Activity: 6 mile jog
Distance: 6 miles walked the last 0.2
Time: ~55 minutes
Weather: 87/62 sunny

Brandy's words: "very easy run. No need to wear a watch, just get the miles in."

I left the apt at 4:12 pm and walked back in (includes pre-run stretching and post-run walk) at 5:16 pm, goin' at a comfortable pace. I took my Camelback along and forced myself to drink water every mile since it was so hot outside.

mood: beautiful, hot, sunny day.
health: legs were burnin' a bit on the uphills.

Activity: 1 hr bike ride @ IE/EE
Distance: 11.45 miles
Time: ~55 minutes
Weather: 63/63 sunny

I took in the scenery and practiced reaching down for my water bottle on this ride. I actually really enjoy these easy bike rides when I get to ride on the bike path :) Maybe I'll be a bike enthusiast yet!

mood: yay bike path.
health: little tired this morning. coulda slept another hour def.

Activity: Recovery Swim
Distance: 1700 yds
Time: ~40 mins

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 200 yds free/back
Drill: 8 X (25 kick drill, 25 stroke drill) free and back
Main Set:
1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1 (25 yds...adds up to 900 yds)
Cool Down: 200 (50 back, 100 free, 25 Ingomar back, 25 free)

Good to be back in the pool. I was really cold in the office at work today and didn't feel like I warmed up until I got this workout in.

mood: pretty productive with thesis writing today.
health: body feels really relaxed, probably because I had an easy weekend :)

Activity: 30 minute jog
Distance: ~3.4 miles
Time: ~31 minutes

I was supposed to do a recovery workout today. I decided to run over to Walnut Springs Park and do some trails and then turn around after 15 minutes.

My left shin got a little bit sore, making it hard to keep good form. This was a problem that I had when I first started to run again after my stress fracture healed. I really haven't been sore there for at least a month - not sure why I was today.

I totally tripped on a tree root and went sprawling out on the trail. It took me a few seconds to realize that I actually had fallen and was lying on the ground. When I got back inside my apartment, I had a little worm on my arm... guess that I ran with him for 15 minutes or so. I also had a big speck of dirt on my nose. Maybe that explains why a guy on a motorcycle was looking at me funny haha.

mood: back in state college.
health: don't know why my shin was sore.

Activity: Log Run
Distance: 4.1? miles x 2
Time: 1:16:00
Average: 9:16
4 mile Splits: 38:04, 37:36 how insane is that?

I opted to do my 8 mile run on Friday rather than Sat because 1) I had a great desire to run when I woke up on Fri and 2) I could relax for the weekend with Kalpana :-D

Running around my home is just a little bit more difficult. Everything is more steep. I can barely get a good running rhythm going before I am encountered with a up/down hill where I am forced to alter my gait.

After my last 8 mile at home, I decided to just look at my watch halfway (I did the 4 mile loop 2 times). According to my splits (or so I thought), I was running about 9:30 pace. This is not a bad pace, and I convinced myself that it was because of the hills. I tried to keep my perceived effort the same as my runs around State College.

When I got back to State College, I mapped the route out again using mapmyrun rather than gmaps, and my splits seem to be off... If mapmyrun is accurate, then the run was 8.2 miles, or I ran it at 9:16 pace. This makes me feel sooo much better! I am also glad that I didn't push myself because this shows that I am (likely) 9:15 (-9:30) pace runner on long-ish runs :)

Note: I did this route 3 weeks ago in 1:16:47 after that killer Sewickley bike ride. I think that, at the time, I pushed myself a little bit too much on that run because my splits were so slow, but this new info puts my pace at 9:22. whew!

mood: sooo excited to see kalpana!
health: my legs were a little tired, but this could be attributed to the steeper hills?

Activity: 6 mile Tempo Run (1 mi w/u, 4 mi half marathon pace, 1 mi. c/d)
Distance: 6.2 miles
Time: 57:58

I just realized that I somehow lost this post... I don't really remember specifics about this run anymore. Final time is from coolrunning.com log. I'll see if I still have splits on my watch...

Activity: Ladder Swim
Distance: 2500 yds
Time: 40-45 mins

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 500 yds
Build up: 4 X (25 kick drill, 25 gallop) alternating free and back
Main Set:
100 at low end sprint (1:30)
200 at low end tempo (3:30)
300 at tempo (5:25)
400 at SS (7:15)
300 at tempo (5:30)
200 at low end tempo (3:30)
100 sprint (1:25)
Cool Down: 200 (50 back, 25 Ingomar back, 25 breast, 100 free)

I actually felt a lot better in the pool today. I think that my energy is finally back!

I've been practicing my backstroke flip turns, and I probably look like I'm going to drown. I always swallow a little bit of water. ha

mood: wow, i feel so much better.
health: I think that I had a good swim!

Activity: Bike
Distance: 15.5 miles
Time: ~1:05:00
Avg Speed: 14.3 mph
Max Speed: 21.9 mph
Average: 4:12
PLE: breathing pretty hard during the sprints. nice and easy w/u and c/d though.
Weather: 61/61 it was nice to not feel cold on the bike, tho it was kinda sticky this morning. i got kinda sweaty during my sprints.

This morning's workout:
15 minute w/u
3 x 5 min VO2 max w/ 2 minute recovery in between
c/d i went pretty slow at the end

On my VO2 max i got up near 20 mph even on the flat ground. I was pretty pleased with that. I was done with the VO2 max part about halfway through the ride, so I took it easy at the end and didn't push myself at all, which was very nice :-)

I'm not sure what to do about missing a run this week. I am planning to do the swim this afternoon though. Maybe I'll drop Brandy an e-mail to see if I can do a light jog tomorrow morning rather than a light bike. I am biked out for the week. I think that I have permanent bruises on my butt.

I really didn't want to wake up this morning. I was in a deeep sleep when my alarm went off, and it took 20 minutes or so to feel awake enough to get on my bike. I think that I had a pretty good ride despite that, though my legs were definitely whooped by the end.

I planned to do the 6 mile tempo run in the morning too, but I knew that it would have been really rough. Then I was definitely too tired at night to do the run. soooo I kinda skipped it.

mood: i miss running.
health: feelin' a little less tired.

Activity: Bike
Distance: 21.2 miles
Time: ~1:25:00
Avg Speed: 15.0 mph
Max Speed: 26.1 mph there's a big downhill at about mile 17
Average: 4:00
PLE: it wasn't too hard to maintain about a 16 mph pace, but i dont really enjoy pushing myself on the bike.
Weather: 50/50 chilly!

Today's workout was:
Minutes 0-25 w/u light cadence
Minutes 25-75 @ goal race pace...i'm setting this as 16 mph?? I can definitely maintain this pace on flat ground..
Minutes 75-90 c/d

I really didn't want to wake up this morning. I was in a deeep sleep when my alarm went off, and it took 20 minutes or so to feel awake enough to get on my bike. I think that I had a pretty good ride despite that, though my legs were definitely whooped by the end.

I planned to do the 6 mile tempo run in the morning too, but I knew that it would have been really rough. Then I was definitely too tired at night to do the run. soooo I kinda skipped it.

mood: can't wait to taper.
health: really feelin' tired.

Activity: Recovery Swim
Distance: 1800 yds
Time: ~40 mins

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 8 x (25 free, 25 back)
Build up: 4 X (25 single arm 6 strokes alternate sides, 25 catch up)
Main Set (do 2 times):
2 x 100 yd free (10s rest)
4 x 50 yd free with pull buoy (10s rest) ok there are pull buoys. confused them with paddles
100 yd backstroke (10s rest)
Cool Down: 200 (50 free, 50 breast, 50 free, 50 back)

I could tell that I was a little bit tired from this weekend, specifically because I felt so much better when I was just using my arms with the pull buoy (i'm such a dumbass sometimes - they do have pull buoys). just a little tired though. I should feel rejuvenated by tomorrow, I think.

mood: well, dr. frank answered some questions for me.
health: a little tired. not sore or anything though.

Activity: Long Run
Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:34:26
Average: 9:26
Splits: 10:10, 9:31, 9:30, 9:22, 9:15, 9:32, 18:42/2, 8:57, 8:42
Weather: 68/52 sunny and beautiful

update coming soon.

mood: bachelorette party was fun last night
health: but im kinda tired.

Activity: Long Bike
Distance: 40.3 miles
Time: ~2:50:00
Avg Speed: 14 mph
Max Speed: 24.1 mph
Average: 4:15
PLE: steady state effort or so. could maintain this pace for awhile on a flat course.
Weather: 52-56 sunny i wore a long sleeve and it was still kinda cold, especially my feet.

update coming soon.

mood: getting more confident on the bike
health: good! my route was so flat that my legs were fine.

Activity: Recovery Swim
Distance: 2000 yds
Time: ~45 mins

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 400 yd free/back
Build up: 4 X (25 single arm 6 strokes alternate sides, 25 max distance per stroke)
Main Set (do 3 times):
2 x 50 yd free @ EE/IE (15s rest)
1 x 200 yd free with pull buoy @ SS (15s rest) ok there weren't any pull buoys
2 x 50 yd backstroke @ EE/IE (15s rest)
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, Ingomar back

I really did think that there were pull buoys at the White Building pool. I guess not. oh well. Instead of the pull buoy, I just did 200yds @ SS pace where I concentrated on the pull and glide. It was a pleasant swim. I'm gearing up for my insane 40 mile bike tomorrow. woo. I've plotted out 2 routes, one that's 40 miles and one that loops around PA-45 and Tadpole two times to total 40 miles. I think that I may do the 2nd one since a) I'm familiar with the roads, b) it doesn't go as far away from home, and c) it's hella flat.

mood: in town for a weekend. yay!
health: feelin' good in the neighborhood.

Activity: Bike 1 hr (15 min w/u, 30 min @ 80-90 rpms, c/d)
Distance: 13 miles
Time: ~52:00
Avg Speed: ~15 mph
Average: 4:00 i'm getting better!
PLE: this is the first ride where i had my cadence monitor working, and it was definitely difficult to maintain a cadence between 80-90. i'm much more comfortable at about 70 rpms
Weather: 68/68 ugh it was gross and sticky.

As I noted above, this is the first ride where I was actually able to monitor my cadence. Brandy has given me workouts like these, but I had no idea how much effort it would take to maintain an 80+ cadence. I'm not sure how much I liked it... I actually took a mini break about halfway through the 30 minutes of 'real work' effort. My legs and my mind needed it.

That said, this is the 2nd time that I did this bike ride, and I improved my time by more than 10 minutes (last time, I did this route in 1:05)! Keeping up that cadence really forced me to bike this loop much faster. It was a tough ride! This route is a little hillier than the ones that I plan out for my long rides, so it felt like a much different workout. I was breathing pretty hard at the top of a few of the hills.

I was hungry, and my legs were pretty wobbly after the bike ride, so I took a little bit longer between this workout and the run...enjoyed some coffee and a big piece of my beet bread w/ PBn'J!

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Activity: Jog 40 minutes
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 40:00
PLE: nice jog around town. i did my 4 mile route, but i tried to not pay too much attention to my splits. my legs really feel quite good considering that i ran a half marathon last weekend.

This was a nice, pleasant jog, good to get back to running. I was goin' at about 10 minute pace very confortably. I took about a half hour break between the bike and the jog so that I could settle down, eat, stretch, and set off at an easy pace.

mood: biking is still my weakness...
health: legs were a little wobbly after the run, but they felt pretty good during my jog.

Activity: Bike 1 hr sightseeing; practice reaching for water bottle
Distance: ~5 miles
Time: ~1:00:00
PLE: easy ride, regenerative effort

This was supposed to be an easy bike ride to get back into the bike mode after the half marathon but not strain my legs. I practiced grabbing my water bottle in the parking lot behind my apartment for about 15-20 minutes before heading out. I also worked on clipping out on my left since I am still absolutely horrible at it.

Then I did a litte loop on the bike path, reaching down to grab my water bottle every 5 minutes or so. I'm pretty good at grabbing the water bottle but still have some issues with putting it back on its carriage. I think that I'll be fine with it this weekend as long as there aren't too many cars on the road. It's more that I know I will get nervous if there is a car than that I'm not capable of doing it.

My bike was still making a little bit of a rattling noise. Jon said that it was probably the tension in the wires that control the derailleur. We took a look at it yesterday (I'm posting this update 2 days late...ooops!), and my front derailleur is a little off. I learned that I've been riding around in the middle gear all of this time. This makes me feel so much better about my performance on hills! I need to take a look at my manual to find out how to adjust the tension since I can't downshift the front gear right now haha. There also might be something on the web.

mood: poopy weather. hot in walker again.
health: legs really aren't sore from the half marathon, tho my left knee still hurts just a little where i banged it.

Activity: Recovery Swim
Distance: 2000 yds
Time: ~45 mins

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 200 yd free/back
Build up: 4 X (50 breathe left, 50 breathe right every 4 strokes)
Main Set:
6 x 100 yd free on 2:00 (1:40 swim 20s rest)
4 x 50 yd kickboard
3 x 100 yd free on 2:00 (1:40 swim 20s rest)
2 x 50 yd kickboard
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, Ingomar back

This was a pleasant, easy swim :), the first in quite awhile that Jon and I swam together. He's really improved in the pool and swam with me for the whole 45 minutes.

When we first got there, there were 2 people in every lane, except the middle which I jumped in. Jon got in the wide right lane. Even more showed up...two people were waiting, so the guy that I was sharing the lane with and I circle swam for a few minutes. Then there was a mass exodus, and Jon was able to join my lane about halfway through the swim. yay!

I definitely am dominant on my left side for breathing and for stroking. It feels very wrong to breathe on my right side after the flip turn. In addition, I've noticed that my right arm is not quite as efficient on the pull.

I was still a bit fatigued from the half marathon. My legs were more tired from the kickboard than they normally are.

mood: pleasant swim.
health: still just a bit tired. knee feels better.

Activity: Long Bike
Distance: 30.5 miles
Time: ~2:10:00
Avg Cadence: 70-75
Avg Speed: 14 mph
Max Speed: 32.2! whoa!
Average: 4:15
PLE: i think that i could maintain this pace for quite a few hours. limiting factors are back and seat pain.
Weather: 55-59 sunny i think that my feet were cold.

Wow, this ride was sooooo much nicer than the one I did in Pittsburgh last week! I actually felt like I could maintain a cadence by shifting through my gears (at least when I was concentrating on it...).

I took a little break at about mile 8. This was right after a long hill, and my legs felt like they needed a break. Thankfully, I checked for cars before stopping to clip out. Because my legs were tired, I had some issues clipping out on my right foot. Naturally, I lean to the left, right? and I fall in the middle of the lane. Ha I need to think a little bit faster when I get into these situations. Rather than leaning to the left, I could pedal forward a little and try to clip out again. It's not like I was at a stop sign.

The rest of the route was very rolling and pleasant, minus one hill just past mile 15 on Marengo. This actually was quite a formidable hill and probably could be compared to hills in Pittsburgh. The difference is that I'd been rolling along, mostly downhill, for miles 8-15. I didn't even shift down to lowest, lowest gear until near the top! go me dance!

There was a general upward trend after I turned onto Tadpole, but my legs really felt pretty good! I think that I was able to maintain a 15-16 mph pace here. I think that my average pace is on the low side because I started out this ride slow. My average pace when I stopped at mile 8 was only 11.? mph. I might have maintained an avg pace of 16-17 mph for the last 20 miles of the ride.

There was one downhill on Tadpole that got pretty steep. That's when I maxed out at 32 mph. It was fun!

They just paved, if you can call it that, the next section of Tadpole up to Whitehall. I guess that it would be termed a Macadam road, meaning that it's bumpy. My rear gears went all funny about a half of a mile after I got onto this section. They started to make a rattling noise which I stopped to check out. I don't know if I bent one of the derailleurs or something. Other than making a noise, the bike felt like it was riding fine. I might ask Jon/Brandy what might be up, or I'll take it by The Bike Shop.

My feet were a little bit numb and swollen when I got back. I think that my feet were cold? It's kinda strange because I don't move my toes at all when I bike. I really do feel like my body and the bike are one.

Good feelings about this bike ride. Jon and I are off to Erie, PA, for the Presque Isle Half Marathon tomorrow morning. I hope that my legs are not too sore tomorrow!

mood: yay, i did it!
health: gettin' much better on the hills!

Activity: Recovery Swim
Distance: 1600 yds
Time: ~45 minutes

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 200 yd free/back
Build up: 2 X (50 kickboard/50 head up, head down 4 strokes)
Main Set (do 2 times):
6 x 50 yd on 1:05 (45s swim 20s rest)
2 x 100 yd breaststroke 2 kicks one arm stroke
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, butterfly kick on my back

I don't have fins, so I did a swimplan.com rather than Monday's recovery swim workout. I cannot remember the last time that I did so much breaststoke in a workout. It's not my favorite stroke, and I am really slow at it. I'm sure that's why this workout took 45 minutes. which is fine. it is a recovery day.

mood: nice day for an amble
health: good good.

Activity: General Aerobic Run
Distance: 5 miles
Time: 45:18
Average: 9:04
Splits: 9:18, 9:09, 9:12, 8:46, 8:50

I tried to keep a steady pace... I did a good job for the first 3 miles. The last two miles are more downhill than up. I think that I kept a steady exertion level.

This is my last run before the half marathon. My goal for Sunday is to have negative splits, i.e. start out reeeeaaallly slow!

I'm imagining (hopefully!) pain in my sesamoid region. My guess is that it is psychosomatic (for real this time). This is my first race since the marathon. I also am unable to reproduce the pain - I think that it might just be tight in that area. Any pain in that region, of course, totally freaks me out! All that I can do is concentrate on my form and be cognizant of the little aches and pains. oh and ice. I'm right on top of that, Rose!

mood: the weather is beautiful! i ate lunch outside w/ jon :-D
health: i hope that i'm imagining pain...

Activity: Biking 1 hour regenerative/intensive effort
Distance: 10.5 miles
Time: ~55:00
Average: 5:00
Weather: 55/55 sunny

This was supposed to be a nice, easy bike workout, so I did the bike path. It's such a pleasant ride, and, since there are no cars, I was able to practice grabbing my water bottle. Grabbing it actually is not that bad. I am not very good at putting it back in its carriage though. Hey, it's a start. I'm becoming much more comfortable with signaling also!

The bike path is closed by Park Hills Ave. They are doing some kind of road work on Circleville there. This means that I'll have to change my planned 30 mile route. I can probably just swing over to Valley Vista or something.

mood: feelin' much more energetic this morning
health: i banged my knee last night, and it hurts a little bit.

Activity: Volume Swim
Distance: 3400 yds
Time: ~1:15

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 400 yd free/back
Build up: 200 yd drills.. I did 4 X (25 kick drill 25 stroke drill)
Main Set:
4 x 200 yd on 4:00 (3:40, 3:38, 3:35, 3:32)
2 x 400 yd on 7:40 (7:20, 7:10)
1 x 800 on 17:00 (?? time ??)
Sprint Set: 4 X 50 yd sprint @ 1:15 (:40, :38, :40, :42)
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, butterfly kick on my back

I almost swam 2 miles! I think that this is the longest swim that I have done, at least since I quit competitive swimming when I was, like, 10 years old.

Brandy didn't specify how fast to swim the main sets; I guess that my PLEs were high-end SS for the 200s, low-end SS for the 400s and intensive/extensive for the 800. I have absolutely no idea how long it took to swim the 800. For one, I had to stop at around 500 to discuss sharing the lane. Also, I base my speeds on the swim clock, knowing that I swim a 50 in slightly less than a minute. I'd probably need a watch to time my 800.

There were so many people in the pool today! I was getting claustrophobic by the end. There were (I think) a father and 2 sons that were super speedy in the lane on my left. They were kinda creating a wake, causing me to swallow water a couple of times. When the girl joined me, I really felt like I had no space. The lanes at the White Building are super skinny... I always try to swim at times when I think the pool will be empty so that I don't have to share.

I'm feelin' really parched now even though I drank a lot of water during the workout. I always feel that way when I swallow chlorinated water. My muscles feel a little bit tired. I can't wait for bedtime. I'm very thankful that the bike ride tomorrow morning is at regenerative/intensive effort!

mood: i think that i'm back to the speed that i was swimming in the winter.
health: i could def go for a nap.

Activity: Biking
Distance: 17.5 miles
Time: ~1:20:00 minutes
Average mph: 13.3
Max mph: 20
Cadence monitor still didn't work...

Behind on updating..I'll add to this later.

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Activity: Running
Distance: 4.4 miles
Time: 40:30
Average: 9:12
Splits: 10:01, 8:38, 8:41w, 13:11w/1.4=9:25

10 minute warm-up - I tried to run at 10 minute pace (and did!)
fartlek: 5 x (2 min accelerated/2 min recovery)
10 minute cool down

The last split includes one of the accelerate 2 minute accelerations.

mood: Walker's A/C is out all week..
health: hills on 45 were a little easier this time! the 2nd workout (run) was much easier today as well.

Activity: Running
Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:16:47
Average: 9:35
Splits: 9:15, 9:24, 9:49w, 9:33, 9:35, 9:45, 10:01, 9:22
Weather: 66/58 sunny. it felt warmer than 66.

This route was basically two 4 mile loops. It's actually pretty flat (tho there's more high frequency elevation change than my state college routes), but my legs were sore from yesterday's ride. I also felt pretty tired. I tried to stay at a good steady state pace - my legs really didn't want to move though. I pushed through it. Training isn't supposed to be a walk in the park (unless that's what Brandy has on the schedule :-D).

mood: def not one of the easiest 8 mile runs that I've done, but we're goin' sailing today so whatev.
health: tired legs.

Activity: Biking
Distance: 13.75 miles
Time: ~1:20:00 minutes
Average: my cadence monitor said 12.5 mph. not sure if this included walking up that hill.

I was supposed to do 30 miles today, and I was actually quite excited for the challenge. I was home in Pittburgh this weekend, so I planned a route that headed down Blackburn Heights into Sewickley. It's funny - I remember Blackburn as being much flatter. Hills seem much less intimidating in a car, I guess.

The bridge over I-79 on Rochester Road is closed, so I went down Macaleer. This part really wasn't that bad. Once I got down the first part of the hill, it really flattened out. Then I made a right onto Mt. Nebo and attempted to ascend the monster hill. I made it halfway...my legs were burning so bad even though I was in the lowest possible gear. I also stood up to get gravity working for me. It was just too much. I got to the point where I didn't think that I would be able to clip out if I went any farther.

At this point, I was still hopeful that the rest of the ride would be fine. I knew that Mt. Nebo Rd had a long, steep hill, but I thought that the rest of the route would be much flatter. It was, but there were still A LOT of hills, all up and down and no flat parts. The hills were so bad that I ended up braking for fear of death on the downhills. This was not an aerobic workout!

By the time I got to Sewickley, my legs were shot. Blackburn was pretty much all downhill for the last mile or two, meaning that I would have to climb all the way back up to get home. I clipped out and called my mom to come get me.. thanks mom!

While I was waiting for my mom, I biked back and forth on Centennial Ave (yay for flat roads by the river!). This let me wind down a little. I wish that I had waited to call my mom and biked around the flat streets of Sewickley for an hour or so. That would have put me closer to the 30 mile mark. It also would have been a much more enjoyable ride. I love Sewickley :-D

Sooo I have yet to do a 30 mile bike ride - the distance that the triathlon will be. I guess that I'll attempt this next Saturday in State College. You can bet that I will be very wary of hills when I plan that route! Happy Valley is much flatter than the North Hills tho, thankfully!

mood: i'm sad that i didn't do 30.
health: my legs are shot.

Activity: Swimming
Distance: 1700 yds
Time: ~40 minutes

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 400 yd free & back
Build up: 200 yd drills.. described below
Core #1 (30s rest btw each): 3 x 200 yd
Core #2: 6 X 50 yd (odds: low end sprint; evens: EE) I didn't rest between these since it didn't say to.
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, and Ingomar Back

This recovery swim was very welcome after yesterday's double workout. A relaxing swim is one of my favorite things - I can unwind from work and muse about pleasant things.

I found a new drill online - the 'gallop'. You do one pull and glide (4 count) then 3 fast strokes. I did 25 kicking then 25 gallop, alternating free and backstroke. Brandy said to focus on extension and rotation, and this drill fit the bill: "Focus on long strokes and quick hips in these three strokes, completely rotating from one side to the other."

mood: goin' home this weekend
health: it was nice to have a day off from running and biking to allow my body to refresh before the weekend's long bike and run.

Activity: Bike/Run Double Workout
Distance: 11.5 mile bike and 10K run
Time: ~50:00 + 1:00:42
Average: 4:22 (bike) 9:46 ugh. (run)
Weather: 68/68 cloudy

I passed Kerrie at the end of my run. She told me that I was crazy; I agree.

Well, I was supposed to do a 1 hr bike ride at regenerative/intensive effort. Since I'm kinda clueless on the bike, I chose to do a flatter course. That should correspond to a lighter effort than yesterday's ride, right? I ended up finishing the planned ride in less than an hour. I'm not at the point where I have any idea how long it will take to do a route.

I felt more comfortable on the bike this morning even though there were more cars on the road today. I had my first fall out on the road. I got in the left turning late to turn onto Old Gatesburg, and the light turned red. I clipped out fine and waited for the light to turn green. However, when I started to pedal again, I didn't get up enough speed, and I fell on my left side (damn left side!). Thankfully, there wasn't a car turning left. A very nice woman in a car in the right lane stopped and asked if I was okay. I was perfectly fine, and I've gotten the dreaded first fall out of the way. It really wasn't that bad! For now, it's easier for me to clip out of both shoes if I have to stop. Otherwise, I seem to have issues with getting started again.

I'm not yet able to drink water while I'm on the bike (hell, I'm barely brazen enough to take one arm off to signal for a turn!), so I grab water every time that I stop.

After the bike ride, I went into the apartment and changed into my running clothes. I also ate an apple, which turned out to not be enough food! Turnover time: ~15 minutes. I brought my camelback along since I surely did not get enough water while on the bike. I am so glad that I did! This run was brutal. I think that I needed more food before going out for the run. My legs didn't want to move.

Today's run was a 2 mile warm-up with 4 100m accelerations to 5K pace, 3 miles at tempo pace (my tempo pace for this run was super slow!), and a 1 mile cool down. I misunderstood the sprinting part and thought that I was supposed to do the 4 100m accelerations during the last mile. (Cool Down was abbreviated as cd, which I thought was an abbreviation for something sprint-related. Plus, I can't read. oops!)

My runner's high kicked in around mile 4, and I started to feel a little bit better. Lesson learned: I need to eat something more substantial inbetween a double workout!

mood: i did a double workout!
health: i felt fine on the bike (i didn't die!), but i was exhausted on the run.

Activity: Biking
Distance: 13 miles
Time: ~1:05:00
Average: ~5:00
Weather: 64/59

I woke up at 530am this morning to do this bike ride. Since I'm still wary about the clip-in pedals, I'd like to avoid biking at times when there are cars on the road. I guess that I didn't have to worry about that today tho. The town was dead as a door knob all morning. I forgot that most people probably have off from work. In retrospect, I'm so glad that my first ride with the pedals was today!

Anyway, here's what I was supposed to do:
Tempo Bike
Total time = 1 hour
1-20minutes = warm up. Light gearing, low cadence.
20-30 minutes = focus on keeping your cadence at 85rpms (check your speed here)
Main Segment: “Tempo” Set
3X 5 minutes at 40K TT pace (please let me know what mph you traveled at) with a 2 min. recover spin in between.
End of segment to – 1 hour extensive effort (I'm not sure what this means?? I think that it's a cool down?)

I don't have the cadence monitor for my bike yet, so I have no idea what my speed is. Honestly, I don't know if I was quite ready for a workout like this. I really have absolutely no idea what a 40K TT pace would be for me, but I did do little 'sprints' where I pedaled a bit faster for the tempo set.

The bike is still an enigma to me. My quads and hamstrings are usually a little bit tired after a bike workout, but I don't feel like I'm getting much of an aerobic workout, except maybe when I'm doing a long uphill. In addition, I'm still nervous on the bike, so I tense my shoulders. I'm a little jelloey and shaky when I get off, and I have to take 15 minutes or so to calm down after I am done.

That said, I'm having a lot of fun figuring the bike out. I really enjoy planning my bike routes because I can go so much farther out of town that I can on a run. The cars are mostly very nice and leave me plenty of room. Since I managed this ride without falling, I'm feeling encouraged!

This ride is hillier than any that I've done yet. When I go up hills, I have my bike in the lowest possible gear. I wonder if I'm ever going to shift the rear gear.

mood: it's the 4th, but i'm not feeling so festive.
health: i have no idea?? i'm going to go with high numbers on any day that i don't die.

Activity: Swimming
Distance: 2600 yds
Time: ~55 mins

I moved this swim workout up a day because the pool is closed tomorrow for the 4th. I really enjoyed this workout!

The times are mostly rounded up to the nearest 5 second since I didn't have a good way to time myself.

WORKOUT:
Warm-up: 400 yd free
Build up: 200 yd drills.. I did 4 X (25 kick drill 25 stroke drill)
Core #1 (20s rest btw each):
100 yd low-end sprint (1:30)
200 yd high-end temp (3:25)
300 yd low-end tempo (5:20)
400 yd SS (7:20)
300 yd low-end tempo (5:25)
200 yd high-end tempo (3:25)
100 yd low-end sprint (1:30)
Core #2: 4 X 50 yd sprint @ 1:15 (:40, :40, :42, :40)
Cool Down: 200 mix of free, back, and Ingomar Back

I was a little tired after the swim but in a good way. I was also starved. The apple that I brought with me did very little to stave off hunger, and I made myself a tuna sandwich as soon as I walked in the apartment door. The only thing that I don't miss about training is the excessive hunger. Being able to eat a lot of food seems like it would be super great, but it gets to a point where you're just eating to get some calories in. I love food, but there's even an upper bound on the pleasure of eating. gasp!

mood: i really liked this swim workout!
health: at the beginning, my right elbow hurt a little bit. i'm not sure why, but it didn't hurt at all by the end.

Activity: Running
Distance: 10K = 6.2 miles
Time: 54:43
Average: 8:48
Weather: 50/50 it felt chilly after running in raleigh. i wore my long sleeve.

FOREWORD: Coach Brandy sent me my training schedule! I had to switch the workouts around a little bit because the pool's not open on July 4th and I missed the Monday workout. Anyway, I'm introducing some new terminology about intensities.

Regenerative (RE): Super easy/walk in the park effort. Usually corresponds to <65% of Max Heart Rate.
Extensive (EE): Easy "base line" aerobic effort. Usually corresponds to 65 - 70 % of Max Heart rate. Comfortable effort that you could easily maintain all day.
Intensive (IE): Elevated/honest aerobic effort. Usually corresponds to 70 - 75% of Max heart rate.
Steady State (SS): Concentrated aerobic effort. Think marathon race pace. Usually corresponds to 75 - 80% of Max. HR.
Tempo: 9 – 13 mile race pace effort. Uncomfortable. Requires a high degree of concentration. Corresponds to 85 - 90+ % of max HR in well trained athletes. Low base/fitness = closer to high 70’s - low 80's percentage wise.
VO2 max: By percentage/Perceived level of exertion:
100%: Think max effort you could maintain for up to 10 minutes.
98%: Max effort you could maintain for up to 15 minutes.
96%: Max effort you could maintain for up to 20 minutes.
94%: Max effort you could maintain for up to 30 minutes
92%: Max effort you could maintain for up to 40 minutes.
90%: Max effort you could maintain for up to 50 minutes.

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Today's run was at EE/SS pace, i.e. slow, a pace that I could keep up for quite a few hours. I didn't do a very good job with this. I probably should have been running at closer to a 10 minute pace. This is something that I will have to work on. I do not have a heart rate monitor, so it's all gonna have to be perceived exertion for now. Maybe I'll ask Jon to borrow his for a few runs to get an idea what pace I should be running for each of these training zones.

I think that my iron levels are definitely back up! I was runing at about 8:30 pace for the last 4 miles, and I really felt great. While I did a poor job of running at SS pace (marathon pace), I think that I could sustain this pace for a half marathon.

Speaking of, against Coach Brandy's advice, I did sign-up for the Presque Isle half martahon. I'm excited to do a race! This run is really going to be treated like a training run. If anything, the goal is to run as slow as possible. I don't want to overdo it since I don't really have much time for a recovery period after the race. There will be a recovery period, but I hope that it's no longer than a week. Really, a week of biking and swimming alone is probably a good thing for my training since I need to focus on those parts a little bit more (especially the bike!) anyway.

mood: back to the daily grind. is this expression a reference to morning coffee??
health: despite only getting 5 hours of sleep last night (got int late from raleigh), i felt rested and refreshed this morning!

Activity: Running
Distance: 8.25 miles
Time: 1:17:00
Average: 9:15
Weather: 73/60 sunny. yay for fropa. raleighans are probably getting cold. no, wait, i guess that this is still warmer than A/C.

Jon and I planned to do a long(ish) run while we were down in Raleigh, so we mapped this out the night before. It was very pleasant, and the weather was absolutely beautiful - a fabulous day for the beach, where Daniel and Audra were headin'.

My legs felt really good. I think that I may actually be stronger on running up hills than Jon. He was a little tired tho, so I shouldn't use this one run as a comparision. too small of a sample size. i'm such a dork.

We ran through this cute condo complex on Sentinel Dr. that had brick streets and was filled with trees.

Unlike most of the runs that I do around State College, this route starts at at the highest point, meaning that the last mile or so was more uphill than down. The elevation profile looks like most of my routes turned upside down.

For most of the run, I think that I was actually leading Jon, but he got his 2nd wind in the last mile or so. He was sprinting down all of the downhills, and I just cannot run that fast. My legs are not long enough; plus, it would be really hard on my knees. Sooo I would kinda sprint on the uphills to catch up with him. By the last half mile or so, he was seriously kicking my ass. It felt good tho :)

Raleigh, or at least North Raleigh where we were running, is not so different in topography from Happy Valley...rolling hills. If were running downtown, it would be nearly flat tho.

mood: long runs make me happy.
health: my legs felt really good.