No Time to Houseclean, In Week Seventeen

I began this week in Chicago with a run on Sunday morning prior to all the Mother's Day activities. My run was far less than stellar. I guess I could attribute it to all the traveling and previous day's events, but I think I just didn't feel like running. Yuck. I struggled through a minimum amount of running, then called 'er quits. No sense killing myself in the name of checking another workout off the list. By the time I made it back to Ames and had another run on Tuesday, I felt much better and was glad I didn't beat myself up over one less than perfect workout.

Swimming went well this week, too. Monday, however, someone forgot to check the thermostat at Beyer Pool, so we all had an icy, take-you-breath-away workout. Thankfully, all the little old ladies took care of the complaining (I knew they would) and the temp was back to normal by Tuesday. By the end of the week, it seemed that many of the regulars had left town, so there were less than 10 people in the pool on Thursday. I took advantage of that and did a longer straight swim (as opposed to drills, intervals and the such). I was surprised at both my endurance and the speed I was able to maintain. Makes me feel a lot better about what kind of time I can achieve in my races this summer.

This was another week where biking ended up not being a priority. I've decided to blame that on the running group. That group dictates what days are run days, even if they would be better suited as bike days. Only two more weeks of the running group then I HAVE to make cycling my number one priority.

While in Chicago last weekend, we all went to Tina's mom's house in Willow Brook. I guess I never knew that Tina's brother, Tom, was big into cycling. We shared a quick chat about racing wheels (while my mother looked very confused...), and I realized that Tom may be a great resource for me on the topic of cycling. Where was he while I was shopping for my bike?!?!

If cycling took a hit during the week, running was, well, off and running! This was the final push week for the running group, so we had a "long" 7 miler on Tuesday and a "longer" 10 miler on Saturday. The group is just short of dying. They think I am trying to kill them with miles. For a group who's first "long" run was 4 miles nine weeks ago, making them do over 30 miles in 8 days gives them good reason to think I am torturing them! But, now they are on to the taper period, so I'll be back in good graces in a week or so. I stuck in another 6 miles on Thursday night, and everything feels fine. The 10 miler on Saturday actually ended up being a great run for me. It was a great confidence boost for Dam to Dam in 2 weeks. It was a negative split run, not by design, but just because I really found my zone on the last half of the run and just felt like I was flying!

I've added a couple of pictures to last week's post and will be adding some more in the next couple of days. Keep checking back!

Weekly Round-Up (Sunday thru Saturday):
Swim: 6500 yards
Bike: 1 hours, 50 minutes
Run: 27.5 miles
Cross-Training: about 30 minutes of lunges and core work.