Race Schedule

So we have been debating taking a 2 week family vacation to Europe this summer and this week we decided to take the plunge and purchased the airline tickets! So France and Italy for two weeks at the end of June.

So what does that mean for my race schedule? There are two weeks right in the heart of the training and racing season that I will be gone and not training. Well my thought process is to have an A race right before we leave, and then another one at the end of August, which will give me almost 2 months to prepare for.

So I chose my A race for June, and then found out that they are cancelling it. Bummer, but I have a backup race ready to go with Trinona in mid-June. My other A race is Superiorman at the end of August. I really liked this race last year and wanted to do it again and try to improve.

Then there was a Facebook announcement this week that they moved the date up 2 weeks to Aug 10th and they are only doing a 70.3 length. AAAHHHHH! That is NOT what I needed to hear. With the running issues I have, a 70.3 is not in the cards for this year. 

There is no other olympic distance race in Minnesota or Wisconsin at the end of August. So now the end of my season is in question.

New Headlamp

So I asked for and got a new headlamp for Christmas. The one I had been using when I ran at night or early in the morning was pretty inadequate. So my wife found me a super bright headlamp. However it has been too cold or snowy to actually go outside and run here lately until today.

This thing was GREAT! It was super bright and lit up even the darkest part of the street. It also helps make me even more visible to oncoming traffic which is almost as important.

So this is now one of my favorite Christmas gifts!

Last Day in Knoxville

This YMCA is pretty ancient. It has workout areas scattered all over the place. In other parts of the building there is a pool table, and a Chiropractor office. Weird place. Today was a swim day and they had a pool in the basement. This thing was really old too. The first time I have used a 20 yard pool. There are several 20 yard pools at various high schools in the area here so for people who grew up in northern Minnesota it isn't that unusual. But for me, it just feels like I am turning all the time.

I think I may have woken up the lifeguard when I walked into the pool. This little 4 lane pool was all mine this morning for most of my swim. One of the lanes had a set of stairs into it so you couldn't do laps in that lane. I swam my workout as written except I did the 50's as 40's. The 100's and 200's worked out fine. It is a good thing my watch can keep track of my lengths for me. I lose count quickly on those 200's.

Day 2 in Knoxville

Today I had a treadmill run and a strength workout on my calendar. The run was just a short 10 minute one used as a warmup. I didn't even need to go to the YMCA today, as I had everything I needed right here at the hotel.

Nice hour long workout all by myself in the hotel gym.

Not my bike

So I am in Knoxville Tennessee for work this week. No excuse not to work out as this is the view from my hotel window.

So this morning I headed over and found the spin room. I grabbed a bike, spent some time adjusting it and set off to do an RPE interval workout. The bike didn't have a power meter so I found a good resistance and maintained a good RPM.

The seat was terrible, I wanted OFF that bike by the time my 60 minutes was up. That was definitely not my bike and I miss it. But I was a sweaty mess and got a good workout in. Now off to work.

Kid is faster than me

Despite my much later start in this swimming thing, I have owned all the family swim records. Then last fall, during the girls high school swim season, my daughter at a swim meet in Grand Rapids had a 100 back swim that was faster than mine. We were out to dinner that night after the meet when we looked into it and saw that she had just squeaked by me. She was beaming with pride.

So now here we are back in the same pool a few months later, and she has a great 50 back swim, setting a new PR. We looked into it and sure enough, she now has the family record in the 50 and 100 back. At swim camp this past summer, she also set the family record in the long course 50 back. She is definitely the backstroker in the family.

I still own the freestyle records though....for now.

Treadmill Run

We hosted a party for 50+ people last night at our house. My legs were pretty tired this morning for the 8 hours of standing I did.

Then it was up early and out the door by 645. Kid had an out of town swim meet but the local Y is just a mile away. So after dropping her off I went over there and hopped on a treadmill for my run. I haven't ran on the treadmill much so it was a little odd. It was a good run, no issues but it was hot in there.

I was listening to music on my phone with my headphones on which I rarely do and never outside. I was concerned about the cord, and rightfully so, as about 10 minutes in, I accidentally bumped the cord and my phone fell and went for a ride. It seemed like slow motion as the phone flew out of the cup holder, I tried to catch it, but it fell to the belt between my feet and flew off the back. The guy next to me had just finished and he just picked it up and handed it back to me.

A bit of excitement but it turned out fine in the end.