Saturday, December 28, 2013

Saturday at the gym

I wonder how busy the gym is at lunchtime on Saturday. Hopefully not busy. I hate when it's crowded. I'm about to change and go over there. Oh I also have to pick which exercises I'm going to do today. I'm combining 2 days, but there's no way I could do all of both days' exercises--especially as my shoulders are sore from swinging a 16kg kb yesterday-- and still run. I'm liking the running again. I did a Polar fit test last night; my VO2max is still 33.

... ... ... ... ... ...

Well, it wasn't crowded at the gym, not too many people. I did about half of each of the two days' of exercises and ~30 min on the treadmill. It would have been nice to go outside, but I'm using the treadmill to maintain a steady pace. Today was harder being the day after a leg workout; I ranged 3.7-4.2 mph in my pace depending on my HR and music. (Pandora Muse station) Overall a good workout.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Merry Christmas

Clearly I have not been feeling the blogging bug. I've hardly even been reading any blogs. If I don't follow the writer on Facebook, and therefore see there that there's a new post, I don't see the new stuff. I have still been working on the LiveFit program. Weeks 4, 5, & 6 I only worked out a couple of times each week and could tell I was falling behind. I asked my sister if she thought I should continue and basically jump back in or start over again. She suggested going back to my last full week and restarting there. So I went back and repeated week 3. This week is week 5 again, and it has been going better this time (except today--haha). This week (5) brings cardio back in to the workouts; I ran on the treadmill Monday and Tuesday and was able to keep a pretty steady 15 min/mi pace both jogging and walking. In fact, these treadmills have walk, jog, and run presets: 2mph, 4mph, 6mph. Ha ha.  I've also noticed that my clothes are feeling looser in the waist. :-)

So it's Christmas evening (not to be confused with Christmas Eve) and today feels like it's been 2 days. There was the present opening time, go back to bed time, watch son lose his RC helicopter and then go look for it time, wash dishes and cook dinner time, and now it's chillin' time. Pretty soon I need to call some family members.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

OK, so

So long time, no write.  Despite the last couple of weeks feeling particularly slow, this month has gone by quickly. Next thing you know, it will be 2014. I'm still getting used to writing 2013!

Thanks to Z's company, I did weeks 1-3 of LiveFit. Then in week 4, she was gone all week. I went to the gym on Tuesday & did legs and threw in a set of KB snatches: 20 per hand. It was an 18lb KB (all the KBs on the rack were marked "KG" but the 14 and the 18 were actually pounds, not kg) and felt light, so I was snatching rather quickly. Good thing I remembered to start with my left (weaker) hand, or I wouldn't have finished with 40. I barely reached it as it was.

I went to the gym again on Thursday, but it was a group workout, and we did circuit training. I think I needed most of the week off, though. It was restful (in that regard); I'm still not going to bed early enough. I skimmed a Runner's World article about training hard for 2-3 weeks and then backing off for a week. I need to read it again more carefully.

Monday Z was back at work, so we went to the gym (week 5). We add cardio back in starting this week. I did a mile on the treadmill, and if felt good. Z used this funky stairmaster that had actual stairs, like a mini escalator. She thought she was starting out on level 1, turned out to be level 11!  Tuesday and Wednesday were busy, so I didn't make it. Today, well, it's Thanksgiving! I thought about going for a jog this morning, but temps were below freezing. Maybe I should have gone anyway, b/c I only got out of the house once today--at sunset--to take out the trash. I finally tried strawberry rhubarb pie today; it was pretty good. I'm not much of a pie person; I don't usually like the crust--it's too much. But, with the exception of the ice cream that we didn't open, pie was our only dessert this Thanksgiving. (!)

I also need to do better eating-wise. I know that menu planning helps a lot, but I get bogged down too easily in the details, and it starts taking a long time. Well, my Team Beachbody subscription just renewed. I had gotten it for the food planning, but it wasn't working for me past the first couple of weeks. However, since I just spent more money on it, I guess it's worth giving it another shot, especially since I can't find the "cancel my subscription" link.

Thursday, October 31, 2013

New and unaccustomed soreness!

Today I finished the first week of a new training program. It's the Jamie Eason 12 week Live Fit program, which can be found at Bodybuilding.com. I never thought I'd be doing a training program from a bodybuilding website! My sister shared it with me. She asked if I had daily access to a gym; I said, "yeeeess," hesitant about what I was getting myself into and thinking about the bare bones workout space we have at work (a treadmill, rowing machine, stationary bike, dumbbell set, and some workout bands and mats). When I saw the plan I realized I wouldn't be able to properly complete it at work, so I asked a coworker if she'd go to the gym with me. To my relief she said she would. We started on Day 2; I did Day 1 at home, only having to substitute 1 exercise.

Day 1 was triceps and chest; Day 2 was biceps and back. My hands were not prepared for holding and manipulating all that weight! Not only were my triceps sore (too sore to do proper preacher curls the next day!) but my forearms were sore from my elbows into my hands! By Tuesday night my arms hurt so bad! I slept extra warm, hoping they'd feel better in the morning. The last time I can remember (specifically) being that sore was Spring Break my freshman year of college: I'd gone home with my roommate, and one day we went canoeing on a river. Since I sat in the front of the canoe, I couldn't tell when I was the only one paddling upstream. My muscles went through the soreness process twice as fast as usual--I could hardly move my arms that night, slept warm, and was good to go the next morning. Well, it didn't quite work out that way this time. I did finally start feeling better after I took a very warm shower and put on a tight-sleeved long sleeved shirt. Ah! Compression! Wednesday (Day 3) was legs, and, having learned my lesson, I went easier with the reps and weights. Today, Day 4, was lats and abs; 5lb was the lightest dumbbell weight available--fine for shoulder presses and front raises (still fatiguing by the end of the sets), but more challenging than I expected for the other exercises.

I need to work on nutrition (fruits and vegetables! no Cokes!) and getting enough sleep. For example, I should be asleep already, so,

good night.

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Heart Rate Training

I recently used PolarPersonalTrainer to create an 'improve my fitness' training plan to start heart rate training. I've set up the three basic workouts--hilly run, intervals, long run--in my HRM watch. I'm still learning the tricks of getting it to work right. Apparently I have to pick a time or a distance for each zone or else it record everything as just the first zone. I wish I'd picked one that downloads workouts to the watch. At least I did (accidently) figure out how to easily merge my uploaded workouts with my planned workouts. Click, drag, and drop on top. I'm on week 2 of 4; there are 3 workouts/week, and I've done 4 workouts. I've written off the first long run as a loss, and I still need to do this week's. I was supposed to do it this afternoon (Friday the 27th), but I got into a rut at work and really didn't feel like going out. My bike ride home was surprisingly chilly and windy (out of the north). It might snow this weekend? Guess I've gotta suck it up and go out in the morning.  I almost said "...run in the morning" but keeping my heart rate in the target zones means lots of walking, little running. I know it will work though if I just have patience. So I guess I'd better shut up and go to bed.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Hiking, Running, and Swimming in Italia and Turkiye

 
Top: View of Italian mountains from hotel balcony. We hiked one a bit farther north...after we walked to it. Then once we got back down to the bottom, we ran back towards the hotel.
Bottom: The beach at the Mediterranean as seen from the street.
 


Turkey: "Heaven" A church deep in a ravine, at the mouth of a cave, where early Christians hid and worshipped. Going down wasn't too bad, but the hike back up? !!! I counted well over 200 steps up, of varying heights. I thought I had some pictures that gave a better idea of the height, but I can't find them.

I only know that it's deeper than I am tall. Beautiful!

It really is easier to float in salt water. But it's not easier to swim when there are big swells. Obviously there weren't any in this bay, but the water was rather chilly in this spot.
 
It was easier to run at sea level. It also felt a lot hotter thanks to all the humidity! Nevertheless I did a couple of afternoon runs in Turkey of 1.5 - 2mi. Not to be confused with having the runs, which I also dealt with in Turkey. :-|

Live.Love.Tri. Report


"Live well. Love more. Tri hard."

It's high time for my race report.

The week leading up to the race was busy and somewhat stressful. Friday night I stayed up way too late getting ready for the race. DH was going to go with me this time, but he stayed up even later (nervous about waking up in time) and ended up being way too tired to go. When my alarm went off, I really didn't want to get up. I reminded myself that I'd paid to do this, so I had to do it to not waste the money. So I went by myself. I don't like being up before the sun; it just seems wrong to wake up -- and be out and about -- when it's still dark.

I got to the race site, got my bike off the rack and my bag out of the car and realized that I didn't have my helmet. I'd taken it off my bike the night before, so it wouldn't get in the way when my husband put my bike of the rack on the car. Instead of putting my helmet straight into the car, I put it into the house thinking something like 'Of course I'll remember it in the morning.'  I nearly cried when I realized I'd left my helmet at home, nearly bawled like a baby. There wasn't time to go back home and get it.

I decided to go on up to the start and see if someone had a helmet I could borrow. Failing that I'd volunteer to help. May as well stay and do something. On the way to start, I passed a sign that said "Remember, you paid money to do this!" I almost cried again.

FORTUNATLEY, someone had a helmet I was able to borrow! Yay! I was so happy! I took my stuff to transition and set up. Later I saw my old boss -- his wife was doing the tri too. I mentioned about my helmet, and he said he had an extra. But by then I didn't need one. (Yay.)

 

 I had been forewarned that the course would be hilly, but as race day drew closer and I slacked on training, I started to be in denial about it. Just how hilly could it be? Albuquerque's so flat; well it's on a slant, but still. HA! Not only was the course hilly, but a good chunk of the run was in soft dirt! Too bad I couldn't take my phone w/me--not that I think I'd have stopped and taken a picture. I mostly walked up the hills and ran down. On the last leg of the run I met up with my old boss again who cheered me on then passed me pushing his kids in a jog stroller.  :-P  It was uphill again into transition then a lovely downhill ride into the street...

... only to have to drop gears for a big hill. O_O   I saw a couple of women walking their bikes up it. I thought about it but decided to tough it out, and I dropped me gears to 1-1 and slowly pedaled up that hill. And that wasn't the only hill I had to climb in that gear ratio!  Fortunately the "back" part of the out-and-back route was more downhill.  There was one part where I turned a corner and saw a big hill ahead of me. I wanted to cry; then I realized I didn't have to climb it--the route turned. Yay! (again)  As I approached transition again, I was behind a woman who was going rather slowly, even though it was downhill. I would have passed her, but there was traffic passing us, plus cars parked on the side of the road, so I wasn't comfortable with the space, plus I wasn't sure where the turn in was and didn't want to overshoot it, so I stayed behind her. 

I parked my bike back on the rack, pulled off my shirt and shorts and ran to the pool. As I dropped into the water (the deep end! caught me off guard) I realized I'd left my goggles in transition. Duh. The lanes were 25 meters long. I was used to swimming 25 yard lengths. It was hard; I did a lot of backstroke. I finished the race in 1:58:30.3. Just under 2 hours. They did have finisher's medals! I wasn't sure if they would, it being a small race. Cute bracelets.



After a bit, I turned in the borrowed helmet and bought a t-shirt and necklace. Then I went home, took a shower, and took a nap. And probably some allergy medicine. My allergies have been killing me this season what with all the rain making stuff grow.  Achoo. Overall it was a good race, and I would do it again if I were going to be here next August. I don't think it's such a good course for a first race, unless you're used to running &/or biking hills like that. I think the Girls Tri Too race was better for that, shorter and shallow water.

Live. Love. Tri.

It's high time for my race report.

The week leading up to the race was busy and somewhat   [AARGH, I typed a whole bunch last night, hit "save" TWICE, and it's all gone!!]

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Nothin' like...

There's nothing like sitting in a classroom in a foreign country with stomach cramps and diarrhea waiting for your turn to teach. Thankfully, my coworkers were able to cover for me, and I went back to my room to rest and find my Imodium. I had to wait 2 hours to take it b/c I'd eaten some lunch. Hopefully it's done it's job (so far so good, tho my stomach still hurts off and on).

I'm supposed to teach first tomorrow, so even if tomorrow goes like today, I'll at least have accomplished part of why I came here. (I was ok this morning but got progressively worse over time.) This sucks being sick b/c I was hoping to finally work out today. On the other hand, my sunburned skin appreciated more time off I'm sure.  (I got pretty sunburned on Sunday.)

On the whole though, I have to say that my last couple of weeks are very likely to have been better than this boy's: http://ourbravelittlelion.blogspot.com/2013/07/chemo-over-yea.html. And my last 18mos have definitely been better than his and his parents' last 18 months. Perspective. Hmmm.

Friday, July 12, 2013

7 Habits of Highly Effective Runners--a Reminder for Myself

http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-runners-and-eaters?page=single

1. Create a support network.
2. Set goals.
3. Keep track. (Record all purposeful activity. I haven't been recording biking to work.)
4. Plan ahead. I set up training plans, but I have been bad about planning the workouts into my days and letting other things take precedence.
5. Have reasonable expectations.
6. Stay consistent.  My biggest challenge.
7. See the value. Maybe I'm not? or I'd be consistent?

I could bookmark it, but I rarely go back and look through bookmarks. This will stay relatively prominent for a while.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Just registered for Live.Love.Tri

Time to step up the training; I hear the course is hilly!  I went swimming on Monday for the first time in a few weeks. I should've gone for a run this evening. Oh, I bought new running shoes recently; this time they're Brooks with some serious stability. I went to a Heart and Sole where they do some gait analysis. Apparently my left foot pronates a lot. My right foot does too but not quite so much. The running shoe "code" for stability is a gray instep; on my shoes, the gray goes all the way back to the heel! I've only run in them a couple of times so far, but so far they feel fine. I wish I'd asked to do the gait analysis in my old shoes (they put you in a neutral shoe when you go in) just to see if I was pronating badly in them. I do feel arch support in them, and the wear pattern is from the outside of the heels to the mid/inside of the forefoot.  When we were watching the video of my feet on the treadmill (at the store) my husband noticed that when I step forward with my right foot as I run, my foot crosses the center line whereas my left foot just goes straight forward . Hmm.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Stomach cramps suck

As if my body hasn't been through enough lately (triathlon, fitness test--rocked it, ITB issues, etc) it had to go & get sick this weekend too: stomach cramps, the works. One blessing was that I burped all night instead of puking all night. But those stomach cramps really wear me out. And why is it that I never seem to get sick during the day? It always seems to hit at night, so I'm extra tired. And once everything has "passed" there's the discomfort of my gut refilling & wondering if that's really all I'm feeling out if I'm going to have another round of it. I don't have time to be sick.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

New Gear

I finally got a new heart rate monitor! Yay! It's the Polar RS300X. The price dropped by more than half; I guess the new model's out. It's a little bigger than I was hoping, but it's comfortable.
Somewhere in this post is a picture of it on my wrist next to my day-to-day sports watch. I was trying to insert the photo after that first paragraph, but I'm blogging from my phone, so I don't know how it's going to turn out. I'm going to have to manually adjust my max heart rate b/c it's not 220 - my age; I went for a steep uphill walk this evening, but I was *not* walking at 97%.
The fabric chest strap is comfortable too, much more so than the old plastic one which used to push into the top of my stomach & make me feel a little 'bleh'.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Rio Grande Triathlon

I got pretty nervous in the days right before the race. I didn't have anyone to go with! It was just me, all by myself. I didn't make it over to the Rio Grande pool before race day, and I missed the beginner's meeting at packet pick up b/c DH was working on the car ("it'll only take me 15 or 20 minutes" ha ha).  I bought a new tri tank top for the race and, when I got home, spent the next 30 minutes (or more) figuring out what to wear and how to layer it. I set my alarm for 4:30am and didn't get to bed till after 11pm.

I woke up on time--I hit snooze once just because. After getting dressed I had a couple of hard boiled eggs, toast, and a cheese stick. Oh and some 5 hour energy  (not the whole bottle, maybe 1/3). I was planning on leaving at 5:30; I got out the door at 5:45.  The drive was nice and easy, hardly any traffic. As I approached the area where the pool was, a car with a bike on back turned in front of me. Aha! Another triathlete, so I followed that car the rest of the way and got a great parking space just across the street from the transition area. I'd gotten an email saying the race was full, but I had no idea how many people that meant. I figured I'd try to get into transition as soon as it opened at 6. I guess I was plenty early!

                                                                   After the race
The first wave started at 0730...all the fast people. My wave started at 0750 and the fastest of the runners were headed out of transition by then. Oh, and this was a "retro" race: 3 guys wore Speedos, the little kind. (It was also a reverse tri: run, bike, swim.) The Saturday before the race I finally went out running (yeah, I know); my right knee started hurting around mile 2. Unfortunately, whether I did out and back or a loop, I still had 2 miles to get back home. I didn't run again until the race and sure enough, around mile 1, my knee started hurting again. My run time was >43min. At T1 I shucked off my gloves and arm warmers, less than a minute. The bike ride was about what I expected at around 55 minutes. The hills actually were find, it was riding into the wind that was hard. T2 was >2min; I had to pull off my calf compression sleeves (which were just fine through the race and didn't feel to tight anywhere) over the timing chip. Then I had to walk all the way across transition to the exit (my spot being close to the entrance) on old asphalt in bare feet, then around behind transition on the sidewalk before crossing the next mat. The swim turned out to be 9 laps, 450yd, instead of 8 laps. I was able to swim it pretty steady in between 15 and 20 minutes. There was a lot of drag between the timing chip on my ankle and the pockets on the back of my tank top. My total time was 1:55:50 (or real close to that). (I don't have the results page up, and I don't remember numbers all that well.)

                                                              Finisher's metal



Sunday, March 31, 2013

Got a training plan

Friday I received a tri training plan from a very tri-experienced person at my work. This plan is going to kick my butt, especially since I haven't worked out in two weeks.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Adventures in Spring Break

I talked to an experience triathlete at work about helping me with a training plan for the Rio Grande Tri and the Live Love Tri. Then I went on vacation and got sick. Not as sick as my husband, who is on day 12 of the flu & literally thought he was dying, but I'm tired and cough way too much. Yesterday/last night I took some Mucinex DM; I didn't notice a lot of difference with the first dose, but the 2nd one worked wonders...ish. It seriously dried out my nose and mouth; it also made me sick to my stomach. Apparently dextromethorphan HBr doesn't agree with me. My body appreciated the rest from hacking every 5 seconds, but I find nausea extremely tiring, especially from midnight to 6am. Despite coming really close once, I didn't actually puke, but I burped all night. I haven't taken a 3rd dose & am starting to get tired again of coughing. Fortunately it hasn't been quite as bad today. The nausea from the Mucinex clued me in to the queasy stomach I was feeling at my parents' house while taking Walgreens Day-quil type medicine; it has the same cough suppressant, just not nearly as much.

My husband was so sick we had to wait 5 extra days before we could drive back home, and then it took us 2 days instead of 1. He is improving--no longer feels like he's dying--and he has an appetite again. I've run once in the last 2 weeks and haven't done anything else workout-wise. While still at my parents' I took the kids to the park most every day to give the grandparents a break, but I came down with a sore throat, the coughing, and less energy. We got back home Thursday afternoon; I unpacked the truck and went grocery shopping. Friday morning I went in to work for a couple of hours, but given all my coughing they were glad I came home. I've pretty much been in bed or on the couch since. Fun fun. Hope we get better SOON!!!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Registered!

I just registered for the Rio Grande Tri in April. The fee was $25 + $12 for the USAT + a processing fee for each of those, so it all came out to around $40. I also just realized that the fee for The Color Run in September goes up on March 2. :-S  Now I need to really get on the tri-training-ball. I'm doing the swimming but not the running of the biking (not more than 1mi at a time anyway).

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Correction...

It's Insanity, not P90X. I've been doing Insanity most Tuesdays/Thursdays and swimming on Mondays/Wednesdays. Last Tuesday I skipped Insanity to donate blood. I decided to do the Rio Grande Tri but not the Abq Half 10K event; I don't want to end up hurting myself again and then not be able to do the tri. Registration is now open for the Live.Love.Tri event in August; yay! I'll do that too. And I'd still like to do the Color Run in September.

Monday, being a holiday, the pool had reduced hours, so instead of swimming I did a Skimble workout and then went "running." The app workout included side lunges, which I haven't done in a long time apparently--my legs are quite sore! The run...well, I need to run more for sure. I also need to bike more.  The Rio Grande Tri is a 5K run, a 16mi bike ride (I've never ridden that far) and a 400yd swim.

Well, I need to have gone to bed already, but I've had this page open and waiting for a post for at least 2 days, so I decided to just write it real quick.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Working out again, yay!

Worked out twice this week! Not just little Skimble workouts, though I did one of those yesterday, but actual, challenging, >40min workouts.  I found a workout buddy to help me break the ice at the lunchtime workouts at work.

Wednesday I joined in on a P90X workout--excepting the pull-ups; they couldn't find the indoor pull-up bar, and I wasn't about to grab a 25deg metal bar!--but I did lots of push-ups and the rest of the exercises...for the first half. Then I hopped on the treadmill and ran for 20+ minutes.

Thursday I walked on the treadmill first for 20-25 min: speed 3.5, target HR 145. Then I did 2-handed swings with the 20kg(!) KB they have there; I did 3 sets of 10 and finished up with 1 2-handed clean. That sucker's heavy!  Then I did a lot of stretching; I tried some crunches, but apparently all those push-ups made my abs sore as well as the usual soreness.

My upper shoulders/lower neck muscles are sore now from those heavy KB swings.  Week after next, when another new workout buddy gets back from vacation, I'm going to start swimming on Mondays and Wednesdays. Maybe I actually can be ready for that Splash N Dash at the end of March. :-S

OK, to publically state my goals, or at least potential events, for this year (I haven't signed up for anything yet):
30 March     Splash & Dash (run, swim, run)
20 April       10K at the ABQ 1/2
27 April       Rio Grande Tri
1 June          Tour de Cure ("It's a ride, not a race")
25 Aug?       Live. Love. Tri.  No 2013 info posted yet
7 Sep            The Color Run
7 Oct            Shadows Trail Run
Nov?            Turkey Trot?
7 Dec            Kringle 12K/6K
21 Dec          Farocito Trail of Lights run

So...

Friday, January 11, 2013

Can it be summer yet?

I am definitely in a winter slump. My MapMyRun workout calendar is blank except for a 1.9mi walk (with just a little running) on the 1st. I *have* been riding my bike to work and I have been doing little Skimble workouts (8-12min each). I just haven't bothered to put them into MapMyRun. I also haven't been using MyFitnessPal to log my foods, and there's definitely been an increase in the amount of junk food lately, most recently chocolate chip pumpkin cookies.  MmmMmmMmm!

I've been back at work for two weeks now, and I'm in a slump there too. It doesn't help that I stay up too late; I still haven't gotten back ("back") onto a decent work sleep schedule. And my hip still hurts. For a while, my other hip wasn't bothering me nearly as much; I could even sleep on that side, which I hadn't been able to do for most of several years.  Now they both hurt. No, I still haven't made a dr's appointment, though I came closer today. I don't actually expect the dr. to do anything besides refer me for physical therapy. Hopefully I can get a referral to a good sports medicine place. I've found a number of local races that I'd like to do, but first I really need to make sure that I won't injure myself doing it. That would suck. 

I'd like to do the ABQ 10K again and be able to do the live.love.tri event in August (if they do it again this year; the website's not up yet). That one means I need to start swimming again. I'm not really looking forward to that. I just sent myself an email to let another gal at work know that I'd like to join her for her workouts. It's so much easier to make and keep commitments when they involve another person. She works out at 11, right when I get hungry for lunch, but I'm sure, with that extra motivation, I can work around it. If I go to bed early enough, I can better work on eating a decent breakfast.

I have so many things that I need and want to do that I just can't figure out when to do it all. Then I sit down in my gray-blue cubicle at work, log on to my computer, and forget what I was going to do next. Seriously, my brain just goes numb. Today I took my work out to the conference table where I wouldn't have a wall right in front of my face. Half the people were out of the office, so it wasn't too noisy there for once. I actually got some work done. ;-)

I'm also tired already of being cold. It's funny, it didn't take me long to figure out how to dress to ride my bike to work, but when I was thinking about walking this morning, I nearly overdressed. High winds on cold days complicate things too. I can usually tolerate the cold when it's sunny and not windy. Lately there's been more wind and less sun.

Time to start going to bed.