brrr

I had great fun this morning swimming - though the pool was very cold getting in (I don't get it). This mornings goal was to build up my endurance by swimming an overall longer distance.
The plan was to warm up with 200
drills 100

4 X 50 easy
3 X 100 moderate
2X 150 mod hard
1 x 200 easy
2 x 150 mod hard
3 X 100 moderate
4 X 50 easy (actually just kept going for a 200 easy)

cool down 100
Total=2200 yrds Actual overall time: 61 min

I kept my rest time as short as I could between intervals (take a couple breathes and go) and around 45 sec or so between distance change. I felt really good the whole time even in the longer sets I kept my pace even. My shoulder never really hurt much - only when I fell back on bad form when I breathed but I quickly corrected and was all better. I think that last lesson really helped - the wall of the pool seemed to come at me sooner and for the first time I wanted to keep swimming more just because it felt good - to bad I had to go to work lol.

evening run

I stayed up to late last night and just could not make it to a morning work out. Luckily tonight I agreed to run with Steph and a couple of other expedia ladies. It was fun we just ran probably about 4 -.5 miles at a 10 min mile pace for a total time of 47:38. Before we started I felt kind of tired and just bogged down from work and stuff. But once we started I felt great and even the initial hill up from expedia felt easy - which surprised me. I felt like I could have run faster and a lot longer :) I did have some weird pain in my left knee - which I have no clue where it came from and still hurts a bit right now. I stretched out afterwards and used the stick in my legs to see if it was because of some tight muscles.. I had planned on going to the gym after my run but decided to just go home and do a few of the pt exercises so that I have eenrgy for my swim tomorrow morning.

in the water

This morning nice and early I did my swim work out - total of 1600 yrds in about 50 min. Warm up - 300. Drills - 300: side kick 100, side switch 100, side switch w/ fists 100. Main set: 50, 100, 150 w/ pull, 200, 200, 150 w/ pull, 100, 50. Cool down - 100 kicking on back. I focused a lot of being patient and not pushing down but pulling down and back with a bent elbow. It was great my shoulder did not hurt at all - which is a first. Usually it will get a bit tight no matter what. :)
After swimming I did a Pilate's lesson. I feel like I'm improving at least I have some clue about the sequence of movements and such. She gave me a bunch of ab exercises to do on my own that target the lower abs that need so much attention.

basic morning

This morning I ran 3 miles in 27 min on the treadmill out of the pure convenience factor. It was boring and I am still sore from the leg exercises this weekend - but I got it done all the same. I stretched my legs and then did arm and upper body workout. My shoulder felt surprisingly ok and I did some core exercises.
For some reason I'm a bit shaky right now - I don't really know what it is about but hopefully it will resolve itself as I eat through out the day.

weekend in review

I started the weekend off with hot yoga fallowed by doing some weight training focusing on legs including a bunch of the pt exercises for my foot. I made sure to do extra sets on my left side to start balancing out. I also added a few bicep curls and shoulder presses while I did one leg squats on the balance board to make things more challenging. Kyle coached all day and said the skiing was really good at Alpental - I guess they even opened International.
Sunday I ran with Steph - who is still recovering from a broken rib and has only just started running a mile or two - so we took it easy and just ran around Beaver lake. It was very cold and the roads still had some snow/ice along the sides. Parts were super slippery. I felt really good and even though my legs were a bit sore from working out yesterday it just felt good to run again.
I considered going skiing today - but Kyle called and said it sort of sucked - frozen and they did not groom so it is just bumpy and hard. I guess I'm now officially a fair weather/condition skier. lol who would have ever thought that would happen. I did watch some good ski racing on tv for a bit anyway.
Some wonderful news is that Colleen qualified for Boston today at the California International Marathon :) Yeah!! I know she worked really hard and she defiantly earned it.

I have been thinking a lot about whats next - since I don't have any races coming up for a couple months. First off I want to be able to run 10 miles with ease at a 9 min mile pace. I need to build my endurance and speed swimming. Build up and balance out my overall muscle strength esp in my core. Though mainly I need to not get bored and stay focused on the big prize/challenge of IMC - which I'm sure will be here before I know it.