PR's all over the Place

So last week was 're-test' week at JoCo, meaning it's time to see how all of our work with the strength program is going. I'd say it's going well! I didn't get any huge new numbers, but after the snatch PR the previous week, I was able to squeak my numbers in everything else up just a little bit more, too! Again.. nothing huge, but I think after 8 weeks of work, we're on the right track. My 'high bar back squat' went from 185# to 195#, the clean moved a tiny bit from 150# to 155#.Jerk went from 150# to 160#. Snatch (previous week) went from 115# to 125# (this week I just matched that, couldn't quite get 130#, but it's SO close!). Front squat went from 160#-170#. I'll take it! It was actually nice to have this re-test week leading in to the 'Go Girl' Sprint Triathlon because it was a relatively light week and made for kind of a 'taper'. As I mentioned before, my goal for this month was to try to train to go 'faster' at the same distance/sprint triathlon that I did in July. What did I do to try to make this happen? Well.. I swam more..not that it helped much, but I tried! By the time the race came around, I was feeling more comfortable in the water and almost felt like my old self out there.. slower.. but at least I felt like my form was returning and I would be efficient and confident in the water. Well. Let's just get right to the race recap, shall we? My swim..was not good. I felt OK, but I just couldn't seem to get a free spot in the water to actually get into a groove with my swim. The whole thing felt like a battle and it's not usually like that for me. I'm not sure why this was, except that I was likely surrounded by a bunch of similarly abled female swimmers, so we were all just kind of bunching along together instead of breaking free of each other. Oh, well. I didn't compare the two races side by side (I should do that..hold on..). Here's my Go Girl results..:11:38( 61),1:11.3( 19),29:30.3 (20.3 mph/6),1:30.6 (71),:21:14.9 (07:05.0/4), 1:05:05.0. Here's my July results:11:24.1(154),1:26.9 (115),:29:29.3 (20.3 mph/ 80),1:53.0 (242),:22:57.8 (07:39.3/83), 1:07:11.1. So.. verdict? My swim was slower! Not much, but still.. I guess I knew that was coming. Darn it. 11:38 this time and 11:24 in July. Both, by the way, are laughably slow. I went a touch faster in transition from swim to bike, though not much. I had further to run out of the lake to my bike this time.. Not much change. My bike was identical! But felt harder this time.. I remember feeling like I was flying on the bike in July. This month I held the same average pace (20.3 mph), but man.. there were times I sure worked hard for that! At least my extra 'perceived' effort on the bike this race didn't effect my run.. That really was where I made up all my time and I have NO idea how that happened. Again, my transition from bike to run was a touch faster this month than in July, but not much.. 1:53 last time vs 1:30 this time. Move it, would ya? But my run went from 22:57 last month with a 7:40 min/mi avg to 21:14 this time with a 7:05 min/mi avg! Overall, my final times went from 1:07:11 to 1:05:05. A two minute improvement over a short time in a short race is OK by me. I didn't really improve where I thought I might, so there's that.. But I guess I can't complain. Over the past month, to train.. I mentioned getting in the pool more.. some good that did! I changed my wednesday ride to a spin and run.. I guess that probably helped with my run pace off the bike, so that was a good switch. I still did my usual crossfit every morning during the week and most saturdays. I continued with my sunday ride and runs, but we did a couple that were more 'speed' and 'interval' type workouts.. Again. Probably helped me with my run off the bike. Over all. It was fun to have a specific goal to train for and focus on in regards to triathlon training. As we come up on the closing of the outdoor pool.. I'm not sure where I will go with continuing to swim. I don't think completely stopping would be a good idea.. but it's so hard to want to get in a crowded, hot, indoor pool.. So we'll see. I was surprised by how hard the bike felt, but then how good I felt in the run. I have no idea why the bike felt hard. I guess that's to be expected, though, when you push hard for 10mi. My main goal, aside from beating my July time, was to 'make it hurt'.. Done and done, there! Compared to the run in July where I had to really talk myself in to pushing my pace and trying to pass people, this time I felt great, like I could keep the pace I was at for a while, and it was really fun to look up ahead to see a girl and to focus on reeling her in and, eventually, making the pass and feeling strong while I did it! Seeing as my next race on the agenda is a half marathon in October, I guess it's a good time to be doing well with running. So I'll be building my run distances on my sunday runs. This weekend is an exciting one.. First, saturday is a olympic lifting clinic with a hall of famer! I'm looking forward to having him break down my lifts and..just maybe I can improve a bit more! Good thing I got those new lifting shoes and knee sleeves.. looking pretty fierce these days. Sunday.. Miles turns ONE!! And is getting baptised! And my parents and Matt's mom and sister will be here to celebrate with us! And hopefully some friends, too!! So it should be fun. Lots of fun. Miles is really starting to look like he might want to walk soon. He actually took a step today (don't tell Matt.. he might be bummed to miss it..), but is looking more and more interested in the whole thing, so we'll see! Oh. I forgot to mention that I wound up 5th overall in the race and 1st in my age group.. So.. I don't know.. It was fun!