Brickity Brick

I'm so glad I finally got on my bike and discovered that I hadn't lost all my fitness over the winter. I love riding my bike.

This morning I decided I was going out for a little ride near Lake Monroe. I adapted the BBC Strain Ridge Old 37 route to leave from my house. Here is their route:



I left my house and headed south and east. I wore my new jersey and baggy shorts to test them out for the Hoosier Tour. (I love this jersey. The shorts are okay. Can't beat the super sale price of $16.99 that I got them for.)

I passed the Smithville Farmer's Market. I wanted to stop, but didn't have any cash, so I kept going. I enjoy riding through the little town of Smithville. I made it to Ramp Creek with no problems, having a great time! And then I climbed Ramp Creek, no big deal, like I hadn't stopped doing it for... six? months. Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long. Wow.

Anyway, I saw a deer, but the nice thing about country deer are that they see a person coming toward them and run away. Unlike Bloomington deer that just stare you down like you're out of place.

But, by far, the most important part of this ride....

I BLEW A SNOT ROCKET!

My nose runs when I ride my bike, especially here in the spring, and usually I just use a bandana to blow it, but that gets annoying and it only takes like three blows before that thing is gross. So I decided I was going to master the snot rocket. I had been avoiding it because I didn't want to get it all over me, but amazingly, after studying up online, I tried it today and was successful on the first try!

A successful snot rocket!

So I just kept doing it. No gross bandana! Yay!

You may notice on my wrist, I'm wearing a Silly Band. It's the Camp Kesem mascot that I received in my 100 Miles of Nowhere kit. I'm glad I wore it. If I started feeling tired, I'd notice my little worm and think about how lucky I really am, and then sucked it up and kept pushing. So, thanks, Fatty!

Anyway, it was a really beautiful day, with great scenery. I really love that route. I did have one slight problem, where I tried to get on Highway 37 instead of Old 37, but I figured that out really quickly and corrected myself. Old 37 is deceiving every time. Those hills feel a lot harder than they look. But soon I was passing the drive-in theater and was almost home.

I made it home in 1:47, completing 24 miles at a 13.4 mph average speed.

Then I changed shorts and laced up my running shoes. I intended to run the five miles up to the Bloomington Farmer's Market to meet Seth for lunch, but got distracted by a water fountain and missed my turn and didn't realize it until I'd gone 0.75 miles in the wrong direction! Also, it was getting pretty hot (I think it reached 85*F today) and I was tired, so I just turned around and went back home. (After talking to Barb briefly, who was out riding her bike on the B Line trail.) So I ended up with a 2.5 mile run at an 11:46 min/mile average. Don't judge, it's hard to run on brick legs in the hot unshaded sun.

I'll probably try to do an actual 5 mile run tomorrow. Before the day starts baking.

And for all my hard work, I treated myself to a Thai Bubble Tea. Yum.

Bike to Work Day

And some other stuff too.

Ran yesterday morning. The track was closed (even though it's open at 6:30 every day that I swim...) so I just ran around the block that surrounds the track and tennis courts and HPER parking lot. Only one gradual barely a hill, so it's not too bad. Also it was chilly, which really works for me apparently. I did my 3.5 miles at a 10:21 min/mile pace.

I swam this morning. I was running late, so I had to skip the last 4 X 50 yards and only ended up with 1000 yards instead of the planned 1200. Also, I felt like I was swimming like a chicken. And I don't think chickens can swim. I felt like my elbows were everywhere and I had to share a lane, which always makes me worry I'm going to smack the other person, which makes me run into the lane divider at least once per length. Also, the girl I was sharing with was speedy, which just made my chicken dance feel stupid. But, it didn't slow me down too much. Which probably is just an indicator that I am not the greatest swimmer to begin with...

Anyway, as the title of the post says, today was Bike to Work Day. I intended to bike in, but I had a weird dream (I'm not sure I can say hello to my neighbors anymore. Their dream versions were scary.) and slept later than planned. Also, it was still dark and like 40*F outside when I would have had to leave to make it to the pool (which I still didn't do on time). But I did take my bike and rode it home. First commute of the year! Yay!

Except that Bloomington has gone nuts with the construction this summer and it turns out I can't go my normal route. Which I learned the hard way when I suddenly reached an impassable point. So I turned around and made something up, which involved riding on a section of Rockport Rd I'd really rather not ride on. And for good reason, because a giant SUV almost killed me. I'm not sure why he couldn't wait an extra five seconds for the car in the other lane to go by before attempting to pass me (while I was going 22 mph in a 30 mph zone, mind you). Anyway, it was a little scary, but I'm glad I rode my bike home. I'm going to try to keep it up, but I think I'll have to find an alternate route until that business on Tapp Rd is cleared up.

Commute:
6.6 miles at 10.7 mph average
(iPhone measurement; no autopause)

Hump Day Swim and Run update

So this week's swim workout is

400 yards
200 yards
4 X 100 yards
4 X 50 yards

for a total of 1200 yards!

That is quick progress right there! And I'm really enjoying this program and having focus to know what to do in the pool.

I've been using my SportCount to help me keep track of what lap I'm on, but also I've determined that on average, it takes me about 1:10 to swim 50 yards. Which by my estimates, means I should be able to complete the 1.2 mile swim in about 40-45 minutes, which is a pretty average time. So that's exciting that I might not embarrass myself.

And yesterday, I hit the neighborhood to do my 3.5 mile run, which ended up being 3.75 slow miles (11:14 min/mile pace). But I surprisingly saw lots of people out running, which was kind of nice.

It really feels good to be on the move again.

Sunday Run

So in preparation for the half Ironman I'm signed up for, I'm repeating the half marathon training plan I followed for the IMM half in conjunction with the 0 to 1650 swim plan. I'm thinking that at the conclusion of these two plans, I will just continue to keep the mileage up until October. And I'm riding my bike in there somewhere.

Anyway, today was the end of week two, which called for a four mile run. I ran through the 'hood to the Clear Creek trail until I got to two miles, then turned around and came back. Four miles done in 42:14 for an average 10:34 min/mile pace.

I'll take it.

Shortened Ride to Gosport

Earlier today I said I was going on my first BBC ride... 46 miles to Gosport. I sort of made it!

I stopped by BikeSmiths and had them adjust my rear derailleur. It changed gears better, but turns out it's still pretty jumpy in the low gears, so I think I'll have to take it back in for some more adjustment before the bike trip in a few weeks.

Anyway, we grouped up at Bryan Park. It was mostly people I didn't really know, only a couple that I did, but then Rachel showed up so I knew I was okay. We did the pre-ride routine of going over the route and meetup spots and then we were off.

I pretty much rode sweep.

aka I was slow.

But I managed to hold my own okay. I was able to keep the group in my sights for the most part. But, as always, after a while the group broke up some.

A smaller group of us convened in Stinesville (about 18 miles in). At this point Rachel, Allan, and I decided we would take the short route back. I actually did something strange to my back yesterday and it was starting to hurt so I was glad there were other short route takers. Otherwise I probably would have tagged along to Gosport, but it would have been much more painful.

We actually made pretty good time out to Stinesville (I think about 15-16 mph average). We took it pretty easy on the way back. We probably could have gone faster, but I was okay with not. We even stopped to save a tiny turtle at one point.

All told, I made it back to my house with 41 miles under my belt at an 11.7 mph average speed. So far it seems that every time I ride, I double my yearly mileage!

And, my butt hurts some (I think I need to tighten my Brooks), and some hills were more difficult than I would like, but I didn't have to walk and I don't feel awful now. I mean, I'm glad I did the short route, but I'm not dead for the rest of the day. I think that's a good sign.

Recap of this week

This has been a crazy week. So you get a lot of stuff all in one post.

On Sunday I ran 4 miles at an 11:00 min/mile pace.

On Monday I ran 3 miles around campus because the track was closed. I'm seriously giving up hope on that thing. It was chilly every morning this week, which makes me go faster. I like that.

Monday night is where things start getting crazy. A friend of mine had a sleepover since her husband was out of town. Six of us stayed over and ate delicious homemade Indian food and potstickers and potato chips while sipping wine, watching Bend it like Beckham, and playing board games. We were up most of the night, but I of course still woke up at 5:00 Tuesday morning. (I just wake up at that time. I don't even need an alarm clock.) I stayed on the couch til about 5:45 then (hopefully) quietly gathered my stuff and headed to the pool for Week 3 Day 1 of my 0 to 1650 plan. I made it to the pool super early and promised myself a trip to Starbucks afterwards, but as it turns out, the website hadn't updated the summer pool hours and the pool is now only open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays until the fall semester. Boo. So I showered at the gym and went to Starbucks anyway. Which apparently also has new summer hours which include it not being open at 7:00 am when normal people want to drink coffee. So Tuesday was a bust.

Wednesday I was still exhausted from Tuesday, but I ran 2.5 miles on Thursday morning at a 9:31 min/mile pace! That's like blazing fast, and again, I think it's because it was chilly. I also ran on the sidewalk around the track, so it was mostly flat.

Yesterday I received the new wrist strap and bike mount for my Garmin that I ordered. I'm super excited about that! I don't much care for the rubbery strap that came with the Garmin. My wrist size is right between two holes and the material rubs my wrist and sort of hurts. I'm really hoping this velcro fabric one will be better. I also replaced my back tire. I noticed on my ride last weekend that the sidewall had been rubbed and it was developing a bulge. I didn't want to ride too many miles like that. And while I had the tire off, I went ahead and cleaned my cassette and chain and lubed it up good. However, once I got it all reassembled, it's having a hard time switching between certain gears. I think it's just a rear derailleur tension problem, but that's outside my realm of mechanical comfort, so I'm going to have to stop in BikeSmiths this morning. Sigh.

But I'm planning to go on my first BBC ride in a couple hours. John is leading it and it's 46 miles out to Gosport and back. I'm excited!

Biker's High

Runner's high? HA! Those guys need to get a bike.

I went on my first real ride of the year today thanks to Rachel. I had been itching to get on my bike, but was concerned my legs would turn to jelly at the first hill I encountered. So I have been putting off riding my bike. Even though I know I love it.

Today was a great day for a ride. We waited until the graduation festivities subsided and headed out of town. I was a little concerned about how warm it was, but it ended up perfect. Within two miles of leaving Rachel's house, I knew I'd made a good decision to just do it.

We headed down to Lake Monroe via 446 and Knightridge. Rachel was on her sweet new Giant carbon road bike. It's pretty sleek looking. And I continued with my gadget testing; I had my normal bike computer, my iPhone, and my Garmin on my handlebars!

We made it to Lake Monroe and took a brief rest to watch the boat traffic.

 

Then turned around to go up the hill. 

We encountered another cyclists just as we started up who asked us if we were ready for torture and then proceeded to lap us. That's okay. We were enjoying the ride, not racing.

The hill was pretty eventful though. We were scared by a bunch of wild turkeys (or maybe a deer. All I know is it was big and in the woods.)  And I was seriously mooned by an old guy, which was fairly amusing.

We made it to the top and continued on back to Rachel's house. We chatted there a little bit about how great it felt to get that ride in and how we are looking forward to the summer bike trip next month and then I headed home. 

And here's the mountain of stats I collected:

                             Bike Computer                  Garmin                               iPhone

Distance:               20.390 miles                      20.12 miles                        21.06 miles

Time:                     1:31:33                              1:42:41                              1:52:29

Average Speed:     13.3 mph                           13.3 mph                           11.2 mph

Calories Burned:    701.4 calories                    1211 calories                      714 kCal

Clearly the calorie count varies greatly, but I already knew that is quite estimated anyway. The Garmin and bike computer are very close, especially since I forgot to start it right away. And I'm going to have to repeat this test with my iPhone, because I didn't bother to pause it when we stopped and it doesn't tell you the difference on the mapmyfitness website. But I have found the autopause and turned that on, so hopefully it will be more in line with the other two. Although I think I've already decided that I'm going to use my Garmin on the bike trip, just because its battery life is much greater.

Anyway, it was a great day to be on two wheels! I did much better than I was expecting and that makes me feel awesome!

Swim X2

I did the same 0 to 1650 workout yesterday and today that I did Thursday. I even read the manual for my lap counter and used it! I won't be posting all my swim lap numbers on the blog, but I average right at 1 min per 50 yard lap. Using this data I estimate that I should be able to complete the 1.2 mile swim in about 45 minutes, which is about a typical half Ironman time. So that's good.

I'm really enjoying this swim training program.

Sloooooooow Run

I'm not sure if I was running or swimming this morning. Last night's storms made the humidity INSANE this morning. Also, they made IU close the track. So hilly humidity running it was!

I worked out a running plan (I'm still working on the biking part. Feels weird to plan biking since I like it so much and never really thought of it as working out...) which called for 3 miles this morning. I missed a turn and ran 4. Which I swear was all uphill. I'm not ashamed to admit I walked up a couple of them. I think I ended up averaging around a 12 min/mile. But since I melt in humidity and had a jager bomb for dinner last night, I'm not going to beat myself up over that.

In other news, I have been using myfitnesspal to track what I eat again. I really like this site, especially now that I can use the app on my iPhone. I have a love/hate relationship with calorie counting, but it works. I keep meaning to write a personal post about this and other various things (like why I basically sat on my couch for two months), but I just haven't sat down to do it yet. Anyway, the point of all this is that this week I've been getting the right number of calories, but have fallen short of the recommended carbs everyday (I usually go over in protein, which still surprises me). So even though I'm being mindful of what I eat and am trying to make good choices, I may be shortchanging myself some energy in the form of carbs and that could be why I am feeling slow lately. Although, I'm just going to keep an eye on this and not make a lot of drastic changes, because it could be due to many things (not being in as good a shape as I was a few months ago, jager bombs, heat, humidity, forgetting my headphones so I have no music, it's all in my head, etc, etc).

Also, I saw two more brains on my swim run this morning.

Swim

I feel like I got up way too early. I have this "problem" of pretty much always waking up before my alarm clock goes off. It doesn't matter what time it is set for; I will wake up ten minutes before that. So not really a problem, because I practically never oversleep, but this morning was a little crazy since I woke up at 4:45 instead of 5:10 and was ready to go. I think this is the first time I've ever made it to the pool before I planned to be there!

Anyway, I started Week Two of the 0 to 1650 plan. Here's the workout:

200 yards; rest for 12 breaths
4 X 100 yards; rest 10 breaths between each
4 X 50 yards; rest 6 breaths between each
4 X 25 yards; rest 4 breaths between each
900 yards total

I hope that's the workout I did. I had trouble keeping count. It's possible I did 250 yards first thing. It's also possible that I either accidentally cut the last 100 yarder to 50 or accidentally did 5 X 50. I got a little confused. But, I downloaded the manual for my SportCount Chrono 100 so hopefully I'll remember how to use it and will stop losing count. :)

Also, I've learned that the brain I saw is part of the Brain Extravaganza. There are 22 of these brains around town, each with a different theme. Be on the lookout for a Tour de Brain, because I have to see all of them! I've already spotted four!

Run

Oh, humidity. I did not miss you over the winter.

I'm really looking forward to summer (and no students!), but not so much the humidity. I was sweating before I even started running today and ended it pretty wet. I ran three miles in 33:03 for an 11:01 min/mile pace. It felt tough, but I was determined to break the 2.5 mile distance I seem to to a lot of lately. So slow, but successful.

And I saw this brain walking from the gym to lab.

BRICK

That's right. Not only did I finally get on my bike, but I went ahead and ran afterwards. Because I'm awesome. :)

I had been wanting to ride my bike, but the weather just hasn't been cooperating. It's been nice on days I have to work late and cold and rainy when I can make it out (especially on the weekends). Today I decided I was braving the chill. I figured I've ridden in cold rain before. May as well just do it. So I did.

I put on some layers and went for a really short but feels-oh-so-good to be on my bike ride. Then I shed some layers and gathered my husband for a short run.

Here we are on the Clear Creek Trail:

Seth on the run

I look like a goob

For both of these workouts I used both my Garmin Forerunner 305 and the MapMyFitness app on my iPhone. I wondered how they compared. Here's the data:

Garmin:
Bike: 8.17 miles at 13.6 mph average
Run:  2.30 miles at 10:53 min/mile pace average

iPhone:
Bike:  8.25 miles at 13.8 mph average
Run:  2.41 miles at 10:20 min/mile pace average

I feel like the bike is close enough, but the run data is a bit off. I'm going to repeat this test because I think my phone just did something strange at the beginning. Maybe I should add my cheapo magnet on a spoke bike computer too. Just for fun.

Anyway, it was an easy workout. Pretty flat. Cool weather. Pretty good for a first brick I think.

I think I'm on my way.

Swim

I did the same swim workout today as the 0 to 1650 plan calls for swimming three days a week. I think I swam an extra 50 yarder or two because I lost count and also wanted to swim one really fast. So I think I actually did at least 750 yards, maybe even 800 today. I'm looking forward to next week's 900!

I really need to sit down and figure out a running and biking plan. I like plans. I do well with plans.

Run and Swim

I went for a little run yesterday morning. I did 2.5 miles around campus. It was a little toasty. I overdressed. I did see this weird thing though. Not real sure what was going on here.
  

 

 I did the same swim today that I did on Tuesday. I had to share a lane for the first time in a long time, but I knocked five minutes off my time. I think I did less resting breathing and I guess I was a little faster. But I felt all over the place and think I really need to eat breakfast before swimming. My arms were tired after the first 100!

I am really itching to get on my bike, but the weather hasn't been agreeing with me. I might make it today though. *fingers crossed*

Swim

That's right. This morning I made like a fish.

I found this online training plan for swimming called 0 to 1650 (via DCrainmaker, which if you swim, bike, or run, you should be reading). You can find the plan here.

Today I did Week 1 Day 1. And I totally did it. I think I did take a couple extra breaths between sets, mostly because I wasn't sure how to count them and a couple times I had to defog my goggles.

Anyway, I swam the 700 yard workout in about 25 minutes. I had to flip over to backstroke twice, once for a botched flip turn and once because a chunk of hair escaped my swim cap and tried to choke me until I stuffed it back in there. Overall I felt really good about this.

And I've basically confirmed that I need to follow a plan. I can't just make things up. 

Four Mile Run and Little 500 Results

We had the mildest March ever this year, but April is bringing Spring back to Bloomington. I ran four (FOUR!) chilly miles this morning. (Again around campus because the track was closed. And to add insult to injury, it was open when I got back. But I got in a better workout because of it, so I won't complain too much.)

I started out in my SmartWool long sleeved shirt (which I LOVE), hat, gloves, and cycling jacket. I ended in just my shirt and the vest part of my jacket. And pants, I guess. :)

Here is the link to this run. I've been using mapmyfitness on my iphone. And just learned that you cannot embed those workouts to blogger. Oh well. If you follow that link, you'll see the hills I conquered and all the places I slowed down to shed a layer.

Also, Sue Aquila, local business owner (seriously, I talk about BBC all the time) and triathlete passed me right at the end of my run. I thought about running with her to ask if she would coach me, but decided against it. 

In other local news, this weekend was Little 500 weekend. (No clue what Little 500 is? Stop reading and go watch Breaking Away.) I didn't make it to the races, but Delta Gamma won the women's race and Delta Tau Delta won the men's race breaking the Cutters' 5-year winning streak.

100 Miles of Nowhere

I just signed up for Fat Cyclist's 5th Annual 100 Miles of Nowhere. I can't think of a better motivator to get back on my bike.

And, really, I know once I get on it, I'll be in love and want to do nothing else. I don't know why my activation energy to just do it has been so high!

Run

I really wasn't planning to run today. I meant to swim. But I'm having a hard time getting to the pool early enough to bother with swimming. So I ran again today.

Unfortunately the track was closed again. I don't really understand why this school even has an outdoor track if it's going to be closed 6 out of the 8 months of the year students are here. But whatever. I turned on Pandora and took it to the streets.

IU's campus is hilly. Southern Indiana is hilly. But I busted out 2.5 miles in 26:30 for an average pace of 10:43 min/mile. Pretty good.

Also, I saw Barb driving her bus this morning and that made me happy.

Rainy Run

Apparently wind and rain are more good motivators to go fast. I did a short two-mile lap around the southern part of campus this morning. It was nice because it was too early for students to be out yet. Otherwise, there's no way to run on those streets. Too crowded. Anyway, I kept up a 10:11 min/mile pace.

And I looked cute (if soggy) doing it.

Chilly Run

Apparently less than freezing temperatures is a good motivator to run fast! I stuck to the track again this morning (Yay for it FINALLY opening!) and ran 2.25 miles at a 9:52 min/mile pace. That is crazy fast for me, especially since I'm essentially starting over in this fitness journey.