Friday, February 15, 2013

Training: Week 6

Week 6: Sun REST, Mon 40 min of spin, Tues Bootcamp and Yoga, Weds 1.5 treadmill miles and 1 hour of strength with PT, Thurs REST,  Fri REST, Sat 8k/10k race.

Week 6 of training started out a little rough as we had friends in town from when we lived in San Diego.  We stayed out pretty late on Saturday night and I was feeling it on Sunday.  Luckily, it was a rest day anyway and I got my run in on Saturday before we went out!  On Monday, I headed to the gym to take a spin class only to realize I had my days mixed up, doh!  So I used the spin bikes that have a video screen and you watch an instructor on the screen coach you through a workout.  It was pretty neat actually because you could see where your RPMs were and work to keep them in the correct zone.  You could also hook up your heart rate monitor as well (but I dont have one YET!).  If your gym has these, they are a great alternative to attending a spin class.
 
On Weds, I headed to the gym for my first of two free personal training sessions.  I was assigned to Trainer Jeff Withers who was fantastic!  If you live in the DC area, I highly recommend him!  This was actually really helpful because I tend to do all of my strength training with free weights as part of a strength training class, but I used this hour to have him go through all the strength training machines with me so I could do them on my own anytime.  The machines have always intimidated me because there are so many settings, etc.  But, after our session, I feel much more comfortable and really like it.  My gym (Rock Creek Sports Club) has the machines set up in a full body circuit that takes about 30 mins to complete.   I was going to run my 18 mile run that evening that I had pushed back from Saturday due to it being so cold and having visitors in town.  I was all suited up and ready to go, and a severe weather warning was put out.  I decided not to risk it and stay home.  Unforeseen factors can really get in the way of training!  

I took Thursday off.  Friday I went and had an ultrasound done on my feet.  I had been having foot pain and seeing a poditriast, Dr. Firestone.  He thought it was Mortons Neuroma, but ordered an ultrasound to be sure.  Off to George Washington Hospital I went and sure enough, yup Neuromas and big ones.  :-(  Basically, these nerves are suppoused to be about 1-2mm thick and mine are 10-12mm in both feet!  So ten times too large!
 
With that great news, I took Friday off to rest up for my race on Saturday, the Langley 8k.  Since it was part of the Snowball Series, I wanted to be fully rested in order to race my best....I really hope for an age group award at the end of the series!  Race day arrived on Saturday and it was FREEZING!  I have never raced in weather that cold.  I am not a cold weather person and think DC is too far north weather wise for me.  It was 24 degrees at race start.  Everyone huddled inside the building to try and stay warm as long as they could.  Right before race time, I grabbed the only scarf I had in the car, which was not meant for running by any means, but it definitely helped keep my face warm. 
This race was a bit of a disaster for almost everyone!  It was supposed to be an 8k, but the third person in the race took a wrong turn and most of us all followed.  I knew something was up as I was headed up one of the final hills and realizing that I was passing walkers.  There was no way walkers could have gotten ahead of most of us runners unless we had run extra mileage.  Once I crossed the finish line, I realized I had actually run a 10k and so had everyone around me.  I found Jim and he had done the same.  :-(  So while it was good for my training and I didn't mind the extra mileage at a faster pace than I would have run on my own, it doesn't bode well for "official" results.  It shows that it took a lot of time to run the "8k" and shows my pace as over ten mins a mile which was not accurate.  So that is disappointing. 

Another week of training down!  (Always eventful!)

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