- Running - I was able to get in a good run for 6 miles on Thanksgiving up in San Francisco. Otherwise, I have missed a couple workouts because of travel/work. I am helping out with the walkers tomorrow for 13 miles, but I would like to run later that day.
- Biking - I feel strong on the bike despite only having ridden a few times. We went for our first bike ride with the team this morning around the Griffith Park/L.A. River area. 20 miles bike ride in about 1.5 hours. It was freezing!!! I couldn't not feel my fingers initially, but I started to warm up 30 minutes in. I spent 1.5 hours last night installing my new Cateye Bike Computer (more costs...sigh) because the directions were terrible. For the Ironman, we want to bike around 90-95 RPM, so the bike computer helps you to track that statistic. For the most part, I was able to keep that pace throughout today's bike ride and sometimes went higher. The course was great since we were on an isolated bike path with basically no obstructions and very few bikers. Surprisingly, the L.A. River had water in it. I suffered another minor fall today when we were going over a soft dirt area, where I should have unclipped and walked my bike over. Memo to self: always unclip when you are going over treacherous terrain. Sun Tzu would probably concur if he were a biker. I am also not a big fan of small entrances because I am fearful that I will not fit through while biking. I did end up learning all the hand signals for stopping and signaling a left/right turn. Hopefully, I can get on the trainer this week and get a good bike run in before next weekend's bikeride.
- Swimming - I went swimming three times this week (M, Tu, and F). I got in a short 30 minute session on Monday because something broke at the pool and the temperature was 72 degrees. Never noticing the pool temperature before, I always assumed my body would adjust. Not this time! It was unbelievably cold and I just made it through my drills and a few laps in the pool before jumping out. I should have listened to the teenage girl who mentioned "Not worth it" to me prior to my heading into the pool or the teenage boy who ran from the pool to the showers as if he was being chased by an ungodly creature. Tuesday we had our swim practice --drills and bilateral swimming. Bilateral swimming is basically swimming while alternating your breathing on both sides and on every third stroke. It makes for a more efficient and faster swim, but prevents you from breathing every other stroke. I was "so-so" on the drills but I thought my bilateral swimming was going quite well. Coach Paul even remarked that I had improved a lot since the first practice (i.e., I must have looked like a fish out of water back then). Originally, I had been able to swim over a mile prior to the start of TNT swim training, but I had really bad technique back then. I am happy that I decided to start swimming on my own after my first marathon in May 2009 as that has made me feel more comfortable in the water. On Friday, I went to the SMC Pool and the temperature was a perfect 78 degrees...what a difference 6 degrees make. I got a couple drills in and focused mainly on extending my bilateral swimming endurance. I got about 48 sporadic laps in or 3/4 of a mile. I always feel that I start off slow and my breath is not in rhythm when I start swimming, but towards the end of my workout things start to balance and I am not struggling to breath anymore. I knew I could have gone a decent amount farther towards the end but decided to hold back.
Plant a garden.
-PV
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