Sunday, December 26, 2010

Week 4 Recap: The Meaning of Recovery

This week was the epitome of recovery.  Not so much a needed break from training, but time for my body to recoup from the invasion of the mega germs.  A throat virus turned into a sinus infection and completely knocked me down for the week.  Fortunately, laziness is generally accepted this time of year without a lot of associated guilt.  Unfortunately, my appetite never went away and I continued to inhale all of the Christmas goodies surrounding me, but didn't have the energy to work any of it off.

This was my view for the last several days.  Curled up on an overstuffed chair/ottoman, snuggled under the race t-shirt quilt handmade by my Mom (isn't it the awesomest thing ever?!?!), with either the Kindle (another gift from Mom) or a knitting project on my lap, and football or Dexter on in the background.

Memorable Training Moments
There wasn't a whole lot of training going on this week, but there were still a couple of highlights:

- Santa brought me a Garmin cadence sensor for the bike, which is compatible with my 310XT.  Pretty rad, especially since my bike computer recently crapped out and I've been training without cadence.  The stars aligned just right and the weather held off long enough on Saturday for me to do my long ride outside.  OUTSIDE!!!  I haven't ridden off the trainer in about 4 months.  Soul food!
- Speaking of ugly feet, another freakin' toenail fell off.  Just when I had them finally looking all pretty again.  If only there was a toenail fairy...

Plan vs. Actual
Don't laugh.

Volume
Seriously, don't laugh.
Swim: 0 meters
Bike: 38.82 miles
Run: 2.55 miles
Strength: 1.00 hour
TOTAL = 4.27 hours

Weight Loss
I'm going to practice a little self-kindness and not go there this week.  I'll get back on the scale for the next weigh-in, but for right now, I am giving myself a pass.

Week 5 Plan
This week starts the second build of the base phase.  In case you're just picking up on this blog, I'm following Don Fink's competitive 30-week plan.  It consists of a 10 week base phase, a 10 week build phase, and a 10 week peak/taper phase.  The entire plan follows the format of a 3 week build followed by a 1 week recovery.

Mon
- rest
Tue - swim 1:00, run 0:45
Wed - bike 0:30, brick run 0:15
Thu - swim 1:00, bike 0:45
Fri - run 1:00
Sat - bike 1:45
Sun - run 1:00
TOTAL = 8:00 (+ strength)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Training Songs

I'm constantly perusing the internets looking for new songs to add to my playlists.  So I suppose it's only fair that I make my contribution in case all the rest of you are looking for new tunes as well.  So here are some selections working their way through my current rotation.  But consider yourself warned.  My playlists have titles like "Portland Marathon Biatch", "Dance Party Cleaning Time", "Dance Party Wicked Awesome", "Hip Hop Gangsta Yo", and "Run Til My Brains Fall Out".  The genres range from hard core heavy metal to twangy country to street rap to oldies (go Neil Diamond!) to classical to bubble gum pop.  Sometimes I like a crazy fast hypno beat, and sometimes I like the slowest most depressing crap in the world.  It all depends on my mood, which can change at least 10 times during those longer runs.  You gotta be prepared.

I make no apologies for this list.  But I should note that I don't necessarily listen to these songs when I'm not running.  Or having a crazy wicked awesome dance party while cleaning.  In no particular order (except for alphabetical by artist last name and then by song, because that's how I roll)...

The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight
Apocalyptica - One
Sara Bareilles - King of Anything
Black Eyed Peas - The Time (Dirty Bit)
Eminem - Lose Yourself
Eminem (feat. Rihanna) - Love the Way You Lie
Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal
Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over
Billy Idol - Rebel Yell
Kamelot - Ghost Opera
The Low Life - You Are Everything
Bob Marley - Three Little Birds
Laura Marling - Blackberry Stone
Natalie Merchant - Not in This Life
The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Queen - Killer Queen
Rihanna - Only Girl In The World
Rihanna (feat. Drake) - What's My Name?
The Script - Breakeven
The Shins - New Slang
Paul Simon - Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes
Nina Simone - Sinnerman
Regina Spektor - Us
Spiderbait - Black Betty
Nico Stai - One October Song
Swoon - Panic Switch
Underworld - Born Slippy
Melissa Yearsley - Playing Things By Ear

You're welcome.  Or I'm sorry.  I know my music-snob friends are cringing right now.  I'll update periodically if I find brilliant additions that need to be shared.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Come on, "Ugly Feet"?

I recently stumbled across the "stats" tab for my blog.  It tells me how many followers I have, how many hits this blog receives at any given time, and among many other bits of useless information it also tells me which google phrases take people of the interwebz to this very spot.  Don't worry, it doesn't give me any personal or identifying information.  So you can still stalk me anonymously.

Some of the funnier, and slightly insulting, search terms used to find me:
"pain rub" (what does that mean, anyway?  and why was someone searching for that?)
"ironman pain"
"ironman jog"  (okay, I know that I rarely do anything that qualifies as a "run", but "jog"?  ugh.)

and my personal favorite...
"ugly feet"

Yep, ugly feet.  First of all, who in the heck is sitting at their computer one evening googling "ugly feet"?  And why?  To make you feel better that your ugly feet aren't quite as ugly as mine?  Certainly not because you enjoy looking at ugly feet.  Right?  Second, why would somone googling that end up here?  I know, I've got some jacked up dogs, especally during marathon season.  And I've even posted photos, mostly so that you can feel sorry for me.  But I'm still puzzled as to how this particular blog turned up on the results page for that particular search phrase.

If you're curious, and have not eaten within the last several hours, go ahead and google it.  Seriously, do it.  And then click on images.  Go ahead.  Now that you're done puking and back to reading this post, I can assure you that NONE of the photos that triggered your gag reflex are my feet.  Ick.

Moving along...
Most of the readers obviously live in the United States, but it appears that I'm building quite the "fan" base in Germany and Russia.  They must sense my fondness for good beers and vodka.  Prost!  Budem!

And apparently this blog has become quite the go-to place for those searching for reviews on Cobb Saddles.  Still loving mine, by the way!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Week 3 Recap: Almost

Training wise, I **almost** nailed it.  Almost.  Nutrition wise, it was another fail.  I know from past experience that I can train hours and hours and hours a week, but if I don't get the nutrition part nailed down, the weight loss will never happen.

The highlight reel:
A few too many happy hours.  French fries and vodka crans.  Tall.  Which means "vodka vodka with extra vodka with a splash of juice" when you know the bartender.  I'm surprised that I'm not sweating vodka these days.  Or spontaneously speaking Russian.  I ate 6 cookies in one sitting during a late night spreadsheet marathon at work.  Or maybe it was 8.  Followed by a few servings of butterscotch fudge.  Take out food for lunches and dinners.  And leftover take out for breakfasts.  Sodium.  Bloat.  Yuck.  Bonbons and multiple tropical drinks at an Ironman party.  Followed by cookies and treats throughout the day.  Even while on the trainer.  But I remembered to take my iron supplements and multi-vitamins.  So that's good.

Memorable training moments
- Another killer TRX workout with Jenn.  We mixed it up with some kettle bells.  Kettle balls?  Bells?  I think it's bells.
- Catching the last bit of daylight during a mid-week run.  And then getting to watch the sunset along the waterfront.  It was super cold and windy, but the fresh air felt good to breathe in.
- Ironman Party!!!  Okay, so this wasn't really training, but it sorta counts because we geeked out about triathlon for like 4 hours straight.  Macca!  On the Wheaties box!
- Almost 2 hours on the trainer.  Wearing running compression shorts instead of tri shorts.  Do you know the difference?  Running shorts have a vertical seam down the center.  You can imagine the horror.
- I had to work all day on Sunday, so I missed my planned long run/swim/TRX.  But I still managed to get out the door to salvage the last part of the day.  I was met with sideways rain, sleet, snow, and hail.  I made it about 4 miles before ducking into a local bar for peppermint patties and Neil Diamond sing-alongs.  I *heart* Neil Diamond.
Plan vs. Actual

Volume
Swim: 1500 meters
Bike: 42.75 miles
Run:  13.52 miles
Strength: 0.75 hours
Total = 6.76 hours

Weight Loss
Big whoppin surprise...
1 pound gain for the week.
4.4 total loss.
20.6 pounds to go!


Week 4 Plan
My first recovery week after a 3 week build.  Which coincides nicely with Christmas week.  Now if only I can stay away from all of the treats.
Mon - rest
Tue - swim 1:00, run 0:30
Wed - bike 0:30, brick run 0:15
Thu - swim 1:00, bike 0:30
Fri - run 0:45
Sat - bike 1:30
Sun - run 1:00
TOTAL = 7:00 (+ strength)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Tis The Season

Dear germs,
Please go away.  I have played host to you once already this season.  I have things to do, workouts to check off, and deadlines to meet.  I have called in the Theraflu task force to serve your eviction notice.  But if you insist on sticking around a bit longer, you could at least kill my appetite for Christmas cookies, mmmkay?

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Week 2 Recap: Better Than Last Week

It would be difficult to do worse than last week, but I really made a decent effort this week to fit in the training and make some better choices.  So, I'm giving myself a solid B+ for effort.  Execution, however, is more in the C+ range.   Lots of room for improvement.

Memorable training moments
- Ridiculous amounts of laundry full of spandex.  Showering 3 times a day (morning, after lunch workout, after evening workout).  Consuming embarrassing quantities of food (y'all, I ate half of my boss' boss' lunch one day...and am still catching hell for it).  Twitchy legs when I'm trying to sleep.  These are the training memories that you suppress and forget about.  But there's something familiar and comforting about it all.

- Googly goggle eyes even several hours after getting out of the pool.  I just love looking like I've aged 10 years.
- Doing my Sunday morning run in a running skirt and t-shirt.  In December.  It poured on me most of the time, but it stayed around 60 degrees.  I'm thankful that I didn't run on Saturday with almost an inch of rain and howling winds.
Plan vs. Actual
Volume
Swim: 2600 meters - weak sauce, but things are improving.
Bike: 28.75 miles - way too much trainer time.  I might just have to brave the weather this coming week.
Run: 11.46 miles - I only skipped one run this week and still ended up with really low mileage.  After coming off a marathon schedule, it's weird to have numbers like this.  I should enjoy it while it lasts.
Strength: 0.75 hours
Total = 6.07 hours

Weight Loss
4 pound loss for the week.  Woohoo!!!
5.4 total loss.
19.6 pounds to go!

Week 3 Plan
Mon - rest
Tue - swim 1:00, run 0:45
Wed - bike 0:30, brick run 0:15
Thu - swim 1:00, bike 0:45
Fri - run 1:00
Sat - bike 1:45
Sun - run 1:00
Plus strength
TOTAL = 8:00 (+ strength)

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Training For An Ironman

Hilarious and very true.  Embarrassing.  But true.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Week 1 Recap: Can I get a do-over?

Last week I did a total cannon-ball off the wagon.  It was full of missed workouts, late nights at work, take-out for lunches and dinners, more missed workouts, and a few more unhealthy choices.  This isn't the way that I envisioned my training kicking off.  All I can do is put it behind me and try harder this week.

Memorable training moments
There were a couple of gems this week in spite of the training/nutrition disaster.

- I went back to barefoot running.  Although it's too cold for skin-to-pavement contact, I strapped on my Luna sandals and went for an easy jog.  No music, no heart rate monitor, just me and the purple/red sunset with Mt. Hood fading into the darkness.  And I came across another barefoot runner while I was out there.  I think there are like 3 of us in Vancouver.  We chatted for a little while and went on our way.  Maybe a future running partner!
- On Sunday I braved the blustery weather for my long run.  Cold!  Wind!  The plan was to do the 5.25 mile loop through Officers Row, Fort Vancouver, and the waterfront.  But once the sun peaked out and warmed things up a bit, I had no interest in stopping.  So I kept going and ended up with about 10 miles for the day.

Plan vs. Actual

Volume
Swim: 0 meters - some things never change...
Bike: 27.5 miles - all on the trainer, and on par with previous weeks
Run: 12.32 miles - I skipped 2 entire days of scheduled running
Strength: 0.67 hours
Total = 4.88 hours

Numbers
Weight loss: 1.2 GAIN for the week (GRRRR!!!!  But brew fest, you were totally worth it.), 1.6 total, 23.4 to go

Week 2 Plan:
Mon - rest
Tue - swim 1:00, run 0:30
Wed - bike 0:30, brick run 0:15 (+ strength)
Thu - swim 1:00, bike 0:30
Fri - run 0:45 (+ strength)
Sat - bike 1:00
Sun - run 1:00
TOTAL = 7:00