in the lake again

After taking yesterday completely off for some much needed rest and recovery from the weekend I started my day off with Pilates with Monique. As usual she completely kicked my ass (well actually today it was a lot of upper body stuff to).. So a good full body work out which is always good.

Then after work Marissa and I went for a maiden swim in Greenlake for the year. It was drizzly in the morning so I questioned myself a few time in the morning when I was grabbing my wetsuit but by the afternoon it was sunny and pretty warm. I only wanted to swim about 20 min - nothing to long or intense just something to get back into open water swimming really. Also I was worried about it being to cold and did not want to be out in cld water to long - esp since I don't have full sleeves on my wetsuit. It was a bit chilly for the first 5 min but once I warmed up then it was perfect. We just swam 10 min out then back staying pretty close to shore. There were a few people out fishing which is sort of sketchy - really did not want to get caught on aline or something messed up like that. The people out on boats just looked at us like we were crazy. But it was really good. I worked a lot of keeping the form I have been working on in the pool so much and on sighting.
Monique had suggested I work on doing a forward sight with out fulling bring my head completely out of the water - essentially just so my eyes come above the surface of the water. It took a while but on the way back I was able to do it pretty well - or at least well enough for the first time trying it. What I really liked about it is that I could keep my rhythm better and not mess up my form as much when I needed to sight. My legs/hips did not sink as much. I also felt like I was able to swim a little straighter - always a good thing.

still focused

Over all training is going well. I have not been blogging much but I'm still training 6 days a week while jugging the rest of my life.
I love having my bike set up in my office at home so I can spin when ever I want. I have not taken my cervelo out yet with the new flight deck to see how it ride on the road but i will soon enough. Last weekend I got to ride my single with my brother and Kyle - which was a lot of fun to just cruise around. So I managed to get 2 rides in last week :)

Swimming is alright - I'm still not used to the new pool, just not a swimmers pool so it is weird. My swim is really just holding steady at about a 2 min 100 pace on average and I can still do long sets with no problem (I actually prefer them because then I'm done sooner and less distractions). My shoulder has been good but every once and a while I notice the weakness in it so I'm always watching my form.

Now I feel like I have been making really strong gains in my run. Last Saturday Kyle and I ran a hilly 8.4 miles and I pushed myself really hard on the first major hill and then maintained for the rest for the hills and still had energy to the end. It was hard run but it was really good for me. I got some really good hill training and proved to myself that I could stay around my goal pace. I also ran a nice 5 miler around greenlake tonight and even though I was a bit nervous about running alone at night I ran well. I never felt like I was pushing to hard but I managed to finish my 5 miles in 42:37 with only one mile going over a 8:30 pace and it was a mile long hill. So I'm very happy with how my run is coming along.

Along with my triathlon training I have been doing pilates with Monique twice a week - once along with Colleen and one session on my own. It is helping with my shoulder and I just plain feel stronger. I don't know if it is due to the pilates but I have also dropped a few pounds and am a size or two smaller :)

lets see

Training is going along as usual even though the rest of my life has become kind of crazy lately.

I feel good about my running, I have been getting about 3 days in a week. I have been working on running faster and being able to maintain a faster pace longer. Also Col has been working with me on keeping or even picking the pace up at the end of a long run when I'm tired. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to do the Mercer Island 10k or half marathon. If I did the half it would be more of a training run than an all out race since Vancouver is my priority run race. Which might be good or bad mentally. Either would be good for me physically.

Swimming is going alright. We are leaving the Pro Club so we joined another gym and the pool is not chlorine which is kind of strange - it feels slow but isn't. It is not really set up like a true lap swim pool - no clock at the end or lane markers for when you do back stroke, no kick boards or pull buoys (so I got my own) and totally empty most of the time I was there. It is going to take some getting used to but it will be fine. I may find a new swim coach or clinics instead of doing lessons - I could see clinics being beneficial anyway.

I got a ride in a couple weeks ago outside and have been using my trainer so I'm maintaining my cycling. I am switching over to a full flight deck on my bike which I'm hoping will help a bit more with my fit and be nicer on my shoulder (though it is all in my head so I should just let it go and ride more).

Since I'm leaving the Pro Club and thus also leaving my pilates guy Jim so I have started working with a new Pilates instructor - Monique at Element Studios. Coach Tammy recommended her a couple months ago. Col and I are working with her one night a week and then I'm going to start seeing her another day a week in hopes of helping strengthen my shoulder some more and I just really enjoy it so it is a good way for me to destress.

I think that about covers where I'm at right now. 3 months till Vancouver Half Marathon and 4 months till Hawaii 70.3 :) it is going to be a fun summer.

mixed results

I finally did it I got a trainer and set it up last night for an hour ride. Col gave me a crazy workout with one leg drills and a cadence ladder. I defiantly need to work on my right leg - my left was way smoother. The cadence ladder was a challenge esp the 2nd set - my right leg/hip got really tight - luckily it loosened up enough during the rest between sets that I was able to to keep going. While I was riding I actually felt pretty good - no shoulder pain really, no foot pain, no hip pain. My ass was a bit sore by the end but nothing that bad. In all I worked hard and enjoyed getting my bike work out done. Afterwards I especially streched my legs and my shoulders out just to be good.

This morning I had pilates bright and early at 6am - I don't think I was even really awake till I got to the gym and ran for 5 min to warm up. The instructor I have been working with has been really good about pushing me to really pull my abs in and my shoulders down and back. I sort of noticed right away that my shoulder was a bit tighter than normal but it was no big deal till I was doing a full pike - which is usually one of my favorite exercises. Not today - my left shoulder revolter and cramped up right in the middle of it. I barely made it through the sets for the middle and the sideways ones and had to have help (which I usually don't need). The nice thing is that he just switched gears and we stretched out my shoulder and then did some shoulder opening exercises which helped.

So the shoulder pain has not gone away and it has not been this bad in a while. I'm guessing it is the bike... It totally annoyed me all day. I just want my bike to fit - I'm so sick of this dumb injury.

Colleen has upped how many days I do my shoulder pt exercises to every other day and hope that that will help build some strength into my upper back and shoulder. But I can't get away from that it gets worse when I ride :(
I love my bike and I hate not wanting to be on it in fear of my shoulder hurting... Tomorrow is a recovery day and I have a massage which will help as well. I'm really looking forward to solving this issue and moving on..

trying my best to stay optimitic

I had a hard time sleeping last night but I had a good work out this morning which always makes me feel better. I got to the gym around 5:40a and did 15 min on the stair mill before my Pilates lesson. Pilates went pretty well - I really like that I am figuring out the different movements and can tell I'm getting stronger :) My traps and neck were super tight - which would explain the head ache I have had for the last day of so. After my lesson I did another 30 min on the stair mill. I took it a bit slower because I forgot to eat anything after pilates so I was a bit low on energy. But I stayed strong and finished the 30 min feeling good. I stretched out for about 20 min or so. Then I ate some breakfast :) Now I am at work and trying desperately not to think about not having a job in 9 days and trying to see that this will all be resolved when people get back from vacation.

no more excuses

Yesterday I had Pilate's at 7a and had planned on running 4 miles before but my car had a flat front tire and by the time I actually got to the gym it was almost 7. My lesson went well - my hamstrings were a little tight but generally I'm progressing well. I can defiantly feel a difference in the stability of my core :) So after Pilate's I had to head back and deal with my car before I went in to work - which of course took way longer than expected - pretty much an all day event. So the day was stressful for many reasons and I just never got myself to go out running in the pouring rain.
Today I did much better. Before I went to bed last night I got some good reassurance about my job and it started snowing big huge flakes - both of which put me in a way better mind set. This morning when I woke up at about 5a everything was covered in an inch or two including the roads.
I got up and checked the Bellevue road cameras to see what it looked like on the roads to the club and they looked manageable so I got my self out the door. I made it a couple minutes before the 6a spin class. I felt really good - it was a endurance focused class with 30 min or so of consistent high cadence (90s) then about 30 min of gradual increased seated climbing/increased resistance. I really tried to keep my upper body quite and keep my core active and stable. I felt bad about missing my run yesterday and I felt pretty good so I ran 2 miles after the spin class. It was cold, very wet and I know I'm not supposed to do that but I felt like I needed it.

recap

After the power outage fiasco last weekend, getting ready for the holiday and an issue at work I just have not been on top of posting my workouts. Now that I have a moment to go over what I have done since the last post. Thursday I had Pilate's in the morning - as usual it went really well. She had me do a new hanging pull up thing which was really difficult. I'm starting to get the inverted sit up things pretty good as well :) Afterwards I went for an easy 5 mile or 50 minute run down on west lake sammamish pkwy. I felt good - I really tried to keep my pace up and keep it "easy". The great thing is that my foot has not been bothering me. I was a bit low on energy but I think that was mostly due to eating to many Christmas cookies the night before. lol
Friday I took off as a rest day - though it is was mostly full of stress from work. oh well. Saturday I was going to ski or ride but instead I finished holiday shopping :( and of course it was pouring rain and Kyle would not take his bike out of the garage in that weather. lol
Today I talked Kyle into getting up early - well earlier than he would have liked 8:30am and go for a 4 mile run with me. We just went down to sammamish trail and did 2 out and then back. I felt ok though my mouth of filmy the entire time which made it hard to breath. Other wise it was good - since the miles were marked I could check our pace :) 1 - 9 min, 2 - 8:25, 3 - 9, 4 - 8:16 :) for a total time of 34:41 min. We finished right before it started raining and raining and raining..

dark and stormy

This morning I got back in the swing of things - getting up around 5:30 am to get to a 6 am Pilate's lesson. It was great - I'm starting to feel like I have clue and improving. Today she increased the resistance on some thing and has started adding in more difficult movements/positions. The over head ab things are definitely the most difficult - but each time I do them I can maintain better form and it is not as bad. The best thing is that I feel like my core is becoming a lot more stable and strong (and my little pooch is going away :) Today was the first time I really felt like it was a work out - still not comparable to most of my other work outs but I could feel the benefits. The whole thing is just hard to explain I guess.
Afterwards I ran for 30 min outside in the cold. I have no idea how far I went or what my pace was so I just ran for time. I did go run the hill on 40th near the club to challenge myself which it did but I was able to keep going and tried to keep my pace up as well. Other wise I felt good - I forgot to eat anything which sort of sucked and running on sidewalks still bothers my foot some. But everywhere else was still very dark and common sense won. Just for fun I did the last 6 min at a sprint pace and up a gradual incline. It felt good to move my legs a bit faster and kept my focus off my foot and empty stomach. Afterwards I stretched out for about 15 min focusing on my calves and legs in general. I have also rolled a tennis ball under my foot and iced.

in the water

This morning nice and early I did my swim work out - total of 1600 yrds in about 50 min. Warm up - 300. Drills - 300: side kick 100, side switch 100, side switch w/ fists 100. Main set: 50, 100, 150 w/ pull, 200, 200, 150 w/ pull, 100, 50. Cool down - 100 kicking on back. I focused a lot of being patient and not pushing down but pulling down and back with a bent elbow. It was great my shoulder did not hurt at all - which is a first. Usually it will get a bit tight no matter what. :)
After swimming I did a Pilate's lesson. I feel like I'm improving at least I have some clue about the sequence of movements and such. She gave me a bunch of ab exercises to do on my own that target the lower abs that need so much attention.

the aftermath

I took yesterday off. The back of my calves were very very sore/tight - I avoided walking because it hurt so much. I did do about 30 min of slow easy stretching but mostly just rested.
Today I felt a lot better - my calves don't hurt as bad and the rest of my body is not very sore at all - every once and a while I find some random sore muscle but I can handle that. Since the weather was so bad this morning I pushed my Pilate's lesson to 1pm - so that the roads would thaw out a bit. I gave my self lots of extra time to get there on time, I was able to loosen up on an elliptical before my lesson. My lesson was good - she had me stretch out a lot which felt wonderful and we focused on building strength on my left side. That along with core strengthening, while keeping my shoulders down and back.. I felt pretty good.
After Pilate's I went and swam for 45 min. I was shocked by how heavy my legs seemed to be, they just sank. lol So I just took it kind of easy and focused on form. I totally lost track of my distance at around 500 yrds so I switch over to just swimming for time. I used the pull buoy quite a bit to give my legs a break - till they felt more tired from holding it between my legs - go figure. I also felt more tired in genreal than I expected but it felt great to get in the water and just swim.

cardio and pilates

This morning I planned on running a moderate 4 miles but my foot was slightly sore (only 2 out of 10) but in the effort to calm it down and all that I did my 4 miles on the elliptical. I only survived thanks to my trusty video ipod for distraction. Afterwards I did some stretching esp my foot and calves. I also did a few of the balance exercises for my foot - ie standing on the disc barefoot while tossing a ball back and forth. I did this for 5 min or so then stretched again.
I also had my second Pilate's lesson - we focused mostly on pulling my shoulder down and back and strengthening my core esp my obliques. She noticed that the right side of my back is a lot stronger and has a lot more muscle so next time we will work on strengthening the left side. She also had me do a lot of stretching. It was good I felt more energised afterwards.
I'm super annoyed that I can feel my foot again.. I don't really get it. But in an effort to help it I'm icing it as I write this and have been rolling a tennis ball under it to help loosen it as well.. I'm going to try and stay optimistic - the good thing is even if it does hurt like it has this week I don't see it effecting Sunday - it is just annoying not to bad.

pilates and running in the sun

So a recap of yesterday I wound up just doing a series of leg exercises focusing on the ones from pt. Then work got in the way so I took it easy the rest of the day.
Bright and early this morning I had my intro lesson to Pilate's with Beth in the studio that reminds me of a jungle gym or something. We started by going over my goals - which are very simply add Pilate's into my training to help target and balance my core and other muscle while helping to prevent injury. She approved :) Then she looked at my standing posture and where it looked like I needed to focus - bring my shoulders down and back, relax my traps, strengthen my lower abs and lastly to balance out my left and right sides. All of which I complete agreed with... Then we started doing some "exercises" - all very slow and controlled while pulling in my lower abs (with out squeezing my bottom). The exercises were so different from things I have done before that I have hard time remembering them or even describing them. lol Even yoga is a lot different. There was a lot of targeting the core, lower abs and pulling my shoulders back.. Afterwards I felt great - way more energy than what I woke up with even. Beth said that I would probably progress very quickly because I am very aware of my body, my strength may get in the way some because I'm so used to using larger muscles to compensate and that at the end my shoulders did look further back :) I signed up for another class on Tuesday of next week with her. I figure it would not hurt esp since if nothing else it might help my form for next Sunday.. Soo I would say I'm on my way to becoming addicted to another form of working out (like I'm not addicted to enough forms of exercises already).
Then I went for a 4 mile run in 35 min- I had 5 easy miles planned - but instead I found a good 4 mile loop with 1 mile gradual hill up and a 200 yrds steep hill. First off it was a gorgeous morning with the sun and kind of crisp. Just made me smile lol So I had a 1 mile warm up of rather flat running on 148th - really trying not to start to fast, keep an even pace through out.. Oh yeah and keep my shoulders back :) Then started up old Redmond road which is a gradual incline up to 140th then I took a left and it flattened out so I could recover until I took a left on 40th and went straight up a big hill (pretty equal to the one by the zoo that Colleen always makes me do). I did this hill twice - recovering on the way down. Then I headed back to the club for about a mile cool down (well trying to stay at the same pace as I started with). Then stretched out a bit. All in all I like the route - super convenient and a good variety of inclines (vs the trail which is just flat and boring now). To bad I had to go to work and could not just spend the whole day outside doing something - anything while the sun is out :) Luckily it is Thursday - one more day maybe the rain will hold off ;)