2010 Training

today i literally sweat Jameson during spin class. i sweat SO much per the usual, but could NOT take enough water in. two days in a row of evening cocktails does not a good morning workout make.

supposed to spin, run and do a little strength. reality was that if i jumped on the treadmill the likelihood of falling on my face was higher than most mornings. instead, i opted to go home and make out with my foam roller.

the foam roller is INTENSE. its one of those things that hurts so good.  like a BITCH. the jameson dehydrated the hell out of me and my muscles were screaming after class today. plus i’m kind of a freak and tend to punish poor behavior from the night before by working out til i feel like i’m going to puke because i think i deserve to feel like shit. it usually makes me feel better in the end both physically and mentally. the screaming muscles rolled to and fro while i sipped coffee and watched matt lauer do his thing. 

after about 10 minutes of torture with the foam, i literally felt like a new human being.

my schedule has two workouts on wednesdays. these can be handled either back to back or one in the morning and one in the evening. neither are long typically, so if i have something going on in the evening, i just get them both over with in the morning.

i feel great afterwards, without a doubt. after all, i can still say that i have never regretted a workout. but i’m still pretty new to back to back workouts, no matter how short they are and sometimes they really show me just how far away i am from being where i want to be. well, part that and part sometimes a workout just isn’t perfect, right?

this morning i woke up and headed to the gym for a 30 min run and a 30 min swim. neither had a specific plan, just consistent run and pool time.  the run was AWESOME.  my legs were rock solid, my ‘new’ stride is becoming more second nature, my pace was up, i was hydrated despite the 2 glasses of wine the night before, my upper body was relaxed and i didn’t have to advance my ipod once. literally every single song ROCKED my run.

then i hit the pool. well, before that i changed into my suit and my shoulders cramped up. weird considering how loose and relaxed i felt running. after stretching them a bit outside and inside the water, i just tried to swim slow and steady. like i said, no plan, just concentrating on duration and stroke. i figured a 15 min free + 2 lap kicking + 15 min free would be good.  i finished, but i never really hit a rhythm. that is what i’m so afraid of during the tri, so i suppose it was good practice. i have had such strong swims lately that my confidence has been pretty high. i needed to be kicked down a notch and to push through, even on an easy swim day. what happens when i’m in the middle of the potomac, only a few meters in when i realize i’m going to struggle? i’ll need to push on then.

i do wish i had ended on a stronger note. i’m out of the pool for over a week now with my trip to colorado. but the good news is that i have managed to schedule some great rides, hikes and runs (with altitude and elevation gain!) in for that week so training will go on!

look, the wo&d is not the prettiest trail out there, i know that. but its wide, smooth and relatively uncrowded. and it’s LONG. because its so wide, even the people that ARE on i are no be thang. its a  fun way to train for the philly century because i can keep adding and seeing new towns at my turn around point. not new towns really, but new to me while on my two-wheeler. i can’t wait for leesburg day.  that’s coming up soonish.

the biggest problem is the lack of hills. a normal person would’t care, but i think the philly ride requires a LOT of hill strength so i try to seek them out. i think i’ll try to get a few rides in the hills even if they are not long rides. 

anyway, yesterday the squeeze and i headed out in the heat for 50 miles. it was his farthest ride! and only the 3rd or 4th time i have gone that far.  it was a hard day, but i know i had more in me which is comforting.  i keep trying different nutrition plans. i don’t have it figured out yet, but i’m getting closer. thats my biggest concern at the moment.

also, with lots of uphill in philly also comes lots of downhill, which i’m looking forward to. my next big ride will be in CO. 75 miles. that’s a big jump from 50, but i have to remember that literally half of that will be straight down ill. so actaully, i have a 37.5 miles up hill climb at 10,000 feet then a cruise home.  we’ll see how that turns out…

and i’ll also say this…planning a baseball game immediately following a long, calorie burning ride like that, is the best idea ever. beer and bbq never tasted so good.

today we did speed work in spin class.

and i was BEAT.  

i can always seem to dig deep for hills, but speed work KILLS me. and today, perhaps for the first time, i REALLY understood the shoes. especially while standing, i was taking turns pulling and pushing the pedals and it made all the difference in the world.

oh, and by the end, i’m 100% sure that the ONLY reason i didn’t fall off my bike and onto my face is because i was clipped in. its a funny feeling to know that absolutely none of your energy is going into anything but pedaling fast (99% of my energy), remaining upright (1% of my energy) and staying on my pedals (0% of my energy).  

for time’s sake, i skipped the run afterwards and just hit the mat for some abs and arms.  sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day. this week is a struggle, but the application is due by 5pm tomorrow so i’ll have my life back.

weeeeeeeeeeeee!

ever had that dream where you leave the house with no pants on?  i can’t say that i have either. BUT, i do have a weird sensation every time i get in the pool that i somehow didn’t take my panties (hahahaha, that WORD) or bra or one or the other off before suiting up. and i get so EMBARRASED! i come to this realization as i’m already swimming usually. so, i try to just pretend that everything is normal while i walk myself through the five minutes before when i remember putting my undies and bra specifically in my gym bag before grabbing my goggles, cap and water bottle to head to the pool. then i calm down and laugh at myself.

then i do it all over again the next time around. 

i missed my saturday workout. hungover. i HATE that. i may never actually learn not to do that. but it was a productive and fun day nonetheless so i try not to fret too hard. the workout wasn’t a big one (30 min run), so i didn’t waste any time beating myself up over it. but i did get a little bummed that i missed a great barefoot run! sunday was a mini brick of 30 minutes on the bike and 30 minutes in the water. yesterday i hopped in the pool for about 45 min. and today i had a wicked awesome spin class followed by a few easy miles on the treadmill watching the world cup. i’m really trying to never just end with spin these days, even if its only a few miles, i want to be getting at least an hour of mixed cardio in on those days. i schedule weights, but those haven’t been happening, just takes too much time. i need to reevaluate where my strength days will actually fall. i like to lift after i run or ride. i might just need to get to the gym a second time a few days a week, even if just for 20-30 minutes. this could be a good thing to do during those really busy hours. lines don’t really exist with weights, you can always just do something else so the crowds don’t bug me as much.

i want to go back to the pool for a second (wow, i have a lot of rambling to get out today).  the pool at my gym is just dumb. 22 yards? how random is that? i absolutely think it could have been extended a few yards in either direction to make it a standard size (25 or 50 yards…or meters for that matter).  but 22? really god damned annoying.  so i have been counting in laps instead of yards or meters and its really really bazaar to retrain your mind to do that after DECADES of doing it another way.  oh well.

i hate waking up, but i love being up. my mood is so deliciously great today!  i had a fucking fantastic workout, the hawks won (and what a GAME!), the world cup is HERE (almost), we won our first bocce playoff game, max is coming….

this morning the sun was shining so it wasn’t so bad getting up after a late night of stanley cup winning. i love tuesday and thursday spin, bc they are my favorite teachers.  erica’s class was AWESOME today. we did three HUGE hill climbs and i was a fountain of sweat. my legs worked HARD. and everything felt great. i chugged along for a few extra miles while she was cooling most of the rest of the class down then headed to treadmill for a 2 mile run that also felt amazing.

i have been working really hard at changing my technique and i think its starting to feel more natural - meaning, i don’t have to constantly think about it, but just check in with myself every now and then. it felt particularly funny bc i wore my sneakers, which i really have not worn in about a month. i have been running pretty exclusively in my vibrams or barefoot.  but, i’m still a bit too embarrassed in the gym! can you believe it?! i need to get over that.  it was so cushiony in the sneaks. that’s not good or bad, but it did mean i had to think a bit more about my step without the messaging coming from my soles that i have grown used to.  

stats

• 55 min spin
• 2 mile treadmill (9-7:30 min mile) 

this morning, i realized something i realize every time i train for something: i have to stop drinking, even the one glass.  well, i have to stop drinking or i have to be asleep by 9pm.  i enjoy my friends and quality time post work too much to hit the sack by 9 so, the wine has to go. and the beer. and the jame-o. at least on the weekdays. and honestly, as the weeks march on, the weekends are going to have to be mostly dry too if i want to really maximize the workouts.

i knew it was coming but boy, what a bummer when it finally arrives:)

i have been frustrated by small, annoying sickness and injury. nothing that TOTALLY sidelined me, but a lot of small set backs. but, i am feeling better now. my last (dumb) injury is FINALLY on the mend and i have been successfully knocking out workouts.

last week i also officially started training for my next to events so i have my training calendar back. its so much easier for me to get what i need done when all i have to do is look at a single workout. so much less intimidating.  its not a set in stone thing, but basically this is what i’m shooting for:

weekdays: 2 workouts each of swimming, running and cycling
weekends: 1 long workout each of swimming, running and cycling

before ‘official’ training started, i just tried to maintain a base so i wouldn’t be over doing it with my workout goals listed above.  the most important to me is getting in all the swim workouts, cycling and running can be adjusted if need be.

swimming is intimidating the hell out of me. i’m a pretty strong swimmer. in a pool.  but i’m getting sort of panicy just thinking about open water. i know the wet suit will help, but all the people and not being able to see the bottom.  my heart is pounding just thinking about it.  so, the swim. i just want to be so super strong that stamina is not so much as an inkling of a fear so i can just focus on keeping my heart rate down and my mind focused.  once i climb out of that river, i’ll be golden.

today’s stats
swim: 30 min

• 2 laps warm up
• 7 free
• 2 kick
• 4 free
• 1 kick
• 12 free
• 1 warm down

i never get sick.

i should have known when i went all braggy braggy about being back on track that a gorilla was going to take up residence on my chest. i should have knocked on wood. now i know.

my energy is totally zapped.

booooooo face.

i have a long ride saturday so i’m in total rest and hydration mode effective….now.

well, except for trotting around in my vibrams. i’m just too in love with them not to take them for a spin or two for some active rest.

i’m not sure if i fully recorded this last week or not, but after riding 100 miles of nowhere, i noticed that my hands were not as they used to be. certain pressure points caused tingling and for a few solid days, my pinkies and ring fingers were partially numb. this has happened to me before. except last time it went away after a few days. here i am, 10 days later, and still experiencing numbness and tingling.  its definitely not nearly as bad as it started out, but its still causing discomfort. 

i went to spin for the first time this morning since the ride now that my knee is recovered and was irritated that my palms were still causing me problems.  i had to keep a towel layered between my hands and the bar to minimize discomfort. it worked. sorta. i had trouble last night at the gym too with the hand weights for the same reasons.

i need gloves with more padding. and to change my hand position more often. great, lesson learned. can it be better now?