Adaptation

Week 11 is flying by. JC is out of town for a week, so I'm a working single mom in addition to training. In order to fit all my workouts in, I've had to schedule each day down to the minute.

Today was my weekly long run. Normally I do the long run on Wednesday evening, but I had to switch it up and run before work today. It seemed like a good idea when I planned it:

5:30: Alarm goes off; hit the snooze twice
5:50: Start the coffeemaker; crawl in bed with Sophie to cuddle
6:00: Get Sophie up and started in her routine; get dressed; fix breakfast
6:40: Out the door to the bus stop 
6:45: As the bus pulls away, start my run
8:25: Finish run, stretch, eat, hop in shower, get dressed
9:10: Leave for work

However, Sophie's cough woke her up in the middle of the night, which meant I was up with her from 3 to 4am. When that alarm went off at 5:30, I was NOT a happy camper. Unfortunately, I also was not coherent, and I managed to turn off the alarm rather than hit the snooze button. Crikey.

I opened my eyes at 6:08 and uttered some bad words. By some miracle, I got Soph ready and out the door in time to catch the bus, but I hadn't done everything I needed to do before my run (fuel, dress properly for the run, etc). It was about 48 degrees and raining lightly, and it took every ounce of strength I had not to crawl back into bed.

So, at 7:15 (only 30 minute behind schedule!), I started my run. It was only cold for the first few minutes. I kept my jacket sleeve pulled down over C-3P0 so I couldn't see my heartrate or pace. I was supposed to run in Zone 2, so I set my watch to beep at me if my heartrate entered Zone 3. I just ran - no music, no heartrate monitor in my face, no planned route, no timer or pace screen ticking away.

IT. WAS. WONDERFUL.

It felt good. It felt easy. It felt fun. But the best part was, my pace was 45 seconds per mile faster than my previous long runs, and my heartrate was perfect. YIPPEE!!!! All those weeks of base building, all those slooooooooow runs and rides, they're paying off now. My pace is faster, my heartrate is lower (including resting heartrate, down by 7 beats per minute since 4 weeks ago), and I've dropped a little body fat and gained some muscle.

Have I mentioned how much I loved base phase? :)

Oh, one more thing: I did learn something today. Bacon before a 5-mile run is great. Bacon before a 10-mile run is not.

Laziness and Miracles

Yesterday I learned that if I don't charge up C-3P0 every once in a while, he'll go dead. So last night's run was sans Garmin. I enjoy running by feel, and it was at Riverfront Park where the mileage is marked, so it wasn't a big deal. I knocked out just over 9 miles.

Some friends in our totally awesome running group were doing 10 miles, so they were out there finishing their runs as I finished mine. Even though we didn't run together, just seeing them out there and exchanging smiles gave me boost. Thanks, friends!

My knee/ITB felt great. No pain. But the last couple of miles, some of my muscles started to ache. This never happens to me. I'm not sure if my failure to consume enough calories during the run had anything to do with it, but that's what I'm going to go with. One pack of Gu Chomps (90 calories) and two Endurolytes pills are not enough for 9+ miles. I had other fuel with me, I was just too lazy to eat it. Yeah, that's pretty lazy.

I did bring a recovery drink with me, and I got that in quickly after the run. Then I ate and drank a lot when I got home. I think that was a large part of this morning's miracle: A great trainer ride! My Thursday rides have really sucked the past two weeks, so I'm glad to have broken that cycle. I hope I've cracked the code for good, because I have 18 more post-long-run Thursday rides before IMTX and I don't want them to suck.

Thursday trainer rides are an hour long and contain my only "speedwork" during the base phase. For the past 4 weeks, I have been allowed to do 6 x 30-second spin-ups once a week. Today I got to do 8! Those 30-second segments are just glorious. I really, really miss speedwork. But I will be patient and I will do the work as prescribed and the results will come.

4 Weeks Down, 20 to Go

Yesterday marked the end of week 4. Key workouts included an 8 mile run, a 2,300 yard swim, and a 33 mile bike ride. I got all my workouts in despite the holidays and crazy travel schedule, but I had way too many Christmas cookies. I also did not stay in my planned heartrate zones for my long run, which means I only accomplished one out of three goals for the week. Fail.

We had quite a bit of chilly, windy weather this week, so the run and the ride were both mentally challenging. The bike ride saw wind speeds of 20+mph, and gusts over 31mph. (Major warm fuzzies for Elizabeth for riding with me and never once complaining. Balls of steel and a heart of gold, that woman has.) At one point, I was heading straight into the wind on a flat stretch of road, pedaling as hard as I could, and going 9mph. Brutal.

I've begun to notice that workouts can be categorized as either "earning results" or "showing results." Most, if not all, workouts are for earning results (doing the work to be faster/stronger/fitter in the future). Every once in a while, you get a glimpse of your hard work paying off when a workout shows you results (with faster times, less effort, lower heartrate, etc). Friday's swim was one of those "showing results" workouts.  I posted my fastest 100 times since the Augusta Half Ironman. (I wore a new swimsuit that fit well, making me more hydrodynamic; I also found a better head position, and some techniques I've been working on are starting to stick.) However, Saturday's windy bike ride was all about earning results. It was tough, and my pace was slow. I look forward to the day when that one pays off.

I've been playing with the settings on C-3P0, and found a way to do my slow runs slowly enough: I programmed the screen to only show me heartrate data (current HR, average HR, and current HR zone). It doesn't display anything about pace or time. So for my Zone 1 run on Sunday, I didn't know my pace while I ran; I just stayed in the right zone. Taking the ego out of the equation made the run SPECTACULAR. I didn't have to feel mad or frustrated by my slow pace. It was so freeing to not care about pace!

Tomorrow is the first day of 2013. I have my resolutions ready, but that post will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now, I need to address these damn Christmas cards.

Fully Functional

I was good. I was very, very good. And just like Sophie said would happen, Santa brought me the Garmin 910XT. <cue angels singing>

I have always had a problem with people who wear Garmins. They say stupid stuff like, "They say the 5k course was certified, but my Garmin says it was only 3.07 miles." Ummm, yeah....

Or how about this one? "Hey, we're running at 10:15 pace." (5 seconds later) "Hey, now we're running at 8:30 pace." (5 seconds later) "Hey, now we're running at 11:45 pace." (5 seconds later) "Hey, now we're running at 7:30 pace." You get the picture.

I have resisted joining the Garmin Army for almost 5 years. But with the vast array of triathlon-training functions on the 910, and the deterioration and ultimate death of my Polar heartrate monitor, it was time to give in.

But I VOW to never become one of those people.

I've worn my new toy for swims, rides and runs over the past week. It's quite easy to use, even without reading any directions. (Of course, today I accidentally locked the keys before starting my run. A quick google search later, I was back in business.) It can tell me virtually anything I'd like to know, short of where the nearest bathroom is. Hell, there's probably a function for that too.

This new tool will serve me well during training. I'm a firm believer in the phrase, "That which gets measured, gets done." It will ALL get done. And logged. And graphed. And analyzed. MUWAHAHAHAHA

As we've gotten to know each other, my Garmin's personality has emerged. He's quite polite, loves to serve me, and translates my workout data into usable metrics.

He's C-3P0.

"Excuse me, Jen, but might I inquire as to what's going on?"