5 more days!

Yeah, so I'm just going to write tri and running stuff here now. Public blog with the parents reading just doesn't work out I'm afraid.

5 more days until the triathlon! I am excited. I'm a little nervous, but only that I won't push as hard as I possibly can. I think I've come to terms with my performance just isn't going to be what I want it to be because I'm not in the shape I want to be in. I got a late start. More than running, you can't make up physical gains with triathlon. You just have to have the time. I had a few bad bike rides. I have had many bad runs. Swimming has been steady, but I don't think I've gotten better. So where's that leave me? Just having fun on race day and pushing my hardest.

In a way, I'm looking forward to the triathlon being over. It has been so hard to train this year with work. My confidence has been sacked. I'm looking forward to just having some running ahead of me for the next few months. I want to start strength training and just haven't been able to with my schedule. I am going to stop swimming for a bit, or at least just do it once a week. Everything has just been way too hard and not fun. I want fun back.

I'm looking forward to camping. We're putting up a tent in the park we're racing in. I and E have a camper stove so we'll cook. It will be fun! Hope it doesn't rain!

Yesterday I went on a final hard bike ride. I did intervals, pushing 1 - 2 miles at a time, trying to push through that feeling where I just want to slow down that has plagued me this year. Today I'll run, I think that's all I have time for.

It's been hard planning for this and Deals Gap at the same time. Today I have a meeting at 11 and plan to ride my motorcycle to it so that afterwords I can go to Sport Tour and check out some tank bags. And then also maybe to Honda where I will have them listen to my noise the bike makes now.

A new week.

I'm ignoring last week. It doesn't do any good to dwell on it, so here's to a new week!!

- cheers! -   clink  - 

I didn't do anything over the weekend. No biking, no running, no swimming. I did help work on a car. We've started our next LeMons race prep. I helped Casey take apart the head. It was really fun! That's the most I've ever done on a car I believe.

I rode my motorcycle up the shop and back. It rained coming back, so that was an experience.

Sunday I walked some in Waynesville. Looked at old stuff and antiques. It was exhausting, but I'm pretty sure the shopping aspect is what exhausted me, not the walking. I went to bed early, couldn't sleep, and here I am now.

So. I swam after a meeting this morning. It went ok. It was hard, as swimming is. Meh. I got the yards in and felt like I worked hard. It's a new week and I'm going to stay focused and productive and stop worrying about training so much. I'll get it done. I could do a triathlon right now if I had to. I'm fine. Soon the pressure will be off and I can figure out what I want to do next.

Man triathlon training is hard.

Finished!!!!!!!

A race report will happen. Soon.

Overall results:
352/901
640/901 swim
240/901 bike
45/901 run


Age Group results:
47/148 in age group 35-39
53/148 age group swim
20/148 age group bike :)
39/148 age group run


Also, I thought it would be interesting to show what I did to train for that triathlon. I did screen captures of my log from May - August. The beginning of September was kind of light because of my back and tapering.

Final Week and a Back Pain

Tuesday night we did yoga, and that was a huge mistake. I had felt a tweak in my back, but stupidly thought yoga might help. No. Yoga is not flexy relaxing time. It is pull your body into weird ass positions time, contorting muscles into doing things they haven't done in a while. I'm so mad at myself for going.

I now have a bad back pain. It's deep, perhaps connected to my ribs, because it hurts when I breathe. It hurts to arch my back and move my arms in a swimming motion, so right now I'm not sure how I'm going to swim on Sunday. I really can't do much except pop the ibuprofen and rest and wait. I stretch, but actually don't think it's helping. I will get the back into a hurt position and let it sit there, trying to control the spasming and taking my breath away...and actually feel that may be helping. Sitting at my desk is really painful and I feel nauseous.

So...great news, huh.

In better news, I got my bike back from the bike shop with new breaks, new wraps, new break and shifter cables. I am going to try it out today to see how it feels. The guy said it would ride a bit different. I'm excited.

I have today and tomorrow to get this back thing better. I'm hoping the pain meds will help, but I know they don't heal. We shall see what happens I guess. Maybe this is some sort of triathlon god working a forced taper for me.

Second Open Water Swim

On Labor Day, I dragged Greg back out to Stonelick State Park so I could venture out into the open water again. I tried to drag other friends too, but they weren't interested.

This time, it went WAY better! It didn't take me long to get used to the water. I could just swim in it without freaking out. It did take a bit to get my breathing warmed up, but c'est la vie.

I swam a couple 6ish minute sessions. I kept getting really worn out. After a break on the beach, I went back out to swim 20 minutes. I learned I needed to kick less and then could keep my breathing in control.

So for race day, that will be the plan: kick barely, think pull buoy exercises, reaching and pulling. I'll get through it more enjoyably this way!

Allergy Season

The brick workout wore me out some, but not too bad. I got a swim in Monday, and did an "easy" run that evening. It was a 10 min/mi pace, which felt a bit rougher than it should have normally, but I think I was just tired. Tuesday I spinned in the morning. It was a hill interval class and I actually kept it kinda easy. My heart rate didn't get above 160. Tuesday evening J ditched yoga for a spinning class because she didn't go in the morning. That was pretty disappointing to me, but I decided I'd not go and give my shoulders a break before Wednesday's planned 1 mile swim. When I woke up today (Wednesday), my shoulders hurt pretty bad. I didn't go in the morning and opted for an early afternoon swim instead. I warmed up about 200 yards and then did 35 laps (down and back, 50 yds=1 lap). My my it was rough. I had a bad asthma thing going on, and my arms just hurt. I tried to keep my form, but I was terribly slow. I wanted to stop somewhere in the 20s, but I kept going and did the entire mile. 

When I left, I noticed how bad my asthma was. I sneezed a few times and that didn't help anything. There was a ton of congestion in my chest. By the time I got home, my breathing was shallow and I felt terrible. I took two puffs on my inhaler and relaxed. I still feel icky, and my chest feels tight, but I blew my normal suckiness on my peak flow meter. 

I have an allergist appt tomorrow and I'm glad. I guess I need to be on some more medicine. I'm really frustrated with the breathing issues and how my inhaler makes things worse when I exercise. I hope to get some help in place before next Sunday. 

Holy crap the tri is NEXT SUNDAY!

Brick Workout

The mile in the water really wore me out! I was sore for a couple days. As I mentioned, Thursday's run was kinda slow and painful. I took Friday off because I felt I needed it. Saturday morning I hit the pool (and was the only swimmer there) and did 1100 yards, with poor breathing. Today I decided I'd do a brick since I wasn't doing a long weekend ride. 

I set the trainer up and had a fan pointing on me. It was cool, but I knew I'd be dripping eventually. My plan was to ride for 20 minutes at a steady pace, then practice quickly tying my shoes and running for a mile. I set up Casey's spin mix #2 and started getting busy. I held a 17-18 mph and was beginning to warm up...

Then I hopped off my bike and changed my shoes. I undid the trainer wheel, hit pause on my playlist and ran out the fence gate to begin the mile. It was sunny and I forgot my sunglasses. The run felt ok...but I didn't feel I was warmed up. Mile 1 was 9:15. I didn't know what to expect for my times since I was biking too. 

The second bike session was ok. I was uncomfortable in my seat and my wrists hurt, but soon it was time to run again. I fumbled around with my shoes this time, putting one on, dropping the other, not taking my cycling shoe off very well... Just wasn't thinking. The run was pretty good though! 8:54. I felt like that was it for my legs though. 

The last bike was kind of rough. I felt like I had so much lactic acid built up in my legs. I tried to push but it was kind if hard to maintain 16-17 mph at the resistance I had set. 

I didn't have much hope for the run. And finally my legs had that familiar filled with concrete who's legs are these feeling. At least I could practice pushing and pacing with them in this state. However, I wasn't moving all that slow. The last mile was 9:03 and I was pretty happy. It was hard to move my heavy heavy legs, but I just kept pushing, knowing this is my last big workout before the race. 

Again the results:

19 min bike

9:15 min mi

20 min bike

8:54 min mi

21 min bike

9:04 min mi

I'm pretty happy with this!!

1 mile in the water!

This week the pool is closed due to maintenance. They drain it and clean it and I hope paint the air tubes above because they look pretty nasty. The competition pool is open however. I didn't swim Monday because I was in the water Sunday practicing my open water swim. I figured I'd swim Wed and Fri in this cold cold competition pool.

I was nervous about negotiating that side - it's where the swim team is and I didn't want to interfere. I went Wednesday after lunch (right after lunch to be specific...after a "your last day as a contractor" Mexican lunch). There was only one other person there, so turned out to be a good time.

The water was certainly chilly. But after a lap down and back, it felt fine. The competition pool has a movable floor. I thought it was the entire floor, but it's just half. The rest is the deep end. So it was the coolest thing to start swimming, looking down at the bottom, and then see the floor slowly moving away from me as I progressed into the deep water. I am not sure why this was so awesome, but it was.

I warmed up some. Some freestyle, some pull buoys. Then I was going to swim my half mile, like last week. About 3/4 of the way through it, I was having such a good time I thought "why don't I just keep swimming?" I thought about how hard the open water was and had already made my decision to increase my pool distances. And last time I had taken a short break then went another 1/4 mile. Maybe I could swim a full mile straight?

And that I did. It was pretty easy, and by the end, my breathing was even fine. I was going slow of course. I did it in 44:35. And I think I was swimming meters in this pool rather than yards. I'm slow and steady. I don't push off the wall either.

That evening, I rode my bike from the house around the neighborhood. I went 14 miles and kept it easy. Later I was exhausted!

Thursday my legs were sore and my arms...oh my goodness was I sore. I decided I'd run, but keep it easy. It was ridiculously slow. A 10:50 pace overall. But at least it felt easy, aside from my legs feeling like bricks.

Today I'm toying with swimming easy. But I don't want to thrash my legs more for the group ride Saturday morning. Casey probably isn't going to make it, and last time he had to pull me along in the beginning. I'm nervous I'll be dropped. So maybe I won't go if he can't go, and I'll do a brick instead. Still haven't done those yet...

Mile repeats

So I've been doing 1 mile repeats lately for my running. One night I was setting out to run, and just didn't feel like slogging along. So I thought I'd switch it up and just run hard. I ran around 9:15. Then I did the next around 9:02 (after a short break) and the last around 8:55. 

I think it's a good workout. It makes me push comfortably hard, but isn't a straight up speed workout, so my legs aren't toast afterwords. 

Tonight, I was going to warm up for one and then do 3 hard. My asthma kicked in immediately. Actually, I'm guessing I was already having problems before I started and just didn't notice. It felt like I was breathing through mesh, and my chest was super tight. But I still managed a nice warmup mile of 9:40. I did my inhaler and hoped for the best. The next mile was 8:44. The third mile was 8:39. :) It was a struggle, but I did it. Then I finished with a cool down mile, because my lungs just weren't going to cooperate anymore. It was 9:49 and felt really easy :)

Now I'm pretty pooped. But still. 40 miles on the bike Saturday, open water swim Sunday, and 4 1-mile repeats tonight? I'm feeling pretty awesome. 

In other news I have a huge knot in the middle if my back that I can feel when I lean on things. Plus it just hurts. Foam rolling errrrrrvrything tonight. 

First Open Water Swim

Today I went to Stonelick State Park to try open water swimming. I've never swam in a lake before. Swimming from a  boat out to water skis with a life jacket on does not count. 

I was super nervous about it, and really, didn't even want to do it. I kind of just wanted to ignore the issue and just face it on race day, though I knew that would be terribly stupid. So I made Greg go and be my "lifeguard". What I really wanted was a bunch of people out there in the water. 

After looking at the signs on the beach area to make sure there wasn't a known algae bloom or e.coli, we walked down to the water. The whole area looks run down and pretty dumpy, which didn't help my nerves. There was one other person sun bathing, and parents with their tween picking up random things by the water. It was strange- the girl reminded me of myself. Stuck hanging out with her parents, she picked up a snail shell excitedly, telling them about it. Then she said "do you think there are snakes in the water?"  Ugh.....

Actually getting in the water was the first thing to overcome. Walking out on the bottom, which I couldn't see, was difficult. I wanted my legs up quickly. So when it was deep enough I did that. 

I treaded water and tried to get used to my surroundings. I slowly and calmly swam side-stroke. Then, I tried to swim. As soon as my head went under and all I saw was green, I flipped out. I scrambled back to the shore and stood up again. I don't even think I was in deep water? But I wanted to be where I had walked before and knew I wouldn't step on something weird. 

I walked back up to shore. It was terrible feeling. There was no way I could swim in that. I tried to articulate my feelings about it to Greg, what was making me nervous, etc. He didn't have much to say about it, didn't know what would help. 

I stood there a long time, occasionally recounting some horror I had just experienced. And all I could think was there was no way I could go back out there.

But, I knew I had to. 

Otherwise, I would really be dangerous trying to swim a half mile in September. 

I cried a little. I was so frustrated. Why couldn't I do this? With the decision that I wasn't leaving until I made this work, I began to think about it again. What was making me nervous? What was so scary and bothersome?

I didn't like that no one else was out there. To me, if I saw someone else in the water, I knew I could be in the water. So we moved down to where some high school girls were swimming. 

I didn't like not being able to see anything  underwater. So I thought I'd get back in, near the frolicking high school girls, and just practice being in the water. Just being. 

So I walked in again. This time I stood for a bit in waste deep water. I tried to not panic about where my feet were or what was around me that I couldn't see. Then I bent over some and got on my belly in the water and put my face under. Argh!! No!!! I immediately popped up freaked out and out of breath. I hated the green. I tried again, putting my hands in front of my face so I could get a sense of depth of what I was or wasn't seeing. Green murk- I could only make out blurred preachiness of my hands. Ok...so I really just can't see. Ok. 

I floated on my back some. I tried the breast stroke, but didn't like that. The I stood some more. I was just trying to relax. Then I decided I could try to swim 5 strokes across the area. 5 strokes and that's it. Where I could stand up if needed. It was weird how much it freaked me out to not know how deep the water was. I don't know why this bothered me. I wasn't afraid of drowning. It was just scary for some reason. 

I swam 5 strokes and kept my head elevated a lot. But I did it. The I turned around and did it again. After this I took a break on shore. 

I complained and whined about things that bothered me some more to Greg. Pockets of cold water felt like they were their own being. I didn't like seeing the current on top. I didn't like not seeing anything underwater except green. 

I knew I had to actually swim. I decided I could try to swim to one buoy, then across to the other, then back to the middle, like a triangle. So I waded back out and tried it. I immediately breathed on same side each time, keeping my head high. I found this helped relax me and made it so there was less time in the green murk. I practiced sighting, looking for the buoy. I got as close as I could stand. For some reason, here is another issue I have with things in the water. I'm scared of them. I don't know what it looks like underneath and it bothers me for some reason. Strange, I know. 

So I got as close as I was comfortable with, then turned and kicked to go across to the other buoy. As I sighted I was surprised by how much the current pushed me into shore. I took some breaks on my back when I got flustered. I eventually made it and the headed back to the middle. 

Going across felt like I was going nowhere, but Greg said I looked fast. We determined I must have been moving the same speed as the surface water, so it looked like I wasn't moving to me. 

It was rough and panicky, but I did it. Then I did it a few more times to further get comfortable. Each time toon about 4:30 minutes and made me pretty tired. I felt like I was fighting the water. And I swear there was some sort of undercurrent. The cold water I'd feel near the buoy freaked me out and with the disorientation of swimming across the swim area, it was so strange. 

The last thing I did was just try to swim buoy to buoy and back again. I practiced sighting more and I was curious if swimming "against" the current would feel different. I really think there were two currents- one on the surface and one just below. I'm going to look this up later. The last time I turned at the buoy, there was a huge pocket of cold water and it felt like something was pulling me back. I hated it. And I wanted to leave on a good note, so I just got out of that area as quickly as I could and swam a bit more. 

Soooooo by the time I left, I had conquered my fears and actually swam in the open water!! It wasn't something I'd choose over a pool. And I am still certainly perplexed by a few things. But I'm so glad I did it. I made myself do something REALLY uncomfortable; I managed to figure out how to deal with it bit by bit so that I could do it. I am pretty happy with myself for doing this. :) 

Bring on Lake Habeeb. 

Rough 40 miles

Just another group ride... We've been doing them for awhile now. Maybe this was our 4th or 5th? But this was kind of a rough on. 

For starters, I thought I'd do my inhaler to get more air. Maybe I wouldn't have to suck wind so bad going up hills if I could get more oxygen. However, the inhaler seemed to make me worse. I coughed a lot and nothing was improved with my breathing. At breakfast, I sounded like I was hoarse from being at a concert the night before. 

Second, as we began, I could feel the tiredness in my legs. Two weeks now swimming a lot (went even farther Wednesday, without breaks) and some faster running intervals (two sets of 3 mile repeats at 9:00s-ish) left my legs lacking. 

And then, the group just went faster today! We were doing 20-22mph on flats, often. I already get dropped on hills. I couldn't keep up. As the group got farther and farther away after some early hills, I suggested to Casey we could maybe catch up if I drafted him. And that we did. It took a bit, but we made it back up to the group and I had no problem tucking in behind Casey. It gave me a chance to catch my breath and get that back under control.

So, that became the strategy for the day. It was an off day, but I still managed 17 mph overall. Considering the hard week, and my stupid breathing, I suppose I should be and am pretty pleased with the workout. It was mentally crushing during the ride. I hate being last. I thought with biking I wouldn't always be last, like I am with running. 

However, I'd say my body preformed pretty damn well today, and I'm really grateful for that. 

Update

Wow, so it's been quite a while since I've updated. Work has been consuming. Training has been consuming. Honestly, I've been struggling with the work/no business partner/whatthehellamIdoing adjustments pretty hard recently, and exercising has been my happy place.

Last night I realized that my body is changing. Specifically I'm getting overall stronger and able to handle more. I keep pushing and it keeps responding positively. That is so amazing to me. I feel like I have a new relationship with my body. On the flip side of this, I feel like I'm a freak and have confusion as to how I should be feeling. Maybe I should be proud of myself? Maybe I should just be happy and not worry about anything? But the reality is, this just doesn't seem like something Steph does. This crap goes back to my mom f-ing up of my perception of things based on her inability to handle things. I wasn't allowed to do things because that's not what Steph does. I was different, though it was never clearly defined what made me different. It was as if I had some scary disease where if I fell down I'd bleed to death. It took me years to figure out it wasn't me, it was my mom. But that shit really sticks around. Hence my ponderings lately. What I'm doing now seems so dangerous, out of line, unnecessary, and just down right wrong on one side of my mind. Then the other says no, this is great! You're being healthy and strong and enjoying pushing yourself and everything from it has been positive. Most of all I'm ashamed I feel any of this. It's very embarrassing.

I want to tell everyone about what I'm doing. Not because I want to brag or make them feel bad about their couch potato lives, but because I want to feel like it's normal. It makes me happy and I feel like it's something happy to talk about. I want/need reassurance that what I'm doing... this crazy learning how to swim from YouTube videos, biking more than I've ever biked in my life, and getting to be a stronger runner...I want to feel like all of that is simply positive.

Instead, right now I feel like I'm a weird obsessed fitness person. I feel if I mention things to my friends, I sound like I'm bragging. Or, I'm just talking about something that simply isn't interesting. If I mention things to my parents, criticism begins: have you checked with your doctor, what about your asthma, you're not a swimmer why are you swimming - why don't you just stick to running... it goes on and on. Even though I know (think?) that these kind of comments aren't exactly right, I can't shake them. I need help shaking them. I need someone to immediately tell me "Steph, don't listen to that - those statements are unfounded."

I am doing this all for me, so me is the only thing I need to impress. I've thought recently I should just shut up about all of it. No one needs to be bothered by it. If they're curious, they'll ask. But for some reason I still want to share it really really bad. It's just such a huge part of my well-being right now and I guess I am proud of my accomplishments, so I suppose that's a normal thing to want to share?

I guess, in a nutshell, I'm just having a hard time believing in myself right now.

Spinning Sub

We had a sub in spinning class. She did things quite a bit differently. But I still wasn't pushed and have come to the conclusion I cannot forget my heart rate monitor anymore. I don't have any instructors who give us guides on where we should be: our perceived efforts or anything like that. I was barely out of breath the entire class. And I remember sucking wind so often in Mel's class... So I need to start paying attention to my heart rate and make sure I'm doing something worthwhile my time while there.

Ultimate Frisbee was kinda hot. It was an ok game. I really ran out of steam in the second half. I'd have about two good sprints in me and then just had no energy. Meh.

Crowded pools = good tri training

Work is kicking my butt. Sundays have been late or early, and it kinda screws up the beginning of my week. I haven't been able to wake up early enough for swimming before lux. I do, but I think how it would be better if I just went at lunch, and that's what I do. 

The problem with going at lunch is it's terribly crowded. Today we were three in a lane. Eventually it went down to two. I was sharing with an older guy I see all the time. He did some back floating stuff and drifted into my lane...so I had a nice long reach and pull down his body. Shudder. I don't know what all I touched. 

I did two sets of 12x50s for a total of 1200. Then I did about 300 yards of drills. I put the bouy thing between my legs to try to feel my body correctly positioned in the water. I am so not positioning right. It was a good exercise. I think I'll look up more about it and maybe do that every time. 

3 Mile Recovery Run

I ran after work Monday, in the crazy hot air. It was slow and sluggish. I knew I had ridden 30 miles the day before, and that it was stupid hot. But I thought my "easy" would be about 10:30 pace. Mile 1 was 11:06. Mile 2 was 11:16. I was upset and just decided to try to run strong for the last mile. That ended up being 9:52...so that was good. 

Now why couldn't I have ran quicker from the start? I've really lost my running pace ability. 

30 miles

I took Saturday off from any workouts. It was a nice day, but I think I needed a day of rest. We all went on a motorcycle ride, which was nice. Finally. It's only July and I'm just now getting on my bike :/

Today I went on another bike ride, this one powered by me. I went down to the trail and did part of the route that I used to do with Rich. It's some nice back roads off from South Lebanon. Looking at a map, I'd like to explore out a little more before heading back to the trail. The roads are rolling and winding, but don't seem to have too much traffic on them.

I added some of the route to Lebanon and had to go down to Loveland and back to get the miles to 30, but I did. I drank two and half bottles of water. Keep this up, and I better get my dual cage on the back. I stopped to refill, which worked out.

It was a pretty uneventful ride. I don't even know what I thought about much. Thought about my bike shorts a couple times. I got new ones and they proved to be comfy, though the legs are still longer than I wanted. Had some bugs making me itch. Got passed by a guy and then I rode with him for a while...but he didn't know it. I hung back about 25 feet and just upped my pace to see how it was to hang. I was getting bored.

A screen shot of the route from mapmyrun.

Swimming is Hard

I've decided. Swimming is just really hard.

I'm going to look up some drills and just focus on those at distances. My swim Friday was terrible. I never felt I was doing anything right. I need to feel comfortable in the water, and it's just not happening yet. 

It may have been that I was tired. I'm certainly still adjusting to this increased amount of training. But dang. I can't imagine swimming a half mile right now!

I'm also going to start strength training (tomorrow) and hopefully that will help with moving myself through the water at the right height and with better ease so I can breathe. 

16 miles from the house

I can't remember if I've mentioned it here before, but in reading about triathlons (as I keep doing, because I have a LOT to learn), I've come across a bunch or articles concerning how much of each sport to focus on. Or, how to divide the time among the three sports. It's a good question, obviously. When you just focus on running, you do different running workouts to get better. And you take a day off to rest. When you have the same time but have to cram three sports in, you really start to wonder if something isn't getting enough attention.

One theory is to focus on your weakest sport. Running and swimming are both weak for me. Swimming is probably my weakest, since I at least have confidence as a runner. Biking is definitely my strongest. So, if I spent all my time working on swimming and running, the biking would get better only from a general fitness standpoint.

Then there is a theory about switching up the weeks to focus on one sport each week while also maintaining the others of course. So one week I'd do harder run workouts, but not hard swim or bike workouts. Then the next week I'd make the biking harder, etc etc. This makes a lot of sense to me, and I can see how it would also keep training from becoming stagnant,

Then another point is that in every triathlon, most of the time is spent on the bike. So, simple math tells you that if you can increase your pace on the bike, and the biking is a longer portion of the entire race, you have more opportunity to shorten your overall time. The swim has limited opportunity for this, as does the run. If I increased my pace from 10 minute miles to 9 minute miles, I'll shave 3 minutes off the overall 5K time. But if I increase my bike pace from 16 mph to just 17.5 mph, then I can shave 5 minutes off a 16 mile bike ride. And I think 16 - 17.5 is much easier done than 10 minute to 9 minute miles :)

Soooo that biking theory is what I am going to focus on. I'm increasing my biking days from 2 to 3 times a week. And staying with 2 days for everything else. I am going to have to either not rest or do some additional double days.

Right now the running is rough because one of the days is Ultimate Frisbee. I run a lot, but it's sporadic and not always quality. Sometimes I'm forced to run at levels beyond what is quality, and it just becomes a survival kind of thing vs when I'm on a track and can focus on speed and rest appropriately. I'm sure it's still good; I'm getting in great cardio and pushing my body. I guess the other day I run should be long and easy. That will help with endurance?

Swimming...I'm just trying to get it down. I can't believe how hard it is.

So anyway, Thursday was my first day of increasing biking. I had biked Sunday, Wednesday (spinning) and Thursday had an easy ride from the house. I went all around neighborhoods and surface streets. It wasn't bad, I felt strong. Averaged somewhere around 15mph I think.  I will plan to bike again this Sunday on the trail, maybe going longer.

Another thing I'm incorporating is lifting. I need to do some strength big time. It will help the swim and everything. But mostly the swim. My weak-ass core is not keeping me on top of the water too well.

A brief schedule synopsis. The weekends are always flexible, so this is just an example:

Sun - long bike and strength training
Mon - off or easy short run
Tue - swim, yoga
Wed - bike (spinning), Ultimate (running)
Thur - bike easy and strength training
Fri - swim
Sat - long easy run

Catching up in July

I can't believe how quickly this month is going by! But it's been a great time, fun training and consistency. I'm starting to see results and that is encouraging. I'm going to quickly get caught up here. Forgive my poor editing.

Let's see...after the tri...

I wasn't sore. Not even a tiny bit. It was an hour and half of exercise. I did crash and take a nap when we got home, but then I was completely fine! 

Tues 7/2

I didn't want to take a day off Monday but decided I needed to whether I felt like it or not. Tuesday I was anxious to get back to the pool and have a consolation swim. I wanted to get back in the pool the same day of the tri to prove to myself I can in fact swim. But of course I didn't do that. The swim Tuesday was OK. From my log:

Did 10 x 50s. Times were around 1:13. Then did 5 x 100 really trying to breathe and turn my head properly. Did those around 2:38, but the last ones got faster 2:33.

It wasn't bad. In the evening we did yoga.

Wed 7/3

Did the 5:45 spinning class and then Ultimate in the evening. Before the game I did a lap around the park. Then I wore my GPS for the game to try to get an idea of how much I ran. It was just me and Laur, so I ended up running around 3 miles. :)  Some of that was walking and some was running.

Thur 7/4

Day off for the fourth. Awesome grill-out at the Gways and general relaxing time. Ian and Erika came into town and I had a good time talking with E about the upcoming tri. 

Fri 7/5

The plan was for Erika and I to go swimming! I was looking forward to have someone who knows something about swimming watch me and let me know if I am flailing like a person being attacked by a shark or look like I know half way what I'm doing. She had a few calls to do for work, so I set my bike up out on the back porch and cranked Pandora so I could have a little ride. Her calls ended early, so I only got a little more than a half hour in, but it was still something.

We met at the pool and walked right in without having to pay :)   It was crazy crowded. We were three in a lane at one point. Eventually we got to swim in a lane together. We did all kinds of things - freestyle, she taught me breast stroke, some kicking, etc. After that we went to Loveland for lunch at Paxtons and then to Montgomery Cyclery where she got some good bike shoes. It was a good swim.

Sat 7/6

4.2 mile run in the rain. It was gentle and cooling.

Sun 7/7

18 mile bike ride with Casey! It was awesome riding with someone again. We drafted and pulled. Averaged around 19 total. I couldn't pull very fast, I was really getting worn out! It was great. I just can't push by myself like that. This is what I need for the bike... I've been reading about how to split time up while training for a tri. There are many ways you can do it. One thing that was pointed out is that the longest part of a tri is on the bike. So, it just makes sense to gain your time there and be the best cyclist you can. I'm going to up my cycling days from 2 a week to 3. One will be spinning, and two will be on my bike - either a spin on the back porch or on the trail. At least one of those will be a long ride on the trail. 

Mon 7/8

Took the day off.

Tue 7/9

I was tired from work and decided to sleep until I had to get up for Lux. Then I swam at lunch, and this could have been the best happen-chance decision ever. I met Diane, a 55 year old woman who has been swimming for 32 years. She asked to share my lane. When she asked if I wanted to do sides or circles, that sparked into an entire conversation about how I don't know how to swim and how she has instructed people....... Long story short, she was immediately giving me instruction on everything. It. Was. Awesome. After I tried swimming thinking about all the pointers she gave me, I took 6 seconds off my 50 yd time without even trying. I know how I'm supposed to feel in the water now. I just need to practice. I'm so excited!!! There may be hope for me swimming yet.

Wed 7/10

Spinning was easy and intervals. I didn't wear my heart rate monitor, but it really felt too easy. I am not sure - maybe will have to start adding my own stuff in to what we do. We never progress and add gear. I think that is key to making it challenging.

And now I'm all caught up! Too long of an entry, but hopefully I'll be better about short updates going forward. There was just too much good stuff that's happened in this first part of July to not write it all down!

Oh My It's July! And My First Triathlon!

Well, it's been awhile! I have been super busy both with training, a race (yay!) and work. But I need to get an update on here before I lose my thoughts. It's been a critical time in training.

Sunday, June 30th I did my very first triathlon!! It was, in a nutshell, awesome. There were some lessons learned, and clearly I wasn't "race fit", but it didn't matter. It was fun.

I got there pretty early. I hate panicking about time. Oh wait; first I should back up and say that first I got into my tri suit. That is a feat in itself. And of course I had to pee twice after being in the suit, so I got to get into it for a total of three times :)

Back to the race site. It was a nice setup. I racked my bike near the exit, in the middle. Soon after that I saw Holly who I used to work with at Lux. It was really nice seeing a friendly face. After setting up my stuff, and mentally reviewing everything to make sure it was all perfectly placed, I went to the bathroom (trip #2) and then hung out with Greg, drinking water and listening to the peppy dance music blaring from the speakers. I didn't want to get tired, which is something that happens to me after I've been up for a little while. So I moved around and swung my legs and stretched.

Soon the speakers were announcing for the women to head to the pool area. We headed over and queued up by how fast we thought we'd swim. I was toward the back. I saw Holly again and she was wet! I didn't realize we were allowed to warm up in the pool. Looking back, that may have saved me from having to learn my big lesson of the day the hard way.

The line was slow to move, which gave me plenty of time to be nervous. Someone mentioned how we have to hoist ourselves out of the water at the end and that made me nervous. I was SO NERVOUS. I didn't even realize how nervous I was until the next day. As it became my turn, I stood on the matt and chatted with the man who was spacing us out 3 - 5 seconds each. Then he told me I could go. I jumped in and my breath was taken away. I think it was the cold, though I also remember it not being that cold. Then I tried to swim, except I just couldn't. Instead, my chest heaved back and forth spastically and I was hyperventilating! Crazy. I panicked, my eyes growing wide. What was going on? Why couldn't I swim. I stuck my head in the water and tried to go, except my chest did its own thing, quickly pumping back and forth, making me take in water. I switched to the side-stroke. I was bewildered and confused and not happy. I felt like a loser in the swim (there were some people walking in the pool. WALKING. And I didn't want to be associated with these "non-swimmers" who weren't even trying. I was trying, trying hard. But I just couldn't swing it. I side-stroked my heart out and probably made about the same time as I would have free-style.

As I climbed out of the water, which wasn't bad like I thought it'd be, I heard Greg say "the worst part is over, Steph." Those were the truest words. I couldn't believe how the swim went. My head was spinning with bewilderment as I trotted to the bike. But I had made it at least.

Bike! My favorite part! I was so happy to get on my bike. I threw on my shoes without socks and trotted out to the mounting line. Then I started an easy spin out of the park. When on the road, I tried to pick it up. But my breathing was still crazy. I climbed a steep hill and then kept climbing for quite a bit as the course wound around the back side of a golf course. It wasn't until the second lap that I could focus and get faster. My cyclometer is off, so my pace wasn't showing accurately. I ended up averaging 19.5 mph, but thought I only did 16. Not bad for only a couple times on the bike!

Back in transition again, I found my feet were wet still, and it was hard to get my socks on for the run. Slow transition, but I jogged out and took some water. On the bike I managed one Gu, but couldn't stomach another. I was wondering if I'd conk out on the run. I started slow and steady. I have been reading about taking the first 10 minutes to get in a rhythm, so that's what I tried. Slowly increasing my effort. I picked people off left and right, which was kinda fun.

I could see Holly up ahead, but didn't think I'd catch her. I knew we were about the same running pace. However, about half way through I noticed the gap was closing. So I decided to try to speed up and get her. I waited until I wasn't on a hill and then went by, saying a breathless "hey Holly!"  She said she was wondering when I'd catch her ;)

At the end, I felt like a rock star. It didn't matter that I was finishing back of the pack and slow (turns out it was more mid-pack...that's right. ME. MID PACK.)  I was sooooo happy with myself. I loved being in my little race bubble zone, pushing...hurting...figuring things out, etc.

Triathlon is different from duathlon. And it's different from the marathon. Despite the terrible swim, I really really enjoyed it and I can't wait to do another one! I'd like to do another one before September, so I can get in the water and be comfortable swimming in open water.