Tuesday, March 31, 2009

At last....my love has come around

Morning spin 95 mins

15 min easy warm up
4 x 15 min 55-60 cadence big ring spin; 5 min easy spin out recoveries.
I found it interesting my last big ring interval I pushed and kept higher wattage then all 3 previous ones yet I was more fatigued.
These are tough work

Evening - get this 30 min running, 3.10 miles - on land!
I was out there for 30 minutes but was stopped at almost every light, took this opportunity to stretch. Total running time came to 27 mins and I ended up with an 8:45 pace, not bad for an easy recovery run. At least my LSD pace didn't drop. I ran with very limited pain today. I think the heel pads the doc recommended helped. Plus I also focused on running with my core and kicking my legs backward instead of forward. The little jaunt its self was pretty effortless. When I finished I had no limp, this is a first. My leg was a little tender but much better then previous attempts. Ice now and we'll see how it feels in the morning. Wish me luck.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Not enough hours in the day

Saturday - 2.5 hour spin
Followed up by Thanksgiving in March, which lead to drinking so much I couldn't feel my face.

Sunday - alcohol induced rest/recovery day. I didn't hold food down until noon, this was NOT ok. I am truly blessed to have the friends that I have....breakfast in bed, cozy fake fur bed cover, pedalite, pepto bismo, pizza. I couldn't have asked for better care.

Monday morning - 90 min aqua run - easy
I got a few comments about the GU and Pepto Bissmo sitting at the end of the pool. 90 mins of aqua running is hard on the body, I always feel like I have been thrown up against the wall. It amazes me how much of a workout it is on the core, arms, back and quads.....swim will hurt tonight

Monday evening tri club swim

Warm-Up
500

Drill Set
10 x 50 y
Odds – 1,3,5,7,9 -- Kicking one arm extended the other at the side, switch sides on the 25.
Evens – 2,4,6,8,10 -- Catch-up freestyle.

Main Set: Aerobic Ladder
500 (R: 50 sec)
400 (R: 40 sec)
300 (R: 30 sec)
200 (R: 20 sec)
100

Cool-Down
4x25 Form sprints (R:30 sec), then 200 easy swim.

Total yardage = 2800

Surprisingly swim did not hurt, I came upon new found energy and attacked. Swim felt good.

Yogi sleepy time awaits me

Friday, March 27, 2009

TGIF :)

Am swim

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 250 paddles
1 x 250 buoy
repeat 1 X

4 x 50 - One arm catch up going down, finger drag on the return; 10
2 x 100 - 25 Aok, 25 Fist, 25 Karate, 25 Free
1 x 100 speedy

That, that, that is all folks!
Total yardage - 2000

Followed up by a 45 min aqua run
The first 20 minutes went by pretty easy and was taken at a low intensity level so that I could talk with Alana. She dragged her ass out of bed at 4 something to join me for my swim/aqua run this morning, pretty badass if I do say so myself. It was REALLY nice to have someone to talk with. That's one thing that I miss most about running and the one thing I am most looking forward to during Ironman - finding someone who will talk with me for the whole marathon, and if not the whole thing finding a new buddy every couple of miles. Anywho, picked up the intensity level for the last 25 minutes - Salt N Peppa's Push It was a great song to end the run. Push it real good - ahahahahahaha!

TGIF!!! Work flew by like a kite on a beautiful sunny day...smooth sailingl.

Post work pre ART PT I decided to attempt to run around the city. I think this was good, as I learned a few things and did see a sign of progression. I ran for 25 minutes straight, I stopped and took short 20-30 sec walk breaks here and there, maybe 2-3 minutes of walking total. I still experienced pain on the run but it was better then last Sunday and it was the first run I've done that I didn't limp after.

Somethings I've come to realize is that
A. I can run on the pool surface pain free. My mid foot and heel never touch the floor, I'm always toe and ball running.
B. I don't experience pain at all when I have a 1-2 inch heel on and
C. I can run on land uphill pain free, yet I hurt on flats and descents. Thus the pain occurs when my mid foot or heel make impact on the ground.

I am making progression on recovery as I can swim and bike while pushing wattage/threshold w/out pain. I am also off of the anti-inflammitories. Each week I am showing small signs of improvements. They are small but they allow me to get my endurance training in without injuring myself any further. My ART doc suggested wearing heal cups in my flat shoes to tilt my foot down and alleviate some of the annoyance pain I occasionally get from walking. For now I will continue as I have been, swim, bike, aqua run, ice, massage and test my run every couple of days. Per my doc I know my run stride/gate well and have proven to listen when things don't feel right. So continue forward I shall march....

Post ART my leg hurt like a little b^%$^$. It was pissed off from the run and then from the therapy. I've been dealing with it yelling at me, it won't STFU. Hopefully it will calm as the night rolls forward.

My mom and I shared the BEST cheeseburger in the world and I got to catch up with a good friend at The Carafe. Mmmmm, dinner and company was 5 stars tonight. Today was a very good Friday :)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

A very loooooong day

I forgot all my tools for drills at home, so I quickly threw together a masochistic endurance/interval workout
Morning swim

500 warm up

Main Set
1 x 300 (first 100 easy, middle 100 moderate, last 100 HARD); rest 20
1 x 300 (first 100 moderate, middle 100 HARD, last 100 easy); rest 20
1 x 300 (first 100 HARD, middle 100 easy, last 100 moderate); rest 20
repeat 3 x total

Cool down
2 x 100s

Total yardage 3500

Mid-way through the main set I decided I was an idiot. This set was really hard, not really something I should have pulled out on a recovery week. Although I do allow myself one hard swim workout during these weeks so this one took the cake. Good lord it was hard. On the couple 300s I really, REALLY, REALLY wanted to quit. My arms and lats were starting to burn. I tried to channel my sugar high from my cookie binge last night but it wasn't working. Energy was fading and fading fast. The last 300 I completely zoned out.

Work felt like it lasted forever. I'm not one to complain about my job, it is pretty much a dream come true but we all have nightmares days, right? Communication barriers can be a pain in the ^%#^$!!!

Evening spin - 90 mins
Unwound with a 90 min spin at moderate endurance wattage avging 147 with a 182 max. HR stayed nice at low at 141. I was highly amused by Ugly Better. How I <3 that series.

Now I must drink some Sleepy Time Yogi tea so I can get to bed early to rise and swim/aqua run early.

I have another ART appointment tomorrow evening, I needed a status update on my injury, I feel like I will never heal :( but at least I'm making the best of my training that I can.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

aqua run

90 min moderate aqua run, avg HR 160- maxed at 168...that is all

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Lost Generation

My friend sent this to me today, it's pretty incredible. If you have yet to see it, check it out.

BTW, you'll need to turn my music player off at the bottom of my blogspot. Listen to the words and read the script. Sure there is work, but it is worth it.



Thanks for passing on the hope Alana

Monday, March 23, 2009

I will keep a smile on my face and in my heart even when it hurts

morning spin
easy 60 min recovery spin

evening swim
500 warm up

12 x 50s drill (first 4 buoy, 2nd 4 catch-up, last 4 fist freestyle)

Ladder set (effort at about 6-7 on a 10 scale):
300 w/ 40 seconds rest
200 w/ 30 seconds rest
100 w/ 20 seconds rest
100 w/ 20 seconds rest
200 w/ 30 seconds rest
300

100 cool-down
Total = 2400 yards

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Broken Down

"I’d rather be a failure in something that I love than a success in something I don’t."
George Burns

I ended the week on Saturday rounding off with 15 hours of training, the previous 2 weeks were between 13-14, this is with injury. Today was a clear indicator that my 4th week "active recovery" needs to take place, starting today.

I think I found a solution for my insomnia and restless legs. After yesterday's workout I was 99% sure sleep would non-existent as my legs continued to twitch and palpitate as the evening went on. I've tried sleep and restless leg drugs my doctor prescribed, those never worked. I tried Valerian Root and then Kava Root, still no success. Last night I tried a tea I found that has valerian root extract, passion flower extract and list of 11 different herbs and wala = 8 hours of successful uninterrupted sleep. I woke up feeling fantastic. I forget what solid sleep was like! I'm keeping full stock of this tea.
If you're interested
http://www.yogitea.com/Pages/OurTeas/MindTeas/Bedtime.html

I began my day with my favorite Honey Nut Cheerios, Whole Wheat English muffin with Agave nectar and peanut butter...and a little coffee. I then spent 45 minutes of core pilates strength training, foam roller massaging and stretching. My leg was feeling pretty good so I decided to try to run again.

Run...on land (I'll be so happy when I no longer need to specify that)
22 minutes - 20 minutes running
Ran solid for about 8 minutes, stopped and stretched. My ITB was irritated, nothing i could do but stretch. I was also experiencing a shin splints on the injured leg, so I took some advice from a friend and tried jogging backwards for a a minute, it helped a bit. Ran for another 10-11 minutes. Total run time was probably 20 minutes with a 2 minutes of stretching and a short walk break thrown in. After my leg was pissed off. This worries me as I don't know if it is too be expected or not. My PT said to "test" out my runs and listen to my body, when it tells me to stop I should, which I did, He also said to expect it to be made after, but I'm wondering how mad I can allow it to get. And frankly I don't want to run when my leg is mad. Running is supposed to make you happy not mad.

Anywho, I hit the pool after the run. I decided to swim a bit before the aqua run to get my leg a chance to calm down.

500 warm up
1 x 200 buoy
1 x 200 paddles

900 yards total, that was it. I have ZERO energy today. I mean none and each time I hit the water on my stroke my arms burned. Yesterday when I got off of Carnage I felt like my arms and abs had been bruised, I think it was riding in the aero position for such a long time. I have a tri club swim tomorrow night that I need to push myself at, so I called it good for the swim.

Aqua run - ah yes, this was fun. No not really at all. I HAVE NO ENERGY. Seriously I thought about dumping my head into the water and taking a nap, it was that bad. My quads were heavily fatigued and pumping them up and down in the water wasn't making anything better. I could barely elevate my HR, It would go higher then 140. The he-man aqua run perpetuator was at the pool again. Needless to say he didn't talk to me today :) funny, he wasn't aqua running either, what a douche. 25 minutes into my run the battery on my Ipod died. I viewed this as a sign to stop.

I failed on my land run, I failed on my short swim and I failed on my aqua run. My energy was non-existent today and after looking at the last few weeks of training it is clear to see why. This week will be an active recovery week.

Shit, I can't end my blog on a failure note....I slept a solid 8 hours last night. Sleep = success. Woot Woot!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

We are like tea bags - we don’t know our own strength until we’re in hot water.

3.5 hour trainer ride with big ring intervals.

First off, WTF?! Who does this kind of workout? Don does and apparently I do with no persuasion. Ok, well I was sold once I knew we were going to watch Lord Of The Rings. It's a damn shame I've never seen any of the movies until now, but having a HAOCD type personality rarely allows for movie watching unless I'm on a trainer. Sadly I was only able to follow the story for about 2 1/2 hours in....reasoning I'll get to in a bit. I had a few goals for today, one was to push the 3.5 hour mark. Before today I had never been on a trainer longer then 3 hours. 3 hours was best and that was taking the whole ride at a pretty easy wattage. Along with time I wanted to throw some interval work in. The bike doesn't hurt my injury and I need to start growing some power, today was my time to do that. Last but not least was to test my hydration and nutrition, all IM workouts should include this.

The first hour or so went by pretty quickly. I started remotely easy and dialed in hydration/nutrition and the movie of course. The plan was GUs every 30-35 minutes with a salt stick every hour, water drinks every 10 minutes.
Don started spin-ups around 20-25 mins in, I politely declined the masochistic intervals as I thought it wouldn't be healthy pushing high cadence and gears on my leg. His bike sounded like it was an F1 car and at the cadence he was spinning at I was sure he was going to fly off the trainer into the wall. About 50 minutes in I shifted to a harder gear and alternated every 10 minutes, not pushing too much, just enough to change it up a bit. 1:40 in and I started my big ring gear intervals. 5 x 10 min intervals - pushing the big ring at 55-65 RPMs. 5 min recoveries. The first 2 weren't so bad. It was kind of nice to spin slow, hard but slow. My third one I started to feel dizzy and sick. I should have had another salt stick at this time but kind of spaced it out, bad Kat...I payed the price for doing so. My big ring work put my wattage around 180-200. Somehow on #3 my wattaged peaked at 820. WTF?! Was that possible? Maybe I stood up. I reviewed the PowerTap csv file and the recording was listed 3 times so I don't think it was a glitch but based off of my weight I find it hard to believe. Anyhow, maybe that's why i felt like I was going to puke. Interval #4 and 5# I felt like I wanted to die. I kept drinking water but I was starting to feel water logged. Like the water was going in and just sitting in my tum tum = not ok. Lesson learned from this was that I clearly needed more sodium. After the 5th interval it was survival for me. I was pretty much incoherent after 2:50 into the ride, reasoning as to why I was losing the story line to LOTR. That's a complex story. So many damn names, I'm really a face person. I really wanted to stop pedaling by 3:15....but all I had was 15 minutes. 15 grueling minutes, the thought of stopping repeated in my mind lord knows how many times. But I don't quit EVER, I will suffer but suffering will end at some point of time, quitting will always stay with you. With that being said I finished my 3:30 hour long trainer ride. :) Yay, go me. I felt kind of bad as I had formed a small lake in Don's house, really I'm not %^#^ing with you. I changed bike shorts 2 hours in, I am a MASSIVE sweater...and not the kind you wear at Christmas time.

Lessons leaned -
I can handle GU for a long period of time - nutrition was on point
I need more sodium, a lot of sodium - 1400mg for 3.5 hours was not enough
I am badass and can mentally block out training pain - I'm good at blocking out other things too...I have some strong ass mortar for the walls I build

Thanks Don for putting together the workout and taking me to another level of insanity.

Friday, March 20, 2009

H2o - swimming/running

Morning Swim

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 250 buoy; 10
1 x 250 paddles; 10
repeat 1 x

2 x 50; alternating 25 one arm catch up/high elbow finger drag; 10
1 x 100; 25 a-ok, 25 fist, 25 karate, 25 free; 10
repeat 1 x

Main Set
1 x 200 - positive split (100 fast/100 easy); 10
1 x 200 - even split (50 easy/100 fast/50 easy); 10
1 x 200 - negative split (100 easy /100 fast); 10
repeat 1 x (#4 SUCKS!)

Cool down - 100

Total yardage - 3200

Thanks Alana for getting up uber early and partaking in a kick ass swim!

Evening - 60 min easy/moderate aqua run

I am freaking tired

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Another double

Morning Spin - 75 mins - 5 x 10 min big ring intervals.

Eh, these suck first thing in the morning. I might not be so bad if I was able to down some breakfast and allow digestion to take place, but who has time for that? Instead I popped a GU and off I went. Each 10 minute interval was done in the hardest gear focusing on smooth pedal strokes and power. Big ring intervals wattage ranged from 180-200 watts with 5 min recoveries between 135-150.

Work was uber busy as always, all the Spring 09 product is arriving. I feel like an elf around Christmas time. Planning and buying, then creating and processing all the toys. I was able to check out the TYR line today, I'm totally in love with their Jungle Trikini top and Monokini bottom. I am so going to rock bikini bottoms in a race this year. I've got the legs so why the hell not?

Post work I hit the pool again for an aqua jog - which might just be the death of me soon.
60 min aqua run
10 min warm up jog
10 min of drills - a$$ kickers, high knees and quick turn over.
10 x 50 yard sprints - I envisioned my legs where piston on an Formula One car revving at 17,000 RPMs. This %#$ was hard! HR reached I 178 during the sprints and that all I really had left after the morning spin session.
5 mins of more drills
10 min easy cool down run

I recovered in the hot tub. I have found that the jets work very well on massaging my IT Band. Felt soooooo good. Post workout I recovered with a bad ass frosty, I don't remember the last time I had one - it was blissful.

My quads are seriously swollen and achy. I wore my Zoot compression recovery tights all day and have iced on and off. I'm going to finish the night off with some pilates and the foam roller. I hope it helps.
I picked up some Valerian and Kava Root tonight. I'm going to try Valerian tonight to see if it helps my sleep. The insomnia has been getting worse. 2 hours after sleep I'm awake, and I keep waking up every 2-3 hours. To make matters worse the nightmares about running have returned. I'm now rounding off the 6th week of not running. I still don't feel comfortable trying, in fact I fear it. The pain has been present for so long I fear it will never go away. In my dreams I see a vivid picture of muscle tearing, I also fall on my leg over and over and over again. I wish they would go away. I wish I could run again. I wish a lot of things. I'm lucky that I am a driven person and have the motivation to step one positive foot in front of another. Because for the most part, I've realized I can't count on my friends. Well my real friends, the VERY few that have offered to meet me for swims or spins. It's disappointing, I signed up for this IM with a huge pretty close (or what I thought was close) group, I thought they would have been more supportive. Actions speak louder then words.....

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Sweatin the flu out

Sleep sucked, woke up every 2 hours, managed to fall back to sleep 15-20 minutes after waking, better then most insomniac night. Upon waking I realized my body aches and nausea had disappeared, thank God. I had a long workout planned wasn't sure how I would deal with it.

Morning swim
Warm up
500

Drills
1 x 250 buoy;10
1 x 250 paddles;10

8 x 25 - alternating one arm catch up and finger drapgs; 10
3 x 100s- 25 A-Ok, 25 fist, 25 karate, 25 free; 15

Main Set
5 x 200's - 3:30
This is the first time I fit consistent 3:15's without fading, managed 15 sec recoveries ready to attack again. I contribute this success to being high off of Theraflu and GU Roctane, great combination. Really though I think the drugs might have helped loosen my body up a little, I'm a stiff swimmer. Managed to hold a 183-185 HR for the duration :D

Cool down
200 buoy
300 easy

Total yardage - 3,000

Immediatly jumped into a 60 min aqua run

My co-worker made these AMAZING York Peppermint brownies. I took a small one and had it post swim/run recovery :)
My leg still hurts, some days worse then others. I think I'm going to hold off on trying to run for awhile. I'm becoming amused with this aqua running thing, at least I have that.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Tsunami

Sleep sucked. I woke up three times, twice my legs twitching and once my tummy growling. I should have gone to bed in my compression tights. Still, my alarm went off at 6 and I was wide awake to start spinning. My body on the other hand wasn't on board. I hoped on the TT and my legs felt uber heavy, not just my legs but my back, my body is on fire. Today was scheduled to be easy recovery spin so as long as my injury wasn't flared up I was going to DO IT. 10 minutes in and my legs loosened up and I pedaled freely. They were still tired but an "easy" workout was well within the realm. 70 mins avg 143 watts.

As the day went on my body ached more and more, mainly throughout my back....my neck was a tad bit sore as well. I did 2 hours of aqua running yesterday, it was tough but I can't see it inflicting DOMS this bad or affecting my neck. Right after lunch I was seriously nauseated. Then the headache hit me, extreme pressure build up. I assumed it was a sinus headache but the pain never went away after medicine. The nauseousness grew worse as the afternoon went on. My evening plans were to attempt to run again and then join the local tri club for the weekly swim. There was no way this was going to happen. I convinced myself that I could easily just suck it up and try to run for 10-15 minutes when I got home. I mean what is 10-15 minutes going to do? If I was going to spew it was going to happen run or not. And shit you not as soon as I put on my gear to run I upchucked all over my bedroom. %^#$& GROSS! I then had to clean up the mess I had just made which prompted onset gagging. To make matters worse all I want to do is lie in bed and my room smells like vomit. Fabreeze isn't cutting it. Wait, maybe it's me. Ewwwww, so gross. Hopefully a hot bath and night in bed will help calm the storm that appears to have taken over and unleashed it's wrath on me.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

2 hours and 3200 yards later....

I finished my aqua run.

Let's back up to right before the run. My leg has been feeling pretty good so I went for attempt#2 at running today, this time I made sure I packed my swimsuit to aqua run after.

I decided to take a short run around my gym neighborhood. The first few hops were good and then a little pain kicked in. The pain was weird, it didn't hurt like I was doing damage to my leg, it hurt/felt like I had never ran before. This was a little odd since everything felt pretty effortless. My legs moved freely, my body leaned more and interestingly enough I was landing on the ball of my foot, not the mid-heel (heel is bad I know this) as I had in the past. 4 minutes in I stopped and stretch my leg out, hoping that would help the pain subside. Again I started running. This lasted a 6-7 minutes before I stopped to stretch out my leg again. The pain was growing stronger and this time after stretching I noticed I had a bit of a limp in my walk. So I made it back to my car and called it good - for land running that is. I was out there for 15 minutes total and probably ran 11-12 minutes of it. I covered a little over a mile and I am happy for that. Lol, it's funny - I wasn't out there long but I enjoyed every little second of it, I was running and that's all that mattered.

I immediatly changed into my suit and aqua running gear and hit the pool - today I was shooting for a time PR. I knew 2 hours of running in the pool would be difficult. Not only is it boring as all hell but it's a lot of resistance on the body. I took it easy for the duration and kept my HR between 154 and 164. The first 30 minutes flew by pretty quickly. Then some random dude jumped in and started wadding by my side. I think he was trying to run as he said he always aqua ran but after watching him you could easily see he had no clue. He started to make small talk which I was happy to engage in until I came to think of him as a tool. The comments he made soon annoyed me. He was making attempts to flirt but they just came off cheesy and unattractive. For instance, he complimented my aqua shoes and said he needed a pair, that the pool floor gave him calluses. Really? You're whining about calluses? Dude would never want to see my feet then. I don't even think aqua shoes prevent calluses, you still shift around in them. The whole purpose is to get traction and added resistance. Then he asked if I was going for distance or time. Proof homie is not an aqua runner, you can't quantify an aqua run, it's pointless. Yes, I kept track of my yardage today, but that was in all fun, there was nothing else behind it. Once I told him I was going for 2 hours he nearly shit himself, then went on to talk about how I must be in great shape and yada yada yada. At this point I turned up my Ipod and ignored the rest of his comments. At the end of his jog he said me if I wanted him to come back in an hour and we could go for recovery food. AHAHAHAHHAHAAHAH! I giggled and asked why he would get would think that? He just thought it was a nice offer. AHAHAHAHAHA! I'm such a bitch. I laughed and replied "You only lasted 20 minutes" and turned to run the other way. Ok, so it was mean, but it he was a tool and it made me laugh on and off the rest of my run. AHAHAHAHAHAHA! Note: Don't hit on people when they are working out. Training is not a dating service.
Thankfully I downloaded a ton of new songs for my Ipod which kept me moderately entertained. Around 90 minutes and I was turning into a prune. I was also started receiving glares by people waiting to swim, all 4 sides of the two lanes were in use. Two of the sides were used by people "floating" around. WTF? I suggested to the "waiters" that they ask the "floaters" to share a side and then they could lap swim a side. This worked out....for awhile. Then some of the "floaters" came over onto my side....BUT I did not move. Screw them, I was there first. I ran forward until we were inches apart and made them move. I ran out of water 100 minutes in, really needed more but at that point the lane side was about survival. If I got out I would have given up my spot and that would have caused me to take some one out. So on I ran. 2 hours total and I ended up covering 3200 yards.

I recovered with some bomb-a$$ BBQ from Reo's Ribs, I <3 that place. Leave it to Snoop Dogg's cousins to throw down some mean BBQ. Now, I sit on my pillow top feather bed. My body hurts, it is sore and tired all over. My calves, quads, abs and forearms are heavily fatigued. I'm hoping the foam roller will help things out as I have an early morning spin coming my way.
BUT my leg in the injured area is A-Ok :)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cold, rainy and yucky leads to.....

an indoor spin

2.5 hrs at threshold wattage. I finally nailed my saddle position dead on and had a really comfortable spin. My wattage avg'd 169 and that's what I was at for the same ride duration before I got injured. My fitness is back, as soon as my leg is 100% I can start pushing some real power and try to make some gains.

I've always idolized She-Ra, soon I'll have power meters on both bikes, I wonder if I can be the princess of power.....


Speaking of bikes, I bought #2. A white/golden yellow and black carbon fiber Felt Z3. Her name is FELTalia :)

Friday, March 13, 2009

How I spend my Friday nights

Let's back up a bit to my alarm buzzing at 5:45 this morning. I pop up out of bed excited yet groggy as all hell. I had a fantastic sleep thanks to a sleep enhancement but was feeling the aftermath this morning, I felt like I was moving in slow motion, even being well rested and excited for my workout. Today I was going to test out my run! I quickly made it to the gym, put my stuff away and hoped on the treadmill. Started with a quick brisk walk.....ok. Upped it a bit to where I had to hop along - 11:30 min/mile. Uh.....hoping doesn't feel to good. Got up to an 11 min/mile and the pain just got worse. Felt like I had a deep shin splint going up my shin of course and then stabbing me in the knee. 90 seconds in and I threw in the towel, this was not going to work, my leg was not ready. I thought I had been well prepared for this bringing along all my aqua running gear, but alas....I left my swimsuit at home %^$%$#$%#%$#^$%#$%#$%#%$#$%#^$%!!!!!!!!!

Let's bring us to the present - my Friday night

I left work excited to hit the gym and get my lost workout in

Swim - 45 mins

300 warm up

Main set - Ladder
4 x 100's - 75 easy/25hard - 20
4 x 100's - 50 easy/50 hard - 15
4 x 100's - 75 hard/25 easy - 10 (really? I don't think anything was "easy" at this point)
4 x 100's - 100 HARD - 5 (who call's 5 secs a rest?????)

300 cool down

Total yardage - 2200

Gu down and on to my aqua run

There's not much fitness wise to report here. 60 mins of aqua running at a moderate level. Managed to keep my HR Avg to 160. You know, 60 mins running up and down a pool lane gives you a lot of time to think.

*Why the hell don't people use pool etiquette? If there are two lanes, one lane is empty and free and one lane a person is running down the side of, "hang out in the empty $^%$ing lane". Once again I had a make-out couple "float" into my side of the lane....and with them was a stupid friend whom couldn't speak english OR SWIM in the deep end which forced me to move to the other side since they were holding onto the wall. Seriously WTF?!!!!
*A preteen boy came in and swam in florescent orange and green long swim trunks and what looked like a turtle neck. If that wasn't odd enough his dad or older male adult in his life came to watch him. Just stood at the end of the pool and watch him attempt to swim and lobby back and forth between the pool and hot tub.
*The first 20-30 minutes of aqua running sucks....I think this about running on land though too.
*I ran and ran and ran tonight, it felt great.
*I was highly amused listening to an older women tell me about her kids as she lazily breast stroked next to my aqua run. It was nice to chat with someone. This is one thing that I miss most about running. No one ever wants to talk with me when I'm aqua running :(
*Had some pretty rockin tunes on the Ipod and caught myself dancing a bit in the water....another example of Kat's weirdness.
*It amazes me how many people either don't know how to swim or just float around in the pool. Again pool etiquette.
*Ice does a body good
*2 hours in the water turns a 28 yr old into a raisin.

My Friday night was spent at a 24 HR Fitness Pool - I am Kat, I am a triathlete.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Powerful doubles

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 250 buoy; 10
1 x 250 paddles; 10
repeat 1 x

2 x 50 one arm catch up;10
2 x 50 finger drag; 10

Main Set
By oh Boy! 100s!
10 x 100 on 1:45's - I was VERY consistent this morning and nailed each one within 2 sec 1:34-1:36. My flip turns were as clean as they've ever been, everything felt like it came together - energy, form, breathing. I felt like a little mermaid.

300 Cool down

But wait....I didn't feel done yet, so I played in the water a bit
1 x 25 - two breaths down
1 x 25 - no breath - this is an euphoric feeling. Having no air from being anaerobic is so different from having no air from...well having no air. I think most of it is a complete mind-%^#. Knowing as you dip down under the water that last breath of air is going to get you all the way to the end....come 2/3's of the way loosing what you have to reach the wall breathless, it's sickly enjoyable and I appear to have no issues with it.
1 x 50
repeated this little bit of fun 1 x

200 cool down - for real I suppose

Total yardage - 3,400

***Noon hits and my lats are now burning ~ this only lasted for 3-4 hours though :)**************

Evening spin

I fueled myself well today and my leg has been feeling pretty good so I decided to push myself on my spin. Good lord I love my bike! Aero is becoming very comfortable.

75 mins spin - POWER baby :)

Max watts 228/ Avg watts 178
Time duration - 48% Threshold/42% race pace :) / 9% endurance (warm up/cool down)
HR Max 167 / HR avg 148 :D

Go me!

Icing now, off to recovery with sushi - I may eat the whole place, massage/rolling , icing compression and sleep. Then as long as my leg doesn't cop an attitude I will attempt to run tomorrow morning - on land, then hit the water.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

And I leave with a smile

from my ART appointment...this is better then walking out in tears from last week's visit.

My PT thinks I'm healing well. Full mobility is back. My pain threshold was tested....but there wasn't any pain :) and if it was present it reached maybe a 4 on a 1-10 threshold ranking. Yay! I have been given the ok to test running. By test he means run a bit, walk a bit, run a bit walk a bit, nothing more then a mile or two to start. Shit, at this point I'll take anything I can get. I'm excited to start running again yet I'm fearful at the same time. I don't want to push myself too fast, too soon and if you know me.....well that's exactly what happens. I'm going to see if maybe I can get a friend to join me for my first few attempts. It's sad but I kind of need someone to tell me "when". I'll going to continue the aqua run and throw my mile or two land attempts in after or before. Baby steps, all in due time I suppose.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Cut to the chase

Morning Aqua Run - 65 mins

1:06:10 it took me to run 1750 yards. I think that's my slowest mile to date - pretty certain about that. My Ipod kept me from going completely numb.

Evening spin - 60 min
Steady moderate spin - via wattage 52% threshold/ 46% endurance
via HR 93% endurance

Max watts 189/ avg watts 161
max HR 151 (really pushed it didn't I? :)) / avg HR 137

Get to see the doc again tomorrow night. I'm still going to be another week or two out from running. Some days my leg is ok and just has minor stiffness, others it's irritated and annoyed.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Monday, Monday

Swim w/ PDX Tri Club

Swam in the "fast" lane which handed me my ass

300 warm up

300 w buoy
Drills
4 x 25's ; A-ok, Fist, One arm catch up, finger drag; 10 rest after each 25
repeat 1 x

Main set
4 x 100's - easy 75 - fast last 25; 20 sec rest
4 x 100's - easy 50 - fast last 50; 15 sec rest
4 x 100's - easy 25 - last last 75; 10 sec rest
4 x 100's - hard and fast; 5 sec rest (ahahahahaha! Funny how my hard felt so slow yet my HR was 180+)

150 cool down
25 - 2 breaths
25 back no breath- that is a sickly awesome feeling

Total yardage - 2600
Post swim my leg hurt like a %^##^%! It is not well. Two days now I've been without anti inflammitories, my prescription ran out. Got to talk to the doc about that, my leg is seriously pissed, which makes me seriously pissed. Lots of ice tonight and extra advil.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Our first ride together

Today was the first day I've taken Carnage for a ride off the trainer.
The first 10 minutes of riding we went through introductions and became familiar with one another. I explained her given name what I expected from her. I made it very clear that I would do all the hard work and all she had to do was come along for the ride :) This is my first TT bike and shifting on the aerobars took a little getting used to. I found that I enjoyed shifting uphill but was not as comfortable dropping into a harder gear as I was descending, although I picked it up after a short while. As I was waiting in the parking lot for my fellow riders I decided to curve around some crazy eights. Woah! I can corner! I have never been able to corner with my old bike, I never felt stable. Carnage was much different, I leaned and she cut right in....it was beautiful, it was much more the beauty it was absolute bliss. I found cornering so much fun I ended up looping a roundabout 5x! Hehe, I was giddy. I think my fear of descending has one foot out the door. I maxed out at 35 mph and had no fear, I felt in complete control and actually enjoyed the descent. I ended up departing from the group around mile 20. They were doing a 60 mile ride with a massive hill to climb and I can't risk that kind of wattage with me leg....so I ventured off to finish my ride alone, which is A-ok with me since my bike and I could have some quality alone time. Around mile 30 my leg started to annoy me. It wasn't a bad sharp pain, just a mild annoyance. I had planned to extend out onto some curvy rollers by my house but decided it best to cut the ride at 35 miles. I know I shouldn't push my leg and after all I was just happy to be out riding again.

Riding time 2:11:00 - there was a lot of stop and go waiting for a few riders
Distance - 35.9 miles
Max wattage 381/ avg wattage 130
Max HR 174 / avg HR 148
Max speed 35.2 mph / Avg speed 16.3 mph

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Fun in the water with no purpose

300 warm up

2 x 200 paddles
2 x 50 one arm carch up
1 x 100 wide arm pull

5 x 100s 1:45 - 1:28-1:30s

1 x 100
200 cool down

Total yardage 1700

Aqua Run!
30 mins of aqua running at a moderate exertion...not too hard, not too easy. Light enough to talk between breaths.
Thanks for the company and body glide Gary! :D

Woot! Woot! I took my training hours up from 8 to 12.5 this week and I feel fantastic! Except for the part of still being unable to run.

Always growing, always learning

Workout - 2 hour trainer ride
Goal - to increase avg wattage over longer duration
Results - Mission accomplished.

It's not much but I increased my avg wattage from 149 to 154 in the last few days. Actually you know, it's more then just wattage. My body is starting to get used to the TT bike, my heart is becoming more comfortable with long durations of effort, I'm adapting and slowly building some kind of fitness back. My leg did not hurt at all during the spin and was only remotely tight after wards at which Mr. Ice breaker stepped in and helped out.

Big ups to Alana for getting up uber early on a Saturday morning to put in the time and effort on the bike.

Post spin I headed over to Willamette Park to volunteer at TNT's mission mile workout. I think I should be banned from any kind of potluck or all you can eat event....I had entirely waaaaaay too many chocolate chip cookies, seriously I think they hold a key to my heart. Which brings me in to another subject, one that is a little difficult for me to talk about but I've learned from it and maybe someone out there will benefit from hearing my mistakes/learning process.

Subject : Disordered eating
Not eating disorder but disordered eating. They sound the same but are very different. I've never thought I had a problem with nutrition. For the most part I eat super healthy. My nutrition plan is enriched with lots of veggies, whole grains, lean proteins and fruits. I shy away from any animal fats and limit my sugar intake (clearly not today though :)). Right before I injured myself I had some blood work done, an hour after eating my blood glucose level was at 50, hypoglycemic is at sub 70. I often experience signs of hypoglycemia, so much that my boss knows to tell me to go eat when we're in the middle of a meeting as I grow expressionless and come close to taking a nose dive. I shake, I get cold, I have a nasty pit in my tummy that makes me want to hurl, dizziness and irritation also come hand in hand. I usually experience several of those symptoms several times a day. When I got the blood testing done the doctor thought there was something genetically wrong with me and wanted to get me on some kind of drugs. I just ignored her and told her I would "deal" with it since she had been trying to hook me on any and every kind of drug possible since I started seeing here. I was not about to experiment with another. So, let's bring us to present day and what I have learned. I have not been able to run for the last 4 weeks. My training volume went from 14-15 hours a week down to 4 up to 8 hours max. I have been eating as if I was training as much before, I just couldn't stop. I was hungry so I ate. Well, over the last 4 weeks I have rarely experienced any of the hypoglycemic symptoms. I have been eating as much as I would when I would train twice as much and I have felt "normal". This indicates that I was not eating enough while training. Past and present day I eat 6-10 times a day....A lot I know :) But each meal is anywhere from 150-400 kcal and I'll limit myself to eating every 3 hours. So, if I eat say 320 kcal and it's been 2.5 hours I will allow my tummy to growl for another 30 minutes before I feed it again. It takes 3 hours to digest and process food and for some reason I had it in my head that my food was not done processing. I mean I eat so often how could I not be getting enough kcals? That's what I would ask myself. I also have this whole "fat girl" image in my head. I know, I know, I am not fat. BUT I was fat kid for most of my childhood and I think that image will never go away. So I'm thinking to myself I'm eating often I can't be starving myself, but apparently I was.
It also doesn't help that I used to weight lift, was carb-depleted for 2 years and trained for vanity. Ugh, personally a low point in my training resume as I find so much more enjoyment in racing for personal achievement, not how one views me. I once thought I had a "bangin" body.....endurance sports, carbs/sodium and water retention has a way of changing all of that. It's bittersweet in my opinion. Another aspect of my disordered eating is the way I view foods. I look at sugar as a big no-no. I mainly stay away from any kind of fat that is animal related and think white flour and high fructose corn syrup are some how prodigies of the devil himself. Yes I do think Lucifer is a man, I also think he made women have periods, but now I'm going off topic.
This injury has been a royal pain in the tail but has taught me a lot about myself. I will not longer eat enough fuel to get by in my workouts. I will eat to fuel (whatever form it may come in) to power and recover, and on the occasion reward myself.
IF I pack some extra weight, highly doubtful, but if I do, so be it....nothing is worth those hypoglycemic symptoms. Sometimes it's stepping out of the bubble you see what's in the bubble.

I'm hopping to aqua jog or swim tonight

Friday, March 6, 2009

Aqua Running

Aqua Run- 60 mins

10 min warm up
8 mins of drills - high knees, fast feet and tail kickers (when I could touch the bottom, it was almost impossible to do these in the deep end)

30 mins of high intensity sprints -
50 yard repeats with 15 sec rests at the wall. It took me about 1:40 to do each repeat maxing my HR out at 175 - these kicked my ass.

12 min cool down run

10 min recovery in hot tub/ 10 minute icing

My leg is slowly feeling better. I was able to run in the shallow end without pain today :) I wore my compression tights to bed last night and still woke up mid-sleep to twitchy legs *le sigh* I wish that would just go away. Who knew you could chaff running in the water? My TYR suit rubbed the hell out of my rib cage, hopefully body glide will help next time. Live and learn. Melancholy kicked in mid-day. I have HUGE windows all around my office desk, it was a beautiful day. Not just beautiful, but absolutely gorgeous. I wanted nothing more then to go out for an afternoon run....but instead I got the scenic view of the gym pool walls this morning. At least there were no high school kids to make fun of me this time around.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Endurance....is slowly coming back

Boy oh boy did I miss my daily doubles :)

Morning swim ~

500 warm up

Drills
2 x 25 skully; 10
1 x 50 one arm catch up; 10
1 x 100 - A-ok 25, Karate 25, Fist 25, Free 25; 10
repeat 3x

2 x 250 paddles; 10

Main set
10 x 100's 1:45s
1-6 were 1:30-1:35s
7-10 were 1:35 to 1:40s which meant I had basically no rest

I was 5-10 sec slower per 100 in my main set then in the past like workouts, I still made the set without extra rest. My form felt a little out of wack and my flip turns were VERY sloppy, more then usual. I was coming off a rest day so I'm not sure why.

500 cool down

Total yardage 3,100

Work....lots O' work

Evening spin

2 hour endurance spin - entertained by Ugly Betty

Max watts 181/ Avg watts 149 - endurance zone 89% of spin duration ( this is the same rate I was in the beginning of January, it's a little demoralizing. I have to keep reminding myself that A. I am still injured and although cycling doesn't hurt me it can if I push myself too hard...but continue to hold back and B. I just did two freaking hours on a TT bike! My body is slowly adjusting.....my womanhood is not too happy with me. I'd use Shannon's term sex-machine but that would have to mean I'm getting some and well.....we'll just leave it at that.
Max HR 164 / Avg hr 144 - this is perfect for the duration

Frankly I was a little surprised I was able to complete the 2 hour spin. I mean I haven't been able to do much for the last three weeks, I was sure my endurance had gone down the crapper. Not to mention I got anaerobic for sometime in the water this morning. But alas, failure is not an option.

Now it's time for dinner, ice my leg, work my damn compression tights on and off to bed I go. I'm going aqua run tomorrow morning. Woot! Woot!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

My soul is coming back :)

Jumped out of bed eager to spin.

90 min spin

10 min easy warm up - 130-150 watts
20 min threshold - 160-170 watts
10 min easy - 130-140 watts
20 min threshold - 160-175 watts
10 min easy - 130-140 watts
15 min threshold - 160-170 watts
5 min easy - 130-140 watts

Max wattage 199/ Avg 153
Max HR 171 / Avg 158

I'm happy to be back on the bike and put in some good effort, it's sad my good effort was the same in December. Fitness will all come back in good time I suppose. My uper body was uber fatigued from the swim the day before, the TT bike did not help matters. I wish I counted how many times I cracked my back, shoulders and arms today, it was unreal.

Evening Aqua Jog!

Boy oh Boy did I look like a moron.

10 min warm up jog.
(thankfully this is done off of time and not distance, I felt like I was going nowhere.)

1 x 25 heel to butt kick; 10 (wow, this is really difficult)
1 x 25 high knees; 10 ( much easier and kind of fun)
1 x 25 strides; 10 (almost impossible)
1 x 25 sprint; 10 (ahahahahahaha!)
repeat 3 x

Main set
15 x 1:00 - 40 sec sprints; 20 sec recoveries

10 min cool down

"Jogged" for 45 minutes.

I wonder, can one "RUN" in the water? I will not be called a jogger....I AM AN AQUA RUNNER. Ahahahahahaha!
This was quiet the workout, it seriously handed me my tail. First I had to deal with looking like a complete fool in the pool. Here I am with my TYR 2 pc, aqua belt and shoes trying to run down the lap lane with a bunch of high school boys watching from the hot tub. I really didn't think I was capable of being embarrassed, I mean it's kind of hard to do when you're used to making an ass out of yourself. But aqua "running" brought me to another level. *le sigh* To put the icing on the cake some high school couple kept going from the hot tub to my lane to make out. The other lane was free, in fact the other side of my lane was free....instead the dillholes took my side/lane corner turnaround to have their makeout sessions. $%#@sticks. I hope I killed the "mood" for them, unbelievable. Anywho, I got my "run" in, I am a happy Kat. My leg feels ok. It gets stiff but the pain is slowly dying down. I'm pretty sure ICE will be standard practice post workouts for the next few months.

Recovered with a good friend and good sushi. I get to see the doc again tomorrow, wish me luck!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Upper body is an inferno

Morning Swim

500 warm up

Drills
1 x 500 paddles
2 x 250 A-ok 50; karate 50, fist 50, 100 alternating one arm glide; 15 sec

Mainset
5 x 200s
#1 - 3:17
#2 - 3:20
#3 - 3:25 - extra 10 sec rest, so I started on the 3:40
#4 - 3:20
#5 - 3:25

Eh, I had no power this morning. My upper body was really fatigued upon waking, I think this was from the 90 min spin on Carnage the night before. I think my body is going to take awhile to get used to riding in that position. I really wanted to quit after I had to take the extra 10 sec rest, but there is no quitting in IM and right now the swim is all I have, so I used that as motivation to finish.

200 easy
100 sprint - it felt like a sprint as I was uber fatigued but my time of 1:40 didn't reflect it :(
200 easy

Total yardage - 3,000

***Side note - I wore my Zoot recovery compression tights last night. First time my body didn't go numb, I was able to wear them all night.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

90 min spin

I had a pretty long weekend and my body wasn't really feeling me today. Sleep was non-existent :(

Evening Spin - 90 mins

20 min easy - 140-150 watts
20 mins moderate 150-160
repeat 2 X (second moderate repeat I was able to push 160-170 w/out pain in my leg, yay!)
10 min easy

Iced, rolled and iced again