Can't Sleep... Vampires Will Bite Me

I really couldn't come up with a good subject line, and we're watching 'Underworld,' so...

Yesterday I set out to do a 15 mile ride, but after ten miles, I decided to do a brick. I stopped at my car and threw on all my running gear and set off on the trail. Within the first couple hundred yards, my right calf started cramping up with each step. Ow. I ended up running only maybe a little more than a mile, so I guess I wouldn't exactly call it a brick workout, but at least it was a bit of a transition practice.

My husband bought some bananas for me to help with the cramping. This morning when I left for work, there were four bananas left. Tonight when I got home from swimming, they were all gone. ::sad face:: I haven't bought bananas in a long time because I try to buy fruit and veggies that were grown in California (where I live). Sadly, there are no local banana growers. You know, climate and all. So anyway. I forgot how much the kids like bananas. (a lot) They also killed all but one of the pears David bought. Little fruit monkeys!

Back to training!

So today I took my wetsuit to the pool and swam in it. I think I've decided that I don't like swimming with the wetsuit. I do feel faster in it, however after about 200 yards, my arms were already tired. I think if I swim in a wetsuit, it needs to be a long john style one. It's possible that the wetsuit is a tad bit too small for me in the chest area. I swam about 300 yards and then took it off and finished my workout. I also spent about twenty minutes helping one of my lane mates with his butterfly stroke. It was fun!

Tomorrow is the Braveheart Brick Session at Mission Bay. I did it last week and it kicked my ass. I am looking forward to it this week. 1) because I now have my LOOK pedals and bike shoes, so I will be able to get some transition experience, and 2) because I want to see how my fitness has improved over the last week. I've been working pretty hard.

I am hovering around the 200 mark. I was 203.1 yesterday morning. I am hoping to hit the starting line at 199. How cool would that be?

Just a quickie

Almost 24 hours after the brick workout, my legs are still feeling it.

I'm going to run three miles tonight before I pick up the boys from preschool. I had a mini-panic attack about the triathlon today. FIFTEEN DAYS! ::begins hyperventilating again:: My heart rate just went up. I should put my heart rate monitor on.

I know it's going to be awesome, but man, I am nervous! And also: all of the ocean swims I've done so far have been from South to North, but the Carlsbad Tri has us going from North to South. What? Are we swimming against the current? Or is the current just different up there? Is that possible? Where is my paper bag?

I've lost two pounnds this week. The granola bar and panic attack diet works well for me! ;)

She's a Brick... House

I did a brick session with the tri club tonight. Lesley Paterson of Braveheart Fitness Coaching led the workout, and it was awesome. We did a ten minute warm-up run (well, jog, if we're being honest here), followed by a five minute warm-up on the bike (we were all on stationary trainers).

For those new to triathlon: a "brick" is when you do two of the triathlon events back-to-back. The most important one is the transition from the bike to the run leg of the race, because your legs are PISSED when you get off of that bike and try to make them run.

So, we're all warmed up and ready to go. Lesley announced that we were doing four blocks. Each block would consist of five-one minute intervals and then a quarter mile run. It doesn't sound very challenging, does it? Ya, well it is. haha Ok, so we were instructed to start the first interval in a hard gear, pedaling at about 80 RPM. After each minute, you shift into an easier gear, and pedal faster. By the end of the five minutes, my quads were ready for a break, but they didn't get one, because it was time for the run.

Because Lesley is a wonderful human being, she set me off running about twenty seconds before everyone else, so I wouldn't be running alone the whole time. It was nice, I finished with the group, instead of feeling like I was working out alone.

Then back on the bike! Lather, rinse, repeat three more times, then we cooled down for a few minutes, and that was it! I don't feel that I am going out on a limb when I say that I think I may be a little sore tomorrow. What a great workout.

The workout took place at Tecolote Shores along Mission Bay, right next to a big playground. Several toddlers stopped to watch us pedal away, it made me smile and think of my boys. There was some sort of boot camp fitness type deal going on a couple hundred yards away from where our bikes were set up. It was all women, and they were doing up-and-backs on the grass. There was a woman in the group whom I immediately identified as "one of me." She was walking and behind the rest of the group. I high-fived her and said "good job" as I went by her. I hope she keeps it up.

I am so going to bed right now.