End of the week rundown and badassness

Here's the rundown:

Friday: 6.3 mile run with the pig ninjas. I found a new trail near the house that's muddy and fun. As we were running, we scared a group of about 20 wild turkeys that had been hiding in the bushes. Super cool. We stopped to watch them waddle away.

Saturday: 42 mile bike ride. I wanted to ride 80-90, but got a late start because I was obsessing over work stuff. Pretty good ride. I pushed the pace, especially at the end.

Sunday: Super cold open water swim in Lake Natoma. 47 degrees. OMG! So cold. I managed to swim 400 yards this time and I'm shooting for twice that next time. Just getting in there and used to OWS will hopefully reduce (can't hope for elimination yet) the freakouts I have during the swim portion of tris. This time I wore a neoprene cap, swimsuit, two silicone caps and booties. Spent about 15 minutes total in the water, including swimming time and time we spend waiting for boats to pass. There were a lot of rowers out on the lake. It was definitely easier than last time. I'm shooting for 1200 yards next time....which will be next week.

I'm in the white cap and my friend Melody is in the orange cap. I've been wearing my Garmin 310xt under my cap and it has been awesome!

I consider this to be seriously badass.

Here are my training goals for this week:

Hit it hard

HTFU

climb hills

push the runs

make 3 early swims + OW on Saturday

suck it up in the rain and train!

HAVE FUN!!! Always the most important goal.

Another day, another triple

Maybe I'm obsessed with training. I certainly enjoy it, crave it, think about it, dream about it, want it all the time, you get the idea.

I did another triple today...all finished before 9 am. It was shorter than Tuesday's but I did one workout right after the next. My own mini tri, if you will.

Swim: 1800 yards. I conned myself into skipping my masters class today because my swim on Tuesday went so well. Yeah, well, that was a mistake because I immediately started thinking about ways to cut my workout short. Originally, I was going to swim 3500 yards, but I get bored and lazy on my own. Back to masters for me. Of course, I'll do my own long, straight swim every couple of weeks. It's a shame my focus is so bad because I love the neighborhood pool. It's empty and peaceful.

Bike: 8 miles. Ugh. Such a short ride! I don't feel like I should even count it. It was super windy, of course. Took me 20 minutes to ride 4 miles, then I turned around because I was worried about being blown into the river or hit by a jackass driver, and it only took 10 minutes for me to get back. From 12 mph to 24 mph. I like 24 mph better. That said, I'm definitely getting stronger and I handled my bike much better. The wind has made me a better cyclist and I'm sure I'll see the results if I ever get a calm ride!

Run: 6.2 miles. No biggie. Didn't take the dogs with me (why? Please see yesterday's post) and it felt really weird. It's getting easier to run off the bike, though it still feels weird, and probably always will.

Feeling great about training, though I seem to have morphed into a toddler. I get so cranky when I'm hungry, which is a lot of the time...and I could really use a nap. The nap isn't going to happen, but I'm sure enjoying the eating!

Doggie D

Rudy was up all last night with the BIG D. Therefore, I skipped my swim this morning to try to catch 2o min of sleep in between bouts of doggie duty/doodie (ha! Get it?). Managed to get 1:35 on the trainer. Watched Biggest Loser. I think I would make a good replacement for Jillian Michaels. If this whole science thing doesn't work out...

Kinda disappointed with not being able to put in a big day after the success of yesterday. Going to make tomorrow a triple. I'm officially obsessed and I love it. Also, eating tons. It's awesome!

Big triple

Had a huge training day today. My schedule went like this:

4:48: wake up. Yes! I'm nuts and wake up at the same time as my grandpa. Voluntarily.

5-7: work. Writing = yuck

7:15-8:45: bike ride

8:50-9:30: run

9:30-11:30: work...that's right. No shower. Just chocolate milk, food and writing.

11:35-12:55: swim

1-1:15: shower, change. I'm fast now.

2-6: work. Mosquitoes and manuscripts. Thank goodness training keeps me sane.

That's right, I fit an entire work day in plus three workouts plus enough time to watch a little crappy TV.

The bike ride was good. Windy, but what's new? I rode out along the river.

Run: brick. Found a new trail in the neighborhood. Always fun. Ran with the pig ninjas and we returned to the house tired and muddy. I love dirty runs.

Swim: ooh ooh ooh! Big swim day! I swam...wait for it....4000 yards!!! That's 2.27 miles. Almost the entire IM distance. And, I swam it in 1:20, so a 2:00/100 yard pace. That pace totally works for me. This is my longest swim ever and it felt pretty good. My stroke felt long and smooth and pretty effortless. I was definitely tired the last 1000 yards or so, but my pace held steady. Very, very proud of myself. Now I just have to get over the mental part of the OWS and I will be fine! Working on it. That swim lesson has definitely helped. Every few weeks, I'm going to do a long, straight swim, just for the confidence boost. "Real" swimmers say there's not really any point to long, straight swims, but it really helps me out. Next time I'll do 2.5 miles so my longest distance will be more than the IM swim.

BOOOOM!!!

Edited to add: when I first posted this, the title said "Big tripe." Ah hahhahahahahaha

Weekly update

No, I haven't been slacking on training, just blogging. Here's what I've been doing:

Wednesday: 1 hour on the drainer. So boring! It was raining like crazy, so I headed to the gym to do my run on the dreadmill. Yeah, made it 3 miles before almost killing myself. The dreadmill just isn't going to cut it! Then did 30 min strength. Showed some of the boys in the gym up.

Thursday: 1 hour swim. Sprints day. OMG! Kicked my ass! Normally I swim between 1:55/100 yards (now that I've had my lesson) to 2:00/1oo yards. We did 100 yard sprints and I never went slower than 1:38/100 yards and even hit a couple of 1:29/100 yards. I've been swimming at different times this week. I prefer 5:45 am, but sometimes I just can't make it happen. So, Thursday, I run out of the lab for the 10 am practice and then promptly get kicked out of my lane because 4 of them are reserved for seniors. I had no idea but granny gave me the stink eye for the rest of the day...even though I apologized and moved lanes as soon as I was informed. Anyway, I was exhausted from the swim, but pretty proud of myself. The coach was shocked I swam so fast. BOOM!

Friday: Woke up at 4:45 am, even though I wasn't swimming so I could work for a while before sneaking off on a bike ride. Rode 52 miles, at a decent clip, and stayed aero the entire time. This is huge. I felt really good about this ride. It was windy, but I kept at it. Hopefully all of this riding in the wind is making me a stronger cyclist. When I finished the ride, I bricked on a 3 mile run with the pig ninjas. My legs were so tired. Obviously, I need to do more brick workouts. There will be a lot of progress in the next few months.

Saturday: 8 mile run with the boys. It was a gorgeous day and I ran along the American River Bike Trail. Went out Friday night and drank a massive Lucifer beer. Guess it came back to haunt me because I had a headache on Saturday. That happens when you're not a big drinker, apparently. The run eliminated the Lucifer-induced headache and I felt much better. Took the boys swimming in the river and they had a blast, though my car smelled like wet dog on the way home. Left the windows open a bit to air the car out, forgot to close them and then it rained last night. Ooops! My poor car (Willie Willie Brunana) is soaked.

Today: will ride the drainer later. Must focus on work and eating now.

I have become a child when it comes to eating. If I'm hungry, I'm super cranky and can't even help it. I think about eating all the time. When, where, what. And I'm always thirsty. IM training is pretty awesome, even the always hungry and thirsty part.

March Madness

I successfully completed an actual rest day yesterday. It was surprisingly difficult and I felt a bit sluggish all day. Still feeling sluggish today, in fact. Got a massage, did some work, and relaxed. I think I prefer training to relaxing. Perhaps it's all those endorphins. When I first starting running marathons, I had a conversation with my grandma that went like this:

Grandma: You know, honey, long distance running is bad for you.

Me: Why's that?

Grandma: It's bad for your joints, causes arthritis, (all you runners have heard this one before) etc.

Me: Actually, studies have shown that running does not lead to those issues and, in fact, runners tend to be much healthier because they are not obese.

Grandma: Yeah, well, running releases endorphins and that's just like doing drugs. You're getting HIGH from all that running.

Me: giggles

So maybe that explains it...maybe it's all those endorphins, or else it's that feeling of accomplishment. Seriously, have you ever felt more badass than when you accomplish a major, painful, difficult fitness goal? Nothing feels better than reaching the top of that 2 mile steep hill on your bike or crossing the finish line of a marathon or even the first time you do Ab Ripper X without stopping (full disclosure: I still can't do Pfeiffer Scissors). Whatever it is, keep it coming because I LOVE IT!

I have some pretty lofty March goals. Here they are:

100 miles of running: this will be tough

400 miles of biking: also tough

30,000 yards of swimming: ouch

I'll be adding some high intensity (Zone 4) stuff to most runs and rides this month. This will hopefully make me faster and fitter. I really need to make sure I hit each workout and make each one count. It's really easy to just putter through an easy bike ride, but I need to climb hills and go fast and long. That doesn't mean there won't be easy days, but I need to hit the hard days hard and make those bike rides count. No more dicking around on the trainer. If I'm on the trainer, there will be intervals involved. Time to get serious.

March Madness...it's gonna get crazy!