A Day of Rest

What is it about my recovery day that seems so short as I head into two intense weeks of training? Looking ahead this week, I need to get serious about the hill work on my bike. From now on I'll be heading to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It will be slow going but I have seen progress on my uphill stamina the last couple weeks. As for the downhill, I'm just hoping my fear breaks soon because I'm nearly reckless on the downhill.

Things I need to do this week: figure out why my bike computer isn't working, get my bike fit, get to the chiro, and get a bunch of sleep.

2007 Face of America Ride

When the alarm went off at 4:30 AM today the only thing I wanted to do was roll over and go back to sleep. When I forced myself to get vertical, I realized that not only was I tired but my stomach was not feeling great.

I had signed up as a volunteer in the 2007 Face of America Ride, a two day bike ride for disabled veterans injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was to ride sweep which meant I would follow the last person and make sure they got to either the designated rest stop or to the Bethesda Naval Hospital, the finish for the two-day ride. I'll be honest, I did seriously think about not going and part of me debated whether that even required a phone call to the volunteer coordinator--I was acting nearly in anonymity, how would they miss me.

I managed to get to the ride start in Frederick, MD battling sleep as I drove. I found the Community College that hosted the disabled athletes between the two ride days and amazingly I found where they were on the sprawling, unsigned campus. No one seemed to know where the volunteer coordinator was and it also seemed that they had plenty of volunteers--riders, aid station workers etc. A thought passed through my mind that if I left, again, how would they miss me.

Sometimes, it is not so much what we do for others as what others do for us. Today, while I thought I was the one giving, I received. I rode 56 miles with many disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the same images you see on tv--missing limbs, blindness, horrible scarring mentally and emotionally. These men and women were determined under any circumstances to get to the finish and I made sure they did. I stayed with the slowest of the slow. I encouraged them, I yelled at them, I was introduced to their life and families through our conversations.

I may be sunburned, I may have ridden the slowest 56 miles in my life, I may have applied my brakes going uphill just to stay with a rider. These were not altruistic sacrifices on my part but in fact my gift from the men and women struggling to embrace their new lives. Next time you feel a sense of dread over something you need to do remember that the most precious gifts can come from the things you least feel like doing.

PS And for JB, who arose at the early 4:30 AM hour with me and dropped me off in Frederick, MD, I hope you can vicariously live through this gift to.

Today's Workout

Ok, remember it is a recovery week--I call today's workout trifecta light.

Up at 6AM and off to River Road in Potomac MD for 90 minutes of hills. It was nice and peaceful out there today, the traffic was not too bad, lots of cyclists. I had made a little adjustment to my handlebars which seems to have eased my neck pain in the aero position. Last year in one of my trips where I had to take my bike apart and rebuild it at the race site my handlebars dropped and I found that to be a very comfortable riding position. So last night, when I was switching out to my hill gearing, I dropped my handlebars. Huge difference.

Immediately off of the bike I ran for 30 minutes through these neighborhoods with mansions. Seriously. All of the homes were gated and the landscapers all stared at me as if they had never seen anyone jogging in the neighborhood. I'm certain that many of the homes had more square footage then my 1st-8th grade school. I wish I were kidding. Its unfathomable what people do with all of that space.

Back home I tried to warm up and mentally prepare to head to Chinquappin, a very cold neighborhood pool. My regular pool has classes until 12:30PM but with the short recovery workout I was done biking and running by 10AM. The pool was cold and crowded. I was very tired but managed to make it through my workout cursing at every turn. 300 warm-up, 2 x 100 drill, 8 x 50 using 3-2 breathing, and then the killer 1,000. I finished with a 100 warm down. Today's grant total: 2,000 meters. Could I have gone another 2,000 meters--NO!!!! And that is probably why the swim always comes first in triathlon events.

Tomorrow, 53 miles of riding with the men and women from our Armed Services.

Today's Workout

Up at 3:30 because Buddy was wailing from downstairs and it sounded like he was hurt. No, he was not hurt, I guess he was just lonely. Up again at 5:15.

This would have been a nice off day. With interrupted sleep and a gentle rain falling, a girl could have slept in several hours. Nonetheless, after my abs I headed out for an hour run. I was running a route which I thought was an hour but I guess it is more like an hour and a half. I had to cut through a few neighborhoods to ensure my run was only an hour and to get back to the house and off to work on time. I guess an hour is so short to me now that I don't know a 60 minute route.

Tomorrow, a trifecta--but it is short. All totalled it should be about three hours--it's like a day off.

Today's Workout

Up at 4:30. No head-butting today, instead Buddy kept artfully putting his tail in my nostril. I'm taking lessons from his subtlety.

I swam with the Masters today and what a workout. 300 choice stroke to start so I mixed in freestyle and a little backstroke. 200 one armed paddle pulls--there is a reason people don't swim with one arm. 10 x 50 sprints with 10 seconds rest. Trust me when I say that we were being yelled at by the coach from the deck because we were not moving fast enough. 500 fly kick with fins, down on the side and returning on our back. Yes, there was a leg burn. 500 paddle pull, more burn just in the arms. 500 back kick with fins, 3 x 25 easy and the 4th turn on the motor boat speed.

This was a really good workout today. I received a little coaching on my kick which did seem to make me a wee bit faster when I made the requested adjustment. Looking forward to working on this more.

Tomorrow is supposed to be my second off day in this recovery week but instead I am going to do Sunday's one hour run. On Sunday I am volunteering at the 2007 Face of America Bike Ride http://www.worldteamsports.kintera.org/faf/home/default.asp?ievent=221148. The ride is for the men and women who were disabled in the Iraq and Afghanistan war--about 50 of them are biking from Gettysburg, PA to DC and I'm just riding along to help. I'm doing it to support the disabled athletes and to honor my own family members who have or are serving in Iraq. A shout out to the men and women in uniform.

Today's Workout

Buddy, the alarm clock, needs to reset his time. Up at 4:30, fending off Buddy the head-butter since 3:30.

Abs then on the bike for 45 minutes of time trialing. I threw in a few one legged drills. Then off for a 30 minute run--10 minute warmup and 5 x 2 minutes in zone 4, with a 2 minute zone 2 rest. Again, still having difficulty punching through zone 4 (heart rate above 166 for me) and keeping the heart down to zone 2 (heart rate below 149). Then my heart rate monitor starts acting up and registers a heart rate of 76 when I'm in a full sprint. Technology.

Tomorrow, I swim with the Masters. I'm enjoying my recovery week although I have to remember to eat a little bit less as I am exercising less. In just a few weeks I will be in Disney competing in a half-Ironman. It is so close that it's frightening. I think I'm ready but I sure would love a real steamy day to test my nutrition.

Today's Workout

Up at 4:30 AM, I think Buddy (the cat) advanced the alarm by an hour. Who needs to wake to music when you can awaken to your cat head butting you.

Abs, upper body weights, then off to the pool. My arms were dead in the pool so I focused on it being a short 45 minute swim. 300 warmup, 8 x 50 (25 drill, 25 swim), 6 x 100, 500 pull and 50 cool down. That's all she wrote today. A short 1850 meters (slighlty over a mile if you need it Americanized).

I rode my bike to work today. It is a bit overcast and in the 60's with low humidity. Really, these days are too few and far between.

Tomorrow, a short bike and run.

A day of rest

I'm tired and a bit sore today but it is so beautiful outside I just want to hop on my bike. It is a perfect day heading for 80 and little humidity. We get about 5 of these days a year.

This is my recovery week which I desperately need. I have not looked at the schedule ahead but I know it will keep getting tougher. Already this schedule is kicking my butt and yet it is not that different from my training before I had a coach. Perhaps the only difference is I may push myself a little harder because I'm paying for this pain.

This week, I'm hoping to get my bike professionally fit but I'm still waiting for the fitter to respond to my emails. The aero position is bothering my neck and gives me limited vision, plus this is the same position that is causing my hip pain. I know there is a tweak that will change all of this.

Tomorrow, back in the pool. I watched "Duel in the Pool" a little bit this weekend which was a swim meet between Australia and the USA's best swimmers. They had an underwater camera that moved with the swimmers so it was great to look at the strokes. If only I had half of the swimmer's speeds, they looked like motor boats.....I look like a canoe. L

Today's Workout

Ugh, up at 6:15 AM. Darn that sun waking up the animal kingdom. Out for a 110 minute run, why don't we just call this 2 hours. What a beautiful day. I ran to Old Town Alexandria and then along the river toward DC. The motor tabs are working nicely for me as far as nutrition goes albeit they have yet to be tested in the heat. Today was the first time in weeks that my feet did not lose feeling after 15 minutes of running. The only difference--I carried my water bottle in my left hand.

Technically, that was all that was on my list for exercise today--quite a difference from Saturday. Nonetheless, I took JB out for a spin on a course she is racing in a few weeks. It had a little up and down, nothing serious. Great day for a ride but I forgot the sunscreen and my hands got sunburned. Thereafter, I hauled a ton of mulch around the yard--I would rather have repeated Saturday's workout.

Tomorrow is a much needed day of rest. I think, I hope, this is my recovery week because I need it.

Today's Workout

Some days I feel this is a fool hardy venture. Today is one of those days. I'm having difficulty picturing myself finishing LP--very discouraging.

I started with my bike today. I needed hills and because I was riding alone I wanted to hit them before traffic picked up. I was on my bike at 7:30 and I started with a long gradual hill. I like my hill climbing gears. The heart rate was up but I never felt that my momentum was so slow that I might fall over and I was able to spin up vs my old habit of standing as I climb. Overall, I hit a lot of hills today but I had a lower cadence and could not get comfortable in aero position. Hard to judge the quality of the bike, not great I would say.

When I arrived home I headed out for a 40 minute run. The temperature this morning was 45, by my run it was 72--lovely. I don't believe my legs were moving at all, I felt so terribly slow on my run. I was passd by an inch-worm. I've just grabbed a bite to eat and now I'm waiting to head to the pool for an hour swim--two 1,000, that will be fun (NOT).

I mixed up my nutrition a little today due to some unpleasant stomach complaints. I tried Motor Tabs for the first time which is like a big Alka Seltzer that you put in water. It's not the greatest tasting but it seemed to work on my stomach. I'll have to see over the course of time how it works.

A nap is calling me....not sure, could happen before I swim. Oooo, the thought of being horizontal.

Today's Workout

I thought.....I was hoping.....to sleep in a little today. I had a sneeze festival which resulted in my getting up nearly an hour earlier then I had intended. Despite my success at sending the animal kingdom back to bed--they made an attempt through head butting and dancing around the bed to convince me to get up at 4--I could not stave off the sneezing.

Up at 4:30 AM. I slowly made my way through the morning chores, did my abs, and actually stretched before I got on the bike--stretching was a luxury. My coach gave me 60 minutes on the bike, my choice of workout. Tempting to be lazy, very tempting. Nonetheless, I did a 10 minute warmup, 20 x 1 minute one legged drills (hard to believe this is voluntary), then I did some time trialing. 4 minutes at a cadence of 80 with 1 minute easy spin, 4 minutes at a cadence of 85 with 1 minute easy spin, 4 minutes at a cadence of 90 with 1 minute easy spin, 4 minutes at a cadence of 95 with 1 minute easy spin, 4 minutes at a cadence of 100 with 1 minute easy spin, and finally 30 seconds at at cadence above 100 30 seconds easy spin. I stayed on for 5 minutes to warm down. I could teach a spin class, couldn't I....people would hate me.

Tomorrow is another trifecta Saturday: 1 hour swim, 3.5 hour bike, 40 minute run. I have no idea where I am going on the bike and I have yet to scare up someone to ride with me. I need to get on some hills so in preparation I switched by tire to my hill climbing gearing which I bought especially for Lake Placid. Did I mention there is 2000 feet of climbing times 4 in Lake Placid. The race course profile seems to indicate that about half the race is straight uphill. I am voluntarily doing this, right?

Today's Workout

I think I'm getting faster in the pool but 2.4 miles still seems so far away. My form is definitely better, I can breathe on the left side while exposing only one eye and I can breathe on the right side (end of story). I find swimming to be tiring though and three months out the Ironman swim seems daunting.

Up at 4:30 today. Animal kingdom duties done, abs done, and I slipped in a protein shake. Normally I do not eat before I swim nor do I drink during the swim. I have found that I am slightly less tired if I do both, however, I have yet to find the magic formula that avoids stomach cramps all day. I'm fine while I swim, right now and for the better part of today I'll battle stomach pain. Perhaps I'm sucking in too much air.

Master's swim today which generally means a lot of legs. 300 side free kick. 100 back fly kick. 100 backstroke (I may have to put that in my arsenal as a backup stroke but to be honest I'm not real direct from point A to point B if I can't see where I am going). 700 swim with fins--everyone hated that, I loved it. 200 side fly kick, 500 free kick (thankfully there was a teaching moment in the midst of the 500 as my legs were burning and my tank was nearly empty), 100 swim with paddles, 200 one legged back kick (I thought my calves were going to seize), 100 fly kick with the board. The end of the plan for the day called for 100 situps (already in the bank), 40 scissor kicks and 30 pushups in the water at the pool's edge. These are pretty good because they give you some unexpected resistance. I had to ad lib because I thought the workout was a little short for me. I added a 500 pull and a 200 swim. Total meterage today: 3,000.

Tomorrow a mere one hour bike, I think. Overall a good pool day today but I'd still opt for floaties if I could.

Today's Workout

Somebody bring me my jammies and a pillow. Up at 4 AM, even the animals were grumpy over that.

Abs then on the bike for 70 minutes. 15 minute warmup, then we get to the tofu (I'd say meat but I'm a veggie). 5 x 1 minute at a cadence of 80 high zone 2 with one minute easy spin in between. The difficulty: keeping in zone 2. 5 x 1 minute at a cadence of 90, zone 3 with one minute easy spin in between. 5 x 1 minute at a cadence above 90, zone 4--yes, 4 with 2 minutes of easy spin. Small problem here. I didn't have my glasses on so I read a one minute recovery between each set and I kept thinking how cruel to make me suffer so much. Little did I know, I created my own suffering. 10 x 30 seconds at a cadence above 100 with 30 seconds rest in between. I believe that was supposed to be zone 3 but there was no chance on that, I broke through to 4. The warm down was a 10 minute spin at a cadence of 90 but having shorted myself on the two minutes of rest from the zone 4 set I had to spin that out to 15 minutes.

After a quick change into dry clothes, I went out for a 45 minute run. I had crappy data from my heart rate monitor today likely due to the cooler air (42 degrees....again, it is still April). 10 minute warm up and 3 x 8 minutes in low zone 3 with a 2 minute zone 4--yes, 4. This was followed by a 5 minute cool down. Did I get to zone 4? Not sure, my heart rate monitor was registering a heart rate of 68 while I was running. If that were true, you probably would want to call 911. Darn this cold weather.

Tomorrow, back to the pool with the Master's program.

Today's Workout

After a restless night (the wind continues) up at 4:30 AM. I herded the animal kingdom and then did my abs. Off to the gym by 5:15 AM.

Upper body weights then into the pool by 6 AM. 500 warmup, 6 x 50 drill (the good old one arm drill) with 10 seconds rest, 4 x 400 (odd using the pull buoy) with 60 seconds rest, 100 warm down. I had some extra time so I threw in an additional 500 of kicking drills. The grand total today: 3,000 meters. Not a bad day's work. I have to say it was an enjoyable swim today.

What's up tomorrow? A 45 minute run and a 75 minute bike. Oh yeah baby, up before the early bird.

A day of rest

And do I need it. Not sure why but I'm still spent from Saturday's workout. Back in the pool tomorrow.

I'll be thinking of those poor runner's in Boston today competing in the Boston Marathon in deplorable conditions. Some events are deserving of the Ironwoman label even without the other two disciplines.

Today's Workout

I had a 30 minute run leftover from my weekend to do list, however, I was unable to accomplish this minor task. I am so sore from yesterday's training and I have bad blisters on my left foot. Not sure why, but for some reason my feet blister but never callous when I add miles to my training.

I awoke at 7:09 and dealt with the animal kingdom. I ate breakfast and then went back to bed. Della and I slept for 3.5 hours--a deep, I can't hear a thing, I can't move sleep. I decided to scrap the 30 minute run in part because I hate the treadmill (it's still pouring) and because my foot hurts. I went to the gym did some lower body weights then jumped in the pool for 55 minutes. Whenever I am sore there is nothing better than a swim to limber up these old bones. My cure which I share with you.

Lastly, I had a massage today with a focus on my left hip. Massage is a key to my recovery and training longevity. Without it I could never do what I do. Tomorrow, a day of rest. If only I could spend that in my jammies in bed.

Today's Workout

The picture says it all. This is a window of my post workout world--a requisite nap with Della.

Due to the nor'easter (after Easter I might add) hitting the area this weekend I had to adjust my plans today. My coach had given me the following trifecta plan: 60 minute swim, 180 minute ride, followed by a 30 minute run. Sunday's workout calls for a 100 minute run, however, we are supposed to get 3 inches of rain which would be miserable to run in. Even more miserable would be having to do this on a treadmill. So I opted to change my 30 minute run today into a 100 minute run.

The swim, a long endurance day. 3 x 800 meters (that is 1.5 miles). The pool opened late today which is frustrating so I missed some drill work and the warm up and warm down due to time constraints.

Off to the bike which I did not want to do inside today. I was grateful that the weather held out but totally willing to ride in the rain if it did not. It sprinkled some and was cold but otherwise it was perfect riding weather. I could not find anyone to ride with, also frustrating, so I went out on my own on a fairly flat trail that I ride. I focused on keeping my cadence above 70. Even though I need and would have preferred to be on some hills it was a quality ride of 40 plus miles--my computer was acting up so I don't have precise data.

Then I came home and put on my running shoes and headed out the door. Every time I looked at my watch it said 8 minutes, 12 minutes, 17 minutes...you get the point. It seemed eternal. Then exhaustion took over and blisters on my foot became excruciating. I ended up cutting the run short by 9 minutes which is hugely disappointing. It was what I would call a junk run. Nothing above zone 2 and running just to run.

Not sure what I will do tomorrow. I should be doing the 30 minute run tomorrow if I can move and I may throw in an extra swim just to stretch everything out.

Today's Workout

Surprise, surprise. I thought I had to bike and run today but as it turns out I only needed a 60 minute bike, thus, I was able to sleep in until 5:10 AM. Wahoo!!

Abs and then on the trainer for a spin to nowhere. 10 minute warmup. 20 x 1 minute one legged drills. Anytime you want to sweat instantly and jack your heart rate, do a few one legged drills on your bike. 3 x 3 minutes zone 2 cadence of 90 with one minute easy spin in between. Kind of hard to get the cadence high and the heart rate low. I was knocking on the door of zone 3 but I tried to keep it under control. 5 x 2 minutes zone 3 cadence of 100 with one minute easy spin in between. Feel the burn. 5 minute warm down.

Tomorrow, trifecta Saturday but due to a nasty nor'easter (yes, it is still April) it looks like this is going to have to take place indoors. Yuk! Well, I'm hopeful that I can get my run in outside because you know how I hate a treadmill.

Today's Workout

The details are not going to be too specific, this old gal's memory is not the best. Up at 4:30 AM after a fitful sleep listening to the rain pound on the slate roof. The usual animal kingdom chores. Abs then off to the gym to swim with the Masters team.

We started with 200 back kick, 200 side kick with one arm drill, 100 fly kick. Then the t-shirts came on. 4 x 200 swimming in t-shirts with fins. What a killer. 200 swim no t-shirt, amazing how slippery you feel in the water. From here I lost track of what we did--200 one legged back kicking, 300 fly kick, somethng else where we had a choice of kicking. 4 x 25 no breathers--really, I panic on these. I only made it 25 meters once. More kicking at the end. This all added up to 2300 meters which I thought was a little short on my end. I added 500 meters of swimming with paddles and fins and 200 meters of pull buoy. I wanted to work my arms a little. I don't mind all of the kicking but I worry about losing strength in my arms if I don't work them a bit.

Next up, bike and run tomorrow. Saturday is supposed to be the trifecta but the weather is calling for a high of 48. If I don't find a way to get outside on my bike this weekend you'll hear me screaming from wherever you are. Off to check weather.com to see if Sunday is a better option for the trifecta.

Today's Workout

The theme: "Oh Momma".

Up at 4:15 AM, that kind of hurt. Abs, per the usual. On the bike for a 60 minute spin. If I have to wear my glasses to read the workout I'm about to enter a place of pain. 10 minute warmup. 5 x 1 minute high zone 2 at a cadence of 90 with a 2 minute easy spin. See how easy this starts, the greatest difficulty was keeping in zone 2. 2 x the following: 5 min zone 3 cadence of 80, 4 minutes zone 3 cadence of 85, 3 minutes zone 3 cadence of 90, 2 minutes zone 3 cadence of 95, 1 minute zone 4--do you see this, zone 4-- cadence of 100. Each set had 1 minute of easy spinning in between. The greatest difficulty was twofold: 1) by the time I got to the 3 minute set my legs were complaining and 2) zone 4 was a killer. There was pain in my legs and real discomfort in breathing and heart rate. Don't try this at home.

I followed up the bike with a 40 minute run. For some reason 35 degrees seemed warm today--so sad. 10 minute warmup followed by 6 x 3 minutes in zone 2, then 2 minutes in zone 4. Yes, we are skipping a zone. I can only imagine this is akin to taking your heart from flatline to normal sinus rhythm. Momma that hurt. I'm old, a gal my age shouldn't even be thinking about zone 4. I could hear my legs saying, "You want us to do what?"

En la manana, a swim with the Masters team. I'm told we are swimming in t-shirts again.

Today's Workout

Up at 4:30 AM, temperature 37 degrees. Yes, it is April.

The usual animal kingdom care then to my abs (an assortment of 390 crunches, 200 situps). Off to the gym for upper body weights, I wish I had a little more time to squeeze this in during the week.

Into the pool at 6 AM for a 60 minute swim. 500 warmup. 3 x 150 (50 drill, 50 swim, 50 drill)--I opted for the one arm drills today. Always looking to work on weak side breathing. 3 x 300, first 300 with the pull buoy and paddles, the remaining two were zone 3 Ironman pace. I hated this part of the workout, too tiring. 12 x 50 practicing 3-2 breathing. That is coming along but I don't want to see any video of my breathing on the right side--pretty sure that is ugly. 100 warm down. Total on the day: 2,550 meters.......just another 1500 and I'm golden for the Ironman.

Tomorrow, a bike and run.

Spring's Obstacles

What do you do when it's April and the weather outside is frightful? You get on your trainer inside the house. My vantage point is our sun porch adorned with entirely too many plants. Very tropical. With so many windows, I pretend I am outside only the view never changes, ever.

Let's hope spring returns. It is not in the extended forecast and I worry it may never be here. How on earth do I prepare for the hills of the Adirondacks from my sun porch? The effort is definitely there. I know it is hard for people to imagine training intensively for hours on a bike without moving at all but trust me it is of a higher quality than the time I spend outdoors. I'll also be prepared for a cat running between my tire and pedals (Buddy seems to think he is faster then he really is). You never know when the ability to go from a cadence of 100 to 0 will come in handy during a race--substitute cat for a dropped bike bottle from the rider ahead of me, been there, done that. As for dealing with the wind, working on balance, and getting intimately familiar with my gears I can only hope the snow stops falling and the temperature starts rising. This spring's obstacle course is just dreary.

Today's Workout

A day of rest at the end of my recovery week. Lungs are a little unhappy today. I inhaled too many particles of junk yesterday while working in the basement. Not a good idea.

Tomorrow, to the pool.

Today's Workout

Who turned off the heat? 32 degrees this morning which means I had to go retrieve my lobster gloves from storage so I could run. This is ridiculous.

Up at 7:10 AM and out for a 60 minute run with 4 x 5 minutes in zone 3. Ever try to increase your heart rate in the cold--very difficult. I'm no scientist but my understanding is your heart beats slower in the cold to conserve body heat. Getting into zone 3 meant using the hills and making these old legs move. What a chore.

Tomorrow, a day of rest before we enter a big week of training.

Today's Workout

I was supposed to be in upstate NY this weekend and I was looking forward to riding the hills in the country. That didn't work out for reasons that I will not go into, nonetheless I woke up to snow here this morning--goodness knows what it looks like in the north country.

Up at 6:15 AM and off to the gym for a 45 minute swim. 200 swim, 200 kick to warmup. 300 (50 drill, 50 swim). 1,000 meters (500 pull--I added paddles to this, and 500 swim). 50 warm down. I thought this was too little swimming so I added an additional 250 meters of kicking.

The pool director talked to me about my stroke. You can never get enough advice on your stroke, at least that is what I think. She mentioned that my skills and form are really great but I need to pull sooner. I'll do anything to get more speed so I'm going to work on that concept a bit. It seems the more coaching you subscribe to the more coaching you get from everyone. As somone new to swimming I do not mind.

Back home I jumped on the bike--on the sun porch with my trainer. 90 minute spinerval DVD. I was surprised how much of this effort was zone 3 and I punched into zone 4 a few times. Pretty tiring. Off the bike, I headed out for a 30-minute run. I think it was supposed to be zone 2 but it was primarily zone 3. This had little to do with my effort, in my view, and mostly to do with a long workout. Trifecta Saturday is done.

Up tomorrow, the final day in my recovery week, a 60 minute run.

Today's Workout

So far so good. This is my second scheduled day off in my recovery week and thus far I have lived up to it.

Tomorrow, the trifecta. Swim, bike and run but nothing too strenuous.

Today's Workout

Up at 4:30 AM, I said it was a recovery week AKA no early risers.

Abs, lost my focus and threw in an additional 40 crunches. To the pool for the 5:30 AM Masters class. The coach is working with me on the fly, something about swim coaches liking the long, lean types to swim like dolphins. 200 kick, 200 pull, 100 fly kick as a warm-up. 2 x 400 freestyle with fins, the second set with fins and paddles (feel the burn). 300 back kick, 200 fly kick with arms, 300 side kick, 200 side fly kick with arms, 200 freestyle no fins. Lots of leg work today. The fly looks so graceful on others, as for myself it is a mental challenge. Was I supposed to breathe? Was it four kicks and the arm? Not sure I like the fly, I don't feel it in my arms and I think I look like I'm drowning. 2,500 meter total on the day for those keeping track.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a rest day, second one this week. Not sure if I can do it.

Today's Workout

Up and at 'em at 4:30 AM. Didn't need the alarm, we had a nice thunder and lightening storm happening. It was purty but upsetting to one out of three members of the animal kingdom.

Abs, the usual. On the bike for 45 minutes. 10 minute warmup, 10 x 1 minute one-legged drills (yummy), 5 x 4 minute at a cadence of 90 in zone 3, 1 minute easy spin. Interestingly, I'm finding that I need to use a higher gear to get in zone 3. I'm no scientist (emphasis added) but I think this must mean my fitness is increasing.

Out on a 30 minute run with a bit of drizzle. Actually, as I was leaving I thought I heard the dogs drinking loudly from their bowl when in fact it was a downpour hitting the slate shingled roof. 10 minute warmup and then the nasty. 5 x 2 minutes zone 2, 1 minute zone 3, 1 minute zone 4--yes, 4. I definitely had three speeds going on, whether I hit zone 4 is unclear. My heart rate monitor never moved off of 70. Me thinks it more likely that equipment failure is to blame vs. the fact that I can maintain such a low heart rate with an increased output.

What's up tomorrow? If it's Thursday it must mean that I swim with the Masters program. Time will fly.

Today's Workout

This is my recovery week, amen for that. Up at 4:30 AM dealing with the animal kingdom.

Abs, the usual except I did have a miscount. Off to the gym for upper body weights. It's been a while since I have had time for that. I thought I would have dead arms but they bore the brunt of my abuse well. Into the pool at 6 AM for an abbreviated 45 minute swim. Ahhhhh. 400 swim, 200 pull. 6 x 75 (50 drill, 25 swim--I chose one arm drills today) with 15 seconds rest, 5 x 100 zone 3 with 10 seconds rest, 600 (200 pull, 200 swim, 200 pull), 50 warm down. 2200 easy meters.

It is such a beautiful day and with winter back in the forecast for the latter part of the week I decided to ride to work. The cherry blossoms are stunning. Could you really ask for a better way to start the day?

Tomorrow, a short bike and run.

Today's Workout

Oh, she who suffers from too much exercise needs a well deserved rest. Recovery is so, so slow.

Today's Workout

Abs as a starter, but just crunches. Then out for a 100 minute run. It's an overcast day with rain in the forecast but still beautiful for a run. Today I headed to Old Town Alexandria to run along the river but more to the South then I usually run. Not a lot of folks out this morning, some joggers, some fishermen, but fairly quiet.

One oddity. There is a woman who works out at my gym and lives in my old neighborhood. I don't know her name but she is always dressed in her trademark teal. I suspect she is my age or younger and through the years I've seen her out running quite often. I ran into her today on my long run and also last week on my long run. This would make sense if I ran the same route every time but on my long runs I head out the door in a new direction each week. Interesting and yet oddly coincidental.