To half or quarter, that is the question

So it's official. I suck at blogging. It's been almost a month since my last entry, not that anyone has missed me or anything! Things have been busy with work, training, personal stuff. But whose life isn't busy crazy hectic out-of-control?? Get over yourself already, tribeaner, and write in your damn blog!

I had a heart to heart with my coach about this Half Ironman thing in Galveston. While the competitive spirit in me is strong and kicking, the rest of my body hasn't quite been as cooperative the past month or so and has set my training back a bit. We are proceeding somewhat cautiously through my training plan, slowly ramping up the distance and intensity of all the workouts. The problem is, we have to go so slowly to avoid re-injury that it now looks like I won't be adequately prepared to do the HIM in March. Wait, let me clarify that a bit. I COULD do it. I COULD enter and finish the HIM. But, it would hurt. A lot. And maybe even end up getting re-injured and affecting my entire 2008 season. I'm working way too hard to risk that for one race. So, instead of doing the half, I'm going to sign up and do the Quarter IM race in Galveston. And I'm ok with that. Not to mention this means I get to compete and cheer on Greyt too!

OK so a quick training update for my avid readers (yes, Mom, that's you). My running is coming along pretty well and Coach is pushing me to be more consistent with my pace - especially during races. I have a tendency to go a little too fast out of the gate, then struggle at the end. So we're working on that. Biking...well that's coming along just fine, except I get pretty bored on my trainer. It's going to be a long winter. And, finally, swimming. Normally this is where I'd start throwing my pity party. I can't swim, I'm too slow, blah blah blah. Not today, my friends. For the first time, I actually had a swim workout that I got excited about. Now for any of you real swimmers out there, this probably isn't going to seem like much. But if you know where I came from, you'd realize this is a big deal. This week, I actually swam 1800 yards without stopping. Not even once to catch my breath or to lament about how bad I suck. I just kept swimming. And it felt great. And for the first time I thought maybe, just maybe, I might be turning into a swimmer. Imagine that.

Full Steam Ahead

I'm finally back to being healthy again, and my training is going well. My runs have felt pretty good, staying pretty consistently at about 4 miles each workout right now. I'm going to talk to my coach to see about bumping that up soon. I know he's been careful to not overload me since I haven't been 100%, but hopefully now we can start to kick things up again. I'm doing a 5K this weekend and I'm really excited to see what kind of pace I put up. I'm trying not to have too many expectations, just want to go run and see what happens.

Biking is going very well. I seem to be picking up speed with each endurance ride I do. I'm still having saddle issues, but I think that is just the way it's going to be for me. I'm enjoying the long rides, but really need to find some different routes to ride. The same trail is getting pretty boring.

Swimming. *sigh*. My Greyt friend keeps telling me to focus on how much improvement I've made since last February and not get disappointed in myself. But it's really really hard. As she announced last night in the locker room after tri training class, I am a perfectionist. I admit it. I know I have issues with that. But it just drives me insane to be one of the slowest swimmers in class. Now that I'm not having the same pain in my shoulder, maybe my coach will start incorporating some speed drills into my workouts. I'm ready to start seeing an improvement in my speed...now that I know I won't drown.

Alright, I suppose I should get back to work. I'll try to be better about posting more often. Just been a lot going on the last couple of weeks. Have a great day!

Back in the saddle

Not everything is 100% back to normal after my little episode the past 11 days, but I'm slowly regaining strength and energy. I'm afraid of taking too much time to recover, I don't want it to affect my training for Galveston. So, I'm back at it, plugging away at my workouts again.

Monday was tri training class at the Y, so I got in a good swim workout. Still having a little trouble with my nagging right shoulder soreness, but I'm definitely getting further in my swims than I have been. Tuesday night was a HR controlled run. I felt pretty good during the run, but not really great yet. Then last night was an interval bike workout. I had high hopes for this bike workout. See, before I managed to get sick, my coach and I worked for what seemed like HOURS on my saddle position in hopes that it would alleviate some, uh, issues I was having when I would ride. Yeah, well, it really didn't. This saddle thing is driving me crazy. I just cannot seem to get it into a "comfortable" position. Maybe I'm just a big baby. That could be true. Perhaps every cycle chick has these same issues, they just don't complain about them as much as I do. It's going to be a long 56 miles come March if I don't find a solution or develop some kind of tolerance. If anyone is out there actually reading this and has any advice, shoot it my way!

Boy do I sound like a big ole pile of whiney poo or what???

Pass the Pepto

One week down. Twenty five weeks to go. And it was not a pretty week. Training this week consisted primarily of interval sets: 15 x 7 (60 min). Make sense? Well, let me explain. Fifteen yards equals the precise distance from my bed to the porcelain throne. The number of repeats varied by day, but 7 was pretty much the average for the first part of the week. And the 60 minutes represents the maximum amount of rest I managed between each of these intervals. Not exactly the prescribed workout my coach had in mind for this week, but you know what they say about the best laid plans…

I was able to get in a little real training this week – some physical some mental. A very slow four mile group run on Thursday highlighted my inability to stay hydrated during the intervals of the previous three days. Then a 5K race today - one I had hoped to use to gauge my run improvement over the past month, but ended up being more of an exercise in mind over body thinking than anything. This was the first race I ever had to will myself through. The first mile went pretty well then I hit a wall. I bonked. Lack of hydration and proper nutrition during the week led to a serious energy deficit. But I didn’t quit. I finished, in no record time, but I finished.

Hopefully next week goes a little better. I know the race is still a long time from now, but I can feel that familiar fluttering of panic in my gut, reminding me that I’m not a strong swimmer and the Gulf of Mexico is NOT the same as the YMCA pool. Or maybe that fluttering is a reminder that another interval session is about to take place. I better run....till next time.

Greyt friends...can get a girl into Greyt trouble...

Sometimes people come into your life and you don't understand exactly why...but you know in the back of your mind it's not just a coincidence, it's not just some random occurrence. And then one day it hits you, and you sit there and say "Oh, #*$^, what have I gotten myself into?" For me, that day is today. My friend has not only convinced me to sign up for the Lonestar Half Ironman, but she has also somehow coerced me into blogging about it. This is almost as frightening as my first attempt at swimming a length of the pool almost 10 months ago. I didn't drown then (amazingly), and I probably won't now. But I do have to ask myself how I manage to let this greyt friend of mine get me into some of these things....

Stay tuned for more...I promise I'll explain my blog name sooner than later.