Late Saturday and Sunday

Saturday evening

Run 3 miles 24:10 HR 153.



HR was really low, I don't know why, but I was very relaxed. I ran at ballys track and didn't realize that they closed at 7pm and ran out of time. I really planned on running for 1 hour. I got some good quality stretching in.



Sunday

Run 10 miles 1:24:20 HR 153, about 60 degrees outside, I ran my normal Hines drive route.



I did all of my running in my DS Trainers this week including the long run. My feet and legs feel good and I'm debating on continuing to run in them or go back to my Kayano's for a while. 2 things happen when I run in the DS Trainers vs. the Kayano's. My turnover is higher and I don't heelstrike as much. The shoes are slightly lighter with a lot of the weight savings from the smaller sole so it's easier for me to lift my feet. Since the heel is smaller it doesn't hit the ground like the Kayano's do, instead I strike outside-midfoot and roll off in a very smooth motion. I'm not sure if the change in cushioning is going to be a problem, it was last summer and will probably still be while running outside on asphalt or concrete.

Since the track at Bally's is rubber I don't need as much cushioning and I feel that working on turnover is a better option right now.

Saturday Masters Swim

Another hard swim, I used a pull bouy for the last 6 100's. Maddy helped me stay in too. I drafted a little bit throughout the 100's.



4200yds

600 warm up (200S,200K,200S)

100 free fist

200 kick

3X100 IM

300 pull

15X100 free on 1:40

300 pull

3X100 IM

200 kick

300 cool down

Friday

Swim 2000

500 warm up

2X the following

250 catch-up w/pull bouy

250 moderate pace

100 kick

100 fast



100 cool down

Thursday

Swim 3700yds, a modified workout from Gordo's site. I made it a little easier by swimming the 100's with a pull bouy. I took about 5 seconds between each distance. All the distances were at a 1:40 pace or beter.



500 warm up

200 Swim 100 pull

300 Swim 100 pull

400 Swim 100 pull

500 Swim 100 pull

400 Swim 100 pull

300 Swim 100 pull

200 Swim 100 pull

200 cool down



Run 3 miles in 24:10 HR 153 and did a lot of stretching afterwards. I met a nice lady named Linda and extended my stretching session to keep talking to her.

Tuesday Wednesday

I took monday off, just cuz I felt like it.



Tuesday Swim 2000 during lunch, I did half of last saturday's workout.

500 warm up

2X700 as follows

250 pull

250 swim moderate

100 kick

100 fast



100 cool down



Wednesday Run Ballys track during lunch

5.1 miles in 40:08 HR 161

Saturday Sunday

Saturday Masters swim, I felt really tired, was supposed to be 4000yds but I probably swam 3000 of it.



Sunday, Run blue loop at Island Lake 1:23:30 HR 152, quite a bit faster than last week and I really wasn't trying to go faster. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect. I brought Justin with me and he rode his bike and kept me company. He also carried my gatorade and 1 gel.

Katey Kat

Katey Kat passed away on friday from a congenital liver problem



It started just after I got back from Pineman. She stopped eating and started to get really thin. The Vet said it was either Hepatitis or something that she was born with. Since the antibiotics didn't work we assumed that she was born with it.



She was only 4 1/2 years old





Close up.





Ready to play.





Still play time.





Lazy days.

Thursday

I did a random hill program on the treadmill. Warmed up 1 mile (8:00) on the track, 3 miles of hills varying from 1 to 4% (8:45) then 1 mile cool down (9:00).



5 miles 43:15 HR 151

Tuesday Wednesday

I had a lot of stuff to do on Tuesday so I took it off.



Wednesday swim during lunch 2100 pull sets with paddles.



200 warm up

300 pull (4:45)

6X50 fast :15 RI

300 pull

4X50 fast

2X300 pull

2X50 fast

100 cool down



Fast means 95% normally I was about :42 for the 50's



Run on Ballys track 7 miles 58:30 HR 152, easy run, working on strengthing the slowtwitch muscle fibers. Starting to think of running a spring marathon.

Monday

Endurance swim with a little bit of grind to it



3000yds

400S,300P,200K

400 :20 rest (7:00)

2X200 :15 rest (3:20)

400 :20 rest (6:50)

2X200 :15 rest (3:15)

400 (7:00)

100 cool down

Sunday

Run 9.3 miles 1:28:38 HR 151



I wanted to run some trails so I looked up Maybury State park on the web, found a map and drove out there. I had a difficult time finding the trail head and when I did find the trail, it didn't look right for me. Instead of running that trail I decided to drive out to Island Lake and run the Blue Loop.



I've never ran the blue loop before but I knew it was about 3 miles longer than the yellow loop which I have run several times. It is advertised at 9.3 miles but I would have to say it was closer to 9.8 miles or I was running 10:30's for my first 5 miles. The pace I set was fairly easy, feeling near a 9:00 pace with a HR that seemed ballpark.



It was fairly flat with some occasional ups and downs, not much sand and protected from the wind. There was a spot where all you could see was a few hundred pine trees and the trail wound in and around them, it was pretty fun going through there. I wish I had my camera with me. Maybe I'll run it next week and bring the camera along to show everyone.



It was a nice change from running on Hines Drive and Ballys. There were several Mountain-Bikers out there and they were very courtious. I even saw Matt J. from my club out on his bike. I'm going to have to get out there on my Mountain Bike sometime soom.

Friday Saturday

Friday night I had a hockey game very late. I was a sub for the 3rd line center.


60 minutes of basicly anerobic work, 1:30 on 3:00 off.



Saturday morning swim with Masters group Lane 5

4000yds

200S,200K,200S

All 300's are on 5:30

1. 300 straight (came in consistantly at 4:45)

2. 2X150 on 2:45

3. 300

4. 3X100 on 1:50

5. 300

6. 4X75 on 1:20

7. 300

8. 6X50 on :55

9. 300

10. 12X25 on :25

Extra rest after 6 and 10, we took a minute

Cool down

4X100 Kick, Back, Breast, Free

It was just Maddy and I so we decided to work on Backstroke for the 400

We took turns leading so we would hold the interval, the shorter distances were difficult for me but the 300's I breezed through.



I again was relying on good swimming form to carry me through the sets instead of muscling through them. I'm starting to do that a lot now and I think it's a good thing. My plan for the new season was to move to lane 5 and hold on to the end of the group but it's just been a few people in the lane and I've had to do a lot of the leading so it's been harder than I planned, but I've been able to do it. Maddy is a great swimmer that swam Lane 4 with me a lot before and we seemed to have made the switch at the same time. I'm really glad to have her company.

Thursday

I did the swim I planned on doing on tuesday



3650yds

200 swim 250 backstroke drills 200 swim

500 8:30

5X100 @ 1:50

400 7:00

4X100

300 5:15

3X100

200 3:30

2X200

100 1:45

100 1:35



All of the 100's I came in at 1:30 to 1:35 and left on 1:50, I was really tired at the end and relied on form to keep the pace up. I seemed to have dropped two strokes per 25 yds in then last few weeks. I've been hitting the wall earlier and not taking the extra breath on the right just before the wall. I was also taking the same number of strokes on the faster 100's as I did on the longer intervals.



Taking the advise that Jason gave me (a great swimmer in my club) I've been working on finishing my stroke at my leg and rotating more to get a longer reach and to reduce drag. It's becomming more and more natural for me to do this.



I've also started to work on the backstroke. The drills I have been doing are shoulder pops, sliding along the lane lines with one arm extended and single arm drills. After I've done those I normally swim about 100yds of backstroke easy, I've been wearing fins for all of this.

Thinking of new training plan

Starting to think of an off-season training plan. What I want to accomplish this winter is to become a better runner and swimmer. How I plan to accomlish this is still in the air.



What I feel worked last year was the increase in the frequency of running. I was pretty consistant with my runs as follows.



Tue: Short easy run, bike skills were the focus that day.

Wed: Long run, probably done a little too fast

Fri: Speedwork or hill work on treadmill

Sat: Hill work when at Island lake, moderate distance any other time.

Sun: Run Bike Run brick, stead pace



While I got much faster, I seemed to gain most of my speed and endurance during the months of Jan to May. Why that was? Looking at my log I stopped doing overdistance in May. After that my longest runs were 12 miles with a little bit harder effort. That made me faster but didn't increase my endurance as much. I'm starting to feel that I should have kept the longer run at a lower intensity all the way to the beginning of August. Most of the early long runs were done near an 8:40 pace while the later runs were closer to 8:20.



It was also during the early months that I did speedwork on a regular basis with intervals on the treadmill and tempo runs on the indoor track. The tempo runs were fun cuz I just found someone that ran fast and stuck with them. When I got on the road I ran by myself and just ran a comfortable pace.



The plan for now 'till January is to build back up to 5 runs a week with 3-one hour runs at an easy pace and 2-half hour runs at a quicker pace or something fun. Planned running milage during that time will be 28 to 30 miles a week. In January I'm thinking of a running 30 times in 30 days challenge and see what happens. It would be mostly easy running with a double run on 1 day and 1 day off.



The swimming plan will go close to what I did last year but I'll start training faster earlier. Instead of waiting untill June to work on muscular endurance and speed I will start in February with the Michigan Masters State meet as a race goal. I'll set goals for the distances as I get closer to them. I've allready moved up a lane at my weekly masters workout and will continue with that lane while during the week I will focus 2 of my swims on endurance and 1 on force or muscluar endurance.



So about 16000yds a week in the pool is planned but I will slowly work up to that. I will be taking it easy untill late November.

Tuesday - Wednesday

Tuesday swim but I cut it short cuz I felt tired. I'm starting to work on the backstroke and worked on the first of the key drills in my swimming book.

2000yds

warm up 200 swim, 200 kick back w/fins, 200 swim

500 easy

5@100 @1:50

200 easy

200 kick drills back w/fins



Wednesday run 7 miles easy 1:02:25 HR 145

Going to do the easy run thing for a while, I've got some new ideas from "The Lore of Running" I'll write my theory (or plan) later.

Weekend and Monday

Saturday night I played hockey and had an OK time. I could skate really fast but I really couldn't handle the stick and puck that well. We played for about 90 minutes.



I took sunday off and helped my dad do some yard work. We spread out 4 yards of mulch in his back yard. Just before that I put the bagging system on Michelle's (my X-wife) lawnmower and picked up the leaves in her yard.



Monday I ran 7 miles at the track at Ballys. It was warm enough to run outside but I wanted to run in a controlled environment plus I had some stuff to do on that side of town afterwards. HR was a bit freaky, I think the HRM is going away.



7 miles 58:20 HR 155

Saturday

I took friday off cuz I really didn't get much sleep this week and I just felt generally tired.



Saturday masters swim was a little bit different with some 100% 100's.



2600

500 warm up

16X50 drills on 1:00

8X50 kick

6X100 all out with 4:00 break

300 cool down



We didn't get through all of the 100's cuz we ran out of time but I added 300 to my cool down to get the total yards in. I swam so much faster than I thought I would. Maddy and I were swimming in adjacent lanes and were pushing eachother. She is so cool and fun to swim with, one of the nicest people that I know.



Anywho, my times for the 3-100's I did were 1:15, 1:15, 1:16. About 10 seconds faster than I expected, other than at the state meet when I swam a 1:17 for 100 meters from a diving block, this is the fastest I've ever swam. The last time we did this I was swimming 1:25's, that was last spring. Starting to think that the Pineman swim wasn't as short as I thought, maybe I just swam that much faster.

Thursday swim

I've been working on two of the three things my friend Jason pointed out to me from my swim video.



1. Finishing my stroke...I'm making sure that I touch my leg at the end of my stroke, sometimes I get lazy and quit the pull early.



2. Side swimming...While swimming bilateral, I tend to not to rotate my body as much as I should on the two strokes that I don't breathe on. I'm concentrating on rotating more and reaching further in front of me to get a longer stroke.



3. The third thing he pointed out that I haven't worked on yet is how I put my hand in the water. I dive my hand in and then lift it slightly, while this isn't a problem know, it might be when I get a bit faster.



Thursday 3150yds Endurance swim #2

600yd warm up

2X200 :20 rest (3:20)

100 moderate :20 rest (1:35)

2X300 :30 rest (4:55)

100 moderate :20 rest (1:35)

2X400 :40 rest (6:45)

100 moderate :20 rest (1:35)

6X75 cool down :20 rest, 50 free 25 back

Wednesday

Still no structure to the training but here is what I did



Bike 18 miles 20mph, HR 137



Run 4 miles 35:30 HR 152

Starting back up slowly

I just got back into training after a few weeks off.



Sat Masters swim 3200yds mixed sets but fairly short

Hockey game Sat evening 50 min

Sun Off



Mon Run 5k easy 27:00 HR 150



Tue Swim 3200 E2

600 warm up

400,300,200,100 :20 rest

300,200,100 neg split :25 rest

200 fast :30 rest

100 fast :30 rest

4X150 pull :20 rest

100 cd