Je suis fatigué

I am tired. Really tired. Maybe tired isn't the right word, although I could have crawled under my desk and slept for hours this afternoon. Maybe listlessness. Maybe lethargy. Maybe swine flu. Okay, probably not swine flu, but definitely exhausted. I'm trying to decide whether or not it's over training (I can cross that out without much deliberation), sickness coming on, lack of sleep (8 hours isn't enough?), or some kind of energy tape worm. Usually I'm able to jump out of bed at 5 a.m., now I begrudgingly roll out at 5:45 if I'm lucky. By the end of the day I question whether or not I should even drive home due to my semi-drunken state, in feeling only not actually drunk at work. Jim says it may be because I'm not eating enough. If I could actually imagine eating more food I might explode, the mind is willing but the body is another story.

Stats for today:
500 w/u
4x25
3x (4x75) on 20 sec rest, 100 kicks between sets. I could have done the fourth set easyily on a normal day, there were moments where I questioned if I was going to just give up the ghost and drown myself.

Knot Stretching

You can take that homonym either way you read it. I went and did some tempo work tonight, one mile into it my left foot started to send shooting pain messages up my leg. I finished as much as I could and came home to stretch. I first used the stick, an item I wished I'd created and made money off of, but it was both really cold and was pinching my hairs on the upper leg (no, I don't shave above the knee for reasons such as blonde hair, baby fine hair and really what a waste of time to bother with it) so I moved on to the foam roller.

Holy shit.

I know what is causing the pain in my foot and possibly other regions of my body. I had knots up and down and side to side on my quads. At one point I was rolling up on the roller, hit a knot and nearly winced to the point of tears.

The loud and clear message given to me during my torture session was make sure you stretch sufficiently after each run and bike. No more half-assed pulling my foot up behind me as I lean against the light pole at the end of the run and calling it good. I can only assume if I continue with such technical and thorough stretching I'll be in a world of hurt and unable to complete this race.

Today's workout stats:
Warm up, ran 4x600m at nowhere near the required 8:50-9:15 pace--more like a 9:45-10 with 400 easy jogging between.

I felt very "heavy" today as I ran. I had breakfast for dinner (toast, eggs and bacon) and then went running 2 hours later, I felt like I had energy, which was awesome, but the energy was paired with a lumbering feeling.

Monster Cookie Ride

Quite possibly the dumbest name for a ride, but a lot of fun nonetheless. The Salem Bicycle Club puts on a well organized, if not completely packed, ride. My only complaint is the lack of road awareness so many of the riders have. There were packs of people riding two, three, often four riders across taking up the entire lane. I'm not sure if they realized the 62 mile ride was not going to be on closed roads, I would have thought the cars whizzing by would have tipped them off to that. Trying to pass was near impossible, even with a loud "on your left" warning. My favorite was the group of four riders inching up this hill, taking up the pavement from the center yellow to the white of the shoulder. Two of them turn around, make eye contact with the group I was in at the time--the group trying to haul ass up the hill, and they stay right where they were. Blocking the entire lane. Wait, correction, they may have slowed down actually at that time.

About 40 miles into the ride my legs turned to lead. Heavy lead tonnage. I went from averaging 19-20 mph to probably 15 or 16. I could barely just spin the pedals at one point. I was tired. My legs were tired. My back hurt. But I finished strong.

To finish off the day the Blazers lost. Meh.

Vancouver Lake Time Trials

Last night was the season opener of the Vancouver Bike Club's Vancouver Lake time trials. It's a 10 mile flat out and back near the lake, goes out to Frenchmen's Bar to turn around and back to the Port of Vancouver. I've never time trialed before so I was apprehensive about what to expect and as to what my performance would be. We got there plenty early so I could sign up and do any paperwork they may require. Luckily, it was as simple as signing my name, given the $1 and getting my bib number. The weather was questionable, black clouds rolling in from the coast and sun breaks intermittently just to the north. As it turned out there was only a slight spit as far as water from the sky went. Or maybe that was the guy ahead of me? I had a great time and don't know if I did well or not, but since you only race yourself (I know that is the idea, but still...) I think I did okay for my first time.

My time was a respectable 33:46 (take about 5 seconds off for my entirely f'ed up turn around at mile 5) .

Bad Runner Party of One, You're Table is Ready

I'm starting to believe my genes have not predisposed me to being a good runner. Good being an objective term, of course.

Life, Gettin' in the Way

I pay $13 for an 18 week training plan and life just skates on by, no worries. I commit to $165 a month and now life is starting to really piss me off. I took a day off yesterday instead of today because I wanted to spend some time working on the lawn and hanging with Jim, had the run all planned for today. Then Dutch goes and gets limpy on me. This morning his limp was so much worse than the two days prior and I'll feel like a bad dog owner if I let him continue on it. So I call and make the vet appointment for 5 today, clear out in Beaverton area, so my afternoon plans of running after work are shot. I have to leave here, go home, get Dutch, drive in what I'll assume will be traffic to Beaverton and make the 5 p.m. appointment. Maybe I'll have Jim take him home and I'll run after that, making for a late evening for me.

I don't want to slack, more specifically I don't want to appear to be slacker to my coach, but this last week has not proven to help out the Heather isn't a slacker club. Argh.

Weekend Update, Not the Funny Kind

I started my weekend with a swim after school on Friday. I had done my warm up, did some drills, some kicking and was ready to go and time my set as instructed in my training plan.I was using my awesome lap counter doo-hickey Jim bought me for Christmas, it is awesome. I did 3x50s with 30 sec. rest, started on the 6x100s, got to the fourth one when I realized I didn't set the timer right and I was swimming with no time being kept. I was so frustrated at that point I finished the swim with no timing.

Saturday was a bike day. I drove out and parked at Jim's brother's house and rode around the Champoeg area. About 45 minutes into it I got a hideous headache an couldn't get rid of it. I rode for a total of 2.15, 38 miles, and felt like dog shit afterwards. The last 10 minutes were not good. I was paying too much attention to the pain in my head (as opposed to the voices I normally pay attention to) and started not paying attention to the road. I about ate shit three times while I was bobbing and weaving. I was supposed to run 1.5 after the bike. I didn't do that. I felt bad about not doing it knowing it is something I need/must do, but felt a lot better sitting and closing my eyes. The headache stuck around until around 11 p.m.

Here are my stats for the week up to now (I have a run tonight)
-4/16 run 6 miles, time: 1.04.59, average pace 10.50, 165 bpm. Meh.
-4/18 bike, time: 2.17, 38 miles, average pace 3.46, 147 bpm.

Shih-tay

I did my first run on the new program today. It sucked. It was simple. Run six miles, run half of those at aerobic pace, run the other half at race pace. Or, as I wound up doing, run the first half at every pace known to man, run the second half hoping I can keep it 10 seconds below the aerobic pace, as opposed to the 45-60 seconds below it. Gawd. Not quite what the coach had called for. I finished it, not with a great time. I was tired and didn't feel like I had the fuel need.
-drink more water during the day
-eat something and hour before the run

Thursday, Seems Like a Good Day to Start

In the lyrically famous words of Perry Ferrell, "here we go." Once I looked a the training plan I decided it wasn't what I was expecting as far as time and difficulty go. I had these visions of 20 hour training weeks, with little time for fun or other work I need to get done, or work I need to put off for that matter. Let's face it, I want to train and do well, I don't want to make training my life. I'm just not into anything that much, giving up Starbucks for a few months to pay for the coaching is a hell of a lot of sacrifice as far as I'm concerned.

Tonight: 5-6 mile run at aerobic level for half and goal pace for half. All I have to say is thank God the sun is finally out.

Whew

I finally looked. I can do this.

Day One

I've been following a training program for Boise 70.3 for several weeks now. Instead of seeing improvement I've noticed mostly frustration, mostly because that is where I've put my focus. I'm sure I've had some improvement fitness wise. For my birthday Jim got me a Vo2 testing session with Mark Kendall from Speedshot Racing because I was getting increasingly frustrated with my poor running performance. I was so focused on my lack of running stamina, crazy heart rate and slow pace that I wasn't even paying attention to my lack of muscle, literally, on the bike. Sometimes you have to be careful what you wish for. What I like is that Mark didn't pull any punches during the testing, he was nice about it, but he certainly made it clear where my inadequacies lie.

They lie in my legs.

I hired him on the spot to coach and put together a training program for me this the two months before the June 13 race day. The Vo2 testing was last Thursday and I've been waiting with bated breath to get the email from Mark with my training schedule for this week/month. It was just delivered to my in box. I haven't read it yet. I might be a bit scared to look at it. I might be in a bit over my head. I may have put the cart before the horse. I may have agreed to give up my daily Starbucks to pay for his coaching for naught. Then again I may have made the best decision ever. I'm ready.

I still can't look.