I'm leaving work in 30 minutes, to head to the airport, and fly to hawaii! The triathlon is thus sunday, so in a whopping T-3 days? I suppose I'm ready. Or at least, as ready as I will be.
We land this evening. Tomorrow we bike to the beach, then do some practice swimming in the real ocean. Similiar things planned for saturday, as well as eating loads of carbs. Then sunday we get up at FIVE AM. (eeew). the event starts at 7:30. Done before noon! (hopefully. Or around noon?).
I'm not sure about our internet status in hawaii, So I'll either update sunday night if I get online. Or tuesday when I get back home. (and go to work, instead of crawling into bed).
Wish us luck :).
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Open water swimming practice
Monday we did open water swim practice. In the pool.
Basically we did a bunch of excersizes that simulate being in the open water, surrounded by kicking people, only we were in a pool.
We had at about 40 people or so i nthe pool, and removed most of the lane markers. One of the excersizes we did: everyone lined up in two lines facing each other, and treading water... then we took turns swimming down the center of the group, doing a lap, while everyone treading water splashed as hard as they could.
Another excersize: everyone crowded into a corner of the pool, and our coach acted as a buoy in the opposite corner. then at all at once we took off and swam diagonally across the pool, then back to where you started... ie a loop. Only you're swimming w/ 30 of your best friends trying to kick you and pass you. This was to simulate the beginning of the tri for us.
It was a pretty fun swim practice. and sadly our last... because I fly to hawaii tomorrow! eek.
Basically we did a bunch of excersizes that simulate being in the open water, surrounded by kicking people, only we were in a pool.
We had at about 40 people or so i nthe pool, and removed most of the lane markers. One of the excersizes we did: everyone lined up in two lines facing each other, and treading water... then we took turns swimming down the center of the group, doing a lap, while everyone treading water splashed as hard as they could.
Another excersize: everyone crowded into a corner of the pool, and our coach acted as a buoy in the opposite corner. then at all at once we took off and swam diagonally across the pool, then back to where you started... ie a loop. Only you're swimming w/ 30 of your best friends trying to kick you and pass you. This was to simulate the beginning of the tri for us.
It was a pretty fun swim practice. and sadly our last... because I fly to hawaii tomorrow! eek.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Swimming: Check
Today we swam the full distance we'll have to swim in our tri, with stopping. A whopping .9 miles. Aka 1650 yards. Aka 34 x 50yd laps. Aka 68 x 25 yd laps.
Aka, I had to count really high. The fact that it was so long made it easier. Because for the whole first 3/4 of the swim, it seems like the end is nowhere in sight... But we all finished! I did get lapped a few times, but that's alright. I basically... Just kept swimming. Since it was the only way to finish. (deep eh?).
Finally as I finished lap 50, it felt like I was almost done.
While I didn't feel physically tired, I could feel my stroke start to deteriorate a little, half way through. I tried to finish strong though.
Back when we started this training, everyone in the easy lane, would moan when we had to do a 100. It seemed sooo long. Even 50s weren't easy. The fact that now in my mind I think, Oh, only another 400 to go, means we've made very big progress. So that's exciting.
And now I suppose I can declare... (now that i've done the full bike swim and run distance in the last 3 days) that I am ready for the event.
or something.
Aka, I had to count really high. The fact that it was so long made it easier. Because for the whole first 3/4 of the swim, it seems like the end is nowhere in sight... But we all finished! I did get lapped a few times, but that's alright. I basically... Just kept swimming. Since it was the only way to finish. (deep eh?).
Finally as I finished lap 50, it felt like I was almost done.
While I didn't feel physically tired, I could feel my stroke start to deteriorate a little, half way through. I tried to finish strong though.
Back when we started this training, everyone in the easy lane, would moan when we had to do a 100. It seemed sooo long. Even 50s weren't easy. The fact that now in my mind I think, Oh, only another 400 to go, means we've made very big progress. So that's exciting.
And now I suppose I can declare... (now that i've done the full bike swim and run distance in the last 3 days) that I am ready for the event.
or something.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Bike: check. Run: Check
Yesterday we biked 26 miles, followed by a 6 mile run. IE, the full biking and running distances of our triathlon. Even the weather cooperated with us.
Now that i've moved on to a road bike (from my hybrid) I'm a bit faster than my mom, so I ended up biking alone the whole time. I actually found the bike ride a lot harder than the last one (which was just over 20 miles). We did a 13 mile loop twice, that included one big hill. I dreaded the hill the whole first loop... But then it turned out to be not so bad. But riding alone just made it hard to push myself, I found coasting so tempting. Having the team around all the time (since we were doing loops, there were always people there) made it easier. The other thing that made it hard was that as you're lookign forward to finally finishing the long bike, you realize you still have to do 6 mile run ater it...
I remembered to peddle in a really easy gear for the last few minutes of the bike, and that made the transition to run way easier. My legs barely felt weird.
I was actually relieved to start running, as that is my "best" sport. The weather held out until about mile 3 of the run, and then it started raining. However by that point I was hot, so it rain actually felt good :) rain is much nicer for runs then bike rides. I ran the entire way... I actually enjoyed the running! Although my feet started hurting a bit after the 4th mile... With about a quarter mile to go, I caught up with my mom (she was doing the loop in a different order) and walked the last 10 minutes with her.
It felt good to finish. And eat breakfast, that some bikers (ie... motorcycle bikers) served us.. mmm. And then rush home and take a super long hot shower....
The best thing is, that after doing that much, I felt no guilt about curling up on my couch for 1/2 the afternoon :).
Now that i've moved on to a road bike (from my hybrid) I'm a bit faster than my mom, so I ended up biking alone the whole time. I actually found the bike ride a lot harder than the last one (which was just over 20 miles). We did a 13 mile loop twice, that included one big hill. I dreaded the hill the whole first loop... But then it turned out to be not so bad. But riding alone just made it hard to push myself, I found coasting so tempting. Having the team around all the time (since we were doing loops, there were always people there) made it easier. The other thing that made it hard was that as you're lookign forward to finally finishing the long bike, you realize you still have to do 6 mile run ater it...
I remembered to peddle in a really easy gear for the last few minutes of the bike, and that made the transition to run way easier. My legs barely felt weird.
I was actually relieved to start running, as that is my "best" sport. The weather held out until about mile 3 of the run, and then it started raining. However by that point I was hot, so it rain actually felt good :) rain is much nicer for runs then bike rides. I ran the entire way... I actually enjoyed the running! Although my feet started hurting a bit after the 4th mile... With about a quarter mile to go, I caught up with my mom (she was doing the loop in a different order) and walked the last 10 minutes with her.
It felt good to finish. And eat breakfast, that some bikers (ie... motorcycle bikers) served us.. mmm. And then rush home and take a super long hot shower....
The best thing is, that after doing that much, I felt no guilt about curling up on my couch for 1/2 the afternoon :).
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tempo Run
Today we did a "tempo" run. we warmed up, then ran about 25 minutes (some did more, some less) at a tempo that is above the normal aerobic excersize. So it was supposed to be hard-moderatly hard the whole time, and only able to maintain broken converstaion...
It hard mentally, to keep doing something for that long a time period that is not comfortable. 20 min of this was harder, at least mentally, than say an hour of my regular pace.
It hard mentally, to keep doing something for that long a time period that is not comfortable. 20 min of this was harder, at least mentally, than say an hour of my regular pace.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
6 miler
I made myself run 6 miles last night... I think I may have done that or more during some of our trail runs, but this is the first time I've measured and ran it exactly... Once I knew how far I was going, it wasn't that hard.
The nice thing about running outside is that at any given point you are committed to running all the way back. So once I reached 1/2 way w/o turning around, I knew I'd make it the full way no problem.. Unlike on the treadmill where I'm tempted to stop and go lie on the couch at any given moment..
My problem has always been more of a mental one than a physical thing. I always want to stop, even though I'm not really tired... I suppose I'm just lazy.
Anyways, the six miles turned out to be relatively easy, I ran the whole way. My legs where slightly tired at the end (they were sorta tired before I began). It was perfect weather outside. I did it in just over an hour, which is about my average pace.
So yeah, that's all for now...
The nice thing about running outside is that at any given point you are committed to running all the way back. So once I reached 1/2 way w/o turning around, I knew I'd make it the full way no problem.. Unlike on the treadmill where I'm tempted to stop and go lie on the couch at any given moment..
My problem has always been more of a mental one than a physical thing. I always want to stop, even though I'm not really tired... I suppose I'm just lazy.
Anyways, the six miles turned out to be relatively easy, I ran the whole way. My legs where slightly tired at the end (they were sorta tired before I began). It was perfect weather outside. I did it in just over an hour, which is about my average pace.
So yeah, that's all for now...
Sunday, March 4, 2007
BRICK
We did our first of two big bricks to prepare for the race... (4 weeks to go!).
We biked about 24 miles, around mercer island. It was pretty hilly... However apparently Lavaman (our triathlon) is way less hilly and much easier, so that is comforting!
The bike ride was nice. I rode the road bike for more practice, I made it up all the hills without much effort, and figured out the gears more on the new bike. 1/2 way through we stopped to turn around, and for a snack, and my power bar was very frozen, blegh. then our coach road by eating a snickers, I was jealous. I'll be brining one of those next week. Though apparently they'll melt if we try to eat then in hawaii... The weather was relatively miserable. Drizzle for almost our entire bike ride, but at least it was sort warm (over 40..).
THEN we had to get off our bike and run. this was my first real brick (i've only done from bike machine to treadmill)... and what they say about them is true. My legs felt so weird... they didn't really cramp, or hurt, but were just strange. Someone else described it as feeling like you're running w/ someone elses legs.
For this brick we just did 25 minutes, then I will do a 1 hour run today, to finish the brick. My legs never got to normal by the end of the 25 minutes, but I was able to keep running. So I guess that's good.... The brick in 2 weeks will be race distances (26 mile bike, 6 mile run).... fun fun....
We biked about 24 miles, around mercer island. It was pretty hilly... However apparently Lavaman (our triathlon) is way less hilly and much easier, so that is comforting!
The bike ride was nice. I rode the road bike for more practice, I made it up all the hills without much effort, and figured out the gears more on the new bike. 1/2 way through we stopped to turn around, and for a snack, and my power bar was very frozen, blegh. then our coach road by eating a snickers, I was jealous. I'll be brining one of those next week. Though apparently they'll melt if we try to eat then in hawaii... The weather was relatively miserable. Drizzle for almost our entire bike ride, but at least it was sort warm (over 40..).
THEN we had to get off our bike and run. this was my first real brick (i've only done from bike machine to treadmill)... and what they say about them is true. My legs felt so weird... they didn't really cramp, or hurt, but were just strange. Someone else described it as feeling like you're running w/ someone elses legs.
For this brick we just did 25 minutes, then I will do a 1 hour run today, to finish the brick. My legs never got to normal by the end of the 25 minutes, but I was able to keep running. So I guess that's good.... The brick in 2 weeks will be race distances (26 mile bike, 6 mile run).... fun fun....
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Mile repeats
We did mile repeats tonight. Run a mile, rest 90 seconds... repeat. I did 3 mile repeats, followed by a 1/2 mile. My first, third, and fourth where all about the same time... about 8 1/2 minute miles.. For some reason I was a bit slower my 2nd.
However, given that when I go for long runs, I tend to average about 10 1/2 minute miles, that was pretty good. and I wasn't out of breath much after each mile, maybe I could have gone faster?
Ugh, this saturday we have a big scary brick. wohoo!
(race one month from today!)
However, given that when I go for long runs, I tend to average about 10 1/2 minute miles, that was pretty good. and I wasn't out of breath much after each mile, maybe I could have gone faster?
Ugh, this saturday we have a big scary brick. wohoo!
(race one month from today!)
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