3 a day keeps the doc away

Howdy!
I can say that now that I am in Texas again, though not many folks say it around here in SA. Well let me give a run down of today's workouts...(I did not have to work today so I took advantage of the time I had to really give myself a great dose of tri training).

Morning: 1250m in the lap pool. I am so excited to have moved into a neighborhood with a lap pool and it's literally 300 yards away from my house so I just trot over there in the morning and swim. I also bought a waterproof housing for my ipod shuffle...the only downside to the unit is that the headphones don't channel sound very well. It's from h30 audio I think...it's still a good product and cheaper than a swiMP3 player.
Then I decided the tackle the steep hill outside my neighborhood on Knight's Cross road on an out and back 3 mile run. Nice little pace and my third day of running in a row. Wednesday I did a 6 miler and Thursday was a 5.5 miler with a long steep hill back to my house, quite hot outside as well.

Afternoon: After refueling with HEB marathon rolls (mmm good), a little bit of pasta and a chicken sandwich...it was out for a nice 27-30 mile ride through the roads outside of the SA city limits. I don't know the exact distance because my garmin battery died on me. Avg heart rate of about 140 for 2 hours. Lots of good hills, some steep and some long. I think I took a wrong turn at one point and ended up on highway 281 until I got back on Borgfield road which goes back to canyon lake road back to my house. I did stop to by some water along the way, lots of little gas stations so I always keep $5 in my seatbag in case I need some water. Today that was quite helpful.

Alright, so I just thought I would give little insight into something I think all endurance athletes should do if they are not already. CORE WORK! Best thing for anyone who values maintaining proper form while swimming, cycling, and running. I like to do it about 3 times per week and what I would reccommend would include: yoga (flexibility is soooo important for obtaining full power on the bike and staying relaxed and fast on the run) pilates (you can buy books and DVDs on this, I reccommend windsor pilates DVDs) and I bought the P90X dvd set (don't laugh they will kick your arse I am not joking) and the core synergistics is by far the best core work I have ever done and has made me a much better athlete, it's and hour long and the set also comes with an abs workout which is pretty intense the first few times. If you can ebay these items (and look for the P90X yoga 1.5 hours long and a very hardcore workout, trust me), I say grab them because they would be the most useful to you as an endurance athlete. For some good workouts that emphasize form and effeciency over size and bulk, buy the Abs Diet workout book, it has lots of circuit style workouts that are very useful during the off-season...oops I mean "very few triathlons available months" and I believe it's much more suited for a triathlete to do those exercises over a meat-head's muscle workout. Plus it has some great ab exercises that give you more variety which is so key to improving your strength and visible defintion. If you are an experienced athlete, you probably already know what I am saying, but if you are realitively new...then I would definately add core work to your training schedule for certain. It will make you a much more balanced and confident triathlete when training and in racing.


I am really glad to have hills where I run and ride, I feel so much more gains in my training and I have to share a little story really quick. I don't like boasting, I hate triathletes with big egos...it makes me laugh and shake my head in disgust that's for sure. So please don't take this the wrong way when you read it. I was coming home from work on Wednesday and I came to an intersection where another cyclist was in front of me. I said 'hello, how are you' and he said the same. When the light turned green he took off down the road like we were going to race or something. I let him go because the road is under construction and quite rough at certain points, plus I have a 15+ pound bag full of clothes, magazines, shower stuff, shoes, etc. in my work bag on my back. So I keep riding and turn up Wilderness Oak (which has a loooong climb to the next light and then where I turn to head home) I have ridden it a lot so I am getting better but it's still rough. Well I see the cyclist (who has a spongebob jersey on so I will call him Spongebob man) slowly climbing up the hill...and I thought to myself.."I am going to catch him, heck I am almost home I might as well try as hard as I can to catch him" So I take off up the hill spinning my legs as quickly as I can. I see myself start to gain on him and then I came up along side him while taking a drink from my bottle and passed him without saying anything because well I thought it might just be a little rude. He thought he was better than me back at that stop light and I figured that well... being a girl, with a huge pack on her back, drinking from a water bottle while cresting the top of a hill might be word enough and nothing more needed to be said. I made my way back home and did not see him pass by again so I do hope he made it home okay.


So I have to say, for the first time in over a year I feel really good about my training and racing. I love living in Texas again, even though I am an AF brat I do consider Texas as my home so please don't trash the trails and roads and drive your car less, ride your bike more and love being alive! By the way, how great is the month of July right...the TOUR is on! Hooah! Take care and God Bless until the next post!

In the next post... I will review my BikesDirect purchase of a road bike and my sweet awesome and new HP laptop! Plus, I will try and tell some goofy newbie stories from my first race and pass on some "What I wish I knew then, that I know now knowledge".