Saturday, March 31, 2007

Pacific Populaire

Tomorrow I plan on riding the Pacific Populaire, doing the 100km ride. I just checked out the map and realized just how far that will be. Not quite sure what I've got myself into!

Should be a fun day though. A big crew from the club will be riding, hopefully I'll be able to keep up with some of them!


Friday, March 30, 2007

Did I Mention It was Raining?

Finish line photo from the UBC Duathlon

Three Mile Time Trial

(Warning, this post contains excessive use of exclamation marks.)

Had a truly, thoroughly fantastic time trial last night. I blew a race PR out of the water in a training session!

The workout: 3 mile/4800m time trial

My Goal: under 25min, hoping for 2min/lap (400m) which would be 24min

My Actual Time: 23:01

My Splits:
Mile 1: 7:41
Mile 2: 7:48
Mile 3: 7:31

Andrew checked my previous times and informed me that my last lap was a 1 mile PR for me. I beat my previous 1 mile time (7:36) despite having run 2 miles prior! Apparently, despite dropping off a bit in the mid-mile, I was at a near perfect pace. I felt smooth and comfortable the whole way and think my form was pretty strong.

A very, very good night!

Bring on race season!!!!

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

A couple of great workouts

March has been a good month. The work I've been putting in since January is begining to show, both in terms of technique and in terms of speed, not to mention my endurance. I'm starting to get excited about the coming year and interested to see what I can do at my upcoming Olympic distance race.

Last night's spin and this morning's swim were no exception to the March trend. I managed to figure some things out that, hopefully, will help me make big strides.

The spin last night was the first time I've reached a cadence of 120 or higher without bouncing around on my seat like a two year old who's downed two espressos. We did 5 or 6 high cadence segments near the end of the workout, I managed to briefly hit 120 in the first few and in the last one I managed to hit 120 and stay above for the whole 20 seconds. 124 was the highest number to show.

In this morning's swim I finally twigged onto why the body roll is important. I'd thought it was just aquadynamics (is that a word?) but the rolling motion actually makes it easier to engage your core and use your abs as well as your arms and shoulders to pull you through the water. Rolling towards (free) or away from (backstroke) the stroke arms allows you to get leverage and a stronger push. I figured this out in the 6 kick/1pull segment at the end of the swim and I wanted to stay in and work it out. I'll have to swim this weekend just to give this another try!


Tuesday Spin:
12(ish)min w/u

5min ILD - 30sec per leg

10min tempo - big ring. Keep cadence over 90 and increase cadence or gears every 3min. Mostly managed to keep cadence up except the last minute when I dropped a gear

5 x 30sec standing (hardest gears), 30 sec seated

5 x 20sec highest possible cadence WITH control

Sure I forgot something!

Cool down then home.

Wednesday Swim:
2300m (no wonder I was tired!)

w/u
3 X:
100m easy swim
25m fly kick
50m one armed fly
25m fly (or at least several strokes)

Kick:
4 x 12.5m power kick, 37.5m free
4 x 37.5m free, 12.5 power kick
7 x 25m free moderate kick, 25m free power kick

Interesting techno-geek discussion on kick speed (swimmers moving to the idea that a high speed kick, like a high cadence spin in cycling, is actually better)

2 X:
25m back 6kick/1stroke, 25m back
25m free 6kick/1stroke, 25m free

2 X:
25m back 6kick/3stroke, 25m back
25m free 6kick/3stroke, 25m free

No time for cool down

Kris Chambers was subbing for Paul.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Time Trial Sunday

Sunday morning was time trials. I spent the week metally preparing, getting myself in the right mindset so I could relax (I tend to tense up and have huge difficulties on the longer time trials), then I forgot my ventolin. Seems to be a theme for March. Which means I'll stop doing it as of Monday - yay!!!

Asthma drugs are pretty key for me at Lord Byng Pool, it's so hot and humid I usually have serious breathing issues. Luckily for me Amy is asthmatic and organized so I could scam some of hers. I assume that means she gets a big part of the credit for my results.

We did 100m then 500m, we'll save the best for last.

My 500m time was 9:57 with a (neglible) negative split of half a second. 2min/100m meters is about where I was at last year so I'm okay with the time. I think I could have gone faster - no, scratch that - I know I could have gone faster but I'm still leary of going out too hard and I also didn't feel aggressive enough to pass Marnie after she passed me (she speeded up every time I started to pass, it was quite funny).

My 100m time, however, was a whole different story.
25 Mar 100m time - 1:37
Previous best - 1:45

When Rob, who was timing me, told me I'd done 1:37 I exclaimed "Holy S***!" He was new to the group and I'd only just learned his name prior to the 100m swim - nice first impression Alison!

We did the 100m first so I was a little let down with the 500m time. I'm at the point with my swimming where I need to push myself on the longer pieces. Forget what Alan and Andrew say about negative splits, I'm too conservative on the swim and instead see how fast I can go and what the tipping point is.

I'll have to find the Calvin & Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin's dad explains how load limits are set for bridges: "They drive heavier and heavier trucks over a bridge until it collapses then they build a new bridge with the limit being the weight of the last truck to make it over." Hmm, it's funnier the way Bill Watterson drew it. My joke-killing abilities aside, I will be embarking on the C&H swim intensity program - keep pushing myself in the swim until I know my limit.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Best Ride This Year

I was not looking forward to today's ride. Yesterday I absolutely soaked walking errands on my way home (and was almost openly laughed at in Solly's I was such a drowned rat!) and had had enough of being wet. This morning I was up early and caught enough of the news to hear about the heavy rainfall warning twice. Not good at all.

I finally got out the door and was grumbling to myself about the rain for about five minutes. Then I stopped. Something was wrong, like some key element was missing. That element turned out to be rain. Yup, there I was grumbling about biking in the rain and there was none!

I met up with Joanne, who was so warm she'd had to take off her jacket. We met more of the group at the Aquatic Centre: Team Pink made a surprise appearance (kudos for braving the rain), Stan showed up and we came across Deb totally by coincidence so we took her with us too.

It was a great ride - through Stanley Park and partway along Marine Drive - we turned around before it got seriously twisty and hilly. It didn't start to dump with rain until we were at Park Royal, by which time it was too late to do anything other than keep biking so it wasn't a major issue.

All round it was a great ride. Amy & Brian hadn't seen my "happy puppy" back fender and were quite amused by it. The new drive train was great and it works well on hills, the Porspect Point Hill was definitely far easier. The best part of the ride, however, was on the return journey through Stanley Park. We were about 500m past Second Beach Park and we saw a wonderful vision - a barrista standing on the corner with a tray of coffee. It turned out the vision was reality - it was a barrista, it was a tray of coffee and, best of all, the coffee was free and just for us.

Best. Thing. Ever.

Joanne shot-gunned hers while the rest of us merely gulped.

A great ride and a fun time had by all.

The stats:
time: 2:55ish (had some timing issues)
distance: 46kmish (had some bike computer issues)

Post ride run:
20:57 min

Core/physio work:
12 min

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Signs

At my gym they seem to have gone through a sign-posting mania. There are now big signs in the showers saying "No spitting, shaving or brushing your teeth", which seems somewhat obvious and it's sad people need to be reminded. There is the no cellphones sign, which is largely ignored. And then the sign on the door from the changeroom to the pool stating that bathing suits are required, which of course leads one to wonder what gym members have worn, or not worn, onto the pool deck to prompt this.

However, it is the sign by the hair dryers that really grabs my attention. I wish I could ignore it but I guess it's that staring at a car wreck impulse, where you can't help but look and wonder if the wet spot on the pavement is oil or something more sinister. This is the sign that states that the hairdryers are to be used "ONLY for the hair on your head." First off ... no, I don't want to go there. Secondly ... no, we don't want to touch that either. Okay, someone had to engage in inappropriate hair dryer usage then someone had to complain about it, then someone had to decide to put up a sign about it, possibly having to consult with other people before doing so, and now everyone in the changeroom is made aware of this transgression every time they need to do their hair.

I'd like to propose a new sign: "No doing disturbing things that will prompt the Management to put up signs that will then disturb more people." That oughta cover it.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Nephews


My Mum snapped this awesome shot of my nephews this morning in Chilliwack.

SMRT?


I took the challenge and did CBC's Test The Nation IQ Test.

Memory and logic are my weakest points, no surprises there! Luckily they didn't have the following question or I really would have been hooped:
"You have been asthmatic for 30 years and over the last month have had attacks every time you exercise for which have needed to take Ventolin. You are about to race in a duathlon, should you leave your Ventolin in transition, somewhere in the bottom of your backpack?"

Monday, March 19, 2007

A Wonder of Organizational Efficiency

I've decided that, regardless of what professional athletes with multiple IM titles say to the contrary, training for Ironman is all about organization. At least for me it is!

This weekend was the mass birthday celebration for my nephews (born on March 13 & March 23), my mother (March 15) and me (April 1) and I didn't want to spend the entire time out of the house exercising so I:

  • changed my rest day from Friday to Sunday
  • took Friday off work
  • did my Sunday swim (55min continuous) and run (1:45:00) on Friday morning.
  • ran home from the pool, finishing at Capers so I could pick up the last items for my Mum's birthday gift,
  • also grabbed a recovery snack while I was there
  • showered/changed/ate at home
  • picked up the co-op car I'd signed out and loaded it up
  • on the way to picking up my bike from the shop stopped to pick up cards and gift wrap from my favourite purveyor of such goods and also to get treats for the family from the Bon Ton (Claire always brings better wine than me so I figure I have to find something else to take)
  • grabbed coffee and lunch at the Tim's where I parked my car
  • picked up my bike from the mechanic
  • was on my way out of town by 1pm.

Okay, so anyone with kids will find the above highly underwhelming (no temper tantrums, lost boots, last minute potty breaks, etc.) but for me it's pretty astounding. I am not an organized person by nature, it's only the fact that I've signed up for a race the scares the living daylights out of me that makes me vaguely close!

Once I arrived in Chilliwack it was a good time and worth the crazy morning. Claire and the kids arrived just over an hour after me, although she looked a wee bit more frazzled than I did when I arrived (traffic delays are annoying when you're on your own, add in a five and a three year-old anxious to see their grandparents and they're much, much worse).

I did my three hour ride on Saturday morning and christened my new drive train with lots of rain and Chilliwack road dirt. I proved yet again that I don't know how to read a map by attempting to plot a 60km route and coming up with a 24km one. I did carefully figure out the road I needed to take out to Yarrow and the road to take back, however I somehow skipped over the connecting bits. The upside of getting lost 45 minutes into a 3hour ride is you have lots of time to get unlost! (Hint, keeping the mountains to your left doesn't work so well in a valley.) It was a great ride, the bike lanes occaissionally disappear for no reason but generally they were well marked, the drivers were extremely courteous and the angry farm dogs didn't really notice me so I'd happily ride there again.

After the ride Claire and I ducked out for a 35 minute run. I was a little wound up after my ride so she didn't get much of a word in edgewise (sorry!) but aside from that it was a good, if wet run.

Then I was free to hang out with the various family members, play with the kids' and my new toys, and generally relax and enjoy being with my family. A good weekend all round.

Track Breakthrough

Last Thursday's track workout was absolutely, uneqivocally horrible, and my best track workout to date.

The stats:
15 min w/u
7 x 2min HARD on 4min recovery
3 min easy
6 x 1min HARD on 1min recovery
10 min cool down

Max HR: 198
Ave HR: 157

The two minute pieces were supposed to be as hard as we could go at a sustained pace for 2min (i.e. not 30 seconds of killer sprint and 1.5min of limping and groaning), with the first two a little less than all out. As a benchmark I watched my time for completing one lap of the track - I knew I should be aiming for a sub-1:50 lap of the track (400m). The first two pieces I was under that but after that I managed to be at or below 1:40, which didn't really sink in until I hit 1:37 on #7. That's my best time on the track this year and getting close to my top times from last summer.

After a brief cool down we then did the one minute pieces. I hadn't read the workout in advance so I was completely done at this point and was not happy to hear about this. I didn't think I had anything left in the tank but managed to blast out six good efforts, each time managing to go further than 200m.

There were two things that really thrilled me about this workout.

First off, I'm starting to see a payoff for the work I've been putting in - in my general level of fitness and my speed. I know I need to be patient (peaking early is bad!) but it is really nice to see these sort of appreciable gains. Giving everything I had on the first part of the workout and then finding energy to do a great job on the 1min pieces was pretty darned cool.

Secondly, and far more importantly, I'm starting to get the mental game. In the fourth 2min piece I was going all out and thought there was no way I could keep up that effort for three more pieces. I surprised myself by not only surviving three more but doing them at as fast a pace or faster, realizing that if I grit my teeth and dig deep I can go further and faster than I expect. Instead of thinking "I hate this, I want to quit" I was thinking "I hate this, I want to go harder" or "I hate this, I need to go further." A big difference for me.

Like I said at the start, it was a horrible, painful workout and I hated almost every part of it but I made fantastic gains and had a major breakthrough so I'd call it my best workout to date.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Week-end Update

So the week ended well. Getting my shoes back, playing hooky from a workout, taking a day off work and hanging out my my family in Chilliwack made for a pretty awesome time.

Wednesday's swim was great. Although the focus was on backstroke, I was still feeling the improved strength I've developed in my free stroke. Fixing my pull-finish issue seems to have made a real difference. We'll find out for sure on Benchmark Day, which is coming soon!

As my bike was in the shop I couldn't spin at home so I went to a spin class at the Y. the class was really good but only 45 minutes so I felt like a bit of a goof sitting on the bike for another 25 minutes after everyone left. I always feel like a goof at the gym so it was nothing new! I did a 10 min run on the treadmill, my physio exercises for knees and shoulders and a long stretch.

I had a fantastic workout at the track, Friday was a wonder of organizational efficiency (and I was involved!), and the weekend with my family was, as always, a lot of fun, but I think I'll give those each their own posts!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

FOUND!!!!!!

My bike shoes are in Langley. No idea when I'll get them back but their location is known and apparently they are being treated well (they are being allowed to dry out, although that may be more of a smell issue than one of kindness).

I'm wondering if the fact that they ended up in Langley is their way of telling me I should sign up for the Delta tri?

[Editorial: It has been pointed out to me that Langley and Ladner are not the same place. In which case I have no idea what my shoes are trying to tell me.]

Playing Hooky

I played hooky last night and it was great!

As previously reported, Louie needed some serious care and attention so I dropped him off at the shop after work. After that I was trying to figure out if it was worth trucking back downtown to the YWCA to do a spin or try out the gym in the rec centre by my house (could I get a stationary bike for an hour and would I really want to?) or if I should just do a hard core pilates and stretch session at home.

Instead, I used my "gimme" for March. At the begining of the year I decided I could have one gimme a month where I was allowed to skip a workout just because. There is no carry over to or borrowing from the next month, use it or lose it, and has nothing to do with justifiable reasons (illness, board meeting, shoe theft & pending hypothermia, hair appointment, etc.).

So, no spin, ride, pilates session or stretching routine. No siree. I called up my good friend Helen to see what her dinner plans were and hung out with her, totally skipping all workouts. I felt like a school kid on a snow day. A Tuesday night and I wasn't working out, I was watching a movie and drinking wine (one glass, very slowly). And I got away with it!

Monday, March 12, 2007

I WANT MY SHOES BACK!

To paraphrase Austin Powers, "Who steals a shoe?"

Okay, they probably weren't stolen, someone probably (hopefully) took them by mistake. Mistakes happen. It was a cold, miserable day and people may not have been looking when they cleared out of transition. And took my bike shoes.

See, I'm being all calm and understanding. Aren't I being good! Now can I have my shoes back?

I reported it to the race people and was all nice and understanding and polite and everything, seeing as it wasn't their fault some dummy, I mean person who probably wasn't paying attention, took my shoes.

See, look at me being good. Now give me my shoes!

I mean, it isn't as if I've ever done anything mean to anyone there (at least not that I remember) and I'm always nice to the race volunteers (even the ones who think "Run faster" is an appropriate thing to say when cheering people on) and I pick up after myself and sometimes after other people (although I always leave their shoes) and I am a good person so why would someone be so mean and take them??

I WANT MY SHOES BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[We regret to inform you this post has been interupted by a temper tantrum. We will resume normal blog programming as soon as the author starts to act her age.]

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Duathlon Race Report

Official Time: 1:40:37.4
17/35 women
3/6 F3539 (3rd in my age group!!!)
1st Run: 25:06
T1: 2:54
Bike: 44:43
T2: 1:44
2nd Run: 26:10

Last year's time was 1:40:07 so half a minute slower.

Nasty weather was the story of the day. Luckily this was my third time at this race (once in the du and once in the tri) and I've also done the Fall Classic half marathon three times on much of the course, so I was familiar with the course and what it could be like on a wet, windy and miserable day.

The heaviest downpour occured in the two hours prior to my race start, which would be a good thing except that I rode from my house to the race so I was thoroughly soaked in the 30 minutes it took to get to UBC.

There were about 20 people from my club in various races during the day (the UBC race has Olympic, sprint and super sprint tri's, a duathlon and kids races and it's an all day event), so there were lots of people to cheer for and to cheer us on. In our warm up we got to cheer on the earlier heat of duathletes as they finished their first run and also one of our Olympic distance triathletes as he went through T1.

Shortly before the start I remembered that I needed Ventolin, (how many people can wheeze all morning and forget that they can't breath?) which was somewhere at the bottom of my bag in transition. As time was tight, I figured I could do the first run without then find it in T1. Not the smartest plan but early season races are all about getting the dumb things out of your system.

The first run was a bit challenging due to slight breathing difficulties but I had Teresa running with me as she thinks I'm a good pace bunny so it felt more like a fast training run than a race as we were chatting most of the way. I was thrilled to see Joanne, who was in the earlier heat, doing her second run while we were only a few km out as that meant she was having a fast race. This was shortly after I'd told Teresa that I really wanted to see Joanne soon as it would mean she was having a great day so I felt sort of like I'd wished her into view. As soon as I saw her I started yelling like crazy. We saw Colleen about a km behind and high-fived her as we passed. We got to see Joanne one more time and I yelled again, it's hard to know if what I was saying was appreciated as she was seriously focussed on her run, but later she said it gave her a real boost. As we neared transition we saw Chung heading out for the run portion of his Olympic tri looking like a machine as usual!

In T1 I tracked down my drugs and lost a bit of time. I blasted out of transition in an attempt to catch Teresa, not having to deal with medications she had a good head start on me. I caught her and yelled something incoherent but hopefully encouraging.

The wind was pretty heavy on the ride, but the headwind on the downhill meant we we got a push the other way going up. It was fun to be biking hard after so many long, slow, easy rides and I went all out. It felt amazing. I passed a fair number of people and had a few passing me, but mostly I hardly had anyone near me. It got a bit hard on the second lap and I had some difficulties on the last uphill section, at that point I began to wonder if going so hard on the bike was such a good idea.

T2 was significantly faster than T1, this time it was just rack my bike, change my shoes, grab my hat and go. This run was much harder, my legs were tired and felt like they'd doubled in weight. There was a lot of effort involved in keeping my legs moving, no effortless running this day. About halfway through the run I felt like I'd finally hit my stride, then of course the downhill segment ended!

The last km had a short, sharp uphill segment then it was a flat half km to the finish. Just before the last turn, tucked away out of the wind on the side of the SUB, Bronwyn and Joanne were there to cheer me on and give me a good push to the end.

It was a good race but marred by the fact that when I went to pick up my stuff from transition my bike shoes were gone. I had to try to chase down someone in charge to report it to and had to go through about five people before I found the right person, which took enough time that I was thoroughly chilled and in need of food by the time I was done. This really took the shine off the day. I could have ridden home with my running shoes but I opted to scam a ride from Bronwyn as I was tired and cold. I'm hoping the shoes turn up soon. It was, however, a good excuse not to do the 2:45:00 ride Alan had me scheduled to do!

As we were cold and miserable we didn't stick around to watch the club members in the sprint and super sprint races, hopefully everyone had a good day!

Bad Bike Owner

Hello, my name is Alison and I am a neglectful bike owner.

First off, I let Louie's brakes get dangerously depleted, which really is bad enough right there. This is something I should know to look for rather than have my bike go through the indignity of being rejected at the pre-race safety check.

Sadly, my shamelessly neglectful behaviour gets worse. After taking my bike in for a brake change and tune up I received another confirmation I am a truly terrible and irresponsible bike owner. My chain had stretched. Stretched beyond any believable capacity for a chain to stretch and staying in one piece.

The problem didn't end there. As with much neglect, the stretched chain had caused more problems. The whole drive train is wrecked and needs to go.

It's isn't like I'm a completely ignorant bike owner. I know about chains stretching. I had the same problem with my commuter bike years ago so not only do I know it's possible, I've experienced it before. I have a bike maintenance book that tells you the very (very) easy way to measure if your chain has stretched. My father even made a point of telling me how to do this. I know all this and I've been meaning to pull out that book for, oh, a long time. I just never quite get around to it.

As my Grandmother used to tell me, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

So when I go to pick up Louie from the bike store the mechanic tells me there's a problem with him. Was I a caring bike owner who immediately wailed, dropped on her knees and pleaded: "Fix my baby! Do whatever you need to, I'll pay any cost, just make sure Louie is whole again!" No, I actually interupted Jeremy's description of my bike's woes and said, "I have a race on Sunday, can I ride it?" Jeremy again started to tell me the problem and I again interupted, "Can I ride it this weekend?"

It's a good thing there isn't an equivalent of the SPCA for bikes or I'd be in serious trouble. I'd be up on charges for bicycle cruelty and neglect.

I'm sorry. Really. I promise to be a better bike owner from now on.

Heavy Rainfall Warning

I have to admit that I'm not terribly excited about today's race. Cold, wet and windy plus I have to ride after. I'm thinking I'm going to ride home, dry off my bike and to the ride on my trainer.

Okay, time to think positive. Hmm, having difficulties with that. How about a race plan instead.

Last year my overall time was 1:40:07, it would be cool to beat that but the weather may play a factor in performance.

The breakdown is as follows:
Run: 26:02
Bike: 48:27
Run: 25:40

I would like to do the runs closer to 25 and shave a couple of minutes off the bike but, as mentioned, the weather is going to have an effect so no guarantees.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Hypopathetic

Sorry I've been a bit lax in posting this week. I've been a little tired, which is not good as next week is my hard week and I have a race this weekend.

To keep people amused during the delay I am posting my new favorite word, accidentally coined by Bronwyn yesterday when we were discussing riding in the hellishly cold weather two Saturdays ago. I've decided that hypopathetic perfectly describes the whiny and miserable state I get into when I'm too cold.

Aside from being tired and a seriously unpleasant work-related issue, it's largely a good week. Tuesday's spin was a killer but I'm very happy at how much further I can push myself - finding what I think is my limit but keeping going and ignoring the "Make hellish experience stop!" mental wail. The key part of the workout were four pieces in which we went all out (big ring, high cadence) for three minutes with a six minute recovery. I thought I pushed my limit but was outdone by someone else!

Wednesday morning was one of those days where the effort involved in dragging myself out of bed to workout was almost as great as the one involved in the workout itself. I desparately DID NOT want to get up. My inner two year old emerged and I dealt with about 20 minutes of mental temper tantrums - "No no no no no no - NOOOOO!" before finally getting up. Of course it turned out to be one of the best swims this year so far as I finally figured something out. For a long time now I've been trying to fix my pull finish and Wednesday that was our focus. I could pratically hear the click as I got it. I spent the swim muscling my way through the water, thrilled at my new proficiency. Now I just have to get it working with a wee bit less effort!

I'm disappointed that I'm not swimming this weekend as I really want to keep that concept clicked in. I might hit the water briefly just to keep the feel.

That afternoon I didn't get another chance to try rollers (and just as the bruises from last Wednesday have disappeared) as we had a club Board meeting. Instead I went to the YWCA to do my spin there. The first 40 minutes of my 1:05 spin was on the spin bikes but I had to move to make way for a spin class and I did the remaining 25 on a stationary bike. About five minutes in I realized that I was next to a seriously, seriously stinky person. There were no other bikes so I stayed where I was, looking slightly foolish as I breathed out of one side of my mouth.

Hmm, I seem to be giving an update on my week after all - might as well fill in the rest of the details:
Monday swim - catch focus. Did a crazy "Tarzan" drill - basically head up front crawl with the highest arm turnover you can manage - followed immediately by 50m of "strong" free. Wonder why I've been tired this week!

The Tuesday am run was another hard workout to get out of bed for. I managed to drag out and almost left the house on time then decided I absolutely, positively had to replace my regular laces with easy laces right then and there so I'd be prepared for the duathlon this weekend. Five minutes later I was nowhere near on time.

Last night's run wasn't bad, largely because those of us racing this weekend didn't have to go all out on the hills, only 80% rather than 100% (I may have only gone 76.2%). We did 4 times one minute running uphill on 4 minutes recovery.

The next part of the run was two five minute pieces, with a 3 min recovery, at pace for my upcoming race. On the first piece I quickly found myself dead last in the group, which hasn't happened in a while and dented my pride somewhat. The second piece I did at pretty much the exact same pace as various people who'd been in front of me on the first one couldn't keep up the original pace they set and dropped behind me. I really shouldn't be happy about that, it's all about my workout not what other people do, but it definitely salved my ego!

Monday, March 05, 2007

So on Sunday's run Teresa told me she had a pitbull chase her while cycling. I said that was highly impressive and asked what type of bike it was riding.

At least I amuse myself.

Weekend Workouts

Saturday:
Ride:
Time: 2:42:32
59:66 km
Ave HR 145

Incorporated bike check for UBC duathlon into the ride. Apparently my almost non-existent brakes are a safety hazard and I have to replace them. Needed a tune up anyway

Run:
Time: 22:27
3.2 km
Ave HR 155

Good run except I lost the mail key. Doh!

Core:
20 min

Stretch:
Pulled out the Yamuna ball and did some body rolling. Very, very tight IT band!

Sunday:
250m w/u
4 x 50m build (about 45sec each, last one under)
4 x 50m at 100m pace (tried for 1min but was consistently around 55)
4 x 100m pacing lesson:
100m - 1st 25m all out, 75m at 100m pace
100m - 1st 50m all out, 50 at 100m pace
100m - 1st 75m all out, 25m at 100m pace
100m all out

300m drafting in groups of three with the last person moving to the front on the 2nd 25m of 50. We messed up and did it every 25 and I was pooped. We stopped and changed how we did it then stopped at 200m to figure out if we were supposed to do 300 or 400m (why we didn't stop at 300m to figure this out...)

150m lane changing for UBC triathlon people - switch lanes every 50m

Run:
Time: 1:45:16
Ave HR: 156

Was smart enough to deliver groaners (see opening of this post) at the end of the run.

Got home full of energy but was attacked by the couch, lost consciousness and was out for about two hours. The big pile of laundry still looms!

Friday, March 02, 2007

1 Mile Time Trial (Hey, That Rhymes!)

Last night was time trial night at Point Grey track. I wasn't feeling 100%, was wheezy and forgot my inhaler so wasn't sure how I'd deal with the workout but in the end it worked out okay (I guess I'm used to working without oxygen!).

My 1 mile time was 7:36. Not my best but better than my time of 7:44 at the beginging of February so I'm happy with the improvement. I looked up my previous 1 mile times and I hit 7:03 in October last year. Glad I looked that up after last night's run or I would likely have been going out waaay to hard!

The Workout:
Warm up:
5 laps
2 x A', B's and strides

3 x:
2min at 1mi pace on
4min active recovery

(Couple of easy laps)

1 Mile time trial:
7:36
Descended each lap

(Couple of easy laps)

8 x 30/30:
30sec HARD
30sec easy

Cool down (about 5 laps)