Ride 3 and Week 6

Saturday - 28 mile ride. It was our 3rd week of Cinderella Ride Training. I'm sticking with the fast group. At times I really wish I was in the middle group, but I know that the fast group will help me get stronger. We started out at a blistering 17 mph. Um, could we warm up a little first? Next week I may spin around the parking lot to get things movings. We have a group of 18 and it is hard to get all of us through the lights in busy Fremont. We usually end up going about 15 mph. This we were introduced to climbing. Nothing too bad, in fact, I was thinking to myself, "well, these aren't too bad." Okay, part of one was really steep and I walked the last 100 feet.

My only complaint is too much stopping! Let's go, I've got stuff to do! And, other people have stuff to do. Three women headed back on their own after a stop at Starbucks 2/3 of the way through the ride. I joined another six women about 30 mins later to finish the ride. Really a 28 mile ride shouldn't take 3.5 hours.

Sunday - 5 mile run. I'm getting close to the big day. Last year I would have laughed if anyone had told me I would ever be running 5 miles. Two years ago I "couldn't" run at all. Last year I completed a 10K by running two minutes and walking one over and over and over. This year will be different, I will be running the whole 6.2 miles.

Today I ran with one of my swimming friends, A. She will be giving TeamMermaid a try this year. She was a good friend and ran slowly with me the whole 5 miles. She hasn't run much lately so I was very impressed that she was willing to come out for 5 miles. Having her with me and talking while we ran made the time go by so much faster. And, I ran a little faster, too. My knees are feeling a little better. A good friend who happens to be a chiropractor thought it might be tight adductors. Sure enough, I started stretching, icing and rolling them and things are feeling much better. Still some little twinges but I think I will make it through the next two weeks if I keep up the treatment.

This week TeamMermaid starts up again. Tuesday nights will be full of fun running for the next few months. On Thursdays I will be alternating between swimming and core torture.

Totals:
Miles - 7.75 miles
Time - 1:51:29
Avg. Pace - 14.25

Week 6, part blech

Maybe this is the two-weeks-before-a-race blues, but I've just not been interested in training. It could be my achy knees, the weather, or my short attention span.

On Tuesday I had a good swim. My coach just went to a clinic and came back with all kinds of new torture. Apparently, dolphin kick is the key to swimming. Our new regular set is 12 x 50 torpedo kick. What is torpedo kick? One 50 on face down, one on the right side, one face up, and one on the left side, times three. Well, it's good for my core, I guess.

I finally got a run in tonight. My knees have been achy but oddly enough they don't hurt much when I ran. They started to hurt a little ways into mile 2. I listened to my body and walked for a little when the pain was more than an ache and then was able to run again for a bit.

While I was running around the track I was thinking about how frustrated I was that my knees are hurting. Then I hit my "happy pace" and started to think about how far I have come. There I was running 4 laps around the track without stopping. Less than a year ago I was walking the curves and tentatively running the straights. Now I'm pretty happy for 2 miles. Not bad for someone who couldn't run two years ago. Tonight I gave myself permission to run whatever race I have in me on 2/13.

Now it's time to go play with my friends the foam roller and rolling pin.

Week 5 - Adjusting

Rain, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. We desperately need the rain but really was five days of pouring rain necessary? When I got up for swimming and opened the door to take the dog out, I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I debated whether to swim or not but I figured I was already up. Just as I got to the pool there was a flash of lightening. I thought, "oh crap." And, sure enough, no swimming due to lightening. By Wednesday morning Jemma had cabin fever so we went for a walk in the morning. We didn't get very far before we were soaked through. Finally, on Thursday the storm gave us a little break for the Run Club and Team Mermaid info night at Lululemon. I got in about 2 pretty easy miles with minimal knee pain.

The parade of storms finally gave us a break on Saturday in time for the first real ride of the Cinderella Ride training. I had to work a little to keep up but its good for me right?

4.5 mile run on Sunday wasn't horrible. I turned off the pace alarm on my Garmin and switched to heart rate. I like that much better and maintained a more consistent pace.

Since my knees have been acting up I've had to adjust my plans for my 10K at the Mermaid Run San Diego. My original goal had been to work on my speed and be able to average a super speedy 13 minute mile. My new plan is stay in my preferred heart rate zone, about a 14 minute pace, and not ruin my knees.

Well, this weekly post thing isn't working out well. I may have to start doing this more often. ;-)