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.

Meet Kevin

Meet Kevin. Kevin is my new coach. He's the one who had me fill out 10 pages of information about me, my racing history, training strengths and weaknesses (as I see them), and even my mental state - not quite sure how I scored on that last one!

Kevin is a certified USAT Level II Coach and an experienced triathlete and duathlete. He was the USA National Champion duathlete in 2003 and runner up in 2006. At one point in 2006 he was ranked 2nd in the world. He's completed a number of Ironmans which will be a big benefit to me.

Kevin and I had our first official meeting yesterday afternoon, and nine hours later he had my first four weeks of training put together based on our conversation and all of the information I'd provided to him.

I'm sure I'll have lots to report since I now have 10 workouts to complete between now and Sunday. Yeah, that's 10 workouts in six days.

He's also having me do a food log, which I really don't like to do. I recommend them to a lot of people so I know I need to do it every now and then. I don't mind writing down everything I eat. It's the searching for nutrition information on everything. Anyone know the nutritional breakdown of the 20 grape tomatoes I just had on a salad?

So with the first month's training program and food log in hand, I now feel that the real work has officially begun. Whee!

Sunday Afternoon Ride Time

On the suggestion of one of the other Spinning instructors (and cycling enthusiasts) at the Y, I implemented an new thing at the Y - Sunday Afternoon Ride Time. Members can bring their own bikes and trainers or use one of the Y's Spinner bikes, and ride for 90 minutes in the group fitness studio. Just an extra way to get time on the bike during the winter months.

Today was the first Sunday Afternoon Ride Time. Liz and I were the only ones there, and William joined in for about 30 minutes. It felt good to simply ride without having to lead a class and focus on what everyone else is doing.

Hopefully there'll be more people there next Sunday.

Happy New Year

This year I resolve to not let a week and a half go by between blog posts!

I've been getting more time in the pool lately. And I'm starting to get some help with my technique. I have that nasty habit of letting my hips and legs drop. It's going to take a lot of work for me to correct this, but once I do it'll make a huge difference in my swimming efficiency.

I managed to get a run in during my Christmas trip to Milwaukee and Chicago. It was too cold for an outdoor run so I got on the treadmill at a YMCA in Chicago (and was thankful for the equipment quality and atmosphere of my own Y.)

I'm psyched for the new year and the new adventure ahead!

In the Pool

It's been a couple weeks since my last post -- primarily because I haven't had much to talk about. I've been, as was recommended, keeping ative and in shape without doing any real training.

I've gotten back in the weight room a couple times and kept up with teaching my regular BodyFlex class and Spinning class. I've also spent more time in the pool at the Y.

Boy, am I going to need help there! I'm working on increasing my endurance in the water, but I've got a long way to go. Brett, the Y's aquatics director, and I couldn't get our schedules to mesh for her to help me with my technique as we had planned. This is something we've got to do right after the first of the year.

For now, I'm just plodding along. This morning I plan on taking my first yoga class and tonight I'm teaching a "Christmas Carol" Spinning class (the remixed Bing Crosby First Noel is a killer.) I'll get one more time in the pool before heading to sunny, warm Wisconsin (he said, dripping with sarcasm) for Christmas. But I've already located a YMCA to get a workout in on the day after Christmas - something I never would have done a year ago!

Congratulations Andy!

A HUGE congratulations to my friend Andy, who just did Ironman Western Australia and beat his personal best by an hour and 40 minutes! Awesome! You are the man....um, make that the Ironman!

Back At It...and Exhausted

Having fully recovered from the marathon, I figured this week I'd get back in the swing of things, and stay active. I'd been advised to keep in shape through December but not do any real "training."

Well, I was a slacker for the first half of the week, but made up for it the past two days.

Yesterday I taught my usual 8:00am BodyFlex class at the Y. I hadn't taught in a few weeks so I stayed light on my own weights but leading 4 minutes of squats right off the bat did a number on my legs later in the day. Then I was looking forward to teaching my usual Spinning class, but because (a) it has gotten cold out and all the cyclists wanted to ride indoors or (b) my class is so darn popular (I prefer to believe the latter) there were so many people in class I gave up my bike and taught from the floor.

Yesterday afternoon I finally hit the weights after a far-too-long absence. I pretty much did a full-body minus legs workout and, of course, am paying the price today.

Not content to leave any part of my body less than exhausted, Meyer and I went swimming this morning. It was my first time in the pool since I can't remember when. I'm pooped and am ready for a long nap!

But it sure feels good!

Favorite Ads

If you flip through running or triathlon magazines, you'll find some really interesting or inspiring or well written or funny ads. (Sometimes they are all of the above.) So occasionally I'm going to share my favorites. Here's one that I read, and re-read, and re-read before running the marathon two weeks ago. Since the text is probably too small to read, this is what it says:

"If you ran without sacrifice, congratulations. You just jogged. Running hurts. It always has. Woolly mammoths didn't just roll over onto a plate and serve themselves up to prehistoric man with fries and a shake. They had to be caught - and running down woolly mammoths was a bitch. Guess what? Running is still a bitch. But one with a purpose. It teaches us that good things do not come easy. It teaches us that we are capable of more than we think. It teaches us that hard work will be rewarded and laziness will be punished. Don't expect to learn those life lessons from running's shiftless stepchild, jogging. Next time you suffer on the roads or trails, suffer proudly. It means you run like an animal."

I love stuff like this!

Video Time!

NBC shouldn't tease us like this. I know where I'll be the afternoon of Dec. 13...on the couch watching!