week of 6/29: active recovery, and a week of firsts

i definitely didn't mind taking a few days of rest this week, with my hamstrings and all. but i did feel kind of bored.

that may be the reason why i tried a bunch of new things this week. as per the advice of my ortho, i added a lower body strength training routine into the mix, with more weight-less moves and one-legged lifting to address strength discrepancies. i'm looking forward to doing some upper-body work too, once this tennis elbow is gone; it seems to be on its way out. then i also did some hill running, which isn't something i've ever done before. i've run up and down some hills in the course of a run, amid much whining, to be sure. but i've never just done a hill workout where you do repeats up a single hill on anything other than my bike. it was pretty awesome, i actually kind of enjoyed it and understand why they'll make you faster. the sheer economy, fast turnover, and lightness on your feet that you have to employ to sprint up a 10-12% grade will teach you how to be a better runner. the combo of lower body training and hill running basically cured my hamstring strains, interestingly enough.

one of the other new things i tried was the zone diet. i'd thought about it for a while, and had been striving for 40/30/30 carbs/protein/fat in my daily intake. but i realize that the increase in carb intake that was necessary to keep me going when i began endurance training unfortunately included a lot of not so great carb choices (whole wheat bread, potatoes, jam, too much fruit, a lot of cereal, occasional pasta). the zone really kicks your butt and makes you choose good sources (fruits and veggies, minimal grains). granted, i think i will cry myself to sleep over my box of raisin bran, since that's my favorite breakfast ever. but a day and a half on the zone made me drop 5 pounds (crikey!), gave me tons of level energy, and helped me sleep well and feel less tired. i also felt less need to gobble down loads of food after workouts. so i think this will be the way i go, most of the time. certainly occasional culinary enjoyment (such as today's post-ride lobster roll and frozen yogurt) is necessary in life. but it would be nice to have my food intake work for me, and not against me; if i'm working this hard physically, i might as well have a well-crafted meal plan. for once, my motivation is not to 'get thinnner.' i really want to control my blood sugar spikes and drops, since i think it's the only way i can address the reactive hypoglycemia. i want to get good, restful sleep, which has been an anathema to me for 3 years now. i want to feel prepared for and well-recovered after putting in quality training time. and i also want to decrease my body fat by at least 10%. all that might happen without shedding a single pound, but whatever - it's all more important in the long run, both in terms of training and in terms of lifelong health. it's going to be a pain in the ass getting on a new eating regimen, but i look forward to the benefits of "being in the zone." which is probably akin to "being dialed in."

i also had my first crummy road ride. i often hear of people talking about a bad workout or a bad ride, and i'm all pshaw, every ride is a great ride because i love biking. but today was just not very good at all. i got a late start and scaled down my initial plan for a 45 miler down to my regular 32 mile loop. i didn't stretch out my legs after yesterday's 23 mi ride because i was too busy to think about it. i used wayyy too much chamois cream to prevent the chafing from yesterday's ride from getting any worse. my saddle has just been killing me lately; i'm going to make some adjustments and if it doesn't help, i may buy a narrower-nosed saddle. so with chamois cream oozing out of the seams between my legs and smearing all over my crotch as i pedaled, i looked like a woman with some vicious disease fighting its way out of my bike shorts and into the great beyond, like the typhoid mary of yeast infections and a public (pubic?) health threat. lovely. near the top of one of the steepest climbs on the route, a wasp flew into my jersey and stung me 3 times on the chest before i managed to squash it, cursing and carrying on and peering into my sports bra like someone possessed. i'm sure it was quite a spectacle. it was pretty hot, and i didn't really drink any water before departing. and then my legs just quit on me - and i mean QUIT, i was in nearly the lowest gear possible on a dinky climb and my cadence dropped to 60 and i was only going 8 mph and my legs went all noodly and shaky on me and i said really? seriously? because that has never even come close to happening before, and this was only mile 21 or so. i tested my blood sugar, which was fine; i was well-fed with a hearty brunch and didn't understand why this happened. now i think it's because i was dehydrated, which is not my usual state. they aren't kidding; it will really mess with you.
i dropped my chain (big deal, at this point); i took a detour home to shave off a couple of miles. i was running late, and all i could think about was how much my inner thighs were killing me. it hurt so much all the time, my back was cramping from how tense i was in response to the discomfort. saddle, you and i are going to have a serious discussion, because i can't carry on like this. i coasted as much as i could (!?!) and was so happy to be home, in the a/c, and with a big glass of cold water. i was in a terrible mood and couldn't believe my weekend ride wasn't the best 2 hours of my life.

what wound up saving the day? less than an hour later, i did another new thing: mountain biking with my husband for the first time!! he had ordered some kenda knobbies for my hybrid bike, although there wasn't enough clearance for the rear, so we stuck with the stock tire on that one. we hit some local trails and at first, i was pretty terrified. one thing i am not cool with is the idea of falling. like, i have never fallen off either of my bikes; i probably fell off my BMX when i was a kid and repressed that memory. but not in ~900 miles on my hybrid, and not in ~500 miles on my road bike; not during the road bike transition with clipless pedals and aero bars. not ever. when i ski, even when i took it up again after a 6 year hiatus, i was like I AM NOT FALLING DAMMIT. and i didn't. so i'm not trying to jinx myself here, i just have an extreme distaste for falling down and it scares the crap out of me. so mountain biking is probably not the best pursuit for me, considering my gravitational hang-ups. the first mile or so i was really tentative; everything looked so narrow, and muddy patches were impossible, rocks and roots seemed placed in perfect position to send me over my handlebars. i imagined breaking my legs on boulders; breaking my arms and face while doing a head-plant. it was pretty scary. then i got a better feel for the bike, and andrew's helpful hints and tactics for climbs and especially descents helped a lot. i hitched up my panties and began going till i had to put a foot down or walk it over a log; no harm done. by the end of the hour, i was speeding up and down sections i would have probably walked in the beginning. i had a fantastic time; it was so challenging to pick a good line, to use weight-transfer, to use my body like suspension, to let a foot float off the pedal to avoid smashing it on a rock...we had a blast tearing through the woods together, and i can't wait to do it again!

6/29: off

6/30: treadmill run run: 3.25 mi
0.8 warmup
0.25 cooldown
rest running @ 9.40

leg weights:
press (1 leg), 3x10, 70 lbs
curl (1 leg), 2x10, 40 lbs
ext (1 leg), 2x10, 40 lbs
abs: 30 bench crunch, 30 dual crunch
hip raises, 1 leg, 10 sec each, x4 each side
circuit: 10 chair good mornings (10 lbs), 10 lunges (10 lbs), 10 squats
repeat; 2nd round, wall sits (2x30 sec) sub for squats

7/1: off, unplanned; woke up with a serious neck spasm that made it so i couldn't turn my head to one side for 2 days. chiropractor, muscle relaxants, thera-heat patches, and horse-doses of ibuprofen and tylenol later...it actually still hurts today and made it hard to look for traffic while biking this weekend. poo.

7/2: off; glucose mixed-meal 5 hour tolerance test (results pretty normal; unsurprisingly, weren't able to reproduce symptoms i get during exercise. still felt pretty crummy afterwards, plus there was my jacked-up neck to worry about. i could hardly drive).

7/3: running - hills
55 min
~2 mi warmup
5 hill repeats, 10% grade? 35-40 sec each
2 min rest between
~1 mi cooldown

7/4: short bike ride; 23 mi, 18.5 mph average. i am trying to keep my cadence above 80 at pretty much all costs, and 90+ on flats. two crowning moments: carrying 35.5 mph down a set of twisty hills on the aero bars with nary a motion toward the break. and, and. on a flat (maybe slight incline), at a cadence of 120, carrying a speed of 32.5 mph for about 10 seconds. i am all that is man!! and i love my bike computer.

7/5: longer bike ride; 30 mi, crappy 16.5 mph average. higher cadence overall and fresher legs till dehydration got the best of me.

mountain biking!! 5.5 mi in ~50 min or something.