Yoga!

Highly beneficial local yoga.  I note that my back is considerably more sore today than it was all week, which tells me that I need to restrict time at my computer!

1.5hr yoga

Run!

Indescribably glad to be back at home in my normal routine.  Just ran short and easy as calves are stiff, back is a little sore and it is coming into the time of the year when a mid-morning run on my usual route is uncomfortably hot - either I need to go out earlier (or early evening) or else switch to the shadier but hillier Central Park route.  Bit of both, probably. 

I'm about 14 weeks out from my big race of the year.  I'm actually really excited about it - I was undertrained for it last year, and then the course was (perhaps mercifully!) cut short due to weather-related damage to roads and trails, but this year will hopefully be the full-on experience.  Lauren's doing it too, and it is actually a race that suits me well psychologically - get the bike over with FIRST, then lots of beautiful bucolic point-to-point swimming and running in lakes and on groomed trails.  I will be one of the slowest if not the actual final finisher, and looking at past years' times puts me potentially around the eight-hour mark, so I'll basically be using a modified version of a half-iron/full-iron training plan and shooting for regular fifteen-hour weeks with a couple six-hour training days (rule of thumb of doing entire projected race duration over one or two days at least a couple times in training).  Week anchored on three-hour indoor bike on Saturday mornings (one hour on my own then double spin class), easy two-hour run on Thursday and a 1 one-hour run with zone 3 intervals; one additional run, quite a bit of spinning and some outdoor riding if I can make it happen; three swims a week if I can manage it (2 short technique, 1 long easy).  There's less biking and more swimming in this race than would usually be the case, so I am licensed to make swimming a bit more of a priority than I might otherwise.  Keep up the boot camp for a couple more months but figure yoga is more of a priority.  I'm just going to go for consistency in the training week rather than doing a very calculated build; travel will be slightly disruptive.

:44 (c. 4 miles)

Back home

and really I think too tired to exercise this evening, but here's a link with pictures and even a bit of video from Sunday's long walk.

4:21:54

We walked the half-marathon in Ottawa today with B.'s father, who's had a good deal of bad luck when it comes to the health cards he's been dealt but who remains, at 83, an extraordinary walker.  In his youth, he regularly performed epic feats of walking and swimming, and he continues to walk several hours a day, weather permitting.  It was my conviction that if just a few things fell into place we could have a really lovely day out there, and that was exactly what happened!  There is something very special about spending the day doing some sort of endurance event with family and friends - it is like nothing else.  I don't have a picture, but will post one if I can get a good one from the race site.

Beast/spin!

Back still slightly sore, but it was a good pair of workouts regardless...

1hr boot camp, 1hr spin

Long run of arduousness!

OK, that was hard.  Long damp slow shuffle is more like it.  My lower right back has been hurting a bit this week; it was sore right away, much worse in second hour.  Won't go to yoga this evening, it would be too much, but will shoot for at least half an hour of stretching, concentrating on calves and lower back.  It was already sore enough on Tuesday that I dug out the foam roller, which I don't usually bother with; more of that might be helpful also.

NB I had the most amazing animal sighting!  Along Cherry Walk the bike/pedestrian path runs right next to the highway, with just a narrow strip of greenery and rocky bank right down to the water.  It's been so rainy all week, there are tons of birds pecking up grubs from the ground.  I spotted a beautiful black cat - very yellow eyes, a long distinguished face and Roman nose, shaggy long black fur - stalking two birds about five feet away.  They were oblivious, alas, with sad consequences for one of them - a short dash, a pounce - a satisfying huge mouthful of feathers and meat....

1:55hr 'run' (c. 10 miles)

Workout!

I ran my mile warmup and there was still noone else in evidence - when I found G., he was game for doing the session for me solo, but in fact my left hamstring was bothering me a bit last night and I want to run long tomorrow, so we agreed I would do a core/upper body workout on my own instead.

1:05 strength

Beast/spin!

1:10 boot camp, :55 spin

Yoga!

Good class (local yoga studio).  Bona-fide 15-hour week of exercise; will continue to exercise hard through Friday, then some days of disruption as I go to Ottawa Saturday to Wednesday.  In theory we are walking a half-marathon on Sunday morning, but I am a little worried about arrangements - we will take things as they come!

1.5hr yoga

Double spin!

Been a while since I did that - forgot how taxing it is...

2hr spin

Beast/spin!

Took the spin class relatively easy, to 'flush out' legs as they say.  Weather is beautiful - nice bike ride down here.  Might have a short swim, might not - pleasantly lazy/undecided...

1:10 boot camp
53min spin

Long run!

Must be about the most beautiful running weather ever - mid to upper 50s, clear and sunny.  I think I actually would have bailed if the weather had still been like it was yesterday, i.e. grotesquely foggy and damp and hot.  This was amazing.

1:40, c. 8.5 miles

Beast!

1:10 boot camp
10 miles bike (round trip, Chelsea Piers)

Yoga!

New teacher in this time slot - I liked the old one quite a bit, but this will work...

1.25hr yoga

Short run

c. 3 miles easy.  Slight drizzle, not too warm: actually pretty nice running weather, though I am ready for lower humidity and less dankness in life in general.

Exercise orgy!

It basically was psychologically a weekend day: campus is virtually shut down because President Obama was speaking at the Barnard commencement (literally about 50 yards from my apartment), I worked a ton yesterday and just needed some downtime.  I'm just transitioning into the much more independent part of my year, where I don't teach and am mostly working at home on my own projects; I'm going to Ottawa next weekend, probably won't exercise much while I'm there and would like to pack in a lot of solid hours in the meantime.

In a very good mood now, particularly given good news just now re: major surgery a friend of mine was having today, which has gone according to best-case scenarios.  And Lauren was at Chelsea Piers for spin!

I biked down to the gym; first time I've been on my bike since late fall, the ride down felt rather fraught but ride back was fine, hopefully I will desensitize quickly to that anxiety (it is a bike path, I am not even riding on the street, though admittedly the Manhattan bike path is a more complex scenario than bike paths in many other locations!).

10 miles round trip bike (c. 50 min.)
1:15 Beast boot camp (I was the sole person training for much of the class, which is of course very good as it lets me go at my own speed and concentrate on getting things right - only one exercise was truly too horrible for me to perform competently)*
:55 spin

3 lavish total hours...

*The small-group version of the class meets on the sand volleyball court, and everything is harder in sand: this particular circuit of evil involved alternating the dreaded "frog hop," which I feel anatomically ill-suited to perform (not sure whether it is a function of short arms, lack of hip flexibility or both), then walking arms out to plank and doing a push-up, then back to frog hop - it is peculiarly horrible...

[ED. Posted this on my other blog by mistake!  A sure sign that I have truly fatigued myself!]

Yoga!

Very good vinyasa class, quite challenging.  Have only graded 8 student portfolios, 18 more to go, but I think I can finish the rest this evening.  Hit my six-hour non-negotiable minimum exercise goal for the week; this coming week I should be able to do many more hours than that, we're headed into the non-teaching part of my year, that's good!

1.5hr yoga

Swim!!!

First after a long layoff.   Elated by feel of cool water on skin on a warm day...

2 x 200 free easy, 50 stroke (back, breast)

5 x 100 evens free odds IM fly drill

4 x 50 drill-swim by 25 IM order

4 x 50 stroke-free by 25 IM order

100 kick with board

1500 yards total (c. 40 min.)

Long run!

Gosh, that was amazing - perfect running weather, and for whatever reason it felt very mentally and physically manageable (I am over the hump of a hard work week!).  Saw a cormorant and lots of butterflies; also a very funny English sheepdog who was extremely curious about the music emanating from an open-air saxophonist (the lady walking him saw me looking and commented as I ran past that her husband plays the saxophone, and that any minute now the dog was likely to start 'singing' - which indeed he did!).

Gotta book it out of here, clad & provisioned for a six-hour opera (final installment of Ring cycle!), my first swim in many months (makes more sense to go to Chelsea Piers than come uptown between) and a party downtown!  Won't be home till midnight, that's a slightly overwhelming prospect given that I need to be out of here in ten minutes...

1:24 easy run (c. 7.5 mi.)

Run!

Best running weather EVER!  Crisp, clear, sunny - actually almost too warm in the direct sun (upper 50s).  Was very tempted to run longer, but kept it short as I want to run long(ish) tomorrow morning.  Woo-hoo!

(Was grumpy overnight as had very sleepless night that partly included realization that I couldn't go to Chelsea Piers for Beast/spin double today as I have too much work to do - but this was even better, and much more time-effective.  If I get enough grading done I can go to yoga this evening also, I think.)

40:45 run (c. 4 miles)

Yoga!

Meant to go to the 6:15 class, but the horrifying zombie book review that will not die POPPED BACK UP in the late afternoon and I had to put aside everything else to whack it again with my axe.  Really it's better for me not to exercise so late, but in this case I felt grateful there was an 8-9:30pm one I could go to as post-zombie cleansing measure!

1.5hr yoga

Run!

Felt amazingly good to be able to get out there.  I've been waiting for junk in lungs to clear: still some gunk in there, but they felt noticeably more stable this morning after a longish night in bed, so I figured it was worth a pop.  After traveling Friday evening, I've basically been either absolutely knackered or slightly frenetically occupied or both; this is the first day that felt at all reasonable.

1hr easy run (c. 5.2 miles0

Yoga

Beneficial but not long enough - also, walk home allowed my mind to clutter back up with junk!

1hr yoga

Yoga

I was in a foul mood yesterday as around midday I realized I was having full-on bronchitis, complete with disgustingly crackly lungs full of junk; I mournfully sent B. off for Wednesday night run club without being able to join him, and felt extremely sorry for myself!  However a long night of sleep has mended matters considerably; still with lung junk, but significantly better than yesterday.  Today's yoga class was "flow" as opposed to "power," and I was initially dubious when there was much talk of the moon, women, etc. etc., but in fact it was very good, and has loosened everything up in a beneficial fashion.

1.5hr yoga

Yoga!

Slightly amazingly, made it to Mark's 6am yoga class - it was very good.  Still bedevilled with phlegm, and my throat was rather sore on waking this morning, though it seems to have softened back down to normal.  Irksome!

1hr yoga

Frustrated!

Not by ailment - in fact I am much better today, just a little rawness still in upper throat/sinuses.  But I was really hoping to do the double morning class at World Gym, and was frustrated not for the first time by a very obnoxious culture there whereby a few ladies 'save' all the bikes in the spin studio for their friends.  I left my things on a bike at 8:20, went to core class at 8:30 and then got upstairs to claim bike at 9:15 for 9:30 class, but in fact I hadn't seen the near-invisible seat cover a lady had used to  'save' her bike - she had turfed out my stuff, another woman was in the same position as I and we were both very grumpy.  I am henceforth skipping this whole scene, it's too obnoxious!  I will go back to the gym at lunchtime for some kind of treadmill workout, or elliptical if I feel that the minor ailment deserves one more day of respect.

45 minutes core