Windy Ride

Today was a bike day for us tri girls. Since Barb had a job interview to get to, her and Amy headed out early for their bike ride. Teresa had to volunteer at school. This meant it was just me and the Iron Man. I think he actually went east on me today. I was expecting much worse. Just kidding, he is never mean to us, just "motvational". Kindly reminding me to stop whining and shushing us if we get a little chatty. All of which is definetely beneficial to us. We've learned to save our chats for our night runs.

We biked 10mi on the Suncoast Trail. The wind was whipping and even the Iron Man was complaining about it. I only complained in agreement, after all I'm trying to work on that whole whining thing. 28 years of whining is a hard habit to break! This was a great ride minus the wind and calls from the school nurse that I had a sick kid. Tonight I run with the girls and hope to squeeze a few more swims in this week.

This Sunday is the St. Anthony triathlon. The Iron Man is participating so we're going to cheer him on and hopefully pick up some helpful tips.

Beach to Bayou 5k

Yesterday was the Beach to Bayou 5k put on by Tarpon Total Fitness. The race course began at Howard Park beach down the causeway, thru the park and then finishing back on the beach. What a beautiful course. The first mile was into the sun but nobody seemed to mind since we were running right by the water and it wasn't hot out yet. I liked this race becuase it didn't start at the crack of dawn. I'm all about an 8am start. I managed to shave 2min off my time from Iron Girl so I was happy with that. I finally broke that darn 30min curse. My plan is to do more speed work and continue to shave a couple mins off each time for the next few races in preparation for my June triathlon!

Trying to get to Tri training...

This week has pretty much been a bust for tri training. With the kids being out of school and Matt off work the end of this week I feel torn between family and fitness.

We missed the Tuesday swim work out but made it for the other groups Wed. night run. We ran 31/2 miles in 31 min. Explain to me why my Iron Girl time was also 31min and it was only 3mi? I know, I know, the bridge...I'm still not convinced. I'm hoping for a much better time this weekend at Beach to Bayou. I'm starting to understand the saying "Many marathoners are born from frustrated 5kers." I also wasn't able to make the swim today, I had a date of planting flowers with my daughter. She was needing some girl time. Hopefully I'll get atleast one swim in this weekend.

Next week everything will be back in order and I can do my training when it doesn't inconvenience anyone else. Atleast I finally caught up on my neglected housework!

Iron Girl

Saturday was the Iron Girl 5k/10k in Clearwater. What an awesome chick race! The course was beautiful thru downtown Clearwater right by the water. However, that bridge was ugly!! I knew my legs were tired that morning but I figured they'd warm up. That never really happened. This definetely wasn't one of my best runs but it was a blast being out there with my girls and running into other friends from the neighborhood and the Y!

I have to comment on the food! It was actually catered, hot breakfast. Including vegetarian choices. We were all very impressed with the food. It helped you forget about climbing up that bridge!

The last week of the first month of training...In a nutshell.

Sunday:
Bike 8mi
Run 2

This was my first experience with the bike/run scenario and it is intense. It was very windy today, which was a good challenge on the bike.

Monday:
Teach 45min spin
Teach 1hr bodyflex

Tuesday:
Run/Walk 4mi
1: 20/40 sprint
30min easy spin

This was our first work out with our "coach". I had an awful cramp in my left hamstring but I listened to my body(for a change) and took it as easy as I could.

Wednesday:
Teach 30min spin
Run: 15min 3: 20/40 sprints with jogging recovery total miles=2
Teach 1hr bodyflex

Thursday:
Swim: 100 warm up
A few 50's gliding, stream lining
250 ;)
50 cool down
I know we did more but I was too tired to really keep track. I had an epiphany with my breathing. Believe it or not it's actually much easier to breathe less!
Total time in pool=1hr
Bike: Approx. 6mi - pushing my second to hardest gear! HOLLA!!
Total time on bike= 30min
Run: A little over 4 mi total
5: 20/40 sprints
Drills- gallop, skip/backward skip,two-legged jumps,spidermans

Friday is for resting up for tomorrow's Iron Girl. I opted for the 5k since I haven't really been running. Just hoping for good weather and NO wind!!

100's!!

I know for most swimmers doing a 100 is no big deal but for me it's huge. When I started swimming I couldn't even do a 50 without stopping for a break.

This was my saturday morning work out:
3: sets (A set consists of a 50 free and a 50 drill)
2:100's
2: sets
1: 100
Total time in the pool: 1hr

Early Riser

Today Amy, Barb and I headed to the Y for an early morning run/swim. We had planned to arrive at the Y at 5:30 but didn't get there until about 5:40. We opted for a 20min run instead of 30min to give ourselves a full hour in the pool. I went easy on my run this morning since I'm getting over being sick.

mile 1: 10:00
mile 2: 9:20

The air was chilly this morning but the water was warm and steamy! My swim felt smooth and strong. I feel like I've mastered keeping my head down and elbows up. Now I need to work on my gliding and the pull motion. We did take a few short breaks just with little triathlon conversations but I never felt like I "needed" a break. I kept track of my laps with sets. A 50 freestyle and a 50 drill is one "set". I did 6 sets plus one extra 50. I'm looking forward to my swim tomorrow morning and hopefully I'll get up in time to get a run in too!