Archive for March, 2010

New Website!

My new website is now up and running! However, I just noticed that my IMNZ race report was not uploaded. So, I am reposting it:

2010 is now underway and I am happy to report a podium finish in my first race of the year. Throughout my training cycle and race week, 2 questions seemed to pop up over and over again. Why Ironman New Zealand and how does a Vermont girl prepare for a winter Ironman? There are many reasons why I chose to go back to Ironman New Zealand. New Zealand is a beautiful country and is one of the most active geothermal and volcanic areas in the world today. The swim is held in Lake Taupo, the largest fresh water lake in Australasia and was created by the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the past 5000 years. The beauty of the island combined with the exceptional race management, made Ironman New Zealand an easy choice.

As to how a Vermont girl prepares for a winter Ironman, well that was easy to answer too – I want to race well, so I simply do the work. I have always refused to let the fact that I live in a cold climate limit myself as a triathlete. I designed my training plan in December and I stuck to it. I am a very motivated person, but I am not a machine. There were definitely days when I looked at my bike on the trainer and said “oh you again!” On more than one occasion, my husband had to remind me that we all have days when we don’t want to go to work, but we get out of bed and get the work done! I stuck to my plan of 2 months of quality work on the trainer and treadmill, followed by 2.5 weeks of high volume training with Cliff English and his pro squad in Tucson.

The plan seemed to work well for me. I started the race healthy and mentally fired up to race. The Professionals started the race 15 minutes ahead of the age groupers. I prefer the company of a mass start and find I can swim about 5-7 minutes faster with a group of feet ahead of me. Being a weak swimmer, the small pro start definitely hurts me, but it makes for a cleaner bike race. I entered T1 with a 14 minute deficit. This is a painful way to race. I don’t have the option of staying calm and cool, biking steady and conserving energy for the run. I have to go for it on the bike and the run. Sometimes I blow, sometimes I hang on and sometimes, I run really well. I have to take chances on the bike and put myself within striking distance on the run. I took the first loop out hard to try to close the gap and managed to put some time into the top girls. My new Parlee TT and Zipp 808/1080 combo felt fast and most of all comfortable on the chip sealed roads. However this is Ironman and halfway through the second loop, I hit a bad patch. My lack of bike volume showed and my charge slowed. I entered T2 in 6th place. I laced up my new K-Ruuz K-Swiss racing flats and focused on the next task at hand; a strong run. It was a very windy day which made the first 10k felt like one giant hill. I didn’t feel great, my pace was slower than what I had trained for, but I knew with the wind, times would be off. Shortly after the 10k mark, I moved into 3rd place. I was chipping away at 2nd, but the amount of time I lost in the water, was just too much to overcome. I crossed the line in 3rd, Congrats to Jo Lawn who went on to win and set a course record in the process and Gina Ferguson on her 2nd pace finish. The Kiwis are tough on their home turf!

I am very pleased with where my training is for this time of the year. To have finished feeling so strong and most importantly uninjured signals that I am on track for a promising year. I am looking forward to a ski vacation this weekend with my family and friends. Then I will sit down and map out the rest of the year. I’d like to thank my homestay hosts; Grahem and June Spence for their hospitality. To all my sponsors – a BIG THANK you for continuing your support in 2010; K-Swiss, Parlee, PowerBar, Zipp, Sram, Blue Seventy, Vasa, Fuel Belt and the Ski Rack. See you at the races!

Back at It!

Yup vacation is over! I had a great little break after Ironman New Zealand. I love training camps, traveling and racing, but I do get a bit homesick! The week after the race included alot and I mean ALOT of sleeping, a great ski day up at Smuggs and even an 80’s flashback Bon Jovi concert with a few highschool friends. Fun stuff, but now it is back to the grind!

It feels great to get back into my training routine. I’m back working with my swim coach, and did my first hard run since IMNZ. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll come back! I’m now running in the new 2010 K Swiss shoes and they are really reall sweet! The Keahou II has great cushion, but also has a fast and responsive feel to it; a great combo and therefore a great shoe for both long runs and tempos. My plan is to spend the next few weeks working on getting some zip back in my legs and racing a few 70.3’s over the next few weeks.

I get alot of inquiries regarding my training for Ironman New Zealand. How do you train indoors for an Ironman?? So, I thought I would post a typical week for a Vermont girl training for a winter Ironman. This is a typical week in January. Note, my build was 8 weeks long, end of December to mid February, then a 12 day taper.

Mon. recovery day: 5k swim, easy 90 min spin on trainer
Tue. bike 2.5 hours threshold work: 5×1 min power intervals, 5×10 min(5′easy). pm treadmill run: 5×1 min pickups, 6xmile at 5:30(2 min easy)
wed. 5k swim, 3 hour bike w/hill reps, 45 min run of at ironman pace to faster
Th. 90 min progression run. swim 3k, pm easy 90 min spin on trainer
Fri. easy recovery day. 5k swim, 45 min easy run
Sat. bike 4 hours tempo and hills combo: 40 min tempo, (10min easy) 10 min hill climb hard (10 min easy) 30 min tempo(10 min easy) 10 min hill climb (10 min easy) 20 min tempo (10 min easy) 10 min hill climb.
Sun. long run on hilly snow packed trails or 18 miles flat and fast on the tready if it was below 10F!. pm 4k swim

There it is, my quality not quantity plan!

Ironman New Zealand