After Thursday's swim debacle I was ready for the brick on Saturday morning: 80' ride, 10' run. Unfortunately I wasn't ready for the weather. It was really cold. Not as cold as the week before, but wind chills we still in the low 20s/high teens. I was feeling pretty good going into it dress-wise with 3 layers of long sleeve shirts (one tech shirt, 1 insulated long sleeve jersey, and an insulated windbreaker), two pairs of gloves plus my cycling gloves, two pairs of socks, and long tights. For whatever reason this wasn't enough. We dabbled around in the parking lot getting ready and my fingers started getting numb. Then heading out on the trail my cleat got caught in the pedal and I fell flat on my back (Nice moves!!). About 15 minutes in I really couldn't feel my fingers and actually missed a shift because there was no tactile feedback to tell me how much pressure I was putting on the levers. We stopped and I stripped off my gloves to reveal fingers a startling shade of blue. Tried warming them up but that just felt like some pounding away on each finger with a little ball peen hammer. I actually started feeling nauseous. That was it; long rides aren't worth frostbite. I headed back to the car and the trainer at home. Even when I got back I sat on the couch fully dressed for 15 minutes trying to warm up; I think my core temperature had taken a hit. I got the ride in and then ventured back out for the 10' run, by which time it had warmed up considerably. I'll have to plan better for the next ride. I know one thing; the gloves I have suck. They're the same ones that failed me on the Jolly Fat Man Run. Wind resistant indeed!! Bah.
Saturday was our engagement party at the Brickskeller. A big night at the Brick made for a lazy Sunday on the couch. No swim, no 55' run. It didn't feel good at all to miss a long run (where I really need the help), but it was really the first day of training I've totally missed. And, hey, it segued perfectly into this week which is a patented EZ Week:
Monday: 30' bike
Tuesday: Swim (I don't think we even did 1500 yards) + 30' run
Wednesday: 20' bike
Thursday: Swim (going to try to do the Level 3 workout) + 15' run
Friday: OFF
Saturday: 25' EZ run
Sunday: EZ swim + 40' bike
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
That sinking feeling
Literally. Sort of. Yesterday morning was our normal 6:00 swim at Takoma following the same workout as Tuesday. Yardage-wise this was our longest yet clocking in at 2000 yds plus warm up and cool down. Tuesday was a good workout; one of the coaches even encouraged me to join the Level 3 group. They swam about 2300 yards in the same time. I don't think I'm nearly ready for that and would probably hold them up. My endurance in the water (and pretty much everywhere else) isn't up to snuff. To wit: Thursday morning's swim. I had every intention of attempting the increased workout first without the added pressure of faster swimmers nipping at my heels and felt like I normally do on Thursdays: tired, groggy, a bit hungry. After a couple warm up laps I knew that it just wasn't meant to be. It was dreadful. I couldn't catch my breath at all and my shoulder ached for some reason. The drills were really tough; I got through them but way slower than normal. My form was shot to hell and I was just thrashing about at the end of the 100s making everything even worse. I ended up completing the Level 2 workout and was just glad to be out of pool. The run was scrapped.
I don't know exactly what happened; it's probably a combination of things. I didn't get much sleep this week, and definitely not enough the night before. I hadn't eaten much that whole week either. The weight is still coming off, but I think I need to step up my intake in order to keep up with the training. My shoulder? Who knows where that came from. I had ridden the bike on the trainer the night before and stayed in my aerobars pretty much the entire time. I think it was just the added stress on some new muscles I was using to support my upper body. That may need some tweaking since I'm not entirely comfortable in them yet.
Today is our day off and I'm taking advantage hoping to rest up for the big workouts on Saturday and Sunday. Here's hoping tomorrow doesn't dawn with frost on the ground. At least the ride is in Rock Creek and we could actually bike there and back, but I think we'll just drive down. Busy day tomorrow, especially for Liz!!
I don't know exactly what happened; it's probably a combination of things. I didn't get much sleep this week, and definitely not enough the night before. I hadn't eaten much that whole week either. The weight is still coming off, but I think I need to step up my intake in order to keep up with the training. My shoulder? Who knows where that came from. I had ridden the bike on the trainer the night before and stayed in my aerobars pretty much the entire time. I think it was just the added stress on some new muscles I was using to support my upper body. That may need some tweaking since I'm not entirely comfortable in them yet.
Today is our day off and I'm taking advantage hoping to rest up for the big workouts on Saturday and Sunday. Here's hoping tomorrow doesn't dawn with frost on the ground. At least the ride is in Rock Creek and we could actually bike there and back, but I think we'll just drive down. Busy day tomorrow, especially for Liz!!
Monday, January 22, 2007
Deep freeze
The thing about signing up for triathlon training in the winter months that I was definitely not looking forward to is the cold. The bitter, bitter cold. Saturday was the first of our scheduled brick workouts, 70' bike, 10' run. Forecast for that morning around 8:00: low 20s, winds 20-25 MPH with 40-45 MPH gusts. Wind chill well into the single digits. The workout was in Sterling, roughly 40 minutes away on a good day. So that would mean that between getting the rack and bikes on the car, driving out and back, and generally getting organized and suited up we would be spending 2 hours travel time for a little over an hour of actual workout in freezing temperatures and heavy winds. There's hardcore and then there's just plain not smart. No thanks. I did just fine indoors on the new trainer with a 10' run outside afterwards.
Sunday was another 30' swim. We saw one of the other coaches at the pool and heard that they didn't even do the run after the bike on Saturday (so glad we didn't go!). I concentrated on my stroke mostly, trying to lengthen myself in the pool. I've read that to get faster in the water it's best to minimize the number of strokes you take to swim a length. Makes sense: the more efficient your stroke is the fewer strokes you'll need to take and the faster you will be. The problem is that as I get winded I have to breathe more often. More breathing makes it harder to maintain a good, smooth rhythm since you are essentially interrupting that nice streamlined form every time you turn to take a breath. Well, at least I am. On my best laps I took 17 strokes to get down the pool breathing every 5 strokes. I can't really hold that for more than a lap though. Settling into a breath every 3 strokes gets me into the 19-20 strokes range, but I can sustain that for longer. I mentally split my 30 minutes into 200 yard intervals with the first 25 yards of every interval swimming breaststroke to recover and get my heartrate down a bit. I figured I would be slightly slower than the week before when I did 1400 yards in 30 minutes on straight freestyle, but actually came in at 1450. Point driven home yet again: swimming is all about form.
This week is the heaviest week in our latest build cycle before a "rest" week. We've been promised about 2100 yards in the pool tomorrow morning. As long as it's not tons of catch-up drills and straight kicking I'm OK with that ...
Sunday was another 30' swim. We saw one of the other coaches at the pool and heard that they didn't even do the run after the bike on Saturday (so glad we didn't go!). I concentrated on my stroke mostly, trying to lengthen myself in the pool. I've read that to get faster in the water it's best to minimize the number of strokes you take to swim a length. Makes sense: the more efficient your stroke is the fewer strokes you'll need to take and the faster you will be. The problem is that as I get winded I have to breathe more often. More breathing makes it harder to maintain a good, smooth rhythm since you are essentially interrupting that nice streamlined form every time you turn to take a breath. Well, at least I am. On my best laps I took 17 strokes to get down the pool breathing every 5 strokes. I can't really hold that for more than a lap though. Settling into a breath every 3 strokes gets me into the 19-20 strokes range, but I can sustain that for longer. I mentally split my 30 minutes into 200 yard intervals with the first 25 yards of every interval swimming breaststroke to recover and get my heartrate down a bit. I figured I would be slightly slower than the week before when I did 1400 yards in 30 minutes on straight freestyle, but actually came in at 1450. Point driven home yet again: swimming is all about form.
This week is the heaviest week in our latest build cycle before a "rest" week. We've been promised about 2100 yards in the pool tomorrow morning. As long as it's not tons of catch-up drills and straight kicking I'm OK with that ...
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Building
We're into week #2 of a three week build cycle. The training schedule we're following is built around a basic four week, 3/1 periodization timetable. Three "build" weeks in which the workouts get progressively harder/longer followed by a rest week to let the body rest and re-adjust to its newly established baseline. The theory is that after the rest week your body can resume harder training more easily than working straight through. In fact it's supposed to work significantly better than doing a straight linear build without any protracted rest at all. We'll see.
I ended up taking Friday off trying to kick this cold (it was a rough day). By Saturday morning I wasn't sure how things would go, but it was so incredibly nice outside that it would have been a shame to let it go to waste. 65 degree days in January don't come around too often! The workout was our first organized group ride. We met out in Vienna at a bike shop near the W&OD bike trail. The first hour or so was spent in the shop talking about basic bike maintenance, trail etiquette, and pedal technique. The latter was pretty useful. Then we all went out for a 60' ride on the trail. The group rides will be helpful, especially when we start doing bricks, but it's a pain to load up the car with 3 bikes and spend more time driving to the trail than actually on it. This weekend we have to drive even further out. After that they've promised some more rides in DC and MD. I'm just waiting for the rides in Rock Creek where we won't even have to load the car up ...
Sunday was a busy day. We started by heading up to Takoma for a 30 minute swim. Sunday swims aren't following any set routine or drills, just swimming straight for 30'. It really helps to find a comfortable pace. I struggled early in the swim to do that, mostly because I'm still mucking with my breathing. Taking a breath on the left still feels really unnatural. I start out breathing every 4 strokes (same side every time), but then the heart rate gets up and I find myself wanting to breathe sooner. That translates to breathing on the right every other stroke. I'm trying to get into a groove where every 3 strokes, alternating sides, is the norm. I think it's actually affecting my stroke significantly. After a hard swim there are muscles in my left shoulder that are more sore than their partners on the right, probably due to the fact that I'm using a different stroke on the left to raise my body slightly as I turn to breathe on the right. Plus there's a knot around my right shoulder blade from turning my head to that side every time. Anyway, all of that aside, I was able to squeeze out 1400 yards in those 30 minutes. Not bad considering that 1650 is roughly the distance we'll have to hit in the race. My newly chosen swim goal is to get the race distance in under 30'. I think that's definitely attainable.
After getting back from the swim it was a 45' run. I hadn't run nearly that far since the 5 Miler in mid-December. I went roughly 4.5 miles, which is keeping with my 10" mile pace goal. For now. It wasn't easy. We haven't incorporated any speed or interval work into the run workouts yet. I think that comes this week. Hopefully that will start helping my pace. Right now I'm just focusing on hitting the workout times knowing that the speed will have to wait.
Following the run I headed down to Arlington for a short gym training clinic by one of the coaches. It was basically a weight and core training routine with the triathlete in mind. Lots of core work with some targeted weight training involved. We spent a lot of time on modified yoga and pilates-like drills with other isolated stretches and core work on those big rubber training balls. Some of this stuff was no joke and I knew enough to watch and not attempt. I'm going to try to incorporate this into the weekly routine starting next week, going slowly to start. My abs still hurt today.
So, that was Sunday. I was beat and slightly sore on Monday. Luckily it was only a 30' bike session. I'm still doing those at the gym on the stationary bikes, but that will change sometime later this week when we get a new bike trainer. With the winter coming on strong and 2 budding triathletes in the house it will more than pay for itself in training time not lost. I just can't wait for the first time somebody in our building stumbles on one of us spinning furiously away in the basement! It doesn't hurt that we will be training on our own bikes; there is no way I can get the gym bikes to be set up like my own, and you can't use bike shoes on most of them (you can on the spinning bikes, but I don't have the right cleats). Plus I'll finally get to fit and try out my aerobars. They're nothing special, but I hope they'll get me a better position on the bike. That may require another bike fitting, though.
Today was Tuesday, and you know what that means! 4:45 wake up call and in the pool by 5:30. Liz is still feeling the ill effects of being sick, so I encouraged her to sleep in and try to kick this thing instead of making it worse. It was a different workout today. We started with 2 sets of 300 divided into 100/50/100/50 segments. We misunderstood the RI instructions and did the whole 300 in one shot. We were supposed to rest between each set of 100 or 50. Oops!! The 50s were easy pace, the 100s were build intervals on 25 going easy -> moderate -> race pace -> sprint. We had 35 people in the pool this morning, and 6 in our lane alone! That made for some, um, interesting pace problems on the longer intervals. Unless everybody is swimming the same speed people are going to be swimming into each other, or slowed down, or waiting at the end of an interval. Steph said that we had a run scheduled for after the swim, and I thought she was being a liar. But she wasn't. At least for the Level 2 schedule. I've been following Level 1 purely for the running side of things. I'm really starting from scratch there. So, I got suckered into heading back out for 25' run (was supposed to be 30'). We'll see how that goes and determine if I should make that a weekly thing ...
I ended up taking Friday off trying to kick this cold (it was a rough day). By Saturday morning I wasn't sure how things would go, but it was so incredibly nice outside that it would have been a shame to let it go to waste. 65 degree days in January don't come around too often! The workout was our first organized group ride. We met out in Vienna at a bike shop near the W&OD bike trail. The first hour or so was spent in the shop talking about basic bike maintenance, trail etiquette, and pedal technique. The latter was pretty useful. Then we all went out for a 60' ride on the trail. The group rides will be helpful, especially when we start doing bricks, but it's a pain to load up the car with 3 bikes and spend more time driving to the trail than actually on it. This weekend we have to drive even further out. After that they've promised some more rides in DC and MD. I'm just waiting for the rides in Rock Creek where we won't even have to load the car up ...
Sunday was a busy day. We started by heading up to Takoma for a 30 minute swim. Sunday swims aren't following any set routine or drills, just swimming straight for 30'. It really helps to find a comfortable pace. I struggled early in the swim to do that, mostly because I'm still mucking with my breathing. Taking a breath on the left still feels really unnatural. I start out breathing every 4 strokes (same side every time), but then the heart rate gets up and I find myself wanting to breathe sooner. That translates to breathing on the right every other stroke. I'm trying to get into a groove where every 3 strokes, alternating sides, is the norm. I think it's actually affecting my stroke significantly. After a hard swim there are muscles in my left shoulder that are more sore than their partners on the right, probably due to the fact that I'm using a different stroke on the left to raise my body slightly as I turn to breathe on the right. Plus there's a knot around my right shoulder blade from turning my head to that side every time. Anyway, all of that aside, I was able to squeeze out 1400 yards in those 30 minutes. Not bad considering that 1650 is roughly the distance we'll have to hit in the race. My newly chosen swim goal is to get the race distance in under 30'. I think that's definitely attainable.
After getting back from the swim it was a 45' run. I hadn't run nearly that far since the 5 Miler in mid-December. I went roughly 4.5 miles, which is keeping with my 10" mile pace goal. For now. It wasn't easy. We haven't incorporated any speed or interval work into the run workouts yet. I think that comes this week. Hopefully that will start helping my pace. Right now I'm just focusing on hitting the workout times knowing that the speed will have to wait.
Following the run I headed down to Arlington for a short gym training clinic by one of the coaches. It was basically a weight and core training routine with the triathlete in mind. Lots of core work with some targeted weight training involved. We spent a lot of time on modified yoga and pilates-like drills with other isolated stretches and core work on those big rubber training balls. Some of this stuff was no joke and I knew enough to watch and not attempt. I'm going to try to incorporate this into the weekly routine starting next week, going slowly to start. My abs still hurt today.
So, that was Sunday. I was beat and slightly sore on Monday. Luckily it was only a 30' bike session. I'm still doing those at the gym on the stationary bikes, but that will change sometime later this week when we get a new bike trainer. With the winter coming on strong and 2 budding triathletes in the house it will more than pay for itself in training time not lost. I just can't wait for the first time somebody in our building stumbles on one of us spinning furiously away in the basement! It doesn't hurt that we will be training on our own bikes; there is no way I can get the gym bikes to be set up like my own, and you can't use bike shoes on most of them (you can on the spinning bikes, but I don't have the right cleats). Plus I'll finally get to fit and try out my aerobars. They're nothing special, but I hope they'll get me a better position on the bike. That may require another bike fitting, though.
Today was Tuesday, and you know what that means! 4:45 wake up call and in the pool by 5:30. Liz is still feeling the ill effects of being sick, so I encouraged her to sleep in and try to kick this thing instead of making it worse. It was a different workout today. We started with 2 sets of 300 divided into 100/50/100/50 segments. We misunderstood the RI instructions and did the whole 300 in one shot. We were supposed to rest between each set of 100 or 50. Oops!! The 50s were easy pace, the 100s were build intervals on 25 going easy -> moderate -> race pace -> sprint. We had 35 people in the pool this morning, and 6 in our lane alone! That made for some, um, interesting pace problems on the longer intervals. Unless everybody is swimming the same speed people are going to be swimming into each other, or slowed down, or waiting at the end of an interval. Steph said that we had a run scheduled for after the swim, and I thought she was being a liar. But she wasn't. At least for the Level 2 schedule. I've been following Level 1 purely for the running side of things. I'm really starting from scratch there. So, I got suckered into heading back out for 25' run (was supposed to be 30'). We'll see how that goes and determine if I should make that a weekly thing ...
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Obstacles
Getting into the rhythm of training hasn't been as bad as I'd expected. If you had told me 2 months ago that I would be getting up before 5:00 two days a week (and around 7:00 every Saturday) I would have said you were nuts. In fact I'm pretty sure I said that exact thing to Teen three years ago when she first did TNT. But it's not the early wake ups that are causing interruptions to the schedule; it's finding time around other parts of my day.
Yesterday was supposed to be a short 30' bike ride with some built-in speed intervals, but a really annoying day at work kept me in the office until 11:00. On top of that I've been fighting off a head cold for the past couple of days. I thought I had it kicked but the long day of stress let it creep back in. I did make it up at 5:15 today for a morning swim at Takoma with the usual suspects, but it was hard going. I felt sluggish, and parts of the workout that weren't too bad on Tuesday were painful today. Some of it had to do with the fact that we weren't constrained by the 4-person circle swim and had our own lanes. No excuse for extending the rest intervals waiting for the whole lane to finish the lap as a group. I tried to stick to them and felt the difference. My arms were dead on some of the final lengths for the long intervals. One thing that I'm now totally convinced about is that by trying to go faster I'm actually slowing myself down. On the fast laps my arm turnover was higher and I was getting winded, expending more energy, but I'm pretty sure that they were slower on average than the moderate paced ones were I was more relaxed and conscious of my body position. It's hard to fight the urge to "go hard" in the water on the assumption that it will make you go faster. Just another mental stumbling block to get past I guess.
Since I was feeling crappy (and worked was calling ... literally) I bagged the 30' run we were supposed to do. I'll count yesterday as my off day and try to get it in tomorrow. Weather is looking nice for our first group ride on Saturday. Let's hope it holds up.
Yesterday was supposed to be a short 30' bike ride with some built-in speed intervals, but a really annoying day at work kept me in the office until 11:00. On top of that I've been fighting off a head cold for the past couple of days. I thought I had it kicked but the long day of stress let it creep back in. I did make it up at 5:15 today for a morning swim at Takoma with the usual suspects, but it was hard going. I felt sluggish, and parts of the workout that weren't too bad on Tuesday were painful today. Some of it had to do with the fact that we weren't constrained by the 4-person circle swim and had our own lanes. No excuse for extending the rest intervals waiting for the whole lane to finish the lap as a group. I tried to stick to them and felt the difference. My arms were dead on some of the final lengths for the long intervals. One thing that I'm now totally convinced about is that by trying to go faster I'm actually slowing myself down. On the fast laps my arm turnover was higher and I was getting winded, expending more energy, but I'm pretty sure that they were slower on average than the moderate paced ones were I was more relaxed and conscious of my body position. It's hard to fight the urge to "go hard" in the water on the assumption that it will make you go faster. Just another mental stumbling block to get past I guess.
Since I was feeling crappy (and worked was calling ... literally) I bagged the 30' run we were supposed to do. I'll count yesterday as my off day and try to get it in tomorrow. Weather is looking nice for our first group ride on Saturday. Let's hope it holds up.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming ...
My swimming has definitely gotten better! Yesterday morning's workout:
8 x 75yd: kick/drill/swim for 25 in each set, rest interval (RI) 10".
Drill for the first 4 sets was the "finger tip drag" in which you try to lightly drag your finger tips along the water next to your ear as your arm comes out of the water on the recovery stroke. This is supposed to help get your elbow high out of the water to reduce drag and prepare for the next stroke. It also teaches you to make an efficient, fast recovery and not waste energy by hauling your arm way out of the water. The 2nd drill was the "catch up" drill where you don't start to pull with one arm until the other arm is also straight out in front of you. For a brief moment you have both arms straight ahead. It supposed to teach you to put power into your arm stroke or else you'll be kicking the whole way. I hate the catch up drill.
The rest of the workout was straight swimming with intervals:
2 x 200, RI = 30" : 75 moderate pace / 50 fast / 75 moderate
3 x 150, RI = 20" : 50 / 50 / 50
4 x 100, RI = 15" : 25 / 50 / 25
For cool down the coach had us swim laps together to start getting used to the madhouse that is triathlon in the water. We swam down and back in pairs, then in 3s, then all 4 of us together in the same lane. Lots of flailing arms and legs! I can see why the swim start can be terrifying, getting kicked in the face and literally having people swim over you.
Total without warm up and cool down was 1850 yards. That's about 200 more than we will be swimming, so my confidence is fairly high that I'll be able to handle it come April. Slowly, but at least I'll be able to do it. It seems like a long time ago that I could barely do one lap of freestyle without getting winded, but that was only November. Now if only the running were improving a the same clip ...
The swim was followed by a 30' run. It didn't feel great, but I got through it. It maybe wasn't the wisest choice to start out by going up the biggest hill I could find.
8 x 75yd: kick/drill/swim for 25 in each set, rest interval (RI) 10".
Drill for the first 4 sets was the "finger tip drag" in which you try to lightly drag your finger tips along the water next to your ear as your arm comes out of the water on the recovery stroke. This is supposed to help get your elbow high out of the water to reduce drag and prepare for the next stroke. It also teaches you to make an efficient, fast recovery and not waste energy by hauling your arm way out of the water. The 2nd drill was the "catch up" drill where you don't start to pull with one arm until the other arm is also straight out in front of you. For a brief moment you have both arms straight ahead. It supposed to teach you to put power into your arm stroke or else you'll be kicking the whole way. I hate the catch up drill.
The rest of the workout was straight swimming with intervals:
2 x 200, RI = 30" : 75 moderate pace / 50 fast / 75 moderate
3 x 150, RI = 20" : 50 / 50 / 50
4 x 100, RI = 15" : 25 / 50 / 25
For cool down the coach had us swim laps together to start getting used to the madhouse that is triathlon in the water. We swam down and back in pairs, then in 3s, then all 4 of us together in the same lane. Lots of flailing arms and legs! I can see why the swim start can be terrifying, getting kicked in the face and literally having people swim over you.
Total without warm up and cool down was 1850 yards. That's about 200 more than we will be swimming, so my confidence is fairly high that I'll be able to handle it come April. Slowly, but at least I'll be able to do it. It seems like a long time ago that I could barely do one lap of freestyle without getting winded, but that was only November. Now if only the running were improving a the same clip ...
The swim was followed by a 30' run. It didn't feel great, but I got through it. It maybe wasn't the wisest choice to start out by going up the biggest hill I could find.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Back on track
This week is an "Easy" week on the schedule. I guess I would have preferred that to be last week when it was harder to get in workouts and thus not feel as guilty about missing them. So's life. Monday was an off day, Tuesday was the aborted swim effort (probably only got in 1000 yards or so), Wednesday I ran to the gym and did 20 minutes on the bike, last night we went to Takoma and did the full swim workout, 1900 yards! A tad over 2100 with warm up/cool down. That was preceded by a harder-than-it-should-have-been 15 minute run due to the fact that I chose to run up and around Meridian Hill. Today is another off day. Tomorrow is the much needed run clinic with a short 20' run scheduled. Hopefully the beautiful weather will hold up for Sunday's 50' bike ride and short swim.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Holiday aftermath
Normally the week and-a-half surrounding Christmas and New Year's isn't exactly conducive to maintaining a good workout schedule. This year wasn't too much different. We spent the weekend before Christmas in Philadelphia with Liz's family and actually got a couple good workouts in according to the training plan: a 35-minute run on Saturday and 40 minute bike on Sunday. The weather for the run was spectacular, almost 60 degrees in the morning. Since we didn't bother to lug the bikes up with us we had to settle for spinning at the Philadelphia Sports Club in Wayne. Membership at the WSC does have it's priveleges. The club up there is brand spanking new and even has a pool. We were tempted to take advantage but never found the time.
We ony had a couple days back in DC before heading down to Florida for Liz and Ian's wedding in Ft Myers Beach. Tuesday was a swim day, and we had thought that the regularly scheduled group practice would be happening on 12/26. Not that we would have been able to make the 5:30 swim anyway I was aiming for the night session. Turns out there was no night session. At least it gave me a chance to try out the pool Takoma Rec Center since UDC is closed for the holidays until 1/8. It's a great pool: not crowded and huge. We'll go back this week on Thursday. Wednesday was supposed to be a bike workout, but a late day at work had me bagging that entirely, along with most of the rest of the holiday schedule.
We were told to try to get in all of the workouts on vacation that we could. Easier said than done, especially in the pool. We were up early on Thursday for the flight, and once we got to the hotel it was decided that we would push that workout (20' run + swim workout) to Friday which was supposed to be an off day. I had my doubts that we'd do anything at all, but Liz and I got up and out the door to run in the morning and warm sunshine. After 2 miles or so it was back to the condo to change for a swim. The complex had a pool of indeterminate length (I estimated 20 meters), but at least I got the whole thing in! Well, minus 20% of the distance for the shorter pool. Saturday was supposed to be another longish run, but fishing beckoned. About the only thing that got a workout was my left bicep and forearm from holding the rod! I just fely wiped out on Sunday after the weekend. I did manage to get in another 2 mile run at Lovers Key state park just down the road. It was great to run on some trails instead of the pavement except for the two snakes I had to hurdle. They were both stretched out across almost the entire width of the trail catching some morning sun. I didn't stop to see what kind they were, but one must have been about 4 feet long. I thought it was a stick at first and barely missed stepping on its head!
New Year's Day was another off day (much needed) and the start to an easy week on the schedule. This morning was another 5:30 swim that didn't start until 5:50 or so after another lifeguard no-show. At least this time we were able to call and get the alarm codes. I think we're only 1-for-4 on starting that workout on time. 6:30 came up fast and we only got through about 2/3 of the workout. I was actually kind of bummed! Sharing the lane with 4 people makes it hard to keep pace; I was stopping after almost every length to try and maintain spacing which made the longer intervals a lot easier than they should have been. The rest of the week should be pretty easy; a bunch of 15-20' runs and bikes that almost don't seem worth it. We've been told to actually take it easy and not try to make up for lost time, and after putting almost all of weight back on that I had lost in the past few weeks I'll have to try hard to heed that advice. The swim on Thursday should be a challenge, though, if we get through the entire workout from today (1900+ yards). Saturday will be the first group workout we'll be able to attend, and it couldn't come at a better time. I desperately need some running advice before we start getting into longer run workouts or I'm going to end up hurting myself. After this easy week I think the real fun is going to begin!
We ony had a couple days back in DC before heading down to Florida for Liz and Ian's wedding in Ft Myers Beach. Tuesday was a swim day, and we had thought that the regularly scheduled group practice would be happening on 12/26. Not that we would have been able to make the 5:30 swim anyway I was aiming for the night session. Turns out there was no night session. At least it gave me a chance to try out the pool Takoma Rec Center since UDC is closed for the holidays until 1/8. It's a great pool: not crowded and huge. We'll go back this week on Thursday. Wednesday was supposed to be a bike workout, but a late day at work had me bagging that entirely, along with most of the rest of the holiday schedule.
We were told to try to get in all of the workouts on vacation that we could. Easier said than done, especially in the pool. We were up early on Thursday for the flight, and once we got to the hotel it was decided that we would push that workout (20' run + swim workout) to Friday which was supposed to be an off day. I had my doubts that we'd do anything at all, but Liz and I got up and out the door to run in the morning and warm sunshine. After 2 miles or so it was back to the condo to change for a swim. The complex had a pool of indeterminate length (I estimated 20 meters), but at least I got the whole thing in! Well, minus 20% of the distance for the shorter pool. Saturday was supposed to be another longish run, but fishing beckoned. About the only thing that got a workout was my left bicep and forearm from holding the rod! I just fely wiped out on Sunday after the weekend. I did manage to get in another 2 mile run at Lovers Key state park just down the road. It was great to run on some trails instead of the pavement except for the two snakes I had to hurdle. They were both stretched out across almost the entire width of the trail catching some morning sun. I didn't stop to see what kind they were, but one must have been about 4 feet long. I thought it was a stick at first and barely missed stepping on its head!
New Year's Day was another off day (much needed) and the start to an easy week on the schedule. This morning was another 5:30 swim that didn't start until 5:50 or so after another lifeguard no-show. At least this time we were able to call and get the alarm codes. I think we're only 1-for-4 on starting that workout on time. 6:30 came up fast and we only got through about 2/3 of the workout. I was actually kind of bummed! Sharing the lane with 4 people makes it hard to keep pace; I was stopping after almost every length to try and maintain spacing which made the longer intervals a lot easier than they should have been. The rest of the week should be pretty easy; a bunch of 15-20' runs and bikes that almost don't seem worth it. We've been told to actually take it easy and not try to make up for lost time, and after putting almost all of weight back on that I had lost in the past few weeks I'll have to try hard to heed that advice. The swim on Thursday should be a challenge, though, if we get through the entire workout from today (1900+ yards). Saturday will be the first group workout we'll be able to attend, and it couldn't come at a better time. I desperately need some running advice before we start getting into longer run workouts or I'm going to end up hurting myself. After this easy week I think the real fun is going to begin!
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