https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxjvTXo9WWM

[Day 28]

See that title up there? Yeah that one? New Sia. Check it out if you know what's good for your soul.

Today's Workout: AM CSP practice, sprint free day
Summary:

• WU: 250-200-150-100-50 swim @ 10SR 
• It was warm up, I showed up a few minutes late, so inevitably due to weird lane things I think I skipped a total of ~125 over the course of the warm up that I won't count in my total yardage for the day...
• Main Set:
• 8 x 75 free @ 1:15, 7 yd breakout/moderate/7 yd finish hard
• 8 x 125 free @ 2:00, 50 moderate/25 fast no breathing 3 strokes out of turn/50 moderate
• 5 x 100 kick w/ fins @ 1:30, 5 yds fast underwater off each wall/moderate (I did back)
• 4 x 75 free @ 1:15, 25 MAX/50 easy
• 400 free easy, focus on long strokes/reach/DPS
• 100 free MAX (I went 1:10 from a push)
• WD:
• 200 easy
• 4 x 75 free @ 1:15, RB 6/5/4 by 25
• Total Distance: 4025 SCY (4150 SCY as written)

Hit Rate: 29/30 (96.6%)

Notes/thoughts:

• This week has been nice because I've been feeling better just in general. I don't know if I've talked about this yet, but I go through cycles of being really overworked/exhausted and then adapting/adjusting. Right now I'm on one of those upswings where my body has sort of figured out how to recover on this kind of schedule so I'm just generally feeling good and energy levels are bouncing back and it's really nice. At some point we'll up the intensity of some of the workouts (e.g. runs will get longer as I figure out what my knee can handle, trainer rides are going to get longer and probably harder, etc.) and I'll get bounced back down to being tired a lot, but for now I'm enjoying just feeling good for the most part. (There are still times like this morning when I was really exhausted and just sort of wanted to stay in bed forever after breakfast, but I've bounced back pretty well since then and that bouncing back is really the big difference between the good weeks and the not so good weeks.)
• The fun thing about working hard once you've gotten into a bit better shape it that it feels completely different. It's just got a whole different texture to it. It feels like instead of trying really hard to not fall behind, you're working to get ahead, and those two things are so completely different even if you're doing the exact same work. I think that's one of those things that's really helped me with workouts this week. I've honestly not felt very motivated going into any workout, but once I've gotten going I feel like I've been really good at just digging in and loving the process because it feels like I'm taking steps forward. It's been good. (:
• The swim today was particularly reassuring. I feel like my swimming has been on the up and up in general. Possibly because of more consistency, possibly because of strength work, possibly because I'm still making adjustments to my stroke (or really just trying to bring it back to what it used to be) and things are coming together. I really like sprint workouts that are details focused, Thursdays are fun for me even though sometimes I wonder what the point really is when my race distances are like a mile. 
• Today was particularly awesome because we kept up with the fast lane and about halfway through the workout I realized that I have sort of an inferiority complex about that lane that was holding me back and did something to fix that. Even when we're on the same send offs, when I get dropped by the person who leaves the wall at the same time as me, I just let it go instead of fighting it. Today I got a little bit of confidence from a fluke 25 that I swam really fast because right before my push off, our coach was behind the block in my lane yelling coach things about swimming fast and my 12-year-old age grouper reflexes kicked in and I did as I was told. I hit that turn at the same time as the swimmer in the fast lane next to me (instead of 3/4 to a full body length behind him) and it just clicked that there was nothing stopping me but me. So when we did our max 100 and the swimmer in the fast lane started to pull ahead, I was complacent for about a stroke or two before I decided that I was going to race her and I was going to win. I don't think I won, we touched at almost the same time, but I was really proud of myself for going after it because that's something I wouldn't have done even a week ago. A 1:10 from a push isn't horrible, I'll take it given where I'm at right now. I would have probably liked to be under that, I don't really know by how much, but for now I'll be satisfied with that. 

Today is sort of busy but whatever, that's life, I'm getting to do everything I want to do with my life so I can't really complain. Double day tomorrow, another swim in the morning, a short 3 miler outside in the PM to continue with this knee trial thing. But seriously though. Go listen to Sia.

Much love,

Jess

It's cold outside

[Day 10]

First plan change of the year! (Unless you count last Wednesday? Which wasn't so much a plan change as just a "nope not gonna do that today".) Anyways, Tsehay and I decided this morning that as much as we are total badasses who can take on anything, it was too cold for either of us to want to run outside today (-13 C, feels like -23 C, I may be Canadian but without something to cover my cheeks I'm not going out in that temperature to run for an hour...). xD Side note: props to one of my hardcore cyclist friends for going out and riding today. Beast mode much? Anyways, as a result, I pulled up a planned trainer workout from later in the week and we rescheduled our run for Thursday afternoon. So this is what I did instead today!

Today's Workout: PM trainer ride, 80 mins
Summary:

• WU: 10 mins easy, 5 x :30/:30 spin ups 
• Pre-set: 4 x 2/1, fast/easy spinning (100+ rpm), focus on smooth pedal strokes 
• Main Set: cadence work, 95 rpm/80 rpm/95 rpm/105+ rpm/recovery pattern 
• 4/4/3/1/2 
• 3/3/2/1/2 
• 2/2/1/1/2 
• 2 mins easy 
• Technique set: 10 x :45/:15 single leg drill 
• WD: 8 mins easy 
• Total: 17.44 mi, 1:20:06, 13.1 mph average

Hit Rate: 9/9 (100%)

The notes/thoughts:

• Regarding the workout: I did the pre-set and main set on the same gear, which was about threshold at 95 rpm and probably a bit higher than that at 100+ rpm (except for recovery, which I dropped down a gear for).
• The single leg drill is steadily improving. On like number three I was thinking I wouldn't be able to hold out on the gear I was in but surprisingly enough I got through the entire thing without having to drop down. I think I'm learning the efficiency, slowly but surely.
• I still need to work on upper body position on harder efforts. When things get hard I do all manner of weird things with my upper body which is totally not how real life riding would work. Have to focus on that more. 
• Today was sort of a crazy day? I had a lot on my plate for some reason, and Sundays are always stressful because I feel a lot of pressure to get my life put together before the week starts, but I think I did alright for myself given it all. 
• Oh this is random but I have to share: I bought cookie dough (which is not a thing that I do) and I made myself a small batch of mini chocolate chip cookies that I ate after my workout (yeah, I know, not real recovery food) and it was delicious and amazing and it made me really happy. And the best part is I still have like 4/5 of the thing of cookie dough left so there will definitely be more cookies to come. Good decisions past-Jess (:

Only one session on the books for tomorrow, a lift in the morning with a short treadmill run, probably much the same if not identical to last Monday. Hopefully it'll tear my body apart a little bit less this week because I would really like not to spend all of it really sore. We shall see. Fingers crossed!

Much love,

Jess