Run/swim!

I am having a mysteriously but strikingly good day, full of all my favorite things.  Run workout was arduous but satisfying; swimming felt great.

42min run (4 x 6min Z3, 2min recovery)
1000 yards (500 as free every fifth length back or breast, 3 x 100 drill-swim by 25 - front scull, fists, finger-drag - 200 free easy)

Spin/swim!

That was great.  Spin class was excellent, and it was such a pleasure to be back in the pool - I left off swimming deliberately in the winter, as I was determined to tackle cycling fitness head-on (I love swimming and I do not love riding my bike, mostly due to fear of traffic, heights etc.) and could see that I needed to prioritize spin over swim.  But I'm eight weeks out now from a race that has 3 swim legs, for a total of about 2.1 miles, so it's really time to swim again!  (Woo-hoo!)  I will be swimming in that race at a very easy pace, so basically the idea for training is just to concentrate on technique and make sure I'm in the pool enough to have good feel for the water while saving my higher-intensity training quota for cycling and running.

I temporarily swore off yoga after the beginner's flow class in Cayman a week ago did my back in, and now I've had to swear off boot camp for the time being also -  Friday's class exacerbated back pain, I had to get out the heating pad again!  Bit the bullet this morning and called a physical therapist, but the first appointment they could give me isn't till a week from tomorrow, so I've also scheduled a sport massage for Wednesday afternoon.  I've let this situation drag on long enough, with the pulled muscle getting somewhat better and then more sore again after I do some back-straining form of exercise - I need to fix it!

spin work intervals: 2 x 9min climb (first seated, second standing, "orange zone" with final two minutes of final climb moving to "red zone"), with various tempo segments

1:05 spin
c. :30 swim - 1000 yards (5 x 200 easy, evens free, odds IM with one-arm fly)
hot tub dunk

Double spin!

Very arduous double spin - legs were tired from yesterday's boot camp, and I didn't feel at all well rested when I dragged myself out of bed this morning.  However it was a very solid workout.  Good instructor subbing in the 11am slot - I hope she gets a regular class. 

2hr spin

Spin!

Very happy to be back at my preferred spin class.  This Suunto system is pretty awesome in the hands of a knowledgeable instructor (90% of the classes don't really take advantage of it, but Joanna uses it for personal coaching - i.e. last interval she asked me to get to 87% of HR max and hold it there for a minute).  I had warmed up for 10+ minutes before the computer went on, but here is data for my 1hr spin...
 

Beast!

I came to the 7am class as there is no later-morning small group today.  Very good...

1hr boot camp

Run intervals!

OK, that was good - with treadmill always best to be short and sweet.  I was having a hard time keeping the work intervals in zone 3 rather than bumping up into zone 4; it's a while since I've done a HR-based treadmill workout, I forgot how it works with the lag time...

10min warmup
5 x 3min Z3(4), 1min recovery

30min total

I am keen to increase run frequency, and I think the best way to do that is to include several 30-minute runs in the week rather than trying to have lots of longer ones.  We will see how it goes - back to NYC tomorrow evening, Thursday will be a bit of a wash but hoping to be fully on board with normal fitness schedule for Friday and Saturday.

Spin/swim

45min spin (20min warmup, 2 x 8min Z3, 2min recovery, 5min high-cadence Z2-3 and cooldown)

15min swim

1hr total

Yoga the other day made my back sore - it was mostly better the next morning, but felt a bit weird while I was swimming, so I didn't stay in for long.  I think I have to lay off yoga for a couple weeks, too much back involvement...

Early run

Hmmm, I requested wake-up call (metaphorically speaking) at 5:30, it is early...

Felt very little vim, and also stiff feet and lower legs (have of course completely failed to do the calf-stretching regimen - I will start back again today, it is very useful).  Decided I had better do a really unambitious workout that I could execute properly.  Stopped partway through to use the bathroom (this is an attractive feature of doing my run around school playing fields - nice clean bathrooms with toilet paper, sink and soap and paper towels, etc.!), felt better once I had emptied bowels.  By the end was convinced I could have done the whole run at zone 2, but certainly had not felt that way till about the 40-minute mark, so I guess I made the right choice!

1hr run-walk

15min warmup
9 x 3min high Z2, 2min walk

Yoga!

Another beginner's yoga class with B.: very good.

1hr yoga

Total hours for the week: 11:10.  Pretty solid on both spin and run, though no 'long' run.

Long spin!

That was good.  High-quality indoor bike workouts are something that should be easy for me to execute if I have decent bike base but that I can't make myself do at all when I'm not bike-fit - glad I've been able to make good use of the spin bike on this Cayman trip.  I think I will be doing a lot of mostly indoor bike volume over the next 2 months between now and the Shawangunks race - I haven't been running enough, but it's too risky to suddenly ramp up run miles, whereas bike volume and frequency can be increased with much less chance of injury or illness (illness is always more the thing for me - that's partly why indoors is sensible, too, as there's so much less pollution/allergen to hit the lungs  - and doesn't shoot me full of anxiety like riding in the world does - will try for at least one outdoor ride per week beyond commute to Chelsea Piers, but won't sweat it).

2hr spin

6 x 20min:

(1) warmup
(2) 6 x 2min Z2, 1min easy
(3) 5 x 3min Z2, 1min easy
(4-6) 12min as 6 x 2min standing, 2min seated (Z2-4), 3min easy, 3min high-cadence Z2, 2min easy

Sea swim!

We went to Sunset House and did a short swim in Wendy's honor.  Time for me to get back in the water properly - there is a lot of swimming in the Survival of the Shawangunks race...

c. .5hr, c. 1500 yards

Yoga!

Subjectively v warm, but nothing like the hellpit of the other day!

1hr flow yoga

Warm run

I got out as early as I could - still v warm, but survivable.  20min warmup, 5 x 3min Z3, 1min rest, run home. 

58:30 total Z1-3

Spin of grumpiness

Was in an irrationally bad mood all afternoon, only partly relieved by exercise as I forgot to recharge my iPod nano.  It died just as I was about to start my work intervals, so I stopped the clock and rooted around trying to find something I could stand to watch; because I am an idiot, I couldn't get a DVD to run, and after a few minutes of television deemed that more annoying and boring than just having nothing!  Had to have a second warmup after that...

10min warmup #1
10min warmup #2

2 x (2:00 Z3, 1:00 rest, 3:00 Z3, 1:00 rest, 4:00 Z3, 4:00 rest)

8min alternating 1:00 standing, seated (Z2)

2min cooldown

1hr spin

Warm run!

Very nice, too.  (It is the Wednesday night run club.)  Pace variable - good solid zone 2 chunk in the middle, but 2/3 to start and with a stretch of 4 at the end as I reunited with the back of the faster runners.  Not sure of exact distance.

50min run (c. 4.4mi)