Leg Workout + Hill Workout = PAIN

This post is really meant as a NOTE TO SELF.  A reminder, if you will…  Never, EVER, schedule a LEG DAY before a HILL DAY.  Only one word describes my status right now: OUCH!!  Even though it really only hurts when I squat, let’s face it… as a woman I squat a lot (whenever I sit or pee – or both!).

Wednesday I decided I needed a day off from running.  My calves and shins were aching and that is generally a good sign.  As I need something to occupy my mind like I was actually running, I choose to add strength training back into my workout.  Yes, I know I never should have let it go, but…. such as life, lessons learned.

It was a simple workout really, just the legs (and a few ab excercises).  You know the usual suspects – Leg Press, Calve Press, Shin Stretches, Leg Curls, Squats, Lunges…  All with weight (except the lunges).  Felt great.  And no sore or tenderness afterward.

Even Thursday when I woke up I did not have soreness or tenderness from the workout.  Almost made me think I did not push hard enough.  I had 4 miles scheduled for Thursday, so rather than chance what looked to be a crazy storm heading my way, I opted for the treadmill.  There are few things I like about a treadmill training; but it is a necessary evil.  Since I am a South Florida girl training for a run in the San Francisco hills, the treadmill is really my only option for running on an incline.  Where I live, there are few options for bridges that would be safe for running repeats.  So, treadmill it is!

Being stuck inside running, with nothing but a view of the pool I wish I was swimming in, is the most boring workout I can think of.  At least I don’t have to battle heat and humidity while at it.  I set the incline at 1 for a warm up and by half a mile in I was up to 2.0.  For a few brief intervals I raised the incline to 3.o (I am heading to San Francisco – those are big hills to climb!) then back down to 2.0.  Toward the end of my 4 miles I even attempted a 1 min sprint up 4.o incline.  By the way, there is nothing about THIS GIRL sprinting up that much of an incline.  I just kept saying to myself – Only 60 seconds up, Only 45 Seconds up, Only 15 seconds to go…  Whew, that hurt.

All in all, I feel great and I know I had a SOLID workout: 3.84 miles, with incline, age pace 10:45.  Yes, the pace is slower than I would like for a FLAT run, but for hills I will take it.  Slow and Steady will be the motto for San Fran this year.  (Last year it was slow and slower!!)

Again, this is a good kind of pain, if there is such a thing.  I like to know I did something that is actually working on my muscles – apparently I succeeded with these back to back workouts.

Needless to say, I was rockin’ my EnergyBits for both workouts.  I am telling you guys, these things are the best bits around.  I love the organic energy I get from just one serving.  I am looking forward to a strong long run tomorrow.  Of course, after a nice REST DAY today!

 

Weekly Training Update

Well, another slow week.  This change in seasons is killing me with the allergies.  It is bad when you can actually SEE the pollen in the air!  Nothing like a massive sinus problem to slow you down!

Still a few weeks away from my next half marathon so plenty of time to get better.  And still not a horrible week given the breathing issues.  I also had a really good two mile run the other day where I averaged 10:02 per mile.  If I keep working on my short distances I think I will improve my over all longer runs.

I hope to update you next week on my weight loss.  At a stand still again.  Looking for something to increase the loss… maybe some plyometric workouts.

St Anthony’s Tri Training: Week 1

This last weekend we started our training for St Anthony’s Triathlon.  Training for a triathlon includes a ton of hours of training and lots of miles… Just this weekend alone, I managed 27 miles of training: 1 mile in the pool, 20 miles on my bike, and 6 miles on my feet pounding pavement.  It seems like a ton of training; but, this is just the beginning.

When I decided to join the triathlon team for Team in Training this season, I took a few things into consideration.  First and foremost was the location of the event.  Although I had my heart set on returning to Lake Tahoe for another Century Ride, logistically it was not going to work for me.  St Anthony’s Triathlon is in Florida so it makes the commute to and from the event a short weekend endeavor verses a longer weekend which would interfere with my work schedule more than I can accommodate at this time.

Another consideration was the coach for this season.  One thing about Team In Training everywhere, and from experience her in Palm Beach, we have some of the best coaches: top notch all the way.  Coach Steve has so much experience to offer and has plenty of experience in long distance triathlons.  I have wanted to work with Steve on my swim for over a year now since he joined us in Palm Beach.  Here is my chance.

Weekend Training Report Part 1

After a very long week of work (two jobs really), I began my tri-season training with a workout in the pool early on Saturday morning.  Since this was our first workout, this was Coach Steve’s chance to audit our swim and offer advice on improving performance.  Before we got to the audit, Coach offered us 8 different drills which would work on specific parts of our stroke: Entry, Rotation, and Follow-through.

Here are our drills from Saturday (if you are a swimmer, you may know these drills by different names, they are widely used drills for practicing/perfecting your stroke):

• Superman – This will help you to enter the water directly in front of you and minimize crossing your entry arm in front of your head.  Pretend you are “superman” and enter the water in a position as you were “flying”.
• Hand in Glove – imagine a glove lying on top of the water.  Practice your entry by entering the glove, then extending your elbow until your torso rotates.
• Side Kick – In water arm extended straight out, out of water arm at side, kick 6-8 times and rotate to opposite side.  Helps with proper body position and kicking.
• Zipper/High Elbow Drill – Practice keeping your elbow high on recovery by pretending to zipper your side.  Pause on your side with a high elbow in the position before rotation occurs.
• Catch-Up – Practice proper tempo by doing one arm drill but switching the arms after each pull.  Don’t switch until your other arm fully recovers.
• Almost Catch – Up – Same thing as catch up, but start your opposite arm pull earlier.
• Flipper – upon arm exit from the water, “flip” water behind you.  This will help your stroke Follow through.
• One Arm Drill – Practice tempo, rotation, and stroke by completing the stroke with one arm while the other remains fully extended.

After the drills, each of us choose the drill we needed most practice with to continue to work on while awaiting our turn for Coach Steve to audit our ‘natural’ stroke.  Lucky for me, not only did I have Coach Steve (who I might just nickname SUPERMAN given the first drill he taught us), I also had Coach Bryan McTorture.  (For those who follow my blog, you might remember McTorture from last season’s Tahoe Century Ride… He is also known as Big Mac and authors a monthly guest column here “In The Saddle”.)  I digress…  McTorture was watching my drills and offering advice as I was completing each one.  I am crossing over too much, not rotating enough on my left side, not breathing bi-laterally…

If you are not a swimmer, you probably don’t realize how much thinking there is in the water.  I am constantly thinking… Reach, rotate, stretch, pull, follow through… Oh and don’t forget to breathe!  So I chose just one drill to practice and I decided to use SUPERMAN.  The way I look at it, my stroke starts with how I enter the water with my hands.  The least amount of crossover I get, the better for the swim.

McTorture told me to over exaggerate it in my head so that when I reach out I am not reaching OVER.  After about 400 yrds of this drill, I think I was starting to fade.  For the first 200 I was doing pretty good:  Then like every other attention-deficit person, I got lost in my thoughts and reverted back to my cross over.  Then it was my turn to swim for my coach: Just a quick 50 yrd lap to allow him to see my natural stroke.

I think I am more critical of my swimming than he is.  His advice: Increase your cadence.  “You can speed up your swim just by increasing your cadence” he told me.  I am not sure if he heard me when I arrived at training; I was exhausted from working a double the day before (home at 430am, training at 930am).  But then again, McTorture just said it was an ‘E’xcuse!  One thing I always remember from a previous coach… If it were easy it would not be a triathlon.  “If you want easy, go back to running,” he would say.

Here are my goals for this season:

1. Learn bilateral breathing to assist with open water swims and increase the efficiency of my swim
2. Increase my cadence to work on speed: my current 50 time is 1:05 ->> Goal for end of season: Sub 1:00
3. Increase cross training to include more upper body work outs, abs, and lats
4. Finish the Season with a Sub 35:00 mile swim (my best time is 38:14)

In any case, I have my homework for the week.  Now I just need to find the time to hit the pool!

Tomorrow, I will finish up the weekend training with our bike drills.

I’ve joined The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training and am racing to save lives & find a cure for blood cancers in honor of my niece, Courtney!  Check out my website to see my updates and/or to make a donation: http://pages.teamintraining.org/pb/anttry12/triing2findacure