Catching up - again

OK, time to catch up! It's Wednesday and I haven't written anything since last Friday. And there's a lot to write!

First was the run on Saturday. Beautiful fall day - crisp, cool air and a great group of friends: Kevin, Dan, Brenda, Marshall, and Lynne. I needed to run for 2 hrs but a few people were late (ahem!) so I got in 110 minutes instead of 120 mins. Oh well. Marshall ran for 3 hrs which is great.

It was a really nice run. I was feeling good and it was fun having such a great group of runners to run with. We ran out to Josephine Jones park and around the park, then back. Marshall and I did one smaller loop together and then i needed to head off to get Kat to her soccer game.

Then the 5 hr ride was on Sunday. Wow. What else can I say - it was an incredible ride. Another beautiful day (see pic above) and I felt great again. There was Marshall, Brenda, Sarah, and me for the first 3 hrs. We rode out to Milliken and up Mad Russian Hill, then down to Windsor's Water Valley, up the hill that was in the old Windsor triathlon, around the million dollar homes and out toward Centerra on Crossroads Blvd (love that road!), then back down to Windsor via the bike path, then back to Greeley on O street.

That wasn't all...the plan was ride 3 hrs and end up at Marshall's house to pick up Lynne and Kevin, which we did, and then go for another 2 hrs. But Sarah had a flat toward the end of the ride and Marshall stayed with her to help and I went back to nab Lynne and Kevin. On the way back, a nasty headwind came up and things started to get really hard (plus we had ridden 3 big hills and covered 45 miles at that point).

So, Lynne, Kevin, Marshall and I head north to Pierce, thinking that the horrible easterly wind would be at our side most of the way. Welllll....the route to Pierce is slightly uphill and the wind was coming out of the northeast at that point. It was torture. My legs were killing me and the wind was so loud we could hardly talk to each other. But I had to keep going to get the 5 hrs in.

Lynne and I started off ahead of Marshall and Kevin but I knew I wouldn't last. Lynne is too fast and she was fresh. But I hung in there longer than I thought I would. Eventually, I faded and everyone passed me. I drafted off of Kevin for the last push to the turnaround point. I kept praying that Marshall would turn around before Pierce because we had already passed the point where we would get 5 hrs if we turned around. Plus, I was getting light-headed and fading quickly...couldn't wait to have that tailwind push us home.

Fortuntely, Marshall and Lynne decided to turn back a few miles south of Pierce. Yay! As soon as we turned around - whoosh! We FLEW home - yippee! It is amazing how much difference the wind makes when you're on a bike! Lynne and I rode side by side for a long time and were averaging 20-21 mph - we literally were flying. It was awesome!

Then when we got in town, I faded some more and barely made it back to their house. What a ride!

On Monday, my body was toast. The weekends are taking their toll. Somehow I got my butt down to the pool for Master's swim but I was a limp noodle. Sore, tired, and unmotivated. But I got in the main set on Monday and I'm glad for that.

Tuesday (yesterday), I got out for a 45 min run. Felt good. Took Daisy for 3 miles and dropped her off...ran over to UNC and did a few hill repeats.

Wednesday (today), made it to the pool and did the warm-up and main set. Felt really good. I wish I could do the whole workout but I need to leave by 7:00 to get kids to school. Came home, got kids to school, then did a Spinervals workout - felt great! Really pushed hard for 45 mins.

Re the pic's above - the one of Todd, Jim, Duane, Dale, and Kevin was taken while on my bike - we passed them on Sunday morning. A little crazy, I know!

The last 5 days have been intense but that's all part of it. We have the hardest weekends ahead of us - next weekend we have to run 3 hrs and bike 5.5 hrs. Then the following week (Oct. 10 and 11), is the longest weekend in the plan: 3.5 hr run and 6 hr ride. Ugh. If I make it through that, it will be a miracle! One day at a time is my motto these days!

Turned a Corner

Yesterday (Friday) I went to the pool to do my first "long" swim. I've been doing Master's swim on Mondays and Wednesdays and would either swim at the lake on Friday or not swim at all (due to lack of a sitter or something else). And before Master's started, I was swimming at the lake on Mondays. But I couldn't get to the lake yesterday so had to go to the pool to get some distance in.

And I should say one more thing. Jade, one of our local triathletes who has done several IM races, told me that he would do Master's on Mon and Weds and then swim nonstop for an hour on Fridays - that was how he got ready for the Florida IM. So that has been my plan all along.

But I was dreading it. Going to the pool when no one is there is vastly different than Master's swim. There's no one there to crack the whip or commiserate with and it's very quiet....really, its silent in the pool, save for the sound of splashing water IF anyone else is there (Fridays are always quiet after 8:00 PM).

And the thought of just swimming back and forth, back and forth, back and forth for one hour by myself was not appealing at all.

But, when I got there, there were 2 men swimming, one of which I knew (Steve). I got in the lane next to him so we could chat for a bit before starting. Steve likes to talk a lot and I didn't have much time so I needed to cut the conversation short but it was nice to see someone I knew.

I started off...one lap, two laps, three laps...look at my watch (its only been 5 mins)....4 laps, 5 laps, 6 laps....look at my watch. Its gonna be a loooonnnnnngggg hour, for sure. Then, all of a sudden, I found myself getting into a rhythm. My arms felt good and the water felt great. My mind started to wander and before I knew it, 30 mins had past - woo hoo!!!!!

Long story short, I ended up having a fantastic swim! I feel like I turned a major corner in my swimming. I went on to swim for a total of 55 mins but felt like I could've easily gone longer. My arms were tired but a "good" tired. They were not toast, like they've been many times before. I must be getting stronger. AND I found myself looking FORWARD to my next long swim!

I really, really needed this to happen and it came so unexpectedly! One thing I've learned about training for an IM is that its constantly up and down...you never know how you will feel and how things will go. But overall, things just keep getting better and I like that!

Today I am running long with my running buddies and then tomorrow its a 5 hr ride with some of the same folks. The weather is supposed to be great and I can't wait!

Quickie run

What a weird morning - I overslept until 7:10, which is insane for me, I always wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 AM, and flew out of bed to get kids ready for school. Katerina woke me up twice in the night with her coughing and I couldn't go back to sleep for a long time, hence, sleeping in...

Anyway, I missed my window of opportunity to get an hour run in. Took the kids to school and had to talk to both of their teachers (and another parent for 30 mins) so got home way later than I wanted to. With a pile of work to do on my desk, I had to make a decision: run and get less work done or bag the run and get all of my work done. I chose the former.

And I'm glad I did. The run felt sooooo good. It was truly a mental health run. I think of running sometimes as "defragmenting" the brain. Just like we do with our computers, it clears out all the junk and re-sets everything to where it's supposed to be.

I took Daisy this time and she did pretty good. She ran most of the way but stopped a few times on 23rd Avenue. She just stops and spreads out on the grass. Its pretty funny, actually. But i didn't care, I just wanted to run.

I came back after 30 mins wanting to run more but realized I did need to get some work done. Plus, I'll feel fresh for my long run on Sat. I may try to squeeze in 30 mins on the trainer later today.

Tomorrow I will have to cut my swim short too because the kids are in student council and they have to be there at 7:45 AM! I'm going to try to get my butt in the pool by 6:05 and swim until 6:50 and get home so I can get them to Monfort by 7:45. We'll see how that goes! No coughing tonight, please, Katerina!

OK, back to work...

Trainer blues

I needed to get an hour ride in today but it was raining so I rode my trainer inside. I had decided to start riding my trainer anyway since I have no time to ride outside during the week. Well, I didn't do the ride until 6:00 PM and I'm just not energetic at that time of day and couldn't get a good pace going. Watched the news and kept a steady pace but I hardly got my heart rate up so not sure it was worth it. But better than nothing.

I am swamped with school work and my training tends to take a backseat during the week because I'm determined to get my work done. I can't go into class unprepared...and two classes is a lot more work than one. Especially when one class is a brand new class and I'm having to develop all the lectures, assignments, tests, from scratch. Just feeling very overwhelmed right now.

Tomorrow I hope to run and lift. Friday is swim and of course, the weekend is the big stuff. All my FB friends are psyched for the weekend and I'm dreading it! I can't wait until Monday because all I have to do is swim! This weekend I'm "only" running 2 hrs on Saturday (vs 2:45) and riding 5 hrs on Sunday. Sounds like we have a good group on Sunday, which makes all the difference in the world!

The swimming is good!

I never thought I'd be writing this but I'm actually loving Master's swim club. I actually look forward to it now. I'm still way slower than the other folks there but I don't care. I'm getting better and that's all that counts.

BUT it is very hard to get out of a warm bed on a cold, dark morning at 5:00 AM to go swim. That's the hard part! But once I'm down there, it's fun and challenging. The comaderie is great - I would never swim this hard on my own - and the workouts are hard, which is what I need.

Today I have to bike in addition to swimming...in fact, thats what I should be doing right now but I'm stalling! I'm tired but its a good tired. Need to get ready for class...have a ton of school stuff to do so I might ride the trainer when I get home from class. We'll see.

But Tuesdays are better

Had a great run today. Ran about 50 mins and felt really good. The weather has changed quite a bit - it feels like fall (well, it IS fall but it was our first real fall day). Started off with gloves and a hat (mid-40's) but soon ditched them. Ran a good 20-min tempo run and then cooled down.

Marshall emailed me the race day instructions which were just posted to the Ironman website today. YIKES! My heart skipped a beat seeing them. It's starting to seem real! Can I really do this??? Even Marshall was feeling a bit nervous this last weekend when he was doing his half-IM in Oklahoma.

Yes, I've been training and yes, I've improved but the Iroman IS one of the hardest endurance events out there and at the ripe old age of 48, I think I have a right to be a bit nervous! I just want that feeling to go away really soon!

Tomorrow I swim and hopefully, bike, if I have time. I have so much work to do that I might have to start getting up at 4:00 to get it done. Seriously. I am really behind right now and my students are waiting on things. Ugh. Better get to work!

Mondays are hard

Master swim practice was good but very hard today. I'm finding that Monday mornings that follow hard weekends (16 miles of running, 40 miles of biking, lawn mowing, kid chasing, etc), I'm toast. I swam the warm-up and the main set but I could tell I was tired.

The good news is that I'm enjoying Master's swim now. I never, ever thought I'd say that but it's true. I recall way back (and I think its in my blog somewhere) driving down to the Rec Center one cold winter day to swim and I turned around and went home before even getting out of my car. I just didn't want to go.

Now I enjoy it. I'm the slowest person there (even with my fins on) but I don't care. Most everyone there has been swimming for many years and I just started this last year. And I think I've improved quite a bit. So, that's good enough for me!

Tomorrow I should run but I'll see how much legs feel. I might bike if they are sore (easier to bike on sore legs than run!).

I did learn one thing this last weekend - I like swimming and biking with other people. I did a solo swim and bike and it was just ok, I thought I wouldn't care if anyone was with me but I did. It's much more enjoyable to swim and bike with others. Short rides are fine by myself but the long ones get a little boring on my own.

Running is completely different - I don't mind running alone and have done it for years. Even long runs I can do alone or with people, it doesn't matter. If I've had a stressful week, I prefer to run alone and just listen to music. It's like "resetting my brain".

Change of Plans

Today I was supposed to ride for 5 hrs, according to the training plan. And normally I ride in the morning but because today was a special service at church, I decided to do this ride in the afternoon. I kept trying to convince myself that it would be ok, that there was nothing wrong with riding in the afternoon, yet it just didn't feel right and I probably should've listened to my gut.

I started the ride about 1:20 and headed west. Kurt and the kids were going to do a group ride on the Poudre River Trail, with their school, so I decided to stop there on the way out (use the bathroom) and see them off.

But by the time I got there, the wind was blowing in gusts and there were huge rain clouds in the west. Not good.

I decided to give it a try. I headed out on O street to Windsor and it felt like I was crawling, the headwind was so bad. The clouds were coming in and a few raindrops fell but no rain yet. I got to Windsor and decided to head north on 257 (west of Windsor Lake). Great, right straight into the wind. I had to drop to my lowest gear just to go one mile.

I could see that the wind was out of the northwest so that when I would turn east, I could just fly and I was right. I turned right and immediately the loud roaring sound I had been listening to for the last half hour was gone and I could actually hear the whizzing sound of my wheels. Whew, I was flying!

As I flew along, there must have been 50 motorcycles that past me. Must be some kind of Harley event somewhere. Sure enough, when I got to Severance, there was a whole herd of them there. I meandered my way through them and kept going east.

Finally, I got to CR 33, our usual road that we take to Pierce. I had to decide then, do I turn back or keep going? At this poing, I knew I had to reschedule the 5 hr ride, it was 3:45 and I was hungry and not feeling particularly energetic. I missed my training partners a lot.

I turned north anyway. I rode along looking at the corn and watching it sway in the wind. It's interesting the things you think about when you're out in the country for hours with nothing to listen to but your bike, the wind, a few cars, and well, that's pretty much it.

I turned around and saw more storm clouds building up and decided to bag the ride. By the time i would get home, it would be 3 hrs, which isn't bad. I did that and it was 3 hrs when I got home. Not the ride I had wanted but not bad either. I'll just have to re-schedule things next weekend so that I get a really long ride in.

The best part of the weekend was the run. I am so glad I ran 16 miles. I don't care what they say about "time in the saddle", I just feel more confident knowing I have lots of long runs under my belt.

I stopped to take a few pictures on the ride. Here's one I like - see above.

Oh, my achin' body!

Ran 16 today with Dan England (thanks, Dan!) and I'm seriously paying for it now. It was a great run on a new course that I liked a lot. I ran from my house to WOW, which is 4 miles, and then Dan had a 12-mile course he took me on so it worked out great. But I was hurting quite a bit at the end.

Not sure if it's becaue I did the Spinerval's tape on Thursday or, well, because I'm 48 and training for an Ironman. I don't think 48 is old, at least in my book, but I'm no spring chicken either.

Either way, the last few miles were torture. My legs were just sore and tired. It reminded of the last few miles of a marathon. Which, I guess, is good since that means I ran through the same pain I might feel at the Ironman.

Need to write about yesterday because it truly was a milestone for me. I needed to get a good long swim in and instead of going to the pool at 6:00 AM, I made the decision to go to the lake after class and do an open-water swim. Only problem is, I would have to swim alone. Hmmm....

One of the cardinal rules of triathlon-training is to never swim alone in a lake. But I have been swimming pretty well and I felt pretty confident so I decided to go for it.

I got to the lake and things looked good - calm water, warm sun, golfers nearby. I got in the water and swam for a solid 20 mins before stopping (I think I was afraid to stop because I might chicken out). I finally stopped and looked around. No Loch Ness Monsters, no speed boats, no crashing waves. I was FINE.

I kept swimming but I noticed I felt funny swimming out in the middle of this lake by myself. On any other day I would've been fine but for some reason on this day, I had been feeling kind of lonely anyway so I decided to cut the swim short. I swam around the island and headed back.

Halfway back I decided to lengthen the swim and went back out, then changed my mind and headed back again. I got back to the dock and hoisted my body onto the dock (which always makes me feel like a walrus) and sat on the dock for a long time.

It was very quiet and all I could hear was the water slapping up against the dock. Beautiful day. I had only swam for 30 mins and needed to do more but just didn't have the guts to get back in. And for some reason, I felt myself putting my goggles back on and splash, I was back in.

I swam back out to the island and did a little circle and came back. Not bad for a newby lake-swimmer!

I didn't get as long of a swim as I would have if others were with me but I was glad I tried it. Maybe I can finally call myself a swimmer after all.

Quick recap since I wrote on Sunday: Monday morning I woke up with a horrible sore throat (actually got it Sun night) and tired, ache-y feeling. Ugh. Kurt didn't think I should go to Master's swim but I got up at 5:00 and got down there by 6:00. Pretty good, eh?

The swim went fairly well but I could tell I wasn't up to par. The rest of the day was awful: runny nose, headache, sore throat, the works. I took Tylenol and Advil and some of it would subside but would come back with a vengeance once the meds wore off.

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling awful. Part of it was the cold or flu and part of it was being sore and tired from the long, hard weekend. I was supposed to run on Tues morning but I felt so bad I didn't do anything. And for me to not run means I really was sick!

Today I felt fine. Wow, it lasted only 2 days! Got up at 5:10 and got down to the pool by 6:10. Did half of the workout, which for me, was pretty good. Felt good. Shared a lane with Marshall which was fun since I like training with him. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not that far behind him. In fact, we swam almost the same pace on a few parts of the workout but he eventually pulled ahead. And that's ok because he's been training pretty hard.

Then, more good news. I knew I needed to run or bike and decided to run. I felt GREAT! I actually ran a fast tempo run. It was one of those runs where you feel like you're getting out all the junk in your head (and I've had a lot of junk up there lately) and I had a good spring to my step. Very nice.

Tomorrow I hope to do Spinervals and Friday I will swim...then Sat will be a long run (2:45) and either Sun or Mon I'll do a 5 hr ride. More on that later.

Good weekend

So, this was my first "big" weekend. Ran 2 hrs and 30 mins on Saturday and rode about 4 hrs today. Not bad. The run went better than expected, although I started off feeling sluggish. My legs hurt while I ran but I able to keep going. Finished fairly strong but definitely ready to stop.

The bike today was pretty fun. Marshall, John, Brenda, and Sarah went too. I had a hard time keeping up with them at first (I was way behind!) but felt good about my pace. Woke up with a sore throat and was feeling a little under the weather (and right now I feel horrible - it's much worse now) but at the time, it was ok. The rest of the ride was good - some parts slow and some fast.

I did learn one thing today: do not take off your bike shirt while standing next to a toilet. Whatever you have in your back pocket will fall INTO the toilet. Yep, my Powerbar fell right in there...and to make matters worse, I had opened it first so that it would be easier to open on the ride. Ugh. But John Kinne came to the rescue..he stopped at a store in Severance and bough tme another one. How nice was that?!

Hoping to swim tomorrow AM. Right now, my throat is hurting really bad, runny nose, and tired, ache-y feeling. Kurt just got over a bad cold (he sounded terrible) so I guess I have what he had. I don't care if I have to take a day off running, but I really don't want to miss swimming so unless I'm miserable, I'm going to the pool tomorrow AM.

Two steps forward and one step back

That's the way it seems sometimes. Today I swam at the Rec Center and I could've sworn it was my first time EVER swimming. I felt awkward and slow. Completely the opposite of last week when I actually felt like I could pull off this Ironman. Not sure why, other than the fact that I missed Wednesday's swim. Hmmm....

Got in a 50-minute run yesterday and ditto for the run. The last few miles hurt like hell and why on earth would that happen, I've only been running for 25 years now!

Its weird how one day you can feel like you're flying and the next day you feel like a turtle. Speaking of turtles, I found a really cute one crossing the road by my house the other day. I love to see their little legs go really fast when you pick them up...ok, I digressed...

Starting the big miles this weekend: Saturday is a 2:30 run and Sunday is a 4.5 hr ride. Hoping to take two HUGE steps forward this time!

Yee haw!!!

Sarah Adams and I snuck in a fast 20-miler this morning. Its Weds and I teach at 1:25 so I didn't have much time but we got 'er done. I normally work on my class all morning and would never even consider going for a ride on a day like today but I did anyway - felt like I was playing hookie!

Didn't make it to master's swim this morning (and I'm really bummed about it) for reasons I can't mention here. May have to swim and run tomorrow. Really missed swimming today!

I think I'll lift weights after class...run/swim tomorrow, swim again on Friday, run long on Sat, and ride very long on sunday (have to ride 4.5 hrs!). I'm lovin' it!

Good swim!

Met the gang at the lake yesterday for the 4:30 lake swim. Everyone swam the perimeter and I made a smaller circle around the perimeter (but bigger than I usually do). Every time I stopped to site myself I could hear the faint sound of the water splashing as the group quietly swam by the shore. It sounded really neat. I felt lucky to be a part of this group.

Got back to the gazebo and felt like swimming some more so I headed back out to the island. Even though my shoulders hurt like they normally do when I did the first loop, they didn't hurt at all when I went for the 2nd bout and I swam really fast.

Got a nice compliment from Jim on how much I have improved which was nice. Hope to have more swims like that!

Brick #1

Today I did my first "brick" workout: 2 hr ride and a 1 hr run. I was actually looking forward to it and the fact that I was doing it alone didn't phase me one bit. It went fairly well - the bike seemed almost too easy. I should've gone harder, probably.

Started the bike at 8:15 and it was foggy and cloudy. I didn't think much about it, thinking it would burn off quickly and get hot. Nooooo! I was cold almost the entire way!

Then, out on O Street, I saw some dark figures in the fog coming toward me. At first I thought it was more cyclists, which would make sense since O street is a popular place to ride, but then I could see that it was a group of runners. It was Todd, Jim, Duane, and Dale! They were coming back from a training run with Jim (who's doing Kona in a few weeks). I've never seen anyone run on O street. I chatted with Todd a bit and then forged on.

Rode to Windsor and turned around. I felt like I had hardly gotten my heartrate up so I pushed the pace on the way back. That was nice. I didn't take my arm warmers off until I was almost home!

And the run wasn't nearly as bad as I expected it to be. I ran a full hour and kept a good pace. Felt good, actually.

Now it's 4:00 in the afternoon and I do not feel the need for a nap (which is unusual after a long workout). I guess that means I'm improving - cool!

Good start to the weekend

Kurt and I swam in the Windsor Lake today - brrrr! It was much colder than a few weeks ago. We warmed up eventually but it took several strokes before I could put my face in the water.

Wore my long-sleeve wetsuit with the broken zipper. At least, it was broken....Kurt seemed to finagle it to work and it did work fine. But after wearing a sleeveless for two races i could really tell the difference in how they feel. This one is much tighter across the chest! No wonder I couldn't breathe before!

I also wore my fins to reduce the stress on my left shoulder and that helped so much. We didn't swim the entire perimeter but I felt fine the whole way. Got out and felt like diving back in again and swimming some more.

The funny thing is that I came home and saw a story on Triathlon News about a triathlete being attacked by an otter in Boston! OMG, that would be so scary. I can't imagine. The article said that the triathlete was attacked several times by the animal - wow, how unusual!

Need to lift today but may not have time but at least I got my swim in. Run tomorrow, brick on Sunday.

Doggy run of another kind

Got an hour run in today but probably should've kept it at 30 - 45 minutes. My legs were toast at the end. Have a bit of a sore throat and feel kind of "draggy" so that may be part of it. But still glad to get it done.

Had a short break in the middle of the run when I saw a very cute scruffy little dog heading toward 23rd Avenue. I stopped and whistled at him...he turned right around and came back, wagging his tail. A man working on a sprinkler system saw this and asked me if it was my dog (all the while the dog is squiggling around in my arms). I told him no and by that time, he had jumped out of my arms and headed again toward 23rd Avenue.

Time for a little speedwork...I sprinted ahead and he looked back and slowed down. I basically dove on him and got a good grip around him, holding him tight. He didn't have a collar so I couldn't hold onto him very well. What to do? I couldn't set him down and run off, he'd get nailed on 23rd Avenue. He was way too cute (and clean) to be a stray so i asked the sprinkler guy if he'd take me and the dog back to my house to put in my yard. He looked at me like I was from another planet and just when I started to say something else, I looked over his shoulder and saw an open gate in a fence near the house where I originally saw him. Ah ha!

I quickly went over there and put him in the backyard and shut the gate. I'm 99% sure that was the house he was from and somehow the gate didn't stay latched and he got out (there was a mower nearby that could've been mowing that yard and he might have left the gate open). If not, the person who lives there will get a pleasant surprise!

In my 25 yrs of running, I bet I have caught 9-10 loose dogs. Most of them were pets but many did not have collars. One of them I found on 35th Avenue and I drug him all the way to Belair Animal hospital by Bear's Car Wash. He was one of the few that had a collar on and I could pull him the whole way.

Why people don't put collars on their dogs I'll never know. I suppose they think that if they are micro-chipped that they don't need a collar. But a collar-less dog is VERY hard to catch and VERY hard to hold onto once they are caught. Believe me, I know!

Just me and the sunflowers....

OK, so I swam this morning (see previous post) and I rode this afternoon. Kurt picked up the kids so I didn't have to hurry back and I learned that that IS the key to a relaxing ride....when I don't have to hurry, hurry, hurry...

Rode for almost 2 hrs and it was just heaven. Took O street out to Windsor and rode at a moderate pace. The mountains were in plain view and I just rode along effortlessly, enjoying the peace and quiet. I love rides like that!

Its amazing how a 2 hr ride seems like nothing now. I could've easily rode a few more hours.

Tomorrow I run, Friday I swim, Saturday I run again, and Sunday is a brick: 2 hr ride and 1 hr run. Not too bad at all.

I'm swimmin'

Monday was the first day of the new session of Master's swim and I was there at 0-dark-30. That was, of course, the day after WOW in which I swam a relatively fast mile in the lake (and my shoulders were killing me!). So, I thought I would take Monday off and start Master's on Weds.

But I actually woke up early on Monday and as I sipped coffee watching Kurt get ready to go, I thought "what the heck" and I threw my stuff in the car and went with him. And guess what? I swam 1600 yards! That's way more than I've ever done the day after a triathlon and I'm pretty darn proud of it!

I took yesterday off only because I literally had no time to train. I felt like I could run in the AM but too much to do - just couldn't squeeze it in.

So, today I woke up at 4:45 (seriously) and since Kurt had to start Master's earlier today because he had a 7:00 AM meeting, I went early with him too. We got to the Rec Center before they opened their doors! And I was itchin' to swim! Can't believe I'm typing those words.

We were in the pool by 6:00 AM and I swam continuously for 15-20 mins. Then did a modified version of the workout until 6:45. My left shoulder started aching about 30 mins into the workout so it's a good thing I had to cut it short. But so glad I got it in.

Planning to bike later today and run tomorrow - woo hoo!