Coach Troy made the entire week PAINFUL!

But it was the GOOD kind of painful. Sort of. :-) We did a Spinverival DVD that wasn't necessarily LONG, but HARD. The description given at the beginning of the workout was very accurate: your legs will be shaking by the end of it. (Next time, I'll put chocolate milk in a small water bottle and rest it on my legs, because between the shaking legs and the cold from the garage, I bet a delicious milkshake could come out of it, and trust me, after that workout, you DESERVE a treat!!) Hard gears pushing hard, followed by getting off the bike for squats, then repeat. Ugh! Deliciously painful.

The next day, sore sore sore sore sore! Muscles I believe haven't been used since I used to work on that orange farm using my knees as the orange juice press were being whipped back into shape. (Wonder if that farm is hiring again, I bet my production level is getting higher now).

The next day after that? SORE SORE SORE SORE SORE. I may have had issues walking. Just a little bit. Oh well. Still totally worth it.

The recovery ride we all did one week later seemed like a joke. Looks like it was supposed to be done the day AFTER the hard spin. Oops. Learned for next time!

Would I do it again? You'll know a few weeks when that DVD gets through the rotation, but odds are, yes. Yes, I will do that over and over again.


Oh and as far as diet is concerned, March 1st is the kickoff date for nutrition boot camp (aka me kicking my own butt for not eating properly). Why? March 1st seems like a solid day. It's 6 months from Ironman Wisconsin, my milk expires 2 days after that, so clearly I have to go grocery shopping for more milk, might as well get some veggies and fruits while I'm there, and I get paid the following Monday, so at least I'll be happy in one aspect of my life considering my stomach will miss its best friend: ice cream.

What a LOVEly day for a run!

Wowzer, the weather finally took a minor break from it's 9 day straight cloud-fest. No seriously, Central Illinois was sporting a gray look that, quite frankly, was getting rather depressing. No fear, though, because the sun has been out for two days, and on Thursday (Valentine's Day) the temps almost hit 40!
After a nice Valentine's Day dinner with someone, I headed home, changed into some spandex (mmmm spandex!) and went on a run with my friend Heather. She said she had to run 7 miles, but would be content running for an hour. So we took off. What a difference it makes running WITH someone! We kept a nice quick pace, but not too quick since we LOVE to talk! We ran for 50 minutes, and once I got back to my apartment, I went on to mapmyrun.com and according to it's calculations, we ran 7 miles! So if all of that is accurate, we did a VERY nice Valentine's day workout!
Though my quads are uber sore now, it's a good feeling. When I get back from Chicago, I will do some mapping out of where I need to be in regards to training. After all, I want to do this right. No more pony league, I'm ready to actually race this season.

Ready to Sweat

Tonight's trainer workout with our beloved Coach Troy was 2 hours of pain. It kept the 6 of us at a high cadence, but with enough room to make cracks at one another during the glorious 15 seconds rest between sets.

What's getting to me is the fact that everyone else is sweating like it's their jobs, but I'm not. My heart is racing and my heartrate is right in there with everyone else (sometimes higher), my legs BURN throughout the workout, they feel like jello afterwards, but beneath my bike, there is no puddle. I'm ready to sweat like all the big kids in my group.

I rode on my new Adamo saddle tonight. It felt strange at first, and I have been told that my 'sit bones' will be feeling it for a while, but I think the lasting effects from the saddle will be absolutely amazing.

Training Day One

Today was just like any other day: One class, studied, looked for a post-graduation career. After a career semiar about how to interview at job fairs, I sloshed (literally) through the melting 8-10 inches of snow we got last Friday. Everything's melting and puddles are impossible to avoid through campus. My trusted Columbia boots carried me over to McCormick Pool where I swam for the first time in over 3 months. I really need to work on my technique. The last time I swam, I taught myself how to breath out of my left side (as opposed to my right side, which has been the only was I knew how to before that!). So tonight, I worked on getting my rhythm down. Thirty-five minutes of that seemed like enough, so I picked up my stuff and headed outside where it was POURING. I waited a few minutes for it to slow down, then as I walked back through the Quad, quickly realized that I should have left my suit, goggles, and cap on because the water was so deep in some areas swimming might have been faster! We got a serious flash flood tonight causing all the snow to melt and the drains couldn't keep up. I got some extra exercise as I helped a girl push her car UPHILL through our street that had severely flooded.