LAR24

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook or just know me in real life than you are familiar with one of my favorite acronyms
L A R 
which stands for Long Ass Run or Long Ass Ride
typically, LAR(ide) is my favorite of the LAR's but cramming for a marathon has brought several LAR(un) into my life the past several weeks. These LAR's for the most part have been successful and I have learned something on each one.

Today was my last LAR before the marathon in (less than) two weeks and my training plan called for 24 miles. This would be my longest run ever completed to date and to say I was not a little nervous about it would be a lie. I mean really, 24 miles is just shy of a marathon...just another 2.2 miles and I could claim the distance! But I am happy to wait until the big day...

Today's run was a good one, it gave me a chance to train in some cold weather gear. Last week's 21 miler was done in warm weather gear since it was soo nice out! Today...not so much. It was a cold morning-in the 40's-which is totally typical for this time of year in Maine. The weather report has been spewing "sunny and sixty" for the last several days and I was pretty pumped that the weather was going to cooperate with my planned run. Well, it WAS sunny when I hit the road, until about mile 4 when the black clouds moved in, the wind picked up-especially on the coastline-and then the rain showers started. Oh well! There are never any guarantees on race day so roll with it.

A majority of my running is done at low heart rate, so it's slow and easy miles and today's run was basically the same but I was given a little HR leeway for the final 12 miles. The wind ate some of my heart rate as well as some of the gentle rollers on the run route, but all went very well and I felt pretty dang good that last mile! I even had gas in the tank to kick it up a bit! WIN!! There were a couple moments of "uggh, am I done yet" but for the most part I felt great!

There has been none of this on training runs but we can chat post race! lol

Now, I have been getting a lot of comments from all kinds of folks about the miles I am running.
You only ran 19 as your biggest run pre-marathon? That's great!!
You don't think I should run more than 20 miles because those last 6.2 miles are sacred? Ok, that's a pretty cool thought.
Your cousin's uncle's friend's neighbor runs marathons and HE says that anything over 21 miles is not necessary? Good for him.
Paul Ryan ran a sub-3:00 with no runs longer than 15 miles. Suuuure he did ;)

Here's the thing, I have a Coach that I trust and she knows my goals and my fitness level better than anyone (including myself! lol) so I just do what she says. If I have questions or don't understand something, I ask her but a majority of the time, she explains it so I understand the point of the workout in the first place. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

I am injury free and have been for a LONG time, I enjoy training and things are going well. I am learning to be patient and look at the bigger picture. Trust me when I tell you that the bigger picture is HUGE and there are many things down the line...

Will I try to qualify for Boston as this marathon? HELL NO
This is not the race for me to do that but trust me, that is on the "short list" of things to get done in the near future. This race is to finish and get the distance completed.

Today's run was the last of the big ones before the race. I have some shorter runs to still get done and some cross training but it's time to start chillin'.

Speaking of chillin'

Guess what I did yesterday??

OPEN WATER SWIM at the pond.





The water was amazing. I can't wait to sneak back this weekend!! The weather man says it's going to be nice...but we all know what a liar he is!

Happy Training!!

The Reveal

Once upon a time there was a little girl who dreamed of things that were pink, sparkly and fast. 

source

She told her husband on each of the last two Valentine's Days, that the only carbon she wanted was in the form of a beautiful bike-forget diamonds.
The old saying "Diamonds are a girls best friend" did not fly with this girl.
Her best friend was her bike. 





And she longed for a pink Quintana Roo cd0.1 for an eternity
(or so it seemed).
As much as the little girl loved the pink camo Quintana Roo cd0.1, it's majestic beauty was far, far from her (budget) reach.
But the little girl BELIEVED that some day her "prince(ss) would come" so she continued to hold that deep, deep love for the pink QR.

Then one day, not too long ago, a glimmer of hope sparkled in the distant waters and she thought that maybe--just maybe--she could make yet another dream come true!!
..and with that hope, a new dream started to form.

A dream that was flat black, silver, white with just a dash of pink. 
Could it be that this NEW Quintana Roo would steal the little girls heart?

As fate would have it, she was able to ride this beautiful steed for several weeks and it was LOVE LOVE LOVE. They fit perfectly and the little girl could go so much faster!!
But with a sad and heavy heart, the little girl had to give back the loaner steed and it was back to reality.
No pretty, fast, beautiful Quintana Roo to ride in the weeks that followed.

She rode several other bikes but nothing was like that QR she sooo loved.

Then the little girl's Fairy-Godfather, Fairy-Godmother and Fairy-Uncle (yes-all three. It's my fairy tale!) appeared one day and told the little girl that because she had been very, very good girl they were going to help her make her dream come true.

And so it was meant to be.
A little tweak here and a little more carbon there....and it was perfect.

I am so grateful and thankful for all of the wonderful people who have made it possible for my dreams to come true this year.

First, my Mom and Dad (Rick-O Racing) , I love you and I could not do any of this without you both. Thank you to my husband and my in-laws too! I am so lucky that my entire family supports my crazy triathlon dreams.

To my amazing Coach Sonja- whom I just adore and appreciate so much. Thank you for everything and for  helping me raise the bar on my own dreams. You inspire me daily and I still wonder how I made into your stable :) xo

To Kompetitive Edge and Ryan, thank you for being the dream weaver and artist behind my beloved bike. You will forever be "Uncle Ryan" to my second baby.

To Rev 3 Triathlon, I am so happy and so proud to be a part of the REV3 Family. Being a part of the Rev 3 Team is a giant dream come true!! Thank you for believing in me.

Sometimes...I get a good feeling!

What a whirlwind week of emotions from Sunday to Sunday!!

Last Sunday I ran the Kerrymen Pub 5k race and PR'd by 20 seconds at the 5k distance but decided that I was not happy with that because it was not the time I wanted.

Running to the finish in my Rev 3 gear

WAAAHHH! What did I have for breakfast that day, Spoiled Brat protein shake?
Needless to say, I was scolded by my close friends and Coach Awesome for having such a PPA (piss poor attitude) about it and they are right, of course.
Hey, I finished 126th overall out of nearly 1,000 runners (981) and 6th in my AG.
I was happy, yet frustrated.

I was SUPER EXCITED to be testing out a Quintana Roo cd0.1 for a few days and could not wait to log some serious miles on that beautiful bike but I was sad that I was not able to really ride it over last weekend...I mean REALLY ride. I only got out for about an hour and half (cold!) and some trainer time. I was looking forward to spending a lot of hours biking and when my training plan for the week was revealed, I was looking forward to the weekend!
I was excited, yet disappointed.

I had an awesome swim early in the week and got my 1650TT under 30 minutes (29:04!) WOOT! This is a big improvement for me. I started the week with a little nagging shoulder pain and I just kind of swam thru it on Tuesday but towards the end of the swim, I could tell there was some fatigue and bit of a niggle there. I keep track of the 500 splits to report back to Coach Awesome and last 150 yds showed significant slowing. Now, I will say that having not met my time goal at the 5k was in the back of my mind and I really wanted to get this TT under 30 mins! Done & Happy.Coach then gave me some fast 100's to bang out and I was holding on to get those done! (I hate not being able to execute a workout as she writes it--drives me BANANAS!!). I was able to get all the 100's on the times she gave me with the exception of 1 or 2 but, it was a great swim.
I was proud of my effort, yet cautious.

Midweek presented a track workout. I like track workouts-I am able to hyper-focus on what I have to do and execute. No worries about potholes, cars or anything else to distract me. Round and round and round. The Rx'd run of the day normally would have been one that I could bang out (1000 meter repeats at <7mm) but this day I struggled. I failed to get ONE repeat at the target pace and normally I would let this frustrate me in ways I cannot even explain but this day I chalked up to mental training. Dig a little deeper. Remember why you do this. Suck it up Cupcake. run run run. It may not have been a stellar run but it taught me a little bit about my mind and the mental part of training.
I was pleased, but not satisfied.

Lucky to have THIS as my view every day

The weekend help promises of beautiful weather and long miles outside so I begged the guys at Kennebunkport Bicycle to keep PinkiePie a few days longer (yes, I already named her and yes, I am in love). I wanted to get more miles OUTSIDE!!
They were nice enough to let me keep her the rest of the week and plans were made to ride and run in the sun!! I can't say enough about how nice Brandon and Alex have been. They are even doing some work on Tiger while I have PinkiePie. (Tiger who?? lol)



Friday's swim was a fail-too much discomfort-and I decided to look at the bigger picture and call it day short rather than push myself and end up NOT swimming for a week or more. I needed to be smart and not let a failed workout put me into a bad place.
I was worried, but optimistic.

The weekend held too much awesome!! Long run on Saturday in cold, wet weather on some rollers out in the country. I stuck with Coach Awesome's plan to the letter but I could have SMASHED my half mary time but a lot of minutes and on hills to boot! Then later in the day I got out to ride in the SUNSHINE.
I was exhilarated and stoked!

Saturday Pre-Run and Pre-Dawn! Ready to rock those hillz...

Sunday was a 4 hour tour on PinkiePie--we rode the Coastline (cold winds!) and then headed inland and it got nice and warm!

Yes, shorts!

I got to strip down to my short sleeved jersey. Many miles and many towns...I was grinning ear to ear and just soooo happy. I just love cycling and I loved riding that bike! I had a short run off the bike and while I felt I was crawling, I was just under the target time that Coach gave me. Executed and I felt FANTASTIC!
I was feeling strong and happy.

More awesome view of the "pool"

It was a week of lots of ups and downs, but mostly ups and lots of smiles!

How are you getting your good feelings??

Monday Mashup

Really...it's been that long since I did a blog post??
Bad bad blogger!!

Coach Awesome effectively kicked my biscuits this weekend after a pretty easy recovery week. Part of it was my own fault. I wrote up a killer leg focused boot camp class for Friday morning and actually participated with the entire class. Lots of deep squats, lunges, wall sits, with heavy weight etc. I mean, really. How foolish could I have been?

I did not have my training schedule in TP as of Thursday night but c'mon. I KNOW that the heavy training loads are always on the weekend and she had warned me that there would be lots of time in the saddle. Saturday we had a big swim and a bike sesh of what I lovingly refer to as a Grind-n-Climb (grind at 60 cadence focusing on using your glutes and then standing climbs) for 10,000 intervals (ok, maybe a slight exaggeration) and Sunday was another hard bike session of long, progressive heart rate intervals followed by a long run of more let's see if we can make your heart explode (again-slight exaggeration).

All smiles in the middle of it all :)



this is starting to hurt a little bit

My sticks were so freaking beat come Sunday's ride that I could not hold the last 20 minute interval on the bike-I just has nothing left. I finished the workout, frustrated that I could not eek out 7 more minutes of hell on my legs but completed my time in the saddle.

nearding DONE notice ipod on ceiling to keep it from drowning

I eased into my run real slow and cautious and after 1:15 I thought my legs were going to burst. They felt like sausages. It was funny-they felt swollen and tight-but they weren't, they were just tired and felt loaded with lead. But once I was able to pick up the pace for some of the higher HR stuff, I felt better. I had to take a couple quick breaks-more than I would have liked-but I was focused on completing the workout.

Now, I don't question Coach Awesome. I mean if I have questions, I ask for I don't question her methods. She tells me to do XYZ, I do XYZ. Frankly, it the woman told me to tape dill pickles to my visor and run in circles for 2 hours, I would just do it. I trust her.

I have to admit, I was thinking about Quassy during this weekend's sessions and I know this is going to be a challenging race. I was thinking "man, this sh!t is haaaard" while running in the 160's hr at the end of a LONG run but I managed and I did not die or puke. I know I never challenged myself like this last season so I am happy with the choice to take on a Coach this year. I am even more stoked that it's Coach Awesome.

But the best thing about that hard run? I woke up this morning with legs that felt fresh and ready to rock 'n roll!! I think that run scared all the DOMS right out of my legs.
Happy dance 


I have mentioned that my amazing Rev 3 Triathlon team mates are Running Across America to raise funds for Ulman Cancer Fund. I will be running with them-in spirit-since I am unable to join them on their two week trek across the USA. They will be starting in Cali and ending in Washington DC-that's 3,080 miles folks.

While they are on the road running, I will be running right here but I will be running at least a mile every day while they are out on the road. I will be sure to keep you all updated on their progress.

I am trying to raise at least $1,000.00 for Ulman Cancer Fund. I have a little over 500 followers on my blog. I ask if each of you could donate just $2.00 to this effort, that would help me reach my goal. And it would help many young adults with cancer get the help they need. I know that there are a lot of wondeful causes out there to support but if you could help in any way, it would be great.

I am trying to put together a prize package for anyone who donates to this-so far I have some great things for Tough Chik and GOTRIbal to offer. YOU KNOW I'll come up with some awesome swag.

So here's the deal-for every $2.00 donated thru this link (and please pick my name from the drop down list when asked-it's Jen Small for those of you who don't know that) you will earn one entry into the giveaway! It's that easy. I'll keep you updated on the prizes.
All you have to do is leave me a comment that you donated and how many entries you earned.
Don't wanna comment? Feel free to email me directly at jsmall14(at)maine.rr.com

In Honor of Sherry Arnold

Today I ran in Honor of Sherry Arnold.

There were tons of runs planned all over this morning!

My run was solo, at 6am and on the treadmill.

11.5 miles

Before...ready to run. This is what I look like at the crack of dawn.
Sorry to scare you with that face!!




Today's mission per Coach Awesome was an easy 90 mins then last 15 mins hard

I am still trying to find my limits and discover what is HARD?

That last 15 was HARD...but when it hurt I just remembered one of the reasons I was running today and then it did not hurt so much.

My thoughts are with SUAR, Sherry's family and everyone out running today.

Rev 3 Things Thursday!

Yes, you are reading correctly! Today's edition of Three Things Thursday is all about REV 3!! So...it's 
Rev 3 Things Thursday!




ONE: 


First Up! The Rev 3 swimsuits are in!! woooo hoooo!!
Swimming just got a lot more fun :)
I cannot wait to Rock the R in the pool!!

TWO:





Speaking of swimming, Rev 3 announced this week that blueseventy will be coming on board as a sponsor!!


Check out the LAVA magazine interview with Rev 3 President, Charlie Patten! 

Revolution3 Triathlon is excited to announce that blueseventy, manufacturer of award winning wetsuits, goggles and triathlon clothing, has come on as a sponsor for the 2012 season. Rev3 and blueseventy are believers in quality and innovation, making this sponsorship a perfect fit.

Revolution3 Triathlon creates triathlon events that involve the whole family. Race weekends feature not only the event, but a host of family friendly activities for all ages. Rev3’s unique approach to triathlon has earned them high praise in the world of endurance sports, and has allowed the series to almost double in size over the past few seasons.

From wetsuits to triathlon apparel, blueseventy is a company that obsesses over the details necessary to create the fastest and most comfortable products in the world. Their wetsuits and goggles have been internationally recognized and have won awards on 4 continents. Aptly named to reflect the 70 percent of the earth that is covered in water, blueseventy seeks to revolutionize the way athletes interact with the water.

“Rev3 was created to fill a void in the triathlon world, and to bring new kind of quality to the triathlon experience,” says Charlie Patten, president of Rev3. “A company like blueseventy understands our desire to be the best out there, and to produce a memorable race experience. We’re excited to see their name on our growing list of sponsors who understand the value we bring to this space.”

Revolution 3 Triathlon produces races for Olympic, 70.3 and 140.6 triathlon distances, plus adventure and kids races, and has grown to include events on an international scale. Recently, Rev3 has also started to give back to the community, through a partnership with the Ulman Cancer Fund.

THREE: 

Quassy is only 16 weeks and 2 days away. I think I just threw up a little.

Lucky for me I have Coach Awesome guiding me-I will be just fine. Racing Quassy? Here are some tips from Jamie. 

I have been lusting after this challenging race for almost two years now and it's the first race of the year for me in 2012. The reason I want to do this race is because of the challenge. 

Have a taste of this:

This is the bike

and this is the run.