BRICK!

The week is going pretty well for training. Last week's breakfast ride wasn't too good, and after some days off around it and pondering why I was having such a rough go at all workouts, I figured I'm low on iron again. It happens now and then, and it makes sense that since I've ramped up training I may need some supplements. So I'm taking some iron pills I've had from before and am also tracking my food nutrition carefully to see that I'm getting a good balance of everything.

I do think I'm feeling better already. Restless legs have gone away, heart flutters have gone away, and I feel I have more energy. So that's a good sign!

Monday I swam easy at lunch and ran in the evening. It was on this icky run where I figured out maybe I'm having iron issues again. Tuesday I biked on the trainer, mostly just keeping a steady pace. Wednesday I swam. Instead of running that evening, I decided I'd do a brick Thursday. So yesterday after work I set my bike up on the trainer and did my first brick exercise of this training season.

I had read on Steve In A Speedo's site about a pretty killer workout he learned about at a duathlon clinic. He said it was great for sprint tri preparation as well as for duathlons, and believed it was great for getting your legs used to pushing when tired. Here's how it flows:
- 10 minute warmup on the bike with a couple pickups
- Run a mile, pushing
- 9:30 on the bike, alternating 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds easy
- Run a mile, pushing
- 9:30 on the bike, alternating 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds easy
- Run a mile, pushing
- 9:30 on the bike, alternating 30 seconds hard with 30 seconds easy

So I put some music on, hopped on my bike and warmed up.

The first running mile was all eager beaver and I did it in 8:56. For the bike, it was hard to know how much I should push at first. What gear, speedy legs, etc. I tried to find something that got my heart rate to spike and legs to burn, so I was ready for the 30 seconds of easy spinning. I rode each bike session for 10 minutes.

Second mile was 9:25, but I stopped half way. I went out too fast and would have slogged back, so I caught my breath. More biking...I learned that I needed about a minute to get my legs ready to spin again. The first 30 I took easy and on that first 30 of pushing, it was pretty slow :)  But by the next one I was back on it.

Last mile I tried to be more realistic and pace myself better. I pushed as best as I could and managed a 9:47. My legs were screaming! I decided I was done. It had been an hour and I was happy with the effort. It was a great workout. And I can see how it will get better for sure. Next time I'll do the last bike part as well. And I can up the pushing for sure. I didn't want to go crazy, not knowing what the workout would actually feel like later.

We'll see how I recover, but I think I will do this workout each week leading up to the race. I'm feeling good so far!

6 Weeks to Go

Today I got an email from the Iron Girl Rocky Gap triathlon that E and I are doing September 7th. It was some bad news: they have cancelled the race. They couldn't secure a permit they needed for the roadway and therefor couldn't ensure a safe bike course. Whatever that all means, it is very disappointing that they couldn't pull it together properly. And I was especially disappointed for E, since last year she was injured and could only do the swim portion after registering for it. She's been doing such a great job with training, and this was going to be her first complete race. I know she was looking forward to showing up this year ready.

However, she found another one for us to do that same weekend in West Virginia: The Appalachian Traithlon. It's actually slightly farther away, but it sounds low key and fun enough. It is only the second year for it, which kind of makes me nervous. But I think I'll register on Saturday before the race when I get there, because, well...last year there were only 13 women and 32 men. Yeah. TINY. We can camp at the park it's in, perhaps for free. Kinda roughing it, but whatever. It is just going to be a very different experience! Small race, no shwagg, CHEAP, and just down and dirty - what a race should be, really. The only thing I'm worried about is the lack of people. It's just not as fun to not have someone to chase, but who knows. Maybe this year the word has gotten out and it will be bigger. (Right now there are only 4 people pre-registered though - ha!)

So now I have to get my money back for Rocky Gap, cancel the hotel, say goodbye to the prospect of beautiful, clear water and kayaking the next day in Maryland, and now focus on maybe winning the whole damn (women's) race. Because last year's winner had a bike split of 17 mph. And it's a flat course.

So. Back to work!!!

Here's what this week looks like.

MONDAY:
Just back in town from a LeMons weekend in Joliet and friend-visiting in Chicago. It was a pretty fantastic weekend, even with the LeMons race failure.

TUESDAY:
Bike: Tempo. I'll do spinning (first time at the Y I'm now a member of)
Strength.

WEDNESDAY:
Swim: 1500. Warm up 250, 8 x 25 drills, 8 x 75 max (45 sec rest), 4 x 50 sprint (20 sec rest), Cool down 250.
Run: Tempo Run 32 minutes. 10 warm up, 12 tempo, 10 cool down

THURSDAY: 
Bike: on trail 45 minutes. Speed intervals. 4 x 1 min with 2 minute active recovery.
Strength.

FRIDAY: 
Swim: 1500. Warm up 250, 8 x 25 drills, 3 x 200 (45 sec rest), 8 x 25 sprint (20 sec rest), Cool down 250.
Run: 35 min run + 6 x 20 sec strides.

SATURDAY:
Bike: Long group ride - Breakfast Ride.

Here I go. 6 more weeks - woohoo!

Some running, some disc golf and a one mile swim.

July is off to a good start with training. On Tuesday the 1st, I ran 2.5 miles in the morning, trying to loosen up my very very tight hamstrings. I weeded a couple days and that always gets them. Then later I swam what has become my usual 800-1000 yards at the Community Center. It was fine, nothing spectacular. Oh swimming.

On the 2nd, Wednesday, I walked the 2.5 mile loop in the morning. The temperatures had cooled and it was pretty nice out. Again I was trying to loosen up the legs because later that evening I wanted to run the free 5K that Roncker's holds in Loveland on the south side of the trail. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to really run, or just jog and just elevate my heart rate for a bit. Turns out, I ran faster than I've ran in months, and completely blew my mind. I ran a 9:30 pace. I don't know how it happened, having been struggling with 10:30 10:45...even 11 pace some days. I guess my only explanation is that I just got past the break in phase with getting back into training. Whoopee!

Thursday I took the day off. With friends coming into town, I was very ready to have some fun and do some triathlon workouts with Erika. Those of us who weren't working went disc golfing at a newer local course. It was fun. However, I got suddenly sick, and after 3 holes of chills, cramps and sweating, my body finally gave me no choice in the matter and I had to poo in the woods. Like a bear. It was pretty funny, gross and unbelievable all at the same time. And yay for carrying disc golf towels, but I'm going to pack some bio-degradable tp in my disc golf bag for the future. Oy.

Friday the 4th was another breakthrough workout day. In the morning, I just went on an easy run, not quite knowing what we'd do the rest of the day. Erika wanted to go swimming, and belongs to the Y, so we went to the Blue Ash Y (me as a guest) where they have an outdoor pool. I swam laps outside and it was fantastic! I also swam a mile!! Erika wanted to do a mile, and I said "sure" thinking I'd just kill time floating or something after I was exhausted with however far I could go...but I just kept going. I can't believe I swam that far! I have been doing 800s and feeling like, yep that's all I got today, folks. I don't know if it was the sun or maybe having someone to work out with. Whatever it was, it was terrific and I'm so happy and relieved about my swimming abilities right now. 

 

Saturday we went canoeing down the Little Miami for 9 miles with some friends, though probably 6 of those 9 were just floating. It was a little strange. I get the leisurely canoe trip thing, but it felt strange to be so inefficient. I was kind of bored almost. 

Sunday I didn't do anything too physical, but did go on a 72 mile motorcycle ride which was pretty fun. And it was with my old motorcycle! The guy I sold it too is a new rider, so we did a ride that I think is pretty fun from this area, and has some good things to practice. G followed in his miata, though I'm sure at the cautious new rider speeds we were going, it wasn't too fun for him. We stopped for brunch in Waynesville. It was great to finally get out on the motorcycle again...the weekend was so nice. I was itching to go and could have gone another 72 miles no problem. 

So that was the long weekend! Very fun-filled!

I'm in the process of getting a membership to the Y. The swim with Erika couldn't have come at a better time. I'm losing my free membership at the Community Center because G's company changed insurance providers again. So that benefit is gone. While waiting for her to finish getting ready after we swam, I saw a "member referral" process sign in the lobby. So, price-wise, the Y is going to be the cheapest place with some friends giving me a referral. Plus, I can't believe how awesome that outdoor pool experience was. I'm going to sign up tomorrow after an appointment at the Apple store to fix my phone and hopefully fonts on my computer. 

Sooooooo, that was a long winded update for a very full week... And now on to this week.

Tonight, I biked after work for an hour. I wanted to try to find some decent hills around the house that I could maybe do hill repeats on, but no luck. However, it was crazy windy. A storm was blowing over the entire time and pedaling down hill was still kinda rough. So even though I found no hills, pushing through the wind certainly made for a good workout. I forgot my water bottle though, which was annoying. Today I also started doing planks. Erika was talking about how they've benefited her training, and I've known for a long time now that I should start doing some strength stuff. So here's my weak starting point: 30 sec. I am doing the kind where you're on your hands and the kind where you're on your elbows/forearms. I don't know which is better, so I'm just going to do both. Seems like the elbow version is a bit harder. I did 4 sets today, each 30 sec. WEAK!!!

Tomorrow I plan to run a little in the morning and then swim around lunch. It probably won't be outside if the rain is all rainy.

Whooo this was a book. I need to update more often...and start drawing again!

Final Broomball Game and Week in Review

Broomball season has come to an end (at least for the Fountain Square league). It was a fun 6 weeks. I don't get sore anymore. We all had some good plays and I even scored this season. Right about now is when I'm ready for the season to really begin, but it's just the quick outdoor league season fun. Oh well.

Now it's back to focusing on triathlon. Not that broomball took away from it much. But I guess I just feel like it's another little break in things.

Last week was ok training-wise. I took a break from swimming, mostly because of my workload. This week I'll add it back in, but I still want to put most of my efforts into running. I think for now I just need to accept my slow swimming, keep doing it, and keep working on my form.

LAST WEEK:
Sunday - 6 miles
Monday - off (I was pretty sore from the 6. Hurrah for getting back into it.
Tuesday - 3 mile run at the indoor track
Wednesday - spinning class
Thursday - 3.3 mile run
Friday - off
Saturday - broomball? Kinda counts for something.


So that's about 3.5 hours of training. Adding three swims back will be close to 6, plus I need another bike session in there. The hours will be ramping up again.

Tomorrow I'm hoping this sunshine sticks around and I'm going to run 8.

Two Days in a Row!

Wednesday I ran 4.5 miles when it was 22º but sunny outside. Thursday I ran 3.4 miles when it was considerably warmer (but cloudy. meh, it's winter). I met a friend at Winton Woods and we did the loop twice. I was surprised by how ok I felt! I've had no energy lately, feeling pretty bad after 10 minutes into any workout. So this was a very nice change. It's always good to start feeling like yourself again.


And now a little bit about the week:

Monday: swam 100 yards. Yes 100, and it wasn't really swimming. Hurt my back while sleeping and ended up having spasms. Went to an awesome massage therapist and it's on the mend.

Tuesday: no spinning because school was cancelled (and therefor the classes at the Comm Center). Plus, my back. I did hop on the trainer for 40 minutes though. That was all my back could take. Also, it was so cold (50º in the garage) that I brought everything into the living room because I hate the cold!

Wednesday: couldn't take it in the house anymore, so I got outside with my balaclava and ran 4.5 slow miles. It was 22º which is way warmer than it's been and tolerable, but I was definitely getting cold by the end. I could have stayed in the hot shower for an hour.

Thursday: ran 3.4 miles at Winton Woods. It went surprisingly well. I could breathe ok too. Last run at WW was very bad.

Friday- today!  I'm planning to swim today. I have pretty high hopes that my back will be fine. It's still sore, but there is no more tweaky jerks when moving into a certain position. Maybe now I'm at the point where the swim will help loosen me up.

Saturday: I will be playing two broomball games - our team and subbing for another team. And I think it's going to be pretty slick since it has gotten warmer and there may be rain. Ug.

Sunday: Indoor triathlon!!!!!! Looking at it as a kick-off workout to the season. I'm in terrible shape but whatever. Here goes nothing.


And smoothies. I've been making smoothies. So far banana peanut butter with some chocolate powder is my go-to one. I should experiment more though and try some new ones. I'd like to be able to recreate Bolthouse Farms mocha one. Yum....

Here's one I tried with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, yogurt, and....chocolate powder. Because I have to have chocolate powder in everything.