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.