Wednesday was a swim day with a goal of 2800 yards. My stroke felt really off and I had a lot problems with cramping in my legs, which made it hard to concentrate on maintaining good form. Not a good workout on Wednesday!

I did go to the grocery store and loaded up on bananas and potatoes-hopefully it will help with cramping!

What an interesting week!

Sunday, I headed out a bike ride in the late afternoon hoping to dodge the rain possible rain. I ended up doing 15.1 mile ride through Coon Rapids and Blaine. Following my ride I headed to the club to get a 2800 yard swim in, however during my swim I was told to get out of the pool because we were in a tornado warning. I ended up only getting in 1750 yards. I was happy to find that my car was intact being the tornado hit within a block or so from the healthclub.

Monday, I biked one loop of the Liberty 1/2 Ironman course-getting in 31 miles. My body was tired from the busy weekend at work, however I finished my loop about 15 minutes faster than the last time I bike the course. I plan to do the full 56 miles on Sunday.

Tuesday, I did a short 4.25 mile run with the run club. I tried my new shoes that I won at the Gear West Duathlon. The shoes felt heavy and are newrly as comfortable as my Saucony's.

Another week has passed by... making it one week closer to the big day!

Monday was a rest day-one of the only rest days since training started.

Tuesday, my workouts started with a 12 mile bike ride in Andover. It was a nice day but again windy. I finished my day with a run with the Run Club doing five miles.

Wednesday's workout consisted of a 2400 yard swim. I felt good in the water. The pool was on the warm side and cloudy.

Thursday, I did a 40 mile bike ride-one loop of the Liberty 1/2 ironman course. It was a great day-a little windy. This was a huge confidence builder!

Friday's workout was a 2450 yard swim.

Today, I did a 10 mile run around the lakes in Minneapolis. It was a nice run-again extremely windy.

My speed suit arrived today! I'm going to be one fast cat in Louisville:)

Duathlon week

It was a crazy busy week at work last week! Tis the season of elected surgeries and crazy stupid teenager activity!

Tuesday, I did an easy 4.45 mile run at a 9:37 pace with the run club. It was nice to have conversations with some of the other runners that I don't normally run with.

Wednesday's workout consisted of a 2300 yard swim with short fast sets. I didn't utilize the full rest time between swims-15 secs between 75's, 10 secs between 50's, and 5 secs b/t 25's. I then finished my workout with a 14.50 mile bike ride in Blaine-very flat but open to the wind.

Thursday I did an easy 6.55 mile at a 10 minute pace with the run club.

Friday,I did a late swim in the evening of 2700 yards. I felt strong in the water.

Saturday's workout was a short brick consisting of a 8 mile bike ride and 1.64 mile run.

Today I did the Gear West Duathlon (5k run, 28k bike and 5k run). I went into the race with the mindset of taking it easy and not going all out. My first 5K run time was 26:05 and my second 5K was a 23:40-I was pretty happy with my run times especially after they announced the course was a little long due to the construction. My bike time was 57:59-I believe 8 or 9 minutes faster than the last time I did the race. The bike course was a little hillier than I remembered and of course there was quite a bit of wind. Overall, I felt the race went well-It was nice not having an expectation other than just finishing. My overall time was almost 20 minutes faster than the last time I did the race-so YAY me! Oh-And I won a free pair of running shoes from the raffle-Liz you better watch out next bingo night-My luck is changing!

After several minutes of complaining to Shadow (my dog) about the rain on Saturday, I finally put on my "Shut Up & Run" shirt and went to the Coon Rapids Dam. I ended up running eight miles in the rain. Although, I prefer to run warm sunny days, the run was okay. While running through woods, I came across a herd of seven deer and several geese watching me plug away at the miles.

Following my run, did a short swim of 1500 yards. My goal was 2100 yards, but I was exhausted from the busy night at work.

Sunday, I met Jen R. and Cindy for a bike ride along the Buffalo Triathlon Olympic course. The course was challenging with hills and the extreme wind. I did spend the majority of my ride utilizing my aerobars which allowed myself to boost my comfort level on my bike. We followed up the workout with a short 2 mile run along the lake.

Yesterday, I got in my 2600 yard swim. I had another encounter with the pool walker that yelled at me for splashing her-yesterday's encounter was regarding the pool temp. She jumped all over me because she felt that the pool temp was too cold and I didn't agree with her. A older man observed the situation, shook his head, and laughed at the lady and agreed with me that the water temp was just fine.

I then did the TC 1 mile race through downtown. My finish time was 7:14-a bit disappointing, however the cool dry air made it hard to breath.

Today, I did a short easy 10 mile ride at the Coon Rapids Dam.

Shortly, before starting my posting I counted the number of weeks until the big day-ONLY 16 WEEKS-Yikes!

Another week of up and down weather

Monday I met Corrine down at the lakes for a 6.72 mile run. It was nice to get out of Anoka county and run around the Minneapolis lakes! The weather was gorgous and it was nice to run in shorts and not layers of clothes! The miles flew by as Corrine had lots to talk about involving the changes in the run club.

Tuesdays workout consisted of a 2400 yard swim. I felt pretty good in the pool. I always find it interesting when I enter the pool area and seeing the activity going on in the pools. Usually in the kids pool there is an old man doing ballet legs-I don't know if he knows that is what they are from my synchronize swimming days. Looking at the lap pool, usually there are a couple lanes with pool walkers and a couple other lanes with very inefficient swimmers. I once got yelled at for splashing a pool walker. On Tuesday, there were several inefficient swimmers in the pool creating almost an open water effect because the waves were so big!

Wednesday, My bike ride was full of wind, road closures, and traffic! As stated the wind was extremely strong makng it hard to use my aerobars let alone stay upright on the bike. I got about a quarter way through my route when I hit the first road closure. Following the detours and not being familiar with the area I got LOST! I kept looking at the map that I had printed befor I had left, however it only had some of the roads printed on it making it difficult to get back to the orignal plan and bringing to bike down roads with a ton of rush hour traffic. I think that I passed Bellair street four times! I finally managed to get back on the planned route about 20 miles into the ride to come upon another road closing! I finally made it back to Roseville where I had started finishing the ride with 32 miles. I was happy to be done with the ride! Once I got home I took Shadow for a 2.7 mile run.

Today, I will be heading to the club to swim and then doing the TC 1 mile in downtown Minnepolis.

What a beautiful weekend!

Saturday, I did a 8.7 mile run. I took it easy on the run and felt great. The rain had stopped before we started our run-We lucked out! It was suppose to SNOW!

Sunday, I started my day with a 25 mile ride through the Roseville and Arden Hill areas. The route was pretty hilly-I welcomed the challenge, which hopefully will prepare me for Kentucky. I very much enjoyed my ride today! I'm starting to feel more comfortable on my new bike, however I still didn't get down in my aerobars much. This evening I did a 2600 yard swim-the workout I had missed on Thursday.

My next race is the Gear West Duathlon in two weeks. I'm looking forward to another productive week!

Another busy week!

I spent the majority of my time this week working my expanded literature with breaks getting a short workout in-it actually helped that the weather was pretty crappy.

Last Sunday was my last post not including the workout for that day. I had brick scheduled for outside, however do to the SNOW I was indoors again. I went to spinning clas and then finished up on the treadmill doing 3.3 miles.

Monday, I was super busy, diligently working on my lit. review that I ran out of time to complete my full workout. I ended up only swimming 1200 yards.

Tuesday, Still spending most my time on my lit. review I was feeling the affects from the lack of sleep I had been getting. My run was hard, my legs were tight, although I managed to get 4.75 miles done.

Wednesday, A welcomed day to be off of work! I still had a lot more to do on my lit. review and again spending most of my day working on it. I met up with Jen R. in the for a ride in Champlin. I felt great on the bike. We got a little disoriented in directions being unfamiliar with the area, but it made for an interesting ride. Jen and I battled heavy traffic (sometimes scary!) and wind for a lot of the ride. We ended up riding for 1.5 hours. Following the ride, I did a short 2.2 mile run with Shadow.

Thursday, I got out for an hour ride around the Blaine and Coon Rapids areas. Again, it was super windy and there were times that I thought I was going to get blown off my bike. I then went for a run at the Coon Rapids Dam getting in 4.25 miles. I later realized that I was suppose to swim and not run, but oh well.

Today, I plan to do the swim workout I missed yesterday. GUESS WHAT: I GOT MY LIT. REVIEW DONE!!!!!!