There I was, running along, but wait, lets begin at the beginning.
Swim plan had all the toys again. Pull, paddles, kick board, fins. What I didn't have was a watch. The pace clock is set so that only the geezers and the farsighted can see it. So I'm pretty sure the swim was about an hour. Not much more, or much less. It went well, with the two other people sharing the lane getting out of the way as needed. To be fair, when I'm doing kick, I'm the one getting out of the way. Talk about pathetically slow. I took my rest breaks by either counting slowly, or leaving just before the other swimmers got there.
It's a beautiful day out, 20 C (68 F) which for all intents and purposes is perfect. Lots of people are out, enjoying the summer weather. We have to take it while we can. Walked 10 minutes, then started running easy. Things didn't feel quite as light as on Sunday, but still much better than recently. It took quite a while to settle into a pace. About 15 minutes into the run, there is a large school ground, with the path next to the fence line for homes. I can feel things brewing, and suddenly let out an enormous belch. Seriously, I'm sure there was an echo from the school wall. Almost instantly after, there was two kids peering over the fence. I think they were standing on a trampoline or something. They asked "was that you?"
Nope, it was my dog. Sorry if he scared you.
"You don't have a dog mister!"
Not any more I don't.
They looked horrified.
I grinned to myself the rest of the run. There go two messed up kids. Yahoo! Confusion to the enemy. My stride felt much better after that.
Ran 45 minutes, mostly strong and feeling good. No idea how far. There were a few minutes I faded, and the way back wasn't quite as fast. I was maybe 50 m from my starting point. Walked 10 minutes home, stretched.
And yes Deb I know it's you. Miss your blog. Hope to see lots of comments.
Ironman Canada - DONE! What next?
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Holy Brick Batman!
Sat is my rest day. I'm pretty firm about not working out. I considered catching up on the swim and run I missed, but decided not to. I did run a little anyway. Just a little. I zoomed down Road to Nepal (car, not bike), and found Julie slogging up the last hill to 549. I parked and walked down the hill so she could see me coming, and not think some anonymous Chester the Molester was coming to get her. I don't have a cow bell, so I yelled out that I was clanking it loud, and that she needed to push push push, and that she's almost done, just the "easy" way back to her car was left. I ran beside her for a minute. She's a very focused girl and I don't think she realized anyone was there for a few seconds. She nibbled a bar and transfered water around and chatted. Quick hug and she was off again. Lots more to go since she'd started late. I had thought of joining her, but I'm not quite ready for that ride yet, given the evidence of riding home from work on Friday. I can't wait to take Jenna down the Road. (Let me know when you're coming!)
It had to happen sooner or later, and I guess today was the day. I hadn't thought the breakthrough would happen today, since my legs felt a bit tired over the weekend.
Short core session, about 20 minutes or a little more, including doing more pushups (+2) than the plan. More and deeper squats than usual. Slightly longer plank than the plan. But at the end of the plank one can meditate on each individual digit in the thousandths of a second, so any extra is good.
Onto the bike feeling strong doing the warmup. Added one leg drill that was not in the plan. During the spin ups I was overjoyed to see my spin legs are back!! (Woohoo!) There were three spin up sessions for 30 seconds each. The first was 120, the second was 130, and I decided to go balls out on the last and see what happened. 168. Yes indeed. This my friends, is the best I've done for MONTHS!!! Even sitting at 120+ felt good. I could stay there, and then spin up even faster, with very little back fat jiggling, sympathetic vibrations or resonance. You can bet I'm happy given how recently I couldn't hardly get over 100 rpm.
The rest of the workout went equally well. I was spending some time in TT gear. Even a week ago that was right out. Today I settled in, and stayed there longer than the plan. Well, only a minute longer. My lungs were good, but my heart rate was still a bit higher than I'd like it to be. The bike was 1.75 hrs.
One minute transition. Shoes, hat, key, kiss Linda, go. The run felt good right from the start. There was a slight niggle in my left calf, but that went away in less than 500 m. Ran easy, trying for a nice stride. To my astonishment the first K was 6 minutes, not even trying! Haven't done that in a long time. Picked it up at the half way point, and went a hair strong as I had to back off a bit about the 2.5 K mark, but finished strong. 3 K, 17 minutes flat, and ran easy a few minutes to bring it up to the 20 minutes planned. Walked. Chatted with neighbour briefly. Stretched. Nibbled. Blogged. Buddies Cath and Jason coming to visit in a bit. They timed it perfectly. There are fresh warm cookies to be had.
Weekly Summary
Swim 2.0 hrs
Bike 4.25 hrs
Run 0.6 hrs
DWR 0.75 hrs
Walk 0.3 hrs
Core 2.5 hrs
Cardio total 8.0 hrs
Workout total 10.5 hrs
If I have a good week, and the weather is nice, next weekend might see Estela with her road tire back on, out in the sunshine. She was giving me a bit of a hard time about being indoors today.
It had to happen sooner or later, and I guess today was the day. I hadn't thought the breakthrough would happen today, since my legs felt a bit tired over the weekend.
Short core session, about 20 minutes or a little more, including doing more pushups (+2) than the plan. More and deeper squats than usual. Slightly longer plank than the plan. But at the end of the plank one can meditate on each individual digit in the thousandths of a second, so any extra is good.
Onto the bike feeling strong doing the warmup. Added one leg drill that was not in the plan. During the spin ups I was overjoyed to see my spin legs are back!! (Woohoo!) There were three spin up sessions for 30 seconds each. The first was 120, the second was 130, and I decided to go balls out on the last and see what happened. 168. Yes indeed. This my friends, is the best I've done for MONTHS!!! Even sitting at 120+ felt good. I could stay there, and then spin up even faster, with very little back fat jiggling, sympathetic vibrations or resonance. You can bet I'm happy given how recently I couldn't hardly get over 100 rpm.
The rest of the workout went equally well. I was spending some time in TT gear. Even a week ago that was right out. Today I settled in, and stayed there longer than the plan. Well, only a minute longer. My lungs were good, but my heart rate was still a bit higher than I'd like it to be. The bike was 1.75 hrs.
One minute transition. Shoes, hat, key, kiss Linda, go. The run felt good right from the start. There was a slight niggle in my left calf, but that went away in less than 500 m. Ran easy, trying for a nice stride. To my astonishment the first K was 6 minutes, not even trying! Haven't done that in a long time. Picked it up at the half way point, and went a hair strong as I had to back off a bit about the 2.5 K mark, but finished strong. 3 K, 17 minutes flat, and ran easy a few minutes to bring it up to the 20 minutes planned. Walked. Chatted with neighbour briefly. Stretched. Nibbled. Blogged. Buddies Cath and Jason coming to visit in a bit. They timed it perfectly. There are fresh warm cookies to be had.
Weekly Summary
Swim 2.0 hrs
Bike 4.25 hrs
Run 0.6 hrs
DWR 0.75 hrs
Walk 0.3 hrs
Core 2.5 hrs
Cardio total 8.0 hrs
Workout total 10.5 hrs
If I have a good week, and the weather is nice, next weekend might see Estela with her road tire back on, out in the sunshine. She was giving me a bit of a hard time about being indoors today.
Friday, April 16, 2010
First outdoor ride of 2010
Poor Estela is still chained to the trainer. I don't like taking her on bike paths, and the pavement is pretty bad in places on this route home. There is still a ton of grit to be careful of. You saw that map a few days ago, though today I went the other way around the zoo, and the path is open around the south end of Stampede park. It was a beautiful day for a ride, though it got a bit windy toward the end. I took my time, mostly just riding along. The speed limit on the paths is 20 Kph, and that's pretty much my average speed. Some places you're stupid or prescient if you're doing more than 10 Kph. Like going under Elbow Drive at the west end of Stanley Park. The scenery is great already, even so early in the year! I didn't keep track of the time exactly, but it was a hair under 1.5 hours, which is about right.
My kneecaps felt a bit stiff and creaky toward the end of the ride. I think I'm sitting just a little shorter on the hybrid, and I'm pretty sure the cranks aren't quite the same length. Stretched my legs, and decided going for a run isn't the best idea. So far this week I'm down a swim, run, and core session, and I'm tired anyways. I might try to sneak in a swim tomorrow, on what is supposed to be my rest day. Or maybe I'll take the hybrid out for another ride since its supposed to be so nice. Or I might "rest" and do a bunch of stuff with wine bottling. And laundry. And yard stuff. My neighbours are already starting, even though there is supposed to be unspoken agreement that you don't have to do anything to your yard till the May long weekend, since it's still likely to snow again.
What is it with people? Keep right is the standard, yes? About half the people on the paths (runners, joggers, walkers, skaters, and bikers) were on the left side of the paths, shambling along. I thought I was going to have a head on collision at one spot. One geezer scared the crap out of me. He's walking along where he should be, on the right side of the path. I honk the shark (no GQH that isn't some perversion, it's my version of a bike bell) and he looks over his left shoulder while turning left into the middle of the path and took two steps to end up in the middle of the left side. Which was where I was aiming to pass. All the while he had this amiably bewildered expression on his face. It's like he's never been passed by a bike before. Or maybe he doesn't remember it.
My kneecaps felt a bit stiff and creaky toward the end of the ride. I think I'm sitting just a little shorter on the hybrid, and I'm pretty sure the cranks aren't quite the same length. Stretched my legs, and decided going for a run isn't the best idea. So far this week I'm down a swim, run, and core session, and I'm tired anyways. I might try to sneak in a swim tomorrow, on what is supposed to be my rest day. Or maybe I'll take the hybrid out for another ride since its supposed to be so nice. Or I might "rest" and do a bunch of stuff with wine bottling. And laundry. And yard stuff. My neighbours are already starting, even though there is supposed to be unspoken agreement that you don't have to do anything to your yard till the May long weekend, since it's still likely to snow again.
What is it with people? Keep right is the standard, yes? About half the people on the paths (runners, joggers, walkers, skaters, and bikers) were on the left side of the paths, shambling along. I thought I was going to have a head on collision at one spot. One geezer scared the crap out of me. He's walking along where he should be, on the right side of the path. I honk the shark (no GQH that isn't some perversion, it's my version of a bike bell) and he looks over his left shoulder while turning left into the middle of the path and took two steps to end up in the middle of the left side. Which was where I was aiming to pass. All the while he had this amiably bewildered expression on his face. It's like he's never been passed by a bike before. Or maybe he doesn't remember it.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Scurry
Scurry.
Scurry.
Scurry.
I think Susi left her gerbil behind, and the damn thing came here to live for a while. It has been evicted, and can look elsewhere for someone to give it a hookah pipe. My brain has been in overdrive the last little while, absorbing a ton of stuff for work, finishing off the paper, figuring out schedule options for workouts, and a few other things. With any luck the blizzard, for now, has passed.
Wed swim just over an hour. Lots of drill. No drama. What with errands after work, doing some BBQ, then yoga, there wasn't time to run. BBQ chicken was really good. mmmmm.
Yoga was really good, but it damn near killed me. My shoulders are fine swimming, but everything else kind of hurts. Some of the range of motion stuff, and specific yoga moves for the shoulders had me wincing.
Thurs morning is normally an early day in to work, but I had a downtown appointment for the slippery finger of life, as it's called. With the shortage of GP's here you make an appointment for when they're willing, and you move heaven and earth to make it. I had to book my next years physical now, with the next available appointment mid May 2011!! He waved the geezermeter over me and said there is no taint of geezer on me. In fact, he says my age (which is mumblety) is the only positive factor for a whole bunch of stuff they start looking at now. Everything is good. But I'm still on the list for a colonoscopy sometime when the clinic gets to me.
Plus I had to drop my taxes off to my accountant. Made up for yesterday's missed run with a 15 minute core warmup, and a 45 minute hard water run. My legs are good, and in other circumstances I might have run outside. Plus, leaving my accountant's office building was the high point of my day. She was blonde, very pretty, my height in modest heels, great legs in a really, really short skirt. Like shorter than her finger tips with her arms at her sides. Sigh. There are days I miss working downtown.
Then rather than run outside after work, I met my buddy SD for a beer. Which was really good to catch up with him. So no run or bike or core this evening. Core on beer sounds like a bad idea. But wait! There is a plan. Which is to ride home from work tomorrow afternoon, and maybe run after that. Sat I'll get my Friday swim in, with some core.
For some of my blog buddies getting 20 comments on a blog is a light day. But not for me. Yesterday's hit 20 comments, which is a new all time high. Yay! Just please don't anybody notice that there was actually only 7 people that commented.
Scurry.
Scurry.
I think Susi left her gerbil behind, and the damn thing came here to live for a while. It has been evicted, and can look elsewhere for someone to give it a hookah pipe. My brain has been in overdrive the last little while, absorbing a ton of stuff for work, finishing off the paper, figuring out schedule options for workouts, and a few other things. With any luck the blizzard, for now, has passed.
Wed swim just over an hour. Lots of drill. No drama. What with errands after work, doing some BBQ, then yoga, there wasn't time to run. BBQ chicken was really good. mmmmm.
Yoga was really good, but it damn near killed me. My shoulders are fine swimming, but everything else kind of hurts. Some of the range of motion stuff, and specific yoga moves for the shoulders had me wincing.
Thurs morning is normally an early day in to work, but I had a downtown appointment for the slippery finger of life, as it's called. With the shortage of GP's here you make an appointment for when they're willing, and you move heaven and earth to make it. I had to book my next years physical now, with the next available appointment mid May 2011!! He waved the geezermeter over me and said there is no taint of geezer on me. In fact, he says my age (which is mumblety) is the only positive factor for a whole bunch of stuff they start looking at now. Everything is good. But I'm still on the list for a colonoscopy sometime when the clinic gets to me.
Plus I had to drop my taxes off to my accountant. Made up for yesterday's missed run with a 15 minute core warmup, and a 45 minute hard water run. My legs are good, and in other circumstances I might have run outside. Plus, leaving my accountant's office building was the high point of my day. She was blonde, very pretty, my height in modest heels, great legs in a really, really short skirt. Like shorter than her finger tips with her arms at her sides. Sigh. There are days I miss working downtown.
Then rather than run outside after work, I met my buddy SD for a beer. Which was really good to catch up with him. So no run or bike or core this evening. Core on beer sounds like a bad idea. But wait! There is a plan. Which is to ride home from work tomorrow afternoon, and maybe run after that. Sat I'll get my Friday swim in, with some core.
For some of my blog buddies getting 20 comments on a blog is a light day. But not for me. Yesterday's hit 20 comments, which is a new all time high. Yay! Just please don't anybody notice that there was actually only 7 people that commented.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
The Dread Pirate Roberts workout words
You all know who the Dread Pirate Roberts is. I hope. If not, in one way I envy you for the first time experience you could have. The sooner the better, for you. And yet in another way, I pity you, because you've been missing out on so much, for so long. It's got everything. Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.
There are people known to have peed themselves laughing while reading or watching. I realize that it came out before time began for some of you; the book in 1973, and the movie in 1987. Even so. The movie is very good, and the book is better. Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about can stay after class (or leave a comment) and I'll share.
What does this have to do with my workout? The words plank and pushups. Side plank with leg lifts. Pushups to failure or poor form. Three sets. I'll have you know I exceeded my expectations, but didn't set a new best for pushups. 5, 6, and 7. Since you asked with breathless interest. Ouch. That was 30 minutes worth of core done per schedule.
The bike was a slow warmup, not feeling particularly spinny. The maintain 90 rpm and add gears every minute did me in. I lasted 7 minutes at 90, and another 30 seconds trying to get my legs to go 90 and them not doing it. They were all quivery and quaking, twitching, and shaky. Pedaled easy a good 5 minutes for recovery, then started the next set, maintaining 90 in an easy gear, nice and aerobic. Well, shit. My legs thought it was going to get hard again, and got all pissy with me. The easy spin went to crap about the 10 minute mark, and some niggles were getting to the point of starting to think about them.
Then *IT* happened.
This has probably happened to all of you with different foods, though some might not admit it. A pair of Linda's cinnamon pinwheels mugged me. They marched downstairs, dragged me off the bike, and forced me to eat them. Fresh, hot, young, and frisky pinwheels. I didn't stand a chance. Only 60 minutes on the bike. Friday is supposed to be nice. With any luck all the snow will melt. I'd like to try to ride home from work.
There are people known to have peed themselves laughing while reading or watching. I realize that it came out before time began for some of you; the book in 1973, and the movie in 1987. Even so. The movie is very good, and the book is better. Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about can stay after class (or leave a comment) and I'll share.
What does this have to do with my workout? The words plank and pushups. Side plank with leg lifts. Pushups to failure or poor form. Three sets. I'll have you know I exceeded my expectations, but didn't set a new best for pushups. 5, 6, and 7. Since you asked with breathless interest. Ouch. That was 30 minutes worth of core done per schedule.
The bike was a slow warmup, not feeling particularly spinny. The maintain 90 rpm and add gears every minute did me in. I lasted 7 minutes at 90, and another 30 seconds trying to get my legs to go 90 and them not doing it. They were all quivery and quaking, twitching, and shaky. Pedaled easy a good 5 minutes for recovery, then started the next set, maintaining 90 in an easy gear, nice and aerobic. Well, shit. My legs thought it was going to get hard again, and got all pissy with me. The easy spin went to crap about the 10 minute mark, and some niggles were getting to the point of starting to think about them.
Then *IT* happened.
This has probably happened to all of you with different foods, though some might not admit it. A pair of Linda's cinnamon pinwheels mugged me. They marched downstairs, dragged me off the bike, and forced me to eat them. Fresh, hot, young, and frisky pinwheels. I didn't stand a chance. Only 60 minutes on the bike. Friday is supposed to be nice. With any luck all the snow will melt. I'd like to try to ride home from work.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Running in the snow. Again.
Interesting swim this am, doing a pyramid. Lots of looking at my watch. Fortunately there wasn't much drama. Swam pretty hard trying to keep up to the chick in the next lane. No matter what, she swam just a bit faster. Her arm stroke isn't so hot, but that's deceiving. Her kick is to die for. It took me a surprising amount of time to catch her when she was doing just kick. Just under an hour in the pool. Stroke felt pretty good. Left shoulder was a bit sore after.
It snowed all day at work. As I drove home it was snowing less and less. While getting changed the weather taunted me. The sun actually came out for a few minutes, but I was not deceived. I wore my wind/rain jacket anyways, and just as well. It started snowing again very shortly after locking the door, and then it snowed harder and harder throughout the run. Which was pretty good, since you ask. Walked 10 minutes, ran 20 then turned around, and got back to my run start with 15 seconds to spare. Walked 10 back to the house. Stretched and rollered 15 minutes. Legs felt mainly tired, but there were a few twinges around the knees, and nigglies in the calves.
It's supposed to snow all night, and it's anybodies guess how much will be on the ground. Which is a good thing, really, we need the moisture. However, it's a safe assumption people will have forgotten how to drive in the snow, and there will be carnage on the roads tomorrow. Any single car "accident" (and there are lots of them) should be considered proof of the driver's incompetence. Their license should be suspended until they take and pass, with perfect marks, a recognized drivers course. Grrrr. That's for the cars. For 4 wheel drive vehicles, pickup trucks, and SUV's, the driver should be executed on the spot, and their head put on a pike at the scene of their incompetence. There should be a big sign, naming them. That might make things safer for the rest of us. GRRRRRR!!! (Can you tell I had vitamins with supper tonight?) Hmmm, on second thought, maybe not. There'd be so many signs on the roads that people from out of town wouldn't be able to see the street names.
It snowed all day at work. As I drove home it was snowing less and less. While getting changed the weather taunted me. The sun actually came out for a few minutes, but I was not deceived. I wore my wind/rain jacket anyways, and just as well. It started snowing again very shortly after locking the door, and then it snowed harder and harder throughout the run. Which was pretty good, since you ask. Walked 10 minutes, ran 20 then turned around, and got back to my run start with 15 seconds to spare. Walked 10 back to the house. Stretched and rollered 15 minutes. Legs felt mainly tired, but there were a few twinges around the knees, and nigglies in the calves.
It's supposed to snow all night, and it's anybodies guess how much will be on the ground. Which is a good thing, really, we need the moisture. However, it's a safe assumption people will have forgotten how to drive in the snow, and there will be carnage on the roads tomorrow. Any single car "accident" (and there are lots of them) should be considered proof of the driver's incompetence. Their license should be suspended until they take and pass, with perfect marks, a recognized drivers course. Grrrr. That's for the cars. For 4 wheel drive vehicles, pickup trucks, and SUV's, the driver should be executed on the spot, and their head put on a pike at the scene of their incompetence. There should be a big sign, naming them. That might make things safer for the rest of us. GRRRRRR!!! (Can you tell I had vitamins with supper tonight?) Hmmm, on second thought, maybe not. There'd be so many signs on the roads that people from out of town wouldn't be able to see the street names.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Another brick in the path
The paper albatross is gone. I mailed my final assessment paper to Mount Royal University, and in a bunch of weeks I hope to get a nice letter saying I passed. Now I can get back to work, and working out.
It took a while today to get into it. I was in a mood to drink coffee and eat treats. But that was yesterday, and I can't be getting slack. The big day, according to the counter on Jenna's blog, is 139 days, and 13 minutes away. Exactly!
Cored 20 minutes, feeling strong for the first time since I don't know when. Celebrated by taking the tri dips really really deep. Even did plank for a few seconds longer than the plan called for.
Biked 90 minutes, feeling pretty good. The spin is coming back, and I'm feeling stronger, but I can sure tell there is a long way to go to get back to where I was.
Transition for 3 minutes, mainly figuring out how cold and windy it is out there. Turns out to be 1 C, and fairly windy. Long pants and a jacket. Ran 20 minutes around the block, just 3 K. This felt not too bad, just tired.
While buying coffee at Planet Organic, I found this recovery stuff. It's called Recovery, by Purica. it claims to be full of natural goodness to aid tissue repair and recovery from overtraining and trauma, and other stuff. I figured give it a try and got the extra strength stuff. Anybody else tried this?
tick tick tick. 139 days Exactly!!! Boom! hmmm, wait a sec, that can't be right. The race doesn't start at 6pm. I think the clock is out by 12 hours. Look into that, please, Jenna. We can't be working on the wrong timetable here.
Weekly Summary
Swim 1.5 hr
Bike 3.75 hr
Run 1.5 hr
Walk 1.0 hr
Core 2.25 hrs
Totals
Cardio 7.5 hrs
Total 9.25 hrs
It took a while today to get into it. I was in a mood to drink coffee and eat treats. But that was yesterday, and I can't be getting slack. The big day, according to the counter on Jenna's blog, is 139 days, and 13 minutes away. Exactly!
Cored 20 minutes, feeling strong for the first time since I don't know when. Celebrated by taking the tri dips really really deep. Even did plank for a few seconds longer than the plan called for.
Biked 90 minutes, feeling pretty good. The spin is coming back, and I'm feeling stronger, but I can sure tell there is a long way to go to get back to where I was.
Transition for 3 minutes, mainly figuring out how cold and windy it is out there. Turns out to be 1 C, and fairly windy. Long pants and a jacket. Ran 20 minutes around the block, just 3 K. This felt not too bad, just tired.
While buying coffee at Planet Organic, I found this recovery stuff. It's called Recovery, by Purica. it claims to be full of natural goodness to aid tissue repair and recovery from overtraining and trauma, and other stuff. I figured give it a try and got the extra strength stuff. Anybody else tried this?
tick tick tick. 139 days Exactly!!! Boom! hmmm, wait a sec, that can't be right. The race doesn't start at 6pm. I think the clock is out by 12 hours. Look into that, please, Jenna. We can't be working on the wrong timetable here.
Weekly Summary
Swim 1.5 hr
Bike 3.75 hr
Run 1.5 hr
Walk 1.0 hr
Core 2.25 hrs
Totals
Cardio 7.5 hrs
Total 9.25 hrs
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