retail therapy

Dear Steph:

You have plantar fasciitis. You are not dying. A massive spree at Target involving large amounts of peanut butter m&ms is not justified.

Love,

-steph

earworm: Gotye - Somebody that I Used to Know

took a sip of something poison but i'll hold on tight

So, 2 hours on the bike turned into 30 minutes. But it was a really hard 30 minutes!

I forgot that I wanted to install my new cadence sensor (that works with the FR60). It took a little longer than I thought it would to finagle it to the right position. But once I got started- Data overload! Following the workout by HR/zone and cadence was overwhelming. Plus, my cadence was not as high as I thought it was once I actually started measuring it. A half hour in, I was mentally and physically fried. At least now I'm ready for Saturday!

crazy going slowly am i

I don't sit still well. 2 hr trainer session tonight.

I didn't feel my feet at all while skiing. I'm going to blame that on the hardshell boots and the cold. Because as soon as I got home to my normal routine things went to crap again.

I imagine this is what my blog would sound like should it ever be verbalized: Sh!t triathletes say

it's my party dance if i want to

This should come as a surprise to no one.

Diagnosis:
weak glutes
tight hamstrings
angry calves
tight ankles
plantar fasciitis.

Rx:
PT 2x/week for 4 weeks
new exercises/stretches
no running :(

Oh well. Regular AM PT appointments should dovetail in nicely with the early routine and the Master's swimming I should already be doing (but not). There is a silver lining in everything. I'll be back!

So nope, the run didn't happen this weekend. I made a PT appointment, but I can't get in until Thursday. My feet are much more tolerable today. Watch it all be resolved by the time I get in. Figures. Oh well, they think I'm crazy anyway. I've missed sooo many good run days in the last few weeks. It's a bummer.

An unintended benefit of the Garmin is the calorie consumption estimation. I'm assuming it does it based on the weight I gave it during initial setup and the HR recorded over a workout. According to the watch I burned about 1100 calories in the 1:45 that was recorded during spin on Saturday (LT test included). Sometimes I'm not sure I eat 1100 calories in a day. If this is right, it explains alot about why I feel so crappy after hard workouts or races. I need to find a good source of protein/calories that is palatable to me during that weird upset stomach period afterwards. A good blender for smoothies seems to be the next thing on the list.

currently reading: Ann Patchett- State of Wonder

grumble grumble.

So at some point between that last track workout, spin on Saturday, and walking around DC with the fam on Sunday, I developed some fabulous heel/ankle pain. Great. I made it through exactly one week of training before I hurt myself. Surprise surprise!

Ugh, okay, end the sarcasm. I am trying to be optimistic. I had a great time at the spin class on Saturday. I thought I would feel completely out of my element but I felt very included and able to keep up. I have a feeling Ron was going easy on us the first day though! This week we are doing LT tests to determine HR zones, so I don't think it will be as easy! I even repeated the first half of the workout on the trainer during the week so I'm feeling ready. (the neighbors haven't complained yet...) I'm amazed at how much I picked up from this first class. Ron is very biomechanics oriented, so alot of his drills were focusing on certain muscle groups used through all the phases of rotation. I had so many dead spots in my pedal stroke that I'm now able to target and strengthen. I'm hoping that another few days of ice and ibuprofen will get me back on my feet and I can run 5 with the MoCo group on Sunday. If that doesn't go well, it's back to PT for me.

Happy long weekend for most of you!

when you feel just like a villain, in the story you have written

Okay, so that last post was a little dark. It happens.

I was thinking yesterday as I was walking out of work in my UnderArmor and beanie cap that when I first started going to track it was like 95 degrees and 95% humidity. And yesterday it was 33-feels-like-25. Which honestly is pretty much PERFECT.

Hillary's plan for yesterday was a series of long LT intervals (6 minutes at 85-90% effort, 2 min active recovery), while at the same time I was bent on getting in the 3 mile pace run that I messed up on Monday. After showing up late and missing introductions and plyos (again), the day ended up being 4 mi in 33:30 (~8:20s). It felt so good that unlike the summer workouts, my 'active recovery' was simply slowing my 400m splits by ~10 seconds and NOT stopping to dry heave at the bleachers. (now that's an improvement in fitness for you.)

Have I mentioned how much I love the cold?

I was so jazzed afterward that it carried forward into two volleyball victories for Tap Dat Pass. Pretty great night all around!

earworm: Death Cab for Cutie - You are a Tourist

if i could find a way to see this straight i'd run away

So I had a pretty terrible treadmill run tonight. It was supposed to be a 3 mile pace run (per Hal Higdon's Half Marathon Novice 2 plan) but I went out a bit ambitious. I want to run RnR Half at 10:00/mi or better, but I decided today that 'at pace' meant 9:00s. It ended up being much more of a sputter than a consistent pace. A victim of a poor attention span. BUT the trip to the gym was 100% worth it because:

1. there were still parking spots (awaiting horde of new years resolutioners, zombie-style)

2. Adriane (zumba/ballroom guru!) subbed for my abs/stretch class. She combined our usual yoga/pilates style dynamic stretching with barre work. I am in love with her dance classes. I even asked her afterwards if she ever offered a stretching/fitness for dancers class at her studio (where I took ballroom lessons- speaking of, I still have two to use...). That kind of dynamic movement/coordination/flexibility is exactly what I need to work on. And she said she was already planning on one, if there's enough interest! Small steps towards being on 'So You Think You Can Dance.' (hahaha... I can dream).

P.S. I now keep an online training log. It should be much more sophisticated once I get the FR60 up and running. But for now, my elementary skills can be seen at BeginnerTriathlete. (username SBsteph) (whoops, this apparently can't be viewed without logging in. oh well!)

I had a fantastic couple of days away and feel like I'm both rested and caught up on some nagging projects that have been sitting around. I'm pretty enthusiastic about this year. But there are a few things I need to keep reminding myself, on the bad days. So here is my 2012 'kick in the rear.' I am not 'trapped.' I am not 'stuck.' The only reasons I feel that way are because I do not do enough to change things when they are not working for me. I stay too long in what's 'comfortable' or 'easy'. And I do feel like I'm maxing out the timeframe on this stage in my life. But I never take the risk of causing pain or discomfort (in whatever form, real or made up in my head) to myself or those around me to try to break out of old patterns or just straight up leave. But with risk comes reward. I am very driven by a 'list' - breaking things down into tasks and completing them one by one. I need to figure out what needs to be on that 'list' - what are the things that I still need to do to 'prove myself' - so I can move on and find out what truly are my passions- what will get me out of bed in the mornings on those bad days. Musselman is one step in that direction. Perhaps cobbling together my own grad school plan is another. Or maybe where I am right now is where I'm supposed to be. But I won't know unless I break out of that comfort zone and find out.

I am seeing these guys at 9:30 Club in March. I have not been to enough concerts lately, so I am really looking forward to this.

RnRHM Week 2: 3 mi treadmill

Earworm: Young the Giant - Cough Syrup