Thursday's run

I took wednesday off of training, I was supposed to take monday off but the weather was good that day and I didn't want to waste a good training opportunity. I didn't have much sleep on tuesday night cuz of Justin's hockey game so it fit it the schedule well.



Today had a 10 mile run, 1:31:08, ave HR 151, 43 sec recovery to 120bpm. That seems to be a bit fast for an easy run for me but for some reason it was harder to get my HR up, and after 4 miles of warming up, it seemed really easy to run that speed. I feel it is because I have been running at the top of zone 2 for a while now and am getting more efficient. This is getting me to rethink my training plan last summer. Instead of keeping my HR under 150 for most of my longer runs, I should have let it go up to 153-155. Oh well, live and learn.



Took the bike into Bikesport today to get the bottom bracket looked at and they said it needed to be replaced. I requested it to be done by tuesday and they said it was no problem. I'll have to ride the road bike this weekend.

In addition to tuesday's swim

I forgot to add this note. I got home yesterday and made dinner right away because Justin had band stuff to go to. I made a meatloaf, med-sized baked potato and corn, didn't over-eat but didn't really under-eat either. Dropped him off after dinner at the school and went to swim. It was about 1 hr between dinner and swimming and was surprised that I swam so well. This has got me thinking about the timing of my pre-race meal. Maybe I don't need to eat 3 hours before the race, maybe 1.5 to 2 hrs would be fine. Going to work on that next year.

tuesday long swim

4000 yds in 1:16:35, HR at the end of the swim was about 130bpm (finger on throat method). I felt kind of tired at about 1500 yds and then stopped doing flip-turns. I immediatly felt stronger and starting ripping off faster 500 splits. Started just under 10 min/500 and moved to 9:20's for most of the swim. My flip-turns really suck!!! I also stopped trying to hold 18-20 strokes per length and let my body go where it wanted to. I was at 22 for the rest of the swim, it felt really comfortable, getting the extra breath helped too. I've just about given up on staying under 20 stokes per length, I've got shorter arms than most people (remember I'm 5'4"), I don't push off of the wall that hard and I don't kick that much during the swim cuz I save my legs for the bike and run. I will work on stroke length for drills and certain workouts that call for it, but for racing, it's plainly not fast for me right now.

11 days out

I'm 11 days away from the longest race of my life and here are some thoughts. I had a friend ask me the other day if I was ready for the race and this was my reply:



"I feel that I was more ready a month ago. Starting my taper on tuesday. Today looks very sunny and am going to try to get in a bikeride today. I'm not intimidated by the run anymore since running the20 mile run, I breeze through 14 mile runs now. Right now I am very healthy, not overtrained, good attitude, no knee or ankle pains. I was a little concerned about my shoulder a few weeks ago when I dropped my bike on Hines Drive but have healed up quickly."



This got me thinking if I felt that I was in the best shape I could possibly be in. Well, the answer is No, I could be in better shape but at the risk of being hurt, neglecting family/friends and overtraining.



Last June my knees hurt so much that I had to take days off of running. I'm actually running about the same milage (approx 30 a week, yes there are times I run and don't log it here) but all of the runs are geared toward running long and I'm capable of running long without hurting myself now. I could be faster but at what expense? More runs and less recovery time? Time away from my son? (I'm a single dad with a 15 year old son to take care of myself). I am a faster runner than I was in June. A typical 12 mile run took a lot out of me then, I'm about 10 minutes faster now and even do tempo work in the middle of the run. On the bike I have matured a lot. Even though I came from cycling, I know how to ride a hundred miles much better now, nutrition wise and pacing wise. To run after getting off of the bike is much easier now.



Right now I'm physically in very good health. My knees feel good, legs are strong, shoulders are strong, lungs great and mentally I feel great. Will I meet my goals for IMFL, I don't really know but I plan on beating them.



Other than my health, my equipment is ready to go too. Wetsuit/goggles are good, bike just got rebuilt, shoes are well broken in and the trip is all planned out. Race plan has been written, pre-race and post-race plans are figured out too.



Today is the last day of hard training and will have a long straight swim. The rest of the time will be spent doing easier workouts and resting. 11 days from now I hope to be an Ironman.

I'll take the good weather when I can get it.

Monday's rides total 49.1 miles split into 2 rides, 22.7 miles, 1:13:00, 142bpm, before I picked up Justin from school and then 15 minutes later, 26.4 miles, 1:15:00, 141bpm. The first ride was out to sheldon and 7 mile, got a flat about 1/4 mile away from home, I have the worst luck with 20mm clinchers. I switched to the Spinergy Rev-X wheels for the second ride cuz I didn't want to fix the flat. I hooked up with Roman while heading out again near Wilcox rd. I turned around and rode back to Telegraph road with him and then back home. I was really surprised at the speed increase but I feel the terrain had something to do with it. Very nice outside, about 65 degrees and very light wind.

Sunday's workouts

The weather doesn't seem to want to cooperate so I put 10 miles on the bike trainer and then ran 12 miles outside. I had just done a lot of bike maintenance and didn't want to trash the bike on the wet roads just to get in a few easy miles before my run. The run was an easy 12 miles, 1:53:42, ave HR 145, cool outside about 55 degrees and kind of misty, allmost ready to rain. I ran west today to get a little different route and had to guess where mile 6 was, it was probably just a tad long.

In a couple of days I will start my taper, I allready feel like I'm not doing enough for the race. Next week I will probably feel more of the same.

Saturday morning swim

It looked easy on paper but when we swam it, it hurt.
3700 yds (wu 200S,200K,100s,
8X200 on 3:45,
250 pull,
8X100 on 1:55,
7X50 odds non-free, 200 cd).

After the swim I went to my dad's house and did a lot of bike maintenance, it needed it.

Friday bike ride

I don't like riding my bike in the cold. 50 degrees outside and windy, my nose ran for the entire ride. 48.2 miles, 2:34:00, HR 140, really crappy outside like I said. Rode up and down Hines drive.

Thursday's swim

Still really tired from the run yesterday so I cut the swim short to 1500 before I drown myself. Didn't get much sleep last night and didn't recover well.

Base building

How did I get my base endurance? In my opinion I will never have enough base endurance to do what I want so while I am in charge of my own training schedule, it will dominate all of my training. -------- This is a long read, I just wanted to get it all down before I forgot it.



It all started in December of 2002 when I decided to buy a tri-bike and start doing triathlons to lose some weight. I never knew what I was getting myself into. I have been riding road bikes for fun ever since I stopped speedskating when I was 22. At that time my goal was to ride 20mph for 30 miles at a time. I only did it once when I was 19. I would allways start out riding at a decent pace and try to ride the return route faster. I just rode as hard as I could as long as I could. I was stronger than most in my cycling club and honestly felt good about the shape I was in. When the tri-training started I initially did the same thing, then after reading about heart-rate training I slowed down considerably, mainly because it was easier. The winter time was not a good time to start training on a bike so most of my focus was on swimming and running.



I hadn't swam since gym class in high school so I bought the book "Total Immersion" and read it twice before I got into the pool. It all seemed too easy at the time and I soon found that it wasn't, but that is another story I'll write about later.



The running I knew was going to kill me. I hadn't run since I got out of the Marines back in 1993. I had tried to run a couple of times a few years before but never stuck with it. This time I had a goal and was hellbent on achieving it. My first runs were 1 mile long and I could barely walk the next day. I am totally serious. I would run, then take two days to recover and do it again. After a couple of weeks I got up to 2 mile runs and was running a 13 min/mile at 145bpm. Soon after that I increased to 3 mile runs, when I hit 10 miles for a week I was estatic. I kept running at 145 bpm for several months and slowly brought the times down to 10.5 min/miles. June 15, 2003 was my first triathlon and I had a goal of 30 min for the 3.1 mile run. I just made it at 29:24, I was so happy but the race was so hard and I didn't know how to improve much more. At the time I did that race, my longest runs were 5 miles and the water scared me to death.



Enter my coach. He was a friend of my dad's so when my dad told me about him, it was easy to talk to him. I had met him once before about a year earlier on a bike ride and it seemed to me that he rode like a robot, meaning really strong. I took everything he said as gospel and did every workout he gave me. He liked how I was base building on my run, running at 145 bpm and slowly increase the distance to 15 to 20 miles a week. After a while he had me doing some speed work at the track to bring my efficiency up. Run after run I was running from 145 to 150 bpm while making progress on my pace. When my pace broke 11 min/mile I was really happy again, soon I was racing under 10 min/mile all of the time.




The bike was the same way, long rides keeping my HR low (130's) and not worrying about speed, that came later.



After the racing season I increased my runs to 10 and 12 miles keeping the low HR and doing some speedwork every once in a while. In Jan of 2004 I had to rest my left ankle cuz it hurt so bad and I even saw a doctor. He told me what was causing the problem was shoes with no real arch support. I was running in motion control shoes with soles that were flat cuz that is what the shoe store recommended. I got some insoles with arch supports in them and have been running with them ever since. This winter I am going to try something new.



Up untill June of 2004 I did everything my coach told me to. Long runs, low HR (140 to 145) to build up base. I knew the speed would come when I got stronger so I kept doing it. I kept the coach untill my half IM in June. I started to question his training methods several weeks earlier and lost all confidence in him. A clinic that I attended after the Half IM confirmed what I believed. Since then I have written my own schedule working mostly from some training materials I got from friends, the book "Going Long" and the many friends I made from the sport.



The first thing that I changed was the HR I was running at. I felt that 140bpm was way too low for me. That was increased to 150 bpm immediately. I stuck to the 10% rule for increasing my weekly distances and moved my long run from sunday (which was right after my long ride on saturday) to wednesday. First thing that happened was my knees felt so much better and I could concentrate on form. The speed didn't come as soon as I had hoped. I was hovering at about a 9:45 pace for a long time but that was OK cuz my goal pace for IMFL is 10:00 min/mile. I was just concerned about being able to cover the distance, to hell with the speed. I paid for it on the races this year with slow run times, but I am sticking to my plan.



That is my short history about base building. Lately, I have been running near a 9:15 pace for my longer runs to build efficiency while still staying aerobic. I will let the HR go up to 155 bpm which is the top of zone 2 for me but not much higher. On November 6 I will find out if this works.

Wednesday's run

I had planned a 12 mile run but increased it to 13.1 cuz I was running so quickly. Total time was 1:58:21 (9:02 pace) which is a personal best for me. Ave HR was 152 but I pushed 158 for the last 3 miles to get the time that I wanted. Felt really strong throughout the run and did 2 gells at mile 5 and 10 with 28oz of Gatorade. I really could have gone much faster if I had wanted to and was tempted to do it. Recovery time to 120bpm was 53 seconds. Kind of cool, 55 degrees with very little wind. Looks like I will get a half day tomorrow at work so I can get in a long straight swim and a med dist bike ride. Friday I have the whole day off and am planning a long bike and short run. Sat it is supposed to rain and will do some bike maint at my dad's house plus a morning swim with the club. Sunday looks like a fun bike ride with a med dist run afterwards.

Tuesday

Swam 2600 yds in about 1hr. Not too hard, still working on the IM's. I'm starting to get the kick for breast stroke. After the swim I had some time to kill before I had to pick up Justin so I ran a little at the gym and did a lot of stretching cuz I felt kind of tight.

Monday's workouts

Sunday was so crappy outside that I decided to make it a family day and move the training to monday. Today was a short swim at lunch, 1000yds, 0:20:00, then a bike ride that started outside and had to move indoors cuz of the rain. I got about an hour outside, then an hour inside. 36.6 miles, 18.3 mph, hr 132. Kind of made up a routine to keep myself from getting too bored on the trainer. After warming up I do 10 min cycles of 1 min standing (to get blood flowing to certain parts), 4 min spin 55/21 (about 18mph), 2 min big gear 60 rpm (about 20mph), 3 min spin 55/19 (about 19.5mph). Today I was watching "Undercover Brother" during the workout and lost track of time, good thing cuz trainer stuff is boring.

Saturday's run

Pretty nasty outside, wind blowing, chilly, trails wet. Ran 8 miles, 1:15:16, HR 150. Really tired to start but toughed it out.

Saturday FAST Swim

3500 yds Killer swim,
400 warm up (200S, 100K, 100S)
3X800 (200IM, 300Pull, 200Kick, 100Free hard),
10X50 odds non-free,
200 cool down.

I did the butterfly for the first IM but couldn't handle any more. Amy and others tried to teach me how to kick for the breast stroke but it just seems so weird to me but I am determined to get it. Going to try to run some miles later today.

Friday's workouts

Swam 2000 yds again in about 50 min, same swim as yesterday. 500 warm up(200 S, 100 K 200 S), 2x(200 pull, 200 moderate free, 100 kick, 100 IM), 100 fists, 100 easy pull, 100 cool down. I tried to ride on the trainer but 15 minutes is all that I could get in before I started to go crazy.

Thursday workouts

Swim easy 2000 yds, drills, right and left side breathing, paddles, closed fists, pulls 48:00. Ran 8 miles, 1:14:25, 9:18 pace, HR 152, no gels, just some gatorade, really light when I got back, 149lbs, about 3lbs light but I have cut some calories for the last 2 weeks. Shoulder feels much better today but I still have the marks.

Wednesday swim

Did a little swim and felt terrible. Shoulder hurt from yesterday so I just drilled for 1000 yds. Good thing this is a light week, I only had 2000 yds planned for the swim anyway.

Tuesday's ride

The weather is supposed to get crappy soon so I got my shorter bike ride in today. 1:48:11, 36.4 miles, 20.2mph, HR 142. Little cool outside so I had to cover my arms and legs to keep warm, maybe 58 degrees. There was a wreck on Hines drive and when I rode by, I think I got something in my front tire cuz it went soft about 6 miles later. I found it by taking a sharp turn and losing the front end of the bike. That's my third fall this year, very uncharacteristic of me, 1 from a bee sting, 1 from a drunk driver and now 1 from a flat. I'm OK, just bumped my shoulder, spilled my gatorade and hurt my pride a little.

Sunday bike ride

Talk about tired legs. I was pretty tired when I started the ride but got better as I got warmer, the last two days had 10 mile runs each day. Started at about 45 degrees and it warmed up to about 60. I took my coat off at about 50 miles and felt a lot better. Today's ride, 78.7 miles, 4:19:31, 18.1 mph, ave HR 140. I rode out to Island lake rec area again and it felt like I rode against the wind for most of it. When I got back I was surprised at the speed I went, I figured that I would be near 17 mph. Something weird about the ride today, I saw about a million caterpillers on the paths I rode on and it was like a slalom riding down the rail trail. I did my best not to squish them but it seems like if I seem them, I hit them. I missed some of my swims this week and am going to to a little more swimming at lunches this week. Nothing hard, just more time for the feel of the water.

Saturday run

Had to work today do I didn't get in my swim. Ran 10 miles 1:35:14 ave HR 150, big negative split, 49:18 out, 45:56 back. I felt flat going out then around mile 4 I started to feel much better, very strong after I warmed up, I let the HR go up to 155 so I could get in some tempo work, I know, 10 miles run and doing tempo work? Well I know I'm not going to gain much more fitness in the next few weeks so I feel that I can get more efficient by letting myself run faster, I'm just at the very top of zone 2 for me at 155. Time will tell if this theory of mine works, it feels very comfortable.

Friday run

I did the 10 miles that I was going to do yesterday but only in the nice shoes:) 10 miles 1:35:41, HR 150. Felt really strong again, form feels good and I'm keeping my upper body relaxed well. Thought of doing some tempo work during the run but I was allready above race pace so in a sense, I was. Weekend is kind of screwed around cuz I have to work tomorrow, so a run is scheduled for tomorrow and the long bike is going to be on sunday.

Dang those new shoes

I really don't like the shoes I bought about a month ago. They are the same as the ones I bought before on the outside, but on the inside they are pure EVIL. I can't seem to run much past 6 miles on these without discomfort. Today I felt really strong for the first 3 miles, I mean really good despite the fact I had 2 hot dogs, baked beans and potatos 3 hours earlier. Maybe that should be my new pre-race meal. I seem to have a problem with my right arch rubbing the wrong way inside of them. Anywho, 4 mile run in about 37 minutes, HR 144. I walked home the rest of the way so I wouldn't screw up my foot. Looks like I'm going to keep the old shoes through Ironman Florida.

Wednesday's bike ride

Well, it's warming up around here and I really needed to get a good solid spin-up and big ring day in so I rode today, my sheldon to 7 mile loop. Kind of windy so I did the spin-ups going out into the wind and the big gear on the way back 1:09:30 for 22.8 miles 145bpm. Looks like the weekend will be warm too so I can get some long miles in again. Going to try to get Rhonda to ride with me again, I know she wants to but I have to talk her into it. Looking for a med dist run tomorrow (10-12), saturday and maybe a 6 miler in on sunday.

Tuesday swim

I'm still feeling tired from the run on sunday but did 3000 yds in just under an hour. The run really took a lot out of me. No wonder I was so tired in August after those two breakthrough runs in consecutive weeks, lessons learned the hard way.

Sunday 20 mile run

20 mile run today, 3:16:22 (9:49 pace) ave HR 149. 64 degrees outside and sunny. Nutrition was 1 gel every 3 miles, 28 oz of gatorade, 28 oz of accelerade (I ran out of gatorade mix). Finished 2 lbs lighter than I started so I will need some more fluid during a race or warmer weather. Felt pretty good for most of the run, Roman K was on his bike and he talked with me for 8 miles, the second 8 mile loop was pretty good but by mile 12 I started feeling a blister on my right foot in the arch. I thought it was from not having my shoes tight enough but it turned out to be from the logo on my sock, go figure, these were new socks, I'll make sure that I race with my old pair that are worked in. Knees felt good throughout the run, the blister pain dulled out after mile 16, I took a nature break at 15 miles which made me feel a lot better, I didn't include that in the total time. The last mile was tough but I think that's because I knew I was allmost done. I definitely could have gone farther but I didn't know what happened to my foot and didn't want to take any risks. I kind of have the chills right now and am going to take a shower to warm up. It was the right thing for me to not run yesterday cuz of the rain, today was a great day for a run.

Blogger photo game

Ok, I'm going to play the Blogger game and ask my readers, if there are any, to think of three photos that you would like to see posted to my blog. Things about my training, equipment, house, pets or whatever. I will only post things in good taste. Post a comment to this post or email me directly at jaretj@gmail.com. I will try to get them up asap.

Saturday

Well, the weather didn't cooperate with my training plans, it is raining and about 52 degrees so instead of running in the cold wet weather, getting sick and missing a week of training, I just swam with my swim club this morning. I feel that this is the best decision right now being 5 weeks out from IMFL, I will do the run tomorrow when it is supposed to be sunny and 65. ------ Today's club swim I felt very strong and led much of the workout, (the 300's, kicks and 4 decending 50's) it looks like the yards I'm putting in are paying off quicker that I had thought. 3100 yds, 450 warm up, 3X300 @ 6:00, 5X50 kick, 4X(4X25 broken IM, 100 IM), 100 easy, 8X50 decending sets of 4, 200 cool down. Today I did my first full lengths of Butterfly, those just killed me but were fun. There was no sense in me trying to lead those laps. Someone helped me with my kick for breast stroke, it's comming along slowly. All in all a pretty solid workout for me.

Friday evening spin

A little chilly to be wearing a tri-suit but I did. 68 degrees, my hands are a little stiff typing. 0:56:03 17.7 miles 18.9 mph HR 133, just an easy spin down Hines drive to dearborn and back, the cars kind of suck you along as they go by with the wind they create.