A birthday triathlon

I turned 39 the other day. Last year we were still figuring out what was wrong with my knee, the year before that I was sick, and the year before THAT I was taking it easy after gutting out a marathon through some SI joint weirdness and pain. So, I wanted to do something special this year.

I had seen on social media people doing their age in distance or minutes for swim, bike, and run and figured I could do that. I had to work on my actual birthday, so I split my “triathlon” into two days: 39 minutes of swimming and biking one day, and 39 minutes of running the next day (followed by about 39 minutes of cupcake eating, haha).

I am WAY out of swimming shape but I figured I could do drills for 39 minutes. I found myself heading back to the wall for the final time as my watch read 39 minutes and then… I couldn’t remember how to stop and save my workout! Luckily I was able to figure it out before the clock ticked over to 40 minutes. My cycling leg was pretty simple; I just hopped on the trainer and increased the resistance until I settled into something challenging yet sustainable. I cooled down with a few minutes left to go and wrapped up at 39 on the dot.

It was dark and wind chills were in the teens by the time I got home from work for my run the next day, so I just hopped on the treadmill for 39 minutes of running. This was the first time since my duathlon over Labor Day weekend that I didn’t take walk breaks! And everything felt fine, if not a little boring. I just settled in and watched some Orange is the New Black until the timer clocked in at 39 minutes exactly.

This was fun to do and not too challenging, and it felt like I was getting 39 off on the right foot. Maybe next year for the big 4-0 I’ll be up for swimming 4,000 meters, riding 40 miles, and running as fast as I can for 40 minutes. I have a year to train, right?

Week in review Nov. 19-25: Surprise! When I have a few days off work, I train more

A pretty evenly balanced week.

OK, it isn’t much of a surprise, haha. I had a glorious four and a half days off work last week with Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Even though I didn’t do anything active on Thanksgiving besides eat, I was still able to log 12 sessions for the week, including my PT.

I got a solid start to the week with a trainer ride and weights video on Monday, and a run and PT on Tuesday. On Wednesday we were sent home early – hooray!!! – so of course I did a longer-than-usual trainer ride and more PT. I also squeezed in some Thanksgiving baking.

I chose to Opt Outside with a run instead of shop on Black Friday. It was miserable and rainy on Saturday, so we stayed in, I did another trainer ride and lifted weights, and we watched a few episodes of the new Narcos. I was able to round out the week with a long-ish run yesterday – it was perfect running weather! – and even more PT. I’m pretty sure this is the most PT I’ve done in a while.

By sport, it was:

Bike: Three times, all on the trainer, for 49.75 trainer miles in a bit less than 4 hours. Had I known I was that close to 50 I would have done another easy quarter mile somewhere in there.

Run/Walk: Three times, twice on the road and once on the treadmill, for 16.25 miles in a bit less than 3 hours. I made sure to get outside on Friday and Sunday because those are probably the last good outdoor running days I’ll have for a while.

PT: Four sessions, two longer and two shorter, of my take-home exercises for about 2.5 hours.

Weights: Two sessions, one video and one of my heavy and bodyweight routine, for about 2.25 hours.

Total: 12 sessions in about 11.5 hours. Not bad at all!

The best thing about having a few days off for Thanksgiving is that I got to do other stuff, too: Sleep in, finish an actual book, hang out with friends, bake, etc. It was hard getting out of bed and tackling the day today, but Christmas will be here before we know it. EEEEK!

Thankful

I hope you (Americans, anyway) had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I slept in, ate donuts and drank coffee, snuggled my mutts, went out to lunch (no cooking! no cleaning!), and drank my weight in mimosas. So, an awesome day.

It has been a struggle to come back to running after my injury last year. So, while I do my share of grumbling about workouts, I have been trying to remember that every time I run, ride my bike, lift weights, or even take my mutts out for a walk, there are lots of people who can't. A year ago I couldn't. And I am thankful that, right now, I can.

I am also thankful that I've found my racing team, TBD Racing, and that I'm a part of the team for another year. I love being a part of a team that is made up of normal people. We are all shapes and sizes, all talent and non-talent (raises hand), road runners, trail runners, cyclists, beginners, veterans, you name it. We support each other and cheer each other.

Part of the team for another year.

We have a lot to be thankful for, today and every day.

Week in review Nov. 12-18: A birthday celebration!

Two hours per sport was my sweet spot, apparently.

Last week was a light week for training, but for a good reason: My husband’s birthday was Saturday, and we spent much of the weekend celebrating. In fact, for TWO weeks in a row now, I have had plans both Friday night and all day Saturday. That is very unlike my natural hermit tendencies.

I went into last Monday already stressed out and I ended up making it a day off from training. I think I watched a movie and spent some time catching up on online stuff. It ended up being a wise move because I was able to train hard (well, hard-ish) for three straight days, doing doubles on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday and Saturday were also rest days from training with an early Christmas celebration with friends on Friday, and honoring the birthday boy all day Saturday.

I got to cut short my food prep on Sunday since I only work Monday-Wednesday this week, and we had birthday leftovers for dinner, so that freed up some time for a nice long-ish run and even a full round of PT. Yay! So, even though I only did workouts on four days this week, I made all four doubles with three PT sessions and one weights video. I definitely got some bang for my buck.

I managed to do both of my runs this week outside. I don’t think my hands ever warmed up yesterday, and I need a slightly warmer pair of running tights, but I survived. I was glad for the fresh air, but man oh man I can’t believe it’s this cold already and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. I am going to need polar expedition equipment just to take the dogs out, come February.

Anyway, my totals were:

Bike: Twice, both on the trainer, for 26.5 trainer miles in just longer than 2 hours. I am enjoying being back on TrainerRoad… for now.

PT/Rehab: Three times at home for about 2 hours. This included two longer session and one shorter session, for the first time in a while I’ve done PT two days in a row.

Run/Walk: Twice, both on the road, for 10.6 miles in just shorter than 2 hours. Nothing out of the ordinary here, just trying to acclimate to winter running for as long as I can.

Weights: One video done right after a trainer ride for about 50 minutes after skipping the warmup.

Total: 8 sessions in about 6:50. That’s still almost an hour per day average, so I can’t be too mad about that.

And, honestly, it was better than I expected with three full days off. I’m in a good groove with a few solid workouts during the week and I hope to ride the momentum into Thanksgiving so I can preemptively burn off the turkey and goodies I am looking forward to enjoying. =)

Running in the cold, already =(

I ran on the treadmill last week and had some hip and knee pain, which I don’t think is a coincidence. So I was determined to run outside last night after work, even in the dark, even in the cold.

I had to psych myself up all day to do it. As soon as I started wrapping up at work, I started trying to trick myself with “This will be fun! It will be so nice to get outside!” self-talk. Even though it was getting dark already on my drive home, I kept it up: “It’s not that cold! Running outside will be so enjoyable!” Before I could talk myself out of it, I bundled up and headed out.

It wasn’t fun, but it was tolerable. I was slow and for some reason even with a buff my chin was randomly super cold. The wind was cold on my face running into the wind, but running with the wind wasn’t bad. My legs and body were fine. It was OK. I got it done and headed home.

Yuck.

The terrible thing, though, is that it was “only” a real feel of 24 degrees in the middle of November. If I have to use this many mental tricks to go out for 40 minutes mid-November, I don’t think I’ll be running outside come February. Ack.

It was uncomfortable but I didn’t die. Which... is a pretty good mantra to have for any athletic endeavor, anyway.

Week in review Nov. 5-11: Cold, dark, and full of children

About a third biking and a third running -- not bad.

I was doing OK weather-wise two weeks ago when the temperatures were in the 30s and there was still a little bit of daylight in the evenings. Last week was even colder and darker after the end of Daylight Savings, and I just am not ready for windchills in the teen and 20s. I pretty much sequestered myself indoors all last week except for the occasional dog walk or errand.

But if you can overlook my hibernation from the cold, I didn’t have a bad week! I only did one weights workout, and I didn’t do as much PT as I would have liked, but I still managed three treadmill runs, three trainer rides, a barre class, and yoga. I voted on Tuesday and stress ate all Tuesday evening waiting for results, but that was my only day fully off from exercise.

In a turn of events totally uncharacteristic for me, I had THREE social events this weekend: a family dinner on Friday (an amazing Brazilian steakhouse); a kid’s birthday party on Saturday; and a gathering at our friends’ house to eat, watch football, and catch up. Our hosts have a 2-year-old and I employed the Auntie Kristin method of child entertainment: Keep them riled them up long past their bedtime until they are falling asleep on their feet from exhaustion. I don’t mind kids when I can be the fun “aunt,” haha. Because Friday dinner was late and I had a few hours between events Saturday, I did manage to squeeze in a workout both days, for which I was pretty proud of myself.

Bike: Three times, all on the trainer, for 46.75 trainer miles in about 3:37. I have seen a definite increase in fake trainer mileage and overall effort since I re-tested my FTP. I mean, that’s what I want, but putting in the work to get there is not easy.

Run/Walk: Three times, all on the treadmill (boo), for 15.75 miles in just less than 3 hours. It was cold and dark and I couldn’t muster the mental fortitude to deal with it, so I started the latest season of Orange is the New Black and zoned out. My left hip has started hurting, though, and I can’t believe that it’s a total coincidence that it’s bothering me after I ran on my old, jerky treadmill that we bought off CraigsList years and years ago. I think Santa Claus is going to bring us a new model to keep us running this winter.

PT/Rehab: Twice, both solo sessions, for about 1.5 hours total. I just need more hours in the day.

Weights: One barre class for about an hour.

Yoga: One solo session for about 15 minutes, keeping with my Sunday evening tradition. I tried to focus on hips, glutes, my IT band… anything that could potentially help with this hip pain.

Total: 10 sessions in about 9:19. Not bad at all!

I am going to have to come up with a plan for staying active even in the cold and dark because as much as I’d like to hibernate until March, that’s not practical for work, fitness, or what little remains of my social life. I am still thinking about a spring half marathon and want to keep building up my running intervals (last week I bumped it up to 9 minutes running, 1 minute walking). But man oh man do I hate being cold.

So, to be continued. Maybe there will be a heat wave this coming week – 40s sounds tropical right about now.

Week in review Oct. 29-Nov. 4: My sinuses are all dried out but I had candy!

2 x each biking, weights, run/walking, and PT.

It was an OK week. I had a good start on Monday, but my sinuses went haywire by Tuesday and all I could do was lie down with some hot tea after work. I took another day off Wednesday to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters, but I was back at it by Thursday and finished the week pretty strong.

Also, the theme of the week was “2.” As in, 2 bikes, runs, weights sessions, and PT sessions. And, 2 days off. With one yoga session on Sunday I was able to finish with 9 total workouts, which I guess is 7 + 2? OK, that’s a bit of a reach.

My sinuses have been weird off and on for a couple of weeks now. I swear I had a sinus infection a few weeks ago, but then it cleared up. On Tuesday, when all I could do was lie on the couch, I was legitimately afraid I would be sick for Halloween the next day. A good night’s sleep meant I felt a LOT better, but my sinuses have felt super dry off and on and I have been getting the occasional bloody nose. I’m not sure if they are freaking out because we turned on the heat, or it got cold, or allergies, or all of the above, or something else. I am drinking a lot of hot tea and using my neti pot once or twice a day, and it is helping.

Anyway, workouts last week were:

Bike: Twice, both on the trainer, for 33.25 trainer miles in about 2:38. This was almost exactly the same time as last week but an extra mile, so I’ll take that as improvement.

Weights: Twice, one barre class and one heavy/body session at home, for about 2:15 total. I can’t lift as heavy as I could a few months ago but I’m going to keep at it.

Run/Walk: Twice, both on the road, for 11 miles in just less than 2 hours. This was a speed run and a longer-than-usual run, and both felt good. I did my speed “intervals” (4 x 8 minutes) at my goal half-marathon pace minus 30 seconds, and it felt fast but sustainable.

PT/Rehab: Twice for about 1:30. I should have done at least one more, but I just ran out of time before I had to run errands Saturday and do food prep Sunday. Blah.

Yoga: I’m going with the one session on Sunday night routine, this time for 15 minutes. It’s better than nothing and I definitely need it by Sunday night.

Total: 9 sessions for about 8:36.

So it was still more than one per week and one hour per day, a good mix of activities, and two rest days – I can’t complain. If I build this routine of boring consistency all winter I’ll be in good shape come next race season.

October in review: Boringly consistent

I live a pretty boring life and October was no exception. I didn't go on any vacations, and I didn't buy anything extravagant. The most exciting things I did was take a few days off to to a college football game, spend time with family when they were in town, and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters.

But I like boring and boring allows me to get lots of training in, which helps me stay sane. So yay for a nice, boring October.

I did go a couple of Fridays without doing any workouts at all. It rained a couple Fridays in a row and I just couldn't be bothered to get out of bed and face the gloominess. I was sick-ish one day, just so tired I needed to lounge on the couch and do nothing, and that helped me not get actually sick so hooray!

I also got into a routine of doing a short yoga session on Sunday evenings. It's not as much yoga as I should be doing but hey, it's something! And, I made it to the pool ... once. But hey, I made it.

October wasn't bad at all.

It worked out to be:

Bike: 10 times, all on the trainer, for 141.75 trainer miles in about 12 hours. I wish I could have ridden outside at least once but winter hit Michigan hard and fast. Boo.

Run: 10 times, all outside, for 50.2 miles in just longer than 9 hours. Hey, I'm getting there! This was the same mileage as last month in two fewer runs and a bit less time, so I'll consider that a slight improvement.

PT/Rehab: 11 times for 7.5 hours. I always wish I had done more rehab.

Weights: 5 times of 2 barre classes, 2 videos and 1 heavy/body solo session, for about 5:10. That's more than once per week so I can't be sad about that.

Yoga: 4 times for 1:15 total. This worked out to be a quick session every Sunday night

Swim: Once for 1750 yards in a bit less than an hour. Of course I'm going to be slow doing drills a couple of times a year, but at least I made it this month.

Total: 41 sessions in just less than 36 hours. 

I did log another fastest mile according to my Garmin, 8:25.5, and I continue to casually train with the goal of a half marathon in the spring and logging a sub-27:00 5K also per my Garmin. I have the occasional twinge in my knee or hamstring but I keep adding time and speed super slowly and I feel like I continue to get stronger. I've been pretty good at doing some kind of weight workout at least once per week, which I know is helping.

Overall, October was great. I'm hoping to build off that for a great November and holiday season.