Sunday, June 19, 2011
I am so sore from Saturday's bike ride and 5k run. We play softball in the morning, and my legs barely want to move. It is tough just standing up.

I take a break after softball and go to the beach, but in the evening, I do my long run...55 minutes! It's the longest yet and absolutely excruciating. Jim and I are too lazy to drive to Green Lakes or the Erie Canal path, so we run around our neighborhood, which is all hills. I barely make it to the top of some of the hills. I feel like the slowest runner ever. It's a painfully long run, and I can't wait for it to end. Finally it does end, and my legs feel like rubber. All I want to do is not move anymore and just lay on the couch.

Monday, June 20, 2011
I love that this is supposed to be a recovery week, yet the times of what we're supposed to be doing are the same as our build week a couple weeks ago. I'm so wiped out from all the training! I need a real recovery week. But I guess that's what the week of August 8th is for.

Today is scheduled as a day of rest, but I know that I probably won't workout on Sunday, so I make sure to go today. I go to the YMCA and do my 15 minute run, and then I join the tri-training group. They do half an hour in the pool, half an hour spinning, and half an hour running. I have to be into work early, so I only stay for the swim portion. I jump in the water and it feels great on my sore, sunburned body. But when it comes to moving and actually swimming, my sunburn is killing me! My skin feels so tight and crunchy that it hurts to pull. But after a few laps, I feel better. The workout consists of a 100 swim, 50 kick, 50 pull for the warmup. Then we do four 100s. The first 50 of each 100 is all out sprint. The second fifty gets changed up each time. The first one is easy. The second one is one lap hard then one lap easy. The next one is build from easy to hard. The last one is build from hard to easy. I am totally out of breath and it feels great! For our cool down, we do two lengths, taking as few breaths as possible. I do it with just one breath off the wall and none while swimming each length. Even though the practice was only about 600 yards, I felt like I got a good workout. It would have been nice to have a longer swim, but I'll take what I can get.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Two words for today: totally discouraging. I bike my hour and 15 minutes today, and it feels like the hardest ride yet. I am so exhausted, I barely make it the entire time. I ride the same route I usually do, but my time is much slower than normal and it feels like I'm about to die with every pedal. It's so hard. I feel miserable the entire time. I lose feeling in my feet (I think my socks were too thick) and hands. Plus, my knees are starting to hurt. It's just awful all around.

I'm so exhausted at the end of the bike that I have to take about an hour break before I can even think about doing my run. But I do muster up enough energy and will power to do my 15 minutes. It feels tough, but I make it.

At work, I get some free time to actually take a lunch break, so I go to the downtown YMCA on my break and lift some weights and do some core and strength training. I feel a little better about how my workout went.

Several people from our office competed in the Corporate Challenge today. They all did really well. Apparently the race is 3.5 miles instead of a tradition 3.1 miles in a 5k. I'm not really sure why. I wanted to run in the race, but alas, I'm working. After hearing that everyone's times were better for 3.5 miles than mine is for 3.1 miles, I feel even more discouraged than I did this morning. If I had run, I would have come in last in our group, which makes me question why I'm doing Iron Girl and people who are way better runners and in much better shape than me aren't doing it. I feel completely defeated. But hopefully, it is something that will go away with a good night's sleep and some rest.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Trying to really take the recovery week thing to heart. I run my 15 minutes this morning before hitting the gym and before it starts to downpour. At the gym, I swim 1000 yards. Our workout is supposed to be 1400 yards, but I just don't have the energy. I'm so tired and worn out from the combination of training all the time and working lots of overtime. I swim a 100 warmup, 50 kick, 50 pull. Then I do 50s of some of the drills (fist drill, catchup drill and thumb scrape drill). Then I do seven 100s with 20 seconds rest. I alternate them, doing one 100 swim, the next kick, the last pull. After, I do another 50 kick, followed by a very slow 100 cool down. I feel like I don't have any energy left, so I'm really trying to take the training easier this week. Hopefully that will pay off next week.

Thursday, June 23, 2011
Back at the running group. The workout is tough but it feels much better than earlier in the week. We do our ten minute warm-up followed by three intervals of four minutes each. The first two I am able to push myself pretty well, but the last one, I'm so tired. It is so much more motivating to workout with the group. Everyone is so nice, positive and encouraging. Even the really fast runners are always offering words of encouragement. It really motivates me to keep working.

After the running group, I go to the YMCA to strength train for a little. We just got kettlebells, so I tried a couple exercises on those. I'm not sure I'm doing them right, but it feels like a good workout. I'm feeling really motivated.

Friday, June 24, 2011
I meet with the YMCA's tri group early this morning...7:30am! Not as early as tomorrow will be but still early. Lisa, our coach, goes over transitions, which is really helpful because I missed the transition training this Thursday because I was working.

After, I did my long run with Lisa's daughter and a another woman in our group. They're way faster than I am, but they were so nice and stuck with me instead of leaving me way behind. I love my groups. Everyone is so nice and supportive. It really makes training a lot more enjoyable.

My back is so sore from yesterday's kettle ball workout. My muscles are so tender. Every time I move, it is a lot of pain! Hopefully it will make me stronger!

Saturday, June 25, 2011
It's my birthday! Yay....I get to wake up at 6am to do hill training on the bike. What a way to start my day. The hill training is tough. But on the way up, one of the inspirational messages that is chalked on the sidewalk is "Happy B'Day Katie Gibas." That made my day and made it easier to do the ride. The hill training itself wasn't that bad, but riding back to the parking lot killed. The hills were a lot longer and steeper. I nearly had to get off and walk my bike. But I didn't. I made it. And was exhausted by the end.

After the ride, Sharon BuMann and I ran 15 minutes to get the time in and practice running after riding. It felt good. We did a few hills in our run, which surprisingly made me feel great.

As I was about to leave, Sharon surprised me with a cookie cake for my birthday! I love my Fleet Feet tri group. Everyone is supportive and considerate and amazing. I love them!

I get a lot of good birthday tri presents from Jim, my boyfriend, including water bottles, a fuel belt, a heart rate watch, and some other goodies...But the best present he gets me for my birthday is a ring! He proposes by the river! And I said yes! He tells me he was thinking about proposing to me after Iron Girl, but was afraid I might puke on him. Valid point! Haha...Well a great birthday overall...And a great end to a tough training week.