I texted my friend Kate (IronKatemonster.blogspot) this morning and told her 1 more month until Disney 70.3. One month!! I can't believe it! This is my third year in a row racing it and I am really excited. I will try to do my best in my new age group (25-29) but I will miss the 18-24 girls :(. I guess we all grow up. The last couple of days have consisted of some great workouts. Wed morning was my early morning spin. As I have mentioned in previous posts, my spin class isn't a typical spin class. We train in there. Music keeps us energized (and my big mouth) but we have sets to focus on. I don't time anything to the beat or to a song, the music just plays for entertainment. I break down my workouts into 5-week sessions, so we build on one specific speed set, one muscle working set (usually jumps or hovering, a lot of holding still, up and down stuff) and one climbing set. I make them visualize, I ask them where they want to go (usually out west since visualizing florida gets kinda boring) and I make sure I let them know that I am hurting just as much as they are. "Mind over muscles" I always say! Oh, and I forget to mention that only about 1 or 2 people in my class actually race! These are all gym enthusiasts and since i started teaching this class almost 2 years ago, my class is consistent and always packed. I love it! My spin class ends at 6:15am so I head to the treadmills for a run. It took me a while to get going but I ended up with 6 miles and felt really good. No aches, no pains and the tempo run (with a few intervals, I got bored) was finished in about 45 minutes. I did some arm and leg weight exercises (mostly arms) and finished with core. After cleaning myself up, I spent the rest of the day in class and studying. Thursday morning I headed out for a cold ride. It was a freezing 56-degrees when I left at 6:50am. Ok northerners...go ahead and laugh.
I took this pic so you can see how us Floridians dress in the cold. I didn't even take off my arm warmers. I finished with 2 hours and around 35 miles and the legs were a little tired. Good tired from doing several 1 mile race pace intervals with 1/2 mile recovery. Unfortunately, about 10 miles from home I got a flat. I didn't hear it but as I am flying with tail wind at 24 mph I feel my back wheel wobbling. I didn't even have to look. I pulled myself over and pulled out the big staple that was sticking out of my rear wheel. I changed it in about 5 minutes (had to text Karel on my record for changing a flat) and finished my ride. This morning was just fantastic. My friday morning swim with the guys (this morning there were two other girls...a pleasant surprise!!!). The funny thing is that a lot of these guys don't race. They are older guys, several of which who were former swimmers. But I love swimming with them and I feel like I spend more time laughing than breathing hard. The workouts are good and I like feeling the push to keep up. Every couple of weeks they spice things up with relays as part of the set. We break up into groups and it is a great way to relay feel competitive (but for fun) and get the heart rate up. The set today was 4 x 150's, 4 x 125's, 4 x 100's and 9 x 50's. After the 150's we did a relay where we all did a 50. I thought that would be nothing hard since we had only done a 500 warm-up and then the 150's, but after that 50 relay..I was feeling the lactate! Then came the 125's and another relay. This time it was a 25 for everyone but after you finished the 25 you had to run around to the other side of the pool and do it again. There were 4 people on a relay (we use 3 lanes, there is about 12-15 of us) and the heart rate was up again. Then to the 100's and another relay. This time..the 25's were butterfly! (without running around, just get out and do it again when it is your turn). I use to be a 200 butterflier in college but now, I call myself a triathlete...I just swim freestyle and an occasional IM set to spice things up. Nothing butterfly all out..ever!! haha. Well, after the 3200 swim (did some pull afterwards) I dressed for the treadmill and did an easy 3.5 mile run (30 minutes). I say easy cause i felt really comfortable. 7.2 mph for 10 min, 7.3 for 10 and then 5 x 1 min at 8 mph and 1 min. at 7.5. I felt really good and finished this morning with abs and some weights. I think with one month to go until Disney I am feeling really confident with my training. I look forward to keeping up with my intervals and building my speed with my workouts and hopefully all will come together on race day so I can achieve my racing goals. Have a great weekend everyone!
I took this pic so you can see how us Floridians dress in the cold. I didn't even take off my arm warmers. I finished with 2 hours and around 35 miles and the legs were a little tired. Good tired from doing several 1 mile race pace intervals with 1/2 mile recovery. Unfortunately, about 10 miles from home I got a flat. I didn't hear it but as I am flying with tail wind at 24 mph I feel my back wheel wobbling. I didn't even have to look. I pulled myself over and pulled out the big staple that was sticking out of my rear wheel. I changed it in about 5 minutes (had to text Karel on my record for changing a flat) and finished my ride. This morning was just fantastic. My friday morning swim with the guys (this morning there were two other girls...a pleasant surprise!!!). The funny thing is that a lot of these guys don't race. They are older guys, several of which who were former swimmers. But I love swimming with them and I feel like I spend more time laughing than breathing hard. The workouts are good and I like feeling the push to keep up. Every couple of weeks they spice things up with relays as part of the set. We break up into groups and it is a great way to relay feel competitive (but for fun) and get the heart rate up. The set today was 4 x 150's, 4 x 125's, 4 x 100's and 9 x 50's. After the 150's we did a relay where we all did a 50. I thought that would be nothing hard since we had only done a 500 warm-up and then the 150's, but after that 50 relay..I was feeling the lactate! Then came the 125's and another relay. This time it was a 25 for everyone but after you finished the 25 you had to run around to the other side of the pool and do it again. There were 4 people on a relay (we use 3 lanes, there is about 12-15 of us) and the heart rate was up again. Then to the 100's and another relay. This time..the 25's were butterfly! (without running around, just get out and do it again when it is your turn). I use to be a 200 butterflier in college but now, I call myself a triathlete...I just swim freestyle and an occasional IM set to spice things up. Nothing butterfly all out..ever!! haha. Well, after the 3200 swim (did some pull afterwards) I dressed for the treadmill and did an easy 3.5 mile run (30 minutes). I say easy cause i felt really comfortable. 7.2 mph for 10 min, 7.3 for 10 and then 5 x 1 min at 8 mph and 1 min. at 7.5. I felt really good and finished this morning with abs and some weights. I think with one month to go until Disney I am feeling really confident with my training. I look forward to keeping up with my intervals and building my speed with my workouts and hopefully all will come together on race day so I can achieve my racing goals. Have a great weekend everyone!