Monday, January 30, 2012

Weekly re-cap and mishaps

Monday, 1/23 - Aqua Jog - 30 minutes
Mishap #1 - OMG, I tried the shallow water version of Aqua Jogging where you are actually touching the bottom of the pool as you go back and forth in a lane.  The bottom surface of the pool looks nice and smooth, but ouch!  The bottom of my feet both had blisters on them by the time I was done and I could barely walk!

Tuesday, 1/24 - Spin/Ride - 1 hour
Mishap #2 - I headed over to the gym at work during my lunch break for spin class.  Much to my surprise, spin class had been replaced my Zumba!  Nothing against Zumba, but there is no Zumba in triathlon!  Determined to get my workout in, so that I could spend time with the family that evening, I used the stationary bike for an hour.  Not quite the same, but whatever.

Wednesday, 1/25 - Swim - 2200
Mishap #3 - Yeah, I did something wrong here because I actually ended up with 2800 yds done.  And, I had the worst leg cramp ever toward the end of the workout.  Seriously. Worst. Ever.  It started in my calf, but then moved to my shin all the way up to my knee.  I barely finished my workout.

Thursday, 1/25 - Endurance workout - 1 hour
Mishap #4 - For this workout, Coach said to try any cardio that would not hurt my hip.  I really wanted to do aqua jogging for this workout, but knew I had plans after work and would not make it to the pool. I decided to do the elliptical instead. For some reason this workout seemed harder than the one I did on the elliptical last week. When warming up, my HR was around 128. After that, my HR quickly rose into the high 130s - 140s. If I wasn't careful, it would go into the low 150's, but I kept checking to ensure it didn't get higher. During the workout, my hip felt fine, but I noticed that my feet seemed to be slipping to the front of my shoes, causing my toes to feel numb. I thought both the HR thing and the thing with my toes was weird, because I had never experienced it on the elliptical before. I also noticed that it took me 15 minutes to complete a mile, which is not the case on the elliptical. After I finished my workout, I noticed that my calves felt really tight. (Something else I've never experienced.) When I stopped to stretch, I found out from one of the trainers that I was actually using an Arc Trainer, not a regular elliptical. And, I noticed another issue - it feels like I've pulled my groin muscle on my good leg! It felt tight yesterday, so I stretched it, but after this workout it felt achy! WTH??? I just took some Aleve. I'm sticking to aqua jogging from now on!

Friday, 1/26 - Swim - 2500
Finally!  A mishap-free workout!  No issues here, just lots of swimming!  I am still using the pull buoy though, because too much kicking causes the hip to hurt.

Saturday, 1/27 - Bike - 2 hours
I met up with one of my friends who is training for the MS150 for a ride.  It's always great to have someone to commiserate with talk to when runs and rides get to the 2 hour mark and longer! 

Me and riding Peep, R...I cannot seem to take a picture of the both of us, lol! I ended up with my big head taking up most of the frame and cutting R out of the pic!

The fact that I survived 2 hours on the bike pain free gave me a little bit of confidence.  That is, until I looked at my overall pace.  ~14 mph.  Okay, so it was windy.  Gusts of 20-30 mph.  But still.  I have not been this slow since my 1st year of triathlons. But, that's what happens when you haven't been on your bike outdoors for more than 1 hour 15 minutes in months.  I had started to build up a good base after NYC, but it seems like I am starting from scratch. 

It may have been a crappy ride, but at least it was a gorgeous day!


Sunday, 1/28 - Aqua Jog - 45 minutes
This time I went to the pool equipped with aqua jogging gear thanks to one of my running peeps. 

Looks ridiculous + gets you nowhere fast = aqua jogging

It's certainly not sexy, but it kept me afloat so that I could "run" with no impact.  Yes, I am sure I looked utterly ridiculous, but I was running dammit!  And, I found that my Garmin 305 HR monitor does not work in the pool.  I had the actual watch in a ziploc bag, then slipped the bag under one of my swimsuit straps and the HR strap thingy on, but the HR would not register.  Bummer.

3 comments:

saroy said...

Ok, so I have never really understood the mechanics of aquajogging, but after this post I finally looked up a video. It always seemed to me that the water would provide too much resistance to really get a "jogging" motion but I guess that's not true!

I think HR monitors basically picking up the electrical signal from your heart, and being in the water would mess that up since water's a conductor. At least that's my guess. :)

TX Runner Mom said...

Sarah - I was thinking the same thing. But, the Hubs swears he's read of people swimming with their Garmin HR monitors in triathlons. Apparently they put the watch under their swim caps. Not something I would do....

That Pink Girl said...

"There is no Zumba in triathlon." So true!
Yes, I've been getting calf cramps after a long swim. Oooouuuch!