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.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)