Track Tuesday

Sunday: rest day. I was SO dead after 12k Saturday PLUS helping a friend move for 3 hr PLUS two major shopping excursions (bathroom tile because we're redoing our master bath, and Costco because I promised a friend I'd take him). Oops. I tried to rest a lot on Sunday but I had some social obligations so my rest was more limited than I'd have liked. I did get good sleep Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights.

Monday: My body was still tired so I did a 45 min (or so) casual walk with the dogs for exercise. It felt nice to move w/o pushing things at all.

Today: speed work. I was to do a 3K fartlek with the fast segments at 85% effort, 4' rest, 4x500 @85% effort. It's stupid hot outside right now; I woke up later than planned so I couldn't do the outdoor track before work. I slept very poorly because 1) I went to bed too late because I had a meeting re: our hosting for the SL Fellows program next year, 2) there was a massive and loud thunderstorm at 11pm, and 3) Sugar barked on overdrive at something (who knows what? probably a raccoon?) at 2 am. Grim face at left after my workout, at the gym - outdoors was hot behind me (it's only 90F right now or 32.2C, which is not THAT hot for July, but it is no picnic for RW).

I went to work and did a bunch of stuff, then managed to pull myself away for my workout at 11am. I felt dizzy, probably from lack of sleep, but also maybe still a side effect from not taking the escitalopram (my last dose was Sunday the 8th). I had tired, achy glutes before the workout, and I have no idea why - I felt recovered from moving the boxes and from my Saturday workout yesterday. So what the heck is this soreness???

Mentally it was SO hard to stay positive. My inner critic was on overdrive. I tried to shut it up by reminding it that it is not helping me get better. That worked for a bit and then it just kept kicking back in. When I do a workout and am SO MUCH SLOWER than I EVER have been historically, it's so hard to make that voice shut up. It is just painful to do speed work because of it! I swear if there was a good easy way to make it go away, I would. I wonder if the escitalopram helped it quiet down, and that's why it's worse now? Or maybe it's the lack of sleep. It was a most unpleasant workout because of that.

I did keep from doing an all-out effort. I had to keep reminding myself to hold a little back. So...yeah, I was VERY slow.

Converting from the 292.6m track, my fartlek was 19:10.3, with fasts and mediums (585.2m each, converted to 500m times) of 3:02.7, 3:18.2, 3:07.5, 3:18.7, 3:11.5 (!UGH!). My 500m were approximate - I had to make an educated guess based on my lap times where the 500m split was. Assuming I was close, my 500m times were 3:02.3, 3:04.1, 3:06.4, and 3:03.2 (that's similar to outdoors last week, so that's probably about right).

It's hard to shut off the voice that says I'm too slow to go to Spain. It's hard not to compare to where I used to be. It's hard to feel really sick (I'm SO fatigued and dizzy today). I should probably go home early from work and take a sick day but I have stuff to do, and let's face it, work is a higher priority than recreational hobbies like racewalking, because it has to be.

18K at the Oval

Yesterday: ~35 min elliptical, plus did some hiking at Red Butte Garden (~30 min) very, very easy with a friend (she's in her mid-60s and a little frail for her age). 

Today: 18K on tap, and with it raining (hard) and 40F (4C), I opted for the indoor comfort of the Olympic Oval. It was odd today as there was no ice (!) just concrete where the 400m speed skating track usually is; I guess they have to redo the ice occasionally. So, no long track speed skaters to watch, though there were a few short track skaters on the two hockey rinks in the center of the oval. The track is 442m and so for me 6:30-6:45/km would be about 2:53-2:59 per lap. I was hoping to stay in that range, and I did overall, though there were a number of slower laps. Sigh. My legs were kind of tired by 10k, but not terrible; still, I wasn't feeling strong today. I also didn't feel awful, so I will take it :). No GI distress at all, which is great. Last week after my 16K I had problems, and also had some trouble after the 14K the week before, so no trouble is good news. 

I was slow, getting to 5K about 33 min and change, 10K about 1:06 and change, 15K in 1:40:40 or so, and 18K in 2:01:17. My pace overall was 6:44/km, which is a lot slower than I'd like to be, but my HR was mostly in the low to mid 150s (average was 149, but that reflects short stops for gel/water 4 times during the workout, I think) and I felt I was pushing the pace a little. The reality is that after not training for a long time, and increasing in age, I'm not going to be fast. But I'm glad I could train and prep some more for the half marathon in a few weeks. It will be slow, but at least I can do it, which is the main thing. 

Garmin data here.

long break

I have had a long break from training, and from a lot more. From the end of July through the beginning of November, I pretty much felt lousy. Dizzy/off-balance, very fatigued, caught at least 4-5 colds/other viruses, and just felt rotten. Went to my family doc, who checked everything and found the same neuropathy I'd had 3 yrs ago when my B12 was low. She referred me to neurology, and when I finally saw them in November, they did an EMG which was totally normal. I still have some neuropathy type symptoms, but they are mild and nothing to worry about apparently. Soooo....still no idea what's wrong. My best guess is chronic fatigue of some type plus stress and viral illness = sick Tammy. I've been feeling pretty good for a few weeks now, though this week I've noticed the fatigue and dizziness a little. Still, I want to racewalk more, so I am cautiously adding in stuff.

Yesterday I did 6K at 6:35/km, which is pretty fast for me lately. Most of my workouts that I've been able to do have been more like 6:45-7:00/km, so 6:35 was good. So today I decided to do a 3K fartlek, even though I know I've been a bit "off" this week. I still want to try and get back to racewalking...carefully. I had to work out at the indoor track because outside there was a light dusting of snow on the track and it was slick. The indoor track is nice & warm anyway :) and it's dark out so late now, so indoor is kinda nice.

I did 5 laps to warm up, with some strides on the last lap. It felt surprisingly OK to walk fast on that last lap. I did some dynamic stretching and then started in on the fartlek. I felt pretty good for 5 laps (2 fast, 2 med, 1 fast) but then the 1 fast, 2 med, 2 fast to end were tougher. My medium effort laps were slow because I'm out of shape, but not as slow as I feared. My fast laps weren't as slow as I thought they'd be either. However, I was ***really*** out of breath and very tired at the end. But hey, I made it, and I was much faster than I expected.

My times (2 laps, 585m) were 3:25.9, 3:49.1, 3:30.6, 3:51.0, and 3:30.1 --- corrected to 500m that is 2:56, 3:16, 3:00, 3:17, 3:00. Total time 18:07, corrected to 18:34 for a full 3K (this was 2926m). That's not so awful. OK, yeah, slow...but of course! I haven't been training. But it's not deathly slow.

3K fartlek data here. 

***

I have gained about 10 lb too, from the recent problems. It's hard to keep weight off when you're chronically overtired and not exercising as much as you are used to. I am trying to take it back off now that I'm feeling better, but it's a slow process. Baby steps.

8K fartlek

Today was a little too interesting. I planned to go to the track at 6:10am with Calvin. At 6:08, Calvin reported dog poop upstairs. Oh yay! Even better, when I investigated, it was 5 puddles of diarrhea. Even more oh yay! So I got out the carpet cleaner (2 dogs + 2 kids = a necessity), and cleaned up. Of course, by that time it was 6:30 and too late for C to come along. Just as well, since when I arrived at the track I saw this:

The bottom photo has a sign that says "Track Closed For Resurfacing". It needs it badly, but it sure would have been nice if they had given some warning to the public, and I have no idea how long it'll be closed. Oh yay again. 

So I went home, and executed plan B. Go to work, start my experiments, then go work out, and go back and finish up. Plus the late-night part where I get to go in tonight because there's more to do. 

I ended up at the indoor track by 8:45 am, and did my 8K fartlek: 3 laps hard, then 2 medium/2 hard until lap 27 = 7900.4m. It went about as well as it probably could have, which is the very good news. I was very consistent and paced it better than I thought possible at this point. My splits were pretty good - see below - fasts were 500m equivalent of 2:56-3:00 and mediums were 3:09-3:15, which is lots better than the last couple weeks. Total was 48:27 which works out to 49:03 for the full 8km had I been on the outdoor track, with the typical average HR of 160. I was pushing very hard at the end and it averaged 170 on the last split. Not bad.

Hamstring? Very little pain. Mostly no pain, but some intervals it was 1/10. No foot pain. My legs did get pretty tired but I was able to keep the pace. I'll take it for now. Still slow, but improving. 

Splits	Time	Cumulative Time	Avg HR	Max HR	878/585m	1k/500m equivalent
1	01:40.0	01:40.0	137	153
2	01:44.0	03:24.0	153	156
3	01:43.9	05:07.8	157	159	05:07.9	05:50.7
4	01:50.9	06:58.7	155	159
5	01:50.2	08:48.9	155	156	03:41.1	03:09.0
6	01:43.9	10:33	160	163
7	01:45.0	12:18	163	164	03:28.9	02:58.5
8	01:52.2	14:10	159	162
9	01:53.3	16:03	155	156	03:45.5	03:12.7
10	01:43.9	17:47	160	165
11	01:44.6	19:32	166	167	03:28.5	02:58.2
12	01:51.9	21:24	160	167
13	01:51.6	23:15	159	161	03:43.5	03:11.0
14	01:43.4	24:59:00	165	168
15	01:43.3	26:42:00	168	170	03:26.7	02:56.7
16	01:50.2	28:32:00	159	170
17	01:53.0	30:25:00	162	163	03:43.2	03:10.8
18	01:44.2	32:09:00	166	170
19	01:45.9	33:55:00	168	170	03:30.1	02:59.6
20	01:53.4	35:48:00	162	168
21	01:52.7	37:41:00	162	163	03:46.1	03:13.2
22	01:46.4	39:28:00	166	169
23	01:44.3	41:12:00	169	171	03:30.7	03:00.1
24	01:53.3	43:05:00	160	169
25	01:54.6	45:00:00	161	163	03:47.9	03:14.8
26	01:44.9	46:45:00	166	169
27	01:42.7	48:27:00	170	172	03:27.6	02:57.4
Summary	48:27:00	48:27:00	160	172		49:03:39

4x878m @85% effort (indoor track)

Yesterday: elliptical, PT exercises.

Today: warm-up, a few PT exercises (light), then 4x878m at the indoor track. I didn't go early this morning because I was up too late reading and needed to help the kids with some stuff and do laundry this morning before work. So I went at lunch time instead, which was fine.

I pushed a little harder then 85% and was still very slow :(, slower than a couple weeks ago when I did this workout :(. But...it's data, and I'm just getting started. Don't think. Just do it. Or something like that.

Intervals were 5:07.6 (5:50.3 for 1km), 5:08.7 (5:51.6), 5:11.1 (5:54.3), 5:12.3 (5:55.7). The good part about the workout was that my foot didn't hurt and my hamstring hurt only a little, at 1/10. Afterward the hammy bothered me a little but is better now. I'm happy about that! Gotta take the little victories where I can.

Garmin data here. 

4x1km @85% effort

I rested Sunday & Monday - long weekend trip, getting older, not bouncing back as well, I guess. Rest days were good :).

Today I opted for the indoor track because of the cold rain (about 6C with steady rainfall - ugh). I warmed up well (5 laps) then did 4x878m @ 85% effort (3 laps each). It went well! I did them in 5:04.7 (5:47.1 for 1km), 5:05.3 (5:47.8/km), 5:06.6 (5:49.3/km), and 5:09.5 (5:52.6/km), at a true 85% effort; comfortably hard. My hamstring did well, hurting 1/10 at most. 

This week we'll do 2 speed sessions :) and that was a good start. Not fast, but hey, starting somewhere.

Garmin data here. 

cross-training; 5K fartlek

Yesterday: elliptical, rode bike to work. I also did this on Monday, and my hamstring was totally fine with the biking uphill. But yesterday it was bothering me a bit during the bike ride, which I thought was a bit odd. It's not like hamstring is the #1 muscle you use while bicycling. Hmmm. The good news is that it felt 100% fine last night and this morning before my 5K fartlek, so I am pretty sure I didn't aggravate it.

Today: 5K fartlek. Went to Taylorsville High track to meet Kelly. Track was LOCKED. ARRRRRGH. So we had coffee, and skipped the workout. The end.

Not really! We had coffee, and afterward I went home and got ready for work and took the bus to campus and worked out at the indoor track, showered, and walked to work. I did the 5K fartlek.

The warm-up was fine and I felt very good. Pain was limited to 1/10, and my legs felt energetic this morning. I did a few PT exercises and some dynamic drills and got going on the fartlek. I did about the same as I did 2 weeks ago when I did the 5K fartlek, speed-wise, only today I had less pain. It was consistently 1/10 with only the occasional 2/10. Yes to that! The speed will come. I gotta keep believing that!

Total time was a slowish 30:19.8, which = 30:29.3 for the full 5000m. Splits were 2:53-2:58 adjusted for hard effort 500s and 3:07-3:13 for medium effort 500s. Yes, slow, but I am trying not to care about that. Just getting it done.

Garmin data here. 

P-DTR, rest day; 3K fartlek

Yesterday: I was just really tired, and a bit down, plus really busy, so I tried to respect my body by giving it a day off except for my PT appointment. My regular PT, Shane at the U Orthopedic Center, had suggested I go see Bonnie who is a PT at the women's clinic, to rule out any pelvic floor dysfunction or problems with muscles in and around that area, given that I was having a hamstring relapse. I agreed, because while I didn't think I was having problems in that area, I figured it wouldn't hurt to get it checked out.

So yesterday afternoon I saw Bonnie and she was very thorough. After examining me she didn't think I had any pelvic floor problems, and thought that basically the problem was my hamstring coupled with some possible lingering dysfunction from my ACL reconstruction 23 years ago. She felt that my popliteus on the left side and some of my back muscles on the left side were a little dysfunctional. I had told Shane last week that I thought I did have some lingering weakness stemming from the ACL surgery, and while I had rehabbed it very well, it wasn't quite the same as the other side. That was all fine and well.

But then Bonnie did something a bit unusual and I'm not 100% sure how I felt about it. On the one hand, I felt that last night it improved my pain level and my functioning quite a bit, but what she did struck me as a bit "woo-woo" and now that I've done some research I can say this much: "P-DTR" or "Proprioceptive Deep Tendon Reflex" therapy is not peer reviewed or evidence-based - YET. Having experienced it and seen some definite short-term benefit (though obviously n=1 and this is anecdotal!), I wouldn't write it off. I thought it was helpful. I'd love it if someone would do some research and show whether it is actually effective or not. Basically, the theory is that some pain results from poor proprioceptor functioning and that using a variety of techniques one can "reset" the mechanosensory feedback that the brain gets.  It seems possible to me that this could have some truth in it; our brains are complex and respond to quite interesting therapies, for example, the mirror box treatment for phantom pain.

Today: 3K fartlek. I went to the gym and did a warm-up on the indoor track. My pain level was a bit better than last week's 5K fartlek, which is good. It wasn't zero, and it was still more painful than before my relapse, with pain 1-2/10, mostly 2/10, and afterward it bothered me quite a bit for maybe 5-10 min before settling down and not hurting any more. I took some naproxen and though I was sitting quite a bit this morning doing injections of zebrafish embryos, it didn't bother me at all, so that was good. Now, at lunch time, it feels pretty much fine, which is an improvement on last week I think.

My fartlek performance was OK, and was about what it has been the past few weeks. Hopefully I can start training more soon and make some real fitness gains. All this waiting is frustrating, but at the same time, I should relax and go with it. My total time for the 2926m was 17:35 which is 18:02 for 3000m. Ave HR was only 157, and my intervals were ~2:55 for the fast and ~3:10 for medium effort. OK I guess. It is what it is...and I feel like I've been saying that for several years now, but what are you going to do, y'know?

Garmin data here. 

cross-training; cross-training; 5K fartlek

Tuesday: cross-training & PT

Wednesday: cross-training & PT, because I wasn't feeling so hot. I'm fine now, but I wasn't up to a 5K fartlek.

Today: 5K fartlek on indoor track. It went OK. My hamstring was much more tender than last week; about like Saturday's 16K and Monday's 10K - pain 2/10. I don't like this trend and am watching it but suspect it's just irritated from the PT and yoga? I need to take some more anti-inflammatories; had stopped because I didn't need them but I need to get this calmed down again.

My fartlek was 30:25 equivalent for 5000m, which is slower than last week by a little bit; perhaps because I was a bit more conservative because of the pain? But it's basically the same speed: too slow, but it'll do for now. I have to be patient, and I'm not good at that.

After my workout I went on the balcony to cool off and took this cool moon photo:

5K fartlek

Woke up feeling OK but in a grumpy mood, for no particular reason. Sometimes this happens to me; I get full of self-doubt about racewalking or start dwelling on some minor problem in my life and start ruminating. Thinking too much is definitely not good at times! I made myself dress and go to the indoor track anyway. Stopped at East High to see if their outdoor track was open (it wasn't...need to call the school and find out what the new hours are), and then drove to the U. Did some PT exercises to activate the glutes, and then I warmed up for 5 laps with some strides on the last lap (1:42.7; pretty good!). Then I did some dynamic stretching.

I still wasn't in a good mood, but it was a little better. I at least wanted to try the workout; was a little nervous about GI trouble after last week (which was silly since I didn't eat crap like last week), but everything was fine.

I started the workout and it felt pretty good. By 3K (well, 2926m, at 17:34, which would be 18:00 for 3K) I knew it was a decent workout, considering the shape that I'm in, and that it didn't totally stink like last week did (though of course last week would've been fine if I hadn't had GI issues). I also knew I wouldn't get under 30 min for 5K, but I know that'll come soon enough. I finished in 30:10 for 4974m, which works out to 30:19 for 5K. I'll take that. Season's best (haha...have only done this one 5K fartlek this year). My fast intervals were 2:53.1-2:56.9, and my medium effort intervals ranged from 3:08.0-3:11.8 (500m equivalents). Not fast, but not the worst I've done lately. I'll take it.

My pain level was mostly 0-1 but with an occasional 2/10. I sat a good amount this morning injecting at work and had a little discomfort but it was pretty minor, so I think things are good on that front. Luckily I don't usually sit around much at work haha!

Oh, and it was a beautiful though cold morning here (photo at left taken from our living room) so the outdoor track might've been icy anyway; I fell on some ice on the sidewalk on my way to the bus stop :( but landed on my backpack and so was well padded, and my computer is fine. Geez.

After the workout I felt a lot better, mood-wise. I didn't feel super awesome, but decent. I have to say I do love racewalking for that if for nothing else.

Garmin data here. 

5K --- nope, 3K ---- fartlek; GI distress

Dang it. Just not meant to be.

Went to outdoor track with Calvin at 6:35am; it was LOCKED. GRRRRR. Came home. Changed into shorts. Went to indoor track. They wouldn't admit anyone under 18 because it wasn't "family hours", which are very limited at Friday after 5pm, Sat & Sun all day. Geez.

Calvin and I had doctor appointments this morning at 8:50 and 9:30, so we had to get dressed and get going to those. That all went fine; everything good so far - had some blood work done and my cholesterol is nice & low with good HDL:LDL ratios (big surprise there, with my diet and exercise - NOT!) - CBC good, with hematocrit at 40.0 the best I've seen it. Waiting on B12 and serum ferritin, but expect those to be normal with the oral supplementation I've been doing after having deficiencies in B12 and iron.

Anyway, had to head to the track at 2pm because work was busy, including a birthday lunch for me and for the PI in the next-door lab (her birthday was today, and mine yesterday). I didn't eat much, but I had eaten a lot yesterday, and something caught up with me. At the track, by 9-10 min into the fartlek I was nauseated and having some intestinal rumblings. By 3K I was worried and had to call it quits after one extra lap. It was ugly, and I'll spare you the details, but at least I made it to the restroom.

I was slow, too - as you might expect given the GI distress. Geez. Can't catch a break.

Total time 18:01 for 2926m, which is 18:28 equivalent for 3000m. Terrible. Garmin data here. 

Hamstring: felt decent during at 0-1/10 pain level, but bothered me a bit afterward; sciatica.

Hopefully next week I can actually do the 5K fartlek and it'll be better.

Elliptical, sick, 5K easy RW at indoor track

Saturday: 50 min elliptical.

Sunday: sick :( didn't walk or do much of anything.

Monday: sick...still...

Today: feeling a bit better. Managed to get to the gym in time to do a short walk. It actually went OK! I did 4974m in 32:20 for 6:30/km with ave HR 147. Pain was 0-2/10. It felt really good after not RW since last Thursday, but of course the minute I started RW again it started to hurt. I was concentrating very hard on technique, which is one advantage of the indoor track: no distractions. Well, not many anyway, compared with outside. My mind wanders less at the track, because there's not much to look at. More boring, but better to maintain good form and not injure myself more. I did my glute activating exercises and I'm sure I had good posture. I can watch myself in the windows as when t's still dark out and the reflection is visible in many places on the track.

I am feeling the usual sick of winter blahs. It's cold and dark in the mornings which is just such a downer for training. But spring is coming soon, so I just have to hang in there. Being sick this week didn't help. But I've been eating a lot better for the most part, despite some home stress and one chocolate binge :(, and I lost 1.6lb last week. Hoping to lose another pound this week.

I still have to schedule in yoga/strength training sessions. I've got the household chores going pretty well with the kids and myself, and have been eating better and sleeping better. I have my diagnosis and have my PT appointment. Now all that's left is the yoga. Planning to do some this afternoon.

Garmin data here. 

6.4km on indoor track

Woke up late :/ but did still make it to the track; it's just as well. I planned to do 8K and could've, but it might have been unwise. My pain in the butt was fine (1/10 after sitting a lot last night doing computer upgrade) but my glutes tired quickly today, perhaps because it was actually my third day in a row racewalking. That's good! But bad that I got tired. Well, we will fix that in a hurry. More workouts, better fitness, less tired.

After doing my glute activation exercises diligently and carefully, I did 22 laps on the track, stopping twice to roll on the ball (more preventative than anything; I didn't have much pain). I forgot to stop my Garmin the 2nd time so it's off a bit. Total time for 6437m was about 42:00 spot on, for 6:31/km. Hey, that's pretty good, except that my HR was quite high doing it. It was a moderately hard effort and my HR was in the upper 150s/low 160s at the end. My fitness will return if I can train, so I'm trying not to be at all concerned about that part. The good part is that I could train.

Weight Watchers is going pretty well. I am adjusting to a few changes in the program, but that's going fine. My biggest challenge (as usual) is not eating too much after dinner. I did well for a couple nights but not as well last night; still, I am within my points. I just need to watch it more carefully tonight. I can do this!

In other news, I made a house cleaning plan and the kids now have a schedule for their responsibilities, as do I. So I've done everything I set out to do almost a week ago except figure out how to fit in strength training. That schedule is coming soon, so stay tuned. But I've 1) gone to the doctor, 2) gone to Weight Watchers, and 3) made my household cleaning schedule. That's a start. I feel a lot better mentally tackling all of this rather than just feeling sorry for myself.

5K, elliptical; ART

I did 5K this morning on the indoor track. It was OK; nothing special. 17 laps, and stopped at laps 6 and 12 to massage with my torture ball. 4974m in ~32:40 (had a watch error - didn't stop it while I paused when my headphones got unplugged!) which is a bit over 6:30/km (6:35?). Pain level was pretty tolerable, at about 1/10. That's good I guess. Then I did the elliptical for a bit to get in some extra exercise. That doesn't hurt at all :).

Was very happy to get my ART (Active Release Technique) therapy today. I had Derek check for any back involvement and he says there is none. He is impressed by my flexibility (go me!) and says that in general things are pretty darn good. I have some tenderness in my left TFL and a little in my adductors; piriformis is surprisingly not too tender - only in spots - and what seems more tender and bothersome is the sacrotuberous ligament, but just the part near the attachment at the ischium. He was extremely thorough and checked everything out, and said that really my problem isn't too severe, which was a relief to hear. I mean, I guess I knew that on some level because I can still RW without horrible pain, but it's hard to be objective about oneself which is why you have a coach, a PT, an ART person, etc. He also checked my hamstring and pronounced it 100% fine (whew). I made another appointment with him for next Tuesday and will probably keep going on some sort of regular basis for a tune-up until I'm 100%. Even then I think I might go monthly to keep any problems at bay. I must say that it's nice to have someone work on you for an hour, even if it is somewhat painful in a hurts-so-good way.

So....now.....will touch base with my coach and make some new plans.

9948.6m indoor track

I drove to the JRP at 6 am this morning to meet Kelly to RW. We couldn't even WALK on the sidewalk because it was covered with a thin film of ice. The asphalt path was a little better but was still very, very slick. Um, nope! Bummer. So we agreed to meet up at the U indoor track at 1pm instead.

That worked out much better. As boring as it can be to do lots of laps, it beats the heck out of the treadmill or trying to walk on ice. I did my glute activation exercises and started walking, and my piriformis was quite tight today. I don't know why it was more bothersome; all I did yesterday was elliptical, but I felt I did a good amount of sitting yesterday, and that was annoying in a painful way, so maybe that was it? I don't know. I do know that a bit of elbow from Kelly was a huge help - stopped for massage at lap 10, lap 20, and at the end (lap 34). OUCH! But the good kind of ouch :).

I did OK. 1:05:07 for 9948.6m = about 1:05:26 for 10k which is 6:32.5/km or thereabouts. I had to sit in lab meeting after and that was a bit painful. Hoping a cross-training day will set it right before I try to do 15K on Saturday.

Garmin data here. 

better today; 5x585m

Today I woke up feeling better. I definitely think the x-c skiing was the culprit behind the problems yesterday and Friday. What a relief!

I was going to meet Kelly at the Olympic Oval this morning, but last night I remembered that then I'd have to do more counterclockwise laps, and that the track at the U would be clockwise today, so I texted her to see if she could meet me there. It's a longer drive for her but she very nicely agreed after I bribed her with the promise of a homemade latte after the workout.

So we met at the U and did glute activation and some elbow (ouch! Kelly has a sharp elbow!) on the piriformis, then 5 laps warm-up, nice and slow for 3 and then gradually speeding up. I did some dynamic stretches and got going on the speed work. 

I was to do 5x2 laps (585m) at 85% effort, concentrating hard on posture. I did that, but I think my last 2 or 3 were probably a harder effort. Sorry, coach....of course, Kelly was there and it helped to have her watch my posture; she ran while I RW and so she could concentrate to check it. She looked very critically at my hips to make sure there was no anterior tilt, and she said it looked good. HA! Still holding it. I can tell, too. I was a bit sore but the discomfort was mostly a 1/10 on the pain scale, and the elbow afterward helped too. 

I wasn't fast but it wasn't terrible either. I'll take it for now. Times for 2 laps were 3:21.0, 3:22.9, 3:24.2, 3:24.0, 3:24.7 (tired on the last one!). Those are equivalent to 2:51.7-2:54.9 for 500m, so not too awful, all things considered. Still, this is 3 steps forward, 2 steps back. Would be nice to make even progress for once, but I guess I will take what I can get!!! I'm relieved to be feeling better and no more x-c skiing for now. Not until my butt is 100%.

Edited to add: Garmin data here. Notice HR at 170 on the last few. Darn it. A bit of fitness lost...oh well!

10K on indoor track

I could've gone outdoors; I was able to go midday when it wasn't as cold, and though it was snowing a bit this morning it was clear by late morning and the roads were OK. However, I wanted to get cross-country skis for the kids and the rental facility is in the same building as the track. Besides, I thought a soak in the hot tub post-workout would be relaxing. Finally, the indoor track is less distracting and I need to concentrate hard on my form right now.

So I went up to the track and did all my glute activation exercises and got started. 10K is just over 34 laps of the track, and I figured that 9948.7m would be enough :). I decided to do 9 laps and massage/do activation exercises, then 8 laps + same, then 9 laps, then 8 laps. I'm doing much better, but it still helps to re-activate several times during a workout. As for my injury, today it only bothered me a little bit on and off. I felt I was really good at maintaining my posture and using my glutes more. Hopefully in the long run this will pay off with fewer injuries and more speed. I am noticing that my glutes are fatiguing by the end of the workout, so I can tell I'm doing something differently.

While I was at the track I noticed that I was in the company of greatness. Nobel-prize winner Mario Capecchi was there doing a bit of running and some ab exercises. For 78 years old, he's in good shape, though I did pass him racewalking...and then he passed me back :). I haven't seen him there before but I also don't usually work out at the lunch hour. I recognized him because I've heard him give a number of very good talks and also see him occasionally on upper campus near our lab.

Back to my workout...I did very well. Total time was 1:04:28 for the 9948.7m, which works out to 1:04:48 for 10k. Yay! I did 6:29/km :). Still slower than pre-injury, but working my way back.

Post-workout, I wanted to soak in the hot tub, but it was closed :(. They have closed the pool for a few days for maintenance :(. Then I went to get skis for the kids. Well...didn't matter that I know their height, weight, and shoe size. They needed to try on the skis in person to be sure of the proper fit. Geez. More complicated than I thought. Hmmph. Maybe I should've worked out outside? Oh well :). I brought the kids back later and got the skis rented. We plan to have some fun cross-training tomorrow.

Garmin data here. 

3x1000 = 1x1170m, 2x878m (indoor track)

Yesterday: rest day! Ahhhh...but I was very busy with the usual: work, violin lessons, cooking dinner, getting shoes for Grace, continuing to unpack/organize new house, laundry, dishes. Still, it was nice to have a day off training.

Today: I was to do 3x1km at the track. I opted for the indoor track. It wasn't *that* cold outside this morning, but it was dark, and the indoor track is both light and warm. Not a tough choice :). 

I did a 5-lap warmup with strides on the last lap, and felt really good. After some dynamic stretching and bridges to activate my glutes, I got started on the workout. I decided that as 3000m is about 10 laps of the track that I'd do 4 laps, rest 2 min, 3 laps, rest 2 min, 3 laps; that way I'd still be doing about 3km of intervals. Close enough!

The workout went very well. My 1170m was 6:31.6 (adjusted 1km time 5:34.6), and my 878m were 4:50.9 and 4:48.8 (adjusted 1km times 5:31.4 and 5:29.0!). HA! Got under 5:30 :). OK, so it wasn't quite 1km, but I am sure I could've done it that fast. My speed is coming back. And my HR recovered into the upper 100s after each set - very nice. 

It's hard to stay motivated in the winter, so I'm glad things are going well with my training, and grateful for the indoor track. I have been feeling pretty guilty about not doing the last 5km of my workout on Sunday, and have been thinking a lot about how to make the long, cold days better...but there are not any easy answers. Dress warmly, maybe stop more often at the car for hot water, something? I know my water bottles froze solid on Saturday, and we had to stop at the one open restroom with running water (Winchester Park) to thaw them out and get more to drink. That's pretty demoralizing. Now I remember how hard winter training is and I am just going to have to figure out how to toughen up a bit and also how to make it easier on myself for the small things, like water. 

Garmin data from today's workout here. 

cross-training; 3x1463m, 3x585m

Yesterday: 30 min elliptical. Legs felt good.

Today: It was really windy again this morning, or at least that's what the weather forecast said. So Kelly and I decided to work out separately, me at the indoor track and Kelly on the treadmill at her work.

The weather at the indoor track was awesome as usual :). Bonus: when it's cold outside, during the 2' rest intervals I can go outside to cool off. Ahhhhh!

I warmed up for 5 laps with strides on the last lap. I felt really very good on the warm-up.

I was to do 3x1500m and 3x500m but on the indoor track the closest I could get was 3x1463m (5 laps) and 3x585m (2 laps). Close enough!

The whole workout went fantastically well. My 1463m were 8:20.4, 8:17.3, and 8:19.0 (converts to 1500m times of 8:33.0, 8:29.9, 8:31.6) and my 585m were 3:14.3, 3:13.4, and 3:11.5 (converts to 500m times of 2:46.0, 2:45.2, and 2:43.6 (!)). Total time was 34:35.9, which is more than 6K; for 6K it would've been 33:47.0. Fast! Happy me :).

My heart rate was pretty low on the recoveries - low 110s mostly, even in the 100s. It was low 160s on most of the intervals; I was trying hard and pushing hard but the HR was just lower today, which is fine.

I feel great now (dinner time) and legs had no stiffness or issues at all today.

Garmin data here. 

great 8K fartlek

I'm happy!

Yesterday: rest day

Today's workout: 8K fartlek. Weather was threatening cold and windy so Kelly and I nixed a planned meeting at the outdoor track at Taylorsville High. Kelly opted for the treadmill at her work, and I went to the indoor track at the U. I'm so grateful for this facility. It's hard enough to get psyched to get up in the dark and go do a hard workout, but when it's dark and cold and nasty out, it's darn near impossible. The indoor track removes the weather factor, which is a beautiful thing.

It does make calculations more awkward, but that's what Excel is for, and Excel is also a beautiful thing :). The track is 292.6m per lap, and so for my 8K fartlek that is 27 laps for 7900m. Close enough. I did 3 laps hard, then alternated 2 laps medium, 2 laps hard to the finish. The 3 laps hard was in 4:58.5, which works out to 5:40.1/km. Good start. Then 2 laps medium effort in 3:34.3 (3:03.1 500m equivalent, nice!), 2 laps hard in 3:18.1 (2:49.3), 2 laps medium 3:37.5 (3:05.8), 2 laps hard 3:17.2 (2:48.5), 2 laps medium 3:37.4 (3:05.7), 2 laps hard 3:18.2 (2:49.3), 2 laps medium 3:37.9 (3:06.2), 2 laps hard 3:19.9 (2:50.8), 2 laps medium 3:41.2 (3:09.0), 2 laps hard 3:20.9 (2:51.6), 2 laps medium 3:41.5 (3:09.2), 2 laps hard 3:22.1 (2:52.7).

Total time 46:44.7, and adjusted to 8km it would be 47:20.1. That is the fastest 8K fartlek I've done since 2012!!!! Woooohooooo! Very excited about that. Granted, in 2012 I was in the 45 minute range (sigh....) but we have to keep things in perspective here, and be happy for my recovery and that I feel good and can train again.

Speaking of feeling good, I did feel good during the whole workout, though obviously got a little tired at the end and slowed down a little on the last couple sets. My legs feel a bit tired now (at lunch time) but nothing too awful. Seems like a normal post-hard-workout tiredness.

My heart rate was a bit low this morning for the perceived effort; average HR was 157 for the workout and usually I'm maybe 160-161 for this workout. I was pushing it really hard though, and was in the mid to upper 160s for the hard parts at the end, so I am not sure why the HR was lower at the start. Maybe I'm getting fitter? Maybe I should've pushed harder to start - but that can't be right because I slowed a bit at the end so if anything I should've gone a bit easier to start I think. Anyway, no matter, just interesting.

Garmin data here. 

The views from the track were lovely this morning - the air is super clear from all the wind yesterday and it's beautiful today. Cold, but beautiful. I took a few pics of the view (excuse the reflections in the glass...sigh...) and of the facility.