Ten

What does the number ten mean to you? To me, it's the number of pounds I've been trying to lose for a while. Well, today is a day to celebrate. I have officially lost TEN pounds since Jan 1, 2009! And fifteen pounds since our return from Hawaii in October. 

I am finally feeling the differences, small things. My favorite jeans don't fit well anymore (they look sloppy.) My core feels stronger, more muscular. My legs are definitely leaner/stronger.

JRM steered me in the right direction and I've followed his advice religiously and what do you know? I'm seeing results. It's a beautiful thing! 

Seems I can lose a tad more. So I will strive to be leaner/stronger by tri season this summer- I have no doubt I will see positive race results if I continue on this path! 

Ten has new meaning to me; it's not so intimidating after all!

Harpoon Indoor Time Trial (ITT)

On Sunday I was christened by my first ITT (where you race other riders on bikes set up on trainers) and you follow the progress on a screen at the front of the room. I have never done one before, but thought it might be fun, so we signed up (Greg, Pam, Brandy and myself) Pam and Brandy rode with the "A women" (read: Pro Women) which went off at 12 noon, so we showed up early to watch them! They both did great!  

Soon after their heat, it was our turn. Greg and I in the same (co-ed) heat. I knew I wouldn't win the heat (b/c G will beat me everytime!) But I had high hopes for Greg to win...if you win your heat. You got a case of Harpoon Beer.

So I got started and took it a little easy (you can see in my power file that my rpms (green line) were high so I switched gears a few minutes in and started to work a little harder. The course had a minor hill about half way and then a more substantial (5% grade) hill from Mile 6-7 (If you invert my speed, blue line, you can envision the course profile.) 

My power (yellow line) was fairly consistent (which is good!) and I averaged right where I thought I would (232watts on my powermeter, although the computrainer/official results list 226watts) Overall I was 13th female, not too shabby considering there were a few Pros and bigger name road riders present. I'll take it for my first ITT. It was SO fun! My official time was 24:09 (19.9mph)

Here is my power meter data:

ITT:

Duration:   24:10

Work:       336 kJ

TSS:       46.2 (intensity factor 1.071)

Norm Power: 232

VI:         1

Pw:HR:       n/a

Pa:HR:       n/a

Distance:   8.406 mi

Elevation Gain:     98 ft

Elevation Loss:   108 ft

Grade:     -0.0 %  (-10 ft)

Min Max Avg

Power:       154 288 232 watts

Heart Rate:   0 182 66 bpm

Cadence:     80 107 93 rpm

Speed:       10.6 28.5 20.9 mph

Pace         2:06 5:41 2:52 min/mi

Altitude:     676 689 682 ft

Crank Torque: 121 271 211 lb-in

Temperature: 60.8 64.4 62.7 Fahrenheit

 

Oh, and Greg does not disappoint! He won our heat (21:21 total time) and graciously gave the case of beer (minus a couple) away to Brandy and Pam/Daniel. They stuck around to watch (and cheer, loudly!) for us in our heat. It was a blast!! I'm so proud of Greg...won our heat and was 31st overall (out of 168 people) I only wish he would stop showing off :P

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly- Swim Video

So Patrick (with Endurance Nation) invited G and I to a swim clinic back in Jan. where we did a classroom chat, swim drills and ended with a video analysis. Mine was not as bad as I expected, but there are always things to work on.

The Good:
Good rotation
Good Pull

The Bad:
Back side sinks
Entry could be better
Work on rotating hand slightly inward to initiate catch and get elbow up

The Ugly:
Being in a swim suit on camera, lol!

New Beginnings and New Approaches

I'm SO excited to start training today. We're now working with Janda Ricci-Munn, I cannot wait to see how his approach to training can help us both improve this season! Bring on the pain!