Recovery Week swimming again

Recovery week is winding down and yesterday was the easiest swim ever. It was 1300 yards, but it was almost all one lap exercises and body position drills which made it seem so easy. I almost wanted to move up to the Olympic distance advanced level just so I would feel like I got something accomplished, but this isn't the week to be pushing myself. On Tuesday I had a really bad headache as soon as I got in the pool and I'm thinking it was because I was dehydrated. So yeasterday I was really aware of how much water I was drinking and I wanted to be sure to be hydrated and it worked! I didn't have a headache and that made my swim really pleasant.

Recommitment is right around the corner and I'm going to do it! I am going to commit to being on the line financially and raise this $5,000!!! That means that if I can't raise the money through donations, I pay the remainder out of my own pocket. If you have not donated to this great cause, please do so!!

Today is another bike night and I'm hoping it won't be as boring as last time. Maybe I'll bring some music or a magazine to distract myself...

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Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

Running on Wednesday

Oy, I've got to get better at updating this every night...

Yesterday was supposed to be a mentor run in Alameda, but I had dinner plans so I busted out my run before I left work. Since it's recovery week, it was an easy run of just 4 min run, 1 min walk repeat 4 times and then walk for 5 min and call it a day. It was easier in theory to complete this run... I've only been training on either a treadmil or a nice, cushy track and neither are any think like the open road :( I think that I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just get my butt outdoors more.

Tonight is a swim and I'm hoping it goes better than it did on Tuesday... I'm forcing myself to hydrate better today and hopefully that will keep any headaches at bay. Now if I could only get my goggles to stop fogging up. Does spitting in them help?? I know that sounds really gross, but I think that some one told me when I was a kid that it works :)

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Recovery week swimming

This is the third week of training and it is also recovery week to allow my body to recover from the stresses that have been applied over the last 2 weeks. I don't feel like I have trained all that hard to deserve a recovery week yet and I don't know if that is good or bad.

I went swimming last night but I just wasn't that into it. Usually I'm really excited to swim because it's new and low impact and (can be) easy. But last night I got in the pool and I felt sore and out of shape and tired and I had a headache and my goggles kept fogging up and whine whine whine, etc...

I was supposed to swim 1300 yards but I'm pretty sure I only made it 1000 before I got out of the pool. I did my 100 yard and 4 x 50 yard warm up and then I swam 3 x 150 and then I'm pretty sure I only managed to do 2 x 100 instead of 3 x 100 and I never got to the 3 x 50. Instead of the 4 x 25 cool down focusing on stoke and position, I did 2 - 3 laps of breast stroke. Not a very good night for me :(

Tonight is a mentor run in Alameda, but I'll miss it because I have dinner plans. I plan to do my running during lunch today, let's see if I can actually make it :)

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No running, just snowboarding

Saturday was a run on your own day, but I went snowboarding instead. It's been so long I've forgotten when I went last. The snow was OK, but I was so happy to be out there that I didn't care. We did a few runs and then we took a hike up to the high traverse which was my absolute favorite part of the day! The hike wasn't long and thankfully the top of the snow was firm so we didn't sink much with each step but we all had to stop and take a few breathers on the way up. Once we got up there, it was totally worth all the effort. The view was breath-taking (literally) and I wish I had brought my camera. On the way down the snow was mostly soft, a little choppy in some spots, but I was able to ride all the way down on the tail of my board, floating through the beautiful snow. When we got to the bottom, I really wanted to do it again, but everyone was tired, hungry and a little sore. I was hoping we would hike again after lunch, but no luck. I was impressed with myself on Saturday because I never felt tired or like my legs were going to give out, so THANK YOU TEAM IN TRAINING for making me an athlete and improving my snowboarding stamina.

I was hoping to snowbaord again on Sunday but it was raining (ick!!) so we went home. It took us all day to get home so it was my rest day. Today I hope to swim after work if I'm not teaching, but if I am, I will run and/or bike.

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First time on a bike

This morning was the first time I got to bike as my workout. I made it to the gym by about 7am and hopped on the stationary bike and then proceeded to pedal for 40 minutes. How boring!! I should have brought some ear phones so I could listen to music or a magazine to read but I didn't so I had to pedal along in silence for 40 long, boring minutes. If I'm going to ride for 12.4 miles at the race I figure it will take me about 1 hour. I got to 8 miles in 40 minutes, so I'm on track.

I'm leaving for Tahoe tonight so I'll be able to snowboard this weekend and that will make up for my missed workouts. I haven't been snowboarding in forever and I'm really excited :)

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1500+ yards of swimming tonight

I went to the pool after work and I got lucky because my fiance :) joined me which I always love. Like I mentioned in a previous post, part of my work out tonight included a 400 yard swim. I tried my hardest, but I had to split it into 2 200's. Maybe next time. I just learned how to do a flip turn (or are they called kick turns? I don't know...) and I can do them really well the first few times, but I find there is an inverse relationship between the quality of the flip turns and the number of laps I've swam. The more laps I do, the more I misjudge the distance to the wall and I either flip too early and have nothing to push off of, or I manage to get water up my nose and come up coughing and choking on pool water. At least at the race I won't have to do any laps or turns. And I swam my race distance tonight, which is good. Now I just have to build up to doing it all without breaks!!

Tomorrow is a biking day. Since I'm going to Tahoe this weekend, I plan on hitting up the stationary bike at the gym in the AM. Let's hope I have better luck getting out of bed tomorrow morning than I did today :)

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Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

Back again @ DVC last night

Last night was another coached run at DVC. It was a 10 min or so warm up jog followed by plyometric circuits and running one lap in between each circuit. I think I'm beginning to see a trend... :) The mysterious 'pain' in my left quad is still there. It's not really a pain, but I can feel it with every step and its very localized, not spread out throughout my entire quad, just that one spot which I still think is odd. The plyometrics were mostly the same stuff as last time, but held for longer intervals which really steps it up. I think that I'm going to need to start doing these more than just once a week if I want to keep on top of it.

I was going to get my swim on this morning, but I woke up kind of stiff so I have to go tonight. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it. I have to swim a 400 (that's 20 laps!!!!!! Holy cow!)

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Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

1400+ yards of swimming tonight

Tonight was a swimming night and I am really proud of myself!!! I swam over 1400 yards in under an hour. Thats almost as long as the distance for the triathlon. When I swam on Saturday I was barely tired after doing the beginner workout so I decided that I would do the intermediate one the next time. I was a little hesitant to do the intermediate workout tonight because it included swimming long distances multiple times. My warm up was 4 x 75 yards (80 for me because the pool is only 20 yards long, instead of the standard 25) and then the main work out was 2 x 150 and then a 100 (and then do that whole set again). After that it was a 200 (10 laps!!!) and then I could cool down. Since the pool is only 20 yards long, I broke my 150's into 160 yards the first time and then 140 the second time. I just started swimming and I firgured I would stop when I couldn't swim any more, but I was able to swim the whole distance every time with out stopping, even the 200!!!! So I'm really happy because my endurance is coming up and it's a great feeling.

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Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

Still no biking

Thursday - was supposed to be a swim day, but I took the day off to help my tummy settle. And I got to ride my pony, which was nice

Friday - a run day. I wanted to swim after work to make up for missing it on Thursday and then maybe run afterwards but the pool wasn't open for lap swimming in the evening so I went grudgingly to the gym and ran on the treadmill. The pain in my right shin wasn't there but there it was still there in my left quad which bummed me out.

Saturday - Today was a bike ride led by the team captain and I (Alex really) spent a long time last night putting the bike back together. After getting the tubes and tires back on the wheels and then figuring out how to get the chain on properly all that was left was adusting the brakes, and that's when it was discovered that the rear brake cable was too long. Don't know how it magically grew since it was just fine when I took the bike from my folks place but not having brakes is a problem so I couldn't go on the captain's ride. I really wanted to swim so I went to the pool (and got Alex to come with me :) ) I swam about 900 yards and today was the first day that I could do the entire beginners work out as it was assigned without any additional brakes!! I'm really excited that I'm building my endurance and I think next swim work out I will try the Intermediate one :)

After the pool I went to the barn and got to ride my pony again and that was nice too.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

Running at DVC

Last night was another coached run out in Pleasant Hill and it was just not my day :( I ate what I thought would be a light lunch of pho but it just sat in my tummy like a lead brick all day. I got home from work and changed into my running clothes and made myself a peanut butter bagel thinking it would give me the energy I needed to go run. I barely took 2 bites of the bagel as I was driving out to DVC, I just wasn't hungry (which is unusual for me, I'm always hungry).

As we stood around coach Paul listening to him tell us the workout I was wondering how I'd be able to run. In addition to feeling overly full all day, my quads had been 'hurting', not the whole muscle, just one very specific point, especially on the left. Luckily, the work out was mostly core strengthing exercises with light jogging in between each set.

I started off for my warm up jog and the pain in my quads was there but it eventually faded away, which is good. What was not good was that all the strengthing exercises had to be done on the ground. The WET (and very cold!!) ground. Bleh!

After each exercise set we had to run a lap and each lap for me was killer, not because of my quads this time, but becuase my tummy would tie up in huge knots as soon as I took my first running step :( And my right shin was hurting, like it occassionally does. I never knew why it hurts when I run until last night when I remembered that I have staples in that area (from my ACL repair...) It was a total lightbulb moment for me. Now I just have to figure out how to make it not hurt when I run...

Basically, I was just one big ball of hurt last time. Coach Paul says that we need to re-fuel our bodies after each work out within 45 min with proteins and carbs so I thought that sushi would fit the bill. I was hurting all the way home and I got to Safeway to pick up a pack of salmon nigiri and California roll thinking that it would make me feel better. I got home and ate the 4 pcs. of nigiri and called it quits. I just wasn't hungry (still!)

I guess I'm still not fully recovered from this weekend, which sucks. I'm going to take it easy today and just eat plain food to see if I can avoid any more stomach cramps. It's a swim day but I don't know if I'll make it out tonight. We shall see.

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Make a donation today to help cure blood cancers and help me meet my fundraising goal at http://pages.teamintraining.org/sf/honotri09/jlesko

Back on track with swimming

I got really sick over the weekend so I couldn't train on Sunday and luckily Monday was my day off because I still wasn't feeling good enough to move. Tuesday was a swimming day and I was feeling well so I decided to give it a try.

I got to the pool after work and I got a lane right away, which is nice. Warm up was an easy 50 yards followed by one lap free style, one lap just kicking times 3, repeated twice. (Confused?) And that was just the warm up. The main work out (at the beginner level!!) was swim 200 yards, rest 20 sec. Swim 150 yards, rest 20 sec. Swim 100 yards, rest 20 sec. Swim 50 yards and then cool down. Holy cow!!! Each lap in a standard pool is 25 yards, but at the pool that I swim at, it's only 20 yards. That's 10 laps to do 200 yards!! And the sad part? I still can't swim more than 80 yards at a time and 100 yards is my max. So I had to break up my work out into smaller chunks with longer rest breaks, but I got it all done!

I'm really hoping to improve my swimming endurance, but man it sure is taking it's sweet time to get here.

Tonight is another coached run at DVC after work. Hopefully it won't be another 2 mile run, but then again, it really wasn't that bad last time :) I just hope it's not raining when we are on the track. I hate being outside in the rain...

Running, swimming, more running, snowboarding??

Oy, I've been a bit behind in updating this. Turns out I can't do it from the iPhone :(

Friday - a run on my own kind of day. I wanted to run at lunch at work, but it was raining and I don't much care for being out in the rain. By the time I got home from work I was tired and lethargic and I didn't want to go to the gym. But then I thought about all the people with blood cancer that I'm tri-ing for and how they don't have a choice about having cancer so I finally got my butt to the gym and struggled through my work-out

Saturday - My first long coached workout. I got to the HS in Moraga and listened to a nutrition and swim form clinic for about an hour or so and then got changed into my suit and hopped in the pool. We had to swim for almost an hour!! We warmed up with several types of body position drills (kicking only, no hands :( ) and then had a 10 min continuous swim where we had to count the number of laps completed as a kind of bench marker. I could only do 14 which really isn't that great. I have a long stroke, so I keep passing people in my lane, but I could only do a few laps before I had to rest and then get passed by the people I had just passed... And then after the 10 min continuous swim, as if we weren't tired already, we had to do 100 yd. sets with 20 seconds of rest in between. At that point, I was too tired and I could only do 50 yd. at a time so I still need to build my endurance if I'm going to swim 1500 m!! After the swim, we toweled off and got chenged into our run/bike gear. If I had my bike fixed, I would have had to do a 1hr bike ride, but since I have two flat tires, I had to run instead for 25 min.

Sunday - It was going to be a Captian's Run (where a team captain takes us out and we run a set course) but I was planning on snowboarding and that would subsitute as my running work out, but I was horribly sick all Saturday night out of nowhere, and I couldn't hardly get up Sunday morning. It was either food poisoning or one of those weird 24 hr flu viruses :( Either way, I couldn't eat or get off the couch all day so I obviously couldn't work out.

Today is supposed to be my day off, but if I'm feeling up to it, I will do my running work out from Sunday today and call yesterday my day off. My stomach still kinda hurts, so I will have to see if I can muster up enough strengh to go run.

Swimming tonight

Tonight was my second swim practice. I went after work, which I have decided is not the best idea... There are swim lessons and aqua aerobics going on simultaneously so there are fewer lanes and more people. Not fun. At least at 6 or 7 am there are hardly any other people...

The first time I tried swimming, I could hardly do a lap of free style. I had no stamina and I couldn't figure out the breathing thing. I was OK at breathing on my left side, but when I tried to breathe on my right side, I ended up getting more water in my mouth than air :(

But it was better this time!! I could breathe on both sides without drinking half the pool and I could swim more laps without resting (I could do 4 laps at a time, twice as many as last time!!) So I'm on the right track.

Things I need to work on:
-Building my endurance. I could swim 4 laps at a time tonight, but its still not near the 10 min of continuous swim that is prescribed in the workout.
-Remembering to kick as I stroke.
-Not having my goggles fill up with water each lap. VERY annoying...

I'll work on these next time, which happens to be on Saturday morning.

First coached training

Tonight was the first coached training and it was for running. I ran just about 4 miles tonight. 4 miles!! We started with a 3/4 mile warm-up jog and then had our 2 mile marker set. I ran it in 18 min 46 sec. That's better than my high school mile times! After the marker set was a 1/4 mile cool down and then some plyometrics and after each plyometric set you had to run another 1/4 mile. There were 4 sets and MAN am I tired! Tomorrow morning is another swimming so stay posted!

First Swim...

So yesterday was supposed to be my first, on-my-own swimming training. But I missed it. Not because I haven't swam since high school and for lack of gear. I just bought a new (blue and green!!) suit, goggles, and swim cap on Monday and I'm really excited about all of it. I was working way late and I missed the lap times at the pool.

But no fear! I am determined to do this training and determined to do this triathlon!! I got up early this morning and did my laps before work. And I still have coached running training tonight (yay peanut butter on bagels for energy!!)

If you haven't swam in years, it doesn't get easier... I can still do the strokes, but it was tiring! I couldn't even do the 'swim for 10 min' that was the beginners workout :( But tomorrow is another day and that day's prescribed workout is also swimming, so stay tuned!