photo by Steve Penland

Monday, July 29, 2013

This "Middle-Aged Woman" Thing

About ten years ago, my sister Energizer Bunny and I headed to Thunder Bay to do an inline skating race.  We had to leave early in the morning, and one thing led to another and we left a bit late.  As we approached Customs on the Canadian border, EB began to fret.  Would be be questioned?  Searched?  What if we were detained so long that we missed the race?  We'd have to do our best to get through Customs as quickly as possible.

So, driver's licenses at the ready (this was before passports were required for Canada), we did our best to look honest and innocent and pulled to a stop next to the nice young Customs agent leaning out the window.

"Hi," he said cheerfully, "where are you headed?"

"Thunder Bay," we chorused honestly.

"Reason for your visit?"

"We're doing an inline skating race," we answered innocently.

"Well, have fun," he smiled, and waved us on our way.

Total time in customs: 5 seconds.

As we pulled away, EB looked at me.

"Well," she said, "this middle-aged woman thing is working out pretty well for us so far."

So now I'm ten years further into "this middle-aged woman thing;" in fact, I turn 50 in less than three months.  And turning 50 has been seriously messing with my head.  40 was fine, 45 was no problem, but 50 is tough.  I feel old, it sounds old, and I don't want to be old.

A mid-life crisis, in fact.

But the other day, as I was pairing up with the only other "middle-aged" woman in my Crossfit class, and we were selecting the lightest "training bar" while the sturdy young chicks were selecting the regular bar and even (gasp!) adding weights to it, it occurred to me:

I'm almost 50.  I'm middle-aged (and then some). I'm old enough to be the sturdy young chicks' mother.

And rather than being depressing, I found this a very freeing thought.

Yeah, I'm middle-aged.  So I'm gonna grab that light bar, and be proud of it.  I'm going to go to the cell phone store and ask the nice young man there how to silence the weird voice chanting "loss of service" on my new smartphone rather than trying to figure it out myself, because I'm almost 50 and it's OK if I don't know these things. I'm going to wear whatever I damn well feel like, eat PopTarts for breakfast if I want to, and be proud of my ignorance of the latest stupid youth-oriented reality TV show.

Because I'm a middle-aged woman, and I've earned it. Bring it, 50--I'm ready for you!


Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Easy Week

I'm sitting at the Oval, where I'll be for the next three hours--and I'm not going to skate.

Weird.

I'm in the middle of "Easy Week," which means that the only oval workout I'll do this week is the  Wednesday night races tomorrow.  That, a Crossfit workout on Friday, and a couple easy recovery skates will complete Easy Week.

Still, Easy Week or no, I wouldn't usually pass up the opportunity to skate. I'm here at the oval for the monthly meeting of the Greater MN Speedskating Association, and since the Hubster had a meeting on this side of town as well, and his meeting starts an hour and a half before mine does, I've got some time to kill here.  Normally I'd just skate around easy, maybe do a couple technique drills, and just generally not waste the opportunity to skate on the oval.  But my hamstring, which has been bugging me for seven months now, and which I'm going to PT for, took great exception to the running sprints in a recent Crossfit workout and I need to do everything I can to help it heal during Easy Week--which means no unplanned skating sessions, and which may even mean no races tomorrow night, depending on how the hamstring feels when I skate my warmup laps.

Still, despite the nice weather and the fact that I haven't skated for six days, I'm not too sorry to be  sitting inside typing instead of being outside skating.  The oval is particularly skate-park-punk infested today.  I'd show you a picture--I even took one--but I'm  typing this on my parents' iPad which just became our iPad, and I don't know how to get the picture I took into this post. So you'll just have to imagine the bikers and skateboarders swarming all over the track.

Really.  It's horrific.

So I'll  continue to rest, and enjoy Easy Week, and hope that by the time I start the hard oval workouts again next Monday, the hamstring will be happy to participate  without complaining.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Two-a-Days

Back in the spring of 2007, when TieGuy first started coaching me, I remember commenting--after a particularly nasty dryland workout--that I'd never worked out that hard before.

"You just wait," said TieGuy (undoubtedly with an internal evil little chuckle), "by July you'll be doing two-a-days."

And then July rolled around and I reminded him about that statement and TieGuy, who now had several months' experience with the workout load that my then-43-year-old body could and could not handle, said "uh, no--you're not doing two-a-days."

And he was right. Ever since then, I've felt like I was pushing my max effort by doing three hard skating workouts and one recovery workout a week.  The idea of doing two workouts a day--which is standard for the younger skaters during some parts of the year--was incomprehensible.

But now, suddenly, I find myself doing two-a-days twice a week.

True, they're not two skating workouts--no way could I do that.  No, the second workout is Crossfit, which, it turns out, is kicking my butt in an entirely different way than skating does.  As in, right now I can hardly type this because my arms are so sore/tired/non-functional from a devilish little thing called "Renegade Rows." (Except that  my rows are modified, so "renegade" is probably not accurate; let's just call my version "middle aged lady who sometimes has mildly rebellious thoughts but never acts on them" rows.  Either way, they are HARD.)

So anyway, the last two weeks I've done three hard skating workouts and two Crossfit workouts, and both weeks the Crossfit has ended up on a day I'm also skating.  That means that, in addition to two-a-day workouts, I get two-a-day 30 mile drives (I did mention that I selected a Crossfit place further from home than was prudent, didn't I?), two-a-day post-workout protein shakes (and I'm happy to announce that I've finally found the perfect fruit-juice mixer for my unflavored protein powder--ice cold Ruby Red Grapefruit juice.  Yum.), two-a-day showers, and two-a-day post-workout vegging on the couch sessions.  All of which leaves very little time for, well, pretty much anything else.  Good thing I'm off work in the summer.

And it's a really good thing that next week is my easy week.  Instead of two-a-days, for the next 10 days I've got a trip to the cabin, two easy recovery workouts, no Crossfit, and only one oval workout (the Wednesday races).  Given how tired I've been the past couple days, and given the skyrocketing lap times I experienced in today's interval workout, it's definitely time for a break.    I just hope that, after the break, I can handle the two-a-days, because I'm really liking Crossfit and I think it's going to help me be more generally fit, and also it will, I hope, benefit my skating.

If it doesn't kill me first.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

My, How Things Change!

I am (as I believe I've mentioned) currently doing workouts that Coach TieGuy wrote for me in 2007.  It was the first full year he'd coached me, and so the workouts were kind of a baseline; he increased the volume every year after that until he stopped coaching in 2011.  Since Version 2013 of me is not capable of doing Version 2011 of the workouts, I decided to go back and start at the beginning again.  And it's been a good decision; the workouts are just the right volume and I'm completing them without having to modify anything.

TieGuy's 2007 workout schedule features distinct, frequent "easy weeks."  From June through August, there are two "hard weeks"--three oval workouts and some recovery stuff--followed by an "easy week"--one oval workout and some recovery stuff.  And frankly, these "easy weeks" were another reason I wanted to go back to the 2007 workouts.  In more recent years, TieGuy hasn't cut the load back as much for easy weeks, and as I got older it became harder to recover enough to tackle the next "hard" cycle.  So I wanted to try having an easier "easy" again.

The thing is, though, I used to hate the easy weeks.  I missed my oval workouts, I hated wanting to eat everything in sight, I felt bored and restless without the hard workouts to focus on.

Now, though?  Well, I just finished one hard week and have another one coming up...and already I can't wait for my easy week.

Can.  Not.  Wait.

It's amazing how much difference just six years of aging makes.  I still love my oval workouts, I love the challenge of doing something hard, and I love completing a workout as it's written and feeling like I couldn't have done any more.  But now, I also love resting my aching legs.  I look forward to seeing if a few days' rest will help my sore hamstring (PT is definitely improving things, but it's also clear that my workouts are not helping).  And I look forward to starting the next "hard" cycle with fresh legs.

True, my recent foray into Crossfit is probably not helping. Adding two workouts a week--workouts which, based on the current level and location of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, are using muscles that haven't been asked to perform for years--is a significant increase in load.  I'm really enjoying the Crossfit workouts, but it's pretty obvious that they are a contributor to my "thank God it's almost easy week" thoughts.

So let the countdown begin...just five more workouts until "easy week!"

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Putting the "Cross" in "Crossfit"

For the past couple years I've been on a continual occasional quest to find another type of exercise to balance the body parts that don't get a workout (or get a very asymmetrical workout) when I'm skating.  Skating is awesome exercise, and I'll put my quads up against those of most other almost-50-year old women (not literally!), but--at least the way I do it--speedskating is rather one-dimensional.  By "the way I do it" I mean, of course, that I suck at doing "the stuff that most skaters do but that I don't do because it's not skating and therefore I don't like it"--stuff like core work, and doing something with my arms besides swinging the right one.

So I've been in fairly casual pursuit of something that would perhaps make my core resemble a bowl of jelly just a bit less, and that would get my arms back to the "I'm stronger than most girls" state that they enjoyed when I was a kid and was frequently schlepping hay bales to the shed to feed my goats (another story for another day!) and drawknifing  logs for my dad's woodworking business.  I did yoga pretty faithfully for the first couple years that TieGuy coached me, and then that faded away.  A couple years ago I took a Pilates class, but that didn't seem like a workout and really didn't hold my attention.  And this spring I had a solid month of doing core workouts with my dryland peeps, but once the cycling season started they abandoned me for the joys of two big wheels and a nice set of brakes...and of course, once I was on my own I promptly quit the core stuff.  So after that I ignored the whole "skating is asymmetrical and only works parts of the body" thing and just merrily went along my counterclockwise way.

This summer, though, my desire to get my poop in a group before I hit the big Five-Oh in October coincided with the realization that not only am I giving my chiropractor plenty to work on, but I've now got something (sore hamstring related to low back issues) that needs physical therapist intervention as well. Time to find a way to work out more of my body, and to balance the unbalanced bits.

Enter Crossfit.

Now, I don't live under a rock, but for someone who spends a lot of time randomly surfing the net I can be remarkably oblivious to trends (just check out my wardrobe if you need proof).  So while I had heard the term "Crossfit," I had no idea what it was.  But then I saw positive references to it in a couple of athlete blogs that I follow, so I decided to check it out.  And with my usual "take one quick glance and then leap" approach that drives the more methodical Hubster nuts, I found a Crossfit place and signed up for a free introductory workout all within about 20 minutes of research (turns out I should have found a place closer to home, but whatever).

The introductory session was fun--a warmup followed by a simple Crossfit workout that was, of course, timed (ooh--data!  I love data!).  The workout featured rowing (boy was I glad I had dug out our rowing machine--donated by my brother in law and never used by us--last spring when rain and snow kept me off my inline skates), and then situps, pushups, and finally pullups assisted by a big rubber band--or in my case, two big rubber bands.  Weak arms and chunkiness are a bad combo for pullups.  Anyway, the workout went well, and I found the whole thing enjoyable enough that I signed up for a month of classes (the "Evolutions" learn-to-Crossfit sessions).

Last night was the first official class.  It was in the evening, and unfortunately I'd had a pretty nasty endurance skating workout that morning (9x2K), but you gotta do what you gotta do.  Besides, the first Crossfit workout hadn't been very leg-intensive, so I had hope that this one would focus more on core and upper body as well.

Not so.  The workout was three rounds of 400 meter run, some barbell thing which I forget the name of, and Ring Rows.  Oh, well--I can run 400 meters, right?

The class consisted of a warmup (which featured some of the things I see other skaters doing when they warmup but which I've never done but which maybe I should start doing, like hip mobilization stuff), and then instruction in the barbell stuff we'd be doing.  And then we were off on the workout.

And despite my somewhat leaden legs, it went well.  I was a bit frustrated by the fact that the class was large enough that I had to wait for the barbell in two of the three rounds (c'mon, people, the clock is ticking!), but it wasn't that big of a deal.  The instructor had me do a modified version of the barbell thing (perhaps he noticed the same lack of coordination that had TieGuy dubbing me a "motor moron" within a few weeks of his starting coaching me) so that went OK.  The only other issue was that the gym (or, apparently, "box," as the Crossfit spaces are called) is un-airconditioned.  Mix a 90 degree humid Minnesota summer day with an indoor space filled with people working out, then add in a middle aged woman who is just beginning to enjoy the world of hot flashes, and you've got an impressively sweaty situation. Good thing my car has seat covers.

But it was fun, and I can still walk and move my arms today, so that's a bonus.  I plan to finish out the Evolutions course at the current "box," then perhaps look for one closer to home if I still like Crossfit by then.

Hopefully, my arms and core and back will thank me.

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Unexpected

I'm a special ed teacher in my non-skating life.  In the past couple years, I've seen some new terminology come into the special education world, particularly when teaching children with autism (which is not my area of specialization, but several of my colleagues are in this area).  Children with autism often have difficulty learning social skills and need instruction on what behaviors are appropriate in different settings.  The old days of "you're a bad boy, stop that" are thankfully gone, and even the words "wrong" and "right" are rarely heard these days.  "Appropriate" and "inappropriate" were in vogue for quite some time, and I liked those words, because they're pretty concrete and they accurately convey whether a behavior is acceptable or not.  The newest terms, though, seem to be "expected" and "unexpected."  When you're sitting in a math lesson, looking at your book and raising your hand are "expected" behaviors.  Yelling and jumping out of your seat are "unexpected."

Maybe I'm just a cranky old lady (well, actually, there's little doubt about that!), but I just can't get behind the whole "expected/unexpected" thing.  We seem to be trying to find a non-judgmental way to convey what behavior should be displayed in certain situations, but really we're just using "unexpected" as a euphemism for "bad" or "inappropriate."  But it's a bad substitution, because the truth is, "unexpected" is not necessarily "bad."  Surprise parties are unexpected, as are such behaviors as random acts of kindness.  While "inappropriate" is, by definition, something we'd like to avoid, "unexpected" can be a good thing.

Like at the Summer Inline Series last night (you were wondering when I'd get back to skating, weren't you?).

Last night was supposed to be a make-up night for a rained out race date, but because it was July 3 the turnout was light, and race director Columbian Flash decided to hold a training session instead of racing (which he does on non-race nights).  Since I had no particular workout planned--other than "something fast"--I decided to go with the first part of his workout, 4x400 meters.  He put me in a group with four guys, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep up with them. Still, I followed them for their windup lap, and then hit the first flying 400-meter lap as hard as I could.

Of course, the guys immediately dropped me like a snot-covered palm slider, but once they had opened up a gap of 50 feet or so, they didn't increase the distance.  I skated harder than I have in a long time, trying to keep that gap from widening.  My skates felt "squirrely" and my technique deteriorated quite a bit, but I stayed strong the whole lap, and when I looked at my stopwatch at the end of the 400, I saw...

...38.66.

Thirty-eight and sixty-six-hundredths.  I haven't skated an inline lap that fast in three years.

Talk about unexpected.

The next two 400's were in my more usual "decent" range, at 40.2 seconds each.  Then, since I was beginning to question the 38 ("maybe I had a draft.  I know they dropped me right away, but maybe I had a draft for more of the lap than I thought..."), I decided to take an extra rest lap and then see if I could get the final 400 down under 40.

And I did.  OK, it was 39.9, but still, that's under 40.  And since it was my fourth all-out 400 in a row (with 2-3 laps rest between), I felt that it somewhat validated the 38.

So maybe I'm not that slow after all.  I mean, I know I'm slower now, in races, than I have been in the past, but the 38 perhaps means that the speed is still there, and I just need to get in better shape so I can sustain it for more laps.  Which is a whole lot happier thought than "I'm too old to ever go that fast again."

Happier, and entirely unexpected.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I'm Back! And I'm Slow!

Finally, the travelling is done--for a while, at least.  After spending 15 of the first 25 days of summer in places other than home, I'm ready to get into a routine for a few weeks.  Fortunately I didn't miss many workouts during all this travel, and my most recent trip--to the cabin for the family work weekend--coincided with my skating "easy week," so I didn't miss any workouts at all this past week. (For those hoping for my standard "cabin vacation pictures of my parents' four dogs" post--I forgot to take any pictures this time.  Oops.)

Anyway, despite not missing many workouts so far this summer, and despite my thyroid continuing to behave itself, and despite feeling like my workouts are going pretty well this summer...I am slow.  Really slow.  And if I had any doubts about my slowness, I efficiently removed them last Wednesday at my first Summer Inline Series oval races.

The Summer Inline Series races have been around since at least the early '90's; I think I first raced them in 1994.  Attendance back then was huge--sometimes as many as 50 people showed up to race on Wednesday nights (I'm pretty sure that my first full season of SIS races contributed to my fear of pack style racing--nothing like toeing the line with 10-15 men (they didn't divide by gender back then) who have more speed and aggression than skating skill to make you head straight for the back of the pack where things are relatively safe).  In 2013, the SIS races are a much more intimate gathering--usually under 20 people. Columbian Flash, the guy who runs the races, is a very talented inliner and he dispenses coaching and advice to the skaters as well as putting on some fun events.   He's also very open to changing races upon request--so when he announced that the women (all both of us) would be doing a 5K, about five different reasons to whine for something shorter popped into my head.

It's my first race of the season.  I haven't even skated 5K continuously in a workout, much less racing.  Of the workouts I've missed, most have been tempos/race pace. It's hot.  5K sounds scary.

I consider it a monumental mental victory that I shoved all these thoughts to the back of my mind, smiled, and told Columbian Flash "5K sounds great."

As it turned out, my concerns were not unfounded.  The race went OK--and by that I mean that I didn't quit--but I was slow.  My goal had been to do as close to 45 second laps as possible; this seemed relatively conservative, since my personal best in this distance features laps that average 41.5 seconds.

Of course, that was back in 2008.

In 2013, apparently, "as close to 45 second laps as possible" translates to doing one lap under 45 seconds in a 5K.  The other 11 laps ranged from 46 to a lovely 50.  I do know that some of the "slow" was mental, because after seeing the 50 at lap 9, I pulled it back down to 48's and a 47 for the remaining three laps.  And I'm hoping that some of the "slow" was because race day was my fourth day of hard skating in a row (since I had to cram all my workouts in before heading to the cabin).  Still, I'm pretty sure that some of the "slow" is attributable to "that's just the way things are now."

Anyway, I won't have to wait long to find out, because the SIS races happen again tomorrow night--and I told Columbian Flash, when he asked last week what we women would like to do in the future for our races, that a 3K and a 5K each night might be nice...