Tempo Run

On Friday, I did a spin class with Boris. Not as cute as Heather, but a good class.  50 minutes.

Saturday morning, got up at 6:45 AM and drove to the Y.  Ran 5.42 miles per garmin in 48 minutes which included 10 minutes of warmup.  Did the warmup at a 10 minute pace and the balance of the run (4.4 miles) at an 8:35 pace.  After run I joined Super spin with Heather.  Did about 40 minutes of spin. 

total Saturday workout time:  90 minutes

Masters Swim

Masters swim with Joe at the Y.  Only four of us.  Did warmup then main set was:

Warmup = 300
4 x 200:  swim, pull, swim, pull  = 800
4 x150: swim, pull, swim, pull  = 600
4 x 100:  swim, pull, swim, pull = 400
5 x 50 @ 1:00 = 250

Total yards:  2,350

I was able to do all of the sets at 2:00 per 100 pace.  I have been focused on bringing my arm through without it cutting across my body when I breathe.  I think I'm getting better at it. I'm definitely more aware of it. Also getting better at not breathing on every stroke (until I get tired.) 

I pushed hard on the 50s. Was able to do the first four in about 50 seconds. The last one I finished in less than a minute. Breathing very hard at the finish.  Good workout.

Run

Flew home from Skaneateles.  Easy flight and we got home at 1 PM.  Unpacked and then decided to get a run workout in. I was going to take it easy, but my legs felt good (maybe the massage that I had yesterday?) so I pushed it a little bit. More like an uptempo run.  Finished 5.8 mile course in 51:45, with 71 seconds of waiting for lights to change.  So an overall pace of about 8:48.  Felt faster - at least at the finish.

I should have worn my Garmin. 

Skaneateles Run

Slept till almost 8 am.  Ran my usual Skaneateles course - it took me about ten minutes less time than yesterday. I'm not sure of the distance but estimating it to be about 4.5 miles. It's probably less. I ran easy, steady pace. My legs feel better than when I first resumed running after the clean up project.  My back and neck are tight.

Later today I'm going to have a massage. Hope that helps.  When I get back home I will start training program in earnest again. Plan to start with Craig in December. 

Workout:  4.5 miles - 44 minutes. 

October 10 to October 20 - House Cleaning Project

While Suzanne was on her cruise, Nicole and I took this once in a lifetime opportunity to clean (out) the house.  This was a great strength workout, I spent over 100 hours on this project, much of it lifting and carrying heavy boxes up and downstairs.  Many file boxes to the attic (which I cleaned first). This could count as a stairmaster - strength workout, but I think I will just define all of this time as non-workout time.

It did give me an even greater appreciation of how hard it is to have a physically demanding job as after 8 hours of this clean up work, I was not in any mood or condition to have a serious workout.

When Suzanne returned from her cruise we then had to travel to Rochester for Meliora Weekend, and then on to mom's house for a brief visit. I won't be able to re-establish a normal workout routine until Thursday, but will continue to run while on this trip.

October 9: Long Run - Sunday morning

This was Chicago Marathon Sunday. Beautiful morning. I ran my long course 7.5 miles in just under 64 minutes. A pace of 7:50.  This will be last workout for awhile as I'm planning to clean out the house while Suzanne is on her long cruise.

Workout Table

I'm still having difficulty doing the table thing correctly.  this time I copied with the box checked "as shown on screen" and  format "Bitmap."  Then when I go to paste special I check the box paste as picture (enhanced metafile).  but this looks blurrier than the earlier versions.

The Weather!

All week the weather has been great. I thought I should take a day off from workouts, but the weather is so nice I feel compelled to take advantage of it while it is here. Soon enough it will be sucky, grey and wet and cold. 

So yesterday which would be day off except I like to have that early morning Heatherspin, it is sort of my social time - so I did spin class - she had a new workout routine - a pyramid, which she described in detail but it is too hard to follow.  But it was basically a solid 40 minute ride with no break. 

Then later in the afternoon I did a run because the weather was too nice to not be out in it. I ran 4 miles in 34 minutes - a strong tempo run at a constant 8:32 pace. 

Today I would have done my usualy run and spin, but Suzanne needed the car, so I just did an easy 3.5 mile run at 10 minute pace. 

Masters Swim

Light turn out today:  Scott and Judge Dave and me. My focus continues to be the "catch" - especially on my right arm stroke when I breathe. REally conscious of it and doing a better job of not drawing the arm across my body.  When I get tired and breathe longer it happens, but now at least I'm aware of it.

Also more aware of keeping my head down. 

Workout: 

Warmup:  about 300 yards of free style, pulling and kicking.

Main set:

250 x 3 - pull, swim, pull
150 x4 - swim, pull, swim, pull
5 x 100 @2:00 minute intervals;  actual splits:  1:44, 1:51, 1:57, 2:03, 2:04; 

Total yards:  2,150

Total workout time:  60 minutes;  plus 10 minutes in hot tub. 

Spin - Strength - Run

I did the 7 am spin class with Flo. She runs a challenging class. Very little down time. It was  a good warm-up for my half hour with Nibra. 

Nibra's workout:

Stood on platform and hurled heavy  ball on to floor 25 times; 
Bench press
Lat pull downs
Laid out on weight bench and did crunches bringing legs and arms up - required balanced - I had trouble with it. 

repeated 3 times

Leg curls (hamstrings)
Ab crunches
step up on platform with right leg and bench press 15 times - step up on platform with left leg curls; holding barbells (10 lbs?); 

repeated 3 times; 

The step ups were really challenging; 

Nibra said we would work on building strength to get me ready for Ironman; good start;

Run - beautiful day and  I didn't want to wait until 6 pm ERC workout at the track. So at 4 PM I did a 45 minute run; easy tempo - about 4.5 miles; 

Masters Swim

Craig was back. He told us about Aurora's channel swim. 

We did a mix of pulling and 50 yard freestyle. 200 x 2 pulling and then 6 x50 at 1:10; then another 200 and another 6 x 200 at 1:10;  Swam about 2,000 yards.

I'm getting better at not breathing on every stroke. I can consistenty breathe on every stroke when pulling (not as strenuous) and can do so on freestyle until I get tired. And then I breathe on every stroke for two or three times and then skip a breath.

I've been really concentrating on keeping my head down and also keeping my right arm from pulling across my body after the "catch" which I have a tendency to do when I breathe to my left. If I breathe a little earlier in the stroke I can mitigate that problem, I think.

Heatherspin

Morning spin class with Heather. Always a good way to start the week.  50 minutes - good workout. 

After spin I did 15 minutes of strength work:  2 sets of dip and chin assists and 2 sets of situps with machine; then one set of hamstring lifts and one set of tricep pulldown.

Long Run

Soon I won't be able to call this a long run. But it's longer than my regular 4 to 5 mile run. Today I ran north to Lake Avenue and then east to Sheridan Road, south to Lincoln Avenue and then south on Central Park to home. 

This was my first GARMIN timed work out since returning from Cape Cod (I left my watch there and they had to mail it to me.) 

According to GARMIN's GPS I ran 7.54 miles in 1:07:23 for an average pace of 8:56.  A decent tempo run. Ran the whole course at about the same rate.  My average heart rate was 129 with a maximum of 143. 

I felt good throughout the run. I have some continuing tightness in right hamstring (side) and the left glut and also my right achilles feels a little tight. 

Workout Table

It took me an hour to remember how I did this last week.  So I am writing down the procedure.  I copy the excel table as a "picture" and then I paste it into Word.  In Word when I right click on the save picture in Word I can then click on the Save as Picture option which will save the picture as a JPEG file.

Friday and Saturday

I did a light spin on Friday morning with Heather. I took it easy - it was almost like taking the day off. I've worked out now every day since returning from Cape Cod on the 13th. So 17 straight days, but none of the workouts very hard and probably losing my conditioning - a little bit.

Saturday morning I was again going to do a long run, but we had plumbing issues so I had to call a plumber and prepare the basement, so I did a 40 minute run along the lakefront. It was neat, temperature was about 50 degrees and the winds were very strong along the lakeshore - really pounding surf. Then I did about the last hour of super spin with Heather.  Total workout about 1:40.