Mellllting....

Workout: 9mi on the treadmill watching Man vs. Food.

We got some snow last night. Enough for us to spin into a median driving home from dinner and to see a bunch of unlucky people who spun into other cars. It hasn't snowed in several weeks, and it was all white and pretty when I woke up. Unfortunately now it's just wet and drippy. But that means it's sunny and warm. No complaints there.

In other news, I got to see The Lute that D will be playing during early music ensemble, though I did have to tell him to quit it with Rhiannon and give me some strummy 15-th century stuff. He can also play the beginning of Stairway.

Still crossing my fingers for heart-shaped pizza tonight. And/or ice cream, which is a weekend tradition for us. Now it's time to relax with one of my new books.

Oh yeah! And The El Dorado Grill I mentioned yesterday? Two hour wait without reservations! And she said it's that way every night, not just on Valentines weekend. This is not a fancy place were talking about here. So we went to Chilis.

Taking it Easy

Workout: 4mi easy

Today is the first installment of Easy Friday. I ran 4mi this morning at an easy pace and didn't do any other exercise. No lifting, no biking, no swimming. Nothing to get in the way of my long run tomorrow. Hopefully the snow we're predicting to get will go along with the plan.

Tonight we're going to The El Dorado Grill for dinner. I just scarfed down some Secret Cupid chocolate so hopefully my appetite will be back by the time we get there, get seated, etc.

Anyone doing anything special for V-Day? There's a pizza place in town that's making heart-shaped pizzas, which has some appeal, but we're not planning to do anything special. D got his licorice last night, and I ate the jelly beans I was planning to give him so we are both set on the junk food front.

Secret Cupid Excitement

I got my Secret Cupid package last night from Amelia at AC/DC: Highways to Health. As you can see from the pictures, it contained a lot of tasty treats: a blueberry Z-bar, a coconut cream pie Lara Bar, a delicious dark chocolate bar, and several different varieties of tea. My favorite thing, though, is the Magic Muscles Massage bar (the white bumpy thing) that Amelia writes, "uses cinnamon leaf oil to heat things up and adzuki beans to loosen knots. Rub the bar where your muscles are aching and the peppermint oil will make your skin tingle." I haven't used it yet, but it smells wonderful.

Thanks again so much, Amelia. I hope to "see" you around here. And thanks to Lee at For the Love of Peanut Butter for organizing this.

Chelsea

Scheduling, spinning, etc.

Today's fitness fun:

Upper body weights- 3x10 reps of dips, seated row, bench press, overhead press, pullovers, and runner's raise- and core.

Spinning- 45min regular class at the Nat.

I think I'm finally figuring out a real schedule for the spring, with the goal of balancing easy and hard. I know I mention it a lot, but probably my biggest fitness struggle is making my hard days hard enough and my easy days easy enough. My natural tendency is to feel good, do too much but not with much intensity, crash, and repeat without making any progress. So I'm purposely choosing to take a very easy run day on Friday and a 45-min easier spin class on Thursday rather than a harder hour-long spin class on Friday. This also allows me to do my weight training at the same time as spinning, which I think is easier on my body than doing too separate workouts. Plus it's more efficient time-wise.

So right now things are looking like (intensity level in italics):
M- Tempo run (am) hard, swim (pm) easy to medium
T- Spin (am) medium, strength training (am) medium
W- Intensity run (am) hard, swim (pm) easy to medium
R- Spin (am) easy to medium, strength training (am) medium
F- Run (am) easy
S- Long run (am) medium to hard
U- Rest

The number one thing I'm trying to keep in my mind is that to get better, I need to focus my effort on those Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday runs. Everything else is secondary. If I need to take Friday off because I think it will give me more energy Saturday, then I shouldn't worry about it. Friday run << Saturday run.

So here's the question of the day: Do you have an overarching fitness "vision" that you use to keep yourself on track? Like, "I want to run XX time in a marathon so everything I do is dedicated to that goal." If that means you don't ski all winter or you take 2 weeks off running to let an injury heal, that's totally fine because it supports your goal of running XX time in a marathon.

Good hard and stupid hard

This is a follow up on my last post. D left a comment yesterday that made me think of a comment he made out loud the other night when we were talking about this same subject, "I don't think what you think 'really hard' is is the same as what I think 'really hard' is." And actually, I think he's right. I don't think I know what "really hard" is. Or rephrased, I don't know what "really hard but in a good way" is.

It's easy to know what "bad really hard" is. If you go out every single day and run as fast and as far as possible and then go to the gym and do as many burpees as you can in 30min (ahem, Crossfit endurance), you are probably going to burn out before you can make significant progress.

But I'm not sure where the sweet spot is. I consider an interval workout where you hit the paces prescribed by a training plan based on a previous race time to be moderately hard. I consider an interval workout where you run each interval as fast as you possibly can to be really hard. Same with tempo. Tempo run at 1/2 marathon pace is moderately hard. Tempo run as fast as I think I can possibly hold the pace (and probably slowing down at the end) is really hard. Doing 2 sets of bench presses where you really have to push through those last few before you hit fatigue is moderately hard. Doing sets of 5 where hitting every single rep is a challenge is really hard.

Basically, moderately hard makes me tired the next day but able to complete an easy workout. Very hard to me would be unable to workout the next day because I was totally dead. And that's fine in weight training. You do kill yourself every day you workout and then take the next day off. But- and this addresses another of D's comments in the comments- in running and triathlon, volume- and adding volume- is important. You can think of it as another form of intensity, even.

All this also makes me wonder if I'm pushing myself appropriately in races. For example, I think of 1/2 marathon pace as being "purposeful" and 10k pace as being "comfortably hard" whereas most running guides say that the 1/2 marathon or tempo pace should be "comfortably hard," and I've even seen someone post on a RW thread that he thought the marathon pace was comfortably hard. So am I running all my races way too slow? I'm famous for throwing up or almost throwing up at the end of every race so I always thought my intensity was appropriate, but maybe not.

So that's where I'm at.

My question is this: How do you define very hard? How do you know when you're working very hard as opposed to easy or moderately hard? How do you decide how you are going to balance your hard workouts with adding/sustaining training volume? I'm not really looking for anyone to give me an answer for what I should do. I'm more curious how others have discovered what works for them. I think that will help me think about what I'm doing.

Whew

Things have been going well workout-wise this week, but actual work has kept me too busy to update more often.

I did 8mi with intervals Monday, spinning Tuesday, 6mi yesterday, 6mi today, tomorrow will be spinning, and hopefully 10mi(in relatively warm weather!) on Saturday. Add in two swim sessions and, as of this afternoon, 2 strength training sessions, and you'll have my week.

By the way, my swimming is going very well. I always think I hate swimming until about the 3rd interval, and then I enjoy it a lot. Especially because it relaxes my shoulders after a day in front of the computer. I've progressed to being able to swim in the medium lane (rather than the slow lane) without embarrassing myself, and I think I really will be able to swim 500 yards in a row without dying at the end of 12 weeks. Considering that I was dying at the end of 50 yards just a few weeks ago, that's a lot of progress.

However, I think next week is going to be a cut back week. I've been running so little, it seems like, "Cut back from what?". But the plan is to run 6, 6, 6, 8, take it easy on the spinning, and drop the weight training sessions. When things are going well, I want to ignore that overall tired feeling that starts to accumulate (just one more workout!), but I know it's important. Mentally it's tough because I'm trying to lose some of my "emotional eating due to moving and starting a new job and Babcock ice cream" weight, but I know that as long as I eat reasonably, I'll be okay.

So this leads me to a self-realization I had at D's rowing meet: I just don't like working really hard. I don't like easy. I enjoy moderately hard, but when something gets really hard, I just don't do it. I do intervals and tempo runs if they are kind of hard, but I won't push myself to the limit. I don't mind fatiguing at rep 12 when I'm doing weight training, but I'm not going to do 5 sets of 5 on the squat.

D on the other hand likes working really hard. He has to be conscious about not trying to kill himself during a workout.

It bothers me a little bit because you see lots of inspirational quotes about never settling for less than your best or working your absolute hardest in everything that you do. But if you know you're not a "pusher" isn't it better to workout (or do anything) at a lower level than to not workout at all?

So here's my question: Are you a pusher? Do you always want to push yourself to see your limits? Or do you enjoy exercising (or whatever) only if it doesn't exceed the "moderately tough" threshold? Have you ever really thought about it? Do you see any benefits/drawbacks to the way you do things?

Yikes

www.marriedtothesea.com

I realized that if I don't start posting more often, my secret cupid is going to have no idea what to get for me!

First, a few random updates:

1. Tri club- Dinner and party were fun. It was nice to play college student again for an evening. Spinning was supposed to start tomorrow, but it's pushed back until either Friday or next week. I might go to the gym and ride the stationary bike just for a change of scenery.

2. Running has been good. I'm upping my mileage slowly, and I had another great speed workout on the treadmill today. I'm learning that I can go a lot faster than I think I can. Today I did my intervals starting at 7.2 and increasing to 7.4. I'm still trying to figure out where that "really hard" spot is. My goal this week is to run with Fleet Feet on Saturday unless it's cold or snowy out. Even though I'm feeling good, I think next week should be a cut back week.

3. I still have a hard time getting excited about swimming. And I'm not swimming today if the pool heater is still broken. Too cold.

4. I actually enjoyed watching D's indoor rowing meet on Saturday. He did very well for himself, and the whole event gave me a lot to think about in terms of pushing myself. I will leave that for a later blog entry (don't want to waste all my good ideas at once!).

So... about me...actually I'm going to totally punt on this one, and just copy in my 25 random things about you note from Facebook. Ha. I hope this helps anyone new around get a feel for who I am.

1. Yesterday the high was about 30 degrees. I therefore declared it, "really warm," and wore a short dress and sandals to dinner (with a coat- I'm not insane). Trying to walk in snow slush in heels is not a great idea.

2. My two favorite TV shows are What Not to Wear and My Name is Earl. I'm not sure what that means about me...

3. For the last 4 weeks I have only run and biked in place, and I've somehow convinced myself those activities are forms of entertainment. This goes along with #4.

4. My new favorite activity since November has been only going outside when it's absolutely necessary.

5. I can read books describing really gory murder scenes, but I have to cover my eyes if there's violence in a movie or on TV.

6. I'm actually doing the job I went to school to do, and I have really good coworkers. It's surreal.

7. I give people I don't know secret nicknames. I used to see Teddy Roosevelt walking in the morning. He had a beard, dressed in slacks and a shirt, and walked really fast, swinging his arms wildly. I think Teddy Roosevelt is somehow appropriate.

8. I will also name things if the right name occurs to me. My old Saturn was the Blue Jellybean.

9. I used to be incredibly shy around people I didn't know well. Now I am incredibly un-shy. People who know me now can't believe the first one, and I'm sure if I see people I knew in high school, they'll have a hard time believing I've become so outgoing.

10. The transformation that happened in #9 is definitely a result of teaching at the community college in New Mexico, and I will always be thankful for that. It was also a result of watching my dad and his ease with people. I try to follow his example when I'm not sure what to say.

11. I went to a house party for the first time in forever last night and only because it started at 9pm.

12. I can't seem to sleep past 7am no matter how late I stay up. Fortunately I rarely stay up late. My brain goes off the clock at 6pm.

13. I'm reading the Bible this year- chapter by chapter- starting in Matthew and taking notes as I go because I don't really pay attention when I read if I don't take notes.

14. I like the idea of enjoying to cook, but at 6:30pm I'd really rather just have the house elves make something appear.

15. I will never take having a dish washer or my own washing machine for granted ever again.

16. The church we are going to has 20394803 members and looks like a high school performing arts building. I'm still not sure how I feel about that...

17. I talk a lot about running and triathlon, but my only true fitness goal is to qualify for and run the Boston Marathon before I have a baby. At the rate Daniel is going in school that should be no problem. ;)

18. I think indoor rowing meets and roller derby games are way more entertaining than they have any right to be.

19. I like light roast coffee, which means I think Starbucks is nasty.

20. I like drinking wine more because it makes me feel like a grown up than because I actually like wine.

21. My only other professional goal is to become a personal trainer one day. I think I would like doing that. The problem is I also like ice cream, and that doesn't do much for my "professional image".

22. I wish I would devote more time to practicing creative writing and practicing the piano.

23. I still refuse to like the Packers. Take that, Wisconsin!

24. Our downstairs neighbors need to turn down their heat- for real. I think they opened a Bikram yoga studio in their living room.

25. I hate olives, ginger and licorice..