5K fartlek

I went to the track this morning to do the workout, and guess what? Despite the fact that it was above freezing, the track was super icy from the night's snow/rain mix. Bummer. I had already had a rough morning, finding out upon waking that my beloved grandma (in photo, with Calvin, in 2005) had died last night (expected, as she had end-stage Alzheimer's, good that she is not suffering, but hard for those of us who will miss her). Plus I was running late...so I decided to bag it and try to get in the workout later in the day. I have cross-training tomorrow so I figured it wouldn't mess anything up.

So, after a difficult day at work due to missing grandma and making plans for travel, etc., I finally managed to escape while my restriction digests were incubating, at 3 pm. Yeah, we have lab meeting at 3 pm on Thursdays, so I played hooky. My boss is on call this week in the hospital, and we were having journal club and I hadn't read the paper. It was no big deal to miss one, so I just decided I needed the exercise more than I needed journal club. Good call. I felt SO much better after working out. But, I am getting ahead of myself.

The high school cross-country/track team was just heading out for a workout when I arrived at the track (I chatted with their coach a bit when they got back, after my workout). The weather was so nice - 43F (6C) and cloudy and calm. Ahhhhh, warm for February. I'm loving it! Tights and a long-sleeved shirt were perfectly adequate, and I even pushed up the sleeves on my shirt. I warmed up for a few times around the track; I'd already racewalked to my car from work (about 1km) so a couple times was enough to get nice and warm, with some strides thrown in. I could tell on the strides that my muscles were in for a workout!

I started off well, though, surprising myself. I figured I'd be happy with anything under 30 minutes today, since I'd had a layoff of a month since the 50K. But I was faster than that! My first 1km was 5:26, and then I did 2:55, 2:46, 2:56, 2:47, 2:59, 2:48, 2:59, and 2:48 to finish with 28:29! Wow! My legs were tired, I was breathing really hard and working it all the way, but still, I'm pleased. That's my 3rd fastest 5K fartlek ever, and so I feel like I'm starting off well. I'm optimistic that I can attain the All-American standard for the 15K in May, which is 1:26:37 for my age group.

Total: 28:29 for 5:42/km (9:10/mile) with ave HR 163.

Garmin connect data here.

I did go back to work and run my digests on a gel and finish up a few more things before heading home for the day :).

slow 10K

I'm just slow this week. Good thing I have a 5K fartlek tomorrow to work on those fast-twitch muscles and kick everything into gear. I'm not looking forward to it, oddly enough...first speed work in a while always hurts. But it will kick-start things, and that's what I need.

This morning the weather was very nice for February. It was 34F (1C) and calm and slightly overcast. It felt very warm compared to the 20s. I enjoyed walking w/o fleece! My legs were pretty tired by about 4km, but I finished fine - just slowly. Still, it's a lot faster than coming off my layoff last year, so I'm not complaining.

Total time: 1:04:13 for 6:25/km with ave HR 141. Garmin data here.

After my walk, I drove to the gym and got in some hip abductors on the machine, tricep extensions, assisted pull-ups, bench press, and something else that I can't remember now. Plus I did a bunch of core stuff with Lisa.

I was going to write some other stuff, but it's late, I'm tired after a very long day, and I can't remember what I was going to write.

slow 12K

I felt OK today, but I was slow. I figured I would be, so it wasn't surprising. My legs were tired after about 4K, but not horribly tired. Just tired enough that I was slow. Getting back into training after a layoff is usually this way...sigh...but I'm OK with it. I'm just glad that my coach is easing me back into things.

I did 12K this morning; it was 28F (-2C) which is relatively warm. However, it was windy. Quite windy. Not windy enough to mess up my performance until the last 2K when I was walking into the wind (the rest of the walk was not into the wind - mostly with it to the side), but windy enough to make it colder. The wind chill was supposedly 19F, and I'll buy that. I wasn't too cold in my fleece top and bottom over tights and a long-sleeved shirt, though.

Not much else to be said about this one. It's in the books now. Total 1:17:46 for 6:29/km with ave HR 139 (funny, I felt like I was working harder than that).

Garmin connect data here.

10K - sluggish

Not an auspicious start to the new training cycle (I got my schedule from Jim and it started today), but on the other hand, I got out there and got it done.

Some background: the dog woke us at 3 am by vomiting. After that, I had several very nasty horrible nightmares. Sleep quality = poor. I overslept my alarm by 45 min so didn't make it to the gym after my walk to lift weights.

It was 24F (-4.5C) when I walked this morning, and calm and clear. I was going to say sunny, but the sun wasn't up yet.

I felt OK when I started, but I just was not fast at all this morning. I was sluggish. My legs are pretty tired now, too. I just felt "off" today, and I know that's normal and it happens, especially after sleeping the way I did (or didn't).

Total: 1:04:04 for the 10K, 6:24/km (slow!) and ave HR of 146.

Garmin connect data here.

***

Edited to add: yesterday was a rest day, though I did practice figure skating for an hour with the kids, and managed to fall and smack my knee while working on 2-foot spins. Oops. Fortunately it's just fine today.

hilly & windy 12K

The weather was somewhat uncooperative today. It wasn't raining or snowing, but it was windy. VERY windy. And cold. It was 25F (-4C) when I woke up, and I decided that since my parents had the kids until noon that I'd walk later. So that's what I did. It was about 34F (1C) when I went later, and it was still chilly but it was better. I chose a hilly route, however, and that slowed me down, as did the wind. It wasn't too bad; I was at 6:20/km through 10K and then the last 2K the wind, the slight uphill, and my legs that were tired from weight training yesterday and spinning and 10K of racewalking had had enough. By the time I got home I was at 6:25/km! Still, it was a decent walk and I am sure I haven't lost too much fitness on my break. Even if I had, I have a few months until my next big race - the 15K in Riverside, CA on May 13th.

My splits were totally erratic and varied from 2:48-3:59/500m due to wind and hills. Here's my Garmin data.

***

After lunch we took the kids figure skating. I got some good practice in, but my Mohawks are still not good. They are better, though! My backward crossovers and backward gliding on each edge are much better. The only elements I'm not sure that will pass muster are the Mohawk and the spin. The spin makes me so dizzy! It's just a basic 2-foot spin, but I'm just not so sure that people over 40 can spin like that :). I'll keep trying.

what I've been up to

Tuesday afternoon I did indeed manage 2.4 miles racewalking on the treadmill before Kindermusik and figure skating that afternoon/evening. Then Michelle fell and did this to her chin at figure skating, requiring 6 stitches:

***

Wednesday I did the elliptical for around 45 min, and ditto for Thursday. I had planned to racewalk Thursday, but the weather was iffy - it was snowing lightly and it looked slippery; in hindsight, I could have done it, but the gym was warm and the elliptical was not slippery :).

***

This morning I took a spinning class. It's been a while since I've done any sort of hard workout, and I figured that spinning might be a good way to ease back into it. Today we did standing sprints, and that was just right. Challenging enough to keep me going and get my HR up into the high 150s.

After spinning I actually lifted weights. Yup, it's been a while...and I feel bad about that. I need to lift to stay strong for racewalking. I did some dumbbell bench presses, walking lunges, lat pull-downs, one-legged hamstring dead lifts, calf raises, and tricep extensions. Then Lisa and I did a good hard ab set including ball crunches front and oblique, plank, and V-sits.

***

It looks like my rest is over, though. Coach says we start up again on Monday. I'm OK with that, as long as we start gently. He offered another week off, but honestly, I'm ready to train as long as it's not vigorous to start with. It will be good to ease back into the groove.

enjoying the easy week

I'm enjoying this easy week, because my coach just informed me it's the last one. Training starts up again next week. I'm not sure I'm 100% ready for that - physically, yes, but mentally maybe not. We'll see how it goes.

Yesterday I did 7 miles on the elliptical.

Today I racewalked around Liberty Park; only 6.3K and I was kind of slow, but didn't care :). Ave of 6:18/km with ave HR somewhere in the upper 140s.

Later if I have time I'll hit the treadmill for a bit - I had wanted to walk farther but had to get in to work a little earlier than usual. I might be able to squeeze in a few miles before Kindermusik and figure skating this afternoon.