Last week was so busy. My kids had a snow day on Monday and that threw me for a loop. Monday is one of my super high powered work 'til I drop dont' stop to eat days. But with high high energy boys home, productivity suffers. It was my son's birthday week so the last two days of the week were over loaded with party errands, baking cakes for parties and cupcakes for the class and of course shopping. Birthday shopping and Christmas shopping. I had appointments and after school activities to shuffle them to. We all know the drill.... it's just life. By Friday, I was really tired. I even started to make a cake... threw in the mix, the butter, and 3 eggs. Next... I put the beater in and started it up. HOLD on... the eggs. They were still whole. Whole entire eggs. Slow down Momma...
I shopped for goodies all morning to make a fun albeit crazy party for my now 11 year old that night. I had been in the kitchen for nearly 3 hours putting together silly food challenges/ games/ making another cake when the random TV show in the background cut out to the Breaking news.
I watched the news unfold. Each minute it was worse.
My body grew numb. I was sick to my stomach. My frenetic motions around the kitchen came to a hault. I was paralyzed. Stuck. Life changed for me at that moment.
I have kids. I have elementary school aged kids. I have worked in schools. I have friends who are teachers. This is too close.
________________
I had been a bit 'nervous' to host 15 boys and 1 little girl ( love her for joining these guys...!) for a birthday party. How chaotic would my home be that night?
As of 1p.m. on Monday... it no longer mattered. Bring them to my house now and let the noise ring through us. I wanted kids to surround me.
Firday afternoon, it took all I could not to pick those boys up early that day. I wanted them Home with me. I needed them. But, that would be confusing and upsetting to them. So, instead, I busied myself as best I could, washed my face and tried to gather my own emotions.
Once I finally got them back, Nick, my 8 year old said, "Mommy, WHY are you squeezing me SO hard??" He loved it. He said it with a smile and squeezed me back. Lucky lucky me...
It's the saddest thing I have ever known in my life. There have been other horrific events, of course. But I am a Mom and this is so real to me. The fact that I can picture it all... is what makes the unimaginable, imaginable. My kids practice lock downs. Do they pay attention? Can I ask them? Will it scare them? Do they do any good? Where would they go if this happened? Are their classrooms in a vulnerable spot? I hate that these thoughts are in my brain now...
None of us know the answers. None of us know how to stop this from happening. In my head, it's multi-faceted but I only know of One thing I can do.
Sure, we have guns that are way too high powered and fast for the every day citizen, there's mental illness, insanity, psychosis, and evil. There are too many medications, chemicals in our foods and environment. There are absurdly inappropriate video games that are desensitizing people from reality. We have technology everywhere that allows already introverted people to withdraw into a life behind a screen.
Who knows... that's just a bit of it right?
But what can I do? All I know is I this. I can make sure my kids know they are loved. They are awesome. They are special and they are worth every single bit of my attention. I vow to be more patient, to listen more, to always put Down what I am doing or look away from my 'screen' to hear them and answer them and talk to them. I vow to hear their concerns and to watch their behaviors. I vow to teach and show them how to be kind and thoughtful of others and to do for others as they would have done to them.I vow to give them something good to take away from every single day and Never ever let them go to bed thinking anything other than we, their parents, think they are the most incredibly awesome people on earth. That is my goal.
I vow to slow down and savor all the moments that are easy to let slip by.
You just never know.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Monday, December 3, 2012
Jingle Bell 5K Race report
Even though it's still 2012, I started the new season yesterday with what is likely to become an annual family event.
My gang of 5 ran the race last December and this year we recruited my brother's gang of 5 to join us! I have a handful of fun pictures but this googlechrome is telling me I've reached my max of photo uploads. (I am bothering to write this in case anyone knows how to help me fix that problem...??? ) I might get one photo in here later....
When life is super busy and during the work week we are all up and out of our house by either 4 a.m. or 7 a.m., getting up early on a Sunday isn't always welcome. And yet... things like this are worth it. We went through the routine Sunday morning, ate our oatmeal or bagels and grabbed coffee and headed on our 60 min ride to Freeport.
The problem is that it's December and the weather can be uncooperative. My husband and I growled as we drove over icy covered roads and watched 28 degree rain pour down on us. Ooops... sorry guys. Who wants to run in that! We definitely anticipated trying to race on roads that were slick with black ice and unsafe and also very slow. I felt bad. But, we drove on and hoped for the best.
Of course... I won't leave you hanging .. in the end we were very very happy we did it!!! Here's the short story... after all.. it only takes a few minutes to run a 5K so this race report better not turn into a book!
We all met at the gym and got all the kids ready with their race numbers. I headed out to warm up. While I was out there I bumped into Jeff ( my younger brother... ) and we shared a moment of, "Yikes, 5Ks hurt! How fast ? Ok..let's help each other along..." I ran off and found a 'secret' ladies room in a starbucks instead of waiting for 45 people back at the gym. On the way back out, I FLEW into the air and landed on my butt/ hands.. nice. It was ICY!!! Luckily, the roads were ok. You had to stay where the cars had driven if you could otherwise it was slick but the worst was the sidewalks. As I found out.
Time to race...
I hugged all 6 kids, kissed Mark ( he wanted to run along with Nick to make sure he was ok. Nick's 8 and would have been fine... I kind of think Mark was avoiding the insane sufferfest that 5Ks can become... Don't blame him!! And, I did appreciate that he was with Nick since it was so icy.), and headed to the line with Jeff.
The started yelled GO with barely any warning ( it was 10:00, so that's really all the warning that's necessary) and we were off.
I felt good!!!
Running has Felt very very bad lately. I've been slow. A variety of body parts have hurt me and been sore. When I've tried to pick up the pace and add some speed, I thought I was going to fall down. It has been ALL I could do to run even 60 min at 5K pace lately.... so I wasn't sure what this would bring.
About 1/4 mile, maybe not that far, probably 1/8 mile down the first road, I peeked at my garmin for kicks.
5;25 pace.
Ha! Slooooooooow down nellie. I chuckled out loud.
I reeled it in. I didn't see Jeff and thought I was ahead of him. The first turn put us on a hill that was pretty slippery. At the end, I nearly ran into a huge puddle but at the last minute managed to jump all the way over it... phew. When I looked up, Jeff was 5 ft in front of me. Oh! There he is.. not sure how he got there. So.. there we stayed...
mile 1 was 6:08. The guy next to me grumbled out loud, "too fast."
I knew it was pretty fast but I felt good so I just kept on....
I thought out the kids and wondered how they were.
I waved to Mom and Dad standing on the side of the road.
I waved to Mom and Dad standing on the side of the road.
And, I kept my eyes on Jeff's back.
We ran down a hill and around a corner on our way back up that hill and for the last 1.5 mile. Jeff turned and looked behind him, but off to the side. I knew he was looking for me. Haha... I was there. But too close for him to see me. I wasn't trying to be sneaky ( I admit, I have been sneaky in other race against women, but not yesterday with Jeff) but I was 100% unable to speak since my HR was >190 and it was all I could do to get air. So.. I just ran along and figured I'd either say Hi on my way by :) OR... tell him I was there later. Time would tell.
A short bit later... we started passing the runners going in the other direction. I missed my family but we did see Jeff's kids and wife,Leigh. Leigh yelled, "GO Jeff!" and then moments later, "Oh, GO Ange!" I didn't think twice about that but apparently that alerted Jeff to the fact that his big sis was hot on his heels.
Over the next mile, he put some distance on me... and eventually pulled away with a ~20 sec lead. :)
The last mile is mostly uphill which is not easy in a 5k! But the last .1 is at least a nice downward slope...
I ran SO hard, I wondered if I'd throw up. In my book, that's a successful 5K effort. It's an all out 110% go for it race. But the beauty is that once I crossed the line and walked around for 10-20 sec, I was fine.
In the end.... 3rd overall woman with a 20:29 time ( 6:31 pace) I am totally happy with this for this time of year. It's not a 5K PR ( in fact, about 1:15 slower than that!) but it is a 15 sec drop from last year at this race. I don't expect to be at my fastest right now but I am so happy that my Dec baseline is a bit faster than last year. I can't ask for more than that!!
Of course, I'm a proud Momma to have my kids in there with me too. It's only a matter of time before they all start passing their Mom and Dad. Cameron was right behind me with a 22:45, Tommy next up 23:46 and Nick and Mark came in at 25 and change. My niece and nephews also ran so so well and strong with their Mom and Jeff crushed it yesterday!
FUN day!!!
Now.. back to training for long course...
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Data
Here I go again... attempt #..... 6? I am failing my blog big time. I have started multiple posts, finished one only to take that back down because my tone wasn't where I wanted it to be.
It's 7:07 p.m. My husband just left for a meeting. One son is in the room next to me writing a paper. He's making me jealous of today's kids because he has some cool cut and paste program for the bibliography section. I HATED the bibliographies!!! Sigh... I need to remember.. for the most part, I am happy I lived my childhood back in the days before facebook and texting and tweeting and phones with cameras. What a mess all that has become.
My other two sons are downstairs playing. Right in earshot. Big time. Currently, it's all laughter. Albeit wild laughter. They're chucking a big physio-ball around the room at each other. It's only a matter of time. I have experience with this game.
When the bell chimes at 7:30 and it's officially, 'time to go up.' We begin showers, and picking up rooms, and trying to put away some of the laundry baskets. We'll brush teeth, talk about the random balls of dirty socks, wet towels and random Tshirts strewn about. Then it's story time. So I'm almost out of time.
OH wait!!! Here they are. The 2 wild things. "What do we do?" That's what they just said to me.
Um... go back and play more so I can try to write this blog?( haha.. I didn't really tell them that. )
Or...read??
Hey! That took... 5 more min. for this.
____
Triathlon. The 3 discipline sport with MEGA gear and gadgets.
It's a blessing and a curse, those gadgets. I know this as an athlete but now I know it even More as a coach.
Last night ( yes, I ran out of time when I started this post.. kids came up and we played a brief round of charades instead. )I found 3 of my old running logs. They are from 1997, 1998, and 2005. I don't know where I put those missing years in between. Well... actually... I had a baby in 1999. And 2001. And 2004. Ah ha.... it makes perfect sense now that I think about it!! No log books were kept!!! Yup, that's it. I ran, but certainly didn't keep track of anything other than what I needed to for the babies!
Ok... here are some sample entries from my logs:
Monday 4/7: up and down Paris Hill, 117, Christian Ridge ( the route), knees hurt, 12.5 miles, 1:50
Tues: 4 miles , 50 degrees ( no time recorded )
Wed 6.2 miles 4p.m., 60 degrees, new shoes ( no time on this either )
Thurs: End of Christian Ridge, 58 degrees, 4 p.m.a , shoes better, 6.2 miles ( no time.)
and so on... At the end of each week I wrote the total mileage and maybe a comment or two like:
Good week, down 3lbs. Or
"awful week... kids have the flu. I felt gross too."
Simple simple simple. No heart rate numbers, no pace, and only occasionally a total time for the run!
Was that better? There are pros and cons to everything. Here is what I can tell you about those days. When I felt good, I pushed hard. When I was tired, I ran easy. When I was sick, I took a day off. I ran day after day after day otherwise. I varied my distances and I ran different routes. On long runs, I noted more details. I logged what I ate before and during the workouts and I noted the conditions outside But otherwise, it was all simple and based on how I felt.
It's interesting for me to see, I was running pretty close to the same speed I am now on most training runs. Does that discourage me? The fact that I'm not faster? NO!! I'm reading from a log book I wrote when I was 27 years old! Ha! I am keeping up with my 27 year old self... and besides that.. more importantly,I'm racing much faster now. So.. no worries. My mind is stronger for racing than that kid was. :)
Back to my point....
I've been at this for a long long time. Not just triathlon, but involvement in sports in general. I started swimming competitively at a very young age and continued that right through college. Then, I ran and ran and ran. I ran marathons and other short races. And now, I'm into this sport. The advantage I have, in my opinion, is that when I was learning to race and train as a kid, I was 100% reliant upon myself and how I felt. It was all about my body and what it could do each day. Sure, we had watches. I'm not that old. But, they were just watches. There was not yet an obsession on analyzing every last split and lap. Swimming is a sport that can be won or lost by Fractions of a second. It's not without minute details and focus on times and splits. How did we deal with that? We practiced starts and turns and strokes over and over and over and over for hours and hours and hours day after day after day.
And then on the day of the meet, we'd focus our minds, steady our thoughts and go after it. We'd hit the wall with our heads down and then look at the clock to see the results.
I'm really not old and didn't grow up in pre-historic times before HR monitors or stopwatches. But my roots are in sports that didn't require tons of gadgets and it was before the days of training peaks and power files and TSS scores. I grew up in the 1980s era of 'no pain no gain.' Now we all know that that is a silly motto because of course, if there is pain, you stop. But.... I think there's another way of looking at that.
One of the lures of Triathlon, is that it's there for adults. There are adults, like myself, who grew up in the world of racing who realized at some point in their grown up lives, they couldn't live without it any more. And then there are the adults who are new to competitive sports and have set racing Triathlons as a goal to help reach a new level of fitness and personal accomplishment. Lucky for all of us, Triathlon has age group racing right up into the 80s! So if one desires they can keep going and going. I love it.
Now here we all are. The 'type A' adults determined to do their best in this fun sport. They are driven to set goals and work hard and make it happen! Fabulous! Again, I love it. To make it more fun we now have complex online training logs ( can't live without mine, I know that!) , power meters that measure everything from time, speed, cadence, watt output at that moment, on average, for the lap, normative power, TSS, IF, VI , kilojoules, and 100 more things. We have garmin watches to measure our average pace, lap pace, actual pace, distance, time, elevation gain, cadence and heart rate. Phew. And, this is just the beginning!!! GOOD stuff! And, used properly, very helpful training tools.
There are just a few simple catches.
We can all be too dependent on the data to tell us how we feel and many take all the numbers way too personally. What do I mean?
I think it's SO important for people to learn to shut off the gadgets and feel how they Really feel. I think too many people get completely reliant on the Garmin to tell them how they feel. Just go run. Dive in the water and swim down the lake. Turn off the feature that tells you what route you took around Crystal lake. After all, you know. You went over there and then back a ways, around that dock and down to the red buoy. Right? How did your arms feel? Did your stroke feel fluid? Were you breathing comfortably or was today a struggle? I don't care if you wear the cool watch, just don't look at it all the time. Breath the air, watch your form in the shadows, play with your pace and see how your breathing changes when you do. When you're done, hit stop, write things down, and move on. So many people get completely distracted by data and forget to just ...train. They forget to listen to their minds & to the cues their bodies are giving them.
Here's what I mean by taking it too personally. It is not healthy or wise for people to stay in race ready form ALL year long. Why not? It sounds appealing! Well, for one thing, you risk burnout. The level of training we do for this sport with hours and hours on the bike, miles upon miles of running and 100s of trips to the pool can't be maintained 12 months of the year. Our minds and bodies need a break!!! We need to rest and recover and rejuvenate for the following season.
What happens during this period? We decondition. And that is OK! In fact, it's good. You don't need to turn into a sloth, but cut way way back and lose the schedule and the feeling of , " I have to do a 2 hr bike today. I can't miss it."
As a result, our run paces will slow, our power output fades and you likely will not swim your fastest 100 free during the off season.
Big deal!!! Right? After all... your next race is 8 months + away. Relaaaaaaaax.
And, do not stress when you look at your garmin.
I can't tell you how many runs I did over the past several weeks that caused me to Laugh Out Loud when I looked down at that 'pace' square on my watch. Ha! Really??? My Heart rate was right in it's happy place of zone 2 but my running pace was about 1.5- 2 min off my norm. Seriously.
I felt heavy, and 'thick' ( not sure....just the word that was coming to my mind while out there), and uncoordinated on the road and in the water. The power readings on my bike caused me to call the SRM and garmin Help numbers to make sure the thing was calibrated. No joke. It was fine. Darn.
Yes, that slow and that weak. Only 1 month after racing at Worlds out in Vegas.
During that time, I kept my cool. I wore the watches and uploaded the data. Did I worry? No. Ok.... I had occasional fleeting thoughts that went something like this: " Ange, you are about to turn 43. Maybe your day is done. Maybe you've seen your fastest years. Is this the beginning of that turn...??"
Sure, I had those thoughts. However, pretty quickly I realized this. One doesn't Suddenly slow down and lose all their momentum. I ran my fastest ever 10K in August. I took a bunch of down time in Sept and early Oct....so therefore, I am slower. So Buck up, back off the 8p.m. cookies, and go run some more. And you know what? Starting last week, I began to feel a wee bit better. Ah ha!!! It just took time. And patience. And consistency. Now, when I look at my uploaded data, I see a nice rise in the graph. My HR is moderating and my pace is dropping. Beautiful. It took a while, but I'm coming back. Slowly but surely.
Faith. And Patience. And Consistent hard work. The numbers are just tools that allow us to track progress. Both the ups and downs. When used properly, it can be fun to see.
But first-- you Must be able to strip those gadgets off and feel the raw effects of the workout and identify what that is like. After all, that is really what it is about. Moving your body across the land and through the water ( if we're talking Triathlon) as quickly and efficiently as you can. So... stop and FEEL that for yourself without the computer telling you all about it.
And second, you must be able to record the numbers with an objective frame of mind knowing that the information is a tool that is used to plan your program and watch your progress.
That post got way too long! Enough is enough!
Get out there and train and eat a whole bunch of Turkey!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!! Count your blessings!
It's 7:07 p.m. My husband just left for a meeting. One son is in the room next to me writing a paper. He's making me jealous of today's kids because he has some cool cut and paste program for the bibliography section. I HATED the bibliographies!!! Sigh... I need to remember.. for the most part, I am happy I lived my childhood back in the days before facebook and texting and tweeting and phones with cameras. What a mess all that has become.
My other two sons are downstairs playing. Right in earshot. Big time. Currently, it's all laughter. Albeit wild laughter. They're chucking a big physio-ball around the room at each other. It's only a matter of time. I have experience with this game.
When the bell chimes at 7:30 and it's officially, 'time to go up.' We begin showers, and picking up rooms, and trying to put away some of the laundry baskets. We'll brush teeth, talk about the random balls of dirty socks, wet towels and random Tshirts strewn about. Then it's story time. So I'm almost out of time.
OH wait!!! Here they are. The 2 wild things. "What do we do?" That's what they just said to me.
Um... go back and play more so I can try to write this blog?( haha.. I didn't really tell them that. )
Or...read??
Hey! That took... 5 more min. for this.
____
Triathlon. The 3 discipline sport with MEGA gear and gadgets.
It's a blessing and a curse, those gadgets. I know this as an athlete but now I know it even More as a coach.
Last night ( yes, I ran out of time when I started this post.. kids came up and we played a brief round of charades instead. )I found 3 of my old running logs. They are from 1997, 1998, and 2005. I don't know where I put those missing years in between. Well... actually... I had a baby in 1999. And 2001. And 2004. Ah ha.... it makes perfect sense now that I think about it!! No log books were kept!!! Yup, that's it. I ran, but certainly didn't keep track of anything other than what I needed to for the babies!
Ok... here are some sample entries from my logs:
Monday 4/7: up and down Paris Hill, 117, Christian Ridge ( the route), knees hurt, 12.5 miles, 1:50
Tues: 4 miles , 50 degrees ( no time recorded )
Wed 6.2 miles 4p.m., 60 degrees, new shoes ( no time on this either )
Thurs: End of Christian Ridge, 58 degrees, 4 p.m.a , shoes better, 6.2 miles ( no time.)
and so on... At the end of each week I wrote the total mileage and maybe a comment or two like:
Good week, down 3lbs. Or
"awful week... kids have the flu. I felt gross too."
 |
| 1997 |
 |
| 2005 |
Simple simple simple. No heart rate numbers, no pace, and only occasionally a total time for the run!
Was that better? There are pros and cons to everything. Here is what I can tell you about those days. When I felt good, I pushed hard. When I was tired, I ran easy. When I was sick, I took a day off. I ran day after day after day otherwise. I varied my distances and I ran different routes. On long runs, I noted more details. I logged what I ate before and during the workouts and I noted the conditions outside But otherwise, it was all simple and based on how I felt.
It's interesting for me to see, I was running pretty close to the same speed I am now on most training runs. Does that discourage me? The fact that I'm not faster? NO!! I'm reading from a log book I wrote when I was 27 years old! Ha! I am keeping up with my 27 year old self... and besides that.. more importantly,I'm racing much faster now. So.. no worries. My mind is stronger for racing than that kid was. :)
Back to my point....
I've been at this for a long long time. Not just triathlon, but involvement in sports in general. I started swimming competitively at a very young age and continued that right through college. Then, I ran and ran and ran. I ran marathons and other short races. And now, I'm into this sport. The advantage I have, in my opinion, is that when I was learning to race and train as a kid, I was 100% reliant upon myself and how I felt. It was all about my body and what it could do each day. Sure, we had watches. I'm not that old. But, they were just watches. There was not yet an obsession on analyzing every last split and lap. Swimming is a sport that can be won or lost by Fractions of a second. It's not without minute details and focus on times and splits. How did we deal with that? We practiced starts and turns and strokes over and over and over and over for hours and hours and hours day after day after day.
And then on the day of the meet, we'd focus our minds, steady our thoughts and go after it. We'd hit the wall with our heads down and then look at the clock to see the results.
I'm really not old and didn't grow up in pre-historic times before HR monitors or stopwatches. But my roots are in sports that didn't require tons of gadgets and it was before the days of training peaks and power files and TSS scores. I grew up in the 1980s era of 'no pain no gain.' Now we all know that that is a silly motto because of course, if there is pain, you stop. But.... I think there's another way of looking at that.
One of the lures of Triathlon, is that it's there for adults. There are adults, like myself, who grew up in the world of racing who realized at some point in their grown up lives, they couldn't live without it any more. And then there are the adults who are new to competitive sports and have set racing Triathlons as a goal to help reach a new level of fitness and personal accomplishment. Lucky for all of us, Triathlon has age group racing right up into the 80s! So if one desires they can keep going and going. I love it.
Now here we all are. The 'type A' adults determined to do their best in this fun sport. They are driven to set goals and work hard and make it happen! Fabulous! Again, I love it. To make it more fun we now have complex online training logs ( can't live without mine, I know that!) , power meters that measure everything from time, speed, cadence, watt output at that moment, on average, for the lap, normative power, TSS, IF, VI , kilojoules, and 100 more things. We have garmin watches to measure our average pace, lap pace, actual pace, distance, time, elevation gain, cadence and heart rate. Phew. And, this is just the beginning!!! GOOD stuff! And, used properly, very helpful training tools.
There are just a few simple catches.
We can all be too dependent on the data to tell us how we feel and many take all the numbers way too personally. What do I mean?
I think it's SO important for people to learn to shut off the gadgets and feel how they Really feel. I think too many people get completely reliant on the Garmin to tell them how they feel. Just go run. Dive in the water and swim down the lake. Turn off the feature that tells you what route you took around Crystal lake. After all, you know. You went over there and then back a ways, around that dock and down to the red buoy. Right? How did your arms feel? Did your stroke feel fluid? Were you breathing comfortably or was today a struggle? I don't care if you wear the cool watch, just don't look at it all the time. Breath the air, watch your form in the shadows, play with your pace and see how your breathing changes when you do. When you're done, hit stop, write things down, and move on. So many people get completely distracted by data and forget to just ...train. They forget to listen to their minds & to the cues their bodies are giving them.
Here's what I mean by taking it too personally. It is not healthy or wise for people to stay in race ready form ALL year long. Why not? It sounds appealing! Well, for one thing, you risk burnout. The level of training we do for this sport with hours and hours on the bike, miles upon miles of running and 100s of trips to the pool can't be maintained 12 months of the year. Our minds and bodies need a break!!! We need to rest and recover and rejuvenate for the following season.
What happens during this period? We decondition. And that is OK! In fact, it's good. You don't need to turn into a sloth, but cut way way back and lose the schedule and the feeling of , " I have to do a 2 hr bike today. I can't miss it."
As a result, our run paces will slow, our power output fades and you likely will not swim your fastest 100 free during the off season.
Big deal!!! Right? After all... your next race is 8 months + away. Relaaaaaaaax.
And, do not stress when you look at your garmin.
I can't tell you how many runs I did over the past several weeks that caused me to Laugh Out Loud when I looked down at that 'pace' square on my watch. Ha! Really??? My Heart rate was right in it's happy place of zone 2 but my running pace was about 1.5- 2 min off my norm. Seriously.
I felt heavy, and 'thick' ( not sure....just the word that was coming to my mind while out there), and uncoordinated on the road and in the water. The power readings on my bike caused me to call the SRM and garmin Help numbers to make sure the thing was calibrated. No joke. It was fine. Darn.
Yes, that slow and that weak. Only 1 month after racing at Worlds out in Vegas.
During that time, I kept my cool. I wore the watches and uploaded the data. Did I worry? No. Ok.... I had occasional fleeting thoughts that went something like this: " Ange, you are about to turn 43. Maybe your day is done. Maybe you've seen your fastest years. Is this the beginning of that turn...??"
Sure, I had those thoughts. However, pretty quickly I realized this. One doesn't Suddenly slow down and lose all their momentum. I ran my fastest ever 10K in August. I took a bunch of down time in Sept and early Oct....so therefore, I am slower. So Buck up, back off the 8p.m. cookies, and go run some more. And you know what? Starting last week, I began to feel a wee bit better. Ah ha!!! It just took time. And patience. And consistency. Now, when I look at my uploaded data, I see a nice rise in the graph. My HR is moderating and my pace is dropping. Beautiful. It took a while, but I'm coming back. Slowly but surely.
Faith. And Patience. And Consistent hard work. The numbers are just tools that allow us to track progress. Both the ups and downs. When used properly, it can be fun to see.
But first-- you Must be able to strip those gadgets off and feel the raw effects of the workout and identify what that is like. After all, that is really what it is about. Moving your body across the land and through the water ( if we're talking Triathlon) as quickly and efficiently as you can. So... stop and FEEL that for yourself without the computer telling you all about it.
And second, you must be able to record the numbers with an objective frame of mind knowing that the information is a tool that is used to plan your program and watch your progress.
That post got way too long! Enough is enough!
Get out there and train and eat a whole bunch of Turkey!!!!
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!! Count your blessings!
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Step by step
by step by step by step....
And then, one day, when you might not expect it, you will feel good. Ahhh......
I started 'training' again last month. I didn't take too much time off for my off-season ( another post on this one later...) but my running sure did take a hit. I think when you combine taper with the 3-4 weeks off/ recovery period, you can't expect anything else but a decline in speed and that wonderful feeling of lightness when you run.
It's ok with me. I am not really a patient person in general. This is something I strive to work on in life. And yet somehow, I am totally patient with this process. It happens every year and eventually, it all comes together. It's important to take a break, to the the body chill and heal and to start fresh again. You aren't really starting fresh after all. If you've been running for years and years and years as I have, you don't Lose that aerobic base and endurance. You just lose your feel. You're no longer sharp and fresh. You may have gained a few pounds. So what! Just be patient. Be consistent. Relax. Go slow. And then go slow again, and again, and again. Get your sleep. Eat your veggies. Drink water.
And then one day, you will feel good again. Promise.
Today was my day. The circles under my eyes that were dark and deep have finally started to lift. I was much kinder to myself this week and had a bit of an awakening. I cut myself some slack. It wasn't yet November and I realized, hey, this is just wrong. There is no reason for me to be in such a hole this time of year. It's not right Any time of year but certainly not right now. It's Fall. I have a long way to go.....
So I have been turning the light off a bit earlier and turning it on a bit later. After the first no alarm Saturday I can remember in a long time, I chilled with the boys for an hour, drank a few cups of coffee and then headed out for a nice fairly long run. My HR monitor was on, but I never looked. My garmin was on the other wrist, and I never looked at that either. I just ran. No music. No watch.
It was cool and fresh. The roads were quiet. I was alone. When I started, my legs were a bit heavy. I did a bit workout yesterday. I was expecting that. I just ignored and took light easy steps. I relaxed my shoulders. I thought about things....
I just ran. That is it. I solved a few problems, I wrote a few other blog posts, I made a few lists, came up with some ideas... nothing taxing, nothing that I remember.
Around mile 6 or 7 I snapped alert. Hey! I'm really cookin'! I feel Good! I feel like.... me! I felt like myself! I didn't need to look.. .I know my pace. I knew what I was running and I knew how it compared to last week. That run last Saturday with my husband. The one when we finished and he asked our time ( a route we do ALL the time... ) and it was about 5 min slower than 'normal.' We laughed. I told him it was ok. He had succumbed to 'my' pace that day.
I started imagining scenarios. Races. I do that.. it's a secret. Shhh....
I fast forward to races I have coming up. Maybe the race is in a week.. maybe it's 8 months away. It doesnt' matter. I go there. I feel it. I create my finish line. I visualize the clock and what I will do. I write the story myself. I might even tear up thinking of the moment I pass her. It's what I do... I let myself dream it and then I work, day after day, to make it real.
Running. There is nothing else like it.
And then, one day, when you might not expect it, you will feel good. Ahhh......
I started 'training' again last month. I didn't take too much time off for my off-season ( another post on this one later...) but my running sure did take a hit. I think when you combine taper with the 3-4 weeks off/ recovery period, you can't expect anything else but a decline in speed and that wonderful feeling of lightness when you run.
It's ok with me. I am not really a patient person in general. This is something I strive to work on in life. And yet somehow, I am totally patient with this process. It happens every year and eventually, it all comes together. It's important to take a break, to the the body chill and heal and to start fresh again. You aren't really starting fresh after all. If you've been running for years and years and years as I have, you don't Lose that aerobic base and endurance. You just lose your feel. You're no longer sharp and fresh. You may have gained a few pounds. So what! Just be patient. Be consistent. Relax. Go slow. And then go slow again, and again, and again. Get your sleep. Eat your veggies. Drink water.
And then one day, you will feel good again. Promise.
Today was my day. The circles under my eyes that were dark and deep have finally started to lift. I was much kinder to myself this week and had a bit of an awakening. I cut myself some slack. It wasn't yet November and I realized, hey, this is just wrong. There is no reason for me to be in such a hole this time of year. It's not right Any time of year but certainly not right now. It's Fall. I have a long way to go.....
So I have been turning the light off a bit earlier and turning it on a bit later. After the first no alarm Saturday I can remember in a long time, I chilled with the boys for an hour, drank a few cups of coffee and then headed out for a nice fairly long run. My HR monitor was on, but I never looked. My garmin was on the other wrist, and I never looked at that either. I just ran. No music. No watch.
It was cool and fresh. The roads were quiet. I was alone. When I started, my legs were a bit heavy. I did a bit workout yesterday. I was expecting that. I just ignored and took light easy steps. I relaxed my shoulders. I thought about things....
I just ran. That is it. I solved a few problems, I wrote a few other blog posts, I made a few lists, came up with some ideas... nothing taxing, nothing that I remember.
Around mile 6 or 7 I snapped alert. Hey! I'm really cookin'! I feel Good! I feel like.... me! I felt like myself! I didn't need to look.. .I know my pace. I knew what I was running and I knew how it compared to last week. That run last Saturday with my husband. The one when we finished and he asked our time ( a route we do ALL the time... ) and it was about 5 min slower than 'normal.' We laughed. I told him it was ok. He had succumbed to 'my' pace that day.
I started imagining scenarios. Races. I do that.. it's a secret. Shhh....
I fast forward to races I have coming up. Maybe the race is in a week.. maybe it's 8 months away. It doesnt' matter. I go there. I feel it. I create my finish line. I visualize the clock and what I will do. I write the story myself. I might even tear up thinking of the moment I pass her. It's what I do... I let myself dream it and then I work, day after day, to make it real.
Running. There is nothing else like it.
Friday, October 26, 2012
I should have listened
My alarm buzzed at 4:06 a.m. today. After realizing that I actually planned that most annoying noise to yell at me at that hour, I wavered. Usually, I am UP. It hurts... but I am a robot and just Go. I don't think. My pile of sweats lays at the end of my bed on the floor, easy to grab without effort. Not today. Today, I thought twice. Instead of changing instantly, I walked into the bathroom. I had a little pep talk, came back out and got dressed instead of crawling back in bed.
Onward. I "need" to swim at least 3x week in order to make any gains. I've been swimming my entire life and because of that, it takes more than two 3000yd or so workouts for me to see any progress. My progress is always quite minute but it is progress nonetheless.
I hit up the coffee maker, grabbed my back, my post- swim snack and drove away.
Five minutes into my ride ( ~40 min ) I was proud of myself and happy I went. I was awake and writing a good swim workout in my head. 10 x200 today. That was my plan. I was ready to rip 'em out and end the week feeling good. ( Well... I still, as we speak, have another doozie of a workout ahead of me so I wasn't really ending my week. More like, starting the weekend on a good note. )
Five minutes after that, in the middle of some song I remember enjoying, I felt it. The car was shaking.
Huh? It's a new car. It rides smoooooooooooth. Something was up.
I turned off the radio. Put down my coffee.
damndoubledamn. I know that feeling. I've felt it before......
Now... I live in a Very remote area. I often think about my car breaking down on this ride and therefore, keep my cell phone ON and in my lap while driving. In the winter, I keep a warm down coat, boots, mittens, and hat in my backseat- just in case.
The first 1/2 of my ride is a dark dark dark wooded road. Not a single street light ( ok , a few when I go by Hebron Academy) and not a single place to stop, safely. No shoulders on the roads either. It's just dark and quiet. I love that I am usually the ONLY car out there because it's a nice way to start the day. Just me, the stars ( maybe), my coffee and some tunes.
But it's not so great when the car starts shaking. LUCKILY I was basically AT the halfway point of my ride and just about at a corner with THE only store. And a light. PHEW!
I pulled in and got out. I knew it, a flat tire.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Yes, I swore. I almost cried. And then thought.. what do I do?
It hadn't been shaking too much... I decided to drive home. I'd just go slow. I'll be there in 10-15 min, go back to bed, and deal with it after. How bad could that be???
I started back. I drove all of 10 sec, maybe. The car was NOT going to tolerate this. It was worse and absolutely not able to be driven.
I went back and parked. And called mark's cell. nothin'. Home. Nothin' huh...
AAA.
I called. They had a place 6 miles away. Good! how long can that take?
Turns out, a long time when the station TURNS DOWN the call. They wouldn't come!
I got up at 4:06. It was now 5:20 and I got a 2nd call from AAA saying they had to call another place and it would be 30 more min.
I was not happy.
Anyway...... you get the jist of my day thus far. I finally got home. I crawled in bed for 25 min. I 'm not sure why. I was wide awake. I had already had a mug of coffee. I was wired and bummed out. The kids were up. It just made me feel a little better.
I knew this before, but today I really felt it.... Getting up at 4:00 just because and getting up at 4:00 to workout does NOT leave you feeling the same way. In other words, I feel like I got run over by a truck. Usually, I run in the door at 6:30 after my swim days and feel ready to rock. I always feel ready for bed at night after a 4:00 start but now, it's 9:40 and I feel ready for bed.
Onward. I "need" to swim at least 3x week in order to make any gains. I've been swimming my entire life and because of that, it takes more than two 3000yd or so workouts for me to see any progress. My progress is always quite minute but it is progress nonetheless.
I hit up the coffee maker, grabbed my back, my post- swim snack and drove away.
Five minutes into my ride ( ~40 min ) I was proud of myself and happy I went. I was awake and writing a good swim workout in my head. 10 x200 today. That was my plan. I was ready to rip 'em out and end the week feeling good. ( Well... I still, as we speak, have another doozie of a workout ahead of me so I wasn't really ending my week. More like, starting the weekend on a good note. )
Five minutes after that, in the middle of some song I remember enjoying, I felt it. The car was shaking.
Huh? It's a new car. It rides smoooooooooooth. Something was up.
I turned off the radio. Put down my coffee.
damndoubledamn. I know that feeling. I've felt it before......
Now... I live in a Very remote area. I often think about my car breaking down on this ride and therefore, keep my cell phone ON and in my lap while driving. In the winter, I keep a warm down coat, boots, mittens, and hat in my backseat- just in case.
The first 1/2 of my ride is a dark dark dark wooded road. Not a single street light ( ok , a few when I go by Hebron Academy) and not a single place to stop, safely. No shoulders on the roads either. It's just dark and quiet. I love that I am usually the ONLY car out there because it's a nice way to start the day. Just me, the stars ( maybe), my coffee and some tunes.
But it's not so great when the car starts shaking. LUCKILY I was basically AT the halfway point of my ride and just about at a corner with THE only store. And a light. PHEW!
I pulled in and got out. I knew it, a flat tire.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Yes, I swore. I almost cried. And then thought.. what do I do?
It hadn't been shaking too much... I decided to drive home. I'd just go slow. I'll be there in 10-15 min, go back to bed, and deal with it after. How bad could that be???
I started back. I drove all of 10 sec, maybe. The car was NOT going to tolerate this. It was worse and absolutely not able to be driven.
I went back and parked. And called mark's cell. nothin'. Home. Nothin' huh...
AAA.
I called. They had a place 6 miles away. Good! how long can that take?
Turns out, a long time when the station TURNS DOWN the call. They wouldn't come!
I got up at 4:06. It was now 5:20 and I got a 2nd call from AAA saying they had to call another place and it would be 30 more min.
I was not happy.
Anyway...... you get the jist of my day thus far. I finally got home. I crawled in bed for 25 min. I 'm not sure why. I was wide awake. I had already had a mug of coffee. I was wired and bummed out. The kids were up. It just made me feel a little better.
I knew this before, but today I really felt it.... Getting up at 4:00 just because and getting up at 4:00 to workout does NOT leave you feeling the same way. In other words, I feel like I got run over by a truck. Usually, I run in the door at 6:30 after my swim days and feel ready to rock. I always feel ready for bed at night after a 4:00 start but now, it's 9:40 and I feel ready for bed.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
4.6, IM and 20 years strong
Two minutes after sitting down at the table for dinner last night... the house shook.
Truly... it shook. I have never experienced an earthquake in my life. After all, we live in Maine! Our weather is pretty tame. We are mostly spared by huge natural disasters such as tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes. So... a 4.6 earthquake took Us by surprise! It was strange.
I was putting my first bite of food to my mouth when a Loud rumble started. Mark's water glass was shaking. The two of us just looked at each other with wide eyes as if saying to each other without words, "WHAT THE &*(^* ???" My mind went to the furnace. And our pellet boiler. Or.. ? SOMETHING down in the basement was blowing up. I was sure of it. Either that or a huge truck was running into something next to our house. One of my boys made a wimper of panic. He was scared. I am not sure, but I think it lasted about 10 seconds? Not long. But long enough to be alarming. I think there were 3 distinct rumbles. It was loud. Mark and I ran downstairs and started searching for evidence of a problem. Smoke? Fire? Anything?? Nothing.
That was the first time it crossed our minds.. earthquake?? Here?
So what does someone do here in 2012? I admit, first I did say, "Call your parents." ( They live 1/2 mile up the road from us.) I did have a small moment of 'old fashion' communication/ inquiry there.
But the next second, I grabbed my ipad and checked facebook. I was ready to ask if others in our town felt anything. I was late to the game. It appeared that nearly all my other friends had already posted, "Earthquake" on their page.
Ok- that's it! Strange... apparently it was felt in Vermont, NH, NY, and MA. But the epicenter was about an hour from where I live.
That is that! My first earthquake.
________________________
I was up early today and in the water by 4:55. Geez... I am not sure if I am proud of myself for these mornings or if I'm slowly coming to grips with how crazy I am.
Regardless.. I was in the water and excited for the workout.
IM day!!!! Blast from the past! I was an IMer ( fly, back, breaststroke, free in one race) and butterflier back in the day. I swam both ALL the time in practice. I could do fly for nearly the whole workout without thinking twice. Not anymore... 99.9% of the time I swim free these days. After all, my days of racing 200fly and 200IM are long gone. Triathlon is all freestyle so, that is what I swim. Except for the occasional backstroke during warm up and warm down.
Yet today was 6 x 200IM!! oooeee!!! Bring it!
That is one way to get the HR up and boost your cardiovascular fitness!!! Do something you never do and do it hard! Wow, it was hard. But I am proud to say, I did all 300 yards of fly with no 'scooter.' ( aka- 1 arm fly. we called it scooter in HS. I'm not sure why.) I had fun with this set.
I will definitely be mixing more 'strokes' into my weekly swimming now.
________________________
Finally, 20 years ago this past spring, I graduated from College at UVM.
TWENTY??? sigh.. yes, twenty.
On Friday, I'll travel to Ohio to spend the weekend with 4 women who are truly the best girlfriends anyone could have. They were my roommates, my co-swim team friends and captains and my partners in crime. :) We rarely see each other. We rarely talk. But when we do, it is as if not a day has gone by since we were living together back in our Carriage house on South Union Street. These friends are the real deal. We have each other's backs. We listen. We care. I know, without hesitation, that if I needed anything, they'd be there. I truly cherish these rare friendships and I can not WAIT to spend a few days with them.
Friday, October 12, 2012
Week 2
I've decided to try a new approach. I have run out of time in my days lately. I now have a full time job that feels squished into half time hours ( school days have shortened lately ), I'm Mom to 3 busy busy boys and I also make time to train myself. As a result, I am having trouble sitting to write lengthy well thought out blog posts!!! I hope to find time for that some more as time rolls along. But for now, I am trying to turn over a new leaf to write short & frequent posts instead. Sometimes that's a good approach to follow with training!! Lots of short & easy runs... that's how I plan to blog for a bit.
I'm at the end of week 2 of my new training season. And, I'm happy to say, things are getting just a wee bit better. Other than my painful and mysterious calf incident last week, things weren't bad per se, but they sure weren't good.
Let's talk about that for a minute though.
Good. What is good?? Oh no.. I'm digging myself a hole for a long post here. And I can't do that. It's 7:38 and I have until 7:45 to do this.
I'll have to come back to this because it is important and it's the theme of the month with my athletes it seems.
In short... it is muy importante that you take time off at the end of a season. I feel this VERY strongly. For many many reasons. Your mind, your body, your family.... your mind.. did I say that already? Take a Break folks!!! It's OK and it's OK to get out of shape. The Goal is to decondition!! It feels strange and sloppy and sometimes quite bad to those of us who strive to be fit and ready to rock at the drop of a hat. But in reality, you can't do that. You can't stay in perfect racing shape all year. Why not? For one thing, if you do, when the big race arrives next July for example, you will be flat. The goal isn't to be race ready now but to be race ready then.
In other words.. Patience everyone! Patience.
3 minutes left!!!
My first few swims were slooooooooooow. But more than that, they were sloppy. My arms were moving in strange directions. I have no idea what was going on under the water but a strong effective stroke was not how it would be described.
That's ok. I've been here before.
How to handle it?
Go back to the pool another day. And then another. And then another. And.. you get the point.
Today, I swam for the 3rd time this week. No big deal. Except, I haven't done that since... Early September??
It's slowly clicking. I cant' take a lot of time off my swim splits anymore. I've been at it too long and I'm on that end of the age curve. But I can maintain and here and there, I pull out some long lost speed. The 200s I swam 3 weeks ago were just a bit off. :) That's a nice way to put it. last week, not as bad. Today, I did 5. The first one, at a moderate-easy effort, was decent. The time was faster than the best times 2 weeks ago. Ahh.. Keep in mind, we're talking about 4 seconds. That's all I get these days. But #5, that was better. Of course, I was working my tail off. I was pushing and focusing on the underwater pull, kicking off the walls ( doesn't always happen. Hope my old swim coaches aren't reading. ) , Not breathing off the walls ( again, don't tell the old coaches!) , and pushing that 3rd 50 that always seems to be the worst. And, hey! I dropped down to my in-season 'decent' time. Not even with my best times... but my good times. There. And again, that's 8-10 sec between my worst 200 a few weeks ago and today's good one.
Not a lot of time. But that's all I got.
I will go back to the pool Monday. And Wed. And Friday. And then again, the next week. No matter what. I will run and bike and run and bike and lift and stretch and roll and massage.
If I keep it up, in a few more weeks I might even drop 2-3 more seconds! :)
patience.... one of the keys to success.....
I'm at the end of week 2 of my new training season. And, I'm happy to say, things are getting just a wee bit better. Other than my painful and mysterious calf incident last week, things weren't bad per se, but they sure weren't good.
Let's talk about that for a minute though.
Good. What is good?? Oh no.. I'm digging myself a hole for a long post here. And I can't do that. It's 7:38 and I have until 7:45 to do this.
I'll have to come back to this because it is important and it's the theme of the month with my athletes it seems.
In short... it is muy importante that you take time off at the end of a season. I feel this VERY strongly. For many many reasons. Your mind, your body, your family.... your mind.. did I say that already? Take a Break folks!!! It's OK and it's OK to get out of shape. The Goal is to decondition!! It feels strange and sloppy and sometimes quite bad to those of us who strive to be fit and ready to rock at the drop of a hat. But in reality, you can't do that. You can't stay in perfect racing shape all year. Why not? For one thing, if you do, when the big race arrives next July for example, you will be flat. The goal isn't to be race ready now but to be race ready then.
In other words.. Patience everyone! Patience.
3 minutes left!!!
My first few swims were slooooooooooow. But more than that, they were sloppy. My arms were moving in strange directions. I have no idea what was going on under the water but a strong effective stroke was not how it would be described.
That's ok. I've been here before.
How to handle it?
Go back to the pool another day. And then another. And then another. And.. you get the point.
Today, I swam for the 3rd time this week. No big deal. Except, I haven't done that since... Early September??
It's slowly clicking. I cant' take a lot of time off my swim splits anymore. I've been at it too long and I'm on that end of the age curve. But I can maintain and here and there, I pull out some long lost speed. The 200s I swam 3 weeks ago were just a bit off. :) That's a nice way to put it. last week, not as bad. Today, I did 5. The first one, at a moderate-easy effort, was decent. The time was faster than the best times 2 weeks ago. Ahh.. Keep in mind, we're talking about 4 seconds. That's all I get these days. But #5, that was better. Of course, I was working my tail off. I was pushing and focusing on the underwater pull, kicking off the walls ( doesn't always happen. Hope my old swim coaches aren't reading. ) , Not breathing off the walls ( again, don't tell the old coaches!) , and pushing that 3rd 50 that always seems to be the worst. And, hey! I dropped down to my in-season 'decent' time. Not even with my best times... but my good times. There. And again, that's 8-10 sec between my worst 200 a few weeks ago and today's good one.
Not a lot of time. But that's all I got.
I will go back to the pool Monday. And Wed. And Friday. And then again, the next week. No matter what. I will run and bike and run and bike and lift and stretch and roll and massage.
If I keep it up, in a few more weeks I might even drop 2-3 more seconds! :)
patience.... one of the keys to success.....
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