Feeling accomplished!

It’s 6am on Sunday, the time and day of the week I am usually heading out the door for my longest/most difficult workout of the week.  Instead, I am sitting on the couch, listening to the rain hit the desert floor.  Yes, once in a blue moon, Phoenix gets rain.  Fortunately, the news-people were good enough to let us know about it well in advance. 

But, that’s ok – the past few days have been amazing!  At 5pm on Wednesday, my college’s administrative offices were officially on Spring Break.  Knowing well in advance about today’s rain simply meant we all needed to shift our training plans a smidge. 

Thursday I woke early because I had a HUGE day planned with my great friend, Kris.  I made my way to the gym’s pool at 4:45am hoping I might get a lane (Thursday seems to be the choice day for swimmers).  I managed to get a lane, but only had it to myself for about ten minutes.  Around 5am a very experienced swimmer, who seemed to glide effortlessly through the water, asked to share my lane.  Naturally, I shared, but not without huge trepidation. 

About 30 minutes into my workout, my spin instructor Steve saw me struggling to keep up.  He took the opportunity to ask me if I wanted a lesson.  I nodded vigorously – especially if it meant I might be able to EVER swim like the fishy in the lane with me.  “Out of the Pool,” he snapped at me.  “Walk the lane with me.”  He explained that I work too hard (something he also told me in spin class on Wednesday…sigh.)  He had me watch the gal (Chrissy) with whom I was sharing a lane.  “See how her body is level in the water?  You need to bring your ass up and kick a hell of a lot less.  Watch her.  Now (holding hand at an angle) THIS is what your body looks like.”  I got it.  It made sense.  But…how?  We got back in the water and he loaned me some floaty-devise that I squeezed between my legs and BAM! up my butt went!   THIS WAS HUGE…HUGE!!!!  Everything changed.  I was working smarter, not harder.  And 70 minutes later I seriously wanted to continue learning to do it better. 

After a fantastic morning swim (thanks to my spin instructor, who is now also my swim coach), I met my friend, Kris, and we spent the day up north shopping the outlets and enjoying wineries and art galleries.  It was incredibly fun and relaxing.  Just what we both needed on our first day off for Spring Break!

Kris took this pic of me with our nosh plate and vino!

Kris and Me in Jerome, AZ - so much fun!

Friday morning I got up relatively early and headed out for a run.  Two weeks ago I had done the same run with Thuy, Brent and Jacqui, so I figured it would be good to make sure I can always handle a decent, hilly 10 miler – I have always said, it would be great, if I never really had to train to run a ½ marathon – this would keep me in shape for that goal.  My times have been steadily improving on my 6 milers due to the cross-training I am doing.  And, Friday I had my BEST time on my 10 miler – even with the hills and stoplights – 1:36!  Two weeks ago it was 1:43 – and seven minutes is a big deal (to me)!  My last several miles were between a 9:02 and 9:21 pace -- I was in the best mood and it set the tone for the rest of the day.

After a night of scotch and lasagna with several of my best friends, I woke up Saturday morning to meet Jacqui at my gym.  I hope she knows just how grateful I am that she is willing to drive across town at the crack of dawn to workout with me.  Our goal was to do the swim/bike/ run combination.  Jacqui attempted it on Wednesday with huge success – so I was hopeful I would have the same success with her at my side. 

By 6:30am we were in the pool and by 6:50 we had hopped out feeling really pleased with our 800 meter swim.  Jacqui finished over 3 minutes before I did.  In fact, I looked up when she finished and thought, “seriously? I still have 6 laps!”  She was kind enough to wait it out.  We changed as quickly as we could and headed out to our cars where our bikes would need to be hoisted out for our 13 mile ride.  Neither of us felt exhausted from the swim, so when we hit the road we were chatty and in good moods.  We both admitted that we could feel it in our quads for the first several miles.  Jacqui drafted off me for the first 6.5 miles and then I drafted off of her on the way back to the gym.  Our riding paces are fairly similar – which makes us great riding partners.  The ride – although just over 40 minutes, did not seem overly taxing, either.  We then tossed our bikes into our cars and headed out for the last event – the run.  I had a 3.1 mile route planned for us.  Our legs were solid bricks for the first ½ mile and our pace was just over 10 minutes.  But, after the 1^st mile, we were chatting away and pulling 9:30’s and 9:40’s without batting an eye.  Not paying attention, I missed the turn off and we wound up adding nearly a mile to our route.  We agreed that it would be good for us – and continued on the route back to the gym. 

After the swim/bike/run in my car - feeling super pleased!

WHAT an accomplishment!  We felt great!  In fact, we both realized about ½ way into the run, that we can really do this!  We high fived each other and knew that we can not only pull off a Sprint Triathlon already – but we KNOW the Olympic length is not out of reach. 

So, let it rain.  Jacqui and I deserve a day of rest!