IronTeam takes to the Presidio!

Our recovery week culminated beautifully on Saturday with a nice, easy run along the San Francisco Presidio. It was a gorgeous day in the city and once the fog melted away, we had a picturesque view of the Golden Gate Bridge to keep us company during our 8 miles. I ran with my mentor, Michelle. My original goal was to run at my designated easy/long pace of 11:38 mins per mile. But after the Louie Tri last weekend and what I felt were some successful runs over the past few weeks, I thought I could afford to up my pace without risking burning out early or losing consistency. And quite rightly so ~ Michelle and I sucessfully completed our 8 mile run in exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes, averaging an 11:05 minute pace! It feels good to get faster :)



After our run, we congregated at the ever-awesome Presidio Sports Basement, where we discussed Wetsuit 101 with Coaches Sedonia and Doug.



We'll be heading out into open water in about three weeks!

Following our talk, we spent some quality time with the TRX. The TRX is like the informal mascot of the Team (or Coach Doug's) which is the primary source of our core & strength training. You can set up and suspend these things on anything stationary and conveniently enough, there was some space behind Sports Basement (strongly resembling a meat locker). We spent about an hour partnering up (thanks, Carol!) and doing an array of exercises. From lunges, to squats, to planks ~ all while using this handy-dandy contraption. A lot of people dread it; but personally, I love it. One might say I'm hooked! Ok, I couldn't resist.





Another HUGE perk to the location of Presidio Sports Basement is that no matter where you turn, you have THE most fantastic view of the Golden Gate.


From IronTeam to You: Wish you were here!

As for Sunday, we had our next bike marker set. It was time for me to revisit the bike course that once terrified me to no end. Some of you may recall it. I referred to that day as one of struggles. Not only because I rode the whole thing unclipped to my bike, but because I was still mortified by all the traffic, not having control over my bike, unanticipated climbs and descends. I had just seen better days -- I'll put it that way. Well, this time around, I needed to do the whole thing clipped in, and timed.

Apprehensive and tentative at first, off I went. From Danville, southbound toward San Ramon. Clipping in and out uphill was by far the most difficult. We'd often encounter stop signs and yellow-to-red lights where I could --yes-- anticipate the stop, but doing so while trying to glide uphill, proves harder than you think! :) But I continued on... still on my way to the start of the marker/test! I inched my way over to the starting point (The ~5-mile stretch is along a back road where an occasional speeding car will zoom through, but that's about all you'll see as far as traffic. To your left and right are herds of cows). It was a series of rolling hills. Tricky at first, but I took my time, got comfortable with shifting gears, and before I knew it, I was over the hump and completed the 5-mile marker set. Not exactly 'record time' or even fast at all, but I was happy to have completed it and to have done so without fear. I considered it a big personal success.

The ride back was surprisingly a joy! Who knew? Last time I was there, I absolutely dreaded it. But by the time I caught up to Michelle, she mentioned I looked entirely different from when I had started the ride. More relaxed. And I was :) Another 20-mile fully clipped in bike ride to add to my name. Not bad at all!


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Week #12 Workout Summary: [Recovery Week]

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