Week after spring break...

Okay, it is Monday at 730am. I'm not sure if this is going to be a very good blog.

Tuesday

Got up early (6am) and headed over to the pool. I might have been a little short finishing that 1000 because the pool closed. It was really busy that morning and took a while to find a lane. Therefore my timing was off.

Rode the rollers after work. It think I remember the weather being kind of yucky.

Wednesday

Got up again to swim. This time 530am. That workout was good! I figured out all of my times in advanced based on a 16:00 1000. Never could quite get it. Always a few seconds off. I really like knowing exactly where I am.

Ran after work. It was beautiful out and I had a really good run. Solid. Kept the pace up and did lots of hills. I didn't do the usual up and down Pete's. It was a slushy mess on the trails. Stuck to more of the roads.

Thursday

Ride after work. Was more like 1:45. Got the TT bike out and did the ride with Erik. Found some good places to do the 10 minute intervals that were mainly uphill. This was a good solid ride. We were both pretty worked from it.

Friday

After work I went over and got the swim in. Those 50's were fun. Tried really hard to get a little faster on each one.

Went on a run. Didn't feel very good. Legs were heavy and not very motivated. I decided to head back and cut it short. After 10-12 minutes my legs felt much better. I think that was a good learning experience. Maybe it takes 10 minutes to get the legs going. I still headed back. Felt stressed about stuff at home etc.

Excited and nervous about the weekend. Racing, no matter what kind, makes me nervous.

Sat.

Up early again and off to Missoula. Training race was really fun. Good test of my fitness. I kept up with Lindsy and Tamara. This is good for me. It was pretty cool to be able to get myself to dig deeper than I think I have in the past.

Had a good afternoon hanging out with Lindsy and a good evening hanging out with my cousin and her family. She has an amazing guest bed. Plush sheets, featherbed. Slept like a rock.

Sunday

Up early again. Got suckered into the LMSC (something about a swimming committee) annual meeting that morning. Should have slept in until 830 or so and then headed to the pool.

Swam my races. Finished the 50 fly. Did the 100 free in 1:17. Talked to Jen Luebke. She was really nice and actually approached me. I think we will get something worked out for a little swim clinic. I am thinking maybe May? Did the 1000 in 16:08. A- I am happy about it. I took off time from my plateau swim time of ~16:45 and B-I am happy about the swim training because the numbers do not lie. I feel like working with you on this is doing some good. Master's works too they just don't accomodate my focus all the time.

Was pretty tired after that day of swimming. That was a blast though. Type 1 fun. Except swimming the 1000. That was type 2. Anyway, got out on that run. Did the Grizzly course and ran that hill 3X. I really wanted to get in my head what to expect. I always remember a lot of false summits. I also wanted to practice running down it. Last year 2 people passed me on the downhill. This year they won't be able to get by!!

This week. Focus is to get sleep. I need to stay more rested. Last week I was running off of sleep deprivation. I like morning swimming, but think only one day is better than two. And not so much socializing this week. My ass is on the couch in the evening.

Masters starts again this week. I guess the got the pool up and running faster than expected.

Tuesday is a big work day!!

Spring Break

This trip was amazing in many ways. It wasn't until the night before we left that the rest of my life came rushing back to me. I started thinking about work, paying bills, cleaning the house etc. and realized I hadn't really thought about any of that stuff all week. During the week while doing all of our riding, and my swimming and running I had reflected on life a lot and realized that my goals, ambitions, and clear thinking gets really muddled when I'm at home and gets taken over by all the little stuff that I have to do.

So here I think is kind of an update of my homework from the end of last race season. Maybe a little more in depth and I reserve the right to change this stuff but this is what I decided over the week.

1- I need to take vacations more often and I think that getting out of town for weekends is actually less stressful and helps me focus more than staying at home. How am I going to do this- My work contract is going to be re-signed this summer. I think I am going to ask my boss for more vacation time in the contract. If he can't do that I am going to ask for a comparable raise so that I can take unpaid leave. I think if I stay focused and get my work done at work this shouldn't be a problem.

2- I have been thinking a lot about my age and having a baby. I definitely want at least one kid. I don't want to get to old and not be able to have a baby because I am racing. So I am thinking that I will see how this season goes. If I can achieve the goals I have set out for this year, I have some grander goals in mind for the next year. If it all plays out I would like to go for the grander goals and then take off time to have a baby. I'm really afraid I won't be able to manage work, a baby, and racing seriously all at once. Something will have to give for a while. Have you coached people who have quit for a baby? I still don't really get how people do it. I guess I can do it how I want but....

3- This might change when I go to work tomorrow, because whenever I'm at work I feel a little inadequate compared to the grad students, PIs and post-docs. I'm really "just a tech". But this week made me really feel like my loves in life are not my job. Thoughts of work vanish quickly when I leave that place. I like what I do and appreciate the benefits, I can't really quit it, but hmmm where was I going with this. Okay, lets leave this an unfinished but a written thought. I'll come back to this. I'm also going to go and buy a journal.

Okay, enough of that lets get to the week.

We rode and rode and rode.

I basically followed the plan. I re-arranged the long ride because that day was supposed to be Erik and Bender's rest day. So I swam and ran on that day and did the long ride the day before. We didn't have any rides that were less than 3 hours and on the road rides we climbed and climbed and climbed. The riding in St. George is amazing, the whole trip was wonderfully exhausting. The pool was awesome and the trail/bushwacking running was exhilirating. We enjoyed the whole week immensely.

There is no Masters for the next couple of weeks. I will have to get everything in at the MSU pool. The hours are weird. 6-730am, 11-1pm, and 3-6pm. So this may take some adjusting to. As far as work schedule.

Also, I am going to Boston for a week. The first week of May. . We leave Thursday the 3rd and get back Tuesday the 8th. I will probably be pretty consumed with the conference. Our hotel has a 20yard pool and I have looked a little for another pool or Masters practice but haven't gotten anything concrete yet. I think this trip will be hard to commit to a lot of training. The hotel and conference are by the river which has a running path so that will be good.

3/7/12 thru 3/12/12

Tuesday
Got up at 5:30 this time. The longer the swim the earlier I have to get up. Uggh. Hard to get up, but once I'm at the pool it is totally fine. Plus, I get to work before 8 and get in a good work day too. Did the swim and felt good. So far I think you have my time intervals dialed. Did the half IM pace pretty much spot on. You are better than the Masters coach at this.
Went home and rode rollers for 75 minutes. Got in all my TV watching. Did some core and stretching after the ride.

Wednesday
Went and swam. Had a really good swim and a lot of fun. Did some backstroke (okay, maybe only one) flip turns. Feel like my swimming is starting to come along. Skipped the optional run and went to Jaimee's Mom's for dinner.

Thursday
Rode the rollers for an hour and did the 8X2:30 high cadence. Good doing this on rollers. Taking more attention to the actual riding. Went to meeting. Long day, feeling kind of burnt after this week. Glad to not have so much training when people are in town and have friends here.

Friday
Don't you hate it when people come to work when they are sick and then brag about sucking it up and working? Don't they realize it is sort of selfish to expose everybody else to their infection.

Feeling worn out today. Going to go do the swim after work and then get all my errands and packing done.

Excited for training camp, being in the desert, and getting a break from work!!

2/29/12 thru 3/5/12

We have decided to go on spring break. We are going to St. George next week. I think we will leave Sat. morning and come back the following Sat. I am sort of viewing this as training camp. I am very excited to get in some good outside riding. Questions about this.
Biking: Should I bring by TT bike and do that kind of riding, or would it be okay to mt bike or if possible (as far as space) bring both and do a little of each?
What else do you know about St. George. Swimming? Good road rides, good mt bike rides? Can you ride in Zion?

Wed- Leap day. Went to the pool in hopes of a fun workout. Kinda boring and only 5 of us there. Workout had 2 600s. Did one in my own lane and asked Katherine if I could chase her down so did one with her. 20 seconds faster with her.
Total meters- 3400

Thursday
Run at lunch- Felt good ankle is feeling much better. Still sore but doesn't hurt to kick in the pool anymore. Am trying to keep icing it.

Trainer Ride- Wow that was a doozy! I sure was huffin and puffin through that one. Good workout.

Friday
Ran at lunch. The wind had picked up and it was cold out. Went to the gym and ran on the treadmill. The 2x5 minutes felt good.
Swam after work. The pool was busy. At least 2 per lane. Did the workout. The paddles are definitely getting easier. Also, the breath every 3. Makes me feel like I am getting fitter.

Sat.
Ran in the morning and then had breakfast with Eriks family. Ran outside and had a giant St. Bernard run up to me. I had visions of it standing on my chest with me flat on my back. He stopped though and ran the other way.

It was cold and cloudy so we had trainer ride at my house again. Lawrence, Jamie, Art and I. This workout was a lot tougher than last week. I was definitley a lot more worked afterwards. Got it done though.

Sunday
Uggh. Drank too much wine with Heather and Marta last night. No drinking for the week. That is my new resolution.
Swam hard when I was swimming, but missed out a little on the warmup and so my distance was probably only around 2400. Did 6x150 (middle 50 non-free). The interval was on 1:45. Had to work hard on the non free to keep up. Also did a couple of 300's.

Went on a ride outside on my new cross bike. Went with Matthew and Erik. They worked me. I didn't pay much attention to the intervals. We had a pretty good headwind/cross wind for most of the ride and I was working pretty hard to keep up with them. Saw some really cool chickens and turkeys. The chickens got out of the coop and were all over the place at a farm and the turkeys were in the chicken coop. Then had a horse run along side us. He wanted to go with us. Did lots of dirt. Good ride. I was pretty pooped. Didn't make 3:30 though, only 3.

Definitely feeling pretty worked after this week. Excited about swimming. Feel like I can get in some good distance before I feel very worked.