Saturday, May 13, 2006

The Weekend Is Here!

I was sorta debating as to whether I would bike Friday and run Saturday, or run Friday and bike Saturday. Either way, they both had to get done early because J.T. is covered up at work and wouldn't want to be waiting around on me to finish. However, when the alarm went off Friday morning, I hit snooze a few too many times. So many that I left myself time to do nothing but get up and fix some breakfast for the kids. We had a good day, though. Briar worked on his pitching in the back yard, and it has gotten to the point that I just can't catch for him anymore! I told J.T. he was gonna have to get me a mask and some catcher's gear if I was gonna have to do that - because he is really throwing that ball hard. And I am scared to death of it. I played fast pitch softball in H.S., but somewhere between then and now I have developed a fear for that screaming baseball headed straight towards me. I toughed it out for awhile, though, and finally told him I couldn't handle it anymore. It wouldn't be so bad if he hit the glove everytime...but when they start bouncing right before they get to me, I start dancing around in fear. I don't want big blue bruises on my shins and knees - it's shorts weather now!!

So anyways, the good news is that I actually did get a workout in on Friday. That evening I brought my bike inside and put it on the trainer. I did the 50 minute Chris Carmichael "Time Trial" dvd. That thing kicks my butt EVERYTIME. I thought, "oh, I've ridden a few times lately, it'll be a piece of cake". hahahaha, yeah right. I had sweat pouring off me. And to make matters worse, I thought I had turned the air on in my house before starting, but come to find out, when I got off the bike sweating profusely and wondering why it felt so warm - I had turned the HEAT ON!!! Crazy. Just crazy. When I got done, Briar decided he wanted to do it, so we brought his mountain bike in, put in the trainer, and he did that whole thing too!! I was impressed. During one of the speed intervals he proclaimed that "he was gonna be as good as Lance Armstrong some day!". I said "go for it!".

So then this morning, I actually did get up and get a good run in. I was gonna run with Holly, but she didn't make it out of bed early enough, so I took off on my own. It was a beautiful morning. I ran 9 miles in 1:28:04. 9:47 pace. Not very speedy. I also wore my heart monitor this morning, the garmin reports that my average heart rate was 169 bmp and my max was 230 bpm. Yeah right. I hate how that thing does that!! We all know my heart could not beat that fast. I wonder if the 305 is more accurate with the heart rate monitor? Does anyone have it? Does anyone else have a garmin that reports such ridiculous heart rates? Here are the mile splits:

9:35
9:46
10:02
9:58
9:41
10:01
9:37
9:56
9:22

Not very speedy, huh? I think I get kinda lazy out running long runs by myself. Oh well. I hardly ever average under 9:30 on a long run. But then, I can run a half marathon at 8:29/mile. Weird. I wouldn't think race day would make that much of a difference...but I'll take it. Maybe if I can get those long runs down around 9:00/minutes per mile, I'll see an improvement. I've got a long way to go to get there, though.

I'm thinking tomorrow will be a rest day, since it's Sunday and it's Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all you mother's out there!!

Today is the Gulf Coast Triathlon half ironman that my friend, Leslie is competing in. I will report how she did as soon as I find out...to bad I couldn't make it down to the beach to cheer for her!!

Goodluck to Rae and Pippin today at See Spot Run!!! You go Pippin!!

And goodluck to DaisyDuc tomorrow at her duathlon!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love my Gramin. The only thing I find fustrating is that sometimes the heart rate monitor will go wacko, like you said. Sometimes it will just shoot up but other times it shoot up then drop the signal. After a while it will regain the signal and then start the crazyness again. One thing that does seem to help is making sure I have coated the contact well with water. I, too, have wondered it the 305 is any better.

Anonymous said...

I did 10 miles today at about the same pace. You better speed up or you are going to be looking at my ugly mug at the Moonpie.

You can't always trust the heart rate monitors when it comes to max heart rate. When you first start to run (especially if you don't get a good warm up) your heart rate will increase quickly because your CO2 production exceeds your O2 uptake. In other words your muscles produce carbon monixide faster than you can breathe it out meaning your heart rate will increase above YOUR norm in the first few minutes (again, if you don't warm up proberly). I run with my heart rate at 125-150, but if I don't warm up it will sometimes jump into the 160's quickly. This can throw off the max. All of the formulas and Garmins aren't as good as just going to the track and, by gosh, just run as fast as you can for a few minutes and see what your heart rate is. That will be your maximum heart rate. You've trained long enough that the formula 220-age=max heart rate doesn't relate to you.

Anonymous said...

anomymous is ronnie

Danny said...

some great workouts there!

i don't know how those heart rate monitors calculate your max HR, but it can't be too accurate. i agree with ronnie (anonymous) that the best way is to just go all out and check your HR. The only thing I'd say is that when you do that, you're probably not really at max. you're probably closer to 90-95% max, but then you can calculate your max.

incidentally, the 220-age formula works out pretty accurately for me. but it definitely varies...

Brooke said...

I'm going to have to look into a trainer for my bike. That DVD looks interesting too. hmmm, you gave me a lot of good ideas. Thanks.

Happy Mothers Day to you.

And don't worry about being scared of the pitches, that just shows how good your son is getting.

Backofpack said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! My husband's Garmin doesn't do the wacky thing at all. I think it has to do with body temp - my Polar needs to be warm and if it is too cold out, will act up till I warm up. Or maybe it doesn't fit well? Who knows!?

Rice said...

lol, turning the heat on.. been there before, but mine was for a hangover. I’m not sure which one would be worse?

I been starting to look at the 305, but not enough to give any good feed back. I have been doing slow running now too for 9 months. Don’t feel bad about slow times there effectiveness it amazing. Oh yeah that’s the other thing I wanted to mention about you catching for your son. Maybe ask him to not work on speed when you catch for him but technique. Pitch a lot slower but use large amounts of concentration in the throw and accuracy.

Cheers.

Rice.

Rae said...

Great job on the workouts!! It sounds like you do a "hot bike"! Maybe you can open a studio and it'll catch on like hot yoga has!

I have the new 205, and now Brent is wearing my old 201. The dumb things always come up with different distances, even when we run right next to each other!! His is always slightly further than mine, mine did pick up better in downtown Cincy.

Janet Edwards said...

Lana, thanks for the good luck!

That pic of Briar on the bike is so cute! Happy Mother's Day to you!

Way to squeeze in several good workouts. I still have yet to use a HRM so clueless on that one!

E-Speed said...

What a cute pic! He did the whole workout in bare feet to boot?

Most people do there long runs a minute to 90 seconds slower than race day. Don't worry about it! YOu are just training to be out on your feet for longer and improving your aerobic capacity! I have no doubt you will get faster, especially with the tri training now!

Afternoon Tea With Oranges said...

Yes, BARE FEET! I tried to get him to put on shoes and he didn't want to!!