January 21-27

Swim: 12,220yds, 3 swims

Bike: 55 miles, 3 rides

Run: 40 miles, 5 runs

Total Time: 12:02:39

Well, this week was quite interesting.  I would like to say that I got everything settled in my apartment and got my schedule figured out, and everything went smoothly…but that would be a lie. In the million years (okay so maybe it hasn’t been a million years, it’s only been five) I’ve been at Greenville, our workout days are always Tues/Thurs.  This week, for some reason, we moved Vo2 Max to Wednesday and tempo to Thursday…and I was a pretty unhappy camper. I survived, but I wasn’t thrilled by it.

Running went okay this week. We had our classic 16x200m w/200m jog recovery this week. Every year I have done it, I have been able to run sub :30 for all of the 200s—this year I was struggling to hold :31. Am I slower this year? Maybe. The strength is there, but the top end speed may be a little harder to find. I think this may be a sign that I could possibly be ready to move up in distance to the 5k/10k!

Swimming is quickly becoming one of my favorite activities! I had two swim TT’s this week, and they were both PR’s. I’m not sure if I like swimming now because A) I am getting faster B) workouts don’t seem to be taking as long C) I am able to recover quicker from the workouts now. I’m not sure what Coach Steve is doing to me, but whatever it is, I like it!

 (I miss indoor track!)

I went to watch my Greenville teammates run at Olivet over the weekend. It was weird to be sitting in the stands, rather than racing. I knew I would miss racing, but I didn’t know I would miss track that much. I will get to race unattached once or twice this indoor season—I can’t wait. This past fall I was having a hard time deciding where I was going to be attending school in the spring or what sport to do. I had to decide between running track or racing triathlons. I was pretty set on going to NIU and racing triathlons. The more I thought about it, I felt I should use my last track season. I came to the conclusion that I don’t want to be 40 years old and look back and wish I ran my final season of track. I think going to the meet over the weekend and just missing the sport was confirmation enough that I made the right decision. March cannot come soon enough!

Song of the week: Rush- Tom Sawyer

Y’all have a great week!

Top 9 Most Played Songs on My iPod as of January 2013

I have been meeting a lot of new people the past few weeks, and they are always shocked that anyone could spend so much time working out. Heck, I don’t even spend that much time workout out compared to some! One of their first questions is always, “What do you think about when you are running or biking for hours?” I usually answer with something about a recap of the day, or nothing…or sometime I talk out loud to myself and work through all of my crazy thoughts. Sometimes during really tough workouts I like to think of mean names to call my coaches and all the angry things I want to say to them—then the workout is over and everything is fine again.

Their next question is usually, “do you listen to music? What kind of music do you listen to? What gets you through the long workouts?” That is a very good question, because I love all music. But I figured out this would be a good time to check out my iPod and see what my top 9 most played songs are. Why 9? I don’t know, it just sounds like a round number to me. I haven’t actually looked in a while, so this could be interesting for all. So, here we go.

9. The Pig—Showbread

            This has been one of my favorite bands since jr high. This whole album is actually really good. It is definitely an acquired sound, but it’s a sound I like!

8. Roses—Outkast

            I used to get in trouble for listening to this song in junior high, because it was "bad". Okay, so there may be a few “bad” words in it, but they bleeped them out on the TV. How was I supposed to know they didn’t do that on the CD? Really though, what was there not to like about Speakerboxxx/The Love Below?

7.  Roll With Me—Montgomery Gentry

            I love country music, and this is definitely one of my favorite country songs. The line, “Who knows what’s up ahead, I think I'd rather not know instead” is probably my favorite part of the song. Every day is a gift and an adventure!

6. Supernatural—Flyleaf

            I have always liked this song, and although it is not a “pump up” song, it is my 6^th most played.  This song is also special to me, because it is the song I listened to on repeat for days when my high school track coach (JP) died. He was an amazing man, and I would not have the love of running/racing/training if it were not for him!

5.  The Sharpest Lives--My Chemical Romance

            My Chemical Romance has been one of my favorite bands since Headfirst for Halos come out. Great band. Great songs. Great workouts!

4. HYFR—Drake

            What can I say about this? It’s Just a fun song and video. Really though, Take Care is one of my favorite albums—I am surprised there are not more songs from Take Care in my top 7!

3.  I’ll Be Missing You--Puff Daddy

            I remember when I heard this song for the first time like it was yesterday. 

2. Edge of Seventeen—Stevie Nicks

            I was shocked this was my #2 most played. I mean I love the song and Stevie, but I didn’t think it would make it into my top 10. I like Stevie’s solo stuff, and I also like Fleetwood Mac.

So, what is my most played song? Heck, I am slightly embarrassed this is my most played song—but the numbers don’t lie. Here it is.

1. Dance (A$$) Remix—Big Sean ft. Nicki Minaj

            No comment.

 Now that I have done a top 9 most played songs, I may have to do a top 5 favorite bands sometime.  Only 2 of 9 songs came from top 5 favorite bands. I am actually rather surprised at my top 9.

What are your top 5 (or 9) most played songs?

Week of Jan 14-20

Swim: 11,580yds, 3 swims

Bike: 62 miles, 3 rides
Run: 41.25 miles, 4 runs
Total time: 12:11

I moved back to Greenville this week, and my training kind of took a hit. I could go on with excuses like the pool was closed a few days, or it was moving day, but really it was just a rough week.  Coach decided to turn the intensity of the bike workouts up a little this week, and I don’t think I was quite expecting it (although I did say “bring it on” in one of our conversations). I think the life stress and training stress just took its toll on me.  By Friday I was actually pretty freaked out with how “awful” the week of training was, so Coach got an email with all of my crazy thoughts and how the world was ending and blah blah blah.  Apparently, this isn’t the first time somebody has had a rough week, and Coach knew exactly what to say to calm me down and salvage the week. And really, when you look back at the total for the week...it really isn't a "bad" week!

 (I can't get this song out of my head!)

Thursday was moving day. I made it to Greenville just in time for practice. Friday I got to head to St Louis to hang out with a few of my best friends. Saturday morning I races the Frozen Bunz Run 10k in St Louis and won in a course record time--wasn’t a pr, but it was fun!  And, John Spencer, a former Greenville teammate, won the 5k! Good showing for GC! After the race, we just hung out and had a good time. I think it was good to get away and have a fun weekend to get my mind off training. Sunday I had a good swim (first swim in a while) but an even better bike workout in the evening and that is when I figured out Coach really wasn’t lying, and I am just fine.

 

Also, if you were wondering, dad is keeping up on his half marathon training! I may not be home, but he is still keeping up with it. I’m still pretty pumped for him.  I’ll have to give him a call and see how he likes this “cold” weather… He thought it was cold when it was 25 and now there is a high of about 10! Woohoo! It’s a little warmer down here in Greenville, but even I thought it was slightly chilly today. (I’m thinking a FL or TX vacation would be fun right now)

 

 So what’s on tap for this week? Well, I need to work on getting a schedule set. I would like to get back to my earlier bedtime time, and earlier wake up time.  I need to figure out what the best time for me to get my workouts in will be.  I also need to organize my room—I moved in on Thursday, but I never actually unpacked! Online classes will also be in full swing, so I need to get back into “school mode” after being out of it for a while.  Should be a fun, exciting week.

 

What’s on tap for YOU this week? Anything fun?

The Week of Jan 7-13

Swim: 17,000 yards, 5 swims

Bike: 40 miles, 2 rides

Run: 44 miles, 5 runs
Total time: 12:25

This week was interesting.  I finally had a full week of track workouts mixed in with tri training.  I forgot how much I actually missed being a middle distance runner.  There is just something about doing workouts on the track that makes you feel fast.  I also love when we have some short repeats like 800m and below, it can be a nice change from the long daily grind of the longer swims and longer rides.  Although the short stuff is fun, it also adds an added challenge to training.  Since I put the speed on the backburner for a while, my body is still adjusting to the quicker turn over, and just the different feel of the different styles of running.  However, this week’s track workouts were very encouraging – I am looking forward to racing soon!

 (Looking forward to one more chance at the 4x800m record!)

Tri training has been pretty uneventful…and by uneventful I actually mean awesome, but without any major hiccups.  I’m loving it.  After 2 months of consistent workouts, I no longer think my coach is crazy.  I am seeing improvements in my swim—each week some workouts seem to get a little easier for me to complete, and others seem to just drain me…and it is fun!  I didn’t know if I would be thrilled about all of this swimming, but I am still motivated and ready to work hard.

I am moving back down to Greenville this week, and I full of mixed emotions.  I cannot wait to go back and hang with the distance crew at Greenville. After getting to know the guys over the past 4-5 years, I am happy I get to finish out my final track season with them. It will also add a little spice to the running workouts—I love running alone, but some days a group is nice.  I also have Lee and Kraig to bike and swim with, so training should be fun!  As as excited as I am for Greenville, I will miss training with Wyatt and the NIU Triathlon Club. Wyatt is a high school SR and freak in the pool (this kid would be perfect for draft legal racing!). Every once in a while he is nice enough to slow down and drag me through my workouts…at 6 am, before he goes to school! I have also gotten to know everyone at NIU and they are a fun group.  I look forward to (hopefully) many more workouts with y’all.

Dad’s half marathon training is coming along well.  He has finished his first week, and I think he is finally starting to get excited to race.  He keeps trying to tell me it is cold outside though… He thinks that if it is “cold” I may soften up and let him have an easier/shorter day.  Not happening!  The only thing he hates more than the cold is the treadmill.  So he just goes outside and gets it done.

Have a great week everybody.  Stay safe, and enjoy!  If you have any questions for me, or a topic you would like me to cover, just let me know!

Dec 31 - Jan 6 ...a Fun Week

A recap of the past week of training:

Swim – 17,110 yards [5 swims]
Bike – 42 miles [2 rides]
Run – 45 miles [5 runs]

Well, I have survived another week of training! Coach Steve Johnson has been working my butt off with the swim, but it is fun.  Swimming is by far my weakest of the three disciplines. I am enjoying the challenge of more swimming and working on trying to be able to pop off a decent swim split. The first few weeks of this I thought he was absolutely crazy, but I am really enjoying it now.

This was also my highest running mileage week in the last year or so. It felt great to be out there doing what I love. I also got in a couple good runs with friends, so that made things even more enjoyable.

This was also the first week of real track workouts. (Have I ever told you how much I love tempo run day? Because I do!) As a redshirt SR at Greenville College, I am trying to prepare for one final track season, along with a tri season.  This may not be the best way to do it, but in the end it will all work out. I had been missing some speed work and the track, so I was thrilled when I found out I would be on the track on Thursday.  I am getting excited to start to start racing on the track again!

For Christmas I got a Garmin 310XT and a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, so training has been fun the past few weeks with these new toys.  I enjoy being able to just head out the door and run, without having to map out a run later to find out how far I had gone, or try and remember where mile markers are on tempo runs.

Lastly, Dad started his training cycle for his half marathon today! I am so extremely excited to watch his journey to the half marathon.  We got to run his first 5k together this summer, and then he raced a 3 mile and a 10k.  He asked me to make him a training plan for a spring half marathon, so I did…hopefully he follows it. I can't tell if I am more excited for him to be racing a half marathon, or if he is more excited to be doing it.

 Happy 2013! I got to spend my NewYear with this wonderful puppy...and some good friends.