on the roads

I'm back from my run. it felt pretty good. the early AM is the only way to go this time of year. I must remind myself of this those mornings I'm too sleepy to pull my sorry butt out of bed.

my ankle started bugging me just a little bit. but other than that I think my body held up.

3 miles

yes, I was at the pool again

I was going to wake up and run a quick two miles this morning. my bed won out. I hate that. tomorrow I'm running for sure! I need to get back into the routine.

the workout was good. I like it when I'm swimming behind faster people and I force myself to swim harder to keep up. it's a good feeling to work so hard. my left shoulder didn't hurt that much, which is good. I've been trying to be more aware of my stroke. I think it's been helping.

we swam hard but had plenty of recovery time after each set. so all in all it was a pretty good workout.

warmup
600
[250
200
150]
[200
150
100]
[150
100
50]
{the main set was on a 2:15 base per 100 meters}
cooldown

pool time

again, more swimming. I feel like I've abandoned running and biking. it's just so easy to go to the pool on these hot summer days. but I'm going to make a resolve to get back on the running bandwagon at least. next week. {I'm toying with the idea of a fall marathon}

I'm not really sure if I remember my swim workout. it had a 500 warmup. some kicking. some IM sets. all with fins. it was kind of fun. I'm sure there was more involved, but I can't really remember.


peter's workout:
warm up
6 50's kick
6 50's drill
100 easy
100 moderate
100 fast
100 easy
100 moderate
100 fast
200

more swimming

I opted out of masters last night {for a hot date to PC, of course} and instead did my own swim workout in the afternoon. now I remember why I don't swim there in the afternoon. it's always really annoying. you have to compete for lanes--especially with the kid swimteam, SYAC. I had dreamed up this workout revolving around 600's. a 600 of drill/kick, a 600 of descending, a 600 of IM and a 600 of breath control. I had to cut the IM/BC short because I had to run to catch a bus. which I barely missed, btw.

my shoulder felt ok. not 100 percent fantastic, but ok.

warmup
6 X 50 kick
6 X 50 drill
6 X 100 (descend 1-3, 4-6)
3 X 100 IM
3 X 100 breath control (3, 5, 7 per 50 meters)
cooldown

stroke analysis

I think my shoulder starts to hurt if my left stroke is off. if I dig too deep, pulling downward instead of the s then it strains the muscles. when I take time to think about my stroke and have better form, things seem to go better.

here is another workout where I actually remember the intervals. probably because this workout was so dependent upon the intervals. and they weren't hard; I always had plenty of rest in between.

warm up
2 X 200 (4:30)
4 X 100 (2:20)
3 X 100 (2:15)
2 X 100 (2:10)
100 (2:05)
100 (2:05)
2 X 100 (2:10)
3 X 100 (2:15)
cool down


pete's workout:
warm up
6 X 50 drill
100 slow
100 medium
100 fast
200
3 X 100 build
300
100 slow
100 medium
100 fast
cool down

bike, swim, bike, no run

wednesday afternoon I got a text from my friend tori saying she wasn't going to go to swimteam. normally she's my ride home from steiner, and pete was working late so I had to figure something else out. I decided to ride my bike. it's a climb to get there, so I guess it's a nice warmup. at least the cold water is inviting + refreshing at that point.

as I was walking me and my bike into steiner my friend/coworker was walking out with soaking wet hair. she had forgotten her towel. we had a good laugh over that and then said our goodbyes. as I was getting my cap + goggles out of my bag I realized I had forgotten my towel too. such is life.

I don't remember the workout.

I do remember that my left shoulder is still hurting.



post script: I finally got to meet a new bloggy friend, elizabeth. she was at the pool with mal and jer. I was also able to meet another slc tri blogger a couple of weeks ago up in cache valley. I am loving meeting and connecting with people that are dedicated to active living. so no, elizabeth, you are not a blog-stalker. you are a workout friend that lives five hours away.

summer evening run

tonight I had such a craving to run. it didn't matter that it was now nearly nine o'clock and still a little hot and that I had the dollar burgers from the post-work B&D extravaganza still sitting in my stomach. I had to run. I had to get out there.

I had been invited to go do a track workout with mal, jer and elizabeth but couldn't because I already had some obligations. it would've been fun. it's been so long since I've done speed work on a track with other people. I miss those days. but it also would have been pretty dang hot, which I'm not so sad to miss.

the run was the usual route. it was just starting to get a little dark. the temp was warm, but a slight breeze helped cool things down a bit. my body felt pretty good, but my throat was hurting a little. I couldn't tell if I was just dehydrated or it was the cold still lingering. oh, and I got a pretty good side cramp during the middle of the run, but just ran through it. eventually it went away. {I'm pretty sure it was the burgers}

3 miles

becoming

the cold is still lingering a little, but overall I am feeling much better. the swim was pretty good tonight and I even had the joy of leading the lane. my left shoulder has been bugging me a little bit lately when I swim. maybe I need to stretch it out more. maybe my stroke is a little wacky. who knows.

all I know is that I love being in the pool. I had the thought as I was doing my warmup today, that just being there is making me a better swimmer. a better athlete. even if I'm not becoming faster or even feeling good for that particular workout, I am becoming better. I am putting in the work. I think we all need a reminder every once in a while. just keep at it, even if you're not seeing significant gains right now. it's making you stronger. it's making you better.


warmup
8 X 50 kick
4 X 150 (3:30)
4 X 100 (2:20)
4 X 50 (1:20)
cooldown

the saturday afternoon swim a la mallory

mal called us up to go swimming today. it's probably a good thing she did, because I would have kept sitting on my butt if she hadn't. I'm still trying to get rid of this cold. I'm breathing better, but it's gotten a hold of my throat. I've been hacking up flem for the past two days. when I swam the backstroke it totally aggravated the throat and I started coughing uncontrollably. not to mention the headache. but despite all that I'm just glad I got out there and did something with myself. it's been far too long. {I think my last workout was tuesday's treadmill run} hopefully next week I can get back into the regular groove. though it's a weird holiday week--crap! anyway, here is what I remember of the worout:

warmup
4 X 75 (kick, drill, swim) (odds free, evens stroke)
300 (3, 5, 7 strokes per breath with each 50)
2 X 150 (each 25 IM order with freestyle thrown in between)
8 X 50 (1-4, 5-8 descending)

pete's swimteam workout

warmup
8 X 100 (50 drill, 50 swim)
3 X 50 (easy, moderate, fast)
100
3 X 50 (easy, moderate, fast)
200
3 X 50 (easy, moderate, fast)
300
cool down

my swim team

I will confess that I did not go to swimteam today. {in fact, it's starting right now and I'm sitting at home in my pj's} I am starting to feel sick. and I'm trying to head it off at the pass. I figure if I take it easy, maybe it will all just go away quickly. plus, it's leaving me low energy. so today instead of a workout I napped. it was a beautiful thing.

but I did give pete a pretty killer swim workout this morning. I was happy to hear via the chat that he did it all and it went well. he is a rockstar swimmer, even if he doesn't think so. he's in anna masters right now, maybe one day he will be brave enough to try real masters. one can dream. anyway, below is the workout.

warm up
4 X 50 kick
4 X 50 drill
100 descending
200 moderate
100 descending
150 (100 slow, 50 fast)
150 (50 slow, 50 fast, 50 slow)
150 (100 fast, 50 slow)
cool down

it's just too hot, both inside and out

I had to go into work a little earlier today, so I didn't have time to run in the morning. so I opted for a run on the treadmill since I could at least have a fan blowing directly on my face. {even though my heart of hearts really just wanted to run outside... but not in this 90+ degree heat} I always want to push it really fast on treadmills, not only will it make the miles go by faster but it's easier to get stuck in the fast-trap because you can visually see just how fast you are going. I had to hold it back a little today because I was getting random pains in my knees and achilles. I also had to cut the run a bit short so I could catch my bus.

but let me tell you, even with that fan blowing directly on my face it was HOT. sweat all over the place.

4.5 miles

sans coach

there was no coach tonight. I hate it when that happens. my lane just made up a workout. we didn't do the sets in any real intervals, but just waited a certain amount of time between each one. that was nice because I was leading the lane and hate keeping track of intervals. here is what we came up with:

warm up
100
200
300
300
200
100
5 X 100 (50 fast, 50 easy)
cool down

cache valley tri

I have to be honest, I was a little scared for this triathlon. I didn't really do any specific training for it other than swimming regularly and biking and running not so regularly. I didn't have a training plan, I just made sure I worked out most days of the week.

in the days leading up to the race I started freaking out. I even contemplated switching to the sprint distance. I was fearful of the cold lake water and my first open water swim. and I had seemingly twisted my ankle slightly while running around at work a few days before. was I ready for a 1500 meter swim + 24.8 mile bike + 6.2 mile run? it all sounded overwhelming.

transitional love

triathlon is so much different than pure running races. there's just so much to think about. so much gear. I love just showing up at the starting line with some shorts and my running shoes. and obviously a top. plus a race bib. but in triathlon? you need a wetsuit. you need a bike. you need running crap. not to mention all the other little stuff that goes with each discipline. it's a lot to think about.

me + jer pre swim

the swim | 1500 meters | 26:31:300
the water was surprisingly warmer than expected. my feet and hands didn't go numb. my inner ear didn't hurt and I didn't get all dizzy and disoriented when I exited the water. for my first open water swim, I think it all went quite well. especially since they all say you can train and train in the pool, but the open water swim is completely different. yikes! you can see why I was nervous. but other than having a slight problem sighting the buoys and swimming in a relative straight line, it wasn't hard. the distance was definitely doable. my left shoulder hurt with each stroke for a little while, but I think that had something to do with not warming up. and it was pretty fun negotiating other swimmers without getting kicked in the face. I actually loved the swim. I'm all about the open water now.

T1 | 3:42:200
okay, I can probably work on this a little. wearing what I'll be running and biking in under the wetsuit would help. I had to pull on my shorts + tank, which is a little hard while still mostly wet. but at least I didn't forget my helmet {or put it on backwards like this poor soul}

biking out of T1

the bike | 24.8 miles | 1:25:47:900
what can I say about the bike? man, was this section of the course beautiful! seriously. the olympic distance took two laps. so that was two times up the hills at the beginning. but the rest of the course was pretty flat and slightly downhill. nothing too scary, which was good. I tried to push it while not pushing it too hard that I wouldn't have anything left for the run. I liked getting passed by all the men and thinking how at least I was a faster swimmer. hey, you have to be positive in some way out there!

T2 | 1:36:400
this transition was much better. all I had to do was switch shoes and trade the helmet for the visor. easy cheesy.

the jello legs of the T2 run

the run | 6.2 miles | 56:32:100
man. the run. definitely the worst of the three. I should have probably done a few more brick workouts to get used to that bike to run transition. I had the jelly legs and I had it bad. I don't think they ever fully loosened up. and the heat. oh how I can't run in the heat. my body just shuts down. and not to mention the large hill within the first mile. I could have done without that. this is where I wished I had switched to the sprint distance. when I ran past their turnaround point I almost cried. I wish I could say I didn't walk, but I did. man, I need to toughen up. I feel I've lost some of my edge. it's not like I was hurting. my legs and foot felt fine. I was just not lovin' the heat, I guess. even though my legs felt like dead weight and I felt like I was just chugging along at an extremely slow pace, I had actually averaged a little over a 9 minute mile. which isn't too bad under the circumstances.

more cowbell!

the finish | 2:54:09
it was good enough for a second place finish in my age division. I love the cowbell medals. this was totally a fun race and I would recommend it to anyone. and in the end, I'm glad I stuck with the olympic distance. just think what I could do with a little training!

me + jer + mallory + the gun show

I actually got on my bike!

we went on another epic ride. again, up city creek canyon. again, pete's tire was a little soft--but not totally flat, thankgoodness! again, we didn't make it all the way up.

this time we headed back just shy of the turnaround. we probably only had a half mile of climbing left. oh well.

next time we'll tackle that beast.

right about the time I gave up was about the time I completely fell over. off my bike. in the middle of the canyon rode. my elbow and knee have something to show for it, but thankfully nothing like THIS. yeah, that's when I knew it was definitely time to turn around. no more climbing.

it turns out that when you're going slowly up a hill, and you feel like you want to clip out because you want to stop and wait for your husband, you shouldn't. you won't be able to clip out and you'll end up on the road with one foot still attached to the bike and the bike on top of you. so just don't do it. maybe just stick it out to the top.

I am excited to report, though, that I was cruising down the downhills. I was feeling somewhat brave. I didn't ride the brakes. and you know what, it was actually kind of fun (with only a splattering of terror thrown in for good measure). maybe I'll be okay.

~19 miles

"are you trying out that wetsuit, or is the pool really that cold!?"

I picked up the wetsuit from my friend katie. pete and I then went straight to the pool for a quick practice session. the wetsuit fits and I'm ready to go. I like feeling so buoyant, but we'll see if it affects my arms over the long haul.

I can't wait for that uber cold water! bring it on!

early in the morning

I like waking up early to go running. maybe I'll try it on other days too. it is just so nice outside. low 60's, not too many people are out and about, and the sky is always so pretty. the very best part about it, though, is now that I'm home from work and it's nine-billion degrees outside I don't even have to think about exercising. I can even go eat dollar burgers at B&D's with the work crew if I want. I love tuesdays.

my run was pretty good. I felt like I was pushing a pretty good pace. my foot only slightly hurt in the beginning, and then things must have loosened up by the end. everything else seemed fine.

3 miles

goggle malfunction

I'm worried I may need new goggles. can this be happening the week of my triathlon? they were seriously leaking and it was seriously cramping my swimming style. and not only that, but the pool was super murky. all that equalled up to not being able to see very well. and to top it all off, our lane line was broken. and it curved into the middle of our lane because they couldn't get it tight. and sometimes you would swim right into. and that hurts.



warmup

300 moderate
100 fast

200 moderate
200 fast

100 moderate
300 fast

400 fast

2X150

cooldown

social eater

I didn't go on a ride yesterday. I had planned to, but burgers and shakes won out.

and today my swim workout was almost completely sabotaged by the pie. instead it just suffered greatly. it turns out that stuffing your face full of yummy pizza and cheese pull-aparts isn't a very good idea if you plan to go swimming an hour or two later.

it didn't help that I was feeling pretty tired from the day's activities. and that I really just wanted to socialize on deck and just soak up the sun rather than actually get in the water. but just as the main set was being explained, I did. and I started swimming sans warmup. and the pizza just sat there, heavy in my stomach.

but in the end I was glad I got in. isn't that how it always is?


4 X 100 descending
300
100 IM
300
200 IM
300
300 IM
cooldown

hypoxic love

man, oh man. it's almost ten o'clock and I'm just barely eating dinner. that's never good.

so swimteam was pretty good tonight. I think wednesday nights are my favorite. the coach seems genuinely interested in helping the slower swimmers get better. especially since we have a lot of newbie triathletes.

I only got about 200 meters in for a warmup because I got a little chatty with my friend tori in the next lane. then when we started the drill IM sets. I was the lucky one chosen to lead the lane. I didn't mind that too much. then when we started the 150 sets, the lady that had swam behind me led the lane, which is good because she was much, much faster.

my little arms still feel really tired when I swim. I guess that's good--it's a sign that I'm working them hard. and my legs have been pretty sore today, too. probably from all that running around I did in shoes that were made for running in the 1970's. yeah, shoe technology has come along way since then. but they do look cool, so... whatev. if I had known I would have been running around all day, I probably would have made a different choice in footwear.

okay, back to the main point of this post, the swim workout. we ended with a good hypoxic set. I don't know why, but I love doing these at the end of a workout. I love them even though they completely suck. they hurt. your lungs want to explode. but when I am the only one in the lane that can actually get down to 5 breaths total for 50 meters, it feels pretty awesome. not even the two fast chicks in front of me could do it. I think maybe one other girl was able to take that few of breaths as well. I don't know, it's kind of fun to be totally freaked out at the wall, just wondering if you're even going to come close to making it. then taking that deep breath and just going for it. it's a good way to end a workout.



warmup

50 fly drill
50 fly
50 back drill
50 back
50 breast drill
50 breast
50 free drill
50 free

150 (50 fast, 100 easy)
150 (50 easy, 50 fast, 50 easy)
150 (100 easy, 50 fast)
150 (50 fast, 100 easy)
150 (50 easy, 50 fast, 50 easy)
150 (100 easy, 50 fast)

50 easy
50 breath control (8 breaths)
50 easy
50 breath control (7 breaths)
50 easy
50 breath control (6 breaths)
50 easy
50 breath control (5 breaths)

cooldown