training diary: 45 days until race day (or something like that)

This week was good for training. Those ride and run interval workouts were hard. The weekend wasn't a wash but definitely not my most focused weekend. I learned some good lessons though. I was going to go up to Whitefish for girls weekend the first weekend of August, but I don't think I can now. I cannot fit having fun in with wanting to be really prepared for IM Canada. There really aren't enough hours in the day. Mentally I will not be in the right place and I won't get enough sleep. I can have fun the first weekend of September and I can still have fun but stay home.

Maybe I need to swim a lot this winter?

Wednesday
Long ride. This ride was good. The weather was really crappy with storms blowing in that evening. I left work right at 5 and got riding so that it wasn't too late getting home. Found a really good spot to do these intervals but the wind was at my back and felt like I was cheating. Ended up doing 4 of them on Sourdough. Good road. A general uphill with a few rollers thrown in. 6x8minutes takes a while. I was definitely feeling it on the last two.

Thursday
7x1000. Went to the track. With the 1000 and the recovery I ended up starting at the same place each time. Kept a 7 minute mile interval right on each time. Because of all the numbers and the sort of monotony of the workout I really was thinking about how I felt. The first couple I felt good until the last 200 or so when I was getting more tired. Then the good just went to not. It is strange though how my legs just kept going and I could stay on the time interval.

Swim- Micheal uggh! He likes to correct my stroke and it drives me crazy. After all the work with Lawrence I know this isn't going to happen overnight and Micheal talkes like it will. I think I just have to smile and nod. We got in ~3400 in the workout. The workout was a lot of stroke. We did a lot of fly just for the warm up. I was so sore the next day and couldn't figure out why for a while. That fly did me in. I substituted some of the stroke for free. Micheal loves breast and Julie doesn't like to free for very long so the lane does lots of IM.

Had a good talk with Jinx and the Mule barbecue this evening about stuff. One thing we talked about was recovery. I feel like my fitness is getting better because I can tell I recover faster. Not only between say intervals, but between a hard Sunday and a Monday.

Friday
Swim- got in and got er done. I really like these swim workouts better than the Masters ones. I just don't have the drive to swim a 1k pace. I was a little slow. Drove up to Missoula with Shit Show 1 and 2 (Erik and Cory Hardy. Didn't leave until ~6:30. Got in pretty late and didn't get a ton of sleep.

Saturday
Got up late with SS1 and 2. The way those boys roll drives me absolutely bonkers. Barely got registered and ready to race in time. Long story but Cory didn't have his shoes and raced in flip flops. He must be a talented downhill rider to pull that one off.

After they raced headed over to the pool. Got the swim in. Forgot sunscreen and was anxious the whole time about burning my face and neck. Think I was okay though. I really like that pool. Swimming outside is soo nice.

Ate some snacks and then headed over the the Rattlesnake for some running. This is where I am talking about not being mentally there. This run was hard. I didn't really have a specific route to follow, so I just went up and back. My legs and breathing felt fine, but I just didn't feel like running. Ran for 2 hours and called it quits. Wasn't until the last 20 minutes that I got in my groove again. I wish I had planned more of an adventure run, but I don't know how all those trails link up and hadn't done my homework.

Sunday

Met up with John, Lisa and the Bozeman crew. I think there were 8 of us. We had a really good ride. There is no way in Bozeman that it could rain on you and you would still be warm. When it rains here it gets cold. It was fun to ride in the rain. John let me ride his carbon Niner. Can I have one please? Actually I might buy Lisa's old bike. A 29er. I am taking it for a spin today to see how it fits. I felt really good. We did a trail that is named "unprotected sex". Going down took forever and I thought this is going to be a long uphill. It wasn't bad. John had only one chain ring on the front so at a certain steepness I had to stand up. My stomach muscles are still sore. Lots more climbing and descending. I think we rode for ~4hours. I didn't feel completely devastated after riding but felt like an old lady getting up on Monday morning.

Monday
Tired this am. Felt like an old lady getting out of bed. Went on the little run at lunch. Legs felt like pegs to begin with, but after warming up had a nice run.

The weather was crappy (kind of rainy, cloudy, and cool) didn't motivate to get to the river. Went to Bogert and swam for 30 minutes. Just easy. Bogert is going away next year, so I might as well swim in it a few times to say good-bye. That pool has been loved to death. I think it is time for it to go away.