Wednesday, March 24, 2010

15 minute w/u jog on the track

weights..

Barbell squats: 2 x 20 @ 25 lbs
Leg press: 2 x 20 @ 130/150 lbs
Chest press: 2 x 15 @ 12/15
Cable rows: 2 x 15 @ 40 lbs
Lat pull downs: 3 x 15 @ 45/60/60 lbs
Hanging knee raises: 2 x 20
Single leg squats: 1 x 10 @ 30 lbs
Bosu squats: 1 x 15 @ 30 lbs
Hip abductions: 2 x 20 @ 90 lbs
Hip adductions: 1 x 20 @ 70 lbs
Calf press (left only): 2 x 20 @ 70/90 lbs
20 mins bike
15 mins warm up jog

4 x 1000m repeats @ 4:30

10 mins c/d

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My body ate some lactic acid for lunch today! Another awesome workout where everything just went right. The sun was shining, temperature was perfect, and I just felt like going and going. :) Perfect day for a brick workout! And why not throw some hills in too? I was mentally prepared for 18km, but schedule said 14km, sooo I split the difference and did 40 minutes w/u on the bike + 80 mins run (14km).

40 Minutes Spinervals Endurance Booster (15 mins steady state + 15 x 1 min alternating high resistence/low cadence and high cadence/low restistence + recovery)

I had the pleasure of running with GPS today! It's been almost a month now since by 305 bit the dust. Mark was working so I borrowed his- maybe running without a GPS has been good for me because I was cruising relative to my old 'easy' pace. There is a lot to be said about just listening to your body and going with how you FEEL rather than what a watch is beeping at you.

1 | 5:36
2 | 5:26
3 | 5:30
4 | 5:28
5 | 5:32
6 | 5:47 (hills started here :))
7 | 5:53
8 | 6:07
9 | 5:43
10| 5:46
11| 5:49
12| 5:48
13| 5:33
14| 5:51
14.0km | 1:19:56 | 5:43min/km


It feels sooo good to be back to a point where I am not rehabbing my knee but actually working on speed!! My legs felt really strong today, even when I hit the big hill at 7km. My body munched on that lactic acid and there was no puking! Not even close. Felt great.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

30 minutes on the bike - tempo intervals

Friday, March 19, 2010

Time to wake up the fast twitch muscles and try to get my body used to handling lactic acid. :) Coach Mark's instructions were to do a 5K time trial in under 24 minutes, so that's what I did! 2.5km warm up down to the SMU track, 5km around the track in 23:13, 400m walk to cool down and a 2.5km jog back home.

Average Heart Rate: 180! Max heart rate: 187!

However, I did NOT puke or even really feel like it, which I think means our interval session last week was beneficial.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

I think my body is still recouperating from Sunday's long muddy run. I set out for 12k easy this morning but made a game time decision to cut out my planned 3k through Point Pleasant Park and made it a 9.5k run instead. My heart rate was really high and my legs were cooked. Average heart rate was 165!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

60 minutes on the trainer - incl. a 20 min and a 15 min time trial (from Spinervals Timetrialapalooza)

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Today was long run day. It was windy so we figured running on the rails to trails would be a good idea (sheltered). Well, yes, it WAS sheltered but the terrain really soft. A la quick sand. My Garmin, as I mentioned, is still not working (we concluded the lithium battery is dead and unfortunately these are not user replaceable) so plan was Mark would stick a Sharkies wrapper under a rock at 9km so I would know when to turn around. I ran out to what *I* thought was 9km, didn't see anything and figured Mark must have forgotten the game plan, so I turned around. Apparently he didn't forget, and I turned around a bit early haha oops! I had to stop regardless because I had to pee SOO bad. That was the first time I have peed in the woods since picking strawberries with my grandmother when I was a child. I feel more like a 'real runner' now ;)

Total = 17km?? in 1:50!!! yikes slloowww molasses!!

And some nice GI problems to top off this less than stellar run. No one to blame but myself on that front. Note to self: salad the night before a long run + 2 cups of coffee that morning + berries & granola as 'lunch' 1/2 hour before + Sharkies & Gatorade during = trouble.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Beautiful run this morning!

11.8km (~7.5 miles) run in 1:07 = 5:42min/km pace

Really missing my Garmin!!! No idea what my pace is as I'm running.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

A couple of back-to-back days of killer workouts!! My legs are fried.

Yesterday = Intervals

4km w/u + 4 x 1000m @ 4:36 + 500m c/d

I almost puked after each of these. Fun times. Some would say I was not pushing hard enough because I did not puke. Maybe next time. ;) My heart rate only got up to 180 during the repeats.

Today = Time Trial on the bike!

Average heart rate: 170
Max heart rate: 186

This killed me after yesterday's intervals, but I love these workouts because I know they are going to make me faster! They also mimic how shitty I feel at the end of a race- something worth getting used to!!

Monday, March 08, 2010

Swim today =

200m swim
200m pull
200m kick

5 x 100m drills (catch up, one arm, fist, side swim, front/side/back)

1 x 1000m swim (25 mins)

200m kick to C/D

Strength =

barbell squats: 1 x 20 @ 20 lbs
single leg bosu squats: 1 x 20 (left only) @ 30 lbs; 1 x 20 (both) @ 30 lbs
calf press: 2 x 20 @ 70 (left leg only)
hip abductions: 2 x 20 @ 70 lbs
hanging knee raises: 1 x 20

Sunday, March 07, 2010

Long run day today. My Garmin is busted after last weekend's race in the rain- I'm hoping it can be revived but it remains dead for the moment. Sooooo, I resorted to the "old fashioned" mapmyrun.com method of distance mapping :) I did 18.15km in 1:52:10 which is a slowww 6:09min/km pace. There were a lot of other people outdoors getting their long runs in, it was nice to see everyone out enjoying this sunshine!

Friday, March 05, 2010

Besides the race, this is what took place last week:

Wednesday, Feb 24: 8km run in Sedona + maybe 5km on the bike, checking it out
Thursday, Feb 25: walked around trails at Grand Canyon for 2 hours
Friday, Feb 26: 8km run (incl. 5km trail)
Saturday, Feb 27: 4km run + 20km bike
Sunday, Feb 28: Race day!
Monday, March 1: rest
Tuesday, March 2: travelled home - 30 min Spinervals rest & recovery
Wednesday, March 3: 10km run
Thursday, March 4: rest
Friday, March 5: 60 min swim + 10km run on Dal track in ~52-53 minutes

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Desert Du Race Report

We are back from the desert! The last week was spent enjoying warm weather and dry roads (with bike lanes!!) in Arizona. It was a welcome relief from the cold, wet weather we've been having here in the maritimes. We tied a race into our vaction: the Desert Classic Duathlon near Scottsdale, AZ.

I was really excited for the race! Some of the top pro women were signed up and last year's 25-29 girls were faaassst so I was looking forward to a challenging age group race. The event was held at McDowell Mountain Park just north of Fountain Hills, AZ. It was really pretty, peppered with all sorts of cacti. We first arrived at the park on Friday for trail run of the first leg of the race. The race was a 5.5km run + 32km bike + 4.4km run, both runs being on trails in the park. Mark and I loved the trail! I liked it especially since the last 2 kilometers were a descent. hehe



The following day, Saturday, we went back to the park for a pre-race meeting w/ the race director and to cruise the bike course + second run. Thanks Mark for telling me how bad these shades looked!! hahah



You might be wondering who that little black stealth is that I'm holding there.. ;) She is a new acquisition fully assembled by my stellar boyfriend/personal bike mechanic, Mark! haha He built her to perfection and she is FAST. My first ride on her was the Wednesday of the trip when we did a 20km tour of Sedona, AZ. Other than that, I didn't get much practice in before the race and this is my first tri bike. Those aero bars are scarier than they look! I didn't use them much during the race (check out the pic below) because I felt like I was slowing down and losing control when I got into them v. being comfortable and more aggressive in the side bars. So what if I looked like the amateur that I am? :)

I think we were basically the only people left at the park at 6pm the night before the race, so after our tour of the course we packed it in, headed to Olive Garden for the delicious, carbo-laden meal and back to our hotel for a good night's rest.

We heard there was supposed to be rain in the forecast but shrugged it off. It's the desert, right? Wrong. We woke up to pouring rain and cold temperatures on race day. Nothing a couple of Canadians can't handle! A portion of the race participants weren't so brave. Of the 500 signed up, ~335 competed. Arizonans must be made of sugar. ;) I kid, I kid, the rain sucked and I cannot blame any one for opting out.

Here she is all ready to race...


There was a lot of traffic coming into the park since we took longer than expected to leave the hotel in Scottsdale and make it out to Fountain Hills. Everyone was as bummed about the weather as we were I think, and didn't want to spend any extra time standing around waiting at the start! We had JUST enough time to get the bikes unloaded, put together, down to transition, set up, timing chips, etc. Thank you Mark once again for your patience and helping me out with the fine adjustments on the bike! I had a slipping seat post all week that was still sliding down despite the aluminum shim put into it but Mark managed to tighten it enough on race day that it stayed put!



Before we knew it, we were at the line and the pros were off and racing. It was cool to see some of my favorities; Linsey Corbin, Sam McGlone, Michellie Jones- to name a few. My wave was up after the collegiates. A few words about USAT rules and we were off! There was a nice 800m paved descent into the North trail before starting a 2km ascent after reaching the trailhead. The first trail was muddy but not too bad since the men hadn't been through it yet. I kept up with the girls for the most part but backed off once I reached the peak of the hill and let my legs take me for the remaining 3kms. A photographer snapped this unflattering pic somewhere during this process:


Photo courtesy of Fotojack.com

I felt good after the first run; I didn't kill it but my time was right about where I expected - 27:30 mins, less than 5min per kilometer. Next up it was my favorite- the bike! I transitioned pretty quickly and started the 5 mile gradual ascent out of the park, starting to pass all the girls who ran faster than I did. It was around the 5 mile mark where Mark (who started 3 mins after I did) came up from behind, said hi, and shamelessly motored on by.

The rest of the bike was rather uneventful. I was cautious as there was water on the road. I saw Mark again at the turnaround. He looked visibly confused when I hollered hello to him. :) I had never 'raced' 32km bike before, and we hadn't ridden the entire course the day before, so I kept some energy in mind knowing I might have to dig for it near the end. Here is how NOT to ride a tri bike hehe.. :


Photo courtesy of Fotojack.com

I made a huge mistake during this race. I did not hydrate enough! Silly me, I know these things. I skipped out on water during T1, and didn't reach for my water bottle during the ride. I had eaten a couple shot blocks during the first couple miles of the bike but that was it. As a result, near the end of the bike my calves were cramping. I still made it through with the fastest bike split in my age group - 1:10-something. I was less than impressed but it was good enough for #1 on the bike! At this point, I never knew it, but I was only 23 seconds back from the lead girl in my group!

My mentality through this race was 'survive'. Trail running in mud seemed like a bad idea for my ITBS and repaired ACL, not to mention the wet roads, new bike, etc. I told myself to go for the fastest bike split and then who cares about the second run? I should have! This is the wrong attitude which I will change next time!! I ran SLOW on the second run... walking up most of the 40 foot climb involved half way through. The result was 2nd place in my age group. The first place girl gained 2.5 minutes on me during run #2.



Finish time: 2:05:15
Mark did amazingly well with a time of 1:45!

We survived the crazy wet desert du!! yeah!!


This picture does not capture the amount of MUD on my legs, shoes, everywhere!! haha



All in all? Really fun race, great vacation, and I'm really motivated to race season! Next up is the B.A.A. 5km in April in Boston when I travel with Mark to watch him run the Boston Marathon!