Filles de Fer

Happy Christmas, everyone! I hope Santa filled your stockings with lots of nice toys. I found some fabulous tri-themed goodies under my tree this year:

Insulated water bottles At first, I thought Cap was trying to suggest that we take the bikes outside this winter, but then I remembered that insulation works both ways. These bottles keep cold drinks cold. I’ve always been a fan of cool or lukewarm water over ice cold, but Cap reminded me that my 70.3 is at the end of July, and in addition to keeping hydrated, I’ll need to keep myself cool (Chicago Marathon, anyone?).

A bike computer Definitely something that I needed, but wouldn’t have bought for myself anytime soon. I’d held off on buying one of these because my focus was on keeping my balance, figuring out the gears, and getting used to being in the saddle. Tracking my stats seemed like a secondary objective. But, now that I have a computer, I’ll have the equivalent of my Nike+ for the bike – I can log cadence, wattage, and mileage, and I’ll be able to set benchmarks for my training.

A wetsuit My parents are fabulous. When I told them a year ago that my New Year’s resolution for 2007 was to do a half-marathon in May and a marathon by the end of the year, they thought I was crazy. They know I’m stubborn, but didn’t entirely expect me to train for either event, much less finish. How do they feel about 2008’s resolution of a 70.3? Well, they’re making sure that I won’t be too chilly during that swim in Lake Michigan! They’re coming to visit at the beginning of January, and we’ll be going wetsuit shopping.

A day planner La Roommate got me another something that I wouldn’t have picked up myself, but which will be super super valuable – a pretty little day planner made by Graphic Image. I just filled in the dates of the races I know I’m doing in 2008 (Flying Pig Marathon, Spirit of Racine Triathlon, Chicago Marathon), and I’ll be using the week-at-a-view agenda to log training stats. Sure, this info goes in my Outlook, but I like to have a hard copy of everything, too! This particular planner also has maps of major cities, so if I decide to go for a run in Prague, or swim off the Gulf coast, I can log those. Oh yeah, and the cover is shiny.

[I’m writing this away from home, so I don’t have everything in front of me right now. I’ll update this post later with specs and photos]

Once upon a time, way back in September, I did a little analysis of a 1/2 IM training plan I’ve been looking at. It’s a 20-week plan, and while I originally intended to start it this fall, that didn’t exactly happen. I ran, I swam, and I got a little bit better on the bike, but I pretty much forgot about ze plan.

Enter a New Year’s Resolution of sorts: start this plan in January of 2008 (specifically, start it on the first Monday of ‘08, since I’m weird and would rather start on a Monday than a Tuesday), and work onward and upward from there.

Some things have changed since this fall: I got a bike, it got too snowy/icy to run outside, and post-Christmas, I’ll have a wetsuit (yeah, it’s not really a surprise gift). Some things need to change before I start a more focused training program: I’ve been a bit lax with my daily water intake, I could be eating a bit healthier, and I really ought to get more sleep.

The first 20 weeks of 2008 will be intense, but I’m definitely looking forward to it. Serious Runner, are you joining me on this plan?

I just uploaded some of my recent run data from Nike+ and I’ve been looking over the graphs to see if there are any patterns. All of the runs have been between 2-3 miles (I’m still working on building cold-weather mileage. More serious distance will be logged indoors, on the track.), and at temperatures below freezing, but I’ve run at different times of day. I’ve discovered the following about my cold-weather runs:

• So far, my fastest average pace happened at 6:25am. I ran around my neighborhood, up to the park, and zigzagged back through the neighborhood.
• My slowest run was at 10:17am. I ran through Wrigleyville, and got stopped at a lot of intersections. This might be why my average pace was about 15 seconds slower than most runs.
• My most consistent run (in terms of pace) occurred at 9:12pm. I ran a different Wrigleyville route (more side streets than the 10:17am run).
• Hydration is still a problem for me. I haven’t been able to locate any functional water fountains, which is sad. I’ve been wearing gloves on these runs, and I’m clumsy anyhow, so carrying a water bottle is out of the question. Do I opt for a hydration belt? Is it that big of a deal? Am I even going to run more than 3 miles outside in this cold?

 The city took away the water fountains in the park I run in! Booooooo.

I know it’s cold out. I know the park isn’t super popular this time of year. But seriously? Why would they take down the water fountains? My 6am run was kind of ugly: no water + 23 degree weather + the sidewalks being torn up for construction in several places = I’m a sucker for punishment. My pace is improving, though. Nike+ runs shall be uploaded when I stop being such a slacker.