Is it butterflies or am I just scared straight?

Or maybe just a big wuss.

I had that bike ride on Sunday to remind myself what 14 miles (the ride distance of the upcoming tri) on the road outdoors would feel like.  I did a pseudo time trial to see where I could possibly end up on race day.  Conditions were less than perfect for that because the trail I ride on was busy with families, dogs on leashes and little kiddos on bikes (to be expected on a gorgeous Springlike day!).  I had a lot of bobbing and weaving to do and hard braking at times too (ah!).  In addition, it was so windy!  I knew I was going to have to work extra hard since it'd been awhile since I was out there (and a week off) so I pushed my hardest when I could.  My split speed for the 14 miles was a little over 15mph.  Surprising, given how many times I had stop and start.  I went further for a nice round 20 miles and felt fairly confident that on race day, I could be at about the same rate or better (hoping the winds are CALM!).

Last night, I tried to do the same with the swim.  Boy, what a rude awakening.  First of all, I've never quite understood how you jump in and start a race without warming up.  My best laps in the pool come AFTER I've already swam a good 400M.  So how are the first (and only) 300M supposed to be the best? I tested this concept.  I jumped in, started the timer and went.  OH EM GEE.  I may have started too fast?  The first 100 was fine and then during the second 100, my legs were already toast. WHAT???  It hurt to kick, my quads were fatigued.  ALREADY?!  Good grief!  This is awful!

I got to 175 and grabbed a pull buoy.  Swam the next 50 with just arms to let my legs recover and then swam the last in.  I took a break and thought "WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?"  Am I just cold from not swimming for over a week?  How can I lose my rhythm THAT fast?  Booohoooo!!!
I had made so much progress! I thought this was like riding a bike...it all comes back to you?  No? Thank goodness this is a pool swim triathlon.  I would die in a lake!! :/

And then I slapped myself.  Why am I pushing SO hard?  This is just a race to get jitters out and warm up to transitions and putting it all together in one event.  It's 300 meters for crying out loud.  It's baby sprint distance.  I CAN do this.  Is it the race aspect?  Was I just trying to fly right out of the gate? Well, I wouldn't know because my overall time was close to 8 minutes.  That includes two half lengths in backstroke (yes, I admit it) and about 50 or 75 meters just pulling (I can't remember, I was so mad).

So let's try this again.  No pulling, no racing, no backstroking, just focusing on form and breathing every 4/5 strokes. I did much better but I struggled with breathing.  Still out of rhythm, coughing (I am fighting that sinus infection with all I've got) and concerned that I'm going to freak out on race day.  New time: 7:35

I was so done.  I wanted out of the pool.  I decided I hated swimming.  But I hate quitting more so I went for another set this time 100 at a time with a short break in between.  I did NOT go all out, I did not push because I was afraid of burnout before I was done so I just focused on not drowning.  This time, 2:11, 2:15, 2:15.  (using my iphone so there are extra seconds included there for drying my hand and pushing the lap button)  I found my quads more cooperative but then my goggles leaked. Ah!  Whatever.  It was a good RE-introduction to the pool.  I will have to come back again before race day and have some positive self talk while swimming.

It was about a 20 minute workout and I jumped on the bike after for another 20.  While spinning, I thought I should probably run it out too to see how the ankle felt.  I ran upstairs after switching shoes and ran 20 or so on the treadmill. The ankle was a little achy but cooperative.

A good workout, yes.  An encouraging one, no.

I will give it another go mid week and try to relax.  After all, worst case, the swim portion should take what, 10 minutes?  If I back stroke and barely use my legs and cough up a storm, I could take 10. We'll see how adrenaline plays a part in this whole thing.

I'm still at a loss for the lack of warmup though.  Is that how it goes?  Should I jog around the natatorium, first?  Ugh.  I'll have to read up or hit up my tri buddies for tips.

Time to regroup and remember this:

Check in on me, will ya?

Valerie

oh yea, almost forgot...my view from the treadmill last night:

I left a little more motivated than when I started because #Committotri I have! ;)

Vacation and Workout schedules, an ugly but drinkable cocktail.

Ha! (random caption)

If you were here for my last update, you may or may have not been betting on whether I'd be getting my workouts in on Spring Break travel south of the border.

Just as suspected, it was not easy to peel myself away from the pool or sand (or my pina colada, for that matter) to get a workout in. I "planned" every night by setting out my workout clothes but those early sunrises and waking babies made it hard to "escape" for a workout.  I hate to leave hubby with the chaos when he'd much rather snooze.  I figured each day I'd just get away while babies napped but lo and behold, they never napped at the same time.  So without further ado, here's how it turned out:

M 1hr bike - do I get credit that the Sunday workout on the bike ended on Monday?  Eh, I didn't think so.  Travel day so working out was furthest on my priority list.
T 1:10 run - Yea...that didn't happen today either.  More rest.  :)
W Xtrain - Was going on a full day excursion so decided to head out for yesterday's run.  I couldn't get very good service so the MapMyFitness routes I was going to use was unavailable.  This meant I was just going to wing it.

Start of the run, leaving the resort.  Breath taking!

I ran through downtown and while looking around for my next turn, I stepped into a hole in the sidewalk and twisted my left ankle. Ouch! Then a few steps later, trying to run the pain out, twisted the right (which I had hurt on the TM last week) ugh!!  I put the pain aside and ran all the way to the highway and back then decided to go uphill to explore the neighborhood (cause I'm a glutton for punishment?).  I ran back down towards the resort and still had some time and distance to cover so continued around the marina and on to the end of a pier.  The pain was just now a dull ache and everything else felt so good, I honestly wanted to keep going but the bus was coming for me soon!

from atop a hill in the neighborhood

Cabo Marina

from the fishing pier

Ran 6.4 miles and little did I realize that the day's workout was JUST beginning!  We went on a zip-line adventure tour with Cabo Adventures that was absolutely jam packed with exhilarating fun.  We hiked to the top of a mountain and proceeded to zip line, some single, some upside down, some tandem and an amazing Superman at the end.  We also rockclimbed, rappelled, walked across the river on a tight rope, climbed a rope ladder up the mountain (41 deep squats!) and finished with a heart pumping ATV race through the mountain base.  I'll have to post those pics later, they were amazing and the GoPro video is pretty hilarious too!  All in all I think this qualified as the Xtrain workout for the week.  My arms and calves were toast the next day (oh and the throbbing ankle...yea, that was a little uncomfortable).
The fresh quesadillas they gave us at the end were devoured within seconds!

TH Rest - Hubby and I took the babies for a stroll through the marina after breakfast and later me and the ladies did a fun Water Aerobics class while the guys played beach volleyball.  We finished first so I decided to take what ended up being a loooooong walk on the inclined soft sand beach to the rocks and back while holding my 18 month old and towels.  If yesterday didn't qualify for Xtrain, today topped it off!! What was I thinking? I mapped it out and it was about a  mile and half (that kid's about 30lbs!)  No wonder I was pooped! I love the ocean and the sound of the waves so really, I was in my happy place.  I even got some great photos to last me a lifetime thanks to my oldest daughter.  :)

F 1hr run - travel day followed by unpacking and laundry. Fun! :/
S 1 - 1 1/2hr bike Oh, Houston.  We were welcomed with gloomy, rainy weather ALL. DAY. LONG.  Booohoooo!!!  We took the babies to a birthday party early in the day and the girls to see Cinderella at the movies later in the day.  That's all I could muster.  I felt a sinus infection (thanks Houston allergies) coming on so thought better of jumping on the bike.
S Rest  Making breakfast, cleaning, laundry and housework should be considered a workout.  Ugh. Happy homemaker I am not but it must be done.   Also, I casually looked at my calendar and like a smack upside the head, came the realization that I have my first sprint tri NEXT WEEKEND!? Wha? How did that slip my mind?  Good grief!  So, in a panic, I'm thinking I MUST get a workout in today!!  I had to get back before the Real Madrid/Barcelona game so hubby could watch uninterrupted but who knew I'd get to the park and have to untangle my chain and put it back on my bike?!  Ugh...just call me a grease monkey.  On wheels.  I got it fixed and jumped on for a 20 mile ride and 20 minutes late.  Oops!

I was so grateful the weather cleared up because riding indoors seemed like punishment.  Houston apologetically gifted me with the first sign of Spring on this beautiful day...bluebonnets!!

Warm Texas homecoming...bluebonnet sighting!

I think I was short a run and a bike but all the other activities got me pretty close.  And I really doubled up on the "Rest".  Haha.

So this week entailed about 11 hours of training but since I have the sprint on Saturday, I am just going to try to keep myself in check so I'm not at burnout by race day.  I'll flip the weeks and train more next week.  I'll plan on doing some light workouts in each of the disciplines and work on getting the gear ready and my nerves in check.  My friend told me to just look at it as another workout and forget the "race" aspect of it.  This helps because the distances themselves are totally doable.  300/14/3  so what's my problem anyway?

Stay tuned as I post on my first "official" sprint tri experience (and why I'm not counting the other I did as official).

Happy back to work Monday! 

Valerie

A-Boom chicka boom

My 3 year old randomly will sing this.  It is evidently part of their circle time song repertoire at daycare lately. It's pretty cute mainly because of the times she chooses to sing this...while playing by herself or accomplishing some task she's been tackling (getting doll arms through those dress arm holes can be tough!)

This was my first thought when I started this post about my prior week's update. I  added the "boom Chaka laka, Chaka laka, chica boom and almost did a little dance! The fact that we're traveling to a warm sunny destination may have a little to do with that though. ;)

M 1:15 run 20/5 x 3 - missed my morning alarm (or I decided to skip thinking Daylight Savings would cause morning chaos at the house today). Wasn't too concerned about missing 5:30 wko though because in my back pocket was the fact that it was the only night hubby was home. :) I was hoping to get my long run outdoors but it was cold, pouring and just yuck outdoors. I figured if I went to the gym, I could accomplish more. I made a last minute call of what wko to do since I still had a makeup brick I needed to fit in from last week. It was agonizing but I chose to do the long run at the end of the day. Treadmills & I just don't go together but with the 20/5 interval and tv shows to catch up on, I was positive it was going to be good. And it was! Nike+ app had me calibrated as booking it with close to 8.5 miles in 1:15. I estimated it to be closer to 7:75 but whatever...that TM speed was at at 7mph the majority of the time so it's close. I felt so good that I took my ambitious self to the pool. I got tomorrow's 1200M done too! Boomchickaboom. 

T 1200M swim + strength training -  Hubby's gone til Friday  and cross training would keep me on schedule for the week. I considered a P90X video but thought I'd like to be surprised and tried Nike Training Club app for a couple of workouts. I liked it! I did 2 different wkos, 45 minutes overall and it got me sweating and sore for the next few days so, effective! Lots of 

options with this app. I will probably tap into this while traveling if necessary. :)

W 50 min bike - Set up the bike in my room after all the kids were in bed and jumped on for a solid hour and caught up on House of Cards. Yay! (10 min extra credit! ;) )

Th rest -  Rest is for Saturday I've decided. It just works to not leave home early in the morning when the babies are up & full of energy. Hubby should appreciate this. ;) Which leaves Thursday to racing home and getting a quick 5k in before picking up babies. Checkitycheck!

F fast 3m run - caught up on last weeks 45/45 brick. 1650M swim + bike on my early day off work. TGIF! And hubby comes back tonight. Woo!!

S  1hr bike - rest day! Took a last minute invite to hang with friends in Galveston overnight because...SPRING BREAK, baby!!

S rest - last minute everything...shop, mani/pedis & pack (plus travel back from the island) BUT jumped on the bike LATE & got my last hour workout for the week in!! Yay!

The road trip cut some time in my schedule so making to Sunday's Hot Yoga class was tough. Not a huge loss and am pretty excited to get it all in. 

This week, different story. Spring break travels may prove to be difficult in keeping with the program. 

Finalizing this post on Tuesday morning from our balcony. Wagers on getting  2 bike, 2 runs & Xtrain session between now & Sunday?  Eh...I'm not a gambling girl but well, we'll see. 

Come back next week to find out. ;)

Happy #SpringBreak2015 to you! 

Valerie

Thursday Thought of the Day

Happy Thursday! #hurtssogood :)

Valerie

You Have 7 Days, Make Them Count

So did I?

I've mentioned before how I love to write it down as a to-do and cross it off or make notations (iphone calendar & notes just don't cut it for me). Well, I have a sweet new calendar that I unwrapped and am trying really hard to not make it look messy with all the switcheroos.  I think though that seeing this pack of pages over the course of time with all my doodles, scratch-outs and notes will be quite telling of my training journey.

Thank you Corey!! :)

Let's take a look at week 4 (days 22-28) of what I'm going to call: off season/base training (sounds official, doesn't it?)

3/2 Mon 1:15 bike seated hills - I forgot what the workout was...just remembered required time. I got on late at night after all the kids were in bed and gave it a go.  I did some climbs, seated and standing, sprints and 1 leg drills...I figured it was all-encompassing.  Went 1:17 and only 11 miles?  Turns out the speed sensor was not properly aligned for the first half hour.  Sigh.  Garmin is still dead so no HRM.  I decided on a whim to also casually join in yet another yoga challenge: #JourneytoHandstand because, who doesn't want to master a handstand?  I've gotten to the point where I could and then let it all go.  It's all core so I thought if I tried this, I would be working muscles I need anyway.  I did 3 days worth of the challenge and the last, hand standing for a minute, though supported by the wall, was tough!  My shoulders were screaming!  Extra time in for the photo ops too. :)

#JourneytoHandstand

3/3 Tues 1150M swim /45 min + strength training -  Hubby is out and I had to get son to & from soccer practice and pick up babies at daycare (and work a full day!) today.  Swim workouts are the only ones I can't alternate with something I can do at home.  Going to the gym was going to be a stretch so I was going to switch the days around and play it by ear.  I managed to taxi my son to 5 o'clock practice, race to the gym, swim (change twice!), pick up the babies and pick up my son at exactly 6:30 sharp!  I was so proud!   I knew there was a 1200 swim this week & I assumed it was today.  Swam 1200M in about 36 minutes and in the last 600 came across a breakthrough in form!! More on that later, but I am looking forward to "testing" this on the next swim.

After dinner, baths, cleanup and getting everyone to bed, I pull out some small weights and did a series of arm exercises followed by tabata burpees, the yoga challenge and even foam rolled by achy glutes and hammies.  Yay!

Not so yay...I was done with all this by midnight which is precisely the time the baby decided to wake up.  Cranky.  He fell quickly back asleep but I should have known it was a preface to what was to come...he was up at 4am ready to rumble.  I brought him to bed in hopes he'd cuddle and fall back asleep but instead, he treated me and my bed like a trampoline and was WIDE AWAKE and wanting to play until about 5:30.  When the alarm went off. :/ That's two nights of interrupted rest in a row.  Sleep deprived? Uh yea.  Let's see how this affects the rest of the week shall we?

3/4 Wed 1st Brick 1:10 bike Z3 Aero/30m run - Hubby's back! Thankfully that means no cooking or working out at near midnight.  Got a good 15 miles in on the allotted time and 3 miles on the run.  Not fast but I spent the first mile fidgeting with apps and music, good negative split though. He brought home dinner. :)

3/5 Thurs 1200M swim (sets of 100) - Well, made it to pool about 5:45am, Masters class had started (I forgot TH was class day).  Rather than interrupt to join a lane when I knew I'd be leaving quickly, I jumped in the other pool.  I had been told that it was 25Y and I *thought* (ugh) the wko was 900M.  I was thinking I'd swim 1300Y and it should cover me.  I wanted to make the 6:30a Hot Yoga class (since hubby is back and I'm so tight and sore everywhere) so rushed through it and asked the instructor on the way out what the length of pool I was swimming in was just to be sure.  It is 17 meters, long...or short.  Ahhh!!! No wonder it seemed easy. Ugh.  So, after doing my math homework
I learned that my 52 lengths were worth only 884M.  BOO, so I'm 266M short for the week but got a great yoga class in that included some fun inversions and arm balances!  Got to check off the yoga challenge to boot. Whoohoo!

UPDATE!! - The instructor was wrong!  Signs are now posted...the "short pool" is 20M!  So, I swam 1040M so I went OVER 140M...haha!! (Yes, I am updating this almost 2 months later...feeling redeemed!) :)

3/6 Fri Rest - I really could use it but I rather "rest" on family days (weekends).  I have another brick Sunday so running while everyone is in school/work is optimal.  But, having the kids in school on a sorta half day of work means me and the hubs can get some one on one time if he doesn't have any meetings or anything pressing at work.  I packed my workout bag and brought it to work because THE SUN IS OUT ALL DAY TODAY (albeit bringing 30 degree colder weather with it)!  If I can meet all my deadlines at work, get a quick loop at the park on the way home, I'll still get to hang with my babe with time to spare.  The sun is "forecasted" to hide tomorrow for the rest of the weekend so...the day must be seized!

Finding my sporty Revo shades in hubby's car made up for losing my earbuds on the walk to the car from my office. It was a gorgeous day, no music necessary and got date time in too. Win win win! :)

3/7 Sat Fast 5k - "Rest" day

3/8 Sun 2nd Brick Swim 45m (250wu 5x100 30' 150cd) Bike 45m (Z2-3 85-100rpm). - big fat workout fail today. Wet, dreary day filled with awful food and adjusting to daylight savings on a sleep deprived week was not the best formula to getting it done today. Never got a chance to leave for the pool, though I didn't try too hard. Had a fun day running around with the family so it's still a win. No regrets. :)

So, I almost made it. I was short 260ish  OVER 140 meters but short an hour and a half brick workout, though I added a good hour of hot yoga and handstand work throughout the week. 

Next week, make up the missed workouts plus the "plan" and a hot yoga class all while hubby travels. AGAIN. 

Happy Monday all! Make your days count!

Valerie

P.S. - I was all packed up for the gym this (Monday) morning hoping get A) 8ish miles on TM B) 1200M Swim C) 8ish miles + 1200M Swim.  Alas, rainy morning & daylight savings got me again (and hubby binge watching House of Cards into the wee hours didn't help).  Monday morning workout scrapped but all packed up to hit the gym at some point! 

Hang on everyone, we're almost there...

That is all.  :)

~V

1st Recovery week round up

I guess recovery week means lesser effort rather than fewer workouts.  I straddled the line between the two this week tweaking away as is the norm.  No travel for hubby this week but yucky cold and wet weather coupled with evening commitments made for another week of switcharoos.  I won't bore you with the details but here's the round up depicting the prescribed plan in bold and what actually went down following.

Monday - Day 15 -   Rest - 1 hour, PowerOne Cycling class (indoor bike on trainer)

Tuesday - Day 16 - 1:30 Bike easy - Rest since I did hard class yesterday (and have birthday brownie/ice cream dessert) :)

Wednesday - Day 17 - Rest or swim 900M - 1000M swim (10min time trial w/o warmup: 300M, 100k, 100p, 10min time trial warmed up: 400M, 100k)

Thursday - Day 18 - 1:15 Bike easy - thought I'd wake up early and knock this out but sleep felt too good.  A little regretful since fitting in for the rest of the week will be tough. Birthday happy hour will make early Friday workout a little more difficult too.

Friday - Day 19 - Rest - Um, yea...I swear they put everclear in those margaritas. Rest it is.

Saturday - Day 20  30 min Swim, 850M  - Feeling guilty for all the rest days, pulled the trainer in and did Thursday's workout. About 14 miles...I started with easy effort and then pulled out all the stops in the last half hour because...me.

Sunday - Day 21 1:30 Run Z1-3 -  I was hoping to leave the house early and get the "or swim" from Wednesday in before the long run.  I forgot how toddlers wake up at the crack of dawn full of energy.  Hubby got my distress signal late morning (he's so awesome) and took the whole crew out so that mom can have a "free" day.  No nails, shopping or massage but rather a solid 2 hours of putting my house back in order from 2 littles (I'm looking at you, Mateo aka Monster-teo) transporting random household items to all the places they don't belong.  A good solid 20 minutes were spent looking for remotes, not even joking.  Is it in the trash? (dig through trash)  Did he put it in the snack drawer? (dig through drawer and reorganize the mess) What about the shoe basket?  Oh, no...is it in the washing machine?  High cardio, super fast hide and seek and put stuff back before I lose time to run counts for a workout right?

All this, followed by the prescribed hour and a half run.  A little over 9 miles that I couldn't keep below Z4 because that would be walking?  How is that possible?  Anyway, it was a non issue because Garmin went dead before I made 3 miles.  Pace was fairly slow so I know I didn't over do it and given it was the longest run since my injury, I'm feeling pretty good.  Success!!

So how'd I measure up?  Well, I didn't do the extra swim and never made it around to Yoga and the foam roll effort really was pathetic.  But all the other stuff was done!

Coming up this week are brick workouts (8 total workouts +- 6-7 hours), crappy weather (cold, wet and dreary) and a travelling hubby.  Great recipe for getting it done dontcha think?

Here we go!

Happy Monday all!

Valerie