1/4/11

1/3/11 - 30 minutes "dragon hunting", 10 minutes treadmill.

1/4/11 - 20 minute run, approximately 1.5 miles.

I can't wait until I feel some semblance of energy and zip on a run.

My runs this week have been incredibly lackluster.

New Post? Yep, it's gotta be New Years Eve.

I'm sitting here wrapped in a blanket, sweatsuit on, hat on, head throbbing like I have an ice cream headache. Anyone who knows me knows I'm *awful* at dealing with cold. Cold? The weatherbug on my computer says it's all of a chilly 30 degrees right now. Chilly, yes, but nothing that should overwhelm this former Windy City girl.

It's actually sunny here in Portland this morning, something that rarely ever happens between September and May here in (and no, I'm not exaggerating). So, I went on a run this morning and the temperature kicked my ass.

I haven't been running enough lately. Not even close. After the triathlon in July, I had a good rhythm going. That's totally gone now, and has been for a long time. I have this plan now that what I really need is a system that works - that makes it doable for me to get out consistently, a way to make it a habit. I hate that I've lost so much of the progress I made. But what last year taught me is that I can indeed make progress. So I'm back at it.

So my idea is to make getting out the first thing I do ideally five times a week. Today was an approximately two mile run, and it was pretty brutal. At this point, that distance should not be overwhelming to me. I need practice dressing for crappy weather. Today, I did not have enough on apparently. I wore a light skull cap, sweatshirt, sweatpants, wool socks. And I froze my butt off. Of course, to try to warm myself up, I probably ran too hard. So there I was, completely tanked, and still freezing my butt off.

I'll try again tomorrow.

This week's training has not gone well, and I took too much time off for various reasons. It's been a rough one all around. Thus no blogging. But there are some things that need to be logged.

Tuesday 10/13: After taking the extra day off, I was fairly determined that Tuesday would entail a good swim. 1000 meters. about 35 minutes.

Wednesday 10/14: My usual Wednesday routine entails a run and swim. Initially, I was just planning on a run, since I had swam the day before, but I got to the gym fairly late and couldn't get the run in that I wanted to, so I swam too. I ran about 20 minutes (treadmill), just under 2 miles. Felt okay, but also like I was pushing the pace. I am sloooooooooow and right now need to stay that way if I'm going to go distances. Swam another 1000, mixed breast and free.

Thursday through Saturday - Experiencing significant stuffyness, on top of ridiculous business, means no training. :/ No bike for me this week. Bad Aryn. No buscuit.

I was determined to get in a run today. I did a road run from home, down "bike path" route. 3 miles total, tackled the hill. Felt really drained and walked a few blocks after the hill, but otherwise felt pretty damn okay. Slow and steady. 42 minutes. (Ha ha! But I made it, right?)

5K in ONE WEEK.

Overcoming

My intention was to swim today.

I woke up early naturally after an early night to sleep.

By the time I got into school, I was really not feeling it mentally or physically. My knee/hip is still sore, and my wrist is experiencing noticeable soreness. I went to walk over to the pool, and the thought of getting into the pool and swimming sounded awful.

I read some of the "Triathlon Training Bible" last night, and it was talking about the importance of recovery. How many athletes (especially ones who self-train) overdo it (it's hard to have the emotional disconnect within yourself to know when to back off sometimes) and burn out. I'm not feeling burned out, per se, but that is the last place I want to be.

I called today's training off.

I'm not sure how much of this is physical and how much of it is mental. Physically, it worries me that I'm experiencing this soreness in the parts of my body that have gone through previous injury. This is where I really need someone I trust wholeheartedly to help me discern when to push through and when to lay off - pretty much a doctor or a trainer who understands physiology (and my physiology) to help me push myself, but not to the point where I wear myself out. I want training to make these areas stronger - that is pretty much *the* point of this whole endeavor, to increase strength - not to break them down. Unfortunately, I have to rely on myself, which is something that is difficult to do in this sense. I feel like I am lacking in the knowledge I need. Right know, the knowledge I do have says to listen to and trust my body when it comes to training. Mentally, I know I am tired and cranky today, too.

I have to tell myself that it's okay to take today off. That it's not a failure. Since swimming involves the least impact of the three sports I'm trying to increase my ability at, I will try again to plan a swim tomorrow - even if it's a gentle one. We shall see.

The good thing about today is that I did bring my bike downtown and to the bike co-op at school. Handle bars tightened? Check. Kickstand tightened? Check. Gears greased? Check. I took the bike for a quick spin down the parking lot, clicked the gears, and it seems to be running much better so far. I may not be able to really do a ride until Thursday to really check it out, but we'll see. So far, so good. :)

10/11/09

Today was a run day. Did the same run along the river that I did on Friday, and it went MUCH better today!

I had a peanut butter sandwich from yesterday that I ate shortly before departing. I forced myself to start out nice and slow by holding back a little at first. After a few minutes I let myself get into a groove. Both of these are suggestions from Sister of Awesomeness, and they made a huge difference. I didn't feel amazing on the run, but I definitely felt like I was going. :) I even went a bit further today than I did on Friday. Total, just under 3 miles, 37 minutes. Overall, I felt really really good about it.

Afterwards, my knee/leg was bothering me. I could definitely feel some aggravation in my knee/hip connection. I iced the knee (something I should probably start doing regularly) and it feels a bit better. I will stretch and perhaps ice more later. Must keep this situation under control. I think I will put off my next run until Wednesday, do swim tomorrow and bike on Tuesday. We'll see how it goes!

5K is two weeks from today!

09/09/09

Quick update, since I'm tired and headachy and want to go to bed.

Ran today. 32 minutes - approximately 2.5 miles.

At first, I couldn't get my breath under me. I was breathing waaaay too hard. More explanation on this when I'm not really tired.

Then, once I felt I could breathe a bit better, I just felt tanked. SO tired. I walked a lot, hence the lengthy time.

Not my best day. But I kept plugging. I talked with Sister of Amazingness about nutrition, and I think it's time to start paying more attention to what I've got (or could have) in that arsenal.

Tomorrow, I TA a field trip and will take the day off from training. :)

10/08/09

Today was a bike day. I got up and realized that the weather was fairly perfect for it. :D It was cool, but really nice out, and it warmed up as I rode.

I haven't logged that many bike miles this week, and I had the time, so I decided to do a longer ride than I have been - at least 10 miles. I rode my usual route towards work, and when I hit the river, I took a left and went down a bike/run path along the river instead of going right and heading towards the bridge into downtown.

No cars. Gorgeous weather. Pretty scenery. :D

11 miles total, 75 minutes, including a couple of stops. Fun. :)

The bike needs a lot of work. The gears need adjusting, and the kickstand and handle bars need to be adjusted and tightened. I'm not a bike mechanic. This should be interesting. Sister of Awesomeness suggested joining the bike co-op at school. One of the perks is that they have people that will show you how that sort of stuff is done. I think I'll take her advice. :D

10/07/09

Lessons, so many lessons. Just got back from the gym and wanted to log this while I'm thinking about it.

Run: 17 minutes, 1.4 miles.
- STOP RUNNING INSIDE WITH LONG SHIRTS. You've written this before. Heed your prior knowledge. At the end of the run, I felt pretty overheated.
- DO NOT overdo it. Today's run, I pushed speed way too much, especially for how tired I was today. Don't do that, just don't. This is a tendency of mine to see how hard I can go. In some cases, it's not a good thing.

Swim: 17 minutes, 500m
- Swam in a lane with 1, then 2 other people. Good experience in terms of watching out for other swimmers.
- Swam slow and loose, mainly due to overdoing it on the run.
- Oddness I will have to ponder - I felt like I was really low in the water today. I'll have to keep feeling this out.


NOTES:
- EPIPHANY! I need to Excel all my workouts, meaning to keep better track of time and distance.
- I actually GoogleMapped the standard bike route into work. Only 4.65 miles. I think I will try to make it a point to take the longer route from now on!

10/07/09

I was lazy in terms of record keeping yesterday, but I wanted to be sure to log my work.

I decided to take the new running shoes out for a spin, and went out for a road run.
I ended up going past this particular area near my house. There's a definite hill there. I've ridden up there before, and I hate it. It *feels* a lot worse than it looks.

Since I've been doing more treadmill lately, I decided something with a little more topography would be useful, so I decided I would tackle the hill. I definitely made it down, then up, the hill, mission accomplished. I did stop and walk a few blocks shortly after the hill. At that point, I thought I was done. After I had caught my breath, I started up again, and finished the course I had in mind. The entire run was about 30 minutes (including short stops for crossing streets and the few blocks of walking I did). Total distance according to GoogleMaps was 2.29 miles. I won't argue.

The shoes felt pretty good. My toes weren't being smashed against the front of them! I could tell they haven't been broken in yet, and I'm thinking the'll be even better once they are. So far, so good.

I'm about to head off to the gym. I want to do some sort of run/jog on the treadmill and then go swimming. I'm feeling really tired, and have a bit of sinus stuff going on. This doesn't bode well, but I'm going to take some advil, some sudafed, drink lots of water, and see what happens.

18 training days left until 5K.
Relentless forward motion.

Tools of the Trade

Two things of note in regards to training supplies:

I talked to my Dad today. The bike I ride is pretty much a mountain bike - T-handle bars, thicker wheels, etc. There is a road bike at my parents house (3000 miles away) that isn't being used. I know said road bike is a decent size for me, as I've ridden it before. I asked my Dad if he might be willing to bring the bike out when he drives here for a visit (and the 5K!) in a few weeks. The bike appears to be in good order, and I think it's going to end up coming out here! It'll be exciting to have a different style of bike to switch between for training, and I think the road bike will be a bit of a faster ride. We'll see.

I have a tiny bit of extra money floating around, and I there are various things I have been thinking of investing in to make training easier and more efficient. I'll be getting fenders for the bike fairly soon, but I decided that the most important thing would be to get new running shoes. The shoes I've been running in are well over a year old, well used, and TOO SMALL. I feel the front of the shoe against my toes when I walk - not good. (I don't know what I was thinking when I tried them on initially, although I know it wasn't that I would end up running in them). I definitely wanted shoes that fit, and the local New Balance store was having a sale, so I went. I talked to the lady there, she measured my foot and brought me a couple pairs of shoes to try on. The first pair was okay - fairly comfortable. They felt good when I jumped around in them, maybe just a bit loose in the heel.
I tried on the second pair, and was *really* impressed. They didn't feel quite as long as the first pair, but definitely had plenty of room for my toes. They seemed a bit wider, which is great since my feet are on the slightly wider side. The more I jumped around in them, the better I felt about them. Happy feet! I tried the two shoes on together, and that convinced me even more.
So yeah, I have new shoes to run in. Whoot!