The past 7 days have comprised one of my biggest swim weeks ever.  All of the guys are tapering for their meet on Sunday, so that left me going about 20,000 of my 35,000 yards solo.  Swim training has its ups and downs, and I’m currently riding high on an upswing which feels exceptionally good after the big rut I was in for most of the winter.  It serves as proof that even when you think you are doing negative work (as in getting slower and slower) it all adds up in the end to make you faster.  About two weeks ago I was struggling through a set of 5 300s, doing the first 2 on the 4:00 before falling back to the 4:10 for the last 3.  I was more than frustrated, I really couldn’t go any faster.  Last night for the last set of my week I went 10×300 on the 4:00, getting about 15 seconds rest for each and feeling really smooth and relaxed.  Swimming that pace for almost double the distance of an ITU swim has me excited…I know I still need to take a lot more time off, but it’s a leap in the right direction and I know I can crank it up a few notches come race time.

This whole week was made easier by knowing that on Saturday I’d get an entire day off of training to rest up and get ready for another solid week before coasting into Mazatlan.  Thursday I hit my only tough patch, Jordan and I were up in the mountains spending the night and I had to get my second swim in at the rec center (the only day I broke it into two swims, which I was regretting!).  I was hungry and the night before I had cooked up some of Mollie’s Mac n’ Cheese and the leftovers were beaconing.  Luckily, Jordan was driving and pulled up to the rec center and booted me out of the car.  4,500 yards later I was devouring the best mac n’ cheese of my life.  Thanks Mollie!

[BTW: Mollie was another teammate of mine at BU and now has a great blog devoted to 3 wonderful things: eating, running, and reading.  Check it out at eatrunread.blogspot.com...but not before a workout.]

Swimming totally redeems itself!

Last night we got back into the Thursday night Riptide tradition of Team Goals: a bunch of all-out 100s, with an in-water start.  Swimming still hasn’t been going too well, 1:20s are usually a struggle, even with decent rest and I haven’t swam all-out since August, so I didn’t have incredibly high hopes for the workout.  The one “good” thing about Team Goals is that it’s a short practice, rarely over 3000y.  Last year I started off around doing these around 1:12s, then by Christmas I was hitting all of them under 1:10, and eventually got to a 1:05, but mostly hovered around 1:06/1:07.

Last night they were on the 4:00 (for non-swimmers, this means if you come in at 1:30, you get 2:30 rest).  Of course I got put in the lane with my fiancé/business partner/roommate/co-Gully owner/aquatic nemesis.

First one.  All out.

1:14.  There is no way I can do that again.  I am totally spent.  How can I possibly feel so awful and out of shape?

Second one.  I’m still sucking wind from the first one.

1:16.5.  I quit.

Third one.  Obviously I didn’t quit.

1:17.  Ok I’m done.

Fourth one.  I can tell that Jordan thinks I’m starting to feel sorry for myself and I want to prove him wrong.

1:11.  Yay.

Fifth one.

1:07.5.

Sixth one.

1:08.

Finished!

I needed that swim!  Maybe I didn’t reach my triathlon peak at the age of 24 after all.  And as for my aquatic nemesis?  He had a good workout and is now off to Texas this morning to race the Austin 70.3 on Sunday.  I think his Tweet says it best:

jordanj191 After a race season with a broken chain, broken tibia/torn meniscus, giardia, flat tire/crash I’m due for a good race Sunday!

October First was the day!  My glorious month of cinnamon bun eating and sleeping in has come to an end.  Now it’s time to get to work in the pool!

One of the best things about training with Riptide is that Sean gives us total control of our off-seasons.  When I told him I was feeling run-down after Tuscaloosa, he didn’t try to talk me into racing one more race.  He knows that all of us have been training hard long enough to know when we’ve had enough.  He let me disappear for two weeks before I had to be back in the pool, swimming just 2-3 times per week so I wouldn’t be starting from scratch later on.  I came up with the October 1st start-date for the real training to begin and when I started outlining my winter plan he pulled in the reigns.  I was getting froggy.  One step at a time…

So this morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6 and made my way to the rec center in the dark.  It wasn’t easy…I’ve gotten really used to sleeping-in and not doing much of anything.  I can totally see how people who don’t workout regularly have a hard time forming a routine.  The first few days are so brutal.  For me, it helps to think about how much I’ll enjoy it once I’m actually in the pool, and even more so how much more I’ll enjoy racing with all of the yards under me.

For now, it’s only singles in the pool, doubles will come later this month.  My big plan for the winter is to step it up a few notches and tag along with the guys on all of their rides and runs.  I will be the annoying little sister of the team, it’s a role I fill naturally.

In prep for the XC race next week I decided that yesterday would be a good day to do a little workout.  It was cold, raining, and by the time I got home it was getting dark.  It was perfect.  As luck would have it, I was able to recover my training log from my junior year of college.  I had it on Blogger and now have conveniently imported it into this blog, so if you’re ever so inclined you can read all about my deep, dark, past (like..my summer 2005 swim training - honestly didn’t remember swimming even this much, accounts from my second trip to CO to visit Jordan,  my first multisport race, and much much more!  sadly I wasn’t too into providing any details or anecdotes, so it’s pretty much just my training with little fluff.  the log ends abruptly, because I quite obviously get injured…this happens several times.)

I knew I wanted to do the boil, simmer, boil workout, but I couldn’t remember how it went.  Thankfully, I found it here.  You can’t have a bad day running when you’re boil, simmer, boiling.  It’s impossible.  There’s no distance to worry about.  Just boil for X amount of minutes, simmer for X amount, and boil again.  Boils are at race pace, and simmers are around tempo - not hard, not easy.

Last night I headed to my favorite trail and boiled for 5, simmered for 4, and boiled for 5 again.  After running easy for 4 minutes I did it again.  It’s a little different than the original BSB workout, but variations are definitely allowed.  The workout went very well and I’m surprised with how good running feels.  Next week the “race” is totally just for fun but it’s exciting to be preparing for something different…even if preparing consists all of 8-10 runs haha

As you can probably tell, I’ve been very nostalgic for XC lately, which is funny b/c I was never too fond of it.  I really liked the concept of it, but never ran well during the fall.  It was firmly implanted in my head that I couldn’t run any distance beyond the 800.  Now that I’ve run 2 decent marathons I know that isn’t true, but still fall into that mindset all the time…like every time I have to run a 10k after biking and swimming.  Someday I’ll get back into the whole running thing, but that’s a ways off.  I’m enjoying the little bit I’m able to do now, because come October 1st I’ll be drenched in the most chlorinated water you can imagine for many hours a day.  I’ve got some big plans.  …but for now, I’m going to keep on simmering.

Next time you’re racking your brain for a running workout to change up the routine, try out the boil simmer boil, and the best part: you don’t have to adjust your times for altitude!  Cooking joke! AaaYO!!!!

Last week I was summoned back to the pool by Sean.  The first day of swimming wasn’t so bad, but each day thereafter got worse and worse.  I’m not ready to be submerged for 2 hours everyday, and really haven’t been too into the whole exercising thing for the past few weeks, let alone training several hours a day for a race season that is months and months away.  So yesterday I skipped swim practice, worked later, and then drove up Lookout Mountain for a run that turned into more of a hike….

I’m not sure if it’s the time of year, getting out in the fresh air, or reading my former teammate, Mollie’s running blog, but for the first time in awhile I feel like running again.  When I’m training for triathlon, running is my least favorite of the 3: it can’t take me far away like cycling can, and I don’t see the improvement I see with swimming.  Running always gets the backburner while I develop in the other two, and hopefully someday I’ll be able to come back and focus more on running.  I thought I might be able to do that this winter, focus on running for a month or 6 weeks, and go run some indoor races at BU (I admittedly have ulterior motives…).  After I got crushed on the swim in Tuscaloosa, it’s obvious that plan was not a sound one: I have to spend my winter in the pool.

…but it’s not winter yet, it’s cross-country season!*  I’m taking the next month or so to find as many XC races as I can.  It’s a little hard to do as an adult.  I could probably pass as a home-schooled high schooler, but I stumbled across this little gem and now I don’t have to: a Euro-style cross-country race in Addenbrooke Park!  Water jumps!  Mud!  Grassy field!

It’s less than 2 weeks away, but I’ve run twice in the past 3.5 weeks (both this week), so I’m ready to go.  I did actually get off my lazy rump and start training today though: 62 minutes from the new office, up into White Ranch — awesome!!!  Not sure if I mentioned how great our new office is?

*Clearly this does not mean I don’t have to swim…I just am not subjecting myself to 4-5000 yards/day right now, just a few shorter workouts per week so I’m not starting from scratch later on.

Already?  Yea, I know.  Last Wednesday swim practice started off suffering as usual, then somewhere within the main set of 20×100 on 1:30 I got it going again.  I think it was around numero 5.  All of a sudden my form was back and I was swimming fast [for me] again.  I might’ve got it going a bit too much, because in a flurry of excitement at feeling good again, I hammered over the weekend, and again on Monday morning.  Tuesday morning I was knackered.  Totally wiped out.  After much deliberation I decided it would be best if Gulliver and I snuggled back under the covers for another hour and a half.

Best dog ever.

A lot of people feel bad about unplanned off-days, including a former version of myself, but I don’t anymore.  The only reason an athlete should feel bad about an unplanned-off day is if she isn’t putting in the work to begin with.  This morning I assessed the situation: 3 weeks w/o an off-day (planned or otherwise) + 5 days of hammering = time to let my body recover.  Instead of looking at it like I am a lazy ass, I see it as another important workout.  Today I let all the little microtears in my muscles heal, mentally easy, but my body was still working hard.  I wouldn’t be able to make any significant fitness gains without giving my body time to catch up.  An easy day could have worked too, but I think I had dug myself in deep with too many intense workouts in too little time so that even one easy day probably wouldn’t set me right again.  And besides, I’m swimming the 1650 Friday night - I need to be ready to take on those 12 year olds!

Race season doesn’t begin for another 3 months, I have to relax a little bit.  Now’s not the time to get overzealous.

Easier said than done.