A Run In The Sun

It wasn't a "Perfect" week, but it was a damned good one!  I missed one (bike) workout, but crammed in an extra swim and after months of being confined to the treadmill, I got to do my long run OUTSIDE!!!!!

Monday was the usual: On the bike before sunrise, work, quick warm up run before training, training session, mad dash home to eat and get a few things done before crashing into bed.  The added bonus of Monday was the restocking of the Shot Blok stash. We were down to 1 pack of tropical punch bloks and 1 pack of mountain berry bloks - and I think the mountain berry ones taste really gross. I much prefer black cherry, citrus, or margarita!

I got a rude awakening on Tuesday morning when I woke up and couldn't move my left arm without a lot of pain.  I'm pretty sure I strained a tendon or something on Monday night while attempting to do pull ups, but not being able to straighten my arm completely sucked and made doing simple tasks rather difficult.  For example, my coffee cup usually sits to my left when I'm at work.  Not today!  I had to move it to my right side so I didn't wince every time I went to take a drink!  It improved somewhat by Tuesday night, so I was able to do a short yoga practice and fold a mountain of laundry.

That's just the workout clothes from the previous week

Wednesday started with a really good interval workout on the treadmill before work and ended with a really interesting swim.  The pool was really busy, so everyone was sharing lanes.  I shared with Mr. R&R and between him and the 6 other bodies in the pool, the water was actually choppy!  At one point I remember turning my head to breathe, getting a face full of water, and thinking 'Huh, it's just like racing.'  It never hurts to be reminded that the water isn't always going to be flat calm and I'm not always going to have as much personal space as I'd like!

I had really good intentions of getting on the bike on Thursday night even though I felt like I was going to fall asleep standing up, my arm still ached it I tried to hyperextend it, and my legs felt like lead sticks.  I even went so far as turning on the heater in The Cave and walking upstairs to put on bike clothes - and then decided that my body was screaming for rest, so I put on my pajamas and called it a lost cause.

Mr. R&R hit The Cave for his workout and I figured that since I wasn't going to ride, I could at least put together a decent dinner.

Shrimp Burrito Bowl

After looking at the weekend forecast I opted to join Mr. R&R at the pool on Friday night and do my long run on Sunday (when the temperature was predicted to be in the low 60's!).  I've never been in the pool at that particular gym location, but I can tell you that I'm going to become a regular fixture there.  The water was rather chilly, but it was really clean feeling, and apparently that combination made me rather fast!  I ended up doing the longest swim I've done in quite a while - 1750 yards (although my Garmin decided to skip 25 yards in there somewhere, so I only get credit for 1725).  We came home, had a late night snack, and crashed hard.

I enjoyed my usual leisurely Saturday morning activities of lounging, reading, and bunny-petting while Mr. R&R went to the gym for his training session and then it was time for my weekly long ride.  90 minutes of leg destroying over/under FTP drills while watching Twister - which holds up surprisingly well for a 20+ year old movie.

I was actually excited to do my long run on Sunday.  As promised, it was 60+ degrees, sunny, and not windy!  I haven't run outside since early November and that run was absolutely terrible. This one was anything but terrible!  I got to wear my favorite running shoes (too filthy to wear to the gym) and ran a route that I normally don't get to run by myself since I usually run alone and at night I feel after sticking to well lit, busy streets.

Graffiti Under The Bridge

My route took me down the Monster Hill, under a bridge, and onto some gravel/dirt paths.

Add caption

I It's been so long since I ran outside that I forgot how hard running on concrete is and how good those paths feel.  Parts of the paths were a little flooded/muddy, so I did my best to pick my way around those sections without soaking my feet, and kept a pretty consistent pace for the majority of the run and only felt bad when I tried to chug my way back up the Monster Hill. I ran for an hour and finished with even filthier shoes, mud spattered on the backs of my legs, and a huge smile on my face.

My run ended about 3/4 of a mile from home, so I had plenty of time to enjoy some extra sun and fresh air - and now I can't wait for spring!

The sun actually felt WARM!

How's the weather in your neck of the woods?  Did you get outside this weekend?

Sweet Spot Week 5 Stats:

Swim:    3,325 yards (1.89 miles)
Bike:      30.49 miles
Run:       11.04 miles
Yoga:      1 Practice (20 minutes)
Strength: 1 Session

Total Time:        6 hours, 50 minutes
Total Distance:  43.41 miles

Cumulative Distance:  256.79 miles - roughly the distance between Milwaukee and Windsor, Ontario (assuming one could drive or swim directly across Lake Michigan!).

5AM...the Miracle Hour?

The first week of Sweet Spot training was tough, but I kind of enjoyed it.  I feel like I'm finally starting to get back in the groove of working out consistently - and the whole 5AM Miracle thing is starting to get easier too.

Monday started with a 5AM wake up followed by a short yoga practice, and a full day at work.  After work, I scurried home, changed clothes, and hauled ass to the gym to get a run in before my training appointment.  I didn't have as much time to run as I wanted, but I made the most of the 20 minutes I had by running hard.  10 minutes into my training session, I was on the verge of fainting.  After a couple of questions from my trainer, it hit me...it was 6:40pm and I hadn't eaten a thing since noon...so my body was running on fumes.  After we finished our session and I hightailed it home for dinner. Note To Self: There's no such thing as being to busy to scarf a banana before a workout!

I'm never too busy for a banana!

After the near-fainting episode, the rest of the week went well. All workouts were done, yoga was practiced, and getting up on time happened every day but Thursday.  We swim late (starting around 8:45pm) on Wednesday nights, so I didn't get to bed at a reasonable hour and my brain decided that this was a good excuse to thwack the snooze button...until 6:30AM.  I skipped my yoga practice that morning, but still made it out the door on time. We'll leave a discussion of my really poor food choices on Thursday for another day.

I don't think I'll ever love getting up before the crack of dawn, but I am starting to see the benefits of going to bed at the same time every night and getting up really early.  Since I've started trying to follow the 5AM Miracle, I've had time for yoga, books, and breakfast before leaving the house every day.  On the day that I overslept, I felt completely out of sorts.  Eventually, I'd like to find a way to fit in my bike workouts before work too.  Am I on the verge of becoming a morning person?

I think I'm still in the Ostrich Stage

I may have made some poor food choices on Thursday, but can we talk about some of my good choices for a minute?  I was starving when I got off the bike on Friday night and talked myself out of going out for dinner. Instead, I put together this lovely concoction in under 30 minutes.

In the bowl:

• brown rice
• cuban style black beans (from Trader Joe's)
• shrimp cooked in hatch chili salsa
• a little shredded cheese
• salsa
• sour cream
• guacamole (not pictured because I forgot to throw it in there before taking a picture)

I'm pretty sure that these messy 'meals in a bowl' will become more and more common in the Rabbits and Runs household as tri training really gets under way.

I'm also getting reacquainted with my crockpot since it's a hands off way to make a bunch of food. Both Mr. R&R and I have been craving red meat for the last few days so I pulled out the crockpot to make Beef with Mushrooms and Red Wine Sauce.   I threw everything into the crockpot around 9AM (I used 2 packages of baby portobella mushrooms because I really like 'em), set it and walked away until dinner time.

I closed out Week 1 of Sweet Spot Training with:

Swim:    1200 yards (0.68 miles)

Bike:      40.3 miles

Run:       6.55 miles

Yoga:      5 practices (ranging from 10-50 minutes)

Strength: 1 session

Total Time:       7 hours, 11 minutes

Total Distance: 47.53 miles

Cumulative Distance: 68.86 miles (that's roughly the distance between my house and Madison, WI!)

What's your morning like?  Are you an early riser or do you prefer to snooze until the last possible second?

So Long Pre-Hab. Hello Sweet Spot Training.

6 weeks of pre-hab has reminded me of a very important lesson: fitness gains are hard won and easily lost.  It's time to put in the work to regain some of that bike fitness I had at the end of last summer.  Enter: Sweet Spot Training.

Not THAT kind of sweet

The goal of sweet spot training is to increase pedal economy and build a base of aerobic fitness on the bike - both of which get sorely neglected as the season progresses.  In this phase I'll be aiming for  three rides a week (2 60-minute sessions, 1 90-minute session), running twice a week (1 shorter session before my training appointment, 1 longer session on the weekend), swimming once a week, and strength training once a week with my trainer.

The final week of pre-hab wasn't too bad.  I actually got up at 5AM every day (Monday-Thursday - I overslept by 30 minutes on Friday) and did a 20 minute yoga practice before work 3 times, and spent some quality floor time stretching on another day.  It was nice not having to fly through the morning as a giant stress ball, but I was definitely wasted by the end of the day - which made finding the motivation to work out rather difficult. My week ended up looking something like this:

Monday: 20 minute yoga practice
Tuesday: 20 minute yoga practice, 15min treadmill run, 30 minute training session
Wednesday: 20 minute yoga practice, 30 minute trainer ride (I just felt like spinning without a plan)
Thursday: 20 minutes stretching on the floor, 60 minute trainer ride
Friday: 20 minutes strength training at home
Saturday: Zero
Sunday: 1000 yd swim

Total Time: 4 hours, 7 minutes
Total Distance: 21.33 miles*

Definitely not the strongest finish, but I think next week will be better.  I has to be.  'A Race Day' is less than 7 months away!

*I looked at 2016's Garmin data and between swimming/biking/running/hiking, I put 895.94 miles on my body.  Let's see if I can blow that out of the water in 2017! I'm also working on trying to find a more visual way to display this, but in the interest of posting this in a timely manner, it'll have to wait!

June Totals

I know I'm probably the only person on Earth who cares about mileage totals/time/number of workouts, but I thought I'd share anyway - in case anyone is interested.

Swim: 8,835 yards (5.02 miles)
# of workouts: 9
Time: 4 hours, 26 minutes

Bike: 73.64 miles
# of workouts: 8
Time: 5 hours, 41 minutes

Run: 22.91 miles
# of workouts: 9
Time: 3 hours, 40 minutes

Strength:
# of workouts: 5
Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Totals:
Miles: 101.75
# of workouts:33
Time: 16 hours, 24 minutes

It should be interesting to see what happens in July!

If You Build It, It Will Come

So, picture this: It's 8pm on a Tuesday night and I'm sitting on the kitchen floor attempting to give myself something that resembles a pedicure and it occurs to me that I haven't updated this space in a while -  long while.  Why?  Because after working all day, training, and spending some time with Mr. R&R and the fuzzballs, there's not a whole lot of time left for much else.

After countless weeks of base training, I've entered the build phase.  What does that mean exactly?  Hopefully it means that I've created a solid enough fitness foundation that I can build a successful (by my standards) triathlon season on it. The build week is 4 weeks long and will culminate with my first triathlon since 2014.

Week 1:

Monday:
It may have been a holiday and a scheduled rest day, but I don't know if I call pruning the hell out of some seriously overgrown lilacs resting.  Perhaps it was more of an active recovery sort of day. At any rate, the lilacs look about 1000 times better and now I just have to wait for my dad to come over with his truck to haul the mess away.

Mr. & Mrs. R&R: Tree Hackers

Tuesday:
Long weekend is over.  Back to work.  Tonight was the first swim of the build phase and it was definitely a jump from the base phase.  1450 yards and I felt surprisingly strong during all of it.  All those base-building workouts may have started paying dividends.

Wednesday: 
Time to cover up the gray hairs.  I left work a little early and beelined it for the Mane Wrangler's chair.  On the way to my long overdue wine/chat/maintenance I came across a wild turkey. In the middle of the road.  And in no hurry to get across said road!

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Thursday:
25 minute treadmill run followed by a 30 minute ass-beating from my trainer.  I know I keep saying it, but she always finds such interesting ways to challenge me. I asked her about how she comes up with some of this stuff and she said I'm kind of her guinea pig since I'm willing to try just about anything she throws at me.  I'm sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I left the gym dripping sweat, sore, and happy.

Friday:
I'm so happy it's finally staying light out later.  It means we can occasionally pull off an after work bike ride instead of being relegated to riding on the trainer in the basement.  Instead of driving over to the trail, Mr. R&R and I have taken to riding the 4-ish miles to the trailhead at a very slow pace to get warmed up, resetting our watches, riding the 13-14 mile trail, resetting again, and slowly riding home to cool down.  All those low speed/high cadence trainer rides must be working because I rode the 13.25 miles at an average speed of 15.8mph - and if I hadn't had to stop at road crossings (and there are a bunch of them), it would have been 16.7mph!

I was almost to the turnaround point when I came across a family of Canada geese (complete with goslings) grazing alongside the trail.  I couldn't help myself and stopped to take a picture before riding on to meet up with Mr. R&R.

Of course, by the time we turned around, the goose family was in the middle of the trail and had no interest in getting out of our way.  Mr. R&R finally managed to scare them off to the side and we got hissed at as we sped by.  Note to self: Geese will f*ck you up!

Post ride, we stopped home long enough to change out of sweaty spandex before heading out for dinner and a beer.

Mmmm...Lagunitas

Saturday: 
Unplanned, but very needed rest day.

Sunday:
Mr. R&R and I were up and out of the house ridiculously early in order to drive the hour and a half out to Verona, WI so we could check out the swim venue for our upcoming triathlon.  Oh, did I mention that Mr. R&R has decided to give the insanity of the tri life a shot?  It's been great having someone to train with - even if he's usually miles in front of me.

The plan was to go for a short-ish swim when we got to Verona, but it turns out that the lake wasn't open until the following weekend! Ugh.  At least it wasn't a total waste of a trip.  We were able to get close enough to see that the water is very clear and I could almost picture myself swimming around the entire lake.

That's some VERY clear water

We were both a little annoyed at missing out on a chance for an open water swim as we headed back to Milwaukee.  There was some discussion of driving up to the lake by YadaYada's house, but I was under a serious time crunch since I needed to make an appearance at my step-niece's 5th birthday party that afternoon and there was no way to pull off both.  We ended up stopping at Pewaukee Fleawaukee Lake on the way home.  As you know by now, I have a lot of history with that particular lake - most of it negative.  Of course, the lake in Verona had been crystal clear and glass-calm.  The Flea was nothing but chop and weeds.  I flat out refused to swim outside the buoy line due to the waves and it's a damn good thing I did.  I was getting buffeted by waves every other stroke and could only breathe when my head was facing the shore.  It was slow, but I covered 400 yards in that miserable piece of water, did a full deck-change in a parking lot (hopefully I didn't flash anyone), sped home, rinsed my wetsuit, jumped in the shower, and hauled ass to the birthday party.  Fortunately, a 5 year old doesn't care if you're wearing a baseball hat and no make up, as long as you bring the gift of Frozen Legos!

Week 2: 

Monday:
It was just me, the trainer, and an hour of intervals - oh and Captain Jack Sparrow for entertainment.

Power is Pretty

Tuesday:
1500 yards in the pool - including 8x100 intervals.  I was feeling okay about all of it until my foot decided to cramp during my cool down. I think I spent most of that last 200 trying to swim with my right foot flexed in a feeble attempt to get the cramp to go away.  On a positive note, I didn't get stuck in the lane next to the old guy who insists on wearing a teeny tiny speedo!

Wednesday:
SuperRun 5k.  I haven't run this race since 2013 when I was training for my first triathlon with the newbie herd.  The course has changed somewhat since then, but there's still a monstrous hill right after Mile 2.  My only goal for the race was to run faster than I did in 2013.  My splits for the first 2 miles were unbelievable.  Mile 1: 8:22  Mile 2: 8:42  I was unintentionally on track for a monster PR and then the hill hit.  The blazing pace of the first 2 miles combined with the hill put me in a hole I couldn't climb out of.  Mile 3 was a disastrous 11:12.  I crossed the line in 29:21 (almost a minute faster than 2013), but absolutely furious with myself for coming unglued in the final mile. I found Mr. R&R (who turned in a monster PR), grabbed a beer, and had a little reunion with some other members of the 2013 newbie herd - so it wasn't a total loss.

Thursday:
Yesterday's race kicked the crap out of me.  My head ached, my legs were sore, I need a day off - so I took it.

Friday:
Hooray for the return of summer hours.  I had grand plans of leaving the office by 1:30, running, and squeezing in a 3pm training session, and having dinner at my mom's. That went out the window when my trainer texted my at 8:00am that she was sick, I didn't get out of work until 2:30pm, and the mercury soared to over 90 degrees.  I came home, took a nap, did a 30 minute strength workout in the basement, and still had dinner at my mom's.  Dinner was delicious.  The cocktails were strong. I slept like a rock!

Saturday:
My day started with a green monster (yeah, those are back!) and chucking all that lilac detritus into the back of my dad's truck so it could be hauled off to the dump.  I'm amazed that it only took 2 trips, and Mr. R&R and I took my dad to brunch at BelAir Cantina.  By the time we left, I was convinced that I didn't need to eat again for a week, but it was damn good!

Our next stop was Endurance House so Mr. R&R could get a tri top and try on a wetsuit.  He ended up coming home with a really nice BlueSeventy (hmmm...maybe I should upgrade) and naturally that meant it needed to go for its inaugural swim in YadaYada's lake.  By the time we got up there, it was 3:00pm and the place was absolutely crawling with people.  We got some really crazy looks from people as we waded into the water clothed neck-to-ankles in neoprene, but as soon as we started swimming toward one of the buoys on the other side of the lake, we had the water to ourselves.  My initial plan was to swim out to the buoy (about 200 yards) and then turn around and swim back to the beach.  I swam slowly, but managed to get there without my usual open water panic attack(s). When we reached the first buoy, Mr. R&R said he was going to go for the second buoy, so I decided to follow him - with the understanding that I would be swimming straight back across that lake once I reached it. I had a small panic attack on the way to that second buoy, but I made it.  Mr. R&R decided he was going to go for the third and final buoy to complete the lake loop.  I wasn't feeling up to it, so I said I'd swim diagonally toward the beach and he could pick me up on his way in.  That didn't last too long.  About 50 yards and another panic attack, I decided that I would rather suffer being exhausted and freaked out following him, than suffer being exhausted, freaked out, and alone on a different trajectory.  As soon as I got to the third buoy, I grabbed my emergency trailer buoy and held onto it until I calmed down and recovered a bit before beginning the long swim back to the beach.  I panicked a few more times on the way back (random clear spots where there were suddenly weeds in my face), but I made it.  I hauled myself out of the water feeling both annoyed that I freaked out so much and proud that I had swam over 1000 yards in open water (longest open water swim I've ever done) and had swam around an entire freaking lake!

Sunday:
You know race day is getting closer when there's a brick on the schedule.  45 minutes on the trainer followed by a 10 minute run.  The ride was decent (and a good reminder that chamois butter is a requirement), transition to running shoes was fast thanks to my newly installed speed laces, and the run was really good.  I didn't experience any of the usual jello-legs feeling off the bike, my breaths were coming easily, and I held a pretty good pace for that 10 minutes. If only I could feel like that right off the bike all the time!


Week 1 & 2 combined totals:
Swim: 1.73 miles
Bike:  41.79 miles
Run:  6.70 miles
Strength: 2 sessions
Total Distance: 51.05 miles
Total Time: 7 hours, 25 minutes


Two weeks down. Two weeks until race day!

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 4

I'm tired. So tired.  The last 8 weeks have been amazing in terms of building a good foundation; but they've also taken a bit of a toll and I think it all caught up to me this week.  Mr. R&R and I have jointly decided that we'll be taking a recovery week before plowing headlong into the build phase of training - but more on that another time.

Monday
My scheduled rest day became a workout day when I scheduled a desperately needed Wednesday night appointment with The Mane Wrangler.  I was already in a mood from work and when my ANT+ stick (the thing that communicates with my speed/cadence sensor and allows the program to make virtual power calculations) malfunctioned and then my Garmin decided it didn't want to cooperate.  I damn near threw in the towel and called it a lost cause but eventually I calmed down and got everything to work - after 3 false starts.  At least my power output was pretty!

Tuesday
Dear Mother Nature:

It is March 1st.  Dumping 4+ inches of snow on us is not acceptable - especially when I have to drive to bumble*%$@ nowhere in rush hour traffic.

Love,
Rabbits and Runs

Why was I driving to bumble*%$@ nowhere? Because I had an appointment to get my dress for Little Sister's wedding altered and rescheduling was out of the question.  30 minutes out, 40 minutes getting pinned into a dress that makes me look pregnant, 30 minutes home.  I took 20 minutes to decompress and then Mr. R&R and I headed for the pool. I think the sensory deprivation was just what I needed to regroup.

Wednesday:
Drinking wine with The Mane Wrangler while she made me feel pretty again was a fabulous way to spend an evening.

Thursday:
I love when my night to work late goes so well that I get home by 6:30 instead of 8:00!  Mr. R&R and I had our regular Thursday night gym date.  My weird abdominal problem from a few weeks ago cropped up again, but I really didn't want to solve it by digging my fingers into it - no. more. bruises.  I ended up slowing down a little when the pain was at its worst and then speeding up when it let up.  Somehow I still ended up with negative splits!  Afterward, we each squeezed in a short strength workout and then pointed ourselves straight to Trader Joe's for chips and guacamole - the only thing that sounded even remotely appealing to either of us.

Friday:
Last swim of Base Building!  My goggles stayed on my face and my body only sort of hated me for swimming blocks of 200 yards, and I made a concerted effort not to inhale pool water in hopes of avoiding another bout of sinus crud.  After 8 weeks of working at it, I finally feel like I'm really pulling myself through the water with each stroke rather than just thrashing up and down the lane.  I spent a lot of that swim wondering if/how much all this pool time is going to translate to open water.  I'm really hoping that I can get to a point of having enough confidence in my ability to swim the distance that I just have to focus on controlling my open water anxiety - and we all know how bad that anxiety fucks with my head.

We also took the boys upstairs after dinner for some music/reading/cuddle time and they both snuggled up so close to me that I ended up dozing off while petting them.  Bunny cuddles are the best!

You're getting sleeeeepy.

Saturday:
I made it to the gym in time to run a really fast warm up mile before enduring a 30 minute ass beating from my trainer.  By the time she was done with me my legs, abs and butt ached, my arms were shaking ,and I was convinced that I was never going to stop pouring sweat. I love having someone there to show me new things and to push me way outside my comfort zone - and the results are awesome. The lines down the center of my abs are starting to show again and I feel so much stronger.

After the gym, I made a quick pit stop at my mom's house and then headed home to discover that Mr. R&R had cleaned the entire kitchen and was in the process of doing all of Walter and Spot's laundry! I changed my clothes, made a quick list, and headed out to do a bunch of errands while he kept going on the laundry - because those rabbits really know how to make the laundry pile up.

Sunday:
Our recovery week started early when Mr. R&R and I decided to blow off the bike in favor of a long walk around the zoo.  It turns out that we picked the perfect day to go - there were very few people around and the animals were really active.

The Humboldt Penguins are right by the entrance and I made some crack about how they needed to quit moving around so much so I could get a picture - and then promptly cracked up when these little guys lined themselves up as though they were posing for me!

Other highlights included:

Baby Lowland Gorilla

Fennec Fox

Tafari: 6 Month Old Reticulated Giraffe

Seeing Tafari was particularly exciting for both of us since he's the animal we chose to sponsor this year (last year was the Red River Hog).  The four adult giraffes kept meandering aimlessly around their winter enclosure, but Tafari just hung out on the  ground, munching hay, and seemed to be completely unfazed by all the people staring at him.

Are you a zoo fan?  What's your favorite animal?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 3

It finally happened. I missed a workout - but we'll get to that in a minute.

Monday:

Rest day!  As usual this was a much needed day off.  Mr. R&R and I made a mad dash across town after work to pick up Walter's medication refill from Dr. Beast's office and while we were on that side of town, we made a pit stop at Whole Foods to pick up greens for the boys.  Neither of us have been to Whole Foods in forever, so we grabbed a couple slices of pizza for dinner (I went with a slice of cheese-less veggie and a slice of vegan) and picked up hummus and baba ghanoush to go with our Tuesday and Wednesday night dinners.  When we got home, Mr. R&R got busy cleaning up Walter and Spot's cage and I hit the kitchen to make spanakorizo (this one's been on the menu a lot).  When the rice was done, I dumped it in a bowl and left it on the counter to cool a bit.  

Tuesday:

Guess what I forgot to put in the refrigerator last night?  If you said: the bowl of spanakorizo, you're right.  I. Was. Pissed.  Fortunately, I was able to come up with a reasonable alternate dinner plan when we got home from the pool, so the hummus and baba ghanoush didn't go to waste.  

Speaking of the pool, I think I may be developing some sort of weird chlorine allergy.  About 2-3 hours after I swim, I start sneezing uncontrollably, my nose simultaneously runs and stuffs up, and I'm all around miserable.  This has happened twice now, but I'm still hoping that maybe it's just some sort of weird cold thing that's exacerbated by the pool chemicals.

Wednesday:

I went another round with Ericcson and felt awesome. I think I'm definitely starting to get the hang of this whole 'training with virtual power' thing.

It's been something of a struggle to make myself get on the bike after a long day at work, but having a good action movie on in the background makes it a little more palatable.  In the past few weeks, we've watched all three Ironman movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Avengers, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.  This week we moved away from the Marvel universe and on to Pirates!

Thursday:

Some people celebrate their birthdays by throwing parties, going out, or taking a day off.  I celebrated the big 3-6 by working, going for a run on the treadmill, and making homemade margherita pizza with Mr. R&R - and polishing off half a box of Girl Scout cookies!

Friday:

New gear always makes working out more fun, so when my swimoutlet.com order showed up a day early, I was a little more willing to go to the pool.  I really love both of my Speedo suits, but those things are expensive and chlorine is murder on spandex.  I ordered a $23 Sporti suit and as long as it holds up, I may never buy another Speedo.  It didn't ride up. It didn't cut into my shoulders. It was so light that I practically felt like I was skinny dipping!  I also ordered a really cheap silicone swim cap because the two I have are starting to wear out and a new pair of goggles because I'm really tired of feeling like my eye sockets are bruised after 1000 yards!  The swim cap was another huge win.  I'm never paying $11 for a swim cap again.  The jury is still out on the goggles.  They didn't leak, but they still started to hurt after a while and the excess strap kept brushing my shoulder in the water.  I'm going to try a few things before making a final decision on them.

Saturday:
Sometimes you just need a day to do nothing and today was that day.  I slept like crap last night courtesy of another bout of post pool sneezing and sinus issues and woke up feeling like I couldn't really breathe through my nose.  The day was spent laying on the couch with a blanket and a good book.

Eventually I managed to drag myself to the shower and put on a dress before Mr. R&R and I met friends for dinner.  Our original plan was to hit the bikes when we got home, but dessert and a second glass of bordeaux won the day.

Sunday:

I really did not want to adult today.  Maybe that second glass of wine wasn't such a good idea?  Mr. R&R left for his run/training appointment and I dragged my ass out the door by 8:30AM to run errands.  My stops were: Stone Creek (2 lbs coffee beans + huge cup of coffee), Fresh Market (rabbit greens, berries, spinach), Trader Joes (groceries), and Target (a couple things I can't get at TJ's and household crap). 

My To Do list was ridiculous: food prep, a frightening amount of laundry, planning for next week (which is so jam packed that I felt like I was planning the invasion of Normandy), 3 miles to run, and yesterday's missed bike ride.  Ugh.  

Mr. R&R got started on the laundry while I hit the kitchen to do food prep.  Nothing new from the kitchen this week; just yogurt messes, spanakorizo, chicken, and another batch of wonton soup since last week's was a big hit with both of us.  2 1/2 hours later I emerged from the kitchen with a full refrigerator and we continued to work our way through the apocalyptic piles of laundry.  It was quickly becoming obvious that I was going to have to choose between the bike and the run since I was running out of hours in the day.  The bike won and my Perfect Week Streak came to an end.  I wasn't happy about the streak ending, but that's life.  Sometimes workouts get missed - I just have to make sure it's the exception, not the rule.

60 minutes of Carson was followed by our traditional Oscar Night nachos, folding more laundry, and bed.

Round 2: Week 3 Totals:

Swim: 2,675 yards (1.52 miles)

Bike: 21.6 miles

Run: 3.01 miles

Strength Training: 1 session

Total Miles: 26.13 miles

Total Time: 3 hours, 49 minutes

February Totals*:

Swim: 6,800 yards (5.1 miles)

Bike: 86.24 miles

Run: 22.46 miles

Strength Training: 6 sessions

Total Miles: 113.81 miles

Total Time: 17 hours, 19 minutes

*Since I'm publishing this post on February 29th, I'm including tonight's workout in my totals even though it's not accounted for in the weekly totals - yet!

Did you watch the Oscars?  What'd you think?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 2

R2W2 was a weird one.  Nothing particularly horrible happened, but it was one of those weeks where a series of small things go wrong and after a while it really starts to mess with your head.  I think this happens at least once in every training cycle, so it's not completely foreign to me - just really &*$% annoying.

Monday:

My regularly scheduled rest day - and boy did I need it.  I was still really sore from Saturday's triple workout and I arrived at the office to discover (weird occurrence #1) that out of 16 people in the department: 3 had called in sick, 1 was so sick that I sent her home, 2 more left early because they felt so crummy, and 3 more were sick, but functional.  I spent my day feeling a bit like a kindergarten teacher; running around with Clorox wipes and a can of Lysol - and praying that I didn't catch whatever they all had! My lentil soup/stew was pretty good at lunchtime.  I didn't mind the 'stew-ish' texture, but I'm standing by the plan to add more balsamic vinegar next time.

By the end of the day all I wanted to do was go to bed.  Mr. R&R ended up having to attend a last minute business dinner, so I was on my own.  I contemplated picking up a sandwich from my favorite place, but I had all the stuff I'd spent time making on Sunday in the refrigerator, so I behaved myself and ate at home.  I scooped some of the mushroom rice into a bowl, stirred in some leftover crockpot chicken, added some freshly grated cheese, and threw the whole mess into the microwave.  I can't say it was the best thing I've ever eaten, but it did the job and let me spend most of the night on the couch with my Kindle.

Tuesday:

Mr. R&R and I hit the pool after work for 1000 yards and the series of weird occurrences continued.  My Garmin (the 920xt) decided it didn't want to record all my laps - and thus messed with my /100 average.  I noticed the issue, swam a little extra to try to make the watch show the right yardage, but it kept coming up short!  Grrr. On the ride home, I googled the problem and it sounds like I'm not the first person to experience this nonsense.  There are a couple of possible fixes: stronger push off the wall, using my right arm to take my first stroke (since I wear my watch on my left arm), and trying to glide off the wall as long as possible.  I'll be implementing those on Friday.  Dinner was leftover mushroom rice and chicken - again.  The combination isn't bad, but it's not earth shatteringly amazing either.  I think the rice recipe needs some tweaking if I make it again.

Wednesday
Whatever plague is going around has continued to ravage my office.  This week has been a nonstop parade of: sanitizing workspaces, covering for those who are out, and trying to do my own job.  I seriously considered skipping tonight's bike workout when Mr. R&R suddenly had another work dinner to attend.  Eventually I convinced myself to put my book down and dragged myself down to The Cave.  Tunnabora was, as expected, 45 minutes of leg-burning sweatiness - with American Beauty as background entertainment.

Afterward, I made myself some macaroni and cheese and threw a meatloaf in the oven to bake for dinners later in the week.

Thursday
Most of the office was back in today (with the exception of one who had to be sent home due to a positive strep test), so I was able to do more actual work, so that was good.  I got home later than planned and Mr. R&R and I packed ourselves off to the gym to run and lift. What a run - those splits made me beyond happy!  The whole thing was only 8 seconds off of PR pace.

Takeout was on the menu tonight - a stupid move - but a really tasty one.

Friday
I thought that perhaps the weird occurrences were done for the week. Nope. Friday morning started with a 5:30am text message from a sick minion, oversleeping, and then Mr. R&R broke the news: the coffee grinder had committed suicide.

My usual weekday morning routine looks something like this:

• pour coffee just before walking out door
• allow coffee to cool to drinkable temperature on the drive to work
• consume half of coffee while checking email/getting situated for the day
• consume remaining half of coffee over the course of the next hour

Obviously an emergency Starbucks run with my fellow coffee-addicted coworker (in windy, but unseasonably warm weather) was in order!  Once caffeinated, the rest of the day passed quickly and by 5pm I was on my way home. 

The initial plan was to lay on the couch with a book until Mr. R&R came home and we headed for the pool, but no sooner had I settled myself onto the couch, a text message had me hoofing up to the bar for a quick beer with Mr. R&R, Who-Ha, and another friend.  I can count on one hand the number of drinks I've had in the last 6 weeks, so I was careful to limit myself to one beer since I still needed to swim.  I'm not the most social creature on the planet, but it was nice to see people for a little while - the whole triathlon thing is kind of murder on your social life.

We got to the pool around 7:30pm and discovered that instead of the usual Rugrat Night in the exercise pool it was RUGRAT NIGHT ON STEROIDS. There was some sort of kid-related pool party going on and that meant that the locker room was a wasteland of puddles and dirty towels thrown everywhere.  The pool deck was overrun by kids and there was nowhere dry to put down our towels and keys.  Fortunately, there were no kids in the lap pool, so the workout was still able to happen.  My Garmin cooperated by registering all my laps, but my swim cap and googles decided to act up instead.  Within the first 100 yards, I could feel my cap creeping upward and trying to escape from my head.  Grr. I stopped, fixed it, put my goggles back on and continued my warm up.  Then my goggles started leaking.  I swam the last 50 of the warm up with my eyes closed.  It was all downhill from there.  Despite my best efforts, my googles continued to leak approximately every 50 yards (time to order new ones) and my calves decided that mid-drill was a great time to cramp.  The end of the workout could not come fast enough!  Despite a less-than-stellar performance, it wasn't a total loss. I attempted exactly one flip turn after I shut off my watch and it. was. perfect.  

We got home around 9pm, ate (read: inhaled) some meatloaf, gave Walter his weekly bath, and took both boys upstairs to snuggle and listen to music.  Bunny snuggles pretty much make everything right in the world. 

Saturday:

I awoke to a nose that was both stuffed up and runny. So much for avoiding the death plague entirely, but I'm hoping this is as bad as it gets.  I spent most of the day lounging on the couch with a blanket - moving only to do my bike ride and take a long, steamy shower.  I did manage to make more progress  on the book I'm reading and I watched the Imitation Game (if you haven't seen it, watch it), so I wasn't a total waste of carbon. Oh, and the replacement coffee grinder showed up on my doorstep so Mr. R&R/I don't have to make a coffee run in the morning and the world will be a slightly safer place on Monday morning.

Many thanks to my friend April for posting this on my Facebook page because it's true!

Sunday:
I had another appointment with my trainer today - and a run to do.  I got to the gym early and hit the treadmill. I've been bad about adding to my mileage and had plenty of time so I ran 4 miles - the most I've run in a while.  Good god I love negative splits - and I really love them when they're fast!

Post run I cleaned off my treadmill and promptly walked straight outside in an attempt to stop the torrents of sweat pouring out of me before I met up with my trainer.  When I met up with her (she needs a blog name - any ideas?), a 30 minute beating ensued.  There were squats, lunges, all manners of abdominal work, and oh yeah...shoulder touch push ups.  I was absolutely wasted by the time we were done - and I loved it.

I stopped in the locker room long enough to put on street clothes and jot down all the moves I just did while they were still fresh in my mind (otherwise I have no chance of remembering them so I can do them on my own) before dashing over to my mom's house to shimmy up a ladder and help her out with a little home repair.  I mentioned that I was planning to go to Trader Joe's afterward and she ended up coming along for the ride.  Holy crap that place was packed.  If my refrigerator hadn't been naked, I would have turned around and walked out. As it is, I still managed to forget one thing on my list so I'll have to make another trip at some point this week.

In need of replenishing

When I got home, Mr. R&R and I put the package of Italian sausages (second shelf down on the right) to good use.  We've had an unseasonable warm spell this weekend, so Mr. R&R fired up the grill and 45 minutes later we were feasting on sausages and veggies cooked in beer.  I can't wait until 'Use-The-Grill-All-The-Time' season arrives for real!

While the sausages were cooking, I started my meal prep for the week by making a pot of wonton soup.  I used a hybrid of a couple of recipes, so I'll reserve sharing until I've eaten the final product for lunch next week.  I probably should have done more prep, but there were some other chores that needed my attention more, so I'll make chicken and spanakorizo tomorrow night when I get home from work and I'll throw together some yogurt messes and proatmeal before bed tonight.  My lunch/dinner plans for the rest of the week involve using up stuff that's lurking in my freezer, so that should keep the work and maybe the dishes to a minimum.  I swear, the dishes will be the end of me.

Round 2: Week 2 Totals:
Swim: 2.125 yards (1.21 miles)
Bike: 18.48 miles
Run: 7.15 miles
Strength Training: 2 sessions
Total Miles: 26.84 miles
Total Time: 4 hours, 33 minutes

What'd you do this weekend? Seen any good movies/read any good books? Recommendations?

Base Building: Round 2 - Week 1

I'm going another round with base-building.  After 4 intense weeks, I feel really good, but there are some weak spots and I have the time before racing season, so I've decided to continue to build my foundation before I start constructing a house/tri season on it.  The workouts are essentially the same as Round 1, but I'm planning to add some yardage to my swims, a little distance to my runs (since there's less than a month until the next Chilly Willy Series race), and more consistent strength training - so don't be surprised if the numbers change a bit this round.

Monday:

Rest day? Hah!  Mr. R&R bundled up and headed out to shovel snow and I got to work on the last bit of my meal prep for the week: spanakorizo, Greek-seasoned chicken, and tzatiki sauce. After a false start (I grabbed 2 bunches of Walter and Spot's dandelion greens and started washing them instead of the 2 bunches of spinach) the spanakorizo simmered away on the stove, the chicken went into the oven, and I threw together the tzatziki sauce.  Total time in the kitchen: 1 hour.   Dinner: Awesome!

After dinner, we gave Walter his weekly bath and then took him and Spot upstairs to listen to music while Walter dried off.  All four of us were dozing off!

Tuesday:

It's cold and crappy outside.  Must be swim night!  The original workout called for 850 yards, but I tacked on another 100 yards because...well...goals.  Dinner (at 9pm - ugh) was identical to Monday's dinner and I was super excited about eating leftovers. If you want to try it for yourself, here' are the recipes for the  Spanakorizo and the Tzatziki  

Wednesday:

Bike assessment time. Tonight was all about seeing if the last 4 weeks of getting my ass kicked at high cadence/low speed and sweating buckets translated to an increase in my functional threshold power (FTP) - the power output I could theoretically maintain for an hour.  According to TrainerRoad, an increase of 2-3% is to be expected.  My increase in FTP, after a really friggin' brutal assessment, was on the low end: 2%.  Mr. R&R and I were both ravenous and big bowls of whole grain spaghetti, puttanesca sauce, and freshly grated parmesan cheese seemed like the quickest way to satisfy the raging hunger beast.

Thursday: 

It was my night to work late.  Fortunately things went quite a bit faster than usual and I was able to escape a little earlier than normal.  Mr. R&R and I hit the gym around 8:00pm for a 3 mile (treadmill) run and a brief strength training session.  The run sucked beyond suck.  Midway through Mile 1 I started getting a weird knot in the front of my abdominals.  This wasn't like a regular old side stitch - it was in the front, not the side.  Okay. Fine.  I dug my fingers into the knot in an attempt to release it and maintain my pace.  That didn't work.  Mile 2 was just an exercise in pain.  The knot basically felt like a someone was pinching the muscle and twisting it any time I tried to go much faster than walking pace.  I must have managed to dig my fingers into it just right because as much as it sucked, I was able to pick it up again a little for Mile 3.

Afterward, I dragged myself into the free weight area for some dumbbell rows and raises and then over to the mats for plank shoulder touches while Mr. R&R finished up in the weight room.  It was well after 9pm by the time we got out of there, so we listened to the Bernie/Hilary debate while picking up burgers for dinner.  Politics and burgers...makes me feel like I'm in college again!

Friday:

So, that nasty little knot from last night had lasting effects.  I actually had a tender spot on my stomach from how hard I dug my fingers into it.  In an unusual turn of events, I actually left work at 5pm, stopped at the grocery store that's on my route home to procure a whole chicken, and had time to lounge around and read for a while before Mr. R&R and I headed for the pool for our Friday night swim date.  The prescribed workout was 850 yards, but in the spirit of trying to add a little more distance this round, I ended up swimming 1050 - and at the fastest average pace I've swam yet!  Granted, I still inhale/swallow a gallon of pool every time I try to do a flip turn, but speed is slowly, but surely improving.  We came home, chowed down on some italian beef and mashed potatoes from my freezer stash, read a little more, and crashed.

Saturday:
I had grand plans of sleeping in today, but that went out the window when I woke up at 7:30am and couldn't get back to sleep.  I ended up having a good breakfast (egg tacos), drinking coffee, and lounging around with a book for most of the morning.  That was the calm before the storm because somewhere around 8am, I had hatched a plan.

My plans for the day had originally involved a training session, a bike session, and a bunch of errands.  I had planned on getting to the gym a little early to squeeze in a 1 mile warm up run before my training session because I didn't want to waste time/money on a supervised warm up - and then I got the bright idea that I'd go in even earlier, do Sunday's planned 3 miler, go to my training session, run the errands, hit the bike, and end up with two back to back rest days.  I was a little behind schedule, so I was only able to cram in 1.75 miles before I met with my trainer (who totally kicked my ass).  I debated calling off the whole plan, but the thought of two solid days off drew me back to the treadmill - and I'm really glad I did.  I ran a really awesome mile and a half!

I stopped off at my mom's to drop off some freezer jam and pick up a ladle I'd left there after a family holiday event, picked up two pounds of coffee from a local roaster, and then Mr. R&R and I made a trip to Trader Joes to pick up everything we needed for the coming week and a special treat - the makings of prosciutto and caramelized onion pizza.  Happy early V-Day to us!  Of course before the pizza could happen, the bike workout had to happen.  Let me tell you - getting on that bike did not sound like fun - and it wasn't. 45 really uncomfortable minutes later, Goddard was done, and it was time to eat!

Sunday:
I'm pretty sure that the first thing out of my mouth this morning was: $*%&ing OW!.  My abs and legs hurt!  I didn't really want to get off the couch, but when Mr. R&R left for his run and training session, I dragged myself out to the kitchen, put on a pot of coffee, and threw a chicken in the crock pot to do its thing for the rest of the day before retreating back to the couch to enjoy my coffee, a new book, and to temporarily silence my aching muscles.

My food prep/attempt to cook my way through my Pinterest boards for the coming week included:

- A whole chicken in the crockpot (9 hours on low and the thing practically carved itself)

- Damn Delicious' One Pot Mushroom Rice: Pretty decent, but not sure I'd make it again.

- Epicurious' French Lentil Soup: Turned out way more like a stew than a soup.  I think next time I'd add more liquid and a bit more balsamic vinegar.

Six servings? More like 5.

- Pastry Affair's Beer Bread: OMG. I will never buy a box mix for this stuff again.  6 ingredients, 5 minutes of prep, and so damned good!

I also threw together a few yogurt messes and mixed up the dry ingredients for proatmeal, so I'm all set for breakfast this week too.  My refrigerator is packed - and will be nearly naked by Friday night!

The chicken was still in the crockpot and took up the last of the available real estate

Round 2: Week 1 Totals:
Swim: 2000 yards (1.14 miles)
Bike: 21.07 miles
Run: 6.28 miles
Strength Training: 2 sessions
Total Miles: 28.49 miles
Total Time: 4 hours, 36 minutes

Do you ever cook any of the things you pin?  If so, what's the best thing you've made?

Back to Basics: Week 4

4 weeks. 24 workouts. Over 100 miles. And I did them all!  There have been days where I hurt like hell, but overall I feel incredible and I'm really looking forward to going another round with this base building plan. (Yes, I know this is a week late. Life got in the way of blogging.)

Monday:

Rest Day.  Sometimes I swear that the only thing getting me through the week is the prospect of a day off!  I worked, came home, got a 90 minute massage, scarfed down shrimp fried rice, and spent some quality time with Mr. R&R and the boys - listening to Nirvana and Jethro Tull on vinyl.

Tuesday:

1000 yard swim.  This is one of the best swims I've had yet - even if the drills felt like they were trying to kill me!  Leftover shrimp fried rice was on the menu again tonight - along with some really yummy chicken and cilantro wontons from Trader Joe's.  I think this whole 'cook a bunch of stuff on Sunday' thing is definitely helping.  I love not having to wait more than 5 minutes for food after a long day - and it keeps me from doing really stupid things like hitting the drive thru.

Wednesday:
Today was a 45 minute bike workout called Geiger. 3 blocks of Sweet Spot (just below FTP) work.  Really good, but really sweaty!

Thursday:
It finally happened.  I had to make peace with my nemesis: the treadmill.  It was cold, dark, and late by the time I got home from work, so my choices were track or treadmill.

I haven't been on one of these devices in a few years and once I settled in I ended up having one of the best runs I've had in a while and the people watching was pretty good too!

I also crammed in a quick strength workout after my run - trying desperately to remember all the things that my trainer had me do.  I think I need to take notes or something at my next session.

Friday:
The toughest swim yet. 1200 yards. Sets of 200. By the time I finished, I was exhausted, but happy. I'm definitely starting to feel more of a 'pull' with each stroke as opposed to just thrashing my way down the lane.

Saturday:
Last bike ride of Base Building: Monitor.  5 blocks of sweet spot work and I'm happy to say I. Nailed. Them.  I crawled off the bike, mopped up the puddle of sweat, stretched, and dragged myself up to the kitchen.  I stared at what was supposed to be dinner (a bunch of raw ingredients) and promptly reached for a package of refrigerated mushroom ravioli and a jar of puttanesca sauce.  Dinner in 20 minutes, 2 pots, and no chopping!

I also did some of the food prep for next week tonight because we've got Super Bowl plans for tomorrow.  I made a pot of Post Punk Kitchen's  Snobby Joes and a bunch of yogurt messes.  Snobby Joe's are a tried and true dish around here.  They're quite versatile in that they can be served sandwich style on a nice, crusty roll or eaten straight from a bowl - which was the plan for this week because rolls seem to go stale around here before they all get eaten!  My only modification from the original recipe is to increase the yellow mustard from 1 tablespoon to 3 tablespoons.  This was an accident the first time I made them, but it turned out to be a good accident!  I'll do the remaining food prep on Monday - my rest day.

Sweet, Spicy, Lentil Goodness 

Sunday:
It's 40 degrees, sunny, and the only wind is a light breeze.  Easy choice: Run Outside.  I suited up and hit the roads.  It was a little disheartening to get passed by a septuagenarian in shorts with calves like tree trunks, but he was super nice and cheerful as he bounded past, so that helped a little!  I wasn't really planning on doing a tempo run, but that's how the splits shook out.

I got home from my run just as Mr. R&R got home from his training session and after brunch and showers we got to work making a really naughty macaroni and cheese to take to Maverick and Goose's house for the Super Bowl.  This dish contains 5 kinds of cheese, thick cut bacon, onions caramelized in bacon grease, and roasted portabella mushrooms.  It was a hit - even though the game was a miss.  2 beers, a serving of mac and cheese (with a healthy dose of Sriracha), and 4 of Goose's famous spicy jumbo shrimp later - I nearly lapsed into a food coma on the way home!

Maverick and Goose's parrots observed and commented on the proceedings

Week 4 Totals:
Swim: 2200 yards (1.24 miles)
Bike: 15.84 miles
Run: 6.02 miles
Strength Training: 1 session
Total Miles: 23.1 miles
Total Time: 3 hours, 33 minutes