Quick mid-week check-in

It rained the other day. I got wet.

I've been busy all week with work and training, which I guess is a good thing because I've been hitting all my swim-bike-run workouts.

Tuesday afternoon it started raining before my usual run time. My boss caught me looking sadly out the window and scolded me: "No, you cannot go running." OK, that was funny. I kept an eye on the radar and when the skies cleared a bit I decided to go for it. I ran 3 out to the water fountain when I turned around to head back to my car...

It started raining again. I hung out under the roof for a bit (and drank lots of water!), but eventually decided to go for it. I got wet, of course, but it felt refreshing. And everyone knows running in the rain makes you even more of a badass.

I was at the very end of yesterday's run and I must not have been paying attention because I stepped on a stick and turned my ankle... BADLY. I had to take a break and walk gingerly for a few minutes before I was sure I would live. I did finish my run, but very carefully. It's a bit tender today but didn't bother me at all on today's run -- whew.

One more early early morning tomorrow and then my usual weekend full of training. My goal is to get up and moving before late afternoon so I'm not training 'til 8 p.m. on the weekend. And maybe have some fun in the process, too.

Week in review July 6-12: A LOT of running

That's a lot of running miles.

Another decent week in the bag. Of course I would have liked to swim and bike more, but my running game was on point this week. Small victories.

I got a bit of a slow start because I took one of the mutts to the vet on Monday to get a boo-boo looked at, but I was able to jump in to the rest of the week strong Tuesday morning.

Swim: Twice in the pool and once in the lake for about 8650 yards in about 3.5 hours. My pool swims were pretty slow, but my lake swim was my fastest time (but not shortest distance!) across and back, so I'll take it.

Bike: I missed my Monday evening recovery spin for the vet, but I managed twice on the trainer in the early mornings for an hour, and one blah road ride of 53.5 miles. In all it was about 5.5 hours in the saddle.

I just had a hard time getting going on my ride. I started the day with a nice breakfast and important errands. But I had taken my wheels off to get my bike to fit in the trunk, and it made all kinds of unholy noise once I put it back together. (Turns out my front wheel was a bit crooked.) The miles were ticking by SOOOOO SLOWLY. I seriously considered bailing more than once. I made a compromise with myself that instead of doing full laps of the park, I'd do a few shorter laps of the flatter and speedier part to bring up my mph average. Lame? Maybe, but it put me in a better headspace and I actually started to enjoy myself. I'd wanted to do 55, but when I got back to my car at 53.5 I figured it was close enough.

Run: Another rock star week! SIX, count 'em SIX, runs this week, for a whopping 46.25 miles in just less than 7.5 hours. Are you kidding me? And I'm actually feeling OK afterward. That worked out to two easy runs, a failed speed run that became another easy run, a medium distance run, a long run of 16.25 miles, and a 2-mile brick after my ride.

I think I pulled one 50-mile week last marathon training cycle, and that was later in the cycle, so I hope this is helping set me up for good things this season. As for the failed speed run, I'm not too worried. It was the first warm day after a stretch of a few cool ones, and my legs just didn't want to go. Eh. At least I got the miles in.

Other: Nothing. Again, I could have stretched or done this or that, but... I replaced that with activities like sleeping in and hanging out with my friends.

Total: 12 sessions in just more than 16 hours. Not my best week but pretty darn close. And I got to see this for what might have been the first time:

Triple digits!

This week is pretty much a repeat, although I'd like to do a slightly shorter ride followed by a longer brick, and a step back "long" run on Sunday. So the mileage should be about the same, just shuffled around a bit. I'm making it a goal to get going a bit earlier on the weekends. I don't need to be out of bed by 5 a.m., but not starting my bike rides 'til 3 p.m. isn't doing me any favors.

Less than 6 weeks 'til Michigan Titanium and less than 100 days 'til the Freep marathon. Eeeek!

Off to a late start pretty much all weekend long

Train early, or have someone else make this for me?

It's been a whirlwind weekend.

Friday I kicked off the weekend with a failed attempt at speed work. Then my husband and I went out to a lovely dinner.

Saturday we went out to breakfast (I know, two meals out back to back), hit the farmer's market, and ran a couple other errands. By the time I got out to the state park to swim it was well into the afternoon. I didn't even start my bike ride until after 3 and my quick brick run until almost 7.

Today was more of the same: I had every intention of getting up at 6:30 a.m. to go run, but there was rain on the weather radar, and I decided to go back to bed. Two hours later (!) it was time to make breakfast and go grocery shopping, and it was still muggy and gross, anyway. I didn't start my 16-miler today until after 2 p.m.

I know conventional wisdom says to train first thing in the morning, even on the weekends, but there are times when I can't make it work or, really, just don't want to.

My husband does his own thing during the week and we like going out to breakfast on Saturdays to reconnect. Plus, now that I am doing 50-60 mile bike rides, if I left early to train I'd be lucky to be done before the farmer's market closed. So training gets put off for a few hours.

I can make 10-12-mile runs work first thing in the morning on Sundays, but when I start getting into 14 and 16 miles at a time, it's a little trickier. Like today -- and man oh man, did that extra sleep feel good. I know I don't sleep enough during the week. It can't be so terrible to want an extra hour or two on the weekend, right?

So, for now at least, I'm not going to feel guilty about training in the afternoons when I have to or just don't want to get up early. It's all part of juggling what precious little free time I have. As long AS the training sessions happen, I don't think it matters too much WHEN they happen.

Plus, come on -- breakfast dishes that someone else washes? That's a luxury everyone should partake in at least once a week.

Race Report: Independence open-water mile and Aquathlon

My kind of bling.

I wasn't expecting great things for these races, considering my swim has been "meh" at best lately. But if you set the bar low enough, you might surprise yourself with a victory. I ended the morning with a 50-second PR for the mile and a 6-minute PR for the run-swim-run, although I'm confident the swim course was short.

I hadn't gotten very good sleep the night before. My alarm was set for 6 a.m., and around 10 p.m. the fireworks started. My lab mix is terrified of the loud noises and had to lie as close to me as possible... meaning lie directly on my chest for most of the night. Things calmed down at about midnight but I feared I wouldn't be going into this race full throttle.

Full night's sleep or no, I was up and at 'em early, ate some potatoes and drank some coffee, took the mutts out, gathered up my stuff, and drove the hour to the lake. I've done this race twice before (last year's recap here) but for some reason I couldn't remember how to get to the park! I found the lake, and drove up and down subdivision streets surrounding it, but couldn't figure out where the race was. I started thinking it had been held the day before. Finally, I spotted the cones marking the run course and started following them like a mouse does cheese. I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare, which, for this very laid-back race, was plenty.

I hadn't yet swam open water without a wetsuit this year, but I knew I didn't want to be shrugging it on and off again during the Aquathlon. I got in the water -- a bit cool, but not bad -- for a warmup without it, and after paddling around a bit, I was fine. The organizers went over the course, gave us a countdown, and we were off!

It was two laps around the lake and I let the faster swimmers get ahead of me (story of my life). I tried to swim strong and smooth, anchoring my hand in the water and pulling my body. There was a bit of scuffle around the buoys but nothing too bad. Back to shore, around the start buoy, and back again. I had a bit of trouble swimming in a straight line (again, story of my life) so I just made sure to sight every 6 strokes or so. That's a lot of sighting, but I didn't want to go off course.

I finished feeling good as I swam until I touched bottom and stumbled to shore. I looked at the clock to see a 36-something. Woo hoo! My official time was 36:41, a 50-second PR. Since I wasn't expecting a PR at all, I was pleased.

With a 36-minute mile swim time, I had 25 minutes until the run-swim-run started. I had a Gu, used the ladies' room, and put on shoes and socks. We had to wear or carry our race numbers for the second run portion, and I had forgotten my race belt! Thinking fast, I pinned the number to the sleeve of the shirt I had worn to the race, thinking I'd tie it around my waist as I took off. I saw a handful of ladies with their numbers pinned to their visors -- genius!

Another quick review of the course, another countdown, and we were off! It was a 2K run loop, another swim, and the same 2K run loop again. I started near the back and settled into a steady, strong pace, leaving slower runners behind one by one. There were a few short and steep hills and I just told myself, Power through the hill! It only sucks while you're running up it! Ha. Back to the beach, kick off my shoes and socks, grab my goggles and swim cap, and into the water once again. The swim was FAST and I'm sure it wasn't the 750 m advertised. Extrapolating my mile swim time, it was probably closer to 600-650. Before I knew it I was back at the beach, fresh socks on, shoes on, grab my hat and glasses, grab my shirt with my number pinned on, and off I went!

I came out of the water with a pack of about four other women. I didn't want to surge too early in case they were faster than me, but I was able to steadily drop them one by one. I was running strong and feeling good. I picked off a couple more people as we went up the hills, around the park, and back to the beach. I crossed the finish line in 32:55, a ridiculous 6-minute PR, which I know isn't accurate because the swim was obviously short. Assuming a 625 m swim, my run times were probably about 8-minute miles. (Like I said: Laid back race. No chip timing. We were one step above popsicle sticks.)

My time was good enough for third in my age group and a prize of a cool new coffee mug. Yay! Then, I headed home and took a glorious 2.5 hour nap. I had barely worked out for an hour total, but it was a hard effort, and I hadn't slept much the night before. I probably could have stretched or ran another couple of easy miles later in the day but... I just didn't want to.

All in all, a great race, a fun time, and a good showing. And inspiration to keep working on those lake swims for my upcoming 70.3.

Week in review June 29-July 5: An extra day and ending on a high note

Pretty even training ratios across the board.

I took advantage of an extra training day this week with the long weekend. I may not have gotten up as early as I wanted to, but I had a solid bike ride, some decent run miles, and my best swim volume in a long, long time.

That swim volume was mostly due to two races Sunday, an open-water mile and a run-swim-run Aquathlon. I'll get the race report up soon, but the TL;DR is: Set your expectations low and you'll be pleasantly surprised when you exceed them.

Swim: Five times, if you count the races as two separate swims: Twice in the pool, one training swim in the lake, and two races in the lake. This works out to be just under 11,000 yards in just more than 4 hours, which is probably my highest-volume swim week ever.

Bike: Three times, twice on the trainer and one great 52-mile ride on the road, for just more than 5 hours. I saw an average speed I haven't seen in a long, long time on my road ride, so I am hopeful that I am making progress.

Run: Four times, all on the road, for 29.5 miles in about 4.5 hours. I mean, I would have thrown another half mile on somewhere had I know it was going to be THAT close. That worked out to one medium-distance run, one easy run, one (painfully) long, slow distance, and one race that included 4K (about 2.5 miles) total running.

Other: Nothing. I could have gotten in some stretching after my race Sunday, but instead I took a glorious 2.5-hour nap.

Total: 12 sessions in about 13 hours, 40 minutes.

Not a bad little week. Sadly, most weeks I do have to work five days, but I'm happy to take advantage of some free hours here and there when I do get them. It might be for a 2.5-hour nap, but I'll take advantage one way or another!

Long weekend training: A good swim, a deteriorating run, a great bike, and a race tomorrow!

This weather should not have kicked my butt.

It's a three-day weekend, hooray! Happy Independence Day to my American readers. And happy belated Canada Day to my northern (southern from Detroit!) friends.

I had plans to get up early Friday morning and hit the state park for a swim and run as soon as it opened at 8 a.m. Can I just say: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. That did not happen. To be fair, though, I did run several errands after work Thursday, going for my run, then hitting the grocery store, then watering my garden before heading home for a late dinner and relaxation time. On Friday, I slept in and lounged around a bit before heading out to the park at the more reasonable hour of 10 a.m.-ish.

It hadn't really warmed up yet and it was a perfect swim across the lake and back without any holiday crowds. The water was right on the cusp of wetsuit temperature and I did wear mine, although I've never worn one for the open-water mile I'm doing tomorrow and I have yet to do a lake swim without one this year. Well, I'll just have to get in the water early and splash around a bit. Yesterday's swim was the fastest I've gone across the lake and back yet this year by about 10 seconds, so I'll take that as a success!

After my swim I ate a Gu and a banana and changed into my run clothes before heading out for an easy-ish 12. It was starting to warm up a bit but was still a clear and beautiful day. The first half felt great. Then I started feeling crappier and crappier. Every step hurt, I was getting tired, and I seriously considered cutting it short. I ended up taking a break in the shade at about mile 9.5 and refilled my water bottle. I finished the run, but I kept squirting myself with water so I'd stay cooler. Ugh -- I was dying!

I checked the weather and saw it was only 76 degrees with 48% humidity, which is practically nothing this time of year. The dew point was at 55 degrees, which is high-ish, but I've run in higher with fewer problems. Not to be gross, but after a trip to the bathroom I realized I was pretty dehydrated. Aha! After more water and an iced latte I felt like myself again.

Note to self: 12 miles is nothing to sneeze at, so make sure you are prepared ahead of time! I hadn't had much to drink that day other than coffee, and I sure paid the price. Luckily, I learned that the easy way. I'll be better about my water intake before long training days for the rest of the season.

Today I wanted to get in a decent bike ride so I headed out to a local route that is closed to traffic for a few hours on Saturdays during the summer. I was later than I would have liked (story of my life), but I did have a nice breakfast and make it to the market beforehand. I ended up doing 52 miles at an average speed that I don't think I've ever seen before. Now, this route is much flatter than the state park, but it still felt good to be putting in some solid work. Proof positive that my bike is improving, ever so slightly.

Tomorrow I'm signed up to race an open-water mile and run-swim-run Aquathon, which I did and wrote about last year, too. Honestly, I'm not expecting great things. My swim hasn't really been on point, especially recently, and the run parts of the race aren't really long enough for me to make up time for a bad swim. But, more importantly, this is a very relaxed, very fun race, and a friend and former coworker will be doing it with me. Plus, the open-water mile will help gauge where I need to improve for my upcoming 70.3.

Here's to three-day weekends and that extra day of solid training!

June in review: Not bad, considering I lost a week

Hours trained this month.

I'm a few days behind. I had an evening commitment Tuesday, errands yesterday, and today was a loooooong day of swim --> work --> run --> groceries --> garden --> finally home 15 hours later for dinner, relaxing and blogging. I have tomorrow off work, but as I'm writing this it's not even 10:30 p.m. and I'm already in bed with my dogs. Rock star.

June got off on the wrong foot. Driving to work on the 1st, my car crapped the bed. The next week was car shopping, previous commitments, being driven to and from work, and going out of town for the weekend. But I was able to jump right back into it by the following Wednesday, and while my mileage is still low for the month, I think it's respectable considering the circumstances.

Monthly swim totals.

June's weekly swim totals.

Swim: Not terrible, but I only got in 7 swims all month -- 5 in the pool and 2 in the lake. That works out to just under 20,000 yards, or 11 miles. I know that would have been better with reliable transportation, but I got in the water when I could and swam decent yardage when I did.

To compare: Last month I swam 10 times for just less than 30,000 yards, or 16.5 miles. But last June I swam 8 times for 15,750 meters (just less than 10 miles). So if nothing else, at least I am swimming more when I do make it to the pool.

Bike: 13 sessions, and only 1 on the road for 45 road miles. This is where life just got in the way, with going out of town one weekend, errands taking longer than expected another, and rain yet another.

To compare: Last month I was on the bike for the same number of sessions for about 45 minutes longer (so actually not too bad of a drop!) but rode on the road 4 times. However, last June I only rode 10 times, so I am getting in the saddle more often. And that has to be good!

Monthly run totals.

Run: This is where I felt like a rock star. Even though I only got in one run that first, crazy week, I still managed 125.5 miles in 15 runs, all on the road, for the rest of the month. My long runs are feeling good and I'm doing some decent speed work.

To compare: Last month I ran 135 miles in 20 sessions, so I'm running a few more miles here and there when I do lace up my shoes. However, the comparison to last June is night and day: Last June I only ran 46 miles. Now, I was out of town for a week last June, but still. I'm feeling much better about my run this year.

Side notes: I really considered going out for a 4.5-mile run after my evening commitment Tuesday, June 30, so I could have an even 130 miles for the month. But by the time I got home, I didn't feel like it. So I went to bed early and started the month off right with a 5 a.m. bike session instead. =)

And, I've run at least 100 miles every month for the past year except November. I'm pretty close to being on track of my goal of 1,500 miles in 2015, too -- I expect that when marathon training kicks up a notch, I'll get ahead of the needed average of 125 miles per month.

Other: I only did yoga once this month and nothing else. Blah! I just don't have the hours to make it work unless I start letting other stuff go. And, sadly, I do need that pesky job thing.

Other side notes: I hit more than 115 frickin' hours for the year trained in both bike and run this month. Holy cow!  That's almost three full work weeks. Each! For all that work, you'd think I'd be better on the bike -- haha.

It's going to be more of the same this July: Be consistent about getting in the pool and lake. Get my bike on the road more often and build my long rides to the 50-mile range. Keep running shorter during the week, build my long runs every other weekend and continue doing speed work. And for the love of God, do some yoga, strength training and pre-hab.