Week 7 and I am a swimmer!

Another great week of training... We started with some intense hill repeats again on the bike but this time a lot more of them 11 to be exact and I was feeling full of energy so I gave it a bit more then before so I felt it when it was over. All good!

Wed night was track night again, my favorite with 13x's 30 second speed play with 2 minute active recoveries. Boy the calf's felt that! Then onto my swimming and boy has it come a long way this week.. I am very happy about this. We did 11x25 meter sprints that really tested me but I did it. Also we did 800 meters pretty much straight and I did that too and well, even with the traffic and the massive waves going on around me because of the exercise class that was going on. I did end up getting leg cramps after my main set but I understood where that came from and called it an evening.

I had some good bike rides also with again dry roads with the odd little spit but over all so far we have been so lucky. I have been feeling pretty strong on the bike too. I do have to admit after Wed's night workouts my legs are pretty cooked come Thursday.

Saturday was a big bike ride of just over 61k and it went so well, I found a happy pace and held it for the whole ride and felt great. It's so nice to see signs of spring too, with the flowers blooming and smelling so nice and to see all the trees coming to life. Those darn Robbins though were playing chicken with me! Silly birds...

OK my biggest news is.... I can now swim 2100 meters non-stop ok with two little sips from my gatoraide he he..We did a total of 2400 meters on Sunday. I am so happy about this.. I feel my stroke has really improved and my endurance is now there for swimming. The secret for me was to find my pace and that I did. I am not winded so I can keep on going like the energizer bunny.. The only thing I need to really work on now is my kick but that to I know will come. It's funny how with swimming it just clicks one day and your off. I will be doing another 700 meter timed swim soon now that I can do it with less difficulty and with all the speed play we have been doing I should see a better time... I can't wait!

Now onto week 8 tomorrow which is recovery week so all should go well. I am so excited about swimming on wed! "I can't believe I just said that!" LOL...for some one who didn't like swimming...

Week 6 is history......

Well another week done! Boy time goes fast! It was a great week really for all the training sessions, more energetic then the week before.

We started with short hill climbs again with the bike and that is going really well. I sure can feel the effects of this type of training when we go for a steady ride that includes hills, they just don't feel as hard. Good sign.

Swimming hasn't been as good this week but I will be getting my focus back and work real hard on it. Swimming is my weak sport and I must get better with it. I know my down fall is my kick so I am going to put more work into that this week.

Cycling is going great! We did hit some rain this week while out there but didn't get soaked to the bones.. got to like that! :0)

Been hitting the track with some of the runs and boy it makes me feel a live when I can step it up a bit. I do miss running on fresh legs. I understand what Coach is teaching us and that is how to run well on tired legs, cause I am sure this is how they will feel after 80k on the bike and hey if I do any kicking while swimming hmmmmmm.....

I have this one running race(Comox half) that I have done in the past, two times and it is a cursed race for me.. now get this last time I tried to run it I got the stomach flu while running it and lost 5lbs in one night. Well this was the weekend of that race and Sunday the day of the race I got sick! No I wasn't racing it but I believe it still has me under it's curse! I may have to break it one day by racing it and doing well. May be that would work cause I can't keep getting sick on the weekend of this race! lol......Here's hoping this cold bug goes quickly.

Now I brought this up because Saturday went well for our brick workout which I love doing and having coffee afterwards with our Ironman, but I did feel a bit of a scratchy throat coming on and by Sunday I was sick. My swim was well not good, I gave up and watched Ivan and now Monday I am home drinking my ginger root tea.

Now onto week 7 which will be a great week I know it!

Last weeks training

I know I'm bad! I didn't post well you see I have to study study study..... so it's getting in the way from my important stuff he he....

Ok last week was tough again.. Both Ivan and I were feeling all this training but we hung in there and this week has been much improved! I will post about this week on Sunday.. I promise :0)

I have to say it was my swimming last week that needs to get the spot light cause it has been the most improved. Sunday March 9th I swam my longest swim ever of 2,300 meters. "I did it!" The run afterwards was Prof I did it because my body or should say my legs were like two big rocks that were very hard to lift and keep them going he he.... and my lungs felt like they were going to blow up he he....

We have now gotten into the track work for our running and now I can say I love the running part of training cause I love track work......

Our bike rides have been nice too cause we have been able to ride outside with the sun on us. Oh we have started doing hill repeats with the bike and it's quite the workout! First I had to get over my fear of un-clipping on a hill and to go back down and come back up 10-11 times... All good stuff.

Well short and sweet. Will be back on Sunday with some more fun training experiences.....

I love recovery week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's over but what a great week it was! everything was scaled down to give some recovery to our poor over worked little bodies... and I mean little bodies! Ivan now has a small butt and I have hip bones he he...

Let's see our week started with some power sprints on the bike Tuesday 45 minutes total and I felt great and gave it all I had, afterwards Ivan and I did some chest and tri work with of course some core. Wed night was a run of 6x's 30 second fartleks a total of a 40 minute run. I felt so good I really worked on kicking up my heels and standing tall through the all out effort. Great run, then onto the swim, a small one but a good one. Now this was funny Mr Ivan got to the pool and realized he had forgot his head condom and googles so he had a bit of a tantrum and said for get it, "Tammy you go a head". I tried to talk him into going home a getting his gear but I think he needed a break any how and I have to be onset he can afford to have a swim night off cause he swims like a fish anyhow! I had the whole lane to myself so I took full advantage and did my small session of 1300 meters and felt like a million bucks.

Thursday I ducked out of work 1/2 hour early so I could get in a road ride with Ivan before it got dark. We had a great steady ride but on the way home I was looking at his back tire and thought "boy has Ivan gained weight or what?" cause it looked kinda low. I told him to pull over and sure enough he had a flat. Now I'm the one who needs a flat because I still have not used my co2 thingy yet and I need the practise cause what I have heard is the New Balance Half is famous for getting flats on hmmmmmm, makes me nervous. It only took Ivan may be 5 minutes or less to change it and we were on our way again. Just making it home before sun down. We were a bit bad cause we missed out gym workout that night only because dinner sat so nicely in our belly's and you know what happens after that!

Friday morning, early morning we did another early swim and it's hard to get going but once you do you are glad you did! We had a great swim of 1600 meters. After work we went out for a nice steady run of 40 minutes and headed straight to the gym to make up for Thursdays missed workout. We worked our legs and got out of there.

Saturday was a great sunny ride. We headed to Chemainus and back and I felt like I could ride forever that day but behaved because the plan only called for 1:30 so that is what we did. Ivan had sore legs which was great for me so I could feel big cause I road in front most of the ride he he.....

Now today was a full day! and my best day so far! We started with an endurance swim but because we need to sign up for the Sooke sprint I need a estimated time for 700 meters and I really don't have any clue what to put down so we started out with a timed 700. This was a big mile stone for me too cause at the pool I have been only able to swim 300 meters straight before having a 5-10 second break and today I was able to do 700 meters straight! "yea" I also did it in 17:15 for me that's a pr! I didn't go full out because I knew we had to finish a 1700 meter swim and I wasn't sure if I could swim 700 full all at once. Now I do have to admit one thing my tummy said that was an effort take it easy on me now! so I did.

When we got back from the swim we got on the bikes and did a quick 1 hour ride and threw on the running shoes and took off for a run. My legs were a bit heavy at first and then they came back to me and I took off and had a great run. To end the day, I turned on the yoga DVD and stretched good!

One other note.. I talked to our coach and found out that my running is not in jeopardy and he said.... There are two reasons why the runs aren't longer: first, because it's really the combination of long rides, and long brick workouts that will give you the endurance you need to go the distance. So I trust in his plan and after seeing the improvements I have been making in only one months training I will be faithful.

Now onto week 5 starting Tuesday and here's hoping I don't whine a lot lol......