Shudders; Run Intervals

Mmmmm...baked cookies!

I decided that, rather than trying to get up and out of the house so that I could be at the Y ready to swim by 4:30 am and still not get my entire swim in before I had to go to work, I'd do my ISO exercises in the morning and then swim later. So that started today, and today's workout was a good one.

• 3-min ISO extreme lunge
• 100 glute shudders, seated on bench
• I did the first lunge, doing the entire thing and even when my knee left was touching the ground I was continually trying to lift up (that was only about the last 25 seconds). I had known this was coming, so I just started telling myself yesterday that I could do it, but it would be hard.
• Unfortunately, after I finished the first leg, I desperately had to go to the bathroom. This was supposed to have been a visualization day, and I was thinking about running fast, and when I run fast I have to go! So I paused my lunge/shudders.
• I picked back up on the left leg, and this was significantly harder than the right leg. Still, I had told myself that I could do it, so I did. I was thinking about running fast and was trying to keep my back knee off the ground. I didn't succeed, but I sure tried!
• Then I did the shudders. Some lady looked at my funny, but I didn't care.
  
• 3-min glute ham (lying on the ground)
• 100 glute shudders, seated on bench
• I really struggled on the glute ham. Will has said to not pace yourself; don't do just what you think you can do for 3 minutes. Rather, you should be working as hard as you can the entire time. This time, I was doing only what I thought I could for 3 minutes, and that definitely wasn't as hard as I could work.
• Will's note for the last thing today said PRO PACE. Since it was visualization, that's what he wanted me to think about. I must have remembered that while I was doing this one, because I was thinking about pacing. But not pacing as in running a certain pace; instead, it was pacing as in do what you think you can sustain for the entire time. These ISOs aren't supposed to be paced; they're supposed to be as hard as you can go for the entire time. I knew that, and I was thinking that at the same time I was thinking about pacing.
  
  I know part of it was the pace thing, and part of it was that I was using a different bar that I think is going to cut into my legs (even though I know it's not and it never has and I use towels between my legs and the bar). I was at the Brentwood Y instead of the MFY, and the resources at MFY are way better.
  
  The entire 3 minutes, tho, I was telling myself that I should be working as hard as I could be and yet wasn't.
  
  I wanted to try again but didn't want to fail again, so I did 3 minutes of standing extreme ham followed by 100 glute shudders.
  
• 3-min ISO extreme preacher curl
• 100 quick towel curls
• I used a light bar; I'm not sure what the weight was because it didn't have a mark on it.
  
• 3-min scapular pull up
• 100 quick towel curls
• I hate how Will always says I can put my foot on a crate if I need it.
• Lunge position visualization: 5×10 seconds, then switch sides
• Pull down as hard as possible
• Think about PRO PACE
• After having done the 3 minutes earlier, this seemed so easy, so I was really trying to make it hard.
  

I didn't want to do the scapular pull up, but I really want to be faster swimming, so I decided to do it and think about working as hard as I could to draft off Bree and Heather. The thing is that when I get to visualizing, I don't think I work as hard. I really wish Will were here to push me!

Today was a rough day for bathroom breaks. I had a false start on my run; I went about 1 minute and had to turn around to use the facilities in the Y. Then I ran my warm up and half of my first interval when I had to go again. I knew there was a port-a-potty that would be after the end of the first one, so I went all out to get there. That was about all I had.

The last 3 weeks' run intervals:

7-14-09:

• Totals: 43:03, 593 cals, 5.00 miles, 8:37 pace, 165 HR
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.10 mi, 9:06 pace, 145 HR
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.82 mi, 7:20 pace, 172 HR, 6:06 best pace; Rest 0.18 mi, 160 HR
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:28 pace, 176 HR, 6:18 best pace; Rest 0.16 mi, 160 HR
  
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:30 pace, 179 HR, 5:57 best pace; Rest 0.17 mi, 163 HR
  
• Cool down: 9:03, 0.97 mi, 9:21 pace, 173 HR

7-21-09:

• Totals: 1:00:00, 887 cals, 7.44 miles, 8:04 pace, 178 HR
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.18 mi, 8:31 pace, 156 HR
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.90 mi, 6:42 pace, 183 HR, 6:00 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 180 HR
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.80 mi, 7:28 pace, 183 HR, 6:19 best pace; Rest 0.22 mi, 180 HR
  
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.83 mi, 7:12 pace, 186 HR, 6:21 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 180 HR
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.83 mi, 7:15 pace, 187 HR, 6:22 best pace; Rest 0.21 mi, 184 HR
  
• Cool down: 18 min, 2.06 mi, 8:45 pace, 180 HR

7-28-09:

• Totals: 1:00:00, 867 cals, 7.40 miles, 8:20 pace, 168 HR. Nope, didn't succeed. But it was close!
  
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:25 pace, 138 HR.
  
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.84 miles, 7:08 pace, 174 HR, 5:26 best pace; Rest 0.22 mi, 157 HR
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.81 miles, 7:23 pace, 177 HR, 6:20 best pace; Rest 0.20 mi, 166 HR
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.80 miles, 7:32 pace, 177 HR, 6:31 best pace; Rest 0.17 mi, 165 HR
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.81 miles, 7:23 pace, 181 HR, 5:42 best pace; Rest 0.14 mi, 165 HR
• Lap 5: 6 min, 0.80 miles, 7:28 pace, 179 HR, 6:31 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 160 HR
• Cool down: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:21 pace, 175 HR

Today I desperately wanted to get closer to 1 mile in the 6 minutes. So I was going to do all of them all out, like each one was the only one. It's a good thing I went all out on the first, because I had nothing left after that one. My HR was too high; I'm sure that played into it, because I couldn't get it down for anything!

• Totals: 58:16, 634 cals, 5.69 miles, 10:14 pace, 164 HR.
  
• Warm up: 10 min, 1.19 mi, 8:26 pace, 166 HR (over 20 bpm higher than last week but the same time, distance, and pace)
  
• Lap 1: 6 min, 0.88 miles, 6:50 pace, 185 HR (11 bpm higher), 6:13 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 168 HR (11 bpm higher)
  
• Lap 2: 6 min, 0.42 miles, 14:26 pace (hello, bathroom break), 145 HR, 7:26 best pace; Rest 0.24 mi, 177 HR (11 bpm higher)
• Lap 3: 6 min, 0.59 miles, 10:14 pace, 169 HR (8 bpm lower), 7:36 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 160 HR (5 bpm lower)
  
• Lap 4: 6 min, 0.66 miles, 9:07 pace, 169 HR (13 bpm slower), 7:39 best pace; Rest 0.12 mi, 157 HR (8 bpm higher)
• Lap 5: 6 min, 0.70 miles, 8:38 pace, 176 HR (3 bpm lower), 5:53 best pace (hello, downhill toward the Y); Rest 0.23 mi, 176 HR (16 bpm higher)
  
• Cool down: 8:15, 0.44 mi, 18:42 pace (hello, walking through the parking lot), 140 HR (35 bpm lower)
  

After this rough run, I did a little stretching and then headed home to bake cookies for Lauren and me to eat this weekend and to take to work and to send to Will and anyone else I can think of. This batch made at least a dozen more than previous ones and I even made almost 3 dozen larger than normal!

Cookie dough and cookie dough balls...chocolate chip and peanut butter M&M

All 10 dozen—from one batch!

Currently all but 1 dozen (the ones I baked for La and me) are sitting in my freezer waiting to be baked and consumed.