Running Workout Mishmash

Here I am, tired, headachey and over-scheduled (waah waah waah). I need some simple days ahead!

My week day runs this week were quite good. It’s so joyous to see improvement and feel happy with results. I’m not saying that there’s been some miraculous breakthrough, just that there is pleasure in being happy with how I feel and that my effort shows.

Monday was hills and Wednesday was speed. The St. Andrews boys need to send me a thank you note for providing the “oh, hell, that old lady is not going to pass me while I walk up this hill” motivation. Yeah, I’m slow, but I do the workout and I don’t lollygag and after a while, that all adds up.

It was fun, I worked hard, and I felt good. Success!

1,000m repeats on Wednesday. These used to be a corner-post of Andreas training; I’ve cursed many a 1K repeat. The first time I ever had a severe allergic reaction was at the end of 1,000m repeats on a hot day at CVMS back in 2001…my times that day were 5:09, 5:18, 5:15, and 5:14. My times this year…2k @ 11:14, followed by 1Ks @ 5:36, 5:32, and 5:37.

I am extremely happy with that. 2001 was on a track with no 2K to start; this was all on the road. I’m older, heavier, and not in road shape. But those times are a lot closer than what I would’ve thought had you asked me. And I had a moment of pure happiness in the middle of the second 1K:  in a shady spot, running slightly downhill, my body feeling like it was answering the call to work hard, the sound of my feet and the beat of my heart the perfect background music. Really, I know it’s corny but I do what I do for those moments…that’s why I run. I never feel more alive than I do at those particular times.

Triathlon Training Fun

In between those two run workouts, I hit the RunFar Time Trial with the Tri Zones group on Tuesday night. I really don’t need to be doing the triathlon workouts right now but I love being a part of this group and I thoroughly enjoy the tri sports.

My Guru felt odd after riding Sheba, my touring bike, through Germany; Clementine is so light, my position so much more prone, that I felt gangly and wobbly and had some performance anxiety during warmup. My hubby had come, too, and I think he was wondering a bit at my various hesitations. We did a warm-up loop on the veloway and then I chased him around South MoPac.

Surprisingly, the hills felt soooo much better and I maintained a better speed on the front half of the loop than I normally do (don’t laugh; usually I dip down below 10mph on the biggest hill…but I maintained a 10mph or better speed on the front half). My turnover was better, too, so clearly riding the heavy bike at easy speeds for long periods of time was a benefit. I didn’t go as fast as I normally do on the second half but I finished strong, and I averaged 18.7mph.

This is pretty much what I do, speed-wise, at every TT. Again, I was pleased…I’d run 18 miles on Saturday, done hill repeats on Monday, and just the week before, ridden my bike for anywhere from 35–45 miles for five days straight. Seeing my friend Tricia there and hearing her speed (over 24mph!!) really inspired me. A conversation afterward with Coach Gina sealed the deal; I’m going to work on half IM during the summer of 2011, bring up that bike speed (I want to hit that 20mph mark at a TT), set a new half IM PR, and have a “break” before tackling the 100-miler in 2012.

Sheba the Touring Bike Gets a New Home

After both our run workouts yesterday morning (and me running too many “quick” errands), my boy and I took a load of stuff up to girl child in Nacogdoches–one item being Sheba, my touring bike, for Christie to ride to and from school. I tell you, I hope that bike is uneventful for her; it was not uneventful today. I’d gotten up early and taken a walk from the new apartment to school to see what it would be like biking. It’s a nice route, and there’s even a bike shop right across the street from the music building. Even though the sign said store hours started at 10AM, the store was open at 9AM so I went in just to chat.

I had a nice talk with the guy who worked there about biking in Nac (he said motorists are pretty good and don’t mess with bikes) and theft (yeah, if you don’t lock it up it’ll get stolen) and so forth. After I got back to the apartment, I decided to get the bike ready by putting on the bike basket…which required removing the front rack…and then I realized that, due to the way the front brake was arranged, I’d need to disassemble that…blah blah blah…nothing is easy with the bike.

Long and the short–I had to take it into the shop to get the brake cable redone. The guy was great, fixed it right there while I waited, so I bought a new lock and got a spiffy tee-shirt for the hubby. I hope the bike works out well for her.

We got back late this afternoon. I had something to go to this evening but I just didn’t have the energy to get across town and a background headache was/is making me poor company. Jammie time is sounding really good right now. Maybe even TV.

Can you call me couch potato?