetsuit (I do all summer long out here in Colorado in a race) but the fact that most people had opted to swim! Granted it was a short 500m swim, but still. Brrrr!

At 8:45am the transition area closed to competitors and we headed to the start line. There was probably about 30 or so 'sane folk' lining up for the du. In the middle of the starting line chit-chat, a lady with a microphone calls out 'duathlon - go!' Guess we were supposed to start with the airhorn that signaled the first swimmers, but couldn't hear it up the beach. Mid-sentence for most of us, we looked at our watches to hit the start button and headed out on the 5k out-and-back course.

Run 1: Wanted to keep this one easy, somewhere around 8:20-8:30 min/mile. Some guy was running pretty much the same pace, so we chatted along most of the course. That helped keep the pace in check, as it is really easy to take off like a bandit. But I had a bike ride and another one of these runs to do so there was no sense in getting tired early! According to my GPS, it was a 3.2mile course and I did it in about 26:45, so right on pace.

Transition 1- Pretty quick here - about 1:30. Just had to get the bike shoes and helmet on and grab the bike.

Bike: I need to work on my mounting skills. Nothing bad happened, I'm just not a 'flying mounter' yet. I'm more of the stop-clip-go type. Once I started pedaling, it was time to see what I could do. I am pretty familiar with the course, having ridden it a few times in other races and training. For some reason my heart rate was pretty high on the ride (about 172). I was a little disappointed in my time (57ish minutes) as that is the same pace I rode my long course race last year at about 10bpm less. But, training race = no taper. And since I've never run a tempo paced 5k then hopped on the bike, my body was probably saying "what the heck!" But overall a good ride. Except when I choked on some water - I was using my 'gel-bot' water bottle that has a space for gels and water to make it easy to consume. Well, the bottle is tall and when I tipped my head back to get some gel and then drink down some water, it didn't go down the right pipe. This on top of a higher heart rate (hard breathing) made drinking a little more challenging.

Transition 2: Hopped off the bike and slipped my running shoes back on. Even remembered to take of my helmet! Took a few extra swallows of my electrolyte drink (HEED) since I didn't get as much gel calories on the bike that I had planned. Then out for run #2!

Run 2: Goal for this run - maintain a strong but comfortable pace. I set my sights on a couple women in my age group (as with most races of this sort, your age is written on your calf so you know what age group people are in). I picked them both off by mile 1 so just wanted to maintain this pace. I didn't look at my GPS to see how I was pacing on this one - just wanted to run. So after another 5k, I crossed the finish line and successfully completed my first duathlon!

A great strong training race for me in some great Boulder weather! The official results are a little messed up, as they have me still in the triathlon results. I was supposed to get switched, but it didn't get done. I even mentioned it to the race director after the race when the preliminary results came out and he said he'd take care of it. I don't think I was the only one with this goof. With the time offset for different wave starts, it's hard to know who really did what. But that's what my watch/GPS was for so I know how I did.

So there you have it - a duathlon! I'd say it was harder than a triathlon since your legs aren't fresh getting on the bike. At least after a swim, as long as you don't kick too hard, your legs feel pretty good. I'd do another one for sure. I think I'll do one on July 12th called the Cabbage Head Duathlon. If anything, it's got a great name!

Bike Camp Report

This past weekend (Friday, Saturday, and today) I was at a Carmichael Training Systems beginner road skills bike camp. As the longest time in a triathlon is usually spent on the bike, the more comfortable I am in bike handling, the better. Plus I might also learn some tricks and tips to help the TNT folks. Friday morning I headed downtown to the CTS building with my bike and riding gear ready to learn...

FRIDAY-
Session 1: Coach Natalie, Kirk, Ryan and intern Rachel took care of us this weekend. There were 8 campers - a great student/coach ratio! We rode to a grassy patch of MVP along the dirt trail (yup, road bikes on the dirt trail) to get some handling skills under our belt. Starting, stopping with and without unclipping the pedals and such. Then attempt the water bottle pick-up from the ground while on the bike. I managed a few times but can still work on that one. Then we rode behind others and next to others, trying to get comfortable next to other riders, as is important while in a pace line. Then we worked on the "track stand." Staying clipped in while completely stopped for as long as possible. Took a few spills on this one, but that is why we were on the grass!

Back to CTS for some lunch from Panera and then a presentation on cornering to get ready for Session 2.

Session 2: Work on cornerning while descending at Garden of the Gods. Rode over to the park and then did a short loop starting at the trading post - up the hill, hang a left, down the couple curves and back around down to the trading post. I think I did that loop about 8 times! Then we did a bigger loop around the Garden - once as a group and once on our own. Then back to the CTS building to wrap up the day!

SATURDAY:
Session 1: Presentation on bike clothing, then presentation on various pace lines. After the pace line we got to practice inside walking. Then we rode over to a residential street where we had about a mile with minimal traffic to try to get the hang of these pace lines for real. Going uphill into the wind (and boy was it windy on Saturday!) definitely felt the benefit of a group more than going downhill with a tailwind. After we got somewhat familiar with these lines, we rode over to Mark Dabling road to use these skills on a longer stretch. And sure enough with that strong wind out of the north, we got to experience the benefit! Then a quick ride back south (downhill and tailwind) to get some lunch.

Lunch from Pita Pit (yum!) and a presentation on nutrition. I was familiar with most of the concepts and CTS is definitely a high carb proponent.

Session 2: The wind was still super strong and a bit chilly, but that won't stop us! we headed out to climb gold camp road. Nice 6% grade or so - fairly comfortable climb. The descent not so much. With that wind you get some good crosswinds coming down so I was a bit out of my comfort zone. Probably didn't go as fast as I could have - I am pretty cautious on windy and wind-y roads. Then back to CTS for a wrap-up. I had a power meter on my bike today so I got to check out my numbers with Coach Natalie. For what it's worth, up the hill I think I averaged about 160(?) watts and a 162bpm heart rate.

SUNDAY:
Legs are a bit tired, but not as bad as I expected. it was really cold this morning so we waited a bit to head out until it was a tad warmer. Then we had our final ride of about 2 hours. Over to Mesa Rd on the west side up to centennial (some "big" climbs here) then a brief descent over to W. Woodmen. A short potty break here at a park, then up the West Woodmen hill back to Centennial, over to Mesa and back to CTS. My legs were feeling it on the steep stuff! But in the flat/downhill parts my legs felt pretty good considering all the riding I've done in the last few days - probably about what I'd get in a week's time, probably even more! Back to CTS for a wrap-up bagel/coffee meal and a chance to chat with the CTS coaches. A review of today's power meter had me at 180ish watts and about 172ish on the climbs. Definitely a harder workout!

Summary:
A good camp - I learned quite a bit and know I have a lot to work on. But I also have some places to ride (though I think I've been at all of them before) where I can focus on specific skills. The coaches were very knowledgeable and friendly so it was a comfortable environment to learn. We did get all the powerbars, powergels, powerbar endurance drink we wanted. They took care of us - made sure our bikes were ready to ride each day (though they did give me mine today with the rear brake open - glad I caught it before we headed out!) As with all camps, it wasn't perfect, but the negatives are minor compared to the positives. It was an enjoyable and educational weekend that went by too fast.

Awesome Brick!

For those not familiar with multisport - we use the term "brick" workout for a dual workout session, most typically a bike followed by a run. Some think the term comes from how your legs feel when you try to run off the bike! But the latest thing I've read is that the type of workout was created by a guy with the last name Brick. Either way, they are great workouts, and when you're training for a triathlon/dualthlon where you have to run straight off the bike, it's important to get this kind of training in.

Today's brick was a 2 x (14mi bike, 2mi run). It was a great day for such a workout - we finally had warmer temps. We set up our transition area in our cars in a shopping center parking lot and then headed out on a super bike ride. The wind was strong and cool enough we needed long sleeves for the bike, but stayed plenty warm on the run. Here's an idea of the route, except we didn't ride on hwy 115, but went behind the country club instead. Got to see some fantastic views of the city from the south side!



The run was hilly, with ~100ft elevation gain in 0.5mi! But just think how strong our legs are getting! As the coach, I watched the bikes while the team did the first 2mi run. When the last runner returned to start the second ride/run combo, I went to ride out with her and noticed I had a flat. Wish I would have noticed that while I was just sitting around watching those bikes! So I took a couple minutes, found the glass chip in the tire, and got a new tube going. I was able to catch up with the group when they started their second loop. I think that's my 3rd flat tire since February - might be time for new tires with a little more puncture resistance! When we returned for the second run, everyone put their bikes in their cars so I did the run. Yowie! My legs did feel like bricks, but I did manage to pound out a 9:16 pace. (the downhills helped bring the avg pace down for sure!)

The long course team was out for a 3 hour ride, and managed to return to the parking lot as the "short coursers" finished their workout. Great timing for sure! A super workout for the Team in Training folks!

snow storm

Just a quick line to say it is snowing - several inches. It was almost 80 yesterday. Guess that's Colorado!

What a workout!

With temps in the upper 70s today (tomorrow will be mid-40s- if you can believe that!) I finally got to wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt to track practice! And boy did Coach Mitch throw one at us. Well, not really, but he did surprise us with a best effort timed mile so he could update our pacing cards. I was pretty pleased with my time - 7:11. I'm pretty sure that's the fastest mile I have ever run. It'd be nice if I could go sub-7 one of these days.

The rest of the workout was as follows:
1200 at I pace
800 at I pace
400 at R pace
2x200 @ R pace (form focus) w/200 recoveries
Plyometrics (high knees, butt kickers, skipping and bounding)
Core/strength (planks/crunches/tuck jumps, etc - "killer" stuff!)

This morning I got a good swim in as well:
300 yd warm-up
8x25 drill set
8x100 with 5s rest
8x25 kicking set
300 yd cool down
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1800 total yards

Time to set up my bike on the trainer to get a good morning ride in tomorrow.

Baked Bananas

Is that a recipe or how I feel?

This is from the Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain and Joe Friel.
4 bananas
1/4 c. olive oil
Juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
1 T. vanilla
1 t. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Cut bananas in half (lengthwise) and place cut side down in baking dish greased with the oil. Drizzle with the lemon juice and vanilla, then sprinkle with lemon rind and cinnamon. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Mars:
I'm happy to report that the big guy is doing much better! He's going up and down (down is better than up) on his own and he has his old appetite back! We've backed off on the prednisone quite a bit - down to 5mg every other day. We'll compare his "on" to "off" days and then probably get his levels tested in a few weeks if the low dose seems to be OK.

Fundraising:
Well, I haven't been too agressive with my fundraising this year (there is still plenty of time to donate!) but we had an awesome fundraiser for the team on Saturday - a Texas Hold'em tournament we called Casino Royale. We raised $2200 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society! It was a lot of fun. Still getting the house back together from the event!

Phew! (well, sort of)

Let's call today 'Adventures at the Veterinary Specialists!'

After my morning swim I came back home and called the vet internist who had been treating his cushings to get in. Luckily someone had just cancelled their 10:15am appointment. No time for me to drive 30 minutes down south to work and turn around and head back so I just took the morning off. Got some dishes and some ironing done and somehow managed to lift Mars into the car. The first visit took about an hour. Dr. C looked at Mars, checked his alertness, his joints, etc, and ran a quick test to check his electrolyte level. She also did a 'resting cortisol' test. The electrolytes were good so that means one hormone (can't remember which) is fine, and the cortisol results will be back later this week. Her thinking about his loss of appetite is that his cortisol levels are still low from the lysodren treatment and now his body is responding. Ok, so we'll get him on a low dose of prednisone to see if that bumps his appetite. But she also noticed he was in a lot of back pain and has join stiffness so she recommended a consultation with the pain management guy next door for a consult and possible accupuncture treatment. wow.

Needing (not necessarily wanting) to get back to work for the afternoon, I left Mars with them and they brought him over (down the hall) to the pain guy.

A few x-rays and a laser pain treatment later the diagnosis is....
1) hip displaysia (boo!) But Mars gets applause for letting them get the x-rays without sedation!
2) good elbows joints (yay!!!)
3) definite back pain
4) possible slight tear in some ligaments in his right knee
5) possible neurological problem (would be a disc issue)

So I have a handful of drugs to give him now to get the pain under control and a recommendation that we get a consultation with the orthopedic guy.

First things first - make sure the Cushings is under control and he gets his appetite back while starting him on some pain meds. Then we'll see about the orthopedic consultation. (I hear they now even scope dog knees to see if surgery is really needed.)

So, phew! that it looks managable for now, though not easy on the wallet. Time to feed him and see about all those silly pills!

Mars report

Mars isn't doing so well tonight. He wasn't interested in his food and he didn't move around much. He usually is all over treats in a kong toy - it takes him about 30 seconds to bite it to have the treat fall out. Tonight he barely showed any interest in it. I'm trying to get him into the vet tomorrow, as I know loss of appetite isn't good. A little over a week ago we had him retested to see if he was back in the "normal" range on his ACTH stimulation test, which he was. Since his mobility had decreased with him off the Rimadyl for about a week, the vet said we could wait a week or so before starting the maintenance dose of Lysodren to help the Cushings. He seemed to be doing better, but he still needs/wants help getting up and has trouble on slick surfaces. We started taking him on short (2 block) walks to try to increase his muscle strength. He had a normal appetite (the whole bowl of food gets swallowed in about 2 minutes) but he ate a bit slower this morning and tonight he just didn't seem to want to eat. Not good. I hope we find out what is going on since he is such a sweet and wonderful dog. You get pets knowing that they have a limited life span, but they are such great companions you really don't want anything to happen to them. Here's a good pic of Juno and Mars:



But it is Monday which means a banana recipe! Here's an easy one for everyone who lives in a warmer climate (why won't it just stay warm?!??!!)

Banana Freeze
Mash up a few ripe bananas
Mix in some vanilla extract
Put in freezer for 20-30 minutes to get it nice and cold and thick (but don't let it freeze too long or you will have a big banana ice cube!)

Enjoy!!!

68 Degrees!

Ahhh! A day of warm weather in Colorado. Beautiful! Pikes Peak is still snowcapped from the Easter snow, the sky is almost the perfect shade of blue and the sun is out for some prime vitamin D formation!

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Before I continue - my mom is helping my fundraising campaign - for every book you buy of hers she'll donate $1.00 to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and $0.50 for every short story. Her website is www.terryodell.com. Check out her webpage for some great romance - with a twist of mystery!
****

Today started out with a strength training session at the gym. My hip flexor has been tight the last couple weeks, especially after last night's track session, so I need to make sure I'm stretching it out and also working out unwanted muscle adhesions (I'm quite prone to these). The Stick does wonders on tight muscles! Anyway, some leg presses, deadlifts, shoulder exercises, pull-ups and push-ups got the day going. Of course it wasn't complete until I did some planks! Then the trip to the coffee shop for the morning's coffee - today's choice was English Toffee.

After a few hours of werkwerkwerk I had to get outside and enjoy the fabulous day! So I hopped on my bike and headed for the hills! I did a 13 mile ride that had almost 1000 feet of climbing - and 600 of it was in the first 3.5 miles! yowee! The loop from work took me up behind the Broadmoor Hotel and not too far from the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. I think others were enjoying the day as there was a HUGE line of cars along the road that takes you to the zoo. I really didn't want to go back to work, but alas, I did. (I was also getting a bit hungry!)

A few more hours at work, picked up some extra pain medicine for Mars at the vet on my way home, then enjoyed the outdoors a bit more. Tim took Mars for a very short walk(~2 blocks) to hopefully strengthen his legs up and I took Juno for a bit longer walk (~1.5miles). Had some dinner and now it's time to work on some coaching things.

This One's From Top Chef!

I think I missed last week - not that I've been a slacker - just the opposite! Sunday I felt awful and ran a low-grade fever most of the day (probably from the cold St. Patty's Day run) and then with all the workouts, and taking my dog to the vet, it was quite a hectic week! But here's the recipe for this week:

http://recipes.bravotv.com/top_chef/season_4/episode_2_1/banana_bread.php

Today was a rest day from working out, but I have been going non-stop since I woke up! At least I can sit on my butt most of the day at work. Tomorrow is a big workout day - morning is a swim and track in the evening.

I'll keep you posted!

Race Report: St. Patty's Day 5k

Every year Colorado Springs has a St. Patrick's Day parade and before the parade is a 5k race downtown. This was the 25th running of the race and about 1400 folks participated. On the training schedule was a 50-60 minute run. The TNT team and I met at 8am not too far from the race start for our group workout. Instead of running the full workout, I did 30 minutes easy to warm up then headed over to the race start. I wanted to run strong, but not all out, especially in the base phase of my training. I figured a good tempo run would be OK.

So here's the report:
Start time: 10am, mostly cloudy and temps in the 30s (we got a few inches of wet snow yesterday, but this time of year it all melts rather quickly. Thanks goodness roads were dry.)
I was pretty cold, but being that it was a St. Patricks Day race, I wore my Jack Quinn's Running Club shirt and this fantastic green felt leprechaun-type hat I found at Walgreens.
The race was flat for Colorado standards, but heading south is clearly downhill (and all the runners that took off way to fast realize that) and heading north is definitely uphill (and those same runners really felt that!).
My time: 25:07, which is about an 8:04 minute/mile pace. That's my best 5k time in Colorado! (best overall was last November at 23:34 in New Orleans....really flat and sea-level, plus a definite taper.) I didn't want to go faster than 7:45 pace on the downhill parts and tried to keep as close to 8:00min/mile on the uphill sections. With an 8:04 average pace, I was just slightly slower than that. My T pace is about 8:20 min/mile and my I pace is 7:40min/mile so I did get a strong training run in. (Those paces are from Daniel's Running Formula, based on a mile time-trial I did a few weeks ago). Oh- and that time put me 15/135 in my age group and 72/792 overall females. So not too shabby!
My post-race recovery was some stretching, a bottle of Recoverite, half a banana and a couple bagel halves from Panera (Cinnamon Crunch and Banana Pecan) that were provided to racers.
Overall for not wanting to go all out I did OK, especially with a full week of training and no taper for the race. My right hip has been a bit tight and I certainly felt the hipflexor/abductors. Planning on a massage this week for sure!

Mars started his treatment

Last week I took Mars to an internal medicine specialist for an ultrasound. They saw that both of his adrenal glands appear to be enlarged, which pretty much confirmed the previous suspected diagnosis of Cushing's Disease. Since both were enlarged it is most likely a pituitary tumor causing it. She recommended treatment so we started that last night. He's on 750mg of Lysodren twice a day for a week. We'll take him back for the ACTH stimulation test next Thursday and hopefully his cortisol levels will be in the normal range. The drug is pretty nasty - DDT derivative, we have to wear gloves when administering it since we don't want to ingest any of it at all. It basically is supposed to kill much of his adrenal so when the pituitary tumor send the signals, the adrenals can't respond fully to the stimulus. We can't do much about the pituitary tumor - pretty sure that would require doggie brain surgery! So far after 3 doses he's doing just fine. We're hoping the dosing goes well, if you give too much, you don't produce cortisol and that can be even worse than too much. We have a prescription of prednisone just in case...

Now onto other things, like training! There are 16 weeks until the Loveland Lake to Lake race, so my official training has begun. I'm using a combination of the Team in Training schedule and the Triathlete Magazine Training Plan book to get appropriate workouts. So here's what this week looks like so far:

Monday:
-morning swim of 1400yds (300wu, 8x25 drills, 4x100m.s., 8x25 kick, 300 cd).
I'm working on getting the catch timed right - I have been waiting too long (a lot of gliding) to start it.
-lunch bike ride at the gym in the spin room. I can adjust the seat and handlebars better, and the seat is a bit more comfortable than the sandard stationary bike on the main workout floor. It was a 60 minute foundation ride, kept my HR around 145-150 after a 10min wu. Did a 15 minute cool down.

Tuesday = Track!
But before the track I did some strength training over lunch. Some legs, but mainly upper body, especially the back and shoulder.
Track practice was great, but of course hard!
it went down as follows:
1miles walk wu.
800m easy pace
1200m T pace (I nailed it at 6:15! - 2:05/400m)
400 recovery
1200 I pace (a bit slow on the first 400, but the next two were dead on 1:55/400m)
400 recovery
1200 R pace. (This was hard to maintain, I was a few seconds too slow each lap)
400 recovery
2x200 R pace - focus on form, 200 recovery.
Then plyometrics! High kneews, butt kickers, skipping, and bounding
800m easy cool down.
Long workout!!! But good as always. My abductors were tightening up so I need to incorporate them a little more into my strength training routine.

Wednesday
Didn't get to bed until late (Tim had a meeting at the house and it didn't get over until after 10pm). Just a bike ride on the trainer with 6x20s Power intervals - Big Gear! with 2:40 rest. Total time on bike - 60 minutes.

Thursday - swim and run!
-morning swim of 1600yds (300wu, 8x25 drills, 4x100 fartlek - 25ascend/25 decend, 4x50 sprint, 8x25 kicking, 300 cd). The cool down actually felt pretty relaxed. Need to keep working on my flip turns, those didn't work so well today. and my breathing wasn't smooth - felt too shallow. It's always something!
-lunch run around quail lake. 4 laps at E pace (ok, a little faster than E pace) and then 3 sets of 100yd strides. Those strides really loosened up my legs after the run. Which was a good thing because I had a long meeting to sit through that afternoon!

Tomorrow is mainly a rest day, but I think I will do an easy swim, maybe 1000yds with plenty of rest. Just want to work on feeling more relaxed in the water. And tomorrow night is swim practice with the Team in Training folks! That should be fun. Which reminds me, I need to get the workout schedule updated now...

Banoffee Pie

It's almost St. Patty's Day and this recipe comes from my sister who lives in Ireland. Apparently it is a popular dish over there.

Get a pre-baked pie crust (or bake one yourself...any variety should work).

Take 1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk and heat in a saucepan on med-high heat until it turns caramel/toffee like. I'm guessing you'll want to stir it constantly.

Pour the now toffee-like sweetened condesnsed milk into the pie crust.

On top of that layer some sliced bananas (sliced any way you want!)

Cover the entire thing with as much whipped cream as you want.

Refrigerate until chilled. Now you have Banoffee Pie. I'm going to make some this weekend!!!!

Ha!

Chocolate Chip & Banana Pudding Parfaits

It's banana-time! I had a few bananas left over from Saturday's group training, so here is how I used some:

Chocolate Chip & Banana Pudding Parfaits
1) Bake chocolate chip cookie mix into bar cookies (13x9" pan - just follow the instructions on the package). Let cool.

2)while the cookies are baking, make the pudding
3 tablespoons cornstarch, 2c water, 1/4 teaspoon salt
and mix in a medium saucepan
Over medium heat add:
14oz sweetened condensed milk, 3 egg yolks beaten

Stir until thickened (I think it took at least 10 minutes) and mix in 1-1/4Tablespoon vanilla and 2 Tablespoons butter. Cool.

Where are the bananas, you ask....don't worry, they are here! Just slice up a banana of whatever ripeness you prefer!
Then make your desserts - cut out the edges of the cookies and crumble them. Layer cookie, pudding, and sliced banana in parfait glasses or whatever serving dish you like. However you layer and however many layers you have, end with pudding. them put some whipped cream on top and a few chocolate chips as a garnish and you're good to go!
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Good thing I did 75 minutes on my bike trainer yesterday and swam this morning! Great dessert but it sure is rich! I hope you enjoy!

Hills and Tires

Great team workout today! The TNT tri folks and the run-walkers met up at Cottonwood Creek Park and headed up to a nice hill for some more repeats. 6 were on the schedule, but most of the tri folks just did 4 as we needed to get to Bicycle Village for a bike clinic. The awesome folks there went over how to change a flat tire and basic bicycle maintenace. Sarah brought bagels and I brought bananas (of course!) to feed the team and leave the rest with the BV shop folks.
But back to the run....from the park, we walked then jogged a bit over 2 miles to the "start line." Coach Mitch used flour to mark the path so we could find our way and also and the start line. Over a walkie-talkie a quarter-mile up the hill, we heard the "on your marks.......get set.....beeeeeep!" They we hoofed it up. My times:
1) 2:13
2) 2:03 (paced off the lead guys who really sped it up!)
3) 2:05
4) 1:59 (Last one is the fastest one!)

Then we jogged back down the hill the 2+ miles back to the car and sped off to BV for the clinic.

A little plug for Bicycle Village since they are very supportive of Team in Training. Thanks to Keaton for all the helpful hints, and thanks to Chris for getting it set up. And of course thanks to Stephen, Coach Charlotte, and the others who are all very friendly and helpful to the TNT team members! We very much appreciate the help you give us!


On a sidenote - I was surfing the Specialized Bike and checking out the 2008 Tarmac (I have a 2006). I can't believe they made one in orange and blue! I know I live in Bronco Country and am a U of Illinois alumnus, but orange and blue to me will always be Florida Gator colors. GO 'NOLES! :-)

Chemistry Revisited and Flip Turns

A friend's daughter is taking high school chemsitry and needed a tutor. Since I have a chemistry degree and enjoy tutoring, I was more than happy to take on the task. It's been great revisiting the basic chemical principles, and I really think it is starting to make sense to her. I know it is one more thing to add to my week, but I'm having a great time doing it!

As usual, it's been a busy week. Here's a taste of the training done this week:

Tuesday at the Track
Another great workout run by Coach Mitch...
~1 mile walk to warm up
800m easy jog
1600 at Tempo pace (for me 2:05/400m)
400 recovery
1200 at Interval pace (1:54/400)
400 recovery
800 at Interval pace
400 recovery
400 at Repetition pace (1:48/400)
800 jog/walk recovery

Tuesday was a big workout day since I swam about 1500yds in the morning and did some strength training over lunch. These days are great since you really eat all day to fuel for the workout and make sure you've eaten enough for the next!

Wednesday: swim in the morning (easy day of about 1000 yds just focusing on form). I'm really working on getting my elbows high and keeping my body streamlined.
Lunch time: 50 minute spin on one of the resistance spinners in the "spin room" at the gym. It's a little more configureable to seat height and handlebar position than the stationary bikes out on the main aerobic floor. Plus it has better toe clips than those awful rubber straps. I just wore my mountain bike shoes for the stiff soles. But user beware! I was about launched a few times as the spin wheel takes a few seconds to slow down - you just can't stop pedaling!

Thursday - today! Another morning swim of about 1500yds. I feel my stroke is coming along - as long as I keep my shoulders, back and lats stretched out this season I may have a chance at some faster swim times. The excitement of the day - I actually did a few flip turns! I've been working on them the last few weeks at the pool I still have to master the push-off and breathing timing, but I'm getting better! Did a nice flip with my feet landing on the wall. Shannon and I will film our strokes this weekend so I'll try a few for the camera and see how I look!

Time to play Rockband!

Banana Fruit Salad

It's Monday night, and that means banana recipe time! Here's a link to fruit salad made with bananas. Yum! Slightly sweet, but with nuts for a little protein. I'm sure you can substitue walnuts or your favorite nut if you don't like pecans.

Today's training - I got up a little before 5am to get a 50 minute ride in on my trainer before work.
15 minute warm-up
5x20s Power intervals (big gear) with 2min recoveries
~25 minutes easy spin/cool down to total 50 minute ride.

Sometimes it feels great to get the workout out of the way in the morning. This means I have the rest of the day free! Tomorrow is swimming, strength and track practice!

I'm fundraising again!

Just a quick note on my weekend training and that I have decided to fundraise again for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, even though I don't have to as a coach.

I'm doing this once again in honor of my great aunt Margie who had multiple myeloma. She was an active woman who I believe would be proud of what others are doing to support those with blood cancers.

Our local team hero is Kari Schultz, a mother of two who went through treatment for a second time of non-hodgekin's lymphoma last summer.

If you would like to contribute, please visit my website:
http://www.active.com/donate/tntrm/DrummerTri

Training notes:
Saturday - Hill repeats with the run-walk team!
~100 foot gain over 400m - 4 repeats with active recovery (walking back down the hill)
1) 2:30
2)2:25
3) 2:22
4) 2:19

woohoo! got just a tad faster on each one!

Then next was the tri team group workout at 9am. The plan was an easy bike ride at the Air Force Academy. That's what we did, though it was a little chilly - about 36 degrees with a light snow/rain. The roads were clear but a bit wet. Bike got soooooo dirty! (Took it to the car wash this afternoon to wash off all the dirt.) I think we were out about 40ish minutes, then some of us hit IHOP to warm up. Strawberry BANANA pancakes - Yum!

What a week!

It sure doesn't feel like I had Monday off! Work has been hectic with down tools and a ton of data to analyze. I didn't get home until after 7pm tonight. Now I've got to get ready for tomorrow's first group ride! Here's hoping the weather cooperates!

Now a training report:

Tuesday- track practice with the run/walk team was fantastic! How can a track workout be fantastic you ask? First, it was with a great group of our TNT run/walk and tri folks. Second, I must explain that I have a love-hate relationship with the track. The hate comes in the actual running of intervals, the love is when it is all over and recovery is done. It's a great feeling to know I've run hard and survived the effort. (at least until the next day when the soreness kicks in!) The workout consisted of a posture lession by Coach Mitch and then a "best effort" mile for pacing info. Then we did some 800m intervals with a 400 recovery. I did some of those easy and chatted with the team, then ran the last one pretty hard. So a fantastic workout!

Wednesday - easy swim (1100yd or so) in the morning and easy spin at lunch (40 min)
Thursday - short strength training/core at lunch
Friday - easy swim (1200yd) in the morning

Tomorrow - early run with the run/walk and then short bike with the tri folks.

President's Day Recipe

Being that it is President's Day and Monday (Mondays = banana recipe day!), I tried to find a recipe from the White House with bananas in it. Here is what I found thanks to Google...

Banana Filling for Layer Cakes: (http://www.homemade-dessert-recipes.com/banana-cake-recipes.html)
You can easily make a banana cake recipe out of almost any white cake recipe by using this simple cake filling recipe taken from "The White House Cook Book" by Hugo Ziemann, Steward of the White House, and Mrs. F. L. Gillette, published by The Saalfield Publishing Company, New York, in 1913.
Make an icing of the whites of two eggs and one cup and a half of powdered sugar. Spread this on the layers, and then cover thickly and entirely with bananas sliced thin or chopped fine. This cake may be flavored with vanilla. The top should be simply frosted.

Then there is http://www.collinstreet.com/pages/banana_cake - a cake you can order from a former white house pastry chef.

And not white house related but it just looked really good from Bobby Flay:
Milk Chocolate Banana Pudding

Joined a New Gym
These last few days have been a bit adventursome regarding where I will workout. I've been swimming at the city aquatic center - it's right on my way to work and $95 for a three month pass. They usually run specials to get a fourth month, so I've been going there most of the year except in the summer when the neighborhood pool is open. I've also been a member of Planet Fitness, which bought the local World Gym locations. My work had a really good deal with them - $36/month for Tim and myself. They don't have a pool, hence the city pool membership.

This all really starts when Planet Fitness took over the local World Gyms about 6 months ago. PF has a "judgement free zone" philosophy, where it is trying to create a comfortable environment for people to work out. They got rid of all the heavy weights (not that I use them), reduced the number of stations like bench press, smith machines, and also got rid of most of the functional core stuff like medicine balls, swiss balls, and bosu balls. They even got rid of the scale in the locker room- if someone is trying to gain/lose weight, how are they supposed to monitor their progress if they dont' have a scale at home? They even posted a dress code, most of which is fairly typical for a gym (no jeans) but the bottom line of the code says "...subject to our judgement." Wait a sec...I thought this was a Judgement Free Zone?!?! There is also a big sign - the "Lunk Alarm" that defines a lunk as one who drops weights, grunts, or judges. Again, isn't the fact that they posted this definition a way of judging certain people - I suppose only the people they don't want in the gym?

Well, we kept the membership since it was so cheap, even though we were a bit uncomfortable with the new business philosophy. Last Friday Tim was in the gym doing the bench press. He was by himself (no spotter) and had fairly light weight. But unless you are super-controlled, the last bit of motion to put the bar back on the rack after a set can make some noise (metal on metal isn't always quiet.) This was too loud for the management, as they must have thought he was disturbing the 6 other people in the gym and asked him to keep it quiet. ??? Tim responded by saying he didn't know how to comply to that request, as he wasn't being any louder than anyone else and pointed out that he could hear the others. The employee, who later identified himself as the regional manager, said he would have to find a way to comply. Tim's response - I'll find another gym and the employee was happy to fill out the cancellation form. What a way to treat your customers!

The fun part is that I had just bought another $95 swim pass that morning and if we were going to find another gym, most of the others in town have pools. So today I got to drive over town, first to cancel the swim pass I just bought. No problems there, they said they would refund the money to my credit card. Then to the next gym - 24hour Fitness. It is more expensive, but my work does have a corporate discount with them so that helped bring the cost down. They said they've gotten many frustrated former PF customers. Then I stopped by the location of PF that I go to over lunch, as the employees there have always been friendly with me. I wanted to make sure the membership was cancelled and get a phone number. I explained the situation and they were apologetic but appeared to have seen it before. They certainly didn't try to retain my membership.

Guess I just vented a little, but geez - it is frustrated to be treated poorly by someone taking your money. It's not a bad thing to change gyms, as with 24Hour I will have a bit more flexibility in the times I can workout (the pool is always open) so I can get in some longer swims before work if I can get out of bed early enough! Tomorrow I will try out the pool!

Gonna Be a Rockstar!

I finally get to join the ranks of the Rockstars! Maybe (definitely) it isn't romantic, but I got the video game Rockband for Valentine's Day! I'm already a "guitar hero," but now I can be a drum hero! Totally fun game - just hit the colored drum pads at the same time as the colored rectangles cross the line on the screen and bam! - you're playing the drums with your favorite bands. No more need to put on the headphones and crank up the volume to play along to your favorite songs and hope you are getting it right.

Training News
The first group TNT triathlon workout was today. We did a little warm-up jog, went over some stretches, and a few plyometric exercises and then did an easy 30 minute run along the trail in Monument Valley Park. The run/walk team met at 7am, and some of the runners were still hanging out when we got there munching on the bagels and hot drinks their coach had for them. High standards to live up to! But I suppose if he makes his team meet at 7am in the middle of February he owes them something! The sun was warming things up nicely by our 9am meeting time. Hopefully the group had as much of an enjoyable time as I did!

In fact, the day was so nice I had to go for my first bike ride of the year out on the roads. I took a ride just slightly over 10 miles - simply headed north out of the neighborhood. It's downhill for the first 1.5 miles (about a 200 foot elevation drop) then a gradual incline to gain 500 feet over the next four miles. Then I just turned around and came back the way I came. It was windy coming out of the south, so the downhills weren't as fast as they could have been. There are a few stoplights and sand still on the road from the winter snows so I was being a little extra cautious. It was just wonderful to get outside and ride!

Quick Update

Last night was the Kickoff for the 2008 Summer TNT Season. Right now we have about 14 triathlon team members, about a third doing the long course race and half doing either the 5430 Sprint or Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to help coach this group - we have quite a few TNT alumni along with some motivated first time TNT-ers.


Today's workouts:
1700 yd swim before work. That's right, folks - I get up early to swim before work. I have to be at work at 8am and the pool opens at 6:30. That gives me 45-60 minutes of swim time.
250 mixed stroke warm up
8x25 drills (focussed on high elbows)
5x150 with 15s rest
4x25 fast w/20s rest
6x25 kicking
250yd mixed stroke cool down.

Didn't get the chance to work on flip turns today - I think Friday I'll have a little extra time since I will do a shorter workout. I hope there is hot tub time as well!

30min easy run at lunch. Ran 3 laps of Quail lake at an easy pace. Then I did 4 sets of strides. I found a fairly flat section of sidewalk and accelerated from sign post to sign post - probably pretty close to 100yds. The weather was absolutely amazing! I think it was in the mid-50s when I ran and it got ove 60 degrees today. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 20s (yuck!) and snowy, though "they" keep revising the snow forecast lower and lower (don't mind that).

Banana Pancakes with a Punch

It's time for this week's Banana Recipe. It's an easy one...

Banana Pancakes with a Punch!
Take your favorite pancake mix (I like Bob's Red Mill 10 Grain) and add to the mix (approximate amounts to 1 c. mix):

1 sm-med mashed banana
1/2 scoop soy protein powder

Then just follow the directions on the package. You may need to add a little extra water to offset the protein. Then just make 'em on your griddle like you would regular pancakes. Adds a little extra protein to your pancake! These freeze nicely so I make several servings worth and put them in freezer containers. Just microwave when you are ready to chow down on a great breakfast or any meal for that matter - especially that post-workout meal! They taste great with honey, and I'm sure some peanut butter and chocolate chips would be fantastic for an extra treat.

If you make these, let me know how you like them!

Sunday - Sunday - Sunday!

I guess football Sundays are now over! Not that I spent a whole lot of time watching pro ball (especially since my team was the 1-15 Dolphins). Started today off with a swim session - a friend offered to film me, which was great, as she was able to get different angles than when I just set-up my tripod at the end of my lane. There are still plenty of things for me to work on but I am doing quite a bit better, in my opinion. I am happy that I seem to be getting a decent amount of extension, though there is is room for more, especially with my left side. Tomorrow I have another swim session, about 1600 yds.

I didn't get out and run this weekend. Yesterday was gorgeous, but I used it as a rest day. I had been planning on Saturday being easy swim and run day, but since Ruby thought Sunday would be easier to get a lane in the pool, we switched the swim to today. Tomorrow is a swim/run day so I just decided to skip the run.

Didn't do too much else today - some cleaning, I suppose. How can I say this - I despise cleaning. And so does my husband, probably more so than me since he'd never clean a bathroom, even when it is obvious it needs it. I wonder if he realizes how much time it takes, as he doesn't get why I get stressed out when there is so much to be done. Guess I haven't "trained" him right. ;-) But he did do some laundary, vacuum, and steam vac some today so I have to give him credit! He is also getting a little better about cleaning up the table after we are done eating. Sometimes, though, we just have to say, "men!" with a big sigh!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for the next banana recipe.

Still Winter and Good Workouts

I'm not a big fan of cold weather so I can't wait until it warms up. It probably won't be consistently warm (say 60 degress) until April, but I can always hope! The powers that be are forecasting upper 40s and sunny for Saturday, which is actually pretty nice for Colorado winter. The sun is a lot stronger at 6000+ feet and the dry air makes it feel warmer than, let's say, Illinois. This means the run I've got on my schedule for Saturday should be quite enjoyable. I'm looking forward to getting off the treadmill and running outside.

The workouts for this week are going well. I'm basing them off workouts in the Triathlete Magazine's Book of Training Plans for "level 5 sprint race" base phase. I figure using that as a guide will get me into a second base phase for the olympic distance plan, which is 16 weeks and my race is 20 weeks away. It's early in the training season so it's important for me to keep it easy and short. Time to build endurance and get the muscles used to training again. I do like how it incorporates some short intervals in each sport about once a week to remind the muscles how to move fast. They short enough that probably at least 95% of the workout is still easy/moderate aerobic effort.

Here's a sample of today's workout:
Morning Swim:
250yd warm up (mixed stroke)
8x25yd drills (I use fins and do Total Immersion-style drills) 10s rest
5x150yd swim fartlek - each 150 with twice through 50yd build (accelerate), 25yd descend (slow down), 15s rest between each 150
4x25yd sprint with 20s rest (these felt pretty good today - felt like I was gliding through the water)
4x25yd kicking drills - kick on back for 2, kick on side for 2
250yd cool down (mixed stroke)

Lunch run: Though it was probably warm enough to run outside today, as the sun was shining, I didn't bring warm running clothes to work so I did this on the treadmill
0.5% incline
5 min walk to warm up, increasing pace to 15min mile
30 min easy run. Kept heart rate aerobic - used my heart rate monitor. pace ranged from 5-5.6mph (12min/mile-10:42 min/mile)
4x20s "strides" - accelerated to 8-8.5mph over 20s, walked 40s recovery at 3.0 mph between.
5 min cool-down walk

It all felt good, even though I have a bit of sinus congestion today. Didn't interfere with my workouts (had enough energy, nose wasn't running...)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Here it is - the first of the weekly banana recipes! It is one of my favorite when the bananas get just a little too ripe (and yes, mom, they even get too ripe for my taste.)

Recipe modified from The Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook (c)1993 p. 373

Ingredients:
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. mashed ripe bananas (~3 bananas)
1/3 c. vegetable oil (I use canola oil)
1/4 c. milk
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
8-12 oz. chocolate chips*

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir eggs, banana, oil and milk until well blended. Add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir until just moistened. I use my kitchen aid mixer - love it! Stir in chocolate. Pour into greased 9x5" loaf pan. Pampered chef baking stone loaf pan is great! Bake for 55 minutes (I usually need about 60-65) or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan to cool on wire rack.
* Recipe really calls for 4 oz baking chocolate chopped into chunks and 1/2 c. nuts. I'm not much of a nut fan in my sweets (and this bread is more like cake) so I just throw in most of a bag of chocolate chips. Saves me chopping time as well.
I hope you enjoy! Check back next week for another great banana recipe.

Today's workout:
60 min on trainer:
20 minute warmup and spin ~100rpm with hr ~130
7x1 min "climbs" big gear, VO2 max-type effort with 2 min easy spin recoveries
9 minutes spin hr ~130
10 minute easy spin cool-down.

Van Halen!!!

I've been a Van Halen fan for a long time. I suppose my first album was 1984 (I turned 10 in 1985.) so I caught the tail end of the David Lee Roth years. We had gotten cable around that time and MTV played a lot of "Hot For Teacher," "Jump," and "Panama." I aslo followed David Lee Roth's solo career through the mid-late 1980's, certainly enjoying his presence on MTV. I will fess up that my room had a lot of DLR posters. Van Halen with Sammy Hagar had many, many mainstream rock hits so it was hard not to follow them as a teenager. I own almost all of Van Halen's albums (can't say I ever bought Van Halen III with Gary Cherone, but don't know anyone who did) and just really enjoy Eddie's guitar, Alex's drums, and DLR's vocals. I suppose it was a "childhood dream" to see David Lee Roth in concert and last night I fulfilled that a second time, but even better.
I was first able to see him after my freshman year in college (1994) - I learned he was playing club La Vela in Panama City Beach (I was in staying in Tallahassee for the summer) so I grabbed two tickets and a friend and hit the show. Honestly I don't remember much other than I had a really good time. He played his big hits and a few of the old Van Halen hits as well. Never did I think he would join back up with the Van Halen brothers for a tour. But of course - 30 years after VH's first release, why not. David Lee Roth has always won the polls for the best VH frontman. Put any of the the feuds aside to make tons of money! So when my brother had an extra ticket to the show in Denver for last night, I was totally there! (Sorry you couldn't make it, Elissa!)
Here's a summary of last night's Van Halen experience:
4:30pm - leave Jason's house and pick up Rick and Laura
5:30pm - Arrive at Hacienda Colorado for some fantastic mexican food with another of Jason's coworkers and his wife.
7:30pm - We are now at the Pepsi Center and pick up our tickets from will call and find out where we are sitting. Section 146, row 8. I'd say less than 40 feet from the stage on the side, and just slightly above stage height. Can we say awesome seats?!!!
8pm - the opening act Ky-Mani Marley with some Reggae tunes. Don't know if he is a "true" Marley or not, but it was a nice, 30 minute set.
9pm: Out comes David Lee Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen (replacing Michael Anthony). What followed was two hours of rock-n-roll, singing along, and ear-to-ear smiles. And for being 52, David Lee Roth still looks fantastic (sporting the smooth chest now). Everything they played was from the album 1984 or earlier, but wow - did they have a lot of great songs from 1978 through 1984. A classic Van Halen reunion. They all looked liked they were having a blast the entire show. The Pepsi Center looked to be sold out and it was nice and loud. I had earplugs in for the first few songs, but took them out since they filtered out the crowd noise and I could hear myself sing (not a good thing). I figure I don't go to rock shows very often so I'd live with the loudness in true rock-show fashion. Worth it!

Check out this link for some pics of the show from the Rocky Mountain News:
SLIDESHOW
Bottom line: I got to see Van Halen with David Lee Roth. sweet! Not to mention it was a very entertaining show. Definitely one for the personal history book.