Tour de Julian and end of week 3

Phew! I'm exhausted. But in a good way. I have now finished week 3 of training for California 70.3. This racing stuff is great motivation. I was able to complete all but 1 workout (1 of the swims) but still got in the mileage and hours I needed.

Sunday:
Today was an awesome, zippy 10K trail run (hills included). I felt very good and strong. Sunny and 70s in November. Gotta love San Diego. Later, we forced ourselves into the pool for a nice, varied workout. I wrote it up beforehand, motivating me to actually then go and do it. For those of you swim nerds, the workout was:
warm up: 500m free
Form Focus: 50m kick-50m drill-50m back (x2)
Count drill (try to take 1 stroke off each lap): 50m (x3)
Main Set: 4x200 build (50 easy-50 build-50 hold-50 hard)
4x50 hard sprint (:45 sec rest)
Cool Down: 2x75: breast 25-free 25-back 25
50m free easy
Total 2000m
This was actually a lot of fun!

Saturday:
Tour de Julian
We drove an hour east on windy, mountain roads into the dessert, reaching a small town of Julian. It was very cool. Lots of neat antique shops, bakeries, cafes, and other Ma & Pop-type stores. Lots of wineries, vineyards, and apple orchards too. Julian is known for its apples, and the apple harvest just concluded a few weeks ago. The bike was extremely hilly--there was a 28 and 55 mile option. We did the 28 mile option. The longer route seemed extra-masochistic--going up Mt. Laguna (6000 ft.) at the end, which we did a few weeks ago for the Pine Valley Duathlon. Again? No, thanks. Anyway, we did about 1000 feet of climbing, which doesn't sound that bad but there were some wicked ascents (and descents). I definitely am missing my triple chain ring (I swapped them for compact cranks). There were a few climbs I had to fight to turn over the pedals--out of the saddle. Luckily, the spinning classes have really been helping. A couple of times, I wasn't sure if I could make it but I was damned if I was going to get off and walk. The best part was when we passed a bunch of people on the uphill portion, who had all zipped by us on the twisty, curvy, narrow, downhill part. We had ridden the descents more conservatively since the route wasn't closed to traffic. Anyone can go fast downhill. But it was sweet to pass people going up. I saw people get off and rest and get off and walk. I decided that wasn't going to be me. All in all, I felt really good. Fresh and alive. The views were gorgeous. It took us about 2 hours total. There was freshly made apple pie with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream waiting for us at the end. Best apple pie ever--provided by a local pie shop. Now that's worth riding for.

Friday:
Normally, this is my rest day but I was so tired on Thursday, I swapped days. That's the beauty of the training plan. Learning to be flexible and work with your body. I woke up early and hooked Bluebell up to the trainer. Popped in a Spinervals DVD and sweated for an hour. My iPod blaring good tunes in my ear made it doable. Lifted weights in the evening as we watched a Lost DVD. I am now completely caught up on all the previous seasons.

Thursday:
Skipped my 7 am spin class for sleep. Felt like crap so decided to take a rest day early.

Wednesday:
Squeezed in a 4 mile run during a very hectic day in lab. Rushed to a very nice, long 90 min masage. Then rushed to a 7:30 pm masters swim workout for a very tough, hypoxic workout, completely destroying the benefits of the massage. Oh, well. For the workout, we had to skip breaths, which at first, really help improved my form. But then it got very tough. We had to breathe every 3, 4, 5, 6, and then 7 strokes. I was dying at 5. Then, we had to do push-ups and sit-ups at the end. W.t.f.? Good medicine. Watching Lost afterwards was my reward. I am super pissed about it not being on again until Feb.

Tuesday:
Had the most awesome spin class ever. Our instructor is great. Hills, sprints, out of the saddle, tempos--it's great. It's all set to music too, and she really keeps you moving. I felt good and really pushed it. Lab was super busy so that was all I got to do that day.

Monday:
Felt very sluggish after the previous week's unintended R&R (due to stomach bug). Ended up skipping the masters swim, which was bad but did a great 4 mile run on the treadmill, alternating hills and sprints every 1/4 mile with 1/4 mile recoveries. Followed this up with weights so it ended up being a good workout evening.

Overall, I reached all my workout goals this week, despite it being very hectic in lab. I'm happy with it. I swam 2x, did weights 2x, ran 3x, and biked 3x. Total hours=9. Total run mileage: 14. Total bike: 48. Total swim: 4700 m.

Week 4? Bring it.