Bolder Bouder Race Report

This will be my shortest race report ever. Refer to my last posting on why. I have about 3 minutes free each day...

Anyhow, I had a 100+ mile ride on Saturday. Because of the weather, I got about 75 in outside and then came back to the trainer. That is dedication. But whatever, the ride sucked. I'm getting slower with each ride. At some point I should go through my recent LT test results, but since it couldn't explain anything, it may not really make much sense.

My legs and butt hurt on Sunday. It's funny, I usually spend the Memorial Day weekend planting and am always sore Monday morning for the BB. But it's arms and back and things I forget can get sore. But no planting this weekend since I was too busy sitting on the bike. So it was just the legs and butt that were sore at the start of the race.

Like Adam, I did a 3 mile warm-up, way more than I usually do, but I guess when you're used to going so long, 3 miles becomes nothing. I really wasn't looking forward to the race. I'm just not into Z4. If it were Z3, I might not have minded. I actually started thinking that it would be nice to be with the M's or the walkers or some other group that would just mosey through the race to do it and have fun. But who am I kidding...there's no way I could go that easy.

The race started, mass amounts of people started moving, and I just went along with them. This year was the first year I wore a watch with the hopes of actually trying to follow my zone plans. It didn't work. I don't think I hit mid Z4 until the end and I should have been approaching it somewhere between 2 and 3. My legs hurt and I didn't go all out (not sure if I can ever go all out). I finished a minute slower than last year, which means back to the C waves. It was disappointing since my running has been getting better and I would have liked additional confirmation. I know I was coming off the long ride, and I got a work call at 11:30 Sunday night, but I was still hoping for something better.

After the race, I still had another 9 or so miles to do, so Adam and I ran home. My knees and IT band started aching partyway through and I'm hoping it's just because of the massive amounts of activity I've done over the last few days. We'll see...I have another race on Saturday and will be doing a bit more resting.

As for the BB, I guess there's always next year.

18 miles

I wouldn't want to go so far as to say it was 18 miles of bliss, but it was 18 miles of really not so bad. I had somewhat been dreading this run, but mainly because of the time commitment with it being scheduled during the week. I've been struggling to get up early, and this would have had to be ridiculously early to squeeze it all in before work (sudden flashback to training for Florida and getting up at 4 to do a 17 mile run before work). I was also considering splitting it up as I did the previous week - half in the AM, half in the PM. But I knew mentally that I needed to do it all at once. I did have the time after work, and it might end up being my last full long run. But it's a lot to do after work.

My plan was to leave work early - 4:30, which is generally when I've been leaving on Thursday's in order to get a longer ride in. This really wouldn't be much different. Except that I work was crazy and it was impossible to leave. I finally managed to escape and was able to start slightly off schedule at 4:55. I feel like I've been kind of pushing it with the dogs...someone comes to let them out at lunch, which means that I don't have to rush home after work. Initially I would try to get home by 6:30, then 7, then 7:30, and then I started getting close to 8. I just have this fear that they'll get so hungry that they'll start barking. I know it's absurd because most likely they are sleeping the entire time. But I know how they act when I'm home and it's dinner time - it's like a mad frenzy. Why would they do this when I'm not there? They wouldn't. But I still think they might. Anyhow, I figured I'd had to cut the run a little short in order to make it home by 8 since I sort of figured it would take 3 hours. But 16 or 17 would also be close enough.

I started out on the bike path by work and headed over to the Bobolink. A few miles into my run, I started thinking about the mile repeats I had to do. I was just going to go out and back, assuming that I didn't run out of road, but then had a great idea to do the mile repeats on the same stretch of road I did them on about a month ago during another long run. So I start recalculating where I would have to turn around. And then I had another great idea - why don't I run home rather than go back to work. If I did that, the time I would have lost heading back to work and then driving home, I could make up for during the run home - meaning I'd be able to get in the entire 18. I started recalculating again to try and figure out now where I'd need to turn around. It's always a bad idea to try and do math in the middle of a workout. It never adds up. I then started wondering if it was a good idea to leave my wallet and keys in the car overnight. Normally it wouldn't have concerned me since I'm no longer in DC, but we did have a break-in last summer and that was during the day. It was probably safer to just go grab them. Recalculating again to factor in running back to work. It essentially meant that I had to turn around as soon as I decided that I was going to do this new plan. It actually turned out to be a good thing because then I was able to refill water. And I was quizzed by a co-worker who turned mom on me ('does Matt know you're doing this?' (no), 'do you have your phone?' (yes),'do you have a headlamp?' (no, this was sort of spur of the moment and I still have probably 90 minutes of daylight.),'I'm calling you at 8. if you're not home, I'm calling the Lafayette police' (give me until 8:15 since the last 5 or so miles are all uphill). And then I was off...

Of the last 5.5 miles, roughly 4 are uphill. A long slow slog up Baseline...and it actually wasn't too bad. Better than riding it. For a Z2 run, I was making pretty good time and only had one final workout math miscalculation. I had just under a mile to go (this part is all downhill), and I checked the time. Just under 2:45. And I thought "OMG, I can do a sub-4 hour marathon". There were only 6 miles left and even at a 10-10.5 min/mi pace, I'd still make it. I was ecstatic. With just under a half a mile to go reality kicked in...Except that I would have 8 miles to go to make it a marathon. And that would put me over 4 hours. I was bummed for a bit. And then I wasn't, having reminded myself that I had just run 18 miles, 14 of which were in Z2, 4ish of which were uphill, and all of which were 1000 times better than my previous long run of 16 miles. And I made it home by 7:50...plenty of time to spare.

Worries...

6.5 mile run
27 mile ride

Yesterday was a rest day. So I should have been all refreshed today. I felt fine. Not tired. Everything seemed normal. Until I started running at 6am. It was a Z2 run. It starts going up hill after a mile. It's not a huge hill and not all that steep except for one little section. But as soon as I hit the beginning of the hill, bam! I'm in Z3. I thought it was a little weird. It had only been a mile, half of which was Z1, so it's usually pretty hard for me to get to Z3 without a bit more warmup. Oh well, I just kept going and finished the run in record time for a Z2 run. Maybe there was nothing to worry about after all.

And then...

I went for a ride after work. I was supposed to do 4x1min "Z5" sprints (the ones that I never even come close to reaching) and then a 12 mile TT. I wasn't thrilled about the TT - I just wasn't up for the pain of that much Z4. I started on the Z5 and bam! I'm almost immediately in Z5. Z5! I didn't even hit Z5 the last time I rode up Old Stage. Something was wrong. I did 2 more in Z5 and then stopped thinking it might affect my TT which I started shortly after. It didn't take much to get into Z4 and I probably did about half of it in low Z5. It definitely wasn't Z4 perceived effort. I never reached the point where I start saying to myself "when is this going to be done?" or "am I done yet?" or "how about now?" I never got that burning sensation in my legs and lungs. I ended up not doing the full milage, but mainly because I had to pick the dogs up before daycare closed. But I'm not sure if I would have made it another 12 or so miles that I was supposed to do.

Clearly I'm still tired. Or getting sick. But I otherwise feel fine.

Run-a-cough-atosis

AHEM...

So, back in college, in Rochester, NY, I decided to stay a summer just for the hell of it (that and there was an internship in there). Surprisingly it gets really hot in Rochester in the summer. We paid $750/month for a 5 bedroom/2 bath house (I know, crazy) with all utilities included. Except that it didn't have A/C. And so we set up a line of fans in front of the TV and a small baby pool out front and lived off of those freezer pop tube things (they come in a box of like 200 for $5). For those of you who know what I'm talking about, a strange phenomenon occurs when you eat them. You start coughing. For no aparent reason. The blue ones are the worst - they generate the most coughing. Beware the blue. Anyhow, this phenomenom came to be known as Pop-a-cough-atosis.

It seems that there is a similar phenomenon when you run hard. Hard like lots of Z4 intervals. I forgot how much I hate lots of Z4 intervals. I've decided that shorter Z4 intervals are a lot harder than the longer ones. I've been doing the longer distances (1 to 2 miles) up until today when it was 1000m, 800m, and 600m repeats. I must start out much faster thinking that they are shorter and I don't have to conserve enough. But 1000m is a lot closer to a mile than not. Anyhow, they sucked. And they came after 8x100 uphill "Z5" repeats. Did I mention they sucked? As a result, I ended up with this tickle in my throat that just hasn't gone away leaving me trying to clear my throat every few minutes (I assume) much to the annoyance of those around me.

Today's accomplishments:
7 mile run
2400 meter swim

AHEM...

3 Day Weekend

Friday: 16 mile run, 2000m swim
Saturday: 5 mile run, 3900m swim
Sunday: 3.5hr ride (trainer), 2.5 mile run

I took a guess on the weather and I was wrong. As a result, I missed out on my 90 mile ride. I kind of screwed myself. But I blame this winter in April crap weather we've been having as of late.

I ended up taking two days off last week, two days in a row in fact. My stress numbers were getting kind of high (low? they are negative numbers) and the week before was intense, so I figured I could use an extra day. It meant rearranging some things, but I think I got the important stuff in. I couldn't get to my long run until Friday, so maybe it's good that I missed my ride. It would have been tough to do on Saturday with how my legs felt afterwards. I've been running this new route (all of twice) now that I've moved. Teller Farms. It's mostly flat, except for when it's not flat. And when it's not flat, it's really not flat. I FINALLY was able to hit Z5 running. All it takes is running a Z3 set (2.75 miles) starting at mile 7ish and doing it all uphill, including a section with a 7% grade. Yes indeed, that'll get my heart rate up there. I think I hit 165 (my ranges are on the low end of the spectrum). Very exciting indeed. Anyhow, it did take its toll on my legs. I took my second ice bath of the season (ouch!) and then treated myself to a hot bath after that (ahhh!). I love my new tub!



Saturday started out with a visit to the bank for a 2.5 hour discussion with my Financial Advisor. I do not recommend this. Yes it was good to finally get things in order after 10+ years of falling into disarray after a slew of uninvolved FAs. I left our meeting absolutey drained. So what did I do? I headed over to the pool where I felt like I was drowning slowly for 90 minutes. I probably should have just gone home to take a nap. I somehow made it through my swim - it did get better as I got more into it (like after 2000m). I went home, had a quick snack, and then went to bed for that much needed nap. I don't really nap and this was no exception, but I did finally get up feeling more refreshed. But I still struggled to put on running clothes and had to force myself out the door (I kept telling myself that it was the least I could do considering that I was possibly blowing off my long ride). I managed just under 5 miles at my normal pace, which was really surprising considering how much my legs hurt. Downhill was just downright painful. It felt really good to finish.

I awoke Sunday morning to dreariness. Actually, I was awoken Sunday morning by a friend who as going to go ride with me. We discussed the impending rain and decided to reschedule. I made it through 3.5 hours on the trainer before I ran out of movie. I forgot that I had only grabbed the first two LOTR from Adam and had gone through them both over the last two weekends. I gave up - not sure if I could have lasted much longer - and threw on my shoes and headed out in the rain for a small run. I really don't mind running in the rain. But I just can't ride it in. Aside from being absolutely miserable, I also don't feel safe. I finished everything up by 3 and then managed to waste the rest of the day doing who knows what (I did unpack a few boxes...)

I'm beat. And so looking forward to stablizer week.

3 Day Marathon

It dawned on me during my 10 mile run today that I've run 27 miles in the last 3 days. And just under 4 hours (does that count?) So I suppose it's no surprise that my legs are toast right about now. They hurt. I sort of wish I had my massage scheduled for this week rather than last. I think I need it a little more right now. I'm about to curl up with the foam roller - I can't wait! But I hit over 300 on my stress numbers this weekend, which apparently is a big deal to do in a day. I'm still not sure what these numbers mean - I looked it up online and it made sense for the duration of the session, but it has since vanished from memory. But that's what coaches are for.

My hamstring started bothering me a bit today, not that I can really blame it. I went to Teller Farms today since I keep hearing about it and it is so close. I went straight from work which is always sort of iffy. It's hard to run long after a full day of work. But it's sort of like an Ironman, so it's good training. I did 4x300 in "Z5" (ha!) followed by 4x1 miles in Z4. These sprint intervals are a joke for me. If I really take off in a sprint, I make it about 300 feet and I'm about to die and have to stop or slow down. If I take off slower, I barely get to Z3 by the time the interval is over. Fortunately, Teller Farms had some hills for me just as I was starting my intervals. Unfortunately for me, the hills at Teller Farms are not rolling. They are long and not so gradual. I think I did make it to Z4 on the shorter distances. I didn't time things so well and most of my intervals ended up being uphill. In addition, my first mile repeat was in mud. So, not only am I going uphill, I'm sliding all over the place and have about 20 pounds of mud caked to the bottom of my shoes. I almost went down twice. That would have been a sight. The rest of the repeats were a little smoother, but still a lot of hills and I couldn't quite get into Z4 as my legs were starting to talk back to me. Z3.9 was about as good as I could get.

But the weather was nice for a change. Finally! I know it hasn't been that long, but the past few days have been so bad that it's hard to remember the last nice day. There was a bit of wind, but when isn't there wind these days. At least the gusts were only up to 10mph. It was really nice to get outside having felt so cooped up over the weekend. Overall the run was a bit slower than I would have liked, but considering the conditions and the somewhat technical trail, I suppose it wasn't too bad. It's probably good that I got some hills in since my runs from work are pretty flat.

My rest day has officially begun. I don't need to think of training until about 5am on Wednesday. I am so looking forward to it.

Today's accomplishments:
1300 meter swim
10 mile run

Sleep...

I'm so looking forward to going to bed. Training is starting to kick my butt. Last week was about 16 hours. I don't know how I got it all in. I vaguely remember something about getting up at 4:45 for a 15.5 mile run. And then of course, it's impossible to forget the 4.5 hours I spend on the trainer and treadmill yesterday to do my brick. It is so much more mentally exhausting than physically. Especially on the treadmill. I think Adam discovered the trick with the trainer...The Lord of The Rings trilogy. It definitely makes the time go by quickly. Unfortunately I had to go to the gym for the treadmill and there wasn't anything that could keep my attention for more than 3 minutes. What I really wanted to do was close my eyes and really be able to listed to music, but it's a bad idea to close your eyes while on the treadmill.

But now I can sleep...And start it all over again tomorrow.

How Is It Monday Already?

Saturday: 83 mile ride, 2 mile run
Sunday: 18 mile ride, 3200 meter swim
Monday: 5.5 mile run

Well, let's just say that I got no unpacking done this weekend. I'm so ready for this stablizer week. It seems that the intensity has really picked up the last few days. Don't get me wrong, I think it's been great because I finally feel like I'm getting back on track with the training schedule. But I'm tired.

And I really need to water the plants.

Ye Olde Stage...Firsts

Today I finally got in some much needed hill training on the bike. I did Old Stage twice and then continued up towards Jamestown. I sort of ran out of time, so I only got a few miles up the canyon, BUT I actually passed people! On a hill! Craziness, I know. And these were real cyclists (of course, two of them were on mountain bikes, but the other two were not). Still, I think it's a record for me.

I was surprised that I felt pretty good considering the long run the day before. I was expecting my legs to give out halfway up Old Stage. But they stayed with me and performed some miracles: 1. I was able to ride the second repeat while seated for the majority of the hill. 2. I was able to restart on the steepest part of the hill from a dead stop.

Yes indeed. I usually have to stand for most of the hill because my legs just haven't been strong enough to propel me in a seated position. I'll usually stand for a bit and then take a quick break to spin a few rotations and then back to standing. But I've always had to throw my whole body into it. But this time, I was able to remain seated for almost the entire hill. There were a few times I had to stand to try and get my cadence up a little bit. And then my CO2 cartridge fell off. I heard a click and saw something fall from the corner of my eye. Having heard some rattling earlier, I naturally assumed that my bike was falling apart (the eternal optimist). I stopped (which is really hard to do when you're going so slowly and are at such a steep angle). I saw that it was my cartridge and went to go get it. I checked the other cartridge and adapter and everything was loose - I must be riding some rough road somewhere. I tightened everything up, then hopped on my bike and prayed for a miracle that I could get started again without falling on my face. I somehow managed to pull it off.

So it was almost like I was destined to pass people going up to Jamestown - after my triumphs on Old Stage,
how could I have a bad ride after that?

Short and Sweet

Exactly the opposite of my day which was, well, I'll just stick with long and sour. It's sort of like a few weeks ago when I was leaving the gym at a time when I'm usually there for masters. On my way out, I ran into a lane buddy who just barely caught himself in time as he whispered "I almost didn't recognize you in your clothes".

Anyhow, it's been a long day. Up at 5 for a 14.5 mile run. Off to work where I was at my desk for a total of about 10 minutes. I actually had to reschedule a meeting just so I could eat lunch. At 2pm! And then off to masters 30 minutes late, which I have to say that after the run, I was okay with missing half the class.

The run went well. My biggest complaint was with how dark it was. I usually run along 30th street when it's dark outside because it's well lit. But now I don't live near 30th anymore. I actually ran from Matt's house because I still don't have a great sense of where to run at my new place, especially for 14 miles. And Boulder I know. I had my headlamp, which was great, but because it was so dark and because the headlamp gives you such a limited area, I was getting pretty dizzy at times. But I got over it and it eventually became light. My other issue with the dark is that I manage to get myself all worked up about what sort of things are lurking out there. Coming from DC, you might think that this is normal, but I'm talking about animals. I'm a little hesitant to run through open space when I can't see what's out there. There could be bears or mountain lions out there. Or even cows, or turkeys, or geese, or other poultry (I'll save this for another time...it's a long and now entertaining story). But I was lucky today and only saw a rabbit this morning. I of course jumped about 10 feet in the air before I realized what it was. But hey, it keeps up the heartrate, right? And in the end, my run was right on pace with where I need to be for a 4 hour marathon.

P.S. The title was actually supposed to represent the size of this posting. I didn't write a dissertation and I didn't analyze. I'm sure it won't last.

T Minus 3 Months...and Change

What does the T stand for? Takeoff? Time? In my case it stands for Totally Not Ready. Now that I'm no longer in real estate and moving mode, it's time to get back on the training program. No more excuses. No more telling myself when the alarm goes off at 5am that I'll just do it later.

It's amazing what the body remembers. I can't tell you what I've been doing for workouts for the past few months - a little swimming here, a bit less of biking there, and a lot of running. But I end up surprising myself often. Last Thursday, after poisoning myself on Monday, I attempted a 14 mile run. After a 2 mile warm-up, I started my intervals. I couldn't get into Z3 let alone Z4. So much for intervals. Since my Garmin is on the fritz again and I really didn't know a good 14 mile loop from memory, I decided to run for 2 hours instead. In Z2 because that was all I could do. Surprisingly I kept a very steady pace and was slightly faster on the way back. I mapped it out later and (accounting for various mapping errors), was somewhere between 13 and 13.5. That was a shocker!

I headed out this weekend for my longest brick to date: 51/11.5. Since I had skipped half of my workouts during the week, I made it up to myself by doing Old Stage - first ascent of the season. I keep waiting for the day where I get to the top and think "Hmm, that really wasn't so bad". Don't worry. I'm not there yet. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt quite so much. It might actually not be so bad one day...The first hour of the Z3 went really well (and fast for this turtle). The last little bit ended up being uphill and into the wind.

ASIDE because I just have to get it out: Damn this wind!!! When will it end??? END ASIDE

But it was better than the previous weekend where I had a headwind or severe crosswind about 90% of the ride. Seriously, every time I turned, so did the wind. But overall, the ride went well. I had done the same loop the prior weekend (minus Old Stage) but it took a bit longer. Go me! I made it home and changed for the run. This was only the second run from my new house and the only route I've found so far is to my brother's house via the trails. 3 miles to his backyard, but uphill the entire way. In case it is not obvious, it does not make for a very good long brick, when you're first 3 miles are uphill (it does make for a great finish though). My legs were aching from Thursday. I was also dealing with some residual knee pain that I've started getting when it's really cold. It's like it shocks my knee joints and it takes them a day or two to recover. The uphill didn't help. So I ended up not really doing my Z3 stuff, but at that point, it was more of a mental workout that I knew I had to do to feel one step closer to being ready. I did get several miles at the Z2/Z3 threshold at a 9 min pace. I was happy with that. I stopped at Adam's on the way back to refill on water. It ended up being about a 15-20 minute break, but when you have 3 miles that are all downhill, it's not like I was going to get a whole lot out of them.

I finished up the weekend with a short ride and long swim yesterday. Neither were spectacular, but they did what they were supposed to in terms of logging the miles.

I was advised to keep these short and sweet so that I can potentially blog daily. So far I've failed. But I'm trying to keep it in mind. I'm just not sure that my mind works that way.

The Pros and Cons of "Slow"

It's interesting that slow can be a good and a bad thing.

Wanting things to slow down...
Here I am at one moment complaining how crazy work is and has been for the last few months and that I can't wait for it to slow down. It seems like we've been going almost nonstop since October and there still isn't really an end in sight. I decided not to take any vacation days this week thinking that not only could I get caught up, but I could even get ahead. Everyone thought this was wishful thinking, but it's amazing how much you get done with no one around bugging you every 5 minutes. I think I may have achieved my goal. January is likely going to be awful so the more I can knock out of the way now, the better I am. I was able to get overly organized on my project from hell and have pretty much documented everything I possible can. I am now almost at a point where I am pretty much waiting on other people for definitions, explanations, or directions and all of that has been sent off to the appropriate people (and cc'd to the other appropriate people so there's no "but I didn't get the email"). I'm almost ahead of the game.

Wanting things to speed up...
And then I switch gears to training and complain that I don't seem to be getting much faster. Or that I'm not getting faster at a fast enough rate. Sure, if I look at the numbers, they are generally getting smaller, but we're talking a few seconds here and there. It certainly doesn't feel any different. Yesterday I had a 10 mile run to do. I figured that this run would show me the improvements. I wasn't rushed into squeezing it in, so there wouldn't be any reason for cutting out a mile or 2. I slept in so I was well rested going into it (or at least supposed to be in theory). It was slightly warmer than it has been so I was less likely to hit my 1 hour freezing joint time limit. And there was the reward of being able to eat whatever I wanted to for the rest of the day. But it really wasn't all that different. I actually felt a little more tired going into it than my last few runs. I even felt a little rushed since I was technically supposed to be at my dad's house at a certain time even though I had already told them that this was unlikely. So it was a pretty slow start and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do my Z3 set without some real pushing. I had 3 miles in Z3, with a 2 minute walk break between each. This is actually one of the easiest Z3 sets there is and I was already dreading it. It is exactly 4 miles from my house to the main entrance to the Res and I usually just keep going onto the gravel for my longer runs - it's a little break from the pavement and there are a few rolling hills to keep me honest. But my first two miles were supposed to be out and back. This meant that the first would be going up the hill past the Res and the second would be going down the hill. This doesn't make for very even splits which is what I was aiming for. It also wasn't helping my motivation. At the last minute, I decided to pull into the Res and just run along the road there. A wise choice. The flatter course was much more motivating. There were some people ice-skating on the frozen Res, which seemed stupid, yet kind of fun. It's been so long since I've been ice-skating, which I used to do all the time. But it was a nice distraction as it was sort of a holiday theme and brought back nice memories. Suddenly I was ready to turn around and head home. And this always gets me. When I turn around, I am now facing the mountains and again, am just awestruck about where I live and how lucky I am to live here. This of course turns into how fortunately I am in general: to live in this beautiful place, to have supportive family and friends, to still have a job, to be able to run. I tried to enjoy the rest of the run as best I could. It didn't matter how slow I was, at least I was running. And you tend to see a little more when you run slow - this is what those fast runners miss out on. Sometimes it's good to be slow.

Sometimes slow can be a good thing. At it seems like right now, this is what I need.

Finally, one Good (Cold) Day

With work and life all over the place, training has taken the back burner. I'm trying to get it in when I can, but I feel like I'm rearranging my schedule at least 5 times a day. And this %#!&* cold weather isn't helping! Come on, who can deal with -5? There's only so much running I can do on a treadmill (especially since all of my recent biking has been on the trainer) and I swim outside. I'm kind of limited.

Anyhow, in general, most of my twice a day workout days have been cut to once a day and my longer workouts have been cut to shorter. Everything seems to be suffering. I did make it through an 8 but supposed to be 9 mile run last week. It went okay until about 60 minutes in when my joints just had enough of the cold. An hour seems to be my limit in these low double-digit temperatures. And then the thawing out period is absolutely painful. My knees have never hurt more than when warming up after extreme cold. There always seem to be something wrong these days.

I woke up Saturday extremely un-excited about having to do a 35 mile ride/7 mile run brick. The ride had to be done on the trainer once again and it's really hard to stay motivated for over an hour with everything to distract you. But thanks to some dumb movies, I made it through 2 hours and 15 minutes. I was actually looking forward to the run at this point to just get out of the house. I quickly changed my mind when I got outside into the cold and the wind. It did force me to keep running though and I made it through all 7 miles. Finally, a workout in its entirety.

I also passed a man over by the Reservoir who was wearing shorts. Insane! It was 19 degrees factoring in the windchill when I left the house. He apparently is either crazy or doesn't have the same joint and warm-up pain that I have. I vote for crazy.

TGIS

4 mile run

Yes, thankfully it's a stabilizer week. A very much needed one. I took full advantage of it already by bagging my swim this evening. Aside from feeling a bit tired, it started snowing and got cold and the thought of jumping into a pool, well, let's just say that it was not such an appealing thought.

My run today was 3x400m hills. Yes, Monday seems to be Hill Day. I went out way too hard on the first one and was about to die after maybe 200m. The road was also covered in gravel from last week's snow, so it was already hard enough. I was not about to make the same mistake the next time around which meant there went my negative splits. I did end up doing the 3rd one the fastest, so at least I felt like I had somewhat redeemed myself. Last week I thought I was starting to like hills. I changed my mind today. Perhaps because I was a bit tired.

And it turns out that I made up for the swim by making applesauce. I think I used my arms more in this: peeling, chopping, and mashing, than I do in swimming. I was exhausted when I was through.

A Quick Week Recap

Monday: 5.5 mile run, 2000 m swim
Wednesday: 20ish mile ride (trainer)
Friday: 7 mile run (treadmill), 2000 m swim
Saturday: 40 mile ride (trainer)
Sunday: 2500m swim, 16 mile ride

The best day was probably Monday. I did some hill training and that went pretty well. I think I'm getting better on the hills and am actually starting to like them more. I prefer the longer distances - the 200 m uphill sprints still kill me. The rest of the week seemed to go downhill. I had a good ride on the trainer on Wednesday and decided it really comes down to what you're watching. The prior weekend I watched a not-so-great movie and the ride took forever. Wednesday I watched a completely dumb, but very captivating movie, and the time flew by.

I felt like crap most of the weekend. Saturday and Sunday didn't go all that well. I was supposed to ride 50, but was the closest I've come to throwing up on the bike. That was enough to make me stop. My legs have been quite tired the last few days - they were burning like made during the last few rides.

I think it's probably a combination of things. My house is on the market and had its first set of showings this week. It better sell quickly because I don't know how long I can last. It's not like I'm a messy person, but to keep things so excessively neat is just not possible. I'm trying to train myself to put everything away immediately, but then I hit that one night where I'm just exhausted and say "I'll do it tomorrow". And once you get lazy, it's like instant relapse into how you used to live. I've been getting up ridiculously early to vacuum and do dishes. The biggest problem is that you can't just shove things into the closet. So where do you put things like workout clothes which accumulate very quickly over the course of a week. I've started "storing" things in my car if I'm really struggling. The other thing is that I have to un-dogproof the house before a showing and then re-dogproof it later. There's a lot of inefficiencies in this process. Thank god for checklists.

Compliments

5 mile run
2500 meter swim

The day started out with an early 5 mile run. It was really hard to get out of bed. I didn't sleep all that well - one of the cats thought it would be a fun time to play with the humidifier. She likes watching the bubbles and then trying to attack them. I've contemplated putting plastic fish in the tank but then I figured she'd just play with it more. I digress. Anyhow, it was hard getting out of bed.

I finally got started and was moving pretty slow. I had 2 miles in Z3 that were starting to look like they might be a struggle. I was having trouble maintaining mid-Z2. I just kept slowing down. My knee was also starting to hurt in the front, but I think it was from the cold. I stopped to stretch and bit and that seemed to do the trick. It was time for Z3 and I'd just have to see how it went.

In the end, it wasn't too bad. It took me about half a mile to feel like I holding a steady pace and could stop looking at my HR. Before long, I was at the turnaround and only had a mile to go. Just as I was finishing up the Z3 set, a very fit guy came running towards me at a very fit guy's pace. He was moving. And just as I was thinking how maybe one day I'd be that fast, he pointed at my hat and did a sort of hat's off/bow gesture to me. I was wearing my IM Florida finishers hat. It took me a minute to realize what had just happened and when it finally sunk in, I broke out into a smile. It totally made my day.

More Hills

3 mile run
2000 meter swim

Another hill repeat day. Today was 3x400m. Since this was twice the distance as last week's hills, I had to find another hill. Last week's hill was just not long enough. I drove over to 75th and Jay - that's definitely a long hill and I should keep this in mind for the longer hill repeats. This was way more valid of a hill than some of the others I've been using.

I was expecting the run to be horrible. I felt so dead after the weekends activities. My arms were sore for most of yesterday after the swim. It hurt just to bend my wrists. And in general I had just felt exhausted. But I snapped out of it as soon as I got out of the car. It was so nice outside and it was great to get away from work for an hour. I warmed up for a bit and then hit the hill. I managed to negative split each interval for which I was very excited. And this is my first stabilizer week. It feels funny to say that being that it's week #3. I know the intervals weren't that long, but I was happy with the results. I'm starting to feel like I'm slowly making some progress and starting to get back to where I was a few months ago.

Carol was right. Wolfgang's class was definitely easier following Jane's torturous workout. Even the 100s on 1:45 seemed reasonable. Another successful workout. And tomorrow - REST!

Swimming in Circles

3800 meter swim
10 mile ride

Actually, it was more like swimming uphill. I went to Jane's class this morning. And yes, you can be sure I got there on time - early in fact. 90

BUT, I made it through the entire workout which is an accomplishment in itself since many people drop out. And another swimmate reminded me how easy Wolfgang's class will feel on Monday night.

I rode 10 miles on the trainer because it was getting pretty windy outside and I was running out of free time. I went to see my house again today and it ended up being sort of the in the middle of everything. I was supposed to do 15 and I chose to round down today.

I also lifted with my sister this evening. We've been pretty good about going - all of 3 times right now. But I figured if I dragged her into it, I'd have a much better chance of keeping it up. We'll see how long it lasts. minutes is a long class this early in the season. She started us off with an easy warm-up of 8x100 on 1:40. Warm-up? HA! On a good day, 1:40 is still a decent effort. And it didn't really get much easier. As a result, I did lots of continuous sets and was just swimming in circles. My 100s because an 800.

At least it's nice outside

43 mile ride

Well, somehow I did it. I was pretty sure that after last weekend's ride that 45 miles was going to be a stretch. A long stretch. I figured I'd just see how it went and do what I could. I dragged a friend along - thanks Deb. It's the only time I will ever be faster than her. She fractured her scapula a few weeks ago at a cross race, so the fact that she hung on as long as she did (over 30 miles) is impressive. She also hung in there for my 4 x 3 mile Z3 intervals.

It wasn't a fast ride by any means, and I struggled, but in the end got through it. And right now, that's more important than speed. It's only week 2.

Zone 400

5 mile run
1700 meter swim

I'm not sure which is worse - hill repeats or Z4. I don't think I'm quite ready for Z4 yet. I also don't think I'm quite ready for hill repeats. Today's torture was 6 200m hill repeats. I know that 200m doesn't sound very far, but let's just remember that I'm still at the point where 3 miles at an easy pace hurts. I headed off to the hill behind the ballfields and managed to map out 200m from bottom to top on the first interval. 200m feels pretty far to me. I'd make it about 3/4 of the way up the hill and then be about ready to die. And I let myself feel this way 6 times. I'm actually surprised I did all 6. And #6 was my second fastest. It's amazing how the thought of being done can be so motivating. The rest of the run was done at a snail's pace but I was not complaining.

I missed half of masters and was half wondering if Wolfgang would also kick me out of class for being late. Jane kicked me out of class on Sunday because I got there late and it was too crowded. But Wolfgang just looked at me with his look. Before he could comment on my timeliness, I said "at least I came". That seemed to satisfy him, at least until he started criticizing me for taking a break to rest (His theory is that because I'm late, I'm not tired and should therefore make all the intervals without taking an extra break. A lovely theory. Just not reality.) I barely held on for the part of class I did make. He was having us do 100s on 1:40 and that just isn't very realistic right now. I made 1 and then just did continuous hundreds. My legs were pretty dead from the run so it took everything I had to hang on. It's probably a good thing I got there late.

But so far, Week 2 already seems to be going better.