Gale was scheduled to shoot some cycling and triathlon training videos today at Active. I decided it would be a good opportunity to meet my coach and get some footage for the blog so I volunteered to be one of the "models".

I don't normally think of myself as awkward but in the world of triathletes, I just might be. I wear old clothes, my face gets bright red when I work out, and no matter how hard I try I come home from every ride with a grease stain on my leg in the shape of a chain ring.

Standing next to Gale it is easy to tell, who is the coach and who is the rookie. Gale wore matching Pearl Izumi pinks and black that reached from the trim on her shirt to the mesh in her shoes: I wore a ratty jersey I got for free in Japan eight years ago.  Gale's frame is tiny and her body, trim: I kept pulling at my shirt, in hopes of covering up my tummy. I forgot sunscreen, I didn't shave my legs, and of course I gave myself a tire mark in between video takes.

Most of the video shoots were done with Jesse's bike and Jesse, the other model, spent the prior evening making it presentable. He wiped the tubes, dug the dirt out of the cogs, lubed the chain and tightened screws that needed to be tightened.

When we put my bike on the rack I noticed everything I didn't think to do the night before. My handlebar tape was peeling, the gearing was caked in dirt, the brilliant blue tubes were covered in a light gray dust and my cyclometer screen was dead.  

"Eek, it's kind of dirty," I said.

Gale was polite. "It's OK, you can do what you like; personally, I prefer a clean bike."

We laughed and I made a mental note to buy some chain lube.

At the end of the day, we discussed what still needed to be done. Gale stopped mid-sentence to wipe what was undoubtedly a grease stain on my forehead.

Gale, It was great finally meeting you. Thanks for all the training and racing tips!

In the 50s and cloudy would be a fine day for a swim in most cold-weather places, but southern California has spoiled me and I was too wimpy to swim today. I chose to sit here in front of my computer and drink hot tea instead. 

In case you couldn't tell from my Cayman Workout, my new year's resolutionto complete all my January workoutsis not working out too well. I can't seem to tackle all the sports at once. in the beginning I felt like my run was suffering as I missed a few key run workouts. Now that running is getting easier, I feel like I am missing too many swim workouts.

I can feel an overall improvement in my fitness and endurance, however, and that has me motivated and feeling positive about my progress.  

Observing the drinking habits of Irish Midwesterners is a workout in-and-of itself. Luckily I did not try to keep their pace, but sought a happy median between meager exercise and relaxing island time. When 50 people from the same family/friend network are gathered together on an island you tend to slow down a little bit. Although only one of my workouts was probably in line with my program, I did stay (slightly) active in addition to all the drinking and lounging. 

We arrived on Wednesday with just enough time for a night cap. Thursday we packed our bags and headed about 4 miles north on foot to Lacovia, where we stayed the rest of the time. We made it a point not to get in a car that first day on the Island which meant we also walked the mile to and from the rehearsal dinner. On our morning trek we made a friend:

Friday we woke up early (9:30) and ran (dragged our feet) on the beach. For some reasonthe heat, humidity, alcohol???we were sluggish and that mere 20  minutes seemed to last an eternity. Josh actually asked how long we had been running only 2 minutes in.

Saturday we went snorkeling, which doesn't require that much exertion but I was technically swimming  and my heart rate did go up when we got to stingray city.

Sunday was wedding day but we did manage to squeeze in a tennis match prior to pina coladas and wine.

Today was another travel day but I am looking forward to my swim workout tomorrow--sans snorkel mask and hangover.

As the new year gets under way I have been tempted by a few races that friends are signing up for. How do I know where I can fit shorter running and biking races into my training plan leading up to the main Wildflower event?

Since Josh was home for the holidays we decided to do my hour and a half training ride together. When we took inventory of the bikes in our garage, we found only 1 road bike and 1 mountain bike, but we had 2 beach cruisers. We chose to bike from Pacific Beach in San Diego to Ocean Beach for breakfast at our favorite vegetarian friendly, Mexican joint--Ranchos!

Note: The entire ride took a little over an hour and a half and I was unable to finish my breakfast burrito. Also, it was not until after the ride that I read Gale's notes about max heart rate--see comment in previous post.

The rest of the week it was difficult to maintain my training schedule. Other than a short walk with the dogs on Christmas day, I was unable to make time for the workouts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I am picking it back up today and I am hoping to do better over New Years--even though we will be leaving sunny San Diego for the cold climate in Chicago.

I was in the Santa Cruz mountains this past weekend visiting my boyfriend. He lives across the street from an open space preserve with lots of great trails so we went for a trail run instead of doing the shorter run I was supposed to do.

I was supposed to do a timed 1-mile run on a flat course at heart rate 9-11 beats below my lactate threshold heart rate. Gale, What does that mean and can/should I still work this in.

Week Two Workouts (11/26-12/2)

-I swapped Monday and Tuesday's workouts, and Wednesday and Thursday's workouts, so I am swimming on Mon/wed and running / cycling on Tues and Thurs.

-I did ActiveX on Friday instead of resting.

-I did not get the chance to run on Saturday.

-My bike workouts were longer and more intense than they were supposed to be.

Week Three workouts (12/3-12/9)

-I missed my Wednesday swim

-I rested on Thursday as well

-I did my bike ride and strength training on Friday instead of Thursday.

-I plan to do the Saturday run and the Sunday ride as planned.

Thoughts and Questions:

Swim: I like having my swims on Monday and Wednesday so I would like to stick with that.

Strength: I am still trying to fit ActiveX into my schedule but I am not sure how that will conflict with climbing in the future. Plus one of the ActiveX days is Friday, which is supposed to be my rest day.

Bike: I ride with a lot of people who are better than me, when should I go alone and when is it OK to push myself on what is supposed to be a low intensity ride?

Yoga: Finally, If I wanted to get in on an occasional yoga class, what would be the best day for that?

On another note: I signed up for Wildflower  over the weekend--even though every time I mention it, people tell me it is one of the most difficult triathlons out there...and even though I read this article  about the race.

Looks like I will have to do a lot of hill training to prepare. Bring it on!

My training plan started last week--the Monday before Thanksgiving. In the past I have used the holidays as a great excuse to be lazy, skip workouts and just relax. Then the New Year rolls around and I have to start all over again and get back into shape.

This time I was determined to try harder: It worked the first half of the week when my job still added structure to my day and I could do my workouts at lunch. I even felt good about doing the Monday runeven though it was late and dark, and doing the Tuesday swimeven though it was overcast and cold.

Then Wednesday came and I had every intention to do the bike workout...BUT...my family was in town for the holidays, and when I am with my family I have a hard time pulling away from all the fun. The closest I came to exercise while they were here was during our outing at the park. We had handstand competitions and sprint races, we played Frisbee and we had a slackline  set up--nylon webbing stretched between two trees that you can balance on and practice walking across. But does any of that count as exercise if you are doing the activity with a beer in your hand?

My family left yesterday and this morning I got up early to do my swim before work. It felt good to get back on my own schedule and I am hoping that I can find a good rhythm over the next month to help me cruise through Christmas/New Years/My birthday week at the end of December.