Workout schedule last week (w/o 2/12)
Last week was another great workout week. Another 6 day workout week! I felt strong & powerful through every single workout, except the Saturday run. Here's the log of my workouts from last week along with my quirky thoughts about each one. :)
Monday - Boot camp & 30 min run
We had boot camp today at Cesar Chavez park. That's my favorite place we work out. Afterwards, I took the most beautiful run I think I've ever done. I wound around Cesar Chavez park on this footpath that circled the park. I had programmed my ipod with some of my favorite upbeat songs, and the time just flew by. I completed the entire 30 run without walking. I felt so proud of myself that I even had an emotional moment at the end of the run. :) I wrote about it in my last post...you can read more there.
Tuesday - 30 min swim
This workout was a bit of a struggle. For one, I went to the Y after work to do my workout, and the lanes were pretty full. I started with 3 people in our lane, but it quickly dwindled down to 2. And second, I got a throbbing headache midway through the workout. I've had that problem for about a year now, and I'm not sure what to do about it, because I'm not sure what causes it. But I get these huge pounding headaches when I swim laps. They really disturb me when I swim & pull my focus away from the work out. I've asked trainers about it, but no one really knows what to tell me. The same thing happened during this workout, and it was frustrating. But aside from that, I put in 50 laps (1250 yds, 0.7 miles) during the 30 mins. That included the warm up & warm down. I didn't do anything special this time except just swim laps. I paid attention to the things I was taught during my TI class last month, and I realized I need to spend more time in the water doing drills. Each lap or two, I would concentrate on one part of my stroke (head looking down, body tilting on its side, recovery arm, archer position, single kick each stroke). It was a lot to remember in just one swim work out. But overall, I felt pretty good, aside from my throbbing headache!! Oh, and another thing is that I didn't swim continuously for 30 mins. I stopped twice to take ~2 minute breaks each time to catch my breath. I was obviously swimming too fast & not pacing myself correctly. Live & learn, right?
Wednesday - Boot camp
A Valentine's day boot camp at Frog Park! Because of it was Valentine's day, our group decided to exchange gifts "white elephant" style during our workout, meaning you could pick a new gift from the pile or steal someone else's if you liked theirs. We were supposed to make a card & then buy something small (<$5) to go with the card. So I made a giant card out of bright pink posterboard and titled it, "7 things you love about boot camp". Then I listed things that only our boot campers would appreciate. It was a huge hit. In fact, it was the only gift that was stolen during the exchange!! I felt so proud!! Oh, and I included 3 Nestle Drumstick gift certificates with it. I got a gift bag with a Godiva chocolate bar (Dark chocolate with espresso) and some Hot Tamale candy. It was a neat way to bond with the group.
Thursday - 30 min run
I headed out in the morning before work for my run around North Berkeley. I had mapped out a course I wanted to run and ran it exactly as planned! (see route map on the right.) I'm on a mission to run every single road in North Berkeley during my training. So this run included roads I had never ever even driven on before! Plus I had my ipod with my rockin' playlist, so I was all good to go. Plus I found $4 on the corner of Grant & Rose just lying on the road! A great day for a run! :)Friday - OFF!
Feels good to take a day off!
Saturday - 1 mile run
Tough, tough workout! My plan was to run 3 miles today, since that's what the 1/2 marathon training plan said to do, and I am following it pretty closely! Kass wanted to run with Kellie & me, and she didn't want to do the Locust Rd hike again (she & Kellie do that one all the time with the dog, Mary Jane). So she suggested the Rodeo Beach hike. That's where Kellie and I went on our first date, and I haven't been back since then, so I thought that was a great idea! Something new, something different. And I had mapped out (of course!) a 3 mile run on the trails near there.
Well, I didn't even make it to mile 1. It was a steep incline at the beginning, and it was way more than my calves could take. They started cramping almost right away, and I tried to move through the pain, but it wouldn't go away. Even with stretching. So I told Kass & Kellie to go ahead without me, and I walked back to the car. So a disappointing work out. But I am learning to listen to my body more in an effort to keep myself from an injury that would put me out for days or weeks or months! So better luck next week with the "long" weekend run.
Sunday - 33 mile bike
Kass and I set out for our weekend bike ride on Sunday morning. Mind you, Kass had only had about 3 hours sleep & ate half a banana before our ride, so that should tell you right there how things were going to go! :)
The ride was gorgeous! We started at the house & rode to the start of the ride at Pixley Park back through some bike paths that Kass uses to get to school. It was amazing .... riding along the beautiful bay the whole way there. Gorgeous! The hardest part of the ride was the first mile. It was a steady uphill climb for the entire first mile.
We just put our bikes into the lowest gear and steadily pedaled to the top! The ride brought us into Mill Valley, along the freeway, and then to a park in Tiburon, which was, again, amazing! It was a great bike/walk path along the Tiburon peninsula (starting at Blackie's pasture), and there were tons of walkers & bikers out there. I had never been out there before, but I'd love to go back with Kellie and the puppy dog for a stroll. Anyway, as we curved up the other side of the Tiburon peninsula, the ride started climbing again. That was around mile 22 or so, and Kass was slowing WAY down. I could tell she was having a hard time. It was a lot of rolling hills and beautiful views from up there. We finally made our way back to the gorgeous bike path along the bay & headed home. I went ahead of Kass at the end because I wanted to pick up some speed & get a good workout there at the end, so I beat her home by a few minutes.All in all, a great ride. I highly recommend the route to anyone who wants an advanced beginner/intermediate ride along a beautiful route in Marin. The route for the ride that's mapped above is only about 20 miles, but we put on the additional 13 miles since we started from home. It's a must do for any cyclist in the bay area! :)
posted by Laura @ itsjustlaura @ 12:58 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hey Laura,
Okay, I have a theory for these headaches during swimming, based not on my experiences, but my kids 6 years of swim team. I wish it were based on me.
So, on the three year-round teams we have been on, nutrition has always been a force. Anytime when you are swimming over 1 hour, the swimmers are required to bring a half juice-half water bottle or sports drinks on the deck to sip on every 10 minutes or so. It keeps them from "bonking"-especially when Alec's practices go 2+ hours straight with dryland.
I know personally, I get massive headaches when dehydrated, so maybe this might work for you.
Here's a team recomendation:
Before practice, eat some carbohydrates in the form of a fruit, fruit juice, or grain.
During practice, consume carbohydrates in the form of sports drinks containing 6-8% carbohydrates-electrolyte mixture by weight. Both Gatorade and Powerade meet this level.A 50-50 juice to water will work too. A strong sports drink, any drink with more than 6-8% carbohydrates, can inhibit fuel absorption and cause cramping and headaches.
Within 30 minutes post-practice, eat a carbohydrate WITH protein, with the rest of your sports drink. The protein in this snack will help raise amino acid levels and therefore repair and build muscle tissue.
Within two hours post-practice, eat a substantial meal containing carbohydrates.
Too much food before practice or too little food can weigh, or dizzy, some athletes depending on their preference.
You probably already know this, but hey, just trying. We have found much success with eating a pria bar (100 calories and protein)and 10 ounces Powerade on the 25 minute drive to practice. Then they keep working on their powerade during practice. After practice, they eat a Pria or Luna bar or dry Noah's bagel on the drive home. Then we eat dinner about one hour later. It seems to keep sugar levels stable.
Even though it's a woman's bar, both kids like Pria because they are small, fewer calories than the other bars, and they like the taste better. We can buy them in bulk at Costco--which I like!
My second theory is something we are dealing with now at our team. Most competition pools are kept pretty darn cold (kids whimper when they get in and complain alot). However, once they warm up, it's all good. I believe they keep our pool around 80 degrees. However, because of poor air quality, we had to move to a local swim pool on Mercer Island which is a leisure/rec. YMCA type.
There, the kids literally turned into lobsters, especially the older kids. They all were bright red and definitely sluggish. Apparently, that pool is kept at the 86 degree mark because they have lessons there.
Hmmm....I found this explained much better on a local website:
There is a critical consideration regarding water temperature in swimming pools, which is to do with heat generation during exercise. Heat generation is a necessary accompaniment of work, and the amount generated is directly proportional to the work done. People exercising in gymnasia and courts keep core body temperature constant by the evaporation of sweat, which is very efficient.
Swimmers exude perspiration in the same way, but it does not, of course, evaporate. Necessary cooling takes place by direct transfer of heat to the watery surroundings, which is a relatively inefficient process, but which is more efficient the greater the difference in temperature between the swimmer and the water (Newton's Law of Cooling).
If the water temperature is too high for the severity of exercise being undertaken, the swimmer's physiological response is to increase the rate of perspiration, to no effect except to cause dehydration, salt imbalance, nausea and exhaustion, which if not recognized and treated may be severe and even life-threatening.
This phenomenon has long been recognized.For this reason pools which are used for training are normally run at lower temperatures than the 85-87°F for leisure pools - for competition purposes, when work rates are extreme, water temperature is reduced to 80°F. Though appearing very small, these temperature differences are very important.
All pools in private ownership appear to be run at the upper end of the leisure range. Pools for learners are also run at the upper end of the range since work rates for learners are low and also for children their surface area to body mass ratio is higher than for adults and cooling more effective. People who swim for health reasons will have a wide range of work rates, older persons generally having lower rates than younger persons.
Those who exercise at higher rates would find it uncomfortable if not medically unsafe to do so in warm water pools.
So maybe, check the YMCA's pool temp. You might be over-heating and dehydrating because it is so warm and not even realize it. Maybe you could check out the Terrapins masters program (Concord off Treat) or find another cooler pool, if that's the problem.
Okay, theories done. I hope it works out. I envy your work outs and motivation. Sounds like you are doing fantastic. I'm glad to see you blogging again.
~Heather
Post a Comment
<< Home