If You Were Children or Animals...

That's pretty much how my first workout since the triathlon started (yes, I've been lazy all week). Drew and I went to his trainer, Billy's, bootcamp class in the Park this morning in the 90+ degree heat and Billy said, "If you were children or animals, this would be cruelty. Instead, you're adults, so it's okay." Um, yeah, I'm not sure if it was. It was bloody hot out there.

Drew and I walked to the Upper East Side meeting spot like usual. I think I normally would have jogged and Drew did suggest it, but I knew I'd be too hot and grumpy if we did that. Once we got there and met up with the few other people who braved the heat, we got right into it. We started off with 100 jumping jacks and didn't really slow down from there.

We did some jump lunges, squats, push-ups, etc. And then we did them again. After that, Billy had us do an Indian Run down to the Fountain. He gave me a hard time about not sprinting fast enough when it was my turn to run to the front of the line, but I wasn't too worried about it. By the time we got to the Fountain, I definitely already had the onset of a headache and was feeling really hot. The whole time today, I really couldn't believe that I had done a triathlon in this heat a week ago. I guess it was a couple of degrees cooler last week, but maybe it was the adrenaline that made the difference as well?

Once we got to the Fountain, we did some jumping around up the stairs, lunging around, more push-ups, a couple of quick short runs and then we did that again and again. After each round, everyone was stopping to get water and take a quick rest break in whatever shade we could find. There were lots of tourists walking/sitting around looking at us like we were crazy. I think we were.

The jumping on the stairs is really hard for me. Somehow I'm totally inept at jumping with two feet at the same time. I'm a great one leg jumper, but I think I'm missing the gene for two-legged jumping. Drew always tries to help me and I think I actually did a better job today than I've done in the past, but it's pretty sad to watch me versus everyone else. The best I can do is to try to swing my arms and gain some momentum from that to propel both of my legs at the same time. I've resigned myself to being a bad jumper. Luckily, there aren't a lot of situations in my daily life where this is critical.

I was worried about my elbow since Billy generally makes people do a lot of push-ups, but it held up okay today. There was a part where he wanted people to do one-armed reaches (in a plank position and then lift one arm up and reach behind you, then switch arms). I opted to just do straight push-ups during that part since I already know that doing one-armed stuff on my left arm does not make it happy. Especially in the humidity of today. It sort-of throbs just walking around in this crazy humidity and I'm trying to keep it as happy as possible.

After we finished up doing exercises all around the Fountain, we ran back to the UES through the Ramble. Well, truthfully, it was more of a half jog/half walk. Once we got back to 86th Street, Billy had us do a sprint to end class. Billy said that it was about 300 meters, but I think that might have been a little bit long for where we started from. But, that's roughly right. Somewhere in the 0.17-0.18 miles category.

The boys took off way ahead of the girls, but I was determined to leave it all out there. I knew if I started really pushing too early, I'd never make it, but I think I did a good job of pushing it just enough and then really starting to kick toward the end. There were two other girls doing the sprint and they were both ahead of me when we started until about half-way. Then I started gaining on them and ended up passing both of them at the end. I did the sprint in 1:00 exactly, which if I could really sustain that would be less than a 6 minute mile (ha ha ha!). I'm still pretty proud of that. Although I was done at the end of that and was ready to walk myself home and to the grocery store for some breakfast supplies!

All in all, not a bad workout for my first one back after the triathlon. I'm not going to be as lazy going forward as I was this week. Although I know myself and without anything to really look forward to, it's not going to be easy to motivate myself to get up in the morning and get out and workout. Good thing Drew and I signed up for a duathlon ... in October. I'm sure that's enough to get me up and out the door every once in a while!

In totally unrelated news, I found a picture of the actual log that I ran into in the Hudson River last Sunday while I was swimming. It just so happens that one of my Terrier teammates that wasn't racing took a photo. So, without further ado, here it is:


Doesn't look so scary there, I'll admit. But you try running into it when you're swimming in a dark river known for having bodies floating around in it!

Playing Outside

This morning I had been planning on heading to the gym for a really boring and long spin bike ride in order to keep up with the half-Ironman training plan. I have to tell you that I thought it sounded pretty hideous to spin for two hours. Although I would have been quite happy to ride my real bike for two hours today! The weather was gorgeous!

Since the weather was so nice and I wasn't so keen on heading indoors anyway for a workout, I decided to go with Drew today. His personal trainer, Billy, leads a Park class every Saturday at 10:30 (which, frankly, is a little late for me to go on a regular basis). But, since I didn't have a bicycle, I decided to just get outdoors and skip out on the real plan for today.

Drew and I walked to the meeting spot on the Upper East Side. Once we got there and Billy arrived, the group headed over to a grassy spot near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that's when the fun started! Billy had us form a circle and immediately we started doing a circuit of squats, jump squats and squat thrusts. Since that wasn't enough fun, he then had us lie down on the ground and go up into a pike position and then from there, we had to flip-around to a push-up. Don't ask me how that worked. It was a lot easier than it sounded.

In that initial circle we also did a push-up circle where we would all do 5 push-ups, but do them one at a time so that you had to wait for everyone else in the circle to do their push-ups, while holding yourself up. I think we did the push-up circle at least 2 times, but maybe it was three. It's hard to keep track. There was also a ridiculously long holding of plank position.

I have to say that as a kid, circles were always really fun. They generally involved story time or sometimes a parachute. Today's circle wasn't so much fun. Maybe Billy should buy a parachute for these classes? That might make it better.

Once we were done with the circle stuff, he had us do a couple of sprints along the road. The first one was shorter than it was supposed to be because when Billy said "run to the orange cone" the leader did the natural thing and ran to the first orange cone. Not the second orange cone, like Billy had wanted us to do. I have to tell you, I felt bad for the other bikers and runners out there on the road. Here was a group of 20 or so people jogging into traffic and then turning around and sprinting all out. And we were doing it on the wrong side of the road (the non-running side).

When I got done with my second sprint, I was standing next to Drew and I thought he said, "I'm not even breathing hard!" I immediately told him to pipe down! I didn't want Billy to hear that Drew wasn't breathing hard. I wasn't in the mood for another long (slightly uphill) sprint. Except what Drew actually said is, "you're not even breathing hard". He was paying me a compliment. Either way, I didn't want Billy to overhear the whole exchange!

After that, we headed over to the Great Lawn. Billy had us line up in 4 lines while he set up a series of small orange cones (the start and finish lines). We had to do various things - sprints, karaoke, side shuffle, bear crawl, bunny hopping backwards and forwards and try to have our group come in first. Except that it turned out that there wasn't really an incentive to come in first because we all ended up having to do the same amount of push-ups after each round.

Then Billy broke us down into two groups and had us do some more sprints and things. The first one, I was sprinting against Drew -- and I beat him! Okay, technically Billy held Drew back for a couple of seconds while I got a head start, but I think that if he had tried harder, Drew could have beaten me. So I'm still going to put it as a win in my book!

I should also say here that both Drew and Billy were keen to point out that I am a very bad bunny hopper (backwards or forwards - doesn't really matter). Seriously, I have to be about the worst jumper of all time. I am totally incapable of jumping with both feet at the same time. This is why I stunk so badly when Drew and I did our own stair workout and he kept wanting me to jump up the stairs. I am pretty sure it's all a mental block, but whatever it is, it makes me a very bad jumper.

After all this stuff with the cones, we went out onto the loop around the Great Lawn and Billy told us that we'd have to run around the Loop, do 50 push-ups (using a park bench) and 40 dips (also using the bench). I opted to be in the first group and get the running over with. Gmap Pedometer says that the loop is 0.53 miles around and Billy told me that I finished in 4:12, which is super-de-duper fast and I'm not really sure I believe that time, but I'll go with it! I finished up with the push-ups and dips and that was the end of class.

Drew and I went to get Coconut FrozFruits with two other people from the class and we all chatted for a bit. Then Drew and I decided to jog home from the Great Lawn. He'd been asking me for a while now to show him the Bridle Path, so we ran on that for about half of the way home. When we got to Tavern on the Green, I decided that we should run on the Road so that I could show Drew where the "S" was (where we start our speed work in Terrier). I said that once we got to the S, we should sprint the rest of the way to the bottom of the Park. I actually was pretty close behind Drew - he didn't pull that far away from me - so I was pretty proud of that.

All in all, a pretty good workout for skipping a bike ride. I'm just going to go ahead and say that the cross-training will help me in San Francisco and leave it at that!

Park Class
Time: 1:07:40
Calories: 660
Maximum HR: 191
Average HR: 155

Run Home
Time: 11:01
Distance: 1.20 miles
Pace: 9:10/mile
Calories: 126
Maximum HR: 194

Not A Kettlebell Fan

This morning Drew and I went to meet with his personal trainer, Billy. We were supposed to meet him at 7:00 and in typical fashion, we got there early ... at 6:30. The only trouble with that? The gym doesn't open until 7. So, we spent 30 minutes walking around the drug store nearby killing time. And we didn't even buy anything!

We ended up meeting Billy a few minutes after 7 after getting to the gym and stowing our stuff. He didn't waste any time with pleasantries and had us get started right away. We started out with push-ups, my favorite (not!). Although I've come a long long way from when I couldn't even do one push-up. I think I probably did about 50 in total today, so that's a big difference.

To be perfectly honest, I can't remember everything that Billy made us do, but the better part of the workout was spent in the regular weight room. We did a circuit with push-ups and bench presses. We did some jump squats and lunges. Then we did a circuit with one-arm rows, lat pull downs, barbell shoulder presses and front dumbbell swings. We did that circuit twice with 15 reps for each exercise.

We also had to do this thing where he put a weight plate on the floor and we had to push it from one end of the room to the other. So, yeah, that was hard. I did that back and forth twice while Drew was doing jump squats and he had a fairly smug look on his face every time that I complained that it was hard. And then he did it (at a higher weight, to be fair) and he struggled just as much as I did, which made me feel better.

After spending a good amount of time in the weight room, Billy had us go to a special Personal Trainer loft area that I'd never been to before. Apparently that's where they keep the kettlebells. I've never done anything with kettlebells before, other than look at them at the gym or listen to Drew tell me about his use of them, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Turns out I'm not a fan. I think it was really a factor of two things: (1) I don't think I'm coordinated enough for all this swapping hand stuff and (2) I couldn't really find the right weight to use - it was either too heavy or too light. I'd definitely be willing to give them another shot, but it wasn't my favorite thing to do.

At the very end, Billy had us hold plank position while he went to check on his next client. I totally cheated and put my knees down a little bit (he had us do it for about 2 minutes, I think), but Drew was a real trooper and stayed up the whole time. Very impressive. Then, to finish things off, Drew and Billy looped two towels together and did some macho pulling thing around the gym. From what I could tell, they mostly succeeded in ripping the towel. Maybe there is some pride thing there too. I don't really understand all that stuff, but Drew seems to like it.

After we were done training with Billy, Drew went to hit the showers and head to work for a bit. I really wanted to do some running, although I wasn't sure how well I would do after that workout, but it seemed really important to get some running in. I also thought it would be really good for me to run after doing another workout while I was tired as I imagine that at some point during my race, I'll be quite tired and it'll just all be good experience toward the end goal.

I needed to make-up Wednesday's planned run, which was 4 miles, including 4 x 1:00 AI + 5-6 GP, but of course I didn't do that. I ended up doing 3 miles with the intervals and then 4 pick-ups. I would have done more pick-ups, but I really thought I only had to do 4.

I did the intervals at 7.2, 7.3, 7.4 and 7.5, each for 1 minute. The pickups I did for 30 seconds each at 9.0, 9.5, 10.0 and 10.5. Holy cow on the 10.5! It is definitely getting easier to do these intervals and pickups, which is a good feeling. Of course, I'm still not sure it's my first choice to do them, but I don't mind overall.

Of course, I messed up a little bit today and didn't quite get all the miles in, but I'm not going to feel bad about it and just keep moving forward. I'm hoping that the cross-training with Billy makes up for that a little bit.

Training with Billy
Time: 54:12
Calories: 525
Maximum HR: 173
Average HR: 149

Run (with Intervals)
Time: 31:14
Distance: 3.00 miles
Pace: 10:24/mile
Calories: 383
Maximum HR: 187
Average HR: 171

Gentle Pickups
Time: 6:37
Distance: 0.75 miles
Pace: 8:49/mile
Calories: 72
Maximum HR: 182
Average HR: 162

Back On The Upper East Side

Earlier this week, Drew had asked me if I'd like to come along with him when he met with his personal trainer. The original plan was to meet Friday morning. When I got home from the gym last night, I found out that the plan had changed and that we'd actually be meeting with the trainer, Billy, this morning. The only bummer about this plan (regardless of what day it was) is that we had to meet Billy at Drew's old gym on the Upper East Side. Since we had to meet Billy at 6 AM this morning, I said that we weren't getting up any earlier than we had to and we'd be taking a cab to get to the gym.

We got to the gym and stuffed our stuff into the locker room and when we met upstairs to do a little cardio before Billy got there, Drew told me that he had just gotten a text from Billy, who had a "minor catastrophe" at home and was running late. So, that meant that we had some time to kill. Luckily, we had brought our work clothes with us, so it didn't really matter if Billy was on time or not since we could just go straight from the gym to work.

Drew said we had about a half an hour to kill, so he jumped on the arc trainer. I really wanted to use the stair mill, but Drew said he didn't want to be exhausted from them, so I listened to what he had to say and did the elliptical machine. Except that really wasn't what I wanted to do. And I wasn't putting any effort into the whole thing. So, after 14 minutes of lack-luster elliptical, Nature was calling. I took care of that and decided to spend the next 16 minutes on the stairs. So much better! I was sweaty and happy!

Billy got there around 6:30 and rounded us up and took us to the weight room. Right away he had us grab some dumbbells. I got a 15 pounder and a 20 pounder. He had me start by setting both on the ground and then picking one up and lifting it over my head, setting it down and switching to the other dumbbell and doing the same thing. I did 15 of those with each arm.

Then I switched to the cable machine (which I hate). This exercise wasn't so bad though. All I had to do was pull the handle that was attached to the cable, while rotating my torso (similar to punching someone). I did 15 of those with each arm at 27.5 lbs.

Then I went back to the dumbbells for round two, but Billy bumped up the weight to 15 lbs and 25 lbs. Let me tell you, it makes a lot of difference those extra 5 pounds on the heavier dumbbell. I did 15 more of those with each arm. And then went back to the cable machine for round two at 32 lbs (15 reps per arm).

Then he had us lift up the Squat Machine with our arms (feet on the floor) 15 times. I did it with no weight, but Drew had to do it with weight, which just seemed mean. I also wasn't able to keep my feet on the floor the whole time. I had to jump up onto the platform to make it easier on myself (and keep my arms from failing).

We alternated that exercise with some modified pull-ups. We used the Smith Machine. Our feet were up on a workout bench at the end of the machine and we had to lift ourselves up 15 times. My arms were pretty much screaming at me already by this point. Then, of course, we had to do the Squat Machine thing again 15 times and the Smith Machine pull-ups 15 times. On the second round of Smith Machine pull-ups, I had to put my feet on the floor at the end in order to complete my 15 reps.

Then there was a quick breather while we walked from one area of the gym to another. We went into more of a stretching area and Billy had us get into plank position and just hold it for a few seconds. Then he had us alternate between plank position on our hands and plank position on our elbows. Ugh. That pretty much sucks. I couldn't even tell you how many times we did that. I think it was about 15 times the first time, but then we had to do some more later on, so I'd guess that we did that 20 times in total.

This is where things get a little fuzzy for me because I wasn't really in a position where I could write things down. I know that we did 25 real sit-ups. Turns out that I'm not very good at those. Billy had to hold my feet down. I am really good at crunches, though! We also did 5 push-ups.

And then we had to do this horrible thing involving a ball. I got really frustrated during this part. The point of it was that we were in plank position and we had to get our hands up onto the ball and then back off the ball. I thought that we were supposed to be able to get our hands up at the same time, which just wasn't working for me. I sort-of wanted to lean back and "jump" onto the ball with my hands, but that didn't seem very smart. I had a really hard time doing this right. After I had gotten it down a couple of times, Billy said that we couldn't leave until I had done it two more times properly.

So, I did the first one and rolled the ball to Drew. Then I put my knee down on the ground for a second. Billy asked Drew if I was doing it right and Drew said that I did put my leg down. Of course, that meant that we had to do even more of these dumb ball exercises. Even though I put my leg down after I was done with my part and had rolled the ball back! Ugh! I wasn't a very happy camper at that point.

Luckily, that was it. Billy had another client at 7, so we only had him for a short while. Of course, I forgot to press start on my watch right when we started training with Billy, so that's why my stats are a little off below.

After that, we still had about an hour until we had to hit the showers, so Drew asked if I wanted to do a fartlek run with him on the treadmill. The answer was really no, but instead I said yes.
But, on the way there, we saw the computerized bikes that they had at that gym and decided that we really needed to try them out. They were Expresso bikes. Um, can you just say awesome bikes? I'm pretty sure I've seen these before on Brie's blog and was super jealous when I saw them there.

They're really nice. They have gears that you have to change, the handle bars move, the seat isn't horrible, you can clip in (although I didn't have my bike shoes with me). I'd give it an A+ as far as bike equipment at a gymnasium and I fully intend on asking my regular gymnasium why they don't have one (or two!).

I chose a "Challenging" workout for us that was called "Wicked Workout". That should have been a dead giveaway right there. There were some serious hills in that baby! The highest % grade that we saw was 49%! Try climbing that in real life. Drew said he didn't really know anything about % grade or why it's done as a percentage, but I think that this article does a good job explaining it.

The riding was really fun (despite the fact that I spent a good deal of time muttering under my breath about the hills). It was fun because you had to try to stay on the road and I could see Drew ahead of me. I also really liked it because I tried to catch up to the other riders and then crash into them. It didn't really seem to have any effect on my riding or theirs, but it was a great source of entertainment for me!

The only really negative thing that I'd have to say about this bike is that the downhills were nothing like real life. You had no credit for the momentum you'd have if you were really going down a steep hill. But, I guess if I wanted it to be real, I'd don a bunch of cold-weather gear and ride my bike outside. The other negative thing was that Drew was way faster than me. He finished about 13 minutes before I did. I wasn't overly excited that he was that much faster than me, but I still had a really good time riding bikes with him.

In total this morning, I burned exactly 1000 recorded calories at the gym! I'm pretty sure that might be a new record for the gymnasium! I also think that it was probably more than that since I cheated myself out of a few minutes of working out with Billy, but I'm really happy with that total and all the effort that I put in this morning. I'm going to be out of town this weekend and I have almost no expectation that I'll be working out (in fact, I'll be making Christmas cookies, and lots of them), so I'm trying to compensate for that now. This was a really good start!

Elliptical & Stair Mill
Time: 30:00
Distance: 2.75 miles
Pace: 10:54/mile
Calories: 272
Maximum HR: 165
Average HR: 144

Training with Billy
Time: 22:10
Calories: 215
Maximum HR: 175
Average HR: 149

Expresso Spin Bike
Time: 47:10
Distance: 7.93 miles
Pace: 10.1 MPH (average)
Calories: 513
Maximum HR: 204*
Average HR: 160

*This heart rate is 100% wrong. When I was starting my watch for the bike riding, I looked down and it flashed on 204 and then immediately went to 118. So something was wrong for a second there (or I have some sort of heart flutter/murmur). But, since it says it on my watch and I don't have the actual number, I'm just going to record it anyway.