Week 7: You are Stronger than you Think

Track Night - Getting it done

Week 7: You are Stronger than you Think

Day:             Plan                        Actual                        Comments
Monday:      50 Minute Run       trainer                        legs dead
Tuesday:      Track 2.0                Track 2.0                   2x400,2x800,2x400
Wednesday: Cross Train             Relax
Thursday:    50 Minute Run       45 min                       4 miles 11:09
Friday:         50 Minute Run       32 min                      3 miles 10:45
Saturday:     cross train               Off
Sunday:       Tri                           Tri

Monday I woke up and my legs were dead.  My right upper calf was tender from yesterday's run.  Went to my training session.   The workout seemed to focus on core, and upper body... for how my legs felt, I wasn't complaining.    I ended up deciding to listen to my body and skip todays scheduled run in order to get a little recovery in before this weekends race.   The rest of the night my left lower back has a slight pinch in it, but that was probably from various lower back exercises earlier in the day.

Tuesday Track 2.0.  Shoulders and arms sore all day. Legs tired when I woke up but by track time feeling great.  I ended up leaving work late, so warmup consisted of running from parking lot to track.  Run felt good and no pain during run.  Hamstrings started to get sore before bed, and then were super sore and lower right  back sore on Wednesday morning.  Continues to feel like something in my hip/back was out of alignment.  Back still feeling like it had a pinch in it.  Ended up taking Wednesday off, for a happy hour retirement gathering.

On Thursday, had dinner plans with a friend who was in town from Colorado, so I opted run from work so I can shower at the Boeing gym.  Overall,  I forgot how hilly El Segundo was, for the most part the run felt good felt good and was able to enjoy dinner knowing I got a bulk of my work out in.

Friday, ended up being a longer work day than desired (seems to be the trend), decided to just run 4 miles to rest up for the weekend.  It felt great and was suppose to be at a relaxed pace.   I have my watch set up to notify me if I am going to fast or too slow.  The entire run, the watch kept telling me to slow down.  (I love days like that).

Sunday was San Diego's International Triathlon.  Had stomach issues the night before the race, and was wondering if I was even going to make to race start.  Finally fell asleep just before 1am, and woke up at 4:45am feeling much better.   Got to the race, and was completely flustered, luckily managed to pull it all together before race start.   Race start was in the harbor,  with a water start.  Water was warm, and race waves were small which led to a pleasurable swim.   Ended up taking it easy, because the harder I go, the slower I swim.  I did much better with sighting and going in a straight line.  (swim was suppose to be 1000 meters, but my watch had only 876 meters).  Got out of the swim on got on the bike.  The first 3.5 miles was all uphill (which was nice the last 3.5 miles of the ride), the rest of the ride was rolling hills.  Overall the ride was my weakness, but thats what I get for only riding 1 day a week (you get what you put in).     Next came the run.   I almost went out with one running shoe and one biking shoe.   My friend stopped me before I got too far telling me I'm missing a shoe.   Once I got the proper gear on, the run went pretty well.  My goal was to run the whole time, and I managed to do that.   It was suppose to be a 10k run, but my watch ended up with 6.5 (other peoples watches had 6.4),  I guess the race was making up for the swim shortness.  Overall, happy with how I did, until I looked at the results and saw how I ranked overall (391/438, but overall I was 377 swim, 390 bike, and 373 run,  so slow at every event).  (I know I'm slow, but for some reason always get depressed when I realize it, especially when I felt like I did pretty good for myself).  Just need to remember its all about myself and getting stronger.


his Week's Grade for training:  B
This Week's Grade for nutrition:  C

From a nutrition standpoint, there were a lot of temptations with poor choices. We did CFA after track night and it went downhill from that.   I had a retirement gathering Wednesday night which includes drinks and appetizers, then Thursday I had a friend in town and I ended up ordering the fried chicken, only to be surprised it came slathered with fried gravy.  Since the race was in San Diego, we ate out at an Italian restaurant the night before the race.  Post race I had the Habit for dinner.

Track Night Splits-2x400, 2x800, 2x400

Track Night - Hard at Work

Track Night - Pace and Heart

Thursday - El Segundo Run

Friday Torrance Run

San Diego Tri-876m swim,17.5 mile ride, 6.2ish mile run

San Diego Tri - Success

San Diego Tri Bike - Elevation and Speed

San Diego Tri Run

Week 6: Stick to the Plan

Week 6:  Every accomplishment starts with the decision to try

Day:             Plan                        Actual                        Comments
Monday:      50 Minute Run       50 minutes/trainer      4.4 miles 11:19
Tuesday:      Track 2.0               Intervals-4:1                3.7 miles 10:56            
Wednesday: Cross Train            walked to cvs
Thursday:    50 Minute Run       54 min                       5 miles 10:52
Friday:         50 Minute Run       48 min                       4.4 miles 10:52
Saturday:     cross train               swim 1000 yds, bike 18 miles
Sunday:       2-6-2 miles              2-6-2                         11:00 pace

Monday's run was after my personal training session (which again focused on legs and glutes).  Overall the run felt okay, I little sluggish, but not like the previous week.  Hips were definitely aggravated during this run.

Monday Run

Tuesday Interval

Track night Tuesday was cancelled due to graduation prep.  The group met and did hills, but I determined I would do an interval run, with 4 minute fast pace (9:30) and then 1 minute recovery.  Most of my runs this week ended up at snoozy's house, since I was watching him and it was perfect distance to get my runs in.










Wednesday I had hoped to go to group training, but didn't get off work until 5:25 and then it took me 45 minutes to get home.   So totally did not make the 6pm class.  Instead I walked to cvs to get my dad a father's day card and then called it good.

Thursday and Friday, ran again to snoozy's house.  This time I took a different path to get a 50 minutes of run time in.  Surprised at how well the run went considering I was up early both days for customer meetings and then ended up having long frustrating days at work.

Thursday Run

Friday Run

Saturday, in prep for next weekends triathlon,  Erika and I went down to Los Alamitos Bay to practice an open water swim.  Still struggling with swimming straight.  Maybe they can put bumper lanes like they do for kids when learning to bowl, to keep me going in the right direction. Definitely need to clean my goggles, because they are hard to see out of.   Also need to remember to take body glide to keep my neck from chafing through out the swim.  

After the swim, I end up going for a 18 mile ride into PV.  My legs were dead to start with and I swear I was battling the wind the entire way both directions.  Towards the end the ride my left hand was bothering me, which it did the previous time I did this ride as well.   Hopefully in the race I will be more on my aerobars and less on the handlebars to alleviate the issue.

Bike Ride

Bike Ride views

Morning Swim

Sundays run was a marathon trial pace run.  Which means I warmed up with 2 miles, then 6 miles at marathon pace, then cool down 2 miles.   I managed to get my 6 miles in at a 10:30 pace.  But it was definitely tough, maybe because of the ride yesterday. Overall, I felt sluggish and was frustrated that my watch kept beeping at me to speed up.  (during the marathon pace timeframe I had it set up to beep if I went faster than 10:00 min pace or slower than 10:50 min pace).  During the 6 miles, I was getting a new twinge behind my right knee on my upper calf.  But it was just annoying, and not something I felt I needed to slow down and hold back.  

Sundays Run

Sunday Long Run

This Week's Grade for training:  A
This Week's Grade for nutrition:  B+

B+ mainly for the food brought in for the customer meetings.  Ate a lot of cookies, and unhealthy snacks.   But managed to stay away from French Fries altogether this week (WOOHOO!).

Snoozy!

Week 5 Blues

Week 5:  Definitely feeling it this week.  The struggle was real.

Day:             Plan                        Actual                        Comments
Monday:      50 Minute Run       47 minutes/trainer      4.1 miles 11:35
Tuesday:      Track 2.0                Baseball Game
Wednesday: Cross Train            5k 10:02 pace, 40 min swim
Thursday:    50 Minute Run       50 min                       4.2 miles 11:53
Friday:         40 Minute Run       40 min                       3.4 miles 11:29
Saturday:     cross train               Group Training
Sunday:       12 miles                  12 miles                   11:53 pace

Monday's run was after my personal training session (which focused on legs and glutes).  The entire run felt like I was at mile 20. My hips bothered me the entire run.   I ended up skipping Tuesdays run, so that way Duane and I could go cheer on the Angels.

Wednesday was Global Run Day, and SBRC hosted a run on the wood chip trail starting at Athleta. It was a giant parade of SBRC runners. Overall, run felt good.  I guess the day off helped.  After the run went to swimming.  I ended up colliding with another swimmer, and ended up leaving early due to severe pain in my arm.   Luckily, in the morning it was feeling a lot better, just really sore.

Thursday, I joined SBRC for their Thursday night run from sketchers.  They were doing hills, which I wasn't feeling, (seemed like half the group wasn't feeling it) and ended up just getting my miles in on the strand.  Met Erika, her mom, and baby Kaiden in the middle of the run, so I had a run buddy for a bit.  After I turned around and they kept going, I dealt with side aches and ended up having to walk part of the time, but ended up finishing strong (but at a slower than desired pace).

Friday, still feeling sluggish, hip was bothering me.  (It seems to early in the training cycle to be feeling this beat up). Just stayed and ran around the neighborhood.

Saturday, ended up being a lazy day.  I did a morning group training session, and then battled the Costco crowd.   Not, sure what we did that day, but woke up Sunday morning with my legs super sore.

Sunday, not feeling great.  Had a horrible sleep. And just wanting a lazy couch potato day.   Ended up getting out there, and accomplishing my 12 miles.  The first 12 miles were slower than my desired pace, but I managed to get faster after about 6 miles (maybe the wind was finally in my favor).  I opted to run along the beach, because I wasn't up for any hills.

his Week's Grade for training:  A
This Week's Grade for nutrition:  B+

From a nutrition standpoint, I did alright. But there were a few meals that should have been healthier choices, including 2 mornings with blueberry scones, chipotle bowl, chicken sandwich with fries, tacos and guac.

Global Run Day

Global Run Day- Skirt Sister

Global Run Day runners (I'm in the very back, look for purple sunglasses)

Playing Hooky from track night

SBRC- Thursday Runners

Saturday Long Run along the Beach

Monday Run

Wednesday - Global Run Day

Thursday Night Run

Friday Night Run

Long Run-Sunday

Week 4: Traveling and Meeting ABQ Skirt Sisters

Week 4 of training
Last weeks plan was the following:

Day:             Plan                        Actual                        Comments
Monday:      50 Minute Run       50 minutes                 4.0 miles 11:45 pace with skirt sisters
Tuesday:      Track 2.0                Track 2.0 Treadmill   3.5 miles (4x800s, 4x200 recovery)
Wednesday: Cross Train             Visited beautiful Sandia Peak
Thursday:    50 Minute Run       49 min                        4.5 miles 11:01
Friday:         40 Minute Run       Skipped :(
Saturday:     cross train               Group Training/18 mile Bike ride
Sunday:       8 miles                    8 miles                        11:23 pace                                  

Bosque River Trail

This week was a fun week.  I was on work travel in Albuquerque so on Monday I met up with some local Skirt Sisters and ran the Bosque Trail along the Rio Grande river.  They did a 1:30 run, 0:30 walk.   It was a beautiful day with perfect weather, and great new friends.

Skirt Sister 4miler in ABQ: Christine and Rebecca

Tuesday was suppose to be Track 2.0.   Since I wasn't able to make it to track night, I got creative and did Track 2.0 workout on the treadmill at the hotel.  It was a 800 warmup, followed by 4x800's with 200 walk break between sets.    Followed by 800 cool down.   My pace for the 800s was slower than they would be at track night, but I had it at a 10 minute pace.

















Wednesday, I took the day off, and went exploring the Sandia Peak with new found Skirt Sister Rebecca.  It was gorgeous up there.

Thursday I flew home, followed by a trainer session and a 50 minute run.   Friday I worked from home, and never found the motivation to get out on run.  At night my legs completely ached and I was exhausted.

Saturday, I did a group session, followed by a beautiful 18 mile bike ride into Palos Verdes with Erica.  Sunday I stuck to the plan and got my 8 mile run.  Weather was amazing this week

This Week's Grade for training:  B+/A-
This Week's Grade for nutrition:  B+

This week nutrition wise, I did alright with travel.  Once I got home I had no food in the house, so Thursday and Friday involved CFA, donut (national donut day), lots of cheese, salami, and crackers, and Ragin Cajun.      Refrigerator is now stocked again and I should be on better track for an improved grade next week.

Simulated Track 2.0

PV Bike Ride

Thursday Run

Sunday Long Run

PV Bike Ride with Erica

Beautiful Views from PV with Princess Peach

x

Skirt Sports Representing in Redondo

Sunday Run View

Week 3 and still at it

Week 3 of training
Last weeks plan was the following:

Day:             Plan                        Actual                   Comments
Monday:      50 Minute Run       50 minutes            4.6 miles 10:53 pace
Tuesday:      Track 2.0                Track 2.0              3 miles 2x400, 2x800, 2x400
Wednesday: Cross Train             swim, group training
Thursday:    50 Minute Run       50 min                   4.7 miles 11:02
Friday:         40 Minute Run       55 min stretch trainer/60  min private swim
Saturday:    cross train               10 miles                 11:35 pace (slight lower back/glute pain)
Sunday:       10 miles                 2.3 miles                13:00 pace                                  

Overall, I rearranged my long run and Friday run due to my travel schedule.   Overall runs have felt okay, but still dealing with my right leg pain (hamstring/glute/back).  More stretching and strengthening will help.  Thursdays run was great.  I ran with South Bay Running Club, and had great company with Briana.

I had a private swim lesson with Bryan.  He gave me lots of good pointer to work on my swim.   The 4 key take aways from the lesson are:
1. keep my head up (I tend to pull it down)
2. Keep my neck stiff (think of wearing a neck brace)
3. Bend arm early (when pulling out of the water, and also after entering the water)
4. Push all the way through with a straight wrist.
 


This Week's Grade for training:  A-
This Week's Grade for nutrition:  B+

Nutrition Grade was alright.  Could have brought lunch more often.   Celebrated Duane's birthday at a fancy restaurant.  

Monday Night Run

Thursday SBRC Sketcher's run night

Tuesday Track 2.0 with SBRC - Yes thats a bathroom break

Saturday 10 miler