Let March start today!

SWIM: 2000y in 55 mins. MMM. 6x50, 2x100, 3x500 as 200-100-200.

New problem today--I wrote this post then some error prevented it from posting. So now I get to re-create this post. Seems a bit fake. I think it happened because I said something negative about a lane-mate, kinda like an opportunity to take back words you regret! :)

Anyway, it was supposed to be 6x100, 2x100, 5x500. But I did what I could. In my previous write-up, I vented frustration with a lane-mate who was complaining about how unmotivated she felt today. Unmotivated and Slow. My take on that was, if you dont' want to be here then get the F out of the pool and give your space to me.

This is a hard swim for me. I'm the slowest in the pool, I'm pushed into the wall by chop, I spend more time worrying about whether or not I'm on the way of other swimmers. I dont' worry about form, time, or keeping pace. I swim like it's a race, and it's stressful. There are Mondays that my stomach is upset from the stress for a few hours. So I have to ask myself, why do I keep coming back? Why do I get up at 4:10am for a 5:15am swim I don't particularly enjoy?

I realized the answer today. Because I'm motivated. I am motivated to improve my swim. I do care. And the environment of a group effort with a coach on deck is the way to go for me. It's like a group run, the peer pressure to show up and the push to keep up works on me. Problem is, I do need my alone time to focus on form too. So I need to mix it up--classes and solitude.

Also, I like to start new goals the first of each month. Today is Feb 28, but it's also Monday which is the start of my training week. So let today be the 1st day of March. I started it off with a good swim and a learning experience. Let's get the rest of the goals for the month on paper by the end of day!

All my excuses on why I don't swim

Because this will be funnily stupid to read later on.

Monday: I don't have a problem here. I get up at 4:15 to leave at 5:05 for Monday Morning Master's. This is my best (and sometimes only) swim workout.

Tuesday: I bike in the morning, then have the best of intentions to swim at least a little bit in the afternoon. Sometimes though I leave late from the bike ride and dont get to work until after 9am. Why don't I just get up earlier? Get up at 4:30 not 5:30, ride 5:15-6:45. Shower, breakfast, dog, out the door by 7:45am. Out the door at 8:30 at the latest. Get out of work by 5:30 and swim. Home by 7pm.

Wednesday: I have my first long run on Weds. And I have the best of intentions to swim in the evening again. But same as Tuesday. The run is 2-3 hrs nowadays, so I don't get to work before 9am. Sometimes is 10-10:30! Then I work to late to get the usual 8-10hrs of work. Then no swimming, I head home to prepare for the 2nd long run.

Thursday: Same as Weds.

Friday: a golden opportunity day to swim! No running or biking planned. And swimming can be a great recovery tool. But I'm usually so tired from the dual long runs that I sleep in. Why don't I go in the evening?

Saturday: Weekends are tough. This is my time to get errands and house work done. I've been skipping the non-crucial training on weekends lately, I missed fantabulous group rides this weekend and last to focus on housework and lab work. But I always think that maybe after my long Saturday ride I'll swim in the afternoon. But it never works that way. I get busy.

Sunday: same as Saturday. Worse even, as the pool has shorter hours on Sunday. And by Sunday I've rationalized to myself that I'm swimming Monday so why swim Sunday?

EXCUSES! Monday morning, Tuesday evening, Friday morning. Maybe drills Weds or Thurs afternoon. Those would be good times to focus on.

All runs this week >10 miles long

RUN: 1hr 32 mins, 10 miles. 10.02 to be exact.


I run better in the morning, no doubt about it. When I miss that window of opportunity, that golden sunrise, you can just bet that any run I do later will be of lesser quality. I especially notice this on Tuesday speedwork sessions in the summer. Today I missed that sunrise, sleeping in to catch up from the last week of fatigue and long hours.

I had big plans to swim this weekend, and it just never happened. Why is it swimming is such a high priority for me, yet I don't get to it? I'll be honest, I hate swimming. Back and forth in a little box, watching floor tiles glide by, counting the number of times I touch a wall. Boring. And I'd like to say that I work and work on it and never get better. But let's be real here. I'm not working at it. Thus, I will never get better.

So I ended up doing some household chores then leaving for work. Spent 6-7 hours at work (legs LOVED that) before getting home just in time to squeeze in a 1.5hr run. The first 5 miles took 46 mins. It did not feel that slow, but it was. Then I decided to negative split the run (it's out-n-back so that's easy) and felt great on the return. Quick step, high turnover, light and easy. But came in at 46 mins again! Nuts. I'm going to stick with the excuse that my afternoon runs are just never what I want them to be. waaa waaaa waaaa--EXCUSES!

Another problem today was the crunched feeling that I can't get everything done. I had a bit of a crisis with this the past 2 weeks. I fell behind and thought I could just mash through it all and catch-up. I think I spent more time Worrying than Doing. Then last Monday I decided to start tracking my time. What did I do all morning when I get up at 4:30 but don't get to work until 9:30? 4:30-5:15=breakfast and emails. 5:15-7:15=swimming. 7:15-9:15=2nd breakfast and emails, get dressed, pack lunch, walk dog, screw around with house chores. There's a lot of lost time during my days-that's just one example. So anyway, today's run was a bit stressed due to that crunched feeling.

And let's be real here--I don't realize this but I'm training 10+ hrs a week already. The week before I got sick I think there were 13 hrs in my training week! Ummm, yeah, time needs to be carefully allocated and distributed. So those lost hours are now under scrutiny. I need to get my time balanced better between home, work, and training.

NUMERICS:
Swim: 1300y. Just the one swim. Sad.
Bike: 55 miles
Run: 37 miles. Kinda low for the training goals!

Tomorrow ends February, I'll do a monthy summary then.

When will it get warm!?

BIKE: 2hrs about 35 miles. Still indoors!

OK I could ride outside, but there's something about getting all bundled up to ride through a bunch of stop signs. When I could be cozily curled up with a trainer and get more miles and better intervals. There was no time to drive anywhere, so this was the best option.

So I got up early, coffeed up, then found a movie on the Netflix--Blackhawk Down. First time seeing it. I warmed up 20 mins doing the usual ILT and 15s jumps, then settled in thinking I'd do intervals during the battle scenes. What a great idea. The entire movie is a battle scene! I going, going, going, geez still going and finally I look at my watch and WOW already over an hour passed! Nice! So that first hour was the mid-ring. Last 30 mins in the big ring.

Then off to work. No better way to spoil freshly worked legs by parking at a desk all day. :/

I was going to run 5 miles, but by the afternoon my legs were dead and my left hamstring tight. So I called it off, rationalizing that the 2hr ride was good enough.

Much needed day off

DAY OFF: 24hr of 0 mileage :)

Much needed? Mandatory. Required. No question about it, need a day off.

I had so much trouble sleeping Thursday night. Driving home from work was questionable in terms of safety. Then in an unusual twist, I actually tried to nap when I got home. I rarely nap. And to be honest, I tried to nap. I don't think I ever fell asleep.

Then that night I had the hardest time falling asleep. This is one of the classic signs of being over-trained. In February?! Awesome!

Today I ended up sitting at my desk all day. I was low on motivation to move and high on motivation to get the manuscript done. So I took advantage of the fact that I didn't have much else to do in the MH and typed away. You'd think that would be relaxing. It aint.

Feels like August 2010

RUN: 13 miles in 2hrs. FP loop.

OMG I'm so tired. I think I could sleep until Saturday. My head is barely working and my body is like a limp noodle. Merely walking down the hall doesn't even sound fun.

I headed to today's run tired but no other soreness or pain. So it was easy to stick to my goal of keeping the pace down close to 10m/m. I ran with LC, doing the first loop in 57 mins. This loop seemed longer than normal, my stomach was upset from the juice I drank before the run and my legs just weren't peppy. That and it's cold again dammit.

I took a few mins off between loops to hit the bathrooms and rest. There was no question about going back out for more, nor was there question that the 2nd loop would be slow. I took off again, doing the 2nd loop in reverse. I ended up walking a few hills and stopping was just a little too easy to do. Rock in my shoe? Need water? All reasons to pause. So I guess that the 2nd loop being only 3-4 mins longer than the first tells me that my pace didn't slow all to much.

Oh and have I mentioned yet that I still havent charged my Garmin? Grrr....

Immediately after the run...no....at the very end of the run when my feet were scuff-scuff-scuffing the sidewalk I knew my goose was cooked. So damned tired! It reminded me of the happy but numbing fatigue from the last weeks of IM last fall. When the simplest things needed energy I didn't have ready. Even my fingers are tired typing this. But it feels so good.

Since Saturday, I've run 54.6 miles. This is a personal record for me--that many miles in 6 days. I usually count my weeks Mon-Sun, but in this instance I really need to keep an eye on the mileage. Sure, my next long run wont' be until next Weds. And sure, I'm running to the exclusion of most other training. But I gotta be careful and Recover!!

Wednesday long run--loopty-loop in TGP

RUN: 14 miles in 2hr 21 mins. No Garmin.

14 miles seems short, but MMR and my knowledge of TGP says it's true. But it's also the lack of autopause time that might be throwing things off. Waiting at intersections, etc. But does that really add that much time? No. I was expecting to have done 15 miles. And while I could write whatever I want up there, I can't lie to myself.

And why can't I have the Garmin charged and ready to go!?!? It didn't last 1 mile today before cutting out.

There was ice on the roads this morning, so I didn't start until after 7am. My goal was to take it easy, keep a slow easy pace (which might account for my shorter than expected distance) that I could sustain all morning. I kept slowing myself down a bit, maybe not having the Garmin was a good thing here, as it forced me to focus on perceived effort?

The run felt easy, simple, a little boring (I did almost 4 loops of TGP).

Even though I ran 2.3 hrs, I only ate one powerbar and 2.5 servings of Perform: a total of 375 calories. I'm doing pretty good at these low levels, but I'm not sure what will happen as I start to exceed 3 or 4hrs.

Speaking of which, my nutrition is slipping a bit. I'm once again relying on peanut butter for calories, instead of fruits, veggies, and lean meats. PB only has so much in the way of nutrients! And it falls in the calorie dense category, not the nutrient dense one that I should be focused on. So I'm going to make an effort to tighten down the nutritional aspect over the next few weeks.

Are Tuesday's too easy?

BIKE: 75 mins, about 20 miles. Did one mid-ring 30 min interval and one big ring 20 min interval.

Are my Tuesday's too easy? What a funny question to ask. I do my bike ride in the morning, but lately this ride hasnt been all that stressful for me. And by that I mean I'm not feeling it later in the day. I want to hurt later. What's going on?

Last year my Tuesday morning rides were a much-anticipated session. I'd leave the house early, head up the Sat morning in-town route, and hurry back for a morning work meeting. It was early, usually hot, and left me with a smug-buzz all day. Nothing like walking into your meeting at work freshly showered, on a ride high, feet up to rest the legs, and chugging a 500+ calorie smoothie for recovery. And nothing like being unable to focus on the meeting because your mind and heart are still on the road....

Missing this year is that singular focus of IM training. I'm training for a running race at the moment, so only my running has such focus. I've decided to postpone TripleT, meaning tri training doesnt really start until April or so. Starting April 1st gives me about 20 weeks of prep for Pigman. And with S-man being late in the year, I need to watch my burnout factor. For me Aug and Sept mean the start of burnout. I'm sidetracked.

The Tuesday ride--what's missing? Focus. I'm just getting on the bike and spinning the wheels. I'm watching SG-1 or LotR so I don't want to put in a spinerval DVD. But maybe that's what I need, because if I'm going to hang with the guys this summer I need to be improving NOW. So either put in a DVD or follow one of the plans.

And put a HR monitor on! Why is that thing being ignored so far this year? (Aside from the fact that it rubs the skin over my ribs raw?).

Another thing to do, while I'm here telling Myself what to do, start tracking time scheduling and metrics. Nutrition too. Quit slacking, the off season is OVER.

Get it in gear!

Not happy with your swim? Your beach ball is.

SWIM: Monday morning Masters: 45 mins about 1300??

Completely lost count on this swim. I missed the warmup, and placed myself in the last lane with the 2 older women. They are still learning to swim and do shorter sets, but the next lane up had 5-6 people. Too crowded! Swimming in those conditions makes me forget all technique and form and I just swim as if my life depends on it. I get sick swimming in those cramped and faster lanes. Better for me to slow down and focus on form.

BUT! This is MMM, I'm not supposed to be drilling for an hour I'm supposed to be swimming! Granted, this was my first swim since Feb 4th and so I was a bit rusty. And tired from all the running over the weekend. But stop with the damned excuses! AAAHHHH!

The first set was 6x150 kicking (of all things on my poor legs) as 50 dolphin, 50 on sides, and 50 of kick underwater as far as you can then swim. And I didn't bring fins, so I was the slowest in the lane. I have this EXCUSE about not using fins--that my mangled ankle can't handle them. More excuses. I got no where near the 6x150, I did more of a 4x100.

Then we were supposed to do 4x400's. But since I was in the last lane the assignment was 4x200. I was having a bad form day: unfocused, bad technique, just not good. I corrected myself at one point to say I was having a bad swim, not a bad day. But I kept going and didn't quit. I had to rest more than I liked but I didn't quit. CHG hasn't given up on me yet, so I'm not giving up yet.

His advice today: i'm holding my lead arm out too low in the water. And my arms are so busy holding me up to breath that I'm not getting a strong pull. He had me swim a length breathing on the left side to demonstrate. He said I'm swimming without relying on the buoyancy of my lungs. That if I was thrown overboard with just a beach ball, I'd hold the beach ball over my head, instead of putting my shoulders over it. I'd save the beach ball but not me. Funny. I need to put my weight on my lungs and under my arm, NOT on my hand at the end of a bent arm.

I need to focus on swimming, I've given up on the TripleT race for 2011 for a few reasons. One of them is my weak swim. If I pick such an early tri, I'll focus too much on endurance instead of form, and I need to work on the form first. So I decided against an aggressive training plan. I'll start that in April or so. Now is the time to learn to swim! (I say that every single year!).

There are so many opportunities to swim:
Mon: MMM
Weds: YMCA

Fri: SD's swim

Sat: B-wood swim

Sun: another CHG option

What am I waiting for?

Long run #2: Chubb run

RUN: 13.6 miles in 2:40-ish. First run of the Chubb trail. 3700-3800 feet of climbing.

In looking for how to get to the chubb trail head, I came across many reviews: most challenging, most difficult in area, eats bikes, rocks, climbs, and more. I signed up for a race on a trail described as the most difficult in the area?!? Cool!

This was my first viewing of the chubbie trail. I was supposed to meet some other runners but I must have ended up in the wrong parking lot. Never saw them but found out later they were there. I didn't even know if I had the right trailhead! But I waited a bit, the whole time getting less and less excited about the run. I realized I was looking forward to the social as much as the run.

Disappointed I headed out thinking I'd get at least 10 miles in. I started at Lone Elk, which is the flatter end of the 7 mile trail. Great trail with hills, switchbacks, a river view, some mud, but over all the first 3.5 miles were fairly flat. Then the hill! The garmin tells me it was a 400-500 foot climb.

I'd been running alone and not liking it much. I was tired and a little bored But as I hit the hill I came up behind 3 other runners and caught up to them. We get chatting (too rocky and steep for running, so we were picking our way up at a fast walk) and I learn that one of the runners was the founder of the DC run!!! WOW! He founded the race in '99 and RD'd for 5 years. I was able to answer most all of my questions and more. They were a great group and as we finished off the last 9-10 miles I learned that they were real ultrarunners! One guy had finished 13 100-mile races, another did international 4-6 day adventure races. Their stories made IMWI seem like child's play. And best of all, they were a positive group. Appreciative of "every day above ground being a good day". At one point facing an optional hill, it was "no guts no glory". (After hearing that I had no choice but to follow them up.)

And what a wonderful run in the end! How amazing to just happen upon 3 guys who let me run with them, and all of them having experience with the DC or similar races. And what a great feeling to just be accepted, sometimes I worry about being the Girl or being too slow or being the drag--but none of that mattered today. It was just run, love the trail, enjoy the day, and have fun.

NUMERICS:

SWIM 0y (not happy with this)

BIKE 29 miles

RUN 43.6 miles

Grants Trail long run

RUN: 14 miles in 2hrs flat. Did the 13.1 in 1:52! 7 miles in about 56 mins so about 8:15 out. Then about 8:43 back.



The outbound was slightly downhill with the group. We held a good pace, and I kept thinking that this was too fast for me. But instead of dropping back like I used to I just kept going. Turns out I can go faster than I think, and that my pace is getting stronger.

I can distinctly remember the feeling of awesome when I got my long runs below 10m/m. For what seemed a long time, 10m/m was just "my pace". I felt comfortable, easy, and could go forever. Today I did an ave of 8:30m/m. The half mary time was a PR! (But I can't count it as one since I had to stop a few times for traffic, etc). So now this is my new Distinct Feeling--the realization that my long runs can go below 9m/m.

And I'd like to find a half mary to test the new PR out. Getting below 1:50 is a goal of mine and has been for awhile. I'm so close! But I havent been running many stand alone 13.1's to compare to. Look for one in march? Oh wait, QQ is a half mary! But that's on trails, so keep looking!

Either way, I'm healed over from last weekend. My appetite is still not normal, but give it time.

Getting better, catching up

Tues Bike 45 mins about 12 miles, easy
Weds Run 60 mins 6 miles, tough
Thurs Run 90 mins 10 miles, awesome
Fri Bike 60 mins about 16 miles, steady

Busy busy busy. Miss a few days then those days still need to happen. The Weds run was hard, I had to walk every 1-2 miles for about 15 seconds. I was hot, flushed, tired, and weak. I found out about this the next day when I woke up with a bloody nose. Come to think of it (only then) I haven't eaten meat in a week! Well duh!!

The Thurs run was later in the afternoon, under a riding full moon. Beautiful. The run and the moon. The run felt easy and smooth.

I'm not quite at 100% yet, but a few more days and I should be. As for that V-day post? I'd love to erase it, but I have a no-edit rule. Besides, it really is a problem that really should be addressed. So I shouldn't delete it, I should deal with it.

Valentines Day, and I wonder: Why don't I love ME?

Here is the text of an email I just sent to my BB JM. Raw and uncut. Adults only!

I have a confession. I think I earned this sickness. I think I pissed off the Karma Gods and it's all coming back on me. It's a long story.

My stress levels have been riding high. Having the dog sick again and getting even further behind at work is just running me ragged. So last week, when the dog was still pretty bad, I took most of Monday and Tuesday off work to be with her. But by Tuesday my anxiety got the best of me, and I went in for half a day. Rich got upset, he understood my POV, but said that if we are going to try to save the dog and after spending so much $$ already, we needed a more dedicated effort. I explained that I should be fired by now. So Rich took a day off of work to stay home with her. For context: In the past 8 years, Rich has missed enough days of work to count on one hand. It was an easy day for him, a light workload, and two of his friends covered for him. I was guilt ridden. I felt like I'd failed at my end, as now both me AND Rich were missing work.

So Weds Rich stayed home. I went to work. I skipped my morning 12-miler to get there early, but by the end of the day I was bugging out. But how I could I go for a run when Rich was missing work so that I could work?? Me leaving work would be like.....cheating? Stress. I wait till afternoon. Stress! Now I need the run to cool off. I wait until 4pm, meaning that I didn't finish until dark. Rich does NOT want me running the dark.

The subplot to all this is my health habits lately. When I get in a hurry, I oddly enough let my eating habits go. I just grab whatever whenever however and dont even realize what I"m eating. It's all healthy food, there's no junk, but the portions and balance of nutrients are all off. I'll have meals where I have no idea waht I just ate or how much. I sometimes eat dinner such that I go to bed SICK. My nutrition has been off since December. My stomach just rebels, it keeps it all down, but I feel awful most every meal. This makes me sick, causes stress, you can see where this is going.

So weds after my run, it's 7pm by the time I get home. As soon as I walk in the door, I'm starving. Rich has dinner laid out for me and I plopped down and ate. Here I was off enjoying a run and he was home with dinner. Couldnt tell him about the run, worried that he'd get upset. So I said I did a shorter than planned run. It's true, I was going to do 15 miles. But oh it's still a lie. I do another mindless eating. We talk about the dog, what we are going to do. Mindless eating. I'm dehydrated, underfueled, and stressed. And I have 15 miles planned for the Thursday morning group run.

I head to bed an hour later, I'm already feeling sick. 9pm and the room is spinning, my stomach a wreck. My guts are threatening hell. My first thought was that I ate too soon after my run, and my stomach was still shut down, so the food just incubated there. 1030 I'm in distress, but no other symptoms. 12:21 I get up in acute distress. I barely slept the rest of the night. The worst GI symptoms you can imagine, I'm sure you don't need more details. And I didn't want to further burden the hubby, so I cleaned up my own puke. This lasts until the next morning, Rich leaves for work with me hung over a sink. It was a long awful day. All my refueling and rehydrating was lost. And all I could think was, I missed my run.

I don't eat or drink all Thursday, and the stomach settles. But dinner rolls around and I need to drink something. The stomach disagrees and it starts to look like a repeat of the previous night, but not so bad. Friday I can't even get off the couch, same issues Friday night. I'm all I could think was, can I run Saturday?

Saturday begins, and Im more awake, but obviously dehydrated. Rich threatens to take me to the hospital, but I refuse. If I feel awful cuddled up on my couch, I'd only feel more awful in a cold hospital room. I convinced him I'm better off here. By that afternoon, I'm at least mobile and upright, but still showing symptoms of particularly naseua and dizziness and weakness. Still not eating or drinking much at all.

Sunday, Rich demands an IV. I give in. I'm symptom free still, just not hungry or thirsty. There's a group ride in the afternoon and I'd like to join. We go to the hospital for a nurse to place the port (another stolen service, the nurse is wondering is she'll get fired. GUILT!) and the whole time I feel like a pansy for needing this. We head back home, hoping to get at least 1L in before last nights board meeting. No way I was going to miss that. Rich holds the bag over me, no pole, just his arm. He monitors the drip rate and watches my arm for bruising. I go to the meeting with the port under my sleeve, but I'm unable to hide jsut how sick I feel. After the meeting, another 1L. I've found that I can rehydrate via IV without upsetting my stomach. Cool! By now, the week is over as measured by the Icy Iron and tomorrow is a fresh start. I will be better by then.

Monday. Today. I'm still not drinking much, anything I drink just percolates in my esophagus. I'm in regurgitation hell. Food in very small amounts is OK, so I"m eating watery oranges, melons, etc. Juicy stuff. But it's as if my stomach is shrunken. I spend the day working on the newsletter as a distraction. I havent' been thirsty or hungry since Weds night. The smell of food turns my gut. I'm so tired, but I think I'll be back at work tomorrow. I have a bike ride planned for tues morning.

I earned this. Isn't it funny that I feel this way? I continued to put my self both first AND last for the past few weeks. How is that possible? To put yourself both first and last? And now I'm still trying to put myself first and last. I don't want any special attentions showered on my by Rich but I still want my training time. I apparently can't help it.

Rich is coming home soon, and all day he's called to check on me. Admonished me to drink. I haven't had a drop this he left this morning. The mere idea is awful. Nuuns, my favorite drink, don't taste right. Coffee is acidic. Tea is metallic. Nothing seems right just yet. I want another IV so I don't have to drink, he says no. So he's going to walk in the door and I cant lie, so I have to say No honey I havent been drinking today. And why not? I can push myself through a ironman race, thru redman hell, thru 20hr training weeks, but I can't drink a f'ing glass of water?!?!?!?!?!?!

I've earned this. I pissed off the Karma gods and here I am suffering. I trained when I shouldnt have. I ate myself to sickness, not completely unlike a glutton or addict. I can't train or eat or drink, perhaps until I have some atonement for my sins. I've been thinking this since Thurs morining, and I'm starting to believe it.

Wednesday run

RUN: 12 miles in 1:55. I did this late in the day, knowing it might mess up tomorrow morning's run. But for some reason I did it anyway. I finished late, around 6pm.

I left from work and ran to Hanley via FP. I felt OK, hurried but OK. I had the fuelbelt and a gel, but wasn't very focused. The run came and went in sort of a blur.

See tomorros for a possible explanation. And the end result of this run.

Catching up post 2

MONDAY: OFF
TUESDAY: BIKE 1.5 hrs on bike, 26 miles of harder intervals

Finally a day off. But not by choice. The doggie was sick again, starting Saturday night. By Sunday it was worse and MMM swim was lost to getting sleep. No way I could function on only 2hrs of it. I needed a day off anyway, so why wouldn't I just allow myself one?

Today--missed the morning ride worrying about the dog. But I did get it done over lunch. 2x15 mins at 75%, 1x14 at 80%, and 1x10 at 85+%. I should also point out that I haven't done any real testing so far this season to know what my HR zones are, so I'm going by effort. Hard, harder, then even harder. No wonder I don't improve.

And life overwhelmed me a bit with the dog the last few days. I hate how easily that happens! My life really isn't all that complex, but if it gets a wrench thrown in I just crumble. I need to get a grip on my schedule and compartmentalize a bit more so that problems in one realm don't cause problems in others. I hate having no schedule, no plan, and no order to may days. I just messes me up!

I think I did this last year too--I set aside my 3x3 goals for each day or week. And these goals need to be SMART. Now lets see if I can remember what that means: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, .... hmmm....Reasonable, ...Google....uh a few wrong: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.

Actually this is interesting. Found this:
S Specific Significant, Stretching, Simple
M Measurable Meaningful,Motivational,Manageable
A Attainable, Appropriate, Achievable, Agreed, Assignable, Actionable, Action-oriented, Ambitious, Aligned, Aspirational
R Relevant Realistic, Results/Results-focused/Results-oriented,Resourced,Rewarding
T Time-bound Time-oriented, Time framed, Timed, Time-based, Timeboxed, Timely, Time-Specific, Timetabled, Time limited, Trackable, Tangible

I didn't know there was a whole system, I just thought my gym had made this up for a poster! I went back and bolded the ones I liked.

So. Some SMART goals for me.
1. Training
a. Get testing done for HR's, bike and run
b. Get the MMM swim in this week
c. Don't go over 45 run miles

2. Work
a. repeat the bioplex
b. test the CD4 transfer exp
c. spend a few hours on the draft

3. Life
a. Start tracking meals to prevent lapses and breakdowns
b. Create a '30 min' plan for keeping up the house
c. Set aside 23 mins a day for Me, Myself, and I.

Catching up post 1

Saturday: 2:45 on bike ~47 miles
Sunday: 1:55 trail run, ~10.5 miles

Got behind, so this will lack the colorful details I usually put in.

Saturday I took BB-JM's plan of doing 1.5 hrs in the morning and 1.5hrs at evening due to time constraints. The second 1.5 was cut short by a Quality vs Quantity decision. I was burned out by the end. I did intervals, I think.

Sunday was a group run in LostValley, with some other Chubbers! The Garmin logged only about 2000 ft of total climbing, I was hoping for more hills. Dont get me wrong, there were hills, but they werent the main feature. The main attraction was the SNOW. A few inches of soft stuff from Saturday, thankfully little ice. But it was enough to make my trail shoes, armed with the YakTrax, hit different spots on my feet. By mile 8 my feet were pained in 3 places: left foot along side of big toe, left foot back at side of ankle, and right foot under the big toe. The toe blisters stayed closed, the ankle one rubbed open. OUCH. It's about the size of a quarter too. The blister on the right foot has blood in it, but it's OK because of the callouses there.

Part of me is happy with this, it reminds me of the blisters seen on ultrarunner's feets. Makes me think I'm becoming one, haha. Another part of me worries about the next run, the next swim, and the potential for infection.

NUMERICS: just under 13hrs! No wonder I'm so tired.
SWIM: 3.125 mile or ~5550 yards or so
BIKE: 65 miles
RUN: 39 miles, right on goal target

Friday master's swim

SWIM: 2300y in 67 mins. WU 1x300 and 8x25 building. MS: 4x100 (20) focus on form, 50k, 4x100 (15) 50e/50f, 50k, then two more 4x100's in a similar pattern. Skipped CD. Full session would have been another 4x100, 50k, and 300 easy pull. !!

My first swim with SD. Actually my first time working with her really at all. She has lots of energy and a positive attitude. In short, it was fun!

The pool was narrow and warm, but in the end it really didn't matter. It's also a bit of a drive for me, but since it's my only Friday workout I might be able to keep squeezing it in. Cuz for sure I wouldn't have done this good of a workout alone at the Y. Nor would I have gotten up at 4am!

I tried the paddles too for 2 100's. They made me very slow and messy, but they slowed my arms down. Maybe that could be a tool to help me focus on my arm technique?

I got sloppy halfway through, not surprisingly. But SD did have some advice: keep the pull shallow with elbows high. She said the same thing everyone does: my left arm has bad form. Just need to work on it!

2nd Long Run: 12.5 again

RUN: 12.5 miles, 2hrs and 1 minute.

Yes, I did laundry last night. So after yesterday's wimp-out of sorts on the treadmill, this one was outside. And why do I call it a wimp-out? 12.5 miles is 12.5 miles, whether indoors or out. I call it that because I was hiding from the cold.

No hiding today. 8F with wind when I left the house. Can you believe I over dressed: long sports top, craft base layer, 2 tech long sleeves, and the purple jacket; fleece tights and NB pants; hot hands in the mittens; yaktrax and runwarm shoe covers; a fleece hat and ear band. I think I overheated just for carrying around all that clothing!

No time wasted getting this run going. And a pleasant suprise learning that I might have lots of company on my 2nd loop! The yaktrax were necessary, the snow was still hard packed and had no give whatsoever. I was a bit slow on the first loop, dropping back and running with CM. But I needed it, I was TIRED and the pace felt great. First 6.33 in 1hr.

Quick stop at the VC, brush the snow out of my eyelashes, have a gel and some water. Then see who was joining me for round two. Nobody!? In the end, I was alone on the 2nd loop. Oh well, not everyone is so nuts. I ran this one backwards, and although I didn't stop to rest during the loop I sure wanted to. I would have frozen over! What a motivator! And I saw the distinct footie prints of a vibram's runner in the snow all the way around the park. How did he/she keep their feet warm?!? 2nd loop 6.2 miles in 1hr, 1min.

I was mostly warm the entire run, only my face suffered when I was running into the wind. But when I got back to the truck I found frost INSIDE my jacket?!? Damn that's cold! But it sure felt good, my legs ache a bit and need a break. They get one, until Saturday.

Mill baby mill! Then drill baby drill!

RUN: 12.5 miles in 2 hrs, all on the mill
SWIM: 1200y in 30 mins, all just the drill

I know, I know. I'm so unfunny. The only reason I think I am funny is because of this post-run high. 8D

Yesterday's snow and ice storm made for some interesting pack to run on. A light puffy snow on top of 2-4 inches of melted-together ice pellets, on top of a good 0.5 inch of ice. My feet didn't even sink in, I just walked on top of all the pack. And where there wasnt snow, due to shoveling or clearing, it was either slushy or icy. And the grand cherry on top of all that? COLD. 19F and windy. And I had 12 miles planned.

Now usually this doesn't phase me. I don't mind running the cold. And the reason for this is all the nice polar clothing I have. But see today I didn't have them--they were all in the laundry! Why didn't I do laundry yesterday?! So after some creative-fail layering attempts, I gave up and decided to run indoors.

Indoors?!? A long run?!? No, I'll just 6 miles. I'll move the long run to Friday.

So off to work, the gym was closed for weather until noon anyway. But while I'm at work, the lack of the runners high started to hit me. AH! Like a deprived drug addict, I'm craving my run. Need it. Want it. Distracted. Unhappy. Bored. I finally just threw in the towel and left, thinking I'll come back to work afterwards. Little did I know that 1hrs worth of therapy wouldnt cut it for today.

Got to the gym a little after 2pm. I had a plan: Run 1h, swim 1hr, then if I really felt up to it run another 1hr. My plans changed. I decided to binge. Run 2hr, then swim. I needed a bit hit of drug. I needed to hurt.

So I signed up for a 'mill, using my creative ways to get a 1hr signup with a 30 min time limit onthe signup. The first hour was going to be a faster paced flat run. Once warmed up, I sped up to a 7.0 on the mill, which I think is a 8:34 pace, and settled in. I had brought head phones, but couldnt find the jack to plug them in. So it was some old SNL episode with closed captioning.

In the end I didn't watch the tv. I stared blankly ahead at the data screen, not reading it and not focusing. Finally, I was in my zone. At times I focused on good form and cadence. My mind wandered, happily, floating from topic to topic. No music, no talk, nothing but me breathing and the sound of shoes on a belt.

And speaking of that sound, when I worked on my "paw back", I'd get a squeek from my shoes. Especially at the faster paces. Hopefully it's not a problem I have off the treadmill, as I think it indicates some drag of the shoe.

One hour up: 6.33 miles. I signed up for another hour. I should also add at this point that I forgot to bring in a water bottle from the truck. I debated going back out for it, but can you believe that I was too lazy to do it? So at this time a big hit at a water fountain and a gel. I was a bit dizzy from stopping all the sudden and maybe dehydration. More please. Of the running I mean.

Next hour was the random hill setting. Goal was to keep a high pace, power up the hills, then recover without slowing. As much as you can do that on a treadmill anyway. The hills weren't so random, in fact, they were a repeating set of : 0,0,0,1,1,3,1,3,2,2,2,1,1,3,5,3,0 repeat. Or something like that. Incline changed every minute. The big 3,5,3, hill combo at the end looked enticing. And it was. After the 1st climb, I hit a real high and turned up the speed through the 0 incline portion. I was reliving a little of the Search & Destroy feeling from Saturday.

I went through the repeats ?? 3-4 times?? Lost count. It was that good.

But by the last repeat, I was flagging and hurting. No water and no food, not the best combination. And I was sweating like crazy. After all the cold running I've been doing, it was a somewhat new sensation. I was in the last repeat, in the 1,1 rest before the big hill. I stared at it. 3,5,3. 3 minutes of hills. My mind wandered, fuzzy. I had already turned down the incline for fear of falling or tripping. 3 minutes of hills. Just 3. I can do this. Dig deep, push through, and all those cliches starting bubbling up. Those 3 minutes would come back to me like an investment, and I'd get 110% of my investment back come race day.

Then the cool down. Ahhh, a rest. But I hate walking on the treadmill, and besides I was woozy again. I was actually holding the side rails! Clean off the machine (and while doing so find the phone jack) then off to stretch and drink water. And to decide, should I swim?

Yes I should, but not the full hour. I know there's a lifeguard to pull me out and all, but I'd rather avoid that. Let's drill for 30 mins. Deal.

I worked on CHG's drills from Monday. The first few laps felt awesome! Fast! Easy breathing! Then I got tired..oh...maybe 3 laps in. Switched to TI drills. 50y drill, 50y swim to practice, 50y drill, etc. By 8 laps in I was watching the clock. Done yet? No. 9 laps. Done? No. Damn. Keep it going. Worked on some bilateral breathing, worked on balance, worked on strong high elbows.
12 laps. Done yet? YES!

So in the end, I'm sitting here probably still dehydrated and planning my 12 miler tomorrow morning. (Recover!). I'm somewhat disappointed that I ran indoors like a wimp, but at the same time proud that I overcame that judgement to run. It was a much of a challenge to make myself run indoors!

Welcome to February!

BIKE: 60 mins about 18 miles. Tabata's

I'm now in the habit of getting up early! That's one goal down.

This session was similar to a Tabata: 20s hard, 10s easy, repeat for 5 minutes. Then 45s hard, 15s, repeat for 10 mins. Hooooowee! What a workout.

Stayed home today for the Storm of the Century That Never Was.