Tuesday- bike, teach, run?

Ooops..I was hoping to post before the goal update blog posted. Oh well.

Today was a busy cardio day.
I was up early and go ton the bike and headed outside to put in some miles. 14.24 to be exact. It was a great morning. It was kind of chilly ( well compared to how the day ended up). If I am able to participate in the next duathlon I really want to do even better on the bike this time. It's less miles than the first du I did this year by about 6 or so miles. I really want to push myself. I of course want to do well on the run portion too. Ugh. Running has been my worst enemy and nightmare combined this season.

I taught cardio sculpt today and then headed off to running club. Today's prescribed workout was 1 mile warm up 4-6 mile tempo and 2 mile cool down. Did I mention the heat index was in the 90's? My friend and I arrived early and got the warm up out of the way ( almost an 8:00 pace-which is more like my tempo pace this year!) after that i just felt off. I am sure it was the weather combined with my activity for the day and perhaps nutrition??!??! I ate well today, maybe not enough for my activity-I really have no idea. It's hard for me to figure out a proper eating schedule and how fuel with my workout and work priorities. Very frustrating. Anyway--- My buddy and I decided to just run 4 more miles and call it a day. Not even at tempo pace ( her's is 6:50 by the way! haha). We got about .68 miles in when I knew i was done. I took a short cut by myself and called it a day with 2.3 miles in. I was to get in 9 miles tonight and only managed 4.22! I am not mad though--really. Just pooped! I did a lot today. I met and exceeded my goal for bike mileage already- it's only Tuesday!! Now I need to figure out when to lift, yoga and run. Yikes!!

Recaps and a new gig!

Monday~ Spin. I can't even remember exactly what kind of class I taught it was sooo long ago. I will say it was an interval class.
Tuesday~ I went for a little run. One of my friends that hates to run went with me. I will make a runner out of her if it's the last thing I do!!! She did great. I think I ended up running about 5.5 miles or so. I had planned on taking the bike on the road ( finally), BUT it was raining so I hit up a spin class instead. It was pretty good. Lots of fast paced intervals and resistance loading on the flat road.
Wednesday~ I woke up feeling like I got hit by a bus. I was super tired and the more I think about it I was probably dehydrated. I felt really dried out if that makes any sense. I ( thanks Matt) was able to sleep in an extra almost hour! That helped a lot.
I taught a strength style spin today. It went well I hear. I think I will repeat this format on Friday morning.
The race is coming up! The weather should be nice and way too hot, but I still plan on signing up ( yep, still have to do that) for the half marathon. I have a goal in my head, but I am not going to share it yet. I have to keep in mind that my breathing sucks and I am allergic to my in -laws house. I might wake up Saturday morning without my lungs ( just as I did last year). I will be armed with my allergy medication and inhaler though- oh, and good old benadryl. I am such a mess.

I have a favor to ask. I took on a new gig as the Grand Rapids Women's Fitness Examiner. My success is based on how many people actually read my articles! I hope to publish at least 3 a week. SO my favor is to request that you subscribe to my articles and possibly read them as well! Thanks!

A breathing lesson, Speedy Bike Ride and A Case of the Monday's....

Thursday~ I had my speech pathologist appointment on this day. It went as expected. My speed lady was really nice and funny and helpful. She did make a point to tell me that it is rare to see someone my age in her pediatrics office! That made laugh. Oh well. We went over breathing techniques for me to use and practice a few times a day. The "panic breathing" is very easy to do.
Pay attention: If you ever hyperventilate-- DO NOT take a deep breath in and out. Totally wrong-who knew?!?! Not me. One short breath IN and a relaxed 4-5 count breath OUT. Good to know. This will come in handy later in the week.......
I also taught 3-2-1.

Friday~ Early spin and core. I left out the ploys today...just was not feelin' it. Oh, and lots of yoga type stretching! I'm trying.

Saturday~ 8 mile run. It was majorly humid and warm. It's about time! I actually did not mind the heat. I attempted to push the pace a little bit. It worked. I had an "episode" I was running just under an 8 MM pace when it happened. I slowed down just a bit and practiced my newly learned techniques. I think it worked. I hope it worked. PLEASE work!!
So frustrating, but it is what it is-right?? I think my ending pace was 8:31 for 8 miles. It felt good.

Sunday~ 22 mile bike ride. I had a buddy take me out on the road to show me his ways! He is a mountain biker, but took me on the roads to teach me how to tackle hills, shift and go 30 MPH...what a rush! I learned a lot and hope it know it will help me in the future.

Monday~ Spin race day! The day started out horribly. I stayed up late Sunday night making a spin profile and getting new race day worthy music downloaded and onto a CD. Guess who forgot the CD and profile at home. Yup--this chick!! I was beyond ticked!! After I collected myself I looked further in my bad and found that I did pack another CD. Whew. I had to scribble out a new profile in about 4 minutes flat. I did. Class rocked-if I do say so myself.....I was lucky!! Ha! (note to self: do not under any circumstances plan a 22 mile hilly ride the day before a Race Day. Duh.)
Totally Toned was at 12 noon.
That is all!
Oh--my 10k is Saturday!! WoooHooo!!

Mission Monday

Well I think I am finally recovered from my longest run since 2005! What a run it was. I am glad it's over, but must mentally prepare for the 20 miler in 2 weeks! Eeeek!
Of course my competitive thoughts have already crept into my head...I looked up my Chicago Marathon time from 2005. I ran a 3:53:24...That comes to a pace of 8:54. Not too bad considering my first goal was to run a sub 4 mile marathon. Later in the race my goal changed to just stay alive to be able to cross the finish line! I accomplished both goals I guess.
I did not sign up for the marathon just yet. I might have to wait until after the first 20 miler and see how bad my body (KNEES) treat me the day after. Who am I kidding! I will do it even if I break a knee!

Last week I did not meet my goal of riding the road bike twice. I only made it out once for 14 miles. It was a good ride though. I also am 90% sure I will not be doing the duathlon on Sunday. Too much going on and it's too much money! Oh well. There is always next year.

I was feeling kind of tired this week and took more time off then usual. I think my body was telling me to chill out. So I did.
I lifted once last week. I have a goal of 5 pull-ups in a row. I am at 4.75! ha...almost there!

This weeks goals will include:
road bike 1x
lift weights 2x
run at least 2x
track food
drink a gallon of water a day

Mission Monday

Let's recap last weeks training for my upcoming missison- Tri Del Sol Duathlon. It's this Saturday! Freaking out over here.



Monday, Wednesday and Friday I taught Spinning classes. Monday and Wednesday were hard ones. We did 17 sprints. Complete craziness. My legs were pretty much useless after Wednesday. I also taught Totally Toned on Monday and Wednesday at noon.

On Tuesday I performed my running club speed workout by myself. It consisted of a 2 mile warm up followed by (8) 400 meter sprints. In between sprints I had to jog 400 meters as to not let my heart rate drop too low. It was killer. I did a 1.5 mile cool down. Later that evening after teaching my cardio class I went on a nice 70 minute bike ride. I was sure to take it easy and not add too many speed intervals this time. I know that I need more time on the bike! I ended up getting a flat tire at some point! I am not sure when, but I rode the last 5 miles or so on a tube that had a slow leek. Ooops!

On Thursday I was able to make it to my favorite cardio kickboxing class. I missed it so!

Early Friday morning I did a run, bike, run session. I did half of what my duathlon will consist of. I ran 1 mile, biked 9 miles and ran for 2.25 miles. It was a good one. I gained some much needed confidence after this workout. I know the actual race will be much more difficult, but this was easier than it was the first time I tried it and my intervals were way shorter too.

Saturday was my long run. I made it 12 miles in very humid weather. It was really hard.

Sunday I went for a nice 5 mile jog; the weather was just too perfect to not to do something although I should have taken a day off.

I did not get on my bike as much as I would have liked, but I hope the 3 spin sessions will make up for that. All in all I am as prepared as I am going to be for Saturday. I hope anyway!

Misson Monday

My Misison training is going.....not sure if it's going well or not since I am doing it on my own for the most part. I count my race and my running in general as training. I am just not so sure about the bike training. I was able to get on the bike yesterday for almost an hour. I rode for about 57 minutes and did 16 miles. I wanted to go for 65 minutes ( don't ask why), but then made it back to my destination too soon. My original plan was to go at a nice leisurely pace and concentrate on learning to shift gears and settle into the areobars. I need to spend time on the road getting used to riding. My competitive nature got the best of me ( as usual--I think I am getting better....ha). I wanted to see how fast I could ride a mile in- I cleared out my laps on my watch, but I was doing them in under 4 minutes. I had a 3:33 in there and the rest were around 3:45. I am not even sure what is considered good or average, but I was pleased with what that. I wonder how long I can keep up those times for 18 miles with more hills in the ride?? Eeek. It was fun though. I think that riding is a lot easier to do alone then running long distances alone. That is not fun AT ALL. I rode the bike on the same trails that I run on, but it was just a different feeling all together. The wind in my face ( and bugs), giving the friendly nod to fellow bikers and just pedaling effortlessly ( at times), was just an awesome feeling to have on a Sunday afternoon with beautiful weather!

Let the training begin!

My Duathlon ( I am not sure why I keep capitalizing the word duathlon!) training has officially started!
My friend and I planned to meet this morning to do a brick workout. I have brushed up on my terminology and it means that we were to run, bike and run today-in that order!
Since I have not been on a bike in YEARS I decided to go out and do a few miles on my own before meeting with her so I did not make a complete fool of myself! I am happy to say that I did not fall. Whew. My borrowed bike is the best. It is fully loaded with gear and gadgets galore. It's a shame I have no idea how to use them! I will figure it out I hope. I don't even know when to shift gears, what gear to put the bike in or how to really use the sweet looking aero-bars. Hmmmm. Oh well! That's how I roll I guess.

So anyway. I rode about 2 miles or so by myself and then met up with my friend a few hours later to begin our brick. We did 2 easy miles at about a 9 minute pace and then hopped on our bikes and rode 7 miles. I think I did pretty well. My only mishap was dropping my water bottle because I was afraid to look down to put it back in its holster! I have clip in shoes and an still not used to that.
After the 7 mile bike we did our last run. It felt so weird getting off the bike and immediately running again. My legs felt like Jello! We ran for 7 minutes and called it a day. It was a huge wake up call! So far my goal for this Duathlon is to just have fun and finish it! Oh who am I kidding..I want to do well too.

Mission picked!

I normally do my own thing cardio-wise on Friday, but I subbed a spin class at noon.

It was pretty tough. I taught an interval style class with moments of endurance. The endurance sections were no joke! I was winded on that bike!

Well, I guess my next mission is a Duathlon! I signed up about a week ago. A week ago I had no bike or helmet! I am not the best swimmer so I am very happy that they have the duathlon as an option as well.

I bought my helmet finally! The race will be on July 18th and is a run, bike, run. I am very EXCITED and nervous already. I have not ridden outdoors in at least 5 years; probably more.

The race will be a 2 mile run, 18 mile bike and a 4.5 mile run. I hear the race has some rolling hills thrown in for fun. Eeeek!

Saturday was a long run. I don't really need to get many miles in yet as my next race is only 6.1 miles long, but I decided to run 11.5 today with the group just for the heck of it. It was really humid out this morning at 7am. We had some crazy thunderstorms over night and it left the morning very steamy. I have always liked to run in hot conditions for some strange reason. It took me about 1:45 minutes for today's run.

Oh, I got my bike today!! Well...it's a borrowed one, and now I am afraid it will be better than my future bike!! It's pretty sweet. All decked out with cool gadgets that I have no idea how to use. I plan on taking it for a spin tomorrow. I also will be using clip in shoes for the first time ( outdoors) so this should be interesting. I have been told that I will fall a few times and to learn the ropes before race day.

I have less than 4 weeks to train for this....what have I gotten myself into????