It's been a crazy week so I haven't had much time to post here... Let's see what I can remember from last week -
I know I only swam once last week at the pool and I didn't get to the gym until late so I didn't complete the work out. That was a bummer...
I think I went running with a co-worker on day after work around the quarry. We ran for less than 1/2 hour and I got a miserable side cramp half way into it. I think that I got the cramp because I either had not eaten enough or drank enough. That seems to be a lesson I keep learning the hard way :(
Thursday was our regular track workout at DVC. Alex for sure has shin splints :( so no running for him anymore until the triathlon. He will have to resort to pool running to keep up his fitness and muscle memory.
Saturday was a long workout that started at 730 in Novato. We got in the pool around 8 and swam until at least 1015, maybe 1030. We did a lot of 50's, some drills (invovling shoulder roll...), and then we lined up in two rows and started splashing and making waves as two people swam down the line. It was a lot of fun, but I'm pretty sure it didn't have the effect the coaches wanted.
After the swim we hopped on our bikes for a 40 mile or 2.5 hour bike ride, whatever came first. I'm pretty sure no one made it the whole 40 miles because there was so much hill climbing... Al and I only made it 27 miles or so and were were pretty close to the front of the pack, there were only maybe 8 people ahead of us. I have learned that my only strength in biking is hill climbing... I can't put a whole lot of power out on the flats and I don't weigh enough to really gain momentum on the down hills but I can kick ass at climbing hills. I caught up to IronJoe (a coach) and alot of the faster riders while on Watson Hill which surprised everybody, even me...
Sunday was scheduled to be an open water swim and run. I thought the swim would be 45 - 60 min and then a 10 min run, but now when I look at the calendar, I was supposed to be 30 min of swimming and 60 min of running... Oh well, next time I guess. Not like Al and had the time to do the run anyways because we had to hurry back from SF to met our realtor in Castro Valley. We looked at 8 houses on Sunday!!! Thats a lot and we were so tired at the end of it.
On Sunday morning Al was trying every excuse he could think of to not do the open water swim in the bay but none of them worked on me. I was really looking forward to doing the swim, don't ask me why because I have no idea... But it all worked out in the end and Al had a good, productive swim and that's what mattered.
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Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Weekend workouts
Friday was supposed to be a swim, but so much got in the way, mostly alot of problems at work :( I was thinking I wouldn't be able to get any work out in, but somehow, everything fell into place (no traffic coming home, dinner was already made) and I was able to spin for an hour after dinner. That made me feel good :)
Saturday Alex and I got up at the ugly a** crack of dawn (6am) to go swimming in some scummy mud puddle they call Lake Lakewood in Walnut Creek (yes, Walnut Creek has a lake... I was thinking the same thing) The water was chilly but not as cold as Shadow Cliffs, but it was super murky and you couldn't see a dang thing, not even your hands in front of your face... ugh. The good news is that I didn't swim into a bouy (mostly cuz there were no bouys to hit) but the bad news is that I tried to swim into the kayak... Thanks Wayne for pushing me away and protecting my noggin!!
After the "open water" swim, we had a 40-60min run scheduled, but I also had pony club so we had to bounce so I could get back in time to ride. Riding Roxy that day was a challenge!! She was all over the place and high as a kite... I'm sure everyone was watching me with their hands over their eyes. At one point I'm pretty sure I heard my instructor tell me to do something, but then she qualified it with "and don't fall off.." Needless to say I was pretty tired after that lesson.
But I couldn't think too much about how tired I was because Al and I still had our run to complete... I was aiming to run for 60 min, but Al could only afford 40 min so I took what I could get. We ran out to Tasajarra Rd and then Al's shins started to bug out. Bad news!! I hope he doesn't get shin splints because I know how awful they are and how they can derail training and the race.
Saturday was such a long day and I was spent at the end. Bed has never felt so good :)
Today was supposed to be a captain's bike (100-120 min) and run (15 min), but Al and I decided we could better spend our time by sleeping in. It was awesome, I can't even remember the last time I got to sleep in. When we finally got up, we were slow to prepare for our bike ride - Al washed his car and I did my taxes (finally!!) but we got on the road around 3. Since it was so late, there was no way we could have completed a 2 hour ride and our run before the sun set completely and it got too cold so we only rode for one hour. I like riding with Al, but at the same time I don't because he can always out power me on the bike and frequently leaves me in the dust :(. When we got back I quickly transitioned into my run shoes and Al got on his mountain bike and we set out for another jaunt down Johnston to Tasajarra... I know the run was only supposed to be 15 min, but I figured since I didn't bike as much as I should have, I would run more to make up for it. I ran all the way to Tasajarra and back and it took me something like 36 min - slower than usual, but my running has been really sluggish lately and I don't know why. Maybe I need to do some speed work or lacate threshold runs or something to get back to my "normal" running...
Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, and I'm looking forward to it, but maybe I'll push my rest to Tuesday since I'm always so busy on that day. Tomorrow is also the day we meet with our morgage broker to determine how much house we can afford :) :) Big changes and big steps to our future :) :)
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Saturday Alex and I got up at the ugly a** crack of dawn (6am) to go swimming in some scummy mud puddle they call Lake Lakewood in Walnut Creek (yes, Walnut Creek has a lake... I was thinking the same thing) The water was chilly but not as cold as Shadow Cliffs, but it was super murky and you couldn't see a dang thing, not even your hands in front of your face... ugh. The good news is that I didn't swim into a bouy (mostly cuz there were no bouys to hit) but the bad news is that I tried to swim into the kayak... Thanks Wayne for pushing me away and protecting my noggin!!
After the "open water" swim, we had a 40-60min run scheduled, but I also had pony club so we had to bounce so I could get back in time to ride. Riding Roxy that day was a challenge!! She was all over the place and high as a kite... I'm sure everyone was watching me with their hands over their eyes. At one point I'm pretty sure I heard my instructor tell me to do something, but then she qualified it with "and don't fall off.." Needless to say I was pretty tired after that lesson.
But I couldn't think too much about how tired I was because Al and I still had our run to complete... I was aiming to run for 60 min, but Al could only afford 40 min so I took what I could get. We ran out to Tasajarra Rd and then Al's shins started to bug out. Bad news!! I hope he doesn't get shin splints because I know how awful they are and how they can derail training and the race.
Saturday was such a long day and I was spent at the end. Bed has never felt so good :)
Today was supposed to be a captain's bike (100-120 min) and run (15 min), but Al and I decided we could better spend our time by sleeping in. It was awesome, I can't even remember the last time I got to sleep in. When we finally got up, we were slow to prepare for our bike ride - Al washed his car and I did my taxes (finally!!) but we got on the road around 3. Since it was so late, there was no way we could have completed a 2 hour ride and our run before the sun set completely and it got too cold so we only rode for one hour. I like riding with Al, but at the same time I don't because he can always out power me on the bike and frequently leaves me in the dust :(. When we got back I quickly transitioned into my run shoes and Al got on his mountain bike and we set out for another jaunt down Johnston to Tasajarra... I know the run was only supposed to be 15 min, but I figured since I didn't bike as much as I should have, I would run more to make up for it. I ran all the way to Tasajarra and back and it took me something like 36 min - slower than usual, but my running has been really sluggish lately and I don't know why. Maybe I need to do some speed work or lacate threshold runs or something to get back to my "normal" running...
Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, and I'm looking forward to it, but maybe I'll push my rest to Tuesday since I'm always so busy on that day. Tomorrow is also the day we meet with our morgage broker to determine how much house we can afford :) :) Big changes and big steps to our future :) :)
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Friday, February 26, 2010
Recovery week turned into do nothing week :(
You know it's been a brutal week when you can't even remember what you did (or didn't) do two days ago. Wednesday? I have no idea what I did, but I'm pretty sure I didn't hit the gym... The combination of knowing that I have a bike trainer at home and Alex telling me we should go after dinner, not before led to tricking myself into not doing anything... at all, and now I (still) feel bad about it. How am I supposed to train for this triathlon (and the half iron race too!!!!) if I keep finding excuses to get out of it?? It's not even that I don't want to train because I always feel bad when I don't do anything, but somehow time always gets away from me and before I know it, the day is over and I haven't done anything... soo frustrating!!
Yesterday there was no track workout, which was sad but I had a nice trail run at lunch instead. The weather was perfect and the ground was slightly drier than on Monday (I guess I forgot to mention that I went for a trail run on Monday - It was hella muddy in one part so when I was coming back, I went a different way and almost ran into 2 cows. The cows were not impressed...) and there were even more cows this time. Like a whole herd, and they were running across the path because some cowboy was trail riding his horse and the horse startled the cows... I went with one of my co-workers who is trying to train for some Muddy Buddy run in So Cal later this summer and apparently he has never seen a cow before... Kinda funny, but also, kinda not. And then he got lost on the way back, don't know how that happened, but when I got to the cattle gate, I didn't see him, so I waited a bit (he is a much slower runner and his endurance is kinda low) but he never showed up so I went looking for him. Turns out he missed the turn off and was halfway up some hill in ankle-deep stinky mud. It was pretty funny since he can be sort of a pretty boy.
After work I hit the gym, I was hoping to get in on the swim I screwed up Tuesday morning. But when I got there, I wasn't much in the mood to swim so I thought I would do some strength and conditioning and then maybe a temp run and call it a day. For my strength and condtitioning, I did 3 sets of 1 min plank, 10 push ups, 20 8lb medicine ball crunches, 10 8lb medicine ball obilique twists, and 5 exercise ball V-lifts (I don't know what to call them, but it's basically where you put the exercise ball between your ankles and lift your legs while raising your upper body in a crunch, then grab the ball with your hands, lower the ball above your head while also lowering your legs, but not resting on the ground, and then do the reverse by bringing the ball up and place between your ankles and lower your arms/legs. Thats 1. They are very hard to do I think, and I have a really hard time doing more than 5 in a row because after that my legs start to shake in a very uncontrolled way...) After the strength and conditioning, I was hoping to do a tempo run but ALL the treadmills where full and there were people lined up to wait for an open one so I did the stairmaster instead... How very 80's of me, LOL. I did it for 20 min and I thought that was forever!!
I must not have worked out very hard or done enough strength and condidtioning because I'm not sore at all today... I don't know if that is good or bad. Today is scheduled to be a swim, I hope I can make it!!! Tomorrow is an open water swim in Walnut Creek (of all places) and then a run but I also have Pony Club so I might have to re-schedule my run for later in the day. I am really surprised how much I have grown to like running.... I used to hate it but now I love it. I never would have guessed that would happen :)
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Yesterday there was no track workout, which was sad but I had a nice trail run at lunch instead. The weather was perfect and the ground was slightly drier than on Monday (I guess I forgot to mention that I went for a trail run on Monday - It was hella muddy in one part so when I was coming back, I went a different way and almost ran into 2 cows. The cows were not impressed...) and there were even more cows this time. Like a whole herd, and they were running across the path because some cowboy was trail riding his horse and the horse startled the cows... I went with one of my co-workers who is trying to train for some Muddy Buddy run in So Cal later this summer and apparently he has never seen a cow before... Kinda funny, but also, kinda not. And then he got lost on the way back, don't know how that happened, but when I got to the cattle gate, I didn't see him, so I waited a bit (he is a much slower runner and his endurance is kinda low) but he never showed up so I went looking for him. Turns out he missed the turn off and was halfway up some hill in ankle-deep stinky mud. It was pretty funny since he can be sort of a pretty boy.
After work I hit the gym, I was hoping to get in on the swim I screwed up Tuesday morning. But when I got there, I wasn't much in the mood to swim so I thought I would do some strength and conditioning and then maybe a temp run and call it a day. For my strength and condtitioning, I did 3 sets of 1 min plank, 10 push ups, 20 8lb medicine ball crunches, 10 8lb medicine ball obilique twists, and 5 exercise ball V-lifts (I don't know what to call them, but it's basically where you put the exercise ball between your ankles and lift your legs while raising your upper body in a crunch, then grab the ball with your hands, lower the ball above your head while also lowering your legs, but not resting on the ground, and then do the reverse by bringing the ball up and place between your ankles and lower your arms/legs. Thats 1. They are very hard to do I think, and I have a really hard time doing more than 5 in a row because after that my legs start to shake in a very uncontrolled way...) After the strength and conditioning, I was hoping to do a tempo run but ALL the treadmills where full and there were people lined up to wait for an open one so I did the stairmaster instead... How very 80's of me, LOL. I did it for 20 min and I thought that was forever!!
I must not have worked out very hard or done enough strength and condidtioning because I'm not sore at all today... I don't know if that is good or bad. Today is scheduled to be a swim, I hope I can make it!!! Tomorrow is an open water swim in Walnut Creek (of all places) and then a run but I also have Pony Club so I might have to re-schedule my run for later in the day. I am really surprised how much I have grown to like running.... I used to hate it but now I love it. I never would have guessed that would happen :)
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Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Awful swim today
I don't know what it is, but if I miss a week of swimming, I am just terrible when I get back into the pool. Case in point, this morning. It's even supposed to be a recovery week and the swim was easy - just 800m of drills and then 1000-1300m long swim and cool out. Should have only taken me 45 min, tops. But when I got to the pool, I got ahead of myself and figured I would do last weeks only swim workout - a whopping 4000m!! 1000m of drills, then the triangle - 100m, 200m, 300m, 400m, 500m, 500m, 400m, 300m, 200m (all at around a level 5!!!!!) and then the 100m cool down. Ok... I so did not make it. My guess would be that it would take me at least 1.5 - 2 hours and thats only if I don't dawdle...
Either way, I started to drill and realized this workout was going nowhere fast. I had no energy and no real desire to do anything... I might have done maybe 400m of drills (but I doubt it) and then I figured I would try to do the actual workout for today since I clearly did not have the time or energy to do last weeks workout. But I only made it 500m before I had a splitting headache and I gave up... I was in too much pain and I was too tired to go on. I felt like it was a complete waste of time, and that sucked because I got up early and everything :(
Tomorrow is another day and I think I will try again to swim in the morning. I need to do something to redeem myself... and then I think I might bike/spin in the evening. I really need to work on building up my bike strength.
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Either way, I started to drill and realized this workout was going nowhere fast. I had no energy and no real desire to do anything... I might have done maybe 400m of drills (but I doubt it) and then I figured I would try to do the actual workout for today since I clearly did not have the time or energy to do last weeks workout. But I only made it 500m before I had a splitting headache and I gave up... I was in too much pain and I was too tired to go on. I felt like it was a complete waste of time, and that sucked because I got up early and everything :(
Tomorrow is another day and I think I will try again to swim in the morning. I need to do something to redeem myself... and then I think I might bike/spin in the evening. I really need to work on building up my bike strength.
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Monday, February 22, 2010
Waaay too busy this weekend
Let me preface this post by saying that I probably only spent 3 hours at home between Friday and Sunday night...
Friday Night:
After work, I had to hurry home to pack up my tri stuff for Saturday's big brick workout. I needed my bike stuff - cycling shoes and shorts, the bike, helmet, gloves; my run stuff - shoes, shorts or capris, heart rate monitor, watch; the common stuff - socks, sports bra, shirt, long sleeve shirt; and the warm stuff, just in case I really did have to do the water stop - sweats, warm gloves and multiple jackets. After rushing to pack everything we headed out to the west bay for the night - no workout today :(
Total time and home: maybe one hour
Saturday - Big Brick in Half Moon Bay:
Big brick workout today - and I got lucky in that Katrina agreed to take my water stop duties so I could bike and run! Yay!!!!! The distances didn't seem too bad: 15 mile bike, 3 mile run, repeat. The weather was nice, overcast but not rainy and that kept us cool. The bike portion was mostly flat, but there was a cross wind on the way out that somehow managed to turn into a head wind coming back and that was tough... As I was cycling back to the car, I realized that I didn't bring my tri shorts and so my options were change in the car into my run pants, or suck it up and run in my cycling "diaper". In the end, I didn't want to be bothered with changing 4 times in as many hours so I ran in my cycling shorts. Not so bad, but really not so great either... I think I got more chaffed running the shorts than I did when I was biking.
As far as nutrition, the unflavored Perpetuem by Hammer tastes like barf. Seriously, it was awful. Now I know that I absolutly must flavor it. Alex says if I use the espresso Hammer gel it tastes OK so I'll do that next time... Also, I didn't get enough energy, which I could have predicted because I only made 1 "one-hour" bottle and drank that over the entire 3.5 hour brick workout. I was ok on both bike rides but then I bonked bad on the second run. Lesson learned - next time I need to consume at least twice as much Perpetuem and definatly flavor it with something, anything.
After the brick, we came home and dumped the tri gear and packed up the bags and car with the next adventure - snowboarding :)
Total time at home: one hour
Sunday - snowboarding at the 'Wood:
Sunday was an awesome day to be on the slopes. It was threatening to snow, but it held off until we stopped for lunch. There was enough light that I could see the variations in the snow (which saved my knees) and the back bowls off Chair 6 were powdery and deep. In a word, perfect. We rode hard, carving up some (surprisingly) fresh pow, even after lunch. But after lunch I was getting tired and ended up eatting it pretty good a couple of times, so we called it quits. That, and it was 4 and the mountain was closing...
It took forever to get home - I think we left the mountain at 430 and we rolled in to home at 1030... a very long day indeed. Went right to bed after that...
Total time (awake) at home: maybe 20 min...
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Friday Night:
After work, I had to hurry home to pack up my tri stuff for Saturday's big brick workout. I needed my bike stuff - cycling shoes and shorts, the bike, helmet, gloves; my run stuff - shoes, shorts or capris, heart rate monitor, watch; the common stuff - socks, sports bra, shirt, long sleeve shirt; and the warm stuff, just in case I really did have to do the water stop - sweats, warm gloves and multiple jackets. After rushing to pack everything we headed out to the west bay for the night - no workout today :(
Total time and home: maybe one hour
Saturday - Big Brick in Half Moon Bay:
Big brick workout today - and I got lucky in that Katrina agreed to take my water stop duties so I could bike and run! Yay!!!!! The distances didn't seem too bad: 15 mile bike, 3 mile run, repeat. The weather was nice, overcast but not rainy and that kept us cool. The bike portion was mostly flat, but there was a cross wind on the way out that somehow managed to turn into a head wind coming back and that was tough... As I was cycling back to the car, I realized that I didn't bring my tri shorts and so my options were change in the car into my run pants, or suck it up and run in my cycling "diaper". In the end, I didn't want to be bothered with changing 4 times in as many hours so I ran in my cycling shorts. Not so bad, but really not so great either... I think I got more chaffed running the shorts than I did when I was biking.
As far as nutrition, the unflavored Perpetuem by Hammer tastes like barf. Seriously, it was awful. Now I know that I absolutly must flavor it. Alex says if I use the espresso Hammer gel it tastes OK so I'll do that next time... Also, I didn't get enough energy, which I could have predicted because I only made 1 "one-hour" bottle and drank that over the entire 3.5 hour brick workout. I was ok on both bike rides but then I bonked bad on the second run. Lesson learned - next time I need to consume at least twice as much Perpetuem and definatly flavor it with something, anything.
After the brick, we came home and dumped the tri gear and packed up the bags and car with the next adventure - snowboarding :)
Total time at home: one hour
Sunday - snowboarding at the 'Wood:
Sunday was an awesome day to be on the slopes. It was threatening to snow, but it held off until we stopped for lunch. There was enough light that I could see the variations in the snow (which saved my knees) and the back bowls off Chair 6 were powdery and deep. In a word, perfect. We rode hard, carving up some (surprisingly) fresh pow, even after lunch. But after lunch I was getting tired and ended up eatting it pretty good a couple of times, so we called it quits. That, and it was 4 and the mountain was closing...
It took forever to get home - I think we left the mountain at 430 and we rolled in to home at 1030... a very long day indeed. Went right to bed after that...
Total time (awake) at home: maybe 20 min...
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Friday, February 19, 2010
Track workout at DVC
Last night was the usual track workout at DVC, but not like usual Wayne was not there. That was kind of a bummer, especially since his replacement seemed to be in a very very bad mood :(
We spent a long time in the beginning doing strength and conditioning stuffs such as plank, side plank, push ups, crunches, one leg squats, balancing on one leg, one leg hops... I'm sure there were others but I forget at the moment. We did all that, and then we repeated it 3 times which is why it took forever.
Well I thought it took forever because I was really looking forward to the running. It was supposed to be a tempo run - 10 min easy, level 3-4 then 20 min hard @ level 7-8 and then finish with another 10 min easy @ level 3-4. Too bad we only ran for a total of 25 min before Coach told us to wrap it up so we could do stair steps for the last 10 or so min. Boo... but I guess it was good because my heart rate was def. in the anaerobic zone and I'm not sure how much more I could have sustained.
The calendar says today is a rest day, but I think that I have done enough resting this week. I wish I had time to swim or something, but I really don't forsee that happening :(
Tomorrow is a bike/run brick in Half Moon Bay. I really hope someone pitches in last minute and covers my aid stop duties, I really want to do the workout instead of just sitting there!!
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We spent a long time in the beginning doing strength and conditioning stuffs such as plank, side plank, push ups, crunches, one leg squats, balancing on one leg, one leg hops... I'm sure there were others but I forget at the moment. We did all that, and then we repeated it 3 times which is why it took forever.
Well I thought it took forever because I was really looking forward to the running. It was supposed to be a tempo run - 10 min easy, level 3-4 then 20 min hard @ level 7-8 and then finish with another 10 min easy @ level 3-4. Too bad we only ran for a total of 25 min before Coach told us to wrap it up so we could do stair steps for the last 10 or so min. Boo... but I guess it was good because my heart rate was def. in the anaerobic zone and I'm not sure how much more I could have sustained.
The calendar says today is a rest day, but I think that I have done enough resting this week. I wish I had time to swim or something, but I really don't forsee that happening :(
Tomorrow is a bike/run brick in Half Moon Bay. I really hope someone pitches in last minute and covers my aid stop duties, I really want to do the workout instead of just sitting there!!
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Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Valentine's weekend adventures
So much for biking this weekend, I spent it either running or hiking up hill...
Saturday:
Alex and I hit the gym mid-morning to get our busy day started. Alex went to swim because he missed it on Friday and I decided to do Sunday's workout, which was run for 60 min. I don't think I have ever run for 60 solid minutes without walking, but I was determined to make it. It was such a nice day out so instead of pounding it out for an hour on the treadmill, I took it to the Iron Horse trail. I ran all the way from the 24hr Fitness in San Ramon, along the Iron Horse trail, all the way out to Sycamore Valley road and back. It took me 34 min to get to Sycamore Valley road, and as I was running along the trail, I found that I was sustaining a sub-10 min/mile pace. Whoo hoo!! Now I only wish I had the Garmin 310XT so I could really know how far I went, but based on my mile times, I guessing I ran a total of 6.5 - 7 miles that morning. Maybe I can justify getting it, since I have and Ironman coming up and all... By the time I got back, my watch read 1hr 9min, which I thought was kinda odd since the distance did not get any shorter coming back, I thought I was running slower because I was trying to keep my heart rate from spiking, AND I got stuck at the light on Crow Canyon road coming back (I got lucky and made it going out) so I don't really know how that happened other than I really wasn't running slower even though I was trying to (which definately explains why I couldn't get my heart rate to drop...)
Sunday:
Alex and I each ate our body weight at an awesome Valentine's Day brunch. There was soo much food of every kind. We justified our gluttony by saying we had to fuel up for our first back packing trip (together). After brunch we went to Point Reyes to start our trip. We hiked out to Glen Camp and it must have taken us 2-3 hours. We got there right as the sun was starting to set, but we didn't get to see any kind of sunset because we were in a little valley on to of a mountain. It felt like the entire hike was all up hill, and it probably was, save for one small part in the beginning.
Monday:
When I woke up I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to manage to hike since I was pretty sore from running on Saturday and all the up hill yesterday, but I motivated myself by saying "it can't go up hill forever"... FAMOUS LAST WORDS. Because it did go up hill forever... We were trying to get to the coast to see Alamere Falls, but by the time we hiked all the way down into Wildcat, we realized the only way out was back UP the super massive hill we just came down, and the waterfall would add at least another 2 miles to our already long 8-10 miler that day, and we were running low on food and fuel, so we cut our losses and headed home. I don't even know how it happened, but I swear we spent at least 75% of the entire trip going up hill. It was awful and by the time we got back to the car, we were pretty pathetic looking and really really sore :(
Tuesday:
I don't care what the training calendar says, TODAY IS A REST DAY!!!!! I'm so sore I'm barely even able to limp around the office :(. Next time I back pack, less miles and less hills for sure
Today:
The calendar says to swim and I think thats all my body can handle right now... My left calf is still very tender to the touch and my legs are still very tight. Running wouldn't really happen, but at least I can walk normally today. Biking is a maybe, but I don't think I'll be able to warm up into it, so in the water I go after work. Hopefully the pool isn't too crowded.
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Saturday:
Alex and I hit the gym mid-morning to get our busy day started. Alex went to swim because he missed it on Friday and I decided to do Sunday's workout, which was run for 60 min. I don't think I have ever run for 60 solid minutes without walking, but I was determined to make it. It was such a nice day out so instead of pounding it out for an hour on the treadmill, I took it to the Iron Horse trail. I ran all the way from the 24hr Fitness in San Ramon, along the Iron Horse trail, all the way out to Sycamore Valley road and back. It took me 34 min to get to Sycamore Valley road, and as I was running along the trail, I found that I was sustaining a sub-10 min/mile pace. Whoo hoo!! Now I only wish I had the Garmin 310XT so I could really know how far I went, but based on my mile times, I guessing I ran a total of 6.5 - 7 miles that morning. Maybe I can justify getting it, since I have and Ironman coming up and all... By the time I got back, my watch read 1hr 9min, which I thought was kinda odd since the distance did not get any shorter coming back, I thought I was running slower because I was trying to keep my heart rate from spiking, AND I got stuck at the light on Crow Canyon road coming back (I got lucky and made it going out) so I don't really know how that happened other than I really wasn't running slower even though I was trying to (which definately explains why I couldn't get my heart rate to drop...)
Sunday:
Alex and I each ate our body weight at an awesome Valentine's Day brunch. There was soo much food of every kind. We justified our gluttony by saying we had to fuel up for our first back packing trip (together). After brunch we went to Point Reyes to start our trip. We hiked out to Glen Camp and it must have taken us 2-3 hours. We got there right as the sun was starting to set, but we didn't get to see any kind of sunset because we were in a little valley on to of a mountain. It felt like the entire hike was all up hill, and it probably was, save for one small part in the beginning.
Monday:
When I woke up I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to manage to hike since I was pretty sore from running on Saturday and all the up hill yesterday, but I motivated myself by saying "it can't go up hill forever"... FAMOUS LAST WORDS. Because it did go up hill forever... We were trying to get to the coast to see Alamere Falls, but by the time we hiked all the way down into Wildcat, we realized the only way out was back UP the super massive hill we just came down, and the waterfall would add at least another 2 miles to our already long 8-10 miler that day, and we were running low on food and fuel, so we cut our losses and headed home. I don't even know how it happened, but I swear we spent at least 75% of the entire trip going up hill. It was awful and by the time we got back to the car, we were pretty pathetic looking and really really sore :(
Tuesday:
I don't care what the training calendar says, TODAY IS A REST DAY!!!!! I'm so sore I'm barely even able to limp around the office :(. Next time I back pack, less miles and less hills for sure
Today:
The calendar says to swim and I think thats all my body can handle right now... My left calf is still very tender to the touch and my legs are still very tight. Running wouldn't really happen, but at least I can walk normally today. Biking is a maybe, but I don't think I'll be able to warm up into it, so in the water I go after work. Hopefully the pool isn't too crowded.
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today
Friday, February 12, 2010
Perpetuem and Hammer Gel vs. Gatorade and PowerGel???
Last night, Coach Wayne gave a lecture on nutrition and it was really helpful. He talked about what you need to sustain your energy over several hours during an endurance event and what you should avoid (mostly eating at every aid station during century rides... just because there are PB&J sandwiched and boiled/salted potatoes at every aid station does not mean you should be eating them every time). He stressed the importance of trying your fuel plan several times before race day and making sure that it is enough of what your body needs. That got me thinking about what I really need - am I getting enough electrolytes? enough carbs and protein? enough fat? Too much fat???? I haven't yet discovered what my minimum energy needs are but I think that I know what works for me. I can usually get by on just gatorade for about 3 hours and then I crash and if I mix in some PowerGels, I can make it a bit longer. Wayne was saying that if this works for me, just keep doing it, but in his experience, Gatorade has too much sugar and not enough electrolytes. He was really promoting electrolyte tabs, such as Enduralytes, because you can easily adjust your intake. The only problem that I was seeing with that was that you had to take 3-6 tabs EVERY HOUR!! That's crazy! I can't imagine having to pop a pill and wash it down with water every 10-20 min AND eat on a regular schedule AND still cycle... Wayne said that when he was doing Ironman Arizona he ate an entire bottle of Enduralytes on the bike... Thats like 100 tablets!!!!!
But the nutrition talk was useful and got me thinking... am I getting enough electrolytes? I dont really want to have to take a whole bottle of tablets but at the same time, Gatorade does not have all the critial components (like magnesium) needed to help your body absorb the fuel you are putting in. So first things first, I need to determine my minimum calorie/carb/protein/electrolyte needs and then build my nutrition plan from the ground up. I am also thinking of switching from my current Gatorade and PowerGel regimine to Perpetuem and Hammer Gel for my longer distance trainings. Perpetuem is a complete fuel formula designed for endurance activities lasting longer than 3 hours and each "scoop" of the unflavored powder has 135 cal, 110mg sodium, 28.5g of carbs, 3.5 gram of protein, and 2.25g fat. It also has other electrolytes in it, but no real flavor, so I also got some Espresso flavored Hammer Gel to flavor the Pertpetuem and give me a boost of caffine :). I can't wait to try it out!!
After I got home from Walnut Creek I hopped on my bike hoping to spin for an hour. I only made it 45 min, but thats better than last time. My foot fell asleep early on and after 45 min I couldn't take it anymore. O well. I still would like areo-bars for my bike, but then I think I would have to move the seat more forward and that might affect how it rides as a road bike.
This morning I got up (late) and decided I would swim before I had to be at work at 1. When I got to the pool, it was pretty empty, but as soon as 10 rolled around everybody and their brother showed up. It was really weird... The swim was supposed to be 3500m, but I think I only made it ~2000m before I felt like I was starving, even though I had oatmeal for breakfast. That is at least the second time that has happened, so I think I'm taking oatmeal off my pre-workout foods list. I got out of the pool and went home to do some core strength and conditioning. I wish I had been thinking ahead and brought gym shorts and a sports bra with me so I could have done strength and conditioning there, but I didn't. Live and learn I guess.
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
But the nutrition talk was useful and got me thinking... am I getting enough electrolytes? I dont really want to have to take a whole bottle of tablets but at the same time, Gatorade does not have all the critial components (like magnesium) needed to help your body absorb the fuel you are putting in. So first things first, I need to determine my minimum calorie/carb/protein/electrolyte needs and then build my nutrition plan from the ground up. I am also thinking of switching from my current Gatorade and PowerGel regimine to Perpetuem and Hammer Gel for my longer distance trainings. Perpetuem is a complete fuel formula designed for endurance activities lasting longer than 3 hours and each "scoop" of the unflavored powder has 135 cal, 110mg sodium, 28.5g of carbs, 3.5 gram of protein, and 2.25g fat. It also has other electrolytes in it, but no real flavor, so I also got some Espresso flavored Hammer Gel to flavor the Pertpetuem and give me a boost of caffine :). I can't wait to try it out!!
After I got home from Walnut Creek I hopped on my bike hoping to spin for an hour. I only made it 45 min, but thats better than last time. My foot fell asleep early on and after 45 min I couldn't take it anymore. O well. I still would like areo-bars for my bike, but then I think I would have to move the seat more forward and that might affect how it rides as a road bike.
This morning I got up (late) and decided I would swim before I had to be at work at 1. When I got to the pool, it was pretty empty, but as soon as 10 rolled around everybody and their brother showed up. It was really weird... The swim was supposed to be 3500m, but I think I only made it ~2000m before I felt like I was starving, even though I had oatmeal for breakfast. That is at least the second time that has happened, so I think I'm taking oatmeal off my pre-workout foods list. I got out of the pool and went home to do some core strength and conditioning. I wish I had been thinking ahead and brought gym shorts and a sports bra with me so I could have done strength and conditioning there, but I didn't. Live and learn I guess.
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
I will not slack on the updates....
... much :)
Monday evening I went back to the gym and did a bunch of lower body strength and conditioning. I'm still feeling it... It hurts to sneeze, cough and laugh. I couldn't even ride my horse yesterday because my abs were on fire and I had to half-halt 20 times a second since Roxy had a hot date or something.
Tuesday I swam in the morning. It was hard to get out up when my alarm went off at 5, but I eventually hauled myself out of bed by 5:15. I was at the gym and in the pool by 6. I like going to the pool tuesday mornings because Ironteam is also there and its nice to see other Team in Training people. I drilled for a bit, maybe 15 min or so and then I started on the main work out which was 2 x 1000m. I've decided that since I'm doing Boise 70.3, I need to up my workouts to the "advanced" level. The intermediate would have been 2 x 750m, but I think that when you are swimming those distances, 30 or 40 laps is all the same. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Today is a bike day - 60 min for the advanced level... Last night I was thinking that I could easily do it in the morning, like what I was orginally thinking on Monday. And also like Monday, I had another fight with that "voice"... but this time my will was weaker. I was feeling really tired all yesterday and so I think that I made the right choice by getting an extra hour of sleep this morning. And there is always tonight, at home with my super swanky new trainer. But I am also helping Colby move in tonight out in Foster City, so we will see what time I get home. And there is always tomorrow night, after Wayne's lectures at Sports Basement. Usually Thursday's are DVC track work outs, but Coach Wayne decided to hold lectures on Nutrition and other tri stuffs this week. Apparently an article he wrote just got published in "Triathlon" magazine, or whatever publication USAT puts out. Maybe I'll try and find that article and link it here...
So I can always try and find an hour tomorrow to spin... All is not lost, but I do need to do it. I think that the bike is my weakest part, definatly where I could use the most improvement. Whenever I bike I always feel like I don't have enough power and that I'm forever in the back of the pack. I need to build up my quads I think and that will really help me. And thats why I have a trainer :)
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
Monday evening I went back to the gym and did a bunch of lower body strength and conditioning. I'm still feeling it... It hurts to sneeze, cough and laugh. I couldn't even ride my horse yesterday because my abs were on fire and I had to half-halt 20 times a second since Roxy had a hot date or something.
Tuesday I swam in the morning. It was hard to get out up when my alarm went off at 5, but I eventually hauled myself out of bed by 5:15. I was at the gym and in the pool by 6. I like going to the pool tuesday mornings because Ironteam is also there and its nice to see other Team in Training people. I drilled for a bit, maybe 15 min or so and then I started on the main work out which was 2 x 1000m. I've decided that since I'm doing Boise 70.3, I need to up my workouts to the "advanced" level. The intermediate would have been 2 x 750m, but I think that when you are swimming those distances, 30 or 40 laps is all the same. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...
Today is a bike day - 60 min for the advanced level... Last night I was thinking that I could easily do it in the morning, like what I was orginally thinking on Monday. And also like Monday, I had another fight with that "voice"... but this time my will was weaker. I was feeling really tired all yesterday and so I think that I made the right choice by getting an extra hour of sleep this morning. And there is always tonight, at home with my super swanky new trainer. But I am also helping Colby move in tonight out in Foster City, so we will see what time I get home. And there is always tomorrow night, after Wayne's lectures at Sports Basement. Usually Thursday's are DVC track work outs, but Coach Wayne decided to hold lectures on Nutrition and other tri stuffs this week. Apparently an article he wrote just got published in "Triathlon" magazine, or whatever publication USAT puts out. Maybe I'll try and find that article and link it here...
So I can always try and find an hour tomorrow to spin... All is not lost, but I do need to do it. I think that the bike is my weakest part, definatly where I could use the most improvement. Whenever I bike I always feel like I don't have enough power and that I'm forever in the back of the pack. I need to build up my quads I think and that will really help me. And thats why I have a trainer :)
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Back on the blogging bandwagon...
Ok... I dropped the ball on my blogging for a while but now I have re-newed interest in it. Not only am I helping Alex train for his first ever triathlon, but I am also training for my first ever half iron distance race the will be coming up on June 12th in Boise ID!!!
Most recent notable events and milestones:
January 30th - Ran my first 10K race and placed third in my division. It was a trail run in the beautiful (and muddy!!!!!) Briones regional park. The views were breath-taking and I had a blast!! The event was hosted by Brazen Racing and they did a really great job. I can't wait to do the Wildcat race that they are organizing on April 24th. I haven't signed up yet and I havent decided if I want to do the 10K or the Half Marathon. I have to run a half marathon for the Boise 70.3 but thats not until June 12th, over a month after the Wildcat race... We'll see
February 6th - Alex did his first open (salt) water swim in SF Bay. It went as well as could be expected and definately better than his last open water swim at Shadow Cliffs. The water in the bay wasn't as cold as I thought it would be which was a pleasant surprise but definately just as salty and foul as I remember. There were no surfboards or kayaks so we didn't swim far (around the cigarette bouys) but rather just along the shore line and practiced doing mass starts into the waves. Poor Alex, as he was swimming along in the mass start, John (one of the other Winter participants) knocked off his goggles and they sank to the bottom of the ocean :( :( But luckily Nancy saw and ran to get him one of her spare pairs so he could keep swimming. He still needs to learn how to relax in the cold because he couldn't figure out how to breath into the ocean water. He would hold his breath for several strokes and then take his head completly out of the water, gasp for a bit, take a really big breath and then swim a few strokes and repeat... Lucky for him, HI has much warmer water. Not so lucky for me as the projected water temp in Boise is about 60 degrees (warmer than the bay, but you still need a wet suit)
So onwards with my training... I'm trying really hard to get up in the morning and work out before I have to go to work so that way, I have the option of going to the gym again after work, but I won't feel bad if I don't make it. So this morning I made good on my training plan (sorta...) I wanted to get up at 5 and spin for an hour (on my cool new trainer!!!) but when the alarm went off that little voice in my head started to reason with me: "If you get up now and start spinning at 530, you will be done at 630... that's 1/2 and hour before you need to be in the shower... So why don't you get up at 530 and spin from 6-7 and then you can sleep an extra half hour?" Stupid voice, but you got to admit I (?) had a point, and 30 extra min of sleep was sounding pretty good... So I did get out of bed at 530 and put of my gear, went down stairs for a light breakfast and to make some gatorade and then got on my bike just before 6. I started to spin but only made it to 630 before I was dead tired and decided to cool out. And of course the voice was there: "30 min is better than nothing... And besides, today is a rest day so why are you pushing yourself?" Because I was supposed to ride my bike for 2 hours yesterday and then run a short little bit but instead I went to the gym and swam ~2300m (which I was supposed to do on Friday...). Whatever, there is still tonight to make up for it. I'm planning on hitting the gym tonight for sure because I need to strength train...
In the future, I need to have a plan when I spin... maybe even write it down so I can see it and not let the voice in my head win. And I need to work on building my endurance when swimming in my wetsuit because I just get so darn tired...
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
Most recent notable events and milestones:
January 30th - Ran my first 10K race and placed third in my division. It was a trail run in the beautiful (and muddy!!!!!) Briones regional park. The views were breath-taking and I had a blast!! The event was hosted by Brazen Racing and they did a really great job. I can't wait to do the Wildcat race that they are organizing on April 24th. I haven't signed up yet and I havent decided if I want to do the 10K or the Half Marathon. I have to run a half marathon for the Boise 70.3 but thats not until June 12th, over a month after the Wildcat race... We'll see
February 6th - Alex did his first open (salt) water swim in SF Bay. It went as well as could be expected and definately better than his last open water swim at Shadow Cliffs. The water in the bay wasn't as cold as I thought it would be which was a pleasant surprise but definately just as salty and foul as I remember. There were no surfboards or kayaks so we didn't swim far (around the cigarette bouys) but rather just along the shore line and practiced doing mass starts into the waves. Poor Alex, as he was swimming along in the mass start, John (one of the other Winter participants) knocked off his goggles and they sank to the bottom of the ocean :( :( But luckily Nancy saw and ran to get him one of her spare pairs so he could keep swimming. He still needs to learn how to relax in the cold because he couldn't figure out how to breath into the ocean water. He would hold his breath for several strokes and then take his head completly out of the water, gasp for a bit, take a really big breath and then swim a few strokes and repeat... Lucky for him, HI has much warmer water. Not so lucky for me as the projected water temp in Boise is about 60 degrees (warmer than the bay, but you still need a wet suit)
So onwards with my training... I'm trying really hard to get up in the morning and work out before I have to go to work so that way, I have the option of going to the gym again after work, but I won't feel bad if I don't make it. So this morning I made good on my training plan (sorta...) I wanted to get up at 5 and spin for an hour (on my cool new trainer!!!) but when the alarm went off that little voice in my head started to reason with me: "If you get up now and start spinning at 530, you will be done at 630... that's 1/2 and hour before you need to be in the shower... So why don't you get up at 530 and spin from 6-7 and then you can sleep an extra half hour?" Stupid voice, but you got to admit I (?) had a point, and 30 extra min of sleep was sounding pretty good... So I did get out of bed at 530 and put of my gear, went down stairs for a light breakfast and to make some gatorade and then got on my bike just before 6. I started to spin but only made it to 630 before I was dead tired and decided to cool out. And of course the voice was there: "30 min is better than nothing... And besides, today is a rest day so why are you pushing yourself?" Because I was supposed to ride my bike for 2 hours yesterday and then run a short little bit but instead I went to the gym and swam ~2300m (which I was supposed to do on Friday...). Whatever, there is still tonight to make up for it. I'm planning on hitting the gym tonight for sure because I need to strength train...
In the future, I need to have a plan when I spin... maybe even write it down so I can see it and not let the voice in my head win. And I need to work on building my endurance when swimming in my wetsuit because I just get so darn tired...
Like what you have read so far? Please support my training and help find a cure for Leukemia and Lymphoma by donating today.
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