Does This Count as Training??

Connor and I took another road trip this weekend. We went to Roosevelt Lake to spend the weekend with my brother and his family. I always have great intentions with my training and things generally go well when my schedule doesn’t vary. Driving 12 hours and playing at the lake definitely changed the schedule but I was able to fit in some training. We got there on Friday and I was immediately reminded why I love Colorado in the summer – it’s not 98 degrees at 4pm on the Friday before Memorial Day! I have my schedule though, and the schedule says a 5 mile run today and a 2500 yard swim. I had to forego the swim but decided it would be a good idea to do my run. I waited as long as I could for it to cool down and at 5pm decided to head out before I bailed altogether. It had cooled down to about 96 degrees as I ran the first 2.5 miles uphill, into the sun and wind. I hadn’t felt 96 degrees since the one day last summer in Colorado when it got about 95. Can humans actually melt in the sun? I was thinking there was some potential there as I starting seeing images of cool lakes and snow covered mountains. Thankfully my sister in law had frozen margaritas ready when I stumbled into their RV.


I rode on Saturday before the sun and all the people rose. It was a beautiful morning and I climbed a monster hill. It took me 58 minutes to ride up and 14 minutes to get down. What a blast. By the time I got back everyone was up and ready for some boating so I threw my bike back into my car and traded my bike shorts for a swim suit. My brother taught me to surf in the morning and I was happy that I got up on the board and was able to stand up long enough for a photo. We found a spot under a bridge and I thought it would be a great idea to practice swimming in a lake with my wetsuit, so off I went for a short swim. I learned to wakeboard in the afternoon and was so tired that night I thought I wouldn’t be able to walk again. Fortunately, my sister in law came to the rescue again with another batch of frozen margaritas!

We went out again on Sunday and I surfed and wakeboarded again. I’m not sure this will be transferable training for the Bike MS or Triathlons, but it sure was a blast! My brother was set to go out again early Monday morning and I had to cry uncle; I didn’t think I would be able to make the drive home if I went out one more time! I left the lake and made the 12.5 hour drive home by myself. What a fun weekend; I love summer!

The Unplanned Day Off

4:30 am. I don’t need to get up this early today because I only have a 1500 yd swim and 3 mile run on the schedule. My body’s internal alarm apparently didn’t get this message and I’m wide awake. I’m not excited about getting up though and it doesn’t help that Steve is still in bed and isn’t showing any signs of getting up. 5 am. “Steve, are you going to the gym?” “No”, rolls over and pulls the covers over his head. Looks like I’m going to have to do this on my own. Out of bed and off to the gym. I pull my running clothes out of my gym bag and discover that in the dark, I grabbed the wrong bra. I stand in the locker room in my swim suit for 5 minutes contemplating the merits of running in the wrong bra. It was just the excuse I needed. I pack up the suit and running clothes and take a really long hot shower, appreciating the YMCA for paying for my indulgence. I had thoroughly rationalized and justified skipping my training this morning, but in all my rationalizing and excuse making, I forgot to take into account the “Locker Ladies”. Who are the “locker ladies”? They are the women who have a similar routine as I do, who use in the same locker row as mine, we make small talk about the weather, the pool temp and always wish each other a nice day. I know their routine as well as they know mine. Yes, we could exchange names, but somehow that never comes up. The teacher does the stairmaster first then swims then showers. She wears the same perfume I wore in 6th grade (Charley??) and has playground duty twice a month and has to cut her workouts a bit short. The German lady swims first, then showers and does weights downstairs. She’s in the pool by 5:10 and swims in lane one. As I’m drying off, the “locker ladies” come in. Now, you’ve read my last post about routines, so you’ll understand the locker ladies surprise when they saw me showered, changing and ready to go home so early. I wasn’t prepared to have to verbalize all my rationalizing with the locker ladies, but I was, quite literally, caught with my pants down. Since we’ve been locker row buddies for a while now, I felt I owed them the plain honest truth. “I just didn’t feel like swimming and running today, so I’m taking the day off”. As it turns out I didn’t have to justify, rationalize or even give one excuse; the locker ladies jumped in with words of support and encouragement “everyone needs a day off, your body needs a rest, take it easy today”. Feeling validated by the locker ladies, I left the gym, got a cup of coffee and went home, sat on the couch and read a book until it was time to go to work.

The Comfort of Routines

I operate best when I have a routine. For my training , the routine takes away (mostly) the procrastinating, or waffling about “what should I do today?” Steve put together my training schedule for my Bike MS and 3 triathlons so I know what I need to do each day. I also have a routine for the training days. Monday and Fridays are swim and run days. Steve swims MWF and is up by 4:15am and I am usually up by 4:45am. As soon as my feet hit the floor, Tracker jumps off Connor’s bed and stands by his door whining, waiting for me to let him out. I let Tracker out of Connor’s room, let the cats out of Dylan’s room and close their doors so they can keep sleeping. Tracker, Hobbes and Sunshine lead the way downstairs and I get a coffee mug, fill it with water and microwave it for 60 seconds. While the water is warming, I feed Tracker. I take my warm water upstairs and check email while I drink my water. Hobbes sits on my lap while I scratch his ears and Tracker sits beside my chair begging me to pet him instead of Hobbes. After I triage email, I get dressed and make my protein shake (1 can V8 Fusion juice, 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 scoop Psyllium Husk, 1 quirt Trace minerals, 1 scoop Flax Seed meal and some frozen berries). I let the pets back in the boy’s rooms and head to the YMCA. I use the same locker every time, as do the women around me. My swim comes first and there my routine intersects the other swimmers routines. Steve is already in the pool, in lane 2. George is always in lane 3. The German lady is in the last lane, the tall guy who does weird flip turns is always in lane 4 (but he was gone for a while because he had knee surgery), our 2 triathlete friends share lane 1. It would be a great social science study to observe what happens when a new person comes in and gets in someone’s lane! I get in Steve’s lane and do my swim, rinse off, get my running clothes and head downstairs to the treadmills. The 90 year old guy who is always on the end treadmill greets me with his usual “hey young lady” (my boys think I’m old, but someone thinks I’m a young lady!), we smile and exchange hellos and if someone isn’t on “my” treadmill I put my ipod on, and start running. Susie usually stops by for a quick chat before heading to the elliptical machine, Dylan’s English teacher stops by and gives me an update on Dylan’s last and upcoming assignments (can you imagine a fate worse than being a HS Junior and your English teacher sees your parents several times a week?). Steve is 3 treadmills over (“his” treadmill), and I don’t bother him because he’s in the zone and it’s not cool to talk to an athlete in their zone. I finish whatever my run for the day is, head back to “my locker”, and chat with the cool ladies whose routine intersects mine. I don’t know most of their names, but know one is doing the Boulder Long Course this year, one is a teacher, one is from Germany and is retired. I love the predictability of it and the familiar faces and conversation on these days.

PRs

I have no idea what happened! Was it running with the wind? No, because I was faster when I turned around and ran into the wind. Was it the Bing energy drink I had? Maybe, but I didn’t have one on Friday and had a PR run. Speed and interval training? Maybe. Whatever it was, I had 2 great runs. Friday was a 5 miler and I ran on Sante Fe Trail North from Woodmen and had a PR. By a lot. I was happy with that and figured it was a fluke, but Saturday I did a 10 miler and had another PR. By a lot. I’m not going to post my pace because for the fast runners that read this my fastest run is equivalent to their cool down pace. I’m not in their league, so I don’t measure my success by comparing myself to them, but rather to my own improvement and I was ecstatic.

On Sunday, Steve and I met another TriForMS bike team member and did a 40 mile loop in Fountain. I had visions of 50 miles, but was too fatigued from my command performances on Friday and Saturday to put in that extra 10. Molly started me off right with a chocolate covered strawberry and we had a great ride. Steve got a good ride in too as he rode ahead, rode back to meet us, rode ahead.

Snow Again???

Snow?? Again? My hopes for a sunny outdoor ride have been dashed and it’s another indoor spin. I watched “Spirit of the Marathon” to keep myself distracted from thinking about how little I enjoy spinning on my bike in the living room.

Long Run

Who put the lead in my shoes at mile 7? I had a 10 mile run today and the first 7 miles were bearable and the last 3 were the makings for an all out belly aching session. Fortunate for any of my running partners they were not with me today and didn’t have to endure an all out whine fest.