Trying to Improve

Jan 13

2009-09-17T22:05:00.000-07:00

5:30 AM Body Pump Class

Eating breakfast, drinking coffee and getting ready to ride to work.

8AM meetings rock!

Second Thoughts on Goals

2009-02-08T19:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not totally revising my goals but I am having second thoughts. It's so hard to work out every day! I love the idea of working out it's just I love the idea of sleep too. So, here's my update:

Today- Sunday, Feb. 8: Mountain Bike at Fall Creek! Super fun!!! About 1.5 hours out on the trails.

Saturday- Feb. 7: Worked most the day but got a 20 minute, run on the treadmill done. Did 15 minutes at 9:50 pace and then 5 minutes at 9:20 pace. That's fast for me!

Friday- Feb. 6: Nada.

Thursday- Feb. 5: Rode to work (have 7:30 AM meeting every Thursday so need to be there at 7- too rushed to do an AM workout)

Wed- Feb. 4: Rode to and from work

Tues.-Feb. 3: Spinning work out 5:30-6:30AM

Monday- Feb. 2: Upper body weight lifting at gym

Sunday- Feb. 1: Mtn. biking at Cap Forest- 1.5 hours

More Days

2009-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Today, Feb. 1: Finally, finally, finally Rich and I had time to go mtn biking at Capital Forest! We didn't have much time, just about 1.5 hours but we had fun. I didn't have a great ride- slipped a lot and landed on my knees a couple of times but I had a blast. My goal is to be able to ride a couple of these long technical uphills by summer. We'll see.

Yesterday, Jan. 31: Ran 40 minutes. Knee started hurting at 30 minutes. Should have been running more b/c I have to keep it up or keep it short.

Friday, Jan. 30: Lame, nothing, nada, nilch. Another very long hard work week.

Thursday, Jan. 29: Another long work week. Got home at 10:00pm needed to go to bed as soon as I got home but had to wind down. Wednesday's late night meant no early Thursday AM workout.

Wednesday, Jan. 28: Got home at 9:30 pm and Tuesday night was home late too. Thus nada.

Lots of Days

2009-01-27T23:14:00.001-08:00

Today, Jan. 27- body pump with increased weights

Monday, Jan. 26- spinning- hard and fun workout!

Sunday, Jan. 25- worked 9 hours and slept

Saturday, Jan.24- worked 9 hours and slept

Friday, Jan. 23- body flow- awesome stretching

Thursday Jan. 22- rode to and from work, worked a lot

Wednesday, Jan. 21- rode to and from work worked a lot (wait- did I already write about this day?)

Lots of Days

2009-01-27T23:14:00.000-08:00

Jan 21 and 22

2009-01-22T23:01:00.000-08:00

This week sucks for the workouts. 12+ hour days at work is the reason why.

Wednesday Jan 21- rode to work and home

Thursday, Jan 22- rode to work and home

Jan 20

2009-01-20T07:36:00.000-08:00

I went for a walk at lunch yesterday and got a huge blister on the bottom of my foot. It's right above the heel, toward the start of the middle of my foot. I can't stand on it w/o very bad pain. Needless to say, I opted out of body pump today but will ride my bike to work. Biking should be no problem. Anything else, ouch!

Jan 19

2009-01-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

Spinning

5:30 AM

Just can't seem to get my bike mojo going that early. Rich stated the obvious today that I may be struggling b/c I have little fuel in my body. "Fuel" meaning food, carbs, energy from food, that is needed to burn through a good work-out. I eat dinner around 7 and then I don't eat again until after the work-out. Thus, it may be that my body needs some fuel to really kick it up. Nevertheless, I still give it my all and I'm still doing something good for my health and wellness. I just don't think I'll be in great race shape with these 5:30 workouts. Who knows, I could be wrong!

Jan 16 and 17

2009-01-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

Jan 16-

Well, the 15th was the first late night at work. I got home at 9:30, ate some dinner and then couldn't get to sleep until almost midnight. So, I slept in and didn't get a work-out in on Friday the 16th.

Jan. 17- Had just enough time to get in a 3.5 mile run before I had to go to work.

Hoping to run 5 miles on Sunday.

Jan 15

2009-01-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

Body Pump again.

Will be increasing my weights next week.

Jan 14

2009-01-15T21:59:00.001-08:00

Rode to and from work. Awesome riding! Slept in b/c Wed nights are going to be my late meeting nights. But, was way more tired today than on days I get up and work out. May just work out every day.

Jan 13

2009-01-13T07:11:00.001-08:00

5:30 AM Body Pump Class

Eating breakfast, drinking coffee and getting ready to ride to work.

8AM meetings rock!

Jan 11 and 12

2009-01-12T20:06:00.000-08:00

Jan 11- nada, zip, zilch

Jan 12

5:30 AM spinning class

Hard class again

60 minutes

Jan 10

2009-01-10T13:25:00.000-08:00

Not eating chocolate or baked goodies again until Jan. 27. Trying to wean myself off them again.

Ran today- short, 3.15 mile run in less than 30 minutes. Not bad considering stopped to let Murphy pee (3x) stopped to pick up Murphy's poop (1x) and stopped b/c of horrendous side ache (1x for about 30 seconds). Cool outside(38 degrees) but perfect for running.

Tomorrow will try my first 4 miler and see how my knee does. Yahoo!

Jan. 9

2009-01-10T13:24:00.000-08:00

Rode to work

Worked way too much.

Gym closed due to flooding (2 days in a row)

Celebrated last Friday before session w/ a late night out w/ friends. Not much in the work-out arena.

Jan 8

2009-01-08T19:58:00.000-08:00

After a day of rest, I woke up at 5AM and headed out the door to the gym to do a spinning class. Wouldn't you know, with all the rain we've had around here, the road to the gym was closed due to flooding. I went back home, checked online and sure 'nuff, the gym was closed due to flooding- not to re-open until sometime later in the AM tomorrow.

Went home, went back to bed and rode my bike to/from work.

Jan 7

2009-01-08T19:57:00.001-08:00

Today I rested. Slept in. Took it easy. Ahh...

Jan 6

2009-01-06T08:08:00.000-08:00

Up at 5 again.

Went to Body Pump- used weenie weights. Like the class, enjoy the music and working out with a group. I really like someone telling me what to do at 5:30 in the AM.

Problem is, I really also like free-weight training. I may have to mix it up a bit. There's no way I can self motivate at 5:30AM to manage a good weight training work-out. Noon, 5pm, 8pm- fine but 5:30AM?? Yuck!

Anyway, besides the weenie weights I felt good about my form and potential to improve in Body Pump (or weight lifting) is definately there.

Coffee first and then work, here I come!

Jan 5

2009-01-05T19:14:00.000-08:00

Today was "S" day- "S" meaning "START" and "S" meaning "Session". I have the type of job that for the next 4-5 months requires a lot of sitting at your computer, working long, long hours tinged with a basic loss of a personal life. Yup, it's "Session". In order to keep fit at any level, I have to work out in the AM or I can pretty much write off getting a work out in. I have to be pretty structured and organized and have to get up early (5 AM early) to make it to the gym for classes or sleep in until 6AM to get in a run.

Today I made it to the gym for a 5:30 AM spinning class.

The instructor is awesome. She kicked my butt.

The legs took awhile to warm up. They kicked my butt.

The work-out was hard. It kicked my butt.

I'm tired, am making a big pot of pasta and going to bed.

Tomorrow, weights will kick my butt.

Spinning notes: Couldn't maintain 60 RPM at anything above a level 16 (for tension- a slow uphill). At 17, I was about 58 but couldn't maintain anything above that. Also, my watts were low today. Good things to work on!

Jan 4

2009-01-04T12:13:00.000-08:00

Ran again today.

31 degrees
some ice but I stayed upright!
Murhpy wagged his tail the whole time
Same route up RW Johnson (hill) and back
About 25 minutes again

Note: Although I have fitness to run farther I am slowly building up my milage (see Jan 3 post). I am hoping to avoid all injury!

Jan 3 Training

2009-01-03T22:51:00.000-08:00

Did a short run today- 27 minutes. It was icy, cold and slick- I slipped on my knee at the start of the run. Murphy came with me- great, happy running pal! Didn't go too far as I need to build up my running slowly. Passed knee issues and inconsistent running = need to build up slowly to avoid injury. Injury sucks and no me gust injuries! I hope to run the same amount tomorrow and then start 5:30 AM spinning on Monday!

Oh- I'm a bit nervous about getting up early next week. I've been enjoying my vacation and I've been staying up late, sleeping in late. Bad habit!

My Big Idea

2009-01-03T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is going to serve as my 2009 training blog. I sometimes write too much for others to bear regarding training and cycling goals so I decided to see if a second blog might work. In addition to this blog, I'm attempting to organize my training using a google calendar. The online functionality of the calendar will allow me to access it from home, work, wherever. It also allows me to set up multiple calendars and I have one with detailed training ideas, one with general social and work related dates and then I linked up with my gym's google calendars that show all the classes on various calendars.

I also like using sites such as www.mapmyride.com and www.mapmyrun.com to track runs and rides. I'm trying not to duplicate stuff in too many places but I find I like a blog to look back at for accomplishments. So, here goes;

Running Goal for 2009:
Last year I trained for a half marathon during session and it really helped me to stay fit and not gain too much weight. I don't have time to do many bike endurance rides but running really translates well to biking. Given it's likely to be a long session I set a goal of doing the Capital City Half Marathon in mid-May. The only way I won't do the 1/2 marathon is if there's a bike race that same day. Regardless, training for this will be a good fitness goal.

Bike Goals for 2009:
It's all about cyclocross! I want to get a top 5 overall in Cat 3's. To do that means I need to work hard months, and months before cross season starts. I'll use my mountain bike season and the summer to build endurance and strength, incorporate weight training into my training plan and possibly do a long social ride (like the MS 150) again. I've got some time to put together the specifics of training but for the winter/spring of 2009, focusing on the running goal will help prepare me for the cross goal.

Micro-Training:
By "micro-training" I mean the weekly or daily training activities I will partake in. Starting Monday, Jan. 5, I'll need to hit the gym by 5:30 to attend at least one (hopefully 2) spinning classes a week, a couple days of running in the AM (in the gym or outside w/ Murphy- but always before work) and a weight training day are my goals for each week. I'll need some rest days so it may be a mix of these work-outs. Oh, I'll also be riding to work at least 3 days a week and doing one longer run on Sat or Sun.

Other Important Aspects of Imrpoving:
Of course, I have to be better at eating and I think I'll be ok in this area. Having given up chocolate for a month in late 2008 and baked goods for a week, I learned I can live w/o these things and be OK. Also, I tend to stock my fridge at work with healthy foods- stuff to make wraps, yogurt parfaits, salad makings, etc. Plus, I try not to eat out at lunch but instead bring homemade meal left-overs. Coffee with cream and sugar will remain my weakness!

Finally, there's the mental side of all this. I know I will be mentally exhausted and drained during session and I'll need lots of sleep and mental care. Being realistic each week will help to not over-train and also to remain sharp and alert at work during some very long days.

That's the purpose of this new blog and I'm hoping it all works out!