What is up with hotel workout rooms?

Okay so I have a mini-rant here. I travel all over the world and the quality of workout facilities in many US hotels is crazy. It's no wonder we have an obesity epidemic. Between the donuts, biscuits and gravy they serve you at the breakfast, the least they could do is offer a nice facility to exercise in. Burn off a little stress, get healthier, stay in shape, or God forbid train for some event.

Yep, trying to train for a 1/2 Ironman triathlon while on the road is a challenge and then some but I'm plugging away, staying really positive and keeping my eye on the goal of the finish line in July. My coach David has been fantastic about adapting my training plan to fit my ever changing travel schedule and giving me lots of cool mantras and helpful guidance.

My favorite mantra: Be Consistently Fast but Avoid Peaks and Valleys of Speed is a close second :)

Anyway, so I'm in Florida for business work session and I have an 85 minute run on the schedule. The days at work will get longer as the week progresses so I decided tonight would be my best shot.

I headed to the workout facility and found a pitiful treadmill, no AC, no windows that opened, a TV that didn't work and weird smelling towels :( Nevertheless I set up my bottles of water, GU20, packs of Sport Beans and cranked up the tunes.

I love running outside, have I said that yet? Let me reiterate it. I love running outside. Being able to control my pace to what feels right rather than a number on a machine. Being able to feel the air on you, hearing the sounds of the city, even (pardon the grossness) being able to spit when you need to (ask a runner they'll explain). I endured and ran on and 85 minutes later I was dripping in sweat but happy I ran at a steady 12.30 minute mile pace for 6.8 miles and tomorrow is a rest day.

WOO HOO! Hotel gyms be damned, the Speed Leopard will not be kept down :)

New gear = New Fun!

What a busy week this has been!

I'm psyched because I got tons of new gear last weekend which has been fun to try out. When I was preparing for my last 1/2 Ironman I didn't own a wetsuit (because I couldn't find one that fit), I didn't have a very good nutrition strategy, a fast aero bike, I didn't even have tri-shorts.

The biggest reason for all of this was size. When I started doing triathlon I was 285lbs. I couldn't find a tri-suit in my size, let alone a wetsuit. Even a fuelbelt wouldn't fit around my waist :(

But after a summer off due to surgery and some ass-kicking coaching from Coach David I am leaner, happier and ready to rock and roll with some sweet gear.

I discovered that due to huge hips I have (ironic since I won't be having any kids) it's hard to find a wetsuit because most suits for my weight are for 5'11 and taller guys with no hips. But Orca makes a great suit for short and stocky guys so I scored that.

When you're doing a 1/2 Ironman it's advantageous to have a 2 pc tri-suit because you will likely need to make a few "rest stops" and taking a 1 pc suit off when it's damp is a challenge. So I found some tri-shorts from TYR size XL. WOO HOO, a normal size.

Last summer I bought a Fuel Belt (for those not familiar with the lingo, it's the belt with the mini-bottles that runners wear during long runs to hold water, sports drink etc). So I got Size XL but when I tried it on this summer it was way to big. Awesome! I exchanged it for a Size L and it worked so well. I have the 4 bottle version and each bottle holds 7oz. I filled 2 bottles with water and 2 with GU20 sports drink. There's also a little pocket which holds GU or an energy bar or something.

So I'm geared out. I've got my new bike, new wetsuit, new shorts, new fuel belt, new coach and already WAY faster times this season. HOORAY!

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I'm heading out Sunday for a week long business meeting but I'm doing a long brick Saturday before I leave and an 85 min treadmill run while I'm there.

I had an epiphany while I was doing my 75 min run earlier this week. I am doing my long runs without walking. None at all. I'm just consistently holding my pace. It never even occurred to me that I wasn't walking until I was reflecting on how my training had progressed these last few months. Early on, I was doing 5min at 4 MPH and 5 min at 5MPH and so on (gradually reducing my time at 4 and upping my time at 5). As 4 MPH is a walking pace for me I was getting walk breaks pretty consistently. About 6 weeks ago I started with a 30min continuous run and what do you know I'm now doing 75 min at a 12 min mile pace. I'm like a metronome, Amazing!

Stay Tuned for more Speed Leopard adventures from sunny Florida :)

My brush with local fame

Last Wednesday, the following article appeared in the Living section of the Oregonian:

My workout - Once a size 34, she's now an athlete

Changes - Bonnie Crawford has lost 160 pounds through exercise and Weight Watchers

Who: Bonnie Crawford, 29, Beaverton

Stats: 5 feet 7 inches; 198 pounds

Private life: Born in California, Crawford came to Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark College. She works in product marketing for GE Security. She and her husband of eight years, Preston, have four cats.

Fitness past: Crawford has a family history of weight problems. While she was inspired by her husband's loss of 150 pounds, "What really tipped me over the edge was almost growing out of a size 34," Crawford says. "I didn't want to shop from catalogs."

From 358 pounds, she lost 150 pounds in two years and maintained the loss for 18 months before losing another 10. She did it all through exercise and Weight Watchers. She didn't think Weight Watchers would work, but losing nearly 10 pounds the first week was a huge boost. She added veggies to her diet. She added exercise. And she got hooked.

On New Year's Eve of 2002 she walked her first 5K, the First Run. She finished in an hour and two minutes, just ahead of a guy pushing his wife in a wheelchair. She went on to do more 5Ks and bike rides, longer walks, triathlons and a half Ironman.

Current workout: Monday: 30- to 45-minute swim. Tuesday: 20- to 30-minute fast run. Wednesday: 60- to 90-minute bike ride. Thursday: 20- to 30-minute fast swim. Friday: rest day. Saturday: 90-minute to three-hour bike ride. Sunday: 60- to 90- minute slow run.

Results? "I'm frustrated with myself for not doing it sooner. It's changed everything in my life for the better: job, confidence, friends. I now go anywhere without thinking twice about seat belts, airplane seats, small hotel bath towels." Crawford is now a size 16 and can stand inside one leg of her former jeans. "It's all mental," she says. "You can't do it for someone else."

Nutrition: The Crawfords don't cook. They eat takeout or food that can be heated up. Crawford eats 2,000 calories a day, including lots of broccoli and no red meat. A nutrition coach helped her lose the last 10 pounds.

Sample breakfast: nonfat yogurt, nonfat latte, banana. Morning snack: one ounce flavored almonds, two chocolate chip rice cakes. Lunch: organic frozen meal, salad with light dressing. Afternoon snack: fruit, Clif bar. Dinner: soy milk, vegetable soup, two pieces of whole grain bread, maybe more rice cakes. She sometimes has another latte and, during hard workouts, an energy drink or bar.

In the future? A half Ironman in July in New York and a whole Ironman in 2007. She'd like to lose another 20 pounds and have surgery to remove excess skin. She continues to attend weekly Weight Watchers meetings, and she offers online support to others through her Web site, www.speedleopard.com.

I've gotten great feedback and several new readers of SpeedLeopard.com which is wonderful. I love encouraging others to get to their own goals.

The funniest thing happened yesterday though. Lots of people from my office, the local bike shop and others who I hadn't heard from in ages called or emailed me about the article. The random thing though is someone at this bike shop on the other side of town from where I live saw me and asked "were you in the paper this week?" It was pretty crazy since it's not like I knew this guy or frequent that particular bike shop.

Hawthorne Farms Sprint Triathlon

May 6, 2006
Hillsboro, OR
500yd Pool Swim, 13.2m Bike, 5k Run

After the crazy week I had I woke up on race morning feeling conflicted. I was tired and sore from my long week and I wondered if I'd be able to do well but at the same time I was super excited to test out my fitness that I'd spent the last 3 months building.

Preston had decided to do the Duathlon and I was doing the Triathlon so we got dressed, packed the bikes into the Element and headed out. It was pretty cool and cloudy out and I was glad I'd worn my sweats over my tri-suit. The race was point to point so first we headed to the Stadium which would serve as T2 and the finish line to drop our run gear off. It was at this point we discovered Preston had left his running shoes at home so I quickly set up my run transition and he jetted over to the start line to drop me and my bike off before he jumped on his bike and rode to the light rail train to zip home and get his shoes. I hoped I'd see him before we started but he only had about 45min before the race to get home and back.

I got body marked, set up my bike, checked out the transition area, chatted with my coach (who'd come to watch me and another client race which was cool), chatted with a bunch of girls who'd never done a triathlon before and then watched as they kicked off the race. Since this swim was done in a swimming pool we had submitted our 500yd swim time and then were seeded into waves and lanes. There were 4 people to a lane and 6 lanes to a wave. I was in wave 2.

Swim
I hopped into the lane and got my goggles on, chatted with my lane mates and then before I knew it we were starting. I was 2nd to go in my lane and knew this would be the most challenging part of the race for me as I almost always swam alone in a lane and was really concerned about crashing into someone or getting stuck behind someone slow. I swam well and got passed by the 4th guy in our lane who turned out to be the fastest. I passed the guy in front of me and then lapped the girl who'd been behind me. I felt good and didn't crash into anyone. I had estimated my swim time at 12.30 which was about what I was doing in the pool during my longer continuous swims. Imagine my suprise when I saw the kickboard indicating I had just one length to go and as I hopped out of the pool I saw my time was 10.22

Geesh I was really suprised. I ran to the timing mat and officially started T1

500yds
Official Swim Time: 10.40
100 yd Pace: 2.08

T1 - 1.59
Jog/walked to the bike racks where I put on my shoes, grabbed my helmet, sunglasses and gloves and was off.

Bike
It was about 50 degrees out and I was soaking wet, my fingers and toes were numb and I hadn't seen Preston before the race so I was hoping he'd made it. While I was in Texas I had mapquested the route but I really had no idea what the hills, road conditions etc would be like. I spun in a lower gear to establish a pace and settled in about 19MPH, then we started riding into the country and up some hills that I hadn't been expecting at all. We passed cows, horses and llamas which was cool but I was just thinking about the long windy road ahead of me. The first climb was long and gradual. The next 2 climbs were much shorter and steeper but the downhills were unbelivable. I had to break when I hit 38 MPH in the aerobars because wiping out was not part of my race plan :) I passed several riders on the course (all the people from wave 1 were out as well as some of the slower duathletes) and only got passed twice which made me happy. I drank some water and 1/2 a bottle of GU20 and just kept spinning as consistently as possible. Just before heading into the final turn I saw Preston on the 5k course. He was too far away to see me but I recognized his orange shirt so I was really happy to know he'd gotten to the race in time. As I dismounted I could see my watch was at an hour and a minute and I was like oh man that is crazy.


14 miles (on my speedometer)
49min
16.6 MPH average
38.1 fastest speed

T2 - 1.44
As I came off my bike I heard my best friend Karie and her husband Jeff cheering for me which was awesome. She told me Preston had been on the run for about 10min and I should go catch him. I slipped off my cycling shoes, rolled on my socks and running shoes, grabbed my hat and race belt and headed out.

Run
The run would be the most interesting part of the race for me. I had been running well these past few weeks and I was hopeful I'd see that improvement during the race. I headed out and just after the 1 mile mark I saw Preston on his way to the finish line. He was fast walking (which is almost the same speed as my running) and I met him at the center of the road and we high-fived as we ran past. WOO HOO! You go, pup! I kept running and took 1/2 a GU packet at just before the 2nd mile marker. At this point I knew that I was running about a 12min mile pace which was great for me especially after the hilly bike. I got some water and continued to push towards the finish line. I saw Karie and Jeff as I was heading down the final stretch as well as my coach David who was cheering me on :) I picked up the pace and ran onto the field and across the finish line.

3.2 miles
35.21
11.23 pace

Holy Mackeral!!!! Final Finish Time: 1:38.45

I won the Under 39 Athena Division ahead of 2 other women which is AWESOME!!!! I also improved my overall sprint time by at least 20 min (my fastest full sprint was 2:06 but it was a longer swim than this was).

Post Race
I visited with my coach, got lots of hugs and kisses from Preston who had finished his first race earlier. I'm really bummed I didn't get to see him finish but I am so proud of him for doing the race and now he's very excited to do a triathlon especially given his times (I only beat him on the bike by 1min and on the run by 6min and he was walking, geesh! He is speedy).

We got our stuff from both transition areas, I got a latte and then we went back to the race for the raffle. Good thing we did because I won a big jug of hammer gel and Preston won a solid oak bike stand that holds 2 bikes for your house or garage. Sweet!!! It's really nice and already in use.

Overall it was a great race and I am thrilled with my results especially given what I'd gone through in the days leading up to the race. Next up:

Blue Lake Olympic Triathlon for me and Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon for Preston :)

Setting the stage for my first race of the summer

The triathlon season has officially started and I jumped in with both feet. Before my race report I have to give you some background on the crazy week I had prior to the race.

Wednesday May 3 - I spend most of the day traveling to Dallas for a big meeting the following day. I had some delicious tamales and got to relax in the hot tub but I was still up late working on my presentation.

Thursday May 4 - Have a great morning of meetings, eat the most AWESOME and AUTHENTIC mexican food I've ever had for lunch, head into another meeting and then a quick stop at the grassy knoll for my co-worker who's a major Kennedy conspiracy theorist. I'd never been so it was interesting to see. Head back to the airport to catch up on emails, voicemails and the like before jumping on a plane to San Antonio. After finally checking into the hotel at close to 9pm, my co-worker Steve and I went to get dinner and were tired and hungry so we just went to Dennys where we had french toast and milkshakes - YUM! At 11pm we started fine-tuning our presentation and didn't finish until close to 1:30am at which point the cable tv had gone out and we were in the midst of a massive thunder storm complete with torrential rain, thunder and lightening.

Friday May 5 - My birthday!!!! So I'm up at 6am after about 4 hours of sleep, ugh! Packed and off to Dennys again for breakfast and a review with the rest of the team of the presentation Steve and I had done the night before. We head to the meeting which turned out not to be what we were expecting and rendered this part of trip pointless. We debriefed and celebrated my birthday at the San Antonio Riverwalk which was cool to see. We also saw the Alamo but it was like 95 out and we were all wearing business suits. Double ugh! So I'm burning up, out walking around when I should be resting prior to my race, and in San Antonio instead of at home on my birthday. Crazy. We head to the airport, do some more catching up on emails and calls then head for the plane.

Due to a plane change we were going home via LAX and had gotten upgraded to first class from LAX to PDX which was going to be sweet! Seeing as this is my lucky day, we land in LA at 5:15pm at Gate 83 and our plane to Portland is departing from Gate 73 at 5:21pm. I just wanted to get home so I made a run for it. I ran as hard and fast as I could (given I was in a suit and carrying like a 30lb computer bag on my back). I actually had to slip my sandals off and run barefoot because I was running so fast that they were slipping off. I literally was 2 gates away when they announced this was the final boarding call to Portland. I felt like I was in a movie, I'm running towards the gate like "Wait, hold the plane". I made it in the nick of time and then proceeded to stall searching for my boarding pass, putting my shoes on etc in the hopes that my manager and Steve would catch up. They did and we all settled in for the flight.

I would definitely not recommend running through an airport going totally anaerobic the night before a race. Oy, my feet were killing me and I was tired but I really just wanted to get home. As it turns out the baggage handlers weren't as quick between the gates as we were and my luggage didn't arrive. Thankfully I was resting while I was on this trip because usually I pack my running shoes in my suitcase. OMG that would have been a disaster. I arranged for them to deliver my bag the next day and headed home.

I was greeted with beautiful tulips (my favorite flower) and a very sappy birthday card from Preston who clearly missed getting to spend my birthday with me :( I felt the same way. After a snack, a quick check of all my racing gear we set the alarm for 5:30am and headed to bed.

Whew, what a week and I haven't even raced yet.