« Thinking Can Be Dangerous | Main | Where Does the Day Go? »
April 24, 2007
Stop the Presses!
I kid you not - today I turned off the heat in our house AND I opened a window...for the first time in about 6 months. See, life isn't so bad afterall. :) Funny how 65 and sunny can change one's perspective.
I was feeling like my old self, mental outlook wise today, likely helped by the weather, having tomorrow off work, and getting in three solid workouts.
I started things off with a swim workout that was...okay. I kind of felt a little lethargic in the water this morning; as if the effort I was putting in wasn't resulting in the kind of times that should have correlated. It may have been because I had a full day and a half off of workouts and my body was confused and unsure of how to react. :)
AM swim workout:
3500 yds total @YMCA
wu: 300 easy, 600 pull w/30 sec rest at 300, 6x100 w/3 on rest of 30 sec, 3 on rest of 10 sec
ms: 2x300 w/1 min rest (4:06, 4:05), 2x300 w/30 sec rest (4:03, 4:04) and 2x300 w/15 sec rest (4:04, 4:05)
cd: 200 easy
Moving right along, my day at work was fine. I actually thought I had a serious PR going in terms of time taken to get to work since all the construction started but I was stopped dead in my tracks over a bridge that is usually never backed up. The reason? The City of Pittsburgh closed yet another road that I usually take as a shortcut. These people are seriously try to kill me.
When I got home from work I got ready for my bike workout. Even though the weather was gorgeous I decided to do the workout on the trainer. My coach likes us to do some of our cycling workouts inside and some outside. I've determined that longer intervals should be done on the trainer so as not to be interupted with traffic, stop signs, traffic lights, etc... while short intervals should be done outside when those annoyances aren't such a big deal. Riding the trainer is nice because there are no potholes, no wind and no hills but it can also be brutal because there are no downhills, no tailwinds and no coasting. Nonetheless, I digress.
PM cycling workout:
62:30 total on trainer - 15 min easy warmup, 4x15 sec pickups w/10 sec rest, 2 min easy, 1x20 min TT w/2nd half faster (first 10 min=3.4 mi/20.4 MPH ave, second 10 min=3.45 mi/20.7 MPH ave), 3 min easy, 8x30 sec accelerations w/15 sec rest (RPM over 110), 15 min easy cooldown
I loved this workout. I mean I was really working - good, good stuff. Very good stuff. I had made it my goal to ave 20 MPH on the first 10 min and then average 20.5 MPH for the second 10 min as based off a 2x10 min workout I had done about 3 weeks ago. So I was pleased to do slightly better than that, but mostly to just get my HR up in that crazy 180-190 zone for a good 20 minutes. The 8x30 sec accelerations had me feeling like my head was going to explode. :)
After the ride I waited around about an hour to recover and let the Gatorade, Shot Bloks, banana and peanut butter I devoured digest some. Also, if I waited long enough O would get home from track practice and be able to run with me. It all worked out well and I had company for the entire run, O for the first half and then O AND Roxy for the 2nd half. It was an absolute gorgeous evening - 65 and sunny and the sun was just starting to set a little towards the end. We ran 70 minutes easy and then called it a day.
In other news, I think I have a hole in my chest wall. You see I have this one bathing suit in my bathing suit rotation that's polyester. In case you were wondering and didn't already know, polyester suits last much longer than the lyrca ones but they also don't have much give to them (unlike lyrca) and therefore seem to rub me in all the wrong places. Said suit has caused quite a sore/wound on my upper rib area on both sides of my body. This in and of itself wouldn't be too bad but of course my HR monitor strap just happens to lay right over said wounds and make them worse. Today after our run I swear my wounds were bleeding. I show O and ask if there is blood (I have a hard time twisting myself around to see them). He says very matter-of-fact "nope, just looks real raw." Oh, okay than. Raw it is. :) I've actually been quite tempted to ask one of the wound care nurses at work if they could fix me up. Really what I want is for them to give me some of their magic goop that they use on patients to prevent wounds that you just can't find in stores. I thought of raiding one of their little carts when they weren't looking but decided that was stealing. I may just ask one of the nurses on my unit that I know much better to steal me some. Is it still stealing if someone else steals it for you? :)
Good night everyone!
Posted by beth at April 24, 2007 9:32 PM
Comments
...don't fancy the idea of having "wounds"... from an ill fitting bathing suit or otherwise. Plus with the recurrence of wear caused by the rotation, would/will they ever heal? Unless you want them in someway to represent you very own Tri-stigmata :-) ...
I would even be tempted to wear more forgiving models (cotton? even if it absorbs more water who cares you are training! - some swimmers actually train with loose/worn double suits and t-shirts on occasions to slightly but significantly increase load... wounds just hurt and distract...)
Re goop. Beth: getting somebody to steal for you is called "organized crime" :-) :-) But Beth, aren't nurses supposed to be sympathetic? I mean, just what.is.the.world.coming.to?? :-)
Posted by: corrado giambalvo at April 25, 2007 4:47 AM
sounds like you well on your way to recovery from a few days ago... its good to have your "raw" areas checked out... pool water is horrible on any type of "raw" area...
Posted by: Kranky C Dale at April 25, 2007 10:09 AM