Week 10: 10 Mile Run/30 min Swim

I'm down to the last few weeks of heavy training for the IM70.3 World Championship Race in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Of course, there's that part of me that just can't wait to turn it down a few notches and actually stay up past 10pm on Saturday night. Then there's that other side that's scared of becoming idle, becoming lazy, becoming complacent, becoming restless...Always wanting to turn the page to the next chapter before I'm finished with the one I'm currently reading.

I met Amy this morning at 5:45am for what became a decent 10-mile recovery run. After waiting for Thon for a few extra minutes, we headed off on the Longhorn Dam Trail with Mace in hand. It's the first time in a while that it was just the two of us. Neither one of us really wanted to do any speedwork today, so we turned it into a recovery run and still ended up around an 8:40 pace for the run. I'm still feeling the effects of needing a good massage in my lower back this morning. Everything else felt pretty good, surprisingly.

After the run, I headed over to Stacy Pool for a 30min straight swim with the hand paddles and pull buoy. Because I had just worked my legs on the trail, I was interested in working my arms in the water in hopes of gaining some strength and speed at some point. Essentially, you put the pull buoy between your legs rendering them useless in the water. It also lifts your lower body to the surface of the water. The paddles create a non-weight bearing resistance...It's almost as if you are pushing through a wall instead of just the water with your hands. I really tried to focus on every element of my stroke to figure out what is going on. Based on my coaching and verbal feedback, I feel like I'm swimming correctly, but I'm definitely not picking up speed. Nonetheless, it was a relaxing 30 minutes and I felt a little vindicated from yesterday's fiasco of a swim. I just wish the paddles were legal in a race! :-)

I'm gearing up for an interesting weekend in Ohio. The man and I are going to visit our families this weekend in Columbus and it also happens to be the weekend of the Columbus Marathon. Yes, the temptation to sign up on a whim is there, but I'm resisting the urge to run two marathons and one half-ironman in a one month span. I'm motivated, but not stupid. One of my brothers is running the full Marathon however so I hope to cheer him on at various points along the way! (and hope that he doesn't beat the family Marathon PR that I set in Boston this year with a 3:35!) Nothing like a little family competition to keep us all motivated!! I absolutely love running Marathons, but I get almost as much pleasure from watching others cross the finish line beaming with pride (and blood and tears and vomit and gatorade and gu and everything else that comes along with earning that medal).

In addition to the Marathon, we'll be spending time with our parents and families and doing a little wedding research. I'm looking forward to getting out of Austin for the weekend even though it's supposed to be in the mid-40s in Ohio. Freaking Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr (considering I'm still wearing flip flops and tank tops as of this morning!) It probably means no long bike ride this week, which is ok since I've put in a couple of back-to-back longer rides. I'll probably try to do something on Thursday morning, but my riding time is limited to actual daylight and the sun doesn't come up until about 7am these days! This week is about swimming more than anything. Even if they're short workouts, I want time in the water to get over some of this irrational fear and anxiety that seems to be sweeping over me.