I'm not sure what, and I'm not sure I should ask questions, but something is going right.
I have had a great training week, despite the fact that I got to the pool on Tuesday only to find out it was closed, thus no masters workout. No problem, only an hour of my life wasted sitting in traffic.
I did a spinerval workout at home both Tuesday and Wednesday. I forget how good they are - far better than me being left to spin at my own pace. I turn the DVD music off and turn my radio on and I'm good to go, surprisingly.
Wednesday night at track I had a good workout too. The workout was 6x800 at I pace with 2 minutes rest then 4x200 at R pace with 2 minutes rest. My vdot last year at this time was 39. This year I started at a humbling 32. My 10k a few weeks ago brought me to a stout 33 - watch out. As I was walking out the door on Wednesday, with my 33 vdot times in hand, I thought I'd check to see if my 2:03 half marathon time from the weekend changed anything. Sure enough it did. Crap. New vdot = 35. I pace for the 800's at 33 was 4:20, totally manageable. I pace at 35 is 4:10. Ooooh. That may get a little tricky (even though I could pop out ten 800s around 4:00 last year, but that is a different story). So it turns out my 800s were probably somewhere in between for each, closer to 4:10 towards the end, and none over 4:15. My 200s at R pace were no problem at the 35 vdot, with all being between :50 and :58. So, another challenging, but successful track workout on the books, and I am slowly starting to see improvement there. Let it be noted that working out at a vdot you used to be able to do is of no use if you can't back it up now. Several people would have left it at last year's value, too proud to bring it down however many points necessary. I am glad I brought it down, and I think that along with my low HR training are going to pay off big time down the road...at least I hope it does.
Yesterday I worked early so I could squeeze in a brick at the park before heading to the rodeo. I picked an awesome day to do it - beautiful temps and not a cloud in the sky. I biked 18 miles and ran 3. My average pace at the lovely 1.1 mile picnic loop (one of the only places you can ride inside the city) was higher than it has ever been on a workout there. My HR was under 150 every time I looked. That means something is going right. Whatever is going right wasn't going so right on my ride last Saturday, but some days are just bad ones, and I am going to have to just leave last Saturday as that. I was very happy with my workout last night, and my run wasn't all that bad either. I ran around a 9:50 pace for the 3 miles and my heart rate stayed safely in Z2 the whole time.
This morning I got in a quick, short swim before work, more to loosen my muscles up than anything else. I did the P90x ab ripper workout along with some other stabilization work as well as pushups on the bosu during lunch yesterday, so I hurt all over. But it is a good hurt.
Oh yeah, I could not bring myself to wear compression socks on the bike at picnic loop. I will have no problem wearing them Sunday at Tour de Houston with a few thousand other riders, but at the picnic loop, I just couldn't do it. There are too many snooty, judgemental road bikers there. It was also nice to let my legs air out a bit! I did sport them for the run though, and they are like hot pants and race wheels. You can't walk when you are wearing compression socks.
I have had a great training week, despite the fact that I got to the pool on Tuesday only to find out it was closed, thus no masters workout. No problem, only an hour of my life wasted sitting in traffic.
I did a spinerval workout at home both Tuesday and Wednesday. I forget how good they are - far better than me being left to spin at my own pace. I turn the DVD music off and turn my radio on and I'm good to go, surprisingly.
Wednesday night at track I had a good workout too. The workout was 6x800 at I pace with 2 minutes rest then 4x200 at R pace with 2 minutes rest. My vdot last year at this time was 39. This year I started at a humbling 32. My 10k a few weeks ago brought me to a stout 33 - watch out. As I was walking out the door on Wednesday, with my 33 vdot times in hand, I thought I'd check to see if my 2:03 half marathon time from the weekend changed anything. Sure enough it did. Crap. New vdot = 35. I pace for the 800's at 33 was 4:20, totally manageable. I pace at 35 is 4:10. Ooooh. That may get a little tricky (even though I could pop out ten 800s around 4:00 last year, but that is a different story). So it turns out my 800s were probably somewhere in between for each, closer to 4:10 towards the end, and none over 4:15. My 200s at R pace were no problem at the 35 vdot, with all being between :50 and :58. So, another challenging, but successful track workout on the books, and I am slowly starting to see improvement there. Let it be noted that working out at a vdot you used to be able to do is of no use if you can't back it up now. Several people would have left it at last year's value, too proud to bring it down however many points necessary. I am glad I brought it down, and I think that along with my low HR training are going to pay off big time down the road...at least I hope it does.
Yesterday I worked early so I could squeeze in a brick at the park before heading to the rodeo. I picked an awesome day to do it - beautiful temps and not a cloud in the sky. I biked 18 miles and ran 3. My average pace at the lovely 1.1 mile picnic loop (one of the only places you can ride inside the city) was higher than it has ever been on a workout there. My HR was under 150 every time I looked. That means something is going right. Whatever is going right wasn't going so right on my ride last Saturday, but some days are just bad ones, and I am going to have to just leave last Saturday as that. I was very happy with my workout last night, and my run wasn't all that bad either. I ran around a 9:50 pace for the 3 miles and my heart rate stayed safely in Z2 the whole time.
This morning I got in a quick, short swim before work, more to loosen my muscles up than anything else. I did the P90x ab ripper workout along with some other stabilization work as well as pushups on the bosu during lunch yesterday, so I hurt all over. But it is a good hurt.
Oh yeah, I could not bring myself to wear compression socks on the bike at picnic loop. I will have no problem wearing them Sunday at Tour de Houston with a few thousand other riders, but at the picnic loop, I just couldn't do it. There are too many snooty, judgemental road bikers there. It was also nice to let my legs air out a bit! I did sport them for the run though, and they are like hot pants and race wheels. You can't walk when you are wearing compression socks.
Comments
There were way too many of them at the Loop on Saturday morning. They also seem to hate tri tops and arm warmers, LOL!