As a reminder, I committed to participate in Caitlin's (from Health Tipping Point)
Ironman March Challenge where I will complete the Ironman distances in
swimming, biking, and run/walking during the month of March.
I didn't give a Week 4 update, but you can see previous weeks' updates here, here, and here.
The last full week of the challenge, I hit a wall. Well, it actually started out great the first three days with a 1,000 meter swim, 14 mile spin ride, and 2.85 mile run respectively. Monday the 25th was my normal yoga class, then Tuesday I skipped the 6 am spin class I've been trying to make my "normal" class and just figured I would go to the 5 pm one. But then I started the juice cleanse Tuesday morning...
I was so weak by time I left work on Tuesday, there was no way I would make it through a 60 minute spin class. "I'll just go tomorrow," I thought.
Well after only 4 hours of sleep because of hunger induced insomnia (seriously, I was so stupid), I didn't feel like doing much Wednesday either. Then Thursday I missed the 6 am spin again and couldn't find an evening class, so I just went to yoga (my favorite instructor is going to be out for 3 weeks and it was her last class).
So I ended Week 4 with just an additional 1,000 meters of swimming, 14 miles biking, and 2.85 miles running to add to my totals. Not the best week for the challenge, but looking back it's not horrible for this point in my training calendar either.
For the last 3 days of the challenge, I started out at the pool Friday with a 1,200 meter swim, thus completing 4,100 meters this month, a few laps over the 2.4 miles required for the challenge.
Friday after coming home from the pool, I was still in my flip flops and had a little clumsy incident that involved a chunk of skin the size of a quarter being ripped off the top of my big toe on my left foot. So there's that now.
Saturday, I only got 5 miles of biking in. But the good news is I picked up my bike from being tuned up and it's riding great! I just timed the ride way too wrong and I hadn't eaten in several hours and didn't have any energy to do a longer ride. (All excuses I realize.)
Admittedly I have had a very lazy week and weekend, and that carried over to today with the holiday and the crummy weather we have, I didn't get out and do anything today.
So my final challenge totals were:
Swimming: 4,100 meters
Bike: 58 miles
Run/Walk: 19.49
So obviously I didn't complete all of the biking or running totals. After the showing I had the first two weeks, I really had no way to hit the bike totals, but if I hadn't hit that wall this week I should have hit the run totals.
All that to say, I do think the challenge was a success because it helped jump start my triathlon training. I went from swimming and biking very low totals to swimming 1,200 meters at a time and biking 20+ miles a week. So I'm proud of myself for that.
I have 6 weeks until the first race on my calendar this season, and being that it is a mini spring triathlon (200 yard swim, 10 mile bike, 2 mile run), I know I am ready for it and I can start focusing on my 2nd race (TBD), which will be a longer sprint triathlon, and maybe even an Intermediate distance race at the end of the summer.
I can't wait until May 18th and I'm out there again!
Showing posts with label spin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spin. Show all posts
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Ironman March with @caitlinhtp
I signed up for my first Triathlon of the season waaaaaaaaay back in early December. I find the earlier that I sign up for a big race, the more I tend to slack in beginning my "official" training. Mix in the fact I was sick for the first 6-7 weeks of 2013 and had a sprained ankle I was recovering from, it's been hard getting back on the horse.
I even wrote out a training calendar for the month of February. It's now the last day of the month and I didn't even attempt to follow it.
I'm getting better about getting into a real schedule again. I've made it to yoga this week and out running twice. I have another yoga session and another run planned already for the week.
But, if I want to be confident at my May 18th mini tri AND be ready in late summer for an intermediate distance (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), then I need to GET ON IT.
Enter fate.
Yesterday Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point posted her challenge to herself to complete an Ironman OVER THE COURSE of the month of March. Yep, 31 days to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles.
It's just the right level of a challenge to get me back in the saddle. I'll be going back to the Y for access to the pool and spin classes (oh how I miss thee).
If you want to join in, visit Caitlin's blog and print the handy PDF tracking sheet. She's even already done the math for you to break the mileage out week by week.
If you're going to do this, let me know here or on Twitter @emtucky.
I even wrote out a training calendar for the month of February. It's now the last day of the month and I didn't even attempt to follow it.
I'm getting better about getting into a real schedule again. I've made it to yoga this week and out running twice. I have another yoga session and another run planned already for the week.
But, if I want to be confident at my May 18th mini tri AND be ready in late summer for an intermediate distance (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), then I need to GET ON IT.
Enter fate.
Yesterday Caitlin at Healthy Tipping Point posted her challenge to herself to complete an Ironman OVER THE COURSE of the month of March. Yep, 31 days to swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles.
It's just the right level of a challenge to get me back in the saddle. I'll be going back to the Y for access to the pool and spin classes (oh how I miss thee).
If you want to join in, visit Caitlin's blog and print the handy PDF tracking sheet. She's even already done the math for you to break the mileage out week by week.
If you're going to do this, let me know here or on Twitter @emtucky.
Monday, July 2, 2012
First BRICK & Triathlon Training Update
Saturday I did my first "brick". A brick is triathlon speak for when you do a workout that combines two disciplines of triathlon. Most commonly people do bike/run bricks because from what I've read that is the hardest transition - going from jello bike legs to strong run legs. I'd also like to try a swim/bike brick.
I originally wanted to try out an open water swim on Saturday, but I'm still sorting out logistically how to tackle that. Admittedly, I haven't stuck to the training schedule much in the month of June because of three back-to-back trips. So the thought of exercising in the extreme heat we are having was even more UNMOTIVATING so I took the workout indoors with a 45 minute spin class and treadmill run. Not ideal 3 weeks before race day, but better than doing nothing.
I started out 15 minutes early to spin class so I just started riding after I got my bike set up. The instructor took us through several "climbs" (where you increase the gear slightly at an interval) and some "sprints" pedaling as fast as you can at an interval. I am really starting to love spin class (a far cry from my first class) and I could see myself doing it a few times a week even after triathlon season is over. The instructor commented that her computer showed over 12 miles for her ride, but I was on the bike a good 15-20 minutes than her so I'd say my ride was about 13-14 by a conservative estimate.
After the class, I refilled my water bottle and hit the treadmill. I started out at a 4.5 pace for 5 minutes, then walked 1 minute at 3.6 pace. I repeated this twice and did 1.25 miles in 17:25. I felt like I could have done the whole 5K, but since it was my first brick and I hadn't been training very well lately, I didn't want to overdo it.
Today, I got back in the pool (2nd swim for the week). My swim on Wednesday was rough due to the weird back pain I've been having, a crowded pool, and just generally not swimming for over a week.
Today's swim though was great.
After a 100 meter warm-up, I did a timed 400 meter (the length of my race swim) in 9 minutes and 30 seconds. After a 90 second rest, I did another timed 400 meters in 9 minutes and 45 seconds. These times surprised me since I put my race swim estimate at 18:00. But, expect to swim slower in open water, so maybe it will take me that long? Who knows. I feel strong in the water. I've always been a "water baby" and I swam on the neighborhood team for a few seasons during my childhood. So, I'm pretty confident in the water. Today it occurred to me that maybe I'm too confident about the water. Maybe I'm too confident about this whole race?
19 days...holy crap!
I originally wanted to try out an open water swim on Saturday, but I'm still sorting out logistically how to tackle that. Admittedly, I haven't stuck to the training schedule much in the month of June because of three back-to-back trips. So the thought of exercising in the extreme heat we are having was even more UNMOTIVATING so I took the workout indoors with a 45 minute spin class and treadmill run. Not ideal 3 weeks before race day, but better than doing nothing.
I started out 15 minutes early to spin class so I just started riding after I got my bike set up. The instructor took us through several "climbs" (where you increase the gear slightly at an interval) and some "sprints" pedaling as fast as you can at an interval. I am really starting to love spin class (a far cry from my first class) and I could see myself doing it a few times a week even after triathlon season is over. The instructor commented that her computer showed over 12 miles for her ride, but I was on the bike a good 15-20 minutes than her so I'd say my ride was about 13-14 by a conservative estimate.
After the class, I refilled my water bottle and hit the treadmill. I started out at a 4.5 pace for 5 minutes, then walked 1 minute at 3.6 pace. I repeated this twice and did 1.25 miles in 17:25. I felt like I could have done the whole 5K, but since it was my first brick and I hadn't been training very well lately, I didn't want to overdo it.
Today, I got back in the pool (2nd swim for the week). My swim on Wednesday was rough due to the weird back pain I've been having, a crowded pool, and just generally not swimming for over a week.
Today's swim though was great.
After a 100 meter warm-up, I did a timed 400 meter (the length of my race swim) in 9 minutes and 30 seconds. After a 90 second rest, I did another timed 400 meters in 9 minutes and 45 seconds. These times surprised me since I put my race swim estimate at 18:00. But, expect to swim slower in open water, so maybe it will take me that long? Who knows. I feel strong in the water. I've always been a "water baby" and I swam on the neighborhood team for a few seasons during my childhood. So, I'm pretty confident in the water. Today it occurred to me that maybe I'm too confident about the water. Maybe I'm too confident about this whole race?
19 days...holy crap!
Monday, January 10, 2011
Fitness Anxiety
Sincerely thank you to everyone for their comments, tweets, texts and calls on the last post and my major let down of a weigh in. I really appreciate the encouragement and suggestions!
I've gotten past my crappy weigh in from this weekend and MOVED ON. Sure, I'm still disappointed that it seems like all my hard work last week was for not, but I have more hard work to look forward to this week.
Last week, I was dealing with a bit of fitness anxiety. I was anxious about the upcoming spin class last Friday and half-marathon in February.
I like trying new things. I'm pretty good about "putting myself out there" but that doesn't come without reservations. When I decided to go to the spin class, I had so many anxious thoughts. Would I be able to keep up? Would I fit comfortably on the bike? What if it's crowded? What if I'm the fattest person there? In the end none of that mattered and I enjoyed the class. It was just my my mind over thinking every thing.
I've been stressing about the half-marathon since I registered. I have done one other half-marathon. It was the Country Music Nashville event from the popular Rock n Roll race series. This race is huge. There are something like over 30,000 participants? Huge! They aren't strict about the 4 hour time limit (my time was 4:18 in 2009) and when you register they ask you your pace and pre-assign you to corrals. Then, at the start of the race, they do wave starts, where every few minutes they release another corral.
Well, unbeknownst to me, the Mercedes event is very small. Tiny. Minuscule. Get it? Only 3,500-4,000 do the half. That's 90% smaller then the size of my last half! And when they didn't ask my pace on the registration I freaked out a bit since I had no idea what to expect at the start line. I ended up calling. It's just one big start (cue: fear of being trampled). They do have corrals for the different pace times (thank God), but still my irrational fear of being trampled is still there. Have I ever told you I was trampled once? Oh, yeah I was. At a concert. Back in the day we lined up all day long to be the first one into general admission rock shows and be front row. Well, at this one venue you had to RUN, up a flight of stairs to get to the mainstage area. Being the clumsy person I am, I fell and people freaking trampled me. Yeah. So fear of being trampled is alive and well in my mind.
My other anxiety ridden thought? Not finishing - or being the last one to finish. I have nothing from my training that would indicate I won't finish within the prescribed 4 hour time limit (my 10 mile walk was a 17:45 pace), but when I constantly read things like, "the half marathon finish line will close promptly at 11:03 am" it puts a lot of pressure on me mentally. It's not even the fact of not getting the medal or whatever other swag they give to official finishers. I just don't want them to deny me crossing that finish line and saying I completed 13.1 miles. Then, looking at the finisher's times last year for the half doesn't help one bit. The slowest person last year in my age group finished in 3:51:20. See? Anxiety.
I know in the end, none of this will matter. However, for the next several weeks it will. Only 4 more "long" walks to go. I'll do 12 miles this week. Then 8 as a recovery and the last two weeks will just be 6 to give my body time to rest (I got off schedule from Christmas, so there should be another 12 miler in there, but I'll be fine).
So, does anyone else suffer from "fitness" anxiety? Or other anxiety in relation to other aspects of your weight or weight loss?
I've gotten past my crappy weigh in from this weekend and MOVED ON. Sure, I'm still disappointed that it seems like all my hard work last week was for not, but I have more hard work to look forward to this week.
Last week, I was dealing with a bit of fitness anxiety. I was anxious about the upcoming spin class last Friday and half-marathon in February.
I like trying new things. I'm pretty good about "putting myself out there" but that doesn't come without reservations. When I decided to go to the spin class, I had so many anxious thoughts. Would I be able to keep up? Would I fit comfortably on the bike? What if it's crowded? What if I'm the fattest person there? In the end none of that mattered and I enjoyed the class. It was just my my mind over thinking every thing.
I've been stressing about the half-marathon since I registered. I have done one other half-marathon. It was the Country Music Nashville event from the popular Rock n Roll race series. This race is huge. There are something like over 30,000 participants? Huge! They aren't strict about the 4 hour time limit (my time was 4:18 in 2009) and when you register they ask you your pace and pre-assign you to corrals. Then, at the start of the race, they do wave starts, where every few minutes they release another corral.
Well, unbeknownst to me, the Mercedes event is very small. Tiny. Minuscule. Get it? Only 3,500-4,000 do the half. That's 90% smaller then the size of my last half! And when they didn't ask my pace on the registration I freaked out a bit since I had no idea what to expect at the start line. I ended up calling. It's just one big start (cue: fear of being trampled). They do have corrals for the different pace times (thank God), but still my irrational fear of being trampled is still there. Have I ever told you I was trampled once? Oh, yeah I was. At a concert. Back in the day we lined up all day long to be the first one into general admission rock shows and be front row. Well, at this one venue you had to RUN, up a flight of stairs to get to the mainstage area. Being the clumsy person I am, I fell and people freaking trampled me. Yeah. So fear of being trampled is alive and well in my mind.
My other anxiety ridden thought? Not finishing - or being the last one to finish. I have nothing from my training that would indicate I won't finish within the prescribed 4 hour time limit (my 10 mile walk was a 17:45 pace), but when I constantly read things like, "the half marathon finish line will close promptly at 11:03 am" it puts a lot of pressure on me mentally. It's not even the fact of not getting the medal or whatever other swag they give to official finishers. I just don't want them to deny me crossing that finish line and saying I completed 13.1 miles. Then, looking at the finisher's times last year for the half doesn't help one bit. The slowest person last year in my age group finished in 3:51:20. See? Anxiety.
I know in the end, none of this will matter. However, for the next several weeks it will. Only 4 more "long" walks to go. I'll do 12 miles this week. Then 8 as a recovery and the last two weeks will just be 6 to give my body time to rest (I got off schedule from Christmas, so there should be another 12 miler in there, but I'll be fine).
So, does anyone else suffer from "fitness" anxiety? Or other anxiety in relation to other aspects of your weight or weight loss?
Friday, January 7, 2011
First spin class + 4,000 calories burned
When I am taking care of myself - eating healthy foods and exercising I start to feel so good and forget that I am still 100 lbs overweight and am not ready to move mountains yet. This is what happened when I decided to go to my first spin class tonight.
And yes I can feel it! It was actually a combo spin + sculpt class. We started out doing lunges, squats, push ups, and planks, etc. It really made me realize I need to be doing more of this sort of thing in my regular work out. I can barely do a plank, and only attempted the side plank - sheesh that stuff is hard! Also, I hate doing that type of strength training. I think it's because I never do it, plus I'm really uncoordinated and that makes things like a side plank difficult. And bottom line: my fat gets in the way! I think after the half, my fitness goal is going to be to focus more on incorporating strength training into my workouts. I know I CAN do these things - it's just I need to practice.
Now onto the spin part - after doing all of those strength exercises, I was already sweaty and wore out. But to the spin cycles we went. After adjusting the bikes we hopped on and started peddling our hearts out. I was done for 5 minutes in. I'm used to walking. When I walk, I just start going and zone out. It's something I do because it is completely in my comfort zone. Bicycling, on the other hand, is not. I haven't been on a bike in probably 15+ years. And spinning is even more out of my comfort zone because you have all the the standing and all the resistance changing while cycling - I'm just not that coordinated!! It was hard. Maybe the hardest workout I've had in my life - not kidding. I'm not going to pretend I was able to keep up. I'd say I was about 75% with the instructor's prompts. I did much more sitting than standing and for probably the last 15 minutes I thought I may puke, so I did low resistance and just peddled at a moderate pace. So yes, it was hard - but more importantly I didn't hate it! If it was a regular offering to my work's employee gym classes, then I'd go!
I already feel a bit sore. It's mostly in my arms/shoulders and the back of my thighs where my legs meet my butt. I'm sure I will feel it worse tomorrow - and I secretly hope I do!! Everyone told me about the seat. Basically, the seat puts pressure on your lady parts/ass and makes you sore. I'm not saying it was comfortable, but that was the really the least of my worries - maybe I'll sing a different story tomorrow.
So there, I did it. I was anxious all week. I went outside of my comfort zone and I survived. I can't wait to find the next thing to bring me outside that comfort zone!
On another, but similar note: this is my report from Sparkpeople for this week (Sun-Sat) for the calories burned from exercise. And yes, it says over 4,000! I've hit the gym after work every day this week (except Monday, no work) and got in a couple extra workouts, combined with my 10 mile walk on Sunday - WOW! It feels great, however, I know this isn't typical but I'm going to try and keep up the 5x a week workouts since I seem to be on a roll...
And yes I can feel it! It was actually a combo spin + sculpt class. We started out doing lunges, squats, push ups, and planks, etc. It really made me realize I need to be doing more of this sort of thing in my regular work out. I can barely do a plank, and only attempted the side plank - sheesh that stuff is hard! Also, I hate doing that type of strength training. I think it's because I never do it, plus I'm really uncoordinated and that makes things like a side plank difficult. And bottom line: my fat gets in the way! I think after the half, my fitness goal is going to be to focus more on incorporating strength training into my workouts. I know I CAN do these things - it's just I need to practice.
Now onto the spin part - after doing all of those strength exercises, I was already sweaty and wore out. But to the spin cycles we went. After adjusting the bikes we hopped on and started peddling our hearts out. I was done for 5 minutes in. I'm used to walking. When I walk, I just start going and zone out. It's something I do because it is completely in my comfort zone. Bicycling, on the other hand, is not. I haven't been on a bike in probably 15+ years. And spinning is even more out of my comfort zone because you have all the the standing and all the resistance changing while cycling - I'm just not that coordinated!! It was hard. Maybe the hardest workout I've had in my life - not kidding. I'm not going to pretend I was able to keep up. I'd say I was about 75% with the instructor's prompts. I did much more sitting than standing and for probably the last 15 minutes I thought I may puke, so I did low resistance and just peddled at a moderate pace. So yes, it was hard - but more importantly I didn't hate it! If it was a regular offering to my work's employee gym classes, then I'd go!
I already feel a bit sore. It's mostly in my arms/shoulders and the back of my thighs where my legs meet my butt. I'm sure I will feel it worse tomorrow - and I secretly hope I do!! Everyone told me about the seat. Basically, the seat puts pressure on your lady parts/ass and makes you sore. I'm not saying it was comfortable, but that was the really the least of my worries - maybe I'll sing a different story tomorrow.
So there, I did it. I was anxious all week. I went outside of my comfort zone and I survived. I can't wait to find the next thing to bring me outside that comfort zone!
On another, but similar note: this is my report from Sparkpeople for this week (Sun-Sat) for the calories burned from exercise. And yes, it says over 4,000! I've hit the gym after work every day this week (except Monday, no work) and got in a couple extra workouts, combined with my 10 mile walk on Sunday - WOW! It feels great, however, I know this isn't typical but I'm going to try and keep up the 5x a week workouts since I seem to be on a roll...
Click for bigger imageAt some point this weekend, I'll be walking 8 miles. Most likely Sunday, but we'll see how I really feel in the morning. I hope everyone had a great first week of 2011!
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