Week 6 was an interesting week. I had some great cycling moments. Amie and I went on a 22 mile bike ride through Sellersburg/Utica with the LBC on Tuesday night. The ride on the club site was listed as a #2, which is up to 1/3 hills and the words "mostly flat" were included in the description. Hah. Mostly flat my patootie. A few of those hills were killers and there were many more hills than there were flat spots. It also didn't help that I was running late and completely frustrated with a wrong mapquest turn and some belligerent drivers en route to the ride. So I started out the ride with a crappy attitude. I swear to you this isn't a theme! I am usually pretty good natured when starting out on a course. Promise. With sugar on top.
It took until about halfway through the course to start feeling warmed up and just more like myself. Then it started flowing more smoothly. At one point I did take a slight detour off-road through some thistles but managed to stay in saddle by incorporating my, to quote from Amie, "mad recovery skillz". I got a teeny bit scratched up, but each new bump and bruise is starting to feel more like a battle scar than they are a negative thing. Want to see where I jammed my pedal cleat into my shin on Sunday?
I made it through to the end of the ride. Honestly, if Amie hadn't been there riding with me, I might have chucked it all 2 miles in and begged a ride back to starting point. She's pushing me more than she knows. Thanks Amie!
Thank you also to "mostly flat" Sellersburg/Utica ride. Those hills are what is advancing me in my cycle training. We then rode the race course on Sunday and two hills that tried their best to kill me a month ago were attacked and conquered with breath left to spare and a victorious war whoop at the top. Ride of the Valkyries could be heard faintly in the distance. It was awesome. Also, after doing a few 20 milers, the 14 mile race course felt over before it should have been. I heard Amie tell Ben that she could have done another several miles and I concur. I briefly thought of suggesting going around for another loop, but that would have just sounded crazy!
The runs and swims for the week were pretty normal with the only oddity being an orange road traffic cone at the bottom of the pool on Sunday. I dunno.
Here is this week's schedule:
Tonight - Run/Swim
Tues - Run/Swim/Kickball
Wed - Strength/Early am spin class
Thurs - Off/Drum lessons for kiddo
Fri - Bike
Sat - Morning Run/4th of July!!! Happy Independence Day Everyone!
Sat - Bike/Yoga
Now on to the lost wager.
My friend Joanna lost a bet and had to kiss a gnome. Joanna has Gnome-a-phobia. She is scared to death of these happy bearded little fellas. No idea why. We don't ask; we just exploit. Here she is in a little piece entitled 'Oh gnome - how I love thee!"
Enjoy!
Week 7 Training Plan and Comeuppance from a Wager Lost
Boys Allowed
I've tried to make my blog sound as gender neutral as possible, I am, nonetheless, a girl and so I'd like to introduce you to a guy friend I've made along the path to the finish line. Meet Jason, a Web-Producer for NBC Universal Sports. I'd snitch his picture from the nbc site, but they might actually come and get me. Jason is in training for his first triathlon, just like yours truly. He started blogging about his training plans and adventures and if you want a male perspective of the whole thing, be sure and check out the links below.
What I like about Jason is that you can really feel his enthusiasm for what he is doing in his writing. When he went bike shopping recently and posted about it, you couldn't help but share in his Christmas-morning-like excitement. He's been an unexpected and fun part of my continued enthusiasm for my training.
One Man's Plan - An introduction to Jason, his training plan and his dream of ping-pong prowess.
Triathlon Training - His blog along his 16-week journey
Also being half-way through his training and I asked him yesterday how he was feeling, "Feeling great in the water and loving my new bike. Running is getting there. In week 8 of 16! Seen a huge improvement in my recovery time."
There's no doubt in my mind that he will cross that finish line flying!
You can follow Jason and Dawn (that's me) on Twitter.
Come along for our rides and share your own adventures.
Is the pool half empty or half full?
I asked Amie yesterday how she felt at being almost halfway to race day. She had this to say:"My mental conditioning got a big boost on Saturday morning during Ben's Oly tri. It made me realize that something, anything can set you back in a race. After a very difficult swim start, he cranked out an amazing bike and run. It lessened my nerves to see the transitions and to know things may not go perfectly, but I will finish. And if I put everything I have in each effort, I will make my under 2hr. mark.
As for the physical conditioning, I really need to strengthen my thigh muscles for uphill battles and get my keester in the pool!"
As for me, here's what I think. I've been working out judiciously for a few days over 8 weeks, and training for the triathlon for just over 6 and I feel amazing! Bigger picture, i'm down almost 70 pounds since last year and it's being nice to say that then, I was in poor physical and mental condition. As of this week, I'm belting out a minimum of 3.5 miles per workout on the treadmill. I am up in the teens on bike mileage per workout and I am swimming 600 meters per swim workout. Some days, like today, I do double workouts without giving it a second thought. Tonight is a Run/Swim night. All in 8 weeks! And I am developing nice muscle definition in my arms, legs and butt. And my sister thinks that the women in our family just can't have fab arms. Well, suck it genetics!
Swim/Run update at 8:50 pm.
Full length run and swim tonight!
Here are my current times.
Run - 3.1 miles - 38 minutes.
Swim 800 meters - 26 minutes.
Not too shabby huh?
A Breakthrough! This is awesome.
After a week of challenging workouts, I dipped into the pool last night for the first time in a week. My last two bike sessions had sucked. I fully expected to be constantly out of breath and fighting to achieve and maintain my form.
But then I hit the water. (Icy cold water. What up with that UofL?) Anyway...I hit the water and flew! A lot of the tips that I had been given clicked. My flutter kick was on, my arm blade strike was on, and I was whipping up and down those lanes like Aquawoman. I had good rotation, too. It was awesome. Don't know how it looked to the other swimmers and I don't care too much. This was the first time I have genuinely thought, "I'm going to finish this race!" It was amazing. I wanted to swim forever. That is a far cry from my first swim training session where I made it across 25 meters huffing and puffing, "I (puff) have to (gasp) do that (wheeze) how many (haaaahhhh) times?"
Toward the end, Amie mentioned that she had started breathing on alternate sides and that it was making a huge difference for her. I tried it and for a couple of lengths, it did work. On the next lap, though, I lost my kick. So, that's on the agenda tonight. Nice and easy swim, focusing on technique.
Here's a blog entry that Amie found and I have read and watched over and over again. This is how it should go...http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/08/13/total-immersion-how-i-learned-to-swim-effortlessly-in-10-days-and-you-can-too/
Week 3 Training Plan
This week's going to be nutty! It's the last week of school, so lots going on. Kiddo's graduation is tomorrow. We had a band audition last night, so I worked through lunch, hit the gym early and got Monday's strength training out. It was ok, but I rushed through the rest period between sets and also, I apparently was there at the same time as all the high school kids, so I had to wait several times for dumbells that I needed. Amie thinks that they need 2 sets upstairs and I heartily agree.
I was very surprised at the difference in the amount of weight I used on different muscle sets. My shoulder muscles are alot weaker than I thought that they would be and I had to back way down off of my planned weight. The only set that I thought I got to a "10" on the effort scale was my triceps work. I was really shaking at the end of those sets.
After that, I took my kiddo to his high school band audition where I found out that I would be shelling out around $300 and I would need to be something called "involved". Wha? Don't they know I'm in training? sigh. I don't mind to be involved, I just always feel like I come up short in that department. I would really really like to be a good band mom for my kid, I just don't know how that's going to work. It's just me to get him around town. I mean I can't be the only working parent here, right? So why on earth does it seem that all the summer programs for kids are scheduled for 9am dropoffs and 3 pm pickups? His dad lives 2hrs away so just by factor of distance alone he's of pretty much no help with these kind of things. Not whining. Just fact.
Anyway, this week is packed!
Monday - Upper Body Strength
Tuesday - Run (Strides)
Wed - Graduation/Swim
Thurs - Run/Strength Upper Body
Fri - Bike/Swim
Sat - Bike/Swim
Sun - Run (distance)/Lower Body Strength/Softball?/Visit my mother
How's your training going?
Swim Training with Kelly!
In a previous post, you met Kelly Wilson. Tonight, Kelly is going to be taking several of us under her IronWoman wing and attempting to teach us proper form for triathlon swimming. Kelly evidently has experience teaching 4 and 5 year-olds how to swim, so this should be PERFECT! 
May Lap Swim Calendar - UL Natatorium
Here is the May Lap Swim Calendar for UofL's Ralph Wright Natatorium. Since this place is about 2 minutes from my house, it is my pool of choice.
Length Schedule Days:
Tue, Wed & Thurs. - The pool will be set up 25yd lanes (short course)
Fri, Sat, Sun & Mon - 50m lanes (long course)
Does that mean I have to become a Cardinals fan? Maybe for the Swim team.
