Riri vs Treadmill

I have been thinking a lot about this post and how to phrase it, literally. This year, working on the treadmill has been very depressing for me and not only because I'm claustrophobic and I feel that I cannot breathe indoors without a fan blowing air in my face, but also because it made me discover my limits and as a result it feel like a huge failure. I know that I should not be so hard on myself, but what can I do, I am very competitive, especially with myself and I want to see results and I want to see them now, dammit!

My coach has been trying to make me work harder and faster, so I can improve my running speed. Maybe the method is not good for me, or the numbers are not appropriate to my current fitness level, or I am just a big wimp, but every time I've been trying to do these interval workouts on the treadmill I have been crashing hard, especially inside my head. I even cried like a baby a few times. Exhibit A, the last Tempo intervals workout geekery:

I was supposed to do the following: 5 min @ 6mph, 5 min @ 8mph, 5 min @ 5mph, 5 min @ 8mph, 5 min @ 5mph, 5 min @ 8mph, 5 min @ 5mph cooldown.

As usual, I could not complete all 3 "hard" intervals at 8mph, I could only run for 3 minutes in the last one. If you look at my heart rate, it is always close to max (192bpm) during those intervals and my cadence ends up above 200 strides per minute. I am way up there in Zone "Off the charts", when I should probably be in high Zone 4. I think I should not even run for more than a minute or two in that zone anyway. Yes, no?

By the way, here are my heart zones:

Note that my max HR is 194. When I run at 6.5mph, my heart rate is already in Zone 5. See last night's "relaxed" run on the treadmill again, Exhibit B:

Here I did 6 min @ 6mph, 25 min @ 6.5mph and 5 min cooldown at 6mph again. For almost the entire interval at 6.5mph, I was above 170bpm, with a cadence of 186. When I run "slowly" at 5mph, I usually run at a cadence of 180 strides per minute, so unlike other people who are training hard to reach this number, I am already there out of habit (and forefoot strike, methinks). Or short legs. Did I mention that I am 5'3"? But then, Mirinda Carfrae is also 5'3" and she runs a 2h53 marathon. Or Nicole, she kicks my ass with an average of 5:52min/km pace in training and is shorter by what... 3 inches? Seriously girl, how do you do it??

And since I'm comparing myself to everyone else (can't help it, sorry), here's the same type of workout, done by hubbs, with an average page of 4:30min/km, nonetheless. Because he can.

For crying out loud, he's making these look way too easy!!

So, back to my so called failures, am I pushing too hard, too soon? Am I killing myself with these intervals? I feel defeated, that's for sure. I don't know where to go from here, I know that I hit a limit, but should I push through and HTFU or accept it and dial down a bit? Coach is going to make me start hill repeats next, but my inquiring mind still wants to understand what is the limiting factor for me here, or rather what I should improve to go over this hump. I think that I should lengthen my stride so I don't go as high as 200 strides per minute (and once I get there, the heart should also slow down and magically I will be able to hold that pace... wishful thinking is a powerful thing). All this looks like madness to me right now. I wonder how the pros do it. Rinny, where are you when I need you? Bottom line: I am scared and I wish someone would tell me "you're going to be ok". Maybe this IS what it takes to get faster afterall...

*cries*

(Going back to crawling in a fetal position and cuddling with my heating blankie)

UPDATE: I came across this excellent post on Training Peaks Blog: How to Get Faster with Interval Training. I found it very informative and it answered most of my questions on the subject. An excerpt is below:

The timing of your efforts is very important. If the efforts are too long, lactic acid will accumulate, VO2 max is stressed too much and you will be forced to slow down or not be able to complete the workout as planned due to undue fatigue. If they are too short, the total time at the optimal intensity is condensed and gains are reduced. Keep in mind that the goal is not to go as fast as possible for the work portion but rather to accumulate time at the desired pace. By completing these efforts at the correct intensity, namely 80-95% of VO2max, you will begin to notice significant performance improvement.

I think I know where to go from here: dial down the top speed and work on bringing the cadence down. Sounds like a plan.

A week full of WIN!

It's time to stop complaining about the winter and go inside!! D'uh! You would think that I'm smarter than this, but procrastination gets the best of me sometimes. This week, finally, I decided that enough was enough, I have a gym membership that I've been paying for a reason. So for once, I decided NOT to skip the treadmill and bike workouts, and drag my ass to the gym both times that it was required. I even went to the pool. A really tri-athletic week: WIN!!

Monday was Yoga as usual. Sweat, stretch and suffer. With each week I can see my flexibility increasing and I love it! Not sure if my joints agree, but so far so good, nothing started shaking or wobbling since. Yoga music was also pretty cool this week, more words than strings and flutes - it kept us awake for sure. By the way, if you ever wanted to know what instruments are played in traditional Yoga music, I came across this article (because I am curious like that).

On Tuesday I went for a minimalist run and increased the time to 30 minutes - still no pain. Awesome! Can it get better? Yes it can!

Wednesday evening I took a look at my schedule and I saw *gasp* a 1h50 bike ride. With intervals and the word HARD, five times. Well, what else could I do? I don't have a bike trainer, so gym was gonna be it. I can't really remember what I had for dinner that night, but fact is, it was NOT enough. I only had water with me on the bike and when the workout was finally over, I wondered if I could walk all the way to the change rooms and then drive back home. It literally felt like I had left on that bike the last ounce of energy that I had in me and that my bones were standing up like a castle made out of cards. I zig-zagged my way back to the lockers, on the road and up the stairs to my bedroom where I collapsed in my bed with no recollection of any events.

Sweat, water and VEVO

Thankfully I found a picture in my phone that cured my amnesia (most likely taken halfway, just before I had to restart the workout. Why do those bikes always have a 1h limit?)

Thursday was stay-at-home day because my company was moving offices and the movers were in there instead of us, pushing plastic crates around, up and down the elevators, and all the way to the opposite side of the city. Don't get me started. It sucks, for having doubled my commute time, but at least there is some good in it (see the end of the post). Anyway, I woke up, sent the kids to school, had breakfast, then returned to bed. I was still feeling exhausted and could not keep my eyes open - seriously down for the count. Maybe it was all the packing and cleaning that I had done since the beginning of the week, or the stress of having to work and meeting deadlines while doing all this, or the stress of moving altogether. Fact is, I slept until 1pm, then of course, returned to work on my laptop. At least I had decided that I was not going to leave my bed.

In the evening though, I knew there were workouts waiting for me and both required me to get up, get dressed and leave the house. I had another quick dinner (a small slice of pizza and two clementines) and rushed to the gym. Opened Training Peaks and discovered this.

Which resulted in this:

How thoughtful of coach Dave. Trying to kill me before the weekend. But I survived. And I wanted MORE. Masochistic much?

Maybe, given that I didn't go home after this, no no... I went straight to the sauna where I cooked for 20 minutes, then put on my bathing suit and then drove to the pool where the weekly tri club swim was about to begin. I had missed it for 2 weeks already, no more excuses. I'm pretty sure this isn't what coach Dave had in mind for me, he's not that evil, but if I was trying to find a way to die that night, this would have been the perfect fit. With only a pack of Stinger chews in me after the run (I'm pretty sure the pizza slice was long gone), I tried keeping up the best I could, but by the end of the night I had swallowed half of the pool and my stomach was dragging me down. I finished the class, but they had to fish me out with a harpoon, then jump on me to get the water out and refill the pool. Yikes, that's gross.

I beat the odds one more time. PHEW!

Today: REST. I walked for 5.5km. Can't keep me put, sorry, Dave. It was the first day in the new office and after an uneventful commute, I re-assessed my stress level and decided that working in this new place wasn't going to be so bad after all. It feels cozy for bringing people a lot closer together (hello, Mark - my cubicle buddy!), I have a window seat (after many days spent in tears),

Cubicle with a view

a gym on the same floor (photos by Becky Benson)

Treadmills and dumbells, wheee!

Elliptical machines

Torture machines

and a beautiful trail to run on.

The Don River Trail - my new best friend

I'm saying - why keep on stressing and looking at the bad side of things when you can flip the coin with a trick of the mind and embrace the opportunities that are being offered. You just have to open your eyes to see them.

Workouts with no pain, days spent in bed, new limits found, new friends made, nature at your feet.
This week was definitely full of WIN!!