Mid-week report

The last few days of my training have been a roller coaster ride, to say the least. Saturday was an awesome training day, despite a rocky start. When I got to my spin class across town, over 30 minutes early, I found that all the bikes had been reserved. Great. I knew there was a class at 11am and I liked the teacher pretty well, but I worried about how my motivation would hold up to an hour and a half of lifting/running before the start of the 11am class. Deep down, I knew I would bail if I had long enough to think about it, so I drove back over to the gym by my house for the 10:15 class. Having some time to kill before hand, I ran a quick two miles on the treadmill and then hurried to get a bike. I surprised myself at the energy I had left for spin and felt like a complete champ afterwards! I thought about trying to run at least another mile after class, but all the treadmills were taken...and it was 30 degrees outside. Anyway, I didn't let that detract from the high I was feeling after such a killer workout.

Later that afternoon, I knew I had to go to the pool--at least to check it out, if nothing else, though I was dreading it. I paid the $4 admission and got dressed for the pool. The conditions were not the best for a great swim workout--I had a J Crew bathing suit on that probably wasn't the best for swimming laps, but I couldn't find any others; and my goggles were totally stretched out, and not that easy to fix. I swam a lap or two, until one side of my goggles was full of water, and tried to fix them, but had no luck. So, I ditched the goggles and pumped out about 15 laps doing the breaststroke...but, I wasn't really going that fast and felt like it was pretty worthless training, so I was determined to fix my goggles in order to at least put my face in the water. (Oh, by the way, I was sharing a lane with some old man, so I had to be careful not to run into him, and after one length of opening my eyes in the chlorine-filled waters, I thought my retinas were burning!) I swam some more laps in the free-style form, but was still frustrated with how difficult it was for me to keep a decent pace...and by the realization that I have absolutely NO technique. I think I swam about the total length of the swim for a sprint triathlon (750 meters), but was pretty much completely deflated from my morning-workout high, thinking "can't we just do a biathlon?" all the way home.

Monday evening came around and I thought I had renewed vigor for a spin class followed by a run, as is my Monday and Wednesday night routine. However, after driving around the parking lot for 25 minutes trying to find a spot, I was so frustrated and angry (cursing each car in front of me under my breath) that I drove straight home! I felt seriously guilty for about 15 minutes and then did some chores around the house. It wasn't a total waste of a training day, as I did some "strength training" with my 8lb weights and stability ball...but I knew I would have to make up for it later in the week.

Tuesday morning and this morning I went to spin classes...56-minutes of kick-your-butt hills, sprints and jumps this morning--I don't remember the last time I sweat so much! I'm going to try my hardest to go to spin class tonight and run and/or lift afterwards to make up for my Monday off. Deep down I know I don't want to...so, I asked Mike if he wanted to go to the gym tonight and if he would make me go with him. Hopefully if I can get there, I will fall into my Wednesday night routine without too much protest.

I am having serious feelings of inadequacy this week. I have been trying to research some training schedules so that I can track some progress, but they just make me feel like crap! They all say I should be in the pool 3-5 times a week...but, I hate the pool! I still haven't run outside, or ridden a real bike. I don't know if I can hang! I tried to tell myself that most of these training schedules are for an Olympic distance tri or even an ironman, so they surely cannot fully apply to me. Tara, I need you here! to go to the pool with me and laugh with me about how much swimming sucks! I need a motivational pick-me-up...can you help? Let's talk about it over Cafe Rio. ;)