Weekly How'd You Do Thread -- 01/26/2009

Triathlon Forum
1

Goals for last week:

  1. Swim good races at the Evanston Masters swim meet on Sunday (100 free, 100 breast, 100 IM, and some relays) – Did ok – Meet goes in the Swim OK/Goggles Bad category. My 100 free was slower than I thought it would be. My goggles filled with water on my 100 breast and flipped my contact so I felt like I was swimming with a shard of glass in my eye. Despite that, according to my coach, my stroke looked good. My 100 IM was my debut 100 IM and I lost my goggles off the block and swam part of the fly with them around my nose/mouth. I ended up pulling them down to my neck and swam the rest without goggles. Lost both of my contacts and swam into the lane line during the breast cause I couldn’t see anything. Mangaed a good time though. I also won a ribbon (3rd) for the 100 breast.
  2. Get a pilates and yoga class in – Done
  3. Eat no french fries.-- Made it till Friday. The guys at work went and grabbed lunch and brought me back fries despite me not ordering them. They were fresh, handcut variety so I couldn’t just throw them away. I only ate half.

Goals for this week:

  1. At least 2 strenght/stretching session
  2. Clean eating — no fried foods and little to know junk
  3. Morning run on Tuesday.

How did everyone else do???

2

As of last thursday, I officially passed my PhD qualifying exam …I get my life back!!! I pretty much haven’t done anything for a month except lift and eat junk. I am back to a healthy weight (thanks to stress and UC over the past 6 months, I got scary skinny/weak), but it is time to get in shape!!! And here is how I’m going to start:

-swim at least 3 times, 1500-1800 scyds each (1 down, 2 to go)
-ride the trainer at least 3 times, 1 hour each
-do three p90x lifting workouts (I LOVE these)
-do three ‘fun’ workouts: probably p90x plyometrics, a yoga class, and a mtn bike ride with my fiance
-keep my diet CLEAN!!! Yes, this includes when the boy-toy comes home for the weekend and superbowl sunday …I’m tired of feeling like a slug :stuck_out_tongue:

3

About 600 hours spread out over the three sports + lifting.

No running outside due to icy conditions – I miss running.

Eating went majorly off track on Friday: lunch at a diner, IKEA cinnamon roll for snack, and then Chinese take-out (general’s tofu) for dinner. Three crap meals in one day – this left me feeling bad for 1.5 days.

4

Congratulations!!

For me.

Last week: More riding. Get it in while the rains stay away. DONE! Rode +100 miles outside, including two days of racing, plus one M2 spin.
Get back to lifting regularly! ONLY DID ONCE
Tighten up nutrition. HIT AND MISS

For this week:
Early Bird Crit on Sunday–Ride hard, stay mentally into it the whole way. Don’t “give up” when it gets hard. This will be a real race with points and placings on the line.
Ride 5 days.
Swim 2x
Lift 2x
Run some.
No chips or crackers. My downfall.

clm

5

As of last thursday, I officially passed my PhD qualifying exam …I get my life back!!!
CONGRATS!!! :smiley: And by getting your life back you mean throwing yourself back into training and thus taking your life away, right? hehe

6

Yup, that about sums it up :slight_smile:

Thanks!!!

7

Swim: 7250 yds
Bike: 80 miles, all on the trainer, yuck
Run: 15 miles

My training partner and I ran with a new group on Sunday. They 'bout killed me. 7:40 pace for a ten mile recovery run. WTF? We ran in an area that I’m completely unfamiliar with so a nice older gentleman pulled me for the last 2 miles. Can’t expect him to do that again so if I can’t hang on I will most certainly get lost and have to make the “call of shame” That would be “honey I’m here at the corner of whatever and whatever can you come get me?” Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

I have to say I’m am completely in awe of those of you who train and are in school getting advanced degrees. I haven’t the self-discipline.

Next week’s goal is to spend a lot more time on the bike.

8

My words of encouragement: a single mile at a 7:40 pace (hell, a HALF mile at that pace) would kill me - doesn’t matter if something was behind me or not, I don’t think I could run that fast…ever. I ran 10.5 in light snow at almost 11’s…you’re doing great. We’ve all had to make that call at least once and it’s OK. If you want to run more in the area, keep paying attention on your runs - I have a tendency when running or cycling for my life that I just either focus on the person in front of me or the road and don’t pay attention to where I am…be present while running!

As for last week and me -
*M, W, Sun. - Run…follow the plan. *Ran all three according to the plan!!! Holy cow.
T, R, Sat - Swim (1 hr postal on Sat.) All 3 workouts! Postal was 4250yds. Thurs workout was boring. Tuesday was good, solid distance.
Trainer - Put my butt on a bike for a little while Whoops. Missed this one totally. Still no bike time YTD. That needs to change. Possibly tonight since I’m not sure I can run again after yesterday.
Breakfast every day, dinner by 9 This depends on the definition of breakfast. Failed on dinner totally. But did manage to eat SOMETHING each morning and SOMETHING each night. Only one or 2 late nights.

This week:
W, Sat - Run (back on plan after M off/bike)
T, R - Swim practice.
Trainer - put my butt on a bike. (Must keep including until I get it done)
Breakfast (not just coffee and coffee cake) every day, dinner regularly - stop eating out so much.
Indoor tri next weekend???

9

Goals from last week were as follows:

-put my bike back together (it’s still in pieces from flying with it)
-work on thesis 3 times
-swim Tuesday, Wed., Thurs., Friday
-shoulder weights every other day (and abs with those - if I stop coughing - coughing is enough of an ab workout in itself)
-ride 3x

I did:
-get the bike put back together but something’s off, on one of the days I tried to ride. (A goal for this week: take it to the bike shop!)
-worked on thesis once :stuck_out_tongue:
-I did swim all of those days
-I did shoulder weights all but one day
-I rode 2x

I got very sick at the end of the week and that got in the way. Wound up with 53.5 mi running, 10k swimming, 55 minutes cycling, 3 baby weights sessions. Anyway, mild pneumonia, have taken the past 3 days off and have clearance to train again tomorrow (saw my doctor for a physical today, which was just plain lucky timing).

Goals for this week:
-WORK ON THE THESIS and get a significant part done.
-I actually may not get the bike fixed this week, if I do, cool - but I can entertain myself with just swim and run for a bit and spin classes and maybe that’ll help keep me doing easy/light training
-Train a little but not enough to get sick again. Just so you know, costochronditis + pneumonia is NO FUN.
-Get 8 hours of sleep a night, minimum.
-get an application for one grad school I’m looking at
-inquire about the grad program for the school I’m at

I will say this: I am incredibly grateful for ER docs and nurses who are really nice and make you feel instantly comfortable there when you are really scared; my health insurance; and my mom - who would took really good care of me (laid with me until I fell asleep on Sat. night, because I was in so much pain).

I have also made an appt with a dietician on campus to help with some of the eating issues. This is at the request of my local run coach. I have never actually really worked with a dietician too much and I’m a bit nervous. But that is this week too. Oh, and I have a job interview tomorrow! Fingers crossed for that, it’s been hard for me to find a job and this one fits PERFECTLY into my schedule.

Health is this incredibly precious thing, and you don’t realize how truly precious it is until you get sick (or at least I don’t).

10

Congrats, LeLoo!

Instigator - you need new goggles. Seriously, if they’re falling off that much, they are not the right shape for your face.

squeen - 600 hrs?!!! typo I hope? LOL!

11

Ugh, I did horribly.

In my defense, we are buying a new house and trying to get our house on the market (with 2 little kids). But my bad, I severely underestimated the amount of effort that would take to get our house ready. I feel like I’ve done nothing but clean out load after load of stuff all week long. I’m exhausted and hardly even exercised at all :frowning:

So:

Last week’s goals -
Run 4x / Ran 1x
Bike 4x / Biked 0x
Swim 3x / Swam 0x
Yoga 4x15 min/ 1x15min

UGH!!!

One positive - did well with diet, even under massive house stress.

So I’m now scaling back the goals this week -
Work out 6 out of 7 days
Stick with the diet - lose 2 pounds

12

I am pretty sure its just me and not the goggles. I have being swimming in these same goggles for years and have competed in about 3 other meets this year alone with no issues. Plus they were fine for my other 3 events yesterday. I am pretty sure I was lifting my head as I entered the water for those two events. Plus I think I was messing with the straps last week in practice. I will be sure to practice my starts before my next meet just to confirm.

13

squeen - 600 hrs?!!! typo I hope? LOL!

  • minutes. Yipes. At my worst last year for IM training it was around 20 hours. :slight_smile:
14

are there even 600 hours in a week? LOL.

600 minutes is pretty sweet. I’ve never really kept track of time like that before (training in minutes I mean). It sounds more satisfying that way than saying “10 hrs”

15

Thanks for the tips and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has had to call home for a ride.
You are my hero for braving the snow. Anything under 40 degrees and I’m in my flannel jammies and sock monkey slippers and my butt doesn’t leave the couch.

16

I log every day and beginner triathlete gives my report in minutes. So when I go to reflect on my week, I see the total number of minutes. Logging every day is sort of a pain, but then you get all of this data to play with over time – fun stuff.

17

Let’s see, first a couple of comments on others - Leloo CONGRATS. Elsa try not to worry you were dealing with lots of other stuff! (this comes from one who knows, I am way too hard on myself)… Instigator congrats on the swim meet, Aware, also congrats on your seeming-to-me lots of yards in the postal swim. If there’s anyone who said anything exceptional I forgot sorry. Just congrats in general for keeping things up!!!

On my front, past week felt very productive.

Four runs, one in my new Yak Trax on a snowy trail, really really fun. Nothing long but it was 18 degrees and the longest I felt I could stay out was an hour. (not with the Yak Trax)
Three bike rides. FINALLY got outside again! It was just above 35 degrees or so and actually haha felt warm. Also one pretty hard ride in a CompuTrainer class, Escape from Alcatraz. Me and four fast boys. I finished way behind but not so behind it was like a different day. :slight_smile:
Four swims, one the postal swim.
No strength.
Good eating, lost a pound.

This week
Four runs again, one long one in prep for my first standalone 1/2 marathon
Two bikerides - one trainer drills etc, one computrainer class
Four swims
Two strengths
Lose another pound

Oh and I went to a triathlon “educational seminar” thing tonight with a bunch of “expert” types speaking - and was pleased to see that mostly none of it was new info!

Short report on postal swim:
Great! Pretty slow (2500 yards) but held good form for most of it and kept pretty steady time-wise. I probably lost about 5 seconds every time at wall b/c I did take a little bit of a rest each time. Which of course didn’t help my streamlining. Anyway. First 15 minutes mentally hard although physically not. Kept thinking “why did I do this?! & what was I thinking?!” Pace slow, easy, maybe a little too slow. Middle 30 great. Got into a nice in-the-moment kind of thing. Started varying pace - by 25s - one faster, two slower, or two faster, three slower. Maybe again could have challenged self a little more but wasn’t sure NEVER having done this. By middle of 30 minutes was thinking “I am SOOOO glad I did this.” :slight_smile: Last 15 medium-slower, played with pace a little, mentally easiest, physically by last 10 minutes or so arms were tiring. Thought “I will be so glad when this is over.” Form on and off, good, sometimes not-so-good.
Whew. Long thanks for reading. Generally a really really good experience.

18

Those were the same feelings I had with the postal swim too, you hate it, swear you’ll never do it again, love it, decide it was a good experience.

Nice swim.

19

Okay, so what is the postal swim? I am feeling really dumb here – should I know what it is? I NEED a good motivating swim workout.

I had a good week last week, long run 19.7k, 12 total training hours, mostly all bike and run. This weeks goals:

swim x 3 (wed, fri, sun)
run x 7
bike x 5
take care of my achilles - no hills or pick ups, just EASY running.
STOP eating peanut butter in crazy amounts after dinner!! :wink:

I ran to work and back today, in the snow - it was awesome! 10k each way - two good runs out of the way.

20

Postal swim is a one-hour continual swim run by local Masters teams… Not really a meet, you just swim as much as you can in one hour. (Don’t know why it’s called “postal” though - anyone?)

Yeah, TC, your thought were pretty much same as mine during/after. I will certainly do it next year!!

Angela, that’s cool that you can run to work! (no pun intended with the cold and all)