Had the fortune of getting up early today to teach my class. I can see now why I haven't been getting up. Or maybe it was that hard because I haven't been getting up... a vicious circle.

Class went well today... only 10 people and all of my outdoor riders were not in attendance so I'm assumming they had bigger and better plans. I don't feel bad though because I know that I otherwise would as well. Speaking of which... today would be a great day to ride. Not sure of the temp but I think it's around 55 and there is NO WIND! Crazy. In attempt to make the run as painless as possible for tomorrow's race, I am instead blogging during lunch. Hopefully it will have been worth it! I'm a little nervous for the run tomorrow as it is. It's a pretty long distance, infact my longest I think and I'm slightly worried about my heels not being up to the performance that I would like out of them. Fingers are crossed. So it comes out that I have an 8.8 mi leg.

Didn't do much yesterday... woke up feeling very poorly and I think I am blaming that on water in my ears which in turn is throwing my equilibrium completely out of whack. Not sure how to fix it, but I'd better figure it out soon! Did get out for an easy 3 or 4 miles afterwork last night to test out the heel one last time. I didn't feel great, very dehydrated and the heel felt strange for the first 1.5 miles, but then I warmed up and I felt good. I did not manage to shake the side ache though. I'm drinking much more water today.

Wednesday I went to yoga and did a short bike ride into the heavy wind at lunch. Only about 11 miles, but it was kind of nice because I was fairly alone and pulling myself. It wasn't much but at least I'm starting to feel more confident in the wind.

I think that's about it. Hope everyone is doing well!

Ha, I'll add to it... I haven't been getting up in the mornings either! Soon enough I'm sure. As soon as the weather starts to get nicer (and consistant) I'll start either riding into work or trying to squeeze in a short run or swim I think. There's just not enough time in the day! It's all good though- at least we're still trying to get up!

Lets see... back blogging... Saturday was awesome! Great weather- sun, probably about 75 degrees and minimal wind until around 3 or so. Slept in a bit and then had a little breakfast and took off for the weekly long ride. I had a great time- we road through town (a little slower than ideal, but no worries) and made it down to the lake and close to the IM start for the chance for me to see some more of the course. I was happy to see that the beginning of it isn't too bad... it gave me hope. Since the weather was great and we were cruisin along pretty well we decided to just do the loop (well, most of it, missing one big hill). Like I said, I had a lot of fun, and felt pretty good, at least until the wind picked up. That cashed me pretty fast which was bad because the 2 hills I struggle with came at the end of the wind. Then of course had to take Old Sauk back into town which is pretty darn hilly and the road has a lot of bumps in it. Not my favorite. Each hill was a challenge considering I blew up my legs on the second of the two big hills off the IM course. What I got from the ride: I have a long way to go, but also a little motivational push now.

Dog sat that night. Note: I hate birds. The dog was great, the birds were almost fed to the dog. I'll leave it at that.

Sunday was windy as hell and I was still nursing the heel/achilles so the day maxed out with a swim. I think I got in 2100 yds but I'm not very good at counting. Nothing too big though. I wasn't feeling it very well... I hope my stroke comes back soon. I think I'm varying too many things. Gotta pull it together!

Monday was a very long day at work and frustrating to say the least. Crazy wind throughout the day which turned into a beautiful, but cooler day in the end. I got in 4.5 miles on the treadmill at the club trying to test out the heel that had been feeling better. The good news is that it didn't hurt the achilles area, but it still feels weird. I think my yoga master was right about the heel being rolled under a bit... it feels like it's in a different position than the left foot. I can't wait until it's back at 100%. I'm itching to get going. As I was driving into Harbor last night I had a vision of me in the actual race and was super motivated to workout... I hope I can hang onto that.

Tonight I have a doctors appt and swim class. Hopefully they won't get in the way of eachother. I also hope the doctor has some answers or at least suggestions for me. We'll see what happens.

Hope all is well. Happy training! :)

Can't say my workout schedule has been all that exciting either. Seems to be a trend these days. I put an end to my consecutive swim workouts today. Being the smart one that I am, I should have lined up a sub for my cycling class this morning, but didn't. I went in there with the idea of just sitting on the bike for fun and calling out instructions, but knew as soon as I got in there that it wasn't going to be easy if that was in deed necessary. Luckily, my achilles didn't really pose too much of a problem. I took it pretty easy and even skipped a few things that I thought could lead to problems. Long story short: I taught, made it through class surprisingly well and my foot doesn't feel any worse than it has for the past few days. My yoga instructor, who is a frequent attendee of my class, stuck around to show me some things I can do to help it. He believes that it was an issue of something I did rotated my heel down further under than it is usually causing all my tendons and muscles to freak out. He did something that seemed to pull it apart and said he heard something... but I don't know. Unfortunately, he was asking how it felt after doing it, but since I had just cycled for an hour, it was fairly loose compared to the past few days so I couldn't tell if it felt better because it was warmed up or because of what he did. I'll try to talk to him about it on Wednesday if it's not better by then. Fun times.

Still hoping to get that bike ride in tomorrow. I think it'll be ok since biking doesn't seem to bother it, but I'll undoubtably skip the run. Hopefully the rain will hold off. It's been really nice out and super hard to watch everyone else be able to enjoy it while i sit inside working my 9 hour days...

The good news in all of this... so far I can log over 6,000 yards in the pool this week. i guarantee that will not happen for a long time to come... at least I'm hoping it won't be necessary.

Otherwise, I think that's about it for the excitement of my life. Good times... Take care everyone!

Well, today starts what will most likely be a quite frustrating day. Probably the most beautiful day so far... 65 degrees, sunny with a 3 mph wind. That is crazy beautiful compared to the wind and cold temps we've been getting lately... unfortunately, the achilles has been acting up on me and I'm afraid of truly hurting it. It didn't feel that bad yesterday and I think is probably just stiff today, but it was killing me on Monday so that was scary. I know there will be more nice days (and hopefully a lot of them!) but it looks like it's back to wind and rain after this for quite a few days. Nice.

Swim lessons last night went ok. I think it's the most yardage we've done in class so far, but dont' think it qualifies as our toughest class. For some reason my stroke seems to be falling apart so that is frustrating. Think I'll get back in there tonight to see if I can work on bringing it back.

Not sure of the last time I blogged so a quick update of Monday... cold and windy. I think all the big tough guys opted out of riding that day- wusses... but Ali and I went out on our own. It was a great ride. We worked hard since we were going into the wind the majority of the time, but it was amazingly relaxing as well. Maybe it was just the fact that we were pushing our pace, but not having to worry about racing after the group the entire time. It was nice. Got back and was having some pretty substantial pain in the achilles area so gave up on the hopes of running that night. Instead went to the night body pump class and participated in only the arm tracks so as to not bother my ankle. Everyone was looking at me funny as I was doing my ab work during the leg tracks, but that worked for me so I was happy. I figure I really don't need to lift legs anymore as they are getting a great deal of workout on a daily basis. Until I really ramp up my swimming lengths and frequency, I think I still need to work on my upper body strength.

Aside from that, same old I think. Hope everyone else is doing well and over coming their injuries... Chris, hang in there... my fingers are crossed for ya!

So nothing too exciting in the training log... I am, however on my second week therefore had the opportunity to turn the page so that was fun! Sad life, I know. So that great ride I was talking about Wednesday (and Thursday)- yes, that is sarcasm... I made the mistake of deciding to ride again on Friday and guess what route we did?? Yup, same one, and again got destroyed. I've since decided that I will not be participating in group rides on Fridays so that I can save some leg for the long weekend workouts. I think I really paid for it last weekend. My run on Saturday was not great. I feel bad that Mark has to go so slowly with me, but I must admit, it's a blessing. He definitely keeps me going. Pushed through a pretty sad 7 miles. The knee was sketchy and for some reason I couldn't breathe very well. I think part of it came from being pretty dehydrated. Something to keep in mind before this weekend. Ride on Sunday was nice. The weather was pretty good, a little cool still and slightly more windy than I had thought it was going to be, but a good time overall. I have a LONG way to go if I'm going to finish this Ironman thing. I'm not truly sure what I was thinking. In fact, and I'm ashamed to say this, but for the first time, on Monday, I honestly thought that I am not going to be able to do this. I hated that thought, and that will probably drive me to the finish line, but it might be true. I might have bite off more than I can chew. Oh well. I don't have the finances to just throw away $400 so I'm going to finish!

Monday was a day off... Tuesday I felt horrible!! Couldn't figure out why I felt sooo bad after a day off but did get out on a ride later in the day which turned out great. The weather was great- a warm 69 degrees with sun and the pace was comfortable and the terrain wasn't killer. A very relaxing hour and 20 minutes for once. It was nice to not race after everyone, and being cashed at the end. Swim class was last night. That was quite the event. It felt like I've never swam a yard in my life. I couldn't find a rhythm, couldn't breathe correctly, couldn't do drills. It was ridiculous! Hopefully it will come back. It'd better come back!

Today is another, and possibly the last nice day for a while. A ride is planned for 1:30 or so. I'm going to try out the 5200 wsd again. Yesterday it was nice, but the gears were pretty loud. I think I have that tuned so that's a start. Still trying to decide whether or not it's the right size for me. Feels tiny compared to my bianchi. Run will come tomorrow when the weather's not as nice. I figured I'd rather spend an hour outside than 35 minutes. Besides, I'm still trying to give my knee some time. Definitely going to discuss it at the doctor later this month. Not fun.

Should probably work. Happy training!

Ok, in hindsight, I think that I should better explain my ride that took place yesterday so no one gets the wrong opinion of my abilities. I'm not good. The first 8.5 miles or so were into the wind, in a pack and we were averaging about 16 mph which was great. I was freezing so I was hiding in the middle - so I really wasn't working that hard, but was still feeling some wind. Overall, great pace. When that hill hit, I was not able to follow them. I hauled the bike up the hill and caught up with Chad on the flat at that point we hit about 28mph with a tailwind trying to catch the pack. Once we did, we rode for awhile at probably around 24mph until they hit the next hill and took off again. I took this hill a little harder and then just continued pushing... when the wind was at my back I was going about 24mph but once the cross wind came back - I was going about 21mph. I was pushing pretty hard. I'm not bragging- trust me. I got dropped. Plain and simple.

Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and expect great things out of me. It was a good hard ride for me. I'm not on their level.

Hope that helps in the understanding! Swim is still planned for today even though it's gorgeous out. I figure my legs aren't up for 4 days of hard riding in a row.