Oooooh...so sore

Okay, back at it. Making this short and sweet. Let's just say...I remember what being 'in the thick of it' feels like. Although, the difference between this year and last is that I never lifted weights last year. I really think it's making a huge difference in my training and my overall strength. Christine said today that she noticed changes in my arms! Hooray for that. I have to admit that there is a small bit of vanity that comes with this whole thing, but really, how can it not?

So here's the summary from last week:

Thursday 4/6: Slept in. It's really hard to get up when it's not your own familiar environs...

Friday, 4/7: Was supposed to swim...but I was staying at Kim's for my last night of cat-sitting, and just overslept. Let me make this clear right now: it takes 3 alarms to get me out of bed. So at Kim's, I only had my phone alarm plus radio, which was within reach to turn off. At home, I have my radio clock clear across the room; the cell phone alarm is on my desk which is still enough distance away that I have to get out of bed from underneath my covers to shut it off (it does NOT shut off by itself - it will keep going); then the alarm next to my bed. The radio goes off first (usually NPR - classical will put me back to sleep); cell phone about 4-5 minutes after; another cell phone alarm 3 minutes after that; and finally, little clock next to my bed JUST IN CASE I haven't already gotten up. So for all those people who think I just bounce out of bed upon waking...I don't. It's a long and painful process that I've spent months perfecting and even now, it's still not completely foolproof.

But I digress - so I overslept. Fine, whatever. Couldn't go swimming after work b/c it was First Friday, which is our girls' night (first Friday of every month!) and I had to feed the cat, change the sheets for when Kim returned, and pick up some food to bring to our get-together.

Saturday, 4/8: Swam at 9:00 a.m. practice, felt great! I swam 1:30 again, but really stayed on that pace and it just felt phenomenal. At 1:00 p.m., with my new running shoes that I bought just moments before, I met up with Kendall and ran around Lake Merritt. We did a nice easy pace that felt good, and I think it ended up being about 30 minutes or so. That night I definitely felt it from the swimming, which just reaffirms that I really need to swim more often.

Sunday, 4/9: Lifted weights focusing on arms at 9:00 a.m.; went to 10:15 a.m. spinning class; ran for 25 minutes after spinning. Phew!! The running was good, and it was nice to do a little brick post crazy-intense spinning! The spinning class was awesome, and the woman who teaches it, Christine (not same Christine who I lift with) is an EXCELLENT instructor. Sunday night, arms SO SORE.

Monday, 4/10: Went swimming at 8:15 a.m. Arms...hurt...pain...ohhhh, it hurt. My arms were screaming in the beginning but I was able to get a pace going where it didn't feel so bad. Nice to be in the pool as usual, though.

Tuesday, 4/11: Met up with Christine at 6:10 a.m., lifted weights and focused on chest with some ab work in between. I bench-pressed 45 lbs! Okay, so some people can lift their weight or some craziness like that. But I've always had weak upper-body strength so it's just exciting for me. Christine is really great in that she pushes me - she'll say "you can do more than that, come on." It's great. Then I ran on the treadmill for 10 minutes while she stretched out her legs on the recumbent bike; after that we jogged outside for another 25 minutes. Good stuff!

So where am I now?

Arms are still SO sore. I felt so stiff running, too. Tonight I really ought to focus on stretching it all out. That would be good.

Here's the plan for the rest of the week:

Wednesday, 4/12: Swim in the a.m.; no evening workout b/c I'll be attending a Passover Seder!

Thursday, 4/13: Lift/spin in the a.m., again no evening workout

Friday, 4/14: Swim in the a.m.; light run after work

Saturday, 4/15: Hopefully a nice long bike ride? Maybe a short run after? Otherwise swim/run.

I think that's it for now. I should really rest one of those days...rest is my friend. That should be my new mantra - "rest is my friend. rest is my friend." *rolling my eyes* I'll learn one of these days, really. This is all at once the most gratifying and frustrating sport around. I feel so healthy, so strong, so ready to get out there and show my stuff. And yet...I feel like I should be getting more swimming in - swimming is slightly suffering. I should be running longer runs. Cycling...I'd love to be logging more miles outside on the bike if the weather would cooperate, but I feel mostly good about that.

Anyway, Wildflower is 3.5 weeks away and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!!!! ooooh...I really ought to refrain from such sudden movements...

Quick amendments to the week

Okay, so:

Tuesday didn't go quite as planned, either. Stayed late at work so I didn't have time to run before the SCAM board meeting. Oh well.

This morning: Woke up late. Geez! That's sort of a given, though, considering I'm staying at my friend Kim's because I'm cat-sitting for her this week. New place, not my bed. I woke up wide-awake at 3 a.m. after having crazy-weird dreams. Got a glass of water, went back to sleep. So, I got back to my house around 6:30 a.m. this morning and decided I'd run instead of being late to swim practice.

I ran from my house down Euclid, through campus, down Telegraph to Ashby, up Ashby to College, back to the campus via College, through campus, and back up Euclid. I'm guessing maybe 5 miles total? Hopefully a little more than that? It took me 46.01 from my front door and that includes walking up the stairs back to my front door. I averaged 171 heartrate (GEEZ) and peaked at 190 - I'm sure that was coming up Euclid. Ugh, that hill is a struggle every time. Still, I had fun doing it and smiled the whole way. Yes, I really was smiling. :-) I'm crazy like that. It felt good. Iced my knees and left ankle afterward, and I think that helps a lot - I'm not sore at all...

...from running. Now, if you asked if I'm sore from the lunges Christine and I did yesterday, that's another story. MY BUTT IS SO SORE!!! It hurts to sit down! That's a good sore, though.

So the rest of the week looks like:
-Thursday - spin & lift as planned, prob no evening swim due to plans that came up
-Friday - swim in the a.m. as planned, light 20 minute jog after work
-Saturday - yeah, I guess I'm still taking it off...*sigh*

The problem here is that it never feels like enough. Am I ready for Wildflower? I suppose. But you get into this mode where you feel like you're never practicing enough and you have to keep doing more. I'm slowly heading toward that mode and out of the mode I was in a few weeks ago (which was "you know, I seriously don't care. I'm going to just have fun!"). Anyway, just going to keep logging those miles...

By the way - THE SUN IS SHINING TODAY! Hooray!

Some sunshine...since there isn't any outside

Just thought I'd post a pretty picture to brighten my mood. Took this down in Monterey a couple weekends ago.

On a training note, did not run yesterday evening but DID do sit-ups. Good stuff. Went to spinning class and got my arse kicked, then lifted with Christine, with a focus on legs. Even if I can just squeeze in 20 minutes this evening, I think I'd benefit. But if it's pouring rain like it's been all morning, fuhgetaboutit.

SO SICK OF THE RAIN! Since when did the Bay Area become Seattle?

Week plan and etc.

Okay, knee-deep in work. Can't write from home because internet at home is down. Going to make this quick.

Last week turned out to be somewhat of a rest week, but that's okay. It worked out perfectly. It just was such a busy week for everything else in my life that working out took a slight backseat, but not too much of one. Just enough for me to feel quite recovered.

Swimming, however, has taken a major backseat and I'm not happy about that. Quite grumpy about it, in fact. SO, I took matters into my own hands and gave myself a KICK-ASS workout yesterday. OMG, it was so awesome. I swam a 1:30 pace, but who cares? I mean, the fact that I maintained a steady 1:30 pace throughout all 3000 yards and still did it in under an hour made me *very* happy. I will say I was entirely exhausted yesterday evening, but damn, it was the best exhaustion. That type of exhaustion where your whole body is just ready to fall into those nice fresh blankets. Where you know that the exact moment your head hits the pillow and you close your eyes, you'll be totally and completely out, no questions asked. The type of exhaustion where it's all you can do to make yourself eat some satisfying soup, drink a sip of wine, do a bit of reading, and say "okay, I'm spent" and all at the same time - you're so happy. My body didn't quite ache - it just was tired. That's the best...like you pushed yourself, but not so hard that your muscles hate you.

Okay, so let's review last week:
Sunday, 3/26: 52 mile bike ride with Lee, avg 150 heartrate, peaked at 175 or so. Felt GREAT.
Monday, 3/27: Ran for about an hour, kept a nice steady pace, kept heartrate around 160-165 - a little sore from this, but the run still felt good. I'm going to need to work in longer runs.
Tuesday, 3/28: Rested
Wednesday, 3/29: Rested but not intentionally. Was going to do 7 p.m. swim but got screwed over by the BART debacle and was stuck in SF, so I had dinner w/my friend Josh instead.
Thursday, 3/30: Tunnel Road -> Grizzly Peak bike ride, done in 1:15 as usual. Felt pretty good, but I still need to work on climbing more.
Friday, 3/31: Again, rested. Had a 6:30 a.m. flight to L.A. and by the time the first day of the conference was over I was just SPENT. I wanted to run but I was *so* tired. So I took a nap and then went out to Santa Monica and walked around. In the rain, of course. Because yes, even L.A. was rainy. F-ing rain!
Saturday, 4/1: Ran for 37.33 minutes, did 4.3 miles. So roughly a 9 minute mile with an avg heartrate of 167. I felt...ready to be done running by the time it was over, but maybe that's b/c it was the streets of L.A. and really nasty weather. It worries me somewhat though that I'm running that slowly with that high of a heart rate. I guess what it's saying is that I need to be running more. Same thing with swimming, really. I've been slightly slower and why? Well, you can't get faster if you don't put the laps in. Running would be the same thing...can't get faster if you don't log the miles.

So, let's talk about this week:

Sunday, 4/2: Swam 3000 yards. Did 500 free warmup, 100 breast warmup, 3x100 kick, 100 IM easy; Main set: 2 x: [ 300 free (4:45 interval); 100 IM (1:45 interval); 200 free (3:10); 100 IM (1:45); 100 free (1:35); 100 IM (1:45); 50 easy ]; 100 cool down = 3000 yards, total time: 57 minutes.

I was actually happy b/c with the freestyle swims, I maintained a 1:30 pace exactly each time. So, while it was slower overall, the fact that I didn't get any slower throughout was good. It felt so good to just swim.

Monday, 4/3: Swam 2200 yards at swim practice. The whole workout was drill work b/c of the upcoming master's championship meet next weekend. Fine with me. It really allowed me to break down my freestyle and work on individual parts of the stroke. I even managed to get one less stroke in on a number of laps. The perfect follow-up to my yard-heavy workout yesterday.

Evening: I think I'm going to do a 30 minute run. If I don't get out of work in time before my dinner plans, then I'll just do some stretching and sit-ups.

Tuesday, 4/4: Spinning from 6:15 a.m. - 7 a.m.; lift weights w/Christine
Evening: 30 minute run before SCAM board meeting

Wednesday 4/5: 6:15 a.m. - 7:15 a.m. - swim workout, 20 minute run to follow

Thursday 4/6: Spinning from 6:15 a.m. - 7 a.m.; lift weights w/Christine
Evening: swim from 6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Friday, 4/7: 6: 15 a.m. - 7: 15 a.m. - swim workout, 20 minute run to follow

Saturday, 4/8: Bike ride? It's supposed to rain all week. :-P LAMENESS! Might go down to Monterey w/some tri buddies and watch the Sea Otter Classic. I could just use this as a rest day. That would be smart, actually, as I review the week's plans. REST DAY!

Sunday, 4/9: If it's not raining, definitely bike ride. Otherwise, probably do a swim/spin thing.

Great! Let's see what happens to this week...

Great tunes

Oh yeah...and some recent discoveries/rediscoveries on the music aspect of things (love listening to music while I run, though trying to maybe get off of that because come race day, there will be no music; but for cooling down, sit-ups, stretches - music is FABULOUS):

Pick-me-up tracks:
-"Check On It" - Beyonce & Slim Thug
-(Broke out my 'Design of a Decade' by Janet Jackson - the GOOD OLD DAYS!) "Escapade" - J. Jackson
-"Upside Down" - Jack Johnson
-"Mambo No. 5" - Lou Bega
-"Come On A My House" - Rosemary Clooney
-"Oh Marie" - Louis Prima

Chillin' with the ice on the knees tracks:
Have I mentioned how FABULOUS D'Angelo and Maxwell are? I completely forgot about these gems. God, they're so smooth and...chill. Great for stretching to.

Also, the Amelie soundtrack kicks BUTT for winding down.

Just thought I'd indulge in what's goin' on with the "Most Recently Played" list on my iPod.

This week's plan

Okay, I don't have a lot of time. I'm proud of my accomplishments in the last few days since I last wrote, though.

Friday evening 3/24 - swam more of a light swim. Got in a little late because I had to finish some stuff at work so I didn't get into the pool until about 6:15 p.m. Still, it was great. I led some sets, and felt fresh.

Saturday, 3/25 - swam at 7 a.m. practice, 1:30 lane, since nobody for 1:25 was there (again). Turned out well, though. The sets were longer sets, and it was just easier to really focus on my swimming. They were 450's - first one broken up, then the other two were just straight 450's. Still, I felt good. Went to the 9:15 a.m. hour-long spinning class and THAT was a great workout. Great instructor (Neena), great tunes, and I felt like I also managed to keep my heartrate from getting out of control.

I had an appointment in the City at 1:30, so after spinning class, I went home and cleaned up (and hung up the DRENCHED sweaty clothes to dry!) and since the Bay Bridge was its usual Saturday afternoon mess, I opted for BART. Turned out well. I got off at Embarcadero, walked up Market to Stockton and through China Town to Northbeach, where I finally hopped on a bus out to the Marina. So, on top of all of the swimming and spinning, I got a fair amount of walking in as well.

Sunday, 3/26 - Met up with Lee at 7 a.m. in Santa Rosa for what turned out to be another 50+ mile ride! Hooray for that!! Managed to have an avg heartrate around 154 or something like that. One thing I'm really noticing as I track my heart rate is that my recovery times are awesome, so that makes me feel good. We had a fantastic ride, and I just LOVE Sonoma County rides. They really do rock. We did parts of the Vineman course, and Lee is going to take me on the full course a few times before the race so that I can get that down. The air was perfect, the ride was great - no complaints here.

Monday, 3/27 - Had a beautiful 6 mile run which I ran slowly - again maintained an avg heartrate of 155. Threw in a few tempo runs throughout, but mostly kept it slow and steady. Probably ran around a 10 minute mile. It felt good, though, and it was nice to feel like I could keep going.

Tuesday, 3/28 - Rest day.

Wednesday, 3/29 - Do a.m. Tunnel Road bike ride; 6 p.m. - swim

Thursday, 3/30 - A.M. - spin class then lift; 6 p.m. - swim

Friday 3/31 - Going to L.A. for a conference for work, but I'm planning on running Friday evening

Saturday, 4/1 - A.M. Run, maybe swim when I get home that evening?

Sunday, 4/2 - A.M. bike ride, maybe swim after that

Hooray for plans. There it is, in writing. I feel better.

Randomness...and the bed monster

Okay, yesterday's plan went to crap. I woke up to go work out with Christine but I was SO tired. My lesson from last season is to listen to your body. So I overslept a bit but still planned on getting to the gym with enough time to get about a 20 minute run in, and then lift. On my way to the gym, I realized I had forgotten a couple things. Got back home, and saw that by the time I'd gotten my things and would get back to the gym, I'd probably arrive about 6:50. Not enough time to do anything.

I stood in the middle of my room and looked over at my bed. Unmade, but not too messy. The warm flannel sheets exposed with all of their softness, my grandmother's pink quilt still neatly covering the white down comforter, and my nice down pillow, still looking so fluffy and inviting - it was too much. My bed was practically begging me to come back, and as tired as I was, I thought "well, I'll just lie down for 5 or 10 minutes...couldn't hurt." *blank stare*

And so it went. The bed swallowed me whole yet again, and my workout went down the tubes as a result of the bed monster. Honestly though...I don't really mind. I LOVE my bed. The mattress, the pillows, the sheets, the view from my window, which is always just so enchanting (except when there's nothing but fog outside...but sometimes even that can be cool). I've put a picture I took last June, one morning before swimming when the moon was setting over San Francisco at 5:25 a.m. It was GORGEOUS!

So, whatever. I had plans to make dinner with my housemates yesterday evening so I couldn't amend anything by converting to an evening workout. I just chalked it up as a rest day. And you know, good for me. I mean, all day I was in a fog yesterday b/c I was still so exhausted from the day before. What is this saying? Too much too soon? PMS? Actually, the PMS thing is very real. I find the week before 'that time' I am so incredibly tired and it seems like I can never EVER get enough sleep. Some months are worse than others, but this just happens to be a particularly bad one. So, you just learn to roll with it and say "well, tomorrow's a new day."

I slept in this morning since I went to bed kind of late. Did a nice series of sit-ups. I'll go swimming this evening. Tomorrow - well, if it's raining, I was thinking of doing a swim/spin thing, and if I felt up to it, even just doing a short 10 minute cool-down jog after that spinning class. I'd almost prefer that b/c I really wanted to get 3 days of swimming in this week. Then I could go on a nice ride on Sunday.

I'm realizing that this whole process is really about me and discovering what I can do, but it's also about discovering my limits. Not that I'm one to place limits on myself. But I'm often apt to take on TOO much. If I'm doing so many other things, maybe I shouldn't hold such high expectations for triathlon so that I don't get too disappointed. I don't know. I like having goals, I like achievement. I just don't like being a perfectionist because you can't be perfect. I just don't like the intensity of this sport. Or, let me put it this way: if I have to feel exhausted all the time, I definitely don't want to do it. I don't want to be so disciplined that I can't ever go out with friends after work and have a late night. I don't want to eat, sleep, think, dream and live triathlon. My life encompasses so much more than that.

Just yesterday, I had this amazing moment. There seems to be one like this every day of my life. One of those moments where you just...smile from the inside out. You're glad to be in that spot at that time, you're grateful to be alive, you're grateful to be healthy, and you're just grateful for those little things that remind you how beautiful life is, and how every moment is important. I walked out of the BART station, and just as I pulled my BART ticket and began to walk toward the street, "Bolero" began to play on my iPod. My iPod is constantly on shuffle, so I never know what's coming. I looked up, and the sky above was this bright pink. I turned around toward the west to see what was one of the most breathtaking skies I've ever seen: various hues of pink, purple and orange, lit up like a neon sign. Clouds were mixtures of white and gray, lit up by the sky that they were in the midst of.

The combination of this beautiful song and this beautiful sky (with total silence around me - just the music and the sky) made me stop to take a moment to enjoy the sight, savor it and be grateful I could be in that space and time to cherish it.

Yeah, it's cheesy, but we all have our own 'moments' - that was one of mine.

Quick post but I can't resist...

So I managed to get my arse out of bed at 5:40 a.m., even though the radio had been going for about 20 minutes. I spent those 20 minutes contemplating the idea of just swimming or just cycling and sleeping for a little while longer. But when the reporter began talking about the day's forecast - "dry with some sunshine, highs maybe creeping up to 60!" - oh, I knew what I had to do. I had to make it my mission, despite how much my biceps and triceps ached, to don my bike clothes, pack my swimsuit and cap and goggles, and get on that bike and get over to that pool.

Finally left my house at about 6:08 a.m., and was at the pool at 6:20. Workout technically starts at 6:15 a.m., but that's when the 10 minute warmup begins, and the actual written workout starts at 6:25 a.m. I had just enough time to change into my suit and get out to the pool deck. Upon walking out to the deck as I was putting my swim cap on, I noticed that the 1:25 lane was filled with people...but they happened to be the familiar faces of the 1:20 lane, not the 1:25 lane. I scanned the other lanes. "Hmmm...where is everybody?" I thought. I realized that nobody from the 1:25 lane was in attendance, and there happened to be about ten 1:20 people, so they split the lane up (since I had not yet arrived). Clearly, I was not about to swim 1:20, so I hopped in with 1:30. This turned out to be a good thing, because I had a difficult time even keeping up with them. My arms were KILLING ME. I mentioned this to Kevin, who had a great response: "Pain is the weakness leaving your body!!!!" Well if that's the case, there must be a whole bucket load of weakness leaving my body. Good lord.

I couldn't stand it anymore. We were doing a long set of 2000 yards, all freestyle, broken up into lines of 400 - i.e one line would be 100 + 200 + 100; the next would be 100 + 300; 3rd was 200 + 200; 4th was 300 + 100; 5th was 100 + 200 + 100. Oh my goodness my guinness. I had to put fins on halfway through. The arms were just not having it. Burning, fatigue, moving slowly even though you're moving as fast as you can - that's what it all felt like at the same time.

After workout, I rinsed off, got my bike clothes on, and headed out to conquer Tunnel Road. Tunnel Road winds its way up past the Claremont Hotel and goes up, up, up the hill above Hwy 24, and this morning I was able to look down and see all of the bottlenecking that goes on each morning as cars have to go from four lanes to two to get through the Caldecott Tunnel. I smiled and thought about how happy I was not to be in that. As I made my way up to where the climb really begins, I could feel my legs hating me and begging me to turn the bike around, go back down the hill to where I came from, and park the bike in front of Peet's coffee for a nice coffee break. As tempting as it sounded, I decided my legs needed to shut up and quit whining, and that I was on a mission. One guy started passing me as we made our way up to where Old Tunnel Road starts, and I thought "I can't have this. This is bullpuckey." Yeah, yeah, that's my competitive nature coming out. And I wonder how I got to win a race. Uh huh.

But as we got onto the road, I started spinning more and going faster than him, so I nodded and he said "have a good one!" (We had been conversing about the nice weather). I really love the Tunnel Road climb. There are few cars, the grade isn't bad, and it really is a good one for maintaining a certain heart rate and not getting totally exhausted. Did I mention the view yet? I found this picture on the web (link is here - crediting Dr. 'Skip' Morgan of Colorado who took the photo I've put to the right). Granted, this morning was kind of gray outside, but sometimes, it is just truly the most breathtaking sight you'll ever see. I feel so privileged to be able to see this on a regular basis. It is truly stunning. Here's what it's like on a nice day near sunset time: ------->

Once I was up atop Grizzly Peak, it was smooth riding from there. Lots of fast turns, lots of downhill, and I managed to maintain my speed through turns pretty well (still working on that), though I got stuck behind a car at one point.

The whole ride took about an hour and five minutes, and since I live on a hill, there was one last little uphill to conquer as I made a turn at the Rose Garden. My legs really hated me then. Still, I succeeded, and while I felt pretty tired, I also ended up being *really* happy that I got out of bed.

I must say, though, my body feels really tight and I think I should take a good 40 minutes tonight to do some serious stretching. Onward!

Blogging is hard work!

I'm trying to stay up on this stuff, but MAN! It is difficult to stay on top of things, even with short entries. Before I know it, practically a week has gone by and I haven't written a thing. Here's a recap of what's happened since last Friday:

Friday, 3/17: Swam at 6:15 a.m. in 1:25 lane. Had a pretty good workout, stayed in my intervals.

Saturday, 3/18: Met my dad for breakfast at 6:30 a.m. and ate a hearty breakfast of two pancakes and one egg, plus toast. That's a serious breafkast! However, I was really glad I ate all that food. Met up with my tri team at 8:30 a.m. for what I initially thought was going to be about a 40 mile ride. I thought wrong.

We finally got going over the GG Bridge about 8:45 a.m., and before I knew it, we were in Corte Madera/Larkspur discussing what the route would be. Some were doing Paradise Loop, which I thought would be good since it would amount to about 40 something miles. However, peer pressure is a beautiful and dangerous thing, and I became convinced that I ought to hang on with the rest and go out to Nicasio.

So...with the sun shining and the air crisp, how could I not agree to a longer ride? I also wanted to get to know the group a bit better, and it was a nice bunch of guys, so it seemed like the right thing to do.

I never once regretted my decision. Once you get through Fairfax and further away from the main roads, the hills become less cluttered and pretty soon you realize you're surrounded by a lot of lush, green land that seems to stretch for miles. The houses turn into farms that become further and further apart, with an occasional ranch that gets your attention before you can even see it, since the smell is pungent enough to carry a ways down the road. This is the type of riding I'm used to with the guys up in Santa Rosa, and why I'm willing to drive an hour in the wee hours of a Saturday or Sunday morning. It is so beautiful. It also helps that there are far fewer cars on the road as you get out into the more rural area.

Nicasio is a total cyclist watering hole. We pulled up and there were easily about 20-30 cyclists gathered in different groups, chatting about where their route might take them next, refueling, and taking a quick stretch break. By this time there were only six of us, and three decided to go on to Pt. Reyes and then back, which would add about 10-12 miles to the ride. I know my limits, and I knew I wasn't up for a ride like that at this early point in the season. I knew if I went any further, I might have a difficult time going back. I opted for this to be my halfway point, and Ken and Jim went along with this, too. I somehow managed to gather my second wind about 5 miles from Nicasio, and went back without too much trouble over the climbs.

The ride turned out to be about 57 miles total - the longest ride I've done in a long time! I'm pretty sure that hearty breakfast, along with a Power Bar throughout the ride, saved me. Still, as I said, no regrets. Gorgeous, not really painful (I wasn't even sore!), and it felt good to log some miles. Looking forward to the next one. Now - if you asked me if I was ready to run 13.1 miles after all of that, I'd probably stare at you like you were completely nuts. So I am clearly NOT ready for Vineman. Yet.

Sunday, 3/19: Rest day. Sort of. I stayed up until about 1 a.m. on Sat night getting some last-minute stuff finished for the SCAM meet that I've spent the last 6 months planning and organizing. Woke up at 5:15 a.m. to start the big day. The swim meet went off without a hitch, and I got a number of emails giving me kudos for a well-run and organized meet - talk about a nice feeling! Seeing all of my teammates out there swimming, volunteering, smiling, along with a lot of happy swimmers (some of them from far away!) - it just makes all of that craziness, those months of time-consuming planning all worth it. A lot of people thanked me, but really, to have a successful meet, it had to be a team effort, and it truly was. Go SCAM!!

Monday, 3/20: Definitely rested. Cooked a nice dinner - made edamame salad with Meyer Lemon Vinegarette and a Tilapia Filet. Was in bed by 9:15 and read for 15 minutes!

Tuesday, 3/21: Woke up at 5:30 a.m., go tto the gym by 6:10 a.m. and ran for 40 minutes. I tried keeping my heart rate in the 160 range, but it eventually crept up as I sped up. I can't help it! I know I shouldn't have sped up, but I just...arrrrrgh. I read over and over that the speed will come, but I feel like I ought to practice a LITTLE bit of interval training if I'm on the treadmill and not doing a super long run. The long runs are for going a bit slower, I think. I talked with my friend Eric at the swim meet on Sunday, and he's a distance runner, and quite an accomplished one at that. He's been at it for a long time, so I asked him if he had any quick tips for training for a half marathon. He said he does track runs during the week, and the slower long runs over the weekend. I think I'll keep that in mind as I continue to read and train.

After my run Christine and I lifted weights, focusing on biceps and triceps. I feel it!

So now...what's the plan for the rest of the week? Trying to figure that out.

Wed, 3/22: Ride bike to swim practice at 6:15 a.m.; Ride afterward up Tunnel Road and along Grizzly Peak

Thursday, 3/23: 6:15 a.m. - spin and lift; 6 p.m. swim

Friday, 3/24: 6:15 a.m. - swim, followed by a 15 minute run

Saturday, 3/25: Provided it doesn't rain, a bike ride? Otherwise maybe spin class with swimming in there somewhere

Sunday, 3/26: Maybe swim and spin? Hard to say. I kind of want to play it by ear based on weather and what I can do outside.

My goal this week is really to get some good short runs in, with a lot of swimming. I feel like I've been slacking on that lately. I also need to get this cough checked out because it's not going away and it's starting to annoy me. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. this morning in a coughing fit. Really not cool, because I have a good feeling that's why I felt so sleepy today.

So, PHEW! That's that. I like writing out my plan. Keeps me accountable!

The plan for the week

So I never wrote out a plan for the week and I realized I should write down what I did and what I have planned for the rest of the week. I'm kind of mad at myself because I was supposed to swim this morning but overslept (yet AGAIN!)...so I went out for a 32 minute run, which included lots of hills; managed to keep my heart rate at an average of 164 (I think it was the hill that bumped it up - the last 10 minutes went from 168 up to 186!!). Still, with swimming, I'd like to be doing it more frequently. This is so hard. Again, such a delicate balancing act. I'm clearly not doing too much as far as frequency goes, but just trying to keep that intensity at a mid level. arrrrgh!

I could go swimming tonight, but Amber's birthday party is this evening. I thought at first that it was at 7 p.m., so I thought 'cool. Get back, go swimming, drive into the city and arrive at 8 p.m.' But I checked the eVite and it's at 6 p.m. Can't go swimming. Arrrrgh. Here's the week:

Monday: 6 p.m., swam 3000 yards
Tuesday: 6:15 a.m. - went to spinning class; lifted weights with Christine (chest and abs)
Wednesday: 6:45 a.m. - ran 32 minutes; avg heartrate 164, max 189 (lots of UP - went UP Spruce and UP Eunice!)
For the rest of the week:
Thursday: 6:00 a.m. - run with Christine, lift legs
6 p.m. - swim
Friday: 6 a.m. - bike ride
6 p.m. swim
Saturday: 8:30 a.m. - bike ride with Lombardi (if not raining)
maybe do some good stretching afterward?
Sunday: rest (and deal with the swim meet!!!)

Okay...I feel better now. There's a plan I can stick to.

Still trying to figure out though, why I keep oversleeping on the morning swims. I don't oversleep when I train with Christine. It could be a number of things, but I think part of it is that maybe I set my alarm a little too early so I know I can go back to sleep for a few minutes. If I set it a little later, then I know when it goes off I have to GET UP. Something to try...