Pink Ribbon bake sale! Fundraising effort numero 2!

On Sunday evening after a wonderful weekend, I decided to bake some goodies for my coworkers. But here is the catch- I made everything in the theme of Breast Cancer Awareness. I sent an email early Monday morning saying I baked treats and that if you would like to make a donation to Tri to Save the TaTas you could. I would say my second fundraising effort was a success! Coworkers handed over that spare dollar they had sitting around their desks and a few made very generous donations directly to my team page. Thanks coworkers! I need to think of a few other fundraising events that will be fun and raise some cash...perhaps a beer pong tournament? ;) If you have any suggestions, leave a comment!

sugar cookies and cupcakes!

I made those ribbons out of pink chocolate- aren't I fancy?!

this has nothing to do with cupcakes but she sure is cute!!

happy hump day! 3 days away from the first tri of the season! Everyone cross their fingers there is no thunder on Saturday because then it would be turned into a duathlon (run, bike, run) and my freshly healed ankle will not like that much running!

AHH!

When is one supposed to find time to run/ bike/ swim/ prepare for this weekend when one is stuck at work until 10pm!?

damn you quarterly reporting-  you are f'ing up my week.

that is all.

Weekly Miles

As you can tell by the little Daily Mile tracker thingy to the right that I log all of my workouts. Daily Mile allows me to keep track of my miles and hours spent in the pool/ biking/ and running. It's quite convenient!

You get a "weekly training report" every Monday that details how your training was for the prior week.

I kicked booty this past week! Check out the stats:

Over 100 miles! 10 workouts! 9 hours! and more calories burned than 3 burritos!

Here is the breakdown of those miles:

Swim: 3.18 miles (5600 yards)
Bike: 91.3 miles (got almost all of my mileage here!)
Run: 7.1 miles

Along with the miles I also did 2 strength work outs.

It was a good week. Those miles are only going to increase as Ironman gets closer!

The Inaugural Burrito Ride and a Dress Rehearsal

Weekend Recap!

I was planning to run the Crystal City 5k on Friday evening, but once Kate suggested going for a beer instead I changed plans. Having a beer sounded much better than running a 5k in the rain! Fridays are my rest days anyway :)

On Saturday I met up with Emily and Katie for a long bike ride. We had discussed going about 40 miles but then when we were 20 or so miles in Katie says "How many are we doing today? 40? 50? 60?" Bring on the miles! We rode all the way out to what local cyclists and triathletes call the "T"...basically a T intersection all the way out River road with tons of rolling hills. I clocked 57 miles which is my longest ride yet! (last weekend I did do 80 miles but that was on two different rides!). The three of us rode really well together- Emily kicks ass on uphills- Katie flies down hills like she is being chased- and I lead the paceline on the flats for most of the way. Five miles from home we were so hungry that we stopped for burritos...and then the Burrito Ride was born! Nothing better than a long ride with awesome ladies and tex-mex. Caint wait for next time!

nothing says sexy like a bike helmet!

Sunday morning I went for my longest run since my ankle injury 7 weeks ago. I covered 5 miles in 42 minutes which is a great pace for me! I was very pleased since I didn't feel like I was pushing it at all and I had no ankle pain. I ran in my speed laces to test them out for next weekends tri!

After my run, I practiced my transitions for the race next weekend. I had done this before the Richmond Sprint but I needed a refresher! I set up shop in the middle of a service road close to my apartment. It was perfect- no cars and no people to wonder what I am doing!

dress rehearsal!

The rule of thumb is that you don't want to try anything new on race day- so I made sure to do the whole kit and caboodle today. I ran in the grass barefoot to my make shift transition area- put on my bike gear- ran with my bike to the "bike mount" line (which was just a line on the ground) - mounted my bike- rode around the service road a bit- dismounted my bike at the line- transitioned into all my running gear- and ran a bit. I am really glad I practiced because the first time I started running without taking my bike helmet off, the second time I forgot my hat and race belt, and both the first and second times I forgot to start my watch. FAIL. It took me a good 7 times to get it right. Let's hope I can execute it smoothly next weekend.

I also had to practice riding with this monster in between my aerobars!

It's a water bottle! My parents got it for me for my birthday. I don't ride with it normally but for a race it will be nice to have water right at my mouth when I want it instead of having to get off the aero bars to grab a bottle from my bike frame.

It's bed time! I have to be at work early since I have to leave early to get my butt kicked by the physical therapist. 6 days until the first tri of the season! I'm excited!

Five things Friday: confidence boosters

1. Work has been super duper busy this week with late nights and no lunch breaks but I still managed to get in every single one of my workouts. I may have not have slept a full 8 hours every night but I can sleep when I'm dead, right? Or when Q1 close is over...
2. I am feeling super strong on the bike. My average mph has increased and I don't get tired nearly as quickly. I was barely sore after riding 80 miles last weekend! I am still learning something new every ride (like last weekend Phil told me there is a certain way to breathe while riding your bike...who knew!). I have worked a ton on pedal stroke, single leg drills, speed drills and endurance and it is really paying off.
3. 
   During my swim workout last night, after warming up a few hundred yards I did 1700 yards straight through as practice for my first tri of the season next weekend. I had never swam this long without a rest so I wanted to make sure I wouldn't drown :) Good news is that I did 1700 yards without stopping for a break. Better news is that I did it several minutes faster than I expected. Best news is that I felt like I could have kept swimming..which I did, but after a rest and a few sips of water!
4. Even with everything going on this week, I managed to eat dinner with Phil two nights. Dinner may have been at 9pm but hey, quality time is quality time and I'll take it. This time management thing is a serious skill.
5. My ankle is feeling great and my legs are nice and refreshed from my 6 week vacation of running. The other day I was able to run for 3 miles with no pain and at a pretty decent pace. I has concerns about running the 6.2 miles at next weekends tri but I think I'll be fine. It may not be as fast as I would hope, but that's ok!
   
   tons of fun going on this weekend! happy friday!

Weekend Recap: The start of total domination

This weekend was pretty awesome. In my post on Friday I listed a few goals I have for April- one of them being meeting my DC area blogger friends and another one being to seriously kick ass on the bike this month.

Friday night I had the chance to meet Beth and Katie while cheering on the runners at the 5k that was happening in Crystal City. We chatted about running and triathlons and agreed to meet again for some more blogger fun and perhaps a few bike rides :) I forgot to snap a picture though!

On Saturday morning Phil agreed to take me on a 60 mile bike ride along with one of his teammates. We hoped that the weather was going to hold out so we set out on our ride. Riding with Phil and his teammate Karl is always fun- they make me laugh by the insane (and sometimes gross) things they talk about. They are also both really strong cyclists so even when they "slow down" so I can keep up, I am getting my ass kicked! I did really well and managed to hold somewhere between 18-22 mph on the flats.

When we were 30 miles into our ride the skies opened up and we got totally drenched to the core. It's also really scary to be riding on hills when you can barely see a few feet in front of you! In true cyclist style we rode to the closest Starbucks that was 8 miles away and tried to warm up and dry off.

Once the sun was shining again we hit the road to head home. Lucky for us, Karl knew a short cut that shaved about 10 miles off the ride home. We were freezing. It was the most awful 20 mile ride home ever. Phil said that cursing and singing made him feel warmer so in between the f bombs he was singing jingles of how cold he was.

Once home I stood in the hot shower for at least 30 minutes. It was awful but I still got in a 50 mile ride!

Saturday concluded with ordering Pizza Hut and playing Rock Band in sweatpants :)

This morning Phil cooked up some banana pancakes to start our day. Obviously Brizzy had to help. My parents bought me this padded kitchen mat for Christmas and the pug thinks its her personal area to sit while you are trying to cook! Look at her stare at the spatula!

what a Fatty.

After stuffing our faces with pancakes we loaded our tri bikes in the car and headed 30 minutes south to Prince William Forrest Park to do a few loops on the scenic (but really hilly!) course. We wanted to avoid DC and the trails today since it is Cherry Blossom Festival time!

ready to go!

Prince William Forrest Park is really great for cyclists. There are very little cars and 1 stop sign for the whole loop which is just over 7 miles. Not to mention it is lined with trees and very pretty! Just be prepared for the hills.

Phil and I were both wearing outfits that matched our bikes so of course I took a picture.

We did one loop together and then Phil sped up. He was planning to do 5 loops and I was going to do 4. I knew he secretly wanted to try to catch up to me so I made sure to go fast enough that he would not be able to lap me. You'll be happy to know that he never caught up to me :) The loop is really hilly with hardly any flats at all. I was happy to have had an average speed of about 16mph with all of the hills (and a 50 mile ride not even 24 hours before!).

There is one hill with a pretty awesome descent. On the first two laps I got off my aero bars because it was scary going over 30mph while in the aero position. On the third loop I tried to keep my big girl panties on while going down the hill but when I looked down at my computer and saw that I was going 36.8mph I quickly got out of the aero position. It's so scary!! Maybe next time?

I managed to get in a great, very hilly, 28.78 miles while Phil got in round 35. I rode just shy of 80 miles this weekend at paces that I was very happy with. It was also a total confidence booster to tackle those hills on my tri bike. Her and I are getting along verrry well so far. The bike domination has begun!

so sweaty

When we got back from the ride, I remembered that I was cleared by my PT to go for  a twenty minute run!! My first actual run in SIX WEEKS!! I was not expecting much since I haven't ran in well over a month and I rode about 80 miles this weekend. Either way, I grabbed my ipod, laced up my shoes and hit the trail (which was super crowded!!).

lots of people at Gravelly Point!

I'm not sure if it was the pure joy of finally being able to run, the music pounding in my ears or just the grace of god but my legs felt shockingly AMAZING. I covered 2.6 miles in 22 minutes averaging a pace of about 8:27. Not too shabby given the circumstances! and no pain in my ankle at all! woop!

People were looking at me funny because I had this huge grin on my face as I whizzed past them. What? A girl can't (really really really) enjoy her twenty minute run!? Sheesh.

When I came in from my run Phil wasn't home for me to tell him how excited I was so I immediately called my parents and the conversation went like this:

me: I ran! I ran! and I rode 80 miles this weekend!
dad: You ran 80 miles? I thought they told you to only run for 20 minutes?
me: no, dad, I RODE my bike 80 miles. I cant RUN 80 miles.
dad: oh, okay. Yea that sounded like a lot.
mom (screaming from the background): Im proud of you Laur!

I am one happy lady right now!

Hope you had a fantastic weekend as well!

Hello, April!

I debated writing a funny April fool's post about something totally not true...like deciding to be done with triathlon and join a convent to become a nun.

I quickly decided against all of that because my parents read this blog (hi mom and dad!!) and I didn't want my mom calling me in hysterics. So I will stick to the traditional "Goodbye March, Hello April!" blabber.

All in all....I am glad to see March leave. It was a rough month dealing with not running due to tendonitis in my ankle. Being a cheerleader for the Shamrock marathon was really really hard because I wanted to be out there running it. I shed a ton of tears due to this silly ankle. Luckily for me, I can run for twenty minutes this weekend! Moving forward.

April is going to be fabulous! With the exception of work totally sucking because it is the end of the quarter and I will somehow have to find time to train while working late and through lunch (5am workouts, huh?). I look forward to adding running back into my routine gradually, becoming BFF with my bike(s), and having a little fun thrown in.

April Goals:

• Kick ass on the bike. Seriously rack up some miles. Total. bike. domination.
• Ease my way back into running to keep my ankle happy
• Continue to do my PT exercises for my weak muscles
• Rumpass in Bumpass!
• Bake at least twice
• Learn how to make mushroom risotto from scratch (um, help please?)
• Meet my DC area blogger friends in person
• Did I mention kick ass on the bike? Because I'm going to.

Happy April!!!