Long swim and 10K

Short post today. I''m tired, but it's a good tired. I had Steph film me for a few laps so I can see how my swimming is doing (reminds me, I need to review the recording). I did 80 laps (2000 meters), then I changed clothes and did 10K on the treadmill.

2-12-09 6 miler

I've had a bad exercise week. Pool was closed on me Monday, didn't get to workout Monday night because of home items. I had a vendor dinner meeting Tuesday night. Wednesday is always church night. I FINALLY got to the gym on Thursday night.

I decided I wasn't going to hammer out a monster workout - just a nice longish run ('long' is ALWAYS a relative term). I've been giving a lot of thought to the constant HR workout I'd attempted earlier - more specifically the 132 bpm number; which I STILL think is waaaay too low. I decided to monitor my HR manually, and adjust accordingly. I wanted to do 5 miles at a speed of at least 10 min/mile. I set the tready @ 6mph and a 3% incline. This worked out great except for one thing: about 3 miles into the run, I decided to bump up the speed a bit, and also decided to take it to 6 miles. I didn't give it any more thought until about 48 minutes into the workout when the treadmill incline dropped to 0 and the speed started to plummet..."Workout Complete" displays on the screen and I recall the original setup. I'd set up the workout as a set distance run.... 5 miles. I frantically started pounding buttons to get the speed and incline back up and keep the treadmill from resetting my workout data. I did a flash of quick math and figured if the data reset, then I'd need to run another 10 minutes to get to 10 miles. I got the speed recovered and was back in the groove... for about 2 minutes until it all happened again. This time I couldn't save it

*** sounds remarkable like a plane crash doesn't it ***

I reset the speed and incline (lost all the data), and ran for another 10 minutes.


I estimate that it was a 1 hr run, and a distance about 6.2 miles.

I stretched well and left.

Didn't get to splash today - this is my grumpy look

When I got to the pool today @ 5:30, they told me it was closed due to maintenance that didn't get finsihed this weekend. The bad thing is that @ 5am, I knew they'd done maintenance, and I almost called the gym to verify they were done before I drove to the other end of town - - always follow the gut.

2-7-08

I did get to run 5.25 miles on the tready - did intervals and wore the heartrate monitor - interesting.

I love my new HR monitor. When I step up up to the treadmills, they light up with my heartrate. It has the added bonus of affecting the other treadmills adjacent to me . You should have seen the panic on the little old man's face next to me when his heart rate went from 75 bpm to 150 bpm within 5 seconds---- he left. I tried the constant HR workout, but I had to stop after a mile, becuase it didn't feel like a workout. The treadmill told me I should be working @ 132 bpm... my max HR is about 185... 132 is a crawl. The tready had me slowed down to 4.5 mph @ one point...I was almost walking. I did that for a mile, then stopped an programmed some good hard intervals for the next 4o mins. After than (dripping with sweat) I did weights and core workout.

2-5-08

Longish interval workout tonight. I did 5.25 miles of 3 minute intervals (10 min/mile pace and 7:30/mile pace). I also did some core workouts and tricep and shoulder exercises.

I had sashimi for lunch today with a little rice, so fueling was pretty stable. After the workout, I went and watched the Tai Kwon Do class upstairs. I like getting my workouts in this weather, but it does make for a long nigh. I didn't leave the gym until 8pm.

2-3-09 quick-n-lift

short post. relaxed 3/4 miles on the tready, then ramped up to about an 8% incline, and ran the pace up to about 7 min/mile. then I hit the weights, but the weight room was CROWDED!!!. I had to squeeze onto machines - light core workout, curls, shoulders, triceps, squats, etc.

Not going to swim this week - - too cold to get out and too far away from race day. Taking this week as a 'rester'.

Total run distance was about 1.6 miles.

1-31-09 Run n' lift again

I did 4 miles on the treadmill, and then lifted and did the RW core workout. Still need more airflow in the workout room.

1-29-09 tread tread tread

Did 5.25 on the treadmill tonight - I really wanted to go 6, but I felt like it was WAY too early in the season to be pushing just for the sake of pushing. I don't want to start this season injured from over-use. I stopped @ 5.25, then walked for another quarter to cool down. The worst thing about running on the treadmills is that there's no airflow in the room. I start off kind of cool - almost chilly, but by about a mile into the run, I'm sweating good (not a bad thing), but by 2 miles, I've got drops dripping off of me, and my shirt is soaked. In the summer this isn't a big deal because the evaporation helps to cool me down a little, but no airflow = no evap = swimming. And once the sweat starts rolling on your (thinning) forehead, and the shirt is soaked, there's not really a good way to stop it. I can wipe my face/head with the front of my shirt, but that's only good for about 2 wipes, and only about 5 mins per wipe. I try to use it as a matter of small goal setting: "don't touch your face until mile X.X" Alas, the travails of the preseason.

After I ran, I did a little weight training. I'm trying to spend extra time on shoulder exercises and ab exercises. I really want to develop some more strength in my shoulders for the swim, and some definition in both places. RW had some interesting core/ab excercises in the Feb issue, and I'm going to try to do those at the end of each workout, as well as dips and leg lifts.

Running on the treadmill is boring. I'll say that again: RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL IS BORING. It does have it's advantages: It's easy to define pace, you can make yourself run the right speed and not let the ego or fresh legs dictate the workout. What I dislike the most is the TV. I'd prefer to have it off - I don't want to know what color socks the president wore today, or how many politicians it takes to screw up a city/state/country, I'm tired of the endless speculation on the end of the world/the latest missing person/the color of the presidential curtains/the belief system of some shcmuck who looks good in a suit/Oprah's latest diet/etc/etc/etc. I can see enough FoxNews or CNN within a 30 minute run to reach my lifetime limit. The sad thing is: I'd want if off even if it was something I'd be interested in watching: Star Trek, BSG, CSI, Tech, How-to-turn-your-toaster-into-a-NAS, etc, etc. I just want to run. Put on a DVD of changing scenery - no sound: that's why I've got these things stuck in my ears.

And speaking of ears: It's a fitness room, not a social club. If you want to chat with your friend that you came to workout with (workout partner); fine, but I'm not that person. I'm not your sounding board, therapist, biographer, or even interested (probably). Notice the headphones: THEY ARE NOT FOR DECORATION OR TO MAKE ME LOOK "WORK-OUT-ISH". I can't hear you - don't try to chit-chat. The ONLY exception I'll make is if your on the tready beside me, and you want to 'chit-chat' at an 8 minute per mile pace - that usually shuts up most patrons or reduces the one's at MY gym to sobbing, heaving masses of 'why am I doing this'.

All in all, I'd just rather be outside (unless it's too hostile to my alabama sensibilities....below 40 and dark). I'm staying inside and on the tready to control my base building - but that doesn't mean I have to enjoy being a gerbil.


AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH - 'rant over'..... back to my normal cheerful self