So, real quick, this was what I did in the week leading up to the race....
I got my new bike seat on Thursday and immediately swapped it out. It was much easier than I thought it would be, just unscrewed the old one, took off the wedge bag, fumbled with the over and under thingamabob that kept the seat in place, and in about 15 minutes it was swapped out.
I also got some emergency kit stuff - tire patch kits and some plastic tire picks. Loaded those into the wedge pack and found the emergency CO2 cartridge inflator.
Beth left town on Friday for the Big Summer Potluck in upstate PA. Whenever she leaves, I can never get to sleep, and Friday was no exception. I worked the Mobtown show, came home and played some Civ, and finally collapsed in bed at something like 2 AM, and slept fitfully all night. Finally, sometime around 9:30, I decided to get up. I putzed around the house all morning, wondering what I should do. Finally, sometime mid-afternoon, I decided I needed to get a long bike ride in. Of course, by that time it was something like 95 degrees out. But I needed to test my new saddle out, so I loaded up a water bottle with ice and a little water and took off for Fort McHenry.
It wasn't a bad ride, other than the construction of stands for the Baltimore Grand Prix - which is over a month away and just totally obliterated the bike path. Ended up going onto the brick walkway around the harbor and dodging pedestrians rather than go out into the street against traffic. Amazing how people are just sorta clueless when a bike is coming at them. But I was out and back in about an hour - 12 miles through all that stuff. Not bad. At some point I might come back and post my MyTracks data.... I drank a ton of water, hung out, and did my Ghost Tour that night.
Sunday I thought I might do another 30-30-30, but it was again really hot. I got up, made it to the JFX Farmer's Market, came home, switched into tri shorts, and took off on the bike for the gym and an early swim. It was brilliant. Quick bike ride down, no one in the lanes, I was in and out in 15 minutes. And I felt pretty good, so I jumped on the bike, and rather than heading home, I took off on a ride. Went out Boston Street, headed southish on Broening Highway, found myself on Holabird, and remembered the ride Beth and I had taken and Holabird. It's a nice long stretch without too many stop lights, so I barrelled down the road, got to the bottom of a hill, and kept going through a major intersection and up the another hill. Went out Soller's Point Road and found myself in Dundalk, eventually passing the middle school. At that point, the day was getting on, I was in full bore sunlight, and hadn't slathered myself in sunscreen, so I headed back.
The good thing about the ride was that it was nice and hilly - a real good work out. I came back and saw that I had snapped off a good 9 miles in around 40 minutes I think - after the swim. So I was feeling pretty good.
The big discovery early in the week was that I found the course maps had been posted. And somehow - I did it again! I was thinking that this was a 12 mile bike ride - 20 km. And my training had been focused on that. I knew the course consisted of lapS. So when I checked out the maps, I was really confused. There were marking for a mile 7, and my mind boggled - 2 laps? Did that mean this had suddenly become a 14 mile bike? I mean, my training was close, but it wasn't there. And it cautioned that there were "steep climbs." I used Google Street View to check out the course, and realized that it was a steady upgrade on the first half of the course - nothing that looked too monstrous, but a steady climb for about a mile as the course went outside the park and skirted its edge.
What was going on? It was then that I realized that - even with the two laps - the total distance of the course was not quite 8 miles! So, once again, I had inadvertently overtrained. I was ecstatic. This was going to be easy!
It was hot that week, but I decided - if it's hot this weekend, I need to be acclimated to it. So Monday evening I got my ass on the street for a little run. It looked dark, but Beth assured me that there was no thunderstorm activity in the area.
I warmed up going west on Baltimore around the park, which had me running up to the corner of Patterson and Baltimore, and then downhill - pretty much flat on Eastern to the far end of the Little Park, then uphill. The C25k program had me running 25 minutes solid - which I sorta did. I was futzing with the watch, which I couldn't get right, so at about 5 minute intervals in the run I'd stop for like two seconds to try to make sure the watch was working right. But I kept going for the most part.
I got up to the top of the hill, and it was an amazing site, but a storm was most definitely blowing in. I took off my iPhone (stowed in my new arm band) and snapped a couple of pics. Strapped it back on and took off. I finished up by heading back towards Eastern on Linwood a little ways, and then turned around with a couple of minutes left and headed back to Baltimore. Got part way up Linwood when the run ended and I had cool down. Walked back home, headed down the alley, and circled around to complete the cool down.
Beth talked to me about tapering, and I was thinking of doing some swimming or biking Tuesday and maybe a 30-30-30 Wednesday, but when Tuesday dawned, I realized I was too tired. So I took Tuesday off. Wednesday I didn't go 30-30-30, but I was out again for a run. Same thing this time - up the hill on Baltimore towards Patterson, down Patterson. At the corner of Linwood and Eastern, though, I headed up Linwood thinking I would do a big figure 8. Up the hill from the opposite way on the north side of the Little Park, and then I ran out of gas.... I kept going to the top of the hill, but I had to stop.... I walked a little ways - I think maybe 30 seconds - to recover from the uphill, and then back in to the run again. Finished up going around the park and going up Linwood, and did my 5 minute cool down walk going home. This time there was almost no stopping except for the little respite at the top of the hill, but I was tired. I felt like I was running slower, I didn't feel like I was covering as much ground, and the recovery seemed a lot slower. Which was okay - because Thursday I had a read through for the show, and Friday and Saturday I wouldn't be doing anything. So this was my last work out before Race Day, and I had a good three days of rest going into it! Nothing to do now but double check my gear and get ready!
Aug 5, 2011
Jul 27, 2011
30-30-30
So, I was bound and determined to get a 30-30-30 in - finally - on Wednesday. I took my Magic Pants to work, the sleeve, a Stinger (from Beth's collection), goggles, and shoes and - even though I was supposed to meet Joe for Wednesday Night Baseball, after the swim the previous night, I knew I was just going to do it.
I drove from work directly to the gym, got there at the top of the hour, changed, stretched lightly, and headed to the pool. Hardly anyone was around, so I got my pick of lanes. I stretched a little more, dipped my hand into the water, and then ... started. I dove in and had a few good dolphin kicks, resurfaced, and started nice and slow. One length down then two. My legs felt tired from last night's swim, but soon enough the cobwebs were kicked loose and I was going. Three and four and five and I barely felt winded. Six came, and I flipped over onto my back for a length of backstroke at seven. That done, my shoulders were sore from last night, too - so I flipped back into a crawl for #8, #9, and #10.
I was tired, and thought about flipping into a crawl. But no. Technically, #11 would be my final length come race day, and I wasn't going to end on back stroke. So I kept going. The dolphin kicks on the turns were going pretty well, too, and I was proud of that. So #11 came and went and I headed into the last length. The twelfth was strong. I didn't want to blow it out and die in the middle of my last event, but I was good to go. I put my head down, and switched to 4s, which made me go a little faster to get to the breath at the end. And then I was done.
I bobbed in the pool for a couple of seconds, a little dazed, and then told my self - you prolly can't do this on Sunday. So I climbed the ladder, got out, and made my way into the locker room. Twenty minutes to change and do the swim.
The great thing about the tri shorts is ... no changing. I toweled off and got mostly dry, and put on my shirt, pulled on my socks and shoes and then ... realized two things. One, I had forgotten to put my calf sleeve on, and two, I had forgotten my iPhone with the C25k app. I took off my shoe and pulled the sleeve on, and figured - I had already wasted enough time in this transition, I would run out to the car after the bike and grab my Android.
I grabbed the Stinger, jammed it in a pocket, went up to the video bike, adjusted it, and hopped on. I wanted a better, more life-like workout than the other night, so I chose "Race Day" and cued it up for 35 minutes, and started. I knew it was going to be a little different when the program exhorted me to go up to heavy resistance. I ignored it. Not ready yet. I got into a groove pretty quickly, waited before getting into a standing climb, and then started to follow the program a bit better - standing climbs, jacking up the resistance, etc. By about halfway through, I could feel my legs getting tired. So I pulled out the Stinger, ripped the top open, and gulped about half of it down.
It was interesting. Definitely honey - but something else kinda malty, too. And maybe it was because it had been in the car all day, but it was pretty liquidy, too. The gulp was more of a gush, really. I sucked the rest of the Stinger out, and kept going to make sure I had all of it that I could get, before stuffing it back into my pocket.
Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt like I could feel the lift after a minute or so. My legs weren't as tired anymore and things got easier. I was a little disappointed, though, that it didn't last longer. By the time the ride was almost done, I could feel my legs getting tired again, and I started thinking - how am I ever going to do this run? Maybe I need a second Stinger.
I got done with the bike, and then briskly walked out to the car, grabbed my phone, and realized - I had deleted the C25k app because it was so sucky. Fumbled through the process of re-downloading, and realized my calf was starting to get tight. Stretched it out a little, cued up the right week, and was relieved that it was 10 minutes of running, 3 of walking, and 10 running. So I started off on my warm-up, mostly to make sure that leg was good and loose. After about three minutes I thought - screw it, let's just finish this thing up. And started my jog.
I've never been so happy that I was only going 5mph. I think during the run I bumped it up some, but by the end - back down at 5mph. And you know, as I said earlier - I want to so be at 6mph. But maybe 5mph isn't so bad. That's 12 minute miles, and if I do that - especially after the swimming and biking - coming in somewhere over 36 minutes isn't too bad ... is it?
My calf did start to tighten up, but the sleeve kept it in pretty good control. It was a struggle the last few minutes, but not like the other times I ran. I was tired, and I felt it, but I didn't need to call on any inspiration to get through it, like that twenty minute run last week. All in all, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So I celebrated by going to Fieldhouse and having a couple of beers and watching baseball games that I didn't really care about.
Beth is away this weekend, and I have a Ghost Tour and work Mobtown - but I'm hoping a I get to do this again before the 7th....
I drove from work directly to the gym, got there at the top of the hour, changed, stretched lightly, and headed to the pool. Hardly anyone was around, so I got my pick of lanes. I stretched a little more, dipped my hand into the water, and then ... started. I dove in and had a few good dolphin kicks, resurfaced, and started nice and slow. One length down then two. My legs felt tired from last night's swim, but soon enough the cobwebs were kicked loose and I was going. Three and four and five and I barely felt winded. Six came, and I flipped over onto my back for a length of backstroke at seven. That done, my shoulders were sore from last night, too - so I flipped back into a crawl for #8, #9, and #10.
I was tired, and thought about flipping into a crawl. But no. Technically, #11 would be my final length come race day, and I wasn't going to end on back stroke. So I kept going. The dolphin kicks on the turns were going pretty well, too, and I was proud of that. So #11 came and went and I headed into the last length. The twelfth was strong. I didn't want to blow it out and die in the middle of my last event, but I was good to go. I put my head down, and switched to 4s, which made me go a little faster to get to the breath at the end. And then I was done.
I bobbed in the pool for a couple of seconds, a little dazed, and then told my self - you prolly can't do this on Sunday. So I climbed the ladder, got out, and made my way into the locker room. Twenty minutes to change and do the swim.
The great thing about the tri shorts is ... no changing. I toweled off and got mostly dry, and put on my shirt, pulled on my socks and shoes and then ... realized two things. One, I had forgotten to put my calf sleeve on, and two, I had forgotten my iPhone with the C25k app. I took off my shoe and pulled the sleeve on, and figured - I had already wasted enough time in this transition, I would run out to the car after the bike and grab my Android.
I grabbed the Stinger, jammed it in a pocket, went up to the video bike, adjusted it, and hopped on. I wanted a better, more life-like workout than the other night, so I chose "Race Day" and cued it up for 35 minutes, and started. I knew it was going to be a little different when the program exhorted me to go up to heavy resistance. I ignored it. Not ready yet. I got into a groove pretty quickly, waited before getting into a standing climb, and then started to follow the program a bit better - standing climbs, jacking up the resistance, etc. By about halfway through, I could feel my legs getting tired. So I pulled out the Stinger, ripped the top open, and gulped about half of it down.
It was interesting. Definitely honey - but something else kinda malty, too. And maybe it was because it had been in the car all day, but it was pretty liquidy, too. The gulp was more of a gush, really. I sucked the rest of the Stinger out, and kept going to make sure I had all of it that I could get, before stuffing it back into my pocket.
Maybe it was psychosomatic, but I felt like I could feel the lift after a minute or so. My legs weren't as tired anymore and things got easier. I was a little disappointed, though, that it didn't last longer. By the time the ride was almost done, I could feel my legs getting tired again, and I started thinking - how am I ever going to do this run? Maybe I need a second Stinger.
I got done with the bike, and then briskly walked out to the car, grabbed my phone, and realized - I had deleted the C25k app because it was so sucky. Fumbled through the process of re-downloading, and realized my calf was starting to get tight. Stretched it out a little, cued up the right week, and was relieved that it was 10 minutes of running, 3 of walking, and 10 running. So I started off on my warm-up, mostly to make sure that leg was good and loose. After about three minutes I thought - screw it, let's just finish this thing up. And started my jog.
I've never been so happy that I was only going 5mph. I think during the run I bumped it up some, but by the end - back down at 5mph. And you know, as I said earlier - I want to so be at 6mph. But maybe 5mph isn't so bad. That's 12 minute miles, and if I do that - especially after the swimming and biking - coming in somewhere over 36 minutes isn't too bad ... is it?
My calf did start to tighten up, but the sleeve kept it in pretty good control. It was a struggle the last few minutes, but not like the other times I ran. I was tired, and I felt it, but I didn't need to call on any inspiration to get through it, like that twenty minute run last week. All in all, it was a great feeling of accomplishment. So I celebrated by going to Fieldhouse and having a couple of beers and watching baseball games that I didn't really care about.
Beth is away this weekend, and I have a Ghost Tour and work Mobtown - but I'm hoping a I get to do this again before the 7th....
Jul 26, 2011
The Sweat Factory
So, Friday the plan was to go in early to work, come home and work from home (while simultaneously doing stuff to get ready to go to the beach), and then head down. But by the time Beth made it home, I was nowhere near ready to go. I still had to do two more sets of minutes, and then throw my backpack in the car, and get the bike rack, my bike, and the bike my brother had given me on the car. So Beth took off without me, and I worked a 9 hour day....
The further plan had been to make it down to the beach in time to do something on Friday - most likely, with the heat, a good, quick swim. I finally made it down to Milton around 7:30 or so, and met up with everyone at Po'Boys. It was steaming hot outside, it was steaming hot in the restaurant, and I found out when I talked to Beth, the Usuals, and Matt and Jen that it was a toasty 88 degrees when they had left for dinner. We made it back to the house around 9 or so, and it had cooled off to 84 inside, A/C chugging away. Mucked around, went to bed not too late, and got a solid amount of sleep.
Saturday we putzed around for most of the morning, and had Dogfish Head tour tickets at 12:30. We made it over there, enjoyed ourselves with samples, bought some stuff, and then went to the Broadkill Boat House for a great lunch (I had the calamari boathouse tacos) with Matt and Jen, the Usuals, and Kori and Larry.
We were on the beach by 4:30, I think. Going into the water was weird. It was obvious that the water wasn't really much cooler than the ambient air temperature - it just felt like walking into jello that was pretty much the same as the air. Clearly, the water was 85+. BUT, you weren't sweating your balls off - so who cared? We floated around for awhile in the water, until someone said, "How's the tri training going? Swim down to that buoy. It was one of the buoys that served as an anchor-place for a boat that would come in there, and was about 50 yards away or so. So... I did. Made it back and didn't feel much the worse for wear. I splashed around for a couple minutes longer, and then thought - oh, screw it - might as well get that workout in.
I took off for the far jetty. Now I should say that one of the things about swimming in the bay down there is that I find I have to stop every so often to make sure I'm now about to hit a buoy, the boat, the gaggle of other swimmers, the rocks of the jetty, etc. - and that I'm not drifting out to sea. I try not to touch - just sorta tread water for like two seconds until I can get my bearings. So when I say "I made it all the way down" - the caveat is - I stopped a couple of times to look around. But I made it the 100 yards or so, turned around and backstroked for awhile.
I made it past the boat - maybe 50 yards? - and my arms hurt and I felt like I had a decent breath. So I turned back around and crawled the rest of the way. I turned around immediately, and crawled the 100 yards back down the beach. Again flipped to a back stroke and went past the boat and finished with a crawl. 400 yards by my reckoning, 100 of that back stroke.
We got out and went about the rest of the day. Tony grilled up some good chicken and corn, we watched Iron Man 2. And I had every intention of getting up at 7:30 to try a 30-30-30 (30 minutes of swimming, 30 of biking, and 30 of running.)
But at a little after 7:00 it was already 82 degrees, and by 7:30 it was 83 degrees, and the prospect of doing running 8:30-9:00 as the mercury climbed did not excite me. And indeed, another fairly hot day. We spent it on the beach - and the water was colder - but by a little after 1, there was some strong thunderstorm activity in the area. So.... that was an end to swimming. We ate lunch and wiled away the afternoon watching as two lines of thundershowers blow through. Everyone slowly packed up and left. I was last to leave, and entertained thoughts of pulling my bike off and going for a last minute bike ride as the temperature had dropped to a more sane mid-80s around 3:30 after the storms blew through. But that didn't happen. So, I packed up and went home, never having tried my tri shorts or calf sleeve out, but with a good swim under my belt.
I should mention now that I figured something out in that 400+ yards of swimming. This was getting easy. And I felt like I had a real good power stroke if I made sure I was bringing my arms through and brushing my thighs as I followed through. Maybe it did something for my form, maybe it did something to focus my mind on some repetitive motion. But I really started thinking - I can swim all day like this.
Monday promised to be another scorcher. And I woke up feeling like crap - achey all over, all out of sorts, just not good. There was no way I could even face going in to my 80+ degree cube, so I called in to work from home. Did my work, made dinner, and at 8:00 figured a brick was in order. I grabbed my new tri shorts, put 'em on, pulled the calf sleeve over my left calf and headed off.
Beth had already spurred me to action by telling me that, in her bike ride (executed while she recovers from some muscle strain in her glute), she had managed 12 miles in 35 minutes. I was jealous as hell. "And," she added, "I kept it right in the 130 beats per minute zone." Now, all of my experience had suggested that the 12 miles/20km was going to take me an hour. At the beach - on flat ground, going at it pretty aggressively - it was taking me half an hour to go the 6 miles from Alabama to the park. How was she besting me? "Well," she said, "I'm probably not going any where near as high a gear as you are."
I will admit that I'm most comfortable in 2.5 or 2.6. And - to me - most of the 3 gears feel a lot less taxing than 2.6. So... I'm used to going pretty high. But this was just not ... acceptable. I started to feel bad. If she can get on a bike and DOUBLE MY SPEED, meeting my max speed (22-23mph) - I was kinda screwed.
So I scampered to the gym, tri shorts strapped on, jumped on a bike, and knocked off 20km (a bit over 12 miles) in around 27 minutes. Now, I'm not kidding myself. I feel like there are calibration problems. The exercise bike is also inside, no stop signs, no wind resistance, no inclines.... But that felt pretty good.
I went from there to the treadmill (still too hot outside!), and started week 6 run 1 in the C25K program: warmup (cut short because I was ready to GO!), 5 minute run, 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk, 5 minute run, cool down. I gotta say: easy peasy. I was only going at 5mph. My calf was feeling tight, but the sleeve really felt like it was keeping things in line. Again - no headphones, just trying to run low and loose. And the tri shorts - good god! I felt superhuman. Maybe it was the sleeve - but it was like wearing armor at +5 CON or something! All in all, a good strong night.
So, Tuesday.... My plan initially was to get home early and swim before going to the Board Meeting for Mobtown. I made it in early, got through a Steering Committee meeting where I asked for a 5010 extension and got it, and left around 4:30. At the gym at 5:00 though, all the lanes were taken. I came home, made dinner, and took off around 6:00. The Board Meeting went longer than anyone anticipated - I got out of there at 8:30, and was in a semi-panic. I double-checked pool times, and Merrit closes the pool at 10, so I was good. I raced down to the gym, pulled on the Magic Tri Shorts, stretched a little, and then headed out to the pool.
I just jumped in and started swimming. And man what a good swim. I crawled two lengths and felt good, barely winded, crawled 3, 4, 5, 6! Six lengths before I was feeling a little out of breath - half my customary twelve! I turned on my back and backstroked 7 & 8 until my shoulders started to bark. Flipped and did two more (9 & 10) before I had to stop. I stood there sucking major wind, and prolly pulled a dozen breaths or so. And that was all I needed. Caught my breath in those few seconds and thought - well, let's go for it. Dove back in (my dolphin kicks were getting a little ragged and shallow at this point), and snapped off the last two lengths.
I FELT GREAT!
As I drove home, I knew there would have to be a way I could do a 30-30-30 on Wednesday....
The further plan had been to make it down to the beach in time to do something on Friday - most likely, with the heat, a good, quick swim. I finally made it down to Milton around 7:30 or so, and met up with everyone at Po'Boys. It was steaming hot outside, it was steaming hot in the restaurant, and I found out when I talked to Beth, the Usuals, and Matt and Jen that it was a toasty 88 degrees when they had left for dinner. We made it back to the house around 9 or so, and it had cooled off to 84 inside, A/C chugging away. Mucked around, went to bed not too late, and got a solid amount of sleep.
Saturday we putzed around for most of the morning, and had Dogfish Head tour tickets at 12:30. We made it over there, enjoyed ourselves with samples, bought some stuff, and then went to the Broadkill Boat House for a great lunch (I had the calamari boathouse tacos) with Matt and Jen, the Usuals, and Kori and Larry.
We were on the beach by 4:30, I think. Going into the water was weird. It was obvious that the water wasn't really much cooler than the ambient air temperature - it just felt like walking into jello that was pretty much the same as the air. Clearly, the water was 85+. BUT, you weren't sweating your balls off - so who cared? We floated around for awhile in the water, until someone said, "How's the tri training going? Swim down to that buoy. It was one of the buoys that served as an anchor-place for a boat that would come in there, and was about 50 yards away or so. So... I did. Made it back and didn't feel much the worse for wear. I splashed around for a couple minutes longer, and then thought - oh, screw it - might as well get that workout in.
I took off for the far jetty. Now I should say that one of the things about swimming in the bay down there is that I find I have to stop every so often to make sure I'm now about to hit a buoy, the boat, the gaggle of other swimmers, the rocks of the jetty, etc. - and that I'm not drifting out to sea. I try not to touch - just sorta tread water for like two seconds until I can get my bearings. So when I say "I made it all the way down" - the caveat is - I stopped a couple of times to look around. But I made it the 100 yards or so, turned around and backstroked for awhile.
I made it past the boat - maybe 50 yards? - and my arms hurt and I felt like I had a decent breath. So I turned back around and crawled the rest of the way. I turned around immediately, and crawled the 100 yards back down the beach. Again flipped to a back stroke and went past the boat and finished with a crawl. 400 yards by my reckoning, 100 of that back stroke.
We got out and went about the rest of the day. Tony grilled up some good chicken and corn, we watched Iron Man 2. And I had every intention of getting up at 7:30 to try a 30-30-30 (30 minutes of swimming, 30 of biking, and 30 of running.)
But at a little after 7:00 it was already 82 degrees, and by 7:30 it was 83 degrees, and the prospect of doing running 8:30-9:00 as the mercury climbed did not excite me. And indeed, another fairly hot day. We spent it on the beach - and the water was colder - but by a little after 1, there was some strong thunderstorm activity in the area. So.... that was an end to swimming. We ate lunch and wiled away the afternoon watching as two lines of thundershowers blow through. Everyone slowly packed up and left. I was last to leave, and entertained thoughts of pulling my bike off and going for a last minute bike ride as the temperature had dropped to a more sane mid-80s around 3:30 after the storms blew through. But that didn't happen. So, I packed up and went home, never having tried my tri shorts or calf sleeve out, but with a good swim under my belt.
I should mention now that I figured something out in that 400+ yards of swimming. This was getting easy. And I felt like I had a real good power stroke if I made sure I was bringing my arms through and brushing my thighs as I followed through. Maybe it did something for my form, maybe it did something to focus my mind on some repetitive motion. But I really started thinking - I can swim all day like this.
Monday promised to be another scorcher. And I woke up feeling like crap - achey all over, all out of sorts, just not good. There was no way I could even face going in to my 80+ degree cube, so I called in to work from home. Did my work, made dinner, and at 8:00 figured a brick was in order. I grabbed my new tri shorts, put 'em on, pulled the calf sleeve over my left calf and headed off.
Beth had already spurred me to action by telling me that, in her bike ride (executed while she recovers from some muscle strain in her glute), she had managed 12 miles in 35 minutes. I was jealous as hell. "And," she added, "I kept it right in the 130 beats per minute zone." Now, all of my experience had suggested that the 12 miles/20km was going to take me an hour. At the beach - on flat ground, going at it pretty aggressively - it was taking me half an hour to go the 6 miles from Alabama to the park. How was she besting me? "Well," she said, "I'm probably not going any where near as high a gear as you are."
I will admit that I'm most comfortable in 2.5 or 2.6. And - to me - most of the 3 gears feel a lot less taxing than 2.6. So... I'm used to going pretty high. But this was just not ... acceptable. I started to feel bad. If she can get on a bike and DOUBLE MY SPEED, meeting my max speed (22-23mph) - I was kinda screwed.
So I scampered to the gym, tri shorts strapped on, jumped on a bike, and knocked off 20km (a bit over 12 miles) in around 27 minutes. Now, I'm not kidding myself. I feel like there are calibration problems. The exercise bike is also inside, no stop signs, no wind resistance, no inclines.... But that felt pretty good.
I went from there to the treadmill (still too hot outside!), and started week 6 run 1 in the C25K program: warmup (cut short because I was ready to GO!), 5 minute run, 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk, 5 minute run, cool down. I gotta say: easy peasy. I was only going at 5mph. My calf was feeling tight, but the sleeve really felt like it was keeping things in line. Again - no headphones, just trying to run low and loose. And the tri shorts - good god! I felt superhuman. Maybe it was the sleeve - but it was like wearing armor at +5 CON or something! All in all, a good strong night.
So, Tuesday.... My plan initially was to get home early and swim before going to the Board Meeting for Mobtown. I made it in early, got through a Steering Committee meeting where I asked for a 5010 extension and got it, and left around 4:30. At the gym at 5:00 though, all the lanes were taken. I came home, made dinner, and took off around 6:00. The Board Meeting went longer than anyone anticipated - I got out of there at 8:30, and was in a semi-panic. I double-checked pool times, and Merrit closes the pool at 10, so I was good. I raced down to the gym, pulled on the Magic Tri Shorts, stretched a little, and then headed out to the pool.
I just jumped in and started swimming. And man what a good swim. I crawled two lengths and felt good, barely winded, crawled 3, 4, 5, 6! Six lengths before I was feeling a little out of breath - half my customary twelve! I turned on my back and backstroked 7 & 8 until my shoulders started to bark. Flipped and did two more (9 & 10) before I had to stop. I stood there sucking major wind, and prolly pulled a dozen breaths or so. And that was all I needed. Caught my breath in those few seconds and thought - well, let's go for it. Dove back in (my dolphin kicks were getting a little ragged and shallow at this point), and snapped off the last two lengths.
I FELT GREAT!
As I drove home, I knew there would have to be a way I could do a 30-30-30 on Wednesday....
Jul 21, 2011
We're Having a Heat Wave
At 9:30 tonight - on my way home from the gym - my car said it was 92 degrees. Today was just a sauna - something like 100, with a heat index over 115.
To make matters worse, the air conditioner at work is broken, so I am spending sweltering days in my cube. I was happy yesterday that the heat didn't get above 80 degrees. Today it was rubbing 82. I left a little early. Tomorrow I'm going to go in for a standup meeting, and then come home - where my air conditioner works - before leaving for a weekend at the BBC with the Usual Suspects and Matt and Jen. It appears to be a little better down there - merely topping out in the mid to high 90s. And the air conditioner at the BBC is a little weak, too. Great.
So - listless from all the heat - we ordered sushi from Chiu's, and about 8 something I figured - this was my best chance to go to the gym and get a run in. Because as much as I might want to 30-30-30, that might not happen if morning temps are in the 80s at the beach....
I was already resigned to redoing the last run. It called for 20 minutes non-stop and I couldn't do it. I had to stop for 3 minutes after 10 minutes of running. So I wanted to do it this time - run for a solid 20 minutes. I got in my car and looked at the C25K app and saw Week 6 started off with a run 5 - walk 3 - run 8 - walk 3 - run 5. Definitely doable - but I wanted that challenge. I wanted to get that 20 minute straight run in, dammit!
Went upstairs to the treadmills, stretched, and did the same as last run - not wired in to anything, just propped the C25K app up on the treadmill, did my 5 minute walk warmup, and then dialed it up to 5mph, and went for it - keeping my arms low and loose. The first five minutes practically flew by. I had a little tightness in the bad left calf, but nothing bad. The second 5 was a little more effort. The leg tightened up a little more, and it felt like I was never going to get out of the 13 minute zone.
I hit the halfway point and was like, I can do this! I got it licked! Somewhere after the 10 minute mark my calf loosened up a little, and then went sort tingly and numb - didn't hurt, didn't pop, but it was kinda strange. That 3rd 5 minutes wasn't bad either, but near the end, it was feeling long and was taking some effort, and I had to call on a little inspiration.
The last five minutes was ... interesting. My calf was numb - so I wasn't worried it would pop, but it did give me some concern. I was a little labored, but generally okay. I didn't seriously think I needed to quit - I entertained the idea, but it was relatively easy to go - nah, just keep going. But my GOD, it seemed that half the run was in that last 5 minutes. The time just wasn't moving. I was stuck on 4 minutes, and 3 minutes, and 2 minutes. And then I kinda started to struggle. But I was bound and determined to get this 20 in.
I looked up for most of the last minute - I don't think I saw it go to :59. But by the time I looked down - I was at the last 10 seconds. Good feeling!
So, here's the thing. I really want to do 6mph+. It's a small goal, but I feel like that puts me in striking distance of an under 30 minute 5k. It's still slow, but it's kind of this psychological thing. When I started running again earlier this spring, I was whipping off 6.5mph to 6.7mph, and it felt natural and it felt good. Granted, that was for short time periods. But I was proud of that pace.
But I just haven't been able to sustain it. Since I started recording this stuff - 6+ is just too fast for me; I burn out early and the rest of the run is a struggle to catch air. I've dropped to 5.5mph, thinking I could push it later in the run. But like the last run, I couldn't even do that - I bottomed out at 10 minutes running 5.5mph.
So, I tried 5mph and it was okay. So maybe that's my pace. Which is kinda depressing. That's a 12 minute mile - which puts me at 36 minutes plus for a 5k. Hell, my Thanksgiving run was better than that and I ran a crappy race that day and was all over the place. But maybe that's what my pace is. After all, my goal - as I told someone today - is to a) survive and b) finish. No time goals, I just want to go out there and finish the tri.....
And run a 6+....
So I came home and pulled Beth's roller out and did a little rolling on my calf. Still a little wonky feeling, but I think I worked a little something out of it. Tomorrow it's to the beach, and I'm not sure what exercise I'm going to get in - maybe some evening swimming? But - if the heat cooperates - I really want to try a 30-30-30 Sunday morning.
To make matters worse, the air conditioner at work is broken, so I am spending sweltering days in my cube. I was happy yesterday that the heat didn't get above 80 degrees. Today it was rubbing 82. I left a little early. Tomorrow I'm going to go in for a standup meeting, and then come home - where my air conditioner works - before leaving for a weekend at the BBC with the Usual Suspects and Matt and Jen. It appears to be a little better down there - merely topping out in the mid to high 90s. And the air conditioner at the BBC is a little weak, too. Great.
So - listless from all the heat - we ordered sushi from Chiu's, and about 8 something I figured - this was my best chance to go to the gym and get a run in. Because as much as I might want to 30-30-30, that might not happen if morning temps are in the 80s at the beach....
I was already resigned to redoing the last run. It called for 20 minutes non-stop and I couldn't do it. I had to stop for 3 minutes after 10 minutes of running. So I wanted to do it this time - run for a solid 20 minutes. I got in my car and looked at the C25K app and saw Week 6 started off with a run 5 - walk 3 - run 8 - walk 3 - run 5. Definitely doable - but I wanted that challenge. I wanted to get that 20 minute straight run in, dammit!
Went upstairs to the treadmills, stretched, and did the same as last run - not wired in to anything, just propped the C25K app up on the treadmill, did my 5 minute walk warmup, and then dialed it up to 5mph, and went for it - keeping my arms low and loose. The first five minutes practically flew by. I had a little tightness in the bad left calf, but nothing bad. The second 5 was a little more effort. The leg tightened up a little more, and it felt like I was never going to get out of the 13 minute zone.
I hit the halfway point and was like, I can do this! I got it licked! Somewhere after the 10 minute mark my calf loosened up a little, and then went sort tingly and numb - didn't hurt, didn't pop, but it was kinda strange. That 3rd 5 minutes wasn't bad either, but near the end, it was feeling long and was taking some effort, and I had to call on a little inspiration.
The last five minutes was ... interesting. My calf was numb - so I wasn't worried it would pop, but it did give me some concern. I was a little labored, but generally okay. I didn't seriously think I needed to quit - I entertained the idea, but it was relatively easy to go - nah, just keep going. But my GOD, it seemed that half the run was in that last 5 minutes. The time just wasn't moving. I was stuck on 4 minutes, and 3 minutes, and 2 minutes. And then I kinda started to struggle. But I was bound and determined to get this 20 in.
I looked up for most of the last minute - I don't think I saw it go to :59. But by the time I looked down - I was at the last 10 seconds. Good feeling!
So, here's the thing. I really want to do 6mph+. It's a small goal, but I feel like that puts me in striking distance of an under 30 minute 5k. It's still slow, but it's kind of this psychological thing. When I started running again earlier this spring, I was whipping off 6.5mph to 6.7mph, and it felt natural and it felt good. Granted, that was for short time periods. But I was proud of that pace.
But I just haven't been able to sustain it. Since I started recording this stuff - 6+ is just too fast for me; I burn out early and the rest of the run is a struggle to catch air. I've dropped to 5.5mph, thinking I could push it later in the run. But like the last run, I couldn't even do that - I bottomed out at 10 minutes running 5.5mph.
So, I tried 5mph and it was okay. So maybe that's my pace. Which is kinda depressing. That's a 12 minute mile - which puts me at 36 minutes plus for a 5k. Hell, my Thanksgiving run was better than that and I ran a crappy race that day and was all over the place. But maybe that's what my pace is. After all, my goal - as I told someone today - is to a) survive and b) finish. No time goals, I just want to go out there and finish the tri.....
And run a 6+....
So I came home and pulled Beth's roller out and did a little rolling on my calf. Still a little wonky feeling, but I think I worked a little something out of it. Tomorrow it's to the beach, and I'm not sure what exercise I'm going to get in - maybe some evening swimming? But - if the heat cooperates - I really want to try a 30-30-30 Sunday morning.
Jul 19, 2011
Well now
First, just let me say that I have no idea why - sometime this afternoon of July 19 - Google and Facebook decided to talk to each other and Facebook posted all of my recent blog entries as notes. Sorry if I spammed you. I'm looking at what happened and how to undo it, so the sordid details of my training don't interrupt your life.
Anyways - tonight was a bike and swim night, I had decided yesterday. I had experimented with some stuff this weekend and I wanted to see if it translated to laps of the pool.
View 2011-07-19 19:58 To Gym in a larger map
So, after dinner, I changed and got on the horse to make it down to the gym. And it sucked. The outside of my quads were not happy. Powering down Linwood felt like slogging through mud. I finally got the groove down on Boston. Overall, the trip took 10:14 with 7:45 of that moving; 1.46 miles with a moving speed of 11.27 mph, topping out at 19.45mph.
Locked up the bike, got inside, changed into swimsuit, and headed for the pool.... to find all the lanes taken and several of them doubled up. I figured, no problem, I'll do some stretching and then work on some of the breathing stuff I was sort of doing at BBC and wait for a lane to free up. And I did that - taking about 4 to 5 laps in the foreshortened end of the pool. If each length is 25 meters (and I just discovered something GOOD), then this was probably 20 meters or so? So, call it 80 meters of warmup.
And I was feeling pretty good. I realized that - taking it nice and easy - breathing every other stroke gave me a good amount of air, and kept me from going too fast. I even tried doing every three strokes - effectively switching breathing sides - and that wasn't too bad. It became more and more apparent that I really am comfortable with one side over the other, however. Breathing left was kind of like batting left; I can sort of do it, but it's all very intentional and obvious and doesn't look or feel natural. I tried moving my head side to side, but that didn't work nearly as well as when I was trying NOT to put my head under water.
A lane came open - the second lane, so pretty deep, but I didn't even care after the weekend - so I did my best Frogger impersonation and got into it (on the far end) and started.
The first length wasn't bad; I was breathing every other stroke, and going pretty slow. But man, by the second length.... I was getting tired. I rolled onto my back and did a back stroke for the 3rd length, and probably could have rolled back over and crawled for the 4th, but decided to go another length of back stroke. By then my shoulders were getting tired, so flipping over to the crawl felt good ... for a length. I tried mixing in some 4's and 3's, but I was tired and kind of burning by the time I hit 6 lengths. I took a breather, standing in the pool, and was kinda happy that I had made it 6 whole lengths without stopping, but disappointed I couldn't go more.
And then something kinda good happened. I was going to take a long break - like 5 minutes. But prolly about 2 minutes in, I had caught my breath, and I started feeling good. So, at prolly 3 minutes, I started up again with a crawl. And suddenly, the crappiness that was there for the first 6 lengths and 150 meters was gone, and I was swimming pretty well. I don't remember what my progression was, I think because I got into a groove. I know I flipped on my back and did two lengths of backstroke, but they were separate - so it might have been 7 & 8 were crawl, 9 was backstroke, 10 was crawl, and 11 was backstroke. Somewhere in there I damn near drowned myself on an errant backstroke that came up over my face, but for the most part - I was feeling pretty good.
And somewhere in the 10th length - that's when I got tired again. Really tired. Which is why I think 11 was backstroke. 10 was a struggle, but I was not going to backstroke the last lap. So I started 12 in the crawl. But I was off. My back half was dragging, weighing me down in the water. I thought maybe it was my breathing and tried going side to side and breathing every stroke, but that just made it worse. I was practically doing the doggy paddle. So I put my head down and started going every other stroke, but still didn't have a lot of power. I was getting beat by an older gentleman back stroking. So... I reared back, and powered through the rest of the length in 4, my lungs burning, my legs aching, nothing working the way I wanted it to. It was kind of a disappointment to finish weak like that. I got to the (far) end, and there was someone asking to share the lane. "Go ahead," I gasped, "I'm done." "Oh, you don't have to get out," she said. "No," I said, "I'm DONE."
View 2011-07-19 20:43 From Gym in a larger map
It was then that the old guy was like - "I'm done. You can use my lane." So she jumped into his lane, I think because it was shallower. So, I just stood there sucking wind, and after a minute or so I realized a) I was on the complete opposite end of the pool from my towel, and b) I didn't feel so bad. So, I figured rather than haul myself out of the pool or play Frogger to get to the shallow end and walk out and then walk all the way around the pool - I may as well swim another length.
So I did. And it was a good length. Dispensed with the side to side, just kept it simple with every other stroke, kept it slow, kept it strong, and finished up well. 13 lengths times 25 meters = 325 meters, plus 80 meters in warm-ups.
Got dressed, got back on the bike, and made it home in 8:32 of moving time, with an average 11.8mph over 1.7 miles, topping out at 23.4mph! Uphill, with a 225' elevation gain.
As I was writing this, though, I realized I had one of my stupid oversights - you know where you have all the information and somehow just completely don't put it together right? I knew the pool was in meters - 25 meters to a length. I knew the swim in the tri was in yards. So when putting it all together, what did I do? Transpose the meters to yards, and figured I needed to do 12 lengths (12*25=300) to get to 300 yards. But I don't. 300 yards translates to 274 meters, so I really only needed to do 11 lengths. Which means that really rotten 12th length didn't count. Though it also means I finished with a backstroke. But #12 & #13 were overtraining!
Anyways - tonight was a bike and swim night, I had decided yesterday. I had experimented with some stuff this weekend and I wanted to see if it translated to laps of the pool.
View 2011-07-19 19:58 To Gym in a larger map
So, after dinner, I changed and got on the horse to make it down to the gym. And it sucked. The outside of my quads were not happy. Powering down Linwood felt like slogging through mud. I finally got the groove down on Boston. Overall, the trip took 10:14 with 7:45 of that moving; 1.46 miles with a moving speed of 11.27 mph, topping out at 19.45mph.
Locked up the bike, got inside, changed into swimsuit, and headed for the pool.... to find all the lanes taken and several of them doubled up. I figured, no problem, I'll do some stretching and then work on some of the breathing stuff I was sort of doing at BBC and wait for a lane to free up. And I did that - taking about 4 to 5 laps in the foreshortened end of the pool. If each length is 25 meters (and I just discovered something GOOD), then this was probably 20 meters or so? So, call it 80 meters of warmup.
And I was feeling pretty good. I realized that - taking it nice and easy - breathing every other stroke gave me a good amount of air, and kept me from going too fast. I even tried doing every three strokes - effectively switching breathing sides - and that wasn't too bad. It became more and more apparent that I really am comfortable with one side over the other, however. Breathing left was kind of like batting left; I can sort of do it, but it's all very intentional and obvious and doesn't look or feel natural. I tried moving my head side to side, but that didn't work nearly as well as when I was trying NOT to put my head under water.
A lane came open - the second lane, so pretty deep, but I didn't even care after the weekend - so I did my best Frogger impersonation and got into it (on the far end) and started.
The first length wasn't bad; I was breathing every other stroke, and going pretty slow. But man, by the second length.... I was getting tired. I rolled onto my back and did a back stroke for the 3rd length, and probably could have rolled back over and crawled for the 4th, but decided to go another length of back stroke. By then my shoulders were getting tired, so flipping over to the crawl felt good ... for a length. I tried mixing in some 4's and 3's, but I was tired and kind of burning by the time I hit 6 lengths. I took a breather, standing in the pool, and was kinda happy that I had made it 6 whole lengths without stopping, but disappointed I couldn't go more.
And then something kinda good happened. I was going to take a long break - like 5 minutes. But prolly about 2 minutes in, I had caught my breath, and I started feeling good. So, at prolly 3 minutes, I started up again with a crawl. And suddenly, the crappiness that was there for the first 6 lengths and 150 meters was gone, and I was swimming pretty well. I don't remember what my progression was, I think because I got into a groove. I know I flipped on my back and did two lengths of backstroke, but they were separate - so it might have been 7 & 8 were crawl, 9 was backstroke, 10 was crawl, and 11 was backstroke. Somewhere in there I damn near drowned myself on an errant backstroke that came up over my face, but for the most part - I was feeling pretty good.
And somewhere in the 10th length - that's when I got tired again. Really tired. Which is why I think 11 was backstroke. 10 was a struggle, but I was not going to backstroke the last lap. So I started 12 in the crawl. But I was off. My back half was dragging, weighing me down in the water. I thought maybe it was my breathing and tried going side to side and breathing every stroke, but that just made it worse. I was practically doing the doggy paddle. So I put my head down and started going every other stroke, but still didn't have a lot of power. I was getting beat by an older gentleman back stroking. So... I reared back, and powered through the rest of the length in 4, my lungs burning, my legs aching, nothing working the way I wanted it to. It was kind of a disappointment to finish weak like that. I got to the (far) end, and there was someone asking to share the lane. "Go ahead," I gasped, "I'm done." "Oh, you don't have to get out," she said. "No," I said, "I'm DONE."
View 2011-07-19 20:43 From Gym in a larger map
It was then that the old guy was like - "I'm done. You can use my lane." So she jumped into his lane, I think because it was shallower. So, I just stood there sucking wind, and after a minute or so I realized a) I was on the complete opposite end of the pool from my towel, and b) I didn't feel so bad. So, I figured rather than haul myself out of the pool or play Frogger to get to the shallow end and walk out and then walk all the way around the pool - I may as well swim another length.
So I did. And it was a good length. Dispensed with the side to side, just kept it simple with every other stroke, kept it slow, kept it strong, and finished up well. 13 lengths times 25 meters = 325 meters, plus 80 meters in warm-ups.
Got dressed, got back on the bike, and made it home in 8:32 of moving time, with an average 11.8mph over 1.7 miles, topping out at 23.4mph! Uphill, with a 225' elevation gain.
As I was writing this, though, I realized I had one of my stupid oversights - you know where you have all the information and somehow just completely don't put it together right? I knew the pool was in meters - 25 meters to a length. I knew the swim in the tri was in yards. So when putting it all together, what did I do? Transpose the meters to yards, and figured I needed to do 12 lengths (12*25=300) to get to 300 yards. But I don't. 300 yards translates to 274 meters, so I really only needed to do 11 lengths. Which means that really rotten 12th length didn't count. Though it also means I finished with a backstroke. But #12 & #13 were overtraining!
Jul 18, 2011
Later, that same evening
It's been awhile, I know. Been more or less keeping up with the training, and a lot of stuff happening, but not enough time to write. And as time went by, I kept going - but I can't write about that. I have to go back to where I left off.... Meaning I haven't restarted in like two weeks.
So - I'm going to blog for tonight and go back and try to catch up real quick. I'll have to post date entries or something.
We got home from the BBC yesterday, and it had been a very full day. By 8 I was ready to go to bed - sunburned as I was - and just laid there with the AC and ceiling fan on, watched some Walking Dead, and then went to bed.
Woke up this morning, and my quads were pretty stiff and sore. Went through the day and they felt okay, but never really loose. Had an audit tonight and came home and made dinner, and really felt like crapping out for the night. But I didn't. I got dressed, and made my way down to the gym. Really didn't feel like the run, and felt less like it when I realized that it was a big jump up from this weekend 5.2 (8 min run, 5 min walk, 8 min run) to a 20 minute straight run. Got up on the treadmill and took it slow - 3.5mph 5 minute warmup, followed by 5.5mph to start, dropped down to 5.0 after 5 minutes.
At ten minutes, I couldn't continue. So I dialed it back down to 3.5mph walk and told myself I would do that for 5 minutes. After 3 minutes, I was feeling pretty good - so I started again. Five mph seemed too slow, so I started at 5.3 and that was nice and easy ... for a while. After about 5 minutes, I took a 30 second breather and dialed it back down to 5mph. With a minute left, another 10 second pause and then finished up.
Not the greatest, the whole thing was like 2.5 miles in 34 minutes, and I was disappointed I couldn't stick with the program. But I realized I am now further than I was the last time I embarked on the C25K program. I also tried something different tonight: I just ran. I didn't carry the iPhone, I didn't jack in, I just set it on the treadmill ledge so I could easily see the clock, and worked on keeping my hands low and loose and being comfortable. This last weekend I realized I was running tight. My hands with the iPhone were high, my shoulders were tensed.... I caught myself and went - whoa - you're at the beach - relax! I dropped my arms, loosened my hands, and the strides came a little easier and I finished okay - it wasn't such a struggle. So I tried to carry through with that tonight, reinforced by a guy I saw running when I drove in. He was loose, arms low, running easy, looked like he was kinda having fun - like it wasn't torture. So I figured, well - let's try that.... And you know it wasn't too bad.
So, on to tomorrow. I plan on doing some swimming, I think - prolly bike down and swim and bike back, and prepare for a run on Wednesday before hanging out with Joe and Ryan....
So - I'm going to blog for tonight and go back and try to catch up real quick. I'll have to post date entries or something.
We got home from the BBC yesterday, and it had been a very full day. By 8 I was ready to go to bed - sunburned as I was - and just laid there with the AC and ceiling fan on, watched some Walking Dead, and then went to bed.
Woke up this morning, and my quads were pretty stiff and sore. Went through the day and they felt okay, but never really loose. Had an audit tonight and came home and made dinner, and really felt like crapping out for the night. But I didn't. I got dressed, and made my way down to the gym. Really didn't feel like the run, and felt less like it when I realized that it was a big jump up from this weekend 5.2 (8 min run, 5 min walk, 8 min run) to a 20 minute straight run. Got up on the treadmill and took it slow - 3.5mph 5 minute warmup, followed by 5.5mph to start, dropped down to 5.0 after 5 minutes.
At ten minutes, I couldn't continue. So I dialed it back down to 3.5mph walk and told myself I would do that for 5 minutes. After 3 minutes, I was feeling pretty good - so I started again. Five mph seemed too slow, so I started at 5.3 and that was nice and easy ... for a while. After about 5 minutes, I took a 30 second breather and dialed it back down to 5mph. With a minute left, another 10 second pause and then finished up.
Not the greatest, the whole thing was like 2.5 miles in 34 minutes, and I was disappointed I couldn't stick with the program. But I realized I am now further than I was the last time I embarked on the C25K program. I also tried something different tonight: I just ran. I didn't carry the iPhone, I didn't jack in, I just set it on the treadmill ledge so I could easily see the clock, and worked on keeping my hands low and loose and being comfortable. This last weekend I realized I was running tight. My hands with the iPhone were high, my shoulders were tensed.... I caught myself and went - whoa - you're at the beach - relax! I dropped my arms, loosened my hands, and the strides came a little easier and I finished okay - it wasn't such a struggle. So I tried to carry through with that tonight, reinforced by a guy I saw running when I drove in. He was loose, arms low, running easy, looked like he was kinda having fun - like it wasn't torture. So I figured, well - let's try that.... And you know it wasn't too bad.
So, on to tomorrow. I plan on doing some swimming, I think - prolly bike down and swim and bike back, and prepare for a run on Wednesday before hanging out with Joe and Ryan....
Jul 10, 2011
A Lost Week
So, after the Big Swim at the BBC, things kinda went downhill.
We left the beach Tuesday afternoon around 2pm. Hit holiday traffic in Denton - as per usual. The Bridge wasn't too bad, but it was still after 5 by the time we got back, and by the time we pulled everything out of the car it was well into the evening. So, I had splashed around a little on the beach in the morning - but nothing real. So, Tuesday was a down day.
I had auditions for Epicoene on Wednesday, and was such a nervous wreck I scrapped the gym. Just no way to concentrate on working out when I was preoccupied with what needed to happen that evening, making sure I had everything, etc.
Thursday, I was ready to go. My plan was leave work a little early, get home and make a quick dinner, hit the gym, and scamper up to the theater. But life conspired against me. I left the office late - at like 6:15, and hit traffic. I immediately jettisoned all plans and went directly to the theater. And it again sucked; I don't know as anyone came that night....
Friday I was going up to Pennsylvania to meet Todd, Regan, Brehan, Connor, and Hayden at Knoebel's Grove. My plan was to get in early and leave work early - which I did. So early, in fact, that I didn't have anything ready to go. So I went home and packed, and then stopped by the smoke shop to pick up some Bad Boys for the weekend. Went through the back woods roads of Maryland to get from Franklin Blvd to I-83, and it was damn near 6 by that time. After a stop for the worst grilled chicken sandwich at Wendy's I have ever had, I got up to Elysburg a little after 9, restarted the fire, the gang met me at the site, the kids went to bed, and the men stayed up and drank and smoke until 2 AM, whereupon I blew up the air mattress in the back of the fit and crashed.
Knoebel's is a lot of fun. It was where my grandparents would take my brother and me whenever we would come up to visit them in Muncy. So many great memories. My friends Rick and Matt took an impromptu weekend camping trip there in the late spring of our senior year. It's no Disney, but it holds a real big place in my heart.
Saturday morning we went to the park - I got to take Bre while Todd took Connor. We came back to the camp site for lunch, and then went off to the pool/water slides. I ended up chasing Brehan and Hayden around in the shallow end of the pool for quite a bit of the afternoon. Got a little sunburned. I started actually trying to swim around. Not laps, but some solid strokes. But soon I could barely see my eyes hurt so bad from all the chlorine. Now wrestling in the water with a 5 and 7 year old takes a lot out of you, but I'm not sure I would call it a great work-out.
That night I got Connor and went to the kiddy part of the park. Amazing how all this stuff just bubbled out of my memory banks. There was a rocket ship slide thing - where you slid down this twisty slide on coconut fiber maps. I had totally forgotten about it until Connor demanded we go. And watching him carefully make sure he didn't hit anyone in the kiddy bumper cars may have been the highlight of the trip. We met up with everyone, rode the Flyer (which just dripped with nostalgia for me), and headed back to camp at 9:30, stopping for slushies and french fries.
Back at camp, the kids went to sleep, we stoked up the fire, Regan made a last minute 11pm beer run, and we stayed up until 3 AM before we packed it in for the night.
The next morning we packed up camp and left before 10 AM, I think. So, needless to say - on maybe 5 hours of sleep and 5 beers, I was not feeling great. Got back to civilization, hoping to feel better to do a 30-30-30 (30 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and 30 minute run), but it just was not to be.
So, there you have it. A lot of fun, but a totally lost week. I didn't do a damned thing from Tuesday until Sunday, unless you count splashing around in the huge pool on Saturday. (It's nearly two weeks later as I write this, and I'm still disappointed in myself.) It just shows how easy it it to get off track.
We left the beach Tuesday afternoon around 2pm. Hit holiday traffic in Denton - as per usual. The Bridge wasn't too bad, but it was still after 5 by the time we got back, and by the time we pulled everything out of the car it was well into the evening. So, I had splashed around a little on the beach in the morning - but nothing real. So, Tuesday was a down day.
I had auditions for Epicoene on Wednesday, and was such a nervous wreck I scrapped the gym. Just no way to concentrate on working out when I was preoccupied with what needed to happen that evening, making sure I had everything, etc.
Thursday, I was ready to go. My plan was leave work a little early, get home and make a quick dinner, hit the gym, and scamper up to the theater. But life conspired against me. I left the office late - at like 6:15, and hit traffic. I immediately jettisoned all plans and went directly to the theater. And it again sucked; I don't know as anyone came that night....
Friday I was going up to Pennsylvania to meet Todd, Regan, Brehan, Connor, and Hayden at Knoebel's Grove. My plan was to get in early and leave work early - which I did. So early, in fact, that I didn't have anything ready to go. So I went home and packed, and then stopped by the smoke shop to pick up some Bad Boys for the weekend. Went through the back woods roads of Maryland to get from Franklin Blvd to I-83, and it was damn near 6 by that time. After a stop for the worst grilled chicken sandwich at Wendy's I have ever had, I got up to Elysburg a little after 9, restarted the fire, the gang met me at the site, the kids went to bed, and the men stayed up and drank and smoke until 2 AM, whereupon I blew up the air mattress in the back of the fit and crashed.
Knoebel's is a lot of fun. It was where my grandparents would take my brother and me whenever we would come up to visit them in Muncy. So many great memories. My friends Rick and Matt took an impromptu weekend camping trip there in the late spring of our senior year. It's no Disney, but it holds a real big place in my heart.
Saturday morning we went to the park - I got to take Bre while Todd took Connor. We came back to the camp site for lunch, and then went off to the pool/water slides. I ended up chasing Brehan and Hayden around in the shallow end of the pool for quite a bit of the afternoon. Got a little sunburned. I started actually trying to swim around. Not laps, but some solid strokes. But soon I could barely see my eyes hurt so bad from all the chlorine. Now wrestling in the water with a 5 and 7 year old takes a lot out of you, but I'm not sure I would call it a great work-out.
That night I got Connor and went to the kiddy part of the park. Amazing how all this stuff just bubbled out of my memory banks. There was a rocket ship slide thing - where you slid down this twisty slide on coconut fiber maps. I had totally forgotten about it until Connor demanded we go. And watching him carefully make sure he didn't hit anyone in the kiddy bumper cars may have been the highlight of the trip. We met up with everyone, rode the Flyer (which just dripped with nostalgia for me), and headed back to camp at 9:30, stopping for slushies and french fries.
Back at camp, the kids went to sleep, we stoked up the fire, Regan made a last minute 11pm beer run, and we stayed up until 3 AM before we packed it in for the night.
The next morning we packed up camp and left before 10 AM, I think. So, needless to say - on maybe 5 hours of sleep and 5 beers, I was not feeling great. Got back to civilization, hoping to feel better to do a 30-30-30 (30 minute swim, 30 minute bike, and 30 minute run), but it just was not to be.
So, there you have it. A lot of fun, but a totally lost week. I didn't do a damned thing from Tuesday until Sunday, unless you count splashing around in the huge pool on Saturday. (It's nearly two weeks later as I write this, and I'm still disappointed in myself.) It just shows how easy it it to get off track.
Jul 5, 2011
Swimming the Primal Abyss
So, this is what I swim at the beach:
You can kind of see the two jetties, or at least the humps in the sand around them, that are the markers. I measured this on Google maps, which tells me this is about 125 yards apart. Yeah, and those two white specs there are boats - which tend to be moored there quite a bit.
This started around Memorial Day. Alabama dumps at the northern-jetty, and - no one really getting in the water - we would pile our beach stuff up there. The thing you can't see, however, is the coral reef that makes up part of the jetty and stretches to the north.
Well, on Memorial Day, we got the kayak out and started puttering around. Larry and I both got in, and we immediately ran aground on the reef. I had Larry get out, and flying solo I had no problem getting over the reef and tooling around. But I still didn't know how extensive this thing was. As the tide started going out, I started walking around the surf - still wigged out by the bay water, and I noticed that - yeah - there is a lot of coral there - no wonder we were having trouble. I could start to see the coral poking up out of the water, and I figured - well, if there's all that coral there, we'll just have to move up slightly more north of the reef. I started trekking further and further north along the reef, trying to feel my way along it. But I kept stepping into holes, kicking pieces of the reef over, and no matter how far north I went, it was still there!
About that time, two things happened. It dawned on me that the southern beach front - between Alabama and Georgia - didn't seem to have that problem as there was a group of kids about 20 yards off shore horsing around and having a great time. And, I kicked a piece of coral, it gave way, I thought it was something in the water, recoiled, stepped in a hole, and fell. I caught myself in the surf with my hands - but I was soaked. So I figured - well, what the hell now, I might as well explore the southern beach.
So I waded back to shore, trudged over to the area south of the Alabama jetty, and waded back in. And it was nice. Despite being the end of May, the water was warm. And it was pretty obvious that it was a sandy bottom all the way out - not the muck I had imagined. I kept wading out, got out beyond the jetties, and realized that I was only up to my waist in the water. I looked around approvingly and decided - I can swim this!
June was really busy - so I didn't get back down to Delaware until the 4th of July. Going into it, I was like - I am so doing everything down there - biking, swimming, running. I'll at least brick every day and I'll prolly get a day of all three in there, to boot! And then ... vacation intervened.
Friday - as I already related - was a wash. I think I got in the water but didn't really do anything. As we went to the brewery and then to dinner, I told myself - that's okay, I'll just do all three tomorrow. Which was why I let Eileen talk me into doing the Firecracker 5k so easily, I think. And why I pushed myself to do the bike after it.
As late as Saturday afternoon, my plan was to jump into the water and do a little swimming, too. But heading out to the beach, one thing was immediately clear: we weren't getting in the water. Why? Attack of those primitive life forms from the stygian depths of the ocean - the jellyfish. Scores of them, washed up on shore, extruding themselves through the jetty, hanging out in the coral pools, smashed to bits on shore, washed up on shore, lazily circling in the surf arranged in a defensive network.... I think many of them were dead, and I had no intention of testing whether their sting lived on. Besides, I had bricked, so.....
At Broadkill, there are two winds - the Marsh Wind, which brings flies, and the Bay Wind - which keeps the flies away. And apparently, according to local lore, the Bay Wind has variant: if the wind is blowing all the way from the ocean, it brings in the jellies. Now the water was warm and brackish, and this might have been killing a lot of the little blighters - but there they were.
So, Saturday came and went, and Sunday dawned, and the wind had shifted and now the jellies were gone. No trace of them whatsoever. So into the water everyone poured.
Now, mind you, I'm still a little igged out by the bay water - Memorial Day revelations not withstanding. Plus, everyone's been talking about the sharks and stingrays that they've been finding off the beach. And, you can't see more than 4 inches into the murky green depths, even if those depths are only 2.5 feet. "Shuffle your feet; that'll chase the stingrays away" sounds an awful lot like bang two sticks together to keep the mountain lions away..... But, at least it's not the chocolate milk I remember from last year. And my Memorial Day explorations confirmed that it is a sandy bottom way out there. So I put on my swim suit, grabbed my goggles, and headed in for a crisp 3 times up and down the beach.
So, first - I encounter two members of the extended BBC contingent for the weekend. Nice enough guys when you're not training so you don't die in a month, but when you're trying to get at least 100 yards on a stretch of beach 125 yards, and they are both right at that line between the deepest you feel you can go and so shallow that you'll drag your knuckles every stroke.... Well, I was feeling a bit trapped. I exchanged niceties, strapped on my googles, and tried to get a lap in.
Second - I've done some reading, and people talk about the panic that sets in when you're in a lake and quite literally find yourself out of your depth. It's true. I've had it twice now this summer - once in Sandbridge when I felt like I nearly got swept out to sea, and this moment. Here I am, head down, realizing how murky and green everything is, when I see something flit just out of my range of sight, something pale and long (maybe my arm?) that really seems to swim away. I've seen them pull sharks (little ones) out of the water. People fish here all the time. And the niceties I was referring to above? Stingrays.....
And the thought goes through my head - I'm just really not into messing around with whatever that is. So I'll just pull up for a couple of seconds, let it go on its merry way, figure out how far that little splashing took me.... I wasn't scared, just ... didn't want to press my luck. I set my feet down, and realize I can't feel the bottom. Now, I'm a decent enough swimmer that panic in me doesn't look like immediately thrashing about and yelling. But it does mean I stop everything else I'm doing and quickly try to get back to where I can touch. Which I do....
And immediately find myself struck into conversation with the two fellows from above, who have apparently followed me on my little flailing adventure. Either that, or I didn't swim anywhere near as far as I thought I had....
At this point, it's hopeless. I'm stuck, I'm a little shaken because I don't know what for hole I just swam into, I can't tell where it gets really deep, and I'm a little freaked out. So I tell all this to the guys - swimmy thing, can't touch, swam into a hole of something. We go in a little further towards shore, and the one guy is merrily chatting away about all manner of sea monsters and things that live in rivers.
Third - it was about then that I stepped on something. I don't know what it was. I don't think it was a rock; it was prolly a horseshoe crab. But I felt the thing underfoot and did one of those acrobatic things where you were going to transfer your weight, somehow stop mid transfer, and do a not so graceful hop-step, that ended with me dunking myself. I got myself back up and said - dammit, I just stepped on something, I'm out. And the swimming was done for the day.
View 2011-07-04 17:58 Beach Ride in a larger map
The next day was Monday, July 4, and by God, I was bound and determined to get in my laps at the beach. I hadn't done it at all yet, we were to leave the next day, and I simply have to get used to this if I'm going to keep tri-ing. So, after lazing around doing one thing or the other all afternoon and mixing up some ice cream and brining a pork loin, I don my swim-suit, grab my goggles, and storm to the beach. I'm in before I have time to chicken out, only this time the tide is out - which means that sandy bottom goes out a long ways up to your waist. The boat is parked out there, and there are a few BBC'ers out there, but I go beyond them. I strap on the goggles, and dive in, and start crawling my way down the beach. Success! I mean - I kind of stop a couple of times, because this is effing weird - where the hell am I? How close is the boat?! But I keep going and I figure I hit 100 yards or so, turn around, and go back the other way. When I get tired, I roll on my back and trot out my new backstroke. That's slow going, especially swimming up stream. But all in all I get four laps in before I get really tired, flip on my back to do the back stroke, and somehow manage to turn myself around. Completely confused, I figured this was a good indication that I'm done.
But I felt great! I rushed back inside, changed into biking gear, got the pork loin on the grill, recruited Carlos, and went out for a quick sprint to the end of the park and back. A quick stop at the end of the world - and a few shoulder presses with the bike, and we're heading back to the BBC. Half an hour, 5.7 miles, going about 11mph with a top speed of 22mph in a sprint from the Mall to the house.... Yeah, I was feeling pretty good.
Dinner and drinks (a lovely concoction Carlos whipped up with a lot of ice, soda water, lots of lime, and a tad more than generous splash of Don Q) were well deserved that night!
This started around Memorial Day. Alabama dumps at the northern-jetty, and - no one really getting in the water - we would pile our beach stuff up there. The thing you can't see, however, is the coral reef that makes up part of the jetty and stretches to the north.
Well, on Memorial Day, we got the kayak out and started puttering around. Larry and I both got in, and we immediately ran aground on the reef. I had Larry get out, and flying solo I had no problem getting over the reef and tooling around. But I still didn't know how extensive this thing was. As the tide started going out, I started walking around the surf - still wigged out by the bay water, and I noticed that - yeah - there is a lot of coral there - no wonder we were having trouble. I could start to see the coral poking up out of the water, and I figured - well, if there's all that coral there, we'll just have to move up slightly more north of the reef. I started trekking further and further north along the reef, trying to feel my way along it. But I kept stepping into holes, kicking pieces of the reef over, and no matter how far north I went, it was still there!
About that time, two things happened. It dawned on me that the southern beach front - between Alabama and Georgia - didn't seem to have that problem as there was a group of kids about 20 yards off shore horsing around and having a great time. And, I kicked a piece of coral, it gave way, I thought it was something in the water, recoiled, stepped in a hole, and fell. I caught myself in the surf with my hands - but I was soaked. So I figured - well, what the hell now, I might as well explore the southern beach.
So I waded back to shore, trudged over to the area south of the Alabama jetty, and waded back in. And it was nice. Despite being the end of May, the water was warm. And it was pretty obvious that it was a sandy bottom all the way out - not the muck I had imagined. I kept wading out, got out beyond the jetties, and realized that I was only up to my waist in the water. I looked around approvingly and decided - I can swim this!
June was really busy - so I didn't get back down to Delaware until the 4th of July. Going into it, I was like - I am so doing everything down there - biking, swimming, running. I'll at least brick every day and I'll prolly get a day of all three in there, to boot! And then ... vacation intervened.
Friday - as I already related - was a wash. I think I got in the water but didn't really do anything. As we went to the brewery and then to dinner, I told myself - that's okay, I'll just do all three tomorrow. Which was why I let Eileen talk me into doing the Firecracker 5k so easily, I think. And why I pushed myself to do the bike after it.
As late as Saturday afternoon, my plan was to jump into the water and do a little swimming, too. But heading out to the beach, one thing was immediately clear: we weren't getting in the water. Why? Attack of those primitive life forms from the stygian depths of the ocean - the jellyfish. Scores of them, washed up on shore, extruding themselves through the jetty, hanging out in the coral pools, smashed to bits on shore, washed up on shore, lazily circling in the surf arranged in a defensive network.... I think many of them were dead, and I had no intention of testing whether their sting lived on. Besides, I had bricked, so.....
At Broadkill, there are two winds - the Marsh Wind, which brings flies, and the Bay Wind - which keeps the flies away. And apparently, according to local lore, the Bay Wind has variant: if the wind is blowing all the way from the ocean, it brings in the jellies. Now the water was warm and brackish, and this might have been killing a lot of the little blighters - but there they were.
So, Saturday came and went, and Sunday dawned, and the wind had shifted and now the jellies were gone. No trace of them whatsoever. So into the water everyone poured.
Now, mind you, I'm still a little igged out by the bay water - Memorial Day revelations not withstanding. Plus, everyone's been talking about the sharks and stingrays that they've been finding off the beach. And, you can't see more than 4 inches into the murky green depths, even if those depths are only 2.5 feet. "Shuffle your feet; that'll chase the stingrays away" sounds an awful lot like bang two sticks together to keep the mountain lions away..... But, at least it's not the chocolate milk I remember from last year. And my Memorial Day explorations confirmed that it is a sandy bottom way out there. So I put on my swim suit, grabbed my goggles, and headed in for a crisp 3 times up and down the beach.
So, first - I encounter two members of the extended BBC contingent for the weekend. Nice enough guys when you're not training so you don't die in a month, but when you're trying to get at least 100 yards on a stretch of beach 125 yards, and they are both right at that line between the deepest you feel you can go and so shallow that you'll drag your knuckles every stroke.... Well, I was feeling a bit trapped. I exchanged niceties, strapped on my googles, and tried to get a lap in.
Second - I've done some reading, and people talk about the panic that sets in when you're in a lake and quite literally find yourself out of your depth. It's true. I've had it twice now this summer - once in Sandbridge when I felt like I nearly got swept out to sea, and this moment. Here I am, head down, realizing how murky and green everything is, when I see something flit just out of my range of sight, something pale and long (maybe my arm?) that really seems to swim away. I've seen them pull sharks (little ones) out of the water. People fish here all the time. And the niceties I was referring to above? Stingrays.....
And the thought goes through my head - I'm just really not into messing around with whatever that is. So I'll just pull up for a couple of seconds, let it go on its merry way, figure out how far that little splashing took me.... I wasn't scared, just ... didn't want to press my luck. I set my feet down, and realize I can't feel the bottom. Now, I'm a decent enough swimmer that panic in me doesn't look like immediately thrashing about and yelling. But it does mean I stop everything else I'm doing and quickly try to get back to where I can touch. Which I do....
And immediately find myself struck into conversation with the two fellows from above, who have apparently followed me on my little flailing adventure. Either that, or I didn't swim anywhere near as far as I thought I had....
At this point, it's hopeless. I'm stuck, I'm a little shaken because I don't know what for hole I just swam into, I can't tell where it gets really deep, and I'm a little freaked out. So I tell all this to the guys - swimmy thing, can't touch, swam into a hole of something. We go in a little further towards shore, and the one guy is merrily chatting away about all manner of sea monsters and things that live in rivers.
Third - it was about then that I stepped on something. I don't know what it was. I don't think it was a rock; it was prolly a horseshoe crab. But I felt the thing underfoot and did one of those acrobatic things where you were going to transfer your weight, somehow stop mid transfer, and do a not so graceful hop-step, that ended with me dunking myself. I got myself back up and said - dammit, I just stepped on something, I'm out. And the swimming was done for the day.
View 2011-07-04 17:58 Beach Ride in a larger map
The next day was Monday, July 4, and by God, I was bound and determined to get in my laps at the beach. I hadn't done it at all yet, we were to leave the next day, and I simply have to get used to this if I'm going to keep tri-ing. So, after lazing around doing one thing or the other all afternoon and mixing up some ice cream and brining a pork loin, I don my swim-suit, grab my goggles, and storm to the beach. I'm in before I have time to chicken out, only this time the tide is out - which means that sandy bottom goes out a long ways up to your waist. The boat is parked out there, and there are a few BBC'ers out there, but I go beyond them. I strap on the goggles, and dive in, and start crawling my way down the beach. Success! I mean - I kind of stop a couple of times, because this is effing weird - where the hell am I? How close is the boat?! But I keep going and I figure I hit 100 yards or so, turn around, and go back the other way. When I get tired, I roll on my back and trot out my new backstroke. That's slow going, especially swimming up stream. But all in all I get four laps in before I get really tired, flip on my back to do the back stroke, and somehow manage to turn myself around. Completely confused, I figured this was a good indication that I'm done.
 |
| July 18, 2011 |
Dinner and drinks (a lovely concoction Carlos whipped up with a lot of ice, soda water, lots of lime, and a tad more than generous splash of Don Q) were well deserved that night!
Jul 4, 2011
Not According to Plan
Well, here it is Monday the 4th. It's been a pretty crazy week, and things did not go exactly according to plan.
Monday
I missed my strength workout. Sat down for dinner with Beth and talked right on past 8:00. Beth looked at me and said, well, it's pretty much too late to go to the gym, now, isn't it? And I had to concur.
Tuesday
It was hot and sticky, so I headed to the gym to get a run in. Got on the treadmill and kept things easy - averaged about 5.5mph and just focused on keeping on running. It was pretty difficult, I think because the gym was almost and hot and sticky as it was outside. Found myself wheezing along. I thought about pushing up the speed on the last five minutes in minute increments, but couldn't do it; I think I dropped to 5mph for a couple minutes of the five, but dialed it back to 5.5mph for the final minute for something of a kick.
Watched the O's getting beat, watched a great sunset over storm clouds, watched the storm roll in and just drop buckets of rain. It was kinda interesting because - of course - the O's game on the other side of town was getting this weather before we were in the gym. So when it started to drizzle, I knew something was afoot, and when they pulled the tarps on the field and showed the gouts of rain, I knew I was staying at the gym for a little while.
So I got off the treadmill, and decided to do some of the strength training I had missed the night before and wait out the storm. The first thing I noticed was that they had changed all the machines around to create a wide walk way through the gym and to the pool area. So I had to hunt for my machines. I couldn't find the independent chest press, just the old chest press. Jumped on the abdominal and lower back machines, decided to skip leg extensions, and wrapped things up with the chest press. And I don't know what the deal was, whether I was tired, have gotten worse, or the new machine, but 120# was rough. I got two sets of 12 in, but dropped back to 100# for the final set. Just too much.
Rain finished, I left the gym, and dragged myself back home....
Wednesday
I threw some laundry in after work, made a really bad chard and bacon (I think adding salt made the chard weep, which kinda nullified the bacon; and I prolly should have used more bacon....) Then I jumped on my bike for a quick long ride before meeting up with Joe for Phillies-Red Sox. Went down beyond the gym, and down to Lehigh Cement. Never been down there, nice view of Fort McHenry. Watched a tug come in. Looked at my phone while taking pictures and saw that it was twenty after 7. Hopped back on my bike and high-tailed it over to the Fieldhouse. When I got off the bike I started dripping. The cool thing was, it was obviously a work-out. I topped out at 22mph somewhere and the mileage wasn't there, but it was easily doable, not the struggle from Tuesday.
Thursday
I had planned to postpone the Thursday workout because we would be going to the beach. Dragging stuff up from the basement - like the bike carrier and Beth's bike - ought to count for something, right?
Friday
My plan was to start off and do all sorts of stuff on Friday, but that did not happen. After a little time on the beach in the AM, we had a quick bite to eat at the BBC and then took off by mid-afternoon for Dogfish Head Brewery. A healthy sampling of beer later, and a purchase of a shirt and case of beer, we were off to the Milton Farmers' Market. Nothing there, we headed over to the Broadkill Boathouse for dinner. Got back to the BBC and more or less crashed. Saturday was going to be a busy day....
Saturday
The Usual Suspects got up early Saturday morning and set off to Rehoboth to run the Firecracker 5K Walk and Run. It was the same course as the Thanksgiving Race last fall where I kinda fell apart, but came in at 35 or something. Carlos and Beth got up close to the start and ran. I think they ended up finishing around 26 minutes, Carlos coming in ahead of Beth.
Eileen had convinced me to run the 5K Friday evening, promising to fetch beer all day Saturday. So Tony, Eileen and I ran together. I followed Week 5 of the Couch to 5K program - 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking - repeat for a total of 15 minutes running. We ran the first 5 minute warm-up into the first 5 minute run, but even then there wasn't enough time to do the whole 5k - I think it got us right to the water station at 2 miles. We walked the cool-down, and then I reset and we started all over with a 5 minute run. Tony ran ahead when we came to the 3 minute walk, but Eileen stuck with me. When it came to the next 5 minute run, we were within striking distance, so I really tried to leg it out and finish with a good strong kick. I felt like puking after the kick - so I gave it a good shot of what I had left - but a quick drink of water and it was easy to suppress that. But the kick felt GOOD!
Not sure of the pacing. I finished at just under 41 minutes, which was way down there at #319, off of Eileen's pace from the week before, and short of my PR. There wasn't really a heat problem - it felt fairly cool and wasn't too humid. The fact that we got to the Mile 2 marker just before the end of the 3rd five minute run - albeit having run 4 of the first 5 minutes of warmup - suggests that our top pace was pretty close to my top pace I had been running in training - maybe a touch under 5.5mph/11 minute miles. The 41 minute overall means I was running a little under 14 minute miles, slightly better than my average on the treadmill. That probably was running the warmup and the good kick. That I got that and literally went the extra mile - I'll say that was good. I either need to get my own Garmin, or start running with my phone. (Okay, so looking at the results, my pace was 13:09 - and I was dead last in my age group.)
Physically, my left calf felt great while stretching, but started to knot up almost immediately. Not hellishly, but it was there. Both calves were cramping after Mile 2. I need to stretch better after the run, but all in all - I didn't feel too bad and breathing was fine - maybe a little raspy. We packed into the car and took the ride back to Broadkill, and I already knew what part 2 was going to be.
We got out of the car at the BBC, I changed shorts (so I had a pocket for my phone) and put my sandals on (my feet felt like they were swelling a little in my running shoes), filled my water bottle, strapped on my helmet, and headed out for a bike ride. I reckoned it was three miles down to Route 1 from Broadkill, so after my 5k a little 6 miles of biking would be good and would help stretch the calves.
View 2011-07-02 09:17 Broadkill To Route 1 in a larger map
Well, I knew something was up when my phone started talking to me right after I crossed the bridge, suggesting it was a mile from the BBC. Made it down to Rt 1 several minutes later. I felt good about the ride, but it seemed a lot longer than I had initially thought. Was keeping hydrated, and was pushing myself pretty good. I had a little bay breeze at my back, and was consistently in 2.7, swapping up to 3.6 every once in awhile and getting some saddle relief with a standing climb at 3.7. I started developing what I called skating - working on real powerful strides at 3.7 whether standing or seated. Not too long, but something that made 2.7 feel like a god-send when it came, and when my quads got a little tired I would as often upshift to 3.7 as downshift to 2.6, skating to change the rhythm and stretch, and then would go back to 2.7. Somewhere in here I figured I topped out at the 19.9mph.
I hit Rt 1 and doubled back, expecting to head into that breeze. Luckily, it never materialized. I started wondering when my phone was going to tell me I had hit another mile marker, but I knew I was beyond the 3 miles I had thought. I dropped my water bottle and had to stop and go back and get it. But otherwise the return trip was pretty uneventful. I was skating a little more, thankful I wasn't getting smacked with a headwind. That materialized after the double turn heading up to the bridge, and that was rough. I think I dropped to 2.5 or maybe 2.4; man it would be nice to have a computerized bike that could tell you what you shifted to when. Got over the bridge and cranked it up hard and sprinted the mile back to BBC.
Checking the route out later, turns out it was a total of 8.8 miles. I felt good. The knot from the run had been worked out, no more cramping, and I had a good amount of energy left - I wasn't as wiped out as I had been the Sunday Beth was gone and I swam and biked and then passed out. That being said, I did grab a couple of Corona's, set up the beach chairs, watched the parade, and then hung out for the rest of the day.
Monday
I missed my strength workout. Sat down for dinner with Beth and talked right on past 8:00. Beth looked at me and said, well, it's pretty much too late to go to the gym, now, isn't it? And I had to concur.
Tuesday
It was hot and sticky, so I headed to the gym to get a run in. Got on the treadmill and kept things easy - averaged about 5.5mph and just focused on keeping on running. It was pretty difficult, I think because the gym was almost and hot and sticky as it was outside. Found myself wheezing along. I thought about pushing up the speed on the last five minutes in minute increments, but couldn't do it; I think I dropped to 5mph for a couple minutes of the five, but dialed it back to 5.5mph for the final minute for something of a kick.
Watched the O's getting beat, watched a great sunset over storm clouds, watched the storm roll in and just drop buckets of rain. It was kinda interesting because - of course - the O's game on the other side of town was getting this weather before we were in the gym. So when it started to drizzle, I knew something was afoot, and when they pulled the tarps on the field and showed the gouts of rain, I knew I was staying at the gym for a little while.
So I got off the treadmill, and decided to do some of the strength training I had missed the night before and wait out the storm. The first thing I noticed was that they had changed all the machines around to create a wide walk way through the gym and to the pool area. So I had to hunt for my machines. I couldn't find the independent chest press, just the old chest press. Jumped on the abdominal and lower back machines, decided to skip leg extensions, and wrapped things up with the chest press. And I don't know what the deal was, whether I was tired, have gotten worse, or the new machine, but 120# was rough. I got two sets of 12 in, but dropped back to 100# for the final set. Just too much.
Rain finished, I left the gym, and dragged myself back home....
 |
| Lehigh Cement |
I threw some laundry in after work, made a really bad chard and bacon (I think adding salt made the chard weep, which kinda nullified the bacon; and I prolly should have used more bacon....) Then I jumped on my bike for a quick long ride before meeting up with Joe for Phillies-Red Sox. Went down beyond the gym, and down to Lehigh Cement. Never been down there, nice view of Fort McHenry. Watched a tug come in. Looked at my phone while taking pictures and saw that it was twenty after 7. Hopped back on my bike and high-tailed it over to the Fieldhouse. When I got off the bike I started dripping. The cool thing was, it was obviously a work-out. I topped out at 22mph somewhere and the mileage wasn't there, but it was easily doable, not the struggle from Tuesday.
Thursday
I had planned to postpone the Thursday workout because we would be going to the beach. Dragging stuff up from the basement - like the bike carrier and Beth's bike - ought to count for something, right?
Friday
My plan was to start off and do all sorts of stuff on Friday, but that did not happen. After a little time on the beach in the AM, we had a quick bite to eat at the BBC and then took off by mid-afternoon for Dogfish Head Brewery. A healthy sampling of beer later, and a purchase of a shirt and case of beer, we were off to the Milton Farmers' Market. Nothing there, we headed over to the Broadkill Boathouse for dinner. Got back to the BBC and more or less crashed. Saturday was going to be a busy day....
Saturday
The Usual Suspects got up early Saturday morning and set off to Rehoboth to run the Firecracker 5K Walk and Run. It was the same course as the Thanksgiving Race last fall where I kinda fell apart, but came in at 35 or something. Carlos and Beth got up close to the start and ran. I think they ended up finishing around 26 minutes, Carlos coming in ahead of Beth.
Eileen had convinced me to run the 5K Friday evening, promising to fetch beer all day Saturday. So Tony, Eileen and I ran together. I followed Week 5 of the Couch to 5K program - 5 minutes running, 3 minutes walking - repeat for a total of 15 minutes running. We ran the first 5 minute warm-up into the first 5 minute run, but even then there wasn't enough time to do the whole 5k - I think it got us right to the water station at 2 miles. We walked the cool-down, and then I reset and we started all over with a 5 minute run. Tony ran ahead when we came to the 3 minute walk, but Eileen stuck with me. When it came to the next 5 minute run, we were within striking distance, so I really tried to leg it out and finish with a good strong kick. I felt like puking after the kick - so I gave it a good shot of what I had left - but a quick drink of water and it was easy to suppress that. But the kick felt GOOD!
Not sure of the pacing. I finished at just under 41 minutes, which was way down there at #319, off of Eileen's pace from the week before, and short of my PR. There wasn't really a heat problem - it felt fairly cool and wasn't too humid. The fact that we got to the Mile 2 marker just before the end of the 3rd five minute run - albeit having run 4 of the first 5 minutes of warmup - suggests that our top pace was pretty close to my top pace I had been running in training - maybe a touch under 5.5mph/11 minute miles. The 41 minute overall means I was running a little under 14 minute miles, slightly better than my average on the treadmill. That probably was running the warmup and the good kick. That I got that and literally went the extra mile - I'll say that was good. I either need to get my own Garmin, or start running with my phone. (Okay, so looking at the results, my pace was 13:09 - and I was dead last in my age group.)
Physically, my left calf felt great while stretching, but started to knot up almost immediately. Not hellishly, but it was there. Both calves were cramping after Mile 2. I need to stretch better after the run, but all in all - I didn't feel too bad and breathing was fine - maybe a little raspy. We packed into the car and took the ride back to Broadkill, and I already knew what part 2 was going to be.
We got out of the car at the BBC, I changed shorts (so I had a pocket for my phone) and put my sandals on (my feet felt like they were swelling a little in my running shoes), filled my water bottle, strapped on my helmet, and headed out for a bike ride. I reckoned it was three miles down to Route 1 from Broadkill, so after my 5k a little 6 miles of biking would be good and would help stretch the calves.
View 2011-07-02 09:17 Broadkill To Route 1 in a larger map
Well, I knew something was up when my phone started talking to me right after I crossed the bridge, suggesting it was a mile from the BBC. Made it down to Rt 1 several minutes later. I felt good about the ride, but it seemed a lot longer than I had initially thought. Was keeping hydrated, and was pushing myself pretty good. I had a little bay breeze at my back, and was consistently in 2.7, swapping up to 3.6 every once in awhile and getting some saddle relief with a standing climb at 3.7. I started developing what I called skating - working on real powerful strides at 3.7 whether standing or seated. Not too long, but something that made 2.7 feel like a god-send when it came, and when my quads got a little tired I would as often upshift to 3.7 as downshift to 2.6, skating to change the rhythm and stretch, and then would go back to 2.7. Somewhere in here I figured I topped out at the 19.9mph.
I hit Rt 1 and doubled back, expecting to head into that breeze. Luckily, it never materialized. I started wondering when my phone was going to tell me I had hit another mile marker, but I knew I was beyond the 3 miles I had thought. I dropped my water bottle and had to stop and go back and get it. But otherwise the return trip was pretty uneventful. I was skating a little more, thankful I wasn't getting smacked with a headwind. That materialized after the double turn heading up to the bridge, and that was rough. I think I dropped to 2.5 or maybe 2.4; man it would be nice to have a computerized bike that could tell you what you shifted to when. Got over the bridge and cranked it up hard and sprinted the mile back to BBC.
Checking the route out later, turns out it was a total of 8.8 miles. I felt good. The knot from the run had been worked out, no more cramping, and I had a good amount of energy left - I wasn't as wiped out as I had been the Sunday Beth was gone and I swam and biked and then passed out. That being said, I did grab a couple of Corona's, set up the beach chairs, watched the parade, and then hung out for the rest of the day.
Jun 26, 2011
Busy weekend
Friday was an off day, and I spent it hanging out in the Brewers' Art with Ryan, Bill, and Tony. Hadn't been there in awhile and it was a lot of fun. Very chill, shootin' the shit and drinking beer down in the basement. Great place, lots of memories, and wish I went there more often.
Actually, Friday morning I looked at the watch data - and it wasn't as bad as I initially thought. I was running much faster than I thought, but that first awful run I did start too fast. I was below an 8 minute mile! So that was probably why I needed to stop. But even when I slowed up - I was still running something like a 12 minute mile (5 mph).
The Thursday night run was a lot more even. I thought I was pathetically slow, but I was basically right around 10 minute miles for the first minute or so. I slowed up after that, but I was still at 12 minute miles for most of the next two runs, but by the second half of the 3 minute run I was getting gassed and dropped to 13, and the last 5 minute run I dropped to 15 minute miles. But I did have a decent kick in the last minute of that fiver, and pulled it back up to around 10.5 minute mile.
So, yeah - Beth's watch is pretty cool, huh? I wonder how it would do in water....
But of course, with Beth being gone this weekend, I didn't get to sleep until 4 am Friday night and had an awful night of sleep. Dreams of apocalyptic evacuations and not being able to find Beth. Woke up for good at 11 - much later than I wanted - and spent most of the afternoon puttering around the house. Nothing major - some laundry, worked on the script a little, jailbroke my old iPhone (more on that one day), and then did my run at about 4:00.
I did it at the gym on the treadmill, but it went pretty well. Again, Week 4 on the C25K program, I took it slow - kept it at a steady 5.5 mph (11 minute miles) rather than pressing at 6+. I know I need to work on that, but for right now, until I get that base down, I think discretion may be the better part of valor.
Skipped the strength; I was beat and still had a ghost tour to do that night.
Once again, didn't sleep well Saturday night, either. Woke up later than I wanted to at 8 am. Made it to the Farmer's Market, and after a cup of coffee and an Ethel and Ramone's sandwich was feeling pretty good. Brought my haul back, scurried around, pumped up the bike tires and grabbed my swim suit and goggles and made it down to the gym.
I used the MyTracks Android app. Google designed, I think, and it worked pretty okay. When I got home I uploaded both legs. You can see that it isn't quite as good as the Garmin - but it more or less was free. Not bad. I think I'll keep using it when I don't have access to Beth's watch.
The swim was tough. Lots of people already at 11:30 am, so I need to do this earlier. Got lucky and went to jump in a lane and the guy did one more lap and left, so I got the lane to myself. But I think I started too fast. No fancy gizmos to confirm that, and the first two lengths I felt great. But I more or less stopped and had to tread water for a couple seconds on the third length. I didn't give myself nearly as much recovery time as I had a couple of days ago, and dug back in - slower this time - after only a couple of minutes. Again - real struggle, but I gutted through it. The second intermission was a little longer, but still not the five minutes I was taking earlier in the week. Same struggle with the third set.
Changed, jumped on the bike, and rode hard to get back home. This was more challenging because it was uphill and a little longer, but I was just over 1mph slower than going downhill in the morning.
I came home, checked the distance between jetties at Broadkill Beach - 128 yards - and then sorta crashed before getting moving again and cleaning the house before Beth got home. No nap, mind you, but folded laundry, watched the O's for a little while, and finished up the cuts I had laid out for the script. The nap came after Beth got home, and I passed out for a half hour before making an Amy's frozen pizza for dinner. Nowhere near enough energy to work on the back slab - maybe I can get to that this week before we head to BKB for the 4th.
Whew. Not your typical busy - but it's been two pretty full days. I'm ready to watch a little ESPN Sunday night baseball, read a little, and pass out, so I can hit the strength tomorrow.
Actually, Friday morning I looked at the watch data - and it wasn't as bad as I initially thought. I was running much faster than I thought, but that first awful run I did start too fast. I was below an 8 minute mile! So that was probably why I needed to stop. But even when I slowed up - I was still running something like a 12 minute mile (5 mph).
The Thursday night run was a lot more even. I thought I was pathetically slow, but I was basically right around 10 minute miles for the first minute or so. I slowed up after that, but I was still at 12 minute miles for most of the next two runs, but by the second half of the 3 minute run I was getting gassed and dropped to 13, and the last 5 minute run I dropped to 15 minute miles. But I did have a decent kick in the last minute of that fiver, and pulled it back up to around 10.5 minute mile.
So, yeah - Beth's watch is pretty cool, huh? I wonder how it would do in water....
But of course, with Beth being gone this weekend, I didn't get to sleep until 4 am Friday night and had an awful night of sleep. Dreams of apocalyptic evacuations and not being able to find Beth. Woke up for good at 11 - much later than I wanted - and spent most of the afternoon puttering around the house. Nothing major - some laundry, worked on the script a little, jailbroke my old iPhone (more on that one day), and then did my run at about 4:00.
I did it at the gym on the treadmill, but it went pretty well. Again, Week 4 on the C25K program, I took it slow - kept it at a steady 5.5 mph (11 minute miles) rather than pressing at 6+. I know I need to work on that, but for right now, until I get that base down, I think discretion may be the better part of valor.
Skipped the strength; I was beat and still had a ghost tour to do that night.
Once again, didn't sleep well Saturday night, either. Woke up later than I wanted to at 8 am. Made it to the Farmer's Market, and after a cup of coffee and an Ethel and Ramone's sandwich was feeling pretty good. Brought my haul back, scurried around, pumped up the bike tires and grabbed my swim suit and goggles and made it down to the gym.
I used the MyTracks Android app. Google designed, I think, and it worked pretty okay. When I got home I uploaded both legs. You can see that it isn't quite as good as the Garmin - but it more or less was free. Not bad. I think I'll keep using it when I don't have access to Beth's watch.
The swim was tough. Lots of people already at 11:30 am, so I need to do this earlier. Got lucky and went to jump in a lane and the guy did one more lap and left, so I got the lane to myself. But I think I started too fast. No fancy gizmos to confirm that, and the first two lengths I felt great. But I more or less stopped and had to tread water for a couple seconds on the third length. I didn't give myself nearly as much recovery time as I had a couple of days ago, and dug back in - slower this time - after only a couple of minutes. Again - real struggle, but I gutted through it. The second intermission was a little longer, but still not the five minutes I was taking earlier in the week. Same struggle with the third set.
Changed, jumped on the bike, and rode hard to get back home. This was more challenging because it was uphill and a little longer, but I was just over 1mph slower than going downhill in the morning.
I came home, checked the distance between jetties at Broadkill Beach - 128 yards - and then sorta crashed before getting moving again and cleaning the house before Beth got home. No nap, mind you, but folded laundry, watched the O's for a little while, and finished up the cuts I had laid out for the script. The nap came after Beth got home, and I passed out for a half hour before making an Amy's frozen pizza for dinner. Nowhere near enough energy to work on the back slab - maybe I can get to that this week before we head to BKB for the 4th.
Whew. Not your typical busy - but it's been two pretty full days. I'm ready to watch a little ESPN Sunday night baseball, read a little, and pass out, so I can hit the strength tomorrow.
Jun 24, 2011
A Day Off!
Really feeling pretty good about myself right now.
First, I had a pretty good interim review at work yesterday. I've made progress, everyone recognizes that, I need to keep going, but "good job" all around, and I've sorta been taken off my performance plan and placed back under a Director, rather than receiving the personal attention of the VP. Which I'm kind of ambivalent about. I mean, it shows a certain amount of faith in me, and I seem to get along with the Director in question pretty well. But it's change, and I liked working with and reporting to Maryann. She's firm but fair and has taught me a lot, and it granted me a certain ... power? clout? prestige? that I don't think I have now and I'm not sure how that's going to change things. In my head at least, there was always the - if you don't play nice, it'll come out in his one on one with the veep.... We'll have to see.
Today, though, I have a 5010 Stakeholder meeting. Have to polish up the presentation, but I'm excited I get to tell the higher ups how much progress the team has made.
On the tri side:
- Wednesday was swim and run, and I went for the swim and skipped the run. The swim was much easier. I need to do 12 lengths of the pool for the August, and for now I'm concentrating on getting through 3 sets of 4 with a breather in between each set. First set was pretty easy, and then I took a long break. Second set wasn't bad, followed by a shorter break. The third set I did three and then had to stand up in the pool for a few seconds before going on the last leg, which was pretty pathetic and I nearly drowned myself - but I got it done.
I decided to skip the run - meeting Joe for Wednesday night baseball, and my knees weren't feeling great after my Tuesday 15 minute run, and save myself to do the rest of this weeks runs.
- Thursday I went out while Beth was icing a cake. New orthotics in my shoes, I was on to Week 4 in the Couch to 5K program. When I looked at it on the iPhone, I remembered this week in the program well. This was a big ramp up from the previous week. Week 3 was two sets of 1.5 minute run, break, then 3 minute run. And when I ran outside last week - I couldn't do my 3 minute runs; I had to stop and walk in the middle. Week 4 starts at 3 minutes, a 1.5 minute walk, and then a 5 minute run. Whew.
I took Beth's advice and took it slow - which I think was my problem the previous week. Was really gratified when the little voice said "You have 1 minute to go" on my first run. Timing was spot on so I wasn't running up the entire hill in the little park - just the last third or so. By the way, the view of the sky and Baltimore from the top of the hill in the little park is amazing. Done it twice now and the sunsets are just spectacular.
I made it through the five minute, had a nice 2.5 minute walk, then back to the 3 and 5. Made it through everything with a little bit of a kick at the end of the 5. Again - I was slow as shit, and it was prolly more of a jog than a run. But I made it through in sped up motion the whole allotted time. I was also outside (which I really suck at), it was sorta hot (but not really uncomfortable until I stopped), and I had no water, so.....
Didn't do the strength portion, though. Had I gone to the gym I would have done the little set of chest press, leg extensions, abdominals, and lower back. But I wasn't at the gym. Prolly throw it in this weekend.
Anyways, today's a day off. Which my knees are thankful for. I have a run on Saturday which I'll likely do at the gym, and then a bike and swim on Sunday - which I'm going to try to do early when the pool's not crowded.
And then - since Beth is away this weekend - I might try to root my iPhone and finish up the script! And clean the house and back slab.
Jun 22, 2011
I did it anyways!
Last night my plan was to come home, hop on the bike, and put in 45 minutes - thus saving my knees for the heavier duty running later in the week. But of course, that's not what actually happened.
On the way home from work, Beth - who was on her way to an info session about a training group - called and asked if I could call about a package at UPS. There was a little bit of a runaround (the computer was telling me that they had attempted at 2:00 pm and subsequently sent it back and I should call the shipper if I wanted it - and I knew that wasn't right), and then when I started thinking about it, I realized that Wednesday was going to be difficult to go get the package, get a work out in, and meet Joe for Wednesday night baseball. So I should just get the package now.
So - plan thrown into disarray. I made dinner, waited until 8:00, got into my gym clothes, drove over and picked up the package at UPS, and then went to do my biking at the gym. As I got on the bike, I thought - rather than 45 minutes of biking - why don't I bike the 30 minutes and then do the elliptical for the 15 minutes of "running"? It isn't exactly the same thing, but what's bothering me about running isn't the fatigue and breathing, it's the stress on my knees. And 15 minutes of the elliptical will save my knees, but I'll still be building cardio. Yeah!
So, 33 minutes on the bike with warm up, got on the elliptical, and hated it. Could only stand three minutes with the weird gait - legs too far apart, couldn't make it go as fast as I wanted to, the arms all over the place. I got off the elliptical, sucked it up,and got on the treadmill. It was inside, and I was running slow and "taking it easy" trying to save myself for later this week - but I still did the run. I had to stop and stretch out my calf a couple of times (which was where things went all screwy last year), but I did the running.
Of course, coming down the stairs at the gym, my kneecap felt like it was going all over the place. And laying in bed, my knee and calf felt kinda numb. Not really pain - but not a real great, hunky dorey feeling either. This morning it's better, but still not great. It feels kinda weak, and I twisted it just making lunch for Beth, which caused some pain.
So.... I think tonight might just be extra swimming instead of 15 swim and 30 run. We'll see how the knee feels throughout the day, but I think a day off of running will do more in the long run.
Jun 21, 2011
And I'm off
So, the reason I'm trying to get back into the groove here:
So, I've been trying to follow Hal Higdon's Triathlon training plan. There are two, and this is the second, more intensive one. Not great, because it's geared towards runners who want to do this, not people-who-really-like-and-are-kinda-okay-at-swimming-and-biking-but-really-suck-at-running. It's 6 days a week of activity.
So it's kicking my ass. I'm also trying to use the Couch to 5K plan for the runs. Six week program to get you up and running from having no experience to a successful 5K. I have used it already, to train for the 5K's I ran last fall. But since the last "injury"/foot pain in November's race, I'm out of running shape. And it's only a 5K for the sprint, so I figured - well, might as well use that again.
What's neat with that plan is there are a plethora of Android and iPhone apps to help out with the program. The Get Running app is really the main reason I keep the iPhone around (plus, I want to root it and use it as an international phone.) But Android has a bunch of apps, too, which I haven't tried.
So, basically, I'm a little loosey-goosey with it. Last week - the first week - I hit 4 of 6 nights of exercise. Including a first night of biking and strength. By the time Thursday came, I just couldn't do it, and had to take the night off. Felt great on Saturday after two days off and ran an easy Week 3 on c25k (which takes 25 minutes, which I figure is close enough to the 30 Hal prescribes). But Sunday being Father's Day - and a long conversation with my Dad - I didn't get out to do the swimming or the running.
Last night was really the first time in the pool. Got my 300 yards in (the length of the tri) and a little strength, so I feel accomplished, but ... man, I'm kinda beat already with a full week of work outs!
Tonight? 30 minutes of biking and 15 minutes of running.... Which isn't on the 5K plan. Tomorrow - Swim 15 (yay!) Run 30 (boo). Thursday? Run 30 and strength.... Maybe if I just did 45 minutes of biking tonight?
I'm running a sprint triathlon on August 7th.Yeah, scary.
So, I've been trying to follow Hal Higdon's Triathlon training plan. There are two, and this is the second, more intensive one. Not great, because it's geared towards runners who want to do this, not people-who-really-like-and-are-kinda-okay-at-swimming-and-biking-but-really-suck-at-running. It's 6 days a week of activity.
So it's kicking my ass. I'm also trying to use the Couch to 5K plan for the runs. Six week program to get you up and running from having no experience to a successful 5K. I have used it already, to train for the 5K's I ran last fall. But since the last "injury"/foot pain in November's race, I'm out of running shape. And it's only a 5K for the sprint, so I figured - well, might as well use that again.
What's neat with that plan is there are a plethora of Android and iPhone apps to help out with the program. The Get Running app is really the main reason I keep the iPhone around (plus, I want to root it and use it as an international phone.) But Android has a bunch of apps, too, which I haven't tried.
So, basically, I'm a little loosey-goosey with it. Last week - the first week - I hit 4 of 6 nights of exercise. Including a first night of biking and strength. By the time Thursday came, I just couldn't do it, and had to take the night off. Felt great on Saturday after two days off and ran an easy Week 3 on c25k (which takes 25 minutes, which I figure is close enough to the 30 Hal prescribes). But Sunday being Father's Day - and a long conversation with my Dad - I didn't get out to do the swimming or the running.
Last night was really the first time in the pool. Got my 300 yards in (the length of the tri) and a little strength, so I feel accomplished, but ... man, I'm kinda beat already with a full week of work outs!
Tonight? 30 minutes of biking and 15 minutes of running.... Which isn't on the 5K plan. Tomorrow - Swim 15 (yay!) Run 30 (boo). Thursday? Run 30 and strength.... Maybe if I just did 45 minutes of biking tonight?
A year and a half on....
So, a little while, someone hit me up on the Intertubes asking for my Blogger domain. They had a good reason: they would use it and it appeared as though I hadn't touched it in almost a year and a half. And they were right. I got an email today that appears to maybe back up their claim....
But, you know, I rather like the name - and while I'm not blogging with it - I keep meaning to do so.....
The problem is - keeping it going. I've looked over the last several years, and it always starts the same. A couple of very frantic weeks while I post a bunch of stuff, and then.... nothing.... for vast .... stretches of time.
This has been no exception.
And rather a lot has changed since the last post in September of 2009.
But, you know, I rather like the name - and while I'm not blogging with it - I keep meaning to do so.....
The problem is - keeping it going. I've looked over the last several years, and it always starts the same. A couple of very frantic weeks while I post a bunch of stuff, and then.... nothing.... for vast .... stretches of time.
This has been no exception.
And rather a lot has changed since the last post in September of 2009.
- TOTALLY new kit, it seems - I'm now an Android owner and made the switch to using it (very nicely) as my main electronic gadget. Which means the old PDA and phone and DMP are all Droid X. And therefore a whole slew of new apps. Though I also own and enjoy an iPad (original). Oh, and the laptop is long since gone.
- I'm looking at my N800 links and well ... I'm not even sure I can find my N800 any more.
- I've been playing with a lot of new stuff, too. Booted up Chrome off of Hexxeh's builds awhile ago but surrendered the cute lil' laptop to the theater (which hasn't used it yet.) A myDitto personal network storage device has been installed, along with a good cloud backup service.
- We went in on a beach house in Delaware last year, so a lot of time has been spent down there - and more time will need to be spent as we redo the room.
- And recently, I've started to train for a little sprint triathlon in early August. And I've found myself the last couple of days really wanting to comment on it. That should be good for about 8 weeks.
So, of course, here's another start. And of course, Blogger has introduced all sorts of new templates that look pretty good, so I'll likely have to check that out as well....
And something occurs to me. I spent a lot of time fretting about setting up two blogs - one more techy and one more generic me - and screw it. Beth's blog is successful pursuing her many hobbies - food and baking and running and travel. So.... mebbe I should just concentrate on one journal, tag the living beejeezus out of it, and let Blogger sort the damned thing out....
Here goes ... again....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)