I want to ride like an eagle...

OK, that's not exactly how the Steve Miller band sings it, but I was belting out my own lyrics while cycling today over the I-90 bridge westbound. I was on about mile 46 of today's brick ride and thought I saw a shadow or an airplane above my right shoulder. I looked up and there was a big 'ol bald eagle cruising along side me as I was descending down onto the bridge deck. It was pretty cool to get a boost from watching it flying next to me for a couple seconds before it headed south.

And I must say, the rest of the brick was pretty good, too, today, and I felt strong and had fun out there. (Note: I didn't say I was fast, I said I felt strong...I looked at the stats and I know the difference, but hey, it's nice to feel good). The weather was good, I was happily over dressed and warm (as usual, I had on more stuff than any/all of the other cyclists out and about), and I'm thinking I was also pretty well fueled from an excellent dinner date last night. This week, my life does NOT suck. Anyway, back on topic. I had a 55 mile ride/40 minute run and am a little tired of the same routes I've been doing, so I resurrected an old one I haven't ridden in a couple of years. I rode over the short side of Mercer Island, through Factoria, down Newport way, around Lake Sammamish, and back. It's a nice route with a few good hills; I especially like the slow steady climb coming back up Newport from Issaquah. I'm still riding the second of 2 bikes I've had to borrow during my unfinished bike crisis, but this one fits me pretty well and gets it done. The current ride, however, is a bit heavy and I am REALLY missing and craving my aerobars. But today I decided that maybe riding this bike (that, sidebar I'm very thankful my pal, Heather, loaned me as it's saving my bacon) could turn out to be the cycling equivalent of swimming with a drag suit. When my new carbon fiber (aka money pit) steed is up and running, maybe I'll have dormant speed in my legs that will unleash. Yeah, I'm going with that idea. Cause let's just say...cycling remains my weakest link.

Anyway, I enjoyed the ride today, and figured out a bike route to get me exactly 55 miles...did a quick transition, and got out for my run back down by Lake Washington. The first 10 minutes or so felt like, uh, a brick, but not too bad. Then I settled in pretty well and held a 9:22 pace which doesn't suck, especially since I ended on the short hill up to my house. I did about 2 minutes of extra credit (hey, it's something) and got in 4.5 miles.

The rest of this fine day will be spent getting a recovery massage, going for burgers with my Iron friends, Christie & Theresa (who did a 60 mile/12 mile brick today, how glad was I not to be them today, but will strive to eat at least as much as they do) and starting a dog sitting gig with Bugsy the cute curmudgeon pug.

5 weeks till race day and this coming week is a recovery week...works for me. I got in 13 hours of training this week, whoop!

Brick:

55 mile bike
3:49
Avg HR: 128 Max HR: 156
Avg pace: 14.4

4.5 mile run
42:08
Avg HR: 146 Max HR: 162
Avg Pace 9:22

Knee-covery

This week was a recovery week...turned out I needed it. Last week's long run followed by a couple of bike rides on my friend's bike (i.e. not a bike fitted to me)...followed by running hill repeats on Tuesday...got my knee really pissed off by Thursday night/yesterday morning. Some ice and Aleve last night and ice this morning seems to have helped get it in check, but I was pretty stressed out about it yesterday. After talking with Cheryl (who has more sense than me, by far), I trimmed down today's brick and did the bike part on my old bike/trainer with my old shoes. The bike ride scheduled should have been 30 miles, but I called it good at 1:15 and did the scheduled run. Between about 30-50 minutes into the biking, the knee was a little cranky, but then it was fine again and I kept it to a moderate pace...no standing, etc....The run felt fine for the most part and I kept that pretty flat, too. I iced again after the brick and the rest of the weekend will be rest, with more ice and Aleve too...hopefully, a little more recovery time will have me ready for a building week again by Monday. Brick: 1:15 bike trainer (Avg HR 129) 1:25 transition 40 min run, 4.4 miles, Avg HR 144)

double digits and bagged brick

What is it about alliteration that I like so much? Hm...don't know, but I do always try for an alliterated (is that a word?) title for my blog posts. Anyway...yesterday was the first double digit run in a long time...10 miles. It wasn't fast and it wasn't pretty (as witnessed by my friend, Tara, who was rowing on Lake Washington and told me later she saw me slogging along)...but it was OK. The last 2 miles were "pick up" or tempo, but I didn't have much to push and these last 2 miles were way slower than last week. I really felt body tired all day afterwards...my calves were tight by last night, my hamstrings were sore, and my back and shoulders felt it, too. I pretty much decided during this run that I'd like to go back to Olympic distance races for the rest of the season after Hawaii. The longer runs really take their toll on me. I took some Aleve before bed last night and slept OK, but not that great. This whole week I felt like I was dragging ass on workouts...my indoor bike workouts on Monday and Wednesday both really felt like a slog and were nothing resembling fun. It could be, though, that other stresses (like the bike crisis, for one) were spilling over into my workouts and body tiredness. Oh, and the quick update on the bike situation is that I borrowed my friend, Elaine's bike and I'm looking for a frame to replace mine as it is, indeed, totalled. But I have at least one lead and having a substitute bike in the meantime has reduced my freak-out factor significantly. Today was supposed to be a swim and weights day...however it was the first sunny day in quite a while---and might be the only one for a while. My afternoon was free, so I made a Carpe Diem mental health decision and rode the bike part of tomorrow's brick today because tomorrow could be crappy again and the idea of 3 hours on the bike trainer tomorrow and wasting the sun opportunity today seems almost criminal. My friend's bike fits OK...not as well as mine, but I put my pedals on and it'll do. I definitely missed my aerobars! Anyway, there was no way I was going to run off the bike today after doing a 10-miler yesterday, so I just rode and, I guess, kind of jacked up my training schedule by sabbotaging this weekend's brick, but...I think I'm over it. I'll get in at least one more run over the weekend. I get to go to a big dinner party tonight that will also be attended by my friends Christie & Theresa who are training for a full Ironman at the moment...they rode 102 miles today and the party host has been informed of the likelihood that we will eat everything in her house except the cat food. I'm pretty sure she decided to make a second roast when she heard they were riding a century today! Thursday's ridiculously slow 10 mile run: 2 mile super slow warm up: 21:37 (Avg HR 124, Avg pace 10:48) 6 miles moderate: 1:02:27 (Avg HR 134, avg pace 10:25) 2 miles pick up/tempo: 19:03 (avg HR 146, avg pace 9:34 Today's 51 mile ride: 3:28:22 Avg HR 124 Avg pace 14.6

Broken bike...

On Saturday I decided, despite marginal weather, to ride outdoors...the lack of enthusiasm for the bike trainer outweighed the lack of enthusiasm for the weather. I had a 45 mile ride/35 minute run brick on the schedule and needed to get it done early, so I got on the bike about 8:00a.m. As I went down the street, I heard something bounce off my back spokes...wondered what it was and quickly dismissed the thought (later realized it was probably a tire iron). As I turned onto Lk. Wa. Blvd., my pedals felt funny...I looked down and saw that my spare inner tube had come out of my saddle bag (dumbass me left it unzipped after taking out my multi-tool a week or so ago), slithered down, and was snaked all through the rear cassette. It had pulled/broken the dereiller off, leaving it hanging alongside the bike. Fortunately, I was not thrown from the bike (coulda been a major crash causing situation), and, of course, I stopped immediately to cuss and assess WTF happened. It took a few minutes to take off the back wheel, unravel the tube, and then hike back up the hill home (about .7 mile) with my injured bike. It's seriously pathetic, the dereiller looks like a little broken wing hanging off the chain. I ended up (AGAIN) on the bike trainer for 2 hours and 25 minutes (then did the run outdoors) and on-demanded a movie to kill the time.

Anyway, the dereiller hanger is part of the carbon fiber frame, not simply a little replaceable part. I took the bike to Greggs Cycles on Sunday...had to wait 2 days for the Shop Manager to call Trek yesterday...to find out that this bike frame and its parts are no longer being made. I got a tip to contact Calfee, a company in California that specializes in carbon fiber bike repair...so I sent them photos of the bike's injury. They said IF they had the (nonexistant?) part, they could fix it for about $400...this does not include the hassle of disassembling the bike completely and shipping only the frame to California. So...I'm still problem solving and searching places like eBay for a new frame...and planning to get my old bike road-ready and take it off the trainer.

The human aspect of training is going OK...last week bumped me up to one more bike workout per week (timely, eh?), so I've got 3 swims, 3 bikes, and 3 runs per week...plus 2 short weights workouts. I'm feeling the addition of one more workout per week and have been sleeping a lot and pretty hard. Of course a couple nights ago, I woke up at 2:00 a.m. and had a short freakout about the bike situation...but...it'll all work out somehow and the need for sleep has been slightly greater than the stress of worrying about things, so I've been pretty religious about getting enough sleep.

I've been keeping up the spreadsheet, but haven't blogged about workouts in a while....so....let's just re-cap yesterday's interval/tempo run quickly. It was hard and I was dragging a bit, but got it done...was dang happy that yesterday only had one workout and I got it done early in the a.m. I ran outside this time for speedwork instead of the treadmill...it's finally getting light early enough to see both my watch and the road to do intervals!

5 mile run with 5x 3 minutes/1 minute intervals

1.27 mile warm up

3 minutes hard (.39 miles, avg. pace of 7:45, avg HR = 150)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.39, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 153)

1 minute recovery

3 minutes hard (.38, avg. HR = 154)

1.47 mile moderate

First day of spring

I'm glad to be done with another building week and on a rest day today...and an easier recovery week coming up. Tomorrow I get to move home after about a month of housesitting and am looking forward to a little re-charging of the batteries this week. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy.

Thursday was long run day (9 miles) and I had to do it at 5:45 a.m....in the dark (stupid time change last weekend made me cranky and tired all week). It was a super slow one, but I did pick it up the last 2 miles, as per the plan, and I was damn happy when it was over. I did get to run in West Seattle, though, along Beach Drive and Alki, and having a different route was nice... it was cool to hear the water while it was still dark and I couldn't yet see it.

Yesterday was brick day...and I had a packed day afterward, so I had to get cracking pretty early so I could be somewhere by 12:30. I was on the bike by 8:15 a.m. and it was gorgeous out, but about 38 degrees. I chose the right gear, so I wasn't cold and the sunshine was great. The brick was supposed to be a 40 mile bike + 30 minute run, but I cut the bike a little short, mostly due to time constraints and how I did my route. I rode to Mercer Island and did the long side twice (out-and-back) and got in 34 miles without any stops...definitely felt the legs by the end of the ride since I've done so few "real"rides and so many on the trainer. Did a pretty quick transition...about 2:30, and ran an out-and-back in my 'hood. My legs felt very brick-ish...mission accomplished...and I was done by about 11:00. The rest of the day was work, fun, and dancing...and I got to bed at 1:00 a.m. with my feet and legs feeling completely flattened...did I mention I'm glad today is a rest day???? It's the first day of spring and sunny, so I'm a little bummed that the weather is great on a rest day, but I'll try to enjoy it without sweating. I'm working this afternoon doing chair massage at the "Big Climb" event, and that'll be close enough to a workout for me.

Brick:

34 mile bike
2:14:45
Avg HR 127
Avg pace: 15.1

Transition: 2:30ish

3.3 mile run
30:10
Avg HR 143
Avg Pace: 9:11

Who wants my autograph?

Well, after almost 45 years on this planet, I can finally say I've reached my career goal of being a professional athlete. A few days ago, Cheryl forwarded an email to me that advertised the need for runners to do some paid research on GPS devices in Seattle. I applied immediately and yesterday, I'm proud to say, I was paid to run 3 miles. My whopping salary was $25 (and the thing was downtown so I spent $7 on parking,one step forward...), but hey, it's the PRINCIPLE of the gig, right? And I'm going to call the free Gatorade my signing bonus! My friend, Kerry, got in on the study today (she made $50, clearly I need an agent!), and we're planning to go out for dinner with our cash sometime soon to toast our new careers!

Anyway, I have to say I wasn't that thrilled to run yesterday as it was a non-running day in my training schedule and they had me run 4 loops of a kind of ridiculous .75 mile loop in downtown Seattle...with lots of stoplights (read: I was jaywalking like a New Yorker despite their "safety first" directions on the waiver), but it was a cool project; they had me wear 2 Nike GPS gadgets and one Garmin (so 2 on one wrist, one on the other), to run 2 loops of the course....then go back indoors, change to 3 more gadgets, and do the same thing again. Interestingly, the Nike gadgets sucked and lost signal in the urban environment....the Garmin performed better. I overheard one of the tester guys who was supervising with his laptop say into his cell, "We have a serious bug..." Anyway, I was thrilled to post the photo above of my earnings to Facebook and I received many comments on my wall!

This morning it was time to do a "real" scheduled workout run...and it wasn't so fun. Today was Interval day and I did the working early on a treadmill at a gym in West Seattle...had to do 5x 2 minutes hard/1 minute recovery. I got it done...but did the last 10 minutes on the elliptical machine. I was bored, feeling the hamstring a little, and mostly I'm just feeling kind of tired this week. I'm trying to schedule some more sleep to recover...anyway, I didn't wear a HR monitor for the workout, but checked and the HR got up to 165 during some of the intervals, so I know I pushed it. I did each of the 2 minutes hard at 8.1mph (7:24 mile pace if the treadmill is accurate) and recovered each minute in between at an easy 5 mph jog, although those little rest minutes went by awfully fast!

Interval Run

15 min warm up (1.5 miles)

5x 2 minutes at 8.1/1 min at 5 mph

Jog at 6mph up to 4 miles

10min elliptical

47:30 total

Another brick bites the dust

Well, another brick has been checked off the list...which included another somewhat purgatorial ride on the bike trainer. Pretty sure these workouts are harder mentally than physically...

I've moved from one dog sit gig to another and am now shacked up in West Seattle for about 10 days. When Zion, the dog, and I woke up this morning (slept in till 7:30, whoop!), it was pouring. No brainer...went home after breakfast and set up the bike trainer, grabbed the remote control, and had at it.

The workout was supposed to be 35 miles on the bike and a 30 minute run...I think I rounded down a little on the bike (don't know mileage indoors, just time and HR) and threw a little extra credit at the run. Fortunately, I had a few unseen episodes of my favorite show, "The Good Wife," that I on-demanded while on the bike...interspersed with some women's college basketball. 2 hours was about all (my butt and) I could take...stretched it out to 2:05 because the UCLA/Stanford game was almost to halftime, so I stayed on to see the end of the half. I made a quick transition and slopped out into the cold yucky rain for the puddle stomping run...went down to Lake Wa Blvd and out-and-back toward Mt. Baker beach. I have to admit that I added extra time because I knew I'd have to figure out my distance later (was using my Garmin with only HR and no GPS because I'd cycled indoors) and I wanted to run to a landmark that I'd be able to find on geodistance. And yes, I realize this is completely OCD and represents an over-dependence on statistics, but hey...I like my numbers...and now know that I went...about 4.2 miles total) I also figured it wouldn't hurt to run a little more since I biked a little less.

As I was approaching Genesee Park on the way back...and my hands were freezing (thought gloves wouldn't be necessary, wrong-o) and I just wanted to be done and eating a peanut butter sandwich...a funeral procession passed me going the opposite direction. I first hoped that this was not some kind of foreshadowing of my next race...then thought that well, I'm pretty happy to be alive, healthy and fit (albeit slightly uncomfortable and slopping through cold rain wishing for sunshine fairly often these days) and not horizontal in a black car! Could be worse, right?

After I got done, I drank a V8 immediately...then took a shower and had that PBJ soon after, but could really feel the workout catching up with me fast. About an hour later, I was having that old familiar "slow motion" loopy feeling...with the echo-y headache...that means I pushed it and am doing it right. :) I made it to a Starbucks a little while later and some caffeine (god love that drug) wiped out the headache pronto. Glad tomorrow is a rest day...I got in just about 10 hours of training this week and it's time to chill for a day.

Tonight I'm going to a small dinner party/movie night at my friend, Angie's...where I will do my best not to eat the entire pork roast she's going to have in the Crock Pot...better have a(nother) snack first!

Bike/Run Brick:

2:05 bike
134 Avg HR

1:05 Transition

4.2ish mile run
40:00
Avg HR 147