Blogs : Beth Lutz

If You're Watching Television, Change the Channel

IN THIS WEEK'S EPISODE: Our Hero^tm thinks deep thoughts, has trouble walking down stairs, nearly faints, fights the slacking gene, takes an easy day (yes, you heard that right), and has her personal bubble invaded.

Monday, March 3^rd

Run: 2 hours, 20 minutes (5 steady, 2 hours, 10 minutes of 2 steady, 1 hard repeated, 5 steady)

This long run passed by surprisingly quickly. I had a mental list of things I could think about and did my best to think very, very hard about them and not about the clock. These deep thoughts included: “Get back to running” plan (still in the works), who would have to be on UWEC’s DMR for it to qualify for Nationals, upcoming state basketball tournament, homework I needed to do today, summer job plans, and past running memories. Not a long list, but I long ago found that my thinking “speed” is usually much slower than if I were talking to someone about the same topic because I tend to drift off, so to speak, lose my train of thought, then come back again, with the end result being that it takes me a while to get through even something as simple as a list of things to do. Being able to get lost in a daydream is an essential skill for any long endurance athlete. It gets lonely out there…

Tuesday, March 4^th

Run: 30 minutes (5 steady; 5x30/30; 5 medium; 5x30/30; 5 medium; 5x30/30)

This was a quick workout in between classes. I basically wanted to stimulate striders and try to do something that would work on a little “speed” (if I still have any). I was tired from my long run yesterday. The long run never feels incredibly hard while I’m doing it, but man can I feel it the next day (especially on the McPhee stairs). Out of all the workouts I do, the long run hurts the most.

Elliptical: 60 minutes (8 resistance on the easy stuff, 9 on the hard, 7 elevation) (10@180, 8x4@180-190, 1 easy, 10@170)

Well, I almost fainted at the end of this. I started on my cooldown and really didn’t feel too good, so I got off the elliptical and went to find a weight machine that I could sit down on. I was heading for the hip flexor station (it has a nice comfy seat) when everything started to seem like it was very far away and the corners of my vision turned black. Urgh. I made it to the seat before I keeled over, and after sitting there for a while and drinking some water I started to feel better.

So yeah, this was a good workout. I was determined to do eight, although in retrospect it might have been a good idea to stop at seven. Regardless, with my elliptical workouts I try to simulate a threshold, so today I got in 32 minutes of threshold work. My goal is to make it up to 60 minutes by the middle of April. It’s important to have goals.

Other than almost fainting, nothing too interesting happened during this, except I was excited that the elliptical I like was open and I didn’t have to wait around for “unworthy” people to get off it.

Bike: 10 minutes

Still part of cooldown because I didn’t want to be on the elliptical any more.

Wednesday, March 5^th

Run: 75 minutes (5 steady; 10x1:30,2:30 w/ 30 seconds in between everything; 4 medium; 4x30/30; 3 medium, 3x30/30; 2 medium; 2x30/30; 3 steady)

Bike: 45 minutes (4.0 resistance on the left bike) (5@100; 5.5x2x2@110, 1@120 w/ 1@100 in between sets; 5@100)

This was a decent day considering how tired I was. I managed to stave off the slacking genes and put in some good work.

Thursday, March 6^th

Elliptical: 60 minutes (YMCA, 4 resistance, 180-190rpm)

Easy day.

Saturday, March 9^th

Run: 50 minutes (5 steady; 5x30-45-60-75-90 w/ 30 sec in between reps and 90 sec in between sets; 5 steady)

Elliptical: 50 minutes (YMCA, 4 resistance for the easy stuff, 5 for the hard; 10 warmup; 35@180-190; 5 cooldown)

Two good workouts here. I’ve been reevaluating my workout plans and have decided that with adding in ellipticalling I’m finding it hard to keep up the minutes. I don’t know. I’ll be able to plan better once I know whether I can run or not.

The pool workout actually really got my heart rate up. I don’t know if that’s because I’m so out of shape or if it’s just a good workout. Either way, during it I didn’t feel drop dead tired but rather like I was simply working hard. I actually swallowed some gulps of water a couple of times when I forget to keep my mouth closed and a wave surprised me. There were some gungho kids going off the diving board. One of them actually asked me what I was doing; that’s the first time that’s happened at the Y. I think that speaks to the prevalence of the “personal bubble” in American society. Little kids are the only ones who haven’t had that idea bred into them yet. He was pretty cute, though. He also asked me, “Are you getting tired yet?” Little kids can be really curious. 

While ellipticalling I was able to watch a Big 10 game on the “good” television at the YMCA, which was great. It made the time pass a lot faster than watching soap operas.  I like the Y’s elliptical because I can hit what feels like a “long threshold” pace: one I could keep at for an hour or more, but that keeps my heart rate at around 180. Good stuff.