I hate stupid people

Generally, I like to have patience with people.

OK, who am I kidding, I have no such thing. And my patience for stupid people is even less. And that is why swim practice today was brutal. It started out like any normal swim practice. We had a short warm up of 6 x 75 (25 kick, 25 drill, 25 swim), 3 x 100 kick descend, 8 x 25 underwater, and 3 x 100 swim descend.

Then we got right into our main set. We did 20 x 100. There were a couple different interval choices but the point of the set was to hold your best possible average while getting 10-20 seconds rest. There were three of us in our lane and two of us were sure that we could not make interval #1 so we opted to do #2: holding 1:15's but leaving on the 1:40. The third person in our lane (whom I will just call D for "dummy") said, "oh c'mon, we can make 1:20." Coach Andy hears him say this and says, "the point isn't to make the interval, it is to hold your best possible average while getting 10-20 seconds rest." So D just says, "whatever", and we start the set. He decides to go second in our lane. After only 2 or 3 100's, D is already frustrated and says to Andy, "How am I supposed to get faster with all of this rest?" Andy of course responds that we are not supposed to be getting faster but D is just so worried about improving his speed. Andy explains that this is an endurance set and if you do it correctly, it will get harder and harder as you try to maintain that best possible average as your body starts to get tired. D doesn't believe him, takes over our lane, and continues to bitch after EVERY SINGLE 100!!!!!!!!

Finally, we hit #8 or 9 and he starts to feel the burn. So now instead of questioning the coach's workout, he complains after every one that he is dying, that he is not going to make it, and that this is so hard. Mind you, while D is complaining, Patrick and I are rocking the set, maintaining our average, and feeling great. We finally finished our 20 x 100 and D had nothing positive to say. I loved today's practice and felt great afterwards. Had I been able to drown D in the middle of the set, it would have been even better!

So, stupid people aside, today was a great day. And for those of you that are like my good friend D, listen to your coach, suck it up, and quit your bitching!

Where did my ass go?

So, I've lost my ass. I don't know where it went. I realize I am trying to lose some weight and get down to my ideal race weight, but having a little extra cushion in my rear-end is NEVER a bad thing! My butt hurts from biking yesterday :-(

I got up super early (for a Saturday) and headed into the office Saturday morning. My plan was to come home and take a nap afterwards but the sunshine was just too tempting. It looked gorgeous outside and there was more sunshine than Chicago has seen in the last six months combined. So I took the Canondale off the trainer and headed out for my first OUTDOOR bike ride of this training season. I went about 18 miles: started at my house and headed to the Lake Front Trail. I rode south to McCormick Place then turned around and came back. There was a nice tail wind going down so I was holding a steady and comfortable 18 mph. The ride home was a little tougher with the wind in my face so I dropped down.

It was SO NICE to get outside again and ride! It definitely put me in good spirits after the funk I've been the past week. That was the start to an excellent weekend...it was followed by a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo and an afternoon at Stanley's that turned into a night at Stanley's. Now I am heading out to go to the Purdue game! Here's to a great weekend and hopefully a good week to come!

I'm in a Funk

So, the past week and a half has really been a struggle for me training-wise. It all started about last Thursday. I made every workout for the week until my bike ride Thrusday night. And the excuse is the same almost every Thursday...I go to Buffalo Wild Wings with people from work, have a few beers, and get home too late to do anything. Last Thursday was no exception. I went to BW's, had more than a few beers, and stayed out later than I usually do. So biking was out of the question...as much as I love the midnight rides with the Marauders, it's not really a Thursday night activity. Then Friday morning I was supposed to run an hour before I headed to court then to Indianapolis. Because of the activities from the night before, I couldn't get out of bed in time to run. I woke up, showered, and went straight to court. Saturday was supposed to be a bike ride but I didn't want to fuss with taking my bike to Waukegan and then on to Indy so I didn't bike. And by the time Sunday rolled around, I was just too tired from a whirlwind weekend (plus losing an hour in the time change) to get off the couch and run.

Then a new week started and I tried to have a fresh attitude. I got up Tuesday after an excellent sleep and made my way to the pool. Nothing but frustration. I couldn't hang with my normal lane-mates and went over to LANE 5!!!! For those of you that don't know the set up for my team, that's borderline snail pace. I tend to stay in lane 2 or 3. So to go to 5 was a huge step down. I had planned on running an hour after court but then realized I had absolutely no food at home for dinners or in the office for lunch. So I spent my lunch break grocery shopping. Wednesdays are usually clutch for me and I have no problems. Well, this Wednesday, I just couldn't get out of bed (despite the fact that I got decent sleep). So I skipped the am gym session and went on my lunch. Because of that, I had to cut it down from a 45 min bike and 15 min run to a 20 min bike and 10 min run. There was a get together downtown Wednesday night with people from court so I of course made an appearance, had a few beers, and got home too late. So Thursday was a complete bust this week. I was too tired to get up for swim practice, didn't have time to make the gym on lunch, and went out to celebrate St. Patty's Day with green beer after work. Training FAIL.

I was partially responsible last night though and limited myself to one beer then went home knowing I had to get up and run for 75 minutes this morning. I woke up right on time feeling refreshed, changed my clothes, and headed to the gym. I'm not sure if it is the changing weather or what but it was freaking HOT in the gym. I just couldn't do the full run. I ended up running for 45 minutes and walked for 15 then called it quits. By the time I finished, I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower because I was so drenched with sweat. I also got pretty jittery about halfway through the run. That usually only happens when I don't eat but I had a small breakfast before hitting the gym and went through one and a half water bottles while running. So, not sure where that is coming from.

HOPEFULLY, this weekend will prove to be successful. I would like to get outside to bike a little bit but we will see how the weather is. I'm just hoping I can get out of this funk soon because I don't like the way I feel and I don't like when I skip out on so many training sessions. So keep your fingers crossed that I will have a much more positive update next week!

Some Lunch-time Blogging :-)

I'm enjoying the remainder of my lunch break and realized that I haven't done much updating in the past couple days. Then when I really think about it, I had kind of a slacker week last week. It started off strong coming back to Chicago from Indy. I jumped right into a new week and was feeling pretty good. I seem to be struggling with getting in my Thursday evening bikes. This is mainly because I like to go to Buffalo Wild Wings with my coworkers after work and biking after wings and beer just doesn't sound fun. This past week, however, I had a much better excuse not to ride:

Reason 1: Kelsey

Reason 2: Ben

Unfortunately, my sister-in-law's sister was in the hospital so Kate packed up the kids and came to Chicago. My brother was in LA for business and couldn't get here till Thursday night. So Aunt Cari had to come to the rescue and take some time off work to babysit and play with the kids. It was definitely more fun than biking! I was glad that I got to spend some time with my favorite little kiddos and I'm fairly certain that chasing around a 3 year old and a one and a half year old constitutes working out! And to all my followers: keep sending up some prayers for Kate's sister Erin, her husband Michael, and new baby Jacob!

Then we got to the weekend and I was just too busy Saturday to get in my long bike ride. And by busy, I mean, I had interviews all morning until 2. Then I took a nap. When I woke up, I immediately met my friends at the bar at 5:30 Saturday evening. And the last portion of that explains why I didn't get in my long run on Sunday...or anything else I was supposed to accomplish on Sunday besides laying on the couch and catching up on TV.

So Monday rolls around and I switched my "rest" day and made up for Sunday on Monday. Got in a decent 60 min run at the gym before heading to the office. I've decided that Tuesdays are my favorite training day. I really like swimming and the afternoon/evening run I do is usually pretty good. Swim practice was more of a distance set (which is not my favorite). BUT, I finished it and felt accomplished! The main set was a ladder up then down. Going up, we held pace with a 1:20 base. Coming down, everything was sprint with a 1:45 base. So we did pace 100 on 1:20, 200 on 2:40, 400 on 5:20, and 800 on 10:40. Then we did sprint 800 on 14:00, 400 on 7:00, 200 on 3:30, and 100 all out. I did the 100 in 1:11...not too shabby for it being the last thing we did in practice.

My Tuesday afternoon got a little jumbled because my normal routine is to hit the gym right after court. But, I had an eye doctor appointment and was forced to go to the gym after the office. Note to self: GYM IS PACKED IN THE EVENING!!!!! I drove around for like 10 minutes before finding a parking spot then had to search for a treadmill. I finally found one facing the back of the gym instead of the TV's. :-( I made it through though and put in a solid performance for another 60 min run.

This morning was a 45 min spin on the bike then a 15 minute run. I felt pretty good during it but now both of my calves are incredibly tight. I'm not real sure how to loosen them up but it's not exactly a pleasant feeling. I am ok when I am just sitting at my desk but when I have to get up and walk somewhere, I kind of hate my life. So I'm looking into some options on how to battle this tightness. Suggestions are welcome! (Free massages are also encouraged).

The Little Things in Life

My mom's birthday was this past Sunday so I spent the weekend in Indianapolis. And I'm proud to say I only missed one training session while celebrating with her! I hit up the gym Friday morning before work and managed to get in my 45 minute run. I got to Indy around 8:00 Friday night and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal...haven't had one of those in a while :-)

I missed my hour and a half bike ride on Saturday but it was totally worth it to skip. I had a very relaxing day that was MUCH NEEDED. I got my hair cut that morning, enjoyed lunch with Mom, my hairdresser, and the coolest nephew in the world, Ben. Mom and I babysat Ben for the afternoon. He is such a fun age right now! Then Mom and I got pedicures before having another home cooked meal. I ended my day of relaxation catching up with my girls.

I got back into things on Sunday. After a birthday breakfast, Mom and I headed out shopping. I bought a new pair of running shoes and shorts and got an excellent deal. I am quite the coupon shopper nowadays :-) And, because I truly am my grandma's granddaughter, I CANNOT wait to wear something new. So I laced up the new shoes, put on my new shorts, and headed out for an AWESOME 6 mile run. Four out of the six miles were under 9:45 pace. Miles 3 and 4 were just over 10 minutes but I figured out why they were so much slower...I was running into the wind and I was also running in the grass (which was squishy and muddy). It was not my plan to run in the mud but it really isn't safe to run down Meridian St. I was incredibly pleased with this run and afterwards felt no guilt devouring the awesome chocolate cake that my sister-in-law made!

On the menu for today was swimming and a 45 minute run. Swim practice was pretty good this morning. Just in case you haven't picked up on it thus far from my posts...I loathe long distance swimming. The majority of my angry posts are me bitching about Andy's long distance workouts. Today was a long distance practice that I actually DIDN'T hate! It was a pretty standard warmup consisting of 4 x 75 (50 drill, 25 swim), 4 x 100 IM order (25 kick, 50 drill, 25 swim), 3 x 100 kick descend, and 4 x 100 free descend. Then we hit the main set: 5 x 500 free. #1-3 were on 7:00 and #4-5 were on 6:40. I moved to a lane where I didn't have to worry about anyone riding my ass or getting passed and I ROCKED the 500's. The two on 6:40 were pretty tough but I made them. After the 500's, we did some sprints from the block. I did a 50 fly in :32.6, a 50 breast in :37.1, and a 50 free in :31.5-ish. Not bad considering it was at the end of practice. I felt AWESOME afterwards...until I had to go shower and the hot water in UIC was not working. Do you know how painful it is to wash your hair in freezing water? On a side note, apparently the mayor elect of Chicago occasionally swims with the Chicago Masters. I was told today that he was at practice yesterday. I'll keep my eyes peeled and maybe he'll grace us with his presence again.

I did the 45 minute run on my lunch break. I've upgraded to a four mile lunch. And next week my Tuesday runs increase to an hour. So I'll be moving to a 6 mile lunch. The time is really starting to increase on the bike and run. Luckily, I am feeling pretty great while running. I'm feeling strong and averaging 10 minute miles. My goal for Ironman is to complete the marathon in 6 hours of under. That breaks down into just over 13:30/mile. If I can maintain the 10 minute mile in training, I'd like to think I can maintain 13 minute miles in the race. I understand that I will be quite tired by the time I get off the bike to start running but I'm just going to have to push through that. If I want to make my goal time of under 15 hours total, I'm going to have to kick it up a notch on my run.

I'm excited for the upcoming month of training. The past weekend was a great way to reinvigorate myself and get excited. It's the little things in life like spending three days hanging out with my mom, playing with my niece and nephew, and catching up with old friends that really picks me up. 4 weeks down, 26 to go! I can't believe it is March already! Before we know it, August will be here and I will be a complete basketcase.