Full Norwegian, interrupted

This morning I had in mind to do a full Norwegian fartlek workout. It's a great workout, and one I can do on the roads instead of the track, which is nice :). It goes like this: 10 min warm-up, 2 min fast (10k to tempo pace), 2 min easy, 4 min fast, 2 min easy, 6 min fast, 2 min easy, 8 min fast, 2 min easy, 7 min fast, 2 min easy, 5 min fast, 2 min easy, 3 min fast, 2 min easy, 1 min fast, 10 min cool-down.

I did do the whole workout, and had fun; however, it was interrupted by a couple things. 1) after the 8 min fast I really had some GI problems and stopped to use a restroom in Liberty Park. I haven't had any GI problems in a while but whatever it was was probably caused either by a virus or something I ate, because I had some trouble last night and later this morning, too. At least I was still able to do my workout :). 2) during the 7 min fast I saw a friend (Team in Training - from the summer team) in the park and stopped to chat for a few minutes. Other than that, I was able to do my workout without interruption, and my dog Copper (pictured) happily kept up with me. She can handle the fast workouts, while Sahara, our other dog, cannot.

Here were my paces (by Garmin) and HR for each fast segment:
1) 9:23/mi; 140 (pretty low, but it was downhill and at the start of the workout)
2) 9:42/mi; 146
3) 9:41/mi; 152
4) 9:27/mi (10k pace!); 151 (wow HR is still pretty low for this pace)
5) 9:32/mi; 156
6) 9:52/mi (some uphill); 158
7) 9:48/mi (some uphill); 160
8) 9:46/mi; 157

Pretty good workout. My HR was a bit lower than I'd like for some of the longer intervals; maybe I need to think about stepping up my pace? I think I might be getting 1) fitter as I've been training harder for a few weeks now, and 2) more efficient in my gait as I have been racewalking for a few years now. Finally, the added weight loss can't hurt :). I am wearing a pair of jeans today that is super comfy; a few months ago they were too snug to wear more than a few hours. Yay!

catching up

Been a little busy so let me update you as to our goings-on.

Sunday: 3.94 easyish miles around Liberty Park; a bit stiff from Saturday and thought I'd be slow, but averaged a 10:34 mile pace with ave HR of only 135! Pretty fast for that HR!

***

Monday: Weight training in the morning. Then in the late afternoon, Kat (former co-worker) and I ran/hiked up to the Living Room together. It was quite a sight w/the storm brewing. It was very windy and a bit cold, but we managed the 2.43 mile (by Garmin) round-trip in 48:30; the elevation change was 1000 feet each way (wow!) in that distance. My heart rate averaged 145 on the way up, for 18:56/mile. Yeah, it was steep. We went down more slowly than we came up, though, because the footing was not easy and I'm kind of a hiking wuss.

Here are more pics on Flickr.

***

Tuesday: Track workout. Yasso 800s. Hey, does anyone know if these are predictive of how fast you can RW a marathon just as they are for running? I'd guess the answer is yes, but I'd like to know, because I was pretty fast today! (For the uninitiated, Bart Yasso of Runner's World is known for 800m repeats; he says if you can do about 8-10 of these at a certain pace, e.g. 4 min 35 sec in my case, that predicts a 4 hr 35 min marathon). Anyway, after a warm-up and stretching, I did 6x800 (not that many, I know - but I will do more as the season progresses) in 4:36, 4:32, 4:33, 4:37, 4:31, 4:31. Despite feeling pretty sluggish (not enough sleep) and having a bit of soreness from last night's hike, I surprised myself with the fast pace that I did these at. I am sure I could have cranked out a few more at 4:36-4:38 if I had to. So... maybe a 4:35 or 4:40 is possible this fall in Portland? I'd like to think so :).

***

Happy me! I was down 1.2 lb at Weight Watchers again, for the 2nd week in a row. Morning weight still around 146-147 but hopefully we'll get it down to 143-145 and keep it there by fall.

TNT workout

 Me & Jeannie after our workout

Today we met at the Jordan River trail for our long run. The fall team, in their 3rd week, was doing 6, 5, or 4 miles, depending on the race they are doing. The summer team half marathoners (the full marathoners were out of town and did 20 w/me last Sunday) were doing 14.

I started out w/the faster runners, including one of our summer team half marathoners. She hasn't been able to attend the workouts, so it was super nice to have her along today. I did about 3 miles pretty fast, and then about 3 miles more slowly, with going back and forth with everyone. After escorting the last of the fall team walkers back to the start, I went out after our summer team runner (who had decided to do 10 rather than 14) about 1.5 miles and brought her back to the start. Finally, I racewalked way out (about 4.5 miles?) to get our summer team walker (who did the full 14) and then walked in slowly with her.

My Garmin said 16 miles, but I accidentally had it off for a while, so I really did more like 17.5 or 18, I'm guessing. About 2/3 of that was reasonably fast (11:30 or faster) and the rest was slower.

Some tidbits from the workout:
1) I really enjoyed walking with the fall team walkers. They were VERY into learning more about racewalking and were super enthusiastic. It was a blast! I think I might have a racewalking clinic for them.
2) We have 3 guys training for the Dublin Marathon (yes, in Ireland!!!). They are lots of fun and I really enjoyed getting to know them better. I was telling a couple of them that I'm a racewalker, and the one guy says, "Hey, no kidding - a couple years ago I was doing the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon w/my buddy and about mile 8 we passed this speedwalker. Her shirt said on the back 'if you can read this, you just got passed by a speedwalker'." I started laughing really hard, because he was describing ME! I told him I wore that shirt at the SL 1/2 in 2007 (and of course my shirt said "racewalker" not "speedwalker"), and it was just one of those hilarious small world moments. He said when he saw the shirt that he told his buddy he'd get carried out on a stretcher before being beaten by a "speedwalker". I thought that was pretty funny. We had a good laugh about it and he and his friend seem to be enjoying having me as a coach.
3) The weather was perfect today - started in the upper 50s, and got up to upper 60s or low 70s. It was nice & breezy, so it didn't get too hot. Actually, it was pretty windy, come to think of it, but it didn't bother me. I enjoyed it since it wasn't cold.
4) We saw swallows, LOTS of ducklings, and enjoyed being outside a lot. The river was still quite high from the spring runoff from the mountains.

If anyone is still reading this...

Yeah, I know, it's been 3 days since I posted. Sorry. I'll write more about the busyness later.

Meanwhile, if anyone is still reading this, yes, I am still here. I'm pretty exhausted - have not been going to bed early enough (tonight is an example - I have to be up around 5:00 am and I'm still here on the computer finishing things up), and have been getting up early and having busy days. Tomorrow should be a bit more restful; after the morning TNT workout I should at least have the rest of the day to relax a bit, as my usual piano student is not coming tomorrow due to a swim meet. We're going out to dinner w/a friend, so I won't have to cook, either :).

So, what have I been up to? I'm up late enough that I want this to be brief... so I'm just going to write about my workouts, quickly. Wed & Fri I had weight training; on Wed I racewalked 2 hilly miles in 22 min before my class, and today I biked to class and back. Thursday, I was very tired from being up late at our small group (a church group; we had an amazing discussion that I hope will lead to some very good community-building - I'm quite excited about it) and I was worried about my IT band, which was a bit sore after Tuesday's track workout. I had planned a tempo workout but decided to start easy and see how it was. It felt OK, so I started to accelerate. I did a 6-mile acceleration, with HR ranging from 140-160 by the end. Average pace on a somewhat hilly route: 10:34/mile (ranging from 12:00/mile (uphill, 1st easy mile) to 9:46/mile). Then I cooled down for 0.5 mile and stretched. I felt pretty good and am hoping that I will be trouble-free tomorrow for the TNT workout.

Finally!

Finally managed to get in the full 12x400m track workout. I wanted to do a couple 8x400m workouts first, to build up to it. Then last week I intended to do it, but just flaked. Today, I was bound and determined to do it. And guess what? It was pretty fun, and though it was hard, it wasn't as hard as I imagined.

I warmed up with 1600m acceleration and some flexibility drills. Then I got into the meat of the workout. I planned on 2:14/400m (5k pace) but ended up going a little faster, because I felt pretty good. Here are my times: 1) 2:12, 2) 2:11, 3) 2:13, 4) 2:16, 5) 2:10, 6) 2:12, 7) 2:13, 8) 2:11, 9) 2:12, 10) 2:11, 11) 2:12, 12) 2:08 (gave it my all!). I rested about 1 minute-1 min 15 sec in between each interval. Then 1600m in 12:19 to cool down.

My IT band bothered me just a little bit today; not too surprising given that I did a very hilly 20-miler on Sunday and that speed work was the last thing to come back after my injury. Today it wasn't bad enough to be stabbing pain or anything, just an ache that I noticed and did a little extra stretching for between 400s.

***

This morning my weight was 146.4 :) which is the lowest it's been since before Christmas. Yay! I have been really working hard on this the past few weeks. I have had to reduce the number of activity points I was eating by quite a bit, but it seems to be paying off. Of course on the days when I go long I eat most of them :). I am not sure why my metabolism has changed, and it stinks to have to eat less, but I am willing to do it so that I can be fast this summer and fall.

irony

got this in my e-mail after the 20-miler... my mind doesn't feel very sharp after 20, but I found it amusing that after working out for 4 hours or so that I got this e-mail today reminding me to exercise!

Exercise Keeps Your Mind Sharp

A recent study from the National Institutes of Health found that the most sedentary individuals (i.e. couch potatoes) are 2.5 times more likely to develop dementia than regular exercisers. Dementia is a condition of declining mental abilities (especially memory) that affects your personality, skills (like driving a car), and verbal abilities.

Action Sparked: Stay on a consistent exercise program throughout your lifespan. Try not to view exercise as a temporary means to and end such as weight loss. It is part of a healthy lifestyle, and while it does help you lose and maintain weight, it can ward off plenty of health problems, from heart disease to depression.

Exercise also helps your kids concentrate better in school and sets the foundation for healthy habits that will help them prevent future health problems as well.

We rocked 20 miles!

Gwen, Jason, Erika, and I did 20 miles this morning :). Gwen is in pink, Erika in green, and I'm in the TNT singlet. Jason, well, that's kinda obvious ;).

Not including stops for aid (4 aid stations where we had to refill our water bottles) and bathrooms (which were about a block off the route, in Primary Children's Hospital), it took us 3:37:xx to do our 20-miler, which was about a 10:51 pace. Pretty good for a VERY hilly route from Sugar House Park, up 15th East to 9th South, up 9th S and Sunnyside to Arapeen, through Research Park and the U on Chipeta, Ft. Douglas Blvd, and Medical Dr., through Federal Heights, up Virginia Street (yeah, baby, we ran/racewalked all the way to the TOP!), across 11th Ave to Bonneville Dr., past the entrance to City Creek to the State Capitol, and all the way back and around the park again. Whew!

Elevation ranged from 4400 feet up to 4900 feet, down to 4600 feet, back up to 4900 feet, and back down to 4400 feet. Definitely more than hilly enough to prepare us for the Seattle RNR Marathon on June 27th.

Yes, we did our 20-miler a week early. Whatever... it worked schedule-wise for the people who needed to do it. We'll do 16 or so next week then taper in earnest.

Splits: miles 1&2 - 21:40, mile 3 11:06, mile 4 11:44, mile 5 10:52, mile 6-9 43:45, miles 10-15 (um, yeah, racewalker's brain prevented me from remembering to push the lap button) approximately 1:05 - this is short a bit because I had the Garmin off for a tenth or so, mile 16 10:42, mile 17-18 20:57, mile 19 11:21, mile 20 10:36.

We did a great job of keeping our pace consistent throughout the workout; yes, the hills slowed us down, but we kept our cadence up going up them and the speed was pretty good considering the 800 ft+ of uphill!

Finally, I think I have really figured out the GI stuff for good; essentially no trouble today (1 small cramp) and I ate bananas, pretzels, jelly beans, and a gel, along with Gatorade. I also kept my ave HR at 149 for the whole 20 w/o any problems. Yay! Oh, and my IT band only protested a tiny bit on one downhill. Otherwise I was FINE.

More photos on Facebook on my account.

Easy 4

Today I did an easy 4-4.5 miles w/the team. My Garmin said 4.15, but I accidentally had it off for a bit, so I'm not sure how far I really went. The first 1.5 or so were pretty fast (10:00/mile or faster) and I racewalked the whole time because I was afraid of IT band trouble. Then I was able to rw or just walk pretty easily with the other team members.

We had beautiful weather for our run/walk. Afterward, we gathered for breakfast together (potluck) and watched "Spirit of the Marathon", an excellent documentary about runners from novice to elite who are training for the Chicago Marathon. Great way to start our season :).

I'm glad today was an easy day because tomorrow I'm planning to do 20 miles with some of the summer team. Fun!!!!! (I must be crazy --- I just said 20 miles would be FUN!).

The photo is some of the team at the aid station at mile 2.

A post dedicated to my kids

I post a lot about racewalking and not so much about my kids, not because I don't love them, but because I spend LOTS of time with them and sometimes just need to think about something else :).

However, I've been saving up a few cute sayings for you. Here they come!

Mommy: What animal does pork come from?
Michelle: A tiger?

***

Mommy: What animal does milk come from?
Calvin: Cows!
Mommy: Where does peach tea come from?
Michelle: Baby cows!

***

Mommy: We only have time for a 10-minute bath for Michelle, but Calvin, you can have a longer bath.
Calvin: I'll have a THIRTEEN-minute bath!

*********

In other kids news, we are potty training Michelle in earnest now. We told her on Sunday that the diaper fairy was taking away her diapers. Between Sunday & Thursday we had LOTS of accidents. She did not go in the toilet even once. UGH! But yesterday, just when we were wondering if this was going to work, she started using the toilet! Yay! She is not consistent and is still having accidents, but now she is using it about half the time. Hopefully we'll see continued progress. We've been changing diapers since October 2004, and I'm looking forward to no more diapers.

Thursday tempo workout

I approached today's workout with a mixture of eagerness and dread. Eagerness, because I knew a good hard workout would feel great afterward; dread, because I still find these workouts very challenging.

Today I'd planned an 8k acceleration tempo workout. I was going to start at about 6:15/km and work up to 5:45/km by the end. However, I started off on a downhill, so I ended up going a bit faster; in the middle of the workout there was a slight uphill, so even though I was pushing, my speed didn't increase much at that point.

Here are my approximate split times (and HR): 1) 5:58 (137), 2) 5:44 (153), 3) 5:50 (156), 4) 5:48 (157), 5) 5:50 (164; start of uphill), 6) 5:58 (163; more uphill), 7) 5:54 (162), 8) 5:44 (167). Probably should have started a bit slower (but it felt good to speed at the start!) and then saved more for the end, but what the heck, it was a great workout, and I felt really good all morning. I still can't get used to how much racewalking improves my mood.

Oh, and best of all, no IT band pain :).

***

Also, yesterday I biked to weight training, lifted, and biked home. I plan to do that again tomorrow.

family photos

Here are some of the best. The rest are here, on Flickr.

nice weekend

Saturday was a bit busy with racewalking adventures and IT band problems, but Sunday and Monday were pretty nice. Especially Monday. We got a lot of stuff done (family portraits at Sears, Home Depot trip, grocery shopping) and I even found time for a short nap in the hammock, after reading the paper. Then we made an amazing dinner - Loren bbq'd a whole chicken, and I made coleslaw (new recipe w/Gorgonzola cheese - very good!), homemade buttermilk biscuits (GREAT!!!!), corn-on-the-cob, and watermelon. We ate a lot. Yeah, I need to rein that in again... the pounds are starting to creep back on, sigh. Not much leeway for me these days.

While dinner was cooking, I replaced our kitchen faucet. Again. Yeah, the one I put in in January '08 gave up prematurely. Irritating. Fortunately, it came out easily, the new one was only $64, and seems to work perfectly so far.

***

At least I got in a good hour & 10 min racewalking yesterday to make up for some of the food. I walked 10K (6.2 miles) in 1:05:14 for 10:31/mile, then another 0.36 miles very easy to cool down back to my house. My IT band was the teensiest bit sore at the end, but was really feeling pretty good, so I was pleased.

I was going to racewalk a hard 12x400 this morning, but woke up really grumpy and NOT wanting to do it. I know, I would have felt better had I done it, but I decided to do an easy walk around Sugar House Park instead. I'm glad I did. It was beautiful (though windy), and I did push a little bit because after I got into it, I was in the mood after all. I covered the 3.7 miles in 37:20, for 10:05 per mile, with ave HR of only 143. Pretty fast for such a low HR. I was wearing my Chinese racewalking shoes - maybe that was it :)? Or maybe I just was having a good day. Wonder what I could have done at the track? Ah well. My IT band was feeling fine - no problems :).

Return of the evil IT band problem.

Photos: The fall team, me with Gwen, the Wasatch Walkers 5K.

Yes, it's hurting again. The fall TNT team started their workouts today (about 1/2 of the team made it even though it's Memorial Day weekend!), and I ran about 1 mile w/2 of the participants who were a bit faster than I like to racewalk (probably doing 8:30-9:00 miles). Then I proceeded to do a total of 16.6 miles, because the summer team was doing 18 today (I drove my car to catch Gwen, who was the only participant in town, and we did the rest together, hence my mileage was less than 18). The route was quite hilly (700 feet+ of elevation gain and 700 feet+ of loss) and the first really steep downhill brought on the lovely ice-pick stabbing in my left knee. Gwen and I slowed down, walked slowly a bit, and stretched. I was able to resume racewalking and it was OK, but it gave me trouble a couple more times during our workout. UGH! By the time I finished, I was not a happy camper. I did use the foam roller and stretch a lot, but it's still hurting a little if I move the wrong way. I have GOT to either 1) stop running, or 2) see my PT and try to figure out how to run w/o aggravating it.

Fortunately for me, TNT is getting an assistant to help out a bit because I have to be out of town on a few critical days closer to the race. Her name is Sue, and she did Nike Women's Marathon w/me last year. She's very experienced and quite good, and best of all, we get along really well. She's awesome. Perhaps she can run w/the fastest participants so that I can stick to racewalking and heal my IT band.

Sadly, this afternoon our walking club had our 2nd handicapped 5K race. I *really* wanted to do it, but had to bow out. I knew my leg would not take any more abuse today. So I went to the race and timed my friends, and cheered them on. They did great! We had a good finish yet again :). Here are some pictures. Oh well... we're doing another 5K on June 20th, so I'll just have to plan on that one. It's going to be at 6 am, BEFORE the TNT workout, so I will be able to do it :) :) :).

Tough track workout

Yeah, I did another track workout today. This one was MUCH more challenging that Tuesday's workout. Today I warmed up for 1600m (in a pretty fast 10:11 - started with 2:45 or so on the first lap and sped it up as I went) and then did flexibility drills. Then I started my hard workout. I did 3x2k intervals with 2-3 min rest in between. 2k is FIVE laps of the 400m track... that's a tough interval! AND I was trying to do them pretty fast - 2:18 per lap or 11:30 total for the 5 laps, which is somewhere in between my 5k and 10k pace. It was a hard workout, but I did it. I did the first one in 11:28 (2:16, 2:20, 2:15, 2:18, 2:19) and the second one in 11:30 (2:18, 2:18, 2:20, 2:18, 2:16). After the 2nd one I was pretty thrashed - my HR averaged 171 on that last 2:16 interval! My legs were definitely feeling it, too. I was wondering how I'd churn out another one, but knew I had to at least give it a shot. The first 2 laps were OK (2:18, 2:17), but on the 3rd lap I only managed 2:21, and though I tried really hard and gave it my best, the 4th was 2:22 and the 5th 2:19 for a total of 11:37 for the last 2k. It was a great workout and I have been feeling it all day - legs have been pretty heavy and stiff after any prolonged sitting.

Tomorrow I'm going to cross-train, as I did on Wednesday: bike the 2.9 miles uphill to the U, take my weight training class, and bike home again. Saturday: 3 miles with the new fall team (yay!) for Team in Training, and 18 miles with the summer team. Should be fun, and the weather is slated to be quite nice (hot, if anything!). That afternoon the Wasatch Walkers have our monthly 5k event. Not sure I'm going to be up for that... but I will at least go and time everyone and cheer.

Tomatoes!

 One of the things I've been busy with this week is planting some tomatoes, basil, thyme, and rosemary. I have given up trying to grow stuff like that in our back yard because it's too heavily shaded, so I am growing these in the front yard. OK, not the usual thing to do, but I don't care. I want some yummy tomatoes this summer!!! I got some good compost and mixed it in w/our dirt because the dirt is pretty poor quality (I've tried to grow flowers here and failed, pretty much) and I also fertilized the plants and watered them. Hopefully the added sun and better soil will yield yummy tomatoes.

Kindermusik fun!

 Michelle enjoying Kindermusik class :)! We have SUCH a great time together. This morning was our last class for the semester (boo hoo!) but luckily we are signed up for a summer class in June :).

Hanging out

 Enjoying our new hammock and the perfect weather.

Sooooo cute!

 Calvin and I were hanging out in the back yard while Michelle napped yesterday. It was such gorgeous weather!!! I got some great shots of Calvin dancing around and just having fun.

Back at the track!

Yay! I did a REAL outdoor track workout today. Could have done one sooner, as the weather has been good, but I have been resting my piriformis and my body in preparation for the hard training I'm about to embark on. It was nice not to be on the treadmill for my speed work.

A running club was at the track, and though it makes it more crowded, one or two of them usually talk with me about racewalking and they are very supportive as they fly by (these are serious and FAST runners!).

It was a joy to be out there - a high endorphin type of day. I woke up 15 min late so only got to do 8x400 (planned on 12x400) but I think that was better since I ought to ease back into the speedwork. Still, I was pretty fast :). I warmed up and did dynamic flexibility drills, then embarked on my 400s.

Following are my times for each: 1) 2:11, 2) 2:06 (!fast!), 3) 2:08, 4) 2:13, 5) 2:10, 6) 2:11, 7) 2:12, 8) 2:08.

I feel SO good now but have lots to do. Back later :)

Mom's group

I usually take the kids to our mom's group at church on Friday mornings. Here's a photo from last Friday of many of the kiddos hanging out at the little table in the nursery. So cute!