Give me strength...

After getting knocked on my ass (ouch) for over a week by what I've now decided was either food poisoning or the epic migraine from hell, I finally managed to get a workout in. A strength workout, to be more precise.

Since this was my first time in the gym playing with heavy things in...well, longer than I care to try to figure out, I wanted to try to exercise (haha) some restraint and keep the weights low. See, I'd like to be able to walk and move my arms around tomorrow. (Actually, I'd like to be able to workout tomorrow--either a short run/walk or swim--but I'm trying not to get too ambitious too soon.)

Even taking the restraint into consideration, it's obvious that I've lost a ton of strength. I'm downright weak. Bleh. :-/

Anyway, here's the workout deets:

Warmup: 5 min elliptical

Bench Press: 8x45, 8x55, 8x55

Squat: 5x45, 5x75, 5x75

Hang Cleans: 8x30, 8x30, 8x30

Good Mornings: 8x55, 8x55, 8x55

Lat Pulldowns: 8x70, 8x70, 8x70

Crunches: 10, 20, 6, 4, 4, 4, 10

Planks: 4x15s

The only real thing of note was that near the end of the second set of hang cleans, something in my left knee started getting grouchy. It's possible I wasn't paying close enough attention to my foot placement, or my form through the leg drive. This was the first time I've done a strength workout in my Vibram FiveFingers, so maybe I was just being sloppy. I'll pay more attention the next time I do them.

The crunches were actually done with the CrunchFu app on my iPod. I'd downloaded the app for free ages ago during a promo event, but this was the first time I'd actually fired it up. The first set of 10 was a "practice" session while figuring out how the app worked. And the second set of 20 was a "test". The rest were part of the first structured workout the app offered. Personally, I hate core workouts, and I hate crunches in particular. This app made it easy to watch my form, and it took care of all of the counting...including letting me know when my form had gotten sloppy by telling me I'd only done a "half" rep. That was something I equally loathed and appreciated.

After the gym, I stopped into Trader Joe's to pick up food for the next few days. I'm already looking forward to a cold glass of goat milk tomorrow morning. Mmm... (Not to mention curried chicken breast and sweet potatoes for dinner tonight.)

It all starts with a plan.

Plan. Plan. Plan. Got to get a plan.

Despite the loosey-goosey appearance of my lifestyle, I'm actually a pretty good planner. No, really. Stop laughing. I am. I can plan the shit out of just about anything...once I set my mind to it.

So now, I'm planning my athletic goals for the next year. I mean, it's definitely time I get back to working out consistently. I need to get my fitness back. And I need to tell my butt that it can hurt all it wants, but it's not holding me hostage any longer. (Take that, ass!)

In the spirit of all that (and the spirit of my slightly crazy, way-ambitious nature when it comes to these things), I've decided to declare 2011 as The Year of the Half. As in, two of my three goals for the year will be a half-marathon and a half-iron.

The other one? Redeeming my sense of self at the Portland Marathon. (I'm still bummed that I wasn't able to do it this year. So, next year, I'm owning that bitch. And by "owning that bitch," I mean "completing that race." *ahem*)

Right now, I'm targeting the Vancouver Half Marathon on May 1, the Troika in Spokane on August 7, and the Portland Marathon on October 9. And I'm entertaining the notion of doing the STP again on July 9-10...we'll see about that one.

And I haven't really shared this next bit with anyone yet, but I'm getting a vague notion of what 2012 may hold for me, too.

Derailed again.

Well, I did it again. Just as I was really getting things back on track, I went and injured myself. At least this time the injury wasn't a result of training. It just stopped my training in its tracks.

That's right. I hurt my butt. Actually, hurt doesn't fully cover it. I broke my butt. Rather, I slipped on some stairs, landed full-force on my butt, and cracked my coccyx. Which sounds vaguely dirty, but it isn't.

It's been a painful few months.

Luckily, much of the pain is gone now, though I still have to be careful not to sit for too long at one time. Hopefully, this means I'll be able to return to something resembling at least a light training schedule soon.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Saltwater goodness...

50 meters of saltwater goodness, to be exact. That's what I found for today's swim at Seattle's Colman pool. And I must admit, I'm a little in love with it.

Yeah, the weather helped--after all, summer looks like it might actually be ready to start here in the unusually gray Pacific Northwest this year. For today at least, we have clear blue skies and sunshine galore.

Since that's been a rare situation this year, I threw a big towel in my TYR sling bag (race shwag courtesy of Rev3), popped on my Fendi shades, and pointed my car toward West Seattle to check out a pool I'd heard much about, but had never managed to visit in the ten years I've lived in Seattle. (I'm now kicking myself a little for never having sought it out before today.)

Things to love about it:

• Outdoors
• 50 meters
• Saltwater
  
• On the beach! (It's on Puget Sound, and in fact, that's where the water is from that fills the pool.)
• The view. No, really. How awesome is it to climb out of the pool after your workout and look out over the water and see snow-capped mountains in the distance? Way awesome.

Things to remember if you go:

• Sunblock. (Because, um, it's outdoors.)
• Comfy shoes. This pool is not on a street, it's on a paved path along the water. Depending on where you park, it could be a bit of a hike to get there.
• You're going to be sharing a lane. The 50m length makes this a less-congested proposition than at most pools, but still...play nice. Don't be a lane-hogging asshole.

As for me, today I did an easy 1800m in the sun. It was glorious. I have a feeling I'm going to be a frequent lap swim visitor to this West Seattle gem this summer.

Little steps...

I won't claim that the mojo has been completely restored, but it's starting to show small signs of life.

I've managed to get out for a few runs and a few pool sessions. I plan on hitting up a 50-meter outdoor salt water pool tomorrow for some laps, provided the weather doesn't take a turn for the bleh overnight. This evening, I will go for a run. And tonight, tonight I will reassemble my beloved road bike.

That's right, the BMC will be released from the confines of the bike box it's been sitting in since UPS delivered it after the Oly I did in May. *ahem* And maybe tomorrow, I'll pick up some rim tape and finally install the new wheels and tires that have been waiting in my hallway. At that point, pictures might have to be taken, to capture my lovely in all of her glory.

After that, I'll ride. Maybe not until the weekend, but a ride is definitely in the offing.

Looking for some motivation...

It would seem that I've misplaced my workout mojo. I have no idea where it went. And yes, I did try looking under the bed...it wasn't there.

Since I left the office early on Monday, I did manage to get to the gym. Once I got there, I did a full-body strength workout and followed it up with 20 minutes on the bike. A light workout, but since being laid out with a chest cold for most of last week, I didn't want to push it. Also, in the interest of not pushing it, I abstained from working out yesterday. I had two workouts planned for today--a 2000 yard swim and a 3 mile run. And despite yelling at myself (in my head, not out loud) repeatedly to get it done, I just...well, didn't.

A small part of this was the residual soreness I have in the upper reaches of my hamstrings after Monday's lifting workout. But the rest? Laziness. Sloth. Something like that.

Bah!

I don't know what it's going to take to get me back into a training state of mind, but I sure hope it happens soon.

Welcome back, self.

Two years. Well, closer to a year and a half than two years, so I'll be kind to myself. A year and a half. What have I accomplished in a year and a half--other than the utter abandonment of this blog?

Time to play some catch-up...

Well, I crossed one more goal off of my list. I completed an Olympic distance tri. Of course, because of chronic injury issues, it took a year longer than planned. *sigh*

I'd originally planned that my first Oly would be in the summer of 2009. I hired a coach. I was on track. I was focused...

I got a sprained hip flexor, a resurfacing of knee issues and plantar fasciitis. I had to pull out of every race I'd planned, and spent the entire summer rehabbing. It was beyond frustrating.

Late last fall, I decided I was ready to jump back in. I immediately signed up for an Olympic distance race in my former college town (a couple thousand miles away from my current home). I also committed myself to an early spring 5k run in a town a hundred+ miles away. (Obviously I'd convinced myself that races should be rewarded with vacations.)

The race wasn't easy, but I did it. I suffered through wetsuit issues on the .9 mile swim, a cramping left quad during the entirety of the hilly 24.8 mile bike ride, and dual cramping quads for the 6.2 mile run. My body didn't really want to work on race day, but my mind didn't give it much choice. I finished.

Actually, so far this spring I've done two 5k runs, a sprint tri, and an Olympic. And there's an Olympic/International distance tri on my calendar in July--this time in New England. I'm sure I'll be sprinkling more races in over the summer, I'm just not yet sure what they'll be.

I do know one post-summer event already on my calendar, though. The Portland Marathon in October. That's going to hurt. I am so not a runner, but gave myself an entry to the marathon as a 35th birthday present back in February. (Don't look at me like that. You know you give yourself birthday presents, too. Oh, you don't give yourself painful presents like marathon entries? Well, why the hell not? What the fuck is wrong with you?)

Sadly, I didn't manage to sit down and write up any race reports for any of the races that I've done this year. I want to be better about that. And I want to be better about keeping track of my training...and processing all of the crap that goes through my head while I'm doing that training. So, I'm going to try to revive this particular blog. We'll see what happens...