A Week in Review August 15 -23

I got in most of all my workouts this week.

Sunday - run 2 miles
Monday - rest
Tuesday - 1/4 mile swim , plus 3.1 miles run
Wednesday - Spinning class, and 2 mile run
Thursday - swim - 800m
Friday - went out with the girls...! (skipped workout today)
Saturday - Ran 9 miles..! Yahoo..! most miles ever.!

On Tuesday the swim and the run, was an actually a race. We skip the bike portion as it was off road. I was real nervous the whole day about this race. Of course I panic right after we all jumped in. My heart rate shot up, and I felt tired right away. I pretty much breast stroked most of it, I felt I took forever... The funny thing is that I took 12.3 mins. Which is my normal time at the pool. So If I didn't panicked I would have done it quicker. As on Thursday when I went to the pool, I timed my 1/4 and I did it in 11.3 mins. So I just need to stop worrying so much about the swim, as I know I can do it.. We have a few more open water swims, so hopefully by the race, I will feel much better. Good news.. Wetsuit has been ordered. Should be coming in this week.! Cant wait. The run portion of the race was fine, I did it a little slower then normal. It was off road, hilly and lots of loose dirt and roots. So I guess I was just trying to be a little careful, as I normally run on flat roads, but not bad for my first, I would say Agua/run..! :-)

Very excited ran 9 miles on Saturday. It felt real good. Only started getting really hard at the last mile. Used my husband fuel belt, but still felt I needed more fluids, It only comes with 4 - 8oz bottles, so I figured I can drink 1/2 a bottle ever mile, but I still wanted MORE..! I am sure I do not have to worry on race day for the 1/2 marathon, as I am sure they will have plenty.

We had a scheduled Brick for yesterday, but down pour rain/ lighting cxled that. So I went out with my daughters and did some school shopping. I know, I should have gone to the gym, but instead I took it as a rest day, as I was still sore from my 9 mile run the day prior.

Today - I had a day off, so after my husband went to work, I got up early and ran 3 miles...

Husband's Race Weekend

This weekend was my Husband, his brother and friend 1st Oplymic Triathlon. It was in Bridgport CT. I have not heard of this beach before, it was real nice. We drove up the night before and spent the day there. My Husband , got in a pre-race open water swim.

They had a 5 loop bike course, Even though I do not think they like they liked it, it was nice to see them more then once going by. For a complete race report you can read my brother - in - laws blog Tech-Tri. I did take a few pictures. Unfortunalty we did forget our camera, But we did have our Driod X..!

Great job guys..! I do also have some video, as soon as I figure that out I will add also..

Happy Birthday to ME..!

Well.. it was actually yesterday, August 12. We celebrated it on Wednesday due to I had a group swim scheduled for Thursday evening. My Husband took me to Mohegan Sun Casinos, played the slot machines, everything else scares me..as I hate to lose, at one point I was up $50, but then lost again, I did leave plus $20 so not bad..! The we went to a near by winery, had a few wine tastings.. well maybe too much, haha had lunch and some gelato, it was a beautiful day to spend outside. After the wine and food, we went for a walk thru the vineyard. That evening him and the girls took me out to dinner.. again ate to much, stayed away from the wine this time, as I think I had way to many at lunch.

Thursday - Birthday..

Went shopping during the day, as my husband said I can go spend some money..Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice. We meet up with my twin sister and had lunch with her, I gave her a card and a gift certificate to get a pedicure and manicure.. Got back at around 4p, which my husband was kind of upset, as he wanted to be home earlier as he was waiting a package from Fedex, well we missed him.. :-( Got changed and off we went to my group swim.

I am still not feeling very comfortable with my swim. I tend to panic when there are others close to me swimming and I stop. Felt out of breath most of the time. By the end I felt a little better, I guess I just need to make sure I warm up prior to the race and relax. There is a mini tri next tuesday, our group is going to go, but we are not going to do the Bike part, as the bike is off road, so you need a mountain bike, and some of them do not have one, and why kill yourself anyways, so we are just going to do the 1/4 mile swim and the 5k run. Should be fun.. more on that next week.

On the way home, we stop by fedex to pick up the package that my husband was waiting for.. We got new phones.. SWEET..Droid X. Very excited. I have been using the same old razor phone for too long. We were going back and fourth if we should go to Apple and get the Iphones, but in the end we decided on the Droid X. Looks real nice. I am sure I will be playing with it all day today to see what it does..!

Another milestone - ran 7 miles this morning..! WOW I am really getting up there in my miles, I never thought I would. It felt good running, the last mile was tough. Little pain in my knees, but overall felt good. I'm feeling alot better now about my 1/2 marathon. It should be fun.

Weekend plans - Husband has a Tri this weekend - Park City Mossman Triathlon. His 1st Olympic distance race. 1.5k swim • 40k bike • 10k miles run. Should be a piece of cake after his 1/2 ironman.. :-)

Group Training and Milestone

On Saturday our group meet for a bike ride. We only did like 10 miles.. but man.. it was hilly.. not used to that, as normally where I ride is all flat.. It was a real good workout! It helped me to work on shifting. After that we had a tire changing clinic..! Now I know how to change a tire. It pretty easy after all, but hopefully I wont have to do that during a race.

On Sunday a few of us from the tri group decide to bike the actual race route. We were a little short as I started the garmin outside the gates of the park. It did have some hills, and it had this one great downhill.. but it was mostly flat. I feel a little better now about the race, as I now know what to expect. We do plan on riding this route again, at least one more time. Its hard during the week, as a portion of it, is on a narrow, very curvy road, kind of scary at times when cars are coming behind you, and if they do not see you going into the curve. ( I don't even want to think about it. ) That's why we went Sunday morning, figuring it would be less traffic.



So my milestone - I ran 6 miles on Sunday.. YES..! right after I bike 11.3 miles..! Its the most I ran ever. Very excited. So for this week, Friday we are going to run 7 miles.!

Monday - I was pretty tired after the bike/run yesterday so I took today as a rest. Which was good, spend the day at home, babysitting my neices 1 month baby. She was so good.

Today - I did go out for a 4 mile run, felt tired, and my legs felt a little heavy, but I did it. A little slower then my past 4 miles run but not bad. We may go out for a swim later tonight at the gym.

1st open water swim - Lake

We were suppose to swim last night at 6pm, but thunderstorms canceled that, so it was resheduled for 6am the next morning.. which meant I had to be up at around 5a...! Yikes.. as the lake was over 30mins away. No big deal.. at 4:55 am the alarm goes off.. Husband rolls over and turns it off and off I go to get ready. It was a quiet little lake, good place for my 1st swim. For those who do not know me.. I CANT STAND SWIMMING IN COLD WATER.. The only outdoor pool I can go swimming in is my brother-in-laws, as he always has it heated.. Love it.. Anyways I have not gotten my wetsuit yet, so I was some what surprise when I got to the lake and everyone, even the coach were in wetsuits.. I was like. so how cold is this water??? lucky enough 2 other ladies showed up without a wetsuit, so I wasn't the only one. So at this point I was not looking forward to getting in the water. I walked slowing up to the edge behind everyone else and waited to see there responds as to how cold it was.. lucky for me the water wasn't all that bad.. I was surprised. I think since it was so early that the cool air made the water not feel so cold. Thank goodness.. I still had to ease into the water, but after a couple of minutes, I finally got into the water to neck level.. OK that part is over.. phew..Now swimming. Which I thought I was doing OK, but we were told to swim to a buoy and back, and maybe it was the anxiety of everyone being there, but I just couldn't do it.. I felt like the first time I swam. I did get a little more comfortable after a few minutes of swimming in the water, but I do know I need to work on my swimming. Need to convince my husband to take me out for more swimming. It was kind of nice to know by 8a, I was done with my workout.. now I have the whole day to do whatever..! FYI.. the 1st thing I told my husband when I got home (by the way he was still in bed).. When are we buying my wetsuit??

Half Marathon

So a couple of months ago, I signed up for the Diva half marathon in long island...My 1st Half Marathon. It sounded like a good idea back then.! Well so besides training for the triathlon, I need to work on distance running. The most I have ever have ran has been 5 miles. The HM is 4 weeks after my Tri.. The good thing, my husband was going to sign up for the Hartford Full Marathon, but knowing it was the week after mine, and he would have to be training for it, which meant us running separate, as we are at different levels.. He decided not to sign up so he can work with me and helping me get the distance runs in. HE IS SO SWEET!, this is going to be a great help, as I don't know if I could have gone out on my own to get those distance runs in. So with that I started adding more runs to my schedule.

This week - 2miles (Mon), 4 miles (wed), 2 miles today and Sat I will do 5 miles.

The good thing I am on vacation for the next 2 weeks, so it easy to squeeze these runs in, and also the bike, and swims. Tonight if weather holds out (thunderstorms), our group will be doing our first group open water swim. Can't wait...!

More Training

We meet again for another group swim (pool), worked on drills again, and also breathing and sighting. It's great to have someone there to see what you are doing wrong. I just need to continue doing it..!

Saturday my husband and I went for a bike ride. I ended up going 18 miles, I worked on my cadence, making sure I kept on pedaling. The path we go to is mostly flat, I really need to get some hill work. We are going on Sunday to actually ride the route for the race, which I heard is mostly rolling hills. Can't wait, as this will make me feel a little better and know what I would except on race day.

Sunday we had our 1st group run. We started off walking and talking about different warm ups to do prior to running. Worked on posture, arm positions, strides and your feet landings. There happened to be a couple running on the same path, and our coach asked us to tell us what they were doing wrong, and right away we can tell, they had long strides and the guys was bouncing . I need to work on making my strides smaller and not running with my arms crossing in front of me. I am going to run with my husband this week, so hopefully he can check to make sure I am not doing that. Another thing I do notice is when I start getting tired, I start running bending at my waist. Need to make sure to continue with the good posture all the way.

Tommorrow there is a tiny tri in my area, that some of the ladies in our group has done, I may go try it out. It is an off road bike trail.. which I should be ok, as I have done mountain biking in the past. Its only $10, .. 200yd swim, 3 mile trail, and a 1+ run..It should be fun, getting my feet went in triathlon..!