I'm not entirely sure why, but my enthusiasm for my upcoming race just took a dive this weekend. It was like I could care less. I took all of Saturday off to spend with my daughter, while Calvin went fishing for the weekend for his birthday. I just couldn't face another long training day while juggling being mom, too. I really had to rally to get on the bike Sunday. I feel fine physically, but my heart wasn't in it. I just kept thinking, I'm as ready as I'm gonna be. Now, today, I started to get a little panicky about my lackadaisical attitude and went for two runs. AM and PM.

I hope my attitude continues to improve. It was bound to happen eventually. I am so self motivated normally. I truly enjoy the training, it's the racing that really freaks my out. Maybe as I am getting closer to the event I am trying to sabotage myself. Shit. Maybe it's my brother's wedding this weekend where I will have to see my whole family, yikes....

Wishful Thinking...

I battled the wild wind today on my bike. My nice short 20 mile ride felt like, oh, 40 miles. But, it was good training for AZ, right? Ugh, I can't wait to finally be on the road to Justin's house, where I will stay for Ironman. I wish I could transport myself to the running portion of the race and have the swim and bike behind me. I will have charged the course thus far, and be feeling great on the run. Well, wishful thinking gets you where? Nowhere but 2 weeks till the race, that's where!

Here you go... the workout:

Warm-up

4 x 150 (100 free, 50 stroke)

4 x 150 kick (same as above)

6 x 150 free (50 moderate, 50 fast, 50 slow)

2 x 150 free (same as above)

200 cool down

Spring Breakin'

The kids are on "spring break" this week, which means they are out of school and want to have some fun. Since I can't just drop everything at work or stop training, I signed them up for some tennis clinic, through the YMCA. I was a little hesitant, since you never know how your kids will respond to things. They love it! I'm relieved.

So, I ran yesterday after swimming, while the kids played tennis. I felt so strong, not wanting to stop after one short hour. I have been trying to do most of my runs on asphalt, so as not to completely shock my body in AZ. I considered running on the track yesterday, but there was such a crowd of football type people all over the field, I changed my mind.

I have truly enjoyed the cycling during my training and feeling the power I have gained in my legs and upper body. I will admit, though that I yearn for long trail runs, like a long lost lover. I see the beautiful green mountains and I want to spend the day with them, exploring their spring secrets. I read race results from ultras, like the Coyote Two Moon, that was just this past weekend in Ojai and I long to be there. It may sound corny, but I am not kidding. If triathlon training has taught me anything, it is that I am truly a trail runner. I see no other future for me. Sure, I'll ride my bikes and swim, always striving to get to lane one with Matt and Chris.
I will be out on the trail, though, to quiet my mind and find divine guidance and sanity.

The coach was off buying grapes today, so we were on our own. We looked like we were modeling our various bad swimsuits on the "25 then get out of the pool set". There is a huge window that looks into the lobby from the pool. The early morning spin class always stares at us as they are leaving. Today they really got a good look at us strutting around the pool.

2 x 200 #1: swim #2: 25 free, 25 drill (scull, fingertip, catch up, zipper)
8 x 50 kick: odd: free even: fly, back, breast, fly on back
4 x100 pull, with buoy and paddles

Main:

8 x 75 free: moderate, fast, slow
8 x 50 free: moderate, fast
8 x 25 really fast, then get out of the pool and walk around to start
2 x 200: same as warm-up

I felt great today after the workout, like I had hardly done anything. I think this is about how I am supposed to be feeling about this point in my training. It was good to hear a guy in my lane say how tired he was from the workout. I plan on doing an open water swim this weekend. Brrr, talk about cold, the ocean is about 51 degrees.

Happy Easter!

Greetings from Phoebe the Easter Doggy. She looks miserable, don't you think? It was another creative training weekend with the kids. I spent a grueling 3 + hours on the trainer yesterday, then 70 minutes swimming long intervals at the Y, with the kids, of course.

Today, I snuck out for a 2 hour run, doing loops so I was always within a short distance of the house. I then came home and the kids paced me with their bikes for another 30 or so minutes. It is warmer today then it has been for quite a while. The sun feels really good. I have been checking the Phoenix weather and it is always warmer than here. I think of the poor souls who will be coming from some truly cold place and how the shock of dry 80 degree weather is going to feel.

I think I'm gonna have me an Easter beer. Cheers!

My morning run this morning was divine. I was running to M. Ward's "End Of Amnesia", the perfect morning run music, and was feeling great. Phoebe and I both were wondering why we haven't made early Friday morning run a routine, like Wednesday night run. Well, off to our "Flatbread Pizza" on Friday routine. The kids and I tried to find the beavers on the rivers this evening, with no luck, but we are not giving up. More news on the Santa Ynes River beavers later....

Well, Mike mixed it up a bit today. It was fun and tiring.


Swim
2 x 50 free/ drill
2 x 50 free/ back
2 x 50 free/ breast
2 x 50 free/ drill

Kick:
2 x 50 fly/ free
2 x 50 free/ back
2 x 50 back/ dolphin
2 x 50 breast/ breast

8 x 100 IM ( substitute free if you can't do fly)

8 x 50 pull descending 1-4, 5-8

4 x 50 descending

cool down

I was sitting at the Bulldog Cafe after swim this morning, like Kristine and I always do on Thursdays. A woman was wearing a bike jersey that said Hoodoo 500 or some such race, so we got to talking. Turns out that she is the Planet Ultra lady of planetultra.com. She is here doing a Santa Ynez Valley tour with a group of cyclists. She told us about a southern Utah tour in August that sounds just awesome. I am very interested, especially because she said they would really like to have a massage therapist in the group and they would haul my table around for me. It would be like a working vacation. Cycle all day, then massage a little in the evening and make some money. Hmmmm, I am definitely looking into this.

I'm not loving the weather right now, but I've got to get out on my bike for a couple of hours. Maybe the sun will come out soon.

Disneyland, California Adventure, matching hats and all.

Back to the "real world" on Wednesday after being at the happiest place on earth. How they ever came up with that phrase is a complete enigma, since almost everyone there (Disneyland) looked completely miserable. I'm not joking, I made it a contest to find anyone who even looked remotely happy or had the hint of a smile on their face. It made me smile just to do this, which made the trip a bit more tolerable. I kept thinking, at least I won't have to do this again for a couple of years, at least.

So, it was a relief to get back to training on Wednesday. I tricked my friend Fiona into going on an easy trail run with me. She has never run trails before and I was planning on going up grass mountain, since the weather was so fantastic and I knew the flowers would be out in full force. I love this run and don't really consider the difficulty level compared to someone who is used to running flattish roads all the time. She was happy she went and cursed me the next morning at swim, telling the coach that it was all my fault that she was slow. It is a very steep hill and pretty technical, probably not the best choice for a first time trail run. Sorry Fiona, well, not really. She did awesome!

Thursday was swimming of course and then out on the bike for a couple of hours to battle the winds. Friday a short run is all I could squeeze into my day. Saturday, out on the bike by 8AM and ran into my friend Mike, who kicks ass on the bike and made me push way harder than I'm used to. This was really good for me, since I had to be home in time to make it to SB for a swim clinic by 1 PM.

I'm glad I went to the clinic. I was on the fence about going, but the woman putting it on, Mo Chambers, is an excellent coach and I really got some useful information and I think my stroke will be better already. She also coached us a bit about how to sight in open water. The only negative was that the pool was outside and it was freezing and the water was way colder than the 84 degrees I'm used to. I think they said it was 70 degrees. BRRRRRRR!!!! I now know how spoiled I am and will never complain again when the water is say 83 or even 82, which it sometimes is. I'm no polar bear.

Sunday, out on the bike again for a 3 hour ride, than a quick 2 1/2 run. I hoped to fit more biking in this weekend, but wanted to get that run in too. I don't know how people fit all this training in. I have laundry piled up and an empty refrigerator half the time. My kids are always out of socks and we had to eat tortillas and applesauce for breakfast the other day, because mommy's too busy training (and working, mind you) to go to the store. Ugh. But, I did take them to Disneyland. That's right. Priorities.

Solvang Century as Training Ride

I rode the Solvang Century yesterday and had a great time. The early morning was chilly and my hands were frozen, but the day warmed up to a nice 75 degrees by late morning. I now have a nice red "sleeve" on both arms. It's been awhile since my arms have seen the sun for any length of time. The ride was 104 miles, with 5,000 feet of climbing. I found myself looking forward to the hills after miles and miles of mainly flat road from mile 60 to 90. Around mile 80, I found myself really wanting to stretch and noticed other riders wiggling around on their bikes, standing, twisting. I think that is the hardest thing about cycling for hours, you get so damn uncomfortable from being in the same position. I felt like I could go for a nice long run when I finished, in fact, I kept thinking about running while I was riding.

So, tomorrow, I take the kids to Disneyland, a whole other kind of training. Wish me luck.

It's so grand to feel well again!! Life is just better when you don't have to drag your sick, tired, sorry ass outta bed every morning. I woke up today at 4:50 am and thought, great, time to get up and go to the pool. And, it wasn't like Oh Great...time to get up, but just plain ole great.

200 free
200 drill: 6/3, scull, catch-up, zipper
200 kick: back/fly
200 pull

8 x 50 (:50)
4 x 100 (1:45)
2 x 200 (3:30)
400...keeping same pace as others

200 cool down

So, I received the "energ-ease" and have taken them twice before a workout. The first time I can't say I noticed a difference, but this morning I seemed to have a lot of energy. I don't know it that is because I am feeling better finally or if the stuff really works. I think I will have to keep testing it. I can say for sure, though, that the recover-ease is great. It was reviewed by industry watch dog Supplement Watch.com and got a great review. The ererg-ease also got a great review and I was surprised to see cordyceps as the first ingredient. I have been taking my cordyceps mostly as a hangover cure. Now I know another reason to take it. Ginseng (3 different types ) is also in the ingredients. I have always liked ginseng for energy. I think it affects everyone differently, though.

Feelin' Froggy?

Abigail just turned 9 and this toad crashed her party. The girls named him "Rumpy".

Go 4 it! (really lame, I know)

4 x 150: free, back, free

4 x 100 kick: free, back

4 x 75 pull (with paddles) breathing every 3, every 5, every 3

4 x 150 free, breast, free

4 x 100 kick: free, breast (no zoomers)

4 x 75 pull (same as above)

Green, because the breaststroke makes me feel so froggy.

Either the workout was tough or I was tired from the weekend. Stupid breaststroke, it makes you feel so slow. The paddles are great for building the strength in my arms. I can really feel it after pulling for a while. I spent some time in the pool on Sunday and mostly did pull with my paddles and my arms were fatigued. I rode 5 hours 5 minutes on Sunday as well. I felt strong till the end, which I know is a good sign. On Saturday I ran about 2 hours 45 minutes. It was a very hilly run and steep enough that I was able to keep up with some pro cyclists for a bit and shoot the shit. That rhymed, did you like that Justin? Anyhow, I ended up seeing the same group on Sunday while I was cycling. I wasn't able to stay with them very long on the bike, but I gave it my best shot. The weather is divine right now. Low 70's, slightly breezy, jasmine wafting through the air, okay, I don't know about the jasmine, but it is lovely here. Pro triathletes are here in full force right now.

Now that I have successfully moved my business, I hope to be more focused on my training as I am supposed to be in the peak stages of tough, long workouts. This weekend I hope to do the Solvang Century. I've lived here 8 years and have yet to participate in this ride. I usually just try to avoid all the asshole cyclist that come to town for this event. Yikes, am I one of them now?? Of course not, I'm still just a runner who rides a bike.