Bike Extravaganza Update

So far so good on bike extravaganza!  I just finished up a long trainer session (yes, I brought my trainer because that's just how I do interval workouts best) and bike day #4 is in the books!  I will say bike extravaganza is quite nice when you know you can ride outside for most of it.  Bike extravaganza is REALLY nice when you know you will soon have a buddy to ride with!  Yes, as I type, Kim is driving southward.  Come Kim, come!  We have many miles left to ride!!  :)

Lest you wonder what becomes of running and swimming during bike extravaganza, I thought I'd give an update on those two sports too.  They are humming along and are going quite well.  My run workouts have either been fast interval type training (ouch, ouch, ouch) which I've done on the high school track here (aptly named "The Nest" since they are the Seahawks...hehehe :) or running long(ish) off the bike.  The exception is today's tempo run that looks scary to me.  Not sure if I prefer the shorter, faster stuff or the more moderate but longer stuff...hmmm....  Mostly I can say I've been feeling strong and just really healthy which is still some what of an oddity to me.  Running and I have always been at odds in that sense - I was always worried about some niggle.  But Dirk has kept me running along smoothly!

Swimming - what can I say?  I always love me a good swim session.  Since in HHI I've kept to about 20K a week - not really a focus when bike extravaganza is going on but still a decent amount of swimming for me!  Even last year I can remember 20K feeling like A LOT of swimming.  So in that sense I've made some progress.  I've mostly been swimming with masters but I've also had a few solo swims which are always good too.  Yesterday was one such day - I did a 5K swim with most of the main set done at 1650 pace.  This is never easy for me.  In fact doing these sets often leaves me wondering "how in the world do I expect to swim an entire 1650 at this pace exactly?!?!"  Yet yesterday felt good.  I liked that.  Part of the main set was 5x(6x50 on :50 as 1 DPS/2 @1650 pace/1 DPS/2 @1650 pace and then 1x300 @1650 pace).  I averaged 3:41 for the 300s which is laughable to some of you but pretty darn good for me!  The nice part was, it felt okay - not total anaerobic torture - and it left me feeling like I just might be able to maintain that for a 1650 (which would yield about a 20:20 which would be a 20 second PR).  Of course I'm sure none of you really care but the point is, it's a set I know I couldn't have done last year at this time, especially by myself in the midst of some big training.  So if/when I get upset with my slow swim times this year, you all can remind me that I am making some forward movement...and that patience is key.  :)

So now that I've all bored you to tears (and don't even have any pictures - BAD blogger!), I'll end my training update!  Hope you all have wonderful weekends!  Happy training!

Okay, the least I can do it dredge up one picture.  In honor of Kim coming I found this one - from 2004!  This would be pre-triathlon days of course.  In order Kyle (Kim's husband), Kim, myself and Oscar (look at all that hair!  :).