Secrets of Race Success Revealed

Before a big race I like to devote the entire preceding day to RACE FOCUS. This includes my special "patented" pre-race workout, a massage from Supersoulmate B. after a long hot tub and steam bath, and of course, consuming ideal pre-race foods.

First, for the pre-race workout. The key with exercise the day before a race is to really get the blood pumping into your muscles. I like to begin with a short 30 minute swim. After a 400 warm-up, with each 100 getting gradually faster, I do the following: 5x200 at threshold pace, 10x100 as hard as possible, with 30 seconds rest. This short swim will prime your lats.

To make transition as short as possible, I bring my trainer to the pool locker room and have my bike set up there. Luckily, at my gym there's not a lot of supervision in the locker room - just a bunch of Mexican maids cleaning toilets - so I can do another 45 minutes on the bike right inside the bathroom with no interruptions. I also like the steamy environment created by the locker room - really helps you be ready for anything in terms of heat in a race. On the trainer I ignore a warm-up because I'm already warm from swimming. So I blast right into a series that replicates my swim: 3x10 minutes at threshold pace, with 1 minute rest in between, then 5 x 5 minutes at max, 1 minute rest in between. Now for the run. To take care of my bike so that I can focus on my brick, Supersoulmate B. sneaks into the ladies room (in a trench coat and pumps he can totally pass for a middle aged lady!) to remove the Black Ninja and trainer. (He carries it out through a backdoor we discovered because we're pretty sure the gym manager would find my bathroom behavior to be some kind of liability).

Then I do an 8 mile run, running 6 miles at 5k pace, and an easy 2 mile cool down. Now I'm totally primed for my day. I'll go back to the gym in about an hour to enjoy a hot tub and sauna to really relax my muscles for tomorrow. Oh yeah, and the secret to race success is to really deprive yourself of fluids the day before. That way you're used to dehydration in the race. Good luck to all of you competing against me tomorrow! SUCKAHS!

Smokin!

After a grueling week of training to prepare for my half ironman on Sunday, I decided I deserved a treat. No, not a slice of cherry cheesecake. But something very girlie. A new outfit! Since I'm not 30 yet, I decided to go for it and get a trikini. Sayonara farmer tan! Hello Hawaiian Tropic! I predict I will cause men to blow themselves up when they try to follow me in my new black racing bikini (black to match my bike!). The briefs really show off my powerful legs. I admit that I came very close to getting the Brazilian briefs, but then I found out that they don't have a chamois and aren't practical for training.

One big problem with triathlons is that a lot of tri outfits aren't flattering to women. Granted, many pros look like men anyway, so it doesn't matter. And the other half of female triathletes are fat or at least have huge dimpled thighs. I've found that trisuits are built to flatter only these two body types. But for those of us with hot femme bods that we want to show off, there aren't a lot of options. Now I'm even more excited for my race on Sunday. I'd better start prepping my race bag!

Checking in

I've been so busy training this week I haven't had time to post! Stay tuned! I will fill you in on all the amazing details of my crazy week latah!

Vroom

With a long race coming up this weekend I need to focus on speed training this week. So yesterday I headed to the track to bang out some fast run splits. I left my parachute at home, but brought my sauna suit, even though the temperature was in the 80s. The best way to acclimate to a hot race is to make your training even hotter. Plus, the sauna suit helps you burn more calories, and taking off a few extra pounds before a race is always a good thing - lighter equals faster! I also like to practice exercising with limited amounts of water, because the less water you can carry on the bike, the lighter you'll be! I have trained my body to require only one bottle for a three hour ride.

Some details about my speed intervals. As I'm sure you know, speedwork improves your pace per mile by about 30 seconds. First I warm up for two miles. Then I do 4x500 at my 5k pace. That primes me for a series of 8 fast 200s - all out as hard as I can go. Now it's back to 400s faster than 5k pace. I do 16 of these. I always do a light 200 in between each 400 as a recovery. Finally I end with a mile cooldown. I don't recommend going out and hammering out 5+ miles of speedwork. You have to build up to it. I have worked for years to improve my speed and endurance, and most people don't have the excellent ability to recover quickly that I do.

You've probably already figured out that I'm the fastest person at the track. In fact, I often get asked whether or not I am a professional athlete. "You seem so serious!" strangers tell me. Ha! That's called FOCUS suckas. Most people don't have it. Mental toughness is what this game is all about. And if you think this workout is easy, you should see the inside of my sauna suit when I'm finished.