Introducing the time trial

Twelve weeks in and being jolted awake by a squawking alarm clock at 4:45 hasn't gotten any easier. A little less jarring, but not any easier.

Today was swim class number 12 and what did The Coach have in store for us? A time trial. But not right off the bat. First there was a warm up swim and then some kicking work. Throw in some breathing and a couple of all out sprints and we were quickly up to 900 yards.

Then it was time to rest. And grab a drink of water. And prepare ourselves for the 900 yard time trial, just over a half mile.

We lined up, two swimmers to a lane and got ready to swim.

Honestly, I haven't been doing a lot of long, extended swims lately. I think my max has been somewhere in the neighborhood of 600 yards during swim class and even that has included a few short rest breaks. Honestly I think the last time I did a straight half-mile swim was in July at the Trek Women's Triathlon.

But today I just wanted to swim continuously. No breaks. Just swim one length of the pool, hit the wall and turn around. Repeat for 36 lengths.

The clock hit zero and we were off. Knowing I had 900 yards in front of me, I didn't want to take off too quickly. I set out at a nice comfortable pace. Was swimming stroke for stroke with the girl in the lane with me. After a couple of lengths, she paused. I kept swimming. I wasn't really keeping track of time, but I did manage to glance at the clock when I hit 450 yards - 10 minutes, 35 seconds. Not too bad. About what I was expecting.

I kept swimming. And I could tell I was starting to get a little tired in the last 200 yards or so and really would have loved to take a break. But I didn't. I refused to stop. And even managed a bit of a "sprint" over the last 25 yards.

I ended up hitting the wall in 21 minutes, 40 seconds.

Not the fastest - that belonged to the girl who clocked 17 minutes flat - but not the slowest either. In fact, I came in before three other girls. One was the girl swimming next to me, but the other two? Completely took me by surprise.

As I was walking off the pool deck on my way to the hot tub (hey, I earned it), I was talking to The Coach. He asked me how I felt the time trial went. I told him not bad it was about what I was expected. He asked me if I thought I could have pushed myself harder. Probably. And he said that's the next step. To push a little bit harder, swim a little bit faster and make it all a little bit more painful.

Because a little bit of pain is good. Makes you know you're working hard.

Guess that means the next few weeks in the pool will be a bit painful. Because I want to shave some seconds off of that time. And time trial number 2? It's already been scheduled for Dec. 21.

Bring it.

HBBC Week 1 recap

Week one of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge is done.

And I'm hoping the rest of the weeks get better. Because this week? It featured a couple of zeros! Ooops. I could blame it on the holidays, but I don't think that excuse would fly for all the zeros I tallied. And I guess I could blame it on the weather, but that's no excuse when I've got a YMCA membership.

So no excuses. I just threw in some zeros and had a sub par week.

Oh well. It can only get better, right?

Take a look at Week One:

Monday 11/23
Swim 1.25 hours - 5

Tuesday 11/24
2 mile walk - 2

Wednesday 11/25
nothing

Thursday 11/26
5 mile run - 5

Friday 11/27
nothing

Saturday 11/28
nothing - I'm sensing a trend here

Sunday 11/29
1 mile walk - 1

Total: 13 points

Eh. Not awful. Not wonderful either. This week it'll get better. I hope.

Festival Foods 5-mile Turkey Trot

I got a text message this morning around 6 a.m.

"Good luck and stay dry. 39 and lots of rain."

Ugh, not exactly the most ideal conditions for a turkey trot, but I'd deal with that when the trot started 2 and a half hours later. I went back to sleep, hoping the weather would get nicer.

Alarm goes off, I get ready. Throw on my black running pants, a long-sleeve tech shirt and layer another shirt over the top. Look out the window and I can still see raindrops falling in the huge puddle that's formed in my parking lot. I grab my gloves, ear band and coat and head out.

The plan was to run the 5-mile Festival Foods Turkey Trot this morning. And honestly? The entire time I was driving over to the race site, I was trying to convince myself it was in my best interest to forgo the 5-mile run and opt for the shorter 2-mile version. Ultimately I couldn't talk myself out of the 5-mile run.

I got to the site, grabbed my T-shirt, pumpkin pie (which I later donated to my family's Thanksgiving feast since I don't like pumpkin pie) and race bib. I then met up with Jess and her hubby Scott, who were both running the 2-mile run, and we waited for the start.

And while we waited? We tried to keep moving, but we still got cold.

Finally it was time to run.

The first mile was a bit crowded as the 5- and 2-mile runners were all running together before the split. But it wasn't an uncomfortable crowded. After the 2-milers split, the runners stretched out a bunch and I settled into a nice, comfortable pace. Just me, my running shoes and some tunes out for an early Thanksgiving run.

There were no mile markers on the route, so splits? Not gonna happen. We ran through a neighborhood along the river, over the bridge and through the college campus before hitting up the lone water stop about 2.5 miles in. I glanced down at my watch at this point and had just clocked 25 minutes. Not bad. About the pace I've been averaging lately.

But the second half of the race? I had to deal with Mother Nature, who decided it wasn't going to be a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot without a bunch of steady winds (although thankfully the rain held off). Wind that we spent the entire second half of the race running directly into.

Needless to say I think that slowed me down a bit.

Even so I think I kept up a pretty steady pace for the first four miles. But I could definitely tell I haven't done a lot of 5-mile runs lately, because that last mile? Brutal. I definitely slowed down. When I made the final turn and the finish line was in sight, I still had enough of a kick to put together a decent sprint to the finish line and (finally) passed this group of three women I had been running behind the entire second half of the race.

Official time? 54 minutes, 55 seconds. Would have liked to see it closer to 50 minutes, but given the wind and the cold, I'll take it.

After I was done, I grabbed a drink and headed back home to take a short nap before heading out to my family's Thanksgiving feast.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday!

Catching up and looking ahead

It was a busy week. And while some workouts got tossed out the window, overall it was a good week.

Got some time in at the pool on Monday and followed that up with 4.5 miles on the treadmill on Tuesday. Then I managed to avoid workouts for the next three days. There were a few dinners with friends, an early morning jaunt to drop a friend off at the airport and trip to The 'burg to see "New Moon" with an old friend. So not very workout-friendly, but I managed.

So by the time Saturday rolled around and it was mid-50s and sunny, I couldn't avoid it any longer. My running shoes were calling my name. I laced them up and headed out. I wasn't sure how far I was going to go, I was thinking maybe 3 miles. But I got to the turn around point and the next chunk of road was just calling my name. So instead of turning around, I kept going straight. By this point it was starting to get dusky, passing cars had their headlights on and the sunglasses I was wearing? Not really necessary. It was peaceful though. And enjoyable to run in. The run ended up being 4.5 miles. It felt good. I kept a nice steady pace and finished it off in about 45 minutes.

I should have ran today, but I didn't. Instead there was a trip to Scheel's to replace my malfunctioning, broken goggles before swim class tomorrow and a visit with my parents. And there was football to watch.

So I considered today a rest day.

And I might need it.

Tomorrow kicks off the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, a challenge put together by Amanda over at Run to the Finish. I'll start off the challenge with a swim session in the morning and might even sneak in a run after work. And Tuesday I'll be scampering after Santa in the Santa Scamper, a one-mile run before the Appleton Christmas Parade. And let's not forget about the 5-mile Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning and a possible season-ending 5K on Sunday.

Should be a good week.

Runs, swims and bullet points

It feels like a bullet point kind of day.

So bullet points you get.

• Had to burn vacation time at work, so I just enjoyed a four-day weekend full of gorgeous weather. There was apartment cleaning and a 4-mile run on Thursday and shopping, dinner and catch-up time with friends on Friday.
• Saturday means college football. So I listened to the Badgers beat up Michigan and then snuck in a 3-miler before it got dark or decided to start raining. Run went OK, but legs felt a little dead.
• More football on Sunday, the NFL variety.
• Today it was not only back to work, but back to the pool. After missing last week's swim class, 5 a.m. came really early. And it sounds crazy, but I could totally tell I took a week off of swimming. Legs just weren't feeling it. Luckily it was mostly drills today. Not so lucky? Those drills all focused on the arms, which means my legs were doing the brunt of the work. Dead legs post swim mean no run today.
• Had a bit of an equipment malfunction midway through swim class. Goggles? Busted. Mental note: Make trip to store to get new goggles before next week.
• The rest of the week looks a little crazy with post-work plans. Right now the plan is to hit the YMCA for a run Tuesday after work and force myself to get up early Wednesday for a run. Will take Thursday off, but might have to do the early morning thing again on Friday. I could just opt out of a run, but I've been in a groove lately, don't want to mess it up.

And that's all I've got. Next time hopefully I won't have to resort to bullet points.

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Treadmill thoughts

Another night. Another run on the treadmill.

After work was done, I headed over to the YMCA for a quick run. Snuck in 3.5 miles in just over 35 minutes before some plans I had this evening. Took the first two miles relatively easy, pushed it during the third mile and really pushed it hard during the last half mile. Felt really good.

But while I was running, obviously during the beginning of the run when I didn't need to concentrate on not falling off the treadmill too much, I was thinking. I need to find a solution to night time running since it gets dark at 4:30 p.m. now - I kid you not. I'm not allowed to leave my office for the evening until it's pitch black outside.

I really can't run at my apartment since I live on a pretty busy street/highway with no sidewalks. And since the speed limit is 45 mph, that means the cars (including me at times) routinely drive 55 mph or more down this road. Don't really want to get hit by one of those cars.

But on these days when it's still relatively nice outside - mid-40s to mid-50s, it's painful to leave the office and go coop myself up in the gym on a treadmill. Maybe I should just start bringing my running clothes to work, change at the office and get the run in before heading home. At least there's sidewalks. And street lights.

Hmmm. The things I think about on the treadmill.

********

You'll notice there's no swim class update this week. That's because I was a bad kid. I skipped my 5 a.m. wake up call yesterday. But I have an excuse. Really. I do. I tried to go to bed at a normal time Sunday night, but for some reason I couldn't fall asleep. And the last time I looked, I was still staring at the ceiling at 1 a.m., thinking to myself, "My alarm's going to go off in 4 hours and I haven't slept a wink yet."

Folks, I can't function on 4 hours of sleep. It's not pretty.

Therefore, I skipped class.

I felt like I was flying

Seriously. This weather? Loving it.

Today was another mid-November outdoor run that I wore a T-shirt and shorts for. Yes, it was a bit chilly at the start, but by the end? I was warm.

After yesterday, I had planned on just doing a short 2-mile run this afternoon after watching the Packers utterly fail against Tampa Bay. Plans changed though.

I started my run, finished the first mile around 9:45. Not surprising. I tend to go out fast. But I didn't feel winded. The run was actually feeling good. I expected to start to feel it in the second half of the run. So I kept running. And I was still feeling strong.

I made it back to the road by my apartment, just shy of 2 miles, and glanced down at my watch. 18 minutes, 16 seconds. Huh? Speedy. And I still felt really good. So instead of taking a right towards home I kept going straight. Tacked on another mile and would have considered more, but it was starting to get dusky out.

Finished up the 3 miles in 29 minutes, 39 seconds. I was flying. And I felt good.

Maybe the treadmill work I've been doing the past couple of weeks is starting to do some good. That or the wings I've now got due to the unfortunate haircut are making me speedy.