triathlon club - week 10

this is my 200th post (actually, i guess i have a few in draft form that i've never published, but still).  i've had this blog since june 2005.  thanks internet, for saving my thoughts through all these years.

also, i cannot believe that it has been 10 weeks since i started my tri training.

improvements i have noticed:

• gasping less at swimming 
• better body roll at swimming 
• can run 5 miles without too much difficulty 
• ran 9 minute mile last week!
• less ankle pain with ankle braces while running  
• legs seem to be able to handle more resistance for longer distance at spinning
• increased weight while lifting
• able to hold plank for 30 seconds without too much shaking

to improve:

• get faster at swimming
• get faster at running
• get faster at cycling
• actually cycle on a bike outside
• weight loss

one of my biggest disappointments thus far is that even with all the added activities and better eating, i still haven't lost any significant amount of weight.  it is ridiculously frustrating.  last week after the older guy told me i lost weight, i weighed myself the next day.  i would say it was somewhere between 1-3lb less than it was when i started, but my guess is that's just water weight on any given day.  i still would like to be slimmer and fit into my pants, and trying on laurie's pants last week for my concert (and them not fitting at all) did nothing to boost my confidence.  

i am still kind of annoyed, because i know that obese people can drop weight just by doing something.  anything.  i'm doing A LOT of something, and some VERY HIGH intensity something, and still no loss.  i was sure that i would not have to modify my diet that much, seeing as i don't eat large portions of anything, especially not fatty foods or pasta or bread or dessert.  it would seem that if the input was less and the output was more, then there should be a net loss.  not in this body.  big sigh.  

mon 12/3/2012 - bodypump and swimming

bodypump

it was, as usual, the teacher telling us to hurry up and get ready so we can "get everything in".  this bothers me because it used to be you could get your fit pass 30 minutes before class, which gave you enough time to change and get set up.  however, this was bias against people who couldn't get there 30 minutes before class.

so they changed it to giving out the passes 15 minutes before the class, but often there isn't someone there to do the card swiping at 15 minutes before class, so it turns into 10 minutes before class, and then - if you haven't already gotten dressed, you're screwed - you have to run upstairs and assemble all the necessary accoutrements for class - including a bench with risers, a mat, a bar, some screws to hold weights on your bar, and a variety of weights both with extra space holes in them and without, to put on the bar.  all this takes time, and there are other people trying to do it at the same time as you.  

add onto that the teacher saying, "let's get going, let's get going, we need to get it all in!" and there's no real feeling of calm before you blast into this class.  in fact, it feels rather frantic and uncomfortable.  maybe that's the point.

nightswimming

since there is no late night spin class tonight, i've decided to do the swim workout at night instead of in the morning (also i did not feel great this morning when i woke up).  the pool is dark at night, as they turn off all the overhead lights and just have the lights in the pool on to illuminate you while you swim.  it's a nice ambiance, and i didn't think it affected my swimming either positively or negatively.  i did notice, at one point, that my untrained swimming friend from a week ago's swim on sunday was once again in the pool in the lane next to me.  i could feel him eying me, possibly working up the courage to ask how to swim again.  i realized my inability to teach him, and decided not to engage him in conversation.

after the workout i went to the hot tub, where probably 10 guys were sitting in there, sort of spread out, not leaving a lot of room for newcomers.  i sat on the steps until 2 guys left, and then i went over to the corner to get my below the neck soak on, at which point 2 more guys showed up and i had to sit up again.  overall not a very rewarding experience.  i prefer tubbing alone or with people i want to talk to.  not all these random students who are just sitting in there cause it looks cool.

200 swim
100 drill	300
3x150 en1	450
6x50 drill	300
2x150 ns	300
6x50 drill	300
1x150 fast	150
6x50 EZ	300
total	2100

tues 12/4/2012 - spinning and weights

spinning

this was the last spinning class of the term with laurie, and it turned out to be SUPER popular that the only 2 seats left in the place that were TOGETHER were in the back corner.  there was no breeze from the fans back there - so there was a lot of sweating going on, but laurie got the bike that lets you feel awesome about yourself when 12 is your base gear.  i felt like i worked hard, and again we had a different teacher as the other one had a final or something.  this girl didn't let us take any breaks at all between sets, so we were pedaling hard the entire time.  many times i was very out of breath.  she kept saying things like, "this should feel uncomfortable" and "keeping yourself in the discomfort zone is how you build your fitness".  i suppose she is right, though it is definitely NOT comfortable.

average rpm - 84
average watts - 145
total kilocalories - 330
total distance - 15 km
total time - 35 minutes
 
weights

today at the gym there weren't as many people as there usually are.  i also went a bit earlier (5pm) so i could get out of there by 6 and home to have pizza with my labmates as our "happy holidays, have a good break" dinner.  there are 2 stations where you can sit and do military press with an overhead rack so you can place the bar there.  since i only use a 30lb bar with rounded weights on the end of it, i usually set it in my lap so i don't use the overhead rack.  anyway there's one guy parked at one of the stations, looks like he'll be there for awhile.  behind the second station is a guy playing on his phone.  

me:  are you using this?
him:  what?
me:  are you using this?
him:  yes, i'm using it.

he doesn't seem to be actively using it as he is playing on his phone.  i should have asked if i could swap in, since i wouldn't need to change the weights on his bar or anything and i am fast (well, i'm lightning speed compared to this guy!).  instead, i skulk off and watch him while i do some shrugs.  he literally sits behind the station for another several minutes, not using it.  then, he sits down, does about 3 presses, and then goes to sit behind the station again.  more texting or playing on his phone or whatever.  he sits there for several more minutes, and then does 5 more presses, and then calls it good.  i am steaming with annoyance at this guy, but maybe i need to make my motives more clear next time.  instead, i went to find an adjustable bench so i could do both the military press, the pullover, and the tricep bench press all in one place.  and i did.  and i was happy with that.

bicep curl	30lb bar	3x10
deadlift	30lb bar	3x10
bent over row	30lb bar	3x10
fly: T/I/Y	5lb each	2x10 ea
lat pulldown	50/62.5lb	3x10
shrug	30lb each	3x10
military press	30lb bar	3x10
pullover	20lb bar	3x10
tricep bench press	20lb bar	3x10
abs:
crunch	30
alt toe touches	30
plank	2x30 sec
100s	2x
flutter	30
supermans	30
bridge	30
situps	30
crunch w/5 pulses	10

wed 12/5/2012 - swimming and contra

i did manage to wake up to go swimming this morning, though the waking up was challenging.  i got up at 5:30, grabbed my banana and milk that i had put together last night, and put on my suit and headed out the door.  i had to drive today because i need to head to portland tonight.  so this would be my first adventure in parking outside of dixon at 6am.  turns out, there were plenty of spots and i need not have worried about not getting one.  but, one has to worry about these things  :)

swimming was lightly attended this morning, but unfortunately for me, the speedy guy in the slow lane was back so i had to share with him.  he is fast and can do the "sprints" in a sprint like fashion, whereas when i try to do it, my legs go to jelly and i can't catch my breath.  he lapped me so many times that i mostly gave up and just did a bunch of swimming at the end once he'd gotten out of the pool.  sprinting still feels very hard to me.  sort of like running hard.  very uncomfortable. 

200 swim	200
1 x 50 drill	50
1 x 75 en1	75
1 x 25 sprint	25
2 x 50 sprint	100
1 x 100 fast	100
2 x 75 EZ	150
2 x 50 sprint	100
1 x 50 fast	50
1 x 50 drill	50
1 x 50 en1	50
1 x 50 sprint	50
2 x 100 fast	200
2 x 50 EZ	100
1 x 50 sprint	50
1 x 200 fast	200
500 EZ (includes one 50 sprint)	500
total	2050

contra dance

thankfully the band was a little peppier than the one last saturday, and i actually worked up a sweat a few times dancing to these guys.  thanks joyride!

thur 12/6/2012 - sickness

this morning while i was driving back from portland, i was hit with waves of exhaustion, and also cramps.  i ended up stopping at a rest area north of town and resting for over an hour.  still not feeling much better, i managed to drive home and email work to say i wasn't coming in.  and then slept for 5 more hours.  

had a restful early evening and things were starting to get better (thanks decongestant!) when i got a call from a friend who needed to go to the ER stat.  so i rushed over and got her and we went to the hospital.  luckily it was not life threatening, just very uncomfortable.  the diagnosis?  vertigo.  

sometimes our bodies are cruel to us.

fri 12/7/2012 - swimming

seeing as i was up until past midnight at the ER, and slept very restlessly (thanks decongestant!) i decided i was not up for swimming this morning.  also the cough is slowly descending and i'm not sure if it's in my lungs or what.  but the thought of swimming this morning did not excite.  so i attempted to sleep, which was also not great.  

sat 12/8/2012 - contra dance

leaving portland on saturday afternoon, i did not feel great.  we went to bend  and i slept most of the way.  we got to our host's house and i slept some more.  then i think i looked like death slightly warmed over, but went to the dance anyway.  still didn't feel great.  saw some friends there, sat out, talked a bit, danced a little, monitored the sound for the band, and by the end of the night i felt slightly better but not much.  i would not say i had an athletic dance experience, to say the least. 

sun 12/9/2012 - day of rest

after sleeping well saturday night, people said i looked better.  i slept most of the drive back to portland on sunday, and was able to enjoy some of the wintry scenery as we drove past mt hood.  such beauty in snow covered trees!  i was then reminded that some scenery is so breathtaking that you remember it the rest of your life.  for me, the one that comes to mind first and foremost is driving to the field site in california, for my first day of field work there, and going up this mountain and the fog rolling in through the trees.  it was magical.  and it never happened again, in the 3 years i worked there.

triathlon club - week 9

monday 11/26/2012 - swimming, bodypump, spinning

swimming

i was well rested this morning for swim practice, having gone to bed at like, 1045pm or some crazy early hour.  getting up was no problem at all!  and, having swam on sunday, i thought my muscles would be pretty loose.

i was in a lane with someone who was faster than me this morning, but it wasn't too bad, and he "finished" way before i did so i was able to complete "make up" laps without the pressure of him being right on my toes.
 

200 swim	200
2x (12kx3p BP/4x4/CU/hesitation) by 25	200
2x100	200
3x50 drill	150
1x200	200
2x100	200
3x50 drill	150
1x200	200
2x75	150
3x50 drill	150
1x200	200
200 EZ	200
total	2200

 
bodypump

laurie and i decided to do bodypump at noon because i would be spinning at night and she wasn't feeling the spinning.  this time we were both there early and got primo spots in the front row where we like to be.  this class has very little moving around (unlike zumba or kickboxing) so once you claim your spot, you're there for the duration of the class with very little chance of bumping into other people.  also, very little coordination needed in this class other than just doing the exercises.

the format of the class is something like this:

• warmup weight:  do a few squats, a few overhead press, a few bicep curls
• squat weight:  put on the heavy weights "the legs are a big muscle group!  you're cheating yourself if you go light." the teacher is always telling us this.  i noticed this time that there were 3 guys in the class and while i appreciate their participation in this mostly female class, it does make me feel a little intimidated seeing how much weight they put on their bars.  
• shoulder weight:  more like warmup weight but also light single hand weights
• lunge weight:  put the heavy weights back on! "the legs are a big muscle group!"
• back weight:  heavy, but not as heavy as squat/lunch weight, or that heavy if you want.  "the back is a big muscle group!"
• tricep weight:  more than warmup, around same weight as shoulders, less than legs.

all the rounds are something like this, repeated 3-4x:
8x "down 2 up 2"
8x "down 3 up 1"
8-16x "singles!"
8x "stay low" or "in the basement" or "small movements"

• for squats, we mostly just do squats, deadlifts, bent over rows
• for shoulders we do flys, something like archery, and overhead press.
• for lunges, we do lots of squats and lunges, along with kicking back, bringing our knee up, and then some people jump up (i don't).  somewhere in here we do clean and press.
• for back, we do deadlifts and bent over rows, and wide grip bent over row.  
• for triceps, we lay on the bench and do skull crushers, something like bench press, then we stand and do overhead tricep lifts.

spinning

average rpm - 90
average watts - 142
total kilocalories - 480
total distance - 24km
total time - 52 minutes
tuesday 11/27/2012 - zumba and weights

zumba

zumba with laurie is just fun.  i'm ridiculously uncoordinated.  but our running man rocks!

weights

i almost talked myself out of going to do weights tonight.  knowing that people were coming over for dinner and i didn't have dinner ready, and alex wasn't feeling well and wasn't going to make it, and i'd done bodypump just yesterday, i thought, "i don't need to do this, i should rest."  but then i thought, "if i don't make myself do it, no one will.  this is about me!"  so, i dragged myself over to the gym but decided to set myself a time limit of being done BY 6pm.  success!

this week i decided to up the weights and decrease the reps.  for certain things, the 30lb bar wasn't hard (deadlift, bent over row) but it was harder for the bicep curls and the military press.

bicep curl	30lb bar	3x10
deadlift	30lb bar	3x10
bent over row	30lb bar	3x10
military press	30lb bar	3x10
tricep skull crusher	20lb both	3x10
shrug	30lb each	3x10
seated row	70lb	3x10
abs:
plank	2x30 sec
crunch	30
flutter	30
bicycle	30
penguin	30
side twist w/12lb medicine ball	30
100s	3x
bridge	30
bridge hold	30 sec

wednesday 11/28/2012 - swimming and running

an epic day!

swimming

this morning, waking up was a little more challenging than it should have been, since i didn't get to sleep early (after spending the night with my girls [and housemates] eating delicious food and watching an "interesting" movie about an australian tribal story, oh, and eating popcorn).  but i got up and got a move on, and was able to get to work and get my swim stuff and still get to the gym a tiny bit early.  

sometimes, i experience some frustration at swim practice.  usually i'm able to deal with the fact that i'm the slowest by just falling in behind the last person in the lane.  however, there is one person on the team that is new-ish (i guess) who is just a FAST swimmer.  why he is in the slow lane - well, i know why he's in that lane, his technique is garbage - but still, he's fast enough to be in the next fastest lane.  and yet, there he is in my lane.

and all that would be fine except that when he goes fast and gets done with something, coach stops me from finishing my set because he doesn't want the other guy to wait around too much.  i mean, i get it, why punish the fast by making them wait for the slow person.  but don't i have a right, as much as anyone else, to complete the amount of swimming that is assigned to us each day?  i have just as much right to get in the yardage as the fast people.   

especially because i'm really focusing on my technique and trying to really burn it in correctly.  plus, i like to write down the workout that *i* do (versus the one that's on the board; they are often not the same) and it's hard to always remember what i've done, how many 50s i didn't do, etc.  but, it's a good game of memory.

things i worked on today:  reaching out instead of across my body, staying long, sticking the hand in and keeping the elbow high to pull the body past, remembering to kick, trying not to turn my head out of the water so much to breathe.  this last part is very difficult with congestion in my head because it feels like i'm often choking on mucous, and then i'm choking on water; it's very disruptive to my flow.

anyway, to make up for the yards that i didn't finish during the drill and main set, i did 200 extra on the EZ at the end.

200 swim	200
150 drill by 25	150
drill: zipper, wrist drag, FTD, fist, zipper, wrist
2x through:
2x100	400
4x25 (BK/FR)	200
1x150 fast	300
1x100 fast	200
3x50 (BK/FR) / (zipper/FR)	300
300 EZ	300
total	200

--- 
today i almost forgot what time the soup kitchen started and was a little late getting there after i realized i needed to be there at 11 not 12.  all these noon classes have me setting my alarm for 1145, but today i needed to set it for 1045 and didn't.
---  
running - map:  http://goo.gl/maps/ruZCy
and the track:  http://goo.gl/maps/S9D27

one thing that hasn't really progressed for me yet is my rapport with the people on the team.  it's not exactly like being invisible, but it's close.  i show up, stand on the outside of the circle of people, people occasionally acknowledge my presence (usually the coach), we discuss where to run, and then we go outside and they take off and i fall in my place in the back.  when i come in from my run, the team is usually onto something else like drills or running around the track.  

today i picked up the pace a little bit and was able to meet up with the team not long after they arrived back.  i was pretty proud of myself though i was very, very tired and out of breath by the end.  at one point while i was running, i thought, "maybe i have asthma," since sometimes i feel very short of breath right at the beginning of the run.  maybe it's the cold air entering my lungs.  maybe i take off too fast.  maybe i am just not comfortable with being out of breath.  who knows.  

one of the guys in our running group is a little bit older.  maybe he's 50?  he has an ironman hat so i guess he did an ironman sometime.  anyway, when i describe my place in the running pack to people, i usually describe it like this.  "first it's the fastest people - all guys, then it's the second fastest people and all the rest of the girls, then it's the older guys, then me."  i should probably find out what this older guy's name is - i think it's gary or greg or something like that, thought i heard him say that to someone.  anyway when we are all done with our drills and are getting ready to go run around the track for awhile, he turns to talk to me:

older guy:  how are you doing?
me:  good.  that was my best time so far.
older guy:  i could tell.  you've lost weight, i can see that.

and we fist bump.

i could take this comment as "you are wearing tights and i've never seen your body before and you are a woman and i like looking at women" or i could take it as a compliment.  i won't believe the weight loss until i see the results on the scale.  which i have been avoiding since for the first 6 weeks i weighed myself each week and it was always the same.  but, maybe it is starting to show a little bit.  i put on a pair of pants that were comfortable when i got them in september, and they seem to be a little looser this week.  could be 'cause they are stretched out a little, or maybe i've gotten a tiny bit smaller.  i'll have to try this theory with other pairs of pants that have been tighter lately.

summary:  3 miles in 27:06 minutes (9:02 min/mile)!  then 4 laps (1.6 miles) in 14:12 minutes (8.875 min/mile)

note:  something inside me is very emotional tonight.  i have been semi-crying for the last hour.  not sure what is wrong.  could be tired. 
 
thursday 11/29/2012 - spinning and running

spinning - different teacher!

different teacher means different tunes and different workout.  this one mostly focused on rolling hills and some "endurance sprints" where you try to stay at a given speed at a medium hard gear, then try to push it 10rpm faster.

average rpm - 88
avereage wattage - 154
total kilocalories - 322
total distance - 14.8 km
total time - about 35 minutes

running - map:  http://goo.gl/maps/9Cp9Y

again i get the sensation that i'm almost a nobody.  of course, i'm not openly bubbly or super friendly to everyone, but when i arrive at our meeting spot to go running there's only a few of us around.  the president is there and he seems to be determining that we won't run for too long 'cause he has to go to work at 6.  so we decide 3-4 miles, and when we start talking about where it should be, there's some talk and some confusion and some decision and i am still unclear about where we are going.  i try to say i'm not sure where we're going, and someone tries to explain it like it's so elementary, everyone knows where that is.  and then someone says, just keep running and when you get back, you're done.  i think, 'how helpful.'  i tell them i probably won't see them so i'll just wing it i guess, but when i catch up to them at an intersection, i then realize where we are going.  so it's no biggie when they really do leave me in the dust.  

they didn't actually leave me in to much dust - i saw them a few times as i tried to sprint to a stoplight to catch up with them as they were about to cross the street.  and by the time they were really gone, i knew where i was and how to get back.

my pace felt decent at the beginning and i thought maybe they were slowing down to let me keep up.  i was able to keep up with them for some amount of time before they pulled away.  i didn't have the spring in my step and definitely less power than yesterday.  i found myself running more upright at times, instead of hunching over and just trying to get through it.  that seemed like a big step to me.  but when i got tired i crumpled up again, and i had to remind myself to stand up and breath.  

i attempted to use a breathing trick from swimming, which is to not gasp and take large breaths of air, but rather to just take sips of air.  i found that when running, as you let the air out, your lungs naturally fill back up again.  i thought i was gasping but it turned out i wasn't, so that's not a useful crossover lesson.  ah well.

at the very end of the run, i look down at my watch and think that i have forgotten to hit the start button again.  darn it, i think, well i can't hit it now because it won't be accurate.  turns out, i hadn't forgotten.  still, the time is approximate because i pushed it and then walked around a little, catching my breath after the sprint at the end.

summary:  3.4 miles, ~33 minutes


friday 11/30/2012 - swimming and singing

my choir concert was this afternoon.  i did not get up for swimming because i was tired and felt i needed extra rest.  plus this stuffy nose isn't going away and it's hard to breath properly while swimming with a cruddy nose.  concert went well, i thought.  aside from the tunes that were very technical and hard to sing anyway. 

saturday 12/1/2012 - contra dance

jon and i went to the contra dance tonight but it certainly lacked something that might be called energy.  well first of all, i was not in the best of moods because of something someone had emailed me earlier in the day.  it was then that my mood changed because i felt the weight of the contra dancing world on my shoulders and almost like it was too much to bear.  also i thought maybe that this person didn't like me and that bothered me.  and i thought they had been rude and mistreated me.  and so i was a bit of an emotional wreck and felt helpless.  

luckily my fellow dancers/friends came to my rescue and all was not lost.   they comforted and consoled me and let me cry it out.  we only stayed at the dance until 10-10:30, and then my headache had still not gone away so we went home.

sunday 12/2/2012 - day of rest

true day of rest.  jon went back to portland and i lay around most of the day watching season 1 of glee on DVD.  i did a few chores but mostly just rested.

and it's at this junction that i realize that when you're go go go for so many weekends in a row, all you want to do is rest when you get a weekend off.  and that leads me to decide that next year i need to go to less things on weekends so i can be home more.  this year was ridiculous!

triathlon club - week 8

monday 11/19/2012 - swimming and bodypump and dancing

swimming

this morning i found waking up easy enough and was able to get my food ready and packed quickly.  so much so, that when alex was ready to leave at 5:45, i was ready with my shoes on as well.  he had to go by work, but i went straight to the gym and was very early; the kind of early where you have to stand around with your teammates until they let you through the gates.  

there is one girl in particular on the team that bugs me for some reason.  i think it's because she doesn't take a shower before going in the pool.  i'm sure that almost everyone else doesn't do it either, but this girl insists on being first through the gates, first to get her towel, first to rip off her clothes, and first to be running to the pool.  now maybe it's that she's the slowest in her lane or takes longer than most to warm up, i don't know.  something about her just bothers me for some reason.  i will work on letting it go next week.

meanwhile, erika m. came to practice today.  i thought it was just a fluke thing, but apparently she is able to be there every monday.  she talked to me about my stroke, how i was crossing my arms in the front and how i should try to spread out my arms when i'm taking strokes.  i thought i was supposed to be twisting in the water but she seemed to suggest that i should not be.  it was confusing.  in the end, i thought that i felt like a lizard crawling along the bottom of the pool.  i also worked on not twisting so much to breathe. 

at the end, alex was still going along and i figured he had a bunch more to do, even though i was done, so i decided to join him and finish up whatever he had left to do.  at some point he said to me, "how much more do you have to do?" and i said, "i'm all done, i was just going until you were done."  and he said, "i was going until you were done!"  so i said, "OK let's do one more 50."  so we did.  it was cool having someone at my speed in the lane.

100 swim/25-12 kick x 3 pull BP	125
100 swim/75 drill*) *4x4/fist/index	175
100 swim/25-12 kick x 3 pull BP	125
100 swim/25 drill*) *FTD	125
8 X 50	400
Odd CU
Even Hesitation
1 X 150	150
2 x 50 fast	100
2 x 100	200
2 x 50 fast	100
2 x 75	150
2 x 50 fast	100
2 x 75	150
2 x 50 fast	100
150 EZ	150
200 w/alex for technique	200
total	2350

at work, i sit, waiting for the caffeine to kick in.  i am very tired this morning and am seriously considering putting my head down on the desk and taking a little nap.  thankfully, brandy comes in and we do some pseudothecia counts instead.

bodypump

laurie and i decide to do BODYPUMP for our noon workout today, though she is very late and i get set up and then 10 people sort of hem in around me so i have no space for laurie.  she goes to the front of the room to set up, while we are warming up.  bodypump is all done with the bar, with different amounts of weights put on for whatever we are doing.  the workout currently features a LOT of squats and lunges, some bicep curls, overhead press, clean and press, and some tricep stuff.  also a lot of pushups. there are 2 ladies who lead the class, and one of them i feel is a big show off.  she always has these crazy heavy weights on her bar.  more than impressed, i think she's the kind of person who is always trying to prove that they are better than everyone.  i find it annoying.

maybe i'm just annoyed at a lot of things lately.  

one thing i know i'm mad about is the fact that i feel like i'm working my tail off and not really seeing any body transformation.  as in, i'm not losing any weight.  people keep saying, "well you're building muscle and that weighs more than fat" but i think that's BS.  muscle is more dense than fat, so if i were losing fat, my pants would be getting looser.  they aren't.  i get frustrated when obese people can just, say, take up walking a couple miles a day, and drop 3o lbs just like that.  i thought for sure that by going from doing NOTHING to doing A LOT would certainly kick-start my metabolism and get me going on at least a little bit of weight loss.  especially with all the cardio.  i am doing some weights but nothing to match all the cardio - the 2 workouts-a-day twice a week seems like it should be working in my favor, somehow. 

i tell myself that i don't have the kind of body where i can see muscles, which is true; i could work out all day every day and you'd never see any muscle definition.  my body just doesn't seem to show it, even if i do work out.  which frustrates me; i would like to appear like i am strong.  unfortunately, i have to know it on the inside.  and inside me is a lot of self doubt and questioning about everything.  so, after 7+ weeks of this i am wondering what the point is.  grr.  then i remind myself that at least i'm probably healthier than i would be if i were doing nothing.  and that gives me a little bit of encouragement, but not much.

dancing

went to eugene with marc and margaret to dance to perpetual e-motion.

tuesday 11/20/2012 - spinning and dancing

spinning

the spin class hasn't changed in the last few weeks, so it's basically the same as it has been. we do some sprints, some rolling hills, some jumps, some active recovery, some more sprints, more hills, triangles, then active recovery again.  so all the settings and output are essentially the same.

bike settings:
seat height - I
handle height - 3.5 (i adjusted this but am not sure it was worth it)
seat depth - 5.5  (i also adjusted this but not sure if i liked it)
base gear - 8
hard gear - 12
climbing gear - 15 

average rpm - 82
average wattage - 136
total kilocalories - 304


dancing - drove up to portland to dance to perpetual e-motion.  en route i went to albany to pick up a weight bench for jon off craigslist, and south of nyberg rd i got caught in some nasty traffic.  the drive home was a lot smoother.

wednesday 11/21/2012 - swimming and running

swimming

"waking up is hard to do."

this morning, waking up was incredibly hard.  in fact, i didn't get up until almost 5:30.  luckily most of my stuff was out / available, and i just had to throw on my clothes and grab my bag and go.  but i was so tired from the night before, i felt a bit dopey and wondered how i would get through the day.  (luckily i remembered to bring some yogurt and a banana so it wasn't like i didn't have any food at work to eat)  the morning bike ride in was especially pleasant - cold, but NOT raining!  i was thankful.

200 swim	200
200 drill (CU/hesitation/fist/FTD)	200
10x25  endless relay sprint	250
2 X 150	300
2 X 50 (FR/DR)	100
2 X 200	400
2 X 50 (FR/DR)	100
200 EZ	200
total	1750

the endless relay was actually kind of cool; taz tried to arrange us so that each lane had 1 really fast person, one medium fast person, one medium person, and one slow person.  i got shuffled to the fast lane and i told them straight up that i was sorry but i wasn't very fast.  of course i didn't know what we were doing either.  turns out, we were doing 25 yard sprints, basically swimming as fast as we could.  once i realized this, i turned up my jets as fast as i could go, but i was clearly not as fast as others.  in my lane were 2 guys and another girl, named davanna.  she was really nice and friendly to me, and we actually talked later in the locker room.  meanwhile during the relay, i could feel that after 3-4 of the lengths that i was definitely losing steam.  coach came over and told us to start leaving early so that we could 'even things out a bit' but even then i don't think it helped much.  

today during regular swimming, i was again working on the wide reach, but also gliding more, and then trying to swim with my elbow up at all times.  as in, not ever reaching for the bottom of the pool but keeping my arm in a bent fashion at all times.  and also, "the catch", which is when you put your hand into the water, and imagine yourself pulling your body past your hand instead of pulling your arm through the water.  these several new things proved to be very complicated for me to process all at once.

meanwhile, in my lane was the xc girl and the super skinny / fast runner will, who also swims like lighting, even with superiorly crappy form.  i watched him, and he thrashes through the water but still kicks my butt and never seems tired.  this feels completely unfair to me.  i have to work SO HARD at doing things right to get fast, and some people are so naturally fast that it infuriates me.  ok maybe not infuriate, but a singular feeling of unfairness in the world.  i mean, he hasn't been there more than 1-2 times in the times i've been there, and his form is total garbage.  and yet, he's catching up to me and lapping me while i'm working on my great form.  oh the humanity!

anyway with all the new stuff to work on, i definitely did less yardage today than i should/could have.  normally, taz gives us "slow lane" folks about 2200-2300 yards to swim a day.  i have been aiming for 2000, but today was just not my day. mostly because i had to keep getting out of the others' way, and also because taz wanted to talk to me about some things and that took time.

after swimming i went over to the hot tub since alex didn't come and wasn't waiting for me, and i had a nice time sitting there for awhile.  some other tri people came and sat at the other end and talked awhile and turned on the jets (so now i know where the jets are) and then these other 2 people came, clearly a young couple, and the girl was wearing a bikini and was super skinny and i could tell that the guy just liked looking at her and i thought to myself, "i wonder if i looked like that in high school."  because i sure haven't looked like that since high school.  and i thought, well, they'll find it harder to look like that as they get older.  but maybe they won't.  but my skinny person jealousy flared up and i had to get out of there.

 running - http://goo.gl/maps/5I8Ep

today i took my running tights and my new asics sneakers out for a run.  the tights seemed to be falling down in the back and also pulling my underwear down with them which was really irritating at first, until i pulled the underwear up higher and then it seemed to stay in place.  i also think that the tights are not made for people who have any junk in their trunk.  they must be made for flat butted people, of which i am not.  i felt like i had to keep adjusting and stretching the tights out to fit around my behind.  so overall i wasn't impressed with that.  

the sneakers, which i thought would improve my comfort, still gave me ankle pain at first.  i do think i'm going to have to wear ankle braces on both ankles and see if that alleviates my discomfort.

i had originally thought that i would run longer on this day, maybe 3-4 miles, but i realized that i needed to do a bunch of things and needed to get home since tomorrow is thanksgiving and places will be closed and jon is coming and i need to have something for him to eat.  since i want to take a very hands off approach to food this weekend, i'm trying to get many things that he likes and/or that he knows how to cook so that i don't have to be cooking all the time.  plus i had this dream of wings/ tater tots for thanksgiving and i don't have any wings.  

so i decided to go shorter on the run.  also, i thought of different routes but realized some places didn't have sidewalks (or, i didn't think they had sidewalks) so i settled on the bike path.  which was fine.  flat, no weird unevenness.  i ran from work out to the fairgrounds in 15 minutes, and made it my goal to get back faster than that.  of course on the way out my ankles were bothering me and i was warming up and adjusting my tights quite a bit, but i picked up the pace on the way back and was able to shave a few minutes off my time.  of course, i couldn't keep up the fast pace the whole way back; i ran an accelerated pace from the fairgrounds to the covered bridge, with a sprint the distance of the curve of the bridge, then i had to slow way down to catch my breath, and then i picked it up again somewhere around the barns and was able to keep the increased pace all the way back to work with a little sprint at the end.

summary:  2.7 miles in 27 minutes.  at this distance, it seems completely reasonable to do a 10 minute mile.  this reminds me that i'm not as slow as i think!

however, after the run, i got a nasty side / intestinal cramp on my left side.  it was a stabbing pain and very uncomfortable.  i thought i could stretch it out but that did not help.  i suspect the only thing that would have made it feel better was to lay down but i didn't have a place to do that.  

i spent some time reflecting on it, thinking about how some people have lots of other aches and pains that plague them on a regular basis, so i should feel lucky that i don't have that kind of problem.

another thing that has plagued me all week has been this sensation of getting female cramps, even though it's not time for that (i went through it last week!)   i don't know what is causing it but i have it during the day, whether i work out or not. 

thursday 11/22/2012 - thanksgiving - day of rest

it was such a nice day today, and i really considered going for a run as it was sunny and not raining and not freezing.  but i had many other things to do and wasn't feeling particularly well so i decided to just rest.

friday 11/23/2012 - house chores, watched a movie

saturday 11/24/2012 - house chores, watched a movie

sunday 11/25/2012 - swimming with jon and alex

saw taz in the pool, good to know he's able to do a little bit even with his injured / recovering shoulder.  

jon did a few lengths, hit the hot tub, repeated that process a few times.  swimming is harder than you think if you haven't done it in awhile.  also there was an asian boy - i would say man but he looked so young - trying to figure out how to swim in the lane next to me.  i wished i could have helped him more.

2x (50 kickboard / 50 w/leg float / 50 EZ)     300
13 x 100                                                              1300
50 w/leg float                                                         50
50 EZ                                                                       50
total                                                                      1700

not bad for a sunday afternoon.