Awesooooome Day

I had a great, albeit exhausting day today!  We had a fantastic lab in school, but it did entail 6 hrs of concentration and standing, which isn't too physically demanding, but it sure is mentally draining.   To try to get back into study mode for my upcoming mid-term and anatomy final, I decided to go for a quick, easy swim.  On my way out, I met up with a friend who also does triathlons and he decided to join me.

Soon...too soon    : / 

I haven't swum with someone aside from my sisters in eons, so going in it was nice to have someone to workout with.  Once we were actually in the pool, I realized that having someone to swim with is GREAT!  Although my swim turned out to be an actual work out, it was awesome to have someone push me to swim harder and faster the whole workout: from the beginning warm up to the end warm down.  The workout also went a whole lot faster with someone to talk to in between sets!

We did: 500 warm up, 4x200 (odds drill/swim by 25s, evens swim), 4x50 kick on 1:10 (I barely made any of these), 50 butterfly kick on our back, 100 easy, 10x50 on 1:05 (1-5 and 6-10 descending), 250 warm down.  Total: 2400

Although the yardage is a little less than what I've been trying to do for every swim workout, I am definitely more tired than I usually am after most of my swim workouts.  This just teaches me that I need to start pushing myself harder and swimming faster, even if it's not a sprint set!

Race recovery

To echo Amanda's latest post, we had a great, if extremely cold, half-marathon on Sunday! I was quite pleased with our 8:10/mile pace, and while I was definitely sore yesterday and this morning, I learned from Amanda that I can be a bit more aggressive with my out-going pace on longer runs that I have been.  I tend to start them out very conservatively and then when I am halfway, start to turn it on, but I can clearly be more aggressive, as I felt like I was really moving for the first 6 miles on Sunday, and was able to still finish strong, as we almost even-split the race.  Truth be told, some of that might have been due to the cold.  I have a feeling our first mile was the slowest, as by the time the gun went off, even though we had only been waiting around from 10-15 minutes, my toes were truly NUMB.

Not us.

But as far as pacing goes, Amanda is the opposite, or at least so she says.  She tends to take it out too aggressively and really die at the end, so us racing together was a good learning experience for us both! I think a lot of my soreness is from the mini fartlek's we were doing in the beginning to zip around people, as well as all the clenching we did in the beginning at at the end of the race as we scooted back to our room at NYC, clutching our space blankets, bagels and frozen apples.  Also, I didn't hydrate very much during the race, since the water was ice water (or frozen) and I didn't want to get my already freezing hands wet! Or my face! I was really jealous of all the people who had those big balaclavas over their faces.  I brought a neck gaiter to wear in the beginning, but ended up taking it off after 4 miles, as then I was just getting sweaty on my neck while still being cold everywhere else!

After the race, I swam a bit with the hubs (like, about 500 yards verrry slowly) and then got in the hot tub and sauna for a bit to stretch and continue warming back up.  I did a real swim with the NYAC tri club on Monday night, which felt great and definitely helped move any last bit of soreness out of my legs.  Today, I was a bit stiff in the morning when I woke up in my calves but did a nice hour-long spin on the trainer.   I did some interval work, and then some serious stretching afterwords.  I think I will be 100% tomorrow and ready to keep back at it! I think Amanda and I will have a great running base built up by the time the weather gets warm and we can kick it in to gear with the biking, which is going to be our biggest hurdle for the Iron Man, as it is definitely our weakest link of the three, and also the longest segment by FAR.   If we can drop in 15-18+ mile runs no problem by early spring time, I feel like we'll be in great shape to start building up our base on the rides, and focus on running off the bike, too.

The Half Marathon Freeze!

As I'm sure many of you know, Jessica and I ran the NYRR Manhattan half marathon yesterday morning.  Overall, it was a very fun trip for me (and hopefully Jessica), as I got to go back up to NYC and relax a bit from school.  Jessica and I were a little worried all week about the weather, as it has been frigid, blustery, and snowy all week in both NYC and DC, but when we woke up on Sunday morning it was actually sunny!

Post race clothes shed and then
an immediate fight for the hot shower

This past week neither Jessica nor I did much exercise because on top of our busy work and school schedules, we caught a nasty little cold, and this continued on into the weekend.  On Friday and Saturday day, we both relaxed and slept in, in an attempt to recover from our colds.  We also wanted to sleep a lot on Saturday night, but we both suffered from nerves induced insomnia and over hydration, so we had a very interrupted/short sleep.  

But like I said, on Sunday morning it was sunny and we were momentarily excited that it might be above freezing for the race.  Unfortunately, we were duped and the whole race was a freezing cold 19 degrees.   During the actual running part of the race, the 19 degrees wasn't too bad, but before the race, while waiting in the corrals, and after the race, walking back, the 19 degrees was absolutely, positively horrendous.  I'm pretty sure after that walk back, I am incapable of getting warm again.

In terms of the actual race, Jessica and I ran the whole thing together, and we were pretty pleased with our time: 1:47:51, which means we held around a 8:10 mile pace the whole time.  We probably could've been a little faster (or at least Jessica could've), but I had to stop for a quick bathroom break within the first 3 miles (apparently my bladder is minuscule :(  ) and my knee was acting up the last couple miles, so I couldn't give a good finishing kick in the end.   Regardless of me holding Jessica back, we decided that an 8:10 pace is respectable for this race, what with the frigid weather, our sickliness, and the hilly course (damn you Harlem Hill!!).

All in all, this was a very fun and successful race!  Additionally, this race has fueled our fire for IMAZ and other training races, and we are currently looking for our next one...although hopefully it will be somewhere warm!  

Staying on track in the cold

While Amanda dominated her training this weekend, I was not quite as adept as she at getting out on that unexpectedly warm Sunday and doing a brick.  I had committed to doing a 12 mile run come hell or high water, and so that's what I did, and carried a fleece beanie in my hand the whole time, since I didn't realize how warm it was until I was a few miles in.

And then as soon as the warmth was here, it was gone.  It is now a balmy 22 degrees here in Brooklyn, and due to some work commitments, I wasn't able to do my usual Monday-night swim with my NYAC teammates, but got in a solid 90 minutes on the trainer and was as aggressive as I have ever been on the trainer, workout and interval-repeat wise.  Thank goodness I have some old seasons of Project Runway downloaded on to my laptop and Sasha was zonked out after chasing some squirrels that must have been low on nuts earlier this afternoon (why else would they leave their warm dens and venture out in this cold!?), so I didn't start to get bored after an hour.

Now that Amanda and I have MATCHING Cervelos, we are comparing notes on some random fit issues and how it feels to be in aero and shifting up and down from that position.  I still feel like I have to yank it when I am in the highest/lowest gears...or else my finger flicks just aren't strong enough yet! 

This guy is becoming my steady companion now that the temperature is in the mid-20's!

Also, I don't have a bike computer installed yet on my Cervelo (Amanda is bringing me one this weekend when she comes to visit me in NYC for the half-marathon on Sunday, yay!), so I don't know how many miles or RPMs, but I know deep down when I'm falling off my cadence and did my damnedest not to fall off when in the higher gears or getting tired in the later intervals.

Here was my workout:

20 minute warmup

10 x 30 seconds hard in high gear, 30 seconds rest, low gear

3 minute recovery/easy spin, 2 minute build back up

10 x 1 minute hard in high gear, 1 minute rest, low gear

5 minute recover/easy spin/back stretch-out

15 minute strong, keeping cadevnce steady in a higher/harder gear.  Not so hard I'm over-gearing, but 1/2 gears below.  Still high enough though that it is tough to maintain my cadence after a few minutes.

5 minute recovery

5 x 20 seconds fast spin, 40 recovery

10 minutes steady, 5 minute cool-down.

I was really burning in the ol' thighs at the end, and I'll defintiely need to get some new ideas (and a computer) as I try and up it to 2 hours.  I have a feeling it will be a while until it is warm-enough again for me to bike outside, so will have to content myself with the trainer, and hopefully I can get a session in early in the morning (when my husband is also awake, as it is loud enough that it would wake him up in our apartment) and then a run during the afternoon, before it gets dark/too cold. 

A GREAT Week!

This past week has been fantastic for me!  I got some good workouts in, including a 3500 swim workout, a  12 mile run, and a BRICK workout today.  Hopefully with these workouts I'll be slightly prepared for the half marathon this weekend in NYC.

Ignore my unmade bed in the background and focus on my BEAUTIFUL bike!

BUT!!  The big part of my week was buying my new Cervelo P2!  I bought it on Tuesday, got it fitted Friday, and rode it Saturday and today.  Saturday wasn't really a workout, but I learned how to get through all the gears, and FINALLY learned how to only unclip one foot to stop.  I am getting closer and closer to becoming a real cyclist!  My BRICK workout today was pretty short, since I did need to get my ass to the library to study this afternoon, but I did bike 25 miles and ran 6 miles, and I actually enjoyed almost every second of it.  The whole bike I'm sure I was grinning like an idiot and the whole run I just thought about how awesome my bike is...in fact, I'm still grinning like an idiot now in the library :)

I'm hoping that this excitement over my new bike never ends, as it is motivating me to get out and cycle...it also helps that a ton of people have complemented how "sweet" my bike is.  It was fantastic when I first brought my Cervelo home, took it out of my car, and two of my neighbors (both do triathlons) immediately complimented it.

What a FANTASTIC week!

Did 12 miles in the park today...

...not bad for a Tuesday, and then I even met our library rep for a beer. I hogged the entire bowl of "bar popcorn" but whatever.  I felt great on the run! Even tried to negative split it.  The hardest part of the whole thing was honestly the fact that my HANDS were FREEZING after the first 15 minutes, and I was already wearing gloves AND mittens!

Swimming, biking and lots of running

The freakishly warm weekend allowed both me and Amanda to take our bikes back outside.  She was quite ballsy and cranked out 50 miles!  I stuck with Prospect Park loops ad nauseam, combined with some runs afterwords, but during the riding portions in the park, I really tried to become more and more comfortable in aero on my Cervlo, which was easier said than done, since the park was relatively crowded due to the warm-ish day, and I kept popping back up in to the break bars, worried about random people running out in front of me, etc. but I kept at it loop after loop, and really tried to stay in them, especially for the one big hill, to get used to shifting in that position and as Amanda discovered on her ride, too, having to truly use just your legs in isolation.

Hold that position!

On my runs I felt great, but was not logging in more than 5 miles on any of them, and what with a half marathon coming up in just two weeks, tomorrow I am doing two loops in Central Park no matter what! I don't want to loose the great run conditioning I built up training for the NYC marathon, and so it will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow on that second loop and then I can gauge what I need to do between now and the 27th a bit better.  Amanda and I both plan on running this half marathon "tired" but we're anal enough that we want to do it well, too, and not just struggle through it!

Today, I was back in the pool with the NYAC tri club for our weekly swim workout, for a total of 3,000 which felt great, but I plan on limiting my swimming to just these Mondays so that I can keep focusing on building up my running and of course the biking, which will be mostly on the trainer now that the weather is going back to chilly, but once it starts to warm up, off to Nyak and 9W I will need to go! 

Wait for it...

...I biked 50 miles today!!!  My quads are continuously cramping and I might pass out at any minute, but it was worth it.  I did two "loops" along the Rock Creek Park trail from Veirs Mill Park all the way down to the National Zoo.  It's not a bad loop to do on the weekends because much of the roads are closed to cars on Saturday and Sunday.  I've only been training for triathlons prior to this, so the most I've ever biked is a little over 26 miles. Needless to say, I'm pretty pleased with myself, although the back half, and especially the last quarter, I was so slow...in fact, I'm sure runners could have passed me and I almost wept with joy when I finally got back to my car.

Maybe this will be me one day

I also tried to use my aero bars as much as possible, at least until the end, and I've realized how much practice I'm going to need with them before I can be any sort of efficient.  Additionally, while I was living in NYC last year, I was cycling the Central Park loop, and some very nice man told me to stop biking with my back so much.  Until he said that I'd never noticed how much I compensate for my legs with my back.  Since then I have really tried not to use my back muscles, but after using my aero bars for more than 2 seconds today, I realize that I have failed.  When in aero position you can really only use your leg muscles, which is good, but it is not I feeling I have ever really experienced prior to this ride....whoooooops.

Ah well, this ride showed me a lot of things 1. I need to actually use my legs when I bike (who would've thought?), and 2. I CAN bike over 25 miles without dying and 3. I need stock up on an Advil stash stat.

Pacework on a crammed schedule

I was hoping to take advantage of the warm day yesterday to log in at least 8, perhaps even 10 miles in Central Park, but since people would not. stop. calling. me. (or screwing up what they were supposed to have completed two days ago for that matter) I was WAY behind schedule and had dinner plans but was determined to get a run in and had left my gear at NYAC (near central park) on purpose.  By the time I got out of the office, up to NYAC, and changed, I had literally 30 minutes to run, and then 10 minutes to get back to the locker-room, change (no shower, just a towel-off), and be back outside getting on the subway. 

Quick like a Bunny! But not a morning pug (or person for that matter)

Sadly, the 6 mile loop is not possible for me in 30 minutes...if it were, I would be happily living large off my endorsements!  But could I bang out 4? Off I go (sans hat so I wouldn't get my hair sweaty and thus hide the fact that I had not showered once at dinner....vanity! vanity!), pounding it out as fast as I could. 

'Round the loop I go, and holding steady 7:25 pace, wheeling back through the doors of NYAC and into the locker room with almost a minute to spare.  How a four-mile hard factors in to my over all Iron Man training scheme I'll never know, but sometimes it is all about the small victories and just getting something, anything, in when the real world is closing in around you.  Plus, even though I was definitely pushing my pace, I still felt in control the entire time and never like I was about to die or fall severely off.  

And yet, while this is all very well and good, it just reinforces the notion that once I hit the start of my formal training plan at around the 7 month mark, all workouts must be taken care of in the morning during the week, with few exceptions.  There is just too much that crops up during the day that encroaches on a late-afternoon/p.m. workout, especially once I factor in travel time and the fact that my actual workout time is going to get longer and longer.   Time to start getting in better habits now!  I am NOT a morning person, so there will be some grumpiness in the future, but nothing coffee can't fix.  You'd think that all those years of early-morning swim practices since the age of 15 would have fixed this, but I actually think it has made me crave sleeping in even MORE!

Big Beginnings

It has been a big beginning of the year for both Jessica and me!  So far (8 days in!), we've been working out consistently AND finishing good workouts. Yay!  Although I'm pretty sure I will never be able to complete sets on a 1:15 interval even if my life depended on it, I had an excellent swim today and a pretty good run yesterday.  I ran a solid 12 miles down Old Georgetown and Rockville Pike and swam 2 miles today.  As I'm sitting here in the library trying to learn about reading ECGs, I can feel how these two workouts have exhausted me, so I must be a little out of shape (whoooops!).  My triceps are sore, my hamstrings keep cramping, and my quads are getting tired with me just sitting here.

My run was uneventful, I guess you can't have a fun one every time, but I did get to time how long it takes me to get to school from my condo...just in case I am ever motivated to run to school before my classes start at 0730. Yeah right. But after that run I at least know I can do the half marathon Jessica and I spontaneously signed up for at the end of January.

I wish my runs were this scenic

My swim was actually good.  I swim 3200 yards and it didn't take me eight thousand years to do it!  I warmed up with 1000, did 2x (100 sprint, 200 kick, 200 IM, 200 pull, 100 sprint, 50 easy), and then did a 500 warm down.  Although the water was a soupy 80 degrees, I felt great in the water.  In fact, I even think my technique was pretty decent.  I've been working on evenly breathing to either side and not crossing my legs/feet when breathing, and I finally made it through an entire workout without doing it.

All in all, the past two days have been a success...I successfully started my next medical school module and did two nice, long, workouts.  Take THAT life! And IMAZ here I come.

I can still swim!

I love it when I manage to surprise myself! After a much more hedonistic weekend than I had planned (including going out on a SUNDAY to a NYC chef/sommelier party that one of my writers was a part of), I was slightly dreading a group swim with some of my NYAC tri club teammates, secretly wishing I could enjoy the solitude of a solo plop 'n flop.

Wow-wee!

But I am glad I pulled my finger out and rallied, as one of the guys that showed up is also a former college swimmer, and after a warm up and kick set, we did 300, 200, 100 twice on 1:15 pace, first round swim, second round pull.  Doesn't seem like much, but let me tell you, I haven't done anything on 1:15 page is YEARS.   Probably not since my first year our of Princeton! Ha! I didn't think I had it in me, but I guess I am in better shape than I thought, perhaps thanks to not letting my marathon conditioning on the run flag or that dang trainer, which is both my best friend and nemesis these past few weeks!

Tomorrow is supposed to be in the mid-to-high 40's, so a run will be in order, but in the meantime, when I do get back in the pool I need to be better about challenging myself a bit more on my intervals!

You're hot then you're cold...

Holy moly is it cold in NYC! It finally "warmed" up today to a balmy mid-30's, but ever since returning from Palm Beach, Florida, where I spent New Year's with my in-laws, it has been a tough few days adjusting to temperatures down in the mid-twenties, yikes!  I usually am able to run in sub-freezing temps no problem, provided I am properly bundled, but after spending 4 days in sunny Florida, I was struggling just to get to the office and back!

While in Florida, besides taking advantage of the sun to make it so I no longer had to see the veins in my legs and stomach in my near-translucent state, I did about a 6 mile run each day I was there, plus a swim in the salt-water pool at the club where my in-laws are members.  The pool is a strange 33-yard/50 feet distance, so intervals were a bit wonky, but I tried to focus on just getting some long, consistent yardage in, and combined with the run and tennis (at which I am hopelessly awful...the fact that my husband stays married to me after an hour on the court is true love!), it was a very fitness and cross-training fueled week!

Now that I'm back in NYC and work re-entry aside, I hit the trainer hard and did a "spinervals" DVD today for an hour plus a mini-run with Sasha afterwords, and I am WRECKED.  This spinerval one that the "random" button on the DVD picked was killer! It basically boiled down to some interval work and 20 minutes all out.  I was DYING!

Tomorrow I'll do a Prospect Park run, provided the upcoming snow doesn't deter me!

Ouch! Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to brave the cold for a run, as I don't know if I can handle another one of these!

First Bike Ride of the Year!

I wish it was this warm out

If you couldn't guess from the post title, I went on my first bike ride of the year today!  In fact, it was my first bike ride in a while...and it was miserable hahaha.  Not only was I a slug on my bike, but I only got 10 miles out and had to turn around because I felt like my toes were going to freeze off.  20 miles is a very small drop in a pool of 112 miles, but at least it will be very warm in Arizona!  Despite my toes being miserable, I did feel bad ass because I only saw 4 or 5 other cyclists because it was so frigid out.  I just need to keep this feeling of awesomeness going while training through the winter and increasing my mileage.

My route was my classic route when I'm home in McLean along the W&OD trail starting in Falls Church.  I suggest the W&OD trail for any cyclist, as it is friendly for novice cyclists and long enough for the experienced, and from the parts I've biked, has lots of nice stops available.

My ride was short, and this post reflects that, but overall this ride showed me two things: 1. I desperately need to get into shape, ESPECIALLY biking shape, and 2. I need to get those over-the-shoe cycling booties so my toes don't fall prey to frostbite.