This was a great week of training. Now that we've moved the schedule around so I am not enduring 4 hard workout days in a row, I feel much more rested.
Here are a few highlights from this week's workouts:
1. Tuesday Night's Track Workout—My running group was supposed to run our 800s at an 8:40 pace. Not once did we do that. Every single time, we were faster. Granted, that was mostly because of my training partner Jocelyn. She kept running off the front of the group. Then, Tom, the coach, would taunt me to catch her. That is the hardest I've run in recent memory.
2. Thursday's Morning Long Run—My friend Danielle offered to do my long runs with me. Thursday's run was scheduled for 1:30 so we left my house at 6:45 am so that we could creatively commute to work and be at our desks by 9:00 am. What a beautiful morning! Below was what we got to experience about half-way through. (Danielle took the picture from her iPhone. I 'art directed.') Definitely motivation to get out of bed on Thursdays!
3. Saturday's Team Ride—We had the most gorgeous weather for yesterday's ride. Sunny, high of about 62. (In February!!) I was thankful my team waited for me to get there because I got a little lost on the way there. The ride was scheduled for 60 miles through farm country northeast of Seattle. Now, I will admit, I brought my light race bike because of the weather. I don't know if I could have kept up on the rain bike. BUT, the main thing is that I kept up. I got a little behind on some of the more significant climbs, but I sprinted, and chased, and pace-lined my way through the 3.5-hour ride. I averaged about my speed for a half-Ironman. I even successfully descended the same hill I fell on during my last team ride. (During the Rocket Ride yesterday, a Starbucks rider broke his collar bone on this descent. It is an awful, awful place.) It felt so good to not be last up every climb or to make the team wait for me all the time. Oh, and it was great to see my Tomato teammates I hadn't seen in awhile.
Now, for this week's lowlight:
1. This episode might be a bit karmic after being so excited about my progress in the pool. Monday morning, the pool was busy. I knew that at circle swimming at some point was inevitable. Because I had so many technique drills to do, I decided to put myself in the medium lane. There were some pretty competitive-looking swimmers in the fast lane and I didn't want to slow them down. Well, that was a mistake because the medium lane swimmers were slowing me down. I was about half-way through my workout when another lady decided to join our lane. I'm not really sure how I should refer to her. I want to call her the 'mean lady' but I've also heard about some really nice things she's done. How about the grouchy lady? I'm hoping that she is just not a morning person.
Anyway, so grouchy lady gets in the pool and immediately demands to know how much longer I will be in the lane. (I will swim as long as I want, thankyouverymuch.) I told her I had about 20 minutes left of drills and speed work. About half-way through that time, we are both resting at the wall. She decides to tell me that I have too strong of a kick. I'm dumbfounded that she is trying to give me swimming advice as I have lapped her several times at this point. I have a feeling that my kick was just too strong for her liking in the morning. I tell her that I'm training for an Ironman and that I'm working on adjusting my speed through my kick. (I should also mention that she wears flippers when she swims.) She then proceeds to advise me that I need swim lessons. I say, 'okay,' and finish my swim.
What a pin in my balloon! I know that I still have a long way to go when it comes to my swim technique, but I do not appreciate unsolicited swim advice from the grouchy lady. I told my master's swim coach about it and she assured me that I'm doing just fine. She also suggested that grouchy lady take some manners lessons.
Also, there was a Table Temptation of the Day on Tuesday. I spent half my day on Tuesday in a presentation skills class and there was a mixed bowl of candy on the table.
Me vs. Mixed Bowl of Candy
Thankfully, the bowl was mostly full of bite-size Milky Ways and I had brought a Babybel cheese snack to the meeting. I win. Still undefeated.
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