Monday, March 23, 2009

How Is It Monday Already?

Saturday: 83 mile ride, 2 mile run
Sunday: 18 mile ride, 3200 meter swim
Monday: 5.5 mile run

Well, let's just say that I got no unpacking done this weekend. I'm so ready for this stablizer week. It seems that the intensity has really picked up the last few days. Don't get me wrong, I think it's been great because I finally feel like I'm getting back on track with the training schedule. But I'm tired.


And I really need to water the plants.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Ye Olde Stage...Firsts

Today I finally got in some much needed hill training on the bike. I did Old Stage twice and then continued up towards Jamestown. I sort of ran out of time, so I only got a few miles up the canyon, BUT I actually passed people! On a hill! Craziness, I know. And these were real cyclists (of course, two of them were on mountain bikes, but the other two were not). Still, I think it's a record for me.

I was surprised that I felt pretty good considering the long run the day before. I was expecting my legs to give out halfway up Old Stage. But they stayed with me and performed some miracles: 1. I was able to ride the second repeat while seated for the majority of the hill. 2. I was able to restart on the steepest part of the hill from a dead stop.

Yes indeed. I usually have to stand for most of the hill because my legs just haven't been strong enough to propel me in a seated position. I'll usually stand for a bit and then take a quick break to spin a few rotations and then back to standing. But I've always had to throw my whole body into it. But this time, I was able to remain seated for almost the entire hill. There were a few times I had to stand to try and get my cadence up a little bit. And then my CO2 cartridge fell off. I heard a click and saw something fall from the corner of my eye. Having heard some rattling earlier, I naturally assumed that my bike was falling apart (the eternal optimist). I stopped (which is really hard to do when you're going so slowly and are at such a steep angle). I saw that it was my cartridge and went to go get it. I checked the other cartridge and adapter and everything was loose - I must be riding some rough road somewhere. I tightened everything up, then hopped on my bike and prayed for a miracle that I could get started again without falling on my face. I somehow managed to pull it off.

So it was almost like I was destined to pass people going up to Jamestown - after my triumphs on Old Stage,
how could I have a bad ride after that?

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Short and Sweet

Exactly the opposite of my day which was, well, I'll just stick with long and sour. It's sort of like a few weeks ago when I was leaving the gym at a time when I'm usually there for masters. On my way out, I ran into a lane buddy who just barely caught himself in time as he whispered "I almost didn't recognize you in your clothes".

Anyhow, it's been a long day. Up at 5 for a 14.5 mile run. Off to work where I was at my desk for a total of about 10 minutes. I actually had to reschedule a meeting just so I could eat lunch. At 2pm! And then off to masters 30 minutes late, which I have to say that after the run, I was okay with missing half the class.

The run went well. My biggest complaint was with how dark it was. I usually run along 30th street when it's dark outside because it's well lit. But now I don't live near 30th anymore. I actually ran from Matt's house because I still don't have a great sense of where to run at my new place, especially for 14 miles. And Boulder I know. I had my headlamp, which was great, but because it was so dark and because the headlamp gives you such a limited area, I was getting pretty dizzy at times. But I got over it and it eventually became light. My other issue with the dark is that I manage to get myself all worked up about what sort of things are lurking out there. Coming from DC, you might think that this is normal, but I'm talking about animals. I'm a little hesitant to run through open space when I can't see what's out there. There could be bears or mountain lions out there. Or even cows, or turkeys, or geese, or other poultry (I'll save this for another time...it's a long and now entertaining story). But I was lucky today and only saw a rabbit this morning. I of course jumped about 10 feet in the air before I realized what it was. But hey, it keeps up the heartrate, right? And in the end, my run was right on pace with where I need to be for a 4 hour marathon.

P.S. The title was actually supposed to represent the size of this posting. I didn't write a dissertation and I didn't analyze. I'm sure it won't last.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

T Minus 3 Months...and Change

What does the T stand for? Takeoff? Time? In my case it stands for Totally Not Ready. Now that I'm no longer in real estate and moving mode, it's time to get back on the training program. No more excuses. No more telling myself when the alarm goes off at 5am that I'll just do it later.

It's amazing what the body remembers. I can't tell you what I've been doing for workouts for the past few months - a little swimming here, a bit less of biking there, and a lot of running. But I end up surprising myself often. Last Thursday, after poisoning myself on Monday, I attempted a 14 mile run. After a 2 mile warm-up, I started my intervals. I couldn't get into Z3 let alone Z4. So much for intervals. Since my Garmin is on the fritz again and I really didn't know a good 14 mile loop from memory, I decided to run for 2 hours instead. In Z2 because that was all I could do. Surprisingly I kept a very steady pace and was slightly faster on the way back. I mapped it out later and (accounting for various mapping errors), was somewhere between 13 and 13.5. That was a shocker!

I headed out this weekend for my longest brick to date: 51/11.5. Since I had skipped half of my workouts during the week, I made it up to myself by doing Old Stage - first ascent of the season. I keep waiting for the day where I get to the top and think "Hmm, that really wasn't so bad". Don't worry. I'm not there yet. But it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. It didn't hurt quite so much. It might actually not be so bad one day...The first hour of the Z3 went really well (and fast for this turtle). The last little bit ended up being uphill and into the wind.

ASIDE because I just have to get it out: Damn this wind!!! When will it end??? END ASIDE

But it was better than the previous weekend where I had a headwind or severe crosswind about 90% of the ride. Seriously, every time I turned, so did the wind. But overall, the ride went well. I had done the same loop the prior weekend (minus Old Stage) but it took a bit longer. Go me! I made it home and changed for the run. This was only the second run from my new house and the only route I've found so far is to my brother's house via the trails. 3 miles to his backyard, but uphill the entire way. In case it is not obvious, it does not make for a very good long brick, when you're first 3 miles are uphill (it does make for a great finish though). My legs were aching from Thursday. I was also dealing with some residual knee pain that I've started getting when it's really cold. It's like it shocks my knee joints and it takes them a day or two to recover. The uphill didn't help. So I ended up not really doing my Z3 stuff, but at that point, it was more of a mental workout that I knew I had to do to feel one step closer to being ready. I did get several miles at the Z2/Z3 threshold at a 9 min pace. I was happy with that. I stopped at Adam's on the way back to refill on water. It ended up being about a 15-20 minute break, but when you have 3 miles that are all downhill, it's not like I was going to get a whole lot out of them.

I finished up the weekend with a short ride and long swim yesterday. Neither were spectacular, but they did what they were supposed to in terms of logging the miles.

I was advised to keep these short and sweet so that I can potentially blog daily. So far I've failed. But I'm trying to keep it in mind. I'm just not sure that my mind works that way.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

I'm Back...

Disclaimer: I am a dork. And I am a bit meticulous. I know this already. You do not need to remind me.

No more excuses. The move is over and done with. The unpacking isn't, but I have way more time to take care of that. And there's no hurry considering I know where everything is. I have already been made fun of by so many people that I no longer have issue with discussing my packing strategy. For the anal triathletes out there, you may appreciate it. Usually I label (and colorcode) boxes based on where they need to end up in the new place. This year, I went several steps further. I had a spreadsheet. So, not only was each box labeled and colorcoded, but each box was also numbered. The spreadsheet then allowed me to put all sorts of details as to what went into the box. Instead of "Dishes", I would put things like "Plates, bowls, serving bowls" and so on. Since I was reusing boxes with other peoples writing all over it, this just seemed like a better idea (at one point a box may have been for bath for one move and office for the next move, and so on). My goal was to try and avoid boxes labeled Miscellaneous because these drive me crazy. This came in especially handy several times:

1. After "thinking ahead" while packing up dry food items, I left out a few things for dinner to cover a few days. This included a can of black beans for quesadillas
. Several nights later when I went to make said quesadillas, I realized I had no can opener. Fear not, said the spreadsheet. It's in Box 49. Okay, you're thinking that's not such a big deal because the whole box was probably utensils, which it pretty much was. But how about this...
2. The first night in the new place, Matt and I collapsed into bed. A few hours later we awoke, having not really been asleep due to the screamingly quietness of the place. The humidifier HAD to come out for background noise if we were going to get some sleep. Box 77. We were back in bed within minutes. Perhaps a little more impressive? It's not like I had a whole box full of humidifiers - this actually turned out to be a miscellaneous box (there was a lampshade and cowboy hat as well and you really can't label that anything but miscellaneous). But again, there wasn't a lot of stuff in it since the humidifier did take up a bit of room. So the grand finale...
3. I went for a ride on Sunday. I had a whole box for workout clothes because they are so important. But inevitably something gets left out. In this case, my leg warmers, which I found on the floor in the back of my closet when I thought I had finished packing the closet. These ended up in another miscellaneous box only because it did not occur to me to just open the workout clothes box and throw them in (moving brain will do that to you). But fear not. I knew they were in Box 78 and wasted all of about a minute in getting ready for my ride.

So I'm not too concerned with holding off on the unpacking. If I need something, chances are that I'll know exactly where to find it. I strive for a box or two a night and have fallen short a box or two the past two nights. But oh well. That's just how it goes.

Oh, and by the way, I LOVE the new house! Training has sort of been on the back burner, but I'll try and get to that soon.