Countdown...

School starts today. End of summer. End of just training. Ugh. Not cool. I still haven't figured out my schedule. I'm debating between taking 5 or 6 courses. (The fifth and sixth would be relatively easy courses; the other four would be moderate to hard.) I probably should not do it because of

1) the job hunt for next year (all the recruiters are coming to campus this month)
2) I am probably going to intern somewhere (so thats 15-20 hours gone)
3) I wanna do really well this semester (spending lots of time in the hell hole named LAU aka the library—it is actually an architectural nightmare)
4) I need to train because I signed up for a Half Ironman in March.

Ok I should probably explain. I really want to do an Ironman within the next two years. Like really badly. So I think doing a 70.3 is a really good idea. It's also a good way to force my mom to come see me race (she backed out of coming to see me race at Nation's).

I've done quite a few workouts since I last posted.

Irene hit on Saturday, so I decided to get my butt up early (after a night of some drinking at the college bar). I was up at 8 AM, and headed down to Haines Point. Boy was it crowded. The weather was great though! Cool and crisp, my favorite weather. Anyways, my workout was supposed to be a 2 hour easy zone 2 ride followed by a 30 min run. It was marvelous. I averaged 17 mph during moving time! woot.
The run on the other hand was a disaster. Not cool. It was supposed to be 20 min at 10K pace (aka 8:30-8:45) followed by 10min at an easy pace. I hit my targets; 8:22 and 8:45, but my shins were killing me. Painful. I ended up stopping 5 min into the last 10 min to just let my legs quasi recover. I'm pretty sure I now have shin splints. CRAP.

Once I got back home, I grabbed something to eat and iced my legs. They felt soooo good. Funny story. I got a keg tub from the local liquor store, it's this massive black tub. By the time I got it (and the ice) it was raining. So I cleaned out the tub, put some ice in it and proceeded to use a brita jug (w/o the filtration system) to fill up the tub. Fun stuff.

It gets better.

I hadn't really thought the whole process through. Now I was on the top floor of my house. The tub was very heavy when it was filled. I couldn't lift it to the sink to dump out, nor to the shower. I didn't even attempt to pick it up to dump the water out of the window (it was raining pretty hard). I ended up using the brita jug to dump the water out my window! WOOT!

Saturday night, I stayed in. I lie. I went to a friend's house for a bit. I didn't drink (that much), and then just went home and passed out. The next day I had plans with a friend of mine to go on a ride. He had just arrived, and had bought a tri bike over the summer. Before going on the ride we took my bike to get its 30-day tune up. Everything went as planned. Got back to campus and went for a spin to my favorite spot: Haines Point. We did 1:20 pretty fun. After that we went to Ray's Hell Burger. AMAZING. I had a burger and a vanilla milkshake. YUM.

Monday: I went back to see my swim coach at AU. I'm pretty sure I did something else, but I don't remember. I got drunk off of a few beers. Oye.

Tuesday: Tried to go for a run with a friend of mine, made it 1.6 miles. My shins were killing me. NOT GOOD. I did a baseline bike test that afternoon. Felt amazing. The test part, I averaged 20. Eh. Not good. TOO DARN SLOW.

Today: FIRST DAY OF CLASS! AHH. The beginning of the end. Holy smokes. Still trying to figure out my schedule. This morning I did 1:45 with my friend from Sunday. Haines Point once again. Felt good.

Tonight I'm going to do some run surges. Might go running with the Georgetown Running Company. Not sure. AHH.

Oh and the Half Ironman is in San Juan.

I promise to write another post by the end of the week!

Happy training.

plug your ears

Yesterday I went for an 1:10 bike ride with some intervals thrown in. Felt good. Except for down there. I really need to get my seat switched out. I think I need to raise the cockpit a bit as well because my neck is really strained. After the ride, I went for a short run with a friend. Overall good workout.

After working out went with my running bud and a tri friend to surfside. Yum. We were soooooo full, so we decided to walk back. Great idea. Except I think I was bitten by a bunch of mosquitos. Not cool.
My running bud is living with me for a few weeks, but I have another roommate as well. My RB and I watched shark week when we got back, and pumped up the sound so we didn't have to hear my roommate and his girlfriend play the bagpipes. Fun stuff. Not.

Today calls for a tempo run and some swimming. I'm gonna throw in some lower body stuff as well. 

Past few days.

Lots of things have happened in the past few days. The major one being that I am now the owner of a brand spanking new 2011 Cervelo P2. And boy am I ecstatic. It's soooooooo beautiful. And sexy. I still need to name it. I got it on Thursday (or was it Wednesday, pretty sure it was Thursday). I didn't ride it till Friday because I wasn't sure if I was going to return it to the bike shop all the way out in VA and get a bike from a LBS. After consulting with the loving mom, I kept the cervelo. The guys at my LBS were a bit bummed for a minute, and then they helped me get some accessories for my baby.

Friday, I wanted to ride my baby, but had to go to the LBS and get the stuff put on (Edge 500, aero bottle, wing + cages). And get the icky reflectors off. By the time I got out of the shop it was close to 11. I was planning on heading up to NY on a 2pm train so I could be in the city by 5 and get my name down for a spot at the Spotted Pig. (See what I did there?! Oh and excuse my horrible grammar.) Back to the bike. I figured I only had 30 min or so to ride my bike before I needed to shower, grab lunch and jump in a cab to the train station. 

I took it down to hains point, and boy was it fast. It felt amazing. Up until the 25th min, when my nether regions started to....ummm....go numb? I eased off the aero bars and the pedals and took it slow. I definitely need to get properly fitted at my LBS. With that I made my way home, showered and went to NYC.

(The Spotted Pig is amazing. I had dinner w one of my best friends as it was her last night in the city before heading home and then to London to see her boyfriend. Great food. Great wine. Great company. Although I couldn't really sleep because of some acid reflux. Ew.) 

Saturday:

Went to brunch at Bubbys in Tribeca with her before she had to leave for the airport. sooo good. and cheap. I still felt the acid reflux, but I ended up running through it. Literally. Well kinda. I did 6 miles on the treadmill for my long run. I felt great. I ended up averaging 8:14. WOO. In reality the average was much lower if you ignored my cool down. It would have been in the 7:55-8:05 region. 

Had a friends birthday party. Yum. Went to artichoke pizza at 2 AM and ordered 5 jumbo slices. Ate 3. Left 2 in the hotel lobby. Delicious.

Woke up in the middle of the night w more acid reflux. (maybe its like shark week and only comes around once a year?!)

Sunday (funday?):

went to bubbys again with my hungover friends (I wasn't hungover because I only had 1 bourbon and ginger). then went to a friends house in connecticut. saw captain america. (horrible ending btw.) watched entourage. slept like a baby.

Today: 

caught a flight back to DC. did nothing. slept a bit. watched some suits. went to shake shack for dinner with a friend. and then watched shark week. now its off to bed...

tomorrow calls for a long ride on the new beauty + run and then an afternoon swim + gym workout. 

annnnd break.

half century ...

well kinda.

I woke up this morning after going out last night. Had a great dinner with some friends at Central and then hit up some Georgetown bars. I ended up getting a rower friend of mine drunk (I hadn't gotten him a shot at Tombs on his 21st as is customary at Georgetown). Well, we both got drunk. And then I had late night. A slice of pepperoni pizza w/ ranch dressing, parmesan  and red pepper on top. Amazing.

I got up at around 6:30 (after going to bed at 2:30....), but stayed in bed/tried to sleep till about 8:30. Boy was I hung over.

I got ready and went for a long easy ride (which I was supposed to do yesterday! UGH). I crossed key bridge and took the curtis trail to the washington & old dominion trail. It was beautiful. AND NOT HOT! Well it was hot, but not scorching. My coach wanted me to do 2:30, but I ended up doing 3:15. I did about 44 miles along the WOD trail. And when I got back to key bridge, I decided to just do a half century. I took the Mt. Vernon trail to the Jefferson Memorial and then just headed back to Georgetown.

Great ride. It ended up being 49, but what's 1 measly mile!

One complaint about the WOD trail is those annoying stop signs. SO MANY. They interrupt my flow. Ugh. I know selfish.

Definitely going to do it again.

Once I got back, I made myself breakfast, had some milk, carrot juice and water. Yum. And then slept on the couch while watching an amazing time trial at the tour de france. Cadel Evans is a beast.

Anyways. Now for the rest of my day: perhaps a long run on the treadmill and a swim. That sounds like a plan. Oh and I'm probably gonna go look at bikes again. Mine is a bottom of the line trek that I think I've out grown. Not to mention it's been making weird noises. I've got to decide if I want a tri bike or an aero road bike.