run this amazing day

Yesterday's comment on my workout?  "Your portion looks good, but I think the Garmin was a little lost at the start of your workout..." "Or maybe less drinking in the morning."

I'm heading into about the fourth week of being coached and my life is pretty different.  I get a schedule for 3-4 weeks at a time, so every night I look at it to see what I need to do the next day and pack my bag, set up my Garmin, etc.  It's nice because I don't have to do the big weekly planning, figuring out where things will fit in and how to rotate myself through swim-bike-run-lift-recover(?).  I know that I'm pretty fortunate to be able to have a coach, so I'm trying to really maximize it by following his schedule as perfectly as possible, no matter how insane it seems to me.  Once I got over being grumpy about ditching a bunch of races , it's been really interesting to see how training is progressing.   The downside of having a schedule like this, of course, is it makes training a much more lonely place.  Because of the specifics of each workout, I would be a giant pain in the ass to try and run or bike with, so I just do almost all of it alone. ...

Despite the fact that Amtrak ruined my plans to take NYC by storm , I actually ended up having a pretty stellar weekend.  Friday night we made sure to go out and stock up on all the essentials just in case we got stuck in the house for a while. I woke up early Saturday morning for my short long run with CAR .  I FINALLY managed to convince the poet that running with this group is 328 times more awesome than running alone, so he came along as well.  He ended up running all 16 miles with  Allison , who was also there for the first time and is training for Philadelphia as well.   I had about half of that on my own schedule.  A big chunk of it was Z2 (cue scary music), and then working slowly up into Z3 and Z4 for the remainder of the run.  I actually had a much easier time of staying in Z2, although I did have to take one short walk break to bring my HR down near the end of the interval.  However, the morning was so humid that I couldn't really s...

1. I do NOT like coconut. 2. I hate cooling down after a tough workout.  I did the hard part, let me eat something! 3. I would love to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and have someone hand me $5000 for doing something like saying, "No, he went the other way." 4. I broke my ankle when I was in 5th grade. 5. I am pro-choice. 6.  Sometimes I don't like that everyone can keep up with my life via the blog.  It would be nice if you picked up the phone every once in a while. 7. I can't remember the last time I ate fast food. 8. My ankle keeps cracking. 9. August will be the first month this year that I haven't raced.  At first I was bummed about it, but now it's okay.  Bigger goals. 10. With MANY exceptions, I think people that hyphenate their last names are pretentious assholes.   11.  I always crave the burrito, but then when I get there, I order the taco salad.  Damn you, Qdoba, and your delicious taco salad! 1...

1. On and off for about a month, I've had a slightly naggy shin.  At first I thought it was due to a mileage increase mid-July , and then I thought it was due to my new Adrenalines.  Swapping them out for a pair of Ravenna's helped, but then it came back after a long ride.  I realized a few weeks ago that my bike cleat on that side was shifted inwards, so I moved it out and then it went away, but after Sunday's long ride it's back and naggy as ever.  Since it didn't show up after my 7+ mile run on Saturday but did show up after my ride, I'm still inclined to think it's related to my bike shoes or cleat placement.  I'd prefer to not spend the rest of my life wrestling with the goddamn compression socks so hopefully later today I'll get it resolved.  In the meantime, I had it Graston'd last night at PT and, well, my PT learned some new curse words and let's just leave it at that.   2. Speaking of PT, last night was hopefully my final appoint...

This project is taking quite a bit longer to complete than I would have liked, but we're almost there... Yes, I always wear compression socks while caulking. Also, in case you don't have a twitter account, there was a small earthquake here in DC yesterday.  When the house started shaking, I took the pups out the front door to see what was going on.  They were pretty sleepy. We sat there for a few minutes so Molly could eat some mulch. And then I went back inside and cleaned up the glass of water that had tipped over and went back to work.   It's taking the rest of the coast a bit longer to work through their issues.  Sigh.  At least we know how to handle snow?

This morning I went to a local track to spend some time running in front of my coach so he could be the 185th person to tell me that my glutes don't work.  He also wanted to demonstrate some additional drills that will keep moving the Glutes Take Action movement forward (heh). I got there early and did a short warm-up.  The first thing he noticed is that my arms weren't swinging from my shoulder, but instead my shoulders were moving slightly forward and back.  He also said that my arm carriage is good, but my hands have some tension in them while I'm running.  He gave me a drill to work on this, and it felt incredibly strange (like most drills) but after about a lap I felt things start to settle down.   Now for the bottom half.  I've spent a lot of time this summer concentrating while running - not intentionally trying to force changes, but instead focusing on engaging the correct muscles in my butt.  The major side effect of this is that other p...

So, normally a day that ended up looking like this would be a pretty rotten day on a bicycle: But then add in this piece of information: And then this one: And it actually starts to look pretty okay.   Beth and I went out to Skyline Drive this weekend for the first time.  I had instructions to do an out-and-back and then a 30 minute run off of the bike.  I also had pretty strict instructions to stay in Z2 for the entirety of the ride, except for a few very specific climbs where I was allowed in Z3 and one where I was allowed into Z4 if needed.  So I knew it would be a long but relatively easy day. We parked at the first comfort station in the park and headed out.  The scenery was pretty gorgeous, and as the first climb started about 10 feet out of the parking lot, we had plenty of time to look around. I spent the whole day keeping my eye on my heart rate and making sure I was spinning as easily as I could.  It meant that the speed I was staring at ...

1.  I think plain water tastes weird.  I always put in a tiny splash of something to make it taste better. 2. I still have my tonsils and my appendix. 3. My foam roller has gone flat. 4. I do not own arm warmers. 5. Except to work, I've almost completely stopped wearing underwear. 6. The temperature and volume in my car must always be on even numbers.  Multiples of 5 are ok in an emergency. 7. I can't sleep if I am even the tiniest bit hot. 8. My glutes are sore.  Sore!  Me! 9. I've run a ton of races, and about 95% of those are 5Ks.  I still have quite a few "by default" PRs.   10. My favorite kind of grilled cheese is made with Velveeta. 11. I do not like being the person that uses the last sheet of TP. 12. I always change my sheets on Friday. 13. I could eat sliced strawberries forever. 14. I'm worried about how cranky I'm going to be when I'm 90.  I'm pretty cranky already. 15. I think the new-bike lus...

1. I tried a smoothie again this morning.  I used: 1 container of yogurt, 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 overripe banana, half a bag of frozen peaches.  It turned into brown ooge that mostly tastes like overripe banana, but I think I like it and at least my blender didn't catch fire this time .  GAK.  And it just gave me brain freeze. 2. I had an outstanding PT appointment yesterday called "I stopped doing everything you told me do to and suddenly I feel better."  Not really, but in essence, my coach told me I was doing strength work too often, so with a "hrrrmph," I listened to him and cut it all way back.  But suddenly last Friday, after a session with a baseball and an ice pack, my back started feeling about 80% better than it has in 2 months and I haven't been out of alignment once since then.  So I talked about it with my PT and he kind of agreed that I was doing it all too often (this makes me a rarity in physical therapy patient land, I am sure...

After Molly eats breakfast, she likes to come in and roll around on the bed like she's insane.  We call it "fighting off the crazy."   Sometimes, the crazy wins.

So first I'd like to preface this by saying that everything I'm about to say is probably wrong in some way, but feel free to send me angry emails about how dumb I am anyway. I'm through my first week of HR-based training and I actually like it.  My coach first set up my zones based on my, "Hmmm, I did a HR test in January on the bike and I think my max HR was 184? That sounds right."  But then I tried to run in Z4 and almost had a heart attack and my effort level was at 10 and I was 10 bpm under the bottom of the Z4 line.  So I actually went back and looked at the Garmin stats and discovered it was 171, not 184.  It also doesn't help that my HR strap was broken for 2 months so I have lots of rides and runs where my max HR is showing up as 244.  Wheeee! Anyhow, so my coach very kindly redid my zones but we scheduled a HR test because he's already discovering that I'm a nitwit.  I've been using those zones for the past week and I think that they ...

So, my training schedule has been flipped around.  Instead of doing my very long ride/run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday, I'm doing the reverse.  Which means that I was home, showered, foam rolled and second breakfast'd by 9:00am on Saturday morning.  Weird!  Saturday morning was quite nice for a run, and I found it actually fairly easy to stay in Z2 for the duration of the run, despite all the "I had to run so slowly I was going backwards" horror stories I've heard about starting HR training.  Later in the afternoon, I got an email from my coach suggesting that I bag the Skyline Drive ride I had been planning due to a really bad weather forecast.  Weather?  Rain?  Wha?  After we talked, it was decided that I'd either do the familiar 60-mile route from my house (if weather is really bad) or go down to Quantico and ride.  I'd heard about other cyclists riding down there but had never done it myself.  When I woke up Sunday m...

1. I erase my computer every once in a while just because.  Ditto my phone. 2. My second toe is the longest. 3. I love my Garmin.  I hate the noises. 4. I can't remember the last time I read a magazine. 5. I never capitalize things on twitter or in casual emails.   6. The smell of bleach reminds me of a very inappropriate smell. 7. I love being outside.  I will not sleep in a tent/sleeping bag/on the ground.  Being outside is for play, when it's time to sleep, I need a bed and a pillow. 8. We still have no idea what to do with our basement. 9. I have no visible birthmarks. 10. I've lived here for 3 years and there are still packed boxes. 11. My middle finger is crooked from years of pressing too hard on a pencil. 12. I don't like it when people respell words with numbers in them.  You aren't cool, you're stupid. 13. I really wish I hadn't quit the swim team when I was 7. 14. I hate my dishwasher. 15. I essentially only eat white meat anymore, and not e...