Tuesday, January 31, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Maximizing Aerobic Capacity I

This was the start of a new session, and even though it's still focused on aerobic capacity, this one is "Maximizing Aerobic Capacity," so it gets its own list and not a continuation of last Thursday's or a couple weeks ago. Today's workout looked very similar to (though not exactly like because I can't remember everything nor replicate it) this:


I asked Todd between the first and second efforts (the first two boxes in the graphic) what it was supposed to feel like; he said it should feel like I was behind Parri when she was on. I had just mentioned to Valerie that it felt like Parri had pulled me up a 16-minute hill, so it was the perfect feeling and effort level and confirmation from Todd. For the remainder of the class, I imagined I was on Parri's wheel and would not let her get away for any reason. My HR was not as high as it has been on other days, so my drafting visualization must have really helped.

  • Total ride: 1:39:25, 157 bpm (177 max), 216W
  • Warm up: 9:39, 107 bpm
  • Warm up: 20:00, 156 bpm; 4min rest, 149 bpm
  • Tempo #1: 16:00, 171 bpm; 3min rest, 165 bpm
  • Tempo #2: 11:00, 172 bpm; 3min rest, 163 bpm
  • Tempo #3: 11:00, 169 bpm; 3min rest, 162 bpm
  • Tempo #4: 11:00, 165 bpm; 4min rest, 143 bpm
  • 110 RPM spin: 1:00, 152 bpm
  • Cooldown and sprint: 2:52 143 bpm, 657W

The sprint at the end was not the 699 best I've previously achieved, but I'm still sprinting better this year than I was at this time last year!

I heard the following this morning and had to share:

"'He made Him who knew no sin'" (2 Corinthians 5:21) – That's a pretty short list—there's only one who knew no sin!" – John MacArthur in The Gospel According to Paul. Here is the entire verse, because it really is amazing: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Afternoon workout: 10×10 sec, 2 sets: lunge (1 set), standing ham, wall squat, bench w/30 lb, curl w/20 lb, crunch. This was pretty awful. I didn't want to do it, didn't feel like doing it while I was doing it, had very tired legs, but did it. All the while wishing Will were here to push me...

Monday, January 30, 2012

Chauffeur

I got to play chauffeur today for the Farkases. This meant an early-morning run (0.5 miles to the fitness center, 2.5 miles on the tready, and 0.5 miles back home), a trip to the airport, work, returning to Farkases' to pick up Lauren to take her to dance, 5 on/5 off thru 40 at the BFY (with a few breaks to chat with Sean and Rachael), an attempt at yoga, taking Lauren back home, and finally sleep. Way too late for how early I have to get up in the morning.

The run went well. I started 0.1 mph faster than I have been, increased the speed every 7 minutes for 14 minutes, then increased at faster intervals until I got to 2.5 miles. It wasn't a crazy hard run, but I definitely was working.

Nothing super exciting about the 5 on, 5 off thru 40: 1-leg squat, lunge, glute ham, curl w/10lb dbs, push up, pull up, crunch. Though I did figure out how to work harder during push up or maybe I was just tired from swimming.

Yoga, on the other hand, was less than I expected and I lasted only 15 minutes before I walked out. It was something called Kundalhini yoga and was very weird and not relaxing or requiring an effort, it just was weird. So I left. I wasn't getting anything out of it anyway. I will definitely never go back to that class!

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Team Ride

We headed out today for our weekly team ride, with the same number of people as we had last week (just Kat instead of Val) (me, Parri, Anna, Shelly, Kat, and Todd); however, we were still missing Val, Catherine, Lee, and Cali. Hopefully we'll all be able to ride together soon! We rode a good 1:42, 30.19 miles, 17.7 mph (40.5 max), 160 HR (183 max). The mph average seems low for the HR I was riding at, but considering the winds felt about 15mph, I'll take it!



Before the ride, I swam 1600, 8×200 w/20sec rest. I took too long doing the 8 I did to finish the entire 12 intervals, but it was also more than I've swam all month I think.

I made a batch of Bobbi-Bars (my mom's recipe, and yes, she really hasn't updated her blog in over a year) so I'd have some at least home-made treats. I know what's in them, which makes them healthier than any alternative.


Recipe for an 8-inch square pan:
  • 1 + 1/4 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup sesame seeds (I used flax)
  • 1/2 cup sunflower seeds 
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 to 1 cup mini chocolate chips or mini M&Ms
  1. Mix oats, seeds, and salt.
  2. Melt honey and peanut butter. Stir in vanilla.
  3. Pour peanut butter mixture over dry mixture and stir well. Let cool 5–10 minutes.
  4. Mix in chocolate chips or M&Ms.
  5. Cut into small bars. My mom cuts them into 36 bars.

I also saw this on a car in the Publix parking lot and it made me laugh. Someone is proud about not being a runner!


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Dancing in the Mall with an iPod

Have you seen that kid on youtube who is listening to his iPod and dancing in the mall? He was at the Cool Spring Galleria on Friday. Anna and I were there planning Lauren's birthday party and he was surrounded by a bunch of 12-15-year-old girls who were all excited, and although we could tell he wasn't an actor or musician, we weren't sure who he was. After wandering around for a few minutes and returning, we finally figured out who he was. Then we watched them film what will likely be his Valentine's video.



We got La's party planned (I can't wait to execute it; I know she'll love it!) and had fun girl-chat time. I also ran 6 miles.

Saturday was an early day for the GSD ride with Lee, Anna, Parri, Shelly, and about 10 guys. It was a tough ride. I ended up with 40 miles and 2+ hours, and I would like to do this ride every week because it pushed me so hard. Total ride time: 2:15:20. 39.02 miles. 17.3 mph (42.0 max). 153 HR (186 max).

  • Lap 1: 18:54, 5.13 mi, 16.3 mph, 125 HR
  • Lap 2: 1:36:36, 28.89 mi, 18.1 mph, 163 HR
  • Lap 3: 20:49, 5.0 mi, 14.4 mph, 138 HR


Perkins at mile 14 was tough. Thankfully I started with Lee and could see her
most of the time. When I couldn't see her, I pretended I could.

After the ride I made some pizza and breadsticks. Nothing better than being home by 10:30 on a Saturday and done with most of the hard work. The only thing that could've made this better would've been people to enjoy it with.

Christmas present from Robin


Church was amazing; Dave Ramsey spoke on the critical issue of why you do what you do. It definitely made me think: Why do I do what I do? Then it was off to the BFY for 60 minutes on the step mill (time to start crit training!) and some stretching. Ah, and good sweat.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: TTT and Baby Madi

Precious Madi

I got to babysit this adorable baby girl this morning. Totally worth getting up 30 minutes earlier than normal and getting to work 3 hours later than normal.

After work, it was off to Todd's for test #2 of the week. Only today, unlike Tuesday, I had a plan for the 5-mile, all-out, go-as-hard-as-you-can sufferfest.

  • 1:11:18, 154 HR (195 max)
  • 49:48 warmup, 146 HR
  • 13:46 test, 188 HR, 226 watts
  • 7:43 cooldown, 150 HR

These are my results from the previous TTs I've done at Todd's:

Date
Test Number
Completion Time
Average Watts
January 26, 2012
TT #7
13:46
226 watts
January 24, 2012
TT #6
13:43
228 watts
May 4, 2011
TT #5
13:37
237 watts
March 3, 2011
TT #4b
(tempo)
14:26
(tempo)
202 watts
(tempo)
March 1, 2011
TT #4a
13:38
229 watts
January 6, 2011
TT #3b
(tempo)
14:58
(tempo)
185 watts
(tempo)
January 4, 2011
TT #3a
14:06
217 watts
March 25, 2010
TT #2
13:56
223 watts
January 28, 2010
TT #1
14:22
208 watts

Everything about today's test except the outcome was different than Tuesday's test. How does that happen? Oh, well, Will has said, "Consistency is the key to success," so I'm going to keep that in mind. I did the warm up different because my plan for the test was different. My plan for the test was to pace Valerie; she hadn't tested Tuesday and had helped keep me apprised of where I was on the course, so I was willing to help her where she needed it. She said her goal was to average about 22mph, so that's what I did (I was pretty much between 21.5 and 22.2 the entire time). I never really looked at anything else (my HR, my distance, the time), though I did look at my watts a few times. The highest average I noticed was 231; a vast difference from the 286 I saw on Tuesday and a much smaller difference from the 226 I ended up at.

Neither (starting out hard and fading vs. starting and ending at the same place) was really harder than the other, but I definitely liked today's feeling better than Tuesday's; I could tell I was riding more consistent today, and I definitely could've gone faster had I not been focused on maintaining 22mph.


It was a short but hard ride, and I still had a workout to do after. I really debated whether to do it because I was also hungry, but I let the Ensure I'd drank after the ride fuel my 10×30sec workout: lunge R/L, glute ham with reps to the top, altitude drop push up (sitting up for the 30 sec and dropping for the rep), curl w/15lb, and crunch. Then I could finally eat and got a caesar wrap from Chick-Fil-A. Yum!



Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Love This...

After yesterday's hard test and body pump class, this is just what I needed! 

Good morning!

Matthew 16:1–4, 13–20, 24–27:

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.
...
When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
...
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.

– Matthew 16:1–4, 13–19, 24–27, NKJV

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: TTT and No Plan of Attack

Here is the workout from today, which consisted of a 5-mile time trial (TT)—all out, as hard as you can as fast as you can, at whatever watts you can:

  • 1:10:05, 155 HR (192 max)
  • 48:08 warmup, 149 HR
  • 13:43 test, 186 HR, 228 watts
  • 8:13 cooldown, 143 HR

These are my results from the previous TTs I've done at Todd's:

Date
Test Number
Completion Time
Average Watts
January 24, 2012
TT #6
13:43
228 watts
May 4, 2011
TT #5
13:37
237 watts
March 3, 2011
TT #4b
(tempo)
14:26
(tempo)
202 watts
(tempo)
March 1, 2011
TT #4a
13:38
229 watts
January 6, 2011
TT #3b
(tempo)
14:58
(tempo)
185 watts
(tempo)
January 4, 2011
TT #3a
14:06
217 watts
March 25, 2010
TT #2
13:56
223 watts
January 28, 2010
TT #1
14:22
208 watts

Todd asked me after class today what my plan of attack had been. He must have either been watching or looked at my watts after the test, because the change from the beginning to the end result was drastic. When I looked up at 0.46 miles into the 5-mile course, I was averaging 286W. If you look at the list above, you'll notice how distant that is from what I've achieved in the past. And from where I ended up. Obviously I either didn't have a plan or the one I had didn't work.

I think I will try the TT again on Thursday, testing this time rather than riding tempo as I've done previously on the second day of the week. I am interested to see how it will go for a number of reasons:

  • I'll have a plan: Don't try to ramp up like Todd suggests; rather, start at my pace, cadence, and challenge level and hold it there the entire time. Ride steady.
  • I won't have done 7 minutes of work the night before.
  • It will be after a rest day.
  • The class is in the afternoon, and I think I ride better at 5pm than I do at 5am.
  • There are different people in the class; Anna and Val won't be there to cheer and give me mile markers, and Leslie won't be there for race against.

After work, I went to the CSY to lift. I was supposed to have done 3×30 heavy but had no desire to—this week I am really missing Will and his pushing me to work hard. So instead of that workout, I did 20 minutes on the step mill and a Body Pump class. It was a fair workout; I sweat during the warm-up but really didn't work too hard after that. I did all the exercises, it just wasn't difficult. Maybe I need to increase the weight, but the easiest way for me to get through the class is to keep the same weight on the bar the entire time. However, that's evidently not enough, because it really was easy after the warm up.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Muscles

Amazing sunset tonight

My left quad developed a tic for a while this morning. Nothing to worry about, right? It was just pulsing as I sat at my desk....

I did my 7 minutes of work (which I'd only half finished on Friday) (lunge R 2min, lunge L 2min, standing ham, curl w/5lb dbs, wall push up, and crunch) and spent a few minutes on the elliptical. Although I felt terrible all day, I didn't want to do nothing and am glad I got up and got moving.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

I Would Seek God

Job 5:8–9 "But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause—who does great
things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number."

I didn’t take much time to write this weekend, so here’s the now-normal weekend recap.

Friday: It ended up being nice enough for me to get out on my bike after work. It wasn’t warm, but it wasn’t freezing either, so I layered up and rode a good 25 miles. After getting some stuff done at home and running a few errands, I ran 3 miles to the Y, did 7 minutes of work (push up, curl w/8lb, and crunch), and ran 2 miles home. I planned it that way, with a shorter leg home. It’s a pretty good way to get a nice workout in.

Saturday: It was supposed to be rainy (only kinda damp) and cold (definitely cold), so I rode indoors at Todd’s at Endeavor Performance with Shelly, Catherine, and five others. Todd set a course for us, and we pedaled away. Two and a half hours is a long time to spend on a trainer, so 1.5 hours in, we took a 10-minute break. I was off the bike for only 4 minutes, just long enough to make a quick clothes change (hello, sweaty!) and fill up my water bottles. If I’d have stayed off any longer, I’d have frozen, even in the clean shirt. I need to remember an additional pair of shorts for next time; that would have been twice as good. After a 26-minute warm up, I did the next 40 minutes at a tempo pace (174 bpm); it was supposed to have been endurance pace, but I was staying with Rolf and Brien and didn’t want to lose their draft, so I just kept going. Shelly at minute 40 was going to do 20 minutes of tempo, so she asked me then if I was going to join her. I said probably not, and I definitely didn’t. My HR stayed the same for those next 20 minutes (174 bpm), but I was definitely closer to my endurance pace than my tempo pace. I rode another 30 minutes at endurance pace (162 bpm), took our 10-minute break (141 bpm), and rode another 36 minutes (162 bpm). I got a good 2:43:00 ride and made it 40 miles into the 55-mile course.

Lauren frosting the cupcakes
After the good hard ride, I picked up Lauren and we headed to lunch at Blue Coast. Yum. We discussed her birthday party, which I have to get to planning. That will be on the schedule for this week! Then we came back to my apt and made 30 cupcakes for my older sister, who turned 30 today. We had fun coloring while the cupcakes were baking (yes, she’s almost a teenager and I’m not much younger than my sister, and we were indeed coloring with crayons) and then decorating them. Church, no evening workout, and a movie were later that night.





Sunday: This morning I made pancakes, which will last me the entire week. As with supper food, breakfast food is best when it can be made once and eaten multiple times. Then Anna, Shelly, Parri, Valerie, Todd, and I rode a quick 27 miles out north of Nashville. I’d never been out there, and there are some beautiful roads out there. One nice long, mostly flat, not heavily traveled road allowed us to work on a few things together, and the headwind back home made for a hard little workout. 1:33:06, 27.15 miles, 17.5 mph (34.8 max), 143 bpm (184 max).




Now it’s now and time to clean my bike, do some laundry, vacuum, and read the newspaper. And maybe eat some cupcakes. Aloha!



Thursday, January 19, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity VIII

Pretty amazing sunrise this morning

Such a great way to start the day!
Lunchtime workout: 10-6-3 EDI Lunge L/R, squat w/15lb, standing ham (even though I was at the DHY I couldn't do glute ham because they don't have good equipment for it), curl w/15lb, push up, crunch. The hardest part was starting the workout. Once I was at the Y I was committed, and it actually went better than I'd expected. None of this actually required being at the Y, but I had to go to shower to get the dry shampoo I'd put in my hair out. It works really well and I like it, but it has what for me is a ridiculously strong and not altogether pleasant smell.


1-10-12
1-12-12
1-17-12
1-19-12 (HR data to come)

  • Total ride time: 1:40:50, 164 HR (184 max)
    Total ride time: 1:40 or so. No HR data because my Garmin's batteries were dead. I have to get this figured out!
    Total ride time: 1:30:00, 159 HR (181 max)
    Total ride time: 1:40:00, HR (max)
  • Warm up: 12:30, 131 HR
    Warm up: Maybe 10min
    Warm up: 17:25, 127 HR
    Warm up: 10:25,  HR
  • Real warm up: 17:00, 166 HR; 2min rest, 171 HR
    Real warm up: 17:00; 2min rest
    Real warm up: 17:00, 163 HR, 2min rest, 169 HR
    Real warm up: 17:00,  HR, 2min rest, HR
  • 1-leg drills: 4:00, 173 HR; 3min rest, 174 HR
    1-leg drills: 4:00; 3min rest
    1-leg drills: 4:00, 171 HR; 3min rest, 165 HR
    1-leg drills: 4:00,  HR; 3min rest, HR
  • Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 162 HR
    Tempo effort: 19:00 (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest
    Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 163 HR
    Tempo effort: 19:00,  HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, HR
  • Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 172 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00; 1min rest
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 168 HR; 1min rest, 163 HR
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00,  HR; 1min rest,  HR
  • Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00, 173 HR; 1min rest, 173 HR
    Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00; 1min rest
    Spin-up to 110: 3:00, 170 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
    Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00,  HR; 1min rest,  HR
  • Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00, 176 HR; 3min rest, 169 HR
    Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00; 3min rest
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 169 HR; 3min rest, 162 HR
    Spin-up to 115–125: 3:00,  HR; 3min rest,  HR
  • Tempo effort: 20:00, 171 HR
    Tempo effort: 20:00
    Tempo effort + Cool down: 9:35, 164 HR
    Tempo effort: 20:00,  HR
  • Cool down + Sprint to 646 W: 5:20, 160 HR
    Cool down + Sprint to 673 W: 5min or so
    n/a
    Cool down + Sprint to  656 W: 5:20,  HR

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Rest Day

Some people have trouble taking a rest day, but I have no trouble with taking one day completely off. It's like a Sabbath rest—I know God implemented it, and I know I need it, so I take it. I don't ever do nothing, but I don't train at all, either. Besides working today, I had a few other things on my agenda, like running errands and cleaning my kitchen, which I rarely make time for otherwise:

TJMaxx: Quite possibly the largest (5lb) piece of chocolate
I have ever seen. The GC is on there for perspective.

Target: Sweet ice cube trays

Sending my sister her birthday card

My poor freezing hands—this happens when
it's cold outside and I have to do things like wash
dishes (water is the worst!) and run or ride outside

SavingStar Sweeps

Here's the most recent sweeps I entered...you can enter too, to win $2500 worth of groceries! Good luck!

SavingStar
Win 6 Months of Free Groceries

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity VII

I pretty much failed miserably in today's class. It must have been yesterday's "speedwork." The workout this morning was exactly the same as the two I did last week, and I made it 5 minutes in, before Todd even turned the computer on, before I wanted to get off my bike and call it a day. Not a good start. Somehow I convinced myself to continue pedaling until I just turn one more time.

I rode to about midway through the first tempo effort and asked Todd for relief. My cadence was continually dropping, and I was really struggling to maintain everything. He dropped my watts by 30 (one-seventh of my total), and I continued, feeling like I was still working at the same effort level as I had been. You can't even tell where my watts were lowered because my HR from this today is almost identical to what it was last week. Then I got off early, less than halfway through the second tempo effort. I got to work earlier than I normally would on Tuesdays, and I wasn't killing myself for another 15 minutes on the bike. Ugh.


1-10-12
1-12-12
1-17-12

  • Total ride time: 1:40:50, 164 HR (184 max)
    Total ride time: 1:40 or so. No HR data because my Garmin's batteries were deal. I have to get this figured out!
    Total ride time: 1:30:00, 159 HR (181 max)
  • Warm up: 12:30, 131 HR
    Warm up: Maybe 10min
    Warm up: 17:25, 127 HR
  • Real warm up: 17:00, 166 HR; 2min rest, 171 HR
    Real warm up: 17:00; 2min rest
    Real warm up: 17:00, 163 HR, 2min rest, 169 HR
  • 1-leg drills: 4:00, 173 HR; 3min rest, 174 HR
    1-leg drills: 4:00; 3min rest
    1-leg drills: 4:00, 171 HR; 3min rest, 165 HR
  • Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 162 HR
    Tempo effort: 19:00 (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest
    Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 163 HR
  • Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 172 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00; 1min rest
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 168 HR; 1min rest, 163 HR
  • Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00, 173 HR; 1min rest, 173 HR
    Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00; 1min rest
    Spin-up to 110: 3:00, 170 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
  • Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00, 176 HR; 3min rest, 169 HR
    Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00; 3min rest
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 169 HR; 3min rest, 162 HR
  • Tempo effort: 20:00, 171 HR
    Tempo effort: 20:00
    Tempo effort + Cool down: 9:35, 164 HR
  • Cool down + Sprint to 646 W: 5:20, 160 HR
    Cool down + Sprint to 673 W: 5min or so

I'm pretty sure the main cause of today's disastrous ride was the additional speed during yesterday's run. It's not like I added a lot of speed, but I did add some, and evidently that did not do well for my legs—I couldn't ride at my threshold, and I couldn't maintain the prescribed cadence, even for the bulk of the ride, not to mention the spin-ups. Tomorrow is a rest day, and I need it.

Monday, January 16, 2012

40-Minute Bathroom Break



Today I spent 40 minutes in the bathroom during my lunch break. Training. We don't have good workout facilities here at the office, and in fact we don't even have showers (though I have ridden in to work a time or two and done the whole wash-my-hair-in-the-sink thing. Today I had a workout to do and didn't want to be in the open or in the service-elevator room (it's hot in there!), so I chilled in the bathroom. No one came in during the entire 40 minutes, which actually surprised me since I was there over the top of the hour at lunchtime. At least I had good reason to spend so much time there, until some inexplicable transition times, like these from Ironman Wisconsin (from 2007, a year I competed):

  • T1: 39:38; this guy still finished under 15 hours!
  • T1: 24:36; he finished under 15 too
  • T2: 44:55; he went over 15h
  • T2: 44:00; he DNF-ed
  • T2: 43:00; he went under 14h!
  • Here are my Transition times, and I went under 13h:
    • T1: 7:39
    • T2: 5:05

I don't know how one can spend so much time in transition unless you forget that the clock is still running and decide to take a nap. I certainly didn't take a nap today during my workout. 10-10-10 EDI: wall push up, curl, front delt with rebound reps, wall squat, standing ham, and lunge R/L.

After a quick visit to the chiro, I headed to the CSY for a little run. The first 3 miles were at 6.8-7.1mph, then I took a quick recovery, then I ran 3 half-miles around 20-30seconds per mile faster than the first 3 miles with recovery break between each. I ended up with just over 5 miles in 50 minutes, including a cooldown. Running at 7.3 felt perfect--just challenging enough to be a challenge but just comfortable enough to make me feel like I could hold it for a while. Almost like that could be my perfect pace right now (not that I ever want to stay there!). Average HR was 164, max HR was 187. Each of the first 3 miles was faster than the previous, and each of the 3 half-miles was faster than the previous. I'm pretty happy with this run!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sad Day in Titletown

My morning food project: browning meat

Meal #1: omelet; I'll use the rest of the meat in
other meals, but it's now all ready for me.

Today’s ride was super fun. We left from the Brentwood Y and had a big group of 10: Val, Todd, Shelly, Parri, Lee, Kat, Catherine, Anna, me, and Amber (we are thinking about recruiting a few new riders, so we invited her to join us). The route was a little new and definitely challenging. We rode on three roads I’d never been on before. Todd had a plan for us, so we got to play a little. Plus there were at least 5 different sprint signs, so we worked even harder! Surprisingly, the weather ended up being pretty nice for mid-January. Not warm by any means, but the sun did tame the cold quite a bit (at least until we came back on the trail to the Y—it’s all shaded there and not warm at all—and there wasn't an unbearable amount of wind.

Here’s the route:

The couple miles from and to the BFY is cut out

Here are my stats (without accurate HR because it was definitely not right!):

  • 39.58 miles, 2:18:49, 17.1 avg (36.7 max), 2372’ ascent, 2451’ descent
  • Lap 1, the bulk of the route: 37.55 miles, 2:08:26, 17.5 avg (36.7 max), 2263’ ascent, 2271’ descent
  • Lap 2, the stretch of the trail we rode: 2.03 miles, 10:22, 11.7 avg (16.9 max), 109’ ascent, 180’ descent

I think part of the reason the ride was so good for me was because my legs felt great. And it’s not like I did nothing yesterday, because I spent more time on the step mill than I’ve ever spent before. I enjoyed playing today!

Speaking of playing, there were a couple football games on today, one of which I was interested. Unfortunately, it was a sad day in Titletown today, but at least I had good company (Farkases and Marables) to be sad with. As we were watching the game, a Subway commercial came on that had a few athletes in it. I can't remember who all was in this particular commercial (they had a few that played during the game), but there was a tall guy in a warm-up suit, and they didn't have any information about him in text on the TV. I looked at Aunt Renee and said, "Are we supposed to know who that basketball-looking guy is?" Everyone looked at me incredulously, and ARenee said, "You must not spend a lot of time around a pool!" Evidently it was Michael Phelps, and I had no clue. I'd have never come up with him if she hadn't given me the clue about a pool. If they had shown a runner, I'd have known him or her for sure. To make me feel better, Angela told me about her sister's comment while watching a football game recently. She'd said to her husband, "This quarterback has the same tic as the guy in the last game, where he lifts his one foot up like that!" Ignorance is such bliss :-)

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Almond Project

Caleb, 1 month, the little boxer :-)

This is how I shell almonds when I don't have a nutcracker

It's gonna be a long morning

Fuel for my project

Project #2: scrapbooking
Friday I worked in the morning, rode on my trainer after lunch, run lots of errands, and got in a good 5 on, 5 off thru 60 workout: wall sit, standing ham, lunge to 30, push up, curl x8lb, crunch. I got in a few episodes of NCIS as well, since that's the new show my sister is into and thus willing to share DVDs of.

Saturday I started shelling the almonds I got for cheap from Kroger a few weeks ago. Turns out they are a lot more work than they are worth. So I made myself some pancakes instead. Then I watched the 2012 Olympic marathon trials. Well, can you call it watching when you're just keeping up with the tweets on Twitter? They tape-delayed it on NBC, but I didn't want to wait and don't have a TV anyway, so I did what I could. I also figured that during the trials would be a perfect time to run. Wrong! I was more into the trials than my own workout and managed 2 miles running and 1 miles waling on the tready. Then I moved to the step mill and did 50 minutes and 255 stories, the top of the tallest available building. It was awesome!

Then I headed to Farkases' to work on some scrapbook pages with Aunt Renee and Lauren. I managed to finish 5 pages before it was time for church and workout #2: 10×10sec, 2 sets: push up, curl (20lb), pull up, front delt (10lb), crunch. No legs. I needed a break. Now time for some football!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity VI and Quick Swim

My lunchtime workout was a 1,000y swim rather than a strength workout. I will do it either tomorrow or Saturday.

Class today looked like this. It was hard in a good way. The tempo efforts would have been challenging by themselves, but split up by the spin-ups and including 1-leg drills in the middle made them that much more of a challenge. Plus I moved my watt threshold up 1—not a big jump, but I like to know I'm improving and this is my way to do so. Also I feel like I'm working well below my ability and that is frustrating.


1-10-12
1-12-12

  • Total ride time: 1:40:50, 164 HR (184 max)
    Total ride time: 1:40 or so. No HR data because my Garmin's batteries were deal. I have to get this figured out!
  • Warm up: 12:30, 131 HR
    Warm up: Maybe 10min
  • Real warm up: 17:00, 166 HR; 2min rest, 171 HR
    Real warm up: 17:00; 2min rest
  • 1-leg drills: 4:00, 173 HR; 3min rest, 174 HR
    1-leg drills: 4:00; 3min rest
  • Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 162 HR
    Tempo effort: 10:00 (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest
  • Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 172 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
    Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00; 1min rest
  • Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00, 173 HR; 1min rest, 173 HR
    Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00; 1min rest
  • Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00, 176 HR; 3min rest, 169 HR
    Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00; 3min rest
  • Tempo effort: 20:00, 171 HR
    Tempo effort: 20:00
  • Cool down + Sprint to 646 W: 5:20, 160 HR
    Cool down + Sprint to 673 W: 5min or so

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

It's Business Time


It was all fun and business for Catherine and me while running yesterday. We got in a good 6 miles and a good chat, and it was perfect weather. We didn't get rained on, only ran through a couple puddles, explored new paths at Jim Warren Park, and enjoyed the evening. Today was supposed to be my rest day, but that obviously didn't happen. Hopefully my legs are ready to ride tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity V

I am so proud of Valerie. Just wanted to start with that. She rode strong today and it was fun to see.

Class today looked like this. It was hard in a good way. The tempo efforts would have been challenging by themselves, but split up by the spin-ups and including 1-leg drills in the middle made them that much more of a challenge (oh, and the nice run yesterday). I loved it.


1-10-12

  • Total ride time: 1:40:50, 164 HR (184 max)
  • Warm up: 12:30, 131 HR
  • Real warm up: 17:00, 166 HR; 2min rest, 171 HR
  • 1-leg drills: 4:00, 173 HR; 3min rest, 174 HR
  • Tempo effort: 19:00, 173 HR (included 2 sets of 1-leg drills); 4min rest, 162 HR
  • Spin-up to 105–110: 3:00, 172 HR; 1min rest, 171 HR
  • Spin-up to 110–115: 3:00, 173 HR; 1min rest, 173 HR
  • Spin-up to 115–130: 3:00, 176 HR; 3min rest, 169 HR
  • Tempo effort: 20:00, 171 HR
  • Cool down + Sprint: 5:20, 160 HR

I did not want to complete my training for the day with 5 minutes of work, but I did as much of the workout as I could remember (I left my list at home but at least knew what it was): Lunge L (1:35, better than the 1:18 last week) R (1:20, only slightly better than the 1:18 last week), standing ham, curl, bench, crunch. I could not bring myself to do wall sit and push up.

PS. I knew it had been a hard workout when 10 stairs into my 4-flight (100-stair) trek to my office, my legs were already tired.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Hard Run

Catherine and I ended up not meeting to run tonight, but I still wanted to get in a good run. So despite being a little tired from the 10×30sec at lunch, I hit the tready for 60 minutes of running. My goal was to get in 7 miles during that time, and I hit that goal. I started out at 6.8 mph and set my timer for 8 minutes (to get me into the 8-minute mode, since that's my current mile goal for long runs inside). Every 8 minute for 24 minutes, I increased the pace until I got to 7.1 mph, an approximately 8:27 pace (which is just slower than a 3:40 marathon, my Boston qualifying time if I were aiming for that). Then, every 8 minutes, I decided whether the increase the pace, increase or decrease the incline, or keep everything the same. I kept everything the same and it was not easy, but it sure was rewarding when I finished!

Next time, I'll have to start at 6.9 and still increase 3 times or start at 6.8 and increase 4 times. The whole 8-minute thing worked really well for me--it broke down the run into manageable chunks, and it kept me focused on the task at hand. I do feel a little bad for the people who were running next to me, though, since I encouraged myself the entire time by talking out loud to myself. I didn't have anyone else there to motivate me, so I did it myself. Sorry, folks, but there will likely be more of the same in runs to come.

Lunch Workout

I managed to get in a full (hard!) workout at lunch today—not driving to the Y gives me so much more time! This is a hard one, and the little note Will left on this one when he first wrote it for me a couple years ago was "Ignore any discomfort." I didn't so much ignore it as I tried to focus on something else—like riding or running fast—and that helped so much. It's all about focus. And with some of my goals in mind, I was able to accomplish the entire thing.

Speaking of goals, I guess I'd better get to posting mine for 2012. I've made some good ones and can't wait to share a few!

10×30sec

  • Lunge R, L
  • Standing ham (no glute ham stand here at the office)
  • Wall sit
  • Wall push up (hands off the wall for reps)
  • Curl (1.5lb dumbbells—no real weights here, either)
  • Crate crunch

Marathon Entry Giveaway!

(Not me, but SkinnyRunner)

One of my new favorite blogs to read is SkinnyRunner. I think it's because she's a real person running fast, not a pro athlete being paid to run, eat, sleep, and recover. It's encouraging because it gives me a little hope that some day I might actually get to be a fast runner.

Today SR is doing a giveaway for one of her readers to win an entry to the Arizona marathon in February. Read about it and enter here.

Here are some of the other blogs that would be on my blogroll if I had one:

Bree Wee, pro triathlete
Hillary Biscay, pro triathlete
Linsey Corbin, pro triathlete*
Jamie Whitmore, pro XTerra triathlete
I Heart Publix
I Heart Kroger
Passionate Penny Pincher

That's all for now. I'm sure there are other great reads out there, I just haven't found them yet. What blogs do you read?

*Edited to add this blog.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Broken Chain

Posters and Christmas decorations
Michelle gave me some sweet Trek posters for Christmas, so I got to work putting a few of them up on my walls. They make for some entertaining decoration!

Then I went to the Concord Y to meet Parri, Anna, and Val for a short ride before our team ride. We were planning on riding about an hour, but 20 minutes in, Anna's chain broke. Val and Parri headed back to get a car, and Anna and I started walking back toward the Y. We had a little adventure over some railroad tracks and through people's yards, and surprisingly no one stopped to see whether we needed anything. No, it's not normal for people to be walking their bikes. We made it a mile before Parri picked us up, and we went back to the Y to wait for the rest of the crew. Total ride time: 22:46, 5.47 miles, 14.4 mph (25.7 max), 119 HR (175 max). Total walk time: 18:02, 1.12 miles, 16:06 pace (13:51 best), 119 HR (146 max).

Ride out, walk back
David and Lee, Catherine, Shelly, and Cali met us there, David put a new chain on Anna's bike, and we hit the road again. It felt colder even though it was supposed to have been warmer, but that could be because we'd ridden, stopped, walked, stopped, and started riding again.

We were hoping to ride 2 hours, but we made it back to the trail in 1:42. We'll have to add more miles somewhere or ride slower, and I'm pretty sure the "ride slower" things isn't going to happen. I was cold pretty much the entire ride and went into the Y for some quality hot tub time after the ride. If it had been warmer out I'd have ridden, and if no one had been in the pool I'd have swam, but the hot tub sure felt nice! Total ride time: 1:51:40, 32.54 miles, 17.5 mph (35.5 max), 149 HR (190 max).

Team Ride

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Spray

No, these are not super hairy legs
It was very wet and dirty on the roads!
This is where our route went
These are the two categorized climbs: One on
Natchez Trace and one on  New Hwy 96

It was quite wet this morning, and instead of joining a group of people we didn't know, Shelly, Parri, Anna, and I hit the road early enough for me to be done and showered by 11am. Woohoo! It wasn't the fastest ride, but there were definitely some times where we keeping a good, steady tempo pace. Mostly when Parri was pushing the pace. I definitely need to ride with her as often as possible—she will push me hard every time.

After church, I headed to the Y to do my 3×30sec heavy workout. I'd hoped to run too, but I didn't have a towel with me so I didn't. Maybe tomorrow.

Total ride time: 2:11:13, 36.28 miles, 16.6 mph (34.0 max), 152 HR (186 max).

Friday, January 6, 2012

Fun Run


I had time for only a run today, even though it was BEAUTIFUL and would have been a perfect day for a nice long ride. But I couldn't leave Tigger (who I'm watching for the weekend) home all day, so I didn't stay gone forever. Plus we had a team meeting at night and I had to spend some time at home with him.

I ran 1.25 miles with Tigger, brought him home, then ran another 4 or so. It was a good run. I also had time for a 10×10sec (2 sets) workout before our meeting and dinner. We discussed a race plan, a proposed schedule for the season, and a few goals for the team. Then we went to dinner at Pie in the Sky. Here's some encouragement from their menu:

Dream Big...Real Big

Thursday, January 5, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity IV

I wasn't able to get in a workout early today, which means tomorrow will probably be a hard day. But I'm ready for it.

Shelly and I were in Todd's class tonight (with another 8 people), and it was a good hard workout. It was the same workout as Tuesday, and I did better today than then. First, I increased my sprint wattage from 638 to 699. My goal had been 700, and even though I didn't hit that number I'm increasing my goal for next week to 715. I can totally do it. My max (that I've recorded and can find) had been 681 from April 28, 2011, so this is evidently a new best for me. Shelly and I both thought that we'd reached around 750, and maybe we did, but I don't have it written down anywhere. So this is my new best to beat!

I had fully charged my Garmin, but I forgot it. I had a little HR data from the Polar monitor, but it just isn't very reliable for me, so I rarely looked at it except to realize that my HR was consistently about 15 BPM higher than Shelly's I guess since she has 15 years on me, that's OK, right?


1-03-12
1-05-12

  • Total Ride: 1:45:00
  • Warm up
    Warm up: 13:15 + 21:45; 3min rest
  • Single-leg drills: 4min; 3min rest
    Single-leg drills: 4min; 3min rest
  • Spin-ups to 105, 110, and 115: 3:30 each, 2 or 2:30 rest
    Spin-ups to 105, 110, and 115: 3:30 each, 2 or 2:30 rest
  • Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle: 15min, 4min rest
    Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle: 15min, 4min rest
  • Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle: 15min, 4min rest
    Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle: 15min, 4min rest
  • Spin-up to 110: 2:30
    Spin-up to 110: 2:30
  • Sprint (to 638)
    Sprint (to 699)
  • Cool down
    Cooldown: 3:00

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Wrenching

You can't take this on an airplane
I made two trips to the airport today: one to drop people off, and another to pick up something they'd left: the foot-long wrench in the picture above. It was somehow hidden in Lauren's bag, but the bag scanner machine (and the guys behind it) found it and wouldn't let her take it with her. Imagine that!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

CompuTrainer Class: Aerobic Capacity III

My Garmin's batteries are dead, so I have no time stats and no HR data. Sad. The workout looked something like this, and I got to 638 in the sprint at the end.


1-03-12


  • Warm up
  • Single-leg drills
  • Spin-ups to 105, 110, and 115
  • Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle
  • Tempo work with single-leg drills in the middle
  • Spin-up to 110
  • Sprint (to 638)
  • Cool down

Monday, January 2, 2012

Quiet Day at the Office

This is the emptiest I've seen our parking lot in the daylight
Today is supposedly a holiday, but our company is open and about half of us are in the office. It turns out that we are the only people in the entire building, which I would never know unless I went outside, which I did (despite the ridiculous wind).

I was supposed to run with Catherine this afternoon, but we pushed it to later in the week when it is supposed to be warmer and much less windy. Instead, I will finish my 5 on, 5 off thru 40 workout (in totally random order) and possible run on the TM.


  • Pull up
  • Standing ham
  • Wall squat
  • Dip
  • Push up
  • Lunge on crates
  • 1-leg squat
  • Curl
  • Crunch