Yesterday was such a nice day. Shadow and I did a slow 5 mile run. Kill two birds with one stone-get my workout in and wear Shadow out! The run went well and I felt really good.

My dog ate my homework...I swear!

Over the past couple of months Shadow has been quite NAUGHTY! In February, the vet put Shadow on thyroid medication because she was running on the low end of the normal range and her coat was really dry. At that time I had reservations about the medication being that she is already a complete SPAZ! She was on the medication for 21 days before the vet decided increase her dose and she has been just naughty since-she had reverted to a way a puppy acts (if you can only image). Well yesterday I returned home from work and noticed Shadow chewed up my textbooks! I don't get it-I have had her for over 8 years and she hadn't EVER chewed on anything but her own toys! I made a call to the vet and explained her behavior and shared her exercise routine. The vet did decide to reduce her dose and told me to really wear her out everyday-lets see I do have a marathon this weekend.....Shadow do you want to go for a run?

Recovery week has started!
Yesterday, I led swim club. We upgraded to two swimmers-yeah! I ended up only swimming about 1500 meters. I then finished up with some abs....so I can live up to the poster (Corrine was working out this week in St. Louis Park when someone in the class yelled out "Corrine isn't that you?" The person was referring to Lifetime Run Club banner. They made Corrine go stand by the banner as they made there comments. Supposedly these people....how did Corrine put it? These people envious of my ab's....thank god for airbrushing and touch ups!

Sunday, My plan called for a 5-6 hour ride and run-I didn't end up doing it. I ended up swimming instead-the weather was crappy and I was not about to ride 5-6 hours in the rain! It worked out well anyway as I am tapering for flying pig this weekend.

I plan to head out for a run and bike today.

A week ago I was put on doxycycline for the ticks bites that I had gotten either from running at the dam or biking at Elm Creek or the dog park. Since then I have finished my prescription, but I battled HORRIBLE acid reflux-and I think that it burned a hole in my esophagus! I spent a bit of time at work trying to find out if Carafate can be bought over the counter....it hurts soooo bad to eat or drink anything! Man, I'm so happy that I don't have that problem on a regular basis! I hope that I don't have permanent damage!


Thursday,
I went down and trained with P2. This was my first outside ride with the group-man they are fast! We rode through St. Paul to Shepard Road and then up to River Road and back. There was no dilly dallying around for me on the ride-in order to keep up I had to maintain 20+ mph! The weather was fantastic except for the strong wind. We ended up riding 33 miles total-I couldn't stay for the run as I had to work that night.

Friday,
I skipped my workout-its something about getting into the pool that really unmotivates me!

Saturday,
I went out and rode the Liberty course. My legs were really tired from working overnights, but I love that course...so pretty! I ended up doing 25 miles.

It's been an interesting day! I got up early, well only after a couple hours of sleep to do homework, so that I could get out and get my full two hour ride in along with my short 30 minute run. As I hurried through my homework (okay I'm sick of this semester), I get a phone call my mom-in panic! I thought oh no what happened to Owen (he has been in the hospital since Saturday). My mom says that I need to go help my dad at the hospital because my sister had fainted and was in the ER-she couldn't go because she has been sick with some stomach bug for the past day. I threw some clothes on and hurried to the hospital. Everything turned out okay and her symptoms were contributed to stress.

I did eventually get out to do a short workout. I ended up biking at the Coon Rapids Dam and ended up doing a total of 12 miles (45 minutes). I then took Shadow out for a much needed run! We ended up doing a little over 2 miles.

Owen was discharged tonight from Childrens and they finally got his seizures under control....and he was able to keep his meals down today. You can continue to follow him at: www.caringbridge.org/visit/owenchristenson

Just a reminder that his fundraiser is running through next week! Culver's on Tuesday (go to the caringbridge site to print up a coupon) and Wednesday at Mansetti's.
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a cat in a bike basket wearing a hat?

Today I headed over to the Coon Rapids Dam for my run. As I started out on my run, I heard a voice and when I turn around-there was a guy riding a bike with a wicker basket on the front of the bike that had a Siamese cat dressed in clothing (wicker hat and all) in it!!!! I had to do a double take!!!! My total mileage of the run was 8.15 miles. It was sunny but extremely windy!!!

Yesterday, I led swim club for a hour. Total distance was just over a mile.

Following my run yesterday, I got out and rode my bike 32 miles starting at the Coon Rapids Dam to Elm Creek Park Reserve; two loops at Elm Creek. The weather was fantastic! I felt strong on the hills!

Following my ride it was Shadows turn to get some exercise! I took her to the dog park at Elm Creek. She again had a blast in the pond and playing with the other dogs at the park.

It was a great day except for the wood ticks that I spent removing that night!!!!!

Today, I got up early to train with P2. But before leaving my house I notice a couple bite marks that looked suspicious.

I headed to the pool swam with P2 and then biked in the rain with Michelle (one of my friends from P2) and her co-worker Kristin. We biked from Mpls to Shorewood and back. It was a bit chilly but a great ride! I'm not sure how many miles we got in but we rode for 2 hours.

As I told you previously, I noticed a couple bites on my skin and ended up getting them checked out at Urgent Care (after my swim and biking of course). The doctor wasn't sure whether or not it was a tick bite or a spider bite, but with pulling off the other ticks and knowing that I was bit by one she put me on preventative Lyme disease treatment. itchy, itchy!!!!!!

Today was my day to lead Run club. I met up with Erica at 7:00 so that we could get done with the run at a reasonable time. Erica and I did about 5 miles together-Erica then had to take off because she had family in from out of town. Karen and I then met up with me for a run. We did about 5 miles as well. I got in a total of 10 miles in-and now off for a long bike.

Thank god for water towers!!!!!

I always find myself involved in some kind of adventure when heading to Mankato. Today was no different! I headed out for a short run from the hotel. Just to give you a little background the hotel that I stay at is located on the out skirt of Mankato-near the mall. I had noticed that there was a nice bike path that ran along Hwy 22 which runs along side of the hotel.

I was running down the bike path which turned and then met up with the Shakatoh Singing Hills bike trail-A great trail (I lived down in Mankato for 4 years and didn't know it existed). I had noticed that there were a lot of off road trails, so I decided to run on those for a while and then returned back to the bike trail.

Well I got into my run-who wouldn't the weather was fantastic and I was feeling great! And before I knew it I was LOST! I looked around only corn fields! In a panic I was trying to make the decision-do I try to cross the corn fields in hopes that it will bring me to a road or do I turn around and retrace my steps (I had already ran almost 6 miles by this point). As I continued to look around I spotted a water tower in the far distance (I assumed it had to be the Mankato water tower, thinking that all these probably had well water).

I knew that I needed to head towards the water tower-but how was I going to get to the water tower? Was I seriously going to have to cross through the corn fields? At that point a biker came flying down the path and then turned a ways ahead of me-so I thought well I'm just going to follow that guy! I continued down the path which finally brought me to a road-I took a right like the biker did and then continued on. Thank god the road brought me back to Hwy 22!

I ended up finishing the run with a total of a little more than 8 miles.

Thursday, I skipped my workout (long day at class)

Wednesday, I biked 12 miles and then ran with run club (I think that we did a little over three miles).

Great weather.....terrible run!!

Today, I managed to get in a total of 7.1 miles. My legs felt heavy and sore-possibly from the hilly 20 miler on Saturday or from the long stretch of work. Anyway's, the weather was fantastic today!

Yesterday, I swam with swim club for a total of one hour. I got in roughly a mile and felt good.

Enjoying the weather

The weather has been fabulous over the past couple of days. I haven't made my way to Lifetime over the past couple of days!

Since it was a holiday weekend, it was recommended to switch Friday's and Sunday's workouts around. I ended up taking out my road bike for a 2 hour ride and then finished up with a 15 minute run. It was a bit windy but warm, in fact I ended up running in shorts!

Saturday, I met Jen for our last long run before tapering for the Flying Pig marathon on May 3rd. We ended up running 20 miles at the Elm Creek park reserve. We started the run going 6 miles out and back, quick pit stop at the car to refuel and then finished the last 8 miles. Elm Creek is extremely hilly which will prepare us for Cincinnati. About mile 16 we got a little loopy! The last 4 miles we pick up the pace to just get the run done-not much talking went on as we concentrated on finishing. I was exhausted (working overnights doesn't help the situation) and sunburned!

Today, I took Shadow to the dog park-she had a blast! Shadow discovered the pond and she realized how fun the water can be (I may have a swimmer on my hands). Up until today, Shadow hasn't ever been fond of the water, usually tiptoeing around whenever its raining out so that she doesn't get her paws wet. She had seen other dogs playing in the water and all of sudden she was playing with them in the water! She didn't get in deep enough to swim but far enough in to get the top of her back submerged! In fact she was the last dog playing in the water-after awhile she kept running up to the others hoping that they would chase her into the water-WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DOG?

Outside for a Ride!

It's warming up! Yay! I took my bike out for a ride at the Coon Rapids dam today and it was fabulous! You know its been a LONG winter when you forget what it feels to have the wind push you around on your bike. Okay its not in the 80's but overall the weather was pretty nice (52 degrees is what my car read). I ended up doing approximately 20 miles.

juggling act..........

I may be able to enter the circus..........No, multi-tasking has become one of my specialties. Swim club started this week and although there wasn't a great turnout it went really well. So Monday's workout consisted of me leading/participating the first workout for swim club which lasted about 45 minutes. Following swim club I stayed and swam for another hour to get my wetsuit workout in as well. Then, it was my day to lead run club, so I finished off my workout with a 5 mile run.

I didn't make my workout on Tuesday-too much homework:(

Yesterday, I trained with P2. We started off with a 1.5 hour bike on the trainer. We worked on gaining strength by switching between the hardest gear maintaining 60+rpms and easiest gear maintaining over 90 rpms. Then to follow we did a 30 minute run along the river in St. Paul.

Coach shared his Lance Armstrong story with us yesterday. He had gotten to know Chris Carmicheal (Lance's coach) through coaching and training, I believe at the Olympic center. Coach had asked Chris Carmicheal to come speak to some of his athletes (this was back in 98 when Lance won his first Tour). He had wrote down Lance's training program and gave some workout tips. Coach then proceeded to tell us that we are doing those workouts that Lance does.

Anyways, I currently am awaiting the start of class down here in Mankato. Hopefully once I get back to the cities it will be close to 60 degrees and get out on my bike. I was really tempted to throw my bike in my car and go for a nice hilly ride down here but after class I'm always eager to get back to the cities, plus I have an important conference call with Troy Jacobson regarding Endurance lead stuff-Corrine, Paul, and Jerel, I expect your joining me on this call...ha ha ha.

Anyways off to class.

I had a great week of workouts-granted it was a recovery week I got them all in except for my bike yesterday. My school responsibilities decreased over the week allowing me some more time to get my workouts in and do a few fun things.

On Friday, Matt's school hosted a kick off for Owen's benefit, which will take place over the month of April. The kids loved the fact that they got to hang with super O! If you want more details about the benefit check out Owen's caringbridge site: www.caringbridge.org/visit/owenchistenson

Onto my workouts:
Thursday, I trained with P2 which consisted of a warm up and bike test #1 for the week. The test was 30 minutes long and we had to maintain 90+ rpms switching every 5 minute between our two hardest gears. Then we followed it up with a short run through the skyways. The test started off a bit rough for me but once I got into the groove it went pretty well.

Friday, I did a 60 minute swim-probably a total of somewhere around 3000 meters. The swim went pretty well. My swim workouts have felt pretty good over the past couple of weeks. My stroke is feeling smooth and balanced. Following my workouts I met up with Corrine and Leann for wine tasting #1 of the weekend.

Saturday was Lifetime Fitness's big Dam Hill run.....although located at the locks and dam in St. Paul, it is probably named that for a different reason. The hill is long, steep, and windy-over a quarter mile long. The workout consists of 5.5 mile run to the Dam hill and then 8 hill repeats and then another 5.5 mile run back to the health club. My responsibility for the workout was to lead a pace group to the hill and then be the drill sergeant at survivor island-nope I didn't do the hill repeats, I just yelled at people to do push-ups, crunches, supermans, squats, lunges, etc....... I ended up getting in the run portion of my workout for a total of 6.5 miles. I missed my bike workout for Saturday. Following the workout we headed over the Chatterbox for some scrumptious food! I then met up with Leann for wine tasting #2 this weekend......Leann your a bad influence!

Today, I trained with P2. We started off the workout with a 20 minute continuous swim test-I felt horrible! I kept thinking that I was going to throw up my peanut butter sandwich I ate on the way to practice. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't see much improvement from the last time I did it in February-maybe it was all the wine. Coach did talk to me about somethings that he noticed during my swim-hopefully I can tweak things a bit to make my stroke more efficient/faster. Following the swim, we headed to the P2 Pit for bike test #2 of the week. This test was 60 minutes long and we started in our easiest gear and then moved up a gear every five minutes while above 90 rpms the whole time. I didn't make it to the last gear before I was dropping below 90. I was really hoping to make it through all the gears-last time I didn't make it to the hardest gear either. Following the bike we headed out for a 45 minute run along the river-Michelle and I took it really slow as our bodies were exhausted and our legs felt like a ton of bricks. Today was an off day-there wasn't one part of the workout that felt good. Coach had talked to us about feeling tired and off during the workouts this week was common because of it being recovery week and our routine have changed-I hope that next week will bring a bunch of strong workouts!

Onto the start of another busy upcoming week!

I have had a really good week of training so far. I have a recovery week so distances and workout times have been reduce to allow my muscles and body overall recover and repair itself.

Monday,
I did a 3000 yard swim

Tuesday: 8.5 mile run on the treadmill, 45 minute spin

Wednesday: 2500 yard swim.

Today I plan to train with P2
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