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July 22, 2000

Training Walk for 7/22

  • Focus: 4 hours, endurance
  • Duration: 1:15
  • Where: Orlando Wetlands Park, biking
  • Rate: 4?
  • Miles: 10.83

Playing hooky today. I'd been looking forward to it all week! We drove to the Orlando Wetlands Park to go trail riding out there and while it was bloody hot. Paul, the lazy bum, didn't get up and moving til 10ish so I will have funky looking tan lines now, despite all the 45 SPF sunscreen! He apologized several times for being so hard to get up. His own fault for staying up palying with his models when he knew we had an early bike date the next morning. Anyway, we got a good ride in on the berm trails and back before it got to be horribly scorching. If I still feel like more I'll bike around here, but for now I am about to shower and take a nap.

I had a ball -- lots of wildlife, even if the trails themselves were mostly easy. Lots of birds and fish. Even saw a heron nail a snake and carry him off for lunch -- that was pretty exciting! We heard some of the gators honking but didn't spot any. They must have just been talking to each other while hiding from the sun.

Chocolate PowerGel: tastes like runny, watery, chocolate syrup. Way too sweet, icky. The texture is a lot like room temperature chocolate syrup. I can live with that if I could get a flavor that wasn't so sweet.


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 3:16 PM

July 21, 2000

training walk 7/20

Locale: PF
Minutes: 32
Mileage: 1.52
Total mileage: 95.26

Drat that blogger is still eating my posts from home.. so from now on I think I'll write them down in my hand journal and type them in when I get to work next. Drat that, but I get on the computer at home, write this bang-up entry, and then it gets sacrificed to the Blogger god. Grr..

Anyway, last night's workout wasn't as good as I had hoped. I had to cut it early because my ankle and back started to ache while I was on the treadmill. I ended up doing my usual warmup, which consists of 5 min at 2.5MPH, then incrementing 0.1MPH per min up to 3.0MPH. I stayed at 3.0MPH for about 5 min, then dropped down to 2.8MPH for 10 min. Down to 2.5MPH for 5 min (for Gatorade and deep breathing), then back up to 3.0MPH.. which is where my back and ankle started screaming. I trucked through to 1.5 miles as fast as I could (varying between 3.0MPH and 3.3MPH), and cut it short.

I was disappointed to be stopping at half an hour, because I wanted to get three miles in. Now I"m slightly off track from getting to 100 miles before Saturday. (Now I'll go over 100 miles ON Saturday!) But what's more disappointing is that I'm starting to have trouble with my back and ankle!

Luckily things are on track for me to get hired for the version of my job that has benefits -- I might even have benefits within two weeks. This means that I can see Dr. Sollee sometime soon! Of course, she's going to tell me that the back and ankle problems are caused by too much weight on such a small frame.

I should be eating better. I should be drinking more water. I should be walking more regularly.

I should, I should, I should.

I gotta do, do, do!!
posted by Adrith 9:09 AM

Training Walk for 7/21

  • Focus: casual stroll for 45 min
  • Duration: ?
  • Miles: ~2?
  • Where: neighborhood
  • Rate: 2

Pretty easy walk other than trying to get a good distance in before the rain. Some little kids screamed at me and when I turned off I could here them saying, "Don't walk! Don't walk!" because it was starting to drizzle. What's drizzle and rain? Nothing. That's what dryers and towels are for. I was more worried about it changing to thunder and lightening later in the evening like it has been!

I didn't do intervals yesterday at the gym because of bad weather making it impossible to drive over there. Today Paul got in early, so I am going to hope that in an hour when rush hour traffic dies down the weather is still just at a drizzle so I can dash out to the gym to do Thursday's session. Cross your fingers! Time to eat now though... and drink more water.

I did have a wicked calf cramp yesterday from tension and stress -- stretching it, Advil, then the short, easy walk just now and more stretching seem to have taken care of it. I'm prone to stress, and besides making my neck rash break out I have trouble sleeping and my whole body gets tense.

I will not stress. I refuse! Nonono!


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 6:03 PM

Training Walk for 7/20

  • Focus: intervals for 60 min
  • Duration: 60 min
  • Miles: 5.56
  • Where: gym, cross trainer
  • Rate: 4?

For some people the scale becomes the emotion barometer. I think for me it's the thermometer!

It kept right on drizzling, but no thunder or lightening so I did get to zip to gym to do Thurs. session. It went pretty well -- I had a new mix tape from a cyberbuddy, so that kept my attention span focussed and because it was Friday night, the gym was practically deserted. I had my pick of machines on the cardio floor. The best part was the temps -- I could feel the AC and it was nice and reasonable unlike the usual baking oven it is if they day's been gruesome. The hills were medium to hard -- my heart rate hung out at 170 while I was climbing those. I'm going to have to start looking at a heart rate monitor for the street. Maybe for my birthday? Hrm.

Anyhow, because I felt emotionally and mentally happy/entertained, the hour flew by. Yay. I wish they were all days like today! The summer heat can be so nasty! :P


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 10:07 PM

July 20, 2000

Training Walk for 7/18

  • Focus: 45 min casual stroll
  • Duration: 0
  • Miles: 0

Didn't walk yesterday. I really wanted to by the time the day was over because I was getting so stressed out but I couldn't -- by the time I was free it was dark and the gym was closed. Sigh. Which means getting this stuff out of the way in the mornings is still the best idea, but I can't bring myself to do it that early that often because I will never see Paul. I hated going to bed early and waking early when I used to go with Jen at 5 AM, and I hated my schedule when I worked graveyard for that reason -- I never saw Paul. I don't see him enough as it is, and that';s the one thign I won't give up for this race -- time with my husband.

Ugggggh.

At any rate, tonight I'll do the one for today and shoot for a stellar effort.

The park we want to go to this weekend called to confirm our address so they can mail us information. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow because we want to go to the park on Saturday. It's ok if it doesn't get here until later, it just would be nice to go over the maps before we go. I'm really looking forward to it!


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 9:31 AM

July 19, 2000

Spot weather check: 91 deg on the heat index at 9:10 AM this morning.

My thighs are hurting. Not bad, just sore. I predict a slooooooow snail walk this evening if any. I just didn't expect bike drills to work me so hard! :P

I got an answer to my strength training question from the walking guide at about.com.

Q: If you are doing a lot of walking (in general or in training for a race), can you get by with only doing weight training for upper body to compensate?

A: From what I have read from the racewalking email group and from racewalking manuals, they say there is no need for a racewalker to do any lower body weight work. However, they do recommend abdominal exercises, which can help with posture in walking, and some upper body work just to stay balanced. (from Wendy Bumgardner )

Thank goodness. My legs can't take more than they already do! But gadnabbit, I really dislike ab work!


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 10:33 AM

July 18, 2000

Training Walk for 7/18

  • Focus: 60 minutes speed work
  • Duration: 37 minutes
  • Distance: 3.41 miles
  • Where: gym, cross trainer
  • Rate: 4

5:15 AM weather check? 87 deg on the heat index and climbing. Ugggh! This does not bode well for the afternoon. The good news is that I was eating breakfast by then and washing my gym clothes. I was trying to get out of the house and BE at the gym by 6 AM, but I didn't even get into my car to leave until then. I was feeling a bit pressured to come back with the car so Paul can go to work so I was worried about morning rush hour on the way back to the house through the whole workout.

At any rate, I'm definitely fresher in the morning. New PR -- one of the miles I did at just barely under 10 minutes, but under nonetheless. I didn't get to do the whole hour because I needed to leave the gym by 7 AM, but overall I'm pleased. It's a miracle I got up!

Starting in with the calf cramps again, and my quads are killing me. I think from all the bike drills.


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 7:41 AM

training walk 7/17

Guest Walking Buddy: K
Locale: the Kitty Tour
Minutes: 45-ish
Mileage: 2.0
Total Mileage: 93.74

Yeah, I know yesterday was technically a rest day.. but I had to get out of my house, K was willing, and the temps were cool. So we did four laps around the complex, easy laps .. you know, for the 45 minute easy walk we're supposed to do MWF.

Part of me was real disappointed about the performance until K told me to shut up and remember it was supposed to be an easy walk.

What are friends for?

And getting that walk in this evening practically ensured that I'll be reaching 100 miles by the weekend. Won't it be lovely to go to my cousin Kim's wedding able to say "I've walked 100 miles"?
posted by Adrith 9:36 AM

July 17, 2000

Hehehe.. I've been doing some routine maintenance on this page and its archives.. and I titled this week's summary and archive "Adequate Hydration".

I find this funny ha-ha because I know I don't drink enough water, and that Astrophe is putting in a superhuman effort (which is the only way I could suck down 3L of water, LOL) to get her water needs met. I know it's important to get water in.

But it's also funny strange, because up until this weekend, it hadn't rained up here in a couple of weeks, and our lawn was starting to get yellow and crunchy. Yep, the grass CRUNCHED as we walked across it. And Astrophe's lawn is getting plenty of rain these days..

Yes, folks, we are our lawns.

(If this crazy entry isn't a sure sign I need more water, I don't know what is..)
posted by Adrith 3:37 PM

Today is a rest day. THANK GOD!

Adrith's entry cracked me up because I just got done with liter #2, going to refill and go for #3. Do I drink anything besides water? Rarely. Who can fit frivolous fluids in with this kind water requirement?!

I'm seriously hungry today. Karen (dietitian) thinks it's odd that I don't want to eat a whole lot on exercise days but it makes sense to me. Exercise depresses appetite to a degree and when I exercise on a full stomach I feel bad. But on REST day?! Gimme food, gimme food, gimme food! I'll probably go over 2000 today easily.

I'm not hitting her protein guideline very often. Every once in a while I do, but for the most part, it's around 50-60 grams -- about right for a regular person my size. Those extra 20 grams for an athletic person -- not quite getting there. Grr.
posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 5:19 PM

July 16, 2000

Training Walk for 7/16

  • Focus: endurance for 1:15
  • Duration: 45 min
  • Where: cross trainer at gym
  • When: afternoon
  • Distance: 4 miles
  • Rate: 5

Even though I drank 1 L before going, and 1 L during, I still felt headache-y. It was not a fun workout. Emotionally and mentally I felt really strung out and while the physical work wasn't horrid, it was still not good. I took off my glasses and just worked out that way so I didn't see much of the console until I put my glasses back on when I got to the end of one side of my tape. I couldn't bear to flip it over and keep going, so I called it quits and came home.

Turns out it was 103 deg F this afternoon on the heat index. Duh! No wonder I felt bad and I thought the gym today was stuffy. It was!

Rained later in the afternoon, and it has let up so we are going to bike. Looked up a water calculator to check if my goal of 3 L is where I need to be. Yup.

Water, water, water

Update:

  • Focus: Balance drills
  • Where: Neighborhood, biking
  • When: Sunset
  • Distance: 4 miles
  • Duration: 30 minutes

It's windy and overcast and it brought down the heat index to 90 deg. MUCH better! I never thought I'd say 90 deg felt good, but it did!

We did a short spin through the neighborhood and finally ended up on the two parking lots we like best. When this was a base, they had all these little fitness stations all over base for the GI's to train on, and one of the lots has painted squares where cones are supposed to go. So we practice standing on the pedals and running through the squares slalom style. In another parking lot there are a lot of S-curves, loops, zig-zag turns, etc.

The police department likes that parking lot too because sometimes they come out to do police car driving practice. Anyway, we follow the markings on the bikes for our own drills to help me improve my balance on my bike. Paul shows off and runs through them with no hands jsut to show me up -- but I'm getting better at it.

It worked out perfectly because it started to thunder and there was lightening starting to come up so we booked it home. Happy ending after all.


posted by Cat 'Astrophe' 7:26 PM

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