Sore but Fresh--my week's workouts, complete with stories: heckling kids, racing for last, and trying to catch the peloton.

Week 1 of Base training almost kicked my ass. Here I am at the end of Week 2, and I'm still getting my ass kicked but....I feel pretty good! I'm recovering from my workouts quickly and excited about my next one. I'm definitely on the up-swing. I feel my fitness returning and I have lots of energy. This is the best part of tri training...when you start to feel good as you gain fitness (before the fatigue sets in).

Monday: my off day. I got a well-earned massage. I've been learning going to be early (like 9 pm) is key to recovering as well. Also, did you know if you go to bed early, it's easier to get up early? Amazing! Stretching is very important too. I've been stretching for 20 minutes before bed every day, minimum. Also, I've been eating lots. Important! Smoothies, sushi, chicken, ice cream sundaes--lots of good food.

Tuesday: tough day. Start the week off right with my toughest workouts. Masters swim in the a.m. and bike in the p.m. The workouts themselves aren't tough. It's just the swim and bike I need the most work on and the ones I tend to drop. So get them done early in the week, I say!
Had a fantastic swim workout: (http://swimtri.blogspot.com/2007/08/swim-workout-of-day-broken-distances.html).
Evening bike:

Felt pretty stuffed that evening so ended up doing a nice recovery ride on Torch--20 miles out and back on the 56 bike path with a nice climb up Torrey Pines at the end (http://sdbikeroutes.blogspot.com/2007/08/after-work-quickie-on-56-bike-path.html). I felt refreshed afterwards.

Wednesday: had to be a bit easier b/c of the tough Tuesday. I skipped Wednesday a.m.'s workout (supposed to be weights--ack! totally slacking) to sleep in.

Awesome run:

Wednesday pm went for a run with my fast tempo group. We go 6 miles and always do hilly trails at a hard pace. Fun.
We ran down to La Jolla Shores from the Glider Port...and back--very steep climb on the way back. http://trigirlrunning.blogspot.com/2007/08/glider-port-to-shores-hills.html) On the way down, I gingerly descended as everyone else flew ahead. I don't know how these guys do it; they're all much older than I. They must have strong knees.

Down at the Shores, I gawked at the surfers. It was high tide. I wanted to dive in. Some h.s. kids eating hot dogs heckled us as we ran past. "Runners! Go runners! You can do it!" they sneered, sarcastically. I raised my arms high above my head and let out a loud, "Whooo! Yea! Go us!" ("Keep eating your hot dogs you fat #*@!s", I thought).

After the turn-around, I tried to mentally prepare for the horrendous climb ahead of us. Knowing I'd be last and running alone, I whipped out my headphones and set myself up with some motivating music. I guess I psyched myself out. It was a lot easier to maintain a rhythm than I had anticipated. I refused to walk. I focused on keeping a slow pace I could maintain. Bounce, bounce, breathe, breathe.

Then, we turned and went straight up this dirt trail that kept curving up and around and was littered with thorns. To my disbelief, the grade got even steeper. Sweat dripped off my forehead and tiny little thorns embedded themselves deep into my socks and bit like itchy little mosquitoes. I didn't care. I had to keep going. At this point, I was gasping, and I had to walk to recover although I did so as briskly as I could. I about died.

At the top, I forced myself into a gimpy, pathetic jog still rasping for air. At this point, I knew I was only a mile or so from the finish. I knew I could make it. I just tried to find an easy rhythm.

All of sudden, as we turned onto Torrey Pines, I started to feel good. I recovered, felt my breath return to normal, and my cadence picked up. I couldn't believe how quickly I recovered! I good song came on, and all of a sudden, I was going at a 5K pace. I decided to go with it and realized I was catching up to the runner ahead of me. He was kind enough to wait for me at the turns earlier; however, I was sick of always finishing dead last.

He had been running at a relaxed pace after the hills unaware of my increased tempo behind him. After hearing the pitter-patter of my feet behind him, he glanced back furtively, and our eyes locked...just for a milli-second. I had half a devilish grin on my face; the look I get when I'm having a good run, I feel good and I'm about to run someone down. I caught a momentary "hunted" look in his eye, and he picked up his pace. The gap between us increased. Damn! I picked up my pace again and although I couldn't close the gap, I was able to hold it and match his pace the rest of the way in. At the end, he admitted, "I couldn't finish last!" So I came in at the end again. But, I gave him a good run for it! I had a blast! Plus, we all went out for pizza afterwards.

Thursday (live like a pro for half-a-day):

This was a great day b/c I took a "work at home" day. I decided to pretend I was pro. I started the day with a big breakfast--eggs on toast and coffee.

Weights:

Followed this up with a killer weight session (first 1 in weeks; yes, I'm totally sore today). After another snack, I took off for the pool with my workout scribbled down on a piece of paper.

Swim:

Had a fantastic swim (2 for 2!). I'm definitely getting faster. Basically, I'm back to where I was before I got sick--so if anyone's wondering, after an 8-9 week absence from the pool, it only took me about 8 weeks to get back to where I was. Not bad, not bad at all. Swam 2300 m in about an hour (http://swimtri.blogspot.com/2007/08/swim-workout-solo-swim-descents.html), grabbed a coffee and a smoothie on the way home and took a quick, little nap.

Bike:

Got up, had another snack and took off on Torch down the Rose Canyon Bike Path to Fiesta Island. This is one of my favorite rides to lay down the hammer. It's pretty much all flat (one of the only places in SD that is) and lots of good stretches for TT practice. Plus, Fiesta Island has a 4 mile, uninterrupted loop that you can do laps around (although it's often windy). I felt gooood. Fiesta Island is SO much better on a tri bike. The winds were nothing to me!

As I was heading around on my first lap, a scooter zipped past me, closely trailed by about 60 cyclists, all decked out on their carbon Cervelo's and Orbeas in their SDBC (San Diego Bike Club) jerseys. A bona fide peloton! I stared in wide-eyed wonder as if I was observing the rare blue-footed booby of the Galapagos Islands. They zipped by me as if I were standing still. On the 2nd lap, they passed me again--this time, the pack was a bit thinner and had separated into 2 groups. The first was still behind the scooter but the 2nd, slightly slower pack of about 30 cyclists had to go it sans motor vehicle to draft off of. Hmmm. Could I? Maybe? I picked up my speed. One thing about Torch--he's very responsive. When I get ancy and decide to pick it up a notch, he's always much obliged to obey. All of a sudden, I was clocking at 23 mph and holding! All right! Maybe now, I could catch a draft off this nifty, dandy, super-speedy cyclists! Then I would be cool!

Nope. Not a prayer. At 23 mph, even the slowest cyclist of the slow group whizzed by although I did imagine that it took them a bit longer to escape me this time than the first time around.

I decided that was enough excitement for the day and headed home, logging a solid 25 miles.

Friday:

Felt surprisingly fresh this morning, although definitely sore.

Made it to the pool for my 3rd solid swim of the week! Yipee! I didn't have the best swim as I was sore and not on my game. Plus, there was too much butterfly. Ick! Still, I managed to log 2300 m. Got it done.

Planning on a recovery run this afternoon. And getting to bed early before a big weekend of riding and running.

Have a good one!