What a week! After getting yet another 16 inches of snow on Thursday, I have got some major cabin fever. And I would go out and do something other than work out or work, but I am just too tired! I got up this morning for a quick lifting session followed by a 30 minute swim. When I got home I realized that since I got up so early if I really wanted to I could capitalize on the extra time before logging on to work and get my Saturday long ride done, so I could sleep in tomorrow and only have to do a quick 50 minute run. Feeling motivated I did just that. I got in a 2:30 Z1 ride and finished my new LAVA magazine (also known around my house as bike porn).
Fast forward 6 hours later and I am beat! And the worst part is that I need to motivate myself and get in another hour of work, followed by a 25 min ZR run and a 45 minute spin class! Why did I ever agree to teach this Friday class? But I keep reminding myself that I get to sleep in tomorrow. Let's see if I can make it past 9am. Highly doubtful.
So with the Saturday long ride out of the way, this weekend will be comprised of some longer runs and a nice ZR bike ride on Sunday. We are also going to spend a little bit of time working on some wedding stuff, but mostly I am going to concentrate on relaxing.
Have a great weekend everyone!
Friday, January 28, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
More Snow? Sure, Can't Stop Me!!
I got up this morning at 5:40 hoping that it wasn't snowing, I needed to get to the gym to get in an hour run and some core exercises before my work day and the snow began. About halfway through my run, winter reared it's ugly head, once again! Now the good thing is that I really don't mind running on the treadmill, I bring a few magazines with me and by the time I am done catching up on my celebrity gossip, the run is usually over. So I got that going for me.
Now back to the run, yesterday I talked about my frustrating slow Z1 pace, well today I decided that I would start at a 10:00 min/mile pace and see how long I could hold it before my HR skyrocketed. Next thing I know I only have 10 minutes left in my run. What the F..k? With ten minutes to go I had to drop the pace a bit but I ended up with 10:05 miles and an average HR 5 beats below my Zone 1 ceiling. How the hell does that happen? Is it because I ran early in the morning? Because I drank a lot of water last night before bed? If anyone has any insight on this, please share, because I am honestly baffled. I have to run again this week and I think I am going to try the middle of the day again to see if I go back to the slower pace. I mean if the faster pace is associated with getting up at the ass crack of dawn to run, sign me up!
Now it is time to focus on the work day and enjoy the snow from a far. Here is the view from my living room window. Enjoy!
Now back to the run, yesterday I talked about my frustrating slow Z1 pace, well today I decided that I would start at a 10:00 min/mile pace and see how long I could hold it before my HR skyrocketed. Next thing I know I only have 10 minutes left in my run. What the F..k? With ten minutes to go I had to drop the pace a bit but I ended up with 10:05 miles and an average HR 5 beats below my Zone 1 ceiling. How the hell does that happen? Is it because I ran early in the morning? Because I drank a lot of water last night before bed? If anyone has any insight on this, please share, because I am honestly baffled. I have to run again this week and I think I am going to try the middle of the day again to see if I go back to the slower pace. I mean if the faster pace is associated with getting up at the ass crack of dawn to run, sign me up!
Now it is time to focus on the work day and enjoy the snow from a far. Here is the view from my living room window. Enjoy!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
How Did I Get Slower?
Seriously, I knew it was too good to be true, running a sub 10:30 min/mile at the beginning of my training! Now I am averaging 11:19 in Zone 1. Now really I know I shouldn't complain because I did have 4 months off and last year I started a lot higher than that, but complain I will and I dare you to stop me!
I am hoping that this weekend maybe it will get just a tiny bit better. Only because I am particpating in my first race in 5 months on Superbowl Sunday and man am I starting to get worried that I may need to stick my head in the sand to hide from my time after I cross the finish line. Well more like snow here instead of sand but either way, I will be hiding!
This week has been filled with spinning classes, max strength phase lifting and lots of running. I am slowly rebuilding my relationship with my bike and we seem fine as of today. I feel as though we will go right back to hating each other once I am allowed outside though. But I will cross that bridge when I get to it, and hopefully not fall down and break my head!
In other news, the wedding is moving along. I bought my wedding dress on Sunday and boy was it fun. You don't realize how girly you are capable of being when you usually aren't very much so at all. But I am realizing that that is just because my current circumstances only allow for dressing for a cold day of work in the city and working out. So not much girly stuff there. But I have located my inner girly girl, if not for one day. I also secured a photographer and now I am just working on hotels, a rehersal dinner spot and my save the dates, and then it is time to breathe, well if I can do that along with my training!
Speaking of which I am off to spend some quality time with the trainer!
I am hoping that this weekend maybe it will get just a tiny bit better. Only because I am particpating in my first race in 5 months on Superbowl Sunday and man am I starting to get worried that I may need to stick my head in the sand to hide from my time after I cross the finish line. Well more like snow here instead of sand but either way, I will be hiding!
This week has been filled with spinning classes, max strength phase lifting and lots of running. I am slowly rebuilding my relationship with my bike and we seem fine as of today. I feel as though we will go right back to hating each other once I am allowed outside though. But I will cross that bridge when I get to it, and hopefully not fall down and break my head!
In other news, the wedding is moving along. I bought my wedding dress on Sunday and boy was it fun. You don't realize how girly you are capable of being when you usually aren't very much so at all. But I am realizing that that is just because my current circumstances only allow for dressing for a cold day of work in the city and working out. So not much girly stuff there. But I have located my inner girly girl, if not for one day. I also secured a photographer and now I am just working on hotels, a rehersal dinner spot and my save the dates, and then it is time to breathe, well if I can do that along with my training!
Speaking of which I am off to spend some quality time with the trainer!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
From 12oz Curls, to Bicep Curls, to Wedding Dress Twirls
Man has it been a long week and it's only Thursday! Last weekend we did our annual ski trip to Hunter Mountain for MLK day. And although I didn't ski, I did go tubing one day. But this ski trip is just what you expect it to be, a huge group (16 this time) in a house skiing, drinking and oh wait, drinking. Now since I haven't been drinking very much I took it easy on the cocktailing but I was still there to witness all of the debauchery that comes with 16 people and 3 kegs of beer. And man was there a lot. One of the funniest memories, is someone pulling their groin muscle playing air guitar. Talk about an athlete right there!
Once we got back it was back to the grind stone with the past three days filled with recovery swims, max strength phase lifting, 1 hour Z1 rides, which might I say I am really enjoying and 1 hour runs. Today started with some lifting and then a quick make up swim that I missed from Monday. I then followed that up with a quick 1 hour ride, where I caught up on some reading.
Oh, and this week, we have made it official, well I guess more official, we are getting married on October 8, 2011. So then you can add into the whole training and weight loss some bridal bootcamp. My goal is to lose about 9 pounds by October, which with the amount that I am training I believe is possible, I just need to stick to it.
So with the date planned, my mother and I set off for some wedding dress shopping. And man, was that an experience. I mean honestly, I would feel most comfortable getting married in running shorts and a sports tank with sneakers on, but alas, that is not an option. I mean I can get into the dress thing it just takes me a little while. So about 4 dressed in, after explaining to the woman that I was wearing a sports bra and would need to borrow a "real" bra, things started to click. I think I found the style I want at least, but no dress jumped out at me. The craziest part was standing there in a grandiose dress, then the woman came up to me and put a veil on me, and BOOM, shit got real! I finally felt like this was all real! Talk about crazy!
Well enough of the wedding talk and back to the real issue at hand, training! This week will end with a nice long ride and some more 1 hour runs. I plan on taking it real easy this weekend since we were a bit out of control last weekend. Let's see how that goes!
Once we got back it was back to the grind stone with the past three days filled with recovery swims, max strength phase lifting, 1 hour Z1 rides, which might I say I am really enjoying and 1 hour runs. Today started with some lifting and then a quick make up swim that I missed from Monday. I then followed that up with a quick 1 hour ride, where I caught up on some reading.
Oh, and this week, we have made it official, well I guess more official, we are getting married on October 8, 2011. So then you can add into the whole training and weight loss some bridal bootcamp. My goal is to lose about 9 pounds by October, which with the amount that I am training I believe is possible, I just need to stick to it.
So with the date planned, my mother and I set off for some wedding dress shopping. And man, was that an experience. I mean honestly, I would feel most comfortable getting married in running shorts and a sports tank with sneakers on, but alas, that is not an option. I mean I can get into the dress thing it just takes me a little while. So about 4 dressed in, after explaining to the woman that I was wearing a sports bra and would need to borrow a "real" bra, things started to click. I think I found the style I want at least, but no dress jumped out at me. The craziest part was standing there in a grandiose dress, then the woman came up to me and put a veil on me, and BOOM, shit got real! I finally felt like this was all real! Talk about crazy!
Well enough of the wedding talk and back to the real issue at hand, training! This week will end with a nice long ride and some more 1 hour runs. I plan on taking it real easy this weekend since we were a bit out of control last weekend. Let's see how that goes!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
So Much for Surprising Myself!
As I pictured, I went for my second run last week on Friday and there I was at the top of Z1 averaging 10:29 miles. So much for that little pipe dream of 10 min miles to start with. I then went on and completed my 8 minute bike test from hell. Now surprisingly I was able to maintain a decent speed with high resistance without crapping out early. So at least I know there is some improvement there. Now as to how that is going to translate when fixing my HR zones, I don't want to know! I figure if it didn't feel too bad that I have a lot of walking and hopping in my future!
This weekend, we headed to Madison Square Garden to watch a bull riding competition. And man, did I underestimate this experience. I figured it would be interesting for sure, but it was totally entertaining! Now I am not saying that I will become a regular spectator on the bull riding circuit, but it sure made for a fun Friday night.
Saturday was early to rise to head out for another full day of wedding venue searching. And I think we have made a decision. After seeing about 12 venues, I hope we have. I am working on the contract now and will hopefully have it all signed off on this week. Then it is on to more planning. Honestly, at least I have training to focus on, so I have a daily stress release session as I plan!
This weekend, we headed to Madison Square Garden to watch a bull riding competition. And man, did I underestimate this experience. I figured it would be interesting for sure, but it was totally entertaining! Now I am not saying that I will become a regular spectator on the bull riding circuit, but it sure made for a fun Friday night.
Saturday was early to rise to head out for another full day of wedding venue searching. And I think we have made a decision. After seeing about 12 venues, I hope we have. I am working on the contract now and will hopefully have it all signed off on this week. Then it is on to more planning. Honestly, at least I have training to focus on, so I have a daily stress release session as I plan!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
I Am Surprising Myself Here
So the new HR monitor showed up and after fighting with it and trying to get it to work for about 3 days (yes, I know I could have read the directions in the first place, but really, who does that?)I began my training with the monitor. Now I just want to remind you it has been 4 months since I trained with a HR monitor and also about 4 months since I have done anything on a bike besides teach spin, so I knew the first couple of weeks in January would be a doozy!
You already know the deal for Monday, on Tuesday, I got on the bike for a 1:10 Z1 ride, and let me tell you, by 45 minutes, I was done for. It was taking so much energy and resistance to get my HR up to Z1 in the first place, that maintaining it was killing me! But I suffered through it and was done for the day at around 9:00am, with a sore ass and lead legs.
Today, I got up early again, as I am trying to make that the trend for the year, and hit the gym for my first run with the HR monitor. Now, I thought that this was going to be reminiscent of my walk with a hop routine from last year, but I didn't want to go in with a negative attitude. So I took the "whatever happens, happens" view and began my run. I thought I was on track and doing well in terms of my HR and I got off after 40 minutes averaging 10:15 miles. Now for you speed demons out there, I know you are probably wondering why I can't run faster than that, but I can, don't be fooled, just not with that monitor on. So when I got home to log my time, I was nicely surprised, my average HR was only 154 which is the at the bottom of Z1. This means that I may actually begin the year with a Z1 pace of 10:00 minute miles or maybe even less! Unheard of, I tell you!
After my run, I got in the pool for a quick 30 minutes steady swim. And even though my arms were a bit sore from Monday's swim, I was again very happy to be back in the water, well more so underwater and away from noise.
Tomorrow I do a HR test, which means that these happy posts will most likely disappear when my Zones get adjusted and I have to go back to my crawling pace, but today I can bask in feeling satisfied with my morning.
You already know the deal for Monday, on Tuesday, I got on the bike for a 1:10 Z1 ride, and let me tell you, by 45 minutes, I was done for. It was taking so much energy and resistance to get my HR up to Z1 in the first place, that maintaining it was killing me! But I suffered through it and was done for the day at around 9:00am, with a sore ass and lead legs.
Today, I got up early again, as I am trying to make that the trend for the year, and hit the gym for my first run with the HR monitor. Now, I thought that this was going to be reminiscent of my walk with a hop routine from last year, but I didn't want to go in with a negative attitude. So I took the "whatever happens, happens" view and began my run. I thought I was on track and doing well in terms of my HR and I got off after 40 minutes averaging 10:15 miles. Now for you speed demons out there, I know you are probably wondering why I can't run faster than that, but I can, don't be fooled, just not with that monitor on. So when I got home to log my time, I was nicely surprised, my average HR was only 154 which is the at the bottom of Z1. This means that I may actually begin the year with a Z1 pace of 10:00 minute miles or maybe even less! Unheard of, I tell you!
After my run, I got in the pool for a quick 30 minutes steady swim. And even though my arms were a bit sore from Monday's swim, I was again very happy to be back in the water, well more so underwater and away from noise.
Tomorrow I do a HR test, which means that these happy posts will most likely disappear when my Zones get adjusted and I have to go back to my crawling pace, but today I can bask in feeling satisfied with my morning.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Happy New Year...
And now it is back to the grind, in every sense of the word. Today started with a 6am spin class and then an early morning gracery stop to gather all of the ingredients for the first week back to healthy eating in my house. Tonight we will be dining on zuchini and eggplant cassarole. I think we are going to go strictly vegetarian this week to get us back to where we need to be.
After the grocery store, I got through my first few hours of work and then it was time for a training lunch break. I set off to the gym for a 1 hour recovery swim. Per the usual I came home with an earful of water, but god it feels great to be back in the water so much. I miss the quietness of the pool.
Then tonight it is back to the gym for 30 minutes of lifting before my last spin class. And I am picturing that when I get home at 8:30 tonight, moving will be a challenge! But there is no way better to start off the new year than with 4 hours of working out, right? Right!
Let's see if my attitude changes by the end of the week.
After the grocery store, I got through my first few hours of work and then it was time for a training lunch break. I set off to the gym for a 1 hour recovery swim. Per the usual I came home with an earful of water, but god it feels great to be back in the water so much. I miss the quietness of the pool.
Then tonight it is back to the gym for 30 minutes of lifting before my last spin class. And I am picturing that when I get home at 8:30 tonight, moving will be a challenge! But there is no way better to start off the new year than with 4 hours of working out, right? Right!
Let's see if my attitude changes by the end of the week.
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