Friday, September 26, 2008

Not a morning person..

Just wanted to thank everyone for their awesome support on my blog!! Thank you!!! I don't claim to be a rockstar by ANY means, but it's nice to know people are so supportive. There are days that I think i've really gone overboard with this triathlon thing. Ironman training definitely doesn't allow for much of a balance in life and I like having time to do other things....but, I can dig deep for the next 8 weeks and get 'er done.

Coming off a challenging weekend, I wasn't sure what to expect this week. Tuesday I had a trainer ride before track..and then...I had an AWESOME track work out....we had to do 6x800 repeats (a total of twelve laps) so..each 800 was supposed to get faster...and I DID IT! I started out with a time in the 7:05 pace.....and then went all the way down to my last 800 which was at a 6:24 pace..and I seriously was FLYING. I don't usually say that about my own running, but I felt really good and even after just a day off and a long weekend, I nailed my workout! Wednesday was, oh god, I can't even remember what I did on Wednesday, Oh, I rode for 60 minutes and swam 90. Yesterday was terrible, a crappy 60 minute run that went awful in 90 degree weather and then a swim for 75 min.

I finally came clean. I haven't been going to masters swim. For a while. Like, I can't even type how long because Amanda knows I haven't been going, but if I write it, then it's really bad. SO----what i've been doing is printing out my own workouts from a website, which I actually love. I'm really good at it. I meet all my intervals, the workouts are challenging and I can do them...whenever....I WANT.

Apparently that isn't good enough. It doesn't make me a better racer. I promised Amanda I would do masters at least twice a week (mind you i'm swimming about 4 times a week). Ok, I would try.

First attempt: Wednesday morning. I shut off the alarm, reset for 7:40 a.m.-and went to the EVENING masters swim. Partial success however..I want to be HOME at night. I don't want to be swimming or training near dinner, I want to be DONE. So, in order for me to do that, I have to get OUT of bed in the morning and swim.

My mornings have looked like this:
5:45a.m-alarm goes off and I think "I get off work at 1:30 today..i'll print out a swim workout and swim then"
*fast forward to later in the day
2:00 p.m.-swimming now, then I have to shovel in food, let out dogs, get bike in car and drive to where I bike and run......then, I get home close to 6:00 p.m...there goes dinner, and oh yeah, I haven't done laundry in days

I am at that point in my training now where i'm training 2-3 hours a day..so anything "extra" in the afternoon is extra painful.

This morning:
5:40 a.m.-alarm goes off, I stumble out of bed, thinking this isn't too bad. I nearly trip over my cocker spaniel who is dancing for his breakfast.....go downstairs, feed dogs, grab shampoo from tub for shower later, make lunch, gather breakfast food and drive to masters.
6:00 a.m.-PISSED at everyone in San Diego for driving rediculously up my ass at 6:00 a.m......I normally refrain from cursing on my blog, but this morning, I was LIVID. Seriously, it's 6:00 a.m., if you work that early, I seriously apologize, but you don't need to be running me over. I literally....just..got my car back from the auto body shop, and i'm sick of rental cars =0.
6:25 a.m.-procrastinating and my friend Stacy assures me she is going to push me in the pool
6:30 a.m.-I jump in and I say to myself "I love this because swimming this early will make me a stronger racer." and I repeat this mantra until the goosebumps are gone on my arms and i'm not cold anymore.
*We start our sets and I feel great.
*My left arm has been bothering me a bit while swimming, I think I tweaked it during my 90 minute swim-which in case you aren't familiar with swimming, my masters is 60 minutes, so I had to get there early on Wednesday to fit in another 30 minutes before....which included Amanda's "suggestion" (translation: do IT!)...of an extra 500 pull (putting on paddles and pulling with no kicking). Fine. I can pull til the cows come home, I love pulling!
7:30 a.m.-DONE. Out of the pool, into the shower...nice goggle marks.
8:15 a.m.-picking up a treat for myself since I swam in the MORNING. Sounds silly, but hey, I work well with a reward system like "Monday's OFF" and Soy Chai Latte's from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.

So, the benefits of morning masters are:
1. I get to work on time, with my hair STYLED, early for my clients and potentially a decent outfit
2. I get more time in the evening
3. I have longer periods of time when my hair isn't wet (well, ok, not always if I have a second workout in the afternoon).
4. I get SOY CHAI LATTE's ON THE WAY TO WORK! =0.
5. People actually MISSED me at masters! they wanted to know where I was! I said "sleeping." and they looked at me and laughed. Really? Is it that funny?

The only con: getting up early. I think I can suck this up for another few weeks.

I think what happens is, as the mileage/hours pack on from training, my usual grogginess in the morning gets worse, like I physically need more sleep. Sure, I don't like 5:00 a.m, but i'll do it typically. Makes sense that today I was able to do it since yesterday was a lighter workout day and earlier in the week I struggle after a long weekend.

Wow, this is LONG........over and out. It's gonna be a long weekend. Stay tuned.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Getting up early is the hardest part of master swim. Once your up everything is great!! I have to be in the water by 5:30! So i usually get up around 4:45! Yikes!

So when your alarm goes off...and you are thinking about turning it off and rolling back over.....just think to yourself....do i really want to train late and have a swim hanging over me? Or should i just suck it up and get out of bed and get one workout done!!!!! It usually works for me!!!

BreeWee said...

Once you're up you can make it happen, it is getting out of the covers that hurts!

Nice job flying on that track...

Joy said...

Hey Meredith! I found you through Angie. I am so there with you about getting up in the mornings. My master's starts at 5:30, and I always hit snooze about 4 times, so that means I get out of bed at 5:24 and get to the pool at 5:40 (thankfully it's close). I NEVER make the warm up! But it's so much better to get it over with. Good luck in your IM training!