April Showers

Monday - 5 mile easy run. This was nice - I met up with Jen and Zach and we talked the whole time.

Tuesday - this ended up being a big training day, at least in my mind. 2400 yd swim followed up 90 minutes on the bike. I did this all at the gym since my bike ain't ready for the outdoors yet.

The swim was okay but hard. I'm trying to work on my form a bit, keeping my head down and hands entering the water the right way. Luckily the pool wasn't crowded so I didn't have any issues. The 24 Fitness I go to doesn't have any damn floaters for pulls only so I improvised and used my Crocs between my legs! Despite my creativity this didn't work too well. I need to buy one of these. I also need to buy differently tinted goggles. I love the way mine fit but they darken everything which is the last thing I need when feeling confined a a bit claustrophobic in my crappy gym's pool. I'm also starting to wonder whether the pool is short - it might be but I'm afraid to find out.

When I first got the to gym I tried to sign up for the spin class - nope, they don't put out the list until an hour before the class. Eye roll and I walked away... (I always surprise myself when I act like a bitch a little bit - it kind of makes me proud in a sick way. I'm too nice - when people run into me or slam a door in my face my first response is "I'm sorry!" Why? Why am I sorry - YOU should be sorry you rude bastard.) The spin classes have been filling up and I knew that I needed to be there today - no way I could do 90 minutes on my own on a stationary bike. Problem is that by the time I was done w/my swim workout it would be too late and the class would be full. So you guessed it - about half way through my swim workout I wrapped on my towel, put on my squeaky Crocs and ran out to the front desk with my cap/goggles on to sign up. Everyone stared at my like I was friggin crazy but score one for the good guys - I got in. SUCKAS!

I got all confused during the swim. I did the SKIPS, but then way later realized that I stopped after the "I" - that was dumb. I did the rest during my cooldown. Here was the workout:

• WARM UP: 200 SKIPS
• MAIN SET: 8 x 100 free on 2:00 + 8 x 50 kicks on 1:15
• COOL DOWN: 200 any

I struggled around the middle of my 100s and on my 4th set I gave myself an extra 15 seconds - god forbid! Most of my reps I finished around 1:45 giving me 15 seconds to pant. The kicks were fine, most coming in at 1:00 exactly.

Next I ran into the locker room intending to give myself 5 minutes to change and get on a bike. It ended up taking about 10 minutes instead which is to be expected. Nothing is worse than trying to put on tight fitting clothes over damp skin.

My workout was supposed to be 90 minutes total on the bike as follows: 20 minute warm up in Z2, 4 x 10 minutes @ Z4 with 3 minutes rest, then 20 minutes cool down in Z2.

Wouldn't you know I forgot my sheet saying what my HR was for each zone so I totally guessed it. surprisingly the instructor had 3 sets of about 10 minutes each climbing. I decided to do my own Z4 thing during those sets of 10 minutes and it worked out mostly fine - by the time the class was cooling down I had one 10 minute set left to go then my cool down. By the end of the cool down I was in there all alone - totally bored and ass starting to get chapped. Literally and physically. I think next time I have to start wearing the padded pants. Here is how I did according to my Garmin...

• WARM UP: 20 minutes @ 133 bpm
• 10 minutes @ 160 bpm + 3 easy (148 bpm)
  
• 10 minutes @ 164 bpm + 3 easy (143 bpm)
• 10 minutes @ 165 bpm + 3 easy (147 bpm)
• 10 minutes @ 167 bpm
• COOL DOWN: 20 minutes @ 126 bpm

TOTAL = 1:28/146 avg bpm

Later when I looked at my bike HR zone sheets I found out I was off - I did this way too easy. Z2 is 146-158 and Z4 is 166-176. I'm a chump.

I was f'ing exhausted afterward and excited to go home to babysit my adorable perfectly well-behaved niece. My b/f had his 1st diaper changing experience (#2) and because of the length of time it too, he totally got pissed on.

Anyway...that wraps up my workouts thus far for the week. I have a track workout tonight and am going to do it at Grant Park @ 6:30 w/the Upper Echelon crew. It is sort of an easy one but I guess I have a race this weekend so whatever.

The wine party on Saturday was widely reported by many others so I'll just say that I had a blast. You guys are great.

Sunday I blew off whatever workout I'd had planned and I'm okay with that. I shouldn't have had so much fun Saturday because getting in my training has been tough, but for now this is how it is. I need to keep balanced and stick w/my social program as well. I'm trying really hard to stick with my plan this week and so far it is working out. Thursday's 8 mi Z3 run will be sorta tough and Friday's swim+bike will be another doozy. Looking forward to the race on Sunday and brunch afterward.