Can someone please tell me how to get to Zone 3?

I woke up on Wednesday still dealing with the slight sensation of shin splints, thankful that I had to head to the pool for my workout. I had some swim intervals to get done. Here was my swim plan:

Warmup:

1000 continuous @ TT+10
Main Set:
10 x 50 at best effort.
Cooldown:
500 EZ pull

I figured a little swim time might be nice, that is, until I got in the water. My arms were still beat from the race on Sunday and I was dragging ass big time. I spent the main set, cursing and making waves, but I am happy to say, that even when I wanted to quit, I got them done. The Cooldown ended up taking me just as long as the warm up, buy hey, it was a cool down! Once I was done I pulled myself out of the pool and headed home. I had to cover a spin class at 7pm, so I had some major couch time with my lap top on the agenda.

This morning I got up for some Zone 3 work on the bike. And it was another one of "those days" when during the warm up I can hardly get into Zone 1. My intervals were 15 min in Z3 with a 5 in rest in ZR, so I beat the crap out of myself to try to get into Zone 3 for a bit, which was mildly successful. I managed to get there for a while, but ended up settling on the higher end of Zone 2 for most of the intervals. Once done, I sat down for some breakfast and conference calls. An egg white and tomato omelet, whole wheat english muffin, turkey bacon and 3 calls with India later, I was ready to get my next workout done and out of the way.

For my next workout I had a Zone 2 Tempo Run. I would warm up, spend 20 minutes in Zone 2 followed by 5 minutes in ZR. I had to get through this two times. I grabbed my gossip mags and headed to the gym to sweat this one out. The warm up went well at 9:18 min/miles, then I started my first tempo set, and the first 20 minutes were ok, at 8:41, but I was feeling a bit over heated and bit tired. I took the ZR portion at a brisk walk, ate a shot block and then started set 2. This one was a bit harder and a bit slower at 8:51. By the time I was done, I was soaked from head to toe and completely beat up. I grabbed my remaining gossip and headed home to get back to my calls and here I am now, sitting and watching my counter top get installed and working, while I day dream about going to bed!

Tonight I have dinner in my home town with some friends and I am looking forward to some cocktails and a good night sleep. Tomorrow I have another early day with a some speed work in the pool followed by a morning of plumbers and refrigerator deliveries. Then tomorrow it is opening ceremonies for the Olympics, there is no better time to get serious about training then when you are watching the Olympic athletes compete. I just hope everyone doesn't get the Phelps swimming bug and start cluttering up the pool like the last Summer Games!

Enjoy your Thursday before the rain comes!