Racing, house building, and this crazy thing called life...

Was looking up something and came across Joe Friel's blog. Do you know how much he charges to coach? 10,000$ for 6 months. Pay up front. OMG. I don't tell you enough how grateful I am to have the best coach, who invests in me, and should be charging much more. Seriously, you are awesome and I am very lucky!

So I started thinking after we talked how I was going to work all this out (house stuff). You seemed a little shocked and maybe not super supportive of St. George. Is that because it is getting close and I at this point have a harder time getting ready for it?  And/or is it a matter of quality training?  Daylight, outside riding, open water swimming, actually running (not slipping around on ice).  I don't need to do it and it was just an idea. All that Facebook marketing is doing it's trick. So I guess that is my first question/thought.

So, if Calgary is the way to go, I may have come up with a solution/compromise. I would like to have a great race there and there are some other even more complicated perks about that race that I have toyed with.  I also talked to my dad and he said that the bulk of the house work will probably be July, August, Sept. and Oct. Not so much before then. So, I was thinking that I will NOT go on any vacation between now and then and save up my hours. Then commit one day on the house each week and then the rest of my time will be for working and training. I should have 60 hours or so of vacation by June. I asked my dad what he thought and he really liked the idea. I could be flexible on when that day is as far as work and training too. Also, for the summer I will try and keep races pretty close so that I can do either day trips or overnight trips to races and be here for part of most weekends. That way I can dedicate a few hours to house stuff on the weekends too. I am thinking this should keep me pretty balanced and provide the extra time for the house.

Schedule- Hmmm. I am trying not to have to speak to the boss right now. I guess this would be some motivation to email him and ask him what to do for the next week. Done. Will update when I know. How about a busy work day on Wednesday? Would that fit in well. I could make it Thursday or Friday too? (Of next week)
-Here this weekend. Clothing swap and Olympics on Sunday.
-Looks like it is going to be cold for a few days. Can you give me something sort of entertaining for running on the treadmill? Not just run 50 minutes. Kill me now.

This week was far, far better than the week before. I think some of my exhaustion comes with anxiety of training. Such as getting the workouts in during the pool times etc. For some reason last week had a lot of anxiety. This week was not. In general, it really helps to not have a ton going on on Friday's. Something usually comes up on Friday's including work meetings or dinner with friends who I usually put off etc that really lead to the anxiety. I also went grocery shopping and had almost enough food for the week. That was pretty amazing. It sucks to be anxious and hungry. Basically though, this was a good model of a week that was very manageable. Not on hardness of workouts, but scheduling. The hardness actually seemed pretty fairly easy. I guess that ride on Thursday was pretty hard.

The swim sessions were noticeably easier this week. The yardage is building gradually but the effort was a lot easier. I felt like they were good sessions. I have a fellow Masters swimmer who teaches swimming for a living. She was at MSU on Saturday. She gave me a tip that she has been longing to give. My hands are to wide and I need to catch up more. I did catch up the normal way for her, then she told me to keep my arms closer to my ears. It was noticeably easier with  more glide. Very thankful for the tip!!!  I think it may be what Lawrence was trying to say about my reach and getting a longer reach.

The week was good. I don't remember much standing out or not standing out. I was terrible on PT. Did the exercises before running, but didn't do any core work all week. One thing about swimming is that it is mentally hard to do other things after getting out of the pool, showering, having a wet head etc. It takes some extra motivation to get outside after swimming in the winter. I feel like I am fighting off a chill the whole time. I also have a hard time putting on (or even remembering) my gym clothes to do core work. Need to come up with a good system for this. Tomorrow after run ( will be a start)

Rode on Saturday with a couple of people. 2 hours went by really fast. Sunday I did go on a skate ski instead of run. It was a beautiful sunny day and it snowed a lot on Friday night. The trail was amazing in it's grooming. Until the bridge. Then it wasn't groomed or really soft. Lost motivation. Skied for at least 1:30 though and skied straight up without stopping. . Hope that is okay. I know I keep slacking on this run. Hopefully you are still thinking it's uh February.

Now remember stuff standing out:
Swim 500y time trial- 7:40. Initially disappointed but on further reflection I am okay with that. Not as fast as I wish but faster than I was.  Felt off during it. Would like to try again when I am feeling like my form is on. I did work really, really hard though.

Monday ride- Got computrainer all set up and working correctly. Motivated with sour gummy worms.
IM- 150-160 watts
Half IM- 170 to 175 watts
40k -180 to 190
20k- 200-220 (220 was hard to achieve in 2nd and 3rd one)
High cadence- 175-190
Time went by pretty quick. Good workout.

January

Schedule -
Wednesday- flu shot and another meeting  downtown at 1:45pm. The flu this year is a strain that is lethal to healthy people ages 20-60. I have this fear if I catch it I might die. The Curry's were out for 3 weeks. It would get me for at least 6 or death.
Meet with police officer on Thursday after 5 pm for race.
Friday- meet with trip club kids at 11. Lab meeting 3-5. Which reminds me. Pool hours changed. Now open until 6:30. Very good!

Swimming-
I'd like to know your thoughts because I think that swimming was tough this week. That workout with 100s 75s 50s and 25 s was hard. Hard enough that I couldn't think about what was coming next. Then the next day was long too and then Friday long too. Felt good on Saturday though and really accentuated those descends. Did the first one really, really slow, targeted 1:30 for the second one, and tried to get my fastest 100 ever on the third. A lot of work for 5 seconds or so. Question. Do have it in my head I want to swim the Grizzly in 15:00. Not fast but faster than 16:00+ which is what I have done in the past. Is that reasonable? Should I be aiming higher? Honestly, whenever I swim on times I think about it and would have to be working harder if I want to go faster ( not that I am not already working hard). I don't want to be aiming to low. Make sense?

The week was hard in general. I felt spread very thin and wasn't eating very well. If I could hire some sort of help I think it would be a grocery shopper ( shopped on Sunday and stocked up. This week should be better). I don't think the "grit " class helped. I was so very sore all week. Probably did 300+ squats and my quads still hurt when I bend my legs. Actually my quads hurt really bad. That class was a bad idea. I am not sure that intensity is healthy. Also, I think that swimming a lot is harder on the schedule because I have to fit it into very specific pool times which removes a lot of flexibility. If I cared about my work I would feel bad about being gone so much, so good thing I am so divested.

I had a change of plans and did not go to Laurel. My Grandma was doing really well on her own. She is taking long naps and going to bed early. I think it would have been hard on her if I came. So I will go down in a couple of weeks when we can go into Billings for dinner or something. I am actually really enjoying not going to masters the Sunday. It is 12:30 and I am still in my pajamas. And now it is Monday and since I had already planned on being gone I decided to stay home. Didn't have much work to do anyway and thought I could get some things done. Honestly however, I am just really tired. Don't even feel like leaving the house.  Crock potting some stew and cleaning the oven. How is that for domestic? Think I will do a really good PT session and for sure ride the bike later.

The week
The week was good. Highlights are probably the hard swims and I had a great run on Thursday despite being so sore from "grit." Got outside with a friend to ride on Saturday. I have been riding my fixie because it has studs and fenders on these outside rides. What are your thoughts? Two hours on this bike was a lot of work. I like it because i stay warmer, grip the ice, and don't get wet. The not so great things this week may be that my run on Sunday was not as prescribed. Bender and I did the M trail over towards Sypes. I was having a hard time being able to catch a deep breath so walked at least half of the way up. We ran down a lot but it was very icy under snow and even with my ice grippers I ate it once.  I was also feeling very worn out on Sunday. Do you think the breathing could be related to being tired?. Some sort of internal alarm system to slow down? It wasn't bad though. I enjoyed chatting with Bender, we were out for a couple of hours, and it was nice to be outside. Also, Friday was super busy. Two meetings with the tri club kids and plans for dinner. I did commute but only got in about 45 minutes on the bike. At least the meetings were worth their while. This race is coming together so well this far that I still can't believe it. I keep waiting for a huge bump in the road.

I have been thinking a little more about racing this year. I think it is going to get very, very hectic after May 1st when we break ground for our house. I am going to have to figure out how to balance everything which is going to have to include time on the house which unfortunately is going to mean less time traveling, racing, and training. So, I just got this thought. How about St George again? It's early, driveable, I really like the race and the course. It would give me a good focus, with the Grizzly before our house takes over.

Anyway, I think that is all for now.

Julie

So much to tell

Swimming
I can swim a 50 with fins only a second or two faster than without fins. Is that a good or bad thing?

Schedule-
Next week my Grandma is having eye surgery. She has to keep jher head down for 5 days. I was going to go to Laurel to spend some time with her, see my cousin, and relieve my cousin. Thought that going down Sunday after Masters would be good and stay until Monday. However, masters is doing the 1 hr swim. I am not super into it, unless you think that is exactly what I need right now. So , maybe swim at MSU ( but that is 1-4 and I was hoping to get out of town earlier) or skip it for the day? Thoughts? Bottom line, going to Billings Sunday and coming home Monday.
Tuesday - Big 24 mouse experiment. Will not be able to get away during the work day. If swim will need to go to masters. Probably won't get finished early enough to make it to MSU.

Computrainer
First, you were right about questioning my real time power which made sense as I was riding and thinking about it logically, I can get real time power but it does have to have some sort of basis.

Workout 1- I did a course that was supposed to be for endurance and it was hard to do the high cadence because it wanted more power so even if I shifted it made it harder. I could go the other way though, push more watts than asked for so the intervals were good. As I was watching the numbers though I don't have the same sense of feeling as just doing them by feel. The numbers provide a huge distraction. So, I did those 40 k intervals starting at 165 watts and moving up to 175 to 180 for the last few. Probably to hard for 40 k because I was pretty tired after the last one. Probably didn't have 9 more in me.

Workout 2- Total bust, but I am giving myself points for patience. Brought all my stuff to work(whole other story there) but forgot the bike. Had to pick up a dog and then get the bike. Bike had flat tire. Couldn't get tire back on. Used Erik's wheel. Set up computrainer. Took forever to figure out. Finally got it going and I couldn't get more than 117 watts. Something was wrong. Really annoyed. Did workout disregarding the numbers.

Grizzly- What do you guys do for timing? It isn't chip timed is it?

You know you are swimming a lot when the timing button on your watch never hits its maxed out time. I usually can tell when I last swam. 23 hours ago etc.

The week
Everything went fine. No missed workouts or changes. Maybe swimming on Tuesday was a bit of a bust. Coach Jamie said we hit an all time low. I think nobody was motivated and we all just kept feeding off of it. Still swam high 2000s though. My back SI joint has been feeling a bit sore but my hamstring is feeling better. Have been trying to do those "SI" joint exercises more often. Maybe running up hills bothers it?

Somehow this got away from me. Tired and going to sleep.

Some days are just awesome, some days suck....

So, some at some points in life it feels like the universe is smiling down on me. On Friday morning I received a very, very nice email from the tri club kid CJ. He said they had a meeting and decided that September would be the best time for The Bobact and that they thought it would be okay if I was race director and that they would be very privileged to have me on board as the clubs faculty/staff adviser.  Now how about that as completely what I was looking for and how awesome is that!!!!! A fall Bobcat! Plus, I can be active in the community of triathlon in Bozeman and try and help some of these kids love the sport!

# 2 Totally awesome and great thing that happened this week. My good, good friend Lawrence has been telling me about this bike riding program he has for weeks now. I think I am stubborn and don't listen to him very well sometimes. He has a computrainer (the "Tritons" bought one and he ended up with it in his basement when the club basically died) and he has the computrainer hooked up to this other sweet program which I can't remember the name of. It has threshold testing programs and then workouts etc. I asked him if I could use it to do that workout on Thursday because I didn't want to bring my workout to Annalisa (I think she will want to write the workouts) and of course he said yes. He isn't claiming ownership of the computrainer since it technically isn't his. Anyway, he has this sweet setup. A monitor to watch videos or bad TV while doing the workouts. Basically, access to it anytime. Basically free. The program is 10$ a month if I want to do my own threshold testing and workouts with my own target power. Cadence. Heart rate. I actually think that if I borrow Lisa's power tap I could set this whole thing up myself. It used some sort of wireless connection to link the program to the power. Anyway, my questions for you. Is this something you see as ideal to use as a training tool for the next few months? Can you write the workouts for it? How do I tactfully tell Annalisa I don't want to use her system? ( Sorry about the last question, I hate those kind of conversations)

And then some days just suck. Get an email from the boss this a.m. His wife and I do book club together. I had heard he was leaving in two weeks and asked her what for and asked her if it was another interview. She said yes. Maybe a little out of line, but we are "friends" and friends talk about work. Anyway, the email is reprimanding the whole lab for talking to other people about his work/travel life and telling us HE is the only person we can talk to about it. My thoughts, FUCK YOU Josh, and I really, really need to get a new job, and FUCK, I guess I can't be friends with your wife. Tears. (Sorry for all the F***) In Bozeman people are friendly. I hate this whole thing of having to keep a line between work and friendship. Really they can be both.

Schedule-
Thursday- Work day but I think I can get that stuff done that you already prescribed.
Friday- Going to the Banff Film Festival with my sister. In the evening. Will be able to work around everything.
In general- Lab meeting for this semester just got scheduled from 3-5 on Fridays. I said I wasn't available from 11-1 basically for the tri club and swimming but it does sort of hamper swimming in the 4-6 shift if I have to. Usually meetings are only an hour though, so hopefully doesn't affect me to much. (Obviously not so into being a good employee right now)

The week:
Thursday night swim. Did not feel it. Kept trying to focus on form and it just wouldn't come so I gave up (halfway through a 100 consciously thought the words fuck it) and just tried to keep up with the people in my lane. We did a bunch of 100's getting faster each set. I think it was a good strategy. Abby in my lane said she felt like crap too. Maybe we were tired from all the IM ing from Tuesday.

Friday
Big work day again. Sorry I don't think I put that in the last correspondence. Three big work days in a week. One is the usual and three is a lot of work. I was so tired by the end of the week. Did time it absolutely perfect so that I could get the swim in. The swim was pretty hard and after Tuesday and Thursday at Masters I felt like my arms might fall off. Didn't get to the run. The weather here has been awful. It is so, so, so icy out there and running on that in the dark has been deterring me a lot. Hopefully I will get those ice grippers today.

Saturday
Good day. Rested up from Friday. Had a good swim. I can do a 25 on 20 seconds basically, I have to work really hard to make 20 so if I am slacking a bit it is usually more like 21. Did the first bunch going as hard as possible but was getting frustrated because I know my form was off. I know I was really flat. No rotation. Faster arm turnover= less rotation (not sure if this is for everybody, but this is my pattern). So, I tried the last 4 25's using good form. I was surprised that with good form and less effort I could still swim 25 on ~20 seconds. So, what to do on these? Fast and hard? Or good form and just as fast? I just can't quite get hard, fast and good form to fit into the sentence together.
Rode with Lawrence. Very glad we did that ride together. It was hard. Probably harder than any other ride this year. We were convincing ourselves of that last 20K effort.

Sunday
Masters! Fun swim. Did a 500 where we all swim and the last person has to sprint around and get to the front of the line. I couldn't believe how long it took. Almost the whole 50. Had Lawrence watch my again because I sort of feel stagnant swimming right now. He said to keep working on the high elbow on my right arm and start working on my reach. We kept calling it an extended reach. He says me rotation looks fine but it is the reach I need to get more streamlined. Actually started to get a cramp in my shoulder. You know the kind that you get in your feet or calves. First time for everything. It didn't actually fully cramp up.
Cold, windy, and super icy. I convinced Lawrence to run at the M with me. 1:30 or so of trail running. Going up some pretty steep stuff. Like I said above the outside running is absolutely terrible right now. Maybe not what you prescribed but in town I think running consistent is impossible.

Bobcat

         I met with one of the kids from the tri club about the Bobcat. I am so impressed. Super nice kid and the club has done an amazing job of planning their race. So many more details taken care of than I expected and along the lines of what I was already thinking. Because they are a club it sounds like they can get insurance through the university and they don't even want to work with USAT.  The only thing which I totally I understand is they want to do it in the spring. The officers of the club and basically the ones who have gotten it started are graduating in the spring and they want to do it before they leave.
They had the date as the Saturday after the Grizzly. The more we talked he was really open for changing it to the end of May. Which sort of comes with it's own set of problems, such as all the students are out for the summer. I am not sure if he realized that. I realized that I probably shouldn't put on the exact same race in the fall and likely won't have university support and don't want to step on the tri kids toes. I really want to help them. So I kind of volunteered to help direct the race. So as a race promoter in Montana what do you think about an end of May race in the pool. Damn, I wish it was in the fall. When do UM students get done with school? The Grizzly is the most perfect weekend out there. 

      Also, what do you think of me taking this on in May? I think it might work out well. I can focus on the Grizzly in April and then I don't think much is on the calender until the end of June. That way I will  have the rest of the summer to focus on racing!!!

Been looking at races but don't have anything decided yet. A few mountain bike Mule events in the mix too!!!

ATTENTION- I want to go in and meet with Annalisa for doing some computrainer workouts. Can you help schedule a time for next week? What I mean is set out some time. I can do the actual appointment :)

Schedule- Need to work for a couple of hours on Saturday. Also, Dylan (the badass swimmer from here) wants to do some trainer rides with us but works on Sundays. So it would be fun to ride with him a little on Saturdays if that works out. The MSU pool is now open on weekends again!! No more swimming at the Swim Center!!!  Except Masters on Sundays. Otherwise next week I don't have a lot going on as far as work. I will probably have an experiment on Thursday. It will have a two hour incubation, so probably a long day although I can get a small run in. Will probably be able to make it to Masters. 

This week. I know there were a few runs in there. Borrowed somebodies rubber things that you attach to your shoes for running on ice. They were absolutely amazing!! I think I can get a free pair from MSU. Going to look into that in a minute. 

Thursday- Masters- I think we was about 3200. I can't remember the workout, just that I was feeling motivated. 

Friday- Swim workout was hard. I was feeling like my arms would not go around for that last 150. I worked myself hard at masters the night before so was probably feeling it. I feel like maybe I am comfortable swimming faster in that 2100-2500 range but as soon as I go over 3000 I feel it. 

Saturday. I did totally fail on Saturday, which I already told you about. Missed the swimming hours and then tried to ski but it was really cold out and my lungs rebelled. Got in about 4.5 miles. Then went home and took a nap for a couple of hours. Not really sure what happened. 

Sunday- Had a good swim with Masters and then rode the trainer with Lawrence. Nice to have somebody to chat with. The time went by very quick. 

Monday- Had a big experiment. Felt really tired and crappy all day. Went to the gym to run on the treadmill at ~645 and it was all I could do to get through it and get the PT done. Slept really, really well that night and felt soooo much better on Tuesday

Tuesday- Meeting with CJ. Went home and did trainer workout before Masters. That was kind of hard. Not much break. Then went to Masters. It was IM night. 300 fly (50drill/25swim) followed by lots of 200s. Can last longer than 25 on my fly. Almost get to 50. I was kind of glad for IM night. My shoulder was really tired from pipetting at work on Monday. 

Wed- TBD