Day Twenty-Six

Bike

Geeze, bad week, another difficult day training.  Went on a ride with Ryan and I just struggled from the very beginning.  Not fun!  But I just heard about Jordan Romero.  If you need inspiration to get your butt in gear this kid will give it to you.  He is 13 and getting ready to climb Mount Everest, this would make him the youngest person to climb Everest (currently the youngest is 16) but more than that it would allow him to complete his goal of climbing the highest peaks on all seven continents.  What a kid! 

Article and his web page

Day Twenty-Five

Run Swim
Woke up late, but was able to get to the pool on time to get my swim finished before they closed.  I had set my clock for 530 pm oops..good thing Ryan's alarm went off at 550 and he -smart guy- set it for am. It was a shorter swim because it is my recovery week. 

Ran in the afternoon. It was a warm day so I ran at the beach.  This entire week has been full of bad workouts.  I am tired and just not recovering.  This is how my run was, tired, slow, boring pace.  I once ran with my friend Chrissy from CO, she thought it was strange when we ran that we did not say hi or even acknowledge people we encountered.  She encouraged me to smile or say hello as I passed people.  On days like today, when I feel like nothing is going to make this run fun, I try to initiate more hellos.  It helps cheer me up.  But Pacifica is not that friendly.  I can look someone straight in the eyes and say hello and they just look back, no smile, no nod of the head, nothing.  How hard is it to smile?  This just makes me want to say hi to more people.  Try to loosen these people up.  I understand that every fifth person may be having a terrible day, but the other four should be happy to meet a friendly face outside on a beautiful sunny day at the beach.  It cheers me up to smile and say hello, so I will continue to do it.  It seems a strange place and time when we do not acknowledge the people we pass.  Smile often!

Day Twenty-Four

Bike
I am not working this week, it is spring break for the students, so I have more free time.  I think I do better working on a schedule.  If I go to work, I know right when I get off I have to work out.  If I do not work then I have all day to fit it in.  And since there is always something else I should be doing it gets pushed later and later.  Today I worked on some home loan stuff in the morning, then was going to do a few errands and ride my bike around 1:30.  I finished the home loan stuff and headed out to do my errands.  But they took forever, sending me from SF all the way to Saratoga to get this ski rack for Ryan's car.  Around 530 I ended up getting on the bike.  It is strange how more time = less organized time. 

Day Twenty-Three

Swim/Run

On a normal Wednesday I swim in the morning and run in the afternoon, but today I did my first open water swim, so times got switched up.  I ran in the morning with the dog.  We ran for 40 minutes with 6 30 second sprints.  I think that dog is a little machine.  She always has so much energy.  But every once in a while she has an off day.  I guess just like I do, was less often than I do, but like I do.  It was warm out, beautiful out, but Samara does not do great in the heat, even if it is just Pacifica heat.  As I did my sprints I was towing her, poor thing!  People probably thought I am a horrible pet owner.  Then I let her off leash for the last few sprints, when I was in safe, ranger free territory, and she still struggled.  It makes me feel good to know that this fit little dog has off days also.  It makes it sound natural, nothing is wrong with me, it is just how living things work.

Then in the evening I went for my first open water swim. It was at Treasure Island with swimart.  This is a great place for beginning open water swimming.  The water is really calm, the instructors are very kind and knowledgeable.  I was able to get some much needed coaching and have the experience of swimming with a group.  It was great.  I chose not to wear a wetsuit because that is a goal for the tris I am signed up for.  Only Liz, the girl I came with, and I did not wear wetsuits.  Liz swam in only her suit, I wore a rash guard that kept me comfortable until the last 5 or so minutes.  The instructors really stressed breathing full breaths from the first second you are in the water.  This helped a lot, kept away that panicky feeling.   We were not in the water for that long, but it is different in the open water, you do not get your break at each lap to glide off the wall.  After it was over I did not feel like I got a great workout, but I thought my body seemed stressed from being cold for so long.  But now that I am home my whole body is tired.  I know my run was different, normally I do my sprints on the treadmill, but  the swimming was more work than I had thought.  My legs and arms are very tired.

Day Twenty-Two

This is my recovery week, so everything is a bit shorter.  Instead of riding for an hour and ten minutes with seven sprints I ride for an hour with six sprints.  It does not seem like a big deal, but I guess it makes a difference allowing my body time to recover. 

Today I did my sprints outside.  It was nice to be outdoors, as it was a beautiful day, but I do have to admit I get much better training on the trainer.  The trainer does not allow you to coast going down hill, you must pedal for the entire workout.  I think I will do my Tuesday cycling workouts on the trainer, this will force me to have more focused work. 

I thought that the sprints outside would be awkward, but they were actually fine.  Exception: I began a sprint as a man in a full jelly belly kit on a time trial bike passed me.  Since I started my jump to sprint as he was next to me I felt like it looked like I was trying to challenge him.  Of course I was embarrassed because 1) why would I ever challenge him, he must have just laughed thinking I was trying to impress him 2) I looked like I was standing still as he passed me - but I was in fact in my full sprint. 

I had started my ride at a different spot than my normal route.  It is an addition that Ryan had taken me on (and I was really annoyed at him when he did) where you finish with an uphill.  I was annoyed at Ryan because he had me do this on one of my first rides out.  I was just looking to survive the ride at that point, not have any challenge at the end.  My state of mind has shifted now that I have been riding more, and I was happy to be able to challenge myself and push the last couple of miles at an incline.  All in all a good day of training, but I will stay on the trainer for better work on future Tuesdays.

Tomorrow I will swim in the bay.  Already very nervous about it!

Day Twenty-One

It is all about ME and it should be!

I was asked last week - 'who was I doing this for?'  I easily answered that I was doing it for myself.  That has been put to the test this week. 

I am following a training book for twenty weeks- these are the workouts that I follow.  Someone thinks that I need to do longer runs, I need to stretch more, I need to lift weights, I need to do yoga, I need to do a workout video.  No, I do not. I need to do this for ME.  If I am bothered by these suggestions it just proves that I am faltering from my intent to do this for myself.  I do not need to please anyone's view of what I should be doing. I am following a studied and tested scheduled workout that will help ME meet MY goal.  I have read three books about triathlons, I can trust myself and my workout plan.

The other thing that I am being questioned on is nutrition.  I am getting MY nutrition in line to make ME feel good during and after a workout.  I started this program being aware of nutrition, I am just tuning it up to fit me better as I embark on this training program. This is something only I can figure out.  My nutrition seems to be questioned by everyone.  'Are you eating more carbs?' 'I don't think you are eating enough vegetables'  Someone else said there is no way I am getting enough protein because I am not eating meat  Do you take supplements? I am asked, yes, I do not even believe in supplements but I take them.  Then I am told that I am denying my husband since I am not fixing him meat, everyone complains about this except for him.  I am the only one who knows how I am feeling, if I think I need more energy I will increase my carbs, if I am not recovering fast enough maybe I will increase my protein.  No one is next to me at every meal, so how can I take it personally when they have suggestions about what I should eat.  I only take it personally when I am wanting to please them, but I am not doing this for anyone but me.  right???   Maybe this is a much bigger issue than some triathlon I am doing, I would be happier in everything if I was trying to please myself not others.  I am not saying that I should not care about others feelings, or that I do not do something purely for someone else.  I am saying that it is healthy for me to do this for me, and I need to stick to just pleasing myself with this goal. 


I AM DOING THIS FOR ME.  I need to remember that.  I have set a goal that I want to accomplish.  My goal is not to do what everyone else thinks I need to do, I am not doing this to make them happy but to make me happy.  I did yoga this morning, as it is my rest day, and I felt great.  I feel stronger than I have in a some time, I have not lost any lbs like I hoped to, but they have definately been redistrubited. 


By the way, I thought my toughest critic would be my husband, but he has been great.  Nothing but encouraging and patient.  He has had to take the dog for more runs and fix more dinners and he has done it with an attitude of support and love.  As always, being more than I had hoped for, and I had high hopes!  You are the best Ryan.

Day Twenty

Another difficult day of training.  I had an hour long run, so I began by running the same route as I did on Friday.  It was really difficult to keep my legs going, I just did not have it.  But when I looked at my watch at the spot I turned around of Friday (Friday when I was feeling like I was flying on my run) I was in the exact same place at 25 minutes.  I can not say it was a bad run, because I was running at the same pace as my great run.  I decided at that point to add a little distance and a climb to my run, at least I would feel like I put in a good effort by the end even if I felt like I was dragging my feet.  Run was 12 minutes longer that I expected, but my extra effort in distance and the hill made up for my feeling of defeat in heavy slow feeling legs.

Nice to have coffee and visit with Rheana after.  Headed to my Aunt and Uncle's for Easter dinner after.  Got stuck in 2:30 hours of traffic.  Blah