I've got a half ironman to get ready for. And, hopefully, another PR to shatter.
But that is going to require some serious work. Mostly on my bike.
I've always known I was a decent swimmer--not record breaking by any stretch, but I feel pretty good in the water and can git-r-dun without too much worry. And I've been sort of forced to see myself now as a pretty decent runner. Again...emphasis on the word decent. Not fantastic, but I can pull it out and do okay. I'm not standing on any podiums, but, you know.
The bike is another story. I know it sounds silly...I try to explain to my students how the bike is the hardest for me, and inevitably someone says, "How hard can it be? It's a bike."
I know. Believe me, I know.
I think this is why I am super stoked to train with power this year. It's no secret that I don't heart HR training. Mostly because I feel like it's always held me back. I'll be getting tested at VisionQuest soon, and I am so freakin' curious of the results. Because, seriously, who holds a heart rate of ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY ONE for an hour and fifty minutes and feels fantabulous? It just doesn't make sense. Hopefully I'll get some answers. My max heart rate must be about 397 or something.
So I think power will be a good thing for me.
So when I'm looking at where I stand, proportionally, my run and swim are about at the same level. But the bike? Oh geez. Pa. Thet. Ickkkkkkkkk.
So, I've been getting back into getting up early this week. I haven't said much about it here but, for several reasons, it was really, REALLY hard for me to get up early during most of this second half of the school year. And, eventually, I decided I needed to let it go. It worked, and now things are much better. And you know what? After a morning swim yesterday and a morning spin today, I realized the following things:
- My mommy guilt for working out virtually vanishes. Because JayZ is still asleep. He doesn't even know I'm working out. So I'm not missing anything. Except his cute little snoring that I could listen to all day, but that's another issue.
- I can catch up on the Daily Show and Colbert on the trainer, or my favorite podcasts from InTransit, Tac Boy and The.Bigun, Simply Stu, and GYGO. Again, no mommy guilt. It's just me! My time!
- Holy crap does it make me SUPER DUPER PRODUCTIVE. Yesterday I even had time to hit the local coffee joint for a tasty brew before work--and still made it to work 15 minutes early.
So, I think this former sleep-in junkie turned early bird during Ironman training and then back to getting sleep whenever she can will be turning back to the dark side of morning workouts again.
Oh, and I've been working on my initiative for EvoTri, too, and I am getting some great response. As soon as I firm a few things up I'll tell you all about it!
Well, that's about all. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must move along.
11 comments:
Congratulations on a great race, Sara! I'm so excited for you!! Yea, you work on the bike, and I'll kick it up a notch on the run :-)
There is definitely something satisfying about morning workouts, getting it done before everybody else wakes up, even if it is craptastic getting started....
You are doing a seriously superb job in finding balance between work, home, and that new l'il boy!! You ROCK :-)
You probably have a really high lactate threshold. Mine is sky high too. I held a half marathon over 190 heart rate. Yeah, my max heart rate is in the 200s and I'm the same age as you.
Congratulations on a fantastic race last weekend. You are going to smash Steelhead! Just make sure you stick around at the finish line to cheer for me;)
I regularly average heart rates of 180-190 during races. I'm 30, and in theory my max is under 200, but I've gone over 200 at the sprint finish of short races before.
And my resting heart rate is normal, around 60. So I figure that for whatever reason, I just have a higher max.
sara..
it always seems like the quality of the workouts increases, the earlier in the day...(i don't mean a 2:45am workout, now, haha)
I just love getting up early..hitting it hard...and being in the coffee shop at like 7:15 and reading the paper...
when the kids were real little, I used to do my long run at midnight...and the bride got her run in at about 7am..it was a good tag team thingy to handle the little ones...
I agree with you on the bike philosophy. I need to really work it..I mean, itsn't that the area, with great improvement, I would stand the best chance of large overall time improvement??? I would think so.
Now, just like you..its time to hit it and not look back
First of all, way to crush that PR!! Hadn't commented yet, but we looked it up on Sunday PM to see how you did. Yeah, I need to get on the Steelhead bandwagon too. It's just a couple of months away!!!
I forget where I was just reading or heard someone's arguments about how off HR training can be. I couldnt believe I recently ran a fast long run and my HR averaged like 175 but I felt like it shouldve been down like 140. Ive really noticed it on my run where my HR just doesnt match up with RPE. I find myself relying more and more on RPE and keep an eye on my Hr secondarily.
I think it would be different if I actually had a LT threshold done.
As soon as i really get into my 70.3 training in the next few weeks I will be joining the 430 club in order to get my training in
I'm an early morning riser, too. Quality is definitely down if I wait 'til evening.
I'm so excited for you to go to Vision Quest for testing. Training definitely looks different after learning more about your capabilities.
Methinks I should take a lesson from you on getting up before baby to work out.
Nice PR. Thanks for including us in your listening reptoire!
My bike skills are no more as well. Maybe we need to ride together to kick each other's ass into shape.
Post a Comment