Life's Ups and Downs

The last couple of weeks have been pretty good, as far as the training is concerned... with a few curves thrown in.
The swimming is getting better these last couple of weeks, in that I am getting more comfortable with the bilateral breathing. Yeah, that might sound like no big deal, but when you hardly knew how to really swim to begin with, and having limited rotation in one shoulder, it was really easy to just breathe to one side. But my training coach had told me that the two-sided breathing would help me with lining up the swim lane, so I figured I had better at least try and see if I could manage it. And she makes it look so easy! It just felt like it was more work breathing to both sides, so my distance ability regressed, but I do recognize the benefit. So we are consistently swimming twice a week, and the distances are getting longer (for both of us) and the stamina and endurance are getting better.
Today, I went out to Lake Pflugerville with a friend's family. We both wanted to try out our new wetsuits (she is an experienced wetsuit swimmer - I have never been in one). I managed to get into the water, but it was so cold my hands were almost numb. So we decided we would wait another few weeks to actually do a swim out there. I am looking forward to that swim... once I do that, I will feel more comfortable about the swim needs.
Our Triple Bypass cycling team has been riding together on Saturdays to get in our longer rides, and riding the bikes on the trainer with Carmichael's Climbing Series in the middle of the week.  But I was going to be out at Hilltop Lakes at my former boss' house this past weekend, so Friday I loaded the tri bike and my cycling gear into the truck, in addition to the tools I was needing for the weekend. Hilltop Lakes is on a winding Farm-to-Market road with no shoulders, so Saturday morning, I drove back out the 8 miles to Marquez and rode to Franklin. Hwy 79 has really great, wide, clean shoulders all the way, so even with a little bit of traffic, the ride went well. 79 also has some slow, longer rollers in this section of road. It was really awesome when the tractor-trailers driving in my direction would move over into the other traffic lane to keep from blowing me off the road... thanks, guys! It was a good 49-mile ride.
Today, the Team In Training group was riding Parmer, and one of the TB team is a TNT captain this season, so we will ride a number of our rides with them. Left from Cool River to ride north, and pretty much left most of the team behind. 6 of us started out, with 2 riding a tandem. More focused on saddle time than speed this ride, I managed to get in just over 50 miles. The tri bike feels pretty good - I can see how people get hooked on riding this way.
The running has not progressed as well as I had hoped, mostly because I have had some late nights at work the past 2 weeks. But I will get out there tomorrow and run, before it starts raining again.
Last week we actually had snow in Austin - yeah, enough to make everything white. And this after a LOT of rain the last couple of months. We didn't think about it right away, but the water at the lake today was probably colder as a result of the snow. All this weather has also limited the amount of time I could spend on the road bikes and running.
Oh yeah, the curves... the long work days I already mentioned, the weather I already talked about, my mom took a spill and fell, and I lost my baby colt within only a couple of hours of its birth, so that was a real disappointment. Then a late night tire change on my mom's car. Hopefully, things will smooth out somewhat soon.
Life is full of surprises, some good and some not so good. How we respond is what makes us who we are. Once again, I have come to the realization that there are two certainties -- we need to live our lives as if we won't get all the days we think we have or all the chances we want to second-guess our decisions; and, there are things you just cannot control, so it will do you no good to expend the energy thinking you can.
Love you, too.

Speed Freak!

This past week has been a pretty good one, training-wise... swim Sunday, run Monday, bike and swim Wednesday, Carmichael Climbing on Thursday, and Saturday was a great 50.5 - mile ride with the Triple Bypass team and friends. Took the tri bike out since it was fairly flat. But those downhills we had were awesome!

Today, I watched co-workers and TNT teammates run the Austin Marathon, or half-marathon. These are my inspirations, the people that in addition to my riding team, keep me motivated. Congratulations to all the finishers. Perhaps some day, I will attempt to run a half-marathon and getting the D.A.L. trophy, likely. In the meantime, the pedaling, swimming and (short) runs continue.

Okay, maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do...

Note to self:
Do NOT ride for an hour and then run for 35 minutes the night before a long ride!

Yeah, that was me, doing that Friday and then riding with my team on Saturday morning. From the veloway to Kyle and back, with a bit of wind to deal with... there were a couple of occasions in the ride when the boys had to slow up just a bit for a minute or so, but I hate being the boat anchor on any ride. It was a good workout, though.
Sunday, a swim for an hour or so. The bilateral breathing is getting better, and I am working on the pulling through the water and start working on getting the distance back up.
Remember the goal: to finish the triathlon standing up.
Added the Brick workout at Spokes 'n' Spurs to the training plan. That will be the metric century and then a run. Definitely thinking I am doing this on the tri bike...
onward through the fog... and all the rain... and the wind. maybe some ice and/or snow later this week - yippee!