Swimming Backwards

Somehow in the past month, maybe due to stress, maybe due to lots of biking and running, my swim stroke deteriorated. Like to worse than it was when I got here in early February. And somehow I knew that, since my swim times were increasing and I suddenly realized I wasn't actually going anywhere in the water. So instead of doing something productive about it, I took a week off from swimming. And in that week of course, my life fell apart. Work issues, training burn out, personal issues... it's always like an avalanche. One thing pops out and everything crashes down. Luckily I was able to resolve my personal issue and I ran a lot, and I think I'm back on track there. Work still sucks, but at least the manager who hired me is siding with me. So I think I'm feeling a little better overall, though unfortunately work plays such a large part in my life I haven't regained all my focus yet. And I think when I lost that focus (whenever it was) is when my swimming started to suck also. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to swim well! And it gets awfully boring, and it takes longer to get to the pool and start swimming, and excuses excuses. So I decided to try to solve my problem. How did I do this? I first took another swim lesson to figure out what is going wrong and to recognize that and then to try to fix it. Secondly, I went back to master's swim. I realized maybe the reason I liked swimming so much last year is because it was FUN to swim with other people. And chat too, of course. And chat in the locker room after. And I missed that this year. There is no entertainment swimming by myself. So to get into the pool today, I told myself I'd do my own set and then join the master's workout. And it worked! And I got to talk with the coach and the regulars in the group. Hopefully this momentum continues...

Another Epic Weekend

The week preceding this weekend was far from epic, aside from me crying twice in 6 days, once on the bike while headed down (or up, since apparently the people who built the road thought it'd be fun to create a hilly road on the way down to the lake) to Folsom Lake. It wasn't pretty.

So I told myself I had to make up for the shitty week this weekend. Despite the record high temperatures (yesterday was 101 at least and today was at least 108) I got 101 miles on the bike on Saturday that I followed up with a 5 mile brick run. At the very end of this run I ran up Scarborough Road, this super steep road in my friend's neighborhood. Since the first time I tried to run up it I had to stop midway and put my head between my legs, I was proud that I made it all the way up without stopping. Then today I ran 20 miles in the morning (finished around 1140am when the temperature was already 98) and then 9 hours later, did an easy 3.5 mile run. This totals 101 miles biked and 28.5 miles run in one weekend. I actually ran 57 miles this week total since I decided I didn't want to swim anymore. That's the most I've ran since early 2008. Luckily, to make up for the current detesting of swimming, I bought a long-sleeve wetsuit today.

AND to top this weekend off, Jocelyn came to visit and do some heat training for her upcoming iron in Korea. It was fun to see her and go out to dinner with her and some of my friends from work. Unfortunately we didn't get to train together, but she would have kicked my ass anyways!

The Great Experiment

How little sleep can I get by on while still training 20 hours a week? We will see... tomorrow is another 7 hour ride and then a brick run... and it will be in the triple digits. And then Sunday is my longest run. I feel like I'm back in college when I would get 6-7 hours of sleep and then go run.

I am also trying to figure out where all my time went... training fewer hours per week and also sleeping less. Oh right, work. But that's a whole other story. And something else too, but that is yet another tale in itself.

Does anyone know if it's illegal to work through lunch while an exempt employee?

L is for Loser

Usually when I am in a bad mood I like to blog. But apparently I am in such a foul mood that I don't even know what to say here.

I did a 2.4 mile open water swim "race" this morning. It was really windy though (we have both wind and super hills here) and one of the buoys got blown off course so the swim was short. My time was a 59:30, which was second to last in the 20-20 age group (haha) but at least I was not tired at the end. I wasn't sure how it was going to go because I've been slightly nauseous since Thursday evening, I swam 4000 yards after work on Friday, my head was throbbing, and I was (am) sleep-deprived. The wind made the water super choppy and I swallowed more lake water than I cared to and actually ended up choking, especially on the second lap. Not pleasant. Towards the end of the last loop I got so fed up with the waves and swallowing water that I tried to pick up the pace. I don't really think it worked, but I got out and felt completely fine. Only thing that bothered me was my right arm because I sight in such a way that the arm gets strained more than my left. Still wondering if I should get a full-sleeve wetsuit for Lake Placid. I think the water temperature today was around 75, but I've lost more weight lately and I was cold. Even my sleeveless wetsuit seemed looser around the middle. Argh. It certainly helps with the running but I'm not sure about my general health. I think I've hit the bottom, but the bottom seemed to keep dropping.

"I tri, therefore IM"

Title is courtesy of Heather, who is also requesting this update. I was waiting to make sure I could say this: 27 hours and 12 minutes of training in this past week. That is equal to 55 minutes of lifting, 15,550 yards swam, 218 miles biked, and 42 miles run. Biggest week EVER! And I feel pretty good at the end of it.

Yesterday was my longest bike ever, at 113 miles. It took over 8 hours to complete but it was all easy easy riding. I know that because my average heart rate was only 130 bpm and I spent pretty much the entire time talking to Stan. I also rode the entire thing on my tri bike to test it out for Lake Placid. I think it will work.

And not only did I train a lot, I was working over 40 hours. I finished the second week in my current group... and realized most of my coworkers aren't so bad. I like that they are all relatively new college graduates so we're about the same age. However, my mentor still appears to have a stick up his ass.

Okay I have nothing insightful to say right now.

World's Toughest Triathlon aka Auburn Tri Half-Iron

78/202 overall
10/49 women (I think)
2nd in age group because 1st was a 22 yr old pro

The times don't separate out transition times so I think both T1 and T2 are included in the bike time.

Swim: 38:27.8 (113th overall)
Bike: 3:49:48.4 (114th overall)
Run: 1:49:37.7 (41st overall)
Total: 6:17:53.9

So not bad! My family came to town the day before to watch the race and hang out for a week. I had a large piece of cake that day. Interestingly I didn't sleep very well the few days before the race (I was a wee bit distracted) so I was kind of worried that may affect the race and perceived exertion.

My sister was nice enough to get up in the early morning to drive me to the race. She dropped me off about 3 miles from the swim start and I rode my bike down. This may have been a good way to warm up I think. This race has two different transitions due to the elevation/terrain so I had to make sure I had a plastic bag to put my stuff in labeled with my number that would get picked up after everyone had left T1.

Swim was uneventful as usual. Really didn't push the pace at all, tried to make myself pee in the water so I wouldn't have to go on the bike. Folsom Lake was quite comfortable water-temperature-wise so I was good in my sleeveless wetsuit. Got out of the water, took the usual nap in transition (had to stuff everything in the bag), and got on my bike. I used my road bike with aero clip-ons. Reminded myself not to hammer the initial large climb and spent the miles watching all the guys standing up as they went up the hills.

Don't think I went very hard on the bike, got kind of sleepy at places, bored at others. Had a chat with some riders out for a "frolic" while climbing one road. Tried to remind myself to eat and drink. I need a better system for this because waiting until I start feeling a bit woozy is not such a smart strategy. Saw my family twice on the course. Took it mostly easy on the way out (and up) and then hammered more on the way back. This is also when my right aerobar became really loose and was banging up and down. Later I discovered the spacers had completely fallen out. Into T2 and found blood on my sock. Spent some time investigating and found a blister on the bottom of my foot. I got nervous this would hurt throughout the run. Luckily it didn't bother me at all.

Legs weren't too sore off the bike so I just started to run. I was surprised to see 7-8 minute mile pace on my GPS. The air temperature at this point was quite comfortable; had it been 5-10 degrees warmer I probably would have been in trouble. Took two and a half gels and a lot of water since the aid stations seemed to be every mile or so. Since I had run the majority of the course in weeks prior to the race, I wasn't too worried. Felt pretty good and before I knew it, the race was over.

Finish time was a lot better than I had anticipated. And also finishing condition. I have to thank my coach for putting so much training time on my schedule and also my friend/co-worker Stan who accompanies me and puts up with me on long bike rides. Without either of them I don't think I would have had such a successful race.

So next up, Lake Placid. Maybe some short stuff in between, but I think it's time for the big mileage. The big BIG mileage. The next post will probably be about my new job. When I actually get time to write, that is...