I am feeling much better after feeling pretty lousy for the past week or so. I wasn't actually sick- it wasn't a cold. It was just chronic sinusitis acting up combined with weather allergies. Aside from being a little bit coughy and sniffly today, I feel all right. I can breathe through my nose again and I can take a deep breath without coughing, and my throat has stopped being so irritated, so I think it's safe to say I'm pretty much fine.
I was tempted to just jump right back into the full schedule for this week, which included 2x swimming, 2x strength training/run/walk and introducing spinning class. And then the more rational part of my brain took over and said, um, yeah, no. So, this week, I'm going to do my swimming. I might throw a walk in there later in the week if I'm feeling good after Wednesday's swimming. Next week, I'll add back in the strength training/walking and then the week after, I'll see about adding the spinning class. It's possible that this is a tad over-cautious, but October and I have a History, so chances are pretty good that I'll be back to dealing with this or a similar issue sometime in the next month. I'd rather not tax my already stretched reserves (my immune system might have been fighting itself as opposed to a virus, but the effect is nearly the same). I know exercising is supposed to improve one's immune system, but mine has disadvantages (I need inhaled steroids to breathe within reasonable parameters. While they aren't as rough on your system as oral steroids, they still decrease immune function), so I don't expect miracles here.
So, swimming this week. Yay!
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Week 7: Um.
A conversation with myself today:
Brain: Hey, we haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. That's, like, five days.
Body: Yes, I am aware of this.
Brain: Training? Triathlon?
Body: Extreme fatigue? Nasty sinus drainage causing you to cough since Saturday? Exercise induced asthma that kicks up badly when you're already coughy?
Brain: Oh. Right. But...it's a little better today, right? I mean, we're not quite so tired?
Body: We have the energy to possibly try to work out...
Brain: Great! Let's go!
Body: If you'll let me finish...
Brain: Oh. Sorry.
Body: As I was saying. We may be able to work out, but we also have to have enough energy to wrangle 2-6 4th to 6th graders through homework this evening. We don't have the energy to do both without a nap.
Brain: And it's 1, and that happens at 6.
Body: We also need to eat.
Brain: Right, right. So, what you're saying is, I can do one or I can do the other, but not both.
Body: Exactly.
Brain: And while the triathlon is a priority, the kids are too.
Body: That's your department. I'm just telling you what the capabilities are for today.
Brain: Okay, okay. No gym. Tomorrow?
Body: I'll take it under advisement.
...In other words, I'm sick (well, I'm having allergy/sinus issues due to the weather changes. I'm not actually infectiously sick). And while many people can work out when they're sort of sick, if I'm coughing, I kind of can't. I'm pretty sure the coughing is mostly due to throat irritation, but that's a bit of an academic distinction. In practice, coughing is coughing, according to my twitchy airways. I might give swimming a go tomorrow night, but it'll depend on how I feel tomorrow afternoon. I am annoyed, but well, it's not like I didn't know this was likely to happen at least a few times during this whole process. It's the body I have, after all, and while at the moment, loving this body is a little beyond me, I can at least manage to accept it. Mostly.
Brain: Hey, we haven't been to the gym since Wednesday. That's, like, five days.
Body: Yes, I am aware of this.
Brain: Training? Triathlon?
Body: Extreme fatigue? Nasty sinus drainage causing you to cough since Saturday? Exercise induced asthma that kicks up badly when you're already coughy?
Brain: Oh. Right. But...it's a little better today, right? I mean, we're not quite so tired?
Body: We have the energy to possibly try to work out...
Brain: Great! Let's go!
Body: If you'll let me finish...
Brain: Oh. Sorry.
Body: As I was saying. We may be able to work out, but we also have to have enough energy to wrangle 2-6 4th to 6th graders through homework this evening. We don't have the energy to do both without a nap.
Brain: And it's 1, and that happens at 6.
Body: We also need to eat.
Brain: Right, right. So, what you're saying is, I can do one or I can do the other, but not both.
Body: Exactly.
Brain: And while the triathlon is a priority, the kids are too.
Body: That's your department. I'm just telling you what the capabilities are for today.
Brain: Okay, okay. No gym. Tomorrow?
Body: I'll take it under advisement.
...In other words, I'm sick (well, I'm having allergy/sinus issues due to the weather changes. I'm not actually infectiously sick). And while many people can work out when they're sort of sick, if I'm coughing, I kind of can't. I'm pretty sure the coughing is mostly due to throat irritation, but that's a bit of an academic distinction. In practice, coughing is coughing, according to my twitchy airways. I might give swimming a go tomorrow night, but it'll depend on how I feel tomorrow afternoon. I am annoyed, but well, it's not like I didn't know this was likely to happen at least a few times during this whole process. It's the body I have, after all, and while at the moment, loving this body is a little beyond me, I can at least manage to accept it. Mostly.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Week 6: Master's Swimming, Strength Training and Walk/Run
I'm moving on to weeks, because I lost track of how many days. I could go back and count, but after 30ish, weeks just seem to work better. Anyway.
So, Monday night was my first night swimming group. It went all right. I really appreciated not getting up at 4:40 am. But I was a little out of sorts because I broke my good nose clips on Saturday when I went swimming with Mom (I mostly just messed around with practicing head position and kicking and just really playing around. I think the professionals call that "active rest". Sounds better than "I was just messing around in the pool", no?). So I had to use another kind that I really don't like. They work well, but they don't seem to fit on my nose the way I want them to and they're just awkward. The kind of nose clips I like don't seem to be sold in stores very often (and it's not like nose clips in general have ever been all that easy to find, in my experience), but I do have some on order and I am hopeful they will come in today's mail so I have them for tonight. I actually ordered them before I broke my other ones, because it occurred to me that only having one pair of clips was probably asking for trouble. And yes, yes it was.
But anyway, swimming was hard, because I was a bit of an idiot who forgot to take her inhaler. It wasn't even that I was getting cocky and wanted to try without it. I just flat out forgot. I'm blaming that on being at a different time and flustered about the damn nose clips. I will not forget tonight, let me tell you. I did it, I even did it well, according to Mich, but damn. It was ridiculously hard. And I also kept choking because I figured out where my face is supposed to be when I breathe, but I have not mastered not breathing in the water. Having taken my inhaler wouldn't have prevented it, but I probably would have recovered a lot quicker and maybe still wouldn't have been coughing yesterday morning (I'm fine now). So, yeah, not my finest hour.
Tuesday, though, was better. I met with Kevin the trainer to get some lower body strategies. Turns out that I know how to do a squat and a lunge with good form. And that I still can't breathe right when my abs are engaged, which makes doing bridges and leg curls with the balance ball its own special kind of hell. Oh well, it's not like I'm being timed on any of that, so if I have to stop and breathe, then, I suppose that's just going to have to be all right.
But then, I did my walk/run- this week, it is walk 26, run 4. I split this up by dividing the walking part by 2, so I walk 13, run 4, walk 13. This gets me nice and warmed up for the running part and gives me lots of time to recover afterwards. At least right now it does. I was thinking that going from 2 minutes to 4 minutes was going to be very, very challenging. And I was feeling a little bleh after the leg workout (note to self: don't take the fish oil capsule right before going to the gym, unless you like the tummy upset feeling. Which you don't). So, I got on the treadmill and said, "okay, I'm going to do the 13 minutes of walking and see how I feel". Well, I got to minute 12 and my stomach had settled down and I was feeling pretty okay, so I said, "Well, let's just try. If I don't make it all the way to 4 minutes, that's okay, but let's see if we can at least make it 2 minutes". And then I got to minute 15, and I was still doing okay, so I thought, "Okay, well, let's see how far we can get." and then I was at minute 16 and 20 seconds and it was like, "Oh, heck, there's only 40 more...30 more seconds. You can do this!" and I did it! I had to stop completely for a little bit (less than a minute, I think) when I was done to get a drink and get a deep breath, but hey, I ran for FOUR MINUTES. Without stopping. There was a lot of self-congratulatory self-talk going on for the remaining 13 minutes of walking. I think that's probably okay, though, because heck, if I can't tell myself I did good, then who can, really?
So, Monday night was my first night swimming group. It went all right. I really appreciated not getting up at 4:40 am. But I was a little out of sorts because I broke my good nose clips on Saturday when I went swimming with Mom (I mostly just messed around with practicing head position and kicking and just really playing around. I think the professionals call that "active rest". Sounds better than "I was just messing around in the pool", no?). So I had to use another kind that I really don't like. They work well, but they don't seem to fit on my nose the way I want them to and they're just awkward. The kind of nose clips I like don't seem to be sold in stores very often (and it's not like nose clips in general have ever been all that easy to find, in my experience), but I do have some on order and I am hopeful they will come in today's mail so I have them for tonight. I actually ordered them before I broke my other ones, because it occurred to me that only having one pair of clips was probably asking for trouble. And yes, yes it was.
But anyway, swimming was hard, because I was a bit of an idiot who forgot to take her inhaler. It wasn't even that I was getting cocky and wanted to try without it. I just flat out forgot. I'm blaming that on being at a different time and flustered about the damn nose clips. I will not forget tonight, let me tell you. I did it, I even did it well, according to Mich, but damn. It was ridiculously hard. And I also kept choking because I figured out where my face is supposed to be when I breathe, but I have not mastered not breathing in the water. Having taken my inhaler wouldn't have prevented it, but I probably would have recovered a lot quicker and maybe still wouldn't have been coughing yesterday morning (I'm fine now). So, yeah, not my finest hour.
Tuesday, though, was better. I met with Kevin the trainer to get some lower body strategies. Turns out that I know how to do a squat and a lunge with good form. And that I still can't breathe right when my abs are engaged, which makes doing bridges and leg curls with the balance ball its own special kind of hell. Oh well, it's not like I'm being timed on any of that, so if I have to stop and breathe, then, I suppose that's just going to have to be all right.
But then, I did my walk/run- this week, it is walk 26, run 4. I split this up by dividing the walking part by 2, so I walk 13, run 4, walk 13. This gets me nice and warmed up for the running part and gives me lots of time to recover afterwards. At least right now it does. I was thinking that going from 2 minutes to 4 minutes was going to be very, very challenging. And I was feeling a little bleh after the leg workout (note to self: don't take the fish oil capsule right before going to the gym, unless you like the tummy upset feeling. Which you don't). So, I got on the treadmill and said, "okay, I'm going to do the 13 minutes of walking and see how I feel". Well, I got to minute 12 and my stomach had settled down and I was feeling pretty okay, so I said, "Well, let's just try. If I don't make it all the way to 4 minutes, that's okay, but let's see if we can at least make it 2 minutes". And then I got to minute 15, and I was still doing okay, so I thought, "Okay, well, let's see how far we can get." and then I was at minute 16 and 20 seconds and it was like, "Oh, heck, there's only 40 more...30 more seconds. You can do this!" and I did it! I had to stop completely for a little bit (less than a minute, I think) when I was done to get a drink and get a deep breath, but hey, I ran for FOUR MINUTES. Without stopping. There was a lot of self-congratulatory self-talk going on for the remaining 13 minutes of walking. I think that's probably okay, though, because heck, if I can't tell myself I did good, then who can, really?
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Training Plan Changes...Again
So, I suppose it's a good thing that I didn't expect my training plan to be static, because it's changed more often than...a really change-y thing.
The way things were originally planned was 1 day of swimming, 3 days of walk/run, 1 day of cycling. That changed pretty quickly as I figured out my swimming endurance wasn't as high as I thought it was, and also because I joined the Masters' swimming, which is twice a week. So, then it looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run and 1 day of cycling. But then I realized that some strength training was probably going to be necessary to keep me from hurting myself. Then, the plan looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run, and 1 day of cycling and strength training. And then...it occurred to me after doing a fair amount of reading that 1 day of strength training is generally not thought to be sufficient. And I want to do a spinning class for my cycling. And then someone mentioned overtraining could be part of why I'm really tired (maybe. There's a few other possibilities). So, the plan is changing again. I'm backing off a day for a few weeks until I get the strength training incorporated, and then I'm adding the spinning class (it helps that I didn't want to start the spinning class until I got a pair of cycling shorts. They're on their way).
Until the 1st week of October, the plan looks like this:
Starting in October, the plan looks like this:
The way things were originally planned was 1 day of swimming, 3 days of walk/run, 1 day of cycling. That changed pretty quickly as I figured out my swimming endurance wasn't as high as I thought it was, and also because I joined the Masters' swimming, which is twice a week. So, then it looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run and 1 day of cycling. But then I realized that some strength training was probably going to be necessary to keep me from hurting myself. Then, the plan looked like 2 days of swimming, 2 days of walk/run, and 1 day of cycling and strength training. And then...it occurred to me after doing a fair amount of reading that 1 day of strength training is generally not thought to be sufficient. And I want to do a spinning class for my cycling. And then someone mentioned overtraining could be part of why I'm really tired (maybe. There's a few other possibilities). So, the plan is changing again. I'm backing off a day for a few weeks until I get the strength training incorporated, and then I'm adding the spinning class (it helps that I didn't want to start the spinning class until I got a pair of cycling shorts. They're on their way).
Until the 1st week of October, the plan looks like this:
- Monday: Swimming (from 7-8pm, thank God)
- Tuesday: Strength Training and Run/Walk*
- Wednesday: Swimming
- Thursday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
Starting in October, the plan looks like this:
- Monday: Swimming
- Tuesday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
- Wednesday: Swimming
- Thursday: Strength Training and Run/Walk
- Friday: Spinning Class
It's entirely possible that the days will shift, depending on a million potential complications, but the general outline should stay the same now. I hope.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Day 32: Strength Training, Walk 28, Run 2
Today, I attempted to replicate the shoulder workout from Wednesday and kind of failed because I forgot to bring the sheet with the workout with me. So I was going from memory and while I have a very good memory, I don't think I remembered everything properly. But, I gave it a try. I did also find out that doing 1 set is very different from doing 3 sets and I had to drop the weight down in order to get all the way through even 2 sets. And I didn't on some exercises. That's fine, I don't mind too much (particularly since I'm not sure I was starting out with the right weight anyhow), but something to keep in mind going forward.
I also ran again! Woo! I went a tiny bit faster today and it was a little harder, but I was doing fine by the time I finished the whole thing. Next week, it gets bumped up to running 4 minutes. I suspect this will be the hardest bump for awhile, since it's doubling the amount of time I'm running and every other time will only be going up by 2 more minutes, which will only be 1/3 the week after, and then 1/4th, etc. So if I can't do all 4 minutes consecutively, I am not going to be upset. Or all that surprised, actually.
I also realized that I have a lot of data on how I'm feeling in terms of performance, etc (the answer: pretty good. Really TIRED, still, but I feel good otherwise), but no actual hard empirical data. Grad school and the last permanent job I had woke up the latent data nerd in me, and while I still leave the major statistical analysis to Heather, my sister-in-law, I can at least follow a trend line and make pretty graphs and figure percent. I don't have a smartphone that would have a fancy app for doing this, so I bought a daily planner with enough room to write things down while I'm at the gym (and to write the full strength training workout so if I forget the paper, I will have it. Unless I also forget the notebook. We'll endeavor to not do that). That will let me write things down like, how far, how fast, how heavy, etc. and then I can make a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets) and then I can make graphs (I also love graphs). And then I will figure out how to plug them in here so you can also see the pretty graphs. Yay, data!
I also ran again! Woo! I went a tiny bit faster today and it was a little harder, but I was doing fine by the time I finished the whole thing. Next week, it gets bumped up to running 4 minutes. I suspect this will be the hardest bump for awhile, since it's doubling the amount of time I'm running and every other time will only be going up by 2 more minutes, which will only be 1/3 the week after, and then 1/4th, etc. So if I can't do all 4 minutes consecutively, I am not going to be upset. Or all that surprised, actually.
I also realized that I have a lot of data on how I'm feeling in terms of performance, etc (the answer: pretty good. Really TIRED, still, but I feel good otherwise), but no actual hard empirical data. Grad school and the last permanent job I had woke up the latent data nerd in me, and while I still leave the major statistical analysis to Heather, my sister-in-law, I can at least follow a trend line and make pretty graphs and figure percent. I don't have a smartphone that would have a fancy app for doing this, so I bought a daily planner with enough room to write things down while I'm at the gym (and to write the full strength training workout so if I forget the paper, I will have it. Unless I also forget the notebook. We'll endeavor to not do that). That will let me write things down like, how far, how fast, how heavy, etc. and then I can make a spreadsheet (I love spreadsheets) and then I can make graphs (I also love graphs). And then I will figure out how to plug them in here so you can also see the pretty graphs. Yay, data!
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Days 30, 31 and 31: Walk/Run, Strength Training and Swimming
I did actually get all my workouts in so far this week. I've just been too busy/tired when I get home to record them, so I'm doing it all at once right now.
Day 30: Tuesday: Walk 28, Run 2.
This turned into walk 20, run 2, because I was having an extremely flaky morning and I was running late. But, the most important part of the workout was the 2 minutes of running. In a row. Without stopping. And without complaining lungs until the very, very end, which is especially impressive, given that my allergies are awful at the moment (bad year for ragweed, plus the weather's so nice at night that we turned the AC off, so I'm sleeping with open windows which I'm not really supposed to do. I figure if I can breathe well enough to run, then I'm fine). My back didn't complain much either, although my ankle wasn't happy. But it walked off just fine and it was achy pain, not sharp, oh, I sprained it again pain. It'll get used to it.
Day 31: Strength Training
Yesterday, I met with Kevin the trainer, who was very nice and very willing to design a program for me that I can do on my own that will help with the swimming and the running (I figure whatever muscle I build for those two things will probably serve me fine on the biking). So, yesterday, we concentrated on what to do to train my shoulders, one of which is a little touchy. I separated it about 10 years ago, and it flares up now and again. Swimming isn't really aggravating it anymore- it was at first, but it settled down- but I'd like to prevent further injury and get stronger. So I now have an upper body, shoulder focused workout to do. It was relatively painless in terms of how much I really detest weight lifting (and I told him that up front) and only uses one machine whereupon I might feel exceedingly short compared to the machine. My main complaint about weight machines is that they are all apparently designed for men who are roughly 6 feet tall. Being as I am demonstrably not a man, nor 6 feet tall, this deserves a #fail on the part of the imaginations of the designers of said machines. And it's annoying. I made the happy discovery yesterday that cable machines are much, much better in terms of flexibility of design for a wider cross section of users. That is something I can probably get behind.
Day 32: Swimming
My coach sent us all a text message around 20 to 6 that she wasn't feeling well and cancelling practice. Only thing is, I was already on my way and didn't get the message until I got there. Actually, I didn't get it until I left- another woman had gotten it when she got to the gym and let me know. Since I was already awake and already dressed and already sitting with my feet in the pool, I shrugged and swam anyway. I think I almost have the head position thing down- I can tell when I pick my head up now. Breath control is still an issue, but I think I'm getting better. I made up my own workout for the day. I was going to try to do a distance ladder where I swam 50, then 100, then 150, then 200, then back down, all with 2 minutes per 50, which is what I've been doing during practice. So, I got to the 150 and my shoulders started getting really, really cranky. I couldn't figure out why they were upset. Until it dawned on me that I did a full, brand new shoulder work out about 12 hours before. Apparently, you should get more than 12 hours of rest between your upper body workout and making your shoulders work so hard in the pool. Or at least I should get more than 12 hours of rest between the two. This will not be a problem moving forward, since swimming is moving to the evening. So, instead of finishing the ladder, I did another 50 and another 100 and then practiced flip turns for awhile because I'm getting tired of stopping and turning at the wall. It may take awhile for me to get through a full practice with flips, but I'm feeling reasonably confident I know where the wall is now.
Day 30: Tuesday: Walk 28, Run 2.
This turned into walk 20, run 2, because I was having an extremely flaky morning and I was running late. But, the most important part of the workout was the 2 minutes of running. In a row. Without stopping. And without complaining lungs until the very, very end, which is especially impressive, given that my allergies are awful at the moment (bad year for ragweed, plus the weather's so nice at night that we turned the AC off, so I'm sleeping with open windows which I'm not really supposed to do. I figure if I can breathe well enough to run, then I'm fine). My back didn't complain much either, although my ankle wasn't happy. But it walked off just fine and it was achy pain, not sharp, oh, I sprained it again pain. It'll get used to it.
Day 31: Strength Training
Yesterday, I met with Kevin the trainer, who was very nice and very willing to design a program for me that I can do on my own that will help with the swimming and the running (I figure whatever muscle I build for those two things will probably serve me fine on the biking). So, yesterday, we concentrated on what to do to train my shoulders, one of which is a little touchy. I separated it about 10 years ago, and it flares up now and again. Swimming isn't really aggravating it anymore- it was at first, but it settled down- but I'd like to prevent further injury and get stronger. So I now have an upper body, shoulder focused workout to do. It was relatively painless in terms of how much I really detest weight lifting (and I told him that up front) and only uses one machine whereupon I might feel exceedingly short compared to the machine. My main complaint about weight machines is that they are all apparently designed for men who are roughly 6 feet tall. Being as I am demonstrably not a man, nor 6 feet tall, this deserves a #fail on the part of the imaginations of the designers of said machines. And it's annoying. I made the happy discovery yesterday that cable machines are much, much better in terms of flexibility of design for a wider cross section of users. That is something I can probably get behind.
Day 32: Swimming
My coach sent us all a text message around 20 to 6 that she wasn't feeling well and cancelling practice. Only thing is, I was already on my way and didn't get the message until I got there. Actually, I didn't get it until I left- another woman had gotten it when she got to the gym and let me know. Since I was already awake and already dressed and already sitting with my feet in the pool, I shrugged and swam anyway. I think I almost have the head position thing down- I can tell when I pick my head up now. Breath control is still an issue, but I think I'm getting better. I made up my own workout for the day. I was going to try to do a distance ladder where I swam 50, then 100, then 150, then 200, then back down, all with 2 minutes per 50, which is what I've been doing during practice. So, I got to the 150 and my shoulders started getting really, really cranky. I couldn't figure out why they were upset. Until it dawned on me that I did a full, brand new shoulder work out about 12 hours before. Apparently, you should get more than 12 hours of rest between your upper body workout and making your shoulders work so hard in the pool. Or at least I should get more than 12 hours of rest between the two. This will not be a problem moving forward, since swimming is moving to the evening. So, instead of finishing the ladder, I did another 50 and another 100 and then practiced flip turns for awhile because I'm getting tired of stopping and turning at the wall. It may take awhile for me to get through a full practice with flips, but I'm feeling reasonably confident I know where the wall is now.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Day 29: Masters' Swimming
My deliverance is upon me! We are changing the swimming schedule next week to be Monday and Wednesday, 7-8 pm and Tuesday and Thursday 6-7 am. I don't have to haul myself out of bed at 4:40 am anymore!! (after Thursday). Well, at least not on a regular basis; I suspect that there may be weeks where Tuesday or Thursday may be more convenient for my schedule. I can do any combination of those days and times I want, which is very nice. But let me tell you, that was the best possible news I could have gotten at 6 am this morning.
This morning, we did 20 50s on 2 minutes. The goal for me was to keep pace around 1:40 or 1:45, leaving me with 15-20 seconds rest in between each. I, um, crushed that goal. I kept pace roughly around 1:30- I think my slowest was 1:38, and that was like, number 17. I was getting a little better at keeping my head where it belonged and I could actually feel when my knees were slipping into the way I'm not supposed to be kicking by the end, so there's progress there, too.
But yeah, tired. And I'm getting up early tomorrow, too, because I'm tutoring tomorrow night and there is not enough time between getting out of work (temp gig) and needing to be at tutoring in a different part of town to get to the gym (between the two, so this is not as insane as it might be), change, do my treadmill work, shower and change again, get myself fed and to the church for tutoring on time. But, since the gym is fairly close to work, I don't actually need to be at the gym until 7, so I don't need to leave until about 6:30, which means I don't need to get up until 5:45, which is a full hour later than I got up this morning. I'm still going to bed pretty much as soon as I get this posted, though. I be tired.
This morning, we did 20 50s on 2 minutes. The goal for me was to keep pace around 1:40 or 1:45, leaving me with 15-20 seconds rest in between each. I, um, crushed that goal. I kept pace roughly around 1:30- I think my slowest was 1:38, and that was like, number 17. I was getting a little better at keeping my head where it belonged and I could actually feel when my knees were slipping into the way I'm not supposed to be kicking by the end, so there's progress there, too.
But yeah, tired. And I'm getting up early tomorrow, too, because I'm tutoring tomorrow night and there is not enough time between getting out of work (temp gig) and needing to be at tutoring in a different part of town to get to the gym (between the two, so this is not as insane as it might be), change, do my treadmill work, shower and change again, get myself fed and to the church for tutoring on time. But, since the gym is fairly close to work, I don't actually need to be at the gym until 7, so I don't need to leave until about 6:30, which means I don't need to get up until 5:45, which is a full hour later than I got up this morning. I'm still going to bed pretty much as soon as I get this posted, though. I be tired.
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Day 27: 30 minute Walk
Yeah, walking yesterday did not happen. See, I got up at 4:45 on Thursday to go swim, which we've already discussed, Dear Reader. And then I went to work until 4, then came home and took a power nap, then dealt with dinner. And then, instead of going to bed at a reasonable hour like I probably should have done, I stayed up to watch the President accept his nomination at the DNC. Which put me to bed at 11, and asleep closer to 12, which is at least an hour later than usual when I need to wake up at 6:30. So, work yesterday was an exercise in endurance in and of itself and I was exhausted by 4. So, instead of going to the gym- I did actually have my gym stuff with me this time- I came home and crashed. I did a little math, though, and I think that so long as I'm making at least 90% of my workouts, meaning 27 out of 30, I'll be fine. Therefore, I am not going to stress about making up yesterday's walk tomorrow. If I feel like it in the morning, I might try, but I'm not going to be upset if I decide to come home after church, either.
So, this morning, I had to make up for Wednesday's snafu. I got a slow start, because I was still tired, despite sleeping for nearly 9 hours (went to bed around 12:30 after I woke up after my nap around 9pm, woke up shortly after 9 am. Well, okay, I woke up at 7 to feed the cat, then went back to bed until 9-ish). But I had a plan- go to Target to pick up a new sports bra and other assortedness, deposit my checks in the bank, go do my workout, go to the grocery store and somehow get home before the OSU game at noon. Weeeelllll....yeah, no. I missed the first half. But I got all of it done!
My new shoes are pretty cushy, but I was disappointed that my feet still hurt. Not the sort of sharp achy pain I was getting with my old shoes, though. And it actually got better after about minute 18, so it may be a breaking in thing. I have until the beginning of December to return them so long as I don't wear them outside (treadmill is fine, though), so I'm going to give them two weeks and see how they feel then. Unless I forget and wear them out of the gym, in which case, I'll be committed to them. I think I can manage to remember for two weeks, though.
So, this morning, I had to make up for Wednesday's snafu. I got a slow start, because I was still tired, despite sleeping for nearly 9 hours (went to bed around 12:30 after I woke up after my nap around 9pm, woke up shortly after 9 am. Well, okay, I woke up at 7 to feed the cat, then went back to bed until 9-ish). But I had a plan- go to Target to pick up a new sports bra and other assortedness, deposit my checks in the bank, go do my workout, go to the grocery store and somehow get home before the OSU game at noon. Weeeelllll....yeah, no. I missed the first half. But I got all of it done!
My new shoes are pretty cushy, but I was disappointed that my feet still hurt. Not the sort of sharp achy pain I was getting with my old shoes, though. And it actually got better after about minute 18, so it may be a breaking in thing. I have until the beginning of December to return them so long as I don't wear them outside (treadmill is fine, though), so I'm going to give them two weeks and see how they feel then. Unless I forget and wear them out of the gym, in which case, I'll be committed to them. I think I can manage to remember for two weeks, though.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Day 25: Masters' Swimming
I survived getting up at 4:45, swimming from 6 to 7:15, then working from 8:30 to 4. I'm really tired now.
Today's swimming wasn't quite as difficult today as it was on Monday from a keeping up standpoint, but it was challenging from a doing things to improve my freestyle stroke perspective. Apparently, I learned to breathe wrong. I have this tendency to look forward for the wall, instead of down at the bottom of the pool. This creates drag, because my head isn't in line with my body, so I'm not streamlined. Now, part of it is because I instinctively (and apparently this is incredibly common) try to pick my head up to clear it from the water in order to breathe. Part of it is because I'm irrationally afraid the wall isn't going to be where I think it's going to be (it's a depth perception thing. My body's pretty good at telling how far away from the wall I am, but my brain doesn't believe it, because I can't see it). So, today, I worked on keeping my chin ducked down so my head was even with my body. The not seeing the wall thing, that I'm mostly okay with. But figuring out how to breathe without lifting my head? Well, that's another story. According to Mich, my coach, half my face is supposed to be in the water when I turn my head to breathe. Meaning that half my mouth should be in the water. Now, I'm not entirely sure how one breathes without swallowing or choking if one's mouth is still partly in the water. I forgot to ask, but I'm wondering if people who do this are also breathing through their nose (which would be out of the water, pretty much). That's not an option for me- when I'm swimming, I have nose clips, because I have a sinus defect and chronic sinusitis and I'm not supposed to get water up my nose, because my sinuses don't drain properly and they don't really need the encouragement to get infected. They do that just fine on their own. So, figuring out the breathing thing went mostly all right. I only choked once (and still finished the 100 I was in the middle of). I don't think I got it, really, but I think I got a little better at keeping my head down.
The other thing I need to work on is my kick. I bend my knees too much and they separate too much (i.e., I kick too deep). That, I don't think I was as successful in working on today, mostly because I was a little preoccupied with not drowning when I tried to breathe. So, I'll have to keep trying.
And yes, yesterday I was supposed do some walking. And that didn't so much happen. Mostly because I was a little spacey yesterday morning and while I remembered to pack my workout clothes, I, um, didn't remember to take the bag with me. Yeah. ADD brain in action! The original plan had been to go to work, go see if I could find new shoes at one of the sporting goods stores around where the gym is, then go try out my new shoes. Well, the finding new shoes part of the plan worked- I bought these shoes, on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods. The walking part, not so much. So, I will go do that walk sometime this weekend (probably Saturday, before I settle in for college football watching). Tomorrow, I will endeavor to not forget my bag!
Today's swimming wasn't quite as difficult today as it was on Monday from a keeping up standpoint, but it was challenging from a doing things to improve my freestyle stroke perspective. Apparently, I learned to breathe wrong. I have this tendency to look forward for the wall, instead of down at the bottom of the pool. This creates drag, because my head isn't in line with my body, so I'm not streamlined. Now, part of it is because I instinctively (and apparently this is incredibly common) try to pick my head up to clear it from the water in order to breathe. Part of it is because I'm irrationally afraid the wall isn't going to be where I think it's going to be (it's a depth perception thing. My body's pretty good at telling how far away from the wall I am, but my brain doesn't believe it, because I can't see it). So, today, I worked on keeping my chin ducked down so my head was even with my body. The not seeing the wall thing, that I'm mostly okay with. But figuring out how to breathe without lifting my head? Well, that's another story. According to Mich, my coach, half my face is supposed to be in the water when I turn my head to breathe. Meaning that half my mouth should be in the water. Now, I'm not entirely sure how one breathes without swallowing or choking if one's mouth is still partly in the water. I forgot to ask, but I'm wondering if people who do this are also breathing through their nose (which would be out of the water, pretty much). That's not an option for me- when I'm swimming, I have nose clips, because I have a sinus defect and chronic sinusitis and I'm not supposed to get water up my nose, because my sinuses don't drain properly and they don't really need the encouragement to get infected. They do that just fine on their own. So, figuring out the breathing thing went mostly all right. I only choked once (and still finished the 100 I was in the middle of). I don't think I got it, really, but I think I got a little better at keeping my head down.
The other thing I need to work on is my kick. I bend my knees too much and they separate too much (i.e., I kick too deep). That, I don't think I was as successful in working on today, mostly because I was a little preoccupied with not drowning when I tried to breathe. So, I'll have to keep trying.
And yes, yesterday I was supposed do some walking. And that didn't so much happen. Mostly because I was a little spacey yesterday morning and while I remembered to pack my workout clothes, I, um, didn't remember to take the bag with me. Yeah. ADD brain in action! The original plan had been to go to work, go see if I could find new shoes at one of the sporting goods stores around where the gym is, then go try out my new shoes. Well, the finding new shoes part of the plan worked- I bought these shoes, on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods. The walking part, not so much. So, I will go do that walk sometime this weekend (probably Saturday, before I settle in for college football watching). Tomorrow, I will endeavor to not forget my bag!
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
Day 23: 20 Minute Bike
I don't know, is the counting days thing getting old? I sort of feel like it is. But at the same time, look at that, 23 days and I've only completely missed one workout (last Friday- I was supposed to go swim, but I was exhausted and forgot my stuff in the morning before work and just came home and crashed).
Today was 20 minutes of biking, and apparently muscle memory extends to my dupke, because it was much less painful today than it was last week. I used to do a fair amount of bike riding a few years ago when I lived in Yellow Springs (everyone does a fair amount of bike riding in Yellow Springs), but I haven't done any since moving away from there. My apartment in Cleveland was a third floor walkup and there wasn't anywhere to put my bike, so I didn't take it with me. And this summer was so icky and my bike needs some work, so I didn't do any riding this summer. I'm still getting a pair of padded bike shorts, but this is going better than I expected.
I also did some preliminary shoe hunting today. I was going to just borrow my mom's Merrills, because I did one day and they were much more comfortable than my shoes. Except, well, Mom's feet are a 9.5 and mine are closer to an 8. Now, I usually wind up with an 8.5 in running shoes, but that's still a size larger. So, my feet were just rattling around in them today when I wore them all day. I'm guessing it wasn't an issue the other day, because I only wore them for about an hour at the most. But it would probably not be safe for me to attempt to run in these shoes, because I was tripping just walking in them. So, I hit up Famous Footwear this evening to try some shoes. I tried a pair of New Balance shoes, since the running shoes I've liked the best were New Balance, but they didn't feel like they had a lot of cushioning and from what I've been reading, cushioning is what I really want to be looking for in a shoe. I have very, very high arches and I walk on the outsides of my feet, so I don't need a motion control shoe (which is for people whose feet roll inward when they walk/run). So, I need a neutral shoe with cushioning. Then, I tried on a pair of Saucony shoes that had much more cushion to them, but I wasn't sure they were the right kind of shoe, because it didn't say so on the box. So I took a photo of the box and came home to check the internet. Turns out that, yes, they are the right kind of shoe. However, the 8.5 didn't have enough room between my toes and the end of the shoe (they must run crazy small. Seriously, my left foot measures at a tiny bit more than a 7.5. There should be no way an 8.5 is too short), and they didn't have a 9. So, tomorrow, I'll be trying a different store, and maybe a couple other pairs of shoes to be sure.
Today was 20 minutes of biking, and apparently muscle memory extends to my dupke, because it was much less painful today than it was last week. I used to do a fair amount of bike riding a few years ago when I lived in Yellow Springs (everyone does a fair amount of bike riding in Yellow Springs), but I haven't done any since moving away from there. My apartment in Cleveland was a third floor walkup and there wasn't anywhere to put my bike, so I didn't take it with me. And this summer was so icky and my bike needs some work, so I didn't do any riding this summer. I'm still getting a pair of padded bike shorts, but this is going better than I expected.
I also did some preliminary shoe hunting today. I was going to just borrow my mom's Merrills, because I did one day and they were much more comfortable than my shoes. Except, well, Mom's feet are a 9.5 and mine are closer to an 8. Now, I usually wind up with an 8.5 in running shoes, but that's still a size larger. So, my feet were just rattling around in them today when I wore them all day. I'm guessing it wasn't an issue the other day, because I only wore them for about an hour at the most. But it would probably not be safe for me to attempt to run in these shoes, because I was tripping just walking in them. So, I hit up Famous Footwear this evening to try some shoes. I tried a pair of New Balance shoes, since the running shoes I've liked the best were New Balance, but they didn't feel like they had a lot of cushioning and from what I've been reading, cushioning is what I really want to be looking for in a shoe. I have very, very high arches and I walk on the outsides of my feet, so I don't need a motion control shoe (which is for people whose feet roll inward when they walk/run). So, I need a neutral shoe with cushioning. Then, I tried on a pair of Saucony shoes that had much more cushion to them, but I wasn't sure they were the right kind of shoe, because it didn't say so on the box. So I took a photo of the box and came home to check the internet. Turns out that, yes, they are the right kind of shoe. However, the 8.5 didn't have enough room between my toes and the end of the shoe (they must run crazy small. Seriously, my left foot measures at a tiny bit more than a 7.5. There should be no way an 8.5 is too short), and they didn't have a 9. So, tomorrow, I'll be trying a different store, and maybe a couple other pairs of shoes to be sure.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Day 22: Masters' Swim Group
I survived my first session with the Masters' Swimming group! This meant getting up at 4:45 this morning and leaving the house at 5:20 to get to the pool for 6. I live about 25-30 minutes away from the pool, and I needed time to change, because I know myself. If I wear my suit to the pool, the chances are very high that I will do something like forget to take underwear with me. Also, it's easier to use the bathroom before getting started if I'm not already in my suit. Much better to wear street clothes to the gym and change there.
So, this morning, I crawled out of bed at o'dark thirty, got dressed, then ate a banana and some yogurt in the hopes that it would be enough food to 1) ensure I could operate a motor vehicle at 5:20 in the morning, 2) get through a 90 minute swimming workout and 3) not upset my stomach during said 90 minute swimming workout. I was successful on all fronts- I was hungry when I was done swimming, but not low blood sugar shaky, and my stomach was perfectly fine.
When I got to the pool, no one was there! It's Labor Day, but there hadn't been any notice on the website that said there'd be no swimming today. So, after a couple of minutes, I figured no one was coming and went ahead and got in the pool. I swam 3 50s, then another woman came and she said she was there for the swimming. Apparently 6 often means like, 6:05, which is good to know (to me, starting something at 6 means I'd better be there and ready to go no later than 5:55). The coach showed up shortly after that, so it was all good.
Mish, the coach, asked me to swim a 50 for her so she could get an idea of what to do with me. So, I did a 50 free in about 1:20 (this is not a land speed record, if you're unfamiliar with swimming times. This is S-L-O-W, but it's a fairly reasonable pace for me). Then we chatted for a few minutes about what I know (i.e., I know all 4 competition strokes, but don't ask me to do butterfly because I'm wretched at it and backstroke has been irritating my shoulder for some reason) and what my goals are (swim the entire 10 minutes of the swim portion of the indoor tri). Turns out a 1:20 50 pace is a fairly similar pace to a few other people in the group (who weren't there today- holiday, don'cha know) so I should be able to keep up fairly well, particularly once I get into the swing of things.
And then we started the workout. 200 to warm up, which was plenty, given that I'd effectively done an additional 200 with the 3 laps I did before everyone showed up and the test 50. Then we did a ladder of timed 50s. A ladder is where you do increasingly longer sets with rest in between, then increasingly shorter sets with rest in between. This is what today's ladder looked like for an example:
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
8 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
Done!
So, basically, I did each 50 in something less than 2 minutes (I was ranging from 1:20 to 1:45 once I got tired), rested until the 2 minute mark, then did the next 50. In between sets of 50, I got however much time was left on the 2 minutes plus a full minute rest (sometimes a little more- we had to make some adjustments to keep both me and Brandi, the other swimmer, together. She was doing twice as many 50s on half the time). This is challenging, but I kept on pace- I didn't miss a mark, which is pretty good for the first day. Somewhere in the middle of the set of 8 50s I clicked into swim team mode (which I didn't realize I remembered) and just concentrated on keeping things long and finding a rhythm that got me enough air. So, I was tired by the time we were done, but I wasn't completely about to collapse. Hopefully, I can maintain that.
Next swimming day is Thursday, when I'll do this again (and then go to work. The nice thing about today was I got to come home. And yes, I did take a nap and I have no guilt about that whatsoever). Highlights of the rest of the week in training include hitting the 30 minute mark on the walking and 20 minutes of biking. And perhaps some strength training- I sent an email to the trainer I've worked with before and who worked with my mom for a long, long time to see if we could work something out. I'm still not a fan of weight lifting, but a lot of the reading I've been doing indicates that it would be a Really Good Idea. So, we'll see.
So, this morning, I crawled out of bed at o'dark thirty, got dressed, then ate a banana and some yogurt in the hopes that it would be enough food to 1) ensure I could operate a motor vehicle at 5:20 in the morning, 2) get through a 90 minute swimming workout and 3) not upset my stomach during said 90 minute swimming workout. I was successful on all fronts- I was hungry when I was done swimming, but not low blood sugar shaky, and my stomach was perfectly fine.
When I got to the pool, no one was there! It's Labor Day, but there hadn't been any notice on the website that said there'd be no swimming today. So, after a couple of minutes, I figured no one was coming and went ahead and got in the pool. I swam 3 50s, then another woman came and she said she was there for the swimming. Apparently 6 often means like, 6:05, which is good to know (to me, starting something at 6 means I'd better be there and ready to go no later than 5:55). The coach showed up shortly after that, so it was all good.
Mish, the coach, asked me to swim a 50 for her so she could get an idea of what to do with me. So, I did a 50 free in about 1:20 (this is not a land speed record, if you're unfamiliar with swimming times. This is S-L-O-W, but it's a fairly reasonable pace for me). Then we chatted for a few minutes about what I know (i.e., I know all 4 competition strokes, but don't ask me to do butterfly because I'm wretched at it and backstroke has been irritating my shoulder for some reason) and what my goals are (swim the entire 10 minutes of the swim portion of the indoor tri). Turns out a 1:20 50 pace is a fairly similar pace to a few other people in the group (who weren't there today- holiday, don'cha know) so I should be able to keep up fairly well, particularly once I get into the swing of things.
And then we started the workout. 200 to warm up, which was plenty, given that I'd effectively done an additional 200 with the 3 laps I did before everyone showed up and the test 50. Then we did a ladder of timed 50s. A ladder is where you do increasingly longer sets with rest in between, then increasingly shorter sets with rest in between. This is what today's ladder looked like for an example:
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
8 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
4 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
2 x 50 on 2 minutes
1 minute rest
1 x 50 on 2 minutes
Done!
So, basically, I did each 50 in something less than 2 minutes (I was ranging from 1:20 to 1:45 once I got tired), rested until the 2 minute mark, then did the next 50. In between sets of 50, I got however much time was left on the 2 minutes plus a full minute rest (sometimes a little more- we had to make some adjustments to keep both me and Brandi, the other swimmer, together. She was doing twice as many 50s on half the time). This is challenging, but I kept on pace- I didn't miss a mark, which is pretty good for the first day. Somewhere in the middle of the set of 8 50s I clicked into swim team mode (which I didn't realize I remembered) and just concentrated on keeping things long and finding a rhythm that got me enough air. So, I was tired by the time we were done, but I wasn't completely about to collapse. Hopefully, I can maintain that.
Next swimming day is Thursday, when I'll do this again (and then go to work. The nice thing about today was I got to come home. And yes, I did take a nap and I have no guilt about that whatsoever). Highlights of the rest of the week in training include hitting the 30 minute mark on the walking and 20 minutes of biking. And perhaps some strength training- I sent an email to the trainer I've worked with before and who worked with my mom for a long, long time to see if we could work something out. I'm still not a fan of weight lifting, but a lot of the reading I've been doing indicates that it would be a Really Good Idea. So, we'll see.
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