Back on the upswing!

After a few days of feeling like somebody's doormat, I think I'm back. Yesterday was a swim/run double. The first half of the swim team workout was draggy, but I think that was mostly because it was stupid a set I didn't like. The second half was way better; it was just Julie and me in the lane and we tailored the set to what we wanted to do and ended pretty strong. Yesterday's run was a 4 miler and I wasn't feeling particularly stellar, but it was good. I also got in about 3 miles of walking yesterday to go meet Seujan and Ja'Narah at Greenlake and then also learned to play Wii last night at a new friend of Seujan's house...not exactly aerobic, but surprising how active a video game can be!!

I was pretty beat again by last night and thought about just sleeping in this morning and doing my workouts later. We woke up early without the alarm, and despite the fact that Seujan's coffee looked and smelled very tempting, I grabbed my bike stuff and went down to Madrona for early morning hill repeats. It was cool out, but clear and the sun was getting brighter and he mountain was out---great morning.

Haven't done hill repeats since last summer and they were tough, but I really like that workout---I know how much doing hills helps (RAMROD flashbacks and thoughts of the "7 bitches" hills on the IMC course) and I like the tough guy points. I always feel strong after hammering out some hills. There was another couple also doing Madrona repeats and both of them were in full Ironman Canada kits on fancy-pants bikes...I was waffling between doing 4 or 5 of the hills and my competitive streak kicked in. If they can do it, I can do it (so what if they look like they're not even breathing hard in their pretty jerseys)...GRRRR!!! Felt great at the end...the sun was up and what I really wanted to do was just stay on my bike all day. Nice that my recent craving for the couch has shifted to craving the bike again.

Summary:

Warm up: 5.4 miles
5 x Madrona (.85 mile each climb with 1.15 mile recovery)
Hill 1: 5:44, Avg HR = 145 (max at 153 on all repeats)
Recovery: 3:43
Hill 2: 5:53, Avg HR = 141
Recovery: 3:50
Hill 3: 5:58, Avg HR = 138
Recovery: 3:45
Hill 4: 5:52, Avg HR = 142
Recovery: 3:50
Hill 5: 5:47, Avg HR = 143
Recovery: 3:46
Cool down: 2.85 miles

Total: 18.2 miles
1:19