Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Brick, run…er…swim??

I promise, I have gotten in a couple of workouts in the past few days!

Sunday Brick

I spent part of Saturday getting my bike ready to ride.  Sunday morning it was time to hop on!  I loaded up my Garmin Edge 305 with a great workout called Improve Your Torque 101.  The original plan had been to head over to Tara’s house Friday night and spin in her basement, but that plan wound up falling through.  A storm blew through in the afternoon that turned roads in to skating rinks so by the time I made it home I wasn’t going anywhere.  The workout looked like a good one though, so I ran through it on Sunday morning on my own in my garage.  It was a lot of strength stuff – long single leg drills in a big gear and some intense gear pyramids – my favourite as opposed to high cadence spins!  It was a great 65 minute workout.

As for the bike?  Once I greased up the chain and ran it through its gears the shifting was really smooth.  Overall the fit seems pretty good, although the seat feels like it is angled a little too far forward.  I am loving the new ride, although I really wish the weather hadn’t turned quite yet so that I could have gotten in a test ride outdoors!

After I hopped off the bike I changed into running gear and went out for a quick 20 minute brick run.  Okay, the duration of the run might have been quick, but my pace was not!  It was still really icy out after Friday’s storm so I concentrated more on where my feet were going instead of what my pace was.  Once my workout was done it was time to head off to the Grey Cup!

Run

The weather on Monday was interesting…  We had a really narrow window of time where it was actually nice outside.  Luckily that window happened to be over the lunch hour.Weather 11-30
I threw on some capris, a long sleeve top and a short sleeve top and took off on 5K out and back run.  It was windy out…really windy…  And this was probably my last chance to run in capris in Calgary this year.  I can’t complain too much as November was a pretty phenomenal month here.  The run went well.  After I grabbed some food and went back to my office to stretch I took a look outside and all of a sudden it was snowing.  Sunny one minute, white out conditions the next.  Gotta love that crazy Calgary weather!  At least I made it outside for my run at just the right time!

Er…swim?

Sigh…I have come to the conclusion that I am not a 9 pm workout kind of girl.  5:30 am swim times agree with me a whole lot more, as by 9 pm I’d prefer to be in my pyjamas and gearing up for bed.  Plus when you start to get poor road conditions due to snow the late night drive out to Cochrane actually scares the bejeebus out of me.  Snow, deer that dart out in front of you…feel free to make fun but it really does scare me.  So…sad to say…let’s call a spade a spade and just agree that I’ll be swimming in the mornings from now on.  Sorry coach… :(

10 comments:

Marlene said...

Definitely sounds like some quality workouts.

No way would you catch me going out at 9pm for ANY kind of workout this time of year. At least you can get your swims done in the mornings.

Julie said...

You are very smart - not a wimp -- winter road conditions are the pits at the best of times!

Great to hear your new bike is getting broken in. :) :)

Brian said...

I agree with Marlene, keep those quality workouts coming, getting some serious motivation reading your blog as I begin my training!

cinc said...

For your bike fit - I'd suggest getting it fine-tuned at TCR Sport Lab - the guys at Bow are great, but TCR (also Speed Theory are worth checking out too) are precise and will ensure things are feeling really good and make you most efficient.

also evening swim times suck - esp at 9pm - even though it still sucks to get out of bed at some insane hour, getting your swim out of the way before work is much better!

J said...

I agree on the 9pm swim thing. I like mornings much better for all types of workouts. I enjoy coming home and just relaxing and not having to work out!

Molly said...

I am the same way about swimming - if it doesn't get done in the morning, it just doesn't get done!

Badgergirl said...

I agree with the nighttime swimming. While I don't mind running after work, I'd much rather get the swim out of the way early. Maybe the chlorine helps wake me up a bit. :)

Nice job on the workouts!

teacherwoman said...

As hard as it is to get up at 430 and be in the pool by 5am when it's dark and cold here, I do prefer it over an 8pm swim. That's for sure. For some reason, after an evening swim, I am wired and have a hard time getting to bed at a decent time.

Nice job on the ride followed by a quick run!

Lindsay said...

swimming at night wears me outttt. well, it did a few years ago when i actually did that anyway :)

nice job on the biking and running! glad the new ride is working out well - hopefully you'll get to test it out on the road soon.

wow to that weather chart!

Rainmaker said...

That's a pretty crazy weather chart, whacky spike there.

Btw, I think I'll be doing a handful of races next year up in your neck of the woods (Canada), though, slowly narrowing down the list.