Monday, June 30, 2008

Tri-ing to get back on track...

It has been one month of laziness and intermittent workouts and now I have to get serious again. No more ice cream (snif!), limited sugar, and only 2 drinks for 4th of July. Other than that I am dry. On the flip side, I have to hit the pool, ride my bike, and continue my running. I have only been in the pool once in the last month and I have not been on my bike at all--the horror of it all!

I have the Longhorn 70.3 in 10 weeks!!! OMG! Where did the time go!!??!! I have some serious training to do and I am just realizing that I am running out of time! Good Grief!

This past weekend was a good running weekend for me. Last Wednesday night I did a track workout and focused on RPE rather than time or heart rate. I will start focusing on time once I start my Yasso 800's. I jogged over to the track in Memorial Park from where we had parked and then ran 3 x 400 hard, 400 easy, 800 hard, 400 easy. The last one was hard because I knew my heart rate was seriously elevated from the tingly feeling in my cheeks. After the workout, the kid and I went to go eat with Louis and Angela at one of my favorite spots, Cafe Express. YUM!!! One Greek Salad, please!

On Saturday morning I ran a little over 8 miles on a pancake flat route out of Memorial Park and west up Memorial Dr. to Chimney Rock and back in. It was hot and very humid and I could have wrung out my shorts and that is a rare one for me to be able to do. After the run, a bunch of us went to Goode Company Taqueria and I had scrambled eggs and chicken fajitas but without the tortillas. El Esposo was in town for the weekend and he took our son out for a belated Birthday Father and Son day. This gave me time to go to the movies and I finally saw the new Indiana Jones movie. It was good, but Ironman was still better.

On Sunday, I had planned to do a ride, but I was not able to find anyone who wanted to go pedal the miles with me so I bailed on that idea and went running again. I wanted to focus on going slower than I had the day before. My TNT/blogger buddy, Terry and the gal that he had been running with had caught up with me at a water stop so we all ran back in. Little did I know that Speed Racer was going to pick up the pace the last mile. I guess if I had not had my iPod on, I would have known this bit of news rather than sucking air the last 400 meters. So Sunday was LSD work and trying to keep my heart rate under 150 and preferably around 140. About 2 miles into my run, I literally ran into one of the girls I had coached for the Houston Marathon this last year and her husband. They were loading up the truck to head home after spending the night at her parent's house. We chatted for a few minutes and it was really good to see them. I got back to running and around the 7 mile mark I hit a Clif Shot and then the digestive system started moving. Some days it is fine and other days it works on the theory of "If something goes in then something must exit". I had to walk briefly to compose myself and then I got going again. If I focus on other things, it is better, but the closer you get to home you can't not think about getting in the door to the commode. The last two miles were all about keeping it together and getting home. I was having goose flesh all over my body and about ready to cry the last mile. I have yet to go up and knock on a stranger's door and ask to use the bathroom, but dang it was tempting! I made it home and without any accidents. I looked at the Polar, and I put in just a tenth of a mile shy of 11 miles. The rest of the day I was lazy and hungry.

So my plan today is to hit the pool if it does not rain and if it does, I will be on my bike trainer. We shall see how it goes.

Later Gators,

Liz

5 comments:

TNTcoach Ken said...

Sounds like the opposite of me, I'm only doing the bike and no running. Ha, composure is a learned talent, which I sometimes have none.

Benson said...

That doesn't sound all bad.
Little steps at first and before you know it, you're off and running again.
Keep it fun and the party never ends.

Rainmaker said...

Summer's for ice cream and unhealthy things - enjoy it!

Viv said...

I thought this was a lazy post. I kept scrolling down looking for the lazy part to kick in, you know the kind where you lay on the couch with a fan being fed grapes. Instead there is all this talk off 80, 400 with HR and blah blahs..LOL!

OK seriously email a chick for a bike ride whenever. I may not be speedy but I can make you laugh when you lap my butt.

Spokane Al said...

The one thing I like as an athlete is that we cannot take much time reflecting on past glories. It is always time to begin preparing for the next one with training and nutrition and everything else that goes into it.

Keep rocking Liz, and glad to hear that you have managed to keep all of your toenails.