July comes to an end

BIKE: 1hr for about 17 miles. MS of 5min hard/5min mod for 45 mins

SWIM: 1:29 for about 2000m.

Got up early to get the bike in. I knew I'd be too tired after the picnic (and I was right) to get a ride done. As much as I dislike sitting on the trainer when the weather aint that bad, this was the plan. And there was no way I'd get in 5/5 intervals on the road around here.

The swim was a near fail. I just didn't have the energy, mental or physical. The umpteenth email to come to me this week reminding my of my inability to balance things out and get things done arrived at the end of the bike ride, and I couldn't shake it off for the swim. But that's just part of it. I was tired. I ended up doing just 50s and 100s, hanging on the wall to rest. We worked on the ABC drill, getting my right arm to catch wide, and w-i-d-e arm entry. When I get it right, it feels good! When I don't, eh, I don't feel so good. But even my "oh geez what am I doing wrong" laps still came in around 1:06 for 50m.

Then near the end my left leg cramped a little. Just a minor one, it shook out in a few mins, but it spooked me. F^CK. I decided, that was it. I'm done. Get out of the pool. I got to the wall where I overheard HJ in the next lane saying she had a foot cramp. Then she pushed off the wall. Then I pushed off the wall.

In the end, the distance is only a reasonable guess. There was lots more standing around today than usual, but still I only did freestyle so it's not like the time was eaten up in the kicking sets that I opted out of.

How do I feel? I'm told my eyes have a glazed over look. A few people have asked in I'm OK (them's being CHG and PS). I tired as all hell but lovin' it. July is over! What a month! Something for the club every stinking weekend! August is for ME.

NUMERICS: planned: 14:15. actual 14:12
SWIM: 5906 y in 3.33 hrs, planned 3.58
BIKE:103.40 miles in 6.5hrs, planned 6.08
RUN: 24.90 miles in 4.03 hrs, planned 4.08

damn, almost exactly as planned!

Long ride in IL, new riders!

BIKE: 4hrs and 62 miles. 4hrs=actual time moving, actual ride closer to 5hrs.

Back to the Mill-Wat-Val loop from the ColMark. Lots of new riders with us today, both new to the group and new to riding with me. That always puts me on edge for the first hour or so, waiting to learn how they react, signal, ride, etc. Once I have that figured out, it's all good.

We started at 5:30am. The sun wasn't even up yet! There was absolutely no wind, and 100% humidity (or so it seemed). Sweat would bead up on us and just sit there. Oh and it was still hot--in the low 80's at first but once the sun came up it settled back into the mid-90's.

The ride was at a slower pace than usual, we had a new rider (doing IML!) whose pace was just a few beats slower than our average. I stayed back with him, knowing that feeling he might have of being the guy who slows everyone down. I've felt that way, and when I feel that way no one can convince me that I'm not the SlowZebra. So I made sure to try to convince him that he wasn't. Hope I succeeded!

Great ride overall! I ate too much before hand, ate and drank just right during the ride, then overall afterwards. This sent my tummy into some real discomfort!!! And it was only noon! Gotta watch these super early workouts. In part, that contributed to my problems.

Day Off, Systems Review

Day off! I was joking to myself yesterday that Thursday's are probably my hardest day, so it's OK to get worn out on xfit cuz I'll have time to recover. Sad thing is, I'm not training but I'm not exactly resting either. The extra time and energy just mean I try to get more done on Friday's.

Today was notable for the b-ee-rr-u-n.

Time for a systems review. Immediate concerns include the right calf muscle that cramped Weds. It still hurts. It even hurts to just touch the muscle, let alone flex or stretch it. No other injuries or pains.

My time management has improved, and my to-do list shrunk from 36 to 15 by the end of the week. Many of those 15 are left for Sat/Sun, so that's not a bad job! I'm restarting some projects at work, so that helps there.

Home has been a bit haywire schedule-wise. We haven't worked on the house all July and right now it really needs a good clean-up.

Feeling good. Tired but good. I get tired just walking up the steps. I've mentally needed a rest break all week, hopefully one is coming up soon!

Getting back to long runs

RUN: 12.6 miles in 2hrs. 1st and last 30 mins were at an easier pace, the middle 60 mins was 6.6 miles in ~55 mins for a 8:20-8:30 m/m pace.
STRENGTH: 20 mins total, 3 rounds of 3 min walking lunges, 2 min crunches, 1 min burpees.

Started early and the weather was much cooler (85F). LC and I started early and did ~28 mins before the group. She had some great stories to share :)

Then we met with the group, and DC and I took off at a faster pace. We did the loop together with him pushing me a bit. I kept asking for a slow-down (although I really didn't want to slow down) and wasn't granted one. This is good for me, but I was worried about being able to hang on to the pace and being able to continue running afterwards. But I did. So no worries.

Xfit sounded harder than it was. It was awesome.

Back and forth butterfly

SWIM: 1100-ish yards in ~45 mins
RUN: 5.5 miles in 55 mins.

The was some serious fatigue in training this morning. My swim was unfocused and barely inspired. I kept wondering if it would be better to just quit. But that's my problem, I don't quit. I just keep hammering away...sometimes mindlessly, sometimes to no improvement.

CHG pointed out some tips. The ABC drill to get me to swivel my head back towards the bottom of the pool before my right hand enters the water. Instead I'm keeping my head rotated too long and having to put my arm/shoulder around it. Another tip was to turn my head up as soon as my left arm fully extended. Combine that with the ABC drill, and you get left out out-fast turn of head up- quick inhale-fast turn back down as right arm comes over-right hand enters water.

Oh, and I'm probably hitting the lane lines (again today) because my left arm is crossing over.

I got out of the water feeling the need to vent some frustrations. Work, club, personal, training, I just never seem to rest. I keep bouncing back and forth between one of the other with incremental progress. Or at least that's how I felt this morning. And it didn't help that as I went to hop out of the pool my right calf cramped, leaving me to sit there and hide my pain at the side of the pool. I don't really have anyone to vent to, so I decided to run now instead of later. Off to FoPa to work out my problems.

Today's run was a 55 min form run. But I was determined to get the 3 hill climbs in that I missed Monday. What was that about just hammering away...?

I decided to stay on the flat paths around Art Hill for the drills, and do the 3 climbs in the 15 min pre-drill phase. The drills felt good and they are becoming more natural, all except the leaning. I need to work on that.

The day was getting hot. I was rapidly losing water that my water bottle couldnt replace. The sunrise was pretty in the pool but now I was looking for shade. The last 5 mins of the run felt good, fast, and easy. I ended by the handball courts, and didn't run 1 second longer than I had to. I just stopped. It was then I noticed the butterfly in the handball courts.

The courts have glass doors and windows about 3/4 of the way to the roof, above them is an opening. Most of the roof is really a chainlink fence type of setup, it's open and lets sun in. The rest of the roof was concrete. All interior concrete walls were painted white. Above the glass doors and the opening was a 2-foot wall of concrete along the roofline. The sun was still rising, but cast a beam of light along 2/3rds of the western wall.

At some point, a butterfly flew into the opening over the doors, flew up to the ceiling and was unable to find the opening again. For that, it would need to fly down a few feet. But it was attracted to the sunlight through the fence/ceiling and the white walls. So it went back and forth along the western wall, from the short wall over the door and opening to the end of the chainlink ceiling. Back and forth. Back and forth. Back and forth.

The butterfly just wanted out. But it was unable to realize that it needed to make a change in its flight plan. It just kept flitting along the sunlight, all it wanted to was the sunshine. I watched it back and forth, back and forther, for some time. When would it find the opening? Would it find the opening? How long would it survive? How long would it just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again?

That was me just one month ago. Doing the same training over and over. All I wanted was to go faster and stronger, but I didn't realize that I needed to change course. Now that I'm working with CP I've changed course, and so far for the better. I'm feeling more focused, like I have a purpose. I've had my reality check and I've rewritten some goals.

But at the same time I'm making some of the same mistakes as I made before. I'm not as focused with work and home. I'm not getting enough sleep each night. My meals are whatever I can throw together quickly. And so I wondered, how long would I just keep doing the same thing over and over and over again?

Loopty-Loop of Forest Park

BIKE: 1.5hrs for 23 miles. All in the small ring.

I usually do my Tuesday ride alone, often indoors, because it's written to be done that way. Interval and drill work are in the 'script and those are harder to do on the road. But when the offer came up to ride with some friends this morning I took it. Yesterday at work had 3 bad emails to round out a bad Monday so I jumped at this chance. Also I had a medical appt that disrupted the day and took a chunk of time from me.

While driving over to FP I realized that I didn't have to do the Tuesday workout today, that I could swap it with Saturday's small ring ride! Go me!

JM, AB, and I did loops around FP, at some times seeing parts of the park I didn't frequent. When first proposed, I wasn't all that excited about riding around the park, but once we got going I realize that there was no stoplights, no waiting, few cars, and it made for a nice steady ride. I was pleasantly surprised.

I focused on improving each hill repeat with better gears or form. Much easier than last week's big ring ride!

Didn't get my core training in though.

Swimming in the gutters; 50 mile Benchmark!!

SWIM: 70 mins for 2300m (or 1.4 miles!)
RUN: 66 mins for 6.8 miles at 9:42m/m average

Today I crossed the 50 mile benchmark for swimming in 2011!

This is my longest Monday Master's swim in some time. For once I showed up on time and started the swim at 5:20am. And wouldn't you know it, CHG was out of town for it.

There is finally a break in the heat. Yesterday was 95+ in the AM and only 82 by the afternoon. So while the water was still 85F, it was certainly a more pleasant swim than last week. At least you could stand up to cool off.

The sets were good today: 4x300, 1st 300 as 6x50 kick/drill/swim/kick/drill/swim, 2nd 300 as 3x100 descending 1-2-3, 3rd 300 as 2x150 descending in each 150, and 4th as 1x300 steady.

I was a slop fest today. My mind was buzzing about IM CdA, I was tired (even though I rested yesterday), and I kept hitting the stupid lane lines!!! As in really hitting them!! You know the rule that your body follows your eyes? That if you look at something on the road your bike will follow and then hit that something? Well it turns out if if I think about something, I'll hit it. Once I started hitting the lane lines, I got focused on hitting the lane lines, then all I did was hit the lane lines. For all the smacks I gave the lines, I'm surprised I still have a watch. And that I'm not missing more skin off my right hand. OW! You know what I say to that....

Oh HTFU!

Not sure why I was swimming in the lane gutter. I'm still working on an earlier hand entry, and that seems to leave me lower in the water. So I was gasping for air a bit. I'm getting so much better at not panicking when I inhale water. Just blow it out and get the rhythym back. Still sucks, though.

Regardless, the waning moon was beautiful to swim under, and watching the sun rise over the pool is always a treat. And although I wasn't a smooth or fast as last weeks PR swims, my lane mates have noticed my increased speed. Yeah!!!!!

LC and I ran over lunch again, it was "only" 96F degrees out. It was hot but oh so much better than last week! The Rx for the run was 3 Art Hill climbs but the high sun drove us to more shaded hills. Not as good of a workout as it could have been, maybe I can throw in a climb on Weds run? I'm glad LC was there today, I think left to my own devices I would have tried the hill climbs and really cooked myself. Did this run in the Kinvaras, I'm finally getting some long miles in those shoes! I can remember being able to do only 3-4 miles before my legs called for quits.

IM Coeur d'Alene

Congratulations! You are now registered for 2012 Ironman Coeur d'Alene.

Date & Time: 06/24/12
Location: Coeur d'Alene Lake
Coeur d'Alene Resort (Map)

Purchased at: 07/24/11
Category: General Entry

Holy cow. I did it. Holy cow I did it. HolycowIdidit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was less giddy than I was at IMWI signup, this was more....straightforward. Don't get me wrong, I was practically falling off the chair when I hit PAY NOW.OK I'll be honest, I threw my arms up, did a silent yell, and dropped to my knees like some sort of victory celebration.

I didn't plan ahead as much on this one, it was more whimsical. This whole train of thought only started Friday night! Friday at 7pm I was going to do IMWI again or maybe Rev3CP. Friday at 8pm I was thinking about doing IMCdA! I'm not usually like this.

It really hasn't hit me yet, but I have that "I just signed up" glow about me :)

Thinking on 2012

Is it too early to be thinking about 2012? Of course not! Especially if I want to do an IM, then I need to sign up now.

IM CDA just popped up on the radar.

Get ready for another one of my 3 point lists!

PROS:
1. Many friends also doing the race, so training partners are guaranteed!
2. The water is cold. That sounds like it should be a CON, but I see it as a challenge.
3. No more training in all this damned heat!

CONS:
1. No Triple-T
2. Family might not be able to make it
3. Long training very early in season.

The way I guess it, if there's ~9 months for IM training I need to start in ... October? My last race is mid-late Sept. I can rest in Sept and most of Oct. There's no need to start building base when I'm coming out of HIM training so early. In fact, don't I have to lose base in order to build it? haha.

IM CDA. Known to me for it's cold swim and semi-exotic location. Idaho isn't some place I think about often. Mountains? Plains? Trees? Rocks? What is the terrain? What are the views? I imagine clean lakes, long stretches of road, hills, mountains....oh joy!

Gawd it's still HAWT!

BIKE: 3:45 for 61.75 miles
RUN: 12 mins and 1.3 miles

Last night I didn't sleep well. I was in bed by 10pm (late enough to begin with) but I didn't sleep until at least after 11:30. And my alarm went off at 4:29am....

I just kept laying there, mind wandering. I was physically tired, but mentally awake. Frustrating!

Up and at it early this morning to avoid the heat. 6:15am wheels down in St Chuck for yet another tour (3rd week in a row) of the NT flats. At least this time we're starting somewhere else! Had a great group of 11 riders, a good mix of abilities and speeds, and a great mix of conversation and personalities. Loved it!

Focused again on "light" pedaling, and had good success. There wasn't much head wind and very few hills to test my form (that's usually where my feet start to hurt) but I was happy. I can recall previous weekends on these roads in which my feet were killin' before I got done!

Nutrition on days like today is a challenge. I'm really working on eating more on the bike (after the CE race problem of not eating enough). Today I had about 1000-1200 calories on the bike, that's about 250-300/hour give or take. I've been relying on the Infinit, but it doesn't satisfy the craving for real food, so I'm going to back off that and replace part of it for the next few long rides to see how it goes. The question is whether or not I can run with that solid food in the belly. I'll bet I can.

The brick run was more torture than fun. It was just too hot. But form and all were OK.

After the run was done, I ate a bunch of grapes which later upset my stomach. I skipped the group late breakfast and had water instead. It wasn't for another hour or so until I ate. And before that could happen my lips started tingling--I need salt!! Popped a few endurolytes and waited for them to further upset my stomach. They managed it about an hour later :(

But I treated my tummy to some sugary fatty easy to digest fro-yo and all was well. :)

Buzzin' in the Big Ring

BIKE: ~2.3 hours for 33 miles

Today was supposed to be a day off, but when the opportunity to take Sunday's ride and move it to this afternoon came up, I took it. TdK is Sunday, so the plan is to rest Sunday instead. Maybe get my swim in after TdK?

The weather is still awful hot, maybe a week now of 95-100F days. It's starting to wear on me. I drink and drink and drink, but not that much comes out as pee! This morning I had a few hours away from the water bottle, and I let myself get dehydrated. Not a great set-up for tonight's ride.

Another not-so-great set-up was nutrition. I tried to not eat too much before the ride, leaving me hungry when the ride did start. I don't do a lot of afternoon workouts, so this is a challenge.

The goal of the ride was to spend 90 mins in the big ring. Why did I bring the tri bike for this? And why the tri bike for riding through town, then on the riverfront trail? That's Puppy's territory! Glass, potholes, start/stop...all not really Frea's domain. But the filly did fine.

I stayed in the big ring unless it was a big hill, then cross-chaining became an issue and I dropped down to the small ring. By the end of 90 minutes (the goal time for this ride) my right knee was talking to me. Not loud, but making itself known. I dropped down and stayed there.

Another goal for the ride was to avoid mashing the pedals and hurting my feet. I focused on "light" pedaling, throwing the knee over the bars, etc. Happily my feet felt pretty good when this was done!

After the ride we met up with more of the group and OH THE NEWS!!!! EK is doing IM CDA!!! And so is TB and CB!! And Wisco-MG!!! And CM is thinking about it!! And so is MK!!!!

OMG!!!! I have to check my calendar!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easy long run and hard crossfit

RUN: 12 miles in 1:56 for a 9:40m/m pace
STRENGTH: 5 rounds of 5 handstand pushups, 10 pushups, 15 pullups, 20 walking lunges. 2 min rest between round.

Another late night followed by an early morning. Tomorrow I sleep in.

We met at 5:15 to get in 30 mins ahead of the group, did the loop, then did another 25 or so. That sounds like a long time but it was fun! Again LC and MK were with me, we talk and chat and the time just flies by. We kept the pace easy with no big efforts.

And I'd like to note that my orthotics, which I haven't changed at all, felt OK today. I wonder why some days are bad and others are good?

Then the xfit. Obviously I can't do 15 pullups, but I did manage 5-6 per set! Last time a few weeks ago I could only do 3-4, so I'm improving :)

After the 3rd set I thought I was going to throw up. I was dehydrated and hungry. LC's peach after the run was D-lish, but not enough. I was looking forward to the strawberry/banana protein shake in the truck!

Absolutely beautiful wonderful morning!

SWIM: 1800 in ~58-60 mins
RUN: 5.86 miles in 55 mins

I was bound and determined to get to the swim at 5:15am (when it actually starts!) and not late at 5:30. I walked in at 5:15! Yea!

Stroke of the day was breast stroke, which for me is more of a sculling doggie-paddle. And CHG pointed this out--my hands go all the way back to my hips and I come to a stop in the water. He worked on me a bit, but stayed focused on freestyle.

CHG also gave me some great news: I'm keeping up with the group!! haha, maybe I'm no longer the slowest swimmer in the pool?! At another time while he was watching, he encouraged me to catch another swimmer who pushed off moments ago. "Go get her". I got her!!!!! That's never happened at Master's!!!

And best of all, in a 6x50 challenge set in which each subsequent 50m is 5 sec longer than the last (first one at 55seconds), I managed a 53s (1:46/100m), then a 55s, then a 59s!!!! (so much for the 5sec increases). PR!!!!!

My previous 50y PR is 48s, which is 1:45/100m; and 1:48 for 100y which is 1:58/100m. (Monday was a 2:02/100m).

So you may be wondering how I'm calling this a PR? In the previous PRs from April of last year, I was in a 25y pool and sprinting for those times. All out sprint. This week's swims were sustainable, repeatable, and in a 50m pool (less push off wall). SO HAPPY!!

Then I ran right after the swim, it was a 55min form run similar to last weeks. The drills and run were great, the last 15 mins at moderate pace felt so easy. But the best part was that everyone in the park was in such a great mood! "Way to go", "good morning!", wow everyone was just enjoying the cooler temps and great sunshine. In the last few minutes, I had a moment of bliss. The sun was coming up, I had a PR swim, I had a happy run....bliss....I felt as if the day was perfect and I wanted to tell everyone to enjoy the day and be thankful and appreciate everything. Geez, what a runner's high that was!

THEN, a phone call--and the day GETS EVEN BETTER!! But I don't share personal stuff here, but believe me when I say I was shocked and moved to nearly crying. :)

Then I worked a 10hr day, had a board meeting (in which the DH surprised me with food), and another long day.

Bike pyramids

BIKE: 75 mins, about 21-22 miles
STRENGTH: 20 mins of 30s intervals. Got bored and quit 10 mins early

I'm so tired. When climbing the stairs last night, I felt the fatigue in the legs. The heaviness, lack of pep, and drained feeling. I came home from work and was starving. Ate some chicken then promptly felt sick. I forced down some veggies and just wanted to sleep. Then I ate some carbs and woke up a little again. Gotta watch for that maybe, the lack of blood sugar? Is that real or mental. Either way, I slept good last night and didn't get out of bed today until 5:30am!

The bike ride was fun, 2 pyramids: 2 min intervals in one gear, then increase, then increase, ...etc for a total of 10 mins. The first 10 mins in the big ring, the 2nd 10 mins in the small ring. I screwed up and did small ring first. By the time I finished the big ring interval I was wiped.

The core workout was boring. Again. It was boring last week too. Maybe I shouldn't do it right after a tiring bike ride?

I'm still tired. My arms are tired just typing this. I looked ahead at my schedule and don't see a rest week yet. I'm only partway into my 3rd big week (started July 4th) and I there's no rest at least until after Aug 6th, another 3 weeks. It'll work out. Maybe I was resting too much before? Maybe the schedule will change?

SWIM PR: 2:02 for 100m

SWIM: 1800m in 55 mins. 4x50, 4x100, 4x150, 4x50 kick, 1x400 negative split last 200.

OMG! A swim PR! I had felt fast on Saturday's swim, but thought it was because there was only a little freestyle and because I'd rested the day before. But no, that wasn't it. I'm faster!!!!!

Last night's ride got me home late around 8pm. By the time I fell asleep it was 9:30 then I was up again at 4:10. I usually don't train in late afternoons, so if ever I was going to have a slow swim it would have been today. I was worried last night about my recover/prep nutrition, how to recover from the ride, not eat too much before sleeping, and refuel for this morning. Apparently I'm not as sensitive to that as I think or my nutrition is stronger than I realize. I did OK with some backed chicken, some fruit, and a sweet (but odd) reward before bed.

As usual I was late for the swim by 15 mins and today was the first day I regretted it! I wanted a full hour or more of this fast swimming! I missed the WU as always and started with the 4x50. We were asked to get out time, and I was surprised to get 1 minute. WHAT? 1 minute? Then the 4x100, the first was 2:05 the next a 2:02. WHAT?? Is there a + current? Am I incorporating some drafting learned from yesterday?!?! Was it my new aero swim helmet? :)

I new I'd slow down eventually, but by the end of the day I was still doing 2:15's as the slowest. WOW, I've been doing 2:20's these past few weeks. The best part is that CHG still said I need to work on my Catch-Launch. That was GOOD, it means I still can improve!!

And to top the day off, LC and I ran over lunch again. Last week it was 109F heat index at the start. Today was less hot with a light breeze. However we were the ONLY people we saw running in the park. And for a while we thought News 4 was filming the two nuts running at 1pm in the hottest part of the day. My HR was pretty high for this run. I have to fix that stupid HR monitor so I know what's really going on.

Tri Camp then long ride

BIKE: 2:51 and 50 miles at the flats of NT
RUN: 10 mins and 1.1 miles

It was Tri camp day! I worried this would screw up my training schedule, but having a group that planned to go out later reassured me that I'd get my long ride in. Similar situation next weekend with a busy morning.

I only swam a little at the camp, worked on drafting and other open water drills. Very helpful! Some of this stuff you think you know, but then you learn more and realize there's always more to learn. I avoided the group ride and run to save for later, I regret missing them but I saw my role as more of a helper today.

The ride didnt' start until after 3pm, we drove back to NT to do my favorite 50-miler. I'm somewhat tired of those flats, but the interval work is unbeatable. We did the first 25 easy, then kicked it up for individual paced intervals the rest of the way home. At first I went out a little too fast, holding 22mph pace then I brought it back to 20mph for the rest of the ride (last 15 miles). For some reason, I was mashing enough to make my feet hurt. I'm ok with not-mashing in a comfortable pace, no headwind, and no hills, but anything that diverts my attention and I seem to go back to that bad habit. So that last 10 miles I tried to really focus on some times from CP. They helped, but I need to do them the entire ride!

Then a short brick run. I was going to do 15 mins but the heat and long day (it was after 7pm!) talked me into cutting it off at 10 mins.

NUMERICS: Goal time 13:05, actual 12:24
SWIM: 2.58hrs and 5359 yds. Good job on 3 swims this week!
BIKE: 5.8 hrs and 96 miles
RUN: 3.25 hrs and 24.86 miles

I came up short on goal swim time, otherwise I'm pretty close to plan. However I was only 40y short of goal distance on the swim.

Hillz and Omelettes

SWIM: 1500m in 45 mins
BIKE: ~20 miles in 1.5hrs at Babler, all hillz.

The swim was Saturday masters, not so much freestyle. 5x100 w/ paddles then 3x[6x50] with the 6x50 as kick, drill, swim; and the 3x as fly, back, breast. I didn't do fly but I did get a lot of the breast stroke in. The kicking, not so much. I felt faster today, but chalked it up to having rested the day before. And sleeping in. Saturday Master's doesnt start until 6am :)

Then fast T1 out to BSP for hills. I met up with the Savage group. I stopped the Garmin at some point, so the time and distance are just good estimates. This felt easier than I thought it would? Not saying hills are "easy" but it didn't shred me like I expected it to.

Then breakfast at FW. Nom Nom Nom on a healthy turkey omelette. Then for some reason my nutrition tanked the rest of the day. Just never felt satisfied. Dehydrated? I just munched the day away it seemed....

Rest day

DAY OFF

And it went by FAST. (Helped along by nearly 12-hr day at work).

easy breezy lemon squeezy

RUN: 1:53 11.66 miles for an ave pace of about 9:41.
XFIT: 75 crunches, 50 squats, 25 pushups.

I could have run all day, that's how I felt about this run. It just flowed. The weather cooled off to a cool 74F. LC and MK are great running partners. Aside from the fact that my damned HR monitor is not working, it was a perfect run!

My left foot still not perfectly comfy, I still need to adjust the orthotics. But there seems to be a lot of variance in whether or not my feet hurt, somedays intolerable and others it's just fine.

SPEED UP

SWIM: 1500m? in 50 mins.

Finally it’s cooled off. 100F yesterday and 74F this morning. Ahhhhh……

I rolled out of bed still tired, still with the feeling of mind awake but body tired. But very little soreness or pain, just general fatigue. And I have to admit, I like it. I’m not complaining, I’m just reporting. With a little smug smile on my face :)

It was still dark out when we started, and the water was slightly warmer than the air. Why do I keep bringing my smoked-lens goggles to these morning practices? Oh yeah, because I don’t have clear lens goggles!

I lost count of the laps in the swim right off the bat. I got to 5 and that was it. It was backstroke day but I only did a little of that before switching back to freestyle. Backstroke has always been a recovery stroke for me, but I used to feel faster in backstroke than I do now. CHG pointed out a few tips—that the recovery is more like an arm-wrestling rather than a straight-armed paddle.
I was feeling very sloppy today. I think in sane-world thinking, I’d take a day off right about now. But it’s Build-world right now and a race is on the horizon. No more extra days off right now. This fatigue and mental fuzz tells me I’m working hard and stressing my body like I need to be. But it’s always a balance between just enough and too much. Don’t think I’ve crossed into too much just yet. In fact, I’ve been much, much tired-er than this before.

So I buzzed along, with no lap counts and the lane lines hitting me for swimming crooked. And just when I thought “maybe I should step out instead of practicing bad form” I suddenly started swimming great laps. I felt awake, aggressive, and faster. Relatively faster, anyway. I had a faster turnover, less waiting in the glide, and I rode higher in the water. Nice way to end it.

The run came soon after, around 8am. I had thought about running in the rain that was predicted for later, but since I didn’t know when later I went early. Otherwise I lose time in the day. Besides, it would be nice to rest the day away for my longer run tomorrow.

Today was the form run: 5 min WU, 10 min IM pace, 15 min as 30/30 drill/jog, 10 min IM pace, 5 min CD. I chose the Kinvaras to see how I’d hold up after 5 miles, which would be my longest run yet in these shoes. I also had the Garmin programmed to beep at the intervals. This worked slick! Until the Garmin told me to SPEED UP in the first 10 min interval. Speed up? Did I program that? No. But did I feel the need to do it anyway? Yes. Of Course Yes! Turns out all it was looking for was about 8:20-8:30. Otherwise it would beep all during the 10 mins.

I chose a new route: Home to TGP to The Hill to work. All felt great! I added a new drill: breathing. I need to learn to not breathe on each right foot strike. I practiced a 2 strike/1 breath and it worked better. Otherwise I ramp up my HR and breathing just doing drills. The run after the drills felt great, even though I don’t maintain the form as well.

I came to the parking lot at 55 mins and was going to keep going until 60 mins, but then I realized I should just stop. If I wasn’t reporting to a coach, I would have kept going! Damn this being held accountable stuff is working!

It's HOT indoors, too

BIKE: about 26 miles in 1.5hrs, as WU then 30 min IM pace, 10 min HIM pace, 30 min IM pace.
I wanted to go outdoors, but the heat was getting to me and there was no way to do 30 min pace intervals on the road. More like go-stop-go-go-stop-go…. I keep wondering if I could manage to drive to IL to the MCT system on Tuesday mornings? The problem is lab meeting, it’s the one morning I really can’t be late and I don’t know how bad traffic is across the bridges back to MO. So even though meeting was canceled for today, I just didn’t have my ducks in a row for traveling today.

What I don’t like about riding indoors is that I don’t think it’s anywhere near as hard of a workout. Of course it isn’t. No wind, no hills. But no stops. It’s a trade-off.

I’m pretty tired today, and all day long I just kept thinking that the holiday weekend really wiped me out. More bad math here—it’s July 12th! The holiday was July 4th! HTFU dammit!!!

HOT and HOTTER

SWIM: 1900M in 1hr
RUN: 6 miles in 1hr

Fresh off the weekend and no break. Is Friday the best day to take off? It’s the only one without a Master’s swim for me…so I guess it is.

Even at 5am it was hot out. CHG modified the session for that reason, not much but it was on his mind. This should have been on our minds later in the run. Well, it was on our minds, we just didn’t heed it I guess. The swim felt good, my reach is getting better and more natural. I’m also starting to feel the roll of the shoulders, the push-back of the water, and propulsion. Last week it was every 3-5 strokes, now it’s more like every other. My right arm is still the weak link. CHG showed a drill holding my arm (him on the deck, me in the water) and once again showing me how it should feel to anchor against the water. He’s so patient. I’ll get this figured out.

LC and I decided to run around 12 or 1230 today, even with the 110-115F heat index prediction. It was so hot, like an oven. A smothering heat and humidity. I think we ran just because we knew it was a bad idea, and because everything thought we were crazy. Like running in the rain with everyone giving you weird looks from their dry little cars. There’s crazy, then there’s crazy. We were in the latter group.

I got a one mile WU in before she joined me. We stopped at every water fountain and rested in the VC. Shade was a blessing that we slowed down in. As sucky as this might have been, and as stupid, it was still a good training block. Can I drink lots of water—Yes. Can I eat a gel—Yes. Do the arm coolers work—Yes. Is it a good idea to do intervals—No. So no 30s intervals as planned today. Just getting out there was interval enough.

I was pretty dehydrated later, no amount of water seemed to help.

Swim,New Town, Babler

SWIM: 2300y in 60 mins, MS of 3x[5x100]

BIKE: 24.2 miles of hills in 1:33

What a busy day! First the swim at WH. I had to open the pool anyway, and what a perfect opportunity to get the 3rd swim of the week finished. The workout was broken up into smaller intervals. This worked for me, it prevented the usual boredom.

I felt really slow though. I focused on proper form--grabbing the anchor in the water and launching forward. Sometimes I'd feel it, sometimes I wouldn't. Actually most of the time I wouldnt but this was still a good swim in terms of focus and drive. I'd have to say this was my best swim since CE.

But the 100's seemed slow. Most all over 1 minute, some upwards of 1:05 and 1:10. Why so slow? I was also swimming crooked to the right. Haha, my laps were probably 26y+26y and that's why things were so slow!

Then off to NT, a few hours there then off to Babler for some hills! It was HOT out again, but BSP is shaded so I expected that would help. It did. The goal was 10 hills alternating the effort on odds and evens. I drove the lap to preview it, I'd actually never seen the entire loop! It was a mix of curves, big hills, little hills. It would be hard to do just 10.

So my goals--alternate hard and efficient efforts on the big hills, go easy on the little hills and flats to recover, and keep an even time for each loop. The first loop was in 17-18 mins and I held that pace in the 1st 3 laps. In the 4th I reversed the direction and found myself wearing out. Suddenly the hills weren't as tasty :) That's when I realized I was done. I debated my options. I could finish the last and 6th lap at 1:40 but then I'd still need a CD. Or I could make the 5th lap short and include a CD. Which one would benefit me more? I opted for the latter, I was already over hours. Maybe next week I'll get the 6 laps.

The planned hours for the week was 10:15, and I did 13:47. Way over goal! I wonder how bad that is? My Friday rest day felt like it never happened. Last week went by so fast! And this week will too, I have LOTS to do.

NUMERICS:
SWIM 4050y in 1.83 hours. Planned was 4300y (well really 6000+ but I moved the Monday workout).
BIKE 137.24 miles in 9.07hrs

RUN 16.88 miles in 2.53 hrs, again a moved workout makes this look low.

New Town then a 53/2 brick

BIKE: 53 miles in 3hrs

RUN: 2.1 miles in 20 mins

Volunteered at NT kids in the morning and that race wrapped up earlier than expected. The ride goal was a 3hr 50-ish with no hard efforts. A flat ride out of NT fit the bill. There's not a hill anywhere! And surprisingly, there was almost no wind!

So Frea and I set out in the heat with a working HRM! Finally my HR was 130-140 and not 160-180 in an easy ride. These numbers were more believable. I started out with a tailwind and turned into a headwind. All I did was turn right. How does that happen? How can there be a tailwind in 1 direction and a headwind in the other 3? What about crosswinds?

I have a recognized problem with mashing into headwinds. What better time to address this? On a flat ride I can't blame the hills. I focused on light feet, even effort, and not fighting the wind. The next goal was to keep a lower HR, and keep the pace at IM levels.

This last goal was hard to do, I just wanted to fly! I don't really have a flat course IM pace, but if the super hilly IMWI was a 6:45 race, half of that is 3hrs 20 mins, I was within a reasonable pace today as I did 53 miles in 3hrs. I guess the way to look at this is, could I have repeated the route at the same pace? Hmmm, I think so. Maybe on a less hot day with cold water bottles?

Great ride, no problems, few cars, pleasant attitude. The only downer had to be all the bugs! Big bugs that smacked my face, sunglasses, arms, and one got stuck in the vents of my helmet!!

The brick run was in the Kinvaras, and felt really good. The first 16were a steady run, the last 4 minutes were broken up as I got talking to KJ after the NT race.

Rest is GOOD

DAY OFF!

I've been needing a good day off. But as much as I need rest I hate taking it. Today however I'm feeling the xfit from yesterday--my arms are unwilling participants today. No pain really, just tired. But a good tired :)

The weekend is BUSY. I'm trying to be careful to carve out my training time and my "family" time in the schedule:

SAT: NT kids tri 7am-??. Then a short LSD ride, about 50 miles at IM HR. Then a 15min brick run.
SUN: WH pool, NT?, then a swim and a hard hill repeats ride. This day will be the hardest to schedule. I'll feel the need to be at NT. Maybe I can swim at WH? Just now thought of that. There will be so much distraction though....and it's a 1.5hr swim. Will I have the self control to carve that out? Then go to Babler for the ride? Plan this out, stick to the plans!!!!

Just one loop today

RUN: 6.7 miles in 1hr.
STRENGTH: untimed, 150 squats and 100 pushups.

I slept in today until 4:45am, what a good feeling! And with tomorrow being a rest day I'll get to sleep in then too!

The goal today was a 45 min LSD run to find that forever pace. It ended up being about 9m/m, remarkably similar to yesterdays run. Is my Form Run pace the same as my Forever Pace? Is that good? Shouldn't drills be slower? Or shouldn't a Forever Pace be easier? Or am I finding that I only have one pace?

Either way, the run was refreshing and relaxing. And it seemed terribly easy. I've been doing 9-11 miles every Thursday lately.

The xfit session was a lazy interpretation of a set workout. Neither LC or I seemed too motivated :) But I got in all but 20 of the pushups off the knees, doing them in 2x50 sets.

Wednesday double

SWIM: 1600m in 50 mins
RUN: 6.3 miles in 57 mins, about 9m/m

Still recovering from the holiday weekend. But I'm awake enough to swim, so why not? Just don't go too nuts. Focus on form, which by the way is slowly getting better. I'm not timing myself yet on the 100m times, or the 50m times for that matter. And I hate to admit I'm only swimming 50m at a time! Yes, I swim 50m, then have to stop and rest. Am I too focused on arms and not breathing right? Am I too tired? Hard to say.

But the catch is getting better. When I get it right I can really feel it!

Then the run, the goal of which was a 45 min Form Run. I did this over lunch in the heat of the day. In a manner typical of my fatigued-mental state, I didn't charge the Garmin. So it died 3 mins into the run! But I caught the start time: 1:10pm. I had a pretty good idea of where 2-2.5 miles would be to turn around. The run felt a bit weak as the heat accumulated, but I was feeling good and the drills kept my form in check. But I was getting thirsty and few of the fountains work in the park. I found my turn-around point and check the time: 1:38. 18 minutes, I thought, perfect, turn around!

Yup, more of my bad math. But I didn't realize this until later.

Bippity boppity, back to the barn. Now I'm dripping with sweat, very thirsty, and getting hot. But I enjoyed it, and it was relieving some stress I'd had building this week. Upon arriving at my stop I check the time again: 2:07.

57 minutes?!?! To run 4.5 miles!?!?! WHAT??? Maybe it was hotter than I realized?

Shower, eat, and check the route on MMR. Sure enough, I'd overshot the goal distance by 2 miles. So the run was about 9:02m/m! This made me much happier! :)

Recovering on a Tuesday!

BIKE: 45 mins, only 12 miles on the trainer. ILT and 2x10 mins 80%
STRENGTH: 15 mins of core work

I woke up stiff and a little sore. The session for today was only 45 mins with some ILT work. I debated skipping, but decided to go ahead with it but take it sort of easy. I'm not sure I hit 80%, maybe more like 70%.

The core work was uninspired. I was tired!

4th of July Long ride and brick

BIKE: 60 miles in 3:45
RUN: 1.75 miles in 15mins

The morning started off at breakfast with DH, the volunteering at the MM. Then a long ride with the IB group from the marketplace. The late start threw me off a bit, but in the end the only problem was realizing that we were finishing the ride at 4pm and not 1pm. It was a very strong group, everyone pushing each other at times and helping each other out at others. It's not often to find a group that can hang together so easily!

Frea was fixed after Saturday's problems. turns out the Mavic wheels need scheduled annual maintenance to keep the hub from drying out. The drive train was quieter too, maybe the clean-up helped? But there was some clicky noise coming from the derailleur or jockey wheels? Not sure what that was.

I've been working on hydration and nutrition on the long rides. This ride had 500 calories of Infinit, 1.5 powerbars, a mini Lara, 2 bananas, and some nuts. Some of this was consumed jsut before the ride. Felt really good, no stomach upset and very little hunger. After the ride I was less starved too, so improvements all around. I lost track of how much water I drank, but it was on the order of over a bottle/hour.

Also worked on nice pedal stroke that doesnt leave my feet in pain. Success here too, and they didn't even hurt on the brick run! MK pointed out my wobbling on hills. I thought at first it was me getting used to the new bike fit, but after some testing and consideration I think I'm both adapting to the fit and being sloppy. I need to focus on keeping the core engaged and planting my body on the seat. I was focused on planting at the aerobars.

Yes! A brick run! Even in the heat and fatigue LC and I went for 15 mins. I don't think I would have done it alone, and certainly not at that pace.

Overall, an awesome day capped by a post ride dinner with the group. So much for the housework we had planned....

Masters and Queeny and Sad News

SWIM: Sunday Master's 1:15, 1900 y. Really? Or did I forget a set?
RUN: 1:15 7 miles in Queeny Park. HOT.

Time to test the new drills swimming! I could feel a difference every 4th or 5th stroke, still moreso on the left side than the right. But I was still feeling slow, just had those brief moments of Oomph. CHG video'd me again in a short swim, pointed out that I need to "hook" the forward arm out but not out as in towards the side of the pool, but rather out away from the body. I need to think of my arm positions in terms of my body. The hand needs to go out sideways and and bend back and sweep and..... no wonder I'm struggling.

I left the swim and went to QP to run. Lawdy, it was getting HOT, but I figured the shade of the trails would help. I was struggling just 2 miles in. One goal was to work the hills, well I'd work the hill then just stop at the top. My HR was flying, leaving me with a funny quivery/vibrating feeling in my chest. I've felt this before, not sure what it is.

Anyway, I was cooking. And not in terms of speed. And I was walking way more than I wanted but there was just nothing there to give at some points. I found the rec center at 3.5 miles, paused to get cold water, and consider my options. I could cut short now and head to the truck only 0.5 miles away. Or I could double back and get 7 total. Apparently I wasn't that worn out, I really wanted to keep going. The way back has kinder up hills. By the time 6.5 miles rolled around, I had soaked clothes dripping sweat and my HR was sustained at a high level. I felt much better in the shade and luckily there was a lot of that at the end. I walked in the last 5 mins after I'd hit 7 miles. Ugh, was I hot. And sort of sick, but not unexpectedly.

On the way home, I received some bad news about a fellow cyclist. I was crushed, and had to pull over to a parking lot to absorb the news. As I sat there, shocked and numbed, my mind was just stuck on the horror of it all. I'm not sure I can discuss it here. Just hurts to think about. :(

Saturday solo ride

BIKE: 49 miles in 3hrs 15 mins. No garmin or autopause or HR. Just a timex watch and MMR.com

What was going to be a hills-fest out west turned into a simple tour of the BS route. What was supposed to be a hills-fest on Frea ended up being a hills-fest with the Bird who was ripped off the trainer and quickly readied to ride. What should have been a measured test of a familiar route turned out to be a terribly simply analysis with time and distance only.

It all started with an awful noise from the rear hub of Frea. It sounded like a dry bearing or hub, and only happened when my weight was on the bike. It took some time to swap bikes, move the water bottles, fill the tires. By this time the Garmin had died, and I went back to my watch. I took off towards FP, then realized I didn't have many CO2's, so back for those. Taking off again, I realized I don't have any gloves. Not a very organized start to the ride.

But the ride went well anyway! I consumed 3 bottles of water in the 3 hours, ate about 600 calories, quickly ascended HH Hill, and never really stopped to rest. I turned it into an APB ride--Always Be Pushing. In reality it was more of a Most Always Be Pushing :) But I kept working riding in the hardest gear I could do without burning out.

By then end, my feet were starting to hurt especially the right one. I just wanted to get home, rest, and eat. I was hungry!

Swim lesson with CHG

SWIM and I sure ain't counting this for time or distance :)

I've got one major problem in swimming: for all the upper body strength I have, I don't have any "catch" or "feel" for the water. My arms and hands slide under me in a mostly useless way. I know it can be fixed, and for the longest time I thought I'd just Figure It Out some day and the little light bulb of Eureka! would burn brightly.

Years later, no dice.

Any improvement I'm seeing is a result of me fixing other inefficiencies or just getting more efficient with my inefficiencies. There's so much room for me to improve and every little bit counts.

So we set a lesson up for Friday morning. Seemed a good way to start the month.

A quick above water filming, and the problems were laid out. My elbows drop. My hands don't catch water. My front quadrant swimming is OK, my breathing could be earlier, and most everything else OK. Ok in the sense that we aren't going to worry about them right now.

This isn't news. I just don't know how to fix it.

Solutions: forward arm sweeps out towards the side of the pool, then sweeps under, instead of just straight out, bend, and back; keep the elbow high, instead of letting it drop; when the hand starts chattering against the water that's the feel, instead of dropping the elbow use it as the anchor.

I could go on all day. We worked longer than one hour, with some time lost to a cut on my finger that opened up and started bleeding again. It was a distraction for me, I sort of lost my focus after that. But the hour+ was well worth it all. Now I'm looking forward to getting back to the pool to test it out. I've been excited before, hopefully this time it all sticks!

Additionally, I got 7-8 hrs of sleep last night and I'm feeling so much better! Hope that sticks too!

The year is half over

July 1st already. I can't believe it. This year is flying by and I feel like I'm missing out on it even though so much has happened! I've had a good race season so far, but not a great training season. I'm not where I want to be but that's not the end of the world really. It's a bit distressing, yes. OK so maybe comparing it to the end of the world isn't fair. Maybe it bit extreme.

Not every season can be perfect. It will only be the best it can be, given the circumstances unique to that season. And just because it's not everything I want it to be right now doesn't mean it can't still improve!

What can I focus on the next few months?

1. Get more sleep. If I'm going to get up at 4-4:30am, I need to be IN BED by 8:30-9pm. That makes for 7.5hrs of sleep. This past few weeks have been short on sleep. It's so fixable.

2. Start to take swimming seriously. After the CE race, I lost momentum on swimming. I lost the urge to work on it. But I have a swim lesson with CHG scheduled already, more on that later.

3. Get running again. I lost momentum here too after the DC race. I had worn out on running after all that run training. There was some disappointment in that after all that training I wasn't any faster. Well duh. I wasn't surprised, just let down. Start running again, get specific!

4. Re-define some goals after CE. Don't get so let down over one bad day that didn't go my way. Start accepting things for what they are and work on what I can.

5. Start taking care of myself better. I shouldn't have to be worrying about low iron levels, dehydration, or anything along those lines. Start tracking nutrition and find ways to improve.

Some of these goals are already underway. Working with CP and CHG have already started. I started tracking nutrition today and ID'd some areas I can fix. Sleep is hard to come by, but that's do-able.

I keep thinking that life is "on hold" for something. That once that something is done and over, I'll get back to real life. Sometimes I get paralyzed by this overwhelming sense of "too much to do". I look at my calendar and see every weekend coming up full of something that will fill the time. I wonder, how will I get my training in? Will I get enough work done? When will I be able to go home and see family? This can be overwhelming.

This past week I worked off a to-do list, happily checking things off. And that's how I'm going to work through this. One step at a time. Doing what I can, as I can. Prioritizing and enjoying the time as it passes.

Do what I can. As I can and when I can. No one expects more of me than I do, so I'm going to start looking out for myself. I'm going to focus on me, my little world, and what I want to do with it.