Whew, thank goodness it
is Wednesday and the week is all downhill from here. Between pre- and post-work workouts and
addressing and stuffing wedding invites at night, this week has gone fast so
far, but it has also been quite exhausting.
Is it August 24th yet?
Training for a triathlon and also being in the final stages of planning
a wedding are tiring work. It’s funny,
because this morning Mark and I were talking and he mentioned how I was
stressed with the wedding planning.
Which of course I denied because it isn’t true – but now that I actually
look at what all we need to do in the next two months I think I kind of
am.
We have also been
discussing how we cannot wait for this triathlon to be over. Don’t get me wrong, we are still excited
about it and want to do more in the future, but at this point we just want it
to be over. I think both of us are
looking forward to getting some more variety in our workouts, and also not feeling
so obligated to train. It also doesn’t
help that we started training for this thing in late February, so at this point
we are starting to feel some burn-out.
But the training continues.
Being out of town in
Kansas City this weekend for my wedding shower number one (which was great, by
the way) I didn’t have a chance to get in any workouts. But I did
manage to eat my favorite McDonalds breakfast of a sausage biscuit dipped in
syrup and drink two Sonic cherry
limeades – which are my priority treats anytime I get out of the city. This training regimen has actually toned me
up quite a bit (for the first time ever) so I do feel a little guilty eating things that are bad for me, but I do want to
stress the little there (hence the
italics, because let’s be honest, I’m not giving that kind of stuff up any time
soon).
Once I made it back to
the city (which was late Sunday, given my propensity to purchase whatever
flight is cheapest over convenience), though, I made up for my weekend sans
workouts. Monday after work Mark and I
headed to the gym to hit the pool.
Amazingly enough I did not have goggle problems, and was able to put in
1000 meters like it was nothing. I only
stopped because I had to go grocery shopping (since I didn’t get to on my usual
Sunday)!
My goal for this
workout was to just swim without stopping constantly to prove to myself that I
could just do it (like my issues in the lake, my pool swims have always been
very start and stop). I also wanted to
work on breathing more often, since at the clinic I found out breathing too
infrequently was potentially one of my issues.
Turns out it helped a lot. I
usually find I am tired and out of breath every pool lap, but with the
increased breathing frequency I was fresh the entire workout. I still need to get into the lake more often,
but maybe my pool victory from Monday will translate over. I certainly hope so!
Tuesday evening Mark
and I were going to go to the lake to swim, but due to a headache Mark was
unable to go, and since my buddy system partner was out that meant I was
too. While I am sad to have missed a
chance in the lake, I was also alright with it given yesterday was another
chilly one up here in Chi Town. Don’t
get me wrong, I would never complain about this beautifully mild summer we are
having (I hate heat and would always rather it be chilly out than hot), but the
fact that the air is not warm and the water is still a cool 66 degrees does not
make Lake Michigan swims all that appealing.
In lieu of any kind of
swim workout, then, I opted to go for a long run. Last night I clocked just under six miles
(five point nine to be exact). I can finally
say miles because Mark figured out how to change our watches over from
kilometers (just when I was starting to get the conversions down)! I hadn’t run any type of distance in a while
so it wasn’t necessarily a good run, but it was a full run and I didn’t stop. The entire time I was just thinking, imagine
having to do this after swimming (about a mile) and biking (about twenty
five). It’s a good thing I am signed up
for the Chicago 10k next weekend as a pre-tri trial.
And that brings us to
today – and it was a two-a-day. Mark and
I got up bright and early to go for a bike ride and then after work we
swam. With Tri Club, Wednesdays are a
running day, but given Mark’s injury and my run from yesterday, we thought we’d
break with tradition. Getting up for the
run this morning was rough – it’s not getting bright as early these days, which
makes that five am wakeup call that much harder. We still managed to put in a solid eight
miles on the bike, though, and my legs are hurting as a result and I just feel
like all I should be doing is stretching it out. I think it was the run then bike combo (and
slow weekend prior). Although sometimes
the post workout burn is nice – makes it feel like you are getting results.
As for the after work
swim, it was another one that went incredibly well. I swam 1100+ meters with relative ease. This new breathing technique really seems to be working. I was never out of breath, which is a nice change of pace. Now, if only my arms didn't get so tired! I also didn't have many goggle issues once again. Thursday night our plan is to head to the lake, where I am anxious to put my newfound skills and confidence to work. Now I am just hoping for no rain!
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