I suppose I am well overdue for a blog post. Sorry, we've been keeping ourselves really busy here in Athens and enjoying every moment of it.
Friday felt a little rushed too me and I knew I had a lot to do in not a lot of time.
First part of my agenda was my workout. As usual, my workout (whether it is training or just heart-healthy exercise) is my time, my breath of fresh air and my mental and physical boost for the day. Aside from active recovery Monday's, not much comes before my morning Tues - Sunday workout.
The alarm went off at 4:30am and like normal, I ate my Wasa cracker w/ PB and drank my coffee on the way to the Y. I was on the treadmill by 5:05am (Y opens at 5am). The workout went by fast with all of my intervals. This is one of my fav. sets:
15 min warm-up (increasing speed throughout the warm-up, still in a comfortable zone): 7.0-7.5mph
5 min: 45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill (rest): 8.0mph (get the HR up)
Main set:
5 min tempo (7.7 mph), 5 min (45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill - 8.5mph)
4 min tempo (7.7mph), 4 min (45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill - 8.6mph)
3 min tempo (7.7mph), 3 min (same - 8.7mph)
2 min tempo (7.7mph), 2 min (same - 8.8mph)
1 min tempo (7.7mph), 1 min (same - 8.9mph)
Total 50 min, 6.6 miles
Off to the pool from 6:05-7:10....
Main set: 4 x 400's on 6:30 (200 @ 60%, 200 @ 80%) - 5:35, 5:23, 5:21
200 back easy
3 x 200's on 3 min (80%) - 2:42, 2:41, 2:40
Total yrd: 3500
I quickly got cleaned up, dried my hair and headed to the store for some last minute stuff for our trip, filled up my tank in my car and headed home. I've been really busy with some Grant workout for an obesity project here in Jacksonville, so I've really been crunching my time during the week (I'll be writing about the childhood obesity project that I am part of, very shortly).
When I got home I only had 10 min. to show Campy some love before I took him over to Laura's at 8:45am.
I typically pack myself well in advance so my stuff was ready to go. I put Karel to work loading up our stuff while I took Campy and his travel-gear, to Laura's.
Laura (Campy's normal doggy sitter and my BFF, and dietitian and great cook) was super nice to offer to bring Campy to my parents in New Port Richey on her way (with her hubby Pat) to St. A's. My mom ended up meeting Laura at an exit so it worked out perfect. I bet campy was SUPER confused, but excited. Unfortunately, Athens Twilight weekend is no place for a dog who doesn't care for fast bikes.
Laura and I did a quick exchange of food (we always do this) and I gave her my latest granola and muffins and she gave me a strawberry mini bread loaf, dehydrated strawberries and a few pieces of pineapple upside down cake. Laura is the best cook/baker EVER, even with her modifications for heart-healthy recipes. Last year she made me the most delicious carrot cake for my b-day but I'm thinking the pineapple upside down cake might be just as good.
Finally, at 9:10am, Karel and I were off to Athens.
It was an uneventful drive and Karel did most of the driving. After we stopped for lunch (I made PB & J, w/ lots of fruit on hand, Karel got Subway) I drove for a bit.
Karel isn't much of a talker when we travel to big races so I just let him be in his zone. This is a very important race for him and he has his own ways of gearing up for a race so I tried to let him do his thing. I am the complete opposite before races, so as you can imagine, it is very hard for me to keep quiet and not provide some type of motivational talk/story to Karel.
Anyways, after we got checked into the Days Inn (within walking distance to downtown Athens) we had a quick snack (yogurt, granola, skim milk and fruit from my cooler and a little spoonful of PB) and headed to the Computrainer venue.
Karel's heat was at 5:45pm and he had to be there 30 min. before the start. Karel was a little stressed before the race because they didn't have him on schedule for his 8-man heat, but after showing the staff his email confirmations for his heat, all was good.
Each guy gets weighed with their bike in order to give each rider a fair advantage with their resistance. It's funny seeing the guys take off as much possible off their bike and body in order to be weighed as light as possible to avoid a higher than necessary resistance on the computrainer.
While the guys warmed up on the computrainer, I listed to the Jazz festival music which was amazing. What a great venue.
At 5:45 the race started and I watched 8 guys battle it out on the computrainer. Just brutal and pure torture for 3.5 miles of the Athens Twilight course.
The course is rolling, but you wold never guess it unless you ran/rode on it. There are slight uphills and downhills and the Computrainer makes you feel every incline. There is a lot of shifting of gears and grinding of teeth.
Karel started off really strong and moved up to first place for the first mile or so but Karel "got passed" as the race went on. Karel would do anything to not ride the trainer but in this case, all Computrainer riders receive a # for Sat night which seats them closer to the front in the starting corral.
Karel finished 8th in his heat and finished a few minutes faster than last year. Just under 9 minutes for 3.5 miles. The fastest 8 guys from the day come back at night for the Computrainer finals and $2000 up for grabs...and bragging rights.
After the Computrainer finals we watched Curtis (his teammate) race and then grabbed some dinner at our favorite college hang out...The Taco Bar. We went there two times last year and I was so excited to go back.
Tofu tortilla w/ lettuce, salsa and a little cheese....yum!
We hung out at the room for a little after dinner and then headed back to downtown to squeeze our way through hundreds of people to watch the finals.
Just craziness!!!!
Friday felt a little rushed too me and I knew I had a lot to do in not a lot of time.
First part of my agenda was my workout. As usual, my workout (whether it is training or just heart-healthy exercise) is my time, my breath of fresh air and my mental and physical boost for the day. Aside from active recovery Monday's, not much comes before my morning Tues - Sunday workout.
The alarm went off at 4:30am and like normal, I ate my Wasa cracker w/ PB and drank my coffee on the way to the Y. I was on the treadmill by 5:05am (Y opens at 5am). The workout went by fast with all of my intervals. This is one of my fav. sets:
15 min warm-up (increasing speed throughout the warm-up, still in a comfortable zone): 7.0-7.5mph
5 min: 45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill (rest): 8.0mph (get the HR up)
Main set:
5 min tempo (7.7 mph), 5 min (45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill - 8.5mph)
4 min tempo (7.7mph), 4 min (45 sec hard, 15 sec straddle treadmill - 8.6mph)
3 min tempo (7.7mph), 3 min (same - 8.7mph)
2 min tempo (7.7mph), 2 min (same - 8.8mph)
1 min tempo (7.7mph), 1 min (same - 8.9mph)
Total 50 min, 6.6 miles
Off to the pool from 6:05-7:10....
Main set: 4 x 400's on 6:30 (200 @ 60%, 200 @ 80%) - 5:35, 5:23, 5:21
200 back easy
3 x 200's on 3 min (80%) - 2:42, 2:41, 2:40
Total yrd: 3500
I quickly got cleaned up, dried my hair and headed to the store for some last minute stuff for our trip, filled up my tank in my car and headed home. I've been really busy with some Grant workout for an obesity project here in Jacksonville, so I've really been crunching my time during the week (I'll be writing about the childhood obesity project that I am part of, very shortly).
When I got home I only had 10 min. to show Campy some love before I took him over to Laura's at 8:45am.
I typically pack myself well in advance so my stuff was ready to go. I put Karel to work loading up our stuff while I took Campy and his travel-gear, to Laura's.
Laura (Campy's normal doggy sitter and my BFF, and dietitian and great cook) was super nice to offer to bring Campy to my parents in New Port Richey on her way (with her hubby Pat) to St. A's. My mom ended up meeting Laura at an exit so it worked out perfect. I bet campy was SUPER confused, but excited. Unfortunately, Athens Twilight weekend is no place for a dog who doesn't care for fast bikes.
Laura and I did a quick exchange of food (we always do this) and I gave her my latest granola and muffins and she gave me a strawberry mini bread loaf, dehydrated strawberries and a few pieces of pineapple upside down cake. Laura is the best cook/baker EVER, even with her modifications for heart-healthy recipes. Last year she made me the most delicious carrot cake for my b-day but I'm thinking the pineapple upside down cake might be just as good.
Finally, at 9:10am, Karel and I were off to Athens.
It was an uneventful drive and Karel did most of the driving. After we stopped for lunch (I made PB & J, w/ lots of fruit on hand, Karel got Subway) I drove for a bit.
Karel isn't much of a talker when we travel to big races so I just let him be in his zone. This is a very important race for him and he has his own ways of gearing up for a race so I tried to let him do his thing. I am the complete opposite before races, so as you can imagine, it is very hard for me to keep quiet and not provide some type of motivational talk/story to Karel.
Anyways, after we got checked into the Days Inn (within walking distance to downtown Athens) we had a quick snack (yogurt, granola, skim milk and fruit from my cooler and a little spoonful of PB) and headed to the Computrainer venue.
Karel's heat was at 5:45pm and he had to be there 30 min. before the start. Karel was a little stressed before the race because they didn't have him on schedule for his 8-man heat, but after showing the staff his email confirmations for his heat, all was good.
Each guy gets weighed with their bike in order to give each rider a fair advantage with their resistance. It's funny seeing the guys take off as much possible off their bike and body in order to be weighed as light as possible to avoid a higher than necessary resistance on the computrainer.
While the guys warmed up on the computrainer, I listed to the Jazz festival music which was amazing. What a great venue.
At 5:45 the race started and I watched 8 guys battle it out on the computrainer. Just brutal and pure torture for 3.5 miles of the Athens Twilight course.
The course is rolling, but you wold never guess it unless you ran/rode on it. There are slight uphills and downhills and the Computrainer makes you feel every incline. There is a lot of shifting of gears and grinding of teeth.
Karel started off really strong and moved up to first place for the first mile or so but Karel "got passed" as the race went on. Karel would do anything to not ride the trainer but in this case, all Computrainer riders receive a # for Sat night which seats them closer to the front in the starting corral.
Karel finished 8th in his heat and finished a few minutes faster than last year. Just under 9 minutes for 3.5 miles. The fastest 8 guys from the day come back at night for the Computrainer finals and $2000 up for grabs...and bragging rights.
After the Computrainer finals we watched Curtis (his teammate) race and then grabbed some dinner at our favorite college hang out...The Taco Bar. We went there two times last year and I was so excited to go back.
Tofu tortilla w/ lettuce, salsa and a little cheese....yum!
We hung out at the room for a little after dinner and then headed back to downtown to squeeze our way through hundreds of people to watch the finals.
Just craziness!!!!
