Catching Up

So I have not written a blog post for quite awhile. Initially I didn't write because I took a few days off from doing anything after the century.  Then I just got busy and lazy.  So I'm sorry to anyone who has been checking this page looking for new posts and haven't found any.  Here's what I've been up to:

RUNNING
I've done a few runs and still find myself struggling.  I am having difficulty running at what used to be my "normal" training pace.  I find myself running about a minute to a minute and a half slower than before.  I can't seem to run any faster.  Is it who I'm running with?  I'm not sure.  I ran alone on Monday and still couldn't get to a decent pace.  I actually had to cut my run short because of stomach issues.  I seem to have that problem pretty often when I'm running. That never happened before.  I need to figure out if it's a nutrition issue, timing issue or what else it could be.

BIKING
I went to Spin90 class on Thursday which met at Folly Quarter Middle.  I've never done the Thursday class so these roads were new to me.  The class was new to me too.  While I knew a lot of the students, I hadn't ridden with them for awhile.  The first group was really fast.  There was no keeping up with them.  I started in the middle of the pack and quickly realized that I was "stuck" behind some slower riders.  I passed them and finally found a comfortable pace.  I was riding in between the first and second packs...kind of on my own, although I would play leapfrog with a couple other riders.  It was fun to do something different.

Saturday I rode the Betterton to Chestertown loop that I had done with Daryl and the Cross Court riders a few times.  I knew the roads so I wasn't too worried about going out alone.  However, it was a lot harder to ride alone than I had expected.  The course had some rolling hills but nothing too challenging.  It wasn't the terrain that was my biggest challenge...it was my head.  Without anyone else to judge myself against, it was really easy to just slack off.  I wouldn't even realize that I was doing it...until I looked down at my computer and saw how much I was slacking off.  Otherwise the ride was not bad.  42 miles with an average of 16.9 MPH...not too bad.

SWIMMING
We went to Betterton for Labor Day weekend, which was really good for my swim.  Saturday night I was talking with Maureen (my swimming buddy) about when we were swimming.  I suggested that we swim double what we normally do...swim from Evergreen Knoll to the public beach and back again.  To my surprise, she agreed!  So Sunday morning we met Helena and Mary for the longest swim of the season.  I am constantly humbled by this group of women.  They are not training for anything...they are just enjoying swimming...and they kick my butt every time.  Maybe some day I will be able to swim faster (or even as fast) as they do.  But for now, I'm just happy to have their company.  Sunday we swam about 1.2 miles.  Monday I ran and then met them for our normal distance swim which is .6 miles.  And again they kicked my butt.

This morning was the first class of the swim clinic that Anne told me about through the Y.  Pam is the instructor.  I've worked with her in Anne's indoor classes as well as the open water swim clinics I've done this summer.  So when I showed up at the class, I wasn't feeling like the newbie.  I jumped in and started the warm-up.  Pam pulled me aside and told me that she was going to stop me if and when I needed specific instruction.  Nice!  Several times during the class she pointed out things that I needed to work on...mostly my feet.  They were either not close enough to the surface or they were doing a scissor kick instead of the flutter kick I was supposed to be doing.  After class she told me that there wasn't really anything that I needed to do to perfect my stroke.  She said that I could expect huge improvements by the end of the session...which is right before my Half Ironman!  YAY!

Overall I am pleased with my week's training work.  This weekend is the Rocky Gap IronGirl.  I'm looking forward to this but I really don't want to do anything to hurt myself for the Half Ironman.  That's my main concern at this point.  Although I am excited to see how I do on a new course.