I've Moved!

I finally made the move to self hosted!

I have owned the domain name Chasingmyjoy.com for some time now but didn't really know how to make the move to self hosted. With a little research and help it turned out to be fairly easy. I think I have the main things set up like all my archives moved over and auto redirecting set up but please let me know if something isn't working.

It feels good to have made the move but now I need to figure out all the finer points but it's fun to figure it all out.

Have any tips for a newbie self host-er? Anything you wish you had known earlier, or great tool you have found?

Acceptance...

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them; that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” 

― Laozi

I feel that my life really is full of spontaneous changes at the moment. After a long job search my husband finally found a job he was really excited about just to have the company fold two months later. We also have been on a roller coaster trying to sell our house and are left in a bit of limbo. All of these changes and uncertainties come with life and training falls on the list of priorities. 

For a couple weeks I resisted my reality, tried to muster through peak training for Cabo while trying to pretend I wasn't miserable. But I finally decided that I needed to re-prioritize  and accept the training for an ironman next month is not my reality right now. 

I am very sad about this decision as I have been looking forward to this race for a long time and have put in weeks of work already. But as soon as I made the description I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. So I know it's the right choice. I am also excited to train again with a renewed focus on Ironman Canada. 

On the up side the trip to Mexico will still happen since it has already been paid for and I will have a blast cheering on my friends that are racing. 

So here's to accepting where I am and moving forward with a smile. 

Ironman Los Cabos Training – 9 weeks to go...

It's a shame that nothing has been posted in between training updates, I don't want this to become just a training log, but for now this is what week 9 looked like. We had lots of snow that kept me indoors more than I would like. It was also a recovery week so a little lighter than normal. I had hoped to work a massage in as well but house hunting and Superbowl watching (boo) won out. 

Monday:

Planned rest day

Tuesday:

40 minute MAF run

75 minute trainer ride

Wednesday:

4000 yd swim (longest in awhile) 

Thursday:

90 minute trainer ride

Friday:

3000 yd swim

Saturday:

4 hour trainer ride (not too bad but would much rather be riding longer outside)

Sunday:

Snowy long run

Totals:

Swim: 7000 yds // 2hrs 36 min

Bike: 77 miles // 6 hrs 45 min

Run: 15.8 // 3 hrs 4 min

Strength: 0 min

Total: 12hrs 25min

This definitely felt easier than the last few weeks, as it should for a recovery week. I am looking forward to stepping it up the next three weeks for peak training bring on 20+ hour weeks and hopefully riding outside! 

Ironman Los Cabos Training – 10 weeks to go...

Whew, I am late getting last weeks recap up here, but better late than never! Las week had an unplanned rest day for me with a snow storm causing a two hour commute (missed my swim) then an offer on our house that same night so I spent the evening signing contracts (yay). I hate missing workouts but coach said no big deal so I guess I will move on. In the big picture selling my house trumps one day of workouts. The week started out easy to recover from the half marathon then ramped up.

Here is what my week looked like:

Monday:

2600 yd easy swim

Tuesday:

Hour  trainer ride in the morning  

30 min MAF run

Wednesday:

Bike strength and Power on the trainer

Easy shake out run

Thursday:

Snow storm and contract signing

Friday:

Strength training

Bike hill repeats on the trainer

Saturday:

16 mile run

2200 yd swim

Sunday:

75 mile bike with 40 minute t-run

Totals:

Swim: 4800 yds // 2hrs

Bike: 116 miles // 10hrs

Run: 22.3 miles // 4hrs 45min

Strength: 45 min

Total: 17hrs 22min

Overall this week felt ok, next week is a rest week so I am looking forward to a little step back before my biggest set before Cabo. Bring on peak training!!

2014 SOAS Racing Team

I was pretty stocked when I opened my email earlier this month to read that I had been selected to be part of the SOAS racing team.

I first noticed SOAS kits on some of my favorite bloggers and was impressed by how cute they were. I looked into the company and really loved how they were women specific

And were made in the U.S

I bought my first kit and wore it all summer training for Ironman Lake Tahoe. It was my go to kit anytime I had a long ride on the schedule, nothing was more comfortable. I wore it for a half ironman and was supper comfortable everything stayed in place. It was my plan to wear my SOAS kit was for Ironman Lake Tahoe but when the snow came the day before and the temps dipped below freezing warmer plans had to be made, just arm warmers weren't going to cut it.

This year with two Ironman races on my schedule I will be proudly rocking the SOAS team uniform.

Do you have a favorite brand? I think getting something women's specific is key!

Ironman Los Cabos Training – 11 weeks to go...

In my last post I talked about my new coach Beth (can get very confusing since my name is Beth too but it’s fun that our last names rhyme) . Since I don’t want to give her services away for free and everyone’s training should look different I won’t go into too much detail here about my workouts. Here is what my week looked like:

Monday:

Easy spin (that I moved over from Sunday)

2,000 yd swim

Tuesday:

Hour tempo trainer ride in the morning  

Interval run (in the dark)

Wednesday:

Pyramid trainer ride

 3100 masters swim

Thursday:

hour easy(ish) trainer ride

60 minute tempo run

Friday:

Strength workout

3000 yd swim

Saturday:

4 hour endurance bike ride with a 30 minute transition run

Sunday:

Half Marathon race (recap soon) quick strength session

90 minute easy spin to get the junk out of the legs

Totals:

Swim: 8250 yds // 2hrs 45min

Bike: 124 miles // 10hrs 27min

Run: 27 miles // 5hrs 5min

Strength: 1hr 10 min

Total: 18hrs 45min

Overall this week felt really good, I am happy to be back into a routine and really enjoying my workouts. My race on Sunday was definitely was not set up to be a PR but it felt good and was fun to race and see friends.

It’s a new year have you started your training cycle or still in off season?

New Coach

I can’t believe January is already more than half over, time is flying. I feel like I am constantly running to catch up but I know things will improve. As mentioned in past posts there was a lot of change in my life come end of December/beginning of January. Life is a little hectic now but I am loving training and where things are headed.

One of the new exciting changes is a new coach for 2014. I signed on with Beth Gerdes from Reve Endurance to help me get through Ironman Los Cabos and Ironman Canada this year.

I started working with Beth at the beginning of the month and I am loving the program and her coaching. I think it’s really a great fit and am excited to see how races go this year under her guidance. So thanks Beth for taking me under your wing, I am excited to get to work with you!

At the end of the week I will start documenting how training is going, this time it will be a shorter training log since Cabo is just a short 10 weeks away. Lots of cold rides, dark runs and hours in the pool. Nose to the tape…

2014 Intentions

In past years I have set very specific goals (will recap 2013 soon) but this year I just don’t have it in my heart to set out too many specific (SMART) goals for the year but want to start the year with more intentions.

This year I want to focus on being true to myself, finding peace and sharing Joy. I have found that I don’t always do what’s best for me or keep promises that I make to myself. That will change this year, I want to keep the promises I make to myself (eat better, follow training plan, stop stressing, etc)

Finding Peace is about relaxing more, I spent a lot of 2013 stressing about one thing or another, and everything still turned out fine. 2014 is starting out with an exciting but stressful event of selling one house and then hopefully buying a new one. Moving is stressful but I have to believe that it will all end up ok and I will end up in a home that I love. Time to find some zen.

Sharing Joy is to help focus on having more fun and sharing it with people around me. I can be a fairly ambitious, focused person so I can forget to stop and smell the roses. I want to slow down enough to share some fun with my family, friends and co-workers.

Being a goal oriented person I still will set some specific goals maybe monthly, but if at the end of 2014 I have focused on those three intentions more than I know it will have been a good year.

Are you setting intentions/resolutions for this year?

A Look Back at 2013 in Photos

As I wrote about in my last post 2013 was not my favorite year. Looking back is still fun and while the day to day was a little stressful there were some big sparkly moments that were great and I am sure in a few years I will remember the big highs more than anything else. So here's a look back at 2013:

January started out with our traditional News Year Day Hungover Half (my families self run half marathon, so fun)

And a trip to Miami to run the ING Miami half marathon

February was pretty mellow with lots of training on snowy trails and time on the trainer

March took us to Cabo San Lucas to celebrate 10 years of being together.

As a happy accident Ironman Los Cabos was running while we were there and we got to watch the race, probably my favorite part of our vacation.

In April we took our first long training weekend in Moab and had a blast!

May was running our second open marathon together
And had me headed to Baja Mexico for work

June was fun and exciting with lots of training, my mom's first triathlon and a half ironman for me.



July started with a trip to the Oregon Coast, one of my favorite places in the world.



and finished with lots of climbing mountains

In August we raced Ironman Boulder 70.3 to PRs for both Cory and me

Then Dad and Cory took third overall for relays at Boulder Sunset triathlon. They took third even through dad did the bike AND run! I was so proud. Mom took first in her age group but I didn't get a photo =(


September was a great month, Cory took 8th overall and first in his age group at the Denver Trail Half Marathon

Then we all headed to Lake Tahoe for my second Ironman, while it was difficult I am proud that I finished!

October was pretty low key running lots of trails, one half marathon and a work trip to Ohio

November came and went quickly ending with our traditional family Turkey Trot

December didn't have any racing for me, but lots of food, family and fun.

We end the year on an upswing with a new job for Cory and putting our house on the market to move north. Packing isn't my favorite but I am so excited to get into a new house, new city, new start.

Happy New Year everyone, have a safe fun night!

Transitions

Well hello! Its been quite around here with my focus on Christmas, family and other life changes, but we will get to all of that. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season celebrating with their families. I Had a wonderful Christmas that left my little heart bursting with joy and love.

I will admit that 2013 hasn't been the easiest year for me . Nothing tragic or unmanageable, just more stressful than past years so I won't shed a tear to see it go and start fresh in a week. I also have had a few significant changes in the last couple weeks, it feels like a great transition to 2014.

I haven't really talked about it here to respect my husbands privacy but he is the most open and honest person I know so it wasn't really necessary. Cory was laid off from the company he was with for over seven years in May and diligently searched for a job for over seven months, about two weeks ago he finally heard that he got a job that he really wanted, it was the best Christmas gift we could have asked for.

After Cory started his new job with a hellish commute to Boulder we finally decided to put our Denver house on the market so we could move out of the city. We still love our little 1928 tudor house but finally agreed that it was worth it to move to make commuting easier for Cory as well as having some more modern luxuries (AC, decent closets, master bathroom, storage, etc). The biggest reason we would like to move is lifestyle, we really like to ride our bikes out the door of our home and run on trails. This is hard to do in the heart of Denver so we are looking to move closer to Boulder back roads with great trails. I am very excited about this change but getting our house on the market and selling it will take some work. Showing a home with three dogs and a crazy schedule would just not work so we will be moving out in a week and a half.

Another big change for 2014 will be a new coach for me. I really love my former coach and will still work with him in group workouts but I missed the boat to individually train with him again this year. I gave up the expense of a coach after Ironman Lake Tahoe, but after Cory found a job and a lackluster fall of self coaching I was in the market for a coach again. Not surprisingly a lot of coaches in Colorado are full up with it being so late and so many local athletes signed up for IM Boulder. So I researched and thought a lot about my options and I think I have found the perfect fit. I am very excited and think this change will be really great for me, sometimes a change is just what I need to push me out of my comfort zone. I will let you in on who my new coach will be after we sign all the docs and get going but I am ecstatic to get to work with her.

A lot of new things coming in the next month or so, new schedule, new coach, new commute, new home, new gym, new neighborhood, the list goes on. So 2013 will end on an upswing that will hopefully propel us into a wonderful 2014.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying some time off!

Gift Ideas for Runners

1. Lululemon Speed Tight *cozy - I resisted buying Lulu for a long time, it seemed ridiculously expensive. That went out the window when I finally got some shorts as a gift and I realized how much more comfortable Lulu is than other brands. I even ran Tahoe's marathon in Lululemon Capri's, they were amazing with no chafing, love them! These tights are lined and perfect for winter, I wear them all the time.

2. Smart Wool gloves that have touch screen capabilities that are great for Garmin operation as well as instagramming your favorite trail

3. Petzl Headlamp great for evening runs when there is little daylight, or if you have an ultra runner on your list the NAO is supposed to be amazing.

4. A foam roller can be the difference between a PR and an injury, I have had my trigger point roller for years and it hasn't broken down at all. Now if I could get someone to do the rolling for me.....

5. A Garmin 910XT is a great watch for any triathlete or runner, I have the 410 and it's great but even with a full charge it has died on me, the 910 offers more battery power.

6. Everyone needs to hydrate on runs, even in the winter, this Nathan Hydration Vest makes it easy.

7. Give your favorite runner a nice way to display all the race bling!

What's on your list?

Training For a Hot Race in Winter - Four Months To Go

In (a little less than) Four short months I will be toeing the line at Ironman Los Cabos. It doesn't feel real yet, it's NEXT year, it will be warm, it's a triathlon, and it's clearly not triathlon season in Colorado (hello lowof -8).

But 4 months is not a lot of time and will go by quickly, I need to keep my focus and eyes on the prize. I try to think about warm(isn)aqua ocean water, palm tress and margaritas.

My training plan is very similar to my last two ironmans, I am just hoping that I won't have to spend too much time on the trainer and treadmill (I will run in snow but ice is another thing). The new things I hope to start incorporating some heat training. I have done a little research on how to train for a race in warm conditions over winter. Starting in January I will start:

• Going to hot yoga to get my body used to moving in the heat



• sitting in the sauna after swims for increasing amounts of time.



• No fan or open windows while on the trainer



• Overdressing for runs

Other than that I think I will just have to gut it out. Regardless, I am excited to head to mexico to race towards the end of a long, cold winter.

Have any additional tips? Have you ever races in the heat after training in the cold?

I haven't really but I did train in the heat to race in the ridged cold in Tahoe, I guess that doesn't hep me here.

Gift Ideas for Cyclists

In honor of Black Friday I thought I would post my second Wish List for Athletes, you can find the first here. I didn't venture out shopping myself today, too scary. I took down all my fall decorations, put out Christmas and put up a tree. The house smells amazing and now I can spend the weekend swim bike running with my chores being done.

Onto my list of fun items for cyclists:

1. Speed Fill makes drinking a breeze and keeps that expensive bike aero

2. A fun little bike ornament for your cycling enthusiast office mate

3. Zoot Knickers for those cold weather cycling adventures, so comfortable and keep your legs and bum nice and toasty

4. Bonk Breakers are a great snack while riding

5, This Cervelo P5 is for the athlete on your list who has been very good this year

Trail Runs in Colorado

Happy Thanksgiving (to my US readers) I am excited to spend the day giving thanks, doing a Turkey Trot with my entire family, watching movies and easting lots of great food. It will be a day of relaxing and finding peace. Luckily my contribution of pies will be baked this evening so I can mostly relax tomorrow.

I haven’t made tome to share much lately to I thought I would bomb you with some trail porn. Given my upcoming trail ultra marathon I have been spending my weekends climbing and descending. So here are some great local trails if live or ever visit Colorado.

Golden Gate Park: Lots of great trails that can keep you running for 30+ miles.

Centennial Cone: There is a 12 mile loop with approximately 3 mile spur to a lower parking lot, add that on as an out and back and you have a great 18 mile run.

Lory State Park: miles and miles of trails can be strung together here, we planned out a 20 mile course but you could run shorter or longer easily. This trail has been my favorite so far in Colorado. Tons of climbing but the trail is interesting and the views are incredible. This one was furthest from home but I will definitely be back!

So that's what my weekends have looked like, what have you been up to? Any big plans for the holiday weekend?

Athlete Wish List - Swim!

Hard to believe that it's almost Thanksgiving and given this years' late date it means even less time to shop for holiday gifts. I thought I would share some holiday wish lists for the athletes in your life, or to possibly add to your own list. I'm starting with swim goodies but will move onto biking, running and other fun items. 

1. A Swim Buoy to work on arm strength and rest your tired legs

2. Splish has fun suits to keep you smiling when swimming lap after lap while it's cold and dark outside

3. Zoot Prophet is my fantasy swim gift if you are looking to spend big bucks

4. Keep things interesting with this waterproof mp3 player

5. Many people swear by chlorine removing hair products but I find they dry out my hair and skin even more, I really like this product from Philosophy. It comes in fun scents and is a shampoo and body wash in one so it saves space in my swim bag.  

What's on your wish list? 

Swim Wish List by bethcn

In November

Happy November everyone! After my month of debauchery and unplanned fun it's time to get back at it and it seems important to set some month goals to help me stay focused.

1. Follow training plan and train at least 65 hours this month.

With big races coming up it's time to refocus.

2. Hit the trails at least once a week twice would be better.

With my first ultra marathon coming up in three months with 8,400 ft of climbing (more than Ironman Lake Tahoe bike course)

3. Clean eating 6 days a week (must have cheat day)

4. Take time to be thankful for the big and little things

What will your November goals look like?