You've got this. You want this.

I had a sub today for spin class - and was initially disappointed not to see Ed there. But Molly who subbed for him was fantastic, and the workout was super hard. We did two sets of hill climbs, one seated and one out in third (basically standing and leaning forward on the handles - how you climb a really long or steep hill), with sprints in a low gear as our recovery period. Basically working during our recovery from the climb. SUPER DIFFICULT, but also an amazing way to build endurance and strength. Molly started our class by telling us her motto - you've got this. you want this. She says it a lot in class, and encourages us to tell it to ourselves. Getting to the gym on a Sunday morning isn't easy - so making the class worth the investment requires working your ass off.

I ran to the gym, per usual, but this week was also able to RUN the whole way home. Even up both hills!! There are two short but steep hills on my run home from the YMCA - I usually walk up them but today powered right through. The sense of accomplishment was unreal - to actually feel my body getting stronger. Not in the pumping iron kind of stronger, but to feel my body be able to work through the fatigue - that is a different kind of strength.  My legs were screaming on the run home - quads, glutes, calves were all sore and burning. But it didn't slow me down, and in a weird way I kind of thrived on it. This desire and ability is what fuels the endurance athlete. To be able to work when your body is tired is a sign of being in great shape, and also the major goal in training for a triathlon.

The Tri is a month from yesterday.  I'm thrilled the progress I've been making, even though this past week was difficult in terms of managing the work/life balance. I took four days off from working out, but it hasn't seemed to affect my endurance, and I actually need to start tapering in two weeks (a whole new blog post!).

The best part about working on Sunday AM?? Guilt free brunches, and beers with football all afternoon. Happy running!!

Newton Hills

I ran almost seven miles this AM - on the hilliest route I've planned so far. Brian actually was the one who mapped it, so I'm not surprised that it was painful as hell. Not to mention, that running with Brian is exhausting because I can't keep a pace I'm comfortable with, I have to keep up with a pace that is faster than normal for me. Even considering that I was running harder than usual - this route still took me over an hour - around 10 minute miles. I was pretty disappointed with my performance, but I'm coming off back to back 12 hour days at the office.

I didn't get to put in as much time as I wanted at the gym this week, because I was at work until almost 8 PM both Thursday and Friday. I was able to make it in for a swim workout and yoga earlier this week.  I swam 300 yards further this week than last week, including a longer warm up and cool down - so 200 yards of consecutive swimming. The good news is that I  swam the distance of the race on Tuesday - although it was broken up and not in open water. I'm feeling more confident in the water, and had no problem reaching my goal times for the sets of 50's and 100's.

It's off to spin class in the AM - the first time in a couple of weeks since hurricane Irene and the wedding in VT last weekend prohibited me from my Sunday AM routine. I also have trouble making it to spinning during the work week because the YMCA closest to my work doesn't offer spinning :( I'm vowing to try to ride my bike around the city more often, on errands etc.

Happy training.
E

Rain Rain Go Away

UGH - rain is forecasted all week for Boston, and most of the East coast.  Today I swam 900 yards, and ran 2.1 miles on the treadmill - basically my idea of torture swimming and running on a treadmill.

I am getting surprisingly better at swimming though. This week I did a 200 yard warm up and cool down (double from last week). For my sets, I swam 6X50 yards on one minute - so swimming 50 yards, and using the left over time up until 1 minute for rest. I was able to swim most of my 50s in 45-50 seconds, so I had 10-15 seconds rest. For the first two 50s I focused on my pull - making sure I was really reaching out long in front, and then pulling my arms down towards my body in an S shape. For the second set of two, I focused on my kick, making sure it stayed below the water, and that I was using my whole leg and not just kicking from the ankles. For the last set of two, I focused my efforts on breathing, and not lifting my head too high when coming out of the water for air - my number one problem. For my 100's I did them in 2 minutes (same concept as with the 50's) and really focused on putting it all together. I felt great in the water, but still am having trouble with flip turns and breathing consistently. Brian says that I need to practice breath control, and I need to be thinking about the wall WAAAY before I get there - swimmer talk?? Luckily in an open water swim there aren't any flip turns :)

Week 3 of my hard-core training is going well. Schedule got a little bit off because of the wedding in VT this weekend, BUT I ran 5 miles and hiked over 3 miles up a mountain on Saturday, so that's at least two days worth of work...

Don't forget to donate!!!! :)

SEPTEMBER?!?

Welcome to September!! My favorite month of the year because it means fall, changing leaves, apple picking, warm cider donuts, hayrides and Oktoberfests start hitting the taps. September is also my birth month - so I basically celebrate starting now.
Brian and I are in Stowe for the weekend for a wedding and started our day off with a challenging yet rewarding 5 miles. The views in every direction were Aaaamazing, but with mountain runs come steep climbs and rolling hills. The 5 or 6 long trails I drank last night at the rehearsal dinner probably didn't help either :)
With only 7 weeks to go until the big race, I've really been cracking the whip (on myself) at the gym. This was week 2 of my 8 week plan - so that means 3 nights/week at the gym after work and dinners at 9PM. This week I stuck to my schedule pretty well, although I traded a workout this AM for my swim/bike yesterday (we were traveling).
I found this awesome new website called www.dailymile.com. On it, you can log your daily workouts, and it will tell you how many calories you burned, how much electricity you produced, pounds lost, total miles etc. It's a really fun tool, and you can post your daily workouts to facebook - which I've been doing in an effort to encourage people to follow my training.

Summary of Workouts:
Monday: Ran 4.3 miles to the gym; lifted arms and abs; ran/walked 1.5 miles home
Tuesday: Swam 600 yards (100 warm up, 8X50s, 100 cool down); abs class
Wednesday: Ran 3 miles, 90 minutes yoga
Saturday: Ran 5 miles

I need to start working in the bike/spin classes. I normally spin on Sunday AM, but last week Irene made that impossible, and this week I'll be in VT. Ideally, I need to start riding my bike to places, instead of walking/taking the T. I just got my bike tuned up last week, so I basically have no excuse.