Track Workout

Thursday's run was at the track at UBC. I arrived on campus as the very happy US womens' hockey fans, and subdued Finish ones, were making their way home. I didn't need to ask the result!

I also didn't have to who was playing the next game - the flags (Canadian & Chinese) told the story. In front of the arena, many excited Chinese fans were taking their pictures holding their flags up high. I was neat to see, especially as China and hockey isn't exactly a combination most of us are used to thinking about.

The workout was a tough one for me. I was still tired from Tuesday, my brain wasn't functioning and my body wasn't doing too well either. The workout was 5 x 200m at slightly faster than 1/2 marathon pace (for those of us doing Langley), 5 x 1km at marathon pace and 5 x 200m at slightly faster. Through the warm up and up until the 3rd 1km piece I was dying and miserable. Somehow everything clicked and I got into form and had a good finish to the practice. No idea if it was mental or if I just need 30 minutes longer than everyone else to warm up.

Time Trials

Coach Drew has been keeping track of our time trial times, which is good as I seem to have given up entirely on documenting my training. The following looks pretty impressive, and I think the last time is a PR, but please keep in mind I was plague-struck for the Feb and Mar TT's:

1 mile (Feb 5/09): 7:28

2x1mile on 10min R (Mar 12/09): 7:24, 7:15

3x1mile on 8min R (Apr 9/09): 7:17, 7:18, 7:01

On the topic of plague, I've been taking Advair and Flonase for the past two weeks to deal with the flu/sinus infection/allergies trifecta that slowed me down in Feb/Mar. I figured at two weeks I was fine and quit taking them on Monday, now I'm (just a little) wheezy and short of breath - darn it I hate the idea of being reliant on drugs! However I do want to breath. Grr.

IMC

I thought the end of the Olympics would mean I have lots of time on my hands. Instead I spent the day in front of my computer, tracking my friends from the club who're racing Ironman Canada and trying to watch them finish. I was also the info source for friends who're in Penticton watching, I was trying to send text messages (times are very difficult to text, the full colon is hard to find in my phone) and watch the screen to catch people finishing, I was going a bit cross-eyed and now I'm feeling a little punch drunk!

I saw everyone except Dave finish. I'm really wishing I was there in person. That said, being in Vancouver makes me much less likely to sign up for next year!

Lisa Bentley, who finished fifth for women, is rocking the finish line, trying to get the crowd psyched and cheering on competitors. There's a reason she's one of my favorite triathletes!

I'm looking forward to watching and sherpa-ing next year - will schlep gear for coffee!

1km Repeats

Tonight's workout was 5-7 x 1km at the track. Alan wanted me to do them on 4:45, which seemed ambitious, especially for 7, but I want that PR run in Kelowna so I did 'em all!

1 - 4:38
2 - 4:37
3 - 4:51
4 - 4:44
5 - 4:46
6 - 4:49
7 - 4:50

Joanne is coming back from an injury so she was running my pace, it was great to have someone who's so steady with her speed to run with! We had a few math issues (see lap 1 & 2) and I had a couple of slow km's but I seemed to lose time on one half lap then get back to pace and stay with it for the rest of the kilometre.

I'm at the point where I've put in pretty much all the hard work, nine days until to see how it all pays off!

PS - I don't just want a PR for the run!

Penticton Visit

I'm back after a week in the Okanagan - part family visit, part training camp. It was a great week, although I'm a bit tired and wondering if it's okay to ask for a day off work to recover from my vacation?

Family Visit
Claire and my brother-in-law are understandably a little tired due to the tree on their house (see photo in the previous post) and the headaches that go with clean up and fix up, but the kids are having a great time at their grandparents. I helped a bit with cleaning up, I spent a morning cleaning off books and separating glass from Tinker Toys, but there's only so much I could do. My exceptional Exec Assistant skills aren't really that applicable in this situation!

Mum came up too. She had a blast with the boys, she watched them at their swimming and skating lessons (I only caught the latter) and helped them build Custard the Dragon characters out of (glass free) Tinker Toys. Claire, Mum and I had a "Girls Day Out" and went for a pedicure at the spa at the Naramata Inn followed by lunch at the wine bar. It was a great day but I probably shouldn't have let Claire and Mum talk me into getting my toe nails done up to match my bike.

Training
I joined Bronwyn and Dave for a couple of swims during the week but the rest of the time followed my own program, doing my workouts early then heading over to hang out with the family for the day.

I did a 16km TT workout - South Main/Eastside/Lakeside Road (the IMC marathon course) is a great 15km route, but of course I was determined to do 16km so I had to improvise a bit at the end. It's hillier than the Marine Dr. route we do, and I had to stop on the way out to fix my bike computer (using my "driving language" as Mum would say) so my time out was slow. As the club workout was an individual time trial followed by a team time trial I did a return TT, thinking I'd have a headwind out and a tailwind back and that would be a similar difference in effort. Somehow I managed to have a headwind both ways, plus for the return I started on a hill (not too smart) so I had some trouble getting up speed. I was 33 something on the way out and 31 on the way back. Slower than my Marine Dr. times but this is a harder course.

I tried to do the prescribed track workout of 6 x 1km on 4:45 and had my dumb training moment for the week. I went straight from the swim to the very nice track at Penticton High School and didn't have anything to eat in between. I forgot my hat so was running in the increasing heat with my easily fried brain unprotected. After a good warm up I did the first two km's too fast and the second two pretty close to 4:45. Somewhere around 200m into the first one I realized my mistake about food and around the third one I really, really wanted my hat. On the fifth 1km I was absolutely spent, I killed myself to just barely keep my time under 5 minutes and felt atrocious the whole way through. I know training is supposed to be hard but I decided to skip the last km, did a short cool down and biked back to the hotel.

Training Camp
On Friday I joined the training camp and did a long ride on the IMC course. I was only supposed to ride for 4 hours so Andrew said he'd pick me up at Yellow Lake. I thought he had high expectations for my speed but figured I wouldn't argue and see how it went. The first part of the ride was great, we were flying and I thought all the training had really paid off. Of course we had a strong tailwind, although it was nice to think I could average 40kph on an easy effort!

At Osoyoos we got to find out how much of a tailwind we'd had as we turned into the wind to ascend Richter. Climbing Richter wasn't bad, especially as I got to pass a few people, but the descent was frustrating as the wind was so strong it was hard to get any speed. The rollers were tough and the flat section heading into Cawston was extremely draining as we were going full on into the wind. I finally smartened up and got on Bronwyn's back wheel, I tried to take the pull a few times but she's just stronger than me and I was slowing her down so I ended up being a wheel suck let her pull me to Beck's road (the turn off to the Cawston out and back). This was four hours for me (nowhere near Yellow Lake) so I left Andrew with my bike and did my brick run on part of the out and back route. It was hot and my HR was extremely high but I felt okay for the run. I then piled into the van with Andrew and was very, very happy I didn't have to ride the whole course.

After that we had our ice bath and got to enjoy the odd looks from passers by as they tried to figure out why people were sitting in garbage cans in 35 degree heat while wearing hoodies and toques.

Saturday started with a long swim in rough water. It was very windy and the waves were pretty big, for Okanagan Lake at least. I didn't mind the rough water as I need practice swimming in waves. I tried to get Joanne's mind set from Worlds, where she enjoyed the roller coaster ride of the swim, and said "Weeee!" to myself when I was starting to get frustrated by the waves. In writing that down I realize it sounds really silly but it worked.

After the swim we rode the Peach Classic bike route plus some. I was a bit discouraged as it took me almost 1:45 to do 40km, I know easy ride pace is different from race pace but that seemed like way too much of a difference. I did a short run along the canal off the bike, another ice bath then back to the motel to change and go to my sister's neighbour's barbeque. The couple are very involved with Ironman as racers and organizers so I got to talk triathlon with quite a few people.

I ended the week with the Peach Classic (race report to follow), all in all, a great week off.

23:11

Tonight's run was a 5km time trial. I think I hit a 5km PR but can't find my previous results and am too tired to do a serious search.

Regardless of whether or not it was a PR, it sure as heck wasn't my half iron run pace (which was what I was supposed to do). Don't tell Alan!

If you don't have anything nice to say ...

I've been a bit cranky the last week so I figure rather than write an angry ranting post, I'd keep to myself.

There's a lot of reasons I could be cranky - February in general usually does it, whoever calculated 24 Jaunary to be the most depressing day of the year never talked to me two weeks later! Valentines often gets me, although this year it barely registered. Work's a good one for getting me down but it's actually been pretty reasonable lately.

No, I think it was an issue of me not believing the story I was telling everyone else. Last weekend I ran the First Half Half Marathon. I knew going in that I would be running this half marathon with the least fitness of any half I've ever done (I believe this is half #7) so I told everyone I wasn't racing this time, I was just out there for the fun of it. Unfortunately I didn't actually believe what I was saying.

I went to pace calculator website two days before the race and tried to figure out what I wanted to run. I knew the time I wanted (sub two hours) and also had a good idea of the pace I could actually hold (9:30/mile) but unfortunately the math didn't work, there was no way I could sustain a pace to hit my goal. This is where the smart athlete reasses their priorities and goals and decides to aim for a slower pace.

I never claimed to be a smart athlete!

Come race morning I still had it in my head that I was going sub two. I ran the first mile in 9:30+ but that's okay, I told myself I'd pick it up later. I kept this up for several more miles but there turned out to be no higher gear, I was running as fast as I could and that was it. Just for added fun (**male readers may wish to skip the rest of this paragraph and go to the next**) this was my first time ever running with cramps. I guess I'm lucky it's my first time in my racing career having to run with cramps, but when all your muscles from your waist to your knees feel like they've been beaten with a steel bar that kind of "glass is half full" reflection doesn't work so well.

So now we're dealing with unrealistic expectations plus pain - you may not be surprised that I was not a happy camper for the last half (of the First Half) nor after I was done. There was a good chance I would have gone straight home to sit in a corner and sulk for several days , if not a week, but the kind and gracious folks of Tri Thinking Pink showed up to cheer on their fellow club members and then whisk us away to feed us brunch. If you've ever spent any time with those two, or Joanne, or Kathryn you'll know it's impossible to stay in a bad mood. When you have all four together for an afternoon you have no choice except to smile, laugh and have a good time.

Brian and Amy saved the day, but the effort of running a half marathon when I wasn't fully prepared wore me out more than I expected. I was feeling pretty low all week, which made finding positives from my race pretty hard. We had benchmark day in Masters on Wednesday and my times were almost exactly where they were this time last year, which I decided to take as a sign all my work in the fall was for naught. That evening's spin workout was a tough one that I had trouble completing. Despite Andrew's recommendation that racers from the weekend take it easy I went hard and was exhausted at the end.

It was only after Thursday's track session that I was starting to feel a little better, we eneded with all out 200m pieces, which are always fun (short enough not to hurt too much but long enough to feel FAST). After the run the coach, who also ran the First Half, complimented me on a good workout, saying that he was still hurting from the race. The compliment and the knowledge that he was suffering too made me feel a lot better (not that I'm happy he was hurting, it just made me feel like this was normal).

It's funny the things I forget after a season off - being tired makes me view the world as a less happy place and racing makes me tired, therefore I should be prepared for a bit of a post-race low. My apologies to anyone I was cranky at.

Perception vs. Reality

For our time trial last night the coaches brought out a video camera to the track so we could get an idea of what we look like when we run. In my mind, when I run I am a gazelle lightly skimming the earth. I now have video evidence to the contrary!

After I got over the realization that how I run is nothing like how I thought I ran ("lumbering" was the first word that came to mind) I looked at the video a bit more objectively and pulled apart some of the issues I saw, namely that I don't appear light on my feet, I lean forward a lot and my shoulders swing quite a bit.

It's definitely interesting, I'm hoping there will be more videotaping in the future as I'd like to watch myself improve (that IS what's going to happen)

The video is on the club blog. Look for me at the following times:
1:57
3:55
5:52
7:44

PS - The picture is a Thomson's Gazelle! Maybe my problem was that I was trying to run like a Thompson's Gazelle??

3 Mile Time Trial

Last night's run workout was time trials at the track.

My legs were pretty dead from the previous night so my expectations were low, I knew I wouldn't hit my previous TT time (23:01) but hoped to at least maintain 2min/lap.

The warm up run proved just how sore my legs were, they only really started to hurt once I started jogging. I loosened up a bit over the easy run and the rest of the warmup (A's, B's & C's and strides) but as soon as we started the TT my legs felt like lead. Much like last time, I felt like I was going to die for most of it. At six laps I seriously considered quitting at 2 miles. I was still considering it at 9 laps!*

For the first two miles I managed to keep my pace at 2min. Something wierd happened in the last four laps as I sped up considerably and my splits ended up as follows:

Mile 1: 8:01
Mile 2: 7:59
Mile 3: 7:32

A few weeks ago I read a really interesting post on the slowtwitch forum about running form and was thinking about this in my last mile. Something really clicked when I read it and trying to follow the advice (make your feet go in circles) has seemed to improve my stride. Alan had been trying to get me to drive with my knees and, for whatever reason, changing the focus to my feet helped with that. Hmm, I don't think I'm being terribly clear, suffice it to say that the post by Barry P seems to have helped my running.

*8 laps is 2 miles

3 mile time trial

Time: 23:13

Splits: 1st mile 7:52, 2nd mile 7:42, 3rd mile 7:40

Avg Pace/Speed: 7:44/mi, 1:56/lap, 4:50/km

It was wet and cold and rainy and I was tired and cranky and feeling like last week's cold was coming back for an encore. On my way to the track I decided to go in with low expectations, this workout was going to be more about toughing it out than setting a record.

At the end I was very surprised to be so close to the time of my last 3mi TT, considering how I was feeling 12 seconds slower is a totally reasonable time.

For the first mile it was a real challenge to stay focussed, I kept having to get the mantra "I'm going to die, I'm going to puke, I'm going to pass out" out of my head. It had a great rhythm so this was tough! I did manage to wrestle my thoughts into a more positive vein, thinking " head up, engage the abs, drive with the knees, catch Joyce, head up, shoulders back, pass Doneen" etc.

The second mile felt reasonably okay and I could relax and be comfortable in my running form, but the last mile was hard. I was given a kick for the end when Doneen passed me just before I finished lap #11 and I spent all of lap #12 trying to catching her. Keeping pace (almost) with someone who runs a sub-4 marathon is a nice boost to my ego.

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!!!!

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.

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)

Four Day Summary

Thursday Run:

• Warm up - four laps
• 2 X accelerations (100+ m)
• 2 min @ pace, 4 min easy (fourlaps)
• 1 mile time trial (4 laps) - 7:44
• 30/30 - 7 x 30 sec hard and 30 sec easy
• Cool down

Friday
Rest Day!

Saturday Insanity

• 2:18:00 indoor spin
• 25 min run
• 20 min core/pilates/physio homework
• 12 min stretch

The weather was about 2 degrees so I wimped out and rode on my trainer instead. A month ago I would have done anything to avoid 10 minutes on a trainer and now I'll do 2 hours plus to avoid getting cold - wimp!

Managed to keep my cadence above 90 for all but the first 10 min warm up, 8 min cool down, and standing sections (aka butt stretches). At least 50% of the time my cadence was over 95 - pretty good!

Decent run - HR still a little high but definitely improving.

Did 5 or 7 stride sprints every 5 minutes. Changed things up and ran West at Hillcrest park, checked out some lazy goalty.

For my strength workout I started with the single leg squats as per Janice. Hard to know if I'm doing them right when I'm not in front of a mirror (walk away from the TV, you know you can do it!).

Then did rotator cuff exercises as per Janet, I think I'm working the right muscles but my shoulder is grinding and hurting most of the time I'm doing it. Not sure if the sore shoulder I have now is from the rotator cuff tendonitis or from muscles tired from weights!

Sunday swim/run
Time Trial Day!

Swim:

• 200m warm up
• 4 x 50m drill choice
• 50m easy
• 100m time trial - 1:45
• 150m easy
• 400m time trial - 9:45 (?) (NOT happy with this time. However, it should be easy to beat later in the year. Asthma at about 300m and just generally ran out of gas.)
• 100m cool down

Run:
2:25:00
Nice day in the Endowments Lands. The fast people disappeared so quickly we didn't have a chance to feel abandoned. My new shoes felt great, although I'm sad they're now dirty and lost the pretty new shoe look!

Track Workout

I may have slacked off a bit in my workouts over the holidays but I did get in a a track workout!

The nephews have a great collection of Thomas the Tank Engine and Brio track and I got a bit of alone time to do some building. The boys didn't seem to mind when they came home to find their track rearranged, in fact when my brother-in-law dismantled the track that night it caused a minor meltdown. Nice to know my work was appreciated!

Pyramids & Medleys

Two great workouts over the past two days:

Pyramid workout at Point Grey track

I got to the track super early as I’m still figuring out how to get around from my new abode. Man Cambie is a mess. You know it’s a bad sign when the cars aren’t moving and there’s a traffic helicopter overhead!

Last night’s workout at Point Grey track was a pyramid with the goal to descend (ie run the last 1200 & 800 faster than the first) with a 4 min recovery between sets.

My times were:
800m - 3:43
1200m - 5:38
1600m - 7:33
1200m - 5:30
800m - 3:27

It took me a bit to get going but I felt strong and relaxed on the mile and the backside of the pyramid. I wonder (as always) if I could have gone out harder at the start but I was still a little leery about going out too hard after having the cold from hell. I didn't break any personal record but overall it was a great run.

Masters Swim
My swim this morning was tough but fun, we did IM (international medley), which meant I got to try butterfly for the second time.

Warm up:
200m EZ
4 x:
25m dolphin kick
25m back
25m drill (choice)
25m EZ free

4 x broken 100's:
25m fly, 2stroke, 4 kick
15sec R
25m back, 1 pull 10 kick
25m breast, 1 pull, 2 kick
25m free, 3 pull, 10 kick (superman)
30sec R

Then 4 x:
100m IM
30sec rest
100m EZ w/ pull buoy
30sec rest

Warm down
4 x 25 kick board
200m free with pull paddles (I only did 100)
something I skipped

Two pointers from Paul today:
For butterfly I need to have my head down when finishing the stroke, as in looking at the bottom of the pool. This will help my kick. That aside, apparently my form is not bad for someone on their second attempt.

For freestyle, my hand is at the wrong angle at the start of my stroke. I get my hand in the water then cock my wrist so my fingers are pointing up - not the most efficient way to swim! I need to keep my fingers pointing down but rather than make it all wrist, get the whole forearm going. As soon as he pointed it out I could tell exactly what he meant, I've known for ages that something is wrong with my stroke but couldn't pinpoint it. The pull paddles exaggerated it so it was really noticeable.

Paul recommended I get Finis swim paddles as they'll help fix the problem.