Got on my bike today and it was a completely different story than on Tuesday.
The plan was to repeat the Tuesday workout, only do it with a few more watts:
15' wup, 3' su, 9' Z3, 3x10' (2') FT, cd 5', 10 x 30/30's, cd 4'
During the warmup, I was hitting good watts in an easy gear (meaning the Force was with me!), so I had high hopes for the FT stuff. I also drank about 12 oz. of Coke right before I started. Whereas the Coke seemed to bother me a bit yesterday before I ran (or was that bananas too close to run time?), there were no issues with it today.
When I began the first FT interval, I intentionally took it a little easy for the first minute or so. And then I just tucked in and was going. The effort didn't feel too bad (it never feels great, trust me), I was holding good cadence, and mentally I wasn't struggling like I had on Tuesday. So when I got to 10', I figured let's keep going, and I hung out at FT for 15'. AWESOME! See, I am supposed to do a 2x20' FT test in 2 weeks, and I was thinking I wouldn't be able to do it, but it looks like I'm reacclimating to the hard trainer work (this stuff isn't so hard outdoors, trust me).
I took my 2' of rest, and then started on the 2nd FT interval. Since I had already knocked off 15', I gave myself the option to make this interval shorter, but then I figured I should go at least for 10' to meet the stated workout duration. When I got to 10', I felt like I had more gas left, so I hung in for another 5', and it was good! I finished up with 2 extra 30/30's, so the final workout ended up like this:
15' wup, 3' su, 9' Z3, 2x15' (2') FT, cd 5', 12 x 30/30's, cd 4'
I feel like I'll be able to do that FT test in 2 weeks, and now I know to expect to perform like crap next Tuesday because of all the running I'm doing. BUT, I'm taking Monday off from work, so that might help. And I might get back on the Ultra Violence for that workout. I definitely intend to use it for the FT test workout.
I'm not exceeding my FT wattage that I tested at back in late August, but I wasn't expecting to. My "get faster on the bike" training begins in January after Goofy Challenge. While I made significant progress last year at this time on the bike, I'm at a good output level right now, and will be quite happy to maintain where I am through January, but move things up by March.
Tomorrow is a relatively easy day--I'll swim about 2700 yards and run for an hour--depending on how I feel, the running will be easy to steady or maybe upper steady. We shall see. I don't want to push it too far so I'm "rested" for the weekend festival.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
I Think I'm OK
This morning I didn't want to get out of bed, but I had had 9 hours of sleep by 6AM, so I figured might as well get up. And I had plenty of time to get in a swim before work, so off I went.
The swim went well--I swam the entire 3,000 yards bilaterally, and it felt fine. I am even not feeling like I'm missing any oxygen, although I'm sure I slow myself down to handle the less frequent breaths.
When I got home, I did not feel shelled. I felt like I'd be good to go for today's run, and I pretty much was, but my stomach did not feel right while I was running. It might have been the Coke I drank right before, but usually that doesn't bother me. Maybe I ate my fruit snack too close to the run, and it included some figs, so that may have been the problem. Stomach feels just fine now.
Good thing I have a massage scheduled for tonight because I can tell my legs are getting beat up. And I want to have a good ride tomorrow.
I had a tree service come out today to tell me how much it will cost to have a tree removed and some other pruning. About $1200. Merry Christmas to me! None of the 3 neighbors that adjoin to my property ever have taken care of their trees. The tree that's coming down technically isn't mine, but it is dying and I want it out before a giant piece of it breaks off and hits my power line. Trees are expensive--cheap to plant, but it takes time to rake the leaves, and then we have to pay to have the leaves removed, and then there's pruning. I love the trees on my property--I appreciate the shelter that the 3 Colorado blue spruce provide to birds year round, I enjoy the shade from my neighbor's ugly maple that overhangs my bedroom, and I appreciate the environmental good provided by the trees.
Now about the food I eat--I read a disturbing article in Rolling Stone magazine about Smithfield Corporation--you know, the folks who make the famous Smithfield hams. I have never been a big fan of pork, but now I think I need to swear off it 100%. The amount of excrement produced by hogs and other waste, including carcasses of pigs who die from the rampant diseases promoted by close "living" quarters plus all the antibiotics they are injected with in an effort to keep them healthy, and then all the lagoons, literally pig shit lakes, that leach into ground water and pollute. Now I know some of the same problems exist with beef and poultry, but from what I've read, pork has them beat hands down. I am 100% off mass-produced pork until further notice (I have no issue with the Parma ham/Italian prosciutto that I occasionally buy, as it's not produced en masse).
I'd also like to eliminate beef and poultry from my diet, too, due to the way they are mass produced, but I just like beef, chicken and turkey so much. However, I am now considering making an effort to purchase organic/non-mass-produced varieties.
Then there's fish--I like sardines, tuna, salmon, just about any fish/shellfish. I guess it's time for me to begin investigating where and how things are caught. I know there are issues with some catches where they literally throw away a lot of the catch needlessly, but those fish are hurt and usually die from the trauma. What an incredible waste. I already don't eat swordfish unless I'm at the source in Hawaii, since most stuff you will get here on the mainland has been caught by long line, and swordfish are meant to be mainly a sport fish. So if I ever go out sport fishing for them, I will appreciate the fish and set it free.
I know we live in an imperfect world, but as an individual, we get to vote every single day with our $$. If we buy it, it will continue to be produced. I do prepare most of my dinner meals from whole, unprocessed foods (with the exception of the meats as explained above), and I can do a better job of eliminating even more processed foods from my diet in an effort to be a better steward of this planet. I'm not yet prepared to become vegetarian, but I can see it in my future at some point. For now I will just try and eat as close to the whole food as possible, and begin understanding where that food is coming from.
I'm not a germ freak, in fact, I will eat fruit without washing it most of the time, and I understand that there are pesticides sprayed on the fruit and vegetables and grain crops that I partake in. I should probably go organic there, too. It's not because of what's on or in the stuff that I eat, it's the methods used to grow the stuff that pollutes.
My current car isn't a gas guzzler, but my next car will be as fuel efficient as I can get. I feel good, though, that I work at home and do not use my car as much as most people. I remember as a child when we'd have a snow storm and school would be cancelled, it was so much fun to play in the snow and try to walk somewhere in it or just stay inside and do inside activities. Last Friday when it snowed here and school was cancelled, I saw few kids playing it. No doubt they were asking their parents to drive them somewhere to "do" something. That's just wrong! I'm glad I like to read so much. It's one of my favorite winter pasttimes.
The swim went well--I swam the entire 3,000 yards bilaterally, and it felt fine. I am even not feeling like I'm missing any oxygen, although I'm sure I slow myself down to handle the less frequent breaths.
When I got home, I did not feel shelled. I felt like I'd be good to go for today's run, and I pretty much was, but my stomach did not feel right while I was running. It might have been the Coke I drank right before, but usually that doesn't bother me. Maybe I ate my fruit snack too close to the run, and it included some figs, so that may have been the problem. Stomach feels just fine now.
Good thing I have a massage scheduled for tonight because I can tell my legs are getting beat up. And I want to have a good ride tomorrow.
I had a tree service come out today to tell me how much it will cost to have a tree removed and some other pruning. About $1200. Merry Christmas to me! None of the 3 neighbors that adjoin to my property ever have taken care of their trees. The tree that's coming down technically isn't mine, but it is dying and I want it out before a giant piece of it breaks off and hits my power line. Trees are expensive--cheap to plant, but it takes time to rake the leaves, and then we have to pay to have the leaves removed, and then there's pruning. I love the trees on my property--I appreciate the shelter that the 3 Colorado blue spruce provide to birds year round, I enjoy the shade from my neighbor's ugly maple that overhangs my bedroom, and I appreciate the environmental good provided by the trees.
Now about the food I eat--I read a disturbing article in Rolling Stone magazine about Smithfield Corporation--you know, the folks who make the famous Smithfield hams. I have never been a big fan of pork, but now I think I need to swear off it 100%. The amount of excrement produced by hogs and other waste, including carcasses of pigs who die from the rampant diseases promoted by close "living" quarters plus all the antibiotics they are injected with in an effort to keep them healthy, and then all the lagoons, literally pig shit lakes, that leach into ground water and pollute. Now I know some of the same problems exist with beef and poultry, but from what I've read, pork has them beat hands down. I am 100% off mass-produced pork until further notice (I have no issue with the Parma ham/Italian prosciutto that I occasionally buy, as it's not produced en masse).
I'd also like to eliminate beef and poultry from my diet, too, due to the way they are mass produced, but I just like beef, chicken and turkey so much. However, I am now considering making an effort to purchase organic/non-mass-produced varieties.
Then there's fish--I like sardines, tuna, salmon, just about any fish/shellfish. I guess it's time for me to begin investigating where and how things are caught. I know there are issues with some catches where they literally throw away a lot of the catch needlessly, but those fish are hurt and usually die from the trauma. What an incredible waste. I already don't eat swordfish unless I'm at the source in Hawaii, since most stuff you will get here on the mainland has been caught by long line, and swordfish are meant to be mainly a sport fish. So if I ever go out sport fishing for them, I will appreciate the fish and set it free.
I know we live in an imperfect world, but as an individual, we get to vote every single day with our $$. If we buy it, it will continue to be produced. I do prepare most of my dinner meals from whole, unprocessed foods (with the exception of the meats as explained above), and I can do a better job of eliminating even more processed foods from my diet in an effort to be a better steward of this planet. I'm not yet prepared to become vegetarian, but I can see it in my future at some point. For now I will just try and eat as close to the whole food as possible, and begin understanding where that food is coming from.
I'm not a germ freak, in fact, I will eat fruit without washing it most of the time, and I understand that there are pesticides sprayed on the fruit and vegetables and grain crops that I partake in. I should probably go organic there, too. It's not because of what's on or in the stuff that I eat, it's the methods used to grow the stuff that pollutes.
My current car isn't a gas guzzler, but my next car will be as fuel efficient as I can get. I feel good, though, that I work at home and do not use my car as much as most people. I remember as a child when we'd have a snow storm and school would be cancelled, it was so much fun to play in the snow and try to walk somewhere in it or just stay inside and do inside activities. Last Friday when it snowed here and school was cancelled, I saw few kids playing it. No doubt they were asking their parents to drive them somewhere to "do" something. That's just wrong! I'm glad I like to read so much. It's one of my favorite winter pasttimes.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
How to Shell Yourself, Part One
I racked up a good amount of training last week, and now it's Tuesday, and I am still feeling the effects, i.e., I have not achieved 100% recovery, but that's just the way it goes. Last week went like this:
M: Swim 2500, run 5.5 miles, abs/core for :34
T: Lift :30, Bike 1:15
W: Swim 2500, run about 6.6 miles
Th: Bike 1:15, lift :33
F: Shovel snow 2:00, run 5.5 miles
Sa: Bike 2:00, run about 5 miles
Su: Run 13.5 miles, swim 2200
And so far this week we have:
M: Lift :55, Run 5.5 miles
T: Swim 3000, Bike 1:21
I felt unrecovered yesterday, which was why I didn't swim in the morning like I usually do on Mondays. I toyed with skipping the run, too, but thought I'd get in a strength workout and see how that felt, and it was fine, and I remembered it's all about running right now, so I marched my butt to the Y after work and ran. My legs felt like lead, but actually the faster I ran the better they felt, but as always, the treadmill sucks. So I did my strides on the track, and then ran for 5' on the track to end the workout and what do you know, 8:00/mile, even though I felt like I was running much slower.
This morning when I woke up, I felt pretty good and headed to the pool. I actually had a good swim workout. I've been playing around with spending a lot more time breathing bilaterally (which is good for my spastic left arm/hand and also for rotational beauty), and it was the first time I did significant time during my main set bilaterally, and it was good! But then when I got home, I felt completely shelled, so I stuffed my face with 2 bananas and a can of mandarin oranges (what are those things, anyway?), drank a bunch of water, and hoped for the best when I got on the bike.
I could tell right from the first pedal stroke that the bike workout was going to be a challenge. My poor legs are just feelin' it. Not as much force available in the lower gears, meaning I had to keep up a pretty high cadence to produce decent power. I tend to gravitate to 90-95RPM as my ideal cadence, so when I have to push 95+ just to generate the watts I need, it is not going to be a good day.
I managed to salvage a decent workout anyway, but it was not pretty. I hit 2 out of 3 FT intervals, and on the third, I just put a towel over the SRM and did the best I could, which was actually pretty crappy (OK so it was still 91% of FT, but crap compared to 95-100%). But I let go of it knowing that I am still not quite recovered, but will probably be there tomorrow. I also kicked myself for not shooting a can of Ultra Violence before the workout. I will remember that on Thursday!
Tomorrow I swim a little less (50 yards, to be exact) and do a tempo run. I think I'll be OK for both workouts. And then Thursday I get to sleep in, so that should fix me right up for the big weekend ahead.
I decided I am going to take the next 2 Mondays off from work, since I know I will feel like crap or at least won't want to wake up anytime quickly to do a workout. These days off will follow 2:15 and 2:30 runs, so I think I am making a wise decision. Yes, if I really feel rotten, I will skip a few workouts, but I don't feel rotten, so onward.
Tonight I'm cooking up a big pot of brown rice and plan to eat a lot of it with some roast chicken. I may not have carbed up enough on Sunday after my big run, but then again I don't keep track of that stuff any more, but feeling bonky-ish several days running usually points to a lack of carbs. Maybe because I ran out of Halloween candy...perhaps I need to buy some Cheetos and gummi bears. I've been trying to stay off of that stuff, but with all the running, maybe I need it. Since I'm not using my HRM, I have no clue how much I'm burning in my run workouts and may be undereating.
I feel fine right now--a bit tired, and I do need to stretch for at least :30 tonight--and I think I'll be good to go tomorrow. We shall see!
I am not, repeat AM NOT doing a winter marathon next season! Although sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just run and not bike and swim at the same time. I am looking forward to my taper already. 5 more weeks. And then I don't have to run this much until....May?
M: Swim 2500, run 5.5 miles, abs/core for :34
T: Lift :30, Bike 1:15
W: Swim 2500, run about 6.6 miles
Th: Bike 1:15, lift :33
F: Shovel snow 2:00, run 5.5 miles
Sa: Bike 2:00, run about 5 miles
Su: Run 13.5 miles, swim 2200
And so far this week we have:
M: Lift :55, Run 5.5 miles
T: Swim 3000, Bike 1:21
I felt unrecovered yesterday, which was why I didn't swim in the morning like I usually do on Mondays. I toyed with skipping the run, too, but thought I'd get in a strength workout and see how that felt, and it was fine, and I remembered it's all about running right now, so I marched my butt to the Y after work and ran. My legs felt like lead, but actually the faster I ran the better they felt, but as always, the treadmill sucks. So I did my strides on the track, and then ran for 5' on the track to end the workout and what do you know, 8:00/mile, even though I felt like I was running much slower.
This morning when I woke up, I felt pretty good and headed to the pool. I actually had a good swim workout. I've been playing around with spending a lot more time breathing bilaterally (which is good for my spastic left arm/hand and also for rotational beauty), and it was the first time I did significant time during my main set bilaterally, and it was good! But then when I got home, I felt completely shelled, so I stuffed my face with 2 bananas and a can of mandarin oranges (what are those things, anyway?), drank a bunch of water, and hoped for the best when I got on the bike.
I could tell right from the first pedal stroke that the bike workout was going to be a challenge. My poor legs are just feelin' it. Not as much force available in the lower gears, meaning I had to keep up a pretty high cadence to produce decent power. I tend to gravitate to 90-95RPM as my ideal cadence, so when I have to push 95+ just to generate the watts I need, it is not going to be a good day.
I managed to salvage a decent workout anyway, but it was not pretty. I hit 2 out of 3 FT intervals, and on the third, I just put a towel over the SRM and did the best I could, which was actually pretty crappy (OK so it was still 91% of FT, but crap compared to 95-100%). But I let go of it knowing that I am still not quite recovered, but will probably be there tomorrow. I also kicked myself for not shooting a can of Ultra Violence before the workout. I will remember that on Thursday!
Tomorrow I swim a little less (50 yards, to be exact) and do a tempo run. I think I'll be OK for both workouts. And then Thursday I get to sleep in, so that should fix me right up for the big weekend ahead.
I decided I am going to take the next 2 Mondays off from work, since I know I will feel like crap or at least won't want to wake up anytime quickly to do a workout. These days off will follow 2:15 and 2:30 runs, so I think I am making a wise decision. Yes, if I really feel rotten, I will skip a few workouts, but I don't feel rotten, so onward.
Tonight I'm cooking up a big pot of brown rice and plan to eat a lot of it with some roast chicken. I may not have carbed up enough on Sunday after my big run, but then again I don't keep track of that stuff any more, but feeling bonky-ish several days running usually points to a lack of carbs. Maybe because I ran out of Halloween candy...perhaps I need to buy some Cheetos and gummi bears. I've been trying to stay off of that stuff, but with all the running, maybe I need it. Since I'm not using my HRM, I have no clue how much I'm burning in my run workouts and may be undereating.
I feel fine right now--a bit tired, and I do need to stretch for at least :30 tonight--and I think I'll be good to go tomorrow. We shall see!
I am not, repeat AM NOT doing a winter marathon next season! Although sometimes I wonder what it would be like to just run and not bike and swim at the same time. I am looking forward to my taper already. 5 more weeks. And then I don't have to run this much until....May?
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Weekly Workout Totals 11/27/2006-12/03/2006
Swim: 7200 yards (4.09 miles) in 2.52 hours; 16% of weekly workout time; approx. 881 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 79.63 miles in 4.55 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 2363 calories burned
Run: Approx. 35.99 miles in 5.6 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2548 calories burned
Strength: 3.37 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 843 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 119.71 miles in 16.04 hours; approx. 6635 calories burned
Sleep: 8.86 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.8 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Blogger appears to be fucked up, so excuse my formatting.
Can you tell I'm getting my STRETCH on? That's the most I've ever stretched during a week. It might be related to the amount of running I'm doing. I checked my 2005-2006 season totals to see how many weeks I ran 5+ hours. ELEVEN. The count so far this season is 4, and I've got 3 more up to and including Disney, putting me at 7. I think I am going to hit many more this season. Last season, I learned that in weeks when I am running a lot that it helps to stretch a lot.
Let me explain about my stretching sessions. They aren't just stretching--they also include trigger point work and yoga poses. I have an arsenal of body work tools that I use--a tp massage ball, 2 tp rollers, a Theracane, tubing, and the large size "The Stick." They all get used, but not all of them in every session. As far as I know, there are no studies that support the notion that stretching prevents injury, but that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that it feels good, and it seems to help me recover from workouts, and also helps me to prepare for an upcoming workout. I am by nature pretty flexible (used to be more flexible, but ah, then I began to run), but I've noticed that as I've aged, that my muscles seem to crave more stretching than they used to. Maybe it's because my lifestyle doesn't provide enough serendipitous stretching. If I was truly utilizing all my muscles in my daily activities, I wouldn't need to work out, either. So I stretch "cold," in the morning, sometimes, before I swim, and then I really like the post-workout stretching. It seems to remove kinks and such. My massage therapist tells me that based on the amount of training I do that theoretically I should get a massage every day, and I believe him. Look at professional athletes who workout several hours a day. I am pretty sure most of them get a daily massage, and massage can replace the need for stretching, provided it's sports massage which includes assisted stretching.
So just as like last winter when I began training for Goofy Challenge I committed to regular stretching, I've kept it up, and I like what it does for me. I can almost say that increased stretching allows me to train harder and longer. I can't prove it, but it seems that way, or maybe it's the reverse, who knows? I would definitely prefer to get a 1 hour massage every day, but I cannot afford the expense. Of course, I am looking for a partner who would do that!
I also looked at my running speed this fall/winter as compared to a year ago, and I am running faster. Right now my biking and swimming are taking a back seat to the running, but that all ends on 1/7/2007, so I can wait a month. But at least I was able to bring my biking back to "normal" levels, meaning I did 3 solid workouts with good amounts of FTP work. I was a bit worried there that either I had lost power, but this week it came back. Damn, those bike workouts are hard and they suck. I am still looking at increasing my FTP from 186 to 200 by March or so, but I know it will be hard work. I am constantly tickled that I just turned 50 and I am still getting faster.
I did not get to the James Bond flick last weekend or this weekend. Last weekend, I was too shelled from ramping my training back up after the 1/2 Ironman. This weekend, it was more of the same, including 2 hours of intense snow shoveling on Friday--we got a nice ice/snow storm, and I am a bit anal-retentive about a perfectly clean driveway (notice any correlation to triathlon???), and the snow was wet and icy, so I decided to power shovel on Friday morning. I ended up counting it as a strength workout, because it WAS, and since I had strength trained on Thursday, my body kind of went HEY WHAT THE FUCK TWO DAYS IN A ROW WORKING THE SAME MUSCLES??? and so I had really noticeable DOMS in my right mid- to lower-back and left arm Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. But I worked on those parts a lot on Saturday afternoon, and things came around for today's workouts.
I managed a 2-hour ride yesterday and shortly thereafter a 45-min. run. First brick workout since MiamiMan. My legs actually felt GREAT on the run as opposed to Friday afternoon's run, where I really wanted to just bag it, but instead held myself to easy Z1 running, knowing I'd come around the next day. After all that, I got a hair cut, did the grocery shopping, and went to a book store. I got a huge laugh when I got to the Psychology section (I like to browse Mystery, Fiction, Cooking, New Age, Spiritual/Religion, Psychology, Self-Help and Health/Fitness areas), and saw a book called "The OCD Workbook." I thought, hey this is right up my alley, and so I opened it, and what do you know, it was really a workbook for OCD sufferers! I almost bought it as a joke so I could take the tests, you know, to see how I would do. I checked out one page that had an exercise for someone who compulsively checks the locks on their doors and consequently takes a long time to get anywhere out of the house. The first stage was to lock the door once and then not leave the house for 10 minutes. And it progressed to locking the door once and leaving the house for 10 minutes, and then 30 minutes, and so on. I thought, gee, I could do this! I was laughing hysterically, and remembered that occasionally I leave the house and wonder if I really did lock the front door.
All in all, it was a great week of training, and I am looking forward to the coming week. Next weekend I am making my famous (at least to me and some friends/family) Prime Number Pizza, which is a deep-dish extravaganza that will take me about 2 days to fully make. I have all the ingredients, and I will begin preparations on Friday night, and the finished product will be unveiled next Sunday after a 2:15 long run (which should net me about 15 miles--shit, when I just typed that I realized that's the fastest I will ever have run 15 miles, but I know it is going to happen). If anyone wants the recipe, let me know, give me your email address and I will send it. Or maybe you want to wait for the photo. The thing will feed like 10 people, but in my case, it is for me and my dad, and we get to freeze the leftovers.
The Bears won, too, even though they played like sloppy crap for the first half, but then they got into gear. Of course, the Vikings weren't exactly on fire, but the Bears have won the division, so one step closer to a Super Bowl appearance. That would be the best.
Oh, and for those of you who are cat lovers, check out this website: http://stuffonmycat.com/ I miss my cats, but I know that when I move out of this house, I will be getting some new kitties.
I guess I should think about Christmas shopping, too. I'm thinking next winter that I will not be doing a marathon...
Bike: Approx. 79.63 miles in 4.55 hours; 28% of weekly workout time; approx. 2363 calories burned
Run: Approx. 35.99 miles in 5.6 hours; 35% of weekly workout time; approx. 2548 calories burned
Strength: 3.37 hours; 21% of weekly workout time; approx. 843 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 119.71 miles in 16.04 hours; approx. 6635 calories burned
Sleep: 8.86 hours avg./night
Stretching: 3.8 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours
Blogger appears to be fucked up, so excuse my formatting.
Can you tell I'm getting my STRETCH on? That's the most I've ever stretched during a week. It might be related to the amount of running I'm doing. I checked my 2005-2006 season totals to see how many weeks I ran 5+ hours. ELEVEN. The count so far this season is 4, and I've got 3 more up to and including Disney, putting me at 7. I think I am going to hit many more this season. Last season, I learned that in weeks when I am running a lot that it helps to stretch a lot.
Let me explain about my stretching sessions. They aren't just stretching--they also include trigger point work and yoga poses. I have an arsenal of body work tools that I use--a tp massage ball, 2 tp rollers, a Theracane, tubing, and the large size "The Stick." They all get used, but not all of them in every session. As far as I know, there are no studies that support the notion that stretching prevents injury, but that doesn't matter to me. What matters to me is that it feels good, and it seems to help me recover from workouts, and also helps me to prepare for an upcoming workout. I am by nature pretty flexible (used to be more flexible, but ah, then I began to run), but I've noticed that as I've aged, that my muscles seem to crave more stretching than they used to. Maybe it's because my lifestyle doesn't provide enough serendipitous stretching. If I was truly utilizing all my muscles in my daily activities, I wouldn't need to work out, either. So I stretch "cold," in the morning, sometimes, before I swim, and then I really like the post-workout stretching. It seems to remove kinks and such. My massage therapist tells me that based on the amount of training I do that theoretically I should get a massage every day, and I believe him. Look at professional athletes who workout several hours a day. I am pretty sure most of them get a daily massage, and massage can replace the need for stretching, provided it's sports massage which includes assisted stretching.
So just as like last winter when I began training for Goofy Challenge I committed to regular stretching, I've kept it up, and I like what it does for me. I can almost say that increased stretching allows me to train harder and longer. I can't prove it, but it seems that way, or maybe it's the reverse, who knows? I would definitely prefer to get a 1 hour massage every day, but I cannot afford the expense. Of course, I am looking for a partner who would do that!
I also looked at my running speed this fall/winter as compared to a year ago, and I am running faster. Right now my biking and swimming are taking a back seat to the running, but that all ends on 1/7/2007, so I can wait a month. But at least I was able to bring my biking back to "normal" levels, meaning I did 3 solid workouts with good amounts of FTP work. I was a bit worried there that either I had lost power, but this week it came back. Damn, those bike workouts are hard and they suck. I am still looking at increasing my FTP from 186 to 200 by March or so, but I know it will be hard work. I am constantly tickled that I just turned 50 and I am still getting faster.
I did not get to the James Bond flick last weekend or this weekend. Last weekend, I was too shelled from ramping my training back up after the 1/2 Ironman. This weekend, it was more of the same, including 2 hours of intense snow shoveling on Friday--we got a nice ice/snow storm, and I am a bit anal-retentive about a perfectly clean driveway (notice any correlation to triathlon???), and the snow was wet and icy, so I decided to power shovel on Friday morning. I ended up counting it as a strength workout, because it WAS, and since I had strength trained on Thursday, my body kind of went HEY WHAT THE FUCK TWO DAYS IN A ROW WORKING THE SAME MUSCLES??? and so I had really noticeable DOMS in my right mid- to lower-back and left arm Friday afternoon through Saturday evening. But I worked on those parts a lot on Saturday afternoon, and things came around for today's workouts.
I managed a 2-hour ride yesterday and shortly thereafter a 45-min. run. First brick workout since MiamiMan. My legs actually felt GREAT on the run as opposed to Friday afternoon's run, where I really wanted to just bag it, but instead held myself to easy Z1 running, knowing I'd come around the next day. After all that, I got a hair cut, did the grocery shopping, and went to a book store. I got a huge laugh when I got to the Psychology section (I like to browse Mystery, Fiction, Cooking, New Age, Spiritual/Religion, Psychology, Self-Help and Health/Fitness areas), and saw a book called "The OCD Workbook." I thought, hey this is right up my alley, and so I opened it, and what do you know, it was really a workbook for OCD sufferers! I almost bought it as a joke so I could take the tests, you know, to see how I would do. I checked out one page that had an exercise for someone who compulsively checks the locks on their doors and consequently takes a long time to get anywhere out of the house. The first stage was to lock the door once and then not leave the house for 10 minutes. And it progressed to locking the door once and leaving the house for 10 minutes, and then 30 minutes, and so on. I thought, gee, I could do this! I was laughing hysterically, and remembered that occasionally I leave the house and wonder if I really did lock the front door.
All in all, it was a great week of training, and I am looking forward to the coming week. Next weekend I am making my famous (at least to me and some friends/family) Prime Number Pizza, which is a deep-dish extravaganza that will take me about 2 days to fully make. I have all the ingredients, and I will begin preparations on Friday night, and the finished product will be unveiled next Sunday after a 2:15 long run (which should net me about 15 miles--shit, when I just typed that I realized that's the fastest I will ever have run 15 miles, but I know it is going to happen). If anyone wants the recipe, let me know, give me your email address and I will send it. Or maybe you want to wait for the photo. The thing will feed like 10 people, but in my case, it is for me and my dad, and we get to freeze the leftovers.
The Bears won, too, even though they played like sloppy crap for the first half, but then they got into gear. Of course, the Vikings weren't exactly on fire, but the Bears have won the division, so one step closer to a Super Bowl appearance. That would be the best.
Oh, and for those of you who are cat lovers, check out this website: http://stuffonmycat.com/ I miss my cats, but I know that when I move out of this house, I will be getting some new kitties.
I guess I should think about Christmas shopping, too. I'm thinking next winter that I will not be doing a marathon...
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