Thursday: Swim 25 minutes (23x25 laps; rest ~10 secs between laps)
Had a great swim tonight - really strong and clean through the water. I wish I could figure out how to swim every other day. I can totally feel the difference. I even threw in some flip turns and went 50 metetrs with no break and felt pretty good. It's amazing how much swimming gets your blood pumping. Just 25 solid meters slicing through the water and I get to the other end and feel like I've been running for 15 minutes. I felt awesome about it until I did the math and realized that I have to figure out how to get through 1,500 meters with no breaks. Oh god. I'm so glad it's February (at least for another 26 hours).
Here's the other thing on my mind today: the FDA. I heard that the FDA was raising their daily fruit and vegetable intake guidelines from 5 to 9. This totally stressed me out. I don't even know if I eat nine servings of *anything* a day. I barely hit five. Today for instance - fairly typical weekday: I had a grapefruit and a slice of peanut butter toast with breakfast; an apple and popcorn (homepopped - take that partially hydrogenated oil you bastard you) as a snack; a turkey sandwich with half an avocado sliced onto it for lunch; a banana; more popcorn (I was hungry) in the afternoon; and then couldn't commit for dinner post-pool so had some cottage cheese with apple sauce, then some steamed spinach with a little olive oil and a bowl of chocolate ice cream. I even took my vitiamins. I mean - I read that and I think, hell, I feel like I'm reading one of those "after" food menus in Women's Health. I mean, fruit, vegetables, protein, whole wheat bread - I concede the ice cream wasn't great for me, but for the love of God, FDA -- WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME???!!! And here's the kicker -- that's only FIVE servings (I could stretch to six if we can count the applesauce, but I'm dubious). It's now 10:30 at night. I am not hungry and I'm not going to slam 3.5 glasses of juice to make the doctors happy. I just can't fricking fit more vegetables into my day. So sue me.
Nutrition is typically something I haven't paid that much attention to in the past, but considering that I'm starting to roundly beat up my body six days a week, I feel like I should develop an interest. And maybe even figure how what energy drinks are all about and whether or not I can eat goo and not get sick. I just wish I could see what althetes eat. All the menus are geared to losing weight - not to distain that goal - I'd be thrilled to have ten fewer pounds to drag through the IronGirl - but I want to make sure I'm not asking my body to do something that I'm not fueling it to do. But I feel strong and I feel like my energy level is good (or is that the coffee?) so what does the FDA know anyway. Maybe I could have another cup of peach and ginger tea - that's sort of like a compromise.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
fighting uphill to swim downhill
Tuesday: Swam 8x50m; 4 sets (25xkick, 25 breathing; 25 pull; 25 regular); 2x25 sprint; 25X4 cooldown.
Wednesday: Ran 25 min (5 min warmup at 5.0; 5.4 for 20 mins, HR 160ish; 10 minutes cooldown)
This week is a constant battle to get to the gym. And it's not even that I don't want to go. It's that I'm having priority clashes with work. I want to work out. I need to be at my desk. And so the struggle continues. It's so utterly boring that I can't even talk about it, but for example - I just worked for two hours. It's now 10 to midnight, I should be in bed, but I want to write before I fricking forget what exercise I managed to slip in while apparently holding up the entire future of the wind industry in the United States (it's this funny trick they pull on you to make you feel important - telling you your efforts are vital. You know how you know when you're really important? When you can go home at six pm and tell someone else to do it).
Anyway, in between working like a dog and neglecting my goals at balance and nirvana, I did manage to get in two fairly solid workouts and throw away some cold hard cash on the internet.
The swim workout was by far the hardest. I hadn't been in the pool in a week and I could tell immediately. I was trying out some new drills that I had read about and a technique or two I heard about from Ms. MD (merci beaucoup Coach Joe). I tried visualizing "swimming downhill" and that actually really made a huge difference. I could feel my feet popping up to the surface more and my chest getting down in the water (which strangely enough seems to free your arms more). I'm also working on breathing every other stroke - thinking of my arms like windmills - one, two, three, four and breathe. The problem is that I either have really small lungs or I'm just not in shape because it takes a huge amount of effort *not* to breathe when that right arm comes up. I had this moment in the pool where I got grumpy about it. I mean -- I like breathing. So sue me. I'm a mammal. I'm into breathing every thirty seconds. I get to breathe whenever I want when I run. And even - at the possible risk of inhaling insects - when I bike. Stupid water. Swimming is my crux at the moment. It's also the hardest one to schedule because the hours are so much more restricted than running or biking (which you can pretty much do anytime anywhere with gear and reflective tape). And as we are all learning the hard way, tight schedules and my work do not play well together.
On the other hand, the running is going well and I'm feeling stronger and stronger. I pushed myself a little today, bumping up a level from where I was running last week. I was going to throw in some 30-second sprints at 5.7 at the end, but my knees were feeling crunchy (I don't know how else to describe it. Like I can feel it pop very slightly when I put my leg out).
As for the cold hard cash, I am now going to be the proud owner of my very own trisuit.
http://brandscycle.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&sort=pricedesc&id=8270
Thank you to my sister (the professional one) who told me about the website. I would post a picture of her here in her trisuit, kicking ass at her 1/2 ironman, but I think it would embarass her.
I also ponied up 40 bucks to get a basic, no frills heartrate monitor. It's good in water up to 50 meters, so I can drag it into my little thrash sessions at Marie Reed. It's made by Oregonian Scientific - who are the same people who made my amazing self-setting clock with weather forecasts on it.
http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=3&scid=9&pid=785
Here's why I really bought it: a) it's red. b) it's cheap c) the little alarm that beeps at you when you reach your target heart rate can be turned off.
BrandsCycle popped that baby in the mail the same day I bought it so I may even get it by Friday. HR monitor is TBD (which is kind of the way I picture the company. "Oregon Scientific will be happy to mail your package as soon as we return for our three-week company glacier climb in Alaska. Please leave a message after the beep."
Wednesday: Ran 25 min (5 min warmup at 5.0; 5.4 for 20 mins, HR 160ish; 10 minutes cooldown)
This week is a constant battle to get to the gym. And it's not even that I don't want to go. It's that I'm having priority clashes with work. I want to work out. I need to be at my desk. And so the struggle continues. It's so utterly boring that I can't even talk about it, but for example - I just worked for two hours. It's now 10 to midnight, I should be in bed, but I want to write before I fricking forget what exercise I managed to slip in while apparently holding up the entire future of the wind industry in the United States (it's this funny trick they pull on you to make you feel important - telling you your efforts are vital. You know how you know when you're really important? When you can go home at six pm and tell someone else to do it).
Anyway, in between working like a dog and neglecting my goals at balance and nirvana, I did manage to get in two fairly solid workouts and throw away some cold hard cash on the internet.
The swim workout was by far the hardest. I hadn't been in the pool in a week and I could tell immediately. I was trying out some new drills that I had read about and a technique or two I heard about from Ms. MD (merci beaucoup Coach Joe). I tried visualizing "swimming downhill" and that actually really made a huge difference. I could feel my feet popping up to the surface more and my chest getting down in the water (which strangely enough seems to free your arms more). I'm also working on breathing every other stroke - thinking of my arms like windmills - one, two, three, four and breathe. The problem is that I either have really small lungs or I'm just not in shape because it takes a huge amount of effort *not* to breathe when that right arm comes up. I had this moment in the pool where I got grumpy about it. I mean -- I like breathing. So sue me. I'm a mammal. I'm into breathing every thirty seconds. I get to breathe whenever I want when I run. And even - at the possible risk of inhaling insects - when I bike. Stupid water. Swimming is my crux at the moment. It's also the hardest one to schedule because the hours are so much more restricted than running or biking (which you can pretty much do anytime anywhere with gear and reflective tape). And as we are all learning the hard way, tight schedules and my work do not play well together.
On the other hand, the running is going well and I'm feeling stronger and stronger. I pushed myself a little today, bumping up a level from where I was running last week. I was going to throw in some 30-second sprints at 5.7 at the end, but my knees were feeling crunchy (I don't know how else to describe it. Like I can feel it pop very slightly when I put my leg out).
As for the cold hard cash, I am now going to be the proud owner of my very own trisuit.
http://brandscycle.com/itemdetails.cfm?catalogId=39&sort=pricedesc&id=8270
Thank you to my sister (the professional one) who told me about the website. I would post a picture of her here in her trisuit, kicking ass at her 1/2 ironman, but I think it would embarass her.
I also ponied up 40 bucks to get a basic, no frills heartrate monitor. It's good in water up to 50 meters, so I can drag it into my little thrash sessions at Marie Reed. It's made by Oregonian Scientific - who are the same people who made my amazing self-setting clock with weather forecasts on it.
http://www2.oregonscientific.com/shop/product.asp?cid=3&scid=9&pid=785
Here's why I really bought it: a) it's red. b) it's cheap c) the little alarm that beeps at you when you reach your target heart rate can be turned off.
BrandsCycle popped that baby in the mail the same day I bought it so I may even get it by Friday. HR monitor is TBD (which is kind of the way I picture the company. "Oregon Scientific will be happy to mail your package as soon as we return for our three-week company glacier climb in Alaska. Please leave a message after the beep."
Monday, February 25, 2008
west side east side
Running: 40 minutes
Am so proud of myself.
On friday night I worked until 3 am (lame lame lame). Then I got up at 6:30 to take the train to New York. I was exhausted. It was cold. I was in another city. AND I STILL WENT RUNNING!!!
Hot damn.
40 minutes up the West Side Highway (gorgeous) and then an urban trot back through the city to Soho. It was glorious - and I really owe Ms. JJ (who will comprehensively kick my ass in the Irongirl with 1/3 less training then I will do - these are just the facts I have to live with), who threw a very nice girl out of bed in order to go running with me :)
Sunday was not so good. Back on the transitions and balance idea - sometimes you just have to play. So I played on Saturday until five in the morning and crawled home yesterday to drink water and hide under a pillow. This weekend we go back into detox - home lunches, fruits and vegetables, 8.5 hours of sleep and a pledge to get into the pool at least twice.
Am so proud of myself.
On friday night I worked until 3 am (lame lame lame). Then I got up at 6:30 to take the train to New York. I was exhausted. It was cold. I was in another city. AND I STILL WENT RUNNING!!!
Hot damn.
40 minutes up the West Side Highway (gorgeous) and then an urban trot back through the city to Soho. It was glorious - and I really owe Ms. JJ (who will comprehensively kick my ass in the Irongirl with 1/3 less training then I will do - these are just the facts I have to live with), who threw a very nice girl out of bed in order to go running with me :)
Sunday was not so good. Back on the transitions and balance idea - sometimes you just have to play. So I played on Saturday until five in the morning and crawled home yesterday to drink water and hide under a pillow. This weekend we go back into detox - home lunches, fruits and vegetables, 8.5 hours of sleep and a pledge to get into the pool at least twice.
Friday, February 22, 2008
The Wish List
Triathlon Gear Wish List: (to be added, edited and sighed over in the months to come)
General Equipment
General Equipment
- Heartrate monitor (Polar FS1? - waterproof?)
- Laceless laces
- Sunglasses with swapable leases for cloudy days
- Tri suit?
- Wetsuit
- Racing swim suit that doesn't have hot pink on it
- Vaccinations to ward of typhoid from swimming in the Potomac
- Spare pair of goggles (tinted?)
- Aero bars
- New bike shoes (w/ velcro straps)
- A helmet that doesn't make me look like the stay-puff marshmallow man wearing a mushroom
- CO2 canisters for flat tires (no bike support in either race)
- Second water rack
- Second pair of running shoes (when do they wear out?)
Other things to figure out before the race:
What's the best snack to carry? Should you bring water and some kind of energy drink?
What kind of sunscreen is best to wear? Do you reapply it? When?
business time
Thursday: Spin Class (50 min); 4 X 8 min hill repeats w/ 8 adds -- 2 min in saddle; 6 standing.
Oh, how I love spin class. I think I am beginning to understand why my mother gets up at five am three days a week to go to aerobics class. Once you have a class you really like, and an instructor who challenges you, you start bonding with the regulars in the class, and that makes you look forward to it even more. It also provides a certain guilt-inducing edge - like, "but if I don't go, they'll ask me where I was... and I'll have to say I skipped because I was working... and that's lame."
I think yesterday should be a lesson for me though - I nearly didn't go because I was so stressed. (And you usually start thinking about skipping because there's a class later that you like, but "later" does not usually resolve the problem of "I have a lot to do". In fact, by the time you hit "later" you're probably going to have more to do *and* by then you'll be tired.) Anyway, I made myself get up and go. No one missed me. I got no emails. And then I ended up working until 11:30 (also lame), so "later" would definitely not have happened. Lessons learned (as I tell myself): The hour won't make a difference. Get up. Get it done.
Anyway, the class was terrific. The hill repeats are great for me to do in a group, because I push myself much harder surrounded by other people, but I also allow myself to back off because the instructor tells me too. The repeats were killers - to stand for six minutes and add consecutively every minute, hurts. Luckily Kim plays great music. One the hill, she played this song, "Business Time", which is hilarious -my brother sent it to me so I'd heard it before, but if you haven't, you have to look it up on Youtube. By that last hill , I had my wheel clamped down so tight that my quads were burning and I would have barely heard a F16 if it had been in the room with us, but it was still pretty funny.
We finished off with a flat sprint to classical music, increasing our cadence every time an instrument was added. Then I jumped off and hopped on the treadmill for a quick transition run - it felt good, but at that point I was getting stressed about work so I only ran for five minutes then cooled down, stretched briefly and ran back to work, only to find that no one had missed me at all. Go figure.
In other equipment news - I used a very old, very classy pair of shoes that I've had since 1999. I barely wear them because they're orange and brown with bright blue insides, which I object to on moral grounds. However, I wanted to test the theory that my clips were bothering my left knee. Low and behold the knee feels absolutely great this morning. I think new bike shoes may be in order (I'm sorry to be a wanton consumer of bike shoes, but I can't wear orange and brown ankle boot bike shoes to a race - I just can't). The expert (aka my sister) has recommended some with velcro straps to make the transitions easier. I'm already adding them to my wish list. Kim also raised my bike handle bars a notch and now my lower back feels so so much better.
In order to fund this new triathlon obsession of mine, I'm happy to report to my readers (all two of them), that I did not spent a single cent between last Saturday night and the following Friday morning. I feel that I have to share this with someone since I don't know that that has happened to me since I was approximately eleven.
Oh, how I love spin class. I think I am beginning to understand why my mother gets up at five am three days a week to go to aerobics class. Once you have a class you really like, and an instructor who challenges you, you start bonding with the regulars in the class, and that makes you look forward to it even more. It also provides a certain guilt-inducing edge - like, "but if I don't go, they'll ask me where I was... and I'll have to say I skipped because I was working... and that's lame."
I think yesterday should be a lesson for me though - I nearly didn't go because I was so stressed. (And you usually start thinking about skipping because there's a class later that you like, but "later" does not usually resolve the problem of "I have a lot to do". In fact, by the time you hit "later" you're probably going to have more to do *and* by then you'll be tired.) Anyway, I made myself get up and go. No one missed me. I got no emails. And then I ended up working until 11:30 (also lame), so "later" would definitely not have happened. Lessons learned (as I tell myself): The hour won't make a difference. Get up. Get it done.
Anyway, the class was terrific. The hill repeats are great for me to do in a group, because I push myself much harder surrounded by other people, but I also allow myself to back off because the instructor tells me too. The repeats were killers - to stand for six minutes and add consecutively every minute, hurts. Luckily Kim plays great music. One the hill, she played this song, "Business Time", which is hilarious -my brother sent it to me so I'd heard it before, but if you haven't, you have to look it up on Youtube. By that last hill , I had my wheel clamped down so tight that my quads were burning and I would have barely heard a F16 if it had been in the room with us, but it was still pretty funny.
We finished off with a flat sprint to classical music, increasing our cadence every time an instrument was added. Then I jumped off and hopped on the treadmill for a quick transition run - it felt good, but at that point I was getting stressed about work so I only ran for five minutes then cooled down, stretched briefly and ran back to work, only to find that no one had missed me at all. Go figure.
In other equipment news - I used a very old, very classy pair of shoes that I've had since 1999. I barely wear them because they're orange and brown with bright blue insides, which I object to on moral grounds. However, I wanted to test the theory that my clips were bothering my left knee. Low and behold the knee feels absolutely great this morning. I think new bike shoes may be in order (I'm sorry to be a wanton consumer of bike shoes, but I can't wear orange and brown ankle boot bike shoes to a race - I just can't). The expert (aka my sister) has recommended some with velcro straps to make the transitions easier. I'm already adding them to my wish list. Kim also raised my bike handle bars a notch and now my lower back feels so so much better.
In order to fund this new triathlon obsession of mine, I'm happy to report to my readers (all two of them), that I did not spent a single cent between last Saturday night and the following Friday morning. I feel that I have to share this with someone since I don't know that that has happened to me since I was approximately eleven.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
base training - block 1
Wednesday: Ran 25 minutes (5.3 pace; incline 1.0) approximately 2 miles (starting around 1:15pm); HR b/w 145-155 (endurance pace according to the treadmill)
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit, slice of wheat toast with peanut butter, two cups of coffee, one skim latte.
Today was one of those days when I had to exercise the willpower. But not in the way you think - I had to make myself *stop* running. I felt awesome. And part of this blog is try to figure out how to get to awesome as frequently as possible, so I thought I would add in all the side notes like what I ate etc.
So I got on the treadmill, warmed up for five minutes at 5.0, then bumped myself up to 5.3 and ran it out. And honestly, this is what I hate about base training - not that I hate it, but it's frustrating sometimes - is that no matter how good you feel, you know from all your reading and all your research the mantra is "never ever increase by more than 10% a week". So I was running 1.7 miles last week (don't laugh - when I got on the treadmill at the beginning of January I couldn't run five minutes. I am, as far as I am concerned, a rockstar), so to bump up 10% grazes right under 2.0 miles. Anymore than that I am going to stress my body, not allow it to rest and recover from the beating I'm giving it, put pressure on a genetically fragile set of hipflexors, blah blah, blah. Try telling that to someone who's flying high on the endorphins while glued to the CNN coverage of election returns from Hawaii and Wisconsin. But I stopped, grouchily, and stretched. Body count for the day - the left knee is still a little tender and my lower back feels sore (why?). Will lie on my office floor and stretch it out once everyone else goes home.
The search for the elusive "perfect" heart rate monitor continues. FS1 Polar. Is it worth the extra 20 bucks? TBD.
Breakfast: 1 grapefruit, slice of wheat toast with peanut butter, two cups of coffee, one skim latte.
Today was one of those days when I had to exercise the willpower. But not in the way you think - I had to make myself *stop* running. I felt awesome. And part of this blog is try to figure out how to get to awesome as frequently as possible, so I thought I would add in all the side notes like what I ate etc.
So I got on the treadmill, warmed up for five minutes at 5.0, then bumped myself up to 5.3 and ran it out. And honestly, this is what I hate about base training - not that I hate it, but it's frustrating sometimes - is that no matter how good you feel, you know from all your reading and all your research the mantra is "never ever increase by more than 10% a week". So I was running 1.7 miles last week (don't laugh - when I got on the treadmill at the beginning of January I couldn't run five minutes. I am, as far as I am concerned, a rockstar), so to bump up 10% grazes right under 2.0 miles. Anymore than that I am going to stress my body, not allow it to rest and recover from the beating I'm giving it, put pressure on a genetically fragile set of hipflexors, blah blah, blah. Try telling that to someone who's flying high on the endorphins while glued to the CNN coverage of election returns from Hawaii and Wisconsin. But I stopped, grouchily, and stretched. Body count for the day - the left knee is still a little tender and my lower back feels sore (why?). Will lie on my office floor and stretch it out once everyone else goes home.
The search for the elusive "perfect" heart rate monitor continues. FS1 Polar. Is it worth the extra 20 bucks? TBD.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
the grey zone
Monday: Ran 10 minutes outside
Tuesday: Spin class (45 min) - hill workout
So I read about this thing called the grey zone. Apparently it's what happens to a lot of beginner athletes when they first start training and don't know how to vary the intensity appropriately --and so as a consequence, they tend to train wrong: too hard to be relaxing, but not hard enough to actually make any improvments.
My run on Monday felt like that. It was partly my fault. I had a horrible, stress-laced meeting from 8:00am to 11:30 - and could see the project we were discussing teethering on the edge of ruining my much-needed, much-anticipated fun weekend in New York. I was already pissed off because I was at work on a day that the vast majority of America already had off - and I was equally pissed that I had an 8am meeting on a national holiday (I believe i've mentioned how I've accepted and made my peace with the fact that I am not a morning person). So when I stepped outside the building I was already in a bad space. Then the weather was being blustery and skittish - blowing galishly for 20 seconds and then dying abruptly, leaving the air hot and heavy and smelling like rain. Everything felt unsettled, which is probably why I couldn't find my stride. I pushed really hard in the beginning of the run - feeling like I wanted to leave everything behind me - but just ended up annoyed at the traffic and the weather and pretty much everything -- until I was out of breath and felt my legs burning and my ribs pinching -- completely skipping over that europhic running high when you hit your pace and feel like you could go run to the end of the world. I ended up sitting on a little observation deck overlooking a pond, methodically kicking the leg of the bench. Oddly enough, just the chance to sit down and *be* angry for a second was really what made it stop.
The moral of this story is that I think i need a heart rate monitor. I wasn't going to get one - feeling like it would be indicating a level of professionalism that I don't really feel - but also because I'm not a gadget junkie and don't really aspire to have one. But I think I need something to focus on when I get that distracted by stress, or weather, or traffic - all of which happen to me frequently. The run was horrible -- but it was mainly horrible because I didn't know how to fix it. Was I running too fast? Too slow? Too inconsistantly? Did I not warm up enough? I don't even think I could have been in the aerobic zone - on a normal day I can run for at least 30 minutes without feeling winded like that. But when I get stressed or upset, I fall out touch with how I feel and how my body is working. I think if I had a heartrate monitor that said, "Yeah, you're anaerobic. Slow down stupid", it would help to ground me. I tend to push myself too hard - one more sprint, a little faster - and I think from this book I read that it's only going to guarentee that I just end up hurt, or frustrated, or both.
But on the positive side, spin class today was great - I pushed myself pretty hard on the hills, trying to save a little for Kim's workout on Thursday, but still weighting the bike enough that I was feeling it. I'm beginning to get a sense of what spinning instructors I like the best. And I guess it's hardly surprising that I like the ones who actually seem like bikers. The woman today was great - good music, great workout. But she wasn't a biker. No biker would ever keep a cadence that slow - even if it is up a hill. Since I love spin classes and there's a real workout to be had there, I think I should try to follow the instructors that are good for my training and for my form.
Oh - that reminds me, an equipment update. After my Saturday ride, my left knee was twingy again. I can feel it now too after my spin class. It's not bad, but the consistency that this happens is making me wonder if my bike is set up wrong. Because the bike was made for me (entirely due to a very generous uncle) I have tended to think of it as this magic thing that can't possibly be wrong. But, since I got it (in - may I just add - 1999), I have had new petals put on it and a new seat and maybe I've got my angles wrong. Anyway, I'm going to take it in for a look. I'd really like to buy a new pair of bike shoes (real road bike ones), since I'm training in my moutain bike shoes (comfy, but not stiff). Maybe that will be a present to myself next mouth. "Piano, piano" they used to tell me when I was learning Italian. "Slowly, slowly." All in good time. Heart rate monitor first.
Tuesday: Spin class (45 min) - hill workout
So I read about this thing called the grey zone. Apparently it's what happens to a lot of beginner athletes when they first start training and don't know how to vary the intensity appropriately --and so as a consequence, they tend to train wrong: too hard to be relaxing, but not hard enough to actually make any improvments.
My run on Monday felt like that. It was partly my fault. I had a horrible, stress-laced meeting from 8:00am to 11:30 - and could see the project we were discussing teethering on the edge of ruining my much-needed, much-anticipated fun weekend in New York. I was already pissed off because I was at work on a day that the vast majority of America already had off - and I was equally pissed that I had an 8am meeting on a national holiday (I believe i've mentioned how I've accepted and made my peace with the fact that I am not a morning person). So when I stepped outside the building I was already in a bad space. Then the weather was being blustery and skittish - blowing galishly for 20 seconds and then dying abruptly, leaving the air hot and heavy and smelling like rain. Everything felt unsettled, which is probably why I couldn't find my stride. I pushed really hard in the beginning of the run - feeling like I wanted to leave everything behind me - but just ended up annoyed at the traffic and the weather and pretty much everything -- until I was out of breath and felt my legs burning and my ribs pinching -- completely skipping over that europhic running high when you hit your pace and feel like you could go run to the end of the world. I ended up sitting on a little observation deck overlooking a pond, methodically kicking the leg of the bench. Oddly enough, just the chance to sit down and *be* angry for a second was really what made it stop.
The moral of this story is that I think i need a heart rate monitor. I wasn't going to get one - feeling like it would be indicating a level of professionalism that I don't really feel - but also because I'm not a gadget junkie and don't really aspire to have one. But I think I need something to focus on when I get that distracted by stress, or weather, or traffic - all of which happen to me frequently. The run was horrible -- but it was mainly horrible because I didn't know how to fix it. Was I running too fast? Too slow? Too inconsistantly? Did I not warm up enough? I don't even think I could have been in the aerobic zone - on a normal day I can run for at least 30 minutes without feeling winded like that. But when I get stressed or upset, I fall out touch with how I feel and how my body is working. I think if I had a heartrate monitor that said, "Yeah, you're anaerobic. Slow down stupid", it would help to ground me. I tend to push myself too hard - one more sprint, a little faster - and I think from this book I read that it's only going to guarentee that I just end up hurt, or frustrated, or both.
But on the positive side, spin class today was great - I pushed myself pretty hard on the hills, trying to save a little for Kim's workout on Thursday, but still weighting the bike enough that I was feeling it. I'm beginning to get a sense of what spinning instructors I like the best. And I guess it's hardly surprising that I like the ones who actually seem like bikers. The woman today was great - good music, great workout. But she wasn't a biker. No biker would ever keep a cadence that slow - even if it is up a hill. Since I love spin classes and there's a real workout to be had there, I think I should try to follow the instructors that are good for my training and for my form.
Oh - that reminds me, an equipment update. After my Saturday ride, my left knee was twingy again. I can feel it now too after my spin class. It's not bad, but the consistency that this happens is making me wonder if my bike is set up wrong. Because the bike was made for me (entirely due to a very generous uncle) I have tended to think of it as this magic thing that can't possibly be wrong. But, since I got it (in - may I just add - 1999), I have had new petals put on it and a new seat and maybe I've got my angles wrong. Anyway, I'm going to take it in for a look. I'd really like to buy a new pair of bike shoes (real road bike ones), since I'm training in my moutain bike shoes (comfy, but not stiff). Maybe that will be a present to myself next mouth. "Piano, piano" they used to tell me when I was learning Italian. "Slowly, slowly." All in good time. Heart rate monitor first.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
transitions
Saturday: Biked 14.75 miles (total time - approx 1 hr); ran 15 minutes (transition time: approx 2 minutes)
I've been thinking a lot about transitions since Saturday. More even then the training, the transitions seem like the key to the whole race. The transition run I did this weekend was by far the most mentally challenging training session I've had since I started this wild ride over a month ago.
Maybe too on a more macro plan, I've been thinking about transitions - how to balance work and training, training and friends, friends and work. Saturday for example, I got up early so I could have brunch with friends - and ended up having a totally surreal experience eating eggs and toast in the middle of a some kind of yuppie goth convention. Try eating toast and having a regular conversation when there's a girl wearing red contacts, red eyeliner and a red lace corset in your line of vision. Then after brunch, I hopped over to the bike shop to get a cheap mileage meter (now on number three - I seem to be as successful with bike odometers as I am with sunglasses). Then I took my three duffle bags worth of stuff (and my bike) and shoved in all in the car and drove to the C&O Canal trail in Georgetown. For some reason - by this point - I was in a bad mood. I was irritable at everything - and the first two miles of the trail are paved, but the pavement is old and pitted. The roots growing right underneath the trail are pushing upwards and I could feel every jolt through my handlebars. Maybe I should experiment with tire pressure too - there are just no shocks on a road bike. I also felt strangely weak, like for every rotation of my tire I was pushing extra hard - like you feel when you're back break is clamped down over your tire and don't realize it until you've gone five miles and are totally exhausted. My mental state kept deteriorating until was until I was so irritated that I wanted to scream. Then I suddenly realized that I was mentally competing with every person on that trail. I was trying to pass everyone and everything - walkers, joggers, other bikers, people pushing baby carriages - everyone. It was exhausting because no matter how fast I went or how hard I pushed there was always someone else ahead of me. When I realized how totally pointless that was, I settled down a lot and started concentrating on my own performance -- which is when two things occurred to me. First, the trail was graded uphill at about 15%, which is why I was working so hard and second, I was rocking along (uphill!) at 14 mph. Both made me feel better. 14mph is not fast enough yet, but it's much faster than I thought I was going.
So by the time I biked back to the car, I was feeling a lot better about life. I threw the bike and my helmet in the car, pulled off my bike shoes and swapped them out for my running shoes, realized I was still wearing my gloves and took those off - nearly locked myself out of my car by leaving the keys under the bike, took a swig of water, grabbed by bike odometer as a timer and ran off. And on my GOD it hurt. My legs felt dead - heavy and unresponsive. I had to run up two flights of stairs to get to the gravel C&O path and I had the thought, "god, I hope I don't fall on my face because I'll probably knock all my teeth out and that would suck". Running after an hour of biking was grueling. And mentally it was torture - instead of feeling light and finding my stride, I felt like I was coaxing and coaching every motion - lift the foot, lift the knee, move the leg, put the foot down, repeat. I made myself run for 15 minutes - after about 12 I started to feel better. But better is not saying a whole lot. However, I have to say when I finally stopped I had this profound sense of satisfaction - like I had won some kind of inner toughness battle.
Other things I learned from this experience, plan plan plan everything. Apparently when I'm in the zone I just stop thinking clearly. Nearly locking myself out of the car is one such example. Another one would be that I was so intent on running out my 15 minutes that it didn't occur to me to run out 8 minutes and then turn around -- so instead I had to walk back a mile and half at the end of it.
Anyway, all that aside, the other part about transitions is that I think I can get so wrapped up in planning to train and how to train and what to do at the gym or on the bike or on the treadmill, that I forgot to feed the other parts of my life. Last night when I got home, for example, all I wanted to do was get in the bathtub and then go to bed. But I had said I would go to dinner at a friend's house. So I got up - reluctantly - and went. And I had an amazing night and finally fell into bed at three am, deliciously tipsy on good wine and excellent company. I have to remember that taking care of myself is not always just about eating protein and sleeping nine hours a night.
So today, in honor of that, I am not doing anything. I am going to sit in my house and drink coffee and read the papers. And I might even get back in bed and watch a movie. It's positively decadant.
I've been thinking a lot about transitions since Saturday. More even then the training, the transitions seem like the key to the whole race. The transition run I did this weekend was by far the most mentally challenging training session I've had since I started this wild ride over a month ago.
Maybe too on a more macro plan, I've been thinking about transitions - how to balance work and training, training and friends, friends and work. Saturday for example, I got up early so I could have brunch with friends - and ended up having a totally surreal experience eating eggs and toast in the middle of a some kind of yuppie goth convention. Try eating toast and having a regular conversation when there's a girl wearing red contacts, red eyeliner and a red lace corset in your line of vision. Then after brunch, I hopped over to the bike shop to get a cheap mileage meter (now on number three - I seem to be as successful with bike odometers as I am with sunglasses). Then I took my three duffle bags worth of stuff (and my bike) and shoved in all in the car and drove to the C&O Canal trail in Georgetown. For some reason - by this point - I was in a bad mood. I was irritable at everything - and the first two miles of the trail are paved, but the pavement is old and pitted. The roots growing right underneath the trail are pushing upwards and I could feel every jolt through my handlebars. Maybe I should experiment with tire pressure too - there are just no shocks on a road bike. I also felt strangely weak, like for every rotation of my tire I was pushing extra hard - like you feel when you're back break is clamped down over your tire and don't realize it until you've gone five miles and are totally exhausted. My mental state kept deteriorating until was until I was so irritated that I wanted to scream. Then I suddenly realized that I was mentally competing with every person on that trail. I was trying to pass everyone and everything - walkers, joggers, other bikers, people pushing baby carriages - everyone. It was exhausting because no matter how fast I went or how hard I pushed there was always someone else ahead of me. When I realized how totally pointless that was, I settled down a lot and started concentrating on my own performance -- which is when two things occurred to me. First, the trail was graded uphill at about 15%, which is why I was working so hard and second, I was rocking along (uphill!) at 14 mph. Both made me feel better. 14mph is not fast enough yet, but it's much faster than I thought I was going.
So by the time I biked back to the car, I was feeling a lot better about life. I threw the bike and my helmet in the car, pulled off my bike shoes and swapped them out for my running shoes, realized I was still wearing my gloves and took those off - nearly locked myself out of my car by leaving the keys under the bike, took a swig of water, grabbed by bike odometer as a timer and ran off. And on my GOD it hurt. My legs felt dead - heavy and unresponsive. I had to run up two flights of stairs to get to the gravel C&O path and I had the thought, "god, I hope I don't fall on my face because I'll probably knock all my teeth out and that would suck". Running after an hour of biking was grueling. And mentally it was torture - instead of feeling light and finding my stride, I felt like I was coaxing and coaching every motion - lift the foot, lift the knee, move the leg, put the foot down, repeat. I made myself run for 15 minutes - after about 12 I started to feel better. But better is not saying a whole lot. However, I have to say when I finally stopped I had this profound sense of satisfaction - like I had won some kind of inner toughness battle.
Other things I learned from this experience, plan plan plan everything. Apparently when I'm in the zone I just stop thinking clearly. Nearly locking myself out of the car is one such example. Another one would be that I was so intent on running out my 15 minutes that it didn't occur to me to run out 8 minutes and then turn around -- so instead I had to walk back a mile and half at the end of it.
Anyway, all that aside, the other part about transitions is that I think I can get so wrapped up in planning to train and how to train and what to do at the gym or on the bike or on the treadmill, that I forgot to feed the other parts of my life. Last night when I got home, for example, all I wanted to do was get in the bathtub and then go to bed. But I had said I would go to dinner at a friend's house. So I got up - reluctantly - and went. And I had an amazing night and finally fell into bed at three am, deliciously tipsy on good wine and excellent company. I have to remember that taking care of myself is not always just about eating protein and sleeping nine hours a night.
So today, in honor of that, I am not doing anything. I am going to sit in my house and drink coffee and read the papers. And I might even get back in bed and watch a movie. It's positively decadant.
Friday, February 15, 2008
latte day
Yoga: 1 hr.
happy friday to me.
I love fridays because I get to wear jeans. But I love fridays even more because I allow myself to hop over to my neighborhood coffee shop - where someone always flirts with me despite the fact it's 9 am - and get a big, hot, foamy latte alllllll for me.
So I rolled into work at a little before ten - then promptly headed right back out the door because I had yoga class at 11. Happy to report that my transition time in and out of gym clothes is getting shorter. It takes me approximately two minutes. And even more satisfying, I got waved through by the woman at the desk today with a, "I know who you are". Ha. It's all paying off. I wish I loved my gym as much as other people I know. Not that I don't love it - but it's a purely functional relationship. And it's pretty short on the amenities. It has a steam room and a sauna, not that you're really want to be naked in them - but still. But the towels are not fluffy and there is no cafe. In short - not a place to hang out. (Nor - to be fair 0 is it filled with the sort of people you'd want to hang out with - even if you were inclined to hang out, which i am not).
Unfortunately, when I stack up my priorities, I have to acknowledge that being able to get to the gym in under five minutes - walking - is more important to me than fluffy towels. This is sad because I'd like to think that if I hung out at the Hilton Gym I would work out just as much. But I wouldn't. Why? Because the Hilton is four blocks away and Sport and Health is only one. The less space between me and the gym, the better. However a friend of mine who I coaxed into doing the September race with me, sent me the link to her gym and I just about died. Indoor pool. Outdoor pool. Lap pool. Sauna. Deck. I mean really, Washington, get it together. And MD will probably kick my ass in this race, since I'm cobbling together this training schedule with community pools and a gym that costs 45 bucks a month. However, at the end of it, maybe I can sell my story to NPR "Tri on the Cheap".
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yes, yoga. Yoga was good. Yoga is always a good test for me. If I'm really tired, I shake and fall out of tree pose and everyone stares at me. Today I was rock solid all the way up into the very slow pushup section - then the shaking began. But all in all a good stretch session and my hip feels so much better. I probably need to arrange a day off at some point, but this weekend is all about the bike. Since it's my only change to get outside I feel like I want to take advantage of every hour of daylight.
happy friday to me.
I love fridays because I get to wear jeans. But I love fridays even more because I allow myself to hop over to my neighborhood coffee shop - where someone always flirts with me despite the fact it's 9 am - and get a big, hot, foamy latte alllllll for me.
So I rolled into work at a little before ten - then promptly headed right back out the door because I had yoga class at 11. Happy to report that my transition time in and out of gym clothes is getting shorter. It takes me approximately two minutes. And even more satisfying, I got waved through by the woman at the desk today with a, "I know who you are". Ha. It's all paying off. I wish I loved my gym as much as other people I know. Not that I don't love it - but it's a purely functional relationship. And it's pretty short on the amenities. It has a steam room and a sauna, not that you're really want to be naked in them - but still. But the towels are not fluffy and there is no cafe. In short - not a place to hang out. (Nor - to be fair 0 is it filled with the sort of people you'd want to hang out with - even if you were inclined to hang out, which i am not).
Unfortunately, when I stack up my priorities, I have to acknowledge that being able to get to the gym in under five minutes - walking - is more important to me than fluffy towels. This is sad because I'd like to think that if I hung out at the Hilton Gym I would work out just as much. But I wouldn't. Why? Because the Hilton is four blocks away and Sport and Health is only one. The less space between me and the gym, the better. However a friend of mine who I coaxed into doing the September race with me, sent me the link to her gym and I just about died. Indoor pool. Outdoor pool. Lap pool. Sauna. Deck. I mean really, Washington, get it together. And MD will probably kick my ass in this race, since I'm cobbling together this training schedule with community pools and a gym that costs 45 bucks a month. However, at the end of it, maybe I can sell my story to NPR "Tri on the Cheap".
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yes, yoga. Yoga was good. Yoga is always a good test for me. If I'm really tired, I shake and fall out of tree pose and everyone stares at me. Today I was rock solid all the way up into the very slow pushup section - then the shaking began. But all in all a good stretch session and my hip feels so much better. I probably need to arrange a day off at some point, but this weekend is all about the bike. Since it's my only change to get outside I feel like I want to take advantage of every hour of daylight.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
oh Marie Reed, you are sketchy.
And yet, oddly endearing.
I decided I couldn't handle the drive to the awesome pool tonight. And having my yoga plans run ripshod over by the unfeeling executive office and then watching my boss high-tail out of the office at 5:20 (which happens once every leap year), I decided that I was also leaving to go swim laps. At the sketchy pool. But you know - it was actually really cute. Yes, it is down a dark alley. And yes, it's marked with spray paint. But, on the plus side, it's free *and* once you get in there it has this wonderful atmosphere of community and welcomeness. Completely unlike the Arlington pool, which for the record, is not any nicer and certainly hurts in comparison in the locker room cateogry -- and tried to strip search me when I wanted to swim there as a DC resident. Whereas, at Marie Reed, I walked in, signed my name and jumped right in. It was great.
Does anyone else keep forgetting how many laps they've swum? I think I did about 600 meters tonight, but I kept losing track. On the advice of a friend of mine (shout-out to the triathlon veteran DS), I swam 25X regular;25X kickboard; 25Xpullbuoy; 25X concentrating on breathing (I always breathe every stroke and I'm trying to break the habit). Anyway, I repeated that four times, then swam 50 regular, then 50 breast stroke - and then finished (because I didn't want to and was tired and I thought it was good for my mental stamina), swam a long slow 100. I think I'm getting a lot stronger - my kick felt much better tonight. And the best part about swimming in a shallower pool is that I can really get a sense of how fast I'm moving by watching the floor zip by underneath me. I feel like I have such a long way to go though. And open water. How does *that* work?
I'm totally exhausted, it's 10:30, I know I'm lame, but I think I might go to bed and then get up and reclaim my dream of yoga tomorrow morning. The more I work out the more I seem to need to sleep.
I decided I couldn't handle the drive to the awesome pool tonight. And having my yoga plans run ripshod over by the unfeeling executive office and then watching my boss high-tail out of the office at 5:20 (which happens once every leap year), I decided that I was also leaving to go swim laps. At the sketchy pool. But you know - it was actually really cute. Yes, it is down a dark alley. And yes, it's marked with spray paint. But, on the plus side, it's free *and* once you get in there it has this wonderful atmosphere of community and welcomeness. Completely unlike the Arlington pool, which for the record, is not any nicer and certainly hurts in comparison in the locker room cateogry -- and tried to strip search me when I wanted to swim there as a DC resident. Whereas, at Marie Reed, I walked in, signed my name and jumped right in. It was great.
Does anyone else keep forgetting how many laps they've swum? I think I did about 600 meters tonight, but I kept losing track. On the advice of a friend of mine (shout-out to the triathlon veteran DS), I swam 25X regular;25X kickboard; 25Xpullbuoy; 25X concentrating on breathing (I always breathe every stroke and I'm trying to break the habit). Anyway, I repeated that four times, then swam 50 regular, then 50 breast stroke - and then finished (because I didn't want to and was tired and I thought it was good for my mental stamina), swam a long slow 100. I think I'm getting a lot stronger - my kick felt much better tonight. And the best part about swimming in a shallower pool is that I can really get a sense of how fast I'm moving by watching the floor zip by underneath me. I feel like I have such a long way to go though. And open water. How does *that* work?
I'm totally exhausted, it's 10:30, I know I'm lame, but I think I might go to bed and then get up and reclaim my dream of yoga tomorrow morning. The more I work out the more I seem to need to sleep.
Valentine's Day
Monday: Ran two miles - at 5.2 pace (24 minutes)
Tuesday: Spin Class (45 min)
Wedneday: Ran intervals - 2 miles @ 5.5 (two min); 5.0 (two minutes)
I hurt everywhere. Am also grouchy because I was supposed to go to yoga today and this board meeting came up and drove a cart and horses through my lovely plan. Now I don't know how to work around my own schedule. I can't run anymore - my right hip feels about 100 years older than the rest of me and a brief experiment with getting out of my Uggs and into a pair of work-appropriate heels this morning left me with a twisted ankle (twisted ankle-lite anyway - I think I can stretch it out). What I really need to do is get in the pool. Maybe I can drive out to the community pool this evening. There is one a block from my house, but it scares me. You have to enter through an alley and the sign for "pool" is spray-painted in red. That doesn't really make me want to put my head down and do laps. In fact in makes me want to find a solid wall and put my back against it. I think I'd rather stand the drive for thirty minutes in the nice pool.
At least I had a grapefruit for breakfast and I've put away an apple and a banana plus my vitamins and three bottles of water, so at least I know I'm eating well. Too bad my mom sent me an indecently large bar of orange chocolate for Valentine's Day. Obviously can't let that go to waste.
Tuesday: Spin Class (45 min)
Wedneday: Ran intervals - 2 miles @ 5.5 (two min); 5.0 (two minutes)
I hurt everywhere. Am also grouchy because I was supposed to go to yoga today and this board meeting came up and drove a cart and horses through my lovely plan. Now I don't know how to work around my own schedule. I can't run anymore - my right hip feels about 100 years older than the rest of me and a brief experiment with getting out of my Uggs and into a pair of work-appropriate heels this morning left me with a twisted ankle (twisted ankle-lite anyway - I think I can stretch it out). What I really need to do is get in the pool. Maybe I can drive out to the community pool this evening. There is one a block from my house, but it scares me. You have to enter through an alley and the sign for "pool" is spray-painted in red. That doesn't really make me want to put my head down and do laps. In fact in makes me want to find a solid wall and put my back against it. I think I'd rather stand the drive for thirty minutes in the nice pool.
At least I had a grapefruit for breakfast and I've put away an apple and a banana plus my vitamins and three bottles of water, so at least I know I'm eating well. Too bad my mom sent me an indecently large bar of orange chocolate for Valentine's Day. Obviously can't let that go to waste.
Triathlon - The First Explanation
So - let me explain this whole thing.
I decided to do a triathlon. Mostly I decided to do it because I was dating a girl who ruthlessly broke up with me and I needed some kind of distraction. But I also decided to do it because I was turning 30 (like when Harry met Sally - "and I'm going to be forty... someday!!!") in six months and I was worried about my ability to get through my birthday gracefully. It seemed to me that if I could finish a triathlon gracefully then 30 wouldn't present too many problems. So I signed up for the Irongirl in Maryland in August 2008. The problem was that once I signed up for the first one - and got through all the waffling and back-and-forths of ebbing and flowing courage - it seemed much easier to start thinking about doing another one. Which is - in hindsight - a little like the person who strikes it lucky at poker and then against all the advice of his friends, can't quite bring himself to cash in his chips and give it up. Before I knew it, I had wantonly signed up for another triathlon in September in Washington, DC.
I guess in some ways triathlons are like kittens. If you're going to go through all the drama of getting one and keeping it from chewing through all the electrical cords in your house - you might as well get two. The problem is that, unlike kittens, neither of these races confine themselves to your house and both of them grow up from a nice, furry idea into a huge, menancing triple-threat blend of run-bike-swim in 90 degree summer heat and humidity.
Luckily, aside from considerations of pride, I'm way too cheap to throw in the towel on $300 bucks worth of application fees - no matter how terrified I am. The fourth threat - public humilation - is probably enough on it's own to get me through the first three.
Also, there is some other deeper motivational prodding going on that has to be explained - once and earnestly - before we go on.
I will indulge briefly. Skip this section if you have a delicate constitution.
First of all there are two people my life, my younger sister and a very good friend of mine, who are both graced with the kind of inner strength and detirmination that allow them not only to get up much earlier than anyone else I know, but get more done in less time - with a quiet and and unquestioned strength of character and purpose - that is a personal inspiration to me even from my cushy arm chair. I really think that the world keeps moving because people like these two get up every day and never for a single second does it occur to them not to give their very best effort at everything that they do. Both of them are excellent athletes, not only because of their natural talent, but also because every morning they get up and they practice - rain, sun, snow and ice not withstanding.
Second of all, about three years ago, I was flipping channels and landed on the ESPN, which happened to be streaming live coverage of the Ironman - not just *an* Ironman, but *The* Ironman, in Kona, Hawaii. The announcer was talking about a particular racer - a woman - and the television briefly flipped back through the pictures - miles swimming in the ocean, 112 miles on the bike - you could see the heat waves glistening off the road, and finally 26.2 miles running back to the finish line. The woman had had a great race so far - poised to break records. I was captivated watching her run - so steady, so fast and you could feel that she could keep running like that forever. Then with less than a mile to go, something happened - the heat, or dehydration or just the intensity of the race - she broke her pace and slowed down, then slower still, then broke into a walk, weaving slightly. And then finally with the finish line in sight - she fell. The crowds at the edge of the road surged forward, but no one wanted to touch her - the announcer kept saying that if she received medical attention she would be disqualified. As I sat there, absolutely glued to the screen, the woman waved off the crowds poised to help - you could tell she was sick, dizzy and disorientated. But the finish line was right there - you could see the banners waving in the distance and everyone there watching her had this look on their face - this intensity - asif by concentrating they could will her the strength to finish. And she looked at all of them and she looked at the finish line and she pulled herself up and she started to crawl. Then slowly she pushed off her hands and got to her feet and stumbling, started to walk. Then she broke into a jog - and then a run. Fifteen seconds later she crossed the finish line. The crowd errupted. And I burst into tears.
For some reason that has been one of those moments that has stayed with me - something important that I unwittingly became a participant in. I had watched that race for 20 minutes. I had no idea who that woman was or what an Ironman was. I had no idea why it should matter so much - but I sat there in my living room thousands and thousands of miles away and I willed for her to get up and to finish that race. Everyone watching - on television or in person, could see that her body had stopped. It was only her mind that made her get up. And for that reason, being accidentally dragged into that woman's own defining moment - to give up or to go on - that I began to understand the kind of people who do triathlons and the kind of mental strength and detirmination it takes to finish them. Whether you're swimming 300 meters or two and half miles - whether you bike 12 miles or 112 - I think these races show you - and maybe teach you - how far you can be pushed and how strong you really are.
Of course, I say that having never run a triathlon. But this sense - this suspicion that maybe that's what it's about, is what drove me to sign up. That woman could have been anyone. If it comes to that test - in any situation - how would I do?
I've been knocking around this planet getting into trouble for almost thirty years and I think I want to know - having led a life of filled with good luck, narrow escapes and a gratefully short list of hard choices, what exactly I'm made of.
So - as I heard someone say once - triple threat this.
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