Well I'm off on vacation/graduation/insanity tomorrow. Looking forward to being on vacation...it is shaping up to be a busy and I am sure quite interesting trip. I might be checking in here and there, but I'll be back come June.
This week has been decent training wise. I have neglected to update my sidebar, but anyway. I've gotten three days of crossfit in and plan to go for a 4th and got some running (not much) in too.
Yesterday's crossfit workout was 3x800m sprints and unfun core things like L-sits and Hollow-rock tabata's. They just suck. The sprints...I really wish that we were on an actual track because I pulled out a 3:10, 3:19 and 3:18 for my sprints...that makes me scratch my head a little bit cuz that would possibly put a single mile in that 6 zone. Hmmm...me thinks the 800m is off. Seems a little ludicrous to me. I am thinking of doing a mile trial out in MA as I've got some time on my hands and I know where there is an available track. Just for kicks. We will see if I get to it or not.
Today's crossfit workout was good. My weightlifting shoes finally came in so I got to use them. They were pretty fun.
Started with PowerCleans 3-3-3...don't really like those mainly because I don't have the form down and I think that is inhibiting my ability to do them properly.
Then onto 3 rounds of:
50 squats
7 Muscle ups
10 Hang power cleans
Muscle ups are incredibly difficult in my book. I had one of the biggest rubber bands for assistance (although I think I could have gone down a band). Not that I am really one to gauge any strength off of, I'm pretty weak all around, but some exercises will just punctuate how weak I am. This would be one of those.
Off to pack.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Cream-o-Wheat Debacle
So, if you have been reading this here blog for awhile, you might be familiar with my oh so talented manners of injuring myself. I think it is genetic. Truly...my family has more, ahem, creative ways of injurying one's self...but I am getting ahead of myself.
My morning started off like many mornings do. Me...fighting with myself over A) getting out of bed and B) going to get my workout in. This morning was the same it went a little like this in my head:
Get out of bed! Get OUT
noooooooooo, let me hit the snooze.
Get OUT
(snooze is hit and shortly there after when the snooze goes off) come ON you only have so much time before you are going to miss Crossfit.
More grumbling.
I actually briefly lost this argument this morning, RESET my alarm for later and had planned PERFECTLY to skip crossfit, and when I went to lie down...I said no way and forced myself up and out of the door. I have no idea how it happened...but I did win in the end.
I got to Crossfit for a pretty nasty workout. First we lifted HEAVY (that's all the board said) Overhead Squats (OHS). These are my not-so-favorite type of squat. I still only managed to increase my weight from last time, but only to a measly 42lbs. Then onto the workout. It looked like this:
OHS 21
Pullups 42
OHS 15
Pullups 30
OHS 9
Pullups 18
Women were supposed to lift 65lbs, but since I could barely lift HEAVY 42lbs, I changed it down to 32lbs. Oddly by the last set of OHS, the weight felt lighter.
The pullups...well they sucked big time. I managed to do the first two sets of them kipping style with a middle amount of assistance from a rubberband, but by the time I got to the last set of 9, my left hand was having none of that. In the past I have sorta torn my callouses on my hands, but it was more like the callouses separated from the derma below the skin but didn't actually rip the skin on my hand open. Not so lucky this time. The callous on my left hand ripped itself open and now my hand had a rip in it. This lead to the debate...what now?
I could: Quit (but I didn't want to nor did I think that would fly), do the pull ups kipping style anyway even though my had was hurting like no other or do strict pullups. Strict pull ups won...so I grabbed a thicker rubber band to assist and pathetically attempted 18 strict pullups. Those were pretty pathetic and I think I got more 'oh I tried therefore that counts' than actual pull ups done. But whatever. I was in pain at this point and starting to run late for work.
I finished the workout in 24 mins and raced off to work. Some days I will have some breakfast and eat it in the car and some days I just wait til I get to work and go to the cafeteria where they have breakfast to buy. They have Cream-o-Wheat or Oatmeal and even have many other options like fruit and yogurt or even a breakfast burrito or eggs/bacon/ect. I typically will head to the large soup container that has the Cream-o-Wheat in it.
Lately I've had a crush on the Cream-O-Wheat.
As I am ladle-ing the cream-o-wheat into my bowl I look away for a moment and then manage to ladle some VERY, VERY HOT cream-o-wheat onto my index finger and my middle finger of my left hand. Strange conversations go through my head in a time of crisis.
OWWWWCH....MAKE THE PAIN STOP.
Hmmmm...really should the cream-o-wheat be that hot that it really hurts that much?
OH MY GOSH I DON'T CARE IF IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT HOT OR NOT GET THE FREAKING CREAM-O-WHEAT OFF OF THE HANDS. THE HANDS...GET IT OFF OF THE HANDS.
oh...um...so...how?
GRAB A FREAKING NAPKIN...PULL IT TOGETHER GIRL!
I manage to get the cream of wheat off the fingers and have enough wits about me to also grab some ice before I head back to my cube. Now my fingers are throbbing. The only way I can even keep the pain mildly manageable is if I keep them in the ice. During the incident I immediately lost about 1/4 of an inch of skin from just about the finger nail on my middle finger and my other finger I was already getting a blister. Yes...I had second degree burns on my skin and it FELT like it.
Over the next two hours I attempt to do my work and mainly keep those fingers in ice. It is only after I go and fill up with some ice again that I bother to google the First Aid on treating 2nd degree burns. I forgot you aren't supposed to put ice on second degree burns and it turns out that if you have them on your hands you prolly should see a doctor...IMMEDIATELY . Instead I ask the certified first responders at my office to have a look and see if I really should see a doctor. I am told that as long as I am able to keep an infection out of the burn area and since the burns are on the back of my fingers that I should be OK and not need to see a doctor unless the pain is unbearable or I get an infection down the line. The pain, I'll be honest, was borderline unbearable. For most of the day, if my fingers weren't in ice or above my head they felt like they might explode...literally. It was more like that feeling when you slam your fingers in the door...but it wouldn't go away...at.all.
So today was one of those "sliding doors" moments (ref the movie Sliding Doors) in life where I just thought...well...if I had just climbed back into bed like I had attempted to, I wouldn't have ripped my left hand callous open or dumped Cream-o-wheat on my left hand either. Sigh. That's how it goes sometimes though.
My morning started off like many mornings do. Me...fighting with myself over A) getting out of bed and B) going to get my workout in. This morning was the same it went a little like this in my head:
Get out of bed! Get OUT
noooooooooo, let me hit the snooze.
Get OUT
(snooze is hit and shortly there after when the snooze goes off) come ON you only have so much time before you are going to miss Crossfit.
More grumbling.
I actually briefly lost this argument this morning, RESET my alarm for later and had planned PERFECTLY to skip crossfit, and when I went to lie down...I said no way and forced myself up and out of the door. I have no idea how it happened...but I did win in the end.
I got to Crossfit for a pretty nasty workout. First we lifted HEAVY (that's all the board said) Overhead Squats (OHS). These are my not-so-favorite type of squat. I still only managed to increase my weight from last time, but only to a measly 42lbs. Then onto the workout. It looked like this:
OHS 21
Pullups 42
OHS 15
Pullups 30
OHS 9
Pullups 18
Women were supposed to lift 65lbs, but since I could barely lift HEAVY 42lbs, I changed it down to 32lbs. Oddly by the last set of OHS, the weight felt lighter.
The pullups...well they sucked big time. I managed to do the first two sets of them kipping style with a middle amount of assistance from a rubberband, but by the time I got to the last set of 9, my left hand was having none of that. In the past I have sorta torn my callouses on my hands, but it was more like the callouses separated from the derma below the skin but didn't actually rip the skin on my hand open. Not so lucky this time. The callous on my left hand ripped itself open and now my hand had a rip in it. This lead to the debate...what now?
I could: Quit (but I didn't want to nor did I think that would fly), do the pull ups kipping style anyway even though my had was hurting like no other or do strict pullups. Strict pull ups won...so I grabbed a thicker rubber band to assist and pathetically attempted 18 strict pullups. Those were pretty pathetic and I think I got more 'oh I tried therefore that counts' than actual pull ups done. But whatever. I was in pain at this point and starting to run late for work.
I finished the workout in 24 mins and raced off to work. Some days I will have some breakfast and eat it in the car and some days I just wait til I get to work and go to the cafeteria where they have breakfast to buy. They have Cream-o-Wheat or Oatmeal and even have many other options like fruit and yogurt or even a breakfast burrito or eggs/bacon/ect. I typically will head to the large soup container that has the Cream-o-Wheat in it.
Lately I've had a crush on the Cream-O-Wheat.As I am ladle-ing the cream-o-wheat into my bowl I look away for a moment and then manage to ladle some VERY, VERY HOT cream-o-wheat onto my index finger and my middle finger of my left hand. Strange conversations go through my head in a time of crisis.
OWWWWCH....MAKE THE PAIN STOP.
Hmmmm...really should the cream-o-wheat be that hot that it really hurts that much?
OH MY GOSH I DON'T CARE IF IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE THAT HOT OR NOT GET THE FREAKING CREAM-O-WHEAT OFF OF THE HANDS. THE HANDS...GET IT OFF OF THE HANDS.
oh...um...so...how?
GRAB A FREAKING NAPKIN...PULL IT TOGETHER GIRL!
I manage to get the cream of wheat off the fingers and have enough wits about me to also grab some ice before I head back to my cube. Now my fingers are throbbing. The only way I can even keep the pain mildly manageable is if I keep them in the ice. During the incident I immediately lost about 1/4 of an inch of skin from just about the finger nail on my middle finger and my other finger I was already getting a blister. Yes...I had second degree burns on my skin and it FELT like it.
Over the next two hours I attempt to do my work and mainly keep those fingers in ice. It is only after I go and fill up with some ice again that I bother to google the First Aid on treating 2nd degree burns. I forgot you aren't supposed to put ice on second degree burns and it turns out that if you have them on your hands you prolly should see a doctor...IMMEDIATELY . Instead I ask the certified first responders at my office to have a look and see if I really should see a doctor. I am told that as long as I am able to keep an infection out of the burn area and since the burns are on the back of my fingers that I should be OK and not need to see a doctor unless the pain is unbearable or I get an infection down the line. The pain, I'll be honest, was borderline unbearable. For most of the day, if my fingers weren't in ice or above my head they felt like they might explode...literally. It was more like that feeling when you slam your fingers in the door...but it wouldn't go away...at.all.
So today was one of those "sliding doors" moments (ref the movie Sliding Doors) in life where I just thought...well...if I had just climbed back into bed like I had attempted to, I wouldn't have ripped my left hand callous open or dumped Cream-o-wheat on my left hand either. Sigh. That's how it goes sometimes though.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Come ON let's GO!
Yesterday I had the brilliant (ahem) idea of doing a tri today. Actually, it turned out not to be such a bad idea, but it was totally spur of the moment too. There was a sprint (750m swim, 20K bike and 5K run) up in Encinitas which isn't too far from me...so I said hey let's give it a go and see where I'm at racing wise this season.
The Swim
I have never done a running surf entry in a tri. Actually as I stood on the beach this morning I realized I haven't swum in the ocean in the last 9 months since I moved here. Watching the heafty waves crash in, I realized that this might just be a survival sort of swim. 7 o'clock came and we were shortly off there after. The plan: don't fight the surf, even if I went really, really slow it was more important not to wear myself out on the surf. I finally got through the surf and the rest of the swim til I returned to the surf wasn't too bad aside from the fact it was salt water. Yuck. Not a fan. When I got back to the surf zone, things got a little interesting. I attempted to body surf when I could but I missed one wave and sorta got sucked under the water, which I soon discovered is a bit scary. I realized I was starting to hyperventilate after that happened and had to calm myself down before I continued on.
Time: ~18 minutes. A little on the slower side for me, but not terrible for me either.
T1: something stupidly long like 5 minutes. Dang hill.
The Bike:
Started off fine, got my legs spinning nicely and was just trying to get blood flowing before I started pushing it hard. Had some agro-male jerk decide to pass me on the right side (there was plenty of room on the left) and I gently (yes this was gently...not snarky) pointed out that he needed to pass on the left. There were a lot of newbies, so I was more just trying to be nice and let him know. Really...I wasn't throwing an attitude...well at first at least. The exchange went a little like this:
Me: Next time please pass on the left. (insert in a nice voice)
Him (in an overly aggressive voice): MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. IT ISN'T YOUR BUSINESS.
Me (a little more snarky this time): WELL you CAN get DQ'd for that!!
Him: MIND YOUR OWN FREAKING BUSINESS.
Ok...while he was passing me, I wasn't even sure if his helmet was buckled and it was then that I:
A)WISHED I was sooooooooooo much faster so I could MOP him on the course and
B) Secretly hoped he would get DQ'd...the jerk....i actually was just trying to help and initially I really wasn't coping an attitude (I promise). There aren't too many rules in triathlons and many are there for safety so it sorta pisses me off when people act above the rules. I don't always point out when someone is breaking a rule, but he was endangering me as we were in a narrow area as I had just come out of a tight left turn and getting ready to go into a right turn I was trying to get back into a 'hug the right side of the road' position AND he had enough room to pass me correctly on the left. His attitude: totally un-necessary.
The bike was ok. Two loops and planned the first loop...push til you feel the lactic acid burn, and second loop go a little harder. It felt slow to me. I realized I wouldn't care if my biking was slow as long as it didn't feel so dang slow...so I was sorta bummed in a way. Funny thing about Wildflower was that since it was so hilly when you weren't going UP a hill you were coming DOWN one so at least I felt faster...even though I had a way slower avg speed.
Avg speed:~16.5mph...not stellah for me, but not terrible for me either.
T2: Volunteer yelled at me to exit with my bike a different way. Sorry lady, i'm coming OFF the bike...then got disoriented and lost my spot. Lame.
The Run:
A two loop 5K. Not really much to say. Legs were typically heavy...had no idea how I was faring, but my hip felt great! So that was a bonus.
Run: ~26 something...which was such a surprise and made me feel really good about the run. That's a sub 9mpm which is great considering my battle with my psoas this winter and all of that stupidity. It means that I am getting back to my 2006 run times, and even bike times. That makes me happy.
Total: 1:35ish?
Overall:
I don't really know what to think about my times to be honest. I saw them and kinda thought...oh, same old same old...but since the race this morning I have kept reminding myself that same old same old is great...why?? Couple of reasons:
1) It's only May and I'm putting speeds up that I typically wouldn't see until the end of a race season in my previous seasons. Yea!
2) I'm getting over a freaking injury that has caused all sorts of set backs physically and mentally...so to BE posting times that are competitive with what I used to be doing, especially on not a whole lot of training going on in my life...wooohoo!
I'm glad I did it. I am reminded of alllllll the areas I need to work on, but I had fun over all.
The Swim
I have never done a running surf entry in a tri. Actually as I stood on the beach this morning I realized I haven't swum in the ocean in the last 9 months since I moved here. Watching the heafty waves crash in, I realized that this might just be a survival sort of swim. 7 o'clock came and we were shortly off there after. The plan: don't fight the surf, even if I went really, really slow it was more important not to wear myself out on the surf. I finally got through the surf and the rest of the swim til I returned to the surf wasn't too bad aside from the fact it was salt water. Yuck. Not a fan. When I got back to the surf zone, things got a little interesting. I attempted to body surf when I could but I missed one wave and sorta got sucked under the water, which I soon discovered is a bit scary. I realized I was starting to hyperventilate after that happened and had to calm myself down before I continued on.
Time: ~18 minutes. A little on the slower side for me, but not terrible for me either.
T1: something stupidly long like 5 minutes. Dang hill.
The Bike:
Started off fine, got my legs spinning nicely and was just trying to get blood flowing before I started pushing it hard. Had some agro-male jerk decide to pass me on the right side (there was plenty of room on the left) and I gently (yes this was gently...not snarky) pointed out that he needed to pass on the left. There were a lot of newbies, so I was more just trying to be nice and let him know. Really...I wasn't throwing an attitude...well at first at least. The exchange went a little like this:
Me: Next time please pass on the left. (insert in a nice voice)
Him (in an overly aggressive voice): MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS. IT ISN'T YOUR BUSINESS.
Me (a little more snarky this time): WELL you CAN get DQ'd for that!!
Him: MIND YOUR OWN FREAKING BUSINESS.
Ok...while he was passing me, I wasn't even sure if his helmet was buckled and it was then that I:
A)WISHED I was sooooooooooo much faster so I could MOP him on the course and
B) Secretly hoped he would get DQ'd...the jerk....i actually was just trying to help and initially I really wasn't coping an attitude (I promise). There aren't too many rules in triathlons and many are there for safety so it sorta pisses me off when people act above the rules. I don't always point out when someone is breaking a rule, but he was endangering me as we were in a narrow area as I had just come out of a tight left turn and getting ready to go into a right turn I was trying to get back into a 'hug the right side of the road' position AND he had enough room to pass me correctly on the left. His attitude: totally un-necessary.
The bike was ok. Two loops and planned the first loop...push til you feel the lactic acid burn, and second loop go a little harder. It felt slow to me. I realized I wouldn't care if my biking was slow as long as it didn't feel so dang slow...so I was sorta bummed in a way. Funny thing about Wildflower was that since it was so hilly when you weren't going UP a hill you were coming DOWN one so at least I felt faster...even though I had a way slower avg speed.
Avg speed:~16.5mph...not stellah for me, but not terrible for me either.
T2: Volunteer yelled at me to exit with my bike a different way. Sorry lady, i'm coming OFF the bike...then got disoriented and lost my spot. Lame.
The Run:
A two loop 5K. Not really much to say. Legs were typically heavy...had no idea how I was faring, but my hip felt great! So that was a bonus.
Run: ~26 something...which was such a surprise and made me feel really good about the run. That's a sub 9mpm which is great considering my battle with my psoas this winter and all of that stupidity. It means that I am getting back to my 2006 run times, and even bike times. That makes me happy.
Total: 1:35ish?
Overall:
I don't really know what to think about my times to be honest. I saw them and kinda thought...oh, same old same old...but since the race this morning I have kept reminding myself that same old same old is great...why?? Couple of reasons:
1) It's only May and I'm putting speeds up that I typically wouldn't see until the end of a race season in my previous seasons. Yea!
2) I'm getting over a freaking injury that has caused all sorts of set backs physically and mentally...so to BE posting times that are competitive with what I used to be doing, especially on not a whole lot of training going on in my life...wooohoo!
I'm glad I did it. I am reminded of alllllll the areas I need to work on, but I had fun over all.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Last minute
Um...yea...this morning around 10am, I thought "hey...there is a tri up in Encinitas why not do it tomorrow? It's a sprint...doable right?". Ooooooookay. No thought. No planning. No specific training. Just went up there this afternoon and registered and well...I will have a race report tomorrow I guess.
The race is more like a swim-run-bike-run. The run to transition I swear is 1/4 mile UP a big hill. Reminds me of Webster, MA tri's big ol' run to transition, never could get a T1 less than 6 minutes on that race. It should be fun. But the rest of the bike and run are really flat. Only interesting part may be that whole never done a surf entry sort of deal. Not freaked out about it, more concerned about wasting energy. I got a quick 101 on the 'how-to's ' of a running surf entry when I went and signed up. I'm a lucky one I guess, open water doesn't really freak me out...i'm not fast by any imagination, but the whole swimming in open-ness isn't huge to me. Now that being said...i'm used to fresh water places where the, uh, wildlife isn't so keen to hang out with you. Nasty jelly fish or sting ray's floating around could freak me out a little, but I think I will be ok. I think I'm more concerned about the other racers kicking me to be honest and that is in any tri.
So the plan...plan...what plan? Go fast as I possible can. That may look like I'm riding backwards to some people...but hey, whatever. And my other plan is to get my groove back. Wildflower sorta got the spirit of racing back in my blood and I hope tomorrow is much more of the same.
Training this week, oh...wait...it is triathlon season. hahaha. One day I will get my head in the game. It may take awhile, but that's ok.
The race is more like a swim-run-bike-run. The run to transition I swear is 1/4 mile UP a big hill. Reminds me of Webster, MA tri's big ol' run to transition, never could get a T1 less than 6 minutes on that race. It should be fun. But the rest of the bike and run are really flat. Only interesting part may be that whole never done a surf entry sort of deal. Not freaked out about it, more concerned about wasting energy. I got a quick 101 on the 'how-to's ' of a running surf entry when I went and signed up. I'm a lucky one I guess, open water doesn't really freak me out...i'm not fast by any imagination, but the whole swimming in open-ness isn't huge to me. Now that being said...i'm used to fresh water places where the, uh, wildlife isn't so keen to hang out with you. Nasty jelly fish or sting ray's floating around could freak me out a little, but I think I will be ok. I think I'm more concerned about the other racers kicking me to be honest and that is in any tri.
So the plan...plan...what plan? Go fast as I possible can. That may look like I'm riding backwards to some people...but hey, whatever. And my other plan is to get my groove back. Wildflower sorta got the spirit of racing back in my blood and I hope tomorrow is much more of the same.
Training this week, oh...wait...it is triathlon season. hahaha. One day I will get my head in the game. It may take awhile, but that's ok.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Please make it stop!
Thanks for all the encouraging comments about my silly crossfit workouts...I have to laugh when I hear "that's bad ass or hard core" because I surely do NOT feel that way the next day when I am almost sliding down the banister because I can barely walk down the stairs. I felt a bit like E.T. the past couple of days as I've just constantly been saying:
oooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwch!
Walking hurts, sitting down hurts, walking down the stairs hurts....a.LOT. Stupid wall ball squats. I think the mental game that I have with crossfit is that I keep thinking that one day I will be strong enough not to be so immobilized by a workout, but I'm not sure if that ever will actually happen as I hear seasoned crossfitters describing days they have difficulty walking down stairs. This time there was no Delay Onset Muscle Soreness...it was more like...immediate soreness that night and it never stopped. I went for a run on monday evening and started to feel the soreness creeping in from the AM crossfit workout...and the rest of the week has been me hobbling around. One person at work asked me if I was trying out a new 'walk'...hahaha. Not.so.funny.
But yes, this is the big downside to crossfit. It can really mess up your other training.I did get a 4 mile (painful) run in today...but it was pretty ugly and pretty slow. I am listening to my body when it complains...and basically will give it way if I am having trouble with normal things like, say walking.
In other funny news, I suddenly found myself as the captain of my 10K MudRun team that is in a month...how that happened I have no idea. I am the newest employee on the team (as it is one of my corporation's team) and somehow when the captain dropped out, it was all me. That is in just over a month! Very exciting.
oooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwch!Walking hurts, sitting down hurts, walking down the stairs hurts....a.LOT. Stupid wall ball squats. I think the mental game that I have with crossfit is that I keep thinking that one day I will be strong enough not to be so immobilized by a workout, but I'm not sure if that ever will actually happen as I hear seasoned crossfitters describing days they have difficulty walking down stairs. This time there was no Delay Onset Muscle Soreness...it was more like...immediate soreness that night and it never stopped. I went for a run on monday evening and started to feel the soreness creeping in from the AM crossfit workout...and the rest of the week has been me hobbling around. One person at work asked me if I was trying out a new 'walk'...hahaha. Not.so.funny.
But yes, this is the big downside to crossfit. It can really mess up your other training.I did get a 4 mile (painful) run in today...but it was pretty ugly and pretty slow. I am listening to my body when it complains...and basically will give it way if I am having trouble with normal things like, say walking.
In other funny news, I suddenly found myself as the captain of my 10K MudRun team that is in a month...how that happened I have no idea. I am the newest employee on the team (as it is one of my corporation's team) and somehow when the captain dropped out, it was all me. That is in just over a month! Very exciting.
Monday, May 12, 2008
New shoes
I just bought a pair of new shoes. Not new running shoes. Not new cycling shoes...no...I bought a pair of WEIGHT LIFTING SHOES.
This is my thought: WHAT HAS COME OVER ME???
I don't know. This whole crossfitting thing is so funny to me at times, because I never, never, in my life imagined that I would be attempting to consistently lift 80-90% of my max on certain lifts, and then go and BUY weight lifting shoes.
Last week at Crossfit, one of the other woman had mentioned that I would probably do a lot better in weightlifting shoes. A lot of our workouts consist of first doing a warmup with some running, squats, pushups, pull ups, ring dips, sit ups (GHB), back extensions, then after the warm up on some days we will have one lift where we will go between 80% and Max weight for a specific lift, like a back squat and then into a timed workout. There are days where all we do are powerlifts, but many of the days we will also have a workout of the day (WOD) that are 'rounds' of something. Here is what today looked like:
Backsqats: 5-5-5...take 85% of your max and add 5 lbs (came to 119lbs for me)
Then the WOD (which was timed)was:
25 Sumo Deadlift high pull (explanation video) (55lbs for women)
25 wall ball squats (14 lbs)
While we were lifting backsquats, the instructor/owner also mentioned that I would benefit from weight lifting shoes...so I thought...sure...why not. Even doing squats without shoes was sorta unstable as I kept wiggling around. If you are just lifting and not doing a WOD that requires running or something like that, then typically you are encouraged not to keep your shoes on as running shoes will push you on your toes and make the lift even more difficult.
The most interesting thing happened to me while lifting. Keep in mind with weight lifting I am new to the concept of knowing my max, using a % of my max, lifting heavy, ect. So here I am, with what turns out to be a somewhat heavy, but manageable weight for me attempting these lifts...and in the middle of the lift I got this RUSH of adrenaline. Isn't that cheating? I mean, adrenaline is for when you really, really need some quick strength, you know fight or flight...but my body resorted to that in the middle of my back squats. It was the weirdest experience for me. I don't know why it was weird. I am sure I've had a rush of adrenaline while doing other crossfit workouts/bike rides/runs but this was one of those experiences where I just could feel the difference after it happened and while it was happening. My body didn't realize I wasn't in a dire situation when I was struggling to get that bar back up, apparently it thought I was in distress.
Then it was onto the WOD...which...in a word: sucked. It was when I was driving to work after crossfit that I realized why i like crossfit...aside from the fact I really enjoy the people there, I also like that when I am in the middle of a really, really sucky workout...there is no other option but to finish. And when I finish...the sense of accomplishment that comes over me is worth the suckyness of the workout (mostly). I have just learned to keep plugging away even when I'd rather not. Today was one of those workouts. The deadlift high pull's weren't too bad but those stupid wall ball squats. I think they are unfair because you have to hit this target that is somthing like 10-12 feet up in the air...and being shorter (5'4") I have further to throw the stupid ball. OK...I guess that if I was 6 foot than I could complain that I have to squat further down...but I'm going to whine about having to throw the stupid ball so far up because, well...because I'm pathetic at actually hitting the target. I guess the 'solution' should have been to use a lighter medicine ball...but I don't actually think I'd get away with that. I am finding I don't get to use the 'new kid' card much these days. I'm not that new any more...been there for 5.5 months now. Wow.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Back in the swing of it
I had planned on a lot of things this week. Some yoga, nice swimming but life has really gotten in the way of all of that and I have also just been tired from the weekend, so I took it easy (read: I did nothing until today). But I managed to find my way back to crossfit today.
We did Overhead Squats 5-5-5. THESE.ARE.HARD. I felt so unbalanced most of the time and a wimp the rest of the time. Because getting the balance right is slightly difficult in the early stages of learning them, so you don't load up the squats much until you have the form right. My max back squat weight is 135 or so...And when we are doing 5-5-5 reps I'm doing around 115-120lbs. Today with the overhead squat...33lbs. And I felt like I *might* be able to put maybe 5 or 10 lbs on and...well...not much more. They are more awkward than anything else and I didn't feel like it was all that heavy, but the whole action of the squatting down makes them REALLY hard.
Then our WOD was 5 rounds for time:
15 Hang Power Snatches (video of demo)
Run 400m
Time: 17:04
Again...totally wimpy weight of 33lbs for the hang power snatch (women were supposed to do 65lbs), but form is more important and now I have that pretty well squared away actually. What was giving out on the hang power snatch was my forearms, none of my other muscles actually were complaining. Odd. I probably could have done a heavier weight and taken a longer time. Next time.
One of the other woman mentioned that she's noticed that typically once I get my form squared away after the first few pulls of any lift, that I gain a lot more of my strength and can probably lift more than I am doing in general. Things to think about.
Ahhh and I get to go on vacation here in a mere two weeks. Pretty excited.
We did Overhead Squats 5-5-5. THESE.ARE.HARD. I felt so unbalanced most of the time and a wimp the rest of the time. Because getting the balance right is slightly difficult in the early stages of learning them, so you don't load up the squats much until you have the form right. My max back squat weight is 135 or so...And when we are doing 5-5-5 reps I'm doing around 115-120lbs. Today with the overhead squat...33lbs. And I felt like I *might* be able to put maybe 5 or 10 lbs on and...well...not much more. They are more awkward than anything else and I didn't feel like it was all that heavy, but the whole action of the squatting down makes them REALLY hard.
Then our WOD was 5 rounds for time:
15 Hang Power Snatches (video of demo)
Run 400m
Time: 17:04
Again...totally wimpy weight of 33lbs for the hang power snatch (women were supposed to do 65lbs), but form is more important and now I have that pretty well squared away actually. What was giving out on the hang power snatch was my forearms, none of my other muscles actually were complaining. Odd. I probably could have done a heavier weight and taken a longer time. Next time.
One of the other woman mentioned that she's noticed that typically once I get my form squared away after the first few pulls of any lift, that I gain a lot more of my strength and can probably lift more than I am doing in general. Things to think about.
Ahhh and I get to go on vacation here in a mere two weeks. Pretty excited.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Wildflower...its not *just* about the race
Wildflower is about the whole weekend. It's not only about whatever race one does. It's about the camping the wandering aimlessly around for a day waiting for your race (or after your race depending on which one you do) and hoping...hoping...hoping you are hydrating properly if you are racing on the second day. (I do have some pics for the post...but I forgot my cable at work...so I'll update a little later) So...even though I only did the relay of the bike leg of the Olympic 
distance...this is a long post. Scroll down to Sunday if you only want to read the RR. Pretty long RR for *just* the bike leg of a relay...but whatever.Friday
Friday I got off work at 12 and headed up with my friend N and her boyfriend T. It is about a 6 hour drive from SD up to Wildflower...I had no idea where I was going so far north until I saw signs for Fresno and said "where are we?". The ride up was pretty uneventful for us, unfortunately the car that had my bike had difficulties with one of the bikes and it ended up needing a new wheel when we got up there. Yikes. We set up camp, met up with a few people my friends knew and then eventually called it a night.
Saturday
If you venture to Wildflower, it is camping in higher elevation. It may get hot
during the day, but it sure gets cold at night. I slept poorly and was pretty cold that night. When really really early in the morning came, I was awakened by someone running....what? Out for a jog at dark 30 o'clock on your race morning? OK...who knows if that person was racing, it was all a little odd though especially since when the sun actually came up it was more like 6am which meant they were running at 5 something am. Go back to bed people.Saturday, we spent most of the day hanging down at race central area where we did manage to watch some of the pro's come in. Reading about protriathletes and then seeing them is always a disjointed affair for me because they just look like any other skinny, tan, superfit-triathlete in a tri-suit out there...they just are coming in first place in 4:00:43 (that's just crazy fast)for 'Macca who from the sounds of the announcers had been battling it out with Chris Lieto and Eneko Llanos from Spain as the announcer said at 3:40...that Lieto was in first at that point. McCormack was checking his shoulder down the whole shoot...so it appeared that it had been a pretty tight race.
The race central was pretty cool with some bands playing and the food not being too, too bad. We ventured out for a swim at one point. For me it was to cool off as I would not be swimming the next day, but everyone else was swimming the next day so sorta a warm-up...as they were all ex-swimteam superstars they zoomed around as I just sorta flopped around in the water...as I do...and called it a swim stroke. We headed back to our campsite for dinner and as we were finishing up...about 30...yes 30...streakers, men and women came running through our section of the camp site. They don't call it the 'woodstock of triathlons' for no reason. There had been some 'practice' streaking the prior evening, but it was dark the previous night and it was not so dark on Saturday.
Sunday
(total elevation gain +2219/-2219 ft, lowest point on this map 800ft highest point 1175ft, no it is really hilly, it doesn't just look that way)
People had completely freaked me out about the bike at Wildflower, even for the Olympic distance. I had heard heard: "Ohmygosh it is so hard" "The hills" "The heat" and on and on and on. I had studied the bike course profile. I went so far as to map out every freaking hill on the 40K and figured out their % grade.
And then obsessed over where to put the map on my bike. I admit it...I can sometimes be overly(THE map)
dramatic...because I think it is sorta funny...so saturday when we decided not to drive the course I got slightly overly dramatic. Needless to say, I felt like a dork, because how do you explain that you were actually 90% kidding only 10% serious about your own neurotic behavior, I mean I had obsessed all afternoon about how to tape the stupid map I made to my bike...if I were on the other end of it...i'd think "freakshow"...but whatever, i digress. That's me...a bit type A, slightly a dramaqueen, and a planner. Because at the end of the day...I knew it would be fine. I'd feel better if I got to see the course but I also knew it wouldn't be the end of the world if I didn't see it either. Besides, i didn't have to run after the bike so I could just go as hard as I could possibly sustain and just deal with the ramifications later.
But I will admit...all the studying of the map, and succumbing to other people's fear mongering of the bike course I had no idea how fast I could go, or even if I would be 'swept' off the course. Being in a relay, we were in the last heat of the day which meant no one behind us...so that wasn't a good thing either for someone freaked out about how hilly the course was. I figured that since I'm not a very fast biker on the flats, (I only average between 15-17mph)...that the supposedly hilly, hilly, ohmygosh hilly course, might even kill me. I was hoping to both finish in one piece and under two hours. I figured I might be able to do 12.5 mile avg speed for a hilly bike, right? RIGHT? I had a few deep seeded fears that I might not even make that.
One of the steepest hills is Lynch Hill...that is about oh, 300m into the ride. It's 7-10% grade for about 3/4 of a mile. As I was riding my bike down to transition I thought "This is lynch hill??"...I was UNIMPRESSED. Now, don't get me wrong...it is a solid hill, but sorta unimpressive at the same time. Knowing that this was the steepest hill, I sighed a bit of relief.
Now being in a relay we had TWO HOURS from the time the race started til our heat left. I had gotten there early as I had an irrational fear that even though for the long course they hadn't closed transition to people with their bikes later in the morning, I irrationally thought they might this morning. So I got down there way too early and had to sit around for quite awhile.
And the memory of why I enjoy racing started to come back. The scores of people looking anxious and excited. The relay teams that take themselves WAY too seriously as their biker is warming up on a trainer. There just is a great excitement that just bubbles everywhere. It made me smile to be a part of it.
Finally our heat was up. My friend took off, she thought she'd be done around 24mins...so I watched her take off...and made my way back to my bike. The first swimmer from the relay heat came out in something stupidly fast...like 18 minutes. AND:
It.was.on.
The relay teams were bouncing around looking anxiously for their swimmer as people started to come in. My friend showed up and I was off.
I got up Lynch hill and thought 'hmmm this isn't too bad'...and proceeded on my merry way. Most of the hills I tried to just keep the cadence high and if i started to feel the lactic acid burn more on the uncontrollable side of things I employed the 'waltzing' technique. I managed to drop my chain in a stupid section...i wasn't even on a hill...but my gearing was acting a little odd all day long and had me worried at times (but i think it was more operator error than gearing problems). The miles were flying by and I was having a lot of fun. I should point out that aside from not having driven the bike course I also had managed to misplace my HRM so I really felt like I was flying blind. And it was the BEST thing for me. I just pushed until my legs burned and I was breathing hard and tried to hold that as best as I could.
I was getting near the turn around section and an aid station was up ahead. I was running low on one bottle of fluid so I decided to try to take a bottle of water from a volunteer. I've never done this before and was slightly unnerved with the thought, but I just pointed at the guy holding the water, said "WATER" held out my hand...he ran with me, and I got it...easy peasy. I know this sounds storta stupid, but it is something that has always sorta freaked me out. Completing such a smooth hand off made me feel even more like a rockstar. Icing.
After I got to the turn around, on the way back I could feel my legs starting to complain a little more, I waltzed a bit more up the hills. For the most part I typically would pass a bunch of people on the hills and but not get passed too frequently on the flats so my fears of being swept off the course were put to sleep early on. Being in the last wave can be a confidence booster as there are not as many people behind you to potentially pass you either. I'll take it.
As I flew into transition down Lynch hill that rush of adrenaline that comes from a race well executed came back to me...and left a smile on my face that in all honesty hasn't left me. I looked down at my time to see I was WELL under 2 hours and even had an average speed close to 14.5mph. I was pretty ecstatic.
I handed off the chip to my friend who was doing both the swim and the run...and reveled in my accomplishment for the day. My thoughts on the hills: They deserve respect as they can be a bit relentless at times, but WAY over stated. I trained on hills and in lots of headwinds (and lots of squats:-) ) preparing for this race so I was prepared physically for them, but overall the course reminded me more of the hills in Western MA and in VT...and what I typically used to train on. I also grew up biking every.single.day of summer up a mile long 7% hill as that is what I lived on, so being 12 and refusing to walk my bike up the hill apparently was a good for future mental hill training. No i'm not fast on the hills, but I don't let them boss me around either.
Most importantly I started to remember why I love tri's and racing. I've been in a muddle lately with recovering from my injury and just adjusting to a new surrounding and I rediscovered the joy of race mornings, mental preparations, training, and tri's in general this weekend. I'm looking forward to Wildflower next year I will definitely at least do the Olympic. I am also more pumped to race this season.
To sum it up: The weekend rocked.
My oh so sweeeet FREEE Headsweats visor I scored.
Wildflower...the quick update
Wildflower
It rocked.
I exceeded my expectations.
It was just what I needed.
I have begun to remember what I love about racing again.
More later, i'm tired.
It rocked.
I exceeded my expectations.
It was just what I needed.
I have begun to remember what I love about racing again.
More later, i'm tired.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Salt , Hooding and Wildflower
Salt
Salt intake sometimes confuses me. OK, it's not the actual intake of salt or the why of salt it is more related to how my body deals with its need for salt.
This weekend wasn't a huge training weekend. I actually had plans of a run on saturday that got taken over dealing with some last bits of grad school insanity that I'll go into later. So...grad school...STILL won that one. Soon, very soon, that will NEVER happen again. I'm not even in grad school anymore! But in my haste to get out of grad school I left some unfinished business behind. Major part of it is taken care of with a small minor part to go.
On sunday I got a bike ride in. Nothing major. Only 20 miles. Nothing fast as it was windy and HOT...but whatever. Between the ride and getting to the car I drank two 24 oz bottles of liquid. One water, one with powerbar endurance. I have a moderate sweat rate most of the time and I didn't feel particularly hot or thirsty after the ride and continued to drink fluids the rest of the day.
But today...I was in a meeting where they were serving chips. Under normal circumstances I don't care much for chips to be honest...but I saw them and i KNEW I wanted the chips...solely for the salt. (fortunately they were baked chips). I probably should have grabbed the pretzels, but in all honestly I just wanted the salt on them. I've been like this all afternoon! Dinner...give me some SALT.
I've had weird salty cravings after longer training weekends and the like, but 20 miles on the bike? AND I had some sports drink...this is just weird the level of salt cravings I am having.
Hooding
Well...still two more days to deal with fiascoville with tying up loose ends for the final bits of the degree. My fiasco the other week with FedEx was with documents not getting to committee members in other countries. But...i think all is well...and all is back in the states. The dissertation has been uploaded. Final signatures are being hunted down on my behalf in MA. I might just have this all done and since I am one who needs closure on the situation I may just make them hood me in May.
Wildflower
I am currently making final arrangements with the other part of my relay. What I need for camping...all of that. Wildflower is this weekend. I had an anti-nightmare last week where I had a dream where what I had been imagining for the hills wasn't as bad as the actual hills. Although I was just told if I had done such-and-such hill here in SD, I would have a good idea what Lynch hill is all about. Not very helpful now. My plan is to keep it consistent as much as possible for the first half and go as hard as I can on the second half. I don't have to run...so my plan is to just hand off to my relay team and head for the lake to soak my poor legs. I am pretty sure it may be the hardest 25 miles I've ridden to date. But I'm up for it. It may be slow...but I have been doing (slow) hills all around here. Practicing my waltzing...which sometimes goes from one- two- three into one (hufff) two (huff) threeeeeeeeeeeeee(huff)...I guess I'm a bad waltzer :-)
Salt intake sometimes confuses me. OK, it's not the actual intake of salt or the why of salt it is more related to how my body deals with its need for salt.
This weekend wasn't a huge training weekend. I actually had plans of a run on saturday that got taken over dealing with some last bits of grad school insanity that I'll go into later. So...grad school...STILL won that one. Soon, very soon, that will NEVER happen again. I'm not even in grad school anymore! But in my haste to get out of grad school I left some unfinished business behind. Major part of it is taken care of with a small minor part to go.
On sunday I got a bike ride in. Nothing major. Only 20 miles. Nothing fast as it was windy and HOT...but whatever. Between the ride and getting to the car I drank two 24 oz bottles of liquid. One water, one with powerbar endurance. I have a moderate sweat rate most of the time and I didn't feel particularly hot or thirsty after the ride and continued to drink fluids the rest of the day.
But today...I was in a meeting where they were serving chips. Under normal circumstances I don't care much for chips to be honest...but I saw them and i KNEW I wanted the chips...solely for the salt. (fortunately they were baked chips). I probably should have grabbed the pretzels, but in all honestly I just wanted the salt on them. I've been like this all afternoon! Dinner...give me some SALT.
I've had weird salty cravings after longer training weekends and the like, but 20 miles on the bike? AND I had some sports drink...this is just weird the level of salt cravings I am having.
Hooding
Well...still two more days to deal with fiascoville with tying up loose ends for the final bits of the degree. My fiasco the other week with FedEx was with documents not getting to committee members in other countries. But...i think all is well...and all is back in the states. The dissertation has been uploaded. Final signatures are being hunted down on my behalf in MA. I might just have this all done and since I am one who needs closure on the situation I may just make them hood me in May.
Wildflower
I am currently making final arrangements with the other part of my relay. What I need for camping...all of that. Wildflower is this weekend. I had an anti-nightmare last week where I had a dream where what I had been imagining for the hills wasn't as bad as the actual hills. Although I was just told if I had done such-and-such hill here in SD, I would have a good idea what Lynch hill is all about. Not very helpful now. My plan is to keep it consistent as much as possible for the first half and go as hard as I can on the second half. I don't have to run...so my plan is to just hand off to my relay team and head for the lake to soak my poor legs. I am pretty sure it may be the hardest 25 miles I've ridden to date. But I'm up for it. It may be slow...but I have been doing (slow) hills all around here. Practicing my waltzing...which sometimes goes from one- two- three into one (hufff) two (huff) threeeeeeeeeeeeee(huff)...I guess I'm a bad waltzer :-)
Fatal Shark Attack
It has been all over the news since Friday when it happened. The man, David Martin, was out on a training swim with my tri club here in town when it happened. It really is an incredibly tragic event that is quite sobering . I haven't done a lot with the triclub since I moved here 6 months ago and I didn't know the him. By all accounts everyone who was with him acted like true heroes after the attack in getting him to shore and getting help. While these incidents are very uncommon and it is more likely that harm can come to a person on the drive to the ocean, it still reminds me how vulnerable we are as we train in any of the disciplines.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
And the deadlift sorted me out...
Today my heart goes out to the deadlift. I heart the deadlift. Why you ask? Well...that weird nagging/painful back issue (that actually came on after a day of biking that had been proceeded by a day of yoga...so not necessarily related to the oblique injury of last week...but everything was too conveniently linked to the oblique so, I blamed that...not sure it was the right thing to blame.) gone...gone today after a notsofun/but remarkably satisfying crossfit workout.
3 rounds of Christine:
500m row
12 DL your body weight (too bad I don't weigh 98lbs)
21 Box jumps 24"
If you are curious about your strength to weigh ratio?...I suggest deadlifting your bodyweight...over and over. Focused me on continuing to decrease my % bodyfat, that is for sure. But here was an awesome benefit to today's workout, the weird lower back pain...pretty much gone. My muscles are a little sore on my back, but that's muscles not the weird place I was not feeling good before. I think that the deadlifting sorted out a spasming muscle. Very weird. Since this back pain started I have been trying to roll out trigger points my hips with a tennis ball as I was tending to blame them, but the deadlifting seems to have dramatically improved my wacky back.
The other awesome part of this morning I DID BOX JUMPS ON A 24" BOX!! Very exciting for the girl totally mortified of box jumping. Last time I did box jumps I was on a 12" box. This was so VERY exciting.
Speedy's brought up an interesting point about my level of injury prone-ness and why do crossfit when it hurts a lot even when it doesn't injure you. I've actually thought about this a lot and have been meaning to post about it for awhile. First of all...I quite possibly am a little injury prone. I easily get overuse injuries (have been to a PT two times prior for those...both IT band related), I have bizarre muscle imbalances, and most people are more flexible than I am....even when I'm doing yoga on a consistent basis. I can touch my toes now though, and that wasn't the case a few years ago. Granted I also fall more frequently than the average person too. My psoas injury being just one example of me falling, but due to pre-existing hip tightness PLUS glute weakness was a recipe for an injury that is just stupid in my book.
Crossfit appealed to me in the beginning for a number of reasons, but some of them were around addressing my weird overuse injuries that have been brought on by muscle imbalances and flexibility issues. Crossfit website talked about building strength, flexibility and power (of which I have little)...so I thought I would give it a try.
Aside from the oblique issue last week, (which I actually blame on my previous psoas injury as that has created a muscle imbalance as it tries to recover), crossfit has delivered its share of DOMs, but I've also seen amazing increases in strength and one thing I have seen is that my knees have stopped complaining about related IT band issues which is where I end up with overuse injuries. While I have yet to see if my strength gets translated into any kind of power on the bike(which so far...NOT seeing) or run, I have seen increases in lean body mass, and muscle definition.
So...why do I continue to do crossfit if it hurts so much even when it doesn't injure me? And I say this in full jest...but is this where I get to say "have ya run much lately"?;-) Why do any of us do these things? The human body and spirit is capable of amazing things. While at times my body protests to what I throw it through...I learn from it while it learns to adapt. Recently I've learned too much, too soon, too fast isn't good.
I also embarked on crossfit because I have sport ADD...I don't like to focus on one thing. Maybe that's why I'm a triathlete, because I get to mix it up...but in truth swim-bike-run...yawn. I still get bored and while I enjoy triathlons and the endurance I've gained from them, I also like learning new sports. Last weekend when I was biking on the ROAD near some kite surfers (Paul...:-) ), I thought that would be cool to learn to do. Or last week when I was talking to a co-worker he mentioned that he was part of a waterskiing club in the area. I have to say how COOL is that? I grew up waterskiing so I think that would be super fun to get back into. And while I'm actually not terribly athletic, it doesn't really matter much to me. I don't pick up a sport and discover that I'm actually outstanding at it, but it's fun. For me Crossfit addressed the ability to just pick up and do whatever new sport I want to try out by giving me the cross-functional strength when I need it.
Sure, Crossfit will even level the most seasoned crossfitters at my gym. On many a morning I've heard "UH...that hurts". But there is a level of camaraderie in suffering all together. And if a particular workout has me struggling, people are incredibly encouraging.
And to address my 'offseason'...I actually don't know how much of an "on season" I will have this year, but that being said...even if I thrown down an Oly later in the season, I doubt crossfit will be pushed to the wayside either. I'm still trying to sort out my balance of tri training and crossfitting. In truth, it doesn't really matter to me that much call it offseason or onseason....whatever whatever. I've got some bigger fish to fry in other sections of my life and I am finding that I can't really give training much mental focus. So I'm more focused on consistent training and increasing strength in order to help prevent injuries. It doesn't matter that much to me what that may look like as far as training. My main season goal is just to get back to enjoying the training which is more important to my life right now.
3 rounds of Christine:
500m row
12 DL your body weight (too bad I don't weigh 98lbs)
21 Box jumps 24"
If you are curious about your strength to weigh ratio?...I suggest deadlifting your bodyweight...over and over. Focused me on continuing to decrease my % bodyfat, that is for sure. But here was an awesome benefit to today's workout, the weird lower back pain...pretty much gone. My muscles are a little sore on my back, but that's muscles not the weird place I was not feeling good before. I think that the deadlifting sorted out a spasming muscle. Very weird. Since this back pain started I have been trying to roll out trigger points my hips with a tennis ball as I was tending to blame them, but the deadlifting seems to have dramatically improved my wacky back.
The other awesome part of this morning I DID BOX JUMPS ON A 24" BOX!! Very exciting for the girl totally mortified of box jumping. Last time I did box jumps I was on a 12" box. This was so VERY exciting.
Speedy's brought up an interesting point about my level of injury prone-ness and why do crossfit when it hurts a lot even when it doesn't injure you. I've actually thought about this a lot and have been meaning to post about it for awhile. First of all...I quite possibly am a little injury prone. I easily get overuse injuries (have been to a PT two times prior for those...both IT band related), I have bizarre muscle imbalances, and most people are more flexible than I am....even when I'm doing yoga on a consistent basis. I can touch my toes now though, and that wasn't the case a few years ago. Granted I also fall more frequently than the average person too. My psoas injury being just one example of me falling, but due to pre-existing hip tightness PLUS glute weakness was a recipe for an injury that is just stupid in my book.
Crossfit appealed to me in the beginning for a number of reasons, but some of them were around addressing my weird overuse injuries that have been brought on by muscle imbalances and flexibility issues. Crossfit website talked about building strength, flexibility and power (of which I have little)...so I thought I would give it a try.
Aside from the oblique issue last week, (which I actually blame on my previous psoas injury as that has created a muscle imbalance as it tries to recover), crossfit has delivered its share of DOMs, but I've also seen amazing increases in strength and one thing I have seen is that my knees have stopped complaining about related IT band issues which is where I end up with overuse injuries. While I have yet to see if my strength gets translated into any kind of power on the bike(which so far...NOT seeing) or run, I have seen increases in lean body mass, and muscle definition.
So...why do I continue to do crossfit if it hurts so much even when it doesn't injure me? And I say this in full jest...but is this where I get to say "have ya run much lately"?;-) Why do any of us do these things? The human body and spirit is capable of amazing things. While at times my body protests to what I throw it through...I learn from it while it learns to adapt. Recently I've learned too much, too soon, too fast isn't good.
I also embarked on crossfit because I have sport ADD...I don't like to focus on one thing. Maybe that's why I'm a triathlete, because I get to mix it up...but in truth swim-bike-run...yawn. I still get bored and while I enjoy triathlons and the endurance I've gained from them, I also like learning new sports. Last weekend when I was biking on the ROAD near some kite surfers (Paul...:-) ), I thought that would be cool to learn to do. Or last week when I was talking to a co-worker he mentioned that he was part of a waterskiing club in the area. I have to say how COOL is that? I grew up waterskiing so I think that would be super fun to get back into. And while I'm actually not terribly athletic, it doesn't really matter much to me. I don't pick up a sport and discover that I'm actually outstanding at it, but it's fun. For me Crossfit addressed the ability to just pick up and do whatever new sport I want to try out by giving me the cross-functional strength when I need it.
Sure, Crossfit will even level the most seasoned crossfitters at my gym. On many a morning I've heard "UH...that hurts". But there is a level of camaraderie in suffering all together. And if a particular workout has me struggling, people are incredibly encouraging.
And to address my 'offseason'...I actually don't know how much of an "on season" I will have this year, but that being said...even if I thrown down an Oly later in the season, I doubt crossfit will be pushed to the wayside either. I'm still trying to sort out my balance of tri training and crossfitting. In truth, it doesn't really matter to me that much call it offseason or onseason....whatever whatever. I've got some bigger fish to fry in other sections of my life and I am finding that I can't really give training much mental focus. So I'm more focused on consistent training and increasing strength in order to help prevent injuries. It doesn't matter that much to me what that may look like as far as training. My main season goal is just to get back to enjoying the training which is more important to my life right now.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Updates
Swimming
Hmmmm...not doing much of that these days, maybe I should do a little more...soon.
Biking
I honestly think I'm getting slower. I don't really get it. I went for a 16 mile bike ride today in an area I ride and compared to a few weeks ago, slower. Blame the tires? Fit? Not sure. But i'm almost convinced I've gotten slower over the past few months I honestly don't understand it.
Running
Not as much as I'd like in this category either, but such it is with injuries and the like. I tend to keep the mileage lower, but last week I didn't run at all. Need to change that this week.
Crossfit
Trying my hardest not to let it kill me, but it typically does. Gone two weeks now without nasty DOMS so that is good. But haven't been there a whole lot either.
Injury updates
I've actually just tried to 'deal' and ignore whatever. Maybe not a good plan, I know, but that's how I roll sometimes. Strained oblique is better...sorta rested, iced, stretched and heated the area (probably why I haven't been doing much of any kind of training lately)but I think when it freaked out it caused a chain reaction last week and now my lower back hurts when I slightly backbend.(just reaching up and stretching backwards a little)...and no amount of heat or stretching is helping, which sorta wiggs me out because if it isn't muscular than that is NO good. But it doesn't hurt that bad either, nagging pain basically. Doesn't hurt when I train, only hurts at random times, like when I'm trying to do a kipping pull-up due to the swinging. No idea what caused it either. Psoas, it's ok...dealing, nagging at times. I may try to get some ART this week before Wildflower. I'm trying not to KILL myself in my training, and just get out there and do some stuff, but I'm also not pushing really, really hard as I just need things to heal and move past this frustration.
Wildflower
Well...since it seems I am getting slower these days, I have no idea what to expect for a 25 mile course that has 2500 feet of elevation gain and loss. Just over a week. Mentally just gearing up for a hard, hard bike ride.
Life update
I FREAKING HATE FED-EX. They suck. Tried to have a package delivered over to Europe...got there and now they are claiming they can't deliver it, but the recipient claims they haven't tried to contact him. The fiasco has been going on for a WEEK. Total FREAKING MESS. Makes me super cranky at the moment.
Hmmmm...not doing much of that these days, maybe I should do a little more...soon.
Biking
I honestly think I'm getting slower. I don't really get it. I went for a 16 mile bike ride today in an area I ride and compared to a few weeks ago, slower. Blame the tires? Fit? Not sure. But i'm almost convinced I've gotten slower over the past few months I honestly don't understand it.
Running
Not as much as I'd like in this category either, but such it is with injuries and the like. I tend to keep the mileage lower, but last week I didn't run at all. Need to change that this week.
Crossfit
Trying my hardest not to let it kill me, but it typically does. Gone two weeks now without nasty DOMS so that is good. But haven't been there a whole lot either.
Injury updates
I've actually just tried to 'deal' and ignore whatever. Maybe not a good plan, I know, but that's how I roll sometimes. Strained oblique is better...sorta rested, iced, stretched and heated the area (probably why I haven't been doing much of any kind of training lately)but I think when it freaked out it caused a chain reaction last week and now my lower back hurts when I slightly backbend.(just reaching up and stretching backwards a little)...and no amount of heat or stretching is helping, which sorta wiggs me out because if it isn't muscular than that is NO good. But it doesn't hurt that bad either, nagging pain basically. Doesn't hurt when I train, only hurts at random times, like when I'm trying to do a kipping pull-up due to the swinging. No idea what caused it either. Psoas, it's ok...dealing, nagging at times. I may try to get some ART this week before Wildflower. I'm trying not to KILL myself in my training, and just get out there and do some stuff, but I'm also not pushing really, really hard as I just need things to heal and move past this frustration.
Wildflower
Well...since it seems I am getting slower these days, I have no idea what to expect for a 25 mile course that has 2500 feet of elevation gain and loss. Just over a week. Mentally just gearing up for a hard, hard bike ride.
Life update
I FREAKING HATE FED-EX. They suck. Tried to have a package delivered over to Europe...got there and now they are claiming they can't deliver it, but the recipient claims they haven't tried to contact him. The fiasco has been going on for a WEEK. Total FREAKING MESS. Makes me super cranky at the moment.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Jumping rope
I never did "Jump rope for heart" as a kid where you raise money for the american heart association...maybe I should have. It would pay off with Crossfit now a days, that's fo' sure.
Today looked like this
5-5-5 back squat at 85% max (115lbs for me)
Then 4 rounds for time of:
50 squats (unweighted)
50 double unders with a jump rope(where you try to spin the rope twice under you)...or 150 singles.
Me and jump roping. We never became good friends in grade school. We were mere acquaintances really. I could sorta jump rope with the long jump ropes, but jumping rope on my own? Na. And then doing double unders...that is more just hilarious really. But that being said for each round I would give double unders a good 'college try' for the first 10 and then move on to singles. And then randomly, I was only my last round and had counted out 120 singles and thought "let's try it double unders again"...no good reason, but out of the next 30 tries I think I actually managed about 10 of them. But when you aren't used to actually doing a double under then when it happens you don't know what to do on the next time to jump rope and you lose your rhythm. But I was pretty excited for the few I managed.
I did get a bike ride in this weekend in an area where I could work and focus on being aero more. I've gradually been trying to build a relationship with my aero bars. They are a little skittish of embarking on such a relationship, but I discovered more that my saddle isn't so thrilled with this new relationship nor are my shoulders (but they complain about biking in general so I tend to ignore them...they have their own set of pre-existing issues...it's not how my bike fits). But I'm doing better in areo. But I do have a tip from the weekend...if people are kite surfing where you are riding your bike, maybe not the best place to ride...dontchathink?? At least that was my thought by the end of it.
Today looked like this
5-5-5 back squat at 85% max (115lbs for me)
Then 4 rounds for time of:
50 squats (unweighted)
50 double unders with a jump rope(where you try to spin the rope twice under you)...or 150 singles.
Me and jump roping. We never became good friends in grade school. We were mere acquaintances really. I could sorta jump rope with the long jump ropes, but jumping rope on my own? Na. And then doing double unders...that is more just hilarious really. But that being said for each round I would give double unders a good 'college try' for the first 10 and then move on to singles. And then randomly, I was only my last round and had counted out 120 singles and thought "let's try it double unders again"...no good reason, but out of the next 30 tries I think I actually managed about 10 of them. But when you aren't used to actually doing a double under then when it happens you don't know what to do on the next time to jump rope and you lose your rhythm. But I was pretty excited for the few I managed.
I did get a bike ride in this weekend in an area where I could work and focus on being aero more. I've gradually been trying to build a relationship with my aero bars. They are a little skittish of embarking on such a relationship, but I discovered more that my saddle isn't so thrilled with this new relationship nor are my shoulders (but they complain about biking in general so I tend to ignore them...they have their own set of pre-existing issues...it's not how my bike fits). But I'm doing better in areo. But I do have a tip from the weekend...if people are kite surfing where you are riding your bike, maybe not the best place to ride...dontchathink?? At least that was my thought by the end of it.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Awwww...
Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate it. None of us likes to be injured and injuries just seem to be crazy frustrating. Mindy is having some of that PT love that all of us athlete's don't like so much. My PT is a triathlete and I when he finally released me a few weeks ago, told him that I'd rather see him at tri's and say 'hi' and have a bagel or something than continue to be his patient. I mean he's a great PT, don't get me wrong, but I feel that way about just about any PT. They inflict pain for a living. It is never any fun.
Today I opened my USA Triathlon Life magazine and was reading an inspiring article on triathletes who have come back from MASSIVE injuries. I'm not equating my injury by any means on this level...AT.ALL. I mean one of the guys had been crushed by a bus and is lucky he wasn't paralyzed and is now fighting his way back to be a triathlete. Truly amazing. The article had a great, applicable quote that hit home for me and made me realize how worked up I can get over injuries:
When healing, less is often better, a notion counter to everything multisport athletes believe. Recovery abides by its own pace. It can't be rushed regardless of how distasteful a sedentary lifestyle becomes.
So true. Less is often better and so hard to remember.
To address Speedy's puzzling question of "how does one strain their oblique?" My answer...I'm super talented. While it seems that I may have not shown up on the day they were giving away the 'super duper speedy/graceful athletic talents' I sure showed up when they were handing out the gift of cluzy, stupid, injury talents. I mean this psoas stupidity that started back in November was due to me falling while trail running, granted you could blame the whole "it was at night thing"...but falling on a knee and then ending up in PT for 3 months. Nice one. Or how about falling down the stairs a year and a half ago? I'm just fortunate I didn't break my arm or crack my head open. Or when I was 15, I even crashed the first (and last) time I ever went mountain biking in which I got a concussion ended up on a spine board for 4 hours and then to hospital for CAT scans to which the doctor said: Wow you have all four of your wisdom teeth...and I replied: Did I break my neck and can I go home now? Grace is not my middle name.
In all fairness, I think the strained oblique is related to the fact my right side has been weaker with trying to rehab my psoas, so when I ventured to Crossfit last week and had the evil workout on the G-H-B I mildly induced some strain in that side since with the situps you do 'kick' yourself up on the G-H-B with the hips/core. So, I think the root cause of the strain is because I'm recovering from the psoas injury. They do seem linked considering where the strain is, where my PT tended to inflict a lot of pain, and the general muscle group responsible. Also remember, I'm super talented like that. :-)
More and more and more I am realizing that this season will be a huge focus on injury recovery/prevention and just getting a super solid base under me. I only have two actual races on my calendar...the bike leg of Wildflower's Oly and a Mud Run in June. I'm started to think about maybe an Aug/Sept Oly and a possible sprint. I may put enough S-B-R training in so I can thrown down a sprint when I want and possibly an Oly later. We shall see.
Today I opened my USA Triathlon Life magazine and was reading an inspiring article on triathletes who have come back from MASSIVE injuries. I'm not equating my injury by any means on this level...AT.ALL. I mean one of the guys had been crushed by a bus and is lucky he wasn't paralyzed and is now fighting his way back to be a triathlete. Truly amazing. The article had a great, applicable quote that hit home for me and made me realize how worked up I can get over injuries:
When healing, less is often better, a notion counter to everything multisport athletes believe. Recovery abides by its own pace. It can't be rushed regardless of how distasteful a sedentary lifestyle becomes.
So true. Less is often better and so hard to remember.
To address Speedy's puzzling question of "how does one strain their oblique?" My answer...I'm super talented. While it seems that I may have not shown up on the day they were giving away the 'super duper speedy/graceful athletic talents' I sure showed up when they were handing out the gift of cluzy, stupid, injury talents. I mean this psoas stupidity that started back in November was due to me falling while trail running, granted you could blame the whole "it was at night thing"...but falling on a knee and then ending up in PT for 3 months. Nice one. Or how about falling down the stairs a year and a half ago? I'm just fortunate I didn't break my arm or crack my head open. Or when I was 15, I even crashed the first (and last) time I ever went mountain biking in which I got a concussion ended up on a spine board for 4 hours and then to hospital for CAT scans to which the doctor said: Wow you have all four of your wisdom teeth...and I replied: Did I break my neck and can I go home now? Grace is not my middle name.
In all fairness, I think the strained oblique is related to the fact my right side has been weaker with trying to rehab my psoas, so when I ventured to Crossfit last week and had the evil workout on the G-H-B I mildly induced some strain in that side since with the situps you do 'kick' yourself up on the G-H-B with the hips/core. So, I think the root cause of the strain is because I'm recovering from the psoas injury. They do seem linked considering where the strain is, where my PT tended to inflict a lot of pain, and the general muscle group responsible. Also remember, I'm super talented like that. :-)
More and more and more I am realizing that this season will be a huge focus on injury recovery/prevention and just getting a super solid base under me. I only have two actual races on my calendar...the bike leg of Wildflower's Oly and a Mud Run in June. I'm started to think about maybe an Aug/Sept Oly and a possible sprint. I may put enough S-B-R training in so I can thrown down a sprint when I want and possibly an Oly later. We shall see.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
things
So...Tuesday I did not wake up 'Happy Skippy' as I hoped...but I also was able to sit up in bed and sneezing didn't scare me anymore. The icing and heating helped. But me, being a moron (as I can be) thought "since this is kinda related to my psoas, i'm guessing my hips need some more stretching out". I mean it is sorta part of the psoas issue. More illiacus, than psoas...but when I was seeing my PT he had found a tender areas in the region of concern at the moment. And the other major concern is...its the soreness is only on one side, the side I injured.
So me in my stubborness and stupidity decided that oh NO, I wouldn't do a swim-bike or run workout...i'd be 'nicer' to myself. I'll go do yoga. Yea, Yoga will sort this out. Stretching is good right?
Ok recently I haven't been to my local yoga studio place. I have a gym that has about a thousand yoga classes, so i'm trying to be resourceful and use my gym and not the yoga studio, even though I think one of the instructors is so awesome, but still I'm paying money to go to a gym, I should use it. A word about yoga in most 'gym' environments...it is not the same as a yoga studio. AT.ALL. I know this. Occasionally I've found a yoga instructor at a gym who rocks, but typically gym yoga is a little of the 'watered' down variety.
I heart Ashtanga yoga. I've gone through the whole primary series through a month long seminar. And I used to practice regularly with an instructor who wasn't necessarily a hard core primary-secondary series type of Ashtanga but gave a killer power class with a billion sun salutations. I think I like Ashtanga partly because it is a workout and partly because you don't have to hold a pose for a million years because you are 'flowing' from one to another.
BUT I think yesterday I did not remember that Ashtanga = core. Or better said, I chose to forget it. I chose to think I didn't *really* have anything strained in my core. No. I'm stubborn. I think I 'rationalized' that since I wasn't doing a S-B-R workout and I wasn't doing crossfit I was 'golden'. I'm a little slow at times. Getting things through my thick skull takes awhile to sink in...especially trying to convince myself to 'back off'.
I go to yoga at my local studio on Tuesday, with my favorite instructor. It is an Ashtanga for beginners class. (right) Only a level 2 class...so I figure not too bad right? The instructor asks about injuries, one guy (who had been a regular) was recovering from broken ribs and a hamstring injury and the instructor says 'you came to Ashtanga for your first class back?' I mention my strained oblique. I get much of the same. And it hits me...he's right. What AM I doing there?? Holy Crap. Ashtanga uses tons of core.
So, i give myself a 'pass' if I hurt too much i'll just hang out in Child's pose most of the time. So we start. I discover, oh, jump backs and jump ups...inflict pain. None of those. No big deal. Upward dog to downward dog...um, we have a minor problem. Plank? Nope. And of course he wants to work on jump through and jump backs from seated positions. So I'm basically screwed most of the time trying not to inflict more pain on myself.
If you don't speak yoga I'm sure you are lost. Imagine sitting cross legged on the ground, put your hands on the ground next to your hips. Lift your butt off the ground. Now tip your nose toward the ground with the whole body rotating too... while 'shooting' your legs behind you into a high push-up position. Lots-o-core.
I sorta just flopped about on my mat during all of that. On a good day i'm crap at that stuff. I got home, iced, iced, and applied more ice. Added some heat. Today I am sore to the touch in the area of question, but not too worse for wear.
Then today, I was SO inclined to go to the bike workout this evening, I even had my bike and everything with me at work...I finally just said NO. I took the day off. Tomorrow I will see what i will do. I may do an easy peasy bike ride. Crossfit temps me, but I refuse to do core work if I go. Hmmm...maybe just an easy peasy bike ride. Sigh. I hate this.
So, I'm not going to do the 50 mile bike ride this weekend. While it wouldn't be a training ride pace, I think i'm asking for more trouble. I'll probably keep it to 30 or so. Maybe if I keep things low key I'll get over this stupidity quickly.
So me in my stubborness and stupidity decided that oh NO, I wouldn't do a swim-bike or run workout...i'd be 'nicer' to myself. I'll go do yoga. Yea, Yoga will sort this out. Stretching is good right?
Ok recently I haven't been to my local yoga studio place. I have a gym that has about a thousand yoga classes, so i'm trying to be resourceful and use my gym and not the yoga studio, even though I think one of the instructors is so awesome, but still I'm paying money to go to a gym, I should use it. A word about yoga in most 'gym' environments...it is not the same as a yoga studio. AT.ALL. I know this. Occasionally I've found a yoga instructor at a gym who rocks, but typically gym yoga is a little of the 'watered' down variety.
I heart Ashtanga yoga. I've gone through the whole primary series through a month long seminar. And I used to practice regularly with an instructor who wasn't necessarily a hard core primary-secondary series type of Ashtanga but gave a killer power class with a billion sun salutations. I think I like Ashtanga partly because it is a workout and partly because you don't have to hold a pose for a million years because you are 'flowing' from one to another.
BUT I think yesterday I did not remember that Ashtanga = core. Or better said, I chose to forget it. I chose to think I didn't *really* have anything strained in my core. No. I'm stubborn. I think I 'rationalized' that since I wasn't doing a S-B-R workout and I wasn't doing crossfit I was 'golden'. I'm a little slow at times. Getting things through my thick skull takes awhile to sink in...especially trying to convince myself to 'back off'.
I go to yoga at my local studio on Tuesday, with my favorite instructor. It is an Ashtanga for beginners class. (right) Only a level 2 class...so I figure not too bad right? The instructor asks about injuries, one guy (who had been a regular) was recovering from broken ribs and a hamstring injury and the instructor says 'you came to Ashtanga for your first class back?' I mention my strained oblique. I get much of the same. And it hits me...he's right. What AM I doing there?? Holy Crap. Ashtanga uses tons of core.
So, i give myself a 'pass' if I hurt too much i'll just hang out in Child's pose most of the time. So we start. I discover, oh, jump backs and jump ups...inflict pain. None of those. No big deal. Upward dog to downward dog...um, we have a minor problem. Plank? Nope. And of course he wants to work on jump through and jump backs from seated positions. So I'm basically screwed most of the time trying not to inflict more pain on myself.
If you don't speak yoga I'm sure you are lost. Imagine sitting cross legged on the ground, put your hands on the ground next to your hips. Lift your butt off the ground. Now tip your nose toward the ground with the whole body rotating too... while 'shooting' your legs behind you into a high push-up position. Lots-o-core.
I sorta just flopped about on my mat during all of that. On a good day i'm crap at that stuff. I got home, iced, iced, and applied more ice. Added some heat. Today I am sore to the touch in the area of question, but not too worse for wear.
Then today, I was SO inclined to go to the bike workout this evening, I even had my bike and everything with me at work...I finally just said NO. I took the day off. Tomorrow I will see what i will do. I may do an easy peasy bike ride. Crossfit temps me, but I refuse to do core work if I go. Hmmm...maybe just an easy peasy bike ride. Sigh. I hate this.
So, I'm not going to do the 50 mile bike ride this weekend. While it wouldn't be a training ride pace, I think i'm asking for more trouble. I'll probably keep it to 30 or so. Maybe if I keep things low key I'll get over this stupidity quickly.
Monday, April 14, 2008
I just want to DO what I want to DO!!!!!!!!
First off, recap of my weekend fun. Saturday I woke up and had plans to ride with the tri club but realized it just wasn't going to happen. I was low on sleep and lately i'm a little trigger shy with my training if I feel even a little 'off' after getting sick two times in two weeks. So I decided to sleep longer, go for a 5.5 mile run later in the day when it stopped feeling like July (I swear it is April?? 95 degrees in April, I have no idea where I moved to.) Pretty good run. Hip happy for the most part all was well.
Sunday I decided I was going to do a hilly 30 miles...at first. Awhile ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do the Rosarito-Ensenada bike ride, a 50 mile bike ride down in Mexico. Travel in and out of Mexico has been rumored that you now need your passport and since mine had just expired, I was waiting for it to come in the mail. Saturday when I went to pick up my mail at my PO box, there was a note saying I had an expedited letter waiting for me that I needed to pick up when they were open. Only thing it could be is my passport! Wooohoo!
So...I realized I'd been riding 30 miles fairly consistently over the past few week, so inching to 40 this week and then doing 50 next week (which would be more of a 'ride' and less of a training ride anyway...no hammer fest with the people I'd be going with) would actually work out pretty well. I live in a pretty urban area of SD, and not the most biker friendly area as it is so much stop and go traffic...but there are some nasty hills near me. Short ones, and longer ones. I managed to crank out the first 20 miles in my neighborhood and then I got bored and went to find more open area to finish the 20 miles. Actually that was a good decision because the first 20 were some great hills and the second 20, while hilly, I was able not to totally kill my legs, but still keep it in the 'hilly' category. Nice.
Tonight...crossfit. I've been hating to admit it, but as of today my core was still somewhat sore from last week's evil GHB episode. But oddly while I was sore all week, it wasn't as sore as I've been with other ventures like when I tried out the pilates/gravity thingy at the gym last year and it felt like I got kicked in the chest by a horse and my abs hurt when I laughed. No, it was more random things...like when I would clip out on a bike ride or sitting up in bed in the morning. And then it would go away. So I just didn't think about it. And it wasn't as acute as after a first venture to pilates where you can't move for a few days and then it the soreness goes away. This has just been 'subtlely' sore for a WEEK!
Today, I walked into the gym only to find the workout that had leveled me back in Feb. Five rounds of the following:
15 Deadlifts (95lbs)
400m run
15 situps GHB...(last time it was 30 situps on the floor, but my gym just got new GHB thingys and they are inflicting all kinds of pain with them now)
I didn't know how I would do with my sore abs. Over the weekend I even tried to figure out if I had strained something last week, but after poking and prodding it didn't seem like anything was abnormally hurting. I made a comment to the owner of the gym...she said give it a go on the GHB and see how I do. I did one round on the GHB and said no more. I was starting to worry if I continued on the GHB for all 5 rounds I would do some serious damage. So...I listened to my body and opted for 30 situps on the floor instead. But I may still be in 'trouble'.
It's not the typical area of where my psoas likes to freak out. My hip is fine, but there is another area that can get tender and feel like all kinds of stupidity when pressed on, and this the area flaring up and if I inhale REALLY deep I can feel it a little bit. (i'm scared of sneezing at the moment too). I'm icing as I type this. I'll apply some heat later as that helps if a muscle spasm is taking place.
Warning: Total ranting
I'm just going to say it...if I've done something to myself again...I'm going to be PISSED OFF. Crossfit has actually been helping my stupid psoas issues. While longer distance training had been aggravating it a bit (which was one factor into my decision on not doing Vineman, get healthy deal with stupid psoas) but interestingly all the squats at crossfit seemed to be helping. I hadn't had a crossfit workout over the past 3.5 months where I left and I was even marginally bothered by my psoas, but I've had a MULTITUDE of tri related workouts that have only aggravated it. And I've been doing crossfit since my psoas was at its worst. So while they workouts have been hard, I've modified where need be. I even freaking modified tonight's workout when I realized the GHB was going to do some damage. I FREAKING listened when my body said 'let's not do that'.
Let's just say...i'm a little unhappy with how my stomach is feeling at the moment and i REALLY, REALLY, hope this is just a false alarm and I haven't done anything utterly stupid. 'm going to stop ranting right now, as some of this rant is due to other things too..but I just want to scream. This frustrates me beyond words at the moment.
So...i hope I can wake up all happy skippy tomorrow and laugh at how i totally freaked out over nothing tonight. I'm going to consider going to yoga tomorrow morning....that is assuming I can sit up in the morning.
Sunday I decided I was going to do a hilly 30 miles...at first. Awhile ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do the Rosarito-Ensenada bike ride, a 50 mile bike ride down in Mexico. Travel in and out of Mexico has been rumored that you now need your passport and since mine had just expired, I was waiting for it to come in the mail. Saturday when I went to pick up my mail at my PO box, there was a note saying I had an expedited letter waiting for me that I needed to pick up when they were open. Only thing it could be is my passport! Wooohoo!
So...I realized I'd been riding 30 miles fairly consistently over the past few week, so inching to 40 this week and then doing 50 next week (which would be more of a 'ride' and less of a training ride anyway...no hammer fest with the people I'd be going with) would actually work out pretty well. I live in a pretty urban area of SD, and not the most biker friendly area as it is so much stop and go traffic...but there are some nasty hills near me. Short ones, and longer ones. I managed to crank out the first 20 miles in my neighborhood and then I got bored and went to find more open area to finish the 20 miles. Actually that was a good decision because the first 20 were some great hills and the second 20, while hilly, I was able not to totally kill my legs, but still keep it in the 'hilly' category. Nice.
Tonight...crossfit. I've been hating to admit it, but as of today my core was still somewhat sore from last week's evil GHB episode. But oddly while I was sore all week, it wasn't as sore as I've been with other ventures like when I tried out the pilates/gravity thingy at the gym last year and it felt like I got kicked in the chest by a horse and my abs hurt when I laughed. No, it was more random things...like when I would clip out on a bike ride or sitting up in bed in the morning. And then it would go away. So I just didn't think about it. And it wasn't as acute as after a first venture to pilates where you can't move for a few days and then it the soreness goes away. This has just been 'subtlely' sore for a WEEK!
Today, I walked into the gym only to find the workout that had leveled me back in Feb. Five rounds of the following:
15 Deadlifts (95lbs)
400m run
15 situps GHB...(last time it was 30 situps on the floor, but my gym just got new GHB thingys and they are inflicting all kinds of pain with them now)
I didn't know how I would do with my sore abs. Over the weekend I even tried to figure out if I had strained something last week, but after poking and prodding it didn't seem like anything was abnormally hurting. I made a comment to the owner of the gym...she said give it a go on the GHB and see how I do. I did one round on the GHB and said no more. I was starting to worry if I continued on the GHB for all 5 rounds I would do some serious damage. So...I listened to my body and opted for 30 situps on the floor instead. But I may still be in 'trouble'.
It's not the typical area of where my psoas likes to freak out. My hip is fine, but there is another area that can get tender and feel like all kinds of stupidity when pressed on, and this the area flaring up and if I inhale REALLY deep I can feel it a little bit. (i'm scared of sneezing at the moment too). I'm icing as I type this. I'll apply some heat later as that helps if a muscle spasm is taking place.
Warning: Total ranting
I'm just going to say it...if I've done something to myself again...I'm going to be PISSED OFF. Crossfit has actually been helping my stupid psoas issues. While longer distance training had been aggravating it a bit (which was one factor into my decision on not doing Vineman, get healthy deal with stupid psoas) but interestingly all the squats at crossfit seemed to be helping. I hadn't had a crossfit workout over the past 3.5 months where I left and I was even marginally bothered by my psoas, but I've had a MULTITUDE of tri related workouts that have only aggravated it. And I've been doing crossfit since my psoas was at its worst. So while they workouts have been hard, I've modified where need be. I even freaking modified tonight's workout when I realized the GHB was going to do some damage. I FREAKING listened when my body said 'let's not do that'.
Let's just say...i'm a little unhappy with how my stomach is feeling at the moment and i REALLY, REALLY, hope this is just a false alarm and I haven't done anything utterly stupid. 'm going to stop ranting right now, as some of this rant is due to other things too..but I just want to scream. This frustrates me beyond words at the moment.
So...i hope I can wake up all happy skippy tomorrow and laugh at how i totally freaked out over nothing tonight. I'm going to consider going to yoga tomorrow morning....that is assuming I can sit up in the morning.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Three times a charm...kinda
As I said in my last post, Cycling has so many little things to keep track of...fortunately the biking itself makes it worth all the crazy choas that trying to figure out all
evil culprit shoe
the various little cycling parts causes. ANYWAY... I took my bike shoes in with my bike to see if the LBS could get me sorted out. This guy at least had more of an idea of how to access the soles of the shoes (Like Speedy and Bill suggested) more so than the other two bikeshop guys...from two different bike shops mind you...Anyway, he got the plate out (there is a section that pops out, I'm not sure why the other guys didn't notice this). Turned it around and around and around and said: "hmmmm...the plate doesn't quite line up with the spots for the Look cleats." There were the appropriate 3 holes, but the plate wasn't quite the right size. Boo...stupid shoes.
Knowing that I might have to throw down some cash for new shoes, I came prepared with my socks. I lucked out and they had some carbon soled shoes on sale, 50% off, in my size. AND they were more comfy than my other shoes. Bonus.
So here are the new shoes. 
Yes, just shoes to look at. Fortunately for my wallet the pretty tri shoes I'd been eyeing were not in my size. These were correctly drilled, I got my cleats put on and had them put my Look peddles on my bike.
Yes, just shoes to look at. Fortunately for my wallet the pretty tri shoes I'd been eyeing were not in my size. These were correctly drilled, I got my cleats put on and had them put my Look peddles on my bike. I'm going for my hilly longer bike ride tomorrow. I'm looking forward to trying out the new shoes, and peddles. YEA!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tires and tubes and cycling accessories
Who knew?? So...Anyway....sooooo many things I have learned about cycling, running, swimming since becoming a triathlete but with cycling it seems that there are so many little minor things that I never have any idea what they are until I look at them...stare at them wonder....hmmm...I wonder what that means and then have to figure it out. I mean a few weeks ago I figured out what TPI was...threads per inch...on a tire and why people cared (higher the number is considered to be a higher performance tire). Then there are various types of cleats, SPD, Look, wacky egg beater thingys, speed play. Then you have types of gearing on your 9 or 10 speed bike, STI shifters, ect. Length of crank. Aerobars, straight or rounded and do you re-gear your bike so you have your gearing through the aerobars. Then there are bike racks and how does one buy a Tule or a Yakamia rack without taking a course on the various ways to build the sucker. I mean really.
So is it really any wonder that this evening when I went to change my tube (yet again...i'll get to the cause later) tonight that I FREAKED out when I opened up my tube put it next to the other tubes and noticed that it was anorexic? All I could think was "can that skinny little tube do the job?" It was a 18/23 sized tube and my big ol' fatty tubes had been 20/28....whatever that meant. I just knew I had a tube that had been on a diet and I am supposed to go for a ride tomorrow morning and all I have are skinny tubes. I look at my watch...it's 6pm. Bike shop closes at 7pm...I jump in my car and away I go.
A very nice woman working at the shop helped me out. I told her I needed tubes and tires (I still hadn't bought new tires like I wanted a few weeks ago)...so we chat tires first because that is more fun than boring tubes. As we chat I pull the 'Uh...I think this is a stupid question, but can I put a 18/23 tube in for a 20/28? Does it matter?' She makes me feel better that it isn't a dumb question and that most people wouldn't have noticed the tube had been on a diet and would have put it in anyway. The numbers have to do with the width of the tires. So, now as we look at tires...sizes 23, 25 and 28...it is starting to make sense all this weird numberage. I buy a pair of Specialized Armadillos and then purchase a few more tubes for good measure, even though my skinny tubes should 'work'.
We then chat about shoes. I have this DUMB issue in that I bought some Specialized shoes a few years ago...nice carbon fiber bottoms...got a wicked good deal on them...150 dollar shoes for 80 bucks, but when I went to upgrade my peddles to Look peddles a few weeks ago (from my 'training wheel SPD's' as I liked to call them...to me they were my 'easy' to get used to clipless that I got 3 years ago when I first went to clipless) my shoes have the holes FOR the cleat for the Look peddle, but it doesn't have the threads to accept the screws for the cleat. Very weird. And no one could figure it out. So, I'm going to bring them in and see if they can do anything about it. I doubt it. But if they can, that would save having to purchase new shoes. (Although there were some pretty women's tri shoes that caught my eye).
I get home all kinds of excited for new tires...and well...hmmm...after having put on a tire bead some 4+ times by this point, my fingers are having none of it for the new tires. Sigh. Tomorrow I'll try again.
Oh, and the only reason my tire was flat again is that I blame it on the fact that I used to be a poor grad student and had merely patched my previous flat and put it back in my flat kit. The patch didn't hold. That was also why I had a flat on the other tire on Wed. While having a flat kit during a ride is handy to help get one home...just chuck the tire once home. It'll just give a headache in the end otherwise.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
The HILLS are alive...
I'd post a Sound of Music clip or something, but that musical drives me nuts...ESPECIALLY when she's twirling around singing "The Hills are alive...with the sound of music"...so I'll spare you. I'll spare me. Anyway...
Today was hill repeats with the tri club. I got to the determined location...and didn't get lost...had a HEART attack as I drove up the hill (as it was a 15% grade according to one sign) AND the traffic was a little scary too. So I had no idea what I was in for.
As I was getting my bike out of my car, I discovered that I had a flat rear tire. Bummer. I got the wheel off the bike, changed the tire LIKE A CHAMP (ok...it wasn't like I changed it in less than a minute BUT it was record time for me and even got the tire ON without too much struggle). By the time I had it all pumped up, Paul had shown up for the workout also and gave me a few pointers on how to get the rear tire back on a little easier and helped me with the last bits of getting the wheel back on in a 'smoother' fashion. (Thanks again).
Fortunately the person who was coaching the session had picked out a hill that was on a side street and had no outlet so the worry over traffic and the 15% grade was all for not. We did the hill repeats between 5-7 or however many times you could do in the allotted time. Me...it was either 4 or 5, i lost count, I think it was 4. As I predicted, pretty pathetic on the climbing, but that's why we do these things. To get better at them. (Later I was told I was using the wrong gearing...but again...that's why we practice these things) On the way after the hill repeats headed back to the car, the person coaching the session showed me how to 'waltz' up the hills. THAT was cool...basically push hard on one peddle, and then lighter for the next two...and then push hard again...light on the next two strokes (Left-right-left; RIGHT-left-right...ect). Like a waltz...ONE-two-three...ONE-two-three. You get actually more power/speed and you don't tax your legs as quickly. I will try it out as I am bound and determined to LOVE hills as much as I can over the next few weeks before Wildflower.
Today was hill repeats with the tri club. I got to the determined location...and didn't get lost...had a HEART attack as I drove up the hill (as it was a 15% grade according to one sign) AND the traffic was a little scary too. So I had no idea what I was in for.
As I was getting my bike out of my car, I discovered that I had a flat rear tire. Bummer. I got the wheel off the bike, changed the tire LIKE A CHAMP (ok...it wasn't like I changed it in less than a minute BUT it was record time for me and even got the tire ON without too much struggle). By the time I had it all pumped up, Paul had shown up for the workout also and gave me a few pointers on how to get the rear tire back on a little easier and helped me with the last bits of getting the wheel back on in a 'smoother' fashion. (Thanks again).
Fortunately the person who was coaching the session had picked out a hill that was on a side street and had no outlet so the worry over traffic and the 15% grade was all for not. We did the hill repeats between 5-7 or however many times you could do in the allotted time. Me...it was either 4 or 5, i lost count, I think it was 4. As I predicted, pretty pathetic on the climbing, but that's why we do these things. To get better at them. (Later I was told I was using the wrong gearing...but again...that's why we practice these things) On the way after the hill repeats headed back to the car, the person coaching the session showed me how to 'waltz' up the hills. THAT was cool...basically push hard on one peddle, and then lighter for the next two...and then push hard again...light on the next two strokes (Left-right-left; RIGHT-left-right...ect). Like a waltz...ONE-two-three...ONE-two-three. You get actually more power/speed and you don't tax your legs as quickly. I will try it out as I am bound and determined to LOVE hills as much as I can over the next few weeks before Wildflower.
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