Here's a quick catch up. Feeling rather blah and not really in the mood to blog tonight.
Thursday, 7/9
Skipped spin class and went to the pool - total waste of time! Kids everywhere and nowhere to actually swim. I was there for 30 minutes and might have gotten in 500.
Friday, 7/10 - Run, 5 miles, 11:34 pace
"Long" run of 5 miles. Despite the heat, it actually felt great. Running through all the neighborhood sprinklers might have helped a lot. :-) I started out slower than usual, thinking that I would pick up the pace later. I did, but not much. Also, running 9/1s is getting easier...thinking about switching to walking a minute at each mile.
Saturday, 7/11 - Family day!
Was going to rest completely, but did Ab Ripper X just 'cause.
Sunday, 7/12 - Rest Day
Busy day - went to church, shopped a sale at Toys R Us for the kid's Christmas stuff, visited a friend and her new baby (welcome to the world baby Hayden!), took the kiddo to see Ice Age 3 after lunch...that was enough!
Monday, 7/13 - AM Swim, 35 minutes, ~1000 yds
Met Jen at the pool this morning. Arrived a little later than planned, but got in some good laps. Slowed down and concentrated on my breathing and form. May do this again for the rest of the week and then go back to doing drills. Gotta get faster! I timed my 300 and it was still around 8:15...pathetic!!!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Running Solo (a rambling post)
Here in Houston it's time for all the marathon training groups to begin!
The fall marathon groups began a few weeks ago, but the Houston Marathon is a mere 27 weeks away and it's time to get the training going! With the exception of training for my 1st 1/2 marathon in 2001, I've always trained with a group. First, it was Houston Fit in 2002, 2003, 2005 & 2006. Next, it was Woodlands Fit in 2008. I skipped 2004 and 2007 due to a little thing called pregnancy - yeah growing a baby in the belly doesn't go well with running 12, 15, 18 or 21 miles - unless you're Paula Radcliffe.
Quite frankly, I think training alone sucks. Although I was a member of Houston Fit in 2006, I had just begun a Saturday MBA program and was forced to do a few of the really long runs alone. Like I said, it sucked!
This year, the hubby's schedule is all goofy and not really conducive to running with any of the local programs. No weekends off, plus he leaves at the ass-crack of dawn to get to work (out the door by 5 am) - that means no early morning Saturday runs with the peeps. (Unless I want to recruit my parents to be babysitters - I'd rather save that for the occasional "date nights"!) And, because I am training for tri's all the way to August (or possibly even October), I use Tuesday evenings as my swim day - that means no track workouts with the peeps. Trust me, I'm a slow runner and need the track workouts, but my swimming sucks even more than my running!
So while my running peeps are training with Strides this year (they opted not to return to Woodlands Fit for various reasons), I will be running solo. My usual Saturday morning runs will be done on Friday nights...at least for as long as I can stand this frickin' heat. I am guessing that one of two things will happen
The fall marathon groups began a few weeks ago, but the Houston Marathon is a mere 27 weeks away and it's time to get the training going! With the exception of training for my 1st 1/2 marathon in 2001, I've always trained with a group. First, it was Houston Fit in 2002, 2003, 2005 & 2006. Next, it was Woodlands Fit in 2008. I skipped 2004 and 2007 due to a little thing called pregnancy - yeah growing a baby in the belly doesn't go well with running 12, 15, 18 or 21 miles - unless you're Paula Radcliffe.
Quite frankly, I think training alone sucks. Although I was a member of Houston Fit in 2006, I had just begun a Saturday MBA program and was forced to do a few of the really long runs alone. Like I said, it sucked!
This year, the hubby's schedule is all goofy and not really conducive to running with any of the local programs. No weekends off, plus he leaves at the ass-crack of dawn to get to work (out the door by 5 am) - that means no early morning Saturday runs with the peeps. (Unless I want to recruit my parents to be babysitters - I'd rather save that for the occasional "date nights"!) And, because I am training for tri's all the way to August (or possibly even October), I use Tuesday evenings as my swim day - that means no track workouts with the peeps. Trust me, I'm a slow runner and need the track workouts, but my swimming sucks even more than my running!
So while my running peeps are training with Strides this year (they opted not to return to Woodlands Fit for various reasons), I will be running solo. My usual Saturday morning runs will be done on Friday nights...at least for as long as I can stand this frickin' heat. I am guessing that one of two things will happen
- I will become less of the social runner, forcing myself to focus more on my times and get faster, or
- I will lose some of the motivation I usually get from my running peeps, be a wuss, take more walk breaks, etc.
The goal is to go with #1, although I am sure there will be the occasional days when #2 will win. Those days better be few and far between!
I've also made another decision. I'm doing the 1/2 marathon again this year. Maybe San Antonio and then Houston. There's a part of me that wants to train for a full again, but I decided against it for 3 reasons:- Call me a pansy, but I don't wanna train for a full solo. Hours at a time on the road with out the running peeps is just not fun to me.
- I have small kiddos who are very, very active and want my full attention. Let's face it, after some of those long runs I am toast! Weekends and evenings are the only precious moments I get to spend with my kiddos and I wanna make the most of that! Maybe when they don't want me around (like in their teens), I will get back into the higher mileage.
- I am enjoying the triathlons too much. Originally, I was going to make TriGirl in August my last tri for the year and then start increasing my running mileage. But now I am leaning towards doing a Tri as late as October and probably won't be increasing the mileage a ton between now and then.
So there you have it...my decisions for the training season. Hope you have a great one!
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Quickie
I waited too late to head to the gym during lunch and was only left with about 25 minutes to work out. I did a quick warm-up and cool-down, followed by 6x2:00/1 min rec. I may try to get in a couple more miles tonight after the kiddos are in bed...we'll see! Gotta fit it in where ever you can sometimes!
Workout Stats
Treadmill run - 25 minutes, 10:25 pace (yay me!)
ETA:
I got on the treadmill again once the kiddos were in bed - 2 more miles! The 2nd mile was walking, because my foot was killing me...might have a lot to do with the shoes I wore to work today!
Workout Stats
Treadmill run #2 - 1 mile @ 10:58 pace, 1 miles @ 13:57 pace
Workout Stats
Treadmill run - 25 minutes, 10:25 pace (yay me!)
ETA:
I got on the treadmill again once the kiddos were in bed - 2 more miles! The 2nd mile was walking, because my foot was killing me...might have a lot to do with the shoes I wore to work today!
Workout Stats
Treadmill run #2 - 1 mile @ 10:58 pace, 1 miles @ 13:57 pace
Typical Tuesday
Another spin and swim day!
Just another typical sweaty day at spin class. I had to leave a little early so that I could get back to work in time to set up the conference room audio visual system to watch the Michael Jackson memorial service. Yes, I am serious. Employees wanted to watch it and so we accomodated them...and yes, even I wanted to see it, but I dvr'ed it to watch at home. Turns out that it was all set up before I got there, so I guess I could have stayed for the entire class.
My swim was okay. Still some kid-dodging going on, but overall not too bad. I've learned that the later I wait to swim, the fewer kiddos there are to dodge. I did a 100 yd warm-up, followed by 350 of mostly freestyle (but some sidestroke too), 2 minute recovery, another 350 of the freestyle-sidestroke combo, recovery, then another 200 of slow freestyle to work on my breathing since that seems to be my biggest challenge. One thing I noticed is that I haven't been stretching out my stroke and rotating much...time to watch the Total Immersion video again!
And back to the Michael Jackson Memorial Service....someone please explain to me why Sheila Jackson Lee was there? Seriously. Can we say "media whore"?
Workout stats
Spin class - 50 minutes
Swim - 1,000 yds
Just another typical sweaty day at spin class. I had to leave a little early so that I could get back to work in time to set up the conference room audio visual system to watch the Michael Jackson memorial service. Yes, I am serious. Employees wanted to watch it and so we accomodated them...and yes, even I wanted to see it, but I dvr'ed it to watch at home. Turns out that it was all set up before I got there, so I guess I could have stayed for the entire class.
My swim was okay. Still some kid-dodging going on, but overall not too bad. I've learned that the later I wait to swim, the fewer kiddos there are to dodge. I did a 100 yd warm-up, followed by 350 of mostly freestyle (but some sidestroke too), 2 minute recovery, another 350 of the freestyle-sidestroke combo, recovery, then another 200 of slow freestyle to work on my breathing since that seems to be my biggest challenge. One thing I noticed is that I haven't been stretching out my stroke and rotating much...time to watch the Total Immersion video again!
And back to the Michael Jackson Memorial Service....someone please explain to me why Sheila Jackson Lee was there? Seriously. Can we say "media whore"?
Workout stats
Spin class - 50 minutes
Swim - 1,000 yds
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Run
Yeah, I'm on a roll with my very original titles. :-)
Since Monday is usually my run day, I hopped on the treadmill after the kiddos were in bed. Nothing exciting to report - just 2 easy, peasy miles.
Workout Stats
Treadmill run - 2 miles, 10:47 pace
Since Monday is usually my run day, I hopped on the treadmill after the kiddos were in bed. Nothing exciting to report - just 2 easy, peasy miles.
Workout Stats
Treadmill run - 2 miles, 10:47 pace
Monday, July 06, 2009
Operation Swim More - Day 1
Since the hubby has Monday's off and the awesome new Natatorium is open to the public for lap swimming at 5:30 am, I thought I'd give an early morning swim a try. Fortunately, my Woodlands Fit friend, Jen, is already in the habit of going on Monday mornings so I'd have someone to swim with. (Isn't the Nat pretty??? That's a pic of it up top!)
Since I have quite a commute to work, it made more sense for me to get ready at the Nat, rather than drive home to get ready. Actually, I had a 8 am dentist appt in the Woodlands this week....because of this, I felt as if I was packing my entire bathroom in my bag - shampoo/conditioner, shower gel, flat brush, round brush, hair dryer, flat iron, make-up, not to mention clothes, shoes, etc. When I arrived at the Nat, I paid my $5 and headed to the dressing room. The 1st thing I noticed were all the gym bags on the benches....yeah, that would be because all the lockers were too narrow to squeeze the bag in and even too narrow for me to hang up my work clothes! My bag was a bit narrower, so I was able to smash it into a locker, lol. Barely.
I headed out to the pool and saw Jennifer arriving. I learned that the 50 m lanes were strictly for the Masters swimmers and high schoolers there for practice. That meant that Jen and I were restricted to the dive well. That was interesting. First, I noticed that the pool was much, much cooler than the outdoor pool I have been swimming in. In fact, it took me about 100 yds to really warm up. Second, the dive well is super deep - around 14 feet. It was a bit weird to look at a line so far down on the bottom! I started with a little warm up, then hammered out 300...a lot of freestyle, mixed in with a little sidestroke. Seriously, I really need to get this freestyle-thing down! Instead of stopping at 300, I kept going and did a set of 500. After a short rest and some chatting with Jen. I did another 500. (At least I think I did...I tend to lose count when I don't have my watch!) I took a short rest and then did another 100 before calling it a day. It felt great to get in my swim so early and really woke me up!
I don't know what to think about the whole experience of getting dressed for work at the Nat. The dressing rooms were definitely not designed with the working woman in mind, lol! There are mirrors with very small shelves underneath and outlets right outside the shower area, but the floor has puddles, so it's not exactly safe for blow drying! Not to mention that there are backpacks covering pretty much every inch of the benches. Fortunately, there are a few mirrors/shelves in a couple of the not so wet area as well. The shelves are pretty small though, unlike the big counters at the Memorial Park Tennis Center. It was quite a balancing act to put on make-up, dry hair and flat iron there. But, it worked. And I will more than likely be doing this again. And again. And again. The only downside to this? I don't get to see the kiddos in the morning. That kinda sucks!
Since I have quite a commute to work, it made more sense for me to get ready at the Nat, rather than drive home to get ready. Actually, I had a 8 am dentist appt in the Woodlands this week....because of this, I felt as if I was packing my entire bathroom in my bag - shampoo/conditioner, shower gel, flat brush, round brush, hair dryer, flat iron, make-up, not to mention clothes, shoes, etc. When I arrived at the Nat, I paid my $5 and headed to the dressing room. The 1st thing I noticed were all the gym bags on the benches....yeah, that would be because all the lockers were too narrow to squeeze the bag in and even too narrow for me to hang up my work clothes! My bag was a bit narrower, so I was able to smash it into a locker, lol. Barely.
I headed out to the pool and saw Jennifer arriving. I learned that the 50 m lanes were strictly for the Masters swimmers and high schoolers there for practice. That meant that Jen and I were restricted to the dive well. That was interesting. First, I noticed that the pool was much, much cooler than the outdoor pool I have been swimming in. In fact, it took me about 100 yds to really warm up. Second, the dive well is super deep - around 14 feet. It was a bit weird to look at a line so far down on the bottom! I started with a little warm up, then hammered out 300...a lot of freestyle, mixed in with a little sidestroke. Seriously, I really need to get this freestyle-thing down! Instead of stopping at 300, I kept going and did a set of 500. After a short rest and some chatting with Jen. I did another 500. (At least I think I did...I tend to lose count when I don't have my watch!) I took a short rest and then did another 100 before calling it a day. It felt great to get in my swim so early and really woke me up!
I don't know what to think about the whole experience of getting dressed for work at the Nat. The dressing rooms were definitely not designed with the working woman in mind, lol! There are mirrors with very small shelves underneath and outlets right outside the shower area, but the floor has puddles, so it's not exactly safe for blow drying! Not to mention that there are backpacks covering pretty much every inch of the benches. Fortunately, there are a few mirrors/shelves in a couple of the not so wet area as well. The shelves are pretty small though, unlike the big counters at the Memorial Park Tennis Center. It was quite a balancing act to put on make-up, dry hair and flat iron there. But, it worked. And I will more than likely be doing this again. And again. And again. The only downside to this? I don't get to see the kiddos in the morning. That kinda sucks!
OWS
Since the hubby was off from work on Sunday, I was able to meet the "heathens" from beginnertriathlete.com out at 288 Lake for an OWS practice. Thanks to me missing a turn, I arrived a few minutes after the scheduled meet up time. There were probably already 10 people there from BT chatting it up in the water. It was great to finally put the screen names and faces together!
Honestly, we did more talking than swimming, but it was helpful talk...I got a ton of OWS tips and lots of good tri stories. My first attempt to make it to the 2nd buoy was okay. I did freak out a tiny bit, got out of breath and had to bring out the old side stroke to get myself back on track. The 2nd and 3rd attempts were a little better, but I still had to use my crutch stroke on the way in. Next, I decided to do a couple of laps around the boat (closer than the 2nd buoy), just to get more comfortable and confident in the water.
By the end of the morning, I was feeling better about the OWS, but realize that I still need A LOT more practice! Let's just say it's going to be awhile before I am doing a loop of all the bouys with the more experienced folks! There was one common theme I heard all morning - to really improve in the swim, you need to be in the water 3-4 days every week. That's something I have resolved to do starting NOW. My goal is to swim 3-4 days per week from now until my next tri in August and see what kind of change I see in my swim time. I found a good training plan in my Women's Running magazine, so I may use that as my guide. I am hoping I can meet the BTers a little more often..they're a great bunch!
I spent the rest of the day with the family just hanging out. Good times!!!
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Friday
I know, I know - being very original again with the titles.
Friday turned out to be a really, really fun day. The hubby and I both had the day off, so we decided to go ahead and take the kids to school so we could hang out. He did want to mow they yard, since we had family coming over on Saturday, so I went for a swim while he did that and then got home in time to help him finish up.
Next, we went for a bike ride in my new favorite riding neighborhood. The hubby has a mountain bike and hasn't done any real mileage on the road in a long time, so it really wasn't fair that I was on my road bike. We got in about 11 miles at a 12 mph pace, we did slow down a few times to check out some of the houses for sale...no, we're not looking, it's just that some of these houses are frickin' HUGE and gorgeous!
(NOTE: I've since been told that only a saddistic weirdo would get all excited about working out on their day off...guess I am a weirdo, LOL!)
By the time we made it back home, we were starving! We headed over to a local eatery in Old Town Spring and had an awesome lunch. We walked around a bit and then headed to the Wimberly Winery tasting room to check out the wines. Next stop - Wallyworld and Target to check out the inflatable pools for the kiddos. Finally, we ended the day with some grocery shopping. I know that doesn't really sound fun, but it reminded me of our pre-kiddo/munchkin days. Plus, I am so used to going to the grocery store with 2 kids that always seem to get cranky after 15 minutes of shopping, so to go with another adult was awesome! It's the little things, I tell ya!
Workout Stats
Swim, 1050 yds - 100 yd warm up, 300x2, 150 drills, 100x2
Bike, 11.3 miles, 12 mph
Friday turned out to be a really, really fun day. The hubby and I both had the day off, so we decided to go ahead and take the kids to school so we could hang out. He did want to mow they yard, since we had family coming over on Saturday, so I went for a swim while he did that and then got home in time to help him finish up.
Next, we went for a bike ride in my new favorite riding neighborhood. The hubby has a mountain bike and hasn't done any real mileage on the road in a long time, so it really wasn't fair that I was on my road bike. We got in about 11 miles at a 12 mph pace, we did slow down a few times to check out some of the houses for sale...no, we're not looking, it's just that some of these houses are frickin' HUGE and gorgeous!
(NOTE: I've since been told that only a saddistic weirdo would get all excited about working out on their day off...guess I am a weirdo, LOL!)
By the time we made it back home, we were starving! We headed over to a local eatery in Old Town Spring and had an awesome lunch. We walked around a bit and then headed to the Wimberly Winery tasting room to check out the wines. Next stop - Wallyworld and Target to check out the inflatable pools for the kiddos. Finally, we ended the day with some grocery shopping. I know that doesn't really sound fun, but it reminded me of our pre-kiddo/munchkin days. Plus, I am so used to going to the grocery store with 2 kids that always seem to get cranky after 15 minutes of shopping, so to go with another adult was awesome! It's the little things, I tell ya!
Workout Stats
Swim, 1050 yds - 100 yd warm up, 300x2, 150 drills, 100x2
Bike, 11.3 miles, 12 mph
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
