time is flying by

It is the end of another recovery week so of course I feel like capturing a bit of what I have been up to..

I actually went up to Snoqualmie Pass and went snowshoeing with some team mates. I had so much fun being back in the snow that I really did not want to go home and just wanted to keep playing in the snow...

Lots and lots of swim, bike, run training but I actually feel like my biggest gains have been in strength training. I have been very consistently going to the gym twice a week with Kyle and pilates once a week so I am so happy that I finally feel like my legs are getting back to where they were when I skied all winter. I am now back up to being able to do the 3 sets of 12 of single leg press with 2 (well 1 on each side) 45lb plates.

I have a new addiction - I can't get enough O.N.E. Coconut Water especially the new one's with "a splash of juice". I blame Jill who always raves about how great the stuff is for her. I pretty much live on the stuff after training. (this is just to get me through the weekend).

After a week of recovery I had so much fun getting out on a good hilly ride with Cathleen and Greg at our team bike ride and run in the SUN.
It started out pretty chilly but after climbing a long hill I felt good the rest of the ride. It was good I actually felt strong and rested on the ride and then it was great fun to run with Cathleen who really pushed me to pick up the pace off the bike.
Which I immediately fallowed up with a good 12 min soak in the lake - even managed to talk Joe into joining me for part of it.
My training levels have picked up to the levels that I feel like it is time to start taking ice baths again.. So what better way to start the next build with than a chilly soak in 46°F water. My legs feel so much better tonight and will thank me tomorrow night when I have to run intervals...

After starting the next buid phase with a 4k swim at masters I got the ok from Kainoa for my pre Ironman CDA race plans - big no on Mercer Island half marathon but a YES to the 10k. Mostly because I have got hurt on that course last summer and it is better not to risk it. I got a yes for the Wenatchee Half Marathon in April. Since the Carnation TT series is not happening this year due to construction she is going to see if she can hopefully find something else.. I will also do the Issaquah Sprint Tri just for fun since it will be the 1st time in 3 years that we will be in town for it. Since I don't have a half Ironman race on the schedule I will have to do it on my own (well hopefully with help from some great friends but not in an official race) around the end of April. I will also be doing 2 3 days training camps so that I can get to know the course.

Alright time to get to work. Only about 124 days to go and probably about 60+ ice baths :)

zone 2 to 3a

A week or two ago I finally took both a bike and run VO2 Max test at Seattle Sport Medicine. I got lucky and they had a cancelation so I was able to get in so quickly.
It started out easy enough - put on the crazy mask and lay down and relax for 15 min with out falling asleep to get my resting metabolic rate. I did 2 bike test and 2 run tests - I'm not really sure the details of what they were all about but they sure were a challenge. I was smoked after each test. Though it was fun to push myself that hard.

After the tests they went over the results with me. No real surprises. The main take away information is my VO2 max is good on the bike (but room for improvement). VO2 max was lower than predicted on the run. Need to improve VO2 max watts on the bike. Need to raise VO2 max on run and not do as much tempo training. Increase calorie intake. I now have very specific numbers for my heart rate zones to train with.

Immediately my training schedule was adjusted - all of my work outs became steady aerobic in zones 2-3a (with exception of two races - St. Patrick's Day Dash and Mercer Island 10k). The twice a week strength training sessions became more of a priority and more focused.

Now 1 week in to the world of zone 2-3a it is a challenge to keep my hear rate in check and it just feels weird to go so easy for an entire work out. But I'm going with it and trusting my coach and the numbers and am going to keep going slow and easy till she tells me to do something else... It does feel good to have a higher level of focus or detail to my work outs...

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.

still training

but not blogging as often... It may be because I'm not doing as much or just don't have as much to say since IMC but it seems I only seem to find the time to blog maybe twice a week. I guess at least I'm still training consistently.
Sunday while Kyle went fly fishing in sun Valley I went for a hike - of course I wore my garmin and it wound up being about a 1.5 miles up the mountain and then back down.
Monday I was supposed to do a strength work out but instead I worked on my portfolio since I need to have it updated and done by the end of the week.
Tuesday night I met Col and we did the masters swim at Helen Madison pool. Luckily we got a lane all to ourselves because I just did not really have a stellar night. My left shoulder and arm went numb for a while (which really hurt actually) and I was just kind of slow. The work out was interesting and some what confusing - mostly because how they wrote it on the board but since there is no direction we kind of did our own version. In the end we got about 2200 yrds in before the adult swim started and I sort of found a groove.
Wednesday after work Kyle joined me for a 4 mile run with a few 60 second tempos. I mostly felt good and running with Kyle always challenges me just to keep up with him. The first 2 miles were down hill and felt fine on the way back up it was a challenge but I still did a tempo even when I did not really want to.
Today (Thursday) I did a strength training session - just the usual circuit - upper body, lower body, core. I went easy on the legs because my hips were already sore from the run yesterday and I did not want to be to sore tomorrow since I have another run to do.

low energy

Monday night Col joined me for a strength work out after work. We did a slew of different stuff - essentially one exercise per muscle group. My upper body is really not very strong - especially compared to my lower body (due to all those years of skiing). So it was kind of funny Col was strong with the upper body stuff and I was stronger on the lower body - I would rather do lower body any day. Then we did a bunch of core work.
On Tuesday I woke up very tired and with a sore throat. I pushed off my 3 mile run and just went into work. Work is really crazy but I dragged all day and just felt horrible most of the day. Kyle told Col how bad I was actually feeling so I was then told not to do my 3 mile run... After work I went home and took a nap. My abs - esp my obliques were especially sore from Mondays strength stuff.
Wednesday day I was still dragging so I took a sick day and did some work from home while also taking naps all day long. It was wonderful. It was really nice out so I did go for an easy ride around Lake Sammamish with Col with the idea that fresh air and sweating a bit would help flush my cold out of my system (and it may be one of the last nice days before the rains start). It was so nice and I mostly felt good. It was really only going up the final hill I could tell I was not 100% and I just did not have my usual power so I spun and just took my time a bit while Col dropped me by a few bike lengths. Once I got home I took a hot shower and took a nap for 2 hours or so.
This morning I woke feeling better - though I also slept in till 7:45a and got in to work a bit late but it was not a huge deal. My sore throat is mostly gone so depending on how I feel the rest of today I may do the 3 mile run that I have not done the last 3 weeks..

2 out of 3

On Wednesday I got up early and did a strength work out - almost the exact same as last week really - just added some more ankle and pt type shoulder exercises. It felt good - my legs are by far proportionally stronger than my upper body. I held back a bit on the upper body stuff and my shoulder did not really hurt which was nice. Hopefully I can just slowly build some strength to support that shoulder or something. On a less positive note - my right foot hurt pretty bad when I woke up - it did not really interfere with anything but just sort of hurt. Col wants me to go back and see the podiatrists :(
Thursday I woke up at 5 am and it was cold and dark outside so I hit snooze till 7:10a so no time to get a 3 mile run in. I took my run stuff with me to work but never had time there. Considered running before going out to my moms but did not. Needless to say never did the 3 mile run. I was really sore from the strength stuff the day before, my foot still hurt - even though I was wearing good shoes and to be honest I just felt kind of tired.
Now this morning I got up early and got in the pool of all places. It has been a while since I have been in the chlorine water but it felt good. I focused on form and did a bunch of drills. I was not very fast at all but I have time to get faster (maybe). I think the biggest accomplishment of the work out was that I did not use the pull buoy - I have tendency of using it to much sometimes so I felt good about not using it. I swam for about 45 min and 2000 yrds. I also found it hard to get back in the habit of counting my laps and stuff - I got lost a few times - luckily I knew my pace and was able to use my watch to help keep track. I think I may get a few lessons in the next couple of weeks to get some new motivation/focus in the pool.

Overall I feel good - kind of tired I think I need to go to bed before 11p to be able to get up and function well all day but it is hard - so we will see. Also I have been eating way to much sugar lately and I need to stop that so I'm trying to cut back - I don't really need m&ms...

back in the gym

Once again I slept in this morning till 7a so I pushed my work out off till after work. Kyle had a massage at 5:30p so while he was doing that I went to the gym and did a circuit work out of sorts. It was really weird being in the gym - the last couple of months I only went to the gym once a week to do a pool swim and that was it - no weights. I have been doing some maintance exercised for both my foot and shoulder issue but I could do them at home and did. So I asked Col to give me a suggested work out.
I started with a 10 min (all I could stand) warm up on the EFX machine then stretched out a little bit. Then into the strength stuff - I did 2 sets of 20 on everything with instructions to stay light on the weights.

Chest Press on the ball with 8lb each free weights
Flies on the ball with 5lb each free weights
Lat pull down (45lb cable)
Single arm bent rows 5lb
Triceps
Shoulder external rotation with band
Squats on bosu while doing bicept curls (8lb each hand)
Hamstring curls with ball
Heel raises
Single leg squats on bosu
Clams
Bicycle crunches
Toe touches
Crunches

Then stretched out my legs especially. I mostly felt good and still pretty strong except my left should hurt on most of the upper body stuff. I went easy so it was not to bad but that annoying little pain was still there. I thought it had gone away since I have not felt in swimming in quite some time now but low and behold it is still there. Oh well I lived and in the end it felt good to do some strength stuff again.

Lets start with Monday - I did a strength work out - mostly stuff for my shoulder and legs plus a bunch of core things. Nothing to intense since I had to do a ton of stuff around the house on Monday. I was supposed to swim 2800yrds but they day was to full of other things so it just never happened.
Tuesday morning I went and did a 3.25 mile run from my house. It was a really nice morning and it actually felt nice to get out and run. I finished up in just over 23 minutes with no pain in my left leg :)
In the evening I got to green lake about an hour before I was going to meet Col and Bryan to swim so I decided to run around the lake. I had asked Col earlier if this was ok and she said I could run 2 miles but I did not know the mile markers so I just ran the whole lake.. oops. It was nice though I ran the outside loop which is compact gravel/dirt and I actually passed a bunch of slower runners which felt kind of good since it does not happen much. It took me about 25 min to make my way around the lake and back to my car to grab my wetsuit and stuff for swimming.
Of course I realized I forgot both a swim cap and a towel... I got down to the water ate a gel, got my wesuit on and waited for Bryan and Col. Bryan got there first but I did not remember what I the plan was so I waited for Col. I was a little bit subdued - maybe I was just tired from the running but once I got going the water was nice. My shoulder felt tight and got tired with in about 15-20 min of course not enough for me to stop. The only other things is I still can't swim straight and I kept getting water in my nose almost every time I breathed - I have no clue what the deal was but it was a bit annoying. I swam for about 45 min - I have no clue how far though.. It was good I figure I need as much practice swimming in open water as I can get and hopefully I'll get better at it.

moving on

I took Sunday off and went to the Edmond's art fair, went to Pike Place Market and had a wonderful dinner - just generally enjoyed the day.
This morning I felt better I got up around 5:15 and went to the gym and did 30 min on the EFX elliptical thing and kept the cadence or whatever it was called above 170 per Col's advise to best mimic running cardio. It was rather boring but it felt good to do it all the same. After warming up I got started on my strength work out - as usual I focused on past pt related exercises ie leg/hip and shoulder stuff. I also added in a ton of calf raises as Col suggested to help with my current leg issues. I won't bore with the details this week since it was almost identical to what I did last week. It felt really good to do strength stuff - I felt strong :)
On another note I have decided to just get over it and move on so no more being down or anything time to be happy and ready for the next stage. I just will keep working to get my leg feeling better when I run and just focus on enjoying each and every chance I get to train because that is really what I like about this whole thing anyway. I am also rereading the "How Lance Does It" book and "Becoming an Ironman: First Encounters With the Ultimate Endurance Event" both of which are very good and positive. So I will be fine and will be just as strong as always. My goal right now with running is to be able to do a strong 5k by July 4th :)

monday

This morning I got up at 4:45a so that I could get some of my upper body work out in before I had a pt appointment for my shoulder. Pt was alright - the exercises were good and I am getting stronger but a couple of them still really make my shoulder burn and fatigue really quickly. After I finished up with pt I did a few more upper body things and a bunch of core work - which felt great). After the weekend I felt a bit tired this morning and my calves are sore (in a good way) but otherwise I feel good.
I planned on riding to just spin my legs out a bit tonight but as soon as I had my bike clothes on and was getting ready to head out the door it started pouring... I know that by living in Seattle you have to train in the rain and all that but I just did not have it in me tonight. Mostly I hate getting my bike all gunky with road muck so instead I spent the time figuring out my packing list for Hawaii - since we leave in about a week and I want to make sure and go over it with Colleen just to make sure I have everything covered since I'm such a newbie.

it actually feels like spring

Monday I took as my rest day - just had to many other things going on to get a work out - even an easy one in.
Today I went to work super crazy early (6:30a) which meant I got to leave early to :) So I did my strength work out in the afternoon - mostly just upper body stuff, some shoulder specific things, abs and only one or two leg things to keep my foot happy. I really tried not to push my shoulder to much so that it would not ache or tighten up afterwards - so far so good - though I will really see tomorrow when I swim.
Later on I met up with Col and miss Piper dog for a 5 mile run around green lake and through the park with a few hills and piper was the pace dog so we had a few tempos mixed in randomly. I mostly felt good, a little warm but not to bad - no foot or lower leg pain which is always a good thing. The main mile long hill was a bit of a challenge - but it always is - my mouth just got really dry. We finished in about 44 min with a bit of day light still left :) All and all a good day.

always fun

Lets see yesterday I did a basic strength work out with the specific instructions not to do any leg exercises - just a bit of easy cardio to warm up, upper body circuit, some shoulder stuff Col suggested, and abs. I was still feeling kind of run down and sore from the weekend so I took it easy.
This morning I swam the planned 2500 yrds in 55:40 - 300 warm up, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100, 100 cool down. I felt like I had a good amount of energy though out the entire work out and the pool felt great. My shoulder was tired from doing the strength exercises so from the beginning it was sore which caused me to use the pull buoy more than I should have. It is so weird I'm able to control my stroke way more when I use it and can keep my shoulder from hurting - I don't really understand it but whatever I was able to finish the work out. I kept my pace right at 2 min 100yrds even though the longer sets - and the last 50 yrds of each I pushed myself to go faster.
Tonight I run 4 miles - I'm just hoping the predicted lightening and rain hold off till after I finish...