I wimped out today. The weather was cold rain with slush. Wet snow in the morning canceled my bike commute. I had every intention of running after work (packed my stuff and everything). But I couldn’t hack another cold, wet, and slippery run. So I skipped the workout with no excuse. I felt guilty, but relieved. Instead, I headed to the gym with Torb.
20 min treadmill run
10 min easy spin
10 min elliptical
I swam at UBC in the morning on Wednesday. I shared the lane with Chris. I found myself fatigued from the intense Tues spin workout. I spent the whole day flushed after the swim workout. It seems like everytime I get in the pool these days, people are noticing that something’s different. Chris asked me if I’d got a new bathing suit, then asked me if I’d lost weight. I tried to explain to him that it’s just that I’m feeling like a much stronger swimmer but it came out like babble because of fatigue from the workout.
warmup of 100f, 100p, 50k, 50f
drills 4 x 50dr, 20sR catchup, double scull pull
tempo set 3 x 100f, 30sR
long set 1 x 25min (~1150m, count could be short by 100m)
time check at 1000m was 21:50 – likely 50m-100m over counting the distance
cooldown 100mix
The blanket of snow that hit the city Tuesday morning created a wonderfully blank canvas for my early morning run. The dark wet imprints of my footsteps showed my single trail out to the dyke. The sleeping ducks awoke as I passed. With the warmth of the morning, the falling snow morphed to a mist that matched the sleepy morning.
am workout
25 min easy run
45 min strength workout in the gym
pm workout
spin session at Speed Theory
1h:07:23
135 HR avg, Max 167, 495 Kcal
Avg Cad. 89, Max 119
Last Sunday was a memorable training day. I spent the run having a totally engaging conversation with Andrew H. about our strengths and how much we’ve improved since last year. Physically, the run felt easy and my body felt light and crisp. We both spent a lot of time during the run talking about how great we were feeling. My senses were tingling with the crisp clean air and the forest scenery of my favorite trails.
Such a pleasurable training day makes me want to reflect on how I can make this kind of day happen all the time. For me, the mental game is a big part of how and why this day felt so great.
positive feedback in the pool == positive mental space == strong swim
positive conversations == positive mental space == great long run
As you can see, all of the positive feedback that I’m getting is affecting me in a great way. Compared to where I was last year, I feel like I’m way ahead of the game. Capturing this mental space, and figuring out how to make it last, or bring it back when I need a boost is something worth considering. Continue reading
Fourteen hours of hockey and I watched it all. Ok, I admit that claim is a bit of a stretch but I did spin on the bike for 2+ hours watching Montreal and Ottawa. I also watched bits and bytes of the Van – TO matchup, and the battle of Alberta. Jane and Dave came over for some quality couch time today with the two NFL playoff games in the background. I can honestly say I’ve watched enough sports television today.
This spin is the longest I’ve ever made it on the trainer – the 8-3 score of the hockey game helped – but the last half hour was still hell.
2h:15 spin indoors
Avg HR 124, Max HR 133
Avg Cadence 86, Max 95
964 Kcal22:39 run
Avg HR 153, Max 159
230 Kcal
Friday’s a good day for being tired. It was a crazy workday, up and down, and all over the place. At the end of this first full week of training, I find myself squeezing out just a bit of extra time in the day for a short ball/mat workout.
15 min core workout
10 min stretch
The icy roads made for challenging conditions at the run tonight. Personally, I felt a little flat for the workout. Considering the cold, a big group showed up. I met some of the new folks in the group including Andre – who works for Air Canada, and flys to Asia for a living. We spent our time talking about knitting. In the warmup, Lindsay, Richard, and I exchanged our stories about the first week of training.
10 min warmup
6 x 1min hills, easy down
10min easy
4 x 2min flat
warmdown
After checkin with Coach Drew, I decided to sign up for two relay legs at the Victoria Half Iron. Bronwyn is my other partner in action, and I’m excited that we’re racing as the “Last Minute Lassies”. With so much of my energy put into this event last year, this race is a special one for me.
… A Breakthrough in Counting!
Apparently, I’m going to make great strides with my ABC’s this year. After some crazy snowy bus rides, I managed to get to Watermania to do a great swim workout. At this time last year, I couldn’t have even contemplated swimming 1k, let alone being able to count the lengths. The aerobic load of the swim workouts left me with no space for counting in my brain – it was all about surviving.
It’s different this year. Swim workouts are easier. I seem to be able to recognize different paces and my brain has room for thoughts. Today’s workout was a major breakthrough. Counting 40 lengths! It’s something I never thought I’d be able to do. I did get tired/confused around 750m but with my ingenious alphabet/number scheme (a,b,c,d – 100m; a,b,c,d – 200m, etc), I worked my way through the haze. I forced the issue today because I forgot my contacts. Since I could barely make out the clocks, I had to count lengths for the endurance interval.
It’s great to acknowledge that I’ve made such big strides in the pool. I guess I have just as big of a leap this year for that 4km IronMan swim.
swim workout
100f, 50k, 100p, 50k, 50f warmup
4 x 50f dr @ 20sR
6 x 50f @ tempo with 30sR
1 x 20min = 1000m
100mix cooldown
Fitting in today’s gym and spin workouts, and making sure I brought all the right pairs of shoes provided some logistical challenges. I’m out of practice with packing workout gear. I will soon be back to the highly-tuned machine who could wake up, pack a workout bag (with food and gear for up to 3 different activities), eat breakfast, and then catch the bus/carpool in under fifteen minutes.
My workout this morning
20 min run
45 gym workout
10 min stretch
Spin session in the evening
spin session – 60 min
average HR = 138
max HR = 170
Woo Hoo, 2007 is here! I’m happy to find myself fitter then usual (as compared to previous years) after a pretty active holiday season. In terms of fitness, I think this January finds me approaching the year that I trained for the Honolulu marathon (a December marathon makes you pretty fit in January) and is very distant from the year that we moved to Richmond (where I had to struggle to work myself back up to being able to run a loop around that 2km marker on the dyke). It’s a big year ahead with the IronMan goal now becoming a reality. It’s good to get off to a good start.