The Pain Train

In an effort to blog on a consistent basis, here goes my recent training recap!

Swimming:  I've been getting in my pool workouts consistently for the last 2-3 weeks- yay!! Of course, as I write this, I bailed on my swim workout today.  I WILL get it in tomorrow morning though ;) Nothing notable about progress/speed/etc., except that I am, in fact, swimming (which says something, if you know me...).  In fact, I'm about out of Foggle wipes... it would be such a shame to NOT see that black line at bottom of the pool crystal-clear like I've gotten used to... must order more!! :)

Biking: I'm pretty lucky... my body responds well to bike training.  I get by on less training than most... I hear of people consistently putting in 150-300(!!) miles per week of cycling to yield fitness and little progress...but on the other hand, when I am in the saddle, I am (no pun intended) working my a$$ off!!  Here's a little story about this weekend....

TOOT TOOT!

So on Saturday, I had a LONG ride at RACE pace... I needed some help on this one.  I was lucky enough to recruit some some ridiculously fast cyclists (ie ROSS and BRIAN) to let me attempt to sit on their wheels for a few hours.  The first 1-1.5 hours were pretty easy/steady, but then they got into their "normal" pace... which put the HURT on me!!  I was hanging tough though...   After about 1.5 hours of the "hurt", we picked up another fast dude (MIKE) and then it was really GAME ON.  for the next 1.5-2 hrs I could barely even look at my Garmin in fear that I would fall off the Pain Train... It got to the point where I was playing mind games...

"OK Laura, HANG ON until the next intersection, and then you can drop off... alright, good job, let's see if you can hang on until the next time they turn..."... etc. etc..

I NEVER got dropped!  But boy did that HURT! Ross & Co. sure did drop the Hizzie (one of the funny jokes that they were casually laughing about on this ride while I was trying to maintain lung functioning).


I followed this ride up with a T-Run that wasn't a cake-walk either... I was WRECKED after this whole workout was done.

Good news:  Nutrition worked great on the ride.  The past few weeks Coach Jen and I have discovered that the nutrition plan that I was using on longer/low-intensity rides doesn't work as well on high-intensity rides ...so I scaled back the kcals this week and had no issues.  I finished a bottle of concentrated First Endurance Tart Lemon Lime EFS (i.e. margarita) and 2 Vanilla Liquid Shot flasks- YUM.

My friend Anne was having a Tri-Shark celebratory get-together that night (for all the REV3 Cedar Point, IMWI, etc. finishers!) so I wanted to rest-up and clean-up a little bit before heading over.  I had a great idea to "rest" on my couch and close my eyes for "just a minute"...

... and then woke up 2 1/2 hours later still in my workout clothes!  GROSS!  I felt like I had just gotten hit by a bus!!  Luckily I cleaned up quick and celebrated my "victory" with a couple of these:

Nectar of the Gods

and devoured a bread bowl with some delicious dip with a "pack" of triathletes (we were referred to as a pack of hyenas with giselle blood on our faces lol).  Good times!

Running: Ah, the battle.  I had a "long" run on Sunday, and it went OK.  Pace and HR were just fine, even on destroyed legs, but yup, achilles acted up.  I focused on recovery the rest of the day...

Monday (today) I saw my athletic trainer (physical therapy) and massage therapist (Don at Aches Away rocks).  I upgraded my 30-minute "lower leg only" session to an hour on full lower body so I can try to walk down stairs normally this week... I'm in the thick of long-distance tri training folks...

I also saw my trusty running expert Mitch at Often Running and he helped me pick out a new pair of running shoes that might be a little bit more forgiving on the achilles...we'll see how it goes!