I felt a bit shelled on Monday morning after last week's foray into 19-hour territory. As I've said in the past, my body "notices" when I make volume jumps to around 15 hours, and then every hour on top of that is almost an exponential leap. Although I am absorbing the volume better than ever, I think. Of course, I wouldn't know how much I could take if I didn't keep pushing it, right?
So Monday I had to get in a swim and a run before starting work so I could make an early-ish massage appointment. As tired as I was, I figured I may as well do some other stuff before swimming, so I knocked out 120 crunches and 5' jump rope, knowing it might make me even tired before swimming and running!
When I got into the pool, it was nice and cold, and initially I thought I'd cut my planned 2900-yard workout in half. After all, I deserved an easy day or even a full rest day. But the water felt so good, and even though I couldn't swim very fast at all, I was enjoying myself (isn't that perverted?) and ended up doing the entire workout! But then I thought I really should cut the run short.
Again, I thought about cutting a 50' run down to 25-30', but actually my run legs didn't feel that bad once I got going on the treadmill, so I ran 25' there, then ran 5' on the track at about 10K pace and finished up with 10' of strides. So I only ended up cutting out 10' of running.
Ideally, I would have started in on my strength training later on, but I was just too fatigued from the previous week, but I did manage to stretch during some conference calls, got the massage which was very much needed, and then did some cooking which should have been done Sunday except for the impromptu trip to Wisconsin which was way more fun anyway. I finished up a Chinese dish and got the green chile finished except for buying, roasting, peeling and slicing poblano peppers which get added last.
Tuesday morning I awoke after a good night's sleep still feeling pretty shelled. Maybe I should have taken Monday off? Fuck no...I've done this before and I know what to expect. At this volume level, it takes me until Wednesday to feel "normal." "Normal" being normal for a Crackhead.
I didn't get on the bike (trainer--shitty and rainy again) until almost 2PM, and truthfully wasn't expecting much at all from my legs. But 1:35 later, I had managed to rack up TSS of 113, running at 85% of FTP for the workout! How I did that in the condition I was in, I can't tell you, but I must have developed this HTFU reserve that I am now able to draw on.
Again, I should have started in on my strength training on Tuesday, but I needed to finish up my green chile and was so fucking tired, so I shopped, roasted, peeled, chopped and cooked, stretched out really well and was in bed early.
Yesterday morning I felt pretty good although not 100% recovered still. But I was up early so I figured I had time to get in some crap before swimming, and I did 75 pushups, 120 crunches, 15 chinups and 10' of jump rope. I know, I know--there was no real need to do this stuff, but it has just become part of my pre-swim routine, so I do it.
I only had to swim 2800 yards, and the water was warm, which sucked, and I was still tired and a bit slow, but I need the swimming to recover from the biking and running. Once I got home, I realized that I was, in fact, pretty fucking tired, and would need some caffeine to get through my mid-day run.
I went with Ultra Violence at the suggestion of Shelley, and that turned out to be a great decision. But I wasn't sure of how little I could wear running, and my core temperature was still depressed from the morning swim, so I went out for a short out and back with shorts and a long sleeved t-shirt AND sweatshirt on to warm up. I thought I wanted to try and run flatness, but there really isn't any right from my house so what did I do? I ran to the street with one of the steeper uphills and just chugged my way up, turned around and back home, stripped off the sweatshirt and t-shirt and headed back out to finish up.
Of course, I chose the route into the wind and uphill, and it was amazing because since I had warmed up at tempo pace (hills will do that to me), I felt really solid heading into more hills and the temperature was just perfect where my arms were a bit chilled, but it was nice and sunny so it didn't matter. All I had to do at the turnaround was not slow down, and I ended up even splitting the second leg of the run, which was awesome considering I didn't think I had any legs in me. Ah...the power of the jump rope!
Now since it was Wednesday, I really needed to put a dent into my strength training, and I found time to get in 44' worth while wearing compression tights. I motivated to wash a pile of dishes and bottles from all the cooking and training, stretched out really well last night, did some reading and blissfully passed out early since I knew Ms. Robin (nesting just outside my bedroom window) would be waking me at 4:30AM.
Today I feel pretty well, still a bit fatigued, but that is normal for an Ironman build. I will do about 30' of strength (maybe even finish up for the week!), and then I'll head to Waterfall Glen for a 2-hour run, which I am really looking forward to. It is going to be an absolutely gorgeous day, and I'm lucky that I can get away in the middle of the day for this instead of starting at OH DARK THIRTY running on a treadmill. I plan on running a full counter-clockwise loop today plus whatever else I need to get up to 2 hours. I am sure it will hurt at some point, but the pleasure of being outside in the sun on a beautiful spring day in a beautiful setting will more than compensate for any pain in my legs!
And maybe I won't be too shelled after work to get out into my gardens and do some cleanup.
Life is good!
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spring. Show all posts
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
Weekly Workout Totals 02/23/2009-03/01/2009 and Getting Into Gear
Overall, last week was great, training wise. I nailed my key workouts. I embarked on my 4-week disciplinary action, which was a good excuse to do some tweaking to my diet and some other things. On paper, everything was pretty solid, and I am feeling damn strong.
2 years ago when I did the 4 indoor tris and just added them on top of my usual serious training build, I wasn't able to keep up my run volume. Looking back, it may have been because I did a marathon in January, 2007 (actually Goofy Challenge), but it may have been that I wasn't strong enough at the time to do it.
This year, though, I haven't missed a beat (knock wood!) on my running except for one week when I was sick, and I cut back just a little there. Don't get me wrong--Mondays after a sprint plus 1:30-1:40 of running has still been a challenge to recover from, but I've been getting it done in the midst of recovering from a serious back injury, my strength buildup, weekly track workouts, and pretty solid bike workouts.
I guess 2009 is the year of the big changes. I am tweaking things here and there, and it feels good to do it and that means it was probably necessary. At the end of the day, I just want to feel strong and solid and be able to train (i.e., have fun) a lot! So doing a few odd group trainer workouts, swimming with paddles (yeah I know there are those who say that's good and those who say not--I don't care--my upper body is responding well to them so good for me), adding some new peripheral stuff (chinups, extra pushups and abs work and jump rope), and paying more (actually what is generally my normal) attention to my diet, all seems to be moving me in the right direction.
This coming on the heels of a stinky prior racing season and major renovation of my house, all feels pretty great. My beautiful upstairs bathroom is finally 100% functional (freezing pipes solved), and I know it sounds silly, but I am really looking forward to taking a bath in there! I don't take baths very often, as I'm usually showering twice a day as it is, but I am going to park myself in there this week sometime and enjoy the hell out of it.
This week my strengh routine moves to maintenance mode, which is going to feel like a piece of cake compared to the last 7 weeks. But as soon as my new, heavier medicine ball arrives, I will be putting the hurt to my abs, which have languished for the last few years at the same resistance level (12 lbs.; moving to 15), so that should be interesting, huh?
I've ordered seeds, a few plants and some lily bulbs to plant once it warms up, and I have already noticed certain bulbs poking out of the ground. We've had plenty of snow this winter, so spring should be outstanding, and while I have a lot of perennial stems to cut down and don't particularly look forward to mowing the lawn, every spring I am always so in awe of all the beautiful flowers I've planted through the years and the fact that with minimal care, they come back and just, well, make my yard a thing of beauty and a place for me to just walk around and be amazed by the colors, scents, insects and birds. Actually something is already blooming--my giant pussy willow is full of catkins (ha ha that's the technical term you pervs) that will soon explode and begin attracting bees, and crocuses are not far behind, and then daffodils, hyacinths, peonies--I have close to 100 different flowering plants in my yard. And yet each spring I am surprised at the procession of green and flowers, and it's so rejuvenating.
March is the month here when you get teased by the spectre of warm weather, and it's important to be prepared to take advantage whenever the opportunity presents. It's supposed to be in the 50's on Friday, so that may mean an outdoor ride. I'll begin transitioning to more and more outdoor running, but need to build that up gradually to get my legs used to the pounding of the pavement and also my nearby hills! Yes, hills! I miss them...and I look forward to cursing them.
Well, time to go run and swim. Happy Monday!
2 years ago when I did the 4 indoor tris and just added them on top of my usual serious training build, I wasn't able to keep up my run volume. Looking back, it may have been because I did a marathon in January, 2007 (actually Goofy Challenge), but it may have been that I wasn't strong enough at the time to do it.
This year, though, I haven't missed a beat (knock wood!) on my running except for one week when I was sick, and I cut back just a little there. Don't get me wrong--Mondays after a sprint plus 1:30-1:40 of running has still been a challenge to recover from, but I've been getting it done in the midst of recovering from a serious back injury, my strength buildup, weekly track workouts, and pretty solid bike workouts.
I guess 2009 is the year of the big changes. I am tweaking things here and there, and it feels good to do it and that means it was probably necessary. At the end of the day, I just want to feel strong and solid and be able to train (i.e., have fun) a lot! So doing a few odd group trainer workouts, swimming with paddles (yeah I know there are those who say that's good and those who say not--I don't care--my upper body is responding well to them so good for me), adding some new peripheral stuff (chinups, extra pushups and abs work and jump rope), and paying more (actually what is generally my normal) attention to my diet, all seems to be moving me in the right direction.
This coming on the heels of a stinky prior racing season and major renovation of my house, all feels pretty great. My beautiful upstairs bathroom is finally 100% functional (freezing pipes solved), and I know it sounds silly, but I am really looking forward to taking a bath in there! I don't take baths very often, as I'm usually showering twice a day as it is, but I am going to park myself in there this week sometime and enjoy the hell out of it.
This week my strengh routine moves to maintenance mode, which is going to feel like a piece of cake compared to the last 7 weeks. But as soon as my new, heavier medicine ball arrives, I will be putting the hurt to my abs, which have languished for the last few years at the same resistance level (12 lbs.; moving to 15), so that should be interesting, huh?
I've ordered seeds, a few plants and some lily bulbs to plant once it warms up, and I have already noticed certain bulbs poking out of the ground. We've had plenty of snow this winter, so spring should be outstanding, and while I have a lot of perennial stems to cut down and don't particularly look forward to mowing the lawn, every spring I am always so in awe of all the beautiful flowers I've planted through the years and the fact that with minimal care, they come back and just, well, make my yard a thing of beauty and a place for me to just walk around and be amazed by the colors, scents, insects and birds. Actually something is already blooming--my giant pussy willow is full of catkins (ha ha that's the technical term you pervs) that will soon explode and begin attracting bees, and crocuses are not far behind, and then daffodils, hyacinths, peonies--I have close to 100 different flowering plants in my yard. And yet each spring I am surprised at the procession of green and flowers, and it's so rejuvenating.
March is the month here when you get teased by the spectre of warm weather, and it's important to be prepared to take advantage whenever the opportunity presents. It's supposed to be in the 50's on Friday, so that may mean an outdoor ride. I'll begin transitioning to more and more outdoor running, but need to build that up gradually to get my legs used to the pounding of the pavement and also my nearby hills! Yes, hills! I miss them...and I look forward to cursing them.
Well, time to go run and swim. Happy Monday!
| Weekly Workout Totals | 02/23/2009-03/01/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by Discipline |
| Swim: | 9500 yards (5.39 miles) in 3.3 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1155 calories burned Canadian: 8686.8 meters |
| Bike: | Approx. 106.56 miles in 5.9 hours; 41% of weekly workout time; approx. 3187 calories burned; Total TSS=355 Canadian: 171.49 kilometers |
| Run: | Approx. 24.3 miles in 3.81 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1729 calories burned Canadian: 39.11 kilometers |
| Strength: | 1.55 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 388 calories burned |
| All Sports: | Approx. 136.25 miles in 14.56 hours; approx. 6459 calories burned Canadian: 7.71 kilometers |
| Sleep: | 7.71 hours avg./night |
| Stretching: | 3.3 hours. Massage: 0 hours |
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Spring...FINALLY!
I LOVE spring! I think I am probably loving it more than ever this year because the bulk of my Dominatrix duties are complete and it's been an uncharacteristically long winter--almost 6 months of (pick from 1 to 4 at a time) grey, crappy, snowy, cold.
One of the things I've learned living here all my life is that it's good to forget a bunch of stuff over the winter, because when spring arrives and you remember, it just enhances the feeling of rebirth. For example, I typically forget just how many beautiful flowers I've planted over the years in my yard, and so when I see them poking up out of the dirt and remember, it's a great feeling. I get some of that feeling when I browse through the seed and plant catalogs, but it's not the same as seeing something in your own little plot. Now I'm looking forward to the succession of blooms--hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, peonies, roses, and the list goes on and on.
Yesterday I had a spectacular long-ish run (1:40 worth) in Waterfall Glen. I almost could have worn shorts, but when I hit the few shady areas, I was glad for the tights. I was happy to re-experience parts of the trail as if they were all new again (they were new to my quads, that's for sure). Even as I kept trying to let myself run easily, I ran a surprisingly fast pace for me--which is pretty good considering what I did last weekend. I did a short recovery swim afterwards, and while this guy, Mike, that I know who swims mid-day on Saturdays was into his usual rant (for some reason the Saturday noon lap swim has been usurped by people mostly playing around), I kept on my positive bent. I was a little tired after the run and swim to get out and do yard work, but that's OK, I did a pretty good job of cleaning up my flower beds last fall. I did finally break down a bunch of cardboard boxes from all the things I ordered online during the winter plus the new snowblower I bought, which gave me a jump on the annual cleaning of the garage (which I totally hate doing--I guess that is reflective of my "girly" side).
Today promises to be warmer than yesterday, and so...I'm riding OUTDOORS!!! So that means I needed to fix a few bike bottles, and again, I forgot about my hot pink ones from IMLP 2007! As much time as I'll spend fixing and washing bottles from now through September, for today, at least, it is a pleasure. Since I'm still in a purge/reorganize mood, I pulled all my sleeveless bike tops and kit shorts out of their current locations so I can find a better home for them. Right now there's a huge pile of spandex/lycra on the floor of one of my bedrooms. But at least it's colorful and loaded with potential fun!
This coming week I plan to move my long run from Saturday to Thursday (meaning I will need to do it BEFORE work--OUCH!) in preparation for double long rides on the weekends--yet another sign of spring and ch...ch...ch...changes. Too bad it's not light yet when I'll need to start the run--meaning treadmill. No, I don't own a headlamp. But the days are getting longer and longer, and soon enough it will be light at 5:00AM. I guess it's a good thing that I am waking up on my own just before 5:00 already. Body knows that workouts are getting longer and longer, requiring more and more time, and I just don't like having my workday end much after 5:30PM. Since I've been watching less and less TV, it's been no problem for me to be asleep between 8:30 and 9:00PM (loser that I am), so I'm still getting plenty of sleep.
And with the double long rides on the weekends, it means I need to get hyper efficient in the use of my weekday free time, since it's tough to get much done after 4+ hour rides on the weekend, especially if travel time is involved. But I'm fortunate in being able to work from home, so that if I need a short break, I can get something done that needs doing.
I read on various triathlon forums and blogs how everyone talks about the sacrifices they make for Ironman training. I don't know if these people train more or less than I do, but I don't think of it as a sacrifice--I think of it as fun, and it builds mental toughness in me. I just happen to really like riding my bike, swimming and running outdoors. OK so maybe most of the people I hang with are also athletes, but so what? For right now, I still can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing, which reminds me of this verse from the Faith-Mind Sutra (thanks to Brett for this particular translation):
If you wish to abide in Tao, do not dislike the world you now experience.
Indeed, to see there is no difference between Tao and world is Enlightenment itself.
The wise man expends no effort.
The foolish man ties himself in knots.
One of the things I've learned living here all my life is that it's good to forget a bunch of stuff over the winter, because when spring arrives and you remember, it just enhances the feeling of rebirth. For example, I typically forget just how many beautiful flowers I've planted over the years in my yard, and so when I see them poking up out of the dirt and remember, it's a great feeling. I get some of that feeling when I browse through the seed and plant catalogs, but it's not the same as seeing something in your own little plot. Now I'm looking forward to the succession of blooms--hyacinths, daffodils, tulips, lilacs, peonies, roses, and the list goes on and on.
Yesterday I had a spectacular long-ish run (1:40 worth) in Waterfall Glen. I almost could have worn shorts, but when I hit the few shady areas, I was glad for the tights. I was happy to re-experience parts of the trail as if they were all new again (they were new to my quads, that's for sure). Even as I kept trying to let myself run easily, I ran a surprisingly fast pace for me--which is pretty good considering what I did last weekend. I did a short recovery swim afterwards, and while this guy, Mike, that I know who swims mid-day on Saturdays was into his usual rant (for some reason the Saturday noon lap swim has been usurped by people mostly playing around), I kept on my positive bent. I was a little tired after the run and swim to get out and do yard work, but that's OK, I did a pretty good job of cleaning up my flower beds last fall. I did finally break down a bunch of cardboard boxes from all the things I ordered online during the winter plus the new snowblower I bought, which gave me a jump on the annual cleaning of the garage (which I totally hate doing--I guess that is reflective of my "girly" side).
Today promises to be warmer than yesterday, and so...I'm riding OUTDOORS!!! So that means I needed to fix a few bike bottles, and again, I forgot about my hot pink ones from IMLP 2007! As much time as I'll spend fixing and washing bottles from now through September, for today, at least, it is a pleasure. Since I'm still in a purge/reorganize mood, I pulled all my sleeveless bike tops and kit shorts out of their current locations so I can find a better home for them. Right now there's a huge pile of spandex/lycra on the floor of one of my bedrooms. But at least it's colorful and loaded with potential fun!
This coming week I plan to move my long run from Saturday to Thursday (meaning I will need to do it BEFORE work--OUCH!) in preparation for double long rides on the weekends--yet another sign of spring and ch...ch...ch...changes. Too bad it's not light yet when I'll need to start the run--meaning treadmill. No, I don't own a headlamp. But the days are getting longer and longer, and soon enough it will be light at 5:00AM. I guess it's a good thing that I am waking up on my own just before 5:00 already. Body knows that workouts are getting longer and longer, requiring more and more time, and I just don't like having my workday end much after 5:30PM. Since I've been watching less and less TV, it's been no problem for me to be asleep between 8:30 and 9:00PM (loser that I am), so I'm still getting plenty of sleep.
And with the double long rides on the weekends, it means I need to get hyper efficient in the use of my weekday free time, since it's tough to get much done after 4+ hour rides on the weekend, especially if travel time is involved. But I'm fortunate in being able to work from home, so that if I need a short break, I can get something done that needs doing.
I read on various triathlon forums and blogs how everyone talks about the sacrifices they make for Ironman training. I don't know if these people train more or less than I do, but I don't think of it as a sacrifice--I think of it as fun, and it builds mental toughness in me. I just happen to really like riding my bike, swimming and running outdoors. OK so maybe most of the people I hang with are also athletes, but so what? For right now, I still can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing, which reminds me of this verse from the Faith-Mind Sutra (thanks to Brett for this particular translation):
If you wish to abide in Tao, do not dislike the world you now experience.
Indeed, to see there is no difference between Tao and world is Enlightenment itself.
The wise man expends no effort.
The foolish man ties himself in knots.
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