Long off-season

Wow, it has been a LLOOOOOOOONNNNGGGGG Off-season.

I have fought my way through a sinus infection since February. 4 rounds of antibiotics, one round of steroids and if that hadn't worked, it may have meant sinus surgery again. Fortunately, no surgery after the 4th antibiotic and steroids, it resolved. My training has been limited to essentially the month of May.

By the end of the week, I will cross the 100 mile mark for this cycling season. I got 16 miles in tonight. It was a hellishly hilly ride. OMG, I still averaged 12.8 mph. I am looking forward to a hell of a triathlon this weekend and I know it will be a day to HTFU and keep moving.

Goals are a max 5 min swim, 40 minute bike and 50 minute 5k. I have not done much in the way of running or swimming so I have to do what I can and live with what I get.

Today

Heck Yeah!!!! Today was an awesome training day. And I mean AWESOME!!!!!

I jogged over the weekend i the rain. My pacing is horrible. I haven't been much of a runner since middle school. That's a long time ago. But now I am making an honest and legitimate attempt to improve my running and pacing. Right now I am at a 1:1 which for those of you who don't train it means I run/jog for 1 minute, then walk for a minute. it helps me control my breathing and my pacing. I am having the same issue with my Tib Ant on my right leg again. When I started training last year, I had problems with my tib ant. getting fatigued and then not being able to control my toe. It caused me to wreck during a tri last year.... ON THE FLIPPIN' RUN!!!! How the heck does that happen, aside from tripping on your own two darn feet.

The race crew chased me for a little bit after the fall to check and make sure I was okay. I told them to leave me alone... (I was more embarrassed than anything.) I usually use a t-band to work it and get a little more strength and get it used to being fatigued.

So today as I said was AWESOME!! As some of you know I've been fighting fatigue and exhaustion. I got the results back from my testing and there is no MS. I have slowly gotten back into work, doing massage, and training for my triathlon. I am in a bit behind in my training for my half-ironman bike, but I seem to be building my base back fairly quickly. I am running and cycling. My swimming is behind after giving up my gym membership. No pool available. I hope I can recover that quickly as well. So back to today.... again. I got home from my mom's tonight, got the squirt settled with her movie and went for a walk/jog. Finished 1.5 miles in 25 minutes or so. Cooked a nice healthy dinner, chicken in the frying pan with some EVOO and steamed carrots. NICE!! after taking the time to get the squirt down for bed, I set the bike back up on the trainer and went for a spin with intervals. I need more work on doing longer intervals, but that will come. Like I said nice training day. 30 minutes on the bike, 25 minutes on the run for the second run of the day.

I have a BIG bike ride on saturday, It's the spring fling in Durham. Come and join us if you can. The Spiritual Spinners will be riding in Colors. Look for Rainbow tye dye and our awesome wings on the back.

Back from Vacation

Okay, sorry for the long layoff, if I actually have any readers. Hubby and I headed to Ohio with ML for a week long vacation. We hadn't spent a week with his parents in Ohio since 2002. We make frequent trips up and back, but, we haven't spent a week in 6 years. I was able to get in a couple of training sessions on the bike on the trainer while we were there.

I got in a total of 55 minutes on the trainer in two sessions. Considering we had plans on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday I was still able to get some seat time in. I actually got some interval training in. Friday night was 25 minutes of interval training on the trainer, then tuesday was 30 minutes on the trainer for more intervals. I think I scared the MIL when I came back in on tuesday. I did the training mid-day in Ohio with some serious humidity and NO FAN!! I was dripping wet and had left a puddle in the garage. My FIL just got the hose out and hosed the sweat off the garage floor.

BTW, We also played 3 games over 4.5 hours for a bit of cross-training. I remembered on Sunday why I liked playing softball. It was a lot of fun and playing with our friends that we miss and don't get to see all that often.

K~

Training and Tour de France

two days worth of training. I wish I could get better about posting and keeping track for you all, but I do the best I can.

Yesterday I did 25 minutes on the bicycle on the trainer. Had to stop sooner due to chain issues. I have been having issues with my chain since I got a tuneup in April before my triathlon. I had to get cables replaced, I guess it has to do with the wear of the new cables and the fact that they stretch. It's still frustrating when you are cruising along and having a great ride and all of a sudden you are dropping gears and not able continue your pace and normal shifts.

Today was pickup soccer for 1:15 hrs. I was worn out and exhausted and then had an eye migraine on top of it, by the time I made it the 3 miles to my parent's house, I had lost probably 1/3 of the vision in my right eye. I hate it when i get them, but I was able to get some excedrin in my system and sleep for an hour to try to knock it out. I woke up and for some reason, still had the aura, I thought I was going to vomit, but fortunately, I did not.

Here it is.

I had some complaints about me posting about my triathlon training and the actual race on my other blog, so I have created my new blog. I hope to inspire others to get off the couch or transition as I have from a single sport to a multi-sport athlete. I haven't used the term athlete in terms of me in such a long time. I was an athlete in high school and college, even after college, I could still say I was an athlete, I played softball 3-4 days a week, I could run and fitness was not an issue. I was an anaerobic athlete. I was a fast-twitch athlete, every sport I ever played was a fast-twitch sport. Even my swimming was fast-twitch, I was a sprinter.

So, my first triathlon was on May 10. It was a horrible disaster. I had trained the swim for 5 months, hit the water and had an asthma attack. I spent the swim breaststroking, getting passed, but I hung in there...then there is the bike. I went out of my comfort zone and went to the western portion of the state where there are more hills and more severe hills. I tried not to burn myself on the bike, but every time I thought about the time lost in the pool (more than 3 minutes) I caught myself ramping up my cadence. By the time I got off the bike, my hamstrings were screaming. I couldn't have run if I tried. So, I walked a majority of run, I was finally able to jog the final quarter mile. I finished in a jog. I don't think I could have done anymore than that.

When bringing all things into consideration, I really did a great job for my first triathlon. I plan to purchase a wetsuit for the swims, depending on the water temp. I have started jogging more around the neighborhood to try to get better at my jog/run. I think this is something I can do. I used to run, but after 3 knee surgeries, can I still do it. We shall see.