Inspired to Blog

On days like today, when I had a really good workout, I get inspired to get back into this blog.  It really couldn’t be a better time for it, because I just started a training program with AGTri Coach Mike Galvan to get ready for the Mighty Hamptons Tri in September.  I’m excited to actually properly train for an Olympic tri this time around.  I think the most notable things are that I’ll actually be doing some bike and brick workouts (my first brick workout was this past Wednesday, which was REALLY tough) and receiving consistent and good swim instruction, which I really need.  I’ll also be accountable to someone for my tri-specific workouts, so I won’t be able to wake up in the morning, decide I don’t want to swim or bike and go to bootcamp instead.  Hopefully I’ll be able to document my weekly workouts on here instead of falling off the blogging wagon like I’ve been consistently doing…oh you know, since I started blogging.

Consistent tri-specific training requires that I cut down on bootcamp a bit (which makes me sad b/c I’m obsessed), but for at least the next month, I plan to go 3 times a week on Monday and Friday mornings, and Wednesday evenings.  I used to only go to morning bootcamp at 6:30 am but now I’ve kinda gotten into the 7:30 am class.  The extra hour of sleep is wonderful and given all the training I’m doing outside of bootcamp, I haven’t been running down there so I don’t need to get in early enough so I have time to get all the way home and shower/change etc.  Plus one of the girls in 7:30 am is super fast and I figure if I spend my time chasing her, eventually I will get super fast too.

Today’s 7:30 am class was a killer.  We didn’t do a ton of running, which is fine because since Monday, I ran 3 times plus during my brick workout.  We did however, do a TON of strength and core.  Some of the highlights:  

We did 4 sets of 25 pushups with 4 laps between each set, which sounded totally okay until I realized that added up to 100 pushups.  On set 3, I tried to drop to my knees because my arms and pecs were tired, but of course Alex gave me crap for it, so that plan was foiled.  We also did sets of 50 situps with Russian twists and sets of 40 throwdowns where you open and your close your legs at the bottom.  Those always hurt like a mofo for me.  My legs are too heavy to be throwing around.  One other thing we did was jumping pull-ups.  Basically you jump onto the monkey bars and pull yourself up over the top of the bar, with an underhand grip.  These had to be my absolute LEAST favorite exercise for the longest time.  I just couldn’t pull myself up to save my life.  Now, I can consistently get my chin up over the bar and lower myself down slowly.  Doing the exercises that were impossible when I started at bootcamp (even though freaking hard still) really make me feel like I’ve accomplished a lot since I started at warrior 1.5 years ago.  

Tonight I have a swim workout at 8pm with Coach Mike.  Swimming is by far my worst sport and sometimes I feel like there’s no hope for me to get better.  But I have come a long way---I feel much more comfortable in the water, and like my stroke actually moves me through the water instead of struggling with each pool length.  So I’m trying to trust Coach Mike when he says that I’ll continue to improve with more practice and instruction.  Fingers crossed.

Till next time.

Today's Workout is Brought to You by the Number 55

May 2.  Day 2 of the WFBC consistency challenge.  I had a pretty good day for eating yesterday except for a slice of red velvet cake placed in front of me during the dinner I attended.  I COULD NOT resist.  I'm really into baking and my red velvet cake recipe is allegedly the Waldorf Astoria red velvet cake recipe, so I wanted to see if it tasted the same as mine.  I mean, that qualifies as a good reason to eat cake....right? 

Anyway, this morning I struggled out of bed this morning to run (literally, not figuratively) down to bootcamp.  It takes only about 5 minutes longer to run to bootcamp than it does to take the subway, which is kind of ridiculous given that it's 3 miles from my apartment.  It's a perfect distance for a "warm up" for bootcamp. Little did I know that I probably didn't need the extra running/warm-up today.  Today was Fred (one of the 6:30 am bootcampers)'s 55th birthday.  Needless to say, 55 was the number of the day in class.  55 pushups.  55 jumping jacks.  55 squat jumps.  55 squat thrusts.  55 curls.  55 presses.  EVEN 55 LAPS! (which comes out to almost 2 miles).  At least Alex broke the laps into about 7 laps at a time.  Basically we'd do 55 of another exercise, and then we'd have to do 7 laps.  I was DYING!  In particular, my quads were screaming.  I still think they are unhappy from all the cycling I did last week.

Fred is a rockstar and I hope that when I turn 55 I'm half as fit as he is.  He's probably one of the most consistent bootcampers in the 6:30 am class and does not SLACK.  He works hard every day.  It' s inspiring to be around such committed athletes. 

Just 2 more days of bootcamp this week till I get my free class for week one of May!  Woohoo!


Today's Workout:

3 mile run
1 hour of bootcamp

Consistency Month with Warrior Fitness Bootcamp

So, to prepare us for the summer, the boys at Warrior Fitness Bootcamp have made May Consistency Month.  Basically, for every week in May we go to class 4 times, we get a free class.  Also, if you lose 5, 10, or 15 lbs, you can earn 2, 3, or 4 classes respectively.  I know, it probably sounds like TORTURE to some of you non-addicts, but to me it's AMAZING.  It's like being rewarded in my favorite currency for reaching my own goals!  #winning.

I'm pretty sure that I make it to WFBC 3-4 days a week with no incentive at all, so that part of the consistency month is just icing on the cake (that I am not eating b/c I need to drop pounds).  My addiction combined with my fear that if I stop going, I will lose fitness and the Marines will be disappointed, gets me there just fine.  On the other hand, I've been trying to get these last 10-15lbs off for the last 6 months but have failed miserably b/c I just haven't had the willpower.  So I figure, I will go for broke and shoot for collecting 9 free classes. 15 lb weight loss to get me good and ready for Hamptons summer living and 5 consecutive weeks of WFBC 4 times a week.

Today I got a good start.  Showed up for 5:30am bootcamp, ready to be weighed in.  Not sure if it was Alex's scale or the excessive eating I've been doing for the last few weeks, but I am HEAVY.  So, losing 15 lbs should be totally doable. Bootcamp was awesome, per usual.  Alex kicked our asses with the usual pushups, running, stairs, etc---all you could ask for and more.  At one point, we did we did as many squat thrusts as we could in a minute and then 30 seconds.  I did 39 in a minute and 19 in 30 seconds, which I think is pretty respectable.  One of my favorite 5:30 am-ers, Diana, was there, and she definitely helped me keep up the pace.  I really appreciate when other Warriors are there working hard b/c they push me to do my absolute best. 

Diana and I were paired up today for sets of Japanese situps and regular situps.  If there is one thing I HATE, it's Japanese situps but, Alex said to do them, so I had to do them.  25 Japanese situps, followed immediately by 25 regular situps.  So, for those of you who don't go to WFBC, imagine this:  Your partner sits on your feet, hand around your calves and you basically do a sit up and then stand up all in one fluid motion.  Trust me, it aint' easy.  Also, I feel like you can't really appreciate the difficulty unless you actually do it, so please try to bang out 25 of them and let me know how it goes.  For me, it burns the hell of my generally, already sore quads. 

Surprisingly, after bootcamp my quads felt less sore than they did when they started.  (Or maybe they were less sore after I rolled my evil torture stick over them...unclear)  I LOVE it when that happens.  And I REALLY needed to happen because I need to go to bootcamp for the next 3 consecutive days to get my 4 days in this week, plus get a couple runs in plus swim practice on Wednesday and Friday.  I have to cram all the bootcamp in so I can take Saturday off to rest up for a race Sunday.  On Sunday I have the Broad Street run--a 10 mile run in Philly.  More on that tomorrow...

Anyway, that's all for now.  Stay tuned and I will keep you posted on my progress.  I'm hoping I can sneak in and use that Warrior Fitness scale once a week so I have an idea of how things are coming along.

Today's Workout:  Warrior Fitness Bootcamp: 1 hour

Tri tri again...

I have tried and failed at this blogging thing several times, and each time I have just given it up. So I make no promises this time that I will be a dedicated blogger but for the last week, I've been itching to blog, so I figured, what's one more try. 

Since I've blogged last I did my first Olympic Triathlon in South Beach! It was amazing and I LOVED it, but it was also incredibly difficult. I promise a full dedicated post on that event eventually...but not today. Today I just want to share how I felt training today and my plan going forward.

So, I meant to run 10 miles either on Friday or this weekend but it didn't quite pan out that way.  For one, I went out to dinner drinking and woke up super hungover on Friday morning--so clearly no 10 miler there. Then, after a week of a few double workouts (Mon-bootcamp, Tuesday-cycle, run, Wednesday-bootcamp/swim, Thursday- cycle/bootcamp, Friday-swim) + drinking, my body was just not interested when I woke on Saturday morning afternoon.  And, since recently I've been taking a new approach to training where I listen to my body and rest when it's tired, I had to do what my body asked me to. So on Saturday I slept 12 hours, got up to eat and watch tv around 1:30 pm  (yes, not kidding...I did actually sleep until 1:30pm), and then caught a movie. On Sunday I had a long bike ride with Alanna and Terrier Tri coach Kyle. Alanna and I just finished up Kyle's 2 week cycling clinic so it was really exciting to use the skills we learned to ride across the GW bridge and on 9W. I definitely fell trying to make the very very narrow turns to go around the pillars on the GW bridge, but the progress I've made on the bike is so incredible, that the spills I took were totally worth it! At least that's what I tell myself when I see the black and blue marks all over my legs...

So that brings me to this morning. Finally my time to do my 10 miler had run out. I've been a real slacker with my running in general recently. I usually get in at least a long run and one shorter run per week but my obsession with Warrior Fitness Bootcamp along with my need to improve my cycling and swimming has gotten in the way of me logging a ton of miles. Anyway, I got two of my running friends, Shebna and Rachel to meet me at 6am, with the hopes that they would inspire me to get through a long run. Thank God I did, because there is NO WAY I would have made it on my own. From the first step, my quads were super achy. I should have known that was coming since they were achy during my ride the day before. Basically my legs only felt good for about 3 miles in the very middle of the run. We did two 5 mile loops, cutting off the northern (evil harlem hill) end of the park. Runs like these make me realize how much running/cycling/swimming or whatever your sport, is so mental. If someone asked me at the beginning of my run today whether I could have done 10 miles, I would have most certainly said no. But, having 2 buddies alongside me, I just kept telling myself to go one more mile and somehow I made it through the whole run.

So now that's out of the way I can look forward to a WFBC filled week :) My plan for the week is as follows:

Today: 10 mile run
Tuesday: BC
Wednesday: 3 miles + BC & swimming practice with Mike
Thursday: easy ride +BC
Friday: 3 miles + BC
Saturday: off, if I decide to do the Broad Street run on Sunday
Sunday: Broad Street Run or long run or ride

I think part of the reason I've been struggling with blogging is I have SO MUCH to say in one post, when sometimes I can just leave some of it till the next day. So, I'll leave with that and hope to be back tomorrow with more!

Today's Workout: 10 miles at 9:15 pace

NY Marathon Countdown...what's up with these nerves?

So the marathon is rapidly approaching--just 1 week and 3 days to go. The thing is---I am soooo nervous.

Never before have I been this nervous leading up to race day but, I guess never before have I set such high expectations for myself. My goal this year is to do the race in 3:50--that would be a 12 minute PR from last year, which is HUGE. Really, I'd like to do it in 3:48, but I think that may be a little unrealistic. A 3:50 marathon would be an average 8:46 pace and a 3:48 would be an 8:41. *sigh*

So, let's talk about training, my race history, and whether I can do this. At the very beginning of marathon training I did a half marathon in San Francisco in 1:50. I was, by no means rested for this race--the Saturday before I did my first triathlon. I followed up the tri with a 4 mile run and bootcamp the following day, speedwork that Tuesday, bootcamp that Wednesday + a run, an easy run Thursday and hills that Friday. I then hopped on a plane to San Fran and ran the race that Sunday. All that to say, I'm thinking maybe I could have had a better time than 1:50--1:48 perhaps. Plug that 1:48 into running times race calculator

http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6765

and it says I can do the marathon in 3:49. I'm going to hang my hat on that. I also was a very dedicated trainee this season. While I did not make all the Tuesday practices, I made up the speedwork the days that I missed (except when I was suffering from post-race soreness) and did all of the tempo runs and hill workouts. I also did all of my long runs just the way Spencer prescribed. There were about 3 long runs where I did between 6-9 miles at race pace (8:35-8:45) and was able to finish them strong. After both my 20 and 21 miler I felt just fine, like I could have kept going for sure. I went to bootcamp every week and even cross trained with swimming once a week. So, I should be prepared right?

Well, for some reason, despite spending that whole last paragraph convincing myself and hopefully you that I can do this, I'm still very nervous. What if I go out to fast? What if I go out too slow and can't make up the time? What if there's a terrible rainstorm, or it's super hot out that day? So many variables. So much to be nervous about.

So, instead of being nervous, I'm going to focus on what I can do to make this goal work. Starting today, I'm getting 8 hours of sleep, every single night, if not more, until race day. Also, starting tomorrow (after my office pizza party), I'm going to eat very clean--no cake, french fries, etc. All the bad stuff that makes me feel bloated and crappy is out. For the taper, I'm going to follow Spencer's rules to the letter. No extra running. No extra swimming. No bootcamp. Just rest and easy runs. Oh, and no alcohol. It's going to be a boring week.

So, in case you're wondering how my training has been going, since really that is the purpose of this blog, here's a bit of an update. This week actually started pretty poorly. Saturday and Sunday passed by and I didn't get my 16 miler in. On Sunday night I was seriously freaking out about it but still couldn't motivate myself to do it. Finally, on Monday AFTER A FULL DAY OF WORK, I hit the streets and did it. What a relief! I managed to get all 16 miles at a very respectable 9:30 pace with no water and just one gu. Tuesday, I decided to chill...after all I didn't get finished with my long run until 9pm. On Wednesday, I had another struggle of a day. Instead of getting up and doing my 6 miler in the morning, I woke up a tad hungover and flaked on my running buddy. I then, instead of going to run immediately after work, decided it would be a better idea to go get a burrito from Dos Toros (which btw, is DELICIOUS). Finally, I got home around 8:30pm and watched Biggest Loser, waiting for my burrito to digest. By 11pm, I felt good to run and then ran a cool 6 miles at what my garmin calls an 8:41 average pace but 8:13 average moving pace. Normally, I wouldn't bother including this "average moving pace," but it is important in this case because I had to stop at A LOT of corners waiting for lights. I couldnt run in the park because it was so late and so had to deal with other pedestrians and traffic---LAME. I managed to keep my heart rate at an average 164 for that run, which I think is pretty good. Finally, today I did an easy 4 mile recover run on the treadmill during lunch. I didn't want to get stuck doing another run after work b/c I have terrier in the morning and want to be rested.

So, what's on tap for the next week of tapering. Tomorrow we have a fartlek. We throw some speed into what would otherwise be an easiest run. Runners world is always a good resource for learning about this stuff:

http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263--12081-0,00.html

On Sunday, I'm going to be down in DC with my friend Consuelo who is doing her first marathon. YAY!!! I'm going to do the last 10 miles with her, and this will be my final long run before the marathon. Then next week, I have 3 super easy runs. One on Tuesday with Spencer (as a side note, as much as i whine about getting up early to go to speedwork, I'm going to seriously miss Friday practices with Spencer. I've actually grown to like the hills and tempo workouts. So freaking odd right!) and then a 30 min run Wed and 20 min run Thursday. I don't even know if I know how to run for just 20 minutes!

Well, that's of my chatting for now. Hopefully I can put all of this nervous energy into something productive!

Sleepwalking to Swim Class

Yesterday was a holiday when you work for the federal government, but not for many others. Columbus Day, to be exact. So, you'd think that I would have taken the opportunity to sleep in, maybe grab a late brunch, and run some errands. Well, I got to the brunch and errands part, but no sleeping in for me--I was off to my 7am swim class at 6am.

Every time I get up to go to swim class and take the 2/3 train down to 14th street, walk up the stairs, across a long tunnel, down some stairs and back up some stairs, get on the F train to Delancey Street and then walk about 10 minutes before I arrive at the grossest pool I've ever swum in, I wonder, why am I so crazy?!! Yesterday, I think because it was supposed to be a day off AND I had a ton of Sangria the night before, I literally felt like I was sleepwalking to class. I nodded off on both trains and then when I arrived 10 min early, sat on a bench for like 8 minutes before changing into my suit. But as usual, it was worth it.

Our coach started class by laying on top of a table and showing us what our body position should be like while we are in the pool. Abs in, chin tucked in, chest pressed down. He then made us practice on benches and tables--whatever was available. Felt kinda funny to practice swim positioning and a hard table. Then he showed us that we should be kicking with our legs straight, from the hip, knees not bent. At that point, I knew it was going to be a tough class for me. I SUCK at kicking. You'd think it'd be my strength because I do have strong legs, but my form is terrible. After we practiced on our hard surfaces, we hopped in the pool and got started on drills.

For the first drill, we were supposed to keep our chins tucked in, neck long, abs in. I could handle this one. For the next drill, we were supposed to keep our arms by our sides and just kick, coming up for air when necessary. This, as I anticipated, was very difficult for me. After the first few times across the pool, instructor John told me that I need to keep my legs straighter. I tried that. Still pretty slow going across the pool. Next he pointed out that I need to kick from the hip, as opposed from the knee. I tried again but really don't know that my kick got any better. Later he told us that when we reach with our right arm, we are supposed to be kicking with our right foot and had us do a drill to practice it. Again, failure. I pretty much gave up on getting that drill right--Some things I'm just not coordinated enough for. (For example, please refer to my post on climbing the wall at WFBC)

We pretty much did continuous drills for the remainder of class with little time to stop and rest. I ended up pretty tired from all the swimming! I was also a little irritated that the water is not the cleanest and is a bit cloudy so it's difficult to see the line at the bottom of the pool. I'm terrible at swimming straight so I hit the lane divider SO MANY TIMES. Grrr! It really messes up your rhythm.

After class I chatted with the instructor re: missing classes around the marathon. I planned to skip class the Monday before the race and then the Monday after the race. However, my swim instructor thinks I should go the Monday before. He says I won't be swimming particularly hard and so it will keep my legs good and loose. I haven't decided yet whether I agree. Also, for the week after, I discussed going to his Tuesday evening swim class in Brooklyn. (Oh yes, I now plan to venture to Brooklyn for swim class) He thinks an easy swim Tuesday evening post marathon will help with recovery. Again...I'm going to take this under advisement.

Staten Island Half Marathon +6

Today was the Staten Island Half marathon. I planned to get there early to pick up my number and run 6 miles before the race started. Unfortunately, I hit sleep on my alarm 4 times to many. So, I finally left my apartment around 6:35 hoping to maybe make it on the 7am ferry but definitely making the 7:30. No such luck on either. The 2/3 trains were running local and so it took FOREVER to get downtown and then there were so many people in the ferry terminal that the 7:30 ferry was full before I could board. So, I ended up on the 8am ferry and didn't end up starting the race till about 8:50am! (the race started at 8:30!)

So, off I went. It was unseasonably warm--lovely for hanging out and lounging in the park but not so lovely for a 19 mile run. My plan was to go out at about a 9:30 pace then speed up after mile 5 and do the last 8 miles at around race pace. Spencer told us to do 7 miles at race pace but last year he had us do 10 on this same run so I figured 8 would be okay. Then for the last 6 miles I'd take it super easy and just finish up as strong as possible considering the weather.

By mile 3 I was sweating profusely. I tend to sweat more than normal people--ask my fellow warriors. So I was concerned about getting dehydrated. Then, I also did my run today sans heart rate monitor b/c it's on the fritz. So I was also concerned that I was going to go out too hard and not be able to finish strong. But, I pretty much stuck to the plan. here are my splits:

1: 9:26
2: 9:13
3: 9:31
4: 9:30
5: 8:55
6: 8:32
7: 8:37
8: 8:58
9: 8:28
10: 8:33
11: 8:44
12: 8:36
13: 8:26
14: 9:36
15: 9:37
16: 9:51
17: 10:04
18: 9:29
19: 9:38

I felt pretty good about the pacing. Mile 8 was really tough b/c of a long steep uphill so I didn't quite hold the pace there but I made up for it on some of the other race pace miles. As you can see, after i crossed the finish line of the race, I slowed down considerably--at my slowest I did a 10:04 mile. I'm not sure why that mile was so slow, except that at this point it was after 11am and approaching 80 degrees and there wasn't very much gatorade left on the course. (I doubled back onto the course for my last 6 miles which invited comments from folks on the street that I was going the wrong way and then when I turned around one guy yelled not to cheat...I yelled back, actually i finished 30 minutes ago!!)

The race made me feel pretty confident about my ability to race the NYC marathon well. I felt strong during the race pace miles despite the heat and felt like i could have kept up that pace for a while. Just one last week of heavy mileage and then it's time to taper!!!

As a side note I also had 2 good workouts on Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a solo 5.5 miler and Friday we did repeats on the 59th street bridge. Felt super strong on both :)