Feeling Strong!

2/26/09 - Core

Last night I headed to a core and strengthening class that's part of the Nu2Tri program. This class is taught by Ken Dobberpuhl, a fitness guru and athletic director for an SC college. Ken has A LOT of tri experience and really focuses this class on strengthening for our particular sports.

It's such a great class! Arriving early means you get to spend some time digging out any muscles soreness with a foam roller, it's painful and magical all at the same time. We complete a series of exercises with no rest in between the sets. The pull-ups, plank leg lifts, military push-ups, squats, and so much more have been speaking to me lately. I'm feeling strong, especially in my arms. Something is going on in that region, that has me day dreaming about toned triceps and wondering just when they'll surface.

2/27/08 - Swim and Dance?

#1 - Swim
Had a great swim this morning! I jumped in to find my arms feeling stiff after last night, but they quickly warmed up and started feeling strong again. Started with 100 each of Swimming, Kicking, Pulling, and Choice (I chose freestyle, how imaginative!). Continued the warm up with 6x25's of our body position drills. On to the interval set. Today focused on getting some distance, so that's just what I did. I did a series of 4 x 250's (250 is 10 laps), with 15-30 second rest in between. Followed it up with a 200 pull cool down.

I actually felt that this workout was a little on the easy side for me. Next time I'll speed it up a bit and add another 250. I was just trying to focus on gaining calmness, fluidity, and pacing during the workout.... it all seemed to come together really well. I actually surprised myself with those 250's. The thought was daunting, but once I started swimming, it was second nature.

Hands down, best part of the workout was the hot shower and a quick breakfast with Cristy. I am not really a morning person, or at least I don't have spare time in the mornings, so having an opportunity to sit and eat, chat about our week, was a true treat! We stopped at the Chill Out Cafe in Santa Cruz for some organic breakfast burritos. If there is such a thing as burrito heaven, then we found it. My burrito was complete with eggs, dill potatoes, spinach, tomatoes, onion, peppers, cheese, and homemade tomatillo salsa! That salsa had my head spinning, it was so good.

I ate half of the buritto and brought the other half to the office to share with my vegetarian workmate. This buritto was just too good to not let others try it out!

#2 - Dance
Tonight we're hitting the dance floor for a hip-hop Zumba class. This is obviously not part of triathlon training, so isn't included in our schedule. This is just for fun. I'm going with my girlfriends to shake it for an hour or so, and then off for a couple of drinks.... I'm trying to find the life-balance in all of this, before I become a completely boring person!