Indoor -cough cough- Track -hack!-

It always sounds like a good idea to run on the indoor track. Avoid the cold! The laps go by so quickly! Bacon!* But it usually ends in me saying "I should have just ran outside".

I went Wednesday night, after telling myself how awesome it would be. It was sooooo hot and dry. Heat rises and the track is on the second floor around the gyms and climbing wall, overlooking the pool on one side. I noticed there was a stairwell door propped open, probably trying to get some cold air flowing in.

I don't know how many laps of insanity = 1 mile, so I just ran for time. My first lap was about 1:10. So then I'd figure out when I would be done with my next lap (2:20...3:30...etc) and check in when I crossed where I started. I was trying to be consistent and steady and give myself something to think about. But I think it made it worse. I sped up and that also threw off my simple addition distraction.

Here is a drawing of what the GPS data could have looked like. Those random loops that seem to go off the path are where I go around people. I was the fastest person on the track! (Never mind I was the only person running).

I made it 20 minutes before I thought my lungs were going to disintegrate into a pile of dust. Then I changed out of my sweaty shirt into a new shirt (which promptly got sweaty from my Already There Sweat) and did some machines.

I did the assisted weight machine in three different positions. The over arm pull-ups, hands rotated perpendicular pull-ups, and dips. I need to come up with better names for these exercises. I just did 1 set of 10 for each. I didn't want to overdo it since I swam farther that morning. It was the perfect amount - sore the next day, but not too bad.

I also did the ab thing where you prop yourself up in the air and lift your legs until you want to puke. Then I did some sit-ups on the incline bench, 15 reps each side of the twisty ab machine, and some planks and stretching.

Thursday after work I ran with R again. We met at Fleet Feet in Blue Ash, and this time it was his turn to fight traffic unfortunately. It was really really cold, but not raining like last week. We tip-toed through the icy and snowy spots for 3 miles. It was an easy 10:30 pace that really couldn't have been any faster since the sidewalks are still snowy/icy.

Saturday morning is the Jingle Bell run! It is going to be cold, and probably snowing. Snow will be great. Ice not so much. I hope the weather holds out!




* Bacon is not actually in any way affiliated with the indoor track (unfortunately).

Swimmin'

Today's swim workout was a bit longer than I have been doing, especially considering that I only swam once last week. 1700 yards.

250 yard warmup
6 x 25 pull drills. I should learn some more drills.
4 x 150 (50 build, 25 descend, 50 build, 25 descend). These were all around 3:35. I rested about :30.
4 x 25 kicks
6 x 50 sprints. These were about :57 each. I rested about :40 - :45 between each, except 3 and 4...I took a bigger break there. The last one was my fastest.
4 x 25 kicks
200 cool down - freestyle and breast stroke. Because I hate cooling down and do anything to make it more interesting.

I looked into swimming lessons. It looks like there is an Intermediate small group class that I may try which starts in January. They are only a half hour long and have about 4 people in the class. I know I must be doing a lot wrong and don't want to get in too many bad habits. Hopefully this will help. They also have private lessons, but I think I'll try the group first.

I'm about to head over to the Community Center for some fun, dry, boring indoor track fun! I have to work and I'm sure the sidewalks are treacherous still, so R and I are running tomorrow evening.

Then on Saturday is the Jingle Bell run on my birthday! Woohoo!

A New Week

Last week was pretty weak in consistency terms. I had some weird work stuff come up and also succumbed to cold dreary days. It was a really easy week. I swam, I biked (spinning) and I ran (hilly hills again). But all just once each. Suck.

Sooooo I'm happy for the new week. Today I did an easy base interval swim session:
Warmed up 250
6 x 25 pull drills (which really were not too great - I was all out of balance)
4 x 100 with a LOT of rest in between (:30 - 1:00, ug)
8 x 25 kicks
2 x 25 fast
200 cool down

I was still sore from our go-karting session on Saturday evening, but thought the swimming would help loosen me up, and it did. My breathing wasn't too stellar - the 4 x 100s were really tough. I think I've lost my endurance in the pool, and maybe everywhere.

Tonight after work I ran. I was supposed to do 34 minutes with 14 x :30 all out with :30 recovery in between. I warmed up a mile then started on them. It was dark, but with all of the snow on the ground, I thought it would be light enough. It was light enough to run and see where I was going, but eventually I couldn't see my watch anymore. And no, it doesn't have a light. It's a cheap-o Armitron that has recently come back from the dead after fizzling out Thanksgiving day. After about 7 of the intervals, I just started counting to the rhythm of my breaths up to 45. I figured my breaths were a bit quicker than a second apart, so 45 was the adjustment. This was MUCH better since I didn't have to struggle to see in the dark while bouncing. I did something around 14; I kept losing track, but I'm sure I did at least 14. Then I ran easy for the remainder of the time to 30 minutes. I decided I couldn't see well enough anymore, and there were plenty of patches of wet road that had turned to ice...4 minutes wasn't worth sliding.

Now I am utterly beat. I don't know what has been going on with me lately, but I am always tired. I know I'm not sleeping too well, so maybe that's part of it. It feels like I'm sick, that same worn out feeling...but I'm not. Who knows, maybe it's just the weather.

Tomorrow is spinning and I really really really hope it's an hour on the bike and no stupid abs. I'll do abs and arms afterwords though. I'm excited to get back to the strength routine that I started...um...last Saturday.

The State of the Muscles Address

During my Thanksgiving Break Reflection Time (TBRT), I came to the conclusion that I do in fact need to do strength work. I am a confessed weakling.

Me: "Hi, my name is Steph. I'm trying to do triathlons, but I can't do a pushup."
Audience: "Hi, Ste– bwaaaaaahahahahahaahahaha!!!"


Last Saturday I lifted. I found some machines and non-machines that seemed to work the same areas as swimming muscles and I did a little bit, or what I thought was a little bit. But it turns out I am really starting at the bottom and I still am so sore. It is three days later and I tried to lift again after spinning this morning. I couldn't do much more than look at the machines though. I tried and it was no good. So I just looked at the machines a little longer, had some nice words with the assisted dip/pull-up machine ("today I'm going to set it to ALL my weight and just take a little ride, mmk?") and went home.

I'm pretty excited though. I can only get stronger if I stick with it! Maybe I'll try again Thursday.

Thanksgiving Week

The week was, as I expected, hit and miss with workouts and chock full of eating :)  But it's ok. The previous week wasn't much of a recovery week thanks to my hilly long run with the Dav-Huffs. I'm actually fine with how it's gone this week. I feel like I've learned a bunch these past 5 weeks and am excited for December.

Some things I've learned:
1. Eating and Hunger. My appetite has been through the roof. This week I finally felt like I wasn't hungry a lot...but I also only did a few workouts, so I guess that's why. I'm not gaining weight, but I'm not losing anymore either. I guess I'll need to cut back some more calories.

2. Swimming. It continues to be a struggle. However, I know where I need to get stronger before I start worrying about never getting better at swimming. My core and upper body is so very weak.

3. Biking. I am cruising through biking ok right now. Nothing is changing here at the moment and that's ok. I've settled into the Tuesday spinning class and alternating Saturdays with spinning or riding at home with a run afterwords when I feel like it.

4. Running. It was rough running with E and R through the hilly neighborhoods. I got pretty down about my fitness, but realized I had no business thinking I'd be suddenly good out of nowhere when I haven't been working on running all that much. I think that's going to come in December.

5. Overall Strength. I am so weak. I have endurance, but I don't have strength or power. I've decided in December I'm going to work on weights and building some power. I think it will be fun!


So...December is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to seeing some improvements and feeling good! When it gets crazy around the holidays, so be it. I'll do what I can. But first is the Jingle Bell run on my birthday! It's hard to say how it will go. I would be elated with 9s. We'll see, it will be fun to run no matter what.

Spinning + an eventual run

The end of the week again got difficult. I think for a while I'm just going to roll with this. I have no problem swimming on Friday mornings, but getting a run in has been challenging for some reason. I've changed things up by moving the run to Saturday instead (when I also bike).

The first time I did that, it was a true "brick," where I changed as fast as I could after an hour on my trainer and started running on weird after-biking legs. This past Saturday it was more of just a bike....(doobie-doooooo)....then a run. I went to the gym for a spinning class. I cooled down in the class, stretched with everyone, etc. Then after I cleaned off my bike, I went down to my locker and changed into my running shoes, walked back upstairs, and ran on the indoor track for 20 minutes. It was interesting how much the time break made a difference with how my legs felt. I was a little tired from the class, but I didn't feel so disconnected with my legs. I guess this is just proof for how important the brick exercise is to get yourself used to pushing right after the bike.

The class Saturday morning was a good one...and crowded! I counted 35 people in the mirror. It was like a big Saturday morning group ride, except stinky. We did a "running" class, where all of our intervals involved a lot of running and pushing in position 2. I liked how short the intervals were. It wasn't easy, but it was nice to change what we were doing so often.

As mentioned above, I ran after the class. The indoor track is, I don't know, a tenth of a mile per lap? It can get pretty mind-numbing, but I still prefer it to the treadmill. It was a few laps before I settled in to a pace. Half of the track was cool (the part around the climbing wall and big atrium area) and the other half back by the basketball courts was HOT. It felt like I was running by a heater blasting hot air, and maybe that was the case since the track is up high near the court ceilings. It was a strange sensation.

This morning I haven't done anything yet because I'm getting some invoicing done. I'm going to brave the pool crowd at 11. And then I suppose I will go shopping for Thanksgiving! Running today is going to be really chilly and I'm dreading it.

Hills and hills (and hills)

Wednesday evening I met some friends in Oakley and we ran through that area and Hyde Park. Um....hills. So many of them. Long ones, tall ones, steep ones, neat ones.  It was supposedly about a 4.5 mile route...but we ran for 56 minutes and I am pretty certain we didn't go that slow.

I did slow down a lot on the hills though. It just takes everything out of me and I can't breathe. It was a great wakeup call to the fact that my usual terrain is not very challenging at all.

It was difficult to not feel very disappointed with how hard the run was. After all, I've been "working out all the time" according to people that mostly see what I do on Facebook. I think I had a false sense of fitness, that I was going to tromp all over those hills like they were nuthin'. I'm getting stronger, yes. But in reality, I haven't been training that distance nor that kind of terrain. And I'm already not a gifted runner. So, patience and more work, young grasshopper.

I am certainly feeling it in my legs. Quads and inside my thighs. No achilles pain though, so that's great!
Thursday I didn't do anything. Figured it wouldn't hurt to take a day off. Friday I swam, but am going to cram some running and biking into Saturday morning again. It's really hard to do a workout Friday afternoon, I'm learning. Maybe the accumulation of the week both physically and mentally.

I'm so anxious to run more miles. I want to get out to Miami Whitewater and do the 8 mile loop. Soon. Soon.

Wandering Swimmonster

The pool. Always a chuckle-inducing adventure.

Wednesday morning I swam, enjoying a lane to myself. While I was resting at the wall, I noticed a woman bobbing over towards me (I was in the lane that borders the leisure pool section). I watched as she bobbed and bobbed... and then bobbed right under the lane divider and popped up right in front of me. As in, our boobs could have touched. If anyone had been watching, I'm sure I was staring at her while she was under the water in that 'dad just dove under the water and is going to grab me and pull me under at any moment' kind of freakout stare. I was against the wall. So I began to scoot over all the way to the right. She blinked and wiped her face in an "oh my, that water! it's so wet!" kind of fashion. She didn't say anything. Then, she turned to face the middle of the wall and pushed off on her back, commencing her zig-zag swimming session, using the entire lane.

Some history: I've seen this woman being yelled at by another woman while they were sharing a lane one day. (Always good drama at the Community Center!) This woman kept trying to tell her that she wasn't staying on her side, to which the woman didn't really show much acknowledgement. After the 3rd encounter (at least that I saw), which was a head-on collision, she was pretty angry. I'm not sure if she's 100% aware of everything around her, honestly. Though, when I saw her in the locker room later, she didn't seem so foggy-headed as she is in the pool.

Remembering that day, I moved over to the next lane. I was about to start 5 x 25 all out sprints, and I didn't want to bonk heads.

There's a card game series called Munchkin that is a humorous take on roll-playing games, poking fun at the different characters and functionality of those games. You defeat Monster cards to level up and win the game. One of the card types is a "Wandering Monster" card, which is played with a Monster card to make it more difficult to defeat it and the first monster. This all matters because of the strange way my brain relates things. I couldn't help but think about her as a Wandering Swimmonster...

Swimming Breathing: the Quest for Air Continues

Monday I had to get an insurance physical and blood work done. So I did that and wasn't really done with all of it until about 10:45. The pool lanes open back up at 11, so I headed to the Community Center to swim then, after ravenously devouring a breakfast bar and stopping for a coffee. I'm not a good faster.

I have been swimming in the earlier mornings and was reminded why this is a good decision. The pool just kinda had an overall funk to it – a mix of perfume and sweatiness topped with odd country western music blaring over the speakers. It was so crowded. Most of the people that go at this time aren't very good at sharing the lanes, unfortunately. I did my best, hugging the lane divider and sighting often (sighting practice!). And then it wasn't too long before I had my own lane which was nice.

It was an easy swim (it's a recovery week):  250 warmup, 6 x 25 pull drills, 5 x 100 base interval set, and 250 cool down for 1150 yards total. For the main set, I tried something new. Breathing is definitely my weakness. This has proven true for all the sports. But I've noticed it getting better since I've been swimming, which is awesome! I think that the swim intervals are helping, forcing me to breathe in a way that I never have. I decided to really really focus on my form for this swim and not worry so much about my pace. To do that, I really wanted to not have to breathe every other stroke, which means breathing on the same side. I wanted to practice reaching and rotating, and breathing on one side makes you kinda lopsided. In the past I've been going down the lane breathing on one side, then coming back breathing on the other to work on that whole one side is dominant thing. But I wanted to swim like I can with the pull buoy between my legs, breathing every third stroke and feeling myself in the water better.

To do this, I tried to slow down, but eventually got too out of breath again. But then I tried a different breathing pattern that I think worked out. I basically fit the every three strokes breathing in there when I could. So, it looked like this:

stroke - breath right,
stroke - breathe right,
stroke - stroke - breathe left,
stroke - breathe left,
stroke - stroke - breathe right,
stroke - breathe right....
....and repeat.

(And yes, I just air swimmed to make sure I had that right)

When I knew I was going to have to take two strokes before breathing again, I exhaled a little differently, and consequently, feel I controlled it better. But the quicker breaths allowed me to keep getting enough air.

Voila! Maybe on to something here, to increasing my VO2 max, lung capacity or something.

In the evening, I ran 4 miles and it felt very easy. I haven't had any more achilles tendon soreness, so maybe I'm getting used to my shoes.

Last Week's Summary

Three weeks in to new training, I (finally) made ALL my workouts. I have been having a hard time with Thursdays and Fridays. I still didn't do everything quite exactly to plan, but I think by listening to how I felt, I actually did a better choice of workouts at the end of the week.

Last week:
- Monday I swam 1400 yds and ran about 4 miles.
- Tuesday I did a one hour spinning class.
- Wednesday I swam 1850 yds and ran about 4 miles. I was pooped from the swim.
- Thursday I rode on the trainer for 1:30:00...the longest I believe I've ridden inside. At least in a long time. Also the longest I've ridden since not doing Saturday morning breakfast rides (since I don't want to ride in the cold).
- Friday I swam 1500 yards and was supposed to run my 2.5 loop. But the swim was pretty rough, and I was so tired. So I decided I'd add that run to my ride the next day and make a little brick out of it
- Saturday I rode on the trainer for an hour to music and then, somewhat quickly, changed into my running stuff and ran as steady as I could for the 2.5 mile loop.


Stuff I Learned:

1. While on the 1:30:00 trainer ride, I watched an episode of Breaking Bad and two episodes of the Colbert Report. This was nice to pass the time. But I've realized I have a hard time keeping a steady pace while watching things. So it was a pretty slow hour and thirty minutes, but hopefully my heart rate was in a decent zone (didn't wear it). When I ride to music it's a much better workout.

2. I needed a new saddle. So I bought one Saturday afternoon! I'm excited to try it this week.

3. The brick...I think I'll do one of these every 3 weeks, timed before my recovery week. Such a good way to get a real idea of how strong you are. It is amazing how terrible I run after riding. And I don't run well to begin with, so...extra terribleness.

4. I miss running. I feel like I don't run much anymore. I'm learning about balancing these three sports. It's very interesting trying to think about which sport's mindset I'm in. Mostly, I think I need to think about putting them all together. That is the big difference from just running.


This week is a recovery week. This morning I only swam 1150 and it felt crazy quick (as in the time I was there, not me moving through the water). After this week, I think I might repeat these past 3 weeks since I now finally feel like I handled the training ok in the last week. Maybe I can aim to do them better, especially the running. I must must must add some core also.

It Got Cold Out = Time to Whine

Wednesday's p.m. run was....cold. It has gotten cold, I know this. But this was the first run I've had to do in tights. And a head warmer. And gloves. Sigh.

Turns out I just went too late and the darkness got to me. I am historically a morning runner. But now I don't run in the morning at all because I swim in the mornings (when the pool is less crowded and less perfumed by, well, perfume). Monday, Wednesday and Friday are a.m. swims and p.m. runs. When coming up with my schedule, I thought this would be awesome for winter, because I'd rather run in the sunny winter afternoon than cold cold morning still in the 20s. This thought still holds true. I just have to remember the time change happened and it's dark at 5:30.

From the above, it looks like I match when I run. I don't typically. (But I am sure I run faster when I do. Hmmm...)

Anyway, it was a good 40 minute run, despite my grumpy face. It was dark, so no one could see it anyway.

Swimming Morning Confusion

This morning's swim workout was supposed to be this:

250 warm up
6 x 25 drills
5 x 150 (50 easy / 25 hard) (:15 recovery)
4 x 50 sprints (:20 recovery)
6 x 25 kicks
250 cool down
= 1750 yards


But for some reason (and I even went over it in my head and counted up the yardage before I got in the pool) I did this:

250 warm up (correct!)
6 x 25 drills (correct!)
6 x 125 (50 easy...except 50 easy twice in a row / 25 hard) (:15r)  (EERRRNT!)
6 x 50 sprints (:20r)   (EERRRNT!)
6 x 25 kicks (correct!)
250 cool down (correct!)
= 1850 yards

So for some reason I just got the main sets all mixed up. Sixes were in my head. And when I went to do the 150s, I even thought to myself but how can it be 50 easy 25 hard...did I really see 100 easy?  And those sprints!! I was dying by the 5th, and took a bit more rest before the 6th.

I guess I'll need to work on memorizing a bit better before leaving the locker room, geesh. I only went 100 yards more, but I didn't do the 150s right and I did 2 extra sprints. I would have liked doing the 150s in the format they were supposed to have been done. And it would have been interesting to recover on 50 after going hard 25.

Anyway...... not a big deal. I just find it funny that I can't seem to keep swimming workouts straight. Maybe I need to laminate some cards.

Still Settling In

The end of last week got busy. Instead of running at Kingswood, I ended up riding inside on the new bike setup in the garage. I watched some Colbert Report and fit in 50 minutes of riding.

In the past, I would bring my fluid trainer and bike out into the living room. I'd set it up and pick something to watch on Netflix or Hulu+...or just listen to some music. And from the street, this is what you'd see:

I'd bring a fan out, grab a cup of water and ride. It's not a terrible amount of setup, but it does kind of take over the living room in our small house. Now everything is set up out in the garage (which is heated to some degree and carpeted with carpet tiles). I have a roku to stream Netflix and Hulu+. That is all hooked up to an old monitor and receiver. I can also plug my phone in and listen to music. It's a pretty fantastic setup for the winter, and makes it easy to just hop on my bike, since it's already on the trainer. I just pump up the tire(s), get some water, pick my media and turn on the fan. No excuses. I don't take over the house, and I can easily get a ride going in a couple minutes rather than 10.

Right now, I'm just going with the flow of things and trying not to worry about missing a workout here or there as I learn what is going to work with my schedule. I am prioritizing swimming and going from there. It's been hard to adjust to colder running weather. I love the warm afternoons we've been having, but they also tease me into thinking it's not going to get too cold. I'll be better when it's just always cold. 

I took Sunday off and did a bunch of yard work. Monday I got back to things with a 1400 yard swim in the morning and a 40 minute run in the afternoon. It started raining right as I was beginning the run. It wasn't that warm and I thought I'd have to bag it, but I stayed out there, running close to home in case it started raining cats and dogs. It never did, so I wasn't too wet by the end. Hot shower immediately!

Last night it snowed, and it was 27º this morning when I scraped the car off and drove to the gym for a cycling class. It was a really tough class! We did two sets of hill intervals and tabata. The hill intervals were 2:00, 1:30, and :30-30 where we'd increase every so often, then push the last :30. Then we'd bump it back down to one gear above where we started the previous interval and go again. I think there were 5 in each set...2:00, 1:30, then :30-:30. Then right after that, we went straight into a tabata that had about 6 sessions I think? I was toast after this entire first set...and then we did it all again. Except this time the intervals were done out in 3rd (instead of seated). My legs were getting jelly-like.

My average hr was 145, but I forgot to stop the monitor until some time during cool down. I maxed out at 170 during the second tabata (which was also when I thought my legs were going to fall off). The instructor said this ride was designed to make our heart rates go up and then back down over and over, and as I watched mine that is indeed what happened.

I'm pretty tired and need to recover well today in order to get up and swim sprints and run my 2.5 mile weekly time push route in the afternoon. Yikes! Like I said, still settling in....

Swimming and running

Wednesday I ran another Village on the Green loop test. It's a 2.5 mile loop and I have been using it as a time trial route of sorts.

I was pretty tired after the swim Wednesday morning. I actually took a little nap in the middle of the afternoon. Being that this week I was coming back to the training pretty fully, I didn't expect the run to be fast. But while I was out there I felt like I was killing it. Turned out to not be as killing it as I thought, but it was still a decent pace for me, and progress. 24:01 is the fastest I've done it and this was 24:03.  (Slow I know, but I'm just trying to get faster.)

This morning I swam. The workout called for a 250 warmup, 1000 yards straight, and a 250 cool down. I haven't swam any kind of distance straight without stopping since the triathlon or right after. I counted up to 20 laps, and pushed the last two. My time was 25:14...so about 1:15 per 50. Sooooo slow, but hey, here's a starting point for the winter. My shoulders kinda burn now. I'm glad I don't swim again until Monday.

This afternoon I'm going to go check out the Kingswood Park that's close to the house. It's an old golf course turned park. Looks like about a 1.4 mile loop if you go around the outside. I wonder if a zig zag up and down kind of pattern (assuming the paths I saw on google maps are actually there) would make it seem longer rather than just doing loops. I am running for 45 minutes...we'll see how it goes!

Swimming "Build/Descends"

One segment of today's swim training called for fartleks (teehee) for 4 x 100 "in the build/descend format." I didn't understand what that meant, and looked up more about it before going this morning. I thought I had it right going into the workout, but I just checked again and didn't do it quite right.

In my book it says "4 x 100 (25 build/25 descend...) 10 second rest."  For some reason (maybe the dot dot dot confused me) I took this as build for 25, go harder for 25, go harder for 25 again and then descend for 25. So that's what I did–I made it one big peak instead of two. What I should have been doing was building for 25 then descending for 25. It sounds a bit harder than what I did, because I don't have many swim paces. It's pretty much slow and slightly faster than slow.

Overall, I'd say this isn't a big deal. And actually, it made me end up practicing how to recover in the water while still swimming. I supposed I've been forced to do this in the past, in the lake. But today I figured out a little more about maintaining a pace. There were only 10 second rests between these, so I had to just do the next one even if I didn't feel ready. I really think my breathing is getting better... fingers crossed.

Talked to the pregnant lady that I sometimes share a lane with. I finally said the "joke" that's been in my head. "Maybe the baby is helping by kicking when you swim."  Yep.

Spinning intervals

This morning I went to what is now my new regularly scheduled spinning class: Tuesdays at 8:15 with Heather. And when things step up more...there is a class at 9:30 I can go to also - eek! That's not for a long time though.

I really like the instructor. She's easy to follow and I know what to expect and how much to push. Today she really focused on heart rate training, and I of course forgot my monitor. I have a really hard time remembering that thing for some reason. I still feel it was ok though, just went by perceived effort.

My legs were a little burny, which I assume is just the swimming and running yesterday, after a pretty relaxed end of last week (i.e. missed workouts). I'm estimating about two more weeks to adjust to this training load.

My achilles tendons hurt a little bit. I think this is my newer shoes. I haven't really liked them since I started wearing them. Maybe they make me strike differently? I don't know. Keeping my eye on those guys.

It's supposed to be a pretty nice day, so I might try to squeeze in some yard work. Leaves everywhere!

Winter Training Week 2

This Monday appears to be beginning like last Monday: nice sunny warm weather (for fall). There is the difference of the time change, however. I like gaining that hour, but everything is always a little wonky for a bit.

The time change didn't keep anyone from the pool this morning. But it was smiles and friendly "good mornings" from the Cocoon cast, as usual.

Today's set:
250 warmup
6 x 25 pull drills
5 x 100 intervals, 30 sec rest in between.
6 x 25 kicks
250 cool down

Shared my lane with a pregnant woman who I see regularly. That must feel good to be in the water! She's faster than me. Of course. (Maybe the baby is kicking to help?)


THE WEEK:
Monday - Swim 1300 yards / Run 40 minutes
Tuesday - Spinning 1:00:00
Wednesday - Swim 1500 yards / Run 25 minutes
Thursday - Bike 1:10:00 + transition run for 10 minutes
Friday - Swim 1500 yards / Run 45 minutes
Saturday - Bike 1:15:00


I didn't have a great week training last week. Missed Thursday because of work and I think I missed one other workout. But I wasn't really worried about it. I expected some adjustment woes to happen. We'll see how this week goes - should be better and I'm excited!

Official Pie-Season Winter Training Kickoff Day

I've toiled over the schedules and have come up with a plan for the most of winter: an olympic distance plan that I'll probably modify here and there as I go. And today (drumroll)................... is the first day of it. [cheering!]


A snapshot of the schedule:

Sundays - off
Mondays - base swim in the a.m. / run in the p.m.
Tuesdays - biking...which I'll do mostly through an a.m. spinning class / strength
Wednesdays - interval swim in the a.m. / run in the p.m.
Thursdays - biking...1 to 2 hours
Fridays - swim (base or intervals) in the a.m. / run in the p.m.
Saturdays - biking...which I'll do either in an a.m. spinning class or on my bike / strength

So that's it in a nutshell.
I'll see how it goes every week. It seems pretty balanced.


This morning I swam 1200 yards. Warmed up 200, did 6x25 pull drills, 4x100 main set, 8 x 25 kicks, 6x25 pulls with high elbows, and cooled down 5 x 50. Wait. That's 1350 yards. I can never count correctly when I'm in the pool! Oops.

Lucky for me, this day is supposed to be nice and sunny and warm, so when I run this afternoon, it should be nice. It's been getting colder, and I'm just not acclimated to the dark and chilliness yet. I'll get there though.

Running in the Sun

Thursday after work I went for a little 2.5 mile run in the sun. I was hoping for another crazy awesome run like I had Monday, where I felt like I was going so fast (and was indeed going faster than I normally do with little effort). Instead my legs hurt a bit and I had to stretch at 1.3 miles because they had tightened up so bad.

There is a 2.5 mile loop from my house that I think would be fun to use as a time trial of sorts. If I can run this short distance somewhat hard on Thursdays, it may be a way to gauge how I'm doing: if I'm getting faster, feel fatigued, etc. 

Yesterday I was certainly fatigued, and I'm not sure why. Maybe the swim the night before? I have been taking it pretty easy the past couple of weeks, so maybe I'm just settling in. Work has been busy too. The training plan for the week I posted Sunday isn't exactly what I've been doing...it's just been a rough week, but that's ok.

It's fall. I love fall, and I really hope there are many more days of this weather!

Breathing While Swimming

Work was rough yesterday and I decided to come home after the 5:45 spinning class instead of swim right after. Honestly, as I mentioned before, I don't think swimming right after spinning is the best/most realistic idea anyway. I thought I'd try the gym in the evening and see how that would go.

Turns out the entire community goes to the community center in the evening. I got my swim in, but it was way too crowded to be able to concentrate. I was in the lane that butts up against the rest of the leisure pool, which was full of frolicking children and bobbing adults. I shared this lane (of course) with a back floater. (I'll have to describe these breeds some other time.) After she left, her spot was immediately replaced by a very hairy guy who complimented me on how fast I was swimming (um...compared to the back floater over there? sure!) After he left, I shared my lane with a teenage girl and her swim instructor. All this time I also partially shared my lane under the ropes in parts by people who liked to hang out right on the edge and kick into my lane. Finally, I had the lane to myself for a bit! Until, unexpectedly, Original Back Floater decided to come back into my lane...without making sure that I knew. I was swimming right down the middle and nearly collided with her.

So, lesson learned. If I want to really do a swim workout, and not practice siting the entire time, 7:30 is not the time to go to the pool.

My swim was 250 warmup, 8 x 25 pull drills, 4 x 100 main set, 6 x 25 kicks, 6 x 25 pulls again (and breathing focus) and 300 cool down. 1450 total.

I'm trying to work on my breathing balance and dominance in the water. I am a flailing mess when trying to breathe on my left side. It feels terrible. I've read that this can be common and that you just have to force yourself to get that bad side up to par with your good side. I have all fall and winter!

Spinning and Coffee and Pecans

Work is getting a bit busy right now, which is fine, but adds a challenge to the workout schedule. Luckily spinning class on Wednesdays is early...easy to fit in before work!

I was going to swim after spinning; had all my stuff packed and everything. But during class I began thinking about work and decided I'd be better off doing the workout later when I didn't feel it was so pressing. And honestly, I think the workout will be better having a break. We'll see how it goes today. I am not thrilled with the idea of heading to the gym twice in a day, which is why I have been planning to do the swim on Wednesday after spinning. But, really, I think I'll have to break it up.

I may or may not be able to get to the gym because my car died last night (something wrong with the battery connection). While G was going to work on it this morning, heading over to the lot we left it in, his car had problems: his clutch pedal lost pressure. Soooo thank goodness for our truck Big Blue (aka Dodge Dakota Fanning, Money Maker, Snot Nose and Rust Bucket). Some of those nicknames I just made up. G has that, but I'm stranded for the day...unless he gets my car running.

Anyway, the morning has been good. I made coffee when I returned from the gym, though after a spinning class, it definitely isn't necessary. I thought it would be since I was up 'til midnight working...but elevated heart rate trumps caffeine any day!

This Week

Planning and planning and making schedules and changing the schedules...

I've decided to try an Olympic distance schedule to see how I handle that amount o' stuff. But for a few more weeks, I'm just going to take it easy, doing all the workouts, but no serious pushing or strict direction to follow.

So, next week is going to look like this:

Monday: swim 1500 yards / run 2.5 miles
Tuesday: cycling class / strength: upper body
Wednesday: cycling class / quick swim 800 yards
Thursday: run 3 miles / strength: upper body
Friday: swim 1500 yards / run easy
Saturday: cycling long ride (tentative - because it's fall and I don't want to ride in cold rain)

Strength Training

I have never done much strength training, at least never consistently or properly. In my ongoing triathlon knowledge research, I've been reading a lot about what different athletes do in the off-season (aka Season of Pie, see previous post) as well as regular season. I have a ton of room for improvement as far as my strength goes (in other words, I'm pretty damn weak). I have free weights, but have been wanting to try out the Machines. Machines!! So yesterday after spinning class, I went wandering into the weights area of the community center.

It was intimidating, but I know it will get better once I'm confident with what I'm doing.

What I did:
• Curls
• Seated row
• Tricep extension
• Rotary torso (rotisserie chicken?)
• Lateral arm raise
• Shoulder press (really hard...which might explain why I am swimming slowly)
• Abdominal something or other (which I'm pretty sure I did wrong)
• Bench press thingy (awesome- felt very good for swimming muscles)

Then I did some core work:
• Leg swirl thingys (I should come up with better names)
• Reverse crunches
• Crunches
• Plank (I hate planks.)

Then I high-fived myself. Not really.

Schedule Making

After many weeks perusing the internet, trying to find a training plan for the "off season" or figure out how to make one, I finally broke down and bought a book.

It's huge. Very thick. And has every imaginable scenario for training. It covers Sprint, Olympic, Half-Iron and Full Ironman distances. Within each, there are 10 levels of plans to choose from/manipulate into something that will fit. And there are 2 levels for off-season training. Perfect!

The difficult part is deciphering it. There are codes for everything. You don't just run, you RFR3 (foundation run level 3 which means it's for a certain time). Or maybe you RLT2 (lactate threshold run level 2).  What? Also, the design of the book is pretty clunky.

So what do I do? Redesign my chosen plan, of course! (I am a graphic designer, after all.) I made an overview schedule, where I can just see what sport I'm doing every day in words, not codes. Then I wrote out the codes of my chosen plan in sentences for each day so I know what I'm doing. Because I'm never going to be able to remember what something something 3 is verses something something something else different 2. I already can't keep human being names straight that begin with the same letter.

So I'm settling into a plan that I'll use until the new year. Then I suppose I will start actual training for something or multiple somethings. I still don't know for sure what I want to do, which is pretty lucky. So many things to choose from:
1. Flying Pig half or something
2. Sprint triathlons (definitely want to do these)
3. A half ironman? (because crazy?)

The "Off Season"

Since I'm trying to get better at all the sports, when I heard about the "off season," I didn't think this could apply to me. I only have more work to do, no time for breaks! Turns out the off season is time for eating pie and changing up the training focus. Ok, maybe I made that eating pie part up. (I love pie.)

I have been gathering that after the racing season and before the next racing season, is the off season. That seems pretty logical. On or off, there is no tri. Wait. Do or not do, there is no pie. Wait!! No!

I've been trying to read about what exactly to do during this time. It seems like it's a time to get stronger. Build base. Maybe work on strengthening weaknesses? Thanks to the glorious internet, I've read warnings about not sloughing through miles and miles on the bike trainer, or in the pool, or running. But somehow it's also not time for training.

It's kind of left me confused about how I should approach these days. Taking things I've read into consideration, I've also gone back to my own thoughts and knowledge about my own body (and how I handle things) to try to figure out how to handle this Season of Pie. At the same time, I'm trying to figure out how to work from home, not go crazy, and when to train during the day. It's time for experimentation for a while, at least through September perhaps.

Last week I made a schedule, completely color coded and everything. I based it on how I naturally work during the day. I know I'm super uber lucky to be able to do this. Clients still come first, but I can allocate my time how I need. It worked ok, but left me feeling a little scattered. I felt like I was everywhere all day every day.

I like bigger chunks of time to spend on work, and prefer smaller breaks like a meal or a walk to break up the day vs. training. Mostly. I do like a lunch run though.

This week, the experiment will be to make my days less scattered. And, to combat the urge to stay in pajamas and not shower until who knows when, I've decided I'll get up every day and just go to the gym. I had a thought that if I got up in the morning, LEFT THE HOUSE and did something, then came back all dressed and ready to go, I'd feel better. Less lonely, energized, and ready to conquer some helvetica!

So this morning I swam. And I think it has worked out ok.

I've done a triathlon. Now what?

On September 8th, I finished the triathlon I had been training for all summer: Iron Girl Rocky Gap in Cumberland, Maryland. .5 mile swim, 16 mile bike, and 2.5 mile run. It was very very fun, and sealed the deal for me and triathlon hopefully living a long life together, for better or worse.

Here's what my training looked like for those months. Click to see the calendars larger.

May it began. I was hesitant to get in the pool.

June. More consistency and increased swimming yardage.

July. Man I am serious here. Look how few days off there are!

August. I've never been this consistent with any training before in my life.

September doesn't have much to show; I hurt my back and had to scale things back a bit.

In general, I feel I trained pretty well...consistently if nothing else. I really enjoyed it. I looked forward to most workouts and it helped break up my days working by myself. 

Looking back, I think I could have taken more rest. I was worn out a lot when swimming. Definitely my weakest link.

Looking forward...well I'm still working on a base/maintenance training schedule for winter. But the goals and focus for the next few months are this:

1. Lose more weight, get leaner.  Eating healthier is helping this. I feel like I've finally balanced the constantly hungry feeling with the right kind of food to keep me fueled. But damn, I like sweets.
2. Get stronger in general.  I have no upper body or core strength, and, well, swimming takes a lot of that. My swim is pretty slow, so I'd like to make it better.
3. Get stronger on the bike. I watched my legs get bigger and bigger as I trained, but I lack power. The Saturday morning 45 mile ides I've been going on have illustrated that as I creep up every hill. 
4. Figure out how to run faster. It may just be that I'll never be able to run fast. But perhaps if I get all these other things in line, I can see how I can strengthen my run. 

And why? I have to ask myself why I would spend 7 - 10 hours currently on training. Is it my hobby? Am I winning? Is there some ultimate goal?  I think the answer to the why is simply balance. Balance for my health, my day working solo, and the empowerment and happiness my accomplishments (no matter their size or impressiveness) give me.