Changing a flat tire

This morning I met up with Donna for our usual Tuesday morning run. Nice hilly run on a beautiful morning. She cracks me up, it crossed her mind to do an easier run, but that's what Thursdays are for :) Anyway, the run started of well and we talked pretty much all the way up. We are getting used to this hill and very comfortable in that we are able to talk as we run. The steady downhill after the first hill was great - we go even more talking in, then on to the rollers before the last hill. The surprising part of the 2nd(big) hill is that we both took turns leading and I didnt think we were flying up, but it took as 1 sec longer than the fastest time (6min 38sec) we have done. The run down was great.
After the run, we just into our cars and headed out. We both take the same route to work, though Donna gets off the freeway before I do. I noticed as she drove past me on the freeway, that her tire was flat. I gave her a call and asked her to pull over. Here we were on the side of the freeway changing her tire. There were lots of laughs amid the tire changing. Talk about an interesting way to start off the day :)

why on earth do I feel like this????

That is the question I kept asking myself throughout the workout on Saturday. On Friday night I felt like I was getting a cold. I made sure to hydrate and drank plenty of tea to easy the tickle in my throat. Maybe that was it, the caffeine in the tea my have dehydrated me. I was leading my bike group on a fairly easy bike ride. There were a few hills integrated into the ride here and there, but this is a ride that I had done in the past with no problem. It just seemed like I was sucking wind throughout the whole ride. Boy was I glad when we finished that ride. After getting back, Coach Steve let me know that he wanted me to lead another group for the 2nd half of the workout. I was glad to do that, but halfway through the ride, I had to let them know that I would be riding more in the back, than trying to lead them. At the end of the workout, I was super thirsty and hungry as no tomorrow. I felt much better after a sandwich and some Gatorade. :)

Lead at Track workout

For Thursday night track practice, I was assigned lead of one of the workouts. I was incharge of run drills. The team was divided into 5 groups, thus I had to go over the running drills with 5 different group. I love running, so this was no issue for me. The head Coach, Steve, asked me to pace myself, but I didnt feel like I was being too aggressive. The workout went well. I especially enjoyed the last group, they seemed happy to be working with me, or it was the fact that this was their last workout group for the night. Either way, we had a particularly cheerful time.

why did the turkey cross the road???

out for a recovery run this morning with Donna and David. Since it's a recovery run, we were going for something nice, flat and easy(then again, is anything ever easy). We set out for a paced 5.5 mile run. Talked pretty much all the way through the run. I think there was an itch to pick up the pace(maybe we were taking it to easy), but we just maintained. You never know what you'll see when you run at rancho. On the way back in from the run, there were a couple turkeys "grazing". As we approached they decide to cross the path. I dont think Donna saw them until the very last minute and this freaked her out. I had to burst out laughing. Usually she says that 4 legged animals freak her out, but these only had 2. thus the question, why did the turkeys cross the road?

wednesday swim

was up early this morning to get in the pool by 6am. I made it there a little after 6am. The swim went well, especially since I hadnt been in the pool in a while. quick summary of the workout:
warm up:
300 yd swim
100 yd kick
200 yd pull
Ramp up
8x50 sprint (evens freestyle odds IM)
Kick set:
3x100(50kick/50 flutter)
Main set:
400 yd
2x200 yd descent
there is more, but that's all I got to.
Cool down
200 yd

Total yardage 2300

That's the longest swim so far this season. I am setting a high goal of 3100 yards for the work out in about 3 weeks

zero power in the legs

Tuesday morning run with Donna, only this time we had a whole crew show up. Donna invited a couple of her running buddies and her coworker David(who I have mentioned in prior posts). As we started the run, she warned me that these girls are fast. The run starts with about a 1/4 mile run then a good 3/4 mile ascent. Half way up the hill, they were gone. We had to push a little harder as we approached the top to catch up to them so that they didnt get lost. This was the start of a trend. I didnt run much with these girls the rest of the run. after the initial hill, there is a nice descent which gives me a good time to rest my legs and prepared for the rollers then the big hill. As we started the rollers, my legs felt flat, heavy... I had no lift. I thought that it was just the start of the rollers and I should get a little lift after a little bit. I took advantage of the little declines letting my legs loose. Ahhhh, the big hill. The fast girls were already on the climb when we got there. I led the 2nd group, but soon realized this wasnt going to be another speed race to the top. I was totally flat, I felt some soreness in my legs as we were climbing. I started thinking back to whether or not I had stretched my quads after the run on Sunday - I dont think I did. That is not good, and may have been the reason I wasnt able to get any lift as I was going up the hill. Took 6min 51secs to get to the top. The downhill was just that, downhill except is was wet so I had to watch my step. Made it back ok, and did a little stretching. I have to be better at doing that.

got's to get this in

I would hate to forget what I did last week so here is a quick breakdown. Monday - nothing :) Tuesday - met up with Donna and her coworker David at 6am(that was early). When I got up that morning, I thought it was going to be a difficult day out on the run. It turned out to be one of the fastest run we had done on that trail, thanks in big part to Donna saying she wanted to power up the hill because she doesnt really get a chance to do speed work. As we approached the second(grand) hill, she asked me to lead. I started my stop-watch to get an idea of how long it takes us to get to the top and powered away. The pace was pretty high, and we went step for step up that hill. took a 6mins 38seconds. I havent timed us again, but stay tuned. Wednesday was a swim day. another 2100 yards after a long break from the pool. Felt great afterwards. Thursday morning run we did about 5.5 miles flat to rolling hills, nice and easy and track practice in the evening. Friday I decided to rest because Saturday was going to be a looooonng workout. Saturday we were doing hill repeats on the bike. I hadnt done these in a long time. Turned out to be a great day for a ride. Sunday was a captain's run. The run was at Campbell park which is about 1.5 miles from my house, so I ran there(nice lil warmup) and the did a 50 minute run. all went well. I hope to be able to update my blog daily from here forward. Be on the look out for that.

Week 3 (Valentines week)

Love is in the air. It always is, but we find a way to only make it important on Feb 14th. Monday was another off day(love my days off). Did some stretching and stayed off my feet to help with the recovery. Tuesday was an entertaining run with Donna at Rancho. It's funny sometimes because we have all kinds of stories to tell on the run and I forget that we are running. The hills kicked our rears, also referred to getting a good workout in :) Wednesday - I slacked. It was valentine's day. I spent the morning with Michele, had breakfast and just chilled before we both headed into work. Thursday, another morning run with Donna and track practice with the Team that evening. Friday - I made it to the pool and swam 2100 yards. Since I started swimming in the off season, I have seen drastic improvements in my stroke and endurance in the water. Saturday was finally a fantastic day to work out. I think it was in the mid 70s, just a beautiful day. We did the marker sets on the bike, which had been delayed a week. Sunday - went for a run with Sandy M and Nicholas on the Los Gatos Creek Trail. Nice easy 4 mile run.