Ah ha!!!

Forced rest, drugs, homeopathy....working a bit but not totally. Had to bail out of the Carlsbad 1/2 as I was just not feeling well Saturday night.  After a long nap was still worn down... Monday I took R to the Dr as she has been sick for over a week and her Dr is asking her does she have a headache in the center of her forehead (I'm thinking I do and have had one for weeks  now ), do her ears feel full? hard to hear? ( I have been telling my family I am going deaf), when she pressed on her sinus's was it tender ( I can hardly wear swim goggles it is so tender)....she does an exam and tells us R has a sinus infection and the light bulb went off....Off to urgent care I go and gee I have lots of fluid in my ear, inflamed and infected sinuses.... whamo!  Z Pack Antibiotics and I am on the mend.... never occurred to me.   But I am so thankful to really and truly be getting better not just mind over matter convincing myself I am feeling better (which actually works pretty well for about 1/2 the day)

So with that...yet another recovery week that is building back into serious training the next 2 weeks but before that JD and I are headed to CO Springs tonight to do some college tours...few nights there and then off to Greeley followed by a weekend of cross training in Breckenridge with my sis and family.  Lots of new snow!! 

So I will be running at altitude.... skiing and then back Monday to hit it hard training!

Forced rest.....not a fan of that!

So I really thought I was managing fatigue and my health pretty darn well.... ie: taking a day off here and there to feel strong the next few days.  I have been fighting a cold since Jan 1 and it has been at bay but there...waking up with a sore throat or stuffy nose - just not 100%. I nailed some solid training though it and thought it was finally gone...Monday AM woke up with an elephant on my chest..ok not really but that is what it felt like. But since I have been waking up  not feeling great I got up and took the pups out for an early walk and headed to the pool to coach my Monday AM weekly lesson.  The coffee was not helping, the energy from the lesson did not help....but nevertheless I hopped in the pool and started swimming.  1000 yards later I was out and in the shower...this was something more.  Dang it.....

Headed home and crawled in bed...lots of sleep and many homeopathic remedies

 Overkill.... maybe not sure.... Tuesday day off! Wednesday woke up ready  to roll...80% and make the stupid decision to ride not only GWL but add on to Descanso...ride was meant to be controlled and let's just say the numbers look really controlled meanwhile I felt like I was mashing 300+ watts...  Hmmmm perceived effort high... numbers low- not a good sign.  Guess what...woke up Thursday feeling not worse but not better so hit the pool for a 4000 session with a 1000 yard TT that sucked was not stellar and was quite challenging,  Looking at my time- really hoped I did an extra 50 but know I did not.  Friday off....Saturday raining and cold and am feeling good but am not making the stupid mistake of hitting it hard today-  snuck in a short ez run with the dogs and going to swim easy and sit in the sauna!!  

Carlsbad 1/2 is tomorrow..... survey says skip it. But I am not....I am going to run it easy and have fun....Made plans to go with K so will follow through and just have  a nice catered training run.

By the way if you have not seen MoneyBall....rent it!! Read the book and loved it - but Brad Pitt did a stellar job playing Billy Bean.

Big breakthrough with one of my athletes this week....her swimming is coming along so well and we did a few 100's and asked her to guess her 1st one based on her effort...guess was 12 seconds slower than the time! Now that is progress...followed by another who emailed me that not only did she move  up to a faster lane but she lead the lane!! Sweet..... exciting for all of us

Training and family and rest.....

My running continued on for another week pretty well.....I was doing the miles but the runs were getting slower and the aches were flaring up- Around Thursday of last week, I had the gut feeling again, poster tibialis was not happy and my calves were like spasming rocks... Got some torture ART and skipped a day of running- as much as I want to complete the block- one day off allowed me 3 more solid runs.   I slapped my Garmin on Sunday for my longest run and well it was utterly depressing... cadence was 86 vs 90- yes 4 steps a minute is ALOT and my pace, well we are not even going there. Yes I was tired, yes I woke up Monday sick ...blah blah blah - bottom line it was slow, so slow I started hoping there was a satellite failure someplace...

So on we go to Carlsbad 1/2 this weekend- before Sunday I was optimistic I would  have a decent run. Not a PR or even close, but a decent benchmark for the the next 9 weeks as I head into Oceanside.  And now I am fearful of a slower run flat out that I run off the bike.... we shall see!  I am happy to have company, Kristen and I shall start together...while she is a speedier runner - she plans to start slower and ease into it...my plan try to hang with her- could be awesome or could be really painful.  

Along with all the running I ramped up the swimming.  3 swims - all 4000k minimum and I dragged my sorry self to Masters. New program in Scripps Ranch and I love it.  Small pool that is wavy but hey it simulates open water right?  10:00 masters which is perfect!  I can get up and do my run or bike early, work for a few hours and then swim-  there are 2 girls that are presently kicking by arse.  They randomly go on the 1:15 which is way out of my zip code right now so I slap on paddles and go for it.   By Friday I was just plain sore....my lats and tri's are worked.   The test set this week of 10x100 on 1:20 did not go so well..... but it is benchmarking. 

Come Thursday my brother and family arrived from Australia via Aspen for a long weekend of fun..... short visit but we will be there in a month so it was a good warm up.  We made the most of it.



Teenagers at the park

Dinner with my bro and mom



Billy turns 76!

Decorating the cake



perfect 3 boys...they wore each other out all weekend

Uncle Scott and R

Jax at Chucke Cheese...

the girls



Taz the monkey

Difference of one day.....and one hour

Really? How, what.....

I came off a big bike block last week and rolled into a recovery day with swimming and then a run block started.  After a few days I was tired and that little voice was telling me, "ease up".... I was driving home from my run and was thinking a day off maybe a good idea.....chatted with coach and we agreed.  So instead of a 1 hour run Friday I slept in and had a productive day.

Saturday was my longest ride since Kona- 5:30 with some serious climbing and I felt great... I had that extra gear toward the end of the long climbs and was able to dig when I wanted too!  Good choice...really just one day allowed my to have a higher quality ride.

1 hour...so after the climbing was done on our ride, we had another 20 miles with a few moderate climbs and I decided that the rest of the ride was easy.... as in 25 watts lower than IM watts..... I was thinking forward to my long run today. 

And....my legs felt good today..knocked out a 1:35 trail run and felt good and strong.... It has taken me a few years but I am getting it.... a day here, an hour there OFF, will actually make me stronger!

BENCHMARKING

Do you benchmark your swimming? If you ride with power you know how fit you are. Running is easy, especially with a Garmin, even without you can run on a track and know your pace. Early season if we test ourselves are PE (perceived effort is generally high and power low on the bike and pace a bit off on the run) But that is ok, that means we took an off season.

What about swimming....maybe you were leading the 1:30 lane in October and now you are drafting off the back- surely you watch the clock and can tell if the 100's are faster or slower. Some Masters workouts do "test" sets- all out efforts on more rest to "test" your fitness. But many do not and many of us swim on our own.

S0, I challenge you to 2 benchmarking sets,


1: 1000 yards or meters for time. Get in a long warm-up, 1000 yards +- and then do it nonstop and finish tired. If you blow the pace and die, hang in there and finish. Best to wear a watch and hit start and go. Record the time, how you felt, maybe what you did the previous day etc. Commit to 1x week- look for gradual improvement, assuming you are swimming regularly. Don't be discouraged if you dip at times- if you swim on a Monday following a 100+ mile ride and a long run, you may be tired.

I plan mine tomorrow and considering I have been in the pool 7 times since 10/8 I know it will not be fast, pretty or fun. But it is a start.....

As for the other test set....stay tuned!

Hello Bike

18 days and 40 hours in the saddle....Game On!  Coach and I planned a bike block late December and while it started accidentally, as in "hey wanna ride tomorrow?" , ok and then another day and another day.... after day 3, coach says, bike block ON. So he laid out a lot of riding and laid out the guidelines...if in doubt go easier than harder.  And for all the rides, but 2, I kept the power low and the fun factor high.  With so many friends off work it was great to ride every day with my pals.  We rode locally and we headed East.  No Epic rides...longest was 4:30 and most 3 hours ish.  As the days went on I felt better.... Somewhere early in the block I finally felt great and let it go a bit.... Liz asked Julia, "what the hell is she doing?" Some days you just go with it...

But after that it was controlled. Some days were painfully slow and painful to ride- When NP (normalized power) is well below Ironman Watts and the ride feels hard, that is not good.  But I rallied!



Last week we stepped up the running quite a bit and I was thrilled to take that on and still be able to ride.  Monday was the culmination...GWL + Descanso - no rules.  We had a big group it was awesome....we hit it hard- Beth killed it up the bee keeper and I could not hang on. Yes same Beth who used to ride in another zip code was dropping us all.  GO BETH

Andy lost his virginity on GWL, Cathleen jump started her training and we all kicked of 2012 in one of our favorite spots! Beth commented Amy was way too close to the front for her 2nd time out....  I was unsure of how I would feel come Monday with all the riding and 2 longer runs + a few 1 hour runs...I showed up ready to roll and it was great.  Psychologically my legs knew, one more day and then we recover and they came ready to ride!  Was not my best ride ever out there...but felt darn good.

Beth asked what our fastest time the the Beekeeper was...I cannot recall but am thinking 1:23/24- a solid day is sub 1:30, chatty ride 1:35 and powerderpuff (coined by Jen_) is anything over 1:40.  She then lays down the 2012 goal of sub 1:20 to the Beekeeper.... I take the challenge...but want to know who will pull us up Skyline truck trail once we blow to bits......