The Rest of My Life So Far

It would be more appropriate, timewise, to put up a picture of me in the STP; I don't have those yet, so instead here's a picture from a good while back.  That's my mom and I, after the Bainbridge Island (Winter) Solstice Run, in 2005.  Hot dang!  That's a while back.  I think that was my second 5k after getting back from my mission.  I look a bit different now.

Psych you out, boy.

Every summer and winter work term, some member of the class would send an email to the rest of, invariably entitled "My Summer/Winter So Far", which would then prompt a flurry of emails from the rest of us, detailing what we had been up to.  I vowed at graduation to be the first to send out an similar summary email....hence the title of this blog.  

I had some very high expectations for all the things I would do/see/accomplish this summer.  Then again, I pretty  much always go into things with high expectations for myself.  This summer, though, I've only accomplished a small fraction of those things.  I pulled out of the Lake Stevens 70.3; I haven't lost the desired weight; etc.  But of course, it's never good to dwell on the negative.  I did do the STP in one day!  That's one thing.  So I'm trying not to dwell on those empty check boxes and instead trying to make the most of what I've got left.  And, I am bucking down for the upcoming half at Black Diamond and then IMFL.  whoo boy.  Here's a rough idea of what I try to fit into one week:

Swim:

1.) Long Open Water Swim (longest so far is 1.5 miles, working up to 2.4)

2.) Short Open Water Swim (generally .8 or 1 mile)

3.) Base Intervals (lots of 6,8, etc x 200, around 2700-3000 yd)

4.) Base + Sprint Intervals (10x100 then maybe 8x50 sprint, 2500-2700 yd)

5.) Fartlek Intervals (main set is maybe 6x150, 50 build, 25 easy, etc. 2500 yd)(definitely my least favorite)

Bike:

1.)LSD (4-5 maybe 6 hours.  Lots of fun.)

2.) Recovery Ride...maybe 1-2 hour, just like it says, recovery

3.) Steady State Ride (1.5-2 hour at high aerobic state)

4.) Hills or Speed Intervals

Run:

1.) LSD..right now only 1.5 hour but working up to 2.5-3 hours

2.) Run skillz...jog to a local grassy field, do strides, drills, etc, then easy jog back

3.) Track Workout (4x800 seems like a good hard workout)

4.) Transition Run off long bike ride

5.) Hill Repeats..not so much fun but very good

6.) Easy recovery run.  I know that a recovery run is a bit of an oxymoron..but there's a reason. 

Over the winter, I spent about 7 or 8 weeks, running 7 times a week.  A lot of those runs were just short 30 min jogs with maybe a few strides.  I noticed that running with that kind of frequency did more for lowering my PRE and HR during runs than any training prior to this.  So I'm trying to do that again, albeit with 6, not 7 weekly runs.  It was pretty hard on my legs.

I've been contemplating getting a coach....watch the blog in the next few weeks to see whether or not that will happen.  Also on the horizon is a new place (condo on the Eastside) and a new ride (car...not as exciting as a bike but very useful.)  whoo boy!

As a parting thought, remember...watch out for aliens: