New news!

So instead of recapping how horribly crappy last week was, I'm going to move on with why I haven't posted much about this week's workouts.

I joined a local triathlon training team - Team Z! I'm psyched and really looking forward to getting started with them. Not only that, but my wonderful husband joined too! He's officially signed up for his first tri - Patriot's Sprint on Sept 9. I'm so proud of him for getting out of his comfort zone on this one, without any pressure from me.

Tonight: Bike clinic
Tuesday: TNT, Swim clinic, swim
Wednesday:
Thursday: TNT
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday:

I'm leaving some of this blank right now. I need to check the new schedule. CRAZY!

Week 3, HIM training

Monday - off
Tuesday - TNT/Spin class
Wednesday - Swim (1600m)/Run, intervals (40 min)
Thursday - TNT/Cycle (1 hr 15 min)
Friday - Swim (1600m)/Run (40 min)
Saturday - Run (55 min)
Sunday - Swim (2000m) /Cycle (1 hr 45 min)

Saturday and Sunday are going to be interesting. I really need to get all 3 workouts done on Saturday because Sunday's just super busy - fun, but busy.

Week 2, Day 4- 7

On Thursday, I had TNT and cycling. TNT was pretty good. Nothing out of the ordinary. Came home and got on my bike for my 1:15 cycle workout. My tri bike came home today. So excited!

Friday, I had a swim and run. The pool was overrun by kids, which was obnoxious, but I got my swim done. Got changed, went up to the treadmill, and just struggled. My right hip and knee were bothering me so much, I stopped the run only 5 minutes into it.

Saturday, I was scheduled for a brick workout. We had a million and a half errands to run. By the time we got done, we pumped up the tires on the new bike and realized the front tire is rubbing on the brakes. Back to the shop it goes. Sigh. I did the 45 min cycle on my roadie inside. It was thunderstorming out, so I didn't run.

Sunday, went and got my hair cut and then to the pool. Again, it was really busy. I ran into a kid, but whatever. The dad should've been keeping an eye on him. My hip and knee were still bothering me, so no run. Hopefully this issue goes away VERY soon!

Week 2, Days 1 - 3

Monday I took completely off. There's something fully satisfying about not having to do a single workout when you've done 11 in 6 days.

Tuesday, it was back to TNT and spin class. TNT was good. Everyone was pretty quiet though. Spin class was interesting. We had a couple of ladies in the back who would NOT stop talking. It drove a few of us crazy... almost said something to them, but I held my tongue, as did the other 4 people who wanted to say something. Great class otherwise. Dawn always throws us a great workout!

Wednesday brought me to the pool and treadmill. The swim was pretty good. The run... well, I walked the last 10 minutes of it. My body just wasn't having it, so I kept moving, but walked. That's OK. After all, I did the 10 miler on Saturday only half trained. So, I'll count it as a recovery run and call that that.

We'll see what tomorrow's workout brings!

Week 2 HIM training

Last week was great. I got in all 9 workouts, plus my 2 weight lifting workouts. CRAZY! Great though.

This week should be just as challenging. Here's the schedule:

Monday - off
Tuesday - TNT/Spin class
Wednesday - Swim (1500m), Run (35 min)
Thursday - TNT/Cycling (1 hr 15 min)
Friday - Swim (1500m), Run (40 min)
Saturday - Brick (45 min bike, 15 min run)
Sunday - Swim (1800m), Run (50 min)

All of the distances are increasing some and I get to have my first official brick workout of the season. Wooo hooo!

Can't wait to go to TNT tomorrow and tell my trainer that I did all of my workouts and PR'd in the 10 miler!

St Charles Running Festival 10 miler - Race Report

• Race Name: St Charles Running Festival 10 miler
• Race Date: April 14, 2012
• Race Location: Blue Crabs Stadium
• Race Distance: 10 mile run
• Division: W 30-34
• Total Time: 1:37:44
• Age Group Placing: 11/30
• Overall Placing: 181/328 (overall)

Pre-race

Online registration for this race. (I’d say 99% of them are these days!) They sent out the course maps in the week leading up to the race; they also provided them on their website. Very well organized and supported run. The volunteers were out in force. I loved that they opened the stadium so we could use those bathrooms pre-race. Since it was at the stadium, there was plenty of parking, which was great. I thought it was a bit odd for them to give out the race packets (minus the bibs) after the race, but it worked well.

Woke up around 6am, got ready, packed up, had a Luna bar for breakfast, and drank some water with it and then on the way to the race. We started at 8:15, but had to do packet pickup before 7:30.

The weather was great today! It was sunny and 53 degrees at the start, with a southwest wind of 11mph. It was a nice, small race of 328 people. Love small races – sometimes they’re more awesome than bigger ones!

Run

My longest training run was 4.5 miles. I was sooooo not ready for this race going into it. I was glad that today turned out the way it did. I wore my headsweats visor and sunglasses today. Love them. The biggest decision was jacket or no jacket. I decided to wear it. I was glad to have it, even if I did get warm around mile 7. There were 2 major hills – mile 4.5 and then all of mile 7. I was happy that both went well! There wasn’t a lot of crowd support, but it was nice and quiet. Sometimes, you need a race like that. I was able to get into my head and just be content. Having spent this week as stressed as I have, I needed the ability to do that today. My average pace was 9:44/mile. Only one of the miles was over 10 minutes. That was the one with the mile long hill, so I wasn’t worried about it.

At the mile 6 water stop, I got a reality check. Sometimes, the volunteers have more of an affect on you than they realize. There was a girl in a wheelchair there handing out water to runners. It was in that split second that any crazy thoughts in my head disappeared. I’m blessed to be able to do what I do. I have always thought so, but today was a great reminder of that.

At mile 9, I was so happy to almost be done. Not because I wanted to stop running, but because I wanted to know how Jon had done in the 5k and how Adam had done with his run. I also really wanted to see Aiden and Rion run the kid’s run. I also realized I was going to break 1:40:00… and my predicted time was 1:45 – 1:50!

Post-Race

Post race was great. I still felt really good – like I could’ve run a bit more if I really wanted. I grabbed a bunch of snacks, Gatorade, and water. Then, I walked over and got my shirt and duffle bag and looked for my family. Jon found me, which is always good. Race results were emailed to us before we got through lunch! They were posted online later in the day. The mileage was off by .05 miles, but nothing huge. 

Week 1, Days 4 & 5

Thursday - TNT/Cycling

Tonight was a great TNT workout! We had a newbie join us, so Trey used me as a bit of an example, but that only really benefits me. :)

I also had a cycling workout. I threw on some tv, put on a trainer road workout, and went for it!

Friday - Bike fit!

I got to go visit my tri bike. I got my fit done, which was great. Got to learn a bit more about the bike, which is always good. Unfortunately, the bar ends have to be trimmed, so the bike had to stay at the store. I can't wait until it can come home (read: I can ride it on the road)!

Week 1, Days 2 & 3

Tuesday - Day 2

Yesterday, I went to TNT and worked hard. With my recent stress at work, I needed to take the frustration out somehow. So, I pushed, pulled, shrugged, and did everything else to a crazy degree.

After TNT, I went to spin class. It was awesome. Endurance intervals. It was just what I needed. A push... and a hard one!

Wednesday - Day 3

1400m swim done. It was good. My shoulder was a bit iffy... probably from the swim Monday and lifting yesterday, but I got through it.

35 min run with 6x30 sec intervals. It was a great run. I was able to get things out of my head and just go... even on the treadmill. Did a bit over 3 miles, good stuff!

Week 1, Day 1

Like I said in my earlier post, I had to do Friday's workout today. Actually... I did Wednesday's swim and Friday's run today. The swim was nice and relaxing. There was only 1 other person in the pool at any point with me; a sharp contrast to last Friday. 1400m down. A million and a half until August ;)

I did my run on one of the Woodway treadmills today, just to see how it feels. It's pretty different from a normal treadmill. I really liked it! If I ever feel the need to get a treadmill, I think it'd definitely be on my short list. I did about 3.5 miles in the 35 minutes - a steady 10 min/mile.

Week 1 of Half Ironman Training

This week starts the beginning of 20 weeks of half ironman training. Last week was a really rough week emotionally, and this week promises to be similar. Work suffered some changes that made an "ok" situation no longer be "ok". I'm trying to deal with it the best that I can, but it's proving to be really tough. I need a serious attitude check. The workouts aren't cutting it right now, and usually they do. Thankfully, Jon's being super supportive about all of this.

Back to the workouts:

Monday: (usually my off/yoga day) Run (35-60 min) and Swim (1400m) - I have to miss Friday's workout, so it has to get done today.

Tuesday: TNT and Spin

Wednesday: Swim (1400m) and Run (35 min)

Thursday: TNT and Cycle (1 hr)

Friday: BIKE FIT!!!!!

Saturday: St Charles Running Festival 10 miler (I feel so under prepared for this race)

Sunday: Swim (1700m) and Cycle (1 hr 30 min)



Total of 9 workouts this week. Goodness help me!

Behind on posts... again!

This week has been crazy busy and stressful. We had a huge shakeup at work and I'm still really unsettled by it. That being said, I've been hitting my workouts.

Tuesday was by far the most stressful day. I needed some time to process everything that happened that day, so I actually didn't do my workout, but made a plan to make it up on Wednesday.

Wednesday, I did my swim and really enjoyed it - even with some crazy hard lactate thresholds. I also did a 65 minute spin, which went really well!

Thursday, I did my 34 minute run. There were 14 intervals. I decided to do it on the treadmill... probably could've pushed myself harder if I had done it outside, but at least it got done!

Tonight, I did my swim, but I have to say I was highly annoyed. The lifeguard tonight sucked and there were kids every where. There were also a couple of really inconsiderate parents. Just not a great environment for a workout. I have to say, I was VERY happy to get out of the pool today. I don't feel that way often, but it was one of those days.

On to the weekend!

New bike!!!!

So, the great bike store debate was which size to put me on... the x-small or the small. After a discussion between the managers, the small won out - which meant I had a choice of the WSD or "normal" bike paint schemes!

I went with...

It's the "normal" one instead of the WSD (blue paint scheme). I LOVE it. Can't wait to get it! I won't be able to get fitted on it until Friday, April 13, but that's ok. I'm changing out a few components that will make it especially mine. YAY!

UPDATE: The bike store manager called me today. When he was putting in the order, my beautiful green paint scheme bike is on backorder until May. Soooooo, I told him to go ahead and order the blue one. I was between them anyhow, but I'm a tad sad, but it's ok - the blue one will be beautiful as well!

Week 7: Olympic Plan

Last week on the olympic distance plan. Then starts the craziness! No TNT this week, so hopefully I'll be able to get everything done.

Monday: Off/Yoga
Tuesday: Spin class
Wednesday: Swim (1750m)
Thursday: Run (34 min)
Friday: Swim (1600m)
Saturday: Cycle (1 hr 30 min)
Sunday: Run (1 hr)

On April 14th, I have a 10 mile race... I'm so not ready! Ugh.

No bike news quite yet. A few other discussions need to happen with the bike store and then hopefully I'll have news.

Last week...

I really need to be better about updating this throughout the week.



Monday – Yoga or maybe a run
Nope... slacked off instead


Tuesday – TNT/Short hill climbs (bike) (or spin class)
Yup, did both. TNT was pretty good. I had my weigh in/body fat done today since I missed last Thursday's class. I'm up to 140 lbs (which I knew... yuk!) and at 19% body fat. Both need to come down NOW. Back on WW for me...
Spin class was awesome. Having ridden my bike at home all winter, I almost forgot how great spin class is. Now that I'm back... man is she working me!


Wednesday – 1500m swim
Nope, met up with a dear friend who's back for a couple of weeks from Casablanca. Even I know that some things are just more important than a workout. :) We talked about gelato, pizza, and all things yummy in Italy and Greece (we're cruising with her and her husband in May).


Thursday – TNT/8x30 sec: 40 min total (run)
I did a 20 minute tempo run, which felt great; then did TNT. TNT was a bit rough. I think Trey was upping my weights a little. Silly guy!

I was going to do a 40 minute run, but when I got home, my study materials for the ACE personal trainer exam were at my door! I started to go through them a little before TNT.


Friday – 1550m swim
Did Wednesday's swim because I forgot to change the workout I had with me. Ah well, about the same distance. It was a good swim. I also had a fun time at The Bike Lane before my workout, but that's a different post... which I'll do later today after I know what I need to know. :)


Saturday – 55 min run
Really should've done this, but went to my nephew's 4th birthday party and then helped my mom clean some stuff up instead. Spent 5 hours or so in the car. LONG day!


Sunday – 1 hr, 15 min bike + 10 min transition run
Will be doing this later today. After the bike store, REI, and other running around... while Jon's mowing the lawn.