Let there be light

It's been unseasonally cool in Dallas nearly the past week now, but you won't find me complaining, although that cool weather has been brought in by storms - lots of them. But it's been a nice change... and made some of my recent workouts quite, um, interesting.

Now, the last two days haven't looked quite like that, but swim Tuesday and track today was a little too close to nature for my comfort.

Tuesday swim had me running into the wall. It was a tough set and during one of my kick sets, I was on my back and staring up into the gray clouds, wondering when the sky was going to break open and pour down on us in the pool, and BAM - my hands are in the wall. How I missed the flags I have no idea, but it made for a good laugh. I can't believe I was daydreaming during my swim workout, but I guess I was nice and relaxed!

The workout was:

300m warm up

400m kick

10x100m on 2:05

300 swim

300 kick

100 cool down

Today was track, and again, dealing with bad weather, lightning all around. But I survived. Whew. :) I have to give myself a pat on the back for that one - I did contemplate going back to bed as I was standing in my driveway, car door open, looking to the sky and trying to determine how far away the storms were. However, I didn't have time to get a full visit to the loo, and so I did one of the weirdest things - no, take that back, THE weirdest thing - I've ever done on a run: I stopped in an alley between houses during my 1 mile warm up to the track and went. Yep, I visited nature in the most natural of ways. It was quite liberating, really. You should try it... :)

Track was:

1 mile warm up

10x30 sec pick ups with 30 sec recovery

5 min recovery

4x1 min pick ups with 2 min recovery

1 mile cool down

This afternoon was supposed to be a 2 hour bike ride, but rain has been off and on so I'm pushing it to tomorrow afternoon. Swim masters tomorrow morning and group run Friday morning. Saturday is 20 min open water swim, 3.5 hour bike and 15 min. run; Sunday is 30 min. bike followed by 90 min run. All this in my designated HR zones, of course.

Oh, and my workouts this past weekend?

Saturday was 3.5 hour bike and 10 min run; Sunday 30 min bike followed by 90 min run (which actually turned into 105 min!). Whew! And I have to say, my training appetite is back in full force - Sunday Bryon and I had two meals within 2 hours of each other, one of which included having chips and salsa, share of chicken fajitas and a side of fries at Chili's! Hey, we get to because we train, right?? :)

80 degrees and sprinkling?

That was the weather this morning for our morning run. Totally not Texas' normal August weather, that's for sure! After having nearly 10 days in 100+ degree heat, this morning was about 77 or so and breezy and sprinkling - PERFECT weather for a run!

And what a good run I had, too.

Nearly 5 miles with some good people that I was able to keep up with. Even though I didn't know if I could make it through the first mile - I just kept thinking that the first mile is the hardest...the first mile is the hardest...

And it worked. :)

Yay for two days of workouts! Since Bryon just got in this afternoon from a whirlwind trip through Texas, he's not up for a bike ride tonight so no two-a-day for me. But I think we're going to see the new Rogen movie. Get ready to laugh! :)

Some like it hot

107 degrees today in Dallas! Luckily, I got my bike ride done early this morning and stayed inside througout the day by painting.

This weekend was Rivercities Tri in Shreveport. And this was the first time in four years I didn't race it. Bryon raced although he was coming down with a cold and said he got his butt whipped. It happens when you don't train! :) But this race is super hot - the swim is a warm, muddy bath, the bike is an undulating, great ride, and the run is super-duper steamy hot. It was a little much for me the last two years, so I took a year off...

After four days of no workouts last week, I managed to pull together something:
Friday - 3 miles with Duke
Saturday - 1.5 hour run
Sunday - 2 hour ride

Yesterday and today also resulted in finishing my paint project that I started a month ago (I couldn't tell if I liked the color choices!!). Finally finished - minus a couple touch ups I need to do now - and next we're tearing out the carpet! So excited. It is hard to do this, however, when you need to make sure you're not too sore to do swim workouts (although I can hardly move my arms and back right now).

I'm getting really excited about the Olympics' opening ceremonies this Friday. Watching party! :) Nothing like getting excited for our country, but also nothing else makes me feel more unsuccessful or undertrained! But it's still all completely motivating - and it gives me goosebumps all the time.

70.3 training plan?

Anyone have any good half Ironman training plans out there? Bryon and I are totally slacking on the training right now - and we have plenty of excuses but you don't care to him them I'm sure - but we are people that need to follow a plan, a schedule. And we don't have that. And we need it.

Our race is in 2+ months! Agghh!!!

On another note, Bryon's back from his fishing trip in Canada - yipee! I missed him so much but it was nice to get some quiet time in the house although it would have been nice if the dogs would have a babysitter! :)

So I rode my Saturday ride by myself, getting in 40+miles and a nice 15 min. brick run afterward. And man, was it HOT! By the time I was able to do my run it was 95+ degrees and probably 90+% humidity!

Sunday I helped out our local Y with their kids triathlon. So cute! Made me want to have kids, without the crying and yelling. I even saw an 8yo girl with my old swim team's cap and suit - just like me at age 8! She was so tiny but totally reminds me of what I looked like. And she kicked butt in the pool, passing kids left and right! Anyway, it was a fun morning. I didn't get half the things I wanted to get done that day completed, but that's fine. It has thrown off my sleep schedule - I should have taken a nap!

Hump Day

It's Wednesday, and I couldn't be more happier as that means it's closer to the weekend and shopping with my mom! Luckily this week has flown by, but now that I say that, it'll slow down of course.

I have been super busy at work - 10+ hour days consecutively and it's not going to slow down for at least another month. I guess that's what happens when you're working to get to the next level in your career. So, no biggie - I can get through it. At least it's different and exciting and challenging, all at the same time.

Made it to track this morning, for the first time in a while! Yay me and Bryon! :) Did pretty good, too, although I think my legs nearly stopped moving forward during the 1 mile+ run back to the Y. I swear I was about to fall flat on my face had I not started walking.

Worked till 7:45 or so tonight, and came home to dinner started and an ice cold margarita! Thank you Bryon! :) So, I'm feeling good right now. Storms are rolling in, so I hope I can get a good night's sleep - I don't do so well with storms at night! Let's hope I'm out cold...

So I got up this morning

Bright and early. Really wanted to stay in bed. But I got up, checked the radar to make sure rain wasn't a block away before heading to the pool. So what did my swim workout look like this morning?

30 minutes. 400 warmup; 4x100, 50 drill, 50 swim; 400 easy... and then we get kicked out.

Darn lightning. I learned that when we get kicked out of the outdoor pool, we can't even go swim in the indoor pool, as they can't find the papers to show if the indoor pool was built grounded or not. Nice record-keeping, huh? We were trying to coming up with some interesting ways to prove it is or not, but those really wouldn't work...

Maybe I'll get a run in or a trainer bike ride in this evening. I'm on a roll and I don't want to break it now! :)

CapTex Race Report - FINALLY!

A couple weeks late, but at least it's here...my CapTex Olympic tri race report.

The race was hard. Period. By the time I was on the run I decided I was going to try to survive the race as well as finish the race. It's always humid in Austin, but it had been especially hot and humid all week all over Texas - May 2008 was the 8th hottest May on record since 18-hundred-something. Last year this race was rained out (flooded out!) and the year before I was a spectator, and I've lived in Austin for four years attending UT, so I know the heat. But I never know what my body's going to do in hot races.

I wasn't absolutely worried about my swim or run, as I had been training the most in those events - but I had hardly done much with my bike except for 1 or 2 rides a week. However, my bike - as usual - was my strongest event. My swim time was shocking - I thought I could do better - and my run was just down right ugly, but during the run I started not caring...

My only stipulation was that I beat my one and only other Olympic time which was a 3:15. I was really aiming for a 2:50 and really thought I could do it, but my body was not into it.

The breakdown:

1500m swim: 32:42 (2:11/M) - 504/1442

T1: 4:09 (damn wetsuit stuck on my arms!)

40k bike: 1:12:49 (20.4MPH) - 449/1442

T2: 2:44 (thanks to my new Zoots I bought at the expo the previous day!)

10k run: 1:11:09 (11:27/M) - 971/1442

TOTAL: 3:03:36

Total rank: 680/1442

AG rank: 30/124

Female rank: 180/570

When you look at the rankings, it really does not look bad at all. I mean, I still ranked in the top half of the field overall, and the top quarter of my age group! I should feel really, really good about that, right? But how can you feel good about a 11:27 minute/mile pace? I do have a medical reason for this though - turns out I was on the verge of heatstroke. Had goosebumps since the bike and was starting to get disoriented on the run. But I did manage to power through it, although at a slow pace.

My ugly finish had me barely making it over the finish line and then being rescued by a med official before collapsing to my knees. I do want to say thank you to all the med volunteers in the med tent. They kept an eye on me and made me feel better even though I was wrapped up in cold towels and then shivering violently. About 45 minutes later, I was able to walk around and had an appetite for pizza and popsicles.

All in all, it was a fun race, but brutally hot and humid. My one complaint/suggestion is that they could by far use more Gatorade on the course. Having it at only one aid station for two loops doesn't cut it for that heat. At least one more chance to get something other than water would be awesome.

Oh, and Bryon got 2nd overall (or 3rd - he received 2nd at the awards ceremony and is 3rd online) in Clydesdale. What a stud. :)

California dreamin'

Santa Cruz board walk, 2006

This morning's swim:

600 pre-warm up

500 warm up

3x100, 1:50

2x200, 3:50

1x300, 5:20

100 easy

Total = 2200y

Then I had to leave. Not too shabby though.

Ugh, and it's so humid outside. Like Houston humid. Totally gross. For someone who sweats an awful lot without doing anything, it's annoying. I hate it when it just hangs around like it is. Dreaming of cool, beautiful, sunny weather... I have to keep saying it to myself...

Two race options this weekend - half marathon and aquathlon. Pretty excited and love the options we have. Of course, it'll all be a last-minute decision, but I want to do something! Never done an aquathlon before. Do you just leave your shoes in the transition area like you would your bike and shoes for a tri? I'm assuming so. We'll see how that goes.

Here's to the weekend

This weekend's been eventful. Friday we went to dinner at The Porch (GREAT food by the way) and saw Troy Aikman! That made the first visit even better.

Saturday I didn't ride, and I'm almost glad for it - it was so humid. Ugh. I didn't feel well either and ended up sleeping most of the morning and then cleaned the house while Bryon was still riding. I do need to get on the bike though - it's beeen too long!

Today was nothing like yesterday - we woke to 55 degree temps and not humid at all! Ran the lake again and did awesome! 9.26 miles in 8:54/mile pace for a total of 1.22. I'm getting stronger and faster and better! I'm so excited. Hopefully this isn't sucking up my bike strength. We'll see next week at CapTex! I can't believe it's so soon already.

Also, can't believe that I'm getting to go to a beach this weekend - I keep forgetting that we're flying to LA soon for Taylor's graduation. I feel I've lost track of time...

"Heel Duke! Heel!"

Bryon's out of town again. Which meant shorter swim workout this morning. Got in 1950 yards and had to leave in the middle of a 15x100 at 1:50 pace (was doing them each in 1:30 or so though - and leading the whole time. That's hard work!).

I did take Duke, our rescued 2-year-old Lab, on a short run this afternoon. He's been through training and we're currently working on him and would like him to be our running dog, but hadn't taken him out on a run since he had been trained. He did awesome! There was only one or two instances that he was getting a little too close to me, but he heeled at stop signs and for cars when I stopped and kept a good pace! Yay! Of course, we really need to run him because he's learned how to get into the container of dog food... We're going to have to fix that. Took him back home (didn't want to stress him out too much on the first run) and went out again. Ugh - it was hard, with the humidity from this morning's storms (and the ones looming for tomorrow) and allergies, it wasn't fun. But I got a good 3 miles in. Didn't want to do too much since tomorrow's track if it's not raining.

One more week until LA! I'm excited - I love SoCal and I miss the beach. I miss surfing. I miss my nice golden tan. I miss the cool breezes. Bryon's actually been in San Diego the last two days and teased me this morning by calling me right before a 6 mile run on Pacific Beach.

Not cool, Bryon, not cool.

One day...

Anyways, still have two options to race next weekend, a running road race on Saturday and an aquathon on Sunday. Not sure which night we'll be out late celebrating my sister's college graduation, so it probably be a pretty late call. Can't wait!