Adding Distance

I remember a time, when we were doing so many drill and variations of drills in our swim group that there was no possible way for me to keep track and record what we accomplished each week. Now it's more common to top out at three drills a session and just expect much longer reps. The change from base building to focusing on pushing our endurance has become much more obvious!

This weeks session:

300m Warm Up

3 x 150m Kick w/Board

3 x 150m Pull w/ Float Between Legs

200m Swim (consistent good pace)

2 x 50m Sprint (Sprint the entire distance. You have 1 minute for each sprint, so your rest depends on how fast you get back.)

150m Cool Down

Total 1650m = 1 mile

Sunday Funday!

I have decided that I really cannot finish a week of training and be ready for the next without at least one yoga session. This is odd, because before Y-Tri, I really wasn't that focused on yoga. I was a fair-weather yogi, if you will. Now, if I don't get my weekly fix my body becomes way to tight to start off a new week of training fresh and focused. My solution is "Sunday Funday."

Since I'm a poor non-profit employee, and am already spending every spare cent on tri gear, I've taken advantage of lululemon's free yoga. It's great! The location closest to me (Logan Circle) has theirs every Sunday morning at 10am. Every week you get a different instructor who usually represents different studios around the city, which helps keep the class fresh and new. You never really know what kind of workout to expect. Though the difficulty is always welcoming to all levels, I have learned at least one new move a week since starting. So now, every Sunday, I have a standing date with my girlfriends, Abby and Alex, to meet up for yoga, followed by a chat about our week over brunch. Perfection: a bit of a work out, lots of stretching, and socializing with some great girls.

Your Goal of The Week: Make your homework fun!

My Mini-Breakthrough

I have found the word I was looking for in my last post! Remember how I was saying I had decided to skip training and catch some much needed shut eye, and then I just could NOT go back to sleep? I was exhausted, I wanted to sleep, but I just could not get this little... no no... loud... very loud voice out of my head saying I was SO going to regret this. Something was different. I have skipped MANY a planned work out in my day and never thought twice about it. Why, suddenly, was I so overwhelmed with this feeling of guilt, or disappointment, or... (fill in the blank)?

Let me back step here for a second. Last week I decided to check out literature on triathlons. I figured it couldn't hurt to learn more, and if I could fill in any of the blanks that Y-Tri was leaving, I'd just be that much more prepared. Turns out, there were not so many options. So I took my small stack to the coffee shop in the book store and started leafing through. I have to say I was really disappointed. 99% of these "books" were just work-out/training plans. Calendars and charts of what to do, but absolutely no explanation as to why or differentiations for different people. No one talked about strategy, transitions, race day... anything of substance. Just how many miles to run and push ups to do. Well, I've already got a work out plan.

Then I came across the book I am reading now "Triathlons for Women" by Sally Edwards. I have to say, when I read the title I thought it was going to read more like a Cosmo magazine than a helpful guide. Sorry, but so many "women" focused fitness books sound like they were written by a character in Clueless! Anyway, it turned out to be JUST what I wanted. So far, it has talked motivation and reason for doing a tri, history of tri's and women in them, the science behind how they developed their workout plans so you can either adjust them or create your own... it has it all! So expect more blogs inspired by my further reading.

So back to what I was saying earlier. In my reading I came across this wonderful word that fully described the phenomenon that happened yesterday morning: "patterning". Here's what Sally said:

"Plain, old-fashioned, nothing-fancy discipline is a big part of a winning plan that gets you to go faster. By planning the workouts and working out according to plan, you are practicing what sports psychologists call "patterning." Patterning is repeating an action until it is so ingrained that your brain doesn't have to make a decision: Your brain (and your heart) just follows a natural course, and the action becomes routine."

That's it. My body, my brain, my heart... myself has become so accustomed to training, to the process, that not doing it was more wrong then getting sleep. So that was my mini-breakthrough of the week. Just wanted to share.

The Perfect Morning

Well, it didn't start out that perfect. Because my apartment complex rocks (dripping with sarcasm) they have yet to turn on the AC. This means, last night when I was dutifully going to bed at 10pm (Thurs are my earliest trainings) it was a balmy 82 deg in my bedroom. Long story short, with the heat, my windows open, blinds rustling, sounds of the city plus a ceiling fan that squeaks like a scared piggy... I did not get much sleep. Come 5am when the alarm went off, I was firmly set on not going to training. It was going to be a long day and I needed to grab as much shut-eye as possible. So I stubbornly lay there willing myself to fall back to sleep. But the guilt! Oh the guilt would not let me lie. So after a full 10 minute argument with myself about how much I was going to regret this, I finally sprinted out of bed, through on clothes and off to the bus stop.

Needless to say, I'm SO happy I did. I wasn't going to get much more sleep anyway, and the endorphin high will have a MUCH higher probability of getting me through the day.

Brick #2
Today's brick was very similar to last weeks. We did a 45 minute spin session, very heavily focused on strength training which means lots of hills and peddling through peanut butter (For a moment I actually thought I pulled a butt muscle!). Followed by a run. But instead of the 30 minutes (3 miles) we did last week, we did 4 miles.... a hilly 4 miles. But again, it surprised me how much easier it was to get to my faster pace due to the fact that there was no first mile struggle to warm up your body after just getting out of bed.

AND we were running right to my house! AWESOME! I was able to run four miles and end up at home. I forgotten how much easier/enjoyable it is to shower and get ready for my day at home rather than a locker room during the 8am rush. Not only did I just jump in the shower and go... no no... I had time to do a nice yoga/stretch session on my patio AND cook myself a pretty impressive looking omelet to enjoy while reading my new book and sipping tea. It rocked!

So this morning was pretty perfect morning... and I think it actually makes it that much more awesome that it all started with me pushing myself up and out when I really really really just wanted to skip. *Pat on the back*

Going the Extra Mile

For today’s run we were supposed to “keep it easy” and do 4.5 miles down and around the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and then back up 15th. By the way, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to 4.5 miles being referred to as “easy”.

Long story short, we ended up following a pack of guys (from Y-Tri) who either have a horrible sense of direction, or wanted to add on some extra mileage. Either way, I didn’t realize what was going on till it was too late. By the end, it looks like we ended up running just over 5 miles. Now this might not sound like such a big difference from 4.5, but a) when the coaches say we are running 4.5 it usually ends up being closer to 4.25 b) I have yet to run over 4.5 miles… since high school. So hitting and surpassing the 5 mile mark was pretty cool!

Here is what we ended up running:

Checking My Form

So yesterday our swim coach, Callie, was out, so instead we borrowed Taylor from one of the speedier swim groups. It was interesting, and kind of refreshing, to have someone new come in and "tweak" us. First of all, their styles were obviously pretty different. Callie has been really focused on getting us to commit to longer uninterrupted distances, while Taylor had us work a bunch on form and drills. She even pointed out that I was focusing so much on getting the longest reach possible, that I was sacrificing my arm form when entering back into the water. Instead of the angular arc, my arm was practically belly flopping... Ok, that might be an exaggeration but you get the idea.

So if you want to mix it up here was yesterday's line up:

4 x 75m - Moderately swim 50m and then 25m streamline (kick face down with arms overhead, hands overlapped in a streamline position - work on long arms, kicking from the hips, flexible ankles and alternate side breathing)

3 x 50m – Streamline Only (see above)

4 x 50m – Pulls (use bouy between your legs and only use your arms)

100m – Moderate Swim

50m – Build (slowly speed up your pace and end in a full sprint)

100m – Moderate Swim (active rest)

100m – Build

100m – Moderate Swim (active rest)

50m – Build

100m – Moderate Swim (active rest)

4 x 25m – Look Ups (Practice checking a spot point every 11 strokes or so to get in the habit so when open water swimming you stay on course and down waist energy zig-zagging)

Total Distance = 1350m

Beginning Bricks

For several weeks now, the coaches and vets have been preparing (read: warning) newbies about the start of bricks. Bricks being when you pair up two of the sports training sessions back to back, to start practicing the transitions. Up until now, with the exception of the very first run, I've been generally excited about Y-Tri training and all it encompasses... until now. All the tales of wobbly knees and pure exhaustion gave me no confidence in my first brick being a positive experience.

That said... I actually had a great time! I know, I sound sick. 6am I was in the spin room ready for the usual grilling course. Today we focused on strength training, which meant lots of hills, jumps and peddling through peanut butter. After 45 minutes, we jumped (read: crawled) off our bikes and headed out for a 30 minute run. Putting my Pollyanna hat on: usually on runs the first mile is always the hardest to push through, working to get your body warmed up, but since our bodies were good and warm, I found it nice starting out at a faster and much looser pace.

The coach said "We'll just run up 16th for 15 minutes and turn around". To someone who doesn't know 16th St, this sounds like a fair idea. For those of us familiar with 16th, just north of Dupont, we know that that is a sneaky sneaky request. Let me fill the rest of you in. Heading north on 16th from Dupont will lead you straight into Merridian Hill... the steep hill that we lapped around on our 3rd week. This is no "slight incline"... this is a full on steep hill. *sigh*... Surprisingly enough, I didn't find this run particularly more difficult than if I had not had a seriously grueling spin class before hand. I seemed to find my pace ("beat" if you will) that much more efficiently because my body was already in full cardio mode.

We ended up going all the way to Columbia Rd and then back down. 3 miles. Not half bad for a morning where I thought my existence might come to an end.