Group Brick

Today I drove into the city for a group brick. Fortunately I knew mostly where to go because of sherpa-ing last year, because the directions from the race website are truly awful. I was still unclear about parking, but I ended up parking in the Red Cross Walk area because they waved me in and didn't care that I wasn't supposed to be there.

We in the moderately slow group biked one 8.5 mile or so lap. Happily we got to see what the route is like; unhappily we got to see how insanely crowded the route was and might be on race day. There was an Alzheimer's walk going on, some other 5k running race, and all the other people who were out and about because the weather is so fabulous. The Alzheimer's walkers were in my opinion kind of rude because they took up the whole walkway. We ended up getting off our bikes to walk through them, and they were still giving us dirty looks! I did not appreciate that. Anyway, I think all the delays is why the fast group didn't do 2 full laps either. Those who wanted to run followed the bike with a 3 mile run.

I met some nice people today, and hopefully I'll even be able to train with them at some point. It was nice to be in a group effort at least once before race day though. I wasn't working on my transition time or even my running time so I have no idea how fast I did anything today. I did set my dual-timer for the return leg of the run. I can't imagine running the whole way without stopping. My training buddy today usually gets in a jog and just keeps that up, but that doesn't so much work for me. I probably slowed her down. Oops!

It was a good experience and probably in late June I will try to do the land part of the course again on my own. Now, however, I'm going to go outside and enjoy this gorgeous weather!

Scratching My Head

I had a very "what happened" moment yesterday. I went for a 3 mile run. I like to run with music to keep me motivated, so for the last couple of times I've kept the interval timer display on my watch because I don't hear the beeps. So I haven't been paying much attention to the minute/mile figures. Imagine my surprise yesterday to fine I shaved about 1min/mile off my usual time! Instead of 12.5 minute miles I was doing 11.5 for all three, not just the first one (like usual)!

Today I went back to the bike store to have them swap out my pedals. I also bought my own pedal wrench and a couple more pairs of bike shorts. Then I went to the park on this glorious day and rode for an hour. I pushed for the first mile and was about a minute faster than I was before clipping in. Then I just sort of relaxed and didn't watch the clock. I also wasn't watching the mileage so I don't know how many miles I got in.

Tomorrow will be another swim day. Unlike Tuesday though I'm going to attempt to actually swim and not just try to get comfortable with my face in the water. (Which didn't actually work. Breathing and water are unmixy things for me.) Then on Saturday is a group bike/run brick workout. On Sunday I am resting!

Whew!

I think I took Thursday off. Is it bad that I can't remember?

Friday I took my clipless shoes (now with cleats!) and did the 45 min spin session with them. It was really interesting to see which parts were easier and which were still hard. I liked it. I still haven't gotten the pedals on my bike, but that isn't the end of the world.

Saturday was the swim clinic. Really interesting and I learned a whole lot. Got some spiffy new tools too. I still had feelings of inadequacy in the pool for lo the water still freaks me right out when trying to breathe. I didn't get into the lane where they were taping, but at some point the camera did pan over to me a little. Good news is I had pretty good form when I was swimming. I just have to work on the breathing thing. Everyone assures me it will get better and I will manage it. I hope so! It was a gorgeous day. When I got home after swimming I looked at putting my new pedals on, but I didn't have the right tools. I did clean my chain though with some new lube. Last time I rode my bike on Easter I was squeaking so I wanted to fix that.

Today I ran 6 miles in 76 minutes. I'm about where I was for the 10k run. Unfortunately I have positive splits, if I understand that correctly. My first mile was 11.5 min, but the time per mile steadily increased until the end. About the only good thing from my perspective was trying out my Tropical Fruit flavored Cytomax. Which is pretty tasty!


My goals for this coming week are to get in the pool as many times as possible, even if I'm not working on any drills or techniques. I will be doing the dry land drills, and possibly that's all I will focus on this week for actual swimming. I think I'll aim to run 3 miles again. If the weather's nice I might skip the spin dvd and just go for a bike ride for the short one. This Saturday has a Rookie Tri Group brick, I think. I like to have my long workouts on Sunday, but I'll just have to get over it for this week.

The week so far.

Yesterday I did 20 laps in the pool (1000 meters). They weren't pretty, but I did them. How I'm going to do 30 laps and bike 25 miles and then run 6 I am not sure. Wait and see! I am still muchly looking forward to the swim clinic. Please help, swim coaches!

Today I ran 3 miles. I was going to aim for 5 or so but didn't leave the house in time. I'm still running at 12.5 minutes per mile. In this case I'm pretty sure the tortoise (me) will not beat all the other hares.

Tonight I'm going to buy pedals and cleats. Woo!

Swim Clinic

I have a new client who does xterra triathlons. We got to talking about tri stuff, and he mentioned that some of his coaches are coming to Philly to do a swim clinic. From his description it sounds like a worthwhile endeavor, so I am reserved for a spot.

I'm very excited. They seem to take the Total Immersion style and add their own spin to it. I'll get some gear for training on land so I can build muscle memory (which will be super handy since the pool hours and my schedule don't always cooperate). It's only one day and so feels more reasonably priced, and anyway if it's terrible I'm not out too much money (no I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the bike issue yet). I'm not excited about them filming my swim. I'm sure that's something I probably won't be watching over and over.

Go Team Proper Triathlon Swim Training!

It was a good day.

Finally I've had a decent workout.

A client today told me about how a friend of hers uses pennies to count laps in the pool. I thought this was a fantastic idea, so I took 15 pennies with me. The first triathlon is 750 meters, which is 15 laps (up and back). I was very excited to see the pennies move pretty quickly! My swimming still is not great, but between breaststrokes (i.e. doggy paddling), backstrokes, and free style I complete 15 laps in about 22 minutes! I should have stayed and completed more, but I wanted to brick the bike in afterwards.

I tried to sort of "lay" everything out in the locker for transition. I even stuck my ipod and a Clif Mojo bar in my jersey pockets. I figured I'd attempt the multisport nutrition thing.

I neglected to get clips for my SPD shoes, so I used my Saucony's in the toe clips like I usually do. I completed the Ride Strong spinervals dvd, although I skipped the last 2 segments of the spin your legs out portion (have almost no tension on the wheel and go as fast as you can). I think the food experiment worked ok, although I think I don't like solid food during exercise. I still have to try Shot Bloks, Power Bars or some other things with protein, and my Sport Beans. Although I might just keep the beans for my running reward.

I didn't feel like running after all that, but I was watching the other women on the elliptical and decided I'd do 10 minutes of that at the end. Why, I'm not quite sure. I was pleased though; 4 years ago I hopped on an elliptical machine and struggled to reach 10 minutes. I wouldn't say I could have gone on forever, especially after the swim and bike, but I didn't feel too badly at the end.

All in all, a really good workout.

Thanks for all the fish.

Dear Diary, it has been so long since I last wrote to you. Have you missed me?

So, lots to catch up on...

Two weeks ago I managed to get a new gym card. They didn't retake my picture, but turns out the card still works from the pocket in my gym bag so the uglee picture can stay hidden. I did a mini-brick with 25 minutes on the bike and a 10 minute run. It was amusing to see me, since I had forgotten to bring my running shoes and so I did the whole thing in my Keen shoes. (Favorite Brand of Shoe Ever. Seriously. I have 3 pairs; would have more but they are a little on the spendy side.) I didn't do anything on Friday or Saturday, but I did get a nice bike ride in on Easter Sunday. I also purchased my very first pair of clipless pedal shoes! I chose not to get pedals at the time. (Big mistake; see below.) While I was at the bike store I put a super fancy extremely expensive bike on layaway because it was the last day of a sale. I might purchase it! Although I probably should look for something a little less carbon. But it was a really nice ride, for the 10 minutes I had time to check it out. Felt really comfortable, but that probably means the fit wasn't right. One thing stopping me is where I found it; don't think Performance Bike does the serious kind of fitting that I might find elsewhere. (Buying a new bike is really challenging and somewhat discouraging.)

Last week I was pretty good. I got a 30 minute run in on Wednesday, a 45 minute spin workout on Thursday, and a 30 minute swim session on Friday which was my first time back in the pool in over a month. I never manage to get the Monday workouts in and I skipped the Sunday workout.

I took my new clipless shoes with me to the gym on Thursday, thinking it would be a piece of cake clipping in. Well, imagine my surprise when that did not work. I foolishly didn't read the directions, but more importantly, I didn't quite understand that the cleats come with the pedals, not the shoes! I hadn't brought my other shoes with me from the locker room, so I had to force the shoe into the toeclips. Very disappointing. I have not yet gone to get cleats or pedals, so I won't be able to use the shoes until then. I may decide to put pedals on my clunker; it's a mountain bike, so mountain bike pedals might not be terribly odd. I have to see.

Tomorrow I am going to try to do my run outside. I like that better than running on the treadmill. Depends on whether I can manage to do it during the morning.