Endurance Check-in Spring 2021~Swim Bike Row Run Hike Move!

[Pratima]

I got an appointment! For the vaccine, that is. When they opened Wednesday the slots went fast. They opened more today and I managed to get one for Tuesday.

And thank goodness, because on Thursday the governor basically threw open all the doors for state businesses and lifted the mask mandate. However, businesses are still requiring them and so are schools.

Daphne, one thing about the iFit bikes--they don't seem to have handles that adjust back and forth. Granted, I haven't looked at too many different ones, but that seems the case with all the ones I have looked at.

Alison, I'd be terrified to attempt a box jump even at 10"! I think the most I've done is on my step set to 8". It's crazy windy here too and suddenly got cold. The weather this year has been just as crazy as the year.

I worked longer days this week and only worked 5-9 AM this morning. DH was off so we took the kids (it's their last day of spring break) to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. I've heard about it and always wanted to check it out. It's really pretty and we had a nice little hike around it. The kids were a little surly but at least at this age we don't have to carry them! Had lunch in the tiny town of Superior afterward.

I've decided this is my workout plan for now:
M: Bike + weights
T: Bodycombat
W: Bike + Weights
Th: Run
Fri: Weights
Sat: Hike
S: Rest

Might need to fit some rowing in there somewhere, I'm really missing it!

Oh and the state meet--the scores required to get to it aren't too high, though I feel I have no real perspective. Last year DD did really well at every meet. This year she only competed in three and one was tiny. She's having issues with her beam routine and keeps falling off, which gives her a mid 8 score. Qualifying for state only requires something like a 32.0 and her last meet score was over 36. Qualifying for regionals requires a 33 at state, i believe.

Since I should be fully vaccinated by it, I'm going to go ahead and take her. If DH won't get the shot (did I mention all that?) I'll deal with it then but at least it won't penalize her.

[Pratima]

My plan lasted just last week. I missed rowing! I mentioned it to my family and DS said, "Well then why don't you just row??"

Today I tried another rowing bootcamp with an instructor whose name I've already forgotten. The rowing segments were short and intense. I love the full-body engagement you get from rowing!

I did another hike Saturday with the lady I've been hiking with the past few weeks and one other MRTT lady. The trail is up and down, 3.0 miles round trip, and then we had a nice breakfast. Planning another hike from that trailhead this Saturday. This time it's about 7 miles. And it's supposed to be over 90 degrees Saturday! We'll start early enough that it shouldn't be bad.

DH refuses to get any vaccine except Johnson and Johnson. His current argument is that it's the only one effective against the S. African variant (b/c apparently here in AZ we're surrounded by that <rolleyes>). I realized last night he's had several different reasons why he doesn't want to get them and I'm over trying to convince him but it still bugs the !@#$ out of me.

I'm also trying to sort out DD's gymnastics schedules for the state and regional meets and also plan a little birthday sleepover for her in between those. She had a weird falling-out with a teammate who she'd hung out with all summer. I had thought having her over for her birthday might help but that girl can't come that day!

I need to stop worrying about everyone else because there's nothing I can do about all this and I know it.

Good news--spring break is finally over and my kids are back at school! They must be well-rested because they actually got up on time and to school early today. They're off again Friday for a "spring holiday" which is apparently what they have to call Good Friday. I'm going to try to again work extra hours all week and do another little outing.

Deep breaths, deep breaths...

[Daphne M]

Pratima - I literally LOLed when you scrapped the weekly plan and went back to rowing after about a day. There is something really happy-making (pretty sure that's not a real word) about rowing for me too. Congratulations on getting vaccinated! And I sympathize DEEPLY with your frustration with DH and the vaccine and yep, all you can do is take deep breaths. I love that you've got a regular hiking pal. 7 miles is a good long challenging hike! You all have some seriously steep hiking.

Alison - Wow on doing Denis's ultra-tough power zone ride AND those danged box jumps. Your legs are getting really strong. Those are both things that intimidate me DEEPLY. Oh and thanks for asking, weirdly my allergies haven't bothered me at all this past week, even though they should have. My eyes are a little puffy itchy, but otherwise I'm doing okay, knock on wood.

Vannie - 22 minutes on the bike to Zombies, WOOT! Sounds like a breakthrough to me.

Me - Workouts
Saturday - Beautiful day! Unfortunately I couldn't workout in the morning due to boring but justified reasons and then couldn't workout in the afternoon due to lack of willpower. But I did spend a lot of time in my garden admiring my bridal veil and my magnolia tree and just tipping my face into the sun. Heaven.

Sunday - Pouring rain.

• Peloton tread workout - 4 miles - 45 minute Selena 'progression' run, where you walk the warm-up then start running and add speed every 5 minutes. This got tough and I cheated a bit at the end. I needed oxygen!
• Hydrow rowing by the 10s - this was fun. I rowed a 10 minute warm-up, then a 10 minute Breathe, a 10 minute Sweat, a 10 minute Drive and a 10 minute cooldown. Somehow stringing together five short workouts is so much more appealing than sitting down to row for 50 minutes straight.
• Hydrow yoga. Sticking with the theme, this was a 10 minute restorative class for head, neck and shoulders.

Monday- Sunny, cold and windy.

• Outdoor run 30 minutes - I was underdressed, brrr! At least it kept me moving.
• Peloton ride 20 minutes - Peloton Low Impact ride with new instructor Bradley. I liked him. Funny thing, he actually looked a lot like my son with the same name. It's good to have another instructor in the rotation for indoor cycling. I seem to have turned into an Ally-Emma-Denis-Andy-Ben-Christine person with an occasional cameo by Hannah C.
• Hydrow row 10 minutes - Hydrow Grateful Dead Conditioning Row (Breathe) with Sera Moon. Good one.
• Peloton Post-run Stretch 5 minutes - Becs. Didn't love this, it seemed like the only parts we stretched were hamstrings and I thought she gave some weird advice on that.

Today - Sunny, cold but calm.

• Outdoor run 3.2 miles - I had a surprise PR for this course today. For no particular reason, my legs felt super strong. I did spend a good 5 minutes doing walking lunges and other warmup activation exercises first so clearly I should keep doing that.
• Peloton ride 10 minutes - Low Impact ride with Ben. About 20 seconds in, I realized this was a repeat ride for me but one I had liked a lot the first time and was happy to get to reprise it. The Peloton and Hydrow workouts are SO good that sometimes it's a shame that so often they are a one-and-done for me. Times have changed from the days I would happily do the same workouts over and over.
• Hydrow row 25 minutes - 5 minutes GORGEOUS sunrise warmup row + 15 minute cardio row in Indian Creek (Miami Beach) with dolphins + a 5 minute cooldown. Anytime a dolphin makes an appearance during the row I am thrilled.
• Hydrow core for runners - 5 minutes. Nothing but dead bug variations but the instructor did such a great job of the mind-body connection and kept them so slooooooow that I really felt these.
• Peloton yoga 10 minutes - oops, I wanted 'restorative' as in gentle stretching but this was truly restorative, just lying around on bolsters and blankets. Not for me. I just did my own stretching to the soundtrack instead.

Hydrow has sent its athletes EVERYWHERE. They are showing sneak peeks of new workouts in Colorado Springs, New Orleans and the Thames. I cannot wait!

I need to get back to doing more of the bootcamps. I've let my strength training fall by the wayside and I NEED it.

[Vantreesta]

Post and run for now:

Wed 3/24 45 minutes
45 minutes (from 3 dog walks 2.88 mi)

Thu 3/27 129 minutes
30 minutes (from 2.56 mi for 10k trainer wk5 day3/Zombies Run S3M32) WED
13 minutes (from C. Jordan Exercises to Help High Hamstring Tendonitis Pain, YT) WED after run, time issues
86 minutes (from 3 dog walks 5.38 mi)

Fri 3/26 110 minutes
30 minutes (from S. Huckabee Firm BSS3 Express Cardio)
21 minutes (from L. Sansone Tone Every Zone Walk -Circuit Workout 1 Upper Body) WED 1st time
59 minutes (from 3 dog walks 3.99 mi)

Sat 3/27 10 minutes
10 minutes (from 1 dog walks .66 mi) wasn't feeling well and rained most of the day

Sun 3/28 50 minutes
50 minutes (from 3 dog walks 3.25 mi)

Mon 3/29 199 minutes
13 minutes (from C. Jordan Exercises to Help High Hamstring Tendonitis Pain, YT) MON
34 minutes (from 2.78 mi for 10k trainer wk6 day1/Twins) MON
9 minutes (from H. Clare Best Exercises for Piriformis Syndrome, YT) MON
8 minutes (from H. Clare Quick Post-run Yoga Routine, YT) MON
12 minutes (from L. Brooks Shut Up and Train workout 4) MON
10 minutes (from B. Hoebel 20 Minute Body -BPS Booty & Abs bonus) MON 1st time
32 minutes (from Fightmaster Yoga: Yoga for Beginners 30-day Challenge at Home day 24, YT) MON 1st time
81 minutes (from 3 dog walks 5.21 mi)

[Vantreesta]

I am finding myself still feeling just tired and blah. I hardly got any housework done last week and nothing yet this week so I think I will take a rest day from workouts and just work on the house and getting my goals and spreadsheets ready for April. I already feel a sense of relief with this decision. I set my goals way too high for myself sometimes. I am rethinking workouts bc I just have too much scheduled in a day, not for physical ability but for time required.

When should we plan for our tri? I may end up splitting the bike ride when I do it. Thinking bike, run, bike, row, bike. If I do it that way I'll just run on the tm.

[Daphne M]

We are on the same wavelength, Vannie, because I felt like I needed a break from the schedule too. Today I walked about 3 miles listening to my Coffee Break French podcast (loving this) and then rowed for 25 minutes on the Hydrow. The main workout I chose was a 15-minute "Drive" (interval training), which was not my intention, but when I tapped in to Hydrow, this one popped up with Mike's smiling face on it and I've never been able to say no to him, so that's how I ended up doing HIIT on my active recovery day. I felt good though, so it was a good choice.

Dates for our run/bike/row
Whenever you feel ready to do the virtual M22 run/bike/row works for me. I may just spontaneously up and do it one of these weekends so that I can get it out of the way. If I get the virtual race out of the way, I'll be able to enjoy the short 10-20 minute Peloton rides I've been favoring without feeling guilty that they're not longer.

On that note, I had to take my bike +trainer down the other day and when I set it back up, I clearly did not put enough resistance on the flywheel because the Garmin said I averaged 22 mph on that 10-minute ride.

Pause for hysterical laughter here. Trust me, that did *not* happen, unless I was on a downhill the whole time.

I am not great with getting the trainer tension right at first: everything feels tough to me for the first 5-10 minutes. I've got the fit locked in least, and I feel like my form is better than it used to be when I used to bounce around too much. These days, I'm usually grinding away in the 65-75 RPM range and may never go any faster and I am not ashamed. The rowing has helped me to build more leg power and strength and to get away from my natural runner's tendency to want to just churn my legs faster.

Pratima - thanks for mentioning that about the iFit bike handlebars not moving horizontally. That seems like an important feature. Do they adjust vertically?

More Pratima - Thanks so much for mentioning the Handful sports bras a while back. They were out of stock in my size for months, but re-stocked a couple of weeks ago and now I own seven of them. I love them.

[AlisonH]

Hi everyone! I’m up for the tri any weekend after Easter.

We took a very quick trip to North Carolina to look at colleges. NC State and UNC are both really nice campuses, and she liked both. I’m pretty sure she can get into one, and the other will depend on her SATs. We’ve visited 4 schools so far, and we have 4 on her list to go. They’re all in New England, so I’m not sure how we’ll fit that in. Each school has it’s own COVID rules, so we’re very limited on what we can see. Only UNC has let us in a few buildings. Luckily she’s already been in a bunch of buildings at Pitt. They all have good online tours at least.

I had to move my workouts around due to weather and travel, but I’m still on track:

Saturday: did my long (for me) run since rain was coming Sunday. Ran Burke Lake without walk breaks! First time in over a year.

Sunday: I did the new instructor Bradley’s first ride and then someone’s rock ride—can’t remember who. Maybe Leanne. Then AOS Kettlebells and :10 Ben abs.

Monday: Combined normal Monday plus part of Tuesday and did Body Pump, :30 Denis ride, :20 Fitness+ row, and Mobility Rx 2. Drove 4 hours and then walked almost 2 miles around NC State.

Tuesday: Ran 2.5 miles around NC State’s campus, did floor lower body and then abs. Walked 2+ miles around UNC. Stopped by Duke to feel poor and dumb, then drove 4 hours home. (Duke’s campus is incredible! She has no intention of applying there, but we wanted to see it.)

Wednesday: Pilates, PY4H quickie, and Denis PowerZone endurance ride. I had to back off toward the end of the Power Zone ride, even in the lower zones. But that’s okay.

[Vantreesta]

What if we say the last week of April? I want to build up so I can do the bike part but like Daphne, I don't want to be locked in to this type of training for much longer(even though I have hardly spent any time in the saddle 《eyeroll》. I really want to be lifting heavy and right now I can't find the time for it. By then I should at least be able to do the bike part over 2 days if I can't manage it in one.

Tue 3/30 0 minutes
15 minutes (from L. Holden 30-Day Qi Gong challenge days 13 and 14) TUE
16 minutes (from Crossrope Muscle Up March day 1) MON
10 minutes (from 1.882 mi on bike trainer/Ambient Through the Rainforest -Rainforest Lane) TUE 1st time
10 minutes (from 10MS Tighten & Tone Pilates -Tightened & Toned Core) TUE

[Daphne M]

Originally Posted by Vantreesta

What if we say the last week of April? I want to build up so I can do the bike part but like Daphne, I don't want to be locked in to this type of training for much longer(even though I have hardly spent any time in the saddle 《eyeroll》

Last week of April sounds good to me!

Alison - I'm a little jealous of your college visits and the chance to run somewhere new. I loved doing college visits along with the chance to explore new run venues. I just miss travel in general these days. Does your daughter have a preference yet?

Me - 20 minute Peloton pop ride(Bradley) + 30 minutes Hydrow rowing + 5 minute Peloton core training (Emma)

• This was my 2nd ride with Bradley and, once again, I liked it a lot. Good music. Good personality. Good looks. ('Cause he looks a lot like my son to me! Same build, same hair, same face shape.)
• On the Hydrow, I was so excited to experience a row in one of the new destinations that I decided to do a 20 minute live row with James in New Orleans this morning. Well, now I know what happens when they have to cancel them at the last minute due to weather. The athlete/instructor just stands outside the boathouse putting away gear, chatting and doing shout outs in the inclement weather. It looked very windy and choppy, clearly too risky to row. It was oddly fascinating to observe and I don't know why, but I watched every minute as I rowed at a strolling pace. I dread Hydrow getting to the level of shout-outs that Peloton does: I wish I had a mute button for shout-outs. I ended up doing a 20-minute Breathe row with Michelle in Miami and then an excellent technique-based cooldown with her after that, also in Miami.

[AlisonH]

Last week of April works for me too!

Daphne: I didn’t get to tour with Jessy since she was hell bent on one school, which I already had been to many times since my best friend went there. Thankfully she got in. I’m having fun with it with Megan. UNC is at the top of the list of schools we’ve been too, but she really liked Boston U and U of Vermont based on the virtual tours. We hope to see them and UMass and UConn this summer.

Hydrow: I did my inaugural Hydrow row today. Daphne, I went with your boy Nick in Miami, 10 minutes of intervals. It wasn’t a super hard interval workout, but it was good. I like the scenery and that he’s on a boat vs. in the gym. Turns out I got used to all the Apple metrics using the Fitness+ and Apple Watch, so I missed that aspect. With the Hydrow app, you don’t even appear to get a countdown timer. That made it hard when he said things like “we’ll go at 2:30.” My el cheapo rower scrolls through all the screens, so I only see the timer every 15 or 20 seconds, and unless I start it the same time as the ride, it’s not that useful.

I also did weights and abs on my own this morning, and at lunchtime the rest of my interval-based workout was 15 min HIIT ride with Denis, 10 min of hurdles and box jumps, and 10 min of boxing.