I can do it!

Today is day ONE of my new training program, which includes my 17-weeks-until-half-ironman-triathlon schedule, and my 21-weeks-until-saint-george-marathon schedule, combined with my 4-weeks-until-becoming-a-fitness-bootcamp-instructor schedule! I was a little freaked out when I realized all that I would have to do this summer, but once I had written it all out on a calendar, it really wasn't much more than I'm already doing. So I started this morning with a 50 minute run, doing 5.6 miles total. Then I went to bootcamp training, where we ran another half mile jog, then did a great arm and ab workout, and followed it up with some stabilizer strenthening exercises with the bands. After that, I did my 60 minute bike ride, taking along my trainer friend Kim, and we did 15 miles of hill work. But when I got back home, Ben wanted to go out again, so I did another 51 minutes on the bike, finishing 15.6 more miles. Needless to say, food is tasting really good right now. :D

Today I started the morning by hitting the gym for a HIIT on the treadmill.  I warmed up with a mile in 9:28, then played with some higher levels of intensity.  I added a few walk breaks so that I could recover a little more, and ended up doing 3 miles in 24:58.  Immediately after the gym, I headed over to the park for bootcamp training.  Then I did another .5 mile jog at bootcamp.  I've been getting my arms worked over, so I was a little worried about the open water swim tonight at Sand Hollow Reservoir...I should have been more worried about freezing to death and/or drowning!  I ended up swimming about a half mile, but it was so cold I had trouble breathing, and then on the way back to the beach, the swells were timed just perfectly so that everytime I came up for air, I got splashed.  Fun, fun.  That swim made me feel both hopeful and discouraged about tri training.  But I felt better after Ben told me that he had a hard time swimming as well.  :D

I got to sleep in until 6:00 this morning!!! It wasn't enough.

Bootcamp started at 6:30, and I ran a bit for a warm-up.  We did MORE arm stuff (And I'm FEELING it!) and then I had some breakfast and headed out on the bike.  My plan was to take it really easy, since I'm supposed to be tapering for Ogden.  I rode up through Ivins, picked up my friend Kim, then headed out towards Gunlock for a little ways, turned around, and went through Santa Clara back to my house.  I ended up with 32.5 miles in 2:07:52, which I figure is okay for all the hills we did.

My body is wasted!!! So much for tapering...

I woke up at 5:00 to do intervals on the treadmill at the gym, but I was literally struggling just to finish a one mile warm-up.  It's not so much that my muscles are fatigued, just that the rest of me is exhausted!  I've actually been falling asleep while teaching music lessons - very bad.  I probably should have stayed in bed, but...

Anyway, I did a couple of high intensity intervals, but not the full workout.  All together, I ended up with 2.7 miles in 25:12.  Then I headed over to bootcamp training, where I was supposed to mostly watch, but they put peppy music on, and the next thing I knew I was doing plyometrics.  Ben would shoot me!  I'm seriously going to have to start tapering.  But first, I need to get a swim in.....

LATER....

Fighting against much negative inner dialogue, I finally made it to the pool this morning and forced myself to swim.  I figured I would have to wash my hair anyway, so I might as well get in the water.  I told myself I would do 20 lengths, and then...whatever.  I ended up doing 60 lengths.  It was a bit short of the 45 minutes I was supposed to do, (actually a LOT!) but I am happy about it anyway.  Yay!

I showed up for bootcamp training this morning, but no one else did, so Kim and I got our friend Helen and did a 19.5 mile bike ride in 1:22:17.  Just for fun, I made the girls switch to their running shoes and do a quickie mile after the ride, just to get our feet used to it.  It took 10:49 to do 1.12 miles, but we did a lot of walking, and the loop we ran was pretty hilly...so all in all, it wasn't too bad a run.  :D

I was feeling like I was about to get really sick when I went to bed Friday night. I think maybe it was because I am just so completely exhausted! I've been having a hard time getting enough sleep lately.  So I decided to skip my morning run and jsut take an extra day of rest.  After all, I AM supposed to be tapering!  Unfortunately, my inner alarm clock didn't cooperate, so I woke up at 5 anyway.   But I forced myself to stay in bed and at least pretend to sleep.  I think that helped a little.

My bootcamp buddies had to be in Washington at 8:00 AM for a parade we were marching in to promote our business.  I ended up doing sprints for most of the parade.  Then we went up to Zion's Canyon to hike the Observation Point Trail - four miles up, climbing about 2000 feet in elevation, and then four miles back down.  I headed up most of the way with an 18-year-old exchange student from Belgium, and we beat everyone else to the top by 45 minutes.  It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, even though we stopped several times to let some others catch up.  We finally just ditched them the second half of the hike.  I ran part of the way up some switch-backs, but I was going at a decent rate of speed all the way up, so I know my heart rate was nice and high.  I'm calling it a high intensity interval day.  And even though I can't count the miles as running miles, I know I got a better workout in.  I'm going to say I ran one mile, just for fun.  :D