Longest swim ever and other stuff

Today I swam 2 miles (3500 yards) non-stop. This is my longest non-stop swim ever! My previous best was 500 yards...serious progress :) Usually, I swim in sets so, while my overall swim yardage is reasonably high, it's not non-stop. Major, major confidence boost. I was super tired toward the end, but I still have 5 months to improve. It's going to happen! It took me 1 hr 15 min for an average pace of 2:08/100 yards. This is slow for most swimmers, but I think it's pretty darn good for me! Yes, I'm quite proud of myself.

I have an afternoon run and an evening drainer ride on tap for today.

So, I have some catching up to do in this blog. Here's what I've been doing:

Friday, 1/21: 1800 yard swim. It was IM day...not fun. Lots of butterfly and breast stroke :( I now skip these days and swim on my own.

Saturday, 1/22: 38.25 mile bike ride. Rode from Folsom to Auburn and back. Insanely gorgeous day. 2000 feet of climbing. Realized that I need to put in a lot of time on the saddle!

Sunday and Monday, 1/23-1/24: rested. Got a ton of work done.

Tuesday: 1/25: 2500 yard swim, 3.42 mile run with the pig ninjas

Wednesday: Brick: 46 min bike ride followed by 2.6 mile run. Followed that up with Ab Ripper X. I'm going to start doing that M, W, F. Need to strengthen that core. My abs are sore today and it feels great!

Easy day

Ran 5.87 miles with the pig ninjas and then rode the trainer for 30 minutes while watching Top Chef. I'm having my best training week in a long time and I feel great! Definitely starting to feel like I'm making this a lifestyle. True, I no longer brush my hair or wear make-up and I now think it's okay to wear fleece or spandex warm-up pants to work, to lunch, to the store, anywhere, but I feel fantastic! I'm heading out with my "supper club" tomorrow night for Shabu and entertainment, so I'll chick it up then and make myself pretty. Once a week is plenty :)

Oh, oh...and, even though I didn't have to swim today, I still woke up before 4:45 am without an alarm. Badass! Though I did stay in bed...super enjoyable.

3fer

Woke up again before the alarm went off. It feels so great! Swam around 2000 yards with my team. Still in the slow lane but I'm definitely improving. Going to do a straight endurance swim at some point in the next week, just to make sure I'm gaining endurance, as well. Swimmers rarely swim straight, but swim in sets. Since I'm a bit paranoid, I want to go straight and long on occasion to make sure I'm on track and build confidence.

I was in the lab by 7:30 with breakfast in hand. Got to leave early since I got in so early :)

The sun came out today, but it was super windy. I rode outside anyway. Just over 14 miles. It was so windy my bike was being pushed sideways. Thought there was a near-death experience about to happen. I rode in the middle of the road so I didn't get pushed into the river. Made it!

Immediately after the ride, I set off on a 2.6 mile run. Gotta love bricks! Afterward, I took the boys to the dog park, where they made a special friend named Webster. Webster is an 11 month old jack russell. How fun to see 3 little boy jacks/jack mixes tearing up the dog park. Now they're tired :)

Tomorrow is my day off from the pool, but I'm still going to wake up at the same time so I reinforce that habit. 6 mile run and one hour trainer ride tomorrow.

100th post

I'm a real blogger now. Forgot to log yesterday's workout. Swam around 2000 yards with my masters team. It was sprint and zoomers day. Yeah, made me tired. I swim from 5:45-7 am, so it's dark. At one point, someone (supposedly accidentally) turned off the lights so it was pitch black in the pool and played Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Hilarious! Managed to wake up before my 4:45 am alarm went off. Pretty badass. Tried to stay awake once I got home, but fell asleep while changing into my running clothes. After I woke up, I took the boys for a 3.5 mile run. It was supposed to be 6 miles, but my calves were super sore from the deep tissue massage I received Monday night. No more deep tissue for me...unless it's before a recovery day. The sun was out and it was gorgeous! Looks like it will be another sunny day today. I'll log today's workout after I finish parts 2 and 3 :)

Brrrrr

It's so cold out! My plan was to do the Folsom Lake loop, but it was so drizzly that I saw my life flash before my eyes when I envisioned descending on those wet roads. Instead, I tooled around Folsom and the American River Bike Path. It was freezing and drizzly, but ultimately, I had a great time. Road 32.89 miles, did some climbing and sang some Johnny Cash.

Super foggy! Folsom Dam is in the background of this pic:
This is a gorgeous part of the country, though I'm not sad about leaving :) San Diego is my idea of paradise!

8 misty miles

After spending the morning waiting for the sun to come up, I finally realized it wasn't going to happen, so I drove to Davis and took the boys for an 8 mile run through the olive trees. It's pretty gorgeous and the best part is squishing all of the olives. My legs and the bellies of the pig ninjas were covered in purple olive juice.

For a special post-run treat, we had yummy frozen yogurt. The boys had vanilla fro yo with gummy bears and a yogurt-covered pretzel.

And, here's RuDog after the run with a belly full of fro yo:

Fun. Now I have to make myself ride long tomorrow, even though it's going to be overcast and a bit icky.

Most excellent Friday

Today was fantastic. I woke up super early (4:46 am...never 4:45. I have OCD about numbers) and swam with my new team. It was fantastic. Way better than swimming on my own. I was in the slowest lane and definitely belong there, though I plan on moving up at some point. This team has swims every day of the week. I plan on going to 4 a week, skipping the weekend swims and the pull/kick day. My legs don't need any more exercise. The coach said my stroke looks pretty good, but I need to finish my pull more. I can work on that. The coaches also offer private lessons. Planning on taking a couple in a few weeks. Can't hurt. Highlight of the swim: one of the guys in my lane said, "You're obviously a swimmer." F yes! I can now officially pass as a swimmer.

Not tri related: after months of my mosquitoes not eating (like, 10% would bloodfeed every week. Not good), tons of them bloodfed today (>75%)! Woo hoo! So awesome. Research miracle breakthrough.

After what seems like months of frigid temperatures and rain, the sun came out today and it was around 60 degrees. I took the pig ninjas for a 6 mile run. It was glorious. I wore some super cute new running capris and a car full of young men slowed down and yelled NICE ASS as they passed. Oh yeah, feeling good today.

Topping off a great Friday with a yummy dinner, wine and live band karaoke.

More awesomeness in store for this weekend: long bike rides and a long run.

My bike

This is my tri bike. I love it, though it's getting older and will need to be upgraded in the not-so-distant future. Seriously, it's gorgeous, isn't it?! I want to ride it forever.

Ah, rest

Today was an unscheduled rest day. Felt great. I did accomplish some tri-specific goals, though. First, I checked out the Davis Aquatic Masters Team. It seems awesome. They have 9 (or so) coached workouts every day. Amazing! There are two pools for the early morning (5:45) workout--one is super crowded and the other is not nearly as busy. Which will I be at? The not-so-crowded one. Tomorrow. Must make it happen. Have to get my butt out of bed.

Second, I ordered new running shoes and bought new insoles. I ordered the pink Asics Gel Kayanos. I always wear Kayanos. When I asked why the store only carried the turquoise and not the pink version, the guy told me that, "while there is a small group of women who like pink, there are a lot more who absolutely hate pink." Oooookay, it was magenta! Not baby barf pink. Whatever, I like hot pink and I will enjoy wearing them! Someday I want a hot pink bike with leopard print. Think how much it would hurt dudes to get chicked by that bike :)

Third, I bought a new swimsuit and goggles. My old goggles are scratched so it's time for new. My suit is also worn out, to the point that threads from the suit stick to me when I take it off. I bought a one-piece racing suit. Let's just say it's not attractive and I'm taking it back. I do NOT have a one-piece racing type body. I'll stick with two-pieces, thank you very much.

Fourth, I bought some stuff for my swim bag. Since I'll be swimming in Davis, I'm going to head straight to the lab afterward, so I have to bring shower stuff to the pool.

Tomorrow it's back to the pool and an afternoon run with the pig ninjas. We're supposed to get some nice, sunny weather this weekend, so I'm going to take advantage of it and bike long twice and run long.

Shallow flip turns

Swam 2500 yards today at lunch. It was boring but I practiced my flip turns in the shallow pool. The flip turns are a bit funky but they work. Today really convinced me that I need to swim with a team again. It's just too easy to not do my drills or to skip the cool down. I'm signing up with a new masters team tomorrow. It's about 20-30 minutes away from the house but it's totally worth it. I need a lot of swim practice...or I will be suffering on June 26.

Brick

I did a 35 or so minute bike ride followed immediately by a 16 minute run. No biggie. I watched Bridalplasty while on the bike...the worst show ever. It makes me feel ashamed to be a woman, to be human, to...whatever, I still watch it. The premise is a group of bride-to-bes competing to have their dream wedding. The catch is, they all want a list of plastic surgeries and the top bride each week gets a plastic surgery. Why do I watch? I don't know. I'm not into weddings and I'm not into bitches, but I watch. My excuse is that it's easy, brainless and I don't really have to pay attention. And I like medical stuff.

It's funny, as I get more and more into training, I crave it more and more. Today, for instance, I only worked out for 51 minutes. I feel like I sat on the couch all day eating bon bons. It's kind of awesome...I'm beginning to be hardcore. Once a day is just not enough :)

Tomorrow I'm back in the pool. Must make it happen! I've received lots of good advice on how to do flip turns in shallow water. I'm still paranoid (might have to do with the insane amounts of money I've spent on my education) about hitting my head, but I'll give it a shot.

Short, windy ride

I rode 19.14 miles at lunch today. Went out to Lake Berryessa so I could hit up some hills. It was deceptively cold (sunny but about 30) and crazy windy out. The kind of windy that pushes me and my bike around so I skid on the road a bit. Scary and I have a sore back and shoulders from giving my handlebars the kung fu grip. This is one time it is not a plus to be a small person. A short ride, but quite tough. Nice break from the lab and the mosquitoes.

thwarted ride

I had to abandon my planned ride because there was severe fog with zero visibility and freezing fog that resulted in super slick roads. The area I was planning on riding in is kinda dangerous anyway, with lots of winding roads, so I decided not to take the chance. Decided to ride the bike path instead. Got a little over 6 miles in and the path was flooded. Such a bummer! Rode 12.41 miles total.

Today is going to count as my rest day for the week. Even though today was disappointing, I had a great training week.

Here's the week's planned schedule:

Monday: swim 2500 yards, bike 2 hours

Tuesday: swim 2500 yards, brick: bike 45 min, run 15 min

Wednesday: run 1 hour

Thursday: swim 2500 yards

Friday: run 1:15, bike 1 hour

Saturday: bike 2:30

Sunday: run 1:15

It's going to be a busy, great week.

7 miles woo hoo!

Ran 7.23 miles with the pups today. Since it was Saturday, I was able to run mid-day, so it was warmer and I wore a hat and a new base layer. Felt great. It was one of those days where I felt I could run forever. Probably would have gone longer, but I didn't bring any fluids with me. Crisp, cold overcast day, but great.

Looking forward to riding outside tomorrow. I have a 45 mile, 4000' of climbing ride in Auburn planned. Hope the weather cooperates.

too cold for me

So I set out on a bike ride this morning and it was just too cold for me. I made it two blocks before turning around and heading back home. Rode the trainer while watching SVU for 1.5 hours instead. Not as fun as riding outside and didn't burn nearly as many calories as I would outside, but it's better than nothing.

Hope to ride outside on Sunday.

Brrrr

It's cold outside! Ran 5.61 miles with the boys this morning. It's hard running in this weather...almost as if my lungs are frozen. Not my best run, but it counts.

This is the first week that I feel really on top of my training schedule. I'm getting all the workouts in and figuring out how to do doubles. I feel great. The doggie boys are well exercised and tired. Good stuff.

Whoops

Haven't posted in a while...ooops!

Here's what I've been up to:

Dec. 25: 6 mile run early in the morning. Here's a pic from our run:

Dec. 31: 2500 yard swim. I did this in the lap pool at our place in SD. Pool sucks but then we went to the ocean and took the boys to Dog Beach. A dog park on the beach. Heaven on earth!

Jan. 1: 5.62 mile run and about 45 minutes of hiking. I ran in Balboa park. So much fun. The boys had a blast!

Jan. 2: 30.71 mile ride. We rode from our place in Mission Valley to the Cabrillo Monument in Point Loma. Couple of steep hills and it was cold and windy but felt great to be outside.

Jan. 3: spent the day driving from SD to Sac. Sad :(

Jan. 4: 10.13 mile ride followed immediately by a 1.41 mile run. All at a quick pace.

Jan. 5: 2500 yard swim then a 5.1 mile run. Had a wicked side ache on the run today and Hanky had the big D, so I had to walk a bit.

Here's my training schedule for the rest of the week:

Thursday: 1 hour bike ride, 1 hour run

Friday: 2500 yard swim

Saturday: 2 hour bike ride. Hopefully going to head to the Auburn area to ride some hills. Need to do some climbing.

Sunday: 1 hour run.