Monday, April 19, 2010

Bachelorette Party

This past 2 weeks was a whirlwind of craziness. Last week was supposed to be a active recovery week, with the weekend off, but since my bachelorette party would be the following weekend, I thought having that weekend off would be wiser. So i mixed around the past two weeks workouts and made it all fit. I have been riding so strong which has been so awesome to see. When bike racing was my only job I was really good. It has been hard for me in this whole process to try not to compare myself to what i was, and just focus on what I am now. But I think I am in even better overall shape then I ever was.

Thursday nights there is a training race by my work. It is a mile loop with 3 turns. It averages about 40-60 people, most of which are guys. There are a few women that go, but all but 2 of us get dropped. I love this ride because of how fast it is, and for me it's a chance to see how my legs are doing. Two weeks ago was the first week at greentree for me and I was on fire. I was riding on the front, bringing back breaks, and really duking it out with the guys. I love that feeling, not sure if they do! This past week was the same awesomeness. But I added a twist to the ride. I needed to do a double brick workout so I thought I would do it at greentree. I had to ride 15 miles, then run 2 miles, then repeat that. I wasn't sure how my legs would react joining in the group after my run, but I did great, went straight to the front. Looking forward to this weeks ride!

This past weekend was my bachelorette party. I went down to DC for it since most of my friends live there. I left Friday after work with Puma. My best friends from FL, drove up that morning and got to DC in 11 hours...really impressive. Sat, I went for a easy run, then toured the city with Melissa and Nichole, seeing all the monuments, museums and other historical stuff!

I LOVE country music and wanted to go line dancing, so we all dressed up as cowgirls and headed out on the town. We started at the banana bar, a tex-mex/cuban restaurant in Capital Hill. The food was awesome. I won't go into to many details about the night, mainly because I don't remember most of them, but I had the time of my life. I am so lucky to have SO many amazing friends. I am still hurting today!!

Everything is getting closer. The wedding is 32 days away and the Ironman is 132 days away. I am so excited about everything and can't wait to dance more and race my heart out.

This weeks workouts look like this:

Mon- REST (much needed)
Tue- Swim 1750 yards
Wed- Weights
Thur- Ride Speed work (greentree)
Fri- Run Speed work
Sat- Swim 2850 yards
Sun- Brick 2hr bike ride/ 8 mile run

Big hugs to all the girls who came out, Melissa, Nichole, Laura, Cara, Crista, Kate, Marita, Alycia, Izzy, Davis, Caroline, and of course the best sister in the whole world MICHELE!!!! I love you all.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Swim Goggle Headache

Thank you to those who have taken the time to help me figure out why I have been getting these bad migrane like headaches while doing my long swims. From an article my sister-in-law Helena sent me and through some research of my own, i think I have what's called "Swim Goggle Headaches" I would keep tightening the straps if water leaked in and the pressure on the supraorbital nerves is whats causing the pain. here is a visual to show better.
 

My plan now is to go get a new pair of goggles that have a softer material around the base. Hopefully this works. Thanks again everyone.

On a side note, if you have sent emails as a response to this post, I never got it. I don't know where these emails go, so if you want to post something you can do it directly to the blog or use my other email.


megan.esmonde@gmail.com

Monday, April 5, 2010

First 100 miler on TT bike!


Over the past week my body finally starting feeling back to normal.
I'm sure part of it had to do with getting more sleep and not over
doing it. I am just glad to be feeling normal.

So this past week was the end of the Aerobic Phase. I did change
around some of the workouts to fit my schedule and I felt like I
needed more time on the bike, so I rode more.

Saturday, John and I went out for a 100 mile bike ride. We left the
house at 6:30am and headed to the group ride in New Jersey. (we live
in PA) The ride would be approx 25 miles, we had to avg 15mph in order
to get there on time. The ride to NJ was a direct shot, but there was
one obstacle in our way...the Delaware River! We had to ride over the
Tacony-Palmayra Bridge to get there, that was the best part of the
whole ride. The group ride was nice and steady, I sat on the tail end
so I could be in my aero bars the whole time without anyone
complaining. The group ride was 50 miles so by the end of that John
and I already had 75 miles in. John's dad Pete, brought water and food
for use to refill for the 25mile ride back. Thanks Pete!! At this
point this has been the longest ride I have done for a long time, I
still felt good, but not great, The ride home was good, John pulled
the whole way, I wasn't complaining:) I relaxed the rest of the day
and I think that was the reason why I feel great today. Recovery is
such a key to a successful training regime. I am really good at doing
nothing!

To finish off the week I had a long swim. Unfortunately I keep getting
bad headaches during my swims, they get to the point of nausea. I
don't know why this is happening, but I want it to stop. Maybe I have
my goggles to tight. If anyone has any advice please let me know.

This coming up week is a recovery week. I was planning on doing a
duathlon on Sat, but with my Achilles still flaring up and the
ridiculous cost of the event, I am opting to pass.

Only four days working out this week, and I'm looking forward to the
down time. I hope to finish all of the flowers for the wedding and
some of the preparations for the baby shower.

Have a Happy Easter Everyone!