Week 21: Slow but Steady June 13-19

Sunday: Met a few people at Green Lake to swim. Kaari and I trudged on to the outer buoy. There was a little bit of sunshine and it made a world of difference in attitude. It was very pleasant and nice.

We on our own this week. Our coaches are in Hawaii with the Maui crew.

Monday: Day off.

Tuesday: Very fun swim at Madison Park. Only four people showed up. The water is a balmy 62 degrees. It's laps around a row pilings that run parallel to the shore. You swim along you can look at the nice wave patterns in the sand below. What are those sea shells doing in a fresh-water lake? If you swim crooked you crash into the piling. Straight becomes a necessity.

Wednesday: Met Tessa, Karin, and Kaari at Green Lake. It was a slow run around the perimeter of the lake. I think I have finally found a pace I can do. Chatting with Kaari the whole way helps. The run was done before I knew it.  The pace was a 12-minute mile.

Thursday: Biking with Bob. My plan is to bike 1 to 2 hours, so we do a counter-clockwise trip around Magnolia, zig-zagging to minimize the hills. Then we walk our bikes through the locks and pedal on home.

Friday: Left work at noon. Ran with Marley around Green Lake -- non-stop except for a couple of water breaks for Marley! It was a 11:30 or 11:40 minute mile. Running slow but steady.

Saturday: Bob and I headed to Seward Park to ride our bikes. There was a big event at the park so we parked in a lot outside the park. Biked a loop up the hill and back. Bob then loaded my bike on to the car, while I ran down the trail with Marley. I am practicing that BRICK, the transition form biking to running, so it's important that I run immediately after biking.  I ran along the water with Marley, spotted a dock, ran to the end, did the Rocky hands in the air thing, then ran back. It was 4 miles. This is a record for me.

Then we drove to Bow to the Rhododendron Cafe for lunch. Then on to Bellingham to check out the hill I missed on our practice run. It is steep!

Sunday: Met my group at Madison to swim again. Kimberly, one of the coaches, is back from Hawaii. We have to do three laps. That's means I have to swim over that creepy seaweed at the end three times. It's cold again and I am shivering. The weather forecast for Bellingham is not looking good. A lot of my teammates have pre-race jitters.