A terrible nights sleep last night. Uggh.  I wish I were not plagued with insomnia, but alas, I have always been a “poor” sleeper. This is the last week of training before our race.  I opted to do some high intensity intervals on Tuesday, and will render a mellower distance workout on Thursday.

Splashfit Tuesday

Warm Up Elliptical 10 minutes
Superset x 3
Leg Press 230 x 25
Stiff Leg Deadlifts 40 x 25
Ass Burners 50 each Leg

Jog to park

*50 Squats
Run 100 Yards, Run Stairs
50 Alternating Lunges
Jog 100 Yards, Run Stairs

Repeat above 5 times, except
*Change Squat variation each time
1. Prisoner
2. Sumo with Lateral Leg Lift
3. 1 1/4 Squat
4. Grass Picker Squat
5. Air Squat with shoulder raise

10 x Stair repeats

Jog back to gym

Superset x 3
Seated Calf Raise x 10
Straight Leg Calf Raise x 10

and done!

Swimming with shoes and clothing to mimic race conditions

Wednesday evening, we got together for a short agility workout. After completing several laps around the orchard, high-stepping through the tires, and under and over a picnic table, we dove into the Okanogan River and swam across.  Part of our race course involves running down the “suicide” hill and then swimming across the Okanogan River.  Unless we want to strip at the river bank and finish the race barefoot and naked, that means swimming in our shoes and clothes.  It is definitely not as easy as it looks.  A flutter kick in running shoes is just not going to happen.  I did manage to combine a froggy kick with a crawl stroke and was able to move across the river, but as a former competitive swimmer, this is not going to be a portion of the race where we can pick up any speed.

Splashfit Thursday
Elliptical 15 minutes
Run moderate pace 2 miles 
Hill repeat x 5
Run moderate pace 1.5 miles
Superset x 3
Barbell Power Clean and Press x 10
Dumbell Thrusters x 15
Burpee Push-ups x 10
Plank to T-Stand x 10 each side
and done....

In spite of the fact that I am trying to take it easy and taper my exercise this week, we headed out on the Okanogan River this afternoon for a kayak paddle.  Up river 4 miles and paddling over the rapids against the current felt anything but taking it easy.  But, mentally, it felt great to be out and moving. I love the feel of the wind as we move briskly through the water.  It seems miraculous to me now, but paddling the kayak “almost” feels like a rest day activity.  While getting ready to head out on the river, we noticed that two of our carbon fiber and fiberglass kayak paddles were missing. It appears that somebody helped themselves to the gear on our beach.  Oh, don’t worry, they replaced them with a couple of cheap ass wooden canoe paddles.  What the hell?  Sometimes, I really have to wonder about people.

Packet pick up  and a rest day  tomorrow.  At our packet pick-up we will have the opportunity to watch the “elites” on part of the race course.  This could be a good thing, of course, it could raise my anxiety level to code red! Our race is Saturday morning.  We’ve done all we can to prepare, so for now, we rest…