The boom-bust cycle

I am feeling naughty in various regards: first for taking off downtown for glorious midday exercise when a huge pile of work tasks awaits me (but my usual Thursday 2:15 meeting was pushed back to 3:30, and I don't have powerlifting later either, so it was irresistible); second for falling into the boom-bust trap instead of the more on-point mode of daily consistency! Except when under true duress of hard deadlines, I conduct my writing life on an admirably daily and regular basis - it is all about the production of quota. Why, then, should the exercise binge be so irresistible?!?...

Anyway I had an even more grandiose plan that was going to include three (powerlifting) or perhaps even four (powerlifting and swimming!) components, but I am trying to keep my insanity in check and don't want to overdo it. Run and spin proved sufficient - put me into an incredibly good mood (also the sun's out again, which is extremely helpful).

Jogged down to Chelsea Piers as follows:

21min warmup jog

then 14 x (1:40 jog, :20 hard, 1:00 walking recovery)

5min cooldown jog

1:08 total

That was on an empty stomach, it felt surprisingly good/easy though I was ravenous for calories by the time I got to the gym. Had a creamsicle smoothie that made the goosebumps come up on my skin (beautiful running weather, high 40s and sunny, but very windy and I was in short sleeves with gloves), realized that I had better go straight to the spin studio to start warming myself back up. Can do the other lower-body workout tomorrow afternoon, I think, in conjunction with a swim.

So 1hr spin (the class is :45)

Very happy about having laid down a solid double and made it to two mid-week spin classes this week. Priorities for the next seven weeks: (1) nutrition and weight loss (2) enough time on bike that the 56-mile Mercuryman ride is pleasant rather than horrible. There are other things too, of course - run a lot in December while I am in NYC, start swimming again, continue with powerlifting progress - but none of those is quite as important just now.

Hybrid workout!

Yesterday was a wash - I took the train home from Baltimore and was so tired when I got back to my apartment that I fell into bed for an ill-advised mega-nap (and was predictably up till 2am as a direct consequence). There are many work things I should be doing, but I trust they will get done, and I decided to prioritize exercise today to get back on track. Coach Josh is away this week so we have our powerlifting workouts to do on our own - run schedule just said 15-20 min easy so I am counting the slightly escalated conditioning bit I did as part of the lower-body workout - then went to spin class for the first time in too long. Rainy dark day here and I now feel about 100 times better than I did when I first got up!

:40 lower body:

3 x 10 squats @ 65

2 x 20 walking lunges @ 12.5 (there is only one each of 17.5 and 22.5 and I really didn't think it necessary to go up to 27.5!)

100 x abs with band

10min conditioning on sand volleyball court (jog 2 laps, walk 1)

Then :40 spin.

I am keen to have December and the first three weeks of January be months of fantastic exercise and scrupulous nutrition - the spring semester is going to be challenging, I need to get into good shape for it beforehand....

Run!

Happy run - my faith in the natural workings of the universe is restored! Nice mild overcast day, pretty much ideal running weather as far as I am concerned. Ran from Hull St. (behind the Under Armour plant/Domino Sugars) all the way round the Inner Harbour to the Aquarium. My left knee is still hobbling and it's messing up gait more generally, I am plodding, but it was SUPER nice....

70min easy

Locust Point hamster run

No actual hamsters were involved unfortunately (though I did see a nice gray and white tuxedo cat) - but the freight train was passing through the level crossing just as I set out, so I ran hopelessly around the block instead! It did make me feel much better - going to get in the shower now, I have foolishly spent the whole day dozing and feeling glum. (Because I am an IDIOT!)

:20 emergency hamster run!

Minor swim!

I wasn't feeling keen beforehand, I find travel extremely tiring and the drive to Baltimore to where we're staying and then out to our friend's house seemed like kind of enough activity for the day. But it was actually incredibly nice to get in the pool, and reinforced my desire/commitment to swim a lot in December - I've really been missing it.

c. .5hr

Can't remember now exactly what I did, but c. 1000 yards along these lines:

200 swim
3 x 100 drill (RaLaCuBa, front scull, fists)
100 free
4 x 50 drill-swim in IM order
100 IM
50 back
100 free easy

Grumpy Thanksgiving run

Yesterday was overwhelming - we got up at 5:45 in order to be in the car by not long after 7, and by the time I did morning legal business in Philadelphia (very grown-up business of will signing, health powers of attorney etc.) and had lunch with my mother, I was utterly knackered. Checked in at the hotel and basically just collapsed in bed - no exercise, no nothing! Early dinner and early night.

It is rare that a run doesn't put me in a good mood, but I'm sorry to say that today's was a gross exception and I felt incredibly grumpy the whole time I was out there! Had 2hr on the schedule but had it in mind that I should turn around at :45 if I wasn't feeling good, and I am sure that was the right choice.

What was wrong? Everything and nothing - really it was just a mood thing! (And I had to clear a few work tasks this morning that came up urgently at the last minute, I think that used up the willpower I otherwise would have had to push harder on my run.)

- Because I wanted to huddle in bed, I thought it was freezing out & was woefully overdressed - long sleeves, warm pants - would have been better off in usual capris and short sleeves, it was warm!

- Possibly underhydrated- I had a 20oz bottle of water with me and drank it, but if I was already thirsty starting out, that's not enough

- My left knee isn't right! I did something to it on the bike a week and a half ago, it's been off and on very sore/tender since. My run the other day I was really hobbling - it was a little less sore today, but I was still favoring it and as a result my right hamstring felt HORRIBLE, really sore (more painful than the knee), and my back on that side became increasingly tight as I ran

- Partly because it was such a slog/I was going so slowly, I think I never triggered the happy running chemicals...

On a happier note, it really is a good route, I ran down Chestnut St. (oh, I forgot to say, I think that was really while I was so low - I ran past my dad's old building, partly because it's the route I know and partly because he's been much on my mind this week, and I just felt really wretched thinking about how little remains of a life even a few months after someone's gone - ugh....) to the river path, it is gorgeous weather and a really nice path, I will hope to take advantage of it some day soon when I am running faster and more comfortably and not feeling so cantankerous!

Anyway we will blame grumpiness this time round on bereavement and sore hamstring. Better than not getting out at all for sure. Now need to shower and try and get myself into the mood for human contact!

Run!

Minor victory getting out there and getting it done as it is a day of many moving parts....

:45 as

:10 warmup

then 15 x :40 hard, :20 walk, 1:00 run easy

then :5 walking cooldown

Ride/lift

Hahahaha, I am EXHAUSTED - there is something not quite right with my left knee, it almost went into a spasm as I got on my bike to ride downtown - even the ride down there was arduous, and the ride home in the dark seemed interminable! With horror I realized that in this new cycle Josh has us squatting twice a week, so it wasn't deadlift day after all, squats - almost tipped myself over trying to do first set at assigned weight of 125, so Josh rapidly revised it downwards to 75 and I felt like the village idiot of all possible powerlifters! Anyway:

4 x 6 squats @ 75

4 x 3 six-second eccentric descending squats @ 65

7 x push-pull sled

10mi bike

Run!

Oh dear, I have not made the best possible use of my day - nice late morning breakfast with a student who needs a letter of recommendation, after that I lay down and fell back asleep for most of the afternoon, only just woke up in time to run while it was still light! But it was a nice run (beautiful weather again), even if I should have done some work and/or another exercise session as well...

10min warmup
20 x (:20 hard, 1:40 easy)
10min cooldown

1hr total

Bench!

It is disgustingly wet outside - it took a real effort of will to force myself back out the door, and the subway was horrible (I am usually traveling before rush hour). But I was glad I didn't bail, as the bench competition turned out to be incredibly fun - not at all what I imagined. It was a pretty small group of us, mostly the team plus a few other trainers, and it was really enjoyable. (Also the two other ladies competing had no more wish than I did to be weighed, so Josh obliged us by writing "W.C." in the column for weight - WHO CARES! T. is clearly the strongest by any measure regardless!)

120 went up really easy, 130 was solid (that's my existing PR), couldn't quite get 135 past the first bit but IT WILL GO UP IN THE NEAR FUTURE....

Green numbers!

Had a very good makeup session with Josh this morning. I am in a ridiculously good mood - there is no better way to spend a morning - rode my bike down to Chelsea Piers and back, light drizzle but incredibly mild, mid-60s - short sleeves and sandals, the week before Thanksgiving in New York City!

Did lower body lifts with Josh. Had forgotten what really I should have known, that we actually tested just a few weeks ago so the PRs we're working ones aren't "soft" ones from the end of our last training cycle. That made sense of the fact that I got a modest gain on the deadlift (but it's a 30-pound gain from the last cycle) and no gain on the squat (but that PR from a few weeks ago was a 50-pound gain from before).

Did a beautiful squat at 180, then didn't make it up at 190, so we'll keep 185 as max there.

And ground out a decent deadlift at 270, it was hard enough work that we didn't try for anything more. It is good!

(We'll bench this evening as it is a funny gym-sponsored competition - I think it may be pretty much only our team though who have actually heard about it and registered!)

This was the board on Monday; I'll get a shot tonight of the updated version with "green numbers"....

(Click for a bigger board!)

Easy run, LONG SLEEP edition

Was fortunately in the position to be able to have a Long Sleep last night - felt much more human when I woke up finally (with legs and mindset both considerably improved). Cooler today but absolutely beautiful fall weather - had just very easy :25 as 4:1 jog-walk in Riverside Park just now, lovely....

Recipe for disaster...

or, IN WHICH I AM YET AGAIN AN IDIOT IN A PARTICULARLY CHARACTERISTIC FASHION....

Really I knew I was overdoing it with run and bike over the weekend. Legs very tired today, I couldn't imagine that deadlifting would go well. Had quite a good work afternoon (class visit to a colleague's class, hasty but efficient paper commenting, reasonably good lecture on Sterne), felt elated as I rode bike downtown in short sleeves and sandals (it must have been close to 70!) ready for testing.

But as soon as I started warming up for squats, the depth of fatigue was clear. And to add to it, I've just had a week of eating much fewer carbs than is my wont (working with a sports nutritionist, really determined to lose weight), I think I was underfueled as well. Anyway we tried benching but even that really wasn't working (that's where I think the fueling played in), so Josh sensibly called it.

(Oh, and my left knee is also rather tender/sore, not IT band but something in that region - after working out, I also felt something sore and sciatica-like down back of left leg....)

I will see Josh for a Thursday daytime session in which we try again to test for some real numbers! In the meantime I am retiring to lick my wounds!

Spin!

Ah, I have not really obeyed Josh's dictate to take it easy over the weekend - but I really love spinning with Joanna! We had two other riders with us for part of the time, it was a very good ride (saddle on my bike remains horrible, but I got a gel seat cover as a temporary solution and it certainly was helpful - must get real new saddle tho....).

1.5hr indoor cycling!

And then wine and cheese at my adopted grandfather's, and a delicious dinner (green papaya salad and chicken satay) at Kelley and Ping across the street. Altogether a satisfactory day.

Run!

After spending too many hours reading grim news online, I got out the door for my long run, which was mostly nice though increasingly arduous towards the end.

(Note to self: when temperatures are below 50, walking 20min home from Central Park in sweaty running clothes is FREEZINGLY cold!)

About 1:33 total: ran the long way round to the park and did the entire loop. Was very good at first, went strong up hills (took 1min walking recovery after cresting anything really strenuous), but by the time I got back round to Cat's Hill I was really fading - it may have been low carbs (was shooting not to take in any during exercise), but mostly it was just that my back was really sore on anything uphill. Not sure re: cause and effect, the tendinitis-y feeling on right glute-hamstring attachment is noticeable from the beginning but doesn't really get worse or impair running, whereas the soreness in right lower back grows increasingly troublesome over time, though it's immediately relieved by walking.

Anyway slogged out the last bit with some more brief walking breaks, shut down the clock at 110th and walked 20 minutes home. Should get in shower now as fingers so cold I can hardly type!