Saturday, October 21, 2006
Rode from my house down 228th and then counter clockwise around Lake Sammamish. I feel strong on the slight inclines;It is odd but, I find my power the most when slightly climbing. Notes on ride: 29 miles total trip. 12 miles to Marymoore (pace 12.2) 14 miles from Marymoore back to 228th (pace 11.2). 1.15 miles back up to plateau (7.2 % climb ascent 420 ft). Then 2.4 miles home. 78% of Max Heartrate was my average. It feels good to be on the bike. My ankle still complained a lot on the ride. I shortened the ride to 29 miles (goal was 40 miles).


It has been a hard week. The good news is that I met with my PT on Tuesday. My strength and flexibility have improved greatly in the last 5 weeks. And both my PT and my surgeon gave the ok to use clipless pedals. The bad news is that my ankle is hurting more these days, which is probably due to the amount I'm working it. I backed off this week to try to give the ankle a break. But it is still complaining. My plan this week is lots of ice and back to anti-inflammatory drugs.

Monday, October 15, 2006
This morning was spinning with Cheryl. I can definitely feel my strength, and endurance increase; but at the same time my ankle is bothering me as much if not more. I need to move to clipping in (clipless pedals) in order to have a better platform to support my foot. But, I'm nervous about the chance of accidentally unclipped and doing more damage to my ankle.

I also got in some core this morning.

Saturday, October 13, 2006
I rode a leisurely paced 20 miles with Cascade club. It was definitely leisurely. It was 3 hours to ride 20 miles. Ok, we took a 15 minute coffee break (5 miles from the finish). I must admit, I don't usually ride that slow...But it was enjoyable.

October 12, 2006
Morning
I Swam this morning. Actual pool time 30 minutes. Actual swim time significantly less. My leg complained about the kick sets (and it had nothing to do with being lapped!). I worked on my breathing technique and felt a great improvement. I could actually feel myself glide through the water as I took a breath. Last night my neck was tight and sore after riding (I'm guessing it was from the morning weights); but this morning I feel fine other than a few sore muscles (tricep and pects) from yesterday's weights. So far I have made all of my am workouts this week! Each night, I'm tired and ready for sleep by 9:00pm (and I've been in bed around 9:00 every night this week).

I'm trying to get as much walking in each day as I can. Walking to lunch, taking a longer walk during the day. I'm really wanting my ankle to get with the program and quit complaining. I have good balance on it, and it doesn't hurt as much to do my one legged balancing. So it is improving. I see Lori Sabado my PT next Tuesday...and we will see how much I've improved (or not) in 5 weeks since my last appointment. We will also see what she thinks of my mountain biking (since I didn't ask her if I could ...).

I've been a little panicky about not having my vacation plans put together...and in the last two weeks they have begun to fall into place. I'm spending a week in December in Italy (no biking that I know of) and I've planned two bicycling trips. One for an Arizona PacTour in March and one for Park City Utah (mountain biking) in May. I'm also hoping to get to Whistler and Bend Oregon for mountain biking this summer. I'd also like to try one of the local tours in Seattle in July or August. The one I'm most interested in is Red-Spoke (Redmond to Spokane). So, I'll start checking into that. Cheryl is sure I can be ready for the PacTour in March and thus, I'm sure I can be ready for a summer tour as well.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Evening:
Rode Tolt with Julie. Boy did I get beat up! 2 hours and 7.5 miles. We rode some nasty trails, I'm hoping my ankle will forget about it by morning. My neck is sore tonight as well...might have been the weights or it could be that I'm working on my breathing in swimming. Hopefully I'll be better by morning.


Morning:
Lifted weights this morning. It is taking a bit to get into the swing of the weight room. It has been a couple of years since I consistently lifted. Today was easier than last weeks visit.

Weights
2x10 Bench (just the bar)
2x10 Lat pull (50)
2x10 bicep curl dumbbell (15)
2x 10 triceps dumbbell (20)

Core:
3x plank
2x 1o abs- Crunches
1x 1o back - supergirl
1x 10 Lower abs - leg lifts

Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Swam this morning with the SU masters. It was a good workout. I swam with Michele. Today my goal was to last more than 30 minutes. So at the 30 minute mark when I usually get out of the pool (and I so wanted to get out of the pool), I began taking longer breaks. Basically I'd drop the last 50 yards off of set and rest for the next set. My stroke felt off because I'm working hard at correcting a stroke/breathing issue on the right side. My accomplishment for the day was to swim 25 Butterfly. Stayed in pool till a quarter till 7:00

Monday, October 9, 2006
Spin class with Cheryl. Great workout. My ankle complained most of the time. I'm not riding tomorrow so hopefully my ankle will have time to settle down a bit before Wednesday's ride.

Worked with Cheryl a bit to outline some riding goals (and a schedule) for the October 2006- September 2007 year. I'm pretty excited about what we came up with so far.

Sunday, October 8, 2006
Tolt McDonald

Julie and I rode Tolt McDonald this morning. Only rode for 1.5 hours as I had to get home and spiffy up for the Symphony. I rode the "Its a Bitch" hill from the switchbacks on. I really wanted to stop several times...but, I've made it up before, so I told myself I had to make it up this time. The hill was a good workout. I pushed the first half of the hill (before the switchbacks) and it was great for my ankle. My ankle complained a lot on the push, which means that I'm making it do something knew...which is good for it.

Tolt was wonderful. I climbed well. I even got out of the saddle a little bit. I'm riding well considering the fact that I was off for a couple of months. It was a relatively smooth 7 mile ride at a easy pace. I love the single track and I'm so happy that my ankle seems to be ok riding.

I'm just beginning to plan some weekend road rides...boy is it hard when someone calls and asks "ya wanta go mountain biking?"

October 7, 2006

Rode with the Pacific Bicycle shop's women's group. It was a blast. The group is fast but not wicked fast. We regrouped often without taking many breaks. Speaking of brakes, my rear brake squeaked a lot, so I have to do some adjustments on it. We rode 7 miles in 1:49 hours. Ave HR 81.3 % of Max. Max Heart rate was 93 % of Max. I climbed well. The Nomad handled beautifully. I'm really enjoying this bike (even though I don't have any standover clearance). I met several new people (who could be good riding partners on the Eastside). My ankle held up well. Peddling isn't a problem, but dabbing (putting my foot down when stopping or catching myself) could be. I've been very gentle with my dabs making sure I don't slam my left foot to the ground. Did I mention I had a lot of fun on this ride? We also rode the lower half which means we did a ton of climbing and rode the more technical trails. I walked my bike over the overly technical roots and logs. I do love mountain biking. My big project for this autumn is to find great road riding buddies...Because I love road riding too, I just don't have many fun partners that ride in the Winter.

Night Ride at Beaver
I rode my first real single track since my broken ankle. I was very careful and a bit cautious. I rode with Julie and we just cruised around at a mellow speed. Did the easiest single track loop (did it twice) about 3.5 miles in an hour. It felt great to be back on single track.

Swimming:
I had a great swim this morning. I did some really good sets of 75 build and 25 sprint. I'm just getting back into using sendoff times. Before this, I've just been following my lanemates and trying not to get lapped.

At the end of the workout, I asked the coach to look at my stroke and she said "you have a very smooth stroke and look great in the water." I immediately looked over my shoulder to see who she was speaking to...and there wasn't anyone else there...so it must of been me! Hard to believe.

She then mentioned that I'm throwing myself off balance a bit when I breathe on the right side; and she the gave me a couple of drills (catch up and catch up with fists) to work on my breathing on the right side. She said that was the only thing she saw I needed to work on! So now I have a focus. I need to make sure I don't strain my neck again working on this area...but if I can correct my little bad habit...it could decrease the number of PT appointments I make for my neck. Two years ago, I had to quit swimming due to neck pain. Since then I've back off on my swimming (i.e., not pushing real hard and only swimming 2x a week) and I've had very little neck pain. I'm hoping to see if I can correct my breathing and maybe I can up my swimming in the future.

Walked for 40 minutes - fast pace. My ankle (which is still healing) definitely prefers strolling; thus it complained (hurt) a lot on the walk. I need to do more walking and at a strong pace.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

p.m. Mountain bike ride in the evening. Road a mile of smooth single track..the rest of ride was on the Snoqualmie Valley trail. Just 10 easy miles.


a.m. First day in the gym. Spent 30 minutes on the treadmill (walking) and 20 minutes lifting weights.

My ankle didn't complain as long as the speed (on the treadmill) wasn't too fast.

Had a great swim workout this morning. I felt like a swimmer again. Very little ankle pain in the pool. Still being careful pushing off the wall. Only lasted about 30 minutes.

Monday, October 2, 2006

Cheryl's spin group this a.m. Good workout. Used my mountain bike flat pedal shoes...they worked great! I was able to finish the whole workout...