Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Mad Monday 3/2

OK so I am swamped so this will be short and lame!

After the step back week I ramped the running miles up a bit. Definitely did not hit the biking or swimming that I would have liked, but not bad on the running front. The weather is supposed to warm up towards the end of the week and hopefully I can pick up some nice outside bike mileage then. Oh yeah, and I will be running the Youngstown 1/2 marathon Sunday. My plan is to run a nice solid run, hopefully PR my half (which would be a good accomplishment on that course) and not totally run myself into the ground.

Monday 2/23 - Slept in past AM workout, lunch run with LP 7.25 Miles
Tuesday 2/24 - Freezing cold run with BM and CV 6.5 miles; lunch run with E & LP 7.5 miles, 2 hour indoor cycling class....HUGE DAY!
Wednesday 2/25 - EZ Run with JC, E, & LP -7 miles
Thursday 2/26 - 7 Mile Run with E & LP, 3 hour mtn bikin fun at Rays
Friday 2/27 - Core and Upper Body Workout (Legs Rest Day but it is Monday now and my arms and core are still sore)
Saturday 2/28 - 20 Miles with VR (8:35 pace with some good hills and elevation changes)
Sunday 3/1 - 11.5 Mile Run with SERC (8:40 pace)

Totals
Core / Upper Body - 1 workout
Bike - 2 hour trainer indoor cycling workout, 3 hour mtn bike at Rays
Run - 66.75 Miles (this is my biggest week in awhile, maybe ever)

Monday, February 23, 2009

Mad Monday Update 2/23

I am so over winter by the way....

Last week was busy and cold and so I will chalk it up as an unintentional, but probably much needed step back week.

M 2/16 - 7.5 M Run with LP (8:25 Pace)
T 2/17 - 2 Hour Indoor Cycling Class at Team Energetics...BTW, this is such a great workout!
W 2/18 - 2.5 Hours at Rays Indoor Mtn Bike Park
R 2/19 - AM 9.5 Miles Ran, 5 Miles at Lunch (AM run included 4.5 miles at 7:03 pace...took a break at 2.5 to drink and again at 3.5)
F 2/20 - 4 Miles EZ on treadmill
S 2/21 - 1 hour on trainer, watched Xterra Championship and followed Tuesday program loosely
S 2/22 - 12 Miles with SERC (first 7 averaged 7:38 pace and then slowed through the hills with sketchy footing) I gave up at 12 as I just wanted to curl up on the ground and give up bc I was sooo cold. It was everything I could do to get my key out of my glove to open my car and go inside. I AM OVER WINTER!

Weekly Totals-
Ran- 38 Miles
Biked 3 hours trainer, 2.5 hours (Rays)
You don't want to know about the swim :-(
Someone make me start getting my butt out of bed in the mornings! I need my summer morning sunshine!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Mad Monday Update 2/16/09 & Chili Bowl Report

So Saturday ran the Chili Bowl which has been on the schedule for several years now. The last several years the course has changed so the times are not really comparable but this year was my fastest time yet and my guess would be that it was the slowest course.

The drive up to the race was sheer madness. The roads were slick as could be and there were 11 separate accidents I passed. Relieved that I finally had made it downtown, I grabbed my stuff and after dropping it in my car headed out on a warm-up with CV. The roads were sort of slick and snow-covered and I definitely noted that I would need to be a little careful. It was windy and snowing a bit and during the warm-up I thought about diverting to my car to get my yellow lens glasses. However I did not want to take the time and that ended up being a bad call.

After lining up for the start we were off. The first mile has a slight downhill to Saint Clair before another downhill on W3rd. I hit the first mile at 6:10 and while normally I might consider it fast, with the downhill, it was hard to judge. There were two girls in front and I was just trying to run in a zone I could maintain. Once we turned onto Marginal, I started to feel really miserable as my eyes were watering so bad I felt like I was crying due to the snow and wind. I could barely see and was sort of miserable. My eyes are overly sensitive which I think is due to the 3 eye surgeries I have had. As I made the turn I knew I was going to have to work hard to hold off JC in 4th as she is so strong. Mile 2-6:44. Mile 3 was going to be a challenge, up the W3rd hill and the uphill grade after 6th and some slick footing. I was slowing and the acid started filling my legs on the hill and JC passed with authority and while I tried to hang on, it was not happening. Mile 3-7:07.



I struggled to recover quick after the hill and hit the finish line in 20:39 (6:39 pace) for 4th Overall Female and 1st in AG. Not a bad way to start off the road race season in those conditions.

Despite not really feeling like it, I went out for a cooldown with E, CV (who was just behind me and had a good race), JC and RL. I enjoyed the warm-down and felt much better afterwards.

Then it was time for the fun! I got to see lots of friends out at the race and hang with everyone over chili and some awards. The Tower City Bar was a nice venue for the awards party and it made for a really enjoyable morning.






Monday 2/9 - AM P90X with CV---lots of pushups and other chest, tri and shoulder exercises
- noon- 0.3 miles on treadmill before giving up to do 20 min easy on recumbent bike, stretching (legs tired from weekend)
Tuesday 2/10 - AM 8.2 Miles with BM and CV
- PM 2 hour indoor cycling class
Wednesday 2/11 - 20 miles outside bicycle
Thursday 2/12 - OFF
Friday 2/13 - 6 miles easy outside with E, Rode 6 miles on bike outside before work called
Saturday 2/14 - 6.5 miles including Chili Bowl 5K
Sunday 2/15- 17 miles with SERC 8:07 avg pace (last 4 dropped pace 7:41, 7:36, 7:30; 7:36)
-2550 meter swim (I know about time I made it back to the pool. Started a little rough but it came back)

Totals
Biked - 61 Miles
Ran - 38 Miles (much lower than the 50 average that had been planned)
Swam - 2550 Meters (only got in one w/o of the 3 scheduled)
Core - 1

Thoughts- I need to do a better job planning my workouts and with the structure of them. Still to random and not getting in all of the key ones but in general fitness feeling like it is improving.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Mad Monday Update 2/9 & DD Report


OK, so I had to modify my original "lame" post which only had the weekly numbers that BB called me out on. So now it actually includes a RR for DD....

Saturday I ran the Dirty Dog 10K which is pretty close to me (relatively) and I have had the pleasure of running for several years in a row now! This race is held out at Mosquito Lake in Cortland, OH. The last 2 years it has been below 10 degrees at the start so since it was in the 40's it actually felt pretty darn warm, despite a cool breeze.

I rode down in the mini van with BL and his normal posse and arrived to the race. I had an interesting dive into the woods over a huge snowpile to go to the bathroom prerace as there were not any facilities for that (B, did I not mention it wb a good idea to stop at BK on the way to go?. Guess it was no big thing for the boys!)

I grabbed a few pics, saw some familiar faces and peeled off a couple layers to run in just one long sleeve shirt (gasp!) which was a first for this race! We started on the lake (and no I was not worried about falling in or getting stranded like a bunch of silly fishermen)! Actually with the snow on the lake, it was much better traction than past years on an icy parking lot.

I went out by EG and MD (who were both taking it easy that day). I was a little nervous as I had not hit my inhaler and did not even have it so I wanted to make sure I kept my breathing within reason. The course was gorgeous as we trudged through that park offering wintery views of the lake and trees. The main paths had been packed down by snowmobiles or 4 wheelers and were not too bad. However whenever we would duck off the main path the pace slowed and everyone had to work a little harder.

I had not seen any girls up front and was content to just stay in my comfort zone staying in the vicinity of the little group I had started with. As I passed one guy he said I should save some energy for the stretch by the road coming up and he was right! As we turned onto the once-grassy field by ST RT 46, the snow was deep. I would guess 6 to 8 inches of snow the that front runners had broke through. I tried to perform the tire drill to stay in their footsteps but oftentimes it did not happen with my shorter stride. The stretch was tiring and I did manage to hold a steady pace, passing one runner while feeling the burn in my legs...definitely a strength training session in that stretch!

As we headed up the hill and looped back around to the water stop I noticed I had a shoe untied and I ran with it that way for awhile thinking perhaps I could run the last 2 miles like that. But after a quarter mile or so I finally stopped to tie not one but both shoes. I figured if I lost one in the snow it would cost me even more time!

As we made our way back I was still feeling good and was just keeping things in check. I always seem to think I am closer to the end than I actually am and we kept winding around and I kept thinking the finish was near. In addition to the winding turns, my garmin was also trying to trick me as it read 6.35 miles at the end, so I kept thinking that I would be stopping sooner than it turned out! Finally I could see the clock and I pushed it in a bit to finish in 54:25. 14/95 Overall, 1st Overall Female. All and all, a decent effort but not what I would call race pace which was in check with what I wanted to do there. I would venture to guess that most people were about 4 minutes slower this year just due to the snowy conditions verses last year.

A huge thumbs up to the RD and his wife for the work in putting on this race. They do a nice job, provide some really awesome random goodies in the bags (in our van alone, P got a nice running jacket, J got a ls wicking running shirt, b got a full face mask) and it is just a nice course to run that will challenge everyone a bit while offering some gorgeous scenery!




I think this is right....

Monday 2/2- Lunch, ran 4 miles, full body exercises (pushups, drips, pullups)
Tuesday 2/3- 7 Miles AM Ran, 2 hour Indoor Cycling Class (~30 miles)
Wednesday 2/4 - 5 miles eazy treadmill
Thursday 2/5 - 3 Miles Treadmill lunch, UBWO, DOT 5 mile run
Friday 2/6 - 3 miles ez treadmill, 10 miles mtn biked at Rays
Saturday 2/7 - 6.4 mile (ran Dirty Dog 10K trail run)
Sunday 2/8 - 16.6 mile run (~8:20 pace)

Core -2 sessions
Bike- 30 (Road), 10 (Mtn)
Ran- 53 Miles
Swim 0 :-(

Monday, February 02, 2009

Mad Monday Update 2/2

Prior week was a nice recovery week and last week was just getting back to it.

M 1/26 - AM -2.5 Mile Run Treadmill, 5 Miles Biked (Got to gym late and sulked because I was too late for spin class)

T 1/27 - AM -8.6 Mile Run with Downtown Group,
LUNCH -9 miles stationary bike, UBWO

W 1/28 - 3 Miles Treadmill (snowed in, was going to do track workout but skipped out on that in favor of getting in tempo on R)

R 1/29 - AM swim 1000 m, lunch tempo run (7 miles) with E on snowy roads, 2 hr 5 seasons indoor cycling (31 miles)

F 1/30 - 4 miles ran easy on treadmill at lunch (short on time)

S 1/31 - 14.5 miles ran with VR (8:30 pace), 28 miles biked (ran through cycle w/o with TB)

S 2/1 - 2650 yds swam at Reddy's clinic (included 20 minutes time trial and swam 1000 yards)

Totals
Swam: 3650 + yards
Ran: 39.6 Miles
Biked: 73 Miiles

In general, I am feeling recovered from BT50K.



On the swimming front from the one who has always neglected swimming totally and was doing awesome to get in 4000 meters a month past years.......

I can't say enough about how much more I have been enjoying swimming this year and am so glad I signed up for the Reddy clinic. Swimming in the group setting is much more enjoyable and I have been fortunate enough to have had some buddies joining me more regularly in my pool which has been fun. Furthermore, swimming actual workouts that I can check off works for me too. Critique yesterday included making sure my thumbs entered water first, keeping arms down center line by chin instead of out to the side and pulling all the way through. I swim so much better on short stuff and during the 20 minute I just felt all my bad habits come right back. Still not swimming as much as I should be, but this year is far above where I have ever been so I will take it! Oh my lane mate and regular swim buddy, BH, is a perfect swim partner for me!

Next race Saturday--Dirty Dog 10K! Should be some fun footing but I should be used to that!