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How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition
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How are you and how was your week?

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [Dr. Tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Hey y'all!!! TC--how was the week for you?

And Scheherezade, how's the new job? Still in elearning hell, or are you actually doing stuff?


Here's the race report from Oceanside that I sent to my coach. It involves embarrassing myself in front of (or, rather, behind) Tim O'Donnell, my first swim in cold water and my first ocean swim, and... not gonna lie, walking my bike up a hill. All in all, I had a GREAT experience at the race and I'd suggest it to anyone who can snag a registration for it!

So I got to transition right when it opened b/c I keep showing up a bit later than that and feeling like I have to rush. BUT, because there was no one really getting in my way, and probably because I'm getting used to this process, I was all ready to go in like 10 mins. So then I started wandering around and texting friends! And spying on the pros a bit! I saw Emma Palant and Eric Lagerstrom :)

There was hypothetically a swim warmup, but the lifeguards weren't set up, and they kept telling people to get out of the water. When they finally let us in I literally just dunked my head underwater like twice before they kicked us out. It was like a 3-minute warmup. I got nervous; it WAS weird to navigate the surf, and the water was so cold that I had that reflex where you can't breathe in cold water. Especially because I was already dealing with hyperventilating this season. I chatted with a few people about it on my way out of the water and they gave me a few tips, and I just resolved to take it slow, especially the entry, and not try too hard until I was feeling comfortable in the water and able to breathe normally.

Then the race was starting and instead of lining up I went out to watch the pros start. It was AWESOME!!!! Mike Reilly was announcing, and so many pros were on the start line! I was totally stanning, like, not keeping my cool at all. then someone was all "Oh yeah Tim O'Donnell's right there." I was totally making a fool out of myself right behind Tim O'Donnell, seeing Rinny off!!!! Whatever, I'm sure it made him feel like a superstar :)

Then I jumped in line and got started. It did take me a while to acclimate to the cold water, especially with the surf. I spent about half the time doing backstroke at the beginning, just waiting to feel better. That was weird, since I wasn't out of the surf, but it felt best to be on my back. It was also a bit of a melee. Some people obviously weren't sighting well, and they kept going horizontally by me and cutting me off. Eventually I found a groove and it got real easy. It really is easier to swim in salt water. It felt short, and like I wasn't even working very hard.

Transition went fine. It's a long one, and I try to chill in transition and make sure that I've got everything, rather than breezing through. I also always feel disoriented after the swim and don't run for a bit, and then I don't run in my bike shoes.

The bike was so fun!!!! Weather was perfect. the marine layer--a thick layer of clouds--had rolled in overnight, so it wasn't too hot or sunny. The hills on that course really are no joke though. There's one huge one that's like 600 ft. of elevation and above a 10% grade the whole way up. Like half of the people were walking it, and you know I ain't too proud to walk too. I figured that the main goal was to have a strong run, so I walked that hill. Had some nice chats with people on the way, #noregrets.

One thing was that we were really crowded in. I don't think that drafting rules are really enforced or cared about for those of us at the end in a crowded place like SoCal? There were packs of people basically doing a group ride. Anyway, I just did my thing and had fun.

Back to transition, everything went fine again. That's my story about T2. It's not that interesting.

The run did go strongly. I was pretty determined to keep to the run plan and not fall apart, and even though the split wasn't fast, I feel like I achieved my goal. The course is actually kind of oddly steep in places because it weaves between beach level and street level, so I did walk sometimes when I technically shouldn't have been walking according to the plan, but just about everyone was walking.

Afterwards, I was nauseous for a half hour or so and just had to lay down. It settled down, and then I watched the awards and stanned a little more! It was so fun to see all those people I've been reading about and watching on YouTube for a few years now!!!! What an inspiration were all those fit pro bodies!

Formerly GiantNewb, but not such a newb anymore.
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [BingTri] [ In reply to ]
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Congrats on the finish! Yeah, it is fun to see pros in real life. I'm glad you had a good race.

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [Dr. Tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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My goals were to use healthy coping skills (5/7) and do things that make me faster (I'll give myself a B on this though the walk yesterday was a win). Week was

M - 10 mi run
T - 36.8 mi ride
W - 10.5 mi run
T - 2 hr stairmaster, 1 mi walk
F - 5 mi run
S - 6.8 mi run, 700m swim
S - 3 mi walk

goals this week are the same as last. I have been struggling with the healthy coping skills lately :-(

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [Dr. Tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Hi everyone! Been a bit of a lurker here for a while.

Been a bit of a weird one. I've been feeling really off for a while and I couldn't figure out why. I did really well in 2020, but for most of this year I've felt really unfocused and motivated. Not 'bad', but definitely not me, if that makes sense.
Think I might have put my finger on it though. I've been trying to get back to my family in Aus since about March, and I've had 4 flights cancelled now. Ever since the first one fell through I've kind of been living three months in the future trying to plan for everything, which of course changes every five seconds and I don't have much control over, so I feel like everything's all over the place and about to go terribly wrong even though I'm actually doing fine day-to-day. School is good, training has been fairly productive despite my head not being quite there, house is mostly clean, partner hasn't told me to sod off yet. Probably not the best time to be deciding on postgrad offers or which hemisphere to live in, but here we are.
So I guess my big goal going forward is to be more 'present', as fruity as that sounds, though I have no idea how to go about that haha. If anyone has any advice I'd be eternally grateful!

Doing a bit of a quick and dirty peak because I got bored of the endless base work for races that never came, then hopefully flying out end of November, sitting on my ass for a week in quarantine, and starting all over again for some local short course events and Cairns 70.3. I am cautiously optimistic :)

Also trainer fan broke tonight. Threshold session was disgusting.
Last edited by: flubber: Nov 1, 21 20:11
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [flubber] [ In reply to ]
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I'm glad you came out of hiding! Hi!

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [BingTri] [ In reply to ]
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1/1 for the week on healthy coping skills!

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [BingTri] [ In reply to ]
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3 days in a row of healthy coping skills and today is day 4!

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [Dr. Tigerchik] [ In reply to ]
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Woo hoo!!!!! I'm glad to hear this!

Formerly GiantNewb, but not such a newb anymore.
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [BingTri] [ In reply to ]
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thanks. It's soooooo hard sometimes

maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD
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Re: How was your week? Nov. 1 Edition [BingTri] [ In reply to ]
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Great job on the race Bing! Is that the end of the season now for you, or have you got something else lurking?

Keep up the good work with the healthy coping Dr TC!

Welcome, Flubber.

e-learning continues but there have been a few in-person sessions sprinkled in, thank goodness. I found yesterday that a 47 minute demonstration video is too long for me, the mind was definitely wandering. The job is in a medical environment so the occupational health requirements have been pretty stringent - I have my fifth (and hopefully final) appointment, in two weeks, with the doctor this afternoon.
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