Haven't forgotten how to ride my bike...yet...

[Day 105]

Today's Workout: Moderate ride, laps of Forest Park
Summary: 23.98 mi, 1:29:49, 16.0 mph
Speed splits by 5 mi: 15.7, 16.8, 16.2, 15.8, 15.6
Hit Rate: 103/113 (91.1%)

I've still got some residual back pain/soreness/don't really know what it is but hoping it'll clear up. My IT band is really tight, worse on the right than on the left, really need to stretch tonight is all. Can't wait to race! Sorry for the short posts but life is happening lol. Studying time!

Much love,
Jess

Blogging "every day" amirite?

[Day 95]

Tired right now. Break was great. Too lazy to go into all the details. Here just have the summaries.

Monday's Workout: Gym sesh w/ Henry
Summary:

• Back squats: WU 12 @ 75#, 3 x 8 @ 115#, last set drop set for 12 @ 95#
• Pulldowns: 3 x 12 @ 90#
• Flat bench: 12 @ 55#, 3 x 12/8/6-2 @ 85#
• Trap bar deadlifts: 3 x 8 @ 165# (split 6-2 or 5-3 just sort of depending...) - we just googled it and found out how much the bar weighs, turns out that's why those were sort of rough lol
• Legs superset: 3 x 
• 15 goblet squats @ 45#
• 15 split squats @ 15#/side (DBs)
• 15 reverse lunges @ 15#/side (DBs)
• Dips: 3 x 12 @ 50 lbs of assist
• Seated cable rows: 3 x 12 @ 70#

Hit Rate: 87/95 (91.5%)

Tuesday's Workout: Run

Summary: 8.66 mi, 1:23:24, 9:37 pace, 171 spm average

Pace splits by mile: 9:11, 9:31, 9:43, 9:43, 9:47, 9:38, 9:42, 10:13, 8:57

Things worth noting: I had really bad period cramps that started about a mile in, I ended up stopping at 1.5 mi and thinking that I would just have to walk home and call it a day, but the cramps faded and I ended up deciding that I should try and get through it anyways and if I had to, I would just walk when the cramps acted up. They didn't come back, so I got the rest of my workout in nice and smooth. Was glad I decided to stick it out. (:

Hit Rate: 88/96 (91.6%)

Wednesday's Workout: Indoor brick at the hotel gym

Summary: (continuous)

• 20 mins biking as 10 mins @ 6-8 warm up, 5 mins @ 9, 5 mins @ 10, all at 95 rpm
• 10 mins running @ 2% incline, 6.2-6.4 mph speed
• 20 mins biking as 5 mins @ 10, 5 mins @ 11, 5 mins @ 12, 5 mins @ 11
• 10 mins running @ 2% incline, 6.5 mph speed
• Summed totals:
• Biking: 11.50 mi, 40:06
• Running: 2.19 mi, 20:42

Things worth noting: So sore from the gym sesh...but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Hit Rate: 89/97 (91.7%)

Thursday's Workout: Stadiums at Princeton w/ Henry

Summary: 2 rounds of stadiums with rest between rounds, lower level only, alternating singles/doubles by staircase

Hit Rate: 90/98 (91.8%)

Friday's Workout: Indoor biking at the hotel gym

Summary: 17.68 mi, 1:01:03

• All at 90-95+ rpm
• WU: 10 mins @ 6-8
• Main Set: 9 x 5 mins @ 9/10/11/12/13/12/11/11/10
• WD: 5 mins working down from 10 to 6

Things worth noting: Henry had to kick me out of bed so I would do this. I really didn't wanna do it, but I'm glad I did. Stadiums were really bad to my ankles so I stuck with non-impact work.

Hit Rate: 91/99 (91.9%)

Saturday's Workout: Gym sesh w/ Henry, upper body only

Summary:

• Flat bench: WU 12 @ 55#, 3 x 12/8/8 @ 85#
• Pulldowns: 4 x 12/12/12/10-2 @ 90#
• Incline bench: 3 x 12 @ 65#
• Single arm DB rows: 3 x 12 @ 40#
• Shoulder press: 3 x 8-12 @ 25#-15#
• Bicep curls: 3 x 12 @ 20#
• Dips: 3 x 12/12/10 @ 40# of assist
• Superset: 3 x
• 12 lateral raises @ 12.5#
• 12 front plate raises @ 25#
• Leaning lateral raises, one set of 12/side @ 7.5#
• Skull crushers: 3 x 12/12/6-4 @ 15#/15#/15#-10#
• Machine flyes and reverse flyes: 3 sets of each, 12 reps, the weight was whatever Henry set the machine to (I think I did the same for normal and reverse flyes, which I guess says something ridiculous about my front/back strength ratios), alternating exercises

Hit Rate: 92/100 (92%)

Sunday: Rest day! Ah glorious rest days.

Today's AM Workout: Base run, 5 mi

Summary: 5.04 mi, 46:20, 9:12 pace, 175 spm

Pace splits by mile: 9:09, 9:18, 9:18, 9:09, 9:06

Notes: Felt sluggish, but got through it. Probs b/c I hadn't run fasted in a while and last week is catching up to me fatigue wise, but it's fine. I'm happy with this for a normal run of the mill run.

Hit Rate: 93/101 (92%)

Today's PM Workout: Outdoor ride w/ Hoang (who puuuuuushed me, it was awesome)

Summary: 28.87 mi, 1:43:33, 16.7 mph

Speed splits by mile: 16.2, 16.9, 16.3, 20.9, 16.5, 14.2

Notes: New 40k PR today, 1:25:44, kinda cool.

Hit Rate: 94/102 (92.1%)

Yayyyyyy. Swim tomorrow. Sleep now.

Much love,

Jess

Longest workout of the year to date

[Day 66]

Oh no I missed another blogging day! Yesterday was so hectic it completely slipped my mind that I hadn't blogged. This is what happens on rest days. I forget stuff. Okay well let's do a recap of yesterday and a recap of the week before we get into today's workout log.

Rest day: Yesterday was a pretty good day all in all, got some studying done, went to Schnucks Screenings, performed in the Vagina Monologues, had fun focusing on non-training related things that made me feel like I had a life again. I actually had a great day just being a normal person. That was probably why I forgot to log lol. The body felt pretty good most of the day, a little bit of residual exhaustion from the run on Friday but nothing super notable. Good stuff all in all.

Weekly Recap:

• 2 swims, 2 runs, 1 trainer brick, 1 gym session, 1 core session for a total of ~10 hrs in 7 sessions.
• I missed a swim this week and took 3 rest days which sort of made it not the week I wanted it to be but for what it's worth, I think I put in some great efforts during this week's sessions, especially with regards to running.
• It was nice to finally hit some harder efforts with the running. I'm pretty slow but it's coming along really well I think in terms of finding speed while tired. It's really shown through in the bricks, where I've been taking much faster efforts than I typically do. Makes me think I could pull out a pretty good 10k time in the next race. We'll see.
• I haven't done great this week with the sleep. I think that's worth noting. I've had to take afternoon naps twice and I think it says something about my sleep habits that needs to be fixed. Gonna really try and fix that in the upcoming week because it'll be a big week and I'll need to try and keep my energy reserves up. 

Okay time for today! Here's the weekend brick update:

Today's Workout: Brick (30 mi ride + 4 mi run, moderate effort)
Summary:

• Bike: 29.66 mi, 2:00:30, 14.8 mph (Geyer-Adams-Ballas route)
• Bike speed splits by 5 mi: 14.4, 14.7, 15.2, 14.5, 14.7, 15.2
• Transition: 2:30.60
• Run: 4.24 mi, 38:07, 8:59 pace, 178 spm cadence (flat half of the park)
• Run splits by mile: 8:36, 8:56, 9:13, 9:08, 9:11 

Hit Rate: 69/76 (90.7%)

The ride felt really good. I took it pretty moderately and honestly felt way more energized in the second half than I thought I would. Was mostly pretty calm too, wind started up towards the end but it was very manageable. I spend some time out of the saddle in the first half but pretty much tried to keep my climbs seated in the second half because I need to work on the steady seated climbing (Collegiate Nationals and Chicago should both be flat courses so it makes more sense to just stay seated rather than amp up heart rate with standing climbs when there are small hills). The run felt pretty rough today, not gonna lie. Didn't have the same spring in my step I usually expect and I felt outrageously slow, but the splits came out well and I got some good practice forcing myself to focus and stay positive and finish strong. It's just as important to work on the mental side of things so I'm glad there are days that really challenge me in that department. The only other thing worth noting about the workout is that I took two gels on the bike and had most of a bottle of Gatorade. I didn't eat breakfast beforehand, just had a Clif Bar, some water, and 3 Shot Bloks. It seemed to meet my calorie needs pretty well though, so it's good to feel like I have that part of the game plan down. Will probably stick to a similar pattern for the rest of the workouts that clear 2.5 hours in length. 

It's pretty cool to note that my longest workout last summer in the lead up to September racing was a 30+5 brick and a 24+6 brick and I've hit a 30+4 and we're still 7 weeks out from racing. I'm feeling super fit and super pumped to keep working towards putting together a good race in April. Excited to see where this goes. 

Lifting in the morning tomorrow and taking a nice easy run lap of the park in the afternoon. Seems like it'll be a light day in terms of school hours which will be nice, give me a chance to keep trying to catch up on lectures and things. Big week of training coming up, let's get it! (:

Much love,

Jess

First (planned) brick of the year!

[Day 62]

Today's Workout: Trainer ride brick, 90 mins + 4 mi run
Summary:

• Trainer set:
• WU: 
• 10 mins easy 
• 8 x :30/:30 spin ups 
• 2 mins easy 
• Main Set: 
• 5/5/5 @ base +1, 80-85/85-90/90-95 rpm 
• 2 mins recovery 
• 4/4/4 @ base +1, 80-85/85-90/90-95 rpm 
• 2 mins recovery 
• 3/3/3 @ base +1, 80-85/85-90/90-95 rpm 
• 2 mins recovery 
• 2/2/2 @ base +1, 80-85/85-90/90-95 rpm 
• 2 mins recovery 
• 1/1/1 @ base +1, 80-85/85-90/90-95 rpm 
• 2 mins recovery 
• 15 mins steady state riding (cover the clock, just find whatever gearing/cadence works for you) 
• Run set: 3 miles hard, 1 mile easy
• Garmin numbers:
• Ride: 22.05 mi, 1:30:24, 14.6 mph
• Transition: 2:40.70 (slow today because I had to change into cold weather running gear)
• Run: 4.26 mi, 38:34, 9:04 average pace, 175 spm 
• Run splits by mile: 8:37, 8:56, 8:55, 9:44, 9:13 (0.26 mi only)

Hit Rate: 67/73 (91.7%)

I'm really proud of this one! Recap in narrative form today. I think I had expected to feel really awful because I was pretty sore/tight today from yesterday and I was also sort of scared of throwing that round of 4s into the main set, but it went okay! I am actually super proud of myself because I worked really hard at being positive going into this workout. During the warm up and during each recovery interval I literally talked to myself out loud and just tried to say really positive things and reaffirm that I could do this and I had it in me and I think it went a long way towards getting me through the ride portion. I definitely was tired going into the workout because it was the afternoon and I'm always tired in the afternoons and I felt like I was going to fall asleep on my handlebars at first, but I got into it and it definitely woke me up and gave me more energy as I went on.

The transition was a little slow because of the inevitable delays of having to change into winter running gear (and try to dry myself off as thoroughly as I could with a towel so I wouldn't freeze as soon as I got outside) but I kept it under 3 minutes which I'm fine with as far as transition time goes. I love running off the bike. I think my legs are firing so many muscles on the bike that when I switch to the run, my brain recruits a bunch of muscles it typically doesn't when I'm running, so the amount of power in each of my strides blows my mind and it feels so good to have that kind of strength in my running. I can never really find that spot when I'm just going for a run, so I think the extra level of sensory awareness I get from running off the bike is always nice. Also I'm already warmed up, which is one of the things I struggle the most with when I'm running. It usually takes me forever to get into it when I just run, but running off the bike is almost easier because I'm already warm and my body is so ready to go.

I pushed the pace today because I felt good, so I wanted to take as many miles fast as I could. I was definitely fading in mile 3, was hovering between 9:05-9:10 average for probably 2/3s of the mile and then decided in the last little stretch that I really wanted to get that mile in under 9:00 so I put in a pretty good surge and kicked really hard to try and get there. I was pretty sure in the last minute or so of that mile that I was going to throw up, I worked really hard to keep the contents of my stomach in my stomach. I was impressed that I finished out in under 10:00 pace once I slowed down for my cool down mile given that I pushed pretty hard on that run, so I'm really happy with how that went. Also worth noting that the spm stayed high, which is good because that's usually something I worry about when I run coming off the bike. Glad I kept that up too, it was definitely something I was trying actively to think about (that along with running form in general).

I think the craziest thing is looking back on just a year and a half ago when I was new to this sport and my longest bricks were like 12 or 18 miles of biking (I honestly don't remember) plus a 6 km run and it felt like death and I was just holding on for dear life by the time I was 5+ minutes into the run. This workout was already longer than that and the fact that I could even think about pushing pace and feeling strong blows my mind. I've come so far, it's pretty cool to see that play out. Don't get me wrong, I still live in a constant state of "ugh I'm so bad at biking and running", but in fairness I am way way better than I used to be.

Gonna finish up with laundry and pack up for tomorrow and maybe do a tiny tiny bit of work before I hit the sack tonight. Swim tomorrow morning, only one workout, rain in the forecast which is sort of uncool but I'll get up and see how that actually plays out. If the weather seems bearable, I'll brave it for the swim. Fingers crossed! (:

Much love,
Jess

Living room workouts are turning out to be pretty clutch

[Day 22B]

I just ate a lot of BBQ. Very happy about that.

Today's PM Workout: Trainer ride, endurance work
Summary:

• WU: 10 mins easy 
• Pre-set: 5 x :30/:30 spin ups 
• Main set: 4 x 
• 4 mins @ 90-95 rpm base 
• 4 mins @ 60 rpm climb (base +4)
• 4 mins @ 90-95 rpm base 
• 3 mins @ 90-95 rpm pick up (base +1) 
• 3 mins easy 
• Technique work: 10 x :45/:15 single leg drill 
• WD: ~5 mins easy 
• Totals: 22.66 mi, 1:33:12, 14.6 mph average

Hit Rate: 22/23 (95.6%)

Notes/thoughts:

• The point of this workout was to learn to recover from the pick ups without dropping the base effort. Just building nice long steady endurance. 60 mins without a full recovery, it was good. (Last round was tough but all in all I'm willing to step it up the next time I do an iteration of this. Haven't decided if I wanna change pace/resistance/total time yet, so we'll see.)
• The best thing about workouts like this one is that they calm the rest of my life freak outs. I was sort of losing it over how much work I have to do and how behind I feel but I conquered this thing so it makes me feel like I can handle whatever else there is that life wants to throw at me. Reminders that we're deeper than we think. 
• My brain definitely went offline in the latter parts of that workout. If I didn't have my timer (get the Seconds app if you haven't already!) running with what each interval was supposed to be written down on it, I would have totally lost my place. All I could really focus on was keeping the pedals turning at the right speed. 
• Worth noting that I had some pretty bad wrist pain in the first 30 or so minutes of the ride (right side). I just adjusted my position a bunch of times and eventually found something that eased it up, and then later on it just seemed to go away...Dunno what the deal is. Will keep an eye on it though.
• Was listening to Swimcerely again (love it sooooo soooooo much) and was thinking about team dynamics in swimming and how we're all super competitive people but at the end of the day we're all rooting for each other and working to lift each other up. It's funny because I'm in medical school now and I feel like applicants are always asking things like whether or not it's competitive and never in my life had I associated competitiveness with sabotage or other negatively connoted actions before so it's been weird to try and address those things. Honestly I feel like medical school much closer resembles a swim team. We're all trying to do something that is, at the end of the day, honestly really difficult. We all work really hard, we're all doing our best, and we all want to be successful. But just because we want to be successful doesn't mean that we don't want our peers to be successful too. We do a lot to help lift each other up, because it's wonderful to help others and it's wonderful to be helped by others. I sort of dislike that people pit competitiveness and genuine niceness against each other because that's not how I think it works. I'm extremely competitive. But I also have a lot of love for my teammates and classmates and I want them to succeed just as much as I want to succeed. And beyond that, I want to play a part in supporting them and helping them succeed whenever it's possible, and I'm 100% sure that they feel the same way about me. I think we really need to lose this notion that competitive people are just out to get you and want you to fail so they can look good. I honestly don't think that's how it works, at least not in my experience. Okay end random Jess musings. Check out Spin's podcast though, it's fantastic. 

So random last minute decision: I'm going to swim practice tomorrow morning! Because...why not? It's 6-7 am, I'll have time to come home and eat some food and get a tiny bit of rest before I go lift with a classmate at 9 am. That'll be okay right? Right? Lol I'm an addict. Someone help me. Anyways, after that it's a pretty busy day. I've got a health screening to work in the afternoon and a take home exam I haven't looked at yet that I really need to start on. But I believe! Gonna go home (I'm in lab right now, but it turns out I couldn't do any lab work because I'm still short a few accesses, which is annoying because I've requested like 7 accesses already and apparently I need even more) and stretch and do some more studying and then hit the sack. 5:25ish alarm tomorrow morning so 9ish bedtime? (Wow so much sleeping in.) That'll be the goal. 9:30 wouldn't be the end of the world either. Alright, that's all from me! (:

Much love,

Jess

Anticipation

[Day 3]

The first practice of the year in the fall was always a big highlight of the back to school season for me. I tended to take the entire summer off from swimming, unlike some of my teammates who did summer season in the US with club teams, so the first practice of the year for me was typically after a 2 or so month long hiatus from structured training. It was the kind of thing that was both super exciting (I always missed the water) and super intimidating (as it should be when you're totally out of shape). Normally I made a point of keeping up with my swimming over the winter (our biggest meet of the year typically happened in February which meant that there was no time for slacking off or breaks in the winter) so it was a strange experience to find myself taking a break from training this winter break and anticipating the January return. I guess the timing of the triathlon off-season is still foreign to me and that's something that will take some getting used to.

In any case, I've had some nerves about me all break about getting back into the swing of things both in terms of school and training. My biggest worry is always the mental side of things. Just like it takes my body a while to get physically back into shape, it also takes my brain a while to get mentally used to the schedule and workload again. That's always the part I like least, it makes me feel weaker than being physically weak does. But I know it's an inevitable part of the process, so I'm trying not to get too psyched out about it when I'm only a day into the real work.

I also know that getting back into a consistent training schedule is also a lot like endurance racing: The first portion is always unpredictable and largely does not indicate how the latter portions will play out. It's best not to overthink things in the early game because I won't get an accurate sense of the situation until after my body has settled down into a comfortable rhythm and pace anyways. I will probably be reminding myself of that fact a lot over the course of the next few days and weeks.

So for today, I stuck to a very easy and short indoor trainer ride. I'm avoiding the outdoors for now because I haven't ventured out onto the roads in a while so they freak me out a bit and because it's cold. I will...work towards overcoming both of those things in the coming months, but for now, I'll stick to the trainer rides. Here's the summary!

Today's Workout: Base trainer ride, 60 mins
Summary:

• WU: 10 mins easy 
• Pre-set: 5 x :30/:30 spin ups 
• Main Set: threshold intervals of 8/2, 6/2, 4/2, 2/2 @ 90-95 rpm, 1 gear off 70-80 rpm rests
• Drill set: 10 x :45/:15 single leg drill 
• WD: 7 mins easy
• Total: 12.64 mi, 1:00:36, 12.5 mph

Hit Rate: 1/1 (100%) - aw yeah, we're back in business.

Some notes/realizations:

• Jet lag sucks. I woke up at 1:30 am this morning after about 3 hours of sleep, suffice it to say that I feel terrible. The focused parts of the workout felt okay but as soon as I moved into warm down territory I was pretty certain I was going to die. Part of being exhausted for me always involves feeling nauseous, and I'm sure the cardio intensive activity is not helping with that at all. Ew.
• I can't actually watch football while training. I try. I had (still have) the Pats game on but other than vaguely following who had possession and the score (and somewhat watching during rest intervals), I really couldn't actually pay attention to football. Every time I tried, the cadence fell off, so I just focused on riding instead.
• I was actually aiming for 95+ rpm in the main set but my legs feel like they're really not used to turnover. That's something I will have to work on. Maybe some short sprint sets in the next few weeks to try and ease into longer segments at the higher cadence. 90 rpm is fairly comfortable for me but 95 always feels like a push.
• I suck at single leg stuff. I'm okay for like 15-20 seconds and then the top part of my pedal stroke falls apart. I also hate working on it because it's such a struggle but I think I'm going to make a point of putting this set into the end of every trainer workout because it's important that I nail this efficiency thing. As a swimmer, I am a big believer in maximizing efficiency whenever possible, so I just have to buckle down and learn how to pedal properly.

The game is at half time, I was told by Henry that I have to stay awake until the game ends, so I'll probably go take a quick shower and watch the Pats mount a comeback victory to clinch the top seed in the playoffs, then pass out for many hours and make dinner slash lunch for tomorrow at like 2 am when I wake up. xD 

The plan for tomorrow is a pretty standard gym workout followed by a short treadmill run and a small amount of core/mobility work. It'll be a long morning workout, but the only one of the day. I'm a little bit freaked out about getting back in the gym. I always am after I'm out for a while because I'm scared of hurting myself and honestly the gym still intimidates me after all these years. (Don't get me wrong, I love it, it's just scary to move really heavy things around sometimes.) I'm sure it'll be fine once I actually show up though, just gotta get back at it! Yay shower time!

Much love,

Jess

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

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

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

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