Run #4/?

That was good. I woke up a few times overnight and my lungs sounded and felt pretty dire, but I slept for twelve hours total (for the third night in a row!) and when I woke up both my lungs and my self felt much more human. It's borderline too cold for me to run (tender lungs!), but I think 31 is allowable - just got out for 25 minutes in my bit of the park in the last bit of light.

Staying home this evening and pretty happy about that, though I may go out in a bit to procure modest quantities of alcohol and chocolate!

:25 easy

Run #3/?

Ugh, that was tough to get out the door, but running has a near-magical effect on my mood: I feel cheery and alive for the first time all day!

My lungs don't feel good, and I am also at the annual low ebb of energies: I know if I look back at old blog posts from this time of year I would see that I always only want to be huddled in bed in late December, but that doesn't stop it from feeling like an authentic desire to be put in a medically induced coma for a week or so just so that I don't have to get through so many days! I suppose the process is that once I am better rested, I will be able to get down to the work I enjoy, but I'm still some days away from that (a bit more end-of-semester stuff I've been lagging on finishing, plus general rest and recovery). I do feel momentarily as though I can imagine being able to do some work again!

:35 as 6:1

Run #2/?, or "What goes down must come up"

Good thing I am trying for a streak, too, as otherwise I am sure I would not have done anything today. Alas, last night it dawned on me that I was experiencing the warning signs of a minor lung ailment: I slept for twelve hours, as I was very tired, but ailment is proceeding as one might imagine, and I expect it will be a bit worse tomorrow.

Couldn't get myself out the door this morning (it was almost lunchtime in any case by the time I got up!), then had sandwich and pastry with B. and M. mid-afternoon and had to wait for it to digest. However it is still 40F at 7pm and there was no reason not to get out for 30 minutes on my evening route (run downhill along Riverside Drive to 95th St. and back up the hill home).

Very glad I did, too. Am hoping that lung ailment will remain minor enough that I can keep on doing at least 20min/day (Coach Dave asserts that 12 minutes is the minimum that counts for a run, but in my opinion the twelve of a fast runner converts into the twenty of a slow one!).

:29 down/uphill

Run #1/?

First day of a projected STREAK. Good thing too as I really didn't feel like getting out there: it's rainy, my apartment is squalidly chaotic and messy, I owe B.'s mom a phone call and I need to be on a train to NJ in the not-too-distant future. However it was quite pleasant once I was going. My legs are like blocks of wood from yesterday's spinning.

:40 as very slow 4:1

Double spin!

I had hoped to run yesterday, but I got home from Philadelphia around 2 or so and basically just fell into bed for a 3+hr nap. Slept pretty long and well last night too but still feel as though now might be a good time to go back to bed! Double spin with Joanna made me happy: I've been running enough that I'm aerobically good for it, I think, but I have no cycling legs and the saddle also seemed phenomenally uncomfortable. Looking forward to what I hope will be a much better fitness stretch than the last few months have been.

2hr spin!

Run!

Beautiful weather. Rain cleared up and it is very mild. 1hr easy: 10min down the hill and then 20min further along the river towards town (4:1). The toil back up Midvale Avenue is mighty- only made it as far as the library before slowing to walk for final five-minute cool down. Very nice!

Waterlogged!

Hahahaha, it was MUCH rainier than I thought - very mild, not unpleasant - but I got completely waterlogged, including puddles of water in the tips of the gloves....

A modified version of the lizard run (and an inappropriate name it is, too, on a day that would be anathema to lizards!). :32 easy. Very nice!

Off to Philadelphia momentarily, in minor chaos and disarray - ugh, still haven't unpacked properly from Cayman. Looking forward to getting home on the 26th and then having a couple of MONTHS in which, barring unforeseen calamity, I will be sleeping every night in my own bed....

Run!

Last day in Cayman. 40min as 4:1 (15min warmup, then last :20 hard at the end of each run interval)

Run!

Not a long one - really just trying to get out there every day. 40 min as 2 x (6min jog, 1min walking recovery), 3 x (4min jog, 2min hard, 1min walking recovery), 5min jog cooldown

The "vanity of human wishes" theme....

I am laughing at myself, I am an idiot - on Wednesday I was telling myself and Coach Dave that I was going to shoot for a mini-streak and run every day between now and the end of the month. Then on Thursday I overslept, didn't go to hot yoga and didn't get out at the end of the day either for a short run! (I was a little underfueled, and it is also very hot here by late afternoon - couldn't quite face it.)

This morning I was not full of vim, and idiotically although I never did go back to sleep kept on resetting and/or snoozing the alarm. Did finally get up, in knowledge that it really would be too hot if I left it till later, and had a nice little run after all.

:36 as 3:1 jog-walk, with :16 warm-up and then 5 x (2:30 jog, :30 hard, 1:00 walking recovery)

Much better start to the day, really, than not exercising! B. will be home soon so that we can go and pick up Coach Jerry from The Pines and take him out for a good breakfast at the Waterfront Diner....

Hot yoga!

That was slightly overwhelming - seemed far hotter than yesterday - but I seem to have survived it!

1hr hot yoga

Run!

It seemed dreadfully early to get up - it's not so hot at this time of year (a phenomenon known as the "Christmas breeze" - alas, there is also the phenomenon of "Christmas beef," those nice reddish-brown cows I see on my long bike rides during the summer now going into the pot!), but still high 70s, so I am huffing and puffing pretty quickly. Just did 40min as 4:1, will go to midday hot yoga as well.

Hot yoga!

Got safely to Cayman yesterday, only completely exhausted and temporally discombobulated: I never sleep much the night before that early flight, took a huge deep nap here in the afternoon and then slept solidly again overnight only with spells of wakefulness. Snoozed the alarm a couple times, but had the sense to realize c. 8:15 or so that my day would go much, much better if I got up and made it to 8:45 hot yoga than if I continued to lounge.

It was great to be back at Bliss - the 1hr class is also a good way of easing back into it.

1hr hot yoga

10K yesterday, easy 30min today

Overwhelmed now with tasks to do before leaving town very early tomorrow morning for the week! Beautiful 10K in Prospect Park yesterday (Joanna's fundraiser); just did 30min easy just now in the park, would have gone longer but waited too late and wasn't warmly enough dressed to stay out after dark....

c. 6.8mi (c. 1:20)
+ 30min easy jog

Glorious Paris run-walk!

I took a very impractical route, because I just had a burning desire (I do not know how to make accents in blogger) to run down the Champs Elysees! Which is immensely crowded particularly once one encounters the street fair.... I was on the clock while jogging and basically then just stopped it whenever I had to walk for a while. Did then get to the running path along the river, which is very nice - hit the base of the Eiffel Tower, crossed back across the bridge of locks (they are starting to accumulate again - they were cleared last year as the bridge was so overladen it threatened to collapse!) then back up towards the Arc de Triomphe and 'home.'

Tomorrow I should be able to have a more consistently running sort of an expedition - I think getting to the river and going along the path is the way to go. But it was beautiful today: 50 and sunny, I wasn't wearing gloves and I wasn't cold at all (though now I really must get in the shower!).

c. 50min jog, c. 90min total

Short Invalides run

No internet where I'm currently staying, so this is a brief and belated update, but it was nice that I actually did get out this morning for a scant half-hour run - just down the hill from where I am near the Pasteur Metro to Les Invalides and back up the hill. The dissertation defense was today and I was anxious to leave downtime in case I got lost, had other logistical trouble, etc. etc. but tomorrow I am more leisurely and should be able to take the next step and get to the Eiffel Tower!....

:30 easy run (with random pedestrians offering "Bonne chance!" and other comical words of exhortation)

Lizard run!

Sundays don't seem to have been good for me for exercise this semester: too much work and general feeling of fatigue. But I am pleased that I made it out just now for a short easy "lizard run" (christened as such by Coach Dave): vent-to-snout loop in my bit of park. It is 62F and I was much too warm in a long-sleeved shirt!

Dismayed, in other random planning-related news, to realize that my spring course which I thought I was teaching Thursdays 11-12:50 has unbeknownst to me been moved to Thursday 4:10-6, which will prevent the rare books librarian from sitting in with us and will also mean I can't do Thursday sessions of this class I was hoping to sign up for!

Feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the needs of the next couple days: I should just focus on getting today's stuff done (observe a class, do office hours, teach my graduate seminar, write and submit one letter of recommendation) and worry about tomorrow tomorrow morning!

:31 lizard run

Spin!

Extremely happy to be back at Chelsea Piers for Joanna's spin class, though I fear it will be WEEKS more now before I am back there again. There was only a 10am class scheduled, because of the holiday, so she very generously gave us a good extra chunk of time. Don't feel woefully out of shape actually, though I could feel my leg muscles walking up the subway stairs....

1.25hr spin!

Run!

Nice but short: I had a long sleep last night that made lungs today feel much better than lungs yesterday, and didn't want to mess that up. Also it is cold: same absolute temperature as yesterday I'd say, but dry and windy makes it a lot tougher esp. on tender lungs. Just did the nice vent-to-snout loop in my little bit of the park.

:31

T-run!

Off to a rather late start (in retrospect it was unrealistic to think I was going to get up early and do work - I'm running below par and need the extra sleep, and I think this cough suppressant is making me sleepier even than usual!). Fat flakes of snow falling down out of the sky, but really it's in the high 30s and nothing is sticking underfoot. Nice damp air for tender lungs! Got to the Boat Basin at least - hoping lungs will clear up soon for longer running.

48 min as 5:1 easy jog/walk

VSR!

That stands for Very Short Run - or Very Slippery Run as the case may be. Lungs still not quite right, thought I should properly wait for tomorrow, but there was a small window of afternoon before darkness falls and an awareness on my part that there is nothing like even a short run to turn mood around for the better! Snow this morning turned to freezing rain, but actually I sort of love running in freezing rain - except, that is, for how slippery it gets underfoot. Regretfully decided as I hit the point where you transition down to the river that it was not worth the risk of going longer and falling on slush/ice - but I will look forward to having a nice one tomorrow morning, hopefully it will be above freezing and less slippery (if it's too cold for tender lungs, I will go to hot yoga instead).

20 cobweb-clearing minutes!

Run!

Still not at 100%, so I will be very cautious re: duration and intensity, but there is nothing like an illness-enforced layoff to make you feel ABSURDLY grateful for even a short slow run! Beautiful weather, too - strange to say, it is almost 60, sunny and mild. A particularly good day for a run along the river....

:50 as 4:1 jog-walk

Run!

Hmmmm, regular readers may have deduced from my silence this week that last weekend's optimistic pronouncements re: recovery from ailment were woefully misplaced! Really I was quite sick all week still, with a gruesomely rattly cough (there are BUCKETS of phlegm still....). But I slept long and hard last night (it's pretty outrageous, I can still sleep like a teenager - went to bed at 11 and fell asleep very easily, I was exhausted, then woke up for 2 hours in the middle of the night c. 3-5, then went back to sleep - briefly woke up 9:30 but was clearly still asleep, next woke up at 12:45!). Have just gone out for a lovely easy half-hour run; lungs still junky, but I feel considerably better, and I couldn't resist the beautiful weather (mid-40s, sunny - beautiful glittery sun on the Hudson....)

:31 very easy

Run!

Lungs still full of junk, and I was feeling awful all day (tossing and turning last night meant I only finally fell asleep AT SIX IN THE MORNING, ugh) - I am underrested and generally rather stressed out! However I did get out the door and had a very nice half-hour run - it is wintry in the park, in a way that I like. Will continue to be cautious re: lungs as they are nowhere near approaching 100% health!

:30 easy run

Run!

Hmmm, that may have been slightly premature, but I felt justified by the fact that though this cold was dreadful while it lasted, it never had any major lung involvement beyond the inevitable pint of phlegm (speculative measurement derived Thursday evening in bed during extended spell of coughing) - no soreness or tenderness, none of the unpleasant dry painful unproductive coughing I had with the last ailment. Lungs still full of very runny junk, but feeling much better and have had several good long nights of sleep.

In any case, that's the too-much-information way of saying that I could not resist taking advantage of THE MOST GORGEOUS RUNNING WEATHER - it's 40 and sunny, relatively little wind, best time of the whole running year as far as I am concerned! Just did the vent-to-snout loop in my little bit of the park, with 8 x :20 sprint, :40 recovery in the middle. About 30min total. Woo-hoo!

Ailment report

I didn't exercise on Sunday and Monday due to work overload and fatigue - and then Monday evening it became unpleasantly clear that I was coming down with another respiratory ailment! It's interesting - this one has been much more unpleasant than the last, in terms of how I felt hour by hour and day by day (started with very sore "throat" [really the top part of the palate behind the sinuses] and then progressed through horrible streaming cold and lungs full of very runny phlegm!), but it has passed much more quickly, and really the traditional cold is easier to endure - you feel so gross you don't miss the exercise, and there is no puzzle about the symptoms (on the last one I was doing a lot of googling re: ear infections and sinus infections, and that dry hard cough is much more unpleasant too). Anyway, I slept for a very long time last night and am going to take it pretty easy today - definitely on the mend - I am hoping, perhaps slightly unrealistically, that tomorrow I might be able to go for a short easy run....

Spin!

Yesterday was a wash: I found out Joanna wasn't teaching midday spin, so I thought I'd run instead (more time-efficient), but really I only had a small window and a bit of a headache that made me feel a nap was a better idea.

Made it downtime only a minute or so late for 10am spin today - very happy to be back properly! Only did the one class. Maddeningly the 1 train is YET AGAIN not running above 96th St. due to track work, so it took much longer to get home than it should have (in retrospect, I should have walked that last mile rather than dealing with the incredibly annoying and crowded free shuttle). Had a diabolical plan that I would go to 4:30 hot yoga uptown, but really what I am going to do now is take a NAP. Opera this evening and need to get at least one chunk of work done this afternoon probably mean that's it for exercise for me today. Very beautiful sunny rather wintry day: hope the weather is like this again tomorrow for my LONG(ish) RUN....

:50 spin

Spin!

Gosh, it felt good to be back at Chelsea Piers. It is really my third place - I like my apartment and my neighborhood and indeed my job very much, but there is a slight company town feel up here, I rent from my employer and live barely one block from campus - very nice to go where I am unknown!

I don't think spinning is quite as good for the soul as running is, insofar as it's not done outdoors, but I really do love the feeling of a good spin class. Had an excellent workout - HR didn't recover as quickly as I would usually expect, but that is combination of residue from ailment, lost fitness etc. - certainly it was easy to get HR up, which suggests to me that I am ready to be exercising full-on again....

:50 spin!

Run!

Lungs still very tender, but I am extremely happy to be back at it. Will continue to be cautious re: duration and intensity.

:50 as 4:1 jog-walk

Run!

Ugh, this cold has been dreadful in an entirely undramatic and not very acute way! Really I am still not better, my lungs are very tender and I was up for a couple hours in the early morning coughing and wondering whether I should make a doctor's appointment (the answer is no as this is clearly a viral thing and doctors rightly don't like to prescribe antibiotics when they are unlikely to do any good!). But my energy levels were much more normal yesterday than they have been since before I went to Dublin, and it is such a beautiful day (60F, sunny, mild), I thought it was worth taking a chance on it. I will keep things very easy for the next couple days obviously....

:40 very easy as 3:1 jog-walk!

Ugh!

Ongoing respiratory infection is completely preventing me from exercising: it is strange, there was no one single day where it was absolutely dreadful, but it just continues to develop and morph into new stages of minor unpleasantness! Just went out for a brisk 40-minute walk to see how it would feel: the answer is that my lungs are raw and I am strongly inclined to lie down again, though I slept for twelve hours last night and only got up a few hours ago!

GRUMPINESS!

Minor ailment!

It is the inevitable consequence of international travel during the teaching semester, I fear: I could tell on the plane on the way home on Sunday that I was having to make an effort to breathe through nose rather than mouth so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed by dry airplane air, that is the giveaway. Not a bad cold on Davidsonian scale (3 out of 10, maybe?) but will have to give it some days off from exercise so that I don't turn minor into major ailment. Ugh! A bit grumpy, though feeling ill enough that I cannot say I have an urge to exercise. Slept for twelve hours last night and will do the same again tonight if it is physiologically possible!

Short Dublin run

I am woefully jetlagged - slept all night and then went back to bed after breakfast and slept some more, ugh! Went for just a short run to shake out the cobwebs - it was highly beneficial. Too many places where you have to stop and wait for a light to cross the street, but otherwise really lovely....

c. 45min

Short run!

It was clear to me that I had not the vim to get over to Central Park for projected hill workout, strong psychological need to be running in park immediately which means Riverside - thought I would still be able to do hills on the small one leading up into my bit of park, but self-assessment after the first one told me that there is too much else I have to do today and that I had better just jog home! It was very nice to be out - I need to do a short run in the morning more often....

:31 easy run

Run!

Had a disastrous night of tossing and turning last night, didn't fall asleep till well after 2 - it was partly my own fault for having taken an inadvertent deep nap (2hr) in the afternoon, but really I am just overtired in a fashion that has always made it difficult for me to sleep! I really did want to run today before doing anything else, but I decided to switch out today's scheduled "hard" run (hill repeats) for the smell-the-roses run on the schedule for tomorrow. And in fact it is the most absolutely gorgeous fall day and I immediately felt much much better - it occurs to me that this burning sensation about the eyes must be minor manifestation of fall allergy season (the allergy shots are extremely helpful, they blunt it considerably, but they are not yet fully effective) rather than an actual desire to weep!

1:03 as 6:1 - beautiful!

Spin!

This week really got the better of me. Thursday I had a ton of stuff to do during the day and was genuinely too tired to do much of anything (work OR exercise) by the time I got home. Friday should have been more realistic, but by mid-afternoon when I would have had the time to run, I instead fell into bed for a deep two-hour nap! Had planned to run down to Chelsea Piers this morning for Joanna's spin, but that works best either when it is warm or when I have left change of clothes there in advance; once I saw how cold and rainy it actually was this morning, and assessed ongoing levels of fatigue (even after three decent nights of sleep in a row, I basically feeling like I am toiling uphill just to do the least thing), I decided to take the subway and only do one class.

In favor of doing just short of 1hr of exercise: you really can go all out! It was extremely satisfying: we did a pyramid sort of thing, basically 26 minutes work in 2min blocks - starting out at base of climb, raising gear every 2min x 6, then 2min at the "top" and come back down by the same intervals increasing cadence. It is fun! It is hard....

Did a chunk of Monday's reading in the cafe, then came home (stopped en route for Thai lunch). It is going to be a struggle not to go back to bed; I have a vast amount that needs to get done this weekend, but that is an abstract question and sleepy feeling in the head offers more immediate incentive to act!

:50 spin

Bliss!

Need to get back to work shortly, but have had a really lovely morning off (Monday and Tuesday are my very heavy days this semester, the Wednesday morning break is important - I couldn't have one last week because of letters of recommendation, so this week's is even more appreciated!). I had a complimentary personal training session at Chelsea Piers courtesy of Andia, who persuaded management that the inconvenience we suffered in having a sand workout be moved elsewhere due to scheduling conflict one day earlier in the year merited some sort of compensation. GREAT session! Basically an hour of deep stretch, running form drills, some core - I should be doing a lot of this stuff more regularly on my own....

1hr

Smelling the roses!

That was my rubric for the past week of recovery training (it is a phrase that always makes me think of Ferdinand!). I meant to do this run yesterday, but I was having one of those weekend work cascades: it wasn't until about 9pm Saturday night that I finished and emailed an overdue letter of evaluation, and it was pretty clear when I woke up Sunday that I had better start addressing the huge backlog of minor tasks that had accrued over the last weeks of triathloning & overwork. It is a classic "first-world problem" situation - in fact I have carefully insulated myself from ever having to do any housework or cooking! - but really once I get busy I need something like a concierge to take care of all the tasks that male academics in days of yore used to have secretaries and wives to do for them! What sort of thing do I mean? Well: printing, completing, scanning and emailing a W-2 form to the two of the four places I wrote tenure letters for this year that pay (very modest) honoraria; writing and mailing a belated rent check; booking a ticket to Paris for a work trip in December; booking catsitting for next weekend's work trip to Dublin; returning overdue library books; filling out a work order request for the building handyman to come and replace various overhead lightbulbs that have needed replacing for weeks or months; etc. etc. Plus finishing the reading for Monday and Tuesday classes. Anyway, I was KICKED by the end of the day yesterday, it was clear that a longish run was not on the cards, but I was fortunately able to do it today instead....

My instructions from Coach: "CP loop, at least 90 min on your feet! Gawk at tourists and make note of the funny things you see in the park. I want a bulleted list of 7 things that are weird/interesting/beautiful."

Woo-hoo!

Actually it is such beautiful weather just now - and also weekday mornings in October aren't nearly so crowded as weekends, beautiful weather notwithstanding - that I was more just on the lines of noticing the extraordinary perfection of everything, everywhere. Absolutely glorious! Slightly tight/sore lower back, but otherwise felt great - it is mid-60s, crisp and clear with very little breeze. Some things I saw and liked:

the lines of toddlers in safety vests being walked through the park on a sort of safety rope
the clear blue sky with only wisps of white cloud
the green green greenery with only a hint of the presence of orange and red hereabouts
the dry brown leaves blowing over the path
the cardboard cutout of ice-cream cones on a cart at the south end of the park
the science-fictional glass panels at the back of the Met
the glimpse of gorgeous buildings from the New York of Henry James's era that you see at E. 90th St. (Cooper-Hewitt!), along with the funny/touching statue of Fred Lebow checking his watch
a very fluffy white dog and 2 portuguese water spaniels all walking very obediently together on leashes - their combined hair could have stuffed an ottoman!
regrettably, smelly slippery gingkos, one of which fell of the tree and conked me as I left the north end of the park....

1.5hr easy (jogged over to the park and did the full loop, that was then about 90 minutes so I turned off the clock and walked the last mile home)

Spin!

Nothing too intense, as I am still having this knobbly minor spasm if I'm not careful - I am pretty sure it is this - just did the one class. Fun, though! Good 10 minutes of stretching afterwards - I have to get rid of this so that I can train hard!

:50 spin

Bliss!

Beautiful day. Still a little underslept (very tempted to take a short nap now before getting on with work things!), but got good quality sleep if not quite enough of it & had a lovely run down to Chelsea Piers & then Joanna's spin class. Life is good!

1:06 run (6:1 jog-walk)
:40 spin

Yoga!

Yoga is the ideal activity for evenings during the teaching semester when I'm really too tired to work: I don't think it's always beneficial to do intense aerobic exercise in the evening (particularly when it involves loud music in a cycling studio!), but the yoga is always a good choice. Had to go downtown anyway late afternoon for allergy shots, took the bus to Chelsea Piers afterwards and did the 6pm class. It was a visiting instructor, I'm not sure I'm totally keen on how he taught the class (too many poses that seemed to me to risk injury, few suggestions about modifications), but I felt great afterwards. More yoga!

1.25hr yoga

Lovely run!

Now need to make haste into shower, real clothes & out the door, but it was excellent. Perfect running weather: low 60s, overcast and rather breezy (it was unseasonably warm earlier in the week, very relieved it has cooled down somewhat!).

:53 (4:1)

Short run!

Extremely demanding day (day and a half really) of work ahead. It was the right choice to get out for a run, it made me feel much better! Very high humidity and rather too warm - hopefully torrential rain will arrive to clear the air....

40min as 8 x (4:1)

Also

a very apt NYT article gives the clear sense of why I can't do training rides in Central Park!

Short run!

Have seriously not had a MOMENT to write my race report for Princeton 70.3 last weekend, which is very uncharacteristic - I had to travel again this weekend, that was the problem, and also my storytelling vim got used up for SOS! BUT after a very demanding week that didn't so much feature post-race recovery as ONGOING LIFE STRESS (nothing bad, just life at a very busy time of my work year, with various other personal and professional obligations!) I did finally have a short nice run this morning. I needed the happy running chemicals to relieve stress and calm myself down a bit - in FRENZY, ugh!

30min run as 3 x (4min run, 1min recovery), then 5 x 1min moderately hard, 1min recovery, 5min cooldown jog

Short run of beauty and bliss!

There are other kind of runs I like very much too, like arduous 2-hr ones in stinging rain (really!), but what could be nicer than a 30-minute run on one of the most beautiful days in the year when you're keeping legs fresh for a big race on Sunday? Glorious!

30min with 3 x :30 hard, :30 recovery and a 1:00 surge up the little hill

Spin/swim!

A bit of a funny day as I was so tired yesterday after Monday and Tuesday teaching that I went to bed around 11 last night, without setting the alarm, and only woke up at 11 in the morning! (Wednesday is my sort of midweek hiatus this semester, with beginnings and ends of weeks more demanding; given the race this weekend, and that I have evening commitments on Thursday and Friday, it was clear that I'd better get what sleep I could.) Was battling inertia, and only managed during the afternoon to write and submit one letter of recommendation I should have done sooner (there is a tenure letter I really need to finish tomorrow, will do some more work on it tonight before bed), but decided it really was a good idea to go to Chelsea Piers for early evening exercise.

The weather is astonishingly lovely just now in NYC! Swam for a bit, then went to 6pm spin class, today taught by Ben rather than Danny. It was very good - a lot of high-intensity work, good for me to desensitize to higher heartrate! And then it happened that this evening was the member appreciation party. I went out to the sun deck and watched the sun set over the Hudson; also, very delicious margaritas (with ginger and kale juice, and a chili salt rim on the glass!), shrimp wrapped in bacon, potstickers, etc. Pleasant indeed (certainly softened the blow of having just coincidentally renewed membership and winced at monthly rate)!

700 yards (100 swim, 100 kick, 100 RaLaCuBa, 2 x 100 drill-swim by 25 [front scull, fists], then 2 x 25 hard on :45, 50 hard on 1:00, 100 moderate

:45 spin with :10, :20, :30 sprints and recoveries

Short but nice run!

Only 1/6 into the semester, but I am utterly knackered. Got home from teaching last night so tired I actually couldn't think of anything I wanted to read, which really is a sign of deep fatigue for me, it rarely happens! Sleep did not feel restorative, and I had to fight to get focused this morning to write my lecture - could tell willpower was already much depleted. Finished lecture around midday, first meeting on campus not till 2:30, so I definitely had time for a run, but I wasn't hugely optimistic about executing workout as planned (not a huge one, but with 6 x 1min hill as central bit of work/gearing up for racing this weekend). Indeed, I did my warmup, then ran the first hill distinctly half-heartedly - was fading by 2/3 of the way up and decided I really didn't need to do it if I was that tired. Did 4-5 10-second accelerations on last bit home, for a total of about :32. It did make me feel calmer and more awake, highly worthwhile really (this sort of a run, which endurance athlete thinks of as mini, is really probably about what's recommended for daily exercise for health!).

Spin/swim!

It was touch and go whether I'd actually get down here for midday class, but I scrambled to finish the essential teaching stuff and it did work out. It is very good if I can do it! Joanna's spin class, and then just a short swim: my right knee is a little tender at the front, and there is something tender as well in my left arm on the outside (I think this is from swimming last weekend with a bashed-up elbow, nothing major but will behoove me to keep swimming short and sweet this week).

:45 spin
500 yards swim as 100 swim, 100 kick, 4 x 75 kick-drill-swim by 25 in IM order

Run!

I didn't sleep well (sign that I have been overdoing it), so I wrote off the notion of a longer morning run and basically just spent the day in bed doing all the reading for my classes this week with naps for periodic refreshment! Cats gave this agenda the vote of approval. Just went out now for an easy 30-minute run with 5 x 30 seconds hard. It is GORGEOUS out there, the most perfect running weather.....

:30 with 5 x 30s hard

Double spin!

Tiring day of being out and about - vast pile of work at home awaits, unfortunately!

Double spin was good. The track work they're doing on the weekends is making me grumpy; I hadn't left quite enough time to get downtown this morning anyway (50 minutes rather than the full hour, which you really need given weekend transit schedules) - then remembered to my horror that NO trains are running on the 1 line north of 96th St. for the whole weekend! Horrible crowded shuttle bus, slow train, had to take a taxi from 14th St. (should have taken a taxi right away when I saw the bus situation, as it was distinctly frazzle-inducing). Was about 10 minutes late but could have been worse....

First class: :40; second class: 1hr. I gather there is soon going to be a change of policy whereby we aren't allowed to ride straight through the double...

Then spin teacher Joanna's birthday lunch at Chelsea Market! Very nice.

1:40 spin

Run!

Rather slow but utterly lovely - glorious weather for it! (Low 60s and breezy!) Fall is my favorite season - temperatures are headed on the right trajectory, there's the excitement of a new school year and the pleasant feeling of possibility in the air.

:50 as :15 warmup, 5 x (3:30 steady, :30 hard, 1:00 recovery), :10 cooldown

SOS 2014 - race report!

I almost posted a status update on Facebook on Friday: "Cycling shoes are definitely the smelliest thing in my apartment. Not excluding the cats' litter box." Then when we were driving up to New Paltz on Saturday, I was making idle conversation with my 5-year-old niece GG in the back seat and told her this.

I think my companions in the car thought it was hyperbole - but the next day, after they'd taken all my bike stuff from me and seen me off on my way for run-swim-run-swim-run-swim-clamber, they were overwhelmed with an ungodly horrible smell. At first they thought something must have died in there! Then they pinned it down & isolated said shoes in a neatly tied plastic bag....

(GG greeted me as I exited from the last swim with a long and excited story about the smelliness of the shoes and solving the stink mystery, it was very funny!)

Also: the race starts at the Ulster County Fairgrounds, where there are real bathrooms, which is nice. General agreement among women racing: this is not just the only race but the only place in life where the line for the men's bathroom is much longer than for the women's, and you even see men sneaking in to use a stall in the ladies' room!

Coming out at the last swim exit - I'd been racing for 8+ hours already, legs tired from a running point of view but that final swim (3 of 3) is so gorgeous, I love it!


More pictures:

Breaking back into a run as I reached the finish line.
Spoils of victory!

That photo set in its entirety, from zgunks.net, really gives a feel of the beauty of the race - the bike is gorgeous, the running trails are ridiculously beautiful and the swims are the best you will have in your entire life.

(Me to volunteer helping me out of water after initial 1.1mi swim: "That water is the perfect temperature!" Him, skeptically: "You must be from New England. You're the only person who's said that today!" Temperature probably around 73-75, cool clean lake water - you can take a gulp of it without gagging, it is in that sense much more relaxing than swimming in the sea!)

A minor triumph: I was not the last cyclist! Or, for that matter, the last finisher. The course changes a bit from year to year, so times can't be compared exactly, but here are results from the last time I raced SOS and here are this year's. My bike time is c. 7 minutes faster, and it felt like more than that because it keeps you more in the mix and puts you with nice big 18-19mph numbers on the Garmin (then the last five-mile stretch up into transition features 1000 feet of climbing, at paces between 5 and 8 mph if you are me!). I rode in the big ring and didn't have a problem staying with others - three or four others were always in sight, and there were at least three behind us. Music to my ears as volunteer said, as I pulled up the last bit of hill: "Are there still a lot of racers behind you?!?!?"

I should clarify: I don't at all mind being last, someone has to be, but being the last cyclist on the course gives you a sort of entourage of sweep vehicles, and their sound and presence and fumes are a little stressful and distracting if you are so easily unsettled a cyclist as myself - I felt a huge amount of gratitude that my year of riding last year while training for IMWI led to noticeably improved technique and fitness on the bike.

I can do considerably better still at this race, by the way - it is everything I most like, and I am hoping to get a slot for next year and do it at least 10-20 minutes faster!

Took a hard tumble on the trail at the start of hour six, about two-thirds of the way through the middle run leg at the crest of one of many hills. My attention must have drifted (I believe I was thinking about how the insole of my right shoe hadn't quite settled right when I put shoes back on after the first swim, and was rubbing against instep - did the race sockless for the first time, it was worthwhile - this is the first pair of running shoes I've had that are genuinely comfortable without socks, though I might have tested that premise on a longer run first - I do have a bunch of blisters, I just didn't notice them at the time - had a pair of socks in pouch in case I changed my mind). It's gravel there (not gravel-strewn, more like thick gravel) with some larger rocks, I think my foot caught on a rock.

Bruising on left knee, hip and elbow felt worse at the time than it did the next day (when you come out of the water after the next swim, it feels stiff after having been submerged in cool water), but also the blood was streaming down my calf - gaggle of teenage girls coming the opposite way shrieked, I think they had a slight zombie apocalypse panic moment!

Style of this race: comforting volunteer aiding transition into the next swim said, "The lake will wash it off. You can get it looked at properly at the finish!" (Also, teenage girl at later aid station - "Oww-ee!") Guy at last swim exit started cleaning it off for me, but I brushed him off as I still had to do the Skytop climb! That transition could have been a little faster....

Close your eyes if you are sensitive to gruesome - this is the elbow the following day!

Keeping an eye on it in case I think I should go and get some antibiotics, but really it is OK, definitely better today than last night.

In, an absolutely glorious day. The best endurance race in North America, in my opinion, and I really hope I will be able to do it again on a regular basis!

Shout-out to some coaches who've made a difference for me: Joanna Paterson, not just for the great spin workouts (the long climbs we do make the 1000-foot climb over the last five miles here feel relatively manageable!) but also for the coaching session last summer when she sternly told me I should be riding a lot more of the time in the big ring (I have a triple on my bike, and a lazy tendency to ride always in the middle ring - also, HEELS DOWN!); and David Roche, whose coaching this summer has been a pure pleasure. You wouldn't think such a superior athlete would be so excited about coaching middle-aged back-of-packers, but he is, it is very good fun indeed! (I think he may still have a few training slots open if you're interested - here's more information.

Finally, this race makes me think deeply and gratefully of Doug Stern, my first swimming teacher in adulthood. I only knew him for about six months - he died of cancer very quickly after a shocking diagnosis - but he was an important person for me, and this was an important race for him (the Doug Stern Memorial Award is for the fastest women's bike split - the person who got it this year was absolutely elated, it was fun!). I like the thought of doing this race in his honor and his memory.

Most of all, thanks to my brother and sister-in-law and niece for crewing for me. It was a lovely way to spend a weekend together. Life re-entry was a bit challenging - I taught my first graduate seminar of the semester on Monday, and had to pull things together for a Milton lecture yesterday when really I wouldn't have minded lying on the couch with my feet up - but what a privilege and a pleasure to be able to do this sort of thing!

Bliss!

It is my favorite race of all the ones I've ever done - putting in for a lottery slot for next year for sure! Full report will have to wait till I have gotten this work day under wraps....

Run!

Just a very short one, to set the day off on a good track and loosen up the legs - 30min, with 4 x 100m strides. The weather is grotesquely humid - forecast clear now for catastrophic thunderstorms later, so tomorrow should be not as hot and humid, but I am a little worried about the effects of rain on the course....

.5hr run

Spin/swim

Thursday was a wash - I had an appealing run on the schedule, but I didn't do it first thing and then the day got away from me (especially when it's so warm, a day of doing this and that around town really makes it hard to get out, and then I was having a very productive evening spell of work on my syllabus for Monday, I couldn't stop until it was done!). But I did have a nice midday workout today - Joanna's spin class and then a swim for form and feel. Now it's late, I'm pretty tired and I'm really nowhere near packed for departure tomorrow (race is Sunday morning), but it's OK, will go to bed soon and regroup in the early morning - don't need to leave here till 11:30 or so.

:50 spin
1000 yards swim (100 swim, 100 pull, 100 kick, 2 x 100 drill [RaLaCuBa, 6-3-6], 4 x 75 free increasing speed every 25 (10s rest), 100 IM easy (fly drill), 100 easy free

(Really it was a nice day - after leaving the gym, I visited Rent the Runway and found a dress to wear for a black-tie event in 2 weeks [yes, I know it's not a black-tie outfit really, more on cocktail dress lines, but I'm just not the type for black tie, it is inconceivable that I would wear a floor-length dress, this dress will do me very well instead!] then had cheese & crackers at my adopted grandfather's place nearby - we went to get an early bite to eat round the corner and ran into my brother, who was waiting for his phone to get fixed at the Apple store - so he joined us, it was a lovely coincidence!)

Spin/swim!

Very nice, too - I wish I could have stayed in longer, but when a third person joined our lane and we switched to circle swim, I was the slowest and kept on needing to stop at the wall to let others pass, it broke my concentration! Probably just as well, I am racing on Sunday and do not need to do any mega-workouts this week.

:45 spin class
c. 700 yards swim

Run!

Gosh, that was good! Needed to do something psychologically manageable and not too strenuous, given that I have a demanding week and a big race on Sunday; ran down to the boat basin, then home, doing 4 x mini-hill up into my bit of park en route home (concentrating on powering up hill and running "through" the top of the hill, about 80s work, then walking to the bottom as a recovery).

(The sad fact is that after spending one of the coolest Augusts on record IN ANOTHER VERY WARM COUNTRY, I have returned to NYC just time for a September wave of heat and humidity - NOT pleasant out there, but good to get out regardless.)

:55 run

Spin!

OK, that was good. Yesterday was a wash - partly it was incredibly warm and humid, partly I was just overwhelmed with need to de-chaosify my apartment, finish some work and generally get myself into the right place to start teaching tomorrow! But I rode down to Chelsea Piers for Joanna's midday spin class - the ride down was HORRIBLE, I do it because it's time-efficient but really long since I knew that riding that crowded path on a holiday weekend is NOT FOR ME! Class was extremely demanding, in a good way, and the ride home felt much more relaxed, I suppose because the endorphins are floating around....

:50 easy (stressful!) ride
:45 spin!

Glorious Chelsea Piers Saturday morning!

Saturday mornings at Chelsea Piers are one of my favorite things EVER. Got down there pretty early, swam 2000 yards and then did Joanna's wonderfully demanding double spin class! Happy to be back in the saddle - life re-entry is always extremely challenging, I have been too tired and too busy to do any exercise the last couple days (must get a TON of work done this weekend before school starts on Tuesday)....

Swim: 200 free, 200 kick, 200 pull, 400 drill as 2 x 100 RaLaCuBa, 2 x drill-swim by 25 (front scull, fists); 6 x 100 free on 2:10; 2 x 75 fly as kick-drill-swim; 100 easy swim = 2000 yards

2hr spin (LOTS of climbs and sprints!)

Swim!

B. got us over to Sunset House and I had one really nice last swim there before traveling tomorrow. 2K approximately - current v strong on way back, I was working hard!

:55ish, 2Kish

Spin!

This is a style of workout I particularly like - Marz is back in town, she always teaches a very good class, but today's was as follows:

4 x (5min moderately hard climb, recovery, 3min very hard climb)
1hr total

Recovery run!

That was actually very nice. My legs felt tight to begin with and I was not sorry to be doing 3:1 instead of the 4:1 I have often been doing this month.

:52 (3:1 jog-walk)

Long ride!

That was very good - first half genuinely and unequivocally enjoyable, second half with patches that I didn't enjoy (painful feet from riding into wind, aforementioned WIND also just in itself not enjoyable, general feeling of being too hot and ready to stop) but mostly fine. Wore my long-sleeved sun-protective white cycling top, don't know why I didn't wear it last week - it is much, much better than wearing a short-sleeved jersey. Used short breaks to manage foot pain - it makes a big difference, then I can do a better job with pedal stroke and prevent the situation from painfully escalating.

4:54, 74.5mi

(I was already a few minutes late for my meet-up with B., otherwise I would have taken the time to make up the numbers!)

Spin!

Not an especially inspiring one, but that was all I really needed anyway. Leaves me hungry for LONG RIDE tomorrow...

1hr spin

Run!

Enjoyed every minute of that. Took yesterday as a rest day - I was supposed to get up early and run, but it was very clear to me that I needed more sleep (not just laziness, genuine need for more sleep!). Had a massive long late extra 3.5hr of sleep and only got up at 9am, it was glorious. First day for ages that I have not felt the need to take a nap.

Fell asleep easily at 9:30 or so last night which really tells me I needed the sleep, and meant that getting up at 5:10 this morning was not as gruesome as it sometimes is. 1.25hr run, 4:1 run-walk, with :30 hard at end of each run segment between .5hr and 1hr.

Spin!

OK, that was pretty good - I didn't feel motivated beforehand, but it is certainly a gentler start to the day spinning in a dim air-conditioned room at the gym than having a strangulatingly warm outdoor room! 90min spin, with 1min @ time-trial effort on the 5 starting at 15. (Did a pre-minute of work for each of these to warm up to it - HR is just lower indoors than it would be at same perceived effort outside.)

Tonight is the final stroke & stride!

Spin and wheeze!

Took yesterday off as per schedule - those hot long rides really take it out of you! Had a 40-minute run on the schedule for today, but rather naughtily went to 6am spin class first. It was very enjoyable, and I felt strong and energetic as I started on my treadmill workout, only it soon emerged that I was EXTREMELY wheezy - cut it short at 10 minutes as a precaution; I really don't need to get sick! Will hope to have another go at it later - I think that albuterol inhaler is out of juice, the meter says it still has a few doses but I think I was very wheezy at the stroke & stride last week too....

:50 spin, 10min treadmill

LONG RIDE!

Even a good one is slightly gruesome in parts, but really it was mostly enjoyable. I had the wind more at my back than when I rode two weeks ago; rode almost two counter-clockwise East End loops, but turned back at the last (if I had realized how hard it was then going to be riding clockwise for a long time into a brutal headwind, I would not have done it that way!) so that I wouldn't be tempted to stop when I reached the rendezvous early.

(B. was due to pick me up at 11:15 - I left the condo at 6am - it is a LONG TIME!)

Managed foot discomfort better (it's the mashing you do when you're riding into the wind - but I concentrated as much as I could on smooth pedal stroke, pulling up, etc., and there were only a couple stretches where it was really agonizing).

2 rest stops - could have used a third, will ponder that for next week.

(Forgot to turn off Garmin at second stop so total time is approximate.)

Wore B.'s helmet instead of my old red one, which gives me painful Maleficent-style horns on my forehead (horns a-la Joe Hill!). Much better. Can't do much about wind and excessive heat, but of course riding into the wind is a very good workout....

c. 4.5hr, 67.3mi

Run/swim!

OK, I feel good about getting that done. Grumpy to get up so early but happy as soon as I am actually running. Did 1hr (4:1), ending up at Sunset House, then swam 2K in about an hour. Felt very queasy during the whole of the swim - I think the heat buildup from the run basically just makes the combination of bouncy and salty a little intolerable - but it is beautiful out there - best sighting: sting ray with attendant fish....

1hr run (4:1), 1hr swim (2K)

Very short sea swim

Complete willpower failure this morning as concerned ambitious run-swim workout - got up, but could not get out the door; did get out the door, turned back at the end of the driveway, just couldn't make myself do it! Short swim this afternoon, more as a gesture of good faith than an actual workout. Will have another go at it tomorrow....

:15 swim

Spin!

Stroke and stride yesterday evening was very fun - that is a HOT 2mi run, though! Latish getting home, I didn't really get enough sleep - but did make it to 6am spin. Thunder & heavy rain may or may not pass off to an extent sufficient to permit a swim later....

1hr spin

Run!

Felt much less knackered this morning than yesterday and was glad I'd switched the order of the two workouts. Run was great! 75 minutes as 4:1 run-walk; after first 30 minutes, last :20 of every run segment FAST.

1.25hr run (4:1 with bursts of :20)

Long indoor ride!

I ate something Friday night that led to minor but nevertheless very unpleasant food poisoning - Saturday I was still just feeling pretty feeble and reclined on the couch, Sunday mostly better but still with a stomachache that persuaded me riding outside would be a terrible idea and riding indoors perhaps not much better. However today I think I am back to normal and I got over to World Gym, not very expeditiously, for a nice long session on my own in the spin studio. Air-conditioning was particularly good today - that plus no traffic makes it really more enjoyable than riding outdoors here!

Work as follows (mostly Friel z2-3):

(1) 6 x 2min cadence seated 100-105, 1min recovery; 6 x 3min standing medium gear, 1min recovery.
(2) 2 x 15min alternating 1min seated, 1min standing.
(3) 2 x (3 x :30 sprint, :30 recovery), 2 x (6 x 1min sprint, 1min recovery).

Really I should do an additional set for parts 2 and 3; as it was, I was kind of just DONE at the 2.5hr mark. Wanted to get in the full three hours, so spent 20min clinging to bottom of zone 2 (legs wanted to slow down - switched between some standing bits to raise HR in higher gear and seated high-cadence), 10min zone 1 cooldown.

3hr total!

Hot yoga!

I am laughing as I write this, usually I think of the standing sequence as a fairly punishing precursor to a second half of class that is pretty thoroughly enjoyable, but today I was just almost intolerably hot throughout, right to the very end! The room seemed hotter than usual, some teachers do blast the heat more pervasively but really it was probably more to do with the humidity. Fairly gruesome! Sufficiently discombobulated that I left my keys at the studio - fortunately B. drove me to retrieve them (I walked home through torrential rain). Now, however, I feel great - that is the strange thing about hot yoga - but I was very, very glad it was only an hour-long class!

1hr hot yoga

Run!

The good thing about doing these short ones with walk-run is that it mitigates the psychological effects of the heat and humidity - instead of feeling grumpy about conditions, I cherish every segment and feel hungry for more!

:30 as 4:1 run-walk (2.28mi)

Spin!

OK, that was good. Work intervals as 3 x 5min climb, 2min recovery; 3 x 2min hard, 2min recovery; 3 x 1min standing sprint, :30 recovery.

Stroke and stride #1 last night was very enjoyable - that is a HOT 2-mile run!

1hr spin

Long run!

I was super-grumpy heading out for this one, but bad mood cannot survive in face of a run that was 75% pretty enjoyable and only about 25% gruesome towards the end!

Sun comes up around 6 and by 6:30 it's MARKEDLY hotter, so I gritted my teeth and set alarm for 4:30, much better to do it 4:45-6:45 than any later and really I cannot do it on the treadmill, that's hot too and just pure horrible! I went to bed around 11, fell asleep easily but unfortunately woke up hard around 3 and could not go back to sleep. In retrospect should have just got up and run then instead of tossing and turning. Got up shortly before alarm was due to go off. Grumpily read on my phone that it was 85F and 95% relative humidity. ARGHHHHH!

However really it was nice once I got going. I did 4:1 up until about the 1.5hr mark, at which point I switched to 3:1 to try and keep myself in the game. Had 2L of water in hydration pack, it was gone by 1:20 - I need a better strategy for replenishing, that had a lot to do with why the last part became such a slog. Also and relatedly around the time water runs out my pants are so waterlogged with sweat that they're starting to fall down! (It is really gruesome - not just forearms but upper arms are beaded with sweat even at a slow jog, there is virtually no evaporation whatsoever!)

c. 2hr, c. nearly 9mi: 4:1 walk-run for first 1.5hr, then 3:1

Spin!

One of the stalwarts of the local triathlon scene covered class today; it was a very good workout, with good stretching afterwards as well.

I had a treadmill workout on the schedule after that, I was keen for it (though I may need calories at some point for the two-hour interval morning workout) but my right knee is still not quite right, not painful but with something going on, and I decided to err on the side of caution and skip the workout. I have a 2hr easy long run scheduled for tomorrow morning, that's more important and I didn't want to jeopardize it.

Should be able to swim later on at Sunset House when we go there for last-minute registration and the triathlon association meeting this evening. I am registered for all three Stroke and Stride races - looking forward to racing!

1hr spin

Hot yoga!

That was good. It is really overwhelmingly hot, even for the one-hour class! I was sufficiently depleted afterwards (of fluids and calories) that I stopped in at the Smoothie Factory and sat in air-conditioning and applied smoothie internally to try and let core temperature return to something approaching normal - it is a hot fifteen-minute walk home, and though walking in this state isn't as alarming to me as bicycling, there are still times it's wise to do a bit of refueling before hitting the road...

1hr hot yoga

Minor swim

Hmmm, that wasn't really a success - in retrospect, I handled yesterday badly, it is clear to me now that I didn't sufficiently hydrate over the latter part of the day, and also that though it seemed fine at the time, skipping dinner (we had a feast of a brunch) doesn't make the next morning's exercise go well! Swam about 20 minutes to warm up and then 10 minutes harder, but was feeling increasingly queasy, and called it around the 35-minute mark. Will try and have additional short swims in coming days!

:35 sea swim

Long ride

It is not very enjoyable while I am doing it - hot, windy, numb/sore hands and agonizingly sore feet as the ride progresses! - but it feels very good to be done with it. Three more long ones in Cayman - wouldn't have minded doing 4hr today but really I was at my limit - will shoot to do 4, 4.5, 5 I think in the three coming weeks.

3:35, 50mi

Run!

Amazingly I got out the door at 5:50am - it was simple self-interest, I was reminded yesterday morning how very much hotter it gets around 6:45 once the sun is fully up and was determined to have my run before that happened!

:50 as 4:1 run, walk: first two five-minute bits for warmup, after that 8 x (3min jog, 1min hard, 1min walking recovery)

Now I will lie down for a short nap, then 10am spin class at World Gym....

Hot yoga!

Very good to be back on that. I really like it, but in my NYC life it's more of a winter thing than a summer thing, for various reasons - here, since there is no Chelsea Piers equivalent, the yoga studio is my good way of staying connected to the rest of humanity. It was extremely hot today, to the point where I felt rather queasy a few times, but it's nice to have the 1hr class as an option (proper Bikram is 1.5hr, but this isn't a Bikram studio, though they mostly follow the sequence - this one is conveniently truncated so that the standing series is over significantly more quickly!).

1hr hot yoga

Run!

OK, that was very good. It is warm and humid here, and it was just a short one, but it was lovely to be out there and my knees seem fine. Woo-hoo!

:30 jog as 4:1 jog-walk with 4 x :30 strides

Spin!

Note to self: in the land of central air-conditioning, do not sit at the computer in sweaty clothes. It will make you cold and sleepy in a way that renders the prospect of going back to bed even more tempting than usual!

I am laughing, you would think I'd know better by now, but although I saw in yesterday's paper that spin teacher Marlene is in Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games, all I did was check the gym's online schedule for class cancellation information. Everything looked normal, so I tipped myself out of bed very early this morning (although it is only one hour different, traveling to Cayman is like moving more time zones for me, as I miss most of a night of sleep due to early morning departure and then need to adjust to B's much earlier schedule!) for 6am spin - but of course really it was canceled.

Did a nice little workout on my own - it was actually sort of relaxing not having any music. Minor self-reproach gave way to the realization that if I had known the class was canceled, I would not have been able to make myself get up, so it was probably for the best!

:45 spin as 3 x (equal parts work and rest, moderately high gear and cadence of 95+ with high-cadence low-gear recovery: :30, :60, :90), 2:00 rest between sets

Spin!

Well, that was worthwhile. I had three tasks I really had to do in the morning in order for it to be OK to bite a chunk out of the middle of the day for exercise: 350-450 words on a book that changed my mind about something fundamental, the middle bit of a letter of recommendation whose edges I had composed while leaving the central chunk about the dissertation blank, dropping about twenty books at the English department office for help scanning and xeroxing. To my own surprise, I did finish all three by 11:30 (it is amazing what a hard deadline will do - the hard deadline of leaving town very early tomorrow plus the hard deadline of an attractive midday exercise opportunity I didn't want to miss out on!).

Rode down to Chelsea Piers for Andrew's midday spin, then had a very nice half-hour chat in the cafe afterwards with Lauren, who is moving back to Atlanta later this week and who I really did want to see before we both left town.

(We are doing the Princeton 70.3 in September, woo-hoo! We won't be well-trained for it, but I think I will be sufficiently trained that it will be enjoyable rather than an ordeal - we will see closer to the time if I am going to set more ambitious goals than that.)

:45 spin with short sprint intervals, :50 easy bike (10mi)

Spin/swim

Alas, I completely flaked out on Lauren - I had so much anxiety this morning about riding that I bailed. It was the right choice, I am pretty sure, and really it was a failure of advance planning - I ignored all the lessons of prior years that in order to desensitize to bicycle-related anxiety I have to ride very regularly and in low-stress circumstances. What worked really well for me last summer was basically just having one weekday every week that WAS long ride day, with the ride being the only priority - taking bike on bus out to Lamont Observatory and doing all my riding out there. I had too much other stuff to do today, even aside from the question of desensitization....

Anyway, went to spin class (was still feeling physically rather out of sorts and a bit queasy, it was not an enjoyable workout!), had a very short swim that settled my stomach (decided not to do anything hard-effort since it was a relief to feel more normal again), picked up bike at store and came home on the subway. It turned out I did not need a new tire after all, which is good - the chunk of stuff I thought was a gouged-out piece of rubber was probably just asphalt or similar - in fact, since the annual tune-up is free, I walked out of the store without having to pay a single penny - truly anomalous!


:45 spin
:15 swim (500 yards as 100 free, 100 kick, 3 x 100 drill-swim by 25 [front scull, fists, finger-drag])

Swim!

Gosh, that was amazingly good - it is ridiculous that I don't go more often! I really enjoyed it.

Started off a little rocky in that there were five of us in the slow lane with two seemingly quite a bit faster than the rest of us. This is discouraging and makes me somewhat grumpy - I had to skip 50s in the pull warmup in order to have any rest, and wished we could have a drastic lane reshuffle to Keep the Slow Lane Slow!

(Anomalously the Baruch pool is 25 METERS! I can't remember all the intervals, and we weren't always going as what was written - there was a bit of last person touches, first person goes, with my friend H. exempted from the "last person" part - complex!)

300 warmup choice (100 free, 100 kick, 100 free)

3 x 150 as 100 kick, 50 pull (I did the first 150 and then the second two as 100 each)
3 x 100 pull, 50 drill (I did all three as 100 swim)

To my relief, though, really I was not so much slower as the front guys once we were off the pull sets (which I despise because I am so slow!) and onto the main set. I was avoiding whip kick due to the morning's knee issues - alternated between free, fly drill (3-3-3) and breast pull flutter kick as appropriate for the lengths that should have been breast. Was pleased with how strong I still felt at the end of the workout - I am very slow (once my friend H. got out, I was undoubtedly the slowest swimmer in the entire rather packed pool!), but the endurance sport training stands me in very good stead during a 90-minute workout - I am much steadier and stronger at the end than many faster and better swimmers.

4 x 100 IM on 2:30 (?)
8 x 25 IM x 2 on :45 (long pullout underwater)

4 x 100 free on 2:15 (?)
8 x 25 free on :40

5 x 50 free breathing every 3, 5, 7 on 1:00

2400 meters total

Called it short....

Discretion being the better part of valor and all - as I was jogging down the last part of 110th St. to the north entrance to the park, I felt some strong twinges in the front inside of my right knee (never had that before, though knees are always a bit sore when I'm running a lot). Was hoping they could be ignored, but instead the twinge became more frequent and more pronounced as I started to run up Harlem Hill, plus some impingement (curiously) down the back of the calf. Arghhhh, frustrating - but it was clearly the sensible thing to do to stop the clock and walk home! If there is one thing years of running have taught me, it's that minor things go away if you are sensible but that you can pretty easily turn a minor thing into a major one by, say, running on it for an hour when you obviously shouldn't!

Will go to TNYA workout at Baruch later, so I can't feel too grumpy about this (also riding in NJ with Lauren tomorrow if weather permits). Hoping coach will allow me to have another go at the Central Park loop on Tuesday - I can always cut it short if I need to.

:16 minutes of warmup with twinges!

Run-spin double!

That was glorious. I love spending Saturdays this way - may need a nap though now before I actually get any work done! Ran down to Chelsea Piers (it was breezy and a little overcast, very good running weather) on a 6:1 run-walk, then did Joanna's double. Good news on that front - she will henceforth be teaching both the 10am and 11am classes on a regular basis - this makes me very happy, although of course I am now about to be out of town for the next four weeks and will miss them all!

(I need to leave earlier if I'm running down there - I got there with a couple minutes to spare on the face of things, but I needed to get a sport drink and a bar, and to switch over gear in my locker - then I couldn't find a bike without cages clipped onto the Look pedal - I missed the first ten minutes of warmup.)

1:10 run (c. 5.5mi, 6:1 run-walk)
1:45 spin

Spin-swim!

In a very good mood today (probably because I will see B. on Wednesday!). Did NOT execute workouts as planned - wanted to get to the gym early so that I could swim before spinning, i.e. do a PROPER rather than a half-assed swim workout! But it is not my strength getting out the door promptly in the morning. Anyway, rode down, did super spin class with Joanna (who is teaching the double tomorrow, woo-hoo!) and then just did a short swim.

:55 spin (4 x 5min as 3min standing climb, 2min sprints)
1000 yards swim (500 warmup as 100 swim, 100 kick, 2 x 100 drill-swim by 25 [front scull, fists], RaLaCuBa; 500 as 5 x 100 IM no breaststroke on 2:30)
10mi easy ride (:50)

Hills!

That was glorious! I had two unwanted days off from exercise (basically comically similar to each other, both involving genuinely important morning or midday professional obligations followed by supremely lavish long restaurant lunches with wine and dessert - this is anomalous for me, and really I am glad to go back to my normal schedule - the meals however were both lovely, one at the Bryant Park Grill [chicken Cobb salad and the very delicious "bananas for bananas" dessert] and the other at Lincoln Ristorante, which I thought was extremely good - they had an incredibly good value [I wasn't paying, but I still look and consider!] restaurant-week prix fixe lunch for $25 - I had the buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes etc., a fish soup and almond cake - it was quite tasty, sandwiched with a lemon curd that bore a comical visual resemblance to Velveeta!). Life of luxury notwithstanding, I am incredibly relieved to be back to normal rather more ascetic lifestyle!

I had a great workout assigned for this morning, 6 x Harlem Hill, with last one as hard as possible. Jogged over to the bottom of the hill - not too hot today, though disgustingly humid (squelchy socks before I was even halfway through the workout). Did the first two a little harder than I meant to and realized I'd better pull back for #4-5 if I really was going to be able to go (as the coach said) "hands-on-knees" for the last one. Set out really strong for that final one, was smugly congratulating myself on having a good sense of pacing and then realized I really had gone too hard, was overwhelmed with queasiness! Walked for just a couple seconds to let the chemicals settle, then realized that of course I was still going to have a good time on this repeat as long as I stayed focused, so I went as hard as I could to the top. Times show it.

:16:05 jog to bottom of Harlem Hill

#1 4:12 (4:08 recovery downhill)
#2 4:09 (4:02 recovery)
#3 4:03 (4:02 recovery)
#4 4:14 (3:57 recovery)
#5 4:05 (4:01 recovery)
#6 3:44 (+ short walking recovery off the clock)

:13:20 jog home

1:14:19 total workout

Birthday #43 workout extravaganza!

An excellent workout that so thoroughly used up all my vim that I had to eat a cookie just now in order to have the energy to write a post!

One of the great pleasures of this summer of exercise is that I got a coach - I haven't had one for a long time, I always have some mentors of one kind or another but I'd forgotten what a pleasure it is to have actual formal coaching. So I asked supercoach David Roche for a special birthday workout, and got this back:

Your mission is to touch Grant's tomb, check out the Central Park Zoo, see the Intrepid, and run up the Columbia steps. You decide how to connect them :)

I also wanted to make it to midday spin class and had a swim workout lined up as well, but I knew it would be unlikely that I'd really have energy for that still after doing the first two - indeed I had a short swim post-spin and will do a proper masters workout tomorrow.

Lounged in bed and didn't get out the door early enough to come home between - that was good, though, actually, as it makes it a more genuine continuous workout. Beautiful weather, but slightly hotter than I thought - should have been carrying water, I was fiendishly thirsty by the end.

Here is Grant's Tomb:

Here is the view from the top of the Low Library steps:

I have no picture for the zoo - I ran over to Central Park and then south along the east side of the park. Got near the zoo around the 1hr mark, stopped and bought a Gatorade and drank it while walking around off the clock trying to find a zoo building to photograph - realized after about 10 minutes that my poor sense of direction really just means I was going to have to let that one go! (I was there relatively recently and did indeed spend much time wandering around trying to find the actual entrance - then promptly forgot whatever I learned about how to find it....)
Then west to the Intrepid:

Increasingly thirsty - rather glad as Chelsea Piers finally hove into view. Total running time: 1:32, probably about 8+ miles? Brief regroup, and then SPIN!

I got to pick the workout since it was my birthday: I couldn't ask for a 43-minute climb, as it's only a 45-minute class and also it might KILL somebody, but what we had was very good: 3 x (4min climb, 3min sprints as :30 off, :30 on). I had a maniacal grin on my face throughout that caused Joanna to snap this picture:

No pictures, didn't happen (those are what I call "imaginary distance units," by the way, not miles or kilometers - somewhere between the two!):

Then just a very short swim so that I could call it an authentic swim-bike-run day: 500 yards as 100 swim, 100 kick, 2 x 100 drill-swim by 25 (front scull, fists), 100 swim strong with good form.

Bonus picture to make up for the missing zoo one, a portrait of the lovely and well-behaved service dog that accompanies its mistress to the pool pretty much every day:

It's a slightly strange summer in that I'm neither training for something epic nor in the middle of writing a book. Makes me feel rather guilty and underoccupied! But it is probably good for the soul not to be quite so busy and focused all the time....

1:32, c. 8+mi
:40 spin (3 x 7min as 4min climb, 3min sprints)
:15 swim (500 yards)

Short run of bliss!

Gosh, that was nice - it's a beautiful day, sunny and low humidity - a bit hot in direct sun, but nice breeze once I reached the water. I really see the point of doing these shorter easier runs - it leaves you still hungry for more, and savoring every segment, rather than feeling that it is a slog.

:40 run-walk (3:1)

Run/spin!

That was a mighty fine morning of exercise. Not beautiful weather, but not hot either. Ran down to Chelsea Piers (5:1 run-walk), then did 10am spin class with Liz. We had delicious omelets afterwards at La Lunchonette - the bread and butter there is also uncannily good....

1:08 run (5:1)
1hr spin

Spin/mini-swim!

Spin class, then just a very short swim - I wanted to do longer, but I'm having trouble with this bit above my left knee that I twanged a couple months ago due to riding a double spin class on a bike with a wobbly left cleat. It has a tendency to seize up, particularly if I try and do a standing climb but also just at other random times (not when I am running, fortunately!); it pronged me a couple times during spin class, and then again quite strongly as I was finishing my swim warmup, and I figured discretion was the better part of valor.

:45 spin
:20 swim (500 yards as 200 free, 200 kick, 100 RaLaCuBa)

Run!

I haven't been doing enough swimming, ditto biking, but it certainly is lovely getting to run all the time - and today it FINALLY is a nice day, low 70s and relatively low humidity - beautiful! 40min as 20min warmup (4:1), then 8 x :20 @ mile pace, :40 jog, then easy jog home

Run!

That was a very enjoyable one, possibly because for once I just slept for as long as I wanted to - makes it take a lot less willpower to get out the door when I am not already fatigued! (Went to bed pretty early but it took HOURS to fall asleep....)

Weather still rather disgusting, very high humidity, but it's only 70 or so, which means that I was not penalized for lounging in bed so long. Jogged over to Central Park and did 3 x the upper loop, with goal of increasing speed each loop - pushing Harlem Hill on all three, but taking it harder the rest of the way as the workout progressed. Only two weeks more of hills before all training is as flat as a pancake!

1:06 total (c. 5.4mi)

14:36 warmup to bottom of Harlem Hill (c. 1.2mi)

3 x 1.41mi upper loop (17:53, 18:02, 16:09)

SAUNA!

No, not actually - just an ill-advised long run in sauna-like conditions! I got it done, which is about the best I can say - I dread to even think how very slow my pace was most of the time! Ran down to 96th St. and then up to the Little Red Lighthouse. Due to combination of aforementioned sauna-like conditions and the fact that I added on a bit inadvertently (dead end, backtracking), it took well over an hour to get there (it's 5mi by the direct route), so I took the shorter route home. For the second hour, couldn't quite face coach's instructions of 8 x 1:00 @ 5K pace, so modified by doing 8 x (3:30 jog, :30 hard, 1:00 recovery walk). Walked the last bit home - 2hr exactly (I had to walk a couple extra blocks, I was damned if I was going to stop the clock before the two-hour mark!). Squelchy socks, soaking wet shirt and pants - the fragrance of garbage and cigarette smoke everywhere - NYC in summer!

2hr, c. 8.5mi?

Run-spin!

Pure bliss, insofar as bliss is compatible with very hard work. Jogged down at a rather slow sedate pace (6:1 jog-walk). Funniest sight along the way: a man running with a two-seater jogging stroller. Baby in one seat, pug in the other! Joanna was teaching the double, which is excellent.

1:10 run-walk (6:1), c. 5.4mi
2hr spin!

Bike-spin-swim!

Hmmm, this is a routine that makes me EXTREMELY happy. I finally finished my dreaded article revisions this morning (they have been a millstone around my neck for ONE YEAR - small enough job not to be interesting, big enough job not to be easily shoehorned into busy times, esp. as dependent on many library volumes = can't be done in Cayman, which is more likely to be where I have time to get my own work done!). It is SENT! Rode down to CP for Joanna's excellent spin class, then swam 1000 yards, then rode home. Delighted to find my apartment overrun with workers - my refrigerator hasn't been working properly, with slightly alarming consequences - I put in a work request late yesterday afternoon and am startled and pleased that it has been addressed so quickly!

GOOD DAY!

10mi easy bike (:50)
:45 spin!
1000 yards swim (200 kick, 3 x 100 drill [RaLaCuBa, front scull, fists], 5 x 100 as 2 x 25 fly, 75 free; 2 x 25 fly, 25 back, 50 free; 100 IM)

Also, Joanna is teaching double spin tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Run!

Just an easy little one - I did not end up making time to swim today, alas, and generally seemed to be slightly overscheduled with one thing and another! But the schedule said easy 40min run with 3:1 jog-walk, which is something it is pretty hard to talk yourself out of - it was really nice, the weather cooled down a little as dusk was coming and it's so relaxing to run next to the water....

:40, 3:1, not very far!

Run!

It would be too time-consuming to do that often, but I got up early and took the subway to meet Liz for an 8am run in Prospect Park - woo-hoo! Pretty hot already by then - it's nice in the shade, and then you hit the sun....

c. 6mi, c. 1:07

Run!

Arduous and hot, but I feel great now it's done....

Jogged over to the park, did just the upper 5.

1:14:41, c. 6-and-a-bit miles (slow, but it's HOT, it's OK....)

Spin!

I was very grumpy riding down - it is woefully hot and extremely windy, seemed like I was riding into a headwind the whole way - but class was good as always. Decided not to swim, but subsequently slightly regretted it, as I had a minor bike woe on the way home! Nothing terrible, but it is an intersection I'm not keen on (on weekends or when there is a busy event, there is often a police officer there managing car traffic), where vehicles driving in to the convention center are asked to yield/stop (it's one of those yield signs with a picture of the stop icon on it) to cyclists on the greenway bike path. It is widely ignored - the car coming into the intersection slowed but continued to pull through, I'd thought it was stopping but paused as it continued to move, and then failed to clip out in time - toppled over slowly from a standstill, because I am an idiot! Left elbow has some road rash, but I didn't go down hard and spots like my right hand which did touch the ground a bit later aren't scraped. I guess it is better than having made contact with a car....

:45 spin, :50 round-trip bike with minor interruption!

Run!

That was a really nice one - it's hotter again, but relatively low humidity, definitely good running weather. Ran over to Central Park and did the loop, pushing hills (stopped briefly to say hello to sometime training partner C.!). Finished at the bottom of Harlem Hill around 1:28 and then walked an additional 30 minutes for time on feet. Woo-hoo!

(Lauren had to cancel our proposed ride in NJ today, but that's good, as it should be I can make it now to the 6pm women-only masters swim session that happens only once a month - I am often out of town for it, unfortunately, so that's all the more reason to try and make it today.)

1:28 run, 30min walk

Spin!

Only one class offered today because of the holiday. Very good! I need to do my long run later (riding tomorrow with Lauren in NJ) so just as well to limit ride to a hard single.

:55 spin

Run!

Though I was annoyed with myself Tuesday for not getting up and out the door for a morning run, it was one of those things where it was possibly for the best that I had a day off anyway. Yesterday was just a more simple and regrettable failure! I was more lazy than exhausted in terms of not getting up/out in time (I had allergy shot appointment at 11am downtown so there was a hard deadline, but in retrospect I should have just gone out for a shorter one rather than not going out at all). I was grumpy and overheated all day, and when I got home from the library (after some good work on my article and a great meeting with the rare book librarian about what we're going to do with the rare book collection for the introduction to the English major class in the fall), I lay down in air conditioning with a book and promptly fell asleep FOR TWO HOURS. By the time I was ungroggified sufficiently to consider running, the sultry heat had tipped over the edge to thunderstorm, and at that point I pretty much just had to admit defeat!

I made the foolish mistake this morning of starting to read things on the internet instead of just getting out the door - it has cost me my midday spin class, alas. (I finished my Central Park loop, it was just about noon and I was still 1mi from home and 5mi from Chelsea Piers, spin starts at 12:30 and there was clearly no way I would make it!) But though it is still disgustingly humid, it is significantly cooler than yesterday (low 70s rather than high 80s, big difference). Jogged over to the park and ran the full loop, pushing hills and taking short walking recovery as needed on flats. Walked home after, that was enough running for the day I think.....

1:27, c. 7.3mi (loop was 1:13, just about 12min pace - note to self, Harlem Hill takes about 4min right now from bottom to top)

+1mi (20min) walk home = additional time on feet

Ride!

Foot doctor appointment yesterday has left me with another painful blister, had to take a couple days off from running (should be fine for tomorrow morning), but had a nice warm imprecise Prospect Park ride with Joanna. I guess we were chatting, I didn't start a watch and didn't really pay attention to how far we rode, though probably we did five loops, c. 16.5mi, in a little over an hour? It really is warm today - we kept on passing some promotional folks with Vitaminwater energy drinks, finally as we finished we stopped and had one, it was like nectar of the gods under the circumstances (I wished I'd taken another for my long train ride home!)....

Spin/swim!

That was good, though clearly if I want to swim a full workout I need to adjust something about how I'm doing this (either a gel, or else just make sure to do a proper workout some OTHER days of the week!). Rode down to Chelsea Piers, did Joanna's spin class, swam for a bit. Very nice!

:50 easy round-trip bike
:45 spin
1050 swim (200 kick, 200 swim, 4 x 100 drill [RaLaCuBa, 6-3-6, front scull, fists], 100 IM easy, 100 free hard, 50 cooldown)

Run!

A very nice one with Liz. Because we were slightly idiotic, we met at Tavern on the Green at 9 - only to have the horrible realization that a five-mile race was about to start RIGHT THEN AND THERE! So we modified our plan and ran north to the bridle path, did a reservoir loop and some more bridle path and then rejoined the road on the east side and ran clockwise back to where we started. 1:05 total, probably just under/about six miles?

Run/spin!

Mmmmm, that was good - enough exercise to make me feel pleasantly calm! (Now I need to get mentally energized to do some work - that may be a trickier enterprise....)

Ran down to CP with Coach's instructions in mind (20min warmup, then 5:00 chunks as :30 @ 5K pace, 4:30 jog) - 1:05, c. 5.2mi. Then did double spin. Joanna's class is much more demanding than the 11 o'clock one, but that's OK. Then I met my friend T. for a delicious lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. We split the appetizer-sized scallops; she had lobster bisque and roast chicken salad, I had skate with lemon, butter and capers. The bread and butter there is also particularly delicious....

1:05 run
1:55 spin

Spin/swim!

Book party last night - took me a while to wind down before I got home, and I decided not to set an alarm. Mild horror though no actual surprise when I finally woke up properly to see that it was almost 11:30! Rode down to Chelsea Piers, Joanna's spin class (I was tired - legs tired from running, brains tired from a week of hard work, body more generally tired from evening spent drinking prosecco and talking to many people!), short swim. Hadn't eaten and figured at that point I'd really better stop and refuel before riding home.

10mi easy ride
:45 spin
1000 yards swim (200 flutter kick, 200 free; 3 x 100 IM as kick, drill, swim by 100; 4 x 75 on 2:00 as 50 easy, 25 hard

Good day of exercise! Not as humid today, finally, so that is beneficial as well.

Run!

Gotta get a move on, was late getting out of the house and have another dissertation defense at 11. Very good run, though it is unpleasantly warm and humid. My assignment was the Central Park loop, running strong up hills and taking recovery as needed on flats and downhills. I cut short across the 72nd St. transverse due to time constraints, and when I reached the end of the loop at 110th St. I turned off the clock and power-walked home up the hill, as I was criminally thirsty and felt I had run enough! Still, v. good.

c. 6mi, c. 1:10

Run class!

Yesterday was a bust. I had a ton of work to do, with midday deadlines sufficient that I couldn't exercise in the morning; by the time it was early evening, I was dug deep into the fatigue hole, and I realized that the notional workout was just not going to happen.

Today has gone much better. I went to Andia's 9:30 class, and it was super. Unfortunately the sand volleyball was double-booked, so we did our workout on the track, but that's fine too. 20min warmup with dynamic stretches (ankle rotation, leg swings, etc.) and some form and conditioning exercises (running with high knees, butt kicks, Frankenstein walks, etc.). 10min core (misc. plank variants, v-sits). Then 30min with a great setup of cones at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 - we started with a set of 5 where we just accelerated to a faster pace at each marker, then did further sets with specific form goals: high gaze and high knees; heels to butt; etc. still with the accelerations.

:50 run form and conditioning
10mi easy bike

Run!

Hmmm, not an inspired one - it was a struggle to get up and out (I am frazzled about work stuff and have a lot of things still to do this morning/today/this week).

:40 (4:1)

Run!

That was very good. 40min total, 8 x 100 hill repeats. Tomorrow I'm getting started for realz....

More bliss!

Gosh, that was good - I feel immensely physically prosperous and soothed. Ran down to Chelsea Piers, did double spin with Joanna, then had Thai lunch with Lauren. Was fading a bit in the second half of the second spin class - tired legs!

1:07 jog (9:1 run-walk, c. 5.6mi?)
1:50 spin

Bliss, bliss, bliss!

Yesterday I was really just feeling rather low - too tired to do anything useful, so tired as to not really know what to do with myself. But I slept for a long time, and felt much better when I got up this morning. Now I have had an exercise midday of BLISS. It is the most perfect weather - high 70s, low humidity. I rode my bike down to Chelsea Piers (is it the transition from Bloomberg to de Blasio that has led to so many more people smoking weed in Riverside Park?), did Joanna's excellent spin class, swam 1000 yards and had a quick hot-tub dunk, ate a two hard-boiled eggs and a toasted bialy with butter in the cafe and then rode home. About to get in the shower - pleasantly soothed by large quantities of exercise!

1000 yards: 200 kick, 200 pull, 200 swim; 2 x 100 drill (right arm, left arm, catch-up, swim back), 2 x 100 free on 2:30 as 25 easy, 25 moderate building to hard, 25 easy, 25 hard

:50 round-trip easy ride (10mi)
:45 spin
:30 swim (1000 yards)

Run!

Got home yesterday evening, rather tired this morning but had promised self and coach I would do 40min easy run - good evidence of why having a coach is helpful!

:40 with some short accelerations near the end

Run!

That was good, though warm - I was very glad I was doing the workout fresh rather than after a spin class!

20min warmup (3:1 run-walk), 10 x (1min hard, 1min walk), 20min cooldown (3:1)

1hr

Spin/run!

This has been a blissful island idyll - if I come here when I'm stressed out or depressed, it kind of magnifies it and I have a tendency to feel like I'm bouncing off the walls, but if I'm in a good frame of mind, there are few distractions to steer me off course! Went to 6am spin class at World Gym, then did a very good treadmill workout specified by Coach Dave. Traveling tomorrow, but will run in the morning for sure. Might have a swim later if I feel so inclined - the yoga schedule does not offer me super-convenient options today.

:50 spin
:35 treadmill (2.5mi) as 5:00 warmup, (5 x 3:30 jog, :30 fast, 1:00 recovery), 5:00 cooldown (5.0/6.5)