Huuricane Asshole Hits Atlanta

WEEKLY WORKOUTS
Swimming 2:20
Biking 5:15
Running 2:35 (2 days of running and 3 bricks)
Weights 1:30


Pretty soon I think this road to IMLP blog is going to be strictly a bitchfest of the Atlanta weather. Honestly it just sucks!!! Saturday I rode in 35 degree, rainy, windy mixed with some sleet weather for 3 hours. Needless to say I was miserable. Honestly at one point the wind was so strong it almost knocked me off my bike (or that could just be my shitty biking skills). I could've sworn the winds were going at 175 MPH. Another day I ran in cold rainy weather. I know I've done some crappy things to people, but man it sucks that the rest of Atlanta is paying for it. Luckily today for my 60 minute run it was sunny and not too cold. If only my legs appreciated it like the rest of my body did.


I had 2.5 good swims this week. Andrew had me do 5x50 sprints on long rest Friday. I did them directly after my warm up. By the 5th one my arms were pretty dead and sore. I think I moved at a snail's pace when I did my drills. It felt good to do the sprints because I knew I was working my ass off. With each 50 I tried to do it faster then the one before. I wasn't successful with that, but I actually managed to do the same pace for the 1st 4. I'm mainly just doing drill work now, with the exception of my 2nd swim of the week. This week I had to do a 1x1000 with a sprint every 10th length. I never enjoyed drill work, but I actually kind of like it now. 1 day a week I do a combo of pull buoy, kick and paddles. If I can find my flippers I'll start using those as well. Another day I typically do a combo of finger tip drag, fist, catch up, 1 arm strokes, and side kicks. I try to do a ladder (250, 150, 50, 50, 150, 250), but I usually only do the down portion of it. I honestly think the drills are helping my stroke a decent amount. I tend to have a very sharp movement in my right arm when it goes into the water. The finger tip drill has helped me change that. I think I'm going to do a private lesson with a swim coach to analyze my technique and help become a more efficient swimmer.


I'm still doing 1 day each of intervals, ILTs and a long ride. Andrew has switched up the times of each of these a bit so hopefully that will make me a stronger, faster cyclist in the future. The intervals kicked my ass. Like kicked it & then laughed as I had a tear in my eye. I did 5 sets of 4 min on and 2 off. I did a good job at keeping my cadence at 90, which is very good for me. The ILTs were tougher this week for me. I'm now doing 1 min on my dominant leg and 2 on the weaker leg. As you read before, my long ride sucked. I was slow, uncomfortable, winded and not happy with my performance. Seriously my legs just wouldn't go. I'm starting to get extremely frustrated. I know the weather conditions didn't help matters, but it still sucks. I just want to feel good again. I'm also not loving Lucy Roo. She looks pretty, but we are so far from being one. Most people that have a tri bike LOVE it. I however am not one of those people. I feel completely unstable on it. For those who know me, know how anti drinking and driving I am. Well unfortunately when I ride Lucy I look just like one of those people. I'm all over the road, swerving. I'm thinking that's not really a good thing. I wonder if I'll get a penalty for riding while looking drunk at IMLP. Let's hope not. Either that or let's hope I can somehow control this issue. I also feel like I have no power whatsoever in my legs. I'm not used to the shifting yet either. It's a lot different then a road bike. It can only get better from here I keep telling myself. Well it better get better soon!


Not much to report on my runs this week. I'm feeling good on the bricks. After Saturday's ride I was supposed to run for 15 minutes. At about 7:45 I ended up walking for 30 seconds. I know that at Placid there will definitely be walking. I just wanted to see how my legs would recover from a brief walk. Good news, they recovered very well. I felt much better after I did that. I'm going to check with Andrew and his thoughts on doing this during my runs. It sounds good to me, but I have no idea. I've also been instructed to incorporate 10-12s sprints into my runs. It's kind of cool seeing how fast I can in that brief moment. Funny thing is I can get to about 6:30 which kind of comes close to what the pros do for an entire marathon. I'm guessing turning pro isn't in my near future. My :60 minute run was just ok today. My legs were pretty sore from yesterday's workout. I also am fighting some kind of chest cold, which didn't help with my breathing.


What's a season for me without injury? That would be called a miracle. I've had issues with my shoulder blade & neck since last season. Unfortunately it's acting up again and if anything getting worse. There's a lot of built up scar tissue, tightness and knots that's happened over a number of years. I've been getting a lot of headaches recently, which is most likely caused by those issues. Andrew recommended a great PT/chiropractor that is an athlete as well. I think he might be my new miracle worker. Miracle workers are those who "fix" me enough to be healthy to race. He did shockwave, ART and Graston on it. He was going to do some acupuncture, but didn't want to kill me just yet. Thankfully I have a very high tolerance to pain because his techniques hurt, but that good kind of hurt. He's pretty hopeful that I'll feel at least 75% better within 4 treatments. That will not only be a miracle, but amazing. I highly recommend him for anyone that's in Atlanta (http://www.drlascala.com/). I did figure out that part of the problem why this keeps happening is because I ride with my shoulders up which puts a lot of tension on my shoulders and neck. Now I just need to make this change and maybe this won't keep happening.


Fingers crossed for a few weekends of good weather in the ATL.