I feel like it should be summer now. Looking out my window at work, it's
been so beautifully sunny that I don't want to believe the weather
website that's telling me it's in the low 60's.
I also don't want
to believe that it will get into the low 50's by 10pm tonight. The
weather is messing with my plans to have a long bike ride and then go
see an outdoor movie -- if I dress in clothes that will feel good for
the bike ride, I'll be cold for the movie, but if I carry layers to be
happy about sitting for the movie, I'll miss the zippy fun of zooming
around on the bike.
Oh well, there will be plenty of summer nights, so I should enjoy the spring-ness of today.
1 more hour of working and then I'll get to go see how my heart spazzes while biking.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Exercise with heart
I got a new toy last week, a Heart Rate Monitor. The positive spin on
exercising with the HRM is that it shows me that I am, in fact, working
hard, even if I'm not moving very fast (at all). The terrifying thing
that it has shown me is how very little it takes to make my heart speed
up. I wore it last Sunday at the Poplar Springs 5K and felt entirely
justified walking up hills -- the HRM says I'm trying hard, really it
does.
The theory espoused by many exercisey-types of people these days is that running around at a more moderate level of working hard helps build endurance, and eventually, you should be able to do more without your heart spazzing up to super speed. We'll see.
I decided to tabulate my lack of improvement from last year as I'm continue to recover from my winter-of-sloth:
* It was very hot, whine whine whine
I think I could've beaten last year's Poplar Springs time, but my heart told me it was trying pretty hard just to get that 41:08. And I'm certain I couldn't've beaten last years GW Parkway time, partially because this year it was unseasonably hot, and also because I just hadn't spent as much time running around this year.
Lake swim next weekend. Hopefully it will at least be warm on the day of the race. That won't help the water temperature, but it will make it feel nicer to dry off afterwards.
The theory espoused by many exercisey-types of people these days is that running around at a more moderate level of working hard helps build endurance, and eventually, you should be able to do more without your heart spazzing up to super speed. We'll see.
I decided to tabulate my lack of improvement from last year as I'm continue to recover from my winter-of-sloth:
| Year | GW Parkway | Poplar Springs |
| 2008 | 36:41 | 40:53 |
| 2009 | 38:44 * | 41:08 |
I think I could've beaten last year's Poplar Springs time, but my heart told me it was trying pretty hard just to get that 41:08. And I'm certain I couldn't've beaten last years GW Parkway time, partially because this year it was unseasonably hot, and also because I just hadn't spent as much time running around this year.
Lake swim next weekend. Hopefully it will at least be warm on the day of the race. That won't help the water temperature, but it will make it feel nicer to dry off afterwards.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Follow-through, check!
It's been a good week filled with follow-through.
I got my new bike, as mentioned before, and have been balancing the thrill of riding it (4 min 45 second miles on a trail without even trying very hard!) with the pain of getting used to the much less cushy seat. The seat may need to be swapped, but for now, I'm taking days off between rides and, with the weekend off, was able to love zooming around for 9 miles Monday night, even though it was drizzling and a little chilly.
I've decided to sign up with the triathlon training group. They start groups three times a year, so I'll be starting in mid-June, and the focus race will be at the beginning of October, with lots of other opportunities to go race, support, and cheer teammates at other events. There are many group workouts scheduled during the week, so I can be as social as my schedule and the constraints of the DC-area transit system will allow, and the running workouts are more about heart-rate than speed, which is good, because I can get my heart rate to go up a lot easier than I can get my speed to go up (sort of joking, it's not actually good that I can make my heart race as easily as it does. If it didn't calm down so quickly, I'd actually worry about this). This means that there's yet another opportunity for me to buy myself a new toy; I've been looking at heart-rate-monitor/watch combo things, but will probably delay getting one for a few weeks. There's been a lot of spending recently.
Some of the spending has been going to committing myself to go be active while someone times it. For the third year in a row, I'm going to go do the Poplar Springs 5K. The course is full of hills which cause me much wheezing, but some friends are doing it, and then there is vegan yogurt afterwards (ick). I also signed up for a 1 mile lake swim, which may be a stupid idea, not that I can't swim that far, and not that it's in a lake, but because I decided to not try to rent/wear a wetsuit and may end up blue at the end. There are other non-wetsuit swimmers signed up though, so it won't be that bad, right?
Two Sundays ago, I went and did a 5K while some friends did the associated 10 miler. Sadly, I was slower than last year, but it was a great deal hotter, so I'll take that as my excuse. Also, sadly, I was beaten by a 5 year old. There's really no excuse for that. I did beat him last year when he was 4. If I train hard this year, maybe I'll beat him when he's 6, but shortly after that, there may be no hope of me catching up with him again.
I finished a crafty project last Sunday by going up to Silver Spring
to rent a sewing machine for a few hours. It's fun to start projects,
but it's also really satisfying to finish them off.
I'm really looking forward to sitting down to start watching the next House DVD from Netflix tonight after jogging. DVD watching time is my prime time for working on a never-ending hand quilting project that I've been making for myself. (Now that I said here that I'm going jogging tonight, I'm committed and will have to go, even if it's gray out. Yay sneaky self-motivation)
I got my new bike, as mentioned before, and have been balancing the thrill of riding it (4 min 45 second miles on a trail without even trying very hard!) with the pain of getting used to the much less cushy seat. The seat may need to be swapped, but for now, I'm taking days off between rides and, with the weekend off, was able to love zooming around for 9 miles Monday night, even though it was drizzling and a little chilly.
I've decided to sign up with the triathlon training group. They start groups three times a year, so I'll be starting in mid-June, and the focus race will be at the beginning of October, with lots of other opportunities to go race, support, and cheer teammates at other events. There are many group workouts scheduled during the week, so I can be as social as my schedule and the constraints of the DC-area transit system will allow, and the running workouts are more about heart-rate than speed, which is good, because I can get my heart rate to go up a lot easier than I can get my speed to go up (sort of joking, it's not actually good that I can make my heart race as easily as it does. If it didn't calm down so quickly, I'd actually worry about this). This means that there's yet another opportunity for me to buy myself a new toy; I've been looking at heart-rate-monitor/watch combo things, but will probably delay getting one for a few weeks. There's been a lot of spending recently.
Some of the spending has been going to committing myself to go be active while someone times it. For the third year in a row, I'm going to go do the Poplar Springs 5K. The course is full of hills which cause me much wheezing, but some friends are doing it, and then there is vegan yogurt afterwards (ick). I also signed up for a 1 mile lake swim, which may be a stupid idea, not that I can't swim that far, and not that it's in a lake, but because I decided to not try to rent/wear a wetsuit and may end up blue at the end. There are other non-wetsuit swimmers signed up though, so it won't be that bad, right?
Two Sundays ago, I went and did a 5K while some friends did the associated 10 miler. Sadly, I was slower than last year, but it was a great deal hotter, so I'll take that as my excuse. Also, sadly, I was beaten by a 5 year old. There's really no excuse for that. I did beat him last year when he was 4. If I train hard this year, maybe I'll beat him when he's 6, but shortly after that, there may be no hope of me catching up with him again.
I'm really looking forward to sitting down to start watching the next House DVD from Netflix tonight after jogging. DVD watching time is my prime time for working on a never-ending hand quilting project that I've been making for myself. (Now that I said here that I'm going jogging tonight, I'm committed and will have to go, even if it's gray out. Yay sneaky self-motivation)
Friday, April 24, 2009
I see a triathlon team in my future
I'm much more obsessed with the whole triathlon thing this year than I was at this point a year ago. Work has blocked the stupid villages game
so I've been forced to read blogs and NYTimes for distraction during
simulation runs. All the blog reading, plus some talking with my
favorite exercise instructor lead me to RSVP for an information session
about a real training group, so I'm going to go learn more about them tomorrow
afternoon. I'm particularly curious about the fees, because it seems
like this group is providing a lot more support than other local clubs,
which is cool and all, but probably means they would want more than $35 a year.
Last night was a jog with some coworkers who are doing the 10 miler later this year. It was exciting to happily keep up with the slow group. We did 4:1 jog/walk with a long walk break between the 1st and second mile and I loved how good it felt. Not like I could actually breathe steadily enough to say long sentences, but I did wheeze multiple words in a row sometimes. After all these years of trying jogging and giving up and trying, it actually is getting better! Crazy!
I've
ordered my road bike and am excited to pick it up tomorrow. I have to
make sure that I don't get 20-miles-worth of excited the first time I
head out because I'm doing the GW Parkway 5K on Sunday, and that will be
less fun to try hard at if my legs are jello.
I'm also looking forward to trying to eat all the kale that will be starting in about a month. I've signed up for my farm again. It turns out they do a group delivery to the building next door to where I work for a $100 discount off of the normal door-to-door delivery price, so I'll have to lug my veggies home and up my own stairs once a week, but I think the +$100 is worth it.
Basically there is lots of excited feelings out here right now. I'm sure that it is intricately related to the fact that Spring Is Here!! It's been beautiful outside, it's finally not dark so early at night, and it's not humid yet! YAY Spring!
(Is it worth suffering the coldest winter of my life to feel this excited? Actually, maybe it was)
Last night was a jog with some coworkers who are doing the 10 miler later this year. It was exciting to happily keep up with the slow group. We did 4:1 jog/walk with a long walk break between the 1st and second mile and I loved how good it felt. Not like I could actually breathe steadily enough to say long sentences, but I did wheeze multiple words in a row sometimes. After all these years of trying jogging and giving up and trying, it actually is getting better! Crazy!
I'm also looking forward to trying to eat all the kale that will be starting in about a month. I've signed up for my farm again. It turns out they do a group delivery to the building next door to where I work for a $100 discount off of the normal door-to-door delivery price, so I'll have to lug my veggies home and up my own stairs once a week, but I think the +$100 is worth it.
Basically there is lots of excited feelings out here right now. I'm sure that it is intricately related to the fact that Spring Is Here!! It's been beautiful outside, it's finally not dark so early at night, and it's not humid yet! YAY Spring!
(Is it worth suffering the coldest winter of my life to feel this excited? Actually, maybe it was)
Friday, April 17, 2009
No bike yet
I still haven't got the bike. The bike stores I like aren't big enough
that I can wander around and be anonymous, which is my favorite way to
shop, so working up the courage to go in and actually talk to someone is
taking a while.
I did however buy myself some other presents, including a set of paperback Harry Potter books 1-6 which was deliciously discounted and a heart rate monitor/watch thing, but it was sort of gigantor on my wrist, so I'm waiting to hear back from the people about whether I can return it for a slightly smaller watch part
I'm on track to justify the HRM/watch as I gear up to this summers activities. Overcoming the winter-of-sloth feels wonderful. People from work are doing a sort of group training thing to get ready for the Army 10-miler in October (which I did not sign up for), but I'm hoping to keep up with their training and do the Navy 5-miler at the end of September. Yesterday I had a nice (as far as jogging slowly can ever feel nice) 3+ mile outing and am excited for the 5K coming up two Sundays from now.
Besides running around (literally) I've signed up for a glassworking thing. I think that I will not actually be doing much of the hot glass stuff, but it will be neat to go and see the workspace. It's not particularly metro close, so (circling around to my first point) I need to get a bike!
Last point, I'm excited that I might've found some co-workers who will come swim laps with me occasionally. And one of them might sign up with me for a lake swim at the end of May. It will probably be cold. I'm still trying to talk myself into paying someone so I can go do a mile of splashing in cold water.
I did however buy myself some other presents, including a set of paperback Harry Potter books 1-6 which was deliciously discounted and a heart rate monitor/watch thing, but it was sort of gigantor on my wrist, so I'm waiting to hear back from the people about whether I can return it for a slightly smaller watch part
I'm on track to justify the HRM/watch as I gear up to this summers activities. Overcoming the winter-of-sloth feels wonderful. People from work are doing a sort of group training thing to get ready for the Army 10-miler in October (which I did not sign up for), but I'm hoping to keep up with their training and do the Navy 5-miler at the end of September. Yesterday I had a nice (as far as jogging slowly can ever feel nice) 3+ mile outing and am excited for the 5K coming up two Sundays from now.
Besides running around (literally) I've signed up for a glassworking thing. I think that I will not actually be doing much of the hot glass stuff, but it will be neat to go and see the workspace. It's not particularly metro close, so (circling around to my first point) I need to get a bike!
Last point, I'm excited that I might've found some co-workers who will come swim laps with me occasionally. And one of them might sign up with me for a lake swim at the end of May. It will probably be cold. I'm still trying to talk myself into paying someone so I can go do a mile of splashing in cold water.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Summary
I spent last weekend out in CA for a beautiful wedding reception and a
great time visiting friends and realized, in talking with them, that
while I am apparently capable of updating facebook with meaningless
nothings, the non-archiving nature of facebook means that when I try to
remember what I spent the last 6 months doing, I have nothing to fall
back on. So I'm going to try to put up a little more here, even if it's
as brief as a facebook update.
- I was totally looking for a way to rent sewing machine time a few weeks ago, and now there is one! Awesome! And it's super metro close
- I'm madly in love with turkey, brie, honey mustard and baby spinach sandwiches (on thick multigrain bread of course!)
- I bought a macbook in January and am loving it. I try to do the two finger scroll thing on all laptops now and basically look like someone who has no idea how to use a trackpad.
- I hope to buy a new bike this weekend to replace and surpass the one that got stolen last summer. I can't do another triathlon unless I have a bike.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Click-in, aka clipless
4th of July was slightly underwhelming. Hazy light rain made the big DC
fireworks show less awesome. But the weekend wasn't all that lame. I
went to REI and found real bike shoes on sale and got click-in pedals!
Then I was excited by my new toys and was playing with the pedals and shoes and ended up getting my left shoe locked to my right pedal. I couldn't get it unattached so took it to my local bike shop and they couldn't do it with their hands either, so we ended up putting the new pedals on my bike and then using the leverage of the bike to get the shoe detached. oops.
This meant that I got the teeny tiny pedals on there sooner than I wanted, but it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be to get the hang of clicking in and out. I didn't fall at all while practicing on a flat empty road, and then found it easy to ride in to work this morning. Then this evening, when going on a bike ride, I slowed suddenly as I realized I was missing my turn and toppled straight sideways onto my elbow and hip. oops, again. I'm fine, and it actually was a little reassuring. While I hope to not fall over too many more times, it really didn't hurt much and it was pretty much the worst surface to fall slowly onto (packed dirt path with some gravel), so now I can believe everyone who told me that it wouldn't hurt too much and would mostly just be embarrassing.
I did however learn that I need tighter helmet straps because my helmet wobbled much more than I'd like it to if my head were about to come into contact with the ground.
I've been really tempted to jump in and get a road bike, but the used bike venues aren't presenting any reasonable opportunities and it would be sort of financially dumb to buy a new one this summer. So my goal is to get a whole bunch more miles on my clunky hybrid (now all frankensteined up with clipless pedals) and then I will feel justified spending money for a new one next spring/summer.
mmmm shiny
Then I was excited by my new toys and was playing with the pedals and shoes and ended up getting my left shoe locked to my right pedal. I couldn't get it unattached so took it to my local bike shop and they couldn't do it with their hands either, so we ended up putting the new pedals on my bike and then using the leverage of the bike to get the shoe detached. oops.
This meant that I got the teeny tiny pedals on there sooner than I wanted, but it wasn't as hard as I'd thought it would be to get the hang of clicking in and out. I didn't fall at all while practicing on a flat empty road, and then found it easy to ride in to work this morning. Then this evening, when going on a bike ride, I slowed suddenly as I realized I was missing my turn and toppled straight sideways onto my elbow and hip. oops, again. I'm fine, and it actually was a little reassuring. While I hope to not fall over too many more times, it really didn't hurt much and it was pretty much the worst surface to fall slowly onto (packed dirt path with some gravel), so now I can believe everyone who told me that it wouldn't hurt too much and would mostly just be embarrassing.
I did however learn that I need tighter helmet straps because my helmet wobbled much more than I'd like it to if my head were about to come into contact with the ground.
I've been really tempted to jump in and get a road bike, but the used bike venues aren't presenting any reasonable opportunities and it would be sort of financially dumb to buy a new one this summer. So my goal is to get a whole bunch more miles on my clunky hybrid (now all frankensteined up with clipless pedals) and then I will feel justified spending money for a new one next spring/summer.
mmmm shiny
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