Riding 25k again, but still without water ;-)

Since I got home pretty late due to my hairstyling appointment, I didn't have the motivation to race against the clock to get to the BDO just to buy a bottle holder. So instead I ate Dinner (Mom had made apple-milk-rice) and took a short nap (1/2 hour). At 7:30 PM I got Aurora out, tested the air pressure at the rear tire and hit the road (metaphorically, I didn't crash! ;-). Before I got out there came a "wonderful" mom remark: "Don't you think you drive a bit too often?" Me: "huh?" Her:"Well, with your knee, not that you stress it too much." Me: rolling my eyes. I bet you, that her next remark will be that I'm fat and should lose some weight!

"Ouch, ouch, ouch" were my thoughts over the first few minutes since I still had saddle soreness from Mondays ride. After that everything went pretty well, even the climbs seemed a little easier than on Monday (at least with hindsight, not when I was pedaling!). There were more cyclists and inline skaters out than on Monday, mostly they drove in the other direction so I couldn't really compare. But one cyclist drove in my direction, read "drove by really fast". He was way faster than me. I wailed in my mind: "I want to be that fast tooooooo" and Elliott wailed right with me. LoL.
In any case I had the impression that I was a little faster than Monday but I'm not sure, since I don't have the exact distance and there are traffic lights along the way.
So here are yesterdays stats:
Distance: approx. 25k
time: 1:30:33 hrs.
in zone: 1:11:21 hrs. (definitely better than Monday)
HR: 144 bpm (also better than Monday)
I think this is a combination of a slight training effect and the recovery.

Today I took my bike to class for two reasons:
1) I'm moving and therefore burning the bad carbs
2) I can drive to the BDO right after class and don't need to get home first.

Tonight I might be riding again, but I will decide upon it depending on how I feel about it.

Okay, okay, so KK is "just" training for an Ironman, but when I read that she started out with Triathlon training 9 years ago, I started thinking about my longtime tri-plan. Initially I had planned to do Challenge Roth (Ironman distance) in 2013 and Ironman Hawaii in 2017, at least that was my plan before the knee issue and I knew that I won't buy a roadie in 2010. At the moment I haven't changed the Hawaii plan (yet), but Challenge Roth is bound to be shifted to 2014. I think I will make those decisions next year, when I know how my knee behaves and I have done my first triathlons.

For the moment I just want to gain general fitness and get a job, ah, make that a job and general fitness.

And you know what?! KK's training rides have nothing on this girl: Dirt Diva aka Catra. She runs 100's. No, not metres or kilometres, she runs 100 mile races!! And I only finished a half marathon which led me to walk down the stairs backwards for 3 days in 2008. I felt so badass back then and that's only 13 miles! *Ouhhh, hang my head in shame.*

To close this post a nice quote from "The triathlete's guide to mental training":
"I guess you can get muscle biopsies and that crap, but desire will always be the most important thing" Jimmy Riccitello, former pro triathlete (p. 28)

KEEP MOVING FORWARD!

The 'oh'-effect of reading training literature...

It's really weird, Anne a friend of mine told me just last Saturday that I need to be patient, that speed is the last thing that comes long after I have a good endurance. And she has to know, she ran a lot of marathons in the 1990s. But did I listen, I mean really listen, to her? No, San knows better. I ran for 5 weeks now (I mean in this season, I ran before) and surely I have enough endurance now to do an ultra run.... ahem.

Until I read training literature. Well, two days ago I've started to read Joe Friels "The cyclist's Training Bible-Third Edition". I gave it to my dad as a birthday present, last year or so. He didn't read it. And since I needed something interesting and motivating to read without spending any money I took this. The book is marvelous, well as far as I can tell after 26 pages. Haha.

The point is, that Joe says, beginners tend to overtrain and be impatient. My body needs time to adjust to this training and guess what, it won't do in just 5 weeks! Bugger!!! Hihi. In fact this book is written for cyclists who were training and competing for at least 3 years. This raises a question, if you only ran sporadically, does it count? Probably not. I mean, I only have to look at my heartrate to know my body is just starting out in building the necessary inner infrastructure to run long runs and eventually compete. Even if I make fun of being always one of the last finishers in my races it bothers me. In fact I hate it to be last or second last. Argh. And since I'm chronically impatient, I want to be abled to run a marathon in under 3 hrs, NOW. I don't want to gall kilometers for years. I want to run Boston in April 2010, not in 2020. And thinking of it, I want to do Kona in 2010, too, and leave Chrissie in my dustcloud of black vulcanic sand!!!

Thanks to Joe I've decided to look at it realistically. And I've come to the conclusion, that my body isn't ready to compete in the race on new years eve, at least not on a level that I could live with. I certainly won't end 2009 as the last finisher in a darned 10k-race. So it's speed training at the track around the corner. But I'll do the new years run in the city.
And I've decided that 2010 is all about building endurance and changing my body to an athletes body. I'll lose the excess body fat, build up my muscles and do some races without any pressure, except getting to the finish line and not be last. Sounds like a plan?!

While all of you plan their whole racing year, I'll let my body decide, at least to a certain point.
I ate my last christmas cookies for breakfast, now I'll do the march I skipped on Tuesday due to tummy-aches. And afterwards I'll do some yoga. Enjoy your day.

I hope all of your holidays were nice and that Santa brought what was on your wishlist. I got my new nike sports bra and I love it.

Keep running and melt the christmas fat.

Right on time for christmas the snow is thawing

We've got 7.8° C = 46° Fahrenheit today and that means no white christmas! Bugger!!! The weather change was so "dramatic" that I got headaches yesterday evening, I never had something like this before.

Girls thing. Guys can skip!
Today I feel like crap because of the first day of Red Week, so I won't train. Speedtraining is tomorrow anyway and I can use another day for recovery. Hey, even I'm just human. And I know for certain Mark Allen and Dave Scott never had to deal with this monthly crap. One question to you tri girls out there, do you take your period into planing your races or do you just say on this day is the race and I don't care if I have my period then?! I always wondered about that one.

Next topic, guys approved! ;-D
Since almost everyone out there in blogland has put up his or her 2010 race schedule I think I should make mine too. At this moment there is only one thing sure. The Leipzig Marathon on 25th of April 2010. I think I want to do Athens Marathon in October, too. The question is just can I afford it. (There is still no news from little town or Düsseldorf.) I might even do a tiny little triathlon (0,75-21-5 km) in June on Castle Moritzburg, depending on time and having or not having a car. At the moment I have no race bike or neo and I can't swim proper freestyle. But I've decided to start with a masters course on the next possible date, which is end of March.

My big all time goal is finishing Ironman Hawaii. I don't know at this moment where I'll do my first long distance tri, only when: 2013! And I know, that I want to do Challenge Roth and an Ironman in New Zealand. Great planning, huh?

By the way, do you have a new years resolution? Mine is to learn a proper handstand. Because I could never do one and it has nothing to do with triathlon, so...

Two pics from Sunday for your eye relaxation.

Oh, I had a half Gluehwein at the christmas market on Saturday. I'm not into this Gluehwein stuff, I prefer waffles with vanilla cream. I got my last one for this year today, after I've been to the employment agency and the school center where I will take a project management class from January on.

That's it for today. Hope you have a white christmas and not this undecided weather we've got today!

Keep running!