14 June 2006

Hmmmm, I train, I get faster and stronger. Who knew???

For me training is really a frustrating journey. I will train and see little improvements for a couple of weeks, then suddenly, bam, a significant jump in strength and/or speed. Then generally I will have a setback and then start the slow build again. It basically 2 steps forward, 1 step back. And that's fine because I'm still moving in a forward direction, it can just get frustrating. This past week I thought I had taken the 1 step back, but this morning I think I took the 2 steps forward. So, basically, I not sure what happened.

Yesterday was a bike ride. I get up before the roosters and lift weights, then as soon as the sun makes an appearance, I'm off on my bike. I did 14.2 miles in 1:06 (I think). I seem to live in a low point. Whichever direction I head out from my house is uphill. I was supposed to do 15 miles but at the 7 mile mark there begins a huge, steep uphill that, frankly, I haven't had the nerve to try yet. I'm saving that for my 2 steps forward day :) After the ride I had a short transition run just to get the legs used to it. I ended up running up and down my driveway playing with the dogs, it was fun.

Today was swimming and running. That lady with her kids was at the pool again. I just keep telling myself that it's only temporary. She's probably on vacation or something. At worse, Hawaii is on some twisted year round school schedule so that will only be out of school like 5 weeks. Anyway, I'm just going to ignore them and give off bad vibes when they are in my way in the morning.

So swimming. I was supposed to do 750 m and I really wanted to work on my TI drills which I've let fall by the wayside since the move. So I did 2 x 100m warm up: 2:56 and 2:24; 250m drills: 6:57; 300m swim: 8:22. All swimming was done sloooooww. I was really working on form and rolling. I was pleased with the way it felt. During the 2nd 100m I couldn't help racing with the guy in the next lane. He was telling someone how he was a triathlete and was racing all these races, blah, blah, blah. We just happened to leave the wall at the same time and I couldn't help but push to keep up with him. Yeah, he's not so fast. The exciting part of that is my goal for the race is 2:30/100m. I did 2:24 and felt like I was pushing a little but I could have kept it up for a while. That's what I'm talking about. So there I was, 750m in 22:49 - sweet since I was going really slow. I think I can pull off 800m in 20 minutes.

Then it was out of the pool and off for a run. This is where I really rocked. I have a route I run that's down from the Y, through the marsh and back. I run for time not distance since time is the limiting factor in the morning. Along the marsh path they have these little markers on the wall that have numbers on them. I have no idea what they mean or how far apart they are, but they are at very regular intervals (this was built by the Army Corps of Engineers so it's very precise). When I started running I felt a little dead and thought, ugh, this is going to be tough. After about 5 minutes I started to feel good, really good. I go to the marsh path and decided it was time to do some intervals. I would run from one marker to another as fast as I could. I have no idea how far it was and that doesn't matter, the point was I did 6 of these little sprints and felt great. The return run to the Y is uphill and I made it no problem. So, to recap, I did sprints and ran further than normal in less time, sweet. I'm estimating it's almost 3 miles in 31 minutes - very sweet!! Definitely 2 steps forward today.

I definitely feel like I'm making progress and that's what I needed to feel. It's these days that keep me going. I have no doubt that tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after, I will feel like a little baby just learning to walk and I will have to think back to today and realize how strong I'm getting.

12 June 2006

Woo Hooo, it's a holiday!!!

Well, for some people it is, not for me though. It's Kamehameha Day here in Hawaii and that means all the local governments are closed. All the other poor slobs are working though.

Because of this, I wasn't sure if the Y would be open. I figured they would be but you never know.

I had a terrible night last night. The neighbors, the drug dealers, decided to have a fight at midnite. After about 10 minutes of yelling, I got up and called the cops. They said that someone had already called. A few minutes later they were there and all was quiet after that.

I, however, could not get back to sleep. I'm having trouble with my lower back and I'm not sure what to do. Once things quieted down, I just could not get comfortable. My lower back feels like the vertebrae are separated. I tend to have problems with one side of my back getting too tight. Generally massage or yoga will get things relaxed enough to straighten out. This is different. When I try to stretch it like normal, it actually hurts more. Laying down with my back in neutral position does not feel good. Standing up and moving around feels good. Also, my sciatica nerve is alive. I can feel it through my butt muscle and down the side of my leg. I don't know what to do. I can workout, swimming, biking, running, doesn't bother it. Laying down is bad. I just don't know.

So, I roll out of bed this morning hoping the Y is open and head out. It is open and there are few cars in the parking lot - yeah!!!!! There is only 1 person in the pool - yeah!!!!!!! I was scheduled to do 2000m but my heart just wasn't in it. I felt like lead swimming along and slower than molasses. I could not get my breathing regulated, it was miserable. After 1200m I called it a day; the kids in the next lane helped that decision - see rant below. I did 600m in 17:27 and 14:59 - jeeezzz I can float faster than that. I'm glad I went though.

This is a rant about children and it may upset you parent types. Why do people think it's okay to inflict children on other people???? I go to the Y at 6 a.m. specifically because there are no children there. This time of morning is for lap swimming only. Last week I went at 6 p.m. and there were tons of kids; so I decided I would never go at night again. So I'm swimming this morning when this lady shows up with her 3 little kids. She puts them in a lane (the one next to me) and takes another lane for herself. Now this bothers me on a number of levels. 1) these children were playing they should not be in a lane. 2) if you are bringing your rugrats YOU swim with them. 3) keep them in their own damn lane.

As you can imagine, 3 kids playing in a lane was like swimming next to a school of dolphins. The water was really rough; I kept getting kicked and banged with noodles; their "toys" kept drifting into my lane. I was getting pissed. You know, my dogs are way more behaved than most children but I don't inflict my dogs on other people. When I have my dogs out and other people are around, I go out of my way to keep them away unless the people say it's okay. Why are children different??? Why am I supposed to accept children???? I don't have children so why do I have to put up with them???? I'm not asking people not to bring them but 6 a.m. is not the time for children in the pool.

I make it a point of going places at times when children aren't around. I go to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch on Saturdays; we sit in the bar - no children. I go to movies that are rated R - there should be no children. I'm dying to see Cars but I won't because it will be loaded with children.

I can only assume that parents think that all people love children. Newsflash - we don't.

I don't mean to upset anyone, but if you have children don't assume that everyone loves them like you do.

Okay, I'm done. In general I do like children, but I hate when I am forced to put up with them.

Well, I'm off to work. Hopefully it will be quiet today since it's a quasi-holiday.

11 June 2006

Whew, it's hot!!!

It's really hot here today. My little temp thingy says 84 F but there's no real wind so it feels much hotter.

Overall a good weekend. Yesterday was a long bike ride and I ended up doing 22.7 miles in 1:57.
I was going slow (as you can tell) and just enjoying the riding. I also stopped at the bike shop. I have some really old Look pedals and needed to know if I could still get cleats for them. Yes. I also needed to know what size bike shoe I wear. 39. So I came home hopped on the internet and ordered myself a pair of bike shoes. Now, they are nothing fancy, no big names or anything. I've never used them and quite frankly they scare the piss out of me, but I decided it's time to step up and be a grown up biker. So as soon as I get them I'll go get the cleats and attempt to kill myself ride.

On other news, today was my run and oh bubbie it was hot. I left at 7:00 and it was already 79 F. Now that doesn't sound all that hot, but where I was running is between 2 mountains and there is no air flow. So it was bloody hot. I ended up doing 5 miles in 1:20. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. The first half was up hill and the second half I was dying. I did a lot of walking on the way back because of the heat.

Tomorrow the real work begins. I've spent most of this month building a base and now it's time to start adding drills. I'm going to run intervals on Weds. and bike hills on Thurs. I have some great swimming drills and it's time to get to serious work.

Nancy totally rocked Eagleman, way to go!!!! Ellie took on the Hatfields and McCoys, way to go Ellie!!! It was a buys weekend for racing. Congrats to all who participated.

Conversation with Hubby

 So yesterday morning I presented my idea of working out at home to the Hubby. Once I presented it to him, he said he was in. I told him I h...