Training and Cats

My training is FINALLY starting to look a little more "normal!" Here's last week:

• STRENGTH AND CORE:
The biggest difference from the "norm" is all of the strength work I've been doing lately. I've been trying to get my legs strong!! No, they're not going to be a muscly and veiny - I'm just trying to build up my little stabilizing muscles to help get me back to 100% quicker. Over the entire year of 2010, I averaged 1:15 of strength or core work each week. Since I've been working with my PT over the last 5 weeks, I've averaged around 3:10 of strength or core work weekly. Again, I'm not trying to get HUGE; I'm just strengthening my weak points like my ass and core.

• SWIMMING:
One thing is always true: I need to swim more. My only swim last week was a 2000 yd tempo in 32:39 (1:37.98 / 100 average). Not great, but a good "push." I'd like to try to hit the pool today for an "active recovery" day and do some drills.

• BIKING:
I had 2 rides this week. That's about average for me. Notice my first ride (a "long ride" of 30 miles) was the same day as my swim. I couldn't sleep on Wednesday morning, so I was up and grading final projects by 3:30. Once the pool opened, I headed for a swim. I needed a break in the afternoon, so I went for a ride. It was a nice 2-a-day. Ella stretched with me after that ride:

Saturday, I did a flat tempo ride down the Greenway Trail and back. It was 21 miles, and I did it in 1:01:06. I had a SLIGHT tailwind on the way out, and hit the turn-around with a 21.0 mph average. I had pulled a 40-year-old stranger for 5 miles at that point, and as I turned back, he said "Thanks for getting me out of my comfort zone! I could not and would not have done that myself!" No problem, stranger! I was a bit slower coming back home against the slight breeze, but I tried to keep it strong. I finished with a 20.6 mph average. Need to work on that.

• RUNNING:
I had an easy treadmill run on Monday (2 days after the duathlon).

Thursday, I wanted to go a bit longer and throw in some speed. So I hit River Road for 6.5 miles. I did the middle 4 miles in 24:42 (6:25, 6:18, 5:52, and 6:05). They were SOLID, but not "all out."

Yesterday morning (Sunday), I hit the track for my first speed work since mid-January!! I made sure to be nicely warmed-up and good and loose. I ran into Matt M as he was finishing up some 800s. I wanted to do 3 x 1600, but I told myself to let up at the first sign of any heel issues. Well, THERE WERE NO ISSUES, AND I GOT THROUGH THE WORKOUT JUST FINE!! I took a longer rest between intervals to make sure I wasn't starting with horribly sloppy form (3:00 instead of my usual 1:30), and I made sure to try to keep "quick feet" and keep my cadence high. Here were my 800 splits and my 1600 totals:

2:45, 2:47 = 5:32
2:45, 2:42 = 5:27
2:46, 2:43 = 5:29

The middle one was hard, but I was happy to have negative split that. The 3rd one was all guts.

I came home from the sweaty intervals, and Kermit sat on my lap and started licking the sweat off my collar bone:

Pharmie calls these "cat hickeys"

Oh, and speaking of cats and Pharmie, here's Pharmie taking a nap with Kermit and Ella on Saturday:

She said "It's a photo of your 3 girls, along with another boy or girl." Ha!

I've got some fun news coming in a day or two....