Seven Weeks In

It's 7 weeks since I officially began training--training like I do over the winter in preparation for an Ironman. I've got meds now that seem to be helping my lungs with whatever is going on there. I'm not wheezing when I wake up in the morning, and I'm starting to feel like I can breathe a lot better while working out. I'll know I'm 100% on the lung front when I can sing while running in Zone 3!

It's been tough going from arbitrary run and bike workouts to full out gonzo training. Here are last week's workouts:

I skipped the Tuesday ride because I crashed after having been on Prednisone for 5 days, but I did go for a walk and lifted that day. I extended the Thursday and Saturday rides by :30, so I almost made up for the miss.

During Wednesday's track workout, I told myself it would be OK if I toned it down a little, but I ended up going faster than all the prior weeks. Instead of coughing up a lung after the intervals, I just breathed more deeply! That is progress!

I seem to be nailing all my swims now. I am still not fast, but coach said I look like "I'm just swimming and not trying" now. All the things I've done to correct my stroke have worked! I haven't gotten too much faster, but we'll see what happens over the next 12 weeks or so. If nothing else, I should be more efficient.

I had some good running results last fall, but my running has suffered as I picked up the hard, focused bike workouts, although all my track workouts have been awesome. I felt pretty rough on Friday, but ran easy (as I was supposed to!), and enjoyed running outside.

Saturday I did a bunch of chores and didn't start biking until 10:30. Since I'd still be rolling through a normal lunch hour, I chowed down some leftover pasta about 1/2 hour before I started. This had the bonus effect of keeping my effort easy for the first hour. I was a bit concerned I would have shit for watts the entire time, but once I started ISLAGIATT, I'd burned off the pasta, felt great, and had good power. But I didn't expect to be able to run for shit off a ride like that. It was decent out, so I took a little over 5 minutes to towel off and change and headed outdoors. I ran by feel, so super easy, but right off the bat I was running maybe 9:45/mile, which would be just perfect (actually too fast) for an IM marathon. My legs actually didn't feel too bad, and I picked it up on the way back and ended up averaging 9:32/mile. Not too shabby!

A friend came over for dinner Saturday night and we got takeout Caribbean. YUM! Fried plantains, rice with pigeon peas, slow roasted pork and beef. I made a taco out of some of it, and felt I really carbed up well, but had no clue how I'd feel Sunday.

My legs were predictably a bit sore Sunday morning, but I loaded up 1/2 bottle of Infinit, a Coke, and some Gatorade and headed to the Y to run there on the treadmill (I don't like doing my long runs in my house) and then swim after. Happily, my legs felt just fine running, and I got in about 12.2 miles in 2 hours, which was just fine, and the best I've felt during a long run since November. I swam 1350 after (it made me nuts to end on not a multiple of 100!) super easy. After 500, some lady was sitting with her feet on the ledge in my lane! She was talking to someone in the adjacent lane, and I was like I don't want your gnarly feet in my face! I told her to, "Get your feet out of my lane, PLEASE!" She acted perturbed, but WTF, right?

I stretched some in the sauna and then finished up at home while cooking (for FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT) and then some more after I finally ate dinner. All told, I put in just over 17 hours last week, and a bit more the week prior. I have increased my weights and reps over the last 5 weeks, and that has had an impact on everything, but it appears I am adapting to all this and feel rather great now.

This week is a bit of a step down (only 14.5 hours of training) in preparation for beginning Tour of Sufferlandria on Saturday, although I am doing the 2014 route since I didn't buy all the new videos. Then the Tour continues the week after with very light running (I learned my lesson from 2014 that you can't run much during this!), featuring 9 hours of biking! The week after I have my first race of 2015--an indoor supersprint!

Yikes! Good thing I'm adapting to this otherwise I would be a complete mess! But it's totally fun. I'm used to the cycle of fatigue/soreness/invincibility. That is how it goes when you keep up aggressive strength training at the same time you are doing a lot of intensity work.

Today I have the day off from work, and I've got a swim threshold test and an easy :45 run is all! I will get all the dishes done from my cooking festival, work on the dress I'm making for my friend's wedding, and that will be that for today!

Oh, and I just discovered that I need to get a TUE (Therapeutic User Exception) by WADA because I take raloxifene HCL for osteoporosis treatment. The odds of me being drug tested are probably small--still, I want to be 100% legitimate!

Have an awesome week!

Getting Stronger!

You all know how it happens. It's by doing this, right?
"Harder, longer, faster, tougher, repeat."
--Crackhead

There really is no other way. I've been on my plan now since December 1, 2014. 5 weeks in, and I'm lifting heavier again while increasing my FTP, my VDOT and my swim T-pace (all of which were in the toilet for well over a year). I would consider this week a marker of just how well I'm doing, because on Tuesday this week I:

• Shoveled snow for an hour (used the snowblower, too, but I like a really clean driveway), then
• Warmed up for :30 followed by a 1-hour Sufferfest video, The Downward Spiral, on the bike. While I wouldn't say it felt "easy," and I may regret saying this in 2 weeks, I enjoyed it. The video is basically a descending ladder of FTP efforts, starting at 2:00 (same rest as the interval) down to 15" by 15" decrease each one. And you do it twice.
• Lifted for :43. Mostly core and upper body
• Had my first MAT session, which did require me to move around a bit and do a bunch of isometric contractions. Received a compliment from the practitioner that I am quite limber in my hips for someone my age. NO SHIT!

Now, I should have been completely waxed after all that, but I ate well, and got up yesterday and did this:

• Swam 2500 (I'm doing shorter swims but am building them up again) with some fast intervals in there (for me) that I didn't feel like I was dying.The last 600 was pulling with paddles.
• Did my 2x10 press outs in the pool before leaving. Got a compliment from a guy who has previously scorned me for how much training I do--he called me Iron Girl and said he hoped some of my strength would rub off on him. He said maybe he could be Plastic Man! I smiled and tried not to laugh too much at that, as I was thinking of my Barbie dolls when he said it:

 

• Headed to the indoor track for my track workout. On my last 400, I went faster than I've gone in years. Maybe it is faster than I've ever gone doing intervals.  But on the LAST ONE! I pumped my fist in the air then stopped my watch. There was a young couple there that I'd seen on the track the last couple weeks. The guy (who looks like your typical sprinter--what a physique on him!) said I must have hit a PR. I told him I did, and he told me what great shape I'm in! I mean the dude knows nothing about me, he runs like a bullet (he ran track in college and also for Nike for a time), and he's telling ME I'm in great shape? I think I was blushing, and he said it a few more times as we continued to talk. I'd been feeling out of shape and a bit on the plump side. Maybe I've been hallucinating.
• Later in the day, I did another :30 of strength training, this time attacking my upper body but also getting some of my leg work in there. This week is week 2 of 2 sets of 8 reps at higher weight than I was at 4 weeks ago.

Today I just need to lift for maybe :30 and do a 1:30 bike workout, and I feel G-R-E-A-T. Sure I have some soreness here and there (I stretch :15-:25/day), but I could be a whole lot more fatigued. Last week, I was pretty rough, but knew I would adapt to the load. It's tough when I'm going through an increase in weight/sets/reps strength-wise, but I expect it and love when I can feel the results of everything coming together. Sure we all have our on and off days, but you don't put together what I've been doing randomly or without planning and purpose.

Today I might have shit for watts on the bike, but the overall trend is UP. And that is a great feeling. Only 3 weeks until my first "real" race (a supersprint), and only 10 weeks until a 1/2 Ironman, so this is all good. I am so happy to be back in the swing of "normal" winter training! It's been 3 years since I've been at this level at this time of year, and it is just an awesome feeling. Now is when I get faster and stronger, and then beginning in April I add the "far" so I am faster at farther. I wish everyone could feel this great. It's a shit ton of hard work, but I am happy to do it!

Getting Used to It

Since my training has been focused on accomplishing a number of things, it's only normal to expect not everything to line up all at once. My strength training has been going well, and since I'm just this week almost to a maintenance (i.e., no increase in overall load), I know that it is impacting s/b/r in various ways. Throw in every 2 weeks races with a 1:30 run afterwards, mix things up with a few group bike workouts to throw off my training/recovery schedule, add in a virus, and it's been quite an experience. Nothing that I didn't expect, though! The whole point of what I'm doing is to make me very strong so that once I kick up the volume in mid-March, my body will be fully prepared for it.

So on that note, last week I had some pretty good bike workouts, although Saturday I wasn't on. Sunday I had a great 1:40 run. Monday I didn't get enough sleep, but still managed to run, which was the thing I needed to do. Yesterday my bike workout sucked--I just had dead legs--but I didn't obsess over it. Today I had a decent swim even though the pool was stinking hot, and then this afternoon I had a really great track workout.

I'm going to lift tonight because I normally start on it on Monday, but work has been in my way, so I'm starting tonight and will do some more tomorrow and perhaps Friday. I should have a good bike workout tomorrow, and then Friday and Saturday are all about a holding pattern before I race again on Sunday.

I am definitely feeling the intensity of everything I'm doing, and I'm only 2 weeks away from the last indoor sprint tri and then my lifting goes into maintenance mode! That's always something I look forward to because it just changes my physiology. My massage therapist commented to me yesterday that he could feel the changes in my muscles from the progressive work I've been doing, and I've also added 500+ yards of swimming with paddles to each workout now, so I'm intentionally putting the hurt to myself.

Periodically I ask myself whether it's worth it to put myself through all of this because right about this time of year, I am very up and down with workout success, but as long as I keep moving in the right direction, which I am, I'm OK with being tired or cranky or a little extra sore. This is the price I pay to have the strength and endurance to do all the crazy shit I like to do starting in May, and that is my definition of big fun!

I suppose that as long as I can race well again on Sunday, it doesn't matter whether I'm "on" for each and every workout, does it?

Hey, it's all good, even the crappy workouts. I won't even remember the crappy workouts. All I will remember is that come May I was out there kicking ass and taking names.

Recovery (continued)

So yesterday morning I was on my way to the Y to do a track workout, and I didn't realize until I was out the door just how much snow had fallen--about 2". Which meant I had to move it. It was pretty fluffy stuff, and I didn't feel like firing up the snowblower and smelling all like gasoline/oil and stuff, so I just shoveled. I think it took me about 1/2 hour to do it, and then I was off to run.

The warmup piece on the treadmill felt fine, except that I was nearly overheating from my little shoveling warmup. Then I moved onto the track where it wasn't as cool as it usually is, but still fine. I had brought a can of Coke (poured into a bike bottle) to drink.

When I did the piece of the warmup that included some 5K pace work, I just took off and was enjoying the fast running, but I ran faster than I needed to, and it was just enough to make me realize I was still a little tired. I did the first 10K/5K interval exactly to pace, but was disappointed because last week I had run faster, because I was definitely fresher last week, and yesterday I didn't have a full 24 hours between a hard bike workout and a hard run workout, which is significant for me.

I completed the second 10K/5K interval exactly like the first one, only it hurt more to do it. I figured I'd slow it down slightly for the last interval, and I did, but not by much. Still, all things considered, it was a decent workout.

Around noon, I took a short break from work and worked my bis, tris, delts and chest. It only took 20 minutes, but I was feeling it.

I was invited to do a "spin" session at my bike shop that began at 6:30PM. I wasn't too sure it was a good idea to do it after having done a track workout, but whatever, it's all good training, right? Just see what I can do...

I loaded up a bottle with a can of Ultra Violence Voltage flavor cut with grape Gatorade, since I knew one way or the other, I'd need a boost to get through a hard bike workout in the evening (I rarely do evening workouts--I'm usually down for the count stretching about 6:00PM followed by general relaxation and vegetating).

I set up my bike and trainer next to the owner's bike, because I know him, and thought we could chat whenever our lungs weren't burning. Our instructor, Anthony, was facing us barking out gearing and effort levels. I was OK with most of the workout except for pretty extensive bouts of standing, where I took the opportunity to ride seated if I felt I needed to. I did the 3 isometric squats (a la Troy Jacobsen in Spinervals) just fine, and was kicking out good power for the duration. When it was over, either I was a slacker or I am just used to the hard workouts, I shouted, "Next time make it harder!" And well, I got my wish, as I have been asked to lead the next session in 2 weeks! I'm looking forward to putting something together that will be challenging, yet fun.

A few of us went out for beers and burgers afterwards, and when I got home, I was so tired I didn't even shower (I had towelled off at the shop) and just went straight to bed. I was a little pleased with myself that I was able to get through it, but knew it really wasn't a good idea for me to have done both a track workout and hard bike on the same day. Whatever, if I need to adjust after the fact, that's fine.

This morning all I had to do was a short (2200 yards) swim workout, and that went well, except for my throat being a little scratchy, which is just a sign that I had better watch it or I could get sick. I am still going to try and do the remainder of my strength work today which is LEGS!!!! My legs actually don't feel too bad right now, but I know from past experience that sometimes you feel your strongest and best just before you are about to go over the edge and get sick and need a day off. I'm already mentally prepared to take a sick day tomorrow if I at all feel less than 100%, and all I have planned is a swim which can go out the window, too.

I'm sure other people have to put up with a lot of other interferences to their training than I do--the only reason I write about this stuff is because sometimes I go back and read it and learn from it, and other times I find out just how strong I am and achieve a breakthrough by doing something that I thought might be a stupid idea!

Wednesday at the Track

I had to wait until 1:30PM to begin my track workout yesterday, as I'd had a few meetings stacked up that I couldn't move. Even though I was hungry, it would be suicidal to eat much before a track workout, but about an hour and a half before, I made a half sandwich of cashew butter and fig jam (yum!), and then while in the meeting just before I left, I drank some Ultra Violence, as I was feeling a little peaked from a few glasses of wine the night before.

When I started, my legs didn't feel bad--I just felt tired. I did the 10' warmup on the treadmill and then 10' of strides on the track, and then the fun began. There were up to 5 people walking on the track at any given time while I was there. Sometimes I just want to mow them down, especially when they are walking two abreast--but instead, I just had fun buzzing them, and I'm sure they could hear me breathing and feel a nice breeze as I whizzed by. At one point, a huge man was entering the track going the wrong way as I was about to round a corner, and I just yelled at him, "HEADS UP!!!" so he would look up and get out of my way.

After the warmup, I did the first little piece of the workout, which is 3x(1' @5K pace, 30" easy), and I hit my watch, and had no clue how fast I was running. Then I started in on the main set, which is 3x(6' @10K pace, 2' @5K pace, 2' walking recovery). Even though I was caffeined up, I still felt tired, so I purposely tried to hold myself back, and figured whatever I could do on the day was just fine.

On the first repeat (remember, I'm fucking slow here), I ran a mile in the 8' total (which is right around my 5K pace or at least I think it is), and that means I was probably going too fast on the 10K piece. So on the second repetition, I tried to slow myself down, and ended up running another full mile. I was like WTF how is that happening? On the third repetition, I came in just a hair under a mile.

It wasn't until this morning that I calculated how fast I was running on the initial 5K warmup and then the pace I was running for the 10K and 5K pieces of the main set. Looks like I'm back to where I was 2 years ago when I felt like I was in really excellent shape after having trained for and run Goofy Challenge, or maybe even a little faster .

Maybe there's hope for me after all...maybe my little forced break due to the back injury was a good thing...

At any rate, none of it means jack shit unless I can pull off something good this Sunday. But, I know that I will be going into the little race having knocked out a solid training week (unlike some of the participants), so this first one will just be a "let's see what happens." Not that I'm competitive or anything...I guess I had better go stalk the other women in my age group and see what I'm up against. That's always fun!

Um...this hurts?

So today I did my first track workout:

WU: 10' Easy, 8 x Strides, 3 x 1' (30") @ 5k pace
MS: 3 x (6' @ 10k pace, 2' @ 5k pace, 2' walking recovery)
CD: 5-10' Easy

I did these a few years ago as preparation for the indoor tris and also Triple T. Only 2 years ago in the prior fall/winter months I had done some serious running preparation for Goofy Challenge that included a lot of tempo work and progressive long runs.

What kind of running have I done so far this season? A lot of mostly easy stuff, with brief bursts (10-15') of tempo pace thrown in in just the last 3 weeks! The same has been true of my biking. So you can imagine the shock to my legs to have done this bike workout yesterday (after lifting for about an hour including legs):

WU: 15' wup, 3' spinups
MS: 3 x 1' (1') @ 105%, 2' Easy, 4 x 5' (2') as 4' @ FT then 1' @ 105-110%, 3' Easy, 10 x 30/30' CD: 3' Easy

and then show up for today's track workout. My legs were plenty toasted by the 3rd repetition, and when I look back at how I did in these workouts 2 years ago, I've got some work to do. BUT, I was happy that I got through it. AND I think I am well on my way to resolving my back injury (I give it 2 more weeks max).

The really good thing is that mentally I am SO ready to punish myself in training, because I know what dividends it will pay. Plus, I have no complaints about the rest of my life right now, so why wouldn't I put some real focus into my training again?

I suppose in some way or other it was good that I had a forced break from my usual Crackhead-style training this fall--replacing it with constant activity related to remodeling. It's cold and snowy here, and I don't fucking care because I have a plan, I have races, I have burning desire to train hard, and if all that happens in 2009 is that I am no slower than I was 2 years ago, I'm a happy camper!

On that note, I need some motivational music, so here we go:

Great workout, Opera, Day Off, More great workouts

I'm always surprised to see how fit I can get in a relatively short amount of time. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm there (OK swimming not so much but biking and running for sure).

After Sunday's little brick festival, I wondered if I could pull off a decent ride on Monday afternoon. I sure did--TSS of 107 in 1:15, so my FT is definitely on the rise.

Last night I went to see The Barber of Seville with one of my best friends, and we had a blast, mostly before and after, getting some quality time to spend talking and (gasp!) drinking. We had wine with dinner and then champagne before and at intermission of the opera, which was pretty good the first half and a bit slow the second half. But I got a kick out of the set design which was Rene Magritte-esque, featuring sky blue with puffy clouds, sometimes suspended red chairs. Since the performance went well beyond my normal bedtime, I drank a cup of coffee right after dinner, knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep later. I'm not exactly sure how much "sleep" I got last night, but I didn't care because I took today off.

So now that I've written myself a training schedule, I see I'm supposed to do this track workout, which I've done before, but as has been commonplace the last few months, it scared me a bit:

WU: 10' Easy, 8 x Strides, 3 x 1' (30") @ 5k pace
MS: 3 x (6' @ 10k pace, 2' @ 5k pace, 2' walking recovery)
CD: 10' Easy

I've been doing some respectable tempo work for about 3 weeks now, but I had no clue whether I could pull this off, especially with a hangover. But hey, I ran the main set repeats faster than I ever did them a year ago, how about that? In trying to understand why this might be, I think it's a number of things--this is the first winter in 3 years that I haven't beaten myself up with fall and winter racing, and so I think my body has been able to really, REALLY absorb all the work I've been putting in. Oh, I guess that means I'm doing a "normal" training season? Perhaps...but my work ethic hasn't disappeared, and I kinda enjoyed the track workout--even when some dude who works at the Y was clearly watching me run around the track. I just didn't care. Afterwards, since I was in no rush, I spent some quality time stretching in the cardio studio (or whatever it's called) that is a big, fully mirrored room. I messed around with some of the Body Bars and checked out the spin bikes (you won't see me on them), and enjoyed the solitude of having such a big room (with mirrors!) all to myself.

When I got up this morning, I noticed my left glutes were sore. WTF??? Maybe, MAYBE at long last my left side is waking up. Lots of triathletes have difficulty getting all parts of their glutes to fire, and I'm no exception, especially with the biomechanical issues that I have. Anyway, it felt good for once to have a sore ass, and maybe all the biking I'm doing has contributed, too, and maybe because I've been literally hanging off a high bar a couple of times a week to let my spine stretch out, some former slacker muscles are activating.

So it was interesting to start the track workout with sore glutes, but the workout didn't make anything worse, and now I just finished my strength workout, yip-fucking-ee, because why? Because I'm done with my maximum strength phase, and I think that's been helping me be strong for my biking and running (and swimming--some of my "speed" is returning).

Everything could come crashing down on me at any moment, but for right now, things are pretty good. I enjoyed my day off and avoided loading it up with lots of crap. Now I just need a good night's sleep so I can hit it hard tomorrow.