Windy West Side

Today I ran down the west side from 70th to the Winter Garden. Just over 5 miles. Went out with the intention of running for one hour at a steady pace, and I feel like I achieved that goal. What is interesting is that I seem to have organically sped up my pace at the end of the run, which I would think counter-intuitive, but according to the wisdom of a friend who has run with me, that's kind of what I tend to do... which is nice to know for race purposes, but bad for training. Would be good to have a more accurate (and functional) way to track my pace. Nike+ is great for post-run data generalizations, but not great for keeping abreast of the situation while it is occurring.

This week I want to do a couple of interval runs, need to work on speed and (possibly) lactic threshold... though I'll need a refresher on how to achieve the latter. Feeling better and better about the two runs I have in May, though the duathlon in March is freaking me out a bit. Most recent worry... How the hell am I going to get my bike out there?!

Oh well. I'll figure it out.

Busy Week

It has been a busy week. My ability to schedule time for myself has proven to be completely dysfunctional, aside from a few hours yesterday that provided some much needed and eagerly anticipated down time. If it weren't for my concert this evening and an intense headache that plagues me currently, I'd go to the gym. Alas, I think I'll take a nap instead.

Couch

I bought a couch. My friend and I hauled it up the four flights of stairs to my apartment yesterday. My whole body hurts. I want nothing more than a massage and a nice long swim to stretch myself out. However, I was advised to rest for a few days lest I injure myself. *sigh*

Around the Park

I went out today with the goal of making it "all the way around the loop by myself!" ...which isn't really a good goal. Good intentions, but not the best way to train.

I set out at a smooth slow pace (around 11:30-10:50) and decided, as I ran that I wanted to do the hill twice, one each direction. So, the goal became: all the way around the loop, with the hill twice. Again... good intentions, bad form.

Ran down the hill and back up the "correct" way (with traffic) until I reached the cutoff road, then I turned around and ran back down and up against traffic and took the cutoff road to finish the loop the correct way. I was still running around 11:00-10:30 at this point, but downhill runs became more like 7:00 and 6:40. By the time I finished the second hill loop, I was feeling pretty great, so I ran about 8:30 across the cutoff road. The rest of the run came in closer to 10:00-9:50, as I was feeling good and knew I could keep the pace to the end.

Mind you, this all goes against everything I've learned over the last several months.

Instead of going out with the intention of staying slow and steady (11:30-10:50, like I started) and going the whole way at that pace OR running intervals and kicking my heart rate up periodically, but running less distance, I lolly gagged in the middle. No bueno.

But I got it out of my system, and I learned a lesson. If I'm going to train, I need to actually train. Just running and just swimming and just biking aren't going to cut it. Kind of wishing "Team Emily" wasn't a one-man band.

Oh well.

RBR

Equipment trial... hopped into my trisuit to see how this race might go down. Ran a mile, switched to bike mode, biked 15mins, switched back and ran another mile. Felt tired going into first mile, but most of that was just general fatigue. Once I got through the bike, the second run was more "up". Trisuit held up well. I've ridden my bike in it before, but the run was new. And the transition. Generally good though. No rough issues.

Yay. In exactly 4 weeks (March 19) I will be running/biking/running in Prospect Park. Here we go!

Double Whammy

Swim:

This morning my friend, Rose, and I did some drills in the pool-
200m pool buoy
200m kick board
200m alternating side stroke
200m back stroke
400m breast stroke
200m "cool down" freestyle
Oh my oh my it felt good to be in the pool with a friend! We spent just over 45minutes on our workout and I felt great about the freestyle cool down (every 50m was slower than previous) and the 400m (solid! no breaks) breast stroke.

Aside from the fact that the pool was uncharacteristically packed, the morning was lovely and the swim was a win!

Bike:

Time: 49:35
Distance: 11.64
Average: 14'0"
Fastest: 26'9"

Yes, you read that right, I went almost 27 MILES AN HOUR! For, like, a second... but still! Actually, the whole ride was pretty speedy. I maxed out around 25mph several times throughout the ride and I'd guess that if I hadn't done the hills in big ring (dummy) my average would have been closer to 16mph. When I left the park my average was 15.2, but I walked home so...

I am a little perturbed about this new law that requires cyclists to stop at red lights in the park. I understand that people are stupid and that the best way to keep people from being stupid is to slap them with a $270 fine, but really?! First of all, if you are going to inflict a new traffic law on people POST SIGNAGE! I didn't even know it was a law until some cyclist informed me. Second, if you are going to treat the loop as if it were a street, get someone out there to slap the pedestrians who lollygag in the middle of it with fines! At least the ones that were playing catch on the west side today. Jeez. Finally, if we all have to play by the traffic laws now, make it so that the cabs that are trying to kill as many people as they can between fares SLOW THE HELL DOWN. There is nothing safe about five pedestrians, two runners, a cyclist, a horse-drawn carriage and a cab all trying to share the same 18 feet of road, ESPECIALLY when said cab guns it to make sure he can be the first person to stop at the next red light. Seriously.

Anyway, nice ride otherwise, felt strong and fast. Still loving my cateye. We're going to get a lot done this season!

Here's to spring!

Powerhouse

Feeling strong today. I swam 1100m in 30mins. Still rested ever 100m, but rested less. Did a couple of new things today:

200m smooth warmup - freestyle
100m arms only, clamped a kickboard between my legs and swam freestyle - holy crap! I was going so fast!
100m kickboard, which made me feel slow, but got my legs to really work... and after my super fast arm only work, anything would have felt slow.

Then I did 100m easy/100m hard. Kind of like pool intervals, I suppose. Started and ended on an easy set. When I went hard, I felt strong and fast and long and lean. Sometimes the hard ones were incredibly hard, but I found that if my breathing was especially in sync, I was able to really go. I wasn't paying attention to individual lap times, but feel like I was zooming. And I did count strokes a couple of times... one length (2nd length out of a hard 100m) I did in 17 strokes. Much of that has to do with the speed I took off of the wall. I flew past the flags underwater. Felt like a Phelps-fish today. Go me.

Warm weather run

It was so warm out, I didn't have to wear a head covering! And no gloves either... though, by the end of the run, my hands felt a bit chilled.

Ran around Central Park, just over 5.5 miles in just under an hour. Feeling good about the runs I have coming up in May. The only thing I worry about still is the duathlon. Mostly I worry because I want to make sure I don't go out too hard and ruin myself before I even start. Just over a month to go before I hop in the saddle. If the weather keeps its steady climb, I should be great with the weather! Here's hoping.

Fifty Degrees!!! (well... almost)

Rode up the west side today. Got in line behind a cyclist who, along with riding at a good clip, had the bonus feature of a bell on his bike. Made riding through the few pedestrians present on the path much easier. Pedaled all the way up to the GWB, which from my new apartment is MUCH closer. :)

Ended up with an hour worth of pavement under my wheels at an average of 13mph. Tried to keep the cadence at 88 or better, that went well. Strong headwind on the way home, but the temperature outside was totally pleasant and there were no pesky crosswinds to knock me out.

Lovely ride. Can't wait until the roads dry up!

Time: 1:03
Distance: 13.27
Avg Pace: 12.6
Best mph: 21.8

** bonus features: Good hill climb at the middle and end of the ride, plus a flight of stairs to finish the workout! Haha. Getting much better at hauling my 19lb ride up and down.

Saturday

Swam 500m
Ran 3 miles
Ab work
whatever.

Run, Bike... ab workout?

I wanted to do a short run/bike/run today to see how it felt to get the muscles moving like that... but I forgot my water bottle at home and was feeling seriously dehydrated by the end of the bike, not to mention the horrid side ache I was achieving with my run. I didn't make it very far with the run, but the bike was good. I did a "strength" video. Basically 20 minutes of seated climb. Oy.

After that, I felt tired but still wanted to get a little more out of my hour at the gym, so I did some more core exercises upstairs. By the time I got back to my locker I was exhausted and starving, thank god for granola bars and hot showers. I probably did more harm than good, but I'm so annoyed with myself for being under motivated that I muscled through anyway. Bah.

Can the cold weather just go away? Please?

Strength Training

Worked on the machines today. Wasn't feeling up for running or dealing with the gym bikes... and I'm too cold to strip down and hop in the pool. Frackus, I hate winter!

Anywho, did some core strength workouts in the "Ab Room" tonight. My tummy is going to be sore tomorrow. No laughing! :)

I need to find a good resource for strength and general core training. I feel like I could be stronger, but I don't really have a good training regimen in place. I have a good base of knowledge about how to work out from weight training in high school, working out with my momma when I was younger and compiling the knowledge gained from various personal training sessions... but need to consolidate that into something functional.

I'm also feeling a little frustrated with myself about scheduling. I want to be more regular with my workout times, but work and extracurricular activity make it difficult. Early morning? Late night? Mid day? Who knows.... I'll figure it out eventually.

Park in the Dark

Ran for a good hour in Central Park. The snow and street lamps made it seem like a wintry alpine resort. The road was generally dry on the east side and generally wet on the west, but the temperature, though chilly, was mild enough to run comfortably in.

I'm working on keeping my cadence comfortable, not too much work, not too slow. Up and down hill efforts are also a new trick to work on. I still hold back a little on the downhill, but some of that is just form and confidence. Ran up the Great Hill with greater ease than anticipated. It helped to be focused on "slow and steady". I tend to focus too much on "not fast enough!" Working on it.

Generally, a lovely run. My foot bothered me right after, but we're going to try to get past that. Me and the foot, that is.

Fresh Air

Took my bike out for a spin today. Had to grease up and pump tires, bike's been sitting idle for so long, the pressure was super low!

Went around Central Park, the lower loop was ultra packed. Hazardously so. Did one full loop (including Great Hill) and one half loop (cut out lower loop and hill). Eleven miles. I know this because my nifty new CatEye bike computer told me so. Stats:

Time: 53'32"
Distance: 11.02
Average mph: 12.3
Max mph: 22.7

It was really nice to be able to see my cadence so that I could compare it to the amount of work I was doing. Helped to simultaneously feel and see what was going on under my pedals. I'm looking forward to biking this spring and summer!

Felt great to get the wheels out. Didn't go out for very long, but wanted to spend some quality time on my equipment. I really love how it fits me like a glove, there is no effort involved when I get back on. "Just like riding a bike."

Spent some quality time cleaning all the gunk off after the ride too. Sparkly and new, ready for the next ride.

Go go gadget legs!

I was curious about the sprint triathlon I'm doing at the end of July. I worried that it was going to be a longer distance in the pool than I could readily complete in a reasonable amount of time. When I looked, it said 1/4 mile... well, that's only 400m! I can totally do that. :)

So, I felt inspired to swim (I was planning to anyway, but the inspiration helped). Hopped in the pool and decided to see how long it would take me to freestyle 400m. Instead of stopping ever 100m, I paused every 150 and I tried out a basic open turn at each turnaround. Twelve minutes later, I had swum 400m. Felt great! I proceeded to stick with the 150m rest cycles and swam 1200m in 35 minutes.

Then I changed into running gear, since I'm on a short speed schedule for my Nike+ app. The workout that I did was very strange (to me), as it was intervals based on distance, not time. I set up the treadmill, which I'm becoming much better at, and ran at 11'30" to warm up. The intervals were five sets of 5x30m at sprint pace followed by "a lap" at rest pace between sets. With warm up and cool down, I ended up running almost 4 miles in 40 minutes (continued cool down for another 5mins after turning off the app.)

The great thing about this run was that I was really sweating and the sprints made me feel powerful! I wasn't exhausted like I expected to be, but rather felt exhilarated. I could probably have kicked it up a notch, but I'm trying to stick to the training and not over do it.

Sink or Swim

So, I've determined what the trick is to getting myself to the gym daily: when I get home from work, I am not to take off my jacket or shoes. This forces me to get my gym bag together and leave the house right away. We're going to stay with this theory as long as possible...

I got a new suit. It's a Speedo racing suit. I like it.
I took it for a spin today. Hopped in the pool feeling like crap. Mostly emotionally, less physically. My jaunt to Florida yielded brief carefree moments and allowed for some much needed R&R, but my return burdened me heavily with crappy weather and reinstalled work stress. All I can say is, uncontrollable or not, it is ill-advised to cry underwater. Makes it much more difficult to breathe in rhythm.

But I digress. Started the swim poorly. Realized halfway through that I was exerting a significant amount of effort with very little reward. Got my act together and swam much more "prettily" the second half. Long reaching on the front stroke, less focus on the pull. Still catching myself not kicking on occasion, but will do some drills to fix that. Second half felt better than the first and I was able to swim 1000m in 30mins (100m sets).

Intervals

Gathered my gear and headed out for a run indoors. I really hate the wintriness of New York. Everything else is fine, but winter? No thanks.

Anywho, decided on 45 minutes with speed intervals. Warmed up for five minutes then did thirty minutes of 60s on, 60s recovery. No walking. Ten minutes cool down. Asthmatic sensitivity today, but the recovery runs were long enough that I could keep going.

I need to look into duathlon protocol. I assume it's very similar to tri setup, but without the swim. Silly thing I've been wondering about lately is what to wear?! I feel like the run/bike/run layout requires gear adjustment. Could I wear my tri suit? Bah. I don't know. Will running with a chamois before biking screw me up? Looking into it...

Good day though. New swimsuit in the pool tomorrow!