Sleepless nights, getting angry, conviction, redemption

I guess I left off on Wednesday, with a back injury and some amount of frustration. I ended up spending some amount of time just playing around on the trainer that evening once I had my new pedals on, just clipping in and clipping out. It was really hard at first because the springs were really tight but I started to get the hang of it.

The next day was flat out awful. I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and tossed and turned in bed for about an hour and a half before I decided it was futile to try to get back to sleep so I got up and dealt with some errands. I went to swim practice, which was my first sprint day practice with CSP, and on one hand really didn't work that hard and on the other hand really really enjoyed it. Sprinting is more my speed in the pool, and we also did a lot of kick work and work with fins, which I appreciated. It was a freezing cold day though, which was sort of rough in that every time my arms cleared the surface they froze and every time we stopped to get instructions my face froze. (It was like 55F...the pool was much warmer.) My lane also apparently had a hard time listening to instructions because we definitely messed some stuff up. But oh well, it was a solid swim anyways.

Thursday's AM Workout: CSP practice, sprint day
Summary:

• WU:
• 1000 SKIPS (IM drill)
• 2 x 50 free DPS @ :55 (was written as 4 x 50)
• Main Set:
• 2 x (6 x 50 free) @ :55
• 1: easy
• 2-3: build
• 4-6: hard
• It was supposed to just be 6, 1 easy, 2 build, 3 hard, repeat. But we misunderstood the directions.
• MAX kick w/ fins @ 1:00 base (we actually ended up doing a mix of :45-1:00 base intervals…)
• 150 @ 2:30
• 2 x 100 @ 1:45
• 3 x 50 @ 1:00
• 3 x 100 free pull FAST (no paddles) @ 1:50 (idk if we really made these), focus on fastest possible turnover (I went RB5 on these)
• 6 x 100 free swim w/ fins MAX @ 2:00 (these weren't really max, I had a hard time sprinting with fins on…it was weird)
• WD: 6 x 50 alt. back/free by 50 @ :55 (lol this was too aggressive, some were on 1:00)
• Total Distance: 3400 LCM

Hit rate: 47/50 (94%)

It was a rough day simply because it was sort of endless (and started obscenely early). I pretty much had no spare seconds in the day. Right after I got home from school, I hopped on the trainer and did a big gear strength ride. 

Thursday's PM Workout: Trainer ride, strength work (big gears)

Summary: 

• WU: 8 mins easy, 2 mins @ base of a hill
• Main Set: 
• 5 x 8 mins threshold effort 60 rpm big gear, 2 mins easy spinning recovery
• 5 x 40 secs MAX/20 secs easy, big gear sprint pick ups (stay at threshold gear or drop by 1)
• WD: 5 mins base of a hill, 5 mins easy
• Total Time: 75 mins
• Note: Was originally written as 8 x MAX/easy efforts but I was dying and also running low on time (busiest day ever!) The threshold efforts were actually really hard, just hurt the whole way, so I'm really amazed that I made them all at the specified intensity. Just gotta believe.
• Summary: 18.43 mi, 1:15:37, 14.6 mph.
• Splits: 14.1, 15.3, 15.2, 13.7

Hit rate: 48/51 (94.1%)

The entire set hurt but I got through it and was really proud of the effort. I pretty much immediately showered and went to an evening info session and training session for some stuff at school, so the busy day continued. I actually spent the entire day from lunch onwards just being angry. I got angry at the littlest things but I almost encouraged myself to be angry because the anger kept me awake and focused and hungry to tear shit up and get shit done. So despite the exhaustion and how hectic the day was, I managed to do everything I had to do. It was really emotionally and physically wearing, but it got done. I'm not sure this is how I want all of my days go (because this is probably not a healthy way to tackle life), but if I have to get through one of these days every once in a while in order to stay on track, I will take it. 

The next morning was real rough. I went to bed feeling real rough and woke up exhausted and unmotivated and pretty physically wrecked. I was going to do an interval workout for running but decided to just take a base run instead. It was funny because I kept planning on going easy but at the beginning and at the end there were other women in my vicinity and I always wanted to get in front of them and drop them so there were some pushes during the run. I guess you can't curb the competitiveness even when you're cranky and exhausted.

Friday's Workout: AM base run

Summary: 7.05 mi, 1:05:32, 9:18 pace.

Pace splits by mile: 9:38, 9:03, 9:07, 9:31, 9:11, 9:35, 9:04, 7:43.

Hit rate: 49/52 (94.2%)

The weather was nice and cool and it was overcast which made for a great day. I would have really loved to take better advantage of that kind of weather and actually cranked out some speed or something, but I'll take just getting through what I had to do.

Friday afternoon through Saturday evening were all spent at the Diversity Retreat. Not too much happened by way of things that could count as actually physical or active, but it also wasn't an inactive day, so I was satisfied with that much. My back was giving me a lot of trouble on Saturday though because of all the standing, which was pretty rough. I was planning on taking a short ride with some friends on Saturday night, just to practice clipping in and out and what not, but the rain spoiled our plans. I was sort of upset about taking an unplanned day off and really upset about being busy and having no time to do the things I wanted to do and that really threw me off. There was a bit of an emotional evening, a lot of being angry and frustrated and sad. But bad days are a part of everything right? Just gotta push through.

Saturday: Day off, missed a planned ride.

Hit rate: 49/53 (92.4%)

Despite how rough things have been recently though, I feel like I've found a whole new sense of conviction for what I'm doing. Not just in terms of training, but also in terms of school and life in general. I want to take good care of myself, I believe that's important, I really value that, so I want to put effort into things like planning and keeping my home clean and making sure I'm eating well. I am so invested in what I'm learning in school, in the future I'm working towards, and I don't need it to be easier, I'm willing to fight through this and be the best that I can be. The same goes for the training. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, and everyone would be successful. For the first time in a long time I feel like I really understand why I'm here and I'm really honestly in love with everything I'm doing and I'm willing to throw myself whole-heartedly into these things even if they lead to difficult days that leave me tired and cranky. I have an honest belief that what I'm pushing through is valuable. It's nice to feel fulfilled by all of this work finally, instead of feeling like I had my hands tied all the time and just had to do things because I was expected to do things. 

This morning, I woke up and took the longest brick I've ever taken in my life. It actually felt much better than I was expecting it to. I think a key contributor to that was the fact that I took two Shot Bloks beforehand, had Gatorade Endurance in one of my water bottles, and took a Clif Shot about 1:15 into the ride. I've never taken a gel mid-workout before, but I swear this one saved me. I'm probably going to need to buy more fuel to use on these longer rides/runs. 

Today's Workout: Long ride brick

Summary:

• Bike summary: 29.43 mi, 1:50:17, 16.0 mph.
• Bike splits: 15.1, 16.2, 16.5, 15.8, 16.3, 16.2
• Transition: 2:24.3
• Run summary: 5.14 mi, 47:58, 9:20 pace.
• Run splits: 9:01, 9:40, 9:39, 9:16, 9:09, 8:46

Hit rate: 50/54 (92.5%)

I went the Clayton-N Geyer-W Adams-N Ballas route today, which was longer and had more elevation gain overall than the Midland-Ashby route. I also ran a little further than I usually do and I took my out and back on the slightly hillier side of the park to try and get my legs acclimated to hill work post-ride. All in all my body took it way better than I thought I would. The bike started off feeling pretty rough but I held on surprisingly well. I think the bike shoes definitely do help, especially on the climbs (which I am still steadily improving at!). I'm still worried about the big climbs during Club Nationals but I figure I can drop down into my smaller front ring and just grind slowly slowly if I have to. 

For next week's big Sunday brick, I'm either going to take a 24-mile or 30-mile ride and try to follow it up with a full lap of Forest Park. I don't care so much about time or speed, I just want to know I can get that full run in coming off the bike. One big long confidence booster before I have to pull things back and get ready to race. Gotta do the rest of my crazy life now, will hopefully be back with better frequency in this upcoming week than I've managed to do this past week.

Much love,

Jess

Dropped off the radar

I evidently dropped off the radar for a bit there...It was a mix of things. I'm a little squeamish about blogging when Henry's around because I don't really want to show him how neurotic I am (even though he totally already knows) and then we started our first week of classes and life got sort of busy so I just let myself go. I'm supposed to be on a trainer ride or a long run right now but instead I'm sitting here writing this because I hurt my back again at the gym this morning. It was just one bad set of front squats (set 4) and bam. And the worst part is, I only did about half the workout because I didn't want to aggravate my back any more and yet it's been really hurting all day. It hurts when I stand, it hurts when I walk, it hurts when I sit, I pretty much can't do anything. It doesn't hurt so badly that I feel like I couldn't get through a run if I tried, but I'm worried about making it worse so I'm taking it easy. Let me do all the updates on the missed workouts (mostly without context because I've forgotten the majority of the context by now) and then I can do the update on where I'm at right now.

Thursday: Day off

Friday's Workout: Base run
Summary: 7.00 mi, 1:04:04, 9:09 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 9:43, 9:20, 9:11, 9:02, 8:55, 9:00, 8:53.
Hit rate: 40/43 (93.0%)

This run was solid. I had been having a shit morning (had a shit night prior to it) and I felt awful and discouraged and yet the run was pretty good so I finished feeling somewhat better about everything. The cool weather and overcast skies helped.

Saturday's Workout: Trainer brick
Summary:

• Bike set: 
  • WU: 8 mins easy, 2 mins base of a hill
  • Pick ups: 
  • 8 x 40 on/20 off, base/base/1/1/2/2/1/1 
  • 2 mins easy recovery
  • Main set:
  • 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 3/3, 2/2, 1/1 (+2 90-100 rpm/easy; I actually split the 4 min interval at half +2, half +1)
  • Climbs (16): 2 x 
  • 1 seated, 1 seated + 10 rpm, 1 seated, 1 easy
  • 1 seated, 1 standing, 1 seated, 1 easy
  • I may have screwed up the gears on this and done the first one a gear too low.
  • WD: 12 mins transition spin
• Bike summary: 18.82 mi, 1:20:06, 14.1 mph.
• Bike splits: 13.8, 14.6, 14.5, 13.4
• Transition: 0:58.5
• Run summary: 4.05 mi, 37:02, 9:09 pace. (Henry ran with me!)
• Run splits: 9:23, 9:26, 9:04, 8:46, 7:58

Hit rate: 41/44 (93.1%)

This workout was unbelievably on point. The bike set was rough but the run felt so solid. Part of it was having Henry next to me but part of it was just going for it and not worrying about a possible crash. I felt strong so I attacked the run and it worked so great for me. If I can start off my 10k run in the race like this I will be so satisfied.

Sunday's Workout: Base run

Summary: 7.01 mi, 1:07:36, 9:38 pace.

Pace splits by mile: 9:49, 9:50, 9:36, 9:46, 9:17, 9:33, 9:32, 10:08

Hit rate: 42/45 (93.3%)

I want it to be noted that it was a 90 degree day and it was sunny. There was a time not so long ago when this exact same run in the same weather took me 5 minutes longer to do. There were a combination of things at play, not the least of which I imagine is just less fatigue because I had been working out less intensely that prior week, but I'm definitely acclimating to the heat and that's progress I will take. Also honestly the run started off feeling real poor, it took my limbs a while to get the hang of things but once they were going they were solid so I was really happy with the pick up as time went on in the run.

Monday's AM Workout: CSP Practice, distance free day

Summary:

• WU: 500 swim
• Pre-set:
• 200-150-100-50 kick w/ fins @ 1:55 base
• 10 x 50, 1-4 @ :55, 5-7 @ :50, 8-9 @ :45, 10 FAST (made the first 7…)
• Main set: As per usual I'm not really sure what the pace time situation was because my lane was slower…
• 400 fr @ 6:45
• 2 x 150 @ 2:20
• 400 free @ 6:30 (??)
• 3 x 100 free @ 1:35 (??)
• 400 free @ ??
• 6 x 50 free @ :50
• WD: 2 x
• {100 choice
• 2 x 50 choice}
• I did a mix of pull w/ paddles (free) and swim (free and back)
• Total Distance: 4000 LCM

Hit rate: 43/46 (93.4%)

This swim was brutal. I think I had gone to bed a little hungry so I woke up epically underfueled and the set was long and faster than I could do and it was really all I had just to finish out every set and not skip any lengths. I did it though so I'm really proud. The only upshot was that I met a cool girl who seemed about my age who is faster than me and led my lane. We were also the only two in our lane so it was nice and spacious. And she was gracious enough to wait for me when I wasn't making pace times which was unnecessary but really sweet of her. I appreciated it. I was proud to have just finished that day to be honest. 

The plan had been to take a trainer ride in the afternoon, but Hoang invited me on an evening group ride with him so I did that instead. Maya also came along and she was on a hybrid and new to group rides so we ended up cutting the ride short because she was struggling towards the end. It was a lot of fun though and I had a great time and I'm really glad I chose to do that instead of my serious workout. Sometimes it's nice just to go out and do something and enjoy yourself and not worry too much about achievement/goals/whatever. I mean don't get me wrong, I love being an achievement/goals oriented person and I do think I'm really different from some of my friends in that I really love the pain of a good hard workout and I really chase after that day to day, but I think it's good to throw some chill balance of just hang out and have fun in there too. It helps curve the neuroticism slightly, which is probably good for me. 

Monday's PM Workout: Group ride with South Side Cyclery (we went through downtown and it was sooooooo beautiful and so nice!)

Summary: 20.21, 1:34:56, 12.8  mph.

Pace splits by mile: 12.2, 13.9, 17.4, 10.6, 10.0

Hit rate: 44/47 (93.6)

Tuesday's Workout: Rec swim (w/ Victoria)

Summary:

• WU: 200 free, 200 kick, 200 IM 
• Prep set: 
• 3 x 75 descend @ 1:10
• 3 x 50 descend @ :50
• 3 x 25 descend @ :30
• 50 kick no board easy
• Main Set:
• 6 x (75 FAST @ 1:00, 25 easy @ :30) best average
• 100 easy alt. kick/swim by 25
• 6 x (50 FAST @ :40, 25 easy @ :30) best average
• 100 easy alt. kick/swim by 25
• 6 x (25 FAST @ :20, 25 easy @ :30) best average
• 100 easy alt. kick/swim by 25
• IM Set:
• 3 x 200 IM @ 3:15 
• 6 x 75 stroke/free/stroke by 25 rotate strokes IMO @ 1:20 (probs should've tried to go for 1:15...)
• WD: 200 choice easy
• Total: 4000 SCY, ~1:15

Hit rate: 45/48 (93.7%)

Because of the late night on Monday (I got home late and then I stayed up late just sort of having an honest heart to heart with Henry about fun and achievement and whatnot), I decided not to go to CSP practice in the morning and slept in. Instead I hit up the Wash U pool for the first time with Victoria in tow. She's a great swimmer, would kick my butt if she were in shape but as it stands is a little slower than I am right now. I would have totally dropped the IM set if she weren't there to say that we should keep going, so I'm glad I had her to push me to finish it out. It was nice to be back in short course (although going back to CSP now is probably going to feel newly brutal again) and although I'm a tad slower than I'd like to be, I also realize that I haven't been swimming enough to be able to reasonably expect to be faster. I'll keep working at it. Also, Victoria has these beautiful turns/underwaters that really forced me to at least try to kick underwater off my walls. Positive peer pressure, it's good stuff.

Today's Workout: AM Lift

Summary: 

• Front squats: WU 10 @ 45, 10 @ 65, 2 x 8/7 @ 85. Then I tweaked my back and decided not to keep going.
• DB flat bench: WU 12 @ 25/side, 2 x 6-8 @ 30/side, 1 x 8 @ 25/side (honestly I did sort of quit on the last set and I really shouldn't have...)
• Pulldowns: 4 x 12 (sets 2-4 splits 8-4) @ 6. 
• Walking lunges: 1 set of 12/side @ sb+20 before I couldn't even get the bar off the ground because of back pain...

Hit rate: 46/49 (93.8%)

Honestly I was not happy with this morning's lift at all. Part of it was that I aggravated my back, but worse than that was that my head really wasn't in the game and I wasn't as strong as I wanted to be and it just wasn't fun or enjoyable to be there. And now my back hurts again and I don't know how the rest of my workouts this week are going to go or if they're even going to happen. This afternoon's workout is definitely already something I'm going to have to pass on. We'll try again with CSP practice tomorrow I guess. Since the changes to my schedule are now in consideration of an injury, I'm not going to count any "missed" workouts against my hit rate because the best thing I can do for myself right now is to rest and recovery properly.

As for where I'm at right now, I think I'm going to forego taking an entire day off this week, unless it is Saturday because Saturday is a busy day (coming back from the retreat late, might not have time to get a real workout in and I don't want that to add extra unnecessary stress to my life). At the very least I'll try to swim tomorrow and Friday. If I can, I will try to take a long run tomorrow afternoon as well, but we'll see what the status of my back is. If it still hurts when I walk, putting 10+ miles on it will probably be a bad idea...In the meantime I think I do have to make an effort to stretch and do mobility/core work because my back will never fully heal without it. I also think I should stay out of the gym until after all my races (triathlons in September through to half marathons in October/November) and just focus on letting my back heal completely before I try to get back into strength work. No sense in just repeating this cycle over and over again, I'm only asking for trouble this way. Maybe I'll do strength work mainly with bodyweight or something. In any case, I'll reassess in the winter and decide where to go from there with this whole back issue. 

I did end up going out and buying real cycling shoes today though after I was encouraged by many people to do so. I'm going to head over to Hoang's and have him put my pedals in right now. Hopefully I'll be able to make it back home okay with the new pedals...I'm really scared about not having adequate clip-in/clip-out experience. Wish me luck!

Much love,

Jess

Going longer on that trainer...

Today started with a very early lift and finished with a long afternoon trainer session. The lift was similar to what I did last week, with some minor tweaks and the addition of glute bridges. I didn't do a short treadmill run after the workout because I felt lazy. As of right now, I'm physically feeling much better than I did last week at this time. Although the soreness is starting to set in, it's definitely not as bad as it was last week, which is promising. The lift in and of itself also felt easier than last week, which is also promising since I did a similar amount of work/weight. I may have taken more rest breaks though, which may have factored into experiencing less fatigue. I definitely have to get over my fear of dudes...they will be in the gym while I am in the gym. I just need to get used to it. It'll take time is all I guess.

Today's AM Workout: Lift
Summary: 70 minutes

• Front squats: WU 10 @ 45, pyramid 10 @ 65, 8 @ 85, 5 @ 95, 8 @ 85, 10 @ 65 (5 working sets, first and last = light)
• Flat bench: WU 10 @ 45, 10 @ 65, working 3 x 8 @ 85 (last set split 6/2 rest pause)
• Weighted glute bridges: WU 15 @ short bar, working 3 x 12 @ sb+20
• Pulldowns: 4 x 12 @ 6, alt. wide/narrow grips
• Superset: 3 x
• DB shoulder presses (seated): 12 @ 20/side (if you get bold maybe it's time to move up to 25…)
• DB rows: 12 @ 40
• Forward/backwards lunges: 3 x 12/side @ sb+20

Hit rate: 38/41 (92.6%)

Note that sb means the small straight bar. I have no idea what it weighs but I figure as long as I'm consistent with the use of this particular bar, it's not super important.

The afternoon trainer session was long, but I kept it at just below threshold effort so it wasn't the hardest. The entire second hour to be honest was sort of grueling and my butt definitely really hurt by the end, but I kept it nice and consistent throughout and I'm really proud of the effort.

Today's PM Workout: Long trainer ride
Summary: 29.01 mi, 2:00:29, 14.4 mph

• WU: 10 mins easy, 5 mins base of a hill building up to 100 rpm in the last minute
• Main set: twice through…
• 2 x
• 4 mins @ 90-95 rpm race pace (base)
• 4 mins @ 60 rpm race pace (climb)
• 4 mins @ 90-95 rpm race pace (base)
• 3 mins @ 90-95 rpm sprint pace (+1)
• 1 x
• 12 mins @ 90-95 rpm race pace (base)
• 3 mins @ 90-95 rpm sprint pace (+1)
• 5 mins spin recovery
• 5 min spin down (after recovery from last set)
• Speed splits: 13.2, 15.1, 14.5, 14.9, 15.0, 14.0.

Hit rate: 39/42 (92.8%)

Now I'm going to go get Henry from the airport! And tomorrow is my day off! Yay!

Much love,

Jess 

Finding that swim groove

My swimming has felt pretty off since getting back into the pool but today things started coming together in the latter half of the workout and that's something I'm really grateful for. I was planning on hitting up a stroke workout tomorrow as well, but I'm really more feeling a gym and soft brick treadmill run in the morning and a long trainer session in the evening (gotta kill time waiting for Henry to get in). It's unfortunate in that it means I likely won't see the pool again until next Monday and taking only one swim this week is really less than ideal, but the way I see it is that the planning and the balance doesn't mean anything if you're not enjoying yourself. I really want to look forward to the workouts I'm doing and even though I would usually be all about a stroke workout, I'm really not feeling it. I figure lifting will at least involve some upper body work, so I won't be letting that drag behind completely and hopefully that will be enough to hold me over until next Monday when I get my next crack at the pool. I want to lift and I want to be training in a sustainable way and part of maintaining that sustainability is indulging myself sometimes when I want to mix up my schedule in a perhaps not entirely balanced way. Or at least that's how I'm justifying this decision to myself. In any case, here was this morning's swim:

Today's Workout: CSP practice, mid-distance freestyle day.
Summary:

• WU: 400 free, 8 x 50 free build (not to a sprint, just to fast) @ 1:00
• Main Set:
• 3 x 200 free moderate @ 3:30
• 4 x 50 free strong 200 pace @ :55
• 200 free strong
• 2 x 50 free slightly faster @ :55
• 100 free MAX
• 8 x 50 kick w/ fins @ :55, 15 m fast breakout fly kick, middle backstroke moderate, last 15 m MAX (written as 10 x 50, but we had to catch up to the other lanes so we skipped 2…)
• 100 easy
• 4 x 200 free @ 3:45
• 1 - fast
• 2 - 50 mod/150 fast
• 3 - 100 mod/100 fast
• 4 - 150 mod/50 MAX
• 4 x 50 free easy-mod @ :55
• WD: 4 x 50 free counting strokes (not really DPS…) @ :55
• Total Distance: 3700 LCM (3800 LCM as written)

Hit rate: 37/40 (92.5%)

It's nice to have some down time this evening without workout obligations. I have to keep reminding myself that a single workout per day for a few days in a row is perfectly acceptable. I'm so used to doubling that it seems outrageous that I'm doing so little. My body feels nice and well-rested though, which I appreciate and know is probably good for me. It's all about the little things in life right?

Much love,
Jess

A little step back, a little step forward

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night so I ended up calling off this morning's swim and just sleeping in and resting instead. I think it was the right call, but it does mean I have to give myself a tick for missing a workout. Hit rate: 35/38 (92.1%). This afternoon, I wanted to take a long run since I had the time and I thought I wouldn't be able to because of rain, but it cleared up and I went for it!

Today's Workout: Long run
Summary: 10.59 mi, 1:44:44, 9:54 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 9:34, 9:57, 10:06, 10:08, 10:07, 9:28, 9:54, 9:42, 10:04, 9:55, 9:58.
Hit rate: 36/39 (92.3%)

I took the loop of Forest Park but also added an out and back through Clayton. The intention was to just go down and back on Wydown but I ended up turning early and did the first half on Forsyth. There are some not very steep but longer in length hills that run along that road that I wanted to expose my legs to. I was really proud of how my body handled that.

As the splits do tell, I think I turned on the gas a little too early and the last couple of miles were a mad struggle effort wise. I wanted to quit so badly at around the 8.5 mile mark and take a shorter route home but I made myself push through it and do the route as planned and I was so proud to get the rest of the way (and in decent time too!). Actually I'm remarkably impressed by the pace today. It's been the farthest and fastest I've gone in a run since getting back to St. Louis. It was also pretty warm today so I think my body is adjusting slowly to the heat and humidity. Having a very salt heavy lunch at school and having two glasses of water (one normal, one with Nuun) pretty close to when I left for the run was probably also important. The 8.5 mile crash still indicates that my body needs a little more to keep going though. A sugar source probably would have helped, but I want my body to learn to deal without it so I can hopefully avoid this situation during racing, even though I will be racing with fuel.

All in all, I'm very proud of today's effort. I really strive to make every workout count for something and today was a day where I knew I was getting better and every step I was taking and every hill I was pushing through was making me a better athlete. I'm really proud of that and will be glad to finally take my tired body to bed soon. Gonna try to actually get up and swim tomorrow! That will probably be my only workout though, I have a long school day tomorrow and I want to prioritize that and feeding myself in the evening instead of worrying about squeezing in another workout. Yay!

Much love,
Jess

Bricks: Going longer

Working on building up the post-bike run. Here's the summary!

Today's Workout: Brick, Midland-Ashby ride + 3-4 mi run
Summary:

• Bike: 23.38 mi, 1:13:11, 15.1 mph. Note that the times are always deceiving because it doesn't count time that I'm stopped at streetlights, which is extra rest for me.
• Bike speed splits: 14.3, 14.7, 16.7, 15.0, 14.7.
• Transition: 1:49.4
• Run: 3.93 mi, 37:10, 9:28 pace.
• Run pace splits: 9:07, 9:42, 9:29, 9:33.

Hit rate: 35/37 (94.5%)

I actually felt pretty bad the first 10 miles or so of the bike this morning, but things got better probably due to a combination of downhill stretches and just generally being more warmed up. I spent a small amount of time out of the saddle on the climbs and in the flats and it's feeling much smoother, so I think the big gear work that I've been doing on the trainer is really making a difference. I met a cool dude named Pedro on the way in and he showed me a shortcut from Clayton to Wydown that avoids the nasty left turn on North Hanley, which was nice. He had said that he would have swapped info with me if I wanted to ride with him but he's going to Colorado next week for a few months because he owns a business down here so he won't be around. It was cool to meet him though, we had a nice chat and he kept my pace up. Riding with someone else is always inherently motivating.

I was very happy with my run today. I went out way too fast last week and really was dying towards the end but today I kept it reined in during the early half and held on quite strong for the remainder. I felt pretty good throughout too, which was key. I'm not sure if I'm going to keep trying to extend the runs off the bike, but I think it'd be good to take a full lap of the park (~7 miles) off the bike once in the next few weeks, before September racing for sure, just to know I can go the distance. Even now though, after today's workout, I'm fairly confident I would have had the rest of the run left in me. I'm really proud, my running has come such a long way!

Tomorrow the plan is a morning swim and some kind of afternoon workout. We'll see what the weather is like and decide from there. Yay!

Much love,
Jess

My legs are slowly coming back to life...

My legs had a really hard time yesterday. I made the decision to push back the bike trainer workout by a day in order to give my legs a little bit of extra rest. It seems to have helped a lot, although I also worked them pretty hard today so they're definitely not feeling too hot still. Nonetheless, it seems like the lifting pain is lightening and it's being replaced with a different kind of fatigue, so I'll call it progress.

Today started with a run in the morning before my volunteering session and I took the make up bike trainer session in the afternoon.

Today's AM Workout: Base run, Forest Park.
Summary: 7.04 mi, 1:13:10, 10:24 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 10:35, 10:52, 10:36, 10:40, 10:00, 10:09, 9:56, 9:18.
Hit rate: 32/34 (94.1%)

Mornings are nice because it's not too hot. It was very humid today though, but my body handled that fine. I ran the route counterclockwise, which is the opposite of what I usually do, so it put the hills first (which explains the nice negative splitting). The run felt pretty easy on my cardiovascular system but was brutal on the legs. They hurt with every step the first 1-1.5 miles and then lightened up to just aches in specific areas for the rest. It's good to know that I can finish a run of that distance on really blown out legs though. Interestingly enough, when I ran this route in the other direction exactly a week ago after having had my legs pretty thoroughly wrecked by biking workouts, I ran a 1:13:09. The consistency astounds me. The effort was slow, but I'm happy enough with it, just proud I got out there and did what I had to do. (It was an early morning I really wasn't feeling, but I'm glad I did it.)

Today's PM Workout: Trainer ride
Summary: 18.6 mi, 1:16:22, 14.6 mph.

• WU: 8 mins easy, 2 mins base of a hill
• Main Set: bike sprints to failure, 5 x (6 min efforts, 2 min recovery)
• Broken as: 2 min 85% (base @ 100 rpm), 2 min 100% (+1, 90+ rpm), 1 min 110% (+2, 90+ rpm), 1 min 120% (+2, 100 rpm)
• 1 extra minute recovery
• Big gear: 4 x (2 mins steady state seated climb, 55-65 rpm, 1 min standing climb (biggest gear, c+3), 1 min recovery)
• WD: 9 mins at steady state then easy.

Speed splits: 14.1, 15.9, 14.9, 13.4.
Hit rate: 33/35 (94.2%)

The trainer ride was pretty solid all in all. I think I moderated the effort well, the last two repeats of the sprint set were tough but manageable (some pace slip off towards the end though). Big gear work is a must, will keep trying to get through that. The trainer workouts are tough but I'm sure they do wonders for fitness. We'll let the bike see the outdoors tomorrow and hopefully that'll be a good time. As of right now, my legs are still weak and hurting a bit, so I'm going to take some time to stretch and hopefully put them in the best possible position for tomorrow. Yay!

Much love,
Jess

Soreness and compromise

The rest day was not as relaxing as I would have liked. It was a pretty non-hectic day though which I appreciated. I still woke up pretty early and basically just chilled in the morning. Had a long school day (9-4) but a good chunk of time to stretch and take care of some chores and errands before dinner which was nice. I went to bed later than I would have liked, but it wasn't a huge deal. The main complaint I have about yesterday was that the gym wrecked my body pretty hard. In all honesty, I've had worse before, but even this is pretty bad. I'm expecting most post-lift days to feel like this, maybe slightly better once I get into the swing of things, but overall I'm going to have to learn how to manage with the soreness.

This morning's masters practice was pretty brutal. Our lane leader was really fast and the main set turned into a lot of "just turn at every wall" and I wasn't getting much out of that so I skipped a few things in order to get rest and try to improve the quality of the rest of my swim. I was pretty drained today. Between the continuing soreness and my inability to get any food in my body this morning, it was an exhausting ordeal. I did the best I could though and even with the skipped 300 total meters, it was a 3500 LCM workout, so I'm not going to berate myself too much. I made the best I could have out of a non-ideal situation and I showed up despite feeling exhausted and sore and under-motivated, so I will give myself credit for that and forgive myself for being imperfect. I have to remind myself sometimes not to accuse myself of always making excuses: real valid situations get in the way of your performance sometimes and what's important is to try and do the best you can given the cards you're dealt.

Today's AM Workout: CSP practice, IM day.
Summary:

• WU: 500 swim
• Pre-set:
• 4 x 150 IMO kick/drill/swim by 50
• 4 x 200 rotate 50 stroke IMO and free
• Fly/free/free/free, free/back/free/free, free/free/breast/free, all free
• 6 x 50 free @ :55, 2 fast, 1 easy
• Main Set: pace times were just sort of whatever we could do…
• 200 IM
• 2 x 100 free - I only did 1
• 200 IM
• 4 x 50 free
• 200 free - I only did 100
• 2 x 100 IM
• 200 free
• 4 x 50 IMO - I only did 2
• WD: nope, no time…
• Total Distance: 3500 LCM (3800 as written)

Hit rate: 31/33 (93.9%)

The plan was to do an interval trainer ride followed by a transition run this afternoon/evening but that's probably not going to happen. I think if I put that kind of load on my legs today, I'd be asking for an injury. The temporary plan is just to do the interval ride portion of the workout. Although I may swap the real workout for just a steady state ride (indoors or out) to clear some of the gunk out of my legs because they are still really hurting. We'll see how I feel as the day progresses and how much time I really have in the evening after school today. Trying to make the best out of what I've got. I'm proud of myself for plowing onwards despite it all. (:

Much love,

Jess

The blessing that is pep talks and an exercise in flexibility

It was hot on Monday and I was totally going to skip my afternoon run and take a trainer session instead, but by the time I got out of school in the afternoon, the sun was starting to come down and it was getting cooler so I decided to take the run anyways. I'm glad I did it, I went slightly further than I did the last stand alone run I took and surprisingly slightly quicker too. I took the loop in reverse of what I usually do, putting the hills first, and although that was rough, the back end cruising was worth it. Will have to keep mixing up the directions to keep things interesting.

Monday's (8/3) PM Workout: Base/long run (I don't even know what to consider these distances anymore...)
Summary: 8.42 mi, 1:24:07, 9:59 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 9:49, 10:15, 10:03, 10:07, 9:33, 9:47, 10:02, 10:19, 9:58.
Hit rate: 27/29 (93.1%)

I had been feeling really great about myself and my progress. I was really impressed that my body had held it together so well over the course of the past week and I had been feeling pretty on the up and up after my run, but the more time went on, the more the exhaustion started to kick in and wear down on me pretty hard. By the time bedtime swung around, I was really not feeling having to get up super early in order to put myself through another workout. I was just exhausted. And I did something uncharacteristic of me: I asked for what I needed. While we were getting ready to go to bed, I asked Henry to motivate me. He gave me a wonderful pep talk and reminded me that he was proud of everything I do and how hard I work. He told me that it's hard because it's going to make me faster and the pain was going to make me faster and I just needed to hold onto my goals to make it through. It helped a lot, I could feel the resolve sort of set in and replace all the guilt I felt about really wanting to skip practice and I steeled myself for how hard it would be to get up and do the work that I knew needed to be done. See usually I don't have a problem getting up in the morning and doing what has to be done, I have a hard time committing to it at night and feeling positive when it's the end of a long exhausting day and the challenge of the next day just seems so daunting. Having someone to give me a pep talk in that moment was so important. It's the weakest I ever am and he helps me keep my head up. It was important and I'm so glad I asked for what I needed.

Tuesday morning, I took the swim as per usual. Waking up and going didn't even feel like a struggle after a night's rest. The workout was tough and coached by Hap, the head coach of the club. He was a really friendly guy. I swam at the end of my lane and generally struggled to make the pace, but when I voiced my concerns about being too slow, he (and my lane mates) told me I was fine, so I guess I will continue to struggle along in this lane. The workout was well thought through and thoroughly enjoyable despite being difficult.

Tuesday's (8/4) Workout: CSP practice, mid-distance free day.
Summary:

• WU: 400 free
• Pre-set:
• 8 x 50 free @ :50 (I only did 6 because I missed the first two while warming up)
• 4 x 50 IMO @ 1:10
• Main Set:
• 4 x 200 free broken at the 100 for up to 10 secs @ 3:30, negative split reps 3 and 4
• 4 x 50 free fast @ :45 (my lane made none of these)
• 5 x 100 kick choice w/ fins, last 15 m swim free (focus on reaching length coordinated w/ kick) @ 1:40
• 4 x 50 free @ :50
• 200 easy
• 100 mod-easy
• 200 MAX
• WD: 
• 200 easy
• 6 x 50 free breathe 8-7-6-5-4-3-3-3... @ 1:00
• Total Distance: 3600 LCM (as written, 3700 LCM)

Hit rate: 28/30 (93.3%)

Tuesday afternoon I had planned to take a trainer ride, but the day was extraordinarily emotionally overwhelming (med school stuff) and I really needed to take some time for me so I spent some time getting to know a fellow M1 I randomly ran into at the book store and then spent some time on Skype with Henry before going to a mandatory debrief dinner with a small M1 group and an M2 in the evening. So no workout was done. I think it was the right call and I'm not even going to give myself a hit rate demerit for it.

I was originally planning on taking today off, but the schedule tomorrow is pretty tight so when I woke up earlier than I intended today (5:15 AM, whoops) I decided that it would make more sense to do my double day today and take tomorrow off instead. So I just swapped the days. I lifted in the morning and followed it up with a short soft brick run on the treadmill and I took a bike trainer ride in the afternoon.

Today's AM Workout: Lift, soft brick (treadmill)
Summary:

• Front squats: WU 12 @ 45 lbs, 12 @ 65 lbs, working 3 x 8 @ 85 lbs
• Flat bench: WU 12 @ 45 lbs, 12 @ 65 lbs, working 3 x 10 @ 75 lbs
• Pulldowns: 4 x 12 @ 6 (the weight stack is weird so I don't know what this means) alternating wide and narrow grips by set
• BB push press: I used the squat rack today which was nice, WU 12 @ 45 lbs, working 3 x 8 @ 55 lbs(rest pause as necessary)
• Lunges: 3 x 12/side using the short bar (idk the weight of that thing) + 10 pop ups after each set
• DB rows: 3 x 12/side @ 35 lbs
• Soft brick: 15 min run @ 6.5-7.0 mph pace, 1% incline

Hit rate: 29/31 (93.5%)

I am a little weaker than I was back in the spring when I was lifting pre-injury but I didn't lose as much strength as I thought I would which was nice. The front squats instead of back squats was a good call because my back is pretty tight now despite having tried to protect it during the lifting session. It should be okay though, we'll see how it feels tomorrow.

Today's PM Workout: Bike trainer interval session

Summary: 

• 17.73 mi, 1:16:08, 13.7 mph
• WU: 8 mins easy, 2 mins base of a hill
• Pick ups:
•  8 x 40 sec pick ups w/ 20 secs rest, base/base/+1/+1/+2/+2/+1/+1
• 2 mins easy recovery (b/-1)
• Steady state sets: 4 x 5 mins base @ 85-95 rpm, 2 mins easy recovery (b/-1)
• Strength work:
• 2 mins @ base
• 5 x (1 min seated climb, 30 sec jog (c+1), 1 min standing climb (c+3), 30 sec seated recovery (c/c-1))
• WD: 5 mins base, 5 mins easy spin down

Hit rate: 30/32 (93.7%)

I sort of stayed under legs burning feeling like I'm going to die effort today on the bike trainer. My legs felt like they'd been through a lot in the morning so I didn't want to completely demolish them. I definitely struggle with the smoothness in the pedal strokes during the set, especially the strength work. It's apparent during some parts of the seated ride, but it's really really bad during the standing parts (especially jogging, standing climbs are slightly better). It's something I have to work on more, my riding technique is just not up to par. I'm glad I have the trainer because this is something that spin bikes really don't simulate at all, so the realism is much appreciate. I'm realizing that my being light probably helps a lot with the natural speed I pick up on the roads, since my average pace is much slower on the trainer. I don't put out much power, but when you compare it to how much I weigh, it gets me where I need to go. 

Glad I exercised the flexibility that I've been reminding myself is important these past couple of days, opting out of the Tuesday night workout and swapping today and tomorrow. Rest day finally coming up! It's been some good work. (:

Summary stats for the week: 7/30 - 8/4, 7 days

• Total 11 sessions, 15 hrs
• 1 brick (transition run)
• 1 lift + soft brick run
• 4 rides (2 outdoors, 2 trainer; 106.2+ mi including bricks)
• 3 swims (10.8 km)
• 2 runs (20.1 mi including bricks)

And that's all for the massive update because I haven't log blogged in a while. Yay! (:

Much love,

Jess

Orientation starts today!

And my day started with a distance free workout. Yay. It was actually torturous and awful, but it's over now and I feel super accomplished. I'd say that's a good way to start the day.

Today's AM Workout: CSP practice, distance free day, as of yet unclear whether or not there will be a PM workout.
Summary:

• WU: 
• 400 free
• 4 x 100 kick w/ fins @ 2:00
• 2 x 200 free pull w/ paddles @ 3:30
• Pre-Set: 8 x 50 free @ 1:00, odds build, evens easy
• Main set:
• 600 moderate
• 2 x 300 faster
• 400 moderate
• 2 x 200 faster
• 200 moderate
• 1 x 100 moderate (was written as 2 x 100, but we just barely ran out of time)
• WD: No time...again...we're the problem child lane apparently.
• Total Distance: 3900 LCM

Hit rate: 26/28 (92.9%)

I'm going to make some tea now and get changed and ready for school! Yay! :D

Much love,

Jess

First brick of the season!

Okay it was more of a long transition run than a full brick, but you know, I ran off the bike so it counts.

Today's Workout: Race distance-ish bike + 20-30 min transition run
Summary:

• Bike: Midland-Ashby route, 23.50 mi, 1:32:07, 15.3 mph, 879 ft gain.
• Bike speed splits: 13.4, 15.1, 16.2, 16.1, 16.6
• Transition: 2:09.6, hilariously I fell off my bike trying to dismount while clicking my watch buttons, will have to not do that next time.
• Run: 14 minute turn around, 2.87 mi, 26:47, 9:20 pace.
• Run pace splits: 8:48, 9:27, 9:50.

Hit rate: 25/27 (92.6%)

I want it noted that the bike cadence was much better than yesterday, and most of the average speed being higher was a result of me bombing down the hills every opportunity I got. I tried to focus on being smooth on the uphills, to varying degrees of success (I even spent a little bit of time climbing out of the saddle!). The run cadence was also surprisingly good given that I was coming off the bike. Too excited off the start though and was really feeling the pace taper out as time went on. I'll have to work on extending the length of these transition runs and that might become problematic as the runs get longer. I knew it was going to be short though so I just went fast and tried to hold on. It's good practice I guess. 

I had a blast training today. The roads were clear, there were a ton of other friendly cyclists on the roads, I hung onto the end of a group of old guys on the way in from Clayton who were real funny and shot past me once I got on the bike path in Forest Park and that was really motivating and fun. The transition into the run really breaks up the monotony of a long workout and I really enjoyed that little challenge. All in all it was just getting to do things that are a lot of fun and I had a blast.

Two key nutrition things today: I got up way early and made/ate breakfast about 1-2 hours before I headed out which I think was really important to how sustained I felt energy level wise. Also had a full bottle of water with Nuun that I drank while out on the bike, so that also kept me going once I was off the bike. I'm running out of Nuun though so I'll have to load up on that soon.

The plan is going to be a little more flexible these next two weeks because of a sort of unclear orientation schedule at school. I'm for sure going to be taking morning swims Monday and Tuesday and will hopefully be able to fit in an evening long run tomorrow and a bike trainer session on Tuesday. I may or may not decide to drop the evening sessions depending on how busy I am and how my body is feeling though. I've been putting in good work, I'm willing to be flexible about it. We'll see what happens. Wish me luck with the first day of orientation tomorrow!

Much love,

Jess

Tired legs and many musings

Yesterday's afternoon run was a long slow ordeal, and generally fairly low on the perceived effort scale, which gave me a lot of time to contemplate training and life in general. And then I had sort of a weird night following what was overall a very positive run. I will share my thoughts below, but first, the workout details:

Yesterday's PM Workout: Base run (6-8 mi)
Summary: 7.04 mi, 1:13:09, 10:24 pace.
Pace splits by mile: 9:27, 10:02, 10:30, 10:42, 10:36, 10:40, 10:49, 10:40.
Hit rate: 24/26 (92.3%)

In regards to the actual run, I was happy with the effort level I held even though the pace was slow. My legs felt like lead the first two miles and surprisingly they were the fastest, although that has a tendency of holding true any time I'm starting out on tired legs. I think it's just an attempt to compensate for how strange they feel before they get into it. The cadence got way low in the second half of the run so that's something I have to continue working on. I feel like I'm getting better at moderating effort on the hills, which I think is an important skill that I'm developing. I really need to take this route backwards at some point, just to see what it's like to run all those hills in the other direction.

Now for some musings:

(1) Quality versus quantity. I had this entire conversation with myself about how maybe I was focusing too much on quantity and not enough on quality. At the end of the day though, I realized that my goal Olympic distance race is likely not going to be a super high quality race. It's going to be a finish as quickly as possible on as even an effort as possible (read: try not to blow up halfway, don't get too ambitious, just get to the end). And in that regard, it makes sense for my training to be similar. What's going to be hard about this race isn't quality so much as just going the distance, so it really is quantity that I'm struggling with and I have to get that quantity in before I can even worry about quality. I thought a little bit about how that relates to swimming and how the focus with young swimmers is always increasing volume while focusing on technique, not speed. So I think I'm going to try to take a similar approach with the training: Focus on volume and technique, not speed. We'll re-evaluate in 3 weeks at the halfway point and see if any changes need to be made to that focus overall.

(2) Optimizing training versus maximizing life in general. I had this entire realization that a lot of times I sit around trying to figure out how I can get the most out of training when I should really be trying to figure out how I can get the most out of life. Just like with the prioritization, there are going to be other things in life that bring me satisfaction and fulfillment that may take away minutes from my finish times. That's okay. Nothing rides on my finish times. What's most important is figuring out what is worth those minutes to me and what isn't so I can try and get the most out of life. I'm really going to work on balancing my goals with my other pursuits and my happiness and my love for everything that I do.

(3) Giving myself credit. I think this was something that I started thinking about on my run and not really sorting out until I had a bit of a sad streak late at night. I've realized that oftentimes I don't give myself permission to feel broken down. I never feel like I've worked hard enough to deserve feeling fatigued or sore or whatever, and so it makes me really upset when I'm beat down because I think I shouldn't be. It leads to a lot of guilt about wanting or taking rest (whether that's just lying down for a bit or napping or going to bed early) and a lot of guilt when I feel the need to complain about how beat down I feel. I think I really need to work on accepting that what I do is tough for me (may not be tough for other people or match up to their standards, but it's tough for me) and that I do my best and I'm allowed to be exhausted sometimes and I'm allowed to want rest. I need to give myself credit for the work that I do and stop feeling like I haven't earned my rest or recovery. In the long run, it will help with not only the mental side of things but also the actual quality of my recovery.

So those were the thoughts I had during/after my run. It's now early on Sunday morning and I'm planning on taking a brick in about a half hour. That will be my only workout for the day, which will be a nice break from the past two double days. I will report back on that one later.

Much love,
Jess

Start of Tri Specific Training!

I will consider the Thursday that just passed (7/30) as the first official day of triathlon specific training. As of today, I am six weeks out from USAT Club Nationals (where I will be racing the sprint distance) and and seven weeks out from the Cyman Triathlon (where I will be racing the Olympic distance and hopefully using that finish to qualify for Collegiate Club Nationals in the spring). The plan is a six week build split into two three week blocks with 2.5 weeks of going pretty hard and a couple days in a row of rest. I opted to set myself up like this because the typical 3-4 weeks hard and 1 week recovery doesn't work as well for me (I'm bad at both the longer period of continuous work and the longer period of recovery) and also because the 3 week splits just work better with the schedule. (I couldn't start real prep earlier than this do to travel/moving in/etc.) The activity split in my mind is pretty even and I'm more than willing to be flexible with the plan I have made for myself moving forward, just sort of depending on where I'm at and what else is going on in my life and how I'm feeling. A lot of variables go into optimizing training and I think what I've learned this summer is that flexibility, a willingness to listen to my body, and a respect for the other obligations in my life are going to be very important to me being successful in the upcoming weeks.

That having been said, I've missed some blogging, so this post will be long because I'm going to recap all of it here. Let's go!

Thursday's Workout: Bike trainer session
Summary:

• WU: 10 mins, mix of seated spins and jogs, just getting used to the trainer and getting blood to the legs
• Main Set: split as 95% steady state seated/105% +1 gear and max cadence/recovery spin in minutes
• 1/1/1
• 3/1/2
• 5/1/3
• 7/1/4
• 9/1/5
• Gears: B3/B4/recovery
• WD: 5 mins easy spin
• Total time: 60 minutes

Hit rate: 20/22 (90.9%)

My bike trainer showed up, so I figured I would put it to good use. Didn't have my speed/cadence sensor yet, so I really just played it by feel. I think I was definitely too slow on the cadence and could have maybe been better off working in lower gears at higher cadences, but that was hard to figure out without the sensors since I don't have an intuition for it yet. The sensors have come in since, so the next trainer session I do, I will be able to put these observations to the test.

The trainer session was a great reminder that riding can be a lot a lot a lot of pain. Sometimes I want to say swimming pain is comparable, but when the burning really fires up in your legs there's really nothing that actually compares. Trainer sessions are so mental in that realm. That's something I'm really going to have to settle down and focus on in order to become a stronger cyclist. 

On a more technical note, the upper body involvement in biking always surprises me. It's just like everything else, your upper body is so important to keeping everything stable and energy directed the right way that you can't just assume it's not involved because it's not the key force driver. Will have to focus on simple things like my body position and keeping my shoulders relaxed as the efforts get harder, etc. I also really have to work on smoothness with my pedal stroke. I know that's hard when I'm in toe-clips instead of real cycling shoes, but there's definitely still room for improvement even given that so I'm really going to make an effort to work on that pedaling efficiency. 

Friday AM Workout: CSP swim practice, IM day

Summary: 

• WU: 400 free
• Pre-set:
• 4 x 150 kick/drill/swim by 50 IMO
• 10 x 50 swim @ 1:10/1:15
• 4 free, 3 breast, 2 back, 1 fly
• Main Set: 4 x
• 200 IM @ 3:40
• 150 free @ 2:30
• 100 IM @ 2:00
• No time for real warm down lol...
• Total Distance: 3300 LCM, 75 mins

Hit rate: 21/23 (91.3%)

Lindsey coached yesterday (don't quote me on the spelling of her name) and she was really sweet. Workouts are given orally, which hasn't happened to me since my high school days so my listening comprehension and memorization skills were pretty poor and needed some work. I swam in the faster half of the pool, but we were the awkward lane that was fast enough to be given the faster workout but not fast enough to finish it with time to actually warm down. The people in my lane were pretty cool though, mostly young'uns like myself. There were some hardcore triathletes around throughout the pool, one woman in my lane was going for a ride after practice, turns out there are pretty inspirational people to be found throughout this city.

As for the actual swim itself, the set doesn't look that bad but it was brutal. The combination of me having been out of the pool for a while and the pool being set in long course was just rough, especially on the fly. My quads were cramping up towards the end (probably from the trainer session the day prior) and I was not having a good time. I also have no idea if my lane was actually hitting the intervals. We wanted to make sure everyone was getting some amount of rest so the send offs got sort of arbitrary and I don't like the clocks at this pool very much, they aren't very clear and I just couldn't get a sense for whether or not we were making the intervals just barely or missing them by a lot. It was confusing and weird. But the workout was quality nonetheless so that was appreciated.

The other nice thing about swimming long course is that it forces you to be really cognizant of your technique. You can't hide it with the "oh but it only happened once this length" excuse and if your technique falls apart when you get tired, it shows at the end of the length and you really have to work on holding it together. I like that the setting of the pool is forcing the issue.

The other nice thing is I think practice really gets back at that whole issue of being surrounded by excellence. It's easy to want to complain about getting up at 4:15 AM so you can commute to a 5:15 AM swim practice, but when you are surrounded by others that are doing the same thing and some athletes who are taking bike rides or runs right afterwards, it seems like what you're doing is so small in comparison. Just being around other people who are committed to the same insanity that you are makes what you're doing seem normal instead of commendable or downright strange. And on top of that, when you really really want to quit on repeat 2 of 4, you can't, because everyone else is struggling through the same thing too. I love that. I can't wait to go back next week. Although freestyle is so not my jam.

Friday PM Workout: Outdoor base ride

Summary: 18.13 mi, 1:10:31, 15.4 mph, 577 ft gain

Speed splits by 5k: 14.8, 15.6, 16.0, 15.4

Hit rate: 22/24 (91.7%)

Took 3 laps of Forest Park, really struggled with that incline up on Skinker, but it's good that I'm getting practice with it. Cadence was sort of low on average (74 rpm; I don't look at that on my outdoor rides, trying to get a natural feel for it) so I'll have to work on that. I was going to go for a fourth lap but I decided that I didn't want to blow myself out in case the group ride today required me to be more on top of my game than I was feeling. My legs were pretty shot. It was nice to get outside and be forced to take some quick turns and avoid human beings and get the feel for some climbing and fast descending. The next time I take this ride I might try and do it the other way around to get some of that steeper climbing in and cruise down the Skinker hill and see which I prefer. In general I think the alternating will make me a better cyclist so it's worth doing. 

Today's AM Workout: Short-mid ride w/ 8 AM Big Shark group (including my commute out)

Summary: 23.34 mi, 1:56:56, 12.0 mph, 879 ft gain

Speed splits by 5k: 10.6, 11.0, 14.0, 12.0, 13.5.

Hit rate: 23/25 (92%)

This morning I took my first ever group ride! There were only 4 of us, it was really chill, probably too chill, but the route was nice (and bonus very few cars in the morning) and the company was nice and I'll probably try this route out again tomorrow as the lead in to my brick. Not too much to say I guess other than that riding on the roads was less scary than I thought it would be (mostly because there are so few cars out on the road on a Saturday morning) and spending two hours out riding really digs into your appetite even if you don't go very far or very fast. At some point I would love to go out and try the faster 7:30 group ride but they are faster and that intimidates me so I don't know that I'll be taking that on until I have a little more confidence in my riding abilities. 

One nice thing to note was that I was pretty solid on the uphills (learning to control the effort, realizing that I can climb slowly and keep effort in check and it's really key to longevity in the ride) and there was a ton of coasting down hills which was really nice and a lot of fun. I think the biggest take away from this morning was that riding can be a lot of fun and I need to try and find that and enjoy it whenever possible so that saddle time isn't just torturous all of the time. Also I needed the recovery session for my legs and that was pretty key.

In other news, Henry made me stretch last night and this morning after my ride, and that's definitely been doing me some good. I haven't had the will power to bring myself to do any core work yet, but baby steps I guess. As long as I'm hitting my sessions and stretching and recovering properly after them, I will accept my present shortcomings. We'll work towards putting the rest of the pieces in place as things continue on. I've also taken short 1.5 hr naps both yesterday and today to help keep me rested. Won't be able to do that once school starts next week so that'll be an adjustment. I assume caffeine will have it's role to play when the time comes.

As for the rest of today, I plan on taking a base run sometime in the afternoon (while Henry goes to the gym!) but it should be a fairly easy-moderate effort and I'm just gonna focus on coping in the heat. Things are off to a great start, I'm really excited about where this is headed! Yay!

Much love,

Jess