......only a LOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTT slower.
Today it finally hit me that vacation is here. It usually takes a few days of not having any school thoughts for it to hit me. So it was ALL about training and resting today, just like the pros.
Now, this is hard, because dammit I'm in a recovery week! And after last weekend's awesome Women's Triathlon Clinic I went to, I am so pumped up to train and race. But, I know it's important to take this week easy--especially with a race this weekend--speaking of which I'm soooooofreakingexcited to race it's not even funny.
So I got 9 hours of sleep for the second night in a row!
9 hours!!!????
Can't remember the last time I did that. I feel great though!
This morning I laid low and read a little more of the Triathlete's Guide to Mental Training. Good stuff. It is very helpful. I took the Head Doc's (Kahuna's buddy) little online test about mental training and how you rate on things like confidence, motivation, etc. I scored really high on lots of things: confidence and motivation I was about as high as you can get.
But I scored a ZERO OUT OF SEVEN ON ANXIETY.
Zero.
That's pretty sad. So I've got some work to do in the mental training aspect.
So after studying up, I decided that, well, if I'm gonna race this weekend, it might be good to "wake up" my fast twitch muscle fibers since I haven't used them since the Clinton Administration. (Okay, that's a slight exaggeration--more like 2 months) So I headed to the track.
I know track workouts aren't that vital for IM...but I love instant gratification, OK? So sue me. Plus I thought just a few 800s would help me get stronger--sort of the quality over quantity workout approach.
Total workout time: 48 minutes. Somewhere around 5.5 miles. My 800s looked like this:
3:45
3:48
3:50
3:44
Ugh. That's a FAR CRY from last year's low 3:30s on a regular basis. The track was laughing at me. It went something like this,
Track: Is that all you've got? You've gotta be KIDDING me...
Me: Shut up. I'm just trying to push a little bit.
T: Well a little is an understatement. You suck.
M: Hey, come on now, it's not THAT bad...
T: That's a good 15 seconds slower than you used to do these. Snail-butt.
M: Okay, beeyotch. You're not helping with my "It's-not-about-speed-this-year" mantra with this, so CAN IT!
T: Just promise me someday you'll run on me and hit those old numbers, sloth?
M: I can promise you that next year I will BEAT those old numbers. Stuff it.
Got in my car and repeated 5 times in my head:
"It's not about speed this year."
Whew. That's better.
Okay, onto workout #2: hit the pool. I was leading the newbies swimmers in the open water so I wanted to be sure to get in some good yardage total. I did 2200 yards pretty steady without much trouble. A little on the slow side, but I wanted to keep it easy today.
Laid by the pool afterwards to read a little of this month's Cosmo I just bought at CVS. Nothing like a good trashy read. Lost some brain cells. Went home.
Then headed up to the Lake to do an open water swim--yay! It was a little gross 10 yards or so along the shore, as the wind was bad. Ugh. Just wanted to get out to the cleaner water....hold your breath....OK, much better. Swam probably somewhere in the realm of 1000 yards back and forth with some CTC'ers. Super congrats to DaisyDuc on her first Lake Erie swim! She did awesome! Only about 20 minutes of actual swim time, as I didn't want to leave anyone behind. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to doing another open water session and trying to get in some good open water distance.
So now I'm home. This must be what it's like to just train and chill all day. Man, must be nice. Next week I have to start my summer job--it's pretty easy though and only involves 15 or so days of actual work. Can't beat that.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed....wonder if I can get 9 hours again? Geez. This is insane. I'm pretty spoiled this week. Oh well, I've earned it I guess. :)
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14 comments:
Ahhhhh yes. The track talking smack. I've heard that stuff too. Enjoy your off week and nine, OMG, NINE hours of sleep.
Stay tuned...
You need to relax this summer!
I'd take your speed work! Nicely done! Don't be too hard on yourself girlfriend!
Wow, I'm happy with 7 hours of sleep.
Zero on Anxiety? That is pretty bad. I got a 2 on attitude.
I thought zero on anxiety is a good thing. That means u have NO anxiety? :)
As for the "slow" speed on the track, I wouldn't worry about it. Ironman is 99% aerobic anyways. Steady speed and not slow down is the key :0...
So the next time the track tell u u are slow, just tell it that u are training for IM.
you want me to kick that track's ass for talking smack to you? i am so jealous of your sleeping but no so jealous of all those workouts! YIKES! grab a cocktail and relax! you deserve it after the hard school year!
No, I can't remember sleeping 9 hours... Wait.. I think that was before the kids arrived almost 6 years ago. :)
Read your previous post. You are such a committed teacher. I mean it when I say that the world would be a betta place if there are more of you. Years down the road, the kids will understand the change you have been trying to make in their lives.
God Bless!
My friend and I always joke about being professionals when we have a strong tailwind and can do 25+ mph on the bike with a HR in the 120's :-)
I assume the zero on anxiety is a 'bad' score?
How's your caffeine intake? My wife read something about the effects beyond our usual usage to perk ourselves up. She is an anxious person and I am to a lesser degree, too.
Turns out that caffeine has a host of ill effects on brain biochemistry, one of which is to create the markers for anxiety.
So instead of providing our bodies with that sort of kickstart to an already anxiety-producing day, we've switched to decaf. We're about two weeks in and I don't notice a huge decrease in anxiety (don't know how I'd measure it anyway), but I don't feel as tired as I used to which was the excuse I formerly used to drink coffee regularly to begin with; define irony.
Snail butt? That's a new one! But it defines me so well. :)
Sorry that I haven't been around as much as I should. Hopefully, you'll still let me hang with you guys in Wisco this fall. It's only a couple months away, now! Yikes!
Enjoy the new schedule! Aghh, you can kick the track butt on a non-ironman year!
Enjoy them swims up at the lake! Thanks for the kudos oh great open water guru!
I did not even know that snails had butts. I learn something new from the iron geeks every day.
> So I got 9 hours of sleep for the second
> night in a row!
9 freaking hours! I want to move to your planet!
> Ugh. That's a FAR CRY from last year's low 3:30s
I dunno. Those times look pretty good to me!
i wish you could have heard my laughter and red face upon reading your comment on my blog...i read it to my cubemate bc i was almost peeing myself. i have to meet you and daisy at some point in my blogging life. you guys are friggin hysterical.
I can't find that on-line quiz. I like quizzes teacher.
Getting in the lake tonight (Thursday) and excited about it.
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