oh, where was I? Yes, working out. I was trying to get 7 days of working out in some fashion. Something that I have not done in a LONG time. Last Monday I had my speed work, then followed by a Tempo run on Tuesday, I saw on Wednesday and lifted weights on Thursday. Friday I swam/ran while on Saturday I biked (sorta)/ran. My plans were to lift weights on Sunday, but I forgot until after I showered at night… so the streak was broken.

This coming up week I will be in Atlanta and so I am not sure that I will be able to workout on Tues/Wed. The hotel that I am staying at does have a workout facility, so maybe I can get some exercise in while I am away. I have a whole post to talk about my weight.

So, Saturday our Reliable and Resourceful Au Pair had the kids in the afternoon, so with My Lovely and Talented Wife away doing a class, I had a mini-Terry day. So, I wanted to get some biking in since I do have a Triathlon this weekend and I haven’t done all that much biking. Should result in a slow time and a sore ass.

It was the middle of the day, so I decided instead of taking the road bike to 3rd Creek Greenway, I would get the Mountain Bike out and go to Concord Park and do some brick (mountain bike/trail run) work. It would keep me in the shade.

Concord Park, however, is really too technical for me right now. There are too many turns on the (very) single track, plus the inclines are not friendly to runner or biker. Regardless, I was out to get some biking in, even if I toppled over into the Tennessee River. 15 minutes into my bike, I was having a really hard time riding. The bike felt sluggish and I kept sliding in the turns. I look back and see that my rear tire is flat.

Oi! I must of have done something when I replaced the inner tube (or the tubing is bad). I had to walk my bike about 1/2 mile or so back to the beginning of the trail where I left my running stuff. I put on my running shoes and Camelbak and headed out to the trails.

And answering a question that ShirleyPerly had about wearing street shoes out on the trail: I only do it out of necessity. I just don’t have the capital to buy running specific shoes like I used to. At one of my Big South Fork Races when I did have trail shoes (New Balance 801s I think), they save my foot. The toe of the shoes were covered with an extension of the sole of the shoe that came up and wrapped around. I think it was there for mud protection, but while running, my foot had a direct hit with a small tree that had been cut and the stump was about 2″ protruding from the ground. Had I been wearing street shoes that have softer Toe Boxes, I would have done some damage. Instead, the extra rubber saved my little piggies for another day. So, until my running budget increases, I am stuck with regular running shoes… which they work fine for about 80% of the time.

Since I am not familiar with the distance on the trails, I just go to run the hills, I have set my average pace at 10:00 min miles.This makes the Math really easy and I am typically satisfied with the results. So, while I only biked 1/10 of what I wanted to, I did get my 3 miles done.

Today, Monday, I had decided not to do any speed work because I have a race this coming up weekend. However, I was not very motivated today to any type of distance and with my probable sloth days on the road, I decided to go with speed work today. I only did 2/3 of my normal speed distance but instead of doing 800 (1/2 mile) repeats, I did 400m repeats on the track. My last repeat was a 1:34, which correlates to a 6:19 mile, I was kinda surprised I had gone that fast because it felt ALOT slower!

I first ran up the hill that I named (in honor of Calvin and Hobbes) Pallbearer Peak. It’s a doosy and I am not sure that running down it would be any less stressful. There’s a number of small tracks at the top of the hill and it took me a couple of times to figure out that most of them do connect to each other some how. So of the trails were made around fallen trees…very confusing.

I headed East on the trail until I came to a big junction, I thought that I would take the trail, again up a hill, and map that out. I ended up coming to a road, with a mobile home, and an RV/Camper. I named this hill Red Neck Ascent. Coming down from Red Neck Ascent, I found another trail… and yes, I went on this trail.

This trail had one wild flower and some weird looking Fungi (see above) and there were quite a bit of curves too, so I named it Fungi Curves. I had to double back on a few of these trails to try to get the mapping part right. I am not exactly sure how they are all connected yet, but I think I found part of the trail that I ran on when I got lost.

I was out there for about an hour or so, but really on clocked 30 minutes of running. I’ll go back in a couple of weeks for more mapping and stuff.

Wednesday, I went out to go swim at lunchtime, but all the lanes were taken up. So, I sat down on one of the pool chairs. Man did I feel tired, this breeze feels good, the sun’s just barely coming out-ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ- oh, I must of fallen asleep, wonder what time it is? 12:50! AAAAA

So, I went to go swim at the pool and this is all I got to show for it:

Luckily, I have my own Beauty Consultant in the house, so she had the perfect After-Sun product to make the redness feel better.

Friday, I made my way up to the pool for a Brickin’ Friday Workout… this time a Swim/Run combo. I wasn’t too motivated to workout, I think because I needed more sleep. Plus is was damn hot outside. I only made it 400m in the pool and only 1.1 miles out on the road. I could have ran longer, but I didn’t feel hydrated enough and I didn’t want to over heat.

Sunday, we went to the pool with the kids. I was in the water about 98% of the time. I tried to do laps, but the goggles that I had were giving me problems. So I just swam along with The Elder on my back.

Monday was the start of another workout week. However, some turned up the heat. Typically, here in East Tennessee we don’t start hitting mid 90s until late July or August. But Monday was an inferno… on Speed Day none the less *sigh*. I tried to pace myself better given the heat, but it still got to me. I ran 1/2 mile repeats… the only thing was that I was semi conscious at the end. I feel like I have phlegm that is in my throat but nothing comes up when I hack and cough. Seems like I can’t quite get a full clean breath, but I survived. It could be the last pollen session, which should be over soon.

Today (Tuesday), I’ll be in Chattanooga in the evening for a Trading meeting, so lunchtime was going to be my only workout for the day. Seeing that it was only 80 degrees outside at noon, I thought that I would run 5 miles. I brought my MP3 player to keep my mind off the heat and water to keep me hydrated. I did stop a few times along the run to drink some water, but I was very pleased at my overall time. I even had enough in the tank at the end for a fast finish.

Now it’s off to Chattanooga to talk about what I learned in Utah last month and hopefully get some good stock picks… not that this week hasn’t been pretty good as is.

After my trail run from Last Tuesday, I took Wednesday off from running. Could have been that I had a doctor’s appointment at lunch. I really wasn’t sore from the run either, but really, most of the trail was flat and I didn’t go that far (7 miles).

Thursday, I think are going to be my ‘Tempo to Easy’ days. I said it this way, because they should really be Easy days with everything that I have planned out, but let’s face it. I can’t run easy unless I am running with someone else who wants to run easy. If I am the lead, then I will creep into Tempo pace. So, I should really call them Tempo with a chance for Easy pace.

So on Thursday, when my first mile was a 9:24, I was pretty pleased that I was more on the Easy pace. I was off to do 4 miles on my Market Square Fab 4 course. Mile 2 in 9:18 and I was at mile 2.5 when I started to get a call from Nature. Then, it got Urgent (Urgent, Urgent, Urgent, Emergency…) and I went from an Easy run to a walk. Once again, I was stuck with no where to go and and 1.5 miles from the Aquatic Center. It took me 24 minutes to walk waddle back. I think the main catalyst for this was that I started back on my morning smoothie and there is a ridiculous amount of Fiber in the mix I use… and Fiber + Running = speedier process.

Moving along…

Fridays, I have dubbed Brick Days. I thought a funny ‘Frickin’ Brickin” workout name, but thought it was too Frickin’ stoopid. But I think through the summer, I will make Fridays Brick Days. I chose a swim/bike brick for Friday’s workout. I originally wanted to do 800m swim / X mi bike. Meaning that I would just bike as long as time allowed to see where I was. I wasn’t sure how fast I could ride anyway, so this was a feeler sort of ride.

I ended up only swimming 400 meters (9:13) then took a 9:33 min transition. But really this was getting out of the pool and figuring out how to get my goggles and cap into the bottle holder so that it wouldn’t fall out during the ride. Plus a little bit of the time was getting from the aquatic center to the 3rd Creek Greenway. I averaged at 15 mph ride for 6 miles once on the greenwat. I did have to stop a couple of times for traffic, plus some of the hills and just getting tired. So, I was very pleased with the Brick workout.

Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t do anything workout related. There was a window of opportunity to take the kids in the stroller, but I was a little lackluster about going out with the kids in that. I just wasn’t motivated.

Mondays are Speed Days… I had decided that I would again do 800meter repeats, but that didn’t last long. Mentally, I was ready for the day. Physically, the forces of nature were “testing” me. Monday was near 80F and so that warrants running shirtless during the high heat months of summer. It was also the hottest conditions that I have run in since Fall of last year, by 10 degrees. I did wear my heart rate monitor and the output wasn’t helping either. I maxed at 89% of (my overall) Max Heart Rate and it felt very very difficult. My Average heart rate was 146 (78%) but my Speed Intervals weren’t even 5k race pace. They were more like 10k race pace. My performance had dropped off enough at the end of mile 1 that I had to switch to a 400m interval to survive getting back to the Aquatic Center. Oddly enough, mentally I was still into the run. I could tell there was something wrong. I thought back to what Chelle had commented on my Expo post about the allergens and how that might be affecting my horsepower. Plus, the heat… 800s may have been to long in the heat. I’ll probably have to switch to a shorter interval for the summer.

So, I am heading back out to Forks of the River today for a trail run… and I am little better prepared this week! (but that won’t preclude me from doing something stoopid).