This week was a bit more of the same (emphasis on MORE). The spinning class reached a high point this week.. On Tuesday we did a 30 time trial in zone 5. Ouch!
Actually, it did not feel as bad as I thought it would . Sure it was painful to maintain my maximum heart rate zone for a full 30 minutes but with my friend Ashley beside me pushing me, I even managed a sprint in the last 2 minutes bringing my heart to its limit 191bpm. On Friday at the pool, I had another small break through: 1000 yards without stopping. The pace is still really bad (about 41min/mile) but I can see my endurance improving. For bried periods of time, I could even feel my form improving, trying to apply the learnings of the Swimsmooth book.
Saturday was another tough spinning session. After various short intervals designed to bring the heart rate up gently to the upper zones, we spent 35 min between zones 4A and 5+
Yes, 5+, meaning going to your ventilatory threshold plus 3 to 5 bpm more. Needless to say I pushed even harder than that trying to touch the absolute limit of my heart rate. For a second or two at the end, I clocked at 193 bpm!
This has to be the highest heart rate I've ever reached (and I felt it). I was drooling and really pushing beyond reason. That's the way I like it (well I get the satisfaction mostly after the effort ;)
Here's a short "preview" video of the class. You can briefly see me in with my yellow shirt, sweating bullets.
Actually, it did not feel as bad as I thought it would . Sure it was painful to maintain my maximum heart rate zone for a full 30 minutes but with my friend Ashley beside me pushing me, I even managed a sprint in the last 2 minutes bringing my heart to its limit 191bpm. On Friday at the pool, I had another small break through: 1000 yards without stopping. The pace is still really bad (about 41min/mile) but I can see my endurance improving. For bried periods of time, I could even feel my form improving, trying to apply the learnings of the Swimsmooth book.
Saturday was another tough spinning session. After various short intervals designed to bring the heart rate up gently to the upper zones, we spent 35 min between zones 4A and 5+
Yes, 5+, meaning going to your ventilatory threshold plus 3 to 5 bpm more. Needless to say I pushed even harder than that trying to touch the absolute limit of my heart rate. For a second or two at the end, I clocked at 193 bpm!
This has to be the highest heart rate I've ever reached (and I felt it). I was drooling and really pushing beyond reason. That's the way I like it (well I get the satisfaction mostly after the effort ;)
Here's a short "preview" video of the class. You can briefly see me in with my yellow shirt, sweating bullets.
As for running I took a 2 day break (Friday and Saturday) to give a break to my feet which have been increasingly sore. Today however, I ran outside with the dogs for 17.3 miles. It was an epic run. I started with the ascent of Suncrest (about 1300 feet elevation gain) then ran back down the other side. Going downhill, I felt a strong wind pushing me down and nearly knocking me over a few times. When I turned around after 4 miles running downhill, the wind felt incredibly strong. At times gusts of wind would hit me in the face with ice crystals and snow as if to challenge my resolve.
But even at a painfull 13min/mi, yelling at the dogs some encouragements (they were also struggling in the wind), I was not about to give up. After another 2000 feet of ascent, it was time to run downhill again. I dropped the dogs home on my way as one of them was limping and went back out for another hilly 3.5 miles.
A tough week, but I felt strong through it despite the annoyance of my ever present tendinitis-es..
With the Boston marathon coming up in April, it is now imperative that I do not skip any long runs. Doing my long runs in these hilly conditions will probably help on race day too. I have not added any speed to my runs but I am not going to Boston to break any records. I feel that with the focus on biking and swimming, I am probably already pushing it a bit, and I don't want my body to break down.
I am still working on stabilizing my weight which I am finding a bit challenging at the moment. After the run today, I weighed myself at 59.9kg (132 lbs) which in my opinion is entirely insufficient. It is not that I cannot gain weight, but in order to maintain weight I would have to eat more than feels comfortable on my stomach. When I eat 1500 cal at a time, it really knocks me out for hours. I usually have to take a nap to assimilate that. So I am trying to eat more reasonably and more frequently which can be challenging with my schedule...
But even at a painfull 13min/mi, yelling at the dogs some encouragements (they were also struggling in the wind), I was not about to give up. After another 2000 feet of ascent, it was time to run downhill again. I dropped the dogs home on my way as one of them was limping and went back out for another hilly 3.5 miles.
A tough week, but I felt strong through it despite the annoyance of my ever present tendinitis-es..
With the Boston marathon coming up in April, it is now imperative that I do not skip any long runs. Doing my long runs in these hilly conditions will probably help on race day too. I have not added any speed to my runs but I am not going to Boston to break any records. I feel that with the focus on biking and swimming, I am probably already pushing it a bit, and I don't want my body to break down.
I am still working on stabilizing my weight which I am finding a bit challenging at the moment. After the run today, I weighed myself at 59.9kg (132 lbs) which in my opinion is entirely insufficient. It is not that I cannot gain weight, but in order to maintain weight I would have to eat more than feels comfortable on my stomach. When I eat 1500 cal at a time, it really knocks me out for hours. I usually have to take a nap to assimilate that. So I am trying to eat more reasonably and more frequently which can be challenging with my schedule...
