I admit, my training has taken a bit of a hit the last two weeks. Ten days ago was the memorial gathering for my Grandmother, and that led to a whole week of family stuff, which threw a bit of a rock in the cogs. Just as I think things are getting back on track I come down with the most heinous cold/flu I have had in a decade. Generally, I am not one to allow a mere virus to get in the way of my training, but this is different on a number of levels. On the community service level, I don't want to spread my disease so I have avoided the gym. On the realistic level, it is making me feel a bit like I was rode hard and put away wet. On the yes-I-can-have-common-sense level, I know better than to put in a hard cardio workout which could have me sucking phlegm even deeper into my lungs. So my last run was Tuesday morning, just before the bug got its claws into me. My last swim was Saturday, and it was a good hard swim. Yes, I did do an hour of cycling and an hour of upper body/core conditioning Wednesday evening, and this morning I opted for 60 minutes of incline walking at 3.5 mph on the treadmill. I wanted to do cycling and legwork tonight, but don't feel up to full strength. I'm telling you, all I really want to do is eat carbs, drink copious amounts of herbal tea with honey, and sleep. I have slept 11 hours a night all week, which is not my style. I try to tell myself it is what my body needs, but g'damn it, I don't have time for this shit. I was already feeling like my training was slipping, then to go and get a bug on top of it. Not fair! I have to keep reminding myself that if I push myself too hard I will likely just be sick longer. The bugs going around this winter are evil little bastards that are really getting their hooks in people and not giving in without a fight.
The best I can do is keep fueling for performance. I made a pot of veggie soup with garlic, onions, ginger, curry, cayenne, turmeric, and high protein pasta, and have been feeding off of it for two days. I've been religious about my spinach, blueberry, banana smoothies with mulberry/cranberry juice and vegan protein to make sure I"m getting the anti-oxidents and veggies I need. I've been drinking an herbal tea specific to immune boosting called, "Gypsy Cold Remedy" (it is delicious with honey btw). I roasted beets and yams so I can eat good carbs. And I admit, I am eating too much protein granola, but it is delicious. I know I am likely overeating since I am not training up to par, but I have to tell myself that for a few days it is okay to feed a cold. Just another day or two and I should be back to snuff. Hopefully. Damned virus.
Friday, January 30, 2015
Tuesday, January 13, 2015
On the Verge
I have been on the verge of a few over-use or over-training issues lately. Of course it is my joints, no news there. I don't know how many times I've said, "If my joints and connective tissues were as strong as my muscles and bones I would be a fucking superhero." It's the truth. I've never broken a bone (knock on wood) despite the stupid shit I've done. And my muscles get stronger up to the point that my joints start crying "Uncle" and I have to let myself plateau. I'm at that point, where I have to let myself plateau for a bit (damnit). At least the pains aren't all on one side: flirting with runner's knee in my right knee, swimmer's shoulder on the left, my right hip keeps putting in its two cent's worth, my right collar bone has been aching, and my left elbow is painful to the slightest touch (which is a constant actually, so really shouldn't be on the "over-use" list since it screams like a bitch pretty much all the time).
What to do about this litany of whines? Nothing. Not a damned thing. I don't have time to waste crying about my aches and pains. Honestly, I can't and won't stop training. What I can do is modify some of my workouts to relieve a bit of the stress. Case in point: today's leg workout. With my right knee giving me that all too obvious warning pain I opted to forego my squats, lunges and leg press today. Instead I added in single leg deadlifts, which don't put strain on the knee but help activate glutes, as well as work on balance. This is an exercise I have done regularly in the past, but had let it slide a bit since I was aiming at heavier loads lately. I also added an extra set each of weighted kick backs and high knees on the pulley machine. For my shoulder, I am focusing on maintaining good stroke mechanics at all times, really listening to my body and making sure I am not overburdening my shoulders.
Swimming today I did a couple of experiments, just to satisfy my own curiosity. It is no secret that my kick sucks. I've been working on it, doing kicking drills with and without fins. I've been doing them to improve body positioning and hip rotation, but mostly because kick drills give me a hella good aerobic workout. Anyway, my experiments. I swam a couple of laps, freestyle sans pull buoy, in other words, the way most people swim. Funny thing, without the pull buoy, and doing a normal 2 beat kick, it takes me 12 strokes per length, and my breathing is elevated. Swimming with the pull buoy, which means upperbody only, no kick at all, it only takes me 11 strokes per length, and my breathing stays even and easy. In other words, I swim faster and easier if I don't use my legs at all. The other experiment I did was comparing a high elbow pull to a straight arm, deep pull. The theory is that the high elbow pull should use less energy, though the straight arm pull can be faster. The theory is half right, the high elbow pull is a lot easier, less fatiguing, and less muscle strain. The straight arm, deep pull is not faster though. So, I will continue with my nice, high elbow pull. What these experiments boil down to is; Swim Smarter Not Harder *duh*
What to do about this litany of whines? Nothing. Not a damned thing. I don't have time to waste crying about my aches and pains. Honestly, I can't and won't stop training. What I can do is modify some of my workouts to relieve a bit of the stress. Case in point: today's leg workout. With my right knee giving me that all too obvious warning pain I opted to forego my squats, lunges and leg press today. Instead I added in single leg deadlifts, which don't put strain on the knee but help activate glutes, as well as work on balance. This is an exercise I have done regularly in the past, but had let it slide a bit since I was aiming at heavier loads lately. I also added an extra set each of weighted kick backs and high knees on the pulley machine. For my shoulder, I am focusing on maintaining good stroke mechanics at all times, really listening to my body and making sure I am not overburdening my shoulders.
Swimming today I did a couple of experiments, just to satisfy my own curiosity. It is no secret that my kick sucks. I've been working on it, doing kicking drills with and without fins. I've been doing them to improve body positioning and hip rotation, but mostly because kick drills give me a hella good aerobic workout. Anyway, my experiments. I swam a couple of laps, freestyle sans pull buoy, in other words, the way most people swim. Funny thing, without the pull buoy, and doing a normal 2 beat kick, it takes me 12 strokes per length, and my breathing is elevated. Swimming with the pull buoy, which means upperbody only, no kick at all, it only takes me 11 strokes per length, and my breathing stays even and easy. In other words, I swim faster and easier if I don't use my legs at all. The other experiment I did was comparing a high elbow pull to a straight arm, deep pull. The theory is that the high elbow pull should use less energy, though the straight arm pull can be faster. The theory is half right, the high elbow pull is a lot easier, less fatiguing, and less muscle strain. The straight arm, deep pull is not faster though. So, I will continue with my nice, high elbow pull. What these experiments boil down to is; Swim Smarter Not Harder *duh*
Saturday, January 10, 2015
Up The Intensity
Okay, I am declaring my off-season to be officially over. I have increased my cycling workouts, keeping the time under 75 minutes each so far, but making each workout count. That is the key to avoiding early season burnout and overuse injuries: make it short and intense. Thursday and Friday I did three back-to-back workouts, this is when there is 12 hours or less between workouts, giving you the benefits of a longer workout but without the strain. Thursday evening I did a 70 minute high cadence spin. Friday morning I did a 45 minute tabata workout, 1 minute hard, 1 minute easy, with ascending and descending gearing. Friday evening I did a 60 minute high cadence spin followed by a 75 minute core workout.
I am reintroducing my body to running. I got hit with a weird, dry cough in early December that was exacerbated by heavy breathing, especially in cold air, so I had to take a break from running until I knew the cough was gone. This cough was brutal. It was keeping me up all night, and I was coughing so hard it made me retch, and would come and go randomly. Totally gnarly. Anyhoo, Thursday I headed up into the foothills with my best bud Hugo (my big, red dog), and did a run/walk for about 90 minutes. When I say "walk" that is an understatement. We were on a gravel Forest Service road that was mostly steep, rolling hills. I climbed the hills at a hard walk, and ran the more level areas. It was probably harder on my knees than a regular run, but damn, it was great to be out in the woods. I am going to enter running at a slow-ish pace, I don't want to overdo it early in the season. That being said, my running felt good, my breathing was easy, and my legs felt powerful. There is a lot to be said about offseason strength training. I am going to start with 3 runs a week, allowing my body a few days for recovery between runs, and see how that goes. I want to get back to the run drills I was doing up until the cough sidelined me. I also have a great hill about 1/2 mile away for hill repeats.
Tonight I had the best, and longest, swim I've had since my event in December. I went into the water with "fresh" arms tonight, which I haven't done in several months. That is one downside of arduous strength training, your muscles always feel in some state of fatigue. I have been doing hard upperbody strength routines nearly every other day for several months now. Yes, my shoulders are rock hard, and I have some nice deltoid definition, but it has made me mildly fatigued in the water. Last week I was actually feeling a bit of burnout, so slacked off on my swims a bit, dialing them down to just swimming a simple mile without any strenuous drills. Tonight I was aiming for 1-1/2 miles, with some intensity thrown in for kicks and giggles. I ended up swimming 2 miles, with a lot of intensity. I started with 20 laps with hand paddles. 5 laps of kick drills (remember, describing my kick as "weak" is an understatement, so kick drills are asskicking). 5 laps at race pace. 10 laps freestyle sprint. 5 laps race pace. 5 laps kick drills. 20 laps race pace. It was a good workout. The 10 sprint laps were right at my asthma threshold, and my shoulders were burning well before I was finished. The hard part about sprint drills is pushing through the last lap or two, keeping the pace hard and steady, and not letting myself slack at all. I had only planned on swimming about 45 laps, but I was feeling so damned good that I kept thinking, "Maybe just 5 more laps." The last 20 I swam at just above race pace, i.e. my I-can-do-this-for-miles pace, and felt really good. Honestly, I felt a bit stilted for a good part of the first mile, but just like running, "the first mile is a liar."
I spent a lot of time on the bike this week, and am eager to start rebuilding my cycling base. I am really seeing gains from my months of strength training. I feel like my cycling power is up, as well as my cadence, and the smoothness of my pedal stroke. I have a small bike computer coming with a cadence meter and speedometer so I can really work on maintaining high cadence especially while I'm indoors on the trainer. And once I get back on the road I can really work to get my average mph up to where I need it to be for the Epic 250K come September. Today was a total leg rest day, which was one reason I swam so hard, but my legs recover quickly so tomorrow is run and cycle day, with a nice upperbody workout tossed in for good measure.
Now is when it is all about intensity, whether that is speedwork or strength. Now it the time to up the intensity.
I am reintroducing my body to running. I got hit with a weird, dry cough in early December that was exacerbated by heavy breathing, especially in cold air, so I had to take a break from running until I knew the cough was gone. This cough was brutal. It was keeping me up all night, and I was coughing so hard it made me retch, and would come and go randomly. Totally gnarly. Anyhoo, Thursday I headed up into the foothills with my best bud Hugo (my big, red dog), and did a run/walk for about 90 minutes. When I say "walk" that is an understatement. We were on a gravel Forest Service road that was mostly steep, rolling hills. I climbed the hills at a hard walk, and ran the more level areas. It was probably harder on my knees than a regular run, but damn, it was great to be out in the woods. I am going to enter running at a slow-ish pace, I don't want to overdo it early in the season. That being said, my running felt good, my breathing was easy, and my legs felt powerful. There is a lot to be said about offseason strength training. I am going to start with 3 runs a week, allowing my body a few days for recovery between runs, and see how that goes. I want to get back to the run drills I was doing up until the cough sidelined me. I also have a great hill about 1/2 mile away for hill repeats.
Tonight I had the best, and longest, swim I've had since my event in December. I went into the water with "fresh" arms tonight, which I haven't done in several months. That is one downside of arduous strength training, your muscles always feel in some state of fatigue. I have been doing hard upperbody strength routines nearly every other day for several months now. Yes, my shoulders are rock hard, and I have some nice deltoid definition, but it has made me mildly fatigued in the water. Last week I was actually feeling a bit of burnout, so slacked off on my swims a bit, dialing them down to just swimming a simple mile without any strenuous drills. Tonight I was aiming for 1-1/2 miles, with some intensity thrown in for kicks and giggles. I ended up swimming 2 miles, with a lot of intensity. I started with 20 laps with hand paddles. 5 laps of kick drills (remember, describing my kick as "weak" is an understatement, so kick drills are asskicking). 5 laps at race pace. 10 laps freestyle sprint. 5 laps race pace. 5 laps kick drills. 20 laps race pace. It was a good workout. The 10 sprint laps were right at my asthma threshold, and my shoulders were burning well before I was finished. The hard part about sprint drills is pushing through the last lap or two, keeping the pace hard and steady, and not letting myself slack at all. I had only planned on swimming about 45 laps, but I was feeling so damned good that I kept thinking, "Maybe just 5 more laps." The last 20 I swam at just above race pace, i.e. my I-can-do-this-for-miles pace, and felt really good. Honestly, I felt a bit stilted for a good part of the first mile, but just like running, "the first mile is a liar."
I spent a lot of time on the bike this week, and am eager to start rebuilding my cycling base. I am really seeing gains from my months of strength training. I feel like my cycling power is up, as well as my cadence, and the smoothness of my pedal stroke. I have a small bike computer coming with a cadence meter and speedometer so I can really work on maintaining high cadence especially while I'm indoors on the trainer. And once I get back on the road I can really work to get my average mph up to where I need it to be for the Epic 250K come September. Today was a total leg rest day, which was one reason I swam so hard, but my legs recover quickly so tomorrow is run and cycle day, with a nice upperbody workout tossed in for good measure.
Now is when it is all about intensity, whether that is speedwork or strength. Now it the time to up the intensity.
Friday, January 2, 2015
Floundering Without a Schedule
My final visit to the gym and pool for 2014 was a bit lackadaisical. I did a good leg workout, but skipped all but 10 minutes on the elliptical. Then I hit the pool and realized just how tired and sore my upper body was. Normally it only takes about 10 laps to warm up, 20 at the most. Tuesday I swam 45 laps and never did lose the soreness in my arms and shoulders. To make it a bit easier on my body I did slow down and work on form. I am trying to have a more solid grab and pull, and keep my elbows higher, but it is tiring to tweak form. The whole time I swam all I could think of was how much I wanted to just be sitting in the hot tub. My realization during all this was that I had reached that point so often talked about: Burnout. Not hardcore, more subtle than expected, but burnout nonetheless. Now I am struggling with the idea of taking a few more days off from swimming, which I hate the thought of. Or should I hit the pool later today for a short, focused swim?
(Insert a little back story here) January 31st was my last day of work. My department was closed permanently. I was told nearly two months ago that we were getting closed down, and I thought I was emotionally prepared for the reality of it. But these last few weeks have held more than a twinge of depression and sadness. I am in mourning for a job that I really enjoyed, even as I look forward to having some freedom to lead a more productive life for a while. Part of me is whooping it up at the thought of being able to train like a professional athlete this season, even though money will be tight. Also, my grandmother passed away on the 30th, quietly, in her own home. It was expected, and in some ways a relief for her, but that doesn't make the loss any less poignant. Also, this last weekend my son and his family moved out. They had been staying with me for a bit while they were getting back on their feet after moving back from the east coast. Yes, it was crowded and chaotic, but I got to know his family better, and his step-children got to know me too. Now the house seems achingly quiet. So in reality, it has been a draining week on nearly every emotional front. On the one hand I revel in the prospect of new opportunities and returning my home to its previous relatively serene state. On the other hand I am unemployed, home alone, it is bitter cold outside, and I am facing the onset of seasonal affected disorder. All that being said, it is no wonder my training is taking a hit.
Okay, enough of the pity party. I did get in a good 70 minute cycling workout New Year's Eve, and a great 90 minute upper body workout starting at 9:30 last night. Yes, it was rather late in the day to start a workout, but I was feeling blue and weepy, and it's not like I am on a schedule right now.
Speaking of schedules, that is where I will need to focus, starting Monday. I need to realign my training schedule. For the last... well, seemingly forever... my work life has dictated my training schedule. I had to be up at a specific time to get out the door, gym and swim bags packed the night before, and training was regulated by what time I got off work. Now I have no base schedule to work around and I feel lost and adrift. I am a creature of compulsive habit and routine, and that has all been tossed out the window. In order to get my training back on track I need to rebuild a schedule for my life or I will flounder and get nothing done. That would be tragic, and depressing. Not to mention a spectacular waste of a golden opportunity. I could make excuses, like, "but it has only been two days since leaving my job behind," or "but it is the holidays, everyone gets to slack off and be lazy." No excuses. No fucking excuses.
I do not make New Year's Resolutions, but this I resolve: Get my ass in gear, devise a schedule for training and life in general, and make 2015 as productive on every level as I possibly can. Sink or swim, now is the time.
(Insert a little back story here) January 31st was my last day of work. My department was closed permanently. I was told nearly two months ago that we were getting closed down, and I thought I was emotionally prepared for the reality of it. But these last few weeks have held more than a twinge of depression and sadness. I am in mourning for a job that I really enjoyed, even as I look forward to having some freedom to lead a more productive life for a while. Part of me is whooping it up at the thought of being able to train like a professional athlete this season, even though money will be tight. Also, my grandmother passed away on the 30th, quietly, in her own home. It was expected, and in some ways a relief for her, but that doesn't make the loss any less poignant. Also, this last weekend my son and his family moved out. They had been staying with me for a bit while they were getting back on their feet after moving back from the east coast. Yes, it was crowded and chaotic, but I got to know his family better, and his step-children got to know me too. Now the house seems achingly quiet. So in reality, it has been a draining week on nearly every emotional front. On the one hand I revel in the prospect of new opportunities and returning my home to its previous relatively serene state. On the other hand I am unemployed, home alone, it is bitter cold outside, and I am facing the onset of seasonal affected disorder. All that being said, it is no wonder my training is taking a hit.
Okay, enough of the pity party. I did get in a good 70 minute cycling workout New Year's Eve, and a great 90 minute upper body workout starting at 9:30 last night. Yes, it was rather late in the day to start a workout, but I was feeling blue and weepy, and it's not like I am on a schedule right now.
Speaking of schedules, that is where I will need to focus, starting Monday. I need to realign my training schedule. For the last... well, seemingly forever... my work life has dictated my training schedule. I had to be up at a specific time to get out the door, gym and swim bags packed the night before, and training was regulated by what time I got off work. Now I have no base schedule to work around and I feel lost and adrift. I am a creature of compulsive habit and routine, and that has all been tossed out the window. In order to get my training back on track I need to rebuild a schedule for my life or I will flounder and get nothing done. That would be tragic, and depressing. Not to mention a spectacular waste of a golden opportunity. I could make excuses, like, "but it has only been two days since leaving my job behind," or "but it is the holidays, everyone gets to slack off and be lazy." No excuses. No fucking excuses.
I do not make New Year's Resolutions, but this I resolve: Get my ass in gear, devise a schedule for training and life in general, and make 2015 as productive on every level as I possibly can. Sink or swim, now is the time.
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