GTWD

This winter has definitely softened us (as if we, in Hawaii, are not already soft enough when it comes to weather conditions). Pretty much every day recently has been picture perfect blue skies and light/moderate winds. Today tested me a bit b/c we had some gusty winds and on/off rain. Was I really going to ride in that? I used to. All the time. But I'm so soft now!

I did get myself out the door, but I changed my ride plan to allow me to stay in neighborhoods vs being out on the main road and I justified that decision in the name of safety. So, short hill reps it was. I figured I would do 6x2' hard uphill, then 6x1' hard uphill. That's one I haven't done in a while, and just like 50's in the pool, not (at all) my favorite kind of session to do. So much that I had to change it up and sort of trick myself just to GTWD. Seriously, I got done with 2 of those 2' hills and felt so uncomfortable (I am not a huge fan of describing training as suffering, even if that term feels somewhat accurate at times. It's not truly suffering. I mean, come on.) that I started talking myself out of doing the rest of them. Just one more, I told myself... This is the hard part about not having a coach to report to... If a coach wrote a session for me I would go do it without thinking about modifying it. But when it's me making myself "suffer" and I know no one else cares at all, it's harder to force the discomfort b/c at any time I can just stop and no one even needs to know...

Anyway, I did end up getting it all done but I broke up the sets so it was more palatable to my rebellious brain. I split it up into 3 rounds:

3x2min; 1x1min
2x2min; 2x1min
1x2min; 3x1min

That worked for my brain and I got the work done. I was on my road bike and didn't have any objective data... Just the subjective feeling of shit this is hard.

Tomorrow we'll see if I can find my big girl pants.

Maia gets the shaft when its cold and wet and windy. She did convince me to take her out for a few short walks but overall today was pretty boring for her.

New Trail Monday

Swim was pretty standard this morning. Felt like one of those check the box type sessions. 1000 w/u as usual felt heavy to start then better after ~500m. Mark was there which for sure made me swim the main set faster/harder than I would have on my own. We did 3x500's pull @7:50. Went 7:29, 7:25, 7:21, because descending is a habit. Then we did another set as 2 rounds of 200, 150, 100, 50 where round 1 the last 1/2 of each swim was fast and round 2 the first 1/2 of each swim was fast. That's a quick way to knock out 1000m because the swims are short and you constantly have to think and change pace/effort. Anyway, 3600m again this morning. Check.

Opted to not ride today in favor of hopefully riding stronger tomorrow. My hip felt pretty good though, and it seemed like it had been a while since Maia and I went hiking, so I took the opportunity to drive her out to a trail I'd been meaning to check out. Its mostly a mountain biking trail and for that reason I figured I should stay away on the weekends, but figured on a Monday morning we wouldn't likely be in anyone's way out there.

Anyway, it was a cool trail and I really enjoyed exploring it. Obviously Maia did as well. It occurred to me that I never used to do stuff like that but now that I have her I feel like I want/need to figure out cool things to do with her. It ends up being a win-win for sure b/c I'm exploring a whole new world out there on the trails, and loving it. She might make a trail runner out of me yet.

We spent about an hour on that trail, mostly walking but included a little jogging here and there on parts that were a bit flatter. It seems sacrilegious to take a garmin on an outing like that so I really don't know how far we went, but I'd guess maybe 4 miles and would guess in total we jogged about a mile of it (maybe a little more?). It felt like a good 'bridge' into running b/c it was time on my feet, low aerobic effort but enough to break into a sweat, and quite enjoyable. I can still feel my hip isn't perfect but once again it is not worse and I think that's a good sign. Although with 3 days in a row of light jogging I think I'll not jog at all tomorrow just to remain on the cautious side.

It apparently takes Maia 23 hours of sleeping to recover from an hour long hike/run. She spent the rest of the day in complete Zombie mode.

EMOM

This morning I spent a good chunk of time working mobility, stability, and a bit of strength. Mostly thinking that if I have full range of motion, stable hips, and strong core/glutes, that maybe this hip pain of mine will resolve itself. So with that in mind:

~"Happy Hips" Roll Routine focused on extension and internal rotation
~Couch stretch
~Psoas smash (MWOD style with kettle bell)
~Star Lunges
~Bridges (double and single leg)
~Monster walks with resistance bands (4 directions)
~V-ups
~Knees to bar
~Hip hikes
~Stork hold>airplane

Then I went outside to my side yard and did a little session reminiscent of when I used to dabble in Crossfit. Nothing crazy, and I know Crossfit isn't exactly gold standard when it comes to strength training, but my personal experience with it was positive and fun, so I employ some of their methods at times b/c I like them. Today I did 2x 8min "wod" as EMOM style (Every Minute on the Minute).

WOD #1: 4 rounds of
10 squats (45lbs)
10 box jumps

WOD #2: 4 rounds of
7 dead lifts (95lbs)
40" hollow hold

That was a fun way to GTWD (get the work done). Basically I was 'working' for 25-40 seconds then resting until the minute was up then would start the next set/round. It's been a while since I've lifted anything heavy and I didn't want to go overboard and end up unable to walk tomorrow... so I kept the weights on the moderate side and it was good.

Finished up with 5x50 jumps of jumprope and was pretty stoked that jumping rope didn't seem to irritate my hip (a week ago it did). Even threw in a bit of single leg jumps (2x10 each leg) and had no problem. Goal with that really is to keep my calves and achilles strong and in the game so that when I do start really running again, I won't end up with some dumb lower leg injury or something like that.

Later I went out riding. My original plan was to do a hill rep session but saw pretty early on that my HR seemed a bit on the low side and I don't know, my gut just said not today. Instead I just cruised as I felt, which ended up being pretty easy. HR was def a good bit lower than it's been the last few weeks (say maybe avg 8 beats low?), which could be a sign of increasing fitness but more likely simply increasing fatigue. Could be tired from yesterdays ride or maybe that little morning strength session since I'm not really adapted to that kind of work at the moment? Or could just be that I've ridden ~450 miles in the last 2 weeks and the cumulative fatigue is catching up. Either way, I kept intensity on the lower side for 43 miles and stopped a couple times to take pictures. Wouldn't call it a bad day to be on the bike.

This is Waimanalo and every time I ride past this section I think I should stop and take a picture. Today I finally did.

Got home and right away took Maia out for our little mile jog. It went better today vs yesterday. Hip still isn't perfect but once again the short jog didn't make it worse (and it isn't worse now) so I don't think it was a bad idea to try it again. In fact, I finished that "run" all sweaty and almost felt like a whole triathlete again.

Fartlek Friday; Steady Saturday.

Solid swim again yesterday morning. Felt like confirmation that Wednesday was not a fluke. :) Once again right from the first stroke I felt "on" so the warm up was strong. Then Nalani (she's back!!) and I did 4x400's pull @6:20. 5:56, 5:52, 5:49, 5:46. To be honest I didn't set out to descend on purpose but that's how the set kind of played out and I went with it. Descending is a habit. Finished the session with an old favorite we used to do weekly back in the day (seriously like 2007-2009!)... Fartlek Friday we called it and it was a straight 1000 as 2x through 250mod into 50 fast, 50 steady, 50 fast, 50 steady, 50 fast... repeat. I think the ability to change pace and recover while still swimming is key to solid swim fitness and this long set focuses on that. I knocked out the 1000 in 15:13 which was satisfying given that I really did feel like I was changing pace. 100 c/d gave us 3700M and that was enough.

I didn't ride yesterday afternoon. I finished working in time to ride but when it came down to it I just didn't want to. Instead I spent a few hours gutting Moana's room... cleaned it top to bottom (including the closet) threw tons of stuff out and have a big box to donate. That was a long overdue project and I felt relived to have finally taken care of it. I'd like to go through the same process with our garage but that would easily be a two day project and would require buy-in from my husband. He doesn't like to admit his hoarder tendencies(!)... but he is NOT a fan of getting rid of things. So you can imagine the state of our garage. Let's just say a car wouldn't fit in there. Maybe one day I'll convince him but after 8 years of marriage I'm not holding my breath!

No ride yesterday left me pretty motivated to ride today. Got on my TT bike by myself and headed north along my flat route where I can ride uninterrupted. Was another perfect day to ride (dry and hardly any wind). I warmed up for maybe 15min then pegged my HR in a very narrow range 148-152 (avg 150) for the next 70minutes and just rode steady eddie all the way out to Turtle Bay. Avg power for that 70min was 169w and it didn't feel hard, which was shocking. I am genuinely surprised at how quickly my cycling legs have returned. Maybe it's b/c they are not carrying any fatigue from running? That's likely a part of it. And also further confirmation that I respond quite well to aerobic volume. Truth is though, I can't remember the last time that 170w didn't feel at least moderately hard... It's been a few years. Anyway, coming home I did a set of 4x8min heavy gear strength work, power 200, 205, 207, 210. Those efforts felt strong but not max (HR low 160's) then just rode the rest of the way steady HR 140's and called it good. Definitely felt WAY stronger at the end today vs on Wednesday when I rode this same route. 58 miles for the morning in 3 hours even.

As soon as I got home I grabbed Maia and her leash and headed back out down the road. We only jogged ~a mile and as my first run off the bike since IM Louisville(?) let's just say it left a little something to be desired... but I'd say my hip didn't feel worse when I finished and it doesn't feel worse now either. I'm on the fence about whether or not I should keep attempting these short little 1-2 mile runs... Mostly questioning are they setting me back and delaying the full healing? Or are they bridging my fitness and a good idea to keep doing? I am not sure. I *suspect* that I am dealing with some sort of tendonitis(osis?) around my iliac crest, and from what I read it says full rest is required to let it heal... so 1 mile here and there could potentially be delaying healing and not at all worth doing. OR it could be just fine as long as I'm not pushing it too far (or changing my run gait) and hip will still heal when it heals and then at least I won't be starting back from complete zero? Tough call. I'll likely continue to go with my gut on this run, jogging when it feels like its ok to do so.

On Training With Data

Thursdays and Fridays tend to be longer work days b/c that's when I write schedules for the following week for the athletes I work with. I spent much of the day today sitting in front of my computer but after every schedule I wrote I got up and did some type of core exercise (v-ups, monster walks, TRX crunches, plank, bridges, etc). That was a fun way to sort of reset my brain throughout the day and reduced that stiff feeling you get after sitting for too long.

I jogged with Maia this morning. I was only planning on doing the same 1/2 mile out/back that we did yesterday but when I got to the end of the road I thought my hip felt solid enough to go the whole college loop (adding another mile or so). I felt like as long as I was keeping my core engaged and landing with my foot right under my body (a run form change I've needed to make for years but never had such incentive- or direct/immediate feedback- about it before). Anyway, seemed like the 2+ miles was mostly ok but the rest of the day my iliac crest has been a bit sore (feels bruised) which is a bummer. I don't think I did any real damage to it but I won't jog again tomorrow. My understanding at this point is that iliopsoas attaches at the point where it's sore so could be some sort of muscle strain or maybe a tendonitis of sorts in that area. Regardless, Maia was quite happy to run and spent the rest of the day knocked out on the couch.

Later in the afternoon I shut down the work and went riding. Road bike, no garmin. I know the distance of the route I rode today (32 miles) and after watching HR/power the last 2 days I just felt like I wanted to ride as I felt with no data feedback. My legs felt fatigued/heavy for the first maybe 30min then after that felt pretty good. I didn't push any of it today- just rode and let my brain wander a bit and it was great. I got to thinking about how I don't mind riding easy... and about how when I ride without data I tend to ride easier than when I ride with data. But when I run (when I'm not injured anyway) I tend to need to have HR as a leash to make myself hold back b/c otherwise I go too hard without the data. So, same athlete but opposite problem between bike vs run. Like when I want to bike easy I need to go no garmin, but when I want to run easy I need to use the garmin as a leash. I think it comes down to confidence. Some of the strongest/fastest athletes I've coached over the years are really good about running super easy. I think it's that they don't mind going slow b/c they KNOW that at any point if they decided they wanted to run faster, they could. I think I feel that way about swim and bike, so I don't mind going easy when it's time. But with running I have less confidence, so I'm constantly 'testing' myself and wanting to prove to myself that I'm not a shitty runner... so I kid myself on 'easy' days... always going faster/harder than what is actually 'easy'. I don't like running slow b/c somehow it confirms that I'm a shitty runner. I'd venture a guess that if I had more confidence that I could knock out running at 7min pace whenever I wanted that I'd have less 'fear' of running 10min pace. That's a trait I see in some of the faster athletes I coach. Anyway. These are the things I was considering while riding today.

I guess the moral of the story would be that if you KNOW yourself as an athlete, you can use data to your advantage... Depending on your tendencies and your confidence level and the goal of the session, maybe you use the data or maybe you don't. For me, I need data on key bike sessions to make sure I'm not sand-bagging. No data on easy rides b/c I'm likely to decide mid-session to push too hard trying to get speed or HR or power up higher. (Same with swim> easy swim = don't time anything and I'm good going easy!) When running, I need a HR leash in order to keep it truly easy. Without that leash all my 'easy' runs actually end up being moderate or hard. But I'm completely capable of running hard without data- just making it feel HARD I don't need to see numbers for that. Some athletes do! Which are you?

Filling The Holes

As soon as I got in the water this morning I knew I felt great. It's actually uncommon for me to feel that good right from the first 100, but I did, so I went with it. I always time my 1000 w/u just to see what it is. When I'm swimming well it tends to be in the 15:45 range and when I'm tired it can be as slow as 16:30. Today I checked my watch at the 500 and saw 7:42 (what?) so that was confirmation that I wasn't imagining that I indeed felt fast today. 7:30 on the nose next 500 put me in at 15:12 and I don't think I've done a 1000 like that in years. Like at least 3 years. So that was fun!

Lectie was there this morning which was awesome b/c it gave me someone to chase on some fast 50's off :50 (my favorite, ha!). We went 6x50's all fast off 50" followed by an easy 100 recovery. Originally I thought maybe we'd do 5 rounds of that but after the first round I was like how about we just do 4? I swear, swimming fast on short rest is just so much harder for me than swimming steady. It's that hole in my swim fitness I was talking about yesterday. I mean, you figure I was warming up at 45-46"/50 continuously and feeling fine/good... but bring that down just a few seconds to 39-41" and I feel like I'm just gonna blow (or throw?) up! After the 3rd round between the huffing and puffing I told Lectie I felt like a rag doll, and that was true. It's just a different energy system that got worked today. To be honest, this kind of work isn't something (in my opinion) that needs to be done that often... do mostly long steady base type work then sometimes blast yourself with hard as you can go fast short intervals and it gives your swim a bit of a pop. Prob better reserved for closer to a big race day than some random day in early March... but then again I thought maybe a bit of a boost to swim speed would help with the longer/steady stuff when I go back to it, so we'll see if I'm right about that.

I cooled down with a straight 1000 w/ pads super relaxed and called it good. 3600M.

Maia was stoked when I got home and put her harness on her instead of the collar. She knows what that means... we are running! She was pretty bummed/confused I think though when we turned around 1/2 mile in at the end of the street vs heading up for our normal loop... So we only went ~1 mile today but I did jog the bulk of it (super easy/light). We stopped a few times for cat sniffing and peeing (her not me) and while my hip didn't feel perfect, I wouldn't say it was painful. I came home and did my hip openers and core work (prob should have done that first), spent a bunch of time answering emails, then got ready to ride.

I'm so wimpy but yikes it felt chilly to me today! Because of that I chose a real bike kit to ride in vs my standard Coeur Sports try kit that I tend to train in most often. That was a mistake! I tell you I am so spoiled by my Coeur tri shorts because they don't have seams. The Squadra shorts I wore today were simply not ok! I spent much of the ride shifting around in my saddle and wishing I was wearing one of my better pairs of shorts.

Goal today was to not use the same energy system I used in the pool... instead just steady aerobic riding for an extended period of time was what I was looking for. I rode by HR while watching power... just tried to keep HR 140's for the most part and I did that. Max HR was 152 today so no big efforts at all. Avg HR143, avg power 153w for 3+ hours, so pretty standard aerobic ride. One of my goals was to find a few CO2 cartridges that Kelly left here when she was here for camp (since she was not allowed to fly home with them). She left them ~30 miles from my house... Her directions were good and I did indeed locate them behind a bush at a bus stop on the north shore. :)

I haven't been riding long very much recently and I felt like I ran out of fitness somewhere around 50 miles. I'm sure a few Girl Scout cookies would have helped by I didn't have any of those with me (grrrr). Power was falling for sure there in the last 30min or so but whatever. I think I got the benefit that I wanted out of the session and it highlighted another hole in my fitness that I need to fill (long ride endurance/strength). Finishing this ride today I had the thought that I wanted to ride 60 miles or so 2x/week. I bet if I manage to do that my long ride fitness will come right back. It's really just about making myself do it.

Should I admit that I took a hot bath after that ride b/c I was so cold? It's true. I think it was "only" ~75 degrees today, no sun, north wind. Brrrrrr! It's insane how wimpy I am. I mean seriously.

Anyway. I'm tired now! That was a long training day. Feet up.

Ups And Downs

Yesterday I ended up swimming alone b/c Mark threw a rib out and couldn't effectively take a swim stroke. Getting old sucks. Main set was:

300 steady @5:00; 2x50's fast @:50
300 steady @5:00; 4x50's fast @:50
300 steady @5:00; 6x50's fast @:50
300 steady @5:00; 8x50's fast @:50

50's @:50 represent a big hole in my swim fitness. I suck at those. And yet, I can do strong 100's off 1:40 no issues at all. I wonder how much of that is psychological? Maybe a lot b/c I hate 50's off :50. Which means I should probably do them more.

I had a fairly stressful day yesterday. Big fight with the husband in the morning then some work related stress stuff the rest of the day. I procrastinated riding until the last possible moment and just as I was about to go it started raining and to be honest I was just at my limit for the day. So I bailed on the streak ride and cleaned the house instead. Weird choice on most days but yesterday I just felt the need to declutter my life and cleaning helped me feel slightly better.

There was a bright spot in my day and that was when I got an email from one of my athletes who told me that after 2 years of "being a gem" and patiently dealing with all of her training and racing related stuff, I deserved a raise. What? I mean, Wow! The timing of her email was simply perfect too (she wouldn't have known that) but it was like a beacon of hope for me on day when I really needed that. It was really nice to feel appreciated.

Anyway today was a new day and I got back in the saddle (literally). Was planning a longish ride b/c I had the time but after ~40min I could see that up ahead it was pissing rain and apparently I'm a fair weather rider these days (we have been so spoiled with perfect days I've gotten quite soft in this department!) so I turned around and head back to a hill I know (where it was dry!) and opted to do some big gear hill reps instead of the long steady ride. I was quite pleased with my power throughout the ride- 5x Mile long hill efforts were solid but not digging at 210-230w and my HR/power ratio continues to improve- on flat sections I was moving along at 165-175w and it felt not a bit harder than steady (HR 148-152). Those Girl Scout cookies I ate yesterday must have been magic. I got ~40 miles in for the day and I felt stronger than I have since October so quite happy with that. If it's not raining tomorrow maybe I'll go for the longer ride I was going to do today. I still believe those steady aerobic rides are the bread and butter (which, regardless of what some athletes might think, is not the devil) of a solid endurance training plan.

I'll finish this post with another bright spot- and this one is BIG. This afternoon while walking Maia I attempted a few jogging steps, just to see... and it didn't hurt!! First time in at least a month I didn't feel pain. I wouldn't say my hip feels perfect so I didn't want to push it, but I did 6x30 very gentle jogging steps (how's that for a conservative start back?!?) throughout the walk but left it at that. I've been doing this Happy Hip Sequence routine that focuses on hip extension and internal rotation and I think that has really helped. I've successfully managed to loosen up all the surrounding muscles in quads and glutes, and I've started back with some targeted core work. Combine all that with about a month off running and it seems that might have been the recipe for healing. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow but maybe a walk/jog of sorts with Maia. Fingers crossed!