Tuesday run - quality workout 2

This run was a lot harder than it looked like on paper. After the third interval I was wondering if I should do the next ones so I just went by the feeling that if I felt like I could do 2 more, I would keep going untill I reached 5. I finished feeling like I could have done one more.



10 min warm up, about 1.2 miles

5 X 7 min as 4 min hard and 3 min easy, about 4.6 miles

10 min cool down, about 1.2 miles



7 miles 55 minutes



The 4's were about a 6:50 pace while the 3's were about an 8:30 pace. The armswing is getting more and more natural. Thanks Mike.

Monday

Run 3.5 miles outside (it was nice) 30 min HR 152



Swim 1000yds, I just didn't feel like swimming. I warmed up, started my first set and then got out. I'll get back to it on wednesday.

Weekly plans

Mon Swim 3000 E2, Run 30 min E pace (8:30's)

Tue Run Q2 workout Sets of 4 min hard w/3 min rec jogs wu and cd

Wed Swim 3000 E form

Thu Swim 2000 Force, Run 7 miles hill program

Fri Off or Easy Bike

Sat Swim Masters or ME 3500, Run 30 min easy and/or MTB trail

Sun Run Q1 workout 12 to 14 miles E pace



32 miles of running or 4:30

11000 to 12000yds swimming or 3:50

Biking 15 to 30 miles or 2 to 3 hours depending on weather



Yes, the runs are from Daniel's Running Formula - Marathon Training Plan A.



I am going through the marathon program in prep for the Martian Marathon on 4/1. After that I am starting the Blue plan which should take me to Aug (or Steelhead) Then I will either redo the Blue plan or move to the Gold plan which should take me through the 70.3 champs if I qualify.

Sunday

Run 10 miles 1:24:52 HR 151



Long run at Ballys. It was warm enough to run outside but it was raining and I don't want to take a chance and get sick while I've got so much to gain over the winter.

Thursday Friday Saturday

After taking wednesday off I got some training in on Thanksgiving day.



Bike 15 miles on my dad's trainer. He's got one from Performance bike that I like better than the old CT I used last winter. It has a nicer flywheel and nicer computer interface.



Friday run 7.2 miles 55:30 HR 164, just a fun run.



Saturday run 3.5 miles easy 30 min HR 148, Swim 3100yds E2 in about 60 minutes.

Hilly run

7.2 miles 1:01:something HR 150



1 mile warm up on track then 5 miles on the treadmill with the hill program. Then about 1 mile cool down.



My PE is really high while running the hill program compared to my average HR. I wasn't watching the peaks but I expected it to be higher overall.



The program goes like this:

1 min 2%, 1 min 0%

1 min 2.5%, 1 min 0%

1 min 3%, 1 min 0%

1 min 3.5%, 1 min 0%

1 min 4%, 1 min 0%

Then it repeats untill there's about 5 min left, then it levels off.


I started at 6.6 mph (9 min/mile) then bumped up .1mph a couple of times 'till I was at 6.9 at the end. Next time I'm going to start at 6.8 and see how I feel. I'll get my HR well into zone 3 for the 4% hills.



Still working on the armswing. I was next to the mirror so I could watch myself every once in a while, it's starting to feel more natural. I still need to work on leaning forward.



Swim 2000yds during lunch.

300 warm up

5X100@1:50

5X100@1:45

5X100@1:40

200 cool down

Monday

A short run for recovery



3 miles 24:15 HR 156



Worked on armswing and toe-off

Here I go again, changing things

Yes, I'm changing some training plans around again, here are some thoughts.



Looking at my training log I've been putting 4.5+ hours of swimming in a week while I've only been putting in well under 4 hours for the run. The run being my weakest discipline I should be training more. I feel that I have the most to gain (or most to lose) on the run for next season.



So what am I going to do? It seems obvious to me that I need to spend more time in the running department to achieve my goals for next season. To do that I am looking at switching up my run program. Looking at a run program that I got from Polar, it has two hilly runs a week, an easy run and a long run. Later in the program it has some interval runs but they're pretty scarce.



I have historically been weak in the hills so I feel the hill programs on the treadmill will help me. In the spring, when it is warmer, I can move outdoors to some trails with hills. Only a few races of mine will be hilly but I feel the strength I get will be beneficial for all of them.



Thinking of a schedule that includes these runs:

1 long run

1-2 hilly runs

1 threshold run

1-2 easy recovery runs



Long run will be on sunday untill it's warm enough to bike outside then I'll probably move it to wednesday again.



Hilly runs will be on tuesday and thursday and I might put a threshold run on one of those days to change up every once in a while.



Recovery runs may be inserted on monday, wednesday or friday when needed. Saturday may see a run if I can't get on the bike but I probably won't go over 6 runs a week untill January when I may attempt 30 runs in 30 days.

Sunday

Starting to get some longer runs in.



10 miles 1:23:15 HR 153



I felt pretty good and worked on armswing. I had a discussion with Mike Ricci while I was on Slowtwitch and am trying to improve my running.



Today's focus was to keep arms bent tighter, hands straight and no higher than my nipples while keeping them from dropping below my waist on the backswing. I was also trying to focus on driving my elbows back and run off my toes.

Saturday

Swim 3500yds, kind of an imprompt swim cuz Vince forgot the workout sheets. He made up the workouts as he went along and stayed on the deck helping people with their swim strokes. One thing he noticed was that most people in my lane (5) and lane 4 didn't kick hardly at all. I've had some thoughts on that and I think I'm going to start kicking with an easy 4 to 6 beat now and see how it goes.



600 warm up

12X25 drill

7X100 Free @1:45

7X100 Free @1:40

7X100 Free @1:30

4X100 kick @2:15

100 cool down

Don't really know why but I was pretty tired this morning or maybe the workout was tougher than I thought. I'm going to do it again this week.



Bike 2:30 on Potowatomi trail 17-18 miles

A little be better than last week, the new gears helped a lot. Sean T rode with me and helped out and provided encouragement. He let me set the pace, when he was in front he would pull away on the downhills and technical parts.

Friday lunch swim

2000yds

4X500 @9:00 decending

(8:25,8:10,8:05,7:55)



I haven't done 500's in quite a while, I was surprised at how quick I was at them.



I did some reading on Gordo's site about bilateral breathing and brought up my effort so that I needed to breath more than every third stroke. I grabbed a couple extra breaths per length by taking 2 on the left then 2 on the right when I needed them. I think the last time I did 4X500 I was in the high 8 min range so this was a pleasant surprise.



Looks like the extra time and intensity in the pool is working for me.

Thursday

It's been freezing cold the last couple of days. I hope it warms up just a bit for the weekend.



Run 7 miles 57:43 HR 151. Easy run to work on base endurance.



I got my new Polar RS200sd last sunday and have 4 runs with it. I'm still working on the calibration but it's pretty close right now. Finally I've got a new toy to play with, hopefully it will make my running more interesting.

Wednesday 11/16 long swim

4500yds in the pool again 1:30:00



Workout Three from Gordoworld.com (Muscular Endurance)

600 free, start easy and build to steady for last 2-300

5x200, 25 fly/175 free steady on 15s rest

4x300, (pull,free,pull,free) on 30s rest (gear mod-hard, no gear steady)

1x100 back, easy

4x300 as before

1x100 back, easy

2x50 hard

200 easy



I kept saying I wasn't going to do another 25 fly in the beginning set but at the end of every 200 I felt pretty good. My fly is getting much better too.

Tuesday's run

I planned on an easy run but I knew that I needed to get some faster paced work in and there was someone at the track that was running fairly fast so I stuck with him.



7 miles 55:35 HR 160.

Monday

Swim 3500yds

600 warm up

500 steady

5X100@1:45

400

4X100

300

3X100

200

2X100

100 cd



Run 3.1 miles 25:00 HR 156

Sunday

Swim with Masters group in Brighton. I did the lane 4 workout cuz of all the off-stroke stuff.



3700yds

600 warm up.

4X350 pull w/paddles @6:00

4X50 kick (25 fast, 25 easy)

4X200-4X25 IM order @:45

------100 IM

100 easy swim

8X50 free decending sets of 4

200 cool down



Run 5.2 miles 45:30 HR 145 on Hines drive.

Planned on more but it was cold and windy and I didn't dress properly.

Saturday

I'm getting burned out very quickly on swimming so I've got to take another approach. Instead of looking for volume I'm going to look at frequency. Going to shoot for 4 swims of near 3500yds instead of the 16K/20K/16K/12K route I was looking at before. Swimming is not my limiter right now, running is so I'm turning my focus on running for now while still holding about 14K a week in the pool.



Friday I took off for recovery, kind of imprompt but I needed it.



Saturday my masters swim was cancelled so I'm going to swim sunday morning in brighton with another group.



Got on the mountain bike again today at Pinckney Rec Area and rode the Potawatomi trail. This trail really humbled me, people told me it was really difficult so I took off a bit on the easy side. Within the first mile I was winded from the hills and decided to take it even easier than I started. There is a section on the map that says "Serious Hills" and it was no joke. They kicked my butt. There were several hills that I couldn't climb cuz I didn't have the skill as well as a few later on that I didn't have the strength to climb. I fell 3 times but at very slow speeds so I wasn't injured and it was on some soft ground, that was within the first 5 miles on the ride.



So a total of 17-18 miles (depending who you ask) took me 2:45:00. That had about 15 min of breaks in it. I didn't eat anything untill 2 hours into it when I ate a Cliff Bar. Other than that I drank 20 oz of Gatorade and another 30ozs of water from my Camelbak. I should have taken a second at 1 hour to eat something but I really didn't plan on it.



The trails were a lot of fun and I will be out there again soon if it stays dry. I can see this really helping my strength for time-trialing. There may be another bike in my future if I stick with it. I'd like to borrow a full suspension bike just to see what the difference is.

Thursday

Run 7 miles 1:02 HR 149



Ran on Treadmill set on the hill program. Set it at 9:00 min/mile to be conservative and ran quite easily. 1 mile warm up, 4.5 miles hills, 1.5 miles cool down. Then some stretching afterwards.



Swim 2000yds

Force workout staying on the short side.



400yds warm up

6X150 pull on 2:30

6X100 pull on 1:45

100 cool down

Next season's plans

Started to make some early plans for next season.



Here's what I've got so far. Muncie is a maybe. I might do Waterloo and Clark Lake sprints instead.



Marathon on 4/1

Michigan Masters State Meet is somewhere in this time frame.

Willow Duathlon 5/7

Nankin Mills Duathlon 5/21

Desoto Triple T 5/26 to 5/28

Ann Arbor Triathlon 6/11

Muskoka 6/18

Muncie Endurathon (HIM) 7/15

Steelhead 70.3 (HIM) 8/5

Sylvania Oly 8/13

Mid East Regionals Oly 8/27

Great Lake Escape or Stoney Creek 9/10

70.3 Championships on 11/11 if I qualify



I want to do an early season marathon to give myself a goal for the winter months. Confidence would be another benefit, I would like to know that I can run 26.2 miles without getting injured. That way if I decide to do another Ironman I won't be so worried about the distance and be able to train right.



Muskoka is still in the air right now. I left it in just in case I would like to try to qualify for IM Moo. I could also use the experience this year to race again next year. If I decide not to do it there is a local race that same weekend that I've done the past 2 years that I enjoy.

Wednesday

Another Gordo workout that kicked my butt. I only swam 25yds fly for the IM, the second 25 I swam an easy free. I wore fins on the last 800.



4500 yards

Workout Two (Muscular Endurance)

Warm up 200 easy

4x100 as 100 drill, 100 steady, repeat

200/400 on 20s rest (x3)

200 band and pull buoy, moderately-hard

400 free, steady

100 back, easy

4x200 on 15s rest (IM / Free / IM / Free) all steady

100 back, easy

800 free, steady, no gear (reduce if short of time - fins permitted if whipped)

4x50 hard on 20s rest (eliminate if whipped or short of time)

100 easy



I've planned 20,000yds this week but I don't know if I'll make it. I figure I'll get 2000 today, 2000 tomorrow and 4000 on Saturday, that will give me 17,000 for the week. If I push today and tomorrow to 3000 then I'll be just a little bit short.



Swimming 4500 really takes a lot out of me. When I get home all I want to do is sleep. Last night I went to bed at 8pm just like I did on monday.

Tuesday

I finally got on the mountain bike today. I rode the blue and yellow trail at Island Lake Rec Area. It was a lot of fun and took about 1:30 for 15.5 miles.



Run 4 miles 33:07 HR 154

Monday - A long swim

Swim 4500yds, about 1:30

This is another one of Gordo's workout's modified a little bit to make it easier.



http://www.byrn.org/gtips/ls1.htm Click on the header to bring up his page of long workouts.



Since I don't have any bands I just made those pulls. I actually did the 25 flys in the beginning even though they were killing me.



Workout Three (Muscular Endurance)

600 free, start easy and build to steady for last 2-300

5x200, 25 fly/175 free steady on 15s rest

4x300, (pull,free,pull,free) on 30s rest (gear mod-hard, no gear steady)
1x100 back, easy

4x300 as before

1x100 back, easy

2x50 hard

200 easy

Sunday

Run 7 miles 57:40 HR 154



It is so easy to run fast on the track at Ballys. My percieved exertion is so low there that I don't realize how fast I am running untill I look at my HRM. If running 8 min/miles outside, my RPE is about 15, running it on the track it's about 12. My heart rates are about even for each speed, indoors or outdoors.



I cut my run from saturday cuz my left heel was a bit sore. I was trying to run more miles in my DS Trainers and overdid it somewhat. I think the run last sunday is what hurt it. I'm going back to my Kayano's for weekend training and use the DS Trainers for faster week day training.



I've got near 400 miles on my second pair of Kayano's and near 200 on my DS Trainers. The DST's have got a considerable amount of wear on the soles and will probably be retired soon. The Kayano's seem to have a lot of life left in them but realistically there is probably only a hundred miles left in them.

Friday-Saturday

I took friday off cuz I was tired



Saturday masters swim was a bit above my ability but I hung in there.



3800yds

600 warm up

4X225 @ 3:45 Free (draft)

8X50 Kick 1,4,7 butterfly on back (lead)

8X100 @ 2:00 last 25 non-free (lead)

1X250 pull bilateral (as if I could swim any other way) (lead)

12X50 @ :55 IM order (draft)

250 cool down

Thursday 11-4

Swim during lunch

2100yds with paddles (not the whole swim)



Run 7 miles 55:35 HR 157, top of zone 2



It is so much easier to run with a higher intensity at the track so I constantly have to slow myself down. I was running 8 min/miles pretty consistantly for the first 5 miles then let myself run what I felt was comfortable for the last 2 miles. They were about 7:40's. HR was a bit high for the last 2 miles too.



I've been running in my DS Trainers for the last 2 weeks and really like them although I still feel like they aren't enough shoe for me for long outdoor runs. I'm looking to go to a lighter shoe than the Kayano for my long distance. Looking through catalogs it seems that the Asics Gel Foundation may be the next choice for me. I'll be going to the running store soon to try on some new stuff. I really like the Kayano's but the $130 price tag is killing me and if I don't need them anymore why should I buy them.



I've noticed that my flat foot isn't as flat as it used to be. Now when I get out of the pool, my footprint has an arch in it. Instead of looking like a duck footprint, it's starting to look more like everyone else's. I've also noticed over the last few months that my foot is getting shorter. Shoes that were tight on me before fit well now and my normal shoes are seeming kind of big. My foot moves around in my Kayano's and I may need to go 1/2 size smaller.



I hope that is good news --- :|

Wednesday

Swim 4000yds 1:18

600 warm up

200 fast,100 pull

300 fast,100 pull

400 fast,100 pull

500 fast,100 pull

400 fast,100 pull

300 fast,100 pull

200 fast,100 pull

400 cool down

Tuesday

Run 7 miles 55:41 No HRM



I forgot the HRM transmitter at home so I just ran to pace. Since I was wearing the DS Trainers I figured I would run an 8:10 to 8:20 pace. The first mile was an 8:10, the next 4 were 8:00 which seemed easy, I even felt like I eased up a bit. The last two I ran 7:45's to finish below an 8:00 pace. I guess this is my fast run for the week, I want to do a hill run this week and two easy runs on the weekend.

New basic week

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a great runner, OK but not great. I've made big strides (pun intended) in the running this year but I'm not sure if I'll be able to do the same for next year. I've gone from 8:30's to 7:30's this season for my 10K pace which to me was what I planned, but didn't really expect.



My performance for HIM's didn't fair as well for a couple of reasons. The first time I was sick to my stomach from the course gatorade and the second was cuz I went too hard on the bike. Pacing got better at the end of the season but I didn't do what I planned and the run suffered because of it. I also started to lose respect for the Half-Marathon distance since I've done it in training so much, I figured I had it mastered. The Half-Marathon distance this season was like the 10K distance in 2004 to me. I was strong enough to do it, but not as well as I thought I could.



Swimming on the other hand was a pleasant surprise. I was just unable to hold the volume that I swam over the winter when I started riding and had to cut it down. While doing so, I changed my approach from swimming yards and building endurance to making every yard that I swam count. This included a long open water swim, Muscular Endurance, Anerobic Endurance, Force and Speed workouts. During the pool workouts I was limited to about 40 minutes of training time a day so I normally got about 2200yds in for a total of near 8000yds a week. That was much lower than the 12K to 16K I was doing in the spring. I was very surprised to see that after 4 weeks of doing that, I got a lot faster in the water. Since it was working, I stuck with it and finished the season with a 29 min HIM swim. (wetsuit).



My goals for 2006 are to run my Oly under a 7:00 pace and my HIM runs near an 8:15 pace. I want to come out of the water in the top 15% so I don't get bashed around at the swim start and can take it a little easier on the bike. I obviously want to be faster on the bike next season but I can see the most gains on the run so my approach to the bike will be the same but if I stick to my plan better, I know I will be stronger than this year.


I've just about made up my mind on which races I'm going to train for next season and an Ironman isn't one of them. Tenatively I'm looking at the following races:



Martian Marathon in April

The Desoto Triple T in late May

Ann Arbor

Muskoka long course or Big Fish oly (local)

Muncie HIM (maybe)

Steelhead HIM

Sylvania oly

Mid East Regional champs

Stony Creek oly or Great Lake Escape oly



Through the winter months my basic week will be just swimming and running with a bike ride when I feel like it. Through November I'll be running 4 to 5 times while holding about 30 miles a week, December I would like to be a 6 runs a week with the same volume, January I want to run 30 times in 30 days and then have a look at where I'm at to make further plans. I will use a 4 week cycle for running and swimming, my swimming cycle will be something like this.



Week 1 16K

Week 2 20K

Week 3 16K

Week 4 12K



My basic week during the winter will be something like this:



Mon Swim 4K

Tue Run 1 HR (aprox 7 miles)

Wed Swim 4K

Thu Swim 3K Run 1 HR

Fri Swim 2K Run 1 HR

Sat Swim 4K Masters

Sun Run 1.5 HR

Monday

I really don't like to take monday's off cuz I feel that I'm trying to catch up all week after that. I think friday might be a better day off during the winter.



Swim 4000yds

Warm up 600

3X800 @~ 15:00 as follows:

---100 kick :10 rest for all intervals

---150 pull

---300 swim

---150 kick

---100 pull



10X50 hypoxic

1. breathe every 2 strokes: 2. every 3

3. every 4: 4. every 5

5. every 6: 6. every 7

7. every 8: 8. every 9

9. every 8: 10. every 7

500 cool down