Focus

Excited about this year. The first year of Ironman I just wanted to see if I could finish one. The second year I struggled with the goal, probably because I was a little afraid of not making my goals. This year I think I already have a theme. FOCUS. I know I can do the distance, now it is about seeing how fast I can go, again, but I think I have a little more confidence this year. It may seem weird, but I can feel a change in my fitness.

I hate to do this but I feel like I have a laundry list of aches and pains that I need to take care of. Maybe if I write it down I will actually do something about them.
1- Achilles sore- lots of scar tissue on my right one
2) Arch (plantar fascia) on my left foot really, really sore. Hurts and feels good when getting out of the pool and your stand on the edge with your arch.
3) Right should acting funny. Sometimes when swimming it kind of pops and hurts. It is usually when I am trying to do drills and really work on my hand placement. Not sure if it is because I am crossing to much inside or outside, or maybe neither.
4) Right knee sore and stiff. It hurts to sit cross legged on the floor. Feels much better straightend out. Can't pinpoint a place of the pain, just the knee. Hurts to bend and unbend.

Don't think I am going to Hawaii for work, so putting Wildflower on the schedule. Hopefully I can figure out a good way to get there.

Wednesday
Race- Got a great start. It was a big start with guys and girls. Anna, Lisa, and I were probably in the top 5 people to the first turn. Then I blew up! Just kidding, a little bit. I did get passed by a bunch of guys after that. Then my chain guard started making this horrible sound so I stopped. Managed to curb the noise a little bit. John wouldn't give me the option to quit. He said I had to earn my nachos. Spent the rest of the race seeing how many girls I could pass. It was a cold day and a huge day at work. Rode directly back to work after the race to finish my experiment. Didn't get that run in. Sorry. Had nachos with the crew after that.

Thursday
Your gfit workout. Oh, that was a doozy. We had 5 people so added one extra thing to the core and arms workout. Big gfit day.
Swimming- lots of IM. 400 IM's. Wow, those hurt especially after the sledgehammer. My back was so tired and while doing fly my arms pretty much crapped out on me. Got to 2400 and called that swim a day.

Friday
Ran at lunch on hills for 45 minutes. Did a little run that I used to do on Pete's Hill. I go along the top and run up and down all the side trails. Takes 45 minutes exactly. One cool thing I noticed was that I think I have more power. I could really drive up those hills vs. a couple of years ago just trying to make it.

Saturday
Raced the MSU cross race. I felt pretty chill about the whole thing. We started with the Cat4 and Master B guys. The start pretty much sucked. Usually I get a good start, but this time didn't even try. Ended up having to get off my bike on the first hill because some guy couldn't make it. Oh, well. Rode really, really hard for the whole time. Ended up 3rd girl. The whole women's field was pretty big. Maybe 15 or 20 of us. Hurt really bad in places. I guess that is what I wanted to do. Ride as hard as I could. Passed a lot of people the first few laps in the sand pit, running!!

Sunday
Had a late evening drinking wine with book club friends on Saturday night. Missed Masters swimming and thought swimming was a was. Ended up going to MSU and doing the prescribed workout. I am starting to like the ankle band thing a bit better. I think it helps me with my rotation. I think one of my problems is that my hips and shoulders don't turn together. It makes me wiggly and lose speed. The band forces that or you sink.
Run- Went up New World Gulch. It is a lot steeper coming down that it seems going up. I wanted to take pictures of how flat it looked in one direction, but not the other. It was a nice run and has the potential to be a really good run. 5.5 miles to Mystic lake. I made it 1.5 miles or so from the lake and turned around. Run/hike time was ~2hours.

Monday
The air is really smoky today.
Legs are tired. I think I need new shoes. They were feeling a little sore in not the right places. Achilles is a little sore and so are my arches.
Warmed up for 30 minutes and did those 10x200's. They didn't feel super great. Got em done though and am glad for an evening home. I need to get on those achilles streches a little better.