Not doing too well at regular entries to my workout diary/blog. I recommit to keeping track of these things.
So, many moons ago I found a pair of clipless pedals/cleats on sale and ordered them. A few moons later, I found a pair of compatible road shoes, on sale, and ordered them. They came in sometime this winter when I didn't have my road bike out so they got shoved under the bed together until I remembered them later.
It's "later." I have installed the pedals, attached the clips, and spent my first evening figuring out how the heck to work these clipless pedal thingies... per recommendations from friends and YouTube videos, instead of going out on the road I just settled in to a corner of the garage to practice clipping in/out repeatedly until I had the basic motion down. And apparently, I stink at it. After over half an hour of trying to clip in, clip out, clip in, clip out, I still can not do it consistently with either foot, I have bruises on my shins and calves from the pedal getting away from me and whacking into the leg that was on the ground, and when the pedal got away from me I would slip forward/backward on the saddle such that my pants pocket caught on the nose of the seat and ripped a rather large hole in my jeans.
I am not discouraged, nor am I overly-annoyed about the jeans. But I think I need a few more evenings in the garage before I dare try going out in traffic! :-(
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Monday, May 14, 2012
A Lesson in Flexibility
Not flexibility like, being able to touch my forehead to my kneecap during calf stretches (which I am getting really close to being able to do again!) Today I'm talking about calendar flexibility.
It's really easy to get discouraged and the first time I miss a trip to the gym and think, "Oh well, I blew it, might as well eat fried food for dinner too because today's a total bust."
Thursday was a planned day off, and Friday was supposed to be a stationary bike workout, but a buddy we don't see often dropped in on us just before I got home from work - with the makings for Beer Brownies and Mixed Drinks. And yes, I skipped my gym workout and had a fun evening hanging out and blatantly ignoring how many calories I consumed in a single evening.
Saturday morning I met one of my friends for a long run at the local Greenway. We did a 10K easy run, but I kept the pace a little higher than maybe I would otherwise because I was trying to redeem myself from Friday night's shenanigans. By the end of our run, I spent some time with the nagging side of my brain - what I usually call "Mind Talk," and coming to terms with the fact I didn't have to "redeem" myself to anyone, including myself. And it's okay to rearrange my schedule to have an evening of fun when the opportunity presents itself! Such a simple conclusion, but it took a while to come around to that because I wanted to grill myself as being a terrible person for not sticking to my training commitments. But doing that just makes me feel even worse and makes me even more likely to skip workouts. A tad counter productive, don't ya think!?
And Sunday was raining all day long so I stayed indoors instead of the long bike ride I had planned. Where I came to the conclusion that cleaning the garage and reorganizing the library involved enough going up/down stairs and heavy lifting that my arms, legs, and backside felt like I'd done a serious weight training round at the gym anyway. So I will call that one even.
This entire weekend I just kept coming face-to-face with the fact that having a balanced, organized workout calendar printed and posted on the fridge is all fine and dandy, but if I get too focused on that little sheet of paper, The Real World makes a special point of shaking up my schedule and reminding me that I have to be flexible if I want this to be a great training season!
In summary, I got a great long run in, and some strenuous housework that counts as a workout, and the rest of the weekend involved spending quality time with friends and family. The majority of which was NOT according to plan, but it turned out to be a great weekend anyway.
And I am totally ready to get back to my schedule with my usual Monday spin class tonight :-)
It's really easy to get discouraged and the first time I miss a trip to the gym and think, "Oh well, I blew it, might as well eat fried food for dinner too because today's a total bust."
Thursday was a planned day off, and Friday was supposed to be a stationary bike workout, but a buddy we don't see often dropped in on us just before I got home from work - with the makings for Beer Brownies and Mixed Drinks. And yes, I skipped my gym workout and had a fun evening hanging out and blatantly ignoring how many calories I consumed in a single evening.
Saturday morning I met one of my friends for a long run at the local Greenway. We did a 10K easy run, but I kept the pace a little higher than maybe I would otherwise because I was trying to redeem myself from Friday night's shenanigans. By the end of our run, I spent some time with the nagging side of my brain - what I usually call "Mind Talk," and coming to terms with the fact I didn't have to "redeem" myself to anyone, including myself. And it's okay to rearrange my schedule to have an evening of fun when the opportunity presents itself! Such a simple conclusion, but it took a while to come around to that because I wanted to grill myself as being a terrible person for not sticking to my training commitments. But doing that just makes me feel even worse and makes me even more likely to skip workouts. A tad counter productive, don't ya think!?
And Sunday was raining all day long so I stayed indoors instead of the long bike ride I had planned. Where I came to the conclusion that cleaning the garage and reorganizing the library involved enough going up/down stairs and heavy lifting that my arms, legs, and backside felt like I'd done a serious weight training round at the gym anyway. So I will call that one even.
This entire weekend I just kept coming face-to-face with the fact that having a balanced, organized workout calendar printed and posted on the fridge is all fine and dandy, but if I get too focused on that little sheet of paper, The Real World makes a special point of shaking up my schedule and reminding me that I have to be flexible if I want this to be a great training season!
In summary, I got a great long run in, and some strenuous housework that counts as a workout, and the rest of the weekend involved spending quality time with friends and family. The majority of which was NOT according to plan, but it turned out to be a great weekend anyway.
And I am totally ready to get back to my schedule with my usual Monday spin class tonight :-)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Lucky Me (and I mean that sincerely)
Hubby volunteered to take the kitten to the vet all by himself so I could make it to my 'Body Works' class, AND he packed a gym bag for me so I didn't have to run home and grab stuff.
I am loved :-)
So, I made it to class. And as the name implies, Body Works is a total body workout. I knew I needed some upper body work; that's the number one thing that gets ignored during my bike and run training. But Oh My Goodness! My butt hurts! Glutes, and also lower back and lower abdominals.
And the things I could really feel my body struggling/getting the most work from, were movements that I recognized from exercises my physical therapist was giving me last time I landed in her office. So it's the same problems threatening to come back if I don't keep working on. You'd think a girl would learn to listen to her doctors a little more often! But, at least I noticed before it became a problem again, and I still have my exercise cards from the physical therapist so I can get fix the problem on my own this time.
Thursdays are my day off, but I still plan to do a little yoga before bed - since I didn't have time to do it this morning before work. Mornings are getting easier, but I still wouldn't call myself a "Morning Person." There's some early morning short runs in my training schedule about two weeks from now. I anticipate the first half dozen of those workouts are going to STINK.
I am loved :-)
So, I made it to class. And as the name implies, Body Works is a total body workout. I knew I needed some upper body work; that's the number one thing that gets ignored during my bike and run training. But Oh My Goodness! My butt hurts! Glutes, and also lower back and lower abdominals.
And the things I could really feel my body struggling/getting the most work from, were movements that I recognized from exercises my physical therapist was giving me last time I landed in her office. So it's the same problems threatening to come back if I don't keep working on. You'd think a girl would learn to listen to her doctors a little more often! But, at least I noticed before it became a problem again, and I still have my exercise cards from the physical therapist so I can get fix the problem on my own this time.
Thursdays are my day off, but I still plan to do a little yoga before bed - since I didn't have time to do it this morning before work. Mornings are getting easier, but I still wouldn't call myself a "Morning Person." There's some early morning short runs in my training schedule about two weeks from now. I anticipate the first half dozen of those workouts are going to STINK.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
On Again. Off Again. On Again...
My goal for this blog is to get in the habit of logging my workouts and how it went, and make it my exercise diary for this training season.
Got a little burnt out there after 2 marathons in 4 months. I prefer to make winter my running season because I'm miserable in the heat. But as a result I have a bad habit of leaping straight into the summer triathlon season without giving my body a decent rest. But this time I actually managed to take about 6 weeks off to myself, and simply putzed around the gym instead of "training," and no races.
Getting back on track with a good training program and slow/long build-up to my next event: Half Ironman.
Going into this training season, my biggest hurdle is going to be reigning in my swimming and balancing my workouts. With a swimming background I tend to practice swimming for triathlons the same way I used to practice swimming for competition = hard and fast. This is the primary reason I didn't do well at the Rocketman (olympic distance) Triathlon last fall. I came blazing out of the water, with a time comparable to the top 20 competitors, then my bike was barely par for my age group, and I had no energy left for the run and totally bonked, with one of my worst 10K times ever.
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/tno_swimarticle_01.asp
So, this week is all about getting back into a regular Gym habit. Simply going when I said I would go, and sticking to shorter, core workouts to build my base back up.
Monday I went to Spin Class, and my rump feels like I have a bruise the exact size/shape of a bike saddle. Even my cushy bike shorts with the extra padding didn't feel like they helped much. My posterior has a ways to go before I'm comfortable riding with only a chamois for padding. But - as I frequently need to remind myself - no judging yet. It's just about going to the gym and doing it. Well, I went, and I did it. So - Yay!
Tuesday/Yesterday was spent in the Pool. I did my favorite 1500 easy workout: 200 SKPS as warm up, timed 500 swim, then 200 freestyle drill as cool down. The timed 500 was 09:24. I'm not sure how to feel about that, because I was pushing my self to about 80% perceived exertion, and compared to my 500 race times "back in the day," a 09:20 is miserable. HOWEVER, I know that the 1500m swim at Rocketman I came out of the water approx 32min. Which is a hair under 11min 500's. And that was too fast. So I need to play with the numbers and figure out how much I need to slow that down if I'm going to have any energy left for the rest of the race.
And tonight's plan was to go to a 'Body Works' class at the gym, but I have to take the kitten to the vet first and don't think we'll be done in time. I'll do a P90 DVD instead.
Also, I am trying a new crock pot recipe, "Easy Chili" from my "5 ingredients or less" crock pot cook book. If it turns out okay I'll have to start tweaking it - like I'm doing with my other favorite recipes - to make it as healthy as possible. (and "healthy" does not equal "low fat" or "low calorie" or any of that other nonsense. "healthy" simply means Healthy... balanced... ingredients I can actually pronounce and good for my digestion!)
Got a little burnt out there after 2 marathons in 4 months. I prefer to make winter my running season because I'm miserable in the heat. But as a result I have a bad habit of leaping straight into the summer triathlon season without giving my body a decent rest. But this time I actually managed to take about 6 weeks off to myself, and simply putzed around the gym instead of "training," and no races.
Getting back on track with a good training program and slow/long build-up to my next event: Half Ironman.
Going into this training season, my biggest hurdle is going to be reigning in my swimming and balancing my workouts. With a swimming background I tend to practice swimming for triathlons the same way I used to practice swimming for competition = hard and fast. This is the primary reason I didn't do well at the Rocketman (olympic distance) Triathlon last fall. I came blazing out of the water, with a time comparable to the top 20 competitors, then my bike was barely par for my age group, and I had no energy left for the run and totally bonked, with one of my worst 10K times ever.
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/tno_swimarticle_01.asp
So, this week is all about getting back into a regular Gym habit. Simply going when I said I would go, and sticking to shorter, core workouts to build my base back up.
Monday I went to Spin Class, and my rump feels like I have a bruise the exact size/shape of a bike saddle. Even my cushy bike shorts with the extra padding didn't feel like they helped much. My posterior has a ways to go before I'm comfortable riding with only a chamois for padding. But - as I frequently need to remind myself - no judging yet. It's just about going to the gym and doing it. Well, I went, and I did it. So - Yay!
Tuesday/Yesterday was spent in the Pool. I did my favorite 1500 easy workout: 200 SKPS as warm up, timed 500 swim, then 200 freestyle drill as cool down. The timed 500 was 09:24. I'm not sure how to feel about that, because I was pushing my self to about 80% perceived exertion, and compared to my 500 race times "back in the day," a 09:20 is miserable. HOWEVER, I know that the 1500m swim at Rocketman I came out of the water approx 32min. Which is a hair under 11min 500's. And that was too fast. So I need to play with the numbers and figure out how much I need to slow that down if I'm going to have any energy left for the rest of the race.
And tonight's plan was to go to a 'Body Works' class at the gym, but I have to take the kitten to the vet first and don't think we'll be done in time. I'll do a P90 DVD instead.
Also, I am trying a new crock pot recipe, "Easy Chili" from my "5 ingredients or less" crock pot cook book. If it turns out okay I'll have to start tweaking it - like I'm doing with my other favorite recipes - to make it as healthy as possible. (and "healthy" does not equal "low fat" or "low calorie" or any of that other nonsense. "healthy" simply means Healthy... balanced... ingredients I can actually pronounce and good for my digestion!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)