January 2014 – moirahoran

January 23, 2014January 23, 2014

Dance Like Nobody’s Watching

Bryan and I got to Bonita Springs on Tuesday, on Wednesday we went exploring in the car and found a deserted area that had a doggie beach — Lovers Key. While walking along the shore line looking for shells or sea glass I found something even better! I did wash the rock off before taking the picture.

Sometimes I wish I could write my blog directly from my thoughts as I am running. I’ve had lots of thoughts running through my head the last few days. Fast approaching are two unfortunate anniversaries. On January 24, 1977 my mother died, at age 53 from breast cancer. On January 26, 2013 my friend and JGSSM Club member Peggy Marino suffered a seizure and never regained consciousness. She died the next day — she was 50 years old. An 8 year old boy died in a fire on Monday after saving 6 of his extended family members, he went back to try to save a seventh. The anniversary of “Black Sunday“, January 23, 2005 when 2 NYC Firemen died, and 4 were seriously injured.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not depressed, just feeling very raw and vulnerable.

I was talking to my friend Kris briefly before my run today. She mentioned that she thought she was “prepared” for Peggy’s anniversary but is finding she’s not. Neither am I. At this time last year I had just returned from an amazing trip to Costa Rica with my husband, a place I love to visit. We both returned feeling an incredible sense of peace and contentment.

Bryan at Villa Caleta — Peace in the mountain.

All that changed with a phone call and a weekend spent in a hospital. A bond was formed that weekend between Kris, Amy and myself that I don’t think will ever be broken. We watched and waited for something that broke all our hearts. Each moment we were there was heartbreaking, although like anything that Peggy was involved with there were moments that made us smile and laugh while we shared memories with her family. What we all came away with was a reminder of just how fragile life is, and how quickly it can all change. It was another reminder to me that I need to live each moment as if it’s my last. And appreciate and cherish each moment with those I love, because it could be their last. I’ve thought a lot this week about those I love — my husband, my daughter, my dog, my family, my friends, all the wonderful acquaintances I’ve made.

I don’t want to lose anyone. And I want to be here forever! I’m in Florida right now, and it’s been a bit scary to look around and see so many fragile senior citizens. Although both Bryan and I did get a good laugh about the older woman I saw struggling to get a box out of her shopping cart and into her car trunk. I went over to help her and she quickly explained that Johnny Walker Red was on sale and that was the reason she had gotten six liter bottles. Hey, live it up while you can!

Today’s run was a reflection, a reminder of how truly blessed I am. I never expected to be so happy and have such a full and wonderful life. I thought about running for Meg Menzies, who was run over at age 34 and killed by a drunk driver while on a training run. I thought about running for Peggy, and for my mom and for everyone else who wishes they could run but can’t, or don’t, or who are just afraid to try. I guess I could try to wrap myself and those I love in bubble wrap to keep us all safe, but I can’t. And just think about all those beautiful moments I’d miss if I didn’t live each and every moment that I have to the utmost.

January 16, 2014

A Good Training Day

I’ve been receiving so much great information about swim practice and technique lately, it’s hard to keep up with it all. There was a post yesterday in the Total Immersion Coaches group that really appealed to me, a series of focal points for a tune up from Suzanne Atkinson. I decided I’d add them to my tune up practice for today, and then do a variation on a previous practice. I’ve said this before, and today was one of those days — be prepared to switch gears when it feels appropriate.

Here was Suzanne’s post as a tune up:

5 x 50 as:
#1 fingertip drag
#2 Drag to elbow lead
#3 Elbow lead to smooth entry
#4 Smooth entry to open axilla
#5 open axilla to shaping catch

Made me think about my 400 focal point tune up. Decided to bump mine to a 500 and do each one for 100. Felt great, and noticed lots of points in my stroke to work on improving.

Next set was a tempo trainer ladder for 50s at 1.6, 1.55, 1.5, 1.45, 1.4, 1.35, 1.3, 1.25, 1.2, 1.15

As I prepared for the next set I realized that what I wanted to do, and felt I needed to do was take those focal points from the beginning tune up and use them instead of focusing on tempo.

So next set was 6 x 300 and I chose to pick one focus for each. and I do have to say that I felt very “Shinji-like” in the fact that I could hold a focus for an entire 300. Today was not a fast practice but I felt it was a very productive practice.

On a different note, the air this morning was 60.

North County Aquatics pool on a chilly morning

Getting to the pool and getting in the water was tough! Once I got in I found the 83 degree water was beautiful, even though under “normal” circumstances that would be way to warm.

This may have been my last practice at the North County Aquatics facility. We are leaving Vero Beach on Friday morning, Thursday is supposed to be very cold and and pool isn’t open till afternoon on Friday. I’ll miss it and the pleasant staff and patrons. This car in the lot this morning did give me a laugh as I was leaving.

A 5 mile build run on a local dirt road finished off training for me for Wednesday. Finishing the run with a sub 9 minute mile felt good!

I’ve also become much better about planning meals in advance and cooking. I made two very simple yet tasty recipes for tonight, Apple Glazed Turkey and Roasted Brussels Sprouts (made with already cooked leftover turkey bacon). It’s been nice eating at home, and hopefully helping me get back to “race weight” again.

Thursday is pack up and get organized to move day for us so not sure what if any training I’ll get done, Friday and Saturday are “travel” days so I better get something done.

January 13, 2014January 14, 2014

Running With Gears

Today was long run day — 10 miles this week. Off Bryan and I went to the jungle trail, sunny today and temperatures were warming up. I started my run slowly, as usual. And when I say slow I mean slow — like an 11 minute mile. Next mile was a 10:35, and as always I was thinking about my own training and my coaching. I thought about swimming with the tempo trainer and how we are all learning to swim with gears. How about running with gears? I decided that I would take my 10 mile run and try to steadily descend throughout. I was thinking 10 seconds per mile, but that was a bigger jump than I planned in the beginning. Going from 11 to 10:35 would come back to bite me at the end. But, I continued to think about the comparison to learning gears in swimming and learning gears in running, and how much that would pay off in running, and especially in longer distance triathlon.

So, continuing along I went from 11 to 10:30 to 10:20 to 10:10 to 10 to 9:50 and now it started getting tough! I was barely able to hit 9:44, 9:37, 9:41 for miles 7, 8 and 9. I was determined to make the last mile faster — and pushed through for a 9:32 mile, but I didn’t feel as good as I wanted to. What did I learn? If I make a plan stick to it, and it reminded me of what I always say to my athletes — if you are running long the early miles should feel easy. All it all it was a good run though, and I’m going to continue to work on gears in all my training.

It would have been very easy to just sit and lounge for the rest of the day. I had committed to doing a practice that Terry Laughlin, the founder or Total Immersion, had emailed out to all of the TI coaches. And I can’t let my virtual swim team down, so off I went to the North County Aquatics Center. I am getting used to the spectacular facilities to swim that are available. I paid a whole $16 for access for a month to this beautiful pool! So far, I’ve only had to share a lane once and that for only 5 minutes.

North County Aquatics Center, so inviting!

Monday’s swim practice turned out to be a breakthrough. I felt as though my stroke count, time and overall feel in the water was coming back. I did cut the original practice a bit shorter though, I started getting cramps in my calves (from the long run I’m sure). There is so much to focus on while swimming, and it is rewarding to see the instant feedback by way of improved stroke count and pace.

I never get tired of watching the sunset, no matter where I am. Tonight there was a beautiful sky to close out the day. I am forever grateful and truly blessed.

January 12, 2014May 25, 2015

Making the Best Use of Your Trainer Time

Sounds crazy but I was thinking a lot of how best to use indoor trainer time, even though I was able to ride outside today.

First off, a couple of notes on today’s ride: Florida may not have hills but, it has bridges and it has wind. And when you are going over a bridge and it’s windy, it’s tough. And when you are riding into a head wind, it’s tough. Maybe because I haven’t been on a bike much lately but, I still think it’s tough. That being said I totally enjoyed my 40 miles today, and riding at 20 plus miles an hour even if it is with a tail wind is awesome! To give you an idea of the wind — I rode out for two hours, took me an hour and 40 minutes to ride back. What I focused on during the ride was good pedaling technique, and keeping my weight off the front of the bike. A side note on “Training Effect” on the Garmin 910XT. Mine was nominal today but I know from how I felt that it was a good workout. So much for training devices. I wanted to do a bit of a brick run when I got back but knew Brody wouldn’t stand for that since Bryan was out golfing.

So, trainer rides. I hear everyone saying they hate riding a trainer, it’s boring, they don’t know what to do. I’ve had this discussion before but thought I’d save it here for future reference. Besides the obvious benefits of a structured workout, it’s generally accepted practice that a one hour training ride is the same as an hour and a half ride on the road. There are all kinds of dvds and websites with indoor trainer rides available. Some of the ones that I’ve heard discussed that people in my group like are Trainer Road, Sufferfest, Spinervals, Cyclops, USAT Endurance Films. I’ve heard great things about PainCave, but haven’t had time to check it out since I’m not home and don’t have my trainer with me.

Besides a good workout routine, here are some things that you can work on while on the stationary trainer. Come warm weather you will be ready to ride on the road.

1. Clipping in and out, rest your foot on top of the pedal and clip in and out over and over again, till you can do it without thinking about it. Keep spinning while you are doing this. And if you are comfortable doing it with your dominant foot then practice with the other.

2. Reach for your water bottle, drink out of it and then put it back – without looking.

3. Shifting gears.

4. Focus on good pedaling technique.

5. Standing up, you usually want to be in a “big” gear (a lot of resistance).

All these skills are much easier to practice from the relative safety of a stationary trainer but will make riding outside much easier and more efficient.

And yes, Mary and Gail, you can fall off inside, make sure your bike is securely in the trainer but don’t over tighten. There should be some resistance but you don’t want to see black “snow” from your rear tire.

A few suggestions:

Wipe down the rear tire with some rubbing alcohol and a rag to remove road debris from the tire so you don’t grind it in with the trainer.

If you have a carbon skewer, get an inexpensive one from your local bike shop and replace on the rear wheel. A trainer can chew up a good skewer.

Put down a big piece of vinyl or a yoga mat and then a towel (if you sweat a lot) so you don’t mark up the floor.

If there is anything right behind your bike throw a towel or sheet over it.

I’ll add more to this if any has other suggestions, but these were just my thoughts about how to make that trainer ride not so boring and a bit more productive.

January 11, 2014

Rookie Mistakes

My friend Mark reached out to me when he saw where I was in Florida and told me about a 5K he was timing in Vero Beach and asked if I wanted to run it. Since it was being held at one of the exclusive, gated golf and country clubs around here I thought sure — why not!

I clicked on the link to the Quail Valley Golf Club and got the address — about 4 miles from our house, I thought about running there to make today my long run. Also made note of (what I thought was) the start time — 8:30 AM. Bryan asked me what time I wanted to leave this morning and I said 7:45 was plenty of time. He thought the race started at 7:30, and also thought it was somewhere else but I showed him the address and continued on my usual morning routine of coffee, answering emails and the like.

About 7:15 he asked me for the address so he could put it in his gps, I went to get it and realized the race actually started at 7:30! Crap . . . . . I’ve never done that before. Felt badly and figured what the heck I could dress and get there in 10 minutes. Even if I missed the start by a few minutes, what difference did it make? So, off we went — leaving the house at 7:20AM. Arrived at the gated Quail Valley Golf Course only to be told the race is at the Quail Valley River Golf Course, and that was about 20 minutes away. Well, we were both dressed so we figured we’d go and at least enjoy the post-race festivities. Arrived at the Quail Valley River Golf Course and saw the course signs, etc, but no runners. I got out and went to check in to apologize for missing the race. The gentleman was very understanding of my confusion, Bryan came back from parking the car and I thought I might as well go run and get in a workout. When I got to the start area I saw the timing people so I introduced myself and said how much I appreciated Mark registering me and apologized for being a dumb ass.

The gentleman doing the timing said hey, it’s a chip timed race, cross the starting line and we’ll get your accurate time so I figured what the heck and off I went. No bathroom stop, no warm up, hadn’t even remembered my race belt so I was carrying my number in my hand. Can anyone tell me why since I was already 20 minutes late I didn’t pin on my number and the like before starting? Well, it’s a nice way to run a 5k with no pressure! I just worried a bit about following the course alone but it was well marked and I started to catch up with some walkers fairly soon. I was afraid to try to push as I know my body doesn’t really do well if I try to run fast without warming up. I had also had a pretty awful run yesterday. So I decided I’d just enjoy the run, follow the arrows and then follow the walkers to the finish. I ended up finishing at just under 29 — not bad for a three mile warm up run, and nothing hurt!

I went right over to the timer to let him know my actual time, just to avoid any later issues. He told me no worries — they had other problems. Seems the lead cyclist had led a bunch of people off course and they ran about 4 miles. For a while, my name was on the results as finishing in 19 minutes, which was actually when I started. I immediately crossed my name off, didn’t want anyone to think that was my correct time!

One thing about a race at a private country club . . . . . . they had the nicest water stop setup and post race food. Waiters were staffing the tables in white collared shirts, with nicely arranged fruit, muffins and Twinings tea. Not your usual box of bagels and fruit for sure. Bryan and I wandered around for a while, checking out the yachts and such. I won a nice thermal water bottle for winning my age group. A fun morning for sure, in spite of being totally unprepared to run this morning, I am very glad that Mark asked me if I wanted to participate and I’m very glad we went in spite of being so late!

Quail Valley River 5K, first place 50 - 59 — Quail Valley River 5K, first place 50 – 59

Hopefully I’ve gotten all the mistakes out of the way for the season, and that all my races end up as positive as today.

I headed off to the pool next to get in a 10,000 meter swim week. Felt great and mixed up my practice with the tempo trainer and some real focus on my arms — weightless, painting and holding straight lines, opening my axilla and focusing on that split second of a good catch. I thought the pool may be crowded since it was Saturday and the sun was out. There was four totally empty lanes — swimmers heaven! I noted a slight improvement in my stroke count vs. tempo today, and times were a bit more consistent. All in all I was pleased with my practice and I’ve noticed that the 50 meter lap doesn’t feel quite as long any more. The pool is closed tomorrow, I’m going to try to set up my video camera on deck on Monday and try to get some video so I have an idea of what my stroke looks like. These two weeks have been a lot of swimming for me, my only gauge right now is that nothing hurts.

We’ve had a couple of great dinners. Bryan spotted a recipe on Facebook and showed it to me. Since it’s from my favorite blog I tried it last night. All I can say is if you haven’t already you absolutely have to make the Almost 5 Ingredient Pizza Spaghetti Pie. As Bryan loves to say . . . . . “it’s to die for!” We used fire roasted diced organic tomatoes plus a cup of sauce, pork sausage and 5 italian cheese mix. Tonight’s dinner was a repeat, another new favorite — Chicken Apple Sausage and Brussels Sprouts. Almost two weeks of clean eating and Bryan and I are both feeling pretty good, and Brody is loving all his healthy snacks.

Something else I’d like to include here, there are lots of links and posts to stuff on Facebook and I don’t always watch them. I saw this one earlier but didn’t have 15 minutes, but made a note to check it later. Right before I started cooking I thought I’d give it a look. I’m so glad I did. I know what defines me, what defines you?

January 8, 2014January 11, 2014

Catching Up

Had one of those “ahah” moments a bit through my swim practice today. I’ve been focusing on tempo trainer and counting strokes, and trying not to be discouraged by the outcome. I feel like my times are slow, my stroke count is high. Times like this are when I really wish for a fellow Total Immersion coach on deck or in the pool with me to give me a couple of pointers.

I left the house without the new practice I wrote and decided to do the practice that I wrote for Monday. It was tough to get in the water to start — weather was cloudy, windy and only mid 60s. The lifeguards were wearing wool hats and gloves. The staff had told me the pool temperature was 78 — something I would normally love when swimming indoors or on a hot day.

I debated cutting it short, skipping it altogether, etc. but I do have a virtual swim team that I don’t want to let down. Went thru the tune up and the tempo trainer ladder and started to feel a bit of “discomfort” which I knew was coming from something not right with my stroke but couldn’t pinpoint it. Got through the 150s trying to decrease and increase stroke count by one per length but kept adding and subtracting 2 strokes. I’m usually able to do this pretty successfully. This was frustrating, but then I remembered I’m swimming in a 50 meter pool, something I hardly ever do! So, my changes in my stroke would have equated to adding or subtracting one in a 25 yard or meter pool. Yea, a small thing but it definitely made me feel a bit better. Started on the 300s and could really feel my shoulder starting to ache so I decided that rather than focus on stroke count I would just relax and swim with focal points. And that turned my whole swim around, so much so that my second 300 became a 500 because I just totally forgot to count. Two 300s of head position (one of which became a 500), two 300s of arms and a final 300 that I had planned to focus on kick but instead just focused on engaging my core. A 100 cool down brought me to a 3200 meter long course practice that I feel very good about. It’s the longest I’ve swum in quite a while. What did I learn? Sometimes plans just need to be readjusted, and that is absolutely okay.

Over the last few days I’ve had a nice recovery ride on local roads, in spite of a lot more traffic than my first ride here. I did come upon a beautiful sight at the end of one of the roads I ventured down.

I’ve had a long run and a short run on the jungle trail, even got to warm up with an easy one mile run / walk with my husband this morning. All good as long as I have no pain and can keep picking up my pace as my runs progress.

The jungle trail is just a beautiful spot to run, I just wish it had some hills. I’m really starting to feel in my running groove again, and I’m hoping for more bike time as the weather improves. There was an abbreviated swim practice on Monday, I thought I had to get the car back so Bryan could golf but monsoon rains cut that short!

Good dinners at home, I’ve made a couple of my favorite dinners, and a couple of new ones. One of the most delicious chicken soups I’ve ever had was based on this recipe. I had no sweet potato so I doubled up on the butternut squash, used fresh spices and added some quinoa to make it a bit more substantial for dinner.

Bryan and Brody, two of the loves of my life!

The real highlight of my trip so far happened this morning. I looked outside and spotted my husband Bryan with his other best friend in the world (after me!) This picture just makes me so happy and so grateful and so thankful, I can’t stop looking at it.

January 4, 2014

Training in Paradise

I noticed a road when I was riding the other day marked “Jungle Trail“. I did some searching to find out what it was all about and decided it sounded like the perfect place to run today. There was no place to park at the entrance from 85th Street so we drove down the path a bit to the Captain Forster’s Hammock Preserve, the first place we found to park — Bryan and Brody came with me. I decided that I’d explore the path through the Preserve first, and was absolutely amazed at the path, another reminder of running in Costa Rica.

There are quite a few interesting paths off the main trail that I will save to check out another day. Running on the main jungle trail is great! Friendly faces, like I remember from when I first started running — everyone smiles, says hello and wishes you a good day! The trail was paved with mansions and estates, but what I saw that was most appealing was this home:

Truly captivating, I believe it is a working farm.

All in all a good training run, I can still target pace and finish strong but as I do every year I wonder, how do I run an entire marathon, no less an Ironman marathon, at 9 minute pace? Well, that’s all still to be seen.

Another good training day in Vero Beach, followed by an amazing dinner from my favorite blog, Paleomg. Tomorrow starts our virtual swim so I will be in the pool in the morning, followed by either a run or a ride, need to check the weather.

January 3, 2014

First Outdoor Ride in a While

Haven’t been on my bike in a while, so I took advantage of the best weather day to get out and explore the area on my bike. I couldn’t find out any information on bike-friendly roads so I just took a shot on what looked to be a logical route to get over to A1A to ride. When I checked the weather beforeI left I noticed the wind was out of the south and west, so I changed my plan to ride south instead of north once I got to A1A.
The ride to the bridge was uneventful, even though there was a bit more than a half mile without a shoulder. All the cars that passed were gracious and steered wide berth. 85th Street to the bridge was fine, and when I saw that bridge I was reminded of Ironman Florida and thought “here’s what passes for hills in Florida.” A1A was a pleasure, even though I was riding into a strong headwind it was warm and sunny, with palm trees and beautiful scenery.

Knowing there was an impending storm predicted at home in New Jersey, I appreciated every moment of my ride. Fortunately I’ve got a month ahead of me in Florida, I have a long way to go to get back in road riding shape! Riding over 20 miles an hour was fun, even if the wind was at my back but all in all I’m in shit bike shape, LOL! Thoughts of Challenge Atlantic City loom large. I did do a short ten minute run off the bike, and remembered that after almost 20 years of triathlons mean that running off the bike feels better than running as a single sport. This was an easier run that I’ve had all week.

So, today I was a total workout slug. I shopped for dinners for the next few days after dropping Bryan off for golf. Got groceries, got a pedicure, stocked up on wine. Tomorrow — Bryan told me about a local 5k but it starts at 7AM! I think I’m going to swim and get in another run on my own. Time to plan out tomorrow’s swim practice.

January 1, 2014January 1, 2014

New Years Day 2014 Swim

We haven’t seen the sun since we stopped at South of the Border on Friday, but it’s warm here so I’m not complaining.

January 1, 2014 and the forecast is for rain pretty much all day.

I committed to swim as part of Mat Hudson’s TI Virtual Group Swim on New Year’s Day so off I went. It would have been very easy to stay on the couch with some coffee this morning. Thanks for getting me out the door, and it was wonderful to be swimming with someone half way around the world in Turkey!

The North County Aquatic Center was not crowded at all when I got there, just a couple of lap swimmers and two club swimmers in the lane next to me.

Mile swim at Punta Leona, Costa Rica in April 2012.

New Year's Day at the North County Aquatic Center, Sebastian FL — New Year’s Day at the North County Aquatic Center, Sebastian FL

Good memories when got a cap from my bag, I found the swim cap from an open water mile swim race in Costa Rica. I didn’t really do my homework on picking a practice for today, after my tune up and the constant tempo set I realized that my planned practice wasn’t going to work out — can’t do 75s or 125s in a 50 meter pool. I also realized that I was feeling some fatigue from Monday’s swim so I just eliminated that part of the practice and finished up with a 200 for a total of 2600 meters again today. I used focal points during my tune up and cool down — head position, relaxed arms, breathing, kick. I’m feeling particularly slow in the pool but I’m also assuming that with patience and practice a better pace will return. About mid-way through today’s swim I realized that what my arms were doing in the water need some work — I cycled thru focusing on keeping my elbows up, keeping a patient lead arm and a good catch. When I did this, and remembered to really open up my axilla I noticed a slight improvement in my pace. I’m going to bring my video camera to swim on Friday and do some video of myself.

I’m hoping the rain stops and I can do some biking tomorrow.