Boo to Homework!!

So while I sit here and procrastinate on homework...haha yeah I'm just not feeling the homework right now. I had a really good week of getting stuff done, and then that ended.

Swimming with the swim team is taking its toll on my arms/shoulders/back for sure. It's going to do me so much good in the end. Swam for two full hours yesterday...haven't done that in 5 years. I haven't swam more than 1.5 hours in a row for the last 5 years, and that was in a race. Other than that, it's been like 2 times per week for about an hour. Which worked, and I actually improved, probably mostly from increased cardio ability from all the cross training. So now, with the long swim sessions, my poor muscles are just dying, can't go anymore, but my heart's over here saying "That's all you GOT????" so I get out, run (with the swim team, but yesterday they couldn't keep up with me) then get back from the run and hop on my bicicleta. For another 2.5 hours (by the way, I rode my bike the 8 miles to swim practice in anticipation of this). I trained for a total of 5.5 hours yesterday. SWEET. Not to tired from it either, strangely. Ran for a nice easy hour today and then stretched for an hour, trying to loosen up the hips/shoulders that are NOT happy at the moment. They will survive. So now I sit, watching the dog next door whine and bark at his back door and consider doing homework. Guess I should get to it.

School Has BEGUN

That's right, the dread of school is no longer, as school is upon us...or me. Whatever. Since finishing up my last (not so spectacular) race, I took my week off, deflated, enjoyed training whenever I wanted, and then decided to start training with the UNM Swim Team (Thanks Tracy!). I'm definitely getting a much needed butt-kicking in the pool, with, you know, real swimmers and all. But I seem to be improving, I didn't get lapped today :D. I got lapped yesterday, but that was on IM, which my backstroke/butterfly are horrendous from not swimming them in years. Strangely, not too rusty on breaststroke (my stroke of choice and talent). Had some practice with the freestyle snorkel today, which, believe me, is not something that is much fun, in my opinion. Because your face is under the level of the water while you're breathing, it means that there's more resistance to breathe against. It's not so noticeable the first few 300's but after that it starts to be noticeable. And then there's the flip turns with the snorkel...think whales... I was really glad when we were done with that. It's amusing though that I can get out of the water, my arms are dead, or mostly, and I still feel like I can go for a run. Guess that's what all the triathlon cross training gets me.
Saturday's an epic day, 3 hours at the pool, and I've decided that I'm going to ride my bike to/from...a good 30 minutes to (downhill) but probably closer to an hour on the way home (taking into account being tired from the swim). Yay! I love 4.5 hour training days :) Maybe I'll go for longer...it's all just base.

Finito

Yesterday's Age Group Nationals was a good race, problem is, I didn't have a good race. The swim was hard. The current in the river was very strong, making the swim times slow; the fastest swim of the day was 23 minutes, a time that is quite routine for me, but not yesterday. My swim was an awful 33 minutes, and I was tired after that (a testament to my poor ability to get in the water this year). The bike was awful followed by an awful run. An hour for a 10k isn't something I do even in my long slow runs, so something was up. Not quite sure what though because I felt great all week. On the run I ended up talking to an older gentleman who was also having a bad day (there seemed to be plenty of those) and his usual 30 minute swim had turned into an hour, OUCH!!
So that's the last one of the season. I've been working on the plan for the new season. First off, swimming...

Hmm....

I find boredom stressful. Do you? That's where it's hard to strike a balance, too: between having too much to do and not enough. That's not to say that I don't love getting away, having a break from everything. I love that. But in "getting away" there's usually something different, new, and exciting to do. That's why I hate mindless jobs, ones that require little to no thought or that don't give you enough to do. Or only one thing to do.

On a more positive note, I am going to Los Alamos this weekend for the Los Alamos triathlon. A race that I've done well in for the last two years, so hopefully this will follow with that tradition. It's a hard bike, an out and back that's basically up and down. Los Alamos is hilly. It's in the mountains. I love the mountains. It's a higher elevation, ~7,000 feet, and so a lot of people have problems with the *gasp* lack of oxygen. I am still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for sleeping the night before. Either stay home and drive up the morning of (~2 hours), sleep in my car, or bum a floor from someone. The last one is the most desirable but the least likely. Oh well. I may just try the sleeping in my car thing, I've heard it's not too bad :) And plus, who's not up for a bit of adventure??

Bronchitis is not conducive to training or, well, to be honest, racing. When you end up feeling like junk, it's not too good for the mental status either. My last race was horrible. The Socorro Chile Harvest is always a good race, very well run, and I've enjoyed doing it for the last few years. This time, there was just 1) not much juice in the legs and 2) the mental fight was not there. It happens, I suppose. The first year I did triathlons I did four sprints: MVTC, The Jay Benson, Chile Harvest, and Los Alamos. I took a month off of training to go to Argentina, had an awesome time there, but oh, man, it did not work well for racing. It was worth it, though. I got it together for the next year and started winning things.
Forgive the touch of nostalgia, but I'm tired of having lousy races this year. There's going to be two more for-sure races and after that it will depend. Maybe I'll take the single speed mountain bike out for an offroad race (not to win, obviously).
I'm heading out next for Tuscaloosa, Alabama for Age Group Nationals. This won't be my first time racing on that course. I went two years ago for Collegiate Nationals, presumably the same course as well. For this time I got a hotel with a kitchenette so that means I can cook whatever I want, yay! I like being able to cook my own stuff at races, which is good when I camp at most of them. Camping, if you don't consider car camping "roughing it," is awesome for races usually. As long as the weather is good. The upsides are that you can cook your own stuff, sleep on air mattresses if you have them, which I often find are more comfortable than hotel beds, and you can plop down right next to the race start. Awesome if you ask me. But unless you drove to the race, there's not much of a chance for camping.
I spent a week in Canada a little bit ago. it was awesome! I got to go mountain biking on a *gasp* geared bike! Borrowed, of course, but still. Nevermind that I managed to do a faceplant going up a hill. I'm so talented like that. That's right. I rule sometimes. And I jumped off a bridge into a really cold body of water. Chilly, chilly water.



Here's to a good next two races...

The Giant Watermelon

Well, last week's race didn't go so well. My legs cramped up on the run, it was swim-run-bike and, well, basically that's that. When everything cramps down like that even moving at a super slow pace is a lot more work than it would be normally. So I almost didn't finish. But Casey made me. So that means that I still haven't DNFed a race. That's not too bad.

Today we went on the Watermelon Loop ride, a ride that is so hard. Especially when the temperature's in the 90's. It's this loop that takes you up a 8 or 9 mile road that's steep and all dirt. With rocks. And dirt. And did I say dirt?? And it goes to about the halfway point of the Crest Road, which goes up to Sandia Peak. And we do this on road bikes. The road is steep enough at points so that when you stand up to pedal, you just end up sliding out. Which means that unless you're really good or have enough gears, there are definitely points,when you are mashing. And mashing. And the road is tricky too because as you get close to the top it opens up and looks like, well, the parking lot that it dumps you out onto MUST be around the corner. But it's not, and there's nothing to do but keep going. The entire loop, depending on where you start/finish ends up being around 70 miles. It's a hard 70 miles. Believe me. I did it right though, I ate a gel and popped a ProBar on the way, and downed a fruit juice drink and a cookie at the gas station at the bottom of the hill after the arduous climb. And I must have ended up drinking more than a gallon of water on the ride it was so hot. Nevermind what I've had since I've been home. All said, it was a good day.

Tomorrow is going to be hot again, so that means that I'd better get used to it. And while I get used to it, my poor deprived dog sleeps under the AC all day. Poor, poor baby.

Off to Another Race!

Yep, tomorrow I'm off to another race, nearly a month after my last, well, mishap. Not that I had that bad of a race then, but it's not the first race this season with wrong results. The last time I did this upcoming race I won overall, and it was the first time I'd ever won a race. It was a good feeling. The night before the race I hardly slept at all because someone decided to have a party right above our hotel room, which was broken up quite entertainingly. Someone screamed "Out! Get out!!!" loud enough to hear through the ceiling. Awesome. Goes to show you that the night before a race doesn't always matter.

An amazing thing came in the mail today: a certificate notifying me that I "have earned the distinction of Triathlon All-American" for the 2008 season. Yay! That's cool! I didn't know I'd done that, or, really that that even existed. It's cool.

Recently here, rides have been rainy. Rode for 50 miles in the rain, and just as we finished, look! The sun! So it was good I didn't ride my nice bike in the rain. Rain tends to be bad for moving parts. Things get squeaky that way. But the rain makes for some muddy mountain biking too. I've never ever encountered so much mud that the wheels of a bike literally wouldn't spin. I, with my friends Wes and Marcus - single-speeding gurus of mine - had to stop several times. I once had to jump in the Rio to get the mud off my bike. I still have mud on my helmet. That's awesome. The water was warmer than I expected...perhaps I'll swim there someday.

I have to go pack, and use my Aurawave. Nice and relaxing...