Swim, bike, run - How Bad ASS can I be?

to say the last 2 weeks have been hectic in my life would be a mild understatement. I am the classic overachiever Type A personality. Synopsis of the last 2 weeks - I am amazed I got any training in and did not have a nervous breakdown or get brutally sick. Even I have to admit I pushed the envelope a bit this time.... Besides working my regular full-time job I do transciption from home in the early am - 5am - 6:45am, I coach 1/2 marathon clinics on Thursday evenins and Sunday mornings, I have a 6 year old border collie that needs about 2 - 3 hours of walks/runs a day, and I am training for the Half Ironman in June. Pretty busy - most people go wow but wait I am not done yet. I also believe that you should give back to your community - it is important so I do charity work for the Lions Society - specifically I am their volunteer coordinator for 3 of their events the largest one being the 24 Hour Relay for the kids which planning for is well underway. Not really a big thing. Pret...

Okay maybe not the queen but pretty darn proud and feeling empowered after last night's workout out with Barb (cycle coach) and the gals in the group I ride with. Last night we did our first - well my first, they have all been up there - ride up to Cypress Mountain. I was anxious all day - first I was anxious about riding up the darn mountain and then even more anxious when I realized that we were riding to the base which was up another very steep road. Doubts abounded - would I be able to get up to the highway to get to Cypress? And then would I be able to get up Cypress without falling too far back? Then I started thinking about the downhill and got freaked about that to. By the time I pulled up to our meeting spot - Cindy looked at me as I got out of the car and said smile it will be okay - you'll be fine. I sure hope so I said. The ladies were great in reassuring me I would be okay - they were like are you worried about the down - I was like I am worried about both! ...

The thing about racing is the after effects. I refer to it as the hangover after the party - you had such a great time but you need to recover now. The thing is that unlike a true hangover I have no embarrassing regrets - any pictures taken I will be proud to have shown and I am not saying "Never again - this is the last time!" Keeping that in mind I just jumped back in taking Monday as a rest day and got back at it on Tuesday. The dilemma has been my right shoulder has been bothering me - so I have skipped all my swims - this morning I was going to go but did not thought after work but arm is still sore. The other thing is the long bike - normally would do this on Saturday am and should be about 2 hrs 45 min but I am running a 5km race and then was planning on going out for some wobbly pops. Thought about doing the bike today but I did time trials on Wednesday and a brick yesterday - seems like a lot.... Could do the bike on Sunday but after running 16 km "ish...

So yesterday was the olympic tri. It was the first "race" I have done since last year's Iron Mountain and I was pretty anxious to say the least. For those that don't know just go to my first ever post and have a boo, For those that don't have the time here is the the cole's notes version is I did a half iron - did not go well - I completed but not in reg time - I got a DNF - my morale and belief in myself took a big hit. Determined to put it to rest finally and prove to myself that it was just a bad day I registered for the Olympic to see how the training was going this time for the Oliver Half iron I registered for in June. I am very pleased with how yesterday went - a few more lessons learned to put in the bank and overall I think it well. Lesson 1 do NOT move heavy boxes the day before and pull a muscle in your shoulder - it will hurt and possibly affect your swim time.... Lesson 2- hiring a cycling coach - great idea! So being a slower swimmer I was...

That is the time I have until I get in the pool and start my swim at the Olympic Tri next weekend. Just got my swim time - 11:15am - so I will have to sit there and wait from 8am until then before I can get in the pool. Joe's time is 9:15 because he is faster so he was like we'll just take 2 cars. Great so you can finish and go home - thanks for the support.... Oh and guess what I am PMS'ing (could you tell by the bitchiness of that statement??) So I am just one big bundle of emotional anxiety. I am worse that a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Well that killed of 4 minutes now only 5 days, 21 hours and 50 minutes to wait....

So last night was the first night I met with my cycling coach -Barb, what a nice and delightful lady, oh and great rider to! There are about 6 other ladies in the group - 5 triathletes and one stinking fast road racer. First thing Barb noticed was my handlebars - too low but overall she liked my trainer. She actually said " that is a great bike" I had to laugh because it is older than god - it is a Bianchi that I bought second hand 8 years ago. A great bike in its time but compared to bikes out there now it is a dinosaur. So had the hubby change the angle of the bars last night when I got home. Looked at my road bike and the since I did get it fitted the bars are in the proper position. She talked about drills and cadence and had me do some drills and sprints. We worked on bike stability and she said that for never doing the drills before I was doing quite well. I am at the back of the group but that is okay since they have all cycled longer and trained with her for a...

So I have done it - finally hired a cycling coach. Last Saturday went for a ride- had been feeling pretty good staying true to the cycling portion of the program but after Saturday's ride the self doubts were going full tilt. The person who I was riding with gave me some tough love - I need to step it up- push harder, dig deeper, improve so that I do not have a repeat of Oliver. They of course are right - it is more than just logging miles so I have signed on for a 10 week session with ZImich coaching - they are a husband and wife team who come highly recommended. Tonight is the first session and I am a little anxious to hear what they have to say. But even more excited to hear their gameplan to help me improve and reach my goals. I will let you know how it goes. Shaun