Thursday 12/10/09

I said I would go swimming this am, but decided to sleep in. That extra 2 hours did me wonders.
I will swim tomorrow...
Dory is still saying "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming......."

TGIAF (Thank god it's almost Friday).........

Wednesday 12/09/09

Wednesday AM, another swim workout on the schedule. Another frigid morning greeted me as I went to my car at 4:50 AM. The Mazda was again covered in frost, but I had my trusty new Ice scraper to solve that problem. It worked like a charm.

This was a little shorter than yesterday's yardage, which was fine by me. I was in the pool by 5:10 and doing my warm-ups. I felt tired in the arms from yesterday's workout, but my legs felt recovered from Saturday's workout. I had cramped badly in the pool on Saturday and felt it 3 days later.

I got through my drills without incident and started on the meat of the workout. Nothing major to report. I feel my form coming along. Mike had me work on "3 switches drill". I got the idea of where he wanted me to be with my form, but felt it to be exhausting. Basically, he wants me to start my rotation with my kick, then my hips and into my shoulders. I need to roll more on my side when I am not breathing.

The rest of the workout went well, like I said it was shorter than Tuesday's workout.

I tried a flip turn for the first time in 30+ years. I 'll need to continue working on the form for those. The flip turn was NOT pretty or graceful.

I was supposed to run tonight for 45 minutes. That didn't happen.
Thursday AM is supposed to be a bike, I think I'll continue swimming.

Dory from "Finding Nemo" comes to mind,

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming,...."

Tuesday 12/08/09

Today marked another swim. When I woke this am, I had no idea what to expect outside. Snow yesterday and supposed to be as cold this am. I got to my car at 4:50 am and noticed a 1/4" of ice covering every window of my car.
Hmmmm... I wonder where my ice scraper is? I haven't used it in 13+ years that I have been living on the West coast. Check the trunk, no luck!!!
"Oh look it, an old Altoid box. that's a perfect ice scraper"..so 20 minutes later, my car is now clean enough to drive. Note to self, buy scrapers for Meenu, In-laws, and myself.

So I get to the gym a little later than I wanted to start my workout. This is my second day of doing group 2 workouts. I do the warm up and then the drills. No problems, no excitement.

Then comes the meat of the workout, 3x 2x100 L5 Huh???? Anyways, I will need to ask for clarification on this one. I swim what I think it is. 100 yards, six times...well it made sense in my mind.

I did it, but was pretty tired and I know my form got sloppy at the end. Tomorrow will be better, because I am supposed to meet Mike in the AM. He keeps me focused.
3rd swim this week. Yikes!!!!

I am listening to the radio on the way home from the gym, when there is a news report that planes are delayed in San Jose because the airport does not own a De-icing Machine. I am not going to lend the airport my new scrapers, but I will give them my used Altoid box.....

Until tomorrow....

Monday 12/07/09

Mondays are our scheduled day off. I have been going to the pool each Monday for the past few weeks to workout with Coach Mike. Today was no exception.

My alarm went off at 4:40 am and I arose. I was a little sleepy this am as I walked down the stairs to pour my coffee. I slipped out the front door and was greeted by the brisk December air.

Oh, look, we had some precipitation. It was cold out and the streets were wet. I did not notice the extra cover on my car as I got in and turned it on. It wasn't until I turned on the windshield wipers, that I noticed through my morning blurry closed eyes, that there was snow on my windshield!!
Snow??
This is the Bay Area, we don't do snow!!!!
But yet last night, it snowed in the Bay Area. I know it is short lived, but for a few brief hours this morning, I could dream of a White Christmas again. Then I thought about the complete havoc that would be thrust upon the people of the Bay Area and I thought better of it.
OK, on to the workout.

I did my warm up before Mike arrived. He still wasn't there when I was finished with the warm up, so I started on my drills. I finished my drills and still, NO Mike!!!
I had spoken to Mike on Sunday and we discussed me doing the swim marker that I had missed last week, so swim marker it is.

An 800 yard marker (that's 32 laps) at a Level 5 rate. Nice and steady.

I felt pretty good through the swim. I started to tire and instead of stopping and resting, I switched to the breast stroke for one lap and the crawl for the return lap. That worked pretty well, as it kept me moving.
I finished in 22 minutes. I guess not bad. I am not sure if I made the 32 laps, may have been more, may have been less. I got confused with my counting. It is not as easy as it sounds!!!

Still no sign of Mike. I hope he is OK, as Californians can't drive in the rain, never the less the snow. I found out later that he lost his power due to the storm, another way to toss CA into a tailspin.

I was driving home and it started to snow slightly. I love that type of snow. It is sooooo peaceful.
I pulled Meenu outside when I got home to show her the snow falling. She didn't seem as thrilled as I was, but she's a CA girl.. But then she's My CA girl... I love my CA girl....

Later.....

Sunday 12/06/09 Workout

Today is a bike workout.
Its windy and cold and only a 19 mile marker ride.
The Patriots are playing(Go Pats!!!!)
I am taking the day off.

Hasta....

12/05/09 Coached Workout

Saturday 8:00 AM
After a bad week of workouts, I went to the coached workout today feeling under prepared. We were to run, swim and have a core workout.
We started with the run. A mile warm-up followed by 800 repeats. We were teamed up in groups of three. One person ran a lap, who was joined by person two for the second lap, and then was joined by person 3 for the third lap while person 1 rested. We were to do this for 10 each 800s. So we were to run 5 miles. Unfortunately the coaches stopped us in the middle of our 6th 800, so we only ran 3 miles.
But off to Iron U for some Nutrition training. I have been through lots of these over the years and I always feel bad afterward because I don't follow their lead. I don't eat poorly (Meenu won't allow it), but I don't want to count my calories or my percentage of protein to fats. I just don't care to be that anal about my intake. I gave up smoking and I don't drink a lot anymore and I have never been a fan of fast food, so I am not going to ruin my love of food and love of eating by weighing my food and counting each and every fat gram and calorie. I don't eat a lot of red meat, but love an occasional steak. Lots of chicken and fish, only whole wheat breads, veggies and yogurt daily. OK, so maybe I will not be the best endurance athlete out there. Newsflash... I am not going to win the Ironman Triathlon. I am going to survive it and come out the other side a little stronger in mind and in body. Maybe that is the wrong attitude to have and I will check on that mindset further into the training but as I trained for the Death Ride twice, it was always a survival attitude. I wanted to do well, I wanted to get up the hill faster and easier than I did the last time, but I knew I was not going to win. The only competition was really within myself. Can I do it??
The answer is "Yes, I can!!!!!"

After Iron U, it was off to the pool.
I felt stronger today. My stroke is coming along. I was having some cramping issues in my calves. Weird, because I was drinking lots of water, had electrolytes and also had a couple of endurolytes. Very odd...I will need to keep an eye on that.

Coach Mike asked me to start doing the Group 2 drills instead of the group 1 drills. Moving me up, that's a good sign. I am feeling better in the water and know it will come with time. I have made lots of improvements and will continue to work on my swimming.

Coach Dave cancelled the core workout so we went out for pizza instead. The Nutrition expert said it was OK, so I will follow that lead.

Until the next time......

Week of 11/29-12/04/09

Not a good week for me for training...
Sunday I was supposed to swim and run... I watched football...
Monday was a day off, so I swam with Coach Mike for an hour. Swimming is improving.
Tuesday was a bike for an hour.... I took the day off.
Wednesday was a run.... I swam for an hour with Coach Mike. More improvements in my swimming.
Then my work week went to hell...
I was at work until 11:15 PM on Wednesday night and back there at 6:00 AM Thursday.
The presentation I was prepping for went well but there was no workouts happening.
Thursday was a swim marker... I took the day off..
Friday was strength/core workout.... I took another day off....
Not one of my better weeks.
Must improve on that.