The Pool

Confession time: I hate going to the pool.  I do not hate swimming -- swimming is fun. I hate the horrible inefficiency of the trip time to workout time ratio.  Today's 36 minute swim cost me 80 minutes from the time I left my building to the time I walked back in the door.  So that doesn't even include the time it took me to put on my suit before I left and get fully cleaned up when I got home.  By the time I was getting in the water I could have been halfway through a four mile run!  If I had infinite money and space for buy fitness equipment, the very first thing I would do is install a single lane lap pool for my own personal use.  If I didn't have a trainer for my bike, that might be first on my list.  But I do.  And I have NO desire to ever own a treadmill.

Haven't seen this stuff in my shower since July ...

But I digress.  Today my friend and I convinced each other to get back to the pool for the first time in a long time (July for me, May for him).  I was surprised at how quickly I got back in the groove, but I was definitely getting tired quickly.  I ended up doing 5 x 200 yds (he did 250 yd sets since he's faster) and we took liberal chat breaks in between.  As much as I complained about having to walk to and from the pool in the very, very cold wind, it was worth it to get in my first post-tri swim workout.  I may even invest in a swim lesson sometime this winter to work on my technique a bit.

Today's workout also means that I hit my off-season goal plan for the first time (last week I was close but replaced the swim with an extra run).

Mon - rest
Tue - step aerobics
Wed - run (3 mi)
Thu - rest (for my "free space")
Fri - trainer (30 min)
Sat - run (5 mi)
Sun - swim (100 yds)

Trying to make more time for brain workouts too ...

I know I'll get off track with the holidays coming up, especially without easy gym access at home, but I'm going try to relax and not worry about it too much.  I'll at least have my running shoes with me!  And I have officially started working on my Chicago recap post, so hopefully that will be up soon.

Back At It (Slowly)

Seems like I am FINALLY getting over this cold!  The nurse at the health center warned me that people have been reporting the cough sticking around for weeks, but mine seems to be letting up (fingers crossed).  I made it through ANOTHER whole week with no exercise and lots of couch time, but it was definitely getting to me.

Fresh from the dryer laundry makes an excellent blanket

So when I woke up on Monday morning feeling significantly better, I was ready to get back to it!  I decided to start slow with a trainer ride, which was definitely a good idea -- after 20 minutes at a moderate pace I was out of breath and coughing again.  But if still felt good to be moving!  Today, I took a zumba class with a friend.  It was really fun, but again my chest and breathing didn't feel right.  Another reminder to take it slow.

Which brings me to my plan for the off season.  At this point I'm not planning any big spring races, but I want to have some fun and set myself up well for the summer and fall.  My goal is to stay in good enough shape to be able to complete a half marathon or a sprint tri on a week's notice while maintaining a real "off season" balance where training doesn't take over my life.  So my plan is to try to keep a swim/bike/run base while mixing things up a little:

run: 2x week (including one "long-ish" run)

bike: 1x week

swim: 1x week

something different (workout class, lifting, etc): 1x week

total rest day: 1x week

free space (to be allocated to any other category) 1x week

But I'm sure you all know but now that even in the "off season" I can't stay away from the races.  So here's the Nov-Dec lineup:

November 28: North Shore Turkey Trot 10K

December 1: Cambridge 5K Yulefest

December 8: Winter Classic 5K

December 15: Somerville Jingle Bell Run 5K

That's all for now!  Back soon with a full Chicago recap.

Sick (an update)

Some of my Daily Mile friends may have noticed that my workouts have been a bit ... sparse, lately.  So here's what happened.  After Chicago, I decided to take one full week off from any kind of exercise other than walking Klaus and some stretching.  Next on the plan was to spend a couple weeks easing back in to workouts, making a concerted effort NOT to prioritize them over anything else going on in my life -- my first real academic conference, catching up with friends, etc. etc.  Seemed like the thing to do after spending April 1st - Oct 13th working toward one major race goal or another.  So far, so good.

Also  this happened, which was awesome

This week was going to be the week when I started ramping back up again.  And then, BAM, nasty cold (sore throat, headache, achy legs and back, running nose, gross cough, the whole deal).  Saturday evening around 8pm, I was at Harvard stadium watching some of my students on the Harvard football team pull out a close win over Dartmouth.

Go Crimson! (as long as you're not playing Princeton)

By 9pm, I was sitting at the Ale House with my head on the table totally uninterested in my mac n cheese.  Those of you who know me understand that this is the #1 way to know I am sick -- healthy Jess is ALWAYS interested in food, ESPECIALLY mac n cheese.  I'm now four days into this bug, and it doesn't seem to be fading as quickly I'd like.  But, seems like a fair price to pay for six months of almost totally healthy training and racing, including my first ever 70.3, my second sub-2:10 half, and my first sub-5 hr marathon.  So, while I hope I'll be back to pounding the pavement before too long, I've made my peace with a few days on the couch eating a bunch of these:

Surprisingly delicious (when you don't eat them on a regular basis)

Back soon with my Chicago Marathon race recap and the plan for the rest of the year!

P.S.  I almost forgot the best news of the day!  Returning from Chicago, I lost my awesome Chicago runs for Boston bracelet going through the security checkpoint.

It obviously had a lot of sentimental value, and I was maybe just a little bit worn out the day after the marathon, so this led to an awkward series of events in which I ran/limped back to the TSA checkpoint as my flight was boarding (two hours after going through originally) and struggled not to burst into tears as the very nice TSA agent explained that it would have been taken to the central lost and found by that point and gave me the number to call (once the government reopened, of course).  Well on Monday I finally left a message with the lost and found, and today another very nice TSA agent called me back to tell me they have it and that I can pick it up when I go back through O'Hare for Thanksgiving.  HOORAY!