Is the week over yet? No such luck. Not a whole lot has been going on here. The sprint tri on Saturday went ok. I am truly starting to believe that my body has changed over and I no longer have any fast twitch muscles. Actually, I'm not really sure that I have any muscles, but incase I do, they're definitely either not in shape or not a fan of going hard for short distances. The swim was fine. Did it without the wetsuit but had a hard time finding an open path to open up my stroke. That's probably a good thing though as I am quickly realizing that I have been slacking way too much on the swimming and get tired easily. I plan to greatly work on that... especially with my knee being not so cooperative.
It was also windy out. I kept a good pace on the bike, but it was burning pretty bad. I know that wasn't the case last year. I did have the opportunity to use my aero bars a lot though. I am feeling much more comfortable on them, however I really need to work on my leg endurance in that position now. Time is going by way too quickly. The run... um yeah... it was largely on grass which was hell on my knee. Or maybe my knee was hell on itself, but either way, the first 3/4 mile was pretty rough. I was kinda dragging the leg. It did loosen up though and felt better which I was happy with... too bad my breathing wasn't there. Oh well, live and learn. It probably didn't help that I had taken virtually the entire week off from exercise. I thought that might help the legs, but I think it actually contributed to them being tired. Anyway, I came in 5th in my age division which I wasn't pleased with, but concidering my knee, I guess it wasn't all bad.
Enough with that... I was tired the rest of that day, which was fine cause it was the Prologue of the Tour de France and raining outside. Sunday morning was much of the same. I am EXTREMELY sick of rain... especially rainy weekends. Looks like another one is on deck for this weekend... Shocker! It did clear up on Sunday and turned into a fun night with a short swim thrown in there. Felt pretty bad in the pool. Again having a hard time breathing. Maybe allergies? Monday was nice. Went out and rode a loop of the IM course. I didn't feel great but think I worked pretty hard because of it. I'm hoping to get that done quite a few more times prior to the event. Hopefully that will help me out.
Tuesday was back to work... nothing too exciting but I did get a swim in afterwards before settling on the couch to watch the tour and ice the knees. Wednesday am I made it to yoga and we did some inverted poses with the assistance of these ropes attached to the walls. It was pretty fun, but killer on the hands. Also got in for a swim at night on the way home from work. I worked much harder and went longer. I can feel it in my triceps and shoulders a little bit. That's a good feeling.
Today I subbed for the am cycling class and then made it out on an afternoon ride with the guys. It was a great ride... wind from every direction, but it was great to be out there and a pretty solid push. I love drafting! As for tomorrow... I'm not sure yet, but I've made plans to open swim at lunch. Hopefully that will workout. Maybe I'll entertain the idea of getting up and doing something in the morning... ha ha ha.
Hope all is well. Happy training! Go USPS! Although, I must add that I like Tyler Hamilton as well. I think he's a good guy and a tough as nails rider. I'd like to see him come in second :)
Friday, July 02, 2004
So it's Friday the 2nd... my boss pretty much told me to go home and it's 11:30 so I thought maybe I'd get a quick blog in before finishing things up for the long weekend. Have I mentioned that my boss rocks!
So... the 5th and final weekend of the insane schedule I tried to hold through June... Unfortunately, I think it started to catch up with me on this one, but I stuck it through and it was a great time. Each year the marketing department at TREK organizes the BIG ride which is a minimum of a 100 miles weaving around beautiful hilly Wisconsin and ending in a camp ground where everyone sets up camp, drinks, hangs out and then heads home. Trek Travel lends us a travel van as a sag and we get the day off on a Friday. This year we left from my boss' house (Eric) and rode for about 60 miles, stopped for lunch in this little bar (who probably just about died when they saw 27 bikers walk in starving and all in spandex...) before finishing out the 40 miles to the campsite. The weather was great, little windy but sunny and a great temp. A great day overall. There was some gravel on the second half that I really wasn't too excited about, and like I said, I think that the big weeks leading up to it were finally catching up with me as my legs just didn't have it. At one point during a steep decent in peagravel, I looked over and started talking to the guys in the sag vehicle when my friend Tony said "Is there anything to eat in here that's not healthy?! (he had also bailed because of the gravel). I thought about the Chips Ahoy cookies that Mark and I had brought. Needless to say, when we hit that next gravel road, the cookies won and I jumped in and munched on cookies while watching everyone else manipulate through the gravel... it was tough I tell ya!
But then yes, you know me, it was killing me that I had bailed on the ride because my mental ego just does not understand when I'm spent... so I got back out and finished the last 15 or so miles. I actually felt great after that. Cookies solve everything! That's my new diet by the way. Sadly enough, that might be true. Having a hard time getting into the healthy eating this season...
There was a lake at the campground which we took a dip in on Friday to rinse off. It was freezing. Camping was great. I work with great people and the two that we split a campsite with both work for Trek Travel so were totally into pampered camping... or at least eating. They had everything for a gourmet meal. I'm going to push to share a site with them again next year!
Didn't bring my wetsuit, but was asked to swim with a coworkers wife so although not looking forward to freezing, said I could use the open water swim. Well, not sure if it was the tremors of the terrifying half Ironman swim, or if the water was too cold or maybe a combo of both, but I was totally struggling... I was having a hard time slowing my breath down to get control of it and found myself having to turn over on my back frequently. It was frustrating and after about 26 minutes swam it back in to shore. Naturally, I started to freak out because I thought I was in better swimming shape than I had just witnessed, but took into consideration that it was freezing and I was tired and without a wetsuit. I did vow that I will spend much more time swimming though.
Sunday I taught a cycling class for the first time in a long time. It was actually pretty fun and comfortable. People seemed happy to see me so that felt good. Afterwards we packed a picnic lunch and went out to this cool park (Devil's Lake) for some open water swimming. Naturally, as we got out there the clouds started to roll in, but it was still pretty warm out. Mark and I swam along the shore for about 50 minutes (not including breaks) and got in about 2400 yards. It was again a little rough on both of us, both edurance and mental wise, but we did much better on the way back in so that was reassuring. Hopefully more of that will prove useful. Unfortunately, when we got out it was raining so the picnic wasn't going to happen at the park, but it was be great for another time. I'm looking forward to it actually!
This week I haven't done much. Nothing since yoga on Wednesday actually. My knee started to hurt after running on Tuesday and it's pretty much the same thing that stopped me from running last season and all through the winter. I'm pretty nervous, but we have a sprint tri tomorrow (Saturday) so hopefully the rest has healed it and it will miraculously be great! If not, my fingers are crossed. 26 miles of walking could make for a pretty long day! No worries. I will be healed by then. Mental healing power right?
Ok, with that, my fingers are going to fall off. Hope everyone is well and the training is stimulating! Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that the Lemond product manager Dean Gore (I love this guy! He's quite fun...) hooked me up with Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fisher as coaches. They sent me some pretty good ideas so hopefully that will get me on track. :)
So... the 5th and final weekend of the insane schedule I tried to hold through June... Unfortunately, I think it started to catch up with me on this one, but I stuck it through and it was a great time. Each year the marketing department at TREK organizes the BIG ride which is a minimum of a 100 miles weaving around beautiful hilly Wisconsin and ending in a camp ground where everyone sets up camp, drinks, hangs out and then heads home. Trek Travel lends us a travel van as a sag and we get the day off on a Friday. This year we left from my boss' house (Eric) and rode for about 60 miles, stopped for lunch in this little bar (who probably just about died when they saw 27 bikers walk in starving and all in spandex...) before finishing out the 40 miles to the campsite. The weather was great, little windy but sunny and a great temp. A great day overall. There was some gravel on the second half that I really wasn't too excited about, and like I said, I think that the big weeks leading up to it were finally catching up with me as my legs just didn't have it. At one point during a steep decent in peagravel, I looked over and started talking to the guys in the sag vehicle when my friend Tony said "Is there anything to eat in here that's not healthy?! (he had also bailed because of the gravel). I thought about the Chips Ahoy cookies that Mark and I had brought. Needless to say, when we hit that next gravel road, the cookies won and I jumped in and munched on cookies while watching everyone else manipulate through the gravel... it was tough I tell ya!
But then yes, you know me, it was killing me that I had bailed on the ride because my mental ego just does not understand when I'm spent... so I got back out and finished the last 15 or so miles. I actually felt great after that. Cookies solve everything! That's my new diet by the way. Sadly enough, that might be true. Having a hard time getting into the healthy eating this season...
There was a lake at the campground which we took a dip in on Friday to rinse off. It was freezing. Camping was great. I work with great people and the two that we split a campsite with both work for Trek Travel so were totally into pampered camping... or at least eating. They had everything for a gourmet meal. I'm going to push to share a site with them again next year!
Didn't bring my wetsuit, but was asked to swim with a coworkers wife so although not looking forward to freezing, said I could use the open water swim. Well, not sure if it was the tremors of the terrifying half Ironman swim, or if the water was too cold or maybe a combo of both, but I was totally struggling... I was having a hard time slowing my breath down to get control of it and found myself having to turn over on my back frequently. It was frustrating and after about 26 minutes swam it back in to shore. Naturally, I started to freak out because I thought I was in better swimming shape than I had just witnessed, but took into consideration that it was freezing and I was tired and without a wetsuit. I did vow that I will spend much more time swimming though.
Sunday I taught a cycling class for the first time in a long time. It was actually pretty fun and comfortable. People seemed happy to see me so that felt good. Afterwards we packed a picnic lunch and went out to this cool park (Devil's Lake) for some open water swimming. Naturally, as we got out there the clouds started to roll in, but it was still pretty warm out. Mark and I swam along the shore for about 50 minutes (not including breaks) and got in about 2400 yards. It was again a little rough on both of us, both edurance and mental wise, but we did much better on the way back in so that was reassuring. Hopefully more of that will prove useful. Unfortunately, when we got out it was raining so the picnic wasn't going to happen at the park, but it was be great for another time. I'm looking forward to it actually!
This week I haven't done much. Nothing since yoga on Wednesday actually. My knee started to hurt after running on Tuesday and it's pretty much the same thing that stopped me from running last season and all through the winter. I'm pretty nervous, but we have a sprint tri tomorrow (Saturday) so hopefully the rest has healed it and it will miraculously be great! If not, my fingers are crossed. 26 miles of walking could make for a pretty long day! No worries. I will be healed by then. Mental healing power right?
Ok, with that, my fingers are going to fall off. Hope everyone is well and the training is stimulating! Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that the Lemond product manager Dean Gore (I love this guy! He's quite fun...) hooked me up with Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fisher as coaches. They sent me some pretty good ideas so hopefully that will get me on track. :)
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