DC Nations Triathlon 2014

I participated in the 2014 DC Nations Triathlon! I was super excited to be able to do this! Scott even got to come with me this time :) 

Check out my sweet girl, racked all by herself!

Here is the break down of the race:

Swim in the Potomac: 1/2 mile *unfortunately it rained the night before the race and the Potomac was soiled with sewage!! We did not get to swim :(*
Transition 1: This is where we corralled and started our race. It took me 3:09 to get my shirt and socks and shoes on.
Bike: 16.5 miles, which ended up being 16.67 miles and I did it in 56:07, another PR for my bike! I love these aerobars! Check me out!! Check out my bike course here. 

Transition 2: 1:31 to drop off the bike and get moving to the run
Run: 3.1 miles in 31:46!! I RAN THE WHOLE THING! I was super pumped! I wish we would have swam for it to be legit, but nonetheless, I still ran the whole way. I wasn't sure it was going to happen...I got bad leg cramps at first and thought I was going to walk, but I talked my self through it and then I was fine :) I even had enough energy to pump it up at the end! Check out my sprint to the finish! Check out my run here. 

I was super proud to finish this race! The medal was awesome :) See...

I completed this race in 1:32:31, not too shabby! "IF" we would have swam and I still maintained this, I would have added about 19 minutes to this time. I'm happy with my success :)

I am glad we got to visit the city too. We saw a lot of monuments and I even got to see them again on the course. This is one event I'd like to do again. Here's to a great workout! Until next time...

April 

September workouts

I will make sure to do a better job at posting my workouts and keeping them up to date! With that said, I will post as I go on this entry :) So, it will be incomplete until the end of the month!

September 1st: Neighborhood run! I ran 3.01 miles in 31:25. Check out my route here. It is funny how you forget how hilly an area is! 

September 2nd: lap swim in the pool. I went 900 yards in 19:49. i swam the whole distance without stopping to simulate the real swim. I averaged 2:12 per 100 yards.

September 3rd: I did the Spin 45 minute class. I used my heart rate monitor for the first time! What did it tell me...I wasn't work hard enough! Check out my stats! I need to figure out how to display the heart rate on my watch and then I will do better at being in the correct zone. 

September 4th: Swam 900 yards in 19:39! I am getting faster :) I, again, swam the whole thing without stopping. I remember I used to not be able to do even 100 yards without getting winded!!

September 7th: DC Nations Triathlon! I will do a separate post for this one.

September 10th: After taking off a few days after the Triathlon, I decided to get a short run in. I did 2.25 miles on campus in 24:00. I think I started off too fast and faded a little! You can view my run here.  

September 11th: I ran 1 mile on the track and then did 160 reps!! I'm crazy! I ran my mile in 7:39 (another PR for me here lately) and then did 160 reps in 12:42. Here is what I did:
Ran 1 mile: 7:39
10 reps each of push-ups, switch lunges, plank/knee-in, squat jumps, burpees, alternating side squat with 15lb weight, squat then arm raise with 15lb weight (like a kettle bell swing), sit down military press with 5lb weights, kick backs with 5lb weights, butterfly's with 5lb weights, side squats with 15lb weight, push-ups, squat jumps, burpees, plank/knee-in, and switch lunges. WOW! I was on fire!

September 15th: Lap builders outside! I did the following:
Run a lap (0.42)  3:19
10 reps each of push-ups and switch lunges 1:10
Ran a lap 3:36
10 reps each of burpees and plank/knees-in 1:55
Ran a lap 4:00
10 reps each of push-ups and squat jumps 1:53
Ran a lap 3:45
10 reps each of push-ups and side squats and jump in the middle 2:18
Ran a lap 3:54
Walked a half of a lap (0.24) 4:05
I really wanted to do 7 laps total, but only got 5.5 in. I completed this in 29:58, not too shabby to get 2.46 miles in and 80 reps in 30 minutes! You can view my run/reps here.

September 16: Lap builders outside! Here is the breakdown:
Ran a lap (0.42) 3:28
10 reps each of push-ups and switch lunges 1:00
Ran a lap 3:41
10 reps each of push-ups and plank/knee-ins 1:18
Ran a lap 3:50
10 reps each of push-ups and squat jumps 1:57
Ran a lap 3:54
10 reps each of push-ups and alternating side squat jump-ups 1:40
Ran a lap 4:07
Walked a cool down half lap in 3:49
Total distance was 2.41 miles and I completed this exercise in 28:47. I did it 1:11 faster than yesterday...but I also did not do burpees! I am not sure if this matters or not...you can view my route here.  I love doing these workouts, they really do help build my stamina!

September 17: I ran 2.71 miles on campus in 26:49. This gave me a pace of 9:50. You can view my route here. It was a bit hot and I lost my breath quickly! I also used my heart rate monitor for the first time on a run and got some great data!

September 18: I took a spin class that lasted 35 minutes. You can view my heart rate information here. Each person's max heart rate and intensity level will differ, so start paying attention to where you want your training to be. 

September 21: I finally got my Spinning Certification! This class was long and the workout at the end of the day was intense...but I loved it! You can view my heart rate here. We worked for an hour and 20 minutes on Cadence Training! WOW...it was an eye opener! 

September 25: This weather is AMAZING! I got a great 3 mile run in today. I didn't blow it out, but I also did not try to run my heart out! It was a good medium paced run on campus. I ran 3.02 miles in 29:51, which gives me a pace of 9:53. My Garmin died right at a mile, so I only have heart rate information until then, which you can view here. So, I used Mapmyrun this time to track my progress, and you can view that here. 

September 29: I had a great campus run today. I went 2 miles in 19:36 and paced 9:41. You can view my route and heart rate here. I am impressed with myself as I wanted to stick to a 9:40 pace and did! I stayed in the 90% to 98% of my max heart rate on this run! Once I got done running, I went inside and did 100 reps in 8:11. You can view my heart rate here. I did 10 reps each of the following:
Push-ups, switch lunges, wall plank/knee-in, traveling squat jumps, burpees, side-step lunges with a dumbbell swing (15 lbs), legs straight to seated straight abs*, and crunches with a twist to both sides. Then I did 20 bicycles. 
*legs straight to seated straight abs- to better describe these here is what I did: lay with your back flat and legs straight up in the air. Put your arms straight out to the side. Slowly drop your feet to the floor keeping your legs straight and sit up straight while bringing your arm from your sides to straight out in front of you. Then, slowly and controlled drop back down to your back on the floor and arms out to the side with your legs straight up. That is one! The point is not to flop back and forth, or fall with your back bent. It is a controlled movement that works your entire core...and really rocks!

Some people may wonder how to interpret their heart rate...don't worry...so do I! I round a great article to help understand where you would be for different workouts and training. Check it out from Active.com. One take away I have from this article is that I need to train move in Zone 2, which means slowing down. That seems hard when I want to be faster, but trusting the methodology will ultimately help my running. 

September 30: The last workout for this month! I decided to go for a swim. I went 700 yards in 14:44, which gives me a pace of 2:06 per 100 yards. I split this swim up into 2x300 and 2x50. You can view my workout here. I think I rounded out the month well! I look forward to what October will bring! Here's to the next workout. Until then...
April