August SUMMARY

August mileage: 90 miles (pathetic, isn't it?)
Mileage total (2010): cca 940 miles
Mileage by weeks/days:
1 5
2-8 13
9-15 17
16-22 24
23-29 22
30-31 11


Others:
Bike: 820miles (around 300m is commute to work, track, trail...but I try to keep a good effort on those as well)
(computer count: 793.8 + cca 27 miles to trail)
Years total: cca I need to calculate this

Weights: 5x
Elliptical: 3 hours

Change of workout plans

I wanted to do my first real track workout today but the track was closed because a game was going on.

So I had to do the workout I had planned for Thursday. Since my disastrous miles from couple weeks/months ago that I had to do on grass because track was closed I always remember both workouts that I have for the week and this way I can switch on a spot.

So today: Fartlek on grass. 20 minutes warm-up. 1-2-3-3-2-1 minutes fast with 1/2 the recovery time in btwn the intervals. 10 minutes cool-down.

I did it on training fields and really enjoyed this workout. Weather was hot which I loved and I love the smell of dry grass. It reminds me of summers at home when I helped my grandfather preparing hay for rabbits for winter.
Anyway, it was a good effort and I am pretty satisfied with this workout. My legs were getting definitely tired by the end. I made sure to keep a good form and pump those arms:)

Off (running) days are GOOOOOOOOD

So it seems.
I have never thought that but I am starting to realize that. Of course it is also individual. There are people who can run 365 days straight and still run freaking fast. But I cannot. But I could. When I was a miler. My mileage was low and I basically did a fast track workout 5 times a week, and rest was my easy long runs (aka 6miles). Now my mileage is higher so I should start behaving like a distance runner!

I have realized that OFF DAYS ARE GOOD in past few weeks since I started running few weeks ago (ok, 2-3 weeks ago). I run only 4 days a week so basically I ran like every other day and I had to hold myself back on all my easy runs these past weeks. I was clocking sub 7:30 miles and they felt effortless (except for those "bricks" one).
Also today, 6 easy miles, easy 7:30 pace.
I do not know whether it is excitement of being able to run or the fact that I had a running day off yesterday and fresh legs. Or maybe all that biking has made me stronger. Probably the combination.
I ran my 10k PR on a 6th day back from an injury when I have not run for 1 month. I ran marathon PR 2.5 months after 5 months of no running. But I have biked all that time and was super duper exciting about being able to run again. So it is definitely a combination. Wait, I am an idiot. I keep forgetting, it was my first 10k and first marathon, so they were PRs. But they were pretty decent times, so it makes sense.

I know that some very good runners run their easy runs at 7:15ish pace while the other good runners run at 8ish pace. I guess it is very individual and it is also matter of habitude (ok, I do not know what the word is and am too lazy to look it up in a dictionary so I am using this French equivalent and I am sure that everyone can understand it. Maybe "habit" is a right word, hm.).
So far I did not have a chance to see whether this "fast" pace will make my workouts suffer because I have not had any times workouts yet. But I have my first workout tomorrow so we shall see.

But those off days are not real off days. They are just off running days. Seems that biking or elliptical does not do any harm. Maybe I just do not bike and ellipticate (ok, another strange word) hard enough.

I need to devise a plan

42 miles on a bike.
It was sooo hot today. Hot but I liked it. I wanted to do little bit more but the bike was little upset today and was making all kinds of annoying noises (and I was getting, well, annoyed) so I called it quits after 42 miles.

Therefore I have decided to call this week my low bike mileage week. It was not planned, it was just that I did not feel like biking on Wednesday and it did not worked out today neither, so down week it is.

I need to plan this running and biking thing somehow. I have a running plan (or I should receive it in coming days at least). Now I need to incorporate biking into it. Don't get me wrong, running is still NUMBER 1 and biking is more like getting more mileage since it seems that ITB does not allow me to run high mileage so biking is a good way to kinda get miles in.

However, I have no idea how to combine them. I was not running that much these past weeks so what I did was this and I did not have to be worried that biking might effect my running.
Mon easy run 5-6miles
Tue workout (ok, they were not real workouts but still)
Wed bike (whatever I felt like, ranging from 23-50miles)
Th workout
Fr elliptical
Sat bike 40-50miles + run 5-6 miles
Sun long bike ride 60-70 miles
Now I am going to start having real workouts so I need to plan this because I am not sure whether 50miles on an easy day between workouts is a good idea. Maybe it is, I just do not know.
And how long should my rides be? What is a flat route bike equivalent to let's say 8 easy miles? No idea.

I need to do some research but I am just too lazy and so not into it. It is still my school break (although I am spending it working 8+ hours a day) and I do not want to think and use my brain (although I spend 8+ hours using in at work. Ok, I use it also in my free time but still). Could someone just do it for me?

I am stubborn and unteachable

Couple weeks ago I did that brick-like workout and I was soooo thirsty. I had water with me but it was not enough.
And I did the same thing today- I probably forgot how awful being thirsty is.
So today I did 50miles on bike followed by 5-mile run. I learnt at least that I get really hungry so I brought one slice of bread with tuna spread. But again I did not have enough water so by the time I was done with bike I had only few sips left. Horrible. And there are no water fountains around the football field where I went to run. I think I am turning to the American and getting spoiled. But I finished the run somehow- more like dragging than running and it was that bad.
Next time I swear I am stopping at my place first before heading out for a run.

But I think that these workout are good for me for the future when I decide to finally do a triathlon.

I am heading to the pool to loosen up.

WooHoo (is that a word?)

Today was a perfect day for running- sunny, warm, no humidity. Too bad I could not run:( Fridays are my elliptical days. So 60min on an elliptical it was.

But today I received a confirmation from school that my thesis proposal was accepted and one professor has agreed to supervise me! I am planing on doing a research on something related to the company I work for now and therefore I need to be in the company to get information and stuff. Which means I need to come back in January after my semester at UCLA is over. So now I only need to persuade people in the company to let me do it as another internship, which would be awesome. And sponsor me for visa to get back in. Or at least let me do it as an unpaid internship.
I need to do at least 3 months of an internship in the US after finishing at UCLA if I do not want to go back to France to take classes. It is either internship in the US or more classes in France. That's no brainer- I hate school! Wish me luck.

Time interval workout

20 minute warm-up. 6 X 2 minute fast (@ 5 km pace) with 1 minute jog between. 15 minute cool-down.

At trail, not on track:(

I think that a day off (yesterday) did me well, because legs felt fresh! But I was definitely breaking some sweat and breathing harder on the last two ones.
I do not know whether I did it right because I have no idea what pace I was going so I just tried to keep a good effort.

I do not want to go running on a trail right after work because it is around 10miles form work to trail and if I went running straight from work it would be like triathlon bricks. And I think that it might hurt my workout, right? So I rested for an hour before heading out. This way I do only 4.6miles before a workout.
But that meant that by the time I was done with the workout it was dark out and I since I do not have light on a bike I could not see anything. Especially when a car was coming towards me because lights blinded be completely. Thankfully nobody was walking on a sidewalk so I did not run anyone over:)


I am hungry! Should I ate? It is late. Hm, maybe one small tuna sandwich...

Biker's guilt and students on bikes

You know how I was supposed to do 50miles on bike today. Well, I did not. I just needed a break from that machine because, com'n I did 665 miles since August 1 (that day I bought the bike computer). It is over 26 miles per day on average. And since the bike is not one of a superior quality, I need to be careful so it does not break down yet because I need it to get to classes in LA.
I know that a lot of students use bikes to get to school at UCLA, but I am sure I will be the only MBA students riding a bike. I do not expect students that have 60k to spend on school to ride bikes to classes...so I will be the only weirdo (again, nothing new). Of course, not that I am complaining that I do not have to pay 60k:)

I felt really bad about not doing my bike ride so I decided to do an hour on an elliptical. Well, that did not happen neither because I had started watching Back to the future III and Remember the Titans (I love both and keep changing channels during commercials and parts I know by heart). And I still feel really really guilty. It is 9:30pm and I am considering doing at least 30min. I do not know what to do!!!!!

Just enjoy movies and feel bad about it, or go do the elliptical and do not enjoy it.

I think I will just stay watching the movies...

Another workout

I was supposed to do 20min w/up, 10 laps on track doing stride the straight away, jog the curves, 10 minute c/d.
Those were my intentions. But then I was invited to dinner and since I do not have any friends (and life in general...) I figure I will go. Everything was perfectly planned. Get out of work, run, dinner.
But I had to stay longer at work and I was running 15min behind my schedule.

So I did not do 20min w/up, I did 5min. But 8 miles on bike from work to track should be like a warm-up, right?

Strides and c/d went according to the plan.

And dinner was nice, I am stuffed.

Bike ride after work tomorrow. I hope it will be better that past 2 weeks.

American culture and 6.2 easy miles

I managed to persuade myself to go to run this at the trail. It is not that I do not like running there but to run there I need to get there first. It is only 4.6 miles but a road to get there is horrible. I swear, there are more potholes than actual road surface, so I have to ride on a sidewalk. Sidewalk is not that bad but when it crosses roads it is horrible. It is not smooth at all, there are huge bumps and it takes me almost 30min to do those 4.6 lousy miles and all that jumping and stuff does not help my poor bike at all (but I am not getting a new one. It must last until I settle down after school).
Plus I am the only freak that rides a bike there to go running- I have never ever seen a bike in a bike rack there. But it makes me a bad-ass and I like it:)
Why people do not bike to get there? It is a strange culture. People ride their cars for a mile or so to get to a trail to run there or to bike there. And what about moving escalators to get to the gym??? I do not get it.
My colleague lives 2 blocks from this trail and she drives to the trail to go running. Why could not she walk or bike to the trail? Would not that be more efficient (since she does not run to compete but to stay in shape)?

Anyway, run was very nice and at the end I was glad I went there.

Furthest I have ever ridden

70.77 miles. This is really the furthest I have ever gone on bike. So far my max was around 66 miles I did 2 weeks ago.

It took me around 4 hours and couple minutes but I was not as tired as after/during 66 miles. Probably because today I rode on a road and only around 10 miles were on gravel road, so I did not have to "work" that hard. Those gravel roads are horrible but it is a good workout I suppose. Of course I had not prepared for the ride (that's nothing new with me) so I started to be hungry at around 45 miles. This time I did not even have a banana. Then I kind of forget about it but it started again at mile 56. But I did not have to think of tuna sandwiched and nectarines with peanut butter to get me through the ride.

I was thinking about trying to run a mile or two afterwards but I decided not to. I do not want to mess up ITB by doing too much plus I am not training for a triathlon or anything similar (but I would LOVE to)so there is really no need.
But I went to the pool to loosen up and it was a real ice bath. It has been kinda chilly the whole week and it rained yesterday so it was cold. But that's what I needed.

Plus I saw a pretty huge turtle. It was just sitting there on a side of a road and people were stopping to look at it. It (or parts of it) was not there on my way back so nobody ran over it, which is good.

Bike and run (nothing new)

As usual: 40 miles bike ride in the morning, then I ate and did who knows what (time flies) and in the evening headed out for a run: 5.5 miles.
It's awesome to be running pain-free again, although the knee felt little weird today.

I saw a sign Michigan Tree Climbing Championship on my bike ride so wanted to go see that after I ate. But it started to rain and when I went there afterwards they were gone...too bad.

Only short post because I am watching Gladiator on TV. I know, my life is so exciting.

60 min elliptical

Off running and biking day.

"Little" workout

Today: 45 minutes with the following within: 30 s (30 s), 60 seconds (30 s), 2 minutes (60 s), 3 minutes ( 1.5 minutes), 3 minutes (1.5 minutes), 2 minutes (60 s), 60 seconds (30 s), 30 seconds.
It was supposed to be at 10k pace but I had 2 problems with that:
1, what is my 10k pace? Should I just jog the whole 45min, 'cos that's probably close to my 10k pace:)
2, how do I measure my pace when there are no distance markers?
I hate doing "time intervals" because I do not have "pace control" and I do not understand how people can do time intervals? How do they know how fast they are running? Plus there is a psychological issue. If I run I need to see the end! When I run by time, there is no fixed point I can run to, there is just time and you never know when the end comes.

So what I did was that I found a point in front of me and then run to that point, then checked the time and then I chose another point to run to and so on. Plus I think that this way I can run faster, because I want to get to the end as fast as I can (ok, at prescribed pace). But when I run by time, no matter how fast I run I still have to run for a specified time.

But it felt good, no pain and maybe in few days faster running will not be such a shock to my legs.

Weights and stretching afterwards.

Floods at home and pushing through pain

Do not worry, not me pushing through pain. OK, me pushing through pain but not myself, but my bike. The bike is making all kinds of weird noises and I do not care. I wonder whether it is like body, you push but then comes a moment when it just crashes. I am just worried that the bike falls apart 30miles from home and I will have to walk back!

Wednesday = off running

After work I went for a bike ride. I do not know why but I have not been enjoying post-work rides lately. Or maybe doing 50miles after work is just not a great idea. But I did it and did not enjoy it as much as I used to. I was just too tired and slow. But now I am glad I did it.

My dad sent me today few photos from a small town where my grandparents live. They had a hail storm on Sunday and flooding and then another flooding on Monday. Hails were like tennis ball. My grandparents greenhouse got broken and there is a hole in a roof. My gradmom is storing one hail in a freezer...Wonder whether it is the one that landed in their living room:) (I know, not funny. But no worries, it did not land in their living room))
There are two brooks at each side of the town and this was the first time the flood was this bad.

You see that yellow house on the right. It's right by the brook. That's the house where my father's parents used to live. It is empty now, but I lived there past summer and summer before when I was in Slovakia doing internship (oh, it was scary alone in a huge house). Apparently there was water everywhere and someone opened the gate because otherwise it would have gotten taken by water.



If I was there this summer and saw this water coming I do not know what I would have done. I would have probably freaked out and ran to my grandparents house. Ops wait, I would not be able to get there.

This is a bridge I use to get from my house. I guess I will not be using it anymore.


I could also used this one. Hm...


And then this one to get to my grandparents:


Or this one:


Hm, I guess I would have just climbed to the roof. I am glad I am here not there.
But I am going to be honest, I would love to see all that.

A bit of spice and music

Since my runs and biked rides have gone really well (by that I mean no itches, pains anything in ITB)past week I decided it is time to spice up my training- maybe increase a mileage a little bit and add some faster stuff. So my coach (I love saying that) spiced up my training plan today (and what made me laughed is that it was actually called "Monika Training plan blahblah spiced up").
So today, 20min w/up, followed by 8 laps on track doing stride the straight, jog the curve, and 10min c/d. That was like 16 100m strides, which is a lot! It was little strange for first few because I have not run fast(er) for more than 1 month so changing speed was little bit "unusual". I actually might be sore tomorrow.
Plus I did weights afterwards.

So that was "spice". And music? High school marching band had a rehearsal on the track, which was kinda nice. They did not play that much (which I appreciated:)) but they rehearsed the steps to different songs. So it was fun practice.

Almost perfect day

Bike is awesome! Ok, bike is still a piece of crap but new tires are awesome (at least until I get flat tire. I have not hit the pothole yet. The one I got previous 3-4 flat tires on)). If I had these tires on a good bike, I would be flying! My French bike was like that...
I cannot wait to see how "fast" (it is relative) I can go on my longer ride during weekend. I usually try to keep 18.5-19 miles/hour average on a paved road and then whatever I can get on a gravel road, so I hope to be able to do 20m/h average effortlessly on pavement. We shall see.

In work I talked to one girl about work, life and what I am going to do after school and stuff and I feel confident and there is a lot of opportunities out there and I can do whatever I put my mind into!

Then I went for a run. 5 miles. I took Garmin for the first time after like 2 months. I thought that that thing got broken or something during its hibernation because it was showing 7:15ish pace. But then I did my last loop a proper loop on a track so see and it was accurate, so I guess that was my pace. Ok, it was on a track, temperature was perfect and I have not really run in one month!!! Plus I ate 6 cookies and 3 brownies for lunch so I had extra energy:)

Afterwards I went to the store and they had watermelons on sale! Finally after 1 month going sans watermelon! I also got 13 yogurts that were on sale:)

I am also proud of my sister. Kinda. People say that volleyball players are very fit because they must jump run etc. But not my sister, she is LAZY. Before their season starts they must run sub-8min mile and if they don't they must run until they run sub 8. Their test was yesterday and my sister and her friend decided to start training last Wednesday and try one mile. They wanted to start little faster go have a gap, so they started and did first 200m in 35 sec...Well, my sister dropped out after 800m because she could not move and breath etc. Idiots:) So she asked me for an advice. My advice: you should have moved your butt past 2 months! I also told her that if I can do 26 consecutive sub-8 min miles, she should be able to do one lousy 8min mile. I guess she did not wanted to be a wuss so she managed to run 7:26 yesterday. I still think she is a wuss. It is NCAA volleyball!

So why this day was only "almost perfect"? It is Monday and they did not have bananas on sale. It seems that it is the end of Banana Mondays and Milk Wednesdays...

Bike in a shower

They promised thunderstorms for the afternoon, I did not believe them and they were damn right!

Actually there was only one and it caught me about 43 miles into my bike ride on a limestony bike path.
It has not lasted for long, maybe 2 miles. Rain did not bother me that much (it is only water, well, acid water, but still water) and what that fine white limestone did to me and the bike...my legs, back, helmet, and the whole bike were all white and covered with limestony stuff. Horrible. It was on the cassette, between brakes and frames and all other unwanted places.

There was no way I could get rid of that stuff pouring water from a bottle. I needed a hose. But I did not have any. So I waited for sprinkles. But no sprinkles today...So I had no choice. Shower it was. It was not perfect but I can at least see the color of the bike now and I can shift gears without funny noises of rubbing metals against little stones.

Then the bike was in a condition to be dragged into living-room so I decided to finally put on new tires. These are much narrower and have smoother thread. It is not a road bike tire, it is a hybrid bike tire but it is supposed to be very fast and comparable to road bike tires. It should be perfect since I ride on roads and trails and regular road tire cannot handle roads (yes, it can handle trails but not Michigan roads!) I am still little worried about getting flat tires again now since it is narrower and these Michigan roads...(I have not enough info but people responsible for Michigan roads are so stupid. People say that it is very cold in winter in Michigan, so why do they build roads using those huge concrete blocks? They must know that water gets into cracks between those blocks and then freezes and causes huge potholes and bigger cracks!!! And then you cannot ride a road bike there unless you want to mess up the wheel frame. So stupid.)

Anyway, I did 57 miles today, then went to the pool to loosen up. I wanted to go to lift weights but I forgot:(

Bike and run

Yesterday was my day off and I am pretending that I do not have a bad conscious about it. I also ate cheesecake worth a daily caloric need and I do not have bad conscious about that neither.

But today was pretty packed.
In the morning (by morning I mean 11am) I did 44miles on bike. I had a banana with me and it was awesome. I took the same trail as last Sunday but I turned back when paved part ended. I did not want to go further since I had 45 min run planned for today.

When I got home, I ate and watch a movie and then biked to the track and did my 5,5miles run there. I forgot my watch but it was probably a good thing because if I had seen my pace I would have probably freaked out. No pain at all. Not in my left ITB, not in the right ITB. Just perfect. This was probably the first run I completely forgot about ITB issues and did not try to run "carefully".

Then I watched Rambo, first movie. I LOVE Rambo movies. I can watch them over and over. I cannot decide which one is my favorite one. The same for Back to the future movies. I can watch those movies over and over and they never get boring for me.

Weather was not very nice today so I did not go to the pool and I am starting to feel soreness. Oh well, I hope it will be better tomorrow so I can enjoy another bike ride.

6 miles!!!!

And it felt pretty good. It was very muggy and hot but it could not spoil my first 6 miler without any pain!

I do not know how to label this

I wanted to go biking after work but I felt awful. I usually like this route but not today. I do not know why, I was just bothered by everything. Backpack, hair, helmet, everything was getting on my nerves.
I still did 23 miles but have not enjoyed it at all!

5 miles

5 miles on a football field. Felt great but sweaty. I am little worried because I think that I am trying to overcompensate for my right knee by the left leg, which might cause problems in long-run. But I will try to keep it in check.

Then weights for upper body. My arms will be probably sore tomorrow. I did not want to do anything for legs, I do not want to move knee too much.

I have a new food addiction. Milk-banana-grapes-chocolate protein powder mixed in a blender. Yummy. Maybe I should get some frozen strawberries to toss them in. Maybe next week. I spend way too much money on food. I do not have any eating self control. Like yesterday, I went to store to get bananas on sale for 19 cents and ended up paying $19 for food. I did not buy any junk food, I got yogurts, orange juice, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, tomatoes, nectarines. But still. I always try to stock up on food when it is on sale, but since as I have already said I do not have any eating self-control, I usually eat everything in next few days and I have to go to buy more food. Food is soooo good! :)

Getting back from an injury

Today is the first day of my new training plan, back-from-an-injury plan. I start with 3 days of easy 30-50min running, then up to 4 days etc. It is nothing like what I would do. Last time I had TB problem (mid-Feb to mid-March),I started running after cca 3 weeks. I started on Friday and did 5miles, then did 400m workout at 73-78 pace on Saturday and ran 10k race on Wednesday...Well, my approach is probably one of the reasons why I have been dealing with this ITB odyssey past year. I am sure my coach knows better than I do
I know I still need to keep it easy because I sometimes get this weird feeling in ITB. I will see how it goes for 1-2 weeks and then we might spice it up a bit if I feel I am going crazy and ITB is 100%.

Today was no running day and I needed a break from a torture machine and it needed a break from me. Plus I do not want the bike to fall apart before this summer is over, so I rather give it a break for a day or two (except for those couple miles to get to work).
So I did only an elliptical. 60 minutes. It felt ok, surprisingly not boring.

So-called bricks

64 miles bike, 2 miles run, 2.5 miles bike

This is what I did today. I have read a post by Running, Tri-ing and Living and got inspired.
It sounds so challenging, hard, dreadful, sweaty...I needed to try that!!!! I wanted to know how running feels after more than 60 miles on a bike.

No judging please. I know that Running, Tri-ing and Living is hard-core training for a Half Ironman race at the end of August and I am not and one should never do anything what more advanced people do. But I do not have any responsibilities, so I can do silly things.

So 64 miles on bike followed by a 2 mile run it was. I did 34 miles out and back on a trail and headed directly to the track to do a run.
1-4 miles: on streets to get to Clinton river trail
5-10: Clinton river trail- fine gravel
10-22: Macomb Orchard trail- paved part. Amazing.
23-32: Macomb Orchard trail- unpaved part. This was horrible. It was pretty large gravel and so hard to bike on it. Like running in sand. I biked like crazy but did not move forward. And I could not do any sudden movements because then bike would just go where it wanted to go not where I wanted it to go.
33-34: Macomb Orchard trail- paved part. There was the end of the trail. I refilled my water bottle and turned around feeling pretty good, starting to get hungry.
Unpaved part again, followed by the paved one where I felt like FLYING! After hard and useless effort on gravel, it felt awesome to be on a pavement again.
I left the trail after 61 miles to go the track. And there was a hill. It is no biggie usually, but after 61 miles...I kept telling myself: "Com'n, only 2 more miles and you can get off this torture machine (aka bike) and run for a bit". Man, that's comforting...

I was really thirsty by the time I got to the track. But I can do it! I started very slowly, you know jello legs... But it got much better after two laps. First mile was at around 8:30ish place, 2nd at 8 min pace. I felt pretty good (except for being thirsty and hungry) but I am not sure for how long I would be able to continue like that (definitely not for another 11 miles).

Too bad I had to bike another 2,5 miles to my place but it was ok. My legs kinda loosened up during the run.

I got home, ate (more peanut butter that anyone would consider healthy), showered and went to the pool. I did not swim, I just splashed around to loosen up quads and neck muscles (they are killing me on this stupid bike)

Things I have learnt today:
1, I need more water here that I needed in Europe. Back there I was able to run 20 miles without drinking anything. Here I cannot even bike 20 miles without drinking. Humidity...

2, Something does not sit right in that bottom bracket. Last weekend when I was biking there were couple pretty bad noises and I though that it is breaking down completely. But then I realized next day that those noises disappeared. Until today. I had to stop and then start biking again and the bike was on a high gear and as I started peddaling and there was one loud noise and then popping noises started again. So annoying. So now, I need to try to do something so it falls into place again.

3, Next time I decide to do something this silly I will take at least a banana with me. I am sure that my poor body fed on my poor muscles to get energy. But since I do not have any eating self-control I know I would have eaten that banana after 4 miles and end up starving anyway. All I could think about last 20 miles was what I was going to eat when I get home. I constructed a meal in my head: tuna sandwich, banana milk shake and nectarine with peanut butter. I ate those tuna sandwiches and nectarine with peanut butter but after I drank 3 glasses of mixed mineral water, tap water and orange juice I had no desire to drink anything else.

All in all, it was fun and I might try that again. Maybe I will even start training for a triathlon in a near feature:)

52 miles and both me and bike alive

Weekend is here and once again I wanted to go to one of the lakes and swim. I have been planning this since I came here in June and the closest I got to that was last week when I went to a lake and got soaked because it started raining on my way back.

And once again it did not happen today. Maybe tomorrow. But I am just a lazy ass, so maybe not.

So today instead I went exploring Michigan river trails. I did around 52 miles (and bike has not fallen apart, surprise!!!). I felt pretty good, I was not hungry at all (which is surprising since I am alway hungry) but I was thirsty. I had water with me but drank it too early.
This trail starts little over 4 miles form my place and go for about 18 miles east. It is not continuous however, I had to ride on streets a bit but there were not many cars.

This is what I did (approximately) and I also rode around lakes a bit:


I also brought my camera with me. There were nice spots for pictures, lakes, houses but I just do not like stopping to take pictures. I do not like taking pictures and to stop the bike, take out camera, take a picture, put the camera back...to many things to do. I took a few however, when I stopped to drink or to find out where I was. Now just to download them to the computer... Maybe next time. But since I am such a lazy ass.....

I went to the pool when I got home. But swam for maybe 50m. It was just to loosen up.

There is one more trail that I have not explored and that goes towards west. So now I have only that one left and I will e done with all trails nearby. I would love to explore the other trails in Michigan but they do not connect to "my" trails and I would have to ride too much on roads and I am not sure whether it would be safe.

Bike, milk and grapes

I wanted to go to the lake after work but when I was leaving work I realized that I forgot the map to get there. So maybe next time.
I went home, ate steamable veggies with cheese and cereals and headed out for different route.
I bought a bike computer so now I know how far I am going (although I am not sure about the accuracy of that thing).
It seems that the shortest way to my work is 5.45 miles.
So today I did 11 miles to/back from work and then around 25 more miles in the afternoon, for 36 miles total. Not bad. Although...it is interesting, I still consider a bike more a mean of transportation than a workout mean.

Anyway, I did my 25 miles and then drank 1 liter of milk shake: I mixed milk, 1 banana and chocolate protein powder. It was so yummy. Banana and chocolate together are always yummy. Next time I will try to put peanut butter as well. Or grapes. I do not have any other fruits now so have to work with what I have.

Road racing and another run

50 awesome pain-less sweet sweaty minutes. Wow!
I have read that running on uneven surfaces is not that great for ITB and I love track so I did part on track and part on grass along the track changing directions so I do not make always same turns. As I am writing this I realized, why did not I go to the trail? Oh well, whatever. I love track. Love.

I do not understand why I want to run road races. Truth is I do not want to do road races, but there are no other options for "older", non-elite runners, are there? I have run only few road races in my life (one in the US in June, marathon in Nice last fall and couple races when I was a kid). I do not like running on roads but part of it might be that I have run for many many years on track and started running on roads "only" 5 years ago when I first came to the US. I do not know how to run on roads- I suck at pacing myself and I do not know how far I have run and how far I still have to go. It is just so different from track. But I am sure I can get used to it with practice. We shall see in the future.

I should have a new training plan for 5k next week, which is exciting!!!

Day off tomorrow and then maybe another 50min run on Friday. Or maybe less. Will see how I feel.

Apparently I am famous in my company. I received a phone call today. A couple just moved here from Germany to do an internship and they live in the apartment in the same apartment complex as I do. And the girl called me because she has heard from people that there is a girl who (must) bike(s) to work everyday because she does not have a car and the girl offered me to drive with them to work in mornings. People do not realize that I ENJOY biking to work. They think that I do it because I do not have a car (it is only part of a reason). I do it because I like it.
By the way, I was thinking yesterday evening that I do not remember hearing popping noises coming from the bike when I rode it the day before. And yeah, it stopped. I did not hear anything today. When how why? Interesting. Of course there are other noises but I pretend I do not hear anything.

I am such a lazy butt

I planned on going to swim or at least to the gym and did not do any of those.

I preferred staying on a coach, watching coach Carter movie and eating honey melon.
But I did few push ups and abs to shut down my conscience. It kinda helped.

The ITB was little itchy today evening. Hm, I wonder why. It is probably because of a weird position on a coach that strained the knee. I should be more careful next time.

Since I am little bored and had nothing to do I decided to share some of my Canadian experiences.
They use word "washroom" for restroom. It is so cool. It sounds so "lady-like" and delicate. Like expression "freshen up", that one is also cool. Washroom. Such a nice word. I wonder whether also native English speakers feels the same.

Also Canadians don't not cross road on red. In the US people do that sometimes but in Paris...OMG. Red light, a car approaching, but it does not matter, there is always an idiot or two who decide to cross the street anyway. They do not care that they put themselves and also other people into danger by doing that. It makes me so mad. I believe that rules are made for obeying them, not for breaking them!

Ok, off to bed.

40 minutes!!!

I RAN (actually ran, no run/walk, but run) for 40 minutes!!! Exciting! I am so happy!

I had mixed feelings going into this because I felt a little tingling yesterday. Not necessarily right in the ITB, but somewhere in that area. Therefore I took a complete day off yesterday (no run, no bike, I only walked 4miles to Walmart and 4 back. I needed to stock up on steamable broccoli. I love broccoli, if I could I would eat it every day. But it is not good. I love candy and do not eat it every day. Ah, what am I saying? I eat candy every day! Maybe I can now eat broccoli every day...)

Anyway, ITB felt good the whole time and feels good now. So moving on to 50min.
I realized tat rolling really helps. When it feels little tight, I roll it and it gets better immediately.