Monster Workout Recaps

Poopers. I had written the entry of a lifetime last night, but it apparently did not save in Blogger! OK, so it wasn't the entry of a lifetime, but it was a good one. I had that feeling that you get when the term paper you've been working on for hours didn't save and now you have to start from scratch. Ok, so it wasn't that dramatic, but it was 30 minutes of my time gone like the wind. I'll recreate my original post tonight, but I want to recap the last week's worth of workouts for future posterity (i.e before I forget).

Monday, April 16th
In honor of the Boston Marathon (and my age group victory the day before), I took the day off! Shawn, Thon, Erine and I stayed home that morning to watch the race on TV and follow along with our friends that were racing in the deplorable conditions! Congrats to all who showed bravery and courage and ran the most prestigious marathon.

Tuesday, April 17th
The Gazelle Workout called for the "secret hill" workout. Being that I don't know where the secret hill is, I did my own hill workout that day. I did a total of 4 Meridan Loops. However, after each one, I went back down the hill and did 3 more repeats. The first and third loops, I went back down the final climb. For the second and fourth loops, I went down the first hill and did 3 repeats up that one. I wasn't going for speed, but good form and posture. Tried to look straight ahead and pretend that a rope was attached to my chest and was pulling me up. Good technique workout.

Wednesday, April 18th
Jog 2 miles to gym
50 minute spin class at 7am
Jog 2 miles home.

Jack and Adams Core Class in the afternoon (self-torture)

Thursday, April 19th
15 x 400m repeats on the Austin High Track
I ran from home to the Track as my warmup
My goal was to avg. 1:30 for the workout (6:00 min per mile pace).
1:31, 1:27, 1:30, 1:30, 1:31, 1:29, 1:29, 1:30, 1:32, 1:29, 1:31, 1:30, 1:31, 1:31, 1:25

Friday, April 20th
12 Mile Run with Thon and Mike. We started from Stacy Pool. I was coming off of a media gala the night before so there were definitely some cobwebs and cotton mouth to tend to. It's amazing that I can drudge through a 12 mile running feeling about 50%.

Saturday, April 21st
9:00am Yoga class and that was all I could muster for the day. I had visions of bike rides and swimming, but neither happened on that Saturday. However, we did make marathon trips to Crate and Barrel and Bed, Bath and Beyond to update our registry and look at some new items. I can feel the wedding taper beginning.

Sunday, April 22nd
We braved drizzly conditions to put in a 30 mile bike ride in the morning. We also braved a couple of flat tires along the way. We both felt good overall, but weren't pushing speed because of the wet conditions.

Around 5:30pm on Sunday evening, we headed to the Pool and I got about 1400 meters in complete with 16 x 50s on the :15 as the main set. I was pretty much dead on at 1:00min for the overall avg. My range was :59-1:02, but the bulk were 1:00min flat. If nothing else, I'm consistent.

1:00, :59, 1:00, 1:00, 1:00, 1:00, 1:00, 1:00, 1:01, 1:02, 1:01, 1:01, 1:00, 1:01, 1:02, 1:02

Monday, April 23rd
Met Thon for an 8-Mile recovery run. We took off from Barton Springs and soaked for about 10min afterwards. I'll be damned if we weren't singing the praises of Gilbert and talking about how he shows up when you least expect it when OUT OF NOWHERE he appeared on the trail in front of us!! We were all in very unusual areas for us (near barton springs pool), but there he was to say good morning and flash that Gilbert smile. It's like he just appears to let us know he's watching. It was a joy to start my morning with some good karma.

Jack and Adams Core Class in the PM. Yes, we question ourselves the entire time we're there, but damn it feels good knowing I can now hold plank pose for over 4 minutes straight, among many other core exercises.

Tuesday, April 24th
So, I just really didn't want to climb the hills of Wilke this morning. Instead, I got out of bed and went to Barton Springs at 6:30am for a swim before the rain came. It was a little more crowded than usual this morning because Texas Iron Tri club does their open water practices on Tuesday morning (Pro greats Andrea Fischer and Jamie Cleveland's group). I forgot my watch today, but my original goal was to swim 1 mile or 4 laps. The first lap was smooth and uneventful. The second lap--not so much. Who knew that swimming could be such a contact sport?! The good part about Barton Springs? It's awesome training in the open water. The bad part? For the first part of the morning, you're swimming in dark water under a dark sky with no lane markers. I was trying to settle into a breathing pattern when I had a sudden, massive head-on collision with another swimmer who was heading in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, it was one of those accordian-like moments where I could just feel my nose and neck scrunch up upon impact with this dude's head. I know he was going full speed and there was no indication that either of us was heading towards each other. Naturally, we both stopped and I had one of those slight panic moments where I couldn't catch my breath and I was absolutely positive that my nose was dripping with blood from his noggin' impact. He actually had to hold on to me (very graciously) for several seconds while I caught my breath again and became reassured that my sniffer was still in tact. We both apologized profusely, understanding that it just happens. Man, I wanted to get out right then and there. I was going through one of those " I knew I shouldn't have come here today" moments. My face hurt and my pinky finger on my right hand hurt really bad. I'm sure I just crunched it hard against him when we collided and it bent the wrong way. No broken bones or anything. Just broken pride. I continued on my way and kept muddling through the self-doubt talk.

I finished lap two barely and just took about a 30 second break and talked myself into continuing. By this point, the sun was actually rising so you could sight a little better. Lap 3 came and went and I calmed down. Lap 4 actually felt really good and even paced. I was supposed to be done, but my breathing and effort had reached a steady pace. I went ahead and did an extra lap to practice bilateral breathing.

I was very satisfied when I did finish the workout. Like I said earlier, I didn't have a watch and I'm sure my swim times were slower than they have been recently, but I was more encouraged by 1.) the fact that I didn't quit when I really REALLY wanted to 2.) the fact that my effort for those 5 laps steadied off and got almost rhythmic on the last two laps 3.) the fact that I could've actually done another lap or two if I wanted to.

While my nose is still sore from the head-on impact by super tri-stud (who probably saved me from drowning), it's still better than facing the Wilke demon this morning. If it's not pouring down rain this afternoon, I may head over to that hill and have a head-on collision with it before my 6:30pm Gazelle meeting.