My Half Ironman Training Plan - Because I Need One Now...

Image from tbtriathlon.com

Last year at the Coastal Triathlon in Orange Beach, AL, I came in first place masters category, which qualified me for a slot into the USAT Age Group Nationals in Milwaukee this August. It was the first time I've ever qualified for anything like that so I had planned on doing the race this year. Unfortunately, we have too much going on in August so instead of going to Milwaukee and doing an Olympic Distance Triathlon, I signed up for a half ironman 70.3 race in October.

Image from triradar. com

That means I have to start regular triathlon training. Not the kind of "regular" do what I feel like doing kind of training that I do now. I have to come up with a plan and I have to follow it. I have to somewhat follow it fairly regularly whether I feel like it or not. I have to start swimming and biking more consistently again. It's been a nice break but now it's time to buckle down again and get serious.

I have done several half ironman triathlons in the past and for all except one of them I have followed a training plan I found on the trinewbies.com website. Here is the link to the training plan below:

18 Week Half Ironman Training Plan

If you are new to half ironman training and don't want to hire a coach, I highly recommend it. I started using it in January several years ago for a half ironman that was in May. It starts out very easy, especially if you're like me and don't swim or bike much during the off-season which for me is November and December. All I do during those months is run and whatever I do in the gym. No swimming. It's easy to start with the swims in January and build up from there. I usually am way ahead of the run part of the training plan.

I find the race date on the calendar and count back 18 weeks and then start filling in the workouts on a blank calendar. I use to use a paper calendar, but this time I think I will use Google calendar. When I was training for Ironman Canada in 2010, my coach had my training plan on Google calendar and he could change things as needed and we could both access it. I still have some blank paper calendars that I can fill in the dates and my workouts if I want to do it that way too.

Below are my times for all the 70.3's I've done with the fastest being 5:42:18. My first 70.3 was 5:43:35 and in both of those races I used the above training plan.

All Years » Triathlon & Multisport » Half Iron

Best:	5:42:18	Gulf Coast Triathlon 2005 / Half IronHalf Iron (5/7/2005)
Latest:	7:23:52	2011 Ironman Hawaii 70.3 / Half Iron (6/4/2011)
Average:	6:09:47	6 races completed over 9 years 1 months 6 days

My slowest 70.3 was the most recent, Hawaii 70.3 in 2011 and the only only one where I did not use the 18 week training plan. (or any training plan)

Reason's (aka Excuses) for my slowest and latest half ironman results other than the fact that I'm just older and slower...

1. I followed no training plan and actually did not "train" at all for the race except for running and   
    getting on the exercise bike at the gym and weights.

2. I only swam twice before race day after taking 9 months off after doing Ironman Canada.

3. I only biked on my tri bike 3 times in those 9 months with my longest ride being only about 20 miles 
    since I was "burned out" from all the Ironman training.

4. I had to get stitches in my hand and elbow while in Hawaii after doing a practice swim the day 
    before the race.

5. My bike didn't show up until the day before the race and I wasn't able to do any practice rides before 
    the race. I barely got it checked into transition in time for the race. My bike fit was totally screwed up 
    with my seat being too low. (I actually realized I ride faster that way after I got use to the weird way 
    it felt.)

 6. Due to my inept packing of my bike, some bike parts fell out of the box during transport and I was 
     running around trying to purchase replacement parts after getting the stitches mentioned above.

7. During T2 when I was about to put on my running shoes, I realized that I had two un-matching 
    shoes (Here). I had packed them up, flown them all the way from Birmingham to Hawaii, then put   
    them in my T2 run bag, never even realizing my mistake until the middle of the race when it was 
    time to put them on and run. Luckily, I had one lefty and one righty, otherwise I would've looked   
    even stranger than usual.

Those are my excuses and they are pretty darn good excuses I think. There were so many times during that trip/race that I thought about calling it quits and not doing the race. Especially while getting stitches and worrying about getting my bike put back together in time. I was totally depending on the bike shop guys who were putting the bikes together at the host hotel to get it right the first time. There was no time for errors or for test rides. My test ride was riding the bike from the hotel to the transition area and that was about it. The bike guys did great!

The doctor who did my stitches was wonderful even though the tetanus shot and the numbing shot hurt like hell. Even the Murph had to look away.

This time a training plan is very important because I am going for a faster time not just "to finish". My goal is to finish in under 6 hours. With the above plan, I think I can do that since I've done it before with that training plan. I know I can already jump into week 1 and follow all the workouts pretty close and work my other races (sprints, 5k's, half marathons, marathons) around the training as I did in the past.

The key is to not get injured or burned out. Two things that have also happened to me in the past! 


Also, if anybody has a good training plan that they recommend, I am open for suggestions.

Paddling And The Boy

Paddle boarding that is, not paddling the Boy although he could use a good paddling about now!

Everyday I see more and more people paddling around on paddle boards. Popularity seems to keep growing in this sport that originated in Hawaii, the Murph and my future retirement state. (If I can get him back on an airplane for the time it takes to fly there it will be a miracle!) Yesterday evening there was a lone paddler on the sound at sunset. Very peaceful! I haven't tried it yet, but it's on my "to do" list this year. I wonder how hard it is to balance on one of those things?

It's almost impossible to be stressed out here even though the Boy is continually working on it for me. His latest issue is not answering his phone when I call him or responding to text messages from me unless he needs something from me. Usually when he decides to call me he is in some sort of "crisis" situation. For example, the other day he called (after not responding to my calls or texts for 3 days) extremely, EXTREMELY upset because one of his roommates was eating his food. Instead of confronting the roommate, the Boy decided I need to bring him his own personal refrigerator for his bedroom.

When he realized that wasn't going to happen, he calmed down and hopefully either confronted his roommate with the problem or purchased food items that don't require refrigeration so he can store it in his room. At the time, those were the best solutions I could think of for him. I was a little upset myself that he didn't call or respond to me unless he needed something and then he demanded that I do something. Oh no! Not going to happen.

Tequila helps the de-stressing process too. With the awesome sunsets, bike rides, long runs and adult beverages, I can handle the Boy's "crisis" situations a little better than I use to.

One more thing - I don't think the Boy reads my blog (as a matter of fact, I know he doesn't), but if he happens to come across this post, I have one thing to say to him -

" If you want me to answer my phone when you call or text me, then I would suggest you do the same when I call. I know you are really, really busy, but I was a little busy myself all those years I had to set aside my own interests to change your diapers and attend all those IEP meetings. So.... answer your phone or at the least return my call at a time when it's more convenient for you, preferably on the same day I called you. That is all."

"Comprende?"

Time For Ms. June's Yoga Pose Of The Month

It's June 1st and that means it's time to flip the yoga cat calendar to a new month. Ms. June is performing the Easy Pose above. The yoga pose is easy for a five year old, but I'm not too sure how easy it is for "mature" adults. I do a stretch similar to this after biking or running when my muscles are extremely tight and it can be kind of painful, but in a good way.

Some of the benefits of Easy Pose are:

1. Promotes inner calm
2. Helps relieve anxiety and stress
3. Lengthens your spine
4. Opens up hips

I don't sticking your tongue out is part of the pose. That's just Ms. June's version of the pose. She probably had to be bribed with kitty treats before she would cross her paws like that.

I will say this pose looks the least "dangerous" of all the other month's yoga poses. It's probably the only one I can do without loosing my balance and falling over. This could easily become my second favorite pose following the downward dog pose.

What's your favorite yoga pose?

It's Good To Be Back!

I'm back! I'm back on Obagi C Rx skin system that is. I've been on it for about 5 years with breaks of a few months or so and always seem to go back on it. This past break from Obagi C, I started using the Cindy Crawford Meaningful Beauty day and night creams as well as a couple of other things I use before applying makeup. My friend L loves CCMB and is on the automatic mailing system of the product so she receives it every month whether she's out or not. She's accumulated tons of it so she gave me a couple of the products to try.

Since I was out of the Obagi C tretinoin cream (Obagi's retin A), I found an almost entire tube of a Retin A cream that the Boy had tried a few years ago for acne and never finished. I finished the tube off and then it was time to get another. I try to never go without a Retin A product. Bad things happen to my pores and skin when I do.

While we were in Birmingham this week, I headed over to Spa 119 to finally restock my Obagi products. I had planned on getting the C serum without the added skin lightener, hydroquinone, since I am a little suspicious of long term use of it even though it really works to get rid of age spots and freckles. I had freckles all over my chest that are now gone from using the night cream on my chest for a while a few years ago to give my face a break from it. Totally works!

I like the Cindy Crawford Meaningful beauty cream as a moisturizer with added sunscreen, but I still needed something stronger. My skin started breaking out (only minor, but still!) probably more from the drug store sunscreen I was using and my skin was flaking. Dry, yet breaking out! It was a mess!

Get Obagi C Rx System 20% Here with code May2013

I ended up purchasing the entire Obagi C starter kit since it is less expensive to buy it that way and I was out of everything anyway. The C serum in the kit had the hydroquinone so I went with it this time, but when I need a refill I'm going with the non-hydroquinone despite the fact that I was reassured that the 4% in the product was very mild and didn't cause any problems. It's still a chemical that I don't really need year round.

And I got the .05% Tretinoin Cream.

Obagi C Rx system also available for Normal to Dry skin Here 20% off with code May2013

Now Obagi C Rx has SPF 50 sunscreen instead of 35. That is much needed these days since I'm in the sun a lot. I'm going to avoid the drug store brand so hopefully the breakouts will stop.

I can already tell a difference in my skin after only two days of use. It is not peeling, seems more moisturized and the break outs are clearing up.

It's good to be back! Back on Obagi and back at the beach!

White dress: Free People; Black Jog Bra: Lululemon; Flip Flops: Juicy Couture; 

Necklace: Free People Here

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow... Or Rather Gone Last Night Sometime Before Midnight

We didn't have candles so we used matches. The top two = 20 and the bottom one = 1 = 21!

The Boy spent a couple of days with us during the Memorial Day weekend partly because he was bored and out of food at his college apartment and partly because his birthday is this Wednesday and he needed to get around as many family members as possible to get his birthday loot aka MONEY!! Money to buy food since his meal plan for last semester is over.

Sunday I took him out to eat at his favorite Mexican restaurant, Margarita Grill. The same place I went with the Babysitter for Cinco de Mayo and had to leave sans my taco salad because of the wildness of the place. Sunday it was calmer and a very nice day for outdoor dining as well.

Below are some fuzzy pics taken with my new Iphone 5. I now have Instagram. Hope that works better...

Chicken Chimichanga

This time I got my chicken taco salad and ate almost every bit of it. The first time ever accomplishing that feat.  The Boy got a chicken chimichanga with rice and beans and of course we got chips, salsa and cheese dip.  Later we had birthday cake and the first thing the Boy said was, "Why blue roses?" I tell him it's because he's a boy and the other alternative was pink roses. He was cool with the pink roses he tells me. Oh well, too bad. Next year I'll get pink!

Chicken taco salad

On Monday, he and the friend that he was riding back to school with decide they are going to leave around 9 pm, after the Boy gets back from eating out at his other favorite place, The Cheesecake Factory, with his dad and grandparents. I tried to convince him to stay at least until this morning, but he said his friend really wanted to go back Monday night.  Then at 10 pm when the Boy still wasn't home or packed to go back to school, I text him telling him he needed to wait until Tuesday morning to leave since it was so late and he still wasn't home yet.

No response.

Around 10:30 pm the two show up at the house to get the Boy's stuff preparing to head back to school that night which meant they wouldn't get to school until 2:30 in the morning. When I tell him no, it's too late, he called me a jerk and said the PLAN was to go back that night. Staying would screw up the PLAN! He can't mess up the PLAN!!

Neither the Murph nor I could convince them to stay at least until morning even though I felt driving that late was dangerous and I didn't like it one bit.

After much name calling (apparently I'm a huge jerk), I finally tell him he's an adult (21 years old tomorrow!) and could do what he wanted, but I still didn't think it was a good idea. His friend said he wasn't tired one bit since he'd just woke up at 3 pm and would be okay to drive that late, he's driven it before at 4 am, he said.  I told them I was getting ready to go to bed so they needed to be out before I was finished so I could set the alarm.

When the Boy got all packed up he came upstairs to tell me good-bye and wanted to know if he should call me when he got to school. I told him at 2 in the morning I would be asleep, but to text me to let me know he had gotten there safely. He said okay.

In the morning, no text. No text until he finally woke up sometime after noon.

While I really want him to be independent and to do things for himself, I know that things can still happen. He has Asperger's and sometimes not the best judgement. The Murph still says I'm a helicopter parent, but I don't think that applies to me at all anymore. I've loosened the reigns and allowed the Boy to be more independent than I probably would have if I was still single and it was just the two of us. In a way, that's been a good thing for both of us.

The Boy still depends on me to get his financial aid in order for the upcoming school years. Since we just got our federal income tax return back, I had to go to UPS to fax a copy to the school. While we were there, the Murph was telling the owner of the store what a helicopter parent I was by doing all the work for the Boy. I defend myself by saying, "I have to be a little bit of a helicopter parent because my son has Asperger's, have you ever heard of it, it's on the autism spectrum?"

The owner nodded her head toward her daughter who was in the back working on a computer and said,  "She has Asperger's. I don't have to be a helicopter parent because she's right there with me all the time."

I started talking to the daughter who had helped us several times when we were in the store and she told me that she had been to a private college for about a year but had to quit because of severe depression and anxiety. So severe she couldn't even go to class. I told her that the Boy had experienced the same thing his first year and had to go on anti-depressants.

It also helped that he has a friend at the same college that he's known since 3rd grade. They now share an apartment with one other person, but have their own private bedroom and bathroom. It's almost like him having his own private dorm room, which he liked, but more homey and not so lonely because there are others to share a common area with whenever he feels like coming out of his room. (I don't know if any of them come out of their room that often except to go to class though).

I'm really glad the Boy is doing well and WANTS to get back to his own apartment and school. It could have so easily gone the other way and he could be back at home. Fortunately (I guess),  he doesn't even like it here anymore. It's tough sometimes knowing when to let go and when to pull in the reigns. As the Boy gets older it is REALLY tough! He still needs me when he needs me, yet he needs me to back away when he needs me to back away. It's usually up to me to figure it out.

I might not like it sometimes, but I think that this "helicopter parent" is doing her job helicopter or not!

Memorial Day Weekend In Pensacola Beach

During Memorial Day weekend the usually fairly conservative, family friendly Pensacola Beach turns into one big wild party for the LGBT community. This year is the first time I've ever been down there to experience it in person and I have to say I was very surprised at the sheer number of people as well as the adult only atmosphere. Literally, Thursday morning there were still families with young children at the pool and on the beach, but by Thursday evening the families disappeared and everything went adult only, almost anything goes.

The Murph and I were suddenly in the minority and I really don't know where the other condo residents disappeared too. Tents were set up for miles on the fairly private beach area to the east of the island. Cars lined the streets and the pool was so full that it was shoulder to shoulder standing room only. It was an experience watching it all.

To top it off, we had a drunk guy that got lost on the elevator and the way to his condo and ended up knocking on our door. When the Murph opened the door the guy started heading inside thinking it was his condo and the Murph had to push him back out and close the door with the startled guy being very apologetic from the other side of the closed door.

Saturday we had to leave all the festivities behind (we'd had enough anyway) and headed back to Birmingham to get more stuff and to show the house. The Boy and Phantom came with us this trip.

Here's some photos of the crowds at the pool Friday evening. I'm sure Saturday was even more crowded at the pool and on the beach. I've never seen so many people and so much traffic as we were heading out Saturday morning.

There was a full moon as we were walking back to the condo from the pool area.

And that wasn't the only "full moon" I saw that evening at the pool!!

It should be back to family friendly normal down there by the time we get back.

Fashion Friday - Swimsuits Edition 1

For fashion friday I'm wearing two of the swimsuits I am loving this summer. One was purchased this year and one was purchased last year for me by my husband. I love the new pink that Victoria's Secret has available this year called "date night pink" or date night red".  LOVE!! I also love the gold toggles on the first swimsuit. I have another swimsuit like it, but in leopard print that I will feature next week.

Swimsuit - Victoria's Secret Date Night Pink Here;  Sandals - Giuseppe Zanotti (old); Sunglasses - Louis Vuitton Here; Earrings - Erica Lyons; Hat - Cappelli (old but similar Here in turquoise

Swimsuit - Victoria's Secret (old, but similar style Here in Paisley ); On toes - China Glaze in Pink Voltage; Sandals - Giuseppe Zanotti (old)

Why Green Smoothies?

I know I've done posts on this before, but I feel the need to do it again so click away now if your not interested in having more energy, glowing skin, reversing the aging process... well, you get the picture.

I started drinking green smoothies two years ago when I found out I had high levels of mercury and it was suggested that I start eating more cilantro. While I ate a small amount of cilantro in salsa and other mexican dishes, I felt I needed a way to get more of it in my system the fastest, least offensive way. About the same time the cilantro was recommended, I was reading about kale, how great it is and how everyone was putting it in their green smoothies. I decided those were the two ingredients I needed on a regular basis. I purchased a Vitamix which is GREAT! It blends everything up fast and very fine. Not like the blender I'm having to use now because the Vitamix is still in Birmingham. Temporarily!

I just can't tell you how much better I feel and how much better my skin looks since drinking these. I have one a day, 3 to 5 days a week. I add whatever fruits we have on hand, almost always a banana, cranberry juice, vanilla almond milk, protein powder, turmeric, cinnamon, flax seed (ground), sometimes walnuts, berries, pear, apple - whatever we have on hand. I usually add at least 2 or 3 fruits.

My husband thinks I over do it, but I'm always adding lots of things to it. It's a great way to get large amounts of greens and fruit, which I wouldn't do if it wasn't all blended together in smoothie form. I even added herbs last summer from our garden. Basil, mint and rosemary are particularly good. I add honey too since I like it a little more sweet and 2 handfuls of ice because it tastes much better cold. In the above smoothie, I even added a little avocado. I've added beets before, but they have a very strong taste. I felt like the cilantro and beets were battling out on my taste buds. Not good!! Healthy though!

Here's a list of most of the things I have added to my green smoothie and the health benefits of each. I always add Kale, Cilantro, Banana, Turmeric, Cinnamon, Protein Powder, Cranberry Juice and Honey. The other things are interchangeable.

Kale - Vitamin K, magnesium, iron, fiber, great detox food among other things. Read more about health benefits Here.

Cilantro - detoxing, binds with mercury and removes it from tissues, antibacterial, anti inflammatory

Banana - High in potassium, energy food

Walnuts- oleic acid, Omega 3.  Read the many health benefits Here.

Flax Seed- Omega 3's, fiber (better ground these babies good!)

Beets- Natural liver detox, cleanses the blood

Avocado - healthy fat, helps body absorb some nutrients, Vitamin E, lowers cholesterol

Cranberry Juice - good for kidney and bladder health although I use the diet version so I don't know how strong that is or if it has enough cranberry in it to do any good but it is the "water" for my smoothie so it isn't too thick.

Almond Milk - Vitamin E for skin health, Vitamin A for eye health, Vitamin D, more nutrients than regular dairy milk. I like the Vanilla unsweetened Almond Milk. Great in cereal too!

Protein Powder- amino acids for muscle repair and rebuild. Read more of the benefits Here.

Turmeric - anti-inflammatory, cancer fighting, heart health, anti-oxidant. GREAT stuff!

Cinnamon - regulates blood sugar, heart health. Read more benefits Here.

Berries - flavonoids and phytochemicals, help fight mental decline, heart health, diabetes

Pear- antioxidants, fight free radicals, heart health and makes a tasty green smoothie!

Apple-read the many benefits Here. My favorite health benefit of apples is quercetin - an antioxidant, anti inflammatory, also found to increase endurance and athletic performance. Quercetin is also  found in red wine so drink up!!

Basil- powerful antioxidant, anti-ageing benefits. Read more benefits Here.

Mint- soothes aches, pains and stomach problems, antiseptic and antibacterial, freshens breath

Rosemary- fights cancer, improves memory among many other things to many to list. Read more Here.

Honey- anti fungal, improves athletic performance, natural sweetener that makes smoothie taste great. Many more benefits Here.

Ginger Root - Soothes stomach, aids in digestion

Have I forgotten anything? What do you add to your green smoothies?

The Best Way To Recover - Beach Time!

I've spent a lot of time here with my toes in the sand the past two days recovering from the triathlons I did Thursday and Saturday. Sure they were short, but I raced them as hard as I could as that was the plan to see where I am in my training, what I need to work on, etc (which is swimming and biking.) and I was a little sore.

Also, my asthma was acting up and I had some trouble breathing. The race Thursday I was really having a hard time breathing even though I had done my inhaler before the race. Saturday it wasn't as bad, but my throat and lungs were sore from the breathing struggle on Thursday. I was very surprised because I haven't had a problem in a long time. I'm thinking it may be the humidity causing it.

After the race on Saturday, I went to the gym and did some time on the spin bike and did upper body weights and on Sunday I did lower body weights, but no long run. Monday I actually swam in the ocean for a few minutes until my imagination started working over time and I imagined big, menacing fish with large teeth sneaking up behind me.

Totally creeps me out!

I don't know how to work through that fear. I never think about it during a race since there are so many people in the water with me. Okay, maybe I do think about it a little, but it doesn't stop me or creep me out or anything and during Ironman Florida and Gulf Coast half we swam straight out about 1/2 mile into the ocean and back. Once during Gulf Coast I tried new goggles during race day and they kept filling up with water and I couldn't see a thing. I totally got off course and didn't know where I was or which way to go and had to keep stopping to pour the water out of my goggles and try to spot a buoy and get back on course.

Now THAT was creepy!!

Anyway, Monday I swam. For about 5 minutes. In the ocean. Hey, you have to start somewhere!

I also did upper body weights, the elliptical and a mile 1/2 run. My legs felt tight, but I'm hoping by Wednesday they will be back to normal for my next run. Tuesdays for me are biking days.

The cats have settled in nicely and are getting along somewhat despite all the Murph's worries. I reasurred him that I had a plan and it is working. Phantom the bad cat has his "territory" in the guest bedroom. This is where his litter box is and where he gets fed and sleeps. We close him in there at night and when we leave the condo.

Ed and Cadence have their own litter box in the half bathroom and get fed in the kitchen. They can go anywhere in the condo except Phantom's room. Cadence can go in there sometimes if Phantom allows it, but it's not a good idea for Ed to go in there. That would be kitty suicide!

Their nightly routine is chilling out to some nice jazz. Last night I got this video of their typical evening.

We'll probably have to take Phantom with us when we go back to Birmingham for a few days. He has to have heart meds everyday and the Boy has started his summer "job". He was one of the few computer students who was selected to help some professors with a research project this summer. It is such an honor for him and he is so excited. He gets so focused on these things that I'm afraid Phantom might get neglected and his meds forgotten.

The Boy did a really great job taking care of him a couple of weeks ago when we went to Birmingham to get the other two cats and more stuff, but he was finished with classes and not working yet. Now I think the cat would be too much so he'll have to go with us. He's a pretty good traveler when he's in the cat carrier and not lowering windows with his paw.

Besides he'll get his jazz fix all the way back.