500 yrd time trial

First off this past weekend Kyle ran the Seattle Half marathon and ran a PR by 2 min with a 1:37:31. He was really happy and I am so happy for him - he kicked butt on a hard course. The weather was perfect a bit chilly but dry and sunny - nothing like last year. I saw him off at the start and then I went for a run. I started near the finish and ran out on the course till I saw the lead guy and then I turned around and tried to make it back in time to see Kyle finish. I had to almost sprint the last mile to go grab both Kyle's clothes and mine from the car and then sprint back to the finish area. I made it into the stadium about 5-10 before Kyle came in. It worked out perfectly - we both got a good run in :)

Tonight I went for a 2000 yrd swim - Col told me to do a 500 time trial. I expected it to be slow as usual but I decided to really push myself. I started with 300 warm up, 100 moderate then the 500 time trial and I did it in 9:55! I think doing flip turns helped. It was really hard but at the same time easy compared to the VO2 test the other day so I just stuck with it. I'm really happy about it because I could have sworn that it would have been over 10 min. After the time trial I did 100 easy, 300. Planned on doing 200, 300, 200 cool down but instead I just kept going and did 700 - I just kept wanting to work on my flip turns lol. I know it is only 5 seconds but I'm really happy with my time - I really want to get faster this winter and this is a good start :)

review

It is dark out when ever I'm not at work, cold, rainy, no real snow to speak of in the mountains yet, I have been training just having a hard time finding time to write about it. We are remodeling our house so we can sell it in January, 9 days ago I became an aunt for the first time, I'm going through some transitions and stress at work with my job sort of up in the air.

As far as training goes I have been doing more base training - slow and steady while keeping my heart rate down in zone 1 & 2.
My running is doing good - couple time s a week, usually a longer one on the weekend to keep my endurance up. I'm still having some tightness issues with my hips but I'm stretching, and doing all my hip exercises more which seem to be helping. Col added a stairs work out - 40 min of "running" stairs - my legs were ok but my calves just killed I could not walk the next 2 days.
I'm not getting the time on the bike that I would like due to either bad weather or lack of time it seems. I really miss the long rides of summer with the crew. Though I really feel that I need my bike refit - every time I ride it my shoulder hurts for a day or more afterwards.
I'm getting a swim or two in a week mostly focused on form so lots and lots of drills. I keep planning on taking another lesson but have not gotten around to it yet.
I have been keeping up on at least one strength training work out once a week and I took a couple pilates classes which were really good. I wish pilates was not so expensive it is so good for both strength (esp core) and flexibility (which I really need).

Today I did a VO2 max test at the Real Rehab booth at the Seattle Marathon Expo. It was pretty hard but got some more information about what my zones are for running. I'm not really sure what any of it really meant but I guess I did well and Col will print it all out and go over it with me again later. The crazy thing was my max heart rate was 200 bpm... Everyone was kind of shocked. I am usually high but I mostly only get to 198 bpm.

I'm not running Seattle half or full marathon for that mater this year which feels kind of strange but nice at the same time. Kyle is running the half so I plan on being a cheerleader/shirpa for him. Col is going to be a pace setter for the 4 hour marathon group.. but she has the last 6 miles so I'll probably see her at the finish. Joan (Kyle's mom) is walking the half with a group of her friends as well. I just hope that the weather stays good for everyone - last year was miserable.

I should have stayed in bed

So far this morning has not gone ideally.. I tossed and turned most of the night - woke up at 5am and since I was wide awake went to the gym by 5:30a for spin class. I could not find my keys so I used the spares. Got to the gym for spin class - realized I forgot my heart rate monitor and there was a sub for the normal teacher and he did not do an endurance focused class - he was more into doing hill climb and intervals that pushed it up to anaerobic levels. So I did my own thing just kind of did long intervals of increasing difficulty but still trying to stay in a base training mode. I felt tired and some of the congestion/cold stuff seemed to come back so it was not the most fun spin class. At least the music was good - not really the right tempo for base training but it did not suck.
After class I stretched out and bit and headed home. I got ready for work (and an interview today) and asked Kyle if he had seen my keys.. He said that he last saw them on top of my car from when he unlocked the bike rack last night... While I fed the cats he went looking for my keys. He found them in the middle of the road pretty much destroyed. Just lovely..
Hopefully the rest of my day will be better... I'm armed with coffee and a yummy blueberry scone so things are already a bit better.

very dark

Last night I left work and it was already pitch black out at 5:20p.. It is amazing how short the day is now.. Anyway I met up with Col, Bryan and Kyle for an easy run around Greenlake. It was really really dark so we all had reflective stuff on and headlamps. Col and I ran an easy pace so that we kept our heart rates low.Of course the guys were on their own plan. It was actually kind of hard to jeep the pace low but Col did a good job of slowing the pace down when ever our heart rates got higher than she wanted. It was especially hard when we ran up the long hill while still trying to keep my heart rate under 180bpm. Other than the heart rate stuff I felt good, my legs felt weird running so slow and when we had to run downhill I got a really bad stomach cramp. I'm not sure what it was all about but once we were back on level ground I felt better. On the last little bit Bryan tripped and twisted his ankle which looked really bad. After he was able to walk again Col and I kept running. Then we kept our garmins going to get a recover heart rate.

Then this morning I got up early (trying to get back in that habit) and swam. the pool was sort of crowded - always is on Tuesday/Thursdays. But I got lucky and got a lane with a gal that knew good lap swim manners. Col gave me a plan which I mostly fallowed... Lets see I did 400 warm up, 400 drills, 300x2 (instead of 330, 150x2), 100x4, and 200 cool down. I felt pretty good, though my left shoulder was still sore from the bike ride on Sunday and my right hip/quad was tight from the run last night. I focused a lot of good form so I kept my pace at my go forever pace of 2 min 100s and 10-15 second rests between sets. It was another good base training type work out...

cold and wet ride

This morning Kyle and I were completely deceived about the weather and it looked dry at our house so we headed out on a bike ride. It was strange i have not been on my bike for a little while - I have gone to spinning class but that is different. I felt really stretched out but otherwise it only took a second to be back to normal. With in probably 5 to 10 min it started to drizzle and the roads were wet. I was also getting sprayed from Kyle's rear wheel. It sucked. My legs were cold, I could barely see anything through my wet glasses. It continued to rain for more till we got almost back to Marymoore park. By this time I was completely soaked through, even my feet were wet, the only good thing was my hands were dry because I decided to wear my heavy duty winter gloves. There was also a lovely headwind that kept my legs cold. So we decided just to ride home. The hill back up Bel-red road was hard - I just did not have a tone of energy and I was trying to keep my heart rate down. In the end we rode 22 miles in about 1:29 min and as soon as we were done I jumped in a hot shower to warm back up.