30 Days

Since tomorrow is the last day of June and I have a morning swim planned, I think it is safe to post this - I worked out every day the month of June! I started thinking about a whole month of workouts in May, when I realized about halfway through the month that I hadn't missed a day. Then with tapering for the marathon and my back bothering me, I missed three days at the end of the month. But the seed was planted.

So what did my 30 days look like?
16 runs for a total of 68 miles (including one 5k race)
9 swims for a total of 9,500 m. (including my first ever tri!)
6 bikes for a total of 68.5 miles
5 yoga sessions
3 Jillian Michael videos
2 kettlebell classes
for a total of 29.5 hours working out

I feel great from following this schedule. I really only had a couple of days where I had to consciously do some workout in order to keep the 30 day thing going. I loved it so much, I plan to keep going into the month of July. We are traveling this weekend, so it will take a little more effort, but it is totally worth it. So here's to 31 days in July (with more running miles!) - anyone care to join me?

My Very First Ever Tri

This morning was the mini triathlon put on by our city chamber of commerce as part of Freedom Fest. 300 yard swim, 11 mile bike, 2 mile run. I was excited to do this as a low key practice for Chisago Lakes next month. But I was so nervous! I was mostly worried about the swim, especially when I arrived and saw that the turnaround (a couple of teenagers in a paddleboat) was farther out than I thought it would be.


In the water and ready to go! That's my friend Erin on the left in the lifejacket - she was a turbo in that thing. There were several people wearing lifejacket, and a few others using kickboards. I told you it was low key. Anyhow, I'm in the middle and my friend Martine is on the right. Note on costuming: I really wasn't sure what to wear. I didn't want to spend any money on tri gear without knowing how much I would use it. So I wore my ridiculous 10 year old swimsuit with my sports bra underneath (the swimsuit definitely not enough support for the run!), and then pulled Nike tempo shorts and a top on for the bike and run.


And we're off. I think you can see my swim cap with the hearts on it in this pic, just at the left elbow of the lady in green and blue. There were about 50 people in the tri, but we started on both sides of the dock so it didn't feel crowded. I did better than I expected in the swim. This tri was not timed, so I'm not sure how long the swim took, but I did a good job of staying calm. I had a moment on the way out where I thought I could't possibly make it, but I told myself to just keep swimming. I switched to breast stroke a couple of times to calm myself down. Once I got to the paddleboat turnaround, I knew I could make it. I swam back and was out of the water for my transition.


The Nike shorts were a bad idea. Especially once I got to the run. They were still sopping wet and kept riding up, very uncomfortable. I think I need to do some shopping before Chisago! Anyhow . . . the bike was good. I wore my Garmin for the bike and run, didn't stop it for the transition - total time for the 11 mile bike and 2 mile run was 1:03. Not too bad for riding my hybrid bike.

When I started running, my legs were sore! I knew the second half of the course would be a nice downhill, so I just kept telling myself to make it to that point and I would be fine. It was about at the downhill that my legs started to loosen up and I was able to run the second mile faster. 1st mile was approxmately 9:10, second was 8:45.


All done! This really was so much fun, and I am really excited for Chisago - just one month away. Today helped me figure out some things to work on for Chisago: figure out my gear (including borrowing a road bike from a friend), continue to work on my swim, and do more bike/run bricks.

Oops

This morning my alarm went off at 5:45 and I got out of bed to go for a run. I put on my running clothes and put my contacts in. And then I took my contacts out, put my pjs back on, and went back to bed. Oops.

I'd like to say I have some reasonable excuse, like it was raining a torrential downpour or I was overly tired from a lack of sleep. But it was nice out. And I went to bed at 9:00 last night.

I think it comes from my attitude that my morning runs are "optional" because they are not runs on my training program. But I function so much better if I get up and exercise right away. Tomorrow I will get up early and get my swim on, and Thursday, I promise, I will do my easy morning run. So there.

One Week Down . . .

15 to go until Twin Cities! I started off with a good week of training.

Monday: 5 miles (w/4x800)
Tuesday: 3 miles easy
Wednesday: 1200 m. swim
Thursday: 5 miles (w/2 at tempo pace); 30 min. yoga
Friday: 950 m. swim, 12 mile bike
Saturday: 11 mile bike, 1.5 mile run
Sunday: 10 miles

I am wondering if my FIRST program ups the long runs too soon. The first few weeks call for 13, 15, 17, and 20. I followed this last time around and felt like I maybe peaked to early. So I'm thinking of doing 10, 13, 15, and 17. What do you think? It didn't break my heart to cut back to 10 today because it was hot and I was running in the mega hills by my in-laws.

Goals for this week? Get the strength training back. I'm planning on going back to kettlebells, also need to make sure I work in some Jillian.

Tempo Track Sweatfest

I decided to do tonight's tempo run at the high school track because the weather peeps were predicted storms. I figured if a storm came through, I'd rather stay nice and close to my car.

This first tempo run on the schedule was pretty easy - 2 easy miles, 2 miles at "short tempo" pace, and 2 miles cooldown. Thankfully the wind decided to throw down a challenge (just what I needed) by blasting me in the face. Add to the wind the 90 degree temp and hot, hot sun and it was quite the run.

It started to cloud over as I finihed the run. Now I'm home listening the thunder and rain. I'm hoping once this storm goes through our weather will clear up: I've got a swim and bike planned for tomorrow, a golf event tomorrow afternoon, my first open water swim Saturday morning (followed by a bike and run for my own little mini practice triathlon) AND my first long run of this training cycle Sunday. Should be a fun weekend. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend - can't wait to read all the race reports!

Training Time

A quick recap of my last "off" week:

Monday: 3 miles easy (am), 4.5 miles w/2x400, 2x800, 2x400 (pm)
Tuesday: 3.6 miles easy, 30 min yoga
Wednesday: 1100 m. swim
Thursday: 3.1 miles easy
Friday: 1000 m. swim, Jillian's No More Trouble Zones DVD
Saturday: 22 mile bike w/1 mile run
Sunday: Jillian's 30 Day Shred (level 2)

Now, tomorrow, training for Twin Cities starts. I'm using the FIRST program for the third time. My main goal for this training cycle? Do everything better. Easy enough, right? I want to push myself through the track workouts, nail the tempo runs, and be strong on the long runs.

Your job? Yes, you have a job. Don't let me be a summer slacker. If I start posting things like "I skipped the long run today to float around on the pontoon and drink beer" reach through the interwebs and slap me. Don't get me wrong, pontoon floating and beer drinking have their place, it' just AFTER the weekend long run is done.

Sign Me Up

"The Freedom Fest Mini-Triathlon consists of a 300 yd lake swim, 12 mile bike ride and 2 mile run/walk and is not a competetive event. It is used for fun and exercise. Bikers must have a helmet and swimmers may use a flotation device, if desired."

Low key, no? A perfect little practice triathlon for before Chisago Lakes next month. So I dropped off my $15 check and I'm off to find my flotation device. Well, I guess I should probably try to swim without the arm floaties . . .

What I really love about this triathlon (aside from the ultra cheap registration and the convenient location 6 miles from my front door) is the waiver. I almost peed my pants reading it. I'd quote it here, but I'm sure it's not really that funny to anyone but my nerd brain. I think it is even funnier because I know the spandex, headband wearing pain in the ass lawyer who drafted it.

Have a great weekend!

Recovery Week Wrap-up

I spent the last week focusing on getting over my back injury and mentally getting over my DNF at last Sunday's Madison Marathon. I actually managed to get in some good cross training workouts.

Monday: rest day (LONG drive back from Beloit, WI - back pain + car ride = torture)
Tuesday: 30 min yoga (plus chiro)
Wednesday: 1000 m. swim
Thursday: 7 mile bike, 15 min yoga
Friday: 2000 m. swim, 1 mile run (plus chiro)
Saturday: 5k race
Sunday: Jillian's 30 day shred (level 2)

Friday's swim was a distance PR for me - I wanted to swim at least a mile, and once I hit the mile mark, I still felt good so I kept swimming until open swim closed. I dried off and headed out into the rain for a quick one mile jog.

Saturday I ran a 5k in Grantsburg, WI. Nothing too noteworthy - after running a super strong first mile in 7:33, I sort of died and finished in 25:46. Sophie ran the kid's race. Her little medal must have given her medal fever, because later while I was putting away laundry, she came in wearing:

Apparently she found my race medals. She also flipped out Saturday morning because she didn't have legit running clothes to wear. I wonder if Nike tempo shorts come in toddler size . . .

I'm looking forward to adding back in some miles this week. One more "limbo" week and the training begins for Twin Citis Marathon.

The Bright Side

Thank you all for your supportive comments on my last post. My back is feeling a million times better - a trip to the chiropractor, lots of yoga, ice, some swimming - it is all helping.

With all my daisy downerness post-race, I didn't get to fill you in on some of the highlights. So here some pics.


My sister and Sophie checking out the view from what Sophie called our "fancy room." It was fancy! My uncle is the head chef a the Edgewater in Madison and he hooked us up with an awesome suite.


This is my "I think I might be done crying and hyperventilating, so sure, you can take a picture" look. Cute, no?


On Monday, we checked out the Memorial Day parade in my hometown.

Oh, also, I picked up some great stuff at the expo - a cute shirt from One More Mile, a necklace from Lift Your Sole, AND a Spi belt.

I'm hoping to get a little run in tomorrow, and run a local 5k on Saturday. Have a great weekend!