Swimming Uphill

It has been a while since I have updated my blog and workouts. I don't know if I can actually remember all of them and I know I can't remember what I ate. Let's see. Monday I was in Philadelphia (MS) for work. I ran out on the Dancing Rabbit golf course. What a nice course. I wish I had brought my camera or my clubs for that matter. I ran for 35 minutes. There were some really tough hills but that is what I need especially since my next triathlon has all rolling hills on the run portion. There were some actually so steep I had to walk on the downhill not the uphill. When I was done I realized that there was a sign that said no jogging. Oh well no one saw me. Golf courses aren't a bad place to run. The terrain varies, there is distance markers, and there is water on the course. Not too bad. When I woke up Tuesday my knee hurt so bad. I seriously thought I was hurt. I limped all day. This is the injury I had been scared of or so I thought especially since I tore my MCL in high school. I just keep waiting for this to set me back maybe even as far as surgery as I am sure that I have some torn cartilage. It hurt until the end of the day. For some reason on my way home it quit hurting. I was even able to ride my bike that night. I rode for 35 minutes of strictly constant effort. I didn't want to overdo it. On Wednesday I must have gotten lost and found myself at the pool. I think it is the first time in about a month. I know I need to go more but I just don't. No excuse for it. I could really tell I hadn't been there in a while. I suffered but I made it. I also did some hill running that night. The good thing about where I live is that to get in some hill training I don't even have to leave my neighboorhood. My goal is to do more hill running. I didn't do any before my first triathlon. There weren't many hills in my race and I didn't struggle but I just know that hill training improves all running, speed and strength. I ran for 35 minutes and hit all of the big hills in my neighborhood. Now to just do hills on my bike. Thursday I did the funnest workout I have ever done. I stole it from someone's blog and also I have read about it in a magazine. Since I didn't go to the track I just set it up in my garage with the trainer and tready. The workout is 3 min hard effort on the bike followed by half a mile on the treamill. You go back and forth between the two as long as you want to with no recovery. The goal of the workout is to be able to run and bike with a lactic acid buildup. Also, you are supposed to run faster on every half mile to really make it tough. I did it and loved it and since I don't have a training plan I am going to do it once a week. I had an off day on Friday. Saturday I woke up and headed to Jackson Station for my weekly ride and run. I have to say that I had a great workout for a bunch of reasons. First reason was because the lack of heat. Also, the trace wasn't too busy at least at the beginning. I also had someone looking out for me. Someone put a replacement bike out on the course in case I had broken down or had a flat.

Jenn did you do that? Thanks to whoever did it. It was on one of the crossroads heading into Sumrall. I had a good bike. I did 21 miles in 1:04. I have been really trying to concentrate on having a flat back on my bike. Notice I said flat back not fat back. I don't have to work on a fat back. I already have one of those. But seriously, I have made some adjustments on my bike and it seems to have worked. At least in my shadow I had a flat back. After my bike I did a small transition run or brick. I just ran 2 miles with an average of 9:15 a mile. The running is where I am seeing the most improvement. Who knew I would have to go to the Far East to learn how to run but who cares it is getting better. Thank you Chi Running.

Catching Up

First let me start off by saying Happy Birthday to Jennifer. 30 years old. Congrats!

I haven't posted in a while. I have been off for work among other things. I am really starting to get this "chi running" technique. I really do believe it will work once I nail down the form. I have been out using it while running and it seems it will pay off. I am only having one problem with it. I am enjoying the speed that it brings along with the lower heart rate but I just go out and try to go too fast. I am running much faster and keeping a lower heart rate but I am unable to go any long distance. I need to learn to not go out too fast. I know that if I can just concentrate on the form and keep the lower speed the distance will come. The beauty of it is that with this technique all you have to do to go faster is to lean more. It is a great technique. I ran 3 times using this form last week all with great success. Saturday I went out for a ride. I loaded up the bike and set out for Jackson station at 5:45. I went to Sumrall and turned around and finished in just over an hour. No run just a ride. Also, very HOT!!

Travel Day

I was in Tuscaloosa at a conference on Monday and Tuesday. I'm glad I chose to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn because it had a much better gym than what I'm used to at Marriott. They had a treadmill, stationary bike, and a cross trainer. They also had some weights. I decided to just bike. I wanted to just do somewhat of a recovery ride. I set it on random and off I went. There wasn't much too taxing even on the hilly part. I kept checking my heart rate on the bike and the highest I ever saw it was 132 bpm. That is good. I only rode for 25 minutes. It was a perfect recovery ride. Like I said in an earlier post I have been reading "Chi Running" by Danny Dreyer. I am getting further into and trying to catch on. His technique is to use more gravity than muscles. It really makes sense. The main difference is your posture. It says that you need to be bent over from the ankles and for your stride to never be in front of your head. I decided to give it a try on the treadmill. I was just going to run a mile trying my new technique out. I started out really slow to see if I could even do it. I mean really slow (12:00 min/mile) It seemed to really work. In the book he says that you can run your normal loop using his technique and expend only 30% of your energy of what you do using your own technique. It really seemed easier but then again I was running 12 minute miles. I bumped up the speed to 9 minute miles. Again, very easy. It said in the middle of your run to revert back to your old style and notice the difference. I did and I really slowed down like it said I would. Maybe this will work for me because like I have said before I really struggle with my run. The last half mile I ran 7:30 a mile. When I was done I wasn't out of breath or anything. I wasn't tired at all. This is sweet. I hope it is always this easy. I'm going to try it outside and see how it goes then. I hope all goes well.

Even though I was on the road I did pretty good eating. Monday for breakfast I had a bagel and some oatmeal with blueberries. Midmorning snack I had a powerbar and for lunch a powerbar, some peanuts and an apple. I even did okay for supper. I had some chicken and steak fajitas with some beans and rice. Not great but not too bad.