Finally!

Yay!  I finally had a plan and stuck to it today, and I got two workouts in for the first time in ages!

First of all, though, a report on my foot:  After I got home last night, my heel was killing me.  I actually started crying a little in the shower when I had to stand on my bad foot to shave the other leg.  This morning, it was still pretty bad.  If I owned a pair of crutches, I would have used them.  But as the day went on, it started feeling a bit better, though still not great.

Now that my Thursday evening ride is over, I was looking forward to taking a spin class instead, mostly because it's shorter and easier not to have to lug my bike around.  Plus, I really liked the Thursday teacher when I took his class before, and I was looking forward to talking triathlon with him again.  So I was bummed to see that a different teacher has replaced him.  And my bum was NOT liking the spin bike seats!  Made me so thankful to have found my ISM saddle. :-)  Actually, riding inside was pretty painful, and not just because of the saddle.  It's just so boring!  I'll have to get creative to get as many of my remaining training rides done outside as possible.  Made me wish I had a trainer I could use instead, too...  I couldn't really stand when instructed to do so because it hurt my foot, so instead I did some drills which I usually ignore when I ride outside.  I did single leg drills, 3 x 30 seconds each leg, then 3 x 45 seconds, then 3 x 60 seconds.

Anyway, after that, I headed down to the pool for two miles:

Warm-up
4 x 250  Swim/pull/kick/drill x 250

Main set
6 x 100  Free - Pull-B-3, 4, 5, 6 x 25
3 x 200  Kick - Choice, w/fins
6 x 100  Free - Pace

Cool-down
1 x 200  Free - Sighting drill
1 x 200  Easy

I don't think I'll get a workout in tomorrow since we're going to see that new Courageous movie with some friends from church, and I don't think I'll do anything on Saturday besides walk around the Renaissance Festival.  Well, maybe I'll ride my bike over to the park from the lodge to sign up for the race...  Getting excited for it again.  I was really looking forward to it till the pain from my run, but now that it's feeling better, so am I!  It will be chilly, though: low of 35 Saturday night, 39 by race start (water's supposed to be 68, though), 44 when I get (wet) on the bike, high in the upper 50s by the time I finish.  Yikes!  I'll have to figure out how to dress for this one...

Runnin'

So, I planned to run for 30 or 45 minutes, then swim a couple miles.  But I felt pretty good on the treadmill, and I didn't feel like getting home as late as I would if I swam, too, so I just kept running for an hour.  I tried something a little different, too: consciously thinking about using more power as I brought my leg down to the ground rather than relying solely on my feet and toes to push off at the tail end of the stroke (can you call it a stroke with running like you do biking and swimming?).  It felt good, and I was running a little faster that way, but I wasn't sure if it would help the foot pain any.  Guess we'll find out tomorrow!

One Second!

So, I was supposed to do a long ride - five hours - on Saturday.  But... I slept in instead.  Which was awesome.  But then, even though I didn't really feel like it, I loaded up my bike to go out for a 2- or 3-hour ride at least (that's all the time I had before we were supposed to head up to Columbus for a Crew-Galaxy game).  But... it was kind of chilly and a little rainy.  So I just ran a few errands with my bike on the roof of the car, then came home to be lazy.  Sunday we spent the entire day driving to St. Louis, watching a Rams game, then driving home, so that was another workout-less day.  Felt pretty guilty about that, but what can you do?  After that crazy weekend of driving and getting home at about 3 a.m., I was also exhausted yesterday, so I opted for going to bed early instead of swimming after work.  Much needed!

Today, finally, I got back on schedule.  Inertia was taking its toll, and I really didn't want to drive out to Cleves for my time trial, but I knew I needed to since it was the last one for the year and I had that 28-minute goal to try for one last time.  I didn't get there in time to do much of a warm-up, so my legs felt heavy and tired as I started out (and really, throughout).  My tummy was also feeling a little funny, and I was having a bit of trouble breathing because the air was so much cooler than I'm used to.  Basically, I didn't think I was riding very well.  I passed three (albeit very slow) riders, and was passed by only two, which surprised me.  When I glanced down at my watch toward the end, I thought there was no way I was going to reach my goal, but I figured I'd be happy as long as I was in the 28s.  When they read off the times, I learned that I finished in 28:14, one second faster than my previous PR from last week.  Not the 27:59 I was hoping for, but still a PR!  I'm not sure what the record for my age group was this year, but I'm pretty sure I have a long way to go before I can really "compete" with the other women who do this.  Ah, well, a goal for next year!

A Walk in the Park

I wasn't feeling particularly motivated to work out today, but I did really want to try speed-walking to see how my foot would feel afterward.  So I dragged the Hubby out for a brisk stroll around the lake at Sharon Woods.

In theory, I thought it would be possible to walk about 4 mph, which would be a 15 min/mi pace.  So, I reasoned, we should definitely be able to do the 3.5 miles in 1 hour.  We started off a little slower but picked up our pace as we went along, and we finished in about 1:04 I believe.  Not too shabby!

I didn't feel like it was a great workout, but it served a purpose and was better than nothing.  (Mostly, I just enjoyed walking with my favorite teammate and coach. :-)  And I really don't WANT to just walk, for my race or in training.  Now, too, it seems like my plantar fasciitis IS aggravated with walking as well as running, though maybe not as much.  Eh - guess I'll just stick to the run/walking I've been doing!

Last Thursday Ride

Well, as much as I've enjoyed leading rides for Lifetime's Cycle Club, I'm kind of glad to be done with those responsibilities for the season.  We had a perfect night for our last Thursday evening ride, and I was thrilled to see two regulars waiting when I arrived (so I could ride outside instead of taking that spinning class).  We got back just before the sun went down, though, so I think it's good we're done with these night rides till next summer.

Tomorrow I plan to swim after work, but I also really want to take a brisk walk soon to see how quickly I can make it around the lake and if my foot hurts after walking like it does after running.  Realistically, I know that won't happen tomorrow morning, and I doubt I'll have time tomorrow night if I'm also swimming.  That would leave Saturday, but I'm supposed to do a five-hour ride then.  Though will I really do that if it's raining, like it's forecast to be?  Hmm... So many questions!

Just Keep Swimmin'...

Well, my foot was still hurting today, so I didn't even wanna try a power walk.  I did, however, finally get back in the pool, even though I didn't feel like going out after a long, boring shift.  But I went!  I had planned to do my usual two miles, but I ended up just doing 1.75 because it was getting late and I was tired and I wanted to get home for Criminal Minds. :-)

Here's what I did, a variation of an old standby:

Warm-up
3 x 200  Swim/pull/kick x 200

Main set
1 x 400  Free - pace
2 x 300  Free - pace
2 x 200  Free - pace
2 x 100  Free - pace

Cool-down
1 x 200  Sighting drill
1 x 200  Easy

Tomorrow's the last night for our LTF evening rides, but I wonder if anyone will show up...  If not, I'll probably take the spin class instead and maybe lift afterward.

Another PR!

Tonight at the time trial, I managed to beat my old PR by almost 30 seconds!  I'm down to 28:15, and I'm kinda hoping I can take 16 more seconds off next week to come in just under 28 minutes.  Not sure if it's possible, but I'll give it a shot!

In other news...  I read a few interesting articles today:

• This one on plantar fasciitis explains why traditional treatment is ineffective and how we should deal with it instead.
• This one describes an interesting experiment in which deception enabled cyclists to out-perform their previous best efforts.
• And this one talks about how athletes can find peace with food.

Good stuff!