"How hard can it be?" Training Update

[Veronica]

Sunday - I went for a run, 3.1 miles in the daylight. I got to wear my new Thumps. Music is good! And I could still hear the duckies in the canal.

Monday - yoga in the morning, rode Mt Diablo to the Junction in the afternoon. I wore the Thumps for this ride too. Made the climb a lot more fun. My pace was about the same as last week, but I didn't feel as tired when I got to the Junction.

Tuesday - 3.1 mile run before work, 1600 yard swim after work

Wednesday - yoga in the morning. I was going to ride in the afternoon, but I had some work I really needed to do before Thursday.

Thursday - 4.1 mile run before work, 21 mile bike ride after work. I was surprised by my average speed on the bike. My HR was pretty low. In spite of doing some hill work, my average speed was surprisingly high. I discovered that I can't hear the music from the Thumps when I'm doing 20 mph on the flats - too much wind noise. I can turn up the volume I guess.

Friday - yoga in the morning, 1900 yard swim in the afternoon. I can do a mile swim now in about 32 minutes. Sadly, no where near my college times. But not bad, considering I haven't been swimming in about two years.

Saturday - planned 50 mile ride. We were going to do Diablo and Morgan territory, but I filled the car up with gas today. I decided I really don't want to drive anywhere to ride unless I have a good reason. So, we're going to stay local.

Total training time so far this week - 7.5 hours. That doesn't include tomorrow's ride,

I need to put my core work back into my schedule somewhere. I had been really good about through January and February. But when I decided I wasn't going to doubles, I slacked off.

I have meetings on Wed. and Thurs. next week, so afternoon workouts probably won't happen those two days.

I'm feeling really good. I'm going to keep my before work runs at 4 miles until I can get them down to a ten minute pace. I'm currently doing about 11:20 average. But my HR is still pretty low. I've been sort of "feeling out" this whole running thing. I plan to bump up to 5 miles two weekends from now. Next weekend is my 200 K bike ride for the month of May.

I'm still having fun.

V.

[Wahine]

V. You're doing awesome. Keep it up. I love how enthusiastic you are and how you still think to comment on the little things that are so cool, like ducks in the canal. That's really what it's all about, getting out there.

[Veronica]

The ducks were really cute. It was a whole little family, 3 little ducklings. I went by them twice. The first time daddy flew up to the trail to squawk at me. On the return, it was mama's turn.

I hope they are still there when I run tomorrow.

V.

[Veronica]

Sunday - 5.4 mile run - still about an 11:20 average pace. Okay....

Monday - Yoga and Core in the morning. I was supposed to swim in the afternoon, but I was feeling crummy and congested at the end of the day. I came home and took a two hour nap instead.

Tues. - 4.1 mile run. I did intervals on miles 2 and 4. Got my average down around 10:30, with my last mile a 10:00 flat. Yippee!

After work swim - 2350 yards. I was going to ride after that, but my rear tire was flat.

Wed. The congestion was back. I did yoga and CORE in the morning, vegged in the afternoon.

Thurs. Still feeling crummy and congested, no workouts. I had a meeting after school that went until 5. I know most folks work until 5, but they aren't watching and entertaining 32, 10 - 11 year olds for 6 of those hours. Late days just wipe me out.

Fri. I really wanted to get in a third run. I wasn't feeling great, but not awful either. First two miles were right around 10:30. I tried doing intervals on the second mile and just felt crummy. I decided to just work my way through the last two miles. Those were 11:00 miles. But better than my previous average of 11:20.

I was supposed to swim this afternoon, but I stayed late to meet AGAIN with my bully's dad. I had to kick him out of class again today. I'm still a little congested. I hope I feel better tomorrow. I'm doing a 200 K on the bike.

Total time so far this week - not much - 4:40. The 200 K tomorrow will take somewhere between 9 and 10 hours I expect.

But I'm happy I got in my 3 runs. The long run on Sunday has given me some confidence to push myself a little harder on my 4 mile before work runs.

The swimming is going well. I actually started working the swim this week. Last week it was just go and get your butt in the pool and see how it feels. My wetsuit should be here next Friday. The outdoor pool at the gym is not heated, so that will be a good place to try it out.

Next week I only have a meeting on Wed. so hopefully I can get in a little more time. I don't know if I'll be able to do my long run on Sunday after doing a 200K tomorrow. I may have to put it off until next Saturday.

My students clap for me every time I tell them I did a run. I have been using that as an example of goal setting and that sometimes you have to do things that are hard or that you don't want to do, to get where you want to be. Trying to get that last little bit of influence in, before they head off to middle school...

V.

[jesvetmed]

V: Cool to include your students in your goal planning. And... expose them to a new positive thing they could do with themselves! Great work -- in and out of the classroom!

[Veronica]

My 200 K turned into 103 miles. I felt crummy from the very beginning. I didn't eat much breakfast and I didn't start eating right away like I should have. This cold I've had has just messed up my appetite. I was chilly at the start and it took me a long time to warm up. Then... I got a flat about 20 miles into the ride. I was doing about 20 mph, going downhill and the bike got a little squirrelly. I had picked up a thorn. After fixing the flat, I continued down the hill, but couldn't stop shivering. It was pretty demoralizing.

I met up with Thom at about mile 30, just before the serious climbing began. He got a flat 3 miles later. No more tubes, luckily we had no more flats. At about mile 60 my front tire started making a noise. It looked like the casing was delaminating slightly. We continued out to the turnaround. It never got any worse, but today I got a new tire and I put in a slime tube. I don't care that they are heavier. I don't want any more flats on important rides.

It seemed like one of those rides that just wasn't meant to be. All day long I felt like I had no power. Thom was constantly waiting for me. That's normal on climbs, but even on the false flats in between, where normally I pull him because I don't really like to draft, I couldn't stay with him.

We got back to the car at mile 92 and I decided to press on to the next checkpoint at mile 103. By now my butt was really beginning to hurt as my saddle really needed to be re-tensioned. I think I was riding on the rails for most of the ride.

I would pedal and do about 17 mph and then coast down to 13, so I could get a butt break. I got off the bike at mile 103. Thom told me I looked miserable. This mini mart had a taco bar and Thom had gotten his dinner. I got a Red Bull and a banana and tried, unsuccessfully, to feel better. I only had 23 more miles to go, but I just didn't feel like suffering. Oh... and I had managed to get sun burnt despite putting sunscreen three different times.

So... we packed the bike in the car and drove home.

I've got three more weekends to get in a 200K this month. So, I'll try again next weekend. It upsets my running plans a little bit. I'm suppose to up my mileage to 6 miles next weekend. I'll do that on Saturday and then ride on Sunday. Hopefully my legs will handle it.

Veronica

102.9 miles
5200 feet of climbing
13.5 avg.

[Veronica]

Sunday - rest day

Monday - yoga and core in the AM, 5.4 mile run after work

Tues. - swim - speed work day, after the warm up I did 9 x 100 - easy , build, easy, hard. This is when I miss having a swim coach to tell me what's a good interval. I did them on 2:15 and got about 30 - 35 seconds rest for each one. Then I pulled a 300 and did a cool down.

Wed. I broke my run into parts. I did two miles in the morning, focusing on intervals. 3. 1 miles in the afternoon when it was about 95 degrees out. I liked the two miles. The afternoon run was hard. I had ice cream and cracker jacks, courtesy of our PTA about 2 hours before the run. Not good run food.

Thurs. - Long swim in the afternoon - 1750 yards in 31 minutes at about a 6 on a scale of 1 - 10 for effort. I was actually trying to barely kick - based on something I read in Triathlete magazine.

Fri. - Turned in to a rest day. We went to breakfast with my in-laws. They had a delivery nearby (they are truck drivers.) And I just couldn't get up the gumption to go for a bike ride after work when it was already 98 degrees.

Sat. - Long run in the morning, 7.4 miles in 1 hour 20 minutes. I kept looking at Mt Diablo and wondering if I could someday run up it. I wore my new tri outfit - LOVE IT! I love all the pockets. I carried two gels with me today but I didn't eat them. I was just getting to the point of considering eating as I turned onto my street. My cell phone stayed put in another pocket, no bouncing around. My little water flask fit nicely into a pocket and stayed fairly cold too. I want another outfit just like it, just for running in.

It's too hot to do anything around the house, so we're going to drive up and look at the course today.

Tomorrow I'm trying for that 200 K again. I have a meeting on Wed. and Open House at work Thursday night. So, it will be hard to get in as much training as I want this week.

V.

[Wahine]

Hey V!! It's nice to see your updates. You're doing really well.

I've been thinking about you this weekend because I've been crewing for people who are riding more than 100 miles a day for 4 days in a row, the biggest day was 148 miles, today was easy... only 140ish with less climbing. Tomorrow they'll ride 120 miles but they're climbing up to timberline on Mt Hood. That'll be interesting!! These guys make you look almost sane.

[Veronica]

Hey V!! It's nice to see your updates. You're doing really well.

I've been thinking about you this weekend because I've been crewing for people who are riding more than 100 miles a day for 4 days in a row, the biggest day was 148 miles, today was easy... only 140ish with less climbing. Tomorrow they'll ride 120 miles but they're climbing up to timberline on Mt Hood. That'll be interesting!! These guys make you look almost sane.

Thom saw this and said, "Gee, that sounds right up your alley."

Sunday's 200 K went well. I wrote about it in another thread.

We looked at the race course on Saturday. The bike course looks nice. I've ridden some parts of it on other rides, but in the opposite direction. It's mostly rollers and very curvy. There is one substantial climb.

The run course pretty much freaked me out. There are a lot of hills! Fortunately, they are all smaller than my hill. I actually have two hills on my morning loop course. One I have been running down (the big nasty one!) One I run up (the smaller, nasty one!) I think both are bigger than the hills on the course, but I'm going to reverse my morning loop so that I am running up the bigger, nasty one.

It also occurred to me on my run on Saturday that I'd really like to get up to 15 miles or so before race day. I know that will be pushing it. I've only got 11 weeks until my race. But I know I'll have more confidence on race day if I have run further than the actual race distance.

V.

[Veronica]

Sitting at the computer today, I feel like this wasn't a great training week. I've been fighting the sniffles all week. I swear this is the sneeziest class I have ever had! I get over one cold and I have 2 or 3 kids start sneezing all over the place and boom, I have the sniffles again.

Sunday - 200K. This was a good ride. I felt strong for most of it.

Monday - yoga

Tuesday - AM run - 4.1 miles. I reversed my route. I ran 4 times up the big hill. It's about a 5% average grade, climbs 60 feet in about .3 miles. Naturally the steepest part is the end. This was a lovely run though. We had a full moon and it was just sitting on top of Mt Diablo, with a few wispy clouds around it. There were a lot of birds out, twittering and singing to each other. A lot of flowers are in the bloom so the air was gently perfumed. I was out long enough to also see sunrise - beautiful sky filled with shades of orange and pink.

PM Swim - This also went pretty well. The main set was 6 x 100 at a RPE of 9. I was coming in somewhere between 1:30 and 1:35 and doing them on the 2:15. I'm not positive of the times since I left my HRM at home.

Wed. - I slept in Wed. We normally get up at 4:25. The alarm went off and I asked Thom to let me sleep some more. He got up and I went back to sleep until 5:40. It's not normal for me to sleep after he gets up. Of course my sniffles were back.

I did yoga in the afternoon.

Thursday - Slept in again, only until 5:10 this time. I did more yoga in the afternoon. Then went back to school for Open House.

Friday - You guessed it, slept in again. Thom took Friday off, so we didn't even set the alarm. I didn't do anything Friday.

Today I had planned to do my first brick. I was going to ride about 20 miles and then run 3, just to do it and see what it was like. Plus I wanted to ride in my tri shorts, so I could decide if I wanted another pair just like the ones I got. I really like them for running in.

But, it's raining. Maybe this afternoon. If not, we'll at least get some of the weekend chores done.

I know this was a stressful week for me, hence all the extra sleep. My bully's parents have been spending a lot of time meeting with me. I wish they had done something about him months ago - not now when there are just three weeks of school left. And Open House is a lot of work.

The next three weeks are going to be tough. There is always a lot to do at the end of the year and I am moving classrooms, so I need to pack up all my stuff. Moving is good. It forces you to go through your things and I'm going into a double room. But it all takes time and energy.

I have my first tri in 4 weeks. It's one of the Tri for Fun series - 400 yard swim, 11 mile bike ride, 3.1 mile run. That all seems so short compared to what I have been doing. Gosh, my swim warm ups are 400 yards. But it's a chance for me to work out transition bugs.

I'd kind of like to ride up Mt Diablo this weekend and go mountain biking. I've been concentrating so much on running, that I don't get in very many rides and I miss it.

V.

[Veronica]

Sunday - Laze around the house and read a book day.

Monday - 19 mile bike ride, followed by a 3 mile run. The run was hard, partly because I didn't fuel on the bike like I should have. But that's part of what training is all about - learning what you need to do.

Tuesday - Yoga in the morning, wetsuit swim in the afternoon. The outside pool at the gym is not heated, so it's still pretty cold. The swim was an interesting experience. The wetsuit certainly makes my legs a lot more buoyant. In some ways they seem less effective since they are so buoyant.

Wednesday - 7.4 mile run in the afternoon. That's hard to do after work. It's more windy, blowing in the high teens, with gusts into the twenties; and the kids are wearing me out. They are ready to be done and so am I - nine more days.

Thursday - Yoga in the morning and in the afternoon.

Friday - Overslept again and did some chores around the house when I got home.

Saturday - short flat ride with Thom.

I've got a lot of stuff going on after work this week, so my afternoon workouts are going to be minimal.

The brick and the long run on Wednesday were both really hard for me. I have a long list of reasons why they could have not gone well... But logic doesn't matter. It didn't feel good and that is kind of making me dread running. So the plan for this week is to do a long run today - 7.4 miles, and short 3 -4 mile runs on Tue., Wed. and Thurs. mornings with stretchy girl yoga in the afternoons.

I'll swim Monday afternoon and take Friday off since I'm doing another 200 K on Saturday.

V.

[Wahine]

V - bricks always hurt. Especially when you're first starting out. The key is getting good at making your legs do that running thing when they still want to do that cycling thing. That means practice. You don't have to do long bricks to get this. In fact short reps work really well. I will sometimes do a workout where I ride 5 miles, transition and run 1 mile and repeat that 3 or 4 times through. The other thing I do in a race is tell myself that the first 4 km of the run are going to hurt, no matter what and I can't use how I feel as a guide to how I'm doing. After 4 km, if it still sucks... well then it's time to start thinking about what needs to change, but until then you really have no guage.

[Veronica]

Thanks. I hadn't considered doing shorter ones as a repeat. I've got a great route for this already worked out in my head and I did that today instead of a long run. I only did it twice - a 4.4 mile bike ride followed by a mile run. I wanted to end feeling good.

V.

[Veronica]

Sunday - Short brick repeats
Monday - yoga in the AM
Tues. - yoga in the AM, 7.4 mile run after work. Still wicked slow, but more fun than my last two runs.
Wed. - AM yoga, PM dentist , then I rode out to BART to meet Thom - 27 miles
Thurs. - nothing, but now my hair looks good again.
Fri. - nothing
Saturday - 200 K with 7,000 feet of climbing - number 4 in my quest for the R-12.

This is my last week with the kiddos. But I also need to finish moving out of my classroom. I expect some late days at work. I haven't been very successful at running before work lately. But I need to get in three this week. Friday is our 22nd anniversary. It's my first day of summer break and Thom is taking the day. Not sure what we'll do yet, but something fun.

V.

[Wahine]

Nice week V. You're up to 7.4 miles running and that's great. You really could finish the race now. You've got enough endurance base to carry you through.

Does the R12 thing mean you'll do 12 200k this year?

That's impressive!!

Have fun on your anniversary.