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April 30, 2006

Mid-Afternoon Swim

After church this morning, O and I ate lunch and then took a nice long nap. It was awesome. But when I got up I was feeling pretty lethargic. Ugh. And I was actually hot! So going to the pool was the perfect cure - it got me going again for this afternoon/evening and I didn't mind jumping into the cold water. :)

I did a longer workout, mostly because I had the time to do so and I wasn't doing a brick like I normally would with my second swim of the week.

400 yd easy/200 yd kick easy/200 yd easy

5x100 yd on 2
5 sets of 4x50 yd w/10 seconds rest, 1 min rest between sets
5x100 yd on 2

200 yd kick easy, 500 yd easy

As I was leaving the pool an older gentleman who had been floating in the shallow end the whole time I was there, was leaving as well. He looked at me and said "you made me tired!" and I looked at him and said, "yeah, I made myself tired too." :)

The 50s w/10 seconds rest put a hurtin' on me. 10 seconds consists of catching 2 quick breathes, looking at your watch, and going again. The nice part about that is, that portion of the workout was over before I knew it! Regardless, it was 3500 yds total, 2000 yds hard.

It's been such a beautiful weekend here! It's almost 80 degrees outside now and sunny, sunny, sunny! It would have been a great day for a bike ride, but I wanted to give it a rest until tomorrow. No worries, tomorrow is supposed to be nice too, so I'll get back in the saddle after work.

And now I'm going to really enjoy my evening of NO homework! It's the first weekend in a long, long time where I don't have any school work to think of since I've taken summer classes the past two summers. Not to say I always did school work on the weekends, but I was at least worrying about the school work I wasn't getting done. :) Now this is the life... Have a great week everyone!

Posted by beth at 5:21 PM | Comments (1)

April 29, 2006

Alien Body

I'm pretty sure the body that I ran with this morning wasn't my usual one. At least I hope not. This new body wasn't cooperating at all. It felt awkward and sore and tight and wasn't at all smooth. I didn't like it much to tell you the truth. I hope the next time I run my usual body is back.

What I'm trying to say here is - I felt like garbage on my run this morning! I'm not sure why, perhaps the longer ride last night or sitting in the cold, getting all stiff and tight while O was playing softball. Maybe it wasn't warming up long enough for my workout? Either way, it was a rough one. O was there to witness it. :) But you know what? It doesn't really matter. It was a beautiful day outside and even though the speed wasn't necessarily there, the effort was. And running on tired legs is a good thing. I will need the practice.

The workout was 8 minutes warmup, 5-3-1-5-3-1 minutes hard with 2 minutes rest between intervals and then another 6 minutes cooldown for 42 minutes total. I felt fine running easy but running hard was a totally different story. I got through it though, and I'm sure I'm stronger for having done so.

Now O and I are enjoying the beautiful day. It's one of those days were you could just lay down outside in the grass and stare at the sky for hours. So amazing. O is actually staining the back porch right now so I should get out there and start helping... Enjoy the beautiful weather everyone!

Week summary:

Sunday - 18 mi bike, core/feet exercises
Monday - 14 mi bike, weights
Tuesday - 1 hour spinning, 30 min (miserable) run, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - weights (last class for the semester!)
Thursday - 3000 yd swim w/3x200,4x150,5x100,6x50 and 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchups
Friday - 32 mi bike
Saturday - 42 min run w/2x(5-3-1) hard, core/feet exercises

Posted by beth at 1:09 PM | Comments (0)

April 28, 2006

A Longer Ride

O had a softball game tonight (first of the season) in Greensburg, where both he and I grew up. He still plays in the same league he always has, even though we live about 45 minutes (via car) away now. Regardless, at some point during the week I decided I was going to ride my bike to his game. It seems like it's really far away, but the truth is, it's only a little over 30 miles. And 30 miles on a bike is not much, so I determined it was something I could handle.

I have to admit though, I was a little nervous about the idea the whole day. My biggest barriers to riding my bike faster are traffic and road conditions I think! And that's what had be a little anxious. At no point did I worry I'd be able to make it 30 miles, it was mostly concern about arriving in Greensburg in one piece, with both my legs and both my arms still attached.

But it was fine. And the route was actually flat (!) for a good 10 miles where I was able to easily maintain a speed of 20 MPH without trashing my legs. What a difference it makes to ride on the flats some! It gave me some confidence that I might not be the last finisher on the bike section of some of the triathlons I want to do. I might be more like second to last... :)

Anyway, I had a great ride overall and arrived at the softball field just in time. I had ridden 32.22 miles with an average MPH of 16.93. I was pretty pyched! And then I sat at the softball game and froze despite the fact that O had brought me sweats to wear. The good news is, O pitched really well, even though his team still lost.

And now it's time for bed. Because I didn't do my run today but biked instead, I'm going to run tomorrow morning. This means that I can sleep in because I can start my running whenever I want (vs having to comply to pool hours or getting to a spinning class...) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by beth at 11:32 PM | Comments (1)

April 27, 2006

Tasty Wabbit

The lifeguard at the pool this morning was telling me how she works at an animal shelter and that she always ends up taking various hamsters, rabbits, ferrets and the like home because the shelter can't keep them but she doesn't want to see them euthanized. I would probably do the same thing. I might not take the ferrets, mostly because I don't really know what a ferret is and it seems like a non-friendly critter. But I do think I would give the rabbits a home. Anyway, she told me that she brought home one rabbit that was really mean and so she advertised for anyone to take it for free. She then told me that she was almost positive that the people that took said rabbit had planned on eating it. Umm...what's up with that? Is it just me or does that seem like a really odd thing to do? Can you really eat a rabbit? Does it taste like chicken? Do you grill it or fry it? I had lots of questions but none that she seemed to be able to answer. Perhaps some things are left better unknown... :)

Anyway, I did a swim workout this morning before work.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

3x400 on 4
4x150 on 3
5x100 on 2 and...can you guess? notice any trends?
6x50 on 1

200 yd kick easy

That was 3000 yds, 2000 yds hard. I did my last 200 in 2:57 and was feeling great. Then, about halfway through the 150s, I realized I had a long way to go and I was getting *really* tired, *really* quickly. I survived though, and overall it was a good workout. My only complaint is that I wore my evil goggles and the rings around my eyes didn't disappear until about 2 hours after I was done swimming!

Now I'm waiting for O to get home so we can have some dinner. And I'm fighting desperately the urge to lay down on the couch with Roxy and take a nap. But then again, I don't have ANY homework to do (WOOOOO-HOOOOO) so why not?! :)

Posted by beth at 5:49 PM | Comments (6)

April 26, 2006

School's Out!

Too excited for words. In about 4 hours I will be done with this semester of school for good! This class was challenging and required a lot of work, and I will be very glad to walk out of there tonight!

I just got back from lifting at the Pitt gym. It was barren over there. I guess many students are already gone, or too busy studying for finals to workout. I liked it! It's like that in the summer too. There's less traffic in the summer as well. There's a lot of things I like about the summer come to think of it... :)

I'm not as sore as I thought I would be from yesterday's frigid, wet run. My legs are tired though. Not doing much today and swimming tomorrow should help the situation. Either way, I need to go look over my materials for my final tonight. Hope everyone enjoys their evenings!

Posted by beth at 3:32 PM | Comments (1)

April 25, 2006

Massively Miserable

O doesn't think "massively" is a word - but I do, so I'm going to go for it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was right though. I tend to make up words often.

So yeah, today on my run I was M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E with a CAPITAL M! But I'll start at the beginning. On my way home from work it started to rain pretty hard, and it was supposed to rain all night, so I knew the outside bike ride was a no-go. Instead I did my core and feet exercises and then headed over to the YMCA for the 5:15 spinning class. Spinning went well. My favorite instructor with the best music was teaching so I enjoyed that. But then it was time to run and it was still raining and it was about 40 degrees, and oh, it was windy too.

I really didn't feel like it but of course I went anyway. That's just what runners do. And it wasn't too bad at first. But the problem is, the YMCA is on a hill so either way you go you have a long gradual uphill to return to the car. When I turned around to head back, oh my, things got bad quick. Not only was it all uphill, but now the wind was in my face, I was soaking wet, I was freezing cold, my legs felt like lead, I kept stepping in huge puddles, and to top things off, I forgot to bring a ballcap so I couldn't really see. Yeah - fun times. I kept telling myself that this is what sets "athletes" apart from recreational exercisers. I'm not sure if I really believed it or not, but at the time it seemed like something to keep me going. I do believe that running in cruddy conditions makes us stronger though, if not physically, at least mentally. And running on garbage-tired legs is something I need to get used to because I'll never have fresh legs during the run portion of a triathlon. Either way, I'm warm now and my belly is filled with pizza and my miserable 30 minute run is becoming but a distant memory. :)

And now it's already 9 pm and soon time for bed. 4:45 am is going to come around very quickly!

Posted by beth at 8:48 PM | Comments (0)

April 24, 2006

ALMOST!

The bike computer I have on my bike is a dangerous toy. It feeds an obsessive personality such as mine. I can NEVER get a GPS watch for running - that might be the end of me.

Anyway, when I go out on my bike rides, I don't try to ride hard or easy, I simply try to survive. It's challenging just because it's so hilly. I definitely get a good workout. One of these days I might figure out how to do actual bike workouts, but for now I'm just content to get out there and learn my bike better each day. Either way, I'm getting faster just because I am learning how to manage my bike and, by riding the same course on most days, I know which gear to be in, if I'm going to have to stand up on this hill, etc... So although I'm not purposely trying to ride a faster time each day (I promise!) the first thing I look at when I get off my bike is what my average MPH was. And today I ALMOST did it...I almost broke the 16 MPH barrier! 15.97 MPH to be exact. Bugger! I'll have to get it next time!

Now this is likely a laughable average speed to any serious cyclist, but it's fun for me each day to see improvement. I want to find some really flat loop with good roads and not many turns and see what I can really crank out. But that set up does not exist any where near where we live, so I'm stuck with what I have. No problem - it probably teaches me how to be a little less fearful and really learn how to ride my bike. (I make it sound like riding a bike is so hard, but I think there's a lot more to it than most people think....)

Nevertheless, the workout for day was the 14 mile bike ride and weights at the YMCA afterward. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow so I might be stuck with a spinning class.

Not much else to report on here. I actually have to work a full 5 day week this week. I told my co-worker today that after working a 2 day week last week, I'm liable to go and get myself injured by jumping up to a 5 day week. It's just like increasing your long run from 8 miles to 20. You just can't do it! She didn't buy it though...so I think I'm stuck. Such a hard life I live... :)

Posted by beth at 8:02 PM | Comments (5)

April 23, 2006

To Bike or Not to Bike?

It finally stopped raining this morning after raining all day yesterday. The grass grew about 2 inches in 1 day - I kid you not! We were making hay out there! So O and I went to church, came home, ate lunch and then I sat around for about an hour wondering if I should attempt an outside ride or not. It was beautiful and sunny with big, puffy white clouds in the sky, but the weather channel warned of ominous thunderstorms coming our way. I didn't want to get stuck 10 miles from home, digging myself a hole in the ground to keep from getting hit by lightening!

Finally around 1:30 or so I decided to go for it. And boy am I glad I did! It was a beautiful day and the thunderstorms never came. Yipppeeee!!! I rode my usual 14 mile loop (with a slightly higher average speed of 15.8 MPH) and then added on a little through town to total around 17.8 miles. It was pretty windy at times so I was getting blown about, and for some reason I felt like my wedding band was falling off my finger the whole ride, but otherwise I quite enjoyed myself. I almost wished I would have gone further!

Other than the ride, I've been enjoying the day very much so. Despite my lack of motivation yesterday O and I ended up being quite productive (cleaning the whole house, getting lots of odds and ends done and I even finished my take home final!) such that we had a lot of time for relaxing today. Alas - it's dinner time and I am very hungry! Hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Posted by beth at 5:10 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2006

Rainy Day

Rainy and dreary day here in Pittsburgh. It started raining last night and hasn't stopped since (but for a brief period this morning). It's supposed to rain for the next several days. I'm feeling like I want to crawl in bed and read a book already! O seems a little excited about the rain though because it's preventing him from (1) cutting the grass and (2) staining the back porch/deck. Hmm....

Anyway, I was conflicted as to what to do this morning about the rain and riding my bike. It wasn't raining when I left for the YMCA, although the roads were very wet and slick. O advised that I take a spinning class instead of riding outside. I didn't want to but knew it was probably the better choice given that my bike handling isn't that good to begin with. It ended up being the right thing to do because it was pouring again by the time I was done with the spinning class.

Regardless, I swam first this morning.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

10 sets of:
100 on 2
50 on 1

100 yd kick easy, 100 yd easy

Then I changed and headed up to the spinning class. Nothing exciting there, although I did note that spinning is not as hard as I remember it being after having rode my real bike outside. Spinning takes away a lot of the outside factors like traffic, wind, bumpy roads, potholes, etc... making it seem like a breeze! I decided that spinning is akin to running on the treadmill. You can certainly make it really hard and challenging, but it's never going to be like the real thing.

I'm feeling very unmotivated to do anything worthwhile and productive today. I'm going to blame it on the weather. I bet I could talk Roxy into reading/snoozing on the bed with me. Of course she would do more snoozing that reading, but then again, so may I!

Week Summary:

Sunday - off (core/feet exercises) - Happy Easter!
Monday - 24.5 mile bike, weights
Tuesday - 14 mile bike, 30 min run, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - 3500 yd swim w/(2x400, 2x300, 2x200, 4x100 and 4x50), 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchups
Thursday - weights only
Friday - 40 min run w/10 min tempo
Saturday - 2500 yd swim w/10x(100,50), 1 hour spinning, core/feet exercises

Posted by beth at 12:32 PM | Comments (1)

April 21, 2006

Bugs Here, Bugs There, Bugs Everywhere

O and I figured that the trail that we run on pretty frequently was going to be the perfect training spot this summer. It's surrounded by woods and shaded, by the river and a couple degrees cooler than if we were out on the roads, running around town. Something we didn't quite count on though - BUGS! I totally forgot about running in woodsey-type areas in the summer. I ran on the trail today and although I didn't run into anything that bit me, I was overwhelmed with those little gnat type things that fly into your mouth, up your nose and cover you by the time you're done. Yuck.

Bugs aside, I had a good run. I planned on a tempo run - only 10 minutes hard - but still a daunting task given my current state of running fitness. I started with 22 minutes easy and then started into the 10 minutes up-tempo. I focused on feeling strong and smooth. I planned it such that I could get a one mile split and I made it my goal to run 7 minute pace. I was pleased to see a split of 6:50. Probably the first mile I've run under 7 minutes since last June.

Anyway, I was definitely working hard but I was surprised at how strong I felt throughout the 10 minutes. I couldn't have gone much longer at that same pace, but I usually have a really hard time maintaining an even pace on tempos, even when I am in good running shape. Either way, I cooled down for another 8 minutes for a total of 40 minutes and then headed home. My feet cooperated well today. That says nothing for how they will feel tomorrow, but it makes me really happy to not feel pain when I'm actually running.

And here we are at Friday already! I'll tell you - working only 2 days a week is where it's at! It doesn't matter what happens at work or how tired you are, you can always tell yourself (at most) only one day to go! :) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by beth at 6:32 PM | Comments (0)

April 20, 2006

Back to Work

Well it was back to work for me today. Not such a bad deal. I had a good day and since all my homework was done I probably would have gotten a little bored at home. Plus, I was orienting a new employee all day and since she already knows what she's doing (alarmingly, even better than I know what I'm doing), she basically just helped me get my work done. Score! I offered to work again with her tomorrow (I know, such a giving spirit I have...) but someone else claimed her. Bummer... :)

Anyway, I went to the Pitt gym after work and lifted, and then called it a day. Tomorrow will be a run (hopefully) and then we are to the weekend already! I must say, when you only work 2 days, the work week goes incredibly fast! It's supposed to rain for the next 7 days in a row, so my bike might be spending some time in the garage, and I might be back to spinning...

Off to get some groceries!

Posted by beth at 7:04 PM | Comments (2)

April 19, 2006

Lots of Laps

I would like to give out a loud and glorious Barb-style WOO-HOO! I am so happy to report that my final paper AND presentation are complete. And just in the nick of time. Both are due in class tonight. Not my best work ever, but as O likes to say - it is what it is. On the positive side of things, my presentation should go smoothly as everything I wrote about is very fresh in my mind. One plus to waiting to the last minute. :) Regardless, after class tonight I will only have one more class (and one take home final) and then it's allllllllll summer off until August. I feel like a high school student all over again as the school year is ending!

This morning I headed to the pool for a lot of laps.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

2x400 on 7:30
2x300 on 5:30
2x200 on 4
4x100 on 2
4x50 on 1

300 yd kick easy

And that workout kicked my butt. The 100s were the hardest because I was pretty fatigued by the time I got there. I am getting stronger in the pool though. I was around 1:35/100 yd on the 400s and 300s, 1:32/100 yd on the 200s, 1:30s on the 100s and whatever was left for the 50s. That is an improvement by far. When I first started and all-out 100 was 1:37 and that was about all I could muster! :) Anyway, the workout was 3500 yds total with 2400 yds hard.

The weather - OH THE WEATHER - around here! I don't know how to describe! It's so beautiful outside. Since I have my project for class done and class isn't until 5:30 tonight, I may just go sit outside all afternoon and get all the sun I can. Roxy would probably like to join me. :) And my tulips have bloomed! Something I planted actually bloomed! Life doesn't get much better than that. :) Alas, it's back to work tomorrow, but I've thoroughly enjoyed my mini-vacation over the past week. I highly recommend a vacation at home. You get a lot done, you get a lot of sleep and you feel very rested and relaxed when it's all through.

Hope everyone has a great day!

Posted by beth at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)

April 18, 2006

Mangey Mutts

Now that's I've decided I'd like to partake in 3 sports instead of 1, I find myself comparing the 3 often. As I was walking my dumb bike with it's dumb flat tire up the dumb big hill by our house the other day, I was thinking how dumb cycling is and how this would never happen if I was just a runner. And on most occasions when the weather is nasty outside (either really cold or really hot) being a swimmer inside isn't so bad.

But today - today cycling score a huge point in the good category my friends. Here's how it played out. I had just gotten myself up a huge hill and was much enjoying the downhill on the other side when, as I was going around a turn, two of the mangiest looking mutts I've ever seen came flying at me from their yard. It scared the crap out of me. I swerved to miss the one and then the race was on. One of the mutts gave up rather quickly but the other kept running after me. Ha ha! Unless it was a greyhound there was no way it was keeping up. It gave a noble try but I was coming off a downhill and even thouse I was cycling into another uphill I was still above 20 MPH. Try and top that Fido. He gave up the fight several yards later and I was safe and sound. And then I tried to envision what would have happened if I was running down the road instead of riding. Yep, I would have been doggie chow! They were pretty mean looking too. Whew - yeah for biking! :)

It is so beautiful here weather wise I can't even put it into words. My ride was again a little chilly, but now several hours after the fact, it's 65 degrees, sunny with not a cloud in the sky and just down right awesome. I can't get enough. Is there a place in this world where it's like this all the time? I highly doubt it, or it would be so overpopulated it would be no fun to live there anyway.

Either way, I messed around the house some this morning (including doing my core and feet exercises) waiting for it to get a little warmer outside and once the thermometer hit 49 degrees, I got my gear and headed out. Just as a side note - I NEVER wear sunglasses when I'm running. I hate having something on my face like that. But it's not an option when you are cycling - you have to wear the glasses as protection. Bad things get in your eyes when you are going really fast and even worse things happen when you are riding without being able to see.

Nonetheless I digress. I rode my 14 (14.15 mi to be exact) mile loop in 55 flat, for an *almost* average speed of 15.5 MPH (15.42, again to be exact). I was hurting today on the uphills. The wind, longer ride and evil uphills of yesterday took their toll and every little bump today seemed like a mountain. But still I think I'm getting faster just from becoming more comfortable with my bike and getting just a bit stronger too. It also helped that the hurricane forces of yesterday had calmed considerably. (and yes, I know how to exaggerate greatly :)

When I got home from my bike, my running shoes were waiting so I practiced my transition off the bike and directly to the run. I felt a lot better running than the last time I did this - I think because I knew what to expect for the first 5-10 minutes - weird feeling in the legs, unable to move properly. I seriously feel like I'm running 10 minute pace when I first start. Either way, I meandered my way over to the high school track just to get an idea of how slowly I was moving. I ran a few laps and then timed just one lap (trying not to speed up, although I know I always do), to see where I was at. The whole time I was running the timed lap I was figuring out what it should say on my watch if I was running 8:30 pace, because that's whereabouts I figured I was. As you may imagine, I was totally flabbergasted to find out I was running 7:25 pace! What the heck is up with that?! I did the calculation several times because I was sure I was wrong, but indeed, I kept getting the same answer.

Now I know my sense of pace is practically non-existent after almost a year of doing little to no running and being really out of running shape. But I would assume I can tell the difference between 7:30 and 8:30 pace. Who knows. I'll take it and I won't complain! This got me to thinking that if I can pull off a 23 minute 5K in any of my triathlons this summer I would be tickled pink. It doesn't sound like much but given my current state of running and having the swim and bike first, it would be marvelous.

Anyway, I ran for 30 minutes total and then just sat outside in the sun for a little while Roxy ran around the back yard like a mad dog. Such a glorious day! Incidentally, I should mention that my feet having been feeling better than usual this week. I complain when they aren't feeling good so I should at least give them some props when they are! My guess is that it's because I've had several days off work and haven't been on my feet nearly as much as usual. Whatever the reason, I'll take it and enjoy it while it lasts.

And now, back to my paper. I made serious headway yesterday but I still haven't finished and I have to do the presentation to go along with it. Almost there...

Posted by beth at 1:02 PM | Comments (2)

April 17, 2006

Quite the Setup

I'm ready to roll today! I got my workout in, I'm showered and stretched and lunch is already in my belly. I've got O's computer all set up to track the 3 runners I "know" that are running Boston today (go Becky and Bridget and Kevin!). And I've got all my articles and other items ready to go so I can sit down and finally write this nasty paper that has been looming over my head for weeks. Life is good.

The workout - I started by going over to the YMCA to lift. My reasoning to lift first before my bike ride was two-fold. First, it was only 40 degrees outside when I woke up and although that is awesome running weather, that's freezing biking weather, so I was waiting for it to warm up some. By lifting first I also ensured that the rush hour traffic would be through and I'd be less likely to be run over.

So my lift was fine and I got home and started on my bike ride at about 9:30. I had planned to do my new 24 miile loop. For about the first 5 miles I was scared I was going to get another flat. Luckily I didn't. Mental note - practice changing tubes at home so as not to constanly live in fear that I won't be able to do it when I really need to.

Anyway, I survived the ride, which is my longest to date. It wasn't easy though. It was still only in the high 40s when I left so I was pretty chilly and the wind, oh my the wind! Wind when you are running is really bad, but wind when you are biking is worse. Not only does it slow you down and make climbing hills much harder than they should be, but on more than one occasion I thought I was going to lose total control of my bike and end up either in the ditch on the side of the road, or (worse yet) in the middle of the road, flattened by the next car.

The positives (which I'm pretty sure outweigh the negetives):
1) I really got to work on my bike handling skills (which are slowly coming around) with all the wind, and some really curvy roads

2) If any of the triathlons I do have significant hills on the bike portion, I am ready to roll! It seems no matter where I ride around here I encounter some nasty uphills. But I know they will make me stronger.

3) I still averaged around 15 MPH (slighly less) even though the wind was having it's way with me. This is no where near close to what I see triathletes' doing in races (20 MPH seems to be more the average) but I'm hoping it's because they are all on flat courses with no turns and the wind is ALWAYS at their back. :)

4) I had to stop for traffic several times today and was able to succesfully get in and out of my pedals under pressure. Sounds dumb, but that's something I worry about. I'm starting to realize that it's not as hard as I once thought.

And that's that! I'm kind of pooped now. But no naps today - I have a paper to write! Happy Patriot's Day!

Posted by beth at 12:55 PM | Comments (0)

April 15, 2006

Trouble in Paradise

Overall a very nice day, although it wasn't it without it's bumps.

We slept in a little and then I messed around a lot, and finally, around 8:45 am I got my butt to the pool to start my workout for the day. My swim went well.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

6 sets of: (1 minute rest between sets)
200 on 4
3x50 on 1

100 yd easy

3000 yds total. The 50s were good to get me breathing hard on little rest.

O, who had been practicing his pitching, picked me up at the YMCA at this point and we headed home with a bike ride planned. It was sunny and in the 60s! We quickly got our stuff and headed out. My plan was to do my 14 mile loop with O and then drop him off at home and add on my 8 mile loop so I'd have about 22 miles for the day. The first loop went well; we averaged a little over 15 MPH which was surprising because O was stuck with a non road bike and I waited up every so often for him. I stopped at home real quick to get some water and get rid of my long sleeve shirt and then headed out for my last loop. All was good. That is until I heard the long hisssssssssssssssss..... sound about one mile later and as luck would have it, I had my first flat tire. Trouble in paradise.

You know the funny thing? I was just wondering the other day how I would know if I got a flat. Let me tell you, you know when you have a flat. Leave it to me to get a flat after only 4 days of riding. Humpf. I panicked at first but then thought, now wait, I was taught how to fix a flat, I currently have in my possession at this time all the tools I need to fix a flat, I AM GOING TO FIX THIS FLAT! And then about 10 minutes later, I thought, I am DEFINITELY not going to fix this flat. Double humpf. I knew what to do, I just couldn't physically do it. And so I put the wheel back on and started the long walk back home (really only a mile but trust me - bike shoes are NOT meant to be walked in). And it stunk. I kept thinking - at least in running you don't get flats. You may feel like you have one, but you don't really! :)

I felt better when we took the wheel to the bike shop later this afternoon and it took the bike guy about 15 minutes to change it himself. He said I have stubborn tires and that each time you take it off it gets a little easier. I was thinking - I better not have to take it off again! (but I'm sure I will) And so it goes. I was just so lucky I was only 1 mile away instead of 10. Next time - cell phone in pouch. Always - cell phone in pouch. :)

Otherwise O and I did some yard work today, some other odds and ends and also charted out a 24 mile bike route for me. That way I can be REALLY far away from home when I get my next flat. :)

Summary for the week:

Sunday - ~8 mile bike (riding for the first time), core/feet exercises
Monday - 14 mile bike and weights
Tuesday - 14 mile bike, 25 minute run, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - weights
Thursday - 2500 yd swim w/600 yd TT, 5x100 yd hard, 2x100 crunchers/2x25 pushups
Friday - 40 min run w/6x2 min hard
Saturday - 3000 yd swim w/6x(200,50,50,50), 15 mile bike, core/feet exercises

I'm taking tomorrow off because with Easter festivities I won't have time to get much in and just to give my body a rest. It's been a while since I took a total day off and with all the outdoor riding my body has some aches and pains. I hope everyone has a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Posted by beth at 7:41 PM | Comments (2)

April 14, 2006

Good Friday Indeed

Me (to O): Boy do I like days off work.
O's reply: You know what I like even better?
Me: What?
O: MULTIPLE days off work.

That pretty much says it all. :) (by the way, lest you get confused by all my complaining, I do like my job and I enjoy going there, but vacation days are even better :)

So it wasn't raining when we (finally) woke up around 8 am but by the time we left to go running at 8:40 or so, it had started to sprinkle. No big deal. It was around 55 degrees and running in the rain isn't nearly as bad as say, biking in the rain.

I had decided that I wanted to try a "workout" today, if that's what you can call 6x2 minutes hard with 2 minutes easy. We used to do this workout all the time in high school on the Thursday before a Saturday invitational. I loved it because it was so easy and you usually felt fast and smooth and good. Not so much the case today, but what can one expect when the last time I ran hard was (per my meticulous running log) exactly 277 days ago? Yes that's right, 277 days. I came to the conclusion a bit ago that my feet aren't going to like me no matter what I do. I had wanted to build a bit of a "base" before trying harder stuff, but it's hard to build a base when you only run 2 or 3 days a week and my feet were revolting with longer runs. They are still revolting (somewhat) but I'm dealing.

Regardless, in terms of running a 5K faster at the end of my triathlons, I thought running a little harder on my Friday runs would provide the best benefit. So 6x2 minutes hard with 2 minutes rest was what it was. I warmed up with 10 minutes and cooled down with 8 minutes so the total run was still only 40 minutes. And I have to say, as difficult as it was towards the end, it still felt good to run hard. I think we were pretty steady on the harder intervals, but my rest intervals slowed WAY down at the end - I'm talking "sprinter jog" here people, as in I could have walked faster, but still, the workout served it's purpose. And my legs felt WAY better than they did on Tuesday when I biked first. :)

I'm trying to determine what's going to be sore tomorrow. Usually it's my quads or calves but the biking has been giving the quads/calves such a workout lately, I wonder if they might be okay? That leaves the hammys. I guess we shall see!

In other news, I've come to a new conclusion - O, my husband of close to 4 years, is a midget. He's bigger than me. He looks big enough. But last night when he was playing basketball with lots of tall people, he looked like a very small man. In the grand scheme of things, I suppose 5'9' and 160# isn't much. This was ever so evident when he was standing next to the Steeler's star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (aka Big Ben) last night. Let me explain.

The Steelers play basketball games in the off season to help with different fund raising events. Well last night they played against the Highlands High School faculty, including one husband of mine, to help raise money for the high school's sports teams. The gym was packed. The Steelers are heros around here. And so there was O, all 5'9'' of him and Big Ben who happens to be 6'5'' and 240#. Needless to say, he got dunked on once or twice, but it was pretty neat that he got to play on the same court as those guys. O told me it would be like if I got to go for a run with Deena Kastor. Now that would be really cool. :)

So yeah, that's the story here. O and I have a pretty nice day planned, including a play/musical about Jesus' life at our church tonight. It's a pretty big production, which runs over a two week span. O and I were talking this morning about how much more "real" Good Friday is ever since we saw the movie Passion of the Christ 2 years ago. I can still picture the scene were they are beating Jesus with clubs and chains and if I really think about it, tears well up in my eyes. If you'd like to read about Good Friday and Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, you can here. I include this because I distinctly remember wanting to read about it on a team trip to the Raleigh Relays when I was a freshman in college (a long time ago now!) but I didn't know where in the Bible to look! I asked me teammate who gave me her Bible to read on the 14 hour drive, and boy was I ever so thankful...

Posted by beth at 11:07 AM | Comments (4)

April 13, 2006

Flipper

I was hurtin' when I woke up this morning. I kind of felt sore and tired all over and wasn't feeling the swim. But I know it's always better once you're in the water or on the bike or on the roads, so I fed the pooch, got the swimsuit on and headed out the door.

I was a bit dismayed to see that I had a time trial planned for today in the pool. I felt a tad bit like a brick in the water and wasn't too confident I'd be able to swim as fast or faster than my last time trial. Not a good attitude, I know.

I did my usual warmup and then started into my 600 yds hard. I was struggling by 300 yds and really wishing I had choosen 400 yds as my time trial distance. But I survived until the end and (very) surprisingly swam a 7 second PR! Interesting. I think I may be learning how hard I can push myself in the pool, just like when you first start running and workout by workout, you realize that your body can handle more than you think.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

600 yd TT (9:16)
100 yd easy
5x100 yd hard on 2

200 yd kick easy, 300 yd easy

For the hard 100s I was swimming a little faster than usual, around 1:29 and 1:30 but on the 3rd one somehow pulled out a 1:26. I'm pretty sure I've never swam a 100 that quickly before. I know why - there was a guy in the lane next to me that was doing the backstroke and we started at the same exact time and I was trying desperately to keep up with him. We were dead on the whole way but when I stopped after 100 yds, he kept going. He was probably just warming up! Either way, he was wearing flippers which got me to thinking about flippers in general, and the fact that I don't really understand what their purpose is. I'm absolutely certain there is a reason for them, but they don't make sense to me. I thought at one point that they would be equivalent to wearing flats or spikes in a workout but then again you can't wear flippers in races so what's the point? Do they even make you swim faster or are they to provide resistance? Perhaps someone who actually knows something about swimming may enlighten me.

And so that was my swim. I was excited to exceed my expectations on a day when I wasn't feeling so good.

Dead cat update: It was still in our neighbor's backyard as of Tuesday. My co-workers had me worried that since it has warmed up it was going to decompose, smell and attract disease. Yuck. O called the animal control/police people again and they suggested we throw it away. We had actually thought of that ourselves (Tuesday is trash day) but became concerned that there is some law about throwing away dead animals. We just wanted to get rid of it so we decided we would just take care of it ourselves. I was gung ho, but when it came to actually getting the shovel and doing the deed, I chickened out. So O went by himself to do the dirty deed instead. It was gross, but now it's gone and there are no dead animals laying about. These, by the way, are not the same neighbors that had the dead deer hanging from their tree.

I'm about to leave work and the good news is - I have the next 6 days off!!!! What's up with that? I have Friday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday all as vacation days from work, for the Easter weekend and as just a break. Plus I still have a certain 20 page paper to construct that is due in class next week. At least I'll have plenty of time to work on it!

Posted by beth at 3:36 PM | Comments (5)

April 12, 2006

New Shoes

I'm trying to break in my new running shoes so I'm wearing them right now at work. That's about the most exciting thing I can report on today! I actually got a pair of Asics this time after years of wearing Nike. Nike has been making me mad, always discontinuing my favorite shoes and forcing me to find another model. So far so good with the Asics.

I have class tonight but I snuck over in between work and class for some lifting. Now it's time for dinner and then class! Yeah class! (okay, that's a joke, but I'm trying to be positive :)

Posted by beth at 4:09 PM | Comments (2)

April 11, 2006

Whoa Doggie!

Another beautiful day here in Pittsburgh! Sunny and warm, in the upper 70s for goodness sakes! That probably means it will be 38 and raining tomorrow, but I sure enjoyed it today while it was here...

Tuesdays I usually try to spin and then run. Instead of the spinning class though, I did the same loop I did yesterday on my bike. It went a little better today. Getting to know the loop better is key because you know what uphills and downhills are coming and subsequently what gear you need to be in.

Stats:

14.1 miles total (a little less than yesterday because I didn't have to go around the block trying to get my shoes clipped into my pedals!)

56:36 total time
14.95 MPH ave speed
31.18 MPH top speed

I had my running shoes untied and sitting out for when I got off the bike, in an attempt to simulate a real triathlon transition. I got things changed around pretty quickly and took off running. And then I all of a sudden understood why it's hard to be a triathlete. I can't even explain how my legs felt. Not necessarily even tired, just really, really weird. If my life depended on running faster than about 9 minute pace, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done it. My legs just wouldn't go! I've run after spinning classes but that was with more like a 10 minute break and some stretching too. Regardless, this odd legged feeling lasted for about 7 or 8 minutes and then I started to feel more normal, like I had actually run once or twice in my life before. I ran for 25 minutes total, came home, got a Gatorade, sat down on the cold concrete walkway in the shade and hung out for about 10 minutes. Whoa doggie - that was tough stuff! :)

So now that I'm done icing my feet it's time to take a shower and stretch before I become one tight ball of mess and can't walk tomorrow. Riding on the new bike it making me sore in new places! Tomorrow is just a lifting session, and just in time because my body needs a break!

Posted by beth at 6:29 PM | Comments (1)

April 10, 2006

Still Alive (Again)

I've now officially survived 2 rides on my new bike - I am nearly a pro! Today was much more frightening. I went on the roads around our house which involved traffic and some really significant hills. The uphills aren't bad, it's the downhills that have me biting my nails - that is if I would ever loosen my death grip on the handlebars long enough to get my hand up to my mouth.

Stats: (the bike computer is cooler than words)

14.41 miles riden
1:00:37 total time
14.26 MPH average speed
31.12 MPH fastest speed

Today was really good for me. I needed to get out on the roads and ride and just get to feeling good on my bike. I did better than I thought. The absolute best part was the long, flat (even slightly downhill) 3 mile stretch at the end where the road was really good (not many potholes) and I got down on my bars and flew. I was going around 20-25 MPH, spinning on one of my highest gears and loving life.

Contrast this with going about 8 MPH up some pretty big hills and then about 30 MPH down the other side, fearing for my life. :) I was actually talking to myself at some points, willing myself to stay down on my bars when I really wanted to sit up and hit the brakes. Riding with traffic was a little unsettling at times too. The loop I did is mostly back roads but involved some more heavily traveled areas too.

Some observations:

1) Wind while riding very light bike with very skinny tires = trouble. The wind picked up at one point along a busier road with cars whizzing by and I felt very unstable.

2) Bike built to go fast = unforgiving on the potholes and/or any little bump you encounter. My bike has an aluminum frame with carbon fiber forks. This meant absolutely nothing to me about 2 weeks ago, but as I understand it now, material means a lot. Carbon is the supreme material in that it's the most forgiving on the roads (= more comfort) but is still stiff enough to have some giddy-up and go. Aluminum not as forgiving. This becomes especially important for someone of my size, 5'4'' and 120 pounds, a waif by no means, but also not 6' and 185 pounds. The problem is, all carbon fiber bike = $$$$$ while aluminum frame bike with some carbon elements = only $$$. What I'm trying to say here is, my butt and crotch are not feeling great and Pennsylvania needs to fix their roads STAT! :)

3) I'm getting better with the aerobars and staying down. Things that instantly bring me up with a stranglehold on the brakes: (a) big downhill - if my brakes were in the same place as my shifters, I would likely stay put a little more often, such is not the case (b) unsteady roads with big potholes (c) sharp turns

4) When I was looking at the results of Ironman Arizona (held yesterday) I noticed that age groupers finished the 112 mile bike portion with average speeds of 20 MPH. This blows my mind. That was just about my top speed today (when I was actually pedaling and not just holding on for dear life on a downhill) and I felt like I was flying. The elites probably averaged much faster. Did I mention this was after swimming 2.4 miles and knowing full well you still had a marathon to run? By the way, Leilani's husband is now an Ironman (or maybe he already was?) as he finished in Arizona yesterday!

5) My new bike has me really excited about my new sport. I love running and always will - it has been a defining factor in my life and if I could run full time right now, I probably would be. But I've run for years and I think I was reaching a point where I wasn't sure what else I wanted to do. Triathlon is a whole new experience. I have so much to learn and there are so many ways to improve. I get very excited thinking about it - I could definitely latch onto this sport like I did running. I can't wait to actually do my first triathlon. It shall be quite the experience I'm sure!

Anyway, after all the bike bally-hoo, I drove over to the YMCA and lifted. It was such a nice day outside and there were so many people in there on the ellipticals. UGH! Take a walk outside instead! The good news is tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer! Yeah spring!

Posted by beth at 8:39 PM | Comments (2)

April 9, 2006

Still Alive

I am very proud (and relieved) to report that I rode my new bike today and am still alive to tell about it! Not that there weren't some touch and go moments. I am still pretty afraid to go down big hills and turn sharpy down in the aerobars, but otherwise I didn't make out too badly. I didn't even fall. The clipless pedals aren't as tricky as I thought they might be. It's a little harder to get in them than get out of them, but as the bike guy at the store said, getting out is much more important. :)

What a difference a bike makes. I don't know much about aerodynamics or bike geometry, but this bike is definitely faster than my old one. It will definitely take some getting used to though. I think I'm just going to need repetition in order to feel comfortable on it. Oh, and I'm going to need some bike shorts too. The seat is about the size of a pin head and if there is such a thing as a buttache, I think I'm going to have a major one tomorrow!

After getting the bike, getting fitted to the bike, learning how to ride the bike, getting a lesson on bike maitenance, how to fix a flat, how to use my bike computer, etc, O and I headed to an industrial park on our way home. We chose the park because it's an absolute ghost town during the weekend but has some nice roads - perfect to practice on! After me practicing getting in and out of my pedals and shifting and just trying to get comfortable down in the aerobars, we made a nice little 2 mile loop that we rode through 3 times. It would actually be a great place to train, the loop had a nice long stretch, a pretty good uphill and an equally sizable downhill, some tight turns, etc...all the things I would need to practice on. I would have to do the loop about 15 times for a good ride, but that's okay. It would be a pretty good place to practice transitions too...jump off the bike, get the running shoes on and go!

Anyway, among the many other things I learned today about bikes, O and I discovered that the bike pump we have does not work on my tires. I should have known that a bike pump from Walmart is not compatible with a super special bike with super special tires. And bike guy told me that I need to pump my tires pretty much every day to ensure a pressure of 100-110 psi. Alas, another stop at the bike store tomorrow, where the bike guy and I are becoming quite good friends. I'm pretty sure he gets a good laugh at us everytime we leave. Our questions are likely pretty silly. I have much to learn! I need some lingo! Or I need to hang out with some runners so I feel like I know what the heck I'm talking about. ;)

Whew - enough bike talk! In other interesting news, the duck is now dressed like an Easter bunny. I love it. They have a little Easter dress for it and some long, floppy, pink ears.

Roxy is barking like mad. She has been all day. The reason? Our neighbors next door moved out and left their dead cat in the back yard. I kid you not. Roxy was going crazy when we let her outside this morning but for the life of us we couldn't figure why. O saw the dead cat about mid-day. After we got home from the bike riding/buying, O walked over to the house to see if they were still there but no luck, the house was empty. I can't believe they left their dead cat laying in the back yard?! I even wonder if they killed it themselves?! I did a quick internet search on what one would do upon finding a dead pet and determined animal control was the group we wanted. O called the police department and they are going to take care of it. That's so crazy. And sad. Fluffy little critter needs a proper burial!

Posted by beth at 8:20 PM | Comments (1)

April 8, 2006

Spring Weather

I would really appreciate it if the "75 degrees and sunny one day, 35 degrees and raining/snowing the next day" weather would stop. My body is so confused! I guess this is better than 35 degrees and raining/snowing all the time, but dare I suggest a compromise - perhaps 60 degrees and sun? Can we take a vote?

This morning O was proctoring the ACT at his school so I headed to the YMCA by myself. I started with a swim (surprise, surprise!).

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

5 sets of (50 yd, 100 yd, 50 yd) with 10 seconds rest between intervals and 1 minute rest between sets.

200 yd kick easy, 500 yd easy

That was 2500 yds total with only 1000 yds hard. I've been trying to swim longer repeats with more rest on my "swim only" day and shorter repeats with less rest on my "swim/bike" day. I think I'm trying to adapt running training to swimming training which probably shouldn't be done but since I don't know any better I'll stick with it. Today the workout was harder than I thought. I was really trying to get after the 100s, so the 2nd 50 of each set was tough with only a 10 second rest.

After my swim I headed to the 9:30 spinning class. I really like spinning and I'm sure it's benefit has been huge for me, but I'm looking forward to changing over to riding outside. I'll get my bike tomorrow - now I just need the weather to cooperate!

And that's my story for today. O and I don't have much planned for the day other than cleaning the house. And of course there is also the ever present homework that in just 3 short weeks will be non-exsistent! I cannot wait!

Summary for the week:

Sunday - 1 hour bike (outside), core/feet exercises
Monday - 45 min bike and weights
Tuesday - 1 hour spinning, 20 minute run, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - weights
Thursday - 3200 yd swim w/4x(200,50,200,100)
Friday - 35 min run w/6x20 second striders, 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchups
Saturday - 2500 yd swim w/5x(50,100,50), 1 hour spinning, core/feet exercises

Posted by beth at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

April 7, 2006

Run!

I ran today! What a nice day for it too. Actually, it was a little on the hot side - 75 degrees and sunny and even a little humid. In 3 months that will probably feel like a cool fall day, but right now it feels like an oven! Of course it's supposed to be 40 degrees and raining tomorrow, but what can you do?

I decided I was going to try to run twice a week as often as I can, once after biking on Tuesdays and once on Friday. I'm not sure if my feet will have it, but I'm going to give it a try. Today when I got home from work, O, Roxy and I headed out with a goal of 35 minutes and some striders if my feet were okay. I haven't attempted to run anything faster than 7:30 pace, so I figured I might as well give that a go. We ran easy, and arrived at the high school track after about 21 minutes. I determined my feet were feeling okay so I did 6x20 second striders. The striders didn't feel nearly as bad as I thought they were going to. Don't get me wrong - they tired me out - but I thought I was going to feel like I was running 9 minute pace. I actually felt somewhat fast. I'm sure I wasn't, but I let myself keep thinking I was. Either way, I survived and then re-joined Roxy and O for the last 14 minutes back to home. And that's that!

I am so glad it's Friday. When I woke up this morning it was so dark and pouring down rain - oh man was I struggling to get out of bed and get to work! We will be busy this weekend but I'm sure I can fit a nap (or two!) in there somewhere. And on Sunday I will finally get a chance to try out my bike! Yeah bike!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by beth at 7:15 PM | Comments (0)

April 6, 2006

Getting (Some of) My Gear!

O paged me at work today to tell me that the bike store called and my shoes, pedals and bike were all pretty much ready to go. Yipppeeee!! I was very excited. I met O at the store after work (around 5:30) - he brought all my gear (shorts, swimsuit, bike rack, etc...) and I brought myself. Unfortunately the store was closing at 6 pm instead of 8 pm like I had thought. So the bike guy didn't have time to do the full bike fitting, setting me up on the trainer, and oh yeah, teaching me how to ride my new bike! I was bummed - but we set up a time on Sunday for us to come in and get set up.

I did get to see my bike though - it looks so small! And I got my bike shoes and the bike guy put the pedals on my bike and the part on the shoes that clips into the pedals. You can tell I know a lot about all this - especially since I don't even know what anything is called. :) I love the bike though! I'm sad I didn't get to take it home today but I know I wouldn't have ridden it until Sunday anyway. It's supposed to be rainy all day Friday and Saturday.

I also got my wetsuit today. Boy was that interesting! I had read before how tightly they fit when they are dry, but how they feel looser once you get in the water. Okay. The bike guy (I should really call him the triathlon guy) explained to me how to get it on - yes, I really needed some directions. Holy crap are those things tight! I even got a size that he thought might be a little "big". I can't even imagine trying to squeeze myself into something smaller. Let's just say - I will need to get up a little earlier than planned on race morning so as to have ample time to get dressed for the swim! The good news is, it's a lot easier to get off. My favorite part of the wetsuit? The huge zipper strap that helps you unzip the thing in seconds. I felt pretty tough in my wetsuit.

Anyway, I'm way excited about my new gear. I'm wearing my bike shoes right now just cause (they aren't very easy to walk in though). I would be wearing my wetsuit if I wanted to lose 5-10 pounds in sweat. I think I would be sitting on my bike if it was here!

As for workouts today, I swam this morning before work. I had a good swim, although I'll admit that I have trouble getting myself in a cold pool on a cold morning at 5:10 am. Ugh. Once I get going though, I'm always happy to be there. I did a pretty hard, long workout for me.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy
4 sets of:
200 on 4
50 on 1
200 on 4
100 on 2
200 yd kick easy

3200 yds total, 2200 yds hard. The hardest part was doing the 2nd 200 of each set given the fact that a 50 on 1 doesn't leave much rest. I'm thinking a run tomorrow?

Right now I'm thinking bed though. I guess I have to take my bike shoes off sooner or later... :)

Posted by beth at 9:34 PM | Comments (2)

April 5, 2006

Moving On

I've been inspired to move on and stop worrying about my feet. Worry, as we all know, only wastes energy and never solves problems (which doesn't stop me most times from doing a fair bit of worrying). My feet won't get better by worrying about them though. Indeed, the only thing I can do is keep icing them, keep stretching them, keep rolling them on my golf ball, keep babying them when they need to be babied and run on them when I can. If all I can muster at the end of my triathlons this summer are 26 minutes 5Ks, well than so be it. That is what I will muster! In the mean time I can work on swimming and biking faster than I ever imagined I'd be able to.

I'm not quite sure where this new found inspiration came from. I suppose several sources - Corrado's comment on my blog, O's urging to just trust in God's much larger plan, and a quote I read today in someone else's blog. I'm usually not too into quotes, but sometimes you read one that meets you right where you're at. It read "Life is either an ordeal or an adventure. Make yours an adventure." I think I've been making too much of an ordeal out of life lately. I suppose everyone's allowed to do that every once in a while, but not for too long and not too often. My time is up! Time to look at this as an adventure and take the bumps as they may come. For they will surely keep coming...

Today after work I went to the Pitt gym and lifted. And then I drove home, very thankful that I didn't have class! I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. Running may not be a good idea. Perhaps a swim? We shall see!

In the mean time, I'm VERY anxious to get my bike! I keep hoping the store will call and tell me it's ready for fitting. I think it is supposed to be nice this weekend (versus the snow and cold we are having right now!) so I'm hoping to go for a ride outside with my new gear!

Posted by beth at 6:01 PM | Comments (0)

April 4, 2006

In Need of Two Working Feet

I hate my feet. That's all I want to say about that. My feet and I are currently incommunicado - I'm not speaking to them until they play nice! And that's all I'm going to say about that!

When I got home from work today I did my core and feet exercises, then headed to the YMCA for a spinning class. Class was fine - my quads are feeling trashed, I think because they are trying to get used to all the extra biking. I was unsure if I should attempt a run after the spinning, but I walked outside and it wasn't that cold and I really felt like running so I did. I only went for 20 minutes. I think practicing the bike-run transition will be key for me because it's hard to get my legs "under" me after going hard on the bike. Anyway, the run was fine but my feet were a little angry with me. I just don't know what I'm going to do with them. For now I'm not going to think about it.

O and I went out to dinner with my father who is in town for work. What a nice mid-week treat! Yummy food too! And now it's time for bed. Luckily I don't have class tomorrow so I will be able to come home after work and hang out. Yeah for no class! Good night!

Posted by beth at 9:35 PM | Comments (1)

April 3, 2006

Standard Day

Today was a pretty standard day. Get up, go to work, work, go to gym, bike and lift, go home, eat dinner, play with dog, talk with husband, blog, get ready for next day, go to bed. Life couldn't be more exciting.

The weather took a turn for the worse here today with heavy storms throughout the day and now drastically falling temps. It's supposed to be in the 30s tomorrow and snow. Quite the change from 60s, sunny and me riding outside in shorts. April is always kind of crazy like this if I remember correctly though. It's not until May that I feel pretty safe it's going to be at least in the high 40s or low 50s all the time. I'm sure it has before, but I can't remember it snowing in May.

Regardless, the weather was such that it assured I couldn't ride outside today. I knew it was going to get colder but was holding out hope it would still be nice when I was done with work. No such luck - it was storming by that point. So I went to the Pitt gym and rode the bike for 45 minutes, relatively easy. I've been riding a lot more lately and my legs are telling me so. After the bike, I lifted.

My favorite patient is going to die. He's had some major complications and I think it will only be a matter of time. The doctors are trying to convince his family (he does have family to my surprise - they just haven't come to visit him, I suppose maybe they can't) to withdrawl support but they aren't ready for that yet. If they saw him, they probably would withdrawl. I feel very sad for him that he won't ever be at home again with his cows, but I'm hoping his pain will end soon. The situation of withdrawling support, end of life issues, etc... is always a hard one to bear and I know it must be extremely hard to make that decision as a family member. Continuing support when there is virtually no hope of recovery seems so wrong though. Advance directives are extremely important - even though there are certainly ways around them (at least in Pennsylvania), it's very helpful for your family to know how you feel about being maintained on life support. The problem is, docs can't say with 100% certainly that there is absolutely no chance of recovery and even if they say, "I am 99.9% sure that you loved one won't survive this hospital stay", what the family hears is - "yes - there is a chance that mom/dad/aunt Betty/etc will live!"

Whew - how did I manage to get on that topic? What a downer I am! :) But it's something I see often and was thinking about today in regards to my buddy. Hopefully his family will have the strength to make the right decision.

And now it's about time for me to round up the dog and watch some tv, cuddle up in the covers and stay warm (O is out with his friend watching the NCAA final game). Good night!

Posted by beth at 8:01 PM | Comments (1)

April 2, 2006

Weather Too Good to Pass Up

It's beautiful outside! I love days like this - sunny, a little breezy, in the mid 60s and low humidity. I think that's my definition of perfect weather. And it's made much better by the fact that it was cool, rainy and overcast yesterday. Yippppeee!

I wasn't quite sure what, if any, training I was going to partake in today. I just knew I wasn't going to run due to unwilling feet. I had told myself that if I felt like just taking the day totally off, that would be fine too.

O and I went to the earlier service at church, came home, read the paper and ate lunch. At that point I was feeling pretty sleepy and it was in the mid 50s. I decided taking a nap should be the next step. :) When I woke up a little after 2 pm it was sunny and in the 60s and so O and I both agreed on a bike ride outside. We did the loop that we made up about 3 weeks ago, but haven't ridden since because of cold, rainy weather. It was really nice, and the over mile long hill didn't seem as bad today, although I certainly am not calling it easy! When we were done with that loop we decided to add on a flat loop through town because it was so nice outside. At this point we passed the Dairy Queen. It was too good to pass up - we rode home, got money, rode back to the DQ and sat outside to eat our blizzards! I love it!

Altogether (not including the DQ run which was only an 10 extra minutes at most) the ride was 60 minutes. Today I focused on riding in lower gears with a higher cadence, which I read is what triathletes are supposed to do (to ease the bike-run transition and actually be able to move your legs when you get off the bike).

Because I was good and finished my statistics homework yesterday I'm totally ignoring the big project that I should be working on for school. Instead I've just been enjoying this beautiful day. O and I are about to head out to a get-together with people from our church now. I may just wear shorts! :)

Week Summary (that I forgot to do yesterday):

Sunday - 75 min run, core/feet exercises
Monday - 45 min bike, weights
Tuesday - 1 hour spinning, core/feet exercises
Wednesday - weights
Thursday - 60 min run
Friday - 2500 yd swim w/600 yd TT, 5x100 yd, 2x25 pushups, 2x100 crunchups
Saturday - 3000 yd swim w/5x(100,200,100), 1 hour spinning, core/feet exercises
Sunday - 1 hour bike ride, core/feet exercises

Posted by beth at 4:38 PM | Comments (1)

April 1, 2006

A Deal Too Good to Pass Up

So we ended up buying a bike last night. And shoes and pedals, oh and a wetsuit too. What the heck? O and I cannot be trusted with our own money. We just can't. :)

See what happened last night is there was a deal going on. And deals are trouble for us. We see it, think of all the money we would be saving, and can't resist. The deal included the bike, the pedals, the bike shoes and a wetsuit (of all things) all for one "low" price. Truthfully I do think we got a good deal. The price we paid for everything (including the tax) was lower than what the bike itself cost normally. We had looked at another store and I also looked online quite a bit and it all seemed good. The question wasn't so much whether it was a good deal or not, but more, did I really need all this high tech stuff if I'm just going to be doing sprint triathlons, non competitive ones at that? I'm not really sure of the answer to that one yet. If anything, buying the equipment we did last night will probably encourage me to focus more on triathlons (vs just running) in the future. I have the gear. I want to put the gear to use. Let's train for triathlons!

So the bike is a triathlon bike (vs a road bike). It's got aerobars which frighten me. I'm seriously going to learn how to ride it on a closed course before I take to the roads. Just like when you learn how to drive, you find a deserted mall parking lot - yep, that's going to be me. I've learned so much about the differences in bikes and gears and carbon vs aluminum frames and on and on in the last couple of days. Yikes. There is a steep learning curve in this sport we call triathlon! I am very excited though. The bike is being built now (they measure you first) so I have to go back later this upcoming week to get fitted more and try it out. The store we got all this from is definitely into service. The guy told me to come with workout gear so he could set me up on the trainer and basically teach me how to ride it. They also do free maintenance on the bike and they teach maintenance courses which I'm most assuredly going to have to take. I'm feeling overwhelmed. But very excited too. I really can't wait to get out there and ride!

As for the wetsuit, I really had no plans whatsoever to buy one (at least not this year). I've certainly read how much they can help in terms of bouyance and of course warmth, but I didn't think I'd really need it. Of course now that I will have one (also have to get fitted for that this week), I'll definitely try it out! O suggested I wear it to YMCA for a trial. I imagine I would get more than one strange look. :)

And that's that.

This morning we woke up and thought about riding our bikes (the old ones that is) outside vs taking a spinning class, but then decided against it. I'm glad we did. It's in the low 50s which seems warm enough but it's overcast and looked like rain. It's also very windy.

So instead we headed to the YMCA and I swam first while O practiced his pitching and shooting (and he lifted also). I did a pretty hard workout in the pool, hard for me anyway.

400 yd easy, 200 yd kick easy, 200 yd easy

5 sets of:
100 on 2
200 on 4
100 on 2

200 yd kick easy (3000 yds total, 2000 yds hard)

I was doing well until about the 3rd 200 when I suddenly felt like a brick. I seriously felt as if the bottom of the pool was pulling me towards it. But after the 3rd set was over I started feeling a little better. I was thinking a lot about the Ironman triathlon distance when I was swimming today and I just can't help but wonder how demoralized you would feel getting off the bike and knowing you had a whole entire marathon to run. UGH!

After the swim, I changed and met O for our spinning class. It was fine as usual. O likes the Saturday instructor because she plays lots of hard rock type music, more his style than oldies or pop.

My feet are feeling better. Definitely not good enough to be running tomorrow but I might try Tuesday again, or I just might hold off until Thursday. This is going to sound strange, but I feel like swimming makes my feet feel better. I don't know if it's the fact that you are totally non-weight bearing while you are swimming (vs somewhat weight bearing with biking and LOTS of weight bearing with running), or if there is something about swimming that loosens my feet up. Either way, I'm thankful for it!

And now the time has come - homework - in the form of statistics! I'm a total statistics idiot. I just don't like it. We also have a big grant project in this class wherein you have to submit a budget for a research study you've created. Let it be known that my budget definitely includes paying a statistician! :)

Hope everyone is having a great day. Don't forget to turn the clocks forward tonight!

Posted by beth at 12:51 PM | Comments (2)