TurboNurse

Wow! I have less than one week until my first ever TRIATHLON!!! I'm super excited about it! I really pray to God that I place in my category (Athena) but if it doesn't happen, that's OK to. I have another tri on my race list this year and this one is in August so I have time to brush up on my mad skillz! ha!

So Saturday was supposed to be an easy day because I did the Run for the Zoo 10k on Sunday. I messed that one up. I ran a super easy 2.5 miles with someone from the running group that I coach. Then I headed off to the West Mesa Pool (LOVE this pool!) for some tri training. The pool opened up to olympic distance (50m) for this weekend only. I HAD to hit the pool because I have never swam a straight 50m in my life and the Jay Benson Tri swim is set up in a pool with a length of 50m. I figured it was a great idea and I'm so glad I did it!

It was so different and I have to admit that I liked it a lot better than the 25 yard pool at the gym I'm used to. Swimming 50m at a time allowed me to fall into a zone and really get into myself. I would equate it to being a lot like running after your warmup. You just get into a zone and GO!. I wish there was a pool that I could swim in like this all the time. Total swim workout distance was 1800m (about 1.1 miles) in about an hour.

So then on Sunday was the 10k race. My goal for this race was not to PR and that's a hard thing for me to usually do. Try not to PR. I'm a competitve person by nature and it's hard for me to not try to do my best. This was an exercise in futility.

It started off looking like I was going to PR. I hit the first mile in 10:35 which is good for me. Then at the second mile things went south. I ate something for breakfast that I never should have and I paid for it dearly. I spent the next 5.2 miles trying to to throw up. It was miserable. I had to walk every quarter to half mile because my stomach would scream at me "Go any more and I will make a fool of you!" Argh!

The good thing that came out of it all is that I hit my goal of NOT PR-ing. I was about a minute slower than my normal overall time so all considering I still did well.

This week is still busy but I'm carefully planning my workouts so that I have some taper time before Jay Benson. The plan is to not exercise at all on Thursday and Friday which will be so hard. I'm not good at sitting around so I figure I'll clean my house up on those days. Saturday I have to coach but I'm not running, instead I will be walking. I was really thinking of cycling down there from home but then I remembered how I felt on Sunday with no taper and decided that would be a bad idea.

Today, Tuesday, I am going to run an easy 3 miles. Wednesday morning I will bike a super easy 15 miles with the emphasis on fast turnover and slow speed. A REAL recovery bike ride.

Wednesday afternoon is my audition day for church. A friend and I got together Sunday afternoon after I had time to rest from the race and get my insides back in order. It was very helpful. I helped her with harmony and she helped me with my solo song. For now I am just auditioning for a feature song which is a solo song. I know how to harmonize but to sing it is wierd to me. I always feel off and am not really confident in my harmonizing skills although after Sunday I'm ready and willing to give it a try. I'm going to let my voice rest for today since I sang for almost 3 hours straight on Sunday and sang for about an hour last night.

I have a lot to be excite for this week so I'm really looking forward to it.

Oh yeah, the other half of my training plan (not counting workouts and rest) includes good nutrition and stretching/yoga/massage to help ease this constant ache I've had in my quads for the past two weeks when I was peaking in training.

So say some prayers for me to do well this week. I could use all the help I can get. I know the Lord wouldn't put me where I am now if He thought I couldn't do it but it's nice to know that I have other people backing me up as well.

God bless!