This past week, back at it....

Last Sunday I hit the day with a good steady swim and a smaller hilly bike ride. After Saturdays longer brick I thought I felt good enough for a smaller one on Sunday. This week I felt good health wise and inshape wise. Hour goal for the week was 7 hours and I knew I could hit that, but I couldn’t get lazy!!! Schedule had me at 3 doubles this week with a long bike on Saturday. I was looking forward to getting to my Friday day off from training. Mostly glad this week for getting my swimming back on track with hitting 2.21 miles for the week. Also, yesterdays bike ride.

About yesterdays bike ride, I just have to say, I love my bike George. I’ve been having some issues with getting a new race bike for this years races and that will be one entry when it finally gets resolved. However, for all the full carbon bikes and compacts and this and that for the new bikes that I’ve been trying, nothing has felt as good as my ol’ George ,1200 Trek w/ an aluminum frame. I went out yesterday and hit the hills hard! Going from the house up to Blue Ridge and over Crown Hill down to Golden Gardens then out to Fremont and across the Fremont Bridge to the SPU college and straight up Queen Anne then around to Dravus ave. and out over to do a loop around the Mag to the Disco. Back down from the Disco to the downtown area of Magnolia and finally back up to the Disco. Were I met AK and Penny for a quick walk with the Penster after she did a lap at the Disco with AK.
Here's a pic of Penny taking in the views of Discovery...

All in all a great ride!! George handled the hills fine and what great weather!!!
I’d like to thank Team Cannoli for helping Eileen out Saturday when she was lost on her bike ride in their neck of the woods. She called and my phone was dying, but I got a call out in time to TK and Shell to help her out. Thanks!

Week Totals…..

3 Swim - 2.21 miles for 1:32 hours
3 Bike – 41.5 miles for 2:40 hours
2 Run – 8.4 miles for 1:20 hours
2 Other for 1:28 hours

10 workouts for 7:01 hours - Hit goal hours for the week"Sweet"

AK
5 runs for 22 miles

Penny – ruff
4 runs for 10 miles – WOW! She has more miles than me!!! – but she does have four legs??!!??

Once more with feeling....

Let’s try that again….2 weeks ago

2 bikes 39.25 miles for 2:55 minutes
3 runs 12.83 miles for 1:33 minutes
1 other for 30 minutes

6 workouts for 5:01 hours, hit total hour goal, sick first part of the week. Had a good bike and a run on Saturday to make up for the lack luster week of training. Went out with Eileen to Seward Park, easy ride for us, we kept it pretty slow. Which was great because I was only riding fast enough to be left behind by a few minutes. After getting back home I felt pretty good so I changed into running gear and hit the road for 3 miles. Pushed the run a bit to make up for the bad week with a ave. of 7:18 per mile. No swims this week, Arrg!

What this week has....

Weeks Totals –

Swim – 2 for 1.26 miles 1 hour
Bike - 2 for 50.5 miles 3:33 hours – Sundays ride was 3 parts: 5, 32, 5.5
Run – 2 for 11.79 miles 1.31 hours – easy week
Other – 1 for 25 minutes
Total – 7 workouts for 6.52 hours *Goal hit for hours of training.

AK Totals

Run 5 for 20 miles – Nice work!!!
Core 7 for 2:10 hours

This week was a good look into the time needed to spend on the bike to get back up to speed. I laid off the run because of the Chilly last Sunday, but feel back to about 90% on my running. Saturdays run however had the worst hamstring cramps I’ve experienced in over two years, although they feel fine this morning. This with Mercer coming up next weekend is a sign that I may have to lay off the running again this week. I want to compare this 10k time with the 10k at Nookachamps. If I can finish close to 43 minutes without feeling as wasted and out of shape as I did at Nookachamps, that would be the goal Also, with those two times I can set a training speed and race goal for the 10k in the Olympic distance. For the 5k in sprints I was surprisingly only about 10 sec per mile off from regular 5k pace.

Goals this week for training and planning-

Training goal this week is 7 hours with three “2 a days” I get the new bike fitted this Tuesday and can start training with him by mid week – SWEET!
Planning, I have to figure out what placement in the water I should start out in. By ranking I’m in the top 20% , but at the start of a race I usually wait about 5-10 seconds after the start gun to follow the pack. Then about half way start passing people and in the last ¼ really using a lot of energy to get around people.



I do this of course because swimming in a pack is one of the scariest things I’ve ever been through. Feet kicking you in the face, inhaling water, arms hitting your shoulders, inhaling water and hands grabbing your legs and feet. All while you’re inhaling water, screaming to yourself in your head, at least you hope it’s in your head, ‘don’t panic, don’t panic!!!’. So for this I wait at the start for a few seconds and swim to the back left side. However, this week I’m going to study where in the water I should be, in the front or stay where I’ve been. I feel so much stronger in my swim this year than last with form and strength. Also, in overall time and distance in the pool. Last year I only did about 20 minutes per workout in the pool and about 15 minutes in open water. So far my pool time is about 5x a week what it was last year and I’m covering almost 3x the distance per workout.
- Here's a picture of my and Shell coming out of the water on the above mentioned tri at Issaquah ....

Turning point..

I was thinking the other day, actually during the Nookachamps race, when the course ran between two cattle barns, how I got to this point. The smell of wet manure and tractor exhaust filling the lungs, always takes me right back to the ranch I grow up on. I started thinking of how far from there the roads have reached and all that’s happened since growing up there. I was mostly thinking of this because it was the crest of the first big hill and I needed to cover the thought of ‘just walk, just walk, just walk’. I guess it goes back to AK running Kona, way back in the day and I tagged along just to keep her company. Our first couple of runs from the house to the local PCC and back, I think that was a round trip of 2.2 miles. Along that time we raced in our first event at a YMCA 5K that TK and Shell belonged to. I think I did 29:58, dying and out of breath. I believe also that was when I realized I had asthma, funny how that just jumped up out of nowhere.

That was 5(?) years ago maybe? Hard to tell, I guess I could dig through old run journals or better yet look through the pile of race shirts. I really can’t imagine what road I’d be on or how much more of the couch I’d take up if AK wasn’t brave enough to take the first steps to Kona way back when. It’s funny how the smallest gestures or decisions can completely change your course and reinvent what you thought you could do.

This year my goals are just out of reach from last years goals and that’s the thing that keeps me moving from one workout to the next. Just like my first time snowboarding. I had such a blast because I had this mantra in my head of ‘ I’m not suppose to be good at this ‘, and I have to keep that mantra to some extent this season in training. I’m not use to this extra 25%-30% increase in workouts, but then again I’m not suppose to be, but I will. I read on another blog this girl said about herself, ’I was in amazing shape last season, but that shape won’t survive this years races’. And I couldn’t agree with her more…..

This weeks totals…

3 runs – 11.05 miles
3 swims – 1.94 miles
1 core – 30 mintues

Was feeling a bit run down and with everyone at work dropping like flies I took it a little easy.

AK
5 runs – 16 miles (sweet!)

HELLO 2008!!!!!!

We've been waiting for 2008 to get here and get 2007 over with and out of our system. We both finished up last year with 400 miles ea, down a bit from last year and the year before. AK due to injury and myself due to focusing on the bike and swim more. Also, leading into 2007 I completely burned myself out on running, at the worst possible time. 5 weeks before the Phoenix RNR Marathon. I only ran my long runs and one three mile run in between each week. Crossing the 25 mile mark I had the mantra "1.2 and no running for 2 " (months) I lasted about 6 weeks and got back up and running when I needed to start training for the up coming tri's. Last years events rocked, I placed higher than the year before and could see and feel the training pay off. I placed 11th overall in the Federal Way sprint and nailed the Kirkland tri course. Kirkland was my "A" race and I hit my goal of placing in the top 100 and doing the bike course in under 40 minutes - "SWEET!" I had AK there cheering me on through T1 and T2. The bike leg was probably the highlight of my 2007 events. "George and I (my bike) threw everything we had at it and geared perfectly through all the turns and grades, just about redlining to the crest of every hill then cranking it up for the big downhills, no rest, tuck and pedal. Had to be the best ever so far....

The goals for this year are pretty simple:

• Be a better runner instead of a lazy one
• Train and make it through two Olympic distance triathlons
  
• Really enjoy the local support of the running and triathlon community
  
• Push past all the standards I've set for myself

Well gotta run, can't start off this new year sitting around in my PJ's till noon. Oops, well then at least not until one......