4/22/09 - Cross Fit
4/23/09 - Rest
4/24/09 - 6mi Run
4/25/09 - 22mi Bike
I had a distracting week last week. I was at a women's work retreat for two days and then left to go camping for the rest of the weekend to celebrate my fiance's birthday. It was a lot of fun, but it's difficult to squeeze in trainings when my schedule is out of whack. I have to consider what gear I'm bringing with me, and if I'll be able to shower afterward, and if I'll know where the heck I'm going in a new area. Still, it allows for interesting opportunities to explore new areas and sights that I haven't seen before, including running across a giant Jesus sculpture on the top of a hill. Where did that come from?
04/26/09 - Open Water Swim
This week started off with an open water swim clinic which provided some execptionally valuable tools on how to prepare to enter the water, how to exit, and how to handle the cold. We've had a few storms pass through causing upwelling, and with that some direly cold currents. We got into the water the first time to acclimate, and I just went into a bit of shock. Your lungs freeze, your muscles tense, and you forget to breath. Our coached walked us through the process of slowly submerging yourself underwater, and of course, allowing yourself to breath.
We started with a few short swims, and then hit up our race distance. On the short swims, I did great! Myself and two of our mentors finished first! We kept the same pace and seemed to create a large distance between ourselves and the other swimmers. However, I started noticing that my surf wetsuit may not be suited for this type of activity. I bought the wetsuit over a year ago, I've become a bit smaller, and accordingly, am taking on alot of water. Everytime I stroked, I could feel a gush of water coming into the suit and dragging me down. Triathlon wetsuits are much tighter and more flexible, so I might think about investing in one down the road.
Once we did the race distance, I kept pace with the leaders for the first half, but I started struggling with the wet suit and slowed my pace. They ended up finishing about 15m ahead of me, but I was just glad to finish!!! When I slowed my pace a bit, it gave me an opportunity to look around under water. We were practicing swimming through kelp beds to become accustomed to it's snarly nature, and I was spotting a little fish here and there. Of course, all of a sudden, I saw something much larger and much quicker! I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but sure enough, I saw a silverish colored thing next to me! I popped out of the water, looking around to see how close the nearest swimmer was.... like I said, the leaders were 15m ahead of me (that's me in the red cap in the picture, bringing it in to the finish), and the pack was a good 100m behind me! I was alone! I thought about panicking, but before I had the opportunity, a little head popped up about an arm's length from me and stared at me with droopy and inquisitive eyes. I was so happy to see that seal, that it fueled me to pick up the pace and finish the last 150m in a sprint!
04/27/09 - T2 Training
I am BUMMED! With all the camping and birthday celebrating, I missed our T2 Training at the track on Monday. They set up their bikes and practiced race paces, and transitions, in which I am totally clueless. Thankfully, my training partner attended and I'm hoping she took notes!
04/28/09 - Run
We took in a nice run this evening. We no longer have spin class, so I'm adjusting to a new schedule... we'll see what manifests itself. In the mean time, the run was great except that I had a little intestinal issue about a mile in. Nothing that stopped me from running, but it definintely held my attention!
We ran along the ocean bluffs next to my office, and had a nice fast and strong pace on the way out. We knew we were going to be in trouble on the way back though, because the wind was hard at our backs. We hit the turn around point, and sure enough, we were blasted with the ice cold ocean winds. On a few hills the wind was so furious, that it seemed we didn't cover any ground.
We considered turning inland and heading for a little solitude, but I'm as stubborn as the wind, and thought it would be a great training opportunity. We battled the whole way home, and still had a strong, solid, and quick run. I'd have to say that with all this training, my run has improved the most. Interesting how spending extra time on the bike and in the pool ultimately helped me run faster! Go figure!
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