Hypopathetic

Sorry I've been a bit lax in posting this week. I've been a little tired, which is not good as next week is my hard week and I have a race this weekend.

To keep people amused during the delay I am posting my new favorite word, accidentally coined by Bronwyn yesterday when we were discussing riding in the hellishly cold weather two Saturdays ago. I've decided that hypopathetic perfectly describes the whiny and miserable state I get into when I'm too cold.

Aside from being tired and a seriously unpleasant work-related issue, it's largely a good week. Tuesday's spin was a killer but I'm very happy at how much further I can push myself - finding what I think is my limit but keeping going and ignoring the "Make hellish experience stop!" mental wail. The key part of the workout were four pieces in which we went all out (big ring, high cadence) for three minutes with a six minute recovery. I thought I pushed my limit but was outdone by someone else!

Wednesday morning was one of those days where the effort involved in dragging myself out of bed to workout was almost as great as the one involved in the workout itself. I desparately DID NOT want to get up. My inner two year old emerged and I dealt with about 20 minutes of mental temper tantrums - "No no no no no no - NOOOOO!" before finally getting up. Of course it turned out to be one of the best swims this year so far as I finally figured something out. For a long time now I've been trying to fix my pull finish and Wednesday that was our focus. I could pratically hear the click as I got it. I spent the swim muscling my way through the water, thrilled at my new proficiency. Now I just have to get it working with a wee bit less effort!

I'm disappointed that I'm not swimming this weekend as I really want to keep that concept clicked in. I might hit the water briefly just to keep the feel.

That afternoon I didn't get another chance to try rollers (and just as the bruises from last Wednesday have disappeared) as we had a club Board meeting. Instead I went to the YWCA to do my spin there. The first 40 minutes of my 1:05 spin was on the spin bikes but I had to move to make way for a spin class and I did the remaining 25 on a stationary bike. About five minutes in I realized that I was next to a seriously, seriously stinky person. There were no other bikes so I stayed where I was, looking slightly foolish as I breathed out of one side of my mouth.

Hmm, I seem to be giving an update on my week after all - might as well fill in the rest of the details:
Monday swim - catch focus. Did a crazy "Tarzan" drill - basically head up front crawl with the highest arm turnover you can manage - followed immediately by 50m of "strong" free. Wonder why I've been tired this week!

The Tuesday am run was another hard workout to get out of bed for. I managed to drag out and almost left the house on time then decided I absolutely, positively had to replace my regular laces with easy laces right then and there so I'd be prepared for the duathlon this weekend. Five minutes later I was nowhere near on time.

Last night's run wasn't bad, largely because those of us racing this weekend didn't have to go all out on the hills, only 80% rather than 100% (I may have only gone 76.2%). We did 4 times one minute running uphill on 4 minutes recovery.

The next part of the run was two five minute pieces, with a 3 min recovery, at pace for my upcoming race. On the first piece I quickly found myself dead last in the group, which hasn't happened in a while and dented my pride somewhat. The second piece I did at pretty much the exact same pace as various people who'd been in front of me on the first one couldn't keep up the original pace they set and dropped behind me. I really shouldn't be happy about that, it's all about my workout not what other people do, but it definitely salved my ego!