Times are changing

In a good way.

My legs are beat up.

But I still PR'ed at the TT last night.

I think it was just the new bike though.

SIKE!

So, I was eagerly awaiting my training plan for the week. And yesterday, it arrived!!!

I couldn't wait to open it...

The message said "KEY WEEK! Get the hours in with efforts. Good luck!". I opened the spreadsheet and scrolled down ...and the excitement fell from my face...and I think horror replaced it. I tallied up the hours. Fifteen. Yes, 15 hours!! WTF?! I thought this was taper?

I suddenly got that same feeling in my gut that I got when I was a kid and my older brother would give me some amazing news, like "mom is letting us skip school today so we can go to King's Island"...and follow it up with "SIKE!!" and laughter.

But, I have Worlds less than two months after IMKY. And I trust coach. I'm sure there is some strategy to this insanity.

I did have intentions to go to the grocery. And I wanted to do another load of laundry. But I also knew at that point, that I had no energy to waste on tasks that could wait. And I was exhausted. So, I was in bed by 8:30pm...

And up again at 4:30am for swim practice. I've come to view swimming as recovery. Even if it's 3k at a good intensity. It's just not as grueling as running. or riding for hours on end.

Thankfully, today was a fun practice. We were missing a few people with vacations and kids starting school, so we did long sets...which I love!

Tonight is the Cleves Time Trial. The first time i get to test the speed on the new ride. Can't wait!!

It's HOTT!!

Seriously. Really, really hot. Finally. Just in time for IMKY. But not in time to acclimate with long workouts because...taper starts today!!!

THis brings mixed emotions. I don't like going into taper on a bad note...and yesterday was a bad note. Saturday, however, was good. I'm just not sure yet if it's enough to negate the poor performance of Sunday.

My Thursday night brick went really well. I went out a little too hard and a little too long on the bike portion, but I was feeling good...and i was on my new toy so it was hard to resist. The run was good and at a "steady" effort. Actually, it was a damn good pace. But, I didn't take water with me and i don't think I drank enough on the bike, so by the time i got home, I was a little dizzy. And it was a long brick, so I didn't even sit down to eat until after 8pm.

And I was up at 5:30 the next morning and out riding again by 6. I wanted to be able to go to the Downtown Dash 5k and visit with Tom a bit that evening, so I had to get the ride in early.

I was half tempted to run that 5k once 4pm hit, but I knew what the weekend held in store. And i got hungry, so I ate and then took Clubber downtown. Sadly, this is the extent of my hanging out these days. I go to races to socialize. Lame, huh?

Anyway, Saturday, I was up at 4:30am. (is that even legal on the weekend?) On the road by 5:30 with a bag full of gear, a lunch bag of nutrition, a gallon of water and my bike.

We started out with about 4k swimming HARD in the lake. Then, onto the bike for a 97 mile ride with just our little 6 man crew. The time went by quickly and we joked and sang and discussed race strategies and training and food! We stopped at 3 hours to fill water bottles and take a pee break. And that's when things really started heating up. Those last 2.5 hours were hot. But I felt great. And as soon as we got back to the parking lot, we all took off running. Just a couple miles. And then to the outdoor shower so I could drive home in my steamy shit can with no a/c.

I mused on the way home that it was about 3:15pm and I'd already consumed a gallon of water and 2200 calories. And after a shower, more food, rest, compression tights...I was up early Sunday morning for more fun.

I met Judi out at East Fork for an OWS. She had an hour on the schedule. I didn't have a swim scheduled, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Plus, I know it gets a little freaky out there swimming alone. Besides a little shoulder pain, that went well...

And that's the end of things going well for the weekend. I made the (in retrospect, very unwise) decision to go lie by the pool for a while before attempting my 2:40 run. So, I cooked. For two hours. I was dripping sweat. I put myself in the hurt locker well before I even went out for that run.

The run started with Holly. A half hour in, I was completely drenched in sweat, wanting to puke or crap my pants, and incapable of taking in water. I was miserable. Holly just kept telling me i was going to make it. Another ten minutes, I stopped again. Another ten...and stopped again. And crying. It was horrible. My skin was on fire. My head was aching. I had sweat everywhere. And I just couldn't move. Holly pointed me in the direction of her house and there I went. To get some ice and drip sweat all over her porch. As I drove away, my car read 93 degrees.

Coach called later to ask how the run went. Turns out everyone struggled with the heat yesterday. He was the only one to complete the entire time. And he blacked out at the end.

Oh, dear God, please let it be cool for IMKY. I don't want to melt.

ok, soo....

The first part of the day flew by! Then, I went home just before 1 to walk Clubber...and it's sooooo gorgeous outside, like 80 and no humidity, clear blue skies. I just wanted to take the bike out then!

Alas, I had to return to work. And now, the clock is stagnant.

Seriously, I can't even find anything interesting to read on the Internet. I just want to go home and start my brick!

It did begin to clear up Tuesday evening upon leaving work, but I already had my mind set on the trainer, so I plopped my road bike on there and went to a 40 min TT. The 35 min warm-up was hellish because my legs were busted, but it got better. By the time I got off that thing, my legs felt great! How does that happen?

I woke up Wed morning to a fab tempo run. I extended both the warm-up and the tempo portion by 5 mins. I needed to keep my evening open becaus ei had plans to hang with mom. I got to see Kaylee and Clubber got to play with the cat and a little neighbor dog, which was lots of fun!

I fell asleep quick last night and when my alarm sounded, I was very confused! I didn't know the day or why I had to get up. I hadn't woken the entire night, which is totally rare, so I'm guessing I really needed that sleep.

And swim practice was fun!!! You know you're in trouble when Coach says "this set is...well, it's not that bad". Right! After our warm-up, which was only 500 today, we put on pull gear for :
2x{4x225 on 3:30, 4x25 sprint on :30}
The key was that the first round through was with paddles. The second round, was just swim. I felt better on 225 #7 than on #2. Then we did some silly stuff with the kick boards. I can't even describe it. I was told I looked like a sea horse. I giggled the entire way.

OK, so like 15 more mins before I can leave here and go ride and run... I'm itching!!!!!!!!!!!!

Screw it. I'm leaving now.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Isn't he gorgeous?!? Lots of fun too. He's just a little waif, but he's fast. He's different than my Masi. Masi is comfy and rides hard, but this little guy...I'm still a little nervous on him. That just means I have to spend lots of time on him to get the feel.

Oh, and a nice little surprise when I arrive to pick him up... Dan hands me an aero helmet and says "Some dude called in and bought this for you. I don't know who it was. Bob took the call." After some probing, I found out it was Rob. (thanks again, Rob!)

So, I took the boy out for a quick spin last night. Just a few miles as it was all my legs could handle after the weekend. And, when you only get one "recovery" (ie- just 3k swim) day a week, you tend to take full advantage of it. I was hoping to take the new toy out to Cleves tonight for the TT, but it's looking like the severe weather will still be in affect. (Or not? Seems every time i blog about how crappy the weather is acting, it clears up in time for me to ride after work). If I can't ride it, I'll be on the trainer for a couple hours. Fun times.

In other news, the tri on Sunday was fun. I just did the bike leg of the sprint relay. We took first.

There was a whole group from our Masters swim team there. Here they are, minus me. I think I was off talking somewhere. OOps.

And then, I went and did my workout for the day. 2x bike run. And I was grateful to put the compression tights on for bed...

Random thoughts.

Are tt bikes really faster than road bikes? or is it just the power of the engine? What if I'm not faster on my new bike?

Do people EVER think before they act? or speak? Sheesh.

What does Clubber do during the day when I'm not here? Does she get mad at me when I leave to go train right after I get home and walk her? Does she ever get her feelings hurt hoping I'd spend more time with her? Do dogs even have feelings?

Are humans meant to be monogomous? Or is it just men that have trouble with this?

Will I ever go on another date worthy of a second? Or will I talk myself out of everyone that may be? Will I really be alone until I'm 50 like that therapist tried to tell me when we were getting divorced?

I really can be a clingy bitch sometimes. And I can nag with the best of them. But I really do mean well. It's just not until later that you see that. And it's too late when you finally come to appreciate it. I guess I should be grateful you have any appreciation at all. No, really, appreciation isn't enough at this point. You fucked me up.

I miss the days of living with mom and Kaylee and rockin' out to karaoke in the living room. Three generations of women giggling like crazy at some poorly rendered version of "Kryptonite".

Wow. One last week of big training before taper for IMKY. Am I ready for this? I hope I have a long run and a long ride this week.

I need to book my flight to Australia. And apply for a visa. And get my tags renewed for my vehicle. Shit.

Why does love always feel like a battlefield? Does Jordin Sparks sing that song? I don't even like it. It just gets stuck in my head, kinda like yesterday when E started singing the Moore's Nautilus theme song from back in the 90s and that's all I could think when i was riding. That, and Coach is crazy thinking I can ride with him when he hammers...

Seriously. ADD?

Why did I just eat all those pita chips? They weren't even that good.

I can't wait to swim again.

I can't believe the weekend is over already. Ugh. It was a good one though. Jam packed. Good stuff to look forward to: Mon- new bike!!, Tues - TT, Wed - speed run, Thurs - um...it's almost Fri..., Fri- jeans at work and a run...

I'm sleepy. And I have clean sheets. Sweet!

Eye candy

So, we had the 3-on-3 tri today. All I have time and energy to say right now is that we lost. But I was not the last person to finish. Thank God! And Missy kicked everyone's asses. Girl is just fast.


From there, I went to work at the Pur Tour in Mason, OH. This was my first ever bike race watching too. I was scheduled to work the start/finish area, but they needed help at registration. Um, I've never been so grateful that things changed at the last minute, though I didn't know it at the time because...


CYCLISTS are HOTTTT!!! Sheesh. Where do they hang out?? Oh, yeah...bike races. Hmm. Perhaps I will volunteer more often :)