When you arrive home from Tri camp too tired to unpack, at least take the almost full bag of Thomasville Whole Wheat Mini Bagels out of your messenger bag. Especially if you leave it laying on the floor.

If not, you may awaken to empty, ripped open bag and not a crumb in sight.

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Damn beast! She even ate her breakfast — on top of an entire bag of bagels. [before I knew the bagels were gone, that is]

For all you who give me crap for claiming Tryna as a brat, so there. She is.

And she loves bagels.

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There’s lots more to say. It was an endurance weekend for sure. And crazy to be surrounded by so many amazing athletes.

Today, I’m taking some much needed PTO. And aside from a meeting I do need to go into the office for later this afternoon, the plan is to rest, eat a ton and go shopping.

Oh yeah, and enjoy my much-needed 6:15pm massage.

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Weekend Itinerary:
Friday
6pm 30min easy run
7pm Bon fire at base camp location in Hoffman Park

Saturday
8am 60 minute masters style swim workout at the Karges pool on the campus of UW
River Falls
9am Recovery snack
10am UWRF Falcon Mini Triathlon (400-yard swim will be completed in the Karges
pool, followed by a 3.6 mile bicycle leg and a 1.8 mile run)
12pm Lunch at base camp
2pm Fully supported 3 hour semi-hilly bike ride
6pm Group dinner at local restaurant
8pm Bon fire at base camp

Sunday
8am Fully supported 90 minute run, begins and ends at base camp
10am Recovery snacks and discussion on proper train techniques
11am Fully supported 4 hour semi-hilly bike ride
3pm Recovery lunch at base camp
4pm End of camp debriefingDeath at a Funeral rip download Cry for Help dvd download Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny dvd download Guilt by Association dvd

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Man, where do I start?

So, last week, I posted right before I headed out for the Sunday ride with the cat-4 ladies. I knew the route and I was fully prepared to ride whatever I had to by myself in case I got dropped. When we met at the cafe, I knew it would a challenge. Not only were all the fast girls there (including a cat 3 and 2), but there were fast boys as well. I just gritted my teeth and promised myself to hang on as long as I could.

I stayed with the ride probably 1/4 of the way through. We made it to White Bear Lake (averaging around 22 mph — I love the benefits of riding in a pack). Then, on our way out towards Withrow (on the same road that is the Manitou tri bike course), I got dropped on the long hill. I just didn’t have the legs. The pack had increased the intensity. And I’d spend a fair amount of energy just trying to hang on. Annie

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was being really cool and trying to pull me back to the group. But, on that hill, I told Annie I just didn’t have it. The group soared off and I was shelled. Lucky for me, Annie wasn’t in the mood for a tough ride so she hung back with me. Soon, we caught up with another shelled rider, the boyfriend of the super-fast Cat 2 woman on our squad. The three of us did our own thing. When we stopped in Marine on St. Croix, we ran into the rest of the group so we spent some time hanging out with them while we ate our muffins and drank our Chai. The fast group wanted to climb hard on the way out of town. Annie and Nathan decided to stay with me. We rode to Stillwater and turned back from there. 68.5 total miles for me (more for Annie and Nathan who had to ride back to the cafe).

It was actually a really nice ride even though my legs were trashed. I think the swim and run from the day before had taken their toll. Riding up super-steep Myrtle on the way out of Stillwater was a chore — even on my super-fast carbon bike. Oh well.

I was glad I went. And my goal for the year is to go out for more and more of these rides and see how long I can stay on. It’s the only way I’ll get stronger.

Then, this week, I rested on Monday. On Tuesday, I rode with some women out to the Opus crit series after work to see James and other teammates race. James didn’t race until 7:30 pm. So, most of the ladies were gone by the time James finished. We rode back in the dark with some guys on the Grumpy’s team and it was my first time riding in a pack at night. Even with lights, I thought it was kind of scary. But I did okay. The ride was pretty much recovery-paced.

On Wednesday, to make up for my slow ride on Tuesday, I went on the hill ride after work. Sascha was there along with 14 other riders. I’d been on the hill ride a few times last year (and was usually the last up the hills). And this year was similar. Although, I did feel much stronger climbing up those hills than I did last year. That’s a good thing considering it’s April and early in the season. The effort was hard, but it if makes me stronger, it’s totally worth it. I was breathing so hard up some of the hills that my lungs got raw from the cold air and I was coughing all night long afterwards.

The funny thing about both those rides: I had my computer but it didn’t register. While we were riding out to Opus, my magnet was clipping the sensor. So, at a stoplight, I moved the sensor, but I moved it too far and it stopped registering. Then, I forgot to fix it except for when I would look down in a pack and think, “Hmmm… I need to fix that.” I’m a dork and still haven’t. Next time. We are planning on riding hills in Prescott tomorrow… It might be nice to actually see how fast the Diva is riding.

Other workouts this week included two 3000 yard swims and hill strides on Thursday. I’m just weight training once a week now for strength maintenance. And today, I just got back from a 10-mile run that I completed with the first five miles as warm-up and Zone 1-2 running. I then did a 20-minute tempo in Zone 3 and recovered the final 2.5 miles in Zone 1/2 (mostly 2). The run was nice. The temperature perfect. I think I started to bonk towards the end even though I did bring sports drink with me. I ate horribly yesterday and I think that had its consequences. Don’t ask — but eating only Doritos for lunch? Not a good idea. I felt like I had legs of concrete towards the end and now my lower back is a little tweaky. I still need to get in my 70-minute endurance swim and I’m so not looking forward to that. I usually love training, but some days, I just want to lay on the couch.

I’ve been working on the work-life balance thing. I’ve been finding time to train. But I haven’t been so hot in the “keeping the house in decent shape” area. I still have a closet full of winter clothes and the most cluttered office a person has ever seen. I’m hoping to squeeze in some of that this weekend, too. Especially since next weekend is tri camp.

Yay for tri camp!

There was a comment last week asking me about my swim workout. And since I did the same exact workout yesterday morning, I figured I should answer it. Especially since I know ya’ll are not perusing my Training Peaks diary daily. ;)

The swim I mentioned was “pyramid” and t-paced. The t-pace is basically my time trial pace. Every four weeks, my schedule has me doing check-in time trials. I swim 1000 yards as fast as I can and then divide that time to get my 100/yard pace — my t-pace. Currently, my t-pace is 1:53. So, when I have to swim at t-pace, that is the pace I aim to hit.

As for pyramid, that basically means in increase to a peak of effort and then a decrease. So, for this workout in particular, you start with a 100 yards, then do 200, then 300, then 400, then 500 and then you come back down with 400, 300, 200, 100 with rests 15 – 40 seconds in between each. I’ve also done pyramids in spin class where you sprint at intervals like 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 90 seconds and then back down 60, 30, 15. The pyramid usually has the longest effort at the top (i.e. in the middle) and that time/distance is the only interval not repeated.

Make sense?

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When one is a busy professional juggling the hobby of triathlon with all other regular life stuff, the weekends end up heavily loaded in training because, honestly, that’s when one can fit it in. As much as I schedule and plan, the work week is unpredicatable and I try to make up for what I can on the weekends. I also save those days for the long workouts since I know, most days, a 10 mile run or 40+ bike ride is out of the question. Sometimes, it’s hard enough just to squeeze in an hour.

That said, I can’t help but feel gypped some Saturdays when all that the day entails is working out, eating and resting. I have chores to do! Books to read! Socks to knit! (well, maybe not socks right now — but I’d like to knit a pair someday). As much as I love my training and this hobby, it’s tough when a day’s worth of workouts leave you trashed on the couch and what little energy you do have is spent showering and finding dinner. Especially when you know you need to get to bed early in order to do it all again tomorrow.

I whine, I know. But I do love the activity and today was a good day. I started it with a 3100 yard swim at the pool. I got up a little later than intended (slept it — it was one hell of a week). I was in the water about 9:30 am and the workout consisted of a pyramid T-paced workout of 100-200-300-400-500-400-300-200-100 intervals with minimal rest. It was tough. But I cruised along and I was pleased with my progress. I clocked in the full workout (like I said, 3100 yards w/WU and CD) in an hour and four minutes. I would have never been able to do that distance in that time last year.

After my swim, I headed home to refuel. An hour or so later, I headed out for my long run. I had 9 miles on the schedule and that included a tempo-workout in the middle. Basically, I warmed up for 30 minutes in Zone 1 & 2. I then did 4 sets of 6 minutes in Zone 3 (for me, between 153 and 159 bpm) w/2 minute recovery intervals. I ended the run with a final 30 minutes in Zone 2. I averaged a pace of 10:14/mile. It wasn’t my best run (I felt slow and tired — partly, I think, because of my morning swim). But it was a beautiful day. And even though I felt slow, I also had the recent memory of my 25 minute 5k from Sunday still fresh in my head.

After the run, I showered and re-fueled some more. I then became worthless and vegged on the couch with my doggie. James got home from his 70 mile ride and soon there were two Lockwoods in the living room just lying there, listening to This American Life without any motivation to do anything else.

We finally did get up. We were meeting friends for dinner and we need to pick up some cycling stuff at the local shop. I still need a computer and we were out of energy drink. Considering we have plans to ride tomorrow, we needed to get this errand out of the way.

The early 6pm dinner at the Birchwood was perfect, too. We were both starving and some Good Real Food was just what we needed. Our friends brought their 2 year old and it was entertaining watching him color his placemat and throw his truck around. We ended up at a neighborhood park where the kid could play (without running into diners) and we stood around talking and enjoying the (finally!) spring-like weather.

Now, it’s about bedtime. 10pm on a Saturday night. How pathetic is that?

The thing is, we *are* riding tomorrow. And I do need my rest. I’m attempting to ride with the fast girls tomorrow. It’s not a no-drop ride. I need to be ready to hang-in there and I’m nervous and scared. But I also know I need to ride with chicks faster than me in order to get better.

So here’s to some sleep and a successful ride tomorrow. No doubt, I’ll be on the couch tomorrow afternoon, too. Recovering.

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I had another bloody TT on Sunday. This time for my run. I dreaded it every minute leading up. I hated it as it the time slowly ticked away. I almost wanted to throw-up.

And I clocked in a 0:25:14 5k!

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That’s a 8:07/mile pace, my friends.

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Okay. I just set up a Twitter account.

That means I can update the Internet with my phone.

Weird.

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During this morning’s swim, I did 5 x 100s decending from easy to hard w/20 second rests in between. I then followed it with 2 x 100s at the hardest pace — this according to my training schedule. And I am estatic to report that my fastest 100 was 1:43! I think, last year, my fastest was 1:48. Sweet.

I was also a dumbass and read my workout wrong. I was supposed to warm up with a 300 easy swim and 6 x 50 drills of 25 drill / 25 swim. Stupid me read that as just the drill/easy swim  — a 300 yard warm-up instead of a 600 yard warm-up. As I finished my workout, I couldn’t for the life of my figure out why it said a total of 1700 yards – I kept coming out at 1400. Then I read it (for probably the billionth time) and it finally made sense. Woops! After all my talk about all my long swims — today’s 1400 yards was a shortie!

I also followed it with Jan’s yoga class. Awesome, as always. And she had a massage therapist in there so you could get up and get a 5 minute massage during class. Very nice, indeed.

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I had a personal best in the pool yesterday morning. My 1000 yard time trial came in at 18:56! That’s almost a full minute better than my best last year. And that’s a nice 1:53/100 yd pace — my official T-pace now. Sweet.

Add to that my tempo time trial this morning, a timed 1-mile run (after warm-up) @ 9-11 beats below my lowest HR in zone 5a. I ended up averaging 161 bpm for the mile (slightly higher than I should have — I should have been at 157). Ironically, I did the exact same tempo time trial in February at an average of 161 bpm. In February, my time was 9:14. Today, 9:10.

It’s only 4 seconds.

But it’s progress.

I take comfort in these numbers and am glad at times like these that I’m a geek and track this stuff. As off schedule as I’ve felt during my training this year, at least I’m improving. And all those long workouts in the pool must be paying off. I haven’t been getting in all the swims on my plan (I usually swim about 2x instead of 3x per week). But each swim is around 2700 to 3000 yards. Last year, most of my swims were between 1750 and 2200. I’ve also been concentrating on drills and form a lot. So nice to see the progress in the form of a number on the stopwatch.

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