"Launch" of Racing Flats & Mercury Rising

My new racing flats came in Monday and I was super psyched to try them out last night for my speedwork session.

The Brooks LAUNCH:

I think I'm in love. They were so light and springy. And flashy.

Last night was a scorcher for speedwork. At start time it was around 95*. That's hot for us folks up here. I was a little nervous about doing speedwork in the heat, but after living in Virginia Beach for a year and a half I knew I would survive. Plus the NW has the absolute perfect balance of dry heat and humidity. Not the freight train stopping humidity of VA. I don't know how you guys do it over there. Major props. I showed up prepared. I filled a small cooler with ice and water for water bottles and threw in a washcloth to ring out over myself in between repeats. Genius. Everyone was jealous. Suckers. That comes from spending every blessed weekend of the summer under the blistering heat for 8+ hours a day in tournaments. Highly recommended method. Before my warmup I took two salt tablets:

This is what I've been using and for those of you asking - they are working well for me. I recommend them.

Since it was so hot out Coach modified my workout. Instead of the plyos, core circuit, 4 x 1 mile & 4 x 400 on the schedule we did:

plyos, 2 hill loops, 2 x 1 mile

I think I thrive in the heat because I had one of the best workouts EVER. It might have been because I didn't do the core circuit tonight, but my intuition tells me it was the heat that had my blood pumping.

1st hill repeat - 2:12/174 bpm (4-6 seconds faster and felt almost effortless)

2nd hill repeat - 2:12/176 bpm (same)

1st mile - 9:16/170 bpm

2nd mile - 9:33/166 bpm

3rd mile - 8:58/173 bpm

That last mile I just went for because it was starting to cool down and I was feeling so freakin good. It was comfortable.

My heart rate was lower AND i was going faster the whole workout. WooHoo.

Reunion & Long Run

Before I get to the long run I have to share with you the good time I had Friday night. I've mentioned before that back in the day when I was in Jr. high/High school I played on a competitive fastpitch team. This team consumed my summers (happily) with softball tournaments EVERY weekend all over the Pacific NW since I was 13 and even traveling nationally a couple of times. Some players came and went because you had to 'try-out' every year to make the team, but there was a core group of us that were mainstays. After the team disbanded we all kind of went our separate ways, many played in college, or just moved away. Over the years we all kind of lost touch until recently and under not so great conditions. Our head softball coach's, "Coach D," wife died of cancer a few months ago and we began finding each other (thank-you Facebook). Many of us live spread apart, but a few of us still in the area were able to come to the funeral and be reunited. It was a very emotional time obviously and Coach D was pretty out of it. It was the first time we had seen him in years.

Coach D and his wife were such huge impacts in all our lives. Every summer for years we were under his tutelage. We were family. Although the circumstances were grim it gave us a chance to be reunited.

One of the girls "Brew" (we all had nicknames) who lives in China was visiting so we took the opportunity to have a "Scorps" reunion. (team name was Scorpions). There were only four of us girls and Coach D, but it was a blast! They rode a boat up to Gig Harbor (where I live) and we met at a local killer bar - Tides Tavern.

This is Coach D and I. He was such a huge impact in all our lives. Even though I had a present and very involved father in my life growing up, he was still a father figure and we were his kids. He was a retired drill Sergeant in the Army and he ran our team like a tight ship. I think that's probably why I am so disciplined when it comes to my running to this day!

Coach D taking a Tequila Shot. This was the first time we'd ever been able to drink with him. So funny! After a few + beers I decided to hitch a ride back to Olympia with them in the boat. I left my car parked downtown. Crazy!! I just wasn't ready to end the party. Plus the boat ride sounded so fun and I had never done that trip before. Teammate, me, Coach D

As a sidenote - the girl on my left, "Bulldog" was our pitcher and we were the biggest troublemakers on the team. Bad as in you probably didn't want your kids hanging out with us. We were trouble. One time at a tournament in Eastern Washington we stole alcohol from some of the parents and tried to get our team drunk. So bad. This totally contradicts the tight ship comment I made earlier, but on the field it was all about serious play - off the field, after hours...another story. To this day, I live by the motto: work hard - play hard. The girl in the front "Brew" was our catcher. She's was a blast.

Olympic Mountains straight away

For the record, this is NOT me. It's my trouble maker friend. The guy carrying her is Brew's brother (who was also a mainstay surrogate brother to the team). She was so shitfaced. He drove her home and I followed in her car back to her house.

He and I proceeded to hack into her facebook account and change her profile pic to this:

So funny. So mean. Such trouble makers.

Overall, it was the absolute best time and I'm so glad were able to reunite and stay in touch.

________________________________ So, the next day......

I got a ride back to my car the next morning about 7:30 and blew my chance to run with the group at 7:00. No problem, got this. I only had to run 14 miles which didn't really seem very far so I went home ate, hydrated, etc...

There were a couple of dicey moments, but overall it went pretty good.

14 miles/2:36

11:09 av pace/3,056 ft in elevation gain/163 bpm

I'm going to run down my mile splits and the elevation gain:

Mile 1 - 10:24/114 ft.

Mile 2 - 10:25/252 ft.

Mile 3 - 10:49/238 ft.

Mile 4 - 11:02/355 ft. Mile 5 - 11:18/169 ft. Mile 6 - 11:51/278 ft. (took salt tablets) Mile 7 - 11:10/244 ft. Mile 8 - 11:06/317 ft.

Mile 9 - 10:52/151 ft.

Mile 10 - 11:12/144 ft.

Mile 11 - 12:24/267 ft. (stopped to refill water bottles)

Mile 12 - 11:01/79 ft.

Mile 13 - 11:09/186 ft.

Mile 14 - 11:26/267 ft. So basically I can't get into a steady pace. I think for my longer runs of 18, 20, and 22 I will have to travel to run somewhere relatively flat. I think it's important to get my legs used to running on a flat course since I use my quads so much during runs around here and I wont be able to rely on them during the race.

I was super sore after this run. I took an ice bath so I'd hate to know what I would've felt like had I not. I guess it's has been a long time since I've run for 2 + hours. I did also tried some new fueling techniques that I want to document

FUELING:

toasted English muffin w/peanut butter & 1/2 banana

2 salt tablets before run

1 gel at 45 minutes (GU espresso love)

2 salt tablets at 1 hour

1/2 gel at 1:15 (Hammer raspberry)

1/2 gel at 1: 45

2 salt tablets at 2:00

slowly took gel throughout rest of run Last year I couldn't' take a whole hammer get, but this time around I don't think 1/2 is enough. I do like slowly taking a gel in over a five minute period. I think that's much easier on my stomach.

I also sipped on Ultima. It was good. Yay for no stomach problems.

Sorry this post was so long. Thanks for reading.

Week 11 of Project Suck It

I can't believe it's been almost a week since my last post. Have I really been that busy? No, maybe just lazy. Project Suck It in full force. Let me recap my last couple of runs: Tuesday - Speedwork 1.5 mile w/up, plyos, core circuit, 2 x 1 mile, 3 x 400 My overall strategy was survival:

Warm-up:

1.5 miles/9:47 av pace/155 bpm

Core circuit:

2 x 15 pushups

.20 mile - 1:45/175 bpm

2 x 20 tricep dips

.20 mile - 1:49/176 bpm

2 x 10 hamstring bridge (each leg)

.20 mile - 1:52/172 bpm

2 x 10 squats

.20 mile - 1:49/172 bpm

Speed work:

1 mile - 9:14/175 bpm

2:44 RI

1 mile - 9:40/175 bpm

6:47 RI*

400m - 2:05/163 bpm

1:29 RI

400m - 2:10/171 bpm

2:59 RI

400m - 2:00/170 bpm

_

Total - 7.61 miles

_

It was very hot. Well, hot for a native PacificNW girl. Weather.com had about 88*. I really just suffered through this workout. Part was due to heat, but major part was due to some pre-period constipation plague. After the mile repeats I actually went into the running store to go to the bathroom, but no luck. Gross. My times were obviously inconsistent. But as they say, even when speed work is bad - it's still good.

_

_

Thursday - hill repeats

2.5 mile w/up, plyos, core circuit, 3 x hill repeats

Warm - up:

2.5 miles/9:49 av pace/164 bpm

_

Core circuit:

2 x 15 pushups .20 mile - 1:48/173 bpm 2 x 20 tricep dips .20 mile - 1:44/175 bpm 2 x 10 hamstring bridge .20 mile - 1:42/175 bpm 2 x 10 squats .20 mile - 1:35/181 bpm

2 x 10 single leg squats

.20 mile - 1:36/182 bpm

_

My overall strategy for the core circuit was to run negative split intervals. SUCCESS!! While the emphasis is not on the run, it's on the core workouts I still wanted my legs to run strong while tired.

_

Hill Repeats:

The times for my hill repeats are a little sketchy. We ran a half mile loop with one hill of about 120 ft elevation gain. It was a continuous loop. I hit the lap button only once, on the approach of the hill. I don't know why I did it like this. I think laziness and the fact that I HATE hill repeats so this appealed to me.

_

1st loop - 5:03/173 bpm

2nd loop - 5:10/175 bpm

3rd loop - 1:24/180 bpm

(yeah, I stopped at the top of the last hill repeat)

_

Total - 7 miles

_

I need to review my hill strategy. Currently it's simply: "make it to the top without stopping while still having the energy to keep going once atop said hill" This is not good enough. I need to focus on form, strength, etc. I am just so sick of all these fu*king hills. A girl who recently moved to Gig Harbor said, "I like all the hills." To which I replied, "Girl, you haven't lived here long enough to say that."

_

Sometimes I take them for granted. When I lived in Virginia Beach there was not 1 single hill. The only slight elevation gain was a man made bridge over the inlet. I bitched about it often. It's a classic case of 'Be careful what you wish for.' I know I have an advantage, but there is just really no way to know where I am at pace wise because I will literally climb 2,000 ft in a for or five miler. It's both frustrating and annoying.

_

My new obsession: Become the powerhouse that looses people on the hills...at least until Thursday hill repeats are replaced with tempo runs.

_

Tomorrow - 14 miles

Weekend in Photos

It was time for new shoes. I had logged nearly 500 miles without realizing it. How fast that happened! I knew it was time for new ones on my workout Thursday night. I got the same ones: Brooks Defiance. I went 1 size bigger though. We'll see if this makes a difference on comfort/blisters etc...

before

No better way to break in a new crisp clean white running shoes than to go on a trail run with them

after

Coach also thought it was time for me to acquire a pair of racing flats for my speed work sessions. I'm psyched. We had to order them so hopefully I can get them later this week. They are bad ass! Finally, I get some sweet looking shoes. I'll wait to say any more about them until I can post a picture.

I'm also trying a new hydration method. Ever since I had a bad experience with Gatorade, I have never really been able to enjoy it. They will be using Ultima on the marathon course so I'm going to start using it now. They will also be using Liquid Gold Organic Energy so I want to try to get my hands on some of that. Anybody heard of it? I have no clue where to find it.

I only had a 8 miler this weekend so I didn't use it during my run.

After my run I drove to Port Angeles for my conjugal visit. It was so so so good seeing the hubbs. He is so cute and I adore him. He is such a great husband and provider and I am so lucky to be married to him. We had a great time at dinner and then went to the grocery store so he could get some snacks to take back onto the ship the next day. We were back to the hotel by 7pm. Perfect little date!

I took some pictures of Port Angles while walking around waiting for him to get ashore:

My hubby's ship

Isn't this the BEST name for a doughnut shop ever! I bet they have amazing doughnuts. Next time I'll try one.

So funny - an actual store dedicated to the Twilight series. I went in and had a good laugh watching the patrons. 3 teenage girls and two adult women. So funny. So into it.

The shirt says, "Kiss me - I'm Vampirish"

They had a map in the store where you could put a pin into the location where you were traveling from. I know know if you can tell, but there's probably a couple thousand pins on this map. They also had a world map doing the same thing.

And FINALLY I got to see my hubby. He is the bald guy with the backpack and sunglasses. So cute!

It was a much needed visit and hopefully I can do it again next month. Back to reality, which includes catching up on some blogs. I hope everyone had a great weekend.

Happy Monday!

Are you kidding me?

This morning I went for another OWS. First, let me preface. I hate the lifeguard buoy as is, but I really don't see a need for one especially when your wearing a wetsuit. My theory is: If you can't turn over and float on your back safely with a wetsuit - you have NO BUSINESS being out in open water. Seriously! So since it was an early morning swim I wore my wetsuit. Still, out of the kindness of my heart I offered to pull the buoy to the turnaround and then the owner of the buoy would pull it back to shore. Said owner also brought a couple of people with her. One I had met before. An amazing recent college competitive swimmer. Phenomenal swimmer. The other was a guy. Well we all took off (I toward the back since I was the sucker with the buoy) and it became obvious quickly that this guy didn't know how to effin' swim. What?! Ok, he could swim to survive, but not the head in the water kind of swimming. Are you shittin me? I stayed back at first because I didn't know if maybe it was just his first OWS and was trying to get comfortable but no. He didn't even have his goggles over his eyes they were just propped on his forehead over swim cap. Why he even bother donning swim cap or goggles is beyond me. I'm sure they were given to him by the college girl that morning. I was pissed! Everybody else was well on their way getting their workout on while I was stuck babysitting this douche-bag who should never have been out there in the first place. Me: "Don't you want to put your goggles on" DB: "No it's ok" Me: "You don't know how to swim with your head under water?" DB: "Not really, can you teach me?" Me: (insert irritated facial expression here) "This really isn't the place for that. You need to be in a pool" DB: "I just don't know how to breath out underwater, I keep wanting to breath in" Me: "why don't we just head back to shore so we can get there about the same time as the rest of the group" WTF? My girlfriends felt horrible especially the one who drove the guy to the lake (and the owner of the buoy) in the first place. She called me immediately and apologized profusely. Had she known the guy didn't know how to swim...yada yada yada. I know it's not her fault. She assumed college girl had good judgement and I would have done the same. I am over it now, but I was fuming all the way back to shore. On the way back he even said, "I hope I'm not holding you back. Am I holding you back?" Uh, whaaat. Are you the biggest idiot on the planet. I said, "Yes, of course your holding me back, but I'm not going to leave you out here when you can't swim more than 10 yards without stopping for a break." Crazy! Total waste of time and more importantly, lost opportunity to get much needed sleep. Never again will I pull that buoy!

Randomness

Lot's of stuff going on in my head this week. In no particular order....... Conjugal visit: Cross your fingers but I think I get a conjugal visit this weekend. My hubby's ship is supposed to be in Port Angeles Saturday and Sunday. The plan is drive up Saturday and spend the night. Come home Sunday. Cross your fingers. This changed two times already and I can't take the emotional roller coaster anymore. Up (excited), down (pissed). Speed work: Tuesday's speed workout was psycho (in a good way). I love speed work. It's my absolute favorite workout hands down. I'm too lazy to run down the details and I'm sure none you you care about it as much as I love doing it so I'm sparing you ;) In a nutshell I did TEN MILES total = w/up, plyos, core circuit, 4 x 1 mile, 3 x 400 The runner's high ran into the next day. OWS: This week I have been swimming like a fish. Triathlon season is full force so I have lots of people to swim with. I have swam twice at the lake this week already. It's my new favorite spot apparently. SEALS training: Besides the OWS I went to the pool yesterday to work on my open flip turn. This is new to me and it taking work to get it. I can do freestyle flips, but the butterfly and breaststrokes are different. It's weird to have to think about technique again. I'm liking it though! Also working on the breaststroke. Honestly, I have no idea what I look like. I've had a couple of college competitive swimmers give me tips but clearly not my best stroke. Also, on the pull ups front - I've been hitting that pull up bar like an animal. Those take so much work! I am going to hit three by August 8th if it kills me. Tri-bug: I have totally caught the tri bug but there isn't anything I can do about it right now. It's all about the marathon for me until October. I found this little piece of sweetness and I'm so down. I think I had a little bit of an orgasm while watching the video of the bike pre-ride. Bike course looks low on the technical scale. Portland peeps -- WHO'S DOWN for 2010?? Just watch a few minutes. Questions for the peanut gallery: Do any of you get massages? I'm thinking of getting one. How do they affect your endurance training? Do you recommend them? Tonight schedule: core circuit, hill repeats.

Long Run, Long Day

Yesterday I went to the Y for my new routine pathetic pull up workout. They only have three pull-up bars in the joint. One is a part of the big weight system that has all the cables. You know the one that always has about 5 -7 guys making love to for long periods of time. I'm not shy in the gym. I pay the same monthly dues as they and I know what I'm doing. I have no problem sharing weights or asking some big dude if he is done whatever. But this pull-up bar is literally covered by several men usually at all times. And I must admit, it's square center in the middle of the big weight room so everybody will see me do ONE BIG pull-up. Plus it's kind of high off the ground and I'm only 5'3" so that's a bit intimidating. This leaves me with one other option - the gym. On the wall there are two pull-up bars. One high, one low. Perfect. I don't care if people actively playing basketball take a peek, or if the geriatrics playing pickle ball watch, it's when a group of men are just staring, waiting for you to finish. Plus I can only do like two at a time so I do about 6 sets. Anyways, I went to my usual spot in the gym. There were some kids thing going on. A bunch of kindergartners learing to play hockey or something. After my second or third set a little punk kid came over to me: (ok, probably wasn't' a punk seeing as he was teaching kids how to play hockey but still..) Punk kid: This part of the gym is closed. We can't just have random people coming in here. Me: Do I look random to you? ( picture me. a girl wearing tennis shoes, sports bra tank, and running shorts. in a gym. doing pull ups) Punk kid: Well, it's just that.... Me: Not even to use the pull-up bar? Punk kid: Aren't there any other pull up bars here? Me: Yeah, the one in the middle of the weight room that is literally covered with "random" men. Punk kid: Ok, just finish up an leave. Yeah no kidding shit face. What did you think I was going to do? I can respect that they probably don't want a bunch of pervs watching the little kiddies, but come on. I clearly wasn't paying attention to them as I was struggling to pull my chin over that damn bar. That chin up bar was literally the only reason for going to the Y. The.only.reason. ************ So this morning I did my long run. It wasn't good, it wasn't bad. It just was. It was a hard week of training so I can't help but think that took a toll. 12 miles/10:59 av pace/163 bpm/2,074 elevation gain

Navy Seals Training Goals & OWS

I decided to do the Navy Seals Fitness Challenge. What the hell right?! This is the event in a nutshell:

500 meter swim breaststroke only

10 minute rest

Push-ups (max you can do in 2 minutes)

Sit-ups (max you can do in 2 minutes)

Pull-ups (max, not timed)

4 minute rest

1.5 mile run

So training officially began yesterday. The only things I really need to work on are pull ups, sit ups, and breast stroke. Ok push ups too. Here's where I'm at: Pull Ups: Last night I went to the Y before my OWS to try my luck at some pull ups. My guess was I could do 2. My plan was 6 x 2. I managed 1 strong and the second maybe counted. My chin touched but technically it wasn't over the bar. By the fourth set I was at 1 1/2, by the sixth I could only manage 1/2. Good grief. This is kind of the star of my show. I've always wanted to be able to do these. My goal is to do 3 solid pull ups by August 8th. Time will tell. I'll just keep pluggin' away at them. I would love to get to this level. Sit Ups: Not crunches, but sit ups. All the way up, all the way down. I put my feet under the couch for support. Much tougher than I thought. I did 6 x 20. The last couple sets had me on fire. Push-ups: I've always had huge shoulders. I think it's a result of years and years of competitive softball and now swimming (though not competitive swimming). I've always been able to through down relatively (for a woman) large amounts of push ups and NOT the modified ones. Originally I thought, oh yeah I can do at least 100 push ups in 2 minutes. Then I started reading the fine print and it turns out that you can only rest in the UP position. Arms can never leave the deck. Yikes. Much harder to rest in the up position. Hell, that's not even a rest really. It's just a plank. F#$k! Swim: the swim will be equally as tough since I don't breaststroke very often. like maybe 200 meters total in a workout. Usually not even that though. So for the next month - it's all about the breaststroke baby.

As of today, my Goals for this event:

Swim: 11:30

Push-ups: 70

Sit-ups: 80

Pull-ups: 3

Run: 13

*I'll also be running my long run literally right before the event. I'm not sure how long the run will be yet. 8,10,12...? I will have approximately 1 hour in between the long run and the start of the event. I wonder how/if that will affect my outcome.

____________

In other news, I did another OWS yesterday and it didn't go as well as the first for a couple of reasons. First, it was freezing. Ok, not freezing - but the temperature outside was 62* and you know that theory that states, "the water always feels warmer the colder the air is" WRONG! Between the four of us, only one had a wetsuit on and I was not one of them. Second, since I was the only not training for a triathlon I took one for the team and wore the lifeguard rescue tube. This is what I looked like:

Well, maybe I didn't look quite like this, but you get the point. One word: DRAG. Lot's of it!

Third, calf cramps. I think I'm low on sodium. I don't eat very much processed foods and unless I add it in the cooking process I don't really ever use salt. I'm a pepper girl. Never salt. I just don't have a taste for it, but I think I'll have to reconsider.

Edited after published: Every time I post an image the spacing gets all crazy when I publish it. Drives me crazy. Anybody else have this problem?

Speedwork

Last night I did my first set of mile repeats for this training cycle. Actually, I think they might have been my first set of mile repeats ever. (Usually I stick with 400's & 800's) On the schedule: w/up, plyos, circuit w/ .20 mile intervals 2x1mile @ 9:45, 3 x 400 @ 2:00 What I actually did:

warm-up: 3.7 miles/9:45 pace/159 bpm

plyos: 15 minutes

circuit: 17 minutes

1 mile: 9:05/175 bpm

1:01 RI

1 mile: 9:21/178 bpm

2:29 RI

400: 1:57/171 bpm

:35 RI

400: 2:03/179 bpm

:51 RI

400: 2:04/178 bpm

Total: 8.38 miles

_

Sorry if your eyes glaze over when reading these posts with my times on them. I just want to be able to look back at these and see how much I have improved ;) Plus I love looking at your times when you guys post them, so I kind of assume everybody else does too.

_

The mile repeats were way too fast, but they felt good. Coach said that the pace isn't as important now since I am only dealing with a couple, but eventually when I get into doing tempo runs he wants me to know what that pace feels like. Since my warm up pace was right at what my mile repeats were supposed to be, I wonder if we should re-evaluate my tempo pace.

_

Running over 8 miles in the middle of week is a milestone (pun intended) for me. I don't think I have ever thrown down that kind of mileage on a Tuesday before. I love it. I'm really feeling good about how Project Suck It is going so far. I know I'm going to get faster come October. There's no way all this work is not going to amount to something.

____________

_

Going for another OWS tonight. I am anxious to see that distance again. The more I've thought about it, the more I don't believe it's a 1/2 mile to the turnaround. I'm bringing two different peeps with me today so maybe they will be a better judge of distance than I.

____________

_

Lastly, have you guys ever heard of the Navy Seals Fitness Challenge? I'm thinking about doing it. It sounds fun and a little bad ass. They're gonna be in Seattle (Bellvue actually for those familiar with the area) on August 8th. It's the weekend after I have a 1/2 marathon scheduled so I don't know how or if it'll fit into my schedule. I talked to my coach about it and he said the best way to get a good workout in from it is to actually do it after my long run (which will hopefully be only 8 - 10 miles that week). I want to do it this year, then do it again next year and see how much I've improved.

___

Has anybody done it or heard about it?

Frostbite, Long Run Wipeout, 4th of July

Weekend in photos:

So you know how they tell you not to put an ice pack directly on the skin. Well, don't do it! My knee was feeling a little annoyed friday so I decided to ice it. Put an ice pack on my skin then wrapped an ice bandage around it. I've done this hundreds of times. Why was it different this time, no clue. I should have taken a picture right after. As soon as I took it off i knew something was wrong. It was bright white and felt like rubber. Pretty nasty. This picture was taken TWO DAYS later. You can still see the redness. It was burning hot and all I wanted to do was put ice on it -- go figure.

Saturday morning was my scheduled long run. 12 miles easy. I met up with some guys who were running a new trail. I did 7 miles in the trial which were good, but tough. Thankfully there was a woman out there slower than me and they were nice enough to wait for her (which meant me too since I was just ahead of her) so we wouldn't get lost. Toward the end of the trail I glanced down at my watch and - bam.

Bitch slap from mother nature:

Later I drove down to the parent's house for some bbq and explosives.

After a sweet firework display - smores

Great exhausting weekend!

Holy Hills & OWS

Disclaimer: I stole the term "Holy Hills" from Ambitious. She just recently moved and renamed her new neighborhood "holy hills." I can totally relate Ambitious and I am glad to have someone to commiserate with.

This morning I had the perfect workout. Bike ride to Crescent Lake then open water swim. It was perfect! The bike ride was only like 4 miles, but Holy Hills! Felt like 20 (especially after last nights hill repeats)*!

Arsenal of Assault

Thank God for disc brakes!

The perfect calm Warming up

Man I love OW swimming. Nothing beats it! The girls I was with told me the point we swam to was almost 1/2 mile. I'm a bad judge of water distance so I guess I'll take it for what it's worth, but I don't know exactly. It took us just over 13 minutes to get to the turnaround (~.5miles). I totally underestimated how much my swimming has improved since my last OWS because I was pretty far ahead of the group and even stopped to wait for them because I wasn't sure exactly where the turnaround was. Totally smooth, totally strong. It was awesome. On the way back, I waited for a gal who was really behind because the boats were starting to trickle in the lake and there's safety in numbers. Overall it was pretty sweet. I did however get a couple of calf cramps on the way in. What's up with that? I should have drank some electrolytes that morning. The bike ride back was a little rough, but you just can't complain about such an awesome way to spend the morning.

************

*Last night's workout:

w/up

plyos

circuit w/.20m jog (2x15 pushups, 2x15 tricep dips, 2 x 10 single-leg hamstring bridge, 1x20 squat)

4 x hill - emphasis on consistent times

1st hill: 1:42/183 bpm

2nd hill: 1:39/184 bpm

3rd hill: 1:41/182 bpm

4th hill: 1:39/183 bpm

Totals: 5.38 miles

Tomorrows Workout: 10 miles easy

************

Happy 4th Everybody!! This is my favorite holiday of the year. I love this country and I love my freedom!! LIFE IS GOOD! Be safe and take lots of pictures to post.

Week 14 of Project Suck It - Going Strong

Tuesday I did speedwork, but was too lazy to post the deets until now. here they are: 2 mile w/up plyos 8x800 @ 4:20 4x400 @ 2:00 (both with :45 - 1 min RI & 2:00 min between sets) Here's how it went down:

800: 4:21/175bpm

RI - 1:07/168

800:4:21/179 bpm

RI - 0:54/180

800: 4:30/184 bpm

RI - 0:49/178

800: 4:15/183 bpm

RI - 4:15 (oops)

400: 2:10/177 bpm

RI - :50/178

400: 2:07/180bpm

RI - 1:20/175

400: 1:57/179 bpm

RI - :58/182

400: 1:58/182 bpm

______

Total: 7.16 miles

______

I felt a little nauseous after the workout, but I chalked it up to the heat. It was only like 75*, but I'm a puss like that. I also thought maybe because it was a pretty tough workout. (don't let the slow pace fool you -- this was seriously work for me) I had to force down some dinner for recovery and ended up feeling like crap all night. I have read some experiences similar to this. Anybody know what's up with that?

______

Swimming is also in full effect - I have been doing the masters workouts, but not with the actual masters class. They post the workouts on a white board and leave it up so I do them. I'm loving the workouts. Little to no rest between sets.

______

150 free

150 kick

4x25 free (:10)

3x50 back (:15)

2x75 breast (:15)

1x100 free (:20)

2x75 breast (:15)

3x50 back (:15)

4x25 free (:10)

200 pull

150 cooldown

=1550 meters/~45 min

______

By the last set of free my arms were on fire!

______

Tonight: Hill repeats with core circuit.

Tomorrow: My personal favorite -- Open water swimming. Hells Yeas!