begin again

I can't believe it's almost been 2 months since St. George. (And a month since the last post). I've been pretty uninspired. This blog has been primarily about my triathlon journey, and there hasn't been much of either lately. Till last week.

First, lets take a quick peek back at what's been going on.
Previously I've been:Climbing at the new (awesome) gym with Kyle.Cheering on my favorite new road racer. (and doing a little racing myself!)And winning cash money baby! (well..a check'll do)We've been cooking, cleaning, organizing (and messing it all back up again). Kyle took me out to Mission Gorge for an outdoor climbing session one afternoon. Friends had a going away camping part at Lake Cuyamaca for Evan. I've been uber busy at the shop. And I've put a lot of time into swim lessons. (Not to mention, still volunteering for TCSD).

I started coaching under Brian at Triathlon Lifestyle Coaching. It seemed like a good fit for me since I'm all about swimming smarter (with better technique!), not harder. As the swim coach, I give technique lessons to the clients and offer private one-on-one sessions as well as group open water swim technique based clinics. It's been going really well and I'm looking forward to my next (sold out in 36 hours) clinic on July 8th. I got a lot of positive feedback from my first session and look forward to hosting them all summer long. Email me for details if you'd like to get a group of friends together for some swim instruction! rachel@triathlonlifestylecoaching.com

As for the training. It went a bit like this:
Brian would send me a plan. I'd think about doing it. And all of a sudden it was the last day of the week and nothing got done - besides a lot of floating around in the hot pool at the Y - swim lessons! I road my bike a couple times. Kyle did his first Great Western Loop (and I was holding up the rear). I missed Cookie Monster (Parlee) but I found myself back on Kermit. I ran 4x (now 5 after the race today) since my marathon at St. George.

* Random 2 mile run a couple weeks ago.
* 3 miles at the aquathlon (racing...and wanting to die!).
* 3 mile and 2 mile sessions this week as "race prep." Those two runs actually gave me confidence for the six I had to run today, as they both were a bit quick (for me).

I have been using the Garmin sparingly (with no HR monitor...in fact, I can't seem to find it at the moment) and not uploading it...sorry coach. I've been swimming in the ocean. I raced the Pier to Cove race only to get my butt kicked this year. I swam the first aquathlon, and did the entire swim/run for the 2nd (without a timing chip...I really didn't need to know that run time) Masters workouts? Hmm, I showed up to noon masters last Thursday. Sprint day?! Seriously, off the blocks, sprinting. 8x100. Fastest 100? 1:08. I'm sorry to all my non-swimmer triathlete friends and clients. I do not mean to cry about my "slow" times, but that is damn slow. I have no speed. I have this uber long ironman stroke that can go on forever (probably at a 1:10/100 yards pace)...but I just couldn't get the turnover or the lungs to survive the workout. Epic fail, but I had fun doing it.

So I was thinking last night about my impending race today. Okay, I've put in a solid week of work. *insert laugh* A run on Mon and Tues. Great Western Wed. Moment Ride (SDIT prep) and masters swim on Thurs. Absolutely nothing on Fri/Sat...not because I was resting, but because I didn't have time! (Huge ANNIVERSARY SALE at Moment Cycle Sport this weekend...ends Tomorrow! - stop by)

So much dread, so much expectation, so much unknown. What I did know? It's going to hurt. What I didn't know? How good I actually felt!

So I'm "back" sort of. I'm back to running. I won't say enjoying running. But not really dreading it...we'll call it feeling accomplished. I'm back on my bike, and back in the water. Just in time for summer. I'm finding myself back on a path that hopefully will become consistent training.

Race report to come soon. I promise...I'll begin again.