Making Progress

             This last week has been good, and I feel like I've been making progress, even with the sleep factor. A quick note on the sleeping through the night, it was discovered that our daughter has yet another ear infection. This is the second bilateral (both sides) ear infection for her in just over a month. Before that, she had gone probably 6-8 weeks without an ear infection. So needless to say, we have an appointment set up for her with a specialist once this new round of antibiotics is over. The boys are doing good and haven't been sick in a while (knock on wood).

                            Onto the training front. The swimming this week has progressed well I feel. The other day when I was at the pool, I posted my first consecutive 500yd swim. Before that, I had only gone as far as 350. The last time I tried for the 500 mark my lack of sleep really played a factor and the water just sucked the life out of me. But this time, I was determined to get the 500 done. The biggest thing that I needed to remember was to slow down and pace myself. My first 100yds went faster than it should have, and it took a little bit to get into a grove, but I got the 500yd done. After a few minutes of rest, I went after it again. The second 500yd set actually went better than the first. My first 100yd was slower, like it needed to be, but my overall time was faster by something like 5 seconds. Most importantly though, was that I felt better after the second 500yd. I was not nearly as tired or winded. I'm still continuing to work on my form, trying to lengthen the body, get good entry into the water and a good pull from my left side, and time my kicks with the rotation of my body. It's coming along, but after that 2x 500yd I am pleased with the progress I've made so far.

                        Biking is sporadic for me right now. I've had some good training rides, and some not so good training rides. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with using different trainers either. Between my magnetic Cycleops at home, the Kurt Kinetic fluid trainer at the station, and then the occasional Kurt Kinetic Rock and Roll trainer that my friend's at work have, I've been on a ton of different trainers. I'd like to say that the bad days are just because of fatigue, but I haven't completely come to that conclusion when there are too many other variables. So for now, I'm just continuing to grind the gears knowing that every little bit will eventually help. Today was a great day on the bike for me. I finally got an uninterrupted 40 miles done. Not only that, but how the ride went was also exciting for me. The first 20miles went a little slower and harder for me than I was hoping for; but the second 20 was a completely different ball game. The second 20 went by very quickly and felt easier than the first 20. Not only did it feel easier, but I was also faster too! I've never been able to sustain a 20+mph on the bike for that distance, but today I was. I'd like to say that it was all me, but I doubt it. I think that the biggest thing was that I was being very conscious of my fluid and nutrition intake. I read about another triathlete who only keeps water in the front aero hydration system, and then the liquid nutrition in the water bottle on the down tube. Well, I haven't gotten my liquid nutrition picked out yet, so today I had just water in the TorHans, and Poweraide (electrolytes and extra sugar) in the water bottle on the down tube. Then I used 3 gel packs from both Hammer and Powerbar. Just stuff that I had bought to try. There was also an extra water bottle of just water to refill the TorHans. I didn't have any cramping during the ride, just a little stiffness of my left calf at one point though. Overall, a really good ride. The only problem I had was that I did run out of water with about 5 miles to go. I ended up biting the bullet and jumping off the bike to refill my bottle and then ran bike onto the bike to finish it up. I did have some spillage on the refill of the TorHans, and think that I will cut part of the inside baffle out to prevent it from happening again.
                          With the running, last Sunday I did a 10 mile run on the treadmill. It sucks having to run that distance on the treadmill, but it still helps me to feel how to pace myself. I was at work, and was glad that the run went off without a call interrupting me. I managed an 8mph for the 10 miles, putting me at a 7:30 pace. It was a nice, solid training pace for that distance. No problems with cramping or side aches or anything like that. It was a great run, for being on the treadmill, and really helped boost my confidence about my distance running. I used a combination of a Honey Stinger gel pack and Poweraide for that one.
    I'm feeling good about my progress, and will continue to push the distances and training, remembering to ride that fine line between enough and over training, with recovery being an essential component too.