Sometimes it’s just easier to swim…

Would the Titans-Colts game end already? I’d like to get to sleep so I can hit the rec. center for the last time before my membership ends and I’m without a pool again.

But I took advantage of the pool and track today, after morning yoga, with a slightly bricky workout: a 4,100-yard swim...

• 1,000 yards IM drill
  (25 fly, 50 back, 75 breast, 100 free;
  25 free, 50 fly, 75 back, 100 breast;
  25 breast, 50 free, 75 fly, 100 back;
  25 back, 50 breast, 75 free, 100 fly)
• 10 x 50 free sprints on 1:00
• 4 x 250 yards alt free and IM kick
• 10 x 50 free sprints on 1:00
• 1,000 yard IM (sub. one-arm fly)
• 100-yard cool down

... followed by a 2.5-mile run: the first was 10:15/mile, followed by a 9:25/mile, and then halfway through the third mile I felt the gentlest twinge in my left calf. It was so slight that it may have even been a mental pain, but I didn’t want to test it. I stretched it out, walked a few laps and went home. Today's swim was the first time I've done such a long, fast set of sprints (20x50 free) in at least ten years. Talk about pushing it! At least I was able to finish the swim. Sometimes, I suppose, it's just easier to swim 2.5 miles than run...

Surprisingly, I made it through the entire day without a nap. I didn’t drag because I had a wealth of things to do… and an even greater wealth of things to eat. When I was food-reading in the bible last week, I hit on that tip about eating carbs and protein (and little to no fat) within an hour after training, and it was all I could think about on the ride home.

OK, I honestly would have chowed on a fried basketball if one had presented itself, but my actions/intentions ended up much better with this quick (less than 5 minutes) meal:

• 1 cup cooked cous cous (150 cal, 0g fat, 30 carbs, 5g protein) cooked with jasmine green tea, cayenne and green onions
• ½ cup chilled organic black soy beans (120 cal, 6g fat, 8g carb/7g fiber, 11g protein)
• 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds (85 cal, 7g fat, 2g carb, 5g protein)
• 2 tbsp reduced fat sour cream (47 cal, 4g fat, 2g carb, 1g protein)

And I followed it with a crisp, tart Granny Smith apple. Quite tasty! It was a little more fatty than perfection, but I'll work on it.

The weather over the next week seems conducive to outdoor running—just in time for no-more-rec and my new job in Cleveland. I’ll be checking out all the recommendations I’ve received from everyone. Thanks a bunch!

No Browns in the playoffs. Sigh. At least now I can go to sleep while you check out Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball...

Lance, LeBron and Lactic Acid

Did you know that Lance Armstrong was once a triathlete? I was thinking today that he’d make a good one. The guy ran a sub-3 marathon last year and I hear he can bike. He also started as a swimmer. But it turns out, on the tri-front, that he’s been there, done that.

These days he’s just another athlete (LBJ?) who makes great out-of-place cameos on TV and movies. Have you seen him in Dodgeball? Or the Dick’s commercials? Sigh. To be multi-talented.

I started thinking about Lance while talking to cyclist Matt Cooke’s uncle at the rec. center (the uncle said Matt started as a triathlete, but peaked out on swimming and now cycles for a living). He too was astounded at how awful I am at cycling, but gave me hope for the future. He said that swimming was the leg that trips up many triathletes; I knew my childhood wasn’t all for naught.

So, today I had a mini reverse triathlete of my own: just one mile running (at 10:00 pace), about five miles stationary cycling and 3,000 yards swimming, which included

- 300 yards free warm-up
- 2,500-yard ladder:

• 100 yards IM
• 200 yards IM kick
• 300 yards one-arm fly
• 400 yards stroke-clinic free
• 500 yards IM kick
• 400 yards free on 5:00
• 300 yards one-arm fly
• 200 yards backstroke
• 100 yards IM

-200 yards super-slow cool down

IM Able’s blog reminded me that ladders offer plenty of yardage mixed with the possibility of rest and some speed work. But today it mostly offered me incentive to just keep swimming.

Do you ever swim after you’ve been running or cycling? For some reason, I can conquer the world after I swim, but I can’t swim after I do any type of workout with any intensity. My arms burn with lactic acid the whole time and I never regain my energy. That was today. How I made it through the 3,000 yards is a mystery (I think I feel a responsibility to my readers not to be a swimming wimp ;-). Generally if I push myself past the pain threshold, it’s smooth sailing. Today I just couldn’t shake it. Lactic acid was there to stay.

After 3,000 yards I thought about calling it a day, but I wanted to try something new. Sans floaty belt, I water ran for 500 yards/20 laps. I think I had the motion down, but it didn’t do anything for me. I couldn’t feel any endurance, cardio, strength or anything else working for me. Maybe water running just isn’t my thang. At least I tried.

Thankfully my leg has begun to feel solid in time for my new start in running. Sure, I started a little early (and maybe TriGuyJT is right and my body did rebel with exercise-induced anaphylaxis… does my body have to be so mean and vengeful?), but I’m being careful for once.

Finally, a little Lance for your viewing pleasure:

You Are What You Eat

A friend asked an interesting question recently: now that it’s off season, what am I eating?

Aside from dropping mounds of sweet potatoes and gnocchi from my Thursday and Friday (and sometimes Saturday) menus, I hadn’t really changed much. Or even thought about it until now.

Because of my injury, I had been trying extra hard to up my protein and calcium while slowly weaning myself off high-calorie days (let’s just say Thanksgivings 1 and 2, plus last week’s wedding aren’t going to make my return to the track in January a simple, or light, task). But when I dropped the major carbs from my diet, I didn’t really replace them with any energy powerhouses—aside from a few cookies and pudding snacks.

I have to admit, however, that I’ve had almost no cupcakes. Maybe just one.

It’s no surprise, then, that my energy went through the floor. Even when I had a good workout, I didn’t walk away with any good vibes or any oomph like I used to. Maybe you really need to run to get runner’s high. But couldn’t I get aerobics high, swimmer’s high or station cyclist high?

So, since last week I’ve been picking up fresh produce 2-3 times each week and plugging more raw fruits and vegetables—a task that would be much easier during the summer when there’s more than carrots, apples and pears at the market—into my diet. And one of my favorite rediscoveries has been the pomegranate.

Last time I had a pomegranate, it was 1985 and Transformers were just a regular cartoon. They’re not really an all-star fruit that shows up in grocery stores, so I’ve just loved them through POM juice, Shirley Temples and CLIF Nectar bars. Yum! But when I was picking up fruit last Friday, I saw them! I picked up a single fruit and ate it without sitting down when I came home. There’s pomegranate juice everywhere!

And now it’s my new thing. I had another one today and will become one of those red-handed people who can’t disguise their love of pomegranates because all their skin and clothes (countertops and walls too) are stained with red juice. But it’s worth it and a little healthier than cupcakes.

Energy or no energy, I’ve still tried to keep up with my training. And I even went back a bit on my no-run December. Neil kicked my butt at racquetball on Saturday (I’m convinced that good tennis players cannot play racquetball, and I’m sticking to it) after which we ran a mile on the track. At least I was supervised!

We started slowly jogging and Neil said he wanted like to run to a mile at a relaxed pace. I clicked on my watch and we started lapping. It was a good pace; I talked the whole time; I did not hurt at all. He ran really well and at a steady pace for a 10:50 mile. As we turned onto the final stretch, he sprinted the final 100 meters (I refrained, believe it or not) and had plenty of juice left. Great job, Neo!

After the run we rode bikes for while, walked a few laps and then watched an NWBA wheelchair basketball tournament. These guys were tearing it up. You’ll probably know from last summer that I’m a big basketball fan. If you ever want to watch a game in which everyone hustles all the time, catch an NWBA game.

We wondered at first how these guys would play defense, but the chairs seemed to disappear after a few minutes. And when you see a guy sink several college-regulation three-pointers in a row, it’s almost impossible to walk away. Awe. Some.

Then we came home and crashed. We didn’t exercise with too great of intensity, but we were both whipped for Saturday. And most of Sunday.

By Monday morning, most of my sore spots from racquetball had loosened a bit, so I did my 10-minute elliptical warm-up at the rec. center before hitting the pool for a lackluster 3,000-yard swim:

• 2 x 500 yards free warm-up
• 10 x 200 yards rotation IM stroke order, then 200 IM kick

And that was it! While I don’t normally do so much kicking, I felt that I had been neglecting my legs since October and would put in a little extra kick time to get them back in the swing. I could feel, however, a lack of flexibility creeping into my ankles from the downtime. So, I’ll have to think about stretching and kicking a little more in my regimen.

But that’s twice in four days I’ve gone swimming. I’m so proud! And while there were no adverse effects from Saturday’s jog, I won’t be running anytime soon. A slight jog now and then might be all right, but I won’t be pushing anything this time.

Except my pomegranate addiction…

Keeping Up With Myself

It dawned on me today that the Akron Women’s Triathlon is a week off and I still haven’t even taken my bike out of the trunk of my car from the GCT. While I had promised myself I would pick up the pace after I finished tri-one, I just seem to forget about that whole cycling segment. Darn it!

But at least I have kicked up my running and swimming since GCT. In fact, I hit the pool on Thursday morning for a 4,500-yard (~2.5 miles) continuous swim—my longest continuous swim since I started training again earlier this year. The best part was that I finished it in 1:14:00, which is one minute faster than the 4,200 yards I swam late last week.

I swam the first 1,000 yards at a pretty relaxed pace. It’s generally during this slow, warm-up period that I’m convinced I won’t/can’t swim more than 2,000 yards today. But after 2,000 yards I picked up the pace a little more. And when I tuned into 3,000, a slightly speedy girl jumped into the lane next to me and cruised right by! Because of my recent pay-attention-to-no-one-but-myself discipline from running, my first instinct was to just let her go. She’s none of my concern. Right?

Well, that lasted about 10 yards and I had to speed up. By the end of the first lap I was on her toes, and then neck-and-neck at the middle of lap two. Then my arms really warmed to the speed and I kicked it into my next gear, passed her and then lapped her a few times before she left. Every time I cam back around, I felt like she was out-swimming me again, so I would have to pick up my pace to take her again. She must have helped cut five minutes off my time!

Unfortunately, I’m not able to run at a faster speed for quite as long. Although I could probably make it 2.5 miles… just not over an hour. Ugh. But I had a good 7-mile track run at lunch on Friday, which included:

• 1-mile warm-up at 10:00/mile
• 5 miles at 8:12/mile
• 8 gentle pick-ups (~1 mile)

I’m a day behind on my training plan and will be running Friday, Saturday and Sunday before I get to rest of Monday. Whew! And then next week I’ll have to move around my running days to make room for some rest before Saturday’s race. It’s great to have a training plan, but when your schedule gets dorked up, it’s difficult playing catch up.

And I thought I wasn’t going to play it very well today. When I started on the 1-mile warm-up, my legs were tight and fatigued, and that stupid inner-left calf muscle was whining at me again. I paused to stretch after one lap and then tried to stretch out my legs with each extended stride.

My body was warmed by the second mile, so I thought I would try to run with pace in mind. Hmm, 9:00/mile, I thought. That’s 1:30/lap at the rec. center track. After the first couple laps I was right on time, but then I started coming in 8, 10, 12 seconds ahead of my pace, so I thought I would increase it a little. So, I ran at a very comfortable (I was singing!) pace, trying to keep each lap under 1:30, and continued to come in under my target.

Still feeling pretty perky, I finished the workout with eight gentle pick-ups—I was that person hoofing it down the straightaways at the track and walking the curves. It was really fun to finish the run with that segment. It was fast, free and flippin’ fantastic. I focused on extending my legs and quickening my turnover… without turning up the intensity level to DANGEROUS. Now I’m just hoping this pep carries me through the weekend runs.

On my way home from work last night, I stopped at the store to pick up Viactiv, but came home with a wealth nutrition bars instead. I was a little put off by Viactiv’s ingredients (corn syrup topped the list), so I opted for a few treats like Luna and Kashi bars that service my sweet tooth… I mean, protein and calcium needs with natural stuff.

And if you’re looking for a good snack, try Kashi Crunchy bar. Tasty! I’m chowing the chocolate-caramel variety as I type, getting 8 grams of protein and 20% of my calcium in 150 tasty calories. Now I just have to eat ten of them to get my protein. Remember that Total commercial? It’s kind of like that.

Swimming Like an Ironman

In the spirit of the first week of school, I’ve gotten behind on my blogging, but I’ve been totally up on my training. Saturday morning’s 4-mile run was easy around the neighborhood at 9:30/mile. Thanks to some early-morning yoga, my legs were only tight at the outset of the run. My left calf is feeling better (knock on wood), but I still have an eight-miler on Sunday.

My Friday-morning swim was anything but laid back and easy, and it totally kicked butt. I set out, as usual, with a wimpy workout in mind (it’s hard sometimes to feel energetic and optimistic in the darkness of 6 a.m.). I was ready to cut out early for calf rest or hot tub time or extra hair drying. Anything really.

But after the first 900 yards of warm-up, I felt fresh. Who knew? So, I thought I would push it to 1,500 yards, then 1,800 (~1 mile)… maybe 2,000. The biggest obstacle I’ve faced when extending my continuous distances in the water has been—you guessed it—boredom. Sure there’s some fatigue, but swimming is one of my only Energizer Rabbit activities! I kept swimming until I reached the Iron distance: 2.4 miles (~ 4,250 yards).

While it was a continuous freestyle swim, I broke down the 4,250 yards for the sake of keeping count:

• 1,000 yards warm-up
• 2,000 yards stroke mechanics, rotating:
  - 4 x 100 yards pull
  - 4 x 100 yards stroke with kick emphasis
  - 4 x 100 yards breathe every 5 strokes
  - 4 x 100 yards “perfect” stroke at higher intensity/sprint pace
  - 4 x 100 yards stroke count (avg. 23-25 strokes/lap)
• 1,000 yards more stroke mechanic, rotating:
  - 250 yards pull
  - 250 yards stroke with kick emphasis
  - 250 yards stroke count (avg. 22-24 strokes/lap)
  - 250 yards “perfect” stroke at sprint pace
• 250 yards cool down

And, yes, I did feel like going for a 112-mile bike ride when I was done! Unfortunately, I had to go to work (hee hee). Because I finished the swim in 1:15:00, I still had the extra time I would have had if I had wimped out. How cool is that?

I swam the 2.4 miles at a pretty level and consistent intensity—a concept I understand so well in the water, but not very well on land. Running the aerobic intervals and gentle pick-ups prescribed by my half marathon training plan, however, are guiding me well. I think I’m wrapping my mind around the concept… my body’s just not keeping up. Yet.

On Thursday, I hit the trail immediately after work to avoid the running-in-the-dark problem I described earlier. I’m still bored by the bike-hike trail route, but the extra hills added spice to the generally graded path near my house. The 7-miles included 4-mile warm-up at 9:30/mile, 4 x 1:30 aerobic intervals, 6 gentle pick-ups and 1.5-mile cool down.

And what a difference a week makes: last Thursday, I huffed and puffed through a high-humidity 90+ degree afternoon; this week it took about a half mile for me not to feel chilled! Oh, autumn, how I’ve missed you!

I know that the hot weather will come and go over the next several months (this is NEOhio: it’s going to alternate between blizzards and heat waves many times between now and December), but fall just feels cozy regardless of weather realities. The most cozy: football season! As I type, the state up north is getting beaten up by Appalachian State. Hee hee. Who knows what will happen in the second half, but Appalachian is hot, hot, hot…



Happy Anniversary to me: Eight months of training down... and a lifetime to go!

If Nothing Else, I’ve Learned Not to Quit

As prescribed, I tried to rest my legs on Monday and, perhaps, convince my calf muscles that it’s OK to feel better now. The latter didn’t work, but my muscles weren’t the stumbling blocks for my Tuesday-evening training run.

Fall 2007 is my first autumn as a runner (I had tried to start running in March 2006, but stopped over a trip to Boston that August… and didn’t resume until January 2007). While I’m looking forward to checking out the scenery, crunching dried leaves and feeling the autumnal breeze, I haven’t grasped when I’m going to fit in my training with the skies getting so dark so soon these days.

My logical answers of before or after work are peachy… until you consider my ill-lit surroundings. I’ve already been hit by a car once, and that was in the bright light of day!

Tuesday night I made the mistake of rushing out for my 7-mile run about 20 minutes after a high-protein dinner. The workout included:

• 3 miles warm-up at 9:30/mile
• (1 mile walk, not counted in distance)
• 3 x (2:00, 2:30) aerobic intervals ~ 2 miles
• 2 miles cool down at 9:30/mile

What’s that walk doing there? Well, by the time I finished my three-mile warm-up, I felt like my dinner was tickling my uvula. Bleh! So, I slowed down and walked for a bit. It was only going to be a couple yards walking at first, but my discomfort persisted. I circled the neighborhood, and as I approached my drive I was angling to head home.

But at the end of the mile, the shame of quitting overwhelmed my fear of vomiting. One more mile, I thought. So, I set my watch for the aerobic intervals, thinking I might finish one set. I have a love/hate relationship with the 2:00+ intervals—they’re challenging as all get out and leave me super whipped… but I love the feeling of being done. Not only do I feel strong and fit, but running my cool down flies by with the greatest of ease.

Accordingly, the two-mile cool down did fly by. Thankfully so: it was pitch black outside by the time I was wrapping up, and there was no Ninja Warrior to watch my back! Our street is lined with fashionable street lights that pop up every 75-100 yards on the street—just enough to leave vast dark pockets in which people disappear. I just don’t dig that.

What do I dig? The post-running sleeps (it’s the precious sister of the runner’s high). I showered after my run, dressed for bed, laid down and never really got up until 5:25 a.m. on Wednesday for my morning swim:

• 1,500 yards free warm-up
• 6 x 250 yards free alt. normal pace and sprint pace
• 6 x 100 yards alt. free and butterfly
• 400 yards free cool down

Admittedly I wimped out early: it’s only a 4,000-yard swim workout. Not that it’s anything to sneeze at, but my yardage had been steadily growing. But my darned calf muscles!

My weeklong swim break rust shook off 400 yards into the warm-up, but I could feel my tight left calf tinge every time I pushed off the wall (and for anyone counting, that’s about 160 painful pushes!). I found that if I kicked hard and kept the muscle really warm, it didn’t hurt as much. Similar to the run, I was convinced that should definitely quit way early, but I seem to have lost that ability. Not sure whether it’s a good or a bad thing yet!

So, I cut my swim down to about 1.25 hours and soaked my leg in the hot tub for the extra time. It was still a little tight during the day and only slightly yick during yoga. Tomorrow’s training calls for another 7 miles, which I will feel out before I hurt myself. There’s just something ominous about fall right now… and I don’t want to have to recover from an injury again.

Tired Legs Aren’t So Bad

If Monday’s cycling didn’t tire out my legs, Tuesday afternoon’s 50-minute power vinyasa yoga stop had them pooped. Because weather.com showed 4-7 p.m. as the only bright spots of the day (I saw sunshine!), I had planned to run my assign 7-mile workout right after work. But my body just wasn’t having it. I was hungry and fatigued.

Once I started making dinner, I was trying to rearrange my Wednesday schedule to fit in my 7 miles. And once I ate my salmon Florentine roulette with capellini dinner and then took a nap, I thought the night was lost. It turns out, however, it was just a power nap.

By 8 p.m. the sun was gone and the darkening sky and gloom were back. I strapped on my shoes, popped a strawberry Shot Blok and went on my way. The night’s workout included:

• 3 miles warm up at 9:00/mile
• 2 x (2:00, 2:30) aerobic intervals (AI)
• 2 miles wrap up and warm down (8:40/mile, 9:00/mile)

I started running with way too much food in my stomach—let’s just say that I made too much capellini and I was happy to eat the leftovers—but the heaviness subsided after the first mile. In fact, I was surprised at how much kick I had for that warm-up… I thought it was going to be the week’s biggest struggle.

What made it even easier was that at around 2.75 miles there was a tall, dark and handsome guy standing at the end of one of the parking lots I jog around. He was wearing his running shorts and his New Balances, and he was waiting to hand me my imaginary water. It was Neil!

He knew how hard I had to push to get myself out the door (especially at night), so he joined me for the last quarter mile of my warm-up, which we ran at a steady and healthy pace, and the first AI. Even as we passed the drive to our apartment, he kept going with me. We ran a strong 2:00 AI and then jogged to recovery.

I didn’t think it was healthy for him to do too many higher-intensity runs, so after our recovery I suggested he jog it home as I took off for the 2:30. He must have covered at least a mile at a great pace, and I’m very proud of him. You go, Neil!

And I was kind of wishing I was taking the jog home with him as I hit :40 of the 2:30! These aerobic intervals are absolute killers—and that’s why I love them. I’m not running these sets too hard (as my instructions say, it’s a tempo “somewhere between comfortable and ‘Hey, I'm workin' a little here.’”), but I am beginning to feel their effects on my normal pace.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the AIs reinforce in my spatial memory what it feels like to stretch my legs, lift my knees and kick my feet back. It’s a nice change of pace from my tendency to slump into a lethargic jaunt for greater distances. And I remember the good stride when I start to slump. Plus, with the higher intensity bits, my 8:40-9:00/mile runs feel like cake. And I like cake.

The only uncakey thing about the last two miles was how dark it was getting. I’m not generally afraid of the dark (unless, of course, it’s in a cold, damp basement… but we’re all afraid of cold, damp and dark basements, right?), but my neighborhood isn’t particularly well lit. At all. I pushed to get the last two miles done and get myself off the streets. Where did summer nights go? I suppose I’ll have to start running earlier.

One of the dumbest things to do while pushing through the warm-up/don’t-want-to-do-this part of a workout: think about training you have planned for subsequent days. What was I doing, for example, thinking about my Wednesday morning swim when I started feeling heavy, tired and stitchy during the first mile of my warm-up? Being an idiot.

I thought at that point that there was no way I would wake up at 5:25 a.m. to get a lane, and, if I did, I would have to make it a short workout. But it wasn’t. I woke up just fine (a couple minutes earlier so I could get up, eat, dress and drive to the rec. center in time to be part of that group of people waiting in line get in right at 6 a.m. sharp) and swam my 4,500-yard/~2.5-mile workout:

• 1,000 yards free warm-up
• 10 x 125 yards alt. IM order, plus extra free
• 7 x 200 yards alt. free and one-arm fly
• 13 x 50 yards free sprints
• 200 yards free cool down

And it only took 1.5 hours. I spent most of the swim giving my legs a rest, which is what I will continue doing throughout Wednesday. They can use it.

Another Morning at the Pool

OK, I’ll admit it: I’m kind of digging the early morning swims (where was this urge when I was in high school and had 5 a.m. practices?). I even tried making it earlier today—around 6:05 a.m.—but it was still packed and I started my swim in the open end of the pool.

For the first 2,000 yards, in fact, I swam around a staircase to turn at one end. And if you thought my spotting job in the tri was bad, you don’t want to know where I ended up when I was swimming backstroke.

I extended my distance, nevertheless, to this 4,400-yard workout:

• 800 yards free warm-up
• 4 x 100 yards free sprints on 2:00
• 3 x 800 yards
  - 1 x 800 yards IM
  - 1 x 800 yards free
  - 1 x 800 yards alt. one-arm fly and free
• 12 x 50 yards alt. free and IM order
• 200 yards free cool down

To my surprise, doubling my pool frequency and increasing my weekly yardage eightfold has energized me. Hard swimming used to make me drowsy. I’d like to think that I have some magical will power or sense of motivation, but I think I’m still riding high on tri-fever. And I’d like to finish first in my age group for swimming next time, not second (or perhaps I should focus on not finishing last in cycling instead)!

Check with me in two weeks when I can’t stop napping ;-)

The only unfortunate thing with increasing yardage on morning swims is that I'm butting up against time constraints again. That's the reason I started swimming in the morning (my lunch hour only permitted around 1,500 yards) in the first place! My past two swims have been around 1.25 hours. Sigh. If only I could work training into my job responsibilities.

Off to an Early Start

Who would have thought the pool would be so packed at 6 a.m.? Well, it’s not uncommon. I had assumed there would be a bulk of people at the pool bright and early, but didn’t anticipate such a crowd at that hour. The rec. center opens at 6 a.m., and when I arrived by 6:10 a.m., every single lane was full.

But it turns out that early swimmers are particularly courteous. When I swim during other peak times, people tend to bury their heads and swim down the middle of their lanes—ignoring you even if you’re kicking and splashing for their attention. And asking to squeeze in is akin to asking for their secondborn.

The people swimming in the three marked lanes this morning (the rest of the pool is open; it was full too), however, split to one side or the other of their lanes as soon as I showed up on the deck. Ahh, some faith in humanity!

I hopped in with a pretty good swimmer dude and did the following 4,200-yard workout:

1,000 yards free pull warm-up

8 x 150 yards alternating:
· 4 x 150 yards free (counting strokes)
· 4 x 100 yards free sprint, 50 yards backstroke

12 x 75 yards alternating:
· 6 x 75 yards free
· 6 x 75 yards IM order

8 x 50 yards IM order

200 yards reverse IM

500 yards free cool down

Not only was it nice to swim among so many people for the wake (if I’m going to open-water swim, I need to get used to wake), I had pacers and competitors galore. As I mentioned, the guy in my lane was a strong swimmer. I didn’t talk to him much, but we did plenty of swim-dueling during my 1,000-yard warm up. Maybe it was just me.

This may be the weather talking, but early morning workouts aren’t remotely as painful as I had imagined. Don’t remind me I said that in December. Not only did I get my swimming done before the day even began, but I had plenty of time to get a full swim without the pressure of getting back from lunch or getting home before my evening was lost.

Two hours was more than enough to swim, shower, dress and make it to work. I guess I’m just fortunate that the pool is five minutes from my office. Now, if only I could get there before the crowd.

Morning Run, Ninjas and Afternoon Swim

So why didn’t you tell me running in the morning was awesome?

Almost every plan I had for training on Tuesday was thwarted (the pool was packed to the gills and beyond, it started hardcore storming one mile into my evening run), so I focused on weight training last night, had a restful sleep, skipped yoga this morning and took to the neighborhood streets at 6:30 a.m. for a really great run.

And boy was it muggy! I think I live with the blind notion that mornings are almost always cool. Not so. It had to be at least 80 degrees this morning with air so thick with moisture that I felt like I had a sticky film all over me. Yick! It did not, however, affect my run.

Nor did the ninja warrior practicing his nunchucks in the leasing office parking lot. Neil and I first saw Mr. Ninja, a stout and bulky man with a cleanly shaven head, when we dropped off our rent before taking off for New York last Friday morning. He was standing in the parking lot next to his Beethoven-blaring Rav-4 spinning, swinging and switching nunchucks from hand to hand. Since I am obviously the ninja in this relationship, I was the one who got out of the car to hand in the rent.

Oddly enough, Mariel and Eric introduced us to Ninja Warrior—a Japanese physical challenge show that is half Most Extreme Elimination and half superhuman Double Dare obstacle course (without the nose-picking event)—during our Brooklyn trip last weekend. It really has nothing to do with ninjas or warriors, but is one of those shows you catch on a lazy Saturday afternoon and secretly try to find on Sunday when nothing else is on. Not that I’ve ever done that.

But back to my run: I weaved through the parking lot, gave Mr. Ninja a nod and continued to feel great in my new Mizunos. All due respect to my previous life as an ankle-roller, but the greater ankle flexibility I have in these shoes has loosened up my stride and eased the warm-up period that used to burn my shins. What’s more is that my upper body even feels relaxed and my arm swings have finally begun to feel natural. I’m on my way, baby!

My goal for the morning was to run for 30 minutes. It’s not as much time as I would like to dedicate to running, but I a) am trying to rest a bit this week, despite my lazy-training in recent weeks; and b) had to get showered and to work by 8 a.m. Sticking around my neighborhood, however, enabled me to hit some minor hills and a few grades, check out a ninja dude and work on picking up the pace a bit.

I’m only running with a watch these days, so I had to guess my distance during the run and measure for certainty later (one of these days I’ll get back to that HRM). At least I know my times. In fact, my first “lap,” 2.06 miles down my street and around the condo community, went by in 17:55; the second lap, which was an abbreviated 1.3-mile cool down trip around the neighborhood, clocked in at 12:05. My total run was 3.35 miles around 8:57/mile pace.

I realize that while I felt great running today that I can’t quite expect the same miracle of energy from my shoes on Sunday. That whole swimming and cycling first thing might get in the way!

Today’s run left me wanting for water, however, so I skipped lunch and cut out of work early to get a full no-rush swimming workout for the first time in way, way too long. While I’m a strong swimmer, I know that I’m not near peak shape or speed… and I can’t expect to be with my poor excuse for a swim-training regiment of one 30-minute swim each week.

Thus I was surprised at how easily I completed my 4,000-yard workout this afternoon:

• 1,000 yards free warm-up
• 8 x 50 yards “perfect” stroke down, spotting stroke back (:15 rest)
• 3 x 500 yards free (1:00 rest)
• 300 yards one-arm butterfly
• 300 yards reverse IM kick
• 500 yards free cool down

What I call “perfect” stroke is essentially swimming with a correct stroke. In an ideal world I would swim that way all the time. But for this set I focused on every single inch of my stroke—from entry to pull and breathing to follow-through—for the first 25 yards, and then swam with my head above the water on the way back. I imagine that spotting might come in handy while swimming with many other people in open water on something of a “course.” But it gets tiring!

The only problem with today’s regiment: man, was I flippin’ hungry on the drive home! I was just lucky I hadn’t decided to bike to work today because I may have actually eaten my helmet or my cell phone.

For the past several weeks, however, I’ve been trying to pick up more protein than the average electronic and protective device. I’m not really a meat-eater (I’m big on fish), so I’ve been pretty protein-lacking for much of my life. No wonder I’m so short! And while I’m utterly crazy about cheese, I have a natural (read: hereditary) and slight cholesterol almost-problem that prevents me from fulfilling my protein needs with feta, cheddar, gorgonzola, chevre, soft swiss, hard swiss, colby, havarti, smoked gouda, brie… I’m sorry: I just went somewhere else for a minute. And now I need some fresh French bread.

One of the foods I’ve recently used to supplement my training diet is Think bars (i.e., Think Thin, Think Organic, Think Green, etc.), which provide up to 20 grams of protein, have one of those wholly appealing all-natural ingredient lists and are pretty darn dee-lish.

It’s only taken me nearly 30 years to realize that I need protein to grow and repair my body. And I’ll definitely need that protein as I train for the triathlons and road races to come.

Four days to go! Countdown with some Ninja Warrior...

And Onto the Next!

I gave myself a whole three hours to get over my Hall of Fame 5-Miler performance... and then I registered for the Greater Cleveland Triathlon and the Akron Women's Super Sprint Triathlon on Sunday night.

Registration for the Perfect 10-Miler and the Portage Lakes Triathlon will have to wait. I still need to experience how post-triathlon feels to me!

With those two events looming, I thought it was about time I start riding my bike already. So, I woke up at 6:30 a.m. (much to Neil's dismay) on Tuesday, had a healthy bowl of Flax Plus Raisin Bran with blueberries, packed my riding backpack and cycled to work.

I went through the usual self-cursing during the first four miles of uphill, more uphill and still uphill, and then took a different route to Kent State where I was actually afforded a bike path!

What I didn't get was too much peace of mind: I've had this sneaking suspicion that my back tire is flat. I tried to patch the whole, but found none. And while my tire always ends up low after a few days in the garage, it was just fine this morning. But I rode all day with the fear I'd be low-riding at any minute!

After I pushed through the uphill torture and meandered down the bike lane, I thought I was almost at work. But it was then that I realized that Tuesday would be the day of wishful thinking. First, I swore that I was farther down the road every time I turned a corner, and then I was repeatedly confident that I had just ridden over the "big hill on Fairchild" everyone had been talking about. Until I was at the foot of it.

It was a MONSTER hill! Granted, I'm remarkably awful at cycling right now and probably won't think the same way in a few months... but it was HUGE! By my uninformed and spatially challenged perceptions, it had to be a 30 percent grade. Ahh! I felt like I was in San Francisco.

It was about nine miles into my ride, my legs were pooped and the raisin bran had been burned by mile six. I switched into one of my lowest gears and took the first eighth of the hill pedal-by-pedal. I huffed, I puffed and I nearly blew myself down.

Then I gave in: I hopped off my bike and power-walked my bike up the hill. And even the walk was difficult. It made me realize, however, how my legs will feel when they're exhausted from the bike ride. (Please: no photos of me next Sunday when I kick off into that final 5K!)

It also made my appreciate (read: love) the downhill that followed. Unfortunately, I was riding on the sidewalk where the would-be crosswalks didn't have ramped or smooth edges to them. Just curbs. And that just doesn't feel great when you're flying downhill at 20-25 mph.

With all of the uphills, downhills, flat lands, lights and stops, the ~10-mile ride took me an hour into work and then 58 minutes back. I was aiming for 50 minutes on the way home, but it didn't happen.

I don't have a handle yet whether I'm just a bloody slow cyclist, my route is excessively hilly or the stops/lights stall my progress more than I realized. If it's not one of the latter two, I'm going to be dead last in the triathlon... aren't I? I know people who can run faster than that. Sigh. At least I don't have to worry that riding a hybrid bike (instead of a tri-bike) will hurt my success too much. From the looks of it, I might just need to pick up a Vespa.

Other than the bike commute, I also pedaled to the rec. center, where I swam a quick 1,800-yard workout, including:

• 300 yards free warm-up
• 1,300 yards free
• 200 yards IM cool down

A rather speedy girl was swimming at the pool today (she was one of those major leg-slapping flip-turners), and on any other day, I would have loved the push. Finally, a formidable competitor! Only I was less than formidable today. I was already a bit creaky and exhausted before the morning ride, and I could feel my tiredness and weakness throughout my arms and legs in the pool. Perhaps it was just the tiring past week, Monday's weight training or power yoga... it's just a rare occurrence. So, I'll use it as an exercise in my own control and ability to swim for myself.

I might not be as successful next time ;-)

Neil's running tip of the day: if you want to increase your pace, just run faster.

When Neil and I were discussing my pace before Sunday's 5-miler, I admitted that I had a pacing problem and have had difficulty reaching my pacing goals. So, Neil gave me some key advice: if I'm behind pace, just run faster;-) I guess I should have followed his advice! But I'll keep it in my for the future.

Since Last Saturday

Well, I cannot take credit for the race the Winking Lizard has given me: I’m listed as finishing in 30:06 at 7:32/mile. I wish that were true, but it can’t possibly be true! I’ve sent them another message (wow, they’re going to hate me and ban me from all Hermes races) to explain their, umm, re-mistake… but we’ll see how that turns out.

My biggest quip is that at this point I don’t know where I finished! I don’t really have an idea how far behind the gun I started—but I know it wasn’t more than 4:00. And I think that the people who did run some really great times should have their due credit.

I may never know what my real time was for this race. And it figures that the one race in which I went tech-free (no iPod, no HRM, no watch; I wore my armband to carry my ID), the coordinators dorked up the times.

For the sake of my own progress, however, I’m going to stick to my originally assumed time of 34:06, 8:31/mile. Or something like that.

And I would like to improve that pace this Sunday at the Pro Football Hall of Fame 5-mile Race. I'm still getting a grip of my racing capabilities, so suffice it to say that my goal for this run is simple improvement. So, even 8:30/mile will do. Once I get a few more races under my belt, I'll understand how to up my own... ante.

In preparation for Sunday, I've had the following physical week:

• Monday: 1-mile walk, 3-mile neighborhood run at 9:16/mile
• Tuesday: super yoga (right side)
• Wednesday: swam 2,200 yards; super yoga (left side)
• Thursday: 7.11-mile Stow-area run at 9:25/mile

After my one-month back rehab, I felt like weekend races were cutting into my long runs. But then I realized it was just an excuse. So, I headed out after work today and took a longish run: 7.11 miles around Stow.

It's been over a month since I've trolled the streets of Stow. Ever since my back injury in June, I've walked/run pretty short distances around my own neighborhood. But my route boredom finally overtook my fear of something bad happening today.

While it was nice to get back to "distance" running, I was exhausted by miles 5-6! Granted, I took off at 5:30 p.m. after another draining workday and a few days of bad-sleep exhaustion, but I just felt like I was sputtering out in ways I didn't a couple months ago. At least I didn't stop.

My first four miles were semi-strong (9:00, 9:17, 9:17, 9:06) and more than semi-hilly. Somewhere between miles two and three, I was crawling up one of those endless grades and reminding myself that pushing myself here would help me in the next Cleveland race covered in other endless grades. Remind me I said that when I'm crawling up and down the near west side of Cleveland again!

Once I crossed mile four, however, I appeared to have lost my calories from the Greens+ chocolate energy bar I ate before my run, the Greek salad pita I had for lunch, the apple I had for an afternoon snack, the flax and oats I ate for breakfast. My energy was sapped. So, I closed the run with 9:35, 9:39 and 9:28 miles. It was a difficult hike up the final hill to my car, but (while I'm talking food) it was worth it to make my way home to orange roughy with piquant peppers and garlicky potatoes. Mmmm...

The only downside to the longish post-work run is that my lower back is a little sore now. At least it's a generalize lower back pain, and nothing particularly sciatica. Whew! And I'm hoping that it gives me a good night's sleep because it's been a rough week in that area. Neil and I went to a concert on Tuesday night... and we're still recovering. We tried to get to bed by 10 p.m. last night, but the sleep was still crap. You know, they say you can't catch up on your sleep in one night. Why is it, then, that you can dork it up all in one night? Oh well...

So, what do I mean by "super yoga"? It's Pablo Domene Lee yoga. As you know, I've been into yoga for a few years and have gotten more yogified since my June back injury. Nevertheless, Pablo always kicks my butt. This week was no different.

I've been plugging away at the same vinyasa yoga podcast for over a year, and I'm still not able to complete the entire workout! In fact, I finished sun salutations and flow for my right side on Tuesday, but I was so exhausted at that point that I had to wait until Wednesday to repeat the sun salutations and continue the flow for my left side.

So, I was sore on my right side Tuesday and then evened out the soreness on Wednesday. Today, I was pretty whipped on both sides. No wonder it was a difficult run! But one of these days, I will complete the entire workout. If you'd like a challenge, check out this yoga podcast.

In light of that soreness, I took to the pool on Wednesday (and I have my sights set on Friday swimming so I can finally get in two swims a week!) for 2,200 yards, including:

• 1,000 yards free
• 500 yards one-arm butterfly
• 500 yards free
• 200 yards IM

I've only been swimming once each week, but I'm still feeling strong in the pool. Strong, but not too fast. There were a few faster swimmers in the pool on Wednesday, however. And I happily outswam them. In fact, I kept ahead of an above-average swimmer over my first 1,000 yards as she did a set of ten 50-yard sprints. Not bad.

Now, if only I could get the Kent State rec. center to turn the lap pool into a sometimes-wave pool to simulate open-water swimming, that would be great. It's been a while since I've done any kind of group swimming or open-water... but I'll have to figure it out by Aug. 12!

One Month Later...

After a couple weeks of “will-I-or-won’t-I?” I’ve decided that Saturday’s four-miler is, in fact, for me!

(I'm officially one month into my recover from my dumb sciatic problem process: two weeks yoga-and-rest, two weeks yoga-and-run-lite. And now I'm back to... normal?)

I headed out around 7:30 p.m. (after a vicious fight with my will and fatigue) to run around my neighborhood. I was halfway through my 1-mile walking warm-up when I ran into Anya, our former grad assistant who now works in Hudson. What’s funny is that I was just wondering during a music-free run the other day how many people I know live in our apartments without me knowing. Well, there’s one!

It’s a handy little neighborhood: our apartment buildings are on the right side of the street, a hilly condo community is on the left. After I talked to Anya, I passed a number of people walking, cycling, running and strolling with dogs. Aside from the devilishly ominous clouds looming overhead, it was a pleasant evening to be out… and not remotely as mugging as my excuse-making self claimed it would be.

One of my biggest obstacles with running recently (yes, aside from the nagging sciatic thing) has been route boredom. I’ve run every square inch of the Stow and Kent areas, and won’t be hitting the trails on foot or alone for obvious reasons. And sticking around my 1-mile roundtrip street has been less than thrilling.

It has, however, been several months since I incorporated the condo development across the street into my run. As it turns out, it has some better-than-remembered hills. Granted, these aren’t Kent hills, or even some Stow hills, and definitely not the last-stretch-at-St.-Malachi hills. But good enough.

So, weaving in and out of the development, I had intended on running four “laps” of my neighborhood. Without the development swoops, it’s about one mile per lap; my goal was to run four miles. Adding the extra swoops, as it turns out, packs on some extra distance. And by the end of my run, I had completed a total of 7.10 miles, which included 1 mile walking and 6.10 miles running. Not too bad for a girl just getting back into it.

What surprised me most was the relative evenness with which I ran the miles: 16:00 for the first walking mile and then 9:01, 9:08, 9:06, 9:14, 8:59, 9:09 for each additional mile. It matched my target pace, and I was happy to be so “even” on my first run back.

I could definitely tell, though, that my body wasn’t used to the impact of 6+ miles. Physically, I felt strong running the distance—in fact, I hit my full stride and second wind right around mile five—but felt some serious stomach sourness from the jostling and had even more acid reflux. The last couple of miles was a fight between mind, stomach and [the rest of my] body that luckily turned out not so bad!

My only problem was that I felt generally s-l-o-w, as I have felt for the past month. While I was glad I maintained an even pace and a time that I had targeted for my distance training, I don’t know that I could have run much faster—even if it wasn’t a high-intensity run for me. On the other hand, it could just be my how-will-I-run-on-Saturday fears arresting my mind. We’ll see.

Saturday is just a measly run in the grand scheme of things: Jen C. will be completing her first Ironman at Lake Placid, and I’m really eager to hear about the big race. All the best to Jen C. and her husband on Saturday!

Previous days' notes: I ran a smidge on Monday at the track and then walked a while with Melissa. We were engrossed in a conversation about medical procedures; you really should only do that while walking. And Tuesday was swim, swim, swim: 1,800 yards free. It was a super strong swim that added well to my up-the-yardage plan in the pool. I'm trying to add some yards each time I swim. With no excuses. Until, of course, I run out of lunchtime minutes in which to swim.

Swimming Hard and the Wii Tournament

By the end of last week I was pretty whipped. Between the energy-draining office heat, computer-toting treks to the coffeehouse and long nights working on personal and academic projects, I pretty spent no matter how many Greens Plus chocolate energy bars I ate.

Thursday, however, was a pleasant day for a swim. I’ve mentioned before that I’m in the world’s top three biggest wimps when it comes to jumping in the pool. I go through a painful process of toe-dabbling, self-splashing and slow-lowering to get into the pool when I know very well that it’s far less painful to jump just right in. In fact, when I swim with Melissa, I’m so jealous of her ability to just hop in with abandon as it takes me five minutes to get settled.

And it doesn’t help that the water was perfectly freezing for the pretty hot Thursday. As per usual, I went into the water thinking I would only swim 500 yards before sputtering out. Lucky for me, however, I start to really like swimming again (I tend to sway between like and dislike with most things that require a warm-up period) after about 200 yards.

Thursday’s swim was 1,400 yards, including:

• 500 yards free
• 300 yards one-arm butterfly
• 600 yards IM

The IM was by far most challenging because my left knee doesn’t dig breaststroke kick anymore. So, I’ve taken to swimming breaststroke with aggressive arms and a butterfly kick. The motion doesn’t really lend itself to butterfly kick, so it’s an intense arm and shoulder workout that I can still feel a bit when I roll my shoulders. I’ll have to work that into my regiment a little more—without hurting myself, of course.

By Friday I was pretty whipped. I skipped lunch to work on my personal Web site and read for my thesis work at Susan’s, and then came home with the intent to run after Neil and I hit Mariachi’s for some Mexican food. We walked to Rico Latte, where I had one of the better chilled chai drinks yet and we settled in to hang out for a bit. But before long, we became victims of the Wii.

Have you played with a Wii? I hadn’t even seen a Wii before Friday, but it was fascinating. Our Super Nintendo-grade gaming knowledge made for a struggle to get things rolling, but as genuine computer geeks, Neil and I were able to get the Rico Latte Wii tournament rolling.

Neil kicked my butt in a fairly intense game of tennis (I only smacked a nearby table 3-4 times with the controller); let’s just say I rocked the golf course and the bowling alley (I think my golf score was +4 and his was +24); but then we really beat me up in the boxing ring. Apparently I’m not so good with my fists despite all my claims to the contrary.

We must have played for over an hour, and were pretty winded by the time more people filtered into the coffeehouse. It’s good to know that kids are finally being encourages to get up and play games.

It ended up being a late night, so I got off to a bit of a late start on Saturday. I walked my brisk 2-mile warm up and then ran at a healthy 9:00/mile pace for a measly 2.75 miles for a total of 4.75 miles and a 12:00/mile overall pace. It had started getting muggy, and I had promised myself I would go for a longer run in the evening. Which I didn’t.

Sunday was kind of a bust on the running front as well (if it’s any consolation to my guilt, it was a rather yoga-full weekend). I have a 4-mile race on Saturday, so I have to get back on track this week and hope that my sciatic doesn’t have the nerve to bug me again (insert courteous laugh here).

Holding Off and then Being Held Back

Well, I’m going to have to agree with Jen C. about waiting for a fully recovery before I race (Jen, by the way, will be kicking butt in her first Ironman in two weeks from Saturday—good luck, girl!). I think I’m finally realizing the value of good advice.

The next race on my schedule is the Winking Lizard “A Shot in the Dark” 4-Mile Race, which is a strange race to me because it starts at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday. My hope, however, is that most of the other people in the race will have spent the better half of the day inside Winking Lizard and at the bar. Not because I’m desperate to win the race, but because it seems like it would be entertaining to watch how someone might travel rapidly four miles on foot when they shouldn’t even be driving. Maybe I’m just a goof.

So, on my road to recovery, I’m taking to running every other day or so to give myself proper rest. While Wednesday’s run went really well, I was definitely running with the looming fear of the sciatic pain returning. It didn’t… but the fear was enough to scare me into good-advice submission.

And as part of the resting regiment, I did my morning and evening yoga (should I even mention that anymore if I don’t want to be labeled too fiercely?) and swam 1,800 yards (~1 mile) free straight at lunch.

It was an interesting swim: the back of my cap tore right before I jumped in the water and then the front ripped open as I turned into 1,000 yards. And it was right around 1,200 yards that I was severely regretting those side-swept bangs I cut in spring 2004—and have never quite been able to get rid of—because they were the perfect length to cover both my eyes.

While I found a rhythm of bubble-blowing that would pushing my hair out of my face when I would either take a breath or spot the wall, I still had what was left of my cap fastened to my head with a goggle strap, and the cap shard was filling with water. I had kept it on to contain what it could of my hair (my hair is long… and it wouldn’t be a healthy sight if it were free to float as I swam—in fact, one strand did get lose and wrapped around my left arm twice. Ouch!), but it started tugging at my goggles.

For my last 200 yards, I swam with one goggle lens on my cheek and the other half filled with water, both eyes covered with bangs and my left arm tangle in hair. Pretty gross. Sure, I could have stopped, pulled my hair back, fixed my goggles. But as I was swimming, I realized that conditions in Lake Erie or Portage Lakes probably would be ideal with flailing arms, aggressive attitudes and not a few waves. Besides, do I seem like someone who would let a few strands of hair get in her way? Well, maybe if the hairs are on the back of a black bear.

At Least I Have a Reason to Hang in the Hot Tub

My lowerback is still gently nagging, but I feel at least one thousand times better than I did during the first half of this week, and about a million times better than Sunday.

I called my doctor this morning, however, to see if it was worth a visit. He's a fascinating man who speaks in old Hindu parables and always explains things to me in complex metaphors and morality tales. And what I pieced together from his story about an injured vervet was that antelope carcasses hanging in trees signal the presence of a leopard and rest is the only medicine for non-serious injuries like the one I have. (Oddly enough, I knew the antelope carcass factoid from The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.)

He said I was welcomed to come in, but after last week's run-in with the bear, I didn't want to hear a story about injured runners and roaming black bears. I've heard enough of those this week. Plus, he's in Willoughby Hills, which isn't a great distance, but too far to travel for him to tell me what he did over the phone. Although the vervet story was pretty interesting...

But on Wednesday I found value to this injury: I have a very valid excuse to spend some extra time in the hot tub during my lunch hour!

After several days of inactivity (laziness is beginning to set in and guilt over all of the cupcakes I ate this weekend is eating me alive!), I was itching to do something. Walking is still a little eh, and I've done some really light yoga -- sans sage of any other kind of twist -- and upper-body weight training, but I need activity! So, I went for a swim.

I didn't know what to expect of my injury in the swimming environment: would it hurt more? feel better? hurt less? My biggest concerns were a) that kicking with my bad side would make me cry and that b) I'd feel excruciating pain, wheeze and wince in response, choke on water and drown when I pushed off the wall on a turn.

Oddly enough, it felt great. Even pushing off the wall didn't hurt a bit. The only pain I felt was while flipping the first couple of times, but even that died off as I continued swimming. And it turned out to be one of my better swims since I jumped back on the wagon.

I swam a really loose and easy (but strong) 1,000 yards straight, which I haven't done in a few months. Sure, it isn't very far at all, but on a day when I thought I would be able to push 200 yards, it was fantastic. And since I had promised myself some take-it-easy time, I finished that 1,000 and spent some time in the hot tub with a jet massaging my lowerback. After about 10 minutes in the tub, I took to the showers and headed back to work in a relaxes daze. It didn't heal my injury, but it certainly made the prospect of swimming mid-day that much more appealing again.

Two-a-Day To-a-day

After several weeks’s worth of listless mornings in which I awoke at 6:30 a.m. but didn’t get my butt out of bed until 7 a.m., I got up when my eyes opened on Thursday morning and took to my latest thing: Namaste Yoga.

It was the “yoga for distance runners” program, and while it involved plenty of stretching and hammy work, I didn’t quite seeing the direct benefits to runners. And while it is a great yoga program, it’s a little too esoteric to explain why this particular episode is gear toward runners.

Nevertheless, it was a great way to kick off a morning. I must admit, however, that between my early-morning stiffness and extended absence from yoga, I have lost much of my flexibility. I’ll have to increase my stretching during the day and pre-yoga to see if I’ve just gone eternally stiff or if there is still hope for these achey bones.

Yet they weren’t too achey for an afternoon swim. I’ve been getting nervous these past several swims—because of the distance between each of my workouts—that I’ll suddenly forget how to swim or not be able to swim more than a lap at a time. But that’s the thing I’ve always like about swimming: I never seem to lose too much in the way of shape. Sure, my endurance wanes, but I never lose my technique or feel like a fish out of water… in the water.

And thus, on what I hope will be a longer stay in a swimming regiment, I swam an 1,800-yard ladder:
200 yards free
250 yards free
300 yards free
350 yards free
400 yards free
Warmdown: 200 yards s-l-o-w IM and 100 yards butterfly kick

During that first 200 yards, I actually thought my arms were going to detach themselves from my body in protest to what I was doing to them (it was less about the swimming pain threshold and more the more-intense weight training I did for two days before). But as pain thresholds have it, I loosened up about 150 yards into the second set and cruised for the rest of the way. Granted, I was a little more tired than I was swimming these distances a couple weeks ago, but I’ll be back to un-tired soon!

I was un-tired enough last night to take an evening run around 8:15 p.m.—it was meant to be my pre-Cavs-superstition run (they needed a warm-up game anyway!), but tip-off was at 9 p.m., and I didn’t want to run too late—for 3.54 miles, which puts me at 70 miles on my 100-miles goal with 11 days to go. I’m fairly confident that I can complete 30 miles in 11 days. I’ll just have my fingers crossed that neither my body, uneven sidewalks or inconsiderate vehicles stand in my way!

It was, thankfully, a wholly uneventful run—even with the late-evening mugginess and waning heat. And it’s uneventful hot-runs like this that make me wonder whether I’m breathing better when running because I a) am in better shape; b) have improved the way I breathe during exercise; or c) haven’t seen nothing yet! Then, of course, there is hidden option d that suggests my breathing wasn’t the problem, it was my brain. But I’m willing to argue it’s a little of each option. Although I hope the building summer won’t get so bad I regret ever thinking there was some semblance of improvement!

You know what’s not getting better? My stitch. Almost every time I have run over the past several weeks (except the track run a couple days ago) I have ended up with one of those irritating, run-stopping stitches that crops up out of nowhere and just won’t quit. I’ve tried to get rid of it every way I know (i.e., stretching my sides, deep inhaling and exhaling on my left-foot stride, hopping on one foot while sacrificing small animals), but even if it fades, it comes back with a vengeance. What’s up with that?

When I first started running, I had the most difficult time reaching my first mile because I would get crippling side-stitches that not only bad it impossible to run, but made me uber paranoid about the mysterious things. So, I looked it up.

Most resources say that stitches are: “caused by stretching the ligaments that extend from the diaphragm to the internal organs, particularly the liver. The jarring motion of running while breathing in and out stretches these ligaments. Runners tend to exhale every two or four steps. Most people exhale as the left foot hits the ground, but some people exhale when the right foot hits the ground. It is the later group who seem more prone to get side stitches.” And they suggest breathing deeply, stretching and exhaling when your left foot hits the ground.

Today I tried massaging the stitch as I ran (so, really, it was just me poking at it from stride to stride), and it went away! It was a great accomplishment until I felt a more painful cramp immediately below where the original stitch had been stabbing. Grrr.

I guarantee a Nobel Prize for anyone who can find a cure for stitches.

And, finally, the KNEE REPORT:

Both of my knees (knock on wood) are back in working order this week. I still have some external discomfort on my left knee, which is sporting some pretty youthful-looking scabs from last Saturday’s wipeout. I was really afraid that the fall would put me back a few weeks with my knee health, but I’m beginning to think that despite the initial soreness, that big bang might have just knocked something into place.

I am, however, having a difficult time trying to justify my nice trip to my shoulder, which is still dark with a bruise and some scrapes. Boy, do I feel like a clumsy-but-spunky-and-scraped kid again!

Went for a Walkie-Walkie (as my mom would say)

After a hard-running and cycling weekend, I decided to take today off. Well, sort of.

I had all of my swimming and running gear in the car at work today, but I skipped lunch and left work early to get some thesis reading and nice-day-appreciating done. And after sharing a summery salad with Neil, I put in a fast-paced 3-mile walk around my neighborhood before the Cavaliers tipped off. I was really smart about it too: I anticipated a short walk, so I put on my little ballet slippers that gave me some swell blisters on the outside of both my feet. Yowsers!

Let’s just say I had a full cardiovascular workout watching the game with all of its ups and downs and missed free throws. Although I think I’ll need a sedative for the next couple of games.

One of these days, I will get back in the swim of things. I don’t know what’s stopping me: the warm weather, the sunny days, the desolate campus. Although right now I think the biggest obstacle will be getting over the dread of swimming through the start-up pain. Oh the pain!

But on the good side of pain, my knees have felt fantastic for the past week. I think swimming and some additional weight training (smart weight training, that is) should help me continue to build knee strength. While I have been trying to rest a little and take my runs easy, I think it was the threat of doctor’s attention and the fear of MRI that cured my knees.

Now, if only I could find a way to scare away stitched while I’m running...

Stick a Fork in Me

Because I’m done, baby! Rather than running at lunch today, I took a half hour to finish my last paper, which was due tomorrow, and hand in that paper and another project to call this semester a wrippity-wrap.

Deep breath. Yeah!

To celebrate, I've included my "finish line" photo from the Cleveland 10-miler... which looks strangely similar to my finish-line face after handing in my last assignments today.

With all that weight off my shoulders, I was free to take off into the sunset for a 6.54-mile run after work. It was hotter than early May out there (a little muggy and lower 80s) and turned out to be my longest warm-weather run to date. I’m a wheezer at weather like that, but my easing tension made way for far greater focus on my running than usual. In fact, you would have been so proud: my pace is finally up… or down…. well, getting better for distance building at 8:17/mile. It’s not perfect, but I’m slowing it down.

And I’m finally getting back to using my HRM, but need to get back to understanding my levels first. It’s not that I have a difficult time understanding; it’s more like me and euchre: you can teach me a million times… but if I don’t use that knowledge, I will never remember.

Something tells me, however, that I’m due for a swim. I had a dream last night that I was heading into my first triathlon and found out on race day morning that you had to swim all butterfly for the first leg. In open water. Oh, and did I mention that it was a half Ironman? It’s just wrong to think about that.

It’ll be so nice to get my life back. Until fall.

Getting Better: Took a Swim, Took a Jog

Well, I knew it would happen eventually: I finally made my way back to the pool for a swim today. It’s been so long that I don’t quite remember the last time I actually swam, but I do remember the last time I had intended on swimming.

And, as usual, the most difficult part was getting into the pool. You would think after 27 years I would buck up and jump in one of these days. But I don’t seem to think that.

When I made it in, I swam 2,000 yards, which included:

• 2 x 500 yards free
• 5 x 200 yards alt. IM and free

A bit boring, but not bad for a return-from-the-sick swim. In fact, I’m still fighting some never-ending congestion, which didn’t exactly make for a comfortable swim. But running with a runny nose is just a little more dainty than swimming. Enough said.

By the time I came home, the sun was shining and the temperature wasn’t bad. And when I stepped out on my balcony to check the weather, I must have been standing on the unwindy side—when I took a quick 3.21-mile jog around my neighborhood, there was way more into-the-wind running than I had expected.

Neil and I took a walk after dinner and it had gotten far colder than when I had taken my run. At least 10-15 degrees. The wind, however, did not change. Pretty smooth sailing heading south; bitter cold misery heading north. Enough with the moody weather already!

It was a great feeling to be outside again—and there weren’t any immediately noticeable ill effects from the weeks of being track-ridden! The weather also looks like it will be holding up for the foreseeable future (knock on wood), so I might be able to stick to my anti-track stance. Wouldn’t it be swell to run that 13.1 miles from yesterday on some real roads? Ahh, the weekend beckons.

But the end of the semester beckons as well. I have about six projects, papers and presentations due next week for three classes (what’s with that poor timing?), so I will have to do some very precise planning to balance life over the next two weeks.

The best part: I’ll be done with school by April 27 and then I’ll run the Cleveland 10-miler on April 28. Now that’s the way to end a semester.

If only work took a summer break too. :-(