Catching up

It appears I owe some training updates, so here we go:

Mon, Sept 19: 20 min jog in the morning and 1 hour swim in the evening. I originally got into TNT to do a traithlon and that is probably still my favorite event. I m pretty much looking at sprint distances due to a nagging nerve injury in my foot which limits running to a run/walk, but am trying to get in a little running and maybe build up to a full run. As far as swimming goes, my sisters P and S have decided thay will do a tri with me next summer (well, P for sure and S is on the fence, but we act like she said yes). We have begun swimming training. They are doing great and I am really enjoying being back in the water after not much swim time this summer.

Weds, Sept 21: 1 hour spin class. Am feeling stronger and stronger during these classes. This was our second to last and I am really going to miss them. Can't remember the exact workout, but certainly had hills! Noticed some pain in the right knee that I will have to watch.

Thurs, Sept 22: 1 hour ice skating with M. Went to Yost Arena in AA. This is some of the best ice in Metro D area (in my humble opinion.) I have been off the ice so long and my skates were not exactly sharpened like they should have been, so I wouldn't say I jumped right back in, but overall was fun. Unfortunately, my knee did not have fun. Must have done something in spinning that bothered it because it was bothering me the whole time. M says it is from biking and that I am getting old! Ha! After, we met up with a friend and went to dinner at Grizzly Pete's. You must go there and have the pork chops. You will think you are in food heaven!

Fri, Sept 23: 15 min jog. Woke up late, but decided jog was required. Decided work would want me to feel good about my fitness and not be so worried about arrival time. Hope my boss does not read this...

Sat, Sept 24: 1 hour bike ride, 9.5 miles. Rode Mtn Bike to mom's house and back. Not exactly a workout, but is always fun to ride instead of drive. Then went to support S at Gilda's Walk. Original plan for today was a 30 mile ride at Hines, but I had forgotten about the walk so didn't get up early enough. (Excuses, excuses...)

Sun, Sept 25: 2 hour bike at Hines, 30 miles, avs 15 for first 15 miles, but dropped to 14.5 by end. Making up yesterday's ride. (OK, the TNT training plan actually called for 30 on Sat and 40 on Sun so I get no gold star this weekend.) M was working so I headed out to Hines by myself. I had a fantastic ride! I really enjoy riding Hines, probably due to the lack of any real hills, but also the wide bike lanes and sections with no car traffic at all. I was feeling lazy at the beginning of the ride, so told myself to just go 10 miles out. At 10, it seemed silly to not go the extra 5 to make it an even 30 overall. And I was really excited about my speed. I am well aware that 15 mph is not an impressive speed, but since I was unable to break 12.5 as my average speed during the whole Tahoe training period, this is a great improvement. I am also getting more and more comfortable on the road bike as opposed to my mtn bike. Overall, I felt great, except maybe the last 5 miles. Then the fact that I had eaten nothing but a glass of cider for breakfast and had brought nothing but water for the ride sort of set in and I could feel my legs getting slower. The knee started bothering me a little and I made a big mental note to plan better next time in terms of food and energy. Fortunately, it was only a short drive to Parmenters Cider Mill (sorry Steph, I know you want some too). I stood in line, all biking clothes and drying sweat, and rewarded myself with a cider slush before heading home to eat some more.

Mon, Sept 26: 1.5 hour swim with P and S. P and I were a bit lazy on this one. P had just gone out for a big birthday dinner and I was feeling under the weather, both the knee and my stomach (who knew they put flour in cheesecake filling! Now I do and will not be eating that again!) But we soldiered on, them doing 1100 and me possibly a bit more, but did not keep count. S was perky and swam great. Went like this: Slightly over 1 hour swim, 10 min stretching then a game of horse with the water basketball net. I got my butt kicked by S and P even held her own. I am not a basketball player. Maybe next time they need to do lots of sprints to make up for beating me... OK, the real plan is to dig out some of my old TNT workouts and start doing those so we have somehting to keep track of progress.

Tues, Sept 27: 35 min casual bike ride with P, 10.5 mph for about 6 miles. A little ride near my house to get in some time on the bike for P. Secret bad thing I thought: At the end of the ride, I told P that she did great and she said she was actually feeling tired at the end. Before I could even stop it, my bad side thought, "Haha, I wasn't!" Oh dear, the bad side had better remember 2 years ago when the 8 mile loop at Kensington was totally killer and M was nice enough to not make fun of me when I was panting and insisting I was going to collapse right there if he made me ride any more. Yep, the bad side needs to actually take a lesson from P, who did not once mention collapsing and dying, only optimistically calling from the bottom of an incline, "Give me a minute and I'll catch up." I never would have even suspected that she felt tired if I had not asked at the end. Quit your complaining bad side! You need to get over it!

Looking forward: Last spinning class tonight and our first real group road ride (outside of parks) on Sat. 50 miles. Better remember to bring food!!!