Dead legs.
Dead everything, really.
I had a a session with my trainer. My brother needed to borrow my car.
So, I decided to jog to my trainer's apartment.
Worst 1.5 miles. Lead legs.
I still took advantage of the lobby mirror.
When I told my trainer I was jogging the 6+ miles home after our session, he shook his head. We were working legs. He may have called me stupid.
The Workout
x5
20 kettlebell swings (heavy, but I don't remember how heavy)
x5
10 clean to squats
x3
10 (per arm) weighted shoulder rotation exercise
We tried to do a few other things, but my back was being finicky. So we finished the exercises early and my trainer took his time stretching me out.
Of course, I undid all his work jogging home.
Fuck it was hard. I felt like I was hitting an 11 minute mile. I ended up averaging an 8:38 pace, but fuck it felt so much slower. My legs felt heavy and stupid. Everything was hard. I looked with envy at the people whizzing by me on their bikes.
The hardest part was probably running home along the bike path I'd used three times last week. I was used to seeing the sites at a different pace. I felt like I was slogging through mud.
My body is sore and tired, and it shows.
And yet, I haven't spent any time on a bike this week. And I really need to do that. I'm not going to do better at this next duathlon is I ignore time on the bike. My run times were already spectacular. If I want to improve my overall time I need to work on my bike time. And if I want to work on my bike time I need to ride my fucking bike. And since I ignored it for the first half the week, I need to focus on it for the last part of the week, regardless of how tired I am (to a point).
I talked about this with my trainer. I want to focus on everything. I want to get better on my bike. I want to increase my running mileage. I need to figure out how to do both without killing myself, and without ruining my non-exercise life. It doesn't help that I've been sleeping like shit this whole week, so cutting in to my sleep time (waking up early and working out before work, for example). If feels like there isn't enough time in the week for me to do everything I want.
Mind you, thousands of people exercise far more than I do, and do it successfully. I just need to find a balance for me. And I should probably figure out what I'm going to focus on so I can actually do one thing WELL.
I have a half assed training plan that kicks in come July. I need to get a second opinion on it. It doesn't have the mileage I want. I've been reading that to get better at running, and get faster, I need to up my mileage. So, I've had that on the back of my mind for the last few weeks. I have arbitrary numbers I think I should hit, for no reason. But, my mileage at this point is low. And I need to figure out how to up my mileage, still get focus on my bike, still weight train twice a week, and not burn out or cripple myself. I think I've decided that I need to focus on half marathon training (and the duathlon), mostly because I signed up for four half marathons this fall. Maybe this winter I'll hire a running coach and work on my 5k and 10k goals. I don't know. I want to do everything. I have found no satisfying resolution to this yet. I don't know if there is one. I HAVE to pick a focus, or I won't be able to properly focus. Already, having the duathlon and the half marathons in the same time period is pulling me in two different ways. And I want to get better at swimming to see what I could do in a triathlon if I did all three legs well. But I think I have to write swimming off entirely right now. And I should probably try running twice a day a few days a week. So many things. So many scattered thoughts.
I've written out my goals. I just don't want to wait. And some of them are abstract. "Get better at biking" is a hilarious goal, sitting next to well defined time and pace goals for specific running distances. But it's what I have in my brain right now.
Talk to me about weekly mileage goals. How much does it matter to you? How do you get the miles in? What are you willing to sacrifice for miles?
Dead everything, really.
I had a a session with my trainer. My brother needed to borrow my car.
So, I decided to jog to my trainer's apartment.
Worst 1.5 miles. Lead legs.
I still took advantage of the lobby mirror.
When I told my trainer I was jogging the 6+ miles home after our session, he shook his head. We were working legs. He may have called me stupid.
The Workout
x5
20 kettlebell swings (heavy, but I don't remember how heavy)
x5
10 clean to squats
x3
10 (per arm) weighted shoulder rotation exercise
We tried to do a few other things, but my back was being finicky. So we finished the exercises early and my trainer took his time stretching me out.
Of course, I undid all his work jogging home.
Fuck it was hard. I felt like I was hitting an 11 minute mile. I ended up averaging an 8:38 pace, but fuck it felt so much slower. My legs felt heavy and stupid. Everything was hard. I looked with envy at the people whizzing by me on their bikes.
The hardest part was probably running home along the bike path I'd used three times last week. I was used to seeing the sites at a different pace. I felt like I was slogging through mud.
My body is sore and tired, and it shows.
And yet, I haven't spent any time on a bike this week. And I really need to do that. I'm not going to do better at this next duathlon is I ignore time on the bike. My run times were already spectacular. If I want to improve my overall time I need to work on my bike time. And if I want to work on my bike time I need to ride my fucking bike. And since I ignored it for the first half the week, I need to focus on it for the last part of the week, regardless of how tired I am (to a point).
I talked about this with my trainer. I want to focus on everything. I want to get better on my bike. I want to increase my running mileage. I need to figure out how to do both without killing myself, and without ruining my non-exercise life. It doesn't help that I've been sleeping like shit this whole week, so cutting in to my sleep time (waking up early and working out before work, for example). If feels like there isn't enough time in the week for me to do everything I want.
Mind you, thousands of people exercise far more than I do, and do it successfully. I just need to find a balance for me. And I should probably figure out what I'm going to focus on so I can actually do one thing WELL.
I have a half assed training plan that kicks in come July. I need to get a second opinion on it. It doesn't have the mileage I want. I've been reading that to get better at running, and get faster, I need to up my mileage. So, I've had that on the back of my mind for the last few weeks. I have arbitrary numbers I think I should hit, for no reason. But, my mileage at this point is low. And I need to figure out how to up my mileage, still get focus on my bike, still weight train twice a week, and not burn out or cripple myself. I think I've decided that I need to focus on half marathon training (and the duathlon), mostly because I signed up for four half marathons this fall. Maybe this winter I'll hire a running coach and work on my 5k and 10k goals. I don't know. I want to do everything. I have found no satisfying resolution to this yet. I don't know if there is one. I HAVE to pick a focus, or I won't be able to properly focus. Already, having the duathlon and the half marathons in the same time period is pulling me in two different ways. And I want to get better at swimming to see what I could do in a triathlon if I did all three legs well. But I think I have to write swimming off entirely right now. And I should probably try running twice a day a few days a week. So many things. So many scattered thoughts.
I've written out my goals. I just don't want to wait. And some of them are abstract. "Get better at biking" is a hilarious goal, sitting next to well defined time and pace goals for specific running distances. But it's what I have in my brain right now.
Talk to me about weekly mileage goals. How much does it matter to you? How do you get the miles in? What are you willing to sacrifice for miles?
My boyfriend usually laughs at my weekly bike mileage goals but without them I wouldn't bike as much as I do. He's more of a fan of the whole "if I have time I'll bike but if not whatever..." which is great for him because I'm pretty sure he can take off the next month and still kick my ass riding. I'm training for a century ride now so basically I'm sacrificing more than I'd like to get training in but whatever, the end goal is way better than anything I'm missing...or at least I'd like to think so.
ReplyDeleteYou're chasing a lot of rabbits!! =/ I have no advice. I bet a running coach would help, though.
ReplyDeleteI think you should quit your job. That would solve some of your time issues. You could train whenever you wanted them.
ReplyDeleteSo, I don't really obsess over adding in miles just to hit a number. BUT, upping my mileage obviously helped my "speed". Someone once told me speed comes from endurance, and they seem to have not been lying. So hitting a number < adding mileage to increase my endurance, if that makes sense?
ReplyDeleteWhen I run: I work 7-4, so I usually run immediately after work, around 5. My long runs I do super fucking early on the weekends, I like to be out of the house by 6, but preferably by 5 or so. It's not really fun, it kind of sucks, but then I still have the rest of the weekend free with the kids. And, I was adamant about only running 3-4 days a week. Most weeks it was 3. If I ran a 4th day, it was low mileage, easy recovery. I wasn't really willing to sacrifice time at home, so I did it as little as I could possibly get away with.