Intervals are not for sissies!

This week's interval workout was 3 x one miles...and I wasn't looking forward to it (like anyone ever looks forward to intervals, I know, but still...that's a pretty harsh sentence dontcha think?). I swam this morning and had a meeting at lunch, so I didn't run until after work, my least favorite time of day to run. However, I had a good workout and the lights came on at the track so I could actually see my watch AND the track...nice feature that doesn't happen in the morning over there. Anyway....got it done and pretty respectably, if I say so myself:
11 minute warm up
3 x 1 Mile:
7:34
7:25
7:32
11 minute cool down.
HR maxed at about 161 on each interval, I think.

"That's why you train..."

Our friend, Penni, has a tried and true saying when people say things to her like, "I can't run a marathon." Simple, but right on, she says, "Of course you can't do it NOW, that's why you train." Completely obvious, but perspective-inducing nonetheless. That, along with another of my favorite phrases, "If it was easy, everyone would do it," were in my head today during my long run. I ran about 13 miles (2:15:30) and kept wondering how in the hell I'm going to do a marathon in April and an Ironman in August...2 hours and 15 minutes is a damn long time to be running, especially in the rain. But I kept thinking that's why we train and tried to just tackle what was in front of me without worrying about a marathon that's 6 months away. Future-oriented anxiety aside, I was quite happy with the run...I did a mile at tempo pace (158-160 bpm) halfway through and went an 8:10 mile (woo-hoo!), and tried to do last mile/fast mile at the end, but it was more like .75 because I didn't have much left. The rest of the run was around 10:10 minute mile pace, I think, and I kept the HR around 140 most of the time. I ran on Lake Washington to Seward Park and hit 4 water fountains, still commited to my plan of not carrying any water...had one and a half clif shot blocks toward the end of the run. Felt pretty depleted and beat up afterwards...was glad Seujan had run from home to the car to meet me so she could drive home. After lunch I was toast...had 3 advil and a nap on the couch before I could return to the land of the living.

This was my first half marathon distance run!!!!

Sun victorious over fog...

Today started out cold and foggy... the forecast was for "morning fog, turning sunny..." but the cold fog crap lasted till noon. My cranky meter was in the red danger zone for several hours as we waited for decent biking conditions...but finally my hero, the yellow orb, made its appearance, burning off the fog in the sky and the bad mood in my immediate radius. Seujan (still willing to ride with me despite my bad attitude all morning) and I headed to Marymoor with our bikes for a nice fall ride. We did the new Tour de Cure 44 mile route...2,270 ft. of elevation gain...in just under 3 hours. A perfect ride with some great fall color. Got in a good ride, but we didn't kill ourselves. Exactly what I needed...tomorrow is my long run day and the plan is to do 13 miles.

Haven't posted since Tuesday...quick week training re-cap:

Wednesday: Morning Swim Team (3300 yards), 30 minute easy Greenlake run after work
Thursday: Morning Torture, I mean Tempo Run, again in the dark: 10 min. warm up, 35 minutes hard (154-162 HR including one outer greenlake in 25:35 or so), 10 min. cool down
Friday: Swim team (3000 yards), lifted weights at lunch

Searching for daylight...

6:30 a.m., dark, raining, 45 degrees, did I mention DARK...perfect conditions to run intervals...NOT. I just couldn't face going to the track this morning and went to the gym for my run instead. My HR monitor continues to be possessed, the one on the treadmill was also way off and not in synch with mine, and my ipod went on strike completely. It was not my best interval workout, but despite the lame-ass technology (only closed captions on the stupid gym TV sets, too), I think I did something that loosely approximated what I was supposed to do. It was still barely daylight when I got done and it's probably good that I didn't slop around in the dark on the muddy track.

One mile warm up
2 x 400
2 x 800
2 x 1200 (treadmill speed said 6:58 min/mile pace, but I know the treadmill isn't as hard as real running and I was not really running that fast).
One mile cool down

Got in a good lift at lunch. I think the hamstrings are coming along slowly...

Iron Inspired

Our friend, Julie, did the Kona Ironman (as in THE "World Championship") Triathlon on Saturday...we kept checking the web site all day to see her splits and how she was doing...and she did great (rumor at the pool this morning was that she won her age group in the swim). She e-mailed her race report back to the mainland and Seujan read it to me on the couch yesterday...by the end we were both pretty much in tears. What a bunch of cheeseballs, I know. But inspired cheesballs, nonetheless. Looking forward to having Julie back in our lane at the pool once she's descended from cloud 9 and back to training with the mere mortals.

I ended last week with some good work outs...interval run last Thursday was 4 x 1200 and I managed them on 5:39, 5:41, 5:27, and 5:41. I got in one 20 mile bike ride on the same day and decided that 20 miles is a very enjoyable distance...it's a little scary just how much I'm liking short rides and how much my cycling has decreased. I'm a little worried about the build-back period next spring, but I'm also really liking the running focus these days and hoping the "off-season" everyone talks about is really a good idea.

I broke the 2 hour barrier on my long run this weekend...and made a little progress on the nutrition-while-running project. The boring details:

Night before: Crappy bar food and plenty of Mac 'N Jack's on Friday evening at Happy Hour...good to know I can run after almost anything, but I'd like to see how much better I could do with a better night-before nutrition plan that involves a little less beer, a little more water, and some "real" food. I plan to try the more sensible and responsible plan this coming week.

Saturday a.m.: Coffee and a bagel 1:45 before running...started run at 10:15 a.m. and that was good timing for pre-run food. Ran at Lake Washington Blvd. from Madrona to Seward Park, around, and back. My heartrate monitor was all over the place and took almost an hour to settle in. I was cranky about that, but tried just to go on RPE and pace...once HR monitor got accurate, it was a bit higher than it should have been for the pace I was running (my guess: dehydration). I was holding about a 10 minute mile pace and didn't do a middle or a last mile fast mile...just kept the same pace and ran 2:03, probably about 12.25 miles. I stopped at 4 water fountains, but didn't hide or carry water...could've used more. At 1:25 in, I started on Clif Shot Blocks and had 3 in the last 38 minutes of the run. No problems with them, just thirsty. I was a bit sore the rest of the day and on Sunday, but not horribly so.

Next weekend's long run bumps up to 13 miles...but I'll get an extra hour of sleep to recover with the time change :)

Took a rest day on Sunday and started the week today with a good swim...will do spin class at lunch.

What It Takes

So this new Ironman DVD just came out about 4 Ironman Champs called "What It Takes." http://www.witmovie.com/ I'd seen some ads for it and was waiting for it to come out...so as soon as the "alert" hit my Inbox, I speedily clicked to the web site to get my copy. Can't wait to see exactly what it takes (other than $30 on my Visa) and size up whether or not I'll have it in about 10 months from now. (I think there should be a Visa Ironman ad, by the way: Wetsuit: $500, running shoes: $100, Bike: Too many thousand dollars, 10 Powerbars a week: $15, Chamois butter: $10, Inspirational video: $30, Ironman Finisher T-Shirt: Priceless....).

Lately in our household "what it takes" is a damn lot of food...we've both been eating like horses and I think (hope!) it's the increased running mileage. I did a tempo run this morning, followed by the usual trough sized bowl of cereal...snack mid morning...then went to lift weights before lunch. I had to visit my gym locker midway through my workout for half a powerbar as I was so hungry I felt almost shaky. Long live metabolism (and I'm hoping that's what it is and not "pre- hibernation- winter's coming" appetite)!

Anyway...latest training details for the record:
Monday: Swam 3,050 at Swim Team, 45 minute spin class, Avg HR = 139

Today: Tempo run: 11 min warmup downhill to Greenlake, 32 minutes at 158-162 HR (did outer loop of Greenlake in 26:47), 12 minute walk/jog uphill cooldown. Total: 55 minutes.

Lifted: Regular upper body stuff...just added the hamstring stuff Erik prescribed on Friday after his assessment that my hamstring strength is pitiful (as I'd predicted).

R & R

Rain & Relaxation. As much as I prefer 80 degrees and sunny, rainy days make it easier to chill and re-charge the batteries. Clouds yesterday and rain today have made for some welcomed down time in our little household. Yesterday I was still feeling beat up from last week, so I took a mostly-rest day and only lifted weights...other than that, I didn't really do a damn thing but a a couple loads of laundry (with a nap in between!) and last night we went for a drink and to the Gay & Lesbian film festival. Seujan did an 18 mile run yesterday, so her rest day was today. Today was my long run, but a scaled back version this week of 9 miles. I hopped out of bed first thing this morning and drove down to Gasworks to run around Lake Union just as daylight was approaching...it was lightly raining, but it was great running weather and both the rain and the run were just fine with me--no inclination for whining at all this time! Plus, Seujan was cleaning the house like a tornado and I had a way more fun morning activity and got to come home to shower in a very shiny bathroom. When I got back to Gasworks, it was totally light and the trees looked like they are on fire...great fall color. I was able to procrastinate one more week on dealing with the during-run hydration/nutrition strategy as I didn't need anything for just a 90 minute run. I know, I know...I went into Jock 'N Jill yesterday to whine about the fuel belt situation and rather than coaching me to spend more money on another useless accessory, the nice guy (who did sell me $90 shoes, of course) recommended that I go with the "hide bottles on your running route" strategy. If it works for him, it might work for me and I think I'll give it a go next week.

Long run stuff: I had a really good, relaxed run...around Lake Union with an up-and-back added to get a little hill work: up Eastlake, past the little homeless colony, left over the freeway, to the base of the Howe St. stairs, then reversed back down (more homeless folks awake and shuffling around on the second pass-by) for the rest of the Lake Union loop. Kept my HR below 140 on the flats and the hills were pretty comfortable, too. I did the "last mile, fast mile" and pushed it up to about 158, hit the last mile at just about an 8 minute pace. I was almost disappointed that this week wasn't another week of adding more distance since I felt really good, but I understand the strategy and next week will continue the progression with a hop up to 12 miles.

9 miles, 1:30:27

Just the facts

Tempo run this morning as prescribed by the coach:

10 minute warm-up
One outer loop of Greenlake (3.2 miles): 26:06, HR 158-161. Fast time for me, but freakin' hard, sideache.
10 minute cool down

Tempo run = not fun.

TGIF. No more workouts today; happy hour on the schedule.

Good day at the office...

Because I wasn't there! Today after the morning swim team workout, I worked more on the Tour de Cure route...the best way possible, on my bike. I rode 60 miles of what might become the 70ish mile route and discovered that maps are nice, but they hide hills a little too well. I knew about a few of them, but the entire 60 miles ended up having 3,400 ft. of elevation gain and I got a good butt-kicking. I'm not sure we can charge people money to do this route! At one point, I saw a steep ugly hill coming up on 3 Lakes Road between Snohomish and Monroe (and I'm usually a big fan of hills) and said out loud, "Holy F$(#!" Actually, there was a good bit of swearing over the course of the day...however, I was MORE than happy to be out in the sun and working while getting in a great ride. The toughest day in the saddle is still better than the best day in the office! The fall weather has been beautiful and I'm maximizing it before the rain and dark take over all too soon.

Tatyana and I swam in the lake last night (October 11 in Lake Washington!!) at sundown and that was GREAT, too. We lasted 40 minutes and weren't even the only wackos out there...we saw 3 more swimmers at Madison Beach. I was good and cold afterwards, but god bless neoprene and the faithful water heater in our condo...hypothermia was averted and eventually I could feel my feet again.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a 5 mile tempo run and I'm also seeing my hero, Erik the PT, to talk about winter strength training and some knee issues I had this summer from my bad biking form...I'm pretty beat after 3 doubles days in a row, but I'll probably run in the morning before I'm awake enough to know what's happening.

A good accessory is hard to find....

The beauty of running, especially compared to the other 2/3 of triathlon components, is the simplicity...or so I thought. To run, one doesn't need a wetsuit and aqua accessories, one doesn't need a helmet (unless one is a very reckess runner), gloves, bike rack, tire irons, C02 cartridges, blah, blah, blah. Just point and shoot... Well, this distance crap, er, endeavoring has made it necessary to consider carrying water, nuun, Clif shots, etc. Running has become complicated (next, I'm sure will be the "when and where do I stop to pee?" problem). So I figured I'd get a super-cool hydration belt. I thought I found the perfect thing, an "Amphipod," belt with 2 very small bottles, velcro, pocket. The thing LOOKS great and seemed perfect for the task. Maybe it is on somebody else's body. I test drove it this morning to/from the track for intervals just to get a feel for it before my next long run...let's just say if the damn thing hadn't cost $30 or if I hadn't kept the receipt, I'd have flung it into Greenlake. What a pain in the butt...despite me trying to push it down to my hips every few seconds, it kept creeping up (fortunately, Seujan informed me when it took half of my shorts along --although the breeze on my butt should've alerted me)... the bottles travelled AROUND the belt, one bottle spontaneously jumped OFF the belt to the ground, and no matter how tight I velcroed it, we just could not make friends. Some accessory THAT turned out to be. So...I'm going to get my 30 bucks back and investigate other options. Possible strategies: hide disposable water bottles on my running routes, create running routes that figure-8 or out-and-back the car, try belts other than the Amphipod, or god forbid, get one of the stupid water bottles you have to carry (but then how do you eat the Clif Shots?). My shoulder is not in favor of the last idea, but it's winning at the moment.

Regardless of hydration belt hell during the warm-up and cool-down (threw the belt on the bleachers for the actual workout), Seujan and I slugged out some good intervals this morning. We each did 5 x 800's on the track. I went: 3:45, 3:42, 3:44, 3:41, 3:41. Works for me....and a nice morning...about 45 degrees and clear. Sun came up while we were out there...good start to the day.

Kid eats broccoli and other successes.

Seujan and I have a little sister who turned 13 on Friday. We had a little celebration for her yesterday which included introducing her and her new bike to the Burke Gilman trail, making dinner, and decorating cupcakes...oh, and we gave her some "Heelys." We are SO old and not hip that we had to do research on these things when she said she wanted them and thought they were called "wheelys," so we looked like total dorks asking for the wrong thing in the store last week...but anyway. Heelys are these little deathtrap shoes that have removable rollerskate wheels in the heels...kids can wear them as regular tennis shoes or put the skate wheels under the heels and skate around--the wheels pop in and out. I'm sure these things are not made in adult sizes and if they were I think it'd be a crime to sell them without helmets, wrist guards, and verification of health insurance...but I digress. The kid loved the heelys and I'm sure will be skating down the hallways of her school today rivaling the speed and athleticism of Apollo Ohno. So anyway, the most amazing occurence of the birthday celebration was that the kid ate broccoli. This is a kid who, as Seujan has described, eats only candy and beige food, preferably synthetic in nature (mac n cheese, bean burritos, corn dogs, fried chicken). Every time we have a meal with her, there are vegetables present, but she rarely touches them and says things like, "You're going to EAT that?" So, long story short, I was raving about how excited I was about broccoli with the spaghetti last night and she took the bait (Seujan says she imitates me sometimes). She actually asked for some and then asked for MORE. Granted, she dumped half a salt shaker's worth of salt on it, but I'm calling it a milestone.

Yesterday also included the longest run of my life to date. And I'm not even sore today(!), but am taking a rest/recovery day today. I got in an 11-miler and felt damn good about it. Below is the run report, boring to anyone but me probably, but I'm logging it for my own reference and because I know that I need to work on pre and during-run nutrition so I want to remember stuff.

Saturday: Biked 39 miles at HR Avg. of 116, but legs felt pretty lousy...had Seujan scoop me and needed a short nap and a lot of food that afternoon.

Saturday night: Ate a LOT of heavily garlic-ed hummus (ok, and 2 beers), later than usual dinner time (9 p.m. or so), at the Elysian. Thirsty during the night, felt the garlic.

Sunday a.m.: Up at 7:00....had one big cup of coffee with goop and an oatmeal raisin clif bar.

Run was from Seward Park to a turn-around 5.5 miles out...measured on bike and car for distance/accuracy.

Run: Started one hour after the Clif Bar, about 8:20 a.m.

First 2 miles very easy: 20 minutes, HR at 135 at mile 2

Took HR up to about 143-146; comfortable working pace.

Mile 4.25 - 5. 25 was about 9:40 at 143 bpm

Mile 5.75 - 6.75 took the HR up to 158 (AT) as instructed by Cheryl: Mile time 8:40

HR back to 143 -145 the rest of the run

Had one sip of water at mile 8

Stomach started feeling lousy between mile 8-9...

Finished 11 miles in 1:44:55. Avg. HR = 146

NOTES: Try something other than a Clif Bar prior to the run and/or eat it 90 minutes prior, not an hour. I'd intended to try Clif Blocks during the run, but stomach felt lousy...will be getting a fuel belt to experiment more with hydration and nutrition WHILE running. This was the 8th day in a row since the last rest day and I logged just under 15 hours of workouts in those 8 days (3 swim, 3 bike--one of which was VERY easy, 3 run, 2 weights).

All coached up and ready to roll...

Met with my coach this morning after a good swim team workout to start on my year training and race plan leading up to Ironman and I'm all charged up...since I received an extra helping of the "Planning Gene" at birth (when they gave me 2 left brain halves taped together and had me skip the right brain line at the checkout altogether), seeing a year's worth of concrete details and a neat-and-tidy plan on a piece of paper makes me quite happy. In addition, I have to/get to do a running AT (anaerobic threshold) test tomorrow...I know my AT for biking, but not for running, so this will fuel my detail and numbers fire for planning all kinds of structured workout activities that require minimal creativity/guesswork. Whoo-hoo! Numbers! Details! Chop- chop! I was telling Jeff yesterday on a nice bike ride (gorgeous sunny afternooon in Snohomish/Everett) that I really admire and respect creative-zen types (such as Tatyana, see her blog for definition of what I mean)...I like having those people in my life and really appreciate them...but I'm wired SO differently. It's interesting. Anyway...

Since my running is coming up, the Seattle half marathon (Nov. 26) is now on the radar as a possible "C" level race (i.e. do it dang slow and maybe even practice walking), with the Tucson half marathon remaining an "A" two weeks afterwards on Dec 10. I've always coveted the very-popular long sleeved dri-fit shirts they give out at the Seattle Half (Seujan has enough of them to have one for every day of the week, I think), so the idea is gaining appeal...will decide on that one within the next month.

In unrelated news, I caved and bought some new shoes for work/winter earlier this week...however, I can't bring myself to put on shoes requiring socks for anything other than biking and running yet. I'm holding on and wearing my chaco sandals for the gazillionth day in a row again today...long live visible pedicures and summer shoes. I am hanging on as long as possible!!

It's all relative

So this morning was my "long run day," and I'm almost to the point of considering that I might gradually be becoming an endurance athlete. Maybe. Mostly because I think my distances are getting long enough now that I'll have to stop doing long runs on Monday mornings due to 2 major things I can't control (grr): darkness and having to work for a living. Anyway, the distance thing is all relative, I guess...as Seujan ran 2 and a half hours yesterday and then had no trouble having more energy to burn and easily going shopping with me afterwards... I felt pretty dang wiped all morning after today's run and my right hamstring is still a little cranky. I think I went about 10 miles...around Lake Union with an add-on up Eastlake to the Howe Street stairs, through Interlakken, and back down Boyer: 1 hour, 36 minutes, 30 seconds. Despite going through some of my favorite routes, it felt like a damn long time and in the last 2 miles or so I was seriously questioning the whole Ironman idea. Good thing they already have my $500 and I really want the swag...and possibly the I.M. tatoo.

I generally think that running with an ipod is a bad idea...mostly for safety reasons...but I may reconsider.

I meet with my coach on Thursday to update training plans, and am guessing I'm ahead of the game for the half marathon on December 10 in Tucson...after which the really hard stuff starts and the next goal will be a full marathon in the spring.

Did I mention today was the first day for running gloves? Granted, I was the only one out there with them on, but it was 45 degrees and I think that's COLD! The second shirt was overkill, I'll admit, but the gloves were a good idea.