She's a maniac, maniac on the floor

Also in the study room. Oh yeah. I haven't been training much, mostly because my exam is in 8 short days.

I know I went to the gym last Wednesday, but I don't remember exactly what I did. I'm going to go out on a limb and say I ran on the treadmill, probably about 3 miles. And I lifted.

I took Thursday and Friday off, like OFF off, which was great. Actually, I did some cross-training on Friday (at the bowling alley and driving range). My forearms were very sore for awhile.

Saturday we had a bike session at 7am. It was dark, cold, and raining. We rode for a little over an hour, don't know how far, and much of it was white-knuckle action because the rain was so bad. I kind of enjoy riding in those conditions.

Sunday I ran 10 miles in just under 90 minutes with some teammates. I was super pleased with the time because we ran the first 6 pretty slowly and then hammered the last 4. Then we went out for breakfast and I ate the biggest stack of pancakes I have ever seen.

Yesterday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and lifted. I am so jacked, it's ridiculous.

My new laptop is in the mail, so soon I will be able to post all sorts of inappropriateness from the comfort of my own coach. Hooray!

This Is Total Socks

I lost my monthly MetroCard AGAIN!

That's it. I'm walking to work.

Same Old Story

I feel like I could start every post with "I was supposed to [insert planned workout], but instead I went to the gym and ran [insert mileage] on the treadmill."

Monday was 30 minutes of active rest, but I was pretty sore from my long run on Sunday and I find that the easiest way for me to loosen up is to run through it. So I ran 3 miles at the gym, but at a pretty leisurely pace. I also lifted a bit.

Yesterday I had every intention of going to practice and was actually excited about the workout, but I've started to panic about my exam and decided it would be more time-efficient to stay at work and go to the gym. I tried to simulate the workout on the treadmill, so I don't feel like I missed anything. Here we go:

1 mile warm-up (6.5)
1 mile fast (7.5)
.5 mile recovery (6.5)
1 mile faster (8.0)
.5 mile recovery (6.5)
1 mile fastest (8.5)
1 mile cool-down (6.0)

I don't know what my splits were for the timed miles. I'm not good with numbers, but you can do the math. My last mile was just over 7:00, which on a treadmill is flying for me. I was pleased with the effort. Of course I still run at 0% incline so it's not that impressive.

I lifted again yesterday (same limbs, different muscles). I can now bench 10 x 65 lbs. without a spot which is as high as I want to go. It's also unfortunate because I've lost my line. Oh well.

I think I want to run a fall marathon next year. I'll be taking an exam at the end of October, so Chicago and New York are probably out. I'm considering the Lakefront Marathon in Milwaukee. It's the first weekend of October, which is nice timing, and it might be fun to return to my old stomping ground. Or it might be incredibly traumatic. Who knows. Maybe I am crazy to run a marathon 2 months after an Ironman. Maybe I should finish the tri first. Maybe I should stop skipping practice. I think I have better things to worry about at this point.

And yes, I am screening my phone calls.

Run - Swim - Run (no Bike)

Friday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I think I was supposed to do the elliptical or stairmaster, or some equally unsatisfying machine, but I didn't. Because I am addicted to the treadmill.

Yesterday morning we swam a mile. First we warmed up for 600m or so, which seemed to be more to fatigue our legs than to warm anything up (lots of kicking). Of course my legs were already fatigued from my run on Friday. Maybe it's not such a bad idea to follow the workout plan. I'll have to try that one of these days. So the swim went well. I came through in 34:31, off very positive splits. I was definitely working hard, but I wasn't going all out. I can see some room for improvement, which is good. I need to work on getting more extension in my stroke. I have pretty long limbs, but my stroke is really choppy and I'm definitely not taking full advantage of my length. I need to gliiiiide.

This morning I ran 11 miles with my friend F. I wasn't planning to run at all, so I'm glad she was so motivated. I ran a mile or so to meet her, we ran 9 in the park, and I ran home. It was all about the distance today, so I didn't even bother putting a watch on it. I think it was around 9:30 pace. F. is a little slower than me but, as I told her, I couldn't crank out 9 (or 11) miles on my own. I seem to have gotten it in my head that I can train at 8:30 pace, but I really don't think I could hold that for a long run. So yeah, I'd die. We ran the 4-mile loop and then the 5-mile loop. On our second pass we encountered the breast cancer walk, which was unfortunate. I'm all for saving boobs, but not when it interferes with my running.

I have to say I'm really excited about my training at this point. I'm sure part of it is that right now I just train and study. I'm so tired of studying, so all I can think about is how great it will be after my exam when I can train all the time. I should also consider getting a life, but I'll wait until after my exam to debate the merits of that. The other thing is that I really like running again. I was somewhat obsessive about it in high school (did secret morning runs because practice just wasn't enough, etc.), but I loved it. Not so much in college. I think I joined the team because I thought everyone expected me to (parents, friends, roommates) and I kind of defined myself as being a runner. So I ran for 4 years and hated a lot of it, which is too bad considering some of the prettiest places I've run are in Maine. After college I sat on my couch and ate, so then I hated running because there was jiggling and that hurt. Now I'm very happy with my running, which is why I'm not fighting the addiction. I just don't think it's such a bad place to be. How's that for self-reflection?

I'm Back

I haven't followed my workout plan at all this week, and I've had other stuff going on that has made me question this whole blogging from work thing, but I'm back. I figure as long as I keep the chatter about balding/married men to a minimum, I should be fine. This blog is about my training anyway. Focus Betsy, focus!

Monday I rested. Inactively.

Tuesday I ran with the team. We warmed up for about a mile, did 20 minutes of running form drills, and then 2 loops of the resevoir. The first loop was .5 mile of lamppost pickups and then a mile at 1/2 marathon pace. I ran that one in 8:05, but I don't think I could run a 1/2 in 1:45 or whatever that would be. Actually, maybe I could. Anyway, the second loop was a .5 mile recovery and then a mile at 10k pace. I have no idea what my pace is, so I just made sure to hit it faster than the first one and I came through in 7:22. Yes, that's faster, but it's not my 10k pace. We cooled down for a mile and then did almost an hour of core. I'm actually getting stronger, so that's nice.

Wednesday I ran 4 miles on the treadmill.

Thursday I ran 3 miles on the treadmill and did 8 minutes of core. Then I ate 2 too many cheeseburgers for dinner.

I must say that I love monsoon season. It's been raining all week and I couldn't be happier.

Tomorrow I have a timed mile swim at 5:45am, so I think I'll take it easy tonight.

41 Weeks To Go

This week I'm going to follow my workout plan to the letter, just to see what exactly I'm paying for. Aside from the long bike on Saturday, it will actually be less than I've been doing on my own. So it's not about the volume as much as it is surrendering myself to the program. Betsy likes to be in control, and she doesn't like to rest. But today is 30 minutes of active rest, so actively rest I will. I'm thinking I'll try out my new yoga DVD when I get home.

3-Day Recap

I failed to mention that I ellipticalled for 30 minutes on Wednesday. That sucked. Seriously, I don't know how people do it. I feel like I could park myself on there for an hour and get nothing out of it. How do you turn that into a workout? Please enlighten me.

Thursday afternoon I wasn't supposed to do anything since I biked in the morning, but I ran a whopping 2 miles just because. I also worked on my plank poses. At practice on Tuesday I was openly mocked for not being able to do push-ups. I've never been able to do them, and I think park of the reason I kept such a low profile on my team in college was that our coach doled out push-ups as punishment. None for me, thanks. One of my current coaches finally gave me an excuse -- I can't do them because of my lusciously long legs. He actually said it's my height, but I got the message. Since I'm so tall, there's a lot more in the middle that I need to keep from sagging (no, I am not talking about my bodacious ta tas). So I've been going about it all wrong. I thought I needed to build up my upper body, but really it's my core that is the problem. He told me to work on my planks every other day. And I will.

Last night I ran 6 miles on the treadmill, stretched and lifted a bit. We were supposed to have a long (30-40 mile) group ride today, but it was cancelled due to the rain. I had actually decided to skip it and study instead, so I'm psyched because now I'm not missing anything. It's monsoon season in New York -- the 10-day forecast is for RAIN -- which could do wonders for my exam preparation.

That is all.

Domestic Diva

Tonight I'm cleaning my apartment and doing laundry. Then I'll iron all my work shirts. I'm very excited about this.

I really want to bake cookies. Too bad I don't have a cookie sheet.

In other news, Jessica Biel was named Esquire's sexiest woman alive. This is good news for me, as I used to get free burritos at Qdoba because the manager thought I was Mary Camden's twin.

Dusting Off the Bike

I love it that I can make such outrageous statements in my blog and noboday bats an eyelash. Or maybe it should concern me. Hmmm.

I biked 20 miles at 5:30 this morning. Tushy still sore. Need sleepy. That's the short story.

We met at Taven on the Green, only 15-20 of us showed up (I think there are 35 on the team). We biked 2 lower loops in single file and then stopped for drills -- biking obscenely slowly while not losing control, figure 8s, clipping in and out. I'm told I have excellent form on the bike. I bend my arms in all the right places and have such smooth legs (by sight, not touch). We finished with two big loops in a pack. I used to see this team cycling in the park and I thought they were so annoying. Usually I was running and they came whizzing by, nearly knocking me off my feet. Now that I'm in that pack I think we're cool. And tough. And certainly intimidating.

Oh, the David Gray concert was excellent. He is such a hot little man, but he kind of has a bobble head.

Single And Looking

My tri team has a Yahoo! group. In my profile, that's my marital status. Another option was Married But Looking. Oh, I hope someone picks that one! I love married men.

Oh My Aching Tushy

Last night was our first official practice. It kind of hurt. We ran 4 x 5-minute OAB with a minute of controlled push-ups and a minute of some sort of leg exercise (squats, lunges, one-legged squats, squats) before each OAB. #1 was a warm-up, #2 was a little faster, #3 was all-out, and #4 was an attempt to replicate #3. My first OAB was essentially a 10-minute form critique by one of my coaches, which is good. I like to think I have good running form; I spend enough time watching my reflection in tv screens, mirrors, windows, etc. when I run to know what I look like. Well apparently I need to bring my hips forward, carry my arms higher, and increase my cadence. Things to work on. I really pushed it on #3 and found myself up with the big dogs, ahead of all the women, so I can only assume I missed the memo that "all-out" isn't really all-out. But it felt good. #4 was kind of a disaster.

I ran to the park, plus the 40 minutes, plus a cooldown, plus I ran home. I'm calling it 6 miles. I got home just as the delivery man was arriving with my groceries -- $100 worth of Lean Cuisines, Diet Coke, and yogurt. Mmmm....

Today my butt is very sore. So if you see it, don't touch it.

My eyes are also a freaky shade of blue today. I never believed it when people said their eyes changed color ("they're green when I'm happy"). Now I know it can happen. So this must be my "my butt hurts" color.

I was supposed to swim this morning but I didn't. Ooops. I think I'll go to the gym this afternoon even though I said I wouldn't. But I'm NOT going to run -- just stretching and the elliptical. Tonight I'm going to see David Gray. I imagine I'll be dragging by that point, so I'm glad it's a sit-down concert. We have tickets in the first row of the mezz so we'll never have to stand to see. I am an old lady.

Peeve #2

Worse than listening to someone eat an apple is listening to someone cough up a hairball. For 20 minutes. For the love of God, get yourself some water!

* * *

We suspect it is actually a whole cat stuck in her throat, as this has now been going on for a solid 2 hours. Yikes!

Doesn't Follow Directions

My training plan for today called for an hour of active rest and specifically said no running. I went to the gym with the intention of only lifting, but ended up running 3 miles first. I just feel so lazy not running, and it's hard to start a 10-month training plan with a rest day. I'm sure after a few weeks of tough workouts I'll be kicking back on Mondays, but not yet.

I think I'm ready to make the big decision to give up my mild (yes, mild) obsession with the man in the gym to focus on other things -- my exam, work, training. He doesn't go regularly anymore, and I don't have the nerve to talk to him anyway. So I will only go to the gym on Mondays and Fridays, as is called for in my training plan. Mondays I will lift, and Fridays I will lift and do an hour of non-running cardio. If you read about anything else happening on these days, you have permission to hunt me down and punish.

Race Report

Friday I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I kind of forgot I was running a race Saturday morning, but I felt really good so I went with it.

Saturday morning I met up with my teammates before the start of the race. The girl I wanted to beat is so nice! I feel like a fool for harboring such anamosity towards her when I didn't even know her, but she just gave me a bad vibe. At least I know she's nice, so now I can be nice back. Or maybe she was just trying to disarm me before the race, because it definitely seemed less important to beat her once I realized she wasn't the rotten person I thought she was.

I don't write good race reports. All you need to know is that I ran 26:42 (on my watch) for 3.5 miles. We'll pretend we don't know the course was a little short. My splits were 8:08, 7:13, 7:34, and 3:45 for the last 0.5. I was the first finisher on my team and finished a solid minute ahead of my former nemesis. Another guy on the team finished a second behind me, but he clearly let me win (I've since been told this constitutes flirting -- who knew?!). We finished 49th out of 50 teams. Uh huh, right.

So I think I'm getting in better shape. I ran 28:44 at this race in June (different course, probably accurately measured). Also, I was really sore before the race from my run on Friday, so I think if I had been smarter about things I could have run a little faster.

I'm not going to run today because we have a tough workout tomorrow. I think I'll go to the gym and lift since I didn't do that all last week.