Double duty

Hey guys! How's the training/whatever else you blog about going?

I didn't make it to work out Monday because Nick was visiting, and I have a difficult time motivating to work out when I only get to see him a couple days out of the week. Anyway, I doubled up running and biking today. I was planning on going to the gym like I have all winter long, but then it occurred to be that I could get in about an hour of daylight after work! Totally exciting! I rushed home, changed clothes and sprinted out the door! I went for a 30-minute bike ride but only got about four miles in. I'm not quite sure why because I wasn't going THAT slow, except for on a killer hill at the turn around. I figured 30 minutes outside was going to do me a whole lot better than an hour on the gym bike (see previous post). Because I don't have a bike lock, I had to rush my bike back inside before heading out for my run.

The run was interesting. It was hard at first to transition (good practice though!), and the more I ran, the worse I felt. A few minutes into my 18-minute run, I thought I was going to have to stop. I look ahead and said I could stop that this point. When I got there, I looked about 20 yards ahead of me, thinking I couldn't make it any farther than that. But I just ran right passed it. I went about 0.8 miles before I had to turn around. I felt like I was dying. My sides were splitting really bad and my whole body hurt, but my legs, oddly enough, were fine and my breathing were calm, so I kept going. Shortly after my turn around I realized I was going to be able to make it ALL the way back! It was a huge turn around for me! My sides stopped hurting, and I just ran, finally understanding pushing through until running doesn't suck as bad. For a few minutes, I actually felt that peace Kayle talks about, where your mind shuts off and you just run. It might have been that I wasn't getting oxygen to my brain, and I was feeling loopy, thus, thinking everything was awesome...who knows? Toward the end of the short 1.6-mile run, I was starting to hurt again, but I was proud of myself. I made it all the way back. It was getting pretty dark, so I couldn't push myself any farther. I know 1.5 miles isn't impressive, even though I couldn't run for 5 minutes this summer without stopping, but after my bike, I thought it was all right. I know I can do a super sprint at least...

I still need a lot of work, and I'm worried I don't have time to get it all in, but I'm going to try. Wish me luck in the next few days...everything is changing at work, so it may be a little stressful!

My ride

I finally went biking along Boomer Lake today! I'd been trying to for three months now, and something always came up when I thought I had the opportunity. It was good to finally go!

Except that the ride kicked my ass. For real.

It's about a four mile loop, but I can't tell for sure because all the mapping sites seem to lack trails, so I can't know for sure. I did the loop twice, once going on a mile or so jet off and back. I biked for 50 minutes, probably less than 10 miles, and I'm pooped! It's like I haven't ridden a bike in a month! Want to know the truth? I haven't gotten on my bike to bike outside in about 3 weeks, so I guess it's not far off. The ONLY bike at the gym is like this: So, perhaps I've been training the wrong part of the muscle all winter long. I don't know what the reason is, but I'm getting worried about my biking. I'm going to have to figure out how to ensure I have daylight while juggling a non-conventional work schedule and a long distance relationship. This should be interesting. Any tips? Also, anyone know of any sites that will map trails and routes off of roads? I don't mean just being able to go off road, but actually have the trail information in the database?

Utter fail

Weekend workouts have not been going well...

Friday, I was able to get off work early (kinda, and given that I went in for almost 4 hours today) because Kayle was coming to town! It was really fun to see her, but unfortunately, I couldn't get the sore girl to get excited about running, so we went on a short walk instead. I was planning on biking today (normal) and running on Sunday, which is normally an off day. Well, I find out in the morning that it was windy and cold today but should be beautiful again tomorrow. I decided to run at the gym today and bike tomorrow. I need to fit the bike in before Nick comes mid-afternoon, too. After work today, I went home and ate...a lot. I hadn't eaten much that morning, and it took quite a while to get to the point where I felt like I could run. I've never been to the gym on a Saturday before, but apparently, it closes well before 7 p.m.! They were completely shut down when I arrived, so I sadly drove back home.

I guess I'll do some pilates (legs, butt and belly) tonight, bike tomorrow and then figure the rest out. I'm supposed to swim Monday, but that will be a challenge because Nick will be here. I have no idea how to get it done, and I can't remember the last time I did a full week's of exercise! I'm getting discouraged.

Just to add more fuel to the fire, I think I might be getting a cold.

(Note 8:31 p.m.: I just did about 40 minutes of pilates, so at least I did something. Toward the end of the workout, I realized I hadn't weighed myself in a long time. I got on the scale and guess what? I've broken the barrier that I haven't been able to get below since I gained 10 pounds in Spain...the summer of 2007! I'm only one pound below it, and I'd love to see the number another six pounds lower, but I know I've put on so much muscle, so a good amount of fat has been lost in the past few months. I'm not sure how low that number can get since I'm adding muscle anyway. My legs have definition, and my arms have a little, too. I can tell I've shaved fat off my thighs and stomach. My abs are there but still beneath a layer of stingy fat that may never go away. I don't have a perfect body, and I didn't get into the triathlon thing to lose weight, but it's nice to see physical results in addition to better endurance and such! I'm still discouraged about fitting all my workouts in, but I thought I'd give you a little upper, too.)

And again...

Work interfered with training again today.

I had to work late waiting for someone to call me back about information on a wreck, so I didn't get to the gym until 30 minutes before the pool closed! I was supposed to get two 400m swims in, plus warm up, cool down and kicks (each 100m). That clearly wasn't going to happen, so I did my warm up and decided to swim 500m (the amount of my tri) instead. I fit 50m of kicks and a cool down in before I had to leave. After I changed, I tackled the weights, too, so not all was lost!

Happy training!

A new week

Yet it seems eerily similar.

Monday started out as crazy as ever. A few coworkers and I were in a two hour meeting with the boss, which was good, but put me a little behind for the day...I had a ton to do! I was supposed to sprint up hills during lunch but didn't have time for that long of a lunch, so I ate and rushed back to work. I ended up working until 8:15, when I decided to get to the gym for a quick run before the closed at 9. I went back to work after the run, where I stayed until 9:30. I wasn't done, but I left so I could eat "dinner" before going to bed, which I have been getting ready for around 10.

The run: 28 minutes total (with warm up and cool down), which is too short in my opinion, but anyway, incline 2%, 4 quarters of a mile at 7 mph, with almost a quarter mile walking in between to work on speed. I felt great after. (Well, tired, but you know.)

I got back to work this morning at 7:30 (really early for me!) to finish up some stuff before a 9 a.m. meeting. I went grocery shopping during lunch. but today I worked a little later than expected as well, and I did not feel like working out, but I forced myself to go. It wasn't as great as I was hoping it would be and I left utterly exhausted and starving! I really considered going home and doing today's workout tomorrow, but I made myself go. I may have had a more productive workout tomorrow, but who knows.

Today's workout: 400m swim (with 100m warm up and cool down), 30 minute bike hills level 1 plus cool down, about 10 minutes of abs.

Tomorrow: REST! Can't wait!

Week of Friday the 13th

This week has been...well, the week of Friday the 13th. It's been crazy and weird and stressful. Even my workout schedule was off. I'm so glad it's now the weekend.

Monday: I biked and it was amazing.
Tuesday: Tornado warning mid-afternoon, went into hiding, went straight home after it passed and spent another 2.5 hours working, didn't make it to the gym for my own safety. I was supposed to bike and swim.
Wednesday: Normal off day, Nick was in town, ate dollar tacos and watched the Breakfast Club.
Thursday: Supposed to try doubling up since I missed it Tuesday, but I didn't get off work until 7 p.m., I hadn't felt well all day and had had a headache, so I was trying to decide if I should skip it. I was ridiculously tired, but thought it would be great to sweat out my stress, but then my headache flared up again, so I turned around at the gym parking lot and went home. Still didn't get everything done I needed to and got to bed late.
Friday: Supposed to wake up early to run, didn't happen, went to work early to finish all my work early, but was given extra work instead, worked 2 hours overtime I won't get paid for, supposed to run when I get home, but now I'm so exhausted and it's been so long since I've worked out, it's becoming hard to motivate to do it! Catch 22.

With the stress of the week, I really needed my workouts, but didn't get them. Now, I'm exhausted and don't feel up to it. I won't have any time tomorrow to work out, but I do plan on running or biking Sunday. I feel blah and I know it's partly because I just can't seem to make it to the gym this week. I love feeling utter distress when I can't work out, but I don't. Ten bucks I don't run today...

Jell-O

For the first time ever, I did swim speed drills. In a workout, I've done bursts before, but today was all about the speed.

50m freestyle x4, 50m backstroke x2, 50m kicks x2, with a 100m warm up and cool down.

Let's just say my legs, which were still a little tired from the bike ride yesterday, felt like Jell-O after the first 100 fast! Needless to say, my speed slowed down considerably as the workout progressed, but if I was giving it my all every time, it did great things. It was quite tiring.

My legs won't really get to rest tomorrow, either. I'm going to be biking and running, brick style. (12 minutes bike, 6 minute run, repeat 3 times!) Then, they can rest.

Home of the wind

I went running outside Friday and came back really sore. That's been happening lately when I run, but wasn't like that before. My hips, inner thighs and the back of my knee on my left leg all hurt halfway through the run and are sore the next day. (They hurt like they're getting sore, nothing major.) It's weird because it's a rather new thing. I ran about 2 of the 3 miles or so.

I noticed last week how tight my muscle had become. I was a dancer growing up and was never incredibly flexible, but I was better off than many. It really bothered me to feel how tight they had become, so I started stretching every night. I get to sleep later because I'm spending 15 minutes on the floor stretching. It's great. I love it and I love going to bed feeling loosened up, non-sexually. I try to stretch a little in the mornings and I'm still stretching after workouts as well. I'm determined to have my splits back by the tri!

Finally, yesterday I went on a great bike ride. I barely had time to fit it in because I had a really busy weekend, but I made sure I could! My dad and I went out on a 10 mile ride. I wanted to do hills, but I was afraid those would still be icy because they were shaded all the time. We went on flat and I was excited for a fun, fast ride. See how quickly I could do it! When we get out there, it becomes apparent that it will be incredibly windy, one way. It took us 37 minutes to get to the turn around mark! Killer! I spent a lot of the time in 3rd gear because I just couldn't pedal any higher than that! We turned around and may it back in 27 minutes (a little bit was in the wind), but it was the fun, fast ride I was looking forward to. I loved having a good speed and I finally felt like a racer, not like a little girl struggling to keep up with her dad! I kept a positive attitude through the whole thing, too, because I knew I'd always get to turn around and I knew that it was just going to make me a stronger rider. Who knows what the conditions will be in April? I came back with a big smile on my face.