July 15, 2000
Adrith asked
me sometime yesterday how many miles I am averaging a week. I have no idea. I'm
not a good note taker. After scrabbling through the archives and looking for whatever
is on my desk, I estimated this over the last 12 weeks: - ~7.5 miles a
week, if we go by foot only miles (90 ish total)
- ~10 miles a week if we
go by foot AND bike miles (120 ish total)
After checking several types
of race training schedules, even though they taper, they average at least the
distance of the race a week, or slightly over.
So if we're shooting for the
marathon (26.2), I'm not doing too hot because I don't even hit 20 miles. If we
are shooting for the half marathon (13.1) it's a little better if I count cross-training
on my bike, but still plenty of room for improvement!
"The
most important workout, of course, is the long run. If you have the psychological
energy for only one quality effort a week, this is the one to do. Long runs build
endurance, which is essential to the completion of a marathon."
~The
Complete Book of Running for Women by Claire Kowalchik
Ugggggh.
Man, after Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at the gym, the LAST thing
I want to be doing is to spend Saturday and Sunday there. I am more agreeable
to Sunday though because Monday is my day off and thinking about that through
Sunday's workout makes it bearable.
It's just that the combination of Saturday
being the last one for the week, the first day off work, and those mega long sessions...
the temptation to skunk out is the highest on that day than on any other. But
it's the most free day I have for these kinds of endurance sessions, that's why
they are on Saturdays!
Do I feel like getting dressed to go out in the rain?
NO!
Do I feel like getting in the car and driving to my gym to stare at
the same walls some more? NO!
Even though it's a shorter one than last week,
do I feel like a 105 minute endurance session? NO!
Dagnabbit!
posted
by Cat 'Astrophe' 4:37 PM
Training
Walk 7/15
- Focus: 1:45 min endurance walk
- Duration: 48 minutes
- Distance:
7.65 miles
- Where: neighborhood, biking
Obviously I didn't
feel like trying to make it to gym for an endurance walk. Lost cause -- it didn't
stop raining until 6:30 PM! When it let up, I asked Paul if he wanted to go with
me and squish in a walk, but he voted for biking so we went. I wore my old sneaks
and we kicked up some water and mud, did balance drills, and mapped out a possible
route for my walking. He had gotten his odometer fixed enough so that we discovered
one loop around the softball fields and play areas in the center of base is 1.7
miles. So if I do two loops, that's a little over a 5K. That's going to be nice
to know in the fall when the weather is better. I can do the endurance walks that
way and have Paul trail me on his blades or bike.
Gym cabin fever -- phooey!
:P
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 7:43 PM
July 14, 2000
training walk 7/13 Locale: PF
Minutes:
62
Mileage: 2.9
Total Mileage: 91.74
Wa-hoo! Lookit that Adrith-odometer!
Ninety miles is something. To be more precise, 91.2 miles is the distance between
my home and Ashland, MA:
Last night's gym workout was harder than usual. I couldn't seem to get up over
3.1 MPH for an extended period of time, though I did manage 3 minutes at 3.4 MPH
at the very end of my workout.
My back had this spasm going on a couple of
times -- no pain, but a muscle twinge (that kept me hanging onto the side rails
in the event that something much larger came along and ran me over). When my back
started to ache at 18 minutes, I dropped all the way down to 2.5 MPH -- where
I stayed until the 40-minute mark. I upped the speed to 2.8 MPH at that point.
But even though last night was hard, I'm inspired again -- and that's fantastic.
I haven't been inspired to keep things going in a long while. I've decided to
keep a record of my progress via highway routes and mileage, too. My next major
intersection is Rtes 84 and 90, in Sturbridge, MA:
That intersection is at 123.6 miles, or just under 32 more miles away. Once on
84, it's only another 4.5 miles to the Connecticut border, at Mashapaug.
I
can reach that by the end of July! So that's the goal, folks. Connecticut by the
end of July.
Stay tuned..
posted by Adrith 9:57 AM
20 oz of water down with lunch. One Advil and
14 more ounces to go, then a shower and off to gym and errands. I WILL conquer
heat and dehydration! I will! I will!
posted by Cat 'Astrophe'
1:37 PM
Training Walk for
7/14
- Focus: casual 45 min walk
- Duration: 45 min
- Distance:
4.35
- Where: elliptical cross-trainer at gym
- Calories burned: 504
- Rate:
3.5?
This was the gym workout I have been waiting for since 1995.
Stunning, huh? I'll explain in a second. I knew I wanted something more than the
casual stroll on the schedule because my last few workouts have been the pits.
But not too crazy either, so I wanted to be careful.
So I went by the book.
Drank almost 30 oz with lunch, took an Advil just in case, and sat for more than
an hour working to digest, then I packed up for gym. I didn't want anymore interrupted
workouts from bad headaches or queasiness or food issues. Had a Luna Bar ready
for a post gym snack. Had water. Had music. Dressed out already. Ready to go!
When I got to the cardio floor, I was glad one of the LifeFitness CT9400's was
open so I quickly claimed that one. This is my fav because the gait is smoother
and more like running. It's just a better cross trainer design, but there are
only two of these at this gym branch. The rest are the older LifeFitness models
that are more like stair climbers and the Precor EFX ones. I had a slight knee
cramp in the left knee from yesterday's intervals on the EFX 544, so I didn't
want to get stuck on one of those again. Yuck. I guess I got lucky!
Logged
on, slammed my headphones over my ears, glanced at the guy next to me sweating
buckets in a sweatshirt, nodded hello but secretly thought he was crazy. Who wears
a sweatshirt to gym when it's 95 deg F out?
Today I just wanted to just
go to gym, and find a groove I was happy in, do it, and get the heck outta there.
That groove turned out to be 56 RPM's. So after I found it, I tuned out and listened
to my tape. I really got into "I Wanna Be Sedated" by the Ramones because
that's how I've been feeling lately. I just want to be put out of my training
miseries. Got moving, took sips of water every 15 minutes on the button. Breathed
even and deep through my mouth since my nose is semi-stuffy with allergies. Thought
about Benadryl,what to make for dinner, how much laundry I have to do, cleaning
the bathrooms, checking on sick Paul...that kind of stuff.
Then I did a
double take when I reached for more water out of the holder in the console. In
red little numbers: 155 HR.
Whaaaaa.....?!
A person's maximum heart
rate is 220 minus their age. You don't want to be working out there because you
could conk out and hurt yourself. The goal is to stay somewhere in your target
heart rate zone -- which is something like 50-80% of your max. At 24 years old,
mine is always 157 THR whenever I log onto a machine at the gym. It's long been
a meaningless number, just the one that comes out of the machine after "time,"
"age" and "pounds" when I am starting up.
I remember
joining Bally's in 1995 and starting on a stationary bike set on level 1, for
15 minutes and trying to get up to and STAY at the blasted 70 RPMs the blinky
light wanted me to get to. Ugh! My heart racing all over the place.. 179, 187,
176! It depressed me to see that a little short bike ride could leave me so winded
and have my heart busting out of my chest. REALLY depressed. Ugh! So I covered
up that part of the console with my towel and put it out of my head and concentrated
on getting that stupid light to quit blinking. I figured that one day years into
the future when I was more fit I'd get to where THR's would actually mean
something to me and in the meantime they could just kiss my grits!
I
was a little shocked to see 155 as my heart rate this afternoon. I was jogging
for pete's sake! It would vary now and then and my pace changed through the workout,
but it stayed in that 155-159 bracket. No more, no less, dancing right around
that 157 THR.
I jogged an average of 10.34 min miles, and I felt good about
it. It was a brisk workout that took some effort, but it wasn't like I used to
be on a recumbent bike when I was 19.
I'm just not the same person anymore.
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 5:14 PM
July 13, 2000
training walk 7/12 Locale: Kitty Tour,
PF
Minutes: 42
Mileage: 2.0
Total Mileage: 88.84
I tried going
outside for my walk. I did one lap. And by the time I got back home after that
one lap, I was hot, cranky, my back and feet hurt, and I was just ready to give
up right then and there. Instead I waited for Joe to return home with the car,
and did another mile and a half at the gym. My back and feet didn't hurt as much,
the temperature was much better inside the gym, and I managed to salvage my workout.
Until I returned home to discover that we're now up to an hour for Tuesday workouts.
D'oh!!
posted by Adrith 8:53 AM
Training Walk for 7/13
- Focus: Intervals for
60 min
- Duration: 20 minutes
- Where: Gym, cross trainer
- Distance:
??
- Calories burned: 250
- Rate: 5
Ugh. Paul came home
early and went to bed tired. So I went off to gym and I guess it wasn't meant
to be. I felt headachy again and a little nauseous on the cross trainer so I cut
out again at 20 minutes and came back home. Paul tells me he has a headache and
a sore throat.
Great. We both might be sick.
I don't need this! :P
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 9:16 PM
July 12, 2000
It's 4:30 AM. It's 97% humid.
The heat index reads 80 deg F.
I cannot sleep because it's so dank, and the
gym doesn't open until 5:30 AM. So what am I doing? Laundry. Thrrrrriiillllllls!
:P
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 4:27 AM
Air conditioner, air conditioner! I cannot wait until we own
an air conditioner.. (The happy event takes place this Friday or Saturday.
Hallelujah.)
posted by Adrith 10:14 AM
Training Walk for 7/12
- Focus: 45 min casual
stroll
- Time: 35 minutes
- Where: neighborhood, biking
- Distance:???
- Rate:3.5?
The
weather is playing with my mind. Today we got up to 106 deg F on the heat index,
which is "danger" on my heat index chart so I refused to go out. It
was a scorcher! This morning was a big hint and how this was all going to turn
out. Blah.
At any rate, around 7:10 it got to 101 deg, F, and down to "extreme
caution." I took my hydropak and went for a quick spin on the bike. I cloverleafed
around my neighborhood so if I decided it was getting to be too much I could just
zip back quickly and not be too far from home. The water coming out of my hydropak
tastes plastic-y. I have a few more rinses to go yet before that goes away!
So
some cardio is better than no cardio. Later tonight I'll do some stretching and
maybe some strength training. At least those I can do indoors. I hope tomorrow
is better. It's looking like rain now.
posted by Cat
'Astrophe' 8:21 PM
July 11, 2000
Training Walk for 7/11
- Focus: 60 min speed work
- Time:
20 min
- Distance: 2 miles
- Where: gym, cross trainer
- Rate:
5
I've had a bad headache all day. It started last night. By the time
I got to gym at lunch, my head was pounding and I couldn't take it for more than
20 minutes before I went to pick up Paul at the office and begged to be taken
home. I am about to lay down now in the dark and wait for this Advil to kick in.
The
good news? Several good points. Got a box of Luna bars at Whole Foods for about
$15, so that's cheaper. Yay. Got my hydropak in time for this weekend's bike trip.
Yay. Saw Karen and things went well. Yay.
This is what she said:
- to keep going in the same direction since everything is going smoothly and
to pay attention to my protein needs.
- to make sure I drink every 15 min
while working out, and if the work out is longer than 90 min take in some Gatorade
or something similar. I am to either dilute 1:1 or alternate sips from a water
bottle and a Gatorade bottle.
- to keep trying to cook at least 4 entrees
a week, glad I improved there.
- She went over my training schedule again
noting the switch coming in August, and is pleased with it because it provides
rest, and tapers.
I need to work on my food log now. I'm in a good
mood, just dead tired and headachy. If I feel better alter I'll go for the rest
of my walk. Otherwise just yoga to try to relax my neck muscles. Ugh.
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 2:47 PM
July 10, 2000
Training Walk for 7/9
- Focus: 20 min recovery walk
- Time: ???
- Where: bike, neighborhood
- Distance:
5 ish miles
Got rained out Sunday evening so I took my rest day then
instead of today.
Today I had to bike all over -- Paul had a flat and I
went to the gas station to get junk to fix it with, then around to the HOA to
deal with fundraising stuff, so all in all about 5 miles biking around here. I
had no watch, so I can't tell you the time. I am glad I am home now -- high noon
in Florida is no time to be running about outdoors!
posted
by Cat 'Astrophe' 12:35 PM
training
walk 7/9/00
Locale: PF
Minutes: 60
Mileage: 2.94
Total mileage:
86.84 I took the rest of the week off from training after an absolutely abysmal
5k race on Tuesday.
And was rewarded with an excellent gym session last night.
I got on the treadmill
and walked the first 5 minutes at 2.5 MPH. From 5-10 minutes, I increased my speed
from 2.5 to 3.0 MPH. After a couple of minutes at 3.0 MPH, I increased to 3.2
MPH; when that also felt easy, I increased speed to 3.4 MPH. And there I stayed
for about five minutes. I started to feel tired at that point, so instead of pushing
to stay at 3.4 MPH and possibly restraining my hamstring, I dropped back down
to 3.1 MPH.
About half-way through the workout I was starting to feel really
tired, so I dropped to 2.5 MPH, drank some of my Gatorade, and did some deep breathing.
Felt energized enough to get back up to 3.1 MPH.
At about 40 minutes, I still
felt pretty energized, so I started playing again. 3.3. 3.5. Still energized.
3.6 MPH. I'm walking pretty quickly now. 3.7 MPH. 3.8 MPH and my feet can't keep
up .. I have to start jogging. 3.9 MPH. 4.0 MPH!?
I top out at 4.1 MPH, and
sustain that for a minute or two before I go back down to 3.1 MPH for the remainder
of my workout.
Next morning, and I'm still pretty pumped. Enough to go back
to the gym and do it all over again tonight.
posted by Adrith
1:19 PM
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