Meandering Starre

Did my first swim and bike workout : 450 m swim mix of strokes and 9.23 on the bike including 2 miles warm up/cool down. The water did not feel as good as it did in my first swim, and I was actually slower. I had issues with the Expresso bike, which slowed me down at times. After I was quite body exhausted.

Workout: Swim
Time:18:33. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time : 1:40?
Distance: 450 meters
Strokes: Side, breast, and crawl
Total training distance to date: 900 meters
Body condition: not as good as last time. Had to share a lane and was too focused on not kicking my partner.
Time of day: evening

Workout: Bike (Expresso bike)
Time: 42:15
Courses(s): Stump Puller, with a 1 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down on Expresso Speedway
Distance: 9.23
Total training distance to date: 78.53
Body condition: Fine
Weather: Inside
Time of day: evening

This comet ride was a bit slower than the last, but we did start later and it was a very hot day. This may have been one of my longest bike rides.

Workout: Bike (distance on the comet)
Time: ~2:00
Distance: 30
Average Speed: 15.2
Total training distance to date: 69.3 (since 6/4)
Body condition: Felt pretty good on the way out. It actually went by pretty fast. I was fine except for the last two miles at the end when my body decided it was done. Only minor breathing issues.
Weather: High 80s to low 90s and humid. Sunny. Too hot!
Time of day: late morning/noon
Nutrition: 1 GU pack before and a Luna bar, 1 GU & water during

I’ve been a bit hesitant to get back in the water and lazy. It is harder to get the swims in. The swim went very well, however. It was fairly easy and I enjoyed being in the water. It seemed easier than I remember it being. Maybe I have improved?

Workout: Swim: side stroke, breast stroke, and the crawl
Time:16:55. This includes some breaks and watch issues (I kept forgetting to set it for my laps and going back and starting the lap over).
Average lap time : ~1:40 My side stoke and crawl were 1:35 and under, my breast stroke slower.
Distance: 450 meters
Total training distance to date: 450 meters
Body condition: fine
Time of day: afternoon

I’m getting behind on my posting of workouts!

Workout: “Easy” run
Time: 48:23 (11:31 splits)
Distance: 4.2 miles
Total training distance to date: 25.35 (since starting back up June 4th)
Body condition: Rather slow and painful run with lower legs hurting from shins to inside to calf muscles. Beginning to get worried about the pain in my left calf, which is similar to the early pain before my stress fracture. Breathing ok, worse on hills, as always.
Time of day: morning
Weather: 70s and humid
Nutrition: water during & half a bottle of Gatorade after
Entertainment: PodCastle 045: The Annals of Eelin-Ok & music. I find the podcasts make a nice distraction as I slowly work to get back in shape.

Workout: Bike (distance on the comet)
Time: ~1:37 biking
Distance: 25
Average Speed: just under 16 mph
Total training distance to date: 39.3
Body condition: legs tired on way and back going up hill and for the last mile. After I had some odd blurry sight issues, similar to the ocular migraines I get. It cleared up in about 30 minutes (I may have pushed a bit too much too soon), but otherwise I felt fine after. Breathing issues (out of breath) during longer uphills.
Weather: Mid 80s and humid. Sunny.
Time of day: mid morning/noon
Nutrition: 1 Gu packs, Gatorade after, water during

This was a decent ride. I feel pretty tired after—in the rather nice way I get after a long run. I will sleep tonight. I think this was close to my limit right now, until I get back in shape (as the vision issues may suggest). Bill took off the last 5 miles, but I managed decent speed behind him, obstacles (like traffic) aside. The last mile or so probably was the biggest difference, as my legs were about done. We both ended up covered in bugs, even in some odd places. Bill somehow got more than me, especially on his arms.

Workout: Slow run
Time: 44:51 (11:13 splits)
Distance: 4 miles
Total training distance to date: 14.8 (since starting back up June 4th)
Body condition: Okay. Blister on left heel is getting worse. Breathing decent.
Weather: ~74-77 w/ humidity ~70%
Nutrition: 1 Gu pack before, half a bottle of Gatorade after, water during
Entertainment: PodCastle 50: Komodo (enjoyed it, nice distraction) & music.

Notes: Slowly building back up after time off due to bad breathing/health problems. The new inhaler works well, but I am both out of shape and still have more breathing issues than the average person. But today, even though I tried to take it slow, I improved my speed since June 4th by 1 minute per mile. I’m still 1 min per mile behind where I was, but getting back to this speed seems much more reasonable and possible after today’s run. And to think I almost didn’t go. Bill encouraged me. My legs were tired before and I didn’t want to push my recovery, but after his encouragement, I went. I’m coming back!

July 30th was swimming and spinning day. Once I week I’m trying to do a spinning class as training. It gives me “hill” work and interval training, and often forces me to go faster then I might on my own. Plus, the spinning bikes are probably the best bikes in the gym as far as similarity in riding experience as to my road bike. The Expresso bikes I use the rest of the time are also good, but the other one do not work well. The spinning instructor was a sub, but good.

I also swam another 500 meters. My body didn’t really want to swim and I had a few more issues than my last swim, but I did it. I only swallowed two mouthfuls of water.

Swim workout

Workout: Swim
Time:17:300 or so. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time : 1:40 (I think my original 1:30 lap time was off)
Distance: 500 meters
Total training distance to date: 1350 meters
Body condition: awkward but fine
Time of day: morning

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (spinning)
Time: 45 minutes
Distance: n/a
Total spinning time to date: 45 minutes
Body condition: Fine
Weather: Inside
Time of day: Morning

More biking and swimming on 7/28. I swam further than the sprint tri distance, which rocks! Now I know I can do the swim, as long as I don’t have other issues. I am really finding the swimming easier than last year.

Swim workout

Workout: Swim
Time:17:00 or so. This includes some breaks and stops.
Average lap time :1:35
Distance: 500 meters
Total training distance to date: 850 meters
Body condition: Slight breathing problems
Time of day: Late afternoon

Bike Workout

Workout: Bike (medium ride: black level course “Oh Mama”, lots of hills)
Time: 39 minutes
Distance: 7.8
Total training distance to date: 40.84
Body condition: Fine
Weather: inside
Time of day: Early evening

On 7/29 I ran the new 3.8 mile route backwards in a running skirt. I’ve run in the skirt a few times before, but didn’t really like it. The bike-short-like-things under it roll up and the skirt itself rides up in the back. It may ride up because of my water bottle belt. I’ve not tried it without. The running skirt does, however, look good (I totally don’t care about looking good when I run. I try to mostly match, which is about it. But hey, if I do look good without effort…) . It is very flattering and I look sharp, speedy, and hot in it. Apparently others thought so. I had several people drive by slowly and pause. It was weird. Of course, my skirt could have been hiked up in the back, but I don’t think it was each time this happened. It was a bit freaky. I must remember not to wear the skirt during later evening runs. Or maybe it was just a bunch of coincidences.

I may try a different skirt to see if I like it better. I like the idea of running skirts. Trying another before giving up would probably be smart.

Running my new 3.8 mile route backwards was interesting because I didn’t realize how many downhills I had running it forward. There were tons, which all became hills running it backwards. So, I now have discovered a simple technique to figure out the downhills on the run—try it backwards (skirt is optional).

Workout: Short run
Time: 42:00
Distance: 3.8
Total training distance to date: 23.4
Body condition: Humidity was bad, minor leg/over pronation issues
Weather: 77 degrees, ~86% humidity
Nutrition: water during, Gatorade after

I am still trying to get caught up with this. I really should write it up after each workout.

On 7/27 I did my weekly long run. This was 8.2 miles and I was dumb enough to start at 10:45 when it was already in the mid 80’s with 4000% humidity. The run was hot, sweaty, and not much fun. I didn’t have much in the way of pain or other issues, just heat and humidity problems. I took the run slow, as one should for the long runs, just looking to finish. I ended up walking more than normal, especially the hills on the last two miles. By that time it was after noon and I was getting dizzy and the world was turning just a bit darker. So I figured walking was smarter than fainting. By about 3 miles in my sunscreen was coming off in white rivers of sweat. Luckily I did not burn. I was happy to finish and drank a lot of water for the rest of the day.

Workout: Long run
Time: 1:33
Distance: 8.2
Total training distance to date: 19.4
Body condition: Humidity was bad, had some issues and walked
Weather: ~83-86 (?) w/ high humidity
Nutrition: 2 Gu packs, Endurox R ^4 after, water during