I heard that in a Natasha Bedingfield song today as I was washing my kitchen floors listening to my ipod. That was after I had swam a workout with the high school team I am coaching, and before I did a 9 mile run.
I think that quote is true in many ways for many people. I believe that I read a quote something like that from Chrissie Wellington. Behind anyone who 'makes it looks easy' there are usually many sacrifices that have been made, and a lot of work that has been put in.
CLEANSE:
I have come to the end of my cleanse. I feel like I was somewhat successful on it. It was not perfect, but I came out about 7 pounds lighter and am hoping to stick with some of the premises of the cleanse. I want to keep my caffeine and alcohol consumption way down. Stick with an almost vegan diet, and try to incorporate healthy smoothies in almost daily.
WORKOUTS:
Sunday: bike trainer workout 3 by 10' with 3 minutes rest between @94-100% LT Also on Sundays we do abs workout and pushup challenge workout
Monday: 5K TT on the treadmill before school, finished out to 4 miles
Tuesday: 30 minute TT on the bike trainer. This workout by definition kicks my butt. Warm up for 10 minutes and then ride as hard as you can for 30 minutes. My avg hr was the exact same as the last time I did the TT, BUT....I got to 8.33 miles and a month ago I was only at 7.68 miles.
BTW, why am I SO much slower on my trainer than when outside. I have to work my tail off to keep at 16mph on the trainer, and 16mph is easy spinning when I am outside!!!!
Also abs and pushups on Tuesdays!!
Wednesday: Run 4 pretty easy miles before school (4:45am-5:20)
Thursday: bike trainer 2 by 15' (5' rest) @85-90% of LT and abs and pushups
Friday: rest day
Saturday: 2100 meters with swim team in the morning and then 9 mile run on treadmill (windy and snowy outside) at about 9:30 pace.
The person I coach swimming with gave me her INSANITY workouts to try. I may try to fit one in either tomorrow or Monday (no school).
LIZZIE:
My senior daughter just got her official news in the mail today that she was awarded an appointment to WestPoint Military Academy. She has already signed her acceptance. She will be off to the academy on June 27th.
She is very excited for the opportunity. She knows that it will be very hard and take a lot of work. She is excited for the opportunity to learn and grow. I am very happy for her, and will miss her very much!!
I hope everyone is getting in some good workouts!!
Open water swim in Canada
In July we stay at a cabin on a river and get open water swimming experience almost every day.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
What's New....
Life is BUSY...that is not so new. I am in the middle of the swim team season, and that along with teaching full time and trying to workout daily and keep up with taking care of the household, keeps me very busy.
Some new things going on right now:
GOWearFit:
I got a gowearfit for Christmas. Otherwise known as a BodyBugg. You see the people on Biggest Loser wearing them. It gives some very interesting data. Sleep efficiency, number of steps, total number of calories burned, time at moderate activity and time at vigorous activity. The website has a very good program for entering your nutrition data. It works easily.
I find that it keeps me very attentive to my number of steps and my activity. It is amazingly accurate when calculating sleep efficiency. It shows you when you were lying down and what part of that time you were sleeping.
It uses quite a lot of data points and seems very accurate.
I also got and Ipad for Christmas. I am trying to find as many uses for it as I can. Right now my girls play Angry Birds on it more than anything. I have used the calender to organize all my workouts, and used it last night to type out a list of things to do today.
21 day cleanse:
I started on December 27th and so today is day 14. I am trying to follow the plan in CLEAN by Junger. It calls for a liquid meal for breakfast and dinner and a solid meal at lunch time. With snacks in between, but only if really necessary. There is NO alcohol, caffeine, gluten, animal products or added sugar.
I will say that I have not had a perfect day yet. BUT...I am doing pretty well with it. The biggest thing it does is keep me VERY conscious of what I am eating. And very attentive to whether I am really hungry or just bored or doing habitual eating.
I have found that there are times when I think I am really hungry, but with a glass of water or even just TIME the hunger will disappear.
A typical day has gone like this:
Wake up and have some herbal tea
Drink a smoothie
AM snack of cashews/almonds/ dried apricots
Lunch of salad and brown wild rice
PM snack of apple and maybe a Larabar
I then get home from school and this is the time I find that I struggle. I eat a piece of toast, or a cookie or something else that is definitely not on the plan.
Dinner is a liquid soup that I blend up in the Vitamix. And from 7pm to 7am I try to stay totally away from anything except for water.
The scale was very nice to me the first week. The second week has been not so nice. Frustrating!
Workouts:
Workouts are staying about the same.
I am on the bike trainer three times a week, working through Jorge's plan. These are interval workouts and last just under an hour.
I am running three times a week and will soon be upping the miles for Boston marathon training. Right now my long run is at 8 miles and my shorter runs are 4-5 miles.
I am in the pool once a week, and also doing pushups and abs three times a week.
This is about all I can squeeze in with the other time commitments I have. Coaching is over mid-February and that is when running will be ramped up even more.
Goals for 2011:
My A races will be:
Boston marathon in April-Last year I ran it to enjoy it. I didn't worry about my time. In training for it, I put in the miles but did very little speed work because I was not worried about my time. I ran a 4:19. After having qualified with a 3:51, that was a SLOW race.
This year I am hoping to go under 4 hours. I turn 45 in a few weeks and so I need a 4 hour marathon to qualify for next year. I need to focus on two things for this. Getting down to a good race weight. I would like to be AT LEAST ten pounds down from what I was last year. And the second key, will be to put in a good amount of speed work. Tempo run and Yasso workouts are what have given me speed (I use the word speed in a relative way here.) in the past.
Syracuse 70.3 in September-
I did Timberman 70.3 in 2009 with a time of 5:39. I was in the top 15% of my Age group (40-44). I was happy with my swim, and VERY happy with my bike (averaging above 19mph for the 56 miles). I was NOT happy with my run, going over 2 hours for the half marathon run.
I did Steelhead 70.3 in 2010 with a time of 5:55. BUT...20 minutes was spent on flat tire issues. It was more than just your normal flat. With my adjusted time of 5:35. I was again happy with my swim, VERY happy with my bike (other than the flat). My Garmin had my bike average above 20 mph for the 56 miles. And again not happy with my run going over 2 hours again.
I want my run for Syracuse to be sub-2 hours. I would like my race to be sub-5:30, but of course times depend on conditions of the day. I would like to place in the top 10% of my age group (45-49).
This will take a lot of work!!!!
Hard workouts, good nutrition, mental preparation, and some good luck on race day!
Off to the basement for my bike workout for the day!!!
Thankful that the daylight hours are getting longer!!!
Some new things going on right now:
GOWearFit:
I got a gowearfit for Christmas. Otherwise known as a BodyBugg. You see the people on Biggest Loser wearing them. It gives some very interesting data. Sleep efficiency, number of steps, total number of calories burned, time at moderate activity and time at vigorous activity. The website has a very good program for entering your nutrition data. It works easily.
I find that it keeps me very attentive to my number of steps and my activity. It is amazingly accurate when calculating sleep efficiency. It shows you when you were lying down and what part of that time you were sleeping.
It uses quite a lot of data points and seems very accurate.
I also got and Ipad for Christmas. I am trying to find as many uses for it as I can. Right now my girls play Angry Birds on it more than anything. I have used the calender to organize all my workouts, and used it last night to type out a list of things to do today.
21 day cleanse:
I started on December 27th and so today is day 14. I am trying to follow the plan in CLEAN by Junger. It calls for a liquid meal for breakfast and dinner and a solid meal at lunch time. With snacks in between, but only if really necessary. There is NO alcohol, caffeine, gluten, animal products or added sugar.
I will say that I have not had a perfect day yet. BUT...I am doing pretty well with it. The biggest thing it does is keep me VERY conscious of what I am eating. And very attentive to whether I am really hungry or just bored or doing habitual eating.
I have found that there are times when I think I am really hungry, but with a glass of water or even just TIME the hunger will disappear.
A typical day has gone like this:
Wake up and have some herbal tea
Drink a smoothie
AM snack of cashews/almonds/ dried apricots
Lunch of salad and brown wild rice
PM snack of apple and maybe a Larabar
I then get home from school and this is the time I find that I struggle. I eat a piece of toast, or a cookie or something else that is definitely not on the plan.
Dinner is a liquid soup that I blend up in the Vitamix. And from 7pm to 7am I try to stay totally away from anything except for water.
The scale was very nice to me the first week. The second week has been not so nice. Frustrating!
Workouts:
Workouts are staying about the same.
I am on the bike trainer three times a week, working through Jorge's plan. These are interval workouts and last just under an hour.
I am running three times a week and will soon be upping the miles for Boston marathon training. Right now my long run is at 8 miles and my shorter runs are 4-5 miles.
I am in the pool once a week, and also doing pushups and abs three times a week.
This is about all I can squeeze in with the other time commitments I have. Coaching is over mid-February and that is when running will be ramped up even more.
Goals for 2011:
My A races will be:
Boston marathon in April-Last year I ran it to enjoy it. I didn't worry about my time. In training for it, I put in the miles but did very little speed work because I was not worried about my time. I ran a 4:19. After having qualified with a 3:51, that was a SLOW race.
This year I am hoping to go under 4 hours. I turn 45 in a few weeks and so I need a 4 hour marathon to qualify for next year. I need to focus on two things for this. Getting down to a good race weight. I would like to be AT LEAST ten pounds down from what I was last year. And the second key, will be to put in a good amount of speed work. Tempo run and Yasso workouts are what have given me speed (I use the word speed in a relative way here.) in the past.
Syracuse 70.3 in September-
I did Timberman 70.3 in 2009 with a time of 5:39. I was in the top 15% of my Age group (40-44). I was happy with my swim, and VERY happy with my bike (averaging above 19mph for the 56 miles). I was NOT happy with my run, going over 2 hours for the half marathon run.
I did Steelhead 70.3 in 2010 with a time of 5:55. BUT...20 minutes was spent on flat tire issues. It was more than just your normal flat. With my adjusted time of 5:35. I was again happy with my swim, VERY happy with my bike (other than the flat). My Garmin had my bike average above 20 mph for the 56 miles. And again not happy with my run going over 2 hours again.
I want my run for Syracuse to be sub-2 hours. I would like my race to be sub-5:30, but of course times depend on conditions of the day. I would like to place in the top 10% of my age group (45-49).
This will take a lot of work!!!!
Hard workouts, good nutrition, mental preparation, and some good luck on race day!
Off to the basement for my bike workout for the day!!!
Thankful that the daylight hours are getting longer!!!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Last week's training, 21 day cleanse, and family things...
I feel like my fitness is about where it should be at this time of the year. Here is my week of training last week:
Monday:
Run 5 miles along with some pullups, kettlebell swings, squats and upper body lifting. I have not done a ton of strength training lately and the squats left me very sore for the next few days.
Tuesday:
Bike workout, which included 15 minute warmup and then 6 by 4 minutes (with 45 seconds rest) at 100-105% LThr This is a tough workout. Sweat is flying and I have to talk to myself to get through the last two sets while still pushing hard.
Also on Tuesday, we do our 100 pushup challenge sets of pushups. I do this with my husband, 17 yo daughter and 11 yo daughter. We are on week 6 day 1 and the workout was 45/55/35/30/Max all with 60 seconds rest between sets.
Wednesday:
3 mile run (sore legs from bike workout)
Thursday:
Pushups 22/22/30/30/24/24/18/18/MAX on 45 seconds rest.
We have come a long was since October 24th when we started this pushup challenge. On the first day we did 10/12/7/7/MAX. That seems like SO LITTLE at this point!! I am so proud of my two daughters for working so hard on this CHALLENGE!!!
Friday:
Bike workout, 10 minute warmup and then 40 minutes (start at 77% of LThr and every 5 minutes increase effort 5%, start again when you reach 100%)
Saturday:
Swam with the high school kids I coach. I did their first 2600 meters with them and got in a pretty good swim workout.
Then in the afternoon I ran outside (sunny but about 22 degrees) 9 miles with about a 9:25 pace. I was happy with that after having swam for over an hour this morning.
Sunday:
Bike workout, 15 minute warmup then 3 by 8 minutes at 92% LThr with 2 minutes ez between sets.
Also, that evening we did the last day of our pushup challenge
26/ 26/ 33/ 33/ 26/ 26/ 22/ 22/ Max = 60 for a total of 274 pushups with 45 seconds rest between sets.
We have decided to attempt our 100 straight pushups this Wednesday evening!!! We may not all get to 100 but we will all get pretty close. When we started my max was probably about 20 good full pushups.
Approximate totals:
Run 17 miles / 2:45 HRS
Bike 2:45 HRS
Swim 2600 meters/1:20 HRS
Strength work 1 hour
Total time : about 8 hours
*On another note, after a lot of thought and reading I have decided to do another 21 day cleanse starting December 26th. Last year on Feb. 1st I did the Quantum Wellness 21 day cleanse and have been a vegetarian/almost vegan ever since. It helped me see food in a different way!
It is time to go through this process again. This time I am using the book CLEAN by Junger. It calls for a smoothie or juice for breakfast and dinner and a solid meal for lunch. NO alcohol, caffeine, dairy, sugar, gluten. I am actually looking forward to it and will try to blog daily about how it is going. When I did my last cleanse, it really helped to know that I was going to 'report' on it daily to 'the world'. It helped keep me focused on the task.
I went back and forth on whether to start on Jan. 3rd or on December 26. I think it will be good to not have to teach and coach and have all the craziness that is my life for the first week. So although there will be quite a few social functions during the first week, I will plan ahead and make it through.
It does allow you to occasionally have your solid meal at dinner if you have a social function to go to. I will miss my wine on New Year's Eve. I am hoping for a little weight loss (my goal is a total of 15 in then next few months), better sleep, and just in general more energy and the feeling of control over my nutrition.
There will be much more to come on this!!
Family things:
Enjoy this last week before Christmas!! I am so looking forward to Christmas morning. It is always a huge bonding time for my family!!
Last year we all prepared for the morning by writing down 100 things we were grateful for and then shared them as we opened presents.
This year we are preparing for the morning by writing 10 things we love about each person in the family and we will share them as we open presents.
As my two oldest get to the point where they are going to be away more and more, I am trying to cherish every moment that we can all be together!!
Speaking of that, Lizzie has officially been told that she has her congressional nomination and her appointment to West Point. She also has 'officially' told me that she is going to accept the appointment. So my girl is going to West Point!! I am excited for all the opportunities that will be given to her, but also worried as a mother of course. I do think that it is a good place for her. She is smart, athletic and loves a challenge.
Monday:
Run 5 miles along with some pullups, kettlebell swings, squats and upper body lifting. I have not done a ton of strength training lately and the squats left me very sore for the next few days.
Tuesday:
Bike workout, which included 15 minute warmup and then 6 by 4 minutes (with 45 seconds rest) at 100-105% LThr This is a tough workout. Sweat is flying and I have to talk to myself to get through the last two sets while still pushing hard.
Also on Tuesday, we do our 100 pushup challenge sets of pushups. I do this with my husband, 17 yo daughter and 11 yo daughter. We are on week 6 day 1 and the workout was 45/55/35/30/Max all with 60 seconds rest between sets.
Wednesday:
3 mile run (sore legs from bike workout)
Thursday:
Pushups 22/22/30/30/24/24/18/18/MAX on 45 seconds rest.
We have come a long was since October 24th when we started this pushup challenge. On the first day we did 10/12/7/7/MAX. That seems like SO LITTLE at this point!! I am so proud of my two daughters for working so hard on this CHALLENGE!!!
Friday:
Bike workout, 10 minute warmup and then 40 minutes (start at 77% of LThr and every 5 minutes increase effort 5%, start again when you reach 100%)
Saturday:
Swam with the high school kids I coach. I did their first 2600 meters with them and got in a pretty good swim workout.
Then in the afternoon I ran outside (sunny but about 22 degrees) 9 miles with about a 9:25 pace. I was happy with that after having swam for over an hour this morning.
Sunday:
Bike workout, 15 minute warmup then 3 by 8 minutes at 92% LThr with 2 minutes ez between sets.
Also, that evening we did the last day of our pushup challenge
26/ 26/ 33/ 33/ 26/ 26/ 22/ 22/ Max = 60 for a total of 274 pushups with 45 seconds rest between sets.
We have decided to attempt our 100 straight pushups this Wednesday evening!!! We may not all get to 100 but we will all get pretty close. When we started my max was probably about 20 good full pushups.
Approximate totals:
Run 17 miles / 2:45 HRS
Bike 2:45 HRS
Swim 2600 meters/1:20 HRS
Strength work 1 hour
Total time : about 8 hours
*On another note, after a lot of thought and reading I have decided to do another 21 day cleanse starting December 26th. Last year on Feb. 1st I did the Quantum Wellness 21 day cleanse and have been a vegetarian/almost vegan ever since. It helped me see food in a different way!
It is time to go through this process again. This time I am using the book CLEAN by Junger. It calls for a smoothie or juice for breakfast and dinner and a solid meal for lunch. NO alcohol, caffeine, dairy, sugar, gluten. I am actually looking forward to it and will try to blog daily about how it is going. When I did my last cleanse, it really helped to know that I was going to 'report' on it daily to 'the world'. It helped keep me focused on the task.
I went back and forth on whether to start on Jan. 3rd or on December 26. I think it will be good to not have to teach and coach and have all the craziness that is my life for the first week. So although there will be quite a few social functions during the first week, I will plan ahead and make it through.
It does allow you to occasionally have your solid meal at dinner if you have a social function to go to. I will miss my wine on New Year's Eve. I am hoping for a little weight loss (my goal is a total of 15 in then next few months), better sleep, and just in general more energy and the feeling of control over my nutrition.
There will be much more to come on this!!
Family things:
Enjoy this last week before Christmas!! I am so looking forward to Christmas morning. It is always a huge bonding time for my family!!
Last year we all prepared for the morning by writing down 100 things we were grateful for and then shared them as we opened presents.
This year we are preparing for the morning by writing 10 things we love about each person in the family and we will share them as we open presents.
As my two oldest get to the point where they are going to be away more and more, I am trying to cherish every moment that we can all be together!!
Speaking of that, Lizzie has officially been told that she has her congressional nomination and her appointment to West Point. She also has 'officially' told me that she is going to accept the appointment. So my girl is going to West Point!! I am excited for all the opportunities that will be given to her, but also worried as a mother of course. I do think that it is a good place for her. She is smart, athletic and loves a challenge.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Volunteering at Lake Placid 2011
Yesterday was the day. Early morning John and I signed up to volunteer at LP 2011 Ironman. The plan is to stand in line the next morning and register for LP 2012. The date will be July 22, 2012.
I am excited, and on July 25th 2011 when I hand over a huge amount of money for the priviledge of putting it all on the line in 2012, I will be properly scared.
This will be our first attempt at full ironman distance. We are looking into hiring a coach as we look ahead to 140.6 miles. It is so hard to know who you will work best with. There are very few coaches in NEOhio!! So we will probably be working with someone totally through email/phone.
But I am getting ahead of myself...having not blogged for one full month let's get caught up on what is going on...
*John and I are religiously following Jorge's 14 week cycling plan. We used it last year and found some good gains on the bike over the off season. We both love having a very structured plan to follow.
*I am trying to build up a good running base so that I can dive into 'official' Boston marathon training after the first of the year.
*Trying to get in good workouts while teaching and coaching swimming takes planning and discipline.
*The family is in week 6 (after repeating week 4 and 5) of the 100 pushup challenge. We will be attempting the 100 pushups just before Christmas.
*We have decided to race Syracuse 70.3 on September 18, 2011 and are also going to try to fit in more Olympic distance races this summer.
I am excited, and on July 25th 2011 when I hand over a huge amount of money for the priviledge of putting it all on the line in 2012, I will be properly scared.
This will be our first attempt at full ironman distance. We are looking into hiring a coach as we look ahead to 140.6 miles. It is so hard to know who you will work best with. There are very few coaches in NEOhio!! So we will probably be working with someone totally through email/phone.
But I am getting ahead of myself...having not blogged for one full month let's get caught up on what is going on...
*John and I are religiously following Jorge's 14 week cycling plan. We used it last year and found some good gains on the bike over the off season. We both love having a very structured plan to follow.
*I am trying to build up a good running base so that I can dive into 'official' Boston marathon training after the first of the year.
*Trying to get in good workouts while teaching and coaching swimming takes planning and discipline.
*The family is in week 6 (after repeating week 4 and 5) of the 100 pushup challenge. We will be attempting the 100 pushups just before Christmas.
*We have decided to race Syracuse 70.3 on September 18, 2011 and are also going to try to fit in more Olympic distance races this summer.
**I have had two snow days. Living in NEOhio brings on Lake Erie lake effect snow!!
**I seem to be having so many conversations with my son and husband about what 'gadgets' are wanted/needed for triathlon at the stage I am in. Should I get a aerohelmet? Would I ever get a tri bike? Do I need a power meter? Should I look into a computrainer? I am in general happy to stay away from the majority of the gadgets and just train hard and race hard. But should I be looking for some more efficient ways to train, and some 'free' speed? I think this is in need of a post all itself.
As I posted on my fb status on Saturday after a good run...Time to start paying the price for a good race, good races don't come cheap!!!
Heading down to the 'pain cave'/basement to do 6 by 4 minute intervals at 100-105% LT with 45 seconds rest on the bike trainer. with 15 minute warmup and 10 minute cool down.
Stay warm!!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
coach swimming, teach, workout, make dinner, repeat....
BUSY DAYS DURING SWIM SEASON
I can't seem to find time to get this blog updated more than once a month or so. Right now life is very full, this is how I like it most days. My mornings start with the alarm going off at 4:30am. I shower, put on sweats and sweatshirt, make a smoothie, pour my coffee and gather my lunch and such and out the door by 5:05am. I then coach the high school swim team until 6:40. I change into 'teaching' clothes in the locker room, drink my smoothie on the way to school where I arrive by 7:20. I then teach a full day of algebra 1, geometry, and honors algebra 2. I try to fit in a workout after school every day, try to make dinner, then clean up, get things packed up for the next day and it is about time for sleep.
WORKOUTS
Biking
My workout plan these days includes three days of bike workouts on the trainer. They are posted by Jorge at PBM Coaching. My husband and I both did the 12 week plan last winter, and felt like it gave us some good structure to our winter workouts. They are all hr based. I would love to get a power meter, but have not invested in one yet. I love the structure of these workouts. Just put your head down and work hard. They vary from 30 seconds on/30 seconds recovery to 15 minutes on/ 2 minutes recovery. They are typically about 50 minutes - one hour long including warmup and cool down.
100 Pushup Challenge
The whole family is also doing the 100 pushup challenge. Husband, and 17 year old and 11 year old daughters do the workouts together three times a week. We started week 4 today. It is supposed to be 6 weeks long, but we may do week 5 twice. The goal is to do 100 by Christmas.
Running
I have Boston in my long term thoughts right now, so I am trying to run three times a week. At this time between 15 and 20 miles per week. About the middle of January I will start 'official' training for Boston and drop one of the bike workouts and bump the running up to four times per week.
Swimming
I am at the pool 5-6 times a week. But only get in for a workout 1-2 times per week. I have 15 new swimmers that I work with on most days. They need a lot of instruction, some days the head coach works with the new kids and I get in and workout with the 'veterans'.
I love working with the new swimmers every year. They start the year not knowing what a '25' is, not knowing the swim circles in their lane, not knowing how to breathe properly, do breastroke, or fly. And before you know it they are doing great things!!!
Matt's bike crash:
My 19 year old son, Matt, who is attending Ohio State, was hit by a car on his bike two weeks ago. A young woman turning left, did not see him and ran right into him. This is NOT a call that you want to get as a mother. I literally felt like I was going to throw up until I knew exactly what was going on.
They told us he had 'facial trauma' but was speaking and at first they didn't think we needed to come down to Columbus. We were at Lizzie's cross country meet about three hours away. As soon as the girls ran, John headed to Cbus, and spent the night with him at the hospital. He had a broken nose, chipped tooth, road rash on his face, and his top lip was as swollen as I have ever seen on anyone. John sent me a picture when he got there and I was shocked.
I would have also gone, but Lizzie was scheduled for an overnight at Westpoint the next night and so we were scheduled to leave at noon.
I saw Matt one week later when we went to Columbus for the State Cross Country meet. He had healed amazingly fast. There was just a little bruising on his nose still. At that point he also still felt just sore all over and had not worked out much all week.
This weekend I was back in Columbus because Lizzie had an interview with Senator Voinovich, trying to get her nomination to Westpoint. We saw Matt for lunch and he looked totally healed. He was back on the bike (his tri bike and not his road bike as it was totalled in the crash) mid-week. Thank goodness, it could have been so much worse!
Now we are just dealing with the insurance...the bike is totalled, sunglasses broken, winter biking clothes cut off him, phone damaged beyond repair. Things are moving slowly!!
I can't seem to find time to get this blog updated more than once a month or so. Right now life is very full, this is how I like it most days. My mornings start with the alarm going off at 4:30am. I shower, put on sweats and sweatshirt, make a smoothie, pour my coffee and gather my lunch and such and out the door by 5:05am. I then coach the high school swim team until 6:40. I change into 'teaching' clothes in the locker room, drink my smoothie on the way to school where I arrive by 7:20. I then teach a full day of algebra 1, geometry, and honors algebra 2. I try to fit in a workout after school every day, try to make dinner, then clean up, get things packed up for the next day and it is about time for sleep.
WORKOUTS
Biking
My workout plan these days includes three days of bike workouts on the trainer. They are posted by Jorge at PBM Coaching. My husband and I both did the 12 week plan last winter, and felt like it gave us some good structure to our winter workouts. They are all hr based. I would love to get a power meter, but have not invested in one yet. I love the structure of these workouts. Just put your head down and work hard. They vary from 30 seconds on/30 seconds recovery to 15 minutes on/ 2 minutes recovery. They are typically about 50 minutes - one hour long including warmup and cool down.
100 Pushup Challenge
The whole family is also doing the 100 pushup challenge. Husband, and 17 year old and 11 year old daughters do the workouts together three times a week. We started week 4 today. It is supposed to be 6 weeks long, but we may do week 5 twice. The goal is to do 100 by Christmas.
Running
I have Boston in my long term thoughts right now, so I am trying to run three times a week. At this time between 15 and 20 miles per week. About the middle of January I will start 'official' training for Boston and drop one of the bike workouts and bump the running up to four times per week.
Swimming
I am at the pool 5-6 times a week. But only get in for a workout 1-2 times per week. I have 15 new swimmers that I work with on most days. They need a lot of instruction, some days the head coach works with the new kids and I get in and workout with the 'veterans'.
I love working with the new swimmers every year. They start the year not knowing what a '25' is, not knowing the swim circles in their lane, not knowing how to breathe properly, do breastroke, or fly. And before you know it they are doing great things!!!
Matt's bike crash:
My 19 year old son, Matt, who is attending Ohio State, was hit by a car on his bike two weeks ago. A young woman turning left, did not see him and ran right into him. This is NOT a call that you want to get as a mother. I literally felt like I was going to throw up until I knew exactly what was going on.
They told us he had 'facial trauma' but was speaking and at first they didn't think we needed to come down to Columbus. We were at Lizzie's cross country meet about three hours away. As soon as the girls ran, John headed to Cbus, and spent the night with him at the hospital. He had a broken nose, chipped tooth, road rash on his face, and his top lip was as swollen as I have ever seen on anyone. John sent me a picture when he got there and I was shocked.
I would have also gone, but Lizzie was scheduled for an overnight at Westpoint the next night and so we were scheduled to leave at noon.
I saw Matt one week later when we went to Columbus for the State Cross Country meet. He had healed amazingly fast. There was just a little bruising on his nose still. At that point he also still felt just sore all over and had not worked out much all week.
This weekend I was back in Columbus because Lizzie had an interview with Senator Voinovich, trying to get her nomination to Westpoint. We saw Matt for lunch and he looked totally healed. He was back on the bike (his tri bike and not his road bike as it was totalled in the crash) mid-week. Thank goodness, it could have been so much worse!
Now we are just dealing with the insurance...the bike is totalled, sunglasses broken, winter biking clothes cut off him, phone damaged beyond repair. Things are moving slowly!!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Columbus Half Marathon and Registering for Boston Marathon
Columbus Marathon Sunday, October 17th
Last Saturday afternoon my husband and I headed down to Columbus, picked up my 19 year old son Matt who attends The Ohio State University. We went to the race expo, which was pretty lame. Although after going to the Boston marathon race expo twice, I think any other race expo is going to be pretty weak.
We had our fill of some pasta, and settled into our hotel to watch the Buckeyes get killed by Wisconsin.
We all had pretty big goals for the next day. My husband was trying to go for a sub-3 hour marathon for the second year in a row. This year he had his sights on going 2:57.
My son and I were doing the half. Matt had set his goal at 1:20. With a pretty busy quarter and a sore ankle for the last two weeks, he wasn't sure how the day would go. I have a half marathon pr of 1:53.?? that was set quite a few years ago. I was hoping to go sub 1:50. I had spent the last 8 weeks or so doing cross fit strength workouts, and cf endurance running workouts that call for lots of speed and not a ton of miles. So I was totally unsure of what the day would bring. I knew I was more comfortable running faster. But I felt like the last three miles were going to be a question mark.
At the start I lined up with the 3:40 marathon pace group (a 1:50 half time) and vowed to stay with them until I felt like they were going to make me 'blow up' out there. This worked for about 7 miles. Our pace setter was well ahead of the 8:25 per mile pace necessary. We were throwing out quite a few 8:10 or so miles. Around 7-8 I felt like I needed to back off a little. If I stayed at about 8:30 for the rest of the race, I knew I would meet my goal.
The day was beautiful. Sunny, about 50 degrees. This is a big race. 10,000 in the half marathon and 5,000 in the full marathon. They all start together and then the half runners, just turn off at about 13 miles for the final stretch. LOTS of crowd support, flat. All in all, a great race. I have run the marathon there the last two years. I was always jealous of the people that got to turn off at 13, so this year it was nice to know I was the one.
With 5K left, I knew I was going to be very close to my 1:50 goal. I felt pretty spent by then, but tried to push the pace as much as I could. Crossing the line with a 1:50:30. This is about a three minute pr for me, and so I am very happy with that. Officially it is 8:27 miles. But on my Garmin it is over 13.1 miles, of course, and so it had me at 8:25 miles.
My smokin' fast boys had an amazing day!!!
John ran a 2:57.32 marathon. Finishing 98th out of the 5,000 runners and 9th in his AG.
Matt ran a 1:20:01 half finishing 58th out of the 10,000 runners and 2nd in his AG.
I am always amazed at how fast they can run. All three of us are pretty well recovered. I actually felt great,even the rest of the day. Matt was more nauseous than he has ever been, but he has not run that distance much at all. He is an Oly distance triathlete. John had some trouble with stairs for a few days, but is on the mend.
I have taken this week as a total rest week. I am looking forward to getting out for a 5-6 mile run tomorrow morning, and then back into it next week.
My plans until January are 3 GOOD sessions on the bike trainer (interval training) with a specific workout planned for each day. and 3 GOOD sessions of running per week (one distance, one speed)
I start coaching high school swimming in two weeks. I will get in the pool sporadically during the season and it will be really hard trying to fit everything in...but I will!!
Boston Registration:
John and I have been planning on registering for months. We have our hotel. We had the 18th on the calender to remind us to register. Starting at 9am, John spent hours at work on and off trying to register us. The computer kept throwing him out. About noon he finally got in. He registered ME. Thinking he would get in again soon. He was never able to get in again. He got CLOSED OUT!! What the heck!
I am in, John is not! and I am not happy about this.
When he told me that evening I was heartbroken. The whole fun is that we are in it together. I will be at Athlete's Village that morning without him :(
He seems to be fine with it. He will find another marathon to train for, and be my support crew for Boston. But I am still BUMMED!!
Last Saturday afternoon my husband and I headed down to Columbus, picked up my 19 year old son Matt who attends The Ohio State University. We went to the race expo, which was pretty lame. Although after going to the Boston marathon race expo twice, I think any other race expo is going to be pretty weak.
We had our fill of some pasta, and settled into our hotel to watch the Buckeyes get killed by Wisconsin.
We all had pretty big goals for the next day. My husband was trying to go for a sub-3 hour marathon for the second year in a row. This year he had his sights on going 2:57.
My son and I were doing the half. Matt had set his goal at 1:20. With a pretty busy quarter and a sore ankle for the last two weeks, he wasn't sure how the day would go. I have a half marathon pr of 1:53.?? that was set quite a few years ago. I was hoping to go sub 1:50. I had spent the last 8 weeks or so doing cross fit strength workouts, and cf endurance running workouts that call for lots of speed and not a ton of miles. So I was totally unsure of what the day would bring. I knew I was more comfortable running faster. But I felt like the last three miles were going to be a question mark.
At the start I lined up with the 3:40 marathon pace group (a 1:50 half time) and vowed to stay with them until I felt like they were going to make me 'blow up' out there. This worked for about 7 miles. Our pace setter was well ahead of the 8:25 per mile pace necessary. We were throwing out quite a few 8:10 or so miles. Around 7-8 I felt like I needed to back off a little. If I stayed at about 8:30 for the rest of the race, I knew I would meet my goal.
The day was beautiful. Sunny, about 50 degrees. This is a big race. 10,000 in the half marathon and 5,000 in the full marathon. They all start together and then the half runners, just turn off at about 13 miles for the final stretch. LOTS of crowd support, flat. All in all, a great race. I have run the marathon there the last two years. I was always jealous of the people that got to turn off at 13, so this year it was nice to know I was the one.
With 5K left, I knew I was going to be very close to my 1:50 goal. I felt pretty spent by then, but tried to push the pace as much as I could. Crossing the line with a 1:50:30. This is about a three minute pr for me, and so I am very happy with that. Officially it is 8:27 miles. But on my Garmin it is over 13.1 miles, of course, and so it had me at 8:25 miles.
My smokin' fast boys had an amazing day!!!
John ran a 2:57.32 marathon. Finishing 98th out of the 5,000 runners and 9th in his AG.
Matt ran a 1:20:01 half finishing 58th out of the 10,000 runners and 2nd in his AG.
I am always amazed at how fast they can run. All three of us are pretty well recovered. I actually felt great,even the rest of the day. Matt was more nauseous than he has ever been, but he has not run that distance much at all. He is an Oly distance triathlete. John had some trouble with stairs for a few days, but is on the mend.
I have taken this week as a total rest week. I am looking forward to getting out for a 5-6 mile run tomorrow morning, and then back into it next week.
My plans until January are 3 GOOD sessions on the bike trainer (interval training) with a specific workout planned for each day. and 3 GOOD sessions of running per week (one distance, one speed)
I start coaching high school swimming in two weeks. I will get in the pool sporadically during the season and it will be really hard trying to fit everything in...but I will!!
Boston Registration:
John and I have been planning on registering for months. We have our hotel. We had the 18th on the calender to remind us to register. Starting at 9am, John spent hours at work on and off trying to register us. The computer kept throwing him out. About noon he finally got in. He registered ME. Thinking he would get in again soon. He was never able to get in again. He got CLOSED OUT!! What the heck!
I am in, John is not! and I am not happy about this.
When he told me that evening I was heartbroken. The whole fun is that we are in it together. I will be at Athlete's Village that morning without him :(
He seems to be fine with it. He will find another marathon to train for, and be my support crew for Boston. But I am still BUMMED!!
Monday, October 4, 2010
6 week update on Crossfit and other ramblings
It has been a while since my last post. I am back at school, teaching algebra 1/geometry and honors algebra 2. And my girls are both running cross country, which takes up many nights per week.
I will try to briefly catch up with everyone on how things are going.
Workouts (just a sampling of a typical week):
My goals are 4 runs / 4 crossfit WOD strength workouts/ 1 bike per week. I consider this my off season, although I am running the Columbus HALF marathon on October 16th. This has broken down into a typical week like last week:
MondayAM: 5 rounds for time of 20 pushups/20meter Farmers Carry of 25lb dumbells/15 squats holding 25lb dumbells/20m Farmer Carry back to start Total time 11:43
Monday PM: Run wu one mile then 3 by 3 minutes intervals with 3 minute recovery then cool down- total 2.5 miles
Tuesday AM: 5 rounds for time of 8 pullups/ 16 dips/10 overhead squats with 15lb dumbells/10 toes to bar total time 19:43
Wednesday AM: 5K for time on the treadmill in 24:50
Thursday: Run Warmup then 4min/5min/6min/5min/4min hard run with 2 minutes easy run between total of 4 miles
FridayAM: 3 rounds for time of 400meter run/ 21 Kettlebell Swings/12 pullups
SaturdayAM: 12 mile run (not too happy with my pace because I am having problems with a sore hamstring that has lasted FOREVER) pace was 9:37 after the last two weeks I ran 12 miles and 13 miles with my pace at about 9:10
Sunday: 5 rounds of 30 secON/30secOFF of pushups/situps/lunges
Was planning on biking on Wednesday afternoon, but didn't! So 4 strength workouts/4 running workouts
I am getting more comfortable with running faster on this program. I can run around 9:00 pace comfortably for long runs and it feels about the same as what I would feel at 9:30 pace. I am also feeling some of my strength coming back. After doing p90x and other programs I could push out 25 pushups no problem. After NOT doing any strength work for months, 10 pushups were hard. I can now easily get 20 out without pausing.
My 9 mile race on September 11th I did 8:25 pace. On October 16th for my half marathon my B goal is to PR by going sub-1:53 and my A goal is sub-1:50 which means I need to go near 8:20 pace. One of the keys is to get my hamstring feeling healed! I am trying to do lots of stretching and some icing, and using my trigger point ball to massage the area!
Nutrition:
I continue to eat as close to Vegan as possible. I seem to allow some dairy pretty frequently. Creamer in my coffee, and cheese here and there, especially when eating out. I am not too picky on bread and so there are egg and dairy in many of them.
I do NOT miss meat at all, and I have NO wish to eat meat. My new favorite food blog is Fat Free Vegan with lots of good recipes. I made yellow split pea soup with sweet potatos and kale last night, along with the asparagus chickpea casserole. Thanks to Michelle for suggesting it.
I continue to work on losing this last 10-15 pounds to no avail. I know why. I can't get the evil thing out of my diet-->SUGAR!!!
FAMILY:
My most prized possession.
Matt is back to Ohio State. He went to Age Group Nationals and competed in the under 19 division in Alabama a few weeks ago. He had a pr with a 2:07 for an OLY tri and came in 6th. He continues to be a leader of the Ohio State Triathlon Club, serving as their running coach as only a sophomore. He is very involved with them, as he keeps up his work in Honors Engineering.
I totally!!!!! miss having him home to ride with me and help me with my bike. Which is one of the reasons I haven't ridden much since he went back to school. I will see him when we go down to run Columbus. He is also running the half marathon 'with' me (but far ahead of me).
Lizzie is having a successful Cross Country season having run a 21:52 5K last weekend. She is in the process of applying to WestPoint for and it is looking like she should receive an appointment there. I will miss her terribly wherever she ends up next year, as she leaved high school and makes her way in this world. She is an amazing person!!!
Megan, my little one, is running cross country for the first time. She is involved in so many athletics, she will have to make decisions soon. It has been a pleasure watching her and her group of 3 friends do workouts and begin to understand how to run! She is only in 6th grade, and becoming a wonderful young woman.
John, my awesome husband, is going to be running the Columbus full marathon. He has been training SUPER hard for this one. He never seems to take an 'off season'. He is going for a second year of sub-3 hour Columbus marathon. Last year was a 2:59!! It all comes from hard work for him.
For all of you out in the blog world, I have been reading all your blogs and loving them. Just not posting too many comments! You are all so inspiring!!
I will try to briefly catch up with everyone on how things are going.
Workouts (just a sampling of a typical week):
My goals are 4 runs / 4 crossfit WOD strength workouts/ 1 bike per week. I consider this my off season, although I am running the Columbus HALF marathon on October 16th. This has broken down into a typical week like last week:
MondayAM: 5 rounds for time of 20 pushups/20meter Farmers Carry of 25lb dumbells/15 squats holding 25lb dumbells/20m Farmer Carry back to start Total time 11:43
Monday PM: Run wu one mile then 3 by 3 minutes intervals with 3 minute recovery then cool down- total 2.5 miles
Tuesday AM: 5 rounds for time of 8 pullups/ 16 dips/10 overhead squats with 15lb dumbells/10 toes to bar total time 19:43
Wednesday AM: 5K for time on the treadmill in 24:50
Thursday: Run Warmup then 4min/5min/6min/5min/4min hard run with 2 minutes easy run between total of 4 miles
FridayAM: 3 rounds for time of 400meter run/ 21 Kettlebell Swings/12 pullups
SaturdayAM: 12 mile run (not too happy with my pace because I am having problems with a sore hamstring that has lasted FOREVER) pace was 9:37 after the last two weeks I ran 12 miles and 13 miles with my pace at about 9:10
Sunday: 5 rounds of 30 secON/30secOFF of pushups/situps/lunges
Was planning on biking on Wednesday afternoon, but didn't! So 4 strength workouts/4 running workouts
I am getting more comfortable with running faster on this program. I can run around 9:00 pace comfortably for long runs and it feels about the same as what I would feel at 9:30 pace. I am also feeling some of my strength coming back. After doing p90x and other programs I could push out 25 pushups no problem. After NOT doing any strength work for months, 10 pushups were hard. I can now easily get 20 out without pausing.
My 9 mile race on September 11th I did 8:25 pace. On October 16th for my half marathon my B goal is to PR by going sub-1:53 and my A goal is sub-1:50 which means I need to go near 8:20 pace. One of the keys is to get my hamstring feeling healed! I am trying to do lots of stretching and some icing, and using my trigger point ball to massage the area!
Nutrition:
I continue to eat as close to Vegan as possible. I seem to allow some dairy pretty frequently. Creamer in my coffee, and cheese here and there, especially when eating out. I am not too picky on bread and so there are egg and dairy in many of them.
I do NOT miss meat at all, and I have NO wish to eat meat. My new favorite food blog is Fat Free Vegan with lots of good recipes. I made yellow split pea soup with sweet potatos and kale last night, along with the asparagus chickpea casserole. Thanks to Michelle for suggesting it.
I continue to work on losing this last 10-15 pounds to no avail. I know why. I can't get the evil thing out of my diet-->SUGAR!!!
FAMILY:
My most prized possession.
Matt is back to Ohio State. He went to Age Group Nationals and competed in the under 19 division in Alabama a few weeks ago. He had a pr with a 2:07 for an OLY tri and came in 6th. He continues to be a leader of the Ohio State Triathlon Club, serving as their running coach as only a sophomore. He is very involved with them, as he keeps up his work in Honors Engineering.
I totally!!!!! miss having him home to ride with me and help me with my bike. Which is one of the reasons I haven't ridden much since he went back to school. I will see him when we go down to run Columbus. He is also running the half marathon 'with' me (but far ahead of me).
Lizzie is having a successful Cross Country season having run a 21:52 5K last weekend. She is in the process of applying to WestPoint for and it is looking like she should receive an appointment there. I will miss her terribly wherever she ends up next year, as she leaved high school and makes her way in this world. She is an amazing person!!!
Megan, my little one, is running cross country for the first time. She is involved in so many athletics, she will have to make decisions soon. It has been a pleasure watching her and her group of 3 friends do workouts and begin to understand how to run! She is only in 6th grade, and becoming a wonderful young woman.
John, my awesome husband, is going to be running the Columbus full marathon. He has been training SUPER hard for this one. He never seems to take an 'off season'. He is going for a second year of sub-3 hour Columbus marathon. Last year was a 2:59!! It all comes from hard work for him.
For all of you out in the blog world, I have been reading all your blogs and loving them. Just not posting too many comments! You are all so inspiring!!
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