100 yrds in 1:40

A new PR for my swim. Today there was crazy masters swim work out in honor of one of the team coaches Jake's birthday. The main set was 3600 yrds with warm up and cool down it made the full work out 4000. I only needed to swim 3000 and never get there early enough to do the full warm up(sorry 6am is early enough for me). I probably got in about 150 before we started the main set.
The first set of 10 x100 (odds -50 drill, 50 swim. evens - 50 kick, 50 swim) was not to bad, I warmed up and felt pretty good. Legs were a little tight but loosened up well.
Next up was the killer - 10 x 100 on 2:00 intervals (hard). The first one I felt great swam a 1:40 and had :20 rest! I was shocked that is the fastest I have swam a 100 and I was not dying. Sets 2-6 I was able to keep it up 1:40 - 1:42 :)!! I slowed a bit 7-10 to 1:45.. By now my arms felt like they had fallen off and I had finished an entire bottle of cytomax in the process. I was so happy with how I swam - no excuses I just went for it :)
It was not over next was 10 x 100 (odd - stroke, swim. evens - 50 hard, 50 easy). My arms were smoked and I was tired. The last 50 hard I felt like a rock sinking with no arms.
There was another 6 x 100 pull but i only had 3000 on my schedule and it was time for me to get to work..
But I made it 3150 yrds with over 1250 yrds of hard effort and swam those hard efforts faster than I expected :D hehe and it is only February - I have till June till my first triathlon...

bring on the hills

One of my goals for this year is to get back/improve my climbing legs and since I finally feel like myself on Thurdsay I decided I really wanted to do a hilly bike ride for my long ride today so I talked Matthew and Kyle into doing the Flying Wheels 45 mi route (I did have to include a stop at starbucks about half way).
I even talked them into starting at 9am (early for Kyle). It was super chilly but clear and sunny when we got started.
Sadly within 15 min of starting Matthew had a major mechanical issue with his bike.. It made the most horrible sound. So Kyle road back and grab the truck so he could get back. When he got back matthew took his bike and truck to the shop and Kyle and I continued on our ride.
It kind of sucked I was just starting to warm up when we stopped so we climbed the first hill cold. It is a pretty steep climb but I just made my way up - I was surprised Kyle only pulled away a little but not a lot (probably going easy on me). I was defiantly warm by the top. I wished I had worn my capris and not my warm tights.
There were a few more rollers and then one of my least favorite downhills - the pavement is not very nice and neither are teh drivers but I survived and kept myself from braking to much.. Right away I was so glad I grabbed my aero bottle this morning because it helped remind me to drink and I was much better about getting in calories and keep my energy up.
Next was the climb up Ames lake which is not to bad. About half way I was passed by a guy out of nowhere and then a lady who I tried to stay with a bit more. At the top Kyle and the guy were waiting - it was a Cervelo R3 convention. I pulled off my hat because now I was really way to hot. They waited for a couple of their friends and we wound up riding with them into Carnation.
Kyle and I did a quick Starbucks stop and then got back on the bikes for the second half of the ride. I have to say I really enjoy riding the back roads of Carnation - the views are great, few cars, pretty good roads and the sunny weather just added to it. There was a nasty headwind in a few sections but nothing to bad. By this time I had also taken off my gloves and wished I could have taken off my pants and just ride in shorts. I had meant to eat a powerbar or at least half to see if I liked it but I completely forgot and ate a gel instead... We stopped for a second so Kyle cold find some sportlegs in his pockets.
Then we were off to the stair step climb and final big climb of the day. I love this climb. I always use it to gauge my climbing legs and it always makes me feel stronger after getting to the top. I never remember how long it is and where I am on the climb. Kyle took off and I paced myself up the first part. i focused on working on my seated climb. I noticed that since I have been riding my single more I can climb standing very well but my seated climb is kind of weak. So I climbed mostly seated only standing every once and a while to keep my pace up. I felt great, my legs were burning. It was awesome. I kept telling myself that this is what it will take to get better at climbing - so I climbed. I guess Kyle turned around when he got to the top and rode back till he got to me which was not very far at all :)!
The rest of the ride I just kept my cadence up and cruised back to the park enjoying the sun and loving that I had a great ride with lots of climbing.

:)

masters swim part 3

I did it. I went to bed early, I got up early and made it to master swim.. YEAH!! oh wait except today is a holiday and guess what there was no "official" master swim work out. At least the gym was open. The pool was almost empty when I got there and slowly some of the regular people showed up to to swim an unofficial masters swim. So I swam the work out on the board (Fridays work out) and got in a strong 3200 yrds but it was not the usual focus of masters. My lane was kind of a mess - there was one gal that was doing her own thing and was super slow - which is saying a lot since I'm rather slow. So it feels like only partial success but at least my swim work out is done for the day.

happy valentines weekend

I spent the weekend doing what I love with my love.. ok that was super corny but isn't that what valentines day is all about.
Friday night after work I swam and just kept swimming for 3500 yrds (I only had 3000 on my schedule) but I felt good and just enjoyed being in the water. I really need a new swimsuit though - my current one is very stretched out from the chlorine.

Saturday Kyle and I both rode around lake Sammamish and then some to get enough time. I had a great ride and was able to do a few pick ups and feel really good on my bike. I also passed a few guys which is always fun hehe. As is ind of the norm now Kyle and I did not actually train together but we train at the same time which works for both of us :) I got my 1:45 ride in and then was planning on going for a rn but got distracted by talking to Jake while he waited to see if Kyle could recreate his lower leg issue. It was chilly and in no time at all I was chilled and gave up on running off the bike and called it a day. Not a huge issue since coach had said to only run if I had the energy...
After the ride we nt out for Chipotle and then came home and I took a nap till it was time to go to a friends valentines day party. All in all a good day.

Today we slept in and and headed out on a run on the East lake Sammamish Trail around noon. I only had an hour run to do while Kyle had 2 hours so I ran my run and then since I wanted to get some more exercise so I hopped on my single speed and headed back on the trail to catch up with Kyle and ride back in with him.
My run actually went pretty well - nothing amazing but I worked hard to stay in base training heart rate zones and not worry about much else.
Kyle raves about these Honey Stinger gels so I tried the chocolate - it was not bad but did not really give me a lot of pep and iI was still hungry after taking it so I will probably stick with Accel gels with protein.
Once I was done with my run I did a quick transition into my bike stuff and headed back out on my single speed. It felt good to spin out my legs after running even though it did seem weird to ride after running. I got a good 30 min or so before I met back up with Kyle on his way back and the rest of the way i rode support for him and just let my heart rate come down and warm down.

Now I'm sitting with my feet up and watching the Tour of California with Kyle and am very glad it is not raining as much here. Ok now I need to get my stuff together for tomorrow and go to bed early so I can wake up and go to masters swim.... wish em luck lol ;)

master continued

I figured it out... If i am going to bed at 11:30pm or even 12pm there is no way I will get enough rest to get out of bed at 5am and go to masters... so I need to either give up on masters (not likely) or go to bed earlier - early enough to get at least 7 hours of sleep.

masters swim

It has been 3 weeks since I have made it to my coaches 6am master swim. Ok so one week I was sick, the second I was recovering from being sick and still felt tired so I focused on sleep and swam in the evenings. But this week I have no excuses I ignored my alarm on Monday and did not even hear my alarm this morning. I'm very frustrated with myself about this. I really want to go to masters - over the past year it has helped me get faster, stronger and it is way more fun than swimming alone. I'm sure it is something like my body is telling me to sleep more but come on really I just need to get up and do it. I don't feel on my schedule - I prefer to work out before work - just makes me feel better about the day kind of thing and I'm usually more focused. So now I'm extra frazzled because last night i even set out my clothes and had everything ready to go but I woke up and saw that it was all ready 5:45 and I have to leave the house at 5:30 to make it on time. So now I have to find time to swim and run today when really I should have already have swam.

ok that was kind of a vent.. I guess I will try again on friday morning. wish me luck

breaking through

The flu nocked me out completely for a week and then I spent another week still feeling the effects of it as I tried to get back to the real world. I did most of my work outs last week but with little to no pep or power but it did feel good to exercise.
I felt the best in the pool - my stroke is feeling pretty good and was able to find a good rhythm. Though I did do all my swims in the evening and slept through masters swim. My run and riding was the most effected. On Wednesday I ran close to 10 m/mi pace for :45 - it was just painful - I could not take deep breaths and my legs felt tired and sore. My ride on saturday felt similar - I tried to ride with Kyle but could not even hang on his wheel without coughing up a storm and my heart rate soaring. With in the first :30 I was officially dropped and just rode easy for the rest of the 2 hour ride. After feeling so beat up on Saturday i spent the rest of the day on the couch half asleep.
Lucky for me my run yesterday (Sunday) surprisingly felt much better. We went over to green lake to have coffee with his Mom and then he ran for 1:20 and I ran for :60. Of course the first mile my legs felt heavy and my foot ached a little bit but as I warmed up I continued to feel better. I did not cough as much as I did not the bike and just enjoyed running. The best part was I was able to keep my heart rate down and run 8:30 m/mi pace - which is back to my pre-flu average easy run pace. Needless to say I was a lot happier after running and finally feel like I won't have the flu forever.
With that my plan is to continue to try and get over it completely this week so that I can really get back into training for my goals this year.