40 min on treadmill

It was snowy outside and too slippery to RW; because I'm just trying to regain my fitness and am a bit paranoid about the turns on the indoor track, I did the treadmill.

I did 3.65 miles (5.87 km) in 40:08, all the time I had this morning (woke up late). I started off very slow, at 5mph (7:27/km) for a few min to warm up, then increased to 5.3mph (7:02/km), which still felt easy. So after a few minutes I increased to 5.5mph (6:47/km) and that was quite comfortable for an easy pace. Geez. I've lost so much fitness...but, well, that's life and I have to go from here. After I'd been on the treadmill for about 30 min, I tried 5.7mph (6:33/km) and that was moderately hard, pushing my heart rate to about 155, so I backed off and finished the workout at 6:47/km.

I did get off twice to massage on the small, firm ball that I have for that purpose, but didn't feel like I really *had* to do it; the pain was minimal, at 0-1/10. Yay!

Hopefully tomorrow it'll be a bit better and I can go outside, though it is supposed to be very, very cold. It might be too icy after the snow today. Maybe I might just try the track at the gym, now that my injury is feeling better.

6K on treadmill, 3x200; 20K aborted due to hamstring

Yesterday: 6K on treadmill. I noticed that my left hamstring was sore, probably from 1) sitting endlessly in meetings (6 hr Thursday, and another 6 hr Friday) at the USATF annual meeting, and 2) the treadmill, which does really weird stuff to your gait, especially when RW. I did the 6K in 38:20, which was reasonable given that it was on the 'mill, and then headed out to the parking lot across the street for 3x200m @ 85% effort; did the first one in 1:04 then screwed up my watch so I have no idea how fast the second two were.

Garmin data here. 

Today: 20K. Not :(. I felt a little sore in left top hamstring (I think it's hamstring - doesn't seem like piriformis) the first 500m or so but then loosened up and felt really, really great. My first 12k was awesome. There's a beautiful walkway in Buffalo Bayou that goes right next to downtown Houston, and it was so perfect this morning. Low 40s and calm and clear (about 5-6C?). SO pretty. Kathy, who was with me on a rented bike, took a photo of downtown with the sunrise...gorgeous.

But then about 12.3km I felt something pull or spasm in the sore left butt, and I had to stop. I tried to stretch and casual walk it off, and then racewalked another 0.3km, but then it really pulled and I just couldn't continue. I think and hope that it is only a spasm and that it'll be fine in a couple of days. I curled up on the sidewalk and had a good cry. Kathy was very sympathetic as she is a racewalker too. Fortunately, we were close to the conference venue at that point in the walk, and I was able to ride the bike back. I can walk OK as long as I don't racewalk or try to walk briskly. It's definitely quite sore. I am very, very disappointed as I really needed to get in a long walk prior to the 1 hr postal in 3 weeks, and I felt SO GOOD this morning before this happened. SO FRUSTRATING and SO ANNOYING. I was doing 6:20/km before that happened - seriously good! Arrrgh!!!!!!!!!!!

I took an 800mg ibuprofen and am icing it now. Will take tomorrow as a rest day (planned anyway) and then re-evaluate. If I feel good I'll do my planned 10K fartlek on Tuesday. If not, I will rest more and go from there. If it's just a spasm, I should feel good in a few more days.

Garmin data here. 

7.2km; cross-training

Sunday I took a rest day.

Monday I did an easy 7.2km at a friend's house in Spring City, UT. It's in a rural area with lots of cows, sheep, etc. I thought it was pretty flat, but turns out that it had a good uphill of 70m along the route I chose. Oops. I did the 7.2km at a 6:32/km pace and my legs were quite tired. Man, I'm wimpy these days. No gas in the tank. Jim called while I was out and we agreed I need to get some blood work just to make sure things are OK: iron (ferritin), cortisol, thyroid. I suspect my iron is fine since I have been taking iron orally since my previous low ferritin diagnosis a couple years ago, but I suppose it can't hurt to check.

Today I decided to go to the gym and work on the treadmill a bit. I have a lot of trouble walking legally on the treadmill for my PT appts and wanted to work on it. I started slowly and gradually ramped up my speed to 5.8mph (10:20/mile which is about 6:25/km). I know I was nice and legal, and I worked on my toe push a bit and on allowing my hips to rotate. It felt good but I tired quickly and jumped off after 15 min. Then I did 30 min on the elliptical and called it quits. Wanted to ride my bike to work but the weather was most uncooperative and I'm a fair weather cyclist.

In good news, I have lost a few pounds and seem to be keeping it off. I would like to lose about 5 more to be in my best racing shape. Let's hope the rest of me starts to have some more energy soon. I'm not sure what is wrong and it's annoying! I WANT to train!!!

~6km; PT

My friend Erin is visiting and arrived very late (2 am!) last night. Despite that, she got up early so we could walk together this morning, and even walked a bit slowly for me the first 6km of her walk. I was to do 6km, and she 12km. She inspired me with her pace, despite still being quite sore from getting hit in the knee by a discus a few weeks ago (you can still see how her right leg is swollen).

My piriformis felt pretty good this morning despite the relatively quick pace, and I was surprised I'd recovered that well from Sunday's 15K. The time passed quickly having a friend to talk with, and I really enjoyed Erin's company.

We did the 6.32 km in 38:34 for 6:06/km and my ave HR was 147. That's the fastest I've walked in a while where it felt pretty good (though I guess I've had a few OK speed workouts). The piriformis felt fine the rest of the day, too.

At 3pm I had a PT appt, and Erin came along. The PT gave me some great exercises to strengthen my glutes and work my external rotators and abductors - Erin really liked them a lot too. The treadmill video part wasn't so great - I swear I cannot walk properly on one of those things. Erin got a bit irritated with me and told me I had a mental block. Well, whatever the case is, something is wrong. The video looked terrible and I knew exactly what I was doing wrong WHILE I was doing it but couldn't fix it on the d@#* treadmill. It was really frustrating and kind of upsetting too. Regardless, I did feel we accomplished some useful things regarding my technique and getting more smooth - less heel pounding, more rolling all the way through the toes, and a more upright stature.

Garmin data from 6.32km here.

In addition to the PT exercises I did with the PT, I also did some back/core exercises after I got back from the 6.32 km while Erin was doing the rest of her walk. Felt good.

11.26K (7 miles) on treadmill...wheeeee!

I decided yesterday that I'd do 12K today. I woke up today to rain. Icky rain. Pouring rain. I'm ashamed to say that I wimped out and went to the gym and got on the treadmill. I figured since it's still a "rest" week that I don't HAVE to brave the elements if I am not in the mood, so I didn't.

I still hate the treadmill. I had to drive to and from the gym so then I was short on time (hence the 11.26K not 12K). By the time I finished it was merely drizzling and I was thinking I really should have gone outside, rain or no rain. It's warm in the gym (probably just 70F, 21C), so I was sweating profusely. The treadmill bores me to tears, so I did have some TV shows on my iPod, which helped. However, it was still not really that great.

The treadmill is in miles, of course. I know 12K is about 7.4 miles but like I said, I couldn't quite get there time-wise after driving to the gym because I had to take the kids to school. Anyway, converting it all to km, I did the 11.26km in 1:10:30 for 6:16/km with ave HR of 144. Seems about the same as I'd probably do outside. Outside would have been nicer I think...maybe...

Oh well, it's done.

still sick; 10K

I am still sick today. However, I woke up feeling much better than I did last night. That's not unusual for me, as I generally feel worse at night when I'm sick. I was really on the edge of doing my workout or not. I have a dry cough, a runny nose, swollen lymph nodes, congestion, and fatigue. But I felt like I could get through a workout OK, and when I checked the weather it said it was a very warm 55F and not raining yet! I looked outside, and my thermometer was reading 45F but it wasn't raining. Cool! Decent weather! So I got dressed for outside and started down the street. It was gusty and windy, but then it started to rain. Ugh. I had this feeling if I continued that it was going to pour, as we were supposed to get quite a storm. And I hadn't brought my rain jacket, and I started to think about the fact that I was sick, and the treadmill started to look appealing. After all, I could stop at any time if I didn't feel well, I could do a load of laundry while I was on it, and control the environment, more or less. So, I turned around and headed back home.

I threw on my new shorts (the ones I bought for World Masters) and hopped on the treadmill. I figured it would be a disaster, but it went well! I did stop at 30 min for about 3 min to move the laundry from the washer into the dryer (multitasking at its best!), and then 15 min later for a drink of water (another benefit of being indoors), but other than that it was steady. I had done about 2/3km (0.4mi) outside, so I had 5.8 miles to go inside. I did most of the indoor part at 5.8mph, and the last 1.4 km at 5.7mph. The outside portion took me 4:30, and the inside part took 60:15, for a total of 1:04:45 with ave HR 149. Not bad! I'm glad I did the workout. However, I'm paying. I'm really tired, so I'm leaving work early to get a nap before I have to pick up the kids from school.

Garmin connect data here.

***

Treadmill ruminations - I wanted to see how my treadmill did in terms of calculating pace, etc. I timed it for 0.62 miles (1km) at 5.8 mph and it was consistently 6:24-6:25. That's pretty close. It should be 6:25.8. The one km I did at 5.7 mph was 6:32, also right about spot on. The one question I still have about my treadmill is whether it is actually flat. My basement floor is not very flat (hey, it's a 1940 house!), but I have it in a spot I think is flat. I didn't have time after my workout to run to the garage and get the level, but I'll do that this afternoon. I'm curious. I think it's pretty close, but I'm not sure.

5K fartlek on treadmill

This morning was an exercise in frustration. It started off well enough. I looked outside and it was 29F (-2C) and clear, and the roads looked mostly empty of snow (it snowed quite a bit yesterday and was supposed to snow a little more last night). So I got all dressed to walk outside, with all the layers and gloves and hat and pepper spray and headlamp and rear blinkie and reflective vest. Then I walked out my door onto the driveway by the side of my house. It was coated in ice. Uh-oh. I walked out to the street and it was only slightly better. Goody, goody. Black ice (which is just ice on the road which is hard to see). Walking outside was not going to happen. So I thought I'd go to the indoor track. Uh, nope. It's a holiday here (President's Day - for my international friends, this is to honor our presidents Washington and Lincoln) and so the indoor track isn't open until 9 am. That wasn't an option. So that left one thing: the dreadmill. Unfortunately, those darned things are just not really accurate, so I knew I wouldn't be able to gauge my fitness level very well, but I would be able to get a good hard workout. And that I did.

I warmed up with 1 mile in 10:36, doing a few pick-ups and taking it easy in between. I stretched out a bit and got started. I have had to adjust my times a bit from what is on my watch because I waited until the 'mill was almost up to speed (6.6mph for my fast intervals today except for the 4th one, which was half at 6.6 mph and half at 6.5 mph) to push start. My watch says 5:32 but it was really 5:39 for the first km. Then 3:06 recovery, and 2:49 fast 500m. Then 3:15 recovery (I was really feeling it and my HR was quite high), and 2:49 fast. Then 3:15 recovery and 2:50 fast. Then the wheels fell off a bit - I slowed down a lot on the recovery AND had some serious math issues. 500m is 0.31 miles, and the $#*(& treadmills only have miles because Americans are too colossally stupid to actually go metric and get with the program like the rest of the world. Anyway, I had to add 0.31 to 2.48 and somehow had it fixated in my head that it was 2.86 (probably because 1.86 miles is 3km...), so my 4th recovery was actually 0.38 miles (544m). Oops. Even more oops, it was in 4:06, which when translated to 500m instead of 544 is a ridiculously slow 3:46. I am wondering if this can be right? But that's what the watch says...and my HR was an ave of 173 (!). Ouch. Finally, the last 500m was 2:45 (it was at 2:49 pace like the other so not sure what is going on here).

So, my total was 30:14 if you count the first km as 5:39. Hmmm, that is kind of slow for the effort. Like I said, I don't trust the treadmill accuracy very much. And I'm not sure where the 3:46 came from. I have no idea what all this means, except that I had a very good and very hard workout. I was really pushing it, and my ave HR was 170 for the whole workout, which is crazy high. I feel pretty good now, though, and nothing hurts.

Garmin connect data here.

6K on treadmill

I woke up a bit late today...so it was the treadmill for me, as I was to meet Lisa at the gym at 6:55. I had planned to go outside for 40-45 min and then go to the gym to lift, but instead I got to the gym and on the treadmill around 6:35. I really don't like the treadmill, but honestly, I'm also tired of the dark and the cold in the mornings, so I didn't mind quite as much today.

Well, I was on the treadmill, so I kept it at a constant speed, but my HR got pretty high for the speed that it was set on. I had it set for 5.7 mph (10:31/mile), which is about a 6:32/km pace. My HR started out pretty low, ave 132 for the first km, but it went up fast averaging 147, 151, 155, 158, then 160 for the last km...hmmm...sluggish today I guess. I did keep the 5.7 mph for the whole 6K though, which is one of the advantages of the treadmill I suppose. It felt like a pretty hard workout. Sigh...still pretty out-of-shape.

Tomorrow will be a longer workout - another 12km, probably. I hope it is a bit easier than it was last week, but I'm not so sure it will be. Long ways to go in the fitness department, but I have lots of time before my next serious race, so I must be patient. I'm just glad I can train again.

change of plans

This morning I got up and checked the weather and air quality. It was 33F, foggy, and PM2.5 was 34, just under the unhealthy 35 and up range. I was happy I'd get to walk outside! So I got all dressed and was opening the door to set my Garmin out to acquire the satellites while I put on my reflective vest and blinkies, when I noticed that it was raining pretty hard. Hmmmm...cold AND rainy? Maybe not so much. I don't mind cold with a light snow as much as cold with a steady rain. I decided that the treadmill was the better option. I went back downstairs, changed into shorts and a sports bra, and hopped on the treadmill. I was SO very very slow today that I'm not even going to post the times. It was really bad...however, I actually enjoyed the workout, even though it was on the treadmill. I watched some mindless TV (Today Show) and talked to Calvin on and off, as he was hanging out downstairs too. I felt pretty good when I finished, and my muscles aren't too sore, even though I managed to do a whole hour on the 'mill. Next time I won't dread it quite so much. Though I prefer to go outside, today the treadmill was indeed the better option.

slow and achy, but still here!

This morning's workout wasn't so good. I racewalked a mile on the treadmill at the gym, because the pollution was horrible outside, and the doc has advised me to avoid being outside when it's like that :(. I hate the treadmill, but the gym w/the indoor track wasn't open today until 9 am (it's at the U and it's still break for the students), so I was stuck with the 'mill. After one mile I was DONE...my legs were tired and achy already, after a relatively slow 10:55 for the mile. I switched to the elliptical, and did 4 more miles pretty easily on that in 35 min (usually this takes me 31-32 min, so this was slow too, but at least it didn't hurt). My legs seem to tolerate the elliptical much better than racewalking right now :(, especially racewalking on the treadmill.

Tomorrow morning I'll probably racewalk outside - the weather is supposed to clear up a bit because a storm is coming through to break up the pollution-trapping inversion. We're not supposed to get too much snow, so I should be able to walk outside, if my legs can tolerate it.

***

On the bright side, I am uninjured and able to work out. Yeah, I'm slow, and I'm fatigued, and my muscles hurt, but I'm still exercising and it does feel good (mostly). I'm going to cut back as needed and try to respect my body's limits for the moment, but I'm hoping to return to full strength sometime, even if that takes a few months. I'm not happy about that, but I can't change it, so I need to accept it and move on.

Also, I was down 0.8 lb today in Weight Watchers. I'm still about 8 lb over where I'd like to be, but things are moving in the right direction and I've had a couple good days in a row, eating-wise. Might as well get the weight under control while I'm not training hard.

pushing my limits

My toe felt OK enough to RW today! It is still a bit sore, but not enough to keep me from RW. And believe me, today my toe was the least of my worries.

It was raining hard and windy so I hit the gym at 5:30 am to do my hard workout. I was to do 5x800m (0.5 miles) hard. I know that is a short workout compared to what I have been doing, but it was very hard today. The gym was kind of hot, and my HR was really high, and my legs felt like Jell-O on the 3rd 800. AND then I still had two more to do. I gave it all I had, and seriously, there was nothing left when I was done. My legs were toast, my face was red and salty, and I felt trashed (in a good way I guess).

On the first 800, I did most of it at 6.7 mph, but did the last bit at 6.6 mph when I saw my HR was in the low 170s already. Um, oops. I guess I did that one too hard (yeah...it only took 4:23! I was not even that fast last summer on repeat 800s! oops!). The next one I did at 6.6 mph, but turned it down to 6.5 at the end. Still too fast. I knew I was in trouble. I gamely did the next one at 6.5, with legs and lungs burning. The last two I only managed 6.4 mph. But I pushed absolutely as hard as I could for those last two, focusing on my breathing and trying to get in a zone (yeah, a painful zone!).

Summary:
10 min warm up at 5.5-5.8 mph
4:23 ave HR160/max 168; 6.7 mph
2:36 recovery
4:29 163/173, 6.6 mph
2:34 recovery
4:36 166/175, 6.5 mph
3:21 recovery
4:45 165/174, 6.4 mph
3:04 recovery
4:43 167/175, 6.4 mph

I have to say that this was the most painful workout I have done in a while. Not because it was really so hard (5x800 isn't much) but because I pushed so hard and really worked it. I hardly noticed my toe for the burning in legs and lungs. It really, really hurt.

After that I went to weight training and did heel raises, PT exercises, bench press w/dumbbells, lunges (part of my PT exercises), cable abductor and adductor, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and a bunch of core work.

Now I am recovering with a soapy water foot soak (3x/day...oh yay) and a bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch with soy milk and mixed berries. It has a good protein/carb ratio for recovery and is delicious :).

Tuesday track - scratch that - treadmill workout

Today there was 2" of snow on my lawn. It always snows here in April, and it's generally annoying. We need the water, and the skiers love it, but me? Not so much. The track was likely to be under snow, because though my sidewalk was clear, the track is a few hundred feet higher in elevation and usually has more snow. So I opted for the treadmill.

The treadmill in my basement does have certain conveniences. 1) Proximity to the bathroom. I wasn't sure my GI system was fully recovered from whatever was bugging me Sunday (it turned out to be fine). 2) No drive required. 3) Clothing is more flexible - I can wear a sports bra & shorts and no one will stare. 4) I have a nice fan, and our basement is cool in the winter (about 60F unless we turn on the space heater). 5) I can put the TV on any channel I like.

I got started, warming up at 5.5 mph for 0.9 miles in 10 min, followed by some flexibility drills. Then I cranked up the speed to 6.4 and let 'er rip. I did 2K (1.24 miles) in 11:30 or so (but remember, it's a treadmill and therefore the distances are approximate). Then 4-min recovery (supposed to be 3, but I messed up somehow!), then 2K at 6.3 mph (turned it down because I was supposed to keep 85% effort, and 6.4 was a little fast) in 11:58 (obviously that lap time was a little long - probably pressed it before belt fully accelerated). After 3' recovery, I did 1K, 2' recovery (supposed to be 3, but Michelle came downstairs and I changed the channel for her (to the Disney channel :)!) and then in my distracted state thought it was time to go 1 min early), and finally another 1K. Both 1Ks were at 6.3 mph, and I did them in 5:58, 5:53 (should be the same, but lap timing and acceleration to 6.3 from slower pace make this off a bit).

Average HR for the intervals/max HR:
2K 155/163
2K 158/167
1K 158/166
1K 159/167

A good, hard effort. It was tough, but not impossibly hard. I was definitely feeling the pain, but that's where you want to be to make some gains. My legs are not quite as tired as they were a few wks ago on these workouts. Lungs still hurting though!

I cooled down with about 10 min of a slower pace, keeping HR in the mid-130s, and then walked slowly for a couple minutes to finish.

Afterward I iced my foot for 15 min or so. It felt totally fine during and immediately after the workout. Later this morning it was ever-so-slightly-achy so I iced it at lunch.

***

Forgot to post yesterday's x-training: 30 min on bike, 45 min weight training (total body supersets --- chest, hips, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, back, lats, etc.) plus abs & my PT exercises. Later in the day, 10 min bike at PT and some new PT exercises. Foot was slightly achy after PT but not bad.

***

Drove by the track on the way to work. It looked slushy, so I was glad I stayed indoors this morning. Better not to risk injury.

very snowy day = treadmill time!

At least we knew it was coming. There's about 4 inches (10 cm) of snow on the ground here right now at our house, and a bit more at the track & at the gym (higher elevation). There's not much on our sidewalks because it isn't all that cold (30F, -0.8C), so I did drive by the track to check & see if maybe it would be possible to work out outside. No dice...the track was covered in snow. I didn't bother to look at how much, because workout quality would be diminished with the snow out there. I'd do a recovery/easy day in the snow, but not a quality workout like I was to do today.

So, off to the gym I went. Yes, I do have a treadmill at home which I can use, but my husband had to go to work really early today and I wanted him to get as much sleep as possible before he had to go in. The treadmill isn't terribly noisy, but it just seemed better to go to the gym. I warmed up for 10 minutes (0.85 miles - walked very easy to start while fussing with my iPod), did some flexibility drills, and then started the hard workout.

I was to do 2k/2k/1k/1k at 85% effort with 3 min rest in between. Treadmills are all calibrated a bit differently (bummer!), but I picked one that I thought was fairly accurate based on previous experience. It was close enough :). You get a little advantage from the treadmill, in general, due to no wind resistance and also due to a little assist from the belt with each stride (however, on my home treadmill, which is not calibrated right, I am usually slower than outside with equivalent effort). The treadmill today at the gym seemed easier. I did the first 2k (1.24 miles) in 11:40 with ave HR 158/max HR 164 (treadmill speed 6.5 mph to start but pretty quickly moved it down to 6.3 mph). That was faster than on the track last week, but who knows if it was really faster. The important thing was the effort, which felt pretty hard and was reasonably close to 85%. The second 2k I did have to slow down a bit and set the treadmill to 6.2 mph (10 kph), which is where I kept it the rest of the workout. The second 2k was in 12:00. The first 1K I did in 6:00 and the last 1K in 6:03 (should have been 6:00 based on 10 kph, but something got a little off with the lap timing or something).

My legs were tired, but not as tired as they were last week at the track. That's good I guess. Today's workout felt pretty good. It was hard, and I was sweating a lot, but I was able to focus on a light on the wall and felt like I was really concentrating well on my form and my effort. I felt focused and strong, which is good. I needed a little confidence.

My foot? One small twinge at one point but no other problems. I'm icing it as I write this and hoping for the best. I do have PT appointment later today which is sure to make things more interesting, but I think the foot is fine for now. I'll see how it feels later this morning and then will let the PT know how hard to work me :).

Oh, and yesterday? I had an "optional" day on the schedule, so I did some stationary bike & elliptical for an hour, along with some PT exercises and some hip abductor exercises. Should have done some abs too, but was pressed for time.

OK, time to shower and get the kids ready so I can go to work. Thankfully, the roads are relatively clear so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.