Fogged In

Ah, the last day of vacation. The last day to lay on the beach, lounge, take lots of naps, and eat way more Rice Chips than can possibly be good for one human being. Except, what, IT'S FOGGY OUTSIDE?!?! That's right,folks, it is so foggy now that you actually can't really see past the shoreline. My family and I had kind of been expecting yesterday to be our last day on the sand, since they were calling for T-storms from today-Monday, but fog? Really? I mean, I would have been cool sitting in the main room having a family reading day while it rains cats and dogs outside, but when we are stuck doing nothing due to some hazy weather? Majorly lame, if you ask me.
    Since the beach/pool are basically out of the question today, I had planned on taking an AM spin class. Since the class didn't start until 7:45, I figured my 11 o'clock bedtime would give me more than the necessary rest needed to wake up at 6:45 so I would have time to get my crap together and walk to the gym. I mean, for goodness' sake, I wake up at 5:25 on a regular basis! I should be able to handle ONE early wakeup call on vacation, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. That alarm went off at 6:45 and I pressed snooze. Five. Times. Before giving up and deciding that it was my last day of vacation and if my body was aching and sore and telling me it needed rest, you're darn tootin' I was going to slap off that alarm and go back to sleep.
   So, now I am sitting here, wondering what to do for my workout. I swam what could be construed as an "easy" 3500 yds yesterday afternoon, except for the 800 at "Fastest Possible Pace." I sort of wanted to slap my coach upside the head when he sent me that. 800 at nearly all-out? That's the same swimming distance as what you would do at a sprint-tri! And this is during practice! And my thighs are still sore! I swam the full set, but the 800 was pace, not all-out. In no way did I flub up the distance- you can bet your batooty that I swam my triceps off for 16 50's, but my endurance just isn't at the point yet where I can go balls-to-the-wall for that long with no one else to race/ pace with. That morning I had already done a 16-mile bike ride in the AM that left my quads and crotch a little.. shall we say, sore?, so that definitely did not help the swim set much. In fact, after EVERY bike ride here I have been sore. I think it's all the flat terrain, because back home, probably half of my rides are coasting down hills. Here, there are no hills. At all. So I am pedaling hard the. whole. time. Which is good, because I know I am building endurance and bike muscle that will only help me when my flat, flat race comes in September. But in the meantime? My legs need a break. And, in a very unlike-me fashion, I left my hardest two workouts of the week for last. (Seriously, I always try to get the crappy stuff over with first). So, now I have a 50 minute run with 2x10 minutes at 7:30 pace to do, and a 1:30 bike ride with high cadence intervals to knock out. By Monday. Because Monday everything goes back to normal: I go to Masters, then work, then another workout, and blah blah blah life goes on.
    What's a PB&J runner/triathlete to do? Well, for now, I am going to go get a swim workout in, but first, take a nap. Because this chick is going to make the most of her last vacation day. Even if it's foggier outside than my TV room windows after a home lifting session (yeah, I get that sweaty).

Always-Burning Furnace

This is my family nickname has been lately because I am hungry ALL. THE. TIME. Quite annoying, really. I suggested to my parents that I just get an IV and solve this whole buying-massive-quantities-of-food problem that we currently have going on in our house, made worse now that my brother, aka the Human Vacuum, is now home, but alas, no dice. It seems I have to keep on eating real food and somehow how to figure out how to get enough calories in that are not
-rice chips (so salty, sooo good)
-rice pudding
-PB&Js<---- my lunch from ages 3-13. Don't judge.
  since that's all my body ever seems to crave. Salt deficiency, perhaps??

  Being so hungry also means that if sustenance does not enter my mouth within at least 5 minutes of my stomach growling, I turn into an angry monster who wants to chew off people's heads and hands if they get in the way of me and my feeding time. I feel this is going to have to be remedied somehow, since I know that with more work shifts coming up and the eventual resurrection of school and harder workouts, this chick ain't gonna be able to shovel peanut butter into her mouth at regulated intervals all the time. Parish the thought!!
   
    Since you are obviously wondering why I am babbling on about food when this is actually a training blog, I swear, I have a thought trail I am following. See, I just finished an easy 7 mile run followed immediately by a one and a half hour lifting session, and the Bro and Pops just got home with the groceries for dinner. And it's 7:12. Which means dinner won't be ready until at least 8. Yuck.
    Unforunately, the run was done on the dreadmill because it is hotter than Hates outside and once you get about 300 feet away from the shore, there is absolutely no breeze and no shade. I watched the Tyra show, followed by "Drs.," and realized just how much I hate treadmills. How the heck did I run on them for so long?! WHO cares if it was 16 degrees outside?? I'd rather have my nose frost than run on one of those things again all winter. I am making a pact with myself to run outside as much as possible during this upcoming winter, which I think will be quite possible, since tri-training requires less runs, which means a lot less chances for my motivation to err, or, alternatively, my bum to freeze off.
     Now, I am off to go stand over my brother's shoulder (or, really, under it, since he is much, much taller than me) and see if glaring at him and invading his personal space will make him cook faster. And no, I can't ask to help. If I do, he will shoo me away and I won't be able to steal the olives that are sitting next to him.

One o' Those Days

Yesterday I woke up at a reasonable hour, 7:46, but decided that it's my vacation, and the only week I am allowing myself of a possible reduction in training until my Half-Iron. That's right, my only "rest" week until September. WHY AM I DOING THAT?!!!?, you might ask?
   A few reasons:
1. I absolutely hate relaxing, unless it means sleeping. There are rare occasions when I will lounge on the couch and read, but usually, if I am watching TV or doing something else "relaxing" or couch-potato like, I am doing it in conjunction with foam rolling, a workout on the bike trainer, or checking email. I know, I know, multi-tasking is bad for you, but so are a lot of other things.
2. I am making serious fitness gains at the moment, and just found out that there is only one other person in my age group for the Diamondman at the moment. That means that if I work hard enough, I can place in my first tri, and hopefully get some sponsorship and really get my athletic career going.
3. I love the intensity and busyness of my days, and as much fun as I am having spending time with my family and spending each day doing anything at all, I really like knowing where I'll be at each hour of the day.

Please tell me they have this where
you live, too??

    So, in honor of my "relaxation week," I basically slept all. day.. Sure, I got up and ate breakfast, but after that, I read for a while and went back to sleep. Then I woke up, ate lunch, read a little more, and went back to sleep. Did the same thing later on when I got a snack, read for a while, and took yet another nap. Around 4 I got my stuff together and headed to the lap pool for a 3800yd workout and some core stuff in the gym. I decided to switch my "easy" day from Friday toyesterday, since I didn't eat enough after my workout yesterday and took my exhaustion as a sign that I needed to refuel  with massive amounts of crab dip, and also allow my body time to get acclimated to the heat (it is actually so hot at home that the temperature today broke a record).

     I definitely think my electrolytes must be off, because we went out for crabs last night and I was literally licking the salt from the shells and devoured more than my fair share of the tortilla chips that came with our crab dip. Guess it's all Nuun and no more plain water for me!

So. Much. Sun.

Ah, vacation. Waking up at 5:24 because you are trying to stay on the same schedule so that when you get back home you can still wake up on time for swim practice, falling back asleep until 6:16 when your coach texts you your swim workout for the day, falling back asleep until 6:36, deciding to press "snooze" 8 times, and eventually calling it all off and going back to sleep until 8:10.
    Restful morning, I know. Funnily enough, prior to the 11 or so wakeup calls this morning, my night's rest was quite peaceful. I decided to sleep out on the couch so I could be nearer to the deck and therefore nearer to the ocean sounds, and it was awesome falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing. I probably woke up the first four or so times to that sound, too, but by the 11th time, I just sort of jolted awake and realized that if I wanted to get in my hour long ride and half hour brick run before it got too hot, I should probably go put my cycling shorts on and get my A into G.
      The ride was good, though not as enjoyable as it would've been on the roads at home. It is totally flat where we are, which is good, since that mimics the terrain of the Diamondman course, but it makes the ride a lot tougher on my legs, since I coasted not once during the ride. That's right, it was pedal to the medal the. whole. time. Plus side? Did 15 miles in an hour!!! Down side? My legs felt like lead when I started the run. The strange part, though, was my pace during the brick run. 7:50 average!!! Either the track workouts are working, Endurolyte pills are a lot more effective than I thought, or the thought of cold gatorade and a PB&J is a lot more motivating than I though. Hoping it's the first one...
     The rest of the day was spent at the beach, napping and reading, before finally donning my TYR suit and schlepping it over to the pool. Did I mention the lap pool is a mile away? I have really been enjoying my walks there everday, but after today's 4000yd workout, I kind of wanted to lay down on the asphalt and nap rather than continuing on home for dinner.
     The workout was tough, but in a good way. My coach is steadily increasing my distance and decreasing my intervals, and while I may have uttered some mental expletives when I looked at the clock during one of my sets of 300 pace and realized I only had a 15 second breather, I know all this is only going to make me stronger. Plus, I love the feeling of collapsing onto the couch at the end of the day, knowing you accomplished so much that you deserve some butt-to-cushion contact. Speaking of which, Harry Potter is calling...

Sore quads, Road trips, and Ocean Front Views

  As is a tradition in my family, we packed up the car yesterday and headed for the beach. I knew the trip was going to be good from the get-go because:
1. My Mom scored us an awesome, ocean-front condo
2. I came home on Friday night to see the "snack bag" for the week full of SF chocolate bars, Think Thin Chocolate Fudge bars, and Larabars
3. We got there and I found out they have Master Swim on Tuesday and Thursday evenings

    Unfortunately, we didn't get here until around 4:30pm yesterday, so our first couple hours were a frenzy of family grocery shopping and unpacking, but that left plenty of time before the trip to do my run and bike ride, and even more time while dinner was being made to do a 48 minute ab workout while watching " I Love You, Man." All in all, a great first day.

   The 10.3 mile, easy-ish run was done on the dreadmill due to thunder that occurred right when I put my socks on, but by the time I was finished, it had cleared up enough for me to take the bike outside and enjoy a nice, 7.65 mile, 40-minute bike ride around the neighborhood. Plus, early Sunday mornings mean less cars and more chances for me to fly down decents and scream WAHOOOOO at the top of my lungs without the rest of the neighborhood thinking I am completely insane. The only thing that put a slight downer on the ride was when I remembered my swimming coach telling me at practice yesterday of his 40 mile ride, 5 mile run, and 3000yd swim where he whupped my butt. That thought made me feel a wee bit unproductive.. until I remembered he's doing his first half-Iron in a month, so come.. August, I'll be doing 40 mile rides like they ain't no thang. I hope.

    Coach SuperW thinks I need rest and relaxation this week, so she only gave me 4 workouts to do. Obviously I understand I cannot be live 24/7, and I know that she did that on purpose so I wouldn't OD on training and waste all my time on my bike instead of in the ocean (although honestly, I love my bike so much I think I almost prefer it to the ocean), but now, with so much of my schedule left open, I am at a loss for what to do. I told her I'd catch up on the z's I am always missing now that I waste my nights away reading and foam rolling and then waking up at 5:25, so in honor of that committment, I slept in until 7:15 today. Felt like a slacker. I planned on swimming, but didn't get the workout my coach sent me until later in the morning, so I thought I would check out the spin classes they have at the resort.

   Except, oh wait, THERE ARE TWO FITNESS CENTERS AND IT DOESN'T SPECIFY WHICH ONE HOLDS THE SPIN CLASS. This may/may not have resulted in my walking around the main complex asking 4 different security guards where the spin class was, only to be told it was
a. in the community fitness center
b. outside
c. in the afformentioned fitness center
and, the correct answer, d. the fitness center a mile away.

 I took this as a disgruntling sign that I should go home, eat breakfast with my brother on the deck, take a two-hour nap, and then lounge away the day, before doing my swim and weights stuff later on, followed by a nice bike ride with my Dad before we all go out for crabs. I also may/may not have spent 2 hours looking at the Diamondman course and dissecting the swimming meet times of UDel's club team so I can have something to work toward. ***

     . I hate not having stuff to do, I hate not having a schedule, I hate not being productive, but it isn't everyday that you get to go to your favorite beach in the world with your fam, enjoy the sounds of the ocean at night, and nap whenever the heck you feel like it. Which I may just go do, again.




*** I know I am not the slowest swimmer, nor am I the fastest. Same with biking- I am no slow poke, but I know for a fact, because my Garmin has told me so, that I am not a speedster. Yet. I plan on using my ample free time to look up more strength training stuff I can do so that when I line up for my first club swim meet, my first club cycling ride, and my first Half-Iron in September, I am ready to KILL IT on the swim and bike, and CHICK THE HECK OUTTA THAT FIELD on the run. Not that I am competitive or anything...I just hate being beat.

Chafetastic.

You never know how much you love
it, until you forget to use it..

  So what happens when you go on a 13 mile run at 7 o'clock at night and forget to put some lube-lovin' on your inner thighs???

   You wind up with chafing so bad it hurts to
1. shower
2. swim
3. walk
                          And what happens when you work for 5 hours and repeated wedge yourself into the pretzel position in the lifeguard chair, thereby rubbing off large portions of your sunscreen?
     
      You end up with a splotch-burn so awesome that it hurts to
1. scratch your stomach
2. bend sideways
3. shower
     
             But I mean, other than that, the week went well.
Wednesday was the super ridiculous swim workout in the morning and spin in the evening, Thursday brought full-body weights in the morning and the long run in the evening, Friday was a speed workout in the pool, Saturday was a 90 minute bike ride and another swim speed workout, and today was *supposed* to be a 90 minute run and 40 minute bike. However, since it started thundering and raining cats and dogs about 30 seconds ago, I forsee that now happening on the treadmill and either the trainer or the spin bike at the gym...

This might have been
my dinner on Thursday.. at
9:30 pm.

I am actually really enjoying tri-training. I can tell my body is SO much stronger than it was when I was only running (hello bicep, ab, and calve muscle that I never had before), and I love the variety I have in my workouts. The breaks between each hard run really allow me to give each workout my all, and as training gets harder in every discipline, I am feeling stronger, not weaker like I did when my mileage started to bump up. The great thing about swimming and biking is that the recovery on both is so quick that I can do 4 hard swim workouts in a row with minimal fatigue, and at least 2 hard bike workouts in a row with only minor butt and calve soreness. I mean, compression socks and Recoverite smoothies definitely help, too....

In other news, I graduated! Yesterday!! It was a ridiculously hectic day,especially since I woke up late since I was at a friend's grad party until 11:30 eating crabs and having my skin burned off by a bonfire. I bascially got up, threw on my bike shorts, ate a banana, and hopped on the bike. It was a fantastic 16.21 mile ride, complete with more inclines and downhills that I care to count. My quads were dying up some of the hills, so I definitely need to work on riding out of saddle, but it was the best way to start such a special day!

  Unfortunately, in all the craziness of ironing my dress, gown, finding all my cords, etc., I didn't really get a chance to eat a whole lot. As in, the entire day up until dinner, all I had was a banana, 3 Shot Bloks, a PB&J, rice chips, and some carrots and hummus. You can bet that at 4:15 when I rolled into swim practice, I was starving. The only thing getting me through that last set of decending 4x100s was thinking of all the mexican food I was going to get to eat in an hour when me, my parents, and my brother went out to dinner, and trying to not come more than 10 seconds behind my coach, who decided to join us for the workout and simulatenously kick my butt in the process. Because of this, I got my fastest 100yd time ever, (1:19!!!) and almost killed my quads.The mexican food ended up being fantastic, and afterward we went to the new TCBY in town that is serve yourself, and is complete with NO SUGAR ADDED DARK CHOCOLATE NIBS AND HOT FUDGE. They gave us a frequent buyer card we can get stamped each time we go. Bad idea, TCBY. That card will be filled up by... next Tuesday. Max.

Alive!

That's right, after a ridiculous swim workout so complicated and long that I actually have no idea how many meters I actually swam, I am alive and (sort of) kicking!

  My swim coach was definitely not lying when he said this morning's workout would be difficult- in fact, by about 3/4 of the way in, the lanes had gone from almost all doubled up to nearly empty, with only 4 or 5 of us left. It was basically a speed workout, consisting of times that we had to hit for each 100. They gradually decreased, and we had to continue to hit each time until we missed one. When we missed, we decreased the distance by 25 yds and continued to try and hit the times. When we missed a 75, we dropped down to 50, etc. until we were either ballin' the whole thing or, alternatively, dying and doing 25s. I managed to hang on for 13 100s, but by the last one, I only made it to the wall with a second to spare before I had to go again. I slumped into the pool while my coach shouted "Come on, one more!!!" which I responded to with disgruntled laughter. Thing is, now I really regret not pushing harder and doing that final one. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm glad I stuck through the whole workout when so many other people left (um, since when does am I one of the last to bail?!), but I know that unless I am willing to truly accept that muscle fatigue and burn in the pool, I will not be able to get my strokes as fast and smooth as I want them to be and get the mile pace I want for Diamondman.

    But, it's probably a good thing I slacked off a wee bit this morning, since the last couple days' workouts, combined with the Code Orange heat around here, have left me exhausted. So exhausted I took two naps today. Last night was 9 400's on the track, and it. was. AWESOME. I know that most people really hate speed workouts because of the whole feeling-like-you're-going-vomit thing that inevitably accompanies workouts with repeats in the 9-15 range, but I  LOVE 'EM. This might be due to my past as a 400m runner, but in any case, last night was fantastic! The repeats felt so much easier than they had two weeks go, and even though I had told my coach I was going to go a little slower because of all the bike and pool workouts, I ended up getting within +/- 3 seconds of my goal time of 1:30!! The first set of 3 400's were all at 1:33, the second set was kind of scattered, with the first at 1:37, then 1:33, 1:28, and the last set was 1:33, 1:38, 1:31! Not too shabby for a day so hot they closed county schools three hours early. I think I actually perform better in heat. Summer is the one time of year I am not constantly shivering, so my muscles are loose and warmed up instead of tight and locked.

    Off to bed now, since I have to wake up, lift, sign up for an Open Water swim in August, go to work from 12-6:30, then run 13 miles. Prediction: Awesome tan lines await.