Treadmill Love

 First off, I'm feeling waaaaay better.  Strength is definitely back, and I can finally get back into the rhythm of off-season training (haha, off-season is annoying).  Tuesdays and Thursdays are resistance days.  I'm doing sets of 15 reps on all the major muscle-groups, including legs.  It's a bit humbling to say the least, but I really don't feel too bad while putting on my 40 lbs on the bench press.  The goal is not to get big and bulky (like it was in the past), but to develop that slow-twitch lean muscle strength.  Endurance baby!  But it sure does seem a bit opposite to my old type of lifting.



Believe it or not, I love running on the treadmill.  I know it's a bit like a hamster in a wheel. 

But it's fun to go and go and not worry about cars, dogs, water, tunes, or anything else.  It's bad, I like zoning out and having my Nuun right there, plus not feeling guilty while I listen to tunes.

Today I went in for a resistance set, being it's Thursday and all.  Decided to warm up on the treadmill with a quick run, maybe 10 minutes to get the Heartrate (HR) up.  Instead of a light job, as I was warming up I started to really get into it.  After the first 5 minutes the HR was up to 140s so the body had already shifted gears (metabolically speaking).  Dropped the pace down to 6:45 and pumped the music.  Checked cadence, and was at 96 steps/min.  After another couple minutes it was time to drop the pace even further. 

Ideally I'd like to get down to sub 6 minute pace for short course events (5k & 10k), and sub 7 minute pace for marathon distances (13.5 & 26.2).  So I dropped down to 6 minute mile pace on the treadmill and just listened to what the body was telling me.  Some minor pain here, and adjustments to my armswing...Kept on pumping away at 96 steps/min cadence.  HR started to rise and leveled off at low 170s, perfect.  Just need to work on efficiency, and I should be able to keep that pace for 3.1 miles (5k) pretty soon.  A running clinic would be a great way to firm up some good habits, work on new ones, and remove my bad habits in form.  Also, speed-work at the local track would be useful too. 

I'll have to hit the track at the local highschool on the weekends more often.  It's no treadmill, but it'll do I guess.

Ok, I get it

So they say that if you are sick then you should be careful while cycling.
Ok, I get it.

Useful visual, if it's above your neck, it's ok. If it's at or below the neck, don't do it.
Ok, I get it.


I started feeling some scratchy throat on late weds.  By Friday's spin class I decided that it was important to be there to support a couple other folks who are just getting into it... again.  Also, I'd just 'burn' the bug out of my system like in the past.  The entire time on the bike, I felt fine just a little weaker than normal.  During that big summit song, I pedaled all the way up to 80% of what is 'normal'.  Felt the heartrate go up (no monitor on purpose today, it tends to drive me hard sometimes), and then backed off after 45 seconds or so.  As soon as the summit was done I sat up, and nearly lost my breakfast all over the cycling studio floor.

Whoa! After that, I just took it real easy as the surprise nausea was not a happy surprise. Spinning lightly of course is very hard when you're used to pushing every ounce out of your body during spin class.  Training hard is what it's all about in my mind.  Taper periods before a race, and recovery rides are the only exceptions to that rule.  Taper the effort level down, to be able to perform well on race day.  Keep the intensity low after a hard ride, to improve recovery.

Well I learned one more thing: The flu virus don't mess around.  It will kick you in the stomach, and leave you on the toilet all night (16 times anyway).


Ok, I get it.