Channeling my Inner Fish & Bonding with the Bike

Solid training week.

Tuesday, Jan 12: Spun with Coach Simon and his weekly Tuesday circle of triathletes / multi-Ironman finishers. They put on some tough speed intervals. In fact, I got so caught up on my last one, I didn't even realize I exceeded the 10-minutes I was given (in a really hard gear). Still loving / hating the bike (likely, because my poor little hamstrings are confused by all this new work I'm giving them)... but I'm getting the knack, I think.

Wednesday, Jan 13: "BWW Run with Michelle". Mentor Michelle spoiled our group with a tempo run course, specially mapped around our favorite watering hole, "Buffalo Wild Wings". We did two 20-minute pieces at our individually-designated tempo paces. Mine for the time-being, is a 10:11 minute mile (based on my current VDOT score of 32). It was a toughie! But I'm so glad to see my run pace gradually picking up. Beer & Wings followed as our reward.

Thursday, Jan 14: Started out as a rough day, personally, outside of training. By the time I made it back to the East Bay from my hour-long commute from the city, my mental energy was zapped and I just didn't have it in me to focus on having a worthwhile workout afterward. Nevertheless, I ironed-up, got dressed into my swimsuit and headed to the pool. The rest of the gang (Phil, Tiffany, & Carol) had already started their swim, with Coach Mike there to help with form. After my warm-up, some force came over me and I all of a sudden felt motivated to make this a really good swim. It's like I owed it to myself. And just like that, I began the main set: My first 1000 yds. Better yet, with flipturns! The goal was to make all 10 sets of 100 [continuous] yds as close in time to one another as possible. My first three 100s were at a 2:26. By my fourth one, I brought it down to around a 2:20. I continued to decrease my time (getting negative splits) to a 2:17, then a 2:10. My flipturns hadn't been perfect (I was left with few lanes to choose from and ended up with the one with two ladders and the big twisty slide, so it proved mentally challenging to flip and not imagine my ankles smacking a slide or ladder). But my flips straightened out over time, and I finished my first ever 1000 yd swim in roughly 22 minutes! I was so proud of myself, especially facing that challenge head-on when my mind and my heart had initially tried to convince me I couldn't do it. Mind over matter, people ~ learn it, live it! It really does work :)

Saturday, Jan 16: Spent a grand total of 4 hours working on clipless pedaling on the bike. Coach Mike was gracious enough [again], not to mention patient ~ to spend time helping me overcome my fears about taking off on the bike AND stopping, while clipped in. We tooled and rode around the Foothill High School parking lot in Pleasanton, and I got as far as comfortably being able to clip (and stay clipped) into my left side, and cycling with my right foot resting on the pedal -- but not yet clipped in. I just wouldn't let my mind convince me to fall over on the clipped side. So much so, that during one slight lean as I was riding, my body weight started to shift to the left, and I literally threw my body over to the right side, ending up in a handstand, still straddling the bike. That would've been a priceless photo. I've got the mechanics down, but truthfully, it's mostly my fear that's keeping me from just taking off, guns blazing, and fully attached to the bike -- ready for a long ride ahead. After much repetition in the parking lot, I swapped shoes and headed out onto Foothill Road (for those of you outside of P-Town, Foothill can be treacherous for cyclists). Narrow (to disappearing) bike lanes, fast cars, & small hills and descends. But I went on a short ride with Coach Mike and got a little more comfortable, just feeling slightly more at ease and confident about sharing the road with "large, scary, fast cars" and facing a few more fears.

The bike is and will be my top priority sport. I'm so determined to get this down. Whatever it takes!

Sunday, Jan 17: Just before the storm... Ran a 6.5-miler at an easy pace with Kathryn and Marina on the Iron Horse Trail. We unfortunately had to cancel our swim due to a swim meet being held at our local pool in San Ramon. Spent the evening and rest of the holiday weekend helping my teammates fundraise by attending a few events supporting the cause.

All in all -- another great, well-rounded training week. And now... to anticipate and prepare for (drumroll, please)...

My First Olympic Triathlon!

IronTeams from the San Francisco Bay Area & Silicon Valley, as well as other local TNT Tri Teams will be simulating a race course for an Olympic-distance Tri (0.93 mi swim / 24.8 mi bike / 6.2 mi run) in Pleasant Hill ~ in honor of Louie Bonpua, one of our most beloved and remembered IronTeam Honorees. Please take a moment to click on his name, which should link you over to a short video on his story. Truly an amazing and inspiring individual, and I find it to be a privilege to train with this Team. The Louis Bonpua Memorial Tri will be next Sunday, January 24, 2010 -- eek!

Well... off to conquer some more fears! Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers next weekend!

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Week #10 Workout Summary:

Swim: 1 hour and 0 minutes
Bike: 5 hours and 0 minutes
Run: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Core/Strength: 0 hours and 30 minutes
Total Workout: 8 hours and 30 minutes