What a week! First Tornadoes, then snow & ice! I sure hope that groundhog didn't see his shadow yesterday. I need spring soon, and not 6 more weeks of cold weather! My 2nd full week of training is over! 29 left to go! So far so good! Only 202 days until Ironman! My week was a mix of great training days and some frustration along the way, but I'm learning from it all.
Every Tuesday and Thursday I meet my Ironman team, and the Memphis in May tri team for swim practice. Tuesdays are strictly drill work for those of us that need our strokes to be fine tuned. I loved this picture I took. The water feels as cold as it looks, and just just like the sign says "I'm hungry." :) Tuesday's drills were great. I really feel like my stroke is coming together, Finally! Tuesday was an "aha" day for me with my stroke which is nice to have. This has been my Achilles heel for too long. Thursday I decided to do a workout Coach Dee and I discussed. My endurance is not great in the pool right now, and I need to quickly build it. So Thursday I set out to do a 5x200m set. Thus far 100m was the longest I could swim without needing a break. This was definitely going to be a test. I warmed up with 500m in drills, and set out for my 5x200 set. It was going really well. I finished the first two sets and felt really good. I was surprised. I decided to switch it up and do a pull set. Third 200 finished. Holy cow, I might be able to finish this. My 4th 200 was a struggle. I slowly started to feel myself fatigue, and I could tell the stroke was falling apart. After 150, I was toast. On my last set I decided I needed my form to stay in tact so on the fins went. (These help you swim easier. They're a great training tool to be able to build your endurance.) I pushed off the wall. 50 done. Onto the next 50. I almost had 100 under my belt, and I was feeling great. I pushed off the wall to start my 3rd lap. I finished 25;pushed off the wall. I'm almost done I thought in my head, when it happened. I felt my calf start to tense, in my head I said, "No, no come on, " but it did full on muscle spasm so bad I had to grab the lane line for fear of floating to the bottom and drowning. I couldn't straighten, my leg out, I couldn't take off my goggles. I could only squeal in pain, like a child that dropped her ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Thankfully, one of my teammates swam over and straightened my leg out for me, and I was able to pull myself in. I had never experienced that before, but apparently it's coming when you're trying to build up your fitness.
Wednesday morning around 3:45 AM I awoke to the sound of the tornado sirens. Meg, Tucker, Jack, and I marched our selves down to the basement and waited out the storms. I got back in bed around 5AM and decided to switch my off day to Wed this week instead of Friday.
Mother Nature is a bit confused this winter. One day it's 70 degrees and the next it's 20 degrees and snowing. Many runner's choose to run on the treadmill on days like Saturday, but I throw my Yaktrax on my running shoes and head out. Snow days are my favorite to run in. These runs become some of the most peaceful, surreal ones that i experience, and Saturday was one of these runs. I crested the hill at Seneca golf course and had to catch my breath it was so breathtaking. Everything was covered in snow, noone was around, and it was fluttering snow. I wish I'd taken a picture, but it wouldn't have done it justice.
Sunday was my longest spin so far. A tough 1:50 minute spin. It was supposed to be 2 hours, but I had a flat tire fiasco that took a while so 1:50 it was. :)
Totals for the week are 7 hours and 40 minutes of training, 64 miles, 3,343 calories and 9 workouts!
I also wanted to include my monthly stats for January. This will be fun to look back at at the end of every month. In January I swam 4.28 miles in 7 workouts for 4.5 hours. I biked 92 miles in 8 workouts for a total of 5 hours and 52 minutes, and I Ran 33.8 miles in 8 workouts for a total of 5 hours and 43 minutes for an overall total 130.8 miles, 16 hours an 57 min of training!!
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