Got Milk?

Yum. Looks like I have to replace that Pom that's in my fridge for a nice quart of chocolate milk.

Cutting Corners Seems To Be My Specialty

Yeah, that's right - I cut some corners this week. I was supposed to have an 18 mile week - 3 on Tuesday, 5 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, and 7 on Saturday. I actually did 2 on Tuesday, 3 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday, and 6 on Saturday. I was 4 miles short this week. I am trying not to feel too bad - I keep telling myself it's only February. March and April will be higher mileages, and more critical to my Cleveland '06 training. I also skipped spinning on Saturday - dentist appointment. It's just as well - I heard that it was our New Age spinning instructor, the lady that plays Enya during our hill climbs.

Next weekend I have the Catch A Leprechan race. It's a 30K or 15K. My husband is doing the 30K. I think I am going to do the 15K, because it's a little early in my training to bust out 18 some miles. After the 15K I will add another 3, because next week's long run is 12 miles.

Aside from running, I swam today, 2550 yards, and it felt pretty good. My neck is doing much better (knock wood) and I am still being cautious, using a heat pad after working out.

I hope that everyone had a great weekend. Have a good week!

Quick Weekend Wrap Up

Sunday's long run was COLD! But I finished it all outside. The cold didn't seem quite as bad because it was really sunny with only a few clouds in the sky. My total time for 10 miles was 1:44 minutes. And when I finished, this is who greeted me:


Today was a swim workout. I shared the pool with about half a dozen kids that are going to the state championships. Good grief, are they fast!!
Details:
4 x (150 swim, 50 stroke, 50 kick)
10 x 50 on :50
500 swim
5 x 100 swim
50 cool down
total 2550 yds
Have a great week everybody! March is almost here!

What's In Your IPod?

The Running Red Sox Fan recently posted about her Ipod running list (you should check it out), and instead of leaving her a comment a mile long, I figured this was a topic worthy of a post.

Here is a sample of some of my favorite tunes bouncing around in my Nano (beware - I am eclectic as heck!):

Cochise - Audioslave
But Anyway; Hook - Blues Traveler
When I Come Around; Basket Case - Green Day
All I Want - Toad the Wet Sprocket
Ready to Run; Long Time Gone - Dixie Chicks
Cowboy in Me - Tim McGraw
Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
Jump Around - House of Pain
Get Your Geek On Podcasts - every triathlete should have these in their Ipods
Big Deal - LeAnn Rimes
Slow and Low; Whatcha Want; Don't Stop - Beastie Boys
Just Like A Pill - Pink
Killing in the Name Of - Rage Against the Machine
The Rocky IV Soundtrack
Comedown; Machine Head - Bush
Let the River Run - Carly Simon
Harder to Breathe - Maroon 5
Straight Outta Compton - NWA
Alive - Pearl Jam
Copa Cabana - Barry Manilow
Free to Decide - Cranberries
Best of What's Around - Dave Matthews Band
Bullets; 6 Feet From the Edge - Creed
Mack the Knife - Bobby Darin
I've Got the World On String - Peggy Lee
Rock Your Body - Justin Timberlake
Toxic - Britney Spears
Crazy Love - Van Morrison
Insane in the Brain; How I Could Just Kill a Man - Cypress Hill
Take My Picture - Filter
Mountain Song; Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction
Forgotten; In the End - Linkin Park
Your a God - Vertical Horizon

What are you listening to?

All Systems Go

My swim workout was great. I went late this evening, and there weren't that many people there, and my neck felt fine. I kept it light, and only did 1700 yds. I'll swim tomorrow, too, but keep it light.

Tonight's workout:
500 swim
400 pull
300 kick (free/back/free)
200 swim
100 pull
200 swim
total time: 28 minutes

I don't think I am going to race Chili Bowl tomorrow. For one thing, I paid for these spinning classes, so I should really go to them, and for another thing, cycling is my weakest discipline, so I really need to be working on it. So, spinning it is. But good luck to Elizabeth, and TriSaraTop's mom who will be running the race tomorrow!!

Ready To Dive Back In

I can't WAIT to get back in the water. It has been eleven days since the last time I was at the pool, and it has been hard. I could swim through my lower back pain last month, but there was no way I was getting in the pool with the cervical neck pain I had the past eleven days. I don't know what the heck caused it, (stress and crazy people at work, coupled with my poor posture could be it) but intensive rehab has helped. I have been taking an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant that seem to help. I have also been using heat therapy whenever possible, and I bought a special foam pillow to sleep on at night. Don't laugh, but I also bought a cervical collar that seemed to help realign my neck, and ease the discomfort. (Don't worry, I don't wear it out in public.)


When it comes to rehabbing injuries, I will buy anything, and try just about any remedy known to man.

I think the worst part about this injury was the mental aspect. I began to question whether my stroke mechanics were falling apart, and causing the problem. Gasp. I sincerely hope this is not the case. I have not changed anything about my stroke or training in the water. Frankly, my monthly yardage is not exceptionally high, so hopefully it is nothing related to my swim technique.

Anyway, I pretty much have full range of motion in my neck, and little to no discomfort. Tomorrow I hit the water for an easy workout. Will let you know if all systems are go.

I have been able to get in some good runs though. This week was 3 milers on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, with a 5 miler (52:03) on Wednesday. Tomorrow is swim, and Saturday is either spinning or the Chili Bowl Classic that Elizabeth is going to do. I would love to race it, but I also have a 10 miler this weekend, so we'll see if I feel up to running the race.

Tomorrow is Friday, thank goodness. We made it through another week, bloggers! Have a great Friday, and an even better weekend!!

Any Thoughts?

I have been periodically checking to see if the decision had come out, and saw that it came out on the 11th. Tyler's appeal dismissed

Disappointing. Ever since TH rode in the TDF with a broken collarbone, he has been one of my all time fave athletes.

Happy Valentine's Day

(All Calvin and Hobbes images are copyright Bill Watterson and Universal Press Syndicate)

Fuzzy Math

I did one of my longer HH runs yesterday. The plan called for 9. (Next week is 10, and the week after is 7.) I started out with all intentions to run the entire thing outside, but I caved after an hour, and headed indoors for the remainder. While outside, I ran completely in the streets, due to the unshoveled and downright nasty sidewalks. Hence the fuzzy math. I don't know for sure what the total mileage during my outside portion, because I made a lot of loops in neighborhoods without a lot of street traffic. I made it back to the house in 55 minutes. I'm calling it 5.5 miles. I headed to the dreadmill to finish - 3.7 miles. 9.2 total miles, and my watch time was 1:40 minutes. I can't wait for all this snow to finally melt, and for spring to finally get here!

Hope everyone had a great weekend, and hope your week goes by fast!

Spinning

Spinning class was much better this week. We had a different instructor who actually had a workout in mind for us, and she played some great tunes. After stretching (our instructor last week neglected to do this) and warming up, we did hill repeats, this is when you increase the resistance to mimic going uphill, and then decrease resistance to mimic the downhill. This was tough, because our uphills consisted of seated climbs and standing climbs. Then we did loops of uphill and downhill portions, running, which is when get out of the saddle and "run," jumps, when you get up and sit back down quickly, while pedaling at a moderate resistance, and then we finished with some sprinting.
(I hope that my descriptions are accurate - I am not an instructor, just an observer.)

In any event, I think these workouts are key for me, because just getting me in the saddle is a good thing. I decided to take the rest of the day off, which I debated, because the weather wasn't too bad this afternoon. I almost squeaked my long run in this afternoon, but decided to save it for tomorrow. I would also love to get in the pool for a swim, but my neck is still sore, so I don't know if I want to push it just yet. We'll see how tomorrow shapes up.

Citius, Altius, Fortius

Swifter, Higher, Stronger.

I'm ready, folks. Even though some of my favorite sports are in the Summer Olympics, I still am really looking forward to the start of the winter games. The opening ceremonies start tonight, and I will be parked in front of the t.v. watching them. I am excited for ice skating, hockey, biathlon, skeleton, and the skiing. What are your favorite events to watch?

As far as working out goes, I ran 3 on Monday, off Tuesday, 4 on Wednesday, and 3 on Thursday. I developed yet another painful muscle spasm in my neck, so I stayed out of the pool this week. I have my spinning class on Saturday, and a 9 miler scheduled for this weekend, too. Hopefully I can get back in the water on Sunday.

Compliment Day

According to Keryn, today is Compliment Day. So in the interest of spreading a little love, I want to compliment all bloggers who have become a part of my life in the last few months. You are all awesome athletes, and awesome people. This has become a genuine support and motivational system. Thanks for sharing your life with me, and allowing me to share my life and thoughts with you. I'm having a blast.

As for working out, Old Man Winter is again visiting C-town, so I had a c-c-cold 3 mile run on some slippery sidewalks tonight.

As for tomorrow, the question of the day will be can I haul my butt out of my nice warm bed to make it to the pool for a quick swim? Stay tuned...

Still The City Of Champions.

The New Video Says It All

I've been a bad blogger. I let this whole week pass without a veritable post detailing training, or anything at all. Why the lapse, you may wonder? Well, I am chalking it up to a case of the mid-winter blahs (I am a self-diagnosed sufferer of seasonal affective disorder,
coupled with a hellish week at work, where mediocrity and insanity reign supreme. But enough of that. What have I been up to training-wise? Well, last week wasn't a complete loss. I managed to get a few good runs in, 3 on Monday, 6 on Wednesday, and 3 on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, I had my first spinning class - you can just call me Taz.


In my monthly training log, I marked I biked for 50 minutes. The first 10, however, were spent just lightly spinning, and adjusting the bikes. The bikes used are the ones from the original Spinning program, and can be seen here. Our instructor was decent, but her choice of music was not my taste. She tended toward New Age-y type stuff, and was super perky! Give me some Led Zeppelin "Stairway to Heaven" for a hill climb any day over some New Age stuff. But overall, the class wasn't bad. After our first standing climb, I could feel my heart rate soaring. I ended the class completely soaked, and tired.

As a treat, later in the day, I took in "Brokeback Mountain," and "Hotel Rwanda." Four thumbs up.

This morning I made it to the pool early. I neglected my swimming last week, so I wanted to try to redeem myself today. I filched a workout from Elizabeth and Curly Su's swim camp, (Thanks for posting your workouts, Elizabeth!), and hammered out a good workout this morning:

wu 4 x (100 swim, 100 stroke, 50 kick) /1000
5 x 200 @ 3:00 /2000
5 x 150 @ 2:15 /2750
5 x 100 @ 1:30 /3250
5 x 50 @ 1:00 /3500
2 x 250 pull /4000
50 cool down /4050
(Total time, 1:13:52)

As for running this weekend, my HH training program calls for a 5 miler today, but it is so snowy and windy, I headed downstairs to my 'mill for an easy two mile run. (I took the dog for a walk last night in a rain/snow mix, and the sidewalks were slushy and messy. I must have been walking funny in my Timberland boots to overcompensate for the messy conditions, because ever since last night, my right knee is really sore. Hence the easy two - no sense in hurting myself this early in the season.)

Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, Lance and Sheryl? Uh, yeah, stick a fork in 'em, cause they're done. (Sorry to be so gleeful for all you Sheryl fans, but I am an admirer of Kristin Armstrong.)

Well, I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and training hard. Buckeyerunner, out.