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!

10/05/09

Double duty day!

It was actually really nice out today, sunny albeit a bit cold, so I did decide to ride downtown. I took the slightly longer route - 7 miles. Shortly after leaving, I realized I was really thirsty. I need to remember to BRING LIQUIDS with me on rides! I ended up stopping off at a convenience store to get some gatorade. Overall, I felt pretty good on the ride - not too tired. Temperature control worked well - I wore jeans which I folded to the knee to keep away from the gears, a long sleeve shirt, and a fleece. Temperature was about 50 degrees Farenheit.

I did end up at the pool. My swim workouts so far have been fairly light - my goal was to get in the water and MOVE. Today, I wanted to push it further to see what I could do.
I did a couple of timed laps at the beginning of the workout - I am swimming 50 meters in approximately 1:30, give or take about 5 seconds. The rest of the workout, I made it a point to swim fairly hard. Sixteen laps in total, half-mile, booya. :D Overall, I was happy with how I felt during the swim, albeit a bit tired by the end.

My wrist is pretty sore tonight. Not sure if I overstressed it with the bike/swim. I iced for 20 minutes, and will brace it overnight. Hopefully it'll feel better in the morning.

Happy with today's work!

Inspiration

My city's marathon was today, and I went downtown to cheer the runners on.

I am in awe. Each and every one of those runners is an inspiration to me.

I was there for three hours and saw everyone from the winners to regular Jane and Joe runners. Each has my utmost respect for making it to both the start and finish line.

AWW-SOME inspiration. Amazing! :D

Also, I saw a documentary on the 2007 Kona Ironman tonight. This is after seeing a similar program on the 2008 race last week. Also found much inspiration from this! I honestly can't fathom what these people have accomplished. What an insane and amazing feat just to get to the finish, not even mentioning doing it as quickly as these guys do. Kona 2009 is next weekend, and I'll be keeping my eye out for race news.

10/04/09

I had intended to take just Friday off and run on Saturday. Things got away from me, and I ended up taking Saturday off as well, at least from anything too strenuous. I did go on a three mile walk, which was really nice.

Today, I really needed to hit the pavement. 20 more days! OH MY GOODness.
I decided to treadmill. 24 minutes, 2.05 miles. I definitely did not feel as good as I felt the other day, but I felt capable of making it the distance. I wanted to run for a minimum of 20 minutes, and I exceeded that, so I'm happy. My speed never dropped below 5 miles per hour, and hovered at 5.2 most of the time. I did feel some knee pain in my left knee, especially towards the end of the run, so I'm going to have to be careful. I may start an icing regimen, we'll see. Overall, I feel it was a decent effort.

Tomorrow, I have a hankering to do a really good, thorough swim workout, and I have open time while the pool is open. Depending on how I feel when I get up, I may also ride my bike in, we'll see. But I think the priority is the swim.

10/01/09

Today, I had a good debate with myself about what training to do.

Should I run? Bike? Swim?

It was nice out, so I decided riding into work would be a good way to go.

I took a slightly longer route in today and ended up crossing the river via a bridge farther down than usual. 7 miles total, and I was beat by the end. Good days work overall, though.

I feel really good about my training this week. I had two double days (one run-bike, one run-swim), bike into work four times this week, and had probably *the* best run I've had since starting to run again. That, combined with how tired I felt today told me that I should let myself take tomorrow off. I have a busy day at work, so it works well as a recoup day.

The plan will be to get a good run in on Saturday. :) We'll see how it goes.

9/30/09

WHOOT!

Where did today come from?

When I thought about my schedule today, and how to fit training in, I noticed that (at a time I had available) the treadmills that I can use were available to me, followed directly by the pool opening for open swim right after.

I decided to be ambitious. I wanted to do a good, long, solid run, and then go swimming.

Before I left to go, I had a bit of a headache, and a bit of a scratchy throat. I attribute this to mild allergies that I have flare up from time to time. I took some meds about 20 minutes before I left, and went over there with my determined face on.

On the treadmill, I had one of the BEST runs I have had since starting to run again. I ran for approximately 22 minutes and for approximately 2 miles. Yes, as far as I figured from the numbers, those are right. I had the speedometer up past 5.2 the entire time, and had it up to 5.7 towards the end. My knee was sore for a little bit right at the beginning, but once I got into my groove, it felt a lot better. SOOO SO happy with this run!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. :D Then followed it up with 100 crunches, just to be badass.

I got in the water about 20-30 minutes later. Did 8 laps (a quarter mile), of mixed breast stroke and freestyle. I felt pretty good, was somewhat tired at the end, but totally endorphiney and overall feeling aw-some.

Very very happy with today's training.

9/29/09

I rode into work today - was somewhat slow, but felt pretty good overall.

I have been having insomnia problems this week, which is not good for training. I was way too tired (and feeling hypoglycemic from lack of lunch) to swim during the chunk of time I could go.

I found out this morning my parents are coming to the 5k I'm signed up for at the end of next month. EEEK!

Tomorrow, I plan a treadmill run, then swim. I need sleep first!

Strategy

Today, I wanted to try to run as soon as I got up.

This, traditionally, has been tough for me. I have a hard time keeping things quick (even the "get ready" and "get cleaned up" portion of the workout), and my muscles tend to feel pretty tight in the morning. The way my schedule is right now, though, it's MUCH better for me to do things that way, so I'm working on it.

Today, I did run first thing, and it went well. Some things to consider:

- Make sure warmup is decent. Stretching this morning really, really helped me loosen up from getting out of bed.
- Stack stuff - (brace, shoes, clothes) - the night before, so I don't have to walk around looking for them in the morning.
- Keep small pieces of fruit and protein bars around for a small snack if I need some pre-workout fuel when I don't want a full stomach.

Okay, GO.

N.B. - The cool running gadget I got (the MP3 player) has proven a bust so far. :/ I have yet to figure out how to get music on it. (Yes, I'm following directions, no, it's not working right. Yet). Must figure something out, as it would be much easier to carry than the one I currently listen to on runs.
P.S. I was thinking on my bike ride today how sad it is that MP3 players don't mix well with water, and aren't safe on bikes. Music tends to make everything better when working out. :)

9/28/09

This blog has been quiet over the last week because my training has been going very slowly, unfortunately. Last week, work spit up on me, and I was drafted into doing massive amounts of cleaning. I guess that in and of itself was a physical activity, but nothing I specifically saw as training, unfortunately. Then I realized. Halloween 5K is in 4 weeks. Oh boy.

So, the things I have done -

Saturday - Went canoeing, actually! Hey, I figured at *least* it was a good upper body workout (and it definitely was that, considering how my arms have felt the last couple of days!), and maybe even had some cardio value. Three hours. Not bad.

Sunday - Rode my bike the 6ish miles into work. This ride is mostly downhill. I was extremely sleep deprived and sore, so I figured it was okay not to be *too* hard on myself. The ride took 40ish minutes, not too bad.

Today - I am feeling somewhat badass and focused today. I got up and ran for 16 minutes. (HA HA! I know, 16 minutes, but I'm happy with it!) 1.3 miles. Ok! I felt extremely sluggish at first, and my left (bad) knee in particular felt pretty sore. I was wearing the brace, and it didn't feel too unsound, just sore. So I kept going, and after a few minutes felt like I had a much better stride going. 26 training days left. AY!
I also rode my bike the 6ish miles into work again today. I was pretty tired by the time I was done, but I feel like I put in a good days work.

Constant Vigilance.

9/22/09

I haven't ridden my bike in awhile, so today was a bike day. I didn't go far - just about 6 miles. But it was a tough six miles. A lot of it is uphill, and I was dehydrated and *tired*. I just tried to keep moving.

Lesson learned - DRINK MORE WATER.

Goal - Kick the CRAP out of this hill near my house. Every time I ride up it, it feels horrible. It's way harder than it should be. I will continue to work, and that hill is mine.

I did get my speedometer, lights, and basket connected to my bike. I also got a small MP3 player today that will be great for running since it's really tiny.

I'm thinking about a run for tomorrow....

9/21/09

Yesterday -

I walked the Susan G. Komen for the Cure race, a 5k. It took about an hour and twenty minutes, which is slow, but considering how many people walked, not bad.
By the end, I was very sore and tired overall. I didn't sleep a lot Saturday night, and between that, running (on Saturday night), and walking Sunday morning, I was beat. I came home, rested for the rest of the day, and felt a lot better.

Today -

I wanted to keep it low impact, since I was so tired and sore yesterday. I decided to swim. I swam 24 lengths, 12 laps. I *think* the pool is 25 meters, which makes for a total of 600 meters. I felt like that was a pretty good start, and I felt pretty good during it. If I was timing correctly, I swam for approximately 25 minutes.

Swimming workouts are going to be interesting. The hard part is going to be swimming in a small space for long periods of time - I wonder if the lack of change in scenery is going to make swimming boring. Especially towards the end, I also felt like I was in an odd space mentally, just because of how weird it is to be underwater for long periods of time - it's a different world. :) I'll have to play with ways to keep engaged during swim workouts. I don't want to get bored since exercise - wise, swimming feels awesome, and is the best kind of workout for my upper body. It's too bad things that play music are not conducive to getting really wet. :D I also shall be doing research as to proper swim form, since that will keep me healthier and faster.

It's been awhile since I've biked, so that's the plan for tomorrow.

9/19/09

36 Days until 5K!

Yesterday -
I finally DID get to go swimming! Huzzah! There was some logistical crap going on, so B couldn't come, unfortunately. Thumbs down.
I did get to swim for .... maybe 20 - 30 minutes, I think? I will keep better track on future swim workouts. I did around 8 laps, which is a quarter of a mile. I did mostly freestyle, with a smattering of breaststroke. I also did a half lap of backstroke. My main goal was to get in the water, and get moving, which I definitely did. It's been awhile since I've swam, and it felt really good.


Today -

Since I haven't run since the 14th, it was so important to me to get out and hit the road today. When it came time, I really didn't want to go. I was tired, and I was feeling a good deal of muscle soreness. I made myself go out, and I am very happy I did.
I wanted to make it at least a mile, if not a mile and a half. In terms of time, I was shooting for 16 - 20 minutes total. I did make it about 1.5 miles, which is longer than I've run in a long time! The run took around 18 minutes. No stops. Goal for today met.

During the run, I felt pretty good for the most part. Actually, much better than I expected to feel when I left on the run! Towards the end, I tanked pretty quickly. I feel okay about that, since this is the longest run I've done since starting up again (both time and distance), and I did meet my goal.

Right now, I feel pretty tired, and like I had a pretty good workout. I still feel the muscle soreness, but no pain. Thumbs up! I feel good about the day's work.

Tomorrow: 5k Walk - Susan G. Komen for the Cure!

9/18/09

Yesterday, I woke up and felt beat to crap. My ankle and wrist were feeling very sore, which worried me. From all the moving, I also had normal muscle soreness in my arms and back. I had intended to run yesterday, but I figured something less impact might be on the cards.

Sooo....I went down to the school gym. I did a really good stretch out, then tried to do the elliptical. I got 6 minutes down, and ended up stopping. The frustrating thing is that I was actually feeling pretty good. I wasn't breathing overly hard, and I definitely felt like I was doing okay in terms of endurance. The problem was the ergonomics. The stride of this particular elliptical was short, and at the front of the stride, my feet tilted forward. Also, the handlebars were so high (and I am so short), that I had to grab much lower on them than was normal, cutting my arm strides in about half. It was annoying.

I then decided that I felt good enough that I would try to run a bit, but stopped very quickly once I realized I didn't have my brace. I'm not at the point yet that I want to risk that one. So, I called it quits, and now I'm a bit annoyed with myself for doing so. I need to be tougher, and think more outside the box. I should have done the bike, I think, something to get some movement in. Lesson learned.

Overall, it was a very frustrating workout. The 5K is coming up fairly quickly, and I don't want to feel like a tool doing it. I want to feel like my body can handle this, but I'm worried. I don't want pain to stop me, but I don't want to exacerbate problems by overtraining. It's a really fine line, and I don't really have anyone to go to to dissect this stuff and help me figure out what's going on.

Speaking of the 5K, I talked to Super Cool Neighbor (SCN) who runs, and he is planning on doing the race too! He will kick my butt, but yay!! Someone to meet up with down there! He also showed me a neat little gadget both he and his wife have, they're called Sansa Clips. They're tiny (and fairly inexpensive) MP3 players that are perfectly designed to use while working out. I'm pondering getting one, since it's a pain trying to carry my IPod on runs. Not sure if I should just get one, use the idea as a carrot for the 5K, or wait until Christmas. I need clothes (particularly for colder, wetter weather workouts), and running shoes too. I didn't think this endeavor would end up being expensive, but I'm wondering now.....

Today, B and I are doing our first swim workout. I'm stolked! My goal is to be sure to get my heart rate up at least somewhat, and to be gentle on the wrist today.

P.S. Bike stuff came yesterday! I can now gauge how fast and how far I go, which will be great on training rides. AND I can carry stuff on my bike in my nifty new basket. This will be AWESOME and increase greatly the chances of me running errands on said bike. I just need to get the stuff installed at this point. :P

9/16/09

I had hoped to run today, no go.

I spent 5+ hours moving stuff at school, though, so I figure that's a workout in itself. My arms are pretty sore, which is good, because I need more strength in my arms.

I feel tired, wrist still a bit sore, but feels better than it did last night.

I wore my boots today, and that really helped my foot, so that feels good.

I think a run is in the works for tomorrow. I'm going to try to get some sleep as to be in good shape.

9/15/09

I ran yesterday - 10 minutes running, 5 minutes walking, 6 minutes running - so today was an "off" day. I did want to get in some good exercise, so I walked downtown, which is an approximately 6 mile walk that I did in about 2 hours.

I'm not feeling great today. My legs felt tight (from the run yesterday, maybe), my wrist is really sore right now (in part from trying to move furniture around, and yes, I was being careful, yes I feel like an ass right now for doing it), and I tied my shoe so tight that I crushed the tendons on the top of my foot, so that is sore too.

The good thing is that I met my goal - walk downtown.

A little bit in ways of introduction...

This is a training log. It'll consist of descriptions of various workouts, how I felt during them, thoughts and plans regarding training, and possible nutrition thoughts as well.

As of today, I'm 28.25 years old. A bit overweight, not in great shape, but not a total couch potato either. I ran cross country in high school, and came in last almost every single race, but that was okay, because being faster than the other kids wasn't what I was there for.

I've had some injury problems, and so I haven't really felt comfortable running in a long time:
The main issue is that I had a subluxation of my kneecap 9 or so years ago. This type of injury can be re-occurring and means that my knee is weak. Wearing a brace helps, and the best way to prevent my knee from "going out" is to keep my legs strong.
I'm recovering from a substantial wrist fracture from last Spring. It's feeling good for the most part, but it'll take a bit more time before it regains all of its strength. I wear a brace when biking, no push-ups for awhile.

I spent most of the summer hiking up and down mountains all day, meaning my legs are fairly strong. I figure this is it, the time to get back into things.

I signed up for a 5k the weekend before Halloween. Right now, I can run 1+ miles fairly consistently and am running about 12 minute miles. The goal for that race is to finish, run the entire race, and come across the finish line in 36 minutes or less.

Yes I'm nuts, and have a couple somewhat insane long-term goals. There's a race here on St. Patrick's Day this coming Spring that I want to do as a 10K. I'm thinking the intervening months will be enough time to prepare.
And yes, I want to do a triathlon next summer (sprint distance), so a good number of swimming and biking workouts will be logged here. I may have lost my marbles.....

If I can stay feeling good (uninjured) and can really make this a part of my routine once school starts, I can do this. I have an awesome training partner, and that helps. :)

Here we go.