Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder?

In the past few weeks I've discovered a lot more people read this than I thought, so I guess I ought to make an effort to update more regularly. Fortunately, I have another log that I keep pretty current, so I can accurately fill you in on my training. And lack thereof.

Tuesday, 1/17 -- We ran 3 loops of the CP reservoir with a timed mile on each loop. There were lots of squats and lunges before each mile. My splits were 8:27, 8:12, and 7:36. I felt very strong. I ran with my teammate D on the first two and tried out some racing tactics, which wasn't very nice since I know I'm faster than her and, well, we weren't racing. I'd run her pace, surge a little (nothing that I knew she couldn't cover) and settle in again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Then with 400 or so to go I steadily pulled away. On the last mile, one of my coaches ran with me and kept pushing me to go faster. I was dying up on the home stretch but made the conscious decision to suck it up and get moving. She yelled "yeah Betsy, I knew you were a fighter!" to which I responded with another gear. Oh, you have no idea. About 8 miles for the day.

Wednesday 1/18 -- 2200m swim. Nothing terribly exciting. I was exceptionally sore from Tuesday's squatfest.

Thursday 1/19 -- 5:30am group bike. Fun stuff. We did repeats up Harlem Hill at the north end of CP as follows: sitting in easy gear, sitting in hard gear, standing in easy gear ("running" on the pedals), standing in hard gear, sitting/standing in gear o' choice. Riding in a standing position is not fun with sore quads. I slacked on the first 4 and then took off on the last one to minimize the time in pain. I'm talking bat-out-of-hell style. Total miles = 28.

Friday 1/20 -- 2200m swim

Saturday 1/21 -- Training camp in New Paltz. We did a 1:30:00 indoor trainer workout followed by a 0:30:00 run. Contrary to popular belief, if you put thirty highly efficient (read: sweaty) athletes on trainers in a small room with the heat stuck on, it does not smell like roses. Who knew?! The bike was fine. Maybe I wasn't working hard enough because I really didn't find it all that challenging. And the transition run afterwards? Piece of cake.

Sunday 1/22 -- 2:00:00 run towing tires. Yes, that's right, I ran for two hours dragging a tire behind me. It was no radio flyer tire, either. This bad boy fell straight off a semi. Oh, and most of the run was uphill. Then we swam for 2:00:00. Did you know you're supposed to move your hips when you swim? I didn't. It makes sense, though. If I'm stroking with my right arm and I point my right hip to the bottom of the pool, I can maximize my reach. And you can, too! And yes, that was the first appearance of the word "stroking" in this blog. Don't worry, there will be more.

Monday 1/23 -- nothing

Tuesday 1/24 -- nothing

Wednesday 1/25 -- 2000m swim

Thursday 1/26 -- nothing

Friday 1/27 -- 0:30:00 swim

I take my recovery weeks seriously.

Saturday 1/28 -- Manhattan 1/2 Marathon. My race was pretty awful. I just felt tired. Nothing hurt, but whenever I asked my body to go faster it didn't respond. In retrospect, I went out way too fast (8:30s for the first 5 miles). I felt okay at that point, but definitely not spunky enough to be going out that fast. I kept thinking I would get into a groove and suddenly feel better, but it never happened. When I finally decided to back off the pace, I think the damage was already done. Once I was physically out of it (miles 7-8 were 10:00+), it was a constant mental battle to keep myself from walking. I changed my plan to just finish without hurting myself and get the miles in. I finished in 2:01:40. After the race, I had a banana and gatorade, came home and laid on my couch. I woke up 4 (!!!!) hours later, throwing up. I think I pushed myself too hard last week. I didn't train much (clearly), but I worked over 60 hours (not by choice, obviously). I didn't get enough sleep, my eating was all off, and I drank maybe one glass of water all week. Also, I overslept Saturday morning and didn't eat breakfast (what?!). And I dropped my gel somewhere along the way. The verdict: I was seriously dehydrated and underfueled. I guess it's nice to know I can still run 13.1 miles in that condition, but I'd rather not try it again.

Sunday 1/29 -- easy 2:00:00 spin in CP

Monday 1/30 -- pilates

You are officially UP TO DATE.