Friday, May 29, 2009

Bricks Galore

In my big cram session leading up to the first Tri of the season (Issaquah Sprint) I got in 2 bricks:


  1. Bike/run on the course with the Luna Chix
    1. It was really good to ride the course. I was trying to remember last year and all I could envision was a very long gradual climb and scary/crazy drivers. This brick workout just confirmed that.


      The bike course is on Lake Sammamish Pkwy; we rode this on Tue during evening traffic and it was SCARY. The road was a mess and the shoulder/bike lane was full of gravel/glass/cracks/potholes and there was an inordinate amount of roadkill littering the street. The cars were a bit pushy and a group of us were nearly roadkill ourselves under a bus that merged into the bike lane next to us. Yikes!


      It was a good ride though. TriCoachJill led the group and gave hints on where to push and how hard to go at certain spots. I am always shaky on my strategy during sprint tri's. I feel like on such a short course you should be going pretty hard most of the time but I don't know how to gauge whether I'll have enough in the tank to be able to push the run.


      Running off the bike was actually pretty good. My legs responded really quickly and I was happy with the pace I kept (average 6.3mph/9:38mi according to the Garmin). My lungs took a bit longer to get in gear and I was huffing and puffing like it was nobody's business. The course is "cross-country" and by that they meant a grass field with lots of bumps and knots. It was a bit rougher than I was used to but pretty.


  2. Swim/Run at Lake Sammamish with The Captain
    1. On Thursday I met up with the Cap and we went to the lake where he was on alert to call the coroner/police divers should I drown. Honestly, I thought there'd be more swimmers out there and I was really nervous to swim by myself. It isn't something I've ever done and I probably won't do too much of it. Since OWS is scary to me anyway, being alone out there adds too many more factors to be nervous about. Plus, I would have felt bad posthumously if The Captain had been forced to just witness me drown. If I hadn't had such a disastrous 1st OWS 2 weeks ago I would not have gotten in.


      The swim itself was alright. I just swam to the 1st buoy and back 3 times each focusing on a different goal. 1st lap: just get used to calming myself in the water and get used to the wetsuit again, 2nd lap: attempt to swim harder but really focusing on sighting, 3rd lap: focus on pushing hard and see how bad my sighting is when it is not my main focus.


      Overall my sighting capabilities have gotten weaker but I wasn't too off course and the water was great. For the most part I was able to push my irrational fears to the back of mind (at least until I felt like a big wad of hair was following me…that freaked me out and ended it). It helped relieve some stress that the water should be bearable on Saturday.


      Then the Captain and I ran. It was really fun running with him. He ate bugs and I laughed.

      He does interval training which taught me something about each of us. For him I saw what a stickler for the rules he was (his Garmin beeps a number of times to indicate when to stop running, I stopped when it started beeping whereas he ran until the beeps ended for a proper interval) and I think that indicates being a pretty determined guy. (Hmmm, maybe it's not cool to say this since he and some of his friends read this blog but) I hope he realizes not only how far he's come but also that he can do whatever he sets his determined mind to.

      He did stoop to being a guy though and was saying he didn't want to be embarrassed because he's slow. I cried total BS on that one. The number one thing I love about this sport is that it is deeply personal. We each set our own goals and the work it takes to get there isn't trivial for anyone. Not to mention… I've been plodding along on this running kick for 28months! (my runniversary is Jan 7, 2007)


      As for me (beyond learning I'm a cheater which I knew) I saw how cool interval training can be. I'm excited to use my Garmin to help me train more effectively and efficiently both on the run and the bike.


So that was my big lead up to Issaquah. I may not have put in quite enough time in the pool or on the bike but I'm OK with that I guess. I am going to try to enjoy tomorrow morning as much as I've enjoyed the last few months.

1 comment:

Sarah said...

I posted a 'favorite things' post just for you! I'd have replied to your blog comment but don't have your email address. Thanks for welcoming me back to the blog world, I think I'll be better about posting with training in full swing!