Must. Focus.

I've managed to 1) ignore this blog for months and months, 2) realize that it's time to start down that long road to graduation, and 3) come to peace with the fact that I'm not going to be able to compete* in triathlon until #2 comes to fruition.

Having said that, I've actually managed to get to the gym for the last two days. Yesterday, I swam for the 2nd time in 2010. I managed 2000 yards which included my favorite set: 5 x 50 kick on 1 min. Normally it would be 10, but I felt that I should take it easy.

I'm hoping to get back to the blogging as part of the road to the PhD. Prepare yourselves for more non-sequiturs.

*By "compete" I mean race to win, not go and have fun at a race.

Remembering Why

My short attention span and I went for a run with Jill this evening. She had already done a long workout today, but knowing that there's no earthly way I would go out for a run by myself, she took pity on me. Plus, it was one of those beautiful afternoons that begs people to enjoy the outdoors.

I've been sick for about a week and hadn't ran for about 10 days. I knew the run would be a struggle, which is why Jill was recruited and I picked my favorite route.

The run was long and hilly, but generally unremarkable. The last half-mile is a nice downhill. At that point, I was pretty much beat and trying to keep form until the finish, Jill had run ahead. A cyclist heading up the hill gave us both words of encouragement. Those words gave me a little boost that I very much needed. I don't know why those words stuck with me today. It's generally good form to greet others on this route and not unusual to say a few encouraging words to whomever is doing the climbing at the moment--it's pretty much all up and down hills. The encouragement in the last quarter mile of my run today maybe was just what I needed to remember one of the reasons why I keep doing this.

New Year, New Season

The off season is over and it's time to start keeping track of workouts here again. Things will be a little sparse through the first week of February because I'm being a good grad student and prioritizing research.

To kick off the on season, the tri club had a little "boot camp" this last weekend which involved a lot of high-volume, low-intensity workouts and a good dose of group bonding. It's hard to not bond with people when you're working out in sub-freezing temperatures. To solidify the bond on Sunday morning, we did a polar bear swim in Percy Priest lake. We were just in long enough to dunk and get the heck out. Pix of the fun:

Walking down to the lake. Note the gutter filled with ice.

Pre-dunk. Note nervous smiles.

Trying to run fast enough to stop thinking about what I'm doing. This is actually a tactic I use often for getting into pools/lakes. Also, I'm never far from the "avoid logic" state.

The chaos of the plunge and my turn-around point.

Victory!

The exit--really booking it now.

Lookin' all relaxed and warm next to a very bundled-up coach.

My feet bundled in muppet socks finally getting some relief.

The whole thing was a ton of fun and yes, I would do it again.

Side effects of snobbery

I've learned through my wine tasting habit that when identifying smells, it's often helpful to blurt out the first thing that comes to mind because there's often a good descriptor in that first impulse and if you think too long, that smell/concept will escape you. However, sometimes it's better to think about why you had that impulse before you speak and identify the cause of the impulse.

During the long ride today, we were sampling some energy products. I picked one, smelled it, and exclaimed, "Wow, it smells like a tanning bed!" The flavor was piña colada, which I didn't know before hand, so it sorta makes sense. Sorta.

It ended up tasting okay. Not great, but okay.

Boot Camp -- Final Day

Yesterday was the last day of triathlon boot camp. It was a choose-your-own-adventure bike ride. We had options for 28, 40, 56, 80, and 95 mile loops. You may assume that I'm crazy enough to do one of the long rides. You would be...wrong. I managed the 40 and even opted out of a "big climb" option. What this means is that boot camp successfully kicked my butt.

Today was a much needed rest day.

Boot Camp Update

It's almost October. I should not need sunscreen. However, I should also not be out three hours longer than I planned.

The triathlon boot camp session was great with some running form analysis. I hadn't planned to do the 22 mile ride to the marina, but, as they say, "everyone else was doing it." So I did. We did about a 1.5 mile swim, give or take, and then faced the ride back. It was a really nice day with perfect weather. I was really surprised at the amount of sun I got (and not necessarily in a good way). But I felt good the whole time and was really ready for some food and a nap when I got home.

Another lesson learned--the Power Bar Berry Blast Fruit Smoothie is really not bad when you're tired and need some energy. It tastes like the old Flintstone's vitamins at other times. The vanilla Power Bar goos always taste like cake batter. I still can't decide if that's good or bad.

Boot Camp

This weekend is triathlon boot camp. This evidently means that the tri club exercises more than usual. In large groups.

Tonight, this involved about 15 of us running around downtown Nashville drawing odd looks from the tourists. Great fun!

Improvement

I put the workout bar on the left so I wouldn't constantly be blogging about my workouts and have people say, "I really like your blog. It sounds just like you, but you only talk about your workouts. You should blog about other things." So, I've been trying to not bore the public with workout details unless it's really necessary. It's necessary tonight.

I did the normal Strider's run, but ended up running most of it by myself because the others were doing 8 miles. I tried to stay relaxed and smooth and when it felt like I was being squeezed about the chest, I tried a visualization technique--I pictured a giant fireplace bellows puffing my lungs full of air. It worked! I don't know if it was visualization or the fact that I wasn't yapping away at someone while I was running, but I finished the course 4.5 minutes faster than I did the last two weeks. Yea!!

It doesn't change my running catchphrase:

I'm a puffin'!

Or my running mascot:

Photo from Wikipedia Atlantic Puffin photos.

Course Preview

Early this morning, I got the chance to preview the Music City Triathlon bike and run courses. It was a beautiful day. I've never bothered to preview a course before, but I'm really glad I did. There are a couple tricky hills on the bike that will be total momentum killers if they're not approached correctly. Also, I managed to miss a turn. I realized it just as I passed it, but there's a right turn in the middle of a descent. You come up over a not-small hill and you sit down in your drops and you see the bottom of the hill and fly by the turn. I'm sure they'll have people there on race day, but of the people that saw ride by there today, we all missed the turn.

The run is going to be tough. There are some long hills that will be uncomfortable. I felt pretty good today, but I didn't do the whole run and the run wasn't in order. I may pop out to the run site again before the race.

Changes

I'm in the process of making some tweaks to my blog. I've added a "Workouts" column to the left side, but I'm not sure if it's the most practical. I'll see how the list behaves after I reach the limit of the queue. What I'd really like is a rolling Sunday-Saturday gadget with archiving capabilities and a countdown to my next race.

Any smartypants out there got something like this?
Eh?

Running, Bunnies, and a Little Extra Effort

Jill decided that we hadn't been running enough in the last couple days and volunteered us to go on a group run with a bunch of med students. This was fine, it was only 4 miles and a little later in the day than what we had been running. My car said it was 96 out, but I don't think it was that warm. The group said they were slow. After the first mile at an 8 minute pace, Jill and I decided that they were giant sandbaggers and we took the rest of the route at our own pace. Three miles into the all-uphill extravaganza, we finally spotted the Athlete's House and their life-saving cooler of water out for runners like us. We took a few sips and walked for a bit, then finally made it back to the start. It was a tough run, but good. When we were getting ready to grab some water, the organizer mentioned the second part of the workout. Jill looked stunned, so did I.

We grabbed some water, we admired the little Scotty dog, then we quickly stopped admiring the little Scotty dog because he was trying to eat some bunnies. He had one in his mouth when the organizer yelled for help and we all went to corral the little bunnies (about the size of the bunnies in the picture below, which I stole from a baby bunny blog). We then tried to put the bunnies somewhere safe. They were very cute and not very happy. One was very wet from being in the dog's mouth, but seemed okay otherwise.

So, yeah, after we got over the cuteness and got the bunnies to safety, it was time to do push ups. Two sets of fifty. Yikes. I haven't abused my arms in that way for a long, long time. I took only a moment to decide that girlie push ups were going to be okay 'cuz 100 push ups is a lot and I haven't done more than 15 at a time since high school. I didn't quite make it through in two sets of 50, but I did manage to bang out 100 push ups overall. Now, I can't lift my arms above my head. We'll see how long that lasts.

Update

Not that I'm promising any sort of posting regularity, but it seems that things have calmed down a bit for now. I got back from my big summer conference on Saturday, slept most of the day on Sunday, and tried (somewhat successfully) to face the world like a normal person today.

I decided that it was time to get back to regular workouts to prepare for the fall triathlon season. I took a swim -- 4000 yards in 8 sets of 500, then went for Johnny's spin class, which nearly killed me. I currently feel like I've been hit by a train, but happy.

Other good things: I got a letter from Granny Roop today, I've received lots of good feedback from the conference, and I had a good dinner (if a little late).

Dinner was "Easy Summer Casserole" from the Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by Diana Shaw. It consisted of layers of eggplant, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, hard boiled eggs, and a crumb topping that had bread crumbs, black olives, basil, parsley, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and more garlic. I wasn't quite sold on the eggs, but they added a nice flavor (and protein).

Silly

I don't work well without motivation. I've decided to sign up for an olympic distance triathlon (1k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) in April which doesn't give me a lot of time to train. I'm especially concerned about the run. I've got a plan and I'm trying to be reasonable and not overdo things early. I've hooked up with the Vandy Tri Club for support. Today was my first two-a-day with them in a while. I spent about 50 minutes in the pool and got in about 2500 yards. Then, I had a spin session that lasted every darn minute of the 40 minute workout. I thought we were done after that. I was wrong. We still had ab work left. It was a great workout and I think I'll sleep well tonight--if I don't wake up with my legs cramping!

Swim Workout

I didn't have a lot of time for a swim workout tonight, but really wanted to do something. I managed 2000 yards in about 45 minutes and a really challenging workout (for me).

• 200 SKPS (800 total yards)
• 4 x 100, descending (1:30, 1:25, 1:20, 1:15)
• 8 x 50, 25 sprint, 30 seconds tread legs-only or 30 water crunches, 25 sprint on 1:30
• 4 x 100, descending (1:30, 1:25, 1:20, 1:15)

Total 2000

I made it through the first descending set, killed myself on the 50s, and missed the last 100 on the last set. I'll get it next time.

Spin Class

Just took my first spin class in years.

Primary accomplishment: I didn't puke.

Back to it.

"It" being regular workouts. At least, I hope.

Having discovered last week at Morgan-Monroe that I am terribly out of running shape, I took it easy today. I ran two miles from my apartment in about 17.5 minutes. I felt pretty good the whole way and I was able to comfortably push, knowing it was a short run. My knee didn't bother me (it did last week on both my runs).

When I got home, I did some core work.

Now, I can eat the rest of the chocolate cake that Rachel left in Bloomington! Yea!

Joy!

Remember the "Friends" episode where Rachel takes Phoebe running in the park and is completely embarrassed that Phoebe still runs like a kid then in the end finds out that it's just a lot of fun to run like that? I was thinking about that the whole time I was running tonight. I felt better on my feet than I have for a long time. Maybe it's that it's not super hot and humid, maybe it was the music I was listening to, maybe it was the full night's sleep I got last night. I don't know and I don't much care, 'cuz I felt great and pushed for the last mile and felt like Phoebe running through the park. Yea!

Superfun!

Jeremy and I went out with the triathlon club for a training/skills ride on Friday. Triathletes are notoriously bad at road etiquette, handling, dealing with crowded situations, and maintaining bikes (as compared to dedicated cyclists). We addressed the first three during the ride by heading out on the roads in Nashville during the busiest time of day at the beginning of Parent's Weekend at Vanderbilt, spending some time riding around the roads of Centennial Park, practicing track stands, and riding in the grass practicing leaning on and touching other bikes while riding.

Good idea? Sure!!

The good news is that no one crashed or got hit. The better news is that we all had fun. The best news is that we played bike tag in a park at dark in the grass with people milling around. It was 'sharks 'n minnows' style, starting with one it and adding its until one person is left who is not it. You had to physically touch other people on the bike for them to be it.

Bike tag ranks up there with the other fun, silly things that normal (read: smart) people wouldn't do, but I'd do again in a heartbeat (e.g. sledding on Slater at 2 am in -35 degree F. windchill).

Morning Run

Another equation:

Exercise - Common Sense = Pain

Having battled a cold for the last couple weeks and not having slept nearly enough, nor having worked out nearly enough, nor having hydrated nearly well enough yesterday, I decided that it would be a good idea to go out and run Pate Hollow Trail. All 6.6 miles of it. It's funny how my body decided that running that far under those particular circumstances wasn't such a good idea. We (my body and I) had long conversations about what the plan was, but the body won out today. I made it around the loop, just not nearly as quickly as I would have liked.

It's a great trail and I really like running there. I finally found a map. Turns out that I was calling it Hardin Ridge rather than Pate Hollow.

Morning Trails

Heather and I went for a 6+ mile run in the Morgan-Monroe State Forest this morning. I haven't been able to find a map of the trails, but it's one that we have run several times. It's a really nicely maintained route (we did have one tree to climb around this morning, but that's unusual) with lots of interesting elevation change and it's really quiet and peaceful. We weren't fast, but it was a great run.