This was a really hard week - I finally felt mentally recovered, but work was busy, and the training was busy - and it's only going to get harder from here. Oh, and it is still raining. If I'd wanted to live in Seattle I would have moved there. Of the 31 days in March, it rained 25. Woo.
Today (4/2) we had a swim and run in Marin. Not too bad, but made challenging by the time change, and teammate Lesley's "singles party" last night. All of which amounted to four. hours. of. sleep. Oh my. A raging night out for me equals about 2 1/2 glasses of wine, so at least I wasn't hungover.
We swam 3,000 yards in a series of sets I am trying to forget (many "hypoxic" drills, in which you teach your body to go without oxygen - the least number of breaths per length was 2). No flip turns, because the pool at Redwood High School is shallow and I'm afraid of cracking my head open.
Got out of the pool, and the rain had miraculously stopped - for a few hours, anyway. We set out to run 90 minutes - my longest run since the marathon a month ago. I celebrated by finally deleting my marathon time from my watch. The super fast guys took off - John Fry, George, Jim, and someone else - there was no way I could hang with them today. Cesar and I ran together the whole time, and he was great company - until today I didn't know him very well, so it's fun to pass the time learning about someone. We ran through Larkspur on a trail I didn't know existed, and then up and over Camino Alto, and down into Mill Valley. Camino Alto is a kicker hill on a bike, so it felt kind of studly to be running up it! We got to Blithedale, and then turned around. Cesar kicked it up a notch, and I held on for dear life trying to keep up with him. We ended up running back 5 minutes faster than the out - awesome.
Saturday 4/1 - rode 55 miles (I think). We started in Petaluma, where weather.com had promised it would be SUNNY. Oh, silly, naive me. Not sunny. It was my first real ride on the new bike, and I was terrified that something would go wrong and I'd end up crashing it. Not the best mindset with which to set out on a rainy ride. I didn't yet have a computer installed, so I had no clue what my cadence or mph was - just tried to keep up. The biggest difference with the new bike is it's a compact crank instead of a triple (basically almost the gearing of a triple, but looks like a double).
We rode through torrential downpours, wind, and a little sun. We climbed seven different steep grades - including Wilson Hill and Marshall Wall - and circled most of Marin, from Petaluma to near Nicasio to Inverness and Tomales Bay. I rode most of the way with Debby and Alex (which had the added benefit of Skeeter being near us in the SAG car for most of the time) - I hadn't really ridden with either of them before, so that was fun. I started to feel really strong near the end (despite sissying my way down the backside of Marshall Wall - I psyched myself out on the descent and am surprised I didn't flip over. I was on the brakes so hard I think I was going all of about 8 mph. Shockingly, though, only John Fry caught me.) With about 10 miles to go I rode away from Debby and Skeeter, and cruised back to the junior high. What I saw when I arrived in the parking lot made me laugh out loud. I saw no one. No one! That has never, ever happened (and likely won't be repeated ever again).
To be fair: there were two rides - a 48 and a 60. I thought I'd play it safe and do the 48, since I didn't know how the bike would feel, etc etc. Sooo, rather than get on the trainer like I was supposed to, I turned around and went back out for another half an hour. I LOVE THIS BIKE. Jenny Nauss said it best - "it's like riding a sofa." Yesiree...and not no stinkin' Jennifer Convertible sofa, either. After the ride, we ran 30 minutes....a hard brick. Legs felt like lead, which of course was the point.
Friday 3/31 - swam 2100 at lunch. Outside. In the rain. So frustrated by swimming right now - feeling slow and irritated. Grr.
Thursday 3/30 - the "real" workout was 2 1/2 hrs (on a weekday?!!) - a 90 minute ride and a 50 minute run, in that order, together. No can do. Did the best I could. Ran 40 minutes with Rhian at lunch. Rode 60 mintues on the trainer when I got home - watching "Pride and Prejudice" - not really the most aerobic movie, but good nonetheless.
Weds 3/29 - killer run w/ Rhian at lunch - total 7 miles. Warmup, then 5x 8 minutes hard, 2 minutes easy, then cooldown. Got drenched.
Tues 3/28 - Swim 2400 at Koret after work. Work on flip turns. Learned valuable lesson: don't workout for an hour, eat cottage cheese for 'dinner' and go to bed. Had headache all day Weds.
Mon 3/27 - core training at lunch. For some reason, there's no core training on the schedule this week. Not sure why!
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