Meandering Starre

Did my first swim and bike workout : 450 m swim mix of strokes and 9.23 on the bike including 2 miles warm up/cool down. The water did not feel as good as it did in my first swim, and I was actually slower. I had issues with the Expresso bike, which slowed me down at times. After I was quite body exhausted.

Workout: Swim
Time:18:33. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time : 1:40?
Distance: 450 meters
Strokes: Side, breast, and crawl
Total training distance to date: 900 meters
Body condition: not as good as last time. Had to share a lane and was too focused on not kicking my partner.
Time of day: evening

Workout: Bike (Expresso bike)
Time: 42:15
Courses(s): Stump Puller, with a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down on Expresso Speedway
Distance: 9.23
Total training distance to date: 78.53
Body condition: Fine
Weather: Inside
Time of day: evening

This comet ride was a bit slower than the last, but we did start later and it was a very hot day. This may have been one of my longest bike rides.

Workout: Bike (distance on the comet)
Time: ~2:00
Distance: 30
Average Speed: 15.2
Total training distance to date: 69.3 (since 6/4)
Body condition: Felt pretty good on the way out. It actually went by pretty fast. I was fine except for the last two miles at the end when my body decided it was done. Only minor breathing issues.
Weather: High 80s to low 90s and humid. Sunny. Too hot!
Time of day: late morning/noon
Nutrition: 1 GU pack before and a Luna bar, 1 GU & water during

Tonight Bill and I did out now scheduled spinning class and yoga. We’ve found the spinning instructor does not quite fit our needs. It is a decent class, but it does not push me as much as many of the other instructors I have had for spinning. Unfortunately the class works out nearly perfectly with a yoga class shortly after. The yoga instructor is my favorite at this YMCA. He does classic yoga and most of it is pretty simple and seemingly easy moves, but the way he does them makes them rather hard. It is a good class to go easy or hard, which is perfect for me. However, we may switch this spinning and yoga workout to another night to get a better spin class.
Here’s my workout summary:

Workout 1: Bike (spinning)
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: n/a
Total spinning time to date (6/4): 1:15
Body condition: Minor sciatic issues (right leg) when doing the standing moves, otherwise fine
Time of day: Evening

Workout 2: Core/Yoga
Time:55 min
Total spinning time to date (since June 4th): 1:50
Body condition: Tight in the right side, left felt increasingly warm and loose (both in good ways), Right tightened some but the move where we swung our arms under our legs and then halfway up hurt the right sciatic nerve a lot. Had minor sciatic issues throughout besides this.
Time of day: Evening

Workout: Bike (distance on the comet)
Time: ~1:37 biking
Distance: 25
Average Speed: just under 16 mph
Total training distance to date: 39.3
Body condition: legs tired on way and back going up hill and for the last mile. After I had some odd blurry sight issues, similar to the ocular migraines I get. It cleared up in about 30 minutes (I may have pushed a bit too much too soon), but otherwise I felt fine after. Breathing issues (out of breath) during longer uphills.
Weather: Mid 80s and humid. Sunny.
Time of day: mid morning/noon
Nutrition: 1 Gu packs, Gatorade after, water during

This was a decent ride. I feel pretty tired after—in the rather nice way I get after a long run. I will sleep tonight. I think this was close to my limit right now, until I get back in shape (as the vision issues may suggest). Bill took off the last 5 miles, but I managed decent speed behind him, obstacles (like traffic) aside. The last mile or so probably was the biggest difference, as my legs were about done. We both ended up covered in bugs, even in some odd places. Bill somehow got more than me, especially on his arms.

July 30th was swimming and spinning day. Once I week I’m trying to do a spinning class as training. It gives me “hill” work and interval training, and often forces me to go faster then I might on my own. Plus, the spinning bikes are probably the best bikes in the gym as far as similarity in riding experience as to my road bike. The Expresso bikes I use the rest of the time are also good, but the other one do not work well. The spinning instructor was a sub, but good.

I also swam another 500 meters. My body didn’t really want to swim and I had a few more issues than my last swim, but I did it. I only swallowed two mouthfuls of water.

Swim workout

Workout: Swim
Time:17:300 or so. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time : 1:40 (I think my original 1:30 lap time was off)
Distance: 500 meters
Total training distance to date: 1350 meters
Body condition: awkward but fine
Time of day: morning

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (spinning)
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: n/a
Total spinning time to date: 45 minutes
Body condition: Fine
Weather: Inside
Time of day: Morning

More biking and swimming on 7/28. I swam further than the sprint tri distance, which rocks! Now I know I can do the swim, as long as I don’t have other issues. I am really finding the swimming easier than last year.

Swim workout

Workout: Swim
Time:17:00 or so. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time :1:35
Distance: 500 meters
Total training distance to date: 850 meters
Body condition: Slight breathing problems
Time of day: Late afternoon

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (medium ride: black level course “Oh Mama”, lots of hills)
Time: 39 minutes
Distance: 7.8
Total training distance to date: 40.84
Body condition: Fine
Weather: inside
Time of day: Early evening

On 7/25 I completed two workouts: a 25 mile bike ride with a friend (whom I have not asked it I can use his name here yet, so he will remain anonymous for now), and the a strength and toning class with Bill.

The bike ride was good. The friend bikes a lot and it generally more into it, especially from a commuting and multiple use perspective, than I. We had biked together previously in his element—city streets—and we both were looking forward to biking in my element, so he could see what I could do. I was also interested to see which of us was faster. The answer soon became clear that he was generally faster, but that I have probably more endurance, which makes sense from our biking perspectives. My asthma kicked in several times, which greatly decreased my bike speed. But when I was breathing well we got into the 22 mph + range, which rocked.

The strength and toning class was taught by a sub and more of a core and leg work course, just what I needed after 25.6 miles of biking. I took it easy on the leg stuff, and, sadly, there was not enough upper body work that I was even sore the next day. In other words, the class had little to do with what it should have.

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (distance on the comet)
Time: ~1:15 biking (I think)
Distance: 25.6
Total training distance to date: 33.04
Body condition: Asthma issues
Weather: July in Atlanta
Time of day: mid morning/noon
Nutrition: 2 Gu packs, Gatorade after, water during

“Other” Workout

Workout: Strength and toning (or core and legs this time)
Time: 1 hour class
Total training time to date: 1 hour
Body condition: fine
Time of day: afternoon

Today I did my first swim of the tri training season. I was somewhat concerned about it, because it has been months. However, it went rather well. The pool was full, so I had to do circle laps. However, that worked out nicely, as the other two women were slower. So, I got some breathing time at the end of each lap, which I still need. However, I don’t need the breathing time nearly as bad as I did last training cycle. I must be improving. I had no idea how far I could go. I was rather impressed that I did 350 meters without real problems. I was beginning to feel my arms towards the end (and feel the a bit now), but otherwise I was fine. I stopped at 3250 meters because I did not want to push it.

I also did a stationary bike ride of 33 minutes. I used the good bikes at the gym that remind me the most of actually biking. I choose a harder hilly course. I was very sweaty, but otherwise felt fine.

Swim workout

Workout: Swim
Time:12:43 or so. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time :1:30
Distance: 350 meters
Total training distance to date: 350 meters
Body condition: Slight breathing problems
Time of day: Late afternoon

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (medium ride: black level course “Stormy [Something]”, lots of hills)
Time: 33 minutes
Distance: 7.44
Total training distance to date: 7.44
Body condition: Fine
Weather: inside
Time of day: Early evening