3K fartlek; 8K

Coach is keeping me busy now that I'm feeling better! 3 days of racewalking in a row. 8K Thursday, 3K fartlek Friday, 8K Saturday.

Friday's 3K fartlek went reasonably well; about how you'd expect on legs that were a little tired. I warmed up for only 1200m (running late for breakfast with my dad - very nice! photo at left), with legs that did feel slightly heavy but still responsive. The fartlek was satisfactory with 500s of 2:50, 2:51 (both fast), 3:10 (medium), and oh...I forgot...my intestines were most upset (long story but had a bit of an emotional eating episode on Thursday pm - something I don't usually do any more but...oops...) so that medium effort and the following 500s of 2:52 (fast), 3:11 (medium), and 2:53 (fast) were under extreme duress in terms of intestinal cramping. I probably would've been 10 sec faster if not for that. Oh well...live and learn. Total time 17:47 with ave HR 160, and the weather was warmish at 19C (66F).

Garmin data here. 

I had a little getaway Friday night at a cabin near Sundance Resort (beautiful! Stewart Falls at left!) with our interfaith church choir (our church + a Mormon singles ward). The men waited on the ladies and spoiled us, which was wonderful. Not so wonderful: the hills there. There was simply nowhere to racewalk, and I really looked. I dislike racewalking in the evening but with my schedule once I got back at 12:30pm, I had no way to walk any other time. I finally went out at about 5:30pm. Oh, and it was raining pretty hard. It wasn't cold, though, at 56F (13C), just wet; the last 2K the wind picked up and then it wasn't so nice. I took the dog, and when we got back the kids were like, "What's with the wet dog smell? Oh, mommy took Sugar racewalking!". My legs felt pretty tired, probably because I spent most of the afternoon cleaning carpets over at Kelly's place (she's moving), plus some residual from the 3K fartlek? My intestines were better than yesterday but still iffy. Anyway, total time was a slowish 51:08 for 6:23/km with high ave HR of 156. I guess I need a rest day. But I finished the workouts, and am not sick any more :).

Garmin data here. 

sick; x-train; 8K!

I have been very sick this past week. I started feeling bad last Thursday, and though I was hoping I'd feel better over the weekend, I didn't. After Saturday's 3K race, I was wiped. I slept a bunch later in the day and then my big activity was attending Calvin's soccer game. #71 is Calvin; not sure why he picked that number, but he did :).

Sunday morning I told Kelly I'd try to walk with her a bit. I did try...but it was pretty sad. I was only able to go 20 min with her and then pretty much crashed. I had committed to play the piano for church so made it through that and went to my Weight Watchers meeting (only up 1.4lb from the cruise; I had hoped not to gain but that's not too awful) and then crashed HARD. I slept 3 hr, woke, ate a small dinner (no appetite - weird for me, even when sick) and then back to bed. I had to go to work on Monday because two grad students in another lab had basically cleared their schedules to teach me how to inject Drosophila embryos (fruit fly; 35 embryos in a line to left of pencil eraser, below). I barely made it through the day, and I felt so terrible. Obviously I didn't even try to work out on Monday, or Tuesday either. 

Halfway through the day on Tuesday I actually started to feel better, for which I am enormously grateful. I was worried that maybe the mystery illness was back and was causing my problems, although I did know that it was likely to be just a virus, as I had a sore throat, congestion, runny nose, coughing, and fatigue, not just fatigue alone. Still, hard not to worry when you're coming off something like I have been. I truly appreciate days of good health much more. 

Wednesday I had the energy and desire to cross-train, so I did 25 min elliptical at the gym, reading the paper on my Kindle (my usual habit at the gym; subscribed to the paper on the Kindle a few months back and have really enjoyed that). I followed that up with cycling to work, and my legs felt really good and pretty fresh. The rest of me was still a bit tired, but I made it through the day well, happily. 

Today coach suggested 8K. I got up, grabbed the dog, and went out the door. After 2K I wasn't sure I'd do all right, since I was feeling a tiny bit weak/wobbly, but while I didn't have my usual strength, I felt passable. I really enjoyed being out in the perfect morning weather (about 66F; 19C), which won't be around much longer. It's supposed to get to 90F today - a little Indian summer before fall sets in, I suppose. Anyway, I was doing 6:15/km through 6km and then the last 2km uphill dropped my time to 6:19/km (ave HR 151; 50:36 for 8K). My legs feel good now (an hour later) and I am actually thinking to enjoy the weather a bit more and ride my bike in to work. I'm thankful for health and wholeness today!

Edited to add: Garmin data here for 8K. 

I'm back! Back from Alaska, that is :)

Hard to blog while on a cruise ship - no internet, and if you want internet you have to go to a shop on shore and get WiFi, which is sometimes free (if you're lucky), and then I also didn't bring my laptop, so couldn't upload Garmin data, etc. So...no blogging. Now I'll try and catch up. [Haha - wrote this 4 days ago or so, but my computer has been acting up horribly and couldn't post until I got a new one].

In a nutshell, vacation was great for my training. It all went quite well, and other than doing weight training and experiencing greater than usual amounts of soreness as a result, I had very little weird pain/soreness/whatever. I trained well most of the first week back, too...but then I got a virus of some sort and it is wiping me out. Sore throat, congestion, and SEVERE fatigue, along with dizziness. Yay. I'm still functioning, but at a very low level.

So, in summary, my workouts for the past couple weeks:

Thursday, 9/4: was to do 10K, but after 3 hr sleep on plane and maybe 3 in bed at hotel (got in late, luggage very late, etc.), I was not quite up to that. At 4km my legs were starting to protest so I turned around. In retrospect maybe I could have done 10K, but the 8km I did was good, so I'm happy with that. It was in Fairbanks, Alaska, and the temp was a chilly 31F (-1C); see photo at left. I was dressed for the weather so wasn't cold, but it was sure bracing! 8K in 51:14 for 6:24/km with ave HR 142.

Friday, 9/5: 45 min elliptical at the McKinley Princess Wilderness Lodge; ave HR 137.

Saturday, 9/6: I am proud to say I got in an awesome 15K before the bus left at 8 am, plus got some great views of Denali as the sun was coming up. Amazing! Started at 5:30am and was limited for safety's sake to ~2km loop (a bit less than 2K) that was VERY hilly around our hotel. Felt safe but the hills were tough. Seriously, about 8 loops with 46m elevation change per loop was a lot of hills. Legs held up well - definitely sore a bit during and after, but not weird soreness. Just from hills. It was great training. Total time a fast 1:34:59 (6:20/km) with ave HR 148. Very proud of this walk.

Sunday 9/7: 1 hr elliptical/bike in gym on cruise ship.

Monday 9/8: 8K in 49:26 for 6:11/km with ave HR 147. I did this on the 100m track on the top deck of the ship. Yeah, I know 80 laps is a lot, but went 10 one way then 10 the other way, and was not bored at all because I was outside and the ship was moving so the views were incredible as we moved into Glacier Bay National Park! Then did 5x200m in a very fast 5:08 total (averaged about 1:02 per 200m, after my 8K!). Felt good afterward. Later that day I did weight training, which I hadn't done in a very long time. That gave me a lot of muscle soreness over the next few days, but it didn't hinder my RW as you'll see. It just made me sore, but in a good way :). I would have continued this when I got back, but it's been hard to ease into life and now I'm sick. Arrrgh.

Tuesday 9/9: 1 hr elliptical on cruise ship.

Wednesday 9/10: warm-up then 5K fartlek in Juneau, Alaska, on the road. This went terrific, despite my legs being very sore from the leg press, etc. I think my Garmin was off on a few of the recovery intervals, as some were pretty fast, and my time was very fast overall. I suspect it should be more like 29:00? Regardless, I had 28:35 for the fartlek - on my mom's watch, though, so I don't have a link to it. This was the first fartlek I've done in a while where I wasn't totally trashed at the end and thought maybe it might be possible to increase the distance on this workout.

Thursday 9/11: 10K on 100m track on the ship as we were pulling into the port of Ketchikan. My legs were still sore, but I surprised myself with a 1:02:06 with average HR 139! :) Super happy with this. Maybe the track was shorter than 100m? I don't think so, though - seems like all my times this week were pretty good, even on land, so I think this could very well be accurate.

Friday 9/12: 1 hr elliptical on cruise ship.

Saturday 9/13: 15K on 100m track on the ship as we were pulling into our last port, Vancouver (see beautiful scene at left!). My legs felt good and recovered and were strong all the way. I had maybe some very slight weird soreness the last 2k but it was very slight and not worrisome. Then sat on the plane all day and did just fine :). Did 1:32:57 for 6:12/km with ave HR 142.

Sunday 9/14: rest day! Back in Salt Lake City.

Monday 9/15: 8K plus 5x200m with Adriana and Kelly at Liberty Park. Felt very tired and sluggish. The return to high altitude, maybe? Did the 8K at a 6:26/km pace with ave HR 145. Felt bad for slowing Adriana down. Then did the 5x200m in a pretty decent 5:12 - was happy with that, after my legs were tired!

Tuesday 9/16:  cross-training - did elliptical at gym and biked to work.

Wednesday 9/17: starting to get a bit of a sore throat but felt OK so did warm-up then 5K fartlek at the track. Did well! Was really breathing hard and felt like it was hard to catch my breath; lungs working harder than legs. Darn altitude! But did well with 29:39 for the fartlek with ave HR 161. It was a warm morning too - 70F (21C) and rather humid for here.

Thursday 9/18: cross-training - elliptical, then biked to work. Felt sick. Nasty sore throat, fatigued.

Friday 9/19: Supposed to do 4x1km. Too sick. Warmed up in 10:36 for 1600m (slow) then did another 1600m easy in 10:24 before calling it quits because my legs felt heavy with some weird soreness starting at about 2km. I hope everything is OK but think it's just the nasty head cold.

Today, Saturday 9/20: Taking a rest day. Was supposed to do 12K but still feel sick. Managed to judge my first race, a USATF-Utah 3K (see photos at left and right), and that was fun! Everyone was nice and legal except my daughter (green hat) in her first race - she had a bit of a soft knee and I did give her a warning (it was just a bit soft, not egregious).
However, afterward I was so tired and now am crashing in bed for the duration of the day until Calvin's soccer game this pm. Hoping I will feel better tomorrow and can do 12K. If not, I won't, but I am hoping! Weather is so lovely - fall here is awesome and I don't want to miss a chance to get out for a walk.

cross-training, 5k fartlek

Yesterday: elliptical then bike to work and back. My legs were sore (normal delayed onset muscle soreness) from Monday's 5x200m.

Today: it was warm outside this morning at 24C (75F). Legs still a bit sore but not too bad. I warmed up carefully, starting off a bit slowly. I did my usual 1600m with 2x100m strides, finishing in 10:12. I felt ok but not great, which was how the rest of the workout went. Hissing surprising, because I was up way too late finishing redecorating Calvin's room (started doing it this weekend because I had a 3-day weekend but of course couldn't finish on the weekend). I was tired and a bit stressed this morning about how I'd get everything done. Anyway, the fartlek went about how you'd expect. I did a total of 29:58 with my fast 500s 2:51-2:56 and my medium 500s 3:05-3:11. I was happy to be under 30 min and really worked the last 500 hard to get it - the last 500 was the fastest. I was working very hard today with average HR 163.

I'm getting a bit slower on this workout each week...but I know that should change when I can increase mileage and do speed work. Meanwhile I have to be patient. Coach wants me to start doing longer fartleks very soon and I'm not sure I'm ready. Today felt really hard. I guess I could do a longer one but it'd be a lot slower...well, one has to start somewhere.

Garmin data here.

cross-training; 8K + 5x200m

Sunday: 45 min elliptical, because I felt pretty good and wanted to do it.

Today: 8K in gorgeous weather, plus 5x200m repeats. The weather was about 60F (15C) and trademark low humidity and clear. I took the dog for an 8K, because Calvin didn't want to come. Today was amazing - I felt really good the whole walk. Seriously. Felt strong and almost like my old self again. Did the 8K in 49:48 for 6:13/km with ave HR 149. Garmin data here. Then the 5x200m, which was pretty decent as well. The dog quit on me after the 3rd repeat and would NOT move to do the 4th one haha! She just wouldn't. So I tied her to a telephone pole and did the last two alone. Total time for the 1km was a fast 5:12. Garmin data here. 

So happy to be feeling good! Tomorrow is x-training, then 5K fartlek on Wednesday.