Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Crystal meth is not the answer!

Sheesh, what was the question? Certainly not one posed by me. This was another observed statement from my morning urban run. I went out this morning around 9, later than I would have liked, but whatever. It felt like it was about to pour, so I stayed close to home and ran circles around the park nearby. I did less than 2 miles and came home. Pretty weak, but feel better for having gone out.

Did I mention it was hot? The humidity and I just don't get along. It's actually not that hot yet today, only in the high 70s + 80% humidity when I went out. I get really nauseated and even have a little chest pain on the humid days. I guess I need to get used to it - slowly. After all, the marathon will not be on a treadmill in the air-conditioned gym. Thankfully it is in November, but I have a lot of training to do this summer.

Last night Husband and I did some dancing. It was outside at Lincoln Center, with a live band and lots of eager dancers. We were a little out of practice compared to our peak when we were taking dance classes, but it was a fun refresher. The Charleston, Shag, and Lindy are definitely aerobic!

I am very pleased with my recent fitness-related purchases. I got a new pair of running shoes, to rotate with my existing pair for longer life. These may be THE marathon shoes. I love the Asics GT-200 in size 9A. Having the right shoes makes such a difference. Also got special bike shoes, which will go with new clipless pedals for my mountain bike. They are shiny and a little funny-looking, and make a satisfying clicking sound when I walk. I feel like a very sporty elf. Oh, and last but not least, a belt which has attachable water bottles and a compartment for keys, gels, $, whatever. I observed several of these on runners in my last 10K race and had to have one.

Can't wait to try out my new gear this weekend!

Monday, June 27, 2005

What the . . . ?

Why is there a big space before the text on my last post? Nothing in the html.

Maybe Husband can help me figure it out later.

This week's plan

Actually busy at work today, so not much time to write. But wanted to get in this week's plan. It helps.

But first, how did I do on last week's plan? Here it is:

Monday: Run 3 miles ==> Yes!
Tuesday: Swim class 60 minutes (last one) ==> No :(
Wednesday: Run 4 Miles ==> Yes! :)
Thursday: Rest ==> That was easy . . .
Friday: Run 4 miles or bike 1 hour ==> No again :(
Saturday: Rest ==> Whitewater rafting . . . can I count as cross training?
Sunday: Run 6-8 miles ==> Sort of. It was hot, so I did a Brick at the gym. Bike 18 miles + Run 3.25 miles

So, I think I'll give myself a B-/C+ for last week. This coming week, however, should have "A" potential. It's a (long) holiday weekend, Husband and I are heading to the beach, and we are planning to do a trial run of my triathlon on July 10th. So here is the plan:

Monday: Run 5 miles
Tuesday: Swing dancing event
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Swim class 60 minutes
Friday: Run 4 miles or bike 1 hour
Saturday: Practice triathlon: 500 yd swim, 8 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
Sunday: Run 6-8 miles

OK. More later.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Rest in peace, Rick James

That was spraypainted on the back of a truck I saw on my run this morning. I like urban running - there is always something interesting to look at.

This morning I went someplace new. I headed out, intending to run close to home, in circles around the park nearby. I think it is only a 1/4 mile around the park, so 3 miles would take 12 loops. This can get a little tedious. It was a little hot and muggy this morning, so instead I headed to the river park, where I thought I might catch a breeze, and pass a water fountain from time to time. There is a nice soccer field with a rubberized track around it near my preferred entrance to the park. On weekends, this is packed with kids and soccer matches, but today there were just a few walkers and joggers. It's right by the river and gets a nice breeze. There is a water fountain, bathrooms and a snapple machine. I'll definitely be back. So intead of running alongside the traffic on the FDR (it's actually pretty nice), I ran loops around the rubberized track. It took me 10 minutes to run there, I stayed for 20, and another 10 to get back. So I will count this a 4 miles, even if it wasn't quite.

I walked through the park on the way back. I like to check out the dog run. It was subdued today. Big, furry, hot St. Bernard's were lying in the shade under the picnic tables, while their masters sipped iced coffees above. Another dog stood on one of the tables, surveying his kingdom. No one else wanted to play King of the Mountain.

One last thing: I missed my swim workout last night. Don't really have a good reason, other than excessive comfort on the couch. I'm okay with this, and I know it won't be the last workout that I miss. The weekly plan still serves a purpose! The goal is to improve my ratio of completed to planned workouts. Hopefully to 100%, but I have to start somewhere.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Planning my work, working my plan

Went to the gym last night, straight from work. Resisted inner voice telling me to go home first, which is a recipe for missing the workout completely. Did my 3 miles on the treadmill, and tried to focus on staying in the center of the tread, which allows me to take longer strides. I think the reason I take such short strides is that when I started all this in the winter I would always have my headphones plugged into the tv/music system on the treadmills at my gym. Why it took so long to figure this out, I don't know, but last night I was comfortable going just a little faster than usual. Only problems - forgot my socks and water bottle. So not that comfortable.

Tonight I have swim class, which is always a good workout for me. I think I will kick it up a notch by jogging over there (it is ~a mile), and maybe doing some crunches or dumbbells beforehand. Definitely shoud do some arm and feet stretching before I go.

So, everyone knows there are a lot of good things about exercising. It's good for your heart, it relieves stress, it gives you a sense of accomplishment, burns fat and makes you look and feel good. But there are some negatives, some of which were surprising to me. I like to make lists, so here are a few I could think of:
  • bigger feet. I think the running has made my feet a half size bigger -- all my work shoes are tight, and I just can't stand to wear heels anymore.
  • dry hair and skin. chlorine, all those extra showers, and that crappy shower gel at the gym.
  • frustration at progress. yes, I've made progress. I've lost fat and inches and some of my pants hidden at the back of the closet are starting to fit again. But the damn scale just hasn't moved much, if at all. grrr.
  • laundry. all my sweaty gear makes a lot of extra laundry

Of course, these are pretty small complainits in the grand scheme of things. And hey, it gives me an excuse to buy new shoes and cute workout clothes. Just had to be said.

Monday, June 20, 2005

Weekend and this week's plan

Had a pretty good weekend. Saturday morning I did a nice little run. There is a lovely lake less than a mile from my parent’s house. It’s really one of my favorite places to run – no cars to contend with, not too crowded, and mostly shaded so I don’t get too hot. Not very long, though; it is definitely less than 2 miles, but maybe it is pretty close to that. I convinced Mom to come with me, and bring their dog, Hannah. She didn’t need much convincing. Hannah is a greyhound and should love running, right?

That dog was dragging ass by the end of the loop. Hannah is friendly and gets really excited about the other dogs. This old retriever wanted to run with us . . . the owner was trying to call him back, I tried to speed up, but Hannah just wasn’t having it. I wanted to go a second time around the lake, but had to rest the dog. Sorry Parents, but your greyhound is slow.

Time to get a little more serious about training. I have my first triathlon coming up in, gulp, 20 days. Although I am feeling a little more confident in the water as a result of my swim classes, I have done NO open water swimming at all, and won’t have a chance this weekend either. I’ll have to wait until NEXT weekend which is 4th of July.

Also time to start the marathon training. According to my proposed schedule, I should be doing a base of 20 miles per week, with 5 runs of 3, 4,4,3 and 6 miles each. I’m not doing that. I read somewhere that I can substitute up to 25% of my miles with the equivalent effort of cross-training, as long. Although I have been working out more than at any other time in my life, I’m not doing that, either. So here is my planned vs. actual for last week:

Planned
Monday: Bike 25 min
Tuesday: Swim class 60 minutes
Wednesday: Run 4 Miles
Thursday: Swim class 60 minutes
Friday: Run 4 miles
Saturday: Bike/run brick
Sunday: Bike or run

Actual
Monday: Bike 25 min
Tuesday: Swim class 60 minutes
Wednesday: Ran 2 miles + extra stretching
Thursday: Nada
Friday: Some dumbbells
Saturday: Ran 2 miles
Sunday: Walked 2 miles

Need to do better! Here is the plan for this week:

Monday: Run 3 miles
Tuesday: Swim class 60 minutes (last one)
Wednesday: Run 4 Miles
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Run 4 miles or bike 1 hour
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Run 6-8 miles

I’m traveling Thursday/Friday/Saturday, so I’ll be lucky to squeeze in a run on one of those days. Plus I'm going whitewater rafting on Saturday, so at least I'm doing something active. Swim class on Tuesdays & Thursdays starts up again on June 30th. What I really need to do is start getting up earlier, but I’ve tried it before and it just doesn’t work for me. Lunch or after work seems more doable.

Friday, June 17, 2005

Missed swim last night

So it seems like my blog is all about the workouts I miss rather the ones I actually complete. Last night I drove home and got stuck in a storm which caused lots of extra traffic. Anyway, didn't get home until 8, and swim class starts at 7:30. Told myself I might go for a quick run or maybe just do abs or weights. Husband called with thoughts of dinner. Twist my arm, no workout today. I like to think that carrying my gym clothes around everywhere I go is kind of a mini-workout in and of itself. Probably doesn't really work that way.

Abosolutely must run this weekend. Going to visit the parents. Luckily there is a trail near their house I like. I last tried it in February, so it should be much nicer now. Running on frozen chunks of ice was a little scary! Well, I may bring the dog and see how "long" I can go.

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Random Thoughts

So, I was going to post a picture, but I can't figure out how to do it, even after downloading the blogspot/hello software. Oh well, another day.

I am kind of addicted to reading other people's training blogs; that's why I started my own. I think one of the reasons people do it is so they can talk about this stuff without annoying the heck out of their significant other. Husband (can't think of a more creative alias) is actually very knowledgable about this stuff and incredibly supportive, but gets a little sick of it after a while. I just could not shut up about the marathon yesterday.

He teases that he will start his own blog about my training called the REAL trifit, with entries like, "Skipped workout, ate cookies and fell asleep on couch, covered in cats." OK, so that has been known to happen from time to time.

OK, so back to constructive training thoughts. 2 things:
  • I didn't run the four miles I planned to yesterday. I got a weird cramp in my foot like I do sometimes when swimming, so I walked it off and did some extra stretching. In general, I think I need to do a LOT more stretching, as sometimes I feel like my feet and calves are turning into concrete blocks. Maybe I'll find a yoga class I like and do that once a week. (in addition to stretching before and after workouts, of course).
  • I think (and Husband agrees) that the reason I run so slowly is that I take short strides. This is a result of mostly running on the treadmill, so I read. So I will focus on longer strides on my next run.

Swim class tonight. Only 2 more, then a break before next session starts.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

NYC Marathon November 6!

It was a lottery to get in, and results were posted today. I got in!

So part of the reason I started this blog was to help me keep track of my training and progress. The added pressure of having this info out there in public on the Internet will hopefully keep me honest and maybe push me to work a little harder.

I signed up for the lottery in January, and I have been doing shorter races (5, 10 and 15K) with New York Road Runners. Before this year though, I had never run more than 2 miles and I have never been very sporty (though I like to believe I looked pretty fit back in my skinnier 20somethings)

When I found out that I won the lottery, I went out at lunch and bought a healthy lunch (my favorite spicy tunacado roll and an apple), some glucosamine chondroitin (for all the knee suffering I expect this summer), some vitamin water (don't like gatorade) and a Fitness magazine (just for ha-has). I am such a dork, but somehow it made me feel like a marathoner.

It's actually a problem I have that I seem to enjoy reading about training for marathons and triathlons more than actually running, swimming or biking. I have spent a lot of time crusing around all the sporty websites lately. Here are some observations from my research:

  • Fit people get up early in the morning. I have tried to get up early and work out before work. It just isn't going to happen. My workouts during the week are after work or at lunch, and on the weekends. I may need to start getting up early - all those miles are time-consuming. Speaking of which . . . .
  • I am slow. People who run 9 minute miles say things like, "Oh, I'm at the back of the pack." Well, my goal is to run 10 minute miles somewhat consistently. That practically feels like speed work to me.
  • That being said, the other thing I have learned is just about any idiot can run a marathon or do a triathlon, whatever you want to do. As I'm sure any runner has observed, people of all shapes and sizes run in these things (and then they pass me).

Info about the marathon is available here. Only 144 days to go!

Oh, did I mention that I also signed up for 2 triathlons this summer? They are smallish, but I'll have more to say about them after I get over the marathon lottery results. These are:

  • July 10 - Mighty North Fork Triathlon (500 yard swim, 8 mile bike and 3.1 mile run)
  • September 18 - Mighty Hamptons Triathlon (Olympic Swim 1.5K (.93mile), Bike 38K (23.0 miles), and Run 10K (6.2 miles)

Gee, July 10th is going to be here soon. Goals for these are mainly to finish and avoid drowning on the open water swims. I've been taking a swim class and getting a lot better. But, it still WAY harder than running for me.

OK, better get back to the real world. Training schedule for this week:

  • Monday: Bike 25 min
  • Tuesday: Swim class 60 minutes
  • Wednesday: Run 4 miles
  • Thursday: Swim class 60 minutes
  • Friday: Run 4 miles
  • Saturday: BRick bike and run. (At my parent's house, we'll see how much I can do)
  • Sunday: Bike? Run?