Day Eighty-One

Bike make up swim

I went to the east bay to watch Madeline complete her first half marathon.  Since I was there I decided to do my training in a new area.

I swam in lake anza.  Kinda strange set up.  There are lines marking off a large rectangle.  The kids playing in the water are kept to the shallow area but I could swim out a little farther and do laps.  They say the laps are 40 m.  I was out for 45 minutes.  The water was warm but murky and lots of plants growing, which freaks me out.  There was also a sign up for 'swimmers itch.'  Which is the result of something with the snails in the water.  That kind of thing gets in your head and I kept feeling itchy as I was swimming.  Now I think it was for good reason because I have many many bits all over my body.  Itchy bites.  I will not be swimming there again.

I cycled in the area as well.  Nice for a change.  I rode for about 20 minutes and my big chain ring stopped shifting.  AND it stopped inbetween gears.  I rode the rest of the 1:40 using four gears in an unknown area.  It worked and I got back to my car, but not without plenty of worry.  Worry that my bike would stop and worry that I would have too much pride to call my dad so would walk for miles on old country roads.  Good think I did not check but I did not even have signal during the ride so I would have definitely been stuck walking.

The good news is that I rode downhill more comfortably than I have in a long time.  Maybe because I was listening to music and that loosened me us. I have never used music on the bike before.  Second great thing was that I got that great hot sweaty ride in.  Where we live I never get that and I miss it.

Day Eighty

Friday

Run Swim.

I skipped out on my swim today.  I had to work and I have just been too tired.  I will make it up tomorrow.  Ran a not fun run, tired and unenthusiastic.

Day Seventy-Nine

Long Day.  I had to work - come home take the dog for a walk - go to an artist opening in the city - come home eat - fix a birthday dessert treat for a friend - get on the trainer for an hour and a half.  It was nine by the time I got on the trainer so it  was only an hour workout. Good for me for doing it at all.  Again yeah for training schedules! because normally at nine I think I would like to be sitting on the couch - with my dog if I am so lucky to have her company - and for sure my husband because he is much less moody than the dog and will always sit with me.

Day Seventy-Eight

Swim/Run

This is my SwimArt day.  Since I got called into work I did not get my run in in the morning like I had planned.  This being my day to swim in the bay I cannot run before the swim unless it is separated by many hours, which is what I normally do.  I once swam after I did the stair master and my legs were really tired and it made me nervous in the water.  Nervous that I would get tired and not have my legs to get me back to shore.  This all being said I had to come home - walk the dog - swim at 630 in the bay - hit the gym on the way home to run for 40 minutes.  It was not fun by any stretch of the imagination, but I would not have trained today if I did not have a schedule I had to follow, so yeah for training guides. 

Today in swim class I learned that I should not kick if I don't have to do it to keep my body horizontal.  I should be saving my legs for my bike and run

Day Seventy-Seven

How long could I put this off.  I did not get on the bike until 8:15.
Did my 1 hour 15 minutes to the Lost final episode.  It was a chore,
but it is done.  I also did my first shopping trip at Rainbow Market
in the city.  This was a difficult experience because I was reading
the label on everything to make sure there were no animal products.  I
took me at least two hours in there finding my way around and finding
the products I wanted.  But I got them all.  The market is a great set
up.  Most things are sold in bulk so I just used my reusable vegetable
bags and filled them with grains, nuts and vegetables.  There is going
to be so little waste produced by the Mowbrays this week.  It was
really a great store and I will be back!

Day Seventy-Six

This is my rest day but I still had a swim from Friday to make up.  I
had wanted to get in the bay because I feel that my body needs to be
in the water at least once a week to stay acclimated to it.  I stayed
in for 30 minutes.  I freaked out for the first ten, enjoyed the
second ten and then the last ten started to run into people.  Because
it is Memorial Day everyone and their group of swimming buddies was
out there.  My goggles were fogging up so I could not tell where
people were so I kept stopping to take inventory.  By 30 minutes I am
freezing and ready to get out.  It was a big effort to get up there
and go swimming, but I was happy that I did it.

Day Seventy-Five

This plan is really getting me ready for my half ironman.  It is set
up so I am completely exhausted by Sunday.  When I am so tired during
my triathalon I will just have these Sunday runs to pull hope from.  I
woke up and ran about nine miles.  Hating every single step of it.  I
was tired and running was not going to be fun.  After I ran I swam.
It was the same as the run, every stroke was a huge effort that was a
pain in my ass.  I just wanted to sit, have coffee and read the
newspaper like a normal person does on Sunday mornings.