two steps forward one step backwards

I'm referring to posting. I have been looking at my last post and the days that have gone by... I have grumbled at the lack of posts on the blogs I follow.... But yet each time I start this post I stop discard and walk away.

So what's new... not much. Training is going well, although a little shaken up by our routine changes. My parents are in town. It is awesome since I haven't seen then in a whole year (Really really don't like that). I love to see them interact with my kids. I haven't done laundry since they arrived and miracle our closets are bursting out the seams... I had no idea we all had so many tee shirts ;) We have weekly date nights!

All this is great but my routine is a little shaken up

and thus my training is suffering a little. Well last week was a little lazy and I only did 5:30 hours. This week looks better ;)

However I did one of my hardest training session ever. My coach organizes this legendary brick session, for the non-triathletes a brick session is a bike followed by a run. In this 1 hour session we do 3 intervals of bike training on our trainer then run. When I told her at the beginning of the session that I forgot my heart rate monitor she told me with a huge smile ah don't worry you'll be working as hard as you can anyways! I started being worried. So after the first interval I had this deer in the headlight look on my face thinking what did I get myself into! It is one thing to think it is going to be a tough session another completely to go through it ;) Anyways so in my head goes oh crap I have a date night after that I hope I can keep it together. When I told her hey you know I'm not sure I can go through the last intervals big smile and sweet talk.... You are not gonna give up are you ;)

So I didn't give up, I went through the whole workout and my ego was again tucked away neatly in my pocket because I was the slowest of the bunch. I felt my legs the next two days.

I am so thrilled I hired this coach. I love working with her and it helps a lot as I train 99% of the time alone. Actually that is another bonus of my parents being there is that B has been keeping me company on my workouts. He pisses me off because he is sooo much better than I am but hey little by little we become less little.

On a side note my coach who is a pro XTerra triathlete (triathlon off road!) and finished 2nd of the world championship in Hawai last year, finished 2nd of the Oceanside Half ironman last sunday. She was competing against pretty big names in the field! Now it motivates me to work harder!

On sunday I totally flaked on my ride and instead sew a princess dress for MEC. She has been asking me for one since her sleep over and snody as I am I didn't want to buy a 30$ crappy dress. Instead I decided I would sew her one. We went to Joann fabric and bought some really cool brocade and a pattern. It is by far the hardest thing I have ever sewn but also since I wanted to do it properly I cut everything, basted everything and thus it was actually fairly easy to put together. We did have a little episode when a piece of the sewing machine came undone. I couldn't figure out how to put it back, a screw fell inside the machine, then we had to undo most of the sewing machine to get it back. I was so close to throw the damn thing away and go buy a brand new one.

This is all I have to report at this time....

Sweet Recovery

I didn't know I was tired until Saturday when I had to prep myself to go for my 2h00 ride with 5 5min hill repeat all out. For that I chose Carmel Country Road, shorter than Torrey Pines but also steeper! Oh boy did I feel it, I managed 4 hills repeat before calling the hill repeat quit. I know I'm a wimp I should I've turned around and go down and up once more. Polished the ride and was short 15 min wait that is almost exactly what it would have taken me to go down then up once more. Anyways tired legs, I stumbled home, switched to my running gear and back out I go for an easy 30min. The next day was my 1:30 run and again tough to motivate... but like a good trooper I started my slow run. Today I was so happy that I had to only go 13 min/miles for an hour and then 2 10 min high HR tempo with 5 min easy in between.
For once I was able to pass a couple while keep my HR around the right number during the intervals but they promptly passed me again during the easy part.
Anyways I made it back home with tired feet and tired legs! Today I cherish my day off and I had no desire what so ever to get in some compulsory training session.
I also love the fact that my recovery week is a 5h00 week which not so long ago was a high week for me!
Besides my achy legs I do feel slightly that I'm getting better/stronger ....
Now I am fading because of a tad too much wine and a change of time which I love in the evening and hate in the morning.

Training

I have started this post three times and deleted every single words... What am I trying to say?
Hiring a coach was one of the best decision I made this year! It is totally what I needed. She gives focus to my training. She removes all the questionning out of my training. Am I doing enough, why am I not making progress, am I going hard enough etc... I have worked out more in the past 4 weeks per week than ever in my entire life yet I am neither burned out nor exhausted. Don't get me wrong I am thrilled to have an easy week next week only 5H00 of training and two whole days off!
I feel also more at peace with myself, more patient with the kids whining.
I think I am just happy right now hopefully that will stay that way for a little while longer.

Jam packed

This week end was pretty busy. Friday night we had our neighbor for dinner. I made the pasta with meat sauce from Williams sonoma. Of course I was out of half of the ingredient but the result was still delicious.
Saturday morning the kids went to their swimming lesson. MAC is having a hard time adjusting to the challenges of his new class. The fact that the 2 other boys are a year older than him and already know how to do most things. He is doing great but needs a little time to adjust. MEC is stubborn as ever and her teacher a little too soft most of the time.
After that we grabbed a bagel and a gift since we had to a birthday party. Fueling for my workouts are a challenge on saturdays. Since that biometric screening I have tried to eat less white flour stuff boooo. I had a power bagel with low fat cream cheese and a much needed coffee.
We went to the birthday party. I took tons of pictures, chit chatted with moms and was goggling the sky hoping for no rain later. Luckily I was able to go on my ride outside. I had to do 3 Torrey Pines outside 2 seating and 1 standing. Following the ride I did a 30 min run, 5 min at high tempo, 2 min easy. B then went on his run. During that time we played some board game with the kids, did some playdough.
For dinner we went to eda-mami, the kids had fun, the food was good. Nice evening.
I went on my 1:30 run this morning after breakfast and was faster than last week while maintaining my HR in the right zone! Yeah 6.6M.
After that we went to Chipotle for lunch where I ate half of my burrito. We went grocerie shopping then to Home Depot to get ready for my parents arrival.
I folded some laundry Yay! I'm not so far behind any longer. The kitchen is clean, the guest bathroom has a new shower head and new faucet and the fridge is full.
Good way to end the week end.

kooky music video

B has dug out some kooky video by OKGO and we are sitting in front of the TV watching. The kids are supposed to eat too...
I decided to take the few free minutes to blog quickly. Life is completely crazy, between the usual life of a family of 4. Kids are awesome most of the time. MAC reads to us every night it is a little laborious at time but then again he reads quite big words. The latest reading of choice is Scooby Doo. MEC is cute as a doll and stuborn as a little evil thing. We are having fun and that's great. Work was quiet for a week and now things are back to busy. Especially since I am learning a whole new technologie and the learning curve is brutal! I went from fixing 30 bugs a week to like learning how to display something on a label! I am sure things are going to improve. But the design phase is so hard on me.... Yeah the girl who needs results.
Speaking of results, I was hoping that all of sudden I would swim so fast but Monday's workout was painful. .
Anyways I have had a scratchy throat for the past few days, something unpleasant is trying to break through. This week hard is the word of the day as I had a few hard workout. I think the rest of this week is pretty medium in intensity. No rest day in sight yet! I can't say I see a lot of results but alas everything takes time and effort.
Tonight I'm lazy and thus while I will do my postponed core workout B will drive to Sushi ota to get us some sushi! Yum Yum.