No Good

Oh dear.

I was doing so well.  A reasonably long effort (48 minutes scheduled) with strides every five turned into one lap around the Reservoir and a slow, painful walk to the train home.

The effort was really good.  I started out with a nice warm up, averaging a 150 HR, followed by three solid sets.  Each main set was keyed in to around 9:50 and each set of strides was right around 8:00.  Good HR throughout, averaging around 162.

Then my left hamstring suddenly seized up and I couldn't run any more.  I pulled over and started to rub out my leg, and as I stood there my right leg started to tighten.  I decided to try to run through it as though it were a cramp.  That lasted about a minute, during which time I averaged about 13:00/mile.  No way.  Then I started to worry that I was going to tear something if I kept it up, so I stopped.  Ugh.

Late Night Bike

Feeling better in the legs, but still a little muscular fatigue.  This ride was good.  Ride and Stride is a good exercise because there is a combination of time trial effort and high cadence spinning.  There are three sets, each begins with 5 minutes increasing resistance each minute and concludes with 4 minutes high cadence decreasing resistance each minute.  

This was one of those efforts where I felt like talking myself out of finishing the video.  I made it through the first set and Troy said we'd be doing that two more times...  bleh.  Tired muscles.  But then I started the second set.  And halfway through the set I thought, "I'm just going to finish this set and stop the video."

But then I started the third set.  Sometimes, I have no idea how I manage to train at all.  But then I finish.

Sore and Fatigued

My morning went by too quickly and then I was at work.  I was planning to run after work, but my legs were still really tight, so I opted for a short massage instead.  After choir I went to my other job for a few hours.  I'll try to wake up early tomorrow and get myself on the bike.

Too fast out the gate

Four hundred to warm up, including pull buoy, which was beneficial.

Main set was 3x250, decreasing speed.  The first set was thwarted by my over-cooking it and I ended up resting for 20s between lap 2 & 3.  I learned my lesson.  More pull buoy and cool down, 200y.

3x250y	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3
Lap 1	48.26	51.97	52.98
Lap 2	59.65	59.64	60.49
Lap 3	57.3	63.97	65
Lap 4	65.59	61.39	68.54
Lap 5	65.05	64.12	70.26
Recovery	42.93	59.93

Whoops! Bloggy time.

Apparently, I haven't blogged since Saturday (it's actually Friday, as I write this...)

So, catching up:


Spinervals 8.0 was a good recovery for me after that long, hard run yesterday.  I tried to keep track of my 'segments' today by pressing the lap button on my new bikey Garmin.  I was vaguely successful.

The recovery and technique video was a smart choice.  My legs were fatigued.  This video focuses on high cadence work and one-leg drills.  Much needed.

A Really Good Day

Got myself up and to the Crate and Barrel to purchase a much needed addition to my living room.  On the way, I happened upon a fantastic little coffee shop that does it the right way and is totally eco-friendly (or as eco-friendly as they can be), they have two "compost" bins and a recycle bin.  All of their paper and "plastic" products are biodegradable.  Tres cool.  Plus the coffee was totally yum.

Gave myself a new 'do and sent out the laundry.  Had a nice meal with a friend and then met up with another for a fantastic (and difficult) run in the park.  Put some love into the bridle path and capitalized on the sunshiney day.  A bit windy and chilly, but perfect otherwise.

Here are my stats for the run.  I went out with the understanding that it would be a 170bpm day for me, but not quite expecting to hit 193...  I can suffer with the best of 'em.

This is almost my fastest 10K.  The record holder there is actually 9:07/mile - a run I did in July last year.  True testament to disciplined training.

Two Thousand Yard Morning

Up and at 'em in the rainy rain today.  Had a long swim this morning, but it was okay because there weren't very many people in the pool.  I started with some very focused drills after a long mixed stroke warm up and finished with 200y of pull buoy.  I focused on hand position throughout and strong pull, 600y before the main set.

Main was 10x100y EBEH.  I liked this set.  Splitting the 100y sets into 25y lengths was nice.  Made the whole thing go by more quickly.  I did a very good job of slowing down and keeping my body long and focused during the easy legs and creating a long, strong stroke through the build and hard sections.  There is also a noticeable difference between the build sets and the hard sets.  I'm proud of this effort.

10x100y	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
E	29.1	32.53	32.21	33.57	32.24
B	28.58	29.24	29.26	28.72	30.6
E	34.64	34.64	35.07	33.84	32.55
H	25.43	26.3	25.34	26.22	26.3
R=20	19.91	20.22	19.37	21.46	23
	Set 6	Set 7	Set 8	Set 9	Set 10
E	32.63	32.54	33.78	33.5	32.49
B	28.15	28.74	28.86	27.71	28.96
E	34.16	33.75	34.34	34.76	34.71
H	25.37	25.34	24.85	25.46	24.21
R=20	19.96	21.41	22.37	21.66

Fastest length was the last one - woot.  Slowest was only :35, which isn't bad.  I'll take it.  Overall very consistent.

Finished off with 200y freestyle cool down plus 100y each of breast stroke and back stroke.

Also, I need a new bathing suit.  This one is seriously falling apart.

Be More Positive

I had a lot of thoughts during my run today.  The recurring thought was that no one else is suffering from my sadness except for me.  In spite of that thought, I'm still having trouble moving forward.  It's intermittent.  Some days I feel fine and often throughout the day I have good and bad moments.  I'm frustrated by my seeming inability to exist on my own with myself.  I rely too heavily on my surroundings and my perceptions of the feelings of those around me.  It is exhausting.  I am working on it.  Making my life less heavy might make me run a little faster...

Aqua Brick

Forgot my sport count.  Did a good job of checking the clock and used the lane markers to keep count.  Started with 100y backstroke and 200y drills: one arm, finger drag, one arm, 3T.  Focused a lot on placement of my left arm as it entered the water and my right arm through the pull. 

Main set was 7x100y easy, medium, easy, medium.  I gave myself :20 between each set.  I was very pleased with this effort.  My easy lengths were probably around :27-:32 each and my medium sets were probably closer to :24-:28 each.  I typically finished each 100y set within 2:00. 

Finished with 200y mixed stroke.  It occurred to me that I don't often warm up or cool down with freestyle and that I should probably do this more.  I did 50y back stroke, 100y freestyle and 50y breast stroke to cool down.

Because of my schedule and my late wake-up this morning, I also had a run to do.  I figured I would treat it like a little bit of a brick/aquathlon and go up to the treadmills.  Ran 5 minutes to warm up and then 4 sets of 5 minutes with increasing effort.  I thought that the treadmill would be good for consistency, but I found that as I increased the speed on the treadmill, my HR would increase, but then my body would adjust and recover slightly.  Weird.  I also felt like my RPE was much higher than my HR suggests. 

I felt fatigued and I think that is partially due to the fact that I didn't feed myself very well today.  I ate a found peppermint patty and about three tablespoons of chex mix for breakfast because I left my house (again) without making/eating real food.  Later, once I got off the train, I had a large street cart coffee with milk and sugar and about a quarter cup of old granola with milk at my office.  I'm trying to spend less money on random food... but when I don't make breakfast and bring lunch, this becomes problematic.  Lunch didn't go very well.  I left the office and went for a walk in the sun, but was upset and had no appetite and ended up drinking an 8oz Odwalla protein juice and later had a cup of chicken noodle soup and a piece of dark chocolate.  Before I went to the gym (about 30 minutes before swimming) I had a ham & gruyere crepe.

I am finding that I am not interested in food, but that my body is still hungry.  I psychologically don't want to eat, but my body needs calories.  So I end up eating crap, but not very much of it. 

I'm still toeing the line of depression, but I'm taking an herbal supplement that seems to help.  At least it makes me feel less despair.  Also taking more Vitamin D.

Spinervals 16.0

Sleepy time.

Tired.  I got an hour into this ride and my right shoulder started to feel tight.  Took me another hour to figure out why... I wandered around with a laptop slung over it today.  I'll stretch and put some heat on it.  Should be fine tomorrow.

Rode with Coach Troy.  Solid effort, stayed in Z2.  Added time to the back end to finish up my prescribed 97 minutes.  Ignore the wonky lap data.  My new device isn't set to auto lap, which I think is probably better, but I keep forgetting to hit the button.  With practice, I'll be better.

Good day.  Really good day.

A Really Good Swim

Today, I had a really good swim.  Started with 100y brs and 50y each of finger drag, 3T & one-arm (ea).  Followed up with a main set 12 minute straight swim.  I tried to go a little harder than I have been, aiming for 62 second laps instead of 67 seconds...

12 min	200y	400y	600y
Lap 1	55.96	62.88	61.89
Lap 2	61.22	61.56	63.34
Lap 3	60.6	64.81	64.48
Lap 4	63	65.55	61.39
straight swim			12:26

Turns out, my actual average was just under 62:15.  Very good.  Go me.

After a minute of rest I did 5x50y starting hard, getting easier each lap.  I am very pleased with this set.  I tried to shave 5sec off each lap:

L1  46.75
L2  50.71
L3  54.31
L4  57.00
L5  55.46

Greatness.

Not as Awesome as I Thought

Ran a TT6 today at the Reservoir.  Tried to psyche myself up on my way out.  Told myself that I'm fast and that I can do it.  Ran an easy warm up and made it easily onto the track before my 6 minutes started.  I was concerned about going too easy and ending up with crappy numbers.  Unfortunately, I may have gone too hard and ended up with crappy numbers.  Started out under 7:00 and ended up around 8:15.  Wondering if my average would have been better if I had started at a slower pace.  Maybe not.  I definitely felt like I wanted to stop by half way and was huffing and puffing by minute 4.  Five minutes in, it was all willpower and I tried to keep my cadence steady because that's all I could think about.  It hurt.

I guess I thought 7:40 was good.  Then I checked last year's numbers and I ran 7:10 before.  I am trying to tell myself that it's because I was in the middle of my training.  I know 7:40 is good-ish for beginning of the season.  Just feeling loser-y.  Maybe tomorrow I'll feel less so.

Core and a Quick Swim

Went to my core training class, which was good.  He did a lot of suspensions today, lots of planks and leg-lifts and holding.  Ouch.  I don't particularly enjoy those and I don't feel that I'm very good at them.  But I did them, regardless.

Went straight to the pool after and did a short set.  Swam 50y brs, 50y back stroke, 100y drills (finger drag, 3t, one-arm) then did 2 sets of 400y and got out of the pool.

2x400y	Set 1	Set 2
Lap 1	65.66	69.21
Lap 2	67.51	66.48
Lap 3	68.99	64.1
Lap 4	69.05	70.62
Lap 5	70.76	71.76
Lap 6	70.21	71.89
Lap 7	69.72	71.84
Lap 8	68.59	68.43

Gorgeous April Day... er, February. That's what I meant.

The weather is so lovely today.  Low 50's and sunny, light breeze.  I ran in a t-shirt.  I find it very difficult to run in zone 2.  Running in zone 4, however, though it is physically challenging, I feel like it's easier to do.  Maybe I'm crazy.

Four sets of 3t, 2r.  Data shows me right on target, 8:15-8:30.  I am happy with my effort.  Went a little fast on the last leg, but I don't really care. 

Ridey Ride

Watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban while I rode a bit.  It's a recovery week, so the ride was relatively easy.  I warmed up and then rode four sets of five minutes steady effort, keeping my work set at the top of Z2 (around 150bpm).  Recovery for two minutes in between each set kept me going.  I finished with a cool down to take me to 45 minutes.  Feet were a little numb and I don't think my "soft parts" were very happy with me for sitting up the way I did at the end...  sorry bum.  I probably should have gone harder, but my body felt sluggish.  I'll try to do a better job of thinking happy thoughts when I train.

Stop Beating Yourself Up

USAT wants me to be nicer to myself.

Here is a good article that I read on their site:  Turn Negative Thoughts to Positive Results

Swim

I couldn't sleep this morning.  I woke up before my alarm and instead of just laying there like I usually do, I decided to get up and go do my swim.  It was rainy.

I grabbed all of my things that I had packed the night before and headed to the Y.  I felt sluggish and pouty.  Put on my swimsuit and all of my gear - which takes about twenty minutes after I get to the gym - and took a prolonged 'warm-up' shower.  Then I got in the pool.  I did a straight 10 minute swim followed by 3x200.  Warm up and cool down were both 50 bs, 50brs.

10:48, average lap: 65.15

10 min	100y	200y	300y	400y	500y
Lap 1	65.43	65.47	65.34	65.67	64.84
Lap 2	66.07	64.74	66.13	64.31	63.92
straight swim

3x200

L1	59.55	L1	65.51	L1	60.3
L2	65.95	L2	66.45	L2	66.39
L3	66.06	L3	65.54	L3	67.8
L4	66.72	L4	64.91	L4	67.33
R	16.27	R	23.16

Short Run

Today was good.  I left work mid-day to get a run in with a friend.  I think I will try to do that more often.  I enjoyed being outside, I enjoyed seeing the sunshine, I enjoyed the company and the fresh air.  As long as there isn't anything pressing in my office, it is fine for me to take an extended lunch and make up for it in the morning or evening, which I would prefer to having to take that time doing the workout.  Early morning and late evenings are difficult for me to motivate physically for.

The run was good.  I am a little frustrated with myself for the second half, but I hope to learn the lesson and move on.  I was really proud of myself for the first mile, 9:45 and I kept my HR in Z2.  The second half I should have done one of two things:  a) stayed at the pace I was planning to keep and let my running partner do their own workout and catch me later, or b) actually keep up with my running partner and push a little harder.  Instead, I decided to run with my partner, but didn't go as fast as they did out of the gate so I lost them, then spent the entire remainder of the run trying to catch up, getting angry at myself for running too fast, slowing down then getting angry at myself for being so slow and trying to catch up.  All the while, feeling emotional and conflicted instead of focusing on my workout.  My HR was all over the place instead of in a zone that was consistent and I felt angry instead of happy.

I decided, after we caught each other again, that I needed to see what had actually happened - I made a bad decision for me.  It is not the other person's fault. 

I am trying really hard to do two things that I usually don't do.  I am trying to be more open about how I actually feel and I am trying to be more honest about how I actually feel.  Typically, this run would have been fine.  I probably would have blasted myself out keeping up with the other person in the first place, no one would have had any problems with it.  I would have denied myself any personal gain by doing whatever the other person wanted.  They would have been happy and I would have been happy. 

But, I'm trying to be more honest with myself and true to myself, so I tried to make a decision that was closer to what I wanted, but I only half made it.  So I got angry.  When I got angry, I decided that I needed to be open about how I felt.  But what I had to do first was be completely honest with myself about who I was angry with.  My first instinct was to be angry at the other person.  But that's not true.  Yes, I was upset that things panned out the way they did, but I am the one to blame for the outcome, not them.  They stuck to their plan.  I did not.  So I had to admit to myself that I was angry at me.

What resulted was that I still felt angry and couldn't quite communicate why.

This is the conflict that I have been going through.  I really don't know what to do.  I feel like my life is happier when I'm just happy to make other people happy.  It makes me sad and angry when I try to do what "I should do" or what "is best for me" because it often goes against what the other people in my life are doing.  Conflict upsets me.  Conflict I caused upsets me even more.

So what is better?  Being happy and never quite getting your way but still enjoying the company of others, or being angry and sad and doing what you were supposed to do, but having to do it by yourself.

Park Bike

A couple of friends and I went for some loops in the park today.  That made me happy, although I was fatigued and felt pretty slow throughout.  Ah well.  Can't go comparing myself to superheros, especially if they're men.  My ride called for an hour and a half in the saddle, aerobic.  Today was much longer, with just over two hours in motion.

I did myself a favor and skipped the big hills on the north side, which helped me to recover a little before hitting the rollers down the west.  I didn't have my HR monitor, but I know I was up in the 170s quite a bit.  I feel like my form is getting better, I tend to stay in the drops for the majority of the ride and my body feels less tense as I ride.  I also feel like I'm "ankling through the stroke" more effectively.

Here's the ride.

Doggin'

Here is my Z2 no strides workout for today.  I started in the snowyness with a large German shepherd.  He ran one very excited lap with me, then became less excited and eventually tired as I continued to run.  I let him off the hook 15 minutes in.  Took the dog back to his home and did some plyo on my way back to the track, finishing my 45 minutes without him.  I felt sluggish throughout.

At Least I got in the Pool?

I'm really hoping that all of this pool-related foot-dragging is happening because it's cold outside.  I'm so reluctant to even show up to the gym.  No one else seems to have this problem.  The pool is often packed.

My set was supposed to be a long one.  I started out in the slow lane because it had the fewest people and did my warm up: 100 back stroke plus 100 finger drag & 100 3T.  Then I needed to switch lanes to do my speed work, but the only lane that was available was the fast lane, so I stayed in the slow lane and did more drills: 100 one-arm, 100 quick catch.  Then I got out of the pool.  I'm a loser.

Painful Treadmill Work

I probably should have done this set in the morning, but thanks to a very supportive person, I managed to accomplish the task this evening.  The set was 4x 5t, 2r with warm up and cool down.  I set the treadmill at 5.5mph for recovery and 7.5mph for tempo (10:50min/mi, 8min/mi respectively).  The first set was hard, but not impossible, the second set was painful.  By the third set, I was purely willing myself to continue and I really didn't even want to start the 4th set.  By the time I got there I was having trouble keeping up with my pace, so I did the first 2 minutes at 8:00, the next minute at 8:06 and the last 2 minutes at 8:13.  Nice, solid plateaus.  I did what I was supposed to.

Speed work

Just got out of the pool.  I'm making myself some late dinner.  Feeling general malaise most of the time.  I am finding that instead of "focusing" on work or training, it's easier and more efficient to just go through the motions and not think about any of it.  When I'm at work I think about the tiniest thing that I'm doing.  Am I sitting well in my chair?  I am cutting this 20 second clip.  Is it time to eat lunch?  Did I hydrate today?  What is happening or needs to happen right now?  When I'm training I open up my calendar and think only about the individual steps I have to take for that one segment of training.  I don't think about anything but where my arm is during my pull or whether my foot is slightly flexed through the spin or if my ass is engaged while I run... am I leaning forward?

This is all I think about.

And apparently, all I can think about when I'm at meeting is bits and pieces of Bach's B Minor Mass on subtle repeat. 

So today I thought about this:

WU: 200 mixed, 200 drills, 200 kicks (50 left, 50 right, 50 forward and 50 on your back) - total 600
MS: 5 x 100 on 2:15, rest 1-2mins, 5 x 50 on 1:05 - total 750
CD: 400 easy swimming and drills
Total 1750

Warm up was good.  I did a lot of drills and the kick set was good-ish.  I hate my legs in the pool.  Perhaps one day we'll get along, but for now we just miscommunicate and whine at each other.

Main set was very good.

5x100	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Lap 1	55.55	58.92	58.56	57.87	54.92
Lap 2	62.38	60.67	60.35	61.29	61.25
Recover	16.83	15.55	16.47	15.14	19.38
-on 2:15

5x50	Set 1	Set 2	Set 3	Set 4	Set 5
Lap 1	49.43	53.89	55.34	54.68	54.17
Recover	17.51	11.13	9.96	8.85	8.99
-on 1:05

Zip Zip Bang

All of my good outdoor gear is in the laundry.  Today, I ended up doing speed work at the gym... which I kind of prefer.  I like the consistency provided by the treadmill speed intervals.  Unfortunately, all I have to show for it is HR data.  But the saw blade looks pretty nice.

Quick Ride Before the Superbowl

Took my bike out for the first time in a while.  Felt simultaneously good and frustrating.  Here's the data.  I was supposed to keep it Z2 with occasional accelerations, but I kind of failed at that.

At the Pool

Today's set:  200 WU, 10mins straight swim, 5x100m w drills first 25m, mixed stroke CD

10 min	100y	200y	300y	400y	450y
Lap 1	65.34	65.43	65.67	68.47	67.84
Lap 2	66.07	64.74	64.31	67.13
straight swim

Drill 1st 25y	Finger drag	3T	Catch up	Right arm	Left arm
Lap 1	58.66	73.83	67.52	67.42	67.31
Lap 2	64.5	65.69	66.05	67.31	63.29

Strides Every Five

Nice day today.  I went to meeting and then changed right into running gear.  Left my gloves, which was stupid.  Worked on keeping my HR just under 160 when I wasn't running strides.  Seems I did a decent job there.  Nice to be able to run faster than 11:00 and still be in Z2.  A work in progress, but definitely progressing.

Spinervals 16.0 - Aero time

Pulled off 80 minutes today.  This workout has 4 sets of effort in aero/blue zone.  First set is 5mins/1min recovery, then 4mins/45s recovery, 3mins/30s recovery, 2mins/10s recovery followed by three sets of 30, build every 10s.

I keyed my HR into 149-151 range as much as possible.  I should probably move my bike to a different spot in my house.  I feel like I'm leaning a little to the right... floors probably slant a little there.  That's what I get for living in an old walkup.

Pool Tactics

Made myself go to the gym this morning by bribing myself with Core Training.  I really do love that class.  Once I was at the gym, I really had no excuse to not swim.  I will admit that the thought crossed my mind, even as I pulled on my suit.

I am trying to come up with ways to get myself into the pool.  I really feel unmotivated to swim, not because of the work or the schedule, but because I hate being cold.  And the pool is cold.  And I hate that.

One suggested tactic is to take a hot shower beforehand to raise my core temperature.  I used my logic to shoot this one down (if I raise my core temperature, then the shock of getting into cool water is that much more) but opted to give it a shot.  Don't diss it 'til you try it, right?

I found myself standing like a dummy in the shower.  Hoping more for numbness than anything.  My mood has been a bit poor lately.

I can't say that it worked.  I still hated getting into the pool, which (I found out today) is kept at 71F.  Brr. Where's my wetsuit?  I can't, however, say that it didn't work... I'll try it again next time.   If nothing else, it's good incentive to get into my swimsuit.

That's another thing.  (Apparently I'm feeling tangential tonight.)  I need a new suit.  Mine is just about to unravel.

Anyway...  I really wasn't feeling up for thinking today, so I did 100y breast stroke and then started a 25 minute straight swim.  I made it 22 laps.  Average lap was something ridiculously slow like 1'08".  I'll post the data later.

1000y = 23 mins
1000m = approx. 25 mins

25 min	200y	400y	600y	800y	1000y	1100y
Lap 1	65.66	70.76	69.21	71.76	68.58	65.51
Lap 2	67.51	70.21	66.48	71.89	69.26	67.44
Lap 3	68.99	69.72	64.1	71.84	71.25
Lap 4	69.05	68.59	70.62	68.43	68.64
straight swim					Total:	25.15.50

Treadmill

Ran on the treadmill tonight.  Forgot my HR monitor at home.  Boo.

Did 35 minutes aerobic (set the tread at 12m/m, a little slow, but I wanted to err on the side of caution) and hit strides ever 5 minutes after the first 10.  These, conversely, were a little fast.  Ran them at 7mph...  worked on pulling my leg through using my glutes and hamstrings.  I feel that was successful.