2 Months in Review: February and March by the Numbers

February
Swim: 30,300yards
Bike: 496.9miles
Run: 85.4miles + 11.8miles walking
Weights: 8 short 15-20min sessions TRX/bosu/core

To be honest, I can't even remember February at this point. I know that I continued to be diligent about getting to the pool for short (2000-2500yard) swims and even got in a few longer swims. Biking all on the trainer (despite the mild winter) and one day a week at FastSplits on the computrainer. I continue to LOVE the computrainer. After replacing my new (Lake) cycling shoes with a second new pair (Shimano) the foot trouble I was having subsided enough to be manageable. I still get some numbness if I ride hard or long but nothing debilitating and nothing that kept me from running. I returned to running in my heavy trainers (Adidas Supernova Sequence 3) which was fine given the slow steady miles I put in. Endurance started returning on the run which was good to feel, despite the slow paces.

March
Swim: 32150yards
Bike: 538.8miles
Run: 138.4miles + 19miles walking
Weights: 5 TRX/core sessions

March was a pretty great month. A breakthrough run month!

I took a week of vacation the second full week of the month and just trained to my heart's content. It was blissful. 3 swims (2k, 3.5k, 4k), 5 rides (1hr OUTDOORS, 1h10m, 1h30m, 1h40m, 2h30m) with two 3+mile t-runs and one longer 1hr run off the bike. I moved my long run (usually Saturday) to Thursday so I could hammer that longer ride/run on Sunday. Long run was alright, nothing to write home about. Friday was a 90/30 brick, also good not great. Saturday I had speed work on the plan. I was thinking 6x400. I jogged easy to the track and then settled into the planned work. As I came toward the fifth interval I realized that my pace (including rest intervals) was pretty darn close to my current 5k PR time so I gunned it through the last interval. I came in just 1 second off my PR. I slowed to a jog to recover and realized I was feeling quite good. I decided to pick it up to mile 4. Then mile 5. Set a new 5mile PR (by a longshot). Decided to go for 10k. Came through 10k with the second 5k faster than the first 5k, and a PR by over 30 seconds!!! (21:54)   At this point I am on cloud nine, pretty psyched with all that frustrating slow running I did all winter. With basically no speedwork I found myself with speed. I ran another lap or so and was still feeling awesome. At this point my total distance was around 8.5miles. Something clicked in my head and I decided to just keep going. Miles ticked by one after another. At some point I decided I was going for 13.1. Why not? Its my vacation, I can do what I want!  The last mile was a 7:10. 7:10! That's my (former) 5k pace. I don't know where this came from. I ran through 13.1 and my watch read 1:39:59. Admittedly this is not a true time. I stopped my watch twice for ~30 seconds (at the end of that first 5k of trackwork (5.1miles) and then after the 10k of trackwork (8.2miles). Even if I were to call it 2 minutes of stopped watch we're talking many minutes faster than my HM PR set in November. (If you recall I was gunning for a 1:45 that day and then blew up at mile 10 and shuffled home in 1:48:xx.) REDEMPTION was mine!

During the month I rode my bike outside twice. I feel good about that. One on quiet roads to shake off some of the lingering fear I have from last year's witnessed accident. The second in traffic to really get myself used to my new road pedals and all the stresses of riding with cars and traffic lights. Both were slow, nothing like the confidence I have on the trainer. To close out the month I did my second FTP test of the season. My FTP came up more than 10% and my W/kg increased from 3.3 to just over 3.75 thanks to more watts and fewer kilos! All in all, a great month!!

3 weeks in review

As some of you may know, I'm more of a "glass half empty" kind of person. I get easily mired in negativity, self doubt, and the like. When 3 weeks ago I came down with some sort of weird but very painful throat condition, the glass and my training were more like 1/4 full, at best. I took off 3 days that week. Didn't swim or run at all for a whole week. Just barely made it to the gym to get on the elliptical or bike to do something with my body. I haven't slept so few hours in a long long time. It was demoralizing. It seemed go on forever, but really I think it was the sleep and workout deprivation that just made me lose track of my usual sense of time and order in things. I am also trying to finish up my dissertation in the last then 6 (now 3) weeks before I move and start my new job. Writing for me is a painful (and generally not so rewarding) activity. Writing without a way of blowing off steam...really quite difficult. On the 9th day of sickness I was feeling well enough to try out a run. James and I planned an easy 6 miles. It was not meant to be. It was hot, humid, sticky, and horrible outside. Not a great return to running - my lungs were burning, eventhough we were crawling along at a 9 minute pace. We even cut the run short and walked the last 2 miles home.  I decided it was better to take it easy than my system any more than it was already. Monday morning I woke up to an email from one of my dissertation committee members saying that he was no longer available on the day we had all agreed would be my Defense date (August 20). As I scrambled to get in touch with my mentor and start working on a plan (its surprisingly difficult to get 4 faculty members into a room for 2 hours during summer) a fantasy came to mind: If I finished writing this week and could only convince my mentor to read a draft in the following week, we could push the date up to June (before I start my new job). Although a stressful idea, there was a part of me that wished this would be the outcome. It was not. Mentor couldn't commit to reading that soon. Another member didn't want to meet in June before our big annual conference. Blah blah blah. But it pointed out to me that this dissertation is close to being finished. There is no reason to wait. I need to JUST DO IT. And this changed things. I wrote 3 times that week. I didn't back off when it got painful, when I got negative, when I wanted to scrap the whole thing. I finished a draft. And somehow, in the midst of that I started an awesome stretch of training. Workout after workout, better and better. My lungs returned. My energy returned. I started to have that "I could be a triathlete" feeling. Notes on workouts M-F below: 5/3 60minute spin - solo Whole hour in the saddle at 90+ rpm, riding moderate to moderately heavy gears. legs felt better at the end of the ride than when i started. love that. 2500m swim first mile in 26:42 whole swim felt great. glad to be back in the water and having my lungs cooperate 5/4 65minute spin, 3.7mile run (BRICK) Nothing special but glad to have my running legs back. 5/5 60minute spin (solo), 3200m swim 5/6 60minute spin, 7.2mile run (BRICK) 9:20, 8:18, 7:27, 8:41, 7:42, 8:22, 8:30 first 10k in 51:20 w/last mile in 8:40 7.2 mi in exactly 60:00 5/7 2400m swim James left town for 9 days. Up early to see him off Energy really low going in. plan at least 1600m easy pace first 1600m in 29:00 then another 800 easy with bilateral breathing last 400m Then came the weekend. By this point my draft was complete and I was feeling pretty good. I was playing with various ideas about long training days this weekend and next. With James out of town I figured there would be more time in the day and less structure. What better way to fill in than with long workouts. Saturday I did my regular 2+ hour ride. It was solid and I felt very good afterward. Spent the afternoon and evening at a wedding where I consumed more alcohol (I'm not usually much of a drinker) and sweets than necessary. Sunday I woke up and couldn't quite get going.  Thought about running with a friend but couldn't quite decide. Finally after much procrastination headed to the gym. It was 40, raining, with 25mph winds. In the winter running in that kind of weather might make me feel hardcore but I just wasn't into it. I ended up having my longest run ever. On the treadmill!?! 14 miles in 2 hours. I even ran the first 13.1 in 7 seconds faster than my half marathon finish time (is it a PR if I've only run one HM?). Is it a PR if it comes on a training run? Is it a PR if I was on the treadmill. Regardless of what it was. It felt awesome. Started having fantasies of Half Ironmans in my future. In an effort not to get too caught up in that fantasy (one that I am not, SHOULD not consider until 2011) I started planning for next weekend's workouts. 2hr bike/1hr run on Saturday, 1hr swim/1hr bike on Sunday is where I landed. Funny how this is so much less that I see all the hardcore triathletes doing on a regular midweek training day, yet in the endorphin rush of a good run it left me feeling pretty good about myself that I can plan something like this. Did some excellent recovery eating Sunday afternoon and evening. Wore my old man diabetic recovery socks all afternoon and generally enjoyed my "single" self. Monday I woke up feeling pretty damn good. I was totally incapacitated after my half marathon in December. Stiff, sore, tired, hobbling. This was quite a difference. Admittedly, this run was not in 30 degree weather, or run on miles of slippery snow/ice. But I gave it to myself - my training is coming together. I can do a training run at faster than my previous race pace. This is a good thing. I can workout the next day without undue stress. This too is a good thing. I will be ready for the Oly come July. My Monday workout was good. Quite good. I was amazed at the freshness of my legs.  Tuesday and Wednesday things started catching up with me. See notes below. The fervor I mustered on my dissertation also had a little back slide. Thankfully James cheerleaded me through the darkest patch. 5/10 60minute spin (solo), 2500m swim very nice solo spin in the morning (8:20am) 10min warmup (easy gears), 15min moderate gear 6 x [2min standing hill climb, 3min mod gear]  - with hills 2,4,6,8,10,12 gears of moderate 5min in "aero" dropping gears and increasing speed 5/11 60minute spin, 4mile run (BRICK) Think the big week of workouts started to catch up with me. Regular gears felt very heavy during spin class. Posterior tibialis/achilles slightly grumpy during my run and pace was slower than past BRICKS - 8:50 pace instead of 8:30-8:35. Decided not to push it given my long run on Sunday. 5/12 2400m swim This workout was kind of crappy. I had wanted to do 4000m but totally psyched myself out. By the time I got to the pool I just wanted to make sure I did something. First mile in 29:40, not so good. Last half mile, slower than I would like to admit. This was also my first time wearing a swim cap. It made my head hurt. Yesterday I wanted to get in a quick short BRICK. I had a dissertation hangover in the morning but took myself to the gym. My ride, 40 minutes was okay. My legs were feeling better after the swim only Wednesday but when I started my run I could feel that my posterior tibialis was cranky. Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday (Saturday)...is every other day. Post tib does not like every other day running. Post tib wants me to run every third day. This may have been pushing it. So I just did 3 miles. But felt grumpy afterward. Made a deal with myself that I'd come back later and ride some more. That was a good idea. Felt great on the second ride, 60 minutes.  Today I am resting. Off days stress me out. But its a necessary evil. Or so they say. Big plans for the weekend: Over distance BRICK workout on Saturday - 2 hours ride followed by 1 hour run. Sunday - Swim/bike brick. First of the season, have been riding before swimming up til this point. Legs tend to feel heavy after I swim want to start working on getting them moving in spite of that.

Wish me luck!

new long run distance = new definition of a mid-length run distance

On Saturday at 8:30am the NVRC had a scheduled long run leaving from Rec Hall that covered a significant portion of the NVHM. Marty Mazur led the slowpokes (which included me, Lee, and his son Ben) while Meira led the speedsters (about 8 of them). We ran out Curtin and straight into the tailgate madness (PSU vs. Indiana starting at noon). Strangely enough, this was the first time I have ever been close enough to any of that to smell the smells and be surrounded by all the people. Needless to say, I was glad when we passed the 1.5 mile mark and got away from all of that. In order to avoid heavy football traffic on the airport road (part of the race course) we cut through some trails that run parallel. This was not bad until the trail got really narrow and we had to start climbing over things and pushing aside branches and whatnot. I wasn't a huge fan of this "bushwhacking" section, but it was nice to mix things up a little bit. We then jumped in to the course in the hilly part around mile 8 (of the course) and covered some rolling terrain. Eventually this evened out for a nice mile or so of relatively flat and open course before we hit the last 2 miles of the course which are known to be brutal (lots of praying and walking said to occur) due to a continuous ascent. I was wanting to test my hopeful pace for this section to see what it would feel like. This meant that I deserted my group temporarily but then twice had to stop (turn off minny) and wait to get within ear shot of marty to find out which direction I was supposed to be going. I felt pretty good about the hill. Only felt like my heart was going to explode towards the very end. I think the trick will be not to look ahead. It looks much worse (especially with the increasing steepness over time) than it really was. Or at least, with 7 miles under my legs (who knows about 11) it was manageable. Somewhere along this hill we lost Lee and Ben. As we came to the final turn of the course, we once again headed into the tailgate area. This kind of busy-ness and density of people makes me want to throw elbows and sprint through. Marty seemed a little tanked at this point (in addition to being popular and people wanting him to stop and chat) and I had to hang back so as not to desert him. At this point (in the last mile and a half) our pace slowed down a bunch. Although I am trying hard to be a good joiner and team player and all that stuff, its hard for me to run slower than I know I could be running. Especially on Saturday, when this was my first 10+ mile run, I was looking forward to hitting that 10 mile mark and seeing the time I was at, so slowing down with half a mile to that point was frustrating (but I kept it in check). I did a little dance (more like a skip and a hoot) when Minny chirped mile 10 and then as our "finish line" came into site I briefly left Marty and ran it in at full speed to see what was left in my legs.

10.41 miles 1:34:15  9:03pace

We stood around for the next 15 minutes or so stretching, chatting, and waiting for the speedsters to get back from their 14 mile loop. I was feeling pretty good. No pain. Handheld worked excellently and my all-natural kiddie fruit chews made for excellent mid-run fuel (mile 5 I think I took them). After we all split up I headed to PETCO to buy toys and then to PAWS to visit with Tarzan again only to find out that since my mother's application was approved that they didn't ask the foster mom to bring him in. I visited with some of the other cats for about an hour before heading home. Didn't feel nearly as wrecked throughout the rest of the day as I have with past long runs.

Sunday I woke up from a weird dream (involving racing, and riddles, and competition with siblings, and losing one's footing) and felt down in the dumps that I wouldn't get to go on a nice Sunday long run, as I have had the pleasure of looking forward to for the past 6 weeks or so. Had trouble shaking that crappy feeling all day, even after heading to the gym for some elliptical and foam rolling (my usual Saturday workout).

Yesterday I woke up and decided that even if Monday is not a running day (I've been sticking to T, Th, Sun), that I could run on this Monday because of the Saturday long run. I planned to do a little out and back on Blue Course, with the turn around at the top of a hill around 2.5 miles in. Around 2 miles into the run I started debating with myself about changing the route to a shortened version of the long run I did a little over a week before. Having looked at that route a number of ways I had the sense that I could make it around 8 miles. So instead of turning around when I crested the hill, I followed down the back side and jumped on the bike path. This run, which had been glorious in the reverse direction was quite tough in this direction. From mile 3 on it was uphill pretty continuously for 3 miles. Having taken the long run nice and easy in terms of pace, I wanted to push this run a little more. I decided that the first four miles around 8:00 and then next four under 8:30 would be very good, given the terrain. The first four were pretty easy actually and Minny chirped at 31:xx. Having pushed mile 4 to keep the pace, the next 2 miles of hills were tough and my breathing was effortful. Those miles were 8:26 and 8:15 or so. I then got a little bit of a reprieve on College before turning back on Blue Course and home. Last 2 miles were around 8:20. I wanted to pick up the pace a little but it seems like after my turnover slows its hard to speed back up, especially when there are hills in the mix. The whole run was very windy, but the sun was nice and warm on the skin.
Overall: 8.13miles    1:06:20  8:09 pace 

As soon as I got home I started to have some foot issues, deep pain in the inner ankles. It lasted most of the day but is feeling alright right now. I haven't quite been able to nail down what it is about the run after the long run that leads to this pain. My new hypothesis is that I wear these cheap faux running socks on my early week run, and the tight "support" band around the arch might be doing something funky. I don't know. Today, NVRC is doing hills. I'm going to try to join although I'm not sure how back to back runs will go.

forerunner rocks!

a perfect day for a run. it was near 50 when i left the house for the schedule 9 miler this morning. i was determined to maintain a more reasonable pace than i normally do on sunday because this was going to be my first run that was intended to go considerably over an hour and i know that somewhere around 50 minutes that 8 minute pace is not sustainable (yet). so my plan was to run the first 5 miles at a sub 8:30 pace and then the last 4 miles at a sub 9 minute pace. seemed doable despite the rolling hills and large climb from 5.3 to 6.1 miles. and indeed it went just as planned. first 5 miles run at a comfortable pace, allowing myself to increase my turnover on the downhill and glide into the next hill or the flat, but mostly holding back a little so that my breathing was accelerated but not labored. splits: 8:24, 8:17, 8:18, 8:03 (whoops), 8:08. i even looked around, enjoyed the scenery, beautiful bike path, smiled and waved to passers-by, and generally enjoyed myself. went through a short tunnel (made of cement) and garmin immediately lost signal but relocated me as soon as i emerged. changed gears as i hit the hill at 5.3 miles and shortened my stride a little in order to keep my turnover about the same. felt pretty good actually. ate some sport beans (mmmm, watermelon) after i crested the hill at 6 miles. had meant to take them at 5 mile mark but didn't think that hill climbing (heavy breathing) and chewing would be a good combo. mile 6: 8:49. miles 7-9 were on well known and practiced roads (college, corl, westerly, blue course) so i just enjoyed myself and monitored my energy/fatigue and maintained my moderate pace. 8:22, 8:41, 8:29. did away with my normal sprint to the finish (the short hill at mile 8.5 was enough of a test of my will) and then arriving home i plugged in my garmin and downloaded my data. what an awesome toy/tool!!!

went to paws and visited with many wonderful kitties and cats. my mom is gonna have great options when she comes to pick the newest member of her (our) family. didn't manage to eat anything substantial (just a protein shake when i got home) until around 4pm. that was a bad idea. feeling headachy now. fatigue and tightness setting in a little bit as well. time for a little vegging in front of the tv. am feeling hopeful about the half on december 6. add a mile a week and maintain a similar pace and i should be race ready.


9.2 miles 1:17:13 8:23/mile