Triathlons Do Require Thinking

WEEKLY WORKOUTS

SWIMMING 2:45 (3 Days)

BIKING 5:15 (3 Days, 1 Outdoor)

RUNNING 3:35 (3 Days with 2 bricks)

WEIGHTS :45 (1 Day)

Counting laps in a pool can be one of the hardest things during training. The physical isn't a problem in the pool for me, it's counting. When I realized this was a major issue and I had no one else to rely on to count for me, I had to come up with another solution. There's this little game I play when I can't fall asleep, so I decided to try it out in the pool. Curious, huh? Well I go through the alphabet and either think of a food (usually junk of course), city, country, boy's name, etc and it somehow relaxes my mind. I usually count my laps in 10s - that's A-F for those who can't count, and then assign a letter to the appropriate number. I'll either think of that letter or words that begin with the letter I'm on. For some reason when my mind wonders, I can always bring it back to a letter, unlike a number. If you have problems counting, try the letter game.

I'm up to a 1x2000 for my long set, which is 1/2 Ironman distance. I was fine during this workout and it wasn't challenging for me. Plus I've swam 3 HIM races, so I wasn't worried about the distance. I'm actually not even worried about the Ironman distance. I'm sure once I get into longer swims I'll change that thought. I can see how it might get boring in a pool, but I don't think that will be the case come race day. I am of course worried about the open water. Luckily I have 2 races scheduled as of now, before IMLP.

I'm always amazed at the athletes who are super speedy. To me it just makes no sense whatsoever that someone can be crazy fast. Let's put it this way, I will hopefully finish my race between 13-14 hours (luckily I have 17 hours to do it). Those crazy fast pros finish in about 9 hours. Well I managed to amaze myself on Saturday in a completely different way. I think I biked as slow as humanly possible. Seriously at one point when I was going up a hill I thought my bike was going to start moving backwards. I wanted to laugh, but I didn't have the energy. I did however have the energy to throw out some major F bombs. I will say this is one of the hillier courses I've ridden, but still! I told Andrew my theme is becoming I SUCK on the bike. It's very discouraging and upsetting because 4.5 months ago, I was a hell of a lot faster. I don't know if it's the bike, the fact that I'm working out so much my legs are dead or I honestly just suck that bad. Whatever the case is, I just need to go fast enough to finish the race. Enough self pity...onto my interval workout which was pretty tough this week too. I had 6 minutes on and 2 minutes off for 5 sets. By the end my legs were definitely fatigued, which was to be expected. I feel good when I'm riding my trainer, so that's a positive, right?

Oh and another thing about my Saturday ride. I f-ed up big time with my nutrition. As hard as it was at the time, it was probably the best thing for me. I was on the bike for 3:45 and I didn't even finish 2 bottles and only consumed about 260 calories (according to my watch I burned about 1700). At one point I bonked so hard I got nauseas and had to pull over to get fluids and some calories in. Stupid, stupid mistake, but I think I learned from it. No matter what, I will force myself to eat and drink. It's going to be a long day of racing and I need to make sure I have enough energy to finish.

My runs this week actually felt really good. Even though my legs were tired and fatigued, I was still able to do my runs with some ease. I'm up to 1.5 hours on my long runs and still finding the bricks manageable. Saturday wasn't so easy, but luckily it was only 15 minutes. I'm feeling confident about ING in 3 weeks. I know I won't win and luckily that's not what I'm trying to do anyway. Sure it would be great to get a PR (personal record), but I'm totally cool just doing the race and feeling good afterwards with as little soreness as possible.

Unfortunately my shoulder has been really acting up lately. With all of the therapy I'm getting done, it should be getting better and it's not. We're really trying to focus on it and I will probably be getting weekly massages, if not more to loosen it. Next to and under the shoulder blade is so tight that it's causing a strain on the muscle and I'm getting a painful burn. It's not fun. I had this last season and I thought it went away, but it's back and much worse. I'm trying to push through the pain, but that's not the right approach to have right now. The key is to stay as healthy as possible and taking care of any issues that come up. I know Dr. LaScala is doing everything he can, but my shoulder is being as stubborn as the rest of me!