Mon- Fri this past week (Feb 1-5)

Monday- am Swim: 3700 yds, 1:15 total time with Dustin and Jen (former Olympic trials qualifier and Division I allstar at SMU where I ran track/XC ) at AFC....the main set was 5x500 descending (which means getting faster each one) all on 7:00...times: 6:39, 6:35, 6:25, 6:17, 6:09...I was wiped out by the last one but encourage by my times...thanks Jen and Dustin!

I moved to roanoke for the month today for my pediatrics rotation so I hurt my back moving my stuff out to the car...this sucks...

pm Long Run- in the late afternoon, 1:30 total time, going really slow cause it is snowy/icy out and my back hurt most of the run..crap, not good...I thinking 8:00+ pace...when will spring come, shoot me now..

Tues- am Swim: Went to the masters group swim at Roanoke YMCA coached by Pat who was 12th pro in the 1987 Ironman- dang that is good.... mostly easy 3500 yds that took about 1:10 total time, main set was 6X100 with alot of rest on 1:45, times: 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:11, 1:09...rest was easy sets. My back is still hurting and flip turns are somewhat painful today.

Stood on my feet all day in the newborn nursery in the hospital...my back is screaming at me! shoot...not good

pm Bike- 1:45 on indoor trainer, the roads are nasty and cant ride outside...w/o was 3x20 min intervals at zone 3.5-4ish, this set is good for starting to build TT endurance..I do everything pretty much on effort cause I get discouraged when I wear a HR monitor (I can rarely get my HR above 160 on the indoor bike even with great effort??) and I cant afford a power meter... my back doesnt hurt at all when I am on the bike! =)

Wed- off, my back is really hurting, time to take a day off, i moved my bed to the floor in these aweful dorm rooms in roanoke with beds that are not suitable for prison institutions...hopefully that will help

Thurs- am swim- masters in roanoke again, I took at the sets pretty easy and didnt even look at my times so it is not worth recording...35o0 yds total, 1hr, zone 2-3 I would guess...lots of shorter sets (50s-150s). back feels a little better, not great though, definately cant run today like I was planning on...

pm bike indoors- 2hrs, zone 2-3...I do a pyramid set where I start in my easiest gear and move 1 gear down every 5 mins and then back up all in the smaller chain ring...it is a good steady, somewhat easier base building workout...and it eats a long of time up on the indoor trainer which is always important

Fri- am run on treadmill- horrible snow storm, cant run outside....1 hr total, 8+ mi, 15 mi warm up, 3x10 min intervals with 2 mins easy inbetween each interval...intervals at 6:15-6:30 pace right now with the rest intervals as slow as you want...cool down 10 mins....felt good, back feels better!! Running indoors in tough on the soul though....

am swim- 1 hr, 3k drills: 1,000 distance per stroke drill- really important for me and a lot of triathletes because our cadences tends to be too high in the pool and we arent getting enough out of our stroke, I am taking 12 strokes per length right now- which isnt that bad for being 5 foot 5- if you are taller you should be doing definately fewer...1,000 drill variety: one arms, finger drag, switch drill, catchups, ect..1,000 with paddles working on stroke form and this is helpful to build strenght (which i need!)

pm bike- 2hrs indoors, 2x15 min of one legged drills on 1:30 min switching each leg, 5 min easy in between sets- very important to work on your pedal stroke here, making sure there are not weak spots in your stroke- try to pedal perfect circles focusing particularly on "scraping the mudd of the bottom of your shoe" motion during the downstroke...then 30 mins of high cadence (100+ rpm) broken into 4 mins on, 1min off- try to keep goot technique...legs feel not too bad...back feels good...