19 mph!

Before I start my workout report from this morning I want to mention the phone call I got recently.  Kevin Lucas from USATF Niagara association asked me to blog on their website.  They have a handful of athletes blogging there so go check it out!!

USATF-Niagara Blogs

January weather in Central New York is typically temperature in the teens, wind chills below zero and lake effect snow showers daily.  Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window this morning and saw green on the ground.  All of the snow had melted and when I checked the thermometer it said 55 degrees!  I couldn’t believe it.  The “wind chill” was 61 degrees (I guess you might call that a wind warm!!).  It was not perfect riding weather, however, because it was raining…at times pretty heavily.  But I figured how often is it mid 50′s in January…I am riding OUTSIDE!

My bike had been set up on the trainer so I went down, swapped out the tires, strapped on the bento box with some Vanilla Bean Gu and filled my water bottle with gatorade and I was ready to go.  Karen wanted me to do a 105 minute ride and the Deruyter loop is just over 36 miles (36.3mi to be exact) so I figured that would be perfect.  This is a loop that heads out to Deruyter Lake, circles the lake and heads back to my house.  There is 1 major steep uphill and then another downhill later on.  Otherwise the course is rolling hills.  Earlier when I got up the winds were 15-30mph and gusting up to 50mph but they had subsided a lot by the time I was ready to head out.  I really had no expectations for the ride except to enjoy being out.  OK – I had one goal…last year, my first ride outside, Scott took me on the same loop.  We averaged 16 mph (he must have been so frustrated at having to ride so slow with me!!) and I just wanted to be a little faster than that.

I felt really good heading out so I assumed the wind must be at my back.  When I turned the corner I was getting blown around pretty good so stayed out of the aero position for a bit.  Once I got about 15 minutes in, the winds were basically gone which was nice but then the rain started to really come down.  So for most of the ride it was a torrential downpour!  I remember how last year at this time I would have been so freaked riding in the rain but now it’s just another workout.  The steep downhill was a little scary because I couldn’t see, plus my rear brake was not working too well and my front derailleur would not shift correctly (I should probably mention here that you should check your equipment each time before you head out…oops) so I took it easy on that.  I felt like I was working hard but not really going too fast so I was super surprised and pleased to see my avg speed 19mph for the ride.  Much faster than my virgin ride last year!

If I improve as much from this good base as I did last year, I will be smoking the hills of Lubbock in June.  That’s my plan!

Failed Run

Some days just don’t go the way you want them to.  You may have the best of intentions to have an awesome workout and then your body fails you.  I only had this happen to me once last year.  I was supposed to do a 5 hour bike ride followed by a 1 hour run.  I was riding with Scott in Virginia and twenty miles into the ride with Scott way ahead of me, I steered the bike to the side of the road and got off.  I just slumped down, dejected, exhausted and disappointed.  My body was just completely worn out.

Well, it happened again yesterday.  Karen had me do a speed workout on the treadmill.  I was supposed to warm-up and cool down 10 minutes and  run 5 minutes at 8.6, 5 minutes at 8.9 and 10 minutes at 9.4…then repeat that set.  I got through the first set, hopped off the treadmill for a pit stop and when I returned my legs were jelly.  My heartrate was up at 173 and I felt like I had just run a 5K race at top speed!  I set the treadmill at 8.6 and started in on the next set and just could not do it.  All I felt was exhaustion.  I really wasn’t sure what to do. My mind and body were battling it out.  It really was a conflict for me…wanting desperately to finish the workout as it was written but physically not able to.  Lots of options popped into my mind – stop and try again later or another day, slow down for a bit and then repeat the set,  just finish out the 60 minutes at a slower pace or just stop and forget about it.  I picked finishing out the 60 minutes.  I managed to trudge through at 7:15 pace but it was painful.

Later on in the day, Karen and I discussed why this happened and my big worry, how it would affect my fitness.  My first suggestion was that the workout was too hard for me.  Karen scoffed at this pointing out my 6:40 pace marathon I just completed in November.  I told her I was worried about the 6:30 paced 30 minute tempo run she had me scheduled to run  in 2 days.  She then reminded me of the 15K boilermaker I ran on hills at 6:15 pace.  OK…so maybe I was capable of this workout.  So why couldn’t I complete it?  I revealed a little bit more of my morning telling Karen about the 30 min bike I did before the run.  Karen’s first question was what did I eat before the bike.  Then, how much did I drink during the ride.   Nothing and none were my 2 answers.  Apparently, that could be my problem.  She strongly encouraged me to try eating a gel or banana on the bike and drinking Gatorade every 15-30 minutes.  She also said that one failed workout would not impact the outcome at Buffalo Springs at all.

So what I learned from this experience is that it is OK if a workout does not go as planned.  There are so many things  that can affect how you feel from day to day, workout to workout – how much you ate, how hydrated you are, how much sleep you got, how much stress is going on in your life, etc.  As long as you are consistent with your training in general, the improvements will come.  I also was reminded about how many calories you really burn on the bike and the importance of not only your nutrition in the long races but practicing that nutrition during the workouts.

Ann Arbor Trip

This past weekend, I took the girls and Scott out to Ann Arbor to visit my sister, Amy, and brother-in-law and their three kids.  Before we left, I did a 90 minute run at 6:55 pace – hr averaged 150.  I finished the run very strongly then grabbed a quick shower, chocolate milk and then hopped in the car for the ride.  Saturday was a nice, relaxing day off from exercise so we took all 5 kids to the local Y for a swim.  I was glad to have the day off but my body ached to get  in the pool when I saw the swimmers doing their laps!

Going to my sister’s is always an adventure in eating because she is an amazing cook.  It is like eating out for every meal.  This trip was no different.  Homemade cinnamon rolls with icing for breakfast, homemade veggie chili with cornbread for lunch, homemade quesadillas with roasted red peppers, corn, chicken, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, etc, etc! This was all followed by homemade “cookies and cream” ice cream for dessert.  And of course we enjoyed some nice vino while we were there, too.  Actually, Scott whipped up some mojitos with my sister’s recipe and I tried one for the first time.  Yummy!  The only thing we did not get to do was go out salsa dancing.  My sister takes lessons and was really excited to take us.  Unfortunately the timing just didn’t work out this trip.

When Sunday’s long run rolled around I was ready to burn some calories!  Scott and I headed out around noon after a morning of sledding with the kids.  Karen’s workout was this: 7:15 pace for 100 minutes followed by 6-8 100m strides.  There is a beautiful road that follows a river right near their house and the miles are marked so we would be able to monitor our pace.  We couldn’t find the mile markers until about 3 miles in. Once Scott noticed them, he started timing our miles.  Needless to say we were not running 7:15 pace.  The first mile he checked we were at 6:56 and they pretty much stayed right there the rest of the run.  My hr averaged about 150 for the run and hit a max of 167 when we climbed the big hill back to her house.  I felt really strong and was excited to be pulling away from Scott at the end.  He was tired out and I kept saying “this is the end of the 1/2 marathon run at Buffalo Springs…first in your age group is right in front of you…go get him”!  We finished together but were both exhausted!  (Needless to say, we skipped the striders.  I’ll fit them into a workout later on in the week ).  Good thing we were headed to see Planet 51 at the dollar theater so we could relax a bit.  Scott actually fell asleep during the movie!  I admire someone that can relax themselves that much in any given situation.

Monday mornings at 5:45am, my sister attends a Masters swim program at Mack pool right down the road from her house.  Since Karen had me swimming that day, Scott and I decided to join her.  Getting out of bed at 5am was miserable but once I got to the pool I felt great.  Amy introduced me to Don, the swim coach.  He placed Scott and me  in the lane with the 2nd fastest swimmers (5 of them) and we were off.  I am not used to swimming with so many people around me but I decided it would be good practice for the tri starts!  200 swim, kick, pull.  This was followed by the main set 4×100, 200 pull repeat x3.  We then did 10×50 followed by 5 push ups on deck after each rep.  This was so fun beacuse we got to dive in!  I have never done that…so cool.  And my goggles didn’t even come off (that was my big worry!).  10×50 kick and 1×300 pull finished off the workout.

Don, by the way, was awesome.  I would move to Michigan just to have him coach me!  First of all, his 50 freestyle record was something like 20.5 seconds.  So, he pulled me out during the main set to discuss my reach.  He talked about pulling with my core rather than my arms.  Being sure to pull all the way down to my thigh.  He said I muscle my way through the water.  Swimming is the only sport that should feel easy when done right, he said.  He also helped me with arm position in the water.  These tips along with what George has told me so far will hopefully get me out of the water in under 30 minutes at Buffalo Springs!  He was very sweet and told me that I was very coachable.  I hope we get to swim with him again the next time we visit.  If you are ever in Ann Arbor, check out this Masters swim.  They meet every M-F at Mack Pool 5:45am.  It is a $5 daily fee to workout with the group – totally worth it!

Later that day, we headed back to Syracuse.  This was the first time Scott met Amy and her family and I am excited to report that everyone really hit it off.  Even my 8 yo nephew, Ian, told me that he liked Scott.   We are looking forward to a return visit soon – and maybe some salsa dancing next time!

My Heart Rate Monitor

My Polar brand RS 100 heart rate monitor came in the mail yesterday.  I have mixed feelings about this.   Remember Rocky??  In the action flick Rocky IV, Rocky fights the Russian boxer.  You get to see the dichotomy of their training for the upcoming match.  The Russian is training on a treadmill with all sorts of monitors hooked up to his body…checking every possible parameter to make sure he is getting the most out of his workouts.  He’s punching a monitor to check his power output…watching himself improve.  Not Rocky, however.  Rocky is outside running in the knee-deep snow, punching bags hanging in a barn, hauling sleds weighed down with logs.  I have always felt like Rocky…an athlete with a pair of sneakers and a watch.  So the idea of hooking myself up to a monitor is a bit foreign. Karen wanted me to get one last year and I kept putting it off because I never really thought that hrm’s were necessary for training.  Karen’s advice did not fail me once last year, though so I decided to humor her and go ahead and get one.

So, now it is here and I got to do my first workouts with it this morning.  First, I got on the bike and rode for a 10 minute warm-up then 20sec hard followed by 10 seconds rest for 10 reps. Then a nice 15 minute ride to cool down.  I strapped myself in and was good to go.  The heart was beating on the monitor like it was supposed to and it read 50bpm.  FYI-so far I have read the manual and know the basic functions of the monitor.  I most definitely could not give a lecture on how to use this piece of equipment but I now know the basics.  Anyway, I  just checked the watch every few minutes to see how I was doing.  Since it was my first time using it the numbers didn’t mean too much. (Later, when I was on my lunch break-this was my 8am-7pm day at the pharmacy-I recorded the information that was saved from the workout).   My heart rate averaged 122 on the warm-up, 142 on the intervals and 135 on the cd.

The watch is pretty cool – it will give you the time you spent in an interval, your average heart rate, your heart rate at the end of the interval, your percentage of max heart rate, calories burned, time inside of min and max heart rate.  It beeps at you every time you are not working within “your zone”.  It will also keep track of your total workouts for a given time period.  The only downside so far is that it only stores one workout and then that gets erased the next time you start timing something.  I guess I just have to make sure I write down the information before the next day’s workout.  I am sure it does a lot more and I may even figure it out one day .

Next I switched shoes and jumped on the treadmill.  The workout was to be 10 minute warm-up then 1 mile at 7:15, 1 mile 7:00, 1.5mi at 6:45 then 1.5mi at 6:30 then 15min cd.  Again,  I was a little nervous that I wouldn’t be able to handle the 1.5mile at 6:30.  But, although it was difficult, I was able to do it!  This time my heart rate changed a lot.  I averaged 135 for the wo, then 140, 145, 153, 163 (my hr max for the workout was during this interval at 169) and then 152 for the cd.  I spoke with Karen later in the day and she said the heart rates were right where she expected them to be but that it was too high on the cool down.  Oops, slower cool down next time!

Tomorrow is a 115minute ride on the trainer and then a 3400 yard swim in the pool followed by a tiring swim session with Maggie…wonder where my heartrate will be highest!!

Week 1

OK…so I guess I conveniently put out of my mind how hard Karen’s workouts really are!  This week was definitely a shock to the system.  I thought I was doing well, staying in shape after Chesapeakeman…throwing in a 26.2miler down in Philly, keeping up with running, biking, swimming and lifting.  Until now.  Yesterday I had a 50 minute bike and an 80 minute run scheduled.  Frist of all, I had 3 short hours to fit this in while Maggie was at preschool.  I dropped her off, got gas (because I ALWAYS leave that until the car is riding on fumes) and headed to the Y.  I could have done the workout at home but thought  the Y would be a little more interesting than hanging out in my basement alone.  At  least I could people watch…one of Scott’s favorite pasttimes that I find has been rubbing off on me.

I get to the Y drop off my stuff in  the locker room, race upstairs – to find every single treadmill and bike being used.  I was frozen in place for a moment not knowing what to do.  Even if a piece of equipment freed up, I’d have to limit it to 30mins because of the crowds.  Being as incredibly OCD as I am, cutting a workout down to 30 minutes was not even a consideration.  SO…I raced back down to the locker room, grabbed my stuff and raced back home.

I immediately hopped on the bike and the workout was underway.  This is how it went.  10 minute ez warm up then 30 minutes hard effort, high cadence, light gear.  I do not have the computer hooked up on my bike nor has my precious heart rate monitor arrived so I was unable to gather  the data Karen was hoping for (average cadence, distance travelled and heart rate).  I figured I would just go hard and fast.  Scott had loaded up the MP3 player he gave me with some crazy music and I found one album to be particularly perfect for the workout.  I even posted it as my facebook status!!  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes rocks for high cadence workouts.  “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard” is king!  I made it through the workout and then proceeded with a 10 minute cool down.  My legs and butt were sore from yesterday’s lifting session but I felt good.

I hit the treadmill next.  I was a little worried that the workout Karen had planned was going to be too tough for me.   The  80 minute run consisted of 15 minutes at  8.3mph then 50 minutes (omg, could time drag any more on this??) at 8.6 (although being OCD…again…I raised it to 8.7 for the last 15 miutes just in case my Landice treadmill isn’t completely accurate) then 15 minute cool down at 8.3 (which I raised to 8.4 for the last 5 mins).  If the lady at the Y thought I  sweat a lot the other day she should have seen me today!  The 7 minute pace running felt easy and was only marred by the pain in my right foot.  It seemed like some tendonitis.  I will have to keep an eye on that – ice and ibuprofen for the next few days.  Of course, I am not good about backing off the workouts so hopefully it will remain minor.

At least today I was in the pool and on the bike.  Some swim drills and then some easy 200′s and 500′s were a struggle.  I was super tired and not looking forward to another hour plus on the bike.  The workout Karen gave me was moderate effort (meaning??), low cadence, heavy gear for 50 minutes with a 10 minute wu/cd.   My heart rate was at about 125-135 the whole time but since I have never trained with a heart rate monitor I don’t know what that really means.  I do know it means that I could eat a lot at the party I went to in the evening!

Tomorrow is a 90 minute run and I am debating indoor or out. It is supposed to get down to about 6 overnight and I am sure there will be a fresh dusting of snow on the ground because this is Syracuse and there is constant snow on the ground (I really need to take up XC skiing ro snowshoeing!).  And of course that doesn’t even include the wind chill (ugh).   Karen wants me to do this run at 7:15 pace followed by some striders.  I get nervous about injuring myself if the ground is too slippery but I don’t think I can take another treadmill run – especially for 90 minutes!!  I have to work so I will be out at 5am.  Phoebe will be excited – for Christmas she got me a headlamp to wear out in the dark when I bike and run and when she asked the other day if I had used it yet was bummed (I believe her exact words were “oh, snap” – where do these kids get this stuff??) when I said no.

Now, since the girls are with their dad this weekend, I am off to go play the Wii…finally a chance to get a turn!!

The Road to Buffalo Springs

I am now into the 3rd day of the training on the “Road to Buffalo Springs”.  The email from Karen came while I was celebrating the New Year in Virginia.  Scott laughed at me because I was like a little kid on Christmas morning when the e-mail came.  I was super excited to see what forms of torture Karen had devised for me for this first month of 2010′s program!  Unfortunately, the microsoft excel file would not open on Scott’s computer.  I was beyond bummed.

Finally, after returning home on Sunday night (at 12:30am in a snowstorm…with the driveway covered with waist deep snow…and after I snow-blowed the driveway at 1am so I could get the car off the road) and a frantic call to Karen Monday morning becuase the file wouldn’t open on my computer either, I got the file to open and was able to view the workouts.  I was a little overwhelmed at first, stressing about how I was going to fit these workouts in.  3 swim workouts, 2 lifting sessions, 4 bike and 4 run workouts plus 1 rest day to fit into 7 days along with a 32 hour work week and being a single mom…WOW…no wonder I was stressed!  After some figuring, I felt a little better.  I managed to somehow schedule all of the workouts in.   Sunday I will know if I was able to do them.

Monday I decided to do my workout at the Y.  I had to ride 105 minutes on the bike.  By the time I finished I looked like I had just stepped out of the shower (but definitely didn’t smell that way!).  A woman came up to me and said she just told her husband that she’d never seen anyone sweat as much as him until she saw me!  I was so proud .  I was seriously wiped out after that ride.  I made sure to drink my chocolate milk after – Karen’s recommendation for a cheap post-workout protein replacement drink.  Tomorrow…my new favorite of the 3 disciplines…the pool.

Today I spoke with the race director for Buffalo Springs.  He did not do much to assuage my fear of the difficulty of the course.  He admitted the course was beautiful but definitely tough…lots of short, steep hills on the bike and a few also on the run.  He said to be ready for hot, dry heat and reminded me that Lubbock is at about an elevation of 3200ft.  He also said that the race attracts top competitors and always has stiff competition.  Kona is going to be a lofty goal but I am still going for it – I am confident Karen will find a way to prepare me for these conditions!