...and by that, I don't mean scarfing down an entire box of their scrumdiddlyumptious chocolate-chip cookies in one sitting. Not that I've ever done that. Ahem.
Last night's Karate class was great - worked on bo while the lower ranks warmed up and then spent the rest of the night doing a slow, thorough review of kata together as a class. My only regret is that my energy level was at -4539 and I couldn't properly enjoy it.
Today's run went fairly well. I ran four miles in 35:12, with a few strides thrown in just to make sure I was ready for the fast footwork of a 5K. My hamstrings are feeling sore, which I'm very unhappy about this close to a race, but they have close to 48 hours to recover.
Tonight will be paddling - probably two laps around Mirror Lake.
Tomorrow is two miles very easy in my new street racers and maybe some VERY low-key Karate.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Awesome Holiday Weekend
Memorial Day weekend ROCKED. First off, I haven't had a day off work since dinosaurs last roamed the earth, so the break was Most Welcome. Secondly, Dr. Z and I kept busy with fun outdoorsy stuff.
Saturday I stretched my long run up to nine miles. Dr. Z road-dogged and remarked the mile and half mile points. Turns out his bike computer was a bit generous with its definition of "mile", meaning I haven't been running as fast or as far as I thought. Boo!
I kept my goal 9:00 pace for most of the way despite the increased distance between miles, but ran out of gas around mile 6. I didn't have to stop and walk or anything, but I slowed down to more a 9:15 pace around mile 6. I walked the hill up from River Road after my legs said, "Oh HELL no" to running it (I tried a couple times). I finished in 1:23 for a 9:12 pace. I'm hoping to hit a 9:00 pace at that distance next time. (Which is my goal before upping to ten miles.)
Sunday we went white water rafting down the Hudson. It was AMAZING! We had an awesome guide, Todd, who was covered in tattoos and told dirty jokes the entire way. Flatwater just seems so boring now! They even fed us both lunch and dinner. The only downside was that we were put with a group of guys from Jersey who weren't even TRYING to paddle. In fact, at one point one of them sat in the MIDDLE OF THE RAFT and was dead weight. Dr. Z and I are definitely going again, but are equally definitely bringing our own group along next time. Here's some pics of us hitting a Class 4:
Monday was our long paddle. We did the first fifteen or so miles (forgot the GPS) of the 90-miler. It went fairly well, although we did not have a good portage at Barlett's Carry. The Paddleboy kept snagging on rocks and such. We definitely still have some bugs to iron out when it comes to portaging.
I also ran an easy four miles in 35:00 on Dr. Z's treadmill.
Yesterday was my last tempo run before Freihofer's. I did 3 REAL miles (now that they're remarked) in 24:19. I wasn't happy with the time, but not only is it farther than before, there was an incredible headwind the entire way back.
We also did an easy lap around Mirror Lake last night to shake out our arms. It took over 27 minutes, but we weren't pushing ourselves and were both tired from the paddle the day before.
Today is FINALLY a day off. All I have is Karate. (Even if we have sparring it'll be an easy day since I never spar right before a race. Too much chance of getting injured.)
Tomorrow will be an easy four miles and paddling.
Saturday I stretched my long run up to nine miles. Dr. Z road-dogged and remarked the mile and half mile points. Turns out his bike computer was a bit generous with its definition of "mile", meaning I haven't been running as fast or as far as I thought. Boo!
I kept my goal 9:00 pace for most of the way despite the increased distance between miles, but ran out of gas around mile 6. I didn't have to stop and walk or anything, but I slowed down to more a 9:15 pace around mile 6. I walked the hill up from River Road after my legs said, "Oh HELL no" to running it (I tried a couple times). I finished in 1:23 for a 9:12 pace. I'm hoping to hit a 9:00 pace at that distance next time. (Which is my goal before upping to ten miles.)
Sunday we went white water rafting down the Hudson. It was AMAZING! We had an awesome guide, Todd, who was covered in tattoos and told dirty jokes the entire way. Flatwater just seems so boring now! They even fed us both lunch and dinner. The only downside was that we were put with a group of guys from Jersey who weren't even TRYING to paddle. In fact, at one point one of them sat in the MIDDLE OF THE RAFT and was dead weight. Dr. Z and I are definitely going again, but are equally definitely bringing our own group along next time. Here's some pics of us hitting a Class 4:
Monday was our long paddle. We did the first fifteen or so miles (forgot the GPS) of the 90-miler. It went fairly well, although we did not have a good portage at Barlett's Carry. The Paddleboy kept snagging on rocks and such. We definitely still have some bugs to iron out when it comes to portaging.
I also ran an easy four miles in 35:00 on Dr. Z's treadmill.
Yesterday was my last tempo run before Freihofer's. I did 3 REAL miles (now that they're remarked) in 24:19. I wasn't happy with the time, but not only is it farther than before, there was an incredible headwind the entire way back.
We also did an easy lap around Mirror Lake last night to shake out our arms. It took over 27 minutes, but we weren't pushing ourselves and were both tired from the paddle the day before.
Today is FINALLY a day off. All I have is Karate. (Even if we have sparring it'll be an easy day since I never spar right before a race. Too much chance of getting injured.)
Tomorrow will be an easy four miles and paddling.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Easy Day after a Hard Paddle
Last night's paddle was...interesting to say the least. The wind was crazy once again, making it very challenging. Our speed was about the same as Tuesday but at least my muscles weren't killing me like they were on Tuesday.
Today was an easy run day. I did an easy four miles in 34:59. My legs were only a little tired from yesterday's hill workout, so I'll probably up it to three hill repeats after Freihofer's.
Tonight is Karate and hopefully brushing up my kata for the Northeast Open.
Tomorrow will be a nine-mile slow run. First time going that far since the half-marathon last September! Didn't think I'd be up to nine miles this early in the season, but so far 6,7, and 8 miles have gone great.
Today was an easy run day. I did an easy four miles in 34:59. My legs were only a little tired from yesterday's hill workout, so I'll probably up it to three hill repeats after Freihofer's.
Tonight is Karate and hopefully brushing up my kata for the Northeast Open.
Tomorrow will be a nine-mile slow run. First time going that far since the half-marathon last September! Didn't think I'd be up to nine miles this early in the season, but so far 6,7, and 8 miles have gone great.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
First Hill Workout Ever
Tuesday's paddle was TOUGH. I hadn't realized how sore I was from Round the Mountain, but an easy four mile paddle around Kiwassa was GRUELING.
Last night's Karate class was pretty quiet. Once again, Sensei wasn't there. We worked the lower ranks through drills, kata and then some orryo.
I just did my first hill workout ever - I started from my usual spot, ran up Colden Avenue up to Main Street and then did two repeats up Olympic DR. Wow. I'm not feeling it yet but I'm sure I will tomorrow. Dr. Z wanted me to be conservative since it was my first hill workout ever and I have Freihofer's in nine days. I have no idea what my time was since my watch battery wore out today, but it wouldn't help much anyway since I have no idea what the distance is.
Tonight will be another paddle workout, followed by an easy three or four miles and Karate class tomorrow.
Last night's Karate class was pretty quiet. Once again, Sensei wasn't there. We worked the lower ranks through drills, kata and then some orryo.
I just did my first hill workout ever - I started from my usual spot, ran up Colden Avenue up to Main Street and then did two repeats up Olympic DR. Wow. I'm not feeling it yet but I'm sure I will tomorrow. Dr. Z wanted me to be conservative since it was my first hill workout ever and I have Freihofer's in nine days. I have no idea what my time was since my watch battery wore out today, but it wouldn't help much anyway since I have no idea what the distance is.
Tonight will be another paddle workout, followed by an easy three or four miles and Karate class tomorrow.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Tough Weekend
Round the Mountain was on Saturday. Oh. My. GOD. The wind was INSANE. At least three boats went over and another three had to be towed in by the sweeper boat. Lifejackets were required and there were multiple checkpoints where they were tracking boat numbers. Quite frankly, I'm surprised Mac still held the race, but he does 1000-mile races up in the Yukon, so this probably was nothing to him.
Dr. Z and I did fairly well considering it was our first time racing in stock class. Our actual time sucked (2:00:33), but we were third of four teams in our class (coming in 1:30 and 2:00 behind second and first place, respectively) AND we beat a total of four stock C-2s to the finish. We would have done even better, but made a strategic error in the beginning, trying to cut straight across the lake instead of hugging the shoreline (which is the long way around) and getting blown every which way, which cost us a LOT of time. We DID have a kick-ass portage though and actually PASSED A TEAM while portaging.
Sunday was a long run day. The wind was still vicious, so I opted for Dr. Z's treadmill. I ran 8 miles at a 2% incline in 1:11:30 for an 8:57 pace. Awesomeness!
Yesterday was a well-deserved easy day, doing a slow 5K around the lake in 26:42. (I actually did most of it slower but decided to bomb the last half-mile, which is all downhill.)
I had to miss Karate to work, which is too bad since they had sparring last night. Dammit!
Off for my three-mile tempo run. (And paddling tonight.)
Dr. Z and I did fairly well considering it was our first time racing in stock class. Our actual time sucked (2:00:33), but we were third of four teams in our class (coming in 1:30 and 2:00 behind second and first place, respectively) AND we beat a total of four stock C-2s to the finish. We would have done even better, but made a strategic error in the beginning, trying to cut straight across the lake instead of hugging the shoreline (which is the long way around) and getting blown every which way, which cost us a LOT of time. We DID have a kick-ass portage though and actually PASSED A TEAM while portaging.
Sunday was a long run day. The wind was still vicious, so I opted for Dr. Z's treadmill. I ran 8 miles at a 2% incline in 1:11:30 for an 8:57 pace. Awesomeness!
Yesterday was a well-deserved easy day, doing a slow 5K around the lake in 26:42. (I actually did most of it slower but decided to bomb the last half-mile, which is all downhill.)
I had to miss Karate to work, which is too bad since they had sparring last night. Dammit!
Off for my three-mile tempo run. (And paddling tonight.)
Friday, May 15, 2009
Back Under Eight
Yesterday's tempo run went well despite the high winds. I managed to run three miles in 23:55. It turned out to be a good thing Dr. Z and I decided to paddle on Wednesday instead because there was no way in HELL paddling in that wind would have been safe.
Today I decided to up my "easy pace" to 8:45 instead of 9:00 in light of my increasing speed on tempo runs. I had tired legs but managed it exactly, finishing three miles in 26:15.
Tonight - Karate - hopefully tournament prep. I have to get ready!
Tomorrow is the first canoe race of the year - Round the Mountain. Can't wait!
Today I decided to up my "easy pace" to 8:45 instead of 9:00 in light of my increasing speed on tempo runs. I had tired legs but managed it exactly, finishing three miles in 26:15.
Tonight - Karate - hopefully tournament prep. I have to get ready!
Tomorrow is the first canoe race of the year - Round the Mountain. Can't wait!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Easy Run on Tired Legs
Last night's class turned out to be a surprise - sparring! It went much better than the last sparring class, although two of the people I fought were only yellow belts. I fought a black belt twice my size and as Dr. Z said, "Mopped the floor with him." I also fought Sensei Sixpack, who as usual mopped the floor with ME. He said I did well though and also complemented my restraint with the yellow belts.
Unfortunately doing a tempo run and a sparring class yesterday meant that my legs were absolutely dead today. I did an "easy" three miles in 26:16, but definitely had to work at it more than I usually would have.
Tonight Dr. Z and I are going to do the Round the Mountain route. Should be a beautiful day for it, aside from a bit of wind.
Tomorrow is a REST DAY. Even Karate should be physically easy since we sparred yesterday. Thank God. I want to be well-rested for Thursday's tempo run.
Unfortunately doing a tempo run and a sparring class yesterday meant that my legs were absolutely dead today. I did an "easy" three miles in 26:16, but definitely had to work at it more than I usually would have.
Tonight Dr. Z and I are going to do the Round the Mountain route. Should be a beautiful day for it, aside from a bit of wind.
Tomorrow is a REST DAY. Even Karate should be physically easy since we sparred yesterday. Thank God. I want to be well-rested for Thursday's tempo run.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Almost a Breakthrough
Very busy weekend - Friday night was Karate. Dr. Z and I spent most of the time helping out one of the yellow belts who showed up, so I didn't get in as much work as I hoped. Oh well.
Saturday's long run went AWESOMELY well. I had bumped it up to seven miles in light of how easy last week's six-miler was. As always, my target was a 9:00 pace. I ended up blowing that away by finishing in 1:01:21 for a 8:46 pace with plenty of gas left. (I actually practiced my kick and sprinted the last ten or so meters because I had so much left over.) I'm definitely upping it to eight miles this week.
I also went to Blue Line and stocked up on shoes. Dr. Z had to go anyway AND my current trainers are almost up for replacement. I mentioned to Sally (my shoe guru - GO SEE HER and tell her I sent ya) that I had never gotten my money back on the Sauconys I had to return because they WORE OUT after LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED MILES. She checked and guess what? They had lost the paperwork. In return, she GAVE me my new trainers for FREE. YES. As a thank you, I checked out their huge shoe sale and picked up some trail runners for THIRTY BUCKS. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I picked up trainers and trail runners for a total of thirty bucks. I am that good.
Sunday ended up being a rest day since Dr. Z still couldn't paddle. It was really crappy weather anyway - 30's, rainy and windy. In freakin' MAY. Blech.
Today's tempo run went exceptionally well also. I didn't quite break 8:00 yet, but came DAMN close with a three-mile time of 24:03. A little more practice and a little less wind and I should be back under an 8:00 pace for the 3-4 mile distance. YAY!
Tonight is Karate (God knows what we're doing with Sensei back and fresh from Florida) and tomorrow will be my core work and a long paddle in preparation for the Round the Mountain on Saturday.
Saturday's long run went AWESOMELY well. I had bumped it up to seven miles in light of how easy last week's six-miler was. As always, my target was a 9:00 pace. I ended up blowing that away by finishing in 1:01:21 for a 8:46 pace with plenty of gas left. (I actually practiced my kick and sprinted the last ten or so meters because I had so much left over.) I'm definitely upping it to eight miles this week.
I also went to Blue Line and stocked up on shoes. Dr. Z had to go anyway AND my current trainers are almost up for replacement. I mentioned to Sally (my shoe guru - GO SEE HER and tell her I sent ya) that I had never gotten my money back on the Sauconys I had to return because they WORE OUT after LESS THAN TWO HUNDRED MILES. She checked and guess what? They had lost the paperwork. In return, she GAVE me my new trainers for FREE. YES. As a thank you, I checked out their huge shoe sale and picked up some trail runners for THIRTY BUCKS. Yes ladies and gentlemen, I picked up trainers and trail runners for a total of thirty bucks. I am that good.
Sunday ended up being a rest day since Dr. Z still couldn't paddle. It was really crappy weather anyway - 30's, rainy and windy. In freakin' MAY. Blech.
Today's tempo run went exceptionally well also. I didn't quite break 8:00 yet, but came DAMN close with a three-mile time of 24:03. A little more practice and a little less wind and I should be back under an 8:00 pace for the 3-4 mile distance. YAY!
Tonight is Karate (God knows what we're doing with Sensei back and fresh from Florida) and tomorrow will be my core work and a long paddle in preparation for the Round the Mountain on Saturday.
Friday, May 08, 2009
Yay for Friday!
Just did an easy three miles in 26:32. It felt great!
Tonight is Karate, which should be mostly tournament prep for the Northeast Open coming up.
Tomorrow will be my first seven mile run since SEPTEMBER. Yikes! Hopefully it'll feel almost as good as my six-mile "long" run last weekend. (Which is why I'm upping it.)
Tonight is Karate, which should be mostly tournament prep for the Northeast Open coming up.
Tomorrow will be my first seven mile run since SEPTEMBER. Yikes! Hopefully it'll feel almost as good as my six-mile "long" run last weekend. (Which is why I'm upping it.)
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Blah Weather, Blah Run
Did a 6 mile paddle with Dr. Z on Tuesday, which went really well, although I was tired from my tempo run earlier that day. We finished in about 1:25 or so.
I took yesterday off completely, needing to give my poor body a break. It felt great.
I thought I'd be raring to go on my tempo run today, but the overcast drizzly weather took the wind out of my sails a bit. I still went out there, aiming for an 8:05 pace after Tuesday's 8:08 paced run. Although I hit 1.5 miles at 8:08 and 2 miles at 16:10, I quickly fell off my pace during the last mile and came in at 24:36 for an 8:12 pace. Blech. Part of it is that my leg muscles were tired, probably from trying to get back into running. In any case, I was not happy with my time.
Tonight will be weights since Dr. Z can't paddle.
Tomorrow will be another light day - 3 miles easy followed by a low-key Karate class.
I took yesterday off completely, needing to give my poor body a break. It felt great.
I thought I'd be raring to go on my tempo run today, but the overcast drizzly weather took the wind out of my sails a bit. I still went out there, aiming for an 8:05 pace after Tuesday's 8:08 paced run. Although I hit 1.5 miles at 8:08 and 2 miles at 16:10, I quickly fell off my pace during the last mile and came in at 24:36 for an 8:12 pace. Blech. Part of it is that my leg muscles were tired, probably from trying to get back into running. In any case, I was not happy with my time.
Tonight will be weights since Dr. Z can't paddle.
Tomorrow will be another light day - 3 miles easy followed by a low-key Karate class.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Hiking and Running
Yesterday's hike up Catamount was a lot of fun. We didn't make it all the way since JewishMom and I were the only non-injured people, but we had a blast anyway. Here's some pics of "Pip and the Gimps" as JewishMom called us.
Me and the Gimps
Me going up the chute
Taking a break
Today was an easy three miles in 26:20 - the weather was perfect! Shame it wasn't a tempo day.
Tonight will be Sensei's first night back to Karate since his month-long trip to Florida. Should be...interesting, to say the least.
Tomorrow is a tempo three miles and paddling.
Today was an easy three miles in 26:20 - the weather was perfect! Shame it wasn't a tempo day.
Tonight will be Sensei's first night back to Karate since his month-long trip to Florida. Should be...interesting, to say the least.
Tomorrow is a tempo three miles and paddling.
Saturday, May 02, 2009
Great Long Run
Just got back from a great long run. I did six miles in 53:34 and it felt really good. It was such a good run that I'm going to do seven miles next week. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up that nine mile pace, but I won't increase it again until I can.
After I recover, I'll have to do upper body work for paddling and then more core work.
Tomorrow is hiking Catamount with JewishMom and other fine ladies.
After I recover, I'll have to do upper body work for paddling and then more core work.
Tomorrow is hiking Catamount with JewishMom and other fine ladies.
Friday, May 01, 2009
Easy Run, Easy Day
I did core work last night, but got lazy and didn't do my paddling strength training. My bad.
Did an easy three miles today. There was wind as always, but I finished in an easy 26:12, and that was with backing the hell off at the end because I was above my target pace. (I had been aiming for 9 minute miles.)
Tomorrow is a six mile long run, along with weight training. (For real this time.)
Did an easy three miles today. There was wind as always, but I finished in an easy 26:12, and that was with backing the hell off at the end because I was above my target pace. (I had been aiming for 9 minute miles.)
Tomorrow is a six mile long run, along with weight training. (For real this time.)
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