Throwdown Thursday

I like to call them "Throwdown Thursdays", because it's the day I've set aside to put in my long day of training. It just works best for my family that way. I don't love missing out on the long weekend rides with friends, and it's been a challenge to completely excuse myself from school commitments every Thursday, but I gotta do what I gotta do to get it all in :)!

It's been a bit of a struggle for me coming off of Oceanside, both mentally and physically. With my increase in training and intensity, I've developed a few little "niggles" I've had to keep my eyes on. The biggest issue being my lower back, due to tight glutes and all those complex muscles in the hiney. And a change of saddle requires an adjustment period, which has not helped the situation. But I'm happy to report that I absolutely LOVE my ISM Time Trial saddle, and the body is definitely adjusting. Phew!

We left Oceanside on Sunday afternoon, and drove to Palm Springs where we spent a glorious week in the sun and heat with Romney's entire family. It was one of the best vacations I can remember... leisurely pool time every day, cousins for the kids, tennis, golf, and lots of time to get right back after it! I joked with my coach Lesley about punishing me for the less than stellar performance at Oceanside, and she seemed to like the idea! 

Monday morning was "go time" again, and if it weren't for the fact that I'd come down with an awful sore throat and cold, I'd have hit it much harder than I did! By Tuesday, it was back at it for some good endurance training. There's nowhere I'd rather be swimming, biking and running in April than in the 85-90 degree heat and beauty of Palm Springs. I was thrilled to be there, training and all. But I've never put in a 16 hour week coming off of a half Ironman, and that's what was on the docket. I'm happy to say that I made it through, but not without some fatigue and tight spots.

Some serious scenery in Palm Springs!

Managing the lower back situation has felt a little like "two steps forward and one step back." Just when I feel like I've made progress, it tightens up again. So the goal going into yesterday's four hour bike/one hour run was to listen to the body a bit better and keep things in check. That meant backing off a bit on the intensity of the intervals, both biking and running. My other goal was to take in more calories. With the added intensity in my training, I haven't adjusted my calorie intake. I think I've made some nutritional mistakes over the past few months, and I need to get that ironed out.

My hope was to convince some of my working friends to play hookie and come ride outside with me, but the weather didn't cooperate. Can you guess how excited I was to jump on my trainer for a four hour ride? I dreaded the thought, but quit thinking and did it anyway. It was a loooonnnng four hours, but with a great workout on tap - courtesy of my fave Scottish Rocket - to occupy my brain, two hours of TV time, two hours of rock n' roll, and 1000 calories of my favorite GU products, I made it through with flying colors! Haha, who am I kidding! It wasn't that pretty, how can it be in a sweaty basement on a bike for that long..there may have even been some tears and cursing scattered throughout, but who needs to know about that part??

All smiles for now!

Staying on top of my nutrition and not letting the HR and watts get out of hand, I was actually looking forward to a nice little run off the bike. The rain had stopped, yay! Outside run for me. Quick change into some dry running clothes, and out the door I went. Running from home is always a challenge, because I always have to descend first and finish with a rather large and long climb. Staying focused on my goals of nutrition and keeping things in control, I felt great right from the start. Had some good solid tempo miles in the middle on rolling hills before I got to start the long, two mile climb back home. I actually love finishing with a hard climb, as long as I'm feeling good. And today I was! I rolled back up to my house just under an hour later with 8 more miles in my legs, 200 more calories and a huge smile on my face; another "Throwdown Thursday" in the books!

Yes! Now where's the REAL food?

Every time I'm fortunate enough to have a great training session, I can look back and give credit to the ones that didn't go so well. Those harder days, the races where we don't think we raced to our potential - all of the struggles along the way - are a huge part of what shapes us all as people and athletes.

So cliche', but I love it.. "Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up." Dean Karnazes