I can do it!

Ben and I got up good and early and met Craig at the gym to do some spinning.  We started about 20 minutes before the spin class started, so we were able to log a few extra miles.  I did 23 miles in 1:13:40.  Ususally, I just free spin on Mondays, but I decided that if I wanted to get stronger, I would need to start really participating, even if my legs were recovering.  So I did, and I surprised myself by doing really well.  :D

Then this evening, Ben, Craig, and I went to the pool for some swimming.   Again, instead of just doing laps, I decided to do the drills with the guys.  Wow!  I'm SLOW compared to them.  But I think I will get faster if I just stick to it, so that's my plan.  I swam 3750 yards in about 90 minutes.  Whew!!!

Back to the track for speedwork this morning!  This time, I was very careful to stay on the inside of the track, where I knew no pine cones would be hiding!  I had a great workout, doing 8x200 @ 0:45, with a warm-up and then a cool-down at the end.  Our total distance was 3.1 miles in 24:40.

Later this morning, I met Jamie and Erica at the WCCC and swam another 2250 of drills with them...I'm slow compared to them, too!  I guess I really need to work on my technique....  :S

Oh, and one more thing....I REGISTERED FOR IRONMAN TODAY!!!  AHHHHHH!!!!!  So now I'm committed...or should be.  I'm pretty excited and scared, but mostly excited.  Yay!!!!

Ben and I had planned to get up early for spin class again, but thenm we were tired, so we decided to sleep in instead.  :)

So we joined the Tri Club at the WCCC this evening for their spin/swim workout.  We did 50 minutes of spinning, and then followed it up with a swim.  I did a pyramid workout...300 warm-up, 2x50, 2x100, 2x150, 1x200, 2x150, 2x100, 2x50, and a 300 cool-down.  Tired now!!!

Today was a tempo run day. I ran with my friend Autumn....she's pretty new to this "training" thing, meaning she's been running for years, but never done drills or speedwork, or any other kind of specific training.  But she runs pretty close to my paces during races, or at least she USED to, so I thought she'd be a great running partner.  Ben, Craig, and the two of us drove up the marathon course 8 miles, and then did a 1.5 mile warm-up at 8:46 pace, a 5 mile tempo run at 8:16 pace, and a 1.5 mile cool-down at 10:00 pace.  Our total time for the 8 miles was 1:09:27.  Autumn really struggled up the hills, so I am going to have to work with her to get her to be more steady.  That affected our times a little, but since we were running faster than planned anyway, it all averaged out.  I want to get so that we can keep our pace consistent no matter what the terrain.  :)

This evening I did 20 miles on the spin bike in 55:42 and then did an hour of yoga.

I had my long run this morning with Autumn.  The goal was to go around 18 miles at a 10:00 pace, but my legs were TIRED, and a few miles into it I started to have some real tightening in my right soleus.  So we ended up doing 15.4 in 2:40:09...and I am DONE.  :S

I biked the Veyo Loop this morning.  The wind was fierce and I have never done any cycling in that kind of wind, so I was extrememly slow.  I had been on the bike almost 2 hours before I took my first nutrition break, and then all I had was some perpetuem.  An hour later, I drank the rest of my perpetuem bottle, and had a few honey-roasted peanuts.  The ride ended up being 58.5 miles, and it took me 4:26:49.  By the time I finished, I had absolutely nothing left, but I knew I needed to try to get a transition run in, so I drank some gatorade and ate a couple of cliff rocks, switched shoes, and headed back out the door.  I made it about 2.5 miles before my soleus locked up again, so I quit at 4 miles...and it took me 38:23 to do that much.  After yesterday and today, I'm having serious doubts about whether or not I can actually DO an Ironman...but I'm going to put that out of my mind and keep doing the stuff I'm supposed to do, and not worry about it.