Test Day

As much as I tried to hide my head in the sand, Saturday morning appeared right on schedule and that meant it was time for my swim test. Visions of drowning danced in my head, along with Coach's email from earlier in the week about the tests on our schedules:

The tests are HARD. You should be giving an all out effort. Do what it takes to leave it all out there. This should be quite uncomfortable and by the end of the test you should want to stop!

Yeouch!

Luckily I had convinced Nigel to join me at the pool for a swim so at least I wouldn't be alone.

Though if I'd been smart about it, I would have shared a lane with him and utilized his draft to enhance my performance.

Anyway...I eased on through the warmup sets, trying to ignore what was to come but eventually there I was with timed 10 x 100 all out (R:10) next on my list. I won't sugarcoat it - it hurt A LOT. I was reminded just how much swimming sucks.

And then it was over and I was getting out and emailing my results off to Coach. I didn't really think to look back and compare my total time to my last swim test in early September.

Imagine my surprise when she emailed me back to tell me I cut 12 seconds off my average 100 time!

Hmm. I guess this means I have to keep working at swimming. Damn.

After my swim, I headed over to the International Swim Center in Santa Clara to watch my youngest siblings - Mimi, Cai, Grace, Jack and Ryan - compete in what I am told is the biggest local swim meet. A few thousand kids + one pool = recipe for insanity!

The kids did awesome. They are such better swimmers than me that it's not even funny. Oh, their laughter when I told them my swim speed....good times.

Here is Jack in the 50 fly

Mimi in the 100 breast

Grace in the 100 breast

Ryan and Jack waiting to dive in the 50 breast

Dude, Where's My Lane?

aka More Adventures In Learning To Love Swimming *snort*

After the holiday break and a week of cancelled masters due to pool repairs, we started back up this morning using the pool at a local cabana club. Luckily I spent part of the summer swimming at my parents' cabana club so I knew what to expect: kiddie sized pool, no real deep end, and what our coach called "the closet" for the locker room.

But YAY I was back at masters!

(can you FEEL the enthusiasm?)

Really though, it was good to be back with our coach, so I get the feedback on my stroke, and swimming with a group, which always pushes me harder.

Imagine my surprise when I hop into the last lane, none of my usual lanemates are there, and two new people move into the lane.

What I want to say: Uh, folks? I don't do the same workouts as the rest of you. I'm too slow. I'll drive you nuts....

But there aren't enough lanes in the kiddie pool and so I have to suck it up and swim with the big kids. My coach says, "Grab some fins and just try to keep up."

I can't say I made every interval or that I didn't get dropped sometimes...OK a LOT of times, but I did my best to cling to the heels of the girl in front of me, to ignore the diminishing supply of oxygen and push. No time to shoot the shit at the end of the lane or catch up with my coach after 3 weeks away, just SWIM.

In the end, I think that was an hour I can be proud of. I have a long way to go but it's nice to know that my masters coach thinks - and actually said- that my stroke has improved dramatically.

Saturday will be a measure of whether my speed has improved though...Coach has a swim test scheduled.

*yikes*

It's all new territory from here...

I knew this would be a long training year, pushing myself to new training totals and reaching well beyond my limits. I can tell you this...I did not expect, in my 3rd week of training in the 2009 season, to already break my own existing records for distance covered.

I swam more yardage this past week than I did in any week ever before, even when training for Vineman.

Not only that, I swam more yardage this past week than I did in the entire months of January, February, or August 2008.

Now before you get the notion that I'm swimming superhuman amounts, let's say I really avoided swimming where possible last year!

The highlights of this past week were my first "long" run since Vegas and a 90 minute long hill ride with a 20 minute run off the bike (I *heart* bricks!).

Notice I don't mention swimming.

We are having an unseasonably warm stretch here in Northern CA. Rather than the usual 30s to 50s that we see this time of year, it's in the 70s! Who wouldn't want to enjoy that with lots of outdoor training? Today began a rest week for me - I can only hope this weather lasts until things build again next week.

Training totals for Week 3 (January 5-11):
Swim: 6300 yards
Bike: 45 miles
Run: 10.4 miles
Strength/Core/Flexibility: 2 hours
Total time: ~10.5 hours

On the dog side of things, Friday's trip to the snow thoroughly wore the boys out. We gave them a 4-mile walk on Saturday morning and that pretty much finished Stanley off for the rest of the weekend.

A Beautiful Day

Today was my rest day from triathlon and I enjoyed it very much by taking the beardie boys snowshoeing in the mountains. Even better, we had the company of super-triathlete Eileen Swanson and the lovely lab lady Belle!

Max and Stan were enamored from the start but Belle was not so sure about Their Royal Barknesses at first. All canines bonded nicely over a good romp in the snow though!

Trail doggies

Stan was a big fan of Belle

Bookend beardies

Serious dogs


And not so serious...

Eileen and the mutts

And some good solid evidence of my total lack of a tan. Think this will be a problem in Florida next month?

Aches and Pains

I'm now well into my 3rd week back at training and the volume is starting to pick up. I've had 2 strength/core/flexibility workouts in the last 3 days with another to go this week. I'll let Coach explain the importance of this kind of training. She also does quite a good job of depicting the aches and pains that go along with it. Despite the soreness, I love this stuff because in the end I know it makes me stronger!!


Big news today - fellow Smofitter Andrea announced that she is doing Ironman Coeur D'Alene this coming June. She signed up the day after the 2008 race and she's kept it a secret for 7 months! I understand the nerves associated with signing up for such a big event and why she waited till it was a bit more real before sharing the news with friends and family. Clearly I am way too much of a blabbermouth to ever hold anything in for that long though! Anyway, Andrea will be racing in CDA just 1 week after I race in Boise. Right now I'm trying to figure out the logistics to go cheer for her. It's not often that one of your friends does their first Ironman after all!

Tomorrow I have my first "long run" since Vegas. Nothing too long but I am excited to get out there again. I love long run days! Ever since I first started running there was something special about the day you went out for the long haul, thinking just a bit more carefully about nutrition, hydration, route, etc. I can't wait!

No shortage of hair around here!

I just scanned all the nationals photos I bought from our awesome photographer. Enjoy!

Max on the agility course



Stanley in his very first trial



Prepping Stan to go into the rally ring (remember what a fiasco that was...)


Stan in the Sweeps ring


and right before he won Best Opposite in sweeps


In the Best of Breed ring



Sweeps Win Photo


And a non-dog photo. The only one I bought from Vegas, I clearly look ill here sprinting for the finish line but my feet aren't touching the ground!

Home, Sweet Home

We drove home from Arizona on Friday. Nothing depresses me like leaving 70 degrees and sunshine to return to 30-50 degrees and rain.

*sigh*

Thankfully the weekend in San Jose has been sunny, though not remotely warm. I opted to swim indoors on Saturday. That ended up being an interesting choice...

I knew I might face a bit of the “New Years effect” at the gym.

What I did not expect was to find 25 people in a 4-lane pool, most of them using it as a hot tub.

Note: there is an actual hot tub 5 feet away.

Let’s just say there were some minor cultural differences at play here.

On the positive side, I got some great practice at open-water sighting as I checked my path and dodged around people standing mid-lane. Despite getting bumped out of lanes several times by incoming aqua aerobics classes, I managed to have a breakthrough swim. I watched this swim drill video before I headed out to swim and it made quite the difference in understanding high elbow catch. Now it will take lots of training to put it into practice!

On New Years Day I had my first outdoor bike ride in 2 months. We were still in Scottsdale, it was 72 degrees out and we had a lovely time exploring neighborhoods around Camelback Mountain. It felt SO good to be out there again, I knew I would make every effort to do my rides off the trainer when possible. Today I had a short bike ride scheduled and it was roughly 30 degrees out but I decided to go for it anyway. Jeff gave me a lot of bike clothes for Christmas and I put the layers to good use. It ended up being a fantastic ride and I was never cold!

Though it did take about 20 minutes to feel my toes again.


I end Week 2 back at training with my volume increasing but I'm feeling great and eager to tackle the next workout!


For December 29th to January 4th:
Swim: 4000 yards
Bike: 41.36 miles
Run: 8.93 miles
Strength: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Tomorrow I return to work.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO………

2008 was a very busy, successful, demanding work year. I am not heavily invested in continuing this pattern in 2009. I have some plans to change things this year but not right away, and in the meantime I am not looking forward to a return to the office and setting new performance goals. All things considered, it is some consolation that I know my boss feels the same way.

Happy New Year!