"Here's where you grow..."

I remember running with one of my professors (who was also the women's basketball coach) in college and being toward the end of a longer run (for me, at the time, it was maybe about 4 miles instead of the usual 3). I was dragging a bit and I remember her saying, "Here's where you grow..." That thought pops into my head from time to time toward the end of a long run or on the last few laps of an interval workout...it has always stayed in the back of my mind and it's a good one for the mantra arsenal. Anyway, I felt really good during this morning's interval run, but I did think of MaryAnn saying "Here's where you grow..." on the last couple of 400's and tried to finish strong.

It's a gorgeous day and rain is predicted the rest of the week, so I think I'm going to "carpe diem" my schedule a little and swap tomorrow's aerobic bike with today's gym/weights. Can't let that good sunshine go to waste.

Today's run:

2 mile warm up (19 min)
2 x 800: 3:34 and 3:41
4 x 400: 1:43, 1:41, 1:42, 1:44 (HR up to 168 on these)
2 mile moderate/cool down

Total: 6+ miles
Approx. 1 hour

out-and-back-and-out-and-back-and-stats

2 time trial/tempo rides on the bike today within a long ride that was also part of a brick...this yields lotsa numbers! And today, I'm happy with the way all of the numbers crunch. Seujan and I had a GREAT workout today and I'm really proud of us. It was a lot of out-and-back as we did the same part of the trail twice and parts of E. Lk. Samm 4 times...but it worked out great.

The assigned task today was a 50 mile ride with one 10-mile TT and one 5-mile TT in the middle, plus a 2 mile run/brick. We drove to Log Boom park and rode from there to Marymoor to warm up, about 14 miles...then did the first 10 mile TT along East Lake Sammamish, toward Issaquah, ending at about Lake Samm State Park. This was an excellent decision as it included a tail wind and the rollers along E. Lk Samm go more down than up when travelling in that direction. I pushed it hard, but still felt a little guilty about the gifts of the course...but not guilty enough to do anything different for the second one! We rode back almost all the way to Marymoor and then did the 5 mile TT in the same direction as the first. Seujan's bike computer does not agree with mine---her's always says we're doing less than mine does (guess whose computer I like better?). Thus, I'm arguing that I really did a 5.2 mile TT as I went the same distance she did.

I pushed the HR a bit higher on the 5-miler...on both of the TT's today, I was able to push more than I did on the one we did 2 weeks ago...felt good about that. Tempo bike rides are WAY more fun than tempo runs, for sure. We ended up getting extra credit miles to get back to the car and I ended up with 63.

Both of us doing a brick presents a bit of a logistical challenge since we can't stuff both bikes into the car--especially when trying to do a quick transition-- and neither of us wanted our bike unlocked on the car rack. So...Seujan was very very nice and let me run first while she did the Juanita Hill on her bike. This was truly an act of love as I was DONE with the bike, especially after the last 13 miles of headwind. I felt great on the run and went out a little over a mile (10 minutes) and negative split back to the car.

Felt great after this workout...pushed the tempo parts, got in extra miles, and felt really good on the run. We talked about Ironman on the way home...I'm totally psyched about it.

Here's the batch of stats:

Warm up 14.6 miles

10 Mile TT: 28:31
Avg HR = 145

13ish miles moderate

5.2 Mile TT: 14:39
Avg HR = 149

20ish miles moderate

Total bike:
63 miles
3:47:56
Avg pace: 16.5 mph

Run:
2ish+ miles
19:38
Avg HR 142

insert clever title here

Right brain disengaged...no creative title has come forward for today's entry.

Yesterday was a swim and weights day...good after the long run on Wednesday. Is it crazy that 3000 yards and weights feels like an easy day? Wait, don't answer that...

As always, I'm glad it's Friday and sleeping in this morning would've been nice and crossed our minds. However, the speedwork-free week with a day off from work on Wednesday has resulted in not feeling like somebody's doormat by today. Swimteam workouts were good today and yesterday.

I wanted to do my "optional" bike ride outdoors today and brought my bike and all my stuff to work...but it wasn't looking so great outdside by late morning, so I went to spin class at noon. I haven't been to a class in a while and not much has changed--I still don't like them. But I just did what I wanted, kept it aerobic, and got in the short workout I wanted without killing myself. I also didn't participate in the dorky "pushups" which are the signature move of this particular instructor...when the hell would anyone ever do fake pushups on a bike for godsake?? WHATever. Anyway, I also bagged out on the sprint stuff and some of the standing as I want to feel good for the more important ride tomorrow.

Is it time for Friday Happy Hour yet????

First long run at 41

It's hard work thinking up blog entry titles...today's cheesy title popped in my head during the long run today, along with lots of other things, all of which I've pretty much forgotten at this point, except, of course, the visualization of the crossing the Ironman Finish Line that I think about regularly...

I took today off as a birthday/mental health day...I did my 14 mile run after actually having breakfast which I haven't had the luxury of doing in quite a while. Although I've discovered that I can pull off a 13 miler right out of bed with the super Hammer energy shake, I definitely felt a bit more of a boost today, about 2 hours after a big bagel and 2 cups of coffee. Ran along Lake Washington Blvd., around Seward Park, and back. I ran 14 and then did a bonus mile to practice the run/walk routine; alternated 1 minute walk/1 minute run about 12 times to finish the 15th mile. The usual 41-year old body parts are starting to stiffen up and hurt now, but the run felt fine. I was smelling the barn on the 2nd half and kept noticing that my HR was a bit high, but I felt OK, so I didn't worry too much about it.

As a continuation of the self-spoiling birthday week, I got an overdue haircut and am going soon for a massage...I've decided to rationalize a monthly massage for recovery and reward up until the Ironman...a little over indulgent, probably, and expensive, certainly, but it certainly works for motivation. And I swear I read in Triathlete magazine that it's a good idea for recovery (or wait, was that a blog entry that I wrote myself? No, honestly I read it somewhere!)

Run summary:

14 miles
2:18:27
Avg HR = 140
Extra mile of 1:00 walk/1:00run:
11:50

Total time for 15 miles: 2:30:17

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my 41st birthday...so far, I don't feel much older and it doesn't appear that dementia has set in...and hopefully, there will be nothing from the AARP in the mailbox today.

This week's training plan from the coach features NO speedwork. I'm not sure if it's a birthday gift, pity, or an actual strategic plan, but I'm happily accepting the plan regardless of its intention. Started out the day with a run...we woke up early without the alarm, so Seujan had time to run with me before work. We both felt yesterday's bike ride in our legs, but it was a really pretty morning and a good sunrise, so it was fun to be out.

Yesterday, we did the Daffodil Classic ride in Orting with our friend, Dave. We were supposed to do a full century, but...we didn't. We had a great ride around the 62 mile loop and somewhere along the way, our enthusiasm for doing the other 40 mile loop afterwards faded. At the second rest stop I still had my head firmly wrapped around the century idea and my legs were feeling pretty good. I was ready to lead the charge and do the 100. However, by mile 50....when it started raining and my legs piped up with a "maybe 62 will be just fine today" message, I told Seujan I was no longer leading the charge...neither was she. So we decided to end after the first loop when we still felt good and enjoyed the ride rather than beating the crap out of ourselves. I know, a rare flash of rational decision making.

We got back home at a reasonable time, cleaned up the bikes, and Seujan took me out for a really great birthday-eve sushi dinner...great day!

Ride summary:
62 miles
4:06:25
Avg. pace 15.1
Avg. HR = 117
2,477 ft. of climbing

Quick report...

Yesterday was long run day and weights later...after backing off a little on Wednesday, I felt pretty good and did the whole 13.25 miles at regular pace. Probably should've practiced the run/walk thing, but didn't want to and ran the whole thing. I felt like the tinman every time I got up after sitting for more than a few minutes for the rest of the day, but that's pretty standard of late.

13.25 miles
2:13:19
Avg. HR = 136

Today was a good, but not killer (fine by me) swimteam workout in the morning and a good bike ride I managed to sneak in this afternoon...my legs and bike enthusiasm were back and I had a nice ride, followed by sushi with Seujan. Tomorrow is a mandatory rest day due to work...hoping to do the Daffodil Classic ride on Sunday if the weather holds up.

bike ride:
41 miles
2:39
Avg. HR = 118

One step forward, one step back...

There was a small quad explosion after that hill workout on Monday...I was good and sore...still feeling the last bit of it today.

Yesterday I had a great tough 3300 yd. swimteam workout in the morning (9 x 200's-whew) and then had a super lousy bike workout after work. I didn't want to go...it just felt like a hassle to get all my crap together and get out there and I just wasn't feeling it. But there was actually some sunshine and it wasn't an optional bike day, so I dragged my ass out. Even on the new bike, it wasn't fun. I was supposed to do 8 x 2 min hard/2 recovery...I made it through 6 of them, but just didn't have it mentally or physically and called Seujan for a scoop. The crappiest part was on the first interval when I was sprinting as fast as I could go, in my drops, and 2 separate dudes passed me in cruise mode. AUGH... and my bad attitude plummets further...

Anyway, Seujan was nice enough to pick me up, drive me home, and listen to my very convincing impersonation of a pouty 5 year old in near-tantrum mode----which, by the way, I was completely aware of and apologetic for, but needed to be irrational and cranky anyway ("I hate the wind, I hate it when it's cold, I didn't even want to come out here, I hate how much of a hassle it is to work all day and then get all my crap together to bike after work, there's not enough time in the day, my legs are beat from hills yesterday, I hate it when dudes drop my ass on the bike, I just want to go home and eat warm food and watch crap TV... ") I decided to rearrange the rest of my week a little as a result of yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to do my long run today, but my legs have lobbied for tomorrow instead. I listened for a change and went to swimteam this morning instead...this proved to be a good decision as I wanted some LSD in the pool and Emily made the main set 1,000 yards for time...exactly what I wanted. I also found the sweats I'd forgotten yesterday after workout in the same locker where I'd left them.

Summary of last night's sucky bike ride:

17 miles
1:09
6 x 2 min hard/2 min recovery (HR up to 144-150, but could only reach 150 on one of them)

Monday hills

This morning was a hill repeat run. I chose a different hill this time, the one at Lower Woodland from the tennis courts up to the picnic pavillion area (pavement, not through the trails). It was a serious butt kicker (literally, butt muscle continues to be more verbal than I'd like to listen to...). I did 8 of them, all between 1:26 - 1:30. I was feeling pretty good about it until I read an article called "Run Hills, Run Fast" on the Triathlete magazine site
http://www.triathletemag.com/Departments/Training/2007/Run_hills__race_fast.htm#
that included this ego smasher, "Once you’ve done 15 X 2:00 of a tough hill, one minute of climbing a similar incline in a race will feel easy."

OK, it won't be easy for a while, I guess.

I practiced the run/walk thing on the way back, running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute.

I also won't plan to have Stellar Pizza as a pre-race meal, by the way...had a bit of a garlic hangover this m0rning and was pretty thirsty.

I'm thankful that Seujan qualified for the Boston Marathon, but chose not to do it this year. Sounds like those runners are sloshing around in abysmal conditions right now...

Summary:

20 min warm up (2ish miles)
8 x hill repeats 1:26 - 1:30 (HR 161-165)
21 minute run/walk cool down (2ish miles)
Total:
1:10
6ish (?) miles

Betty Crocker, eat my dust

My favorite quote (other than, "Put on a jacket, I'm cold") from my mom's words of wisdom is, "If you can read, you can cook." I'm not one of those culinary wizards who can look at 4 random ingredients and make a magnificent souffle', but I must say I'm a damn good recipe follower with skills honed as a longtime loyal subscriber of "Cooking Light" magazine. Usually I do a recipe fairly proud and things taste good, but it often happens that, despite my literacy, things don't look like they do in the magazine photos. Today, however, I think I could've earned a spot in a test kitchen with this one:

Seujan never got a cake for her birthday (kinda tough to pull off in New Zealand) and we never really celebrated the birthdays of 2 friends of ours, Michele & Cathie, in February, either...and now mine's on the horizon. We're going to Michele's tonight for pizza and the last 2 taped episodes of the "L Word"--we regularly freeload their cable subscription-- so it's birthday catch-up time and I had the excuse to make my first angel food cake. Who knew it took a dozen egg whites for one angel food cake??

Anyway...today was domestic engineer day for me with grocery shopping, laundry, and the cake...while Seujan went to work with her tools and destroyed and re-assembled her new cubicle. We're wiped and bagging the Triathlon Expo to rest up until our pizza date with Michele & Cathie.

Back in the saddle...

Feeling pretty dang successful at the moment...not only did I survive the rest of Friday the 13th relatively unscathed (well, except for going right by Safeco during rush hour before a Mariner's game, but that all seems like such a long time ago now...), Seujan and I had a really good bike ride today. The task was 40 miles with a 10 mile time trial inserted somewhere. We started in Montlake and rode down to Lake Washington...both of us had about a 6 mile warm up and then did our own time trial on Lake WA Blvd....Seujan wanted to insert the upper hilly part of Seward Park, but I was all about my aerobars and flat-o-rama, so we each did our own thing and then rode the south end of the lake together. I hadn't done a TT like this before and I actually kind of liked it---way more fun than a tempo run, although it's kind of the same thing, I guess. Anyway, I stayed right at AT the whole time and could feel that it was exactly AT, which was kind of cool if you like the whole physiology thing (which I do)...my legs were exactly at a low burn the whole time, but it was a pace I could just sustain. We did the 25 miles after at a decent pace, but didn't push it too much...both of us could definitely feel our legs on the short hills at the end. Mission accomplished and now it's weekend...we have enough energy to go OUT to a movie! Go figure.

Summary:
6 mile warm up
10 mile TT:
140 Avg HR
30:51

44 miles total
2:52
Avg. pace overall 15.3

Friday the 13th

It started off nice enough...Seujan talked me into sleeping in (bless her heart) and we skipped swimteam, had coffee, and carpooled into work. Then I got to work and spent the first hour on the phone with the Helpdesk as, first of all, my computer died beyond rescusitation efforts, resulting in a new hard drive being ordered...then, two other workstations in the office were in solidarity with the dead machine and didn't want to play with me either, resulting in further helpdesk conversations until I could access the network.

Went to the gym for a mediocre workout (3.5 miles on the treadmill --thank god for "Ellen" as I wasn't feeling inspired at all--and swam a mile for time). I'm glad I got through it, but I was operating at my "Friday dragging-ass intensity" of late. I then had to hurry back for a trip to our storage unit with Mark, the "sign guy" from my event committee, to get some materials. We got to the storage unit and couldn't access the building. "There's a problem with your account, come to the office," the voice in the speaker box said. We then got to experience the wrath of the storage building manager regarding the fact that our account is past due, somebody else from our office left a heap of trash by the locked dumpster earlier this week, and nobody from our office has returned the manager's call regarding the trash or the past due bills (which, btw, are only 50% of what regular customers pay since we're a non-profit, making us an even larger source of frustration for this poor guy)...none of which had anything to do with me. This situation allowed me to flex my customer service background and apologize profusely. About 30 minutes after we returned to the office, Mark called to tell me my cell phone is in his truck; he, of course, went back to work. Sigh.

It is only 3:00 p.m., meaning Friday the 13th is only 5/8 finished. I usually don't believe in this crap, but there is a small black cloud following me today. I am counting the minutes until Happy Hour and can't wait to go home tonight to see which major appliance is leaking or dysfunctional...

Anyway, back to what matters which is my training. Yesterday was a triple with swimteam in the morning, weight training at lunch, and I got in a ride to Seward Park (25 miles) after work. I waffled for a good bit of time about whether to ride (51 degrees and gray, will it rain? My usual), but SJ had gone out with a co-worker, so I figured I should do it, too. Got to ride the new bike and didn't use a HR monitor, just rode. I didn't kill myself (avg. 13.9 mph), but legs were a little heavy this morning, anyway.

Yesterday:

Swam 3200
Lifted
Biked 25 miles
1:47
Avg. speed 13.9

Today:

Ran 3.5 miles treadmill
33:30
Avg. HR = 136

Swam 2000m
1600m (1 mile): 25:22

Wednesday long run

Did my long run early this morning. I'm supposed to begin inserting a minute of walking every few minutes during my long runs to get my body (ok, really my brain) used to the idea. I've been a little (OK, a lot) resistant to the plan as it's hard to wrap my head around the concept that walking isn't slacking/bailing out and not only for the reward at the END. It's also already hard for me to learn the patience required for long runs and walking seems like a way to make something already really freakin' long even longer...not appealing. However, I do realize that there's no way in hell that I'll be running the entire marathon part of the Ironman (will be lucky to run half of it, probably), so I have to buck up...or, I guess, buck down, and try this walking thing. Plus, with various body parts complaining, walking might be a nice gesture to prevent them from falling apart. That being said, I tested out the walk deal, but I cheated. The plan was to walk a minute every 15 minutes, but I didn't start until an hour into the run...it just seemed wierd to walk after only for 15-30 minutes. But I did 4 of the 1 minute walks every 15 minutes starting at the one hour mark. It was probably good because I was running a little higher of a heartrate than intended and it brought me back down. By the end of the run, both hips and my right butt/glute/hamstring were all getting verbal and I was quite happy to be done...the complaining was worst when I started running again after the last minute of walking.

Summary:
12.1 mile run
2:02:03
Avg. HR = 136

Back on track...

Back in the pool this morning and swimming was the regular amount of fun again...the main sets were as hard as usual, but I was into it again. Not sure what was going on last week, but hopefully it was just a blip on the radar. I am definitely looking forward to lake swimming (is it summer yet?), but pool workouts are OK, too. Anyway, did the usual 3,000 yards this morning before meeting with the coach for a check-in and preliminary plan for the next several weeks' training.

This afternoon was an interval bike workout...I wasn't that enthusiastic about it and was waffling about indoor vs. outdoor. I rallied a bit of a good attitude and started to get ready to take the new bike down to Lk. Wa Blvd., when I noticed the rain on the windows...nope, not doing it. Got out the old bike again and put it on the trainer for what turned out to be a good workout...was definitely glad I did it. As soon as I was done, Seujan came home from HER was-gonna-be-an outdoor ride and took over the "spin room," with her rollers before dinner. I can barely remember what the hell I did before I had that trainer...oh yeah, let my biking slide or did time in bad spin classes.

Summary:

15 min Warm up
4 x 3 minutes hard (up to 145-148 bpm)/3 minutes recovery
2 x 2 minutes hard (up to 150)/2 minutes recovery
2 x 1 minute hard/1 minute recovery
15 minutes moderate
Total time: 1:05
Avg. HR: 130

Attempted Tempo

Had a lousy tempo run this morning...It was wet and really damn windy at Greenlake this morning, but that wasn't the most awful part. I was supposed to do 2 miles at a higher HR than I've ever done a tempo run (160). The last time I did one at 155-158, I felt like I was tripping on my tongue, so just seeing this on paper was enough to keep me stalling at home prior to going out (hmmm...are those dishes clean? Yeah, I think I need to put those away...better put the coffee in the coffee maker for when I get back...I could say hi again to Seujan who's on the rollers and check the news for the temperature, now need to find gloves...OK, for godsake, buck up and get out the door!!!). Once I got down to Greenlake, though, I really did intend to do the workout. Honest. I ran a 1.2 mile warm up and then hit it hard (up to 160 HR as directed), but died about after about 12 and a half minutes into the tempo part. Got a horrible sideache and could barely get my breath. I had to walk for a minute (after which HR was still at 132), then made myself start running again. Recovered at a moderate pace for about 6 minutes, then tried to salvage the workout and get the word "failure" out of my head (not being able to handle a 2 mile tempo run is pathetic), hitting another half mile hard (up to 164 bpm), then did a mile cool down. After 45ish lousy minutes, the best part of the early morning was a story I heard on NPR on the way home; Coca-Cola is stalling the release of a movie in which Jesus is shown drinking a Coke because, "Jesus is not an official representative of Coke." Hilarious.

Workout summary:

1.2 mle warm up
12:30 Tempo (160 bpm)
6 minutes moderate (145ish bpm)
.5 mile hard (164 bpm and about 3:50)
1 mile moderate/easy

5 miles
45:24
Avg. HR = 147

Hit by a brick

Well, I got my ride/brick done today, despite a small comedy of errors start to the day.

We got up, looked outside, and turned on the news to hear the weather...it looked a bit drizzly, but most of the pavement ourside was dry. After the usual breakfast conversation of "Where should we ride? What are you gonna wear? Should we drive our bikes somewhere and start from there or ride from home? How many miles would THAT loop be?" And now, my new question, "Which bike should I ride?" (which I'm sure is annoying as hell to listen to as I waffle back and forth, poor SJ), Seujan and I had created a ride plan. We loaded up our bikes (I chose the new one after much consternation), gear, nutrition, etc. and were about to leave when Seujan said, "Look outside...it's raining." Crap. So we stood there looking out the window, turned the weather channel back on, and thought more about it (I wonder how many triathlete homes in Seattle have an identical scenerio every Saturday to ours?). I decided I wanted to go outside regardless since my last 2 Saturday mornings have been spent on the trainer. Seujan decided she did NOT want to go outside, so she went to the video store to get a movie to watch while riding on her new rollers. She had a really stressful week and I totally understood not wanting to go out in the rain. So...of course, I changed my bike preference and decided to ride the "rain" bike which means: get the bike out of the garage, switch out the back wheel, move the bento box and saddle bag from the new bike to the old, etc. etc. Went to pump up a tire and the valve blew, so then I had to fix a flat. Oh, and this was after we ran out of bread and I had to make my PB&J on a hamburger bun I found in the freezer. OK...finally out of the house now and drove down by the trail across from Ti Cycles. Got on the bike and realized my computer battery was dead. Unacceptable. So...ran into Ti cycles, got it fixed, and finally was riding at 10:30, approximately 3.5 hours after we woke up. Fortunately, by this point, I'd paid it forward and all mechanical processes functioned properly henceforth.

I rode over to Mercer Island and rode the long side of the island out, back, and out again. For 30 miles, it was dry and plenty warm, leaving me second-guessing my bike choice. But then at my first stop, it started raining and I got pretty well dumped on for about an hour...still ate the PB&J bun with my soggy gloves while riding along...yum! My feet were soaked and my toes went numb for the rest of the day, but I had plenty of company out there as there were lots of bikes...and I was warm enough and commited by this point, so it actually wasn't too bad. I went around the south end of the lake, through Renton, Seward Park, and back to my car by the U. I had to go 2 miles past my car to get to 70 miles (I'd been assigned 75, but decided 70 would suffice), then I ran for 16 minutes in my dirt caked bike shorts and gross dirty legs. I must admit, I felt like a real triathlete. It was almost sunny by this point and the run felt better than the bike did...on the bike, my legs were tired by 35 miles, really protesting by 50, and pretty well hashed by the end. Fortunately, Seujan happened to call at my last pee stop which gave me an excuse to rest a little longer and throw more food at the problem...which helped a little. I felt really beat up afterwards...a bit of a headache and my stomach felt like post-race yuck, but by the time I drove home, I was fine. I'm not moving any too fast and do not plan to do much of anything today or tomorrow, but I'm psyched about this past training week...I got in 16 hours and did everthing the coach told me to do. I'm gonna be an Ironman, dammit!!

Summary:
70 mile ride
Avg. speed: 15.3
Avg HR: 123
4:35
Quick stops at 30, 45, and 59 miles

16 min run., tried to keep HR below 145

Sunny Friday

It appears I haven't blogged all week...2 night meetings, 3 double workouts, and the regular attention to eating and sleeping seem to have taken priority.

Good training week this week...I've followed the coach-prescribed schedule pretty well including HR and distances, and although the schedule says "Base phase," I've had a few moments of thinking about how crazy the peak phase will be. I guess I will cross that bridge when we get to it...so far, so good. The hip is down below a dull roar, for the most part, and things are good.

Anyway, this week I moved the bike intervals from Tuesday to Thursday as Tuesday was a "Carpe Diem" sunny work-on-the-route day and I was able to ride 44 miles "on the clock." I made up for it, though, and did some bike intervals last night. There was a clusterf*&%! of bike traffic on Lake Wa. Blvd. as the racers were headed to Seward Park for the weekly crit, but I managed to fit in 6 x 2 minute intervals, albeit with rest times ranging from 1 to about 12 minutes. It was warm and riding with short sleeves and no jacket was GREAT.

I'm very infatuated with my new bike and I think it is likely to move past infatuation to full on true love. I'm very smitten and feel like a bit of a poser on a bike that I'm not quite worthy of (yet!). I didn't think my old bike was a bad partner, but compared to my old bike, this one brings me flowers, cooks me dinner, does the laundry, and says nice things to and about me. Every day. (Kind of like a 2-wheeled version of Seujan). I don't dare look up the blue book value on my 12 year old, 116k miles-on-it car, but I'm willing to bet that the bike has a higher market value. We are in the honeymoon phase, for sure.

Swimming has been a bit of a drag lately for some reason...it's OK, but I just haven't been as inspired as usual lately to do hard sets. Maybe it's because I'm doing more running and biking at high intensity, not sure. Today there was no swim team workout (closed for Good Friday), so I slept in, did a short Greenlake run this morning, and swam on my own at lunch. I dragged myself to the pool and did a mile straight, no sets, and a little kicking...just not very inspired and a little wiped from the week.

Tomorrow is a long ride/short run brick and the weather might actually allow for a full outdoor ride!! It's beautiful and WARM outside and the itinerary for the rest of today includes meeting Seujan after her first full week at her new job for an outdoor happy hour beer (or 2).

Yea for spring!!

Ah, weekend

No alarm, no Saturday work-related activities, time to caffeinate and make waffles and scones, an overdue massage...ah, weekend. Not too sure why, but last week's training schedule seemed to kick my butt so I'm very appreciative of the weekend this week.

Yesterday's workout was supposed to be a 30 mile bike ride with two 5-mile time trials somewhere in the middle. I wanted to get the workout in with some time to spare before my 2:00 p.m. appointment in heaven i.e. a massage), and, as usual, things were wet and cold outside. I just couldn't get excited about that, so...back to the indoor trainer on the old bike. I hopped on the trainer just as Serina Williams was starting the second set of the final match in the Sony Erickson Open...again, Saturday sports TV saves the day. I improvised the prescribed workout a little and battled along with Serena, doing 4 x 10 minutes hard in between moderate 15-20 minute time chunks. Serina came from behind and beat Henin leaving me with about 30 more minutes to ride...I changed channels and-- timing couldn't have been better as I was losing my enthusiasm for the project --came upon the end of the Ironman 70.3 race. I then finished up the last few minutes with some show about the NCAA and whether football and basketball players should be paid, etc. etc....luckily, another topic that is immediately engaging to me and kept my interest all the way through. It wasn't exactly fun, but I got it done and I think it was close enough to what I was supposed to do.

After an overdue and wonderful massage (lots of work for the hip and my tight upper back), Seujan and I went to Home Depot for some little fix-it projects and then ate pizza on the couch with a DVD...perfect Saturday night!!

Today is a rest day with the usual grocery shop and an afternoon planned with Ja'Narah to color Easter eggs...and Seujan wielding a drill in the kitchen and installing some new cool stuff.

Yesterday's ride:

4 of the following:
5 min easy/moderate (HR 110-125)
15 min. aerobic (about 130 HR)
10 min. over AT (HR = 142 -148)

Total time: 2:05
Avg HR = 133