Weekly Totals

For the week of Jan 22-28:

Swim: 3
Bike: 4
Run: 2.7
Total: 9.7 hours
Total with stretch/core/yoga/pilates: 12.3 hours

I didnt make it to the weight room this week, and I need to step my core work back up a bit, as it is not as high as I would like.

Rocked Out

Well, the Rock Star theme party we had was super fun. Out costumes were awesome, and much fun was had by all.

Unfortunately, I am an idiot, and rocked my body too hard. I was quite hungover Sat, extremely tired yesterday, and am now possibly feeling the start of a cold today.
I am declaring my retirement from drinking. If I ever decide to have more than 2 drinks again in a night, I must be stopped and reminded of my foolishness.

Anyways, here are some cool pictures:









I am trying to cram alot of food/beverages into my body to facilitate a speedy recovery. I will be playing it by ear in terms of workouts today and the next few days. I am actually quite mad at myself. I cant really afford to be doing this, health and training wise, therefore I hope I have learned my lesson!

But at least I looked super coool!

Day of a Professional Triathlete

I spent Friday doing so many tri related things, it was almost like I was a pro. Except for all the homework I also did.
I woke Fri morning, and did 1.5 hours on the trainer doing the Mental Toughness Spinervals. I then made my way to pilates for an hour, and then came home for lunch. I did some homework, and then went to a bike store to investigate the purchase of a mountain bike. I then went to swim practice for an hour to cap off the day.

Granted, a Pro would have done alot more, and alot faster. I was pleased that I was not feeling tired or sluggish by the time it came to swim practice.

After the unseasonable warm spell we had earlier this week, the temperature has now dropped back to 'fricken cold'. I wanted to run in the morning today, so I went to the gym to snag a treadmill for my run. I ran for 1h20 all on the treadmill. I felt pretty good, and didnt have soreness that sometimes comes with indoor running for me.

So, I decided on the bike I want. I needed to go down to the store to see if the standover height would be ok for me, with my short little legs. The did not have the model I want in my size in stock, but I stood over another Kona model. There was not a ton of clearance, but enough. Plus I dont think I will find any shorter.

They are ordering my bike in for me, and it should be here in about a week. I am not super excited yet, but I bet I will be when I actually get it. I decided to go with the Kona Kula Lisa. Hopefully it gets nice again and I can ride it.

We are having a 'shindig' at our house tonight as a going away party for one of our friends. I shifted my weekend workouts, so I do not have to bike or do anything tomorrow. It should be nice to have a day off; hopefully I am not too hungover to enjoy it.

Running with Boys

At tri club lately, there havent been any girls for me to really run with. Which is fine, but that means I end up running with boys.
And hauling ass to keep up. It isnt really that they are boys, just that I seem to be the only girl with them alot of the time.
My choice is either run with them, or end up in no mans land, running alone, as the next group is quite a bit slower.

So for now, I haul ass. I figure it is ok to do once a week. Tonight the run felt pretty up tempo for me. It also included a large hill. Now I am tired.

Weekly Totals

For the Week of Jan 15-21:

Swim: 2.8
Bike: 4.5
Run: 2.6
Total: 9.87 hours
Total with core, strength, yoga/pilates, stretching: 13.2

This was a pretty good week. I got back into yoga/pilates which felt great. It just stretches me out in wonderful ways. I also went to the gym, and destroyed my arms, which was also good. I have had a bit of nagging hip tightness still, but I just need to stretch that out some more.

"Hello..."

"this is Paula Radcliffe. Congratulations, that was your longest run yet!"



I have been running with my Nike+, and I must say I quite enjoy it. I have not calibrated it, so the distance is off, however, I feel quite fast as it tells me I have run much farther and faster than I can.
I ended up doing 1h12min for a run on Sat. I am starting to build the time up a bit.

I bailed out on going to the computrainer session this morning, and did the 2 hours 'Have Mercy' spinervals instead. I just was not feeling up to hauling my bike to school, setting it up, talking to people at 9 am, etc etc. It adds so much more time to the workout, and I had other stuff to do today.

That was the longest bike I have done it a long time, and it was quite high intensity. I thought I could last with just gatorade, but that didnt happen, and I was fading at about 1.5 hours. I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a Cliff bar, and I was then good to go!
I really need to start to practice my nutrional plan more, and try to figure out what I need.

Settling In

Well, this week has been pretty good so far. Mon, I had yoga and swim practice. Tues, at tri practice we did about 50 min spin, and a 45 min run, which was at a fairly good tempo and included a set of stairs. Wed, I had morning swim practice, and then did the 45 min Muscle Breakdown Spinervals. I'll get my quads huge yet!

Wed evening, a bunch of us girls went out for a drink and some appetizers, and a nice gossip/catch up session.
Thurs, tri practice was about a 55min spin, and then I went for a 40min run outside while others did a track workout. I tried to run a bit easier, with a lower heart rate and play around with my technique.
After practice, the club went out to a campus bar for a drink and nachos and fries. It was a nice gathering, and I filled my belly with food and a Strongbow.

Today, I had pilates and then hit the gym for some weights. It felt hard, but also good since I have not been to the gym much lately. I am sure I will pay for it later at swimming though.

When I was out last night, one of the girls there was talking about how she did both Ironman Australia and Canada last year. She is new to the tri club this term. Anyways, she moved to Australia for 6 months to train. She didnt work, just hung out and exercised in Australia, then did Ironman. It sounded extremely cool, but also something I think I would be too wussy to do. I like money. haha.
She then did Ironman Canada, and came in second in the 18-24 age group. She is quite a speedy gal!

I also got a nice compliment during Tuesdays practice. A guy just recently returned to the club after having been away for the summer/fall term. He commented to me that he was very impressed, as I had gotten so much faster. I never used to be able to run with him, but I was definately ok running at his pace, and perhaps even faster. Its nice to see improvement, and even more nice when other people notice!

I also updated the side panel of my blog with links to my planned races for this year. I am proud that I was able to do that without totally screwing up the site!

We are doing another Computrainer session this sunday. I think we are going to go a race on part of an Ironman course this time, so that should be fun.

Ironman

Weekly Totals

For the week of Jan 8-14

Swim: 2.6
Bike: 3.8
Run: 2.1
Total: 8.45
Total with core/stretching: 9.9

Well, I am not going to post my totals from over X-Mas break, as they are quite low. I didnt totally slack off, but I didnt do that much either. Tv/gingerbread/chocolate called my name.

My legs/knees were quite sore this week. I started yoga again today, and while I will probably be really sore tomorrow, I expect that it will help the general leg problems.

The time to be consistant and strong is here!
Only 222 days to go!

Awards

Today I had an awards ceremony for the School of Business, for some scholarships I won. They called us up on stage, handed us a certificate, and took a photo. There was a lunch buffet afterwards. Here are a few pictures:





It is really cold here again, so I havent been running outside this week. I got 3 good swim workouts in, and the usual bikes/runs. However, my knee started to bother me this week. It felt a little tight Wed, and then Thurs was quite tender. I couldnt really climb without it hurting. I tried to stretch really well, and use my massage balls on my legs on Fri, to relieve the problem. I did 1.5 hours on the trainer today, and both knees were a little tight, but not too bad. I think my hamstrings/quads are just really tight right now, and are causing knee issues. I start yoga/pilates again next week so hopefully that will improve things.

Tomorrow I plan on running. The forecast says it will warm up a bit to about -13, so hopefully it does and I can get outside.

Back to School

Well, I am back from Christmas holidays. I had a nice relaxing time. My workouts were a little less consistant, but I managed to stay fairly active. I also did some cross country skiing, which was a nice change.

Now it is time to get back into my regular routine. School starts tomorrow, as well as tri club practices.

I also made my training schedule for the next few months, right up to Ironman. It definately felt alot more real once I had the distances and planned workouts down on paper. It will be challenging, and I think I will be a very tired girl this summer.