New Pic on top

I put a new pic on top of my blog. That's from the beginning of the second race on Saturday at Triple T last May. It was a really high resolution pic that I zoomed in about 400%

Week Ending 11/22/09

Swim 13600 yards in 4:15
Run 36.8 in 5:16:51

Swim went OK this week Friday was fun with faster sets but I just didn't feel like swimming so I only got 3200 in. Today we had trouble with the lane lines and it took 10 minutes off of our swim time so we were 400 yards short today. I felt really strong today despite being 4th in line. I need to make some time to see Elena again to work on my technique.

Running was good too, I've got a pair of Zoot shoes to try out. They seem OK but I've got to break them in before I try to go barefoot in them. My latest pair of Fastwitch shoes are dead now. I really like those shoes and will be looking for another pair. My Asics will be my primary pair now that they are broken in. I have a pair of Riders still in the box but it looks like they won't be comming out any time soon since the Asics are starting to feel better, it only took 60 miles to break them in :(

I've lost another 2 lbs this week :) That's good news, if I can keep that pace up then I should make my goal by the new year or a week into it. I'll do my best to get near 140 lbs again. I should be scary thin by then.

I may try to swim and/or run a little bit tomorrow depending on how I feel. No more than 2000 yards of swimming or :30 min or running might be in order. I'll see what the weather is like and make a decision.

Midweek 11/18/09

2 good swims this week so far.
Monday was a broken 1650 with warm up and cool down and Wednesday I did 15X200 on 3:15.

On the 200's I tried to come in at 2:50 but most of the time I was at 2:52-3. I finished out the hour with easy 100's on 1:45.

Monday run was 6 miles of moderate running.

Tuesday I did the Lightfest run in Hines park. I started at the far end (finish line end) and ran with Eric K, Jim C and his sisters. I met Karen at the actual start, ran for 5 min with her, did 20 min of tempo then turned around to pick up Karen again to finish the run. I felt slow that night probably cuz of the slow start and had a difficult time holding 7:30's during the 20 min section. I just couldn't get my feet to turn over. Anywho that was the Q1 workout so I'll get to do the shorter Q2 on Saturday. The entire run was just under 11 miles.

Wednesday's run was a shorter at 4.3 miles just to get run time in. I would still like to keep 6 runs per week through the winter. My left quad had been hurting since monday and I debated on taking Thursday off of running but for some reason it's all better now.

Weight loss is going well. I have actually lost 4lbs in the last 11 days by keeping track of everything I eat (and I really mean everything) and assigning a value to it. I have made better choices to keep myself under 2200 calories a day including the energy foods I eat. I have felt weak in swimming at times but I'm going to have to deal with that untill I get my weight in the place I want it to be.

Week ending 11/15/09

I missed a swim this week cuz two of the pools I swim at were closed and I didn't feel like swimming on Sunday :P

Swim 10,000 yards in ~3:00
Run 37.7 miles in ~5:17

Swimming was all freestyle this week cuz I wanted to see if my shoulders would feel better if I did so. They did. I'm going to do some minimal stroke work this week break things up a little. I probably will not try to make up the swim distance lost from last week.

Running went well. Tuesday was a faster day with the intervals and Saturday was a long(er) run. I ran 6 days again and felt better. The newer shoes are feeling better but not quite right yet. I would think that with over 50 miles on them that they would be broken in by now. I bought another pair of shoes (Mizuno Riders) to replace the Asics Cumulus if they don't work out. I've run in the Riders many times before, I was just looking for a shoe that I could get more milage out of and normally I was able to do that with Asics shoes.

I've lost 2 lbs last week by writing down everything that I eat. This makes me more aware of what I'm eating and what I require. I'm still targeting ~2000 cals a day and hopefully will be able to lose another 10 lbs in the next few months. It's still hard for me to do this but I'm still just too heavy for my height.

GRRRRR!

Pool was closed this morning...Now I've got to swim tomorrow :(

Midweek 11/11/09

1 good and 1 OK swim so far.

Monday was long sets of 400 which I like so much more than doing a bunch of 50's and 100's.

Wednesday was supposed to have a lot of stroke work in it but doing so hurts my shoulder sockets so I opted to do freestyle instead. I had my own lane and wasn't bothering anyone else :) When saturday comes around I'll know if it was the stroke work that hurt my shoulders last week for sure.

3 runs so far...I'm finally getting some faster work. Once again I'm doing Daniels Marathon A plan (verbatim).
Monday was a 6 mile run at an easy pace

Tuesday was about 7.5 miles with 3X4 min hard with 3 min easy between them + warm up and cool down. The last interval was the fastest one as I tend to feel better when warmed up. 2 miles of warm up wasn't enough, next time I do something like that I'll move up to 3 miles.

Wednesday's run was just junk miles like monday, 4 miles of easy running before I went to swim.

I've been struggling with my weight lately. Since I stopped racing I've gained a few lbs. In October I cut out a lot of candy and sweets, because of that I've stayed about even in weight. I cut some more calories in the last few weeks with poor results so I decided to take my own advise and write down everything I eat in a spreadsheet and then assign calories to it.

Here it is.

What I noticed is that I eat a lot of Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches and chips. I want to know exactly how much I eat and of what so I can make better choices and get my weight down. I also added a section of what exercise I've done that day to help figure out how many calories I need. Hopefully this will make me more responsible for what I eat.

I can count to 16!

I just wanted to write out yesterday's workout with sets of 400

3500 yards
12X75 Warm up

6X400 with 1 min rest as:

2x400 straight
2X(2X200) :20 rest
2X(4X100) :10 rest

200 cool down

400's came in ~5:50
200's came in ~2:52
100's came in ~1:25-1:26

Week ending 11/8/09

This week went mostly as planned and I've stuck to the schedule but added run on Thursday and went for a short bike ride today since it was so nice outside.

This weeks totals
Swim 14,000 yards in 4:45
Bike 20 miles in about 1:05
Run 38.65 miles in 5:23:46

I finshed out the week swimming strong despite my shoulders being sore from the stroke work on wednesday. Friday was hard and fast swimming against Fred T, that's what I think I need to get faster. 14,000 yards is more in line with my weekly goals for the month.

Running went well too, I added a short run on Thursday to get 6 days of running. By the time the long run came on Saturday I was pretty tired and it took about 4 miles to get warmed up. The hard swim on Saturday morning also probably had somthing to do with that. Now that I've got 6 weeks of easy running done I've laid out the prep work for some faster training. I'm starting to second guess my origion plan and do a 10K program instead...I'm just not sure of the direction to go in. I feel that mile-speed is what I need and not endurance, I can work on endurance in March and that will be too late to work on footspeed.

I've got one more day to over-analyze this :)

Midweek 11/04/09

My midweek report
2 good swims on Monday and Wednesday
Monday was a lot of hard free sets and I got 3700 yards in about 1:10
Wednesday had a lot of stroke work and half way through the workout I switched to freestyle. 3000 yards in 1:00

3 decent runs 5.1 on monday, 8 on tuesday, 5.4 on wednesday
Monday and wednesday were junk mile days. Tuesday was my intermediate run day and I finished pretty strong. I'm still running my longer runs in my Fastwitch shoes. I really like those shoes and could run every time in them without issues. The only problem with them is that the soles wear out so fast. I can only get about 200 miles out of them before I've worn the tread off...I've got about 150 miles on my current pair.

I'm breaking in new shoes on my junk mile days and I really don't like them. Asics Cumulus...I've only got 27 miles in them so they really aren't broken in yet. My heels slip, there is a lot of padding in the forefoot so that part is sore, the right heel is bugging me and my right foot was a little tingly when I got done today...probably cuz I had them too tight. Otherwise they're "OK" :P

Week Ending 11/1/09

This week went mostly as planned and I'm trying to stick to this schedule.

Mon Run Short Swim 1 Hour
Tue Run Mid Distance
Wed Run Short Swim 1 Hour
Thu Off
Fri Run Short Swim 1 Hour
Sat Swim with FAST 1 Hour Run Longer
Sun Off

This weeks totals
Swim 13,000 yards in 4:25
Run 33.5 miles in 4:42:49

I've been building up the swim volume and run volume slowly
I'm up to 33 miles of running this week and have been averaging just over 13,000 yards a week. I'd like to be near 38 miles next week and bump up to 15,000 yards for the the next month.

I'm 5 weeks into swimming and running after my layoff and am feeling good. I've swum almost 60,000 yards this month and my shoulders are finally starting to adjust to the increase and feel better than they did a few weeks ago.

My running is getting better with 5 runs per week for the last 3 weeks and I may add a short run tomorrow depending on how I feel. I've got 1 more week of easy running and then I go into my next phase of my run plan which has a short fast day, a longer day and then easy running for the rest of the week. I'm doing the Daniels Marathon A plan. The weather is getting colder but I've still been able to do all of my running outside. If it gets nasty I'll run on the treadmill and track at the Rec Center.

Swimming will continue as it's been. I've been swimming better since I went to the swim clinic and may spend another 3 days out there to work on swimming technique again. There has been a 5 to 7 second improvment from this time last year. I'm able to regulary come in under 1:20 for 100 if I have enough rest now. 100's on 1:35 is very doable now, last year I struggled with 1:40's.

Biking is still on hold until December when I'll slide 2 sessions in on thursday and sunday.

Plans for the Off Season

Looking at my strengths and weaknesses I’ve decided to go back to work on my run and swimming again during this off-season. I need to run faster and lose some weight this winter :(

At Racine I rode a comfortable 2:25 and had a good run afterwards. The fastest bike split in my AG was a 2:19 so realistically I will probably only be able to pick up a few minutes on my bike for a HIM. As long as I can repeat that for next year I feel I will be in good shape.

My swims have been in the top 15% for most of my races but that is comparing myself to triathletes and not real swimmers. I would like to drop down below 22 minutes in my 1650 in the pool. That would be a little more than a minute improvement than I did last spring. I went to a clinic about 4 weeks ago and worked with a few coaches. They gave me a lot of little things to work on and I’ve seen improvements already. I’m able to swim long sets under a 1:25 pace where last year I was swimming near 1:30 for longer sets in training. My thoughts about my stroke are a little different now and it seems better. There are still things I need to work on to get me down to 1:20 per hundred for longer distances.

I’ve kept my swim volume at a medium level for right now to keep myself from getting shoulder problems. I’m trying to stay around 13,000 yards a week for another month before I pick it up again.

Running is where I’m going to focus my time this year. At Racine I was 20 minutes slower than the fastest run split of my AG. I ran a 1:44 and the fastest guy ran a 1:25. I figure that I could realistically take 5 minutes off my run time, which is about 23 seconds per mile. That may be a stretch but I feel it’s realistic.

I’m not 100% sure as to how I’m going to go about increasing my run speed. I’ve played around with the idea of going through Daniels Marathon A plan again which I think is a good mix of intensities for me. I’ve completed 4 weeks of building my run volume back up and have 2 more weeks before I would go into any sort of structured plan. Right now I feel a need to bring my threshold pace up and I think that the other paces will follow. That kind of training would include 3 to 8 minute intervals but I don’t know how to mix them yet. I need to ask questions.

Anywho, races and goals for next year are to match my best Triple T performance in the first 3 races and then drop 10 to 12 minutes in the Half. That would be dropping 5 to 7 minutes on the bike and about 5 minutes on the run. I still need to find a second “A” race for next year and possibly qualify for Long Course Nationals. Possible races include Spirit of Racine and Steelhead but I would really like to do something else.

I’m going to stay local for my smaller races instead of doing the HFP series again. That was a lot of traveling and despite the fun I had at those races I don’t really like all of that driving.

Lastly, I’m going to be taking a day off per week from triathlon training this winter. Not to rest but to go snowboarding and have fun. Expect to see some snowboarding pictures in the near future.

The rest of the summer races

I’ve been back at it for about 4 weeks now but here is a recap of what I’ve done after the race in Racine.

East Fork Triathlon, Olympic Distance near Cincinnati Ohio
Part of the HFP race series all the way down near Cincinnati Ohio. I was a bit hillier that I had expected but I was just trying to get series points. The resevoir had flooded a little bit and they had to change the run course. I was tired and didn’t post a good run time. Still 6th place at 2:28:33 was not too bad while training through the race.

The bike and run were much harder than I had expected. This is not a race to train through and I was not well prepared for it.

Vermilion Triathlon, Olympic Distance in Vermilion Ohio
It was a very nice little town that I visited many years ago when I was a kid racing sailboats. A lot of landmarks were still there. Karen and I both did the race prepping for the Breakwater Triathlon. She did the sprint and I did the Olympic (for points). The drive there was nice as it went down Highway 2, a route that Karen had never taken before and we got to see a little bit of Ohio that wasn’t from the highway.

The Olympic distance race got very hilly after 7 or 8 miles out, to the point that at the top of one hill, painted on the road was “Steep downhill…No Joke” and it was no joke. Still I liked the course and had a good time. The run was fairly flat but hot, I did OK for me while training through the race. 2:27:15 got me 3rd place on a hot day.

Afterwards Karen and I walked through town a little bit, had lunch then drove home. I would recommend this race to anyone.

Breakwater Triathlon HIM in Petoskey MI
I couldn’t really call this an “A” race since it was so close to Racine but I trained as if it was one and did a full taper despite it being 6 weeks after the previous HIM. I ranked it as a “BB” and wanted to do the best that I could with what I had left. This was Karen’s first HIM and she executed her plan perfectly and came in right on schedule.

It had been raining for the days leading up to this race and we were pleasantly surprised that it stopped for the race. The weather was still chilly on race morning and presented a unique challenge. The water was rough so they moved the swim course completely into the harbor. That wasn’t bad but I had hoped to swim in the waves outside the break wall and get a better lead on the poor swimmers L

The swim was uneventful and over very quickly, water temp was in the low 60’s so I wore my full Aquaman suit to stay warm.

Karen and I had ridden the bike course beforehand so I knew what was coming and had a plan for it. The course had a lot of rolling hills that came one after another with a lot of false flats too. 220 to 230 watts uphill and 170 to 180 watts on the flats was the plan and it worked quite well. I would ride restrained until mile 45 where I reassessed my abilities and decide what to do from there. At that point I felt very strong and rode by feel afterwards. I caught some people that had passed me earlier, even the girl that had drafted a friend of mine for the previous 30 miles. The only issue I had was that it took me about 10 minutes longer than I had expected but finished very strong.

The run was and out and back heading south on the path along Lake Michigan, it was very flat and easy to run. Since I was near the front of the race I didn’t see many people on the way out. I had figured that I was between 17th and 20th overall. On the way out I got passed by one person very early and passed 2 or 3 people on the first half, one of them passed me back, some young kid that was very nice. I went out a little harder than I did at Racine since I felt good but kept it under control and kept putting down the gels so I wouldn’t bonk. In the last 3 miles I didn’t have enough energy to pick it up and wound up keeping the same pace until the finish. A 1:46 run for me was the second best I had done in a HIM backing up the 1:44 I did at Racine and confirming that the run at Racine was not a fluke. I was very happy with the run since it had come after a very challenging bike ride that took me 31 minutes longer than the bike ride at Racine.

Portage Lake Triathlon Olympic Distance in Akron Ohio
This was the Championship race for the HFP series and I thought I was well prepared for it but still had a disappointing run L

The swim was the regular HFP rectangle and I went out hard cuz I was trying to get as much of a lead as I could on my buddy that was in first place in the point series. I had a good swim and came out of the water in second place J. After a 50 sec transition I was off on the bike, little did I know that I was in first place at that time.

I went as hard as I thought was realistic for me on the bike. The course had some long rollers but nothing too difficult. Karen and I had driven the course the day before so I knew what was coming. When I got back to the transition area the bike racks were empty (a good sign), got my shoes on and was off on the run. Still I had no idea I was in first place.

Well I had cooked off a hard bike ride and didn’t run too well. As it turned out my buddy had a good swim and bike ride too as was only about 30 or 40 seconds behind me coming out of T2. He passed me about 1 mile into the run and I just settled into a “do the best I could run.” There was one section that was kind of uphill and I felt really slow there, on the way back I was quicker. The second lap was about the same as the first but I came back a little harder on the downhill section. I got passed again about 1 mile from the finish, it turned out that it was the second place finisher and I was then in third place. I really figured that I was in 5th or 6th place by then but still finished as strong as I could.

2:15:05 is good for me in an Olympic distance race so I was happy with it despite a slow run. I was much happier when I found out I got third place. I found my buddy and congratulated him on a well-run series, he outran me in every race.

Now what do I do?

I've been chasing the HIM distance for quite a while now and have been so focused on particular splits that I haven't thought about what to do when I got there.

As early as 2006 I've wanted to have a good swim, bike near 2:30 and run under 1:50, I have allways fell short. At Steelhead in 2006 I was on my way but blew it on the bike while racing my buddie Bernie. In 2007 I went back to IM and didn't work on HIM at all. In 2008 Steelhead was changed to a duathlon, It went well but I really didn't care about the run since the race really didn't count as a HIM to me.

So there I was, half way through the season that has had mixed results and doubting my planning when I had the race of my life in Racine just shattering my previous best effort. Here is what I did different and why I think it worked this time.

Last fall I decided to go a different route for this year and joined Endurance Nation to work with their plans. I focused mainly on the bike for the whole winter and went light on swimming and running. The plan was 3 to 4 hours of hard bike intervals 3 to 4 times a week while running 20 to 25 miles per week of mixed intensities. It didn't have any swimming in it but I still swam 4 times a week for my swim club. I was swimming about 11K a week instead of 15 to 18K that I had done in the past. All of this was taking me about 10 to 12 hours per week, a few hours less than I had done in the past but with more intensity.

At swim meets I was slower in my long events while near the same speed in my shorter ones. At state meet I had mixed results but was very close to what I did the previous year. I was used to large improvements and they didn't come this year.

The run volume was lower than what I have done in the past but had more tempo paced runs in it. The longer runs were a mix of easy running and 15 to 20 min efforts at HIM run pace. I added some volume in the spring cuz I felt the plan didn't have enough in it to prepare me for Triple T. I still feel that was the right thing to do. My average weekly run volume was 35 to 45 miles per week.

My bike training had a lot of harder paced efforts. The long ride had several hard 20 minute efforts as well as some longer race paced ones. On tuesday the brick became a hammer-fest with 3 to 4 of us exchanging leads. It was a lot of 3 to 4 minutes as hard as I could go then 5 to 6 minutes of hanging on in the draft. I got comfortable riding around 250 to 260 watts during that time which is about 25 to 27 mph for me. My average weekly volume on the bike was about 150 to 170 miles or 7 to 9 hours.

Swimming took a back seat this year and I only averaged about 8,000 meters a week. Some weeks where higher and some where lower. I was swimming in a 50 meter pool which really helped get my breathing patterns ready for open water.

Spirit of Racine Race Report

I was a little concerned the sunday before the race about being overcooked from training and reluctantly followed the plan through the final week before the race. I have been watching my training stress balance on WKO+ to make sure I had at least 7 days in the positive. I went into the positive on 7/10/09 and got as high as +30 for a few days before the race. Sticking to the plan turned out to be the right decision.

Karen and I traveled to the race on Friday evening and got to sleep late. We woke up fairly early and had all day to prep for the race on the next day. No pressure, get stuff packed, go for a swim then turn the bike in. I wanted to get a 30 min bike ride in but things just didn't work out and I wound up taking a 10 min spin to make sure everything on the bike was working. We swam for about 20 min in the cold water (about 60 deg F) before I rode to get used to the water. It was a good thing cuz it was cold and I needed to know how cold.

Race Day
We got to the race in plenty of time and got set up. I forgot my helmet in the car so Karen went back to get it for me while getting ready. I kept feeling that I was forgetting something cuz I barely had anything on my towel next to my bike. All that was there was my running shoes, glasses and nutrition for the run, everything else was on my bike or on me for the swim.

The Swim
My goal was to not swallow any air that would cause me any distress later in the race so I wanted to stay away from people and wound up going a little too wide. That probably cost me about a minute but I really didn't care. The swim was short and I was into transition in about 27 minutes, 4 to 5 minutes quicker than expected but a slower than I could have gone.

The Bike
My goal on the bike was to ride between 175 and 180 watts on the flats and no more than 220 watts on any climbs, I pretty much stayed with that plan. I figured that it would take somewhere between 2:28 and 2:32 to complete the course so when I came in at 2:25 I was a little surprised.

While riding I caught a draft group in the first 10 miles and rode through them. They decided to latch onto me and passed back, after they passed they slowed down and I ran into them again so I passed through them again, this happened about 4 times until I got pissed off and decided to stay off the back. While getting passed the last time a marshal rode by and seemed to be taking numbers, I thought for sure I was going to get popped for a penalty and was kind of upset since I was just trying to get away. When I dropped to the back the group stayed together and rode away from me. I watched them for the next 5 or so miles staying together, oh well.

When I got to 28 miles I checked my average power, I was at 185 watts and was 1:12:30 into the ride. That was a little ahead of my goal on power and time but nothing to be worried about. The course was pretty flat and it was easy to sit on 180 watts for the rest of the ride.

I was having a pretty good time, holding back and eating as scheduled when around 45 miles another draft pack came by me. Again they pulled in front of me, slowed down and I passed up the to front. After one time though that I was pissed and let them go. There were a few people on the back that were riding legal and I stuck with them, They appeared to be as upset as I was. One of the guys was riding my speed so I stayed about 10 meters behind him for the rest of the race. According to the results I came in just under 2:25 so I was happy with that time and how strong I felt.

Here is the PT summary:
Duration: 2:25:28 (2:25:44)
Work: 1500 kJ
TSS: 174.2 (intensity factor 0.86)
Norm Power: 187
VI: 1.06
Pw:HR: n/a
Pa:HR: n/a
Distance: 55.678 mi
Min Max Avg
Power: 0 537 177 watts
Cadence: 48 215 90 rpm
Speed: 0 35.5 23.0 mph
Pace 1:41 0:00 2:40 min/mi
Hub Torque: 0 259 49 lb-in
Crank Torque: 0 709 169 lb-in

The Run
Always my worst event but I did my best to set myself up for a good run. I've had a goal of running 1:50 in a HIM for quite some time since my best ever runs in training at this distance have been a 1:43:xx in 2006 and a 1:45:xx this year. I started off easy to get a feel of what I had to work with and I felt good. I kept trying to keep myself in the 8:20's but the speed kept going up so I went with it but being cautious. The first lap time was 52:22...about 3 minutes ahead of schedule and I felt great.

The second lap I went a little quicker. At the turn around I had kept my nutrition exactly as planned (1 gel every 2 miles...probably more than I needed but I didn't want to bonk) and decided to give it all I thought was possible. I ran a 7:40 pace for the final 3.3 miles, much quicker than I've ever ran at that distance before. The second lap time was 51:48, a neg split by about 30 seconds for a total time of 1:44:10 and the second fastest half marathon I've ever ran.

Overall it was the very best race I've ever had. Everything went my way, 4:39:06 is 26 minutes quicker than my previous best HIM. I was 13th of 149 in my Age group and 144th of 1207 overall. The planning/training went well and execution went just about perfect. Even though the swim was a little short I'm still happy with the race and would do it again if it fits in the schedule.

Getting back to blogging

It's been a while since I've written anything of any worth. I have raced 2 oly distance races since then...Maumee Bay and Ceasar Creek. Both races I trained through and did nothing more than take it easy the day before so doing the best with the state I was in was my goal. I was happy with both races and had started a race report for Maumee Bay but I've been so busy at work with our move and have been spending my lunch time working instead of writing in my blog. I'll do my best to get them up soon.

I've also had some very big weeks getting ready for Spirit of Racine and had put down two 18 hour and one 17 hour weeks before backing off. My taper went well and followed my Endurance Nation plan exactly as written for the last 2 weeks instead of adding a lot of biking and running like the previous weeks.

I know it's been a while, I've been really busy

I came across this gem today and I had to save it.

This will help my GF understand me cuz it's exactly how I think about fruit.

Thursday long workout

Bike 3 hours 61.5 miles
Good solid ride up and down Hines drive. Nice and sunny with moderate temps and practically no wind.

Run just over 8 miles in 1:06:xx, out to Newburgh Rd and back. Moderate pace just try to put in miles.

Wednesday

Swim at LRC 2000 yards as 20X100

I had to teach a tri clinic at REI afterwards so I didn't have time to run

Tuesday

Another good brick workout on Hines.

21.8 miles ~ 23.9mph 218 watts
6.2 mile run in about 49 min

Hard ride, just about no wind and 3 of us taking leads

Run moderate to start then picked it for the second loop