Ironman - All About the Outfit!

There are a lot of things that have to be figured out, planned, trained, purchased, and practiced to be ready for a 70.3.  For months, I have been trying to figure out what I'm going to wear on race day. Come on now, this is a serious issue! Whatever I wear will be on under my wetsuit for the swim, so it has to be able to handle the water (regular padded bike shorts are out!) Once I strip off my wetsuit, I have to be ready to jump right onto the bike, and for 56 miles, I need more padding than just my regular work out shorts, so time for my first tri shorts! But what tri shorts? The new kit for the Tri Club of San Diego just came out, but it will not be available to try on or to have until the start of March.  I need to start practicing in my new outfit now... see how it feels, find the hot spots, etc. There are lots of brand tri shorts, but most are designed to be used as part of a kit, not to just use as shorts.  Insert top dilemma here... although I've lost 50 pounds, I've tried on several different tri kits... both (2) piece kits and (1) piece kits.  Not only do I not feel comfortable in them at all, tri kits only come in tank options, no sleeves. I cannot and will not ever train/race in a tank, so a full tri kit is not an option for me. So with most tri shorts having designs that are intended to continue up onto the matching tri top, they would look silly matched with a plain top.  To you, this might sound like fashion minutia, but wait, there's more...

There is a local triathlon store that is way too cool... HERevolution. It is a female only tri/running shop and the owner, Darci, is amazing! She opened the shop to provide a place where the gals can get female specific clothing, advice, team and training support... a great place that is "lunk free." No, lunks and their related attitude do not only hang in the gym... they work in sport/athletic stores too, and can make shopping for athletic gear/equipment a very uncomfortable place for the gals!  Darci has a few different tri kits and not only do I love the designs, I found a pair of shorts that I could match up with a cool, fitted top (with sleeves) for my Ironman outfit. I've got the padding for the bike, the sleeves for comfort and a cute outfit that I LOVE!!!  Add the matching hat for the run and I'm ready to go!

I've already worn it for a ride and long run and this outfit is very comfortable and is going to work perfectly for Oceanside! Now to nail down the socks...

Ironman outfit... and my new saddle!  Two more things to check off the list...

O-side Week #9... New Seat... Time Trials... ONE-DERLAND!

WOW, what a WEEK (posting late so this is last week's review)!  For the 2nd week, training has been great... feeling strong... actually looking forward to the 4:45AM alarm so I can get to the gym... this really has to be some sort of training high that I'm feeling!  This week was about time trials...


208.6

199.8!!!!!!

SWIM - Saturday was a long swim that included a 1,200 meter time trial. I have only been in the water (4) times since October and this was my first timed 1,200 since last year's Desert International (10 months ago)... and it was by far my FASTEST EVER!!!  It still amazes me what strength training has done for my swim... and a good thing since I pulled my swim time out of my schedule to add in strength training. :-)

BIKE - For the past year or so, I have been having a lot of pain on my bike... lower back and girly part pain.  This past summer, I started using a chamois cream (Buttonhole) and it has made a good difference, but still too much back pain.  Jeff has been telling me that I am a racer now and that I can't (and that he is embarrased for me) keep riding on a beach cruiser seat on my Orbea.  So, I (my under regions) was measured and we bought a female bike seat.  Sunday was the first go round on the seat and it was a time trial on Fiesta Island - 20 miles.  I can tell you that I never knew what "sit bones" were, but now I TOTALLY  know... because they hurt!  The new seat and position are really cool and I'm hoping with a bit more time on the new saddle the bones will stop feeling like someone hit me with a 2 x 4 down there!  Even with playing around with my position on the new saddle, this TT was my FASTEST EVER!

RUN - After the bike TT, I grabed my run gear and ran 2.5 miles and funny enough... FASTER THAN MY RACE PACE!  I actually thought that I was going pretty slow, but I couldn't believe it when I checked my watch!

ONE-DERLAND - I have been doing a weight loss challenge with my Tri group for the past 8 weeks... YEP... straight through the holidays.  I am happy to report that I lost 8.8 pounds in (8) weeks and am officially back in ONE-derland!!!  I do have more to ponder with the amount of training that I'm doing, cutting calories, and ONLY losing about a pound a week... something seems a bit strange there, but I'm still trying to figure that out.