We made it! This week was tough and looooong and I was kind of over it by Thursday, but there were definitely some great things that happened including our longest brick workout, some faster than usual running, and finally starting to get double unders in crossfit.
The question of the week (well really of the last two weeks) is this: Is a brick workout one workout or two? I think my first week I counted them as two, but last week I counted it as one. Nicole says it’s two because you are changing sports, but I kinda feel like since it all happens at once it’s one. So please weigh in and tell me your thoughts because it’s obviously crucial that I calculate just how many times I worked out properly. Priorities people.
Anyway, here’s a look at how this week went down:
Monday AM: 2,250 yard swim. A new record in the pool! This was definitely the strongest I’ve felt swimming, and it was actually enjoyable. Success.
Monday AM: Crossfit. I don’t know what my deal was, but I was not feeling it by the time I got to crossfit. We were doing sets of 5 dead lifts again, but this time I could only do 155 lbs, and I was pissed that it was lower than last week. I just didn’t feel super strong and capable, and I didn’t understand why after just having a rest day I couldn’t get my act together. Then the workout of the day was 2 minutes / 90 seconds / 1 minute each of kettle bell swings, double unders, burpees and squats. We got 1 point for every move we did, so pretty much every time we got to double unders my score just stayed the same. Okay, I got a total of 2 in the 3 and a half minutes I spent attempting them. The rest was fine, but I was just mentally kinda blah about the whole thing.
Tuesday AM: Crossfit. Okay, so this was the day I realized I needed an attitude adjustment. I went in still mentally frustrated from the day before, and I looked at the board and I just wanted to give up. The workout was one of those 45 minutes to finish as much as you can and the first round was 3 x 50 double unders / 15 pull ups / 15 burpees. Then underneath it said there was no substitutions for double unders. So basically I assumed I would spend 45 minutes trying to get a total of maybe 10 double unders, and I just wanted to go home. And I kind of wanted to cry. Except I know crossfit is not the place for my emotionalness, haha.
So I whined and bitched and was super negative, and I begged the coach to let me start at the end (which included running!) and work backwards, but he was insistent. The workout started and I was just getting frustrated, but then he came and sat by me and gave me some pointers, and all of the sudden I did one! He had me do single, single, double, and the rhythm was starting to work! Then once I got 10 like that, he taught me how to put them together (I was stopping after every double because I couldn’t figure it out). So the coach told me I could do 30 the first round, then 40, then 50. I made it through ALL OF THEM (and shocked myself!) then went back to finish the 30 I had gotten out of. By the end I could even do a few with only one single in between! I must have jumped rope something like 1,000 times and I was SO TIRED. I even made it one round through the next section which was 15 hang clean & jerk (I used 55lbs) / 30 sit ups.
I was by far the furthest behind of everyone in class, but for once I didn’t care! I had never done more than 2-3 double unders and this was a huge step for me! I can’t believe I went in with the “I can’t” attitude. That is so not me, and I am so grateful for tough love, and a coach that wouldn’t let me get away with it!
Tuesday PM: 2:15 bike + 20 min run.
Whoot! Our longest brick yet! It has been super windy in the afternoon, and this was no exception, but our pace was decent (our plan calls for these to be pretty slow/easy effort), and our run was actually really fast (for me)! In fact, we usually run very close to a 10 min/mi so I assume 20 minutes = about 2 miles, but my garmin buzzed and we still had over a minute left, which doesn’t seem like much, but I was so tired at this point that I was so annoyed with myself for having to run further, haha. We ended up with a little over 33 miles on the bike and a little over 2 miles on the run. Also, when I walked in the door, there were steaks on the grill and sweet potatoes in the oven. My husband is perfect.
Wednesday AM: Track. The workout today was 6 x 800s at half marathon pace / 10k pace /5k pace /repeat. Our splits ended up being 9:07, 8:57, 8:21, 9:02, 8:47, 8:12. All arguably faster than I could run any of those distances right now, but I just decided it was okay and that I was with all of it–especially that last one. 
I am SO HAPPY to be back to speed training, and hopefully get back to where I was during marathon training.
Wednesday AM: Crossfit. This was by far my favorite crossfit workout of the week! I finally went in and felt good about what I was able to do. Like, actually good, not just I survived good. We did 5 x 3 push press, and by my fourth I made it up to 90 lbs and it felt heavy, but I felt solid. I decided to try 100 lbs for my last set, and I got 2 of them, but them I just couldn’t make the third happen, but I didn’t even care. I was pretty ecstatic that I lifted 100 lbs over my head at all! I felt like super woman. The workout of the day was 21/18/15/12/9/6/3 clean (rx was 95 lbs, I used 65 lbs) // sit ups. I felt great throughout the whole thing and was the first one in my class to finish in 12:15! I love being first. It almost never happens, so when it does I never shut up about it.
Thursday AM: 1,000 yard swim. So I just wasn’t feeling it today…at all. My arms were sore, I was exhausted, I didn’t want to be at the pool. I made a deal with myself that I would go easy and get in about 30 minutes. Well, I swam super slow, but got 1,000 yards in and decided that today that would just be good enough.
Friday AM: 1 hour bike intervals + 10 min run. It’s funny, Nicole and I were on the bike and she admitted to me that this was always her least favorite workout of the week, and I told her that it’s my favorite! I look forward to it! Even if I’m tired the night before, I get excited to do our bike intervals. Today we had 3 intervals that were 20+ mph which I was super excited about, and our run afterwards even felt pretty good. I don’t know, I just love bike interval brick day.
Friday AM: Yoga. Ugghhh you guys, yoga is hard! I thought that it would feel easier these days since I’m stronger, but the control and holding positions is so hard! It felt great, though. Except, I still hate savasana. Is that how you spell it? I feel like it should be spelled shavasanah. That’s how I spell it in my brain.
Saturday AM: Long run.
We went with BTB up to La Grande Orange and ran up there which was awesome because it meant breakfast afterwards! I spend 90% of my time running thinking about what I’m going to eat afterwards, and I love LGO (ps: they have literally the best gluten-free pizza for those of you in the area). This run was tough. Usually everyone passes me immediately and I am left in the dust, but for some reason Nicole and I just kept waiting for everyone to pass us and it never happened. Then we tried to keep up with people to have company, and we ended up running a good 15 seconds per mile faster than usual which was both awesome and, well, hard. We ended up with a little over 8 miles in 1:20 (yeah…my faster is still pretty slow, but it’s cool).
Sunday: Rest.
Totals:
10 (12?) workouts, 11:30 hours of training, 66 miles (16 miles running, 48 miles cycling, 3,250 yards swimming), 4 mysterious crossfit bruises that make Steve worried about what people are going to thing when they see me, and my first time feeling naked in the pool. I did it. I took off my swimming shorts and braved my cellulite in just my swim suit. I don’t like it and I keep apologizing to Nicole for my butt, but I was starting to feel those dumb things drag behind me, and my need to be better runs even deeper than my need to cover up.