Yesterday went quite well. I called the Y, and the pool was back online, towels back online, so no extra driving. I got there a little late for me, though, because I started doing things around the house right away and got caught up in little chores. No worries, though!
I did my core stuff first--21 chinups on the assisted station (with very little weight offloaded and all were from a dead henag) with many people watching me--I guess I'm pretty cut (yeah I occasionally look in the mirror or glass while doing this), then headed downstairs and did 60 pushups and 120 crunches, including dead bugs and hanging leg raises. While I was down on the mat, a spin class finished up, and a guy I know, AJ, stopped by to chat. We talked about the weekend weather (isn't that all triathletes talk about on a Friday?), how things were going, and then he left and I finished up and grabbed my jump rope and did 7 minutes worth of that. I'm starting to actually like jumping rope--I guess it reminds me of being a kid, plus you can just see (in a fully-mirrored room) how it affects your core and even arms. Also I can see what's going on in my left leg (which is lacking the ACL in the knee) to see if I am able to really pick my foot up off the floor.
I was surprised that my quads didn't feel too bad, although I was glad that the swim workout was mostly pulling. The pool temp wasn't ideal, but it wasn't bad, either, and I just went back and forth, back and forth, and while my arms protested a bit, it forced me to really focus on my hand entry. 3300 yards later, I had a few minutes to spend in the sauna to stretch before heading home to work.
I got pretty lucky in that the world wasn't blowing up at work, and it was such an increbibly lovely day that I was even able to sneak outside and do a little bit of yard cleanup. Sometimes I limit myself by time, because left to my own devices, I'd be in my flower beds for hours at a time, just gazing at things and smiling. But yesterday I held myself to filling up one of the yard bags, which had about 18" of head room. Of course I kept compacting things to make more room, and I got a lot done in maybe 15 minutes. That short break made me really look forward to running.
Since the world wasn't going to come to an end at work, I decided I would drive to Waterfall Glen. My legs were telling me I had better run on a softer surface than asphalt and concrete. When I got there, there were many cars, and no doubt many people playing hookey to take advantage of the nice weather. I am always amazed that even though I think I train at odd times of the day that I always see a lot of other people doing the same thing!
The plan was to run 1:20, but then I changed it to 9 miles, to see if I could get in 9 in that amount of time. As soon as I started running, my quads let me know I had been beating them into submission, but at least I was on soft surface. Oh my, all the water in there! We had a lot of snow this winter, and we've had a lot of rain this year already, and the ground is so saturated that water is pooled everywhere. Even though I was listening to music, I could hear frogs at every turn of the trail in whatever little pothole they had found! I saw one white-tailed deer, who had its flag down trying to be camo, a hawk's nest, many ducks and tons of birds. It was perfect temps (near 70) to run in there, and I even felt almost hot! I saw many naked runners (guys running without shirts), lots of mountain bikers, many walkers, and everyone had smiles on their faces! This is one of the reasons I like running there so much. It is one of the happiest places I know! Nobody goes there to be in a fowl mood, even though as my run pressed on, I was really feeling it.
My pace seemed good enough to make 9 miles in the 1:20, even though I walked a few hills. I know that if I hadn't run so much the day before or so hard that I could have run faster. Even though I was tired, though, I felt strong. And depleted! I slammed a Coke right before I ran and some Gatorade so I could carry hardly any liquid, but my body was telling me I am going to need to do better on pre-run calories.
I finished 9 in 1:21 for a pace of 9:02, so that was fine for an easy run. That made 27.5 miles in 3 days! When I got back home, I thought I was going to crash, and I did lay down for a few minutes (wearing compression tights), but around 4:30 I motivated and finished up my strength training of mostly legs, which was interesting. OK so it was only 15 minutes, but I really wondered if I should have skipped it.
I ate a huge pile of sushi for dinner, and slept the whole night through, even waking up not really hungry!
My legs are sore, but I really don't feel bad at all--more like I'm just training a lot! I am going to wait for it to warm up so I can ride wearing very little, and drive LGL out to Fermilab and go 4 hours or so, whatever I feel like. There is not supposed to be much wind (forecast calls for "light and variable"), so it will just be me, the bike and the sun. I'm going to try and run :45 off the bike, but we'll see how the legs feel at that point. I have a feeling there's a stop at McDonald's in my future after this, and if I have any energy at all left, I'll noodle around in my yard while it's still nice out.
Happy Saturday!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Breakthrough Run Yesterday!
I don't often write about my running because, well, I think I'm a crappy runner. At least I don't think I'll ever be called fast, but still, I work on my running because it is part of a triathlon. If I only ran, I might be faster, but my ortho says I shouldn't even be running (even though he's a marathoner) let alone doing Ironman, so I'll take what I can get running-wise. Besides, I'm all about the bike!
BUT...this training season is shaping up to be something different. After a lackluster 2007-2008 season and no winter marathon, I had no expectations for my running (or biking or swimming, for that matter), except that I was hoping a little bit of self-imposed (or should I say idiot-imposed) rest (from the back injury) might do me some good.
And I started feeling OK about my running in January since I was able to perform pretty well in the indoor tri series. But then I remembered how good it felt to run really light, and the removal of a few pounds of fat was in order, and at the same time I was starting to jump rope again. And well, all those things seem to be coming together, based on this week's running.
Wednesday's run was good--not really fast, but since I just started running outside regularly recently, and there's hills whichever way I go from home (except north, which is into downtown and I have no desire to ever go that way), so acclimating to hills and pavement all at once can be stressful. But still, I've been noticing that I can run those hills easier and easier, even considering we've had some decent wind lately (pretty normal for April).
I did yesterday's run as a double out-and-back. First I did 7 miles running faster than I had on Wednesday, which normally would make me think I was going to blow up big time for the remainder, but it didn't. I did slow down a little for the last 4.5, but still a respectable pace, and my overall pace for the 11.5 was faster than I've ever run that distance, which should translate into a serious 1/2 marathon PR at some point, even in a 1/2 Ironman (but not Triple T's 1/2 which is stupid hilly and comes on the last day so no PR's then).
The run was made sweeter by the air temp being just over 60. I started out wearing a singlet over my bra top, but warmed up after just 1 mile and took it off and carried. The sunshine was glorious! My legs felt great, and while I wasn't exactly charging the hills, I wasn't slowing down too much on any of them, and I did negative split each of the two out-and-backs.
The run was made even sweeter by the fact that I did effectively 4 workouts on Wednesday (core, swim, lift, run) and I lifted early yesterday morning for about 1/2 hour, too, which included some leg work!
The run was made even sweeter by getting the beginning of a tan!
After I showered yesterday, I put on my compression tights and refueled well, got in almost 1/2 hour of stretching, ate a good dinner of about 4 oz. Porterhouse steak and 4 oz. spaghetti with pesto, a couple of beers, and a small slice of cake. That should get me through the night, right?
FUCK NO!!!
I woke up this morning at 2:30 (at least it's getting later and later, which means I'm getting close to eating enough) and had a half sandwich and a couple pieces of herring, got back in bed and had more weird dreams, but I still got a good night's sleep overall.
Today is going to be another gorgeous day, and my plan is to do some jump rope and core, swim, about 10 more minutes of lifting (legs and back) and then run for 1:20. I was going to drive to Waterfall Glen, but I probably won't have time because I have a bunch of other things to get done today, including just sitting or laying outside in the sun just to soak it in!
And bonus, the weather forecast for tomorrow no longer calls for rain, and it will hit 70 again, so I am going to take advantage by riding for 4 hours! I am sure I will be humbled since this will be my first 4-hour ride this year, but being in the sun will be awesome! And the plan is to run :45 off the bike. Sunday will then be an easy 2-hour spin on the bike and maybe a 1/2 hour recovery swim.
I'll check back in on Monday, and see if I survived all of this! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
BUT...this training season is shaping up to be something different. After a lackluster 2007-2008 season and no winter marathon, I had no expectations for my running (or biking or swimming, for that matter), except that I was hoping a little bit of self-imposed (or should I say idiot-imposed) rest (from the back injury) might do me some good.
And I started feeling OK about my running in January since I was able to perform pretty well in the indoor tri series. But then I remembered how good it felt to run really light, and the removal of a few pounds of fat was in order, and at the same time I was starting to jump rope again. And well, all those things seem to be coming together, based on this week's running.
Wednesday's run was good--not really fast, but since I just started running outside regularly recently, and there's hills whichever way I go from home (except north, which is into downtown and I have no desire to ever go that way), so acclimating to hills and pavement all at once can be stressful. But still, I've been noticing that I can run those hills easier and easier, even considering we've had some decent wind lately (pretty normal for April).
I did yesterday's run as a double out-and-back. First I did 7 miles running faster than I had on Wednesday, which normally would make me think I was going to blow up big time for the remainder, but it didn't. I did slow down a little for the last 4.5, but still a respectable pace, and my overall pace for the 11.5 was faster than I've ever run that distance, which should translate into a serious 1/2 marathon PR at some point, even in a 1/2 Ironman (but not Triple T's 1/2 which is stupid hilly and comes on the last day so no PR's then).
The run was made sweeter by the air temp being just over 60. I started out wearing a singlet over my bra top, but warmed up after just 1 mile and took it off and carried. The sunshine was glorious! My legs felt great, and while I wasn't exactly charging the hills, I wasn't slowing down too much on any of them, and I did negative split each of the two out-and-backs.
The run was made even sweeter by the fact that I did effectively 4 workouts on Wednesday (core, swim, lift, run) and I lifted early yesterday morning for about 1/2 hour, too, which included some leg work!
The run was made even sweeter by getting the beginning of a tan!
After I showered yesterday, I put on my compression tights and refueled well, got in almost 1/2 hour of stretching, ate a good dinner of about 4 oz. Porterhouse steak and 4 oz. spaghetti with pesto, a couple of beers, and a small slice of cake. That should get me through the night, right?
FUCK NO!!!
I woke up this morning at 2:30 (at least it's getting later and later, which means I'm getting close to eating enough) and had a half sandwich and a couple pieces of herring, got back in bed and had more weird dreams, but I still got a good night's sleep overall.
Today is going to be another gorgeous day, and my plan is to do some jump rope and core, swim, about 10 more minutes of lifting (legs and back) and then run for 1:20. I was going to drive to Waterfall Glen, but I probably won't have time because I have a bunch of other things to get done today, including just sitting or laying outside in the sun just to soak it in!
And bonus, the weather forecast for tomorrow no longer calls for rain, and it will hit 70 again, so I am going to take advantage by riding for 4 hours! I am sure I will be humbled since this will be my first 4-hour ride this year, but being in the sun will be awesome! And the plan is to run :45 off the bike. Sunday will then be an easy 2-hour spin on the bike and maybe a 1/2 hour recovery swim.
I'll check back in on Monday, and see if I survived all of this! Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
FOOD CHANNEL!!!
So let's see if I can detail exactly what I ate and drank yesterday:
- Breakfast: hardboiled egg, English muffin with jam, coffee with sweetened creamer
- 20 oz. Gatorade during swim
- Banana and piece of string cheese after swim
- Really thin slice of lamb cake around 10AM and a few jelly beans
- 12 oz. Gatorade during run
- 1 serving Endurox R4 right after run
- Lean Cuisine something or other with some Sylvia's sauce on top for lunch (and of course I licked the plate clean because I love the sauce!)
- 2 Beck's
- Dinner of basically 1.5 servings (I think) of meatloaf and large salad with tomatoes and mushrooms, and 2 servings of the lamb cake
Exercise I did:
- 10 minutes of jump rope
- 9 minutes of chinups, crunches and pushups
- 1 hour of swimming
- 26 minutes of lifting
- 1 hour of running
So I woke up at 2AM this morning and thought I must not have eaten enough. So I had a few pieces of herring in wine sauce and a package (200 calories) of cheese-filled crackers, and then I fell back asleep and had a whole raft of interesting dreams, which I won't go into detail about here.
I definitely need to do a few things nutritionally:
- Take in more calories during the first half of the day, although I prefer working out with little in my stomach, especially running. This just means I have to watch the clock and eat at like 5, 9, 1, 3 and then dinner.
- Finish the damn cake! It's great, but not ideal nutrition. I can switch over to Twinkies, though.
- Maybe take in a little more fat. Left to my own devices, my basic diet is maybe 10% fat. I think that has something to do with waking up in the middle of the night. I've been putting olive oil on the salads, though.
- Time to buy Cheetos! I tend to not eat a lot at any single sitting
- As much as I've come to like salads (and they are good for maintaining or losing weight), I need to get back on the rice for dinner during the week, and pasta 3 times a week to be prepped for long run and long ride days.
I used to have the nutrition epiphany closer to mid-May or June, but I guess I revved up the system a bit earlier this year, and my body is now telling me to catch up on the calories. I know, I know--big problem to have, right?
I'm thinking tonight is going to be a steak and pasta w/pesto. Yum!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
A Day in the Crackheaded Life
Every so often when I'm feeling like I'm running at full throttle, I feel like writing down all the things that go on in my day. And then I can go back and read it at a point in time when I might need motivation or be wondering how the hell I do this. Not like my life is any busier than anyone else's, but I do feel like I've been cramming in a lot lately. Thank God I type fast! So here it is, and it starts at 5:00AM and goes through 4:15PM.
Day in the Life
Wake up. Beat the coffee pot, although 5AM is late for me…had to get up at 1:30AM for a feeding because my metabolism is racing. Run downstairs and turn on the coffee. Take hard-boiled egg out of fridge and English muffin for breakfast. Peel the egg and put the muffin in the toaster. Not starving since had the meatloaf and jelly beans in middle of the night, so don’t fire up breakfast yet.
Run upstairs and open both laptops. Put clothes on. Go back downstairs and pour a cup of coffee. Back upstairs and hook up Ergomo to download yesterday’s trainer ride, which was awesome despite how wiped out I felt. Smile to myself. Look at the Internets and clean out my email.
Go back downstairs and fire up the toaster, go downstairs to laundry room and get swim bag ready to go and throw in jump rope and gloves (for chinups). Back up one floor and get a pair of running shorts and socks to wear.
Take swim bag into upstairs bathroom. Go back to kitchen to get another cup of coffee and breakfast. Go upstairs and have just a few minutes of quality time in the bathroom, and apply defogger to goggles and shoot up nose with Nasonex at the same time (I am the queen of multitasking). Put goggles and cap into swim bag which is now ready to go except for putting on a swimsuit.
Back to computer to chill and eat breakfast. Gotta get it down well before doing jump rope lest I puke like last week. Think about what I have to do today. First meeting at 9AM, but want to start work by 8:30 so I can be done by 5:30, and need time in there to go for a run. Supposed to be good weather today, hope the winds change directions finally!
Decide which swimsuit to wear. Going with the cheetah print bikini. Throw bottom into swim bag, put top on, shorts, socks and my Pink Floyd running shoes. Going to test out the flats for a 1-hour run today, what the hell. Take swim bag down by front door after stopping off at fridge to get a bottle of Gatorade. Open front door and go outside to take recycleables out to curb (it’s garbage/recycleables day). Notice the warmth in the air—it’s going to be a great day to run later! But I digress—I need to go swim first. Pick up the newspaper and go back into house.
Think whether there’s anything I’m forgetting to do this morning. Nope. I can finish my second cup of coffee, brush my teeth, put in my contact lenses, throw on a jacket and head to the Y to do some core stuff, jump rope, and then swim. Oops—look at today’s swim workout. Nice! It’s only 2900 yards. Last minute decision to change into cross trainer shoes. I shouldn’t jump rope in the racing flats.
Drive to the Y. Towel Nazi is at the front desk, and I see a sign that there are NO TOWELS AVAILABLE TODAY. OK, fine, when I’m done swimming, I will just drip all over the locker room and then stand under the dryers until I’m dry enough to put clothes back on. But wait—there’s another sign that says we can only use the shallow end of the pool because of some construction snafu??? What the fuck???
I never know with the Y, so I head into the locker room, put my bags down and walk onto the pool deck. Useless Rasta Guard is on duty. I ask him what’s the deal, and he says we can’t use the deep end. So I’m like basically can’t use the pool. He says, “if you do what that guy is doing.” And he’s referring to this huge fat guy walking around in circles in the shallow end. URG knows me, knows I swim 3-4 times a week, and I am incredulous that he tells me this. I just roll my eyes and walk out.
Now I’m thinking do I skip my swim workout altogether or go with Plan B? I decide that I have enough time to drive to Good Samaritan Hospital Wellness Center to do my swim, but will I have time to jump rope and do some other stuff first? Let’s just get on the road and see. Luckily, there is minimal traffic, and when I get to the front desk, the girl working there is understanding when I flash my Y card and she asks about its pool. I tell her I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to pay a daily rate. She only charges me $7.50, which is nice, since I think the regular charge is $10 or $12.
I’m on a roll, so I put my stuff in a locker and decide I’ll jump rope first. I do it on the basketball court, since another class is just ending on it (it’s almost 7AM now). I’m happily jumping, skipping, running, etc. and I see a small fan club watching me from behind the metal curtain. One of them starts yelling to me (with a smile on his face), but I can’t hear him because I’m listening to music. I take an earbud out to see what’s up and he says I am putting everyone to shame. I tell him that’s my job! I go back on full music, and like 4 guys are watching me do my thing—fast jumping, single foot fast jumping. I do 10 minutes worth, and then I chat with them and one guy asks me how long I’ve been doing this, and I explain I just started back in on the jump rope after about a 10-year hiatus, but that I used to do an hour at a time. This is the second time in a week that someone has been impressed with me jumping rope. I don’t know why—one person was impressed I was doing it one-footed, but hey, it’s just jumping rope.
Anyway, that felt so good that I hunted down the assisted pullup machine and knocked out 15 with yet another strange grip, then went and did 60 pushups and 90 crunches. All good!
I started my swim workout at 7:20AM. The pool was a decent temperature, but this pool is one depth the entire 25 yards, and I always feel like my hands are going to hit bottom, but they don’t. The last time I was here was to race on January 25. I started out sharing a lane for my 800-yard warmup (after politely telling the woman to narrow down her backstroke because she would end up hitting me and I would not like it), but then had the lane to myself. I remembered that there is a huge hot tub, and I wanted to make time to spend in there after my swim. I also thought about how it’s supposed to be nice weather tomorrow, but because of meetings and such, I can’t get in a 2 hour run in the middle of the day (need a tan, you know) and would then need to do it on the treadmill at O-dark-thirty, but then I’m thinking creatively and figure I have time for a 1:30 run tomorrow in the middle of the day and I’ll do another 1:30 run on Friday, when it is supposed to be even nicer! That would make some good run preparation for Triple T, since basically we run 13 miles on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday. What the hell, I’m strong, I can do this!
The swim workout feels great, just great! Also nice that my bikini tops are a bit tighter and the bottoms a bit looser. 2900 yards completed, and I figured I had time for 5 minutes in the hot tub. I wasn’t going to make it to the work start line by 8:30 like I had planned, but that’s OK, it was worth it to get in some hot tub time. I stretched my arms and chest out in there, and believe me, I wanted to stay in for another 15 minutes! But work called, so I got out, showered and shaved, and made it back home and started work at 8:45.
I immediately had a debrief call before my 9:00AM call to summarize the mayhem that had occurred yesterday with a customer, but explained that I had everything under control and things should go well this morning. They basically did, and so now I will just work until about 11:30-12:00 when I can get in an hour run. It’s warming up nicely, but the wind direction is still winter-ish, NNE. What the hell? Oh well, no worries.
10:34AM and I decide I’m going to take a little break and sneak in some weights. Knocked out bis, tris, delts, some chest, and a few abs. 25 minutes. I hope to do another 15-20 minutes after my work day is complete.
11:00AM and another conference call and all I can think about is going for a run. Although it’s not as warm as I’d hoped it would be today, so I check my calendar and I can wait to go until maybe 12:15. It’s cloudy, so no tanning today, and I may need to wear a shirt. Damn! Drinking the last cup of coffee during the call.
Hit the road to run at 12:20, and wearing shorts and a short-sleeved technical top, I’m a little chilled at first, but should be fine. There isn’t too much wind, but I’m going to run directly into it because I dislike having a headwind on my way back in. I fired up a new pair of running shoes—New Balance 903—because I noticed the soles on one of my last pairs of 902’s were wearing pretty thin. I decided against the flat--I'm going to stick with them only for runs under an hour.
Considering what I’d already done today and that I biked really hard yesterday (best wattage for that workout so far!) and felt pretty shelled (which I think was from doing what, 3 workouts on Monday then getting deep tissue massage and having trouble sleeping), my legs felt awesome! I really believe that the jump rope is making me stronger at running. Plus, my back feels better than I can ever remember. I just feel really solid. I’m not running incredibly fast, but I am running strong into the headwind and uphill basically, so I’m good with that.
I ended up running 7 miles at a solid pace (1/2 mary pace basically--I should get faster at that hill route as time marches on), got back inside and stripped down immediately so I could shower since I knew I’d get chilled, put something for lunch into the microwave, showered quickly and got back at work.
2 more conference calls, 4 status reports to produce and I am done working for the day. I’ve decided that I will hold off on any additional strength training. Body is saying enough for today. I will, however, crack open a beer and then stretch for ½ hour, eat some dinner (more tonight so I can avoid the 1AM wakeup call), read for at least an hour, and try and get a good night’s sleep, so I can be ready to go in the morning to knock out at least another 30 min. of strength, maybe some jump rope, and then be ready to enjoy the warm weather with a 1:30 run around noon!
I found out today that I won’t be able to close my Dad’s estate until June because of some Colorado laws about how long things need to be open in that state (the Illinois stuff is pretty much finished). Fuck. But I also found out that a friend in a far away place found something with my name on it, it's available in my size, and it is being purchased and sent to me! I'm not saying what it is, but it's very unique and will bring a huge smile to my face and perhaps someone else's. So to summarize today, there were a couple of setbacks, but 4 good workouts, good productivity at work, a cool thing on its way to me and I can’t complain! The next 2 days will be key to see if I can get through the week continuing to feel strong.
Saturday looks like I might be able to get in some outdoor riding, and Sunday calls for shitty and rainy again. Oh well...this will just make the next 2 days of running in the sun feel glorious!
Life is good!
Day in the Life
Wake up. Beat the coffee pot, although 5AM is late for me…had to get up at 1:30AM for a feeding because my metabolism is racing. Run downstairs and turn on the coffee. Take hard-boiled egg out of fridge and English muffin for breakfast. Peel the egg and put the muffin in the toaster. Not starving since had the meatloaf and jelly beans in middle of the night, so don’t fire up breakfast yet.
Run upstairs and open both laptops. Put clothes on. Go back downstairs and pour a cup of coffee. Back upstairs and hook up Ergomo to download yesterday’s trainer ride, which was awesome despite how wiped out I felt. Smile to myself. Look at the Internets and clean out my email.
Go back downstairs and fire up the toaster, go downstairs to laundry room and get swim bag ready to go and throw in jump rope and gloves (for chinups). Back up one floor and get a pair of running shorts and socks to wear.
Take swim bag into upstairs bathroom. Go back to kitchen to get another cup of coffee and breakfast. Go upstairs and have just a few minutes of quality time in the bathroom, and apply defogger to goggles and shoot up nose with Nasonex at the same time (I am the queen of multitasking). Put goggles and cap into swim bag which is now ready to go except for putting on a swimsuit.
Back to computer to chill and eat breakfast. Gotta get it down well before doing jump rope lest I puke like last week. Think about what I have to do today. First meeting at 9AM, but want to start work by 8:30 so I can be done by 5:30, and need time in there to go for a run. Supposed to be good weather today, hope the winds change directions finally!
Decide which swimsuit to wear. Going with the cheetah print bikini. Throw bottom into swim bag, put top on, shorts, socks and my Pink Floyd running shoes. Going to test out the flats for a 1-hour run today, what the hell. Take swim bag down by front door after stopping off at fridge to get a bottle of Gatorade. Open front door and go outside to take recycleables out to curb (it’s garbage/recycleables day). Notice the warmth in the air—it’s going to be a great day to run later! But I digress—I need to go swim first. Pick up the newspaper and go back into house.
Think whether there’s anything I’m forgetting to do this morning. Nope. I can finish my second cup of coffee, brush my teeth, put in my contact lenses, throw on a jacket and head to the Y to do some core stuff, jump rope, and then swim. Oops—look at today’s swim workout. Nice! It’s only 2900 yards. Last minute decision to change into cross trainer shoes. I shouldn’t jump rope in the racing flats.
Drive to the Y. Towel Nazi is at the front desk, and I see a sign that there are NO TOWELS AVAILABLE TODAY. OK, fine, when I’m done swimming, I will just drip all over the locker room and then stand under the dryers until I’m dry enough to put clothes back on. But wait—there’s another sign that says we can only use the shallow end of the pool because of some construction snafu??? What the fuck???
I never know with the Y, so I head into the locker room, put my bags down and walk onto the pool deck. Useless Rasta Guard is on duty. I ask him what’s the deal, and he says we can’t use the deep end. So I’m like basically can’t use the pool. He says, “if you do what that guy is doing.” And he’s referring to this huge fat guy walking around in circles in the shallow end. URG knows me, knows I swim 3-4 times a week, and I am incredulous that he tells me this. I just roll my eyes and walk out.
Now I’m thinking do I skip my swim workout altogether or go with Plan B? I decide that I have enough time to drive to Good Samaritan Hospital Wellness Center to do my swim, but will I have time to jump rope and do some other stuff first? Let’s just get on the road and see. Luckily, there is minimal traffic, and when I get to the front desk, the girl working there is understanding when I flash my Y card and she asks about its pool. I tell her I don’t know what’s going on, but I want to pay a daily rate. She only charges me $7.50, which is nice, since I think the regular charge is $10 or $12.
I’m on a roll, so I put my stuff in a locker and decide I’ll jump rope first. I do it on the basketball court, since another class is just ending on it (it’s almost 7AM now). I’m happily jumping, skipping, running, etc. and I see a small fan club watching me from behind the metal curtain. One of them starts yelling to me (with a smile on his face), but I can’t hear him because I’m listening to music. I take an earbud out to see what’s up and he says I am putting everyone to shame. I tell him that’s my job! I go back on full music, and like 4 guys are watching me do my thing—fast jumping, single foot fast jumping. I do 10 minutes worth, and then I chat with them and one guy asks me how long I’ve been doing this, and I explain I just started back in on the jump rope after about a 10-year hiatus, but that I used to do an hour at a time. This is the second time in a week that someone has been impressed with me jumping rope. I don’t know why—one person was impressed I was doing it one-footed, but hey, it’s just jumping rope.
Anyway, that felt so good that I hunted down the assisted pullup machine and knocked out 15 with yet another strange grip, then went and did 60 pushups and 90 crunches. All good!
I started my swim workout at 7:20AM. The pool was a decent temperature, but this pool is one depth the entire 25 yards, and I always feel like my hands are going to hit bottom, but they don’t. The last time I was here was to race on January 25. I started out sharing a lane for my 800-yard warmup (after politely telling the woman to narrow down her backstroke because she would end up hitting me and I would not like it), but then had the lane to myself. I remembered that there is a huge hot tub, and I wanted to make time to spend in there after my swim. I also thought about how it’s supposed to be nice weather tomorrow, but because of meetings and such, I can’t get in a 2 hour run in the middle of the day (need a tan, you know) and would then need to do it on the treadmill at O-dark-thirty, but then I’m thinking creatively and figure I have time for a 1:30 run tomorrow in the middle of the day and I’ll do another 1:30 run on Friday, when it is supposed to be even nicer! That would make some good run preparation for Triple T, since basically we run 13 miles on Saturday and another 13 on Sunday. What the hell, I’m strong, I can do this!
The swim workout feels great, just great! Also nice that my bikini tops are a bit tighter and the bottoms a bit looser. 2900 yards completed, and I figured I had time for 5 minutes in the hot tub. I wasn’t going to make it to the work start line by 8:30 like I had planned, but that’s OK, it was worth it to get in some hot tub time. I stretched my arms and chest out in there, and believe me, I wanted to stay in for another 15 minutes! But work called, so I got out, showered and shaved, and made it back home and started work at 8:45.
I immediately had a debrief call before my 9:00AM call to summarize the mayhem that had occurred yesterday with a customer, but explained that I had everything under control and things should go well this morning. They basically did, and so now I will just work until about 11:30-12:00 when I can get in an hour run. It’s warming up nicely, but the wind direction is still winter-ish, NNE. What the hell? Oh well, no worries.
10:34AM and I decide I’m going to take a little break and sneak in some weights. Knocked out bis, tris, delts, some chest, and a few abs. 25 minutes. I hope to do another 15-20 minutes after my work day is complete.
11:00AM and another conference call and all I can think about is going for a run. Although it’s not as warm as I’d hoped it would be today, so I check my calendar and I can wait to go until maybe 12:15. It’s cloudy, so no tanning today, and I may need to wear a shirt. Damn! Drinking the last cup of coffee during the call.
Hit the road to run at 12:20, and wearing shorts and a short-sleeved technical top, I’m a little chilled at first, but should be fine. There isn’t too much wind, but I’m going to run directly into it because I dislike having a headwind on my way back in. I fired up a new pair of running shoes—New Balance 903—because I noticed the soles on one of my last pairs of 902’s were wearing pretty thin. I decided against the flat--I'm going to stick with them only for runs under an hour.
Considering what I’d already done today and that I biked really hard yesterday (best wattage for that workout so far!) and felt pretty shelled (which I think was from doing what, 3 workouts on Monday then getting deep tissue massage and having trouble sleeping), my legs felt awesome! I really believe that the jump rope is making me stronger at running. Plus, my back feels better than I can ever remember. I just feel really solid. I’m not running incredibly fast, but I am running strong into the headwind and uphill basically, so I’m good with that.
I ended up running 7 miles at a solid pace (1/2 mary pace basically--I should get faster at that hill route as time marches on), got back inside and stripped down immediately so I could shower since I knew I’d get chilled, put something for lunch into the microwave, showered quickly and got back at work.
2 more conference calls, 4 status reports to produce and I am done working for the day. I’ve decided that I will hold off on any additional strength training. Body is saying enough for today. I will, however, crack open a beer and then stretch for ½ hour, eat some dinner (more tonight so I can avoid the 1AM wakeup call), read for at least an hour, and try and get a good night’s sleep, so I can be ready to go in the morning to knock out at least another 30 min. of strength, maybe some jump rope, and then be ready to enjoy the warm weather with a 1:30 run around noon!
I found out today that I won’t be able to close my Dad’s estate until June because of some Colorado laws about how long things need to be open in that state (the Illinois stuff is pretty much finished). Fuck. But I also found out that a friend in a far away place found something with my name on it, it's available in my size, and it is being purchased and sent to me! I'm not saying what it is, but it's very unique and will bring a huge smile to my face and perhaps someone else's. So to summarize today, there were a couple of setbacks, but 4 good workouts, good productivity at work, a cool thing on its way to me and I can’t complain! The next 2 days will be key to see if I can get through the week continuing to feel strong.
Saturday looks like I might be able to get in some outdoor riding, and Sunday calls for shitty and rainy again. Oh well...this will just make the next 2 days of running in the sun feel glorious!
Life is good!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Weekly Workout Totals 04/06/2009-04/12/2009 and Weekend Report
I had another solid week of training. I switched up Saturday and Sunday rides because of other things I had to get done on Saturday (like baking a lamb cake) and also wanted to have Saturday be a relatively easy day.
So Saturday I did 2:15 on the trainer, and I rode pretty hard. I surprised myself because I didn't sleep well Friday night for some reason. I just got into the pain, though, and as soon as I finished, I decided to do 200 crunches and 200 air squats, what the hell. That was interesting! I wondered if I would feel at all sore from that the next day, but nope. Which proves that my abs and quads can take a pretty good beating.
Saturday night I went to a dinner party which was tons of fun, especially watching people watch me polish off 2 desserts and I wanted the last one, but someone snatched it up before I could get to it! I drank some wine (I forget how much) and had a beer with dinner, and figured I'd probably have a little hangover on Sunday.
Which I did. Not like this would be the first time I've ever gone riding with one. I was determined yesterday to ride while it was warm out, so I packed up LGL in the car and drove to Fermilab. Unfortunately, it never quite got very warm even though I didn't start riding until 11:15, and the entire time of my 3-hour tour I was wearing tights and a jacket. But it was still nice to be out in the sunshine. It was pretty windy, too, and I was humbled by the wind. It was my first 3-hour stint outdoors this year, and my "outdoor riding" muscles could tell. Whole lot different riding outside than on the trainer. My power was off where it should have been, but considering how I was feeling and how cold I was, I just didn't care.
The fun part would be running off the bike. I hadn't really taken in enough calories while riding, but I was plenty caffeinated, since I'd used my Infinit Money Shot (tm) formula that is pretty insanely loaded with caffeine. I can even remember having some really fun thoughts while I was on the bike because it was almost like I was high!
Anyway, I changed out of the tights into shorts but left my Trashy Cat arm warmers on. That was the first time I'd used them, and I love them! They were just perfect for the cooler temps. As soon as I started running, I was thankful for the flatness of Fermilab, but I did experience immediate brick suck. I knew I would, so too bad. The last few weeks, whenever I feel like crap (tired or otherwise), I just tell myself, "It's going to feel much worse during TTT so HFTU you lazy-ass!" And then I do whatever I need to do. So while my stomach was none too happy, I just took short steps and felt like I was running through concrete, but I'm pretty sure I had a halfway decent pace (for me). I ran out for 20 minutes knowing full well that on my way in I was going right into the east headwind, which of course didn't feel that bad while running. I made it back in the same amount of time, which I was happy for.
Since I knew I was underfed, I decided to pull into the McDonald's which is right outside of Fermilab, and I got a cheeseburger and small fries, and they disappeared pretty quickly while I drove home. I was also drinking some Endurox R4, and all I could think was fuck, I'm tired!
When I got home, I showered and put PJ's on because I was cold and knew I'd stay cold for awhile, downed a beer, prepared some meatloaf and put it in the microwave, and got down and stretched a good 1/2 hour. I thought, oh shit, am I going to be toast tomorrow, but whatever.
I ate a little of the meatloaf and should have had some salad but just didn't want any. I ended up deciding I really didn't want too much meatloaf, either, but that I wanted CAKE! So I cut a thin slice and ate that. It was so good, I cut another slice, but a little thicker. Still hungry, so I had slice #3 and then I decided I still wanted another serving of meatloaf, so I had that and that finally did it for me!
I did some reading in bed, and it took awhile to fall asleep because of all the caffeine I'd ingested, but I think I still ended up getting 8 hours of sleep. When I awoke this morning, I thought oh my fucking God I'm totally shelled, but I suited up to go swim and do some other crap and figured I'd just see how it went.
I wanted to fall asleep while I was laying on the exercise mat at the Y doing crunches, but I still managed to knock out 15 chinups, 120 crunches and 60 pushups, then I chased it with 7 minutes of jump rope. I had brought more coffee with me for this effort, and then I headed into the pool.
The pool was so fucking nice today! I think it was maybe 81. Well, I couldn't leak out on a good swim workout with a cold pool, could I? Hell no. So I finished the called-for 3,050 yard workout and thought maybe I could skip my run today?
But here I sit about to suit up and go get that run done, even though it means driving back to the Y to run on the dreadmill because it's rainy and shitty outside. Later today I get a massage and a haircut, so a little pampering for me! Now if somebody would just come and feed me while I am laying down, I'd be all set!
This week my long run goes up to 2 hours and maybe if it warms up this weekend I'll do a longer ride (70-ish miles) on Sunday. I am happy that I have already done some training today, considering I was seriously considering a rest day! But I'll save that up for when I feel much worse than I do now.
Here are the happy totals for the week:
So Saturday I did 2:15 on the trainer, and I rode pretty hard. I surprised myself because I didn't sleep well Friday night for some reason. I just got into the pain, though, and as soon as I finished, I decided to do 200 crunches and 200 air squats, what the hell. That was interesting! I wondered if I would feel at all sore from that the next day, but nope. Which proves that my abs and quads can take a pretty good beating.
Saturday night I went to a dinner party which was tons of fun, especially watching people watch me polish off 2 desserts and I wanted the last one, but someone snatched it up before I could get to it! I drank some wine (I forget how much) and had a beer with dinner, and figured I'd probably have a little hangover on Sunday.
Which I did. Not like this would be the first time I've ever gone riding with one. I was determined yesterday to ride while it was warm out, so I packed up LGL in the car and drove to Fermilab. Unfortunately, it never quite got very warm even though I didn't start riding until 11:15, and the entire time of my 3-hour tour I was wearing tights and a jacket. But it was still nice to be out in the sunshine. It was pretty windy, too, and I was humbled by the wind. It was my first 3-hour stint outdoors this year, and my "outdoor riding" muscles could tell. Whole lot different riding outside than on the trainer. My power was off where it should have been, but considering how I was feeling and how cold I was, I just didn't care.
The fun part would be running off the bike. I hadn't really taken in enough calories while riding, but I was plenty caffeinated, since I'd used my Infinit Money Shot (tm) formula that is pretty insanely loaded with caffeine. I can even remember having some really fun thoughts while I was on the bike because it was almost like I was high!
Anyway, I changed out of the tights into shorts but left my Trashy Cat arm warmers on. That was the first time I'd used them, and I love them! They were just perfect for the cooler temps. As soon as I started running, I was thankful for the flatness of Fermilab, but I did experience immediate brick suck. I knew I would, so too bad. The last few weeks, whenever I feel like crap (tired or otherwise), I just tell myself, "It's going to feel much worse during TTT so HFTU you lazy-ass!" And then I do whatever I need to do. So while my stomach was none too happy, I just took short steps and felt like I was running through concrete, but I'm pretty sure I had a halfway decent pace (for me). I ran out for 20 minutes knowing full well that on my way in I was going right into the east headwind, which of course didn't feel that bad while running. I made it back in the same amount of time, which I was happy for.
Since I knew I was underfed, I decided to pull into the McDonald's which is right outside of Fermilab, and I got a cheeseburger and small fries, and they disappeared pretty quickly while I drove home. I was also drinking some Endurox R4, and all I could think was fuck, I'm tired!
When I got home, I showered and put PJ's on because I was cold and knew I'd stay cold for awhile, downed a beer, prepared some meatloaf and put it in the microwave, and got down and stretched a good 1/2 hour. I thought, oh shit, am I going to be toast tomorrow, but whatever.
I ate a little of the meatloaf and should have had some salad but just didn't want any. I ended up deciding I really didn't want too much meatloaf, either, but that I wanted CAKE! So I cut a thin slice and ate that. It was so good, I cut another slice, but a little thicker. Still hungry, so I had slice #3 and then I decided I still wanted another serving of meatloaf, so I had that and that finally did it for me!
I did some reading in bed, and it took awhile to fall asleep because of all the caffeine I'd ingested, but I think I still ended up getting 8 hours of sleep. When I awoke this morning, I thought oh my fucking God I'm totally shelled, but I suited up to go swim and do some other crap and figured I'd just see how it went.
I wanted to fall asleep while I was laying on the exercise mat at the Y doing crunches, but I still managed to knock out 15 chinups, 120 crunches and 60 pushups, then I chased it with 7 minutes of jump rope. I had brought more coffee with me for this effort, and then I headed into the pool.
The pool was so fucking nice today! I think it was maybe 81. Well, I couldn't leak out on a good swim workout with a cold pool, could I? Hell no. So I finished the called-for 3,050 yard workout and thought maybe I could skip my run today?
But here I sit about to suit up and go get that run done, even though it means driving back to the Y to run on the dreadmill because it's rainy and shitty outside. Later today I get a massage and a haircut, so a little pampering for me! Now if somebody would just come and feed me while I am laying down, I'd be all set!
This week my long run goes up to 2 hours and maybe if it warms up this weekend I'll do a longer ride (70-ish miles) on Sunday. I am happy that I have already done some training today, considering I was seriously considering a rest day! But I'll save that up for when I feel much worse than I do now.
Here are the happy totals for the week:
| Weekly Workout Totals | 04/06/2009-04/12/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by Harden the Fuck Up |
| Swim: | 10000 yards (5.68 miles) in 3.47 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1215 calories burned Canadian: 9144 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 133.18 miles in 7.03 hours; 42% of weekly workout time; approx. 4106 calories burned; Total TSS=477 Canadian: 214.33 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 34.09 miles in 5.15 hours; 30% of weekly workout time; approx. 2335 calories burned Canadian: 54.86 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.28 hours; 8% of weekly workout time; approx. 320 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 172.95 miles in 16.93 hours; approx. 7976 calories burned Canadian: 278.34 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 7.64 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 2.35 hours. Massage: 1 hours |
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