Spinning at the gym

The gym...it's been a while. I hadn't been to a spinning class in two weeks. I've ridden my road bike within that time, but that is different.

Linda subbed for Melanie today, who was out somewhere doing a spinning conference. It was a pretty good class. She had a new playlist that I thumbed up when she asked, but really, wasn't too motivated by it. I'm just a bit sick of the poppy stuff right now. Bleh.

We did some warm-up jumps and then a couple climbs. Then we did a climb with fast cadence "downhills" (about 27 cadence on whatever cadence scale they use). That was different. More climbs and then sprints at the end.

The class felt rough to me. I just felt tired, but it was OK. Good class, I feel worked, and I have refueled with a #12 Beach Club no mayo unwich from Jimmy Johns :)

The gym usually has some person or event that makes me giggle while I'm there. Today it was the woman in the locker room who I haven't seen in a while. She's probably in her late 50s, has white hair, smells of cigarette smoke and usually brings her mother in to do some training with the trainers. They're cute :)  But today...she was 80% darker! Guess she's hit the tanning beds hard core! I came around the corner from the showers to see her putting on some sort of girdle? All that was covering her leather-colored skin was some black granny panties (I honestly didn't know they made black granny panties), and the girdle contraption.

Ah, the gym. :)

3 miles from the studio

I was pretty tight and sore when I got up Wednesday morning. So, since the weather cooled off, I decided I'd do a lunch run from the studio. But work was pretty crazy...and I sat around in my running gear all day...until about 4 when I was finally able to escape.

I did 3. I started off pretty quick, but a little over a mile, my calf tightened up. I'm not surprised since I basically ran out of the office and didn't stretch at all. So I stopped and stretched then kept going. It wasn't pretty. Mile 1 was 10:34, mile 2 was 11:08. I stopped at the half way point and stretched some more. I felt sluggish.

On the way back I tried to pick it up a bit. Mile 3 was 10:24, so I did manage to pick it up somewhere in there.

So this 3 mile run was way slower than the 8 done Sunday. I am not sure why I can't get my shorter runs faster. Maybe it'll just be some more time.

Twosies

Monday cross-training consisted of a 2.75 mile walk. All day long I felt like crap. I was tired, dizzy when I got up, and my chest felt heavy. I tried to take it easy, but there was stuff to do.

After watching a few Game of Thrones episodes, I figured since I wasn't feeling better, moving around might help. So a 2.75 mile walk got me moving and the blood flowing. I still felt like I had little energy, but it was better than sitting around. Not sure if it is acclimating to the heat we had or something else.

Today I was looking forward to a nice morning run. I slept horribly and it was hard to wake up. But I went anyway, thinking it would all shake out after a bit and I'd wake up. A storm was approaching and I was barely jogging, so I decided to turn around. The approaching storm actually did put a bit of a kick into my steps :)  I didn't want the shoes I was wearing to be soaked in a downpour. I finished the two miles and walked a bit to cool down.

I'm trying to be consistent. I know some people say those 2 miles I ran would be "junk" miles since they weren't much of a workout. But I burned calories, got my heart rate up for 20 minutes and partook in what I'd like to be my morning routine involving running, so I think it was very valuable even if I didn't grow any muscles :)

8 miles at 8 a.m. in 80+ degrees

It suddenly got hot here in the midwest. 90s hot.

Sunday we were scheduled for 10, but coming off 6 we decided to do 8. We went to the bike trail at 8 a.m. to avoid the heat. It wasn't too hot in the shade. And all the people – bikers, runners, people just out and about – made it a fun environment. The bike trail is nice...but it's easy to get sick of it. I wanted a flat run though. So that and the shade made it a good choice.

The first two miles out, my breathing was erratic and I was wheezing pretty bad. There wasn't restriction in my chest so much as just a grating kind of feeling - raspy and strained a bit. It was pretty annoying and I felt tired. We turned around after a quick break to let me catch my breath. Going back was the same. I felt like we were running so fast, but it was just around 10:20s. That's not what my breathing said. So for the last 4, the pace was dictated by my breath. And it turns out we only slowed down about 20 more seconds, for 10:38s. I felt sooooo much better. It was how a long run should feel. When we turned around for the last two I still felt good. I wanted to keep the pace and not fade away. With about a mile and quarter to go, I had to really focus on my breathing but it was OK. I think we had sped up. We finished with a short, strong kick and ended up with a negative split for the last half, putting the final average pace time at 10:18.

8 miles at 10:18 pace. In the heat. With asthma issues to boot. It took at minute for that to really sink in. Great run!!!  My 3 miles runs haven't been at that pace. I'm sure in a few more weeks of consistent running, I'm going to be feeling better.

So here's to a consistent week this week. Today is another over 90s day. Greg just got back from a 1 mile run (he's trying to prevent Ultimate from being so shocking when it soon comes in June).  I think I will lift weights today and just avoid outside. We'll see. The rest of the week is supposed to cool down back into the 70s, so that will be a nice change. We need a bit more time to actually acclimate to the heat! Geesh!

Also...important to note: NO LEG PAIN!!! 

Week 1 - Columbus marathon training (Steph)

I put (Steph) in the title in case Casey wants to track his stuff too. That was one of the best ideas I had when I did Columbus the first time. It is fun to reflect on, see how things progress, and it made this time's training plan easier to develop.


Overall, it was a decent first week for me, but a lot of what was planned was missed. The week before was actually more consistent. But it was decently consistent on the running, and I was fighting my body most of the week.


Sunday - 6 miles
Monday - off
Tuesday - 3 miles
Wednesday - off
Thursday - 4 miles
Friday - off
Saturday - off, but some "cross training" doing yard work :)

Planned: 21 miles  Actual: 13  And I didn't really cross-train. So, that's not great. But it's OK. Next week will be better!

Wednesday off, Thursday 4

Wednesday I didn't intentionally not workout. I slept horribly and took a bit to get into work. I figured I'd run in the evening before the patio estimator came to the house. It would be a good time-killer between not working and eating.

However, those plans changed when Greg set up an impromptu go-karting trip in the afternoon! Awesomeness. I rode my motorcycle over from the house. It is a very nice drive. I was kind of stressed out about getting lost though.

By the time we were done and I was back to the house, it was 7...when the estimator arrived. So no workout.

Today I got up pretty early even with little sleep. I need a new pillow maybe and I don't know what else. I go to bed wide awake and fall asleep reading, but that doesn't last for long. I toss and turn all night, waking fully about every hour. It's getting old. Anyway, I started working in the "office" with the idea that I'd go to spinning at 10:15 then run afterwords then go in to the studio. But I was in a much needed groove with work and I just didn't feel like going. So instead, I opted for a 4 mile run outside at about 1:00. It was nice and sunny by then. The air was warm, but there was at least a breeze. This weather is so nice. I love it. Windows open, birds chirping, frogs croaking (we have a lot of frogs this year)...I'm trying to soak it all up before the 90s and humidity are upon us.

My run wasn't too great. I felt sluggish right away and my legs were tight. I know I need to stretch more tonight. I stopped a few times to stretch or just walk. I just didn't feel right. Meh. At least I got the miles in I suppose. But I'm thinking tomorrow I might opt for a bike ride in the morning instead of running. I'm pretty sore from karting though...mostly in my back. So maybe biking isn't the best idea...hmmm.

Three day weekend ahead. I'm happy about that. I'm looking forward to yard work and finishing the path off the deck. Just when my back stops being sore, I should make it sore again! ;)

Monday off, Tuesday 3

I took Monday off. I was pretty beat up from the weekend's yard work, and I think the heat that I sat around in Sunday also contributed. In the evening I did yard work but it was the riding mower, so I don't think that counts :)

Today I groggily got out of bed and got ready for 3 miles. I barely stretched and forgot to take my inhaler. Getting back into the swing of the morning run routine is kind of funny.

It was a very pleasant morning: cool and cloudy. I took it easy and was a bit wheezy, but not too bad. Patsy the neighbor yelled good morning to me out her car window as she drove by, which made me smile. I didn't see any goose babies, but did see a couple robin babies. And an old woman that lives on our street clucked something at me about why would you do that as she crossed the road to her mailbox. She's made funny comments to me before. Unfortunately I didn't understand her, so I only laughed and said 'morning.

I stretched half way through because my lower back hurt pretty bad. When I bend over, pain shoots down my legs. I need to stretch it more. Overall, it was a slow, heavy legged run. But I did it and I'm sure it was helpful for this 'get up in the morning' thing. When I got back, I made coffee, stretched, poured the finished coffee into my travel mug, showered, made breakfast and went to work. That was a nice flowing routine. I like routine in the morning, and think that I've missed it.

Yoga tonight!

First long run for the marathon training!

Today was...THE FIRST OFFICIAL TRAINING DAY FOR THE COLUMBUS MARATHON! Wooohoooo!!


So, training was officially kicked off with a hot, sunny, 6 mile run through Landen.

I spent about 45 minutes stretching before the run. I was soooo tight from all of the yard work! Not only my back, but my legs. I rolled, rubbed, did my calf raises and stretched. I did the pigeon pose from yoga and feel like that helped my hips a lot.

Casey arrived and we set out. It was hot. We didn't take water because I thought we'd be fine to just get water in the park at about the half way point. But it was hot. We survived, but by the time we were to the park, I was definitely thirsty.

It was a rough feeling run. It felt like so much effort to just go the speed I was going. My breathing was rough, I felt tired...but I wasn't surprised. I had worked out 5 out of the 6 past days and knew the yard work put me back some. But that is all great! I also realized that so much of the run is mental for me. I'd speed up when I was distracted and not able to think about how hard I was breathing and how not strong I felt (couldn't focus on the not-so-great stuff). So that was pretty interesting to learn...  Also I had no signs of my calf pain!!! I couldn't even really get it to hurt pre-run with my calf raises. So that's a great sign.

So, a good first pre-week and a fine 6 mile run in the sun today. I am excited to start the work and train for this baby!

Bike ride through the 'hood

Saturday morning, I had intentions of finishing off the pavers of the new path, and maybe at least getting the gravel I wanted for filling in the path. I did the short side of the pavers and then realized how I could barely move around on the ground. My back hurt pretty bad and my legs were also achy. So after the short side was done, I decided I was done with this project for the weekend.

I didn't know what to do training-wise though. I was sore and didn't want to make myself more sore before Sunday's run. But I really felt I needed to do cardio... So I decided I'd do an easy bike ride from the house.

I thought I'd go down to the trail, but instead decided I'd just ride around everywhere and take it easy. The "take it easy" part didn't quite happen though. I cruised down Montgomery Road into the neighborhood that borders ours and went through every loop and street. Then I went out the back sidewalk to where the automall is. I rode down the street that ends in a circle...and realized that this was very fun and very much like a criterium course! After going back up the road to Target, I turned through the parking lot and headed back to the circle, trying to go as fast as I could into the turn. Fun. Then I went back through the sidewalk path into the neighborhood and eventually back to Montgomery Road. Just a small ways down was another neighborhood that has a big outer loop and a street through the middle of that. I did the outer road and then the inside road, making a sort of figure 8 out of it all, repeating some. Back to Montgomery Road after that. I road towards home and decided I'd head up to the last neighborhood before the bridge over the Little Miami River. There was a big hill in that 'hood. Then I turned around and headed back out to Montgomery Road yet again and finally headed home.

It was a 16 mile ride when I was done. I averaged 15 mph which is fine considering all the stops I had to do and the street hills. It certainly wasn't an easy cruise as I had intended, but it was awesome.

Moving rocks counts as strength training

Friday I took the day off. Kinda. From cardio: yes, from work: yes, from lifting a bunch of rocks and bags of gravel: no.

I am itching and motivated to get landscaping projects done around the house. I decided to redo the 1/4 way done path off the deck to the garage. I had abandoned the project last fall. It just wasn't looking how I imagined and I didn't know quite how to fixt it. I was very tired of looking at the rocks, roughly laid into place but overgrown already. I came up with another solution to just use gravel and pavers as the edging. So I removed all the rocks and re-leveled the land. As much as I tried to not use my lower back to lift, I know I still was some. I made great progress though: shovel-pried up the old rocks and moved them out of the way (except the few I couldn't lift, I flip-traveled those off to the side). Then I went to Lowe's and bought 10 bags of base gravel. After loading all of those into the truck, I was sweating up a storm and was parched, so I got an Icee at Burger King. When I got home, I unloaded all of the bags and spread them out into the path. Then I moved pavers over to be the edges. I roughly laid those in. I was done!

All day I drank tons of water and sweated. I sweat so much!

So, the path is looking good. Saturday I set the pavers in on the short side. The long side is left, and will take a lot more work because I'm going to have to dig out some ground to set them all. Then I'll go get the remaining gravel to fill it all in and it will be done!

Spinning! Now it's time for some rest

It's been....two and a half weeks since I've spinned. I was a bit worried about the brutality level since it would be Melanie's class. But Melanie was on a field trip with her son. So, it was Bill, but it was the perfect "get back to it" class I needed.

Unfortunately my asthma went haywire in the beginning minutes. I coughed and coughed and felt wheezy. But about a third of the way in, it was fine. I think it might have been because we did sprints nearly right away. That was a lot for the lungs to be shoved into suddenly I guess.

Some ok music, a nice steady class, and I certainly feel worked. I also feel tight and a bit achy. I am definitely taking tomorrow off (after 5 straight consistent days- woohoo!). I might do some yard work. C is going to be out, and well, the motivation to go into the studio is pretty low when that happens :)  I have plenty to do, but I think I'll do it from home with intermittent yard projects. Weeee!

Not sure if Casey and I are going to run this weekend. It's the "official" start of the marathon training, but I know he's been kind of out of the swing of things this past week. Maybe he needs another to settle in. I guess we'll see. I myself feel like my body is noticing the extra work this week, so maybe 9 wouldn't be ideal. But I would at least like to do 6 again.

3.1 miles makes 4 consecutive days in a row

This morning my body said, and I quote, "aarrrggghhhh, uuuuuugggg, pfft, uuuuuuaaaahggg". So I listened to it and patiently packed my workout bag with my running things.

While it was a balmy and near 80º I set out for an easy 3. I didn't do my pre-run routine. Well, I did the inhaler...then got sucked back into work...then got really hungry and said, "I have to go now!"  I quickly changed and just went out there.

Surprisingly to me, my legs didn't hurt. I took it easy, my breathing was rough - the tired kind, not from the asthma, and about half way through, I stretched just to be on the safe side. I enjoyed the downhills way more than the ups.

So that's it! I'm so happy that I've been so consistent this week. It's mind over matter for me.

3 miles with effort intervals

Last night's bike ride left my legs a little heavy this morning. But I ran anyway.

I decided since it wouldn't be too pretty, I'd do some sort of intervals. I ended up running counts. Since I am banning myself from a watch for a while, that's all I could do. So I did 30 counts. The counts were 4 steps, or 1 breath cycle (1-in, 2, 3-out 4 --- 2-in, 2, 3-out 4, etc). The effort was a picked up pace, but not as fast as a 400 probably. I am not sure, it's been so long since I've been to the track. In general, the pace was a decent but maintainable effort. And instead of getting a walk break in between, I jogged. So that is what I think made it somewhat endurance-y. I did rest half way through though.

So it looked like this:
0.5 mile warm up.
1 mile 30 count effort intervals.
Rest.
1 mile 30 count effort intervals.
0.5 mile cool down.

I also thought about my form while I was on the effort part. Tried to make myself smooth and stretch my legs out and lift my knees. I think this was a good workout.

First bike ride of the year

I've been spinning this year, pretty regularly. And I have been looking forward to going for a bike ride. I just haven't done it, even with all this early nice weather.

Tonight I did. I didn't run this morning because I slept terribly last night, waking up every hour, flipping all night. It was miserable. I went to work skipping the run believing it probably wouldn't go well.

Instead I came home from work and got the bike out. I only went 14 miles, but I was clipping along at a pretty good pace. I would say that spinning has helped my bike legs more than my run legs. I was usually going 16.5 - 17.5 and was over 18 for a while, maxing out at 19.4 All of this was pretty easy to medium effort. So, that's interesting.

Perhaps I'll keep biking in my training for the marathon. I'm definitely keeping spinning. But biking gives another level of endurance over strength that spinning definitely doesn't provide. We'll see how it goes.

Pre-schedule 6 in the rain

This week is still technically pre-schedule. And while training "officially" starts this coming weekend, there is still time. Casey seems to be having a knee issue - tight and sore. I hope that this week he can work it out. But if not, we certainly don't need to rush into the miles yet.

To try to keep some endurance up, I went 6 miles this morning. It was raining softly when I left. Harder while I was out there. Half way through, I knew I was running in full on rain. It was ok though. It was warm enough and wasn't a hard rain.

I didn't feel strong. I felt sluggish. But, whatever. I am not too worried about it. I did the miles and that was what I set out to do.

The challenge of creating a training schedule

It took me many blissful hours over a few days to make the marathon training schedule for me and Casey. I needed to familiarize myself with the principles of marathon training again, look at how I did it before (successful, but not something I wanted to repeat), and play play play with the numbers and mileage to make sure that we would be increasing but not over-doing anything. It is a great start, but we might need to adjust things still. There are going to be those weekends where other obligations arise or sickness or travel or whatever, and things will need to shuffle. That is no big deal at all. The most important thing is to just get in the long runs.

I am pretty happy with what I came up with. The schedule takes into consideration goals, weekly general schedules, cross-training activities and injury prevention. I'm glad to be going into this marathon with added experience and more confidence in what the heck I'm doing.

So in general, that schedule was very fun and pretty easy to make. It just took a lot of time and thinking. 22 weeks of buildup and taper...

Last night, we hung out with Brian and his kids. Collin is doing the Run for your Lives zombie 5K on June 23rd. He has never ran, and going to the end of the street on his bike is kind of rough. So, with his dad's prompting, I made him a schedule to get him to the race, which is 7 weeks away. Just 7 weeks. It was so difficult.

I tried to think back what it felt like to not be able to run a mile. Or 3 for that matter. How did I start? I don't know and I couldn't remember. I decided to do everything in time, because really that seemed to be more important: time on the feet, breathless. Plus, Collin probably isn't going to have much of a way to measure out routes. He doesn't have a watch yet either, but I think I'll pick one up for him. He also doesn't have shoes. Greg is going to see if a pair of his old ones will fit him.

So I sat with my head in my hands, writing things down, erasing them, moving them, doing it all over. It was interesting to me how difficult it was to make a schedule for a less difficult race with way less complications over a much shorter time, as compared to making the marathon schedule.

After spinning my wheels for a while, adding minutes randomly to days and trying to decide how long a walk break should be, I finally remembered the "couch to 5K" training programs online. So I looked one of those up and was saved. It was a 9 week program, but it wasn't too hard to make some adjustments and get it to fit for June 23rd. 2 hours later I was happy with it.

So, the schedule for a person who knows nothing about running and everything about zombies has been created.

I really hope he sticks with it. It is only for his benefit, so he can enjoy the race, enjoy running away from the zombies, and not be so tired he can't get away. I think adrenaline will go a long way for this race, which is good. I hope I can do some runs with him, so I can tell him "yes you're totally out of breath and that was hard. We'll walk for a bit and do it again."

3.5 miles, routine, and thoughts on trash day in Landen

This morning was the first time I've ran since Disaster-Half. I was a wee bit nervous, but went into it with the mindset that I'll just cover the distance however I need to.

I have a new pre-run routine for my lower leg pain that was successful (the only thing I might add) for the half last Sunday. It goes like this: Do my inhaler. While waiting on that to settle in (15 - 30 minutes), pump up my legs with lower leg raises on a step. Stretch. Pump legs up again. Stretch and rub with the Stick. Pump them up again (by this time they should be hurting). Rub rub rub rub with the Stick. The second rubbing should feel a little different, less pain. Then, voila! I am hopefully set to run!

This morning I tried it, and I'd say it was successful. I probably could have warmed up the calves more. I was planning to stop and stretch half way regardless of how I felt. At the half way point, my lower legs were just a twinge tight, but not so bad that I would stop if I hadn't planned to already. I stretched long on both legs, including my hamstrings. When I turned around and headed back, my legs were perfect! Yay!

So...that's my routine for a while. It's no big deal and whatever it takes to not have that debilitating pain while running!

It was trash day in Landen. I first noticed it when a big blue garbage truck came through. It was a rare truck I've never seen; I didn't catch the company. Then I saw a Rumpke truck approaching and wondered if trash truck drivers of different companies wave to each other...or throw banana peels out their windows at one another. Another observation: trash day in Landen isn't stinky. Seeing all of the containers made me remember trash day in Clifton. Biiiiiig difference. You wanted to walk to class with your mouth covered. So why is trash day in Landen not stinky? I have a few theories. 1. The houses are more spread apart, thus less trash and more air flow.  2. Clifton kind of always stinks so maybe it just takes a few stinky atoms to take it over the edge of potency for our noses.  3. People in Landen perfume their trash, either with scented bags or old bottles of Wild Musk.  It's probably number 3.

The Next Chapter

The next chapter begins with a "Co" and ends with a page-turning "lumbus"!

After the Flying Pig half marathon last Sunday, I did a lot of reflecting on my running. Specifically I thought about the past couple of years, what I want out of running, what running is to me, etc. It's not the first time I've reflected on these ideas, but I at least felt some enlightenment this time.

Sunday was the worst feeling. I had trained. I had made some progress despite a calf issue and new asthma to fight with. I should have been able to get out there and do my best. The problem was I really  didn't think I could. I had a couple of hopes, but once those were dashed, I was only left with a negative level of confidence out of which I wasn't willing to pull myself. During the run, I considered walking back downtown and just enjoying waiting for Casey with the others. I walked a lot. I looked around. I listened to people around me. I thought about the weather. I just didn't care. There was no point fighting myself anymore. Then my knee gave out causing a lot of pain and, oddly, I was happy. Now I had a more substantial reason to not care about how I did. Now it was really over and I could just start thinking about moving forward.

So that's what I've been doing. Thinking about running and me and how much I love it and why I love it. I love it because I improve, do well and get stronger. I love my body more when I'm running. It gives me confidence and is part of my identity. Unfortunately, many of the past months have been filled with getting worse more than improving, figuring out injuries, figuring out breathing, struggling with eating and not eating. There hasn't been much on the confidence front. I've allowed the other things put the confidence and identity in a shadow. It was all my undoing.

For whatever reason, making schedules really makes me happy :) So, the night of the half, I started mulling over a marathon schedule. I originally thought that coming off of such a horrendous race was going to smother my hopes for the marathon. But I think what the race did was allow me to hit a rock bottom of sorts. It was actually a cushy rock bottom, more like just a silt bottom. But it did allow me to finally see what I need to do. I can't explain why everything has gotten so bad with seemingly the same kind of efforts except I am getting older and I let the bad overshadow the good. Bodies change, stress levels change, etc. I'm not worried about explaining it anymore though. I am just going to look ahead.

The deeper I got into the schedule-making, the more excited I got. I wasn't excited about running faster or cutting a half hour off my time or anything specific to my performance necessarily. I was excited to finally feel like a runner again. I remember standing up after one of my times of crunching numbers; I felt like I could see myself standing there. I was standing tall, lean and strong. I was confident, relaxed, happy and positive. I was a happy runner about to embark on another running adventure where I'd chase my soul and expand my lungs and that glowing ball of happiness inside me. :)

Needless to say, I'm really excited about Columbus. I have a couple of different approaches to the miles this time that I believe will keep us injury-free and make us strong runners. I'm really excited to see Casey go through this training too. Knowing how uniquely impressive it is, I look forward to him having the awesome experience for himself.

The physical therapy chapter closed today with my last session and a completely loose calf. And now, the Columbus chapter begins... Running, happy, and documenting all of it with words and pictures  (that's the plan at least) because I love this experience so much.

Here we go!!!! This is going to be awesome!!!!!!