So today I ran the furthest I have ever run in my entire life. 20 miles. Previous to this my longest run was 2 weeks ago and that was 15.5 miles. It was a 3 loop course. 6 miles in each loop and in the last loop I added on 2 miles. It was hard. The first loop was great. I have been running 2 minutes and walking 1 minute. This is what I have found helps keep my hips in tact. Running longer than 2 minutes is too much pounding. However I have been averaging 12:30 minute miles even with this much walking. I've come to accept that I am slow. Slower than almost everyone else in my group- especially when it comes to running. The worst part is that I don't have anyone around to talk to. Most everyone else runs about the same pace so they run in a pack and chit chat the entire time. That's ok. Part of me really likes running alone- and even prefers it. Then I don't have to worry about if I am going too slow and that people are slowing down just to be with me. I usually end up running faster when I'm with others and then I get hurt. So back to my run.
Loop 1- the first 6 miles
It was a small group of us running today. XXX, Hairy, Rainbow Bit**, Ken, and the twins. Dianne started with us but went a different route. We started out and it was dark and cold. Yes, 60 degrees is cold. I had my long sleeve shirt on. It was nice. Loop 1 was pretty uneventful.
Loop 2- mile 7-12
My right hip started hurting. This is normal. Half way through Kristen and Desiree rode past me on Narcoosse and stopped. They asked me how far I still had left to go. I jsut stood there and couldn't think of a number. All I could muster was, "A really long way." They laughed and said I was already sounding delerious. That was prolly the truth. They drove off. I was later informed that they pulled up to Hairy and asked her why she deserted me. This is a joke because Hairy normally runs slow next to me (even though she is a speed demon). Around mile 10 my right hip really started to hurt. It felt like it was going to snap (like it did for real a couple of months ago)and then I was out for a month. I learned my lesson from that so I stopped and walked for about 10 minutes. Luckily it started hurting less so I just kept on.
Loop 3- mile 13-20
I hadn't seen anyone in a really long time. Mile 13-16 felt pretty good. I ran into Hairy and XXX. They were doing great. RB was doing good too- she picked up a friend and was running next to her. I got honked at by some people. I'm sure i knew them but I couldn't tell who they were. Instead, they just scared the crap out of me. Mile 17-20 I saw Hairy drive past me in her van like 6 times!! She was out picking up the water stops. That lady is hilarious. EVerytime I saw her she was waving frantically out her van window. Hairy is like the Sunday run mom. She is always out making sure everyone has water and is still alive. She swears it is "her job". Too funny. :)
AFter 4 hrs and 38 minutes I was done. This included 3 potty stops, food stop for pbj and a coke, massaging my foot for 10 minutes by the side of the road.
It is now 9pm and the only thing that hurts is my foot. It's bruised. Hopefully some naproxen, ice, ace bandage and sleep will cure it. I guess it is pretty common. Oh well. No worries. :)
I am now ready. 12 more days. Lookout IMFL, here I come!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Friday, August 3, 2012
91 days left until the big day!
Well folks, it's been a while since I've posted.... mainly because all I do anymore is eat, sleep and workout. Here are the highlights since April..
Races I've completed in:
1. Danskin Sprint Tri on May 13th. That went really well. I scored in the top 3 in my age group again so I get to do it for free next year. Yay! I would never pay to do that race ever again especially since it is only filled with newbies that don't know what they are doing. One girl had gotten on her bike in the very beginning, biked up a huge hill (it was in Clermont) then was pedaling so slow she fell over right in front of me and I was 2 inches away from rolling over her HEAD. I just about had a heart attack.
2. Florida 70.3 on May 20th. I was really sick for this race.... 2 ear infections and a sinus infection to be exact. I was half dead, but I finished in 6:30ish. It was not as fast as the 70.3 in Miami last fall where I went 6:14. Oh well. That's ok. I went slow and tried my best to stay in my IM heartrate zones so that is ok.
3. Pineapple Man Sprint on June 3rd. That was a really fun race. However getting started was a bit of a fiasco in the morning. Believe it or not, when I was on my way to the race I needed gas so I stopped at a 7-11 at 4:45am to pump up my car. As I was standing there a car drove into a retention pond right in front of me! I was the only person around who saw it.... so I grabbed my phone and called 911. I was on the phone with the operator when I ran across the street to see if the person was ok (with the gas pump still in my car) and when I arrived the black BMW was almost completely sumberged underwater. There were maybe 4 inches still showing. When I first got there there was no sign of life. I was freaking out thinking I should jump in the water and save this person.... because I did of course have my tri suit on! Luckily, about 30 seconds after I ran over there the person was able to wiggle out through the window. Long story short, the police, ambulance, fire dept came... however before they showed up the guy offered me money to drive him home (b/c he didn't want to be around when the cops showed up). I went into Counselor Katie mode and kept telling him "My dear, I don't think that is a good choice." Luckily he was nice and still had some sense in him to listen to me. Oh, and the triathlon went good too. I won a pineapple. Yay!
4. Heartland Tri in Sebring, FL. This was a fun road trip with Leslie, Becky and Keren. We stayed in the same hotel room. The funniest part was when we walked in and saw our room only had 1 king size bed and that they were sold out of hotel rooms. That was an intersting night! :) Luckily there was a pull out couch too! The tri went well. The run was a little annoying because you ran through every fork off of a roundabout. I didn't know that going into it (I couldn't find any maps of the course) so after the 2nd time coming back to the roundabout I wanted to scream. You feel like you aren't going anywhere when you keep coming to the same darn place! However, it was fun in a way because I got to see Becky (aka the Shuminator) about every 1/2 mile. She beat me at this race but just by a little bit. It was funny because afterwards she said she was going crazy every time she woudl turn I would still be right behind her.
Training updates:
1. Hip/groin injury
My right hip has been hurting quite a bit lately. It used to only hurt when I ran but now it hurts when I bike on the trainer also. My new best friends are naproxen, the gel ice pack (or any other random frozen vegetable bag- who knew frozen edamamae was such a great ice pack!), foam roller, and the couch. My hip was doing fairly well until this past Sunday when I was out running. I was at mile 10 (of 12) and my groin muscle just popped suddenly. I couldn't even walk at first so I sat on the sidewalk on Narcoossee trying to think of what I should do. Luckily, my knight and shining armour (XXX) saw me sitting there and rode up in his SUV on his way to church. I jumped in and he gave me a ride home. Thank goodness! That was going to be the longest 2 mile walk of my life.
2. In general I have been working out 13 days in a row with 1 rest day. If you asked the CL she would disagree and say that every Friday is a rest day in addition to the 1 every 13 days because that is when we have our "recovery run". A recovery run is defined as running 3-4 miles staying in zone 2. In my humble opinion, anytime I have to run that is not a rest day. :D
3. Since I last posted in April here is a summary of the weekend workouts since then:
April:
Sat 7th: 56 mi bike
Sun 8th: 8 mi run (right hip hurt)
Sat 14th: 50 mi bike; 6 mi run
Sun 15th: 8 mi run (but I rollerbladed b/c right hip hurt)
Sat 21st: swam
Sun 22nd: hip hurt- rested
Sat 28th: 65 mi bike (right hip hurt)
Sun 29th: supposed to run but instead ran in pool for 1 hr 45 min (b/c of hip)
May:
1st weekend in Destin for family reunion. Rested
Sat 12th: Bike 35 mi; Ran 2mi
Sun 13th: Danskin Tri Sprint
Sat 19th: Sick
Sun 20th Florida 70.3
Sat 26th: Tried out cross-fit as a break of training.
Sun 27th: Ran 4.5
June:
Sat 4th: Biked 1 hour; Ran 2 mi
Sun 5th: Pineapple Man Sprint Tri
Sat 9th: Ran 7 mi
Sun: Rest
Sat 16th: 76 mi bike; 4 mi run
Sun 17th: Heartland Sprint Tri
Sat 23rd: Bike 70 mi; Run 4mi
Sun 24th: Ran 7.5 mi
July:
Sat 30th: Biked 50 mi
Sun 1st: Rest
Sat 7th: Biked 38 mi; Swam 2,000yrds at lucky's; Ran 6 mi
Sun 9.1 mi run
Sat 14th: 71 mi bike
Sun 15th: Rest
Sat 21st: 1 hr bike (out of town)
Sun 22nd: 1 hr bike (still out of town)
Sat 28th: 76 mi bike; 4 mi run
Sun 29th: 10 mi run (right groin popped)
Ok. That is all for now. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow is a 60 mi bike and 4 mi run in zone 3. Tubby is sitting next to me on the couch right now. He gave up on me going to bed (since it is past my bedtime and it isn't even 10pm on a Friday night). I will have to carry him to bed. Gnight ya'll!
Races I've completed in:
1. Danskin Sprint Tri on May 13th. That went really well. I scored in the top 3 in my age group again so I get to do it for free next year. Yay! I would never pay to do that race ever again especially since it is only filled with newbies that don't know what they are doing. One girl had gotten on her bike in the very beginning, biked up a huge hill (it was in Clermont) then was pedaling so slow she fell over right in front of me and I was 2 inches away from rolling over her HEAD. I just about had a heart attack.
2. Florida 70.3 on May 20th. I was really sick for this race.... 2 ear infections and a sinus infection to be exact. I was half dead, but I finished in 6:30ish. It was not as fast as the 70.3 in Miami last fall where I went 6:14. Oh well. That's ok. I went slow and tried my best to stay in my IM heartrate zones so that is ok.
3. Pineapple Man Sprint on June 3rd. That was a really fun race. However getting started was a bit of a fiasco in the morning. Believe it or not, when I was on my way to the race I needed gas so I stopped at a 7-11 at 4:45am to pump up my car. As I was standing there a car drove into a retention pond right in front of me! I was the only person around who saw it.... so I grabbed my phone and called 911. I was on the phone with the operator when I ran across the street to see if the person was ok (with the gas pump still in my car) and when I arrived the black BMW was almost completely sumberged underwater. There were maybe 4 inches still showing. When I first got there there was no sign of life. I was freaking out thinking I should jump in the water and save this person.... because I did of course have my tri suit on! Luckily, about 30 seconds after I ran over there the person was able to wiggle out through the window. Long story short, the police, ambulance, fire dept came... however before they showed up the guy offered me money to drive him home (b/c he didn't want to be around when the cops showed up). I went into Counselor Katie mode and kept telling him "My dear, I don't think that is a good choice." Luckily he was nice and still had some sense in him to listen to me. Oh, and the triathlon went good too. I won a pineapple. Yay!
4. Heartland Tri in Sebring, FL. This was a fun road trip with Leslie, Becky and Keren. We stayed in the same hotel room. The funniest part was when we walked in and saw our room only had 1 king size bed and that they were sold out of hotel rooms. That was an intersting night! :) Luckily there was a pull out couch too! The tri went well. The run was a little annoying because you ran through every fork off of a roundabout. I didn't know that going into it (I couldn't find any maps of the course) so after the 2nd time coming back to the roundabout I wanted to scream. You feel like you aren't going anywhere when you keep coming to the same darn place! However, it was fun in a way because I got to see Becky (aka the Shuminator) about every 1/2 mile. She beat me at this race but just by a little bit. It was funny because afterwards she said she was going crazy every time she woudl turn I would still be right behind her.
Training updates:
1. Hip/groin injury
My right hip has been hurting quite a bit lately. It used to only hurt when I ran but now it hurts when I bike on the trainer also. My new best friends are naproxen, the gel ice pack (or any other random frozen vegetable bag- who knew frozen edamamae was such a great ice pack!), foam roller, and the couch. My hip was doing fairly well until this past Sunday when I was out running. I was at mile 10 (of 12) and my groin muscle just popped suddenly. I couldn't even walk at first so I sat on the sidewalk on Narcoossee trying to think of what I should do. Luckily, my knight and shining armour (XXX) saw me sitting there and rode up in his SUV on his way to church. I jumped in and he gave me a ride home. Thank goodness! That was going to be the longest 2 mile walk of my life.
2. In general I have been working out 13 days in a row with 1 rest day. If you asked the CL she would disagree and say that every Friday is a rest day in addition to the 1 every 13 days because that is when we have our "recovery run". A recovery run is defined as running 3-4 miles staying in zone 2. In my humble opinion, anytime I have to run that is not a rest day. :D
3. Since I last posted in April here is a summary of the weekend workouts since then:
April:
Sat 7th: 56 mi bike
Sun 8th: 8 mi run (right hip hurt)
Sat 14th: 50 mi bike; 6 mi run
Sun 15th: 8 mi run (but I rollerbladed b/c right hip hurt)
Sat 21st: swam
Sun 22nd: hip hurt- rested
Sat 28th: 65 mi bike (right hip hurt)
Sun 29th: supposed to run but instead ran in pool for 1 hr 45 min (b/c of hip)
May:
1st weekend in Destin for family reunion. Rested
Sat 12th: Bike 35 mi; Ran 2mi
Sun 13th: Danskin Tri Sprint
Sat 19th: Sick
Sun 20th Florida 70.3
Sat 26th: Tried out cross-fit as a break of training.
Sun 27th: Ran 4.5
June:
Sat 4th: Biked 1 hour; Ran 2 mi
Sun 5th: Pineapple Man Sprint Tri
Sat 9th: Ran 7 mi
Sun: Rest
Sat 16th: 76 mi bike; 4 mi run
Sun 17th: Heartland Sprint Tri
Sat 23rd: Bike 70 mi; Run 4mi
Sun 24th: Ran 7.5 mi
July:
Sat 30th: Biked 50 mi
Sun 1st: Rest
Sat 7th: Biked 38 mi; Swam 2,000yrds at lucky's; Ran 6 mi
Sun 9.1 mi run
Sat 14th: 71 mi bike
Sun 15th: Rest
Sat 21st: 1 hr bike (out of town)
Sun 22nd: 1 hr bike (still out of town)
Sat 28th: 76 mi bike; 4 mi run
Sun 29th: 10 mi run (right groin popped)
Ok. That is all for now. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow is a 60 mi bike and 4 mi run in zone 3. Tubby is sitting next to me on the couch right now. He gave up on me going to bed (since it is past my bedtime and it isn't even 10pm on a Friday night). I will have to carry him to bed. Gnight ya'll!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Wild racoon at swim practice
Monday: Swim
Warm-up: 400m pull NO pull buoy 10sec RI; 400m kick with fins. 10sec RI
Main-set: 6 x 200m alternating with fins and without trying to maintain the same pace for all 200's 30sec RI (I didn't use fins b/c I don't have any and also because I don't like them. :) )
400m kick, 50m on each side 30sec RI
4 x 50m descending 20sec RI
4 x 25m descending with 10sec RI
Cool-Down: 200m back
RUN 2 miles at recovery pace. (I didn't run. Instead I ran in the pool for 25 minutes with a granny belt on.)
Tuesday: Bike trainer & TRX core workout
I took it easy and didn't add too many heavy gears on the bike today. Right hip still hurting a little.
Wednesday: Swim
Warmup: 4 x 200m EASY as 100m free, 25m kick no board, 25m breaststroke kick no board, 50m backstroke. Rest 30sec between 200's
Main Set: 6 x 200m as 100m HARD, 75m easy, 25m kick no board 30sec RI
10 x 50m alternating HARD, EASY repeat. 20sec RI
Cool-down: 200m back
This was a good workout. The 200's were pretty tough. I feel like lately we are doing shorter yardage but more sprinting/intensity. Going from doing a 400 or 500 going a slow-mod pace to a 200 hard is a big change! I used to hate 400 and 500's. Now I am beginning to like them a lot more than doing a 200. :) Oh how the times have changed! :)
Thursday: Bike trainer & TRX core workout
Pretty uneventful on the bike trainer. I took it easy again b/c of my hip. The TRX workout was pretty tough. We had the TRX around out feet this morning. We started in the plank position with our legs suspended in the air. We then did a push up, followed by a pike up and then repeated that. I felt like I was going to die doing this. My lower back wanted to give out... this is only because my core is weak. Wow. That was a WORKOUT!!
Friday: Foam roller & Killer Abs
Today's foam roller workout was pretty nice. CL didn't try to kill us too much with the core exerices. That was a nice surprise. At the end of practice Mini Me had a 3 minute core test for us. It was basically 3 minutes of plank broken down into these incriments (1 minute regular plank; 30 sec right arm plank; 30 sec left arm plank; 1 minute regular plank).
Saturday: 65 mile bike
This was actually a pretty crappy day. Long story short, I almost got hit by a truck and I fell off my bike... among other things.
Garmin Stats:
Distance: 65 miles
Avg HR: 141
Avg pace: 17.2 mph
Time: 3:46 (doesn't include a couple breaks)
Total Calories Burnt: 2980
Sunday: Run in pool for 1 hr 45 min
I was supposed to run 8 miles today but because of the hip I ran in the pool. The 8 mile run was supposed to be in zone 2 (meaning very slow). So I figured it would take me about 12 minutes per mile if I was going to actually run. So I took that and converted it into time I would run in the pool. I ran for 1 hour and 40 minutes with the granny belt around my waist. Guess how many lengths I ran during that time? Answer.... 76! I wanted to shoot myself after about an hour. Luckily there were a lot of little kids at the pool and people around so I had a lot to look at. I would say it was once step above watching paint dry. :)
Monday, April 30: Swim
Warm-up: 200 free, 200 breast, 200 kick
Main Set: 8x200 build R 30 sec
4x50 hard R 20 sec
Cool down: 200 back; 200 kick
I stayed up wayy too late last night.... so at practice today I was moving like a snail and was very unmotivated. I did complete everything... but just barely.
Last night I was in Avalon hanging otu with my friends at the Food Trucks. Wow. I didn't know the Food Trucks were that popular. I had heard of them but didn't know people went that crazy over them. For those of you not from Orlando, there is this thing called the Food Trucks Bizzare. Local vendors have a food truck (similar to a food truck at a carnival) that they park on the street. There were like 40 food trucks. It is good food too... not crappy carnival food. The Food Trucks Bizzare travels all around Orlando. I had a chicken waffle. Weird name but very tasty. I had to wait in line for at least 20 minutes for that thing! Some of the food trucks had a super long line. One truck was called the Yum Yum truck. It was a cupcake truck and it had at LEAST 75 people in line. Wow.
Back to swim practice. One last thing I will share..... at the end of practice this morning I got out of the water, wrapped up in my towel, looked across the deck and saw a RACOON!! It was daylight at this time. The racoon squeezed through the fence and was walking towards the pool. The lifeguard took a scandal and tried to throw it at it to scare it so it would run away... but it didn't work. To make matters worse, the racoon looked really sick. It was walking really slow, staggering back and forth. Jabber Jaws (Melissa) freaked out, ran to a chair, then proceeded to stand on the chair yelling at the lifeguard to call animal control because it could bite someone and make us very sick. All while this is going on, Emmett and Little T are still in the pool swimming laps. LIttle T sees Jabber Jaws standing on a chair freaking out so she perks up to see what is going on. The racoon then proceeds to get IN THE WATER.... standing on the edge drinking the pool water. It looks like it is drooling from the mouth. Then we all get an idea that Emmett should shoot the racoon because it looks like it could have rabies, or some other awful disease. Emmett then procedes to laugh at us and tell us he can't shoot racoons. He is a cop. Oh boy. The lifeguard then starts to get the hint that we should all leave after the racoon starts walking the perimeter of the pool in the gutter drinking the water. On my way out I told the front desk ladies that it wasn't a joke and then they called Animal Control. I'll have to get an update to morrow morning to see what happened. Never a dull moment.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Frustrated
Today I was supposed to run 8 miles but that didn't happen. My right hip is in really bad shape. It has been throbbing all weekend long... even though all I did was swim yesterday. The rest of my weekend was pretty low key... with lots of time spent on the couch. I have been icing my hip non-stop... even putting ice packs down my shorts and leaving it on while I sleep at night. The only thing that seems to help has been taking prescription strength naproxen twice a day. I hate taking medication, but I felt like I didn't have a choice. However, the moment it wears off it hurts again. I think the main culprit is my bike. I don't know if it is my new tri bike and the different angles or if it is the intensity of the biking on the trainer. Usually it is the running that tears up my hip, however I haven't really been running at all. I think this week at practice I'm not going to run, and when I bike I will stay out of aero and not add heavy gears. Hopefully this helps. Last time my hip was this bad I couldn't run for 3 months.
That brings me to my next thing.... I feel like this is what always happens... I get in good shape and then my body falls apart. So frustrating. Why can't my body just deal with it for once? I feel like I have the drive to do all of this training, the motivation, and the endurance... it is just this one thing. Ugh.
That brings me to my next thing.... I feel like this is what always happens... I get in good shape and then my body falls apart. So frustrating. Why can't my body just deal with it for once? I feel like I have the drive to do all of this training, the motivation, and the endurance... it is just this one thing. Ugh.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
What a great day!
Today we were supposed to swim at Lucky's (3 crossing = 3,000 yards) then run for 90 minutes. Lucky for me the weather was supposed to not cooperate. There was a 60% chance of t-storms this morning so practice was canceled. When I found this out I went back to bed. (Even thought it was hard to sleep because I had already slept 8 hours... but I did manage to sleep another 2!) I can't remember the last Saturday I got to sleep in!! I woke up starving... almost dizzy and weak. So I knew I needed a good breakfast. So I cooked some good ole pancakes and turkey bacon. It was amazing. :)
Around 10:30am the weather looked ok so I went to the Y and swam 3,000. (6x500 to be exact... alternating pulling and swimming). Gator Bait was there. He showed up to life weights and came by the pool. He threw cold water on me while I was doing a flip turn. Boy did that freak me out.... and it was COLD!! :) Afterwards I went home and took an ice bath. When I got out I was so cold that I put on my fleece pants to warm up. When you do that, does that cancel out the ice bath? I hope not. :)
I am really starting to get worried about my hip. It was throbbing last night as I layed in bed doing nothing. I've decided that I am going to start taking my vitamins everyday (I was slacking for a while- BAD!), start up my PT in my living room again, start taking naproxen religiously, ice everyday, and do an icebath as much as possible. I was reading online about my hip last night. I read how sometimes you need your bursa to be aspirated. I wonder if I need that. It mentioned that sometimes they do that at the same time they are giving a cortisone shot. Hmm. What do you think about that Mom? I've never heard of that being aspirated. Have you seen that at work?
Tonight is hibachi & sushi with the girls, then movie night. Yay. I am so excited. :)
On another note, I saw this video. It is hilarious. Maybe Tubby isn't so fat afterall.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133018/Meow-40-POUND-cat.html
Around 10:30am the weather looked ok so I went to the Y and swam 3,000. (6x500 to be exact... alternating pulling and swimming). Gator Bait was there. He showed up to life weights and came by the pool. He threw cold water on me while I was doing a flip turn. Boy did that freak me out.... and it was COLD!! :) Afterwards I went home and took an ice bath. When I got out I was so cold that I put on my fleece pants to warm up. When you do that, does that cancel out the ice bath? I hope not. :)
I am really starting to get worried about my hip. It was throbbing last night as I layed in bed doing nothing. I've decided that I am going to start taking my vitamins everyday (I was slacking for a while- BAD!), start up my PT in my living room again, start taking naproxen religiously, ice everyday, and do an icebath as much as possible. I was reading online about my hip last night. I read how sometimes you need your bursa to be aspirated. I wonder if I need that. It mentioned that sometimes they do that at the same time they are giving a cortisone shot. Hmm. What do you think about that Mom? I've never heard of that being aspirated. Have you seen that at work?
Tonight is hibachi & sushi with the girls, then movie night. Yay. I am so excited. :)
On another note, I saw this video. It is hilarious. Maybe Tubby isn't so fat afterall.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2133018/Meow-40-POUND-cat.html
Less than 200 days now!
Monday: Swim
On Monday I swam with XXX. He is getting to be my normal lane buddy as
Wings and Jen are not able to come all the time. We have a good time. I
normally push off first and lead the lane. He tries to draft off of me and pull
on my foot. Every so often I can feel him getting close as he will barely touch
my toes. When that happens I kick just a little bit harder. J
Today’s swim practice was not as exciting as my dream. Last
night I dreamt that I was driving down the highway and decided that I needed a
job. I saw a McDonald’s and thought … hmm well I should work here. I went in,
and they hired me. They then told me that my first couple paychecks would be
really small because I had to buy this hideous, but expensive shirt to wear to
work. I put my shirt on, then they walked me in the back of the kitchen and I
saw a mountain of shoes that went to the ceiling. All of the shoes were like
elf shoes where they curled up by the toes. I was then told that I had to buy
AND wear a pair of these shoes too. What?! I then drove home, 1 hour away, and
thought why the heck am I working so far from where I live?
Tuesday: Bike & Core
I’m not sure what was going on but there was a really small
crew that showed up to the bike practice this morning. The DS didn’t even come
due to an injury. Speaking of the DS (Drill Sargent for those of you who
forgot), last Saturday we had a Team Social at the Nona Tap Room. When most
everyone was drinking beer, I was drinking water (with grape Propel of course).
She told me for every glass of water I drank, I would get -5 pushups. I am
still waiting to cash in my credits…. especially because I drank 3 glasses of
water. Even though she did say that the
nachos I ate canceled out my credits… I don’t care… and that wasn’t part of the
deal!
Wednesday: Swim
Again, a very small turnout. I actually swam in a lane all
by myself all practice long. I can’t remember the last time that has happened.
At the end of practice, we had some kicking in our cool down. Emmett had
already started picking up the kickboards to put them away when Little T asked
him to leave hers because she still needed it. Emmett, a police officer by day,
then thought it would be funny to start chucking kickboards at her in the
middle of the pool. We were all laughing hysterically. Little T was saying that
she only needed one, and he kept tossing kickboards in her lane. J Oh boy. Emmett then
started saying that he could arrest her because he was sure that there was
something she was doing that could equate to a felony (since the police
dictionary of what you can arrest people for is supposedly never-ending). I
like seeing that side of Emmett.
Thursday: Bike & Core
The bike practice went really well. Mini Me helped out the
CL with Core. Mini Me was in charge of telling us what to do on the TRX equipment
and the CL did floor exercises with us on mats. Wow. This core work that we
have been doing is really making a difference. Every day I do a core workout I
can feel it at work the rest of the day. I make just the slightest turn and I
can hear my abs saying “please don’t hurt me. I’m still tired.” It also makes
you hungry I have noticed! Wow.
Friday: 2 mile run, Foam Roller, Killer Abs
The run went pretty well. I went really slow and did 4 min
run; 1 min walk. My right hip has still been hurting. The foam roller class is
becoming increasingly more difficult. What used to be a more relaxing class
where you roll out your muscles is becoming a ½ foam roller; ½ core class. Mini
Me was there again with the CL. Mini Me is an Athletic Trainer and is using her
kills to torment us. The CL and Mini Me would alternate. CL would have us do 1
foam roller exercise, then Mini Me would have us do 1 core exercise. Wow. That
was hard. I do appreciate it. I feel like I am getting in pretty good shape. The
DS was back for Killer Abs today. Thank goodness it is only 15 minutes on Friday!
Monday, April 16, 2012
Richard vs. Romeo
Recap of last week:
Tuesday:
I went to the bike trainer class... and even the Drill Sargent's torture core exercises. Like always, I felt like I was going to die at the end of class. Biking on the trainers is so much harder than biking outside. It is good though, as I can tell that I build up a lot of strength and endurance doing these workouts. I guess no pain, no gain really is true...
Tuesday night I had soccer. We won 4-0. It was a great game. Afterwards we went to Mellow Mushroom. Wow, that place is amazing. I could eat their pizza everyday.
Wednesday:
I woke up this morning and I could barely move my right arm. My shoulder hurt really bad... kind of like in college when I had impingement/rotator cuff issues. I did a lot of icing, naproxen, and resting today. No working out.
Thursday:
Shoulder still wasn't great but I still went to the bike trainer class and tried to avoid being in aero. I also didn't do the DS' torture routines. During the bike trainer workout we were listening to Rainbow Bright's music. I don't know where she got that stuff from. I swear it sounded like we were in Africa and there were elephants stampeding by. Weird. We all gave her a hard time.
Friday:
We ran for 30 minutes then had the foam roller workout. Pretty uneventful.
Saturday:
We had a 50 mile bike and a 6 mile run out of Lake Nona. My shoulder was still hurting so I decided to ride my road bike instead of my tri bike. Why? I have noticed that my tri bike has a more aggressive angle that puts more pressure on my shoulders. I know I will eventually get used to it, however I thought it would be good to give my shoulder a rest until it was healed more. Everyone was asking where my new bike was and why I wasn't riding it. Well.... this turned into quite the conversation on the bike. Mini Me and Gator Bait decided that my new bike wasn't being riden by me today because it didn't have a name. They then started talking about names. Names that were mentioned were: Bob, Larry, (others I can't remember).... and then there was Richard. Mini Me decided that my new bike's name is now Richard. My road bike was given the name Romeo. This then turned into a rated R discussion of why my bike's name is Richard. Reasons given (by people other than me!) were that I ride my bike a long time, tri bikes are good for long distances, etc. You know where this is headed.... especially when you think of Richard's nickname. Oh boy. Then they started saying how I was cheating on Richard with Romeo. My team almost went off the deep end. Haha. It was definitely good entertainment for a 50 mile bike ride.
Other good hightlights? Well, Ladies Man said that his dream was to get a speeding ticket on his bike. Haha. That would be a great day. Also, it was super windy today.... gusts at 15-20mph. Everyone kept giving me a hard time saying that somehow I just always ended up in the front of the paceline, pulling when we had the wind to our backs. Haha. I promise it wasn't planned. I'd rather be lucky than good was my response to them. :) I did pull into the wind for a while, just to redeem myself. :)
Saturday's bike/run (in zone 2) stats:
50.1 mile bike
Time: 2:58 (doesn't include breaks)
16.8mph pace
Avg HR 132
5.85 mile run
10:32/mile pace
Avg HR 158
Total Calories Burnt: 2,970
Bad news on Saturday: my right hip started hurting pretty bad on the run. :( I walked quite a bit... in addition to doing the run/walk routine again.
Sunday:
I was supposed to run 6 miles today but my right hip was still sore. Instead, I rollerbladed 8 miles while Amber and Leslie ran next to me. We had a great time. I miss those girls!
Tuesday:
I went to the bike trainer class... and even the Drill Sargent's torture core exercises. Like always, I felt like I was going to die at the end of class. Biking on the trainers is so much harder than biking outside. It is good though, as I can tell that I build up a lot of strength and endurance doing these workouts. I guess no pain, no gain really is true...
Tuesday night I had soccer. We won 4-0. It was a great game. Afterwards we went to Mellow Mushroom. Wow, that place is amazing. I could eat their pizza everyday.
Wednesday:
I woke up this morning and I could barely move my right arm. My shoulder hurt really bad... kind of like in college when I had impingement/rotator cuff issues. I did a lot of icing, naproxen, and resting today. No working out.
Thursday:
Shoulder still wasn't great but I still went to the bike trainer class and tried to avoid being in aero. I also didn't do the DS' torture routines. During the bike trainer workout we were listening to Rainbow Bright's music. I don't know where she got that stuff from. I swear it sounded like we were in Africa and there were elephants stampeding by. Weird. We all gave her a hard time.
Friday:
We ran for 30 minutes then had the foam roller workout. Pretty uneventful.
Saturday:
We had a 50 mile bike and a 6 mile run out of Lake Nona. My shoulder was still hurting so I decided to ride my road bike instead of my tri bike. Why? I have noticed that my tri bike has a more aggressive angle that puts more pressure on my shoulders. I know I will eventually get used to it, however I thought it would be good to give my shoulder a rest until it was healed more. Everyone was asking where my new bike was and why I wasn't riding it. Well.... this turned into quite the conversation on the bike. Mini Me and Gator Bait decided that my new bike wasn't being riden by me today because it didn't have a name. They then started talking about names. Names that were mentioned were: Bob, Larry, (others I can't remember).... and then there was Richard. Mini Me decided that my new bike's name is now Richard. My road bike was given the name Romeo. This then turned into a rated R discussion of why my bike's name is Richard. Reasons given (by people other than me!) were that I ride my bike a long time, tri bikes are good for long distances, etc. You know where this is headed.... especially when you think of Richard's nickname. Oh boy. Then they started saying how I was cheating on Richard with Romeo. My team almost went off the deep end. Haha. It was definitely good entertainment for a 50 mile bike ride.
Other good hightlights? Well, Ladies Man said that his dream was to get a speeding ticket on his bike. Haha. That would be a great day. Also, it was super windy today.... gusts at 15-20mph. Everyone kept giving me a hard time saying that somehow I just always ended up in the front of the paceline, pulling when we had the wind to our backs. Haha. I promise it wasn't planned. I'd rather be lucky than good was my response to them. :) I did pull into the wind for a while, just to redeem myself. :)
Saturday's bike/run (in zone 2) stats:
50.1 mile bike
Time: 2:58 (doesn't include breaks)
16.8mph pace
Avg HR 132
5.85 mile run
10:32/mile pace
Avg HR 158
Total Calories Burnt: 2,970
Bad news on Saturday: my right hip started hurting pretty bad on the run. :( I walked quite a bit... in addition to doing the run/walk routine again.
Sunday:
I was supposed to run 6 miles today but my right hip was still sore. Instead, I rollerbladed 8 miles while Amber and Leslie ran next to me. We had a great time. I miss those girls!
Monday, April 9, 2012
Who knew counting in a pool could be so stressful!
Back to the daily grind today. Yesterday I was so tired I practically slept the whole day. I swam in a lane with XXX and Andres today. I was told that we are still in Base 3 (heck if I know what that means). This week our workouts will be high volume but low intensity. These are my favorite kind of workouts. I have never been a sprinter or had any sort of fast twitch muscles. My muscles like to go SLOOOWWW and steady. :) I guess that is why signing up for an IM seemed doable.
Today's workout was pretty uneventful. The only abnormal things were:
1. I hit someone in the head (Diane or LD) by accident as they swam by me in the lane next to me. I'm not sure who that hurts more... them or me. Sorry.
2. I can't count.... but this is not new news. You would think that counting a 200 would be simple. Wrong! On one of our 200's I thought I was done and it was only a 150... wishful thinking I guess. Back in the day (high school and college) I would count by 50's.... but lately I have since switched to counting by lengths (1,2,3 all the way up to 8 for a 200). I do better that way because I know I messed up when I get to a wall and it is not an odd or an even. Stupid I know. Sooo, usually when I count by lengths I have been doing good. CL had us do 8x200's today. Having me count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and also remember what 200 I am on is the equivalent to getting pink on the team vortex uniforms.... IT WON'T EVER HAPPEN. So I have a super scientific method. I count what 200 I am on my covering up the "no diving" sign one letter at a time with a zoomer. It works perfectly because there are 8 letters in "no diving". Brilliant, I know. Haha.
On another note... I wish I had thought of the counting by lengths back in hs and college as that makes it so much easier. I remember having so much anxiety when it came to swimming practice. Counting your laps, remembering what one you are on, figuring out when you push off the wall when you get back (for when you are swimming on an interval... because if you got it wrong the coach would yell at you... and I was always a goody goody. If anyone ever yelled at me or thought badly of me I was devastated.), and also worrying that you are going too slow (because I was always the slow one... especially in college). I hated being slow... but I guess that is what happens when you are now a little fish in a big pond. I remember those days. It was so stressful. I remember feeling relieved to be done not because I was tired but because I was so worried of getting the counting wrong. Speaking of which, the more I think about it the less I want the LN YMCA to get a clock!! Geez oh peats! We can't do intervals because we don't have a clock... and when the CL says rest 10... well unless you are counting "one one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc" you can just sit on the wall like a monkey for a little longer and not be in trouble! :)
Ok, enough rambling.
Today's workout: Swim
Today's workout was pretty uneventful. The only abnormal things were:
1. I hit someone in the head (Diane or LD) by accident as they swam by me in the lane next to me. I'm not sure who that hurts more... them or me. Sorry.
2. I can't count.... but this is not new news. You would think that counting a 200 would be simple. Wrong! On one of our 200's I thought I was done and it was only a 150... wishful thinking I guess. Back in the day (high school and college) I would count by 50's.... but lately I have since switched to counting by lengths (1,2,3 all the way up to 8 for a 200). I do better that way because I know I messed up when I get to a wall and it is not an odd or an even. Stupid I know. Sooo, usually when I count by lengths I have been doing good. CL had us do 8x200's today. Having me count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and also remember what 200 I am on is the equivalent to getting pink on the team vortex uniforms.... IT WON'T EVER HAPPEN. So I have a super scientific method. I count what 200 I am on my covering up the "no diving" sign one letter at a time with a zoomer. It works perfectly because there are 8 letters in "no diving". Brilliant, I know. Haha.
On another note... I wish I had thought of the counting by lengths back in hs and college as that makes it so much easier. I remember having so much anxiety when it came to swimming practice. Counting your laps, remembering what one you are on, figuring out when you push off the wall when you get back (for when you are swimming on an interval... because if you got it wrong the coach would yell at you... and I was always a goody goody. If anyone ever yelled at me or thought badly of me I was devastated.), and also worrying that you are going too slow (because I was always the slow one... especially in college). I hated being slow... but I guess that is what happens when you are now a little fish in a big pond. I remember those days. It was so stressful. I remember feeling relieved to be done not because I was tired but because I was so worried of getting the counting wrong. Speaking of which, the more I think about it the less I want the LN YMCA to get a clock!! Geez oh peats! We can't do intervals because we don't have a clock... and when the CL says rest 10... well unless you are counting "one one-thousand, two one-thousand, etc" you can just sit on the wall like a monkey for a little longer and not be in trouble! :)
Ok, enough rambling.
Today's workout: Swim
Warmup: 200m pull; 2 x 200m kick as 50m on each side.
Drills: 2 x 250 (50 of Each Drill)
Finger Tip Drag; Closed Fist; One-Armed Swim; Slow Armed Recovery; Bow and Arrow
Main Set:
8 x 200m as Odd's: Easy; Even's: Hard on 30sec RI
4 x 50m as Mod, Hard, Mod, Hard on 10sec RI
Cool Down: 200m Back
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Blog Stats
Sometimes when I am writing I wonder if anyone is reading this. Well I looked at my blog stats today and WOW!!! I was very surprised at what I saw. I thought it was so interesting that I will share it with you...
Blog Stats as of today
1,142 - times my blog has been viewed since it was created
29- times my blog was viewed yesterday
What browser does everyone use to look at my blog?
45% use Internet Explorer
23% use Moble Safari
16% use Firefox
10% use Safari
1% use Chrome
1% use Opera
Last week these countries viewed my blog this many times
US- 41
Russia- 11
Germany-1
Netherlands- 1
Turkey- 1
I don't know anyone who lives in Russia, Germany, Netherlands, or Turkey. If you are interested, I would like for you to comment on my blog so you could share with me what brought you to my blog and if I know you personally.
Have a great night everyone and Happy Easter!
Blog Stats as of today
1,142 - times my blog has been viewed since it was created
29- times my blog was viewed yesterday
What browser does everyone use to look at my blog?
45% use Internet Explorer
23% use Moble Safari
16% use Firefox
10% use Safari
1% use Chrome
1% use Opera
Last week these countries viewed my blog this many times
US- 41
Russia- 11
Germany-1
Netherlands- 1
Turkey- 1
I don't know anyone who lives in Russia, Germany, Netherlands, or Turkey. If you are interested, I would like for you to comment on my blog so you could share with me what brought you to my blog and if I know you personally.
Have a great night everyone and Happy Easter!
Bad dreams and a long painful run
Last night I slept the best I have in days. It was great. I even got to sleep in till 6:30! Wow. That is a luxury. The night before I had the worst dream. Usually I forget what I dream about, but it was so bad I can still remember. So what was it? Well, I dreamt that I woke up and I was all of a sudden 500lbs and I couldn't get my bike shorts on. I kept trying and trying to get my size small bike shorts on and they just wouldn't go!! Grr. Then I dreamt that I got on my bike and fell over because I was so big that I couldn't balance. I was telling this story yesterday during our long bike ride in Haines City. XXX asked if when I fell over on my bike if I had my bike shorts on. LOL. Hmm. Good question. I don't remember that part of the dream!
Today I went on a long run with XXX, Ken, and Hugo. XXX's wife, Debbie was the SAG.... which basically meant that she rode along beside us on a mountain bike handing off water to XXX. The rest of us wore our fuel belts filled with water. It was a perfect morning for a run.... low 60's, sunny. Everything for me went great until about mile 6 (out of 8). My right hip started to get tight and painful. I stopped quite a few times to stretch and walk. It is kind of frustrating because my hips have been pretty good up until now. The CL says I need to go back to my run/walk plan that I was doing last fall. That makes me sad because I can't really run with the group anymore... because when I walk everyone gets so far ahead of me. :(
Today's workout: Long Run in zone 2
7.6 miles
Time: 1:23
Avg pace: 10:54 (this includes lots of walking when my hip started hurting)
Calories Burnt: 781
Avg HR: 144 (yay! This is getting better and better! My zone 2 is 150-160... so that means I am getting even more efficient!!)
Today I went on a long run with XXX, Ken, and Hugo. XXX's wife, Debbie was the SAG.... which basically meant that she rode along beside us on a mountain bike handing off water to XXX. The rest of us wore our fuel belts filled with water. It was a perfect morning for a run.... low 60's, sunny. Everything for me went great until about mile 6 (out of 8). My right hip started to get tight and painful. I stopped quite a few times to stretch and walk. It is kind of frustrating because my hips have been pretty good up until now. The CL says I need to go back to my run/walk plan that I was doing last fall. That makes me sad because I can't really run with the group anymore... because when I walk everyone gets so far ahead of me. :(
Today's workout: Long Run in zone 2
7.6 miles
Time: 1:23
Avg pace: 10:54 (this includes lots of walking when my hip started hurting)
Calories Burnt: 781
Avg HR: 144 (yay! This is getting better and better! My zone 2 is 150-160... so that means I am getting even more efficient!!)
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Back in Haines City!
Today we drove to Haines City to bike the 56 mile 70.3 Florida course. We had a great time. Before we got there we stopped at McDonald's to take a quick potty stop and ran into a bunch of girls from the Tri with Sway, another Orlando tri group. We chatted with them for a few minutes, then went to the course start stop. We ran into those girls again. They wanted to take a picture of our group because they thought we looked so official. Haha. I swear they looked just like us. Below is the pic they took. :) I am in the front, 2nd person from the left.
We started off at around 7:45am. It was a bit chilly (60 degrees), but it warmed up pretty quick and we were all shedding layers. I told everyone we had to be done by 11am because the wind was supposed to be 18mph at that time. The CL was sick and couldn't come so XXX and I did what we could to help out. It was a great ride overall... no dogs tried to attack us like the last time we were there. It felt a lot easier than the last time we rode there too. I dunno why exactly... maybe because we went faster and it got over quicker. I remember last time it being a lot hotter. We had a pretty small group today (only 9 of us)... mainly because of the Easter holiday. We were not supposed to bike in a pace line, but we pretty much did anyways because no one knew where they were going.... so we stuck together and figured out the map and navigating as a team. Along the route we did pick up this older lady who was biking by herself. She was doing the same route we were. I think she was happy to join our group.... even with the nut-cases we are. :)
After the ride, we went to Perkins to hang out with the old folks again and to refuel. I yawned so many times in that restaurant. Something about biking.... it makes me want to nap. When I got home, that is exactly what I did. I was so tired I didn't even unpack all of my stuff. Instead, I threw it on the floor, headed for the shower, then the bed. Ahh, I love my bed. :)
Garmin stats:
51 miles (really biked 56 but due to technical difficulties I only had 51 on garmin)
Total time: 3:45 for 56 miles (this includes potty breaks)
Avg speed: 17.2 mph
Avg HR: 143
Max HR: 177
Total Calories burnt: 2568
Nutrition: 3 bottles Gatorade; 5 oatmeal raisin cookies (yay for cookies!)
We started off at around 7:45am. It was a bit chilly (60 degrees), but it warmed up pretty quick and we were all shedding layers. I told everyone we had to be done by 11am because the wind was supposed to be 18mph at that time. The CL was sick and couldn't come so XXX and I did what we could to help out. It was a great ride overall... no dogs tried to attack us like the last time we were there. It felt a lot easier than the last time we rode there too. I dunno why exactly... maybe because we went faster and it got over quicker. I remember last time it being a lot hotter. We had a pretty small group today (only 9 of us)... mainly because of the Easter holiday. We were not supposed to bike in a pace line, but we pretty much did anyways because no one knew where they were going.... so we stuck together and figured out the map and navigating as a team. Along the route we did pick up this older lady who was biking by herself. She was doing the same route we were. I think she was happy to join our group.... even with the nut-cases we are. :)
After the ride, we went to Perkins to hang out with the old folks again and to refuel. I yawned so many times in that restaurant. Something about biking.... it makes me want to nap. When I got home, that is exactly what I did. I was so tired I didn't even unpack all of my stuff. Instead, I threw it on the floor, headed for the shower, then the bed. Ahh, I love my bed. :)
Garmin stats:
51 miles (really biked 56 but due to technical difficulties I only had 51 on garmin)
Total time: 3:45 for 56 miles (this includes potty breaks)
Avg speed: 17.2 mph
Avg HR: 143
Max HR: 177
Total Calories burnt: 2568
Nutrition: 3 bottles Gatorade; 5 oatmeal raisin cookies (yay for cookies!)
It is April already!! Almost less than 200 days to IMFL!!
This was a really busy week. Spring break was over and it was back to the daily grind. It is harder for me to update my blog because our workouts are getting longer in the mornings during the week and that is when I used to update it (before i go to work)... and now I am having to move faster to get to work on time... I know.... excuses, excuses. :)
Monday: Swim/Run Brick
Warm-Up 200 Free 10sec RI
200 Kick 10sec RI
Drills - Complete four sets for total of 400m Rest 20sec between sets
Finger Tip Drag (50m)
Slow Armed Catch Up (50m)
Main Set - 4 x 400m Odd: pull (use paddles if you have them) Even: freestyle with fins. 30sec RI
Cool Down: 200m Back
Run 2miles in Zone 2 out of the pool
The swim felt really good. I swam in a lane with Wings and XXX. XXX kept saying that swimming behind me when I have fins on is like swimming in a washing machine. Haha. :) XXX was given the option of swimming with us this morning or moving to the Dave squared lane. He chose us. I'm so proud of him! I think we are growing on him. :) He used to complain about being in our lane and try to get out of it in any way that he could. Oh how he has changed. :)
The run wasn't bad either. This is the first time I think I have ran after doing a full swim workout. Running when you are sopping wet is not the best, but it does simulate what a real tri is like. My heart rate was a lot higher than normal on the run, but it felt smooth. No hip pain.
Tuesday: Rest
To be honest, I did jack sh$$ today (compared to a normal day)... and it was fabulous! Tubby did not know how to act this morning. When my alarm never went off at 5:10 he began pacing on my bed until he finally sat on top of me.... which then woke me up. (It is impossible to sleep with a 28lb cat on you.) I had 2 big meetings at work this morning that I had to get there early and prepare for. I did have soccer at night. We lost 0-4. It was sad. It was not a good game... however I did not get hit in the head- or anywhere for that matter, so I should say that it was a success.
Wednesday: Swim
I don't have the workout that we did, but it was very similar to Monday's swim. Our long course set was 500's with alternating pulling with paddles and swimming with fins. I borrowed CL's zoomers. She thinks I need to use fins to stop relying on my kick so much to get me through the water. This prolly isn't a bad idea. I have a crappy pull (compared to my kick). The zoomers I borrowed from CL tore up my big toes. I wish I had put some Body Glide on my toes because it rubbed against my skin and it is raw. (Even today, 3 days after this practice, my toes are still raw.) Ouch.
Thursday: Bike on trainer & torture drills
Today we biked on the trainers like usual- but there was some changes from what we were used to. First, we were all in a straight line instead of going around the 3 point basketball line. I think the CL did this so we couldn't see each other as well and therefore couldn't talk as much. Today felt like Fat Camp. I biked next to Lady's Man (Alfredo) and Little T. Even though we weren't supposed to talk much, we did anyway- especially when the CL wasn't looking. At one point she was getting on us to be serious and she left the room and we were doing the wave when she walked in. It was pretty funny. She even laughed. But then it was back to Fat Camp. What does Fat Camp sound like?? Well, it sounds like CL barking out orders like this.... "Your legs are moving too slow!! Higher cadence!! Alfredo, what are you doing getting off the bike?! Get back on! Make it one gear harder, then stand up. Move faster! Stop talking. If you're talking then that means you aren't working hard enough! You shouldn't be able to talk! Sit back down. Make it one gear harder. I didn't say slow your cadence!" CL is a very nice lady and pushes us. She knows what we are capable of. She is tough but she also knows when to back off when we are about ready to die... thank goodness. :) I appreciate that she is so tough on us because if she wasn't I prolly wouldn't be doing this race and be sitting here typing this right now.
This was my first trainer experience with my tri bike versus my road bike. Wow, what a difference. First of all, it is FABULOUS to have more than just the big chain ring! That was getting REAL old! Although, I must say that biking in the big chain ring with my road bike is much easier than biking in the big chain ring on my tri bike.
After the bike workout we had a surprise from Elaine, another trainer from the YMCA. Elaine (who I will now refer to as the Drill Sargent) can make you feel pain like you have never felt before in 30 seconds or less. She is the equivalent to Julian from the Biggest Loser. She doesn't put up with any crap and if you aren't doing it right, she will let you know (in a heartbeat) and make you do it right (even though it may cause you to be 6 feet under aka dead). The Drill Sargent had the TRX bands waiting for us. We were split up into groups and one group first went to the TRX bands while the rest were on mats doing other painful things. This was my first experience with the TRX equipment. Wow. One of the exercises involved the TRX band hanging from the basketball hoop. It hung down and was 1 foot from the ground. My job was to do a plank with one foot in side of each of the 2 TRX loops. OMG. I have a weak core (this is bad, I know) and this is specifically designed to strengthen your core. Well anyways, I got into position (or what I thought was the correct way to be) and the Drill Sargent walks over and says, "What are you doing? STOP SAGGING YOUR STOMACH. WE DON'T DO IT LIKE THAT." She wasn't kidding. Not one ounce of her. The CL is tough on you, but you know deep down it is coming from love. I did not sense any love from the Drill Sargent. In fact, she just about put the fear of God into me. I did what I was told and lifted up my stomach. I was shaking like a leaf. Afterwards she mentioned how good for us that was. I then found out that we will be seeing the Drill Sargent 3 times a week (Tues, Thurs, and Fri) in addition to everything we have already been doing. Wow. Talk about kicking it up a notch! Deep down I do like it, how sick is that!?
Friday: 30 min run, foam roller, killer abs, weights
Friday's workout was a 30 minute run. I ran with Ladies Man, Percy, and Gator Bait. We ran in a zone 2 pace and laughed a lot. I am so thankful to be able to run with people. Getting up and running at 5am in the dark would never happen if I did this on my own. We talked about that a lot on this run.
The foam roller class was good. The CL is constantly thinking of ways to switch it up and add in new exercises. I like that. I feel like my body is getting used to the old exercises, so adding in new things definitely makes it more challenging.
Drill Sargent came back again today for the Killer Abs class. What is her recipe for torture? Answer: A ball, a mat, 2 weights and 15 minutes. The hardest exercise we did today was a situp where you: Step 1: put the ball in between your legs, do a situp while you also bring your legs up extended out straight with the ball. Step 2: your arms grab the ball and you lower your arms and legs back down. Step 3: keep alternating the ball between your arms and legs. It is hard keeping your legs straight.
Monday: Swim/Run Brick
Warm-Up 200 Free 10sec RI
200 Kick 10sec RI
Drills - Complete four sets for total of 400m Rest 20sec between sets
Finger Tip Drag (50m)
Slow Armed Catch Up (50m)
Main Set - 4 x 400m Odd: pull (use paddles if you have them) Even: freestyle with fins. 30sec RI
Cool Down: 200m Back
Run 2miles in Zone 2 out of the pool
The swim felt really good. I swam in a lane with Wings and XXX. XXX kept saying that swimming behind me when I have fins on is like swimming in a washing machine. Haha. :) XXX was given the option of swimming with us this morning or moving to the Dave squared lane. He chose us. I'm so proud of him! I think we are growing on him. :) He used to complain about being in our lane and try to get out of it in any way that he could. Oh how he has changed. :)
The run wasn't bad either. This is the first time I think I have ran after doing a full swim workout. Running when you are sopping wet is not the best, but it does simulate what a real tri is like. My heart rate was a lot higher than normal on the run, but it felt smooth. No hip pain.
Tuesday: Rest
To be honest, I did jack sh$$ today (compared to a normal day)... and it was fabulous! Tubby did not know how to act this morning. When my alarm never went off at 5:10 he began pacing on my bed until he finally sat on top of me.... which then woke me up. (It is impossible to sleep with a 28lb cat on you.) I had 2 big meetings at work this morning that I had to get there early and prepare for. I did have soccer at night. We lost 0-4. It was sad. It was not a good game... however I did not get hit in the head- or anywhere for that matter, so I should say that it was a success.
Wednesday: Swim
I don't have the workout that we did, but it was very similar to Monday's swim. Our long course set was 500's with alternating pulling with paddles and swimming with fins. I borrowed CL's zoomers. She thinks I need to use fins to stop relying on my kick so much to get me through the water. This prolly isn't a bad idea. I have a crappy pull (compared to my kick). The zoomers I borrowed from CL tore up my big toes. I wish I had put some Body Glide on my toes because it rubbed against my skin and it is raw. (Even today, 3 days after this practice, my toes are still raw.) Ouch.
Thursday: Bike on trainer & torture drills
Today we biked on the trainers like usual- but there was some changes from what we were used to. First, we were all in a straight line instead of going around the 3 point basketball line. I think the CL did this so we couldn't see each other as well and therefore couldn't talk as much. Today felt like Fat Camp. I biked next to Lady's Man (Alfredo) and Little T. Even though we weren't supposed to talk much, we did anyway- especially when the CL wasn't looking. At one point she was getting on us to be serious and she left the room and we were doing the wave when she walked in. It was pretty funny. She even laughed. But then it was back to Fat Camp. What does Fat Camp sound like?? Well, it sounds like CL barking out orders like this.... "Your legs are moving too slow!! Higher cadence!! Alfredo, what are you doing getting off the bike?! Get back on! Make it one gear harder, then stand up. Move faster! Stop talking. If you're talking then that means you aren't working hard enough! You shouldn't be able to talk! Sit back down. Make it one gear harder. I didn't say slow your cadence!" CL is a very nice lady and pushes us. She knows what we are capable of. She is tough but she also knows when to back off when we are about ready to die... thank goodness. :) I appreciate that she is so tough on us because if she wasn't I prolly wouldn't be doing this race and be sitting here typing this right now.
This was my first trainer experience with my tri bike versus my road bike. Wow, what a difference. First of all, it is FABULOUS to have more than just the big chain ring! That was getting REAL old! Although, I must say that biking in the big chain ring with my road bike is much easier than biking in the big chain ring on my tri bike.
After the bike workout we had a surprise from Elaine, another trainer from the YMCA. Elaine (who I will now refer to as the Drill Sargent) can make you feel pain like you have never felt before in 30 seconds or less. She is the equivalent to Julian from the Biggest Loser. She doesn't put up with any crap and if you aren't doing it right, she will let you know (in a heartbeat) and make you do it right (even though it may cause you to be 6 feet under aka dead). The Drill Sargent had the TRX bands waiting for us. We were split up into groups and one group first went to the TRX bands while the rest were on mats doing other painful things. This was my first experience with the TRX equipment. Wow. One of the exercises involved the TRX band hanging from the basketball hoop. It hung down and was 1 foot from the ground. My job was to do a plank with one foot in side of each of the 2 TRX loops. OMG. I have a weak core (this is bad, I know) and this is specifically designed to strengthen your core. Well anyways, I got into position (or what I thought was the correct way to be) and the Drill Sargent walks over and says, "What are you doing? STOP SAGGING YOUR STOMACH. WE DON'T DO IT LIKE THAT." She wasn't kidding. Not one ounce of her. The CL is tough on you, but you know deep down it is coming from love. I did not sense any love from the Drill Sargent. In fact, she just about put the fear of God into me. I did what I was told and lifted up my stomach. I was shaking like a leaf. Afterwards she mentioned how good for us that was. I then found out that we will be seeing the Drill Sargent 3 times a week (Tues, Thurs, and Fri) in addition to everything we have already been doing. Wow. Talk about kicking it up a notch! Deep down I do like it, how sick is that!?
Friday: 30 min run, foam roller, killer abs, weights
Friday's workout was a 30 minute run. I ran with Ladies Man, Percy, and Gator Bait. We ran in a zone 2 pace and laughed a lot. I am so thankful to be able to run with people. Getting up and running at 5am in the dark would never happen if I did this on my own. We talked about that a lot on this run.
The foam roller class was good. The CL is constantly thinking of ways to switch it up and add in new exercises. I like that. I feel like my body is getting used to the old exercises, so adding in new things definitely makes it more challenging.
Drill Sargent came back again today for the Killer Abs class. What is her recipe for torture? Answer: A ball, a mat, 2 weights and 15 minutes. The hardest exercise we did today was a situp where you: Step 1: put the ball in between your legs, do a situp while you also bring your legs up extended out straight with the ball. Step 2: your arms grab the ball and you lower your arms and legs back down. Step 3: keep alternating the ball between your arms and legs. It is hard keeping your legs straight.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Fieldtrip to Clermont
Today the team went out to Clermont to ride from Elaine's then swim in her lake. The ride was much shorter than normal... but it was ALL hills. On the way out, I rode with CL, XXX, and Rainbow Bright. We had some great conversations. At one point we were talking about American Idol and The Voice. (BTW, I hope Colton or Jessica wins Idol!) CL was talking about some cute famous guys in The Voice. This then led to how if we found CL a handsome guy that looked like some folks from The Voice then we could cash it in for easy workouts at practice. What workout would you choose to avoid if you found the CL a handsome guy? Well... this is what the folks in our car had to say.... XXX would trade any swim, Rainbow Bright would trade any wacko swim drills, and I would trade any bike trainer workout. Your thoughts?
In Clermont we did Buckhill Road 5 (yes 5!) times. For those of you not familiar with Buckhill Road, it is filled with 4 or 5 large hills one right after another. One is super steep. When I went down it I was going 40 mph! Going 40mph on my first day riding my new tri bike was prolly not the best idea... I do remember thinking at one point that if I fell off my bike at that point I would prolly be road kill and Tubby would be a orphan.
Random thoughts about my new tri bike...
1. I have the dual water bottle holder wing thingy behind my seat. I like it for its functionality purpose (I for one am not a camel and do believe in drinking water often!) but the way they are setup, my legs hit them just slightly when I am not in aero. This is kind of annoying. I don't think there is a way for me to change the angle of them because of the way my saddle is. Hmm.
2. I notice with my tri bike that my fingers are too short. It is kind of hard shifting your gears without moving your hands.
3. My tri bike puts a lot more pressure on my shoulders. I have rotator cuff issues that started back in high school/college from swimming and this flares up every now and then. I could feel this bothering my shoulders more than normal today. Hmm. I hope that after riding it a while I will get used to all of this stuff...
The swim was great. The hardest part of the swim was putting on my wetsuit and swimming in a straight line. Haha. CL says you should always have a wetsuit buddy to help get it on easier. FYI, a wetsuit buddy basically reaches down the inside of your wetsuit (from your back), gets a good grip and either A) picks you up by your wetsuit so your body weight forces you down into the wetsuit..... (Mini Me modeled this for us today!) or B) have your wetsuit buddy pull up on your wetsuit while you are hopping (this was me and CL). This works like a charm! If we had not done this I think I would still be out by the lake struggling to get my wetsuit on. So, once it was on we were ready to go. XXX and I swam side by side most of the time. At several points in the swim we ran into each other.... which was pretty funny considering we were the only ones near each other in a gigantic body of water. My hand smacked him in the butt (supposedly), and he hit me somewhere too. It was pretty funny. Also during the swim, Stebra was super concerned about gators. He has been talking about gators all week at practice... saying he would get eaten if he swam in the lake. Well, while he was swimming Mini Me swam up on him (basically ran into him by accident) and he mistaken her for a gator! He started thrashing in the water trying to get away from the so-called-gator. Too funny! He definitely got an ear-full about that when he got out of the water!
Today's Workout: Bike & Swim in Clermont
Bike Stats:
25.7 miles
Time: 1:47
Calories Burnt: 1355
Avg HR: 141 (Max HR: 190!... and yes the alarm was going off on my HR monitor saying I was about to die.)
Avg speed: 14.4 mph
Swim:
Approx 800 yard swim in lake (2 laps of the course)
In Clermont we did Buckhill Road 5 (yes 5!) times. For those of you not familiar with Buckhill Road, it is filled with 4 or 5 large hills one right after another. One is super steep. When I went down it I was going 40 mph! Going 40mph on my first day riding my new tri bike was prolly not the best idea... I do remember thinking at one point that if I fell off my bike at that point I would prolly be road kill and Tubby would be a orphan.
Random thoughts about my new tri bike...
1. I have the dual water bottle holder wing thingy behind my seat. I like it for its functionality purpose (I for one am not a camel and do believe in drinking water often!) but the way they are setup, my legs hit them just slightly when I am not in aero. This is kind of annoying. I don't think there is a way for me to change the angle of them because of the way my saddle is. Hmm.
2. I notice with my tri bike that my fingers are too short. It is kind of hard shifting your gears without moving your hands.
3. My tri bike puts a lot more pressure on my shoulders. I have rotator cuff issues that started back in high school/college from swimming and this flares up every now and then. I could feel this bothering my shoulders more than normal today. Hmm. I hope that after riding it a while I will get used to all of this stuff...
The swim was great. The hardest part of the swim was putting on my wetsuit and swimming in a straight line. Haha. CL says you should always have a wetsuit buddy to help get it on easier. FYI, a wetsuit buddy basically reaches down the inside of your wetsuit (from your back), gets a good grip and either A) picks you up by your wetsuit so your body weight forces you down into the wetsuit..... (Mini Me modeled this for us today!) or B) have your wetsuit buddy pull up on your wetsuit while you are hopping (this was me and CL). This works like a charm! If we had not done this I think I would still be out by the lake struggling to get my wetsuit on. So, once it was on we were ready to go. XXX and I swam side by side most of the time. At several points in the swim we ran into each other.... which was pretty funny considering we were the only ones near each other in a gigantic body of water. My hand smacked him in the butt (supposedly), and he hit me somewhere too. It was pretty funny. Also during the swim, Stebra was super concerned about gators. He has been talking about gators all week at practice... saying he would get eaten if he swam in the lake. Well, while he was swimming Mini Me swam up on him (basically ran into him by accident) and he mistaken her for a gator! He started thrashing in the water trying to get away from the so-called-gator. Too funny! He definitely got an ear-full about that when he got out of the water!
Today's Workout: Bike & Swim in Clermont
Bike Stats:
25.7 miles
Time: 1:47
Calories Burnt: 1355
Avg HR: 141 (Max HR: 190!... and yes the alarm was going off on my HR monitor saying I was about to die.)
Avg speed: 14.4 mph
Swim:
Approx 800 yard swim in lake (2 laps of the course)
Friday, March 30, 2012
My new tri bike!!!
This morning we went for a 2 mile run in zone 2. From now on zone 2 is going to be called granny pace as I feel like a snail could move faster than me. However, this isn't all true. My granny pace has actually gotten faster.... while also keeping my heart rate low. Yay! Go granny go!
We had our foam roller class after the run. I was a rebel today and hung in the back with the rest of the trouble makers aka Hairy Scary, XXX, Alfredo, Diane, and Stebra. The CL had a new routine for us today. It was filled with lots of painful exercises involving the foam roller but mainly a tennis ball. At one point Mini Me aka Bulky was showing us how to do some of the tennis ball exercises. At this point I was leaning against a wall with the tennis ball between my back and the wall and doing a squatting motion to move the ball around on my back to massage the muscles. The goal here was to loosen up your back/shoulder/neck muscles by leaning against the tennis ball. Just as I was getting in the groove I looked over at Alfredo next to me. He is doing the same exercise as me. He blurts out that he feels like he is having an intimate session with the wall. (Those were not his exact words... but you can tell were I am going with this.) Haha! I laughed so hard that my tennis ball almost went flying. I love my team.
Best news of the day?! I got fitted on my new tri bike!!! See pic below of me taking my new baby home from the hospital... aka bike shop. :)
We had our foam roller class after the run. I was a rebel today and hung in the back with the rest of the trouble makers aka Hairy Scary, XXX, Alfredo, Diane, and Stebra. The CL had a new routine for us today. It was filled with lots of painful exercises involving the foam roller but mainly a tennis ball. At one point Mini Me aka Bulky was showing us how to do some of the tennis ball exercises. At this point I was leaning against a wall with the tennis ball between my back and the wall and doing a squatting motion to move the ball around on my back to massage the muscles. The goal here was to loosen up your back/shoulder/neck muscles by leaning against the tennis ball. Just as I was getting in the groove I looked over at Alfredo next to me. He is doing the same exercise as me. He blurts out that he feels like he is having an intimate session with the wall. (Those were not his exact words... but you can tell were I am going with this.) Haha! I laughed so hard that my tennis ball almost went flying. I love my team.
Best news of the day?! I got fitted on my new tri bike!!! See pic below of me taking my new baby home from the hospital... aka bike shop. :)
I had the fitting done by Jose. He did a great job. He really took his time.... well over 2 hours. He is a pretty funny guy. Over the course of 2 hours we talked about so much... He should advertise that his bike fitting also includes dating advice, family therapy, and nutrition counseling- haha. Haha, no our conversation was actually really light and we laughed a lot. On a side note, I think our club keeps them in business because during the time I was there I saw Emmett and Alfredo come in. Wow, what a small world! Anyways, at the end of the fitting we were talking about my bike bag and that the CL had recommended that I carry a tire with me for the IMFL race. I was telling/asking them how the heck I was going to take one of them because I could barely fit a tube in my bag nevertheless a whole freaking TIRE! That's when Desi said that I wouldn't need to bring a tire with me because he would be my bike support and ride behind me the entire way just as long as I fed him all you can eat ice cream and cookies. Priceless! (FYI, Desi is the mechanic at the bike shop who rides at the speed of lightning who always has something to say... about everything.) I never did get that question answered. Hopefully, Desi really plans on riding behind me...
What is normal anymore?
Thursday was our bike practice on the trainers. Wallace came to this for the first time. He is quickly being sucked into the vortex....Team Vortex (aka our team name for the Lake Nona YMCA tri club). We have this thing were anyone who comes to practice for the first time is almost always sucked in and end up coming back for more gluten punishment. I am really beginning to think that this is a life changing cult where you will end up doing things you never thought was possible.... most of which are great but to most people in this world is complete ludicrous. For example... if someone were to ask one of us what our typical week looks like they would respond with.... Well we..
1. Workout 6 times a week for an average of 13 hours a week.
2. Wakeup at 4-5am 6 days of the week
3. Swim 5,500 yards, bike 80 miles, and run 12 miles a week. (And this is all just going up every week....)
4. Then there is tons of laughing, whining and complaining (which is all in good fun), harassing the CL (which is also in good fun... although I think we enjoy it more than the CL- just slightly), and making everlasting friendships.
So the #1-3 is definitely the ludicrous part. Sometimes I think we should all get therapy... possibly a group therapy session... (because heck, there are a LOT of us... and we could prolly get a good discount!!) Rainbow, we could use your assistance here, but I think you could benefit from this also so I think that disqualifies you. Anyone that does this must most definitely have a couple of loose screws. I will be the first to admit that this does seem crazy. My phone call with my stepmom this morning also helped confirm things (that I already knew were true). She asked what I did this week (over spring break), and I responded with basically just swimming, biking, running, weights, sleeping and other random stuff I had to get done. She then responds with, "You need to get a life!" Wow. Maybe she is right, but I like my life. Besides, this is a lot healthier than throwing back drinks at a bar wasting away my money, being hit on by douche bags, and then being hung over the next day. So even though this is crazy, the good thing is that I am in good company!! When all you do is hang out with crazy people, you don't feel quite so crazy anymore! It is just when you get around the so-called-normal people that you start to think otherwise!
1. Workout 6 times a week for an average of 13 hours a week.
2. Wakeup at 4-5am 6 days of the week
3. Swim 5,500 yards, bike 80 miles, and run 12 miles a week. (And this is all just going up every week....)
4. Then there is tons of laughing, whining and complaining (which is all in good fun), harassing the CL (which is also in good fun... although I think we enjoy it more than the CL- just slightly), and making everlasting friendships.
So the #1-3 is definitely the ludicrous part. Sometimes I think we should all get therapy... possibly a group therapy session... (because heck, there are a LOT of us... and we could prolly get a good discount!!) Rainbow, we could use your assistance here, but I think you could benefit from this also so I think that disqualifies you. Anyone that does this must most definitely have a couple of loose screws. I will be the first to admit that this does seem crazy. My phone call with my stepmom this morning also helped confirm things (that I already knew were true). She asked what I did this week (over spring break), and I responded with basically just swimming, biking, running, weights, sleeping and other random stuff I had to get done. She then responds with, "You need to get a life!" Wow. Maybe she is right, but I like my life. Besides, this is a lot healthier than throwing back drinks at a bar wasting away my money, being hit on by douche bags, and then being hung over the next day. So even though this is crazy, the good thing is that I am in good company!! When all you do is hang out with crazy people, you don't feel quite so crazy anymore! It is just when you get around the so-called-normal people that you start to think otherwise!
Wallace + Crampy = Team Ocean
Wednesday's swim wasn't great. I swam for the first time at our night practice (6:30-8pm) because my melon was still a bit off from yesterday and I wanted to give it some more time to rest. Unfortunately, I got a bad headache half way into the swim. I'm not sure why... but think that yesterday along with some really tight goggles were to blame. I swam with Crampy. On the other side of my lane was Wallace. Wallace has decided that him and Crampy makeup Team Ocean. Why? Because swimming next to them is like swimming in a tidal wave. Every time I turned my head to breath I got a mouth full of water. Too bad I wasn't thirsty or dehydrated. JK.
I heard that the morning practice was pretty crazy. Everyone was giving CL a hard time because she added up the total yardage wrong. We did 3,400 and everyone wanted to make sure that every inch was accounted for. Nice job team...
Wednesday's swim workout:
Warm-Up 200m Pull 10sec RI; 200m Kick 10sec RI
Drills: 4 x complete set. Each set contains the four following drills. Do 50m of each drill for 200m in the set before you 20sec RI. (Total of 800m)
Finger Tip Drag; Closed Fist; Slow Armed Recovery;Bow and Arrow Drill
Main Set: is a ladder
50m easy 10sec RI
100m easy 15sec RI
150m easy 20sec RI
200m easy 25sec RI
300m mod 30sec RI
400m mod 45sec RI
300m hard 30sec RI
200m hard 25sec RI
150m hard 30sec RI
100m,hard 20sec RI
50m hard 10sec RI
Cool Down: 200m Back
I heard that the morning practice was pretty crazy. Everyone was giving CL a hard time because she added up the total yardage wrong. We did 3,400 and everyone wanted to make sure that every inch was accounted for. Nice job team...
Wednesday's swim workout:
Warm-Up 200m Pull 10sec RI; 200m Kick 10sec RI
Drills: 4 x complete set. Each set contains the four following drills. Do 50m of each drill for 200m in the set before you 20sec RI. (Total of 800m)
Finger Tip Drag; Closed Fist; Slow Armed Recovery;Bow and Arrow Drill
Main Set: is a ladder
50m easy 10sec RI
100m easy 15sec RI
150m easy 20sec RI
200m easy 25sec RI
300m mod 30sec RI
400m mod 45sec RI
300m hard 30sec RI
200m hard 25sec RI
150m hard 30sec RI
100m,hard 20sec RI
50m hard 10sec RI
Cool Down: 200m Back
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Must wear helmet to soccer next week
Yesterday's practice was a 30 minute run (about 3 miles) then we worked on running form. It was pretty funny to watch some people run and then critique them. Some people shuffled their feet, some stared at the ground, some ran with one shoulder too high, and others (like me) did this funky thing with their arms when they ran. Once the sun starts coming up in the early morning hours we will get video taped by the CL so we can see what we look like running. That should be interesting. :)
Yesterday I also had a soccer game in Winter Park. Normally they are very uneventful and everyone has a great time. However, yesterday was not the case. I have been playing defense a lot lately (either that or midfield) and last night I was at the wrong place at the wrong time... twice. I got blasted in the head twice- both by my own teammates. The first time happened in a mass collision where I ended up getting hit in the left ear by my teammates shoulder. I fell to the ground and laid there for a few minutes until I could feel like things weren't moving anymore in my head. After a few minutes I felt ok so I went right back in to play some more. Not even 2 minutes passed and one guy from my team cleared the ball and it hit me square on the right side of my face. At this point I was done. No more soccer for me. As I was walking off the field I almost got it AGAIN! Ugh. This is not like me. I hardly ever get injured. (Knock on wood.) Luckily, I didn't get a concussion.... just a swollen face and a big headache. Next Tuesday, I might just wear my bike helmet to soccer.
Yesterday I also had a soccer game in Winter Park. Normally they are very uneventful and everyone has a great time. However, yesterday was not the case. I have been playing defense a lot lately (either that or midfield) and last night I was at the wrong place at the wrong time... twice. I got blasted in the head twice- both by my own teammates. The first time happened in a mass collision where I ended up getting hit in the left ear by my teammates shoulder. I fell to the ground and laid there for a few minutes until I could feel like things weren't moving anymore in my head. After a few minutes I felt ok so I went right back in to play some more. Not even 2 minutes passed and one guy from my team cleared the ball and it hit me square on the right side of my face. At this point I was done. No more soccer for me. As I was walking off the field I almost got it AGAIN! Ugh. This is not like me. I hardly ever get injured. (Knock on wood.) Luckily, I didn't get a concussion.... just a swollen face and a big headache. Next Tuesday, I might just wear my bike helmet to soccer.
Swim, then sleep.
Monday's swim workout went well. Getting up at 5:10am on Spring Break was a bit painful, but once I was out of bed it was all good. Even better yet, when I got home from practice, I jumped back in bed and slept until 10!! Wow, that felt like heaven. :)
Today's workout: swim
Warm-up: 200m pull w/o pull buoy
Main-Set: 4 x 500m swim easy (can use pull buoy on alternating 500's) on 10sec RI.
4 x 100m swim moderate on 10sec RI
Cool-Down: 100m kick, 200m back
Today's workout: swim
Warm-up: 200m pull w/o pull buoy
Main-Set: 4 x 500m swim easy (can use pull buoy on alternating 500's) on 10sec RI.
4 x 100m swim moderate on 10sec RI
Cool-Down: 100m kick, 200m back
Monday, March 26, 2012
Last week in review & Great Clermont Triathlon
Sorry to all of my blog readers. I have been a bad blogger. Now that it is Spring Break (Woo hoo!) I have time to bring you up to speed.
Last week's workouts and the highlights:
M: Swim
Dave was back at practice today. (Not P.D... this is a different Dave). He swam in my lane a lot last fall but was out of town just recently. We shall call him Little Dave (L.D) from now on because he is so young. L.D swam in my lane again today. When L.D. is around you must be aware. Why you may ask? Well L.D. often swims down the middle of the lane. You have to keep an eye out on where he is or he may run into you. Luckily, we swim in the end lane and it is a bit wider than most lanes. He didn't run into me today. Thank goodness. I am beginning to think that the C.L. puts him in my lane on purpose just so more people will get in my swimming bubble...
Tues: Rest
It is amazing how glamorous you feel when you get to sleep in until 7:30!!! Wow. I slept 10 hours that night. I can still remember how amazing that felt.
W: Swim
Thurs: Run 1 mile; Bike on trainer for 30 min; Run 2 miles at 10k pace
XXX and I ran the workout. We are a good team. He was the timer and I called out the workouts. I also kept track of what number we were on... good thing or he would have had us doing extra sprints on the bike. :) Lord knows I am not really an over-achiever. I will do what I am told but who wants to do extra and put yourself through MORE pain that could have been avoided. Haha.
Fri: Foam roller
At practice CL asked us how many times we used the Grid this week. (The Grid is the foam roller.) I guess the magic answer was 3. However, I don't think anyone used it that many times. This then led to a conversation about how we need to be spending quality time with our Grid. This led to other conversations that should not occur in a YMCA. :) We were all laughing pretty hard.
Sat: Bike 20 min; Run 20 min (easy workout before tomorrow's race)
I did this on my own. It is crazy how long 40 minutes can take when you don't have anyone to talk to.
Sun: Race Day!
I raced with two of my best buddies... Amber and Becky in the Great Clermont Triathlon. This was in Clermont, FL... land of the Florida mountains. Seriously.
Race Stats:
Great Clermont Triathlon on 3/25/12 Olympic Tri; 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run
Overall Time: 2:44:48
Swim and T1: 25:57
Bike: 1:24:15 17.7mph
Run and T2: 54:37 8:30/mile pace
CL told me to do the swim easy (focus on getting used to swimming in my wetsuit), bike at a moderate pace, and run as hard as I can.
Overall, the swim felt really good. I didn't feel like I was being suffocated too much in my wetsuit, which was nice. This was my first race wearing a wetsuit.... and i was a tad bit nervous after my last experience at Lucky's where I about had a panic attack. I tried to go easy on the swim and do more pulling and less kicking. I also had my first experience with a wetsuit stripper. (Wetsuit strippers are the people who help pull off your wetsuit when you get out of the water.) This was quite interesting. I had no idea what to do. When I saw the man, I ran up to him and just stood there. There was this awkward moment and he just looked at me. I then told him that I didn't know what he wanted me to do. He told me to lay down and then he grabbed my wetsuit and pulled it off. It was more like ripping it off because he had to pull really really hard. The person next to me who was having their wetsuit taken off went really fast... me- nope. Are you supposed to do something to make it come off easier?
Bike: My heart rate was really high (average HR on bike was 168) but I felt like I was going a moderate pace. I could have definitely tried harder so I felt like I was going the "moderate" pace that I should have. 17.7mph average pace according to timing chip. 18.4mph pace according to my gps. I like 18.4mph much better. :) Hopefully the Trek has hopefully made her last maiden voyage on a race course. Not being able to shift in the front because my derailer is broken AND doing the Clermont mountains is basically a recipe for disaster. However, the bike went a lot better than I thought. A couple of times I had to make a turn onto a road just to find myself going straight up. That was a bit much. I had to stand up a couple of times... but so was everyone around me... so I was in good company.
Run: I tried to focus on high cadence, small steps... A LOT!! I thought of the CL yelling this at me at least 3 out of the 6 miles. LOL. Every time I wanted to walk, I just slowed my pace down and made my cadence higher. When I slowed down I noticed on my gps I would go from a 8:00/mile to 9:00/mile pace.... which for me is still really fast for this distance. But then when I increased my cadence, I found myself running faster with less effort. I am beginning to think that the high cadence is a mental thing where you think you are running slower but you are really using less effort to run faster. Towards the end of the run it got really hot and my legs (quad's) started cramping a little. They didn't lock up completely, but I could feel them start to lock up then loosen up enough to let me keep moving. Avg HR on the run was 182. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest on the 2nd half of the run where my HR was up in the 190's.
Overall, I can tell that I am getting stronger. I have never run that fast on an olympic.... and even some sprints.
Last week's workouts and the highlights:
M: Swim
Dave was back at practice today. (Not P.D... this is a different Dave). He swam in my lane a lot last fall but was out of town just recently. We shall call him Little Dave (L.D) from now on because he is so young. L.D swam in my lane again today. When L.D. is around you must be aware. Why you may ask? Well L.D. often swims down the middle of the lane. You have to keep an eye out on where he is or he may run into you. Luckily, we swim in the end lane and it is a bit wider than most lanes. He didn't run into me today. Thank goodness. I am beginning to think that the C.L. puts him in my lane on purpose just so more people will get in my swimming bubble...
Tues: Rest
It is amazing how glamorous you feel when you get to sleep in until 7:30!!! Wow. I slept 10 hours that night. I can still remember how amazing that felt.
W: Swim
Thurs: Run 1 mile; Bike on trainer for 30 min; Run 2 miles at 10k pace
XXX and I ran the workout. We are a good team. He was the timer and I called out the workouts. I also kept track of what number we were on... good thing or he would have had us doing extra sprints on the bike. :) Lord knows I am not really an over-achiever. I will do what I am told but who wants to do extra and put yourself through MORE pain that could have been avoided. Haha.
Fri: Foam roller
At practice CL asked us how many times we used the Grid this week. (The Grid is the foam roller.) I guess the magic answer was 3. However, I don't think anyone used it that many times. This then led to a conversation about how we need to be spending quality time with our Grid. This led to other conversations that should not occur in a YMCA. :) We were all laughing pretty hard.
Sat: Bike 20 min; Run 20 min (easy workout before tomorrow's race)
I did this on my own. It is crazy how long 40 minutes can take when you don't have anyone to talk to.
Sun: Race Day!
I raced with two of my best buddies... Amber and Becky in the Great Clermont Triathlon. This was in Clermont, FL... land of the Florida mountains. Seriously.
Race Stats:
Great Clermont Triathlon on 3/25/12 Olympic Tri; 1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run
Overall Time: 2:44:48
Swim and T1: 25:57
Bike: 1:24:15 17.7mph
Run and T2: 54:37 8:30/mile pace
CL told me to do the swim easy (focus on getting used to swimming in my wetsuit), bike at a moderate pace, and run as hard as I can.
Overall, the swim felt really good. I didn't feel like I was being suffocated too much in my wetsuit, which was nice. This was my first race wearing a wetsuit.... and i was a tad bit nervous after my last experience at Lucky's where I about had a panic attack. I tried to go easy on the swim and do more pulling and less kicking. I also had my first experience with a wetsuit stripper. (Wetsuit strippers are the people who help pull off your wetsuit when you get out of the water.) This was quite interesting. I had no idea what to do. When I saw the man, I ran up to him and just stood there. There was this awkward moment and he just looked at me. I then told him that I didn't know what he wanted me to do. He told me to lay down and then he grabbed my wetsuit and pulled it off. It was more like ripping it off because he had to pull really really hard. The person next to me who was having their wetsuit taken off went really fast... me- nope. Are you supposed to do something to make it come off easier?
Bike: My heart rate was really high (average HR on bike was 168) but I felt like I was going a moderate pace. I could have definitely tried harder so I felt like I was going the "moderate" pace that I should have. 17.7mph average pace according to timing chip. 18.4mph pace according to my gps. I like 18.4mph much better. :) Hopefully the Trek has hopefully made her last maiden voyage on a race course. Not being able to shift in the front because my derailer is broken AND doing the Clermont mountains is basically a recipe for disaster. However, the bike went a lot better than I thought. A couple of times I had to make a turn onto a road just to find myself going straight up. That was a bit much. I had to stand up a couple of times... but so was everyone around me... so I was in good company.
Run: I tried to focus on high cadence, small steps... A LOT!! I thought of the CL yelling this at me at least 3 out of the 6 miles. LOL. Every time I wanted to walk, I just slowed my pace down and made my cadence higher. When I slowed down I noticed on my gps I would go from a 8:00/mile to 9:00/mile pace.... which for me is still really fast for this distance. But then when I increased my cadence, I found myself running faster with less effort. I am beginning to think that the high cadence is a mental thing where you think you are running slower but you are really using less effort to run faster. Towards the end of the run it got really hot and my legs (quad's) started cramping a little. They didn't lock up completely, but I could feel them start to lock up then loosen up enough to let me keep moving. Avg HR on the run was 182. I felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest on the 2nd half of the run where my HR was up in the 190's.
Overall, I can tell that I am getting stronger. I have never run that fast on an olympic.... and even some sprints.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Tour de Cure, 77 mile record, and lots of FOOD!
Today was Tour de Cure. This is a charity ride for the American Diabetes Association. There are several different distances you can ride ranging from 25-100 miles. My group rode the 77 mile course. 77 miles is the longest ride I have ever done... and I survived... and even felt like I could have went further! Overall it was great. The weather was perfect, not too windy, and had some good laughs. Of the good laughs included:
1. Stebra trying out a new kind of shammy butter. This kind had menthol in it so there was a bit of tingling going on down there. This was a discussion topic for at least 10 miles.
2. Bulky's ideal man criteria was discussed for at least another 10 miles. Contents not being displayed for obvious reasons. :)
Today I was so worried about bonking that I ate a TON. When the ride was over I was so full I couldn't even think about eating one more thing. Of all the things I ate/drank were: 3 bags of veggie straws, 1 pack of tropical punch shot blocks, 2 1/2 pb&j sandwiches, 1/2 nutella sandwich, 5 oatmeal raisin cookies, 3 orange slices, 4 1/2 bottles Gatorade, and 1 1/2 bottle water. The veggie straws were a new thing... and a big hit. I am definitely buying them from now on. The salt on them really hits the spot. :) I guess they don't call me Snackie for nothing! Haha.
Afterwards the team went to the Nona Tap room for a team social. That was nice. By the time I got there I was starving again. We talked a lot. I don't remember half of what was said because I was so out of it at that point. All I remember was that my chicken sandwich was great and so were some nachos that were put in front of me. I left early, went home to take a 30 minute nap. I set my alarm. When it went off I didn't know where I was or what was going on so I went back to sleep. My 1/2 hour nap turned into 2 hours. After my ice bath and some ibuprofen I am starting to feel like a normal person again. :) What a great day!
Below is a pic of me and Hairy Scary when we were done.
Today's Stats:
77.62 miles
Total riding time: 4:47 (about 6 hours if you include breaks)
Avg speed: 16.2 mph
Avg HR: 115
Total Calories burnt: 3583
1. Stebra trying out a new kind of shammy butter. This kind had menthol in it so there was a bit of tingling going on down there. This was a discussion topic for at least 10 miles.
2. Bulky's ideal man criteria was discussed for at least another 10 miles. Contents not being displayed for obvious reasons. :)
Today I was so worried about bonking that I ate a TON. When the ride was over I was so full I couldn't even think about eating one more thing. Of all the things I ate/drank were: 3 bags of veggie straws, 1 pack of tropical punch shot blocks, 2 1/2 pb&j sandwiches, 1/2 nutella sandwich, 5 oatmeal raisin cookies, 3 orange slices, 4 1/2 bottles Gatorade, and 1 1/2 bottle water. The veggie straws were a new thing... and a big hit. I am definitely buying them from now on. The salt on them really hits the spot. :) I guess they don't call me Snackie for nothing! Haha.
Afterwards the team went to the Nona Tap room for a team social. That was nice. By the time I got there I was starving again. We talked a lot. I don't remember half of what was said because I was so out of it at that point. All I remember was that my chicken sandwich was great and so were some nachos that were put in front of me. I left early, went home to take a 30 minute nap. I set my alarm. When it went off I didn't know where I was or what was going on so I went back to sleep. My 1/2 hour nap turned into 2 hours. After my ice bath and some ibuprofen I am starting to feel like a normal person again. :) What a great day!
Below is a pic of me and Hairy Scary when we were done.
Above is a pic of me, CL on the phone, and Stebra.
Today's Stats:
77.62 miles
Total riding time: 4:47 (about 6 hours if you include breaks)
Avg speed: 16.2 mph
Avg HR: 115
Total Calories burnt: 3583
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Running with Little T
I woke up today still discouraged about my bike. I also got bad news yesterday about the house I'm trying to buy. I'm not sure what the deal is but I feel like this bad streak has got to turn soon.
This morning I ran 8 miles in zone 2. The team met at the LN YMCA at 7am. Lots of people showed up. I ran with Little T most of the time. We had a good talk. It was more like she was my therapist as I vented about all this craziness going on. Haha. :) We had some good laughs too. Thank goodness for her. I definitely needed a pick-me-up today.
On another note, I am beginning to realize some patterns when I do long runs. When I run my heart rate shoots up really high in the beginning (170 or higher). No matter how fast I run it is really high in the beginning. However, after 15-20 minutes my heart rate goes down to 150 or even below zone 2. Even after 20 minutes I can run pretty fast with a low heart rate. I hope this means I'm doing something right! :)
Today's workout: 8 mile run in zone 2
(I had my HR monitor on for most of it but not all...)
HR monitor stats:
Total distance: 7.14 miles
Total time: 1:17
Avg pace: 10:55
Avg HR: 147
Total Calories burnt: 738
This morning I ran 8 miles in zone 2. The team met at the LN YMCA at 7am. Lots of people showed up. I ran with Little T most of the time. We had a good talk. It was more like she was my therapist as I vented about all this craziness going on. Haha. :) We had some good laughs too. Thank goodness for her. I definitely needed a pick-me-up today.
On another note, I am beginning to realize some patterns when I do long runs. When I run my heart rate shoots up really high in the beginning (170 or higher). No matter how fast I run it is really high in the beginning. However, after 15-20 minutes my heart rate goes down to 150 or even below zone 2. Even after 20 minutes I can run pretty fast with a low heart rate. I hope this means I'm doing something right! :)
Today's workout: 8 mile run in zone 2
(I had my HR monitor on for most of it but not all...)
HR monitor stats:
Total distance: 7.14 miles
Total time: 1:17
Avg pace: 10:55
Avg HR: 147
Total Calories burnt: 738
I hate bikes
Friday we ran 3 miles, had the foam roller and killer ab class. The biggest thing that happened on Friday is I had my new tri bike assembled. When the guys finished it they called me to share some bad news. Sadly, when they were assembling it they noticed that the screws that tighten the bottle cage to the frame were stripped. I called the place that sold me the bike and they said that it was a defective bike and that I needed to send it back to them. There was no way to fix it. So now I have to wait until next FRIDAY at the earliest to get a new bike. Grr. I have not been having good luck with bikes. Not only this but my current Trek road bike that I've been using has issues also. The front derailer broke and I took it in to get it fixed and they said that my bike is so old that they don't make that part anymore. (I have a 24 speed bike and I guess they don't make that speed bike anymore in Trek...) So frustrating. I really wish there was an Ironman event that existed where all you had to do was run and swim. I would definitely swim 15 miles over biking 112 any day. I am sick of dealing with bikes.
Train drill with XXX
Wednesday's workout was a swim. The best part of the swim was at the end when we did the train drill. In this drill you get a partner. One person pulls and the other person kicks while holding onto the pullers ankles. XXX was my partner. We were a good pair. He is an awesome puller and I can kick pretty good. We had a couple of good laughs... especially when he was pulling and i kept running into the lane line.
Today's workout: swim
Warm-Up: 200m Pull; 300m Kick as Left, Right, Prone
4 x 25m descending 10sec RI
Drills: 4x 200 of 50m drills, 30sec RI between 200
Finger Tip Drag; Closed Fist; One Armed Swim; One Legged Kick
Main-Set: 4 x 300m descending within the 300, 20sec RI
Cool-Down: 200back
Today's workout: swim
Warm-Up: 200m Pull; 300m Kick as Left, Right, Prone
4 x 25m descending 10sec RI
Drills: 4x 200 of 50m drills, 30sec RI between 200
Finger Tip Drag; Closed Fist; One Armed Swim; One Legged Kick
Main-Set: 4 x 300m descending within the 300, 20sec RI
Cool-Down: 200back
Monday, March 12, 2012
Just keep swimming.... just keep swimming
Today's workout: swim
Warm-up: 500m Pull rest 30secs
150 Kick as 50 right, 50left, 50 prone. 30sec RI
Main-Set 4 x 400m Descending 20sec RI
4 x 25m HARD 10sec RI
Run 1mile out of the pool at 10k pace.
Warm-up: 500m Pull rest 30secs
150 Kick as 50 right, 50left, 50 prone. 30sec RI
Main-Set 4 x 400m Descending 20sec RI
4 x 25m HARD 10sec RI
Run 1mile out of the pool at 10k pace.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
A lonely run in the rain
I spent the night in Avalon last night. Normally on Sunday mornings a big group of my friends go out and run. We had planned on meeting at 8am. Well when I woke up Amber didn't want to go because it was raining and because she still had to pack for a work trip. Becky and Leslie still planned on going as far as I knew. So I hopped in my car and drove over to the park and sat there. No one showed up. :( Later I found out that the rain was what scared them off too.
I must say that when no one was there I really just wanted to turn around and go home. I am really spoiled in the fact that I haven't worked out by myself for as long as I can remember. I am so blessed to have great friends and a great team. If I had to do it by myself everyday I would never be where I am today. Today was hard. I thought alot about the post on the right that says, "It will be hard... It requires dedication... It requires willpower." I think it was good practice for the IM because I will be all alone then. :( Thinking about being alone for 140.6 miles is not a good thought. :( I also didn't have my ipod. Boo. So instead I had the song "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkston playing in my head over and over. Well I really just had this verse playing.... "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, live a little longer, stand a little taller...." I discovered today that I need to learn more words to songs. Haha. Listening to only one verse in your head isn't enough to get you through. I'll have to work on that for IM. Maybe have a whole play list... because 1 song for that long is going to get OLD.
Today's workout: run in zone 2
7.07 miles
Time: 1:14
Avg HR: 154
Pace: 10:29/mile (It's almost hard to go this slow. I find myself constantly telling myself to slow down.)
Calories burnt: 724
I must say that when no one was there I really just wanted to turn around and go home. I am really spoiled in the fact that I haven't worked out by myself for as long as I can remember. I am so blessed to have great friends and a great team. If I had to do it by myself everyday I would never be where I am today. Today was hard. I thought alot about the post on the right that says, "It will be hard... It requires dedication... It requires willpower." I think it was good practice for the IM because I will be all alone then. :( Thinking about being alone for 140.6 miles is not a good thought. :( I also didn't have my ipod. Boo. So instead I had the song "Stronger" by Kelly Clarkston playing in my head over and over. Well I really just had this verse playing.... "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, live a little longer, stand a little taller...." I discovered today that I need to learn more words to songs. Haha. Listening to only one verse in your head isn't enough to get you through. I'll have to work on that for IM. Maybe have a whole play list... because 1 song for that long is going to get OLD.
Today's workout: run in zone 2
7.07 miles
Time: 1:14
Avg HR: 154
Pace: 10:29/mile (It's almost hard to go this slow. I find myself constantly telling myself to slow down.)
Calories burnt: 724
Biking in Haines City
Saturday we biked the 70.3 course in Haines City. The weather was great and we had a really good turnout. It took us about 45 minutes to get there. When we arrived a ton of us had to go to the bathroom. We checked the bathrooms in the park but they were LOCKED. This was the only part of the day when I about lost it. Haha. (#Don't you dare lock the bathrooms Park Ranger! That is a good way to get Snackie mad!) Everyone who had to go potty piled into Hairy Scary's car to find a McDonalds. Wow was that an adventure!!! She had all of her seats out of her van because she hauled a bunch of bikes for the team. So about 7 of us are all sitting in the floor of her van when we pull out and she says she doesn't know where she is going and that she can't SEE very good. (#Lord help us.) Half of us (ok, mostly me) were screaming to just drive because she is about to have a puddle in her van. After making a couple of wrong turns, holding on to the floor for dear life, and running a light we make it! Haha. After that adventure we got back and set out on the bike course.
I was a bit discouraged with the bike course. It was extremely bumpy with pot holes everywhere. There were also lots of mean dogs running out of their yards wanting to bite you. At one point Little T took one for the team. She was leading in the front and a dog came running out of the middle of nowhere. I thought for sure it was going to bite her, but luckily it didn't. It is a miracle that no one got hurt since we were in a pace line with about 12 people bumper to bumper. However, despite these things it was really cool biking through the orange groves. If you have ever riden the ride Soaring at Epcot, it was exactly like that. You could smell oranges for at least half of the 56 mile ride. I also saw lots of goats, and a mama chicken with her 10+ chicks, and lots of cows staring at us giving us weird looks. The company on the ride was good too. :)
Afterwards we went to Perkins to refuel and hang out with the old people. I love that place. Maybe it's because I'm 29 going on 60. Haha. I figure that old people know where the good food is because heck, they've been around long enough to try out all the bad places that they've finally got it right. On the ride home I was spent. I took a nap in the back of CL's car just to wake up to find out that they took a picture of me and posted it on FB. Fabulous.
Today's workout: bike 56 miles in Haines City
Garmin messed up because I hit stop in the middle and forgot to hit start again. I hate when I do that.
I was a bit discouraged with the bike course. It was extremely bumpy with pot holes everywhere. There were also lots of mean dogs running out of their yards wanting to bite you. At one point Little T took one for the team. She was leading in the front and a dog came running out of the middle of nowhere. I thought for sure it was going to bite her, but luckily it didn't. It is a miracle that no one got hurt since we were in a pace line with about 12 people bumper to bumper. However, despite these things it was really cool biking through the orange groves. If you have ever riden the ride Soaring at Epcot, it was exactly like that. You could smell oranges for at least half of the 56 mile ride. I also saw lots of goats, and a mama chicken with her 10+ chicks, and lots of cows staring at us giving us weird looks. The company on the ride was good too. :)
Afterwards we went to Perkins to refuel and hang out with the old people. I love that place. Maybe it's because I'm 29 going on 60. Haha. I figure that old people know where the good food is because heck, they've been around long enough to try out all the bad places that they've finally got it right. On the ride home I was spent. I took a nap in the back of CL's car just to wake up to find out that they took a picture of me and posted it on FB. Fabulous.
Today's workout: bike 56 miles in Haines City
Garmin messed up because I hit stop in the middle and forgot to hit start again. I hate when I do that.
Friday, March 9, 2012
I'm getting a new bike!!
Today's workout was a 3 mile run, foam roller stretch, abs, then upper body weights. It was a good workout. :) Best news of the week.... I ordered my first tri bike! Yay! It is a Kestrel Talon 105.... black and white. It should be here next Wednesday.
Time for bed now... tomorrow is going to be a long day!
Time for bed now... tomorrow is going to be a long day!
Dam Tired
Thursday was a workout on the bike trainers. I felt ok but didn't look so hot. Everyone kept telling me that I looked pale and sick. Hmm. I think this week finally caught up with me. When I got home from work today I was so tired I couldn't stay awake. I fell asleep at 6:30pm. Slept for 2 hours. Woke up and ate dinner then went back to bed. I'm not quite sure why I'm so tired lately. Training hasn't gotten any harder (as far as I can tell)... although work as really picked up in the last week. Maybe that's it... All I can say is I'm....
PS- Thanks Tans for the magnet. I love it. :)
PS- Thanks Tans for the magnet. I love it. :)
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Chicken Dance
Swam at LN again today and the pool lights were on today! Hooray! Thanks to this I didn't run into the lane lines or miss as many flip turns. :) Practice this morning was just great. Lots of people showed up (around 15-18), we had music playing, saw the sunrise, etc. I swam in a lane with Jenn and Wings. We did lots of drills, including this one where you mimic the chicken dance. Basically you put your hands in your armpits and swim. The goal is to think of having high elbows. However, I was just trying to concentrate on not drowning. If it weren't for my kick I think I would be at the bottom of the pool right now.
Today's workout: swim
Warm up: 200 pull; 100 kick
Drills: 4 sets of (finger tip drag, closed fist, one arm swim, chicken dance) 50 of each drill
(so it is a 200 continuous repeated 4 times)
Main Set: Dirty Dozen of 25 yard swim (effort 7 out of 10) Get out at each 25 and do 1 push up, then 2 push ups, then 3, push ups, until the 12th 25 yard length you do 12 push ups.
200 mod R20
200 hard R20
Cool down: 100 kick; 200 back
Today's workout: swim
Warm up: 200 pull; 100 kick
Drills: 4 sets of (finger tip drag, closed fist, one arm swim, chicken dance) 50 of each drill
(so it is a 200 continuous repeated 4 times)
Main Set: Dirty Dozen of 25 yard swim (effort 7 out of 10) Get out at each 25 and do 1 push up, then 2 push ups, then 3, push ups, until the 12th 25 yard length you do 12 push ups.
200 mod R20
200 hard R20
Cool down: 100 kick; 200 back
Monday, March 5, 2012
For the record, I do not have gills
Well the pool heater is fixed at the LN pool so we were back there today for the first time in quite a while. Being back was really bitter sweet. I love the aquatic center because it is well lit, has a clock, and is long course meters (sometimes). The LN pool is just about the exact opposite. We aren't allowed to have lights around the pool because the neighbors don't like it. There is no clock and it is a 25 yard pool. However, next Sunday starts daylight savings so it should be light and a digital clock was just ordered. Yay! The best thing about the LN pool is that I get to wake up at 5:10am instead of 4:40 AND I can come home and take a 20 minute nap before work. Wahh hooo!!
I swam in a lane with XXX. He only hit me once. It wasn't on purpose. He said sorry and I actually didn't even realize he hit me. I guess my skin is thickening up and I don't even realize it. Oh joy. :) Camel was in the lane next to me. At one point we were doing our warm up and I realized that he wasn't resting after each 75 so I called him on it and he was like, "Oh, so that's what we're supposed to do." Haha. It was pretty funny... so funny that when I pushed off I was still laughing and inhaled some water. FYI, that's not a good idea. For those of you that say I have gills and swim like a fish.... let me be clear, I tried that out today and it didn't work out so hot. :)
Today's workout: swim
Warmup: 6x75 swim, drill, pull
Main set: 4x500 R60 (zone 2 pace) For me approx 1:40/100 pace
4x25 sprint R10
Cool down: 200 back
I swam in a lane with XXX. He only hit me once. It wasn't on purpose. He said sorry and I actually didn't even realize he hit me. I guess my skin is thickening up and I don't even realize it. Oh joy. :) Camel was in the lane next to me. At one point we were doing our warm up and I realized that he wasn't resting after each 75 so I called him on it and he was like, "Oh, so that's what we're supposed to do." Haha. It was pretty funny... so funny that when I pushed off I was still laughing and inhaled some water. FYI, that's not a good idea. For those of you that say I have gills and swim like a fish.... let me be clear, I tried that out today and it didn't work out so hot. :)
Today's workout: swim
Warmup: 6x75 swim, drill, pull
Main set: 4x500 R60 (zone 2 pace) For me approx 1:40/100 pace
4x25 sprint R10
Cool down: 200 back
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Hot, windy brick
You know how once in a while you start out to do something and it just doesn't seem to go as planned? Well that was what Saturday's brick felt like. We got off to a late start because some people showed up late. When we started rolling we had an interesting conversation about going numero uno while riding ON the bike. It is crazy what some people will do to save time. I can tell you that I am NOT one of those people willing to sit in their own pee for 50 miles. However, quite a few people were and they weren't shy about letting you know! Haha! I am however very happy to find out who these people are.... so now I know who NOT to draft! :)
Other random things... PD got a flat tire. The group had a hard time staying together because of the different speeds. We went a new route today and made a couple wrong turns. I wouldn't say we were lost... but we were definitely all thinking... "what the heck just happened?" And the CL didn't feel well. :( And, according to Stebra, "RB had a Category 3 gust out of her tailpipe after the run this morning. Most shocking moment of the year for me so far." I thought Stebra was going to have a heart attack. This might be one of the reasons why CL didn't feel well... Oh how I love my team. :)
The bike was SUPER windy. 25mph gusts. The run afterwards was HOT.... at least 86 degrees. Hairy Scary kept me moving on the run. I felt like I was going to melt on the sidewalk. Afterwards we had a nice snack and chatted it up a bit before we all went home. :) After a 2 hour nap and an ice bath I felt like a normal person again.
Today's workout: bike/run brick
50.91 mile bike in zone 2
avg HR 130
avg pace 16mph
Time: 3:10
Calories Burnt 2,307
1.97 mile run
Time: 18:59
avg HR 166
Calories Burnt 199
avg pace 9:38 min/mile
Other random things... PD got a flat tire. The group had a hard time staying together because of the different speeds. We went a new route today and made a couple wrong turns. I wouldn't say we were lost... but we were definitely all thinking... "what the heck just happened?" And the CL didn't feel well. :( And, according to Stebra, "RB had a Category 3 gust out of her tailpipe after the run this morning. Most shocking moment of the year for me so far." I thought Stebra was going to have a heart attack. This might be one of the reasons why CL didn't feel well... Oh how I love my team. :)
The bike was SUPER windy. 25mph gusts. The run afterwards was HOT.... at least 86 degrees. Hairy Scary kept me moving on the run. I felt like I was going to melt on the sidewalk. Afterwards we had a nice snack and chatted it up a bit before we all went home. :) After a 2 hour nap and an ice bath I felt like a normal person again.
Today's workout: bike/run brick
50.91 mile bike in zone 2
avg HR 130
avg pace 16mph
Time: 3:10
Calories Burnt 2,307
1.97 mile run
Time: 18:59
avg HR 166
Calories Burnt 199
avg pace 9:38 min/mile
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Math games at 5am... um no!
On the way to swim practice today CL thought it would be fun to hand out these math card games to Little T, Wings, and I that had 4 numbers on them. The goal of the game was to make these 4 numbers equal 24 by using +, -, x, or division. I don't know what she was thinking giving me a math game at 5am!! Little T and Wings did the game but I gave it right back and said that my brain is not awake that early in the morning. Besides, I will never do a math game for fun. I am a guidance counselor for a reason. I am into talking, listening, and feelings. NOT math. :)
Swim practice today went well. I felt really good. Swam with Wings. I like swimming with her. We swim the same pace so that makes it easier.
Today's workout: Swim
Warmup: 200 pull; 100 kick
4 sets of:
4x50 drill (finger tip, closed fist, 1 arm, shark)
4x200 sprint descend R10 (My 200 times were 2:39, 2:37, 2:35, 2:30)
2x400 long course pace R30
200 back cool down
2,900 yards
Swim practice today went well. I felt really good. Swam with Wings. I like swimming with her. We swim the same pace so that makes it easier.
Today's workout: Swim
Warmup: 200 pull; 100 kick
4 sets of:
4x50 drill (finger tip, closed fist, 1 arm, shark)
4x200 sprint descend R10 (My 200 times were 2:39, 2:37, 2:35, 2:30)
2x400 long course pace R30
200 back cool down
2,900 yards
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Fat Camp
At today's practice you could have easily mistaken it to be a Fat Camp like from the Biggest Looser instead of a tri club practice. CL had us doing all kinds of crazy things and the group was pretty chatty so she had to redirect us quite a few times. This is basically what practice sounded like today as CL barked out orders....
"Go run 2 miles. Now get in a line and do jumping jacks. Stop. Now run in place with a high cadence. Faster. That's too slow. Stop talking. Do it again that wasn't fast enough. Now take your shoes off. Don't sit down to take your shoes off- do it standing up instead to engage your core. Now run in a circle with your shoes off focusing on cadence and foot strike. Faster feet but don't go forward too fast. Stop talking. Put your shoes back on but leave your socks off. Go inside. Find a partner and a foam roller. Hurry up. We are running out of time. Do these 3 exercies (they were explained). You're not doing it right..... "
LOL. I think we drive her a little crazy. :) Today was fun. It was a bit different than what we normally do. RB was my partner and we had some good laughs trying to figure out the foam roller exercises.
Today's workout: run and stuff
2 mile run
running drills
foam roller core exercises
"Go run 2 miles. Now get in a line and do jumping jacks. Stop. Now run in place with a high cadence. Faster. That's too slow. Stop talking. Do it again that wasn't fast enough. Now take your shoes off. Don't sit down to take your shoes off- do it standing up instead to engage your core. Now run in a circle with your shoes off focusing on cadence and foot strike. Faster feet but don't go forward too fast. Stop talking. Put your shoes back on but leave your socks off. Go inside. Find a partner and a foam roller. Hurry up. We are running out of time. Do these 3 exercies (they were explained). You're not doing it right..... "
LOL. I think we drive her a little crazy. :) Today was fun. It was a bit different than what we normally do. RB was my partner and we had some good laughs trying to figure out the foam roller exercises.
Today's workout: run and stuff
2 mile run
running drills
foam roller core exercises
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Rainbow Bright
Swam this morning at the Aquatic Center. This week is a recovery week. Yay! Today's swim felt almost too easy. I swam in a lane with XXX. Not many came to practice this morning. Lots of people are out of town for work. The news for the day is Preston now has a nickname.... Rainbow Bright. :) Why? Well you will always find her wearing something very colorful. I think it is very fitting.
Today's workout: Swim
Warmup: 300 pull; 200 kick
10x100 Threshold pace + 5 seconds (I basically did the 100's on the 1:35 with 10 seconds rest)
10x100 at Threshold pace (This was on the 1:30 with 10 seconds rest)
Cool down: 100 kick; 200 back
Today's workout: Swim
Warmup: 300 pull; 200 kick
10x100 Threshold pace + 5 seconds (I basically did the 100's on the 1:35 with 10 seconds rest)
10x100 at Threshold pace (This was on the 1:30 with 10 seconds rest)
Cool down: 100 kick; 200 back
Monday, February 27, 2012
Tubby is a model
I think my body is paying me back for all the abuse this weekend. Today is my day off (no cardio). I set my alarm for 7:30 (sleep in time- wow!) but unfortunately I have been getting up so early that I couldn't even sleep that late. I made it to 6:30... which is pretty good. When I got out of bed my entire body was in a knot. I got the foam roller out and did some rolling. While rolling Mr. Tubby was looking at me like I was psycho.
Speaking of Tubby, he is the Team Vortex mascot. He was pretty excited this past weekend so he put on his team uniform with a little help from me. LOL. See below. :)
Tubby thinks he is a model. :)
The funny part was that my uniform almost fit him perfectly!!! I think he has been eating too many lizards. :)
Tubby is feeling our pain of what it is like to be a tootsie roll in a uniform. Notice how he is trying to get it off with his front paw.
Have to get a good shot of his back. Go Team Vortex. :)
Tubby's real thoughts about the uniform. This S%$#S! Haha. He also doesn't like the flash on the camera either. Put those two together and he is ready to bolt!
Speaking of Tubby, he is the Team Vortex mascot. He was pretty excited this past weekend so he put on his team uniform with a little help from me. LOL. See below. :)
Tubby thinks he is a model. :)The funny part was that my uniform almost fit him perfectly!!! I think he has been eating too many lizards. :)Tubby is feeling our pain of what it is like to be a tootsie roll in a uniform. Notice how he is trying to get it off with his front paw.Have to get a good shot of his back. Go Team Vortex. :) Tubby's real thoughts about the uniform. This S%$#S! Haha. He also doesn't like the flash on the camera either. Put those two together and he is ready to bolt!Sunday, February 26, 2012
Disney's Princess Half Marathon
Today started with getting up at 2:30am so we could get to Disney by 4am for the start of the race at 6. I was really excited because I had never done a Disney race (other than the Danskin... but I was told that that one didn't count (LOL) ... however I was also really nervous because my toe was still sore and my legs were still screaming despite taking Tylenol, using the foam roller, and going to bed at 7:30 wrapped in ice. Luckily everything went numb and didn't really hurt. The race was really awesome. This is by far the coolest race I have ever done. It was sold out... 20,000 crazy people dressed in tutu's and tiaras... 19,500 women and maybe 500 men. Even the guys wore tutu's or skirts... Wallace you are a trooper! We had a lot of people come from the Lake Nona YMCA running group and some from Team Vortex (the Lake Nona YMCA Triathlon Club that I workout with). It was a really nice group. I ran with Jessica and Wallace for a bit and also with Amanda. I took the first half of the race really easy. CL even made us walk the first 5 minutes to warm up. I felt like I was going to jump out of my skin as everyone sprinted at the start while we were walking. That was hard. I am competitive and don't like to get passed....but I get it. It was for the greater good... and this was not my "A" race.... and considering last night I was almost comatose... going slow in the beginning was prolly the right thing to do. At mile 6 in Magic Kingdom I picked up the pace because I was (surprisingly) not feeling very tired. The time spent running in the Disney parks (MK and Epcot) were 3 miles at the most. Most of it was spent on the highways connecting the Disney parks. Surprisingly there was a lot going on. There were Disney characters everywhere. People stood in (very long) lines to get their picture taken with them. They also had lots of high school bands and chorus' there performing. LNHS' chorus was there. I saw them at the end along with Mr. and Mrs. Chase. That was really cool. I slapped all of their hands as I went by. I also saw Jennifer Weber while she was there working. She works for a company that takes pictures for these events. She was in MK. It was a great day. :) Afterwards the gang went to Sweet Mamas for breakfast/lunch.
Best song of the day, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" by Kelly Clarkson. This was the official race song and I swear I heard it at least 6 times along the course. Does this song just make you want to get up and run or what?! :)
Below is a picture of the Cult Leader and I at the start and then me at the MK castle. :)
Today's workout: 1/2 Marathon
13.19 miles
2:17 time from my Garmin... not my official race time (doesn't include a potty stop and a 2 picture stops b/c my watch pauses automatically)
Avg Pace: 10:25/mile
Calories Burnt: 1315
Avg HR: 156
Official Disney Stats:
Best song of the day, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" by Kelly Clarkson. This was the official race song and I swear I heard it at least 6 times along the course. Does this song just make you want to get up and run or what?! :)
Below is a picture of the Cult Leader and I at the start and then me at the MK castle. :)
Today's workout: 1/2 Marathon
13.19 miles
2:17 time from my Garmin... not my official race time (doesn't include a potty stop and a 2 picture stops b/c my watch pauses automatically)
Avg Pace: 10:25/mile
Calories Burnt: 1315
Avg HR: 156
Official Disney Stats:
| Chip Time | 2:30:27 |
| Overall Place | 5210 / 15784 |
| Gender Place | 5210 / 15784 |
| 5K Split | 1:03:25 |
| 10K Split | 1:22:32 |
| 15K Split | 1:54:29 |
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