New Shoes

So it's time for me to start studying for the bar and re-learning all the things I've forgotten from the first year of law school, which means I suddenly have the urge to run random errands and update my blog. Weird.

Since the impromptu triathlon I have been running pretty regularly when the weather hasn't been literally insane, and I have been riding my bike to St. Paul every day for bar review courses. But after running the past couple weeks I've noticed that my heels have been hurting after running. I know that means I need new running shoes, but it's so hard for me to justify buying new shoes when the old ones still LOOK so nice!

After a bit of online research and emailing myself a 20% off coupon for Famous Footwear, I headed out to one of those suburban strip malls to do an afternoon of errands. Two hours later, I'm back in the car with some sweet kicks: 

I stuck with Asics, because I've had such great luck with them in the past. But this time, I made some big-boy moves and bought actual full-on, all-the-way running shoes (the Gel-Nimbus 12) priced at $189 at the Running Room. Luckily, my bargain alert was on high today, and with my coupon, plus an additional discount for Memorial Day, I scored these shoes for $99. BOOM.

I'll post a review later, because I'm about to leave for my first run around Lake Calhoun in the new shoes.

Impromptu Triathlon

Having set my sights on the Square Lake Triathlon in September, I settled back into the usual humdrum of law school and exercising when I had time or the weather cooperated. Enter Ann, a fellow law student and great friend, the Fruit at the Finish Triathlon, and why I decided to enter.

First, the chance to see the St. Johns/St. Bens campus, which I have heard about since my relocation to the Twin Cities was a huge incentive for participating. The bike and run course were to wrap through campus, the Lake Wobegon Trail, into the school arboretum and throughout a set of woods. A lovely way to start a spring morning in April!

Next, I was tempted by the indoor swim. April is way too cold for lake swimming in Minnesota, and I am still pretty scared of unknown lake creatures lurking in the depths. I can't do flip turns, but I knew my swim time in a pool would be far faster than my lake time last summer.

Ann also assured me that this was a relaxed race, not that competitive, and a great way to start the season. I was initially a little nervous, because I haven't been training anywhere near as hard as I did last summer, but with those words of assurance, I paid my $17 and made the commitment!

Flash forward to April 30. Minnesota is inundated with severe storms and heavy downpours. We drove to St. Johns hoping the entire ride that the rain would stop and we would have the sunny spring day we had planned on. The rain did eventually stop...2 hours after we had finished the triathlon. Competing in this so-called relaxed triathlon turned out to be one of the most hardcore things I have ever done. The swim was great, but the bike ride. Oh, the bike ride. Limited visibility, high winds, CROSS winds, cold, stinging rain, slick surfaces, it was nuts. By the time we got off our bikes and began the 5K, my feet were numb and my legs felt like sandbags.

But you know what faithful readers? This is just one more testament to willpower and friendship. Ann and I did the race side-by-side, had a FANTASTIC time, horrible weather aside, and the excitement from the race kept me in high spirits throughout the rest of the weekend, which during law school finals is saying a lot. I saw a bald eagle and heard about a million frogs chirping to each other, totally loving the rain. Now I'm concerned that the Square Lake tri might be too far away for my increased triathlon appetite, and I'm looking for a June or July race!

52 Degrees in the Twin Cities

Having become obsessed with the ten day forecast upon my move to Minnesota, I use this weather predicting feature fairly often to plan outdoor events. Today was no different. Knowing it was going to be in the 50s, I scheduled a run with Claire earlier this week, and we had a really great run together this morning along the Mississippi River. We were both working off hangovers, and today's run proved to be a satisfactory treatment.

Running with Claire is great, because she keeps a good pace, challenges me to pick up my speed, and we don't get to see each other too often, so we chat the whole run and the time just flies by. I canceled my gym membership earlier this week, so my last day at the gym is going to be April 14. But between scheduling running dates with Claire, and Rachael, who I run fairly often with as well, I think I will have ample opportunities to exercise. Claire is running her first 10K next week, Rachael signed up for a half marathon, and another friend, Lanser, is competing in her first triathlon this summer! Working towards my new triathlon goals and having some friends to keep me accountable is going to make this summer especially productive.

Bicycling Barristers

The above map is an approximate route of the bike ride I'm going to be doing every day this summer, twice a day, to my bar review course. The starting point is not at my apartment, just in case any of you stalkers out there were attempting to figure out my exact location. The ride is 8.5 miles each way and an estimated hour and a half commute roundtrip. I. AM. SO. EXCITED. I can't wait to start riding my bike again and really getting in some longer rides in the warm weather.

Even better, Erin lives near the Greenway, albeit a little further down the trail, and she plans on meeting up with me along the trail and finishing the ride together. I'm calling us the Bicycling Barristers. Maybe I'll even make t shirts. Studying for the bar 8 hours a day and still dealing with the additional pressure of not having a job has dampened the joy I typically experience in looking forward to the summer, but my daily bicycle ride is definitely something I can't wait for!

Guess Who's Back

Whats up, readers? It's been a long time since a new post, but that is all about to change. There are only two days left in March, and if there is a governing deity in this world, then the snow will be melting soon, and I will be training for my second triathlon!

Get ready for a summer full of excitement, sweat, and progress towards new goals. I have signed up for the Square Lake Triathlon sprint distance race, which will take place on September 10th. This race is different from last year in a number of ways:

1. new location 
2. longer course (.5 mile swim, 16.5 mile bike, and 5 mile run)
3. later date aka more training time 

Since the St. Paul triathlon I have done my best to stay in shape so I wouldn't have to start from square one again this summer. It has been tough, especially with my last year of law school not being as easy as I anticipated, but I've managed to maintain a fairly frequent gym routine. I'm looking forward to starting a new training program soon and having a schedule to follow every day. My goal is to start actually training after finals, oh and a little thing I like to call GRADUATION. Until then I plan on continuing to work about 5 times a week, but trying not to feel to guilty if I let school work take priority over the gym.

Like last year, Chauncey and I met up over spring break, but this time I went to Berea, Ohio to visit him. Luckily, Berea had much less snow than Minneapolis, and we were able to go running together a few times. This is about the time last year when I had made the decision to sign up for a tri and really challenge myself. Running with Chauncey this spring made me realize how far I have come in a year (at this time last year I couldn't run for more than a mile without stopping!), and it really made me excited for this upcoming season.

Stay posted for more updates and reader love!

Final Stats

Vacation Sports posted the final times for the triathlon yesterday, and I was thrilled at the results of my first race! I met all of my goals (finishing; not finishing last; and not walking at all during the run portion), and when I came around the final turn towards the finish line, I thought I was going to die of happiness. Six months ago, I couldn't run a mile without stopping. To see hard work truly pay off in concrete results such as a race time is so gratifying.

My overall time was 1:31:19, and I finished:

• 264 out of 476 total competitors (men and women) in the sprint distance. 
• 79 out of 211 women
• 12 out of 23 in my age group (women 20-24)
• AND I had the third best bicycle time in my age group

It was such a great experience, and I can honestly say that every second of the time I was competing was enjoyable! I have already started looking at more triathlons, but one of the bad parts about living in Minnesota is that triathlon season is really only from May to September. At this point I am planning on competing in another sprint triathlon in spring 2011, and I'm going to aim for a specific time. In the meantime, I have to continue working out and maintaining the healthy habits I've picked up along the way. Second triathlon, here I come!

Hugs from the #1 fan!

The Finish Line

 

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!! More details to follow, including final race time and pictures.

The Final Countdown

The triathlon is tomorrow! I was emailed final instructions for checking in and registration along with some mildly complicated directions about each leg of the race. My new fear is that I will somehow go off course and be disqualified.

The past two days have flown by with my number one fan in town. She showed up on Thursday night ready with a cowbell and a big sign. I think I am going to have the loudest cheering section at this triathlon! I woke up early this morning and went on a 50 minute bicycle ride. The lakes were completely covered in fog and the early morning mist made the ride seem vaguely eerie. But my legs felt good, and I think Golden Eagle Jr. is ready for the race tomorrow! I removed my pannier rack last night and my headlight in order to streamline Golden Eagle Jr. in any way possible. I may not have the fanciest bicycle out there, but at least I won't be a complete embarrassment to the sport of cycling.

Today's activities consist of some outdoor yoga at Lake Calhoun for one final big stretch before the race, and then heading over to Lake Phalen to scout out the course. I started packing my race bag last night, and I am SO EXCITED for tomorrow morning.

Training in the Boundary Waters

Traditional triathlon training took a hiatias over the past four days, as I was roughing it out in the Boundary Waters on a camping/portaging trip with some friends. We did some canoeing and portaging, but I had planned on a lot more swimming. Unfortunately, the cold temperature and high winds prevented any of us from jumping into the lakes willingingly!

We got back into Minneapolis around 6 pm, and on the entire 5.5 hour drive back to the city, I went back and forth about whether or not I would work out once I got home. It was a beautiful evening, and eating some sugary road trip treats along the way gave me a second wind after that long drive, so I decided to run the loop around Calhoun. I did the loop in under 30 minutes, which really raised my spirits about Sunday! Lately, I have been a little worried about the racing - fearing that I won't finish or will have to walk during the running portion.

Running around Lake Calhoun has become a bit of a safety blanket. I really enjoy the loop, because it is a perfect 5k (the exact length of the run in the tri) and it is enjoyable, especially in the evening. But I also know exactly when I am halfway around the loop, I know when I'm a quartile mile away, and I'm concerned that not knowing where the end of the race is will detract from my time on Sunday. My number one fan arrives in Minneapolis tomorrow, and I'm hoping we can drive over to St. Paul on Friday or Saturday to check out the course! I think that will relieve some anxiety and get me even more excited about the triathlon on Sunday. So close to race day!!!

Second Open Water Swim

Last night I attempted another open water swim in anticipation of my upcoming triathlon. While I am hesitant to say it went well, I will say that the experience was much better than swimming in Cedar Lake. I drove up to Clear Lake, MN with my friend, Phillip, and after surviving torrential downpours and flash flooding in Maple Grove, we finally it there around 7:30 pm. The section of the lake we were swimming was .4 mile, and I thought once we swam that leg, we would have a leisurely break on the beach and then swim back. Just kidding. Because once you swim out the .4 mile across the lake, there isn't a beach or place to exit. So we just had to turn around and swim back immediately. It felt like we had been swimming forever, and for one of the first times in my life, the thought of drowning briefly crossed my mind. Then Phillip reminded me that we had only been swimming for 17 minutes, and I realized I was being a HUGE baby and started swimming again.

While I was swimming, I tried practicing sighting, which involves turning your head forward to see where you are on the course, as you take a breath. It is definitely a practiced skill, but I was happy to try it out in open water, because going off course means being in the water longer, and I would very much prefer to be in the lake the shortest amount of time as possible. As I was swimming back to the beach on the second leg of the swim, I found myself thinking how great it would be to be a dolphin and have sonar. While this lake was clearer than Cedar Lake, I still could not see anything in front of me while my face was in the water, and I was slightly, read majorly, fearful of swimming directly into a sunken tree or a school of piranhas. I definitely felt more confident when I was swimming beside Phillip, which gives me hope that during the race, I will actually seek comfort in the fact that swimmers are close to me, rather than claustrophobia, which I have been anticipating feeling. Plus, all that splashing from others will drive away any creatures in the lake, right?

OMG Race Info!

Scratch the part about Jennifer Lopez being the best part about my day today. I just got an email with more information about race day! I LOVE information, and I hope you do too, because I'm sharing whether you like it or not and also including my lunatic ramblings: 

RACE DAY SCHEDULE:

6:00 AM- Transition area opens with bike racks.  First come, first served for your placement. What is the best placement to have?! Mental note to do research on placements in transition area to make best strategic decision.

6:15 AM- Registration opens. There, you'll pick up: bib number to pin on for bike & run (we have pins)  velcro strap with timing chip to wear on your left ankle, swim cap provided in the color of your "wave" start group, helmet numbers to place on front lowest brim of bike helmet, and race memento t-shirt. Yes! Race t-shirt that I will wear ALL.THE.TIME. (as long as I get a small and if there are no smalls, then I get an XXL per usual, and give it to my dad). Also, I hope the color of my swim cap is green, because that's my favorite color.

6:15 AM- Body Marking- participants will get their race number marked on their arm and leg by volunteers. Amazing! Temporary tattoos! So many sentences to put exclamation points at the end of!!!!!

7:30 AM- International (Long Course) Race start.  Last year there were 10 starting "waves".  The International Course were the first 3 waves.  Next up were Short course males from youngest to oldest, and then females-with the last wave being the oldest short course females.  Waves were only separated by a couple minutes, so it goes fast, be ready to go.  Actual waves will be set closer to race date. 10 minus 3 equals 7 waves of short course participants. That's me! More people participated in the short course last year - interesting....

8:00 AM- TENTATIVE race start time for Short Course.  Actual time will be set after waves are set the week of the race. YES YES YES! This is when I become a triathlete!!!

11:00 AM-Estimated time of awards.  Medals for top 3 in each age group, or category of Elite, Athena, Clydesdale, Male Team, Female Team, and Coed Team. Also, stick around for your chance to win door prizes! I will be hosting my own awards celebration in the parking lot with bottles of champagne and orange juice. Mimosas, anyone?

One More Reason I am just like Jennifer Lopez

Guess what J-Lo did? She competed in a triathlon for the first time. JUST LIKE ME. This might be old news for some of you celebrity gossip mongers, but finding this out pretty much made my day. You might remember that J-Lo is on my ipod shuffle and her music (Let's Get Loud in particular) really gets me going. I can only imagine that J-Lo also listens to her own music when she works out, so again, the similarities between us are astounding.

For the past couple days I have been taking it easy and trying to get physically better before I resume training. My horse-pill-like antibiotics seem to be working, and I'm feeling a lot better than earlier in the week. I have been using my bicycle commutes on the Greenway as my workouts, and as long as I'm feeling good tomorrow, I'll be back into the swing of things. In the meantime, I'm going to spend the rest of my work day researching J-Lo's training routine and cute hairstyles for the triathlon. 17 days til race day!

One More Setback

This is the story of a girl attempting to train for her inaugural triathlon who continuously fights off sickness to prevail against all odds. At least I'm hoping that will be the story. I recovered from strep throat only to now have tonsillitis, and even though I began a heavy dose of antibiotics today, my throat is still very swollen and painful. I attempted to run 3.5 miles today, but I got to the 1 mile mark and my inner ear was hurting so bad I had to stop. I can't even express how disappointed I am in my body and in myself right now. Instead of pushing through and finishing my run, I came home, and I'm hoping with a lot of sleep tonight and lots of fluids, I will be feeling better enough to be back on schedule tomorrow.

My race is only 20 days away, and I'm starting to get very nervous about how I will perform. I have yet to do another open water swim and my transition workouts have been less than enthusiastic. I have been looking forward and working towards this race since April, and now that I'm less than a month away, I find myself wishing I still had more time. How is that possible?!

The Cutest Triathlete Of Them All

Anyone who has talked to me in person lately has probably become aware of my obsession with having a matching triathlon outfit for the race in August. I bought tri shorts off Bonktown a while ago, and I have been searching for a top ever since. Well, today I hit the jackpot! I randomly searched for the matching top on google shopping this morning, and instead of zero results, as have appeared in every previous search, I found one this time! One, sole, remaining matching tri top, in a size small on some random website in Texas. If anyone has ANY idea of how hard it is to find small sizes on sale, this fact alone should make you understand why this made my day. Normally, my disdain for Texas would prevent me from supporting the state in any way, but I had to put my personal feelings aside in the name of triathlete fashion. 

Even better, the tank top was on sale AND I found an online coupon for another $10 off. The combination of savings on top of savings nearly blew my discount-loving mind. In 5-7 days, the two pieces will be combined to create one super-amazing Captain Planet-like power field that will get me to the finish line!

"Watch out for lake rats"

My first open water swim didn't go so well last night. It began when we arrived at Cedar Lake, and Jihone pushed me into a patch of algae, yelling "Get started!" Things only got worse once I started walking to the edge of the swimming area and felt unknown substances and possibly lake creatures underneath my toes. I'm not going to say that I was scared, but I will say that I had a mild panic attack when I put my face in the water and realized I couldn't see anything, even when using my goggles.

Once I had actually calmed down enough to contemplate swimming, more disasters ensued. My stroke broke down completely. I'm used to swimming four strokes, then turning to breathe. In the pool this isn't a problem because I can see through the water at all times. But in the lake, I found myself swimming in complete green darkness for four strokes until I finally took a breath and sighted.

After a brief coaching session, Jihone and I agreed that I needed to take a breath more frequently in order to see where I was going. Once I started taking a breath every other stroke, things got a little better, and by the end my confidence was back up again. If nothing else, now I know I need to do a lot more open water swimming before August 22nd. 26 days until race day!

The Road to Recovery

All you readers out there have probably been anxiously awaiting my blog posts and concerned with the lack thereof. Sadly, your favorite triathlete was stricken with a bout of strep throat earlier this week and has been out of commission since Tuesday.

Being unable to maintain my training regiment has been very disappointing over this week, but the good news is that I am nearly 100% again and ready for action. Yesterday, I did one of my favorite bicycle rides to Hopkins with Erin. We took our time to enjoy the beautiful weather, and it was a good way to get back into the swing of things without going overboard the first day. If things go well today (meaning I leave the office at a regular time), then expect a post about my first lake swim very shortly!

Me: "I got mosquito bites last night on my bike ride." My boss: "You weren't moving fast enough."

Bike ride, schmike ride, my bicycling skillz are off the chain. Two recent bike stories for all you loyal readers:

After working 12 hours at the office on Monday, yes I said 12, I went on a long bike ride to work out some of aggression and manic feelings that had built up after sitting at my desk for so long. I did my typical ride to Hopkins, MN, home of beloved Cargill, and then looped back into the city via the Greenway. On the way home, I decided to do a bit more, and circled Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet before heading back to my apartment. Of course, once I reached my apartment, I ran into the infamous Larry, whose car btw, is no longer abandoned on the side of the street. I'm secretly dying to ask him about the engine fire, but don't care enough to get into a 20 minute discussion on why cars from the '80s randomly implode. Whenever I see Larry after a bike ride, he usually says something really intelligent like, "Looks like you missed the rain," (it hadn't rained in the past 48 hours and there was no future rain in the forecast), or "Looks like you went on a bike ride" (umm yeah thanks, Larry), or the all time classic where he says nothing at all, attempts to hold open my apartment door to "help" me inside and then proceeds to strike up a conversation about how I should go into elder law.

Which is a perfect lead-in to my next story. On Thursday, I was on the West River Parkway trail, heading from school to Erin's house. This trail is massive. It's super wide and is always in great shape, which is why, when I pass slowpokes, I do not feel the need to shriek "on the left." Flash forward to halfway down the trail, I pass Mr. and Mrs. Old People pedaling along without a care in the world. With no one else approaching, I glided by unannounced. THEN, 10 minutes later, at a stop sign, Mr. Old Person breezes through the requisite stop (illegal btw) and yells "On the left! This what you're supposed to say when you pass someone!!!" I only wish I had been able to explain to him that the "lesson" he was trying to teach me was completely overshadowed by the fact that he almost got hit by a car during his instruction. But judging from how he swerved uglyass recumbent in the face of near death, I'm guessing he knows that already.

Tacos: Triathlete Super Food

I swam laps today, and once I was in the pool, I realized I hadn't been there in a week. So what, you might think, one week, stop crying about it already. Well, I'm not crying, but my legs are, because this workout kicked my butt. I wasn't in the water that much longer than normal, but my workout consisted of longer sets with shorter resting periods. It's exciting on one hand, because it means I am a lot closer to the actual race. But on the other hand, I was in the water swimming laps for about 45 minutes and by the time I hauled myself out of the pool, my legs felt like jelly and I was as hungry as Michael Phelps.

I'm starting to seriously consider buying some of those awkward gel packets to squeeze into my throat during the swim/bike transition during the race. They are kind of like Go-gurt, but energy and not yogurt... I have been trying to avoid looking like a real big weirdo in this race, and staying away from high tech energy foods may or may not fall into that category. I haven't decided yet.

As for tonight, I pushed the thoughts of drinking vitamin Gak out of my head, because I already had dinner plans with great friends, Adam and Rachael, and I quickly devoured three tacos at their house in quick succession. Yum! Maybe I can patent my own taco flavored energy gel and pay off my law school loans?

#1 Reason Why I Couldn't Train for a Triathlon Indoors

I am really lucky to live in such an awesome city like Minneapolis where bicycle trails are abundant. The trails are all well groomed and maintained (even in the winter months) and provide ample amounts of rides with interconnecting trails to facilitate longer rides. The only potential downside to the trails are the number of rollerbladers that hog up space on the trail and always seem to be listening to their music loud enough that they don't hear the annoying "on the left" alert from me when I try to pass them. Or maybe they're just ignoring me. I'd probably ignore me too.

As my time on the bike increases in training, I realized how much I would hate having to be on a stationary bicycle in a gym for over an hour. Talk about boring! Instead I have been on some great rides lately. My new favorite, a little longer ride of about 90 minutes, takes me around Lake Harriet (photo above), out to Hopkins, MN, and then back on the Greenway to wrap around Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet again before heading home.

The best part is ending the ride on a beautiful evening like last night and seeing this sunset (photo below) over Lake Calhoun. Tres belle!

Even Independence Day Can't Stop this Triathlete

Over the weekend, I traveled back to the land of my ancestors to partake in 4th of July celebrations in one of the original colonies. Yes, of course, I am talking about the Keystone State, without which, this entire nation would crumble. Literally. That's what a keystone does. It was a great weekend, full of small town Americana. Local baseball games, fireworks, Pittsburgh accents, and some good old fashioned bug bites on my legs to round out the experience.

I was hesitant about working out while on my four day vacation. I have never worked out at my childhood home, nor did I belong to a gym of any sort growing up. Our house is located 25 minutes from the local Y, and I didn't know how my parents would respond to my taking the car and disappearing for a couple hours. But all my reservations were pushed to the side, when my number 1 fan, insisted that I maintain my training regiment. In fact, I was even treated to a new pair of running shoes!

I picked out another pair of Asics, because I was very happy with my old pair. So far these have been feeling great, and they are definitely giving me more support and shock resistance. I tested them out around the track of my old stomping grounds: the intermediate high school. A little under 35 minutes and 3.5 miles later, I was still pleased with my shoe purchase. The following day, I swam laps at the Y and successfully evaded paying the $3.50 visitor charge they attempted to push on me. Umm, I don't think so man-with-a-mullet-at-the-front-desk. I was supposed to bike the following day, Tuesday, but seeing as how Golden Eagle Jr. was in Minneapolis, and the bicycles at the Y were used to power Orville Wright's airplane, I decided to run on the treadmill instead. Thus, a very productive, yet relaxing trip. 46 days until race day!