State of things

Here's a rambly post to fill up some space :)

Training is going well.  I'm getting the workouts done and hitting my targets, which always surprises me. Especially when I need to go fast.  When did I get fast?  I had an interval run Tuesday, with 10x2 min efforts.  Coach's notes said to keep it under an 8:30 pace.  I laughed.  That's fast.  Who does she think she's coaching?  And what do you know, I hit 8:39 to 8:33 for the last 4, all based on perceived effort of going hard but not so hard I would puke.  Amazing.

Bike rides are solid too.  I went and rode my usual neighborhood loop last Sunday, aka Hess/Pradera/Pinery.  Going up Hess, my heart rate was a full 10 beats lower than it normally is.  Interesting. I didn't get to do the rest of the loop because once I got to the top of Hess, things looked like this:

I ended up with 2 hours of road time and 1:30 of pretty hard aerobic stuff on the trainer.  Next time I need to suck it up and get up early and ride with the club.  I would have, except I was out past my bedtime the night prior doing this:

upper left: Former Future Brewing Company (Brett Rye ESB, mango wheat wine)
upper right: Epic Brewing Co (sampler and Brainless on Raspberries)
bottom center: Crooked Stave (I can't remember, but it doesn't matter because they never have the same beer twice!)

mmm, beer.  I don't do this often, and its probably the last time I'll be able to do this until IMBoulder is done.

My left shoulder has been angry at me for at least a month.  I did something to it - or many things - and it is now angry.  The rotator cuff basically does a series of rubber-band snaps with movement and causes my deltoid to hurt.  An extra fun feature is that its been snapping when I roll over in my sleep, which wakes me up.  Yay?  Yesterday, my masters coach and I figured out that I was swimming really flat and that was likely causing the issues with my shoulders.  I needed to work on rotation and REALLY reaching.  I did some 6-3-6 drills and the difference in shoulder flexibility was shocking.  My left shoulder is frozen.  I had a really hard time touching my shoulder to my ear when side-gliding.  Soooo, yeah.  I've got stretching and a bunch of side-glide drills in my very near future.  On a good note, yesterday's practice was the first one that didn't hurt (yay!) and I could hit my intervals without feeling like I was dying (proper form - yay!), and my shoulder didn't hurt AFTER the practice (yay! yay!).  I feel like I caught this in time, which is good.  But I'm also a bit pissed at myself for not figuring this out sooner.  After all, swimming is my "thing"

My left hip is also angry at me.  (full disclosure: my entire left side usually hates me.  I have no idea why).  It hurt pretty bad two weeks ago, which left me limping.  I stubbornly ran intervals and hills on it, using my magical pain blocking powers to make it go away.  It was fine when I was running and then really pissed off the rest of the time.  It finally hit me that I needed to get my chiropractor to adjust my SI joint.  I went in, got adjusted, and *boom*.  Just in time for a massive PR at Colfax.  Its doing better, but still gets tweaky.  I think I strained my upper quad in compensation for my off-kilter SI joint.  So lots of stretching is in order.

Boise.  I think I'm ready.  Before Colfax, I told my coach I wanted to race-race it.  I have a tattered history with that race and I'd really like to give it a go.  Added bonus: I'll have my family there cheering and they could finally see me race to my potential, instead of dying (2010) or DNS'ing with hypothermia and a broken heel (2012).  I'm borrowing race wheels from a friend and getting Merlin tuned tomorrow.  I'm doing my first OWS Saturday (60 degree water - I am NOT looking forward to that)  I feel good (great, assuming my shoulder and hip cooperate) and think I can do well.  Not sure about a PR, but mentally, I want to go for it.

Driving to Idaho is going to be interesting, thanks to Colorado's pot law.  Apparently neighboring states are pulling over vehicles with CO plates for "cause" and then searching the car for pot.  To make things even more entertaining, we're transporting our cousin's beer for his wedding (which is the week after Boise).  In Utah, it is illegal to bring alcohol into the state.  So if we get pulled over and searched in Utah, things could get interesting....  Lets just say I'll be driving through Utah (NOT Will) with the cruise set a hair below the limit and making sure I use my turn signals for a gooooood long time before I switch lanes.  Ugh.

Finally, the Ironman hungries have finally shown up.  I'd like to lose some weight before Boulder.  I'm lighter than I was for St George right now, but I'm not where I was for CDA.  Once we get back from Idaho, I'll be on full food lockdown.  Only good things go in.  No (ok, very little) beer, no sweets, no fruits.  Just veggies and meat.  I did it last year, I can do it again.