Random Snippets

Because I'm finding it increasingly difficult to give regular, comprehensive updates at this point in the season, how about a quick list of random Team in Training/ triathlon/ fundraising/ workout-related goings on? That OK with everyone?

• I am LESS THAN $100 away from my fundraising goal! WOO HOO!! All of you who have donated are AWESOME - and those of you who haven't donated yet.... there's still time to push me to the finish line!


• Our training schedule is pretty serious for the last few weeks of the season! Starting today, we have many weekends of "TEAM double workouts," both Saturday and Sunday. Today was a 31-mile bike ride followed by a 30-minute run. Tomorrow is our first open water swim in Lake Allatoona! At 8am. Think that will be cold??? Yeah, I'll let you know tomorrow. :-)


• Iron Girl is 4 weeks from tomorrow. 4 WEEKS!!! I've really started trying to pay close attention to my nutrition at this point. Regulating my ratio of carbs/proteins/fats and being sure to refuel every couple of hours. I feel great at this point, and hope that this continues through event day.


• Our Georgia chapter of Team in Training (and one of my TEAM members) was featured on the local NBC news this morning - check it out HERE. I can't say enough about the whole Team in Training experience - it has truly been the most awesome/rewarding thing I have ever done.

I'm "TRI"-ing to save lives...want to help?

http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/IronGirl09/alisejackson

Training Update

I haven't taken the time to give a detailed training update for a while... they may not be the most exciting of posts, but I don't want anyone to think I'm slacking off! ;-) I'll just go back over the past week:

Monday (Workout #1) - 5:15am boot camp - Lots of leg work! Lunges, sprints, inner/outer thigh work with resistance bands. (Workout #2) - 1 hour swim @ gym. After several drills and breathing practice, did a 500 yard continuous swim.

Tuesday (Workout #1) - P90X DVD #1 - Chest & Back. Nearly an hour of push ups and pull ups (or modified pull ups with resistance bands), with a few exercises with dumbbells peppered in. This was my first crack at the P90X set, and I was REALLY impressed. Highly recommend it! (Workout #2) - P90X DVD #12 - Ab Ripper X. This is a great disc - it's a quick 16 minute set of 349 reps for your abs! I love this one and plan to work it in a few times/week.

Wednesday (Workout #1) - 5:15am boot camp - balance work, more push ups (Ow after P90X the day before!), some sprints, some leg work. (Workout #2) - TEAM swim. What an experience! Let me try to set the stage.... 1. all of the lane lines were removed from the 50m pool. 2. Three buoys were placed in the pool, toward the ends/corners. When the whistle blew, we were to swim clockwise, making our way around each buoy. We were to swim for approx. 20 minutes, until our coach blew the whistle again. Sounds easy enough? Well, our other coaches and mentors had some surprises for us! Remember, the idea here was to try to simulate an open water swim (especially the beginning of a race when everyone is crammed together at the start). The coaches and mentors had at least three tricks ups their sleeves... First, a serious amount of ankle grabbing, body slamming, and attempts to swim over us. That really messes up any attempt at a good stroke or breathing pattern! But, it's realistic, and teaches how not to panic on race day. Second, we are supposed to be "sighting" when swimming, which is looking up to make sure we're going in the right direction. DO NOT just follow someone in front of you, because they may be going the wrong way! I saw some instances of coaches/mentors intentionally swimming away from the buoys, just to see how many of us would follow! Third, someone started moving the buoys after every few laps... again, to teach us to keep sighting, and not to assume that we are going in the right direction. I realize this workout may sound a bit like torture to some of you, but they really were very important lessons to prepare us all for race day. I thought it was really fun (when it was all over)! :-)

Thursday - My glorious day of rest!

Friday - 5:15am boot camp - timed run, good mix of upper & lower body work

Saturday (Workout #1) - Brick @ Harbins. 21-mile bike ride, followed immediately by a 1.5 mile run. (Workout #2) - P90X DVD #12 - Ab Ripper X.

All caught up! I have a run planned for later today, and am potentially swimming twice (once in the morning and again in the evening) tomorrow! Next Sunday is our first open water swim in Lake Allatoona! YIKES! Stay tuned...

I'm "TRI"-ing to save lives...want to help?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/IronGirl09/alisejackson

I Feel It Coming Together!

Iron Girl is 6 weeks from today! I can hardly believe it...the time has flown by, and in many ways I wish it would really slow down. But, I feel like I can do this - like I'm ready to become a triathlete!

For whatever reason, this past week just propelled me into a place where I feel so ready for this race. Maybe it was the increased intensity of our TEAM workouts, maybe the extra push I gave myself during my individual workouts, or maybe a full week of eating really clean. It's probably a combination of the three - but I felt super energized, and totally amped up every day!

I focused this past week (Mon & Wed) on increasing my continuous swims. Wednesday night at TEAM swim, I did a timed 800m continuous swim in the pool. I finished in 22:40. Not a world-class time by any means, but four months ago I couldn't even swim 25m without gasping for air - I never could have imagined swimming 800! Not to mention, my race distance is only 1/3 mile, or approx. 536 meters (in open water, though).

Yesterday, we had a TEAM transition clinic. We met at West Oak business park, where we had our very first bike clinic back in February. West Oak has an approx. 1.5 mile loop road that we used for a series of transition practices and bricks. After some great instruction and tips on efficiently setting up our transition area (which may look something like the picture below),
we were split into two groups for the start. We started barefoot (as if coming in from the swim) across the parking lot, and ran to transition. Put on socks, bike shoes, gloves, helmet, and sunglasses; unracked bike, and walked/jogged it to the mount line. Rode bike for 3 loops around West Oak, came back into transition, switched bike helmet for visor, bike shoes for running shoes, grabbed a sip of water, and ran 1 loop around West Oak. We repeated this whole exercise 3 times! What a fantastic workout!

Our coaches have repeatedly told us that our minds will turn to mush during transition, and that even the simplest of tasks become confusing and difficult in the midst of an endurance event. I got to experience one such moment of stupidity yesterday. After the 2nd time in on the run, I took off my running shoes, took off my visor, put on my bike helmet, grabbed a sip of water, PUT MY RUNNING SHOES BACK ON (instead of my bike shoes), unracked my bike, and took about 2 steps toward the mount line when I looked down...hmmm. Put my bike back, changed shoes, and went out again. Luckily there won't be a run to bike transition during the race!

Speaking of running shoes, I made a trip to Big Peach yesterday to get properly fitted for running shoes. To be honest, I've run in all sorts of different brands/types of running shoes, and have never really had any problems (with the minor exception of some shin splints when first breaking in a new pair). But, I was curious to find out what I "should" be wearing in order to prevent injuries in the future. Big Peach records your feet when running on a treadmill, so that they can assess your level of pronation. They also have you stand on a heat sensor panel to see whether you have high, low, or normal arches and to show where you distribute your weight on your feet. The combination of these things determines the type of shoe you need. I've seen videos of people who pronate or supinate excessively when running, I've heard people talk about their trouble with various kind of shoes (running, high heels, etc.) due to high arches or flat feet. It's always been kind of a mystery to me... I've always been the one who can wear cheap Payless shoes, or can just buy shoes that I think are cute, rather than worrying about how they feel. Now I know why.

I run in a completely neutral position and have completely normal arches, with even distribution of weight on the front and back of my foot. Huh. As hubby said, "well, aren't you just all kinds of normal?" Now, that's not to say that it's wise to just run in whatever - I mean, you still need a supportive, cushioning, shock-absorbing shoe to protect your feet, knees, hips, back, etc. I present to you my new running shoes, the Asics Gel Nimbus 11:

I'm "TRI" ing to save lives...want to help?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/IronGirl09/alisejackson

ROCKSTARS...Round 6

WA-HOO!! I couldn't wait to get home from the pool tonight to start this...by now you all know this is my favorite type of blog to write! I know my blog posts have been a little less frequent lately (I apologize), but I've been so busy (work, training, etc.) that I don't even find time to get on my laptop many nights during the week. But, I refuse to let my ROCKSTAR tributes wait... These folks below have pushed my donations OVER THE $3,000.00 MARK! So, just like Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4, and Round 5, the rules are the same: For each donor mentioned, I'm including the state they sent me their donation from, and how long I've known them. These are listed in alphabetical order by first name - based on the newest donations posted to my TNT website as of today:

Beverly T (Georgia): I met Beverly about 2.5 months ago when she joined our 5:15am boot camp group. Not only is Beverly a great athlete, but has been a great source of information regarding the best bike trails, bike shops, etc. around town!

Cookie Lee Jewelry (Georgia): This represents the donation by Cookie Lee Jewelry consultant Wren Martin. I first bought jewelry from Wren about 3 years ago. When I was looking for a fundraiser to do for LLS, I looked her up and she put together a great catalog "party" for me to conduct. In just a couple of weeks, I sold nearly $1000.00 in jewelry, and Wren donated 25% of the proceeds to LLS!

Gail and Scott M (California): Gail is an ex co-worker and dear friend of my mom's. Her and my mom are workout buddies - they walk and take classes at the gym together. I know my mom can't wait 'til she is fully healed and can get back to these activities with Gail.

Kevin M (Georgia): Kevin is a current co-worker of mine, who I have known for about 6 months. I just found out that Kevin is participating in the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk this fall, in honor of his sister and several friends who are breast cancer survivors! How cool is that? :-) Kevin is also a supporter of LLS because he lost his Uncle Virgil to multiple myeloma in 1974.

Marianne B (California): Marianne is my paternal grandmother. She was blessed with good health and youthful looks well into her "golden years" (something I can only hope to inherit!). Grandma has been able to take some fabulous trips to much of the world!

Michele V (Georgia): Michele is another current co-worker of mine, who I have known for about 6 months. Michele's office is right next to mine, and her team and mine work very closely in the finance arena. Michele and her husband are very fitness-oriented, and always sound like they are enjoying life to the fullest - what an inspiration!

So, there you have it... more of my HEROES! Not a day goes by when I am not inspired to push myself farther than I ever imagined! THANK YOU!!!

Training Update

I know I've been severely lacking in updating my training blog over the past few weeks. Luckily, I have not been severely lacking in said training... I'm still plugging right along... With only 54 days to go until the big event, I'd better be! :-)

I won't go back to my last update and bore you with every detail... just some of the highlights:

• Still swimming at least twice/week, including every Wednesday night with TEAM. The pool is open at the 50m length now, which I think is better for practicing endurance. In the past few weeks, we have learned how to draft (swim behind someone in order to use less energy), sight (look above water to see where we're going - will be quite useful in an open water swim), and have started to work on increasing our speed. Unfortunately, I felt my technique completely fall apart once I started to speed up in the water. Tonight at the gym, I went "back to basics" and worked on a lot of the drills I learned early on... it really helped me remember what proper technique looks and feels like.

• After the Super Sprint Tri, I wasn't on my bike for almost 2 weeks (gasp)! Mostly due to the long weekend in Florida - where I watched 4000 other people ride their bikes at St. Anthony's Triathlon. This event is called the "Daytona 500 of Triathlons." It's the kickoff event of the season, and one of the largest events! Absolutely inspiring to watch... Anyway, I was back on my bike this weekend for a 15 mile ride at Big Creek Greenway.

• Ran the Big Peach 5K this past Saturday. Big Peach Running Co. is a GREAT running shoe store in town that does a ton of work with Team in Training and LLS. This race every year benefits The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I had a pretty good race, only 9 seconds off my personal record.

• Back to boot camp 3 days/week. We had a 2 week hiatus, since my coach was competing at St. Anthony's. Back at it now, in the perfect weather time of year for outdoor workouts!

Like I said, just the highlights...

I'm "TRI"-ing to save lives...want to help?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/IronGirl09/alisejackson

Honored Heroes List

I've had this post on my mind for quite some time... actually, almost from Day 1 of joining Team in Training. I know it will be a bittersweet part of this journey, but the most important part... coming up with my tribute to those who I am racing in honor or memory of.

As you all know, I lost my maternal grandmother, Vera Zamosky ("Nanny"), to Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) in 1995, when I was in college. Nanny fought hard through multiple bouts of the disease for nearly 4 years, before she lost her fight at the young age of 70.

I don't recall having ever heard of lymphoma before Nanny's diagnosis, nor do I remember hearing about it again for many years. I guess at the time I thought it was some rare form of cancer. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

I have been aware of Team in Training and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for several years, mostly from friends and co-workers who have participated in the program. On some level, I knew that by donating to LLS, I was helping to fund research for the type of cancer that had taken Nanny. But, until I joined TNT in January, I never realized how widespread blood cancers are. I never imagined how many people I already know who have been affected by this disease, and how many more I would meet as a result of this journey.

So, here's what I want to do... I am planning to carry the names of all the people I am racing in honor or memory of on the day of my triathlon. I'm not sure yet what the best medium will be (this may depend on the number of names I have). I may make a card that I can laminate and pin inside my tri jersey, or I may make ribbons to attach to my race belt... I'm also open to other ideas??

For those of you who have already shared with me that you have a friend or family member who is either a SURVIVOR of leukemia, lymphoma, or myeloma, or have unfortunately lost their battle with one of these diseases, I will be emailing you shortly to get your heroes' name to add to my tribute. Anyone else, please shoot me an email/text/etc. or respond to this blog to let me know the name of your personal honored heroes and the type of blood cancer that they have been affected by.

I'm "TRI"-ing to save lives...want to help?
http://pages.teamintraining.org/ga/IronGirl09/alisejackson

ROCKSTARS...Round 5

Seriously, people...I can barely keep up with you! Every time I turn around, I have hit another $500 benchmark and it's time to thank more people. Don't get me wrong, this is one of the BEST parts of this whole journey. But, I just did a ROCKSTAR tribute 5 days ago, and I already have another 8 awesome people to thank for getting me to $2500! So, here we go again...

Just like Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, and Round 4, the rules are the same: For each donor mentioned, I'm including the state they sent me their donation from, and how long I've known them (although as you will soon find out, the "how long I've known them" part is becoming difficult in some instances). These are listed in alphabetical order by first name - based on the newest donations posted to my TNT website as of today:

Alison D (Georgia): Co-worker and friend of my husband's, who he has known for about 3 years.

Bobby B (California): My cousin, and another of the 11 grandchildren of my grandmother Vera, who I am racing in memory of. I've known Bobby since his birth in 1980. He is also the son of Victoria B, who I thanked in an earlier ROCKSTAR post.

Deana S (California): Deana and I met in college in 1994. We carpooled (several times each week) over a 2 year period from Orange County to San Marcos. We became even better friends after college, and hung out regularly until I moved to Georgia in 2000. Now Deana and Jim have 3 little boys in their crew to keep them busy! I get to see them about once a year when I am home visiting CA.

Doris W (Nevada): Doris is the grandmother of Leah, who is a kindergarten teacher at the school where my mom works. Leah's boyfriend (Andy) just lost his mother to lymphoma last month, so this is a cause that is very dear to their families.

Jennifer D (California): Co-worker and friend of my mom's. Jennifer is a 3rd grade teacher at the school where my mom works.

Jim Z (California): My uncle, who I have known since my birth. Jim is the youngest of 5 children of my grandmother Vera. Uncle Jim lives in Lake Tahoe where he can fully enjoy his love of the outdoors.

Louise L (Iowa): My aunt, who I have also known since my birth. Louise is the oldest of 5 children of my grandmother Vera. She has four grown sons and 10 grandchildren of her own, all living close to her in Iowa. My mom and her 3 sisters take a trip together every summer, and it looks like this year they are planning a "Southern" road trip, with a stop in Atlanta!

Susan T (California): Co-worker and good friend of my mom's. Susan is the Office Manager at the school where my mom works. Susan has been so sweet and supportive of my mom this past year!

THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT!!! Each and every day of this journey is more and more amazing.

xoxo!