Week #9

This week was a pivotal week for me and the Ironteam because we passed our first recommitmend date and reaffirmed the commitment to beat cancer by finding a cure. My connection to the cause is my dad as he pasted away from leukemia on December 4, 2006.
My dad definitely helped me this week with some of the workouts. We are starting a new level of fitness and moving into stage 2 of training (there are 3 stages).

The workouts this week included a spin where we focused on progressive speed work.
We got up to 100 rpms per minute (that's moving your legs VERY quickly in one minute). As we are training to build endurance, this technique is an alternative option to build endurance in a short period of time. I also completed 2 swims this week and 2 runs, along with a 30 mile bike ride. Oh and let's not forget about getting the core strong!

My coached workout on Saturday started off with a 30 mile bike ride, which was a preview for the Louie Triathlon (a triathlon named in a memory of a past TNT participant). I will be doing this same course on January 24th in the Louie Tri. We started in Pleasant Hill and road over to the Three Bears (if any of you are familiar with that bike route - it's named that way for a reason - hills) and this bike route involved going up and over Pig Farm Hill. There are 2 hills that are connected and the elevation grade is 8-10%. I wasn't sure my knee was gonna let me go up it, but with the help of my dad - I made it up PIG FARM HILL!!!

After 2.5 hours of bike riding, it was time to get in the pool. Now normally you swim first in a tri so my arms/shoulders felt very funny when I initially started swimming after biking. It took me about half way through the workout for my body to adjust and feel good. We did a number of ladder workouts where we do 2 laps at a low intensity and build up to more laps at a higher intensity and come back down.

My coach was giving me some feedback on grabbing the most amount of water by really extending my right hand and as I was listening to him, I saw a bee in the water. I gently cupped it and move it into the gutter. While the bee must not have made it into the gutter because when I put my left arm on the wall, the damn bee stung me! I had the entire stinger and the bee's butt in my arm. One of my teammates was able to get the stinger out. I haven't been stung in a long time and that hurt. Believe it or not, that was the most painful thing that happened during the entire 5 hour workout.

I continued swimming uptil it was time to get out of the pool and change for core work. We did a variety of sit-ups, planks, and other fun stuff (not that fun).

My run this morning was a trail run on Strawberry Creek Canyon. It was such a beautiful morning and it was my first time all the way up the trail. Exciting times!

I have a huge red circle around where I got stung. I took some meds that will help with the itching, redness and swelling. I took a pic so I'll see if I can upload it.

Have a great week!
Dana