UltraIronJen's Club - FULL (Page 4)

Okay, I just got back from doing some strength training (I have not been faithful to post all this stuff to my blog and I need to be doing that!) and I have a dilemma.  I have this bronchitis junk that I can't seem to get rid of.  I am on another round of antibiotics and hopefully it will kick it in the butt.  I am getting different advise, though, about working out and I was wondering Jen if you would be able to help me out with this!!

 I'm hearing that if you have illness from the neck up...then it's okay to work out.  But, if you have it from the neck down...in the chest like I do...that you shouldn't work out until you are well.  If I do that, I could possibly be waiting for weeks to get back into training.  But, if I CAN work out maybe at a slower pace, less intensity until I get better I would rather do that.  I mean, I just got up the guts to go to the stinkin' pool and swim and I don't want to "start all over again" if you know what I mean.  Although, if I risk not getting well because I'm working out then I defeat the purpose entirely.  I have signed up for a 5K race April l9th so I get some experience with competing.  Can I be ready for that in time?  Tell me what you think.  

Oh, and by the way, I am down 9.5 pounds now!  I don't want to slow down now!

I'd say work out but take it easy and be sure you aren't exhausing yourself. Get extra sleep and eat well.  When you have something that is hanging around but not necessarily knocking you out for the count I think it is OK to train. Since you are on anti-biotics I really think you are OK.  If you feel up for it, go for it!

I haven't been blogging anywhere. Usually I'm too darn tired! I'll be better, promise!

My last couple workouts have gone well.  I got in 12 mile repeats on Thursday but they knocked me on my so Friday I skipped the short recovery swim on my schedule. That wasn't for anything other than getting my legs moving so I didn't feel bad about it.

Saturday was 2 hours of intervals on the bike while watching "Music and Lyrics" which was a funny movie. 

Sunday was a 2.5 hour run while watching the Super Bowl.  I'm just sick that the Pats lost but that is another thread altogether.

Tonight is a swim. I haven't gotten in the pool in about 2 weeks so it should hurt :-).

My knees are a bit sore from all the hard running I've been doing but I'm starting on the taper for my marathon this week so they'll heal up. My last tough workout is tomorrow night then easy runs from there until the 17th.

I met with a nutritionist on Friday. Very interesting info. I put on weight really easily. Like, I look at cake and put on a pound.  Upping my training always throws me out of whack because I eat more and usually go over my daily calorie allotment.  Mostly because I'm always hungry. So, she put me on lots of protein to fill me up and keep my muscles recovering.  She also said that traditional sports nutritionists recommend really high percentage of carbs, around 60 - 65%, but that clearly doesn't work for me. So, I'm on 50 - 55%. I do get more calories, just in the form of protein, not carbs.  We'll see how it goes. I still want to drop about 5 - 7 more pounds in the next couple months.  I'd really like to do it before my tri-camp on March 9th but my body might not let me do it.

I'll hold off inviting more people for a couple days to see if we can get all of us contributing more.

Have a great week everyone and I'll check in on us daily to see how ya'll are doing.

Teresa,

I suffered thru this ALL  last year.  Any exercise made me start coughing up this gunk... made training very difficult.  I even cancelled 2 TRI's because of it.... After seeing allergy docs and being told exercise asthma etc - even told it was GERD... and trying about 10 different inhalers etc... the doctors finally allergy tested me this past fall.  Turns out I'm allergic to all the crap in the air in TX!  I still cough and hack thru workouts and bring up gunk - but it's better... Granted you live in Kansasa and right now I'm sure everything is dead freeze - but what about animals and colds in your house or at work.  Allergies might be something to investigate if this round of antibiotics doesn't work.

cathleen

Well, went to the garage this morning to get in the car, go the Y and work out and the garage door spring broke.  AAAHH!  Can't open the door and the garage guy said to not even attempt to do it manually because I could get injured.  My husband is out of town til Saturday and they can't fix it til Friday so guess I'll be working out at home.  Wanted to get to the Y today though because we've got ten inches of snow on it's way.  Yuck.  Oh well.

As far as losing weight...I am not doing WW.  I go to a special nutritionist doctor here in town who tailors your nutrition to your body.  I am like Jen, carbs make me gain weight just by looking at them and so I consume more protein than someone else might.  And since I have MS I want to make sure that whatever I do it is compatible with all the medications I take, etc. I have to exercise and watch what I eat in order to lose weight.  It's frustrating at times, but I always feel better when I am taking care of myself the right way.  

So, I need to go so I can get on the bike and sweat a little bit!!  

EXHAUSTED

This swim class is really working me over.... the instructors want me to move up a lane... I might be fastest in my lane but I'm barely surviving this distance and they want me to add 1/2 mile not to mention faster splits....... ohhh NOOOOOOO

Yay! Glad to see a few faces coming back online.  Everyone needs to stay healthy now!

My workouts continue as usual. Only 6 mile repeats last night and an easy 60' spin on the bike trainer. Tomorrow I meet with my personal trainer and I'm sure he will kick my . Otherwise I am on taper for my marathon. 

Swimming is so great because it really makes a big difference in cardio fitness but your joints and bones don't get the abuse of a run.  Good for you for moving up a lane.  I'm quite impressed.

Keep up the good work everyone!

is everyone logging these work-outs???  I love doing it - I go back to what I was dfoing 2 - 4-6 months ago and see all the improvements I've made...

As for the day - I'm squeezing in a run this afternoon between PTO and boy scout planning... always something to do.

I take it back.  Cesar got home at decent hour so I was able to hop on trweadmill and get a quick run in.  Fell better now that I did it - I should eb able to sleep well tonight.

How's everyone else doing?

Happy

Valentine's

Day

Ladies....

I have been training, but have been slow on the reporting end of things.  Went to my sports trainer today and got some advise on running technique.  I've been having a lot of hip pain and have gotten some physical therapy that helps, but I ran over the weekend and ended up in so much pain I couldn't do anything for a few days.  So, the trainer watched my running and said my stride is too long and so I am practicing a new way to run.  It's weird to have to concentrate so hard on what I'm doing when I'm running, but I felt an immediate difference in my hip.  It was awesome.  I came home this morning with full intentions of running this afternoon and a stupid cold front came blowing in and it was just too cold for me to brave it.  So, I'm gonna practice the new running tomorrow.  I'm excited to see if I can run for 30 minutes and not have pain.  It would be so nice!    

I am also enjoying the pool far more than I thought I would.  I still am self-conscious.  I don't know if that will ever go away, but oh well.  I find that I am moving through the water so much better than before.  I am still not going as far as I would like, but I will just keep working on it.

As for the weight....I am now down to 137 lbs.  YEAH!!  I only have 25 more to go...UGH!  But, I am feeling better and when I'm on my bike I can tell.  Amazing how much better biking is when you get rid of some extra weight.  The next two weeks I am planning on swim/running M-W-F and biking Tu-Th-Sat.  The weather here has been so crazy...warm one day and then snowy and freezing cold for three...it's made it hard to stay consistent.  I'm not real good at working indoors (except for the swimming, of course) But, I have made a committment to really be consistent these next two weeks rather than look at a month at a time.   If anyone has any advise on how to "work indoors" I would appreciate it! 

Hi girls -

Sorry fpr the silence, work has been nutty as I wrap up my current project with a client who is being very wishy washy. Frustrating.

Anyhoo, training is moving forward. Sunday is my marathon and I'm happy to be tapering. I'm a bit burnt out but that is to be expected with the intensity of running I've been doing lately.  I took an extra day of rest yesterday which helped.

Workouts indoors: When I have to workout indoors I do interval work.  I've biked my way through the the last two games of World Series this last fall and ran three hours through the Super Bowl two weeks ago.  When I'm on my bike trainer, I pedal easy through the regular show and do sprints, drills, standing climbs,etc during the commercials.  This breaks it up and keeps the intesity up.  I'll also focus on keeping a high cadance during sections of the show, so between two sets of commercials I pedal at 110 rpm.  For running you can do mile repeats, speed intervals, put the tmill up to a high grade for hill work. All kinds of stuff.  I have a very short attention span so I usually make it up as I go along. It helps pass the time.

My turn to ask for advice. I've been having terrible problems with insomnia the last two weeks.  It is quite unusual for me as I usually sleep pretty darn well.  I was wide awake until 3 last night, woke up at 8.  I won't be able to fall asleep again tonight either, I can feel it.  I've cut back on the caffeine and am spending extra time reading when I get into bed, allowing myself time to relax.  I've resorted to Tylenol PM a couple times which I don't want to make a habit of. It is really starting to drive me nuts.  Anyone out there been through this? What worked for you?

Everyone needs to get healthy, darn it! I hope you are taking some Vitamin C, eating well and getting lots of rest.  Decontaminate the kids before the come in the house too, might help :-)

Good work everyone!

Jen

Sleep is going much better. I think I finally got myself to the point of exhaustion where my body clicked into it's rhythms again.  Right now I'm bloody tired from my race yesterday so I'll sleep well for the next couple days at least.

Here is my marathon write-up that I sent to a mailing list at work that I'm on.

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I know everyone is always looking for a new and interesting race to do so I figured I’d share my marathon experience from yesterday.  It was up in Birch Bay, north of Bellingham, right on the Canadian border.  Gorgeous location. This was the smallest marathon I’ve done, about 120 people, and I’ve done small ones! Only water at aid stations that were about 5-ish miles apart and no food at the end. No one spoke with confidence when I asked them what mile I was at so I had to play it by ear.  The t-shirts said “Birch Bay Marathon 2008” with no logo, drawing or anything. Just text. But, it was only $20 to register so I can’t complain.

I’ve been training for this for only about 2 months so I got a late start.  I worked on getting ready by doing intensity as opposed to volume. This included mile repeats, up to 12 of them in a session, a shorter run and one long run a week.  My total weekly mileage was around 35 miles.  With my new treadmill this was easy to get in since I didn’t have a weather excuse to skip a run. I went into the race feeling pretty confident that I could cover the distance and do well on time. My goal was a 4:40 which would have been a 14 minute PR.  I am a slow runner but I also do long endurance events so I don’t feel a need for speed.

The day broke with an incredible sunrise over Birch Bay. My friend and I stayed at the Semiahmoo resort the night before the race so I was well feed and well rested.  The park where the race starts was about 15 minutes from the resort so it was easy to get there on time.  The clear sky was great but it was absolutely freezing.  I don’t know the exact temp but it couldn’t have been much higher than 30 degrees since we were right on the water.  Brrrrr…… After standing around shaking the race started with a “Ready, Go!” from the race director holding a megaphone.  The 120 of us took off, anxious to get warm. We ran out of the park and into the little resort town of Birch Bay. First aid station was at 2.5 miles but I think it was farther since my math didn’t add up.  We headed out onto the country roads and they all had wide shoulders except for one small section which had hardly any traffic. For most of the race we saw the bay and the mountains.  Really incredible.  Pretty flat to gradual downhill with only one nasty hill.  The course is a lollipop layout with the top circle run as two loops.  The traffic picked up a bit on the second loop but everyone was really polite on the roads and I got regular waves and smiles from the drivers. 

I never really got my rhythm, unfortunately. I think the cold weather just threw off my muscles and I never got my legs warmed up enough.  The breeze from the water kept me cooling me off just as I was getting warmed up. I run better in heat than cold so I’m not sure why I always pick winter marathons.  I managed my nutrition pretty well but did get a bit dehydrated.  It is easy to forget to drink when you aren’t hot.  I’m super thirsty today so I didn’t consume enough water after the race either. 

I missed my PR goal.  I’m a bit bothered by that but at the same time I ran a marathon on 2 months training and it was a beautiful course and sunny day.  I saw a huge bald eagle sitting in a tree, saw bunches of funny and cute dogs, lots of ducks and met some nice people on the way. The road trip and stay at the resort was fun. My friend qualified for Boston and I’m thrilled for her.  All those things make the race a success even if I didn’t hit my goal time.  Really, I rarely hit my goal times so I’m used to it and forgive myself pretty easily. 

I recommend this race for those runners who are very self sufficient. If you want to run 26.2 miles and don’t want to find a place to stash water along your route, this is the race for you. I don’t recommend this for first timers or people who need company and encouragement as they run.  Usually the weather is pretty lousy so if you sign up next year be really prepared to suffer if the weather is bad. The water dropped the temp by at least 5 degrees and adds wind.  The views are worth it, though. 

I’m pretty darn sore today. This is my 5^th marathon in addition to 3 ultramarathons and 2 Ironmans.  I forget how hard these races are on my body.  I suppose if I remembered this I would stop doing the races J

Wow, Jen!  I can't believe you did that run in the winter.  I cannot stand it when I'm cold, so I admire you for just that!!  So, what do you do now?  Are you going to take a small break after this or do you continue to train for the next event?

I have really been struggling lately and went to the doc and found out I have a sinus infection and ear infection.  So, I have to stay out of the water for this week so no swimming, but the doc said I could train "easy" this week in spite of it all, so I'm glad about that.  I am going to do some easy running this week and bike indoors at least twice this week.  Fill in the rest of the time with some core strength training.  Hopefully it will warm up sometime soon here and I can get outside where I like it much better.  My husband and I are joining a new tri group here in town so I think that will really help with having others to train with and ask some questions of.  I continue to lose weight.  I'm down to 135.5 lbs so I am obviously training and eating right.  Although today I feel like I could eat an entire bag of Ruffles, a Wendy's double hamburger with large fries and top it off with a large bowl of chocolate chip ice cream.    I think I should give myself that reward when I actually finish the tri!