Ride Yellow 2013

Well, the day finally came...retaliation and redemption for almost dying last year! However, I would not be able to completely be justified because I had to ride a shorter route this year. What am I talking about? Why, Ride Yellow of course! I did my first Ride Yellow lats year in June and dedicated myself to 37 miles. I. Thought. I. Died! It was crazy hard after about 29 miles and I completely gave out! But, last year I wasn't prepared for the intensity of biking. I had only had my new road bike for about a month and a half. I did this ride in 2:36:00, which is an average of 14.23 miles per hour. I only had my bike computer to go off of, but I do have an earlier post with my specifics in it. 

I have also bee very discouraged lately about how I look. I have gained about 6 pounds and about 5 inches...and I don't understand why. It makes me want to not workout, but I know that is not the solution. So, here is some great motivation for me from last year to this year. Check out my pictures!!

Last year, 2012:

This year, 2013:

Check out the differences in my legs (you can see between them!) and in my waist (my stretchy shirt doesn't need to stretch in the middle!). I was amazed when I saw the picture of me and Kamryn, a little girl that had cancer when she was born that I rode for, and then saw this year's picture! 

Check out me and Kamo from last year!

It is crazy that it takes pictures to show me that I have gotten smaller. I can see it in my face, neck, all over! Why is this not something I see everyday anyway?

So, on to this year. Well, I only had time to do 10 miles this time because I was in a wedding later that day and didn't want to be too tired or late! So, I took off and man did I have a good ride! I was the first 10 mile rider to round the corner so I got a police escort the whole way! I was also the first 10 mile rider to finish! I did 10.27 miles in 37:18, which is 16.5 miles and hour!! Woo Hoo! The only mile I did slower than 3:49 was mile one when we were all getting going. My best mile was 3:00 flat! If I can maintain a 3:30 mile for the Triathlon, then I can do that 16.5 miles in 58:00. This is my new goal! I cannot believe I had not biked in 7 months and am faster than last year! It felt great! You can view my route here. 

I am very pleased with my workout! I hope this motivates you to get to biking! It sure is fun :) Here's to the next workout. Until then...

April :)

I had a buddy to motivate me

I got to run with a friend today :) It was different and nice to have the company! It was also so very HOT! We had to walk 3 times to get water and air...but over all it wasn't a terrible run. We did 3.02 miles around campus in 31:08, which gave me an average pace of 10:19 per mile. You can view our route here. I think I may have started out too fast, but in the end I think I finished a little slow! I am glad I ran today though. I didn't want to workout, but knew I needed to. 

It is very hard to get discouraged when you may hit a plateau on weight and inches lost, trust me...I'm there, but don't let it get you down! Keep pushing through and know that what you do today will take effect later. So, keep it up all the time and you will continue to see results! 

Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April :)

Time to Bike

Well, since I had not used my bike for 7 months...I decided it was time to get that thing back on the road with my butt in the seat!! I made a commitment that I was going to ride 10 miles (mostly because I have the Ride Yellow event Saturday and needed to make sure I could at least go that far without dying!) So, I packed the bike and correct shorts and made a point to ride on Tuesday. 

I waited until the end of the day...it was a little less hot! I was nervous because my best mile had been in the 4 minute range...like maybe 4:15 last year. At the Tri, I did 16.5 in 1:05:01, which put me at 15.23 miles per hour. 

I went from the Payne Center parking lot to the Trace and back. It was hot...dry...and of course, I forgot I had water with me! I did, however, get in the zone quite quick. I stayed down in the cradle too. I got in a total of 9.84 miles, with 9.6 of them being good. I was back on campus for the last .26 and there was a lot of traffic! Still, even with the distractions, I got a good ride in with a good time! You can view my route here. I even got an achievement for being the fastest on the stretch of the Trace (well the fastest for that person who posted that course)! 

Here is my break down of my miles...I have to say, I didn't think I was going that fast!

Mile 1 4:12

Mile 2 3:18

Mile 3 3:51

Mile 4 4:05

Mile 5 3:43 

Mile 6 3:10

Mile 7 3:37

Mile 8 3:20

Mile 9 3:59

Mile 10 4:08 (.84 of a mile)

Total time 37:44 with an average speed of 15.6. I must have been doing good in my Tri last year because I wasn't that much faster than I was in that race. But, I WAS faster today after not riding for 7 months...imagine how I will be in the Triathlon this year!! I was very pleased with my fastest mile being 3:10. I only had 4 of the 10 miles over 4 minutes and the last one was because of traffic. I will say, this was a great workout for me! I felt great when I got done and I wasn't that sore the next day. I had some neck stiffness, which was to be expected, but over all I was feeling great! I also like that my last 5 miles were all in the 3 minute range. I only have to add 6.5 more miles to this and voila, I will have my total distance covered. Now, this was a flat and fast route...the Triathlon has some hills to it; but, I do get to go down a few good ones!

Here's to the next workout. Until then...

April :)

When in doubt, Swim it out

Lately I have felt that my workouts were not as effective as they had been over the last 6 months. So, I knew I needed to change it up. I have been running so much, here I am 4 months away from the Triathlon and I have only swam twice since last October and not biked at all! Today, I gave it my all in the pool...well, my all until I HAD to get out! I wish I had more time to dedicate to working out during the day. 

I got in a good 750 yards. I really wanted to go for 1000 and I could have! Usually (well, I only have 2 years of personal data to go on) I am a bit slow when I start out in the pool. I may get one or two 50 yard swims under 50 seconds and then I would be right at or over 50 seconds and end my workout with my average 100 yards somewhere around 1:50 or slower.

Well, today I was out of the gate with a 0:47 sec warm up lap! Uh oh...was I falling into the same routine...today, that answer would be NO! Here is my workout:
[SS means swim sprint and KB means kick board]

Warm Up
SS 0:47 
SS 0:46
KB 1:11
KB 1:08

Workout
SS 0:46
SS 0:46
SS 0:46
SS 0:45
SS 0:47
KB 1:07
KB 1:05
SS 0:46
SS 0:47

Cool Down
SS 0:48
SS 0:49

I was so impressed that not one of my SS was at or over 0:50! I even got better at my KB's; however, in the past I have done these on average at about 0:55 to 1:02. I ended my workout with my total swim time at 13:02 and my average 100 was 1:44. I was in the pool for about 30 minutes. This was one of those workouts that I could have just kept going. I wasn't tired when I got back to work, nor was I sore the next day!

It is days like this that make me believe I CAN do it! I have been feeling a bit down about how I look [even though my smaller clothes still fit, I have gained about 6 pounds!] It just gets discouraging to see that. But, I am going to keep my head up and move forward. I have a Triathlon to train for! 

Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April :) 

I ran and I ran...

Hey there! So, I see that slowly and quickly I have slacked off again on the posting! I am going to put a few workouts on this post. Life sure does have a way of sneaking up and taking time away...I feel like saying, "Swiper no swiping"! Dora reference...have a kid...it will happen more than you think! 

On May 29th I did a total of 2.61 miles with 2.01 miles in 19:35 and then walked .60 miles in 9:48. You can view my routes here and here. This run/walk also included 0:45 seconds of stairs. And when I say stairs...I mean stairs! There is even a level you can't see until you reach the landing! My thighs were on fire!!

On June 1st I ran hills in my neighborhood, 3.01 miles in 32:50. I ran for 2 miles then walked .25, then ran 0.5 and then walked .15 and finished running .10. You can view my route here. Check out that hill!

On June 3rd I did an indoor treadmill run for 15:02 minutes and went as far as I could. I got to 1.62 miles. Then I did some weights training. I did the following in 2 sets of 8:

Tricep kick backs (5lbs in each hand)
Butterflies to the side (5lbs in each hand)
Press ups (5lbs in each hand)
Squats and weight swing (15 lbs)
Squats and then leg lift to elbow - alternating sides (5lbs in each hand)

Then I did 2 sets of 10 spider push-ups [push-up then knee to elbow]

On June 5th I did a total of 3.01 miles with a 2.51 run in 25:11 and a .55 power walk in 13:05. You can view my routes here and here. It was so hot this day. My fingers began to tingle and I had a very dry mouth. I did not intend to just poop out on myself at the end...but I had to give myself a break! 

There, I have caught up to the lap swim and bike ride I just did...and I must say I did great! I will post on those soon :)

Here's to the next workout! Until then...

April :)