It's Not A Failure (Steelhead Build: Week 1)

...If you learn something from it.

I was not a good athlete this week.  I did 2 rides, 1 run, and 1 swim this week and I'm oddly pretty okay with it even though it was not the way I wanted to start the build phase of my training.

On Monday night, I ran to the grocery store after work and made a yummy shrimp stir fry for dinner. I added some fresh pineapple and jarred stir fry sauce to the mix to make it a little more interesting.

 I served it over brown rice and we had some chicken cilantro mini wontons on the side.

I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling a mixture of excitement and dread.  Today was FTP (Functional Threshold Power) Testing day.  I've spent the last 8 weeks busting my ass on the bike trying to get stronger and, theoretically, faster. I knew that there was no way I was going to want to do this test at the crack of dawn when I can barely discern between my base bars and my aero bars, so I preemptively canceled my training appointment for Tuesday night - with my trainer's blessing.  After work I filled up my water bottle, tucked a pack of Shot Bloks in my jersey pocket, stuck my headphones in and prepared to suffer hard - and I definitely suffered.

After a rather unpleasant 30 minute "warm up" the testing portion of the ride was upon me.  I went deep into The Pain Cave for this one.  By the time it was over my heart was pounding, my lungs were burning, and my legs felt like they were going to fall off - and when I saw the new power number pop up, I tried to do The Crab Dance (If you watch Deadliest Catch, you'll know what I mean) because I was so happy!  My FTP went up by 10 POINTS!!!!! 2-3 points is the typical result, so you can see why I tried to dance!

I was so pumped up that after my impromptu dance party (on legs that no longer wanted to support me) and a high five from Mr. R&R, I even texted my trainer with the good news!

I was so torched from the FTP Test that I completely slept through my alarm on Wednesday morning and had to pull a double on Wednesday night: a 26 minute run with 16x30 second speed intervals and a 2100 yard swim (.01 miles short of race distance) involving a bunch of sprint intervals.  I crashed like a ton of bricks after that one!

Thursday night's bike workout was a series of VO2 max intervals - at 120% of FTP.  I had rivers of sweat running in unmentionable places by the time it was over and I was cursing my higher FTP since it made the workout that much harder.  Dinner was consumed.  Bunnies were medicated.  Another hard crash ensued - to the point that we both fell asleep in the living room and stayed there all night.

I woke up (late) on Friday morning to find Mr. R&R snuggling with both bunnies.

I was pissed that I missed my chance to run in the morning due to the late wake up, but I wasn't too concerned since I'd made plans to take a half day at work since I was throwing Mr. R&R a belated birthday party that night.  I figured I'd either go run or swim after work, shower, make myself presentable, and meet the caterers by 4:45pm.  Hah!  I got out later than planned and made the mistake of laying down on the bed when I went upstairs to change into my running clothes.  Needless to say, I had enough time when I got up to get cleaned up, make myself presentable, and meet the caterers.

I may have missed my Friday double workout, but I did throw a good party.  I had a taco bar from BelAir Cantina delivered to our favorite bar, opened up a tab, and the rest took care of itself!

We packed up the leftovers and got home around 11:00pm.

Saturday turned into a complete sloth day.  Mr. R&R and I were tired from being out late, we both felt like hell from the last few weeks of training, and we made the executive decision that this weekend's workouts were canceled in favor of:

Saturday:
*  Watching 5 movies while hanging out with the bunnies.
     -Movies Watched: Wanted, Tomb Raider, Ant Man, Doctor Strange, and Deadpool
* Napping
* Napping with Walter after his bath
* Eating taco bar leftovers

Sunday:
* Sleeping Late
* Hanging out on the floor with Walter & Spot
* Making pancakes from scratch for breakfast (and a bunch of extras to go in the freezer)
* Laundry
* Random little tasks that I've been meaning to take care of but haven't had time for

I don't consider this week a total failure since it taught me something useful for going forward.  I've learned that there is no way in hell that I can train at the level I've been at for 24 weeks straight with no real break.  Maybe I could if I  didn't have a full time (and occasionally then some) job or if I could/was willing to outsource a lot of things, but this is the real world, and that's not happening. I'll be doing a little tweaking to my current plan's remaining recovery weeks to promote a little more actual recovery and I'll be taking my need for a little more down time into account when I build future training plans.

Week 1 Stats:

Swim:    2100 yards (1.19 miles)
Bike:     23.43 miles
Run:      2.60 miles

Total Time:        3 hours, 35 minutes
Total Distance:  27.22 miles


April Totals:

Swim:     5,450 yards (3.10 miles)
Bike:       209.25 miles
Run:        40.0 miles
Strength: 4 sessions

Total Time:       27 hours, 44 minutes
Total Distance: 252.35 miles


Cumulative Distance: 775.61 miles - approximately the distance between Milwaukee and Montpelier, VT  Mmmm...maple syrup!!

Queen Of The Mountain (Steelhead Base: Week 8)

This week has been weird.  I did better at getting all my workouts in (missed 1 swim) and I got to play outside on my bike all weekend, but at the same time my head hasn't been in a good place.  I've been struggling with some of the non-physical aspects of training - namely the lack of hours in the day to fit everything in.  (WARNING: #FIRSTWORLDPROBLEMS ahead)

My workouts themselves are rarely more than 90 minutes, but each of them requires some degree of preparation (i.e. pumping tires/computer set up for the bike, gathering all the swim stuff and writing out a workout card, or figuring out the best route to run based on the workout/weather/time of day).  None of those preparations take that long, but they usually add 15-ish minutes to the endeavor.  It doesn't sound like a lot, but it adds up over the course of a week.

Then there's the food thing.  Both Mr. R&R finish our workouts and want to eat right. freaking. now.  Meal planning/cooking is mostly my department, so I'm always trying to figure out how to get us fed...and not eat total crap.  I haven't been particularly great at this lately - and I can feel it.

Let's not even get started on errands, uncontrollable events (stuck at work late, traffic jams, etc.), and generally being tired!  I think it all boils down to feeling like I have absolutely no time and if one little thing goes awry it throws everything off.

(End of complaining about the side effects of my choice to train for this race - for now.)

The best parts of my week came on Saturday and Sunday.  It was nice enough out on both days to ride OUTSIDE!!!  Saturday was a little on the cool side, but the lure of not spending an hour on the hamster wheel was enough to make me don knee warmers and arm warmers and brave it.  Mr. R&R rode from our house to the New Berlin Trail.  The first 3-4 miles were nice and easy as we navigated city streets to the trailhead.  After that, it was game on.  The trail is a very subtle uphill climb all the way out and usually causes me a bit of trouble, so you can imagine my surprise when I started clocking 16-18mph miles.  When I turned around, I figured out why: the wind had been at my back giving me a nice boost!  Unfortunately that meant a headwind on the way back - and slower times.  Still, 'twas a good ride.

If I thought Saturday was fun, Sunday was even better.  We loaded up our bikes and drove out to Yada Yada's house to ride the country backroads with him and one of his training partners (we'll call that guy Blue Argyle since his bike shorts had a nifty blue argyle pattern on them).  As expected, I spent the entire ride chasing after the pack of boys, but they kindly waited for me at major road crossings and occasionally Yada Yada would loop back to make sure Wicked hadn't decided to send me flying due to some miserable crosswinds. 

About half way through the ride we stopped at a little cafe for lunch.  I had a veggie wrap and baked in the sun for a while.  The ride back was a little cool and windy, but still fun.  I love the scenery out that way - even if it does mean having to ride through a little cow $#!* on occasion.  

When we got back to Yada Yada's, I discovered that according to Strava I had become the Queen of the Mountain on a segment called Rocky Road!   Strava is sort of like Facebook for athletes.  You can upload your workout data (mine transfers directly from Garmin to Strava), follow your friends, comment on their workouts, etc.  Strava also tracks everyone's performance on segments.  Segments are stretches of road/trail that are created by users and then others ride/run them to see how they stack up.  If you are the all time leader on a segment, you become King or Queen of the Mountain.

Granted, I'm the only Strava-using female that has ever done Rocky Road, but I'm still the Queen damn it - although I'm sure I won't be for long since that segment is in BAM's backyard and she's the queen of most of the segments out there.

Royal title aside, I really love some of the segment names I've come across on Strava.  Rocky Road is my favorite at the moment (for obvious reasons), but others I like include: Bullet Train (a long, downhill stretch) and 'Til Death Do Us Part (part of the New Berlin Trail backs up to a cemetery!).

I can't believe I'm at the end of base training for Steelhead.  Starting on Monday, I'm beginning the build phase which will hopefully include more time on the road than the hamster wheel and some open water swims starting in late May-early June.  16 weeks until race day!

Week 8 Stats: 

Swim:     1500 yards (.85 miles)

Bike:       53.76 miles

Run:        8.83 miles

Strength: 1 session (30 minutes)

Total Time:       6 hours, 47 minutes

Total Distance: 63.44 miles

Cumulative Distance: 748.39 miles - approximately the distance between Milwaukee and Jackson, Mississippi!  

Blogging Bunnies (Steelhead Base: Week 7)

Hi there...Walter and Spot here.  Since our mom wasn't very good about working out this week, we've decided to take over her blog and tell you all about Walter and Spot Day (We think this is the holiday that you humans call "Easter" or something like that) and about our dad's birthday!

Let's start with our dad's birthday.  From what we can tell, when humans turn 40 it's a big deal.  His actual birthday wasn't until Saturday, but instead of putting on those ridiculous spandex outfits and then coming home smelling like bleach, Mom and Dad got dressed up, put us in our house, and said they were going out for a 'nice' dinner.  We're not sure what was so nice about it since we weren't there, but they seemed pretty happy when they got home.

Mom said that they split a bottle of Cabernet (which we think is code for: mom was lit up like a Christmas tree), and enjoyed lobster bisque as an appetizer.

She also said that dad ordered something called a New York Strip Steak with a Gorgonzola Truffle sauce and that she had the same kind of steak but hers was rubbed with Kona coffee and had a shallot butter sauce.  We don't understand what's so great about these things since we're raw vegans, but it seemed to make them happy.  We found these pictures on Mom's phone and we're assuming that these must be the aforementioned steaks.

We also found this picture of their dessert.  Dad said that it involved chocolate espresso cake and cheesecake - we still think bananas are superior.

On Saturday morning Dad went to the gym and mom hung out with us.  When he got back, they did their usual routine of drinking coffee, eating something called 'blueberry lemon scones' that Dad's parents dropped off while Dad was at the gym, and giving us our morning meds and breakfast.  We thought that maybe since today was Dad's actual birthday they'd stay home with us, but they put on some different ridiculous spandex outfits and left...for several hours!  We swiped Mom's phone again and figured out that they went out to ride their bikes...and stopped for cookies.

They came home (smelling awful!), made some sort of food called 'crab legs' (we couldn't find a picture), and hung out with us...finally!   We got to give Dad nose bumps to say Happy Birthday!

Today was the best day of the year for us: Walter & Spot Day!!!   Grandma Naner came over and she brought us a basket full of greens as a present! We were climbing over each other to get to it.

Naner also brought us bunny placemats.  We think it's her attempt to civilize us, but Mom will probably end up using them for her and Dad.

After the humans ate something called pizza Grandma Naner lived up to her name and gave us banana slices for dessert!

Now we're super tired from all the attention and treats, so we're going to eat dinner and go to sleep.  We hope you enjoyed Walter & Spot Day!

Oh...and we took a peek at Mom's training stats for the week...she got lazy!

Swim:     0 yards
Bike:       60.34 miles
Run:        4.81 miles
Strength: 1 session (30 minutes)

Total Time:        6 hours, 6 minutes
Total Distance:  65.15 miles

Cumulative Distance: 684.95 miles - that's the distance between Milwaukee and Bismarck, North Dakota!

Post & Run (Steelhead Base: Week 6)

 Week 6 was a tough one.  Nothing went according to plan, so a couple of things got moved around and one workout got skipped altogether.  Blergh!

Monday:
*Rest Day

This was the easiest day of the week, and I had no problem planting myself on the couch!

Tuesday:
*AM: Bike: Mills (60min)
*PM: Training Bike: Mills (60min)

I was a big pile of fail on Tuesday morning.  I don't know what happened, but all week I struggled to get out of bed no matter how much sleep I got.  Fortunately, my trainer was willing to reschedule our appointment to Saturday morning so I was able to get my bike ride in on Tuesday night.

Wednesday:
*AM: 50min Run (w/ 10x30 speed intervals)
*PM: 1900yd Swim (speed intervals) 50min Run (w/ 10x30 speed intervals)

My inability to get out of bed really started pissing me off today.  I was not about to run for almost an hour and then swim, so I resigned myself to rescheduling this swim to Friday and moving Friday's planned swim to Sunday.  And I still can't seem to count intervals correctly!  I really need to get around to pre-programming these things.

Thursday:
*Bike: Tray Mountain (90min)

90 minutes on the trainer...ouch!  This ride was no joke.  It was 3x20 minutes of near FTP effort, mostly in aero, and holy hell...yeah.

Friday:
*AM: 40min Run (w/ 4x20 hill sprints)
*PM: 40min Run (w/ 4x20 hill sprints)
          1900yd Swim (speed intervals)

The not waking up streak continues.  My run was actually quite pleasant - except for the hill sprints, but those always suck!  The pool was a whole other story.  I wasn't aware that lap swimming was a contact sport, but it became one tonight!  Long story short: A guy decided to violate basic swim etiquette rules, got in my way, and instead of leaving (which is what he seemed to want) I body-checked him!  I had some of my fastest 100's ever, but the workout as a whole felt completely off, I rested far more than I should have and ended up having to cut it 50 yards short because the pool was closing.

Saturday:
*AM: Training Session
*PM: Brick: Phoenix (90min) + 20min Run 35min Run

I may have been running on 6 hours of sleep and no coffee, but that didn't matter to my trainer!  She was nice enough to count reps for me (she knows I can't count without coffee), but she still beat me up.  My favorite move was holding plank on an aerobic step (one riser on either side), then going into forearm plank, stepping my hands off the step, doing a tricep pushup, and then stepping my hands back up to regular plank.  It was hard, but it was one of those movements that make you feel like a total badass.

Post-training, Mr. R&R and I grabbed coffee and breakfast, ran a few errands, and laid around for a while.  Today's workout was supposed to be a brick, but the forecast for Sunday made it look like an outdoor bike ride was possible, so Sunday's "long" run was moved to Saturday in hopes of not having to ride on the hamster wheel for 90 minutes!  Mr. R&R was about as interested in this run as I was, so we agreed to slog it out together.  I'm glad he was with me, or I would have walked a lot more than I did!

Sunday:
*Brick: Phoenix (90min) + 20min Run 90 min OUTDOOR bike ride

Oh how I've missed riding outside. The sun. The sound of wind.  Actually moving instead of spinning in place.

The ride to and from the trail was nice and easy, but the miles on the trail were a pretty good speed.  I think this may be the fastest 'first outside ride' I've ever had and although my speed still needs to grow, my average cadence was dead on!

The 20 minute run was sacrificed so that Mr. R&R and I could meet his parents for brunch.  In this case: Beer + Tacos > Running.

I'm not thrilled that I missed a swim and had to juggle my schedule so much this week.  I'm going to be making a concerted effort to get to bed earlier and hopefully have a better Week 7.

Week 6 Stats:

Swim:     1850 yards (1.05 miles)
Bike:       48.70 miles
Run:        13.41 miles
Strength: 1 Session (30 min)

Total Time:        7 hours, 17 minutes
Total Distance:  63.16 miles

*Cumulative Distance: 619.8 miles - approximatley the distance from Milwaukee to Wichita, Kansas.

The Saying Is True (Steelhead Base: Week 5)

It's no secret that of the three triathlon disciplines, swimming is the hardest for me.  I never took swim lessons as a kid.  I spent most of my childhood being told to stay out of lakes because they were dirty (and full of "things").  I most definitely do not identify as a swimmer.  Back in 2013 when I trained for my very first triathlon I struggled with every swim workout that the Iron Cheerleader gave us and it seemed damn near impossible that I'd ever be capable of swimming a full 400 yards on race day.

What brought on this trip down memory lane?   I saw this on Pinterest the other day and it got me thinking about how far I've come since those seemingly impossible swims 4 years ago.

So I dug through my email archive and found the 5th week of the Iron Cheerleader's Couch-To-Sprint Tri plan...and proceeded to howl with laughter and then have a 'holy shit' moment.  My workout actually has become my warm up.

Week 5 of Iron Cheerleader's 10 Week Plan:

Endurance Swim:

• Warm Up: 50 yards
• Main Set: 6x50 yards with 10 seconds rest between each 50.
• Cool Down: 50 yards

Total: 400 yards

Week 5 of Half Ironman Base Training:

Endurance Swim:

• Warm Up: 300 yards
• Main Set: 1500 yards continuous
• Cool Down: 300 yards

Total: 2100 yards

I know that comparing the two is a bit like comparing apples and oranges, but if you would have told me in 2013, as I fought my way through every one of those swim workouts, that 4 years later I'd find 300 yards to be a walk in the park I would have howled with laughter - after I told you that you were full of shit!  At any rate, it's nice to know how far I've come, even though I still have a very long way to go!

As for Week 5 as a whole, it was more of the same - only longer and harder!

Monday:

*Rest Day

I had absolutely zero problems embracing my inner sloth after last weekend's long workouts.  I think rescheduling my training appointment to Tuesday is one of the smarter things I've done lately.

Tuesday:

*AM: Bike: Baird -1 (60min)

*PM: Warm Up Run and Training Session

This was my morning ride:

I think I was still so out of it that it didn't even register in my brain that all those intervals hurt!

My training session involved a 70lb dumbbell, a 45lb barbell, and a 15lb dumbbell.  I knew almost from the beginning that this was one of those sessions that I was really going to enjoy while I was doing it, and really feel for several days afterward.

Wednesday:

AM: 45min Run (w/10x30 speed intervals)

PM: 35min Run (w/ 10x30 speed intervals)

        1850yd Swim (speed intervals)

I did not sleep well on Tuesday night so I missed my chance to run before work.  Mr. R&R had a similar problem and opted to do his run right after work before we headed for the pool.  I, on the other hand, decided to eat, digest a bit, leave for the gym early and cram in my run before jumping into the pool - sort of a mixed up brick workout.  I shortened the warm up and cool down a bit due to time constraints, but managed to get all the speed intervals in before hightailing it to the locker room for a wardrobe change and hopping in the pool.  The pool, which always feels cold to me, actually felt good since I was burning up from the run!  I was nervous about swimming after a hard run, but it went surprisingly well - even if I was the last person in the pool!

Thursday:

*PM: Bike: Glassy (80min)

Do you know what really sucks after a 10 hour day at work?  Coming home and riding on the hamster wheel for an hour and 20 minutes before you get to eat dinner!  I was so drained and I seriously considered not doing it, but I jammed my headphones in, listened to some podcasts, and came upstairs to discover that Mr. R&R had started dinner - so that helped a little!

Friday:

*AM: 40min Run (w/ 2x20 hill sprints)

*PM: 2100yd Swim

If I thought I slept poorly on Tuesday night, Thursday night was worse.  Poor Spot was having horrible sneezing fits all night and I found myself laying on the living room floor at 4am trying to comfort him between fits.  Needless to say, getting up at 5am to run didn't happen. 

My 4AM Companion

My Friday night swim, however, did happen.  This was my longest continuous swim yet.  I definitely wasn't easy, but it wasn't too rough either.  Still, after that long staring at the line on the bottom of the pool and trying to keep track of what lap I was on, I was happy to be done!

Saturday:

*AM: 40min Run (w/ 2x20 hill sprints)

*PM: Bike: Boarstone (120min)

I knocked out Friday's missed run on Saturday morning while Mr. R&R had his weekly training session and was a sweating, dripping mess by the time I was done.  I swear that they turn the heat up in that gym on Saturday mornings!

After some breakfast and recover time, I dragged myself down to The Cave for my longest trainer ride yet...2 hours on the hamster wheel.  I wore my new Coeur sports tri shorts for the endeavor and I'm pleased to say that they lived up to their #NoAngryKitty hype.  Unfortunately I can't say that the electrolyte tablet I dissolved in one of my water bottles did the same.  The stuff was foul.  Back to the drawing board to find an electrolyte replacement that tastes decent and doesn't rip up my stomach.  Oh, and in case you're wondering, X-Men: Days of Future Past is the perfect accompaniment

to a 2 hour long trainer ride.  I started spinning at the opening credits and finished right as the final credits rolled!

Sunday:

*Run: 60min

The weekly long run seems to cause a motivation problem every week.  I think it's a matter of having beat the crap out of myself for the 5 days leading up to it and wanting nothing more than to curl up on the couch with my favorite fuzzy blanket and a book by that point.  However, if I want to do this race, it had to be done.  

After much procrastination I headed outside with a grim determination to just get it over with.  Oddly enough, it ended up being a really good run.  I ended up setting a new unofficial 10k PR - and missing a sub-1 hour 10k by 4 seconds!

Overall, I'm happy that I got all the workouts in this week, but I really hope I can get more sleep next week and do the workouts at their scheduled times.

Week 5 Stats:

Swim:     3950 yards (2.24 miles)

Bike:       49.57 miles

Run:        14.43 miles

Strength: 1 session (30min)

Total Time:       9 hours

Total Distance: 66.25 miles

March Totals:

Swim:    10,725 yards (9.96 miles)

Bike:      174.22 miles

Run:       56.23 miles

Strength: 4 sessions

Total Time:       34 hours, 9 minutes

Total Distance: 240.41 miles

Cumulative Distance: 556.64 miles - approximately the distance between Milwaukee and Memphis, TN.  If I start seeing Elvis, please send help!

Train. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. (Steelhead Base: Week 4)

Week 4 of my training plan is billed as a recovery week.  Workout intensity and duration is reduced in order to give the body (and possibly the mind) a chance to recover a little.

Monday:
*Rest Day

I'm experimenting with taking Monday as a rest day since Saturday and Sunday both involve long workouts.  It was nice being able to come home from work and not have to rush right out the door to get to my training appointment.  I used the time to make dinner, fold a little laundry (because it's endless around here), and hang out with Walter and Spot.

Tuesday:
*AM: Bike: Haku (60min)
*PM: Warm Up Run and Training Session

I did not want to get on the bike this morning, but I did - and managed to flip between the big and small chain rings without dropping my chain or getting the chain stuck.

After that it, it was off to a full day at work, a stop at home to change into gym clothes, and then off to my training session.  I'm really grateful that my trainer is willing to work with me based on what body part is giving me trouble at the moment.  For example, my legs were super tight tonight, so she modified one of the moves she wanted me to do so that it helped to loosen them up.

Wednesday:
*AM: 35min Run (w/ 6x30 second speed intervals)
*PM: 1400yd Swim (speed intervals)

Now that was a good run.  I felt really relaxed and comfortable and the whole thing just flowed.  Oh, and I managed to count my intervals correctly - this is not normal at 5:30am!  The run may have been awesome, but I definitely had moments of wanting to crawl under my desk and take a nap - especially by late afternoon.  Coffee doesn't seem to have much of an effect on me anymore, but I've been enjoying my super-nerdy coffee anyway.

All kinds of nerdy

Wednesday night's swim was fantastic.  I actually swam 3 sub-2:00 100s.  Maybe the last one wasn't a fluke?

What if I want to do both?

Thursday:
Bike: Birch (60min)

Tonight's ride was only 45 minutes long and that was just fine by me.  I listened to a couple of podcasts, spun my legs, and called it a night.  I miss rides this short!

Friday:
*AM: 35min Run
*PM: 1600yd Swim

Not getting to sleep at a reasonable hour = not getting up at an unholy hour to run.  I wasn't too worried since it's a recovery week and the run was easily rescheduled to Saturday morning.

We got to the pool a little earlier on Friday night, knocked out our swims, and called it a night.  Real exciting, right?

Saturday:
*AM: 35min Run
*PM: Bike: Geiger (60min)

I was up earlier that I'd have liked to hitch a ride to the gym with Mr. R&R and make up the missed run from Friday.  I kept the effort low since it was supposed to be an easy run and the 35 minutes were up before I knew it.

After breakfast, coffee, and a little lounging around we hit The Cave for a pair of hour long rides.  I crawled off the bike drenched in sweat and seriously wondering if a manual power tweak was in order.  It seems as though my choices are to spin too slow in a bigger gear or too fast in a smaller gear.  I can't find the spot where my preferred cadence (spin speed) and gearing work together.

When Mr. R&R got home from his massage appointment we did the usual grocery run and then he made the most awesome dinner.  These fajitas were so good...I totally overate...and it was worth it!

Sunday:
*Brick: Pioneer (60min) + 15 minute Run

The odds of completing this brick workout did not look good when I got up this morning since it was pouring rain.  I had resigned myself to just doing the bike portion of the workout (with the previously mentioned power tweak), but peer pressure got the best of me.  Mr. R&R finished his workout a few minutes before me and went flying upstairs to add some layers over his bike clothes and headed out the door.  Dammit...if he was going to go for it, so was I!  I threw on sweatpants, jacket, ear band, and gloves and ran in the rain.  Oddly, it felt good because I was so overheated from the bike.

I got home with just enough time to shower and make it to my massage appointment.

As of this posting, I'm half way through the base phase of training and although there are days where I seriously question my life choices, I'm starting to see glimpses of what's possible - and it feels good.

Week 4 Stats:
Swim:    3000 yards (1.7 miles)
Bike:      42.97 miles
Run:       10.27 miles
Yoga:      0 sessions
Strength: 1 session (30min)

Total Time:       6 hours, 39 minutes
Total Distance: 54.94 miles

Cumulative Distance: 490.4 miles - approximately the distance between Milwaukee and Topeka, Kansas.

Staycation & Steelhead

This may have been the most relaxing week I've had since the week I spent in North Carolina last summer because I took a week off work and stayed home!  I haven't taken a week off without travel plans of some sort in a long time and now I'm convinced I should do it more often.

Monday:
*Snow Day

I decided to take the first day of my Staycation as a rest day when I woke up to 6+ inches of snow on the ground - and not having to work from home due to the plows not having gone through yet.

 I texted my trainer and asked to reschedule for Tuesday evening so I wouldn't have to drive through the snowstorm and she was good with it.  I spent my day doing laundry, hanging out with Walter and Spot, and occasionally looking outside as more snow piled up.  When Mr. R&R got home, he dealt with the snow in the driveway (the snowblower scares me), and we hoofed it up the street for burgers, beers, and a really fabulous dessert - which has kind of become our snow day tradition.

Tuesday:
*AM: Bike: Berryessa (60min)
*PM: Warm Up Run and Training Session

I think the operative word for Tuesday was "Stuck".  Mr. R&R and I spent the morning at Dr. Beast's office learning to give Walter and Spot penicillin injections because they're both still battling a respiratory infection.  Let me just say, that I've never felt such horrible guilt in my life, but if it makes them better, I'm willing to do it.  We got home and I hit the bike for what was supposed to be an hour long ride.  About 30 minutes in, my chain dropped as I was shifting between the big and small chainring.  While this is annoying as hell, it happens occasionally, so I fixed it, cursed all the grease on my hands, and went back to my ride.  10 minutes later, it happened again, but this time the chain got stuck between the chainring and the frame and I couldn't dislodge it.  I called Mr. R&R down to The Cave to see if he could help, but that thing was not budging.  I called my bike guy and they said to bring it in the next morning.

I changed clothes and hauled it to the gym for my training session.  My shoulders were burning by the time I left.

Wednesday:
AM: 40min run (w/ 8x 30 speed intervals)
PM: 1600yd Swim (speed intervals)

So, I completely overslept this morning so an early morning run was out of the question.  Then the "stuck" theme from yesterday continued when I went to turn off the shower and the handle wouldn't move!  I ended up having to call Mr. R&R home to strong arm it into place.  I suspect we'll have to change the fixture in the relatively near future.  After the shower debacle, I loaded up my bike (which after almost 2 years finally has a name: Wicked) and it was off to the bike shop.

While they got the chain unstuck, I looked around the shop and ended up coming home with the addition of an X-Labs Mini Wing bottle cage.  This should make refilling my aerobottle and carrying electrolytes a lot easier this summer.

That evening Mr. R&R and I had our Wednesday night swim date.  I struggled with the main set of 6x100 alternating 25yds easy/25yds hard.  I feel a little defeated that I cannot deal with the 10 second rests between 100s and need about 20-30 seconds between them.   When I was done, I swam an extra 150yds very slowly while Mr. R&R finished his workout.  I had originally thought about parking my butt in the hot tub while he finished, but I was convinced that if I did that, I might not ever get out!

Thursday:
AM: 40min Run (w/ 8x30 second speed intervals)
PM: Bike: Ericsson (60min)

I finally got 'unstuck' today.  I went to the gym in the late morning to make up Wednesday's run.  If I thought the gym was a madhouse at 5:30am, 10:30am was even crazier!  I had a really good run - even if I still can't manage to count intervals correctly!

Thursday night found me perched on my bike alongside Mr. R&R as we both sweated our way through our workouts.  Mr. R&R's workout was 30 minutes longer than mine and the movie we were watching was still going, so I hung around to finish the movie and rode an extra 20 minutes to make up for the minutes I missed on Tuesday when my bike broke!

After that, it was time to give the bunnies their meds.  One syringe per bunny every other day.

I felt like the worst human ever even though neither of them really seemed to notice.  Walter even gave me nose bumps afterward.

I hate you for this.

I still love you, mom.

At least it seems like the medication is helping them.  The sneezing seems to be calming down and they both just seem better in general.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Friday:
AM: 40min Run 
PM: 2000yd Swim 40min Run

After some discussion, neither Mr. R&R nor I had any desire to be on the road with all the St. Patrick's Day and NCAA revelers, so we settled on running at the gym closest to us and then holing up at home - with plans to swim on Sunday after our long runs.

Since I ended up rescheduling my long swim, I decided to do something I've been thinking about for weeks:  I registered for Ironman 70.3 Steelhead!

August 13. 2017

So how did this all come about? I wasn't really planning on doing this until 2018, but a few weeks ago, I was looking at the mid-volume plan for my original A Race (an olympic distance tri) and when I was showing it to Mr. R&R he said it was more work than his half iron training plan.  At that point, I looked at his training schedule and decided I'd follow it in hopes of having a really good olympic race.  Then I started thinking about how much work I'd be putting in just to have to do it again next year - and that's when I looked up the date for Steelhead.  It was exactly 24 weeks from the day I was going to start a 24 week half ironman training plan.  *GULP* After some more discussion with Mr. R&R I decided to try the first few weeks of the plan before committing. And then on Friday night, I decided it was time to stop wringing my hands and just do it, so I did!  At this point, 21 weeks to go until I swim 1.2 miles, bike 56 miles, and run 13.1 miles.

Saturday
I woke up wondering what the hell I got myself into by signing up for Steelhead, but there's no turning back now!  While Mr. R&R was out making up a missed run, I got to work in the kitchen and got some Moroccan Chicken going in the crockpot.  Then it was bike time.  90 minutes of sweat-dripping spinning.

Mr. R&R had another hour to go when I was done, so I took a quick shower and made couscous to go with the Moroccan Chicken while he finished up.  The finished product was absolutely awesome and I would definitely suggest making it.  Every bite was a mixture of sweetness from the raisins, salt from the olives, and a little tartness from the lemons.

Post refueling we ran our usual weekly errands (Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Target) and I was really excited when Mr. R&R pointed out the Ben & Jerry's flavor I've been searching for for months!

We got home, gave Walter and Spot their meds, and settled in for dessert until the bunnies forgave us.

We'll forgive you if you 

Sunday:
We both woke up really sore.  Mr. R&R's knee and hip have been bugging him and my left knee has been tweaky since I got off the bike yesterday.  I  wasn't sure that I was going to be able to get my long run and my long swim in since my knee was hurting and I wanted to put in a quick appearance at the TriWisconsin kick off party.  Mr. R&R and I hit the pool in the early afternoon and it was crazy crowded.  I shared a lane with him and ended up with a few more mouthfuls of pool water than I'd have liked.  Afterward, I came home long enough to scrub off the chlorine, semi-dry my hair, and look presentable enough to put in an appearance at the TriWI party.  It was fun seeing the Iron Cheerleader's face when I told him that I'm registered for Steelhead.  The pull of the beer and pizza were strong, but I dragged myself out of there and back to the gym to bang out my long run (Mr. R&R ran outside while I was gone).  Never fear though, as I'm sitting here re-writing/editing this post, a pizza is enroute - no beer though since I need to be functional tomorrow morning.

All in all, it's been a great staycation and hopefully it will tide me over until my next week off - in late August!


Week 3 Stats:

Swim:       3600 yards (2.05 miles)
Bike:         41.08 miles
Run:          14.66 miles
Yoga:        0 practices
Strength:  1 session (30min)

Total Time:       7 hours, 38 minutes
Total Distance: 57.79 miles


Cumulative Distance: 435.46 miles - approximately the distance between Milwaukee and Louisville, KY.