Confidence boosters...

This week I had a couple of workouts that just blew me away.  As in they were so good (for me) that it was shock and awe over here.  I feel like I have had a lot of that lately.  Weird.  Maybe I just need to be more in touch with myself and where I am at in these things.

Thursday I was a little short on time so I decided to toss aside my pre-planned swim workout of 3100 meters and just swim a straight 3100.  (If you aren't into swimming, the time savings comes from not stopping every so often depending on the workout).  It can be pretty boring as you are just counting laps in your head the whole time.  I am not into the underwater music, I just like to think and swim.  ...but not think too much because then you forget what lap you are on.  Was that 2 or 4?  Oops.  Anyhow, I managed to do it in about 57 minutes which is right on target for where I hoped to be.  Woot!

Today, I rode the GA400 Metric Century.  This was a re-do from last year. (The Hardest Bike Ride Evah...)  It still held true to its name but there was no hill walking this time.  I spent Friday afternoon getting re-fitted on my bike.  The changes were from the ground up lining up cleats, seat, bars.  It all added up to giving me a lot more power.  (I say 'a lot" but it is all relative, right?).  Anyhow, it was enough that I could tell a difference immediately.  Usually, the fast and even medium fast group drops me immediately and I end up riding most of the ride with very few people around.  Today I was surrounded by groups of riders from start to finish.

When we got to the "three sisters" that kicked my butt last year,  I climbed them with no problem.  It was hard but didn't feel like I needed to stop.  (When I got to that section, I passed 10 people walking their bikes up the big sister and only one guy and myself were actually riding).  That was my one and only goal for this ride.  I didn't care about speed, I just wanted to make it up the three sisters without having to walk.  Cross that off the list!

At the end of the ride, I had someone behind me on a long straight stretch.  I could tell they were back there because I could hear the spinning.   When we got the light, this guy thanked me for pulling him along and said I had a great pace and was really smooth pedaling.  (trust me, this NEVER happens).  Was so proud of myself at that moment.  It was icing on the cake to a fabulous ride!

When I got home I looked at my stats from last year compared to this year.  Last year - I averaged a 12.2 mph pace (I mentioned the crazy climbing, right?).  This year - I averaged 16.2 mph.  Pure craziness.  Maybe all these century rides are paying off.  As my friend KC says, if you want to improve you need to ride upgrades not buy upgrades.   She is so wise.

Hope you guys had a nice weekend!  Going to try and get a long run in tomorrow.  (We had our septic tank repaired on my regular long run day so tomorrow I MUST MUST MUST get it in!).  Check out the name of the tank - the stool bus.  HA.  (and ick).  :)

Ironman Louisville Training Week 15...

First things first ...  HUGE congratulations to my friend Meredith (AKA Swim Bike Mom) who completed her first Ironman at CDA this weekend.  I was glued to the computer from almost start to finish.  I took a few breaks to get a couple of workouts in but managed to stay up until the very end which is quite the feat for someone who normally loses her charm around 10:00 pm.  If you have never tracked anyone online or watched the live feed of the finish from ironman.com, you must!  It is ridiculously exciting.  As Meredith was coming down the chute to finish, there were some people standing in the way of the camera and I was yelling at them to get out of the way.  LOL.  Such an exciting finish!  So proud!

and on to IM LOU....   Here we are at June 25th which can only mean one thing...   TWO months until Louisville!  Whoa.  How did that sneak up on me so quickly?  It occurs to me that I am in the "last two months" of training.  Those are the two months that I warn my friends about.  You know, those friends who are dipping their toes into the idea of an ironman.  "The last two months are the worst but just when you think you can't do one more long ride, you will be tapering."  So here I am in the last two months, ready or not!  I have at least four more century rides on tap between now and the big dance.  Smart or not so smart?  I guess time will tell.  I may be kicking myself on August 26th wishing I had stuck with the tried and true training plan.  Oh well.  You won't improve unless you change things up once in a while.  Fingers crossed all this biking pays off!

Monday:  Rest Day!  CR went to the go-kart track to take a few laps.

Tuesday:
Bike (AM):  18 miles
Swim (AM):  2500 meters
Crossfit (PM) - This was the workout to kick off the "Paleo Challenge" (the reason I got the body fat testing).  The way I eat is a close cousin to Paleo so I thought, why not...

Wednesday:
Bike (AM):  18 miles
Run (AM):  3.25 miles
I have been doing a lot of brick type workouts this time around.  They really aren't written that way in the schedule, they just work out that way as a matter of being to fit them into my day.

Thursday:
Run (AM):  14 miles
At the suggestion of my friend, KC, I moved my long run to mid-week.  There are a few schools of thought on it.  My plan calls for intense weekends of back to back long runs and rides but then there are coaches who think you gain more from getting a quality run in on fresher legs.  As with the century rides, I guess we will see how this plays out :)
Crossfit (PM)

Friday:
Swim (AM):  2000 meters

Saturday:
Bike (AM):  94 miles
I met up with the Blue Iron group for Keith's birthday ride.  I think everyone did varying distances but Keith and I did three loops which amounted to 94 miles.  I was chased by a pit bull around mile 80 which was terrifying.  I have been chased before but they usually give up after a few yards.  This one stayed the course for about a 1/4 mile going from one side of my bike to the other.  I have had suggestions of spraying them with pepper spray or water but the reality is, I can barely get the water bottle out of my back cage without slowing down, I can't imagine trying to sprint away from a dog in full chase mode and trying to grab spray (or whatever) without crashing.  Thankfully he eventually gave up.  I pedaled off and tried to catch my breath but it really messed with my mind.

Sunday:
Swim (AM):  3300 meters
Run (PM):  5 miles  Did a short run in the afternoon to soak up that summer heat.  Again, mixed opinions on this one but I think some amount of running in the heat can only help me when I get to Louisville.  I may not opt to do my long runs in the full heat of the day (to optimize my chance of actually getting the long runs done) but I do think the short runs in the heat and actually the crossfit will help.  (I say crossfit because it is not air conditioned so there is some exertion in the heat there too).

...and that wraps up week 15!  On tap this week, I am returning to the GA 400 century where the three sisters kicked my butt last year.  This time around I have an appropriate gear on my bike for hills so am excited to see if it will be any easier this time around!  stay tuned :)

What is up with my GPS...

In the mail this week, I received my magazine from the Atlanta Track Club.  I usually leaf through it to see if I see anyone I know in the pictures and then give it a toss.  This month, it had an article about GPS devices.  Specifically, the complaint that you hear all the time about a course being "long".  You have seen it in a 1000 blog entries and facebook updates.  You know the ones...  "Since when is a 10k 6.4 miles?" or "I would have PRd but the course was 26.8 miles".  I *think* we have probably seen this enough to know that the problem was not with the course but with the runner and their GPS device.  (Assuming the course is  USATF certified).  What was interesting to me was that this article went into a lot of detail about how the course is measured in order to get its USATF certification.  (I'll give you the cliff notes version...)

 - The methodology for measuring a course is outlined in a 100-ish page manual issued by USATF.  Basically, the course is measured with a Jones Counter device attached to a bicycle.  The bicycle is then ridden over the course a minimum of four times to calibrate the bike/device.

 - After the device is calibrated, then they ride the course a minimum of two more times one foot away from the curb or road edge using the shortest possible route.  Turns and corners are taken as closely as possible and tangents are taken as straight as possible. (so if you want to run the exact route, stick to the inside curb...)  :)

 - Your GPS needs a clear signal from three satellites in order to operate.  Clouds, trees, buildings and even people can interfere with the ability to triangulate your position. The coordinates are generally within 10 feet of your device which can add up over the course of a race.  In addition to the satellite issues, running itself makes it impossible for the GPS to be perfectly accurate.  Running around other participants, over to an aid station or taking wide turns all add extra distance.

...And there you have it.  The next time your course measures a little long, you can thank your GPS.  

IM Louisville Training Week 14...

Felt good to hit all the workouts this week.  I am struggling a little bit with the long runs lately.  I haven't been that great with the nutrition while running so I think that has something to do with it.  This week I ran at an odd time of day and then didn't gel up like I should have (not sure what I was thinking there ...).  Someone who had done Louisville before posted some advice on FB to run in the afternoon on a route with no shade to get ready.  I have done the mid-afternoon thing but haven't done it in full sun yet.  Maybe next week...   Baby steps :)

Week 14

Monday:  
Rest Day.

Tuesday: 
Swim (PM)  3000 meters.  

Bike (PM)  26 miles. 

Crossfit (PM)

Can't remember why I did everything back to back this particular day.  I think I might have gotten up late.  Oh well, we'll call it a brick workout :)

Wednesday:

Run:  (AM) 6.55 miles

Thursday:
Run (AM):  5 miles

Bike (PM)  21 miles 

Crossfit (PM)  

Friday:

Swim (AM):  2000m   Loved this swim!  Shorter distance and I had time to hang out in the outdoor hot tub post swim before heading to work.  LOVED!

Saturday:
Bike:  102 miles - Jackson County Brevet!

  

Sunday:

Run:  14.25 Miles.  Alpharetta Greenway.  I actually saw my cousin and her family out there which is incredibly random since neither one of us really live near there and I haven't seen her in 6 or 7 years.  

Embracing your body type...

Alternate titles include "a lesson 44 years in the making..." and "why I don't need weight when I scuba dive (I sink like a rock)"

As I walked up the stairs to the truck, I was thankful it was no longer lightening outside.  Having yourself weighed and body fat tested is mentally painful enough without dying of electrocution in the pool of water in the truck too. I got down to my swimsuit and stepped on the scale.  Higher than I thought it would be but it is the middle of the day so I figured some of that was food and water. (always justifying the number...)  "Now we are going to take pictures", he says.  I tried to decide if I should give sort of a sad "before" look or just look natural.  I opted for natural.  Luckily there were only two, one from the front and one from the side.  I would do this again in six weeks so I suppose they want to be able to show progress.

The pool of water in the truck was maybe seven feet long and three feet wide.  I stepped in and got into a pushup position as instructed.  A weight belt was placed on my back.  I then submerged myself underwater and expelled all the air out of my lungs.  The guy knocked on the side to indicate when I could come up.  We did that three times.  As I was drying off, he asked me if I was a runner.  I had my hat from the Flying Pig Marathon with me, I thought maybe he had seen it.  I told him I did triathlons.

"That explains it", he said.  "We usually only see body fat this low with serious athletes or people who compete in bodybuilding.  You are under optimal body fat".  It took me a minute to process what I had just heard.  He showed me the chart.  "You are 8.3%.  Optimal body fat for your age group is 11.6%, you actually need a certain amount of fat to function so you probably don't want to go much lower".  Uh, I'm sorry what?  I am pretty sure there were other things said but I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.    Does he not see these big legs?  Surely something must be wrong with the machine.  I had weighed myself on the scale at home.  I know those things aren't accurate but was sure I was at least be in the teens or low twenties percentage-wise.

As I was driving home, I started to process the information I was given.  The big legs that have bothered me ever since I was young are just who I am.  Apparently what I thought was "fat" were actually just some big ole quad muscles. Huh.  I had been chasing a certain standard for how I wanted to look and how much I wanted to weigh for YEARS now only to find out that it really seems to be physically impossible.  Not to be overly dramatic but I really and truly thought that somewhere underneath there were thinner thighs and all I had to do was work hard enough to see them.  I was always a little bit bigger than the other kids in school.  I mean, I quit gymnastics because a fellow gymnast at the ripe old age of 6 told me I had fat toes.  There was that birthday party where someone called me porky pig.  I was never seriously overweight but just always felt larger than everyone else and those feelings carried with me through life.

Let's face it, I started running back in the day because I wanted to get in shape.  I am so thankful I did because it led me down the path I am on now.  I have never been healthier, to be sure...  Six months ago, I started listening to Vinnie Tortorich's podcasts.  I finally cleaned up my eating habits and dropped all the junk food out of my life (which helped me lose 8 pounds and some of the fat as well).  The funny thing is, I have been at the same number on the scale for 3-4 months now.  I was sure I had just plateaued and would eventually start losing again.  I thought that maybe if I cut some of the dairy out this time that would do it...  Even today as I stepped into that testing truck I was feeling like I still had work to do in order to reach my goal. - you know to see those thinner thighs and all.

Vinnie is forever telling people on his podcast to ignore the scale.  There is so much truth to that.  Here I was thinking I was stuck and the reality is my body was pretty much done losing weight and was trying to tell me to get a clue.  Time for me to accept myself for who I am and embrace the big quads that the good Lord gave me. I feel kind of stupid about the whole thing.  You see the magazines and people on TV and you want to look like they do without considering for even a second that maybe your body just isn't built that way.  A lifetime of chasing after some kind of ideal that just isn't possible.  In a way it is kind of freeing.  It only took me 44 years to get to this point but better late then never!      

    

Jackson County Brevet...

and so continues my quest for more biking mileage...  This particular ride is an annual event organized by a friend of mine who is a cycling coach.  I have taken a couple of sessions from him and have already seen some improvements so am pretty excited that I might be on the right path here.  He also works with people out of state so if you think you have a cycling need, check out his website.  He helped one client so much she qualified for Kona!   ...this will not be me but I am just saying he knows cycling.  :)  Anyhow, on to the ride...

I actually volunteered to help with set up on Friday afternoon. I wasn't really sure what I would be doing and honestly it seemed like they were mostly done by the time I got there.  They just had us do some last minute odds and ends like picking up food for the post-ride lunch and a few things from Publix for the rest stops.  It was actually kind of amazing to see all that went into organizing just the rest stops alone.  As a rider, you don't always think about how many hours went into the planning of it.  Like they say, be sure to thank the volunteers!

Ride morning arrived and I was feeling good!  The last several rides I have done were all with my friend Meredith so I wasn't 100% sure how it would be riding on my own for that long.

As luck would have it almost as soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I ran into a friend I knew through Blue Iron and we managed to stick together for most of the day.  We weren't riding side but side but our speeds were similar so we would re-group at the rest stops and keep going.  It was good to see a familiar face :)  What I loved about the start of this ride was that they had everyone group themselves according to ride speeds.  (i.e. 19 mph+, 16-18 mph, 15 mph and lower).  It made the start much smoother and there was a lot less trying to weave around people at the beginning.  There was still some congestion but it did seem better than other rides.

The route was really nice.  I love riding in northeast GA.  Rolling hills, farm land, just beautiful.  I wanted to stop and take pictures because I have a thing for cows, green grass and those big rolled up hay bales but decided to just keep moving...

The rest stops were so much fun!  They were having a contest for the best rest stop so each one had a theme.  My personal favorite was the Wizard of Oz which we hit at mile 64.

 

I just rode from rest stop to rest stop. I ran into a couple of friends at each one which is part of what I love about century rides.  Even if you don't know anyone, everyone is so friendly along the way.  If you are training for a long distance triathlon or just want to get some biking miles in, I HIGHLY recommend finding a ride in your area and working it into your training plan.  It really makes the training rides so much more fun. You don't have to hang out at every stop if you are hard core about your training rides but it is nice to know they are there to top off your water, help with emergencies, etc.

I rolled in to the parking lot and back to my car after 102 miles and was really pleased with my time.  I managed to ride the course in 6:15 with some decent climbing along the route (about 2600 feet).  I can tell that all the extra riding is paying off.  A similar route I did in April was almost 2 mph slower than this week which is a huge improvement for me!  Don't get me wrong, I am not on my way to Tour de France or anything but biking has always been my weakest leg and to see improvement on any level really is exciting.

Hope you all had a great weekend!  Happy Father's Day!

IM Louisville Training Week 13...

Last week was supposed to be the recovery week but honestly this week felt more like recovery to me.  Who knows.  I just do what I am told.  Unless I decide to switch plans.  Which I did.

I can't remember who but someone had mentioned that they got a little bored with the Matt Fitzgerald plan.  I got bored with the swim workouts which may be me and not Mr. Fitzgerald.  Just sayin.  I am a fan of workouts that include all four strokes.  While you don't swim all four in a triathlon (usually...), I think it makes me a stronger swimmer if you incorporate all four into your workouts.  You know, using different muscles and all that...  So it was a combination of the swim workouts and the having to flip back and forth in the book to figure out your workouts that made me decide I needed to go back to my tried and true Tri Fuel plan.  I have used it twice now and LOVE it.  I will be eternally grateful to Carolina John for introducing it to me two years ago.  (at least I think it was him...)

Week 13

Monday:  
Rest Day.

Tuesday: 
Swim (AM)  2700 meters.  

Run (AM)  5 miles. 

Wednesday:
Swim (AM)  3000 meters

Run (PM)  3.5 miles  Speed work!

Crossfit (PM)  Snatches and Jerks.  Not my favorite.  I will add it to the list of things to work on.  In other news, I kicked up into a handstand hold today!  woot!

Thursday:
Bike (AM)  18 miles 

Crossfit (PM)  

Friday:
Tennis:  City Finals!  We lost.  Whomp, whomp.  As my friend Keith says, sad trombone.  

Saturday:
Run:  13 Miles.  The most disjointed run ever.  I started off running 5 miles with my running group.  I wasn't feeling that great so I made the executive decision to take on another 8 on my side of town.  I passed another park on the way home and decided to try and bust it out there.  Still not feeling it so after 3 miles, I packed it in only to tack on another 5 miles an hour later at Stone Mountain Park.  Crazy.  This week will be all 15 miles in one place :)
  

Sunday:

Bike:  54 Miles.  I actually busted this out in 3 hours on the trainer.  I had a workout, some good TV and made it happen.  Surprisingly not bad!

On tap this weekend is the Jackson County Brevet Century Ride and a 16 mile run.  Hope you guys have a great weekend!

Three Things Thursday...

I had a fun mail day today!  Ever have one of those?  You go to the box and there are things in there that make you smile?  Today was one of those days.  I got lucky as there were THREE things in there that made me smile which never happens.  It also made me smile that the mailbox has not yet fallen off its post.  Our mailman (delivery person, whatever) tried to shove a huge package in the box that didn't fit and ripped the box off its nails a few weeks back.  It currently is just perched on top of a board.  One serious wind could send it flying.  Air Mail.  Ha ha....

Sooooo....  today in the mail, interestingly enough, they all start with the letter P.  So maybe it is "P" Things Thursday.  :)

1.  My MUCH ANTICIPATED Power, Pedals and Ponytails Bike Jersey!  Perfect timing since I have a century ride on Saturday and Dani and Kacie start their race on Saturday.  I love it!  (in case you missed the story of Dani and Kacie, check it out HERE).

Pink!

   2.  Picky Bars.  On my quest to figure out what I want to eat for IM Louisville, I came across these bars.  Of course, when I got home from Crossfit I was starving so I ripped into the box and tried one out.  Oh so good!  Definitely tastier than the bonk breaker cars I went with for the last race.  They are not as large as a bonk breaker but have ~ 200 calories per bar which should work nicely.  I will be munching on a combination of these and humagels this weekend!

3.  My Peachtree Road Race Number!  It is big excitement when the numbers get mailed out for this race. It is not only a Fourth of July tradition but with 60,000 runners it is the world's largest 10k.  I will actually cross the finish line and be on my way home before everyone even starts the race.  Not that I am "all that" but my start time is 7:35.  The last corral goes off at 9:05.  That is A LOT of runners!

Hope you guys had a great Thursday!  

  

The Competitive Edge...

Somehow I found myself in the lineup at City Finals last Friday for my tennis team.  I can only assume there was no one else available.  I say this because, prior to Friday, I had not picked up a racquet in at least a month.  I take that back...  the minute I found out I was in the lineup I contacted a friend to hit with me and (hopefully) knock the rust off.  Outside of that, easily a month.

Friday afternoon, the rain rolled in.

 I was sure we would not be playing; however, the rules require you to show up at the courts and wait it out for an hour.  If it is stops raining then you get out there and dry the courts so you can play.  This is where the competitive edge starts to show itself.  Some people prefer to let the other team wear themselves out drying the courts.  Others (like myself) prefer to lend a helping hand and share the work.

Not us but you get the idea...  rolling the courts wears out your arms!

My competitive nature is an odd one.  In my heart I would love to win.  I would love to stand on the podium and take home the award.  On the court, that doesn't always translate.  I will say too that in team sports, the competitive nature shows itself differently than in individual sports (like triathlon or running).  In triathlon, I have no problem spotting someone in my age group and trying to pick them off.  I think because I usually don't know them.  In tennis, it is different.  After spending two to three hours on a tennis court having small talk, my instinct to make friends has kicked in which makes it harder for me to be aggressive for a win.  I know.  Odd.

Rain delay selfies :)

Friday night, I was paired with someone who was the complete opposite of me.  He wanted to win (I mean, it was for the city championship after all).  I wanted to win too but my 'nice girl who wants everyone to happy and like her' was showing and I think he could tell.  We played 5 games and it started raining (again).  We were down 3-2.  After the rain break, we headed back out and the coaching began.  Every point he was giving me instruction.  Do this. Ignore that.  Just hit the hall and let them make mistakes.  (The guy on the other side was pretty aggressive and was pounding the balls at me which is kind of par for the course in mixed doubles).  My partner was so intense that I was actually afraid to lose.  LOL.  No really.  Thankfully, we pulled out the first set 7-5 and then won the second 6-3.  Our other two lines lost so we ended up coming in second overall.

 Now if only I could bottle up a little bit of that competitive nature and take it with me to my next match.  Or maybe I could just have my partner come with me and glare at me every few points for a little intimidation factor.  :)  

Lets talk about Humagel...

You know, Humagel.  Are you the last to hear of it too?  I had never heard of it either until Meredith was sucking it down on one of our runs and told me about it.  As I might have mentioned, I have been trying to figure out my nutrition plan lately.  This whole clean eating thing makes it hard (whine....).  ha ha.  Seriously.  Everything seems to have a ton of sugar or chemicals or just isn't tasty enough for me to want to consume it more than once.  I thought I had found a product last week which, truth be told, wasn't all that tasty to begin with and in the heat of the summer I couldn't even manage to choke it down.  Sad but true.  Luckily, I have found a new product that I think just might fill the void!
 

My taste buds really have changed in the past six months since I have cut out sugar and grains.  Things that would have been totally fine for me to eat before just taste like a blob of chemicals.  It really is strange.  GU gels no longer are edible to me.  I have even tried the Powerbar Energy blasts which are a little pouch of blended fruit and some other additives.  The taste did not appeal to me at all.  

My first iron distance I ate nothing but GU gels on the bike and the run - and let me tell you that is A LOT of GU.  The 2nd iron distance was more of a mix of bonk breaker bars and GU.  The thought of choking down a GU right now makes me sick.  The funny thing is I used to always have stomach upset towards the end of races.  I never thought about attributing it to the GU until someone connected the dots for me.  That is actually what led me to look for alternatives.

Lately, on the bike and somewhat on the run I have been using things like cashews, Traders Joes fruit pouches (you know the ones for the kiddos), dates rolled in coconut and almond butter.  All of that is great on the bike but not super portable if you are talking about a long run.  I mean, I guess I would need a little knapsack with all my treats in it for my 26.2 miles, and who wants to carry that in the middle of the summer (or ever)?  Enter Huma Chia Energy Gel.

Humagels are 100% all natural and gluten free.  There is cane juice and brown rice syrup in it which goes against my no sugar eating plan BUT for racing and training I have come to realize that I need a certain amount of sugars to keep me going.  If I am going to take in sugars I would much rather they be in a natural form.

I was sent a few of the gels to try.  They come in apples & cinnamon and strawberry flavors. I really like both but would have to give the edge to the apple for its apple pie goodness.  On the ride last weekend, I had it in my back pocket all day and it was like a warm apple pie by the time I ate it.  YUM.

Like an apple pie but no fork required

I have tried it both on the run and ride and it gives me the little boost I expect from my nutrition.  It actually tastes good no gagging and choking at all :)  It has kind of a light texture to it if that makes sense.  Gels can be kind of thick, these are more like pureed fruit (which DUH that is what it is...)   ...and I mentioned the stomach upset.  There is none of that.  You would think the chia might be a problem digestively speaking (yes, I made that word up) but the chia is ground so it doesn't cause GI issues.  I haven't had any problems with it and they say that none of their testers have reported issues either.

Why, yes, you ARE supposed to drink it with WATER.
This was at mile 80 of a hard ride and normally M&Ms would be where the humagel is so I am calling that progress :)  
I was chased by a husky shortly after this stop and outran him.  I am giving full credit to the power of HUMA!  ha ha

If you are looking for a natural alternative to some of the gels and liquids out there, I highly recommend humagels.  They sent me a few to sample for the blog but had actually purchased a 5-pack sample of my own before I received their package in the mail.  Click the link above if you want to pick up a sample pack.  $11.25 for 5 gels.  You won't be sorry :)

 

     

  

IM Louisville Training Week 12

...and so it continues...   This was supposed to be a recovery week according to the plan but I didn't see much cutting back on the actual schedule.  Maybe the person who wrote the plan and I have different ideas of recovery :)

Week 12

Monday:  
Rest Day.   (Are you seeing a pattern here?  I am off work on Mondays and CR is too so I don't like to schedule anything workout-wise on Mondays)

Tuesday: 
Swim (AM)  2000 meters.  

Bike (AM)  18 miles.  I love using the SPIN studio at my gym in the mornings.  It is nice to kind of do your own thing.  Today a guy came in there and started singing along to his ipod.  Out loud.  Doubly funny because when he came in he said isn't it nice to be in here when it is quiet.  Yes.  Yes it is.

Wednesday:
Swim (AM)  2600 meters

Run (PM)  3.3 miles  Hill repeats

Thursday:
Bike (AM)  18 miles (this was a brick with the run)

Run (AM)  3.3 miles

Crossfit (PM)  

Friday:
Swim:  2200 meters.  Straight 2000 swim with a 200 cool down.  

Crossfit (PM)

Saturday:
Bike:  100 miles.   Women to the World Century.  This ride was out in Athens and was the smallest ride I have done.  I think there were about 15 people riding the 100 mile route.  It was also the first day I really felt the heat on the bike.  I got to test out my arm coolers which I really liked.  They are OK when they are dry but when they are wet, you can really feel a cooling sensation.  (like a york peppermint patty...).  The course was really nice and the volunteers and staff were great too.  The only thing odd about the ride was the aid stations were oddly spaced apart and we never knew when the next one would be.  I am a little OCD in that I like to know what miles to expect stops for water, etc.   These stops were like mile 5, 38, 52, 58, 81 and 94.  Odd.   

I don't know if it was the aid station stops or what but I was also off on my nutrition.  I have been trying a new product called UCAN and it just did not appeal to me in the heat so I may have to keep testing things out.  It worked great on the previous century but not this time around.  I have some Humagels that I really like (and will tell you about later....) but will probably work them in the rotation.  By the time we got to an aid station at mile 81ish, I chowed down on a strawberry poptart.   Since I haven't really been doing sugar it was like a gateway for all things junk.  It was exactly what I needed at that moment but seemed to open the door for me to eat like a junk food junkie for the next several days.  Still trying to reign it in :)  

when in Athens, how could you not?

Interestingly enough, this ride did not have any mountains to climb but actually had almost the same amount of climbing according to the Garmin (around 4200 feet).  Might explain why my legs were beat after this one!  

Sunday:
Took a rest day.  I was supposed to run according to the schedule but had some things planned that didn't involve exercise for the day so took the liberty of resting!