Like a fish..

I've rediscovered my love of water. Not to drink, but to use it to propel me at a high rate of speed. I love gliding through the water with power and grace. I seem to be making most of my gains in swimming right now. My timed 400 last night revealed that I am closer to a sub 6 min time than I thought. I shaved 10 seconds off my previous time for a 6:05.

I have been thinking more and more about ways to improve my hip mobility due to lingering back pain. I think this would improve my power on the bike, especially if I decide to use aerobars for the race. I'll keep you posted on my findings.

And lastly, why is blue gatorade so good? The world may never know but I am seriously addicted to the stuff.

River

Blazing speed!

Yet another fantastic evening of swimming was had last night. After completing the workout the coach had me do a timed 400 meter swim. I broke it into 4 x 100 with 5 sec rest between the sets, which really is just enough time to look at the clock, take a breathe and start swimming again. But the best news was that I completed it in 6:12 (after I subtracted the 15 seconds of breaks) which is well under the goal I had original set for myself for race day. So I am setting my race day goal as sub 6 min now.

River

Backfire

I'm a smartass and often time my smartass-ness gets me in trouble, but usually its funny. During our first team meeting we did the whole introduce yourself and your state your goals. So of course my goal for this whole tri training thing was to go super fast on race day, which of course got some chuckles from people. Although it was funny, it was also true. I love going fast, I love running/biking/swimming/jumping/cartwheeling past people at a faster pace. Which works for me because I literally have two speed: all out sprint or couch potato crawl.
The first two weeks of training were really fun and I really loved getting back into the pool. But I think that the coach has finally figured out that I might be a little too high-speed for this beginner program designed more for people who just wanted to finish. Good news is he likes a challenge and he likes pushing people to new limits. So during my Monday ride I was informed that in order to go super fast on race day he was going to make me do different workouts. Fast forward to Wednesday where I am now feeling the effects of 4x7 min lactate threshold intervals. But I was totally in the zone just grinding some gears during those 40 min and I LOVED IT! He also discovered that I was doing the beginner swim workout so after completing the Monday workout and then being told to do more, I now have to do the "pro" workout. This basically doubles the workout, but hell go big or go home, right?
I am getting super hyped about tonight's block workout.....I think I have a problem hahaha!!

Just keep swimming!
River

Calves of steel...

....well actually my calves feel like jell-o. However, with all this freaking climibing we have been doing in spin class my calves will have no option but to become steel. This Sunday was the first official "Tri Team" meeting. It was great to see the wide variety of people that decided to give it a try. There were undergrad Freshman, faculty and med school students. Some people did cross country in high school, others swam and some just liked to workout and wanted to have a goal to train for.
So yesterday was the first official team practice. An hour spin class followed by a short swim workout. It felt great to get back into the pool. I use to be a lil fish when I was younger. I am not real sure how this whole working out until 9PM working is going to work. I seem to not be able to fall asleep until around 1 when I do. Guess I can just try to be productive during this time or maybe an icebath to increase recovery time. I don't know but I'll have to figure something out.

Happy trails,
River

Week 2 Summary

Triathlon training is a lot of specialized training, so I'm tracking each session by activity.
This week I completed:
Weights: 3 sessions
Bike: 3 spin classes (3:30 min)
Run: 3 runs, 6 miles (1 hr)

Revelations

Friday's workout was a revelation of sorts. I was proud of myself for squeezing a workout in before I had to leave for the weekend. So I decided to run to the gym to weigh in since it was early in the morning. Found out I now weigh 169, which explains why those khakis were really tight. More importantly I discovered the gym is 1.3 miles from my house, not 1 mile. So a trip to the gym is actually closer to 2.5 miles. Also I successfully completed all three of my lifting sessions and I think the soreness is finally gone.
This Sunday is the official start of training for the tri. I still have to get a swimsuit since swim training will start. I feel pretty good about having started two weeks early to incorporate the segments individually so I wasn't overwhelmed.

Harder, faster, stronger...
River

Ice=Danger

Don't run on ice....you'll hurt yourself. Growing up in California did not teach me how to plan my training around weather. So I definitely need to work a little more on planning when and where to do my workouts so I don't fall behind. Guess the weather channel will now be my morning viewing program instead of Sports Center. Oh the sacrifices you have to make to be a Champion!

Work Hard,
River