45 Minutes of Bliss

The day began at 4:15 am like most days and I really didn't want to get out of bed, which honestly doesn't happen that often. I had a late night the night before, didn't get home until 9pm and had a 45 min spin (bike workout on the trainer) but I'm not whining here..that will come later.

Swim class this morning at White Mountain Aquatic was tough, long, but fun. With the warm up, drill set and the main set, we swam just about a mile in a 40 foot pool! I was totally feeling it, I felt strong and efficient. We swam three double 50's to finish the workout-Butterfly, Breaststroke and Freestyle. The class is five swimmers strong; Leah, Jess Nat, Steve and I. We are all pretty competitive so when the drills are done at a fast pace it's a race in all of our minds. So the 50's were a race, it was great! I am not so great at the Butterfly but my Breaststroke is pretty strong and I'm steadily improving on the Freestyle.

Work began at 8am. I did a photo shoot to help Ernie Mills the photographer get back to capturing Nordic skiers for an upcoming race. We found a small jump and I just had to hit it! Great shots Ernie!

Wanted to work through lunch and leave a little early to get my afternoon 45 minute run in before dark, but that didn't happen. The clock read 4:30 as I started my car. The roads were slickery and I was concerned about my safety running at dusk. I don't mind running in snow I just didn't know how drivers would react.  I arrived home at 5:15, shoveled the walk way and had to eat, I was starving! While I was making my pb & j my roommate Leah asked what my plans were for the evening. I looked at her with a scowl on my face and said "a freaking 45 min run". I was just frustrated with what time it was and I never complain about training but I sure whined about this one. Leah and I exchanged how our days went and the light was dwindling. So was my motivation.  I zoned out while in the rocking chair, bad idea to choose that seat. I debated skipping or shortening my workout but I know how guilty I'd feel if I did. It was now 6pm- dark. I suited up for the snow; layers, running gaitors, my new reflective vest and headlamp.

Love my new running gaitors! I feel fast
Running Funky.com

The second my face hit the cool air I knew I made the right decision to run. Started my watch and hopped through the deep snow at the end of the driveway. It was still snowing. There was hardly any traffic on the road! Less than 10 cars passed me giving me plenty of room. The snowflakes weren't the big fat ones you stick your tongue out for, they were the ones that sting your face when the wind blows.

On the way back I had a steady hill to climb and it felt like I was running on mashed potatoes. I was running and looking at the trees not going by. I had slowed down and was almost running in place. I giggled out loud as I mushed my way up. As I climbed the next hill to my house my watch read 41:27, I still had 4 minutes left. I could have easily turned home, but I didn't. I continued on, peeking at the warmth and the light extending from the windows of our living room. I looped back and stepped onto the porch at 45:03. Perfect!

It was perhaps the most peaceful and rewarding run I've experienced. I'm elated I didn't miss out on spending the evening outside. This will give me more motivation the next time I think about skipping a workout.

Tomorrow I will not have to be up before 5 am, that hasn't happened in more then two weeks!
Powder day! Snowboarding at Wildcat, lifts open at 9am, meeting a friend for breakfast at 8.  It will still be a long day, another 1 hour spin on the trainer with hard intervals and hockey at 7:30pm but I love powder, can't miss out on freshies!!

My First Swim Meet!

The only time I wear nail polish is when I race so last night I made them look good! 

The day started at 4:45 am and when I didn't receive the 5am email telling me that the race had been canceled I got out of bed, super excited. The plan: Steve to my house at 5:40, Gina, me and him meet Maury and Jess at Whittaker Woods at 5:50 and then jump in Leah's van at the Maine border at 6. I double checked my bag, made breakfast and we were off. The roads were slickery; slippery and slick, it's the new word for bad conditions. The drive to Freeport, ME was beautiful, the trees were completely covered in snow. It took us just under two hours to get there thanks to Leah's great driving. We arrived so early the YMCA wasn't open yet!

Getting our warm up in before the doors open

Me, Jess, Leah and Maury ready to swim!

Warm up started at 8:30 and the meet began at 9:30 so we had plenty of time. It was hard to judge when to warm up because I didn't know how much time until my first race. I didn't know how long each race would last and didn't know how many heats each race would consist of. I jumped in and shared the lane with Jess and Leah. Steve hopped in just to get some laps in, he wasn't registered..or so he thought! After warming up and chatting with Maury and the girls we began convincing Steve to register. After very little coaxing he agreed and registerd for the same events I was racing. 200 freestyle, 50 freestyle, 50 breaststroke and 100 freestyle. We practiced our diving starts and my goggles fell of a few times. The blocks here are higher than what we use at the Aquatic Center. We improvise with benches that we practiced on last week. My goggles got pulled off just about every practice dive but once I adjusted my head I felt confident.

Checking out the timing touch pads.

We are so happy to be here!

Steve and I after he registered, so confident

We checked our heats and lane assignments. Steve and I were in the same heat for all four races! I wasn't really nervous about how I'd do, I was more concerned about counting my laps. Swimming a 50 in our pool is two laps, in this pool it's just one, dive in, swim, flip turn and back. My first race was the 200 free, eight lengths or $2.00 each length being .25 cents.

At the start of each race it's your responsibility to be at the block and there is a series of whistles. Some for standing near your block, a few for getting on your block, then a voice command to take your mark and the horn to dive in. I didn't really know when to make my moves so I just watched the swimmer next to me.

There were just three of us in the first heat, and Steve wasn't comfortable diving in so he started in the water. I felt much more relaxed vs seeing six or seven swimmers on the blocks. Just before the horn blared I hoped for a good dive. Success! I was in and swimming with no goggle issues. After .50 cents I was out front then lost track of the money I spent. When I was coming in at what I thought was the last lap I tried looking at the clock on the wall at every breath. If I was close to 3:20 I should be finished at the next wall. I couldn't see it behind the flags. They hang above the pool for the backstroke swimmers as a guide to see how close they are to the wall. I was either going to be really embarrassed or no one would know. I guessed right and finished in 3:19 one second faster than what Maury had sent in. One race down three to go.
 
My next event was the 50 free. Steve and I were next to each other. We obeyed the commands, dove in and swam hard, just one flip turn and hammer back. Time: 37.43 three seconds faster than my seed time. 

The best part about the meet is being there with friends and talking about our races. Gina was taking pictures and recording times, Leah's dad helped with timing, Jess' husband and son were cheering us on and Maury had a constant grin as he introduced us to everyone he knew. He was so proud to have all of us racing!

The 50 breaststroke was my next race I couldn't wait for this one. It's super fun and I've excelled at this style over the last few weeks. I dove in and my goggles slipped up off my head, I grabbed them and slung them around my arm. I could still see the black line and the T marking the end. Every time I pulled, the chlorine rushed into my eyes. I didn't want this to ruin my race so I just kept my form. On the turn both hands must touch the wall, I executed that and just had to make it back. I finished in 46.36, four seconds faster than my seed time! My eyes were burning but I was first in my heat!!

Watching my friends race was amazing and seeing other techniques was pretty neat. As I was waiting for my next race one of the staff came to me telling me I was racing the 200 relay at the end of the meet. My eyes widened and I responded that I didn't sign up for that. He asked, your Meg Skidmore right? As he showed me the hand written relay races I realized he was right, I was leading the team of Steve, Jess, and Maury. I guess Maury signed us up for the relay. Cool.

Second to last event was the 100 free. On the blocks, ok get your chin down and look at your belly button I told myself. Dove in and goggles slipped down, should have pulled them off and let them hang around my neck but I didn't. Maury said they could twist and choke me. I wasn't turning my head as far to the side because they were going to slip off so every breath was half filled with water. I could barely see the line and had no idea where the T was. I didn't want to hit the wall so I flipped where I thought I should have and went to push off, nothing! I kept swimming and made do on the second lap but I did the same thing and missed the wall again loosing precious time. I finished in 1:34 not my best 100 time.  I was asked by the judge after the meet if I had actually touched the wall, I answered no. She should have disqualified me but it was so close she couldn't tell and didn't signal the officials at the time.

The only event left was the relay and we were all pretty pumped for it. We changed the order because Steve wasn't diving. He was first, then me, then Jess, then Maury. Leah was swimming with another group. It was so fun racing with my teammates and cheering everyone on. I dove in as soon as Steve touched the wall and my goggles stayed on! Jess swam hard and Maury finished it strong. We took 1st in 25+ Mixed!

I really couldn't ask for a better experience at my first swim meet except maybe for some super glue for my goggles. The support we had for each other was awesome. We grabbed lunch and compared times showing off our result cards.

I can't wait for the next meet!

Fundraising, Splitboarding and Team USA Jersey!

Well it's really starting to hit me how much support I have leading up to my first international race. Team Skidmore is growing and it's very humbling to know so many people care about me and want to support me. We had a round table discussion about fundraising for my trip and it brought tears to my eyes.

Last summer I asked local businesses in Gorham to support me and sign a contract for three levels of sponsorship. During the meeting I was asked if I had contacted any businesses in the North Conway area for their support. I hadn't because I was living closer to Gorham. I have since moved to the area so that's why the question was raised.  Paul Surette spoke and said we need to start asking North Conway businesses. My first thought was I don't really have a lot of time. Working 40 hrs a week and training between 10 and 16 hours doesn't leave much time to sleeping or eating never mind going out for sponsors. He said we'll do it, we'll go out and get support for you.  I started tearing up I was so surprised and excited to have someone want to do that for me.  A few people chimed in and said it would look much better if others were asking on behalf of me, true but still unbelievable to me.

Another avenue to explore was being interviewed on the local tv station Outside television. We want to get the word out about Team Skidmore and my quest to race in London. Now most of you know me and I'm not one to go around talking about myself and asking for support so this will be a huge step for me. I've been on Outside TV talking about what Great Glen Trails and the Mt. Washington Road have to offer so I know what to expect. It was easy talking about work activities but having a camera on me was a little uncomfortable, as it is for most of us. I just have to get over it and get used to attention and talking about myself. Another fundraising idea is to set up a display to get my story out. My boss said it was ok to have this set up at work and at some of our big bike races. Again I couldn't believe it! Thank you Great Glen. I am also exploring the Kickstarter site or how to make it possible to donate online at my Blog.  Various fundraising ideas are falling into place as well as a long term raffle with some big ticket items. The meeting was a huge success now ideas just need to be implemented.

Changing sports here, my friends enjoy backcountry skiing and all have the equipment to skin up the trail through the woods. This requires a different binding set up allowing for the heel to be free, like teleskiing and skins to grip the snow.  Skins are similar to velvet, smooth one way and rough the other, this lets the ski slide up and when weight is on the ski it doesn't slide back down. Well I don't ski, I snowboard so I asked for a splitboard for Christmas from my mom. I sent one of my snowboards to Alaskan Custom Splitboards. They cut my board, put an inside edge on it so it's sealed all the way and makes for better traction when climbing, they installed the Violé split kit and shipped it back. Now I can skin up and snowboard down! Check out this video from K2 Snowboards.

As you can see, I was super excited to get it! Now I don't have to hike and carry my board on my backpack. 

Yay it arrived! Now to get the bindings on the sliding plates

Skinning up Saddleback with Leah, Beth, Michael and Keith

Riding down after skinning up at Saddleback

Cold windy awesome day for Gulf of Slides with Leah and Keith

Skinning up Gulf of Slides with Leah and Keith

After 2 hours of skinning we arrived at the base of the slides

Looking down Gulf of Slides (Keiths dog Espresso)
Now we get to ride all the way back down to the parking lot!

Ok now back to tri, I ordered a Team USA cycling jersey its getting more official now. Really can't wait for my official triathlon suit, it will have my last name.

My friend and manager, Regina

I registered for my first swim meet, the Casco Bay Toughen Up Challenge in Freeport ME. I'm really excited but super nervous. I'm racing four events the 200 freestyle, the 50 freestyle, the 50 breaststroke and the 100 freestyle. Steve, Gina and I went to check out the pool last weekend. It's really nice and quite a bit longer then the Aquatic Center.  A few swimmers from my Masters Class are also registered and we are carpooling. It's going to be fun watching experienced swimmers and spending the day at the pool.

Now if only this snow storm doesn't cancel the meet we'll all be happy. Wish me luck!! 

Back at it!

After being sick and not able to train for over two weeks during the holidays, I'm just starting to transition back to where I was before. It was hard to not workout and for some it may have driven them nuts but I really didn't get frustrated because it was something I could not control. I've been feeling pretty good over these two weeks but can tell I'm a little behind. I'm not worried, the big race is still eight months away.

I've looked up a few swim meets to compete in and I'm excited to race, especially knowing I won't have to bike and run after! I'm already really nervous and the first one is not until the end of February. I know I'll do fine but it's a whole new world for me.  I was talking to my coach today about registering, it's only $20 compared to $70-$100 for Tris. I told him to completely change my training plan and that I'm only go to swim it's much cheaper! He had a good laugh and was probably thinking it would be easier to coach one sport instead of three.

Gina and I had dinner at the AMC last night. We got to talking with the folks at our table about London and where I train. One women couldn't believe I swim in a 40ft pool I told here it's all we've got up here.  It doesn't bother me; one because I don't know any different and two I just get in the pool and swim. I'm improving my technique every class and I'm getting stronger and faster so that's all that matters. The swim meets are held in Olympic size pools, the length is 50 meters, about 164 feet. I'm going to need binoculars to see the other end!

This morning we did some medley races; Butterfly, Backstroke, Breathstroke and Freestyle. It was fun to use different techniques and the most challenging part were the turns, switching from my stomach to my back and then to stomach again. It was hard to focus on the technique knowing making the turn was so crucial but I got better by the third race.

Team Skidmore will be meeting soon to discuss fundraising and 2013 sponsorship. And I just received an email from Team USA regarding registration, travel packages and uniforms!

Hello Team USA athletes!
We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to a happy and healthy new year! The Team USA Department is back in full gear and working on what will be an exciting 2013 season. Congratulations to everyone who is new to Team USA and welcome back to our seasoned veterans. We look forward to a very successful year!
We are forging ahead with planning for the 2013 World Championship season and we hope many of you are too. Details are starting to come in for our 2013 World Championship events.......

30 days in less than 500 words

Well it's been about a month since I last posted. I could write five pages but I will just sum it up briefly. I will be dedicated to Blog at least every other week if not every week.

Leah and I found a place, we move in this weekend! 18 people applied for the apartment and they chose us. Just about everything is included even the heat!! I'll post pictures soon It is a great place on a quiet road and minutes to the Aquatic Center, where I am swimming three times a week; taking masters classes Monday and Wednesday and a one on one on Friday with my coach, Steve.

Training is going really well and I'm seeing great improvements all thanks to Steve giving me a very detailed training schedule every week! After my field tests three weeks ago my training zones have increased and I'm becoming more comfortable spinning indoors in the trainer. My swimming has improved since I joined the Aquatic Center last month. In October 100m took me a minute and 45 seconds. Wednesday I swam 100m in 1:23! I love the classes, every one is different and Maury has so many tools: Fins, pull bouys, snorkels, paddles, kickboards, etc and a VASA Ergometer. These all allow us to focus on the many aspects of swimming one drill at a time.
One cycling technique Steve has me working on spinning at higher cadence. When I first started using the Power Tap, which measures cadence, wattage and whole lot more, I was spinning at around 85, now I'm comfortable at 95. Spinning at a higher cadence is a more efficient use of your strength and energy vs mashing the higher gears. This is a spin workout I had last week:  

A 15min warmup spinning at 90-95 cadence then 6 x 2 min Fast Pedal (ramp up cadence to spin 120+ last min)/2 min easy recovery (cadence can be slow at first, but recover it to 90+ for the rest of the 2 min) followed by a 15 min warmdown spinning at 95-100 cadence.

It was a challenging spin to up at 120+ but I liked it and now spinning at 95 is much easier.

To wrap up my 2012 racing season I thanked all my sponsors by hand delivering a thank you letter with plans for the next year along with a photo of myself thanking the business for their support. It felt great to show them how I did this summer and most couldn't wait to support me again.

I can't wait to sit down with Team Skidmore after the holidays to plan for fundraising for London. Ideas are welcome! Just leave a comment below or email me at megskidmore@gmail.com

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! 

And the Training Continues!

Well my 2012 triathlon season is over. I still can't believe I'm going to compete at the World Triathlon Championships in London!

Now time to focus on maintaining and building my fitness over the winter months. My coach gave me a little time off after Pine Pitch but now I'm right back into it. Last week started the preparation period which will last 8 weeks with a field test in the middle at 4 weeks. These two weeks consist of two workouts a day; swimming in the morning, like early, like I'm in the water at 5:30am and run or bike after work and bricks (bike to run) on the weekend.  Let me pause here and fill you in on life .....

For the past few years I've been living in two places; summer cottage at work with views of the Presidential Range, Great Glen Trails biking and running system in my front yard and not having to drive to work. In the winter it's been a cute little place w/ a garage, views of the other side of the Presidentials, very low rent with heat included. Unfortunately Randolph has been rented to another tenant and the summer has ended and I have not found a place for the winter. I was a little busy qualifying for Worlds ;). Luckily I fell into a house sitting job for the month of October. Also very lucky I met a great girl Leah who was living in Littleton and working locally which gave her a very long commute. I invited her to house sit with me to lessen her commute and to give her a chance to look at apartments in the area.  Well we've become pretty good friends and now we are tag teaming apartment viewings! So my days are usually early morning swim workouts, work, look at apartments then train for an or two, eat, sleep..... repeat. Can't wait until we are settled.

Back to training, I found a great deal on a Power Tap and have been training with it. It measures cadence, wattage, HR, torque, speed, distance and all the goodies that a regular computer has. My workouts have been very specific using this device and very different than "just" riding for an hour or climbing hills with my heart rate in different zones.
Example workout: 1 hour EM(Endurance Miles heart rate between 110-156) Warm up 10 min EM then 5 mins at MT (muscle tension building specific strength) I have to be in the hardest gear and not stand up. Cadence between 50-55 keeping wattage steady. Repeat that five times with 5 min recovery (easy spin). Keeping the wattage steady is very hard. It means each pedal stoke is done with the exact amount of pressure EACH time the crank goes around. After I'm done I can download all the data and see how smooth each interval is. The chart below shows my second time doing the above workout. The tops of the yellow lines should not be as varied. That's what training is all about learning new things and I can't wait to compare this chart to a future one.

I've also joined a Masters Swim class taught by Maury McKinney. See one of his many accomplishments here

He has advocated and raised money to have an aquatic center built in North Conway. For now he is teaching all types of swim classes at the White Mountain Aquatic Center from the New England Inn pool. The pool is 40 ft long by 20 ft wide with 3 lanes, but it's beautiful!

Before joining Maury's swim class, I have done most of my swim workouts alone. Now my coach is swimming with me 3 mornings a week and I'm in a class! Swimming is much more exciting and I'm not the fastest in the class which gives me more incentive to swim harder. I can't wait to see how much I progress through the winter. I'm also planning to compete in a few swim meets which will keep me fresh swimming at race pace.

I cannot thank my coach, Steve Vosburgh enough for all his time in planning my weekly workouts and the time he's taken to meet with me for anything; field tests, issues with downloading data, fitting me to my bike, installing my Power Tap. I could not ask for a better coach!

Pitch Pine Challenge

A 1/2 mile into the three mile run I see her, the only women ahead of me that started in my wave. She's got long hair and has turned to look back a few times, which is a no no in my book. I never look back, it messes with my focus and form. I felt strong and light on my feet, she looked tired. My pace was a little bit faster than hers but I didn't want to overtake her too soon, not knowing what she had left. That's not to say I slowed down, I think she knew I was coming and kept trying to widen the gap.

I felt like a fisherman reeling in a huge fish; slow and steady focusing on small increments of time and distance. At the turn around I knew I was going to pass her, but knowing when to is like pulling the rod too soon, you don't want to loose the fish. Mentally it was challenging, she was racing for a club and had tons of support on the course, me-I've got myself out there. With about 3/4 of a mile left I landed the fish. As I passed her she was breathing a lot heavier than me and that gave me all I needed; she didn't have it in her. One of her teammates yelled from behind the both of us "Don't let her get away, stay with her" As the sound of her footsteps faded, I knew she wouldn't be able to catch me. I never looked back I just kept running a little bit faster. As I broke out of the woods I could see the finish line and heard my name announced, I found a little more in me and finished almost loosing my breakfast. I was the first female to cross the finish line! That felt so awesome!

Last year I raced this course in 1:17:35 this year I took 5 minutes off, finishing in 1:12:48, 3rd female overall and 1st in my age group. The forecast was sunny and 70, well they were wrong. At the start of the race it was misting making for a chilly warm up. The water wasn't too bad, glad I wore my wetsuit though.  The transition area at this race is in a gravel parking lot, not ideal, especially for me- I cannot stand sand on my feet, in my shoes or anywhere else on me. It drives me nuts. If I go swimming I need to dry my feet off at the shore, put dry shoes on and walk ever so cautiously to the car making sure not a single grain of sand gets in my shoe. Back to the race...

Gina, Tami and I headed down to camp at the venue-White Lakes State Park the night before. Picked up my race packet and drove the course. Although I raced last year I needed to see it again. It's pretty flat, 90% smooth pavement with a gradual five tier hill. Cleaned and checked over my bike, which my brother named Turbo! Thanks Aust, I love it!

Chicken and veggies for pre race dinner, a camp fire and in bed by 9. Oh and painted my nails bright green. The only time I wear nail polish is for a race, a tradition I started this summer.

We didn't have far to walk to the transition area so I didn't have to get up super early, which gives me less time to be nervous.  I had a banana and an egg, cheese and tomato sandwich for breakfast. On the way over, it started to mist adding to the chilly temps. I racked my bike and set up, got my body marked which is usually done by volunteers. This time the race director was headed in my direction with a marker. I felt pretty special and it was nice to know he was interacting with the racers.

I had about 20 minutes for a warm up. Usually it's just an easy jog and easy ride. After training this summer with my coach, Steve has taught me how to warm up properly. I always conserved on my warm up making sure I saved some for the actual race. Steve explained during one of my field tests that it's better to give hard efforts to "prime" the system. This time I made sure I put in a good warm up, especially because it was cold and rainy. I ran for 10 minutes and didn't have time to ride but got my wetsuit on and did about 10 minutes in the water. After the National Anthem played we still had about 10 minutes to start. Being wet and cold is not the best way to start a race. I made sure I stayed warm by doing calisthenics. 

There were about 30 racers in my wave. My goal was to focus on drafting and when the horn sounded, I stayed with a guy for about 30 seconds, then he was gone. I can't wait to work on getting faster in the water during the off season.
I have been trying different breathing techniques and I think during this race I nailed it. Prior to the race I was breathing bilaterally, once on each side, this meant holding my breath for a longer period of time. Then I tried five on right then five on left and that was a little better. The week leading up to the race I tried breathing on the right side and it felt much better, my heart rate wasn't through the sky and I could really focus on technique. I took two minutes off my swim time this year!

Because it was chilly I debated riding with a jersey vs. just my tri suit, this would mean swimming with it under my wetsuit because I wasn't going to try to put it on after being wet during T1.  I went back and forth and decided to leave it in my bag. I could have used another layer on my legs, they felt like icebergs for the majority of the ride, it was uncomfortable but I was used to it. I've been out training on some chilly mornings leading up to the race, so I knew the feeling all to well.

I was 6th female out of the water in my wave. I passed a few girls and guys on the bike and was passed by some as well. One girl passed me, I saw her age, she was in my age group. I tried to stay with her but couldn't.  I kept her in sight for the remainder of the ride, except when she turned back into the campground. I kept thinking I might be faster than her on the run. Much to my surprise, she was still in the transition and right next to me when I came in.

I have to admit here that I pulled a rookie move during T2. I always go through the entire transition area so I know how it flows and exactly where my spot is from all angles. I totally forgot to run through the bike-in section. I came in and went down the wrong lane then had to look for my stuff which never looks the same after T1. I finally spotted it, racked my bike and said to the girl who passed me "man it's cold" she responded "yea, nothing's working right" I stuffed my cold, wet, sandy feet into my shoes, grabbed my race belt and took off.

As I ran through the chute, Tami yelled "TWO!" I didn't know if that meant two ahead of me or I was second. A 1/2 mile into the three mile run I see her....

Of course after the race was over, the sun came out but not before some photos!

Tami, Julia, Jamie and Regina-thanks for the signs!

My finishers medal

Jamie, Julia, Sue, Susan, Me, Sandi, Tami, Trish and Regina

Thanks to everyone who came and stood in the rain to support me! Thanks Jamie and Julia for the signs they helped me go faster!