Seven Weeks In

It's 7 weeks since I officially began training--training like I do over the winter in preparation for an Ironman. I've got meds now that seem to be helping my lungs with whatever is going on there. I'm not wheezing when I wake up in the morning, and I'm starting to feel like I can breathe a lot better while working out. I'll know I'm 100% on the lung front when I can sing while running in Zone 3!

It's been tough going from arbitrary run and bike workouts to full out gonzo training. Here are last week's workouts:

I skipped the Tuesday ride because I crashed after having been on Prednisone for 5 days, but I did go for a walk and lifted that day. I extended the Thursday and Saturday rides by :30, so I almost made up for the miss.

During Wednesday's track workout, I told myself it would be OK if I toned it down a little, but I ended up going faster than all the prior weeks. Instead of coughing up a lung after the intervals, I just breathed more deeply! That is progress!

I seem to be nailing all my swims now. I am still not fast, but coach said I look like "I'm just swimming and not trying" now. All the things I've done to correct my stroke have worked! I haven't gotten too much faster, but we'll see what happens over the next 12 weeks or so. If nothing else, I should be more efficient.

I had some good running results last fall, but my running has suffered as I picked up the hard, focused bike workouts, although all my track workouts have been awesome. I felt pretty rough on Friday, but ran easy (as I was supposed to!), and enjoyed running outside.

Saturday I did a bunch of chores and didn't start biking until 10:30. Since I'd still be rolling through a normal lunch hour, I chowed down some leftover pasta about 1/2 hour before I started. This had the bonus effect of keeping my effort easy for the first hour. I was a bit concerned I would have shit for watts the entire time, but once I started ISLAGIATT, I'd burned off the pasta, felt great, and had good power. But I didn't expect to be able to run for shit off a ride like that. It was decent out, so I took a little over 5 minutes to towel off and change and headed outdoors. I ran by feel, so super easy, but right off the bat I was running maybe 9:45/mile, which would be just perfect (actually too fast) for an IM marathon. My legs actually didn't feel too bad, and I picked it up on the way back and ended up averaging 9:32/mile. Not too shabby!

A friend came over for dinner Saturday night and we got takeout Caribbean. YUM! Fried plantains, rice with pigeon peas, slow roasted pork and beef. I made a taco out of some of it, and felt I really carbed up well, but had no clue how I'd feel Sunday.

My legs were predictably a bit sore Sunday morning, but I loaded up 1/2 bottle of Infinit, a Coke, and some Gatorade and headed to the Y to run there on the treadmill (I don't like doing my long runs in my house) and then swim after. Happily, my legs felt just fine running, and I got in about 12.2 miles in 2 hours, which was just fine, and the best I've felt during a long run since November. I swam 1350 after (it made me nuts to end on not a multiple of 100!) super easy. After 500, some lady was sitting with her feet on the ledge in my lane! She was talking to someone in the adjacent lane, and I was like I don't want your gnarly feet in my face! I told her to, "Get your feet out of my lane, PLEASE!" She acted perturbed, but WTF, right?

I stretched some in the sauna and then finished up at home while cooking (for FIVE HOURS STRAIGHT) and then some more after I finally ate dinner. All told, I put in just over 17 hours last week, and a bit more the week prior. I have increased my weights and reps over the last 5 weeks, and that has had an impact on everything, but it appears I am adapting to all this and feel rather great now.

This week is a bit of a step down (only 14.5 hours of training) in preparation for beginning Tour of Sufferlandria on Saturday, although I am doing the 2014 route since I didn't buy all the new videos. Then the Tour continues the week after with very light running (I learned my lesson from 2014 that you can't run much during this!), featuring 9 hours of biking! The week after I have my first race of 2015--an indoor supersprint!

Yikes! Good thing I'm adapting to this otherwise I would be a complete mess! But it's totally fun. I'm used to the cycle of fatigue/soreness/invincibility. That is how it goes when you keep up aggressive strength training at the same time you are doing a lot of intensity work.

Today I have the day off from work, and I've got a swim threshold test and an easy :45 run is all! I will get all the dishes done from my cooking festival, work on the dress I'm making for my friend's wedding, and that will be that for today!

Oh, and I just discovered that I need to get a TUE (Therapeutic User Exception) by WADA because I take raloxifene HCL for osteoporosis treatment. The odds of me being drug tested are probably small--still, I want to be 100% legitimate!

Have an awesome week!

Weekly Workout Totals 12/28/2008-01/04/2009

When you look at the numbers below (does anyone really look at them?), it's not a lot of hours, but it was a recovery from ZebraMan and the beginning of focused intensity work.

I nearly screwed up my recovery early in the week by deciding to run on Monday. Usually I take 2 days off from running after a 1/2 Ironman, but I was feeling OK so I went and ran anyway. That wasn't really a good idea as my legs were really sore afterwards, and I was concerned whether I'd be able to bike decently on Tuesday.

Tuesday rolled around, and I looked at the planned bike workout thinking I might not be able to do it and decided instead to pop in a Spinervals tape. Usually I don't think the Spinervals are that hard, but for some reason I was totally motivated to hit the % numbers displayed (they are using HR but I'm using % of FT watts) or better, and I ended up getting a really good workout in.

Wednesday I had a pretty good swim in the AM and run around noon. I wondered if I could nail another good bike workout on Thursday, and I did, even after 4 hours of intense cooking and lifting weights for about an hour beforehand! I was really putting the hurt to myself at this point, and luckily, I only needed to swim on Friday, which enabled me to finish up my strength routine for the week.

And then for Saturday, I had this bike workout to do:

WU: 30' @ 65-70%
MS: 2 x (20' @ 80-85%, 10' Easy), then 2 x 8' (5') @ FT; 6x30/30,
cd 3'

It was hard (after the warmup), but I was focused, and besides, it was only 2 hours, and it went by pretty quickly. I finished up, changed into running shorts and headed to the Y to run for :30. Even though my family room stays nice and cold which is great for trainer riding, I still get pretty hot and sweaty, and I think this was my first really focused long-ish ride on the trainer this winter. When I got on the treadmill, within minutes I was sweating buckets, despite having a fan right over my head, and about 15 minutes in I began feeling a little dizzy and just really overheated. I wondered if I was bonking, but figured I shouldn't be as this really wasn't that long of a workout and I had drank some Ultra Violence before I started and a decent amount of Gatorade on the bike. I decided I better go and run on the track because it's a lot cooler in there than in the cardio room.

I started running on the track and still felt a bit woozy, but after a few laps, the feeling went away and that's how I knew that I was just a bit hyperthermic, and it made me laugh! I mean I'm barely wearing any clothes, I'm sweating bullets, running in a cold gym and I'm overheated! And all I could think was this was a great way to start off 2009!

I was all finished working out and eating by about 1:30PM and so I went to a matinee of "Role Models" and laughed since I was feeling like I have all this time on my hands! It truly is a treat to be done with the remodeling and not be training very much where I have time to do other things like go to a movie, sew, cook, read--a few of my favorite things!

Sunday called for a 1:30 run and a :30 swim, and I thought easy peasy. Well, about :55 into the run (on the treadmill), the front of my right ankle is giving me fits to the point where I thought I might need to quit running for the day. I went to the indoor track to see if that made a difference and hobbled through another mile, and it was while doing that that I realized why it hurt--it was from the 4 hours of sewing in the morning! It's good to remember that a lot of the things we athletes experience as injury is not from the sports themselves but from other daily living activities! Well, once I realized the origin of the pain, I was quite content to finish up on the elliptical (which didn't hurt at all), and the swim felt good even though the water was HOT, and I was done for the day.

I took a shortie cat nap (at least I think I fell asleep) with a smile on my face under my pirates and zebras, finished making some gifts (secret!), boxed up things to mail off, roasted a chicken, ate dinner and went to a friend's place. Meanwhile, of course, my ankle is fine as it had just developed some trigger points that went away on their own.

This week begins the official pattern of training for the indoor sprint races which is basically just preparation for Triple T, which even though it's 20 weeks away, you basically want to be trained up as if you were doing an Ironman, so I am taking everything fairly seriously now.

Speaking of serious, I need to go swim. Have a great Monday!

Weekly Workout Totals	12/29/2008-01/04/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by a lack of snow. How did I make it stop snowing? I bought cross country skis!
Swim:	9400 yards (5.33 miles) in 3.38 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1185 calories burned Canadian: 8595.36 meters
Bike:	Approx. 97.35 miles in 4.77 hours; 36% of weekly workout time; approx. 2625 calories burned; Total TSS=295 Canadian: 156.67 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 24.23 miles in 3.77 hours; 29% of weekly workout time; approx. 1715 calories burned Canadian: 38.99 kilometers
Strength:	1.27 hours; 10% of weekly workout time; approx. 318 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 126.91 miles in 13.19 hours; approx. 5843 calories burned Canadian: 1.25 kilometers
Sleep:	7.64 hours avg./night
Stretching:	2.03 hours. Massage: 1.25 hours

Look What I Made This Weekend!

A new duvet cover for my bed...I decided I was tired of the previous one. I went online to search for pirate and zebra fabric a little over a week ago, and I scored big time! Bonus--I also got flames! Here's the finished product on the bed:

Here's a closeup of the pirate fabric. Yes, it says "Bad Bones" on it!


Closeup of the zebra fabric. I really like the fact that it's like embedded zebras instead of just stripes!


The entire thing took about 8 hours to complete, from buying the lining fabric locally (Friday evening) to measuring and cutting (yesterday morning before I worked out) and finally sewing (this morning). I'm really happy with the result, and now I think it's time I ditch the floral curtains and go with pleated shades...funny how I"m into this "decorating" thing after 8 years of total neglect!

The only reason I hurried up on this sewing project is that I only use the duvet cover in the winter, and there's maybe 2.5 months left of that (YEAH!), so I wanted to get some use out of it. Plus, I have another sewing project in the wings, and there aren't too many more weekends (7, maybe) where I won't be wasted from training and/or racing.

Had an awesome day yesterday--cut out the duvet cover, biked 2 hours pretty hard, ran :30 pretty hard (including my first episode of hyperthermia for 2009!!!), went and saw the movie "Role Models" (hilarious), watched a little TV, read a little and early to bed.

Now it's time to go run and swim and then all I have left today is to cook, which I am really getting into now.

Enjoy your Sunday!

A Good Week, So Far

Even though I'm still having trouble getting enough sleep a few nights a week, it's not stopping me from doing anything.

Spring is HERE! I've been out early in the morning (well, once the sun's up) cleaning up my flower beds, and boy are things growing a lot this week! My front yard is almost officially ready for viewing--I just need to add the gazing ball back to its pedestal and use Roundup on my white trash neighbor's invasive sweet pea vines. In the back yard, I only need to cut down one more 5x8 foot area of perennial stems, and then we are good to go! Daffodils are blooming, and the hyacinths have swollen blooms that will perfume my front yard along the sidewalk within the next week. I received the seeds I ordered, but they can't be planted until late April or early May, depending on when we are about to receive our last frost. I just love this time of year when you have spring bulbs blooming, yet the trees haven't leafed out. I really love when the leaves are just appearing and they are a "young" green color, the forsythia bushes are blooming, and then you get magnolia trees blooming, and it's just beautiful.

I swam 3 times this week, and today, although I didn't sleep well last night, I am seeing my speed beginning to return! I'm so excited--me and my massage therapist have honed in on the offending muscles in my upper left back, and so far my left arm continues to be able to extend fully and PULL like it knows how! I told my coach about this, and that I am planning on a 1:10 swim split at IMLP, and this time I FUCKING MEAN IT! I definitely have the power--I know my upper body has developed a bit from my extra strength training and I'm lifting heavier on my lats and pecs, so now I'll just begin inching back up to a solid 10-11,000 yards a week and that should do it.

My house looks like a Fedex bomb went off in it--I received some Clif Nectar Bars I ordered (to replace the errant cereal they sent last week but that I ate half of anyway--the reason I don't eat cereal is that when I buy it I will pretty much eat an entire box in one or two sittings), I got my Ergomo 2 days ago (and of course, I lovingly fondled the carbon cranks), and today I got a box of Kona coffee and my other bike parts. Lots of gifts for me!

When the bike parts arrived, I was so happy, because now that I've taken them to the bike shop, we are ready for assembly to begin. I met the Sidi representative at the shop today, and he's a really nice man. This guy reps for Sidi, Colnago, Pinarello and all this high-end bike stuff. He told me my wheels (Fulcrum Racing Red) would provide a nice, stiff ride, and of course, I used the opportunity to reel off a line I've been saving up: "Well, you know, I definitely like a very stiff ride myself." Can you say 3 men turning a bit red in the face? It was fun.

I also ordered some more fabric--I spent some time browsing and found something for my Dad--he had asked me if I had any more shark fabric, and I said no, but I found something he will REALLY like as a shirt--it has classical composer busts all over it. Since he doesn't read my blog, no worries, he won't see this--but I know he will absolutely love receiving something I have made for him (as do most people). That's the cool thing about sewing--you can pretty much find something that fits people you know to a T. I also found some Star Trek and Star Wars fabric that I bought to make some pillows for my nerdly brother, Tom. I know he'll appreciate that. And then a few more things I can't talk about yet...it's all good!

I bought a new trainer for my Bitch. The old Blackburn is about dead and not calibrated well for me, and the Cycleops is made for someone much bigger than me (anyone want to buy my Cycleops? I'll sell it for $200 plus shipping--it cost close to $300 and has barely been used). I got another Blackburn, and I hope this one does the trick.

I'm looking forward to trying out the new trainer tomorrow, as it's supposed to be rainy here. And then Sunday, I'm looking forward to a nice long run on a trail that I dearly love, and I'll be cooking up some great Italian stuff again.

I'm still on target for 13.5 hours of training this week, and considering everything else that I'm getting done, this has been a wonderful week so far. My LBSG said he can get me decals from any image I can make, so that's my next project (until the fabric arrives!).

I located a new Fractal generating program (Google Fractint) that is AWESOME, and also some great tessellation websites (see my sidebar under "Mental Stuff"), that I highly recommend you visit if you are at all into M. C. Escher, my favorite artist.

And then another thing I need to do is acquire tickets for The Barber of Seville which will be performed by the Lyric Opera here in Chicago next year. OMG I looked at how much tickets are and yikes! But it will be worth it, PROVIDED I can get tickets when they go on sale in August. We shall see...who knows...maybe I'll be viewing opera at La Scala sometime in 2008!

Life is good!

More sewing and bike shopping

I made this shirt for my coach for his birthday, shown above finished and also a close-up of the print. I had this fabric in the house for a few years--I bought it in Kealakekua, Hawaii (on the Big Island) 3+ years ago. At one time I was planning on making a dress from it, but I ran across it and thought, hey, that would make a cool guy's shirt. I have no idea if the coach will wear it other than perhaps camping, but I think it's cool, and if it were mine, I would wear it when I was in a "Bite Me" sort of mood!

I have located all my new bike's parts except for the shoes I want, but those should not be a problem. It's been interesting finding things in my CORRECT size for this bike--turns out my existing road bike wasn't fitted too well to me, but the new steed will be perfect. I went nuts on the components, as this is my dream bike, so everything is going to be top-notch. This bike will be more precious than my Griffen, which itself is pretty high-end. Of course, I didn't NEED another power meter, but hey, that's what I like, so the new girl gets one, too.

If anyone is interested, I have a Power Tap built into a 700cm wheel that I am looking to sell for a good price. It's a Powertap Pro, very lightly used, but needs service, probably just the battery. Contact me if interested.

I seem to be recovering from the last weekend pretty well, although I'm still not sleeping consistently over 8 hours. Maybe I've just been too excited about too many things, who knows? If I can make all my scheduled workouts this week, though, that will be good. Only 2 more weeks until I'm back on a "normal" training regimen!!! Which is good, because by then, it should be more reliably warm out and I'll have a new bike and I'll be ready to rock and roll on it!

Check Out My Jammies! (also free recipe)

I bet you thought this was going to be something racy....not today, sorry.

I finally finished sewing 2 pairs of flannel PJ's this morning. It's hard to photograph them 1) because I only have a stupid camera phone (no, I am not buying a digital camera just for blogging) 2) because the prints are rather large, but I did anyway.

The first picture is of the poodle print. It has pink standard poodles all over and their names--Fifi, Mimmi, Coco, Frou Frou, Lulu. But even better, EIFFEL TOWERS!!! So not only is this a French theme, but it is bicycling-related.

The second picture is of the Chinese takeout print. You can't see all the things on there, but they include: a takeout box, chopsticks, eggroll, fortune cookie, soy sauce packets, tea cups and a menu.

The third picture is of 2 pairs of what I call "pool pants." I have a number of pairs of flannel pants that I've made from my PJ bottom pattern that I wear all winter long for, well, basically trips to the pool/gym. They are comfortable, warm, and since I make them myself, I get to choose interesting prints. The pair on the left also has poodles, but they are enjoying a bit of lunch at a French cafe. The pair on the right are made of fleece, which is also warm and cuddly. You should see how excited little girls get when they see me wearing these!

I've been sewing since I was in the 7th grade. I basically taught myself, although I asked Mom if she'd help me if I got stuck. I took to it like a duck to water, and in high school, I sewed clothes for my entire family, because I enjoyed doing it so much. While I was married, I made Ken shirts, PJ's (we had matching plaid flannel for a few winters and then matching brilliant orange and black tiger stripes) and even a few pairs of shorts. All the throw pillows in my house were made by me, as are all the drapes, except for the ones in the living and dining rooms.

When I worked in downtown Chicago in my 20's and 30's, before the advent of business casual dressing, I was dressed to the nines in dresses and suits I made, most of which I still have, since I was tiny but skinny back then (now I'm tiny and muscular!). Beautiful clothes, I might add--as I have a penchant for haute couture designer stuff. When you make it yourself, you can have a beautiful suit for maybe $150 that would go for 10 times that were you to buy it retail. And yes, I do all the tailoring stuff, except that I don't make bound button holes (I use the machine). I've got some amazing "party dresses" that I pull out every so often just to put them on and marvel at my handiwork, since they are not the kind of thing you wear every day.

I had cut out the PJ's back in December, but you know what happened--I was into a big training phase for Goofy Challenge, and now my weekends are filled by crazy training and racing, and then I had a 3-week spell of working too many hours.

But no worries, I live in Chicago, it's March, and it's SNOWING AGAIN, so the new jammies have at least a month of use in them, sadly probably more like 2. This morning I also finalized my shopping list of parts for the new bike, and shortly I get on the Griffen for a nice 2:30 ride followed by a :30 run, and then it's off to the bike shop I go!

I slept really well last night for the first time in about 4 weeks, so I finally think the stress of work is wearing off. And I've decided I'm going to move my Saturday workout to Friday next week so I have a *taper* for my next sprint race. I'll show that woman who has beat me--wait until she sees what a Crackhead can do with a day's rest. Or at least I hope I show her something great. I may still not beat her, but I'm guessing it will be damn close.

So today is a wonderful, wonderful day--I slept really well, I finished making something nice for myself, I'm looking forward to my workout, I'm going to get fitted for my new bike and hopefully pick out wheels, and when I get done with all that, I'll be eating something I cooked that is so incredibly good--see below for recipe. It's not exactly low fat, but after what I'm doing today and for what I need to do tomorrow (1 hour swim and 1:40 run), it's not like I can't use the calories. And oh--that extra weight from one antibiotic pill is GONE!!! I am 1 pound away from my fighting weight (112). Next week, I go on maintenance level of strength training, so I will be even more rested up for my next race. And tonight I get to wear new, homemade jammies--I am not sure which pair I will break in first!

Life is SOOOOOOOOOO good!

Farfalle with smoked salmon

(1) 16-ounce package farfalle or bow-tie pasta
2 tbsp. butter
1 giant onion or 2 large onions, coarsely chopped
2 large carrots, grated
¾ cup dry vermouth or dry white wine (vermouth is better, trust me)
1 cup light cream or half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
¾ lb. salmon filet, broiled and flaked
4 oz. Nova salmon, chopped into 1/2” pieces
1 small jar red caviar (optional)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Melt butter. Add carrots and onions and sauté until onions are golden (about 2 minutes). Add ¾ cup water. Leave off heat until pasta is almost done.

In saucepot, prepare farfalle as label directs; drain.

Add vermouth to carrot/onion mixture and heat to boiling; cook 1 minute. Stir in cream, salt, and pepper; heat to boiling. Cook 1 minute. Remove skillet from heat; stir in salmon pieces and chopped fresh dill and parsley. Toss salmon mixture with pasta to serve. Top with caviar.

To make the dish even more heavenly, put some crumbled bleu or Gorgonzola cheese on top before serving.