Training

Andrea

Crossfit Love/Hate

 Crossfit is a method of resistance training/conditioning that will make even the most fit person whine and beg for mercy. It’s a training philosophy that’s growing in popularity- I can’t really describe it, so I’ll just give you a link to the crossfit website so you can read all about it: Crossfit

You’ll notice that the workouts look short and usually don’t include anything but bodyweight (with the exception of the heavy, singe rep days as well as the Olympic-style lifts). Yes, they are short, but don’t let this fool you into thinking they’re easy. Most of them have women’s names. Once you’re 4-5 minutes into your first workout, you’ll know exactly why…

Today I did my 3rd Crossfit workout:
“Mary”
Complete as many rounds in 20 minutes as you can of:
5 Handstand Push-ups
10 One legged squats, alternating
15 Pull-ups

Ok, I’ll admit, I used a bar in the squat rack as assistance for the hand stand push-ups as well as the pull-ups, and I used the squat rack itself for balance on the 1-leg squats, but seeing that I just started this stuff, I don’t mind too much. I quit at 18 minutes and 7 rounds, because I was getting the “burps” (precursor to the “pukes”).

My first workout was one that I made up myself (hence the name):
“Andrea”
20-15-10-5 reps
Thrusters
Vertical jumps
Pull Ups
Walking lunges (that’s reps per leg)

I urge my faithful (and unfaithful) readers to check out the Crossfit website- it’s got video of all of the exercises as well as a workout of the day every day, and a link to a forum where someone is nice enough to put “scaled” versions of the WOD up for beginners and/or those who DON’T like the feeling of being run over by a truck after their workouts. Also, check out Memphis’ only Crossfit gym, which was started by one of my former U of M students: Crossfit Memphis

Andrea

The long haul

70 miles today! It felt very good. Other than being really hungry and having cold toes, I felt really strong at the end of the ride (usually I’m pretty exhausted). Even though not many of my rides have been more than a couple of hours, the volume has been relatively high. Looks like the miles of gutting out the cold are paying off in the endurance department!

Andrea

Two Steps Back

My ankle injury seemed to be doing very well- most of the swelling was gone, and my foot (for the most part) had returned to its normal color rather than the odd shade of martian green it had been for the past few days. I was even walking with no pain in the area. SO, naturally, I attempted an easy, on-pavement jog last night with some friends. Not a good idea- although everything felt fine in the first 5 minutes of relatively flat pavement, once we jogged up & over a couple of small but steep pitches, the pain started creeping back up the side of my foot/leg. Going against my will to continue and not be defeated by injury (again), I walked. Luckily, I had Turbo, my Belgian Malinois, and Temesa, one of the Warthogs (group of friends I frequently run with), to keep me company.
Although it was (mentally) painful to stop running, I can tell that the physical consequences would have been much greater- even with just a few minutes of stress to the area, the space between my anklebone & Achilles tendon filled back in with swelling, and it’s painful enough today that I can’t help but limp a little. Thankfully, it’s not bad enough that I can’t ride my bike, but I’m not happy to have the nagging pain again.

Looks like I need more time & probably some at-home physical therapy before I strike out on foot again!

Andrea

Short Term Overreaching

It’s very effective for inducing training adaptations, but it can make you feel like you’ve been put through all sorts of wringers. The idea is that you dish out a little more to your body than it’s able to handle (inducing fatigue) and then follow with a brief recovery period. During the recovery period, your body rebuilds and adapts to handle the stresses that you initially put on it to cause the fatigue… you get a little better than you were before.

My past couple of days of interval love caught up with me today at exactly 1 hour and 3 minutes into my ride. I was pulling away from a stoplight when it suddenly felt as if something had mysteriously drained all of the energy from my muscles. I’ve spent the remainder of the afternoon/evening trying to sit and rest whenever possible. I skipped my leg workout in the weight room, but that was more of a protective measure to keep my ankle from re-injuring. I’ve got a rest day tomorrow. I’ll need it- my next workout includes 4 VO2 intervals. Woohoo!!!!

Andrea

Update #3 + Interval Love

So I’m at the (somewhat dangerous) point now where my ankle is swollen and hurts until I take my anti-inflammatory meds, but then it feels OK. Using a neoprene Ace ankle support, I went for an easy ride yesterday and a harder ride today. I decided to switch my Time pedals (with re-centering float) to my old Speedplay X5s (free-float) in order to allow my ankle to stay in whatever position feels most comfortable.

On a side note, today’s ride included three 3 min VO2 intervals. If you don’t know what a VO2 interval is, it’s basically the highest possible intensity you can sustain for any amount of time. I decided to mix it up a bit today- #1 was in a 15-20mph tailwind. I was hauling ass- passing cars were pacing me and giving me crazy looks because I was sustaining speeds close to 30mph. Interval #2 I did up the two largest hills in Germantown (the first into a headwind), and #3 was on my favorite interval road that runs behind my house. Maybe I’m crazy, but I absolutely LOVE intervals. The harder, the better. It carries over to my love of time trials. Something about the pain cave seems like home.

Andrea

Ankle Update #1

Surprisingly, my busted up ankle didn’t keep me awake last night. I stuffed a couple of pillows under the sheets to elevate the covers off of the area. This morning, I am able to rest my foot flat on the ground (with little or no weight), and I’m able to put my toes on the ground with very light pressure when I’m walking (on crutches). Also, I can move it passively a little bit- the swelling is still bad, and it’s impinging on the range of motion.

I’m happy with the overnight progress. It’s definitely unexpected with as much as it hurt yesterday. Today’s plan is on/off ice and elevation to try to bring some of the swelling down.

Andrea

Trails and tribulations

I met up with the Warthogs today for a Swamp Stomper training run. Unfortunately, about 10 minutes down the trail, I slipped on a wet root and turned my ankle pretty bad. After sitting on the side of the trail for a couple of minutes, I decided that I’d try to run it off. A few minutes later, the pain wasn’t subsiding, so I stopped to check it out. My ankle was starting to swell up. I decided to run along slowly, but that seemed to be worse. Before I could question as to whether or not I should continue, I turned the same ankle on a leaf-covered rock. At that point, I was hopping on one leg and cursing. I turned and began walking back to the car (about 2.5-3 miles). Soon, I decided to jog slowly (walking was just taking too long). It was painful, but tolerable.

On the way home, the swelling and pain worsened. I was worried that it was broken, so I went to the minor med place to have it x-rayed. Two and a half hours later, I’m on crutches with an air cast- no break, but a lot of pain and swelling. I can’t put weight on it without severe pain and a very disturbing grinding/popping feeling.

I’m not sure what to do next. This month is really important to my training for the race season. If I can’t get back on my bike soon, it could negatively impact my early-season races. Hopefully I can heal quickly and get back on within a week.

Pictures:

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Andrea

Fatigue is Cumulative

Today I rounded out a 15 hour training week with a 3.5 hour group ride- about 65 miles total. It was tough- A couple of the group members were keeping the intensity pretty high for this time of year. On the way out (to Red Banks, Mississippi), we kept the pace pretty consistent, and I stayed in the mix. I hadn’t really intended to ride that hard, but it was too tempting to test out how I was performing after being on a consistent training program for the first time. I was very happy with my performance. A couple of times I put out enough effort that I knew I would have been dropped in the past, but was able to maintain steady contact without issue.

After our rest stop, we hit the road just long enough to warm back up only to get to a railroad crossing that was blocked by a stopped train on our back road that would be used to head back North towards TN. The detour that we took following that was not much fun. We continued down a small highway to Byhalia, MS, where the pace kept surging and slowing as people were getting dropped and caught back on. We ended up riding north on a busy two lane highway- speed limit 55mph, and covered up in countryfolk who were not at all happy to be slowed down by a mass of people in spandex going 20mph. We tried to form a rotating paceline, but a couple of the guys thought that they’d show off how fast they were by hammering the pace every time they pulled. The result- thegroup was shredded in hostile territory. I was not happy, and once we got out of the traffic hell, I chased down the lead group and asked what the Hell they thought they were doing & let them know that at least one group member was about a mile back and entirely alone. They did not seem too concerned, but they did pull over and stop for a few minutes while the remaining group caught up.

We cruised in to Germantown, only to have the same guys start to push the pace again. I stayed back with a couple of guys (Ryan and Aaron) who didn’t feel the need to participate in the off-season pissing match.

I’m very happy with my ride, and with my training in general. My endurance has improved, and I felt strong today, even after consecutive high-volume training weeks (~14 hours the week before). I could feel it in the latter miles of the ride, and I’m pretty exhausted now, but I’ve got a nice rest period on the schedule for the first week of the new year.

Even this early in the pre-season, I’m feeling good. All I need to do now is lose 10 pounds before April…