12/29/10 Tri Training: 2,100 meter swim???

Yes, 2,100 meters! This is by far the longest distance that I've swam this season!! Again, it's not without stopping as I still rely on the wall but I think I'm feeling a little more comfortable in the water. Tonight, was the 2nd time that the swim center was set up as the "long course" and I felt more at ease going to practice this evening. I even learned how to breathe on my left hand side. It's not great but at least I'm getting used to having my left side as another breath option. I also tried to remember to reach and glide but that's not clicking in yet. A work in progress...

100 warm up
4x150 kick/drill/swim (our drill of choice)
Main set:
1x300
1x200
3x100
8x50 pull buoy (still my favorite!)
200  cool down

Total swim = 2,100 meters

Aloha,
L

12/27/10 Tri Training: Swimming the Long Course

Back to swimming at the Santa Clara swim center but the difference... the pool was set up for 50 meters.

Okay, I could barely manage the 25yd distance and what makes this worse is a friend of mine tells me that she thought meters are actually longer than doubling the 25yds. Yikes! It's no wonder that my stomach was in knots as I was driving to practice.

I eventually got in the water as the pool deck was quite cold in a bathing suit but I may have considered standing there all night if it meant I could skip the swim. Luckily my wonderful captains would not hear more of it and even threatened to push me in! :o) So, I got in and made my first way across the pool. Whoa was it a long way and was I happy to feel that wall! I shared the lane with Kai who seemed to share the same feeling of the distance so we pushed each other all night.

200 warm-up
Drill:
6x50 kick set
6x50 5-4-3-2-1-0 (this was an interesting drill as these numbers represent the fingers you use when you swim. It became much harder to swim the less fingers I had.)
2x50 stroke count (it took me 55 strokes & then 54 strokes)
2x50 stroke count but trying to reduce the numbers from before (I was able to reduce to 50 but then it was back to my ways and then I was back up to 55. The gliding technique is not clicking yet)
Main set:
1x200
2x200
4x50 (didn't do since I ran out of time)
200 cool down (used a pull buoy)

Total swim: 1,600 meters (The distance adds up very quickly but I was also in the pool for 90 minutes instead of the usual 60min) There were moments that I didn't think I would make it. I got that scared/panic feeling once again and my breathing got all messed up. I notice everytime I panic, I feel the need to take breaths more often. I need to work on calming myself down as it's not going to be good to panic in the ocean.

Aloha,
L

Hill Climbs after Christmas

40% chance of rain today?  Glad the weather forecasters were wrong today.  It was actually sunny and only on the chilly side when we left the park for Mt. Eden.  But the sun was shining and after a few climbs, it was starting to warm up for me.

Only 2 participants showed up at first, and then a third one showed up after we did our first 2 hill repeats.  I guess it was to be expected since it's the day after Christmas.

Coach Patrick was there and he asked us to go up 5 times today.  I got a long break between hill repeat #4 and #5 since I helped fix a flat for one of the participants.  It was a brand new bike so not sure if that made it difficult to get the tire off the rim and then back on again. I am usually pretty good at changing tubes, but this one was a b#$tch!  I know it wasn't just me since Coach Patrick gave it a shot and even broke a tire iron!  :)

Anyway, it was a good day of riding, after a week off for the holidays.  The last training we did was last Saturday but I was starting to feel like it was longer since my last workout.  I even ran 3 miles one day during the week, but being off the bike for a week didn't feel right for me so I was glad to do the hill repeats today!

Happy Holidays!!

H

Saturday 12/18/10 - Rain, and More Rain - Almaden Ride

Ready for the Rain!

The forecast all week was for rain over this weekend.  But, the team always meets rain or shine and if it's not coming down hard at the start, we ride.  The cool thing for yesterday's ride (Saturday 12/18) was that Laarni's Tri team also started their training day at the Almaden VTA station, which is where the Cycle Team met.  Thanks to our wonderful babysitter, Laarni and I were able to go out and train at the same time today.

I'm sure the rain forecast had something to do with it, but we only had one participant from our ride group show up today. The other groups were fairly small as well, but not a bad turnout all in all!  It wasn't raining very hard, in fact, there were only little sprinkles here and there when we got started.

Trudy was our only rider for the day.  So, she got a lot of attention from Coach Colin.  Trudy was telling me how hard she was pushing it at last weekend's ride in Los Gatos.  She said she had never ridden at a pace like ours before.  Well Trudy, you ain't seen nothing yet!  :)



Jean and Linda Supporting
the Team at Rest Stop 2



Today's ride took us along Almaden Expressway through McKean/Uvas and around the reservoir.  Our first rest stop was at mile 18.  One of the nice things about TNT are the volunteers.  Our support at the first rest stop was actually provided by some folks that were on my team my first season last winter.  Cheers to Diane (who was at the first rest stop) and to Linda and Jean (who were at the second rest stop).  They provided some good grub for us! 

Maria, Ruth, Nicole (Drivers)
Braving the Rain

We also can't forget to thank the drivers who are out there supporting us in case of emergencies.  They drive the roads to make sure they are there for us to help us with flats or any other types of mechanicals.  Thanks to Ruth (our SAG - Support and Gear Captain), Nicole (our Team Captain), and to Maria (a Summer participant and volunteer). Luckily the drivers had an "uneventful" day!  That's how we like it!





Trudy and Colin after a wet and dirty ride!

Coach Colin really pushed Trudy today Colin has a great way of giving participants technical advice but at the same time encourages them so that they push themselves a little to become better cyclists.  As the ride went on, we definitely got rained on big time!  We were pretty wet when we were done, not to mention pretty dirty!  The dirt really showed up on Trudy's yellow jacket!  What was so satisfying for me was to watch Trudy ride through the rain, get totally soaked, get totally dirty, but still have a great big smile on her face!  We even got a few "woo-hoo's" from her. She was pretty pumped up after she did this ride.  She was proud of herself as she should be!  She road great and had a great attitude!  GO TRUDY!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!

H





12/18/10 Tri Training: Almaden Ride and Run

The team met at the Almaden VTA station, same place where Harold's cycle team met. We had a choice of a 20 or 30 mile ride but I opted for the shorter 20 mile ride since the weather didn't look to be on our side. The 20 mile ride took us onto Santa Teresa Blvd, to Bailey, to McKean and then to Almaden Expressway. It started to rain on us towards the end of the ride but it came down pretty hard at one point, that I could barely see. I got back to the car and did a quick change of clothes but then it started raining again. I decided against the run because I was already feeling chilled even after I changed.  I'm a wimp when it comes to being cold and wet!!

Aloha,
L

12/13/10 Tri training: Swim at Santa Clara

I left the pool very lightheaded! I wanted to cry during tonight's session. I may have swam a bunch of yards but the quality of my swimming was not good at all. There were moments where I seemed to close my eyes and hoped to get to the other side. Again, my reliance on the wall is not helping my confidence. I started over thinking about being in the middle of the ocean with that sinking feeling. Yikes!

Warm-up:
200 yds
Drills: CatchUp and 6-3-6
6x75yds (kick, drill & swim)
Main set: Pyramid
150-200-250-150 (although I didn't do the last 150 since I didn't have time because I hung on the wall way too many times!)
Cool down:
100yds (should've been 200yds)

Total yards= 1,650 yds

Martin said I should try and push myself to not stop so much during the set. I tried doing that tonight. I think I managed 75yds without stopping long but my lung capacity couldn't handle it and I kept feeling like I was gasping for air. There is just way too many things to remember for proper swim mechanics.

I think I read our coaches post that there's 111 days until race day. Gulp! (Literally, as I swallow pool water)

Aloha,
L

Sunday 12/12/10 - Hill Repeats in the Fog!

Well, we never did see the sun this weekend.  But at least the rain stayed away.  Although, the roads were a bit wet and slick.  In fact, while climbing today, I felt my rear wheel spin a few times.  Definitely a weird feeling, almost like my tire was flat. There were a few times that I was lucky that I didn't go down.

I knew that Coach Patrick couldn't go light on us two weeks in a row. Today was 5 times up and down Mt. Eden.  First was a warm-up, second was a low gear with fast cadence, third time was a higher gear standing up as long as possible, fourth time was whatever we wanted, and then fifth time was let it all hang out and get to the top as fast as you can!  I was usually the 4th one to the top each time as there were two participants and Coach Patrick who would usually get to the top of the hill faster than me. 

But on the last one, I got a head start and really tried to let it all hang out!  A new participant, Peter, is just incredibly fast and caught up to me when we only had about 100 yards left...I clicked it up a gear and tried to race him to the top, but I couldn't stay ahead of him.  Man, he went by me like I was standing still. But I was second to the top right after Peter!  He's in a whole different league from me!  Oh well, still fun trying to run with him.

We got a great picture at the top of Mt. Eden...check out how foggy it is.  Definitely a good workout...a bunch of us decided to go to Chipotle afterwards to get a good recovery meal.  Can't wait til next week!

L-R Casey, Mike, Coach George, Jaime, Wendy, Coach Patrick, Peter, Greg, Warren, Scott, Jean (Harold - taking picture)

H