June Training Recap - halfway through the year! Plus, a change of plans regarding July's event.

Hey everyone! I'm freshly showered after my 11 mile run this morning, and happy to report these stats for my training this month:

June 2012 Stats:

• 16 days working out 
• 71 miles running
• 14 miles on the bike
• 1/2 mile swim (like 22 laps)

The middle of June was a bit tough, scheduling-wise, because my husband Savva was out of town for 10 days so I was on solo-Eliana-duty (this is a very fun duty to have, by the way). Going to work out required either Elly's napping to coordinate around the Kid's Club's schedule at the gym, or a friend/family member to watch her. It was during that time that I realized that I just wasn't going to be able to set aside time for the necessary bike training for my planned July event of riding 112 miles. As you all know, I do things SLOWLY, so when I did go out for a 40 mile training ride at the end of May, the whole thing with bathroom and snack breaks and such took me 4 hours. To be ready to do 112, I would have had to find time to do 45, 55, 65, 75 and 85 mile rides, at the minimum, plus some smaller rides as well, which would have required at least 32 hours of riding over the course of 6 weeks  - - - on top of all the time I'm spending running! And Savva is going back out of town for the next 10 days, which always makes scheduling trickier. SO. I feel conflicted about this, but I've decided to change my July event. Instead of a 112 mile bike ride (chosen to top my longest ride ever of 108 miles, plus it is the Ironman bike distance) I have signed up for Venus de Miles, a women's only 62 mile (that's a metric century) road ride on July 29th. Still a bike event, still a significant distance, but I do feel lame for not being able to make my original goal - I should have thought it through back in January I guess and realized that it wouldn't happen.

In July I'll be prepping for the marathon, triathlon, and metric century all at once. If all goes according to plan (which it won't; but I find that if I make big goals I accomplish more than if I make little goals), I will work out 26 days, run 108 miles, bike 317 miles, swim 264 laps in the pool and swim 1 mile IN THE LAKE. (The lake is scary, but it's gotta be done!)

Now since this is the last day of June, I am officially halfway done with my Year of Racing (Slowly!). So I'm also totaling up everything for the entire first half of the year:

• 94 days working out 
• 267.47 miles running
• 152 miles on the bike
• 68 laps in the pool
• 765 floors climbed
• 170 minutes on the elliptical
• 7 times up to the top of the climbing wall
• 5 strength training sessions

Wow. Cool! Way more, I'm sure, than I would have done if I didn't have this crazy project - but still less than I would have liked and less than I planned. That's the trouble with making big big big plans! Do you do this to yourself?

Nonprofit Focus: Friends of Lake View/AP Calculus Scholarship

How do you feel about math?

A dangerous question I know, but really, how do you feel about it? Now, think back to when those feelings began - and I'll tell you my math history. I did fine in math through grade school and the beginning of my time at Lincoln Park High School, but didn't particularly enjoy it. My passion was reading books and doing theatre, and math was just one of those classes you had to take. All that changed in my AP Calculus class in my senior year. And why? Well, part of it was the incredible feeling of finally understanding the point of learning all of the algebra, geometry and trigonometry of the first three years - it was so you could do calculus. And the beauty of the math itself made a big impression on me. But the main reason I began to love math back in 1999 was because I had an amazing teacher, Mr. Dave Goodrich. This motorcycle-riding man with a long ponytail and an incredibly caustic wit (that he rarely reined in) had a willingness to go above and beyond for students like me who had gotten inspired by math. He taught calculus in a way that I understood it, and underneath his daily sarcasm you could feel his respect and enthusiasm for math. Now, if you love math, is it because of one or more awesome teachers?

When I was thinking about which 12 nonprofits I wanted to support in this project, I immediately thought about how cool it would be to give a scholarship to one of the seniors in the AP Calculus program at Lake View High School. Lake View, one of our Chicago Public Schools, is fairly diverse - while just over 60% of the student body is Hispanic, the other 40% is split nearly evenly between black, white and Asian. About 80% of the student body is considered low-income, and from the relationships I've had with students over the years, I knew that even a small scholarship could make a big difference. I taught for 5 years at LV, but I never taught calculus - the Calculus program was the baby of our math department chairperson, Steve Starr. Steve was my mentor teacher back when I did my student teaching, and he just retired this year, so I need to give a shout out to this man who has nurtured, strengthened and challenged the math skills of hundreds and hundreds of students. Steve has a heart for public education and every day lives as a quintessential example of a self-sacrificing, hard-working teacher who honed each of the (nearly infinite number of) skills that are required to teach well.

So, last Wednesday, thanks to so many of your generous donations, I had the amazing opportunity to present a $1,000 check to a very cool, newly minted Lake View High School graduate named Olena.

Olena is planning on attending DePaul University in the fall; she's thinking about doing medicine or maybe computer science. Through her years at Lake View, she participated on the math team and was president of the Slavic Club. She told me that she had a great experience in math at LV, and that she always appreciated Mr. Starr's silly stuff - for example, if he ever forgets to put π in front of his integral when doing the volume of a solid of revolution, he brings pie to class for everyone the next day. It's the little things. :)

Thank you all for making this possible! I know it means a lot to Olena and her family to have these funds as she begins her first year of college.

If you'd like to see my (extremely ad hoc) presentation of the award, it is right here! By the way, that's the esteemed Mr. Starr in the pink shirt next to Olena.

Hey, where's the April & May non-profit focus posts?

Perhaps you are wondering if you missed my April and May non-profit focus posts - - - because of course the training and racing are only half of this yearlong project. The other, more important half is raising awareness of and money for 12 great nonprofits! Nope, you didn't miss them - I'm just behind on writing up stuff about the LaSalle Senior Center (for May) and the Friends of Lake View AP Calculus Scholarship (for April). But I'm excited to say that the logistics have been worked out, and Wednesday afternoon I will have the honor of presenting a $1,000 scholarship to a very deserving Lake View High School senior who will attend DePaul University in the fall - more about her later this week! And then NEXT week Wednesday morning Eliana & I are going to go hang out at the senior program and find out more specifically about what the LaSalle Senior Center does - and we'll report back for sure. Stay tuned! :)

Race Recap: SheROX Naperville Women's Sprint Triathlon!

My first of two triathlons this year is done! Yesterday morning I got up at 4:15 am (after sleeping on the couch so my dear mother could use my bed, given that she was kind enough to sleep over and babysit Eliana all morning) and dashed out the door to pick up my favorite athletic event friend, Lisa Wallace. Lisa & I are tight, when it comes to these sorts of things - not only have we done two triathlons together, but we also spent an entire week bicycling across Iowa. This required sleeping next to each other in a TINY, TINY tent, with no wriggle room - and I'll be honest, I do snore. Thankfully the experience only made our friendship stronger. :) Lisa surprised me by making me the MOST AWESOME CHEERING SIGN. You'll see it again at future Year of Racing Slowly events!

We then drove all the way to Naperville, and while Lisa stopped in the Starbucks and schlepped our stuff from the car to the race start, I rode my bike to the transition area and got set up. For those not so familiar with sprint triathlons, first you swim 1/2 mile, then run a short distance to transition and grab your bike, then bike 14.2 miles, head back into transition and rack your bike, then head out on the 3.1 mile run. There's always a wonderful nervous energy in the early morning as everyone lays out their gear. Here's me around 6:30 am.

The triathlon started at 7:00 am, and they start small groups, called waves, every 4 minutes - my wave started at 8:36 am, so Lisa & I had plenty of time to sit and chat. The swim is at Centennial Beach, which is a beautiful place with lots of green grass and trees. Here's the race start:

I am proud to say that I did the entire swim front stroke, rather than backstroke (as I've done every other triathlon). I'm sure I had the worst form ever, and I was breathing so hard from the excitement and exertion that I had to lift my head out of the water way more frequently than I do just training in the pool, but I did it! The swim is always the hardest part for me, so that's why I look so happy running with my wetsuit on my way to transition:

The bike part was fun, as always, and I made sure to drink my entire water bottle, because it was HOT. The run went well too, though the first half mile or so is always so hard because your legs are used to pedaling, and when you switch to running they feel like wood. But I pressed on, and lots of spectators in the neighborhoods we ran through had set up their lawn sprinklers to go over the run course, and at the water stations they also had ice that I rubbed on my neck as I ran. I forgot to take a picture after the finish (I was very eager to get back to my little Elly) but just imagine me sweaty, sunburnt, and happy with a finishers medal around my neck. I finished in 1 hour, 39 minutes and 18 seconds - which is 25 seconds faster than my time in 2009 (1:39:43) and 81 seconds faster than my time in 2010 (1:40:39). Yay!

A big shout out to Lisa for being with me the whole morning and cheering me on with that very sparkly sign - you all should save the date for August 26th, because that's the (international distance: double everything I did yesterday!) Chicago Triathlon downtown. Come cheer me on! :)

May Training Recap

May 2012 Stats:

• 22 days working out 
• 69 miles running
• 118 miles on the bike
• 44 laps in the pool

Rock & roll!!! I was successful in reaching all of my May goals: to get in the pool and on the bike at least a bit in preparation for my upcoming sprint distance triathlon, and to find the right balance of milage to run the Soldier Field 10 mile comfortably without re-injuring my knee. Check, check and check! 

But the best part of my training this month was the major breakthrough I had in my swimming! See, I've been doing triathlons for the past 7 years, and each and every time I end up doing all my swimming backstroke. The very short video below, of me in the Chicago Triathlon in 2008, exhibits one of the drawbacks: swimming into other athletes that you can't see!  

Other drawbacks include less efficient movement through the water, being able to see stronger/faster swimmers bearing down on you, and going off course towards the middle of the lake instead of towards the finish line because you can't see where you're going. 

There are some positives, though - you can see and hear the people on the shore cheering you on, breathing is a heck of a lot easier, and you can't see the gross seaweed from the bottom of the harbor that is reaching up to drag you down to a watery grave. That being said, I've always wanted to swim front crawl, but can never seem to breathe right. Even in the pool, after maybe one lap of front stroke I feel like I'm gasping for air and I have to stop. Except, somehow, magically and mystically, when I got in the pool 3 days ago, all of a sudden I was able to do it! I did 22 laps (that's a half mile, which is the sprint triathlon distance swim) front crawl with no problems. I have no idea why it worked this year and not any of the past 7 years, but I'm really excited. 

As soon as the Soldier Field 10 mile race was over, I sat down and made my training plan for the next 4 and a half months, and it was a bit overwhelming. I need to get ready for a 112 mile bike ride (July 15th), an international distance triathlon (August 26th) and the marathon (October 7th) and the training for all of those events needs to overlap. So my goal for June is simply to stick as close as possible to my training plan!

My work-in-progress training schedule!