For anybody who want to read, I will bore you with my week.
The weather here has been perfect. It is too bad some of you guys are experiencing a massive, persistent heat wave. That makes things really difficult and I feel for you.
My big change this week (actually I started last week) was the substitution of cycling (and occasionally a 4-5 mile brisk walk) 2 or 3 times during the week. I think I will like the change of pace and activity while still keeping CV in shape. The old bod was not liking a six-day running schedule. A lot of the runners in the Masters' Forum seem to agree that cross training as we get older is not a bad thing.
So anyway, ran a few miles and cycled a few miles this week. My pace/mile is improving. Last week's average was 10:20/mile, this week pace is closing in on 10.
On a side note, my beloved puty cat has lost half her weight the past 2 months yet begs for food constantly. Took her to the vet tonight. I have to test her BG several times over the week end and call him back on Monday. Will use my meter and test strips. Kitty BG numbers are the same as humans.
Discipline is never an end in itself, only a means to an end. (RF)
Hope your kitty is OK! If it's D, you will be uniquely qualified to care for him (or her). Glad the cross training is working out so well. Add a little swimming, and you could be ready for a sprint triathlon .
Last week I started off really tired. Had ramped up training for about 3 weeks, so backed off the training volume a bit for a couple of days. Really helped, and the rest of the week/weekend was good. Swam my race distance in the lake on Friday (1.5K), had a good group bike ride on Saturday (32 mi), and a solid 10 mile run this morning, albeit with a couple of breaks for refilling water and sports drink. Have been fighting lows all afternoon as a result, but burned enuf calories on the run to not worry about having to feed those lows. Also a mentor in my tri group suggested I need to shift my thinking on fueling. I was trying to minimize the insulin, so wasn't taking in many calories. As I get into longer events, I need those calories. So instead of insulin being fixed and solving for calories, I think I need to make calories more fixed and solve for insulin.
Carol,
Two things:
1. I swim like a rock--float, make a lot of splash but go nowhere
2. I think your mentor is right. You need the calories. When I switch when I ate breakfast from after my run to before, it made a world of difference.
Can't believe you are doing all this (except maybe the swimming) in triple digit heat! Have things gotten any better? Is there any water left in Texas?
Tested kitty for D and nope, she has much better numbers than I. Check that off the list and on to digestive issues. john
Well...I would not even put my face in the water when I decided to do my first tri. Had to go to the pool multiple times just work on get used to breathing out under water. My swim training has consisted of a couple of free videos online about Total Immersion swimming. Now I can easily swim over a mile without a break. But it took a LOT of frustrating trips to the pool to get there. We are land mammals after all!
Yes, it is still crazy hot here! Early mornings are where it's at, but even that is tough for running since we don't drop below low 80s at all. I called a run early yesterday. Had already biked a couple of hours, and planned to run 4-5 miles after that. But it was already very hot by then. After getting a little dizzy and nauseous and just feeling like I was really overheating, I called it a day. I was well fueled and well hydrated and blood sugar was good, but even walking home was tough. Biking is OK (create your own breeze), and but water temps in the lake and oudoor pools are pretty ridiculous, so it's not hard to overheat even in the water. Fall is coming, right??!
Sure hope you get some answers for your cat. Our pets are family to us (4 dogs and 1 cat presently), and when they hurt, we hurt.
Carol---It's pretty bad when you can't even cool off with a swim. When we were in North Carolina this summer and temps were in high 90s (cool by comparison) the pool out back hovered around 80 which did not do much for cooling off. Good luck training in all the heat.
The vet ran all his tests and blood work. Apparently our Bobo is no longer producing the key enzyme for digesting food. We will be sprinkling enzyme powder on her food and tracking her weight for a month. She's a great cat, a real affectionate kitty. So we'll see what happens. She is still spry and active and playful in spite having lost nearly half her weight.
Running, I made a pace breakthrough today. Eat your heart out. Running temp this AM was sunny and 63. Had a light breakfast, BG numbers were good and I finally got my pace back under 10min/mile on my 2.5 out/back. Legs are feeling stronger. It is a course that I use to pace myself and measure short distance progress throughout the season. I may even break down and do a couple of 5Ks later this fall. Haven't raced since '93. Can't remember what they are like! John