late night run

Today was a busy day with lots of weekend distractions - Kyle's flight was delayed, his cousin came to visit, dinner with mom - all these things kept me from running until about 8pm. Since it was so late and Kyle was not up for my goal of 8-9 miles I went to the gym for the ultimate challenge of doing a long run on the treadmill. I ran the first 2 miles at a 9 min mile pace and then since I had not fully digested my dinner and felt nauseous I walked for about 15 min at a 12 min mile pace. I felt better so I went for my original goal of 8 miles in 80 min max. I started at a 9 min mile pace for the 4th mile, and increased my speed each mile to catch back to my goal time. Every once and while I would pick up the pace even more for a min or two then go back. I was averaging an 8.5 min mile or so for the next 4 miles and 8 min mile for the last mile. So I did 8 miles in 80:05 min by this time they had turned all the lights on and were getting ready to close up the gym at 10. I stretched for 10 min and headed home to stretch out more. Other than having to much food before I felt pretty good. My knee felt good esp once I got in a good rhythm. Thankfully for my ipod I watched a movie to keep me from going insane - well until the battery went out and I kept catching my hand on the earphone cord and throwing it to the floor. lol nothing was damaged luckily.. but the last 20 min were all about finishing. :)

empty pool

I got to the pool around 5:45am and it was completely empty. :) I felt sleepy this morning but generally good. Started with 300yrds of warm up. Then catch up drill with exaggerated rotation 100yrds - one arm drills 50yrds each arm - the end of stroke drill 50yrds. For my main sets I did 50yrds w/ pull buoy, 2 x 50yrds. 100yrds w/ buoy, 2 x 100yrds. 150yrds w/ buoy. 200yrds w/ buoy. 150yrds. 200yrds breast stroke. Cool down 200yrds. I swam for about 50 min or so, I really tried to minimise my rest times and keep good form though out. My knee feels great and I spent some time stretching out my legs and IT band since I was warmed up..

spinning

I set up my bike on the trainer and I spun for about 45 min. The front of my left knee kind of aches, I would not call it painful but it does not feel right or good. It felt weird while spinning and even now after I stopped. The muscle that is healing felt totally fine. I'm not really sure what is off or maybe I'm just being ultra sensitive/cautious right now. But to be honest I'm getting scared of riding.. Which is horrible because it is my strongest part of triathlons...

Mixing it up a bit

This morning I met my friend Cynthia at a great little yoga studio in Bellevue called SHAKTI Vinyasa Yoga for the 6:30a Baptiste Power Vinyasa Yoga class. It was great though I definitely still don't know all the postures and progressions so many times I felt lost. I was a little tired at first but once I warmed up and got moving I felt much better. Only once I felt strain on my quad muscle and I just slowed down and moved past it and it felt fine after.
I used my YOGITOES SKIDLESS yoga towel again and it was great - this time bumpy side down :)

evening swim

I had a great swim workout with Colleen tonight. Started out with some warm up 100yards sets of freestyle, kick, and pull buoy. The we did a bunch of drill to help my technique. Lets see if I can remember them all.. Started with rotating to each side and really extending my arm out in front. Then finishing each stroke but pushing my hand back up out of the water with some force. One arm drills, which i got confused on which arm i was working on when and which side to breath on - go figure. I think that was it. Other pointers included getting my head in the correct position so my legs would float better - ie look down or even behind when swimming. Kick with entire leg rather than just lower legs. I hope I'm not forgetting anything..
Then we did a ladder 25 yards, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 75, 50, 25. I might have lost track on the 200 and did 250 accidental.. That was about it - I think it was around 9pm by then so just did a little stretching and got out.
Colleen told me about a after swim product to help get rid of the chlorine smell and stuff called Triswim. Which I defiantly going to check out. All in all I felt good a bit tired on the 200 or 250. My knee felt great no pain at all. I even did a breast stroke kick a couple times and it felt just fine. yeah it is healing :) Now I'm really tired and I'm going to go to sleep/passout. lol

beautiful sunrise

I went and ran 4 miles this morning as the sun was coming up. I wanted to do it outside since it is really boring running in the gym but since I don't know where to go from my house I went down to the trail at Marymoore and ran out and back 4 miles in about 37 min. I took it sort of easy because of my knee. I would not say my knee hurt but it does not feel right. I still can't really stretch my left quad - so I used the stick when I got home to try and loosen it.

back to work

I did a 1 mile warm up run and walked for another 5 min. My knee felt ok even after running - it is still stiff and tight and hurt when I bend it to much or try and stretch my quad. Then I just did some upper body weight training - bicep curls and shoulder press 2 sets of 20 with 8lb, 1 set 20 with 10lb. Skull crusher 3 sets of 20 at 8lb. Lat pull down 2 sets of 30 at 40lb, low row 2 sets of 30 40lb. sit ups 3 sets of 50, bicycle crunches 2 sets of 50 , reverse crunches 2 sets of 30. I also stretched - my hamstrings and back seem tight I assume from yoga. Still can't do the quad stretch on my left leg.... All in all felt good though.

weekend recap

Saturday I focused more on catching up on random chores and misc stuff around the house that had been neglected over the last 3 months or so.. I intended on get a swim in but never did.
Sunday was much better. I met Colleen for hot yoga - which was really good. I treated myself to one of those towels with grippers though I think I used it upside down (oh well). But the towel was great I had great grip for all the postures and never felt like I was slipping. After class we look another look at this weeks plan and I'm going to try and stick to it just be aware of how my quad feels and don't push it to much.
Later in the day i went and swam at the pool. My quad felt alright as long as I just did a flutter kick or used the pull buoy - it hurt when I did breast stroke so none of that for a while. I swam for about 60 min doing the same work out as earlier in the week but about half way though my sets I forgot where I was and started over at the 50 yrd sets. I also worked really hard at trying to be patient with my stokes and breath on both sides rather than just my right. All in all I felt good I also added in some bicycle motion kicks off the wall to test my knee and it felt good.
All in all yes it was bummer not to do the olympic tri but I think it was the smart thing to do since the last thing I was is a long term injury. At this point it already feels like it is healing and the faster the better :)

and Molly says...

My massage therapist Molly says that I seem to have torn and strained some of my quad muscle by my knee. She could feel some torn muscle tissue - and put her finger in it which hurt a lot. lol Also some of the surrounding and lower tissues was definitely strained. She said I do need to let it heal - though she knows me and never said that I should not do anything just that I need to let it heal and that I do heal fast but still.. So now I don't know whether or not to do Black Diamond on Sunday.. Kyle of course doesn't think I should - but I think half of that is because he does not really want to do it. Tonight I'm taking it easy and just resting and icing. I guess just see how it feels tomorrow and go from there.
I'm super bummed about the chance that I "should" not do the event. I hate letting an "injury" bench me and I really wanted the chance to know that I could do a longer race. But I guess if it means prolonging being in pain... I can focus on the half marathon in November (which is plenty I guess). On the other hand I can always walk the 10k if it hurt - but that would be frustrating to... Who am I kiding I know I should not push it and risk getting more hurt..

Different kind of knee pain

For a couple of reasons I decided it would probably be smart not to work out this morning. First I could not find anyone else who wanted to do an open water swim - ok so I could have swam in the pool no big deal. The second is that my left knee really hurts - in a totally different kind of way from last weekend. It is more in the muscle - it is sharp and tight right above my knee on the right side of my left knee.. It especially hurts when I bend my knee.. When it is straight it hurts a little but not really much at all. I'm not sure what is going on so I figured I would error on the side of rest and caution. I have a massage appointment to day and hopefully she can help loosen up anything that might be stretched to tight. I might swim tonight but I'm going to wait and see how my knee feels...

5 mile run

Since it was down pouring this morning I did my 5 mile planned run on a treadmill which was way harder than running that long outside. So I did 5 miles in 47 min doing 10 min pace for half a mile then up to about 8-9 min mile pace for the next half and back and forth. Which made it almost bearable to be on a treadmill that long. I felt sort of tired this morning even though I slept in till 7am. The best news was that I saw the weather forecast for Sunday (Black Diamond Olympic Tri) and it was mostly sunny and 72 degrees :) which is way better than rain.

about 1600 yrds swim

As a recap yesterday was an unexpected day of rest - well of not working out anyway. I was at the office from 6:30am till almost 1:30 am with an hour break for dinner at 8pm. It was kind of crazy but that is the word of advertising for you.
So tonight I got back in the swing of training. The plan was warm up 300yds: 100 freestyle, 100 kick, 100 using pull buoy. Drills practice single arm drill, 25yds x 2 each right and left, practice catch-up drill 50 yds (total of 150 for drills or any others you know). Main set: 3 x 50 yds rest 5 seconds after each. 3 x 100 yds rest 10 seconds after each. 2x150 yds rest 15 seconds after each. 1 x 200 yds rest 20 seconds. cool down easy 200 yards for a total of 1600 yds depending on cool down.
I felt pretty good. I did all the distances though my rest times were slightly longer. I found out that I'm much more coordinated doing one arm drill when I use my right arm vs my left. I was all over the place when I used my left and just got all confused with my breathing and stuff... Guess I need to work on that one :) I really loved having a more structured swim workout - I definitely felt like I got more accomplished. Another note is that my knee did not hurt at all :)
After swimming I got my bike fitted correctly - which will hopefully help prevent the knee pain I felt on the last two longer rides I have done. Colleen mved a couple things around and they all felt more comfortable but to be sure I will ride my bike around the block a few time in the next day or so.

rain rain go away

This morning I ran 4 miles in 35:30 min on the treadmill at a 1.0 incline. I started slow because my knee is still sore but actually it felt ok running. I mixed it up a bit by sprinting for 1 min every 9 minutes and the last 2 minutes. Then streched out really well - esp my quads and it band.
So my knee stll really hurts when I go up and down stairs. I have an acupuncture apointment today and hopefully it will help. I definatly need to get my bike dialed in better.

Tour de vine

We had a great ride starting in Wenatchee and out through the Wenatchee Valley to Leavenworth through beautiful landscapes of fruit orchards and wineries. We rode on back country roads and it seems got out there before most other people. The morning was chilly but the sun was shinning and the views were wonderful. The only negative was that my left knee joint started to hurt really bad especially when I pushed on it to climb. I toughed through it as best I could and after each hill spinned and caught back up with Kyle, Bryan and Colleen. At the half way point we adjusted my seat back and adjusted the positon of my cleat on my shoe to bring my knee back and my heal in. It seemed to help - or maybe it was more that we got to ride down hill a lot more. I'm proud of my self for pushing through the at time major pain and staying with the group. (yeah they also waited for me after long hills so I could just spin so my knee did not hurt to bad). But still I feel good. The best rest stop was the bakery as we finished up. they had really good bread and other snacks. We will be stoping there on our way out of town :)
Colleen & Bryan at the start

Mac & Kyle

Friday workout

After taking yesterday to rest this morning I ran 3 miles in 27 min and walked for another 6 min or so. I ran on the treadmill so every 5 min I increased my speed by at least .3 to .5 - it kept me entertained at least :) I considered swimming but instead streched out really well and did some abs. The back of my calves are a bit sore but that is about it. I streched them out really well and used the stick on them when I got back home. Other than that I'm just trying not to catch a cold that seems to be going around at work and I registered both Kyle and I for the Black Diamond Olympic Distance Triathlon.

Training has begun

I have started focusing my training towards ironman Canada 2007.. So in an effort to track my progress I'm going to start posting my workouts and comments on how things are going.

Tues 12 Sept
In the morning I ran 1 mile to warm up, then did 30 min of stairs at a moderate intensity. I streched out and did 4 sets of 50 crunches and 2 sets of 50 bicycle crunches, 5 1 min planks, and by then my abs were tired so I streched out again.
I planned on swimming in the evening but when I got to the pool around 7:30ish there was a waiting line for a lane and all the lanes were filled with 3 people. So after about 20 min wait I gave up and went home. I felt tired anyway and went to bed around 10ish.

Wed 13 Sept
I got to the pool around 5:30am it was pretty much empty :) so I swam for 45 min averaging about 60 second laps. I probably rested for about 5 min total. After about 30 min I started getting bored and really had to force myself to keep swimming and not just goof off or slack. I think having some drills to mix in would help a lot. After the swim I did some arm weights, bicept curls 3 sets of 15 with 8lb barbells, tricept dips 3 sets 15 with own body weight and feet raised, front shoulder raises 3 sets 15 with 5lb, side raises 3 sets 15 5lb - by this time my left shoulder started to ache and I was hungry so I headed out.
I met Steph at 6pm at Expedia and we started running around 6:10. I actually felt good I thought I would have been more tired. We kept and pretty even pace even up the hills. We ran out to the Lake Hills loop area - almost to Phantom Lake and then turned back and ran through BCC and got back to expedia at about 7:28pm. I'm not exactly sure how far we ran but we never walked and just kept going at an even pace. I felt really good like I could have kept running. It was wonderful.