Its the end of the week as I know it...

...and I feel sort of fine.

Today is my first day since Monday of not being in the pool.  Yesterday, I spend about 45 min in the pool with the EWU Triathlon club teaching them about drafting techniques and doing a few single-lane super sprints.  It was fun to see them progress and get more comfortable swimming in close proximity to other people.  Even though I didn't swim very far or hard, it was a good easy workout anyhow.

This morning, I decided to do my long run, since tomorrow looks better for a ride weather-wise.  I still don't like the fact that 6 miles is considered a "long run" but I just need to be patient and hope that it will come around soon.  The best news was that my foot didn't hurt much at all, and I didn't feel the need to ice it after the run.  It was a semi-tough run, but mainly because of my severe lack of run fitness.  I'm struggling to maintain 8:00 pace, which for me is very frustrating.  When your body remembers when 7:00's felt easy, having to work so hard to run slower is tough.  All in all, though, it was a good effort, and I'm happy that I can do anything at all.

Tomorrow, I'm really looking forward to the club swim and hopefully a good, solid long outdoor ride.

Swimming!

Tuesday night I went to the club Headlamp Run. It was a nice, easy run in and around Manito Park, and a great opportunity to run with some new people and in a new area. My foot felt decent....not 100% by any stretch, but not so bad that it was painful or changed my gait. I'm slowly coming to the realization that without some significant time off (ie. more than 6 months???), this will just be a nagging discomfort that I'll have to deal with. In one sense, there is comfort in that, even though it is frustrating.


Last night after dinner, Andy and I went to Oz to do some swimming. I was so proud of Andy's courage to work on her swimming, because I know that it is a big-time struggle for her. Even though she is still a bit uncomfortable in the water environment, once she got going, she went right to work on some drills that I showed her, and by the end, she was doing so much better!! I'm excited to see her progress through this journey, and my hope is that I can be supportive so that she doesn't get overwhelmed or frustrated, and eventually gains the confidence to get out there and do another race! Good job, Andy! :)

Back to bloggin'

New year, new entry. Let's hope this isn't a once-a-year thing.
This weekend, while Andy was away in Seattle, I had my biggest training weekend so far this year. Saturday I ran the Snake River Canyon 1/2 Marathon, against my PTs orders, I am sure, but it has become a tradition. Never mind that it was only 7 miles farther than I've run since last September......overall, I was happy w/ my result. However, its been a long time since my legs have been this sore this long after an event. We decided not to ride after, since it was so windy (uh, gusts to 35mph? yeah, nice riding weather) and we used up our legs on the run fighting that same wind. It was a fun day on the whole, road-tripping with Kirk, Mia and Johnny B and seeing a good number of Tri-Fusion buddies. But perhaps the best news of the day was that my foot didn't really bother me all that much. In fact, in the few days since that long effort, dare I even say, its been feeling much better overall!
Saturday night Joe O and I met up to reconnect over a few beers. It was great to see him and do some serious catching up!
Sunday turned out to be a great day. I hit the usual swim session with the club in the morning and did a solid 3700. I moved down a lane and led most of the distance, which was a new experience, but also a great confidence builder. I usually feel like I'm the slowest slug in the middle lane, so it was nice to be out front and trying to motivate some of our other awesome athletes to push themselves harder.
In the afternoon, I headed out east to Zach and Jen's for a ride. Zach just got home from the desert, so it was awesome to see him safe and back in the states after 7 months. Jen and I bundled up and met up with Martin, who shepherded us thru an awesome 40m ride out to CDA. It felt soooooo good to hit that first hill and just be outside on the bike in general. While all the trainer riding was good for the base miles, you just can't replicate the feelings of hills and corners and wind. Oh yeah, even though Jen wasn't able to always keep up with Martin and me, she totally rocked! I know she is still way nervous about her first IM, but she always impresses me with her toughness. I cannot wait to see her cross that finish line....it will be awesome!!
Yesterday I was feeling pretty run down, so I just tried to recover as best as I could. Probably pushed it a bit far this weekend, but I don't regret it. Today is an easy swim day at EWU, then I'm looking forward to a fun Headlamp Run tonight with the club.....wonder how my legs will feel?