BEAST week 7 (Monday)

Ugh, I am definitely having one of those regretful moments at not having made better use of this 8-week base fitness block, but there is nothing to be done about it now.  Probably I am just suffering from lack of sleep and work stress: I went to the 6am class, as Brent had to get up at 4 for a 5:15 car to the airport. Had thought of doing a double class, but I have a huge pile of work and a long day of teaching ahead, so really better to stop after the first hour.  (Feeling a bit queasy on and off through class - 4 hrs. sleep not enough!)

BEAST week 6 (Friday)

Very good, as usual.

1:20*

*There's a 6am class and a 7am - I'm registered for the second one, but if I get to the gym early I tuck in to work right away...

BEAST week 6 (Wednesday)

It was truly horrible to me to get up this morning, I am highly fatigued, but I am glad I made it downtown to exercise: it was a good Beast. Got here early enough that I really got a full hour and a half plus - once you are doing it regularly, an hour does not really feel long enough, 1.5hr. is better...

1.5hr. strength

BEAST week 6 (Monday)

Very good.  I am unduly weary but felt energetic for the duration of class...

1:15 boot camp

Frigid Saturday run

We were supposed to run for 90 minutes, but I just didn't have it in me. I've had three nights in a row of wretched insomnia; it emerged that both Liz and I had been tempted to cancel by email earlier in the day (it is incredibly wintry and windy out there, especially in contrast to yesterday's balmy weather).

We figured we'd try for 2 x the middle loop, roughly 8 miles, which would do us about the right time if we paced appropriately, but the first loop just seemed monumentally hard: we didn't walk at all, which is good, but the wind was bitter and I was having twinges in my right thigh muscle. We stopped after the first loop to assess the situation, and when we thought about starting up again it seemed clear that I was neither mentally nor physically up for it: even just those couple minutes of standing around in the cold had caused my twingey muscle to protest.

(Missed sleep means that recovery doesn't happen - boot camp/lower body strength stuff plus long runs plus sleep poor in quality and quantity are a bad combination. I will take tomorrow off and see how boot camp feels on Monday...)

(I think we were probably going a bit fast for a long run, too - it's hilly! - we should have been more like 11:00/mi., but it was so cold there was a tendency to hurry!...)

We will do a real 90-minute easy run next weekend, and perhaps hope for better weather. And now I am going to get in a very hot shower - it is freezing coming home on the subway in sweaty running clothes!

4.21mi., 44:31 mins., avg pace 10:34/mi.

Friday swim

Nice! Didn't stay in too long, I have slightly strained some groin muscle and avoided whip kick accordingly, but it was very pleasant.

4 x 250: #1 free, #2 flutter kick with board, #3 free, #4 drill-swim by 25 (fists x 2, front scull x 2, finger-drag)

2 x 100 stroke drill or drill-swim by 25 (fly, back)

6 x 50 on 1:15, stroke down free back (1st 3 fly, next 3 back)

50 kick, 100 easy free

1650 yards total

Friday strength

Terrible insomnia Wednesday night, last night not quite so disastrous but sleep still very light and fitful, so I emailed Gerald around 5:30 to say I wouldn't make it to class at 7 - definitely the right call, I then slept adequately from 6 to 11 or so.  Hied myself downtown (on my bike! Delightful weather ddvelopments here...) for noon-1:30 abs and strength.  Will probably stick around for a short swim before riding home.  

BEAST week 5 (Wednesday)

Very good - the time flew by.

I still have a tiny bit of sore throat left, but the antibiotics seem to be doing their job...

1.25hr.

Tuesday double spin

A very nice one, with the companionship of my triathlete friend H., someone I haven't seen for much too long!

1:45 spin

Postscript

No strep, but throat remains very sore and doctor has given me antibiotics. Currently waiting for the pharmacy to call and say the prescription's ready to pick up; discretion suggests that really I should not go and swim with Jim Bolster's group at 6am tomorrow, I will sleep in and keep my germs to myself for the time being...

BEAST week 5 (Monday)

Still have quite a sore throat, it is mysterious - but as it is strictly neck-up, I did go to boot camp, and it was a very good class, one of those ones that passes by really quickly. I got there about 20 mins. early and did the last part of the previous class too...

(My annual physical is scheduled for later today, so I'll get my doctor to take a look at the throat too - I don't think it can be strep, surely I would feel sicker, but it's the third day it's been this sore, so that's slightly worrying, especially as I am hoping to do massive amounts of exercise this week!)

1:20 strength

Sunday run

That was good - actually it was arduous and wintry, both Liz and I were tempted to stop, but that is the good thing about doing it with a friend, you really can't just stop!

I have annoyingly misplaced my HR monitor strap - either it is somewhere mysterious in my apartment, or else I accidentally left it at the gym. Will check in the lost and found at Chelsea Piers on Monday; it is going to be annoying and expensive if I have to replace it, I fear...

7.57mi., 1:22:48, avg pace 10:56/mi.

It is more mental than physical, but I couldn't face running up the 2 big hills, we walked 'em; everything just felt hard. (My throat is still slightly sore, and legs were stiff and huffing and puffing systems under strain.) Very good to get it done, though.

Next week we'll do 90 mins. easy, including perhaps still walking those couple biggest hills, and then the following week we'll do 90 mins. with no walking.

Saturday BEAST

Well, I didn't do the three BEAST classes this week that were exactly what I meant to (i.e. MWF7-8am), but I did do three total in the end (T6-7, M7-8 and S9-10), so that isn't bad. Lauren came today as a visitor, it was interesting to hear her thoughts! I had a slight but painful sore throat late last night and this morning, but boot camp seems to have dispelled it; nose slightly runnier than usual, I guess I do have some minor virus, but I am going to ignore it...

1hr. strength

Friday strength/spin

Didn't get a ton of sleep, but managed to get up around 9:30 and get on with things. Midday abs/sculpt and spin:

1hr. 30min. strength, 40min. spin

Insomnia redux

(This time I feel it is my own fault, I knew I shouldn't stay out so late - I think I have to make a concerted effort not to have so many evenings out next week, this has been a bit of a disaster for me as far as sleep goes. Have emailed Gerald to say I won't be at boot camp; will go to midday abs and strength class instead.)

Thursday spin

It was good. Have now gotten home quite late from seeing Lauren's sister's band play; am hoping I will fall asleep almost at once so as to make boot camp tomorrow morning feasible, but will keep an open mind and see how it goes...

1hr. spin

BEAST week 4 (Wednesday)

It was NOT a day when the hour seemed to fly by - air v. cold outside, which makes me a bit wheezy, and I haven't had nearly enough sleep over the last couple days.  But it is a very good class - some of those exercises are lethal!

1.25hr.

Makeup BEAST plus spin

I took a sleeping pill and went to bed at 9 with the alarm set for 5 and an open mind about whether it really would be a good idea to get up then; but there is a non-fee-based Beast session on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6am, and the rule for the Beast is that when you miss class, you make up the work.  And I did feel ok when the alarm went off, so I came downtown for class and then did a spin on my own afterward.

1hr. strength

6 x 2 mins. zone 2/70 rpm, 1 min. RI - 40 mins. with warmup and cooldown

Insomnia!

It is very frustrating; I have just emailed the boot camp instructor to say that I'll have to miss class this morning. Have been trying to get to sleep, fruitlessly, for three hours; back to bed shortly for another stab at it.

Sunday spin/swim

An authentic run-bike-swim day, that is good. The spin class was a bit lame (couldn't hear and/or understand a good part of the instructions), but it made sense to have an easy one in any case - I have worked all systems to their utmost limits and soon need a rest day to let improvements sink in! (I will take Tuesday properly off, I think.)

Then we had a very short pool swim - I realized as soon as I was swimming that it was not just my calves that were incredibly sore, it was also all of my back and shoulder muscles...

Spin: 53:57, avg HR 129, max HR 132

Swim: 2 x 100 free, 4 x 50 stroke drill (IM order), 100 IM easy = 500 yards total

Excellent Sunday run

Liz and I met up at 10 for what we knew would be a pretty slow Central Park loop (6 miles) - neither of us has been running much (I've been overscheduled with other stuff, but also the weather has been fairly dreadful, even by my "pro-winter" standards), but we are set on having a weekly date for a long run.

We actually didn't do too badly, pace-wise, though effort levels felt more like what you want for a 50-minute effort than for a longer one - we'll go a bit slower next week and try for 8, perhaps.

It is the most beautiful day today, absolutely perfect running weather - 40+ degrees, sunny, the road in the park is quite clear!

Early adopters will be laughing, I definitely haven't come to any of this in a very timely manner, but I also had a fantastic eye-opening experience with my new phone - I have held out against getting one for a while now, but as a longtime Verizon customer barraged with iPhone invitations, I figured it would be a good idea to make the upgrade to a Droid phone before the store was deluged with iPhone customers. I got a Motorola Droid 2 Global; it seemed like a good deal, I paid about $150 for it and my monthly charge for phone plus data is the same as what I've been paying for phone alone (I had a 900-minute plan but rarely used more than about 250 or 300, so have downgraded to a 450-minute plan, which I am pretty sure will really be enough).

Two previous technological innovations have already hugely improved my life: I got a Kindle in September, and I love it; and I was delighted to find, when I moved back to New York in early January, that they have introduced at my local stations and indeed very widely through the subway system the signs that tell you when the next trains will arrive. This makes subway travel hugely less stressful for me; I am an anxious person who is always worried about being late, and the combination of knowing when the train will arrive plus having a guaranteed supply of good reading material is already hugely beneficial.

But the Kindle for Droid app is the finishing touch - I can fit it in my pocket, i.e. when meeting a friend for a run, and still be able to read on the train - and it synchronizes to the spot you're at in that book on the Kindle! Truly the wonders of the modern world are amazing....

6.02mi., 1:01:36, avg. pace 10:13, avg HR 149, max HR 166 (too much time in zone 3, but then it is a pretty hilly route; we walked up Harlem Hill and one other, as a mental rather than strictly physical form of relief, but I think HR will always be a bit high if one hasn't been running on hills at all and then does a longer run of this sort)

Saturday bonus BEAST

That was good - thought I would spin or swim after, but really the initial hour was enough, and the call of coffee too strong...

BEAST week 3 (Friday)

It is just a good class, that's the long and short of it!

(We were spared the promised timed race through the "obstacle course" because semi-naked beach volleyball players were using the court...)

1.25hr.

Bike/swim

Hmmm, that was excellent - I didn't have time or vim to swim longer, but I find it worthwhile to get in for a short one regardless (if you wear tri shorts and top, it is no big deal to have a bit of a dip and then a hot tub dunk post-bike).

I did another workout from the truly excellent Workouts in a Binder for Indoor Cycling - I feel like this is one of the best triathlon-related purchases, in terms of value for money, that I have ever made!

66 mins.

Warmup: 15 mins. (5:00 keeping cadence at 90 rpm, 10 mins. pulling back on the up stroke ["i.e., 'scrape mud off your feet'"] without pushing down hard on the pedals on the way down)

Set 1: 4 x 4:00 standing in big gear (2:00 rest interval), zone 2/RPE 10-12/CP120

Set 2: 4 x 4:00 sitting in big gear (2:00 rest interval), zone 3/RPE 13-14/CP90

(Both at 65-70 rpm except during rest interval.)

Cooldown: 5 mins.

66 mins. total

Details via Garmin: avg HR 136, max HR 153 (avg HR for main set without warmup and cooldown was 141)

zone 1 (17:35), zone 2 (22:15), zone 3 (14:45), zone 4 (4:53)

Then just a very short swim, 700 yards total: 100 free, 4 x 75 kick-drill-swim stroke in IM order, 3 x 100 on 2:30 (IM easy, freestyle hard, IM easy)

BEAST week 3 (Wednesday)

Excellent. Icy as hell outside!

1.25hr.