(Not so) Speedy Gonzalez

A few fellow TriGirls used to say they couldn't swim in the same lane as me. They thought I was one of the "fast" girls. Well, tonight proved them wrong. I had a hard time keeping up with them in the famed Lane o' Dread.
I blame the boobs (more drag, you know).
Coach Karen blames me. She pointed out that many of those now-speedy TriGirls had been showing up for master's quite often--a few even took semi-private lessons with her once a week as well--and had improved quite significantly. I on the other hand, really hadn't been in the water on a regular basis since, oh, September which means I haven't been improving. In March the TriGirls get back in the pool with coach Som (finisher of over 20 ironman races) or coach Annie two nights a week, in addition to the master's class. I think I better teach my husband to cook since it looks like I won't be around at dinner time. I'll be trying to earn back a slot in the Lane o' Dread.

Week in Review

All in all, it wasn't a bad week work-out wise. Swimming on Wednesday went really well. Our swim coach Karen (who won Ironman Canada in 2004) put a quick end to my sandbagging by assigning me to a faster lane. I was able to keep up with the other woman in the lane on the swim sets, but she kept lapping me on the 500m and 300m pull sets. Guess I need to build up my upper body strength again... But I'm not doing so hot on keeping up with the running--I only ran once during the week and paid for it this weekend. I didn't make it to the inaugural TriGirl run on Thursday morning (it was 20 degrees out). After yesterday's 9 miler my knee was hurting so bad I could hardly walk down stairs. Today it's much better, and I can walk around with no pain, but I'm wondering if I'm ramping up my milage too fast. I keep thinking about my physical therapist who worked with me after my ACL surgery. When I told her I had signed up for IMFL, she said it would be nice to see me more often!
I did meet my new TriGirl little sister, who was a real trooper on Saturday and spun with us for a good hour and a half, and then ran about 4 miles. Way to go, Kristen! I'm hoping I can help her develop her running (increasing endurance/distance) if she can reciprocate by getting me to those Thurs morning sessions.

Back in the Swing of Things (and getting my ass kicked)

Saturday was my first long workout since January. The two hour bike wasn't bad. The first 4 miles of the run weren't bad. I was trucking along, with various TriGirls and Maramarc folks for company at intervals along the way. Since it was supposed to be a negative split run, I tried to kick it in for the second half, and ended up totally bonking. I finished the 6 miles in 1:04, with mile 5 taking over 13 minutes. In chatting with coach Mark post run, he helped me realize that the Shamrock half marathon (in 4 weeks) will be a stretch for me, given that I've been sidelined since my surgery on January 16th. But he did help strategize how to approach the rest of my runs so I can at least show up confident that I can complete the distance. First and foremost, I need to build my next two long runs by 2 miles each time, patiently (read SLOWLY) banging out the first few miles to be able to kick it in for those last 2 and finish strong. Secondly, my midweek runs will be very important for building strength and intensity. Half-mile repeats, here I come. With hard work and perseverence, I'm hoping that this will put me in a good position to really race the Monument Ave 10k. I want to beat my 52:30 time from last year!

Vegas, Baby

I confess, I had never been to Vegas before. What a crazy town. People still drinking and gambling at 6am, over the top hotels, latinos handing out flyers advertising cheap prostitutes to anyone and everyone (even us stodgy married folk), expensive shopping for clothes you could only get away with wearing in Vegas, and great food.
We ate very well, stayed at a great (and over the top) hotel, and walked walked and walked some more. That should make up for those 5oz of foie gras I ate at Bouchon. All in all, a very memorable, extended disco-mix birthday extravaganza! Now it's time to get back to work. I did make it back to swimming tonight, and while I'm no more bouyant than I was several weeks ago (contrary to popular opinion), it was nice to share a lane with my TriGirl friends and feel healthy again. On Saturday it's back to spinning and running. Ack!

Surprise!

Last night my husband surprised me with a 40th birthday party with my grad school and trigirl friends in attendence. Molly and Vanessa took me out for bday drinks while Joe and sundry friends prepped the house and organized the food. It was a wonderful way to celebrate, and I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful husband and great friends.

Thank you all!

I was cleared to go back to spinning this week, and so had to this morning drag myself out of bed at 6:15 to get back on the workout wagon. It was painful at first to get into the groove, but at the end of the class, I was so glad I'd gone. Three weeks with no endorphins had made me a grumpy bear.

I guess turning 40 ain't so bad after all....