I know I haven't updated recently but it's largely due to the fact I haven't really been doing a whole lot. I've been really busy with getting ready to leave for Calgary today. I did manage to get to the gym for a great spinning session on Saturday before I drove down to Seattle. Sunday is always a rest day, and Monday's and Tuesdays I don't swim, but I was supposed to this week and totally forgot that I had rearranged my training schedule to accommodate driving for 12 hours today and a wedding on Saturday.

So anyway, all excuses aside, I did manage to get two really great, actually excellent, swim workouts in and a great spinning session in. Saturday I'm hoping to squeeze a swim and a run in, tomorrow I can totally get a run and a spinning session in, or a swim and a run. I'll have all day.

So I'm not posting my goals for the week. I have no goals other than to try and fit in as much as I possibly can.

I'm feeling really awesome this week. I am feeling strong. I can't remember the last time I actually felt strong. My muscles feel good, they feel like they are getting bigger. It won't be long before I'm going to need new pants because mine aren't fitting as well as they used to. But mostly I feel strong, like my body has some power to it. That's the coolest thing ever.

I'm about to be without a computer for a bit, so it might be awhile before you hear how the nonstop thrill ride that is my training is going. Hopefully when I do get access to a computer again I'll actually have something to post!

I didn't sleep as good as I would have liked last night. I went to bed at 10, like I should, and I slept the night through, but I just didn't feel as nicely rested as I would have liked when my alarm went off. I'm going to blame it on the clouds and rain.

This morning I ate a power bar before my swim and I felt much better for it. Unlike eating food, the Powerbar didn't upset my tummy, though the Poweraid I washed it down with isn't a favourite. I also felt better while swimming. I didn't feel like I was going to bonk like I have this past week. This weekend I think I'm going to head out to MEC and pick up one of each kind of energy bar they have, and I think I might even give the gels a try. I might as well get all the testing out of the way now, find what I like and stick with it.

This morning I did some stroke drills and some sprints. I just didn't feel like working on endurance today, especially since I worked hard on the bike yesterday and I knew that I would be back on the bike later today. I really impressed myself. First thing in the pool and I felt like a slug. I worked on lengthening my stroke, rotating the hips and keeping my head down. I really focused on it. Once I felt good about what I was doing I let my stroke go to hell, counted the strokes, and I was in the 30+ range. What a piss off. So I went back to focusing on my stroke, really working at it, and started to count my strokes. First length I dropped to 28. By the end of 150 meters I managed to get it down to 25. I was so proud of myself. I don't know how much lower I can get it given how totally short I am, and I do have short arms, but if I can drop 5+ strokes with the new technique I'm using, I'll take it. Now I just need to start working on sustaining it over longer periods.

Today was my last day at the pool I've been swimming at this past month. Today or tomorrow I will be joining my local YMCA. I just hope the people that swim at the Y are as great as the people I've been swimming with.

Info regarding my biking at the gym will have to wait. Ah the joys of not having a working ibook.

Last night, instead of running, I went and had a beer with a friend I haven't seen in awhile.

Last night I had an excellent sleep. I was in bed by 10, and sleeping shortly after. I woke up about 5 minutes before my alarm and I felt refreshed. I stayed in bed for half an hour of course, but I was still awake before 5:30.

I had a good workout in the pool, all except the last 100 meters. My stroke keeps going to shit. The first 50 I did I felt like I was slicing through the water, but after that I felt more and more like I was plodding along. I do think my stroke is improving though, it's just going to take it awhile to settle in my brain. Once some things become second nature it will be better.

This morning I decided to start the auditions for sports drinks and bars. I had a Perfect 10 Bliss Bar in Chocolate Lemon and it was the most vile thing I have ever tried in my entire life. I also tried Powerade in Berry something or other, it didn't suck.

I just finished a great workout on the bike. I went to the gym at work and used the bike there, not the same as a real bike, but boy did I get a good workout. I maintained an average 88 RPM for about 20 minutes and then did a 5 minute cool down. According to the bike I did 8 km. It felt awesome. Within the first 5 minutes I was dripping (for real) sweat. A young guy hops on the bike next to me and starts going and he couldn't keep up the cadence. It was sweet. He kept looking at me like I was some mad woman. I'm totally high on endorphins right now.

Close to the end I felt a twinge in my right hamstring. I'm going to have to keep an eye on it. It feels fine now, but I'm going to keep an eye on it none the less. I think it just needed to be stretched out, which I did, and now all is good in the world.

Did I mention I'm totally high on endorphins?

I'm going to sleep well tonight.

I took another rest day yesterday. I'm still not feeling 100%.

I was getting a really great sleep, even though I went to bed later that I should have, until 4am when my neighbour decided it was time to BLAST his music. I think I managed to fall back asleep around 5. I was so tempted to turn my alarm off at 5:30 and reset it for 7:30 but somehow I managed to get my ass out of bed by 6:15 and out the door by 6:45. It was a later start that I would have liked but at least I did it. Tonight I really need to make sure I get to bed by 10.

My swim this morning was lame. My first 100 felt like I was flying and then after that my stroke went to shit and I fell apart. To be fair it was the first time I've been in the pool since taking a bunch of rest days last week. I'd like to blame it on being tired but let's face it, I wasn't in the pool much the last few days and it showed.

Today I was supposed to hop on the bike, but I was an idiot this morning and forgot to pack another t-shirt so that's out for lunch, and I figure if I'm going home right after work I might as well get a run in. We all know my history with running... we'll see.

I actually managed to get myself out for a run. I'm oh so proud. I had a good warm up, and I was doing pretty good for the first 20 minutes but close to the end my right knee wasn't too happy, but not in the usual way, it was more of the side of my knee wasn't impressed. I think it's just muscles that aren't used to running starting to make themselves known. I'm not stiff today, and I feel pretty good.

I can tell my cardio is improving, not in leaps and bounds, but definitely noticeable. It's nice to see something I am doing is finally paying off. I like seeing results.

July 11 - 17

Goals for the week:

Don't get sick
Swim: 3 x 800 meters 1 x lake swim as long as I can stand it
Run: 2 x 30 minutes 1 x 45 minutes
Bike: 2 x 30 - 60 minutes

I need to increase my meat intake. I'm not getting enough red meat and I really should be taking an iron supplement. I'm prone to being anemic, I don't need to tempt fate. Hmmm... that could have a lot to do with why I'm currently not feeling top notch. I also want to find a good multi vitamin. I need to also contact my doctor and find out if she can recommend a good sports med specialist, just in case, for the long term kinda thing, but that's a real back burner for now.

I went out to the lake and went for a brief swim. I want to get my body used to swimming in cold, open, water before the main event, especially since I don't have a wetsuit. It took all of 15 minutes before my brain was toast and my muscles wanted to mutiny. I was pretty pleased with the results and I plan to head back out next Saturday to do it all again.

Sick and Ill

Today is another rest day. I am not feeling too hot, so I'm thinking what might have been signs of over training were actually signs of me fighting some bug. Now I'm all for sleeping in, but it's so much different when you have to vs when you want to. I woke up at 6:30 convinced that I slept in and in a panic. Guess I'm getting used to my alarm going off at 5:30, and I think I like it (I know, I'm sick).

I'm currently dealing with being tired, my tummy isn't too happy, and I have this constant feeling like any moment my throat is going to start being sore. My resting heart rate has settled down to what it normally is (64 bpm at the moment, I hope to lower that) so that's one good thing. I'm hoping this clears up soon because I do not want to be down for too long and I know that training while sick isn't a good idea because it can just make things worse or I could end up being sick for longer, not what I want.

Tomorrow, depending on how I feel, I'm thinking of trying an open water swim out near my mum's house. It's going to be cold, but I need to get used to swimming in the great outdoors. I'm not going to have a wetsuit this season so I had damn well get used to swimming in cold water. The wetsuit can come next year, provided I am still enthusiastic (read: crazy) enough to want to continue punishing my mind and body in this manner.

I am itching to get back to training. I should try to remember this current feeling, it would come in handy on those cold, wet days where I don't want to get out of bed and go swim, I don't want to run in the rain, and the idea of getting on a bike is on par with moving a mountain. I would never have thought that I would ever not LOVE slacking off. Well... I do love slacking off, but I miss working out. Great. Now I'm confused.

Over training strikes

Swim: 300 meters?

I don't know what I did today. I swam for about 15 - 20 minutes and had to stop. My heart wasn't in it and I just felt like I was fighting the water. It wasn't worth continuing in that state.

Tomorrow I'm taking an unplanned rest day. I think my body is trying to tell me its had enough and needs some rest. I think I need to cut back on the swimming since I tend to go hard when I am out there and I don't really need to be swimming 4+ days a week. Most people need to train hard for swimming just to get comfortable with the water but that's a non-issue for me. I need to work on cycling and walking (walking will only resume once I have a nice knee brace to help my poorly tracking patella. Fucker).

So I'm going to take a look at my training schedule and cut down on the volume and work more on the intensity of my workouts, and, of course, the technique. I'm planning on joining my local Y (pending pool approval rating) and at that point I hope to add yoga to my training to help with the balance and flexibility and to spice up the crosstraining.

What a week.

Swimming:

I have no idea how many meters I put in today, and I don't really care. All I know is that it was long and I was getting frustrated near the end. I'm working on a new stroke technique and there is a lot to think about and it is getting frustrating, but I really think it's paying off. If I had to make a guess I would say that I did at least 500 meters.

My right hamstrings are sore today. When I got out of the pool they seized up into a little ball and boy did it hurt. I managed to get it stretched out nicely but for those 60 seconds I thought I was going to die of pain. I hate cramps. All the more reason to stretch properly.

I swam with my contacts in today. What a difference sight makes. They say to train with what you plan on wearing/using on race day so I might as well start now.

I can't wait to get some open water training in. If it's nice this Saturday I'm thinking I might go out to my mum's house and swim at the lake near her house.


Running/Walking

So my body is definitely saying that running is not an option. My knees just can't handle it. From all the research I have done, and based on the diagnosis that my doctor gave me, it will clear up, I just have to be patient and work on strengthening the muscles that support my knees. I will be getting myself a knee brace for my left knee right quick since it's in the worst shape, the right knee I think is doing alright. My patella just needs a little extra help to track properly until my muscles are ready to take that job over.

So anyway, today I was able to get in a good 25 minutes around the track, and I did about 2km. I'm happy with that, all things considered.

Monday, again.

Bike: 30 minutes

I feel pretty good. I kept my RPMs around 89 on average and I tried to focus on being steady. Apparently I managed to go just under 6.5 km. I'm happy with that. I also kept my heart rate within the target so that also makes me happy. I think I sweated about 6 lbs of water. I'm still a bit loopy from the endorphins.

Biking was all that was on my schedule for today so I got everything accomplished, yay me!

July 04 - July 10

Goals for this week:

Swimming: 1 swim over 800 meters, 3 swims averaging 650 meters
Biking: 2 x 30 minutes
Running: 2 x 30 minutes, 1x 45 minutes

I want to look into some drills I can do while swimming. Work more on technique and less on just putting in the meters.

Last week I had biking as a goal but it wasn't even on my training calendar until this week so I don't feel guilty for doing nothing about it last week.

I'm making myself a deal. If I do all three runs this week I will allow myself 1/2 a treat. If I manage to do all my runs next week, another half a treat, which would make one whole treat. Right now I'm thinking that treat just might be a nice, 1 hour massage... I am not below bribery.

Long rambling of thoughts regarding training and me

Okay, so I've read a couple of really great books for beginner triathletes, books I can not recommend enough. The Slow, Fat, Triathlete by Jayne Williams (who is now my personal hero and I wish I could shake her hand) and Triathlon 101 by John Mora. Two excellent books but they missed a couple of things the average person (Jayne totally writes for the average person, totally and completely average, slightly insane person. You have to be kinda off your nut to want to do a triathlon, never mind more than one) might need to know while preparing themselves to finish their first triathlon.

Two things to think about:

1. If you have started eating a proper diet, one geared towards endurance sports, one that is HIGH in carbohydrates like it should be (none of that Atkins crap, you don't want to fuck your muscles up by starving them of their glycogen supply) your dietary fibre intake will have increased, unless you're some sort of freak of nature that adores fibre and you've already been chowing down on the yummy goodness of cardboard flavoured cereal.

2. Caffeine acts as a mild laxative.

You do the math.

It's not advised to consume caffeine before any sort of workout, especially long ones away from civilization.

For the record, I haven't had this problem since I have switched to decaf (and boy is my body happy I did. I sleep better than ever, my tummy isn't as fucked up, and general health seems to have improved)

Just a thought.


Second thought for the day, well more a note actually. I haven't articulated my race plan for my first triathlon. If anybody is wondering, no, I do not plan on being all competitive and slick on my first race. I'm only interested in finishing the damn thing. There are a number of reasons why I will not be giving it my all for my first race.

I will not be in top training form in time for my first race. I haven't given myself enough time to train properly for it.

Why am I being such an idiot and entering an event I will not have trained properly for you ask? Well, the answer is quite simple.

First, I really wanted my first triathlon to be part of the My First Triathlon series. It's the event that first put the seed into my mind that I might actually be able to live this crazy dream.

Secondly, it's a test run. This gives me the opportunity to train and then enter an event with zero pressure (yeah, I know, any event can be zero pressure, except I do not have that kind of mentality, so there. Neener neener neener.) since all the people entering this event are first time triathletes, no exceptions. This is the event where I can screw up, flail around, and generally make a fool of myself and it won't matter because everybody will be in the same boat.

Thirdly I have a race plan that takes into account the fact I will be about 4 weeks shy of my training goal.

And you thought I was a silly girl. For shame.

So my race plan is like this:

1. The swim. Use it was a warm up. I'm comfortable with swimming and that's rare for a lot of triathletes. Most triathletes come from a running or cycling background, I'm also super comfortable with open water swimming, even more rare in triathletes. I'm the weirdo that used to think it was fun to go out and swim a lake, the WHOLE lake, just because I could. The number one issue people have with open water swimming is not being able to see the bottom, that is my number one love of open water swimming. I know, I'm a freak, which is probably a good thing given the number of whack-jobs in the triathlon community.

I digress. (I can just here you say "no shit". Shut it.)

I'm going to use the swim to warm my muscles up, get them used to moving. If I'm feeling strong enough I might pour on a little speed, but I just want to get used to swimming with a large group like that. I want to focus on not tiring my legs out, keeping my breathing nice an easy. Just before getting out of the water, focus and visualize the transition.

2. The bike. I plan on focusing on keeping a nice, steady pace, I won't pour on the speed, just enjoy being out on the road. In the last few km I want to work on stretching my legs out, getting them ready to start the run (ha!). Last km focus and visualize the transition.

3. The run (ha!). I plan on walking the run portion. I am not going to try and be a hero. I know I can't run, my knees are not ready for that yet. If, and it's a big if, I am feeling strong enough and I think my knees can handle it I might do some interval jogging and walking. If, and again this is a big if, I am feeling strong, I would love nothing better than to jog the last 500 meters.

And because of that race plan, I believe I can finish my first triathlon while being 4 weeks shy of my training goal.

For the record I am still planning on walking my second triathlon too. I may never be able to run, and I might have to walk every triathlon I ever enter but I will not allow that to stop me from participating in this excellent sport. So far I have seen nothing in the rules that prevent me from doing so, and so until it's on the books that I can't walk the course, that's what I will do (of course all time limits being within my reach). Of course this means I will never finish an Ironman (I don't think i can finish in the 17 hours allotted) but who knows. I think maybe that will be a goal for my 50th birthday, finish a long course (iron distance/Ironman, crazy person length. Call it what you will) triathlon. I have 20 years to train for that. Maybe I can learn to speedwalk...

So yeah, that's what I've set out for myself. That's why I am not too worried about being a slug and slacking on the "run" training. As long as I get some good long walks in (which I guess I really should be documenting as part of my training) I'm not worried. Next season is when I really hope to step up. I am looking into joining a triathlon club, working with a coach and getting serious about this insanity. This year is just about deciding whether or not I'm actually going to like doing this crazy sport (which so far, I do). Next year is when the bling steps in and I go crazy with cool equipment. Heh.

Okay, back to my regularly scheduled, and very dull, account of my training.