Thursday, March 08, 2007

She's back

Sorry about that self-indulgent negativity the other day. I thought about not posting, but then I wouldn't be honest. I want people reading my blog, especially those newer at this than me to see what we all feel like at times. Although I don't enjoy reading about other people's struggles, it is good to see my idols and all those super heroes out there feel slow and fat and creaky at times. And THANKS everyone for the wonderful amazing supportive comments and superb advice- I love you guys!

But I'm back. I started to feel better on Tuesday evening when I sat on my trainer just after posting. I sat there in my denim skirt and t-shirt just moving my legs for 10 minutes or so. After dinner, P and I rode "properly" (I changed to bike shorts and put my HRM on). I kept the cadence moderate, gear easy, and HR low. After 30 minutes I was finding it harder to control my HR so I stopped. Easy.

Yesterday I went back to work. I was a bit peaky for some of the day, but felt better by the end of the day, and enjoyed a colleague's farewell dinner. I didn't work out, but walked home after dinner and met my target steps for the day (workplace activity challenge). I think that letting the activity challenge team down was one of the things contributing to my mood on Monday and Tuesday!

This morning I went for an easy 2kish swim in the 50m pool. I was slowish and the lanes were all out of whack so it was a frustrating morning. Not to mention the rudeness of the people I was sharing with- stopping mid length, passing and then slowing down, passing slowly and blocking me in, all those things that are just rude. And yes- most of my grumbles today focus on rude passing, not on slow old ladies! That's partly because I am still getting my swim back and partly because of the lanes. I did my 500 w/up in 10:10 and was doing 100s in roughly 1:50-2:00. Not fishy fast, but usually this sort of pace puts me in the middle of the medium lane/back of the fast lane at the pool (back of the medium lane at Masters!).

Today I was being passed left, right and centre by Mr and Ms Fake Tan. Mr and Ms Fake Tan were the worst pool manners breachers. They're the ones who stopped for a lane rope chat- like two old biddies over a garden fence. I heard Ms Fake Tan breaststroke up to someone in the slow lane and say "Could you swim normal please? I can't pass if we are both doing breaststroke!" WTF? I know how frustrating it is when the fast lanes are fast and the medium lanes are fast and normally fastish people have to swim with the slowpokes. But the slow lane is there for breaststroke. What was he supposed to do?

After work I did my speedwork on the treadmill so I am still on track FIRST wise. The gym was so hot and stuffy. My 10 minute warm up (at 9:36/pace) made me sweat, although my HR was fine. The first mile interval (7:13) almost killed me, and the second interval finished the job off. 2 miles, 14:47 (ouch!!) and I felt like throwing up at the end. I had to do a lot of visualisation to get through- all the people on the stairclimbers became Marathon racers who I picked off one by one over the last two miles.

I thought about going outside to do the remaining (2*800) intervals, and just approximating the 800, but then talked to myself and reminded myself that although Rotorua will probably not be stuffy, it will hurt for all sorts of reasons, so buck up. Turns out the perfect warm up for 800s is a couple of nasty long intervals. I'd barely started when I saw I was at 400m. Hmm. There's room in this treadmill yet. Up. Up. Up. I was going at 6:00 pace when I finished each of the 800s, and did them in 3:25 and 3:23 respectively. Not too shabby. I wish I'd pumped the pace up earlier.

Eating yummy salad now, then heading out on an ice cream date with my honey. It's all good.

6 comments:

JenC said...

Welcome back! Hey, we all have down periods.

I hate rude swimmers. I admire your restraint to not tell them to piss off.

Unknown said...

Way to get past the bad and start getting back into the good. I'm making that step myself today. Best training and good health wishes!

E-Speed said...

looks like you are two weeks ahead of me in your thon training. I am not looking forward to that particular track workout :)

Good job!

Wes said...

I don't have much patience for rude people either. I'd a asked her why don't you go to another lane :-) As I said, you are a speed freak!! At least I can hang with you a little in the pool :-) I'm sure in reality, you are a fishy, and you're holding back!

TriShannon said...

Glad to hear you are back!

Swimming can be hard when things like this happen... mainly because you are stuck in the lane. Running and biking allow you to pass and move on. No circling back to encounter the same problem. Sounds like you kept your cool.

Jessica said...

Mmmm...ice cream date.
:-) Hope you enjoyed it!