A bust

Swam Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Even ran one of those days. Was doing pretty good then Thursday completely crashed. The long work day killed me and now on Monday still recovering. Went to the doctor on Saturday and go antibiotics for a sinus infection. Proceeded to cough all Saturday night and was exhausted and had a horrible headache all day Sunday. Starting to feel better Monday but still going to take it easy. Hopefully Tuesday will go good!

12-7 thru 12-13

Wed.- Pilates. This was the start to my week of feeling off. Work led me to be late to class. Running everywhere. Class wasn't as hard as the week before. Probably won't like this class much in a few weeks. I think I ran at noon on the treadmill. It was a great run.

Thursday

Did the swim workout you gave me. Felt good. I like the short pool sometimes. A 50 meter pool is way longer than a 25 yard pool if you get what I mean.

Friday

Again hectic. Ran on the treadmill before Oula. Went to Oula but left a little early to get to the Masters Christmas party and was even late for that.

Sat. Have started to come down with another cold. Ran some Christmas errands and then skate skied up Bozeman Creek. Went to the bridge which is about 5 miles in. Tried to blow out the system on some of the steeper uphills. Fast coming down. Was fun. No so much of an adventure, but better than nothing.

Sun.

Master's swim. Swim was good, got in ~2800 in the practice. Got worked hard. I am the slow one in the lane and chase people around. Think it is better to have the people than swim in the next slower lane that doesn't have the fun people. If I get in their draft I can keep up. Not feeling good later though. Chilled and achy. Hung out with our Korean friends in town. Then went home and stayed there. Didn't get the ride in.

Too hectic of a week. Need to be better organized and not do social stuff every night. Also, I think work suffers. I like to do my job well.

11-29 thru 12-6

Tuesday
Swimming with Master's. They kicked my ass. Boy was I humbled. That hurt really bad.

Wed.-
Went on an easy 30 minute run at lunch. Felt good.
Went to pilates. My first class ever. It was pretty hard. There was never much of a break. I had the hardest part with the breathing. In yoga you breath in on the up and out on the down. With pilates it is opposite. Good for the core though. I like.
Massage- Good, got reprimaned for not stretching, but apparantly my body is feeling healthier than it ever has before. I guess this break is doing the body good.

Thursday
Master's swim- Was much better than Tuesday!! Lots of stroke work. My shoulders are tired. Didn't get in the weights. Can't remember why now, but I think it was a good excuse.

Friday
It was cold and dark out after work. Not motivated at all to go run on icy trails. Got talked into going to the gym for Oula. It was a blast. Lots of dancing. Ended up being over an hour of lots of movement. I think it would be fun to do a Jazzercise revival as an event. Everybody has to come in little leotards with leg warmers and belts. Funny!

Sat.
Megan and I decided to try out Hyalite on our touring skis. There was a lot of snow up there. We had a great time touring around. We were probably out for 3-4 hours.
Legs tired after skiing. Also, had to use my arms a lot. Arms tired too.

Sunday
Master's- Cut it short. Met up with the fam to get a Christmas tree. Skipped on the gym this day too. Had a good time tromping around in the woods with my Dad though. He is really really good at finding the perfect tree.

Monday- Long work day made me miss the MSU pool. Am going to Master's instead. Maybe balance out being a slacker yesterday.

Off season catch up

Cyclocross single speed worlds

What a fun trip!! I was sick for almost a week going into the trip so hadn't ridden the bike, run, or swam for at least five days. I hadn't even ridden my cross bike with the gear it was to be single speed in before I had to pack it up and mail it. I was still sick for the trip, but on the up and up so took a lot of drugs and made it through. We stayed in the Haight Ashbury district. Within walking/riding distance to the entire weekends events. Even went to a party at the bike shop where we shipped our bikes and met Gary Fisher.

Sat.- An amazing tour of the city. 3-4 hour ride visiting all the sites including 5 extra hard efforts.

Sun.- Race!!! My 100% racing is what I would normally ride at 70%. Just didn't have the get up and go. Had fun though. Got some dollars. Drank some beer. Finished 20. The race was awesome. The course was muddy and the people were great. Not to mention the costumes.

Mon-Wed.- Didn't get anything done. With travel and work I wasn't very productive.

Thursday- Got in a nice hour long run before Thanksgiving feast.

Friday- Went on a hike with everybody in the Jewel Basin. Pretty uneventful and probably only a little over an hour. Ran down. Quads sore.

Sat. - Went to The Wave and got in some swimming. Swam a little over 2000. Felt really good. Flip turns are getting better. Went down the waterslide. Soaked in the hottub. Fun afternoon at the pool!!

Went out in Whitefish. Dancing at the Great Northern. Didn''t get home until early.

Sunday- Tired from the late evening. Drove back from Kalispell. Found sweet place to eat on Flathead Lake right outside of Big Fork.

Monday- Hmmm. Swim and run?

Off week

Monday:
Hiked with the dogs up Drinking Horse Mountain. Feeling pretty wasted from the weekend.

Tuesday:
It was cold tonight. Walked the dogs for about 30 minutes. Went home and mopped the floor and cleaned house in preparation for dins on Wed.

Wednesday
Rode down to the park for a game of capture the flag. Had the whole Wednesday night crew over for Bulgogi. Good post season celebration.

Thursday
Went to the hot springs with Erik. Walked the dogs a little.

Friday
Huge work day. Walked the dogs after work. Went to lecture and out to Plonk for drinks with work people.

Saturday
Ran/hiked to second hump on the way to Baldy with John C. It was snowing and cold, but a nice workout. Legs were not happy about a downhill run, still sore a few days later. Got some lateral movement in too. Butt is pretty sore.

Sunday
Swam- Did a good warm up, some drills, and a good cool down. Swam ~2000. Felt good. Arms too sore to shovel snow after though.

Monday
Little run on the trails around town.

Final Cross week!!

Monday
Swam a 1500. Felt really good. Kind of missing the pool. Ran at lunch. It was so nice outside!

Tuesday
Went to the GAS skills practice. We ended up playing capture the flag until it was very dark. It was a fun little game. I really think these practices have helped improve my bike handling. Was freezing cold out and our toes and fingers were numb, but rallied and put on my running shoes and got in 20 minutes.

Wed.
Crazy day at work! Gave 90 mice bone marrow transplants. Got out on a ride ~530. Got in a good warm up then went over to the GAS practice. They were doing their thing so I did mine. It started getting dark on the last few 10 on 20 off. I couldn't see very well. Hard to do hard efforts when it is dark.

Thursday
Ran at lunch. It was nice out and fun to be on the trails for a little bit. Did the ride on the trainer. Didn't want to, but with MuleCross organization didn't have time to get out before it got dark. Rode for an hour.

Friday
Got out of work a little early and went down to the MuleCross course. Rode a few laps and called it good. Had lots of work to do for the race.

Sat.
Got up early and got down to the venue. Got the kids race lined out and went home to put on my costume. Did the kids race. Barely had time to eat a little and get warmed up for our race. Nobody else did either, so okay. Didn't have the heart to not race hard. Felt really good and was right on Lisas tail for 3 or so laps. Anna was on my tail, but I was able to ride the big hill and she wasn't. Kept gapping her there. With 1/2 lap to go I came up to Mariah Morgan, a junior. I sort of stalled on a corner to let Mariah get around and Anna cut me off on the inside. I thought it was a little dirty (she did recognize that and apologized, but still). I kind of lost heart after that or thought, well I will just save my energy for tomorrow. Ended up in 3rd. Felt really good for this race.

Sun.
Was ready to race. Like you said. Last Chance to Dance. It was hard to warm up and ride the course. Only got 1 pieced together lap of the course before race start. The course had a big burm in it that we rode/ran over 3 times. One of the ride overs was a slight drop off but had a nice landing. Took a few tries and some guts to get over it the first time. Did it and was fine. There was also a B line, but didn't even ride it once. Got a good start and was riding the first lap with Lisa and Lindsy. On lap 2 passed Lindsy, but was then pulling her, Anna, and Ingrid around. On lap 3 we were still all together. On a little barrier section somebody hit their bike on mine and my chain dropped below the chain guard. It is hard to get back on and it took me a few seconds. Those 3 girls were gone. The course was really long and we only had two laps left. I tried to ride as hard as I could to finish up the race, but it was challenging. With nobody around I had nothing to really ride for.

Kind of a disappointing end to the season. Really felt like I had peaked for this weekend. Was riding within my limit and staying pretty close to Lisa. I would have liked to see how Sundays race would have played out. I think I could have given Anna a run for her money. It's okay though, thats cross. Had a great season doing it. Now, I want that SSCXW tattoo. Just kidding.

Week of Thunder!!

Tuesday
Went to the GAS skills practice. We did some fun games. You go on a mini course and try to pass people or not get passed. It was good. Worked on cornering and blocking (sounds dirty). Didn't put to much of an effort in.

Wed.
Got a nice warmup in then went to the park and tried to do the workout with everybody. It didn't work so well. They had a different agenda. I just stayed at the park and finished my stuff then went home. They went to the BMX track and then the Fairgrounds. MuleCross meeting at our house this night.

Thursday
Did a 20 minute noon run. It was sunny and warm. Felt nice to get out at lunch and see the fall colors in town.
Rode the CX bike at the MuleCross course for a couple of hours, with lots of stopping. Kept it easy, but practiced the pump track part and corners.

Friday
Rode around with the Curry's and Erik. Did some starts and a 5 minute blowout. Kept it easy other than that.

Sat.
Race Day
Prepped well. Didn't bring enough food and then got trapped at the course. Thanks to Brooke Smuts for the bagel and Matthew for the banana.
Feel good about the race. Lindsy cut my off at the start and I totally brake checked everybody else. Good for Lindsy, bad for me. Those girls were gone without me even seeing them. The tight corners and weird trails were difficult for me to navigate. Felt like my bike handling was off. Had to take advantage of my sprinting power and accelerate hard out of all the corners. Was a difficult race mentally because Lizzy English was on my tail the whole entire time. At one point the MC said I was the prey and she the predator. Ugh. I partly wanted to just let her go by. I didn't though and think I am developing some mental toughness this year. The last lap on the run-up there was this cluster fuck of 3 Cat4's and Lizzie and me. She got around me there and then the Cat 4's were getting in my way. I rode like mad to get back on her tail and almost took Jen out on the last little downhill to the trail. Got around the corner and I knew I could sprint. That line came fast though. It was tough.
Feel good about how I rode and glad I stayed on the podium with a sprint finish. Lizzie won the most aggressive prize which was a lot more money though. Makes me think..... Nevermind.

Sunday
Everybody was racing. I didn't. Feel like I got a lot of shit for it. Oh well. Did a nice ride. Found Blue Mountain and did a little loop. Rode back by the river. The colors were soooo nice. I really like Missoula. It has a lot more pockets of coolness than Bozeman.

Monday
Swam at lunch.
Am going to do a little run after work.
Had to change up the order- had something to do from 5-6.

10-6-11 thru 10-12-11

Wed.- Did the prescribed workout with the rest of the GAS team. We did 2 efforts up Story Hill. One took about 15 minutes. The other took about 10 minutes. I kept it at the prescribed pace. There isn't much around here that is a 20 minute hill/effort. Then went to the venue where the State Championship race will be. John had mapped out a route where there were lots of corners. The effort was probably more like 5 minutes. Did this 3 times. Having a hard time getting in the entire workout before it gets dark. Rode home in the dark.

Thursday
Did the run in the am. Felt good.
Was raining in the pm. Rode the TT bike on the trainer. Made plans for a beer with Jamie so that got cut a little short. Rode only about an hour. Did core for 30 minutes.

Friday
Was tired this am. Didn't make it out on the run. Weather was pretty crappy and raining all day. Erik, John, and Lisa motivated for a ride after work. Felt fine riding in the rain once I got warmed up. Have a little issue with the mt bike. Don't have a cassette for it. So haven't been able to ride it. Should I buy one, or can I get by on the cross bike?

Sat.
Felt really good in warm up. Raced hard! Worked harder than in any other race this year. Lindsy was working me. Gained on her but never caught her. 16 or so women in the cat 1,2,3 field and came in 5th. Fun race, good course, and good people. Spun around for at least 30 minutes.

Sun.
Felt like my skills were pretty bad warming up. There were tight corners all over the course. Once grassy section with little turns. Exactly what we practiced on Wed. Didn't feel especially spunky though. Got a good start and it took a while for Kris Walker to pass. I thought she was Lindsy and would accelerate to not let her pass. About half a lap in she was gone. Then Lindsy passed. Put in a lot of effort to stay on her tail, then spent a lap regrouping and catching my breath. Keep going out too hard to sustain. Maybe lap 5 on a straight away I had caught up to Lindsy. I went for it and blew by her. Had to work to get rid of her but did. Good mental battle won today. Also finished 4th. Amanda Riley-Carey=1, Lisa=2, and Kris Walker=3. Tough field. Course today was fun. Worked really hard to accelerate hard out of all the corners. Wed. practice really payed off.

Note: My lower back has been hurting, usually the last two laps of a race, and at practice the other day doing the cornering and accelerating. Thoughts?

Still not sure what race I want to do better at. Both? I am pretty sure I will be disappointed if I don't give it a go at the State Championship. Have hometown advantage.


Mon.
Swim!

9/29/11 thru 10/5/11

Thursday

Got out on the road, but rode the cross bike. Rode 1:30 but kept it very easy. Saw a orange tabby kitten. Bricked to a 30 minute run and did core. No comments here. My Achilles pain seems to be going away.

Friday

Got up in the morning and did a short run and the stretched. Felt really good. I am really tight in the hip area. Met up with Lisa after work and rode over to the course. Rode some of what they had already set up then rode up to Alex's for his birthday party. Up there, they set up a surprise cyclocross course in his back yard. Rode that lap a couple of times. Kept it easy.

Sat.

Not feeling too spunky to race today, but got over there pretty early and got in a good warm up. Practiced riding different lines of the course and dialed most of it in. The grassy corners where the barriers were I didn't ride enough though. Race-had a good start and lead up on top of the hill. Then got passed by everybody. Ugh. After resetting and and a little moral discussion in my head got back in the groove again. Passed Megan pretty fast and saw Lindsy speed up when she got close to Amy. Then passed Amy. Takes an untrained Amy for me to beat her. Had Lindsy in my sites the whole race but never caught her. I really think I need to work on mentally wanting to win, or at least pass her. Part of me doesn't want t deal with the suffering that will follow a Lindsy pass. My weakness on the course was probably the grassy turns. Didn't have much speed getting around the corners.

Sunday

Felt really good this morning. Again, got a good warm up. Practiced the grassy corners and found some good lines. Again, got a good start. Let Lisa get in front of me. Maybe I shouldn't do that. She said we had a gap on everybody else. Should have tried harder to stay on her wheel. She was so fast though, just gone. Then everybody passed me again. Had to re-group on lap 2 because I was a little demoralized. Stayed so close to Lindsy until lap 6. Got demoralized again. Then had a good lap 7. Not sure what part of the course I lost time on for this race, the trail around the lake was tougher today and was always dying by the last corner. Could not stay on Lindsy's wheel on that trail, I stood up to keep on her wheel and my legs just died. It seems like short bursty efforts are too much for me. Can't keep going.

(a little wordy here. Trying to figure out what I think are my weaknesses)

Monday

Swam- 1500. Felt good to be in the water. Felt pretty good all day. Legs weren't especially tired. After swim though, I was done for. Slept good.

Tuesday

9/22/11 thru 9/27/11

Wednesday
Went on the GAS training ride. We 1) rode around the trees for a while 2) went to Pete's hill and rode down the trail and rode up the hill for two laps and ran up the hill for two laps. Then we rode this single track on Pete's that I have never known about and progressed over to Sourdough Ridge road. The ride over was pretty hard. I got a flat so the others rode and ran laps while I fixed it. At Sourdough Ridge we did 5-1 minute+ as hard as you can up the steep hill. Raced John on the last one and got a good climb in. I had a huge headstart. Felt like we dinked around for a while, but was pretty tired the next day. Riding in a group can make the suffering more enjoyable.

Thursday
Had a nice run and then did some core/weights in the yard. Mostly squats, lunges, pushups, and core. Am going to try and do weights at the gym. Want some more arm stuff than just pushups.

Friday
Good ride. Went with John, Lisa, and Erik over to the fairgrounds and rode around while John plotted the course for the GAS race. Good place to go. Good easy skills practice. Finished off on the BMX track trying to pump around the track. Couldn't pump that far, but got fairly high on the burm.

Sat.
Worked on cross bike so wanted to ride it to make sure it was functioning. Got a stomach ache/cramp/heartburn on the way home. Miserable. Had to stop and lay down in the shade a couple of times. I don't think Gatorade sits well with me. The sugar is to much.

Sunday
Super excited to race. Decided I need to have the same attitude for cross that I had for the triathlon season. Very positive and fun. Some of those other girls can be the biggest head cases and I honestly don't really understand why. I am going to go out and race my hardest at every race and enjoy it!
Race was fine. I rode as hard as I could except when I let Lindsy go. For some reason I felt bad sitting on her wheel. Like it was not the right thing to do. Feel I am in the right place though. Anna, Lisa, and Lindsy are all really cyclocross focused. Felt good keeping at least Lindsy in my sites. I wouldn't mind winning a race though, or at least being on the podium. This racing scene is hard!

Monday
Run on the new trail at Pete's and go to the gym for weights! Focused week this week!

9/13/11 thru 9/21/11

Tuesday

Found a good place for doing these. I tried on the grass a couple of times, but it wasn't very smooth. The road is a slight uphill into Lindley park. It ends in the cemetery which made me chuckle since John used to ride there last year and asked us if we thought it was morally okay to ride in a cemetery. These were tough. At about 50 seconds my legs would just die. I did all 8. The long recovery helped.

Wed.

Rode around town for an hour and went home to get measured. Of course Paul didn't show up. Went down to the 100 acre park for some more practice. Took Erik and Ben with me. The wind was blowing and the sun going down. We ended up not riding for soo long. Did ride around and practice some skills though.

Thursday

Ran after work. Nice solid run on the trails in town. Did some good post run strength and core.

Friday

Tired all day, and it was raining, but stopped by 4:30 or so. Did the intervals. Have done these before on Story Hill. Makes for a good hard climb. Pushed all of these pretty dang hard. was thinking a lot about my form and really focused on getting forward momentum. Felt like it made me faster. Tried pushing even harder in a few places, felt like a surge. Would usually have to back off a little. On the 3rd one I pushed really hard on part of the hill this is flatter and I usually use to recover a bit. It didn't work. Burnt out my legs and was dead for the next few minutes. Didn't get as far as the 2nd interval. Had some good practice at what is too much and at staying within my limits so I don't blow up.

Sat.

Run in the am. Nice and easy.

Oops. Mountain bike has no rear cassette. Found this out after I got all the way out to Leverich. Put it back in the car and went and got my cross bike. Did two laps at Leverich on the cross bike instead. One switchback is pretty steep and long. It kind of undulates. Don't have a lot of gears on the cross bike. Just one front chainring. So had to stand up on all the little rollers. It was hard. The first lap I was definitely not looking forward to the second lap. Coming down was fun. I find it sort of funny that all these pushers ride that downhill. Obviously you don't need that big of a bike for that trail. Anyway, the second lap was sooo much easier than the first. Each lap took about an hour.

Sun.

Went out on a ride with Ben. Rode from the house over and up some of Triple Tree. Then up Bozeman Creek. Ben showed me a nice single track I didn't know about before. Finished off with a ride down Leverich and back home. Total time was about 4 hours. Lots of climbing and quick descents.

Feel like this was a very training focused weekend. Was actually pretty pooped every evening. I tried to put a lot into each day.

Mon.

Feeling pretty tired and sore today. The ride was also kind of a flop. I planned to meet a friend for dinner. Perfect timing. Got home got on the bike and it started raining. Went home. Switched the cassette from one wheel to another to at least warm up on the trainer. Took me a while. Got on the trainer. Rode for 15 to 20 minutes. Then it stopped raining. Went outside and did the 4 intervals. Got home to leave for dinner. Total time was probably more like :45 minutes. My lower back was really tired and sore on the bike today. Probably from cranking up Leverich on the cross bike.

Skipped the core workout. OOps.

9/7/11 thru 9/14/11

Wed.
Did the GAS training ride. It was really pretty tough. We rode up to the top of Story Hill which took about 15 minutes of hard effort, then we rode down the trail. The rocks were big and the trail not very smooth. Could feel my wheels whacking the rocks. We re-grouped at the bottom and rode over and up the dump road. The road is a series of steep uphills followed by some small down hills. Went all out on the uphills. Then we did 4 laps at the hour of power hell hill. It really is a cool loop. As you go round and round you can watch the sun set. I always expect a bear to walk out of the trees there too. On the way home I got a flat. Huge nail wedged in my wheel. Matthew stayed with me and helped fix it. Finished ride at the Holiday Inn lounge to attend a Mule Cross planning meeting. Pretty tired from ride.
Feel a little bit out of shape. All the long distance stuff hasn't been helping me with the short punchy stuff.

Thursday
Went home after work and ran. Then did yoga with a focus on core for 30 minutes. Went to meeting. At meeting brought up pool issues. Had a good talk with the aquatics director and got an email from Bob Wade the next day wanting to add the pool problems to the agenda next month. Glad to get the ball rolling.

Friday
Rode after work. Spent a little time fixing my back tire. Finally got the tire on myself. Makes me feel better. Need to get a new hand pump. Rode around town on the trails. Practiced mounting and dismounting and doing it with some speed. Feel like I jump on my bike too hard. Need to be smoother. Tuesday night is skills night, can maybe get some more tips.

Sat.
Drove to Plentywood. Mom and Grandma dropped me off at the farm about 25 miles outside of Plentywood. I had brought a Montana atlas so I had a great map of all the roads. That area is filled with dirt farmroads. Pretty cool. Found an unimproved road that I was riding almost waste deep in grass with pheasants flying up all around me. Did the intervals and it was a good thing because if I had ridden any slower the sun would have been down. Rode 2.5 hours total. Really love the riding up there. Rolling hills not up or down like it is here. Watched the almost full moon come up as the sun set. Decided it would be cool to ride from there to Bozeman with a Montana atlas going one page at a time.
Also had some discussion in my head about my cyclocross focus. Got a better and more positive vision than I have had. Can just see those girls falling behind. Its all about having a vision and a goal right?

Sun.
Ran around town in the morning. Found their swimming pool. Nice little town. Lots of campgrounds.
Got dropped off the the farm again. This time I had a different route that didn't involve the highway. It was also a little later, so I knew I would be riding in the dark. Spent probably a good :45 to an hour in the dark under the full moon. Saw a porcupine. Rode pretty hard just to get to town faster. Also, in Plentywood when somebody says thats just 3/4 mile extra they really mean 3-6 miles extra. Good ride. Probably more like 3 hours this day.

Monday
Did not get the big ride in. Left later and got home around 8:30. Did go for a 30 minute run and did some lifting and core for about 30 minutes. Can we plan on the hard ride tonight? Maybe not do the GAS ride tomorrow, or have low expectations? I see the hard/easy plan and I kind of messed it up.
Also, Paul Taylor wants to measure me for a bike. Might be his sponsored ride. We'll see though. Want to go and get measured tonight. Excited!

Side note: Not going anywhere this weekend. Need a break. The month of October is packed with travel.

Lots of good things this week. Got my motivation back to get out there and train and race. Excited to focus on cross for a little while.

8/25/11 thru 8/30/11

Wednesday
Felt pretty crappy. Didn't actually do anything. Usually I do try and push it. Decided not to this time. Kind of an experiment.

Thursday
Pool drama. Outdoor pool closed due to mechanical problem. Was going to OWS but my boss at the last minute asked if I would babysit. How do you turn your boss down? Was feeling better but still kind of crappy and not too excited about the long weekend. Ended up riding over to his house and doing about 10 minutes of core. Very distracting having a 2.5 month year old to care for.

Friday
Got up bright and early on Friday to get a 7am start. Felt good. My little cold was definitely going away. Maybe it is good for me to really rest up when I get sick instead of always trying to do a little something. I think I need to experiment a little more with this. We got out and ran at Grand Coulee for 40 minutes. Jamie is teaching me how to swim so wanted pointers for running. We did some strides. It was hot. We were definitely sweating when we got done.

Sat.
Rode 92 miles of the course. Jamie did about 35 and turned around so I was by myself for a while. I felt a little isolated on the other side of the mountain and it was hot. There was a 10 mile out and back that I skipped. On Monday we drove that way so that Jamie could see the course and drove the out and back. Somebody was telling me it messes with your head, so I definitely wanted to see it. The ride was pretty tough. The climb going back towards Penticton was a grunt and on tired legs. So glad I rode it though. If the weather next year is that hot it will definitely mean taking care of myself better.
Some notes that I don't want to forget about.
-Lots of electorolytes. More than at home. I was just sweating and sweating. Was even having some stomach cramping which usually never happens. Went away after I kept drinking
-Wheels- I don't think a disc or even 808 deep dish wheels are good for that course. Those downhills are curvy and fast. Even without much wind and my normal training wheels I was getting blown around a lot. 404 on front an back and maybe an 808 on back. I might just go for light with all that climbing.
- don't wear black. All those people in black looked like they were melting.
- keep eating. There got to be a point of time at our aid station where people were not looking good and not interested in food. They all said it sounds terrible. Sounds like a terrible downward spiral to me. Eat to fuel not to taste.

Sun.
Up early to see the start. It wasn't as crazy as CDA. The people on the far edge from the buoys waded for a long time before making way. The water was way warmer than CDA and not as choppy. I like this race already. After the swimmers were out we swam. It was soo fun. Then we did a little run. Found this canal you can float down, from one lake to the next. I know what I am doing the day after the race next year. We ran around buying wine, checking out hotels and other accomodations for next year, trying to eat, get a pass for us to drive to the aid station on the run course, driving there, volunteered for 5 hours, went back to watch the finish, grabbed some food again. It was a very long and exhausting day. It seemed like the race start was 3 days before. Pretty cool though. I was having some devestation envy and Jamie was going through some sign up doubts. Pretty emotional day for both of us.

Monday
Got in line and signed up. Have no doubts that I am ready to do this. Jamie signed up even though as we were walking there she told me no. Lawrence and Carrie also signed up online right away. I already have three training partners one of which will be living in San Diego. Can't wait for spring training camp in San Diego.
Talked with Jamie (who is an amazing swimmer, will probably do it in 55 minutes) about swimming. Am really going to get after working on technique. She is a Total Immersion student, which I knew nothing about, and apparantly there is a woman in MT that coaches through total immersion. Am going to get videos and look through books and work on technique and then hopefully Helenita can come and do a clinic in Bozeman and give me some pointers. It is pretty cool to watch Jamie swim. She is so fluid and fast.

Tuesday
Got home after 1am last night and in to work ~8:30. Pretty tires but will try to get the ride and swim in. The last race of the season is coming up here and I need to start getting psyched for it. Don't feel like I have a very good feel for how to pace this race though. I can't go as hard as I did on the sprint, but I don't want to hold back too much either.

8-16-11 thru 8-23-11

Tuesday
Went home after work and did the run 7x3 minute intervals at a 10k pace. It started out easy enough, but by the last one I was glad it was the last one. Barely made it through. Then went to swimming. Got in 3000!

Wed.
Got a late start on the workout. Went to the pond to run on the trails over there. Saw a beautiful sunset. In the pond parking lot did lots of squats, pushups, lunges, plank etc. for about 25 minutes. The sun went down and Mr. Creepy was sitting in a car near me.

Thursday
Swam in the morning. Easy swimming. Mostly drills and warm up. Got in 1800.
Got in a good bike workout. Went to Story Hill, but it was closed. Ended up doing the workout going up Sourdough. 7X4 minute intervals at 40K pace.

Friday
Blew off the run. Soo tired from getting home late from wedding and huge work day. Went to Livingston with parents for dinner instead.

Sat.
Swim workout- I was suprised I could almost swim across the pond in 3 minutes. That workout was hard.
Bike- easy bike for 1 hour. Felt good. Haven't been on TT bike in a while. I really like it.
Run- easy 30 minute run. Felt good. Achilles still sore, gets better after warmed up.

Sun.
Ended up doing a big mtn bike ride. Left the house early was were riding by 9. It was me, Erik, John, Lisa, and Ben H. Long climb (2hrs) up Portal Creek. Long descent down to Porcupine Creek. Really pretty crossed a waterfall in the canyon. Long Climb up Buck Ridge ~3hours with stop for storm to go over- got to top of Buck Ridge and the storm was getting worse. I was feeling a little crabby at this point though. My legs were not so happy about turning over going up those steep hills. We decided to turn back around and ride down what we had come up. Kind of a bummer I think the trail up there would have been really cool. Total ride time was probably 6:30 and we were out and about for 8. The ride was about 40 miles, and I'm not sure what the elevation gain was. Farthest and longest I've ever been on a mtn bike. Had burgers and beer in Big Sky and made it home at a reasonable hour. What a beautiful day...

Monday
Going to yoga!

8/10-8/16

Wed.

Good workout. Bike was a little longer. Rode for an hour and went to park for skills then rode home. Ran. Did the lifting. Realized most of my effective skills practice comes from racing. Have been really enjoying dedicating time to this. Practiced jumping off and on, riding in sand, riding and off camber trail, and running up a hill and mounting

Thursday

Did the run after work before swimming. Wasn't as easy as it should have been. It felt really good to open up and run a little faster. It didn't feel good at first though. My legs felt like stumps for the first 20 minutes.

Swim- An old coach was visiting. Her workouts are pretty fun. We did a good warm up then dove off the blocks a bunch. Then did a lot of kicking drills. The point was to burn out the legs. Yes they were burnt. Maybe not the prescribed yardage, but a good hard workout. The next day my stomach muscles hurt so bad I had to take ibuprofen. Means I am using my core.

Have been getting some great swimming tips from a good swimmer at Masters and from that old coach. Some stuff I can work on to improve my form.

Friday

Took the mt bike up S. Cottonwood. Wanted to try the new back tire that I got before racing on it. Nice ride. Tried to take it easy. The climbing there isn't too steep. Bike felt good.

Sat.

Race day- Got there a little late for my liking but got in a pretty good warm up. I was definitely huffing and puffing before the start. Didn't really have the best race. Started out in the back because I was chatting when the gun went off and was in the wrong gear and couldn't get into pedal. Got on the single track and a cub crossed the trail in front of me. Pretty cool. I was very excited and sat there for a minute not sure what to do. I wanted to warn the two girls behind me but didn't see mama and got a little freaked out. Turns out Frank Gonzalas almost hit the cub and came in between it and the mama. Crazy. Then Josh Crutcher almost his a moose with a calf.

Anyway, the course is a lot of pretty steep climbing and I guess I just haven't been cranking my bike that hard. There was maybe one gear that didn't make noise. I though I might break the chain. The front derailer has always rubbed so I tried to keep it in that noise but it made it annoying to shift into different gears. The cassette is maybe loose or just toast. Very distracting. Then I just didn't really have it on the climbs. My legs would load up way before my breathing became the hindrance. We should talk about this. I feel like this is how I keep feeling on hard hard efforts. Just want to know what you think. The leg workout on Thursday probably didn't help. I definitely felt better on the 2nd lap though and could have gone and done another one. The downhill was pretty steep and my breaks just don't work well. Definitely would love a new bike, or at least some disc breaks.

Ended up winning. Had no idea until awards. There was only one other girl in my category though. Got a helmet and some other great stuff from the raffle. Running shorts, headphones, 3 new shirts, some kids riding gloves. That race is great just because of the raffle.

Didn't feel too devastated after the race but went to bed early.

Sun.

Met Jamie (the good Masters swimmer) at the pond. She looks like a fish. I look like a flailing non swimming creature. We swam pretty consistently for over 30 minutes. Then headed over to the M for some trail running. Wanted to see another bear and there have been sightings in the area. The trail is pretty steep getting out but we did good and ran most of it. Ran harder on the way back but it was downhill so not sure how effective that was. Ran for a little over 80 minutes.

Came home and did some yoga with a lot of focus on leg. arm, and core strength. Erik went on epic mt bike adventure with John and Lisa. Am having a little devastation envy. Can I have an epic next weekend? Even a long trail run would be awesome. Miss it. Feeling soft.

7-27-11 thru 8/2/11

Thanks for not letting me off the hook with my lack of organization. This week was better. Did all the workouts. I am not going to write up every day but here are a few side notes and comments.

1- got new handlebars and stem for the cross bike. Much better and the handlebars are noticably lighter. Now I need a new front tire. Ate it last week navigating some slippery dry grass.
2- All the speed/pacing workouts were awesome. I felt like I had a handle on how fast to go. The track workout seemed to work. My run was faster than expected. Did the bike interval workout on the course last week which was very helpful.
3-Achilles not getting better. Going to massage guy tonight and am really going to focus on healing from today on!!
4-Have a friend in Bozeman who is doing IM Canada next year too. Can she get in touch with you about coaching? There may be a couple more interested if they get in IM Canada too.
5- Erik did well at Butte 100. Finished 30 minutes faster and felt way better than last year.

Race report:
Friday and Saturday were pretty crazy. I was definitely tired on Sunday. Hoping my legs weren't though. Got in a good warm up. Broke a sweat which helps a lot. Got some fast wheels from Alan so was hoping the bike would be fast. I really wanted to dig deep on this race. I feel like all season (in the long races) I held back and still had some at the end. Wanted to give it everything. So I swam hard. Thought I was going to puke a couple of times. I think it payed off. I feel like my swim time was good and I was out of the water ahead of a lot of people, not the middle of the pack like usual. The legs hurt on the bike right off the bat. Didn't feel like I had a very good bike. Never settled in. The legs were loaded the whole time too. Maybe I went out too fast, maybe that is where I should have been, but it hurt! I did beat Holly Walkers time by almost 1 minute. Give me a longer race and I could catch her. The run hurt as well, especially at the beginning. This isn't a suprise though. Just kept trying to get my legs to turn over and focus on form to keep them going over efficiently. Speed was 7:35. Came in 2nd behind Holly Walker (who was first overall) and in front of this other woman I never thought I could beat. So I was happy with the race. The swim and run went well this time with the bike not being so great. Gave it my all though can't be unhappy with that!

This was a qualifying race for the Best of the US. Do you know anything about it?

I also won the grand prize of the raffle. 750$ towards a triathlon adventure. Thinking of doing something really fun with it, or it will be used for IM Canada and I will buy some wheels. The fun adventure sounds better. What are some good international races?

7-19-11 thru 7-26-11

I'd like to preface this with I feel like a little bit of a slacker. Have not been feeling bad or making effort if a workout gets missed. I think with all the IM training it was also a lot about organization which took some energy and I have been letting it go a little.

Also, this weekend is the Tritons triathlons. I am racing sunday but also helping most of the day Sat. and Friday evening. Then if Erik does the Butte 1oo I will head over there to pick him up Sat. evening. Hence my above statement.

Wed.
Thursday run. 4x20sec stides and 3x2:30 at 5k effort. Felt good. Achilles still stiff. Need to get on doing more about it though!


Thursday
TTT!!! Had a really good time. Thought I was going to puke for the first time in a long time. Got in the groove on the way out and really hammered it on the way back. Gave the last 1/4 everything I had! Good effort. Decided to bag the swim when we got back to the pond. Hungry!!!

Friday
Oops! Late night on Thursday meant no early morning. Left for Missoula at 5. Didn't get in until 830. Lots of road construction. Can I find any more excuses for why I didn't get that run in?

Sat.
Rode a lap on the course with Erik. Rode very slowly. Descended on foot even slower. Scary!
Went to Splash Montana with Brook, Griffin and Rachel. They played and hung out. I swam. That was such a cool place. I could have stayed there all day. Missed Lisa's race because of it. Love the outdoor long pool. No indicators on the bottom though for how far you have gone. Love the slided and lazy river even more!!
Went back and watched John race. What a cool event!

Sun.
Rode all over the place. Some really fun descents!! Lots of climbing. We were all a little bonky from the beginning (not enough food the day before). Rode about 4 hours and called it a day. Got some ice cream. What a fun day!! Thanks for the water.

Monday
Going over to the track to do the run then to gym to focus on the weights. Then the mall to buy some costumes for volunteers this weekend. It's hot hear today but cloudy which helps.

7-13-2011 thru 7-19-11

Tuesday
Swim- tried to get in 3000. Worked pretty diligently at staying at swimming for the 1.5 hours. Got in almost 3000. Swim was good though. Shelli was there with her stop watches keeping us on track.

Wed.
Ran at lunch. Just ran for 30 minutes.
Tried to dust off the cross bike, but it was going to take a little more than that. No pedals, not rims with a rear cassette, tires somewhere. Needed Erik's help and he ditched me for a long mt bike ride. Rode the mt bike around on town trails instead. Had an epiphany. I think my stem is too short. My hands naturally like to reach a little farther. Hopefully can get that changed soon.

Thursday
Had a meeting at 7. The weather was really threatening to rain so I set up on the trainer. The intervals are good on the trainer, except I did want to practice on the sprint course. Did the prescribed workout.

Friday
Had a huge work day. Didn't get the run done in the am. After work got my cross bike all squared away. New pedals everything. The bike is now ready to roll. Ran and lifted after that. The lifting was just a few things -pushups, tricep dips, some yoga, squats, and lunges. No weight. No jumping etc. Then did some core. Legs felt very very heavy on the run. Feel more beat that when IM training was in full swing. Think the Tour de Bozeman was a little too much.

Sat.
Got up early to swim with the Women Who Tri group that have been training for the sprint race. Art, Carrie, Lawrence and I met them and swam. We swam a little longer to get in the required 40 minutes. So nice to swim in that nasty pond with other people. I think we all had a really good time.
Went and got coffee with them and then did the ride. Carrie bailed on us. Says we go too fast. Rode for 2 hours with Art and Lawrence. We want to do the Team TT this Thursday together if that can be on the training schedule. It is a 20k.
So sore all day. My arms hurt and I feel like an old lady trying to get up from a chair. Those little weights hurt.
Weed wacked our lot. Don't think that helped my arms.

Sun.
Ooops. The 3.5 hour ride became a 5 hour ride. Did the Bangrail Divide. I think around 30 miles. Lots and lots of good climbing and lots of cool tree sections with banked turns. Great ride, beautiful day, good company.

Monday
Going to yoga.

2011 IM CDA race report- a work in progress

This might be very long. I really want to get down everything about the week and about the race that I was thinking about and felt etc. I think it is something I will want to be able to look back to.





Week leading up to race.


We left on Thursday to drive out to CDA. It was uneventful. Tried to keep hydrated and keep eating. Went on a short ride out shoreline drive with Erik and rode up Government Way for a little while. Went out for dinner with the fam that night and ate a 2nd dinner when I got home. The chicken parmesan wasn't very big.


Friday was athlete check in and meanered around the expo a little. Watched the pro panel discussion. The wind was blowing and it was cold. Bought a neoprene cap for swimming. Art and I got in the water together for about 20 minutes. The water was very cold and really choppy from the wind. I was thinking OMG, but was trying not to let it get to me. I had to do the swim so why waste energy worrying about it. I think my parents were worried because my Dad decided to by me some neoprene booties except that Blue Seventy was all out. I called a store in Spokane and they drove over and picked them up for me. In hindsight I think it was very smart of me to wear everything I could for that swim. Was shivering out of the water, but went home put on my running clothes and went for a little run. Legs felt good which was encouraging and got warmed up. We went and drove some of the bike course so I could show my parents where we would be riding. My Mom was making me anxious by telling me "wow this is really long you are going to ride all of this and twice". When we got back they went to eat Mexican which I didn't think was good for me and Art and I went to the end of the dinner and the athlete meeting. This race was strange. If Art, Carrie, and Lawrence hadn't been there I would have had no idea what was going on with gear bags and special needs bags. They spend all this time talking about race violations and drafting but don't say and after the swim you run and grab your bag and then go to the changing tent and then go to your bike. It was kind of confusing. Anyway, the banquet was good and I was feeling strangely calm except the swim part.





Saturday was busy getting my wheels on and riding the bike around. There was something strange with the hub and I had to take it back and have them double check it a couple of times. Everything was fine, but it took some time. I then got all my stuff packed up and dropped it off. A little anxious when everybody else had these huge bags full of stuff and mine were pretty small. What the heck did they have in there? Went and ate some lunch and got coffee with Erik and went back to the house. Ate some more, got my stuff ready for the morning, Lawrence and Carrie were there and Anna and Jared stopped by so we were up later than I had planned. It probably didn't matter anyway. After I turned the ligth off the anxiety set it. It was interesting to think that there were probably 2800 other people in CDA that night doing the same thing.





Race morning


Got up and ate my usual breakfast. Got a bottle of accelerade to sip on. Got the rest of my stuff on and headed over the the race. Got in the bike area and got my bike ready. Got body marked and dropped off special needs bags and I was set. Stood by the tent with the timing mat and watched the pros start. Only 40 people to swim with. I want to do that. I was getting nervous and Erik. Oh sweet Erik goes "Wow I am jealous, you are going to have one epic day" I thought he is so right. This is going to one epic day and I am going to enjoy it fully. After that I was just excited to be out there and doing this really cool thing!! I went down on the beach and put in my earplugs and had some quiet time to myself for a little while. I set myself right up on the right side of the bouy about 6 people back. Lawrence and Carrie said there would be a few rows of people that would just take off and then another group and were more slow to get in. I tried to be with that group. I got in and tried to dunk first to get the cold water on my face and in my suit. Then I went for it. Right off the bat everything was fine. Then all of a sudden there were people everywhere. I swear there was no water between the bodies. As I was trying to stay afloat I could not catch my breath. Now that I look back I think it was the cold water had taken my breath away. I rolled on to my back a couple of times, but just kept getting mouthfuls of water. I seriously though I was going to drown. I even looked around for a boat or something, but there were just too many people. I know that if I could just swim I would be able to breath. And then the water opened up a little and I was able to swim. Then I started gagging and eventually puked in the water. I felt bad for the person behind me. Thought that was a bad breakfast choice, but it was probably from the motion or the little panic attack or something. Then thought, well Elliot told me I would have some bad moments in the swim that sure isn't what I was expecting. But Art also told me to expect the unexpected so it made for a very vivid memory. Then rounding the first bouy was the 2nd most terrifying moment of my life. The people were as packed as before and I got sucked in and swung around. Because of all the people I panicked a little and my calves seized up. Crap I thought. Finally got to swimming again and got a cramping to go away, but my calves were pretty sore for the rest of the day. The rest of the swim was great. I felt good stayed away from people for the most part and tried to enjoy it! Came out of the water definitely not feeling like I do when I swim that distance in the pool and right on my planned time. Yeah!

Got into transition and changed. Wanted to wear compression socks but they took forever to put on. My hands were freezing and my legs all cramped up. Got some help finally and was off.

The first probably 15 miles on the bike were pretty cold and my legs were really cramped. All I could do was spin them and kept hoping they would warm up. I set my timer and tried to not get caught up in all the bikes whizzing past. The think one of the best tips from you Elliot was to feel like I was holding back for the first two hours. I definitely did, but then I had energy for the second lap. I ate on schedule and drank as much as I could with electrolytes. Really stuck to the plan. Was a little amused seeing people cranking up the hills standing up and in their big chain ring. On the second lap I was definitely getting tired of being aero. A little uncomfortable and tired. Was actually really glad that the hills showed up. I like hills. Can get in a different position etc. Came into town and kind of sat up a little on that little out and back to enjoy the end of the bike. My trusty stead did well. I was definitely happy and not deleriously tired. Ready for the run.

Got into the transiton and out quick. Art was ahead of me on the whole bike. I passed him in the transition. Got some sunscreen because I missed that before the bike and was off.

Legs actually felt ok and I was running. This was the big unknown for me. Would I be able to do this run? On the bike I held back and on the run I held back. I didn't want to lose it. Kept the feet moving. As I ran by the house by the lake looked for the rocks shaped like Idaho like Carrie said. Didn't see anything but it made me smile. Took was and gels at the aid stations but didn't stop just kept running. There was one aid station I gave myself before the race permission to walk through. I went through it 4 times so walked through it 4 times. Had to use the outhouse, but that wasn't unexpected. At that aid station I got lots of water and food and kept going. The inspiration station and this other girl out there playing music and cheering us on was motivating. Ran up the hill both times. Put my head down the 2nd time and ran on the little path on the side and kept thinking this isn't very steep not like running the M. It actually hurt worse to stop and walk and start up again than to keep running. At mile 20 I thought holy shit. I just ran 20 miles. It wasn't like a marathon at all where that is a wall. It was actually very motivating. Still kept holding back though. Thought what is going to happen in the next few miles.

Turned the corner to the finish line and that race is pretty cool. That finish line and that finish chute down Sherman really lets you take it all in. Got pretty emotional at the top but couldn't breath so pulled it back together. Ran pretty slow to enjoy the moment. Then crossed the line.

Wow, did it in 11:40. Had no idea if that was doable. But with your coaching and advice Elliot I had it to just keep running. My other best marathon time was 4:04 and this was 4:11. I am pretty happy. What an amazing day. Actually what an amazing journey and really race day was just icing on the cake. It seems so unimaginable to do the race when looking at it untrained and from the outside, but it was completely doable.

6-14-11 thru 6-21-11

Tuesday 6-14
Swam the 4300. Went early and started before Masters swim. Did the 3 1000s and it went pretty well. I love Masters swim. It is sometimes more like my social hour than a workout. Did a little 30 minute run afterwards. Felt good except my calves were feeling really tight.

Wed.
Bad weather and crazy day at work. Forgot to do something so was pushed back 3 hours. Boss had a baby and it has been hard to keep it together at the lab without him. Went home and did bike workout on trainer. Got distacted by guy selling magazines at the door. Ran back to work to finish and then ran home. Late night. Running at 930. Feel okay. Calves are a little tight.

Thursday
Swim- went well. I think I have a touch of OCD. Plated 25 sets of plates at work and timed myself. Takes 2 minutes/set. Then had to go swim 25 laps which takes 2 minutes/lap. Pretty mentally beat up after today.

Friday
Achilles is hurting. Took the day off. Am in a total funk today. Tired. Went home and took a 2.5 hour lap.

Sat.
Achilles is still hurting. Swam in pond for an hour. Didn't run. Taking ibuprofen and icing achilles. Still in a funk. Tired.

Sunday
Slept in and feeling a little less in a funk. Did the 3.5 hour ride. Legs tired. Tried to go on run but Achilles still hurt. Iced and took more Ibuprofen.

Monday
Got up and ran in the morning. Achilles hurt for a little bit but went away after I got warmed up. Body felt weird until I got warmed up. Rest of run felt pretty good.

In general I have been in a total funk since Thursday evening or Friday morning. Is this normal? Please tell me I should be feeling great again by the weekend.

Also -nutrition on the run- I think I am going to carry a bottle, I am still deciding. I feel like I always have this burden running. Lots of clothes or food etc. I think I would be happy running without anything. I will probably have some stuff to stick in my pockets though.

Week of 6-8-11 thru 6-14-11

Wed.
Got up in the morning and did the run. Uneventful. The weather was a little windy and after I got done the wind really picked up. Glad I ran early.
Rode the trainer. It was either windy or raining or both. Spun out for 90 minutes. Didn't get started until 8pm. Had to go and buy a baby shower gift for Heather.

Thursday
Swam. Got in and got it done. Felt good and went by pretty quick. Didn't get home until late because of Rec. and Parks meeting.

Friday
Had to get to work early for an experiment and so we would have time to take Heather to lunch for her baby shower. Had to stay late at work to run samples. Then the machine broke. Stayed until 7pm with Josh trying to get machine to work. Totally beat and totally blew off the whole workout today. Exhausting week just planning that baby shower.

Sat.
Kind of got a late start. Did the White Sulpher Springs loop with a little out and back to Two Dot. Beautiful ride and didn't get rained on despite the weather brewing all around. Had a ride time of 6 hours and 110 miles of biking. Did it with Erik and lost the pump so when he got a flat I rode back to car. Didn't do run because I was worried about it getting dark on him. Did I say we got a late start. Got back to car at 8:45. Good ride though. No nagging pain other than what I guess would be fatigue from riding. Climbed some good CDA like hills.

Sun.
Rode around and dropped off coke and pretzels at a couple of stops on running route. Rode for about and hour. Got off and ran. Ran 2 hours. Didn't get so lucky with the rain but it wasn't so bad. Was pretty tired from the ride. Legs tired. Got a massage afterwards. Worked on my sore legs. Matt said there wasn't much going on in my back like I had before. Makes me happy.

Mon.
Went to pool thinking lap swim was 6-830. Apparantly they started summer hours and close early at 7pm. It was already 615 so blew off swim. Why would you close earlier in the summer? Weird. Anyway, can swim tomorrow. Masters will go until 830. I can start early and swim my own thing at Masters. Went home and rode for an hour or so. Did core for 20 minutes. Didn't want to do Tuesdays hard workout on these tired legs.

Oliver Race Report

The Okanagan Valley is beautiful and it was so much fun to take a trip to a new place. I got my Mom to go along with and we had a blast.

The day before the race was busy with the little swim, a ride, packet pickup, bike check in, and the race meeting. It was fun to swim in open water. First of the year and the course was very pretty. I rode and hour and rode up the one big hill to have an idea of how that was. We ate some early dinner and hung out at the hotel for the evening.

Race morning. I still wasn't freaking out. Felt very comfortable to do this race. Got to the transition and spent a lot of time in the bathroom line then went to check the air pressure on my tires. The pump wouldn't work and all the air on the rear wheel was gone. Crap. Luckily the Bike Barn was there and they filled my tire for me. The people in Canada were so nice. Even got a couple little packs of sunscreen.

Got over to the beach which was about 1/2km away. STart was fine. Did I mention the people were nice. This lady kind of cut me off in the swim and she apologized. In the swim!! I did notice myself losing focus on the swim and sort of forgetting to swim fast. I would just be swimming easy along. Then I would redirect and go faster again. Got out in my normal swim time. No suprise there, but I definitely wasn't all that tired. Could have kept swimming.

Made the long run over to the transition. Put on the compression socks (which took a minute) and headed out on the bike. For the first lap and little loop I focused on eating regulary and keeping a nice steady pace. Not too much extra effort up the hills and not coast downhill. Felt really good. Had a few annoying guys that were drafting that kept trying to pass me. Finally got rid of them. This is mean but there was this one guy witha muffin top, but he was way faster on the run. I kept thinking oh there goes muffin top again. Anyway, after the first lap I evaluated my time and decided I really needed to go faster the second lap so I pushed a lot harder. It felt good so I just kept going. Came in at 2:39. My PR and that is with the extra few miles. I was soo happy coming in for the run.

Got through transition fast and started the run. Kept it slow at first because it was getting hot and I didn't want to crack. On the second lap though I felt so good I picked it up. Took a sponge gel and water at aid stations and just kept cruising. The aid stations were so well stocked and had little kids saying "do you want a pretzel". So cute. Sweet. Was even smilingat the end I felt so good.

Finished 5:16 something. My best time and the course was longer. Also, I just felt great the whole time. Super happy with everything.

Went to a great winery after eating and cleaning up. It felt like Italy up there.

Thanks Elliot for suggesting the race. The people were awesome. The course was great. The race was so well done. I think that is the best half I have ever done.

Yeah!!

5/17 thru 5/24

Tuesday
Did the long swim. Can't really say much about it. Felt good. Always happy to go a little further on the swim.

Wed.
Skipped the run because I felt like I was up all night coughing. Also had a busy work day and didn't have time to leave during the day.

Did the ride on the rollers. It was windy out and seemed like it was going to rain. Wanted to keep my lungs healthy. Intervals on the rollers seems almost more effective anyway. Otherwise I feel like I just go back and forth on a road somewhere outside. I felt strong on the ride. Hip/butt didn't hurt.

Thursday
Masters swim. Stayed for almost the whole workout. Did lots of other strokes. My back was tired the next day, but it felt good to use other muscles. Definitely feel my swim endurance has improved.

Friday
Raining. Ran on the treamill for 40 minutes. Tried to stay off my feet today. Resting up for the big weekend.

Sat.
Had to wait until noon for the pool to open to do the swim. The water at the pool felt really warm. I think they lowered it for the meet last weekend and raised it again. Felt like it took some life out of me. Got the workout done, but was more spent from it than I have been.

Run- Ran 2:30 after eating some lunch and sitting around for a while. Felt good for most of it. Kind of tired in general after the swim. I want to talk more about run nutrition. Should I carry some food with me or rely on aid stations? Ran up and down lots of hills. The best you can do in Bozeman. Incorporated some trails and roads. The weather cleared up in the late afternoon. It was nice.

Sun.
Went to YNP with Art, Amy C, and Erik. Rode from Mammoth to Old Faithful and back. Ride was 103 miles and took almost exactly 6 hours of ride time. We rode pretty hard. Had an average of 19.9 on the way home. It was more downhill that way. Lots of ups and downs though. Good for CDA. Saw a mama grizzly and 2 cubs and a bison on the road with her baby. The weather was great. Great Great day!!!! Did a 30 minute post ride run. Legs and body feeling especially tired after this weekend. May need some recovery time. Feeling a little beat up. Also, what are your thoughts on rear cassette size for CDA?

5-11 thru 5-17

Tuesday
Got up in the morning and did the run. Felt good. Legs were there. It had been raining and got to run in a break in the rain which was nice.
Rode mountain bike around town trails. Checked out houses and found some new trails. Saw a very large bird. Blue heron maybe? Rode 1:30.

Wed.
Long ride. It was a good day. Rode a little longer than prescribed because I kind of got stuck a few times and had to backtrack. Started getting a pain in my right hip. Massage guy definitely thinks it is muscular. A stabilizing muscle that is getting called on when my legs get tired. Ate some extra food and still felt good while running. A little sideache but it went away.

Thursday
Easy swim. More like social hour at Masters swim. Got some good core and stretching in before though. Felt really good in the pool, but woke up in the middle of the night with my back just hurting. Had to take ibuprofen to get it to go away.

Friday
Easy run. ugh. Legs very heavy not wanting to turnover. Very tired today. Need to eat more the day after a long ride.
Easy swim- not swimming too hard. Back and shoulder are really sore. Got massage and Matt really worked on my shoulder. Lots of trigger points in there. Gave me more exercises and stretches to do.

Sat.
Met up with people for this ride. Yeah. Ride didn't really go as planned because the wind was so crazy. It was either a crazy crosswind, headwind, or tailwind. It was hard to even focus on race pace with such a fast tailwind and downhill. Ride was good though. Lots of climbing to get to Battle Ridge and back. Ride time was about 5 hours.

Sun.
Still crazy wind so run didn't go as planned either. Also, in Bozeman it is hard to go up and down. It seems like it is all either up or down. Ran up Hyalite. Was going to turn around at the half way point, but got so close to the top had to finish. Run was about 2:45. Ran hard down. Especially the last 3 miles.
Thoughts on compression? I have some socks I wear after a big ride or in the car before a race. I wore them yesterday on the run and felt really good. Maybe the socks helped.

5-3-11through 5-10-11

Tuesday- Easier day after long ride Monday. Ran during lunch. Legs felt much better than I thought they would.
Rode the mt bike in the evening. Rode on town trails and up by my parents house where there are some hills. Got hugry so stopped at my parents for a snack. Was cold and windy when I got home.

Wed.
Morning swim- was cut a little short because of badly posted pool hours. Got this taken care of though. Swim felt good.
Run- Probably ate too soon before run. Haven't been doing post work runs and I forgot how my body doesn't like them. Had to put in headphones so I wouldn't hear my sloshy stomach. Did the intervals and even though they were tough felt better doing them than running slow. Stomach feels really off. Maybe from Mondays ride.

Thursday
Body and mind are feeling like crap. Sooo tired today. Had to do some soul searching to find the motivation for the ride. Then the ride was fine. Did the intervals but cut the warm up and cool down down a bit. Definitely having some motivational issues going on this week.

Friday
Feeling groovy again. Swim after work was good. Feel like swimming a 1500 is cake.

Sat.
Big swim. Got in and got it done. The first two 500's were harder than the last three. Swam each at about 10:20. Sure hope I can get out of the water at 1:30. Watched the live streaming of IMSG and can't believe those pros can swim it in 50 minutes. Felt good today so did the ride and the run. The sun was out and got to wear no sleeves!!!

Sun.
Rainy day. Nowhere in the state without cloud cover. Put the long ride off. Went to the pool instead. Swam a 2500 in a not so easy workout. Went home to ride rollers, but got interupted by mother in law. Hopefully can take Wed. off to ride.

4/26/11 through 5/3/11

Tuesday
Got up in the morning and ran. Seems to work better some days than going at lunch
Rode in the evening at the Computrainer workout. Didn't go too hard and finished off with the Ironman course video.

Wed.
Swam in the morning.
Ran in the evening. Stomach not so hot. Amazing what a port o potty would have done. Why are they never there when you need them. Legs hurting on run. Need new shoes!!

Thursday
Babysitting Jack and Ruby this evening. Got ride in at lunch. Did 9 of the 12 intervals on the TT bike out in the wind. Was pretty tired that evening from this ride.

Friday
After work swim. Massage with Matt after that. Worked on my back. Gave me some excercises to do and am going to try some bilateral breathing when I swim.

Sat.
Long swim. Got it done. The longest swim ever!!!! Felt very giddy and excited afterward. Bought some new shoes and wore them on the run. Felt much better. Run was great. Lots of hills. Up and down.

Sun.
Masters swim in the am for ~ 1 hour. Am going to ride tomorrow so ran some errands. Took a nap. Feeling tired from yesterday. Then going on a run and doing some core/weights.

4-14 through 4-26

Wednesday of First week
Got up in the morning and rode the rollers. Jaimee was in town with her new little baby Rose so I wanted to see her. Went to Masters swim for about and hour and got out. Had dinner with Jaimee and Cassie and Colombos. Feeling especially tired.

Thursday
Had a meeting at 7 so the ride got cut a little short. Was more like 145. Did the intervals thought. Did the run with the intervals and felt good. Still feeling especially tired this week.

Friday
Work was huge and didn't get done until after 5. The pool was only open until 6 and then I made plans to see Jaimee but Rose was going to sleep at 630. So after so much agonizing skipped out on the pool. Still really tired and felt like it was a stressful week trying to see Jaimee, go the the meeting on Thursday night etc. Ready for the weekend and for the next week.

Sat.
Got up and went out to Lewis and Clark Caverns for the race. Signed up for the B race which was one lap then went out on an hour pre-race ride. Worked really hard in the race. Stayed with the pack up the hill and chased Anna down once. Maybe not very smart because I wasn't saving anything. Got dropped right before the downhill. Kind of glad I did. Rode easier back and there was a crash. Don't want to get caught in one of those. Then got out the TT bike and did another lap. The wind had picked up a lot and this lap was one to develop some mental toughness and finding of my happy place. Felt tired, but really good to finish the ride. 5+ hours and around 85 miles!!!


Sunday
Got the run in. Felt kind of tired near the end. Maybe needed more than one get for that time. Did a lot of it on pavement.
Swim- don't really remember. Must have been pretty uneventful. Think I need to work harder in the pool. Get over some fear of hurting and going far. Need to push myself more. Not afraid to go there on the bike. Why is it so hard in the pool.

Monday
Masters swim. Did lots of long distances. Felt really good. My bad week last week is turning around. Carrie gave me a new swimsuit so now I have something to wear for the Grizzly since my awesome Muleterro suit didn't get in on time.
Got a DVD from Amy with the Biggest Loser lady trainer. Wanted to do some of her core but could't get the DVD working. Maybe next time. Just did my own thing and some stretching for a while.

Tuesday
Run- Did the strides up and down a street by work. My shins and ankles were really sore for the next few days after these.
Ride- Went to Computrainer and did the workout with them. It was these 30 sec. intervals at varying levels above threshold with a long recovery between. Seemed very ineffective to me. Didn't give it my all on the intervals just kep the pedals going around and then on the recovery did some high cadence. Did my workout the 2nd hour after they all left. It was motivating to be riding with people for some of the ride. Got in a good workout and am still feeling great this week.

Wed.
Masters swim. Practiced flip turns and am keeping up with Dan and Tony. My new feeling of speed didn't show at the Grizzly. Wish my swim times were faster. Maybe my form is better so I am using less energy and can put that into the bike and run.

Thurs.
Run 30 min
Ride 130. Pretty uneventful. Nothing too hard.

Friday
Went to pool in the am. MSU had a student holiday and pool was closed. Ran for 20 minutes and used the weights with hardly any weight to target my arms and back. The best I could do without a swim.

Sat.
Race!!! Nervous before but Anna and Lisa showed up at the last minute to take my mind off of it. Last one out of the pool. I told you I have no shame. The bike was fun. Kept passing people all the way to the last corner. Lots of fast runners behind me. Needed as much time as possible. The run was good. Finished 7th. Happy with my time and place. Exceeded my goal of at least 10. Want to do even better next year.

Sun,
Tired from the weekend. Got up early Sat. to support Mary who was in the first heat. Went on a 3 hour ride with Erik. Wasn't very organized and didn't do so well with nutrition. Ate a Luna bar and drank acclerade. Stomach okay. Was pretty bonked and tired when we got home and totally missed the run. Should have double checked my plan before starting out. Went up some hills on the bike but probably should have done more.

Monday
Tired. Going to Master swim.

This next week

Tuesday: Had a big day at work so did the workouts after. Left work at 4 to get home and get things done. Ran outside for 45 minutes or so and did the 6X90 second strides. We should actually talk about what you mean by strides? Felt good to run fast and tried to really think about my form. Wish I was a faster runner, where is all the effort going? Rode the trainer when I got home. Rode for 1:30 and put it in some harder gears to imitate hills. Did them variable from short harder ones to longer easier ones. Wed. Rode the TT bike for the first time outside. Wow that was fun!!! Kind of missed that I had an actual workout. Think it was ok. Had a really strong headwind on the uphill and rode uphill all the way out of town. Masters swim- felt really strong, but maybe Tony and Dan were slow. Dan is a big guy and if I get into his draft I can keep up with them. It was a fun workout with lots of 400s and 300s alternating some IM strokes. Thursday Snowing today, so wasn't to motivated to run, so drove over to trail. It was actually really beautiful out and had a really nice run. Watched a lof of mallards hanging out in the snow. Spring snow is so different from winter snow. Rode the rollers after work. Lisa and John invited us over for dins so didn't ride for much more than an hour. Am having a hard time staying motivated on the trainer. Actually my trainer broke and I have been borrowing Rich's. Don't like the way it works. Would rather ride the rollers. Friday Swim after work. Like spending the time doing drills. Good for my swimming. Sat. The weather was somewhat uncooperative. Decided not to risk it and went to Computrainer. Carrie, Lawrence, and Jeff L. were there which was nice. Did the 3X30 minute intervals and maybe another 20 minute one trying to finish out the ride. Brought 3 bottles of Accelerade with 360 calories each (one for each hour). These fulfilled me. Ran right after for ~20 minutes and other than an orange flavored burp my stomach was just fine. Going to stick with Accelerade for the time being. Nutrition cost me 9$ for that ride. Am trying to get RH to carry the stuff so I can get a discount on it. This is an expensive sport. The accelerade had the suggested amount of sodium that I needed so didn't supplement with anything else. Might get some nodoz for caffeine. Sun. Breakfast with Jenny and her friends. That was fun and lasted a while. Then went and ran. The first 3 4 minute tempo parts were good, but I was pretty tired for the last one. Tripped going down a curb early in the run and now my ankle is pretty sore. Hurts to take my foot out of the bike pedal. Debated about riding outside and decided to go with it. Sooooo glad I did. The sun came out and the ride ended up being really nice. Maybe a little harder than you wanted but it was sooo nice out. Got a massage within an hour of the ride. Matt really worked my neck and shoulders which needed it. Turns out some whiplash from when I was 18 might be causing my back to be so sore. Felt really good afterwards and on Monday. Maybe Sun night is the day to get the massage. Matt is great because he is so flexible. Monday Nice morning communte. Will go to swimming this evening. The sun is out, but probably not for long.

3/29/11-4/5/11

Followed the training for the week. Didn't spin on Wed. after swimming, basically because I forgot, but had a good swim workout consisting of lots of dolphin kick for core, wall pushups, and wall squats. Stayed longer than 1 hour. Was very sore the next day. Rode on Thursday inside since I was still coughing a little. Swam on Friday and accidently skipped the core. Work was busy and we got in the car to head up to the Flathead. Sat. Race was shortened a little because of the muddy weather, but leave it to Matt Seeley to make us go over the one hill 3x. Stayed with the pack to the headwind muddy section. Caught a few wheels and powered through it. Ended up riding with Eli from Missoula. Helped each other in the windy sections and got pulled by some big dude for a while. Felt good because I had the extra umph to catch back on a wheel if I lost it. Usually this doesn't happen and I end up riding alone. The wind was strong and I didn't want to be alone. Eli was great. Learned a lot about racing just riding with him. About half way through the last lap started to feel I was bonking. Sucked down everything I had but didn't make it to the finish. About 3 miles from the end it was all I could do to still pedal. Finished the race though and won!!! Felt soo much better than when raced it last year. Time was 2:50. Sun. 1hour run. Started out slow but ended up doing some hills and finished pretty strong. Swim- the swim was pretty pathetic. My back was sooo sore from Sat. and it hurt to swim. Did the workout and got out. Monday Masters swim. Shelly was on top of it tonight and had her stopwatches going. Got in lots of 100's and 75's. Legs were dead and kicking was hard. Felt better than swimming on Sunday. Tuesday Big day at work. Might have to do the run and the ride after work. Can probably leave at 4 if I get in a 8. Ride in Yellowstone might happen next week instead of this weekend. The weather isn't looking good. I can take a day off though and if I need feel okay about taking some days off for other big training days. I think if I work it around big work days it will be fine with my boss.

3/15/11-3/22/11

Tuesday: Sick, stayed home all day. Barely left the couch.

Wed: Still sick. Stayed home. Went to the Mule clothing try on party. Ordered some new mule gear for this year. Came home and took it easy.

Thurs.
Felt better so got up and went in to work. Nothing huge at work today so still took it easy.
Went home and the weather seemed nice so went out on a ride with Erik. Just an hour of easy spinning. The cold wind was making me cough. This night my neck and head were very sore and tired. Maybe from coughing. My eyes hurt too.

Friday
Had to get up early for a big mouse day at work. Felt pretty crappy. Ughh. My neck and eyes hurt. Took some ibuprofen. Had a big day at work. Lots going on and helping the undergrad doesn't make it any easier. Skipped run becuase I didn't have time. Also didn't make time because I wasn't feeling great. Went and got another massage. Matt really worked my legs. I guess my IT band area is very very tight. Went home did some chores and went to bed. Erik and some of the other Mules were getting ready to leave for Clinton for the race the next day.

Sat.
Slept in. Made breakfast. Did some chores. Had a traumatic experience at the mouse house. Went on a run. Felt like crap. Everytime I had to go up a hill my whole body just revolted. Legs tired, cardio tired. Ran for ~an hour. Slow trot and some walking up hills. Not feeling good.

Rallied and jumped into pool for a little while. Did a warm up, some drills and got out. The moisture in the air was really good. Felt much better after swimming.

Had a nice evening with Megan L. Made dinner and chatted over a little wine and tea for a long time. Glad to have a chance to catch up with friends.

Sun.
Slept in. Still not feeling great. Nose will not stop being plugged up. Nose and lips are getting irritated. Keep using netty pot to clear out nose. The weather was a little cold and I really wanted to get outside to ride. Called Lisa and went to breakfast.
Around 3 rallied and went on a nice long ride by myself. The weather was good, but going into the wind I would start coughing. The same thing as running, going up hills my legs and cardio would revolt. Took the ride very easy though. Enjoyed the sights and was amazed at all the new building in the area despite this recession. The dirt roads are perfect right now. Not graded, just some slightly tacky dirt.

Came home and ate some spicy bone marrow soup. Really felt good in clearing out my sinuses. Thanks Erik for cooking.

Woke up again last night with neck very sore. Seems to be related to biking. Took some ibuprofen and went to work.

Note on health- Nose is still congested and coughing from the nasal drip. Body feeling tired still. Ugghh. Want to get over this cold. I keep wanting to be outside, but the cold air really makes me cough. Should maybe stick to some inside training for a while or not go out unless it is really warm. I don't think I am ready for a hard week to start on Wed.

3/9/11 to 3/15/11

Wed.
Ran during lunch. Felt good. Nice to be outside

PM- Masters swim- A Jordan workout. Lots of wall pushups, dolphin kick in the deep end, and sculling. My arms were pretty sore after this workout. Did core afterwards.

Thursday
A cold has come on. Feeling a little achy and my throat is a little sore. Wonder if I got it from Noah. Went to team trainer night and rode, just spun. Felt good to ride and drank lots of water.

Friday
Skipped out on the options and got a massage instead. Matt didn't work too hard because of the race and me being sick. Will go again next week.

Sat.
Race day- Not feeling 100%. Decided to just run at a good comfortable pace and not try and race. Susan had a cold too and some stomach problems so we ran together. It was a good solid run. We finished ~1:48. My results were all screwy but her pace was an 8:14. I will take that. The other thing was that I wanted to physically feel better that last year when I did this run. I definitely did! The inhaler is working.
We got drunk at the bar. It was a pretty fun afternoon. Drank lots of water and went to bed around 9pm.

Sun.
Beautiful day!! The Mules had a planned ride that I partook in. Took out the cross bike and did some dirt and pavement. Ride was about 3hours not including some of the stopping time. Tried to take it easy since my cold is still here.
PM- Ended up going to Masters swim instead of doing to swim workout. Couldn't get there early enough. The pool is though when I have a mildly sore throat. It makes it hurt worse. The workout was a long warmup some kicking and some fast 100s 50s and 25s. All free. Hope that was okay to deviate from the plan.

Monday
Still have a cold. I am thinking now that I need to take one of those easy weeks to get over this cold. Called in sick to work this morning. Probably tired from the big weekend and the cold. Will work this afternoon and see how I feel tonight for a swim. The gym closes at 7 so it will only be ~45 minutes.

Week of 3/1/11-3/8/11

Tuesday
Did the prescribed ride. Am starting to settle into the high cadence better. At first these were really though, now can spin pretty hard without getting too fatigued. Ride was pretty tought but not too imprinted on my mind so was probably okay.

Wed.
AM- Ran on the treadmill. The 10x30 sec. strides felt really good. It was fun to open up and run really fast. Kept upping the speed on the treadmill.

PM- Masters swim- lots of 50's and 100's. Then some 200s. Still can keep up on the shorter stuff but get behind on the 200s. The total yardage for the day was 3600. I thought it was a pretty solid swim.

Forgot the core workout. Was pretty set on food after the swim. Oops.

Thursday
AM-Ran hills outside in the morning. Can't stand the treadmill. If I have to ride inside at least I should run outside. Went over to Petes hill and ran up and down all the trails. Lots of hills. My legs wouldn't let me push it though. Tried to run fast, but couldn't. Lost track of time and run ended up being an hour.

PM- Group ride with Muleterro. Buck Mule did the workout with me which was nice. The workout was pretty hard. Was pretty famished by the time it was over. Glad for a rest day tomorrow.

Friday
Glad for day off. Ended having to give a poster and stand for a few hours anyway. Drove up to Whitefish after work.

Sat.
Forecast in Kalispell called for snow. Did the ride inside on the trainer with Noah (3 year old nephew) on his horse next to me. It was pretty cute. He ate a couple of shot blocks. This ride was pretty intense. The other ones have been a lot more mixed up. Rode pretty hard the whole time obviously. Noah would talk to me and I would have to tell him he needed to wait for 5 minutes before I could figure out what he was saying. Sweated a lot. Tried to drink lots of calories and water.

After ride went to The Wave. What a fancy facility! MSU gym seems pretty ghetto in comparison. Swam. I always dread these swims, but they go by faster than I expect and I felt really good. Tried to swim pretty hard this time too. Then I went down the waterslide. That was pretty fun. Got going soooo fast. It even scared me a little. Then sat in the hot tub and used to the jets to massage my IT band. Then went out and lifted and did core for a while. I think I go my moneys worth. That place is fun. Then went over the Taco del Sol for a fish burrito. Mmmmm.
Good day!!!!

Sunday
Beautiful sunny cold morning in the Flathead!!! Got out on a run and even got a little sunburn on my face. Sounds weird, but yeah!!! The run was good. More rolling than maybe you wanted. Did the 15 minutes at a faster pace and felt good. Could have gone a little longer. The roads were a little mucky so it was hard to find footing without getting wet. Also met some very very cute dogs. I am still a little afraid of getting bit.

Did some good stretching and core. Very cored out!!

Week of 2/23-3/1/11

Tuesday
Run- outisde and on a little loop that leads from work over the the trails and back. Did the 6x1 minute strides. The first one hurt, but the rest felt good. It felt good to try and really open up.
Rode at home doing the prescribed workout. Was soo happy it was on the trainer not on the rollers. The four minute efforts were pretty hard. I was definitely feeling it by the end of the workout. Ahh Tuesdays!!!

Wednesday
Masters swim
Tonight was a typical Jordan workout. We started with 200 SKIPS then moved on to lots of wall pushups and dolphin kick (vertical in the deep end and across the pool). We also did some sculling and lots of 100s. I finished it off with a few swim, pull, and kicks. This was a good core workout. The muscles around my ribcage are still a little tender days later.

Thursday
Met Susan at the gym at 730 to get in my run. I am going to do that more often. Feel like everyweek I have one slacker workout and this was probably it. Set a pretty slow pace on the treadmill and gave myself no incline for the entire run. Did the 2X1 mile tempos. Those were good. A little more than an 8 min. mile pace. Felt really good after the run. Wasn't tired.

Erik and I went to Team trainer night. He and I were the only ones to show up. I guess we could have stayed home. It was soooo cold that night and day. Probably the coldest I have ever felt it in Bozeman. The ride was good 1:30 on rollers. Peters little studio is pretty sweet!!

Friday
Ran on the treadmill at the gym for about 25 minutes. Didn't think I was going to get that run in. Very busy and early day at work. Meeting with the Tritons at 530.

Saturday
Lots of people at Computrainer. So funny. One guy is training for IM St George and lives in Clyde Park. He swims in the Best Western pool in Livingston. Said one of the first days the maintenance guy said it was the law to leave in the rope by the deep and so he was having to swim duck swim turn rather than swim swim swim turn. Anyway, should stop complaining about pool. At least I have one. Ride was good. I actually rode for 3hrs. The 4x10 minutes took me right to 3:45. Maybe did and extra one of the 10x everythings. I have to have a pen and make tick marks otherwise can't remember what I have done. The last 15 was very easy though.

Swim- went over to long course city pool and guess what? It was closed because of a maintenance problem. I feel so bad for people who really rely on that pool for whatever reason. Went up to MSu and thankfully it wasn't just rec swim but they also had lane lines in. I am not even bothering with the public pool anymore. The swim was good!!! I felt super strong. Did the 1800 continuous no problem. Practiced lots of flip turns. There must have been a youth group or something there. Got caught in the locker room with a bunch of teenagers. Had to wait forver for a shower. It was pretty funny though. Them all doing their hair etc.

Sunday
Am planning on getting out for a trail run today!! and hopefullyan outside bike ride!!!

Week of 2/16/11

Wed.
Was tired today. Remember squatting down for something at work and being all light headed when standing up. The ride was good. Not that easy with the intervals worked in there.

Thursday
Went over to the gym after work and ran on the treadmill. It was really icy outside. Put the machine on random and ran over lots of hills. Did the 3x4 minute efforts. They felt pretty good. My hair was hanging in my face and driving me crazy.
Changed clothes and went over the the swim center for Masters swim. I have a lot of complaints to file with that pool. The lifeguards just sat there while we pulled all the lane lines down and set them up. The swim workout was hard. Not sure why I agonize over doing a 200 when I can go and swim 1500 straight on Sat. I think it was so quiet at the pool and hardly anybody there. Got in 3100 doing various sets of 400. Did some dolphin kicking and some flutter on my side to try to work on core.
Came home and worked on core for a little longer.
Tired.

Friday
Thank goodness for a rest day. Legs didn't really want to move. The accumulation of work and training on a Friday always exhausts me.

Sat.
Went to computrainer. Have a hard time staying focused on high cadence drills and 40k efforts, but was getting a little tired by the end. The 7x6 minute efforts were hard!! I decided I don't like looking at watts during intervals. The wattage seemed like it went down as the intervals went on. Added 500 calories of carborocket to my bottles this time. Need to have a timer or something to remind me to drink them. I am wondering if gels might be better because I would actually feel like I was eating something. Wacked the side of my knee on the metal edge of the trainer and it was hurting the whole time. Took me a while to put the two together. Cooled down. Drank a bottle of recovorite and headed to the pool
Did the swim workout. More complaints about the pool. No lane lines in the lap section and kept bumping my head on kids toys. Swim felt good again. My arms weren't like lead like they felt on Thursday. 1500 went well.

Sun
Storm blew in last night and it is only 3 degrees out today and snowing. Susan bless her heart texts me and says she will run on the treadmill with me. Susan it is a date. You are the greatest running partner ever.