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August 4, 2008
I love swimming!
I can't believe I am titling a blog entry 'I love swimming'. It is so strange and yet so awesome to me. But mostly strange. I am 5'1", I should not love swimming. I should continue to be a sucky swimmer! But alas I am becoming awesome. I am so excited. You might ask why I am so excited about swimming, and I will tell you. Because I had a freaking great swim today!! I swam 2500 meters and it: a) did not feel like it took forever; b) did not feel like I swam a million miles; and c) was super fast. I basically swam a PR in almost every distance and it didn't feel like hard work. I just felt strong and smooth. I am pretty excited for my speed swim this Thursday to see how fast I can go when I am actually pushing hard.
In general I am still obsessively loving my program. I think due to moderating my heart rate, I feel fresh all the time. I constantly wish I had more hours in the day in which to work out, and more workouts on the schedule to do. I think this is how I am supposed to feel, which is great! When I was self-coaching I would often feel pretty run down by the end of the week. Now I am excited for every new week and for my big new workouts.
This weekend was pretty fun from a training perspective. Saturday I did a 2:50 ride/30:00 run brick. I rode up to Golden and up part of Lookout Mountain and back again, just because it's an easy way to get a lot of time and miles in. This coming weekend I only have 2:20 on the schedule so I'll probably go somewhere else, possibly somewhere more flat or rolling. It looks like the elevation profile for the nationals course is rolling so I would like to do more of that. Most of my rides are either totally flat or up a canyon/hill. Anyway back to this past weekend, I did not feel awesome on my transition run but I blame the heat. I started my workout very early but I did not get out to run until around 9:30 and it was already 90 degrees out. I did not feel that bad but it was hard to keep my heart rate in the correct range. I kept going over even though I felt like I was going super slow.
Sunday (yesterday) I ran 1:10 and had a great time. I was able to fit in around 8 miles so I feel pretty good about that. It was getting a bit hot when I finished but not bad at all. I think in fact that today is the last of the really hot days for a while, it is going to be nice. Of course now that I am not doing the 5430 long course the weather will probably be awesome - I already know I had a pretty good wave (third). It will be a little tough not to compete but realistically it won't be that bad. I do not love half Ironmans, especially when they are at altitude! I am thinking about heading up to the expo so I can get my shirt, although I don't know that I would wear the shirt if I didn't finish the race. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway, aside from my sweet swim today, I also rode for 1:25 this morning (yes I am very sleepy right now), and in a bit I will be heading out for a lifting session. I am quite pleased by how fully jacked my arms are looking these days, even though I don't really care for lifting I do feel that the benefits I have gained are pretty great. And with that I think I will leave you all for the day.
Posted by barb at August 4, 2008 2:50 PM