400s

Well, I really didn't want to do speed work today. I didn't help that mom called at 11:15 to ask me to look up flight arrival times last night. Here's the workout:

2 mile warm up

Sub 22 min 5k then 6 Miles
Sub 28 min 5k then 5 Miles
Sub 35 min 5k then 4 Miles
of alternating 400M @
5k pace & @ Marathon pace
@ 2:19 & 2:34

1 mile warm down

When I arrived, I found that it was really windy. Again. I was really tearing up. I ended up shortening the workout.

I did my fast 400s in between 2:09 and 2:17. I'm not sure what my slower 400s were, but they might have been a bit too slow. Then I wimped out and only did 3.5 miles of 400s after doing a 1.4 mile warm up. I didn't do a cool down, but I did do the 5 minutes of core. Coach said he was going to run, but only after going home and napping first.

Today was Spruce Up Your Office day. I did clear of parts of my desk and unearthed some of the things I knew were down there.

Bad weather as usual

There were threats of storms. But they didn't happen. Still it was very windy. I forgot to mention that I felt like crying throughout the whole run--there was so much pollen in the air. It felt like sandpaper was rubbing in my eyes.

I didn't swim. I had class--in fact, I had my presentation today. I wondered why my Crumpler felt so light. When I arrived to set up, I discovered I'd forgotten apple. I hurried down to the library and printed my presentation. Fortunately, I'd sent to through this listserve, so everyone had it.

I didn't "goof off" as usual today. I stopped by the Fire Museum. I figured I'd get fed as it was Andrew's fifth birthday. I was right. There was lots of left over Chick Fil A.

Up and Down, Up and Down

Well, my legs still felt like lead after the bike ride. I jogged over to the hills going down Allen Parkway as usual. But, it seemed really slow. Today was 2 x 10 minutes of one big loop with 2 hills. I think I managed 8 loops for each set. The best part was starting at the very very back and passing people as I rand.

Here's something funny: Lee called whining about the fact that his coin purse moccasin zipper broke. When I looked at it, I couldn't fix the zipper either. So, I did the next best thing: I got on ebay to look. Sure enough, after looking at the first couple of listings, I found this one on Buy It Now. The only differences are the colors of the beads, the fact that this one has a tag and string at the back and that it's stamped "Colorado" instead of "Cody, Wyoming." It wasn't very expensive.

Tour de Houston

Well, I think I've finally adjusted to this week's time change. Sleeping late on Thursday and Friday certainly helped. I know I should have done something like swim or cycle. I kind of cycled on Thursday night--I rode around in the parking lot, trying to get my new-to-me bike adjusted.

Today there was no run. Instead, we did the Tour de Houston. We probably shouldn't have done the actual route. It was from City Hall, down to Minute Maid and over the viaduct (like the marathon route) and over to the Hardy Toll Road. We rode up to the Aldine Bender exit where we turned off and weaved around until we got to the Redstone Golf Course and then virtually back the way we came. It was supposed to be a 40 mile route. I forgot to reset Garmin before we started and then we stopped a couple of time and I forgot to reset it. I think we managed to average more than 15 mph for the whole ride. I came up with 42.5 . . . Will said it was 45 miles. It was good to use the 2-way radios with the headsets. I think I need some practice in using it, but it really helped. Surprisingly, there were quite a few crashed--on good pavement! Luckily I wasn't close to crashing at any time. I think my shorts rubbed a bit. Overall, I don't feel too bad. A little sleepy now (I didn't take a nap).

Still, this isn't a bad ride to do. There's a nice little sack lunch at the end. We should have figured out how to bypass the Redstone part and go straight up to the 70 mile route turn around.

Rolled over by a Steam Roller

This was today's scheduled workout:

2 mile warm up

2 x (1600/800/400 w/ 2mr b/t)

5mr b/t sets

1600@ 9:05 - 9:11

800@ 4:24 - 4:28

400@ 2:08 - 2:10

1 mile warm down

This is what I actually did:

1.44 mile warm up

1 x (1600/800/400 w/ 2mr b/t) in 8:49, 4:07, 1:56

5mr

3 x 400 w/ 2 mr b/t in 1:57, 1:59, and 2:00

Of course I feel like I've been run over by a steam roller, but I'm not sure if it's because of the workout or because of the dumb time change. Before I started, coach had mentioned just doing one set--this was really a mental workout (and from what his blog said, a tough one that required lots of sleep). I tried hard not to look at my pace while I was running so I wouldn't freak myself out. Except when I thought I was going way too fast at the beginning of a couple of sets. Like the first one when I found myself going at about an 8 minute pace--not good if I want to do a whole mile and have something left. (I think if I only had to do a mile, I could do it in about 8). After I finished my first set, coach asked how I did--I told him I'd only finished one set, but gave him my times. He seemed to think I'd worked signficantly hard. When I mentioned I was thinking about doing some 800s instead of another set, he suggested 400s. Boy, I'm glad I didn't do the 800s. I am glad that I was able to do them all in 2 or under. I probably should have done the 4th 800, but I was pretty tired and want my legs to remember the pace I actually ran today. So, I did 2.5 miles with an average pace of about 8:19. I'm ok with that.

And I finished with two sets of core--since my workout was shorter, I was able to start with the first group and then when he announced a second go-round, I figured, why not. Dora gave me a hard time about it.

Driving to shower, I noticed that there was no way to see the bayou--the fog was so thick and up to the trees.

Apparently word gets around quickly--Pamela tells me she took time off the Bayou City 10k Race Committee but already knew that I'd asked to join the group! And, June is chasing me--I need to lose some weight so she can't catch me.

Tonight is Meet The Coaches for Jill B Nimble.

As long as I don't swallow water . . .

Well, as you can tell, I didn't feel like running yesterday. It was the first full day after the time change and my legs were still tired from Saturday. I HATE time changes. I think it takes so much to get our bodies adjusted. I'm not sure that it truly benefits children (I think the reasoning that kids would be waiting for buses in the dark is bogus) because it takes so much to get adjusted.

Speaking of adjusting to time changes, I signed up for a USAC class on adjusting to time changes. I need 5 USAT approved CEUs by the end of the year. I may have 3 or 4 that I got when I was certified and hear the talk about nutrition (that was interesting but not what I had thought). I'm not worried about having enough hours as I still have my physical activity class I took last year to rely on.

It's spring break. Theoretically, I should have been at work today (my class day). Instead, I decided to take the whole day off. I goofed off for a while. I went to REI, hoping my pedals would be in. Only the toe clips were in. Interesting how the clips with the straps were only $6 per pair at REI and the clips and straps were each $6.99 at Performance Bike. Needless to say, once I picked up the ones at REI, the ones went back to Performance Bike. If only my pedals would come in . . . . I goofed off a bit at the Galleria and picked up some groceries before coming back to do homework and cook dinner. It was a pleasant day even though I didn't get everything I wanted done. I did manage to get the oil changed in the Avalon though. Oh, and I swam 900 meters. If I hadn't swallowed some water in the last 100 meters, I might have gone up to 1000 meters. A one k. But, it wasn't to be. However, I did do more freestyle. Today's workout:

8 x (25 breast, 25 free)
4 x (25 breast, 25 free, 50 breast)
8 x (25 breast, 25 free)
200 breast cool-down

The water was actually pretty pleasant. I thought I'd be freezing when I got out of the water because of the breeze, but it wasn't too bad. More pool lanes were open today, but it could be because there was a different Rec Center person on duty.

Spring is in the air

and it means I can't breathe. I know I wheezed all night Friday night.

Yesterday was the Bayou City Classic. I had hoped to run in under an hour (for the first time), but it was not to be. I have never had such terrible breathing problems after a race. My chest was tight all of Saturday. Not only was I wheezing and couldn't feel that I could take a deep breath, but I have been coughing up yellow phlegm. The good news about that is that the congestion is on its last legs. The bad news is that I'm congested. Today was better.

I ran my 10k in 1:01:53. At least it was under a 10 minute pace overall. I suspect if there hadn't been the Memorial Bridge, I'd have made it in under an hour.

drip, drip, drip

I'm not just talking about the rain outside. Although the last few days have been beautiful, there has been a fine flim of yellow that is making its appearance. Needless to say, it is making my sinuses feel like they want to explode. In some ways, I'm glad it rained as it's immediately dampened all the pollen. I feel a bit better.

I felt so awful, I didn't even pretend to try to exercise. I'm still hoping to do well on my first real "running" of the Bayou City Classic. This will be the first year that I'm not part of a centipede. Part of me is sad (because I won't get an award), but do I really want an award? I think I'd rather have a PR. Like to break an hour.

Oops.

It was a beautiful morning. A bit chilly so I started my warm up with a shirt on. Took it off before I was half done. It was a 1.7 mile warm up. Here's what the work out was supposed to be:

2 mile warm up

3 miles of 30/30.

Alternating 30sec fast & 30sec medium.

Medium pace should be as fast a possible but still being able to recover for the 30sec fast.

You must be able to change pace.

The goal is to run a fast 3 miles

Time and record your 3 miles.

*If at Memorial park you could also run 3 light posts hard & 2 light posts medium.

1-2 mile cool down

Well I blew it. I intended to set my Triax to go off every 30 seconds. But I had it at 3 seconds. So I thought, no matter, I'll just use Garmin to track. Somehow, I didn't figure out what I had done wrong until after 12 minutes. I ended up doing 3 minutes hard, 3 minutes medium for the first 12 minutes. Then I tried 30 hard 30 medium. Then I was so out of it, I think I ended up sprinting 2 light poles and walking one. The total time was still under 30--29:42. If I had done it correctly, I likely could have done it faster than my time trial. I was so pooped I didn't do much of a cool down.

And, as usual, my nose is running. Running the cold makes my nose run all day. I'm sure it's a reflex reaction that takes all day to get rid of.

Only on a Tuesday

Of course it was cold and windy today . . . even though it didn't rain. Had to have the heater on last night and heard the wind blowing all night. Needless to say, I had no intention of getting into the cold pool and even less desire to get out of the cold pool into the cold breeze. So, I spent 20 minutes on the CycleOps. I raised the seat about 2 inches. Amazing how much more wattage I got (between 80-114), how much higher my cadence was (between 85 and 100), and how much faster my pace was (between 20.5 and 23.4). I got a bit hot, but my legs weren't nearly as tired.

Class was rather interesting today. The speaker was the vice chancellor of health programs for the UT system. He really knows his stuff and apparently still practices. I can see how he was a driving force behind Code Red. Listening to him gave many of the proposals more meaning ashe provided many examples. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical before he started speaking. He also had very good control of the time.

Once again, I've failed to lace up a new pair of shoes. Maybe I'll just wear them with laces tomorrow and run that way. Of course, I'm going to have to tie my chip to the laces then. Perhaps I'll just get up early tomorrow to do it.

You know it might be a good day . . .

. . . when you walk up to the porta-potty, look at the label that says when it was last cleaned, realize it was today and it's only 5:30 in the morning, open the door, and see TWO brand new rolls of tp. I had wondered why there were two slightly damp spots of earth. The cleaning guy must have gotten there pretty early to have been done and not seen.

I plodded along on my warm up to the hills. I don't think I ran very fast and even cut it a bit shorter than usual. Today was 4x5 min with 2 min rest on 4 different hills. The middle two were hard because of the slight tail at the base. The third one was the really tough one. The grade changed and, as usually, it was the third set (which is usually the toughest thing to do any way). I couldn't count how many hills I actually completed. But I'm pretty sure it was more than 28 total.

I'm not nearly as prepared for my 100 question multiple choice exam tonight (ok, I thought it was 200 questions). I have to start it some time between 6 and 10 pm and have 2 hours for it. Fortunately, the practice exam will be up until the modules shut down at 6. Good news is the exam is worth only 100 points. I have 55 out of 55 points right now. The paper will be worth 125 and there's still the digital poster and the final (which I don't think is cumulative, so I have a chance to bring up the grade if needed). The quizzes seemed to be mostly logical, so if I read carefully, I should be able to at least pass! I guess I wouldn't care as much, but I've managed a 4.0 so far!

New 9 AM

Today was the first 9 am service at Ecclesia. It started only 6 minutes after the projected start time! And I was out the door by 10:24. It was actually very good. It was full, but not overly crowded. The message on Psalm 23 was a dialogue and to the point. What was most interesting was the point that I've been realizing more and more. American Christianity is very ego-centric. So often the Bible is interpreted in terms of man, not in terms of God (which seems to be more the case in less affluent societies). To me, that suggests that we, as Americans tend to want to justify the "American Dream" as an example of God's blessing (consider the title of the book by a megachurch author whose name appears in letters that are bigger than the name of his church on the side of the building). And, I'm not sure I agree that prosperity is the only sign of God's blessing--sometimes I think it's a red herring.

Non-Rodeo Run

We managed to get up begin running before 8. Actually, I think we were done by about 8:30. That was a good thing. It was pretty sunny and slightly humid. I managed to log in 4.5 miles. I can't remember how long it took, but it was something like 11:15 miles. I'll have to pull out Garmin and fill in all the blanks.

What is more exciting is the fact that we went bike shopping/collecting. I had to take my white bike in--Rita told me the REI guys would be leaving early and I knew I couldn't make it to City Hall before 2 that day. So, she emailed me and asked me to drop the bike off. I took it in yesterday and hope it will be done by Saturday. But, just before that, Lee bought a new bike. I guess he's had his eye on it for about a year . . . since I started thinking about buying a new bike (which I didn't do--I bought 2). After purchasing it, he rode it around in the parking lot and it didn't seem to be shifing correctly. So, he took it back in twice and they more-or-less fixed it. Fortuatnely, I had deposited the REI bike in the meanwhile. Then it was off to Spring Valley where I'd dropped off my new-to-me bike last week for assembly. It would have been great to have taken it for a spin, but it has no pedals. So, it was back to REI to try to find some. They didn't have what I was looking for, so we went back to Performance Bike (we'd already been there earlier to buy pedal cages). They had some on display that would have been perfect (with a perfect price), but of course, they were out. It's a good think I bought a pedal wrench. I think there will be some pedal shuffling. Eventually, I ordered some other ones from REI. I'm just not sure they'll be here before our big ride.