Week 20.....In the Books with a BANG!!

Yes, I am very proud of myself!  I swam every single yard, biked every single minute, and ran every single minute of the week's workouts!  Who da' woman?!?  Ha! Ha!

The week was full of ups and downs (what week isn't?) so here were my Challenges and Successes this week:

Challenges:
- Had some major charlie horse cramping in my feet near the end of my 1500 meter swim.  Tried to gut it out cause I was on a mission to swim it faster than my previous one (30 minutes).  Had to stop about six times to try to massage/stretch the dang thing out, but it held on through the last 300 meters.  OUCH!
- Running 40 minutes during a snow-storm.  I've forgotten what it feels like to run without seven layers on!  I bet I'll fly!!
- Running on the treadmill for 60 minutes!  Ugh!  I tell ya...that thing will be the death of me! :(  I ran at a 5.0 (yes, I'll admit to that) the first 50 minutes then told myself that I gotta increase.  So I went to a 5.5 until 55 minutes at which point I took it to a 6.0.  Yes, that killed me!  And I'm embarrassed to admit I only ran 5.25 miles.  Blech!!
- Saturday 90-minute ride on the spin bike.....going nowhere.....sitting in the same place for an hour and a half.......frustrated about leaving my family for 3 hours on a Saturday and then knowing I'll be spent for the rest of the day.........leaving my lights on during the entire time and coming out to a dead car. (Thanks for rescuing me, Travis!)


Successes:
- Did every minute and every yard of my workout!!
- Beat my previous 1500 meter swim time by 2 minutes, despite having to stop six times because of my cramp!
- Ran on the treadmill for 60 minutes!
- LOVED the speed swim workout!  I just like sprinting everything!
- Did every minute and every yard of my workout!!  (Did I already say that?)

Overall, I felt great about last week's effort!

Started week 19 off with a strength training workout with some fellow women from the ward.  We meet at the church and work our butts off doing leg, arm, and ab strength exercises!  Last time I did it, I couldn't walk for three days.  Hopefully, I won't be as sore this time around.  I hit the pool and did the long workout tonight.  Felt great!

Week 2!

Last week is over and a new week begins today!  I woke up bright and early this morning (4:55) and headed over to the Sports Academy for my swim.  I swear this swimming thing is becoming too popular.  Lots and lots of people in that pool.  I lucked out and was able to share a lane with a lady who is just about my speed so we never had to worry about passing each other.  That was nice.  I've been trying to learn how to get faster and one thing I've been trying to do is get my hip drive down.  It's a bit strange but I think I'm learning how to do it.  It helps with my roll and I can feel a bit better thrust on each stroke.  Don't know whether that makes much sense.  I'm just writing it so that I can remember!  I'll write more later...after the 40 minute run scheduled for this evening!

Patellofemeral Pain Syndrome....ugh...

So that was the result of the visit to the doctor about the right knee pain that I've been dealing with for the past three weeks.  Come to find out it's not a great idea to train only on the treadmill.  Duh!  I KNEW that but refused to actually do something about it.  When Camilla J. and I went on our 6.4 mile run at the end of Christmas break my knees weren't ready for the uneven hard asphalt.  Bummer.  At least there's no obvious damage to the meniscus (my worry).  A little rest, some ice and ibuprofen will take care of it.  I haven't run much at all this week.  My runs ended up being walks mostly.  Wow is it hard to just take it easy.  I laugh at myself when I think about how hard it is to not go full throttle during my workouts.  For the more part of a decade you couldn't get me off the couch to do anything active.  I like my current problem a lot more!  Keep on truckin'!!!!

Just keep swimming!!!

Day three of the twenty week program went as well as it could have given the circumstances!  Why is it getting harder and harder to get up at 5:00 in the morning???  Argh!  I literally have to talk myself into getting up and trudging over to the pool to get my swim in before work.  Maybe one day it'll get easier!  I made it to the pool this morning to find that way too many other people had the same idea I did.  The lanes were ALL FULL!  What's up with that?  So I hopped in with three other guys and got going.  I don't consider myself all that fast but these guys were kinda just sitting in the water going nowhere.  Don't get me wrong, they were taking strokes and kicking.  It just wasn't workin' for them.  Needless to say, today was a test of patience and slalom skills!  They were sure nice guys though!  I'd share a lane with 'em again!  The swim itself felt pretty good.  Each 400 was supposed to progressively faster and I managed to do that.  I also found out that my backstroke might just be faster than my freestyle.  Strange.  A lady in the lane next to me was swimming with flippers.  When I swam next to her doing freestyle it was all I could do to keep up.  When I backstroked, a seemed to keep up a little easier.  Hmm. Have a great day whoever even reads this stuff.

20 WEEK COUNTDOWN BEGINS TODAY!!!!!!

Here goes nothing!  We have 20 weeks before the Boise Half Ironman!  Last year at this time I was very nervous and somewhat apprehensive about my ability to take on this huge challenge.  This year I'm feeling a lot more confident.  Today was workout #1!  Camilla went with me over to the Sports Academy and we got on the treadmills.  The workout called for a 40 minute easy pace run.  I'm incapable mentally of going at an easy pace (which may prove to be my downfall), so I pushed it through to the 5k mark.  I hit 22:49 for the 5k and then cooled the jets and did a little power walking for a bit, then just did a cool down walk for another 10 minutes. 

Off to the pool we went.  I was proud of the fact that Camilla wanted to swim with me as well.  She doesn't realize it but she's quite the athlete.  Her form is looking a lot better and her speed is getting better as well.  She's just too humble to admit it!  The pool felt ok today.  It's weird how out of form you get by simply missing a few days in the pool (I hadnt' swam since last Wednesday).  I felt like I was hacking at the water, not gliding through it. 

Overall it was a great day of working out!  There is huge value in having a goal to work towards and a defined plan to get there.  I guess that's why I'm so excited that the program has begun.  I now have a plan to follow!  Watch out Boise, here we come!!!! 

Monday is the BEGINNING!

I'm getting really excited about starting fresh again with the twenty week training program for the 2013 Boise Half Ironman!  My body, minus my knee, feels great and I'm ready to put the work in so that I'm ready!  The past couple of weeks have been a little crazy.  The workouts have been a bit sporadic and not concentrated on anything more than just maintenance.  It'll be good to get on a set schedule!  Here we go!

Gettin' Ready!!!

Not much longer until it's time to really dig in and get committed to the workout program for Boise!  I'm excited to get back on track with a regimen (think that's how you spell it)!  I've been maintaining pretty well over the past few weeks.  Always dealing with nagging aches and pains.  I think that just comes with being old!  The weather here in Logan has been nothing short of HORRENDOUS!  -5 degrees most days for over a week and a half!  Yuck!  Yesterday the temperature got up to 25 degrees and it felt like a heatwave!  Got me thinking how much I miss biking outside.  I don't mind the spin bike, but something about riding outside lightens up my mood.  Soon enough it'll be warm.  Patience.  Camilla, can you believe it's less that five months away?  Woohoo!

Take it to a 10!!

Gasp!  Yes, she did!  She took us to a 10 on the spin bike!  Yow!!!  This instructor is pretty hard-core.  And here's a little secret........I liked it. :)  I cranked that spin wheel up till I could barely move it, rpms were at 17!  Ha!  Good times, good times.

I'm kind of in no motivation mode right now in anticipation of starting the program back up in 10 days.  It's the calm before the storm, I guess.  I've been maintaining, but only pushing during my hard spin class on Thursdays.

Just realized I have a 5k race in three weeks, though!  Excited about that one!  Gonna sprint the entire way!!