swim bike run, repeat

My last three workouts actually happened in that order:



Monday swim- Master's class: 2700 yards total in 58:34



I understood the instructions a lot better this time, and I think that freed up a little more energy for actual swimming. Plus, we had a different coach this week and the workout was quite a bit harder. Another difference was that there were 5 (6?) people in our lane! Zach was the fastest and I was the slowest and we all just swam in long circles one after another. It was weird but it helped push me along.



Here is the workout we did:



warm up: 400 yards free on my own

warm up set: 10 x 75 first 25 6 kick, switch (every other time: 3 kick, switch), then 50 free

8 x 50 build

main set: 3 x [4 x 100] with a drill in there somewhere focusing on the "finish" and some of this set was non-free (breaststroke for me, although I did try one lap backstroke and proceeded to swim directly into an oncoming swimmer, then switched back to breaststroke)

cool down: 100 on my own, focus on rolling and high elbows

The reason that doesn't add up exactly is that there were a few sets where I skipped out on the last 50 because I was behind the group and wanted to keep up with what they were doing.

Yay! Another master's class complete and it was another fun time. I met a really nice girl who is training for her first marathon and lives right nearby me. :)

Tuesday: bike 17.2 miles/1:05:15/15.8 MPH

I rode solo on the Iron Horse Trail because I had a work thing at 5:00 that kept me from the planned 6:00 group ride. Zach did make it, though, and he had a blast. Turns out the pace was rather fast so I'm glad I didn't go. I'll work up to it, but it might have been too much for me. However, Zach did meet some new people including a couple women who ride/coach Team Luna Chix and apparently he told them all about me (*blush*) and they had all kinds of encouragement for him to pass on to me. :) They do a few events each year and the next one is a century ride, and I can go train with them and do the century! There are a bunch of girls who are new-ish cyclists who are looking for more girls to ride with so I'm definitely looking into this. Yay new people!! This tri thing is turning out to be quite the social jackpot.

Oh ya, my ride. It was good. :) I had a good pace going and am getting more comfortable in my gearing and handling. Clipping into my pedals is getting easier too. Next lesson: drinking while riding. I reached for my water bottle once and immediately put both hands back on my handlebars. I need to work on my balance. I've never been able to ride no-hands on ANY bike (in fact I have a small scar on my chin from a no-hands ride gone wrong circa 1990) which most people can do. I need to at least be able to ride with ONE hand so I can freaking hydrate. I'm not planning on stopping during my race to drink water!!

Which brings us to this fine California day:

Wednesday run: 6.0 miles/50:06/8:21 average pace

Zach, with his fancy-schmancy running schedule, had a tempo run planned for today. I am still well within the window of using Boston as an excuse to avoid such torture, but I HTFU and did it anyway (btw, there's going to be a lot of H-ingTFU going on around here, so prepare to hear the term a lot). Technically, he can run a lot faster than me, but he's terrible at pacing so we ran this together. Basically, I ran as fast as I could without collapsing and he ran along beside me looking disgustingly fresh. Here's how it went:

2 miles warm up around 9:15 pace

2 miles Tempo Pace: 7:34, 7:38

Then I really felt on the brink of death, so I encouraged Zach to finish up with 2 more miles on that pace (which he did beautifully) and I would do an easy pace and see him at home. But after less than a mile I felt better and figured I could try for one more mile at Tempo pace. I did that one in 7:39, not bad! Then I shuffled on home for some well-deserved fiber cereal (that's sarcasm, I deserved a gooey cinnamon roll!).

Tonight is another Master's class (already!?) and enchiladas. This tri schedule is keeping me wicked busy but I like it. I am handling the training well so far, but then again it is only week 2 (or 3, something like that). I think because it's such a variety and there's not as much running, which is what causes the most soreness/tiredness. Although Zach seems to think the swimming is terribly draining, insisting on eating double portions and sleeping a few extra hours the night after... I guess it doesn't have the same effect on me? I guess I'm just a little more hard core, hehe... kidding! We're equally hard core, just in different ways. *remembers crying on last bike ride cause I was scurred to go fast* Ok, nevermind, he's way more hard core. :)