I am such a Thule!!!

So last night I was helping my friend Misty move. I always keep my Thule bike rack in the car. As I was pulling out a lawn chair the bike rack fell out landing square on my big toe! A silent scream ensued and I hobbled the rest of the evening. When I got home and took off my shoe, I noticed the blood soaking my sock. My toe was really swollen and purple. It landed below the nail. Nancy helped clean it out (completely grossing her out). This morning I was surprised it didn't hurt more than it did. Still really swollen and starting to throb like in the cartoons. I am limping around and really mad at myself for making such a stupid mistake.

Squats and Row

Today's workout was a double. I am going to make a concerted effort to split these up in April to see if I can get more out of each individual workout. I am giving it my all, but sometimes, if I was fresher, I think the results would be different.

Results today for 300 squats for time was 9:22. Legs were still really sore from squats. Nancy timed them for me and added them up which was a big help.

Second part was going to be 8x400m run with 90 seconds of rest in between each set. Since I am holding off running until a 10k race this weekend, I swapped rowing for running. Finished in 22:02 total, which if my math is correct averages out to 1:48/500m during the work.

My pool is finally open

My pool is finally open after more than 2 weeks of being under renovations. I am still nervous about the swim, but at least I can just swim to get rid of the anxiety.

Yesterday was a first kind of combo day for me. I did 2 crossfit WOD's within 15 minutes of each other.

First part was back squats (5 sets of 3 reps) Results were; 185x1, 205x1, 225x2, 205x1. Felt that my form was good throughout. Nancy did her WOD (Deadlifts), then I did 5 sets of 5 reps of thrusters. Results were; 95x1, 105x2, 115x1, 95x1. These were much harder than I thought, probably had something to do with the squats.

Today I had 50 burpees for time and a 500yd swim. Burpees were done in 4:27 (legs and shoulders really sore from yesterday). Swim was done in 13:00 even. Last time on February 20th was 15:13.

Happy Friday

Was thankful to have a day off from training today as work has been pretty busy. Nancy and I are transitioning to Paleo. I am trying to think of all the things I can eat versus all the things I have to give up. Having a hard time wrapping my head around the changes I'll make. I've pretty much eaten the same breakfast, lunch and dinner for the past year or so. So figuring out something new will take some time. I am excited to see what changes this will have in store for my training.

Couple of workouts to catch up on;

21 Burpees,500m row, 15 burpees, 500m row, 9 burpees, 500m row. Finished in 10:13. Have I mentioned how much I hate burpees?

Other workout was a bike. 3 miles, rest 1 minute, 6 miles, rest 2 minutes, 9 miles, rest 3 minutes, bike 12 miles. Results were as follows; 3 miles = 8:57, 6 miles = 17:34, 9 miles = 26:54, 12 miles = 39:08. Total bike time was 92:33. Aren't crossfit workouts supposed to be short?

On another note, committed to a 60K in November with my friend Gerrit today and Nancy and her brother committed to the Hartford Marathon.

I am so over Burpees

Burpees, Burpees, oh I hate thee. They are never easy, even harder when you do squats and push ups before them. I had 10, 20, 30 rep rounds of box jumps, squats, push ups and burpees. Finished this in 11:57. Then waited about 8 minutes for the bike to clear and substituted a 10 mile run with a 20 mile bike. First 10 miles finished in 30 minutes. I then faded quickly on the second 10 miles for an overall time of 64:13.

Thank You--The following message is from Nancy

Dear Team Trimax and Laura,

Thanks so much for all of your positive comments. I wasn't sure at all if I could pull off my goal of breaking 2 hours in the NYC Half, but I did and am proud of my efforts. I had a great support team in Dan and my friends who waited for me to run by. Now Dan's trying to get me to do a marathon! Don't know how I feel about that yet....Thanks again to all of you.
Nancy

Shoulder Press, bike

Today's WOD called for 5 sets of 3 reps of shoulder presses followed by a 20K bike at 80%. Used dumbbells as a substitute. Warmed up with 20's then went 50x1,60x4. Felt pretty strong. Hopped immediately onto the bike and finished in 39:21.

Overall a good day, looking forward to more frequent weather days like this past weekend.

Unfortunately my pool has been closed for renovations, so I have not been able to do my swim workouts. The anxiety is starting to build a bit. I plan on making up a lot for lost time as soon as it opens up again next week.

Nancy is a Star!!!!!

So today was Nancy's A race. It was the big NYC Half marathon. There was over 11,000 finishers.

Nancy ran the Hartford half marathon in October in 2:04 with a ton of IT Band pain. Her fasted per minute mile in any race of any distance is 8:36.

Well, today she ran 1:51:44!!!!! That is good for an 8:32 pace and a PR by almost 13 minutes. She also has been practicing the running drills from Max and ran with NO, I repeat NO pain. She finished 139 out of 677 in her age group.

All this improvement and her total miles ran this year in January was 14.8, February was 16.0 and March up to today was 14.5 miles.

I am so incredibly proud of her accomplishment and frankly a little nervous that I will soon be looking over my shoulder and see her coming up to pass me!

Sorry for my lack of posts

This was a busy busy week. Work was busy, workouts kept me busy and we are in the midst of painting our apartment. Every night was a late one and I felt beat by the end of the week.

Some results;

100ft. walking lunges/10 burpees/ 25 situps (incline bench) 3x time for time @ 8:27
Workout 2 was 20K bike TT 36:54

Tabata with our friend Misty (box jumps,pushups, lunges, situps)
Box Jumps
16,13,12,10,10,11,9,10, score of 9
Pushups
22,16,14,11,9,9,8,9, score of 8
Lunges
12,11,11,11,11,11,11,11, score of 11
sit ups
11,11,9,9,8,8,8,8, score of 8

right into a 5K for time after timing our friend Misty's tabata, finished in 21:53

Cadence at 60rpm, 6 x 5K, was pressed for time so went 40 minutes straight at 16-17 resistance and 60rpm. 8 Miles completed. Weird result as this is double the resistance I use when TT and was going about 5minute per mile versus 3 minute per mile.

Deadlift 1/2 bodyweight plus 100m row. Used 45lb dumbbells and finished in 5:25.
Added 5 minutes of standing on the bike (1 mile) to help make up for the shorter workout.

My knee started really acting up today during Nancy's half marathon so I did 4x2 miles on the bike instead. Pedaled slowly until I reached 10 minutes each set. Results are 5:34, 5:45, 5:30, 5:20.

There actually is a sun

After four full days of rain and mixed up workouts, I feel like I am finally back on track. Yesterday's workout called for 150 wall ball shots for time (I substituted 20lb dumbbell thrusters). 2nd workout was 3 sets of 5 minutes of running with 3minutes rest in between.

First part started off innocently enough, then it got really hard and I was wondering why. Then I remembered that I did the 5 sets of 5 reps of push presses on Sunday. I used dumbbells (50x1,60x1,50x3). Finished this part in 7:33. Went directly to the treadmill for part 2.

First 5 minutes ran .72 miles, 2nd set went .75 miles and the 3rd set I went .77 miles. The first set took a while to get my legs back in gear, but then felt pretty good.

The knee aches a little, but there is no pain, so all is good.

I believe the knee is ok

So with a scattered schedule and limping aroung on one leg, my workouts got all out of whack. Had an 8K (a little under 5 miles) race in Central Park this morning. When I got up, I couldn't believe that it wasn't cancelled. Even more amazing was that 2600 other crazy people showed up.

Nancy had a 45 minute 70% run as she is beginning her taper for the big NYC Half next weekend. Our friend Gerrit also joined us. There was no warmup (unless you count mile 1). My knee hurt with every step for the first 2 miles then it stopped hurting, but I still felt it. First mile was done at 7:45, second at 7:40 or so. I tried to pick it up as it felt better and finished in 36:31 (7:20 pace). This was good enough for 41st out of 209 in my new (40-44) age group.

Gerrit must have felt badly for almost lapping me at the race so he came to our apartment to help us paint. After spending the rest of the day in a squat position, my knee actually feels ok. I can hardly tell it was ever a problem. I am hoping my prayers for a quick recovery have been answered.

My knee still hurts

So I switched yesterday to a day off from this Friday thinking it would be a good idea to rest the knee, since it hurt with almost every step yesterday.

Tonight was supposed to be 400m/35lb. kettlebell swings/12 pullups 3x for time. Second part was a 20k bike time trial. I planned to bike instead of run figuring it would save the knee. First round through was a breeze, about a minute into the 2nd round, my knee started hurting with every revolution. The third round I substituted 50 squats for the bike. Finished in 9:45. There was no reason to push my knee for the bike, so I decided not to try and injure it further.

I hope it gets better soon. I think I hurt my knee the other day because of poor posture. My back was a bit tweaked from the row the night before so I think my gait was off. I am praying that's all it is and will improve soon.

Woe is Knee

So since today was a gorgeous day and I had the day off, I switched my 13.1M TT to today. I met my friend Gerrit at high noon for a planned 13.8 mile run (2 big loops and a little loop in Central Park). I was so excited to get this in today. We began at Columbus circle and headed off. All was well, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and then it happened. I felt a twinge in my right knee a little below my kneecap at about mile 3.5. Needless to say it killed on the downhills, not so terrible on the uphills. We finished the first big loop in 50 minutes even. It was hurting almost every step at that point. We went around the big loop again and I decided to listen to my knee and stop. Total distance 12.04 miles, total time 1:42:23 (8:30 pace). Don't ask me why this happened. The only other time I have felt any kind of pain at all from running was the 13.3 miles I did a few weeks back. Then, my hip hurt worse than my knee, but both went away after a couple of days. I have done the high speed running, but no real distance since. I am hoping it is an outlier of some kind. Spoke to Max, he said we'll maybe throw in a couple 10K's in the next few weeks to see if it comes back. I am doing an 8K in the park on Saturday and will see how it goes.

Yesterday's 5K row was done in 21:16.

Jane, I do get other websites popping up when I try to read your blog. I will see if I can get some answers.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed

It seems as if a lot of things have been going on to put a squeeze on my free (training) time lately. I find myself getting really anxious at the thought of having to miss a session. Luckily, I haven't had to yet and will do everything in my power not to miss a session.

Some results of the last few workouts;

20 box jumps/5 push press (used 50lb. dumbbells)/10 burpees AMRAP in 15 minutes. In the middle of one my box jump sets a lady came over and interrupted me to tell me she liked the rhythm of my jumping. Lost my count so either I did 5 full sets plus the box jumps and push presses or 6 full sets, plus the box jumps and push presses.

Run 8x400m with 90 second rest in between. After the first rep(1:33) I had a hard time keeping track on the treadmill, so I kept track of speed for sets 2-8.
Results are as follows; Set 2-10.5mph, 3-11mph, 4-12.1mph, 5-11.8mph, 6-11.5mph, 7-11mph, 8-10mph. Thought of Mike while I was running as the treadmill started emitting a funny smoke like smell. I couldn't tell if it was also making funny noises or if the noises were coming from me.

Yesterday had 7 sets 1 rep max of deadlifts. Warmed up and went 225, 275, 295, 315 failed x 2, 295, 275. Put a huge amount of effort into the 2 failed sets.

I am hoping this week will be more productive all around.

Ultra Anyone?

So last night, Nancy our friend Gerrit and I went to see a presentation by Scott Jurek (he of Born to Run fame and one of the world's best ultramarathoners). First off let me say that it was completely inspiring. So much so, Gerrit and I were emailing last night about a 60K race in Central Park this November. I asked him about doing an ultra after doing a couple of 1/2 iron races. He said that if you have sustained a level of effort for a triathlon, you can easily do an Ultra. He had never run more than a marathon before doing his first 50 mile race (he finished 2nd). He said he is not an elite marathoner (2:38 best time, which is pretty darn elite to me). I am thinking maybe I should do a marathon before thinking of doing an Ultra, but I guess if I signed up for a half iron race from the sofa with 5 months to train, how hard can an Ultra be now. I may try and volunteer as a pacer at one this year to see how it goes.

Back to the regularly scheduled workout. 5 Deadlifts at 70% max weight (215lbs.) 10 burpees, 15 squats AMRAP(as many rounds as possible) in 15 minutes. Did this at the gym with Nancy (we got a lot of funny looks). Finished 8 full rounds and on the 9th round did the deadlifts and 4 burpees. Very sore today (especially the hamstrings).

Helen and a Run

After Sunday's workout I was feeling a lot better. Had Helen on tap for Monday night (run 400m/21 kettlebell swings with 35lbs./12 pullups 3 rounds for time). I substituted a 35 lb. dumbbell. All 3 rounds on the treadmill were at 10.0 mph, swings were not broken, pullup sets were. Finished in 9:50.

Yesterday's WOD was a 45 minute run. Ran outside after work and felt great the whole time. Went a different way, so I wasn't really sure how my pace was. Finished 5.69 miles (7:54 pace). Was a little disappointed, but then I guess that's why I felt so good. I obviously thought I was pushing, but probably need to go harder. Even though this was only 3 days after my 13.3 mile run, I will run to failure next time to see what the difference is.