Video Time!

While the events are out of order on this one, and the ending leaves you saying, "that's it?" I was awestruck by the shot that begins about 40 seconds into this video. I could watch that over and over again.

Dear Mr. Road and Mrs. Trail, I've Missed You

Dear Mr. Road and Mrs. Trail,

I've missed you.

For a couple months I had to visit your distant cousins - the Treadmill twins and Ms. Stationary Bike. It was boring being inside every day with them.

But today I got to visit with you both. The sun was shining and the temperature was in the upper 50s. And for an hour and 45 minutes my bike and I sped along with you, Mr. Road, towards Georgetown and back. And right after that I spent an energizing 30 minutes with you, Mrs. Trail. You were a bit soggy in parts but overall your soft crushed limestone was a welcome feeling beneath my feet.

I can't wait to spend many more days with you like this.

P.S. Tell Grandpa Wind to take a hike. He made the first hour of my ride more difficult than it should have been. Please remind him I don't like wind!

Change of Scenery

I made a smart decision to not let life get in the way yesterday (see several January posts.) I had a meeting at the Dover Y and realized that if I came back to the office immediately after the meeting, I'd probably get sidetracked by a million other issues so I got my run workout in before I left Dover.

It was a good run and nice to have a change of scenery. As I was on the treadmill, I also thought how nice it was that no one knew me there so no one would be interrupting my session with wanting to talk to me about a class or piece of equipment or any other problem as so often happens when I train at my own Y. (Why don't people understand that when you're working out you're not "on the clock" or if they do understand that, why don't they respect it?)

Anyway, yay for me for making a good decision and working on that "life getting in the way" issue.

Bike HR Test Set

A month ago my coach performed a running heart rate test set to set my heart rate training zones. It involved running on a treadmill at progressively faster speeds an checking my heart rate at regular intervals.

Yesterday we did a bike test set with essentially the same concept. We set my bike up on a Computrainer, did a bunch of calibrations (which I didn't understand but I guess I didn't need to), and then went at it. We set the tension to a particular wattage and I rode at 18mph for three minutes, again checking my heart rate every minute. After two minutes rest, we upped the wattage. We did this about six times until we got up to 300 watts and I couldn't hold 18mph for more than a minute.

The best part about the session was that I got to ride my bike to and from my coach's house. It was only two miles each way, but it was the first time since last summer I'd been on my bike outside. Yes, it was chilly (windchill of 21) but it felt great!

New Phase

I received my second four weeks of training sessions from Kevin yesterday. I'm now past the "Pre-Base" phase and into the "Base" phase. It looks like I'm going to be training about 10-11 hours each week, with a six-hour recovery week.

This past week was a relatively good one. I was able to get in nine of the 11 workouts and had a pretty decent swim on Saturday. Meyer video taped my swimming so I can start pinpointing things to correct to make me more efficient (read: faster.)

My mental state is pretty good too. I'm healthy and feeling like this is not so overwhelming.

This is going to be a good month.

Define "Short"

This morning's run was a short one. At least that's how I viewed it. My training plan calls for two "recovery" workouts today - one run and one swim. So I got the run done early. I can remember a time when I considered going this distance a "long" run and as recently as last year I would have considered it a medium run at best.

Funny how our perceptions change as we get better at something.

Stopping Sucks, But...

Yesterday I had to stop in the middle of my run because of shin pain. I didn't want to but I did.

Now I just got home from a 60-minute run that felt really good. I mean REALLY good. I have to wonder what I'd be feeling like right now if I hadn't stopped yesterday.

Stopping still sucks, but right now I'm glad I did.

Stopping Sucks

Several times in the past few days, the notion of "it hurts but I'll just work through it" has come up. It came up twice in consultations I did and once in a general conversation with a member at the Y. All of these people who tended to ignore pain and work through it are or used to be runners.

So it was a little weird during my run on the treadmill today when I started having some shin pain. I haven't experienced this in a while and it was a little surprising. When my shins gave me trouble during my marathon training, I worked through it and it usually went away after a few minutes. About 10 minutes into my run today, that ol' familiar feeling hit - and hit quite hard. I decided to run through it since I was only doing 40 minutes total. By minute 17 the pain still had not subsided and actually had gotten worse. So I stopped.

I know I probably did the right thing and am avoiding potential injury, but there's no doubt about it...

Stopping sucks.

Back On Track

I just got home from a run at the gym. My heart rate monitor wasn't working, but I was able to run by "feel" and complete a decent run. It felt good to be doing what I am supposed to be doing!

Video Time!

This is a good reminder to me to not let life get in the way.

Life Gets In The Way

For nearly the past week, I've completely sluffed off on my training. Bad timing with an "electric issue" at the Y pool pre-empted a swim workout. A long weekend trip to New Orleans, while a lot of fun, sabotaged several potentially good workouts. And a staff meeting tonight that ran 30 minutes over what it should have prevented another swim workout (because the pool closed before I could get in it.)

Lately life has been getting in the way of my workouts and I need to change that. Luckily this has been a recovery week so the workouts that I would have done were planned to be less intense (and there were fewer planned.) While I can't stop working (I'd hate to give up those creature comforts like eating and sleeping in a bed) I can change my training schedule.

So New Year's resolution #2 - since I've already broken #1 by letting 10 days slip by without a post - is to start getting up earlier to get my workouts in before I do anything else. I'm not going to let life get in my way.

Favorite Ads

Given my swimming focus this past week, this ad seemed appropriate. It's been posted above my desk at home for a long time.

Cooking vs. Baking

Cooks take a recipe, add a little more of this, subtract a little of that, and change it to suit their tastes.

Bakers take a recipe and do it exactly as it is stated. Change one minor thing, and you can create a disaster.

Cooking is art. Baking is science.

I'm a baker.

And that's why I like the approach my coach is taking to my training. My run this morning was so much more enjoyable for me because it was an "exact" thing. After doing a heart rate test set yesterday, the coach was able to provide me with my training zones based on my estimated maximum heart rate (which we figured out was about 199bpm.) So today I got on the treadmill to warm up for a few minutes in Zone 1, followed by about 25 minutes in Zone 2, and 20 minutes in Zone 3 (essentially increasing my heart rate over the course of the workout.)

It was great! I simply set a pace and monitored my heart rate. When it wasn't high enough, I increased the speed. When it got too high, I decreased the speed. It felt good to complete a workout, exactly as the coach had prescribed, and still feel good afterwards.

I'm heading back to the gym in a couple hours to do a swim workout, which, after a discussion with the coach yesterday, is more realistic than originally planned. He graciously altered all of my swim workouts for the next 3 weeks to be challenging yet match my current swimming level.

Things are looking up for this baker!

Dealing with Reality

I'm gathering my stuff together to head back to work to get a good swim workout in before finishing the rest of the afternoon.

After my no-swim workout debacle on Tuesday, I had to come to grips that I'm not - at least for now - going to be able to do what my coach wants me to do in the water. It's ok - at least for now.

Today I'm going to get in the water, try my best, and work on my technique. My workout probably will be nothing like the 2,400 yards I'm supposed to be doing, but that doesn't matter - at least for now.

The important thing is that I'm getting in the water, I'm working what I need to, and I'm not letting my own self-doubts get in the way.

I had a good bike workout yesterday morning (I hadn't moved quite so quickly at 6am in a long time) and I'm going to have a good swim workout today.

I'm going to fix the things that I suck at - at least for now.

Psyched Out

I got my first four weeks of my training program today. My first thought was, "alright, this is going to be hardcore and will put me in the best condition of my life."

Then reality set in.

I'm not a strong swimmer. In fact, I'm not even a good swimmer. I've been working on my technique but I know I have a very long way to go before I'm even remotely efficient in the water. So when I saw my swim workout for today, I realized that the distance was more than twice what I'd been doing lately and that I was supposed to time myself for several parts of it. (And this was all after doing a running workout today.)

I panicked.

I completely psyched myself out to the point of being sick. I feared not being able to do the workout. I feared having to tell my new coach that I couldn't do what he wanted me to do. My fear got the better of me.

I'm dreading having to tell this to my coach. It's only my first week and I've already let him down. Worse, I've already let myself down.

I feel like crap.

I have to make tomorrow different.